Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 8, 2009 20:05:25 GMT -5
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though we were hurt so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms.
"Brothers in Arms" ~ original artist: Dire Straights, cover by Celtic Thunder (link)
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though we were hurt so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms.
"Brothers in Arms" ~ original artist: Dire Straights, cover by Celtic Thunder (link)
Name: Samantha Allurea Zaftig ((Zaftig Thesaurus Link))
Nickname: Sam
Alias(es): Namra Raquad
Age: 28
Race: Human
Birth place: Kor Vella, Corellia
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 127
Hair Color: Blond
Eye Color: Grey
Appearance:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Sam in Serape
PF Security gear ref
PF Flight gear side ref
PF flight gear front ref
Samantha and Captain (now Lt. Colonel) Jacob Xavier
Blond, beautiful, and buxom, Samantha is about as close to "pin-up girl" or "bombshell" status as a girl can get physically. A stark contrast to her last name's implication. With looks like her's, it's easy to mistake Sam for your stereotypical blond, and that's how she likes it, but set into her oval face are clever grey eyes tend to give her intelligence away. Her skin is a smooth creme color from spending much of her time indoors and in space. Beneath the clothing, however, Sam has some rather nasty reminders of her past as a smuggler's daughter and her time in the active Military. As far as scars go, Samantha has a jagged scar across the front of her left shoulder, a round scar from a blaster injury on her right upper thigh, a small patch of rough skin from a rather nasty rash on her lower back and an obvious skin graft across part of her upper back and right shoulder blade.
Samantha tends to wear her naturally wavy hair down, or up in a tight bun if she needs it out of her face. When it comes to clothing, Sam will likely slip into just about anything that fits her so long as it isn't bright, isn't pink, and isn't overly flashy. She's worn everything from slinky "little black dresses" to her father or brother's clothing, even going so far as to have snitched some of it for herself to sleep in or just lounge around in. Sam prefers form fitting clothes that cover her scars but allow her figure to be seen, however, if the time calls for it she'll bare some skin or lounge about in something more roomy. Heels, all types of heels, are cursed by this woman and she will only wear them if it's absolutely necessary...she much prefers the comfortable fit and use of combat boots, hiking boots, and similar types.
Personality:
It's generally easy to see Samantha as the stereotypical blond...and that's the way Sam prefers it. She uses her vivacious personality, and well practiced klutzy actions to keep up the facade of being a clumsy and forgetful blond. She finds it easier to find out information, gain people's trust, and generally remain "under the radar" until she trusts you or has no other choice but to be her natural self. Once you've gained her trust Sam is clever, witty, sarcastic, and generally nice to just about anyone she comes across, however, if she can also be quite cold and calculating if you anger her or force her to do something she doesn't want to do. Typically disliking things such as vengeance, hurting others, and manipulation, Samantha tries to keep herself from thinking in such ways, however, push her far enough and she will be more than willing to find a way to "even the score"
Previous Occupations:
Occupation: Military
Descriptions: Fighter Pilot / Secretary
Department: Army
Rank: E-5 Sergeant
Previous Department: Army Air-Corps
Previous Stations:
“Doaba” Air-Base, Corellia – Seventh Air Division – Captain Jacob Xavier
Hollowtown Base, Centerpoint Station – 284 Company – Major Aunna Borgonia
Manaan Base, Manaan – 284 Company – Major Aunna Borgonia
Republic Army Headquarters, Coruscant – Headquarters Battalion 3rd Army – Colonel Ular Vinay
Current Occupations:
Occupation 1: Black Bha'lir Smuggler
Rank: Prince
Occupation 2: Project Familiar Security Detail, Familiar Extraction/Deployment
Employee ID#: SD48S91141
Project Familiar Security Gear:
(may have any or all of the following equipped while on duty)
1) Concealable body armor vest
2) Shin/knee guards
3) Elbow pads
4) Biceps protection pads
5) Protective eye/head gear
6) Filter/breathing mask
7)Utility belt holding:
- Ammunition pouch (and blaster charge packs)
- Blaster/thigh holster (blaster typically set on stun)
- Expandable baton
- Stun rod
- Flashlight
- Comm link/body mic
- Binder pouch
- Flashbang pouch x2 (total of 4 flashbangs)
- Key/Key card ring
Project Familiar Piloting Gear:
(will typically be wearing most, if not all, of this gear during piloting missions)
1) Olive drab/grey jumpsuit (embroidered in black across the right upper-chest: “You can run…You’ll just die.” ~ sentimental meaning from her time with the “Lucky Sevens” on Corellia)
2) Olive drab G-suit/flight suit
3) Black gloves
4) Flight helmet (olive drab. Call sign “Bomber” stenciled in golden/bronze on it, as well as a mini Jet fighter decal)
5) HUD visor (mission related option)
6) Flight mask (mission related option)
7) Comm-link earpiece and mic
8) Survival Vest including:
- Flotation device
- Comm and beacon
- Flare x2
- Camouflage Paint
- GPS
- Matches
- Tourniquet
- Compass
- Fire starter
- Strobe light
- Maps (mission dependent)
- Finger lights (These tiny thimble-like tools turn a pilot's fingertips into flashlights)
- Infrared tape (In order to amplify his heat signal, a pilot can apply infrared tape to his flight suit, allowing rescuers to locate him quickly on the ground.)
