<div align="center"><strong>~ Gamble’s First Officer Sasha Dearing ~ At the pub, feeling an Irritableness Comin' On ~</strong></div><br/>Sasha scrutinized Si’s whiskey glass suspiciously.  Sure didn’t<em>look</em>like he’d downed much of the gut rot, but his rodeo clown performance said otherwise. Maybe he was one of those lightweights, where just a drop’d do it. Why else would the devoutly staid man deliberately bait the bull into a charge when he knew damn well she could take the Cap’n well beyond an eight second ride?  Even though Si’s jest may have struck a wrong chord in the face of the Captain’s obvious foul mood and his sullen sidekick’s matching dourness, Sasha was beginning to feel a little warm around the edges and the humor at Griff’s expense almost brought the hint of a smile to her lips. Luckily the Captain seemed to be able to rein in his ire, at least long enough to lob a couple of bombshells.<br/><br/><strong>”I ain’t yet had the chance to tell anyone, ‘cept for Dani and Lex, but Hayes had a family crisis and had to bug out. So, I’d like y’all to meet The Gamble’s new grease monkey, Anwar. He comes highly recommended by someone I trust with my life. Jack says he’s as good as he’s seen, and he’s seen plenty of good wrench jockeys.”</strong><br/><br/>“What the-“ Her good mood that had just begun to take root was instantly snuffed out by Griff’s words. Sasha looked from Griff to Anwar and back to Griff, uncharacteristically letting her surprise and concern show. In the space of a couple hours they had unexpectedly lost their long-term, trusted mechanic and gained a brand new one? A good mechanic who “comes highly recommended” - a hot commodity anywhere in the ‘verse - who also just happened to be in the right spot at the right time AND available for pretty much immediate dust-off? The improbable convenience of that coincidence raised the First Officer’s suspicions up a whole boatload of notches, but she shelved her questions about both Hayes and Anwar, planning on having a serious one on one conversation with Griff later, when they could talk openly in private.<br/><br/><strong>“And to top that off, Vince and Mae got bushwhacked by… someone. I don’t have all the details yet...”</strong><br/><br/>Her look of concern for Hayes darkened into one of angry incredulousness when she learned Mae had been hurt. Another topic for their private conversation. “Yeh Su, Cap’n - I leave you alone for a couple hours and the whole ship goes to hell? We do still<em><strong>have</strong></em>the ship, right Cap’n?”  Closing her eyes and shaking her head slowly, Sasha massaged her temples with her fingertips as she listened to Griff make his case for why they were taking the Abernathy/Ferret job.<br/><br/><strong>“No, I don’t feel one speck shiny about being mixed up with Abernathy. I didn’t realize he was a player in this piece of biz. I only know what you’ve just showed me. Truth is, I don’t much like either of these snakes and I don’t trust them any farther than I can spit. But Ferret is the heavy hitter ‘round these parts. ’Sides, she pays well. I know credits ain’t everything, but you figure out how to put fuel in The Gamble and food in our stomachs without it and we’ll talk.”</strong><br/><br/>Sasha sighed heavily in resignation; the Captain had made his point. Besides, confident in her ability to secure the job from Ferret, Sasha hadn’t put out any feelers to any other contacts for a back-up job. Jobs that paid well and allowed them to fly under the Alliance radar were hard enough to come by as it was, so beggars not being choosers and all - well, it was what it was.<br/><br/>When Anwar chimed in after evidently eavesdropping on their conversation - apparently not quite as aloof as he made out to be - she turned her focus again to the stranger who was now ostensibly trusted enough to keep them flying - and therefore alive - out in the black. The man spoke directly to her as he shared his input, which scored him points with Sasha that not only did he know his way around rank, it also seemed to be a non-issue for him that a woman was second in charge. Obviously someone with connections in the right places to hear the type of scuttlebutt that could be useful, she wondered at his background and history. As he strolled confidently over to their table and took a casual seat, Sasha listened intently to what he had to say as she let her eyes rove appraisingly over his form, pleased that the mechanic apparently had more to offer than just good looks and good hands.<br/><br/><strong>"Seems they decided to leave out a few details in that briefing”...Crew experienced some engine trouble, by my understanding.  Had to put down on Bellerephon.  Only rock close enough that had had breathable air.  Abernathy's been keeping his ear to the ground for a reliable crew with a fast ship to pick up the cargo and finish the delivery within the week."</strong><br/><br/>Leaning back in her chair, Sasha mused in annoyance, “No wonder Ferret shirked on havin’ a conversation about the details. She knew I’d demand more than standard delivery rate for acting as the clean-up crew on a job already gone south. I don’t reckon there’s much chance we won’t run afoul of some gorram ma fuhn on this joyride.”  Nothing Anwar mentioned about Haven or Abernathy was news to her - or to Griff or Si for that matter.  But the fact that their new mechanic kept his ear to the ground was a good thing.  However, Sasha’s eyes narrowed as she watched Griff, the look on the Captain’s face just before he spoke again definitely<strong>not</strong>a good thing.<br/><br/><strong>I know everyone’s gonna bitch and moan, but ten percent is nice incentive to postpone our R&amp;R until this one’s in the bag.  Okay, let’s pack it in and dust off. We got a date with the Shāyú on Bellerephon.”</strong><br/><br/>Definitely NOT the date she had in mind.  No somewhat decent meal. No desperately needed relaxing downtime.<em>No Jacob.</em>The Captain knew damn well they had plenty of time to make the deadline, even taking off tomorrow morning as planned. But with two brand new crew members still in as honeymoon a phase as they’d ever get with the Captain, she was loathe to call him out in front of them. It was, after all, part of her job to at least TRY and make the Captain look good in the eyes of the crew. Instead, Sasha shoved down all manner of irritated replies that fought for verbal release as her already less than buoyant mood took a steep nosedive to join the Cap’n into officially, grandly, irritable. But she said nothing. Reaching to wrap her fingers tightly around Griff’s last shot of whiskey, Sasha brought the glass to her lips, grimacing as she poured the foul liquid to burn hotly down her throat. Body tense and her eyes burning blue fire, Sasha flicked the emptied glass across the table. To anyone who knew her, her quiet acquiescence would send nervous shivers down their spine all the more quickly than any violent outburst would have. In the end, “Yes, Cap’n” was all that she said. But as her chair toppled over when she suddenly stood up forcefully and headed out of the pub without a backward glance, that was definitely not all that was communicated.<br/><br/><br/><em>Yeh Su = Jesus<br/>Ma fuhn - Trouble, problem, complication</em><br/>