Private A Name Not Yours.

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: ::
TAG: Adean Castor

Insurgent activity on the borderworlds was always high, Jacen knew that first hand. Insurgents had killed themselves killing his entire garrison. Insurgents on Woostri killed twenty of his Trooper brothers and sisters defending a planet that had fallen, fighting a battle that had been lost. Overall, it left Jacen a bit…biased regarding the heroic, valiant plight of the insurgency. But it also left him in an interesting position inside the Regiment. In post-mission interviews, Jacen had continually demonstrated a hatred of both Alliance and Insurgency alike. This was a dislike Sith Military Command was determined to exploit.

Trenwyth was a small, unimportant world on the fringes of Sith space, but it’s position on the border with the Alliance, and its relatively low population, meant it was easy to smuggle equipment into and out of Sith space from here.

An agent of the Tsis-kaar on Trenwyth reported an increase in Insurgent activity, and recommended decisive and discreet action to quell it, so now Jacen was being sent to Trenwyth, and he and the agent would, together, quash this rebellion before it truly became one.

Still, an advisory about protecting himself from parasitic daggerworms made Jacen think twice about having such an unfettered hatred for insurgents. It gave him all the worst assignments.

“Go to Trenwyth, meet the agent at the Silver Rancor. Sign is ‘have you seen the dawn’. Countersign is ‘Only from the shadows.’” he repeated to himself quietly as his shuttle touched down.

It didn’t take him long to find the Silver Rancor. It was a busy bar, a mix of glamorous and gritty and a favorite of off-duty officers and gladiators both. Jacen made sure to blend in, or at least ‘not’ stand out too much. The plan, he hoped, was to find the agent sitting by themselves. For security purposes…he was not told their appearance.

It was a bit of a pain, but he scanned the room. This was the hard part, once this was done, this became a straight forward mission….He couldn’t wait for that part.

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

A creature of half-truths and lies by omission, Adean wore many hats. As such, she found herself pulled in many directions at any given time. Great pains had been taken to keep those hats separate, even adding more hats to further supplement her subterfuge. The Tiss'kar had been a forcesend in maintaining her differing aliases throughout the order. Did she believe in their cause? Absolutely not, she hardly believed in herself, much less any cause or institution, but what was another loyalty to tack on, anyway?

Her presence on Trenwyth was twofold, maybe even threefold if she could spin it well enough. At the Kor'ethyr Academy, she'd been all but assigned the role of a scholar, having jumped ahead in placements to land in alchemy and xeno-botany courses despite lacking basic training in the force. What information she could gather on the parasitic daggerworms would do well to garner some credits while she was off-world, information she could also pass on to the Tiss'kar archives. If she was lucky, it'd gain her some credit on Jutrand, too.

Seated alone in the Silver Rancor, she pored over data from samples. The bustle of the bar wasn't great for concentration, her mind wandering from her research to the denizens of the establishment to even the ride here. She wasn't the only Tiss'kar agent on-world. Stars, she wasn't the only agent in the bar, though had she a bit more experience under her belt, she might've argued otherwise.

The other agent was either too arrogant or too trusting (or both), leaving their datapad unattended a number of times while they were in transit. Adean couldn't help herself in stealing glances, motivated in curiosity and half tempted to use the information she'd garnered to report the agent for malpractice. But no, she wasn't in the business of making enemies. She sincerely doubted that whatever the agent was set to do, it wouldn't be "only from the shadows," however.

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: ::
TAG: Adean Castor

It was busy. Some local holiday or event, sporting match or some such had just occurred, meaning the Silver Rancor was very…populated. And he thought about what he’d do if he were an agent.
Well, he’d want to blend in, so he’d be mingling. No, that’s stupid, he thought to himself. He’d want to be easily visible to himself, so that he wouldn’t have to walk up to everyone in the bar asking if they’ve seen the dawn. He’d look karking insane. The best way to look not like a spy, he thought to himself, was to look so obviously like a spy that of course you’d never be a spy.

The woman sitting alone, pondering datapads in a busy bar? Had to be his contact.

