Private Silver Paddie Troubles

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Acaadi

Ever since the run in with the knight pack, and Kyra's sister in one go, there had been a reaction from a certain person that had been nagging her. How quick they had been to clarify her poorly worded accusation during their conversation. And the backpedaling to do so. Which was why she had devised her own little trap for Acaadi in kind.

Granted, hers was far less involving the authorities and more just for appeasing her curiosity. And perhaps a bit of teasing thrown in also. Which explained why The Gray Messenger was currently in port and docked.

Having sent word to Acaadi asking if he wanted to help service the ship, she just had to wait for him to bite. From front to back, she had made minor changes that were time consuming than anything serious.

A filter that needed changed but had to take the cover off a certain way while also sliding the replacement in or else your fingers would get pinched. The thrusters could use a good cleaning, the engine a simple test and tune-up. A myriad of little time.consuming things that while she could breeze through, could also get someone stuck without being able to run.

She sat in a chair at the end of her ship's loading ramp, parasol over her shoulder as she waited for Acaadi to show. The shirt and cover-alls with boots were her outfit for the day, tapping her foot to a song stuck in her head.

 

[Acaadi]

If course he wanted to work on the ship. He wanted to fly the ship most of all, but this was the next best thing. It didn't even slightly occur to him that there could have been any subterfuge in the request. Even though it was out of the blue and generally out of character.

Confusion flashed across his face when he found Phalsi chilling out at the bottom of the loading ramp. Was she hawking for passengers for a flight? That would seem a strange thing to do when the ship needed fixing up.

"Hey!" he called out. "I don't have many tools sorry, mostly borrow them from the hangar staff but...here to help?"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She smiled, standing and closing the parasol. Useless inside but it was more for fun than anything. Her eyes looked over him a moment as he explained. A hand waving as she dismissed the worry

"It's fine. I don't have a whole collection of tools yet. Just the specialty stuff." She shrugged, leading the way up the ramp. The parasol set into a cubby at the entry as she pointed to the cockpit.

"We'll start in there, go ahead and sit in the pilot's seat and I'll bring the checklist." She offered, nodding ahead of her as she opened another cubby to a stationary section.

 

[Acaadi]

"Oh, sure," went Acaadi with a brief smile. He followed her through the corridor. Space was always at a premium in starships, no matter how big they were. Storage was always compact, crew cabins always as small as possible. Only the odd luxury liner had serious comfort.

"Must be nice to fly long distance in this," he said. "Compared to me taking a Twintail a long way. One seat for hours. You often sit on the ramp with a parasol?" he asked.

The question sounded stupid to himself before he'd even finished it. Phalsi made him slightly nervous. She was cool. She was an independent slicer and troublemaker. Meanwhile he'd come from a nice home and straight out of good grades at college and into the academy.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

He followed behind, and she did little more than nod to him as he smiled. Further words were met with a sideways smile, a confused but humorous look directed his way. She wasn't quite picking up on the nerves, too focused on her own train of thought to wonder about how he was feeling.

"Only when I wait on someone." She closed the space holding a clipboard and paper, leading him to the cockpit and pointing to the seat before laughing to herself. "To much attention otherwise. Go ahead, you'll have to flip a few switches."

"It's a pretty comfy ride most time. Granted, I'm usually by myself." She admitted, thinking on the number of times she had arrived early only to get dressed in a proper fashion.

 

[Acaadi]

It seemed a quirky kind of thing to do with the parasol. It was still an almost frustratingly cool thing when she did it. He would have looked a proper idiot sat on a chair on his ship.

"Sometimes I can't feel my feet if I fall asleep in hyperspace in a starfighter," he bemoaned. Taking a few seconds to orientate himself, Acaadi flicked a few switches to add power to diagnostic systems.

"Alright, what's on the schedule?" he asked, nodding at her clipboard.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Her features shifted to concern at the mention of not feeling his feet after sleeping. A tone of genuine concern coming from her as she went to grab the pen from the top of the clipboard and found it missing. She searched while she spoke, turning over the clipboard before scanning the space around them.

"You ought to look into an alternate-pressure inflating seat cushion. Use to help in my B-wing-" She found the pen, a hand on the back of the chair before reaching across Acaadi to his left without warning. She snagged the pen, stood and clicked it before happily continuing. "-on long flights. Alright, first thing is attitude thruster check. Lot of those little buggers all over."

Twisting, she found the chair behind her and plopped into it.