Other Gear:
Skills: clerical, repair, advanced piloting (atmospheric fighter piloting --Firehawk specialty-- and space piloting), demolitions, lock-picking
Languages: Basic, Olys Corellisi, Kinetic Communication, Huttese, Smugglers cant
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 4
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 2
Ranged Weapons: 6
Alignment: +2
Ship Name:
Model X-3 Hawk-S "The Harpy" -- Project Familiar Interceptor/Fighter
Bio:
A Smuggler’s Daughter
1. Losing and Gaining
Being born on Corellia, a planet that turned out droves of pilots and set its standards on being maverick or intrepid as well as defying the odds, was a fitting beginning for a smuggler's daughter. Samantha Allurea Zaftig was born like any other child, on any other day, on any other planet, and it wasn't so astounding when the infant's mother died in childbirth. The pregnancy had been difficult for the woman, Samantha being the second child of twins...her twin, however, was the complication that killed her mother and itself. Even with this loss, her father (Raxus, a “Prince” in the Black Bha’lir gang) and older brother (Oren) loved the little blond haired, grey eyed girl, and saw her as a link to the woman they loved and missed. With Sam's mother gone, however, there was nothing to keep the little family on that planet, and so Raxus decided to take the two small children with him on his ship...besides, he couldn't leave them with family as he had none of his own and he didn't entirely trust his former wife's brother with children.
By the time she was five, little Samantha and ten year old Oren were both apprentices for the Black Bha’lir’s and being taught as much about the galaxy and the regular schooling a child required as their father could do alone. Reading, writing, math, science, astrography, Raxus taught them all that he could, though their tutelage in science was lacking considerably. What wasn't lacking, however, was their tutelage in such things as repairs, flying, the Smuggler’s Code, and smuggling. By ten Samantha was helping her father and older brother in their legal job as ship repairmen, and their father's...less legal...smuggling jobs. Through watching her father and brother Sam learned lock picking, putting the skill to practice on her brother's desk drawer and footlocker to get at his magazines, then later on getting her father into doors that he couldn't get through. She found smuggling and stealing to be a fairly interesting life, not understanding that the life her father led was unlawful, and often hurt others. To the little blond it was a chance to see and do and experience things she'd never seen, done, or experienced before.
The precocious little girl seemed to not only have a knack for breaking and entering, but also for explosives. Several times Raxus caught Samantha taking apart firecrackers and mixing their contents or filching blaster packs and gas cartridges to see how they might react to flame. Quite the little pyromaniac, Sam nearly always had matches or a lighter on her to see if paper really would burn, if she could make a torch out of a can of hair spray, if a mixture of alcohols and a strip of cloth in a glass bottle would REALLY shatter and cause other things to set on fire. The poor old smuggler even caught Sam with a grenade once (where she got it from he never DID find out) as she tried to figure out just how the miniature explosive worked. Thankfully they were all saved from her curiosity that day.
2. Why is the Spice Gone?
The good times ended, however, as she turned 11 and her older brother left to go work as a full time ship repairman. When asked by the little girl why he was leaving his answer was "because I can't live and die a criminal, I love you and dad, Sam, but I don't love what dad does or what he makes you do." Those words haunted the little girl, and soon, she began to question. Question the lifestyle, the right and wrong, the truth and the lies behind their travels and the 'work' they did. Her father's answers kept the girl's questions at bay well enough, she saw it was true that her father wasn't a 'bad' man, and only took smuggling jobs when repair work was scarce. When she was 12, Raxus took on a job with a pirate group, delivering spice. Upon delivery of the spice, the dealer decided that instead of payment, it would be wiser to keep the two captive for future use, and perhaps sell the girl, Samantha, as a slave. Tossing the two into separate rooms, Sam searched around the dark entrapment. Much to her surprise and horror, she found the room to be filled with the remains of other prisoners long dead, dried blood, rats and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned...ever. The only fairly decent place she found to sleep was a pile of scrap metal in one of the corners of the room. A day later, the door to her cell was opened, revealing the outlined form of a man in robes. Blinded and confused, she'd stayed where she was until the jedi (followed by his padawan) had come in and taken her out, reuniting her with her father before continuing on his search for the grey jedi who had supposedly been part of the pirate crew.
Until the age of 17, Sam and Raxus had been a good team. She had learned just enough about mechanics to do small jobs and find problems so that her father could handle the larger jobs she didn't know how to fix yet. On the side the two ran smuggling missions (she had even earned the rank of Pilot in the Black Bha’lir gang), but the young woman was growing increasingly more jaded with the job as she earned herself a rather nasty vibroblade injury to the shoulder, and later a blaster wound to the thigh. More and more increasingly her eye went, instead, to the republic military. Samantha was 17 the next time she and her father had any major incident...it was, unfortunately, once again with pirates.
