Killian McKinnon

“Nor would the body get very far if it didn’t have a mind to control it,” Ari pointed out. The connotations surrounding lower pleasures weren’t lost on him, but he was easily distracted by Killian’s next comment. He could have sat there and discussed Rawls’ theory on higher and lower pleasures all day, and he likely would have tried if Killian didn’t smell like something had died. As much as Ari preferred matters of the mind, there were some bodily matters that trumped it, and bad smells was one of them.

“Define good,” Ari quirked his head, finding himself smiling a little in response to the bright smile on Killian’s lips. “I took a two week crash course in piloting to convince the university that I could go alone. And I made it this far. But I have nearly crashed the ship going on four times now. I think passable would be a more apt description.”

Killian squinted at Ari a little when he admitted he’d only taken a two week crash course in piloting. It was no wonder the poor ship was in such dire straits, if you asked the disgraced captain, but that was a conversation for later. “Alright. I’m definitely piloting this thing, otherwise we’ll never outrun the port authority if they try to charge us some bullshit fees,” he said, turning to go get cleaned up.

It wasn’t long before Killian stepped into the shower. The hot water wasn’t working, and he cursed everything about it, but once he was finally clean, he made a mental note to fix the jammed key. Maybe once they were out in space and he could set the damn ship on autopilot. He wrapped a towel around himself and padded back out to the main room.

Ari considered that. “Not in the literal sense of the word everything, but yes. It feels that way sometimes. The microwave doesn’t work either.” He hadn’t expected much from a university spaceship in all fairness, but sometimes the extent to which things just didn’t work bewildered him.

His attention drifted back to the book in his hands, flicking through the pages while Killian ate. He made the mistake of looking up just in time to catch sight of Killian with his cheeks puffed out. Ari pressed his lips together tight but couldn’t help the quiet laughter that spilled out. His eyes darted back down to his book. Killian must have been starving. It was pretty funny really.

Ari couldn’t say that he was particularly surprised by Killian’s response. It was a practical and down to earth kind of answer, and Killian struck him as a practical and down to earth kind of guy. “I suppose you would lean more towards lower pleasures than higher pleasures? Survival of the body over advancement of the mind? It’s not an unjustifiable position, regardless of what some argue.” He was admittedly thinking aloud more so than conversing with Killian. Ari wondered how much you could tell about a person from a question like that. He lost himself to another moment’s pondering before being pulled back by Killian’s voice. “Thanks. There are towels under the sink. You can use whatever.”

Killian wondered how the hell this guy even made it out this far from his home planet-- or space station. He didn’t really know. When Ari looked up at him, he didn’t really care too much, although a part of him wondered if he had any kind of manners left that were socially acceptable. Not that it mattered much for someone like him.

“Lower pleasures is right,” he snorted, making it sound dirtier than Ari probably had intended. “The mind won’t get you very far if it doesn’t have a body to take it anywhere,” he said, raising his brows, as if he’d just trumped every argument ever speculated, although... to be honest? Killian had never really argued or talked much about mental anythings with anyone before. It’s not like pirates were exactly the most intellectual of people. He sort of knew how to read, and had read half of a book once. But Killian’s life didn’t lend itself to sitting around reading when repairs had to be done, and when other pirate ships were hot on your ass trying to board you and kill you. Ari was lucky.

Ari scrunched his nose up at the thought of sleeping on the toilet. That bathroom was cramped and chronically dirty no matter what he tried. He wasn’t sure he wanted anything that badly. “It must be a really nice ship,” Ari said simply, and stopped besides the tool storage. “Nice to meet you, Killian. I think.” He supposed it was too early to make that judgement, although it was nice to meet him, in the sense that it had put an end to his ship troubles. Not having to spend his evening at the junkyard was definitely nice. So maybe it was nice to meet Killian, although whether Killian himself was nice was yet to be seen, and whether meeting Killian would continue to be nice was a whole other story. But for the time being, perhaps it was.

