Impact

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

It didn't matter this time around. Kaile was too busy deep in thought over Pute and what she could extrapolate. She barely registered his hands resting on her shoulders and couldn't even think of dinner right now.

There was a slight pained expression on her face, shoulders slumping a bit. Consideration in the building plan. In that security. Exits. The fire alarm.

“Maybe. Going over it.” Kaile finally replied. Another sigh and she fiddled with the hologram again. Hmm.

“Won't take long.”

Her hand withdrew and brushed her bangs away from her face. Yeah. It was going to be tricky.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Okay,” Asmus replied. It was spoken slowly, but firmly. It was an okay from a man that knew that had a dangerous task ahead, acknowledging her focus on the work.

He gathered his things, slipped to the refresher quickly and was about to set out when a thought struck him. He found the bottle of fresh water and poured a tall glass, setting it on the table next to her with a soft “there” so she noticed. There was a little packet of biscuits he placed next to it.

Asmus headed out the door, sliding on his sunglasses as he stepped into the mid afternoon warmth. It wasn't a long walk, but it gave him time to think. The pair of them couldn't handle an entire strike force of hardened rebels. Things had changed but five years ago they had barely handled a gang of criminals. There was only so much one could train for and urban combat wasn't on his list. There wouldn't be much he could do to help come the morning. Watch and provide any information she needed. Monitor the comms. He didn't like it, but he accepted it for what it was.



Nearly an hour later he returned, having filled in all the forms. He had a good memory and had kept his entire false identity tucked away ready.

“I don't drive a speeder enough,” he remarked. Turns out being in space a long time had left him a little rusty behind the wheel of a regular old land speeder. He placed the key down on the table.

“Still no patrols out there much. The gunship is still circling though. How is it going? I was think we should perhaps order some food here and keep an eye on the building?”

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]


By the time Asmus had returned, Kaile had forgone the chair for standing on both feet. She needed to pace and move to be able to think. To be able to formulate a plan. Throughout the evaluation, Kaile kept tabs on Asmus. There hadn’t been much to discuss about while he rented the speeder, but at least she could track him and make sure he was safe.

Turning towards the Wraith, the agent let her brown gaze drift over him. “You seemed to do well with a speeder bike at least.” a light hearted joke attempt before she returned to review the holographic display of the facility. All fire exits and areas where emergency personnel would enter were listed with green dots. Paths were marked and areas where she managed to discern the information from Pute’s agent were also displayed.

“Managed to gather some information,” she informed him. A grab and a flick swish brought the lower level of the facility up.

“Fire exits are here. Designated drills have the safety areas marked here and here.” a finger pointed and highlighted the area. One was near the shuttle service and hanger area where that Quad jumper was parked.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Yeah, but this is a big old thing with granny steering,” he replied in turn. “Trees don't tend to pull out without indicating either.” Just the left corner of his lips turned up. Asmus had seen her working before. He'd seen her carrying out mandrolic labour back on the Quin. He'd seen her planning on the Subversion.

Both eyebrows went up as he approached. There was a lot of information and annotation on the plans. “You've been busy,” he remarked. There was no hint of condescension in the tone of his voice, it made it quite clear that he was genuinely impressed. This moment was much like the one where she had first witnessed him carrying out hyperdrive calculations in scribbles across a datapad. The room had become her command centre, her element. She could slip into roles in an instant, mimic accents and slice damn near anything it seemed.
He had a mind that could store a lot of information, when he was so inclined. When bored no amount of repetition could make anything stick. This would take a while to process.

He mumbled a few numbers as he read off some of the paths. It would take him a minute at full pelt to get from the room to the assembly point.

“If you wanted to gun down imperials coming out of this fire exit where would you put a shooter or two?” He asked, pointing towards the exit that led towards the shuttle park. Just as Vo had requested his mind was the primary mission and considering the chances of the asset - and Kaile - getting gunned down as they made their escape.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Where? Kaile bit her lower lip. She'd been doing a lot of that lately. It was one of her nervous ticks and it didn't fare well for the tender bit of flesh. It was either that or wring her hands. As a Lorrdian her entire body was ripe with nuances of intent, emotions, and thoughts. The last thing she needed was to end up gesturing a parsec a minute while she talked.

