Private The Book of Jericho

[Yeshua]

Both the Vampyre and the Tactical Droid listened in silence whils the engineer spoke freely.

She shared her expertise - specifically her ability to design intelligent programming that can detect flight patterns instantaneously. And as she presented her thoughts, Yeshua's grin only seemed to grow with each syllable. At first, he said nothing, but rather nudged the droid with his elbow. "Eh? Eh? What'd I tell you."

Yeshua was clearly impressed by her. Enough so that his focus was not even remotely upon her sealed past, and more upon her capabilities. She had closed that door for a reason - and he didn't feel the need to go prying. Even when she was first assigned to the Jericho before everything went to Hell.

"You surround yourself with intellect. I can see that you have chosen well."

The Commander looked upon his First Mate, radiating pride, before answering her thoughts. "We have the black boxes from the first few skirmishes with the Khanate. I'll have the data sent over for your analysis. Let me know of any resources you'll need to accomplish this."

The Tactical Droid interjected for a moment.

"For resources, we've each been assigned command over a Regulus-type Destroyer. I'll provide detailed schematics if this will assist your work."

Finally. A new home.

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

That was the oddest look a man had ever had in her presence. Was that...pride?
Standing with her arms still at her back, the engineer kept a face of stone that wouldn't reveal a single thought that she may have. No matter how much her confidence grew in this very moment. She was indeed a resource and mapping the Khanates movement for the AI to quickly recognize flying patterns was only the start of she could accomplish given time.

"Of course, sir, I'll let you know if I need anything else." Finnea spoke steadily and gave Yeshua a little nod of confirmation before she turned to face the Tactical droid Kehlani. "Yes, please." she spoke with some keen interest this time. The oportunity to get to know their new home even before setting foot onboard was fantastic. And if there was one thing she knew was important, it was to know such a ship inside and out, especially concidering the role she would take onboard.

"If that is all, I'd like to request the rest of the day to rest." clearly tired of standing straight with a leg that was still busted. "I'll be able to start working on the mapping from my bedside, but.." she tested her weight on her leg only to be forced into a crooked stance when it failed to carry her weight.
"I look forward to boarding our new ship. It is a great honor."

Yeshua

 

[Yeshua]

"Of course you may rest. I'll have everything sent over shortly. Dismissed."

The Vampyre's final words came as he approached. His dominant hand gently patted her uninjured shoulder as he stepped by, heading out of the conference room. As guaranteed, when the Engineer returned to her quarters, she would find the schematics and details as promised. There was also a note from Yeshua attached to the data: Rest first, work after.

***​

At approximately 0800 the next morning, the Commander stepped lively through the station. The early morning had been filled with briefings, including troop movements, supply confirmations, and assignments. After these, Yeshua had a few hours of freedom before his next duty, so he opted to visit the Mess for a bite to eat. While typical food was not his favorite, it would do to keep himself going throughout the day. He then made a mental note to stop by the medbay for his "special rations."

Upon entering the mess, Yeshua loaded up a tray and found a quiet table that was unoccupied. He produced his datapad and sat, nibbling on a piece of toast. He reviewed the last meeting's notes in silence before switching applications. A quick message was sent off to his new First Mate, mostly to check in given her state yesterday.

The message simply read: Status report?

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

Upon returning to her private quarters, Finnea would find the schematics the details she had requested. She picked up the tablet and halted over to a small desk connected to one of the walls where she planned to have a seat and start watching the videos taken of previous attacks from the Khenate right away. The only thing stopping her was the note from the Commander: rest first, work later.
She immediately rolled her eyes in response. She hadn't been working for weeks! And now he told her to rest?

She scrolled through the first pages on the pad a little absentminded, having a second look at the note again. Actually, she was tired and her body screamed for a break too. "Fine, you win.." She mumbled to the note and switched the pad off and went to the bed beside the desk where she laid down, unwillingly letting out a groan the second her back could relax against the soft surface.

***

Status report.

His message was shortly answered with a file that contained a video from one of the previous attacks. Several small ships was marked by red or yellow colours, with numbers that followed the different ships at they moved. Obviously, the Ensign had been up early and started her work.
A few minutes after opening the file, she video called him from her quarters. "Good morning, commander, Ensign Virlee speaking." She spoke much like a droid, as always. "I thought it faster to call." She shrugged. Droid or not, she had a reputation of being somewhat blunt too, especially when working.
"I've categorised some of their vessels and found some ships occurring at several battles, probably under the same pilots each time judging by the movement -" She stopped speaking and tilted her head, studying the commander on the screen, frowning. "Where are you? Are you having breakfast? What time is it?" She picked up another device to check for herself. "Oh..right. I should probably hurry down myself." The screen went black and about 10 minutes later, the Ensign came into the mess finishing up buttoning her uniform and with a small droid following her.