Jacen closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and shook his head. “This is so stupid,” he said to himself, before thinking, How am I supposed to just…work that in? Paranoid freaks, all of the Tiis-kaar.
But, he forced himself to approach the lone woman.
“Hey, uh,” he said, sighing. “I uh. Well, I saw you alone, and I thought, well…have you uh…ever…seen the dawn?” Jacen finally said, shaking his head as he spoke. This wasn't his element, and it showed. He wasn't a spy, he was a soldier. He fought every urge to put his head in his hands and scream at the sheer nonsensical circumstance. This is so stupid, he thought again, but he kept his eyes on hers, and tried to smile as if he was flirting. He bet it all on her being his contact. If she wasn't, and she rightfully so called him weird... He'd probably jump back into the nearest Nether portal and just stay there forever talking to ghosts and demons about how lame he was.

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

A voice pulled Adean from her studies, a feeling of dread washing over her as she looked up from the datapads, followed by relief. Someone she didn't know, at least she was fairly confident she didn't. A male about her age, even about her height, if her estimations were correct. A local, perhaps?

Her brow rose when he spoke, the thought of 'Oh no, is he flirting with me?' being the first thing to drift into her mind, followed by a 'Well, yes, everyone has.' yet she held her tongue from commenting on either. The term was familiar, a reference to something, perhaps? The exact reference was lost on her, and nagging at that. So familiar yet just out of reach. But there was a response to that line, wasn't there? It was...

"Oh, yes. Only from the shadows." Perhaps a bit too enthusiastic by virtue of remembering the response, she temporarily forgot where she'd read the code.

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: ::
TAG: Adean Castor

Oh thank god, He thought to himself, sitting down at the table. “Alright good,” he said, smiling wider and nodding. The adrenaline from walking up to a stranger and asking them something so nonsensical was fading, and he exhaled the remainder of the feeling away.
“Alright…good,” he repeated, his smile fainting softly, “It’s probably obvious I’m out of my element here,” he started, wringing his hands together, “Do we talk here? Elsewhere?” He looked around, the noise in the bar was loud enough and no one close enough that it’d probably be safe, but he didn’t know for sure. The spies had their own way of doing things, and Jacen was just a guest in her house right now.
​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

He was smiling, so clearly she'd said something right, though she wasn't quite sure if that was actually a good thing. Her brow remained uplifted as he slid into the opposing seat, a slight smile echoing his own to further play the role of good-natured. "Just relax, gotta start out somewhere." Whatever element he was supposedly out of, Adean wasn't sure if she had the patience to watch him get flustered.

With his next set of questions, her brow furrowed a fraction, returning back to a neutral look by the time he finished glancing around the bar. Clearly, she was missing something. "Here works, just don't be obvious about it," she started, trying to catch him before he cast another glance about. "Start by stopping with the looking around, you'll only draw eyes that way."

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: The Silver Rancor :: Trenwyth ::
TAG: Adean Castor

“Right,” Jacen nodded, his face flush as a sense of embarrassment washed over him. “Right,” he repeated, “Uh…” he cleared his throat and tried to keep his eyes locked either on hers or the table between them. “So, you know…why I'm here," he started, raising his eyebrows and nodding before he continued, "The..." he paused, trying to find the right words before he clicked his tongue, shook his head, and half-shrugged his shoulder, “I’ve never done anything like this before. I think it’s best that you take the lead.” Jacen exhaled, fighting the urge to look around. The agent said to keep his profile low, don’t make a scene, he wasn’t going to make a scene.

“I left all my equipment on my ship, didn’t want to come in here and make more of a scene.” he gestured with a thumb over his shoulder vaguely in the direction of his ship, “didn’t want to spook anyone, but if you know where we need to go, I can go get my things and we can head out now.”

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

As he spoke, Adean couldn't help but take a deep inhale, drawing a portion of her cheek between her teeth. A part of her, and not an insignificant part, felt a glimmer of annoyance and the urge to point out he had approached her first. Still, there was something almost endearing about how flustered he was getting. Adean found herself not quite as annoyed at the interruption in her research as she would be otherwise. "Well, you can start with your name. What do I call you?"

Realization was like a dunk in a cold tank as conversation shifted to that of his ship and equipment. While it would be fair to say Adean hadn't had the 'normal' experience growing up, she knew enough to gather that things were not as she had initially thought. Ships...equipment...having her take the lead...Oh. Oh. This was the other agent's contact. That phrase she'd used wasn't from some holoshow, it was on the mission briefing that'd been left open on the ship. Whoops.

