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There are days when Kanan wishes the detection capabilities of the Imperial fleet were a lot less good than they are. Those days usually coincide with missions that involve a lot of sitting around in a dead ship, with a deactivated Chopper and a lot of time to kill until contact is made.

Like today, for instance.

Probably all day, too. Hopefully not into tomorrow.

"So," Kanan says, voice pitched low and not quite sibilant enough to be a whisper. "How do you feel about another round of I Spy?"

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"That happens in an occupation," she says, quietly.

"Yeah."

His voice is very, very quiet.

Because what do you say to that?

"Someday it won't be. We'll get rid of the Empire and -- "

and -

It's a big and. Not one she feels up to thinking about right now.

And she doesn't want him feeling like this, trying to brace under the weight of this fight, of the last war, of the seemingly unending string of crimes they encounter. She doesn't want her history to have brought him down.

Hera bites her lip, then lowers her feet back to the floor. "I'd also - I'd climb up, at night, on top of our home. Wherever we were, the mountains in Tann Province or the hideouts when we were on the run in the desert. And it was dangerous, obviously, but I wanted to see the ships crossing the sky at night. My mother was so tired of it, me and the ships, so when she'd find me to drag me back inside, I'd lie and say I wanted to watch the stars."

She raises her voice slightly, mimicking a little girl nagging her mother. "Luon, Onni! Onni! Viulen usnajmen, viulen usnajmen!"

Hera nearly laughs again as she says it.

(So she wasn't laughing at you, Kanan. At least, not entirely.)

It's that it happened to Hera, and that it's still happening to little girls and little boys, and teenagers, and their parents, and their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins all over the damned and bloody Empire, and the Jedi were supposed to be here to stop it and they aren't, they're dead, and there's just him left, and maybe others but maybe not, and it's all --

Shut up, Caleb.

Kanan breathes.

"Ships, stars -- from the right distance they do kind of look the same."

"Not if you know what you're looking for. Which -"

She's looking straight ahead now, and carefully reaches out toward the consul.

"It looks like someone's here..."

Whether or not that's a friendly someone, she's not sure yet. But there's definite movement.

Edited 2017-05-09 16:24 (UTC)

"You want me up here?"

Kanan switches to all business without a blink.

"Or down manning the guns? Just in case."

He's already standing up, ready to move.

"They should be in range to signal soon," she says, eyes fixed on the incoming ship. "But 'just in case' is probably a good idea."

"Copy that."

Kanan nods at her, then goes double-time down to take position and get ready to fire.

Better safe than sorry.

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