Miss Me?

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The man nodded, then said something about being grateful and of course about how nice Jamie was to offer, but in truth Kurt was already tuning it all out. The Nubian was a delight of a ship, beautiful really. It's construction was sleek, it's chrome finish was famous, and everything about it screamed royalty. The thing was bigger then The Messa, but it was also a hell of a lot slower. The ship...well by all rights it should have cost several thousand credits.

They were getting it for one.

That in it of itself amazed him, floored him really, and as he looked at the vessel he couldn't help but feel like a small child. Sure it needed some work, and sure it had seen better days, but this was a ship that he now owned...well along with Jamie. When he had been a kid he'd always dreamed about owning a starship, now he owned two.

A wide smile broke on his face as he slowly turned back towards the Alien and Jamie. "Thank you."

It was all that he could really think so say.

"Yer' Welcome. Let me just get the paperwork in the back and you can pay me."

The last part was met with a hearty chuckle. Of course the Alien wanted payment likely for tax reasons, no sale on Spira went without paying taxes, it wasn't like on Tatooine, Kurt knew that. As the old Besalisk wandered away Kurt turned to Jamie, expecting more then a bit of smugness.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie's mouth opened just slightly, her tongue ran along the space between her bottom lip and teeth. A wicked grin appeared on her face the moment the man wandered off to gather the necessary documents to sell the ship to Kurt. For a long minute she said nothing, just grinned and stared at her boyfriend. Both of them knew what she was thinking. Was there a need for her to pat herself on the back and declare herself correct? No. But she wasn't going to let the opportunity fall away without at least some gloating.

"Told you lying was a stupid idea. Honesty got you a practically free ship from a nice guy who wasn't out to rip you off."

The blonde looked up at the Nubian vessel. She'd seen them before. To her it was hardly anything overly spectacular. Nubian ships were really all she'd ever seen in person, save for the precious few times she went to the spaceport and saw foreign vessels for herself. To her the ship was about as common a sight as sand was to Kurt, even if they were quite old. History and heritage weren't something easily forgotten, and Naboo, especially Theed, took great pride in their shipwright history.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

He made a face at her. "Yes, yes you were right."

Not everywhere was like Tatooine. Even after all of these years that wasn't something he could really get into his head. It wasn't like his homeworld was cruel or even mean, but it was...it was different. People tended to look out more for themselves then for others, they wanted to live their own lives and get any benefit that they could, even at the cost of others.

He frowned for a moment, perhaps Tatooine was cruel.

"We have a ship though." Kurt reached over and squeezed her hand. "That's something."

Quite something, and after a few more minutes wait The old alien came back. Kurt was the one that signed for the ship, dolling out the single credit and thanking the man before he was given the ignition keys and everything else that they would need. Funnily enough the vessel was registered as a trade ship instead of the luxury craft, something that amused Kurt a great deal. The Courier and Jamie thanked the old Besalisk one more time, shaking his four hands before embarking onto the vessel.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The moment the door closed behind them the blonde drew in a deep breath, but coughed forthwith. "Oh! What an offensive smell!" Jamie wiggled her nose and scrunched her brows with a look of detest, waiving her hands back and forth to try and scatter the violation of her senses. "You can tell it has been sitting a while." A small shiver shot up her back.

"It smells like the armpit of the galaxy in here! Years worth of lingering scents and old grease and oil."

A few more sour looking faces and she finally managed to compose herself well enough to focus her attention elsewhere.

"Candles! This place needs candles and new air filters. That's priority number one."

Taking her hair into her hand she pulled it back and slightly off to the side into a ponytail, securing it with a small clasp before starting off towards the cockpit. "Let's go see what kind of disaster awaits at the controls huh?"

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt was already way ahead of Jamie. The smell didn't really bother him, mostly because half of all ships he'd ever been on had been stuck with the same thing. In all honesty he didn't really mind the smell, it reminded him of simpler times, when he hadn't really been worried about much of anything.

The Courier stepped into the cockpit, biting back a slight chuckling chortle.

"Well." He began as he ran his fingers over the console. "I've seen better."

Wires stuck out from beneath the control console, several of the buttons were off-market, and a few of the levers that controlled thrust and the like had been replaced with after-market 'comfort' designs. He grinned slightly, seeing that the hyperspace controls had been replaced with an odd sort of lever that looked like a dancing Zeltron girl. "Classing really."

