Private Volatile Times

[Saul Vandron]

Camp Grizzly, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

The camp bustled with life at the first signs of dawn as the night picket returned to rest. Stormtroopers ran about their posts and tasks, and officers paced to prepare the daily course of action and deliver overdue reports. A logistics shuttle roared above as it took to the skies, briefly deafening the tumult of the 501st Camp. As usual to Saul, as was unusual to any military doctrine, he relieved the rookie standing watch on one of the camp's towers. The general had only a minute of peace graced by the early morning's eastern breeze and the first rays of light before his second-in-command's boots hurried up the tower.

"General, Sir!" he saluted. "Last night's scouts have confirmed the earlier rumors of imperial prisoners of war held within the rebels' base... unfortunately, no findings yet on a covert passage to the shield generator. The combat engineers are still trying to figure out a shield disruptor but so far it has yielded no results."

"How many prisoners, Tycho?"

"A platoon, approximately."

Saul turned around to face the man but before he could open his mouth to respond, the general narrowed his eyes at what the adjutant held in one hand. "A bit early for celebrations, isn't it?"

"--oh! This, General? Apparently, Derellium's famous for its wine." he offered the dusty bottle of wine to the one-eyed warrior. "The locals have brought a whole repulsor-cart with century-old wine as a... plea for forgiveness for not reporting the rebels to Imperial authorities."

"Is that so?" Saul raised an eyebrow. "Interesting-- the Bureau's been active on the locals, hasn't it?"

"Uh, about that, General... I'm not too certain. A task force arrived in the system in the middle of the night. Led by an Inquisitor who's here to meet you, by the way." a sheepish smile crossed the man's face as footsteps climbing the tower resounded between the two.

The Inquisitor was here.

"Dismissed." he cooly said to the man before he departed, leaving the bottle of wine in the hands of the general.
​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

Bucketheads.

Why did the Knights and Inquisition always have to clean up their messes? Word was that the operation should have been completed almost 2 weeks ago already. Yet they were still bunkered down, trying to find a way to get key men out of imprisonment. And here she and her men were sent in to clean up the mess in a timely manner once again. Typical.

It was a very annoyed Amena that had stepped off the shuttle during the night.

The dawn hadn't improved her mood much either.

She was requested to wait at the bottom of the tower while the squirrely man informed the infamous General of her presence. Did she adhere to the request? Not really. So she was already almost at the top of the tower when the General dismissed his 2IC.

When the trooper passed her, she nodded a thanks at him. As she reached the top, a few stray strands of hair whipped around in the early morning breeze. But the Inquisitor's hazel eyes immediately found the bottle of wine in Vandron's hand.
"Well that pretty much explains why I'm here, doesn't it?" she asked before looking the General dead in the eye. "Amena Kader." she then introduced herself without emotion or the offer of a handshake.

She regarded the camp below them for a moment before turning her attention back to Vandron.
"My men and I are to...assist you in completing your current endeavour." she started. "So, tell me, what is the situation, General? Have you dealt any kind of blow to this insurgency or is this just a holiday?" Disdain was all but dripping from her words.

Of all the places she could have been sent to, it had to be here with the bucketheads.

 

[Saul Vandron]

Camp Grizzly, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

The one-eyed warrior regarded her, brazenly sizing her from head to toe. Locks of umber faintly swung against the early morning breeze over a sharpened face and inquisitive eyes like daggers pointed at his throat. Her natural posture could put even the most martial of stormtroopers to shame, indicating a woman disciplined in rigorous, physical training. She would've made a fine stormtrooper...

"Well that pretty much explains why I'm here, doesn't it?"

... had she not been born with the tongue of a viper.

And with each word, poison just dripped and dripped down her garnet lips.

But as her strength in the Force revealed to her the vibrant details of life all around her, Amena would find the general's presence lacking. Simply not there.

A void in her senses.

Dead to the Force.