It was too late to correct now, at least in Adean's mind. To admit she'd responded with the passphrase mistakenly, to even allude to the security violation of knowing the passphrase, was out of the question. No, she had to commit now.

"Wait five minutes, then join me outside," she said in a low voice, keeping eye contact with the contact for her now apparently hijacked mission. Then she leaned back in her chair to stretch, getting ready to get up. "It was so good to see you again. We'll have to catch up another time," she said, much louder, gathering her things to make her exit.

As soon as she was out of the establishment, she found a bench and buried herself back in her datapad. Turning on privacy settings to prevent people from looking over her shoulder, she then looked into her device's shared networks. While she was careful about what she kept on the datapad and who could access what, she was unsurprised to find her coworker didn't share that same level of care. If she wanted to, she could definitely report this for mishandling classified information. And the temptation was ever growing as she quickly downloaded the mission's dossier.

Good, so she wasn't going into this fully blind.

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: Trenwyth ::
TAG: Adean Castor

Jacen blinked, considering trying to say a random name, come up with some pseudonym. Do proper spy work. But as he sat, pursing his lips together in thought, he shook his head and shrugged his shoulder unable to think of one that made him happy. No one knew who he was anyway.

"Jacen," he said finally, "I'm Jacen."

The sudden change in demeanor from his contact startled him slightly, but he didn't think too much about it. After all, she knew the code phrase. For better or worse, he was in it with her. "Y-yeah, till next time," he said with a forced smile and a nod as she got up and left. His eyes left hers as she walked out, and he fought to turn around, instead keeping his eyes locked firmly on the table in front of him. Anxiety soon overwhelmed him, and he began tapping his finger on the table impatiently. "How long is five minutes," he asked himself quietly, barely muttering the words. Time continued to pass in a crawl and Jacen decided to look around, see what kind of visual stimulation there was to be had in this bar. Some decorations on the wall, champions belts, weapons, some trophies or some such. He thought to himself how strange the aesthetic was of this place. How it tried to be multiple things all at once. Finally, he turned to look and see the people who frequented this place. For a moment, he locked eyes with someone, who raised his eyebrow in confusion. Jacen blinked at the stranger in confusion, waved awkwardly, and got up. Surely it was five minutes by now.

Outside, the populace couldn't care less about what Jacen was doing. Not that anyone ever really did anyway, but while on a 'secret' mission it was a comfort. Until he started thinking about who was looking at him while he wasn't looking at them. This train of thought wasn't helping anything, he thought. The only one who knows he's even here is the woman. And he spotted her on a bench easily enough.

Walking over, he sat down on the bench next to her and put a hand inside the other, leaning forward on to his knees, "Alright," he said, looking ahead, "So what's the plan."

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

Jacen. How utterly normal a name. Good for cover. Even if he wasn't an agent, his instincts would serve him well. Briefly, Adean couldn't help but daydream of a scenario in which he had been just a local boy, and, in that daydream, she had not been bound by the Sith. There was something earnest about him, being so clearly out of his element. His stumbling through the social intricacies of a charade could easily be taken for a breath of fresh air.

Yet, he was not a local boy. And they had a mission to do.

Emerald eyes scanned over the data with vigor. Rooting out insurgents was pretty standard work. Still, Adean was surprised to see a group supposedly identified by her coworker. Perhaps she thought of them less than they actually deserved. Regardless, her brow furrowed in concentration as she read over the briefing, trying to make sense of all the clues. There was something - she couldn't quite put a name to it - that didn't line up.

When 'Jacen' joined her, she noted he was a tad early, not enough so that she commented on it. A brow rose as he sat down immediately, asking what would be next. "Subtlety isn't your strong suit, is it?" She noted, her voice dry with a faint tint of amusement. "First, we go to your ship. You need your equipment, right? Avoid armor if you can, stealth is still our goal." Plus, it would give her more time to read.

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: TRENWYTH ::
TAG: Adean Castor

A feeling of embarrassment warmed his cheeks as she called out his lack of subtlety.

“No, it isn’t,” he answered honestly, shaking his head and lifting his shoulder up in a light shrug, “everything else in my life is usually…much more straightforward.”