 

[Yeshua]

Just as the Vampyre's teeth crunched into his toast once more, his datapad lit up with a video notification. Yeshua quickly tapped on the screen whilst batting away the crumbs which dotted his beard. "Good morning Ensign Virlee." he began, offering a small smile whilst reaching for his cup of caf. "By all means, proceed."

It was certainly faster to call, rather than sift through a mile long document with her thoughts. She began, introducing some of the common data points from the information she had been provided. Specifically, a few of the enemy vessels were present at multiple battles. Yeshua hmm'd at this notion, realizing that the Khanate was gaining experience fighting them. Adapting to them. These vessels would be priority one when they encountered them.

The Ensign paused and tilted her head, which caused Yeshua to blink. "I'm at the mes-" he began, but she checked the time herself. And before he could say anything, the connection went dark. This resulted in a genuine chuckle. In about ten minutes, she then arrived at the mess with a small droid in tow. The Vampyre raised his hand so that she might see what table he was at and motioned to the second tray before him.

He had taken the liberty of grabbing her a few things from the line. Tea. Caf. Toast. Eggs. Some fruit. And bacon. He had no clue what her tastes were, but figured a little of everything wouldn't hurt. "At ease, speak freely." he began, offering a nod as she drew closer. He wasn't about to worry about bearing and decorum whilst devouring slices of bread.

"Who's your friend?"

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

It wasn't too difficult to spot the commander, especially since he raised his hand and the Ensign slightly changed her direction to head towards him but slowed down the closer she got, a little worried that he might be seated somewhere lower ranked officers shouldn't be, but no, this was the common area at the mess. "Good morning sir." His gesture towards the second tray was another thing making her confused at first. She bowed her head in appreciation and pulled it towards herself while having a seat opposite of him, studying what he had picked up. She wasn't very picky, her upbringing at a base had made sure of that and this was even fine food!

At ease, speak freely.

She nearly scoffed at him. Was he trying to find a personality inside her or what was his agenda? It took everything she had to not say anything but rather have a sip from the tea in front of her, then helping herself to some fruits which might just have been the best ones she'd had. In the middle of her chain of thoughts regarding fruit, the commander caught her off guard once more by asking her who her friend was and for a second the engineer had to look around herself, obviously confused until it dawned on her that he referred to the droid that now stood beside her, no taller than to her knees, seemingly scanning the area, mapping.

"This is GB-2142, it's personal project of mine, sir." Finnea gestured for it to come standing a little further away at the floor so that it was possible to see it. It had been rolling, but now it had four legs all pointed in different directions and a head with a huge lens that could spinn around 360 degrees. "It's not completely done but once it is, the goal is to use it mostly for mapping areas and get pictures." She smiles briefly. "A silly little thing but I like working on it." She paused. "Of course, it's also a little sniper." As if on queue, GBs lens changed from electric blue into vivid red, much like it's creators own eyes, indicating that it had an internal blaster. The lens turned blue and the four legs folded together to create a ball that it wouls roll on again, just doing it's thing.

Finnea now consentrated on the food, clearly a little tired as she got up way too early to start working today. She felt like thanking him for getting this food for her as she herself would probably just have helped herself to some coffee and call it a day, but she let it be, just silently enjoying the fruits for now.

 

[Yeshua]

He could see the apprehension across her face.

The freshly-promoted Ensign was certainly the definition of militant professional. When required, she showed tact, decorum, and always respected the gravity of rank. But, this early in the morning, the Vampyre was having none of that. For one, the woman before his gaze was still battered from escaping the destruction of the Jericho. For another, Yeshua had his fill of being at attention for himself, given how many meetings he attended this morning, and thus he was not about to subject his first mate to the same.

Finnea did a good job of quickly masking her apprehension behind a sip of tea, so Yeshua let the matter lie and said nothing. Instead, he asked about her droid, to which she replied. GB-2142. A unit that could map areas and had the ability to snipe? The Command leaned forward, pausing only to bat away some crumbs from his beard. "That is a remarkable unit." he began, reaching out. "The fact that you've managed to create this while keeping our ship together is most impressive." His dominant hand gingerly tapped the droid atop its "head" in greeting.

"I'd offer you a tray GB-2142, but I doubt you'd enjoy it."

Yeshua obviously found his humor funny, as evidenced by his hearty chuckle. With thus said, he turned his attention to his Ensign. "Onto business then. How goes the project?"

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

Finnea watched the commander with an expression that would be hard to read. She understood his remark of how it was impressive that she had managed to work on the unit all the while running diagnostics and preparing engineering teams for difficult tasks yet she wasn't sure if he was annoyed with her, perhaps he'd prefair it if she would just stick to her duty? Finnea looked down to the droid that seemed happy with the attention but just like it's creator it would quickly go back onto a default modus and work instead.

