KnightedRogue: :D He is an interesting character. And of course there are non-hero people. What about all those dudes Han snaps at on the base in ESB? And of course you can believe that. But that doesn't necessarily mean you're right. :D
GreatOne: Well, of course he has met Ewoks, he was a technician for the Rebellion. :D He was there for the celebration.
yellow-lily: Here's another chapter. Sorry it took so long -- busy, busy week. :)
Alowl: Would you like butter with that? ;D
Saber Girls: Yeah, he was. At the way end. Obi-Wan is walking with Bail down a white hall on a ship, and they give the two droids to a "Captain Antilles". And we know by Episode IV, from 3PO, that their "last master was Captain Antilles."
Here's another chapter, everyone!
CHAPTER SEVEN
I lazily dip my finger into the empty bowl, swiping some soup left on the rim and putting it in my mouth. Its a bad habit of mine, a habit that my mom tries so hard to break. But then I think of all those starving people out there, and that something like the remnants of soup would be a feast to them, and I simply have to finish it.
Tyl's watching me with the kind of interest that one watches with when they have nothing better to look at: out the window at swaying leaves during a particularly boring lesson, or at their drumming fingers, trying to get the perfect beat. The atmosphere is lazy, and tired, and contented; the soup was so good I had second helpings, and Tyl had third. Our meal had mostly been eaten in silence, due to the fact that we were too busy eating than anything else.
Tyl's guard's slipping, for the first time since we met. Although I know for a fact that he isn't Force-sensitive, he definitely is not weak-minded, and I haven't been able to scope him out since our first run-in on the hanger bay. I am feeling emotions come off him like warmth from a starting-up heating device, and I study him with markedly more interest than he is looking at me.
"What?" Damn. Mental wall is up again. I frown as I am suddenly blocked out.
"Nothing."
"Not trying to use any Force crap on me, are you? Because I would like to warn you beforehand that it won't work."
"I'm not trying to!" I argue defensively. He snorts noncommittally. "Jedi don't use the Force to pry."
"Save me the lecture, kid."
"No. You obviously need a lesson of some sort, if you're going to make assumptions about us."
"I don't need a lesson. Even more, I don't want one."
I glare at him for a moment. "You're bitter."
"I'm old. It's a side-effect."
"You're not that old, so you can't use that as an excuse. You're, what, forty-five?"
"Forty-nine. That's old."
"Seventy-five is old, dimwit." The comfortable atmosphere that was just so recent seemed now so far away now.
"I'm a lot smarter than you, so I would keep my mouth shut."
"No you wouldn't. You're incapable of doing that." I snap.
"You don't seem to have mastered the link between your mouth and your brain very well either, prissy."
I glare at him. This man is so infuriating. For one minute he was actually tolerable, but that was probably because his mouth was too full of food to allow him to talk.
"Stop CALLING me that!" I nearly shout.
"Aw, poor baby, big mean man called you names." he says in an aggravating baby tone. I storm out of the kitchen, slamming the pad next to the door then kicking it for good measure. And I am met with a massive pain in my big right toe. Dammit, so much for that.
"We're comin' up on Endor." Tyl informs me as he passes my quarters on the way to cockpit. I needn't have been informed, I heard the beeping start a few seconds ago (even from the confines of this room, which I had shut myself in for the few hours after our argument). I set down the datapad I was reading, and make my way to the cockpit and plop into the oversized copilot's chair, scanning the controls. After a few moments of study, I start to reach for a switch just as Tyl's hand makes its way toward it. He smacks mine away.
"I can do this." he mutters, flicking the switch. I could feel my face hot in annoyance, and I force myself to calm down.
"I'm your copilot, I'm supposed to help." I snap at him.
"I don't need help with this, so you're fulfilling your job nicely."
"Do you have to be so condescending?"
"Do you have to be so pushy?"
"I'm not being pushy, I'm doing the job I agreed to do when I stepped on this thing!"
"I'm fifty-six hundred credits richer, you're helping me enough."
"Will you just let me help? Is it really that difficult? You said earlier that I made things easier. You can't still be hung over on our little argument."
"Why would I care what you say? That didn't effect me at all. I just like things the way I do them."
"We were about to hit the same switch. I'm not stupid, I can copilot a freighter."
"I don't care."
