She who you're looking for?

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

And once again, it had started. With a sigh, Bosch had been informed that a new shuttle was on its way, carrying another potential girlfriend. This time, however, he chose differently - as she apparently had knowledge of engineering as well as other naval-related aspects, she had something the others lacked: a direct connection to what he enjoyed. That alone was reason enough for him to head to the hangar bay and meet her firsthand.

Maybe he was trying to troll his crew into submission.

 

[CHANI]

She insisted on flying the shuttle herself when she was first contacted for a meet and greet, a few uniformed individuals flashed some obviously off world credentials and tried to coax her into this little engagement for a day. Credits were hard to come by legitimately and it was not like she hadn't done this thing before albeit a little less matter of fact, but it was a diversion and she welcomed it for now. The Shuttle slowly crept into the Hangar bay as she was a cautious pilot, hearing the voices of her past lovers complain about her slow careful flying.

The ramp popped open and slid down fully after making contact with the tarmac, Chani was glad that she recently had her replacement skin finished, her time as a Jedi was brutal to her figure and she had to conduct routine maintenance on her face whenever she got in a scuffle, otherwise her unblemished countenance was on par for the day. The Kiffar looked around she noticed some droids skittering around, a tech or two fiddling with a ship and then her eyes fell on [member="Aken Bosch"] .

 

[Onrai]

Bosch's eyes turned to meet the attractive female human who stepped down from the shuttle, a smile on his face. "Welcome to the Imperial Star Destroyer Iceni. Former flagship of the Imperial navy, and current flagship of the First Fleet. I'm Admiral Aken Bosch. Would you mind coming with me to the ready room? We have some things to discuss." Things of course being why she was here - though that was no surprise. And as they began to walk, he couldn't help but compliment her.

"Excellent job landing the shuttle, by the way. I have to applaud your skills with that."

[member="CHANI"]

 

[CHANI]

"Yes I would mind, "She mused, waltzing over to a diagnostics panel above one of the Destroyer's maintenance hatch, she checked the schematics, the cargo capacity, much of the information was resisted access so that is as far as her curiosity reached, "Wow- I have never been inside one of these before-" she playfully danced to some techs who were busy performing maintenance on the ships inner systems, she glanced over their shoulder but eventually pushed one of them aside, sticking her hands in and fixing the couplet herself her hands where a bit smaller allowing her to reach the device. Chani stood up with a smile on her face and a bit of couplet grease on her cheek which she tried her best to wipe off but a faint smudge still lingered.

"Now we may go," she said sheepishly, "I recently spearheaded a commission for an older victory two class star destroyer, my first ever but this." Looking around at everything like she was small in a toy shop until they reached the aforementioned ready room. As she was prone to do Chani stood in a corner with her back to any door and smiled ever so slightly, staring at [member="Aken Bosch"] .

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

Tulak Hord-class Star Destroyer. At the time of the Sith Empire's destruction, it was the most powerful Star Destroyer in the Imperial navy, second to no other vessel. Of course, there are newer ships now, but Tulak Hords are plentiful, while new designs are not." He smiled. "I have to give you credit, you know how to fix a power coupling faster than any woman I've ever met." Smiling, as the two finally entered his ready room, he, being a gentleman towards this lady, pulled her chair back for her and scooted her in.

"Now, is there anything you'd like? Tea? A warm meal?"

 

[CHANI]

Chani stared at [member="Aken Bosch"] a moment contemplating his intentions as she sat in the offered chair, he even pushed it in for her, when was this guy from? "Ships are my thing, "I am perfectly all right, thanks." Without much delay, " so Admiral, why do you continue commanding the Remanence of an Empire that has long been integrating into another?" she was curious about him, about this whole situation, what reason would there be to command a task force if not fulfilling that same role... "

"Does the former Empire seek a second chance? I was never a fan of the political structure of that Empire, but I admired what they did despite the many repercussions to every day people, all in all I thought they never should have been exiled by the Republic. I am less of a fan of them." Her curiosity lingered on panels and the material of the walls.

 

[Onrai]

"Well..." He smiled. "After the dissolution of the Sith Empire, when the Imperial government collapsed, most of the Imperial navy stayed with me as part of the Pentastar Alignment. For a year or two, we were forced to lurk in former Imperial space, raising Republic convoys for supplies and whatnot in order to keep our ships running and our people alive. Eventually, a new Imperial government would form, amalgamating several Imperial remnant factions together. This included my own." He smiled, giving a soft grin.

