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A Chance Encounter (Hahvy and I)

B

Broomhandle45

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He knew that if he didn't leave now, he never would. He still wasn't sure if he really wanted to leave, but he knew that staying here gave him nothing. He also knew that going into space would give him slightly more of nothing, but..at least then he'd be somewhere else and be doing something worthwhile. It came to settle in a little clearer when he drove the worn down truck down the old road, in the back was a mobile suit covered by a tarp. This would be the last time he'd be heading into town where the actual spaceport was, well..it was actually the only spaceport on the entire planet. You wouldn't think there'd be a planet out there that was so sparse, but some of them had gotten so lucky to have that peace and quiet.

Finn was tired of every moment of it, and he had found someone willing to trade a ship for a mobile suit. An actual ship! Who knew why someone would ever want that, but Finn wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth as the saying went. He didn't know why the guy wanted to part with his ship so bad, but he wasn't going to ask too many questions when the ship came back legal, sure..it was a bit of a junker..but what was Finn expecting when he was trading a single mobile suit for it?

The old man looked more than a little weary, but he had just gotten onto Frontier and he seemed to be more than happy to be here. Finn was wagering that he had just recently gotten his land legs considering how exhausted he seemed, hear tell things felt a little different in space and all that. Maybe it was just hearsay from a bunch of hopeful rednecks.

“Here she is, son.” The man smiled, motioning to the docked ship behind him. Finn's eyes widened just a little at the sight of her. Sure, she was a little bit beaten and broken..but it was a perfect ship for the kind of work he needed! It looked little more than two rectangles with a bridge in the front, an old worn down mobile suit carrier!

Absolutely perfect! There was immense space in those damn things! Finn had barely time to show him his mobile suit before they shook hands and he was given all the paperwork, he knew how to operate a vessel at least. He had spent plenty of time with the nearby Federation forces in patching up the occasional mobile suit and other various work, but that was all on the surface of Frontier..now he was actually going to be in space! He would work on mobile suits galaxy wide! There was nowhere he couldn't go!
–

And that..was three months ago. Three months ago, his ship wasn't filled with mobile suit scrap and he hadn't traveled half the galaxy in an attempt for a consistent method of work. Not that mobile suit scrap wasn't a fine enough process, as well as the occasional good deed to the underfunded forces around certain parts..but that didn't make him feel any less jaded. Finn sure still felt like a hick out of his element, but now he looked like a scraggly mess. Finn was never an imposing man, but looking like a bum probably helped him look homeless. But he still had enough to dock in a nearby colony, on the southern side of the Orion Arm by the name of Giga. A nice little place that was closer to the Earth than he had ever been, these kinds of colonies were fancy and up to date.

Also ridiculously expensive to dock in, but he still needed supplies. Important supplies such as instant ramen and cheap filtered water. Which he was currently downing in the cockpit of his ship, staring at the bright lights of Giga and the darkness of space behind it. Well, this..wasn't exactly the kind of experience he was hoping for..but it was his own experience. Scraping by day to day by bumming off repairs and doing it slightly cheaper than the competitors to give himself a decent name, for all that was worth.
He wondered what it was like in the ritzier parts of a colony, it was pretty crazy how close they got. If it wasn't for the weird feeling he got inside one, he'd almost swear he was on another planet entirely. Finn sighed slightly, slurping on his noodles.

Oh well, he was away from home and finally living his dirty, unwashed hick dream. Living off every little bit of cash because he had to have some giant junker of a ship..
 
"Don't you have to go home, Huo?"

“No. Why, do you want me to leave, Fraygen? Do you hate me now?”

“No! That’s not it…it’s just getting kind of late and you know how--”

“Fraygen, unless you wanna lose your tongue, I suggest you refrain from mentioning that man.”

Huo heard a soft sigh to her right as she leaned back against a column in the Old District of Giga Colony. Old District had been the first district to be made on Giga when it first came into creation. It wasn’t a new colony, but it wasn’t an old colony either. However, because of it’s proximity to the Earth, it became populated very fast and cities bloomed like flowers sprayed with nitrogen rich fertilizer. However, Old District had been left behind and was a shell of what it had been. Some of the upper class families lived on this colony, those just barely beyond reach of being called wealthy beyond a doubt. Those families lived close to the fake azure sky towers that the dome of the colony created. An illusionary paradise. More like a gilded prison. Old District housed some of the shadier people of the colony as well as some of the most fascinating. Fraygen lived just on the edge of the district with his family. Huo did not.

“But you are right, Fray. I do love pissing him off, but it’s starting to get closer to that time again. Best not be caught out here unawares.” Huo said to the air after a long silence, rising to her feet. Stretching out her back, arms to the fake sky, she turned her dark blue eyes to her friend. They both looked like street urchins, well, a little better than street urchins but it didn’t matter to them. Huo preferred looking more like “the common folk” as that man said all the time. Being privileged was part of that cage she wanted to escape from and Fraygen helped her escape with their adventures. Hearing the red head climb to his feet, she took his hand once it held hers and watched the fake stars wink against the ceiling of the dome. Some ominous feeling stirred in her heart.

