If Jaden's smile had been artificial before, now it was wholly genuine. Rodes seemed so pleased with himself and all the information he'd just regurgitated like a malfunctioning protocol droid, and damn it if it wasn't infectious. Tristan had forewarned him that the kid was a little eccentric, but this?

Perhaps other people might have found it a little odd to hear their life paraphrased as interesting trivia, but Jaden's last few months or weeks - honestly, he'd lost track - on the Challenger before reassignment to the Novgorod had been filled with interviews. Journalists were tripping over themselves to write think pieces about the new Alliance of Free Planets, and the military forces assigned to defend them, and Kelly had always been more than happy to delegate interview responsibilities to his XO. It wasn't that Jaden liked the attention, but he'd grown accustomed to it; and besides, any journalist who learned in advance how awesome he was saved him a whole heap of seduction groundwork.

Subject aside though, the fact that Gunner's mouth lacked both a filter and brakes was the opposite of eccentric, as far as Jaden was concerned. For him, it was ships: get him talking about that and you'd need a blaster on stun to get him to stop. It was like meeting a fellow A-Wing pilot, amid a sea of brainwashed idiots who falsely believed that X-Wings were the greatest thing ever. There was nothing wrong with Gunner, or Jaden; it was the rest of the damn cosmos that needed to rethink it's stance on things.

"Because I have an important mission for you, Tick-Tock."

Jaden reached out to his side, an arm wrapping around Tristan's neck and dragging him awkwardly into the conversation he was trying to occupy the back seat of.

"This idiot here was planning to wuss out on the festivities today. I find that unacceptable, and frankly I think it's potentially damaging to the reputation of both Rogue Squadron and the Starfighter Corps as a whole. There is a concourse full of ladies out there, waiting to exercise a vital facet of their culture. We have a responsibility as officers of the Alliance to respect that culture, and it would simply be disrespectful and undiplomatic if we didn't make an effort to provide those ladies with the most eligible selection of men this station currently has available."

The pretence of patriotic obligation collapsed all to quickly into another grin.

"Sort version, Tristan's been acting grumpy, and I need his copilot's help to get him laid."