"I suppose 'second chance' may be putting it lightly. I and others in the Empire have no issues with diplomatically dealing with our a republic counterparts, though there are still a few truly bloodthirsty personnel. Then again, the same could be said for the Republic as well. A Hutt as Grand Chancellor, Jedi defecting by the droves during the sacking of Coruscant... Not to mention the consistent and virulent pro-war, pro-expansionist rhetoric received consistently from Republic politicians. As a legitimate galactic power x we have as much a right to exist without conflict and massive bloodshed as they."

[member="CHANI"]

 

[CHANI]

All this information interested Chani so far as her curiosity was held, but the subject turned dull as her hobbies never delved into political or any explanations deriving from those type of perspectives, she was a realist, almost a prerequisite to tote around a saber without jumping automatically to anyone's aid, the odd predicament of a neutral. "Ah i see," she replied.

Finding herself in a similar moment, "Have you ever thought about retiring from the Imperial stage?" believing she might know the answer but probing for something interesting anyway, "Is that what this is all about?" Alas down to the meaning of their meeting here, "Or is there something you wanted to show me for a layman's opinion or something?" staring at [member="Aken Bosch"] .

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

Smiling, he gave a smirk. "No no... See, my crew thinks I dedicate myself far too ardently towards this ship. They think I need to relax, to get a girlfriend or wife I can 'relieve stress' with. It's really childish, to be honest..." He sighed. "I knew when I first got this job that I would be too busy to ever have a family." Was there a hint of feeling guilty in his voice?

"That's why they brought you here. I never ordered them to do so." With a pause, Bosch turned back to her. "The least I suppose I can do is get you a good dinner before you go. Mind joining me in the officers' dining room?"

 

[CHANI]

"Yes it is childish, not necessarily a bad thing once in a while," she mused, mirroring [member="Aken Bosch"] 's words, "I don't eat...per se" she smiled and stared, "But I wouldn't mind some spice," knowing this Admiral probably didn't indulge in the narcotics of the Galaxy, it was really the only thing her Cybernetic body would not reject, overcome or grow a resistance to. "It's the only thing I do eat, can eat really...long story." and changed the subject out of some odd nervousness that suddenly became the elephant in the room, cyborgs where not exactly welcomed in most if any part of society except on worlds rife with technology, underground places where nefarious sorts needed shady deals done, "But yes I'll join you," As Chani was escorted to the room she was pleased that the atmosphere changed a bit.

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

"Are you implying you have some sort of taste for me, Miss... Chani, was it?" Pausing, he noticed her reference to desiring some spice. "We have some stashes left over from some shipments we caught being smuggled through Imperial space. My crew won't touch them, and if it's the only thing you can eat, I suppose it's all yours. Consider it my treat to you." Pausing, he eyed the cyborg over curiously, then chose to go ahead and ask the inevitable question as he himself moved to sit down.

"Can I assume you're a cyborg? Or merely someone with cybernetic prosthetics or implants?"

 

[CHANI]

"Taste for you?" she laughed, "i don't think so," pondering, "I guess that is the most popular term, Cyborg, but I am not in any traditional sense lost in a machine." the offer of spice took her off guard and Chani slowly nodded to [member="Aken Bosch"] , "Uh-yeah that would be fine." Still embarrassed over this whole scenario. But she continued the explanation as it needed some clarity at least to clear the air between them, "Biorobotics...genetic engineering...I am from Kiffar genes and i forget the tehcnical terms for what else," truthfully she remembered quite clearly, but the long and arduous explanation would go into too much science, " an Android, one that is made to be as "human" as possible with cybernetic eyes."

She blinked a little waiting for him to be disgusted or freak out, "So I am sort of a backwards cyborg in that I have a few stigmas to overcome, but for all intent and purpose I was birthed from bacta when I was little, and my skin is similar to yours, only mine is more densely packed with more genetic information woven into every fiber of all this." Her hand gestured up and down. To her surprise the spice actually arrived quite fast, it was set down in front of her even with some light garnish, she giggled a little inside at the sight of a narcotic being decorated in such a way.

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

"So in essence, you're an experiment." He paused, never letting the implied abnormality affect him. "Based off near-human genes, integrated with cybernetics." He paused, giving a soft grin. "There's nothing to be ashamed of with regards to that. The cybernetics don't make you who you are. Your skills, knowledge, and personality are the only things that truly have any sort of importance." He realized how ironic it was that he was saying that, considering his prior prejudice towards non-humans, but things had changed recently.