“You should find yourself a good woman, Fray,” she said suddenly, voice loud in the silence. Fraygen said nothing but sighed before replying that he would. He knew that Huo was going to leave this colony one day and probably never come back. He had just been waiting for her to say it. He held her hand tight before releasing it. Huo heard his foot steps as he walked away before the artificial wind carried his words of, “be careful, my love,” to her pierced ears. Smiling despite the knowledge that she wouldn’t know if she would ever see him again, Huo grabbed her hoverboard [much like Earth skateboards] and took off towards her home…in the Gilded District.

Once within range of her beautifully disgusting home, Huo could already hear the screaming. It didn’t help that she had six older brothers who were about five years older than her starting from the youngest. That man was home and she already dreaded walking into the house. Turning off her board, she held it under her arm while she fished a cigarette out of her pocket of her torn-up jeans. Lighting it up, she took a heavy drag before leaning against a tree. As much as everything in the colony was artificial, she was pleased to know that the trees and flowers were real. It made it bearable to live on this colony. Well, almost. Taking another drag, allowing her mind to relax, Huo could almost imagine what it would be like to live on her own. Barely nineteen years young and she already felt like an old woman. Stretching her mind begin to count the seconds.

5...4...3...2...1-

“HUO!”

“Well, at least I don’t have to announce myself…” she muttered, cigarette hanging out of her mouth. Cracking her wrists, she turned from the tree and headed towards the front door which had been thrown open, her eldest brother Natsu looking like he’d rather be out with her than have to bring her inside. They were the closest of the siblings, believe it or not, and knew that this was not going to turn out well. He had a look of dread, which meant that man was throwing a fit. Typical. She wondered what it was that she was in trouble for now. It didn’t take her long to figure it out once she got inside, giving her eldest brother a wink.
“You have a lot of explaining to do!” Her father said, pointing an accusing finger at her once she was inside. Handing her board to Natsu, she was polite enough to put out her cigarette before bothering to answer him, especially when he began to rant about her smoking in the house and smoking in general. Blah, blah, blah. Her other brothers were hanging out around the foyer in varied positions, most looking smug. Well, whatever it was that she had done, she would handle on her own. She always did after all.

“Explaining about what? What could I have possibly done to earn such ire? I haven’t even been home today,” she said, tone one of innocence and sarcasm. Her father’s face turned red, his brown eyes wide with anger. She swore he was going to have a stroke with the way his blood pressure went up. Yet she couldn’t help but be amused when he finally pulled himself together enough to start screaming at her.

“You! You changed all of the alarm systems in the house and on my office door at work! What the fuck were you thinking?! I was delayed from doing my job for five fucking hours while the engineers fixed what you did! Why do you do these things?! Why can’t you just be a lady like your mother? Or your aunts! Why can’t you be normal!?” She listened to him go on and on for a few more minutes, feeling the words barely sink in. You’d think a father would be proud to know that their daughter was able to completely fuck with government programs and reprogram them to change if the correct coding wasn’t placed into the system. But nope. She was too much of a freak for her father to see that she was actually smart. Had called her stupid since she could remember because she wouldn’t be what he wanted: a presentable young woman. Not even that, she just couldn’t fit into this mold that he had wanted. He had wanted a daughter and had lost his wife in the process. She was a stain on his life as far as she could tell. An ugly stain.

“I wish you had never been born, you murderer…” She heard her father whisper after his anger seemed to have run its course. He probably hadn’t meant for her to hear it, but the words had been spoken and the deed had been done. It hurt. She had heard him say it once before to her mother’s twin, Aunt Marcie, who had slapped him so hard he saw stars, but she knew. They all knew. No one wanted her. She was blamed for the death of her mother, after all. Not the doctors, or that she had been older than she should have been when she got pregnant with Huo, but Huo herself. She swallowed down the anguish, feeling her shoulders shake as Natsu’s hand landed on her shoulder, whispering that it wasn’t true. That she wasn’t a murderer. Maybe he was the only one who saw that.

“Dad, you don’t mean that,” Terrin said, looking at his brothers and Huo. They didn’t hate her, but she had always felt the distance between them that they didn’t know what to do with her nor did they really want to know her. She was family but….well, she was family.

