Friends in Low Places [Protectorate]

[Ak'lya]

"Welcome, Sir. Go right in."

Nar sighed as he approached the gate. His uniform was old, a modified Imperial Officer's uniform. at a distance, it would seem like he was dressed as an officer from the Galactic Civil war. But closer inspection would reveal something a little different. The suit covered a padded flight suit, and a small, almost hidden rebel insignia was plastered on the collar. The uniform was old, faded, but he wore it with pride.

it was the only thing left of his comrades in Shadowflight.

"Name?"
"Nar-Tu-Bornmi"
"Nope, not finding it. Sorry."
"Check under 'Sawbones'. Not sure what they're calling me."
"Ah, yes. Sorry. Go right in."

Nar sighed. This would be a long night.

 

[Teroch Gra'tua]

A ball, Teroch Gra'tua hadn't been to one in years, it was definitely the first time he would be meeting other members of the Protectorate, and hopefully having a good time. Instead of bringing his own tan long coat -like he wanted to-,Teroch brought a cleaner black leather long coat with a white long sleeved shirt and a brown tie, along with black suit pants and shoes, the whole outfit had set him back a good amount of his credits *sigh* "To think I've never been to an event like this before... I should have joined the Protectorate sooner." he stated to himself while observing the other attendants, or guests, Teroch really didn't know. A few drinks would do him good tonight, along with some time to get to know some of the people who he had a slight chance of working with, but at least he'd be having a conversation with someone new.

All it took was a small bit of looking, a man wearing a uniform, not one Teroch fully recognized though, probably something older. He walked over to the man, who looked quite old to the mercenary, a name tag sat above all the mans ribbons, it said 'Hello my name is Hollis' it made Teroch smirk for a moment before he stood in front of the other man. holding out his hand he said "Hello Mr. Hollis, I am Teroch Gra'tua, mercenary, past bounty hunter and mandalorian."

[member="Ruuku Hollis"]

 

[Ruuku Hollis]

Hollis was relatively alone and confronted by the large crowds. He didn't know where to start or who to speak too. With a gentle tap on his partners lower back, he gestured her to wander off and do her own thing. He didn't like to keep her hooked around his arm all night. It made him feel as though he was holding her back. She had a military background too, but was far younger than Hollis. Too young some would say. She was twenty-two and he was seventy-one. He was about to step towards some of the more renown people when a man trod in his path, extending a hand he greeted himself as a mercenary. He was almost caught off guard by the use of his last name, but remembered the badge on his chest. Hollis broke his thin lips into a wide, genuine smile. He clasped the mans hand with some strength, shaking it firmly twice before releasing. Hollis said, "Pleasure to meet you. Though mercenaries and bounty hunters in my eyes are the same title. Both work based on commission, and both tend to be guns-for-hire. I'm Ruuku Hollis, former Captain of the Republic fleet. New to the Protectorate but I am eager to serve her armed forces. What brings you here, Teroch?"


@[member="Teroch Gra'tua"]

 

[Keter]

"Of course," he replied, as if any other answer was ludicrous, leaning in to kiss his wife. "I haven't seen you in months. I think it's tme I took a break from all that packing." In truth, he felt somewhat uncomfortable about staying in a palace. How did Naboo law treat the husband of the Queen? Would he have some official title too? Consort maybe? SOmehow he doubted it. Besides, he liked staying in Feena's shadow. She was the Queen, now and forever, and she owned the spotlight. Keter...for all intents and purposes, was a shadow. ANd he preferred it that way. Staying out of notice tended to result in a longer life expectancy. Ever since Feena became Queen she had recieved a host of death threats and assassination attempts, and only his fiath in her abilities kept Keter from tearing off after her to make sure she and the girls were safe.

Besides, Keter did not do subtle, and he doubted Feena would appreciate a strafing run of Theed, even if in her defence...

[member="Feena Mason"]

 

[Teroch Gra'tua]

"Ah, I guess they are..." Teroch shrugged before continuing "But what brings me here is the fact that I recently joined the Omega Protectorate, and the chance of meeting some of its members, like I just have." The merc also heard the name Republic be said, it meant the guy was probably pretty god at what he does 'So, past Captain of the Republic fleet? Must've gotten some stuff done before.' Teroch checked around him for a moment, before turning back to [member="Ruuku Hollis"] "But, my life as a mercenary hasn't been very noteworthy, mostly protection jobs and similar things, my younger years as a bounty hunter had seen more interesting jobs." The man shrugged again, waiting for a response.

[member="Ruuku Hollis"]

 

[Feena]

Her hand on his arm tightened. She didn't want him to go. Not again. She was starting to understand how he felt when she left for the CIS. All that time away. Wasted.