He couldn’t help but smile sheepishly, “Sorry, like I said this is all new.” He said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together nervously before pausing. With a deep breath, he sat up straighter, then leaned back against the bench, throwing an arm over the back of it to try to, in his mind, appear relaxed, cool, and inconspicuous. He had to fight the urge to look away and scan his surroundings. He wasn’t sure what to do or not do when trying to keep a low profile, so he opted not to let his eyes wander, instead keeping them firmly locked on hers.
“What’s your name, by the way?” He asked, earnestly. He didn’t know if he’d get a real name but that wasn't the point. He needed something, a name, a handle, some kind of anchor if he was going to put any trust in this stranger.

The information he’d have to go without armor gave him pause. He scratched the side of his face in mindless self soothing. His Second Legion armor had become like a second skin to him. Even being here, without it, surrounded by so many unknowns was uncomfortable. To then go into danger without it? It was almost unthinkable. But then again, he thought to himself, if he were half the soldier he wanted to be, the armor shouldn't be a crutch. Still, the thought made him fidget anxiously. His foot bounced, and his finger tapped the back of the bench absently. He exhaled, nodded, and tried his best to bury that feeling before speaking, “Rog-...Yeah,” he corrected himself, forcing his vocabulary to be something more civilian before speaking again, "Sneakiness. Yeah, that's me," he chuckled to himself. "No problem," he lied, omitting the slight problem of the absolute terror he couldn't help but feel about going into combat without armor, "No armor, just my things and stuff. You're the boss." He smiled and nodded repeatedly. He thought about how he’d conceal his small rifle under a coat or something, but decided to hold off on asking advice about that for the moment. “Right then,” he nodded, his smile growing wider before standing. “Shall we?” he turned and offered his hand to her as she sat, just two friends, off on the next step of their adventurous day out together. "Time to go see the beauty I was given to come here in."

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

Unbeknownst to Adean, a gentle smile started to pull at her lips. Gentleness wasn't something she'd been afforded, not for some time. The closest she'd gotten in recent times was subtle, manipulative, never without purpose. And yet Jacen's honest reaction to her observations, the way he stumbled ahead with enthusiasm, even as he noted his lack of experience in the realm of subterfuge, drew perhaps an inkling of honesty out of her. "Like I said, relax. It takes time."

Blue locked on green, Adean found herself almost mesmerized by the eye contact. Normally, she'd look away after too long, or subtly shift to look more at the bridge of the other's nose. Yet this wasn't a matter of intensity or motive, just of connection. "Call me Aedan," she offered, before she could think too much against using something so close to her own name.

A dark brow rose as she took in the numerous nervous tics that reared their head as he processed the information. Something didn't sit well with him, clearly. Adean had to wonder if he even realized it would affect him as much as it did. "Do they not outfit you all with stealth gear?" she asked with a furrowed brow. Surely, he'd been given something, even a reinforced vest to wear under a shirt. She would've thought that of the two of them, he'd actually be adequately equipped.

With him standing, she paused to consider the offered hand. Was there a cover story she'd missed in the briefing? Were her previous suspicions not so inaccurate after all? Whatever the reason, it'd be foolish to reject such an invitation in the open. A pale hand sliding into his, she stood, tucking the datapad into her coat pocket. "Yes, I'm quite curious what all they gave you."

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: Jacen’s Second Legion Armor In storage | Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: TRENWYTH ::
TAG: Adean Castor

"Aedan," he repeated the name with a nod as she took his hand and rose from the bench.
When she asked about stealth gear, he gave a slow shake of his head as they began walking toward his ship. "No," he said plainly, eyes drifting around the area before landing back on her with a sheepish smile. "I don't think they cared how it got done. They just want it done."
As they walked, Jacen continued to try to look as nonchalant and as relaxed as possible, just like a civilian. He tried to relax his shoulders, slouch slightly, unlearn all the proper military decorum he had learned. All it meant was he found himself holding on to Aedan's hand a bit tighter then he probably normally would have. It may have been for a sense of comfort, but he chalked it up to just his nerves about the mission.
During their walk, passing by crowds of people and down streets, Jacen thought back to his briefing and scratched his head as he tried to recall specific wording of the order. They expected him and the Tsis-Kaar agent to be able to handle this small group of insurgents by themselves. How that happened was up to them, no one was going to supply or recommend the proper equipment to Jacen. It was all part of the great Game his superiors played. Very much a 'sink or swim' style of command. They hoped the pair of them would succeed, but their were other options if they didn't. Succeed. Or make room for someone who could.

