Customisation by Engineers In High Places
27 Jan 2018Count Iblis
Reece made it from the frontier regions of the Pleiades sector to meet up with a contact in Deciat. Her name was Felicity Farseer and she was supposed to be a whizz with Shield boosters, power plants, thrusters, frame shift drives , scanners and other equipment.As he flew his Imperial Clipper through the shipping lanes towards Farseers base, Reece checked he had everything she needed. He started to think about the relationship with his last engineering contact who helped customize and renovate his ships. Her name was Elvira Martuuk and that relationship was interesting to say the least!
Reece found Elvira very open, a bit forthright and overbearing at times. Like a snake rattling its tail or a Cat hissing. Almost hinted towards insecurity. But considering her great achievements, being a infamous explorer, an established engineer and an established and very independent self sufficient libertarian, she had little reason to be insecure. Elvira stood tall at 192 cms and would get into Reeces personal space a lot. If it was anyone else Reece would have minded.
She was very direct, open and sometimes a little too forceful. Reece soon found out that there was a lot of hidden depth behind her dark eyes. Reece soon found that the rumours about her being an assassin were all true and an explorer. More latterly she had chosen to cultivate her base at Khun. The base was technically well equipped albeit sparse, with hydroponic greenhouse domes for food growth and own dirt recycling facilities.
They started off their relationship very professionally and Reeces respect for her grew. She did good work and it was obvious her and her team had pride in the work they did. If she was unable to achieve something, she would be upfront about it and never over promise/under deliver (a trait Reece was finding more and more common across the galaxy unfortunately).
With her help the Imperious Rex had upgraded shields, thrusters and frame shift drive. The Imperial Clipper , never a slouch, was now startlingly fast. Infact what her and her team were able to implement on the Imperious Rex was quite staggering. A huge 400 tonne ship that was able to dance with the short range knife fighters was akin to an elephant ice skating, but still able to bring a bazookoid to a close range knife fight!
What started professional and from a deep respect developed and grew. Elvira started to talk about her career and some of the scary ordeals she had to deal with. Reece talked about his upbringing on Myrbat his big break and being able to emigrate to Shinrarta Dezhra. But mostly Reece listened and let Elvira do more of the talking. She would relate tales of her childhood and how she had to fight and compete for everything she had. Reece liked her for her transparency, it made her seem more trustworthy , while Reece imagined that Elvira liked Reece because he was genuine and had high integrity. As they got to work together more- she became more and more tactile. Sometimes shed get so close he could feel her breath upon him He didn't know how to take this or whether it was intentional or not. Reece would usually try to ignore it.
It wasn't long after that Elvira and Reece would go out drinking that Elvira asked Reece to stay with her at Long Sight Base. Although Reece was going through a rough patch, he was taken back. Things were tight, but he knew they would recover and he had his ship where he could live quite cost effectively.
Inevitably they kissed, got sensual and affectionate. This happened a few times over the next few months. This was probably a mistake and Reece realised that almost as soon as it would happen.
Reece declined her invitation to stay. He thought about this long and hard- and realised that she was diluting his core purpose and he spent too much time thinking about her when he had goals he'd set. There was little doubt that they both would gain from a partnership with the intelligence and experience- achievements together would multiply in certain select areas but Reeces draw towards a nomadic experience was too strong. He also felt his ressove and core identity weaken when he spent too much time with her.
After Reece declined her offer- things between them were never the same again. Even though they both agreed that nothing would change between them. The last time Reece visited Long Sight Base to get his powerplant readjusted and Shields De-gaussed and re aligned it was like he was attending a solumn funeral when they met. She was cold, distant and short with him. Physically she kept her distance. It was painful to see after she had melted to become such a warm person in his presence.
Back 'in the now'- Reece was now at Felicity Farseers base. She was a mature woman who's reputation preceeded her. He was pleased to see that she was professional, methodical and very collaborative. With her help he would take the Imperious Rex to the next level. He banished any more thoughts of Elvira as all things have their time in the sun and then transition.