"I wish you could stay," she admitted quietly, leaning in so only he could hear her, "Each day is difficult. I can't even go outside alone anymore. It's gotten dangerous. My approval rating has only gone up since the election, but I'm constantly dodging knives and bullets and poison... It's exhausting."

[member="Keter"]

 

[Keter]

He smiled somewhat sadly at her. "You know I can't...this isn't my world. It's yours. I will venture into it as often as I can, but we both know I do not belong," he said, gracefully raising her hand to his lips to plant a kiss on her knuckles, like a proper gentleman. Feena had been admaant about teaching him his manners back when they had been...friends. "But I will make sure to help you...relax...if you're so tired," he added after leaning in to whisper in her ear. He grinned at her, dropping the mask of the escort and letting himself be himself. "Or maybe I should just whisk you away right now for a night of passion like a highwayman of old?"

[member="Feena Mason"]

 

[Feena]

It was tempting. It was tempting to the point where the new Queen had to physically pull herself away for the moment in order to keep herself sane.

"I'm afraid I can't," she sighed, folding her hands neatly together in front of her, "I have a meeting with Princess Alorae in the morning, and then I have a new law to review, an official visit to make, and then another event in the evening. I'm not as young and carefree as I once was."

That was so true it almost hurt. She really did miss it. The days when she could run off with him when ever she wanted. That was before the Confederacy. That was before she was given the rank of Master. That was before Felicity too. How old was the girl now? She forgot. That was how long ago it was.

"But please don't forget to visit," she urged, leaning in again, voice low, "Remember? I am on a time limit here. I don't have forever. I want to spend as many days as I can with you."

He would know what she meant. She was still sick. Even if she had gotten better, even if the medicine in the protectorate was more advanced than in the Confederacy, she was still not cured yet. This was the only secret she'd been keeping from the public. Only only lie she was willing to tell.

[member="Keter"]

 

[Keter]

"Well, the price of ambition is responsibility," Keter sighed in disappointment. "A pity...it would have been...exceptional," he added with a grin. "And I just go there, I wasn't planning on leaving for at least a few weeks..." the blond pointed out. "Unless of course you want me to head back..." Keter continued with mock sorrow. "And well, you've worked before after pulling an...all nighter." Oh yes she certianly had. He bit back the urge to chuckle at their latest game.

[member="Feena Mason"]

 

[Feena]

The Queen cleared her throat, smiling and nodding as an acquaintance passed by, hoping that they didn't hear what her husband was saying to her. Thank goodness for the makeup. Nobody could see her blushing.

"Keter," she laughed, "Please watch what you say. I have to work with some of these people!"

[member="Keter"]

 

[Ilsa Voll]

[member="Noah Corek"]
Voll shrugged slightly as the speeder lifted off.

"Zeh cross is for courage," she stated as casually as she could. They told her it was for bravery in the face of the enemy. Each of her crew had it. All she remembered was what felt like a lifetime of terror as shells bounced off the hull and explosions rocked the landscape. "Zeh ozher is for assignment to zeh Eisenwelten Kampfpanzer Korps."

 

[Alan]

Suit. Drinks. Mingling people. Moving bodies. Alcohol in painfully small amounts. Ambient conversations that irked at his mind, filled his ears with either laughter or small talk. He closed his eyes, focusing on every bit of the room as he sat down. He was unarmed, no gear, no weapon. Just a nice two-piece suit. No tie. Ties were not made for him.

He blinked several times, before opening his eyes, and observed the room. No spying. No operation. Just watched, for no reason.

He had to learn how to people again.

 

[Keter]

The blond laughed. "Of course my Queen. Still, you need to relax more...you're so stressed and all..." the blond pointed out with a shrug. "Still, another night perhaps. I will be staying for a while...oh! Are the girls here? Or is this event past their bedtime?" he asked his wife, turning to scan the crowd as if he would suddenly notice his daughters. Felicity had a way of getting to places she shouldn't be - a legacy of having a Sith Commando for an uncle.

[member="Feena Mason"]

 

[Feena]

"No," feena answered with a shake of her head, "It's far too late. Felicity has classes in the morning and Celeste is too young."
At this moment, the girls should be sleeping safe and sound in the palace, under heavy guard.

"After this, come back to the palace with me. Stay the night with me. I can't be up late, But I've missed you. "

 

[Dicer]

The "accidental hero of Druckenwell." That was what they had called him after his story had hit the news. All he'd done was lead a bunch of stupid, panicked civvies out of the ruins. He didn't feel like a hero. Did heroes fidget in their no1s because they felt uncomfortable? His date slapped his hand for the third time that evening as he played with the collar.

"Relax won't you?" she asked. Corporal Lael Wynter was a fairly plain looking woman from his Company. They'd barely exchanged five words before today. Somehow word had got out that he had an invite to the "big gig" on Naboo and she'd offered to go with him. He'd shrugged and agreed.