This man's obviously hung up about something. But, like always, he is wary of my Force-sense and is concentrating wholly on seeing whether or not I was attempting break into his mind and find him out. I can feel it without even attempting to. He's strong-minded (and strong-headed), that much is for sure, and he apparently has some secrets that he's desperate to keep. That much I can respect; I have some secrets myself.
I watch as we come out of light speed, and I can see the tiny moon now. It obviously is covered in trees, because the whole thing is green, and there is a thin layer of blue that's the atmosphere that sticks out a bit beyond the official planet. Tyl gracefully and surely turns the ship so the top is facing the moon, turning smoothly into the atmosphere. I feel a small jolt as we came out of space and into the friction of the atmosphere, and I quickly turn to the controls and am relieved that he doesn't fight me on this.
Its all I could do to keep from gaping and ignoring my duties. It was beautiful; the forest is dedicious instead of tropical, like at home. There are tiny, common birds, adding to the simplicity yet somehow enhancing the beauty. Endor is obviously uninhabited. I don't even need to look at the readings on the data screen of Ruth to see that. Tyl softly and automatically gives orders to me, and I follow them to a T, desperate to prove myself as worth as his copilot. I take one last look at the orange sunset just over the horizon of leaves, and we settle into an apt clearing. I could hear the crunching of twigs and leaves under us as Ruthless Endeavors lands. Pale shafts of light make their way through the front window, bringing out the dust in the air.
"Should we go out now?" I ask, after we stare out the window for a moment. He shakes his head.
"Lets wait till morning. Its almost dark now, we should get some sleep. Its not gonna be as fun as you think out there." he replies dryly.
Well, it was dusk. It'd be better to set out in morning, that much is true.
"Fine. Can I take a shower then?"
I feel his hesitation, and uncertain ripple in the Force.
"I guess. I'll give you somethin' to wear when your clothes are washing."
Wow. That was an unexpected stroke of generosity.
"Thanks." That's all about I could say, but he seems to understand.
I make my way to where I think I remember where the refresher is, and I find myself correct. It's no that difficult, considering that this ship isn't that big. Making sure the door's locked soundly behind me I strip and fold my clothes neatly atop the toilet, and step into the shower. The water feels simply great, considering I haven't had a shower since the morning before I left. I realize just now that I must not have been a very pleasant thing to sit next to.
After half an hour in the shower, I wrap a towel around me and open the door, peering either way to make sure he isn't coming towards the bathroom. Grabbing my clothes and clinging them tightly to my chest above my already tightly-wrapped towel, I tip-toe out. After a few steps of this I lose patience and bolt at my door, making sure it hisses closed quickly behind me.
I breathe a sigh, dropping my towel and lightly setting my clothes on the top of one of the bunks, finding a baggy, beige long-sleeved shirt and pair of old yet clean black slacks laid out on the bed. I gladly don them, and they are sure as hell are a lot more comfortable then the flight suit I was in. I squeeze out my hair, dark from the water, then let it tumble down past my shoulders. I make my way out of the room and find Tyl just about to head to his cabins.
"Where should I put these?" I ask, waving my clothes which I had grabbed on the way out of my room.
"Next to the bathroom." he replies, proceeding to raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
He smirks. "That's a good look for you."
I look down, finding that his shirt had fallen to the top of my knees and the sleeves went four inches past my fingertips. The slacks tumbled to the floor, bunching up by my heels. I could only imagine exactly how much I look like I'm melting.
"Not my fault you're fat." I reply, meeting his smirk.
"That hurts, Em."
"Why are you calling me 'Em', now? I thought it was 'prissy'."
"Em is a lot easier to say than 'Mtyle'. Do you want me to go back to 'prissy'?"
"I'll take Em."
"Good. Truth is, that's easier to say to say than 'prissy', too. 'Night." he says, yawning, clapping me on the shoulder before trudging into his bedroom. I grin, and make my way back to the bathroom to drop my clothes off.
After that was over, I make my way back to my quarters, dropping onto the bunk in unfelt exhaustion. I quickly fall asleep, feeling a strange Force pulsating around me.
"I can't stand him, captain."
"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to go with him anyways, ..." The name was drowned out by a crash.
"What'd I miss?" A new voice this time.
"What are you doing here?"
"Why, why, if it isn't - "
"That's enough."
"Sorry, GR."
"Stop addressing him so informally - !"
"I said, that's enough. This is an important briefing, and we are short on time."
A feeling of anger, and pang of annoyance, and another wave of some other subdued emotion...
youthat's enough