Post by Talau the Ever-Lurking on May 2, 2011 3:34:32 GMT -5
OMG xinder, I'm sorry it's SOOOO long....but I hope it turned out well. Been meaning to develop Rah's relationship with "the General" a bit more and this just gave me the chance I needed. >_>
”Sir, you said I had a new assignment?”
The cerulean skinned woman had been itching for something more to do than PT and training, but after her run-in with that psychic vampire back on Falleen the General had all but locked her up in a tower for a month. Sergeant Kel was never still for this long…at least, not on a base. If she had leave, she took it and ran as far away as possible with it, preferably somewhere very cold and full of others like herself. This wasn’t leave, it wasn’t training classes, it wasn’t prep time for a mission…it was just frustrating ‘down time.’
The only ‘up side’ had been the chance she’d gotten to see the other Hounds as they came and went.
She didn’t get to do that often.
But, now she was here, all uniformed up with Sender on her shoulder and ready for new orders. The graying and battle hardened man stood and saluted to her as she stood at a proud attention. Snapping out of her salute, she allowed a rare, genuine, smile form on her face as he motioned her to a seat across from him as he sat once more. The General was one of the very few officers (and further, soldiers) who had actually earned her respect fully and without reservation; in that he had earned the right to see facets of her that most never did…like that smile.
Sender had to admit, earning his partner’s respect was no simple task.
“Yes, Rahja, I did say that, and you do.”
The man couldn’t help but chuckle at the woman across his desk. She rarely showed more than shadows of emotion around most others, but he always seemed to be treated to more than normal. In fact, he could detect hints of something he could only describe as excitement, or enthusiasm, from the woman as she settled in across from him. Even Sender seemed anxious to know what the assignment might be. As odd as that may have sounded…a droid being anxious, let alone having any real emotion…he had long since come to accept the fact that this droid was special. Sergeant Mu’haro had said it was special when he’d brought the strange little bird-droid on the base, and Rahja had insisted (after a while) that it was, indeed, a very special little droid. Hell, all the interactions he’d had with it certainly listed it under ‘special’…so the wizened General had come to accept Sender for what…who…he was, and that he was about as emotional as his partner.
Perhaps more so.
“Now, I hope you haven’t gotten your hopes up for any immediate action, Sergeant…”
Crimson eyes watched him silently as she held back a sigh. It was a bit late for not getting hopes up, but she could live with the disappointment so long as she was OUT somewhere and not on the base. Sender, however, actually managed to look disappointed from his new position on the General’s desk. That visor shading a blue a few shades darker than her own skin, and his wings and head drooping slightly. The woman couldn’t help but smirk just slightly and shake her head almost imperceptibly, especially once she caught the same sort of look from the General.
Apparently she wasn’t the only one upset by the news of no action…or amused by the fact that Sender showed his disappointment so readily.
”I wouldn’t have dreamed of it, Sir.”
“Of course not,” he chuckled. “Now, you’ve been requested by the president of the Czerka Corporation, Miss Toshiko Mokona, to test one of their new weapons. It’s still in the developmental stage, but initial tests have gone well and they feel it’s ready to be tested by someone with some blood flowing in their veins.”
She smirked at that, the quip leaving her mouth before she even had time to think twice about it.
”They’ve chosen the wrong person, Sir. I’ve been called a lot of things, but none of them creatures with blood in their veins, unless it was someone else’s. Let’s see: Devil…Reaver…Reaper…Hell Hound…Hellcat…Demoness (that’s Mu’haro’s favorite)…”
“Alright, alright…I get the point Kel!” he laughed, holding up a hand to stop her from naming off any more. “Fine, let me rephrase that: they’re ready for someone who isn’t standing behind transparisteel and manning a test droid to try the gun outside of the facility. Is that more appropriate, perhaps?”
Shrugging, she’d smirked and lowered her hands back to the arms of her chair, Sender giving an audible sigh and covering his face with a wing as he shook his head at her. Between that and the General’s rephrasing, her smirk curled into an impish smile as she nodded slightly. Yes, that worked well enough for her tastes. With two fingers the General motioned Sender over, holding out a cable to the little droid so he could plug into the database and receive the necessary files…the ones that held the stats for the weapon she was going to be testing, no doubt.
