<div align="center"><strong>-= Griffin Kingston, Captain of The Gamble – In the engine room, talking with Anwar =-</strong></div><br/>Griff sneered as Anwar snickered at his botched attempt to call the catalyzer by name. Hayes had always given him grief for not only being unfamiliar with his own ship’s engine and its parts, but often times failing miserably at even pronouncing the names of the various parts. Griff never had been very good with machines. He knew how use them just fine, better than most actually, but when it come to the hows and whys of their inner workings, it was the same as magic to Griff. It wasn’t that he was too dim to comprehend, it just didn’t interest him enough to keep his attention and, as a result, he never picked up anything when it came to engines and mechanics. Hayes had tried to show him a thing or two before, but it was always the same. He’d start off intent to learn something this time around, but he always ended up distracted by one thing or another and get lost in thought. While Hayes droned on with her lesson, Griff would be thinking of how the name of that part reminded him of a certain part of a woman’s anatomy, or how the texture of this part reminded him of his first gun. It was always something distracting him and carrying his mind anywhere but the conversation at hand when shop talk was the subject. He’d earned more than a few bumps and bruises from Hayes because of it too.<br/><br/>Anwar answered him and Griff found himself hoping that the man wouldn’t prattle on with mindless engine talk the way Hayes was often prone to do.<br/><br/><strong>"Yes, Captain Kingston.  The catalyzer has been installed.  I hope you don't mind, but I tried out a little something I've been toying with recently.  It's been tested somewhat, but not as much as I'd like.  If my design works properly, though, it will not only increase your fuel efficiency, but should last longer too before needing to be replaced or repaired."</strong><br/><br/>Griff pretended to be interested about what Anwar was saying and even leaned over to inspect the part as though he understood exactly what Anwar was talking about. Arching his eyebrows towards his hairline, he nodded with an expression that designed to communicate how impressed he was. Little did he know that, not only was he was inspecting the wrong part, he wasn’t even in the vicinity of where the part was installed. “Impressive… Anwar was it?” He glanced up at the man again as he straightened from his impromptu inspection.<br/><br/><strong>"Whoever your mechanic is, he's good, and cares about this engine.  Doesn't look like you really have any more problems with it.  Catalyzers just go out, no matter how well the engine's maintained."</strong><br/><br/>Griffs nod was accompanied by small smile, but proud smile as Anwar mentioned his mechanic. “Yeah, Hayes is the best I’ve ever worked with. It’s a damn shame she had to run home to babysit family. You’d have liked her. She’s a real social butterfly, like yourself. Maybe you two can talk shop when she comes back… IF she comes back.” He let that last part hang in the air between them for a bit, wondering if Anwar would pick up on the fact that he’d just announced he was presently without a mechanic.<br/><br/><strong>"You know, she's a beauty.  Has a hell of a lot of potential.  I'd love to get my hands on her and make a few more mods.  Maybe get a bit more boost, increase her top end a bit..."</strong><br/><br/>Griff looked around the engine room with pride, admiring the inner workings of his beloved ship, though he knew almost nothing about everything in this room, except that this was the engine that made his ship go, that gave him and his crew a job and freedom to go wherever he wanted to go and do whatever he wanted to do, whenever he took a notion to do it… anything within reason, that is.<br/><br/><strong> "Anyway, Jack will settle the bill up with you I suppose, since I contract through him, so I'll let you two work that out.  I get paid the same either way.  And honestly, it was a quick install, and I got my hands on a beauty of a boat for a while, so I wouldn't charge much for it anyway. Anyway, I'll take my leave.  Let me know how that catalyzer performs next time you're planetside, Hell, if it works out good enough, I might even be able to get a patent on the design or something."</strong><br/><br/>Griff turned his attention the younger man, watching him as he sucked on his lollipop and talked about his modifications. He recognized the genuine spark of admiration in Anwar’s eyes as he looked over the engine of his ship. He saw that same spark in Hayes’s eyes when he had first met her and he found himself missing Hayes more than he cared to admit.<br/><br/>Griff was a hard ass at times because he had to be. That was his job as Captain, to be that enduring presence of reliability and assurance, to exude an air of confidence what would cause his crew never to question or doubt him when things got hairy. But deep down, or maybe not as deep down as he might think, Griff genuinely cared for each member of crew with whom he had spent any real time with. Griff was good at keeping a cool head when things got rocky, good at conveying authority and confidence, he was a skilled fighter, a solid tactician, and could even pilot The Gamble good enough to not run into something he wasn’t supposed to run into. He was good at a lot of things, but when it came to emotions and feelings, not so much. Forcing his thoughts from that of Hayes, he turned his attentions back to Anwar once again, and the present conversation.<br/><br/>“Yeah, about that…. Jack and I already talked it over and I’ve squared the bill with him for the repairs.” Reaching into his rear trouser pocket, Griff retrieved an envelope, folded in half. He handed it over to Anwar with a smug smirk firmly in place. Waiting for Anwar to open the envelope, Griff explained, “that’s your check from Jack. He says that should be everything he owes you for all the work you’ve done and a small bonus for doing a good job on my…” he glanced to the engine, still unable to recall the name of that damn part, “… engine. Look, Jack tells me you’re looking to get off of Persephone and… well, as luck would have it, I’m in need of a mechanic. Now I don’t know you from Adam, but Jack vouches for ya and highly recommends you as a mechanic, so that’s good enough for me. So, why don’t you stay on with me, get your hands on this sexy engine here and keep me and mine flying in the black, and I’ll cut you in on the profit, six percent of the earnings on every job, same as me and the rest of my crew. That comes to forty eight percent of total earnings going to wages, twenty percent towards supplies and the remaining thirty two percent going back into The Gamble for fuel and maintenance.” He paused for a minute as he watched Anwar’s reaction. “Besides, I figure you might need to stay on for a spell in case your little modification don’t come off as well as you’d hoped for. So, whattaya say, Anwar?” Griff held out his hand to seal the deal with a firm handshake, waiting for Anwar to accept, as he had every confidence that he would.<br/>