3. Losing Daddy
Raxus had taken yet another smuggling job from yet another group of pirates. Samantha had begged her father to reconsider, remembering vividly the way the LAST pirate smuggling job had gone, and NOT wanting a repeat of it, however, her father thought this time would be different. How wrong he was. She had opted to stay aboard their ship, the Exodus, instead of taking the cargo with her father. It was a good thing she didn't. As Raxus commed in to have her pick him up at the drop site, she listened to the outraged cries of the pirates as they opened the cargo that had been delivered. It was the severed head of one of their captains from what she gathered from all the shouting. By this time, she was in the air. Things went from bad to worse as Sam listened helplessly as her father was captured, and as she flew toward the pick up zone, the young woman watched her father shot to death for being the messenger of the rival pirate group. There was nothing more she could do, and so, heartbroken and terrified, she sped the Exodus up to break free of the planet's atmosphere, the furious pirates hot on her tail. Luck was with the horrified blond, however, and she was able to gain distance on the pirates who were still warming up their ships to chase after her. By the time they would catch up to her, she was prepared to jump to hyperspace and she managed to escape with her life.
Returning to Coruscant, the young woman found herself with the unpleasant task of having to inform her brother of their father's death. Being raised as a slightly more superstitious woman, Sam not only blamed her father's death on his inability to see pirates for what they all were, murdering and contemptuous brigands, but also because he had forgotten his 'lucky bomber jacket', the leather coat he wore every time he had gone on a successful run...the only failed runs she'd ever seen had been ones where he'd not had that coat on. Either way, as she and Oren divided the few things of her fathers, she was adamant about keeping the jacket as well as a few pictures and no more. Oren had insisted that she keep the Exodus as well, and so it was that she found herself in possession of the ship she had grown up on as well as her father's jacket.
Shortly after this horrible event, Sam turned 18 and immediately scrambled to join the Republic Army.
4. You’re in the Army Now
The sprightly blond passed her physical with flying colors, and speaking of flying, she was even given the OK to be trained for atmo-pilot training. She was about to join the Army Air-Corps….well, as soon as she passed basics that was. Oh what a cinch basics was. If anything, while others were bemoaning their choice to join the military, Samantha was a model recruit. This wasn’t to say she was brilliant at everything she did, no, she made mistakes and made a lot of them, but she did them with gusto. When reprimanded, she took the punishment without complaint and did it to the best of her abilities…it was the only way she’d grow, and the only way to get her mind off her father. She was, by no means, a perfect killer, but she learned easily enough, and her time as a smuggler’s daughter helped her keep up with the rest of the recruits clawing their way through basics.
Her instructors were pleased with her enthusiasm, and decent leadership abilities, as well as her ability to follow command. Sam had little problems in assembly or disassembly of her gear and weapons. Her physical fitness was well above the others. Her use of melee weapons left quite a bit to be desired, but she made up for that in her average CQC and just above average use of ranged weapons. What set the young woman apart; however, were her demolitions knowledge and her piloting skills. She’d honed this during her time as a smuggler (though they didn’t know of this), and it set her several notches above the rest. Samantha was move then to further training in piloting, with a secondary focus on demolitions. This was where she met Adamar ‘Sev’ Sevchenko. At this point, he was already set to graduate into the service, she still had several months to go, and so the two never really got to know each other…that would soon be remedied.
Through various simulator tests, Sam proved herself more than proficient in both atmo and space combat, and so her training continued on. She was taught the ins and outs of star fighters, atmospheric fighters, light bombers, you name it she tried (and succeeded) in learning it. With piloting, she was the jack of all trades, and she loved to take risks…but risks that worked. Her demolitions training was complete by this time, all manner of explosives being under her control, and she managed to even make some out of the more interesting objects they gave her to test her abilities. The ability to make something go ‘boom’ just seemed to stick easily with the young blond, and her expertise in it showed.
Seven Lucky Charms
1. Joining the Lucky Sevens
Upon graduation from boot camp, and later her more formal piloting and demolitions training, Samantha was ready for just about anything. Her superiors saw fit to send her on her way to Corellia. Joining the Seventh Air Division, “the Lucky Sevens” as they were oh so fondly called, was far from the most popular division of the Corellian army. This came as little surprise to the bubbly young private…after all, why would the space loving Corellians welcome an atmosphere bound division of pilots? It didn’t do much to get the woman down…if anything it only made her work harder, be better, and prove them wrong.
