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Lolly stood in the hangar of the ship, tablet in hand and resigned look on her face, watching as the mechs were locked into their bays. She always hated this part.
This hadn't been an exciting mission. In fact, it had been delightfully mundane; she'd dropped the rest of the squad on-planet, they'd walked their route and investigated everything on their list, and now she'd picked them back up. Somehow, this was about to require an abnormally long report.
"Hey Lolly, got you a present," called out Nova as she jumped down from her cockpit. She chucked a small object towards Lolly, who fumbled to catch it, almost dropping her tablet.
"I really wish you wouldn't," she said, gearing up for the lecture.
"I know," said Nova, walking past and patting her on the shoulder.
"I have to report unauthorised salvage, run a contamination test, run a tech scan, do—"
"I know," repeated Nova, disappearing out the door.
"Novaaa!" let out Lolly in an aggravated sigh. She looked down at the object. It looked like some generic, rusted, useless piece of machinery. Junk. So much paperwork, for junk.
"Yooo, Looollyyy! Check this shit out!"
Lolly looked up to see Riz, bent double over the railing of the catwalk above.
"Check it, doesn't this shit look fucking rad?" said Riz, bouncing over to point out her latest rule violations. "Charlotte's itching for our next fight."
"Riz! You cannot just attach any and all spiked implements to your mech. Especially not using your emergency repair supplies," scolded Lolly.
"It's fine, Lols, fuck, you told me before. I stuck some bonus welding gas in the cockpit," said Riz, rolling her eyes.
"You brought unsanctioned and unlisted volatile chemicals? In the pilot compartment?" Lolly scrunched her eyes with a hand. "Are you trying to make my life a nightmare?"
"Oh chill out, it's just a little extra metal. Shit's no different than bad repair work. I tweaked my engines again too."
Lolly pocketed the "present" from Nova and brought up her tablet. She ticked off several items, hesitated, then ticked off another couple. She looked back up at Riz.
"You know how much trouble I'm in if anyone reads this report? Damage: Minimal. Field repair: Extensive. That's clearly nonsense."
"Yeah, but they all say that," replied Riz. She slid down the ladder and headed towards the door. "Have we still got coffee? My head's fucking killing me."
"All of your reports say that, Riz. How you haven't gotten written up over this, I'll never know. And yes we still have coffee. That was one time."
"'Cause nobody else cares. Everyone customises their mech. Fuck, you've seen Nova's gun; that shit ain't stock, and we're all safer for it."
"Oh go get your coffee," snapped Lolly. She crossed the hanger to Cat, which was sitting with its cockpit open, Hex still inside.
"Besides," called Lolly, turning back to Riz, "not everyone does it. Hex doesn't break the rules."
"Just because you can't see whatever shitting eldritch fuckery she's got going on in that thing, doesn't mean she hasn't done it!" replied Riz, flipping her the two-finger salute as she backed out of the hangar.
"Fucking let me claim ignorance, Riz!"
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