"Mr. Jaggard..."
"'Oddfather'," the man stressed, climbing into the lifepod already crammed with Sabato the lying snake and a pile of old emergency batteries, worth good money to recycle - and unstable as hell.
"Don't go to the surface! It's not safe..."
"It's a lifepod, 'n't it?" the gangster snorted. "You know, Uncle Tony loved ya kid, but yer just adopted, ain't one intelligent brain cell in dat head of yours. But I'll take care of ya iffen you just get on board."

The bastard grinned, patting the seat next to him with a hopeful grin.

Billie stepped back, shaking her head. 
"Sorry," she told him. "I have to stay here." [i]Where it's safe. -Ish.[/i]
"Don't say I didn't offer," he shrugged, closing the hatch. Alarms blared into life, then moments later the pod dropped, its little rocket motor flaring to life as the pod's autopilot started its long path towards the surface.

"You idiot," she muttered, brushing a strand of her ginger hair out of her face as she turned away. "There's Metacer down there. They're not going to listen to your talk, even if you survive in that 'lifepod'."

It was a good thing nobody was around, this being the farthest spot from the main concourse. Seeing the directory sign ahead, she paused, then turned down another corridor, heading towards 'The Drink.' 

[i]Just another example why you shouldn't let an engineer name anything, must less a bar.[/i]

[hr]

The heat in the bar was staggering, but she welcomed it, it was a nice change from the air-condition repair shop. Her manager kept it bitterly cold in there, claiming how heat was the bane of electronics. 

[i]Maybe cheap electronics[/i], she scowled as she made her way to the bar. A man with a rifle was standing next to the bar by another man, introducing himself. 

"Name’s Lopez by the way,” he added, “Engineering, Eden Defense Force. I don’t do pep talks. I fix things.”

People were muttering among themselves as Lopez sat down, talking to the guy next to him. [i]EDF too?[/i]

For a change, everyone was still looking at him while she made her way towards the bar, leaving a seat open between Lopez and herself as she flagged the bartender over, who was already puffing up at the sight of her.

"Hey!" she told him, flashing her bank card. "Larry! Let's not go through this again! I'm legit, I work here, and who's left to complain to? Just get me a beer without the hassle. Honestly, you'd deny a burnt a drink, wouldn't you?"

It was a pity she never got to learn how to pilot something like that colony ship. She'd never taken a ride out before on a Skrim Drive, this station was the farthest she'd been from the planet below. What was the odds she'd get a chance now?