Driving Mrs. Meorrrei

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

He'd spent an hour trying to work up the nerve, and the words, necessary to confront his mother. If he'd taken an extra three hours, he still probably wouldn't be ready. Even if she wasn't the most stubborn person in the galaxy, just being his mother was enough to do it. She delighted in being a contrarian, or at least he thought as much. As much as he loved being able to see her for the first time in years, spending an entire month with your mother in the same convoy was...was...

Well, suffice to say, living with Sanis had cultivated an independent streak. And Sanis never asked him to do his laundry! By Sanjaara, the woman is seventy five, you'd think during any of those years she'd figure out how to do her own damn laundry. That was the final straw.

Of course he did the laundry. But only four times!

So here he stood, at his mother's makeshift quarters, arms full of well-creased and folded garments, still not quite sure how to broach the subject, when the door opened before he was ready, and the words just slipped out.

"Motherr, jI thjink jit'ss tjime jyou left the wheel."

He nearly blanched.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Well, that caught her off guard. She'd been fending off that brusque little hellion Abarai Loki with such similar demands for weeks, but to hear her own son say it? For once, she didn't have a sharp comeback, and instead stood in the threshold of her quarters, wearing a bathrobe and a befuddled expression.

"Not a hello? Not a 'Good morrnjing Motherr! jI hope jyou sslept well!' Jusst 'Hello, get out!' jiss jit?"

Cirr withered under a well-practiced guilt trip, and Taa let him linger a moment under it, before she took her clothes from him.

"Come jinssjide and have tea wjith me."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Motherr, jI'm sserriouss."

There was a little steel in Cirr's voice, which inwardly terrified him. He stood where he was, a little worried about what was to come next. He swallowed down his anxiety, and continued.

"jI love bejing able to ssee jyou. Rrealljy jI do. But...jit'ss not ssafe herre. Not forr jyou. jI don't want to thjink of what mjight happen jif jyou'rre caught up jin a fjight."

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Her expression softened, and she put on a smile.

"jI know jit can't have been eassjy forr jyou to assk that, Cirrsseeto. jYou'rre afrrajid jyou'll hurrt mjy feeljingss?"

She patted him on the arm.

"Tell jyou what. We'll talk about jit overr lunch, okajy? Gjive mama twentjy mjinutess to get prressentable and jI'll meet jyou jin the messs hall."

She leaned forward on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on Cirr's cheek. With that, she stepped back and closed the door, leaving Cirr to breathe a total sigh of relief, and wondering if he'd escaped the worst of it.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Although he had never been to the Exotic Animal Emporium of Bollin, Jamo imagined with near certainty that the experience of entering the zoo was identical to that of entering the Challenger's mess hall. Rogue Squadron sat comfortably in the pecking order, relying on equal parts outlandish reputation and unbelievable good fortune to create an aura of awe around themselves.

Cirrsseeto had joined the table mid-conversation, as Jamo and Iyar, much to the bemusement of everyone else, were debating who would win in a fight between a clawcat and an acklay. At the sight of the big Cizerack, Jamo gave his wingman a nudge in the side as he shovelled another bite of breakfast mash into his mouth.

“What's up, Cirr? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The best thing about moving on up to the Challenger was the more upscale mess hall. Valiant more or less hashed out warmed over ration packs, and for a guy like Cirr, it took a lot of wheedling to get the basic portions in. He'd kept more or less the same weight, but got a bit softer eating more junk than substance. Here at least, you could sometimes get real food. Being a part of Rogue Squadron helped, because with a rep like that (and a little bit of bribery), the mess officer held things aside for you like fresh fish, and fat little rodents that probably didn't get fat on garbage.

Yet, even with his tray weighed down with a half dozen striped jewel fish, he didn't tuck in. Instead, he sipped absently at his caf, and chewed on Jamo's question.

"Nothjing, uh. Just, um."

He sighed.

"Famjily."

By now, there probably wasn't a crewer in the convoy that hadn't heard the scuttlebutt about Cirr's, well, insane mother. It's a small fish bowl, and she's a very big fish.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Jamo peered for a moment at Cirr's tray; half of the contents still appeared to be alive. He quirked an eyebrow as his eyes lifted and the credit dropped. He spooned another helping of food into his mouth, talking as he chewed.

“Right. So, when do we get to meet your old lady?”

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

It never ended with this guy, did it?

Cirr's tail twitched with a deep-rooted annoyance, and he eased his cup of caf down to the table.

"How about neverr?"

He shook his head, digging claws into a jewel fish as he chowed half of it down.

[Iyar Thiled]

"Well that's no fun." Iyar finally chimed in as he lazily moved his spoon about in the bowl of mush in front of him.

If there was one regret from his decision to become a starfighter pilot in the Rebellion it was the food. Half the time it barely classified as edible and it certainly couldn't even think of holding a candle to the exotic meals of his home planet. Iyar figured that if Rogue Squadron ever got off of Protect the Secret Convoy duty he would immediately write home and beg for a care package.

