The New Replacements

[Karl Von Strauss]

Location: FIV Anastasia, Captain quarters/office.
Gear: Officers Uniform, Relby-k23 Blaster Pistol
Meeting With: [member="Rowena Ewesa"]

Captain Von Strauss was sitting at his desk, which took up the majority of the room in his quarters. There was a small wardrobe in the corner and a standard First Order pull down cot on the side of the wall. Behind the desk, being illuminated on the wall was his set of Chromium Officers' Armour, along with his matching G-11F. His Lieutenant Commander was sitting in the chair to the right of Karl's desk, going over the damage reports from the invasion of Skor II. Currently, he was going over the loss of fighter squadrons during the battle. "-from our ship alone we lost several good pilots and the entire squadron of bombers. Sir, are you even listening?" To be frank, Karl wasn't listening at all but answered anyways. "I'm sorry Lieutenant, but I already know about all of the losses on every ship, I finished writing all the letter to their families earlier today." He let out a deep breath. "Is there anything interesting on my schedule today? Meetings? Anything at all?" Karl asked. His XO swiped on his holopad and then spoke. "Sir, today you have a meeting with a Flight Officer from Pixie Squadron, which you would have known if you were listening earlier. Her name is Rowena Ewesa, and she's, ugh, a near-human, disgusting."

After hearing that remark come out of his own XO's mouth he proceeded to stand up and walk around his desk. "Lieutenant, stand up." The lieutenant did what he was asked of, and immediately Karl slapped him across the face with a loud 'thwack.' "What was that for sir?" asked the Lieutenant backing up, scared and obviously confused. "You will never disrespect any race in my vicinity! They are fighting for the same purpose that we are! For the same Supreme Leader! Do you understand?" Karl was obviously angry, he hated racists. Everyone had a right to be in this galaxy and they had proved it for millennia. The XO nodded in understanding. "Now send her in here when she has the chance." The XO spoke up, "She is already outside your office, and I'm pretty sure she probably heard everything you just said too." Karl stopped for a second, he looked to the door to his office, he recently had his metal door changed out for a wooden door made by the craftsmen on his home planet. It was actually quite durable, but sounds would leak through if you were loud enough, and he was just yelling a minute ago. He brushed off his uniform and said, "I'm sorry for striking you suddenly lieutenant, please send her in as you leave." The lieutenant nodded and opened the door and closed it on the way out. He looked at Rowena sitting in the chair outside Captain Von Strauss' office and said "The Captain will see you now. Please knock before entering." He then proceeded to leave. Karl sat back behind his desk and pulled up her file on his holocomputer.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa, Pixie Seven
Post 1
Location: FIV Anastasia

​Rowena Ewesa had spent nearly a half of an hour in preparation for her meeting (or interview) with the esteemed captain of the FIV Anastasia, Karl Von Strauss. The freshly-ironed formal variant of her black officer's uniform clung to her short-statured figure in a manner that left little to the imagination, in spite of the garment's relatively loose fit. Her makeup was applied in a modest style, although she had used a heavier hand than typical when applying her blush. As always, her eyes were tightlined with black eyeliner, which gave the illusion that her eyes were slightly smaller in comparison to the rest of her face. However, even with the eyeliner, her eyes were still inordinately big, to the point of seeming uncanny.

As she waited outside of the captain's office, much to her surprise, Rowena found that she could quite easily hear every word in the conversation going on within the room from the chair just outside of the office. With her ears being as big and distinctively shaped as they were, it should not have come as a surprise. However, according to her experience and knowledge, most of the doors within First Order starships were made of thick impervium, for security and defense purposes. She couldn't hear through those, since they were vacuum-sealed. Yet, the door to the captain's quarters appeared to be made of simple wood.

An odd choice indeed.

In relative silence, Rowena listened to the conversation taking place within the quarters. An unconscious smile crossed her lips upon hearing the distinctive impact of hard flesh against racist flesh, and a sharp rebuke from the blonde-haired captain. At that moment, the diminutive Elzeri considered herself to be a very fortunate woman. Such a scene was extremely rare within the First Imperial military, and having the luck to bear direct witness to it made her feel as if she had won a Cartel lottery.

In spite of the strange wooden door in front of his quarter's and the awkwardly-styled ponytail that he wore, she could tell that she wasn't going to hate this man, which was a good sign.

