Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Codify an NPC companion for Elpsis. This character started as an NPC contact/ally to Elpsis in a duel thread with Matsu Xiangu. She's intended to be a more long-term companion for her.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Rebel, friend for Elpsis.
Permission: ARGH gear available to Firemane per this thread. Permission for all subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here. Permission to use Tricks of the Trade submissions here. Blanket permission for anything made by Val here. Can use Firemane stuff because I own the company.
Links: She Builds Ships To Sink, Your Faith In Your Friends Is Yours, After Darkness, Into Darkness, Communion, Reflections in the Ballroom, Decisions, Firemane Industries, The Die is Cast, The Valkyrie's Diary.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: 31.
Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User
Species: Human.
Appearance: Human female of average height, with shoulder-length, pale blonde hair, fair skin and a fit physique. Nasty scars mark each shoulder, where slug rounds have taken a fair chunk out of each. Her left leg is a bionic one. A holdout bolter is concealed inside it. There is a thin white scar where the stump meets the prosthetic replacement. Her leg was lost during a speeder crash caused by her mind being mentally assaulted. It was replaced with a cybernetic limb. Apart from these majors scars, there are several smaller ones, caused by knife fights and minor blaster wounds. Her eyes are sensitive, so she tends to wear sunglasses or similar protective eyewear when out in the sunlight. Besides, they look stylish. She has a fondness for longcoats. Always carries a concealed sidearm or a knife. Her artificial leg is made of Phrik. A holdout blaster is concealed inside it.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Natalie Dorne
Loyalties: Herself, Elpsis Kerrigan. Loosely affiliated with the Republican Guard.
Wealth: She has been able to stash away some funds through her largely illicit activities and has received remuneration from Firemane in return for services rendered, but is not rich. However, she is friends with Elpsis, who is the heiress of a wealthy dynasty.
Notable Possessions:
- Dog tags of her dead comrades.
- Locket with holopics of her parents.
- Holdout Bolter
- Pair of Vornskr Revolvers and a Last Whisper.
- AE-AS1 Ghostsuit
- Often wears an MN-B Infiltrator bodyglove and a SH-N Projection helmet paired with her civilian clothes. Often wears a blast vest.
- Uses a U20 Field Link with various slicing tools. Has a Lookout Probe Droid and a Holosphere.
- BCC BC-11 Comlink
- Shatter Rifle
- Hypnogaze
Languages: She knows Basic, Huttese, and Twi'leki and can understand Shyriiwook. She speaks a bit of Eldarai, which is the Eldorai language, though she is not fluent in it.
Personality: Driven. Natalie has come to see the world in muted grey. There are no easy choices, no knights in shining armour. Sometimes bad things must be done to serve a greater good. Her descent began when her parents were murdered. When she was still young, they were employed by an Essionian corporation that worked exclusively on designs for the One Sith, back when that faction dominated the Core Worlds and nothing seemed capable of stopping their expansion. When there was a leak, her parents were framed and murdered. By now their deaths might have become a way to rationalise an endless cycle of revenge. Natalie feels strong hatred for Sith. She is contemptuous of Jedi who argue that evildoers should be talked down and redeemed. In her eyes, they are enablers, who place the lives of perpetrators above those of their victims. Natalie does not care about Light or Dark. To her, the fundamental conflict is between freedom and oppression, regardless of which religious construct Force-Users use to justify their actions. Unsurprisingly, Natalie and Nyssa Vykaris do not get on. She strongly dislikes the Pureblood Sith and sees her as a bad influence on Elpsis.
She is determined, brave and loyal to her friends, but slow to trust. She treats those chosen few who manage to gain her confidence as a surrogate family. By the same token, she knows no mercy for those who gain her trust and then abuse it. Years spent in the underground have hardened her. After all, loose lips sink ships. What might seem like paranoia to some is a survival mechanism to her. Past betrayals have made her cautious - and quick to act when she believes she is being crossed. She is right at home in the underground - a world of secrecy, intolerance, suspicion, conspiratorial intrigue and glamourised violence - and has many contacts in the underworld, such as smugglers, criminals and professional rebels.
In contrast to say Cross, a rebel mercenary and Firemane black ops operative she has worked with, Natalie still retains some vestiges of idealism. She wants to believe that what she is doing is right and justifed, even when this gets difficult to maintain as the bodies pile up. The fact that the supposed 'good guys' have often committed atrocities little different from those of the Sith or Imperials has left her jaded. Thus while she has her principles, moral outrage is not her thing. Overall, her experiences have desensitised her a good deal. She is morally ambiguous on a good day, but takes protecting her people on a mission seriously. And she always shoots first.
