As Grom and his captive made their way through the dilapidated museum of scrap metal that was the rogue ship, Sarah couldn’t help but take notice of all the loose screws and rusted parts. I can’t believe this flying garbage heap is what seized the shuttle, Sarah thought. She looked back at Grom who had just poked her in the back with his gamma-blaster and motioned for her to go down the hall on her right. I can’t believe this barbarous, blue-skinned prick is what seized me.

The two came around a bend in the hallway, and Sarah noticed the small, outdated gravity drive installed on the wall to her left. It was emanating a faint, high pitched humming sound.

“Your gravity drive is due to go any day now,” Sarah said, leaning in closer to get a better look at the machine.

“What are you talking about?” Grom grabbed Sarah’s arm roughly and faced her towards him.

“Can’t you hear that sound?”

Grom listened quietly for a moment, then frowned. “What is it?”

“It’s the sound of a dying drive.”

The Kylen’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”

“I work in a ship shop.”

Grom let out a deep, bellowing laugh. “You?” He shook Sarah by the shoulders. “A skinny little thing like you workin’ with the big boys? I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true. I’m apprenticing while I’m going to school for ship design.”

“Do you really think I’m that stupid. You’re just trying to stall. Now shut up and keep moving.”

“Stalling is the opposite of what I’d want to do right now. I’m telling you, that thing is on its last leg, and when it goes out, the whole ship will lose gravity and will be near impossible to navigate.”

“Listen, human, if I stopped to do a maintenance check every time a part of my ship made the slightest little noise, I wouldn’t get a damn thing done. This ship may be old, but she’s strong, and I know her better than you do.”

Now it was Sarah’s turn to laugh. “I bet you can’t even tell me what model she is.”

Grom answered without hesitation, “Slipsteam F5.”

“Wrong. It’s an F6. You can tell by the width of the hallways and the double plated windows.” Sarah began to pace tauntingly in front of Grom. “The F5’s were nothing more than speed-of-light death traps. Galactic regulations made them change a few things for the F6, inside and out. They didn’t make them much safer; it was really just for show.”

“When I came into command over the ship, I was told it was an F5.” Grom said, clearly trying not to sound as irritated as he felt.

“I’m sure whoever you got it from thought it was an F5 too. Most dealers lie about F5s vs. F6s because F5 parts are much easier to find. They sold a lot of F5s when the ships first hit the market, but by the time the F6s rolled out, most people had caught on to how poorly made the Slipsteams truly were, and nobody was buying. I’m surprised no one on your ship could tell the difference. What kind of half-witted crew are you working with?”

Grom let out a quiet growl. “I will now allow my ship, or my crew, to be insulted by some insignificant little smartass.”

Sarah smiled sweetly. Realizing that her situation could not possibly get any worse, she had felt empowered to speak her mind. But catching a glance at Grom’s intimidating teeth cautioned her. “This problem is very common on F6s. The gravity drives are often the last parts to be installed on a ship, and sometimes workers get lazy. Look, there’s no harm in double checking, right? You have a maintenance person, I presume?”

“Of course I have a maintenance person!”

“Great, then have him come down and take a look. If I’m right, then I will have just saved us all from an incredibly painful journey and saved your current mission. And, if I’m wrong—which I’m not—I’m sure you’ll take it out on me however you see fit.”

Grom mumbled something in a language Sarah wasn’t familiar with and went to the communication panel next to the gravity drive. Pressing the green button he spoke, “Wex, you there?”

“Present, sir.” Wex’s voice came through a bit muffled, but audible.

“I need you to come check on the gravity drive.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Grom hesitated. Sarah attempted to intervene.

“Tell him it appears that the circulator—a”

“You do not give me orders!” Grom yelled at Sarah before pressing the button. “God dammit, Wex, I don’t know what’s wrong with it! You’re the engineer, not me. All I know is it’s busted, just like your ass will be if you don’t get down here this instant.”

“Copy that. Be down in a sec.”

Grom’s tantrum did not phase Sarah. She knew she was right about the drive, and as they waited for Wex, she started to take note of all the other aspects of the ship that could use fixing, thinking maybe she could use her expertise as leverage when the time came.

It took Wex all of three seconds to confirm Sarah’s suspicions.

“Yup, boss, this thing is singing it’s swan song, alright. I give it another one, maybe two jump points.”

“Why didn’t we know about this sooner?” Grom yelled.

“I checked it before we took off, made note that we should get a new one before the next trip. It was all in the report I gave you.” The short, stocky alien gave Grom a look. “You did read it, right?”

“I, uh, well, I looked it over, yes—”

“You thought you could go another whole mission on this thing?” Sarah interrupted. “What kind of maintenance man are you?”

“Well, first of all, I’m not a ‘man.’ Men are disgusting creatures and I feel insulted you would place such a label on me. And secondly, we would have made it just fine, except the captain here was so stubborn about getting that shuttle, even though Jent had completely botched the mission—”

“That’s enough!” Grom slammed his fist into the wall to underline his point. “How do we fix it?”

“You don’t,” said Sarah.

“She’s right.” Wex pointed to the screen on the gravity drive. “At this point, we have no choice but to replace it.”

“You should really just replace the whole ship, if we’re being honest here,” Sarah added.

Grom laughed, but quickly covered it up with a cough. “We, uh, we don’t have the funds for that. We’ll have to start with the drive. Where is the nearest port with a semi-decent shop?”

“Just a jump and skip,” Wex said with a smile. “We can make it.”

“Alright then, get us on course.” Wex gave his boss a comically rehearsed salute and left. Grom turned back to Sarah. “Well, I guess it appears you may serve a greater purpose after all. You have until we land at the next port to demonstrate your use again, or I sell you, got it?”

Sarah eyed Grom, “Does this mean you’re not going to—”

“You’ll sleep in the spare chambers next to the storage room.”

Sarah nodded.

“Well, go on then.” Grom pointed down the hall back towards whence they came.

As Sarah made her way past the Kylen, she paused. “Could you, maybe…” She turned around and lifted her tied hands up.

“Oh, well.” Grom looked taken aback by her request. Over the course of their brief time together, it seemed like Grom had gone from feeling indifference towards Sarah, to hating her, to now beginning to like her just a little bit, even if he didn’t quite trust her. The Kylen stood there, looking at the Sarah. She had no idea what he could be thinking. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he pulled a knife from the belt he wore low on his waist, cut the ropes binding Sarah, and turned her around gently. “I’ll re-tie them in front.” As he grabbed for her hands, he seemed to have noticed the rope burns on her wrists. “I’ll make them a bit looser too. There you go.”

Saying nothing, Sarah simply gave Grom a sad, but grateful look, turned, and left.