"First set is on the nose, center four toggles and lights. Each wing is far left and right, tail is below the nose switches." He couldn't see her from where she was sitting, but she had a decent profile of him from here. Meaning other questions could begin. "So, other than working on starfighters, class, and all that bith jazz. What do you do for fun?"

 

[Acaadi]

His hand hovered over the console, listening intently as she explained where to start. She had owned a B- wing as well. A true old classic. He tried to keep his sense of jealousy from turning ugly.

Acaadi flicked the first switch, taking the controls he pushed just a little power so that just a little thrust went through the system. It wasn't even enough to rock the ship, but it was active. Then he set it going through a range of motion to be certain it could angle properly.

"Not much. Kyra used to make sure we went out. Recently with...everything that's happened I guess haven't done much but train and keep to myself."

Don't try and sound too exciting now, he told himself.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Nothing flashed in warning across the thrusters as Phalsi smiled. It was always good to remember Kyra for being the outgoing one that she was. The pen scratched the box for that section before she looked up again.

"Kyra was always good about that. I'll have to make sure we all go out when she gets back." She hadn't seen the Perl before she had gone off wherever she had gone. Something she was a little miffed about. She'd wanted to see what the new arm looked like, maybe even take a look inside it.

"Honestly though, nothing wrong with the daily. Kyra is a force of nature, so a little time to yourself is probably nice." She shrugged. "How is your training going then?"

 

[Acaadi]

"That next one needs a look," he said. "Got thrust and full range of motions but there's a bit of lag on it. Probably a pain to work out where that is though."

He wasn't feeling the next question much at all. Doing the work kept him distracted from really thinking much before replying, but he felt a pang of embarrassment.

"I'm mostly just working on my own at the moment. Haven't really been to any lessons..."

He was supposed to still be learning, but without a real mentor he'd been throwing himself into the line of trouble instead of focusing on his studies.

"Maybe I should ask Naria Harth which classes I should get back into. What have you been upto since getting back?"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She listened to his suggestion, the soft scratch of a note being taken before she heard him mention a response. Hey eyes darted up to him with a bit of surprise. "Lag noted. After these, we'll check the main engines. We'll see if the optical panels aren't lagging before we leave too."

"Studying on your-Are you close to knighthood?" She looked at him genuinely this time. "Kyra said you were getting close."

The mention of the lady from before had her frowning.

"Ah, she seems...intense." It was a half-hearted reply before she continued. "Pushing myself to attend some classes, see some different faces. Figure I should at least try to be friendly. Haven't been kicked yet, so not doing to bad."

 

[Acaadi]

"That's...yeah that's one way of putting it," he replied. "But she seemed properly aghast that I wasn't training properly so..."

"You know when I started here becoming a Knight was one of the only things I thought about. I guess recently I haven't given it enough thought. I probably should."

Acaadi had excelled at everything at school without effort. He had thought the same would happen here and been thoroughly wrong. This wasn't just a badge to earn. This place, this path, it demanded sacrifice.

" You want to finish training this time?" he asked. "Where are the optical panels?" He loved ships, but he didn't get anywhere enough time hands on with their insides.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

"Seems the type to always be training. Not taking any time off either." She shrugged. She listened to him a little, pen tapping her chin as he spoke. "Life happens, Acaadi. People have come, people have gone. Lots of...interference to the knights and others. Training times get cut, focus shifts..it happens."

"Try to anyway. I can't be clear of my home-world charges until I achieve Knight status...but...I don't know what to do beyond that. Just. Hang out I guess?" Phalsi spoke quietly, uncertainty staining her voice before she motioned for another panel.

"Two ways to get the optical panels. The pop up panels are toggled by the switches above the weapons panel. Should be three screens that power up towards the front of the viewport. Bit distracting but I can work with it." She remarked before shifting in her seat. "If you look up, there is another panel that is a pain to pull down, but is a dedicated analog for the optical panels."

 

[Acaadi]

"I don't think I've seen enough of her to be sure, but I definitely get that impression of Naria."

It was nice to have someone tell him that nothing was all that wrong for once. In a constant stream of doom and gloom it was more reassuring that those words had a right to be.

Acaadi reached up tentatively towards the panels. She definitely knew more about how ships were put together than him.

"These switches?" he asked. "And at least we're not on Kashyyyk any more. An actual city with things to do rather than a super sized forest. Wait... What does knighthood have to do with charges?"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She shrugged when he spoke of Naria. People were easy to read. Their actions, demeanor, even the way they tapped a foot or held a pen could lend insight to how someone thought. Discerning intent or reason however, that was a whole other pazaak game.