In terms of persona, she is committed, steady and practical. She is not the type to boast, but has no false modesty about her skills. Moreover, she is very devoted to Elpsis. Natalie does not see Elpsis as her superior or as someone she should fawn over. After all, despite her fear of the Sith Lady, Natalie was willing to intervene in the duel and use her speeder to crash into Matsu. Moreover, Elpsis is younger than her. However, Elpsis willingly put her life on the line for Natalie and her rebel comrades when she fought Matsu Xiangu. She also saved Natalie from being captured by the Sith Lady's minions. This has earned her Natalie's loyalty. Natalie reciprocated when she recovered a maimed, partly deaf Elpsis after the Force Master's second duel with the Witch-Necromancer ended with both combatants collapsing after beating the hell out of each other. Thus there is a strong bond between the two.
Natalie does not have mystical powers, but she possesses skills and experiences Elpsis does not have. For one, Elpsis lacks leadership experience and has spent most of her time at Firemane being a follower despite having attained the rank of Master for her prowess on the battlefield and strength in the Force. To a degree, Natalie pushes Elpsis to display more drive, much like the empath tries to help the rebel rebuild her life - and provide her with some resources. It helps that Elpsis is the adoptive daughter of Firemane's bosses. So while Natalie is genuinely fond of her, befriending her is also a sound tactical move. While Elpsis is not as radical as Natalie, she also despises Sith and has a very low opinion of Jedi. Recents events on Tephrike have brough them closer, as Natalie was part of Elpsis' rescue team. This has also motivated Elpsis to step up and take charge, which Natalie is pleased about.
However, being mentally assaulted by Matsu has scarred Natalie deeply, afflicting her with nightmares. Among other things, she turned to liquor to an unhealthy degree. While she largely has this habit under control now, there are times when things get to her and she proceeds to drown her sorrows in the bottle. Her suspicion of others keeps her from opening up. Her fears make her angry and she drives herself to excel and be stronger. To protect her mind, she underwent some rather gruelling training with Elpsis. She is quite insistent that she is a free agent and not a Firemane minion, though she has been hired for jobs on a case-by-case basis. This gives her freedom to cherrypick assignments. Firemane's intelligence service has treated her as an asset, but also watches her due to her closeness to the first family's unruly heiress. Natalie is the paranoid type who routinely sweeps any room she stays in for bugs and booby-traps any apartment she stays in.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: Firearms, especially blaster or slugthrower pistols and sniper rifles. Knives, hand to hand combat, explosives, piloting skills. She also makes use of nerve gas and is a talented slicer.
Combat Function: Natalie is a capable fighter, but only human. She does not have mystical powers or special racial traits that endow her with preternatural capabilities. In battle she must rely on her wits, training, skill and equipment to survive. However, she is a very good shot and has a number of skills that make her a good support player. For one, she is a capable vehicle and starship pilot. She is skilled in the use of demolitions and stealth. In addition, she is a very skilled slicer. This makes her a good choice for overcoming security systems, stealing sensitive data and so on.
However, while she is a good knife fighter, she is not a duellist or swordfighter. She would be at a disadvantage against a proficient fencer in that field. She prefers gunslinging to duels with swords. Her right leg was badly damaged during a speeder crash and had to be replaced by a cybernetic limb. The prothesis is made of Phrik, which makes it very durable, resistant to lightsabres and gives her a powerful kick. But it is vulnerable to ion, EMP and electrical attacks. It is hardened to a degree and has an ionization buffer to give it greater resistance, but powerful blasts could still damage vital systems, which could cripple her. She has a high pain tolerance, but has to rely more on finesse and skill than muscle in melee combat, since she lacks extreme strength. While her right leg is a cybernetic, the rest of her body is still human.
Force Abilities (Force Users Only): N/A.
Strengths:
- Stealthy operator. Very skilled in sniping, gunslinging and irregular warfare. Good at dual-wielding pistols.
- Talented slicer and pilot.
- Only human. Natalie has no preternatural powers and must rely on her skills and wits to survive. She is not a good duellist and would be at a disadavantage against a professional fencer if she was forced into a swordfight. She's a gunslinger, saboteur and sniper, not a blademistress. Her eyesight is more sensitive than normal, which can make her more susceptible to disorientation by very bright lights.