"Here and here." a quick press of her finger highlighted areas across the way. "Anyone could set up direct lines of fire here if they were using automated fire of some sort." a deeper frown followed.

"But what would be more dangerous is if they used thermal detonators or some sort of mines." the quiet concern prompted the Lorrdian to cross her arms over her chest. Her left arm came up, fingers rubbing her chin.

"Then there are these areas here." she highlighted wider exits.

 

[Asmus Janes]

[member="Kaileann Vera"]

"At the very least they were moving on airspeeders around the facility so hopefully they can't park up a speeder full of baradium." Asmus had been reading too. They'd done that before outside an imperial garrison as the shifts changed.

He reached into her hologram and twisted the display. He ran his hand through his hair and narrowed his eyes. She would recognise the focus in his expression. Asmus was easily distracted and amused, could get bored easily. It wasn't often that he fully applied himself.

It was all about the angles. In the atmosphere the fighter with the altitude had the edge, could conjure velocity from a simple drop of the nose. In space momentum in orthogonal planes could not be translated or carried through a maneuver. One had to carefully plan the approach vectors of different units.

"If you take the fire escape I'll meet you from this direction. If there are shooters I'll be out of the line, but can't put down some covering fire. With the group's I shoot with a handheld, assuming I can..." he mumbled the rest of that thought. "I'd need to get this close."

He looked up at Kaile and pointed to a road that ran near the conference centre. Assuming the shooters took a window each he could accurately put bolts in them from that distance.

"But if they don't show, first plan is to talk out the front door? Do we go on foot or landspeeder?"

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

“Speeder.” Kaile replied. By now she’d spread her legs about a foot apart. It was funny how the situation had escalated between them. Well, personally that was still up in the air. Professionally, it was still a bit surreal.

“It would appear to be normal anyways. On foot it would allow more of a chance for holocameras or anyone else pick up our movement.” Kaile had been watching him when he shifted into focus. When he put all of his concentration at the variables of vectors and paths that he could take. It was just like back in the Quin, when he’d been calculating the hyperspace route to Denon. That had been the first snapshot of the man he would become; no -- the man that stood before her today.

As if for that brief instant he felt her eyes on him, jade flickered over to her. Kaile immediately gave the hologram a quick zoom into the main entrance, lowering her gaze as she continued with, “We can meet up with you here.” she relayed, marking the area.

“If everything goes as planned, then it would be a straight shot towards the hanger.” she bit her lip again.

“I can slip in later tonight and try and get a keycard.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus nodded, but his thoughts had already skipped onto something else. He parked one thought for another. He pulled back on the hologram and included both shuttle park and facility in the view.

“What have we got here…” he flicked through everything that had been loaded into the plans. “You're quick,” he remarked suddenly. She'd been very thorough since he'd been gone, drawing in information from a range of places. It was more than they'd arrived it.

He pulled in some traffic data and sorted it by hour. This kind of route planning was just like the applications he'd built for her on the Quin. Except no complicated space-time to hyperspace metrics. One of the streets could fluctuate between high and low traffic quickly. He ruled it out. He traced a finger around the route. Second left, immediate right. Narrow alley. Left at the end. Second right.

He hived that off for further consideration. For the lorrdian, and one well attuned to Asmus, it would be clear from subtle hand gestures and eye movements that he was mentally replaying the route in his head until they finished.

“Do you want me to come and be a look out?” He asked. He turned up to face her then. A twitch of the lips indicated that the analytical side had given way to something much stronger. “If not I can keep on the comm and see what you're doing?” He asked. Just a hint of concern bled into the tone of his voice.

 

[Kaile Vera]

[member="Asmus Janes"]

Was it silly to suddenly feel the wave of warmth flow into her face? Yeah, it was. Kaile felt a little bit like a ninny again, half blushing at the compliment of how efficiently and effectively managed to pull up the maps and information. Stop being a ninny, Kaile! She told herself, although the slight rock of her feet in mild pleasure couldn’t be helped.

