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]

He smiles, leaning his face back from the cold again.

"It's hard to imagine anything you fly staying slow or clunky."

[for_everyone]

"There's only so much of a ship you can replace," Hera says dryly. "Without having to just invest in a new one entirely. Which -- "

Well, since Kanan said it flat out like that --

" -- is what happened after the first few runs, when they saw what I could make even that slagheap do."

[notallofus]

That's no surprise.

"Who wouldn't want to see what you could do with a decent ship."

[for_everyone]

"Imperials."

She chuckles a little, the sound more than slightly raspy.

"And even then, probably only some of them."

[notallofus]

"That's true," he agrees, also laughing softly.

But then, he wouldn't want to be on the other side of Hera firing her ship's cannon. Or any weapon system, when it came to that.

"When did you first pilot a ship?"

[for_everyone]

"First time behind the controls, or first time actually up in space, or first time actually moving anywhere up in space?"

They were all very distinct experiences.

[notallofus]

"Um."

It's true, but -

"What if you choose one?"

[for_everyone]

"The first time I was behind ship controls I was really small, and one of m -- one of the rebels on Ryloth let me keep quiet by pretending to fly while a meeting was happening. I imagined so many adventures for myself that day."

Her smile is faint, carrying a heavy load of wistfulness around the edges. She keeps her fingers from fidgeting between Kanan's by way of some effort.

"It was different the first time I actually got to fly. It was just a training flight I'd begged one of the port haulers to let me take, in trade for some nice electrical components I'd scavenged. It was -- it was so different from everything I'd imagined, but even with that heavy ship underneath me, and someone in the copilot's chair telling me what to do -- I knew it was where I belonged."

[notallofus]

"I'm glad that you found that."

Or maybe more, he's glad Hera has been able to keep it. Still, he's smiling again when he asks, "But are these the kind of adventures you imagined?"

[for_everyone]

"You know," Hera says thoughtfully, mouth curving in a very faint smile, "For the most part it really is. In between all the waiting around, which I definitely ignored in my tales to myself as a child."

But the rest of it --

"I find the downtime a relief now, for at least the first ten minutes."

You know, when it's not freezing.

[notallofus]

"Right."

Kanans sure, were it not freezing, Hera would have found something else to be doing right now. He'd never known her to enjoy downtime.

"I didn't imagine as much waiting, either. But then it usually meant - I had things figured out, for the next few hours, anyway."

It was a relief from the pressing, constant need to ensure his survival.

[for_everyone]

"I can see that, too."

She makes an effort not to look up at him, to see what look is on his face just now.

"A breathing space is worth a lot."

[notallofus]

"Yeah," he mutters.

After a few more seconds, Kanan lets out a breath. "So how much time do you think has passed now?"

[for_everyone]

"We're still at the six hour mark."

She squeezes his hand, a quick closing and then opening of her fingers before she can think better of it.

"Maybe we should break out the horrible drinking songs in Huttese?"

[notallofus]

"I could do that."

Does he really just want to see if he can hear Hera sing?'

... maybe.

[for_everyone]

How long can they play chicken on this issue?

"Even Chop could do that," Hera allows.

"But should we? Should anyone, really?"

[notallofus]

"Chop's a little busy right now," he points out.

"And his Huttese is terrible."

[for_everyone]

"Singing in Huttese is really more like gargling, anyway. So I suppose we may as well do our best with it."

It's not very pretty, singing in Huttese, even for those with very lovely voices.

If it weren't for everything else about the Hutts and their work, it might almost be nice.

[notallofus]

"All right," he sighs. "No singing."

[for_everyone]

He seems so disconsolate, and it's probably not a symptom of frostbite in humans.

So --

"There's always whistling?"

[notallofus]

"It's too cold for that."

Even thinking about it makes his mouth hurt. "How about Twi'leki practice?"

[for_everyone]

There's a hint of warmth in her voice -- more metaphorical than actual, because it remains freezing, but --

"It's a sensible suggestion."

She huffs out a breath of what might be laughter.

"We can start by going over some of the vocabulary we talked about last time?"

[notallofus]

It takes him a big, but eventually he answers, "Amdrar-"

Wait. No.

"Am - amdrae."

[for_everyone]

"Ze," Hera says, nodding. "Amdrare."