“This should be a simple assignment for you, Rahja, but it’s necessary. This kind of weapon technology could be invaluable to the military, the Hell Hounds in particular…especially you and our other snipers. We have a foot in the door for a deal on this weapon because of this test, and I’m sure I don’t need to remind you about the importance of these sort of things.”
That sounded a lot more like: ‘Don’t make me remind you that your testing of experimental technology has gotten you a bird-droid and a controversial cloak that have both saved your hide more than once…so don’t screw this up’ to her there at the end, and she sighed just slightly. It was true. Sad, and true.
”I understand, Sir, and you know you can count on me.”
“I know, Rahja. You’ve not failed me yet; just…try to stay out of trouble, alright? You seem to have been attracting more of it than normal lately, and with Toshiko going with you personally…”
It didn’t need to be said, she understood what he meant and nodded once. With the president of Czerka going along personally there was already a risk of things going wrong…of trouble happening…he didn’t want Rahja stirring up anything wittingly or unwittingly. Standing, she rapped her knuckles on his desk twice, giving her friend a slight smile.
”Not to worry…I’ll have the bird with me. He’ll keep me out of any trouble.”
”You had better believe I will! That’s my job, after all, and you always need it in some respect.”
Her look was an ALMOST scathing ‘Don’t help me’ that made Sender puff up (as much as a droid could anyway) and his visor turn a stubborn brown-orange color. Chuckling at the two of them, the General stood again as Rah nodded to her shoulder, Sender immediately hopping from the desk up to ‘his perch’ there with a short repulsor blast.
“You do that, Sender, and I’m sure everything will work out just fine. Sergeant, you’re dismissed.”
She didn’t treat this assignment any different than she had any other.
Her pack was filled with her typical field-op gear (as odd as what she often carried was, to some), extra ammunition mags, her med kit and a bit of room left over for Sender at the top. She’d dressed appropriately for the planet, her clothing muted in color, simple and durable…something any farmer might wear on any given day. Her jedi issue utility belt was stocked appropriately with basic survival gear and the smallest of tools she typically needed, some ammo, and her daggers sheathed at the back. Well cared for jedi issue boots and several pieces of light leather armor covered her with just a little bit of extra protection. A pair of darkly tinted sunglasses rested atop her black hair, a black “choker” (for all anyone else knew) was secured around her throat and a practically invisible earpiece was settled in her ear…not that anyone could see it past her raven colored hair. Other than a few other bits of simple jewelry (two rings, and a necklace or two) the only other noticeable pieces of ‘gear’ the woman had with her were the heavy grayish (on first sight anyway) cloak settled around her shoulders and a black band around her upper right arm.
Once more she silently ran through this checklist of items and gear, right down to the hefty rifle slung across her back, as she waited for the civilian listed transport to touch down at the predestined meeting place. Sender had taken his perch on her shoulder, his dark grey and black chassis shifting slightly as she moved to close her pack more securely. That visor glowed a dim and neutral tan as he watched the surface of one of Ruan’s large open fields come up below them. Another transport was already settled there, several people moving around close to it, and others set up further away near a small, three sided, pop-up canopy.
Are they setting up a base camp or a pot luck? It did seem like an awful lot of trouble for a few tests, but then, she wasn’t sure what they were going to require of her. All she knew was what had been on the files Sender carried; some stats on a high-powered air rifle that was supposedly going to be able to shoot a low profile tracking device from around 600 yards away or so…right about in the middle of typical sniping range in her experience, though sometimes it wasn’t the best idea to get that close. If it was a tracker, though, chances were it wasn’t going to be used in combat zones. That alone worked in its favor, in her humble opinion.
”They look busy already.”
”Mhmm.”
”You are going to be nice, aren’t you?”
”Mhmm”
”You will say more than ‘mhmm’…won’t you”
”Of course.”
Sender gave a long suffering sigh and pecked the side of her head once, lightly, before preening a bit of the hair near her ear affectionately. He wasn’t mad at her, after all, she was just frustrating him…and she knew it. The faintest ghost of a smirk across her blue lips showed that much, but the rest of her sculpted features gave nothing away.
