Chapter 2: Forges of Ithyari

[Mara 29]

Kaden came up near the nut rollers while he was gathering some ration packs for dinner. He just watched silently as he sat down some feet away to enjoy his meal.

Meanwhile, Artie was right on the sidelines, watching with great interest and whistling when someone made a good play.

[Drake 53]

"Exactly," Tak said with a smirk. "They'll be expecting blasters. No one will expect an attack at the feet!" He laughed. "No, I said that the competative edge will be helpful."

[Ayingel 24]

"Ah...so no more fighting then. That's something I understand." Szen laughed a little at her own joke.

[Vergere 1]

Getting frustrated with her work, Brier puts it away and closes her eyes for a few minutes, trying to clear her head. She gets up and streches, and, still staying a distance away from the commandos, goes through some moves very slowly and with incredible deliberation. They look like a mix between a very slow dance and self-defense or fighting moves. She works very deliberatly and never speeds up, every movement agonizingly slow, but it seems to be very therapeutic for her. Finally, after a long while as night begins to approach, she heads over to where everyone else is, still playing games, she stays quiet.

[Ayingel 24]

While watching the game, Szen saw the captain approach the rest of the group. "How was your morning?"

[Mara 29]

Since no one was actually playing at that moment, Artie decided to get on the fun. So he wheeled up to the front of the lane and zoomed down it, running into the fruit and squealing excitedly.

[Princess 35]

Nima smirked. "Hey, that gives me an idea. Let's set up an obstacle course in the camp and let the droids race it. I bet that E4 can take Artie!"

[Vergere 1]

Brier looked over at Szen. "Long, and tedious."

[Andy 60]

"A droid race?" Aston was amused by the idea, but Bucket blew a raspberry in protest, and rotated his dome back and forth. "I don't think he's keen on the idea."

[Mara 29]

Kaden's head snapped up after all the commotion. He saw Artie and shook his head.

Then he said before returning to his meal, "I wouldn't take that bet. There's a lot about Artie even I don't know."

[Ayingel 24]

Szen took a second glance at the frazzled officer, and nodded her head in agreement. "Care to spar at all to let out some stress? I haven't been able to practice for a few days..."

[Vergere 1]

Brier looked over in honest suprise, although she just looked tired and distracted all the same. Her voice came out sharper than she'd intended, "You spar?" At Szen's tentative, nodded response, Brier sighed. Attempting to gentle her voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She ran her fingers through her hair, which was, for one of the first times since she'd met everyone, long and unbound. "Sure, some sparring might be nice and relaxing."

[Ayingel 24]

"Great." Szen smiled. "I haven't found anyone to spar with since I got here." Looking around their clearing, Szen picked up two long sticks in case Brier would like to use weapons. She then went and took off her jacket and made sure all of her hair was held up. Then, finding a decent sized area for the two of them to spar, she set up and marked an out of bounds area.

[Vergere 1]

Brier went to her things and braided her long hair into a french braid before tacking it tightly to her head with clips. She then took off her overshirt, leaving her in a black fitted tanktop, and then returned to the sparring area. "Weapons or no weapons?" Once her shirt was off, it was obvious she was very toned and muscular, and old scars laced her currently non-pale arms and visible skin, showing up even through the skin dying makeup she'd put on for the mission.

[Ayingel 24]

"Your pick first. I'm still working on my weapons style." Szen smiled at her opponent with confidence. "But I like to learn with every opportunity."

Edited October 5, 2007 by Ayingel

[Vergere 1]

"I'm skilled with both. But, if you want me to choose, then hand to hand."

[Ayingel 24]

"Whenever you're ready then." Szen struck a defensive pose.

[Mara 29]

Without waiting to see if there would actually be a race or not, Artie continued to buzz through the fruit lane a few more times before he grew bored of it. No one seemed to be paying attention and were talking amongst themselves. He blew an irritated beep and wheeled off to the side.

As Artie went past him, Kaden said, "Don't take it personally Artie. You can't win at everything." All he got back was a rude gurgle from the droid.

Kaden chuckled softly and returned to his meal.

Artie noticed Szen and Captain Fae taking up sparring positions off to the side of the clearing and headed in their direction to watch.