He couldn't help but chuckle.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie ran a finger along the control cluster as she joined Kurt in the cockpit. Another sign that the ship had long since sat was the heavy collection of dust that accumulated on her fingertip. With a grimace the girl wiped away the grime on her shorts and rubbed her hands together. A deep breath in and a puff of air out blew away a small sea of dust particles from the chair adjacent to Kurt. Once settled the girl plopped down into the chair and gave a nod.

"Seen worse?" That concerned her more, whether this ship was actually capable of getting them to Naboo in its' current state. Wires hung free just about everywhere they could, the ship hadn't flown in some time, and there were aftermarket looking gimmick parts tossed about like a child's self decorated playroom.

The dancing Zeltron girl made her smirk though. Jamie placed the tip of her finger atop the head and looked over at Kurt.

"Look, now you can have something to remember that hot Zeltron girl from the restaurant. It's fate after all." There was no malice to her words, she truly found it amusing and ironic, plus the added opportunity to tease Kurt again was always rewarding.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt leaned over the chair that Jamie had sat herself down in, planting a small kiss on her cheek. "There's only one girl I need to remember."

He said as his hands slowly slipped around her and gave her a small squeeze, his eye still strolling over the control board.

At the very least it looked like everything they needed to actually operate the ship was still here. The ignitions keys were still there, the controls, the thrusters, everything actually looked alright. Sure the wires needed some cleaning and moving, but at the very least the whole thing looked like it could actually work. A sigh escaped his lips, Kurt righting himself and drawing back from Jamie as he took a step towards the pilot's chair and threw himself into it.

He surveyed the board for a second then made an 'ah' noise.

A single finger reached half way towards Jamie and flicked a small switch. There was a slight beep, then a number pad flipped up besides the the switch. From his pocket he pulled out the small slip of paper that the old alien had given him. The code was quickly entered, and a few seconds later the engines of the H-Type Nubian sprang into life with a loud, almost clattering roar.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Aren't you sweet." She replied, as if she half expected a snarky response instead.

The blonde squirmed with a giggle in her seat against Kurt's fingers squeezing her. While he returned to his seat she made it a point to ogle at his rear, biting the lower corner of her lip until it was promptly sat upon atop the pilot's chair. Her eyes caught his for a moment and she flashed a grin, and a waggle of her brows.

The seats shook slightly as Kurt fired the engines, causing Jamie's hands to instinctively grip the arm rests of the seat in a moment of uncertainty as to whether or not the ship was supposed to do that, or if that was simply another feature of the older ship. She wasn't overly used to ships stuttering and shaking to their core when first firing. That would take some getting used to.

"How high up do you think we'll get before it dies and we come crashing down? I am gonna say about 2,000 meters."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt began a series of start-up checks, flipping switches and pressing buttons until lights began to flicker across the control panel. Surprisingly, not a single system showed failure in the least. He blinked for a few seconds, frowning and then shrugging as he simply disregarded that this might be part of an electrical failure. "I think we'll be okay."

His words came at the exact same time as a slight sputter in the engines.

"Probably..." As he finished speaking the repuslor drives finally kicked in, a slight lurch running through the ship as the vessels weight was taken off of its support struts and the ship began to hover. Kurt smiled slightly, as if that in it of itself had been a success. "Alright, babe, hang on."

That was really all there was to say.

They could wait here for the next few hours, but the ship was ready to go. His fingers laced around the controls, the grip being surprisingly familiar. He simply sat there for a moment, then pressed the ship forward. The engines kicked out, smoke bursting out for half a second before the ion drives finally fell into place and the Nubian Accelerate up and out of the hangar.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

If Kurt had been watching Jamie's expression in that moment he'd have noticed her eyes grow wide, a spark of panic filling her nerves as even the smallest of hairs stood on end. That all too familiar tingling sensation ran up her spine as she wondered what exactly caused that sputter and tremor throughout the ship. Pale blue eyes looked to Kurt for reassurance, and thankfully it didn't look as if he was too worried himself. That helped by some measure to alleviate a bit of the anxiety she was feeling.

"I'm hanging on, though to what I have no idea. Nothing looks overly tied down in here."