He left a moment of uneasy silence to settle between the two before he jerked his head for her to come closer. "Come." he turned his back around to view the clear landscape provided by the base's high elevation. "Kastron's Rest. A mountain-ringed valley of rivers, flood plains, and scattered farmland. In the heart of it, you could see the Citadel surrounded by rivers forming a natural moat. It's stood the test of time for eons, once being a stronghold to Xim the Despot. The rebels have had years to refit it back to its formidable shape of old. Their shield's range reaches somewhere right before the river -- keeps that whole area immune to any air or orbital strikes." he drew a circle following the lines of the rivers. "An anti-repulsor field generated from the citadel, or from the shield itself, prevents us from simply hovering troops over the rivers and the point defense cannons are there to keep us from committing to any airdrop beyond the rivers. And those little black lines you see after the rivers, leading all the way to the citadel? Trenches, all around the base..." he paused, eyes glancing at the Inquisitor. "...these are new." Saul left the implications of either Bureau or Inquisitors' incompetence or leaks unvoiced.

"... but a frontal assault is not what concerns me." he said, disregarding the idea of finding a way to disable the generator for an orbital strike to get this over with. "The outer valley is covered in wilderness, thick forests that I'm certain are the hiding places of rebels ready to strike at our rear during an assault on the base." he gestured at the verdant thicket veiling the lower ends of the mountains' slopes. "Our pickets have come across more than just a few skirmishes but nothing that could pinpoint us to locations from where they operate." Saul said. "... I suspect the works of a Jedi is what keeps them concealed."

"Perhaps it is there where your skills may come in handy." he stated. A sly smirk faintly materialized on the warrior's grizzled face. "You can have this as a reward once you've dealt with that, Lady Inquisitor." he shoved the wine into her care.​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

Focusing her attention on the General, she noticed the void.

She had spent more times than she cared to mention in the presence of people that used their void in the Force to try and intimidate Force Sensitives. It worked when she was younger. Now, it just caused an eyebrow to raise in the silence Vandron let hang for a few heartbeats...

...until he finally deigned to open his mouth.
"Come."
"It speaks." she quipped before taking in a place next to him to look at the landscape he started pointing out.

She remained unmoving, arms folded as she listened to his briefing. An eyebrow did raise at the unspoken implication, but she remained silent. He would find out soon enough how she operated - without intel. He did, however continue with his briefing, unaware of her inner musings.

"... I suspect the works of a Jedi is what keeps them concealed."
The Viper bristled.
"I'll be the judge of that, General. You just focus on shooting the people that shoot at you." she said coolly. "Have you found an alternative route yet or is everyone still blind because of these...unforeseen skirmishes?" she then asked, her own unspoken implication being shot back at the so-called seasoned warrior. "Or do I need to be your pathfinder as well as your bloodhound, General?"

He had gall, however.

In response, he attempted to shove the bottle of wine into her care.
"You can have this as a reward once you've dealt with that, Lady Inquisitor."
Her arms remained folded however as hazel eyes regarded him coolly.
"Alcohol dulls the senses, General. I would expect someone of your standing to know that already." she deadpanned. "None of this is over until this planet belongs to the Empire."
She turned towards the steps of the tower.

"Shall we get this show on the road or do you want to keep musing about it?"

 

[Saul Vandron]

Camp Grizzly, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

"Or do I need to be your pathfinder as well as your bloodhound, General?"

Anything she said beyond this question fell deaf to his ears. Saul carefully placed the bottle on the railing of the tower before turning to plainly state. "You will be what I need you to be, Inquisitor." the authority in his voice was built on years of command, it rang like a hammer pounding a forge. She had cheek, a perfume of arrogance in her air, and while he could appreciate her nerve, it would serve her far better under his directive. Every lion required its serpent.

He passed by her with a decisive step, the long black cloak following in his wake. "We will find these rebels in the woods today. You will make sure of it." he bellowed to the camp next, "Picket going out now -- with me!" Saul beckoned with his hand and the squad of scout troopers about to leave the outpost halted before lining up quickly behind their general.

"Whatever task force you have with you -- it stays here. Only you are coming. Understood?" he turned to face the Kandaran woman up close as he gestured for the scouts to move up ahead and take point as they make their exit out into the wildlands.
​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

"You will be what I need you to be, Inquisitor."

Hazel eyes flashed dangerously. Amena stopped dead, blocking his way to the stairs as she turned to face the one-eyed warrior head on.
"I'm not part of your army, Vandron." The words were dripping with a venom reserved only for a few. "Seems you are dependant on my expertise, not the other way around." Go ahead, jarhead, keep challenging.

