Syndulla Scrap and beyond, Saturday

[futurespacemom]

Hera had called ahead to some contacts, made a note of a few things, advised Breq she was taking the Ghost out today (and then promptly had to find a place to put a...whatever that was she'd turned into), and made sure the bitey bits had enough scrap metal to keep them entertained.

Now she was waiting. She didn't expect to be waiting long, given the outing they were going on.



[Open for junkyard things if you want to talk to Hera, but expecting one for a trip!]

Comments

[somethingwithturquoise]

And Summer was realizing that she knew way too much about BDG's drinking habits and not nearly enough about Hera's, because she made sure to swing by the Perk to pick up some self-fuel for the shopping trip and wasn't entirely sure just what to get Hera. So Summer ended up with something big and frothy and filled with sugar and perhaps a whisper off coffee in it (which was good, because Summer did not need the caffeine right now!) and she had as close to a Mexican hot chocolate as they could get for Hera.

"Hera!" she called out when she got to the scrapyard. "I'm here! Man, we really picked a great day to get out and go shopping, huh?"

[futurespacemom]

"Well, we don't know what the weather will be like where we're going, either," Hera pointed out cheerfully. "But it's a good day not to stick around. Are you ready?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I'm ready if you are!" Summer nearly sang it out, barely refraining from bouncing, but handling the two beverages helped with that. "And this is for you," she said, handing the one over. "A little fuel for the road. Where are we going to be heading?"

[futurespacemom]

"Thanks!" Hera took the hot chocolate, sipping it with relish. "Come on." She led the way back toward the cockpit. "We're headed for Hutt Space; it's the safest place to shop for ships without Imperial involvement. Well, safe except for the Hutts, of course, but we're not buying enough to get their notice."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," said Summer, following easily, and, despite the words themselves, with a somewhat cheerful tone that matched the bounce she had ultimately failed to keep out of her step. "I am not looking forward to dealing with Hutts, but it's one of those things that'll probably be unavoidable. Still, if I can put it off, I'm going to, but it'll be good to kind of, you know, feel Hutt Space out a bit.

"Thanks again for helping me out with this, Hera," she added, with a grateful smile. "I really....really appreciate it."

[futurespacemom]

"You're welcome," Hera said. "That's what friends are for, right?"

She smiled and nodded Summer toward the copilot's seat. "We're not heading to one of the main Hutt worlds, and we probably won't even see one. Which is a good thing, since I have a hard time not punching them."

She sighed. "But they're easier to work around than the Empire. They're a bit more predictable in their greed."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Dropping easily into the copilot's seat and getting herself situation, Summer quirked a brow over at Hera. "The holo-pedia makes it seem like they're pretty big," she noted. "Would punching one really do much? That said," she added with a grin, "I think I'd pay pretty good credits just to actually see that."

[futurespacemom]

Hera laughed. "They are pretty big, and no it wouldn't, but it doesn't make me not want to. And if you paid a Hutt enough, they would probably let me, but let's not chance it just yet."

She started the pre-flight checks and talked Summer through what she was doing, getting her to read the results.

[somethingwithturquoise]

And Summer eagerly chirped out the information, offering up her own little notes and observations about what Hera was doing, all of which culminated in a very confident, "Boo-yah. Nailed it!"

Well, it was maybe just a shade left of perfect, if everyone was being honest, but Summer would easily chalk any minor oversights to her excitement and that faint thread of desperation that still existed in the hopes of wanting to impress the socks off of Hera.

Assuming she wore them. She didn't want to presume on whatever business was going on in her boots, but she would admit, she might start having doubts about anyone who'd wear boots without socks in general.

[futurespacemom]

Hera grinned. "Keep an eye on that altimeter and yes, you have."

She lifted them off the ground and headed over the sea as she lifted toward space. "Have you done more thinking about what sort of ship you'd like?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"You know," said Summer, tilting her head as she leaned back in her seat, "I have been, but I really think Kanan got it stuck in my head that something like the Phantom's going to be a good bet. That's a VCX-series auxiliary starfighter, right?"

Not that she had tried extra hard to memorize some of this stuff just to impress her or anything. Seriously, if Summer had put half as much effort into school work as she did into trying to impress people, she'd have blown everyone else out of the water. But then they'd know she was smart or that she cared, and you couldn't have that.

"Modified, obviously, to make it look like we've gotten rid of the fighter aspects, but, obviously, we're not going to. But something small, definitely, I don't need much space, but I'll want some room for, you know, small orders and stuff. I'm used to a smaller ship, anyway, I think anything bigger is just going to be a pain in the butt. I mean, city parking, too, am I right? Even some of the lighters I looked into seemed a bit...clunky. Not my style. I guess a planet-hopped could do in a pinch, too, but...not my first choice. I don't know, something like the Phantom just seems to...fit, I guess, but who knows? Maybe there will be something else that jumps out at me when we get there. All I know is it should be relatively small, but not so small I can't move supplies, and it should be fast and have some sort of defense, just in case I run into trouble."

Because she totally expected to run into trouble.

[futurespacemom]

Hera nodded. "So a good all-around light ship. There are a few good shipyards where we're going. Most of them will probably have been used for smuggling before, so they should have a lot of what you need already. The downside is that they've probably been customized, so it'll take a bit longer to feel your way around without a manual, but we'll manage."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Yeah," Summer grinned a little wistfully. "Either we'll manage, or we'll figure out a way to customize it in a way that works better for me in the long run, right? But I think I could probably get used to just about anything, just so long as I don't have to deal with any sort of AI, but ships from your galaxy don't really seem to use much of that, right? It's mostly just found in droids?"

[futurespacemom]

"I like to think the Ghost has her own personality," Hera said, "but no, you won't find one with an AI. And we'll probably end up customizing yours anyway," she added with a smile. "I'm sure you'll want to make it your own."

They left the atmosphere and Hera headed for where the portal would be showing up.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Oh," said Summer, in an eager rush, "I've totally already got some ideas for that. Mostly cosmetic things, I'll admit, for now, but this ship is going to be so. CUTE. by the time I'm done with her."

The. Cutest.

[futurespacemom]

Hera grinned. "It's important to make it your own, however that means. I'll show you the technical things, the rest is up to you."

The portal opened up, and she headed for it. "Okay, Nimban here we come."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Nimban," Summer repeated, narrowing her eyes a little as she tried to think back, flipping through the slowly accumulating encyclopedic knowledge of Hera's galaxy. "I don't...really remember reading a whole lot about that one. Except, you know, that the native species there are called Nimbanel, which, I mean, yeah, obviously, duh."

[futurespacemom]

"They left the Republic a while back to voluntarily join the Hutts," Hera explained. "Which means the Hutts don't have as strong a presence there as on some worlds, and the Empire pretty much leaves them alone. They've got a lot of cities, and they're big on business."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"A lot of cities," Summer repeated in a musing tone, "big on business, little Empire interference...sounds pretty much perfect. Maybe, if we've got some time after taking care of the ship, we can squeeze in a little bit of some other shopping too!"

...with what money, Summer??? You were buying a ship.

Obviously, that was a problem for later.

[futurespacemom]

Hera chuckled. "We can shop for whatever you like."