With the food once again a complete disappointment, and obvious amusements elsewhere, the Zeltron cast a leering gaze at Cirr.

"I mean, depriving her of meeting the two best pilots in the fleet. How ever will you live that down if she were to find out?"

[Taataani Meorrrei]

As if on terrible cue, Madam Meorrrei herself traipsed into the mess hall, now suitably dressed to meet the day. She spotted her son, amid a pair of handsome humanoids, and gave him a warm smile as she approached. Cirr, by contrast, looked as if he half-wanted to disappear beneath his tray.

She eased into the seat adjacent from Cirr, and fetched one of the jewel fish for herself.

"Two besst pjilotss?"

True to her ears, she'd caught most of the exchange on the way over.

[Jamo Jakatta]

It was hard to resist the urge to look at Cirr, to see the expression that was undoubtedly spreading like a horrible rash across his face, but Jamo reined himself in.

“Madam Meorrrei,” He set aside his meal and offered the lady what could only be described as a Corellian smile. “Lieutenant Jamo Jakatta, Rogue Squadron. This is my wing-man, Flight Officer Iyar Thiled.”

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr, without a real interjection at hand to offer up and stop this insipid meeting, took out his frustrations on his fish, tearing away a healthy bite as he kept his eyes down.

This was supposed to be his moment to tell his mother off the ship, with as much tact as he could muster. These two intergalactic fratboys were going to ruin it all for him.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

"Ahh..."

Intrigued, Taataani's ears raised up. She sat her fish aside, for now.

"jYess, jyess. Rrogue Ssquadrron. jYou fljy wjith mjy ljittle Cirrsseeto and Ssanjiss?"

She glanced over to her son. Something obviously had his tail all in a knot. No telling why that was.

[Iyar Thiled]

Ah, there was nothing quite like family to embarrass the crap out of you. Although Iyar knew damn well how cringe-worthy mothers could be at times, he still found it hard to stifle the chuckle that wanted to come from "mjy ljittle Cirrsseeto". A mouthful of breakfast helped, but just barely.

It did manage to keep him from speaking, though. But Iyar doubted it would give Cir any reason to celebrate. Jamo did have the gift of quick wit and it wasn't rare for the human to blurt out the comment that was lingering on the edge of the Zeltron's thoughts.

[Jamo Jakatta]

“Well, they fly with us, in a support capacity,” Jamo conceded, with a smile that said he didn't think this was quite the same as he and the Rogues flying with the Layla. “Sanis's ship doesn't have the manoeuvrability or versatility of our starfighters, but it's good to know that we've got Cirrsseeto and his sensors watching our backs.”

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr inwardly scoffed at the rebuke, even if there was a kernel of truth to it. He knew exactly what game Jamo was playing at, and he didn't want to join in. Still, having his mother around did tend to complicate things.

"Yeah, those sensorrs arre usually what tjips the scales jin ourr favorr, sjince even an X-Wjing can't zjig and zag ljike a TjIE can."

There was a chance it could cook off into a pissing match, but Cirr had a feeling Jamo had other torments in mind.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Jamo conceded that point with a nod, then leant forward one elbow against the table that separated him and Iyar from the pair of Cizeri. “... although, that depends on who you have behind the controls.” He jerked a thumb at his wing-man. “Me and Iyar, there's really nothing we can't out run or out manoeuvre. When the brass wants some precious cargo brought into the fleet, we're the ones they turn to. Of course, we don't like to brag too much,” he added, sitting back from the table with a sigh of satisfaction.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

"Well, lookss ljike jyou've brragged morre than enough forr me. jI jusst sso happen to be lookjing forr a pjilot orr two mjysself."

Taa paused, realizing the reality she was in, and added a caveat.

"That jiss, of courrsse, jif a ljittle errrand on the ssjide doessn't jinterrferre wjith jyourr dutjiess, of courrsse."

She caught a purely bewildered look from her son out of the corner of her eye, but didn't even flinch. He knew better than to call her out on that sort of thing.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Since assimilating the Challenger and its accompanying fighter squadrons into the Wheel, the Rogue's had been given a reprieve – or at least, as close as you could get to a reprieve in the convoy – from the relentless cycle of sleep, patrol, sleep, patrol, sleep, patrol. Ordinarily, Jamo wouldn't have found the prospect of sacrificing his free time to become an errand boy an enticing prospect, but this didn't strike him as an ordinary proposal.

“How can we help?”

[Taataani Meorrrei]

"Well, jyou can prrobabljy jimagjine that asss much asss jI love mjy darrljing Cirrsseeto, jI am a verrjy bussjy woman and have qujite a bjit of bussjinesss elssewherre."

She glanced to Iyar, then back to Jamo, an ear twitching as she did.

"jI need passsage to Carshoulis, and sskjilled pjilotss to take me."

She leaned back in her chair, letting her tail loop into her lap as she waited for her answer.