(closed) we do the impossible

[sfoils]

CHARACTERS ▶ Luke Skywalker & Wedge Antilles
LOCATION ▶ Shipyards
SUMMARY ▶ Luke and Wedge meet outside their Matrix for the first time
WARNINGS ▶ None
NOTES ▶ Gross feelings incoming

The shipyards never sleep. And it's a good thing, too.

Wedge works under the belly of a hovercraft, cables spilling out of its insides like the viscera of a mechanical whale. Four ships lost means more work for mechanics, tighter, hastened schedules. Hovercrafts must be replaced. There can't be gaps in the Zion Defense Grid. Their lives depend on it.

There's grease tracks on Wedge's forehead, dark brown fringe gone coal black. By now all the mechanics stink of metal and sweat and oil. It's an unspoken agreement not to bring up each other's stench. Politicians get to stay clean. Mechanics and engineers and soldiers and people who get shit done don't.

His shift ended two hours ago. But Wedge doesn't want to leave. He'd rather work past his feelings than acknowledge them. He's just come off a successful tour, he's primed to become a captain. Yet it's a hollow victory.

The people he truly wishes to celebrate with are not here.

Sithspit. He misses them so, so much.

"I need a break." Wedge jumps off the platform, clocking out. Heart-aching, gut-wrenching melancholy isn't an excuse for frying delicate electrical and mechanical parts. Wedge refuses to be the guy that pushes them off schedule.

So to clear his mind, he takes a stroll.

Comments

[last_ofthe_jedi]

There's still a small part of Luke that has remained in a state of denial, that all of this is just a dream and he's about to wake up. In reality, it was the other way around.

In an attempt to solidify that in his head, Luke's taken it upon himself to venture through the shipyards and talk to other crews, see if anyone could use a pilot. He doesn't know much about the hovercrafts, but he's eager to learn and his past experience should give him a big advantage. So long as he plays to his strengths he should be able to find something to do. Luke hates feeling useless.

The long walk is a bit tiring as Luke's body is still recovering from extraction and he's had to wrap himself up tightly to keep warm.

There are several mechanics and other members of various crews around. Luke tries to keep an eye out for someone who looks at least moderately approachable. One mechanic shuffles past him and as Luke locks his gaze onto the man's face, his heart thuds and he stops dead in his tracks, then turns around to face him.

In a choked, hoarse voice he manages to utter the first word that comes to mind, "Wedge."