With a hard swallow she bit down on her lip, that same nervous tick she had whenever her anxiety levels grew. There was little else she could do besides sit and wait for them to either breach the atmosphere or for Kurt to shout a curse or two, scramble to fix something, and then potentially crash in a horrible wreck.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

The ship managed to barrel it's way into the sky. There was no grace about it, no beauty, it simply pushed itself into the atmosphere and cut through the air. She bucked and heaved, a few times it looked like the engines would stall about, but Kurt managed to keep it all under control. His fingers tightened on the throttle, his hand guided the vessel through the traffic, and then one last push...and they were in space. There was a sudden lurch, not born of the engines, but instead of gravity itself letting go.

'What th-" Kurt said as he nearly began to float.

His fingers quickly found their way to the safety harness attached to his seat, buckling himself in before he floated away.

Kurt laughed. "Artificial Gravity is broken."

That didn't really mean much in terms of the actual flight, or rather, how the ship operated, they could get by just fine without it, but it was amusing nonetheless. The Nubian floated through the edge of space, propelled by it's now full functioning engines to drive to the edge of Spira's gravity well.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Jamie looked to her left to see Kurt rising slightly from his chair before pulling himself back down and securing the harness to the seat. She had already done so before they took off out of fear that the ship was not even going to make it to orbit, so while Kurt floated up briefly she remained positioned in place, though not without a quick moment of laughter at seeing his reaction.

"Let's hope that's all that's broken." She was referring to the hyperdrive and life support primarily, but also the condition of the ship's overall structural integrity. Being sucked into the vacuum of space was not a pleasant way to go. "You have no idea what you're in for." She said with a smirk. "My mom can be pretty intense. But you'll see for yourself."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"We're fine." Kurt said as he flicked half a dozen more switches, letting the ion engines push them out towards the edge of the system. "I can fix it when we jump to hyperspace."

Or he thought so at least.

The Nubian drifted for a few more moments, simply slipping through the reaches of space until they managed to touch the edge of Spira's gravity well. The ship shook for a moment, Kurt looking over to Jamie as she began to speak about her mother. The Courier looked rather sheepish for a moment, shifting in his chair slightly as he began to feel his nerves tingle. In truth he hadn't even thought about meeting Jamie's parents, for some reason that had totally blanked for him. "I've met some Admirals in my time."

He said as he entered the hyperspace coordinates for Naboo.

"I can probably handle your mom." Slowly he reached over the grabbed the odd dancing Zeltron. "Hopefully..."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Maybe you should stay seated on the flight deck. Fix the artificial gravity when we reach Naboo. Who knows what else might go wrong, and I'm not the person you want to rely on in a tense situation up here. We both know how well I fly when not even under pressure." If there was ever a time that quick reflexes and a keen eye were required to fly even the nimblest of ships Jamie would likely find herself out of luck. "Or at least when we're sure that nothing else is going to break off, fail, or fall apart." She wasn't quite sure how long the trip from Spira to Naboo was going to be, but if they were going to be sleeping they would likely want that system fixed, lest they wear safety harnesses to bed.

Jamie pressed each foot against the heel of the opposite, kicking off her shoes to make herself more comfortable before placing them crossed over each other off towards the corner atop the empty control panel. She then leaned back and shot a glance over to Kurt as he entered the information into the terminal. "I'll try and keep her under control. But just keep in mind that she tends to say whats on her mind and occasionally lacks that oral filter when not in public. She's a bit of a xenophobe." Most alien species were a subject of delicate discussion when it came to her mother. She believed that most had an agenda against humans and were looking to dispose of them entirely. Jamie always thought that was a crazy notion, one that was never mutually shared.

"We should change your bandages soon too. You don't want to keep the same ones on for too long."

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

Kurt leaned over and pushed the small lever, a surprised expression crossing his features as the Nubian smoothly jumped into hyperspace He had expected the ship to shake, shutter, and perhaps even come apart a bit, but instead it hadn't even made the tiniest racket. A frown pulled on his lips for a moment, half expecting them to explode within the first few seconds of hyperspace.

When nothing happened, he sighed a breath of relief.

"Honey, we have at least two days in hyperspace." He said as the safety belt was unlatched. The journey from Naboo to Spira wasn't exactly a direct one. They would have to make several stop and jumping skips to change direction. Cutting across the outer rim wasn't an easy thing, and trying to use the Hydian Way or other hyperspace routes was rather out of the question since he wasn't willing to take Jamie anywhere near One Sith space. "The sooner I fix the gravity the sooner I can make sure nothing else will blow up on us."