"Hmm," he hummed, his lips pursed, "I never thought to use it independently," he admitted, shrugging a shoulder, "but I have something that could...probably pass for stealth gear," Jacen paused and rubbed the back of his head, "I mean, it's black," he finished with a shrug as they passed the small gatehouse leading to a collection of landing pads.

"Here it is," he said, letting go of Aedan's hand and throwing his arms forward as if showing the ship off, "Ta-da."

The ship was old. Rusted. Something that had clearly seen many different owners, and likely outlived them all. The ship sat too close to the ground for a loading ramp, instead having a side door with a small stair case leading up into it, "Now I know it doesn't look like much," he said, looking over his shoulder at her, "But don't let that fool you. It really, truly, is a piece of crap."
Jacen dropped his arms and gave the hull of the ship an affectionate pat as he approached the side entrance, "But it hasn't killed me yet. And I got it yesterday. So it's been a good day."

He climbed up the small staircase and entered the hold of the ship. Pushed against the back of the ship was a small cot, opposite the entrance was a door that led to the Vacc tube, and at the other end of the hold was the small cockpit. Upon entering, Jacen walked to a small locker situated towards teh front of the ship and pushed in a code. The door slid open with a hiss, revealing Jacen's armor and weaponry.

"Far as sneaky weaponry goes..." he started, grabbing the DC-902d and removing the stock of the rifle, and removing and replacing the front part with a snubbed nose attachment, "I got this," he said, turning and presenting it to her. In this configuration it looked more like a small sub-machine gun.
"I also got this," he leaned forward into the locker and grabbed a small holdout blaster.

"Not nearly as exciting," he added as he straightened out of the locker and held the blaster out, before pressing a small button on the side of the locker that shot out a small table. Jacen placed the holdout on the table and sighed, "Alright. Now for my super sneaky thing," he clapped his hands and reached back in the locker, ignoring his scratched and chipped armor, and grabbed the black body glove.

"Here," he said as he turned and presented the suit, holding it over himself. "Think this will work?"
Jacen looked down at the suit over his chest, "real sneaky, right? Makes me strong too," he clicked his tongue. "But if you're looking for...something a bit more eh....what's the word." he furrowed his brow in thought as he searched for the right word, "Clandestine? Yeah. No, this is the best I got."
​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

"Then they should've outfitted you accordingly." The words came out before she could stop them, her tone flat, as if there was a universe in which she of all people would've refused the mission in his place. If only she had that kind of gumption.

The contemplation of was this a cover or was this also flirting remained on Adean's mind as they progressed to the shipyard, growing even more pertinent as his grip tightened. At one point, her other hand crossed over to lightly touch his arm, both to further sell the image and as an unspoken indicator that the grip was noticed. It was strange how normal the whole affair was. Sure, they were off to armor up to be rid of a group of insurrectionists. And sure, they'd only just met and on false yet professional pretenses. And yet Adean was half tempted to briefly rest her head against his arm, if only to see what that might feel like.

With her hand released, Adean was quick to retrieve the datapad from her bag, ready to fully bury herself back into the mission rather than linger on whatever that walk was. A brow rose as she took in the aforementioned ship. "Wow...someone up above really must hate you."

Or maybe that was just part of how their positions differed. The Tiss'kar by no means offered luxury, nor did either of the academies. But at least with them, she could expect the tools to get the job done. This just felt cruel.

As each weapon was presented to her, Adean made certain to look over them with a careful eye. Yes, those were certainly blasters. At least one was, anyway. The other, well, a blaster with extra steps was still a blaster, no? "Those should do just fine," she said with the confidence of a tried and true charlatan. He was the professional here at least in matters of destruction. She would have to trust him with those details.

Fingers ran down the sleeve of the body glove, testing the fabric as she considered the option. A bit too on the nose for infiltration, but workable. "Throw pants and a jacket on top and it'd pass as an undershirt fine enough," she suggested with a shrug. It wouldn't be too far off from her own outfit, either, considering she'd worn simple black robes unknowing she'd be inadvertently swiping a mission out from a cohort's nose. "If you're satisfied with that level of coverage, that works. We'll find a way to make it work, too, if more armor feels necessary." The words were half regretted just as soon as they came out. Was she being too accommodating for the Sith she was meant to be? Or would it be taken as being efficient. She could only hope the latter.

