DEV: ID A-10 LAAT/s Gunship

[Ali Hadrix]

The following will serve as a 20 post development thread for Improvised Designs' A-10 LAAT Series Gunship.
Anyone is welcome to join permitted through PM contact first.

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::Tusken Base, this is Tusken-Uniform-One-One. Is the range clear?::

::Tusken-Uniform-One-One, this is Tusken Base. Roger that, you are clear for cannon fire.::

::Copy that, Tusken Base. Firing heavy repeating cannons.::

Ali watched the gunship hover in the air twenty meters above the dusty Mandalorian plain as its pilots began completing final weapon checks. There was nothing to hear through the macrobinoculars she was holding to her eyes; the gunship was roughly two kilometers away angled to the South, perpendicular to where Ali and the rest of the observers were sitting and standing with the range crew.
Silence drifted on for a moment and then, through the dusty haze far away the nose of the gunship flashed and brilliant blue-white laser beams shot out and away from the vehicle. Ali smiled. "Good, good. Next they'll be moving to full flight maneuvers," came her mother's voice from behind. Ali felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and she lowered the macrobinoculars. "Let's hope everything goes well," Ali added.
Myra Hadrix, resplendent as ever in a dirty tank top and a pair of trousers, shook her head. Her crimson red hair glinted in the sunlight, which reflected off her pale skin and generated a mild glow about her. "None of that talk, nex'ika." Myra grunted, then tilted her head in the direction of the gunship, which was lifting off and into the sky. Everything seemed just fine for a moment until the range crew began jabbering hurriedly over the commlink. Myra tapped one on the shoulder and demanded to know what was going on.
"Looks like we've got a console failure, ma'am." The crewman answered, his lips pursed in disappointment. Beside him, another crewman was speaking with the pilots. "Reboot your console, shut off navigations power, then reboot your nav system. Uh-huh...don't worry, I'll wait. No, no, you shouldn't have to touch weapons power, it should reboot with that on. No, the weapon system runs on a separate processor, it's fine. Okay, just give it a minute..." Myra frowned, watching the gunship off in the distance hover some hundred meters in the sky. It was resting still, neither descending or rising, nor yawing, pitching, or rolling. Perfectly still.

Moments later, Ali heard the second crewman talking again. "You've got it? And what's your console display showing? Okay, you're on track, give it a second, you should see a...oh, it's there? Good! Now load the navigation system and link it with the rest of the vehicle's peripherals. Alright, wait...what?"
The crewman grabbed his headset and slammed it onto the table, then ran his hands through his hair. He glanced angrily up at Myra, turning in his seat to face her. "Sorry ma'am, but the problem just won't go away." He told her, his brow furrowed in a mixture of loathing and confusion.
Myra let her head fall back and groaned out loud. Ali grimaced, "The nav system still can't connect, can it?" Myra gritted her teeth and said nothing, but shook her head and ran a hand through her own blood-red locks. "I haven't a damn clue what to do about it either. When we run it on standby, it works fine, and the self-diagnostics can't come up with anything. But the second we try to link it up with the vehicle peripherals, the whole...karking...system...dumps a karking brick!!!" Myra was shouting each word now, and kicked an empty chair over in her frustration. Ali stepped back, familiar with the sight. The tattoo covering her left side shimmered briefly, but began to fade. Ali watched her mother ball her hands up into fists and storm off, leaving the cover of the gazebo to kick rocks out in the desert.
Ali sighed, blowing her cheeks up before letting the air burst from her lips loudly. "When is this osik going to end, huh Greeves?" Ali asked, catching the RSO's attention. The man glanced her way and walked over nonchalantly, as if none of this bothered him. "I keep telling your mother to try another navigation system, but she wants to keep the cost down or she says the Republic won't buy it." Ali frowned, "They liked the MAT-TE, didn't they?" Ali countered, referring to the first vehicle design Myra had sold the government her daughter served.
Greeves shrugged, "Yeah, they liked everything but the price tag. I doubt your mother will be able to bully them into taking this one at a mil each." Ali glanced back out to the desert where her mother was stomping about the dusty ground yelling to herself, then over to where the gunship was hovering two kilometers away. The vehicle had turned and began flying toward them, moving at a slow pace.
"Whatever we do with it we better figure it out fast; the Republic wants them ready for outfit in the next four months." Ali muttered, leaning to the side to spit some of the dust and dirt out of her mouth. Greeves arched an eyebrow, "They have an offensive planned or something?" He asked. Ali shook her head and glared at Greeves, disappointment on her features. "You know I can't say anything, even if I know, gar di'kut." She growled. "Government business."
Greeves rolled his eyes. "I don't know why you stay holed up with those Republic losers anyway. You should quit and stick it out here, on Mandalore." Greeves grinned and winked. Now it was Ali's turn to roll her eyes. "Come on, Greeves, you know Mandalore's the reason I left in the first place." She pointed up at the sky. "I get to go anywhere with those losers, thank you very much. It's a ton better than being stuck here, with all you strill-smelling hillbillies." Ali bit out. Greeves laughed out loud, "I knew you were too pretty for your own homeworld, princess. If I declared you dar'manda right now, you probably wouldn't notice, would you?" At this moment Ali took a page out of her mother's very hefty book, and rocked Greeve's back with a swift, well-placed fist to the jaw. He dropped like a rock, and when Ali stood over him, her arms crossed over her chest, the man started laughing even louder. "Get up, you di'kut." Ali grumbled, holding out her hand for Greeves to pull himself up with. The man popped up looking fit as a fiddle and spry to boot. He cracked his neck and rubbed his jaw gently. "You pack a punch for such a small gal, beg my pardon," Greeves replied. Ali frowned, but looked back at him with a smile. "I aim to please," she said, then stepped passed the man to meet with her mother, who was returning from her tantrum.
"What do we do, buir?" Ali asked. Myra Hadrix held a hand out and put her middle finger up in gesture to Greeves as she replied, "We'll have to try that other nav unit." Greeves couldn't stop laughing.

 

[Myra Hadrix]

Myra kept ratcheting the hydrospanner over and over and over until the final bolt was in place and the control console was secured against its housing. "Alright," she grunted, wiping the sweat from her brow and pushing herself up and into the co-pilot's seat. "Try it," she told Ali, who nodded and began activating the gunship's systems one by one. Myra slumped back and sighed, "If this doesn't work, we're going to blow this thing up in a field somewhere." Ali tutted and shook her head as she activated the vehicle's navigation systems. "You know we're not going to do that, mother. It would be a great waste of money." Myra frowned and looked over the console display. "Yeah, well...money isn't everything." She muttered, starting up the peripheral self-diagnostic system.
Ali looked over at her mother, noting the determination and frustration in her features. Myra Hadrix had never been one to handle a temper well, though Ali was proud of her for not yet having damaged the console. "I'm glad you decided to spring for the newer navigation system." She said as she sat back and waited for the gunship to finish its start-up. The "Ready" button flashed a dim red color for several moments before shifting to a solid green, at which point Ali keyed the anti-gravitational systems and listened to the repulsors hum and come to life. The vehicle lifted a half-meter off the ground and remained suspended while the engines began to cycle. Soon enough they too were running and the gunship had finished its self-diagnostic.
"Mmm'kay, everything should be good," Myra said softly as she looked over the tech readout showing on the display. "All our levels are normal, go ahead and prime the nav system, then link it to the gyroscopic peripherals." She told her daughter, who complied with a nod. "Waiting for the systems to connect...and there it is. We have it." Ali smiled, looking over the display, then up at her mother. "We're ready to fly." Myra slumped back in her seat and groaned loudly, "Unnnnngh, thank you!" She cried, slapping the console with a gloved hand. "Fecking finally!" She leaned forward and grabbed the controls. "Let's take her out then!" Myra said, grinning.
Ali smiled and slapped the canopy release, then yanked back the lever for the troop bay doors. Both slid closed and sealed as Ali was slipping on her restraints. "Where are we going?" Ali asked, drawing up an isometric topographical map of the planet on her primary display. Myra seemed to consider the question for a moment, then smiled as the answer dawned on her. "Let's go to the old homestead, how 'bout?" Ali grinned, "Sure thing."

