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Ben sucked air through his teeth. His eyes stared up at the damaged nacelle mounting on the Dragon Wagon II.
“Now I gotta ask. How in the hell did you manage to blow one of those up?”
“Mackie,” Jet offered as a one word explanation.
“Ah.” Ben just gave a suitably impressed nod. It took work to blow one of those engines up.
Jet smirked. “The sooner we get him shipped off to Nekomi the better.”
“He got in?”
“His project got him the scholarship. He’s a smart kid.”
She didn't even try and hide the vicarious pride driving thats smile.
“It runs in the family,”
“Thanks.”
Jet shifted a little awkwardly, before slipping her bare hands into her jacket pockets.
“Have you thought much about Shinji’s future?” asked Ben.
“Honestly? No." She looked away over her shoulder for a second, where the boy himself seemed to be roaring red with a blush as bright as Gina's flightsuit. "We were just looking to get through the next week.” She gave a sigh, forcing herself to look up at the ship above rather than at Ben. “But I’m beginning to think that Frigga might be too quiet for him. He’ll need more personal interaction than he’ll get out here.”
And that bothered her deeply.
“Well, there’ll always be a place on Atalante for him.” Ben offered, still wearing that coffee-fuelled grin. “Skuld knows I want to see what that kid makes of a Veritech. Not as a combat pilot, of course, unless he wants to.” Privately, it actually excited him far more than he'd be willing to admit to his mother. He knew better than to mention it outloud. “And for the next couple of months, we’ll be pretty close together, so he wouldn’t have to leave Frigga.”
“I appreciate the offer” Jet said after a few moments thought. “But I want it to be his choice, however. I’m not going to send him away.”
Ben just nodded. “So, we gonna fix it?” he gestured
“Still waiting on the shipment to arrive.” She threw him an accusatorial glance. “But I do have something else we’re working on”.
“Ben made a show of scratching at his chin with his metal hand. “My spies tell me.... SU-47 mouldine?”
He knew he was right Jet’s eyes narrowed. “Your spies wouldn’t happen to be about one-sixty, apparently aged eighteen, and sing like a canary at the offer of a decent doujin collection?”
It was no secret that someone on Frigga idolised Benjamin Rhodes and the Roughriders.
“That’s classified, for the informant’s safety,” the Roughriders Commander answered with a haughty swagger.
Jet shook her head, offering up a wan smile “I’ll fucking kill him.”
Truthfully, she was grateful for the change in subject. It was a few moments to relax and think about something else.
“Exactly.” Ben gave her a Cheshire grin, that seemed to bisect his entire face.
“Well, we’re a bit short on cash after the FDF fuckup so no spacecraft this year but..... what does an Orion cannon say to you?”
There was a spark in the puppet’s eyes.
It was mirrored by Ben. He smirked. “Bang”
The words Orion Cannon promised so much, tha reality would only ever disappoint. Still, it was something to chat about that wasn’t Shinji Ikari.
Orion Cannon is the failed prototype that eventually leads in to the Cosmo Dragoon.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?