"Hi." Kyp was surprised to find Jaina sitting up in bed, reading when he came in. "What's that?"
She made a face. "J-just a really b-boring novel."
Kyp laughed. "Ok. How 'bout a holodrama?"
"Ok." She grinned. "What, did no one want to watch with you?"
Kyp laughed. "I think I've just been insulted."
She smiled. "Well. N-not really. J-just wondering why you're here."
Kyp effected hurt. "I can't enjoy a pretty lady's company without a reason?"
Jaina laughed, blushing lightly. "Ok."
"You know, you're even prettier when you do that." He mused aloud.
Jaina blushed harder.
"Ok." Kyp let it go. "Which drama should we watch?"
Jaina shrugged.
"Aw, come on, Rain. Pick already."
Rain? Where in all the Correllian Nine Hells did that come from? He frowned.
She seemed not to care about the nickname. "Fine. The one with the p-pink case." She pointed.
"Red." Kyp corrected. "I would never watch anything stored in a pink case."
"Ok, then." Jaina laughed.
"Ok, Red Rose Dying it is."
Jaina made a face. "S-sounds like a s-sappy movie."
"Hey, you picked it." Kyp held up his hands in surrender.
"Yeah, only after y-you told me to." Jaina laughed.
"Ok, so pick again."
"Nah. You s-sound like you really want a different one, so we'll watch that one."
Kyp sighed sufferably. "Fine." He popped the drama into the reader and pushed the play control.
Neither of them knew they were being watched.
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Tahiri swore loudly and threw the wrench in her hand at the fried atmosphere controls mounted on the durasteel plated ice bulkhead.
Whether by wisdom, or simply training, Jag remained silent, though he was wondering if the blonde in front of him wasn't indeed somehow blood-related to Han Solo.
"This one's bad, too." Tahiri told him, turning, her EV suit rustling quietly in the near-vacuum.
"I gathered that." Jag replied simply.
"Uncle Luke is so not going to be happy." She muttered, subconsciously reaching her gloved hand up to her faceplate to try to brush away a stray blonde curl.
"So don't tell him." Jag suggested.
Tahiri stared at him for a moment. "You really don't know much about the Jedi, do you?"
Jag blinked. "Apparently not."
"Right. Well, there is no universal way to keep anything from Luke Skywalker, 'less maybe you're Kyp Durron." She snorted. "Which, praise Yun-Yethna, I am not."
"Yun-Yethna?" Jag couldn't help asking.
Tahiri twirled the tool in her hand uncomfortably. "The Yuuzhan Vong god of Blasphemy. Jealous brother of Yun-Yuuzhan that's supposedly the cause of all evil." She shrugged. "Sorry. It just sorta… appears sometimes."
"It's fine." Jag assured her, packing the tools lying on the floor into their carrying container. "I was simply curious."
Tahiri nodded, obviously eager for the conversation to be over. "All right. Let's get all this stuff back on the ship and go home."
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"You're kidding, right?" Luke intoned disbelievingly at the comm.
"Umm. Nope, not really." Tahiri answered, wincing visibly onscreen.
Luke sighed. "Those modulators were not cheap. They're all bad?"
Tahiri's image nodded. "Yep. Something about Eclipse's proximity to the Maw. Demagnetizes stuff real quick."
"Great. So we either have to find eight hundred functional EV suits in assorted sizes, or replace eleven ion-powered atmospheric modulators."
"Something like that." Tahiri agreed. "On the off hand, I'd say don't even bother with the EV suits idea, but considering that ion powered anything is uncommon these days… either options is going to attract a lot of attention."
"Which is the last thing we want." Luke grimaced. "Can't you and Taan just come up with some creature that'll do the same thing and keep itself healthy as long as we feed it rocks?" he joked.
An odd expression shuttered across Tahiri's face briefly. "I don't think so. Better call Lando or somebody. Actually, doesn't Karrde owe you a major favor?"
"Three times over." Luke agreed dryly. "However, business with Karrde has been… civil… since I took his favorite coworker." He had completely missed her earlier pained expression. "Are you on your way home?"
"Yep. Should be there in a couple of days."
"Karrde will listen to me." A voice out of visual range purred. "But you'd better hurry." Mara leaned over Luke's shoulder, smiling at the holoscreen. "This baby's extremely impatient, and I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to crawl out on her own while you're gone."
Luke groaned. "Please, Mar, don't even joke about such things."
Mara turned her amused gaze on him. "Who ever said I was joking?"
Tahiri grinned, at ease once again. " I hear you. Maybe I'll sacrifice Colonel Fel's half of the life support system and boost the hyperdrive."
Mara went off into gales of laughter, something she was lately prone to doing.
"Wouldn't really suggest it, hon." Luke smiled. "The last thing we want is to have to decide where to hide a body while we're evacuating to Zonoma Sekot."
"Skywalker, that was my line!" Mara yelled, thumping him across the head with a nearby sofa cushion.
Luke laughed, blocking her repeated blows. "Well, love, what do you expect when you've been trying to reform me for years? It finally worked." He leaned down and kissed Mara.
"Ok, would you two please stop?" Tahiri's vaguely irritated voice interrupted the two. "You're too much like my parents for this not to be weird." She made a face. "Ok, really weird."
Mara pulled away from her husband, grinning. "And like all parents, we have certain liberties, no matter how much it might embarrass you." She teased.
"Whatever." Tahiri waved her hand in the air. "I'll be home soon, with our without our resident Dr. Duracrete."
"Doctor?" Mara frowned.
Tahiri frowned right back. "Well, can you think of another profession that goes with duracrete?"