He tried to decisively pass her, but she intercepted it, leading him down instead while he bellowed his orders to the camp. They reached the foot of the tower before the General rounded on her again.
"Whatever task force you have with you -- it stays here. Only you are coming. Understood?"

The Viper rose up to her full height as she looked him square in the face, not flinching at the void or his one-eyed visage.
"If it's only me, then you and yours will do as I say, Vandron. You jeopardise your own mission - you and your men's lives - if you undermine my way of work where your supposed Jedi and its subordinates are concerned. Is that clear?" Her voice was low, for his ears only, but cold and to the point nonetheless.

One thing she didn't do was beat about the bush on a high risk op.

 

[Saul Vandron]

Camp Grizzly, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

Her gall surprised him when he should've expected it by the looks of her attitude since arrival and the general stereotypes Inquisitors carried. But she stood in his way, literally, with every step he took. Saul could ignore it with a mischievous smirk only for a while before he halted and drew himself even closer to her, enough to smell the perfume lingering over her form. He gazed deep into her hazel eyes without saying a word for a long moment.

"Hmph." he finally scoffed, pulling back a little. "I admire your fiery commitment, Kader..." then drawing closer once more to whisper in her ear. "When we are out there, the Jedi is your business, I will heed your call seeing you wield the Force but... be very, very careful in challenging my authority here again." he leaned back, an irritating smile tugging his lips as he drifted past her. "I'd rather not drink that wine alone tonight."
​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

Of course he would not take that beating lying down.

His void invaded her personal space and it took all her self control not to send him flying where all could see. Instead, she met his tall form and piercing one-eyed gaze with her own unflinching resolve, their faces separated by only a breath. The slight, sly smirk that eventually pulled at her mouth would give him more answer to his threat than any spoken words ever would.

At long last, he withdrew.
"I'd rather not drink that wine alone tonight."
Her eyes laughed at him as she passed him.
"Your commitment to that wine is admirable." she said before stopping to motion for him to pass her, almost like an afterthought. Might as well let him have his illusion of power for the moment. It would change soon enough when the actual hunt took over.

"Lead the way, General."

 

[Saul Vandron]

Snakeholt Wilderness, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

The passage through the wilderness was not hard on the foot. It was a gradual decline, a light trek down into the valley. However, the eyes remained blind for most of the way. The thick and large shrubs of snakeroot, from which the forest's name was derived, blocked any clear view and provided ease for potential ambushes and obscured rebel movements and operations. Despite the Legion's efforts, the Wilderness's control was far from wrestled from rebellious hands.

Six scout troopers led the column with the Inquisitor and General forming the rear guard of the line. The rich canopy of trees veiled the picket in its cool shadow from the warm, morning sun rising to its zenith. Birds and insects chirped and hummed in peace and pleasantly deceived the soldiers of a verdant bliss. Concentration was key in such seemingly mundane patrols, one lapse of focus and one might end up lying in a puddle of his own blood.

"Beyond that spring is where we've mostly encountered the enemy, Sir." the lead scout reported, pointing forward in the direction of lightly running water.

"Anything?" Saul asked the Inquisitor.​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

They trekked together in relative silence, aside from the occasional shift of armour or the whistles of birds.

Or the the whistles of birds.

Even before the scout spoke up, Amena balked in the middle of the road, eyes closed and ears and empyrean senses strained to figure out what she had heard exactly.
"Anything?"
In response, the Viper's eyes flew open and her argent blade ignited.
"EVASIVE ACTION!" she barked as she darted to the forefront of the column, blade already in motion to deflect the first bolts coming from the jungle to the right.

The moment she was sure the majority of troopers had taken cover, she darted into the foliage from which just the occasional hum of a saber could be heard. Not long after, a rebel came hovering out of the foliage with Amena shortly behind.

She dropped the struggling lad at the General's feet.
"Spill to the General before your guts do." the Inquisitor said, silver blade humming ever closer to the sweat-riddled young man from behind.

