Repairing Beyond Ambition - Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order fanfic *EDITING*

Chapter 16

As the trio rotated on managing the comms, Altheeda always seemed to miss the opportunity to talk to Cal. She didn't mind too much, knowing that Cere and Greez would have been more helpful to speak with. When off comms duty, she spent her time organising the food they had brought back from their scavenge. She began pondering with her ideas on how to make it a meal for them all. After a while, she decided to pull up a stool to the kitchen counter and tinker with the drinks machine.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed Greez enter the lounge area from the cockpit and swivelled on the chair to face him. He made eye contact with her and she smiled at him before speaking.

"This ship; the Stinger Mantis, it's a leisure ship, right?"

"Yeah." Greez spoke casually.

"Do you struggle a lot in combat situations with it?" She quizzed curiously.

"Nah, I'm a good pilot." He bragged.

"It wasn't a question about your piloting abilities, you told us all about those."

"Well, I guess we can use upgrades." Greez spoke thoughtfully.

"Do you know the type of guns that are attached to the ship?"

"Why would I?"

"It's your ship isn't it?"

"No need to be judgey, kid." Greez raised his hands. "I ain't like you with your expert knowledge."

"I'll put it in simple terms for you then; do you want the Stinger Mantis to be more durable than leisurely?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Then as well as performing inner maintenance in the ship, let me do some on the outside."

"You can do that?"

"Well, I would need to get a look in when we're not so busy. Then I'd need to assess what I could do for the ship." Altheeda explain as she idly swung her wrench. "Do you have any spare materials or parts?"

"Eh, I don't know." Greez scratched his head.

"At some point, we should pay a visit to a shop – if it's convenient of course."

Greez appeared thoughtful for a moment then folded his arms.

"I'll take it up with Cere, see what she says, you do have a point, kid. We need better equipment."

Cere, meanwhile, perked up and put the headset on and pushed various buttons on the comms system. It had to have been Cal on the other side. Altheeda began to half-heartedly unscrew the bolts on the machine, pretending that she was not listening in to Cere's replies in order to decipher the conversation topic. Greez decided to fully eavesdrop, turning to her direction.

"Follow it. Allow the Force to sharpen your instincts." She instructed.

For a while, she was silent and that was when Altheeda decided to give a glance in her direction. She found she had lowered her headset, that the short-lived conversation was over.

"How's he doing?" She asked, sliding herself off the stool.

"He's approaching the eye of the storm." Cere explained. "He's doing well."

"Do you have any idea what he might find?"

"We won't know until he returns."

"If he returns." The latero added.

"Greez." Cere scolded. "Don't think like that."

"What? It's a possibility."

She carried on reprimanding Greez as Altheeda stood with folded arms, mentally arguing with her own thoughts. She couldn't help but think that Greez was right, that Cal may not make it back, the storm looked extremely dangerous. He may as well had been taking the path to his own demise. She knew what Cal was capable of; she knew he would be extra careful dealing with something so chaotic. She had to remain positive for her own sake. She would not let her turmoil show on her face.