Last Taungsday Night

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A​

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New Republic Ship Endeavor
| Paelleon-class Star Destroyer
| Colonies Region | Somewhere in the vicinity of Nevoota

It was officially known as cargo bay seventeen-cresh-nine.

It was known as scumgang actual to those who served aboard the Endeavor. Located on the lower port side of Deck 24, the original intent or purpose behind the storage facility had been parts stowage supported the embarked air wing. When Blue Squadron had arrived aboard the Endeavor, however, they had brought with them parts and equipment of a different sort.

A grav-ball half-court dominated half of the cargo bay, where several people had gathered in a pick-up game. On the other side, several full-size arcade holo-games were in one corner of the room, across from where crates and equipment racks had been transformed into a poor pilot's wet bar. A SoundLink propped up on the wall supplied music at a volume some would have described as excessive. Several tables were arrayed in between the arcade and the bar, occupied with flight deck personnel and other assorted guests, mostly gathered around in the classic Corellian card game of Sabaac.

During the Stark Hyperspace War, the tow-headed young Jedi had been pressed into emergency service with the Republic Judicial Forces as a padawan. During his time in uniform, the officers and crew of the Reliant had introduced him to one of the grand traditions of the Republic Defense Fleet: Taungsday Night Sabaac.

Decades later, it was tradition he'd encountered among the clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic. During the Clone Wars, when he'd commanded the Sentinel and overseen the deployment of the 432nd Clone Expeditionary Unit, he'd even come to encourage the tradition among those under his charge.

When he'd served in the Levantine ExplorCorps and the Silver Jedi Fleet, he'd tried various times to introduce the tradition there. But it didn't belong to the Levantine Sanctum or the Silver Jedi. It belonged here. It belonged in the Republic.

The Corellian boy was standing on his knees in the chair. Cards in hand, the youngling was bopping along to the song that was blaring a bit of synth-pop, mouthing in time to lyrics that seemed to be a musical autobiography of the life and times of [member="Joza Perl"]

The youngling knight was dressed in a gray-blue flightsuit, which bore the rank insignia of a Navy Commander on it. The sleeves were rolled back along the forearms and a bottle of Fizzyglug was resting within arms reach of the boy.

Shuffling the cards around in his hand, the boy casually discarded into the pile on the table, ending his turn and then looking over to the next player. Then, looking around the table, tried to introduce a new topic of conversation.

"Anyone else hear the rumor that the Silver Jedi Fleet's fielding a TIE now?"

[member="Edward Thane"] | [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] | [member="Hannah"] | [member="Jerek Zenduu"] | [member="Coren Starchaser"] | @New Republic​

 

[Drox Fuga]

Drox was promoted to the rank of Marshal Commander, now in charge of the 3rd Republic Corp and thus was hitching a ride to their next assignment. He had been on the ship for some time now and was bored of the endless meeting and protocol. He had gotten close with the flyboys on this ride and though they were rival in the circles of jokes, the poker games were a good distraction.

He took his hand from Commander [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"], and looked them over. He had heard that this little fly jockie was one of the more talented Jedi's and was an ace by all standards. Loved by his allies, and feared to be on the other end of a starfighter dog fight. His hand was looking pretty good start, but this was a game about chance so he would best play it safe for the time being.

"Ten in," He placed ten credits on the table in front of his hand. "Silvers playing Imperial Toys now, never saw them as that type, it any good?"

 

[Hannah]

With a lazily swing of her tail, Hannah propelled herself backwards while sitting on her roller chair, meant for obvious mechanic work but she had claimed it as her own. The Cog girl realized that the seat allowed her tail much freedom and didn't hinder her as she moved around from one work bench to the other. For the moment, her focus entirely placed on her hydro spanner, the tool had made a strange sound as she had earlier fixed one of the leaks.

Perhaps I should re- Hannah never finished her thought as the poor tool broke in half and the it clattered on the ground. A soft sigh escaped through her teeth as she picked it from the floor and place her broken tool on top of her work bench. She kicked her feet and sent herself on the chair rolling across the floor and towards the table where the rest of her pilots were milling around.

Hannah used her tail to steer herself, she dodged any pipes and cords that would make her crash and burn while moving along on her chair. "Strange choice of design. Even stranger with its need for a Carrier to be deployed." Hannah commentated, as she rolled on by the table, slowly with her tail she rotated herself to face the others.

"Also please refrain from overheating your engines for too long, I know it can take the punishment, but it makes it harder to replace if the metal begins to warp after prolonged heat exposure." Hannah advised as she peered towards the tables and the cards in play.