 

[Saul Vandron]

Snakeholt Wilderness, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

The ambush thwarted by the Inquisitor's supernatural reaction not only sent the assailants packing but reaped the reward of a captured rebel. A fair-headed boy, not older than nineteen, trembling before the towering figure of the Legion's general. She barked at the young rebel, argent blade buzzing next to his throat, and he collapsed on all fours. A satisfied, almost endearing even, smirk shrouded by the half-black, half-orange helmet greeted the Imperial Knight before Vandron's gaze turned to the rebel.

"I am sure you do like your guts remaining where they are as I do mine." he leaned slightly closer to the boy. "Only a fool's restraint has kept me from torching every single settlement in the area to the ground to drive you rats out from your hiding holes... and I'm done playing the jester. Where does your Jedi hide, boy and I promise you will sleep soundly tonight."

Tears streamed down the boy's face but no words escaped his lips. Only barely withheld sulks.

"...Lady--" Saul jerked his head at the Inquisitor.

"--no!!! I'll talk... I-I-I'll talk!! Please spare me, Sir! Our main camp is west... the Jedi, the commanders... p-past the rock moraine west from here there's a grove... f-f-follow the spring upstream...ev-everyone's there... please let me live, Sir!"

Birds ceased their jovial tunes and the wind gasped in anticipation. An eerie silence settled in the woods.

"Take him to camp and give him to the Bureau." he ordered his men and they hurried back to base with the lamenting boy in tow. "He's brittle as is the rebels' cause. Leave him alive and he'll sing like a bird to the Bureau if a day comes where this world rises against the Empire again." Saul knew a thing or two about recruiting informers.

"Lead the way, Lady Inquisitor." the general gestured forth as he withdrew his blade. "I want the Jedi alive."
​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

Fear was rolling from the boy in waves.

She couldn't exactly blame him - stuck between an imposing soldier and a lightsaber, how could you not be filled with fear? She felt the slightest tug of sympathy for the boy.

The General questioned the boy and it took a threat before he finally spoke up about the whereabouts of the rebels. It was pitiful and it took all of her self control not to lower the saber.

Until Vandron gave his answer.

"Take him to camp and give him to the Bureau. He's brittle as is the rebels' cause. Leave him alive and he'll sing like a bird to the Bureau if a day comes where this world rises against the Empire again."

The Kandaran couldn't help but close her eyes with the slightest of sighs at these words. It would have been kinder to kill the boy instead of handing him over to the Bureau. They would make her treatment look like tender care. But it would not suffice to challenge the veteran on his decision. Not yet at any rate. So she just disengaged the blade as the boy was yanked to his feet and led away.

"Lead the way, Lady Inquisitor. I want the Jedi alive."

She watched him for a moment.
"I'll keep the Jedi alive if I can, General, but if I can't, they die. You said yourself - the Jedi is my business. Let's keep it my business, hm?" she said softly, eyes still on his visor for a heartbeat before she turned and started marching forward again, senses wide open to feel the Jedi long before they would be overrun. "You focus on shooting the guys that shoot at you, Sir."

Crossing the spring, the ebb of energy became stronger with every step they took.
"They're close, General. Eyes up."

 

[Saul Vandron]

Snakeholt Wilderness, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

For a man born and bred among warriors and a veteran of hundred wars whose life had only known the military and it's strict adherence to hierarchy and obedience, the Inquisitor's insubordination could not be taken lightly. It carved frowns and grimaces on the general who expected of his subordinates full submission to his orders.

Jump! How high?

The hierarchy had been clear during his service in the Sith Empire -- the Sith ruled everything and all. But in the Empire, the Knights' distinction was muddied. Regulations were vague at best or at least deliberately vague to Saul whose distrust of Force Users had shot sky high when his brother-in-arms Irveric Tavlar had been killed in a plot by the deceitful cur Halketh.

A part of him wanted to yank her by the hair and hang her from a nearby tree.

Another part of him regarded her strength, the sole virtue among the Amaxine. She'd snuffed out a vulture none of the stormtroopers, nor him, had detected.

Muddied waters.

He watched her go and followed a few seconds later with a songsteel blade drawn ready. They traversed past the spring headed west and crossed the rock moraine until they encountered the curling spring again where they briefly halted. Follow the spring upstream, the boy had said and his eyes trailed the small river upwards. Trees formed natural walls against the stream all the way up the hill and the distant peak of the mountain. The grove.

