Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Drake 53]

"Who said anything about relationships?" Tak said with a smirk and a wink. "And I would never do anything to a lady...unless she wanted it."

[Vergere 1]

"Mmmhmm. So are you ready to lead the mission?" She sounded curious, wondering how he felt about it all.

[Andy 60]

Aston wandered up to the group, having left Bucket to chase away maintenance droids. The R3 astromech seemed to have a dislike for 'inferior' models such as R2 units, and not even trusting the judgement of later models such as the R5 and R6.

"Whoa," Aston exclaimed as he saw Layla, "you look really different! Did Tak help you out with those hard to reach places?"

Aston gave a wink and grinned.

[Rogue 4]

"Why?" Layla grinned at the younger slicer. "Were you hoping to land the position? And is that a good different or a terrifying different?"

She turned to Jaim, thoughtfully. "Hmmm...just how many credits do you think I could get? Maybe I can update my kitchen back home like I've been wanting to..."

Edited August 26, 2007 by Rogue

[Drake 53]

Tak nodded to Brier's question. "I am. I've led missions like this before. I served as a fighter pilot for a few years before becomming a commando and joining black ops. I've led plenty of soldiers into battle."

He poked Layla in the midsection. "I'm afraid I don't have a lot of credits to my name. To aliases, yes...but not to my real name." He chuckled.

[Rogue 4]

Layla snapped her fingers in disappointment. "I'll have to start flirting with someone else then...any volunteers?"

Edited August 26, 2007 by Rogue

[Vergere 1]

Brier covered her mouth with her hand, but it couldn't completely conceal the growing smile on her features, making her eyes crinkle in silent laughter again, although she said nothing.

[Andy 60]

"Why?" Layla grinned at the younger slicer. "Were you hoping to land the position? And is that a good different or a terrifying different?"

Aston felt his cheeks go red, "ahh no actually. Just... different." He laughed nervously and decided to shut up.

[Rogue 4]

Layla laughed lightly. "No need to be shy babe." She threw him a wink. "Anyway, all set to go? Got all you're slicer stuff all worked out?"

[Andy 60]

"Yeah, I'm good to go. This is a bit of a biggie." Aston waved his pack containing a couple of datapads and some other technical looking stuff, "I might have to pull a few tricks. It's been a while since I was on Coruscant, slicing into Imperial bunkers... Looking forward to it."

[Drake 53]

Tak clapped a hand on Aston's back. "Well you're the best slicer I've met and I've met a lot. We're lucky to have you along."

[Rogue 4]

Layla gave him a warm smile. "You're going to do great."

[Vergere 1]

Finally having gotten her amusement under control, she nodded in agreement and support.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Vergere

[Drake 53]

Tak turned his attention back to Brier. "So Captain, I'm curious if you, as an Arkanian, have had any genetic or cybernetic modifications? I know many of your species tend to do so."

[Vergere 1]

She blinked quickly in surprise, then looked absolutely delighted at the fact he knew something of her people. "I've had genetic manipulations as a child to let me move faster, like run and dodge things, hit harder, and hear better. My father did those for me. As to my appearance, my mother was an Arkanian miner, giving me the more human-esque qualities of five fingers, somewhat human eyes, and the pointed ears. That's why my eyes are such a pale blue - they're not typical Arkanian and they're not a miner's eye."

She shifted her hair that was still tightly bound in a bun up and over the top of her ears by running her fingers through her hair, showing pointed ears that were earlier concealed by the way she had done her hair. "And, if you were wondering, Lieutenant, I still have infra-red vision and am still sensitive to extreme heats or super bright lights and suns." She smiled softly, her eyes dancing.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Vergere

[Drake 53]

"I was actually just going to ask that," Tak said with a grin. "We'll be heading into factories where we will most likely be subjected to extreme heat and potentially light as well. I'm sure you're preparred for that, correct?"

Edited August 26, 2007 by Drake

[Vergere 1]

She smiled. "Yes. I have contacts I will put in later to help alleviate most of the problems, as well as some goggles I always carry with me if the contacts don't do as good of a job as I would like. And if worst comes to worst, I'll deal with it." She shrugged.