“No.” she told him quickly enough. “I don’t want you standing out.” he needed to be at the speeder to allow them to get in and out quickly . Having three parties in different locations would make things difficult.

“But…” Kaile began, drumming her fingers on her chin. A quick step forward and she brought out a holographic keyboard. A quick tap of commands and then suddenly a series of blue blips displayed themselves across the entire facility, both inside and out.

“These are all the holocameras available. I can slice into the system and place in a small transmitter to allow you a back access channel to monitor from the speeder.” A safer alternative.

“You wouldn’t be able to change any settings, but at least it can give you eyes out there.”

 

[Asmus Janes]

A slight widening of the eyes, a subtle raise of the brows. He knew enough of codes and slicing to be aware that what she had already shown she could do and the manner she casually talked of cracking into cameras on a temporarily secure facility betrayed and exceptionally skilled slicer.

“Cameras in the rooms all….oh of course. They face away from the presentations because the big companies don't want their latest releases getting recorded. Makes sense. I should probably stay in the hotel until we're getting close to extraction? What with the previous speeder bombs I don't want a patrol asking questions and telling me to move. I can park up there tonight.”

His eyes came up to meet hers again. His hands shifted left as he mentally turned from 5th to Feather Lane. His mind could so many things at once. Like considered the little tremor at how exciting Kaile was and what that tried to elicit. Or it could stash away all the follow on questions about her career.

“That'd be good,” he murmured, glad at not being utterly blind to her fate. He would be worried of course. It was Kaile. But they would get the job done.

In his head he had the name of every Rogue he had lost. Not because he felt so much sorrow for them, but because so many had given their lives to the cause and had them snatched away that someone had to say their names from time to time. Being Kaile made it harder, but he has to trust her. Concern for her safety was a good thing, they could only afford calculated risks unless everything went to hell.

For just a moment there was a comfortable silence. And Kaile would see a hint of the depths of his affection for her surface in his eyes.

 

[Kaile Vera]

“You can stay here with what you need to observe and then quickly move out.” Kaile had every intention of packing their gear away before she went to bed. They couldn’t leave anything behind, and whatever they did, they had to make sure they fried it so that it wouldn’t be used against them or the Resistance.

Under his regard, the Lorrdian felt herself flushing again. Kaile could feel his eyes sweep over her. Lingering without guile and all of his emotions there bare to see. She could read him like the back of her hand. As intimately as her own. Kaile could see the curiosity, the intrigue, the concern. Real concern for her safety. Only Kurt and Vo had ever really managed to look at her that way before. The hand that had been rubbing her chin came back down to rest over her belly, joining the other arm that had already been resting across it.

“Yeah… that’d be good.” Kaile echoed in turn, the wide, chocolate brown eyes in her heartshaped face unable to glance away from Asmus then. Not but a meter between them, if that, and even then, why did it feel as if she could still feel the warm, heavy weight of his arms around her regardless? As if even with that small bit of distance, Kaile could practically imagine the way his hand would run a cafune through her hair. How she’d feel the slight rasp of the scruff along his jaw and then the tender press of a kiss right at the crown of her head?
All just imagined nonsense, perhaps. Her mind running away from her in the wake of going over the minute details and plans of the extraction. At least, that was what Kaile was telling her self then even as a small pang in her heart grew at the sight of the Eriaduian pilot standing beside her.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“You come back safe to me and I'll get us out of here,” he said suddenly. There was a neurotic core at the heart of Asmus. One few people ever saw. For the most part he had excised it. Deliberate routine to allow himself to just enjoy life and not end up as the quiet noise of a man his father was. To be more like Kairon, bold brave and daring. But he couldn't help the faint whisper that suggested that after all this time it would be devastating to have her snatched from him so soon.

He realised he was looking at her in that way. That way that made her do whatever he asked. Could he make her come back with just a look? It wasn't fair. For her to come back to him he needed to trust her. And it wasn't fair to look at her like that when she was in charge.

An abashed smile as he turned down and away. The flex of his fingers had nothing to do with his mental mapping of the routes out.

“I'll talk to you when you go into the shuttle park. We need something with raw power. I want to break atmosphere as fast as possible and make a rough micro hop. We should probably order out some food soon?” He added. They were rapidly approaching the evening now. They'd have to stay up late if Kaile was planning to visit the hangar in the dark of night.