Being Corellian herself, the young woman fit in easily with the others stationed at the base, and served a double roll as morale officer for the Sevens…or as she began calling them the “Lucky Charms.” Keeping morale up in the seemingly dismal future of the Sevens was no easy feat, but Sam managed to keep the air at least a little light by pulling pranks and teasing members mercilessly, even taking a few pratfalls to further the humor. This earned her the attention of a Lorrdian man named Brathos Anasazi (call sign: Bravo). What caught Sam’s attention about the man (other than his looks) was the fact that he always seemed to know she was up to something LONG before anyone else even had a clue she was pondering a new practical joke. The thing that made her even more curious was not only the fact that Brathos always wore baggy clothing that hid the majority of his movements, but he never let on to the others that she was planning something mischievous.
Nineteen year old Samantha, now curious as to just why (and HOW) this man seemed to know her intentions before anyone else even had a clue. She approached him about this one day, asking if he was a force user and was able to read her mind. When he answered “no, but I CAN read your body,” she was (to say the least) surprised. Over the course of the day, Brathos found himself dogged by the young woman whenever possible, her seemingly never ending questions amusing him enough to start giving her answers. As it turned out, the man had been born on the still rebuilding planet of Lorrd and so he had been taught since birth Kinetic Communication. Intrigued, she assaulted him with questions about this type of communication and, laughing, he had politely offered to teach her what he could…”after all,” he said, “you’re more difficult to read than most here simply because you’re so flamboyant. It’s difficult to tell if that’s how you’re really feeling or if you’re just putting on a show…gives me a chance to learn the truth behind that and maybe help you out along the way.” She didn’t see it at the time, but there was certainly an attraction there, for both of them, and she willingly accepted the offer.
2. Body Language
Sam and Brathos were soon an almost inseparable pair. During what free time they had they had, he could be seen moving Sam around almost as if she were a large doll and having her hold various positions so she remembered what they felt like. On the other hand, she would sometimes be seen speaking conspiratorially. Not long after this members of the Sevens would have to be on the look out for a prank of some kind that she’d conned Brathos into helping her with. After a month of this, Brathos started talking to Sam about Vianism when she saw him give his recently bought food to a woman on the street without her ever asking. He explained that part of Vianism’s teachings was to serve others by anticipating their needs.
Finding this religion and the teachings he spoke about completely understandable and in keeping with her nature of wanting to make others happy, Sam continued to ask him to teach her…now not only kinetic communication, but also Vianism. As the second month continued on in this way, Brathos and Samantha found that they had more than just professional or friendly feelings towards each other, and the two started dating subtly. The pair was a nearly unstoppable team, both on the ground and in the air. The duo’s kinetic communication made for nearly unrecognizable, yet accurate, communication between them leaving enemies stumped and in the dark as to their movements or plans because of the radio silence. Slowly the two began forming a similar type of communication between planes involving subtle wing shifts or shifts of the plane or it’s VTOL thrusters and wing flaps. Though less accurate due to the distance and nature of flight, it was still surprisingly effective, limiting radio contact between the two, and they were often sent out as scouts for the rest of the squad.
3. Gaining Respect
As the years wore on, the disrespect for the Sevens dissolved into a disbelieving respect for their prowess as both ground and air fighters. Soon they were being called in as the go-to team for the missions others deemed impossible. Much to the surprise and admiration of the other squads and higher-ups, the Seven’s close knit “family” bond and their Captain’s martial prowess allowed the team to surmount incredible odds and come out victorious. While on the ground, Samantha and Adamar served as demolitions (though Sam also acted as scout if only one demolitions officer was needed) while Brathos acted as communications (which seemed to always tickle Sam). With Adamar on rifle, Sam on blasters, and Brathos as close combat, the three were a fairly good combination as they covered all ranges easily. In the air Adamar out-shown them all, and Sam was swift to develop a friendly rivalry with the man, seeing who could fly better, faster, fancier, and still take down the enemies. Brathos tended to stay out of that rivalry, but found it amusing to no end to listen to them banter across the com channels. This was the type of family the Sevens were as a whole.
It was always an interesting day if someone got to watch and listen to the Sevens fly, be it in practice or in combat.
By her third year with the Sevens, Sam had gained a reputation as the squad mascot, and Brathos seemed to enjoy the times she dressed up in olive drabs, did her hair, put on some make up, and pranced around the base in her father’s old bomber jacket and her dress uniform cap as the Seven’s very own Military Pin-up Girl. This little game of “dress up and drive the men around the base insane” happened the day before the Sevens were sent out on a mission, and it never ceased to be one more way the Sevens could point and go “See…look! Now don’t you wish you were part of us?!” Sam, being the Corellian she was, reveled in the attention and made sure to tease the rest of the men on base even further by hanging on all of the Sevens…especially Brathos. When things were down to business the day of the mission, Sam was all go so long as she had her father’s bomber jacket, and she made it a point to have it with her in the “Firehawk” with her during missions. If it wasn’t on her, it was on the seat…no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
4. Luck Runs Out
Four years, almost to the day, from the time that Sam joined the Sevens, their luck ran out.
It was an abnormality in the routine, it wasn’t a mission assigned ahead of time, there was no time for tradition, it was a grab and go mission. There had been sketchy intel about terrorist activity in the wastes of Corellia and the Sevens were the first up.
