(content warning: contains minor instances of foul language)



---

It was one of the smallest cockpits that Skye Woodard had ever been in.


Not *the* smallest ever, she'd been in 'modern-era' fighter jets in simulators, when she'd first joined the Paladins. And she'd also been trained in one sort of like this, to earn her... seed-eel. Was that how it was pronounced? It wasn't important, either way.


But all of the available space in the vehicle was going to the cabin, the one large room behind her, which was also Kale's station for... for however long this exercise lasted.

"Tell me again," she said, turning in her seat to look back at him. "Why we're doing this whole thing?"


"The Commonwealth subsidy for side ventures," said Kale, adjusting the ridiculous hat he was wearing. "We need some specific parts for the next airship, and it's easiest and cheapest to get them by buying this thing whole, and then getting to write most of it off by using it as intended for at least a week."


"Yeah - then why not *hire* a crew that's *used* to doing these sorts of missions? I mean, you're paying *us*."


"The experience, right?" said Hazelthistle, who was in the copilot's seat - or, no, actually, there were only controls on the pilot's side in this vehicle. That seemed like an oversight. "If it's going to cost the same either way, why not get the experience? Make it a team building activity?"


"We've gone through enough team 'building' activities that I'd expect us to be a wall," said Skye.


"Well, can you try to have fun with it at least?" asked Kale.


"Look, whatever you want to spend your crew stipend on hiring us to do, that's up to you, but I'm here for the paycheck and the benefits and nothing else, alright? I'm not here to have 'fun', I'm not here for the 'experience', and I'm certainly not here because I like either of you," said Skye. Then, a moment later, "Well, maybe you a little bit, Hazelthistle."


"Hooray, progress!" said her copilot.


"Anyway. If we have to do this, then let's get this done," said Skye, using the vehicle's key to turn on the noisy engine. "You've got your... objective printer thing turned on?"


"The order receipt printer, yes," confirmed Kale from the back.


"And you've got the mission profile pulled up?"


"Route locked in, three stops, and ready to advertise that we're cooking and serving delicious food!" confirmed Hazelthistle, propping the tablet up on the vehicle's glove box.


"Then let's get this over with," said Skye, and shifted the food truck's gears, getting it into motion.


---


"... payment's been confirmed, and here's your fries sir, we'll be around this spot again tomorrow," said Kale, and then reached over to bang on the partition between the cabin/kitchen and the truck's cockpit. "That was the last one, go!"


Skye pulled the truck out of the parking spot, and accelerated it. "Took you long enough, we're gonna miss the lunch rush. Hazelthistle, what's the sitrep?"


"Twenty minutes to our next stop, thirty till peak dining hours! We'll make it with time to spare! Advertising our availability and accepting orders... now!"


"Acknowledged and got them coming in!" called Kale from the back. "Let's see, they want - right, they want the nachos without the jalapenos, and then we've got fiber blasts cereal with strawberries and milk..."


"Right, get on that then," said Skye. "Road's mostly clear, but we've got -" She glanced in her mirrors. "Got another food truck riding our tailfeathers."


"Maybe they're saying hi?" asked Hazelthistle.


"Actually - that's one of the big chain food trucks," said Kale, glancing up from where he was fitting another queso bag into the nacho dispenser. "They can be pretty competitive."


The other food truck pulled up beside them on their left, veered away from them briefly, and then veered back and *slammed* into them.


"We're being rammed!" cried Hazelthistle.
"Those eggfuckers!" growled Skye, fighting with the wheel.
"There's queso everywhere..." said Kale weakly from the back.


By the time Skye was able to get the truck back under control, it'd veered off the highway and was on an exit ramp.


"Damn it, our turn wasn't for another five miles. How do we get back up?" said Skye, glancing over at Hazelthistle's map.


"Um - we... don't. The only onramp in this part of town is in the wrong direction from where we want to go - we're adding thirty minutes to our trip. We're going to be late, that's going to be a lot of cancelled orders..."


"Right, okay." Skye focused on the road again. "Okay. We can... we can find a different spot to sell at. If we're going to have orders cancelled anyway, go ahead and cancel them all, find a spot we *can* get to within the lunch rush window, and take orders for there instead."


"That - that would work," said Hazelthistle, bringing up the map again. "Okay - there's an industrial park that doesn't have any food trucks scheduled at it yet, we can get there in... ten minutes."


"Ten minutes isn't a lot of time to prep new orders," said Kale in the back. "Also I'm still cleaning up the queso."


"Okay. Okay - Hazelthistle, punch in the update and then give me the map, I'll drive and navigate both," said Skye. "You go back, help with cleanup, I'll drive carefully so there won't be any more spills to worry about, and once we're parked we'll all jump back to help with plating and handing out orders, alright?"


"We can do this," she added, as the truck started down its new route...


---


The food truck rolled back into the garage, with the outsides slightly banged up and the crew inside more than slightly exhausted.


"Based on what the app's saying we did pretty well, went almost double past the daily quota for the subsidy," said Hazelthistle happily as she unbuckled and got out of the truck. "That's money in our pocket. I'll go take inventory and get started on restocking right away."


"Yeah, you go do that," said Skye. "I'm clocking out."


She went to go leave - but she got stopped by Kale, who'd made it to the exit door before she could.


"You were really into it out there," he said. "And the call to switch spots saved our tailfeathers. I don't know if we could have pulled it out like today with just a hired crew off the street. Good job."


"Yeah, well, remember you said that when my merit increase comes up," said Skye, going to maneuver around him and continue to the exit. "And go take a shower, you've still got queso in your headfeathers."


"Come on, Woodard. Is it really just all a paycheck to you?"


"Meant what I said," said Skye.


Then she paused, one hand on the doorknob. "But..."


"... it is," she said, not looking back at Kale, "... nice, to have some variety. It's better than taking a civvie job where I'd be flying the same route back and forth, or some military gig where I'd be sitting around waiting or training all the time."


"And you and her could be a lot worse to work with," she added, still not looking back at him. "But that's it. Don't read anything more into it."


And with that, she was gone.


"... Hooray, progress?" suggested Hazelthistle, a few moments after she'd left.


"Hooray, progress," confirmed Kale.