Conversations with the dead 2018

[imthepilot]

Bodhi suggests a hike up the mountain. It's starting to get chilly but Bodhi's use to the cold. With the warmth of Milliways' summer, he was almost starting to miss the feeling of cool, crispy air.

Leaving the cats in Teja's care for the night, Bodhi hefts his pack and takes Galen's hand. "Ready?"

Comments

[imthepilot]

Bodhi looks over to Galen with an apologetic frown. "Jyn died a hero. I was glad I went with her to Scarif. It was worth it."

"Scarif?" Pema looks up sharply. "I thought- we thought you died on Jedha."

"No, little mouse. I survived the scouring of Jedha. Just. I followed Galen's daughter to Scarif. To steal the plans for the Death Star."

Malika grins. "Our brother, bane of the Death Star."

Bodhi shakes his head. "We couldn't have done it if a brave man hadn't built a trap inside it. Hadn't worked in secret for years to sabotage it right under the Emperor's nose." His eyes shine with love as he looks at Galen.

[galen_erso]

Galen nods, quietly. "Krennic would have built it anyway," he says, "with or without me. So I went and built it for him, rather than let him kill me, and used the endless bureaucracy of the Empire work for me. Jyn and Bodhi and their companions got the specs from the archive on Scarif, which wouldn't have worked had the Empire known the first thing about long-time archival, redundancy, data warehousing and all these things -- but they didn't -- and then, the rebels sent their shining young Jedi to set off the trap."

[imthepilot]

"You knew Luke Skywalker?"

Bodhi groans and laughs, "Malika, is that really the only thing you took away from that?"

[galen_erso]

Galen laughs as well. "No, we were all dead before he even left Tatooine," he says. "He just used my blueprints."

[imthepilot]

"Not even Princess Leia." Pema asks.

"Not even Princess Leia." Bodhi shakes his head, starting to plate up.

"We thought about joining the Rebellion but... We wouldn't even know where to start. And then after Jakku last monthw, it seems like it was all over."

[galen_erso]

"Yes, it is," Galen says. "You'll have the safe and normal life Bodhi hoped you'd have. Just keep away from anything calling itself Order First or something like that; that's a Neo-Vaderist movement to jump up in about a generation's time."

Pause.

"I guess I should rather warn you to keep your kids away from them."

[imthepilot]

"Safe and happy." Bodhi gathers his sisters up and hugs them tight. "That's all I ask."

Pema nods seriously and brings Galen's plate over to him, followed by more bowls of salad and fresh bread. "We're working with a group who resettle refugees. It can be heartbreaking sometimes but mostly rewarding."

[galen_erso]

"From Jeddha, too?" Galen asks.

[imthepilot]

"A few." Malika nods. "Not... not as many as we'd like, but a few. Caamas has room enough for everyone."

"Caamas?" Bodhi asks.

Pema nods. "Grandmother's home world. We found it."

"Oh... Oh..." Bodhi sits down a little heavily. "Do they know, the people you're working with?"

[galen_erso]

"That is where we are now?"

[imthepilot]

Malika nods. "About three hours flight from Caamas City. We work mostly in the town just over the ridge. The agency likes to work away from the city, for a calmer environment."

"They don't know." Pema answers Bodhi's question. "We wear coloured lenses, to mute the purple. We'd rather people didn't know."

"We've been talking about moving on, taking a job on Chandrila." Malika sat down, pouring them all water and offering it to Galen first.

[galen_erso]

Galen takes the water, and has a deep sip before he answers, "What would happen if they knew who your grandmother was?"

[imthepilot]

Malika shrugs, sipping her own water. "There's still a royal family, from cousins of grandmother. If we announced ourselves, we might have a claim but..."

"It's more trouble than it's worth." Pema shrugs too, passing the bread to Galen. "We just want to live."

Bodhi squeezes Pema's hand. "Just be safe. That's all I want."

Malika shakes her head. "What about you, Galen? Tell us about you?"

[galen_erso]

"I'm a scientist," Galen says. "I love making things, and I love making Bodhi happy."

[imthepilot]

"I'm training to be a botanist." Pema admits softly.

Bodhi drops his fork to hug her, grinning so brightly. "My clever little sister."

Malika smiles. "You're clearly very good at making Bodhi happy. So what are you building at the moment."

[galen_erso]

"Irrigation systems," Galen says. "I made one that could be used on a primitive pre-space-flight world, on the sly, implemented it and ran it for one full growing season. Simple materials, powered and controlled by kyber crystals."

[imthepilot]

Pema raises her eyebrows. "You have access to kyber?" she seems shocked.

[galen_erso]

"We do," Galen says. "Only very small pieces, the kind that make keepsakes for pilgrims, but we do."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi holds out his wedding band for his sisters to see, shining little crystal catching the light. Malika coos happily and grabs Bodhi's hand to examine it.

Pema takes the chance to talk with Galen. "I'd love to see plans for that? My gardens could do with something like that."

Bodhi passes a plate around. "Pema, these frost peas are amazing! So crisp."

[galen_erso]

"Do you have access to kyber?" Galen asks. "The rest is easy."

[imthepilot]

Pema nods and puts down her fork, going over to a cabinet. Bodhi frowns, watching as she brings back a little package wrapped in cloth.

Inside are a seven kyber crystals, slender as Pema's fingers and almost as long.

"Grandmother's necklace." Bodhi breathes. "I assumed mum took it."

[galen_erso]

"That is too precious to put to work as irrigation," Galen breathes, impressed.

[imthepilot]

Malika shrugs. "We had to unwire it to smuggle it off-world anyway. She was never precious about them about them. The smallest one use to power our house on Jedha. Until the Empire came and we had to hide them."

[galen_erso]

"The smallest one will be enough to power an irrigation system that waters a garden which can feed you, and leave something to sell," Galen says. "But it would help to have even smaller ones for decentralised control, the way I use them."

[imthepilot]

Pema grins. "Could you draw the designs for me?"

Bodhi chuckles, looking to the older of his two sisters. "And I worried you wouldn't approve of Galen."