Himari held tight to the frame of the landing doors, her small but sturdy frame holding fast against the rush of air that whipped at her steel gray hair.

She looked out into the solar shaft, the golden yellow diamonds on her shoulders standing out in the morning light against her dark skin.

“Look alive! Get your goggles on, all of you. A stray bolt or driver blade won’t care about cybernetics if you’re not careful!” Himari called out as the aerial craft touched down on the workshop’s landing pad. “Let’s see what they need!”

The workshop crew quickly went to work as they all rushed out onto the landing pad, a wild mishmash of hand-dyed fabric, alloy, and paint. What bound them together was their emblem, golden yellow - the color of the workshop - tattooed, etched, or sprayed onto one arm or another.

She never could help but have a proud smile on her face when she stood beside them.

A young android ran up beside her, their voice ragged as they caught their breath, “Pilot sent our passenger’s papers ahead, once they’re ready and onboard they’ll just be part of the flight crew.”

“Alright, now we just–”

As she stepped out onto the platform they all stopped - the diamond at the center of their emblems pulsing with light as a bell tone sounded in the shop.

Someone was at the door.

“I’ll catch up!” she called out, turning to the young android beside her, “Think you can cover for me?”

“Just fine, ‘mari,” they said with a grin, optical sensors flickering as they stepped out into the whirlwind of the solar shaft.

Himari looked back just as she got inside, “And be careful!”

The workshop was a wide and towering warehouse, big enough to haul in any aerial craft that needed to hang around for more than a pitstop. 

And yet, it was home. In every little space they could, they left their mark, they made it theirs.

They’d worked for months just to expand the old office into the massive loft that now dominated the back half of the workshop. One of them - though none of them could ever remember who - managed to find some great old couch from the upper towers; no one was even sure how they got it up the stairs.

A little work and it just became another piece of home...

With a few taps to the emblem tattooed on her arm, the monitor beside the inner door at the back corner lit up.

"Entry camera," Himari said, stopping at the control for the door. "Let's see who it is."

She raised a brow as the camera view came online - D'Anna, and she wasn't alone. With a small smile, she slid the door open with a simple turn of the switch.

She practically yanked the taller woman through the door, “D’Anna! It’s been months since your last visit, you should drop by more.”

"I've been a bit busy," D'Anna sighed, a slight smile on her face.

She looked past her side to Rosi and the mechs behind her, "Right..."

Himari sighed and waved them all in through the door, "Come on, come on. We're in the middle of a drop."

She closed the door behind them as they made it inside, waving them behind the machinery that held the landing platform outside. 

There were plenty of moving parts in here, and she’d sure as hell keep any of them from stepping in them.

"I'm sure you remember where to go," she said with a smile.

D'Anna smiled back, polite but warm as the others followed her, "you haven't moved that mech table have you? Some of these people could use it."

“Closer to the commons up in the loft, keep folks company while they’re getting patched up,” she said as she ran to meet up with the young android from her crew. 

His optics shifted behind the goggles as he looked down at her, a thick line of sensors running across where his eyes should be. 

“Alright, what do we have to work with?”

"Something's up with their atmo-drivers, I gave them a look, and I think there's a short in a couple of the coils," he explained as the two of them returned to the landing pad.

She pulled the clip off her safety belt, locking it onto the magnetic rail that ran the length of the platform with a single, practiced swing.

"Let's check out those coils then!"

They had seventy minutes to finish their work and get their passengers on board before they had to pack it in.

And still, the clock ticked down…

“You moved the path,” D’Anna’s voice was soft as she leaned against one of the shop's support beams, watching everyone work in the bay below.

"Heh, you almost sound worried about us,” Himari chuckled, looking out to the crew - her family - as they quickly got the craft in the air, and back on its descent down to the landing docks at the bottom of the shaft.