“You think I wanted to be born into this ridiculous family where all you care about is your status and your image? Go to hell and take this family with you. I’m done with you and your worthless, condescending, spiteful, degrading corpse of a father! I’m leaving this fucking colony and never coming back. Kiss my ass good bye!” Looking up at her father with a grin of anger and hatred, she gave him the finger before running out of the house and around it, taking the secret route to get into her room and grab her things. She heard screaming, yelling, things falling over as her family scrambled to restrain their father and catch her. She snuck into the window of her room and grabbed her bag, throwing any clothes that she could find into it. It wasn’t a big bag, but it would hold enough for what she needed. She grabbed her money cards that linked to her own secret account, some jewelry her father had bought to hawk at some pawnbroker, and her mother’s ring. She tucked it into her pocket before grabbing the photograph of her mother and Natsu and took back off out the window. She needed a plan and she needed one fast. Where was she going to go besides the spaceport to get off this stupid colony? A plan, a plan, a plan…

“Daddy dearest’s work…” She said with a grin. It didn’t matter how much trouble she got into, she was going to do it. She was going to sneak into a government facility and do what no one on the colony had done before.

Steal a mobile suit prototype.
 
Finn wasn't exactly a man with a business or even really much more than a random ad placed in networks in the colony for work, he got by from selling scrap parts from his old mobile suit carrier..which could undoutably house about ten or fifteen mobile suits was instead crammed to the brim with half run down mobile suits that he junked and scrapped for money. He'd attract the hobbyist, the hardcore mobile suit nut that thought they were building the perfect in-house customized Zaku I that nobody outside of their little circle gave a damn about, but as his Dad always said..he wasn't happy if he wasn't messing with something.

So those sort of nerds were his people in a way, and his ship was their playground. Sometimes he had to mark things a little lower just to get some cash flow going, other times he had a civilian mobile suit that needed some tinkering. He had his own mobile suit, of course..just a Zaku II that he managed to get a good deal on, because he pretty much had to restore it himself. And Zaku parts were like stars in the sky to find.

Part of him found it rather funny that people looked at him weird, hearing him talk was like he was speaking another language. He had never thought much of it, but most of the colonial people spoke so..crisply and firm, and he had a bit of a drawl to every word. Sometimes he was wondering if he was getting business simply for the novelty of a redneck fiddling with their giant robots, other times he hoped his accent meant they got a little loose with their money. The part that really rather dug at him was the fact that..heh, this was the same crap he was doing on Frontier..but now he could just fly around instead.

Yep, you really showed your family Finn. You showed them that you could be a lazy mechanic in space! He thought more than a little bitterly to himself as he rummaged around his collection of parts, tossing out what was useless and keeping what wasn't. Well, at least he was making some decent money here..sometimes it paid to take a risk..but paying for another day of rent here was going to be a pain in the ass. Maybe it was best if he headed out come the morning. Nothing really exciting to be had here, but what was he expecting? The Orion Arm was probably the more stable part of the Milky Way, and so close to Earth it was so tightly controlled by the Federation that it was near impossible to cause any problems.

So there was no need to worry about wayward pirates in this sort of space!
 
It took about an hour or so to get to her father’s work and the facility still had lights on in various parts of the building, but that wasn’t exactly where she was headed. She needed to find a certain door. There were guards hanging out in various spots but she knew how to get around undetected. Even with the incident from earlier and the amped up security, she knew this place like the back of her hand. She had snuck into it more times than she could remember and they still didn’t know how she did it. They never would either. Feeling along the south wall, soon she found the niche in the stonework and pressed the button. A door soon slid open on oiled tracks to her left, a small space becoming visible. Glancing around, she made she wasn’t followed as she slipped into the facility, the door sealing up behind her. An old engineer who had helped build the facility had told her about the door he had created since he had liked to sneak out to have a smoke break or have private conversations. She wasn’t above bribery so she had often brought him sweets so she could hear his stories of Earth and the other colonies. Space had seemed like a beautiful dream back then.

“But I can go there…” She said into the darkness as she pulled her goggles on and clicked the night vision mode. Soon the room was bathed in a green light in her line of vision as she walked amongst the various machines and large components. She had to be careful. Guards usually didn’t monitor this area as well as the other parts of the facility because there wasn’t an exit except for where the gundam could be loaded or unloaded and so she had to turn the alarm off. It would take some finesse to turn the alarm off to one single door but it could be done. She knew the code and the back up code to make sure that the security system didn’t register the turning off of the alarm. Moving quietly amongst the farther wall, she moved around various objects to find the security panel that was hidden under a set of stairs. Taking out her small tool kit, she selected a small screwdriver and very carefully removed the screws holding the panel cover in place. Popping that off, she placed it on the ground before taking out a small code puncher from her pocket. It had a connection cable that had to be plugged in to a tiny component on that panel. Locating it in the upper left corner, she clipped the cable into place and let the screen on her code puncher light up. Very quickly, she punched in the new seven digit code that had been upgraded for the day and then the back-up code that had been imbedded into the system once it had become active. It was a tricky process because you had to wait exactly five seconds before punching in the second code. If you were off by even a second-

“Gotcha,” the light on her code reader turned green then red and she unclipped it from the panel, putting it back in her pocket. Screwing the cover back into place, she put her tools away and slipped out from under the stairs, carefully looking around for any guards. She couldn’t be too careful. She wanted off this piece of garbage colony. Heading towards the assembly hanger, Huo set her eyes on one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen. She smiled as she looked up at the prototype that had been codenamed Epyon. The black and red armor sparkled in her vision as she touched the giant foot that was before her. The cool metal was smooth beneath her hand, already making her fall in love. She hadn’t seen any pictures of the prototype, just the schematics when she had broke into her father’s office and rummaged through his files. The interior was a different kind of system from what some of the mobile suits had been given so it was about body movement with a computer system that read the signatures the body produced. It was complicated, but it was also simple at the same time.