“Who eats mustard?” Ari sounded disgusted. He walked back down the corridor towards the kitchen and left Killian to it. Mustard. What was he, a savage? Ari made two BLT’s with what fresh produce he still had in the fridge, left a packet of crisps next to Killian’s plate, and took his own food back to his desk. He ate and read and lost the next few hours of his afternoon to the life of a somewhat pompous galactic explorer who Ari wasn’t sure if he loved or hated. The guy had made some incredible discoveries. He was also an asshole. Did occupational advancements really make up for poor character? It was to this question that Ari lost even more time, and he was blankly staring at the carpet when Killian emerged again.

He blinked at the man and looked up. “Um. Shower. Yes. Right at the back. If you want to fix that while you’re at it, you’re more than welcome.” Ari smiled at Killian’s growling stomach and nudged his head towards the kitchen. “What do you think is more important? Talent or good character?”

“Hmm... Maybe I do like you after all,” Killian teased when Ari seemed disgusted with mustard. The repairs went about as quickly as they could go, and Killian simply tossed the broken parts out. This Delphi could get them fairly far, provided Ari had fueled as much as he said he did.

Getting back to the ship, he spotted the food laid out for him, and he thought that perhaps he could eat before stepping in the shower. “Is everything broken on this ship?” he asked jokingly. His stomach quickly reminded him that he hadn’t had anything to eat all day, so he walked to the kitchenette and washed his hands as best as he could before grabbing the sandwich and practically inhaling it. He was about halfway done with it, cheeks puffed, when Ari spoke up again.

Ari smiled at the sexual innuendo. His parents would have been horrified to know that their scholarly, educated son loved an innuendo as much as the next guy, but there wasn’t much to be helped. “She doesn’t swing that way, sorry,” he told the man, patting the metal side gently, “no ship of mine is straight.” Not that the ship couldn’t be bi, of course, Ari would love it no matter what, but- what was he even thinking. It was a ship. He shook his head to himself. “It only needed to be big enough for me. I hope you don’t mind sleeping on couches. I refuel whenever the fuel levels drop beneath fifty percent..” Which was perhaps a little excessive, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he would run out of fuel and perish should he let the fuel levels drop into the 40′s. It wasn’t worth the anxiety, so Ari just refuelled constantly. Last time he’d checked, the tank had been close to full.

“I’m Ari. I’m Ari, and I’m starving. Do you like sandwiches?” He unlocked the door to the ship and beckoned for the stranger to follow, leading him through to where he kept the tools. 

Killian snorted when Ari took the joke and bounced it back. Maybe he’d be a little more entertaining than the pirate initially thought, but that remained to be seen. The blonde explained that his ship was only big enough for one, although Killian had to disagree. You could easily repurposed the space he had for two, maybe three people, if they tried hard enough. But the other was no smuggler, and that was a secret he could keep tucked up his sleeve for later. “I’d sleep on the toilet if it meant getting one step closer to my ship, so don’t worry about me,” he mused, continuing to follow.

Ari introduced himself and Killian debated using a fake name, but decided there’d be no harm in telling him his name. It’s not like anyone ever really knew who he was. The Black Mantis had a reputation for being one of the fastest, most fearsome ships out in space. She could come like a shadow and its crew would board an unsuspecting ship, robbing it blind, cutting the surveillance systems, and taking off before anyone really got a good look. Hence the name. No one was the wiser that this young man was the Praying Mantis himself, Captain McKinnon.

No reason to start advertising it now.

“Killian,” he said, shrugging lightly. “Killian, and I love sandwiches. No mustard, though. Gonna fix this first, so just... uh. Leave it somewhere in the kitchen for me?”

Killian grabbed all the tools he needed and quickly disappeared into the underbelly of the ship. He didn’t want to lose precious daytime hours, when he didn’t need to expend any of his ultraviolet light packs. It was a few hours before all the repairs on Ari’s ship were made, and Killian emerged looking grungy, but pleased with himself.