- Right leg is a mechanical prothesis. The cybernetic is tough and well-designed, but vulnerable to standard machine weaknesses, namely ion, EMP and electrical discharges.
It is perhaps fitting that Natalie, someone who has become accustomed to see the world in nothing but shades of muted grey, was born on Ession, a heavily industrialised planet of vast factories. Her parents came to Ession a week before her mother learned that she was child. They were employed by a private enterprise and worked in low level research positions. It earned them enough money to get by, but not enough to really leave and build a new future for themselves. Due to their work she saw little of her parents, which forced her to grow up fast. Her parents persevered. Their strong work ethic would leave a big impression on Natalie, though probably not in the way they had intended. Her father thought it was a promotion when they were transferred to an exclusive facility of the Nebula Heavy Arms Combine that worked exclusively on designs for the One Sith. Naturally they did not publicly advertise this service.
At the time, this powerful Sith Order was still at the helm of a thriving empire that seemed like an unstoppable juggernaut. Natalie's parents were not fans of the Dark Lord or of Sith in general, but they also were not Jedi fans or idealistic revolutionaries. They were simply among the billions of ordinary people who wanted to make a living for their family and not worry about politics they could not influence anyway.
In truth, it was a sentence. No one could ever speak a word of what took place in the facility lest word leak out and a competitor catch wind of it and proceeded to copy the secret designs. When he was approached by an alleged Republic agent and offered a sizeable amount of credits in return for becoming a mole, her father turned down the recruitment offer. Fearing that this have been an attempt an entrapment or, if the offer had been genuine, word would reach his superiors and they would become suspicious, he reported the supposed spy to the authorities.
Like many corporate big shots, their employers jealously guarded their designs. Presumably many corporate entities would have not responded in such a brutal manner, when something was inevitably leaked. Her parents were framed by a coworker, who was jealous about Natalie's father's promotion and wanted to get their bosses to notice her, and murdered in an 'industrial accident'. Natalie was not satisfied with the official explanation. Not long before his death, her father had begun acting erratically, as if he feared something bad would happen.
Having grown up in a 'normal' world, she did the ostensibly sensible thing and tried to get the police to help. However, while her parents' employers obviously did not rule or dominate the planet, their pockets were deep and so they had certain police officers on the pay roll. Thus the crooked policemen tried to dispose of her. However, Natalie was able to escape. Soon afterwards, masked goons in black appeared at her apartment, searching for something. There was a safe which her parents had told her to access if she was ever in trouble. Narrowly evading the goons, sh e did so and found a key. Using the ventilation system, she escaped. The key led her to a locker, where she found a small holoprojector and a data card that happened to contain the contact details of the agent who had tried to approach her father.
Natalie did not know this, but she believed it was someone her father had trusted or could at least help her. So she used this information to set up a meeting. The holorecording contained information her father and mother had gathered about One Sith supplies, something they could use to blackmail their employers if needed. The information was minor, but it was something. It also mentioned a coworker he could trust. Ironically, this was the woman who would denounce him. However, her call was traced and when she met the agent, they were ambushed by masked, black-clad goons. Lacking fighting skills, Natalie was injured when one of the attackers shot her in the shoulder with a slug round. However, the agent, a skilled Bothan spy, was able to kill her assailant and her life. Taking the girl and the holorecording, he brought her to his safehouse.
After the daring escape had succeeded, he told her the truth about her parents. Or at least a variation of it. If one were feeling generous, one might say that what he told her was true, from a certain point of view. He identified himself as Nal Kaysun, a Republic agent. He claimed that he had been friends with her father, who had started working for the Republic after realising that his employers were enablers of Sith atrocities. However, his evil bosses got wind of this and had her parents murdered to silence them. In truth, while the company designed weapons for the Sith, her parents' death had been the result of a frameup. However, this was what a young, impressionable and vengeful youth like Natalie wanted to her. It tallied with her own experiences and biases. It was easier to believe than the alternative.
Nal realised that the girl could be an asset to him and so he began to train her in combat, sabotage, slicing and surveillance techniques. She proved herself to be an eager student, for she was determined to avenge the death of her parents and see to it that justice had its due. Time would put these convictions to the test and reveal the world was a good deal greyer than she had expected. The information her father had stashed away was useful, but too minor to make an impact. Something bigger was needed. Natalie did not need to be persuaded to stage a break-in. She volunteered of her own volition.
