Eight days ago, Hyuna’s old communicator started acting up. Though she knew most of the crew wouldn’t contact her again, she had kept it in hopes that maybe just maybe they would try. When it started acting up, she tinkered with it a bit, thinking nothing of it. The technology was old and had been through a lot of moving and action, really it was a miracle it still worked. But once it was cleaned and put back together, to her surprise it continued to give off strange static and noise.
After hours of attempting to pinpoint the cause, Hyuna finally figured it out. Yes, a signal was trying to come through and it was so terribly scrambled she couldn’t get a read on it. Still not trusting most of the people in the station, Hyuna set to work trying to decipher it herself, a task that would take nearly two full days. When she finally deciphered it, she could hardly believe her ears. It was a message from an old crew member, their navigator Elgar Tskar had been trying to get a message to her. He had something that belonged to her father and wanted to return it to her.
The timing seemed all too convenient. She was scheduled to leave the planet with the rest of the lunae squadron in a matter of days. The threat of The First Order looming over the planet certainly didn’t help either. Still, she didn’t report anything to a higher up for one simple reason, their comms units had always been short ranged. If Elgar was able to contact her, then he was already on the planet and there was no point wasting resources to go and find him. Especially not when he wouldn’t be able to trace her location back anyway. This fact didn’t seem to stop him from trying to contact her however. Five days of messages and attempts until he left what he claimed to be one final message.
Hyuna, if you’re still listening, if you’re still here, I’m going to be at the Northern Hills in the morning. If you want what belonged to your father meet me there, if not, I won’t bother you anymore.
She stared at her communicator for nearly half an hour before finally responding, “What coordinates do you want to meet?” She knew this was a terrible idea. Absolutely awful. Yet she accepted the coordinates anyway, and headed out after a sleepless night knowing full and well if she didn’t make it back in time the squadron would leave her.
The moment she saw Elgar Tskar however, every bit of concern she seemed to have about the venture disappeared. It takes everything in her to keep from running over and hugging him. He had always been especially kind to her, teaching her the value and power of words even though she showed in real political interest. As an older Bothan, he had been all too aware of the stereotypes of his species and actively worked to avoid it. Plus, if she remembered right, she could still kick his ass any day of the week. In front of him was a large box, nearly as tall as Hyuna.
“Hyuna my dear!” He greets her in Rodese when she stops a few feet from him. Despite her fear ebbing away, she still holds her blaster carefully and when he starts to reach into his pocket, she immediately holds the blaster up at him. “Well, I suppose I deserve that but I mean you no harm.” He gestures to the box in front of him and pulls out a small key like device from his pocket. “Would you put that thing away?”
She scoffs and raises a brow. “You know me better than that E, old man.” He grins at her words and she almost smiles as well. “What is that anyway?”
He sighs and kneels, opening the box quickly. “It’s an old BD-1 Cutter model vibro-axe.” Turning it, he shows her the axe which despite its age seems in good condition, at one end is a sharp point, and the axe at the other. “Your father modified it to adjust the length. It can give off an eletro-shock too. He sent this to Baz Tu a few years ago. He can’t make it here, so he sent me.”
At his words, Hyuna finally lowers her blaster, unable to take her eyes off the axe now. “Wait—Baz Tu is alive? Is he here? Is he alright?”
“He’ll be fine kid. But he wants you to have this.” He pauses and Hyuna takes the chance to kneel down and pick up the axe. It’s light weight compared to most and comfortable in her hand despite the slight vibration. “You’re going to be needing that, fighting The First Order now. He’s proud of you kid, we all are.”
Hyuna looks away from the axe and stands again, her eyes on Elgar. Though she won’t admit it, the comment fills her with more pride than she expects. “Don’t get mushy on me now E. I’m just a foot soldier I haven’t done anything special.” With a press of a button the axe shortens and she places it back in the box carefully. “Save your pride for when The First Order is gone. And you better be alive to see that happen.”