 

[Kaile Vera]

They were both standing there shuffling their feet, both wanting things and reigning themselves in. Right, okay. Okay. Her hand came up and brushed the strands of her hair away from her face.

Having him say such things when he was looking at her like that was giving her all sorts of knots in her belly. Made her waver and not just in the physical sense. But in the manner that had her itching and wanting to have him near her for just a little bit longer. Looking at her like he was made her want to do whatever he’d have of her.

“Okay.” It was all she needed to say. No string of words in the ‘verse was going to have as many meanings and as much depth as that.

Turning her head back towards the holoarray, the agent reached out with her hand and shut it off.
“Dinner might be a good idea -- unless you’ve in mind for that place you spotted earlier?” Although depending on time, ordering out might be best in the cards. She’ll have to consider what her plan will be to get that splicer installed and a key card copied for the quad.

 

[Asmus Janes]

It was easy enough to see that she took a moment to consider him instead of the mission. It was his fault: the plea, the way he'd looked at her. Was it shallow to go out and sneak a little more time together? There were layers of falsehood. Pretending they were just a couple, pretending it didn't come easily and wasn't quite as enjoyable as it was.

He checked the time. “I think we're mostly set for the morning. If you want to head out to the shuttle park when it's dark we've got plenty of time to firm up the approach and perhaps even get a bit of rest. We could take the landspeeder down to that joint and get away from cold imperial abyss?”

Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Promise I won't crash. I wasn't that rusty behind the controls.”

 

[Kaile Vera]

That prompted an amused snort. Tension eased as Asmus’ usual charm promoted a crooked smile from the Lorrdian’s mouth.

“I don't know,” Kaile began, choosing to have a bit of fun by teasing him briefly.” My experience with you flying speeders has seen an increasing trend at crashing.” Turning away from the small portable array, the agent set towards gathering her pack. They didn't need to keep the bulk of this gear out of they had a general gist of what they were going to do. Meticulous at making sure nothing was left out that they didn't need, she started to put small electronic gear away. Seeing her pack might make one recall how easy it had been for her to do the same those years back. Everything in one bag.

“But getting away from here would be good.” Just didn't sit too right with her. This place. Pute.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Let's see we had a little graze when I picked you up…” against the underside of a TIE fighter.

“...We departed the last shuttle before anything untowards happened to it…” like being hit with a missile.

“...But I will admit the bike was a little dicey.” As we burst through a canopy of trees at a few hundred kilometres per hour.

“I'd take the trees over some of the pensioners driving around here though.” He idly itched at his arm before realising he was doing so. Asmus rolled up the arm of his sleeve to check it didn't look like it was infected. It didn't, must have just been a plain old regular itch from the scab forming.

Asmus left his datapad, but slipped a small chip from a port and pocketed it. He knew the drill. Get captured, snap it in two and it wouldn't unlock the SIS hidden protocols on the device.

As they took the lift back down to the basement garage he couldn't help but think about how quickly the tension had ramped up between them without him even realising. Some of the symptoms were the same, but with Kaile it was unlike anything he'd felt before. It wasn't a subtle look and a 'I don't suppose…’ but an almost desperate need to be close.

As he unlocked the landspeeder - a very bland black model with chrome trim - he started to think if it wouldnt be so bad just to hold her for a time later. Just for a while, before they slept and had to take on the following day with the risks seemingly stacking up against them.

 

[Kaile Vera]

It wasn’t anything fancy. Just your standard black model with chrome trim, but it was a way to get away for a little while. The sun had already begun sinking off in the distance, just about to meet the treeline in that distant horizon. How odd to think that just yesterday they’d been hiking up and down that forest.

Kaile slipped into her seat, buckling in. A hand ran through her hair, musing the fringe of bangs a bit, making her appear just a touch unruly.

