fulfilling a promised lesson on the fine art of blasting things ...

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Walking back to the Millennium Falcon through the Nexus has gotten a little bit easier each time.  The first time, it took him more than an hour to get back despite the fact that his ship has always been parked about a thousand yards away from a path that leads to the forum.  The shiftable nature of this place makes no walk to and from anywhere as straightforward as it seems, but you can get used to it.

 

For a while, he cleans up the areas that he thinks both he and Verity are likely to be in for a while - the cockpit and the lounge especially, but also near the entry ramp and the living quarters.

 

He did promise lessons on how to fly and in due course, he will get her into the sky with him ... but he's still doesn't have a ton of fuel yet and the priority was always teaching her how to use the blasters.  So he's pulled four weapons out of the storage lockers, completely disassembled them and cleaned them.  He also discharges all, but one, of the plasma magazines.

 

They get placed them on top of the holochess board, which, sadly, is among one of the biggest flat surfaces available to him on the YT-1300 and then, he takes a shower and slips into a light weight pair of pants.  It seems to take a long time for him to drift off in the small bunk that he's claimed for himself.  The sound of the winter wind skips across the surface of his ship and makes a low howling sort of sound.

 

This is one of the reasons it's always preferable to put your ship in a proper hanger, but, when you're Han Solo, you work with what you got.  After a few hours he wakes up, not knowing what time it is, until he opens the entry ramp and looks outside.

 

It seems too early for her to arrive.  The sun hasn't even reached the apex of it's path yet, so he decides to lay back down.  Leaving the ramp down for her to facilitate her letting herself in. 

Comments

[twelve_not_fourteen]

To be fair, her sense of adventure (and the rest of her) had a blaster pointed at it.

His relationship with the word Captain isn't that he completely disapproves of it. He likes it well enough. What it reperesents to him is an achievement of some kind in a life that doesn't have a lot of other things to point to. If nothing else, he was at least 'the captain of the Millenium Falcon.'

No, what bothers him was the way his father ... his adopted father used to insist that he be called 'Captain Garris Shrike' (or at least Captain) by everyone on board the Trader's Luck. What made him flinch in that bar? Was the implication that he could or would force people to do the same with him.

Still, the salute is a bit much and he gives her a brief look of surpise before settling into a smile. "At ease." He says. "We don't get that formal on this ship."

"I'm glad you approve, though. Sorry, I didn't get to the shave."

[brave_heart_verity]

It'll come back. Most of her parts are cat-like: contrary and adorable.

It couldn't be a term of endearment if it were forced. When she offers it, it's meant to convey a friendly affection and sense of pride in knowing him. As far as she's concerned, he's an accomplished man by having survived so much and done well for himself.

The salute was an attempt to make him laugh. Ah, well, not every joke will rise to the occasion. She lets her hand fall to her side again and gives a little shrug. "Good to know. But that's not going to stop me from teasing you sometimes. And don't worry about not shaving, being a little scruffy suits you."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

She got him to crack a smile. Not every joke is gonna really kill it. Sometimes you just quietly amuse people and he was definitely that.

The comment about being scruffy does make him chuckle a little bit, surprisingly. Less at what she said, and more at the memory of the first time he had gotten that complement. Man, he misses Dewlana. There's not a day that goes by where he doesn't wish he could talk to her one more time.

"You're the first human to ever tell me that." He tells her with a thoughtful nod. He's mostly happy about it, but there's a touch of sadness. "So, do you want the tour of the ship first or shall we get right to the blasters?"

[brave_heart_verity]

Quiet amusement is more her speed anyway. She can live with it quite happily.

There's something there he's not quite telling her. She can see some of the shape of it, like a silhouette in the dark. It's a puzzle to keep to herself until she has enough pieces to ask the right questions. "Am I? Well. I am a classified weirdo."

She hums thoughtfully before admitting, "Tour, please. And I brought lunch. Breakfast for you, I guess? It just needs to be kept cold for now, so I left it outside by the ramp."

