Cultivating Chaos [Sporky, Kella/NPC]

[Mara]

[...from Another Day, Another Mission]


Everything about the coming mission to Gargon was straightforward for Mandalorian Special Ops Lieutenant Ambria Arcane. Though different than her previous few missions involving full-scale attacks on Republic-controlled former Mandalorian worlds, it was still nothing that bothered her. That she was not used to something such as she was about to partake in in an hour after they landed did not bother her. Ambria was Mandalorian; there was nothing she couldn't handle. It would just be another challenge, this mission to cultivate and grow the current rebels into a more coordinated force against the Republic on Gargon. They were disorganized, had said Bane, and she needed to work them into shape. It would perhaps not be easy, getting these faux soldiers to work as a well-oiled machine to the point that they could be left alone after her tutelage, but it wouldn't be anything shes couldn't handle. Everything was straightforward. Everything, that is, except for her companion.

Sitting in the Republic transport--Gargon still being under Republic control, it would have been risky, even for them, to arrive under Mandalore's colors--, Ambria risked a glance behind her to where her partner in crime was seated. Originally she had been confused as to why none of her spec ops counterparts from previous missions and battles had been allocated for this mission. One obviously less offensive than perhaps Shogun and others, but still just as important. She had thought then that maybe it would be a risky mission, something her skills were needed for. Until this Corporal Zordon had arrived and been assigned to the mission as well. He was the only part of the whole thing that had seemed complicated to her. But despite any misgivings, she had to trust Bane, her Mandalore, knew what he was doing when he assigned his soldiers to missions. She was there to lead and to teach; assumably this Zordon had something to offer besides.

After the glance, she turned back around, not wanting to raise too much suspicion among the other passengers, But she needn't have worried. The transport wasn't very full, and the others who were there were mostly absorbed in datapads or naps. Ambria had wanted to take precautions anyway. Her weapons and armor were safely stored away in special unmarked luggage containers in the hold of the ship. Currently she wore dark, comfortable clothing, something that wouldn't arose suspicion and would also fit neatly under her armor afterwards. If this mission were to succeed, if they were to complete their duties, they could not alert the Republic to anything they were up to. If the enemy had any whiff that their little uprising was about to become more than a slight nuisance... well, Ambria knew she'd have hell to pay from Bane.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, a holomag propped on her lap, though she was barely even glancing through it. It would have been much better to have taken military transportation, if only to have gotten time to speak to her counterpart in this mess they were getting into. There had been no time after the briefing; Ambria hadn't been able to find him after she had grabbed some quick grub in the mess. She tried for a while, but had given up. Apparently this Zordon had some important things to do before leaving for Gargon. The dark-skinned woman had simply just left him a message for time, place, and mode of departure, listing the importance of traveling as unnoticed as possible, and had left things like that. Discussions would just have to come later, unless another opportunity presented itself before landing. Until then... Ambria stared unseeingly at her holomag, pretending to care about the latest celebrity couple hookup.



[Edit: only to fix a spelling error I noticed.]

[Sporky]

Corporal Zordon, however, was far from silently relaxing.

Yes, Zordon had been selected for this mission to Gargon as well. He'd thought it weird that Mandalore had sent a sniper and a heavy weapons guy along, but he didn't question it. Another chance to further the Mandalorian agenda, and reclaim planets that were rightfully theirs.

But unlike his cohort Ambria, Zordon wasn't just curled up with a datapad and music. No, he was at the center of a small gaggle of other folks that looked just as raw cut and rough and tumble as he did. He too was dressed in clothing that didn't look Mandalorian in the slightest, a loose olive green longcoat over a black 'wife beater' shirt emblazoned with a symbol that looked like a modified dark blue version of the symbol for the male gender, grey shorts, and black cleats.

The small gaggle were all mercs or bounty hunters, and were raucosly sharing tales of exploits, triumphs, and near-death failures. Sure, they were a nuisance, but nobody wanted to mess with a group of people sharing stories about killings and smashings and theftings.

And Zordon was the loudest, most raucous one of all, making up grandiose tales of firefights based loosely on his own contributions to the war effort. He certainly looked scarred and tough enough to have done the crap he was saying, too, which was a plus for him.

Zordon had meant to eventually have a little chit-chat with Ambria about the upcoming mission, but the genitalia-measuring contest going on at the moment was sadly preventing him from doing so. So he would have to wait.

[Mara]

Nearing to their destination, Ambria had put down the holomag she hadn't really been studying anyway and had instead switched her gaze out the viewport on her left. She was actually sitting on the aisle but could still garner a well enough view over the sleeping passenger beside her, an empty seat between her and the Rodian. This close, Gargon filled most of the opening, blocking out any stars. It looked very green and lush; she had read earlier in the brief time she had had before debarking that it was mostly jungle planet. And it just looked quiet peaceful on the outside, quite antithesis to the chaos that was going on below between the Mandalorian rebels and the Republic overlords.

She tried a look back again, knowing she couldn't much until they actually set down on planet. Maybe there would be a chance to sneak back and talk to this corporal who she'd be working with. But no, the man looked like he was occupied now, having found some 'friends' to hang out with and, from what she could hear, have a good time with. Earlier she had heard some loud laughter but hadn't realized it was coming from their group. Turning back forward, she searched her mind for a way to get this Zordon alone and came up empty. They were too close to landing for her to try the refresher in the back ruse. Soon they'd be getting the signal to strap back in for safety. No, she'd have to take him aside sometime later, if he didn't come to her.

