Impact

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

She was so deep into her work that she barely even replied properly, Asmus noticed. This was clearly a Kaile on the cusp of her core mission, like him sat silently in the cockpit gathering his thoughts.

He decided he should probably look more efficient too. Having made a neat pile of clothes on the bed - which was a double and after spending days in what could barley be called singly had set the less focussed pilot's thoughts meandering - he perched his thighs against the desk and picked up his datapad.

A few swipes, several passcodes and the SIS core within his own datapad was active. He set it down on its stand, screen tilted forwards as it hooked into some of the other gear.

Asmus cared little for modesty, bit as determined as she was it would have been a cruel thing to make himself a distraction so he headed into the fresher with some clothes. He emerged a moment later with loose brown pants hanging low on his hips and the towel round his bare chest and neck. The mirror in there was fogged up so he perched on the bed and grabbed the cheap blow-dryer out of a drawer.

"You should get cleaned up too," he suggested.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Umm, yeah.” Kaile added, while her eyes averted from the refresher and his lazy stride back to her datapad. A few more hooks ups and a connection to a holo array allowed the display of multiple screens. That should do it. Well, as much as she told herself to keep her mind busy.

Like off of Asmus’s obliques and how that line seemed to vee down to --

“I’ll take one now.” she added abruptly, stepping away from the desk over to collect her bag. She had a small toiletry set with the basics. However, she’d have to use a bit of what Asmus had bought earlier for a shampoo and soap. Kaile was far more used to using a sonic instead of a water shower.

Not that using one wouldn’t be grand.

“Check for any updates. And a ride to get us out of here.” that is, off world. The agent pulled her eyes away from Asmus and the way his damp hair was starting to come loose at his temples to head to the refresher. Right.

Cold water wouldn’t be TOO bad would it?

Shutting the door behind her, Kaile made quick work of taking off her clothes. Funny, the last time they were in a refresher together, well --

Okay, NOT the sort of memories you want to dredge up Kaile. Shaking her head, she tossed the shirt up and over her head, placing it alongside the pants she shimmied out after. The sound of water rushing and a small sigh soon filled the tiny refresher as the brunette stepped under the shower head.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Meep.” Asmus wished he had her focus. The silly little noise was accompanied by a forlorn look towards the refresher. He remember vividly how he walked past her, hands balled up in fists. He also recalled a later sonic and the noises she had made.

Through flushed from crown to waist, Asmus turned to the makeshift command centre. Odennis had published a message on a public holopage in code. Chad was ready to fly but another day before they had papers to get him down.

There were short range shuttles for hire, but they were all booked up. He gathered what he could bit decided he would need to pass by a low security landing pad. So he turned his attention to other matters. She needed to see he could apply himself too.

Their comms were a problem. Comm signals would be closely monitored. On one display he brought up a frequency map of what was bouncing around now. Lots of chatter on bands used by stormtrooper ground patrols. He couldn't listen in, but he could tell of they started talking a lot more.

There was a creak outside and his hand set upon his blaster. Just another guest passing by. Had to be less jumpy. He returned to his next idea. Rather than broadcasting comms they could piggyback onto the holonet. Lots of industry reps down there connecting to corporate systems and hiding their secrets. Asmus made a quick code that took audio and wrapped it in an SIS encryption and he keyed all the datapads and comm units. But that was then wrapped in a standard tunnel that would blend in with all the corporate data. Hiding very secure voice between them in plain sight. A quick probe also revealed the public hotel network was connected by a single guard from the hotel's secure network, which likely had the security camera feeds. He couldn't break that, but he bet she could.

Asmus felt quite pleased with himself, as he often did when he genuinely applied intelligence. He would proudly explain what he'd done when she had emerged and had even managed to stop picturing himself going in after her.

 

[Kaile Vera]

At least until the refresher door slide open and out with the steam came bare legs barely covered in a swath of white terry cloth. This time it was Kaile with the damp hair that brushed barely past her shoulders. Her face was pink from scrubbing it clean. A sprinkle of water would roll down her shoulders and over her decollete, every step making the strands of her hair sway or stick to her cheeks.

The girl went straight for her bag, fingers coming up to run them through her hair to push it back away from her face. It hadn’t been a cold shower, but it had at least managed to ease some of the tension off of her muscles. Sonics were great for getting every bit of grime off, yet a nice hot shower would relax the soreness of her shoulders and back.

