hm_yrie (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} hm_yrie) wrote,@ 2008-01-11 18:19:00 |
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FF100 078. Where?
078. Where?
Rogues: Hobbie Klivian, Inyri Forge
Setting: Shortly after the NJO.
Summary: An explanation as to why Hobbie isn't in any book after the Bantam Era and why Inyri disappears at the end of the NJO.
I own nothing
The tapcafe that Hobbie had chosen was a far cry from the places she’d seen recently. For one, the building was intact. The smell of real food and even realer caf surrounded the room – the clean, neatly decorated human room. It was a world the war didn’t touch; a picture of before to clash harshly against the after she’d seen across most of the galaxy.
Inyri looked up as Hobbie returned to the table, a large, steaming cup of caf in each hand. Silently, she watched as he set one down in front of her, then took his own seat across the table. “I have to admit,” Inyri picked up her mug, “I never expected you to be the person to meet us when we landed.”
“I was a bit surprised to run into you, too. Last I heard, you were still flying with the Rogues.” He sipped at his mug.
The Rogues. Now there was a topic she wasn’t going to touch with a ten foot pole. Instead, she focused on their meeting. “That hug was a bit out of character,” She added, leaving off the part about how wonderful it had been to see a friend. She also tried to remind herself to leave off the part about how she sometimes felt that he’d abandoned them when things were bad. Taking out the pain of the last five years on someone who’d been fortunate enough to escape the worst wouldn’t change anything. She settled on something safe. “I thought you were on Raltiir.”
“I was, for awhile. Certain events required relocation.” Hobbie set down the mug.
“Of course. Force forbid you’re anywhere near the front lines,” she replied before she could catch herself. Well, that had lasted long. One of the things she’d promised herself she wouldn’t say to him when she learned he was running the base on this out of the way world, and she hadn’t managed to keep her mouth shut about it for more than an hour.
Hobbie took it well. Save for the pain that flashed in his eyes, he didn’t react at all. Instead, he lifted the mug and sipped at it again.
Inyri lowered her eyes, “Hobbie, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I’m aware that’s what most of you think.” He shrugged, “To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t say something before now. We’ve been talking for,” he checked his chrono, “At least an hour. You made it a whole fifty nine minutes longer than Wes did when we had this discussion.”
“Really?” She’d only seen Janson once in the past five years, but when the topic of Hobbie had come up, he’d defended him.
“He punched me,” Hobbie admitted.
Inyri pushed her mug to the side, no longer interested in the caf. “I asked him about you once. He told me you had your reasons and to drop it.” It sounded a lot more simple than the conversation actually had been. When she hadn’t let the topic drop, they’d ended up screaming at each other. She hadn’t talked with Janson since.
“Was there a question in there?” Hobbie asked.
“I think it’s a ‘why?’”
“A combination of things. About a year before the Vong first started to invade the galaxy, I was in a speeder crash.” He grinned, “I know, I can’t seem to avoid crashing even when I’m just driving a landspeeder down the street. Ironically it wasn’t my fault…for once. The other driver was on the wrong side and we collided head on. Supposedly some sort of mind altering substance was involved. I still don’t know all the details. I suffered some head injuries, and while I’ve healed just fine my reflexes never quite came back. I still probably would have jumped in my X-wing and joined the rest of you on the front lines, though, except that when the invasion began, my wife was pregnant.” Hobbie paused to drink some of his caf.
“So you chose to stay on Ralltiir,” Inyri finished.
“Initially. I convinced the planetary government that we needed to at least prepare our own world for attack, so they let me start training pilots, most of whom I then sent to join the war effort. After Wes and I cleared the air, I started directing most of them his way. He’d then get them hooked up with someone in Starfighter Command. It streamlined the whole process. Unfortunately, Ralltiir figured out what we were up to and became uneasy. They liked life just fine the way it was and dreaded the Vong crashing in on their party. After awhile, me and others I had recruited to teach were told to cease and desist. When we didn’t, we were asked to leave.”
“Asked?” Inyri arched an eyebrow.
“There may have been heavy assault blasters involved with the request,” Hobbie remarked. “I got word to Wedge and he sniffed around until he found this place. It wasn’t in the Vong’s path and there wasn’t a whole lot here to put at risk. We moved out here, Tycho and Wedge arranged for refugees to be sent this direction, and the entire operation just kept going. It’s not the front lines, but I did what I could.”
