Bankor

The flight deck is so constantly busy that one wouldn't think there would be much room for idlers, but Tethys has successfully found a spot to tuck herself out of the way of traffic, perched atop a large crate stenciled 'RATION BARS, HUMAN STANDARD FORMULA' that is probably headed down to the planet's surface on the next transport shuttle in a few hours. From this spot she has a good vantage point to watch the crews swarm around the still forms of the Spitfires, fueling, tinkering, loading and unloading various objects, and generally performing all the mysterious tasks required to keep the fighter wings prepared to launch at a moment's notice.

Tethys alternates between watching the crews at work and skimming through some text on the datapad resting in her lap.

She'd hear a smooth voice come from her side "Well this is certainly not where I'd expect to run into you Knight Carrak." If she turned to look she'd see the smuggler captain approaching with a smile on his lips. He walked towards her with his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

She glances up from her datapad at the sound of her name, raising an eyebrow as she recognizes the speaker. "Where would you expect to find me, Captain Dolross?"

he saddled up next to her and leaned on the box "Well not sure, the observation deck pondering some great mystery about the force and how it weaves through things or something. I may have grown up near the temple but I didn't hang around too many jedi growing up. Not sure what you all get up to during your down time. But I didn't imagine it'd be sitting on a flight deck." he shrugged with a chuckle "perhaps I shouldn't make assumptions about things I clearly know little about."

One corner of her mouth quirks up slightly. "You can ponder the mysteries of the Force more or less anywhere, actually. But at the moment the mystery I am interested in is how all this," she opens a hand to gesture across the hangar, "works. I understand it's to be a very critical part of the next operation."

Jax looks out at the flight deck "Huh I suppose being around it for so many years I took for granted what it must look like to someone who isn't as well acquainted. It is a sort of dance isn't it? choreographed in a way, people moving about knowing where to go quick and efficient to and fro. I can see why you would be interested in it. Was there something in particular you were curious about?"

"Not specifically." Tethys looks out across the deck again. "Well... hm. You were a fighter pilot at one time, I recall, Captain Dolross." She turns an inquisitive glance in his direction.

"Yes I was," he said with a nod "I flew for the Republic for about 5 years. Never learned much about this side of things, didn't have the head for mechanics and such."

"That is interesting to me." She looks speculatively between Jax and the ground crews. "Jedi build our own lightsabers, you know. It's quite rare for anyone besides its owner to repair or maintain one. Infantry soldiers don't construct their blasters, but I have gathered that the relationship is a similarly intimate one apart from that."

The contrast with the starfighter pilots and their 'weapons' is obvious.

Among the crew she spied Draagh working on a shuttle with a droid. Doing basic maintenance and such it looks like.

Tethys Carrack wrote:"That is interesting to me." She looks speculatively between Jax and the ground crews. "Jedi build our own lightsabers, you know. It's quite rare for anyone besides its owner to repair or maintain one. Infantry soldiers don't construct their blasters, but I have gathered that the relationship is a similarly intimate one apart from that."

The contrast with the starfighter pilots and their 'weapons' is obvious.

"Most of us,....them" he corrected himself after a slight pause "still grow a fairly close attachment to their machine if they can. But unlike blasters those birds are incredibly complex machines and to be qualified to work on them takes a lot of school. I know basic maintenance and such but as far as repairs I'm clueless. It's like how a kids parents aren't usually doctors, they care about their kid but they don't have the knowledge to always fix what's wrong."

"A starfighter does have a great many more subsystems than a lightsaber." Tethys concedes with a thoughtful nod. "I don't rely on mine for life support, certainly. So you still feel familiar enough to fly with confidence, without knowing in detail how it all works?"

She notices Draagh at work and her brows draw together a little bit. If he should happen to look toward her and Jax in the course of his work, though, she'll wave a hand in greeting.

Teffa and Arbee, a seemingly top-heavy orbital maintenance droid, were around the flight deck. Seeing as they will be here a few days, the Chiss was at work setting up the 'entrance' to her ship, the Trunk. That mainly just consisted of hanging and rolling out plastic tarps to cover the stairs up to her ship as a make-shift door.