She glanced over the dossier. "Looks like they have a safe house...we could intercept their main water line, poison that house in particular. Should make things a tad easier." And, perhaps more importantly, it meant less chances of her having to kill.

 

[Jacen Breska]

TRENWYTH​

WEARING:: XMSS Bodysuit underneath Civilian Clothes
EQUIPMENT: DC-902d
LOCATION: :: TRENWYTH ::
TAG: Adean Castor

He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Jacen suspected the reason why was they wanted to see how quickly and cheaply they could get this task done. That’s why they just sent one trooper to rendezvous with the Agent, and only what the Trooper typically had access too, and a ship that was just as likely to explode as take off. If Jacen had failed, perhaps the next attempt would be taken a bit more seriously.

But he didn’t plan on letting it get that far. This was a mission he was going to complete. It was going to be quick, it was going to be clean, and it was going to be over.

As he pawed over his equipment, and got her seal of approval for his weapons he nodded. “I’m glad it works for this. I’ve grown to love this weapon,” he patted the DC-902d as it lay on the little table, “you’ve done many operations like this before?” He asked, turning to look at her, his eyebrows raised in curiosity. “Er-, I mean uh,if you can even talk about that kinda stuff,” he said, stumbling over his words. “Not that I’m worried you can’-,” He paused, rubbing the back of his head, “I mean, I trus-I thin-...” He took a deep breath, “Just uh…y’know. To make conversation.”

He looked around inside the closet after taking a deep breath to get over the embarrassment he hit himself with, and pulled out a long brown jacket. “I hope this will work for that.”
Jacen grabbed the bodysuit from Aedan and turned away, facing the cockpit, then turned back, his head looking around as he held the suit in his hands. He’d changed in front of women before, but they were team mates.
Well, she’s my team mate, he thought to himself. Still, he thought it best to give her a word of warning. “I’m going to change real quick,” he said before turning away. Trying not to think too much of how self-conscious he suddenly was, he pulled his clothing off and grabbed the suit, pulling it on and sealing himself inside before turning back around Aedan, adjusting his arms and legs and stretching to acclimate himself to the feeling of the suit and it’s artificial muscles.
“Alright,” he said, pulling the pants back on and throwing the jacket over his body, “this is as good as it’s gonna get, I think.” he said, looking down at his body. “It feels strange having pants on over this,” he chuckled, looking down at his legs, “How do I look though? Pretty sneaky? Kinda incognito?” He asked, adjusting the jacket on his shoulders.

“But uh, anyway that aside,” he cleared his throat, “Yeah. I just want them out of the game. I don’t care how, and I’d rather not die doing it, or have you die. So poison, then clean up. Easy peasy.”

​

 

[Adean Castor]

TAG: Jacen Breska

"A few, yeah," the lie rolled off her tongue too easily, with not a hint of the curse rolling through her mind immediately after. "You'd be correct, though, the details are classified." And that assumed classification would save her. From being found a fraud here and by extension, within the Order itself. Why she felt the need to lie, to the trooper who'd only been friendly thus far, albeit in a lost pet sort of way, was beyond her.

Yet the way he tripped over his words, like he did in the bar, eased whatever tension Adean was internally working through. "Relax," she started, free hand subconsciously raising to touch his arm as she did so. "We're on the same side, just different departments."

At the mention of changing, Adean couldn't help the beet red that overtook her ears, spilling out onto her cheeks. "O-of course," she clipped, quite quick to turn her back, moving closer to the ship's exit and promptly gluing her eyes to nothing but the datapad and the mission's dossier. Never before had she been so interested in the schedule of passers by or the color of uniform they wore.

Wait a minute, there's a pattern here. Reading over the data a few more times, even holding a finger up to indicate she was in the middle of something when it seemed Jacen had finished changing, she keyed in a few searches. Both horror and relief washed over her as she realized what had been taken as damning evidence was actually a misinterpretation. Thank the stars they hadn't begun their path of annihilation.

But where then was the real cell?

"Huh? Oh, yes, real 'Bill the civilian' right there," she looked up from the datapad to give a short response to Jacen's question, a smile tugging at her lips as if the joke was funnier than it actually was. "The water systems should be pretty easy to get to, we just need to find the right one." Her voice trailed off, sucking back into the data before her as a new pattern started to reveal itself. Perhaps her fool of a coworker wasn't so far from the truth after all.