Ambria reached for the holomag again, but after one glance, shoved it back away. Instead, she reached for her datapad, the one item she hadn't packed away and had opted to carry with her. Just in case changes in orders came in where she wouldn't be able to speak into her commlink she wanted to have a connection to the outside. She switched it on, saw she had no new messages, and decided to spend the rest of her time reading up more on Gargon and its insurgents, trying to gain as much insight into what was going on as possible. The more she knew before she met them the better she felt she'd be able to help them.

Reading through a public domain press release from the Republic scumbags about a recent skirmish an idea came to her. But it would only work if her fellow soldier also had a datapad with him. She logged into the Concord Dawn base and looked for Zordon's assigned comm number and holonet I.D. It would probably be too obvious if they just sent messages back and forth, so she opted for just pinging him and hoping he'd come over and take the empty seat next to her. Ambria sent it, and then looked over her shoulder again at the group, trying to cover by getting the beings he was with to think she was coming on to Zordon and not asking for a secret meeting. Hopefully it would work, but in the end, she didn't care how he excused himself. They just needed to talk about the mission before landfall. In the hustle and bustle of getting their luggage and going through customs there wouldn't be any.

[Sporky]

Zordon's datapad buzzed in the inside pocked of the longcoat he was wearing right as Ambria turned to look back at him, conveniently enough. He gave the tiniest of nods in her direction to show he understood. He, of course, played up that Ambria was attracted to the big hulk of green mangrit he was, and moved off to take the seat beside her.

He noticed Gargon was getting over closer, and cursed himself for not getting away from the group sooner. Gog damn it, this would make things difficult. He didn't really know his companion, and now they had even less time to meet and greet before they got down to business. Frak. Oh well. What happened happened, right?

Of course, that wasn't to say that he definitely wasn't nervous. Mandalorian or not, they were a small ragtag group against an entire controlled planet. Though that was, he supposed, exactly why he and the lieutenant were being sent to rouse rabble. Unify the other ragtags into an unstopple force, raining down unbearable ouchies until the Republic forces were overwhelmed. Made sense to him.

Normally, Zordon would have opened the conversation. However, this was no doubt serious, and Ambria was his superior sister. So he remained silent, craggy brows hard-set as he watched Gargon get closer and closer. They were told to buckle in and he did. His nervousness showed slightly, in little fidgets and twitches of his hands. The mighty Zordon, colossus of a Mandalorian and shining monument to mangrit was nervous.

[Mara]

When she had seen that the corporal had gotten the hint, she kept up her gaze a moment or two longer to complete the ruse before turning back around and focusing back on her mite of research open on her datapad. She had to quickly come up with something to say. Otherwise this little meeting wouldn't be worth it, and they'd have to completely play things by the seat of their armored pants. Though this mission obviously had quite a bit of improvising to it anyway--there was no way to tell what exactly they would encounter--Ambria was no novice to trying to gather as much intel as possible pre-mission. The more she, they, knew, the better.

Ambria swung her legs into the aisle to allow the larger humanoid room to get past and occupy the empty seat next to her. Offhandedly she wondered if he had special armor to wear. Not that most Mandos wore custom stuff, but this guy wasn't exactly short. Moving back to sit in a more conventional position and snapping shut her safety harness, her green eyes immediately going back to the data she had open on her 'pad. Ambria didn't really need any more information at the moment, nor did she think she'd really garner anything from the limited resources currently at hand, but she wanted to gain an extra minute or so to gather her thoughts into something coherent to tell this Zordon.

Looking up finally, she took a deep breath. But instead of looking at her new companion, her eyes turned to the viewport which now was completely filled with the visage of Gargon's jungles poking through the atmospheric clouds. It was now or never; they would soon get separated to debark and gather their luggage. She moved closer to Zordon as much as the armrest allowed and moved her datapad in between the two of them so he could look at the images. Bent over the 'pad, she tapped a few buttons, she brought up the first: a schematic of the planet itself, with a few colored dots lit up in places.

Without any preamble, she started in, hoping to keep her voice low and calm, not speaking too fast because of time pressure or nervousness. Though a lieutenant, it had been quite some time since Ambria had led any sort of mission, and none since joining the spec. ops. "Here, the blue dots represent the Republic's presence, bases, outposts, things like that. And the red dots are the confirmed presence of the so-called rebels, our Mandalorian allies, as far as I can find from the biased Republic public reports." She pressed another button, switching the image, zooming in on one of the red dots. "From what I could determine, this village should be where we focus. It's got fair proximity to the spaceport we're landing at. It seems to have been involved in a number of skirmishes already with the Republic. Hopefully training these guys will do the most damage to the Republic and set example to the rest of our comrades' villages and enact a chain reaction."

She paused, wondering whether to go on with her plan or wait to see what the corporal had to offer. Ambria knew she was the one in charge, and if there had been a whole squad under her control, she probably won't bother asking for opinions. But as it was now, with just the two of them, they would be acting more like partners, than senior/junior officers, if this was to work out in the smoothest way. So she turned her emerald eyes on Zordon. "Any questions or comments before I continue on to what I might consider a plan?"