The Legendary Junkmaster

"This is him?" The man sitting behind a desk asked Captain Joiner when she brought Jason inside of his office.

"Yes. As I said earlier, he's simply remarkable. He's already solved every current problem in my department. Quite frankly, sir, it's a waste to keep him with us. I'm positive that Mr Wright will become a major asset in the future." Captain Joiner kept a level and professional tone as he spoke.

The man behind the desk straightened out the white shirt that he was wearing before standing up. He came around to their side of the desk before circling around Jason. He mumbled to himself a few times as he studied Jason as if he could see something that nobody else could.

"He doesn't look like he's anything special, Captain. If we can speak openly for a moment, I find your claims hard to swallow. I might have understood if he were older and had plenty of experience under his belt. But, well, look at him…." 

Captain Joiner frowned. She could understand where Colonel Harris was coming from as she had made the same assumptions when she first met Jason. However, she had no idea how to voice her convictions to her superior officer.

Jason watched the exchange somewhat awkwardly. The pair were discussing him right in front of his eyes. However, he did not know if it was his place to speak right now. The last thing he needed was an officer constantly breathing down his neck, waiting for him to make a mistake!

"Sir, with all due respect. The decision has already been made to have him take a look at the 'problem'. I suggest that you reserve your judgement until you see how he performs." Captain Joyner's brown eyes had a determined look to them that made the Colonel falter for a moment.

The Colonel sighed as he sat back down behind his desk and ran a hand through his short grey hair. "Very well, Captain. But he only gets one chance! Mr Wright, I hope you live up to the Captain's expectations."

Jason felt relieved that they seemed to have settled the matter as his gaze met the Colonel's. "I'll certainly give it my all, sir."

"Good," Colonel Harris replied as he shifted some paper around on his desk. "You have three days to complete your task. Forgive me for not overseeing it myself. But I have more important matters to attend to. The Captain knows where to take you. You're both dismissed."

Captain Joiner gave a sharp salute in response to the Colonel's statement before marching out of the office. Jason hurriedly followed behind her and shut the door behind them. Captain Joiner looked as though she were both frustrated and worried at the same time as she strolled through the hallways in front of Jason. 

"We need to make a few stops along the way."

The Captain's sudden statement caught Jason off guard, but it was not like he had a say in the matter anyway. They paused in front of a door as Captain Joiner gestured to him to wait outside before disappearing inside. 

"I don't get what's going on. They gave you a time limit, but now she's wasting your time." Syssie complained as she glared at the closed door.

'Who knows? However, Captain Joiner vouched for me back there. I don't think it was easy for her to get me this chance. It'll probably make her look bad if I fail. So I doubt she's deliberately wasting my time.' Jason shrugged his shoulders as they listened to the muffled voices on the other side of the door.

"Maybe, but what's in it for her if you succeed? Wouldn't it have looked better for her if her department kept making rapid progress because they had you?" Syssie sounded overly paranoid as she voiced her concerns, which made Jason frown deeply.

"That's true," Jason was actually thinking along the same lines, but he had already decided to give Captain Joiner a chance. However, if Adam had not recently pointed out his flaws, Jason was confident that he would have already been planning on how to escape from the base. "Maybe she genuinely wants to see me being put to proper use?"

Syssie shook her head as she glanced at him. Just as she was about to open her mouth to continue their discussion, she was interrupted by a man shouting on the other side of the door.

"You can't expect me to put off my research to babysit!" The man roared with evident displeasure.

"You don't have a choice! Besides the Colonel, you're the only one qualified to oversee it!" Captain Joiner's voice replied. "Or do you want to go and tell the Colonel to do it himself!"

After that brief exchange, the voices suddenly quieted as Jason and Syssie looked at each other and chuckled. Clearly, the Captain was chewing out another officer to help out with monitoring Jason's problem that he had to fix.

'See?' Jason smirked as he glanced at Syssie. 'She just came here to get someone to watch over my work. I'm guessing the Colonel would have asked for proof that I did it myself then rejected me when I couldn't supply the physical evidence. Now we have a reliable, unbiased witness!'

Syssie kept her mouth shut as the door opened up. Captain Joiner stepped out of the room, followed by a muscular man who looked to be in his mid-thirties. His hands were dirty, and he wore something that looked like a leather boiler suit.

"Mr Wright, this is Captain Anderson. He'll be working closely with you over the next few days." Captain Joiner grinned as if she had just won a significant battle without receiving any casualties.

"Nice to meet you. I guess…" Captain Anderson swept his long brown hair behind his ear as he spoke. "You sure you're up for this? I don't want to waste my time if you're even remotely unprepared."

Jason grinned as he nodded his head in response. He could tell that the new Captain was not looking down on him like everyone else had so far when he first met them. Overall, Captain Anderson had managed to make an excellent first impression on Jason.