Upon hearing the lieutenant's footsteps as he moved to open the door, Rowena straightened her posture, smoothed down the fabric of her pants, and lowered her eyes down to her datapad in a futile effort to make her listening less obvious. Presumably, the lieutenant, upon seeing the massive appendages on the side of Rowena's head would figure out that the Elzeri had heard much more than just the slap and the ensuing rebuke.

When the red-faced XO exited the room, Rowena stood to attention and raised her left hand in a crisp salute.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." She spoke calmly, trying not to let her seething disdain for the man color her words.

When he left, Rowena let a deep sigh escape from her lips before turning to the captain's door and rapping her knuckles against the wooden frame. She then locked her arms behind her back, and waited for his answer.

 

[Karl Von Strauss]

Location: FIV Anastasia, Captain Quarters
Gear: Officers' Uniform, Relby-k23 Blaster Pistol
Meeting With: [member="Rowena Ewesa"]

Karl heard the knock on his door. He straightened his back against his chair. "Miss Ewesa, you may enter. Please close the door as you enter." He said. As she entered and closed the door, he pressed a button on his wrist-mounted holopad. A ray shield was deployed in front of the door, that was the main security for his quarters, as well as the two laser turret domes on the roof that flanked the wooden door. Her appearance almost made him fluster. He wouldn't admit it but he had a thing for shorter people and near-humans (though he would never call them near-humans, since he hated labeling their race as under humans). "Sorry if I made you wait long outside my office. Please make yourself comfortable in either one of the seats before you." Karl would wait until she sat down before asking any questions. "Would you like anything to drink." He motioned to the quite small liquor cabinet, filled with brandy, wine, and water.

"Miss Ewesa, I will start your interview now, please respond with accurate answers and I give you my permission to speak freely. On your record it says you graduated from FIA, Dossun and near the top of your class, that is quite ambitious for an, Elzeri, such as yourself." He scratched his head after trying to enunciate her race, he didn't like to mispronounce anything. One of his many hidden flaws. "Why did you choose the starfighter corp as your career? Also sorry if I mispronounced your race's name, I didn't mean any offense. Though speaking like that, I'm pretty sure you heard my 'disagreement' with my XO. Sorry for his insolence." He would stall his questioning of the shiny flight officer, until she spoke her mind on joining the starfighter corp.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa, Pixie Seven
Post 2
Location: FIV Anastasia

Casting a somewhat neutral, yet pleasant expression across her features, Rowena gently pushed open the wooden door and entered her captain's quarters. Upon entering, she closed the door behind her and gave a quick salute.

"Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa reporting, sir!" She said in a professional tone. Sensing the ease in her captain's voice, she quickly relieved herself of the salute and the tone, before moving to take the left seat in front of the desk.

"Just water please, sir." The diminutive Elzeri replied, when asked about her preferred beverage. Indeed, she tended to avoid liquor and alcohol. Rowena knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she developed an alcohol addiction, on top of her glitterstim fixation as well. She already put enough poison in her body.

After taking the offered water, Rowena pressed her plump lips against the rim of the glass and proceeded to take a few demure sips from it as she listened to her captain's first stated question. Her acute hearing caught the obvious hesitation in his voice as he struggled to pronounce the name of her species, which she quickly ameliorated by stating her own pronunciation of the word, during his brief pause.

"El-Zear-re." Rowena clarified.

He continued on, seeming a little apologetic at the mispronunciation, which Rowena found herself hardly offended at. She had suffered worse. In any case, his question was an easy one for Rowena. She quite clearly recalled the time when her flotilla-home had submitted under the political authority of the First Order. For what had seemed like a few years, all she had heard from her elders was talk surrounding the annexation. She had been too young to form an opinion on it at the time, but when she was accepted to the First Imperial Military Academy of Dosuun, her family and friends began to treat her with a tenuous mix of respect and fear, perhaps out of a sense of uncertainty regarding the material conditions of their existence under the First Order.

"My parents groomed me for a career in hyperdrive engineering, so I have expertise with the mechanical inner workings of starships." She began, unconsciously omitting the fact that she had been born and raised on a starship. "However, I enjoy flying them more than I enjoy working on them, so the Starfighter Corps were a natural choice for me over a career in the Navy."

