telling Sabine

[notallofus]

They've settled into a space of quiet between jobs, taking the time to go over the Ghost's systems with fine-toothed combs, taking stop-gap repairs and putting the more permanent fixes in place. It's . . . not bad.

Or it wouldn't be bad, if this quite space didn't also mean that it's just the right time to have some complicated conversations. The crew has really been coming together, and Sabine feels like a permanent part of the team now.

Which means she should probably know what kind of potential future dangers she's signed up for. But --

But the weapons systems down in the gunnery station really could use more calibration, so . . .

Comments

[for_everyone]

Gently she tightens her grip on him, just for a few seconds. And then she steps back, toward the hall.

"I don't know if all things get easier."

[notallofus]

"Yeah," Kanan mutters, before squaring his shoulders and setting off behind Hera.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

Maybe, if Sabine takes it badly, he could throw Chopper as a distraction . . .

(No, Hera would kill him.)

[for_everyone]

Hera looks back him, but doesn't answer. Silently, she leads their way back toward the cabins.

[explosive_artist]

Sabine, conveniently enough, is stepping out of her cabin with Chopper following behind her. She pulls up short, with a confused look on her face, when she spots them.

"What's up? Chopper said something about calibrating the weapons system?" Which of course they wouldn't do without her right?

Chopper grumbles some binary and makes a retreat before he can get yelled at.

[for_everyone]

"We were just looking for you," Hera says smoothly, though her eyes flicker to Chopper as he retreats. Still, she quickly looks back to Sabine.

"We can get to that, but -" she glances back at Kanan, just for a second, before she continues, "- first we need to talk to you about something."

[notallofus]

"Thanks, Chopper," Kanan says under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Then he looks up, squaring his shoulders a little.

"It's pretty important, Sabine."

He shoots Hera a quick look, as if to double-check where to take this next.

[explosive_artist]

Nervous, Sabine slips on her game face. She's not sure what this is, but she can't help the spike of fear. And excitement.

Is this when they ask her to leave? If so why isn't Zeb there? She thought they were friends or she at least would deserve a goodbye.

Or is this where she finds out there's more to what they're doing? Again though, why isn't Zeb here. He's part of it, isn't he?

"Okay," she says just as smoothly as Hera, eyes flicking between them. "My place or the galley?"

[notallofus]

Part of Kanan knows he should pick the galley, to make it easy for Sabine to retreat if she needs to, to give him a place to retreat from that won't necessarily look like a retreat.

But the galley feels too open, and he can't quite get past his history of public and communal places not being safe for revealing anything. It's a problem.

"Your place."

A faint hesitation.

"If you don't mind."

[for_everyone]

Hera waits for Kanan to answer, then nods, as much to herself as to either of them.

Then she turns back to Sabine, not moving toward her cabin until Sabine leads them to it. But she does offer a very small smile, maybe to try to balance out Kanan’s tension.

[explosive_artist]

The obvious respecting of her recently claimed space puts Sabine a little more at ease.

"No problem," she says and turns back to her cabin to hold the door open for them. "Come right in."

Idly, she wonders if they'll notice the new art she's added beyond her original decorations.

"Help yourself to the bed if you'd like to sit." For herself, she'll lean against the wall.

[notallofus]

Kanan opens his mouth to say 'you might want to sit down for this', then closes it again silently.

He takes a seat on the bed, hands folded loosely together in his lap.

"So, you might have noticed we don't do a whole lot of talking about our pasts on this ship."

[for_everyone]

Hera slips down next to Kanan, watching him at first, and then looking to Sabine.

“We’re not going to start asking questions. But we think -“ her eyes flash to Kanan “- that if you’ll be staying with us, on this ship, there are certain things we have to be upfront with you about.”

[explosive_artist]

"And I appreciate that, to be honest," Sabine replies to Kanan before catching Hera's meaning. So this isn't about her after all. She pauses then, looking from Hera to Kanan. Turning to look at Kanan, since this seems to be about him, she continues. "I'll listen but you both have been good with accepting me and what little I've told you about where I come from. I'm good with what I know now."

She'll always be open to know more, but at present her curiosity is taking a backseat to security. She doesn't think anything they can say would change that.

[notallofus]

"That's nice of you," Kanan says, smiling a little. It doesn't quite reach his eyes, but that's mostly because this conversation never gets easier.

"But this -- knowing this secret puts your life at risk, but not any more than just being part of this crew."

Right, because talking around the subject is going to make anything any better.

"What do you know about the Jedi?"

[for_everyone]

Hera doesn't glance back at Kanan now. She's silent, watching Sabine.

[explosive_artist]

Her brows wrinkle at the unexpected question. She takes a moment to think of an answer, Imperial propaganda clashing with rumor.

