Time to quickly learn some tact

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

Allenby had waited a while before asking to speak to Trudy, despite the crew being back from Galilee. She'd been too pissed and worried before then to really think about what she ought to say, and she needed time to figure it out.

Like... how to say it without getting Trudy mad again by mistake. Though frankly, she was pretty angry herself to learn that I won't touch your Gundam actually translated to your Gundam is getting stuffed full of mothballs until I say you can have it back.

That was if the condition--getting Trudy to sign off--wasn't actually a nasty code for kiss your Gundam goodbye, troublemaker. But Allenby was going to trust her crewmates and think that Leon and Trudy were too honest for that.

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[fieldpromoted]

Allenby landed behind her, and Trudy turned around with a raised eyebrow. "You're going to fix that X-Wing for me. You'd better hope you can do it," she said.

Trudy stuck her hands in the pockets of her plantsuit as they walked into the hangar, the lines of her shoulders relaxing as soon as she passed through the door. She was a pilot, and this place felt like home. She was sure Allenby felt the same way, and that was the reason she was going to give the kid's Gundam back.

"Look," she said, turning to Allenby. "What I saw that day was one of my pilots setting off to get herself messily killed in a fiery explosion because she thought she could take on an army. I haven't lost a pilot yet under my command, and if I ever do I don't want it to be for a stupid reason. Every single one of you is recklessly brave and ridiculously talented, and every one of you lost makes us that much weaker against the Ohm. You scared the hell out of me, Beardsley - I thought the next time I saw you would be a holo over your coffin. I don't want to have to float you out."

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I'm not in Engineerin' for no reason," Allenby said, clasping her hands behind her head. She'd let Trudy's insistence on the matter slide, since she'd just said she'd do it. Also because of the challenge--intended or not--to her repair skills. "You won't even be able to tell which one I was workin' on once I'm done."

She wished she could dismiss Trudy's next words just as breezily, but goddammit, she was right. If Allenby had managed to get off the ship, she'd be in a lot of little pieces orbiting Galilee right now.

"Well--I don't plan on dyin' anytime soon either. Especially not by being stupid. Next time this ship decides to set up the crew like that, I'll ask what you guys are doing before I make my own plans." The idea that she'd be reduced to nothing more than a picture for people to remember... it wasn't that Allenby was afraid of losing her life to bring back Earth, but it was still a chilling mental image.

[fieldpromoted]

"Neither Kennedy or I will ever leave a crew member stranded without backup," Trudy said firmly. "Not when there's another option."

She saw how subdued Allenby was at that little speech, so she let it go. She was reasonably sure that she and the kid had reached an understanding, at least one that didn't leave Allenby hating her guts.

"For what it's worth, I hate to lose you as a pilot," she said. "But I can't have you in the field, and I don't think you really want to be there. Fix my X-Wing, and I'll sign off on your Gundam. Deal?" She stuck her hand out so the other pilot could shake on it.

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

Allenby nodded. She... was pretty sure she could trust Leon and Trudy on that one, much as she doubted they would agree to (or get it) if she asked them to prove that in a fistfight.

"Yeah, you're right about that," she said. What she needed was time--time to figure out how best to fight in this war while still upholding her principles as a Gundam Fighter. Time she wasn't likely to have a lot of, honestly, but she definitely couldn't figure it out under the authority of a military commander. "I'll get that X-Wing fixed right up, no problem."

She was making a huge effort to keep a lid on the soaring elation of my Gundam my Gundam I GOT IT BACK not that they had any right to take it BUT I GOT IT BACK! A mostly successful effort, apart from her sudden, huge smile and the way she started Trudy's arm up and down.