The squad was unprepared at best.
The Hawks were barely fueled in time, the Sevens had a hasty briefing, they managed to scarf down some food and suit up. Routine checks were bypassed because of the time window allotted. They were facing a potentially deadly downdraft, and when there wasn’t that danger the cross winds were battering the Firehawk from side to side. Sam didn’t even have time to notice that she’d left her father’s bomber jacket at the base in the hustle to get to the fighters and lift off. As the Sevens reached the “badlands” of Corellia, the combination of twisting canyons and blasting sand and gravel caused no end of distress due to low visibility.
The Sevens were swiftly scattered thanks to enemy fighters and rocket launchers that intel hadn’t warned them of. Caught by surprise by the amount of enemies they were facing, the Seven’s only choice was retreat to a safe position and reform if possible to make a second sweep of the area. This proved to be impossible as the enemy squadron drove the Sevens that remained in the air after passing through the first set of rocket launchers into the twisting canyons and toward the anti-aircraft defenses of the objective facility.
Sam followed hot on Sev’s tail, Brathos bringing up her rear to try to keep with Sev and his wing mates. Their own had virtually been demolished by falling rocks in the canyons and enemy aircraft, all they could do now was try to keep the heat off of Sev and his team as they attempted their own objective. Sam and Brathos were forced into using more audio communication than they liked, and it was this that allowed one of the enemy fighters to drive Brathos away from the diminishing squadron and back out in front of them into a waiting ambush for the entire group. Diving below Sev’s second wing-man, Sam shot out in front to help clear a path, but it was too late to help Brathos as he flew head long into oncoming enemies…all three went down in an explosion of flames and twisted metal.
Furious, Sam continued to attempt to clear a path and keep the heat off the remaining Sevens as they took down the targeted bunkers of the facility, but her Hawk was taking extensive damage. As they made their final sweep of the facility, Sam joined in dropping a payload of concussion missiles on it to take the thing out permanently before pushing her craft out in front again. By now, the Seven’s typical chatter had quieted to only 6 voices. What those six pilots didn’t know was that at the end of the death trap of canyons was another set of anti-aircraft turrets. Sam saw them…barely. Pointing them out, she managed to take down one of the turrets, but only barely before the other managed to take out her engines, setting her craft on fire and careening toward the ground.
Things went from bad to worse for the blond pilot when her ejection mechanism locked on her effectively trapping her in the Firehawk. Fighting to keep some semblance of control over the fighter, she could only watch as the ground came closer and the rest of the Sevens got further into the distance, away from the edge of the badlands. The impact was sudden and sent the remains of the downed and flaming Firehawk skidding and tumbling along the ground. Even as the crippled aircraft ground to a halt, Sam could feel the flames heating the metal behind her to a burning heat that was swiftly eating away at her upper back and right shoulder. Dazed and confused from the sudden landing, it took longer than Sam would have liked to get the safety harness (now a strap-o-death) off of herself. Struggling to get herself out of the still flaming fighter, the blond was forced to kick the hatch open. Covering her face from the heat as best she could with her arms, Sam resigned herself to further burning to get out alive. By the time she had managed to fall out of the wreckage, a large part of the skin of her upper back and right shoulder was virtually melted away.
5. Recovery
Through the severe injury, the pain, and the shock of the ordeal, it was through adrenalin, willpower, and a LOT of luck that Samantha made it to a near by farm at the edge of the badlands. Immediately the owners of the farm took her to the nearest city, and from there she was transferred into the hands of the authorities and medical technicians who got her to the nearest military medical facility. News of yet another survivor of the Lucky Sevens squadron moved swiftly to the base where the remains of her team was notified. Samantha was in critical condition…but she was alive.
Receiving a synth-skin graft, Samantha was immediately put into a kolto tank. Though this did heal the majority of the damage done, when she was taken out it was found that her range of motion was more limited with her right arm. This revelation brought with it the emotionally painful news that she wouldn’t be fit to fly for the military any longer. Returning to the base crushed emotionally and almost spiritually, Sam bid a teary farewell to the rest of the Sevens as she told them of her reassignment to that of a secretary for higher ranking military officers because she was no longer physically able enough to fly for the army. Upon starting to gather her belongings to be sent to her new post, Samantha discovered that Raxus’ jacket was still in her room. She had believed it to have been destroyed with the Firehawk, and finding it here only furthered her belief that, like the job her father had died on, the mission had gone fatally wrong because the good luck charm had been left behind…that Brathos, who had been talking more and more seriously of marriage after their time with the military was over, had died because it had been left behind.
Past, Present, and Future
Aunna Borgonia
As fate, the force, or Via, would have it, 24 year old Samantha was transferred to a company of about 80 men and women under the command of Captain Aunna Borgonia based mainly on Centerpoint Station between the worlds of Talus and Tralus. The company was often sent into the mines of both planets in their hunt for Dark Jedi who seemed to be gathering in the area more and more. It wasn’t uncommon for the company to be sent to places like Corellia or Selonia to track down dark jedi, but they always seemed to return to Centerpoint Station, and that (much to Sam’s chagrin) was where she spent much of her time. Working for Aunna was, however, easier than she expected. The woman was constantly busy, and the job was demanding, but the captain was understanding and the two swiftly became good friends.
