A familiar mechanic ...?

[Desertpuma]

Lin disappeared into the thriving throng of people bustling throughout the docking ring before he found one of the lifts and headed down another merchant level in search of something.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin worked his way through the mass of people without stopping. He slipped into openings and took advantage of gaps to make his way more quickly through the noise. It took a few moments before he found the lift he needed. Hustling some people off the lift who seemed to pause when he showed up, Lin pressed the button to travel downward along the central column of the station. He wanted to go to the merchants' deck.

The door opened as he stepped on to the merchants' deck. This was the deck for those who lived on the Skyplex and sometimes they would sell to travelers. It was just a matter of talking to the right shop. Lin made his way along a less crowded concourse from the one above. He had not been to Li Shi's establishment before but a little birdie back on Greenleaf had told him it was a good place for certain electronics and mechanical repairs. It was not a large shop, but none really were on the Skyplex, so Lin took his time looking at some of the wares and gathering a few things into one of the carrying boxes. He knew Ronin needed certain tech components they had run out of along with some general electrical and basic mechanical supplies. As the last customer still in the shop left, Lin walked up to the counter and set the carry box down. It was then he noticed a familiar face, one he had not seen in several years. "Who is that girl?"

"One of my workers. Is that all?" Li Shi responded as Lin raised an eyebrow. "What is her name?"

"Junkie number two. She's a good worker. What do you care?" Lin needed to be sure and spoke loudly, loud enough for anyone in the shop to hear. "Is that girl Reese Foster!?!"

[Reese Foster]

"Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. Come near and rescue me; redeem me because of my foes."[/i]  These were her first words today.  Reese Foster whispered them to herself as she awaited those footsteps that sounded the start of another day, or the start of the end of her life.  She adjusted in her cramped surroundings as she tried to find a position a little less uncomfortable, using only the slightest of light from the crack underneath the door to make out the words on the wrinkled, worn and faded leaflet she had.

As she expected however her brief reprieve was interrupted, the thumping of two large boots came towards the door.  The light extinguished by two pillars covering her page in darkness.  A moment passed as the silence from each side of the door offered hope and despair in equal measures but it lasted only a moment as the door opened.  She looked up at the harsh light causing a silhouette to cast down upon her.  She looked up for only a moment before remembering herself and looking to the ground.

"Time to work.  Give me your arm."  His cold, careless tone held only a threat of what would happen if she didn't comply.  Despite that she still hugged her arms around her knees, slightly rocking back and forth as she feared the inevitable.  Her reluctance was met with the expected anger as he tugged her left arm away from her, costing her balance and leaving her sprawled on the floor as he gripped her wrist tightly with one hand and produced a needle with the other.  She tried to scream but her throat was torn up and shot from previous attempts at it.  She could do little but watch as he shot her arm full of a drug she couldn't understand but soon fear and pain faded and she was left numb, fatigue replaced by a rapidly beating heart and an energy she couldn't explain.

After a dozen minutes or so she came to her senses somewhat and pulled herself to her feet.  Nearly floating she walked towards the counter on the other side of the closet where she slept and saw another sheet of paper, this one was not of God's word but of the man who had usurped God's place, claiming unholy dominion over her.  This was a list of today's chores.

She resided herself to the tasks set out about her day as she had done for however long she'd been here.  Her first task was to disassemble a shuttle engine due to a cracked piston and began about repairing.  The shop was quite quiet, very few had come today.  She preferred it when it was busy at least then Li Shi was out front and left the two of them alone.  She hadn't seen her counterpart today and it should have worried her but she was incapable of feeling at the moment at least feeling anything other than numb.

As the few customers who had come left she could hear the mumbling's of conversation between her captor and a voice that stood out from the regulars.  It was comforting but foreign all at once.  She heard a name called quite loudly Reese Foster.  She dropped the wrench from her hand and couldn't explain what propelled her but she moved towards the voice, into the front room where she was forbidden and stared Lin in the face.  She didn't know the man in front of her from a hole in the wall, couldn't explain why she for the first time since her arrival disobeyed the man who surely would beat her.  She continued her stare as she looked for speech, something that didn't come easy with whatever was in her veins.

"Hel... u.... u...sss"  She forced out the grunts as she awaited Shi's painful repercussions.  She had no idea why this man on the other side of the counter caused her to be so bold, something beyond her understanding was at play and she prayed internally it was an act of God.

"I told you never to come out front.  Never bother my customers.  You junkie."  She saw his arm raise but unlike most times when the strike fell her eyes squeezed shut but the strike never came.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin's suspicions were confirmed when she stumbled out of the back. She was unkempt to say the very least. It looked like she had not been bathed except sparingly. His eyes quickly tracked to her arm and the holes which had been punched into it. In the decade since he had last come across Reese Foster, fortune had definitely not been kind. She was a talented mechanic before and she certainly looked like she could use the help. Her words seemed to eke out of her mouth like a slowly moving river almost traveling aimlessly.

Li Shi raised his arm after scolding her and Lin decided it was the last time such an opportunity would occur. His left hand grabbed Li Shi's arm pulling it back as his right hand snapped forward with two fingers extended stabbing at the side of the shop owner's neck. It was a jolt to the nerve system and caused shortness of breath. The man dropped to his neck gasping for air. Lin moved quickly to the storefront and rolled the security shutter down before returning to vault the counter.

To those outside the store, it might have sounded like a muffled skirmish. On the inside, however, it was clearly one-sided. Lin landed soundlessly as he rammed his knee into Li Shi's sternum and leaned forward. His left hand grabbed the man's wrist to control his arm so he could not trigger an alarm. Without looking at her, Lin spoke. "Reese, I am going to take care of you and this." He grabbed the man by his throat and eased him onto his feet as Lin gained his own footing. "Where's her bunk? Point to it."

Li Shi pointed with his left hand in the direction toward the back of the store. A guided tour of sorts took place next as Lin maneuvered the man through his own establishment to the back room. It was filthy. The trashcan outside told the real story of the needles. This had been happening for a while now. "What else is hers?" The man indicated the coat that doubled as a blanket. Lin tossed it over his shoulder before banging Li Shi's head into the wall and holding it there. "I am buying the parts I need and I am taking her with me. The money for the parts will be generous enough. If I come back here and find you using more drug-induced labor, I'll see to it you wish the Black had taken you." Lin slipped behind the man and placed him in a chokehold, holding it until the man went unconscious.

He could have searched for the drugs and injected the man with as many needles as he could find but it would have been trouble he didn't really need. Lin shut the door as the man lay on the floor unconscious. He grabbed a heavy stool and placed it on its side in front of the door just in case the man left in a hurry. Seeing the kitchenette with its equivalent of a microwave, Lin decided against putting some of the metal shards in it as he did with the coins in Santo. The electrical damage to the Skyplex would have been too noticeable.

Stepping back up to the front, he pulled some money out of from within in his jacket and placed it on the counter. There was enough there for double the cost if they had been on the edge of the Rim. Lin strode to the front and rolled the security shutter up then returning to the counter. Turning to Reese, he held open the coat and helped her put it on. "Reese, I am going to take you somewhere safe where you will be able to get help." Putting his arm around her shoulder, Lin picked up the box under one arm and started guiding her from the store.