3.2

Rix Agelius was sat at his cluttered desk, amongst stacks of invoices and receipts when he heard his ship land. The air conditioner in the window of his cramped office did nothing more than bring the heat inside. Piles of papers lay all around his office, kept in place by paperweights from various amusement parks in the galaxy. The weights were the only saving grace to his office, keeping the only sort of order in Rix’s entire establishment.

He stood up when he heard the engines, and looked out the window. His wreck of a ship touched down in the central square of his salvage yard, and he walked out the door, into the blustery wind to greet it.

The main hatch of the ship hissed, and a ramp folded down from the main doorway. A few moments later, Saeera stepped out.

“Good to see you!” shouted Rix. “It’s a shame about the circumstances, but good to see you anyways.”

“Good to see you too, Rix.” Saeera replied.

“I trust the accommodations were to your liking?” Rix shouted back. Saeera made her way down the ramp towards the old man.

“Pilot wasn’t much company, but yeah, I guess it was alright.”

Rix chuckled out loud. The kind of chuckle one makes when he’s in not-too familiar company. Rix had met Saeera a few times, mostly when she was younger, and while her father had still been alive. “How’s things?” he asked out of formality, as the two had only ever made acquaintance through the now-deceased Bara.

“Doing alright Rix. On a tight schedule though. How’s everything with you?”

The salvage ship’s main hatch opened, and Rix took a glance at Saeera’s wrecked ship.

“Not too bad myself.” He replied. He could sense the formality in her tone. The two had never really become close. Rix was more her father’s friend, and now that her father was gone, it was a mostly superficial relationship. Especially since they hadn’t talked in so long.

“Shit, this is gonna need some work,” he said as he walked towards her craft.

“How long do you think?” Saeera looked worried.

“A few hours, four or five. They don’t make these ships much anymore.” Rix yelled in Quetel to a group of his workers attending to another ship in the yard. They stopped their work and came to inspect Saeera’s ship. One of them shouted back to Rix in the language Saeera could not understand. Rix replied, and they understood. The salvage craft unloaded the ship onto the sandy ground, and the crew began work. Saeera walked closer to Rix, but his gaze was still fixed upon her ship.

“What kinda shit are you into this time?” he asked her. For a moment, Saeera stumbled for the right words.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Rix looked into her eyes.

“You know what I mean.”