Sam was fairly surprised to learn that Capt. Borgonia seemed to make it a point to get to know the soldiers under her command. It made her smile to think that she’d been lucky enough to fall under the command of someone similar to her former commander. The job was hardly fulfilling to the young woman, however, and she swiftly became bored of her lot in life as a “paper pusher,” and soon turned to teasing the soldiers around the station as well as teaching others a few tricks about kinetic communication if they ever thought to ask. Aunna was one of the few that did ask. It tickled Sam that though the woman was fairly swift to pick things up about kinetics, she didn’t ever really think in terms of kinetics unless she were trying to resolve a problem or if she was in what Sam called “combat mode”…the mindset the woman got before going on a mission. As the years passed little changed, she met Aunna’s brother, learned about the twi’lek Samael Vorlax…and even managed to pry some information about Andrew from the captain. It wasn’t until she turned 26 that her life once again seemed to take a turn for the odd and unknown.
Traitorous Ways?
After her return from a meeting on Coruscant, the captain seemed different, especially to Sam. Concerned, she asked her friend what had happened at the meeting to shake her up so badly. When Aunna informed Sam that it hadn’t been the meeting, but rather an encounter with a dark jedi, Sam felt an odd sort of relief and did her best to convince the captain that it was nothing to worry about. Almost a month later, after a mission to Selonia, Aunna returned to Centerpoint Station with a broken leg and a stony look in her eyes. Following the treatment for her broken leg, Sam approached Aunna once more and was startled to find that it had been the same dark jedi before. Not only had she fought him, but he had been the one to maim and kill the other dark jedi they had been hunting. Concerned now, Sam asked if Aunna had informed her superiors of the problem. Aunna, of course, had done just that…she’d told them everything, but they had hardly believed her when she’d told them that the dark jedi she’d fought had let her live, never mind gone out and killed the other others…it had to have been a grey jedi or a regular jedi in disguise, but either way she’d been the one to actually capture the ones on Selonia. Not only that, but they were all being transferred to Manaan.
Sam wasn’t sure just what to believe at this point. The news said that, now Major, Aunna Borgonia and her company had captured and killed the dark jedi they’d been after on Selonia. Over the next two months, Sam settled into a new routine on Manaan, but Aunna seemed to have become far more anxious with the combination of paperwork and frustration at being shoved behind a desk. Sam understood completely. Soon enough Aunna was injured again, by a lightsaber no less, and she became even more secluded. Jade called less frequently, and then stopped all together, and then…the base was bombed. Luckily Sam had been out for dinner at the time. After that, she only saw Aunna during working hours. The Major refused to eat or sleep around the others, and blamed the bombing on herself. It wasn’t until Samael was, almost miraculously, captured that Sam believed Aunna was the cause. After he was turned in to the authorities, Aunna returned to staying with the rest of the company. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after this that she was also kidnapped.
Filled with concern, the secretary started the search of Manaan, was ordered (by Jade no less…a now known turn coat to the Sith) to contact Coruscant, and then the waiting game began. Aunna WAS indeed found, but captured as a traitor and Sam (along with the rest of the company) were ordered to return to Coruscant for reassignment. Sam was assigned to work for Colonel Vinay, a horrible Mirilan man who had been Aunna’s previous superior and had rallied others (subtly) to call for her immediate execution as traitor. What Sam didn’t allow Vinay to know was the fact that she knew he’d rigged the trial to the best of his ability. The day Aunna was set to be executed Sam watched the news like a hawk. The startling information that the woman had escaped with the help of a dark jedi making her eyes widen. Could it have been the same dark jedi Aunna had been dealing with before? Were all the accusations true?! It couldn’t have been.
Several days passed and Sam found herself busy once again. This time dealing with the Jedi Order so that the jedi knight involved in the crash of Queen Sali could be brought in for questioning. Apparently he had met Aunna during the ordeal, and so Vinay wished to speak with him personally. Sam was more than surprised when the tall brunette entered the small front office and was ushered through to Vinay’s office. She didn’t get a chance to actually speak to the man until she entered the Colonel’s office to inform him that he had a call. After much berating and belittling by the Colonel, he left and she was free to take a short break. Barely enough time to speak to the handsome young knight, Ryn, and get a little information from him about what had happened in lower Coruscant. Two weeks after this encounter, she was kidnapped by a bounty hunter, Ean Stenner, who forced her to fly him to Mygeeto in search of the former Major and Vex Praetor. On Mygeeto, she once again met Ryn, and the two left Ean (rather hastily and very much against Ean’s wishes) on the icy planet and headed for Tatooine.