But here, in the clearing they had found themselves in, they were out in the open and the silence, broken only by the gurgling of the spring, was unsettling. The nests on the trees were empty and the grass flailed against the wind not as lightly, as if boots had recently crushed their stalks.

Amena's warning manifested itself in the shape of a hail of blaster bolts raining down on their position from almost all angles. Instinctively, the general ducked as his personal energy shield lit up and fluttered against the torrid onslaught of crimson bolts. With no cover in sight, Saul rolled to the side and drew out the submachine gun from its holster and loudly sprayed the woods with 10mm slugs.

A snap-hiss cracked through the pandemonium and a robed Iktotchi leapt from above straight at the inquisitor in a fast-paced and deadly series of strokes befitting the Ataru lightsaber form. His cerulean blade sought to end the Knight and this fight very, very soon. ​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

Her argent blade ignited a second before the treeline erupted in blasterfire.

She calmly deflected the bolts that came her way, not bothering to make a duck for it like the Troopers around her. She knew the one she was sensing, would reveal themself sooner rather than later. It's what she would have done if she was still a Jedi.

The snap of a saber igniting proved her right. Turning immediately, the Kandaran was ready when the near-bovine Jedi leapt at her, trusting the General and his men to handle the wall of fire from the treeline.

Instead of trying to meet the crashing blade with her own, she deftly stepped to the side while sending a telekinetic push toward the Jedi as she avoided getting pummeled into the ground. When the Iktotchi touched ground, the Inquisitor was on him already, her own Djem So crashing against the cerulean that instinctively leapt up to catch hers while its owner was still getting to his feet.

But when he did, his attack was relentless, their blades a flurry.
"Keeping hostages isn't the Jedi way, last time I checked." she sneered at him as their blades danced.
"What makes you such an expert on our ways, Imparial?" he snapped right back before his blade came crashing down toward her again with vehemence.
She met his blade with both hands on her own to brace against the strength.
"I used to be one of you." she deadpanned before she ignited the second blade of her saber and twisting it to send the Jedi's hand flying while his saber dropped to the ground.

She immediately held her blade to his throat, disengaging the second blade as she did so.
"Tell them to stand down. They stand no chance without you." she told him.
He glared at her, pain causing creases around his eyes. "Never."
In answer, Amena's free hand struck out to grip onto a rebel soldier around the throat with the Force and pulled him towards her.
"You were saying?" she asked the Jedi while the soldier still hung in the air, face turning read as he struggled to breathe.
The Iktotchi snorted at her in anger. "Very well...LAY DOWN ARMS!" he bellowed.
"A wise choice." she said before dropping the soldier who then dry-heaved on the ground as he tried to get air back into his body.

"General! He's all yours!"

 

[Saul Vandron]

Snakeholt Wilderness, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

"Round them up, troopers!" he waved a finger in the air as a satisfied smirk curved his lips beneath the helmet. The head of the serpent lurking in the Snakeholt Wilderness groveled at the Inquisitor's feet with one arm missing, surgically removed by the Knight's saber. The defiance in the Jedi's eyes quickly evaporated upon the sight of a soldier choked by the Kandaran, what little steam remained turned into a damp fog of compliance and defeat. Amena Kader had suddenly peaked in the general's eyes; the sour taste of their initial meeting subsided in the back of his mind replaced by the sweet, sweet flavor of victory.

He approached the Jedi after a stormtrooper had given him a shock collar to ensnare the Iktotchi with. The exact same makes they used in Alheim. Good warm-up for where the Jedi would spend the rest of his life-- no. He had a better idea. Later.

Saul demonstratively dusted his hands off together for a job well done and regarded the Inquisitor from head to toe. This time what he saw was far more appealing than the insubordinate schutta from before. The general slid the helmet off his head, breathing in the fresh air of the wilds before turning his attention back on the Knight.

"Well done, Kader." he said with a satisfied smirk on his face. "We--"

"Kader?!" the Jedi gasped. "Amena Kader?!?-- It can't be... no... we served together on Ziost!!"

"... what... what happened to you?" ​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

"Well done, Kader. We--"

Before Vandron could continue his sentence, the Jedi interjected with a surprised exclamation, looking at her with surprise and anguish - as only a Jedi could.
"... what... what happened to you?"