"Just that they tried to take over the Republic and betrayed the Senate...at least that's what the Empire would have us believe. I don't buy it. They tried to help Mandalore during the Wars, twice, though there is little data to be found about it. I think they tried to maintain peace throughout the galaxy, but that doesn't line up with them leading the Republic forces during the war. Beyond that, lots of myths and legends. Mystic warriors who stuck their nose where they weren't wanted on one hand, wandering champions who showed up to save people when they had no other hope on the other."

"I'm not sure which I believe. All I know is they helped Mandalore and the Empire doesn't like them, which is two marks in their favor in my book."

Yeah, there's the wars Mandalore fought with the Jedi, but that's ancient history to Sabine.

[notallofus]

"Oh," Kanan says, a little more animated than nervous, because that lie about taking over the Senate, the lie to cover Master Depa and all the rest being killed --

No, he's still not over that. Not completely.

"Oh, we definitely didn't try to take over the Republic. Sticking our noses in people's business . . . that definitely happened, but always with the intention of helping. I -- "

He exhales.

"I had a different name, then. But I was a Jedi apprentice when things all fell apart, and -- I still am one, I guess. Which means if the Empire ever finds out, they're going to come after me -- and us. Hard."

[for_everyone]

Hera stays silent.

But now she does look to Kanan, and moves her hand, gently placing it on his arm.

[explosive_artist]

Sabine's eyes widen in surprise and she pushes off the wall.

"You're a...wow," she says, pacing as she processes this. "Not just the Empire. Well, not just the Empire directly. I wouldn't be surprised if there are bounties out there. Karabast." Says the girl who likely has her own bounty in Mandalore and nearby systems.

She paces some more as she thinks. "I'm good with this, it's just huge. I'll keep your trust, on my honor." She touches the heart piece of her armor as she says this. "But wow. Does Zeb know? Chopper has to know, right?"

[notallofus]

Okay, so that's somehow not the reaction Kanan was expecting.

"Everyone who becomes permanent crew gets to know. So far that's Zeb and you, and Chop's known almost as long as Hera. It -- "

A pause.

"Really? You believe me just like that, without any demonstrations or -- "

Huh. It's . . . kind of nice, really.

[for_everyone]

Hera keeps any sigh of relief to herself.

"It's not something you'd likely lie about," she says to Kanan, keeping her hand on his arm.

[explosive_artist]

Sabine is actually shocked to find she just trusts Kanan. She doesn't need proof. He could claim he has a way through the Kessel Run, and she'd believe him. OK, maybe she'd want to see his route, but she'd believe he had a plan at least.

But she also knows people who know you trust them can take advantage of you, so she needs to offer some reason beyond that, or at least one that they will believe.

"She's right but there's more to it," she says, pointing to Hera and nodding. "I've also seen how you fight. You've had training and very specialized training, perhaps as good as a Mandalorian." Better, she might admit to herself, but not to anyone else.

"Training like that isn't common, so either you're some Empire special ops or Mandalorian. I know you aren't Mando'a, and I know Imperial special ops are nearly brainwashed to only think of the Empire, so Jedi just makes sense."

"I don't think you should tell me your old name. I can't tell what I don't know." Though whether a name would be better intel than the fact of a living jedi, she's not sure.

[notallofus]

Kanan's smile is thin, and a little tired.

"I wasn't going to. He's dead, anyway."

Plus his fighting style is going to be what really gives him away, to anyone that knows it.

Jedi are very . . . distinct that way. Individually.

He moves to rest his hand over Hera's for a second, squeezing lightly. She makes a lot of things easier, and he appreciates it each and every time.

"It is going to come out someday, though. This secret."

[for_everyone]

"We've probably been lucky that it hasn't come up before."

Now, Hera does sigh, briefly touching her free hand to her forehead.

"At least that no one else has seen."

[explosive_artist]

Well, it did take him telling her he was trained with the Jedi for her to connect the dots, so it's not that blatant. Unless you're trained to look for that kind of fighting style.

She also knows about leave the past well burried.

"I'd guess people only think of Jedi when a laser sword is being used. It was their signature."

[notallofus]

"Was," Kanan says, only a little wryly.

"And is."

He unhooks two pieces of machinery from his belt, one cylindrical and the other less so.

"What did you think these were?"

Twisting them together and thumbing the switch releases the blade, glowing blue and eldritch and emitting a very familiar buzzing hum. Kanan finds it comforting, even after all this time.

[for_everyone]

Hera leans slightly away from him, the blue light flashing her eyes.

"He used to carry it in the case of a blaster riflescope," she tells Sabine.

[explosive_artist]

While Sabine leans forward, fascinated.

"I was never sure. I just figured it was some adaptive power cell or something. Definitely more subtle than a riflescope."

"Is the hum bleed over from the mechanics or is it the field interacting with the atmosphere?"

[notallofus]

"It made sense at the time!" Kanan says, grinning with the very beginnings of relief.

That didn't go so badly.

"As for the humming . . . "

He can go into some detail, and he will, but today isn't a day to cover the mystical properties of kyber crystals. So.