With the help of the Bothan's men, she infiltrated the facility. During the course of her infiltration, she ran into her father's coworker. Having been the one to betray her parents, the woman had flourished and prospered, becoming one of the facility's leading researchers. The traitor confronted her, stalling for time so that she could either turn or kill Natalie in order to keep her position. However, Natalie killed the woman and the guards who came to her aid, fuelled by her rage. Using her slicing skills, she was able to extract the necessary data and escape.
The information was later leaked to the holonet and contained details about the company developing high-tech weapons for the One Sith and profiting from their atrocities. It caused a huge scandal and forced the company to close. However, this had the side-effect of leaving thousands of employees jobless. Natalie discovered that Nal had just been using her. He did not care about the consequences of his work. As he explained to her, his job was to put a dent in the One Sith war machine, nothing more. The troubles of a few thousand people paled in comparison to the fate of the Galaxy.
Natalie was tempted to shoot him. But instead she elected to sign up with the Republic. She had been deceived and manipulated, but Sith minions were still responsible for the deaths of her family. She could make their deaths matter by getting payback. With the recommendation from Nal, she soon got a job with Republic Intelligence. The Bothan spy had come to regard her as a protege, seeing himself as her mentor. He trained her in the arts of spycraft, sabotage and deception. The first rule was simple: Trust no one and assume everyone is a traitor until proven otherwise. It was one she took to heart. He would eventually realise that she had absorbed his lessons too well.
The training programme was gruelling and included a survive, evade, resist, extract course. Along with a few other recruits, she had to undergo an evasion exercise, dressed in full kit to restrict movement and operating in small groups. Specialised hunter droids provided a capture threat. It also required her to undergo a course to resist interrogation for thirty-six hours. She was subjected to intense mental and physical pressure while being trying to stick to her lines and not give away sensitive information. It taught her lessons about how to resist psychological mind games, interrogation and how to escape - while she was fatigued, drained and hungry.
It did not take long for her to transfer to field work. Working as a Republic Intelligence operative, she gathered intelligence, organised and often participated in sabotage missions to target One Sith supply lines, weapons and munitions production. Her experiences on Ession had radicalised her, and so she operated increasingly independently, establishing connections with group of like-minded militants. Among other things, she assassinated a Sith general on Balmorra and was responsible for blowing up a Kolto refinery on Manaan to keep it from falling into Sith hands. Natalie worked with rebel cells that operated in Sith-occupied territory, such as on Vong-shaped Alderaan. She grew increasingly paranoid about betrayal after a Jedi she had worked with suddenly fell to the Dark Side and turned traitor. As a result, she grew more and more secretive.
She only rarely checked in with her superiors, operating independently for long periods of time. The fact that the situation was going downhill helped her get away with it. Her methods became more radical as the Republic lost more and more ground. Nal had regarded her as a protege, but the two were increasingly at odds. She had not forgotten his duplicity and detested him, though she kept her feelings secret. Thanks to him, she had gotten very skilled at keeping her emotions in check. She got the long-awaited payback when she abandoned him on Prakith during a mission, leaving him to the tender mercies of the One Sith. She helped design and utilise improvised explosives on civilian locations to assassinate Sith or their supposed sympathisers, conducted targeted assassinations and helped disable factories that supported the One Sith war machine.
As the Republic fell apart, Natalie grew disillusioned with it and reconsidered her life. Deserting her post, she changed her name and assumed a new identity. For a while she got a spacer job, and did her best to forget the killing fields of the Galaxy. But after having spent so much time in the company of death, she found it difficult to adjust to civiilian life or relate to civilians. Their troubles seemed petty to her. Then the Dominion set up shop on Ession and its neighbouring systems. Natalie had heard about the atrocities that had taken place on Atrisia, and saw no moral difference between the Dominion and the One Sith. Thus she returned to her homeworld, reconnecting with some of her comrades from the old days. She became a leading member of the Ession Front Revival, a successor organisation of the ancient Ession Freedom Front, putting the skills she had learned during her time with the Republic to good use.
Ultimately, the Dominion fell apart after it lost Serenno and other key systems to the Resurgent Empire and the Sith Empire took Kraysiss and Mirial. However, whatever joy Natalie might have felt at its collapse was short-lived, for the Sith were on the rise again. Some of the aristocrats and corporate magnates on Ession, eager to profit and align themselves with what seemed to be the winning side, made deals with the resurgent Sith. They earned her scorn and she directed her energies towards making them pay. It was at this point in time that she made contact with a young woman called Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori or, as Natalie knew her, Incendia. Incendia had plenty of reason to hate Sith. Moreover, she had a family name to live up to. She was drawn to Ession after hearing about the actions of the Front. Natalie was understandably wary, for had learned the hard way that someone who stretched out a hand in friendship could easily stab you while you grasped it.