“We’re here. All ashore who’s going ashore.”
Standing as the transport’s ramp hissed down behind her, the dark woman hoisted up her pack with one arm and slung it over her shoulder, the cloak around her losing its previous….oddities. Sender swayed slightly for a moment at the motion before stretching out his wings and blowing her hair back with a blast from his repulsors as he took off out the open door and into the sun. Rahja could only shake her head slightly as she paced after him and down the ramp into the mild temperature.
Climate controlled planets…just not natural.
She sighed and looked around, crimson eyes catching the light eerily even in the day time. The chiss woman looked very much like an out of place shadow in the height of the day. The thought didn’t even give her pause as she repositioned her sunglasses from atop her head to over her eyes, the HUD flickering on with her touch to one of the sides and the well disguised switch there. As she moved, approaching the guards who were positioned near the Czerka transport, the black band around her arm revealed itself…and the three headed, red, Cerberus hellhound embroidered on it. It was the only thing on her that showed her rank in the military…or that she was military at all. Well, there were other things, but none of them worn on her person, they were either in her pack, in Sender’s databanks, or under her skin. It wouldn’t do for a spy to be caught wearing military ID tags now would it? Either way, those rank markings would be obvious to the guards now as she paused before them.
Behind those darkly tinted glasses, crimson eyes would flicker up to the top of the transport behind them where Sender had perched himself after getting his fill of flight, then return to the men before her as she got a feel for them in the force.
”Sergeant Rahja Kel, Republic Special Operations Hell Hound. I’m told I need to report to Miss Toshiko Mokona.”
It was likely the most these men were going to hear her talk all day.
A sigh cut across the tiny earpiece in her right ear.
”I believe she’s over beneath the covering…I was…going too fast to get an accurate image for facial recognition.”
”Mmm,” was his only reply before she looked in that direction. ”Never mind, gentlemen. I’ll find her myself…she is in that tent, is she not?” Their surprise, both on their faces and through the force had her nodding slightly. ”Yes, I thought so. If you’ll excuse me.” With that she stepped around them (whether they liked it or not) and headed off in that direction.
”Sir, you said I had a new assignment?”
The cerulean skinned woman had been itching for something more to do than PT and training, but after her run-in with that psychic vampire back on Falleen the General had all but locked her up in a tower for a month. Sergeant Kel was never still for this long…at least, not on a base. If she had leave, she took it and ran as far away as possible with it, preferably somewhere very cold and full of others like herself. This wasn’t leave, it wasn’t training classes, it wasn’t prep time for a mission…it was just frustrating ‘down time.’
The only ‘up side’ had been the chance she’d gotten to see the other Hounds as they came and went.
She didn’t get to do that often.
But, now she was here, all uniformed up with Sender on her shoulder and ready for new orders. The graying and battle hardened man stood and saluted to her as she stood at a proud attention. Snapping out of her salute, she allowed a rare, genuine, smile form on her face as he motioned her to a seat across from him as he sat once more. The General was one of the very few officers (and further, soldiers) who had actually earned her respect fully and without reservation; in that he had earned the right to see facets of her that most never did…like that smile.
Sender had to admit, earning his partner’s respect was no simple task.
“Yes, Rahja, I did say that, and you do.”
The man couldn’t help but chuckle at the woman across his desk. She rarely showed more than shadows of emotion around most others, but he always seemed to be treated to more than normal. In fact, he could detect hints of something he could only describe as excitement, or enthusiasm, from the woman as she settled in across from him. Even Sender seemed anxious to know what the assignment might be. As odd as that may have sounded…a droid being anxious, let alone having any real emotion…he had long since come to accept the fact that this droid was special. Sergeant Mu’haro had said it was special when he’d brought the strange little bird-droid on the base, and Rahja had insisted (after a while) that it was, indeed, a very special little droid. Hell, all the interactions he’d had with it certainly listed it under ‘special’…so the wizened General had come to accept Sender for what…who…he was, and that he was about as emotional as his partner.
Perhaps more so.