 

[Karl Von Strauss]

Karl waited a bit before asking her the next set of questions. "Miss Ewesa, you said that you're groomed you for a career in hyperdrive engineering, considering the facts. Would it be possible to assume that your parents were also in that career? If so, why did you choose military service over what some would call a wealthy career in hyperdrive technology? Why did you decide to fight for the First Order and our glorious Supreme Leader Sieger Ren?" Most cadets when asked that last question would all have similar answers, straight from whatever textbooks they studied at the First Imperial Academies. "Please, answer that last question freely." He hoped that giving her the freedom to speak her mind, was inviting to give an honest answer.

While she answered those set of questions, he walked over to his liquor cabinet and poured himself a single of brandy. To be honest, he was very interested in Rowena's story, but if the dossier on their race was correct she had already noticed all the changes in his stature and actions with their "acute eyesight" as the dossier explained it. He sat back down at his desk, took a sip of his brandy, and scrolled through Rowena's dossier as she continued her answer to the first set of questions. Then he saw something that he could get an answer for, but he would wait until she finished before he asked.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa, Pixie Seven
Post 3
Location: FIV Anastasia, Captain's Quarters

Once more, Rowena took a few sips from her glass as she listened to the captain's next question, which as expected, referenced her answer to the previous one. Having applied to more than a few First Order military academies and programs, Rowena was intimately familiar with the admissions process for them. The First Imperial Military Academy of Dosuun had required her to partake in four interviews, one for each round in the application process. Fortunately, this interview had much fewer stakes involved. In truth, it was only an opportunity for her captain to learn about a member of his crew. As such, she felt somewhat relaxed.

Rowena crossed her legs at the thighs and set her glass down onto the desk top with a soft clink. She then pushed her hair behind her shoulders, before covering her mouth to let a light and feminine cough escape from her lips.

The Elzeri paused briefly, to contemplate her answer to the captain's question. However, the answer quickly came to the forefront of her mind, and it was much the same one that she had given in her previous interviews.

"Sir..." Rowena took a deep breath. "I adore, fear, respect, and love our Supreme Leader, and he is why we are called to service for the First Order. But, I serve, because I desire...adventure."

 

[Karl Von Strauss]

Karl was presently surprised, Rowena actually took the offer of free speech, and her answer was just the thing he was hoping for. He pointed at Rowena "Now, that is what I call an answer! I like you," Karl said as he hit his hand on the desk. "you're unlike any cadet I've questioned. When given the freedom to speak their mind about enlisting for the Supreme Leader, they always give the same unadulterated answer. It's like they memorized their textbook from the academy." He sipped his drink and set it back down with its own soft klink. "So, you want adventure. I can't sympathize joining a military force, in its entirety. Since I come from a military family, I was expected to join the First Order whether or not I wanted to join. My sister was held to that same standard too. But, I can sympathize your yearn for adventure, for I have that same feeling. I always wanted to escape from my parents grasp." He stopped, he just looked forward as if he was lost in thought. His blue eyes shimmered from the light emitted by his desk lamp. After a few seconds he came back the reality. "Sorry, I got lost in thought. Let me continue."

​

He turned back to his holocomputer, and scrolled for a second. "Again, referring to your dossier, it seems you have designed an updated version of an existing TIE. Though, it doesn't say what type, nor if you had submitted the design the the First Imperial Shipwrights. Would you like to elaborate on this?" Recently Karl had taken up updating ships as sort of a hobby, he only had one under his belt, but hoped to do more soon. So, he was fairly interested in the design process of TIE fighters. The interview was technically over, but he always wanted to get to know recruits, perhaps she had figured that out now, Karl guessed by her more relaxed stature in the seat in front of him.

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa, Pixie Seven
Post 4
Location: FIV Anastasia, Captain's Quarters

At that moment, the diminutive Elzeri could not help but to let a slight smile cross her features upon seeing his reaction. This man was a lot easier to impress than many of her other superiors, but it made her wonder at the quality of his underlings, especially since he seemed to be so used to...incompetence.

However, Rowena was not one to question her captain's praise. She had never thought of herself as someone particularly extraordinary or talented, but his praise injected a fresh stream of confidence into her manner, and that was something that she sorely needed.

"Thank you...sir..." Rowena said somewhat awkwardly, although the pride in her voice was evident.

The next question caught her somewhat off-kilter. She had worked on the concept stage for a new fighter, but up until now, she had spoke little of her involvement with it. Rowena had applied her extensive knowledge of Elzeri hyper drive technology in her work, but there were latent doubts in her thoughts regarding whether or not she should have utilized her knowledge of Elzeri engineering for that project, when so many within her home social circles distrusted the First Order. In some way, it almost felt like she had acted as an accomplice in a robbery.

