Evangeline Anastasia McDowell

[Bazza]

Entry#: 120
Date: 17 - 10 - 818 AS @ 11:10 SUT
Title: Untitled.

It's been over two weeks since the last time I paid this diary any attention. I guess it gets a bit lonely just like anything else does when ignored so viciously. So....

I now find myself aboard the Alsatia, adrift in the Salzwedel asteroid field. Occasionally I see a fighter or two conducting asteroid training, but besides that it's rather quiet and docile out here.

The Maelstrom rests at my feet. A steel-and-copper Rottweiler standing as a vicious yet loyal guardian of her master. If I only had my Salvager here I'd be in complete content. As with the Maelstrom, I yearn for knowledge of her safety and well being - even if she is nothing more than a utility to most people.

I also miss being able to bounce around with a spanner and socket fixing and re-fixing whatever takes my fancy. The main reason I am sitting out here now is that the Alsatia blew a coolant hose and vomited the contents of her radiator into space. This was in high orbit over Houston, mind you. Right in the middle of the mouth of the lane to the New York gate.

I was happily chugging along with not a single care in the world, flying some scrap parts from Kreuzberg to Beaumont for a friend of mine, when the dash light lit up for about three seconds before both turbines shut themselves down. A safety feature to prevent them from going into melt down. Sure it saved my life, but did it really have to do it _right_ _there_?

Of course as Murphy's Law dictates I hold up a convoy of Naval vessels behind me. A rather angry and IQ-challenged Libertonian carrier captain of all things.

Good thing Hooptie just happened to be floating about. It was somewhat awkward and clumsy, but he managed to tow the Alsatia away from the tradelane and get her hooked up to the orbital docking ring. Such a sweet old fellow, he is. Even went and saved me when I started to fall into the planet. That wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing a heavily pregnant woman can go through. Falling out of orbit without any engines in a ship whose atmospheric capabilities even with all engines is very, very limited. Not fun.

I can count the times I've dropped the old girl on a planet on one hand. If there is anything except clear sky and no wind, she is absolutely rooted. She doesn't fly like a normal plane - she has no wings, after all. At least, not like atmospheric aircraft. The little nubs she has are really just for show. The only thing keeping me up is the VTOL thrusters and the will of the gods. Those boosters themselves haven't been used... or checked for usability... in some time.

The last time on Berlin, for example, was one scenario I do not wish to experience again in my life. I thought I was going to die! Clear sky, low wind, perfect "flying" conditions and then SUDDENLY OUT OF NOWHERE A ****ING BLIZZARD. Oh my god it was horrible. I swear I saw the ground in the top of my field of vision at least once. It took me days to get everything cleaned up after that.

Anyway. I'm dribbling.

I have been spending my days teaching Misaka how to properly wield a spanner. This, in of itself, is a challenge. She is such a sweet and caring thing but, sadly, mechanics just isn't an area she is naturally skilled in. I did however manage to get her to jury rig the radiator back together and fill the system with coolant pillaged from a long-dead Repair ship wreck. Her craftsmanship got us back home to Rheinland, so credit is due there.

However when I shut the engines down, the turbines in the system closed off. Then the coolant inside the engines boiled and the dramatic increase in pressure blew the hose clean off again. Thus leaving us stranded where we are now. At least this time there's no danger of sudden dramatic death. The ship can run off her battery banks for as much as two weeks now, plus the Maelstrom is only a few meters away should anything else show up.

As for my two night shifters. Well. I wonder if they're getting bored with sitting idle as much as I do now. They do seem content to cuddle up in each other's arms - among many other things - but I do get the feeling they are lacking in work. Daily maintenance of a stationary and disabled ship is rather low and neither of them are really capable of the major repairs needed.

Of course our little angel, the ever-delightful and tortuously adorable Sakura is never short of something to keep herself entertained. A good portion of everyone's day is now taken up by this beacon of happiness that supports all of our lives in simply ensuring she comes to no harm and is always accounted for. She has garnered a liking to exploring the innards of the ship, on more than one occasion getting lost or stuck and equally as frequently finding things that a girl of her age simply shouldn't be exposed to. I have, or rather, had, some "intimate apparel" tucked away in a little hidey-hole in the cargo bay of the ship - a remnant from the days before I was an expectant mother. And of course she dug them up and presented them to me like a cat bringing a dead bird to her owner.

If not for the fact I was alone at that moment in time it would have been a rather awkward scenario. I managed to convince her the box must have come in with some scrap and been lost. Said box is now locked away securely and shall do so until the day I have the body to wear such things again.

As for the other primary constituent of my existence... Gunther mentioned in passing his interest in holding our wedding in Bretonia. As much as I'd personally enjoy that, he has absolutely no connection to the house beyond me. Adding to that the fact Bretonia is on the verge of crumbling under Kusari... I don't think it's the right way to bind our lives together.

Although, I do find myself pining for the skies of New London...

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