aimedforthemoon | (no subject)

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Esfir leads Cal into to her room and shuts the door behind them. Her room has changed from the last time he was here - she's been building bookcases, and even though one is incomplete with tools and pieces of wood on the floor, the room looks more homey.

On the wall is pin-up board, complete with both black-and-white and colour photographs of her old life, but the model aircraft are gone from her desk.

"Um, mind the mess."

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Cal nods. "Thanks," he says, taking a seat. A brief, distracted smile crosses his face as he remembers the last time he was up here. Mickey Mouse doesn't really seem like quite such a big deal anymore.

Esfir moves to sit next to him, taking his hand again.

"You'll be oke," she says at last. "Once the shock fades."

"Yeah," Cal says. "Beats being dead." That's a given. ". . . Where does your door go?" If she's living in the Star Wars universe now, does the Bar know? Does her door open there now? Or does it still take her home?

"The Liberty right now. If not Han's world, it...it would be Weyland's."

". . . That would be the god?" Cal asks, surprise crossing his face. He hadn't thought of that.

Maybe he'll find out where it was he woke up after all.

Shit.

"Yes. It was...part of it. I don't go back to my world."

"Part of it? Part of your deal, you mean?" He really is trying to hide his sense of relief, even if he is failing spectacularly. He squeezes her hand, though, saying genuinely, "I'm sorry."

"There are other Russias," she says, quietly, but that smile is a trifle sad.

"It's...You know. I wasn't going to go home anyway. But, yes. It's...I am now part of Weyland's world, but I can live in Han's. It works so far."

"That's good," Cal says, then smiles. "You're a perfect fit for Star Wars, anyway." Much easier to talk about Esfir right now.

"You think so?"

"Oh, god, definitely. Running all over the place fighting bad guys who can't aim for shit, anyway? That's perfect." He pauses. "Just don't piss off Darth Vader. It's really not worth it."

"I am a lowly Flight Officer, I do not think I will get chance to piss off the big bad henchman."

"Good," Cal says firmly. "Keep it that way. He's not a henchman, though. He's the bad guy. He goes around blowing up planets."

"I thought there was Emperor...Vader goes around him?"

"Oh, yeah." Cal looks sheepish. "Uh. It's been a while since I watched the movies, and I only watched them high. If I say something that sounds wrong, it probably is."

"I only know what Han told me, and what I pick up from listening to other pilots. You know more than me overall, I think."

"Well, what do you know?" Cal asks. It'll be easier to try to fill in the holes. Probably.

"There is a large spacestation called the Death Star. The one we will be attacking will be the second - the first was destroyed four years ago, after it blew up Alderaan. That act was what drove a lot of people towards the rebellion. Planets are risky as bases, as we have to keep moving. Space is the same. The Empire have the numbers and the training, but their pilots are not...they think as being in a team, as part of a machine, and that means they are ultimately not very good pilots."

She thinks.

"Han was caught before, and placed into....hibernation. It made him blind, but he is better now. And people generally don't ask where you are from or why you are there.

And I know that the Empire sounds like a mix of the Nazis and my own Soviet Union in their...attitude towards people and places, and I have no idea how I feel about that." Beat. "If I concentrate on the Nazi side, it is easier."

Edited 2008-11-09 06:58 (UTC)

"Probably more like Nazis, yeah," Cal agrees quickly. "Blowing up an entire planet definitely sounds like genocide to me. Yeah, that was Leia's planet." He thinks for a moment, then nods. "That all sounds pretty much like the outline for the trilogy. I'm not sure how many details I can really fill in. I mean, there's a bunch of stuff with the Jedi and the Force, they basically got wiped out but they're coming back, the Jedi I mean, and shit how much of this should I even be telling you?" He knows what happens in these scifi worlds when you fuck with the timeline.

The issue regarding the Imperial pilots made her think of her own country, but if Cal agrees Nazis, then she isn't going to think about it any more.

"Not who wins battle - I don't want to have those lives on my soul. But, Leia? I have heard the name, but...." She spreads her fingers. "Her and Luke, I can't ask anyway except Han, and with him, I'm asking other questions."

"Yeah, Leia and Luke, uh." Cal hesitates, but Esfir isn't stupid. She knows what's best kept to herself. "They're twins, but they might not know it yet. I, uh, can't remember when they find out. Second movie? At least the second one, because the first one had a thing with them that turned out to be kind of incestuous. But then Leia hooked up with Han, and Luke - I dunno, I always figured he was a virgin. He's kinda whiny."

"Leia ends up with Han?"

There's something about her response, as careful and even as it is, that makes Cal pause warily.

"Yes," he answers cautiously.

"Men are bastards."

. . . oh.

Well, of course. Even straight men go for Han Solo.

"He probably doesn't know yet, then," Cal assures her. "I mean, he's not a dick."