[member="Edward Thane"] | [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Jerek Zenduu"] | [member="Coren Starchaser"] | @New Republic

 

[Sor-Jan Xantha]

"I dunno, the rumors I heard didn't have a lot of details."

The youngling had his legs up in the chair.

Alternating between sitting cross-legged, standing on his knees, or adopting a w-sit posture atop the seat, the tow-headed youth still managed to be a flurry of motion and activity even while ostensibly sitting. Clearly not sitting still, but sitting nonetheless.

"Seems an odd choice stylistically though. How do you know your TIE fighter from the Empires?" He tossed in ten wupi to match the bet made by [member="Drox Fuga"] and then actually looked at the cards in his hands. He should probably start coming up with a strategy for this.

As [member="Hannah"] rolled by, the child perked up at the thought that the cog-girl would be joining them. Ever since the two had met on the space station, the youngling had decided that he liked Hannah. In the Old Republic and the New, Sor-Jan had come across a lot of people in this universe. And Hannah still managed to rack up as one of the most unique individuals that he'd ever met.

...instead, she lectured them on taxing the engines.

The boy turned his head, at first giving an expression that might have been pouting, following by more of a scowl. One thing about being a youngling, Sor-Jan's facial expressions generally indicated exactly how he felt at that given moment. Which could radically change one second to the next.

"You know that we're off duty, right?" the boy inquired in a matter-of-fact tone. "When off duty, people talk about sports. Or hobbies. Or really cool holo-games," he explained patiently, before adding, "Engine maintenance... not so much, no."

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

So here he was again, aboard a navy ship, dressed in a uniform, in the middle of a starfighter mission. Even Master Xantha was here, though Jerek wasn't sure if he went by the title of Master anymore. Still, the teen could be forgiven for believing himself to be back in the real Republic, back before, well, everything. It seemed as if his life since had been a whirlwind of change and upheaval, so it was nice to have some familiarity and space to breathe again.

And if nothing else, a card game gave him the perfect opportunity to revel in his old-new digs.

Dressed in his flight suit from their earlier maneuvers, Jerek had stripped off the pressure equipment and top of the suit. Unfortunately, the flight suit's design made it a jumpsuit, which meant the vacant top flopped uselessly against his backside, a thin undershirt serving in its stead. The cargo bay wasn't cold, though, with enough heat pumping in from adjacent compartments to make even the undershirt feel sticky.

With his feet propped up on an empty chair neighbor, his cards stacked between his fingers, and nursing a length of styro-taffy dangling from his mouth, Jerek considered the scene before him. His hand was middle of the road, but he'd seen players bluff their way out of worse before. Luckily, Jedi training did a fair job of readying the boy's sabaccaface, an unyielding veneer mimicking sated boredom.

Until someone mentioned the Silvers' new rides. That perked the boy up, and he chewed the styro-taffy for a moment. "TIE fighters? I eat TIE fighters for breakfast, they're my main source of fiber!"

He grinned as a pilot or two chuckled at the remark, but his mirth was interrupted by the arrival of the pilots' engineer in a rolling chair, making stern comments about engine discipline. Even with Sor-Jan's deflecting remark, Jerek felt the need to engage Hannah. "Hey, I feel personally attacked!" The padawan-pilot quipped. "I don't overheat my engines, they just don't give me enough torque. I can take more than 3 Gs in a turn, I don't need the fighter holding my hand like a baby."

Turning back to the game, Jerek flipped a credit chit toward the pot in the middle, "Ten for me, too."

 

[Hannah]

Hannah turned slowly to meet Sor-Jan's eyes, her bright red eyes and her horns whirled upwards as she registered what her commander responded. Her rather bland facial expression though hid her reaction well but her voice betrayed her rather calm expression. Hannah quickly stood back up, her tail flipped her chair as it clanged to the ground and she bowed towards her Commander. "I apologize for my rudeness. I shall proceed to fix my error." Hannah declared.

She had learned that perhaps some adjustments were needed to allow her to be more expressive, but after a small malfunction of both her horns and tails continuous fidgeting she had figured it would be best to simply express herself with what was available. Unfortunately her voice hardly changed in tone, except in slight volume. Hannah whirled and sprinted back towards her work bench, her hands flew across the table and grabbed several tools and parts.

"I shall show you the fruits of my hobbies and labors." Hannah added, her eyes focused entirely on her new goal. "Engine Maintenance and Proper Safety Lessons will be removed from items and topics of discussion for any further 'Off-Duty' conversations." Her hands practically swooshed across her table as several parts and pieces of assorted electronics magically began to grow into something.