“Don’t forget to check your feet.” she reminded him, calling over her shoulder.

“Best to take care of any sores now while you can.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

“I've come up with a novel means of giving us secure point to point voice without alerting the authorities. I've managed to bring up a frequency map of comm traffic and I think you might be able to break into the hotel's security feeds because I did a quick check the idiots have put it on the same wire as our holonet access.”

That was what he'd intended to say. To quickly skim through all he'd managed to achieve in the space of a few minutes. Instead he blurted out: “I did some stuff.”

Hotel towels were always so small. Just a tiny tug, a little pull and everything would be laid bare. I could make her mine again. With all the room of a double bed.

A shake of his head and he put eyes forward. His expression was somewhere between strain and bemusement. They likely could have spared a few minutes, but that would do little to soothe this ache. They didn't have a few hours. His hands went to the keyboard and stopped thinking of the smooth, bare legs that they have become so acquainted with. Kaile would be far less oblivious than the pilot.

He summoned his wits and managed to give the brief explanation on what he'd been doing as well as planned and he relayed the message from the ship.

His toes curled into the carpet that was so welcome. “I can check yours if you could mine? I'm not so flexible to look at the soles of my feet for a long time.” When you've got pants on. Only then. He swallowed and tried to force his pulse back down to a slow rhythm.

 

[Kaile Vera]

Want to check them now?

It would have been easy to ask that then. Kaile didn't miss the darkening in Asmus’ eyes or the way his fingers twitched. It only made the slight fluttering low in her belly grow.

“Umm. Okay.” She said, her hand curling around the shirt they had bought earlier. Her toes flexed on the carpet, and she swung her focus back to searching in her bag.

“Should get the medkit then.” Any other time, Kaile would have easily changed clothes without a second thought right then and there. The Towel would have fallen at her feet, leaving her in nothing but damp hair and honeyed skin. What would have Asmus done then? A time before he'd curled his fists and walked off. Would he do the same?

Another threading of fingers through her hair to push back the strands from clinging to her neck.

“Good job on finding all that out.” He deserved that at least. He'd worked hard and was trying to help.

But did he still have to be walking around without his shirt??

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Thanks,” he replied. There was a warm smile as he turned away from the screens. He’d finished setting up some data analysis on the signals flying around in the open. A rough idea of volume of traffic and bandwidth being used was now displayed on one monitor. If something kicked off one of those would start to spike. He’d learned a great deal in his signals analysis course he’d completed whilst on the Quin before applying for the academy.

As she went to change he grabbed the medkit and pulled out some more patches. Hopefully the water had taken off most of the old ones. When Kaile returned he knelt down before the bed and let her lie back. With a deep breath some of the tension seemed to leave him. On reflection some of that seemed to stem from the feeling that their time was limited. That nagging sensation that she would leave again. But it wasn’t certain, he reminded himself. Nothing was. They took their chances when they came up. It was how he’d got here, he imagined in some ways it was the same for Kaile. She was just reticent to form attachments. He could understand that.

His inspection half turned into a massage as he gentle rubbed the heel of her foot. She does love you, he reminded himself. Even if she doesn’t say it out loud. You both know it.

There was no strain in his voice as he looked up at her. “They’re not too bad. And we didn’t do too bad either. Not that we’re done yet,” he added. They’d planned the mission and started to execute it even through getting shot out of the sky. They’d made it here and that was an achievement on its own. The tone in his voice suggested he was contemplating what this meant. He took a patch and applied it to some broken skin.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Why was it that simply having Asmus kneeling there made her heart both pitter patter and relaxed at the same time? The scoundrel pilot just had a way at tangling her all up inside.

There was a slight scrunch and purse of lips in pleasure as Asmus found a rather sensitive area along the planar of her foot. She even gave a small wiggle of toes.

"That's good.. thank you." she added, bringing up another hand to tuck the wayward strands of dark hair behind her right ear.

"Yeah, not done yet." they had so much to still do. First thing tomorrow Kaile would head in and meet the contact. From there, well, here is hoping that things didn't get even more complicated.

However, Kaile could bet they would. They always seemed to when one least expected it.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"I don't much like the look of Pute," Asmus said with a shake of his head. "They say he took officers out of their homes and shot them in front of their families. It's not like Eriadu doesn't have imperial roots. Another time and I might have ended up an imperial officer just because it was the done thing."

