Chapter Title: Sixteen Hours

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (13) Dashen (19)

Chapter Summary: The boys are on a long flight to the Outer Rim.


Hour one:

I loathe public transport. Tanner loves public transport. I find it dirty and tedious and noisy and weird. Tanner says it's interesting and different and gives him an excuse to talk to strangers. The kid is strange, what can I say? We only agreed on this trip because Colton said we needed to get away and stop pestering him for a while. There is no obvious security protecting us, but it's there. Somewhere.

Hour two:

So, yeah, Tanner's yakking to some strange green scaly creature in the seat across the aisle from him. They don't speak the same language, but have somehow figured out conversation. Arms flailing here and there. Smiles on faces. Makes me tired just watching them. It's exhausting being his big brother.

Hour three:

I'm heading down for a nap. Tanner is still carrying on with green and scaly, but they've calmed it down. There's some portable holo-game they're engaged in. Winner gets bragging rights. Ugh. Boring. I'm tired.

Hour four:

Power nap over. Felt good. Things are quiet on the ship as it navigates the distance between stops. The pilot's a bit rough on his landings so sleeping for too long is probably out of the question. Tanner is silent as is his green friend. I suggested a nap for him. Normally, he'd start rambling on about meditation, but he's agreed to keep that part of his life null and void while on this trip... should there be any spying eyes or ears looking to rack up a giant Jedi bounty. His head hits my shoulder and he's out within seconds. Me. Jealous. Damn Jedi.

Hour five:

Skidded to a stop at the latest spaceport. Tossed us all headfirst with heads smacking the seats in front of us. That was fun. No injuries, but one woman did stand up and ask for the pilot's head on a stick. She was escorted off. Too bad the pilot wasn't. It did give Tanner and green-scaly a new topic to ramble on about though.

Hour six:

Fight broke out in the front section. One guy threatening to cut off the well... you know... of another guy and it escalated front there. Any wonder why I hate traveling on public transport? To settle my nerves, Tanner pulled two snack bars from his pocket, handled one to me and gobbled his down. Homemade by his own hand. The kid had a knack for making edible deliciousness. He offered one to green-scaly, but his strange friend turned it down. Eh, his loss, my gain.

Hour seven:

Are we there yet? No. Will we be there soon? No. What a stupid idea this was. And I was idiot enough to agree to it. I ate another snack bar. Tanner ended another conversation with green-scaly and turned to me. "He's fun to talk to," he said about green-scaly. I mentioned about the language difference and Tanner said it didn't matter, they understood enough. I shrugged. Probably, I'd never understand everything about this kid, but a little mystery in life wasn't always a bad thing.

Hour eight:

Another insane landing. Maybe it would be best to put the pilot's head on a stick. My stomach rolled at the take off. Little brother next to me had snuggled in for a sleep. Tanner didn't amount to much in size or weight so I rarely minded when he used me as a pillow. Felt nice to be needed.

Hour nine:

Smooth sailing for a while, the pilot having gotten his act together. Tanner was still out cold with my arm tucked around him. Green-scaly gave me a look, I think it was approval for looking after my brother, but who knew. I never claimed to be an expert in reading the gestures of lizardy-type creatures.

Hour ten:

If Tanner hadn't brought snack bars on this trip, I'd be in trouble. While he may be able to meditate or Force his way past hunger pains, my stomach growled loud and proud. And like magic, another snack bar landed in my hand. I did love my brother and his ability to be prepared. I asked him

how much longer we had on our journey to who knew where. Another six hours. Yes, this really was a stupid idea. Together time, Tanner and I didn't need, we were attached at the hip already. But his idea, I'd agreed to. I really am an idiot.

Hour eleven:

Another stop. Another round of passengers on and off. Green-scaly was still there. I tried to follow he and Tanner's conversation this time, but it hurt my brain so I went back to being bored in my own head. Grabbing my brother's data pad, I found some time-consuming monotonous game that devoured the rest of the next hour. Pretty sure my eyes were permanently crossed by the end of the game.

Hour twelve:

Gave up on the game and lazily handed the device back to my brother who was busy being fascinated by the latest group of boarding passengers. A group of Wookiees, which are basically giant walking carpets that growl. Fascinating, weird and I won't lie, a little scary when there are eight of them. Tanner sat mesmerized. He knew of Wookiee's and evidently there had been a few of them in the Jedi Order, but seeing that much growl and hair in one small area, it was impressive. Thankfully they sat all the way in the rear of the ship, far enough that little brother couldn't strike up conversations. I could only imagine how that would go.

Hour thirteen:

The Wookiee pack departed at the next spaceport. Disappointed was the word of the hour for Tanner, but he'd get over it. The big fur balls were replaced by boring humans. Boring for my brother, but honestly, humans always made me nervous with him having a Jedi target on his back. Humans tended to be more nosy than others. And in general they were annoying. My eyes followed them as they passed by, making sure they didn't give Tanner a second look. I admit to be a little obsessive compulsive about keeping little brother safe and alive.

Hour Fourteen:

My entire body was numb. My mind was as well. I needed to get off this damn ship. No more naps, no more snacks, I was barely hanging onto sanity if I didn't get out of this seat and get some actual air. The recycled stuff in this ship was giving me a headache. Well, it's the excuse I gave myself. A glance over to Tanner, he was still content. Relaxed. Happy. Maybe his butt was numb too, but he didn't let it show. I'd begun counting down the minutes to freedom. Yup, I was that desperate.

Hour fifteen:

An hour left on this stupid idea for a trip and a terrible thought hit me. We'd have to return home via the same way. Another sixteen hours of my life I'd never get back. Maybe we should just stay on the planet for a year to avoid the trip back. Or maybe not. Ugh! How the hell is Tanner so unaffected by all of this? Damn Jedi and his damn Jedi training. Yeah, I was a bit envious of him.

Hour sixteen:

Thank the stars our stop was up next. Tanner picks now to sleep again. I woke him and he immediately picked up conversation with green-scaly. They nodded a goodbye - I think - and ended the talk just as quickly. His ability to make friends was unchallenged. The pilot slammed the ship down on the planet surface. Be glad to get away from that psycho too. If we had him or the return trip home, I might just take an overdose of drugs and intentionally knock myself out for those sixteen hours. Tanner was vertical in the aisle, waiting for me to stand and get in front of him. He'd grab hold of my shirt, not to let go until we were safely off the ship and away from any potentially crazy people. So there we were. An interesting trip completed. Might take me a while to get my legs used to being functional again. We made our way off the ship as I tried hard not to think about the eventual return trip home.


END