The eye of the hurricane, just off the coast of Fandom, Sunday evening

[fh_test]

People were flying spaceships into a hurricane. This was an actual thing that was happening on purpose.

It was kind of awesome, admit it.

	"I'd ask if you two are comfortable," Kanan half joked as he squinted at the readings on his console, and then out the viewport toward the storm, "but I think at this point we're mostly just lucky nobody's got a foot sticking in their ear or something. Those fish still frozen back there?" The last thing he needed was thawed shark leaking shark juice or whatever. It'd be hell on the ship, not to mention a waste of everyone's time.
	"Sharkcicle integrity still at one hundred percent," chirped Peebee, who was in fact scrunched up into basically a little blue ball in a corner of the cabin and looking far more perversely cheerful than anyone should in a situation that involved A) being that cramped, B) being crammed into a ship full of frozen sharks, C) flying into a storm like this, or D) all of the above. (Spoiler: the answer was D.) "That won't last forever, though." It was like she was looking forward to this.
	"So, you know... just let us know when we're at a good position to-" Big sigh. "-throw some sharks." Sure, it'd be a good story later. But first Kitty would actually have to do it, and like...
	Kanan wasn't even going to pretend that he wasn't laughing, here. "I'm going to bring us up and above the storm, then come back down into the eye of the hurricane," he said, guiding the Escape upwards as he spoke. "I'll keep us low enough that there's still enough atmosphere to breathe and the sharks don't turn into flaming meteorites instead, but we'll still probably want to stay fairly high up for this to work. Let me know if either of you feel uncomfortable once we start dropping our cargo, alright?" Maybe they could have taken this yet another step deeper into the realm of ridiculousness and outfitted the sharks with little parachutes, too.
	Peebee would have been all over the parachute idea, for the record. Especially if they had different little whimsical designs on them. "I'm good, no worries there."
	"I am already deeply uncomfortable chucking sharks," Kitty announced. "But the atmosphere stuff won't affect me at all."
	"Well, that's good," Kanan declared as he pushed the Escape into a dive, "because I think we're ready to go. And if it's any consolation," he grinned over his shoulder, "the sharks probably won't feel a thing." It was anybody's best guess how in the world Kanan was allowed in public, some days.
	"They're helping us out with a good cause," Peebee agreed, patting the deck above the cargo hold. Not that they were likely to convince the sharks of that. "Hell, some of them might be sorry they were asleep and missed out on all the fun, afterward." Not helping, Peebee.
	"Tune in next week, when Fandom gets a visit from PETA," Kitty sighed, phasing through the deck. "Here go the sharksicles."
	"Vengeful bread," Kanan muttered, shaking his head. "Really, don't go giving this place even more ideas." Look, in his limited defense, he had very little in the way of context to go by, outside of his time working in a diner.
	"Sharks plus baked goods equals OTP?" Peebee blinked. "Huh. Didn't see that coming. This planet's all kinds of whimsical." She was kind of watching Kitty with fascination though, because matter wasn't supposed to do that, and it was cool. "Okay, well, uh -- you release the sharkcicles, and I can give 'em a nudge in the right direction?"
	Kitty was going to pretend this sigh was about the sharks again and not about bread. "Can do," she said, phasing up a shark and standing up. SIGH. "So weird. So, so weird."
	"Super weird," Kanan agreed pleasantly. "But hey, if this doesn't work, at least we'll have taken a break from being outright attacked by them. It's actually kind of nice in here." That was generally what the eye of any storm was about, granted. "I'll take the stupid solution over the traumatic one."
	"One of these days I'm going to have to ask you how you doing that," Peebee said offhandedly to Kitty, though most of her attention was focused on the hurricane's eye and figuring out the quickest paths for... Flinging frozen sharks... Into the storm. Yeah, okay, that didn't sound any less absurd now that the plan was underway. But it still sounded awesome. "So, sharks away?"