And now she felt like one of the biggest idiots in the galaxy. “I had no idea…I really am…”
“Don’t worry about it, Inyri.” Hobbie shrugged. “As I said, I know how it looks. We didn’t exactly advertise ‘Piloting Lessons with Hobbie Klivian’ on all the street corners.” He played with the mug a moment, then awkwardly tried to change the subject, “You mentioned you were retiring once the post-war skirmishes end on the way here from the base.”
Feeling slightly hypocritical, she made a wry face. “Well, it’s not like there’s going to be a whole lot of demand for middle-aged snubfighter pilots in the job market.”
Hobbie nodded. “And the real reason is…”
She blinked, not expecting him to call her on it. “Honestly? Sometime in all of this, I realized that if I died, I would never have lived my life.” She saw him start to respond and stopped him. “Let me finish. When I agreed to join the squadron, I did it because I wanted to honor my sister’s memory. The civil war…that was Lujayne’s fight. It meant everything to her. And even though I did it for her, I did it for me, too. It was redeeming. Then the war ended and we got what Lujayne wanted, but I stayed, because at least then I could help protect it, you know? And then, one day, it all went away. I stayed out of obligation, but now the obligation is over and I want to try to live like, well, normal people do. Of course, my pension went up in smoke with Coruscant and the New Republic, so I’ll be starting from scratch, but…” she shrugged.
“What are you planning on doing?” Hobbie finished his caf and set the mug on the table.
“Not quite sure yet. My father used to teach a variety of trade skills to prisoners. I picked up a lot of it growing up. I’ve got options. I just need to choose a world out of the way where I can set up a business and a home.” Inyri glanced at her caf. Chances were it was lukewarm at best by now.
“And a family?”
She shook her head. “That ship blasted off a long time ago.” Her comlink beeped and she sighed, unclipping it from her belt. “Major Forge.”
“The fuel guy says we need to pay him,” the voice of one of her pilots came over the comlink.
“No Ma’am? Or at least ‘Major’?” Hobbie asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Kids. I blame their teachers.” Inyri turned back to the comlink. “I’ll be there shortly.” She shut it off, not bothering to listen to the reply. “I’m sorry to drink and run, but they’ll get into trouble if I don’t handle this.”
“I used to fly with Wes Janson,” Hobbie replied, “Trust me, I understand.” He stood and picked up his jacket. “I’ve got my speeder outside. I’ll drive you back.”
</cut>
078. Where?
Rogues: Hobbie Klivian, Inyri Forge
Setting: Shortly after the NJO.
Summary: An explanation as to why Hobbie isn't in any book after the Bantam Era and why Inyri disappears at the end of the NJO.
I own nothing
The tapcafe that Hobbie had chosen was a far cry from the places she’d seen recently. For one, the building was intact. The smell of real food and even realer caf surrounded the room – the clean, neatly decorated human room. It was a world the war didn’t touch; a picture of before to clash harshly against the after she’d seen across most of the galaxy.
Inyri looked up as Hobbie returned to the table, a large, steaming cup of caf in each hand. Silently, she watched as he set one down in front of her, then took his own seat across the table. “I have to admit,” Inyri picked up her mug, “I never expected you to be the person to meet us when we landed.”
“I was a bit surprised to run into you, too. Last I heard, you were still flying with the Rogues.” He sipped at his mug.
The Rogues. Now there was a topic she wasn’t going to touch with a ten foot pole. Instead, she focused on their meeting. “That hug was a bit out of character,” She added, leaving off the part about how wonderful it had been to see a friend. She also tried to remind herself to leave off the part about how she sometimes felt that he’d abandoned them when things were bad. Taking out the pain of the last five years on someone who’d been fortunate enough to escape the worst wouldn’t change anything. She settled on something safe. “I thought you were on Raltiir.”
“I was, for awhile. Certain events required relocation.” Hobbie set down the mug.
“Of course. Force forbid you’re anywhere near the front lines,” she replied before she could catch herself. Well, that had lasted long. One of the things she’d promised herself she wouldn’t say to him when she learned he was running the base on this out of the way world, and she hadn’t managed to keep her mouth shut about it for more than an hour.
Hobbie took it well. Save for the pain that flashed in his eyes, he didn’t react at all. Instead, he lifted the mug and sipped at it again.
Inyri lowered her eyes, “Hobbie, I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. I’m aware that’s what most of you think.” He shrugged, “To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t say something before now. We’ve been talking for,” he checked his chrono, “At least an hour. You made it a whole fifty nine minutes longer than Wes did when we had this discussion.”