“Now, I hope you haven’t gotten your hopes up for any immediate action, Sergeant…”
Crimson eyes watched him silently as she held back a sigh. It was a bit late for not getting hopes up, but she could live with the disappointment so long as she was OUT somewhere and not on the base. Sender, however, actually managed to look disappointed from his new position on the General’s desk. That visor shading a blue a few shades darker than her own skin, and his wings and head drooping slightly. The woman couldn’t help but smirk just slightly and shake her head almost imperceptibly, especially once she caught the same sort of look from the General.
Apparently she wasn’t the only one upset by the news of no action…or amused by the fact that Sender showed his disappointment so readily.
”I wouldn’t have dreamed of it, Sir.”
“Of course not,” he chuckled. “Now, you’ve been requested by the president of the Czerka Corporation, Miss Toshiko Mokona, to test one of their new weapons. It’s still in the developmental stage, but initial tests have gone well and they feel it’s ready to be tested by someone with some blood flowing in their veins.”
She smirked at that, the quip leaving her mouth before she even had time to think twice about it.
”They’ve chosen the wrong person, Sir. I’ve been called a lot of things, but none of them creatures with blood in their veins, unless it was someone else’s. Let’s see: Devil…Reaver…Reaper…Hell Hound…Hellcat…Demoness (that’s Mu’haro’s favorite)…”
“Alright, alright…I get the point Kel!” he laughed, holding up a hand to stop her from naming off any more. “Fine, let me rephrase that: they’re ready for someone who isn’t standing behind transparisteel and manning a test droid to try the gun outside of the facility. Is that more appropriate, perhaps?”
Shrugging, she’d smirked and lowered her hands back to the arms of her chair, Sender giving an audible sigh and covering his face with a wing as he shook his head at her. Between that and the General’s rephrasing, her smirk curled into an impish smile as she nodded slightly. Yes, that worked well enough for her tastes. With two fingers the General motioned Sender over, holding out a cable to the little droid so he could plug into the database and receive the necessary files…the ones that held the stats for the weapon she was going to be testing, no doubt.
“This should be a simple assignment for you, Rahja, but it’s necessary. This kind of weapon technology could be invaluable to the military, the Hell Hounds in particular…especially you and our other snipers. We have a foot in the door for a deal on this weapon because of this test, and I’m sure I don’t need to remind you about the importance of these sort of things.”
That sounded a lot more like: ‘Don’t make me remind you that your testing of experimental technology has gotten you a bird-droid and a controversial cloak that have both saved your hide more than once…so don’t screw this up’ to her there at the end, and she sighed just slightly. It was true. Sad, and true.
”I understand, Sir, and you know you can count on me.”
“I know, Rahja. You’ve not failed me yet; just…try to stay out of trouble, alright? You seem to have been attracting more of it than normal lately, and with Toshiko going with you personally…”
It didn’t need to be said, she understood what he meant and nodded once. With the president of Czerka going along personally there was already a risk of things going wrong…of trouble happening…he didn’t want Rahja stirring up anything wittingly or unwittingly. Standing, she rapped her knuckles on his desk twice, giving her friend a slight smile.
”Not to worry…I’ll have the bird with me. He’ll keep me out of any trouble.”
”You had better believe I will! That’s my job, after all, and you always need it in some respect.”
Her look was an ALMOST scathing ‘Don’t help me’ that made Sender puff up (as much as a droid could anyway) and his visor turn a stubborn brown-orange color. Chuckling at the two of them, the General stood again as Rah nodded to her shoulder, Sender immediately hopping from the desk up to ‘his perch’ there with a short repulsor blast.
“You do that, Sender, and I’m sure everything will work out just fine. Sergeant, you’re dismissed.”
She didn’t treat this assignment any different than she had any other.