“Kid, we’re always going to be proud of you, no matter what but when those bastards are gone, I’ll buy you a drink huh?” She nods and the pair of them stare quietly at each other for a moment, a thousand things that need to be said hanging quietly in the air. Hyuna, desperate for comfort for the first time in years, holds herself back from seeking it for fear of seeming weak. And Elgar, surprised by what can change in three years wants to provide some sort of wisdom for her but doesn’t know how. Instead he says: “I’ll see if I can get Baz Tu to talk to you directly. You’ve grown up a lot kid. Just make sure you’re not too grown up when I see you again. It would be a shame if the war took our Angel from us completely after all.”
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Hyuna scoffs and holsters her blaster. “Shut the hell up old man, I’ve never been an Angel.”
“Nah, but you’ll always be ours.” Then for the first time in six years, Hyuna swears she sees tears in his eyes. But he coughs and turns away from her for a moment. “Anyway, I gotta get going and so do you. I imagine you all have a lot of work to do huh?”
He tosses her the key for the box and she catches it, pocketing the device quickly. “Yeah, yeah we do.”
Elgar coughs again and pulls up his mask. “I’ll see you around, alright kid?” With that, he runs back to his speeder and jumps on it, leaving Hyuna standing on the hills by herself. She waits for a little while, just to see if anyone else will approach or if she can pick up any readings on her scanner. Once she’s satisfied that there are no tracers on the box and no one else around, she makes her way back to the station. Several hours later when she loads her personal effects onto the ship, she ignores the curious glances as she cradles the box close to her as if her very life depending on it. Quieter than usual, she isn’t until it is tucked away in her room, away from prying eyes that Hyuna finally relaxes.
Reporting to the damage control station some time later, she’s stopped by one of her commanding officers, asking where she had gone to earlier in the morning. Unconcerned, Hyuna replies, “As I put in the log, I went to follow a lead.”
“And did you find anything of use?”
“Nothing prudent but I’ll see if anything comes from it and let you know, sir.” The answer is hardly satisfactory and one of her colleagues will claim later the sass wasn’t needed. But this officer knows her well enough by now that he isn’t getting anything else out of her today.
“I don’t have the time to deal with this right now soldier. You will report anything to me that you find that is of use, is that clear?”
“As I said sir, you’ll be the first to know.”
It is only the small, amused smirk on his face that tells Hyuna she’s not quite in trouble just yet and takes a seat, waiting for the briefing with the rest of the squad.
jaewon finds a home in the cockpit of the ship, surprisingly easy given how hesitant he’d been for the whole thing in the first place, the way he’d never been sure until this very moment that he could really survive on a ship like this, with a destination like this. joining the resistance had never really been a big part of his life plan, it is merely a means to an end for him, and only something reaching limitedly into his future, not forever. he hadn’t wanted to join this place in the beginning anyway, only having come here for the necessity of having backup for when he mounts his own personal war against the first order, because no matter who else considered themselves part of this fight, jaewon has taken it personal, which makes it belong to him.
but here he is, half drunk, cradled in the piloting area of the ship, everything set to autopilot so people can get some sleep, and he’s staring out across the stars thinking about how this is his life now, this is him now. it’s fine for a while, but then it gets depressing, the stars twinkling and reminding him that thousands and thousands of years ago, they’ve probably already exploded and become supernovas by now. he’s staring into the beauty of the past and that hurts quite a bit. he hears a noise of someone behind him, some lonely wanderer, another figure in the dark unable to sleep their first night out, same as him, but his initial reaction is of course to pull his blaster out and aim it square at their head. “if you’ve come to kill me, you ought to have been quieter than that.”
two steps onto the ship, first official opening day, and the first sight jaewon is accosted with is hyunsoo falling all over himself as he trips and sprawls across not only his own baggage but that of about 3 other peoples’. jaewon watches the mess occur, his eyes widening as the younger boy struggles, his things crashing and tumbling away from him, and he wonders for a moment if he should just keep walking. it’s an asshole move maybe, but then, jaewon isn’t that interested in portraying himself as any sort of hero.
still though, even though it takes him an extra beat to just get over the massive amount of ridiculousness his new crew is about to be, he adjusts the strap of the pack his own things are in over his shoulder and leans down to help hyunsoo. he picks up a small case and brings it over to him. “that was quite impressive,” he drawls before smirking. “i knew you needed flight lessons, but walking lessons too?”
