OOM: En route to Csilla, aboard Sullustian Star

[jedizekk]

It wasn't fair. Jaina knew perfectly well that, even with the quickest hyperspace routes, the trip from Ossus to Csilla still took at least a couple of days.

Which meant, a couple of days stuck alone on this quick ship class shuttle - alone with Aeryn. And even if the shuttle was seventeen meters long, and designed to hold up to eight

Comments

[just_a_soldier]

Meditation was a tricky thing. Not that Aeryn would know this. However she certainly knew how to interrupt one.

"What the frell are you doing?"

Several solar days with Zekk hadn't done much to improve her temper. She was starting to feel the weight of it. She'd grown up in space, claustrophobia didn't come naturally to her. But being stuck in such a tiny area with him...it was frustrating; irritating; utterly maddening in every way. She had come here for some peace, expecting him to be elsewhere. No such luck.

[jedizekk]

"What the kriff are you doing in here?"

He was supposed to be alone in this cockpit. Alone. As in, by himself, with Jaina as his only connection to anything beyond the walls of this spaceship. As in, no Aeryn Sun allowed.

It's not a wonder he looks furious right about now.

[just_a_soldier]

She looked shocked. Surprised at how angry he was, how suddenly he had snapped. Only a few microts more and her expression mirrored his.

Aeryn pushed her loose hair off her shoulders, mouth a tight line.

"The shower is broken."

[jedizekk]

He was trying to meditate. Get that bit of peace he needs oh so much. And she just had to barge in.

Zekk rolls his eyes, turning around in the pilot's chair. "So? I'm a Jedi, not a mechanic."

[just_a_soldier]

Barge? More like walking, she had thought. Zekk was overreacting. It wasn't like she had caught him looking at porn or doing anything strange, she had only come in to get the tools.

Her face turned stony.

"I only came in to get the equipment. For fixing it."

She crouched down to open the toolbox, very deliberately banging her hip hard off the edge of the chair. If he was going to be a total drannit, so could she.

"What flew up your engine pipe?"

[jedizekk]

"Ow, hey!"

Zekk's nearly knocked off balance by the shove, regaining enough sense in time to push himself up off the navigational control pannel. He whirls around, standing up as quickly as possible, and jabs a finger accusingly in Aeryn's direction.

"What flew up yours?"

[just_a_soldier]

Aeryn was stronger than she looked, faster too. On her feet with a screwdriver in her hand before he could say anything else.

She waved it in his direction, voice dangerously low:

"Your ridiculous attitude. Not to mention staring at your pathetic, moping face every day."

[jedizekk]

"Then stay the kriff away from me."

Beat.

"I am not pathetic and moping!"

[just_a_soldier]

"Then stop being pathetic. And moping." She suggested coldly, slick fingers gripping the gadget violently.

[jedizekk]

:O!

Zekk stares at her, emerald green eyes wide and in disbelief. He is so not pathetic. Or mopey! "Blast it! Next time Jaina can come and pick you up herself!"

[just_a_soldier]

Oh please. He so is.

"That's absolutely fine by me. Since you clearly have no redeeming qualities whatsoever."

The air was hot, close and Aeryn wanted nothing more than to punch the son of a tralk. But it wouldn't do, at all. She couldn't be bothered with the lectures Jaina would undoubtedly give.

[jedizekk]

Is not!

"Yeah right," he snorts, glaring at her again before returning back to his seat.

He has redeeming qualities, of course he does. Otherwise there wouldn't be Tahiri, or Jaina. Or Lowie or Tesar or well, still!

Zekk has redeeming qualities!

[just_a_soldier]

"Lying to yourself is the worst kind of lie." She hissed behind his ear, leaning heavily on the back of the chair.

Her muscles were tensed, ready for a fight; yelling at him, degrading him, was the next best thing.

It never even occured to her how nasty and very Peacekeeper-like it was. It was too frelling hot and she wanted off this damn boat already.

[jedizekk]

He's not lying to himself. Not at all. Sure he was an orphan that grew up on the streets of Coruscant. Sure he turned to the dark side once, allowing himself to become Brakkiss' Darkest Knight.

But that was in the past. All in the past. He is a Jedi Knight now. He's still Jaina's best friend, and now he's found himself a girlfriend of his own.

There were plenty of good qualities about him. Aeryn just had to be blind. Or something.

"Go away."

[just_a_soldier]

"Why? So you can sit here and play your paltry Jedi mind games? Or think about how much you'd like to kill me?"

A scowl masked her sharp features, fulfilling the purpose she had been bred for. To hate, to kill; it came naturally to her and right now, she didn't even care.

Warmth prickled up and down her body. She should fix the shower, should cool down; instead she bristled.

"Get a grip, Zekk. You'll always be the cargo-runner."

[jedizekk]

One of the good things that came from being Jaina's mindmate for the past couple of years was learning how to control his emotions. Or, at least, what people saw and felt.

But just in case, he doesn't turn around to look at her and instead stares out the viewport window. He won't always be the cargo-runner. Force, he isn't one to begin with. This is just doing a friend a favore. That's all.

"Go away," Zekk repeats, more firmly this time.

Something on his controls beep and his eyes dart away from the viewport to the computer. "We just dropped out of hyperspace. Go make yourself presentable, will you?"