“At least…I hope it is,” she murmured to herself. Suddenly, the lights went on in the bay and she swore before diving under a nook made by a bunch of boxes. The silence in the hanger made her able to hear all the voices.

“Man, I hate doing night watch sometimes. This hanger only has action during the day.” Footsteps were above her head from at least forty feet up as people walked along the metal bridge/walkway that connected all the hangers together and made it easier for the engineers to work on the gundams. From the sounds of it, it sounded like either two or four people. They bitched about their job and then talked about the latest happenings in their lives, yaddah, yaddah, until eventually the voices faded. She didn’t relax though. She stayed silent until the lights went off about fifteen minutes later. If she hadn’t been able to hide under something, she would have definitely been caught.

“That was too close…better make this fast,” quickly, she find the stairs that led up to the walkway that connected to Epyon. Eventually she made it to the machine and stared at it’s face. How did she get it to open again? Staring at it for a moment, scratching her head, she tried to remember where in the schematics it said how to open up the---

“Oh….that’s how, I guess.” The chest of the gundam opened up, showing her the interior of the cockpit. She would have to jump to get into the machine, but she wondered how it had happened. Looking at the face, the eyes weren’t lit so she didn’t even know if it was on. Staring at it for a few more seconds, she nodded her head at it before taking a leap off the walkway. Landing on the open hatch, she slipped into the cockpit as the hatch closed behind her. Depositing her things inside the cockpit, she glanced around in awe. The inside glowed as it came to life at her touch, pressing various buttons to get the machine running. She disengaged the locking mechanism that held the gundam in place and settled herself into the body reader as she liked to call it. Her feet were set into the foot grooves and her hands gripped the joysticks that controlled the arms of the robot as the straps secured her arms and legs. As the screen before her came to life [after she had slipped off her goggles] her eyes took in all the component read outs and view of the world through the gundam’s eyes. It was like being in another world.

“All right, Epyon…You ready to break out of here and get off this garbage bin?” As the locks fully disengaged, she felt the gundam lurch at her touch before she evened out, knowing that if anyone heard that, they would be fucked. Murmuring things to herself, she used her code reader to open the bay door to let the gundam out. It was too loud for her to handle and as soon as it was open, she marched the gundam out of the door. It was tough on her body to move the gundam, but eventually she got used to the motions. Yet she knew that as much as she wanted to be quiet, she had the feeling that she was definitely going to be followed. Oh well! As she piloted the gundam, she found the controls acted like an extension of herself, much like how she felt when she was riding her hoverboard. She found the right combination to get it into the air and was soon flying, the wings unlocking and spreading out. She screamed inside her cockpit at the feeling of flying, heading towards the spaceport. It wouldn’t take long for the authorities to catch wind of a stolen gundam so she made sure to make haste.

Once at the spaceport, she disengaged the wings, managing to make at least a decent landing as she looked for a suitable ship. Where was she to go? Seeing a kind of piece of shit ship that was within range, she had Epyon fly over and land in front of it. Hoping someone was there, she projected her voice with the microphone program.

“HEY! WHOEVER IS IN THERE! TAKE ME TO SPACE PRONTO!”
 
It was the end to a normally dull day when he plopped himself down in the cockpit seat, more than happy to flick on the colony news. But it wasn't on today, instead it was a flashing news beacon as he opened up his dinner of ramen, good thing he was fond of ramen. But even he got sick of it after a while, unfortunately he wasn't rich enough to eat anything else for the time being.

This is Channel 6 News with the latest report, a mobile suit prototype has been stolen from a R&D lab south of- Normally, Finn would have paid attention to the actual news..but when the entire ship shakes and you're suddenly staring at a mobile suit that you had never seen before in your life, some things just take priority.

“HEY! WHOEVER IS IN THERE! TAKE ME TO SPACE PRONTO!” Finn blinked softly at that, glancing down at the news. Let's see here..mobile suit prototype? Possibly, stolen? Given the desperate nature of the young sounding thief, most likely. He hesitated a moment, scratching his scruffy chin in minor thought..on one hand, he didn't have much choice..on the other he could just be ignorant. But the tone of her voice brought back that damn urge that he absolutely hated.

So he flicked a switch, and one of the squares on the ship opened up, tall enough for a mobile suit to fit.

"Get in," . He sent back.

He was such a fucking idiot.
 