"Outer beauty is not as important as inner beauty... Not to say you aren't exceptionally beautiful, of course."

 

[CHANI]

Chani did not believe [member="Aken Bosch"] was the kind of person to turn someone in for large sums of money, he seemed more practical and willing to suspend disbelief in the unimaginable, which is why she felt comfortable enough to tell him this, "I am More like a Corporate asset, I have a ridiculously large bounty on my head, dead or alive so long as I am returned to C e l e s t r o n , I used to work-be a slave for this company, there was a whole series of Androids like myself but I was the last and most recent prototype, I was assigned an assassination mission when my programing faltered, that is when I grew a conscience interdependently of their brainwashing and went rogue."

Her eyes swelled a moment with the saline tears but managed to calm down, "For the longest time I thought I grew up on the streets of nar shaddaa, that I was a spice dealer and among other things, but I came to be relieved that those were all implanted memories, so i wanted to make my own..." She smiled at him, suddenly enjoying herself as she glanced at the spice dish again, relieved to have finally shared her lifetime predicament with someone.

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

"A human replica droid." He paused, giving a straight face once again. "Probably the most advanced of any to exist in the entire galaxy. Rest assured I have no intentions of putting such an exquisitely Galatean woman in the hands of any company, once she's become, well... Human." A soft smile crossed his lips as he thought over a potential solution. "Well... you're pretty good with engineering skills. Why not join up with the crew of the Iceni? We'd be glad to have you as an engineer, though I suppose you'll require more intricate training with the systems of our ship. That does raise a question of whether or not you'd be forced to go with them should the Empire end up having some sort of intergalactic incident..."

And with that, he realized something. "There's one way we can make sure it doesn't happen."

 

[CHANI]

"I'm more psuedo organic than anything droid" she added a little miffed by the droid comment, she smiled through his job offering but only could think of how nonchalant he was with her very existence, even to go as far as to be helpful, this was a strange Imperial Admiral indeed. A flash of insight could be seen in [member="Aken Bosch"] 's eyes as Chani poked at the spice with a spoon, moving it around in little patterns, she did not feel like being disoriented at the moment, didn't want to be spaced out right now... despite her reservations this man seemed interesting. She asked rhetorically, "What is it?"

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

"Well... They're looking for a unit with a very specific name. An appearance and identity listed on their logs. You don't even have a last name, do you?" He paused, thinking things over. "I highly doubt that they'd look for you, particularly were your last name to be 'Bosch.'" Yes, he had just suggested what she thought he had. "It would be a good excuse for you to stick around, after all."

"Should I put it in more simple terms, Chan?"

 

[CHANI]

She frowned in thought at [member="Aken Bosch"] 's words, "it is a little more complicated than that," she understated, "I have an actual tracking device inside me and no way to get it out, I have ran into many medical facilities through my travels but none equipped enough to take it out, I was property at one point after all." Staring a little too long at the Admiral's last words, "Put it however you want," replying in a lighthearted albeit condescending manner but grinned despite herself, "By all means, simplify it." breaking eye contact and picking at her nail.

 

[Onrai]

[member="CHANI"]

Pausing, Bosch crossed his arms. "You do know I'm talking about marriage, correct? It would seem to be the best option. After all, I obviously can't adopt you due to your apparent age..." Pausing, Bosch considered the circumstances. "The Empire has some of the finest medical personnel in the galaxy. The Sith's best doctors are stationed on board, and I believe that, if we don't wish to follow that course of action, we should work on removing, or at least disabling, your tracker."

While electromagnetic pulses were effective in disabling such machinery, not knowing how metallic Chani was on the inside made him worry significantly... So much so that he was considering not doing that course of action.

 

[CHANI]

She stared at him and then realized what he meant by marriage it had been a very long time since she ever heard the word. Chani laughed out loud in an abrupt explosion of noise then covered her mouth up with both hands, "Whaaaat?" was all she could respond with for a moment behind both hands, listening. "I am not a pleasure bot!" she decided on and turned her head, upset with [member="Aken Bosch"] 's lack of romance or subtlety. "You have a lot to learn about relationships, if you want someone that bad you might try the slave trade..." a little too harsh but the sarcasm was her only defense against being put in such an awkward situation, in the bowels of a Imperial star destroyer with only the Admiral's say so in the end if she wanted to leave. The paranoia was half there, half hidden behind curiosity. "Is there some reason you have to marry, is there a deadline or or some inexplicable reason?" She could not really decide which emotion to settle into.