Teach Me To Fly

[Kohai Drenn]

The material of the pilot's chair creaked as Kohai's calloused fingers to a shaky grip. Her attention was divided evenly between keeping her messy hair from falling in front of Corvetta's face, and trying in vain to discern some kind of pattern or method to the way her pilot's hands seemed to almost float over the ship's console. From a mechanical standpoint, the young engineer was baffled at all the steps her friend seemed to skip, all the shortcuts she had found around what seemed like it a very rigid and specific system.

"I don't know, Corvetta... Just lookin' is making me a little antsy..." Kohai could tell you what every button and switch on the 'Cause did off the top of her head, and she was positive that she could put anything in this cockpit back together if it broke. What she couldn't wrap her head around, was all this stuff her best friend, Corvetta always told her about flying. Don't worry so much about the numbers, Koko... Sometimes a flygirl's just gotta feel it. It was so different from the way she operated. The only other time she'd tried flying, it had taken her so long to do anything, hitting all the buttons as was needed with all the precision of a droid.

Taking a quick step back, Kohai let go of the chair, the tremors in her hands intensifying as she made little fists at her sides. "M-maybe this could just be, y'know... your thing?" She bit her lip quietly, it wasn't very often that her constant smile fell away, and never in front of anybody else but her pilot.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Oh, come on! You'll be frakkin' greasing like a pipe rat in a tick!" Corvetta pleaded, almost grabbing at the blonde's hands to yank her closer to the controls. It really was out of love and not just some demanding spirit. the few who really knew Corvy were quite aware of how awkward but genuinely caring she could be for those she called friends--especially her bestest friend of all.

It was a 'routine' flight from Kessel, a load of all sorts of things in the hold that the crew probably did not condone the usage of--but, hey, it was how they made their living. And it was oddly enough safer than what used to be the norm for underground freighters of their variety. The Republic and Sith lines were quite clearly defined and the Lost Cause's pilot was getting a great deal nervous as of late, what with being the Prime Minister's cousin and all that jazz. Bouncing about that warzone was unavoidable, but the less time spent in there, the better. And it gave her more time to focus on less serious things that were not entirely over her head--like teaching Kohai how to fly this beautiful hunk of metal.

"We've just started, ya know? I promise you, Koko, it gets more fun when we actually burn off." Her fingers flicked a few switches and tapped at some more input commands on the navscreen blindly, ignoring the warning indicators that flashed briefly to scream that she was doing things out of order or what-have-you. But it was all fluid and the ship had been through Corvetta's shortened procedures almost a hundred times before. She knew what she was doing, even if the Cause did not. "Here, I'll get us sparkin' and then you take my seat, roger?"

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

"...Roger roger." Kohai swallowed the lump in her throat, letting her friend pull her back into her space. Taking a few steps, the engineer eventually fell stiffly into the much-more-comfy copilot's chair, rubbing her hands absently against the threadbare knees of her pajama pants. The second seat almost never got any practical use, given that most of the features on the right side of the cockpit were combat-oriented. It's primary function was usually acting as a pillow for those all-too-infrequent times when a certain pilot was able to sleep, but didn't feel up to leaving the controls. Kohai had actually taken more than a few naps there, herself, during the times when she was watching the ship.

Keeping her emerald gaze on her pilot's practiced fingers, Kohai began quietly wringing her hands in her lap as Corvetta worked. When a particular switch was flipped, the blonde perked up in her seat, "Wait, if you do that first it might..." Trailing off, Kohai began coiling that long scarf of hers around her neck, eventually working it up over her mouth. She had absolute confidence that Corvetta knew what she was doing. In all their time together, nothing had ever gone wrong on the pilot's end of things. All issues had either been outside interference, or her fault.

She's the best pilot in the universe... She knows what the 'Cause can handle...

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Uh-oh..." Corvetta mumbled, glancing at a rather furiously blinking light on the dash. "That can't be good." The pilot's eyes widened as a panicked look washed over her face followed by a feigned attempt at a lurch towards the abort startup lever. But instead of shutting down the freighter's engines, the playful brunette simply flipped one last switch near the yoke and watched as the light ceased to flash anticlimactically.

Everything fine and dandy in reality, Corvetta chuckled mischievously and patted her copilot on the shoulder, knowing she had probably given her buddy a good scare. "False alarm," she said with a grin. "We are Ay-Oh-Kay."

