The workday has reached it's end again. Rascal is once more heading to the gym to blow off some steam. As he walks through the hallway, he sees Roger leaning against the wall beside the room.
"Guessed that much you'd show up here again."
"Oh... It's you Toolbox. Sorry, ain't got the head to talk..."
"I think I know what's going on in your brain... You know, I'm 20 years older than you. I've seen some wicked crap out there too..."
"You can't possibly know what I'm going thru!!! All that... Damn... All those memories I tried to put away for so long suddenly come back!!! I've lost..."
"Hey! Don't scream at me! I ain't your enemy! Hell! I'm your friend dude! As I was your dads friend. and I knew your mom too!"
Roger gives a huge slap in Rascals face and grabs him by his shoulders.
James is so surprised by that action that he completely stops moving and talking.
"And now take a hold of yourself. You think it's gonna do you any good to punch that bag there until your hands look like some deformed, swollen... things?... well... I mean your hand... Ahem... sorry..."
"Couldn't you find something more suiting than "thing"?
A slight smile appears on Rascals face.
"And you only came here to hit me and tell me I shouldn't rage on a poor heavy bag?"
Roger shoves his hands into his pockets and starts walking around in small circles.
"Hummmm.... Hm..... Hrmmmmm.... Dunno If I should tell you boy... Maybe... Okay... But for the moment keep it to yourself..."
Roger walks up closer to Rascal and starts to whisper.
"I found something while flying around some scrapyards. I took it into my personal hangar near New Hope... It's not ready yet, but It might become interesting once it's finished."
James lifts one of his eyebrows and suspects it to be something really weird knowing Roger's taste in art and other scrap sculptures.
"And? You came all the way to tell me that you found a relict or old piece of art lost in space?"
"Nope, not a sculpture. But let's get movin'. Gear up. We take my old repair ship. I need to show you what I mean."
What said is done and soon they are both heading to planet Pecos in the rust bucket of a repair ship. They enter the docking rings and head straight north from New Hope where a construction can be seen.
"Okay. Here we are. I never took you here, right?"
"Not that I remember at least."
They land and step out into the freezing cold air.
A snowstorm is coming up. They quickly enter through a metallic door into a dark but wide bunker-like hall.
"Watch your steps. I'm not the best when it comes to cleaning... Wait. let me switch on the lights."
Roger walks into a small room what appears to be the generator room and soon the lights go on. revealing a rather big object under a even bigger, dark sheet of fabric fixed to the chain of a crane, hiding something flat and streamline shaped.
James walks up to it and lifts a part of the fabric reveling a dirty and a bit damaged hull segment.
"What the hell did you get this in here for? If I'm not mistaken, it ressembles a BWX-F1A..."
Roger comes out of the room and grabs the crane remote and starts lifting the fabric.
"That's what it is, or rather, what it was. I dumped the outdated and rather unhealthy engine and cockpit components, replaced some stuff here and there..."
The crane did it's work and a not really finished Bayonet appears in front of the two men.
"Thing is... It's tech is not really what we would consider compatible with ours. I will have to update it's software and recalibrate everything. It's core is a bit old but should bring already ninety percent of it's initial output. That's at least something to work with I'd say."
"Should be about right. But is it flying yet?"
"Not yet, no... I still need to get some stuff to connect the controls to the rest of the ship. That might take a while."
Roger lets down the fabric and covers the ship again. He switches everything off and both return to the repair ship.
"I will fix it. And you gonna fly it. I will try to work something out. But once it's finished, and If you like it, you will have to deal with the High Command to get a clearance for it. Can't do much on that side."
They return to Sabah to drop off Rascal.
"Thanks Toolbox. Hope you'll get it finished, not like this other thing you had once..."
"Huh? Ah you mean the old Charon? Nah, that thing never got it's parts... and well... Whatever. See ya dude."
"Later."
After Roger brought him back, James heads to his room. This little escapade helped him to relax and forget a bit about everything. He soon goes to sleep.