[Drake 53]

Tak smiled. "Excellent. Now, who are we missing?" He took a quick head count. "Officers Orson and Brǽnen."

He spotted Jya and Arlan walk into the hangar. They both looked a little ruffled and everyone could guess how they had spent their time. It was obvious that, like Tak and Layla, they had developed a relationship. Unlike Tak and Layla, however, those two seemed to be eager in the physical department.

Despite their appearance, they both looked prepped and ready for the mission. Jya looked a little bulkier than normal beneath her long, gray trenchcoat. Tak smiled, knowing that she had probably strapped weapons and explosives beneath the material.

When he waved her over, she planted Arlan with a rather passionate kiss before wishing him good luck and making her way over to the group.

"Sorry to interrupt your busy cleaning schedule with Arlan but we kind of need you here," Tak said with a grin.

[Mara 29]

Having arrived back at his X-wing and stowing the two small hand blasters with his bag under the seat, he turned to look at Szen from his spot up on the ladder.

"Yes. I think he sent him back to your X-wing. Artie assures me he's perfectly ready."

He nodded to Tak's group getting assembled on the other side of the hangar. "Good luck."

Edited August 26, 2007 by Mara

[Ayingel 24]

Szen turned to look where Kaden had nodded.

"Thanks. Good luck to you, too"

With that, she walked to the group.

[Rogue 4]

"Hey Szen." Layla smiled as she approached. She was really eager to get this mission started, her pheromones emitting her excitement. "Excited to start your first Rev. mission?"

[Ayingel 24]

"Yes, I'm really looking forward to it." Szen returned her smile.

"How about everyone else?"

[Drake 53]

Tak smiled when Szen came and joined them. "I'm looking forward to blowing stuff up. Well, now that everybody's here and properly dressed for the occasion, we can get started on a few mission details before Captain Tunon decides to show up to send us off. First off, I'd like to introduce everyone to our new comrades." He nodded to Szen and Brier. "I'm sure you probably already went over the roster profiles on everyone but it doesn't hurt matching names to faces."

"I know you've both already met Layla Nasrin here. Her specialty is in infiltration, insertion, and playing hard-to-get." Tak threw her a wink before pointing next to Aston. "Mr. Aston Kendall is our slicer and a damn good one. He doesn't talk much but that's just because he's half-buried in wires most of the time. Next is our resident pain in the ass and expert on the aquisition of land-based vehicles, or just 'speeder-jacker', Jaim Adarra. Jaim will also be serving as our guide and expert on Ithyari. Officer Jya Orson is the Revenant's demolitions expert. If you see her running from something, I would recommend keeping up with her." He grinned as Jya pulled open her trenchcoat, revealing a couple grenade belts and some explosive packs. "Very nice, Jya."

"Szen Brǽnen will be our communications officer." He nodded to her and said, "I've read your files and I hear you're quite good. It will be your job to find a way to communicate with the rest of the squadron once we've achieved our objective. Then there's Captain Brier Fae, who we already know. She will serve as our Intelligence liason and will keep us all on our toes in the name of the New Republic. So no slacking off!" He laughed.

"Finally, I'm Lieutenant Takeshi Beskar. My classified background as a commando in the black ops is why I have been chosen to lead this fun little adventure."

Takeshi reached into his pocket and pulled out the badge inside. Upon holding it up, he said, "Officer Adarra has identification badges for each of you. These will hopefully get us through customs without being searched. I know some of us would appreciate that more than others." He winked at Jya.

As Jaim passed out the IDs, Tak said, "When you get your ident badge, read off your name. For this mission, you can all call me... Kruger Jast, Arms Dealer."

I would suggest writing down all of these fake names for later use.

Edited August 26, 2007 by Drake

[Ender 8]

"Expert? Wow, this is the first time I've been an expert on anything legal. Oh, and Mat T'Ora, man of leisure, at your service."

[Rogue 4]

"Don't get too excited now." Layla read her name and laughed. "I'm going to kill you for this ID later Jaim---Imana Proul, merchant extraordinaire."