	"Sharks away," Kitty agreed, still phasing the shark- sharks were heavy, okay- until she was in a good position. And then she chucked a frozen shark into a hurricane. "Sigh," Kitty said, out loud, regretting some life choices.
	"Just think," Kanan mused. "The sooner we run out of sharks, the sooner we can land and commence pretending that none of this ever happened." Kanan was never going to pretend that this never happened. Everything about this was absolutely ridiculous, and he was enjoying this far too much for that.
	"Why," asked Peebee with a laugh in her voice, "would we ever pretend that?" Because not everyone was already planning to put "aquatic weather crisis control specialist" on their CV, Peebee, that's why. She extended both arms toward the shark in what seemed to be a very specific motion, enveloping it in a mass effect bubble. Then, with a flick of her wrists, the shark went plummeting toward the eye of the storm as if it was suddenly a good deal heavier.
	"Neat," Kitty said approvingly, and reached back down into the hold to get another shark. "Lather, rinse, repeat, with fish."
	"We're washing the fish now?" Earth, would you ever start making sense? "I guess I'll leave you both to it. If you need me to do anything, fly down lower or whatever, just let me know." If they weren't surrounded on all sides by a storm full of murder fish, maybe he'd even offer to throw the ship into autopilot and help out with the... shark steering. As it stood, it seemed like Kitty and Peebee had their fish-throwing duties covered.
	"Will do!" Kitty said, tossing another shark off the ship. "When my mom calls this week and asks what I've been up to, I'm gonna lie!"
	Peebee caught this shark in another mass effect field and yanked it down into the storm. "Yeah, but to make up something even wilder than this, right?" Sigh, Peebee. "Yikes, nobody touch me when we're done with all this. Unless you're into getting shocked, I mean. I won't judge." Static buildup: fun side effect of biotics.
	"Okay, it may get a bit bumpy," Hera told her passenger calmly. "Don't worry, I've got it under control. The Ghost'll take more than this."
	Ino laughed. "Worried, me?" she said, grinning. "I'm fine! If all it gets is a bit bumpy, we're doing pretty good!" Also she'd be kind of disappointed. Ino didn't say that though.
	Hera grinned back. "Oh, good. I'm a great pilot, but some people get nervous."
	"I flew across an ocean on a floating stick," Ino shared. "It takes a lot to make me nervous after that."
	Hera frowned. "A really small boat, or an actual stick?"
	"An actual stick," Ino said cheerfully. "And it was winter. It took me forever to get warm after that trip."
	"I bet!" Hera grinned. "Well, don't worry - I can't keep the shields up if we're throwing things, but the way the ship's designed, you should be out of the worst of the rain. And I'll turn the heat up back there for you."
	"You are my favourite person," Ino informed her. "I'll cope with a bit of wet, no worries."
	"You could try an envirosuit if you want," Hera offered, hooking her thumb at the suits. They weren't exactly fashionable, but they were designed for hauling things in inhospitable environments.
	Chopper plugged himself into the Phantom's systems and bleeped and blatted in annoyance, though everything showed green on the displays.
	And Magnus, a little bloody and a lot hopped up on adrenaline, bounded on into the ship. "Ohhhh my god." Excuse him while he just casually measured your arms, Chopper.
	Excuse Chopper as he made unflattering comments in binary and waved his shock attachment threateningly. Back to your side, Magnus!
	Hopefully Chopper wouldn't mind Zoe patting him on what she figured was his head as she went to take her seat. "Thank you for agreeing to help with this," she said. "I'm willing to admit, this is one of the crazier things I've been a part of."
	Well now, if she was going to be nice to Chopper and acknowledge his value... He chirped and whirred in a more self-satisfied tone, even if he was half-convinced they were all going to die. Through the console he sent a query asking if she needed help figuring out the controls.
	"Punch it!" Magnus said once he was certain that he had enough room for more robot arms. "This will be the second coolest thing I've done with sharks and insane tornados."