"Umm...yes, captain. I uhh...drew up the interior configuration and engineered a hyperdrive for an updated version of the TIE Nexus variant. My work on that fighter was mostly at the conceptual stage, but I was informed that many of my ideas had been applied to the final, submitted product." She replied. "I haven't paid much more attention to the project, since most of my time was occupied by my studies at the academy, but I've been receiving the holomail."

 

[Karl Von Strauss]

Karl listened to her explanation on her work updating the TIE Nexus. He was quite impressed hyperdrive technology wasn't easy to understand nor to miniaturize. He was acting erratic, way more than usual, probably he had been drinking before Rowena ever arrived. Most of her answers were interesting, very different from the regular human cadets he interviewed. But, he wasn't about to seem like an idiot, especially in front of a Dossun Academy graduate, the same academy he attended, especially since he was salutatorian of his class. "Now I understand that hyperdrive tech is not the easiest subject, but how were you able to miniaturize the status field so, the men and women that will eventually fly this new updated TIE, are able to keep 'in time' with our standard galactic dimension?" He said that question with one of the most serious faces he had in his inventory. Even though he never studied hyperdrives.

He waited a few seconds before saying, "I'm kidding, obviously. I know you probably had an answer, but I won't understand it. Unfortunately, I am not a hyperdrive engineer. Now--" Right in the middle of his sentence his holocomm started to ring. He help up a finger towards Rowena. "Sorry, I must take this really quick." He grabbed the holocommunicator and turned it on, the blue figure that appeared was from the engineering department, based on his attire. He immediately saluted, "Captain Von Strauss, repairs are going at around sixty-seven percent, but we are expecting to drop as soon at the Grand Admiral begins repair on the Wrath. So we would like to get the most important items out of the way." Karl's gloved hand was scratching his chin as if he was thinking that repair was way behind schedule. "Try to get up the speed to about seventy-two percent, until the Wrath starts to be repaired and then your entire department deserves the rest of the day off. You've been working nonstop for a couple day now." The engineer saluted with a yes sir and ended the holocall.

Karl smiles, "Sorry about that, the Anastasia took a bit of damage during the last invasion." He finished his glass of brandy and looked directly at Rowena in her cyan colored eyes. "You know, you are unlike any other recruit I've met, not that they don't perform to their expected capabilities. You are quite interesting." He leaned in a bit closer, just a bit. "Have you ever met any high ranking officer other than your instructors at the academy?"

 

[Mellifluous Magenta]

Flight Officer Rowena Ewesa, Pixie Seven
Post 5
Location: FIV Anastasia, Captain's Quarters
[member="Karl Von Strauss"]

Taking a dignified sip from her water, Rowena looked on in slight confusion as her captain rode the roller coaster of emotion. At one moment, the man in front of her was intense and serious. At the next, he seemed to be in a state of cheerful revelry, slapping his table and cracking jokes like a sailor at a bar. Rowena did not seem to care or mind all too much, but it was a touch odd.

Rowena had opened her mouth to speak, but quickly sealed her lips upon being interrupted by the captain, before his holocomm rung. With only a silent nod, the diminutive Elzeri acknowledged her captain's duty to take the call, before she crossed her legs and sat in complete silence, her sharp ears primed to listen to every word of the call, whether she wanted to or not.

When the call finished, Rowena took a deep breath and chugged down the last of her water. As her captain moved closer and stared deep into her eyes, the Elzeri thought that she could smell the scent of alcohol on his breath.

"I met a few...when..." Rowena sniffed. "I worked on the Nexus. But...not many though." She continued slowly, and somewhat uncertainly. "Why...why do you ask, sir?"

 

[Karl Von Strauss]

Karl leaned back in his chair, as he pulled out a holopad. He pressed a few times on it and then handed it to her. "There is an Emperor's Ball coming up soon. I think it would be advantageous, maybe for both of us, for you to meet higher ranked officers. That's if you would like to accompany me as my plus one. Its all up to you, so would you like to go?" He paused and threw a mint into his mouth. "Usually, balls are pretty fun if they are thrown correctly." He was trying to get her to go since most of the people that go are only high ranked officers, a just graduated Flight Officer would be a change of taste. He was also trying to hide his interest in Rowena, but the alcohol probably wasn't help, though he could hold his liquor quite well. He was also just trying to get her out of her comfort-zone, since most officers like to keep to themselves.