A little banter with flight control ensued, and the spacer had attained clearance for the Lost Cause and crew to lift off and blow this rock. This time the pilot gave a couple kicks of her boots against a pair of pedals down below to first activate the repulsorlift system and then retract the landing gear. There was hardly a jolt as the heavy spacecraft began its gentle takeoff and maneuvered out of the environmentally sealed hangar and into the bitter, dusty sunlight of what was hardly anything more than a colonized asteroid. The barren, red sands sifted like a whirlwind in the draft of the Corellian transport until it reached an inclined trajectory, subtle moves of its pilot's hands on the yoke aiming it for the heavens. One last kick beneath the dash ignited the boosters, and the Lost Cause shuddered a bit as it began pushing itself away from the focus of this gravity well. "You ready, flygirl?" Corvetta asked, turning towards her copilot. "Once we break atmo, I'm gonna switch with you."

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Tugging the tightly wound scarf down to her neck, Kohai tried her best to be silent when she let out the breath she'd been holding. For a single, solitary moment, she thought there was a problem with the ship. It didn't even cross her mind that somebody else had made a mistake, that light wasn't supposed to blink... was it? It turned out, however, just to be a bit of fun at her expense. It wouldn't have even worked on her had she not been so distracted.

Sitting silently as they passed through all the obligatory flight control checks, Kohai balled her hands back into the fists she found herself making a lot more often recently. The engineer in her was already going through all the motions in her head, plotting out the proper pressure and angle she would apply to the yoke, and under what conditions she'd flip that switch and that switch...

She snapped once again from her planning as that familiar sensation filled her belly, they way it always did when the ship maneuvered in-atmo. Looking to her left, she gave her friend that smile she'd perfected to a science, the quakes in her fingers remaining as the only evidence of her unease. "Yeah girl, let me at em!" I'm not ready! I'm sooo not ready!

"Bring me those stars!"

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Frakkin' snazzy!" Corvetta cheered, her profanity just as casual and frivolous as ever. Really, she hardly even gave a thought to it--not out of intent to offend, but just out of habit. Her parents had hardly dissuaded it besides, such crass vocabulary just being an undeniable trait embedded in freighter culture. It did strike her strangely in this moment, however, because her blond pal never seemed to use the trashy words she was known for. Maybe there was something to be learned in that. Perhaps it was something worth asking Kohai about later on...

Aside from that passing thought, however, Corvetta was all excitement. As she removed herself from the commanding chair, tepid blue eyes sparkled with excitement at finally being able to give the engineer a true flying education--plus having the right situation to teach the blonde some unsolicited spacer terms. The lingo was confusing to most people, but it felt like it really made everything smoother to communicate when fully cultured into it. Then again, Corvetta was practically illiterate, so saying anything she approved of language-wise could probably be discounted as dubious. Still, she would give it a shot.

First things first: the steering mechanism. "So, ya got your yoke here," the pilot introduced, tapping the most important--and most prominent--control feature of the spacecraft. "Sometimes it's called the 'stick' even though it's not actually one. So don't be surprised." The pilot doubted Kohai would need much instruction on how to handle the yoke. It was fairly simple in operation but took more of a practiced set of hands to really get a feel for things rather than a mechanical mindset. Freighters like this one were a little stubborn to maneuver, besides.

Next, she pointed towards a nearly infinitesimally-adjustable toggle to the left of the yoke. "This is the throttle or 'choke'. Push fore to speed up, pull back to let off." Sounded simple enough, just like the yoke, yet even a girl lacking formal education knew enough about physics to issue a warning on frictionless movement. Of course, it helped to practically be born into this job. "If you pull back too far, it starts crankin' the retros and tries to full-stop and go backwards, but that takes a long time out of atmo."

Perhaps the most interesting and fun instruments lay invisible, underneath the dash and at the mercy of the pilot's feet, however. And Corvetta would love to expound on them to get to the truly challenging, daring, or just economic uses of the floor pedals, but it was best to pace this all out. Koko was new to this flying thing, after all. "Down there is the 'piano' or the 'spoons', depending on who ya ask. Big floor pedals on the left and right control the roll, and the small ones above them are more for landing or tricky stuff. But you won't need to worry about that right now. Just set your feet on the big shoes and be gentle."

Hopefully she had not already overloaded her friend's brain. But, then again, Koko was an engineer--an amazing one, at that--and that sort of work took more brains than Corvy would credit herself to own.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai followed along diligently, nodding every few seconds, if only to keep the stream of information coming her way. Corvetta pointed out various aspects of the flight controls, giving each device a label, as well as an abridged explanation of their importance and method of handling. The pilot even went so far as to let Kohai in on the accepted nicknames for the devices, spicing her explanation with that colorful spacer slang that Kohai found so intriguing.