“Get in.”

When she heard the voice reply after a square in the ship opened up, she almost couldn’t believe that the man had agreed to let her on board. Maneuvering Epyon with more luck than skill, Huo managed to eventually get the gundam inside of the ship and stable. Turning off the gundam, she unstrapped herself from the controls and grabbed her gear, opening the hatch to get out. A little attachment seemed to be attached to the gundam by her head and she tugged on it to reveal what looked like a cable. Huh, so that was how she was supposed to get out. Pulling on it, she slipped her foot into the loop and stepped off the hatch, making a slow decent to the ground. Releasing it, it zipped back up into its compartment before the hatch shut itself. That was…pretty sweet. Grinning ear to ear, Huo looked around the ship, feeling like a child in a candy store. She’d never been inside of a ship before and she was amazing to see all the parts and storage bins and other various objects. It was a piece of crap, but it was still a wonderful machine. But how did she get to the cockpit of the ship? Glancing around, she managed to find a busted looking intercom system and quickly went to work checking the circuits and electronic components underneath the panel. It was actually in pretty decent shape and just needed a few—she heard a loud crackle noise before it finally settled. Testing the button, she heard it click on like it should though with some static. Well, she couldn’t fix everything.

“Hey, captain guy! Thanks for letting me on, now let’s get off this garbage bin of a colony! Also…how do I get to you? I don’t know how to navigate a ship.” Clicking off her end of the intercom, she waited patiently, which was very hard to do. Rummaging through her bag, she found her picture of Natsu and her mother and smiled widely. She was going to space. Just like her mother had. How fucking cool was that?! Now if only that captain guy would answer her…
 
Boy, this pretty much screamed of the worst idea that Finn had ever done. Worse than the one time he slept with his friend's little sister and found out she was already getting married, that got awkward..and violent. Awklent. Still, the voice on the other end sounded young and even more so when she was talking so cheerfully. He sighed heavily as he flicked the com open, she really had no damn idea..did she?

"Take the elevator at your far left, it'll take you up to the bridge." He mumbled, already flicking his engines onto life. This could be his last chance! He could just contact the authorities outside and that would be that! He could be some sort of big goddamn hero, but no. No, he couldn't have things be that simple now could he? No, no..he had to make his life a living hell because it was someone who asked him for help. Threatened, really..which should have made him immune.

And yet she sounded desperate, was it desperate because she wanted a ship and she was going to put a bullet in his head the moment she came up?

Could he even BE so lucky? That wouldn't be complicated, but him pulling out of the spaceport while the camera feeds no doubt sucked in every second of the stolen mobile suit going into his ship was complicated, very complicated. He hoped the damn girl was at least cute.
 
“Well, all right then.” After hearing the directions for how to get to the bridge…thing, Huo soon looked for the elevator. Finding it, she almost wondered if the thing was stable before just getting on it and pressing the button to get to the bridge. It was a smoother ride than she expected and was soon up at the bridge. She hated to leave Epyon alone, but she didn’t have much choice in the matter. Plus, she had to meet this captain guy. Taking out her small mirror, she checked her make-up and hair, adjusted her clothes. It was girly, but it was the only thing really girly that she allowed herself to do. Otherwise, she was too much like a guy to really be girly. She did have six male siblings after all. Once the elevator stopped, she put her mirror away and picked her bag and board back up. Looking around, she was once again amazed at all the electronics that were housed in the ship. The LEDs, the buttons, the monitors, the circuit boards and control panels; all of it was just amazing.

“Wow…so this is the inside of a ship…” Huo said, glancing around still until she landed on who could only be the captain guy from earlier. She could only see the back of his head until she wandered around to get a better look at him. He wasn’t bad looking at all; a bit scruffy and banged up, definitely older, but not bad to look at over all. Plus, he had vibrant blue eyes like sapphires. The blond hair was different as most people on the colony had darker colored hair. Hers was almost white though, something she had inherited from some distant predecessor of hers. It was also lightly dyed pink and green and cute very short in an almost pixy like way.

“So you must be the captain guy. I’m Huo.” Standing at about five three without her boots and currently standing at five six with them on, the slender but curvy blond extended her dirty hand with a grin that was both infectious as it was scary.
 
The pit of dread in his stomach seemed to intensify to cancer the moment she spoke, he was a little too focused on getting the ship out of dock for the moment to really look at her. But dammit, he didn't want to look at the reason that he was probably making the worst choice ever. This wasn't him, no. Dammit, yes it was. He did this crap all the time back home, but it was more things that pissed off parents and friends..not put him in jail. Did colonies even do that? Oh, dammit..why did he have to THINK about this!?

But regardless, he eventually could turn to face her with a heavy sigh as he regarded her a moment to scratch at his chin before his dirty, calloused hand shook hers. She got her hands messy getting that thing out of there, which made him think that this was even worse than he originally thought.