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Jerek Zenduu"]

 

[Edward Thane]

Clearing his throat the captain of the vessel made himself known. As straight-laced as ever, paying keen attention to his outward appearance while also scrutinizing all others of his charge. "Speaking of 'off-duty', this has still yet to be authorized," he spoke, motioning to the space they had taken in the hold. It was a subject he had broached a few times before, but each time he allows it to be brushed off. Such locale offered a casual environment on disciplined ship. He only brought it up to keep appearances.

Approaching the Sabaac table the captain circled around the three of them, inspecting their hands. It was a hidden hobby of his, picked up as a wayfaring child among the stars, though he would not let on his interest. "And do listen to your technician. Whether the ship is personal or provided by the Republic, I want everything operating as smooth as can be. Efficient, inexpensive, and effective is the name of the game."

Tugging on a seat from elsewhere he pushed it close to the table they congregated at, though rather than sit in it he leaned upon it, drawing his datapad to check over the same manifests he had many times before.

[member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Jerek Zenduu"] | [member="Tilesa Seth"] | [member="Drox Fuga"] | [member="Hannah"]

 

[Tilesa Seth]

"You sound like a Mine-Boss."

Tilesa had remained rather silent during the course of the thing, strange woman sometimes. Or just one of those pompous Arkanians who liked to stay in their own head: depended who was looking at the time. She was, of course, invested into the game of Sabacc as well for no other reason than because the math of probability soothed her some: which card could go where, all the usual nonsense you'd expect from a seasoned gambler. And she wouldn't say if the latter term fit her.

"TIE fighters can be a remarkably effeicent design depending on current situation. Quanity over quality has it's merits, bloody as they may be."

She was casual enough about it, those TIEs were good for something, even if it was only target practice sometimes.

[member="Edward Thane"] @Hannah @Jerek Zenduu [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] [member="Drox Fuga"]

 

[Jerek Zenduu]

The engineer's overly-compliant response seemed to shut down any further discussion of the topic, so Jerek turned his attention back to the card game. Two bets were in, nobody had yet called, and his cards hadn't shifted, so the boy was sitting at +16, with two 11s, one 7, one 2, and a Moderation card, which had a -14 value. He still wasn't quite sure why a the Moderation card had a figure that looked so ominous, the cloaked figure with a lightsaber looked eerily akin to a Sith Lord or some other bringer of evil. Had the bay not been so warm, he might have shuddered at that thought.

As if ominous was on the docket for the day, the Endeavor's captain made himself known with a sound, and Jerek had to resist the urge to stand at attention. What was it about this navyman that made him so eager to please him? Captain Thane was still a young man, one that was maybe a bit too young to command such an important ship in the Republic Navy. Yet his demeanor was hardly one of a early-seasoned veteran or talented genius who belonged in his place regardless of age, but instead acted more like one who was still trying to prove himself. Yet for some reason, instead of that earning Jerek's apathy or ire, it only served to inspire the teen Jedi in ways he didn't quite understand.

As a compromise, he let himself lower his feet to the ground, changing to a more upright sitting position, unsure if he was placating Thane's needs or his own.

"I guess, it's not too different from the J-1s," the padawan mentioned idly at Tilesa's comment, taking another bite from his styro-taffy and chewing it a bit before tucking the candy piece to the side of his mouth. "I mean, if you've got a Force user who can sense danger, you don't really need a computer to do it. If they can enhance their strength, they don't need advanced hydraulics aiding the controls. And if they can react to a shot before it goes off, you don't really need shields. So you can strip everything back and add to the speed and maneuverability of the craft." Jerek leaned back in his chair, his posture unintentionally slipping again. "'Course, if you do that without a Forcer, you've just got blaster fodder."

 

[Edward Thane]

"Oh and also, don't waste fuel with any joy rides without submitting the proper forms-" The Captain spoke in a humorously pointed way towards [member="Tilesa Seth"], at least humorous to himself, and only half-serious. Then turning to the conversation at hand, the former imperial flicked a hand across his uniform, brushing against an iron wolf token.

"Honestly, swarm tactics can be effective, but I prefer the safer approach of durable ships capable of self-reliance. Conserves manpower. Without shields any stray shot can take you down. Not exactly cost effective in the end, but if you fill 'em with bots rather than men I am all for it." Educated in the use, strengths, and weaknesses of TIE-Fighters in the Arionight naval academy, Thane had no love for its use. The potential to send a few hundred men to their deaths would leave a lot of guilt on his shoulders. Desensitizing oneself to such losses comes with an equal loss of empathy and humanity.

No. Thane preferred ships capable of handling their own, tighter formations, and effective teamwork over large numbers and high causalities.

[member="Hannah"] | [member="Jerek Zenduu"] | [member="Sor-Jan Xantha"] | [member="Drox Fuga"]