Her pack was filled with her typical field-op gear (as odd as what she often carried was, to some), extra ammunition mags, her med kit and a bit of room left over for Sender at the top. She’d dressed appropriately for the planet, her clothing muted in color, simple and durable…something any farmer might wear on any given day. Her jedi issue utility belt was stocked appropriately with basic survival gear and the smallest of tools she typically needed, some ammo, and her daggers sheathed at the back. Well cared for jedi issue boots and several pieces of light leather armor covered her with just a little bit of extra protection. A pair of darkly tinted sunglasses rested atop her black hair, a black “choker” (for all anyone else knew) was secured around her throat and a practically invisible earpiece was settled in her ear…not that anyone could see it past her raven colored hair. Other than a few other bits of simple jewelry (two rings, and a necklace or two) the only other noticeable pieces of ‘gear’ the woman had with her were the heavy grayish (on first sight anyway) cloak settled around her shoulders and a black band around her upper right arm.
Once more she silently ran through this checklist of items and gear, right down to the hefty rifle slung across her back, as she waited for the civilian listed transport to touch down at the predestined meeting place. Sender had taken his perch on her shoulder, his dark grey and black chassis shifting slightly as she moved to close her pack more securely. That visor glowed a dim and neutral tan as he watched the surface of one of Ruan’s large open fields come up below them. Another transport was already settled there, several people moving around close to it, and others set up further away near a small, three sided, pop-up canopy.
Are they setting up a base camp or a pot luck? It did seem like an awful lot of trouble for a few tests, but then, she wasn’t sure what they were going to require of her. All she knew was what had been on the files Sender carried; some stats on a high-powered air rifle that was supposedly going to be able to shoot a low profile tracking device from around 600 yards away or so…right about in the middle of typical sniping range in her experience, though sometimes it wasn’t the best idea to get that close. If it was a tracker, though, chances were it wasn’t going to be used in combat zones. That alone worked in its favor, in her humble opinion.
”They look busy already.”
”Mhmm.”
”You are going to be nice, aren’t you?”
”Mhmm”
”You will say more than ‘mhmm’…won’t you”
”Of course.”
Sender gave a long suffering sigh and pecked the side of her head once, lightly, before preening a bit of the hair near her ear affectionately. He wasn’t mad at her, after all, she was just frustrating him…and she knew it. The faintest ghost of a smirk across her blue lips showed that much, but the rest of her sculpted features gave nothing away.
“We’re here. All ashore who’s going ashore.”
Standing as the transport’s ramp hissed down behind her, the dark woman hoisted up her pack with one arm and slung it over her shoulder, the cloak around her losing its previous….oddities. Sender swayed slightly for a moment at the motion before stretching out his wings and blowing her hair back with a blast from his repulsors as he took off out the open door and into the sun. Rahja could only shake her head slightly as she paced after him and down the ramp into the mild temperature.
Climate controlled planets…just not natural.
She sighed and looked around, crimson eyes catching the light eerily even in the day time. The chiss woman looked very much like an out of place shadow in the height of the day. The thought didn’t even give her pause as she repositioned her sunglasses from atop her head to over her eyes, the HUD flickering on with her touch to one of the sides and the well disguised switch there. As she moved, approaching the guards who were positioned near the Czerka transport, the black band around her arm revealed itself…and the three headed, red, Cerberus hellhound embroidered on it. It was the only thing on her that showed her rank in the military…or that she was military at all. Well, there were other things, but none of them worn on her person, they were either in her pack, in Sender’s databanks, or under her skin. It wouldn’t do for a spy to be caught wearing military ID tags now would it? Either way, those rank markings would be obvious to the guards now as she paused before them.
Behind those darkly tinted glasses, crimson eyes would flicker up to the top of the transport behind them where Sender had perched himself after getting his fill of flight, then return to the men before her as she got a feel for them in the force.
”Sergeant Rahja Kel, Republic Special Operations Hell Hound. I’m told I need to report to Miss Toshiko Mokona.”
It was likely the most these men were going to hear her talk all day.
A sigh cut across the tiny earpiece in her right ear.
”I believe she’s over beneath the covering…I was…going too fast to get an accurate image for facial recognition.”
”Mmm,” was his only reply before she looked in that direction. ”Never mind, gentlemen. I’ll find her myself…she is in that tent, is she not?” Their surprise, both on their faces and through the force had her nodding slightly. ”Yes, I thought so. If you’ll excuse me.” With that she stepped around them (whether they liked it or not) and headed off in that direction.