"I'm sorry, sir, I only work on it whenever I have some free time?" She sat a little more upright as she spoke this time. "I won't do so no more if it's inconvenient in any way or form." She absolutely hated the idea that she might be annoying a superior officer, especially if it was over something that wasn't even work related.

It was a huge relief when the topic was changed and the Ensign nodded briefly, hiding her mouth as she chewed the slice of bread she got just prior. "It's.. " the engineer finished chewing and then lowered her hand. "It's going well, but I think i need to head down to my station.. which I don't have at the moment. I need access to a bigger data, my private pad is not keeping up with me" She murmured, annoyed. "Would it be possible, you think? I've tracked the movement of one of the Khanate ships which I believe to be the 'leading' ship at the moment, the pilot is good." She smirked briefly. "But not better than my calculations. We'll demonstrate just how effective we can be by picking it out of the sky by one shot. Strike some fear."

 

[Yeshua]

For but a few moments, the droid seemed to enjoy the attention.

However, after the "affection" was rendered, it all but snapped to attention. The unit was effectively a mirror of its creator then - perhaps unsure if it could relax in the presence of a superior officer. Finnea for her part sounded...almost apologetic about the effort expended in its creation. A fact which caused Yeshua's face to light up with confusion. The Vampyre shook his head thusly. "No, no no." he began, raising his hand. "I firmly believe in balancing work and life. If this is how you spend your free time, please do so. The last thing I want is for my First Mate to burn out."

Burning out led to mistakes. And mistakes led to their deaths. If a little droid hobbying kept them breathing, he'd encourage it until the banthas came home.

But, the focus upon her personal projects soon passed and their focus moved to the actual project. The Ensign nibbled on a piece of bread before introducing her progress. She spoke of needing to head down to her station to better describe the enemy's movements, to which the Vampyre simply nodded. "Whatever you need. Eat your fill, first. Gods above only know when our next break will be."

With his command rendered, he stroked his beard slightly, nodding along as she detailed her discovery. "Cut the head off the snake and watch the body flail in disarray, excellent thinking. I cannot wait to see these calculations of yours."

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

Her eyebrows raised in confusion as he lifted his hand to indicate that she had misunderstood him somehow, slightly afraid he would slam his flat hand against the table or get angry even if she personally had never experienced him ever doing so in her presence. Now utterly confused the ensign couldn't do much else but to thank him for allowing her to continue with her little hobby of working on personal droids. It felt good knowing that she wouldn't have to be as subtle with it as she had been previously.

Again she frowned at his wish for her to eat at the same time as he confirmed that she would have the access to the station she wanted to continue her work and after finishing that slice of bread and lowering her hands she sat silently on the oposite side of the table and watched him long after his praise and excitement to see her calculations brought out into action. This superior officer had her confused by more than one occation and she couldn't figure him out at all. "Commander..?" the engineer started but had no idea where to go with that sentence that wouldn't lead her into a long and boring story about how her upbringing made her used to and most comortable with straight forward commands and duties and how praise and what felt like 'care' wasn't her plate at all.

And since she didn't want to go down that path to a longer talk, she sighed and shaked her head slowly. "Thank you. I'll be thrilled to put it into action myself, sir. I won't dissapoint you." she spoke quietly and shoved the tray away from herself to indicate she was done eating for now and started to get up from the table. She had realised that she had a favourite superior officer in him and that it was nothing but bad news. "Is that all, sir? i should get back to work." she tried

 

[Yeshua]

Confusion knit her brow.

A frown tinged her lips. Isolated, these would be occurrences that Yeshua could ignore. And there were superior officers from foreign militaries who would be more than happy to ignore them, even if they weren't isolated. Yet, one of the burdens of command was knowing one's crew. And from the moment Finnea joined the crew of the Jericho to the present, he had never seen such from her. Couple this with her reactions on the day prior? The Vampyre stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Commander...? She began, a question lingered on her lips. Yet, she swallowed it whole. Thus, Yeshua assumed. "I doubt you'd be capable of disappointing me." he said, earnestly. "Not after you kept the Jericho afloat, what, thirteen times before the Fall?" Yeshua chuckled to himself as the Ensign quickly rose from her seat. She attempted to excuse herself - and normally, the Vampyre would have let her resume her work.

But, this time, Yeshua shook his head.

"There is one thing." he began, motioning towards her seat with his offhand. "We are in uncharted territory, Ensign Virlee. Our nation is slowly rising to its feet - and so trust is my priority. I want you, and all who will crew our ship, to trust me. Just as I will trust all of you with my life."

