Shadows of Bankor

Astin stepped out of the refresher, still drying his hair. On request he was at least wearing shorts when leaving, even though he figured the ship would be empty.

He'd given Dove a call shortly after he got back, and expected her to be here shortly. In the mean time though he went to the fridge to grab a beer, and a bit of the fish left over from their attempt at lunch earlier. It'd probably make a decent sandwich.

The ship's entrance opened up for Dove as she returned to the ship. Unlike many others in the Resistance, she preferred to keep her accomodations onboard the Coyote, for more privacy. Sharing a bunk with someone else wasn't something she felt like doing.

The door closed behind her and she was reading over her datapad as she stepped into the common area, where Astin was living the bachelor-life in his shorts. Such a sight only earned an amused smirk and a quirked eyebrow.

"Doing your best to preserve Floats' innocence, I see."

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how much innocence she has left." Astin offered taking a sip from his beer. "I mean she was asking me about sexual positions earlier so that's something."

"Bwah?" Dove laughed with surprise. "She did what? My innocent little Floats?"

"Yeah, she set down on a rock and tried to put her leg behind her, and was asking if people really liked to do that type of thing." Astin answered with a laugh.

"I told her that was an advanced technique, and not what most folks do." He shook his head. "Managed to keep a straight face but barely."

"Oh my," Dove had a good laugh at the mental image, and what the conversation must've been like. She managed to grab a beer from the fridge without being too hampered by the laugh, and joined Astin in sitting down for a drink.

"Anyway, what's the status of things?"

"In a lot of ways pretty shitty. In others not so bad. All in all though? Well the outlooks not to positive."

He started to put together his sandwich, crust bread that had a good bite, fish, tomato,leafy greens. A bit of spicy mayo seemed to finish it off. "Which part of the news you want to hear first?"

It would've been nice if there were no bad news today, but that bubble had already been burst, so it wasn't like Astin would be the first bearer of bad news.

"Hit me with the bad stuff first then."

Placing his ate on the kaf table he flopped down onto the couch and took a sip of his beer. "While it doesn't seem like he is done with us. I think he has lost interest in helping the rebellion. The way some of the folk just forgave that woman the 13th sister, felt like a betrayal to him. He won't come back here to the base, doesn't want anything to do with it anymore." Not that Astin could really blame him.

"Mm," Dove nodded, not giving her agreement, but rather understanding of the situation. She couldn't fault the man though, considering what Neela did to the Aznuri.

"I won't fault him for that, and he is a free man." The Resistance was mostly a volunteer-project still. They couldn't force people to fall in line. "Would still like him on our side in freeing Bankor though, if possible."

"Well, that may or may not be possible depending on circumstances." Picking up his sandwich he took a bite, pausing a few moments to chew before continuing.

"He wants me to set up a meeting with him and her, pretty sure he plans to kill her if he can. I told him I would and I plan to. But I'm hoping I can convince her not to go."

Dove sighed. "Bantha poodoo..." this was going to make things even more tense. "... Well, maybe tell her that he plans to kill her. Or something. But... ugh, I have a feeling that might not stop her."

"I hope you got some ideas?"

"I planned to, doesn't seem right to try and lure her into a trap or something." She was technically on their side after all, and you just didn't treat allies like that.

"As for plans? I've got no ideas, don't think he'll really listen to reason about this. Vengeance seems to be one of the other things on his mind."

"Well, that and the other complication that appeared, though that one is a bit happier."

"Vengeance is a tricky business to deal with. Maybe you and someone else should tag along to keep an eye on things?" Except she wasn't quite sure what Astin would do if it came to blows. And she didn't feel like giving orders on it either.

"... Other complication?"

"I was thinking that would be a wise idea." Though she wasn't the only one who had no idea of exactly what he would do if it came to blows. "Would likely need a volunteer to come with me to."

"Yeah." Astin replied a slight smirk on his lips. "You know those complications that arise when a fella and his lady spend alot of time together, and don't take the proper precautions?"

"Oooh... oh, I see..." there was an unreadable expression on her face before she smiled. "Well, that's good news! Wow. He's gonna be a dad, huh? I guess he'll probably want to stay with his baby mama?"

"Yeah, he will, and if she doesn't want on board our little ship here he's out. That's not to mention what the rest of us think about having his little family on board."

"Didn't know what yours and Floats opinion on that might be." He had noted the odd look on her face but didn't comment. If she wanted to say something about it she would.

Dove thought very carefully about it. It was quite the inner dialogue going on behind her seemingly neutral expression. The Dove trying to be a better person arguing with the Dove that was being hurt and selfish.

"I mean... it's not like they have many other places to go? With the enclave, and all..." being razed and such. Living in the slums of Bankor was no way to raise a family.

"It means we'd have to scrap the ideas we discussed earlier though."

"True, but if his feelings about our happy group here doesn't change, could mean it doesn't work our either way." He shook his head. "Add in how things will change with Floats if he does try and kill that woman?"

"I'd be lying I didn't say my first instincts were yes, but I put the smart money on thinking on it for a couple days." Astin frowned then took a sip of his beer. "You're right though, plans would need to change."

"Yeah, let's... see how this turns out. This debacle. Ugh." Despite the goodish news, it was infinitely making things more complicated. Especially since she knew that she should do something about this.

It was a deep conflicting thing, and she hated it.

"When are they planning on meeting?"

"I think tomorrow, Ru'ni isn't really the type to wait around on this sort of thing " That was if the woman; he hesitated to call her a jedi even agreed.

"I suppose we would want Floats around before any final decisions are made anyways." While Astin thought he knew what she would say, in reality he could be wrong.

"Yeah. Besides, we have a lot more on our plates than what future this ship, this crew, will have... like bloodying the Empire's nose here first. After that, we can begin to contemplate this idea of a front much more."

Dove seemed more at ease discussing a possibly dangerous future than talking about babies and family-life.

"If we lose Ru'ni, we should have to look for a new recruit or two, perhaps."

"You make a good point there, though I'll let you and most of the others figure out the how of doing that. I'll stick to the doing." It was easier that way.

Taking a bite of ahis sandwich he finished chewing before nodding. "True, got some people in mind?" He could guess at a few names that might appear but wanted to hear em just in case.

Dove rubbed her face for a moment, before looking off at the wall for a moment. "None at the moment. Gonna have to look around for some suitable candidates."

"I suppose we could ask Floats about it too." She may know a few people. "Though I'll also keep my ear to the ground. Though I figure most folks already have a crew together, judging at least from the amount of ships here."