[member=Ali Hadrix]​

 

[Myra Hadrix]

The "old homestead" had been a place of great importance in Myra Hadrix's life. She'd spent much of her childhood there, in her years before joining the Sith Army. She'd spent her first harvest sitting beneath its galek tree and known her first kiss atop the bluffs behind the property. The homestead was a large, empty territory comprised of several acres of veshok trees to the South and rocky bluffs to the North. A river ran through the property, between the veshok forest and the homestead itself. A small dock was built there as well, though no boat had ever been moored there that Myra remembered. A galek tree grew in front of the home itself, and rose nearly fifty meters into the sky and sat ten meters around. The home that was built there was made of galek wood, and had been abandoned Myra's entire life. She had little idea who had built it, though she knew one of it's former occupants went by the surname, Tagira. No one had lived in the homestead for over two-hundred years, and as far as Myra knew, no one related to the name Tagira even existed any longer.
She brought the gunship down in the tall grass outside the home, the vehicle's repulsors sending waves across the sea of gold. As she began cycling systems down, her daughter popped the canopy and slapped the release on her restraints, then dropped her headset onto the seat and climbed out of the gunship. Myra say back and looked outside for a moment, over at the old building she'd often called her home away from home. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked. Her daughter held a hand over her eyes to block out the sun and looked up at her mother. "It's not much, I'll tell you that." Ali replied. Myra looked over the old structure, it had suffered greatly in the years since she'd last visited. Vines climbed across several portions of the rooftop, and most of the windows were cracked or broken. The front door seemed intact, though upon closer inspection the lock and handle were broken off and lie amongst the dirt that had built up on the stone-floored porch over the years. "Gosh, you're right," Myra muttered as she dropped onto the ground beside her daughter. For a moment she considered Ali in the sunlight, the girl was beautiful, her chocolate locks shone in the sunlight, reflecting its rays, as did her skin. Myra smiled, wrapping an arm around her daughter's waist and guiding her toward the house.
"I used to spend all my time here," she said as they approached the front door. For years an old wooden chair had rested on the porch and faced toward the river, which was now blocked from view by the gunship. It was long gone, though Myra had no guess as to where it had ended up. Probably the river, thrown in by some mischievous kids, or whomever had broken the lock on the front door.
"It looks nice, or did," Ali replied, reaching for and opening the door, which was stiff and scraped loudly against the stone below. The interior was dim, though well enough lit by the mid-day sun. Dust covered every surface, and dirt caked the floor so heavily the tile beneath was mostly invisible. Old wooden furniture lay here and there, with old mementos resting atop them, or on the floor.
"Did ba'buire build it?" Ali said, asking about her grandparents as she walked into what appeared to be the kitchen. A clay oven sat in one corner, its flame long since extinguished along with the flame of the homestead's family. By the door frame, Myra shook her head. "No, I have no idea who did. But it's old...very old." Myra said, looking around herself. It had been decades since she'd visited this place.
Her daughter looked back with a frown on her lips. "How old?" Myra shrugged, "Old enough to have been cut from the wood of the galek tree outside, and for the tree to have grown back. So...about eight-or-nine-hundred years." Her daughter's eyes widened in disbelief. "No way." Ali muttered, stepping passed her mother and back into the living area.
"What's preserved it all this time?" Her daughter asked, her eyes like a child's, awake with wonder. Myra smiled, "It sits between a forest and a rock formation, with a large tree overhead. That probably keeps the worst of the weather away, and this area's known to be dry." Ali nodded, following along as she entered one of the side rooms and began inspecting trinkets and devices left by people long since dead. "Did you bring these things here?" Ali asked, picking up what appeared to be a child's wooden toy. "Was this yours?" Myra shook her head, "I rarely touched anything in this place, in fact I hardly ever entered. I just spent time on the property, usually by the river." Her daughter seemed surprised by this answer, but didn't pry further. Instead she entered another room, one of three that was located within the Southern hall of the house. Myra wiped her hand along a bookshelf, curling her lip at the amount of dust the movement kicked into the air. When she heard nothing from Ali after several quiet minutes, Myra moved toward the hallway to investigate. "Ali?" She called, following her daugher's footprints in the dust to the hall's third and final room. What she found inside was...curious.
Ali was standing in the middle of a room that was, for lack of a better word, clean. The dust ended at the door, and covered none of the surfaces within the room with the same density as the rest of the home. The window lining the East wall of the room was locked using a mechanical latch, but showed signs of continuous use. Her daughter knelt on the floor, picking up dropped objects and inspecting them. "The door was locked, and it looks like someone's been here sometime in the last hour," she muttered. A plastic wrapper crumpled in Ali's grip. "Food packaging. Someone's living here, the bedsheets are new also. They were slept in recently, we've got a late riser." Myra furrowed her brow, the signs were too clear to deny. Ali pointed toward the window, "They must be using the window to avoid leaving any sign of entry or exit, covering their activity by limiting it to this one room." Ali crossed her arms over her chest, "Which means they don't want to be found...which likely means someone's looking for them."
She looked up at Myra, who shrugged and asked, "What's it matter? The place is otherwise abandoned." Ali narrowed her eyes, then continued looking around. "It matters because it's suspicious. This is a relatively unpopulated area, and they're still taking precautions, which makes me think they're being pursued. I'm going to check in with GRIM and find out if there are any pending or ongoing investigations on Mandalore. We may have tracked down someone important."

Myra caught her daughter by the arm as she attempted to walk out of the room. "Wait, what if they're dangerous...too dangerous for you and I?" She asked, concern in her voice. Ali smiled, "No worries, you were trained as a Force User, weren't you?" Ali quipped, wriggling out of her mother's grip. Myra shook her head, "We should just leave, sweetheart, come on, there's nothing for us here." Ali winked, skipping down the hallway as she glanced back at her mother. "For you, maybe, but for I'm interested." The girl disappeared around the corner and exited the house, returning to the gunship cockpit. Myra walked back into the room and looked around. Everything was clean, and recently used. A deactivated datapad lay on the small drawing table in the corner, and the closet was bereft of any clothes that might hint at the mysterious visitor. Myra checked the datapad, swiping the screen; its memory bank was empty. Odd...Myra thought. She suddenly heard the gunship's engines churning and the vehicle lifted off. At that moment her wristcomp began to flash, and Myra brought it to her chin. "Where are you going, Ali?" She asked. "No worries, mother, just parking this baby North of the bluffs, I'm guessing our mystery person will be coming from the South, through the forest. It's what I'd do."
Myra frowned, but nodded, "Fine, just hurry back. Should I wait outside?" She asked. "No, meet me in the living quarter." Her daughter replied as the gunship's repulsors began to fade in the distance. Myra cut the channel and looked around one more time, almost missing the incongruity of the flooring panels beneath the drawing table. "What the..." Myra muttered as she knelt before the desk, running a hand over the floor boards. They were cut at an odd angle, and didn't properly match up with the rest of the floor. Standing, Myra pulled the desk out of the way. It scraped loudly against the floor. As she looked down again, Myra was able to pry the floor boards up as one, revealing a small, square hole in the floor beneath the homestead. With it was...dirt. She frowned, running her hand across the soil. She felt metal. Narrowing her eyes, Myra wiped the dirt away, revealing a small keypad.
"Scuttle safe." She whispered to herself. Scuttle safes were used by smugglers and pirates as lockboxes for their most private and precious belongings, such as large amounts of credits, or things of sentimental value. They weren't large enough to hold much more than some cash and a blaster, but were well enough designed to survive the harshness of space in the event of a cataclysmic crash, or a battle-gone-wrong for the owner. Usually they contained precious jewelry, or software and other data. This one was designed with a biometric lock as well as a keypad, so she knew there was no chance of her getting in. Myra stood and turned to leave, then spotted a figure blocking her way.

