Scavenge for the Future

by Evilhumour

Chapter One

Chapter One

The sun was high above Zeehale, baking the sandy floor that spread out for miles in every direction. It would have been near impossible for anyone to travel by foot unless you could fly and that was exactly what Scratched Wrench was doing. Of course, she was wearing a protective cloak that Aerostorm got her for her second birthday, but that was just common sense on a desert junk world like this. Flapping her wings to propel her further, Scratched raised an arm as it began to beep while the com in her ear crackled.

“Hey Scratched, ya see it yet?” Zaat asked as soon as she tapped the button to open the channel.

“Maybe,” she said, starting to descend in loose circles while straining her eyes to see if she could spot the supposed scavenge spot. “Going to go land; I’ll send up the flare if it is.”

“Be careful,” Aerostorm chimed in with a huff. “I don’t want to deal with you burning your hooves again ‘cause you forgot to cover up.”

“Oh hush, you love to nurse me,” Scratched replied with a grin as she looked at her hooves to make sure she was wearing those protective boots for the sand and metal.

“Yeah I do but you hate being cooped up,” her girlfriend shot back. “Which makes my job a real pain in the tail.”

“Yeah…” Scratched whined, shaking her head to the side as she knew Aerostorm was completely right. Wincing in pain as a bit of the sun got onto her exposed head, Scratched raised a hoof to fix her hood and scanned the ground again. “Not seeing any reflectivi-wait, hold on.” Flying lower, the pegasus was able to see a sheet of metal sticking up from the sand. “Yup, found it guys,” she told them as she shot the flare into the sky.

“Good to hear it and I see the flare,” Aerostorm told her. “We’ll be there in a second; please don’t hurt yourself.”

“Oh please, I could only do that if I were trying,” Scratched snorted, rolling her eyes. “-”

“And don’t you make some sort of joke, Scratched, or you’ll be sleeping on the couch,” Aerostorm warned her.

“Come on, it’s my place!” Scratched complained with a grin on her face.

“Your parents’ place, and I’m pretty sure they’ll agree with me that you’d deserve the couch after pulling the same joke again,” Aerostorm said smugly.

“You got anything to add, Zaat?” Scratched asked her other friend.

“Oh as if I would be stupid enough to get between you two,” the parrot said. “I’m not one anymore.”

“It’s a shame,” Scratched said as she hovered. “We got you to eat so many worms back then, right Aero?”

Aerostorm giggled while Zaat just grumbled in the background. “Remember that big fat one, that was almost as long as your wingspan, Scratchy?”

“Oh yeah; Zaat was halfway done when he gagged on it and spat it out?” Scratched was giggling now, struggling to stay upright.

“Oh yeah, very funny,” Zaat spat. “Wasn’t so funny when our parents came in and grounded us for a week for it.”

“Ya that sucked majorly,” Scratched said as a shadow covered her. “That you guys?” she asked.

“Yeah, I see your marker down there,” Aerostorm said. “We’re coming down.”

“Glad to hear it, my wings are starting to get tired,” Scratched said back as the faint rumble of the engines of their ship came within hearing range. Flying upwards as careful as she could, she saw the rear hatch of the Excelsior open. Flying into the airlock, she shut the door before entering the ship properly, walking towards cockpit while unbuckling her coat and shaking out her yellowish coat and pale white mane. Placing the coat on the hook she had installed for that exact reason, she sauntered into the cockpit where Zaat was busy with the crane-magnet while Aerostorm was keeping the ship steady. Smiling as she slipped in close to the tan griffon, she placed a kiss on her white forehead between the red streaks which got her a wing swat from her girlfriend.

“Must you do that every time I’m trying to fly?” Aerostorm grumbled as she kept her blue eyes focused on the screen in front of her, though she flashed a loving grin at the pegasus.

“Well, I’m sure that Zaat would complain if I were to kiss you anywhere else,” Scratched said as she slid into the other chair, shifting over their views of the ship’s system to her screen and began to look over them. “Plus, I love the taste of griffon; it’s very addictive.”

“Flirt,” Aerostorm smirked, her talons squeezing the control sticks ever so closer together before she relaxed her grip with the Excelsior rightening out. “Now keep an eye on those generators you slapped together; saw a bit of low alert near the transfer to the grav engines.”