	Chopper made a rude noise.
	Zoe opened her mouth, and then decided that she probably didn't want to know. "All right, hold onto something. I want to get pretty high before we start tossing sharks." This plan was never, ever going to not make her feel insane. One slight... okay, medium bump later, the ship was airborne, and Zoe was doing her best to keep them steady.
	"Just let me know when to toss 'em," Magnus said cheerfully. "Man I wish Taako was here to see how sick this is going to look." Silly self preservation instinct.
	Chopper beeped in protest of the takeoff, then got back to helping fly. And keeping an eye on Magnus at all times.
	"I apologize, I'm not used to flying well-built ships with competent copilots," Zoe said, because a little flattery never hurt when talking to machines. She glanced back at Magnus, sizing him up. "It's probably late to be asking this, but are you going to be able to get the sharks by yourself?"
	"Uh, yeah," Magnus replied proudly. "This is my thing. I don't know if you can tell, but my strength is super up there." He wrestled a giant bear once! "It makes up for not having any magic powers."
	Chopper made a rude noise that might have been a comment about...well, anything. He didn't have any magic powers, and didn't need muscles to make up for them.
	Ah, flying with someone who was full of themselves made Zoe feel nicely at home, and she grinned as she pulled the ship up higher. "All right, I think we're almost in the right spot. Let's hope the wind doesn't cause too much trouble," she said. "Chopper, if you could get the doors?"
	Um. Excuse you. His stats were amazing. And he mysteriously always rolled super high. Mysteriously. "No one here knows feather fall, right?" Magnus asked, moving back to the pile'o'sharks.
	Chopper magnetically bolted himself to the floor and triggered the doors in the back to open, chirping an overly innocent affirmative. If Magnus wasn't tied down or braced, it was his own lookout.
	"I'm afraid I have a lack of magic powers myself," Zoe said, pressing herself a little harder against the seat as the doors opened. "Hopefully, gravity will do its part in this."
	That was rude and probably a little murderous, Chopper. You honestly deserved the limb removal that would happen. With a lucky dexterity saving roll, Magnus snagged a hold of something on the side of the ship to keep from falling to his certain death. "So, did I get brought along for my good looks if we're just doin' this?"
	Chopper's response to that was the electronic equivalent of a raspberry. Good looks? As if.
	Look if whoever actually owned this ship didn't want it to be used For Science, then they shouldn't have left it locked and secured in ways Aphra knew how to bypass. "Let's get ready to do this." Just ignore the banging noise coming from the hyperdrive compartment as she warmed the engines.
	"...will this thing actually hold together?" Yep, he was judging the engineering here.
	"Of course it will," Aphra replied in a cheerfully, not at all blatantly lying tone. "There are some quality repairs here." Of course the ship itself was a pile of garbage but it wasn't like they were trying to break atmo.
	"Well, at least we have an escape route when it doesn't at all crash," Tony said with a laugh.
	"We're not going to crash," Aphra said airily. They were totally going to crash.
	"If we crash you'll owe me a drink," Tony replied, letting his armor assemble around him. Because frozen sharks were heavy, Okay? They were really heavy. "If we don't, I'll buy."
	"I'm good for it." The house she was squatting staying had tons of booze, even after the shark had come through the roof! "But we're not going to crash." So going to crash.
	"Just fly the shitbox," Tony said with another laugh. "We've got some laws of nature to make cry."
	"Pretty sure gravity's going to have the last laugh." Because why not jinx themselves further. "On the sharks at least." The ship rose smoothly, despite the various clanging noises.
	And yet no one had said 'I have a bad feeling about this' so far. Strange. "On the plus side, I'll get to test my flight capabilities in inclement weather." Yes, a shark filled hurricane was just inclement weather.
	Did Aphra look like a Jedi? Or that Solo clown? "So long as you're not so pleased with yourself you forget to aim." These frozen sharks required pinpoint accuracy. Or something.
