driftfleet | video | piracy 101

Entry tags:

video | piracy 101

Who: Han Solo... solo. ~~shut up it was funny in my mind~~
Broadcast: Yep, to anyone who will listen
Action: not really but he's probably around the Caprine if you want him
When: a couple days into the drift

[ sup Fleet. Han is somewhere on his ship, though it's hard to see much over his shoulder. He looks fairly normal and maybe a little bit bored. ]

So the thing about trafficking stolen cargo-- not that I'm doing that or saying we should do that-- is, it's pretty pointless to steal something no one wants to buy. I guess it happens, if you don't know what you're getting.

I'm sure there's a black market for ribbon somewhere...

[ He looks a little perplexed, not troubled, just deep in thought. ]

I mean, there's gotta be, right?

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If I knew, I would have said as much.

[Because even though she can tell there's some sort of repeating pattern on the ribbons, that it's more than just random stitching, that's about all she can figure out. She can't tell what someone would use ribbons with a pattern like this for.]

Would they make us carry a shipment of only ribbon just to play games with us?

[...Well, she wouldn't rule it out, probably, but she wants to believe it's not just ribbon.]

Probably. I dunno. I just think maybe we're better finding somewhere to offload it before they notice it hasn't been delivered.

[ Preferably for a profit, but it's not like he's never dumped cargo for safety's sake.

It always works out so well. ]

You're not curious about it at all?

[She is, there's no surprise there. If they went to this much trouble for the ships in the fleet to carry these boxes, she wants to know why.]

I guess I'd rather know than not know. But isn't pretty much everything from them bad news?

[She doesn't exactly say as much, but the expression on her face indicates that, even if she hasn't been on board too long, most of her experience has been just that: bad news.]

I wonder if we--everyone on board--can't find a way to figure out what these are for before we arrive at the next system.

Is that what you're doing now? Trying to find secret messages in ribbons?

[ he doesn't sound like he's taunting, for once. He actually just wants to know what she's up to. ]

Edited 2018-09-17 00:36 (UTC)

You're welcome to join me if you'd like.

[That would be a "yes." She's not good at or used to not having about a hundred different issues to focus on or occupy her thoughts. Even with the troubles on board the Fleet, it's nothing like everything that required her attention back in the Alliance.]

Maybe I will.

[ Not to be helpful. Don't get any crazy ideas, Leia. ]

[Han Solo? Helpful? What kind of bizarre galaxy would this be if that happened.

But regardless, she provides directions to wherever she happens to be (likely somewhere on the Iskaulit, because she doesn't like feeling confined to her own ship) studying any notes she's taken on the ribbons and their patterns.]

I'll be around here for a while.

[ He signs off with a wave, and makes his way over. Not in a hurry, because... This isn't an emergency, there's no rush.

But he's hit the point, he thinks, where they've gotta talk.

He'd rather know than not know, right? ]

Any luck?

[ he asks, striding over, casual as anything. ]

[That's faster than she expected, in all honesty, but she assumes Han might be as bored cooped up as she is at the moment. She looks up from her notes as he speaks, nodding in a sort of greeting before holding the notes out to him. She's not sure if he'll even catch on to the patterns she's seen and what she's looking at, but having a second set of eyes can help.]

Do you see how they repeat like this? They aren't just random patterns.

[ Bored, a little, but Han is pretty well-adjusted to the drift. For all that he'd rather be breaking Kessel records, most of what he does in the end is long, boring crawls across the galaxy trying to avoid patrols.

He's good at sublight travel. He'd be better on his own ship, but well, what can you do.

Still, he takes her findings, looks them over as he sits down. Whatever it is. Han isn't as invested; this cargo's a liability if they can't make it an opportunity, he just wants it sorted out. But she's making some headway. ]

There's something. But how do you know it's not just decoration?

[Leia shakes her head, glancing down at her notes to check for the exact spot she wants to point out, before doing just that. Whether Han can see it or not, there's a particular strand of patterns she's jotted down that seems far more than just decoration. Or at least with her augment she's able to see it's more than just that, not entirely aware that it's not as easy to see to those with other augments.]

If it is, it's not meant purely for aesthetics. It seems like a form of writing, but it's not one I'd be able to place or translate.

[ Han is a pilot, through and through. Waste of an augment if you ask him, it's not like he couldn't have flown the ship without, but there it is.

He shrugs. ]

It could be something.

[ or it could be nothing. He lapses into silence, watching her study the pattern. ]

[as focused as Leia is on her (likely futile, she knows) work on trying to make some semblance of sense out of a pattern on ribbon, it takes a minute or two for her to realize Han hasn’t said much or tried to argue or any of the stubborn behaviors she’s used to with him. Not that it’s a bad thing, really; as much as she’d welcome any thoughts or input he has on this, being able to just sit with him in silence is both new and something she finds comfortable.

But that said, it is still something so new that she can’t help but wonder if there’s something else there. She looks up from her notes, eyebrows raised—]

Is everything okay?

Yeah.