When Corvetta came to the end of her short tutorial, Kohai pointed a finger towards the panel, moving it around as she listed off the parts she remembered. "The yoke, not to be confused with a stick... The choke... aaand the spoons, don't worry about the little ones yet. I think I got it..." She knew that memorizing the terminology was an incredibly small aspect of mastering the mechanisms attached to them, but the engineer still allowed herself a small moment of pride for her minor victory.

Bringing a hand to her friend's shoulder, Kohai gave it an affirmative squeeze, the tremors nowhere to be found as she stepped up to the proverbial plate. Taking a moment to gather her scattered nerves, she finally spoke up again. "Just... don't go anywhere... you know?" As long as her Corvetta was manning the copilot's seat, she was sure this would all turn out okay.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"I'll be right here," Corvy reassured her trainee, patting her back in exchange with that hand on her shoulder. "You think I'm gonna miss this, flygirl?" She plopped down into the copilot chair and kicked her boots up and above the dash, resting her cargoes atop the panels casually while she leaned back and pulled out a flask of gin.

While Kohai was certainly new at this piloting thing, Corvetta was confident enough the her friend could manage. She was an engineer after all. There was no way she had developed the feel for the ship yet, but engineers had that sort of brain that put everything in order and did it all in proper fashion. At least, that was what Snazzy Salvo had always imagined. There had been many a time when the pilot had taken solo to the engine room to do her makeshift mechanical work like she had learned to do. Corvetta was not ignorant of how things worked in general, and she had repaired many ships herself. But her remedies were not exactly what one would consider up to code, and the lifelong spacer chick envied the magic her grease monkey friend seemed to possess. It was like magic how she simply pieced things together and soldered wires without hesitation. Besides, everything looked so much cleaner back there when Koko kept her tipsy pilot out and did her thing.

After downing a quick gulp of her alcoholic beverage, Corvetta gave a little direction on what the moment's objective was. "Reason we can't dust hyper right outta atmo is 'cause the grav messes with the drive." Lazily, the pilot-turned-copilot pointed towards the navcomputer. "Set the destination coords there, then it'll give you a route and we drift towards the mark where it will give us the clear to yank the hyper." Her arm maneuvered limply in the direction of the prominent hyperdrive lever at the center of the dash. "We have to aim strictly this time for Mister Control Guy because Kessel's pretty strict 'bout that. Not all worlds are that way, but if you've ever gotta cheat, just punch in a ghost coord in the general direction and then bump-truck to where you really want to be from there." The latter bit of that information was unnecessary at this stage, but Corvy was just so elated in the moment that she found herself spewing out all these details in a way that was just... Corvy. Hopefully Kohai did not mind.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Making certain not to let her fingers go still, Kohai ran through the commands, punching the coordinates into the console. She understood why they couldn't make a jump immediately on take off, or rather, why they shouldn't, but it struck her as arbitrary that they had to follow a specific route out. There wasn't much traffic today, so what did flight control care where they were going?

I guess it's good to have a well oiled system, wouldn't want to miss anything if I had their job...

So far, things were going smoothly, the ship was flying at a steady pace, and Corvetta didn't seem the least bit worried. Then again, Kohai didn't see her worry very often. "So, I've been meaning to ask..." The muscles in her wrists clenched lightly as she made a point of keeping her eyes forward, not wanting to risk seeing it if she upset her pilot, "Does it ever cause problems when you fly? ...The drinking, I mean." It had been one of the first things the engineer had learned about Corvetta. Rare was the day that the young pilot wouldn't periodically sip from her flask, or some other alcohol source. It had always worried Kohai, but she never knew how to bring it up.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Well, I'm a better pilot sober. That's for sure. But I feel more relaxed when I'm not. Long as I don't have to do anything super fancy, I'm okay," Corvetta admitted, gazing out of the cockpit at the stars she so often took for granted. No one had ever given the pilot a true education about math or science; especially not reading. She could operate the navcomputer and that was about all she knew--and most of that was memorization rather than actual literacy. She had never learned about what made the galaxy what it was, yet now she suddenly found herself curious about all the things her life revolved around but she knew so little about in actuality. Whoever invented this whole thing was just brilliant.

Corvy raised her flask to her lips again, then removed it and stared at the bottle. "I feel better about myself... yet worse... at the same time." She recalled the time Kohai had thrown up after attempting to drink with her friend and wondered who was the more blessed. "Do you dream when you sleep?"