Tethys Carrack wrote:She notices Draagh at work and her brows draw together a little bit. If he should happen to look toward her and Jax in the course of his work, though, she'll wave a hand in greeting.

Draagh offered a rare smile and waved before returning to his work.

Tethys Carrack wrote:"A starfighter does have a great many more subsystems than a lightsaber." Tethys concedes with a thoughtful nod. "I don't rely on mine for life support, certainly. So you still feel familiar enough to fly with confidence, without knowing in detail how it all works?"

She notices Draagh at work and her brows draw together a little bit. If he should happen to look toward her and Jax in the course of his work, though, she'll wave a hand in greeting.

Jax nodded "Well I trusted the men and women of the flight crew to keep everything in working order, same as they trusted me to fly well and protect the republic. The military is like a big living organism with different parts having different jobs and other parts having confidence in everyone to do what its supposed to." he gave her a small smile "besides if I'm out in the big empty and something goes catastrophically wrong no matter how much knowledge I have it likely won't matter in the midst of battle."

Jax notices Tethys' expression and follows her eyes to Draagh and gives the man a friendly smile and small wave "You know Draagh well? I remember he was there that night on the beach but he left pretty quick." Jax asked casually.

Jax also noticed the odd ball captain of the Trunk running around but figured he might talk to her later.

"Not well, no. But we have had several interesting conversations. I should speak with him again some time," she says, following Jax's gesture with her eyes.

"That's very illuminating, in any case, Captain. I see now that the pilot flying the craft is one among many contributors to whatever it achieves. That makes a ship, or a fighter, more like a human being than like a lightsaber, in a sense. Not an extension of one person, but the shared charge of many."

"hmm interesting indeed, he was a pretty quiet guy while he was on board the Midnight." Jax said with a thoughtful expression before shaking his head

"in a way yes but still in a way like a jedi fights with a lightsaber making the weapon a part of the wielder's body so too must a pilot become one with the craft. You can't be two separate entities you need to make the craft move like its a part of your body, without conscious thought. In a dog fight if you stop to think about things you get hit. So much of it is just instincts and flying by your gut. They are different from a blaster or a lightsaber but they still share many of the same necessary concepts in their use."

"I have the strong impression that we disagree about many things, but he intrigues me," Tethys says. Poor Draagh's ears must be burning.

She looks from Jax to the Spitfires, and back to Jax again. "Do you miss it, Captain? Flying a fighter?"

Jax looks to the flight deck for a long moment "In a way. In another I recognize it is part of my life that is over and am excited to look forward to the future." He looks back to Tethys "Things almost always look better in our memories than they actually were."

He smiles "I enjoy my life now and have few regrets." just one really big one.

She nods. "I imagine a Republic fighter pilot would not have met your friend Azura, either." Though she's not entirely convinced Jax wouldn't be better off that way... he does seem to care for her.

"Among other things, I could have been dead by now. As dangerous as my current job can be at times it has nothing on flying a lightly armored craft into a hail of fire from a capital ship."

though maybe i was supposed to. He thought with a touch of melancholy that maybe showed through a bit in his expression.

"Though somehow I don't imagine it was fear of death that led you to change occupations," Tethys says, raising an eyebrow.

Jax's expression was sober in a way Tethys had rarely ever seen it "that would be correct, there were many reasons I left the military and the fact that it was dangerous is probably the least of them."

"Military service seems to be a waypoint for many and a lifetime career for only a relative few," she observes in a neutral sort of voice, leaving room for him to elaborate on his own reasons for moving on if he wants to do so. "I wonder if peace with the Empire will change that."

Jax shrugs "It just depends on your time in the service I suppose, some people realize they aren't ready for the mantle of leadership. That they can't bear having that much responsibility, peoples lives in their hands." his eyes are far away and there is a back light of pain to his gaze as he looks around the flight deck.

"Peace with the empire is tenuous, our goals will always remain opposed as far as I can see. We are only in a breather period both parties agreeing that they need to stop and build for awhile before going back at it like a pair of starving nexu."