He'll learn quick that she's fascinated by the ship. Especially the analog parts--she's never seen analog computers in person before. There is a whole new field for her to study now; it can't be any harder than learning to code for digital computers, she's sure.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

There's breakfast and she's gonna make him give her the tour first? Augh. Dang. If he would have know there was food, they would have been doing this in a different order.

"I tend to think it makes the most since to start where you came in." He says, after a moment. The ship is circular, for the most part, so in some ways it doesn't matter, but when you're also teaching someone about the way the ship works ... he thinks certain parts should be highlighted toward the beginning. Ramp. Cockpit. Quad lasers. Life support. Sunlight engines. Hyperdrive. Then the rest you highlight while walking around.

[brave_heart_verity]

He'll learn that food is important to her. Not the eating so much as the sharing. Being able to offer people something tangible that says 'I care about you'. Being able to do something, anything that feels useful. The simple act of sharing a meal with someone means so much when everything else has been turned upside-down.

And that means she'll be bringing food more often than not. At least he'll be eating well?

"That makes sense," she agrees. She's already had a little look around while looking for him, but that doesn't mean she knows what she was looking at. So: she's attentive and curious, and careful not to touch anything that might be a lever or button. Just in case. "There's so much to remember... do you have artificial gravity?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Hey, he's all for eating if she wants to cook. The first person who ever, truly, showed him love was through food, even when he couldn't understand her language. The idea that she will want to connect with him in that way will endear him to her in a way that, will most probably, be pretty profound.

"Yeah, the ship adjusts for gravity and temperature automatically when all the doors are closed, but there are manual overrides as well, if something's not right."

They walk to the far side of his ship, back to the open ramp where it is notably cooler.

"So, this side of the ship is the starboard side, commonly known to layman as the right side." He gives her a brief second to digest that piece of information. He's trying not to go too slow or too fast. "If there's one thing I want you to remember about the ship today, it's how to get on an off the Falcon."

He highlights the panel that controls the ramp from the inside. The buttons itself look like an old fashioned key pad, (not unlike an old touch tone phone of earth) but where the numbers would be are numerals of a language that is alien to her. Still, it's not a hard combination. There's only four digits. She just needs to memorize the pattern.

When Han punches it successfully, the ramp raises. A green LED blinks because, he did it right.

"This button clears your keystrokes, if you did it wrong." He's gotta show her that too. As the ramp is now closed, he shows the sequence to her again without touching the keys. Just to help her memorize.

"I want you to try now."

[brave_heart_verity]

She only looks this shallow. There are surprising depths to Verity Willis.

"Wow. Sounds like something Tony Stark or Reed Richards would build." Because those jerks never shared the really cool stuff with everyone else, it's still alien and impressive to her. (Capitalism really fell down on the job when nobody made a Moonland theme park in the Blue Area.)

"Port is left, starboard is right. It was the same back home." It's not entirely unfamiliar, then; even if this is the last time she understands how something work, she can hold onto the one thing she knew.

The keypad is studied curiously and she pays close attention to the code. Four 'numbers', that shouldn't be too hard to remember. Right in the sweet spot of what a human memory can handle easily. Four and a clear button. She can handle that.

The question will be, will she remember it in an hour? After a meal and several distractions? Because right now, it's easy.

"What language is that?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

It's good that somethings are universal in every galaxy like port and starboard. He smiles and nods. Good. He's impressed. "Do you know the terms for front and rear?"

Oh, don't worry Ver. He's gonna make sure you remember at least one to two more times on the ramp code. In fact, not that he was planning a lot of getting on and off the ship today, but you'll probably be on ramp duty for the rest of the day.

"So, many of the parts on my ship are not the original parts." Sometimes because of price, sometimes because of accessibility, the parts can be superior in some cases and inferior in others. It all depends on what he can get his hands on.

"So if you thought Corellian, in this case, you'd be wrong. These numbers are Haya. They speak it on a world called Sulistan."

[brave_heart_verity]

Impressing him is even better. She smiles and offers, "Fore and aft?" She's great at boats ships!

Good. She wants to get this right and takes every kind of education seriously. The fact this is important helps. He's trusting her with free access to his ship, which is a remarkable thing. And if he ever needed her in an emergency... she hates thinking about that sort of thing, but she can't help it.