RP Sample:
Familiar controls surrounded her, filling her vision as the world solidified around her, and she was already swiftly flipping a few switches. The HUD monitor flickered on, followed by chattering in her ear from the (now on) comms system before it started filtering the chatter to the channels she required. A good full sweeping motion was given to the control yoke out of habit as she tested the feel of it. Two heavy thumps on the hull of the Hawk heralded the arrival of one of the fuels apprentices. “The Hawk is fueled and airfield management is here, ma’am.” His head had just barely poked up over the side of the canopy as he spoke and she nodded in return with a thumbs up to show she understood as she continued with her flight checks and started the engines, the whine of the turbines bringing a slight smile to her face despite the tension ebbing around the edges of her consciousness.
Not but two minutes later another set of heavy thumps was heard against her hull and she looked over. There was one of the airfield managers, climbing the ladder to get a better look at her, complete with mufflers to dampen the sound of the jets and pressing the mic closer to his mouth so she could hear him better over her com…rather than hearing the sounds around him. “High winds of about 28 knots to the southwest over the entire airstrip. Recommended VTOL for the scramble. Gusts through the canyons are reported coming in gale speed bursts of about 35 to 39 knots from the west.” Another nod and a thumbs up from Sam in acknowledgement. “You’ve got the green here, removing the blocks and the ladder.”
Nodding, she sat up and reached for the canopy holds to bring it down as he pressed it toward her. With a hefty tug the canopy came toward her and snapped closed, locking even as she pulled on the safety harness and fastened it securely. She was swift to connect her G-suit to the air line, and her mask to its O2 feed before snapping the mask into place. Feeling the cool rush of oxygen across her lower face, she checked the rest of her gear and systems before taxiing out with the others of her wing.
Falling in behind Brathos, Sev’s voice cut the lines as he called for a sound off of each member. Four other voices barked back at him as they grouped up on the tarmac, her hand already switching the systems to prepare for a vertical take off. Something felt off to her but the young woman just didn’t have the time to ponder it as the wind battered against her Hawk, making the control column jitter in her hand as she worked to keep her craft from shifting sideways too much. Without a further ado she and the others of the Sixth wing of the Lucky Sevens were shooting off like green stars.
The world blurred around her cockpit, earth and sky melting into one on the horizon as the vibrant thrum of the jets surrounded her…but this peace wasn’t to last. As the ‘feeling’ of gravity slammed into her and time seemed to slow back to normal the world outside her cockpit became sickeningly familiar once again…just as her hand gripped the control and she rolled around for another run on the target.
”AA 1 out! …Holy Sh-…!”
A flash of metal had swept past her as soon as she’d loosed the twin AA-19’s, forcing her to roll to the side and slip under the opposing aircraft with feet to spare. “It’s a total furball out here six lead! Much more of this and we’re all buying the farm!” Archer’s voice was like music to her ears…but not so much as the ball of fire below her (above her?) as she looped back for another run on their target.
”Looks like I go—orram! That thing just won’t go away! I hit it, I know I did! FRELL!”
“Take another run, Bomber.”
As if she had any other choice.
Rolling out of her loop, she pressed down and pulled hard on the trigger as she stooped on a bogie chasing down Sev from behind as another came from the side. The heavy repeating of her gatling guns sprayed golden bolts along the back and engine of the enemy fighter, but it also brought her back down into the canyons where the gusts of wind were especially dangerous. Not to mention it was where the majority of the confusion was. Without a second thought, she was gone again, pulling up sharp and pushing her Hawk to get back to her target. ”AA 2 locked and…no! Tell me I'm the only one who’s having targeting problems!”
“My fun meter is pegged now…I'm running almost blind.”
“Deal with your eyes and keep your head on a swivel then.”
An affirmative grunt from Hunter had Sam growling as she swooped in fast on the target with her gatlings as she tried to get a good look at where she needed to line up. “You’ll never get it that way. I’ll watch your back, Bomber, you make that thing disappear.”
”Roger, Lorrd. Good to have a wingman right now.”
Coming around on the target again she’d pull back on the throttle, sweeping in low as she moved to line up the shot. ”Here’s to shooting from the hip on a windy day, boys.” A tight contrail shot out from under her wing as the guided missile detached and careened toward their target. Running to the right, Sam shot away, Brathos still on her tail. As the final explosion sounded behind them, the two were too busy fending off oncoming enemies to see it had hit true and the last of their target had gone up in flames.
“Sierra Hotel, Bomber! Now get your rear in gear and let’s GTFO!”
”Shouldn’t we help one of the other wings?! It’s chaos out here, someone must need a few good jocks!”
“There’s practically no one left.”
Looking around, the fact was glaringly obvious as the number of Hawks around was down to basically just them and a few that she caught sight of through the canyon gaps. Even Hunter and Sev were out of easy sight, but Sev’s barking for them to get a move on had her complying without a second thought as she shot away from the short bluff and into the taller canyons surrounding it. It was frighteningly similar to flying the Agrilat swoop course…only add wind. A lot of wind. And enemies, plenty of them too.