Nodding her head, Scratched opened up the remote diagnostic view of her engines and traced the tubes before she spotted the problem. “Nothing to worry about, seems like there is a loose cap down there.” She then slid the screen onto her armband with it hovering in front of her in a slightly patchy holographic three-dimensional image. “Going to go take care of it now before something does happen.”

“That’s a good girl,” Zaat muttered as he stood up himself. “Going to properly attach this wreckage you found and mark the location; we might find larger pieces that other people might have missed.”

“Good,” Scratched said over her shoulder as she picked up her toolbag. “Should net us some more credits so we can work on Excelsior, whatever it is.”

“Or just slap it on Excelsior,” Aerostorm teased as Scratched and Zaat left the room with the parrot snorting as the pegasus sputtered indignantly.

“You complaining about Excelsior?” Scratched said as she trotted down to the engine room and began to make her way to the loose cap that was smacking the alert sensor.

“She’s ugly as shit, almost certainly would fail all official regulation examinations and still an in progress construction,” Aerostorm said over the com as Scratched slid her way around the tubes and pipes, angling herself in just the right position to lift the cap and start to slide it back on. “But she’s fast as hell, turns on a ball pin, sturdy like no tomorrow, and she’s ours.” Aerostorm then chuckled. “Plus she was put together by the sexiest mare in the entire galaxy.”

“Oh get a room you two,” Zaat complained playfully as Scratched did a visual examination, checking things over personally. “And make sure the com is off this time when you do, okay?”

Both of them giggled at their friend’s remark but Scratched quickly finished her work before she made her way to where Zaat was working. Heading down to the hanger bay after slipping on her protective coat, she saw her other best friend working with the crane controllers to bring up the scrap they had found. Scratched raised a wing as a guest of wind blew in a wave of sand while the crane continued to wheel in the broken ship part. “So what is it, Zaat?”

“Looks to be a fin for a Terakian ship,” he said, peering through his goggles at the scrap. “There is more there down there but it’s almost high day and there’s no way we can wait out here to harvest the rest of it until it’s cool enough - we’d be way too low on fuel.”

“Yah,” Scratched did the mental math for how much it would cost them if they did stay for the full eighteen hours for high day to pass and did the work and saw it would eat away almost all the credits they had saved up to refuel. “So how much do you think it will get us?” she asked, gesturing to the fin.

“Eh, maybe four hundred or so?” Zaat shrugged his shoulders as he deactivated the crane and had the bay doors close. Scratched frowned at that and Zaat nodded his head in agreement. “I know, barely enough to cover the cost but if we clean it and make sure that it’s a clean break, we could get more.”

“Yeah,” Scratched said distractedly as she moved to the fin and began to inspect it more closely, moving to the open side of it as Zaat began to move it to the proper storage container for their finds. Thankfully the fin was still intact save from where it had been attached with no holes on either side and she pulled out her tools to examine the inside of the fin. Turning on her light, Scratched saw that they were in luck. While the wires were a near-complete write-off, the inner mechanics were still in one piece and after attaching it to her armband mini computer and to the ship’s battery, they were working just as new. “We could get a couple hundred mo-”

“What happened to your fetlock?” Zaat asked, causing Scratched to jolt in surprise. Before she could hide the limb, the parrot pulled her leg out. “Scratch… Aero is going to be pissed.”

“It was just a brief flash and it doesn’t hurt that mu-gah!” she shouted with Zaat giving her a raised eyebrow look. “That only hurts because you’re pushing on that!” she snapped before he could even start lecturing her.

Shaking his head, he let go of her leg and held his hands in the air. “Ain’t my headache when your girlfriend starts to harp on you.”

“Yes it will be when I get you back for getting me in trouble,” Scratched grumbled as she shook her leg. “Come, let’s get back to Aero so we can get home.”

Nodding his head as she helped Zaat do his final checks to make sure everything was shut down, put away and properly secured, the two made their way back to the cockpit where Aerostorm was already making the turns to head back to Zeehale Habitation Zone Alpha. “So did we find anything good,” Aerostorm asked, looking briefly over her shoulder as they slid into their seats.

