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As they dropped out of hyperspace, Kay gave a deep sigh. He had no lungs and no need for air, but he'd learned how to make the sound just to let everyone in the vicinity know how peeved he was. "Back again," he said. "Do you think they've improved the corridors?"
"Probably not," Cassian said. He couldn't help the smile that crept over his face at the sight of Hoth's almost pure-white rim.
"I don't see why you're smiling," Kay complained. "All my joints locked up a few days before we left. Do you know what ambient temperature you need for lubrication to solidify?"
"I'm sure you'll tell me," Cassian said.
"Well, it's highly variable, but it's above the temperature of those corridors!"
"They're working on it, Kay."
"They'd better be."
Luckily, they were cleared for landing without having to wait out a storm or local night. It was close, though. Another half-hour and the doors would have been closed, and they would have had to wait in orbit for nine hours. When the gangplank opened, the shock of the cold stole his breath like a punch to the chest, even through all the layers he'd wrapped himself in as they waited in orbit.
Cassian had to report his findings, and that took a long time. Then Kay complained that the corridors were still at a lubrication-solidifying temperature. He nodded and made soothing noises and updated his friend on the progress of finding droid lubrication that would stand up to local temperatures. (Very little, which Kay didn't appreciate at all.)
After that, he swung by the bay, solidly closed against the bitter night temperatures. "All the patrols in safe?" he asked.
The private on duty, seeing only a captain's bars, saluted. "Yessir!"
His sergeant, knowing why Cassian was asking, grinned at him. "She came in about an hour ago. Said she was going to get the hottest tea she could drink and turn in. Been a long day for her squad."
He smiled back. "Thanks. I brought in a shipment of fruit and vegetables. Kay already took them to the galley."
The private jolted to attention. "Permission to take a break, sir!" he almost wailed.
"Only if you get me something," the sergeant said, waving him off. She sighed. "If my second-mum were alive, the shock of me begging for a vegetable would kill her again."
Thinking of the meals, which consisted of processed macronutrients that all tasted the same no matter what the long-suffering KP did with them, Cassian nodded. "Keep warm," he said, and headed back through the narrow, bitterly cold corridors.
The door was locked, but he keyed his code in and slipped into the relative warmth. The lights were on, but the woman on the bed was dozing anyway, head drooping like a flower, all the blankets bundled around her.
As he came in, Jyn blinked, lifted her head, and gave him a sleepy smile. "Hi."
"Hi," he murmured, leaning over to press a kiss to her mouth. She tipped her chin up to kiss him back. It was like a drink of hot chocolate in the chill of their quarters.
She'd been on patrol when he came in, and between that and his debrief with Draven, he'd given up on seeing her before this moment.
"Tried to wait up," she yawned.
"Long day?"
"Long goddamned week," she grumbled. "Somebody just haaaaaaad to go off-world and leave me all alone in this cold bed."
"Sounds like a real bastard," he agreed, and kissed her again.
She sacrificed one hand's position in the warmth of the blankets and reached up to touch his face. "Come on," she said. "Get changed and get in bed. I'm at a serious cuddle deficit here."
He'd expected her to ask about the small bag he carried, but she must be so tired she hadn't even noticed. Clearly, long day didn't even cover it.
Ah well. The rindfruit would keep until the morning. It wasn't like refrigeration was a problem.
He grabbed the pile of clothes she'd laid out for him and dashed to the 'fresher. The tiny room had a small heating unit to make the act of showering a little less awful, and like most people on-base, he and Jyn had taken to using the 'fresher to change. He stripped out of his traveling clothes, all the way to skin, and then dragged on clean thermal layers, fleece layers, socks, hat, and mittens.
When he came out, he tossed his dirty clothes over the desk chair and at the hooks on the wall. She laughed, because he was usually the one complaining when she left her things all strewn around instead of putting them away neatly.
"Shush," he said. "I'm bringing you your cuddles."
"Well, come on, then."
She'd spread the blankets out over the bed again and was stretched out under them. He tried to pull aside the covers as little as possible and slide in without letting so much as a molecule of chilly air into her warm nest. She reached out her arm and looped it around him. He fitted himself next to her, tucking the blankets tightly around them.
She grunted and snuggled close, pressing the ice-cold tip of her nose into his neck. "Ooof. I missed you."
"Missed you, too," he said, kissing the hinge of her jaw.
"How was it?"
"Mmmph," he said, rubbing his chilly feet against each other. "Reasonably successful. How's it been here?"
"Cold, what else?" She yawned hugely. "Better hello in the morning?" she asked sleepily.
"Count on it."
She fell asleep again almost right away. Though he was exhausted, too, he lay there holding her and smiling to himself.
There wasn't a lot to like about Hoth, but for the moment, it was where Jyn was. And that was enough for him.
FINIS