He floated halfway by her, stopping himself with a loose grip on her chair. His lips pressed against her cheek. "I suppose it's a good thing I'm just a purebred human farmboy from Tatooine."

Kurt smiled at her, nuzzling her cheek before drawing away.

"Let me fix the gravity." The Courier said as he began to float down the hall. "Then we fix my back."

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Two days without the artificial gravity wouldn't kill them. It would just be a bit inconvenient. Also sleeping arrangements would end up involving tying one another down to the bed in some form or another to prevent drifting around while unconscious and crashing into objects in the cabin. On second thought, perhaps it was better that Kurt repair the gravity after all. Neither of them needed any more injuries. Kurt more so than she.

"Alright. Do you want help? I can do...things!"

Obviously she knew nothing about starships, even less so about how to fix them, but she hated feeling useless when Kurt was doing all of the heavy lifting. It seemed like everywhere they went Kurt always knew more about everything. Where to go, how to fix things, how to make things. For a moment she wondered what he saw in her, she felt rather useless to him.

At the very least she could hold a flashlight or something.

Pass him tools?

Maybe?

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Sure." Kurt said as he pulled his way through the doorway. "But you might want to take off your clothes..."

He looked back at her, smirking. "Grease and all that."

Kurt winked, then quickly pushed himself further down the hall. He knew that the hyperdrive was located in the back of the ship above the main engine's drive core. These things weren't all that secretive, the people who had designed them had put the plans for the ship out in the galaxy centuries ago, Kurt had even seen them once or twice while at the spaceport for one thing or another in Mos Eisley. He was also fairly sure that the gravity controls were located right next to said hyperdrive, though in truth that part was just guess work.

Luckily, he discovered that the panel to the hyperdrive was already open, the piece of metal floating around in the air.

"Should've secured that." Kurt told himself as he grabbed the large piece of metal and pushed it towards the ground.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

The girl looked at Kurt with a tilted head, scrunched nose and pursed lips. "You're funny." She said, loosening the safety harness to her seat and allowing herself to lift weightlessly into the air. Jamie pulled herself up and over the seat, using the backrest to propel herself forward towards Kurt as he drifted on down the corridor towards the rear of the ship.

"Do you think you can fix it? I doubt the guy gave us a stock of spare parts to use just in case, you know?"

It wasn't that she thought Kurt couldn't fix it, but she knew not all repairs could be fixed by improvising spare parts in a pinch. Sometimes broken was broken, and that just meant dealing with the circumstances. Still, she was hopeful that he would be able to fix the gravity. If not, this trip would certainly be an interesting one in terms of getting around.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]

 

[Kurt Meyer]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

"Funny? I was being completely serious." Kurt said as he slowly pulled himself into the small crawlspace beside the hyperdrive.

His eyes drifted slowly over the systems, trying to assess just what everything was, what was broken about it, and which systems had been replaced by the old man.

"I think so." Kurt said as he popped his head out. "He probably didn't even know that the Artificial gravity was broken. I doubt he's flown this thing in the last decade or two, and honestly it's one of those systems you don't really look at until you notice that it's not working."

That had happened with him on the old VCX he'd owned more than once. "Look around for a toolkit would you, babe?"

Kurt asked as he ducked below into the crawlspace once again and began to dig through the systems. He knew that among the mess of wires and odd crumbled together boxes he would be able to find the system that he wanted. The Gravity generator wasn't hugely complex, in fact he'd installed an entirely new on when he'd first gotten The Messa, repairing one wouldn't be difficult at all.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

"Yeah, I know you were." She said with a roll of her eyes, following along behind Kurt by pushing or pulling herself along the wall through the air. It was mildly entertaining to her that the ship's gravity was broken. She'd been in zero gravity simulators before, mostly for entertainment than anything back home, and it always amused her, so she didn't quite mind that it was broken for now.

A toolkit? "Sure." Jamie turned away, looking about the room for something resembling tools. "One sec." Pulling away she made her way to a bench with a few drawers and cabinets. Pulling out each one she fumbled around with the objects inside to find some things he could possibly use. "There's a few ratchets, a small hand-torch, some bolt cutters, wire strippers, hydrospanner, a bit of tape, on some other stuff that I don't know the name of." She wasn't much of a tool junky, so some of what was in the drawers she couldn't identify.

[member="Kurt Meyer"]