“Eh, maybe enough to cover the trip but it does show there might be a full ship dumped more or less intact from how good that fin was,” Scratched said as the wires and other internal components were always the first to be ripped out when a ship was scuttled.

“That’s good,” Aerostorm said as she started to enter in the coordinates for their home before pushing back in her chair to step out and stretch. “Now let me see that leg of yours,” the griffon said as she walked over to Scratched and held her arm up. “I heard what you two said in the hold, so let me see.” Whining as her girlfriend lifted her leg, Scratched braced for the lecturing when she felt Aerostorm’s beak kiss her leg. “Ain’t as bad you two made it out to be.”

“Never said it was bad,” Zaat said as he moved into Aerostorm’s seat. “Go, I’m going to take first shift, you two go sleep or someth- You know what? Don’t; just sleep. I don’t need to see that.”

“You’re probably the only guy in the galaxy that wouldn’t want to walk in on us,” Scratched said as she leaned into Aerostorm, enjoying the feel of her soft feathers and fur.

“That’s ‘cause your girlfriend is practically my sister,” Zaat replied. “And seriously, I don’t want to see someone who’s like a sister to me in the middle of that!” He shuddered, tail flicking.

“And as her parents have more or less adopted me as their other daughter, that would mean walking in on both of your sisters going at it,” Aerostorm said, draping a wing over Scratched and pulling her closer in.

Zaat made a face, turning around to face them. “I did not need that image, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome,” Aerostorm sang over her shoulder, laughing with Scratched as they walked to their quarters. Scratched dumped her toolbag in the corner of their room while Aerostorm shook herself out again, holding her wings and arms out until they popped with the griffon letting out a comfy groan.

“That’s going to wreck your joints, you know,” Scratched warned as she gave her girlfriend a look.

“That’s a myth, right up there with the thing about caf stunting your growth,” Aerostorm retorted. “They did a study on that kind of thing years ago, proved it didn’t do a bit of harm.”

“That came from a Gratetan study and you know how little it takes for them to be bought off,” Scratched replied from her side of the bed.

“It was also backed by independent studies by Lhat’kan, Hesturlandian, Fagratan and Muusthans,” Aerostorm fired back, leaning over their bed. “It ain’t nothing wrong with cracking my joints, missy.”

“Missy,” Scratched reared back, holding a wing to her chest. “Why, I have never been so insulted in my life, you, you, you no good feather duster cat!”

The two looked at one another, then broke out laughing and falling onto the bed.

“Feather duster cat?” Aerostorm managed to squeak out after getting her breath, staring up at the pegasus and nuzzling her neck. “Scratch, that has to be your worst one yet.”

“I know,” Scratched pouted, starting with doe eyes at Aerostorm. “Still love me?”

“Always,” Aerostorm said, pulling her in for a kiss and snuggling in close for the long fly back home.

Comments

[Asolem2]

And so it begins, with three unsuspecting characters about to embark on a journey none of them ever signed up for... and hopefully meet a certain mare

[ShadowLDrago]

Scratched raised an arm

Arm?

“Plus, I love the taste of griffon; it’s very addictive.”

Quite.

“Good,” Scratched said over her shoulder as she picked up her toolbag. “Should net us some more credits so we can work on Excelsior, whatever it is.”

Good name by the way.

“She’s ugly as shit, almost certainly would fail all official regulation examinations and still an in progress construction,” Aerostorm said over the com as Scratched slid her way around the tubes and pipes, angling herself in just the right position to lift the cap and start to slide it back on. “But she’s fast as hell, turns on a ball pin, sturdy like no tomorrow, and she’s ours.” Aerostorm then chuckled.

So, the Millennium Falcon.

“And as her parents have more or less adopted me as their other daughter, that would mean walking in on both of your sisters going at it,” Aerostorm said, draping a wing over Scratched and pulling her closer in.

You are making it worse.

“Always,” Aerostorm said, pulling her in for a kiss and snuggling in close for the long fly back home.

Cute.

[LoudThunder]

Well this is going to interresting
I really want to know who those tree are and how they will connect or if they connect this to the main story
I wish you a nice time writing more of it.

[Evilhumour]

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Thanks.
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They do make a cute couple, don't they?