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai clicked her tongue, giving a satisfied nod at the answer she got. While it was definitely a topic that she intended to discuss, the way she had gone about broaching the subject had been more akin to small talk. There was also a small part of her that was a bit envious of Corvetta, or at least a little disappointed in herself. The engineer had never acquired a taste for alcohol, let alone any real tolerance for the stuff. Aside from the rare glass of wine, the number of which she could count on one hand, she didn't really have any experience drinking. It certainly made her a little uncomfortable when the crew inevitably landed in some ground side cantina, as they seemed wont to do.

When Corvetta continued with her answer, however, Kohai turned her gaze to the right, casting a worried look her pilot's way. She didn't like the sound of that 'worse' part, not one single bit. Before she could interject with some clumsily comforting words, Corvetta fired another question her way.

"Yeah, I do. My dreams are actually kinda lucid, usually." Every night, Kohai's head would be filled with sounds and images that were just as detailed as her waking memories. Sometimes she would relive moments she'd lived through, other times she'd imagine ones that may yet come to pass. There were also the occasional nightmares, but that wasn't a conversation she wanted to have just that moment. "It gets... intense. Some mornings, it actually gets a little hard to wake up, you know?" She turned her gaze back to her friend, "Why do you ask?"

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

It was very difficult to put some feelings into words--not so much because she did not know the words, but because she did not have practice opening herself up in more serious ways. When people thought of Corvy, they always thought of a funny girl who walked like a sailor and talked like she was something between a hipster and a farmgal. Sometimes she did not even act certain ways just because no one expected her to act like that. Corvy was supposed to be happy.

"I don't dream," she murmured, looking at the stars again between the toes of her uplifted boots as the Lost Cause gradually neared the entry point for their hyperspace jump. "I can't sleep much, anyway. I wish I could be like you." The pilot took another drink.

She wanted to talk. She really did! But it just felt so awkward discussing deeply personal things--even if they had barely even grazed the ideas--and Corvetta found herself skipping onward from each topic to distract from the discomfort. It was a lot like 'bump-trucking' from hyperspace points, as she called it. "Get ready to pull the hyper when the board starts lighting up." But what if Kohai stayed in the cockpit after they had jumped into the hyperdimension? Maybe she would be drunk enough to talk by then.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai knew all about Corvetta's difficulties when it came to sleeping, it had actually been hinted at during their fist meeting, where Kohai had played the part of guard as she tinkered with some scary man's lightsaber, letting the pilot grab forty winks. It all seemed so long ago, now...

"I'd trade with you... if I could." The engineer gave her pilot a kind smile, switching her attention between her friend and the console before her. "It's actually really exhausting, you know? Sometimes I wake up, and just I'm so confused.. It's like I have no idea where I am." She turned those emerald eyes fully forward, now, seemingly finding something incredibly interesting in the stars. "It can be really scary..."

Her musings were cut off by another light on the dashboard lighting up next to her trembling fingers. She hadn't noticed that they had started shaking, again... "Okay, hear goes me..." Following her instructions to the letter, Kohai engaged the jump, gritting her teeth as she waited for something to blow up. She was immediately rewarded with the telltale color shift as the ship around her was pulled out of realspace, a beaming smile spreading across her features, "I did it!" She looked over at Corvetta, practically bouncing in her seat.

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

It was remarkable how her blonde buddy had managed to make sleep sound so much more undesirable than the brunette had ever considered that prized commodity. She had started drinking in the first place just to black out every now and then, even though her body hardly found that sort of sleep productive. Still, slumber and dreams--scary? Corvetta had woken up confused herself, but that was just normal anyway. "I'm confused all the time..."

After her friend had launched them into hyperspace, all could be relaxed for good. "Couldn't have done it better," Corvetta winked, glad to know there was someone else who could at least take over in an emergency now, aim-and-pull as it was. "Of course, padding's the tricky part. Aaaaaaand then there's the times when you're half-toasted and skimming through a 'stroid field on full spark... and your crew doesn't even know!" she cackled, not quite letting on whether she was telling the truth or not about such a dangerous occurence. Though no one could know just what crazy things went on in Corvy's cockpit when no one was looking. She had taken the Cause through some harrowing events just for the heck of it, as irresponsible as that was. What they don't know can't hurt them, right?

"So, now you wanna give me my seat back?" she teased, beaming back a grin. "Or you gonna keep me company this round?" Quality time, right? Kohai was family, after all.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai gave an exaggerated shrug as she ran her fingers slowly across the console, touching everything. "Dunno... I think I just may be the better pilot, after all." It only took a moment for another grin to reach her face. With how giddy she was feeling right now, she couldn't have kept her composure if she wanted to. "I think I'd be willing to trade chairs, though."