Her muscles twitched in response to what her eyes caught, every action a reaction to the stimuli surrounding her as she pushed the envelope on her craft, and her own abilities. The black decal of a sword and shield on Brathos’ Hawk flickered past her eyes as he darted into the canyon with her through a break in the wall, the enemy tailing him coming in just as she passed and, in an attempt not to collide with her, slammed into the wall of rock. Sev and Archer could be seen in passing on the other side and Hunter came in below them as they all made a mad dash for the ‘exit’.
Flashes of flame and debris obscured the canyons ahead of them as two more Hawks attempted to slide through and blind sided each other, followed closely by more enemies, forcing the sixth wing to scatter again to avoid the FUBAR. When they regrouped as the canyons widened Sev was in front...Archer at 2, Hunter at 4, Brathos was at her 7. Her heart rate was going up again as a knot formed in her gut as her radar picked up more enemies coming up behind only to vanish again, if only for a few moments. From the corner of her eye she saw Brathos coming up to the left of her. Wing flaps flickered twice, a subtle shift of his VTOL thrusters. She nodded and dove off to the right to try and catch one of the ones they knew was there on the other side of the canyon wall just in time to see a flash of silver appear on the other side of Brathos.
"Lorrd bogey at your 5! I can't shift to get 'im!"
“I've got 'im Bomber. I'll lead 'im off your tails, get Sev an' them out.”
"Roger, see you on the other side Lorrd"
She didn't so much as flinch as she shot down another enemy fighter, rolling past and through the fiery debris with a hoot of victory. A blaze of green, tan and black and Brathos was out in front of them, still followed closely by the fighter from before. Growling, she pushed her fighter downward careening toward the rocky face of a bluff and under Sev and the others, pulling up and to her right once more the belly of her fighter skimmed just above it as she sped beneath the others. As she glanced over to the next gap in the wall, however, grey eyes widened.
"Lorrd! pull up! It's a trap! Brathos! Pull up!! PULL UP!"
"Sam, get them there! I'll take these braggards down!"
"BRATHOS NO!!"
The anger and pain welled up in her again as she watched the three fighters rolled and dove through each other one of the enemy fighters slamming into the rock face as Brathos and the other took heavy damage from each other and went down in smoke, flames and metal. Golden rounds of weapons fire erupted from her fighter as she continued to fire upon anything that moved that wasn't her own. Now, as the enemy fighters thinned, it was the turrets...and it happened soon enough. As she unleashed one battery of the AAS-21s on the turret she had honed in on the Hawk shuddered around her violently and she watched the control panel flicker dangerously as the engines whined. ”Second AA turret! Cayon edge right! Going in!” Knowing that she was likely going down anyway, she bore down on the second turret even as another heavy shudder rocked her fighter. She could hear the crackling of fried systems, feel the disintegration of control over the ailing Hawk, smell the smoke…
…She fired the second battery of AAS-21s…
"Going down! Ejecting...FRELL!"
"Oi! Bomber!?"
"Egress gear’s stuck! Go Sev!"
The heat was coming at her back now and she could feel the fighter coming apart around her as she tried to ignore the ground coming up at her. The all too familiar burning behind her as she fought to control the remains of her fighter had her heart racing. The fear crept up again as the ground grew closer and she braced herself mentally for the crash even as she fought to control the fighter so it didn’t end up rolling or slamming down nose first. As she caught sight of the others speeding away Sam was gripped with fear that she stubbornly tried to push down again. The impact sent the Hawk jumping and skidding along the ground before it rolled twice and slid to a stop.
Everything was a blur from that moment and even outwardly Sam had stiffened and took short, sharp, breaths. Her back was burning horribly, and she hit her head and arms several times even with the safety restraints. As the groaning and flaming remains of her fighter shuddered to a halt Sam dazedly tried to regain some sense of what was going on. The heat searing her back did that well enough and soon she was struggling to get herself free of her restraints.
The clips had been mashed together in the crash and she fumbled to get at her boot knife and cut herself free. It was all she could do to ignore the pain that she remembered, the phantom pain running through her back. She struggled to get out of the cockpit. Her heart rate rose sharply as she knew what she had to do to get out. arms wrapped around her head, face and neck as best she could before she leaned back against what had obviously been searing hot metal. She remembered her own cries of pain as she did and kicked up at the top of the cockpit slowly forcing it open before pulling herself away from the metal that had been cooking her skin and muscle and tumbling out again. From there, everything was a haze...blurry images of desert, a flash of grass or sky, pain, seemingly endless walking, shaking of her body from the shock of the crash and her injury. Darkness came and she obviously collapsed, two blurry forms rushing toward her through darkening vision.
Sam awoke suddenly, gasping for breath and blinking around at her swiftly lightening room. How long had it been since she'd dreamed about that day? The blond sighed and looked at her chrono, groaning slightly...well, it was too close to the time she needed to get up to go back to sleep, so she might as well just stay awake.