"Hopefully its more than just doom and gloom, but like I said, chit happens. She might be doing the only thing she knows." Phalsi offered, realizing she was condemning someone without evidence. "You'll know more than I after a while, so I shouldn't build her up."

She nodded, remembering that she was behind him as she spoke. "Those are it." She listened to his words about being in a city rather than a forest before he switched gears and focused on the charge thing again. She grimaced quietly behind him, remembering that particular fact was a somewhat hush-hush deal.

"That bounty, from Emberlene? So-I was a bad slicer as a teen. Got caught, but they didn't want to charge a kid with a felony. I get my record cleaned and dropped if I can achieve knight status and actually put in some work. If I don't, well..." She hemmed and hawed for a moment, twisting the pen between her fingers before settling on a description.

"Emberlene authorities have a room waiting for me." The pen tapped the paper on the clipboard a few times, the sound taking her mind off that particular threat. There was a distinct feeling of nerves from behind Acaadi at the mention of it, in the direct vein of fear if he was keen on reading the emotional current. Waving the pen, she tried to shift the subject.

"For real though, we'll have to go catch a vid or something later. Lot easier out of the woods" She awkwardly laughed, putting false cheer in her voice.

 

[Acaadi]

"Oh, I see," he said. "Yeah we should definitely go and..."

It took that long for him to properly process what she had said. Acaadi realised that it didn't sit well with him, not at all.

"That's not fair!" he said sharply. "I get needing you to turn things around or whatever. But becoming a Knight isn't easy. That's like saying you can be a reformed citizen, but if you don't get a doctorate you go back to jail!"

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Even if it was a forced smile, the smile faded quickly as Acaadi rounded on the topic. The sentence had been unfair in her eyes. Had been such a lofty goal that she had tried to give up on it once already.

Her legs came up as he finished speaking, being wrapped by her arms as the clipboard and pen were pressed to her shins. Eyes looked down to the floor as she thought on her response, a tense moment of silence before she found the words.

"Harsh choices are made when people are scared of something, Acaadi. Scared, and would rather push that scary thing away than try to understand." Her voice was soft but said as though practiced, not yet betraying how much the topic made her hurt. She didn't continue with further explination, instead turning inward and once again trying to move the topic.

"It's fine though...I just have to buckle down. I should really get better about going to classes." She laughed, still not putting her legs down as she awkwardly put pen to paper.

 

[Acaadi]

"Well...how are they going to track you down if you don't go home?" he asked.

Acaadi had forgotten about the ship and its systems. Not always an easy thing to distract him from. He turned to face Phalsi.

He grimaced, realising the naivety of the question. Even if they couldn't send bounty hunters then she would be excluded from going home. He didn't know much about her, on how many friends and family she might have back there.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The brief liveliness died. The nervous laugh stopping as he spoke. Her chin tucked into her knees and she watched him turn around. She was drawn up like a tiny fortress against an unseen threat. The strong will and bold demeanor drawn out of her and leaving behind a scared looking woman. Her gaze fell to the floor, staring at the cold panels beneath their feet a long moment.

"Emberlene is by no means a rich, or particularly well off place. The past has clung to that planet like a wet blanket in a Hoth blizzard. There is no real industry, economy. You mess with money on that planet...you get noticed pretty quickly by everyone with power." Her eyes wandered as if reliving a memory, gaze slowly following the lines of her arms and legs before settling back into the middle distance on the floor.

"My family wasn't that bad off. They were good to me. I got a decent education-" A long sigh came from her before she continued. "-until I messed that up. Had friends, even if we were all troublemakers. Messed that up too." There was a drop in her tone as she pressed her chin sharply into her knees and leaned forward a little.

She was quiet for a long time, gaze still seeing something far beyond the cold metal room they were in. The pen in her hand did nothing to stop the slow, rhythmic pattern of her thumb rubbing against her leg. It seemed she was lost in thought.

 

[Acaadi]

"Sorry," he said quietly.

He slightly regretted taking the tone of the conversation this way. Not too much. Phalsi probably didn't have all that many people around to open up to. Neither of them did any more.

"Well..." went Acaadi, deciding that the silence had gone on long enough.

"...if you graduate you can go back and maybe rebuild some of those bridges?"

For all the knocks he has taken along the way, Acaadi could still be quite resilient. Some thought that having an easier, more comfortable background than many of the other students would have made him fragile. The opposite was true. He had become quite adept at picking himself back up again.

Phalsi Drynchen