However, she agreed to a meeting. On the same day, her contacts received word that a powerful Sith Lord was touring various factories on the planet to make deals. Little did she know that the Sith Lord in question was Matsu Xiangu, dreaded Witch-Necromancer and, incidentally, a long-time enemy of Elpsis' adoptive mother Siobhan Kerrigan. Feeling threatened by the Sith's arrival and not trusting her possible ally yet, Natalie agreed to help her strike a blow against Sith sympathisers and their facilities if Incendia got rid of her Sith problem first. It did not take much persuasion.
Natalie's people performed recon, keeping an eye on Matsu's movements. They were able to ascertain that she would be visiting Tigress Industries. There Elpsis ambushed the Sith Lady, realising her identity in the midst of the fight. The Sith Lady used her dark magicks to mentally assault Natalie and her men, causing some to succumb to madness. However, Elpsis threw herself into the fray, engaging her. Natalie and those rebels who had been able to endure remained, engaging the security forces to keep them off Elpsis' back. Having seen the empath risk her life for the sake of her people, Natalie was certain she was an ally now. As the duel entered its climactic phase, with the Witch and the Sith Lady trading heavy blows, Natalie intervened by ramming Matsu with a speeder. However, the Mentalist assaulted her mind, willing Natalie to crush into a speeder. Elpsis, herself heavily injured and with a maimed hand, compelled Natalie's men to stay and help her evacuate Natalie. This saved Natalie from being captured and brought to Maena, Matsu's domain in the Unknown Regions.
Natalie was badly injured by the crash and mentally scarred. With Elpsis in bad shape after her mutually destructive duel with Matsu, the two had to lie low. Tigress Industries security forces, eager to curry favour with a powerful client, pursued them. Thanks to Natalie's rebels, they were able to go undercover and later evacuated by Firemane. Natalie recuperated in a Firemane facility. The mental assault left her traumatised and shaken, though Elpsis did her best to help her recover. Her leg had been crushed so badly in the crash that it had to be replaced with a prothesis. Firemane offered employment to her and her men, but she was hesitant to accept the offer, even with Elpsis vouching for them. For a short while she was a loose affiliate of the short-lived Rebel Alliance, participating in the Battle of Gree. There she was among the rebel defending the Acerbitas, a Rebel-controlled warship, from Sith boarding parties. Ironically, one of the boarders was Matsu Xiangu, who had arrived with her apprentice Belphaegor and a force of Sith soldiers.
Once again, Elpsis and Matsu duelled. As much as her anger compelled her to get revenge, Natalie was needed elsewhere, battling Sith stormtroopers in the hangar until a ceasefire was declared and the Sith withdrew. She ran into Elpsis again as the fighting came to a close. Both Elpsis and Matsu had battled until both fighters collapsed, having caused plenty of destruction with their preternatural powers. Swallowing her desire for revenge, she tended to the one-armed, temporarily deaf Elpsis, while Matsu's apprentice did the same for his mistress. Natalie helped her to the medbay and watched over her while the Acerbitas jumped for hyperspace, vacating the system. Gree fell under the control of the Sith Empire, which would later occupy Ession and exterminate most of its population. At a crossroads, Natalie agreed to work with Firemane as a contractor, though she remained protective of her independence. Their mutual experiences on the battlefield strengthened her bond with Elpsis, whom she grew somewhat protective of.
Natalie was called back into action by the Tephrike crisis. Firemane's exploration corps had discovered the planet on the maiden voyage of the Scarlet Destiny. As Firemane discovered, Tephrike had been isolated from the rest of the Galaxy for centuries. Ravaged by the Gulag Virus, the planet had turned into a wasteland where riven factions vied for control. Firemane entered into negotiations with one of these factions, the Jedi-led Dominion of Light, a totalitarian theocracy.
However, extremists in the Dominion sabotaged the negotiations. Firemane's delegations was attacked by zealots. Elpsis covered the retreat of the delegation, but was captured by the Dominion's Inquisition. They brought her to a black site, where she was subjected to physical and mental torture until she succumbed to their brainwashing. Firemane declared war, deploying large forces to enact retribution. It also entered into an alliance of convenience with the Republican Guard, a militant rebel faction that opposed the Dominion.
