One Stone at a Time (DFA Legacy)

Mason hadn’t been adjusting to this new life very well.  He paid attention during the classes, but this was a massive cultural shift for him...It was too big, too much to take in at any one time.  Raven had seemed to take to these people like a duck to water, and that gave him some very serious moments of doubt.  Why wasn’t he catching on as fast as she was?  Maybe he wasn’t the right call to take Lance Command...he focused his eyes again, he’d been staring off into space.  The “Elemental” he’d been looking in the general direction of seemed more perturbed than usual.  


“You have a problem with your eyes, Surat?”  She was coming across the bay, and she looked like she was ready for a fight.  The rest of the civilian staff of the Jade Falcons cleared a wide berth and gave the warrior her space.  


“No, Point Commander.”  He averted his eyes and tried not to provoke her any further.  She’d been the most foul tempered Jade Falcon he’d had the pleasure of meeting in their time on Anywhere, and she seemed to have an astonishingly intense dislike of him.


“Then why were you staring?”  The distance had been closed and she was invading his personal space like it was a planet.  


“I uh…”  That sinking feeling in his stomach sucked the words out of his mind.  He’d seen what people like her had done to his first mech, and that dread followed him just about everywhere he went.  He felt her hands lift him up, bringing him to eye level.  


“I asked you a question.”  


“Point Commander Farraday, as much as i am certain that we would all love to see you teach this simple spheroid the manners that he so richly needs to learn, if you put him in the hospital or the morgue, it will delay us loading the dropship.  The Star Colonel has a very specific timeline for getting these units offworld, and you know how much he hates delays.”  


“Stay out of this, old man.”  


“I would never dream to interfere in warrior caste business, but i do need him to help finish loading the dropship.”  Her head turned to face the old man, who wore the markings of the Technician Caste.  Mason still had trouble figuring out who did what, but he knew this wasn’t how days like this were supposed to go.  Warriors ran the universe in Clan Society.  


“Perhaps after you finish getting the ship loaded you can fix the targeting array on my suit’s laser.”  


“I would be very happy to take a look at it personally, after the ship is loaded and the Trinary is off world.”  


“Show the surat, how to fix it, i may keep him as my personal technician when he fails his test of position.”  


“I’ll even go so far as to find you a bottle of that Black Rum you like, and make sure it finds its way to you.”  The Technician knew the right words and the right incentives to calm the annoyed elemental down.  


“Make sure he keeps his eyes to himself, in the future, Thane.”  


“Well, if he makes his trial of position, i can’t help with that, but as long as he’s working in here, i will see that he offers appropriate surkai should he offend again.”  


She dropped Mason like a sack of vegetables and went back to the work she was doing.  The old technician looked down at him, a wry smile crossing his face.   He extended a hand, helping Mason back to his feet.  


“If i were you, I’d avoid antagonizing Farraday.  She has a remarkably short fuse for a Trueborn, and she does not have many good uses for Freeborns. “


“Thanks, i think?  How are you getting away with using contractions?”  


“I be naught but a humble freebirth, accepted into the Technician Caste despite my limitations.  At my age, any corrective measures to improve my behavior would impair my ability to make sure that things go smoothly.”  


“That doesn’t make a lot of sense….”


“Sure it does.  Say you’ve got a hunting bird, you’ve trained it for years to perform specific tasks.  Over the years, it’s gotten to know you and your habits extremely well and the two of you work better because of that familiarity.  As it gets older, it picks up a couple of odd habits that don’t impair it’s ability to do the tasks you trained it for.  Do you replace the bird and start over with a brand new one that you have to train all over again?”  


“I guess not?”


“That would be a waste of resources, and of the many things the Clans do, waste resources is not one of them.”  


“That makes sense kind of.”  


“Of course it does.  Now help me get these last pods loaded, and we can get this ship off the ground before the Star Colonel comes to find out why it isn’t airborne.”  


Mason nodded and started hauling the heavy crates from the floor of the bay to the loading dock.  “Wouldn’t this be easier with a load lifter exoskeleton?”  


“If you wanted an easy end to your day, you should have told Farraday you wanted to couple with her.  Not sure your pelvis could handle the shock of it, but that would be an easy way out of your responsibilities for the day.”   Mason looked up at him with a confused expression.


“You don’t sleep with women?  That’s fine, I’m sure you can find companionship if you go looking for it.”  


“It’s not that, but why would i just tell her i wanted to sleep with her?”


The old man returned his confused expression.  “Because you wanted to sleep with her?  This isn’t astrophysics or electrical engineering.  You like her, hopefully she likes you.  You couple, blow off some steam and go back to your regularly scheduled duties?”


“And your society works that way?”  


“Yours doesn’t?”  


They both replied “weird.” to each other and Thane got him back to work loading crates for the dropship.  


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