Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Vergere 1]

Brier just watched quietly from her perch on the packing crate, and said nothing but took it all in, watching the dynamics between personnel and droids.

[Ender 8]

Jaim walked into the hangar and headed towards his fighter, where Hilts was waiting. He tweetled happily.

"Everything set?" Jaim asked.

Hilts tootled an affirmative.

[Rogue 4]

"I'm all set babe. I have my blasters, some spare powerpacks, and my bag of tricks." Layla stood. "And I already arranged for the stuff I can't take now to get brought on the X-wing."

[Drake 53]

Tak smiled. "Great! Now we just have to wait for Captain Tunon to send us on our merry way."

He spotted Captain Fae sitting on a crate across the hangar.

"What do you think of our new Intelligence liason?"

[Rogue 4]

"Very eloquent." Layla commented, looking over to the woman evaluatingly. "And a little aloof, but she certainly seems to have a sense of humor. I keep getting the feeling she's amused, probably at the smallest things. Can't sense anything off about her though, and she seems kind enough, especially for an Intelligence Officer."

[Vergere 1]

Still trying to keep her nose out of other people's business, she glanced at her chrono before yawning and streching, a bit more tired in the early hours than she had previously let on. She shifted slightly on the crate to make sure several muscles got streched before doing a slow sweep of the room to make sure she hadn't missed Captain Tunon's entrance.

[Princess 35]

Nima topped off her cup of caf on the way back from stuffing her medical bag with everything that she hoped not to have to use on the mission, but knew that she'd have to have anyways. She swore as the bag clunked against the back of her legs and made her spill coffee down the front of her flightsuit. "Sithspit! Good thing this suit repels all liquids." She turned and added just a bit more caf to her cup and then headed towards the hanger, sipping as she walked.

The hangar was the usual pre-mission chaos and Nima found her way over to Tak and Layla on the way to her fighter. "Congrats on the promotion Tak. Just remember, if you get hurt, those lieutenants bars will become a permanent part of you when I put you back together. Just a little incentive to stay healthy."

[Ayingel 24]

Szen had finished gathering her things and was making her way to the hangar to board the shuttle. She expected everyone was there or at least nearly ready as she walked through the door. Not to her surprise she saw the new Captain and a few other of the crew members. Scanning the room, she looked for Kaden and Artie. Hopefully they had finished with her R2-S5 unit and she could get to getting to know him yet before she left. Finally, she found who she was looking for and walked over to Kaden.

"So how's my droid looking?"

[Drake 53]

Takeshi nodded. "Yes. She doesn't seem nearly as arrogant as most Arkanians are. I wonder if she's a sub-species. She has five fingers and human-like eyes. Full-blood Arkanians have four clawed fingers and white eyes. If she has retained the ability to see infra-red light, that might turn out to be helpful."

He grinned at Nima's 'threat'. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

[Princess 35]

"See that you do. I'll be seeing you guys groundside." She waved at them and headed over to her fighter to do a pre-flight on it. "Howdy E4. You droids didn't have too much fun between the paint party and now did you?"

E4 whistled conspiratorily. "You can tell me all about it while we're in hyperspace. For now, let's get ready to go. Good thing that you droids don't need sleep like the rest of us."

[Rogue 4]

"See you groundside Nima." Layla gave her a brief wave, sending an amused look to Tak before walking over to the Intelligence Officer. She flashed a brief but respectful salute. "Captain Fae? Wonderful briefing this morning. Amazing how you talk and I wake up, and Lieutenant Riamor talks and I fall asleep." She flashed her a grin, extending a hand. "Layla Nasrin."

[Vergere 1]

Brier looked up in surprise, and smiled as she returned the salute. She reached out to shake Layla's hand, her own palm calloused from work. "Brier Fae. Thank you for the compliment. I'm sorry you all had to get up so early. I've found briefings are the most painless if whoever is giving the talk tries to make it more alive. Trust me, I've fallen asleep in my fair share of briefings." She motioned to a crate nearby, "Have a seat, if you'd like. I don't bite hard." She grinned.

[Rogue 4]

"Thanks." Layla smiled, sitting down on the crate and crossing her legs daintily. "And much appreciated. I don't think you could bite harder than my astromech anyway."

The early briefing hour is really our fault anyway.

"So, have you been on a lot of missions like this one?" She asked curiously, trying to make conversation.

Edited August 25, 2007 by Rogue

[Vergere 1]

"Yes, I thought I saw your droid being rather irritable this morning. I thought perhaps it was just his usual charm." She looked amused again, and shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. No matter how straight forward, each mission is different. I've done several similar operations before, though. Until recently I did mostly infiltration into organizations to gather intelligence, and let others blow stuff up. So I'm rather excited to be able to blow stuff up myself, instead of letting others have all the fun."

She grinned widely at the idea. "What about you?"

[Rogue 4]

"Well, I've got my own uh...how do I put this...non-governmental intelligence background."

[Vergere 1]

She laughed softly, and shook her head. "No, are you excited? About the mission? Sorry, it's my fault I didn't make the question clear." It was obvious she enjoyed laughing, and it came easily to her.

Edited August 25, 2007 by Vergere

[Rogue 4]

"Oh," Layla laughed. "Of course! I'm always excited before a mission. It's a chance to test out my skills and limitations---and sometimes I don't mind being someone else for a little while. I just hope I'm well used in the field. I'm definatly glad to be in the forward group."

[Vergere 1]

"I love playing different people and taking on different personalities." If she could purr in contentment, it looked like she probably would right now. "That's one of the reasons I love Intel... I get to go undercover a lot."

"Oh!" She seemed to remember something, and got an impish look to her delicate features, and motioned to herself. "Alright, so, how do I look? Human enough to pass?" She grinned.

[Drake 53]

"Good enough to fool an Imperial," said Tak as he walked over to join them. "It would attract too much unnecessary attention if you lovely ladies didn't have that makeup. You both kind of stand out in a crowd. Especially when that crowd is a bunch of xenophobic Imperials." He smirked. "You both look great, though."

Edited August 25, 2007 by Drake

[Vergere 1]

She smiled and held out her hand to the man. "Brier Fae. Congrats on your promotion, Ell-Tee."

[Drake 53]

He took her hand. "Takeshi Beskar and thank you. I guess the brass took notice of my commando tactics on our last mission."

[Ender 8]

"Yeah, and he's modest, too." Jaim said, walking back from his fighter. "My guess is that Nat's just got a crush on you."

[Drake 53]

Tak laughed. "I think he's more interested in our medic. Not that he would admit it, of course."

[Ender 8]

"True, true. Now, Layla, I just want you to know, now that he outranks you, you'd get a lot more credits out of the harrassment trial."

[Vergere 1]

Brier just smiled and shook her head. "Talk about a way to end a relationship."