Her dark eyes turned back to the Jedi to regard him for a moment, her Kandaran features remaining impassive - smooth as stone. But underneath the surface, she went back in time.

Ziost was so long ago, but some of it was still clear. The blood, sweat and tears that had gone into fighting the Sith - alongside the very people she now served. How she had fought and bled, over and over again, without anything to show for it. How the Jedi were not gaining ground, despite their best efforts. How the moral compass the Jedi followed inhibited her movements - inhibited victory, peace...order. She had believed what they believed in - once. It had all changed with the carnage on Ziost.

"I came to my senses, Jedi." the Inquisitor deadpanned. She turned back to the veteran next to her. "Do with him whatever you please, General. I'll provide motivation where necessary." she told Saul.

The days of the Jedi were over.

 

[Saul Vandron]

The general was no inquisitor; whether Amena flinched at the Jedi's revelations or demonstrated any other indications that may have been flagged by an agent of the Bureau for potential screening, he did not know. What Saul Vandron knew was setting an example.

By nighttime, the rebels operating in the wilderness were rounded up for a one-way ticket to either prison barges or labor camps across the Empire. The Jedi, on the other hand, was crucified upon a cross beyond the edge of the wilderness at the flood plains that were clearly visible from the Citadel. Some might argue that giving the holed-up rebels a clear indication that the wilderness was conquered by the Imperials thus making an assault imminent was detrimental to the Empire's efforts, but others, like Saul, believed in the strength of will, of morale.

Let the death of the Jedi chip away at their hopes and spread strife and panic across their ranks. Saul wanted the battle resolved before it even began.

**

Camp Grizzly, Kastron's Rest
Derellium, Cronese Mandate

Back at the camp, there was an occasion for celebration. Naturally, the Legion remained disciplined and carried on with their duties as they were trained to do, but there was a jovial skip in their marching. Spirits were high now that the threat at their rear had been finally dealt with and the way to the Citadel was open. The gift of wine from the nearby settlements was shared among the troopers currently not on their shift but only a sip's amount was allowed by their officers. The battle had not been won yet.

The same bottle Saul had shoved earlier into the Knight was once again in his hands as he approached her after issuing a series of orders.

"Well done, Inquisitor." the general said with a satisfied smile curving his lips before tilting the bottle of wine, "Join me for a glass tonight? Tomorrow we begin preparing for the siege of the Citadel; I'm told a glass of this wine eases the trepidations the night before battle carries." ​

Tamna Korvan

 

[Tamna Korvan]

I N Q U I S I T O R
THE EMPIRE
TAG: Saul Vandron

BIRD​

To the General's credit, he didn't waste time.

Amena could appreciate that in a man of the Empire. The rebels were rounded up quickly, their will broken with the defeat of their powerhouse. And Vandron took it even further to break their will.

The Kandaran found a strange appreciation of the way he worked. There may have been a time that it would have bothered her to have seen a Jedi crucified.

That time was long gone.

The mood in the camp was definitely better, despite her own men's surly expressions for missing out.
"Should have let us come with you, Sir." Rawlins told her.
"Not my decision, Rawlins. Suck it up, son." she quipped.
He scowled at her, but snapped to attention when he saw the General approaching.
"Dismissed, Sergeant." she said before raising a questioning brow at Saul.

"Well done, Inquisitor. Join me for a glass tonight? Tomorrow we begin preparing for the siege of the Citadel; I'm told a glass of this wine eases the trepidations the night before battle carries."
Well that's certainly a surprise. A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"I hardly think neither you nor I still struggle with pre-battle trepidations, General, but I'll accept a glass if you so please." she said. "You've been dangling that bottle in front of my nose since this morning, Vandron. Let's see if it delivers." she added with a quip along with a slightly more prominent smirk.

The initial ego-clash of the two since the morning, seemingly forgotten. They have settled into a mutual camaraderie - two veterans of different disciplines that had worked together to gain a solid foothold in the campaign led here. She appreciated military prowess - just not when it was forced down her throat.

But for the time-being, they were in amicable spirits. Appreciative even.

Victory was imminent.