"Who the hell are you?" The figure asked, their voice was deep and gruff, filled with resentment and bitterness. The individual was hidden behind a long brown cloak, hooded and drawn closed around their body. Myra couldn't see their face due to the shade of the hood. She held her hands up, "Myra Hadrix, simple entrepreneur and engineer. I used to visit here as a child, that's all. I saw the recent activity and just got cur--"
"Shut up," the figure demanded, taking a step forward. "Hold it!" Came Ali's cry from the doorway. Myra glanced over at her, seeing her daughter with a verpine shattergun held in a comfortable grip. The figure looked Ali's way, then back at Myra. Two blue hands came out from beneath the cloak and raised into the air. "Who are you?" Ali demanded, shifting her stance and preparing to search the mysterious being. "Drop the hood and answer the question."
The figure remained silent, as if seething angrily to themselves, but finally complied. They reached up and slowly pulled the hood back, revealing the black-blue hair, blued skin and red eyes of a Chiss female. The woman was tight-lipped, with her eyes narrowed almost to slits. "My name is Alena Reckar, and I have every right to be here."

[member=Corvus Raaf]​

 

[Alena Reckar]

Alena stood in the doorway of the small room she'd occupied for years in the random times she had found herself without work or property during the course of her adulthood. Only this time it wasn't empty, as she was used to. Someone had found the homestead, which Alena had expected to remain abandoned over the years. The woman who stood before her had red hair, pale skin, and a blue tattoo marking her shoulder and side. Alena had no idea who she was and didn't know what to think of her. She was clearly Mando'ad however, Alena just had a sense of her. Before the woman could reply to Alena's words, the Chiss woman felt a slight disturbance in the back of her mind and turned too late to feel the cold metal of a muzzle against her temple.
"Nice now," a woman's voice cooed; Alena felt lips brushing the lobe of her ear. Alena sneered and gritted her teeth in anger as she held her pistol up and felt it being plucked out of her grip. Then a strong hand grasped the back of her neck and pushed her forward, throwing her to her knees on the wood paneled floor. Alena caught herself with the palms of her hands, wincing at the pain that flashed through her arms as she stabilized herself. Immediately the muzzle was dug deep into the back of her neck, and she felt thin fingers working their way through her hair, grasping her by the scalp and forcing her head back. The red-haired woman took a knee in front of her, looking down and cupping her chin against the soft skin of her palm. Alena struggled to free herself, but her wrists were fastened together behind her back by stun cuffs, and her torso was thrown to the floor. Suddenly she felt a boot pressed against her face and the side of her head, and all Alena could look at was the underside of the small cot upon which she'd been sleeping every night.
Her captor began rifling through her clothes, running her hands up and down her sides and back, checking between her thighs and the cuffs of her boots. Alena was turned over roughly and was able to look her better in the eyes as a chocolate-haired woman with light skin fondled the fabric at her breasts and stomach. The woman had a Verpine shatter pistol pressed against Alena's lips, which she refused to open. The woman frowned and smacked her in the mouth with the barrel, and then thrust the weapon's muzzle between her teeth. Alena tasted blood and steel on her tongue, but remained silent for the moment. Once the woman was done molesting her, she hooked Alena's cuffed hands over the nearest bed post and knelt down with her knee against her sternum, leaning a great weight into her.
"Who are you?" The woman asked in a light, almost sweet voice that was bereft of any sarcasm. She's really just that sweet, huh? Alena thought through bloodied lips as the barrel left her mouth and was pressed against her temple. "Just tell me, I'd rather not have to beat it out of you." Again, just that sweet, huh? Alena gritted her teeth, blood dripping from her bottom lip and onto her chest. "Alena Reckar, Alliance pilot, what the hell are you doing in my--" The pistol struck her in the face again, her cheekbone this time. Another bruise against already-blue skin meant little to a Chiss.
"I'm asking the questions, be polite, don't interrupt." The woman retorted swiftly. "Where are you from, why are you here?" Alena growled angrily, "I kriffing live here, that's what I was just trying to tell you!"
The woman shook her head and eased the pressure off of Alena's chest slightly.
"Ne tion'jor shi yamika, me'ven? Gar hukaat ner shebs, pirimmur norac dha'haase?"
"Jorcu ni ne vaabir cuyir mar'eyir!" Alena bit back angrily.
"De tion'ad!?" Her captor screamed, flecks of spit peppering her face.
"Ne'cuyir gar aka!" Alena retorted, pursing her lips and spitting blood in the woman's face. The brown-haired woman balled her hand up into a fist and struck Alena in the side of the head, then grasped her by the hair and slammed her against the bedpost.
"Rejorhaa'ir ni!" Her captor screamed.

Alena opened her eyes after a moment of blackness took her, pain ringing in her mind. Her eyes felt as if they bore a great pressure, and her face was wet with her own blood. "Ner...ner aliit. Gedet'ye, ba'slanar ni solus..." Alena begged, tears meeting her eyes. To be honest, Alena had no idea what she was hiding from. Her mother had abandoned her as a child, and her father was dead. Alena had run away from the Rebel Alliance, with Wan Min in tow, months ago. But now, she had no idea where Wan Min was, or if she was even alive, and living herself had become a day-to-day struggle. Part of her, a large part of her, wished this woman would end it for her, so she didn't have to do the honor herself.

[member=Ali Hadrix] | [member=Myra Hadrix]​

 

[Myra Hadrix]

Myra stood back, somewhat concerned over her daughter's treatment of this Chiss mystery woman. The brutality reminded her of her years spent with the Sith Army in her youth, and it bothered her to see her own daughter proceeding in an equally damaging manner. Even so, she held her tongue and allowed Ali to work as she was wont to do. Soon after Ali had subdued and detained the woman, who revealed her name to be Alena Reckar, the three women were sitting together in the living quarters, each at different corners of the room. Alena, the detainee, was sat down on a small, musty two-person couch with her wrists bound before her. Ali stood off against the wall beside the front door, her pistol still held in hand. Myra found herself sitting by herself on a small wooden chair aside her daughter.

