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Nath put his comm away with a sigh. Why Wyl insisted on calling him at this hour was anyone's guess, and he was less than pleased. But he’d agreed to come take a look and was making his way to the hangar bay. Finding the younger man poking and prodding at his A-Wing, Nath grunted to make his presence known, Wyl’s head snapping up and turning to face him.
“Hey! So I don’t know what the problem is but my hyperdrive is completely offline.”
Yup. So this was probably going to be worth his time. Standing behind Wyl to peer into the ship, Nath grunted. “Did you try and get a mechanic proper to come take a look?”
Wyl shrugged. “They are all on sleep cycle and I didn’t want to be annoying."
Nath had to suppress a comment about how he too was on sleep cycle, and that Wyl ought to be as well. Rather, he pulled out a severed wire. “There’s your problem, brother.”
Eyes widening at the discovery, Wyl took the wire into his own hands. “Huh.”
“You must have accidentally cut it last time you were tinkering. Got to be careful with this stuff.”
Wyl chuckled. “Says the man whose Y-Wing is more homemade bits than factory parts.”
“Hey, they work don’t they?”
Without being asked to help, Nath pulled out the required tools as Wyl fished out the other end of the wire. It was not long before the hyperdrive was connected once again. “Thanks. Want to grab a drink?” Wyl asked after running a final systems check, shutting down the starship. A large hand clapped down on the man’s shoulder.
“No way, we are getting you to bed.” Nath grumbled as he turned Wyl towards the barracks. “Worked hard today and there’s a big mission tomorrow, we’ll all need to be well rested.”
“Alright, Dad.” Wyl whined as they made their way down the hall.
Dad? Nath tensed at the word. Not because it insisted that he was old, he’d come to terms with his age plenty long ago and was frankly proud of the fact he had survived the war so long. But rather, it implied that he cared for his squadron, that he was somehow responsible for their well being. That was, frankly, horrifying.
Conversation gone dead, Nath let Wyl go with more of a hum than an actual bidding of goodnight and then, laying in his own cot, he’d hardly catch a whiff of sleep, mind haunted by the fatherly sentiment.
When he finally did fall asleep, what felt like a moment later he was awakened by a thrumming bassline and screaching vocals.
Chass.
“Turn that down, would you?” He grumbled as he sat up, the theelin woman across from him busy at work ‘testing’ some new sound chips she’d won in a card game the night before.
“Why?” She yelled over the noise.
“Because it's obnoxious.” Nath retorted, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Chass mumbled while begrudgingly turning down the volume dial. “Whatever, Dad.”
Nath froze. Again. The D-Word. Rising to his feet, he mechanically made his way to the refresher. After washing his face, he looked up into his own reflection. Was he really getting that soft? He decided then and there that on today’s mission he’d be as stoic as they came. Every man for himself.
Then, on the mission, he covered Kairos’ flank for nearly the entire time, protecting a precious cargo haul from waves of TIEs. What sounded like an appreciative buzz came over the comm as they reached the drop point. That was strange, and due to his own paranoia his brain interpreted the tone as ‘father’.
When they got back to the hangar, Nath made a point of stalking straight to the on-ship bar, the Krayt Hut. Not long after, Yrica came sliding up beside him, which was a bit unexpected but perhaps his near silence on the comms on the mission drove the point home to anyone with a lick of common sense that he wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately for Nath, Yrica was terrible at getting a read on folks and offered a flat greeting as she ordered a drink.
“I’ve got something for you.” She said while waiting for her order to arrive.
Nath looked her over from the corner of his eye. “What?”
The woman slid a thick parcel across the table. It was a book. An actual bound volume of flimsi. This caught Nath’s attention. Reading the cover, it seemed to be some sort of collected poetry novel.
“It was found in the barracks. Someone must have transferred and forgot it.”
After uttering some thanks, Nath flipped open the cover to find a handwritten message on the first page. ‘For dad, for always being there for me. -Y’
It took all of his self control to not chuck the damn thing across the room. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”
Yrica shook her head, a bit alarmed at his sudden change in mood. “Look, it's not my book! Tee-five said you’d like it!”
Tee-five. Of course. The decrepit C1 series droid would be at the bottom of this. Tucking the book under his arm, Nath stormed off.
Finding T5 mingling with Yrica’s astromech, he shooed the R series away and whacked the flattened dome of T5 with the book. “What’s the big idea huh?”
T5 warbled out a series of beeps.
“Oh so that’s how it’s going to be?”
Another response from the astromech. “Chass too? And Wyl? That was a risky move cutting the hyperdrive line my friend." Nath rubbed his temples as T5 beeped a defense for their actions. "I don’t want to know how you dragged Kairos into this. Just. Don’t. Ok?”
T5 reluctantly agreed with the human. “You really scared me there buddy.” Nath’s posture softened. “I get it. You want to make sure I keep caring about something. But this wasn’t the way to go about it.”
“Well if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.”
Turns out General Syndula had been lurking around. Nath huffed. “A good start would be for the squad to look out for each other so I don’t have to pull up all the slack.”
Hera nodded. “I think that’s something you will have to address with them personally. And just so you know, I really do think the others look up to you, so whatever it is you are doing, something there is right.”
“If you say so.” Nath would never admit it, but the almost compliment did feel good coming from the general, especially seeing just who he was. T5 nudged his shin with an encouraging beep.
“Your droid has the right idea. I wish my C1 unit was so caring.”
Nath had heard the rumors of the general’s droid, Chopper. A general menace it was.
“Trade you.” He joked.
Hera shook her head with a wink. “Never, he’s family. Just like your squad is to you.”
Nath couldn’t rebut that without lying, so he just nodded. “Yeah.”
“Get some rest, Nath, you look like you need it.”
Sometimes the general could sound just like his mother, but he kept that comment to himself.