Session export: Test Drive
“I can’t help but feel like I failed, you know?” said Bril, his voice barely registering over a murmur as he trailed behind Minnie. She was leading him through the private airstrip situated within a remote section of the Erinos’ territory, to the far end of the strip where their personal hangar bay was. “Resigning from my position. It doesn’t feel right.”
He knew what she was going to say: that he more than fulfilled his duties to the clan, to the entire system. That he’d stretched himself thin for so long, and the cracks were starting to show. And deep down, he knew she was right, that his drive to do more for his people would never be fully satisfied, and doggedly pursuing that was no life to live. It wasn’t fair to him, nor his family.
A sigh fell from his lips, pulling his shoulders into a noticeable slump. “I’m sorry. We’re supposed to be having a good time, right now. Checking out the Oath‘s new upgrades and the new starfighter I purchased. I’m sure you’re more excited to get behind the controls than I am, miss ace pilot.”
“Kitty,” came the gentle reprimanding tone, one with a level of firmness that brooked no argument and had his spine straightening among other things, daymn. “Yah, I’m excited to fly, but your feelings are important and valuable so don’t apologize or try to deflect from them right after admitting them!”
She bopped him on the nose, then bobbed on her tiptoes to kiss him, leaving a hand on his cheek. Her little headtails curled at the ends, her penciled brows creasing in concern.
“It’s not recognized enough how much strength it takes to admit and own defeat. How much wisdom is in knowing one’s limits. And how much heart is in breaking your own to heal it. You didn’t fail. You recognized that you weren’t keeping up, and you gave them the chance to grow beyond you. It sucks. It really sucks. But sometimes the most right choice among bad choices is, ethically, the right one. At least, that’s what Jax drilled into me when I was younger.”
His lips pulled into a half-hearted smile, and he reached out to find her hand so he could give it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you, my love,” said Bril in Mando'a, which he’d been speaking so often now that he nearly sounded like a native speaker, but he hadn’t quite shaken the tonal lilt of his native tongue, which Mando'a lacked. “You always know what to say to lift my spirits.”
Waiting for them in the hangar bay was the Erinos’ Oath, a sleek eighty-meter long shuttle painted a dark grey-black. “There she is,” he smiled, “And I bought some of those freshening tabs that’ll give it that new ship smell that we love.”
Once onboard, Bril and Minnie were greeted by his pilot droid, Nix. Nix was a modified KX Security Droid featuring a droid brain from a Clone Wars era Republic pilot droid. “Greetings, Generals,” it said in acknowledgment of them both, “Would you like me to chart a course?”
Bril shook his head. “We got it this time, Nix. Thank you.”
“Very well. Safe flying, Generals.” Its blue photoreceptors pulsed for a second before he walked away, headed to another area of the ship to continue its duties.
Then, Bril turned to Minnie, saying, “It does raise a good question: where are we headed?”
“I’ll never get over him calling me General,” Minnie huffed, shaking her head, tiny tails swaying. “Wherever you want to take her, Kitty, I gotchu. We can’t not test the hyperdrive, so probably out of system, but not Hutt space. She’s too clean for that smog. Maybe pop by Corellia for shaved icees?”
He smiled. “It’s better if you don’t acknowledge it.”
Bril raised a hand to her cheek, gently tracing small circles there with his thumb while he held her gaze. His expression brightened. “I love you, tai'shan. Corellia is a great idea. I’ll fly us there and you can fly when we return to Selen?”
Minnie beamed at him, nuzzling into his palm with a sweet sight. Her head tails curled a tiny bit over his wrist and knuckles naturally, not fully mobile out of the water but reactive, clinging to him in familiarity. The gills they hid brushed him, a true trust.
“But just so you know,” she winked at him with some effort, “I’m keeping the switch on to take the controls over just in case.”
“Never going to let me live down almost crashing yours, are you?” he said with a wink.
Bril plopped down in the pilot seat and ran through a quick check of the flight controls, just like Minnie had taught him. Then, he punched in the coordinates for Corellia into the ship’s navicomputer.
When he engaged the hyperdrive, the blacky expanse of deep space bled into the brilliant streaks of white and blue typical of hyperspace. With the ship’s new Path Engine, the modified hyperdrive made from reverse engineered Path engine tech from the High Republic, their journey to Corellia took half the time.
“Have you been to Corellia before?”
“Oh, yah, a few times. It’s such a beach place, yanno? Plus big trading hub, there’s a lot of work that runs through there.” Her face fell a little. “We searched for Foxxie there for a bit, when he went missing. Never found any leads, though. But! Good beaches.”
“Sounds lovely,” he commented, trying to picture the beaches in his mind. He didnt expect them to be better than the pristine beaches of Selen, but her approval still went a long way.
“Shame I didn’t bring us bathing suits,” he said while sucking his teeth, feigning disappointment. “Looke like we’ll just have to go skinny dipping.”
He shot her a mischievous look from the corner of his eye.
Minnie smirked at him evilly.
“Hmm, maybe. If Mommy lets you.”
Bril swallowed hard at that. “… Yes ma'am,” he said, gripping the controls harder. This was going to be an interesting trip; that much he was certain of.
Later
He stepped off the Oath’s exit ramp with his arm thrown lazily across Minnie’s shoulders. He’d always enjoyed the way her headtails curled idly against his skin while they walked. “Well since you’ve been here before, lead the way, cyar'ika.”