"So...you're a Rebel." Ali asked, breaking a silence that had lasted far too long. Alena shook her head, blood drying on her lip and chin. "I was," she bit back. "I left recently." The Chiss woman lowered her gaze, her red eyes narrowing to slits before they closed, briefly, and reopened. "I was supposed to meet someone here...they never showed." Ali gave the woman an unforgiving stare. "Star crossed lovers abandoning their duties to their comrades to fulfill their duties to each other?" The sardonic tone of Ali's voice was harsh, and she was clearly mocking the other woman. Myra felt sorry for her, though she had curiosities of her own.
"As a matter of fact, yes." Alena murmured. Myra's ears pricked, and she leaned forward. "What's her name?" She asked. The Chiss woman glared up at her in return. "Why? So you can question her as well?" Ali smirked, "We know it's a her, that's a good start." Reckar rolled her eyes. "Feck you..."
Ali leaned forward, resting the muzzle of her pistol against the woman's left thigh. "I'd watch your mouth if I were you. I could rendition you to some backwater Sith-hole where you'd sit in a cage for the remaining years of your life, tortured every now and again for information we already have."
This seemed to catch Alena's attention, and it was her time to smile. "So you do work for the Republic...I figured as much." Ali lifted an eyebrow and looked up at Myra, who shrugged I don't know! Ali inclined her chin, "How'd you work that one out?" She asked, lifting the muzzle of her pistol and resting it on her lap. The Chiss woman almost laughed. "Only someone from one of the big governments would throw around terms like rendition, and since you used Sith to refer to some place detestable, I figured you must not be an ally of theirs. The Gee-Are and Oh-Es are the only governments worth a damn to begin with, so I'm not surprised." Reckar grinned sardonically. "How does it feel to have your shebse kicked by the Sith till they're black and blue?"
Ali smiled and leaned back in her chair. "Clever...maybe we got off on the wrong foot." Ali considered, inspecting one of her nails closely. Alena scoffed, anger passing over her features. "You think? This is my home!" She almost shouted, but Ali held up a finger and silenced her. "Tell me about that, why don't you?" Alena gritted her teeth, seething in silence for a moment before calming herself.
"The homestead belonged to my mother's side of the family for several generations. After she met my father, they married and moved to Coruscant. Before us, the property was owned by another family, one my mother's side married into. Tagira, was the name. I never met any of them." Alena sighed and leaned back, wiping some of the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. Ali shook out an old rag and tossed it to her. "Clean yourself up as best you can with that for now." Ali tilted her head, "So you're related to these Tagiras, are you?" Alena nodded, "Through marriage, yeah. I didn't grow up here, but it never left the family, so it's still mine."
Ali frowned, then fished the key for the binders out of her pocket and leaned forward, uncuffing the other woman. Alena took her hands away swiftly as the binders fell off, rubbing her wrists, visibly offended. "I'm sorry we kept you," Ali muttered noncommittally. Myra frowned. "We really are sorry. I'm sure, growing up with a Mando'ad buir, you understand heavy-handedness. We have a vehicle with us, one that's undergoing final testing and is packed with some pretty expensive and important pieces of technology. We've been operating in the area all week and couldn't be sure you weren't sent from Seinar or represent some other production mogul." Alena nodded, "I can't exactly forgive you for acting like such di'kute, but thanks." The woman sniffed, wiping the blood from her nose before standing. "If you'll excuse me, I've got things to do."

Ali stood with her, her head still cocked to one side. "Like what? I thought you were waiting for someone, who never showed?" The Chiss woman's shoulders drooped, as if the reminder of her missing loved one was a physical burden. "Yeah, well, I've got to find her, don't I?" Alena replied. Myra considered Reckar's situation for a moment, then voiced a proposal. "How about we square ourselves with you by helping you find her?" Alena looked over at Myra with a suspicious eye cast. Myra shrugged in reaction to the woman's glance. "Can't hurt, right?" The Chiss woman's gaze flitted back and forth between mother and daughter for several silent moments, entirely unsure of whether or not to trust them. Eventually, she nodded. "Her name's Wan Min Brightsky. Former Fleet Admiral of the Rebel Alliance Naval Force."

[member=Ali Hadrix] | [member=Alena Reckar]​

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Ali was sifting through intelligence on her datatablet, trying to find anything about a Wan Min Brightsky, but she was coming up with osik. "She exists, and she's on record, but there's nothing of her after the battle of Geonosis a while back." Her mother came to her side, leaning over her shoulder. Myra's blood-red hair hung against Ali's face; she brushed it away. "Nothing financial?" Ali shook her head. "The woman's a ghost, and no on purpose either. She's just...ditzy." Myra arched an eyebrow, "Are you sure about that? Admiral of the Rebel Naval Force doesn't strike me as the job for a ditzy type." Ali shook her head, "Not like that, it's in her profile, how Alena talked to me about her. The woman doesn't do a good job of taking care of herself. She likely went out without her wallet to even spend with."
Myra sighed, "She's going to be hard to find, isn't she?" Ali nodded, "If it's even possible. She just dropped off the map..." Ali closed down the datatablet and set it on the table. Alena had disappeared hours ago to return to Keldabe, where she was apparently renting a small place. Ali rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes and finally noticed the grease covering her mother's hands and arms. "You're a real blackfinger, you know that?" She said, "You just couldn't stay away, could you?" Myra smiled, "No, I couldn't, the coolant system for the absorbent armor is up twelve percent though, and you have me to thank for that." Ali laughed, a clear, soft, knowing laugh. "Are you going to service all the Republic's vehicles the way you service this one?" Myra chuckled and shook her head, "No way, but I hear you folks have plenty of good mechanics yourselves." Ali shrugged, "I suppose, I've never had a problem. I'm just glad the MAT-TE testing went as well as it did." Myra nodded, "Same here, I was a bit worried about that one. The only issue now is getting them into production." Ali shrugged again, "You'll figure it out. You said you had a loan on production equipment, right? The down payment on all the vehicles will pay the personnel you'll need." Myra shook her head, "That's not the issue, it's getting the personnel I need. It takes time. I've only found forty to hire thus far, and I need forty more to fill the production order."
Ali sighed, "Sounds like a personal problem." Myra rolled her eyes, "Get back to work."

 

[Alena Reckar]

Alena brought the cigarette to her lips and took another deep drag. The city of Keldabe stretched out before her, its night lights almost brighter than the daylight itself. It was a loud and a quiet city all at the same time, bustling with activity but kept under control by the people themselves that lived within it. She let the cigarette smoke drift from her nostrils, listing this way and that in lazy columns that stretched themselves out toward the night sky before wasting away into nothingness.
"Come on, Minnie, where are you?" She muttered, the last puffs of smoke bursting from between her lips. She looked down and put the cigarette out on the railing before her before leaving the balcony and returning to the interior of her room. It was a small hotel joint, single bed with a kitchen attached, though Alena didn't much care for amenities at the moment. All she wanted was to find Wan Min, figure out why she'd never made it to the family house. Her first thought was that the woman had been delayed, though as several days had passed, her fears began to grow. The Rebel Alliance had not been popular, and Wan Min had held a very high-profile position within its command structure, albeit not for long. Even so, there were likely to be those out there who thought she'd make a great prize, or garner some sort of bounty. Alena so far hadn't had the heart to check the Holonet for bounty lists and claims. She hoped it would never come to that.