[ That's almost a surprise, that things are okay. He's been working this out for a while, trying to get the shape of all the time he missed. They've spent enough time together-- more time than he can account, based on what he knows-- and he's paid attention to how she reacts to him. The differences are subtle, which makes sense, because even in the brief span that he remembers, there's always been an edge of flirtation to their banter.

It's surprising, but it's not unbelievable. It's just taken some time to adjust to the thought.

But he has, and now, he's got to know. He can guess, but he needs to hear it. ]

I want to know what you haven't been telling me.

[ Smooth, Han, as usual. But honestly, they can't dance around this forever. ]

[That's not quite what she was expecting, for a few reasons. There's a lot she hasn't been telling Han because it would either take too long to explain, she wasn't sure of his interest, or just genuinely not knowing how to explain it. There were three years' or so time difference between the two of them; even if she can guess what he's trying to get at here, there's so much that Leia can't be entirely sure.]

It sounds like you have a subject in mind already.

Come on, Leia.

[ The cagey response might throw him, but they keep... spending time. She asked him to come over-- or at least, offered up the idea-- without any pretense that he could do much to help. They've gone walking and riding and she's got this way of looking at him like she forgets she shouldn't. ]

I'm not a Rebel. Both of us know that.

[ Sure, he's sympathetic, kind of. Mostly. But not enough to make him stay.

But he stays. ]

According to you you're not.

[Despite staying, despite helping around bases, despite going on risky runs and missions for the Alliance. He won't enlist, and Leia still doesn't and doesn't think she ever will understand his line of thinking here.]

That much isn't something that's changed. If it had, I would've said so before.

I'm not.

[ As gently as he can say it, it's still a simple fact. For all the things he doesn't know, he understands that just fine, the distaste for even the notion of enlisting. He could support a cause without submitting to it, if he wanted. He hasn't really wanted to, in a long while. Not enough to outweigh his own aims.

Staying, that's something else. That's committing to it without the words, and he wouldn't without a reason. A good reason. It's not like she's the first person to ask him to join them, but she's managed to get him to do it. ]

So why do I stay?

[Leia closes her eyes, just for a moment, deciding how direct she wants to be in her response. She could argue he’s a rebel in all but official name, given how much he’s done for them, that he’s just as against the Empire as any single one of them, but she decides against it. As much as she believes that and knows there are no doubt other people and reasons he’s stayed with them as long as he has, they aren’t the big reason. And Leia isn’t ignorant; even though she pretended to be oblivious before their trip to Bespin, she knew full well why Han was staying around and why she wanted him to continue to stay.

Her response decided upon, Leia opens her eyes again. Because with a response like this, she owes it to him to be up front with it all. ]

Because of me.

[which, even though she knows it’s true, still sounds a bit conceited to actually admit out loud.]

You’ve had clearance to leave. You didn’t have to come back for me on Hoth, but you did.

[ That would be a fair enough argument. He can buy it. It's not like he's ever been a loyal Imperial citizen. The difference, maybe, is just for him. In the eyes of the law there's little difference between being a Rebel and a sympathizer, and it's not like he makes much effort to stay on the right side of the law at the best of times. He's just not... the joining sort. Not in a long time.

It's not like he's never run jobs for the Alliance before. He wonders if she knows, if he would have told her. Maybe not, he thinks. ]

Because of how you feel,

[ he says, a little guarded. He can't know how he feels except to infer. He likes her, already. He likes the way they talk, now, still teasing but not at each other's throats, something tempered by experience, and he finds that he plays along with it.

It's just not enough, to put it all on his feelings. He wouldn't just stay to moon after her. He's sure of that.

Pretty sure. ]

So where does that leave us?

[months ago, that sort of accusation would’ve ended in argument and denial from Leia. But that was before. At this point, after confessing as much, she sees no point of attempting to deny it anymore.

She’s sure there’s more to it, more from Han’s side even if it’s more an assumption from his actions than from any verbal confirmation on his part. But for now—]

Yes.

[but where that leaves them now, well, that’s the real question. Leia isn’t sure, either, because there’s a lot that’s happened for her that hasn’t for Han, and that complicates things. A lot.]

I think that’s up to you.

[he’s the one behind, from her view, after all. But that’s deflecting, she knows, so after a moment, she adds on—]

Being around you here is... comforting. It’s familiar, among everything happening.

[which is to say, if nothing else, that’s the bare minimum of what she needs here.]

[ This is basically what he was expecting she'd say, that she'd have to admit to it. He can't imagine it's something that came easily the first time around, whenever that was.

This is also, then, exactly as far as he's thought all this through. So here he is with a woman who cares about him, who's used to him feeling the same way, who he's apparently spent years with and--

he's got no idea what to do about that. ]

Okay.

[ He takes a breath. ]

[Leia's good at keeping her true thoughts and feelings concealed under a nearly unreadable mask, at least when people are looking. But as practiced as she is, her nervousness about Han's answer and wondering what he's actually thinking about all this is more than apparent in the way she watches him process her answer.

It's not that she thinks he doesn't deserve to know this or that he hadn't figured out something had happened between them, but being unsure of how he'd react is why she hasn't mentioned this until now.]

Okay?

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