"..Finn," he said, his voice slightly deep and carrying what people seemed to call a 'planetary drawl'. His voice made him stick out like a sore thumb, and in this kind of situation? He was so goddamn screwed. "You'd better strap in, you've already been on the news and we're probably going to be getting some company." He said, tilting his head towards the seat next to him.
 
Finn? What an interesting name and accent…

He did seem particularly bothered by her being on the ship [and she wasn’t stupid enough to assume that she wasn’t being a huge gigantic bother] but he had still helped her so consequences be damned! Moving past him, she settled into the seat next to him and looked at the strapping mechanism. Huh, what an odd thing. It wasn’t like that of the cars, but more like a harness. Okay, so maybe it went this way and then that way…

“Got it,” she said, hearing the snick as the buckle locked into place like it should. She wondered how durable these things were and if they would actually hold her into the seat if they crashed against something. Well, if they crashed in space, they would probably die so being held into her seat was the least of her worries. She knew though that this was serious yet she couldn’t let herself think that way. She now had a gundam prototype in her possession that she could analyze and recalibrate to her specifications as well as a ship where she could gather any spare parts she might need. She didn’t know what kind of parts the gundam would require yet but from the looks of things, Finn was the handyman in that type of area. She was more of the programs expert than a parts expert, at least when it came to more complicated machines. However, she hoped that Finn would teach her a thing or two about parts work.

“Just so you know, I don’t say this very often, but thank you.”
 
"Meh," the man replied, with as much as enthusiasm as a man realizing he had doomed himself could muster. "Don't worry about it, I seem to make a living in making sure my life is utter hell..might as well die interesting than die bored, eh?" He replied, tapping his radar a moment once it flicked on properly. They were fine for now, but they were barely five minutes out until security warnings already started wailing.

"..Hope you can pilot that suit of yours, girl." He sighed, already charting a course on the autopilot. Shit, shit, shit, shit..
 
"You're such a pessimist," she murmured, watching the radar flicker to life. If this ship had the same OS as some of the machines on Giga, she would be able to initiate her reversal program using the ship's programs and signal sensor. Did it have one of those? She wasn't sure. Biting her lip, she soon was rummaging through her bag trying to find some of her cables and code reader device. Finding it and some of the cables and tools that she needed, she soon started hooking the cables to the small but effective device, humming as her hands moved quickly to assemble what she needed to use. The code screen flashed green before turning white with a small 0 blinking at her. Looking at Finn, she tapped her fingers against her leg.

"What kind of OS system does this ship have? I just need to know so I can get the authorities off of us." Looking back at the code screen, she started tapping a few numbers, fingers moving so fast that several codes were implemented and activated while she waited for him to answer. If this ship carried an older OS, it would take more coding to crack into it and access all the files. If it was a newer OS, it had a much more solid flow with the code and file linkups that she'd be able to hack into and use the necessary components to activate the reversal code that she had lovingly named the, "Sayonara Program." When she had been arrested the first time, she had managed to imbed the code into the police station's security network but it had had bugs and had malfunctioned the second time she had been arrested. So that had been fixed but not completely. So finally the third time she had been arrested she had managed to fix all the bugs and get it to run smoothly. Hence why she hadn't been arrested since and didn't plan on getting caught now. Especially not with an unknowing accomplice.
 
"An old one, hell if I know." Finn shrugged. "One that works, the hell is that thing anyway? What's going on?" Great, was his ship being hacked..could this get any better today? The security alarms still blaring, and his radar blipping from the three mobile suits coming in on his ship certainly weren't helping his mood in the slightest. Well, this was proving to be a very bad idea..but he stuck with it regardless as he increased the speed of his ship. The autopilot would do the rest, if Finn had to handle matters..he doubted this was going over easy.

"The hell did you steal that thing from, anyway?" He muttered, unclipping out of his seat.
 
"Useless. I'll just have to figure it out when I jack in," she muttered, using her small screwdriver to pop open part of the control panel in front of her. Finding the correct connector, she hooked up one of the cables before finding three other spots for the other cables. The code screen turned red before flashing some numbers at her and she frowned before dialing in the proper code. Using the panel's buttons, she managed to locate the central file for the OS and scooted around it's protocols before finally managing to get the old system under her control. It took longer than she wanted it to but finally, the screen turned green with the control code and she typed it into the panel itself. The screen before her on the panel flickered to life showing her the security pathway to the mobile suits that were chasing them. Good, good, but still not good enough.

"I'll need you to fly this thing a little faster, otherwise, all the work that I'll get done will be for nothing." Pressing a few more buttons into the code reader, she started using just the panel, accessing some of the computer system files inside of the mobile suits. The data streamed very fast but her eyes picked it up as she used the ship's older OS to hack into the newer OS. Because of the ancient technology compared to the modern tech, it didn't have the same back ups as it would for newer system attacks. She managed to find a "back door" so to speak using this ship's system. It was tricky and made her thoughts burn from all the knowledge she had to dig up, but eventually she managed to hack into one of the mobile suits.