 

[Ali Hadrix]

"I haven't been able to find your girlfriend as of yet, Alena, I'm sorry." Ali was standing in the doorway to the small bedroom in which Alena had been living, her arms crossed over her chest. The Chiss woman was sitting near the window, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. She straightened and looked over at Ali, a look of sadness on her face. "It's fine, thank you for trying; you don't have to anymore."
"She's only two weeks late, and the trip itself was what, four days?" Ali said, hoping to reassure the woman. In the last five days they'd spent together, Ali and Myra had gotten to know Alena quite well. She was originally from Coruscant to osik parents. She had a law degree, she'd killed her first sentient being just months before, on Geonosis. But the woman was a wreck. Hmmm, now the name Reckar makes sense, Ali reflected cynically. "She's not showing, and I don't much care why." Alena muttered. She stood and began gathering her things into a pair of travel bags, not bothering to fold clothes or make neat. Ali frowned, "What will you do?" She asked. Alena shrugged and continued packing. "Drinking myself to death sounds like a good start." Ali was somewhat surprised by how troubled the other woman seemed to be. Ali stepped out of the way as Alena walked passed, noting that the safe installed under the floor boards hadn't been touched. "Aren't you forgetting something?" Ali asked, tilting her head toward the floorboards. Alena looked back and shook her head, looking confused, "I don't have the combination to that thing, it's not mine." Ali smiled, making a mental note of that. She followed the Chiss woman to the front porch of the homestead, mulling several things over in her mind. Alena didn't bother thanking her for anything, and merely walked off toward the river in silence. Ali almost let her go, almost.

"Alena, wait." She called. The Chiss woman stopped and turned, "What, Hadrix?" She asked, looking bored and uninterested. Ali trotted quickly out to where Alena stood, the LAAT gunship sitting just a few meters away. "How about you stay?" Ali asked. Alena frowned, "Why would I bother?" Ali shrugged, "Why not?" Ali glanced over at the gunship. "I could use an expert pilot on one of these, and the training and operation of more pilots would go toward a good cause." Alena scoffed, "Yeah, and what cause is that?" Ali froze, wondering if she dared tell Alena about what she'd discovered regarding the Tagira family. For the time being, she opted not to, but left her with a baited hook. "I want to help people...without the Republic."

 

[Myra Hadrix]

"Wait, what?" Myra asked. She was standing on the porch behind Ali, her brow furrowed in confusion. For the time being she ignored Alena's presence. "I thought that's pretty much what you did already, working as a spy?" Myra was suddenly concerned with her daughter's change in tone and character. She'd thrown herself into the Republic over the last year and a half, and all this talk of what seemed to be leaving it reminded Myra of Ali's other failed ventures of the past.
Her chocolate-haired daughter spun about to face her mother, dark locks whipping over her shoulder. "Mother, I'm not talking about leaving, but there are things I could accomplish on my own that I cannot within my role as part of the Republic." Ali said calmly and evenly. Myra frowned, utterly unconvinced. "Just sounds a lot like when you bailed on the restoration business, or the personal protection company, or anything else you've done in your life."
Ali stared her mother down cooly, with narrowed, accusing eyes. "I'm thirty-five, mother, and don't particularly care to have this sort of conversation with you right now. I am not leaving the Republic." Myra crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "Fine, I'll let it go for now, but you're a volatile woman, and I would hate to see you disrupt life for yourself yet again."

 

[Alena Reckar]

Alena listened to Myra and Ali's back-and-forth for a moment before interjecting. "If you're not talking about leaving the Republic, what are you on about?" She demanded. Ali had proven to be a strange woman in the few days Alena had known her, and her mother's assertion that her daughter was volatile struck a chord of truth in Alena's opinion. She made eye contact briefly with Myra, with whom she sympathized. Ali's riddles felt like time wasters.

Eventually, the dark-haired woman rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, stepping forward toward Alena once again with her hands splayed, palms upward. "Imagine you're a Twi'lek, living in one of the rural villages skirting the main cities within the habitable zone, not giving you many options for places to live. Imagine you run a shop, selling all sorts of random wares." Ali clasped her hands together. "Now imagine a local gang likes to come around and break your stuff any time you're unable or unwilling to pay them protection money. Imagine what they might make you do if you are unable to pay...like sell you into the sex trade to pay off a never-ending stream of debt accrued by their good-heartedness at not killing you." Alena narrowed her eyes, "Okay...you want to start a gang?" Alena's confusion deepened momentarily, until Ali finally revealed herself. "No, I want to be the one who goes and shoots those guys." The woman smiled broadly and clasped Alena on the shoulder. "I want to be a do-gooder, help out folks, you understand? But I want to do it independently of any government telling us who we're allowed to help and how."
Alena shook her head, "What you're talking about is illegal in every government, from the Core to the Outer Rim!" The idea sounded ridiculous, unattainable. More so, however, it simply made little sense. The funding required to run such a venture would be exorbitant, and--
"Stop thinking for a moment, Alena," Ali interrupted Alena's thoughts with her crisp, sharp voice. "Listen to me." Ali placed both her hands on Alena's shoulders and looked the woman in the eyes. "I've worked in intelligence long enough to know there's a lot of good that could be done out there that isn't because of bureaucratic hang ups. I aim to change that. I think deep down you're fecked up, in the head, in the heart, wherever, but that you're a good person who isn't just out for herself. You're lost, that much is obvious. Let me give you a home."
Alena felt her jaw tighten as Ali's words hit home. However, she wasn't ready to hear them from someone like Ali Hadrix, and wasn't sure she wanted to hear them at all. All she wanted was Wan Min, who was missing and likely dead or had already long forgotten Alena in favor of some new salvage adventure of historical insignificance. "I'm sorry, but I'm not your girl." Alena brushed Ali's hands from her shoulders and turned to leave for the last time.

"But wait...there's more." Ali's voice had lost its edge. It was clear, but soft, gentle, almost...pitying. Alena looked back, "What?" She asked. Ali took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You may not by my girl, but you care for family, no?" Alena narrowed her eyes, "Family never gave me much to care for, if that's what you're asking." Ali frowned, but Alena could see the determination in her. She's not going to let me leave, Alena realised.
"It's not what I'm asking. Look...the Tagira's...the half of your family that settled here...they used to do that sort of thing for a living. Way back in the day, before the Gulag Plague." Alena frowned, utterly lost by this point. "What are you talking about?" Ali drew her datatablet from her pack pocket and unlocked the screen with a glance at the camera lens, then handed it to Alena. The device was open to a recent page of information, data on an individual that carried the Tagira surname.
"Ander Tagira?" She asked, "Who's that?" Ali nodded toward the screen. "Read about him." Alena did, spending the next several minutes reading about a man she was distantly related to, who'd died hundreds of years before she was born.

Ali had done all the reading she needed. "Ander Tagira was born on Corellia in the year fourteen-before-the-battle-of-Yavin, to Kataar and Casandra Tagira. His mother served as a Jedi Knight in the waning days of the Republic, later joining the Rebellion until her disappearance years later. Kataar was a Mandalorian military contractor who flitted between work with the Rebellion and the Empire. Ander himself trained under Luke Skywalker, and later reestablished the Yavin Four Jedi Praxeum. At some point, Ander was expelled as the Academy's headmaster and eventually formed the Galactic Security Assistance Force, to combat the threat of aggression against the innocent peoples of the Galaxy."
Alena listened to Ali's words, following along with her eyes as she read over her ancestor's profile. The man had been a military leader for years on top of being a Jedi Master, and this security force of his had made decades worth of progress ahead of the governments that ruled the populations Tagira and his soldiers had helped.
"So what, you want to recreate this madness?" Alena asked, thrusting the datatablet back out to Ali, who took it with a hurt look. The other woman shook her head. "I want to help people, and I want to use this man as an example. This man, who is a relative of yours, something to look up to. I think you need that, Alena."
"And how do you know what I need?" Alena bit back. Ali smiled, "Because I need it too."

