'Birth of an... Engineer?'

'Birth of an... Engineer?'
Who: Andy, Kara
Where: Next to the hole
When: 6:47 AM
<Snip>
'Which really strikes me as odd let me tell ya. And it's not only
cause I know your the only person who will save me but even from the
first moment I met ya I knew I could trust ya. And since I learned a
few things about ya I trust ya even more. I feel I need to tell you
this cause I'm not gonna be here for too much longer. I've been
loosing this battle with the Krylon control system it's consuming my
consciousness. In fact now I think I only have a very limited amount
of time as we speak. So what I really need to know is....can you
really save me cause I don't want to die and loose what I've got now.
So be honest with me, can ya save me?' Kara asked as she looked at
Andy with hope in her eyes.
<End Snip>
Andy stared back at Kara with an even look on his face.
For precisely 21 seconds the Janitor's didn't change. Every second
that ticked by the hologram felt her hope quickly fade.
However, a light began to glow at the base of Andy's neck. A bright
blue colour that emanated from buried trinket.
Suddenly and as though snapping out of a trance he finally spoke.
"Yes."
Kara blinked then prodded. "Yes...what?"
"I can save you."
~~
One taxi ride later...
~~
The second the yellow cab stopped the Janitor leapt out of the
vehicle. Already paid up, the cab left just as fast. Thank god there
was that one cab driving out there in the middle of no-where. It was
almost as though someone willed it to be there.
Sprinting forward, Andy's eyes darted about for a familiar sight. A
slight crater that held what he hoped could be the answer.
Shoving aside a blackened bush, Andy stared down at what remained of
his old ride. The Hermes's landing wasn't the most pleasant of its
kind. The beaten circular body, circularly lined with large grey
panels, had all but lost its lustre in the hot Australian sun.
However, Andy didn't quite know what he was thinking. He could hack
something, hotwire sometimes, but he couldn't repair something. Hell,
he could barely pilot this stolen military ops craft!
"This Kara; is the experimental starcraft X-46DW project 'Hermes'."
Andy stated as lifted his wrist up to the sightly cratered landscape.
"...What is it?" The Scottish woman queried with a titled head
The janitor blinked then continued. "It's an experimental craft
designed to mimic the Blue Dwarf's warping abilities."
Kara turned to him. "...What is it?"
Andy face palmed. "*SIGH* It goes really, REALLY fast."
"Oh. Why didn't you say that in the first place?"
The cleaner grit his teeth while he crawled over the craft. "You took
the Astro-nav! Shouldn't you already know this?!"
The hologram flung her arms up in the air. "Well I'm sorry! I'm not
exactly having flashbacks about my cram sessions while I'm waiting to
see if I die or not!!"
"Clam down; I've got the canopy open." With a heavy thump, the Janitor
collapsed into the chair. A small niggling memory of 099 sitting in
his lap returned. Bitting his lip Andy shook his head and returned to
the present.
His arms folded out and attempted to re-activate the craft.
A long growling rumble responded.
Then it coughed, spluttered and died.
"I'm going to die." Kara announced in deadpan.
"You're not going to die! I'm going to get this craft working again!!"
Andy growled. His right hand reached out and tore out a nearby panel.
The Janitor's face became steadily more and more sweat-laden. He
barely knew what he was doing. Andy had crashed this ship when he had
last returned to earth on Seymour's quest. He couldn't do it. He had
no idea what he was going. Kara was going to die, and it would be his
all fault.
She trusted him, and now she was going to die.
"Oh, so you're an engineer now too?" The hologram's face steadily grew
redder and redder. Kara had had enough. "Does this have a nice story
to go with it? Let me guess. You were suckered into *another* 'job' by
*another* girl who was obviously a bitch but you're still pining
over?! Yet this job somehow miraculously gave you the power to repair
anything in the damn universe!!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Andy returned with a
flabbergasted look on his face. Kara's voice was steadily maxing out
the return volume on the temp-wrist. "Don't you give me that!! Who
lying to-?!"
"No! About the 'another' girl... bitch thing... or whatever." The
janitor replied as he reached for a distant tool from a previously
unseen emergency kit.
"...What?" Kara was getting too old for this.
"Another 'evil bitch', what were you talking about? I've never met
anyone like that... at least not on a job. And I've always been able
to fix things! How did you think I got the skutters?" Andy moved about
the experimental craft as though he'd been working on it all his life.
Whereas before he was clumsy and uncomfortable, he moved about the
tiny craft like he was a monkey.
The hologram moved her face forward. "Andy... I'm talking about the
job you did. The Job!" The Janitor only blinked in response as he Kara
began to fling words at him that may as well be in Scandinavian. "You
know, how you got to be so good with hacking all of a sudden!'Hal',
Shodan, Sarah- Glados or whatever... Tri-Optimum, freaking Tri-Op!!"
"Kara... I have no idea what you're talking about!" The response in
the man's eyes was genuine and utterly serious. "I studied under ASCII
for a year, got caught by Chapman- then I went on the straight and
narrow by studying for an Engineering diploma while doing some
janitorial work on the side!"
Kara didn't know what the hell happened, but she felt that all trust
she had in him was gone.
"Alright, now calm down. I've got the engine up and running again."
Andy slapped the slide shut and leaned back into the chair. "Don't
worry Kara. I'll be there before you know it." The Janitor/Hacker and
now Engineer leaned over towards the co-ordinates panel.
"Erm... where ARE you by the way?"
<Tagging Captain Emerald!>
OOC: Don't worry, I haven't suddenly re-written Andy's back story.
This is all happening for a reason.