	"If we miss that target, we deserve to be killed by an improbable storm," Tony replied dryly. "Or I do, at least."
	"I'll send a nice bouquet for your funeral," Aphra promised. Lies.
	"I expect weeping. Open weeping." Maybe a tasteful eulogy. "How far out are we?"
	"Here lies this guy, he thought he was too smart to get eaten by a frozen shark, he was wrong," Aphra declared, then looked over the console. "Should be just about there." That beeping was totally the nav system and not anything to worry about, honest.
	"Hey, I am too smart for that. I'll get eaten by a space shark instead," Tony replied, going over to their supply of frozen sharks. Because nothing said a party like a small pile of frozen sharks.
	Clearly Tony had never been to a Wookiee party. "Dibs on your stuff."
	Well clearly he needed to go to one of those parties. "I have a will," Tony said, putting his shoulder into the pile of sharks to get them moving to the hatch. "You'll have to fight a few people."
	"No problem. I'm an archaeologist." Getting dead people's stuff was her thing! She made no move to help Tony with the sharks. That was minion business.
	Which would be why she wasn't going to be in the will. "Don't you have to wait a few centuries then?" Tony shot back, giving a shove before just blasting the pile on out. He did the math, it'd hit on target.
	"History is a living object!" She had no problems taking stuff from people while they were still alive either.
	"Well, since I'm not dead yet, you'll have wait." Sorry to crush your dreams.
	"How are the sharkicles coming along?" Aphra asked. "Wanna go out and check?" Maybe stray into the path of a shark or three.
	"I've survived worse," Tony shot back, kicking out another shark. "But this might be one if the strangest things I've done." And he knew Namor, Aphra.
	Aphra had worked for Darth Vader, so she won. "What kind of boring life have you led?"
	Okay, Tony had to laugh at that. "Get us out of here before the ship falls apart." But technically all the teachers did that. You know. Technically.
	Had Tony technically been Force Choked or thrown out an airlock? That beeping suddenly got a lot louder and more insistent. "Funny story."
	Did it count if he was once manually choked by Victor Von Doom? "I was kidding about the crashing thing!" Tony said, moving behind her to check the weird, weird controls.
	Did Victor Von Doom have a kettlebell soundtrack? "We should probably land." They weren't weird, just outdated. Also on fire. "Soon."
	We don't speak of his movie appearances. But he probably had a choir of Doombots that musically chanted his name. That seemed pretty likely. "Land or crash?" Tony asked, doing some calculations in his head about the odds of injury.
	That was possibly more dramatic than even Vader had managed. Anakin should never find out. "Well, when I say land I mean more like aim where we want to crash." Since people tended to gett annoyed when you crashed a ship into their houses, or dead, that was awkward too.
	Yeah, the competitive extra-ness would just get to be too much. "The ocean? We can salvage after the storm." Poor, poor Ahsoka.
	Ahsoka would have her own kettledrum soundtrack after this. "Can you swim in that thing?" Aphra asked, mostly thinking how she was going to get back to shore.
	Noooo! Don't do it, Ahsoka! "Swim? No. Fly? Yes," Tony replied. "Might want to put those goggles on. I'll get you out of here." How heroic of him.
	Ahsoka couldn't help it. She was dramatic, like her Master before her. "My hero," Aphra said dryly, flipping her goggles down.
	"Hope it makes up for not getting my money," Tony said, offering her a hand. This flight was gonna suck.
	Considering how quickly they were approaching the water, the flight was already sucking. "I'll have other opportunities." Aphra was an optimist!
	"Whatever makes you happy," he granted her, wrapping an arm around her waist and getting them out before impact. "And you owe me a drink." That last part might have been lost over the noise of the storm, though.
	"Technically we didn't crash," Aphra argued, not not very heatedly, given their position. "Only the ship did."