 

[Alena Reckar]

Alena wasn't sure of what to make of it all. She'd been reading over the dossier on Ander Tagira that Ali had provided her for hours, and still had yet to form a single thought about the man. She kept running into the problem of not caring what he'd accomplished; he'd been dead for 800 years.

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Ali looked over at her mother, who was sitting in the small wooden chair beside her. The moonlight was casting shadows along the ground around the homestead, and reflecting like diamonds in the river. "Think she'll take the offer?" Ali asked. Myra shrugged, "No idea, you haven't offered her much."
"I offered her a command." Ali replied casually, sipping at the mug of caf in her hand. The night was chilly, and Ali shivered somewhat, pulling the shawl over her shoulders a little tighter.
Beside her, Myra arched an eyebrow. "You offered her something you care about. You didn't offer her anything she cares about. That's the key to negotiation, to persuasion. Offering something of value to the other person, not to yourself."
Ali lowered her mug, frowning. "I over-looked that. So how do I find out what she really wants?" She asked.
Myra shrugged, "Talk to her. Really talk to her. She's all but lost her lover, her friend. She lives a life that stands for nothing at the moment, and she has no purpose, no drive. She's...halted, frozen." Myra looked pensive for a moment. "She reminds me of you every time one of your little ventures fails."
Ali shot her mother a look, then realised the woman was making a valid point. "What do you want after you've failed and you feel you've lost everything?" Myra asked. Ali looked down at her feet for a moment, staring over the edge of her mug. "I want the next big venture."
Myra nodded, "Then maybe you should start there."
Ali smiled over at her mother, reaching out and taking the woman's hand. "Thanks, buir." Myra squeezed Ali's fingers. "Anytime Al'ika."

[member=Myra Hadrix] | [member=Alena Reckar]​

 

[Alena Reckar]

When Alena returned to the homestead from Keldabe on board the A-10 LAAT gunship, morning was just breaking over the horizon as the sun finally rose. Alena had taken to the markets early, purchasing the wares and supplies she needed to last the next couple of weeks at the homestead. She shut down the engines and sub-systems, then popped the restraints holding her into her seat and slapped open the hatch to the rear bay, climbing out to grab her bags. She keyed the bay door on her side, and it popped outward before sliding back, revealing Ali to be sound asleep in one of the wooden chairs on the porch.
Alena smirked, keying the door shut and making her way to the homestead, covered in a cloth poncho. She shook the hood back and kicked Ali's booted feet, which were propped up on the porch railing before her. The woman stirred and opened up sleepy eyes, smiling and brushing locks of chocolate brown hair from her face. For a moment, Alena thought she was beautiful. I could love her, if she weren't so...abrasive. Alena thought.
"Sleep well?" She asked, setting down her cloth bags, filled with vegetables and meat and other supplies. The Republic spy shrugged, then began stretching from the tips of her toes. She drew her hands over her head and stretched outward, the shawl slipping from her chest and exposing her breasts. "I slept better than I expected in a wooden chair." Ali replied after her stretching was complete. Her nipples were hardened in the cold air, though she didn't seem to mind.
"You grew up near the winter valleys, didn't you?" Alena asked, nodding toward Ali's exposed chest. The woman smiled and nodded, "I did, North of Keldabe. The cold doesn't bother me much." Alena laughed lightly, "I can tell." She commented, then looked down at the bags at her feet. "I was going to cook...are you and Myra hungry?"

"I've already eaten," Myra interjected. The redhead was leaning against the door frame behind them, a mug of caf steaming between her hands. The older Hadrix woman was similarly garbed in nothing but shorts. "Cold doesn't bother you either huh?" Alena remarked. Myra shrugged, her breasts shifting as she lifted a hand and snapped her fingers. A brief gout of flame erupted between her fingertips, vanishing from existence and leaving a slight smoke trail. "The mother of fire isn't hampered by the cold." Myra replied, smirking. Alena laughed for the second time in one morning, a rarity for her. Suddenly, she realised something she hadn't noticed before. Looking to Ali, Alena furrowed her brow and asked, "Are you Force Sensitive?" Ali frowned and shook her head. "I'm afraid not." Alena nodded, "I suspected as much...how is it it did not pass on to you?" The spy shrugged, "No idea, that sort of thing isn't my forte." Myra spoke after a moment, "I'm not an expert either, though those I've consulted suggest that my own sensitivity wasn't strong enough to pass on to Ali on its own; her father is not Sensitive either."
Alena nodded, approving of the answer. "Well that concludes that, I'm going to get cooking." Ali lifted her mug at Alena, wishing her well with a gesture, "I'll be in in a minute to help." Alena thanked her and stepped inside.

Several minutes later, Alena was cutting up vegetables and waiting for water to boil for a pot of shig. The flames from the wood oven warmed her cold skin in the morning air; the homestead had no modern fixtures for comfort, only a duct system that ran off the fire place to heat the various rooms from the floor up. The behot herb she had purchased for the shig was freshly dried; she crushed it and poured the remains into a storage bowl, leaving some for the steeper. The smell of citrus filled the air, mixing with the steam rising from the pot water. Meat was cooking on a pan beside the water pot, and the vegetables were nearly ready to be tossed in. Alena turned to find Ali in the kitchen area with her, leaning against the counter with an empty mug in her hands. "Had enough of the cold, did you?" Alena asked. Ali smiled, setting her much down and crossing her arms over her bare breasts. "Not quite, though it's clear you have." Ali gestured to the cloak Alena still wore. "The house takes a while to heat up, and I wasn't raised here like you were." Alena reminded her. "My father demanded my mother move to Coruscant after they married; I grew up amongst air conditioning and the like." Ali nodded understandingly.
"I wanted to ask you something, Alena," Ali said, changing the topic suddenly. Alena looked up from the vegetables she was cutting and brushing into the pan with the meat. "What is it?" She asked. Ali looked uneasy for a moment before speaking. "I can't imagine what you must be going through with Wan Min missing and all." Alena felt suddenly flushed and warm, discomfort growing within her.
"I'm sure she's fine, she disappears for years at a time now and again. A few months is no big deal." Alena brushed the comment off. Ali pursed her lips and renewed her attack. "What I mean is, regardless of whether Wan Min's alive or dead, it can't be easy wanting to be with someone that runs off on you at the drop of a hat. You must feel...devalued, every time it happens." Ali shrugged, "That's just my take, I can't tell you how you feel."
Alena felt her eyes grow wet and she suddenly tired. It felt as though she'd been holding back a secret that was now out for all to know and the effort of holding it in had exhausted her. "Yeah..." She muttered. "That's about right." Solemnly, Alena dumped the rest of the vegetables into the pan with the meat. She sat back against the counter and held her head in her hands, breathing in deeply and trying not to cry. When she'd first arrived on Mandalore and Wan Min still didn't show up days later, her first thought wasn't that the woman had been hurt, it was that she'd abandoned Alena yet again for some salvage operation or some sort of better job. Alena knew loving her must have been a chore, she was eternally a mess. "I guess the reward just isn't worth the effort," she muttered, wiping her cheeks dry. It was now she realised Ali was at her side, with her arm around her waist.
"Now, that's just not true." Ali assured her, brushing black-blue locks of hair from Alena's face. Her red eyes shone brightly through the wetness of her tears, "And we both know it. Look, I've failed at a lot in my life, and I don't see why you shouldn't be able to get back on your feet all the same. Don't judge your value by how others treat you, you'll always be shorting yourself."
Alena thanked Ali for her words, though the tears continued to leak from her eyes. "It's what I've always done." Ali shook her gently, standing before her and wrapping her in her arms. "Then break the habit and try something new."
Alena, wondering what Ali meant by that, leaning away and looked the other woman in the eyes. "What do you mean?" Ali smiled, "You want purpose, right?" Alena sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I need to matter to someone, yes."
Ali's smile broadened, and she held Alena close. "Join me, help me, and you'll always be needed."

