Flight Club - Flight Shed, Monday (After Classes)

[weetuskenraider]

Your intrepid club leaders didn't look particularly cheerful today, after the weekend. And Tahiri, in particular, looked like she was ready to climb into an actual cockpit and not just a simulation -- crisp flight suit, boots (ugh), very compact travel bag.

"Hey, guys," she said, hands tucked behind her back. "After this weekend we could probably use a pretty easy day, huh?"

Ben kept sneaking glances at her outfit, looking unhappy. "Or possibly a chance to shoot things in a safe environment," he added. Which he really wanted to do. "So our land-based option today is speeder bikes," he said, then went through the basic controls of one.

"You'll like those," Tahiri added, going for cheerful and missing by a few centimeters. "If you think you're up for it, today's spaceflight option is one that isn't actually from our galaxy, even though the ship looks kind of similar to some of our snubfighters . . . it's a Viper Mark II." It was her turn to go over the controls there, which took a while; the Mark II wasn't known for having a technologically advanced instrument panel. "The tricky thing about these is they don't carry lasers. Those guns carry actual ammo. Well -- simulated actual ammo, anyway, so it'll have a different kind of kick. Just keep that in mind while you're shooting things, okay?"

Ben nodded. "Have fun, guys."

Comments

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

And the subject of said voicemails wanted to speak to him. "Master Skywalker," Leia said. Calling him "father" still felt too weird. "Dad" was out of the question.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"You had a busy weekend," Anakin observed, keeping a throttle-hold on his temper, at least for the moment.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"I still don't understand what happened," Leia said quietly. "I wasn't myself. I'm not sure who I was." Someone filled with anger and a lust for power, that much was certain. She tried to sort through the confusing memories. "I didn't even recognize Ben and Tahiri. I didn't know you at all, either."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

Anakin would bet a lot of credits on that not being true. "Ben wasn't exactly all that coherent in his messages," he said. "Tell me what you remember."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

Having someone else's fuzzy memories in her head wasn't something she relished sorting through, but she wanted to understand. "I was still me in a way," she said slowly. "I was Leia Organa. But I didn't know this place. I knew I was supposed to be on Coruscant." She really didn't want to say this next part, but she had to. "I was apprentice to Darth Vader...and I was beginning to make arrangements for the celebration of the fifth year since the defeat of the rebellion."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

All of the color drained right out of Anakin's face.

"Oh," he said when he could finally string a sound together.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

She wasn't surprised by that reaction, given how freaked out Ben and Tahiri still were. "I know, it's completely insane," she said, her voice shaking just a little to belie how calm and collected she was trying to be.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

Anakin shoved his feelings to the back of his mind and reached for her hands. "Breathe," he said softly. "Fear isn't going to help anything."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"What happened to me?" Leia whispered, letting her father take her hands and actually grateful for the contact. "How could I be someone like that? Even with Alderaan gone and the rebellion destroyed...." A rebellion that was only in its fledgling stages from her current point of view. It couldn't end like that, because Jaina and Ben and Tahiri were proof, right?

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"Fear and anger can make the best of us make some really stupid choices," Anakin said, giving her hands a comforting squeeze.

He held his tongue on this being a good example of why the Emperor shouldn't figure out who she was.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia shook her head. "No," she said fiercely. "That's never going to happen. I hate the Emperor and Vader and everything they stand for. I will never serve them. I'd die first." But she'd tried that, hadn't she, before Vader had snatched General Kenobi's lightsaber away from her.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"I believe you," Anakin said softly. "That Leia made a different choice."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"I didn't even know that Ben was my nephew and I'm not sure I would have cared if I did," Leia said. "I just wanted to drag him back with me and turn him over to Vader once I knew who his father was." She took a deep breath, drawing on all her princess reserves to collect herself because they were in public and she wasn't going to break down, dammit, and looked up at Anakin. "That's not going to happen to me, is it? It's just some sort of possible future? I want the future where the Empire is gone and I know my brother and I have a daughter."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"It's just a possible future," Anakin said, "and not one that's terribly likely. I've known of five Leias, and not one has turned into what you're describing." He sent a wave of reassurance toward her. "If it helps at all, I won't let you fall like that."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"Five?" Leia repeated. She laughed, because that was better than tears. "How do you tell us apart?" Then more seriously, she said, "How do I make sure that future doesn't happen?"

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"You remember the fear in the eyes of Ben and Tahiri," he said quietly, "and you make sure there is never a reason for that to happen again." He squeezed her hands again. "And you remember that I have your back. That future will not happen to you."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia dropped her gaze. She didn't want to remember the fear in their eyes, but it was going to haunt her for awhile. "There won't ever be a reason," she promised, both to her father and herself. "I won't let there be." And then, since she had to know for certain, she looked back up and asked, "Am I supposed to be a Jedi?"

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"You are very strong in the Force," Anakin said quietly, "but that doesn't necessarily mean you must become a Jedi."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"But that kind of power could be what we need to stop the Emperor and Vader," Leia said. "They massacred the Jedi because they feared that power, didn't they?"

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"The Sith fear many things," Anakin said with conviction, "and that use that fear to control others."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"I'm not afraid," Leia vowed.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

"Jedi," Anakin reminded her, "plus I know how to read your face. You're allowed to be afraid, but acknowledge the fear, and then move past it. Denying it just gives it power."

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

She was really going to learn to hate that about him, wasn't she?

"I'm afraid of being like her," she admitted. "And what I would become. I want to dedicate my life to restoring democracy to the galaxy, not crushing it. If Alderaan were destroyed and any rebellion crushed, wouldn't that inspire me to fight harder?" That had been what she had tried to say in class not long ago, after all.

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[sith_happened]

Oh, it would probably be up at the top of a lengthy list.

He gave her hands another squeeze, trying to hide the sorrow in his eyes. "I'd certainly hope so," he said. "Can you try not to get captured, just in case?"

Re: Talk to the Advisor [FC 3/8]

[likes_scoundrels]

"I'm not planning on it," Leia said. Give her a year or so. "And even if I was, I won't make the same decision she did. No matter what. I promise you that." However traumatizing the weekend, she wouldn't bury the memories entirely; she'd cling to that lesson at least.