He wish he hadn't come. The affair for his Regiment back on Eriadu would have been a much smaller affair. All around him were Officers and well dressed civilians. Frankly, these days, he felt out of place away from the predictable nature of his fellow enlisted soldiers. Officers used big words. Civilians complained endlessly. He was certain he wasn't going to enjoy this.

He fiddled with his overly tight collar again, before Lael slapped his hand once more.

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Ilsa Voll"]
Noah snapped his fingers when she mentioned Eisenwelt. "That where I've heard you accent before, I use to have a friend, a commando who was from Eisenwelt, good guy a little on the unstable side though." Noah said, fondly remembering his former team and their explosive expert Hans. "Heroism huh? Sounds like you don't really believe what you did was very heroic." Noah stated in a flat voice as he pilot the speeder through traffic.

 

[Ilsa Voll]

"Zhey avarded my crew and I vith it, so I guess vhat ve did must haff been heroic," she said with another shrug. She didn't like to talk about it. Any soldier who'd seen that level of Hell didn't. If she didn't talk about it, she didn't have to remember the fighting. The burning fields and tanks. The screams of the other tank commanders, her friends, as they burned and died, their tanks destroyed by enemy fire. She could forget the hit to their own tank that wounded her and Strobel. She could forget the shrapnel scars across her right leg and hip and how she'd fought on despite the injuries so that Reuter could tend to Strobel as she lay unconscious and bleeding. "Courage, it seems, is easy to find vhen medals are to be handed out."

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Ilsa Voll"]
"I had a medal like that once upon a time. It reminds me of a story." Noah took a deep breath as he was about to speak a story he had never told anyone else. "Thirteen years ago fifty men from Tier One groups inside the Republic were sent to defend a village from a group of five hundred enemy fighters. The Tier One soldiers fortified the village for two days and on the third the fighters attacked, the Tier One soldiers fought valiantly for three days, they took many of the enemy fighters with them, but in the end, the skill of the Tier One soldiers were no match for the numbers and pure firepower of the fighters. On the fourth day the final officer, a green, wet behind the ears 2nd Lieutenant sent of his soldiers with the civilians and evacced them. It was then the Tier One soldiers took up their posts beneath the bodies of their fallen brothers and waited. When the enemy came close, the ten soldiers struck, first with their rifles, when those ran dry they attacked with their sidearms and finally their knifes and hands. In the end only five were left. Those men would become known as the Phantom squad, the name given to them by the sole survivor of the enemy fighters." Noah stopped talking, it was pretty easy for Ilsa to figure out who the 2nd Lieutenant was.

 

[Ilsa Voll]

Voll listened in silence as Corek spoke. She was silent for a moment or two longer herself before saying a word.

"Tod Nubel Steppen," she said as she watched the landscape go by. "It translates into your language as Death Fog Steppes. I vas newly assigned, as vas my crew. A local var had just broken out. Some upstart varlord from the vastes. He'd taken control of a factory or two, built himself tanks and armed his soldiers. Ve vere the only unit in zeh area and so zhey sent us. Around a score of tanks vas all ve vere. No infantry. No support. Zhey told us ve vould face a handful of tanks with shoddy crews and some infantry. Our intel vas, of course, vrong."

She took a moment to think a little longer before speaking.

"Zhey hit us vith four times our number. Trained crews with the same tanks ve had. Infantry followed behind zhem. Ve vere outnumbered four to one and equaled in skill. Ve lost four tanks in zeh initial engagement," she remembered those tanks and their crews. Most she'd gone through training with. Fellow cadets she'd trained alongside for years. "Zhey outflanked us and pushed us back from our positions. Zeh commanding officer's tank vas destroyed entirely and our executive officer vas vounded shortly after. Command fell to me, and I called for defensive positions and for reinforcements. Ve dug in as best ve could. It vas barely enough. At zeh end of zeh day, ve had three tanks left, none of vhich had been unharmed. My tank vas hit halfvay through zeh battle. My gunner vas knocked out and I took ower her position. I didn't know until later vhen zeh medics came to care for Strobel zhat I had been hit, too."

Voll leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest thoughtfully.

"Ve didn't fight for glory or honor or for our people. Ve fought just to stay alive," she said at last. "Apparently, such things are deemed as 'courageous' and varrant medals. Hence my comment."

[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Ilsa Voll"]
Noah's mouth was set into a straight line after hearing Ilsa spill her guts like that. He had to admit, its was as gruesome as his story, he forgot that sometimes, that other soldiers had battles as just as bad as him. "So, you were in the Eisenwelt Tank Corps? I've hard a lot of good things about that unit, strict and well-oiled are just a few. So tell me, why did a obviously accomplished tank commander leave and join up with the Protectorate. when you probably could have been leading a whole squad of tanks right now?"