The roof of the MCA, Monday

[futurespacemom]

As promised, Hera was going to take Jacen flying. As suggested, she wasn't going to use the Phantom unless he protested the current plan.

She led him up to the roof and over to where Kanan's ship was parked. "This is the Escape. What do you think?"


[Expecting the one!]

Comments

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen hadn't been terribly convinced when Hera had suggested they take a different ship up. Sure, he didn't know how the current Phantom handled, but a Phantom was a Phantom, right?

That all changed as he laid eyes on the fighter that was parked on top of the apartment building. His eyes widened and he found himself holding his breath.

She was beautiful.

"I... I think I'm in love."

[futurespacemom]

Hera stifled both her laugh and her wondering if he got anything from her but a love of flying.

"You want to take her up?" she asked. "She's a one-person, so it'll be only you behind the controls; I'm just along for the ride."

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen turned a little sideways glance at Hera, trying not to look suddenly just a little bit suspicious.

"Is there a catch?"

[futurespacemom]

Hera looked back. "Well, the catch is we probably don't have time to fly this and the Phantom, but if that works for you..."

[what_dad_was_like]

Yeah, Jacen weighed that catch for all of two seconds before he was taking off for the Escape as though there were Loth wolves snapping at his behind.

"Well, come on then! I'll show you what I can do!"

[futurespacemom]

Hera laughed and ran after him. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She climbed up and settled behind the pilot's chair as he got himself settled.

[what_dad_was_like]

And Jacen got himself settled in like he was born to sit there, not even waiting for encouragement before he started poking around and running ship diagnostics, checking fuel levels and local... very local... star maps.

He squinted a little at the star map.

"Small neighborhood."

[futurespacemom]

"It's the only inhabited planet in the system, too," Hera said. "And nothing in the local systems that we know of, though we haven't done much exploring yet. You'll want to take her up as fast and vertically as you can; the locals don't have space-travel yet, so we try not to spook them."

Somehow she didn't think he'd mind that requirement.

[what_dad_was_like]

Oh yeah, Jacen was absolutely grinning at that.

"Totally doable," he replied. And one of his favorite ways to get up out of the atmosphere, at that. He finished running the diagnostics, and then, with the sort of care one gave to a ship that was far nicer than one ever figured they'd get to fly, he brought her up, straight up, lingering over the landing pad long enough to lower the Escape's folded wings.

"Oh, she runs smooth."

[futurespacemom]

"She does, doesn't she?" Hera agreed. She grinned. "Okay, you, show me what the pair of you can do."

[what_dad_was_like]

"Okay," Jacen replied, throwing a grin over his shoulders. "You might want to find something to hold on to."

Ah, one-seaters.

Not that he waited very long before, essentially, gunning it. A spin around the island, first, mostly so that he could get a good look at the place before heading up, up, up, in a sharp ascent toward space.

"There's an asteroid field not far out," he mused, looking at the map. "What's that like?"

Was it fun? That was the important question. Was it fun?

[futurespacemom]

Fortunately Hera was good at holding on.

"You've never flown this ship before," Hera pointed out. "Humor me and try this planet's moon first. Plenty of craters and mountains, and it's on the way anyway."

It wasn't that she didn't trust he was good, more just that she had to work herself up to it. And to not being a backseat pilot.

[what_dad_was_like]

"Okay, if I head for the moon first," and now he was doing exactly that, "and show you I know what I'm doing, then we can hit up the asteroid belt."

He was going to head that way one way or another, Hera. Just try to stop him.

[futurespacemom]

"Once I have a better idea how you fly, and you're used to how the Escape handles," Hera corrected, "then we can hit up the asteroid belt."

[what_dad_was_like]

"Fine," Jacen sighed, but there was a little grin on his face that he couldn't completely bite back. It was good to be flying.

It was always good to be flying.

"But you still didn't answer my question. What's it like?"

[futurespacemom]

"It's not bad," Hera said. "Kind of thin by galactic standards, but fun enough."

[what_dad_was_like]

"Aw, c'mon, and you have me doing crater runs on a moon?" Jacen wrinkled his nose, but brought the Escape down toward the moon's surface. "I'd be insulted if this wasn't your first time up with me, you know."

[futurespacemom]

"It's more about me not being behind the stick than it is you being there," Hera confessed. "Plus you really should get used to a new ship first. Anyway, what's wrong with crater runs?"

[what_dad_was_like]

"Depends on the crater," Jacen sighed. "Are things prone to flying at you out of nowhere in the craters here?"

Little daredevil here, cruising around and looking for something fun to play around in. There were some nice sized craters, but they were mostly just... really big holes. That wasn't going to stop him from bringing the Escape down into one, doing a run of the perimeter, hugging the wall of the inside of it a little more closely than anybody would strictly recommend.

[futurespacemom]

"No lifeforms on this one," Hera said. She didn't comment on the flying; as long as he kept it under control, it was all good. "Just rocks."

[what_dad_was_like]

"So we're sightseeing," Jacen sighed. "We're sightseeing rocks."

The asteroid belt would be so much more fun. One run around the crater, and then he flipped the ship around, so that instead of running the tip of the wing next to the wall, their heads were only about a meter away from it.

"Look at all these rocks."

Could you see them, Hera? Of course you could. If the ship had an external port for an astromech, Chopper could reach up and touch them.

[futurespacemom]

"They're wonderful rocks." Hera swatted his shoulder. "Stop being a smart-ass. Try a few loops around a mountain or something, and then we can dodge asteroids."

[what_dad_was_like]

Jacen at the very least gave Hera a quick grin over his shoulder as he pulled the Escape away from the crater wall, doing a barrel roll along the way mostly just because he could. Getting a feel for the ship's controls. He turned her the other way, too, and then nodded. Threw her in full-reverse for a second, just to see how easy she was to stop on a dime in a low-atmosphere situation.

There was a mountain not far off, he was accellerating again, finally heading toward it.

"I guess it's okay, so far as moons go."

It was really, really boring so far as moons went.

[futurespacemom]

Hera nodded at his handling and the fact he was finally testing the ship.

"If you want to head a little farther out after the asteroids, there's a pretty gas giant and another with rings," Hera said. "That's about as interesting as this system gets, unfortunately."

[what_dad_was_like]

"And you haven't taken the Ghost out beyond it, huh?" And from the look of the map, the Escape hadn't been out that far, either. It was confusing. A lot of things were confusing. "It must be so weird, being confined to one system. Where is everybody?"