A bell tone sounded outside with ten minutes still left on the clock, a voice crackling out that sector security was inbound. All of them were ready, rushing back in before the platform started to retract, and the doors closed.

Security’s last raid had been far too close.

D'Anna bit her cheek as she looked back at Rosi and the others chatting with some of the crew coming up from below in the commons, “because I am, ma’am.”

“So formal!” Himari wrinkled her nose, her Japanese a harsh but welcome huff as she elbowed the other woman, “Don’t you go calling me ma’am, I’m not that old just yet.”

D’Anna didn’t answer immediately, hands fidgeting in her lap, golden knuckles standing out against the red of the early morning light that came through the bay windows.

She still remembered that scared young lady that came to her door, wrapped in synth-silk, and clutching a scrap of paper with the workshop’s diamond on it. Back then, even as scared as she was, she stood tall and harsh. Himari didn’t know who she had something to prove to, but even then she couldn’t turn her away. It was years ago, and still, it felt like only a short time…

She swore she sounded like a grandmother in her own head sometimes.

"Can you… take them in?" D’Anna asked.

Himari couldn't help but roll her eyes at the young android.

She cared, she knew that all too well.

“Have I ever said I can’t in the past? If I really couldn’t do this, I’d be out there playing boss on one of those aero-craft or a land-ship. I’m up here, and this little crew of ours will do what we can for them. Like always.”

She sighed, shoulders sagging as she watched Rosi get patched up on the mech table, "I know."

Himari turned and looked Rosi over as some of the crew patched them up, eyes lingering on the ionization burns and tow cable damage on their plating, "Shock and Haul, hmm?"

"...yeah, yeah I think so."

She frowned as she clenched her fists, “Rotten little thing, using an arc gun like that. It’s supposed to be a welder, a--a cutter! Not some damn stun gun.”

“I know…”

“Well,” Himari grunted as she rose to her feet, old joints complaining as usual, “let’s see what we can do for them.”

It was good to see D'Anna smile at her again.

With a wry smile, Himari nudged her on their way into the commons together, “So, what’s the job this time?”

“Really?” she raised a brow, golden eyes glancing up with a soft chuckle. “Search and rescue.”

She cracked her knuckles as she came over to the mech table, gently shooing the others to the side.

“Let me have a look at them,” Himari sighed as she closely examined the damage, the young android from before handing her a pair of scanning goggles. “...and the ko nashi that you had to rescue them from?”

Rosi’s eyes flickered on for a moment, glancing between the two of them as they spoke, “I…believe I saw him tied to a table.”

She let out a barking laugh, “Ha ha! Serves him right! Now, I’m going to need you to shut down for a bit so I can check your circuits. Okay?”

Rosi’s eyes let out a nervous click as they adjusted and adjusted again. They looked from Himari to D’Anna with a silent question.

“You’re in good hands, Rosi,” D’Anna soothed, bearing a smile she rarely showed anyone. “Himari here is the lead mechanic.”

“The medic too, don’t pretend you haven’t been ducking me. I need to check your shoulder replacement. And don’t think I didn’t see that burn either,” she said as she looked up through her goggles. “I swear you need to be more careful with those fists of yours.”

“Well ma’am it was either my fists or a core resetter to the face,” she deadpanned.

Himari froze there, clenching her tools tight as she turned back to D’Anna.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Rosi looked back and forth between them before promptly shutting their eyes off again, “Powering down now…”

“Good idea, Rosi,” Himari said with a growing frown. “Good. Idea.”

Himari frowned as she looked her over while they sat in the commons, D’Anna’s coat hanging off her chair. And all the while, the young android wouldn’t look her in the eye.

They’d argued the whole time she was working. Every moment it was just the same routine that she wished they could change. D’Anna never wanted to talk about it, never wanted to worry her. 

For the moment she tried to focus on bandaging her hand… But there were far more scars than she was comfortable with, more than she saw the last time she was in.

Her blood boiled in a familiar silence that she hated.