"Haya, on Sulistan... I build computers as a hobby. I've taken parts from here and there to rebuild one good system out of several that had issues, I think it's similar?" Yes, the girl knows how to work with her hands. Delicate work, but still. She can make things. "I think finding the best part for the job is better than having everything match anyway. Form follows function."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

She's doing great so far, anyway. There's a lot to teach about the piloting and machinery of the Falcon. If they worked on things every day for a month, they could cover a lot about flying the ship, but they would probably just be scratching the surface on how to maintain it.

It took him about a year to really feel like he'd mastered everything and he'd been on ships all his life.

That said, he essentially gave her the keys to his apartment in teaching her the access code. Sure, it's in the guise of teaching, but it's more than just that. It's a huge amount of trust to put in someone, for him.

"Do a little machining, huh?" That's good to know. She could probably handle learning how to do the repairs if she has those skills, with some guidance and training.

"In my case, it sort of depends on when I'm replacing something. If I'm replacing it before it's broken, it's because I'm upgrading, but if something breaks on me, I'm stuck with what's available." And when something breaks in space, it's the worst, because then, you're usually straight up improvising from a box of scraps.

[brave_heart_verity]

The Falcon is a beautiful machine, and she would be honored to be allowed to work on it. Whether or not she's ever allowed to do so unsupervised is another question; this is his baby and letting her inside is different than letting her inside. She won't be offended by constant oversight. (But if she's ever good enough to be confident, she'll tease him about it.)

"Something like. I like making things. Working with my hands sometimes." Ironically, it's a luxury for the city girl. Would he laugh if she mentioned wishing she had a garden?

She nods along with the explanation, agreeing with every point. She might not have ever had a car of her own to maintain, but she can understand the ideas. "Well, you've clearly done a great job. She handled interdimensional travel like a champ."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"She hasn't fallen apart on me yet." He says with a thoughtful nod. "She is going faster than when I got her, too."

Idly, his fingers jam on the keys one more time to close the ramp. Allowing her to see the pattern one more time and sparing them a little bit from the cold of the outside.

"It's the same code on the outside." He tells her. "Before you leave, we'll make sure you've seen where that one is too."

[brave_heart_verity]

"You two must work well together." A captain and his ship are a team, after all. They have to take care of each other. He knows just the right blend for her fuel, and she gets him where he needs to go in one piece. It's a beautiful thing.

She's grateful when he closes the ramp again, and yes, she watches the pattern to help reinforce it in her memory. "Thank you. I promise not to abuse the privilege."

She wonders if she should give him a key to her place... it might not be so bad, having people who can drop in and visit. It's worth considering.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I think so." He says, but than again ... "Closeness makes it kind of hard to be objective though."

Alright, time for the next stop, possibly, the most exciting one. There is a corridor, just to the left of the key pad. It's not especially long. Twenty-five meters at most and you can see the cockpit from the end of it. That's where they're heading.

"I'm sure you can imagine that this is where most of the flying happens."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Mm, true, but being close it often the only way to see the truth." She would know.

The cockpit does promise all kinds of interesting adventures, and she does perk up a bit when she sees it. "Yeah. But why is it off-center?" That's going to be hard for her to get used to. "Doesn't that make it harder?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"I think," granted, it's a guess, "it has to do with the position of the sublight engines for this ship and the way they layed out the fuel and electrical lines running to those engines."

But, he shrugs.

"I'm not really well studied in Engineering."

At present, they have walked all the way in and now, she's treated to the spectacle of analog technology that is the cockpit of the Falcon. There are four chairs and Han helps himself to his own seat. He's not possessive overall, but he does feel pretty attached to that particular chair.

"Does that make it harder?" He muses. "Depends on what you're doing. Most of the time you're flying through a vast amount of open area." Flying through an asteroid field on the other hand is something of a bitch, but who would do that? Surely not Captain Solo.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Oh. Okay." It sounds reasonable enough to her. She is also not an engineer, but there has to be a reason other than 'Hey it looks cool this way'. Right?