"Where's the file...where's the file..." she murmured to herself, trying to find the encoded and embedded file. Biting her lip, fingers moving furiously over the buttons, she finally located the Sayonara Program. Bingo! Quickly, she typed in the algorithm needed to activate the program before looking at Finn.

"Watch this." The code reader started flashing red at her before the screen in the panel flashed the words, "Program active. Navigation system disabled. Control system disabled. Rerouted to Old District Sector Nineteen. Sayonara." Watching the radar, she saw the mobile suit she had hacked start to veer off course before completely turning around. Grinning from ear to ear, she quickly started getting to work hacking the other mobile suits using the same back door. It wasn't going to be easy, but she knew that they couldn't top her prowess with the security systems and hidden coding. Pilots were trained to handle bad situations, but definitely not a hacker. The systems were meant to be close to unhackable.

Well, they would be to anyone else who hadn't been trained by the man who had created the systems and then revamped them.
 
"Nag, nag, nag.." He muttered, tugging on the throttle more than a little smugly as the ship lurched forward. Good thing the little brat was all snug and warm in her harness, he was used to the jerky movements. Poor engine was a little bit thick these days, but he certainly couldn't help but notice that the radar blips were slowly falling out of range. And he glanced at the girl with a raised brow, scratching his scruffy chin yet again. Oh yeah, he was in the deep shit wasn't he? There was no other explanation he could really think over, here a girl comes with a fancy prototype..shows up on the news..and what, does some hacking magic?

What next, she was going to sleep with him and he was going to wake up with a gun to his forehead? Ugh.

"Well, isn't that cute of you." He mumbled, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Nice work..Huo, wasn't it?" Well, better than being arrested...
 
"And...done. And yes, it's Huo, you cheeky old man." Wiping sweat from her forehead, she disassembled her little creation and puts her tools and cables back into her bag, sealing the panel back up. She felt wired from all the action and jittery in her seat. She didn't want to just sit there, she wanted to walk around and do something. Unlocking the harness, she soon stood up and stretched before looking down at Finn. He seemed almost unfazed by all of this and yet she knew differently. But what made a man help a stranger? He had to have been watching the news. A stolen gundam didn't take long to get on the news after all. Maybe he was an adrenaline junky? Or maybe looking for excitement? However, the "controllers of the known universe" as she liked to call the governments of the colonies, would soon be after them with larger forces. However, the only way they would be able to locate the gundam would be by the locator chip...which she had conveniently disabled while hacking the mobile suits. Unless they had a skilled hacker like her, they wouldn't be able to access the computer system within the gundam. Especially with the distance they were putting in. It was a prototype after all, so it wasn't fully locked into the mainframe's database. Silly engineers.

"This thing has an autopilot, correct? Why don't you give me a tour of the ship and I'll show you what I borrowed without permission?" Smiling brightly, she watched his face for whatever he might be feeling...besides dread.
 
"Cool your jets, girl." He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're looking at forty-seven percent of the ship right here, the other half is down in the hangers." He replied, heading towards the elevator with her-since she seemed like a busy little bee at the moment- "And the remaining three percent is where I sleep, but speaking of your little toy..we're seeing that first anyway..I'd like to take a better look at it." He muttered, old? Bah..he wasn't even thirty yet and he was being called old.

Damn kid should be shot out of an airlock, but at least she was attractive. That was the only bonus he was seeing so far, other than his guilt having subsided in saving her. Way to go, Finn..be the hero..save the girl, become a criminal.

"And you should mind your damn manners, I'm not old! I'm just stressed! This is a stressful situation!" He reminded helpfully as he tapped the button of the elevator to the only other floor there was.
 
"You could of refused me but you didn't, so this stressful situation is technically of your own making," she replied, staring at him blankly. Girl, girl, girl. That's all he called her. She wasn't a girl! She was a woman! Sure, she wasn't that tall but at least she had the proper proportions! Crossing her arms, she tapped her foot as the elevator went down to where she had placed her gundam. Little toy..pfft. It wasn't a little toy and he would swallow those words as soon as he saw what it was. She couldn't help but be smug as the elevator finally came to a stop. Stepping out of it, she was still amazed at the piles of junk, boxes, and parts. It was like a graveyard for mechanisms.

"Well, there it is. The prototype that I borrowed...Mostly, I want to look at it's specs and see what I can tinker with. You're welcome to look at the specs of the parts since I don't know much about them. I'm more of a software junkie, not a hardware junkie," Huo said as they walked up to Epyon. Her eyes landed on the beautiful piece of machinary and electronics, her heart instantly falling in love with it as she gazed upon it's red and black color scheme again. It was such a beautiful, beautiful creation. She loved machines more than people, always had, but this, this topped all of those she had ever hacked, created, and tinkered with. This would truly become a masterpiece.
 
