<USS Avalon> Settling In

The boys went to settle into their room, tall, dark
haired and painfully thin Joshua Garrity taking the
far corner for his bedroll and muscular blonde Patrick
McEntire scooting the beds closer together so he'd
have more "flop-around room" for himself. To one who
didn't know them, the arrangement might seem terribly
unfair, as though Mac were somehow taking advantage.
Those who knew them, though, knew how unlikely that
would be. Not only did Joshua's strength far exceeded
not only Mac's but that of most men even twice his
size, but the closeness of the boys themselves would
prevent something like that from being even remotely
possible. They were like brothers, fiercely loyal and
protective of one another. They'd grown so accustomed
to one another's idiosincracies that they no longer
seemed unusual. Mac unpacked his new gear quickly,
stuffing it all halfhazardly into the drawers, while
Josh very carefully placed his three full uniforms,
stack of PADDs, and bedroll in their designated
places, carefully maintaining his standard 3 cm
distance between each item so that nothing touched
anything else, as always. Mac tried not to laugh at
the mild OCD his companion exhibited, knowing it would
only make him more hyper critical of what he was
doing. While that could be amusing on occasion, they
didn't have the time for it right now. The moment they
were ready, they set off in search of ME so that they
could report for duty.

It wasn't long at all before they found themselves
working on an older shuttle, trying to bring her
systems back online. Mac twisted slightly and held out
his hand "one fourth" he requested.

"One sixth" Josh corrected softly, handing him the
thin filament wires without looking up from his own
work.

"No, one fou.." Mac began before looking down at the
filament wires in his hand. Comparing them to the
original, he sighed and shook his head. "Sixth" he
conceded, proceeding to reconnect the system. How does
he always know, he wondered, amazed for the
hundred-thousandth time silently by his friend's
uncanny abilities. He was a walking, talking (if only
barely) repair manual, and little got past him, a fact
which had saved their lives and those of their
shipmates more than once. Had he been conscious there
at the end on the Santa Ana things might have ended
aboard her differently, and they both knew it. He
might have been able to pull off yet another of those
engineering miracles they'd all come to rely so
heavily on him for. Instead, it had ended with Mac
carrying him to the nearest escape pod, and them
getting out only seconds before their dear lady blew.
The enemy assumed their pod had been destroyed by the
blast and focussed on the others. They'd
survived...just them...Mac shook his head, trying to
clear the images of death and destruction from his
memory. Leaning back on his haunches, he looked at his
work critically. "There. That should do it."

Josh barely glanced his direction, pushing errant
curls back from in front of startling blue eyes, and
shook his head. Reaching across Mac, he disconnected
one of the wires he'd just replaced, recut it, and
reconnected it, this time fitting it more tightly in
it's setting. The console powered up of it's own
accord and Josh turned silently back to his own. Mac
looked at him and smiled. After four months
Earthbound, recovering from their injuries and the
aftermath of the Ana's loss, uncertain if his friend
would make it, let alone serve again, it was good to
be working together like this again. It was good to be home.


                
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