After he takes his seat she takes the one next to it. Comfy, but everything seems set up for someone much much taller... Ooh, computers. It's an effort to pull her attention away from them to listen to him. "Well, anyone can pilot until there's something you might hit," she jokes.

"I don't want to make the tour take too long, but I should warn you, I am going to have so many questions about these computers later. But I promise not to take them apart to satisfy my curiosity.."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"That is definitely true." He says smiling in something of a rueful, thoughtful way.

Realistically, ninety percent or more of your voyage will be very easy. It's the taking off, the landing and the adjustments you need to make between your departure point and your destination point that will take any sort of still.

He's willing to answer questions. It would probably be easier for him to answer her questions as they occur to her while he's trying to teach. He's never taught anyone how to fly who didn't have some inkling of knowing how before. Comparatively speaking, teaching her how to shoot will be far easier.

"Hey, no disassembling anything unless I'm around." He figures she wasn't going to, but he wants to make that abundantly clear that such a thing would draw his ire. "I willing to teach as much as you want to learn, but the Falcon is ..."

His home? Deeply important to him? His one great source of pride and joy in the universe?

"... special."

[brave_heart_verity]

It's the taking off and landing that'll worry her the most. The 'keep an eye on things while I'm asleep' part of traveling with him wouldn't be so bad for her. She's pretty sure she could avoid any surprise moons. Maybe not their tractor beams.

No, she wasn't going to, and she just promised. She can tell the ship is his baby and she knows better than to mess with someone's baby. Besides, she has some studying to do before taking anything apart would help. And if she really wants an analog computer to take apart, she can probably find one for sale somewhere and not have to answer to anyone if she can't make it work again.

"Yes, sir," she promises again. Just to be clear. "I'll be good." His promise to teach her as much as she wants to know is what's getting the grin. "So this is the computer that helps with navigation?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"That one." He confirms with a pointed finger. Just to be sure they're talking about the same thing, but it's pretty clear which one it is. It's the only one with a monitor.

Which, now that he thinks about it, could be problematic to her learning. There's something mystical about the Nexus that facilitates communication - he thinks - but, she may need to learn some of the languages to really be able to get by where he comes from. Or to be able to use the navcomputer at all.

Han closes his eyes and rubs the heels of his hands against them. This exercise is becoming more complicated that he initially thought.

[brave_heart_verity]

The monitor does make it distinctive. If he turns it on and lets her play with it, he may discover she's not having a problem with the languages. And, truth is, she's been given something that translates for her--it would never be a problem for her to understand the languages of his galaxy. But it's magic, and he doesn't like magic, so she's reluctant to mention it.

She looks faintly concerned when he rubs his eyes, not sure if he's frustrated or tired. "Well, I'm good at math, so I should get along with this one real well."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Best to let him come to the knowledge of her magic very, very, gradually. When he starts to see how useful it is, he'll be inclined to be more forgiving toward it too. Probably.

"Fire it up, if you want."

She can calculate till her heart desires. While they're on the ground it doesn't matter what she runs. Again, he's under the impression it will look like gibberish to her.

[brave_heart_verity]

She can only hope so, at this point.

"Thank you." For now, she'll enjoy playing with something new. Math and computers were her only companions most of her life, so this shouldn't take her a terribly long time to figure out. It's certainly not gibberish to her.

"Does passing by gravitational fields affect the engine's fuel efficiency?" Whoa slow down there crazy lady what are you even doing worrying about efficiency before you even have a star chart.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Good at math is something he can appreciate, but not exactly empathize with. Han tends to know enough to get by in the maths and sciences, but he's had no formal education to speak of. He relies hard on his intuition and, for where it's gotten him so far ... most would probably say he's doing pretty good.

Good enough to get through the galaxies on most days, with enough guile and guts to keep himself alive. Really, he should focus more on what he's been able to do and not what he can't do.

"Of course. Resistance will change the amount of fuel we're using." Which, now that she brings it up, could be why he ran out of fuel coming here. If they encountered some dense gravity that he didn't anticipate ... certainly possible considering the Nexus.