garbageship | That's no moon... Wait, no, it's a moon.

[Blasting things]
Kitty finds a nice large boulder in the distance to focus her shots on. Her first test shot hits just left of center. She's more interested in the way the weapon fires, how smooth it is, what sort of damage it does when it hits. She's had shooting and accuracy training and experience, so for her it's more about familiarizing herself with the specific tool and brushing up on somewhat atrophied skills. There had been a shooting range at Marina toward the end, but a marshmallow gun just doesn't have quite the same feel to it.

This is a good place to start but she'll want moving targets to fine tune.

[Picking up rocks]
She doesn't spend all her time practicing. This is a chance to be off the ship for a little while, stretching her legs and carefully studying the rocks, picking out certain ones after judging them worthy. She has a plan, okay?

The ride's a little bit bumpy-- that's to be expected, coming out of hyperspace smoothly takes practice-- but it's fortunately uneventful. No First Order fleet waiting to intercept them, no unexpected disaster has overtaken the system... Just empty skies, and in the distance, a barren moon.

It's a few hours more before they can set the Falcon down on its rocky surface. There's little of interest to see-- some twisted and scrubby trees, a larger planet looming in the distance, dotted here and there with the lights of settlements, too distant to be of much concern and generally removed from the crippled Republic and its conflicts.

Once they've landed Han brings out the wide variety of weapons he's got stowed on the ship. It's a paltry selection, compared to what he used to have on hand, but there are blasters of ever size and shape. He's not here for himself-- Han has done more shooting than anyone needs to in a lifetime-- but he's intent on making sure everyone gets some good practice in before they have to bolt.

Teaching the kids to shoot is a priority, because blasters are a common weapon. You look out of place in a spaceport without one, and they can't afford to seem unusual; not with the First Order searching for them, not when everyone's so intent on getting off the ship. It's going to be dangerous no matter what, so the least he can do is work to prepare them. He's got to keep his ragtag crew safe somehow.

But trying to teach Rey to shoot without tapping into her odd instincts brings home the fact that she needs some kind of training for that, too. In Luke's absence Ben is the best teacher, but the scavenger girl still sees him as an enemy. (Han understands it. He does. But it still kind of stings.) Which, ironically, means the next best source of Jedi wisdom is Han Solo, possibly the least Force-sensitive person in the galaxy. So, while they're still somewhere with enough space to stretch, he's gonna get started on that, too.

After mixed results with the blaster it doesn't surprise him that his son is willing to demonstrate, showing off something he's actively good at. Uncomfortable as it makes him (for any number of reasons), he thinks the morale boost will probably be worthwhile. So the red saber has been fetched from its hiding spot and handed over, and Han is trying to settle his nerves, checking the power settings on the littlest weapon he could find for the thousandth time. He doesn't actually know where Rey's been keeping hers (he's come to think of it that way; not Luke's, not Va-- well, never Vader's) but she's been sent off to fetch it.

May the Force be with all of them.

Kitty is sitting atop a boulder, resting her well-practiced arm and watching as Han, Ben, and Rey practice together. It was surprising and difficult to watch Han firing at Ben initially. Not because she was worried for Ben, but rather Han. She knew how much she didn't want to be in that same position earlier when he'd tried to coax her into it. And now she wishes she was doing the firing instead so he didn't have to. But she keeps some distance for now. It feels like there are enough personalities over there and one more isn't going to make things better.

Every so often she makes sure to scan the area in all directions just to make sure no one has come wandering over to find out who is beating up all those rocks. Her position is a good one for surveying most directions, but with the various rock formations blocking the view to the south she couldn't see the tigers until they were already close enough to cut them off from the Falcon.

She calls out a warning loud enough for the others to hear. "We have company!"

Kitty counts at least five, but there could be more lurking in the rocks. They are large felines, enough like a tiger from home that she's going to call it one, but also considerably larger and angrier. She doesn't really have to stop and ask anyone if they're dangerous because the sharp teeth and claws and the way they snarl and charge is enough to call it.

Should anyone be particularly interested in Chewbacca's weapon of choice - uniquely customized, even among bowcasters - you can catch him quietly tinkering with it, firing off test shots and tweaking its settings.

The bowcaster, you see, looks like a crossbow - and in some ways, traditional models are quite similar. Chewbacca's personal bowcaster, however, is a highly customized piece, utilizing parts and power packs from an old stormtrooper blaster. (You don't really have to ask where he got that, do you?)

Of course, this is Chewbacca, so he's always happy for company, even when he's hard at work on his weapon.

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