Ari considered the offer. The guy would give him the part and repair his ship for him, which was lucky because Ari was only half sure what he was meant to do with the part once he got it, and in return, the guy wanted help finding his own ship. Which meant that somehow, this guy had had his ship stolen, which was just unfortunate and Ari felt a little bad for him. He wondered why the man needed the part if he didn’t have a ship, and he considered asking, but maybe he didn’t want to know why. There were more pressing issues. Like why he was offering more credits than he could possibly dream of. That screamed of criminal behaviour, nobody gained an obscene amount of anything legally, but Ari wasn’t really sure he cared about that either. So what did he care about? Getting the part, primarily, but long term, he cared about keeping his ship running. He cared about completing his research. And since his technical and pilot skills were severely lacking, and this stranger seemed to at least believe he was competent in those regards, Ari figured accepting the slightly strange terms were strongly in his own favour. Besides, he could use some excitement. He was passionate about his research, but lord knows it was a bore between landings. 

His consideration took around thirty seconds in all, which was just enough time to make him look a little crazy. He finally gave a decisive nod. “You fix my ship, and you can take it wherever you want. I’m not heading anywhere in a hurry.” He had a schedule, of course. Everybody had a schedule; but the number of PhD candidates that actually stuck to that schedule was notoriously low. So Ari wasn’t in much of a hurry. He had a universe to explore, and unless he invented something incredible later on his career, this would be the only chance he had to explore it before he settled into the life of a broke academic. Ari had no qualms with this stranger temporarily hijacking his ship.

Killian wasn’t sure if he’d said too fucking much. He was ready to sprint the hell out of there if he didn’t get a response in the next few seconds, because the last thing he needed was to start getting chased down yet again before he had a chance to make these repairs. Either way, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t desperate, so when the blonde boy agreed, he sighed in relief.

“Alright. I fix your ship, we go wherever. If you go back on your word, you’ll find yourself stranded somewhere else, so... don’t do that,” he said, wrinkling his nose. He couldn’t trust the boy as far as he could throw him, but that was the problem with being a pirate. You could truly trust no one but yourself. But in space, it was more dangerous to go at it alone, especially when there were others like him out there out for themselves.

“Lead the way. We can be out of here by nightfall, which will be perfect,” he said. He’d already paid the finder’s fee at the entrance of the junkyard, although that fee didn’t include the little extras he’d shoved in his pockets. Not that anybody had to know, ofcourse.

The Black Mantis

Manufactuer: Delphi Engineering Corporation

Model: Delphi 1200 XS Light Freighter and Transport (Heavily modified)

Capacity: 6 (Pilot, co-pilot/navigator, 2 gunners, 2 passengers)

Although she sacrifices some space for commodity, the Black Mantis is incredibly fast, agile, and fuel efficient. She can give and take a bit of a beating, especially with a risky maverick as her pilot. The vessel has a long, pointed body, plating with a old coat of brackish black paint, and an open cockpit with a narrow viewport that juts forward from the ship’s center. At either side of the cockpit, laser cannons jut out, much like those of a fighter ship, although the left side cannon is in need of repairs.

The aft of the freighter features a heavily armored hull with a pair of atomizer engines, and the craft is armed with two dorsal and two larger port-side H56-67 laser cannons. The deck features the bridge from which the cockpit is accessible, as well as the motherboard navicomputer. Walking directly back from the cockpit gives access to the large, central computer that features a map of the known galaxy and the current star system being traversed.

Going further back is a common living area with a booth-like passenger seating, and a small stair ramp that leads into a dubiously stocked kitchenette. On the wall of the kitchenette is a small terrarium with different pods and seedlings that grow a variety of plants, herbs, and small fruits and vegetables.

On the starboard side through the hall beyond the kitchen is the captain’s quarters. Killian had a large bed, a personal computer equipped with a vector map, and a collection of personal effects. Adjacent is the bathroom equipped with a moderately-sized shower, a sink, and a toilet.

On the port side is a bunk that once housed three beds, but is now used as storage, or passenger transport. At the very back of the ship is a twin engine room from which the atomizer engines are accessible for repairs and maintenance. There, Killian also keeps cleaning equipment and a work bench, as well as miscellaneous parts. Directly at the back of the ship nestled between the engines is the boarding ramp, as well as access to the emergency airlock.

“i’m the best at plans”