[Vergere 1]

Brier's face went from smiling to very focused and dangerous, her ice-blue eyes turning a stormy grey as she took her own defensive pose. She watched the other girl with sharp eyes, taking in every muscle movement Szen made. As soon as Szen tightened a muscle in anticipation of moving, Brier lashed out and got two rapid hits off before stepping back again, out of the other girl's reach. Her voice emotionless as she remembered to ask Szen something: "Are we using only our hands, or is anything good to go, like feet?" Continuing to hold her defensive pose, it was easy to see that Brier was a fighter. Whether or not it was by choice, however, was debatable. But she knew how to watch her opponent and defend herself.

[Drake 53]

Posting for Chicken since he has seemingly disappeared again, lol. I'm moving us along because I'm bored and tired of standing around doing nothing. Sorry for cutting off the sparring match.

Captain Tunon emerged from the dimmed artificial light of one of the smaller tents, which served as mission planning, and into the slowly darkening dusk outside. He wore civilian clothing; an off-white tunic with brown pants and a black vest. Aeric made his way over to the majority of the Revenants, who had gathered around a makeshift game, of some sort. When Officers Staal and Brǽnen and Captain Fae looked at him, he waved them to join the rest of the group.

Once everyone had stopped what they were doing, he addressed them. "The time has come to start the mission. I want everyone to change into their civilian clothes." He gestured to his own atire. "Don't bring anything you don't need." He glanced in the direction of a few of the Revenants. "Excessive force probably won't be needed. As I said, we can raid the armory if we have to. I want everyone changed, geared, and waiting at the shuttle in five minutes. Dismissed."

As Captain Tunon left the group and made his way over to the shuttle, Takeshi began to walk with Layla back to the group tents where their clothes and gear were stashed. "Finally, a little more action. I was starting to grow rusty." He gave her a wink.

[Rogue 4]

"Hmmm is that what you call it? I'd call it exceedingly bored." Layla threw him a smile. "This is going to be a blue milk run though...the real fun's going to be after we get the plans."

[Vergere 1]

Brier nodded to Szen before she left to go change into civilian attire, whom she had beaten thoroughly, but still learned stuff from, and vice versa. "Good match. Perhaps we can spar again at a later date." She nodded her leave and headed over to her gear, and switched out her pants she'd been working out in for a soft black pair, and threw on a lavender shirt that was casual but appealing, and switched out her boots for a black pair of shoes that went well with the outfit. As she walked out of the area where she was changing, she took down her hair and combed it out with her fingers before pulling it back in a simple ponytail, the braids from earlier leaving it crimped and wavy looking. She had a few IDs on her from Intel if she got in a fix, but besides that, carried nothing.

Since she looked like a decently well off woman, she didn't carry a visible weapon, but had a knife or two stashed close to her body for protection if needed. Everything she had made her look nice and respectable, but was designed and cut to allow her to move and to fight if required. Trusting her skills at hand-to-hand combat, as Szen had unfortunatly discovered she possessed, Brier felt confident not carrying any visible weapons. As Aeric had pointed out, they could always raid an armoury.

[Drake 53]

"Remember the last 'blue milk run' we had?" Tak said, suddenly turning serious while remembering Atzena and Jareth. "We can't rule anything out."

[Rogue 4]

Layla sobered, picking up her bag she'd brought along. Everything inside was absolutely inconspicuous, looking like normal items you might find in a lady's purse. "Expect the best outcome but plan for the worst. That's what I was taught."

[Drake 53]

Having anticipated the need for secrecy on this mission, Tak had already gotten changed that morning. It was the same black suit outfit with the long jacket that he had worn for part of the mission in Yarin City.

"Good philosophy." Opening the jacket, he revealed several concealed pockets, each containing tools they may require. He also had his Ripper strapped to his chest and his palm blaster tucked up his sleave. As a final touch, he took out a small case and removed his special pair of sunglasses equipped with tiny sensor packs and a heads-up-display on the lenses. Putting them on, the glasses automatically changed from tinted to transparent in the low-light. Now Tak looked like a regular businessman or scholar.

"How am I looking, babe?" he asked, flashing a grin.