"She's got it where it counts, guns and guts. Her internal structure is reinforced to ten times the integrity of the original model, and she's armed better than any Commonwealth ship of similar size." Thomas stood near his chair on the bridge as he boasted of his ship.
Vex watched her for a moment. "If you need his help, then why are you just sitting around instead of looking for him?" he asked. "I don't trust her. Something's wrong." Alice's voice hissed in his head, with no small amount of jealousy in her voice. Vex sighed and shook his head. "I'm sure if you stick around, he'll show up."
"This is the only place I could think of that he might be, and now that I can't find him, I don't know what to do." After saying this she was able to produce some rather convincing fake tears. However, she had a feeling that her usual emotional manipulation techniques might not work on this one.
"Well, just relax. He'll be by shortly, he was going to check out a heavily armed Commonwealth ship." he said, glancing away for a moment. "There's no need to cry about it. I'm sure he won't be long." He glanced back at her, his hand never leaving his pistol.
"Thank you" she smiled and cleared away some of the tears with the back of her hand. This was going well, she now knew he'd be here for sure and that it wouldn't be long.
Thomas took a seat in the chair at the centre of the bridge. "Take us up, one half throttle." The hull creaked and groaned as the ship sluggishly lifted off the ground. "Retract landing legs." The landing gear retracted into the hull with a loud and harsh grinding noise, until the bays closed with a loud thud.
"Set a course for the Rogue Prudence."
The helm officer put in a course using her console.
"Engage."
The Providence Spirit lurched forward, and within two minutes, was creaking and groaning again as it set down next to the wreck of the Rogue Prudence.
The Providence Spirit jolted during the takeoff and many of the crew members tripped. Captain Fuller stood his ground. "Hmm, like I said, it could use a little work. But that should be easily fixed." As they landed, Captain Fuller opened the hatch and jumped out. Vex was there along with another woman he didn't recognize. He pulled his assault pike casually out of its holster. "Care to introduce your friend, Vex?"
He nodded, taking a few steps towards her. "So, what's your name?" he asked, stopping not far from her. He still had a nasty feeling about her that he couldn't quite shake. He glanced over at Mark, shrugging. "No idea. She said that she needed your help with something."
"My name is Lilly, I'm from the city not too far from here." She replied, not entirely lying this time. She then turned to captain Fuller, "And I do need your help captain."
Mark squinted in the sunlight and extended his free hand. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't hesitate to help, but at the moment we've got some trouble of our own." Mark gestured at his decrepit ship.
Vex hadn't taken his eyes off of her, his hand still on his pistol. There was something off about her that bothered him immensely, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He stayed at the ready, though, just in case.
"Yay!" she threw her arms around him in a hug before he could react. "As you know, the crime lords in the city often take in children and force them to work for their criminal enterprises. I was one of them, and I am virtually a slave."
Mark was taken by surprise as the girl hugged him. After a moment, he returned the hug of the crying girl. "Could you show us where this is happening? We need to go to the town anyway to get some supplies."
"It's the least I can do. That's why I joined the GC in the first place. But now that's done with. Let's check on the ship and see what we'll need. You wouldn't happen to know any engineering, would you Lilly?"
"Mark." Vex said, watching him. "Hold on a second. Either she's legit, or..." he paused a moment, watching her. "You know what, just be careful. I can interface with the ship and get things sorted out. Have fun." he said, turning to head inside.
"I don't, sorry" she lied, even though she needed their ship fixed in order to lure them back to town, admitting she knew the technical specifications of his ship inside and out would blow her cover.
"If we don't show trust to people Vex, nothing good will ever be accomplished. I never said I would be foolish. Thomas, would you care to accompany me?"
"Into town of course. Keeping you here would be a gross misallocation of resources I think. Vex can keep an eye on things for when our bug friend returns."
Kuzzuk rode in on his hovercraft, responding without exiting it "Back to the city? But I just came from there, ah well, I suppose we can..." his voice trailed off for a moment when he saw the young woman standing with them, but he begun talking again rather quickly. "we can head back there." Kuzzuk got off his craft and started walking it over to the group. "Enough room in either ship for this thing? It's a bit damaged, and even at full repair, it's still slower than a ship."