He was aware that the SIS didn’t act in a traditional military sense. He’d fired guided missiles at targets with no declaration of war. Yet there was a line for everything. Even if the one between resistance group and terrorists had a very thick, grey line. The city wasn’t under lock and key. It wasn’t a warzone. It was a wealthy, peaceful place. But it would still be a difficult task to get any armed men into the area. But if Pute did, he could cause all kinds of havoc before they stopped him.

“I’d like to go and check out that shuttle park this afternoon. The small one. I don’t think it’ll have any guards like the space station, but I’ll need to copy a code key or be able to slice the ignition sequencer to get us transport.,” he said softly, clearly thinking as he spoke. He pulled another patch free of its packet with his teeth and placed it on the ball of her left foot. The implication, or question was clear. Was that something within her range of expertise? She’d interfaces straight into his shuttle in an instant, but that had already been started up. Common criminals were capable of copying code keys, he’d heard. They just needed to get within a few feet of the original and they could clone it.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

That prompted a thinning of Kaile's lips. She'd seen firsthand some of that extremist behavior before. Times had been so hard that the thought that fighting fire with fire was the only way to deal with oppressors -- without realizing that it only made them as chaotic and merciless as the ones at fault they had sought to rebel.

Kaile could see that bothered Asmus as well. His brows pinched, and there was an expression that suggested there was more to it than just that. A deep breath made Kaile's shoulders rise.

Fingers smoothed the patch at the ball of her foot, the tips lightly brushing across her skin.

What was it he said?

"Yeah, we can go check out the shuttle park." a blink and then she gave a slight tug of her foot and another wiggle of toes.

"I can do something about the code key," she assured him. That was easy. Either through slicing or managing a quick pilfer.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"Excellent," he smiled and looked up at her. What else was she capable of? He wondered. It took a moment to realise that he was keeping his gaze on Kaile's face because it soothed the growing anger at the methods used in the name of their cause. Another time and he could have lost himself there for a time. He also realised his hand was half way up her calf.

"Well," he said, looking straight down. He didn't have much more to add. This was her territory. He was just the driver. Standing up, he moved for the bed so she could re-apply some patches to his own feet.

"I won't be able to do an emergency pick up of course, so that's out of the backup plan. Need to take off nice and calm or not at all. They're still not even sure what they shot down before, but the silos are still in place."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Kaile still could feel the lingering tickle Asmus’ fingers had left after drifting along her calf. It brought back a brief flash of another time where that hand and those dexterous fingers had traced their way higher.

Kaile gave a small cough. She brought her hand up to her mouth, covering it as she turned away, face flushed again. Right.

The bed sand beside her as Asmus sat down on the edge of the bed. It was his turn now. Kaile followed his along with the conversation, bringing her hands to the edge of the bed to help her stand up.

“”Well any extremist action would beef up security and make everyone more wary -- and our job a mite more difficult.” both what Asmus and Kaile feared the most. Not just an escalation, but the risk of more civilians being brought into the fray.

“I reckon we’ll do fine.” Taking a step back, Kaile bent down and sat herself upon the floor. More comfortable than at a knee, she crossed her feet and scooted closer. Turning to the med-kit, Kaile told herself that this was just a normal procedure. Feet weren’t really her thing in terms of giving her wild racing thoughts. But having to tip her head back and look up at Asmus while was was here on the floor certainly brought a measure of possibilities that her mind wouldn’t stop trying to flag.
“Anything hurting the most?” she inquired, giving his right calf a simple boop to remind him of the medical care.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“I'm sure you will,” he replied. He didn't even realise that he'd swapped the ‘we' for ‘you' in his response. There was a sincerity in his tone, not an idle hope.

They looked out for each other. Even in the short time they'd been reunited that had been shown to still hold true. Even if it was as little as footcare. They'd never held any erotic value for Asmus either, especially when raw and blistered. Someone has once been so inclined and Asmus had indulged them but it had only proved that it did nothing for him.

“Ball of my left foot is quite blistered,” he admitted. It certainly hasn't looked good after his shower. Once it was drier and treated it wouldn't cause him too much concern on the road.

“If all hell breaks loose do we go to ground and stay on foot until we can find another way? There might be a shuttle fast enough that we could risk our chances but I wouldn't give it a high chance.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

“Well, there was the landing pad for all the other delegates. Could commandeer one there.” however, that would mean that Asmus would need to also slip into the conference. And he didn’t have the credentials for that. An immediate shake of her head said that she threw that idea out.

