Soft clicks came from one of the steel storage crates as the Captain punched in a code to unlock the sliding lid, which he pushed open afterwards. Peering inside, he scanned his dark brown eyes over the farming equipment and photon decelerator units that the Zantu Expanse had asked to be delivered. What did they need stuff like this for anyway? Farming equipment especially. The photon decelerators he could understand, for the Zantu Expanse were one of the biggest and leading organizations of scientific enhancements and they liked to mess around with particles and atoms and who knew what else. Ruce didn't actually care though. So long as he got his payment for delivering this stuff. He'd hand over Tes' share and that would shut her up for the next few hours as she went off to buy new parts for the Valkyrie. Speaking of which, the pilot turned about and folded his arms across his chest, glancing up at Tes on the gantry.
[color=007236]"Wha' do you mean, [i]'another'[/i]?"[/color]
The brown-haired Captain glanced at his right shoulder from the corner of his eye and brushed away some white coolant dust from his jacket.
[color=007236]"This old girl is on her last legs. Things are gonna fall apart an' break when we least expect them too. As for the Zantu Expanse, let the stupid, fat corporate tossers wait a little longer. It's not like those suited idiots [i]need[/i] solar farmin' equipment of all things. If anythin', [i]WE[/i] could use crap like tha' to actually keep a stable electrical supply runnin' through the ship! There's nothing worse then havin' the lights go out when I'm on my way the bathroom an' I stand on one of your hair clips!!"[/color]

The Captain turned back to the cargo containers and he could be heard mumbling to himself.
[color=007236]"Well maybe you should put your boots on!"[/color]
He was clearly imitating Tes' voice as he continued to mumble.
[color=007236]"Well maybe you should shave the other side of your head!"[/color]
Sliding the cargo lid closed, Ruce was about to check up on a second container when his female and only other crew member called down to him from the gantry again, causing him to at first glance over his shoulder and look back up at her, but soon was forced to turn around fully and look back up with her with a disappointed expression spread across his face as she listed off things wrong with the ship that were [i]apparently[/i] his fault.
[color=007236]"First, you just said yourself tha' the Expanse expect us at a certain time an' a certain place, which happens to be right here, right now, so tha's why I told you to bodge the collider-break coolant relay because otherwise, we'd be sittin' here with boxes of farmin' equipment no one wants and our thumbs up our asses! Also, we're 'ere an' the ship still flies, so I'd say your 'four hour bodge job' was a pretty damn good bodge job!"[/color]
Like a bird puffing up it's feathers when it felt threatened, Ruce took a strong stance and held his arms aside from his torso, as if he were trying to flex his muscles when looking at himself in the bathroom mirror.
[color=007236]"Secondly, who is the pilot? Tha's right, I am! I know how to fly this bird an' enterin' the gravity well of a planet this big at such a slow speed would 'ave put more pressure on the hull then I was comfortable with. I didn't want to risk blowin' the canopy or rupturin' the hull from this thing shakin' itself apart an' subsequently blastin' one or both of us into the atmosphere. Pushin' through at speed was the better approach!"[/color]

The pilot stood back up straight and pressed his fists against his hips, giving the young lady on the gantry a stern stare before he were about to point a finger and continue his retort, when Tes chucked something down to him, which fell into his waiting palm. Looking it over, it was a fuse cluster and it was bust. These things couldn't be repaired and had to be replaced instead. They were essentially like light bulbs and when the filament blew, you needed a new one.
[color=007236]"Well shit Tes, why didn't you say somethin' if this was on it's last legs? You pull this from the Hyperdrive Motivation module? How many we got left in there?"[/color]
His tone carried genuine concern upon viewing what his landing and busting through the atmosphere had caused. Still, better a fuse cluster then half the hull, right? Well the shields may have held together anyway... probably. Tossing the fuse cluster up and down a couple of times, the scruffy chinned pilot tucked the object into his jacket pocket and waved a hand to beckon his engineer down to the lower floor of the cargo hold.
[color=007236]"We still got a job to finish. Get down 'ere an' shift these containers onto a trolley or somethin' so it's ready for the Expanse to collect. I don't want those creeps settin' one foot on board this ship!"[/color]
Ruce turned tail and walked across the cargo hold, approaching the rear cargo entry ramp where he punched in a command into the console that caused a loud metallic creak as the mag locks holding the ramp closed released. Then the hiss of the hydraulics lowering down the ramp echoed through the room until daylight tore through the shadows and eventually cast a warm, welcoming glow across the whole cargo hold.

Making his way down the ramp, Ruce could see that Tes had been correct and the Zantu Expanse were already waiting for them. There were six of them in total, two were Grannoks, large humanoid creatures with rock-like skin dressed in their cultures suits and looked pretty terrifying in all honestly. You'd not wanna get into a fist fight with one of these lads. Or a drinking contest. Or anything really. They always looked like they were in bad moods, with their rocky faces having thick protruding brows giving them permanent frowns. The other 4 were Urin, also humanoid but clearly alien due to their blue skin, pupil-less eyes and four arms. These guys were guards and they were armed, each having a pulse rifle and stun battons. Looked like they were carrying grenades too, EMP at a glance.
[color=007236]"My friends!!"[/color]
Ruce bellowed out heartily and spread his arms as if welcoming an old friend.
[color=red]"Cut the crap Benner. Just hand over our cargo and get lost. You've already wasted enough of our time."[/color]
Ruce's arms fell and his expression turned saddened.
[color=007236]"Aww, c'mon guys! Be coal. You guys work too hard, too much pressure you know? If you create a scene here, pebble are gonna stop an' stare. We've got your order, safe an' sound an' still in one piece! Tes is bringin' it out for you now, so just sit tight a little longer an' our business will be concluded."[/color]
The Grannoks didn't look to happy and glanced at each other for a moment, as if they just spoke telepathically or something. The Urin just remained standing in silence, their stareless eyes watching the pilot, keeping their weapons close. It was very hard to tell which way these aliens were looking, but Ruce could assume they were keeping a keen eye on that dagger in his holster. Yeah, because that dagger was really going to do some damage to a Grannok. Well, maybe if you stabbed one of them in their eye it might. Still, the Urin seemed to acknowledge this and thus is why they hadn't asked the Captain to disarm himself.