“Is your arm alright?” Kaile had noticed him scratching at his arm like a tick. Almost done without noticing really. A nervous gesture? When he was focused and concentrating in his element, Kaile was able to pick up on it rather quickly. However, there were still so many new and interesting mannerisms that Asmus had picked up since their last meeting. While there were portions of him that had remained the same, there were others that were new and just as equally fascinating. Kaile had to tell herself that she wasn’t doing it to memorize everything that Asmus did and that it just had to do with being very observant.

Fingers gave a slight twitch, and she brought her hands to rest over her lap. Touchy as always, the need was always there. Ever increasing whenever the scoundrel pilot was around.

 

[Asmus Janes]

“Yeah it’s fine, just itching a little where it’s scabbing over,” he replied as they pulled out.

It was interesting how the population of the city seemed to change as they left the centre. The district they were visiting wasn't the built up centre they left behind, but still a reasonably trendy area. More diverse in population and apparently popular with the younger residents. It reminded him that the imperial propaganda was as dangerous as their star destroyers.

”The area must have been an old market town before the city swallowed it up,” he said as he scanned for their destination. The Red Jestle. He spotted the sign between two old buildings that housed niche shops. Apparently a jestle was a type of flower on the world, often used in sweetening drinks.

It was so easy for his focus on the task to slip when they moved out of it. The change of scenery made it so easy. As they stepped into the entrance his hand claimed hers back. Perhaps he had subconsciously noted the deliberate way she kept them to herself during the ride, but Asmus didn't know. But it was easy to play pretend when the fantasy was something you wanted to much. Something as simple as stepping into a restaurant as a couple and asking for a table.

There was a twi'lek meeting people at the entrance, next to a pedestal of flimsiplast menus. For the first time Asmus saw a genuinely diverse range of species.

“Welcome to the Red Jestle. Are you both human? Any specific dietary requirements?” she asked with a smile.

“Plain old human stock, nothing specific,” Asmus replied. She tapped her portable device to a menu. Each was a single large sheet with colourful headings. The words shifted and changed around on the menu at that touch. It caused Asmus to smile in amusement. He'd seen sabacc cards like that used by cheaters, could change at the touch of a corner. It occurred to him that he didn't know if Kaile was pure boring human or one of the many offshoot species.

 

[Kaile Vera]

The warmth of his hand as it curled and slipped against her own prompted a tiny flutter in her belly. All the more when her fingers naturally went sliding against his own, nestling within the valleys between his fingers. It was an indulgence that would be short lived before they were seated.

“Just your normal Humanoid menu is fine. I’m not picky.” the Twi’lek hostess gave a nod and a smile, tapping at the menu. It rippled as the words shifted to match the one she’d set up for Asmus.

“Thank you, please follow me.” It hadn’t been a lie. Standard humanoid was just your standard stock. Working in a restaurant made Kaile fairly familiar with the way the business ran as well as the different dietary needs of several species It was a fairly important awareness, for one ingredient could very well be poisonous from one species to the next.

Their hands remained conjoined until they were presented at a small corner booth. Then the warmth was gone. Kaile slid into her seat with her back to the wall again, facing the direction of the door.

“Here you go,” their waitress smiled, placing the filmsi menus on top of the table along with napkins and a flatware.

“Would you like to start off with anything to drink?’
“Water would be fine for now,” the brunette replied, resting her hands upon the table.

 

[Asmus Janes]

Asmus ordered a fairly standard soft drink as he gave the menu a quick scan. Despite being altered for a human diet it was a good range of dishes from various parts of the galaxy. And the prices were much more reasonable than he’s seen around the district they’d been walking around.

“No wine tonight?” she asked.

“No, thank you,” Asmus replied and she left with the wine glasses from the table. He looked back across the table at Kaile.

“Another time perhaps,” he added with a wry smile. A few drinks over dinner, perhaps going for a dance and then falling back into their hotel room giddy and giggly. As he looked back down there was a soft sigh at the notion that couldn’t be followed up on today. It was nice to take his mind off the rebels. They were a problem he had no control over. He didn’t like that kind of problem. They could just plan to mitigate the risk. They’d talked over some of the possibilities and what they could do in different scenarios. That was almost all they could do.

“Oh look at that,” he said, putting his finger on an item in the starters. “Mixed sharing starters of lightly spices and cured meats and delicacies from around the galaxy. For two to four.”