The thermal regulator's out

[for_everyone]

Pirates are definitely not an ideal encounter in the Outer Rim, though they're occasionally a little less fraught than the Imperials. The set of pirates the Ghost only just escaped, however, had slightly better ships and better armaments than the usual, which means they took a few hits on their way to a clear heading out of range of the rogues and their guns. Lightspeed is only useful when you're not headed straight into a gravity well.

"Well," Hera says, rubbing her hands together to keep her fingertips warm. "Good news is we have shields and our hyperdrive is minimally damaged. Our environmental controls are fried, though, mostly the thermal controls and water recycler, which is better than the oxygen generator being out."

She lifts her head, turning to shout back deeper into the ship.

"Any other damage reports, Chop?"

Comments

[notallofus]

"Both," he murmurs.

Kanan closes his eyes. Maybe it's a risky thing to do now, as he can already feel the threat of exhaustion seeping through him. But he focuses his thoughts, turns inward. To his slow breath, the deep cold passing through his lungs. The whispered hum, soft light of the Force within him, moving through him, to Hera, to the shifting space around them. And then to his heart, beating, slowly now.

He folds his hands over hers, moving her palm so it covers his wrist. While her fingers touch his skin, his pulse begins to rise.

[for_everyone]

It takes a little, but Kanan's skin where it brushes against -- or near -- Hera's starts to feel less clammy, less chill.

Her shivering increases, which is good.

"S-sorry," she says, as her teeth increase their chatter again.

"'S b-better. N-now. G-getting there."

[notallofus]

Kanan keeps his eyes closed. His head lowers closer to hers, but he shifts, so that he touches only her flight cap.

"Okay."

Under her fingers, his pulse stabilizes, coming to a quick but even rhythm. His eyes stay closed, but he speaks to her.

"Can you f-feel everything?"

[for_everyone]

Hera goes silent and still for a few moments to check. Her toes flex, and her ankles. Her knees are all right, and her hip flexors. Her core is fine. Her fingers are a little stiff, but they bend, and she can even feel the tips (they sting).

Nothing hurts like her lekku do, and for a moment she feels her breath speed up as she considers whether they might be frostbitten.

"M-my l-lekku -- the h-hurt. Wh-which is p-probably g-good, b-but -- "

She hisses a little between her teeth, anyway.

[notallofus]

Kanan pulls back one arm, reaching for the heating packet on his chest and slowly moving it to cover more of her lekku.

"Does it help?"

[for_everyone]

“I th-think s-so.”

Hera hisses again as the heat pack touches her lekku, because it really does make them hurt more as the blood flows back in, but —

“I c-can f-feel then again, wh-which is good.”

[notallofus]

His eyes wince shut again as she hisses, but he keeps the heating pack where it is, leveraging it against his chest before moving his arm around her again. He takes a second to focus on his heartbeat again, ensuring it doesn't slow down again.

And then, "So just... seven m-more hours..."

[for_everyone]

"I'd s-uggest n-napping, b-but I think f-falling asleep would b-be unf-fortunate."

Some of the shivering is easing from her body, stillness moving up from other core. Her teeth are still chattering, and her fingertips and shoulders are juddery, but --

It's better.

[notallofus]

“No.”

The exhaustion has passed, as he’s steadied his heartbeat, and then, slowly, his breathing. His fingers fidget against her, under the blanket.”

“I think my ears are numb.”

[for_everyone]

"Oh!"

She's a little out of it, maybe, because she immediately brings her hands up to cup them over his ears.

"Th-that sh-should . . . . help."

"Um."

[notallofus]

Even with his thoughts a little clearer now, it takes Kanan a few seconds to process this.

Then, he lifts his arms again, reaching back to pull the blanket around him up, over his head. He leans forward, out from Hera’s hands, instead his head against Hera’s cap.

“Maybe that’s - better.”

Otherwise Hera’s hands will likely go numb quickly.

[for_everyone]

Hera laughs a little, very quietly, and definitely still shaky. She tucks her hands back under the blankets, tucking them under her arms and holding them there.

"S-seven hours w-worth of b-better?"

[notallofus]

Kanan closes his eyes, leaning a little more into her shoulder.

"Ask again in - a couple hours."

[for_everyone]

"If I f-forget, I'm s-sure Chopper will ask f-for me."

She curls up a little more tightly, trying to hold the heat in.

And if parts of her relax a little against Kanan's body, clammy or not, clearly she's just tired.

That's it exactly.

[notallofus]

Kanan doesn't speak at first. Eyes closed again, he focuses back to his breathing, to his heartbeat. And he listens for Hera's. He lets minutes pass into seconds in silence, willing to only focus on this.

But he can hear her heart slowing, and knows he can't let her fall asleep.

"D-did it get cold, on Ryloth?"

[for_everyone]

It takes her a moment to rouse, and she shakes her head to clear it, voice just a little muzzy at first.

"At n-night, in the d-desert, that was the coldest time. B-but it wasn't like th-this. W-we knew to b-be p-prepared for it, f-for one."

[notallofus]

"I was - on an ice planet."

Kanan keeps his eyes closed as he speaks.

"Once."

[for_everyone]

Her heart rate picks up at that, though she takes pains to keep her breathing even.

"D-did you l-like it?"

Anything that should be an innocuous question isn't, but -- he opened the door, and maybe it's something good to talk about.

She's not sure, and her thinking is muzzier than she'd like with this hanging in the balance, but still.

[notallofus]

At this point, he's ready to do whatever it takes to keep them both awake.

"Not the cold."

He presses his lips together, briefly, feeling the cold creep into him again. "It was - Ilum."

[for_everyone]

She pushes away from him a minute, wanting to look at his face while the planet's name rings in her mind.

Hera regrets that almost as soon as she moves, because the chill hasn't actually gone anywhere, and she huddles back in for a long moment before speaking.

"The Empire strip-mined that place, didn't they. Was it because of . . . Before?"

There's a lot about Kanan's history they don't talk about explicitly, but at this moment Hera wants to keep them both awake, too.

[notallofus]

His eyes blink open when she moves away, his arms nearly jerking back from her. The movement startles his steadied breathing, spiking through him, and for a moment he can't help the thought that she'd pushed away because she knew what that name meant. What that system meant.

It passes, as she moves back to him, as she speaks. He doesn't hesitate as she returns, though his heart still races.

"They must be mining the - kyber."

[for_everyone]

"S-sorry," she says, feeling the startle and his racing heartbeat, both.

"Sorry."

Hera falls silent for a few moments, letting both their breaths settle, their hearts, too.

Then --

"K-kyber is for the J-j -- wh-what c-can the Empire d-do with it? Sh-should we b-be worried?"

[notallofus]

"I don't know."

Kanan closes his eyes again. "Probably h-have to be."

Worried, that is. Whatever the Empire's doing or trying to do, nothing good can come from it.

[for_everyone]

"S-something else to add to our l-list."

She exhales.

"Is th-there anything they do we d-don't worry about?"

Even supply runs are something to keep an eye on.

"D-don't answer th-that."

[notallofus]

He doesn't. Kanan waits a few seconds, his eyes still closed. Under the blankets, one of his hands finds hers, and he carefully moves his fingers between hers. He hopes she doesn't mind too much.

"I went there to - to build my lightsaber."