Downtime

From TFC Galactopedia

"So you've actually met Losi Starfire?" Seira Zettin gushed, eyes wide.

Zannah laughed. "No! I did see her in concert once, though." The popular singer had played a venue on Coruscant while Zannah was in her second year at the academy. She and most of her squad mates had attended. The gathering back at their barracks after that concert reminded her a bit of current circumstances. Half a dozen pilots from both Second and Fourth squadrons were scattered around the lounge. The scent of caf and local chk'tah filled the air. Zannah had acquired a taste for caf during her stint at the academy, and several of Fourth's pilots had picked up the habit from her.

"How long were you on Corus- ah, 'scuse me. It's Imperial Center now, right?" Jonas Tesk, one of Sen's pilots asked from his seat on the floor. Seated on the battered couch behind him, Talen McKleary fussed with his shoulder length mane, doing something unnecessary and feminine with it. Other than fidgeting occasionally, Jonas largely ignored her.

Zannah nodded. "Just about three years," she replied. "I'd have probably entered the officer track if I'd stayed for the forth."

"Hey, wait a sec," Sen McKie chimed in from the comfortable chair he'd been flopped in. "The word here was that you'd been sent there to 'expand your educational experience' or somesuch bantha crap."

"Heh." Zannah smirked. "I had a tutor who used the names of her ridiculous herd of decorative paffen as passwords to protect her files. I spent part of one afternoon going through names until I found her current one, copied my transcripts, and sent my own application to the Flight Academy. I made sure no one who could have stopped me found out until after I was well on my way to Coruscant. Mother and I traded some heated Holonet conversations when I got there, but when she didn't send anyone immediately to drag me home, I figured that was the closest thing to permission I was going to get. No doubt she spun it to the local media as 'finishing school'."

Talen nodded, still preoccupied with Jonas' hair. "Sounds about right." She glanced up and switched subjects. "Doesn't Lady Fellon-Touras still have a villa on Imperial Center?"

"She does," Zannah acknowledged, feeling a twinge of affection for her maternal grandmother. "And she's still phased out as a glitbiter most of the time. I saw her a few times while I was there. She actually provided me with my transport home, though I doubt she remembered past ordering her servants to arrange it. Half the time I was with her, she called me by my mother's name."

"That had to be awkward," Sen added with a smirk.

"Not as awkward," Zannah said, "as the invitation I got from Bespari Delkados."

Jonas straightened. "Lemoria's senator? What did she want?"

"Heh." Zannah's lip twisted. "What most of the Aristo mothers with unattached male offspring want: me to take her son as mate." The vixen shuddered. "She spent the better part of an afternoon trying to convince me. No thank you. I didn't like Shaunon Delkados when I was fourteen, and I certainly don't like him now after everything he's done. His mother got her appointment to the Imperial Senate because it was the only way to assuage her pride after Shaunon's name was struck from the list. They all make me feel like some lottery prize. Play the game long enough, and one lucky boy wins it all. Lady's Name, it's so depressing."

"Huh." Seira looked thoughtful, her yellow furred ears flipping up and down. "I'm glad my parents haven't ever pressured me like that. I mean, if I take a mate, I want it to be our decision, y'know?"

Zannah nodded. "Makes sense to me, Sei. Most of the Aristo caste doesn't see it like that, though. Children are for making alliances. You use them as best you can. How they feel about it is less important than making a good match to profit your house."

A faint frown creased Sen's brow. "You make it sound so cold… Almost callous."

"It is cold and callous, Sen." Zannah's brown eyes were serious. "My mother handed me a list of potentially acceptable suitors the month after my first cycle, and told me I had better get on with choosing one."

Talen scowled as she finished with Jonas' hair. "That's horrible."

Zannah snorted. "You're telling me!"

Seira fidgeted, clearly uncomfortable with the turn in conversation. "So Cap… Was it so different from here? I know the academy stuff was and all, but… did you get invited to the palace or any parties?"

"Na," the white furred vixen replied. "Cadets don't get invited to the palace. Like I said, I did get invitations to the homes of several Coruscant Aristos not too long after I'd been at the Academy, though. After the first one, my roommate told me that it was pretty common for the upper crust to invite first year cadets over once. Something about "making the poor backworld bumpkins feel more at home". I don't think she quite knew what to do when I kept getting them, though. She was the daughter of a Coruscant shipping magnate, and she thought she was helping out her ignorant midrim roommate." Zannah chuckled softly. "She just about had a fit when she found out I tossed the damn things, though. I had my fill of balls and galas growing up. I was finally doing what I wanted to do. No way was I going to put on a damn dress and simper at nobles who only wanted me there because of my family connections."

"Wow." Seira shifted on the arm of the battered divan she was perched on. "I never thought being Aristo could be so… icky."

Zannah smiled wryly. "That's an apt way to put it. On the outside it's all glitz and glamour. They're the beautiful people getting the best of everything without working for anything, running on their arrogance alone. And just like everything else, it has its own nasty underbelly. Most of the Aristo class doesn't see it, though. They prefer to live ignoring the bantha in the parlor until they're neck deep in poodoo." She dropped her gaze. "I've had to stare it eyeball to eyeball too many times to believe in the illusion."

Talen smirked, teasing, "Which is why you're here drinking that dewback spit you call caf with us instead of at the palace being fawned over by lovely Aristo boys and drinking aged Nercosan wine?"

"Precisely." Zannah's smile widened into a full grin as she looked up again. The warm sense of belonging grew in her chest. These were her pilots, her people, but somehow knowing they accepted her on their terms, accepted her enough to tease, made all the difference. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

"I dunno, Cap. I tried that caf. Seems to me you got the raw end of the deal."

Zannah chuckled. "I'll survive."

Sen eyed the caf pot suspiciously. "How do you stand that stuff?" he asked. "I swear the crud the mechanics cleaned out of my skim's filters was more appetizing."

"Acquired taste."

"Lady's sake, I certainly hope so!" He stared at her in mock horror. "I was about to call a medic if you claimed a natural inclination towards drinking that sludge."

She covered a smile by lifting her mug for a sip. "Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it. Brewed right, it's quite a kick in the tail."

Sen looked mournful. "As if my tail could take more kicking."

"Hey, that was your own fault." Zannah made a face at him. "It did teach you not to grab me, though, didn't it?"

"Maybe." He crossed his arms behind his head and looked unrepentant.

Zannah smirked. "You're welcome to try me again anytime, McKie, if you think you're up to it."

"I might just take you up on that."

"I look forward to it."

"Good."

Seira looked from one captain to the other, obviously confused. "Um… am I missing something here?"

"Nothing important." Zannah smiled and flicked her ears. At least, the thought came to her unbidden, Nothing important yet.