Even if there wasn't all that much flying to do for the next while, Kohai was feeling like hanging out up here for a while. There wasn't anything that needed fixing at the moment, and she didn't feel like starting up another holobook right now. Not to mention that when she'd left the room, Davik and Robb were hip-deep in some debate or another. If she went back now, she'd probably just find them arm wrestling or something, and she had no interest in that drama.

"I figured I could stick around here for a while, maybe watch the stars." She internally slapped herself for that one. There aren't even any stars around right now, how cheesy can you get?

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

Corvetta had never realized that she had an ego until Kohai started massaging the control panels and talking about how she could best lifelong spacer at this flying business. A defensive frown washed over her face for a split second before she caught on to the joke. So that was what it felt like. Well, she would be sure not to let the grease monkey have the last laugh. Returning to her silly grin, the pilot pretended like she was going to smack her buddy's hand away. "When you least expect it, Koko..." she snickered.

"I don't mind sitting here. It's different, but I just got myself comfortable for now. Maybe in a few ticks." Corvetta had never been much of a control freak, but it was certainly unusual and did not feel quite correct. She would get over it, though.

Stars? What stars? This flygirl may have been uneducated, but she was fairly certain there were no stars to be seen. Still, she did not want to risk sounding dumb and let it slide, sparing some embarrassment for whoever was not aware. "Sometimes you have to look away."

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

Kohai slid herself into a more comfortable position, careful not to hit those pedals with her feet as she stretched her legs out. It wasn't even that she thought it would cause a problem, the blond engineer merely didn't want to mess up any of the settings for later.

"So what do you do up here?" There wasn't all that much for a girl to do up in the cockpit during hyperspace travel, but Kohai could remember times when Corvetta would spend time up here by herself. "I mean, you know, when you're not flying the ship or... trying to sleep." It seemed like a huge amount of tedium, just sitting in the cockpit when nothing was going wrong. Kohai made a mental note to bring some of her books up here, sometime.

I'd hate to think she was getting bored for our sake...

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

"Sometimes I just clock out and try to think about what a home is," the colorful brunette mused softly, brushing back a few strands of hair behind her shoulders. "I've never had a home. I just live... out here, ya know?" Was the Lost Cause her home and she just did not know it? Or was a home something a little more stable and stationary? Kohai and Robb and Davik were her family as far as she was concerned. Was home wherever they would be?

"And sometimes I try to read somethin'." She was purposely vague to avoid embarrassment at her lack of such a common ability among most people. Corvetta was not that much of a prideful character, but there was an innate desire not to appear so dumb as she danced around this shortcoming of hers.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]

 

[Kohai Drenn]

"Well, what's that thing they say? 'Home is where your friends are', or something like that?" Kohai knew it was kind of sappy, but the idea that Corvetta might not feel as at home as she did didn't sit well with her. As far as the engineer was concerned, this ship had become more of a home to her than anywhere else since she was fourteen, and she wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for her favorite pilot. It was practically her obligation to keep her friend happy.

"Personally, I love it here..." The engineer turned away, bringing a hand up awkwardly to shield her blushing face. "...I'm not so sure I've ever been happier... despite everything."

It was a huge relief to come out and say that, but Kohai was still immensely grateful when Corvetta shifted the subject. "Oh yeah? For real?" She turned back to Corvetta, another winning smile plastered across her face, "I don't mean to sound surprised, it's just that I never see you reading, you know? What kind of stuff are you into?"

[member="Corvetta Salvo"]

 

[Corvetta Salvo]

While it did not quite make everything suddenly perfect, the sentiments her friend suggested towards the Lost Cause and, more importantly, her crewmates and friends helped the pilot feel a little more confident that she was possibly on the right track to finding--or simply accepting--her place in a home. Maybe this was what it was all about.

Corvetta had managed to slip in and out of uncomfortable topics for the last few minutes, but she had now arrived at one that she could not so easily weasel her way out of answering. "Well..." What did she like to read? Hypothetically, of course. "I like a little bit of everything, I guess." If it involved a Prince Charming sort of plot. But that was embarrassing! Maybe she should sound a bit more intellectual. Besides, if she named something really scholarly-sounding, Kohai might not suspect there was ever a shortcoming in the reading department. If you read smart things, you must be smart. Right? "I read the news, mostly. Politics," were the words that proceeded from Corvetta's lips. But what she really meant was: I occasionally listen to articles about my cousin.

As soon as she had spoken her little fib, Corvetta somehow just knew she was not going to be able to get away with that one. Frak.

[member="Kohai Drenn"]