BUT NO ONE EVER TELLS YOU THAT FOREVER FEELS LIKE HOME
@orbdusk
jaewon tosses his pack onto one side of the room, deciding that it’s his without asking because, well, there’s no one else here yet. it might be foolish but he sort of hopes no one else comes, that maybe his luck would turn for once in his goddamned life and he might be granted some semblance of peace. not that it would help him sleep though—that’s for entirely separate reasons. the ghosts chained to his ankles scream inside his head when all else gets quiet and this is his reality. inescapable.
he doesn’t have much, just a few changes of clothing and some knickknacks he’d managed to salvage from the wreckage of his last ship, personal hygiene stuff and one or two accessories he’s bought since then, so it doesn’t take him long to pull them out and scatter them across the bedding. when his roommate does finally arrive, jaewon turns to see him and immediately starts laughing. “oh shit.”
Jackson stands quietly at one of the ship’s windows, gaze focused on the outside world. They have been on Corellia for a long time now, but his feet have hardly ever touched the Corellian soil. He’s not used to being on one planet for this long a time and he’s glad they’ll be flying around again soon. He’s starting to feel a bit sick to the stomach with the lack of movement. Then again, the idea of leaving doesn’t soothe that feeling. Instead it kind of seems to make it worse.
All of these people he’s seen going around on a daily basis now will be inside of the ship. There will be very few places for him to go and be alone so he can work quietly. There will be very few places for him to make out to be just his. Aboard the Indromeda, the entire engine room was his domain only and none of the others ever ventured there unless he needed some help with carrying something heavy. In this ship, there is a tech team that is way bigger than just him and the people will be going around at will.
He wonders how they will be kept in line, wonders some more then about the leader that will be assigned who will be making sure everyone is doing their particular job. He wonders what his particular job is going to be, wonders how he is going to live working on just one part of the ship. He wonders about a lot of things, presses his forehead against the window and closes his eyes.
The image of Antario appears in front of him. Her smiling at him, giving him one of those encouraging nods. The familiarity of the view makes his chest ache and he wonders how much longer he will have to live with these frustrating feelings before they will finally go away. There is no answer. He has no idea of emotions and feelings, doesn’t know why he thinks the way he does, feels the way he does.
This new world he has gotten himself into is going to take a long time to get used to. For the first time in his entire life, Jackson feels alone.
He pushes himself away from the window and opens his eyes, glancing around to make sure no one has seen him standing there. Then he walks off, headed towards the hyperdrive engine to make sure there’s not a single flaw to be found.
jaewon doesn’t stay very long in his designated room once he manages to find it, eager to stretch his legs and talk to someone he knows he gets along with. it’s not that he’s unhappy with the ship so far or thinks it’s not well-kept and clean, but he’s been on multiple ships before, so he’s less star-struck than perhaps some of the others might be. he greets taejoon, his roommate, a wry happenstance ( awkward, but not as bad as it could be—yet ), before heading out and making his rounds of the floor plan. he has to get to know this ship, every nook and cranny, every corner and button.
he goes through it twice before finding taeha’s room, a small upturn on his lips once he sees a flash of her inside. thankfully, she’s alone for now so he can nudge the door slightly open and slip inside, heading straight for the bed he assumes is hers and flopping down across it. “it’s official, i’m not going to be getting any sleep for the next month at least. i’m pretty sure i have the worst luck when it comes to roommates. then again, i’m not with hyunsoo, so there’s that piece of providence.”
jaewon has been packed and ready for take-off pretty much since he’d first walked into the resistance base, having never really unpacked in the first place. he doesn’t have very much in the bag slung over his shoulder, nothing like what he sees a few of the others bringing in ( excessive, like their trying to bring along their whole damn house ) but he supposes he has the first order to thank for that. he’s never really had very much attached to his hip to begin with though, because even on kessel, you never knew what would get stolen.
the only thing weighing heavily on him, moreso than the baggage, were his grudges, the pain of them constricting his chest tightly. when he’d first heard mina’s name amidst the list of crew members, he figured he’d just avoid her, but now that he’s on the ship, he realizes that’s impossible. too-narrow hallways.
he sees her. she sees him. he can’t help that his legs freeze up for a moment and his jaw clenches, but he holds the strap of his pack tighter and moves to step around her, brushing against her shoulder hard. unforgiven.