“You can go to ground. I’ll figure out a way if that comes up.” she took a small tube of bacta lotion and smeared it on the bottom of his foot. A bacta patch and then some more heavy mulling followed.

“There is also that shopping mall -- but too many civilians.” Kaile bit her lip. Three people. They had to be able to leave quickly and efficiently with three people.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“We should get a change of clothes for the man,” Asmus suggested. “There are four major repulsor train lines out of the city. We could get out on the ground and wait for them to get a shuttle cleared for extraction?” he thought out loud. Vo had suggested they could get a shuttle within a few days with appropriate papers.

“I mean, I would put the chance at not being able to take off as low. But they might lock down the airspace completely if trouble shows up. If I were them I’d lock it down and get those gunships in to deal with any of his men on the streets.”

He flexed his toes and afforded her a warm smile. Being dry and having carpet underfoot felt good. He walked to the table and picked up his ID card. Jayne Wasdon. Better start used to calling her by her alias, he thought to himself. Kaileann Vera. He knew her real name now. Her surname was nicer than his, he reflected before stopping that train of thought dead.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

"That shouldn't be hard." Meant going back and trying to purchase some baggier clothing. Items that would easily blend in with any other spacer.

"With Pute, I don't want to end up with any crazy surprises." the news feed had already given them both an idea that he meant business.

"We'll see," she added, rising to her feet and placing the med-kit on the bed. Carefully she slid the remaining bacta packets and lotion back in.

"Best move to getting some fresh intel out there then."

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Their route out of the hotel and towards the shuttle park took them close to the entrance of the conference. Just two guards at the door, lightly armed. A reception desk visible through the glass doors where officers and industry reps were now handing back their badgers and leaving the event. Asmus kept his eyes from veering in that direction. Such a civilised looking event. He imagined the officers inside were eating afternoon canapes and hearing more informal pitches from arms dealers.

On the way he pointed out another clothing store he could pop into on the way back. Just one set of clothes, perhaps even just a robe that could cover an imperial uniform in two seconds. He tried to get a feel for the route between the hotel and the shuttle park. Tried to imagine how he could cover it at a flat out run. Or perhaps staying in cover if Pute really did get armed men this far.

A fence surrounded the park itself. Though there were numerous gaps in it. Security was one man sat in an outpost reading the news. More space was dedicated to the advertisements that outlined the costs of owning a permanent space for a space shuttle. A particular model caught his eyes. Naboo manufactured, sleek, fast. If they wanted to break atmo as quickly as possible that was the one.

"Shall we do a circuit and have a look?" he asked. "I might have a quick chat with the man there."

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

A nod at Asmus' direction confirmed it.

"Yeah." she swung her gaze over the pilot, a serious expression settling over her features. There was concern in her gaze.

"Be careful," she told him. Opening a small flap in a side pocket of her satchel, the Lorrdian went rifling through it until she plucked a pair of sunglasses out.

"Here," she would offer them to the pilot. They were a pair of HUD-G glasses.

"I've encrypted these to be able to talk with each other a bit more conspicuously. Also allows me to connect to them to see what you see."

Creepy? Perhaps, but allowed her to still be able to keep tabs on him.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

Asmus took them with a shrug and put them on. If there was confusion on his face it was only because they really weren't his style.

Asmus was no agent. However, he had an easy manner and people just tended to talk back. Kaile would witness him engage the guard in his friendly way. Within a few minutes he was up to date on the local sports tournaments and had found out some pertinent facts.

The Naboo shuttle belonged to a local business mogel. He took it out just once a month at most, but had his people come and buff up the chrome finish every week. Three days from now on fact. The shuttle bay wasn't even that busy. The chance of meeting a pilot and copying their code key was low. He would need Kaile to slice one of them and get him an access code. Preferably two just in case.

"Have a nice day," Asmus waved and carried on his way. The guard returned to his datapad and news.

"Where are you?" He whispered as he walked away. Wouldn't do good to loiter now. That might raise suspicion where the conversation had been casual.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Not far from you.” She replied, managing to track his location. The glasses Kaile had given him worked as a tracking device as well.


The agent had made herself useful by studying the security in the area. A quick stop to trace and review the holocameras in place allowed her to get a feel on the location.

“What did you find?” She inquired, panning her brown eyes towards the conference center.

“Any leads?”