[member=Ali Hadrix] | [member=Myra Hadrix]​

 

[Ali Hadrix]

"So, we have our work cut out for us in getting this all started." Ali looked across the small wooden table at Alena, her datatablet resting between them and displaying the various lists and documents she'd prepared. One of them included a necessary equipment listing, drawn up from the stock lists used by the Republic military to determine unit strengths and weaknesses. The other lists identified personnel within the Republic military that Ali wanted to attempt recruiting, and still more of them listed preparatory measures as well as a basic charter and mission statement for the organization that she'd lifted from the old GALSAF records she'd gotten a hold of.
"First off, the name. GALSAF is the old name, and personally, I'm not a fan." The other woman looked up at her with an arched brow. "Really? That's the first order of business?" Ali shrugged, "Why not? Seems simple enough. I like Cee-Saf, Civilian Security Assistance Force." Ali continued without breaking stride. Alena rolled her eyes. "It's good enough for me."
Ali grinned, "Good, let's move on. Designing an entire militarized force requires a mission in mind. Clearly, the mission is in the name: Civilian Security. This means everything from physical protection to resource provision, etcetera."
Alena frowned, "How far does protection extend though? GALSAF used to conduct black operations; they assassinated politicians, dictators, and the like. They stole government secrets and published them on the Holonet. I mean, protection was a pretty loose term for those guys."
Ali nodded, glad that Alena had done the reading she'd provided on her ancestor, Ander Tagira. "You're right, and I've taken that into consideration. For the time being, protection will mean purely that: protection, not advance directives, or preemptive strikes, but direct threats only."
Alena smiled, "That sits well enough with me," she said, sipping at her caf. Ali moved on, "We can draw up an official mission statement and force charter later, but we have to decide how big we're going to try and make this." For this, Alena had no ideas. "I'll defer to you on that," she said. Ali thought for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure. I'll be able to garner enough resources from the get go to initialize at a decent size, but it stops somewhere..."
"Where are you getting these resources?" Alena asked. Ali smiled too politely. "That's for me to know, and you to never, ever find out."

[member=Alena Reckar] | [member=Myra Hadrix]​

 

[Alena Reckar]

Eventually, Alena found out. During her time with the Galactic Republic, she had been funneling funding for the Intelligence Ministry into off-record black budget operations. Portions of those funds she began secretly putting away into Corporate Alliance financial firms. From there, the money was laundered through various banks before being deposited into accounts held within the boundaries of other governments.

Alena slammed the datapad down on the table where Ali was sitting, the metal clacking against the wood. "You stole the money from the Republic!?" She growled, standing over her 'partner' and glaring down at her angrily. Ali looked calmly up from the tablet she was reading and sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "Stole isn't the term I like to use. In reality, it was all quite within my power to do so."
Alena pursed her lips. "Explain."
Ali nodded, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table's surface. "I run GRIM, the Galactic Republic Intelligence Ministry. The Senate, which oversees our activities, allocates funds into two different pools. Recorded funds are tracked and traced from their source to their destination. These are spent on new equipment, pay, day-to-day operations for different Intelligence hubs, etc. The rest are all dubbed 'black-budget.' The Senate writes me a check and they don't want to know what I spend it on. This kind of money gets spent on spies operating in enemy territory, and it allows me to circumvent any number of Republic or foreign financial regulations. That way, no one can prove who paid for the gun used to kill this or that government official." Ali winked. "I decided a lot of the money would be better spent on CSAF, than on half-cocked Republic ops in foreign territories that hardly yield fruit to begin with."

Alena pulled out a chair and sat down. "So it's all...legal?" Ali nodded, "More or less, as long as I'm in power. But I don't see myself leaving the Republic any time soon." Alena sighed, "I'm not comfortable with it," she confessed. "I can understand that," Ali sympathized. "But it's necessary. There was no other way to acquire the twenty-million credits we needed to get started." Alena's jaw went slack. "Twenty-million?" Ali nodded, reaching for the cigarettes in her pocket and putting one to her lips, lighting it. "Twenty Mil. And that's just the beginning." Ali tossed her own tablet onto the table, activating it with a glance. She pulled open a series of files for Alena to review. "This is the personnel list we've already pulled together, along with supplies and equipment, and vehicles. And I'm working on diverting funds for the naval force." Alena was surprised at how much Ali had accomplished on her own. They'd been working to recruit for months, and Alena had spent a great amount of time putting her efforts there. She'd had no idea Ali had been so...busy.
"This is moving a bit fast..." Alena muttered. Ali drew on her cigarette and nodded. "Just take a moment and relax, Alena. I've also recently secured training permissions on Carida; we can gather the inaugural class of commandos there. We just need to get transport for them." Alena nodded, taking a deep breath. They were really doing this.
"When do we meet them?" She asked. Ali smiled, "Soon."

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Ali looked over the sordid group of recruits that had appeared in Keldabe that morning. They stood in a loose gathering near a table that provided fresh caf and water Alena had set up earlier that morning. There were twelve of them, all from different corners of the Galaxy. They had a variety of backgrounds, but all had served in a leadership capacity with one military organization or another. Two had come from the Republic, both Human. The rest were non-Human. Hat Ma'an was a Kel Dor that had come from a private security firm in the Outer Rim with nearly two decades of military experience. Sarata Nuon was a Kaleesh from the Kathol Drift. She'd served with the security firms of a dozen different trade corporations, the most recent of which was the Arcenau Trading Company. Also present was a male Trandoshan, a female Wookiee, two male Rodians, a male Devaronian, a female Zabrak, a female Sullustan, and a male Twi'lek. If things panned out the way Ali hoped, these twelve would form the basis of CSAF's training and command staff. She glanced down at her datatablet, which currently had the recruits' portfolios displayed; she wanted to get their names right. Alena stood off to her side, with her arms crossed over her chest. The sun had risen roughly an hour before, and its light was starting to creep into the circular docking bay over the lip of the open rooftop. The air was still slightly chilled, but it was shaping up to be good day. Myra had remained back at her workshop, preparing the last of the LAAT gunships for testing before Republic officials in the hopes of locking in a production contract.

