Last Chance: Myn and Lara - pt. 18


Kolot glanced up at Kirney as she slid into her seat beside him, her eyes quickly scanning the various instrument readouts. "Looks good, Ko'."

He preened a little under her praise. "Kolot good pilot, even of old Imp crate," he stated decisively.

Kirney laughed, "Yes, Kolot, you are," she affirmed, "And don't call my ship a crate." He favoured her with a toothy grin when she agreed to let him guide Stolen Future back into realspace. Her body language made it clear to the diminutive pilot that she wanted to apologise for her earlier mistake, but didn't really know how to broach the subject without upsetting him again. He appreciated her gesture, and her seeming awareness of how easily confusion and fear became anger for him. It seemed Kirney had learned to accurately read his moods and knew when not to tread dangerous ground, but she still felt the need to apologise to him, and he did not deny the courtesy was appreciated.

He considered what had sparked her contrition. Kolot, with his meagre understanding of the peaceful hunter life style lived by unmodified Ewoks, felt only a gaping emptiness within himself at the thought of seeing the forest-moon home of his species. He did not understand that cold hollowness, and so had lashed out at Kirney, unable to define the turmoil within himself. He never meant to hurt her, and he could read from her posture and scent that she understood that. It seemed the air between them was clear, for the present.

~*~

Kirney commed ahead, and secured them a slot in the landing queue. Coronet City's spaceport was busier than usual, likely because the Triad had issued a restriction on after-dark arrivals and departures at all six other planetside ports.

From what Kirney understood of the political motivations, the Triad was trying to keep the Diktat in line using economic intimidation. She shook her head as they flew a holding pattern for three hours, knowing the futility of the out-dated Triad's attempts to cling to power. It wouldn't be long before the Diktat reclaimed control of the whole system, with majority support behind them. Knowing Corellian insularity, they'd remain outside the New Republic regardless of who took power in the system, which suited her, to some extent.

The brilliant blue of Corellia's protective blanket of air shone down on them as they settled into an orbit, awaiting the clearance of their landing path. Such an intense, rich colour, it never failed to pull Kirney's heart into her throat. Off to the edges of the planet's broad curve, it softened somewhat, and took on the exact shade of blue she had seen in a painfully missed pair of eyes. Her breath shuddered from her, and she turned away from the glorious view, needing suddenly to be alone.

~*~

Kolot watched her go, his small eyes glinting in the dimness of the cabin, reflecting the illuminated readouts. A short while later Tonin rolled into the cockpit, and queried the Ewok co-pilot. Somewhere in the modifications inflicted on the little Ewok was a core understanding of the communication modes of various astromechs. He required no hardware interface to understand Tonin, a fact which sometimes annoyed Kirney, who had commented that it would have come in handy when she was directing Tonin to become 'King of the Droids, sabotaging Zsinj's flagship from within.

{{Why did Kirney leave?}} The question was voiced as a curious rising whistle.

"Kolot no know," Kolot replied. "Kirney make amends, then see Corellia, and all sad now."

{{Make amends?}} Tonin asked, and Kolot gave a sharp nod of his head.

"For offer to see Endor. For making Kolot mad," he explained. "Kolot sorry too, so all okay now."

{{Then why did she leave?}} Tonin asked again.

Kolot growled at the round-topped astromech. "Kolot no know! Kolot say: she see sky and get sad!" he barked, banging the droid on the dome with one balled up fist. He slid his paw back into the prosthesis that allowed him to reach the farther controls and then asked the droid "Tonin know why Kirney get sad at sky?"

Tonin gave a whistle, dropping off at the end to mean a negative response.

"Is same sadness as when Kirney sees Incom snubfighter," Kolot noted absently, "Like one she fly off Fist."

Tonin queried him when these bouts of sadness had occurred, and together they scanned the skies of Corellia for a sign of an X-Wing, but the ships ahead of them in the landing queue were all freighters of varying sizes.

{{She misses the Wraiths}} Tonin stated at last. {{X-Wings remind her of her friends, who can no longer be her friends}}

There was a long silence as the Ewok considered this, then he twisted his little face into a grimace. "Kirney no need not-friends," Kolot stated decisively. "Kirney need only Kolot, and Tonin, and Stolen Future."

Tonin gave a burbling whistle of near-agreement, and the two odd friends stared up in silence at the looming blue world above them.

After a while, Tonin blatted a farewell, and reminded the Ewok to inform him before they made their descent, so he could prep the landing sequence.

"Kolot know, Tonin need to feel important," the modified Ewok chuckled, aware of the astromech's need to do something while the freighter set down.

With a rude little blat at the pilot's comment, the little droid reversed direction out of the cockpit.

"Ya, go! Pilot busy!" Kolot barked mock-angrily after the droid's retreating form, "Tonin take up too much room! Round-bellied trashcan!"

~*~

They landed late into the night, and once she had bid Kolot goodnight and congratulated him on a smooth and careful landing, Kirney asked Tonin to run a full after-flight diagnostic on the ship. Her droid complied quickly, and she gave him a fond pat on the dome. Since her time on Iron Fist she had acknowledged her friendship with the capable little being, aware even that he had helped her retain her sanity. What little there was left of it, she thought wryly.

She sat in her cramped quarters and cued up her comm unit. Their delivery was small enough to be carted over by speeder, but since she'd long wanted to visit the botanical gardens, Kirney decided to cart it over herself instead of relying on a courier service. She would comm the Corellian Plant Enthusiast's office to arrange an appointment in the morning. Kirney made an automatic reservation for a speeder rental to be delivered to her docking bay in the morning, in case they wanted their delivery first thing.

Arrangements for the morning made, she considered checking the message box, but stopped herself. I'm too tired to consider any hauling jobs right now. This one has paid the bills for the month, anything on top of this is gravy. She stretched as she got up from the comm terminal, and took her hair out of the ponytail to have a quick shower before bed.

Besides, it's not like there's anyone waiting for me, her inner voice reminded her fatalistically. Her astromech and her Ewok co-pilot really were all she had.

~*~


part 19

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