Syndulla Scrap- Monday morning

[solo_sword]

Was it an impromptu trip when you had days' worth of warning about it but you decided to do it on a whim? Jaina wasn't sure, but considering the arrangements that had to go into her leaving for a few days, this was as close to it as she got these days without something blowing up somewhere.

Once she landed the promised X-wing, she sent off a couple texts and started shutdown procedures. Honestly, it felt better coming in this way.


[Open!]

Comments

[uncertain_dume]

Living just across the street from the scrapyard definitely had its perks. Like how Kanan could peer out the window to see if he could spot the ship from his apartment, and how he was over in less than a minute after that, giving a low whistle as he walked across the landing pad to take in the ship. From the outside, it reminded him a little of the Z-95s that the Republic had used during the war, but prettier.

Basically, he wanted to see her fly.

Now that was a ship.

[solo_sword]

Jaina handed the rest of the shutdown over to Rowdy and popped the canopy to start climbing out.

"That was fast," she greeted him.

[uncertain_dume]

"Yeah, I didn't have far to go," Kanan replied, smiling almost sheepishly. "The only way the trip could have been shorter is if I'd already been over doing some work on the Ghost for Hera."

Which, hey, he'd been considering doing anyway, mostly for something in the here and the now to ground himself in. Another distraction.

"She's nice," he added, nodding to the X-Wing, probably switching back to talking about it as opposed to Hera. Probably.

[solo_sword]

"I'm a big fan," she grinned, reaching up- not too far up, she was bitty- to pat the hull. "This is the latest version of the StealthX, commissioned for the Jedi. X-wings are the best starfighters, don't let anybody tell you any differently."

Someone lived in Imperial space with a clawcraft pilot, this needed to be stated.

[uncertain_dume]

"I don't know that anybody's tried to, yet," Kanan noted, smiling crookedly. Probably because he'd never gotten into a conversation about X-wings before. "Do you know how she handles compared to the clone fighters the Republic used during the war? She's got some similarities, at least superficially."

[solo_sword]

"The ARC-170 was the precursor to the modern day X-wing," she replied. "A lot of things were streamlined, maneuverability improved... I've never flown one, but I'm guessing it's feel similar after a few minutes or reorienting yourself."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan nodded thoughtfully, going for a stroll to take the ship in from all sides.

"I never did any flying myself during the war," he admitted. "My first ship was a repurposed light freighter one of the Separatist Generals used to pilot. But I always kind of admired them from where I was, with my feet planted on the ground."

[solo_sword]

"I feel like that's the correct thing, but then, I'm incredibly biased," she admitted. "I grew up around these, practically begging to fly then before I could even reach half the controls. And then my first ship ended up being a TIE I half stole."

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan's mouth pulled into a quirk of a style.

"I'd ask how you half-steal something," he noted, "but that's more or less how I wound up with the Escape, too."

Lots of ship stealing for him in the twilight years of his Caleb Dume days.

[solo_sword]

"It has crashed years before near the Academy. I called dibs, restored it, and it turned out the pilot was still alive," she said, and shrugged. "Did the Escape have that name before or after you half-stole it?"

[uncertain_dume]

"She was Farbrooke's Hope before I got my hands on her," Kanan replied with a shrug. "Too much of a mouthful."

And Escape was a lot more fitting than Kasmiri II, which didn't suit her, or him, at all.

[solo_sword]

"Also, not Farbrooke's anymore," she pointed out. "You definitely upgraded it there. Do you still have her?"

[uncertain_dume]

"She's parked up on the roof of my building," Kanan confirmed, gesturing with a thumb toward the apartments across the street. "Brought her back here with me the first chance I got. She spent some time docked on Moraga whenever I had to keep a low profile."

It would have been smarter to sell her off and use the credits to travel with, but along with his lightsaber and his holocron, she was the one worldly possession he hadn't had the heart to rid himself of.

[solo_sword]

Jaina glanced up there, not that she could really check out the ship from here. "That's a good setup," she said. "So then what's the Ghost?"

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan jerked a thumb toward the large, jewel-shaped freighter that Hera had docked not far off.

"The other other ship I fell in love with at first sight," he replied. "The kind of ship a guy like me'll beg to be crew on."

You know.

For the ship.

[solo_sword]

"Are you a big fan of VCX-100s?" Jaina asked, amused.

[uncertain_dume]

"I'm a big fan of this VCX-100," Kanan explained. "Hera's put some care into this one. She's got a few tricks that most ships her size couldn't get away with."

Because, you know, almost ninety of them were illegal, at best.

[solo_sword]

"Oh, one of those," Jaina said with a lopsided grin, and she immediately liked that ship better now. You know, the one she would have heard of if not for timelines. "My dad's got a ship like that. Remind me to steal the Falcon here sometime. Let me guess: weapons it shouldn't have and it goes at least twice as fast as it should?"

[uncertain_dume]

"And don't even get me started on her stealth capacities," Kanan confirmed with a grin. "Hera's the one to really talk to about her, but I've been aboard her," the SHIP, "while flying right under the Empire's nose because they couldn't tell us apart from a solar fluctuation."

[solo_sword]

"Oh, that's good," Jaina said, clearly impressed. "I'm going to have to keep that in mind."

[uncertain_dume]

"It's a neat trick," Kanan agreed, grinning. "And I've only been flying with Hera for a year and some, now. I'm sure there's plenty more I haven't seen, yet."

[solo_sword]

"Smuggling?" she guessed. In her experience that's what most souped-up freighters were used for.

[uncertain_dume]

"Some," Kanan confirmed. "It's more a... not-for-profit operation, really."

Okay, there were a few credits to be had on the side, but that wasn't exactly the point.

[solo_sword]

"Not-for-profit smuggling," she repeated.

She'd probably guess it correctly if she was clearer on the timeline.

[uncertain_dume]

Kanan frowned a little, and then spread his hands kind of helplessly.

"Has anybody on Earth ever told you about this guy called Robin Hood before?"

Since Eliot had mentioned that legend to Kanan, it sort of ended up sticking as the easiest way he had to explain things without outright mentioning that they were trying to stick one to the Empire.