Syndulla Scrap, Friday

[futurespacemom]

After the last fairly successful run, Hera was looking further into Lothal and the places like it and what had happened to the farmers. She sincerely doubted it was the only place like that, even as she wanted to smack someone in the Empire for being so stupid as to cut off so much of their own food supply.

Then again, she wanted to smack them frequently for other reasons too, so that wasn't much of a difference.

Anyway, she was doing a bit of research using the Ghost's connections, but she had Chopper on sensors in case someone dropped by, so the scrap yard was open!


[Open post, no OCD!]

Comments

[firstofitskind]

Liam wasn't stopping for the scrap-related part of the business, but he did have a shuttle parked here. A shuttle that needed regular attention and maintenance, as it happened.

And while he knew, logically, that there was a person who ran the scrapyard and thus the attached spaceship parking, he'd somehow managed to never actually be there at the same time as them.

Still, out of habit, he called out a "Hello?" as he headed towards where his shuttle was parked.

[futurespacemom]

"Hello!" Hera called back. "Be right there!"

She saved her current locations and got up, stretching from sitting so long.

[firstofitskind]

Habit or no, he hadn't actually been expecting anyone to answer. But he supposed now was as good a time as any to meet the person who (he assumed) ran the place.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he continued, waiting for the owner of that voice to appear.

[futurespacemom]

"Nothing I can't put aside for a moment," Hera called down as she headed for the ramp. She smiled as she came out. "What can I do for you?"

[firstofitskind]

"I'm mostly here to check up on my shuttle," Liam said, indicating the purple organic-looking ship in question. "But since you're here, I suppose I should also introduce myself. Liam Kincaid; I rent a parking space from you."

[futurespacemom]

"Hi," Hera said, smiling and holding out her hand. "Hera Syndulla. It's nice to meet the face behind the really interesting ship."

[firstofitskind]

Handshakes. Ugh. He hated those. But they were a routine part of human interaction (and some non-human as well, apparently), so he’d trained himself to tolerate it. He clasped the offered hand and shook. “It’s constructed from Taelon bio-slurry,” he explained. “Not too unique where i’m from,” except, he supposed, that no more shuttles were being constructed, “but I haven’t seen anything like it here, that’s for sure.”

[futurespacemom]

"Oh, is it organic?" Hera asked, a little startled. "Does it need anything beyond what's on the landing pad already?" She hoped he'd have said something sooner if that was the case, but you never knew. "Extra light or water or anything?"

[firstofitskind]

“Semi-organic,” Liam confirmed. “But it's fine!" he assured her. "Doesn’t really need anything special, aside from occasional ID drive maintenance.”

[futurespacemom]

Hera breathed a little sigh of relief; she'd have hated to find out she'd been inadvertently starving a ship.

"Maintenance is a hobby of mine," she said to Liam, "but it helps if I know the ship. I don't suppose you have a manual?"

[firstofitskind]

“No manual,” Liam said, somewhat apologetically. “I could give you a basic rundown if you’d like, though?” he offered. He waved a hand, and the virtual glass- the shimmering transparent barrier that made up the majority of the exterior walls- disappeared.

[futurespacemom]

Hera grinned as wide as it was possible to. "I would love that. She's definitely different than the ships that I'm familiar with. Taelon, you said?"

[firstofitskind]

Liam nodded, stepping inside the shuttle and gesturing for Hera to follow. "They arrived on my version of Earth almost 10 years ago, in... 2009?" He hadn't been alive then, and there'd been a calendar change, so it took a moment to remember the exact year.

It was also far more complicated than that, but explaining millions of years of genetic manipulation was a bit much for a first conversation with someone.

The shuttle's interior was fairly simple; a pilot's chair and two passenger seats, made out of the same spindly purple material that made up the exterior arches.

Though there was something that looked like a small touchscreen panel near the back of the shuttle, there were no visible controls near the pilot's seat. You know, where one might expect them.

[ooc: sigh. tried to get a screencap or two for reference but the video did not co-operate.]

[futurespacemom]

"This is definitely different than the ships I'm used to," Hera said. "How is it controlled? How does it run?"

[Aww. No worries!]

[firstofitskind]

Liam sat in the pilot's chair and the interface sprung to life.

"It's a gesture-based holographic interface," he explained. "Right hand is navigation, along the y-axis, left is communications, weapons, along the x."

[futurespacemom]

"That's so interesting!" Hera watched it, taking in everything. "It has the potential to be incredibly responsive. How fast does she handle?"

[firstofitskind]

“With conventional drive? Just under 1k an hour,” Liam told her. “But speed’s not really a factor with the interdimensional drive.”

[futurespacemom]

"Not that," Hera corrected, though that seemed oddly slow. "I mean, how fast does she turn or dive or climb?"

Acrobatics were important, okay?

[firstofitskind]

Haha, canon never gives us an actual speed so I was aiming for something close to what Wookieepedia listed for the Ghost, oops. Also sorry for misunderstanding what was even meant in general!

"If you have some time, we could take a quick trip?" Look, Liam didn't have nearly enough reason to take the shuttle up, these days. Yes, it was his now and he didn't really need a reason beyond just wanting to, but sometimes it was hard to shake off habits that had been ingrained literally from the day he'd been born. But showing someone else how the shuttle worked, that counted as a valid reason to go for a flight.

[futurespacemom]

Hera perked up. "I would love that!" A trip in a new ship was always fun.

Well, nearly always. But around here they were unlikely to get shot at.

[OOC: I thought you meant 1 km; you meant 1k km? Want to re-do the last few pings?]

[firstofitskind]

"Grab a seat and let's go, then," Liam said, gesturing to the two empty seats with one hand even as he brought the engines online and re-engaged the virtual glass with the other.

[ooc: THAT I DID. MY FINGERS TOTALLY DID A THING AND THEN I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THEY DID THE THING because tiny phone internets + plane travel + family nonsense. Let's just handwave that it was all totally fine and I'm not a dumbass who cannot fucking type.]

[futurespacemom]

Hera took a seat and eyed the walls, wondering how they did that, before she paid more attention to Liam's hands. "Ready when you are."


[Consider it handwaved!]

[firstofitskind]

"Virtual glass," Liam answered that unasked question. "Safer and stronger than physical walls, and allows for a great view, don't you think?" he asked, as he finished pre-flight and drew his right arm upwards, lifting them up off the ground.

He kept them at a fairly even pace until they reached the upper atmosphere, and then tilted his hand so his palm faced down, the shuttle banking the turn as he did so.

[ooc: ugh, i also just now realized the image link in an earlier ping was broken due to an errant quotation mark. sigh.]

[futurespacemom]

"I love the view," Hera agreed. "How does that work?"


[No worries! I figured it out.]

[firstofitskind]

"It's an energy field that exists nanosecond to nanosecond, sort of like a very fast strobe," Liam said. "The programming can be customized to the point where it'll let some bio-signatures through and exclude others. Although if the sensors don't detect breathable atmosphere, then the barrier stays up no matter what you throw at it."