“Really?” She’d only seen Janson once in the past five years, but when the topic of Hobbie had come up, he’d defended him.
“He punched me,” Hobbie admitted.
Inyri pushed her mug to the side, no longer interested in the caf. “I asked him about you once. He told me you had your reasons and to drop it.” It sounded a lot more simple than the conversation actually had been. When she hadn’t let the topic drop, they’d ended up screaming at each other. She hadn’t talked with Janson since.
“Was there a question in there?” Hobbie asked.
“I think it’s a ‘why?’”
“A combination of things. About a year before the Vong first started to invade the galaxy, I was in a speeder crash.” He grinned, “I know, I can’t seem to avoid crashing even when I’m just driving a landspeeder down the street. Ironically it wasn’t my fault…for once. The other driver was on the wrong side and we collided head on. Supposedly some sort of mind altering substance was involved. I still don’t know all the details. I suffered some head injuries, and while I’ve healed just fine my reflexes never quite came back. I still probably would have jumped in my X-wing and joined the rest of you on the front lines, though, except that when the invasion began, my wife was pregnant.” Hobbie paused to drink some of his caf.
“So you chose to stay on Ralltiir,” Inyri finished.
“Initially. I convinced the planetary government that we needed to at least prepare our own world for attack, so they let me start training pilots, most of whom I then sent to join the war effort. After Wes and I cleared the air, I started directing most of them his way. He’d then get them hooked up with someone in Starfighter Command. It streamlined the whole process. Unfortunately, Ralltiir figured out what we were up to and became uneasy. They liked life just fine the way it was and dreaded the Vong crashing in on their party. After awhile, me and others I had recruited to teach were told to cease and desist. When we didn’t, we were asked to leave.”
“Asked?” Inyri arched an eyebrow.
“There may have been heavy assault blasters involved with the request,” Hobbie remarked. “I got word to Wedge and he sniffed around until he found this place. It wasn’t in the Vong’s path and there wasn’t a whole lot here to put at risk. We moved out here, Tycho and Wedge arranged for refugees to be sent this direction, and the entire operation just kept going. It’s not the front lines, but I did what I could.”
And now she felt like one of the biggest idiots in the galaxy. “I had no idea…I really am…”
“Don’t worry about it, Inyri.” Hobbie shrugged. “As I said, I know how it looks. We didn’t exactly advertise ‘Piloting Lessons with Hobbie Klivian’ on all the street corners.” He played with the mug a moment, then awkwardly tried to change the subject, “You mentioned you were retiring once the post-war skirmishes end on the way here from the base.”
Feeling slightly hypocritical, she made a wry face. “Well, it’s not like there’s going to be a whole lot of demand for middle-aged snubfighter pilots in the job market.”
Hobbie nodded. “And the real reason is…”
She blinked, not expecting him to call her on it. “Honestly? Sometime in all of this, I realized that if I died, I would never have lived my life.” She saw him start to respond and stopped him. “Let me finish. When I agreed to join the squadron, I did it because I wanted to honor my sister’s memory. The civil war…that was Lujayne’s fight. It meant everything to her. And even though I did it for her, I did it for me, too. It was redeeming. Then the war ended and we got what Lujayne wanted, but I stayed, because at least then I could help protect it, you know? And then, one day, it all went away. I stayed out of obligation, but now the obligation is over and I want to try to live like, well, normal people do. Of course, my pension went up in smoke with Coruscant and the New Republic, so I’ll be starting from scratch, but…” she shrugged.
“What are you planning on doing?” Hobbie finished his caf and set the mug on the table.
“Not quite sure yet. My father used to teach a variety of trade skills to prisoners. I picked up a lot of it growing up. I’ve got options. I just need to choose a world out of the way where I can set up a business and a home.” Inyri glanced at her caf. Chances were it was lukewarm at best by now.
“And a family?”
She shook her head. “That ship blasted off a long time ago.” Her comlink beeped and she sighed, unclipping it from her belt. “Major Forge.”
“The fuel guy says we need to pay him,” the voice of one of her pilots came over the comlink.
“No Ma’am? Or at least ‘Major’?” Hobbie asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Kids. I blame their teachers.” Inyri turned back to the comlink. “I’ll be there shortly.” She shut it off, not bothering to listen to the reply. “I’m sorry to drink and run, but they’ll get into trouble if I don’t handle this.”
“I used to fly with Wes Janson,” Hobbie replied, “Trust me, I understand.” He stood and picked up his jacket. “I’ve got my speeder outside. I’ll drive you back.”
</cut>