"Yeah yeah yeah.." He said dismissively, glancing up at it with a fond whistle. "Well..look at that.." He mused. "Has a paintjob and everything..how'd you manage to get this thing out anyway?" He might as well ask, since he was signing his own death warrant that Huo so helpfully reminded him of. He didn't need people telling him he was an idiot, dammit..he could figure it out himself! Regardless, he headed along the side of the mobile suit where the support struts rested to lock the mobile suit in place, climbing up to reach the cockpit.

You had to know a little bit about everything to be a mechanic after all.
 
"I hacked the engineer base it was on of course. I've broken into it several times and implanted protocols that could override their alarm systems without detection because of the layered back up that would initiate the alarm with only a half-second delay, which is nothing when a worker is looking at it. It doesn't even register a separation of the signal. Plus...my father works there," she said that last part with a shrug as she watched him climb up the prototype. She stretched, just watching him climb. She wondered how Epyon would take some foreigner crawling all over his body. Well, he had accepted her, maybe he would accept Finn. She didn't truly know.

"Anyways, he's known as the prototype model 27AAB, codenamed Epyon. He seems to have a very defined OS and movement system. I've never been inside a mobile suit before so I don't know if it's based off a normal system or if it is a unique system. You'd know more about that than I would." Huo watched as Finn climbed, wondering what he knew when it came to mobile suits. Honestly, she was begging to learn more about the prototype and all it's wonderful secrets.
 
"Not bad," He murmured, finding the switch to open the cockpit. The latch hissing down as he peered in with another fond whistle. Well, look at that..a trace system...looked top of the line too as he looked back over to her with a small grin. Okay, his temporary fear of being a criminal was replaced by his Frontier born view of getting hot over nicely manufactured machines. And this thing right here was pure beauty in metal form, to be sure.

"This thing isn't bad at all, Huo. You'd better get up here though, since I take it you're going to be using this thing?" He asked. "We're going to have to calibrate the trace system, chances are it's not really set for someone like you."
 
"Well, I didn't steal it for the sake of stealing it. So it's called a trace system? Why is it called that?" She asked, taking the same path he had taken to get up to the cockpit. It still amazed her. She didn't think she would ever get over it. She never wanted to either. She wanted the magic of the machine to stay embedded in her heart like code. Planting her feet on the hatch, she looked inside the cockpit, checking out the various components. How did they calibrate it? What kind of system was used to do that? She was very curious as to how this happened.

"How do we calibrate it?" She asked, sneaking around the controls and touching various parts without moving them out of place. It really was an incredible machine and she wanted to know it intimately.
 
"Slow down, sheesh." He chuckled, eager wasn't she? The fact that she didn't know much and still managed to lumber her way to his ship was impressive nonetheless..especially with a trace system, they were usually pretty finicky if they weren't calibrated right. She either got lucky or she just brute forced her way through it..one of the two he was sure.

"It's called a trace system because it's designed to emulate your own movements, but I'm doubting it's properly calibrated. This a pretty nice one too," He mused, stepping inside to examine the arm that held the framework up. "It's for ace pilots or high performance machines that require some finer control..not too uncommon for close combat mobile suits to switch to this..if they can afford it anyway." He mused, tapping the empty leg brace.

"Hop in, we'll test your reaction time and strength and we can calibrate you for it properly."
 
"I'm fast, not strong...makes me think my reaction times might suck," she said, shrugging lightly. She wasn't going to say she had amazing reaction times even though she played video games and could hack into systems. Applying it to a machine that would be synced with her own body movements seemed like a huge difference in comparison to clicking her fingers with controls and touch screens, etc, etc. It also made her wonder what the first cockpit had looked like for a mobile suit. Maybe Finn had some photographs or something that could show her what those systems looked like. Stretching a moment, she soon slipped back into the trace system control module. She was short and as before, she had felt awkward when first slipping into it, but hadn't really had to the time to think about it. Now, though, she felt like she was trying on her father's clothes like she had when she was a child.

"I didn't really allow myself to feel how unused to this I am but now that I'm just sitting here instead of being in a rush, it certainly feels awkward like I've pulled on clothes that are too big for me." Looking at Finn, Huo let out a small sigh before she settled herself completely into the module, wondering exactly how it would calibrate itself to her body with just her reaction times.

"And yeah, in answer to what you said earlier, I love learning and this....this machine is beautiful."
 
"It is," He replied, moving closer to one of the arm braces before unlocking a rotary knob and tightening it. The arms seemed to shrink against her own and Finn had to sort of guess where was properly suited to her arm length and tightness. "Probably one of the finer suits I've seen in my travels,". She mentioned lighter, well..he'd put a little more slack on it. But not too much, since she seemed a little..uneducated in how it worked. Last thing he needed was a prototype Gundam of all things flailing around with an over eager teenager in it.

"There, try it now." He sighed, starting up the trace system..but not the Gundam. So she could at least move around in the cockpit.
 
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