But on that visit to New Texas, Skival went on a recruitment drive. Three friends joined the 76 man crew of the Pleasant Venture. Hana Betterson, Ajax Floydal, and Jake Misoto had recently graduated from their training schools on the sphere and were looking for an adventure that paid well and gave great work experience. Skival had a way of making a cargo hauler’s job sound far more glamorous that it was, but the pay was good and one did get experience. With a year and a half under her belt and showing excellent skill in remote probe piloting, she was given the duty of training Hana and Jake how to use the remote probes as well.
At first, she hated the two. Like most colony children, they knew very little about Earth. Sure they knew sports teams and what virtual shows came from it, but the actual history and culture knowledge was greatly lacking. The only language they knew was New Latin, the official Terran language established after the Triadial invasion. Over the next few months however, those differences did not matter as much, and Sarah could not now imagine her life without those two.
Especially Jake, who she slowly got to understand during his training. He was eighteen at the time he joined on and she was twenty, so at first she thought him to young, naïve, and unreliable to do this job, despite the fact she was the same age when she joined. However, he proved mature enough, knowledgeable, and very reliable. His friendship with Hana started to concern Sarah, but she found out that Hana was Jake’s sister’s best friend for a long time. Their relationship had always been as if they were brother and sister. Ajax became a friend as soon as Hana started to date him. Only after doing all of that snooping did Sarah realize, she was starting to fall for Jake, hard.
His looks did not help her predicament. As with most colony kids, one could not tell what old nation states their ancestors came from. It was usually a mixed bunch. Jake was no exception. His skin was slightly brown, as if it was a cross between India decent and European. His hair was dark red, thick, but he kept it cut short. His eyes had the slightest hint of Asian descent, yet his face looked more French, but the most striking thing about him was his eyes changed from dark green in the center to the darkest brown outside. After sixth months working with him, she decided it was time to let him know her feelings and ambushed him one day outside her quarters. She has not regretted it since.