Tyger, Tyger, burning bright [OPEN]

[we_deliver]

It hadn't taken Trudy very long to find out that aircraft and spacecraft were sometimes recovered with their pilots - and when she found that out, she had immediately gone in search of the hangar. She had her rifle and her dog tags - if she had her Samson, she would have everything she needed out of life

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[sithhavecooties]

He'd spent most of his time exploring the ship just to observe, but here, in the sprawling hangar chamber, he had a more personal goal: to find the Jade Shadow tucked away behind a yacht or gunboat. He passed at least a squadron's worth of X-Wings, the familiar disc of the Millenium Falcon, and ships he didn't recognize at all, even after years of watching the Coruscant skyline.

But the Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

That made sense, he thought, with a passing twinge of bitterness. The Shadow wasn't his ship, after all. Legally, it was his father's, and, even years after her death, the heart and soul of the ship was still his mother's, from the engine to the most insignificant switch on the control board. And if Mara Jade were too young to get along with his father here, there was no way she'd fly anything that had been a gift from her future husband

[sithhavecooties]

He sighed. It didn't take Force sensitivity to understand that look. "Sorry," he said awkwardly. Sure, she was grumpier than a rancor, but he'd grown up around too many pilots not to know what the craft had meant.

[we_deliver]

Trudy blew her bangs out of her eyes and put her tools away, stowing them in the compartment underneath her seat. Then she set about replacing the access panels. "Yeah, well," she said, clearly not wanting to talk about it. "I'll fix her someday."

She shrugged. "Ah, well... at least I'm not dead," she said. "Kind of expected I was going to be." She shook herself out of it - well, there was someone who recovered fast. "Sorry kid, I don't think I actually introduced myself - Captain Trudy Chacon."

[sithhavecooties]

"Ben Skywalker," he said, awkwardly trying to offer her a hand around the craft's controls. Then, because of the a little young comment, he added: "Jedi Knight."

[we_deliver]

Trudy took his hand with a raised eyebrow. "Hate to say so, but the title means squat. What's a Jedi Knight, and should I be impressed?"

[sithhavecooties]

"Follower of the Light Side of the Force, protector of peace and justice, model for seriously flashy boots." He shrugged. "The boots didn't survive the goo treatment, but trust me, they're pretty awesome."

[we_deliver]

"Uh, the fact that you had your boots right out of the goo means you were ahead of a lot of us. I seem to remember waking up in my birthday suit." She tugged at the sleeve of her plantsuit and made a face. "Not like this is much better - what I wouldn't give for a set of BDUs right about now."

[sithhavecooties]

Ben frowned. "It's simple, it's flexible, and there are so many people popping out of the goopods in them that it's completely inconspicious. This stuff as good as it gets for wandering around asking questions."

[we_deliver]

Trudy shrugged. "I guess it's versitile, at the very least. And if everyone's wandering around in 'em it goes to show that they're not dangerous or likely to suck our brains out every other Friday." She hopped down out of the cockpit, recovering her rifle from where she had hung it on the door and slinging it over her shoulder. "But inconspicuous? I'll leave that to you, kiddo, that was never my forte."

[sithhavecooties]

"Sometimes it's useful," he offered. "You wear armor and everyone knows you're military. You wear bright colors and everyone knows you're a tourist. It's sort of nice to have clothes that don't say anything but 'I'm new'" ... though with all the questions about his dad he'd been getting, Ben groused, he might as well be in full Jedi robes.

[we_deliver]

"It's all what you're used to, kiddo. I'm used to something a little looser - although at least this crap doesn't hamper range of motion. Still not enough pockets for my taste, though - and man would I like my sunglasses back." She shrugged, adjusting the strap on the rifle. "Eh, I've got my gun, I've got my tags, and I've got me bebe, even if she is shot all to pieces. It could be worse."

Trudy paused for a second and then grinned a little. "Probably will be worse at some point, if what the crew says is true."

[sithhavecooties]

"What did they say about it getting worse?" he asked, wondering if she'd heard anything he hadn't.

[we_deliver]

"Not anything they said so much," Trudy said. "Except - we're fighting a war against interdimensional bugs nobody's ever seen before. I think we can safely assume that shit's gonna get worse before it gets better, get what I mean?"

[sithhavecooties]

"If the ship's telling the truth."

[we_deliver]

Trudy nodded slowly. The kid had a good head on his shoulders, she had to give him that. "If the ship's not telling the truth," she said, "shit's going to get worse a hell of a lot quicker then. But if it's not telling the truth then the whole crew is in the same boat - literally."

[sithhavecooties]

He grimaced. "That's the worst part," he said. "If we're in different dimensions and need to get off this thing, not even hyperdrive-equipped machines will be able to drag us home."