“I know it’s dangerous,” D'Anna said, soft-spoken as ever. “But...it’s the job.”

It didn’t have to be, they both knew that.

“You know the crew here misses you.”

“Ma’am, please don’t start…”

“Kiite kuremasu ka!” Himari sighed and rubbed at her brow, “I–I worry about you, okay? This is dangerous work you’re doing.”

D'Anna frowned as her voice grew louder, harsher, “And this job is safe, Himari? What would happen if security found us here?”

She looked Himari right in the eye, freehand curling into a fist as she kept at it, “What if they weren’t in a charitable mood? How would it be any safer than what I do now?”

Himari took a deep breath, biting back so many arguments they’d had before as she stared at the surgical scar on her shoulder. 

She wouldn’t shout, not this time.

Slowly D’Anna relaxed, letting her shoulders sag as she looked down at the floor. 

She knew she hated the silence too…

“I will always be grateful for my time here, ‘Mari,” D'Anna said, laying a hand over hers as she met her gaze. “But I’ve got work of my own.”

“Orokana… Why you stick your neck out like this, I’ll never know,” she sighed, shaking her head. 

She took a glance over at the mech table, mechanical arms carefully holding Rosi’s exposed frame. 

“Your friend’s plating should be repaired soon.”

D'Anna gave a bow and a polite, but small smile as she spoke, “thank you, for everything you’ve done for me.”

“You’re welcome,” Himari sighed, looking down at her bandaged hand, “I don’t mind helping the people you bring here. I… just wish you could be safer.”

“I know, ‘Mari, I know…”

The quiet was the part of their routine she hated most. But in some ways, they needed it, if only for a few moments.

She kneaded at her brow as she worked through her thoughts, taking it slow as she spoke, “Where to next for you? Where’s home for your friend?”

“Family in the Upper Towers Sector.”

D’Anna gave her hand a few testing flexes, joints barely humming as she stretched her shoulder.

She laced her fingers in thought, looking D’Anna in the eye as she spoke, “How you make getting in and out of the towers look so easy, I’ll never know.”

“I’ve...got friends in a few places.”

“Hmm,” Himari broke into a small chuckle. “So do I, you know. I’d love to know their name someday.”

Before either of them could continue, they heard a soft tone as Rosi came over to them, looking as good as new.

She couldn’t help but admire their workshop’s handiwork.

“Apologies,” Rosi said, their eyes refocusing as they looked between the two women, “I just wanted to know when we would be going. I…don’t wish to keep Cole waiting.”

“Well then-” Himari grunted as she got up, her joints complaining the whole way as she rose to her feet. “-you two have had a long night. And I think the others are settling in just fine.”

Rosi couldn’t smile, but there was something in the way their eyes shined that made Himari smile back at them. She’d had plenty of time to get used to reading those little expressions in these mechanical eyes, the way some of her crew would have a bounce in their step when they were happy, or bear the full weight of their frames when they were down.

She knew D'Anna saw it too from the look on her face as she went to Rosi’s side.

“I’ll meet you at the door,” D'Anna said with a reassuring smile, squeezing their hand.

Rosi tilted their head for a moment, almost studying her bandaged hand before quickly nodding and heading off.

“Of course.”

Himari just kept smiling as she joined her at her side, laying a gentle hand on her arm.

“You’ve been up all night,” she sighed, looking up at D'Anna as she chuckled. “Not exactly a recipe for a good night’s sleep.”

“I know, I know,” she sighed, giving her a small, apologetic smile.

“You should come by again soon, if only for a meal. I meant it when I said the crew misses you.”

D'Anna looked down at her for a moment before giving a firm nod, “I’ll try.”

She lightly punched her arm, giving a nod in Rosi’s direction, “Go on now, you’ve gotta get them home.”

“Yes ma’am.” D'Anna said with a growing smile as she headed off, ignoring the indignant shout that followed after her.