"So if there is nothing else you take from today, know this - with me, what you see is what you get. If this is clear, you are free to proceed. I'll need a status report in a few hours if possible."

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

Usually, that would have been that and she'd be sent on her way, and because that was the routine, Finnea prepared herself to leave the cantina only slightly less hungry than what she had been when she arrived not long ago. But the commander spoke and the movement ment to take the first step was was cut short and and the engineer had to quickly fall back into a military stance, her hands to her back, watching him with that confused expresstion still plastered all over her face.

There is one thing.

He motioned towars her seat and slowly and with slightly nervous movements the ensign sat back down and awaited whatever it was that was important enough to hold her back from continuing her work. Nodding slightly, Finnea tried to show him that she was listening and understanding what he was telling her. It was clearly something he felt strongly about so it would be rude of her to wave it off and have her leave. After all... they were the only two survivors from CNS Jericho, which ment they had a story that was connecting them. And soon there would be a new crew to sew together, to work closely with and face new grand battles onboard a new ship. A new life and a new home. Perhaps this time she wouldn't have to share her quarters.

"Yes, sir." Finnea started, studying him from across the table. "I..." she tried to continue. Damn him, why couldn't he be a powerwielding and obnoxious superior, it would have been easier. She was used to those! Not this.. man. "I-I understand, of course, trust is important, it makes or break a good team." Finnea shifted in her seat. "Commander. I promised myeslf I would never be under anyones command ever again. And yet here I am. Not only am I proud to be a part of your crew, but you must know that I do really trust you with my life. It's all I have."

After a moment of silence, she allowed herself to get up once more, not looking at him this time. "I will have that status report ready for you in a few hours, sir. " she made a quick and precise salute and quickly started to make her way back out of the cantina.

 

[Yeshua]

INSTALLATION 01 - LUPUS REX
Recreational Courts

I promised myself I would never be under anyone's command ever again.

The Engineer, at least in the moment, understood the Vampyre's words. Understood that their vessel would only survive if it was built upon a foundation of trust. At first, Yeshua's eyebrows raised ever so slightly when she shared a nugget of her past. A solemn vow that she would never be under anyone else's command. Something horrid must have happened - a chapter that was best left closed unless she deemed it necessary to share. The Commander would not pry.

"You make me proud to be a Commander. Thank you, Ensign."

He took solace in what mattered. She trusted him with all she had. Her life. When she quickly rose, she'd miss the smile that freshly settled upon his lips. She would not find further interruption in her departure.

***​

Over the next few hours, the Vampyre received more details from on high. In addition to their project, a decision had to be made. The shipwrights, supposedly, were working on variants of the proposed Regnum-type Star Destroyer and he would have an actual say in what sort of ship he commanded. While Yeshua could have easily made the choice himself, it made sense to him to consult his crew. Which, at the moment, consisted of himself and the talented Engineer. Thus, he sent a missive to her datapad after the news was given: to meet him at the recreational court with her status report.

Given the hour, the court was the furthest thing from packed. In fact, only a maintenance droid was present, sweeping dutifully. The court a wide space, where all manner of sports were played. Some chose dueling with live lightsabers, others chose shockball. Today, Yeshua chose himself. There was some time to kill, after all.

The sword which hung at his hip was unsheathed and laid flat on his palm. He willed it to rise, and the Force suspended it in the air. His gaze was then placed upon the ball launcher at the far side of the court. His will caused the mechanisms to move and kick on. Soon, he was under assault. Sportsballs were now projectiles. He cartwheeled. Dipped. Dodged. And telekinetically parried them away. It had been too long since he stretch the ol'legs like this.

And it was fun. So fun in fact that he lost track of time amidst the display.
​

Finnea Virlee​

 

[Finnea Virlee]

"Recreational court, commander?" Finnea spoke to herself as his short message popped up at her pad while working. Nearly fifteen minutes passed before she confirmed his request and she finished for now, bringing along her beloved pad as she made her way to the recreational court. This was not an area she was too familiar with but at least she knew it's location.

At first, she had trouble finding him, she wasn't aware that he'd actually be exercising when they met. Once she spotted him however, the engineer didn't feel like interrupting and instead she dutifully stood at the side and waited patiently, watching. He was surprisingly fast, not that she knew why she would think otherwise. A skilled man at the bridge was surely an experienced man in the field as well.

Watching him reminded her of the basic training she had and how badly she performed at times. More so, it felt mostly like a ground where the students that was annoyed with her intellect had an outlet to beat her down in their own field. But that was a few years back and they were Nearly kids.

"Commander."
She spoke up as he seemed to take a break, directing his attention to herself. "Never knew you to me this fast? Impressive." She complimented briefly