Private Stay Gold

[Frea Sheplin]

0632H, Primeday
Bay X-02, Academy Hangar

---

The smell of last week’s engine fumes still lingered in the air. Frea glanced around the hangar area as she walked along the wingtips of each bird that still remained stationary. The last few months — hell, years — had gone by with a whirlwind of memories and good times. Somewhere along the way she had even managed to bypass a lecture or two on proper safety measures, but more often than not Frea liked to boil that one down to luck.

Now here she was, graduation not too far away on the horizon and immediate assignment after that. Through it all she had her best friend to thank, and truth told there was no-one she would rather spend the morning with. Her eyes wandered over to glance at Alex on the other end of the hangar with a smile before Frea let her attention set on her friend, the fighter that had seen her through it all.

“Been a good few years, sweetheart.” She whispered and brushed her hand back and forth against the metallic hull. “You, me, the galaxy, and not even nearly enough turbolasers to stop us.”

With one last caress Frea knelt down by the nose of her fighter and withdrew a hydrospanner that she weighed in her hand and threw into a spin to catch it by the handle with a very content grin on her lips.

“Now, let’s see just exactly how dusty you’ve gotten since the last check-up, yeah?”

Alex Locke

 

[Alex Locke]

//: Academy Hanger //:
//: Bay X-10 //:
//: Frea Sheplin //:

​

Alex smiled back at Frea wondering why the girl glanced this way. Not wanting to interfere or break the good feeling she had, her attention returned to the X-Wing.​

Alex was in her comfort zone, her sanctuary, and the one other place she enjoyed being. The way the engine of the X-Wing worked compared to the other starfighters along with the large ships that her brother got to command interested the young Locke. Thinking of her brother, she wondered how he was holding up. Part of her felt bad for now following him to the Confederacy, but something else drew her to the Alliance.​

With her mind preoccupied, a hand twisted the knob a little too tight which caused a little too much pressure in the valve. Suddenly, a burst of steam launched into the girl’s face knocking her off the ladder and flat on her back. Laying there, she looked up at the ceiling and felt every bone in her body. Thankfully her sub human species helped her be a little bit denser than normal.​

In poor Alex’s case, the wind was mostly just knocked out of her and she sighed trying to catch it. After a few moments, the girl sat up and rubbed the back of her head and sat there mostly just to get over her embarrassment. Standing back up, she grabbed the tools that were scattered about and tossed them into her bag and put them back into the ladder. Alex dug deep and pulled out some confidence, she climbed back up the ladder and looked at the engine. A small whimper escaped her quivering lip as she felt the well of tears building in her eyes. Everything was a mess and she wanted to give up. How did she mess up this bad?​

Another whimper echoed the quiet hanger as she stepped down her ladder and rested her grease covered forehead against the hull of the ship. ​

 

[Frea Sheplin]

All it took was a thud and Frea had already turned on the spot to glance over at Alex with worry. “Alex!” No thought process required she dropped everything in her hands and broke into a sprint over towards Alex. The blonde climbed back onto the ladder and Frea slowed her approach to look at her back for any form of damage. From the looks of it there was no visual damage, though there was no telling for the pride.

Frea’s hands drifted before her, elbows curved as she slowly leaned her forearms forward, her fingers extending in a pair of finger guns as her arms came to a full stop with a twitch.

“You okay, man?” She asked and lowered placed one hand on her waist to assume the same cocky pose she always struck around people. There was a slight lean, a sympathetic smirk, and a slow nod. “Swear I heard the air escape your body from over where I was standing.”

Frea glanced back at the distance she had closed with a nod of appreciation at her own speed.

“Need help?” Her head turned back towards Alex before shoulders followed suit. “What are you working on?”

Alex Locke

 

[Alex Locke]

//: Academy Hanger //:
//: Bay X-10 //:
//: Frea Sheplin //:

​

The voice of the other girl in the hanger echoed coming her way. Alex wanted to crawl into a hole and die. She was embarrassed beyond belief for both the state of her X-Wing and falling off of the ladder. A pair of oil-covered hands covered her face and goggles. Remembering that now her face was probably covered in grease, Alex rotated her head and looked towards Frea. ​

Removing the goggles, she sighed and fought the urge to nervously rub the back of her neck. She didn't need more of the mess getting on her. The engine grease-covered her face with handprints except where the wide frame goggles had protected her eyes. Another little whine came from the blonde as she felt her shoulders slump.​

"I slipped, and then when I fell, I guess I hit something." Alex climbed up the ladder and looked back in with a grimace. "I don't know how I'm going to salvage this." Looking around, she noticed she had nothing to clean up the mess, and she settled her eyes back onto Frea. Alex knew that Frea probably had far better things to do than to help her with the mess she made. There was no way around the disaster she had done. The Corellian mentally kicked herself as she tried to understand what she had done wrong. Events poured through her mind as she felt her anxiety starting to grow and the tears fighting to the surface. ​

Giant blue orbs of sadness stared at the girl in hopes that Frea would help her out. "Do you have anything to clean up with?" There was hope that their companionship would help convince Frea to help her out, but Alex mentally prepared herself for Frea to turn her down. ​

"Please?" A little smile spread across the blonde girl's face as she hoped the awkward smile would help further convince Frea to feel bad for her and help.​

 

[Frea Sheplin]

Alex Locke

“Mostly your head, I think, but given where we are and what we do I'd say we all have that in common.” Frea shrugged and brushed off Alex’s shoulder before she let her hand rest upon it. “Hey, no need to salvage what ain’t broken.”

And then Alex crept into herself again much like she always seemed to do whenever Qellian wasn’t around. Frea let her hand glide off of the other girl’s shoulder with a gentle smile. Her gloves came off, her bare hand reaching into her pocket to withdraw a napkin for Alex to clean her face with before she shrugged.

“My girl over there is already in a pretty good condition, I just like being inside of her.” She said and laughed at her own joke with a shake of her head. Alex seemed to still be inside of herself, Frea placed her hand on her shoulder again with the other coming to join. “Hey, Jitterbug, you never have to ask of me, alright?”

She gave the shoulder a light squeeze. “Now let’s see about cleaning up the rest of this too, yeah?”