Ali locked the datatablet and folded the case closed, then placed it in her pocket. Looking out at the group, she clapped her hands together. "My name is Ali Hadrix," she said, introducing herself. "I'm the reason you're all here today, and I appreciate you showing up." The recruits nodded politely in exchange. "As mentioned in our initial contacts, we're hoping to create a positive, civilian-oriented aide organization that is capable of operating outside the legal boundaries of established governments. We have secured the funding we need for our initial two years of training, but we lack a command staff. That's where you all come in. I approached each one of you because you've served with distinction in positions of leadership in either the private or government sectors. Some of you have experienced both. I'll be relying on you particularly to help bridge the gap between the different operational comfort zones of the rest. There are a couple of you whom have served in the elected offices of planetary governments. Your experience will prove invaluable to our cause."
Ali looked to the Kel Dor, Hat Ma'an. "Mister Ma'an, your record with Outer Rim Security Solutions is unparalleled, and the plethora of campaigns you've taken lead in is outstanding. I'll be looking to you for your wealth of knowledge regarding the geopolitics of the Outer Rim." The Kel Dor nodded silently. "Our mission is simple: Protect and provide for those caught between the unending struggles of galactic governments and ne'er-do-wells. Our goal isn't to overtly fight these oppressive organizations, unless of course circumstances require it in the pursuit of our main mission. Much of our work will be focused on securing supplies and handling the logistics of their provision to downtrodden populations. Medicine and equipment are easy examples." Ali turned to look at Alena, offering her the floor.

 

[Alena Reckar]

Alena nodded, "Thank you, Miss Hadrix. As my companion said, we want to protect, and we want to provide. But in order to do that in a Galaxy so often caught in the midst of war, we need a military force that is capable of defending the interests of the people we're looking to protect. We've outlined a training doctrine that we want you all to look over. Make your revisions, add your suggestions. We'll reconvene tomorrow over it and discuss possible alterations. The main goal is versatility. We have to be able to adapt, and our soldiers must be able to do the same. The main mission is to protect and provide, yes, but these goals will have to be met in any number of ways. Our soldiers must be capable of handling this. We've already secured training property on Carida, at the best of the Imperial government. The program will last for two years, and so we need that minimum commitment from each of you. After we've decided on a training doctrine, we'll move on to discussing necessary equipment and supplies. We have access to a small arms weapon we think will serve our purposes quite well, and it's the only one of its kind. Myra Hadrix has provided us with its rights, as well as the rights to several vehicles that we wish to use as the backbone for our fighting force."

 

[Ali Hadrix]

"My first suggestion regarding the training doctrine is that we expand the set of basic skills we expect our commandos to be capable of utilizing in the battlefield." Hat Ma'an was the first to speak at the meeting the following morning. They were seated at a conference table in a corporate hotel room, several floors up. Security sweeps had been conducted to ensure secrecy. Ali sat at one head of the table, Alena at the other. Refreshments were arrayed along the tabletop, though caf was the only thing anyone had bothered to touch as of yet.
Ali nodded in response to the Kel Dor's rich, rolling tones. "Reckar and I were unsure of the efficacy of cramming too much into the training program." The Kel Dor dipped his head, "Of course, though with a two year time frame, we--" he gestured to a few of the other leaders, "--decided that a more arduous regimen would be entirely possible." He swiped a finger along his datatablet, sending a document to the others seated. "In addition to basic slicing skills, we recommend an extensive language set that will best suit commandos in the field. Such training is particularly beneficial for covert operations and overcoming cultural barriers. Our recommendation includes various dialects spoken most commonly throughout the Galaxy, such as Shriiwook and Quarren."
One of the Rodians, Guri Pashi, lifted a sucker-tipped hand. "I have access to a manufacturer of neural training equipment that can accelerate the language programming as well." Ali nodded at Pashi in thanks. "How many units can you provide?" The Rodian's round mouth closed as he thought for a moment. "Likely several hundred, though I cannot say at this time what the fee might be." Alena waved a hand casually. "Money isn't much of an obstacle."
The Wookiee, Hraffa, barked. Ali smiled slightly and answered the Wookiee's question as to how she had been able to provide such moneys. "I've managed to secure cash flow from the Republic using black-budget funds through my position with the Intelligence Ministry." The revelation seemed to surprise some at the table, though there were no overt expressions of shock. Ma'an tilted his head. "And is this...legal?" He asked. Ali shrugged. "It's certainly shady, but legal enough. I stand to lose nothing if it comes out, the money has already been successfully laundered through foreign banking firms." The Kel Dor nodded. "Good enough for me." The others voiced their agreement, and the group moved on. The discussion over the training doctrine continued over the course of the morning. Many additions were made, and the image of the organization began to evolve from a minor aide and relief effort into a full-scale military force capable of operating all over the Galaxy at the drop of a hat. The concept was certainly audacious, and Ali's excitement continued to grow as the talks went on.

 

[Alena Reckar]

Afternoon arrived, and the meeting was just resuming from its lunch break. During the break, the various new leaders to CSAF's command burgeoning command structure had time to interact with Alena and Ali on a more personal and informal level. They grew to know one another better, and began developing a sense of each other's variable drives for signing on to this mission. The common motivation they all seemed to share, however, was a disillusionment with the typically corporatized structure of most military forces. Whereas Alena and Ali had initially approached the concept of CSAF as a structured hierarchy, they began to consider that a more democratically-oriented fighting force would best benefit the Galaxy at large, and prevent the organization from losing sight of its primary goals.
As they reseated themselves, Alena turned the group's attention to the need for naval support. They had recently discussed various ground forces, such as weapons and vehicles, but transportation of CSAF's strength was crucial. Without it, the organization could not operate as needed.
In this, Alena turned to the two Humans they had sitting at the table, Ek Shan and Barus Fallow. Shan had served with the Republic Navy for nearly twelve years, and left the organization a Rear Admiral. Fallow had served a similar duration, and left her career the commander of a flotilla from 1st Fleet. Both had served time prior as enlisted naval staff, and both had naval engineering degrees, though from different universities.
"Shan, Fallow, I defer to you in the advisement of our potential naval forces." Alena said politely, yielding the floor. Shan glanced at Fallow, allowing her to speak first. Fallow nodded and transmitted a series of files to the rest of the group. "The Republic has functioned well enough with a traditional navy for the last many decades. My recommendation would be to follow this pattern, were it not for the specialized nature of our organization. The vessels I have sent you profiles on have proven their worth, though if possible, I would suggest we decide on design modifications to best suit our personal needs."
Shan took over, "Fallow's right, the Republic's structure works, yet their force is designed to combat the core forces of opposing governments. Our goals should remain more focused on support of our ground efforts. Speed and defense are going to be our primary concerns. Our staff must be recruited by the highest standards, and they must exemplify the same sense of union and mission-oriented nature of our commandos."
Hat Ma'an interjected politely. "Every soldier must be a commando."

 

[Ali Hadrix]

Shan looked at the Kel Dor, considering his words, then smiled. "Yes, precisely. Every soldier must be a commando first." Ali arched an eyebrow. "You want to put every one of our staff through the Commando Program?" She asked, somewhat skeptical. The Kel Dor nodded. "Absolutely. The greatest advantage our force can have, in any operation, is adaptability. Everyone must know every job. I believe with the doctrine we have designed, and with further adjustments, we can make this necessity a reality. Our pilots must know how to conduct ground warfare, and our footsoldiers must know how to guide a warship in battle. This will be our greatest strength, our biggest advantage over any foe. Typically a net loss of staff results in a net loss of productivity. We must prevent that."
The rest of the staff agreed, and Ali made a note of it on her datatablet. She then gestured to Shan. "Please, continue."
The former Republic commander nodded and went on. "Speed and defense. We must be able to arrive when and where we need to with the greatest haste, and we must be able to remain in place as long as necessary to complete the task at hand. Our warships must be able to provide these qualities. There are a variety of modifications we can make, and using the pool of funds you have access to, Miss Hadrix, we needn't ever worry about supply." Ali smiled to herself, things were certainly off to a good start...