Natalie did not need to be asked twice to get involved. Her friend was in danger, after all. She joined a task force led by Major Tempest, which had been charged with finding and rescuing Elpsis - or avenging her if need be. She had a reunion with Kira Ul, an acquaintance from her terrorist days and a member of the Resistance. She was less pleased about having to work with Nyssa Vykaris, Elpsis' Sith Pureblood friend. They were joined by a force of Firemane's Dahomian and Qadiri soldiers.
The team's first stop was the so-called Liberation Education Centre, a brainwashing camp for anyone the Dominion considered impure. This was not where Elpsis was being held, but it was the biggest Dominion re-education centre with a lot of records, a lot of people to question and a good chance of finding people high up. In short, it was a follow the dots game. The principal assault team consisted of the Dahomians and the Qadiri. They attacked the camp's two entrances in the north and south. Meanwhile, Natalie was dropped off and stealthily approached the facility from the west to blow a hole in the wall. At one point she had to hide in what turned out to be a mass grave to evade a Dominion patrol. The Essionian had the self-control to focus on the mission rather than lashing out. But it made her see the Dominion as just as heinous as the Sith. She managed to complete her task, allowing Tempest, Kira and Nyssa to penetrate the facility.
While Tempest and Nyssa engaged Jedi Inquisitors in duels, Kira and Natalie wreaked havoc in other ways. Natalie used a microgrenade launcher to unleash nerve gas on Dominion troops, while Kira drove some prisoners rabid with a drug called Berserk and employed Blood Boiler and paralysing darts to take out guards. Once the team managed to penetrate the admin compound, Natalie sliced into the Inquisition's computers to acquire crucial data. Nyssa suffered a bullet wound and Kira was severely injured, but the team managed to get what was needed. Surviving prisoners and Dominion functionaries were evacuated by the task force. Few Dominion minions were taken captive, as the most fanatical fought to the death. The rescued inmates received medical attention from Firemane medics. Many took the chance to try and avenge themselves on their former tormentors.
Aboard the Destiny, Natalie was able to employ her technical prowess as a slicer to decrypt the Dominion records. With some help from Firemane technicians and a defected Dominion comms specialist called Mara Technician, she was able to locate the camp Elpsis was probably being held in. It had the deceptively pleasant name Serene Springs. After uncovering this information, Natalie rejoined the task force. On the way, they were once again confronted by Dominion forces. During the fight Natalie proved her skills as a markswoman by taking out a suicide ship before it could hit Firemane troops. Her bullets struck the ship's captain, causing the vessel to turn and ram into a craft loaded with Dominion marines. This produced a huge explosion. By the time the team was able to storm the camp, it was in flames. Elpsis had managed to overcome her brainwashing and gone on a rampage, aided by rebellious prisoners and one of her jailers, who'd had a change of heart. But the torture had left Elpsis with deep physical and mental scars.
Meanwhile, Firemane and Republican Guard troops had been able to seize a vital Dominion citadel, Fortress Purity. However, though weakened the Dominion still stood. The old leadership was toppled in a military coup. This brought a coalition of hardliners willing to fight a war to the knife to the power. Firemane was hesitant to deploy large enough forces for a prolonged war, as some of its leaders reasoned that it had achieved its main objective and punished the Dominion for its betrayal. For her part, Natalie viewed the Dominion as exactly the sort of régime she should be fighting against. With the rescue mission a success, she looks to the future. Aside from trying to help Elpsis recover, she has also taught the liberated prisoners some of her particular set of skills.
She may yet return with them to fight the forces of oppression on Tephrike. Natalie has kept busy since the conclusion of the campaign. She has refused to become a regular employee of Firemane, preferring to maintain her freedom. However, after her friend Elpsis was put in charge of a platoon, Natalie assisted with training. She also provided intelligence on a First Order Remnant group slaving operation. Working together with Mara, Natalie came up with a device to nullify the transmitters that would trigger explosives embedded inside the slaves if anyone tried to free them. Moreover, she joined the operation. After serving as the squad's pilot, she led a small team to infiltrate the asteroid base and asphyxiate Stormtroopers in the barracks so that they could not interfere with the main attack. Rejoining the main fight, she fought bravely and helped the team complete its mission.
More recently, Natalie supported Elpsis in investigating corruption within Firemane's ranks. Their findings have led to a rupture between the 'Fire Princess' and her corrupt corporate masters. Natalie has agreed to help her undermine them...to a point because she does have a sense of self-preservation. She has also been active on Tephrike, where she has been working with the Republican Guard against the Vaderites and the Dominion.
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