A Case of the Mondays

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She groaned at his teasing.

"I miss being alone on Cathar I must admit. As much peace and quiet as I wanted, with none but you to damage my calm."

She paused in thought.

"Though I must admit you did enough damaging to make up for ten men."

A sideways smile, and she leaned over to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"... but it never bothered- "

"Captain Prent!"

The voice came from behind, and they turned to look at the dour faced deck officer, his close-cropped black hair and narrow eyes only gave him a rather severe image. His no-nonsense voice certainly helped as well.

"General politely requests that while you are here, you... fix... the issue of the rust on your ship."

Which was the nice way of saying that the request was really an order.

[Sanis Prent]

I didn't say anything to that, other than

"Did he?"

Jawline taut, I looked to s'Il, then back to the deck chief.

"Alright, I'll get my man on that one."

I was trying to count up the hours that work order would take, stacked against the hours I had to get anything else done. Inside, I was fuming. The General's hatchet man took my affirmative response and continued on.

"Let's get this over with before somebody asks me to itemize every damn stem bolt on my ship."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She'd caught the look Sanis had sent her way, and remained quiet on the matter until the deck chief had gone.

"I had nothing to do with that," she started adamantly, which was soon followed by a mystified observation.

"I didn't even think he'd remember seeing it on there."

[Sanis Prent]

"It's always been a part of the plan. People count you down and out if they see rust on the hull, and then you can surprise 'em."

I shook my head.

"Damn it."

We continued onward to the mess hall, which admittedly was far nicer than the one we had on the Valiant. They probably even had real food in this one.

"Master s'Ilancy, there is a meeting of the Jedi this evening aboard the Whaladon, and I was asked to petition you to speak to the audience."

Another padawan hanger-on appeared out of nowhere with a datapad.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

With a bit of a resigned expression, s'Il took the datapad.

She didn't even read over its' contents; instead she sighed, gave a nod, and reached out to tiredly pat the padawan on his shoulder.

"I'll be there."

It seemed her day was quickly becoming filled with procedural goings on; a thing that she was hoping to avoid this day. Or at least minimize. She'd spent her morning in the drudgery of such, and it looking as though her afternoon would be spent in much the same manner.

She dismissed the padawan with a nod.

"Removing rust from a starship would be welcomed over this," she grumbled.

[Sanis Prent]

"Lemme see if I can bullshit enough."

I cleared my throat for emphasis as I looked over the datapad.

"Welcome and greetings to The Wheel, your home for an indefinite spell as we make sure you're not horribly killed or hit with a rock like folks normally do with Jedi."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il rolled her eyes, her head angling away from Sanis as she let a laugh escape her lips.

"Not exactly," she managed with a chuckle.

Her hold on him tightened, and she gave his hand a squeeze.

"But I suppose it's the thought that counts."

[Sanis Prent]

We finally found a table at the galley, and relieved, I took my seat across from s'Il. I looked at my stack of busy work with a bewildered expression as a waitron droid approached us.

"What'll it be, lady and gent?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

s'Il was quick to order drinks for them both.

"Ithorian White Label. Two. On the rocks."

The droid trundled off, and with a sheepish look to Sanis, she rested her own small stack of task-laden datapads on the table next to his.

"I'll talk to Dan. In the meantime, I hope that Ithorian bourbon helps make things a little easier to swallow."

[Sanis Prent]

"Ithorian, huh? Been a long time in between."

I thought about the whole debacle as the droid returned with drinks.

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind the paint. A few man hours and a pain in the ass, but as long as they aren't asking me to paint to regs, whatever."

I had a feeling that sort of task I'd have to pitch in on. The idea of Cirr painting the ship by himself, well, he'd hang me off the starboard wing upside down.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Well. I can at least make sure that it does not get to that point."

She brushed a hand across the tabletop in idle motion, careful to avoid the small collection of datapads.

"So. I hear that you're a Rogue. Was your little mess-hall fight your initiation routine?"

[Sanis Prent]

I wasn't going to let that little barb catch me.

"Just didn't like the angle of the rest of those farm-hands and figured I'd put myself out there."

I didn't have any regrets, other than catching the suckerpunch that finally punched my ticket. I was good to lay into another two or three of 'em.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

That made her smile, and she gave a small chuckle as the server droid returned with their drinks.

"You have a way with people that I doubt I'll ever understand."

[Sanis Prent]

Taking up my whisky, I tilted the glass from side to side, letting it ride as a bit of the ice melted.

"Product of my environment, I guess. You forget I used to be a con artist of some sort."

I smirked a little.

"I'll have those rubes eating out of my hand in a month."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"So confident," she mused.

Her own drink was not given as much attention as his, as she lifted it to her lips for a sip.

"I trust that you'll be on somewhat better behavior with my student."

Not a warning, but an observation. Aware that he'd been spending time with Saricia, she didn't disapprove, but she was cautious none-the-less.

[Sanis Prent]

My demeanor brightened at that.

"Yeah, about that."

Finally, I waited long enough. I tilted my whisky back for a tentative sip. Just about right.

"Saricia's more than likely going to be asking you about some crazy idea regarding taking a few days furlough with me onboard Layla. I think you should encourage her."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"I should?"

Her drink was set down as she gave him her undivided attention; more so than before.

"And why is that?"

[Sanis Prent]

"It would do her good to experience some of the sights around the galaxy, I think."

I laid up the boyscout answer breezily, knowing full well she knew me better than that.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A raised eyebrow.

"Is that all."

There were few times when he could slip much by her, and now was no different. To her, he was as transparent as glass. A hrm, and she sipped once more at her drink.

"If that is the case, perhaps I might join you two. It's been a while since I've been able to spend a day or so with nothing to do... "

[Sanis Prent]

"Well, y'see, I'm pretty sure I'll be having to carry more than a bit of cargo to a few spots in between, and I don't know if I'll have room for another passenger."

The edges of my mouth barely turned up in a smile, that I hid behind my glass as I took another drink, incrementally more mellow now.