"It is good to have thorough background," Cor notes through her M4 droid.  She doesn't say anything else.  The Talons are likely to (correctly) suspect that she's typing away at her datapads; whether the newcomers gather that as well may be a different matter.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:53, Sat 17 May 2014.

"Sounds familiar Dohr.  Only difference on my world, Pracis IV, was there was no space battle as we had next to no space forces.  The battle took place on land.  There are rich mineral deposits on my homeworld and the Empire wanted the infratructure intact for their war machine.  So instead of Star Destroyers it was AT-AT's and stormtroopers moving through the city.  They didn't discriminate between civilian and military.  You weren't Imperial, they gunned you down.  My group got out with four tanks and two personnel transports, less than fifty people total.  Not sure how many others escaped.  I heard most of the survivors now have to work in the mines and processing plants."

She gripped Nijel tightly as she spoke, the anger evident.  A couple of times Nijel began to spin up to full cyclic and then slow as she gripped and released the trigger.  Her hatred for the Imperials was in no way disguised.

"While we got off to a bad start, you have shown far more reason than I would have given you credit for by the first impression. And yes, there might be other forces, I could join, ones that would most likely welcome my expertise and knowledge, but they are unknown to me while this group poses a slightly better known quantity. It is only logical to make the conclusion, we could work together.

As for my background, I am the daughter of one of the ruling families among my people. I have studied warfare for years and served as gunnery officer, executive officer and commander of naval units in the Chiss Expansionary Defence Force. I graduated from Csilla Military Academy with honours and have served in the fleet for twelve years. While you can not check this due to the fact, you can not access the Chiss Ascendancy Public Network from here, and even if you could, you would require high enough clearance to read my personnel file, we could arrange for me to demonstrate my skills somehow." The Chiss sounded sincere enough.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:10, Mon 19 May 2014.

Devon looked up from making notes on his datapad.
"You know we dont really do fleet level actions, dont you?" he asked Idaya mildly.  "Since planetary defence fleets cant stand up to our opposition in a straight fight, we sure as hell cant - only capital ships you're likely to see are going to be trying to kill you.  What else can you do?"

Devon looked at each of the new recruits in turn.  "OK, so I'm sitting here makin' notes and we've got an idea of where you're from now.  Well, most of you..."  he gave Fiarr an expectant look. "So next up is what skillsets can you bring onboard?  Each of us has our own fields that we're experts in, so what can you guys bring on board?"

He nodded to Fiarr.  "You've been awful quiet so far, why dont you go first an' fill us in on your background too?  Kyvarr may know you, but we dont."

Kyvarr looked at Devon. "I can command and operate nearly any tank or walker. I'm trained in the use and maintenance of heavy weaponry.  I also hold a level 6 in Praxis Defence Force unarmed combat instruction. I can serve also in both demolition and infantry roles sir."

"I am qualified with both capital ships and fighters, and I happen to be rated as a technical officer in both type of craft as well as weapons technician for all starship weaponry. And to be able to fight fleet battles, one needs to understand the operations below fleet level, so I am quite aware of small-unit tactics in both space and aboard ships."

Fiarr was surprised by Idaya's claim of such broad tactical expertise.  In the Bothan defense force, naval captains dealy with fleet maneuvers, starfighter colonels with ship tactics.  That's what combined force tactics were about.  These Chiss must do things differently, especially if they taught their naval captains land tactics as well.  It seemed highly ineffective and must dilute their talent.  Being a jack of all trades made one a master of none.  Still it could all be bluster and hyperbole in order to impress this group.

When Idaya had finished and Rian looked to her she grinned wickedly at him.  "Nothing unusual.  I'm just an ordinary gal.  Attended the Bothan Military Academy for my office training then entered starfighter training.  Served in the Bothan Space Defence Force until the Special Operations Section recruited me for cover operative training."

"I'm trained as an infiltrator.  I can move unseen and unheard.  I am skilled at 'acquiring' items as Kimy found out, sorry about that."  She bowed her head to Kimy.  "It's been equally useful for planting incriminating evidence on people.  I'm also trained for wet work.  Be it close range, long range or covert.  I have some training in demolitions.  If you want an Imperial dead I can do it noisy or quiet.  I can also arrange 'evidence' to lay blame on another."

"Other then that I'm still hold starfighter flight status with the Bothan military and my shooting was ranked sniper grade, though I haven't attended formal sniper training.  Just taken the heads off a few Imps at long range."

"I should warn you I am a member of the Bothan Spynet and it's not an organisation you can exactly resign from.  It is possible at times they may contact me with a mission.  I hope this wont be a problem.  I can assure you they'd never work to assist the Imperials, quite the opposite I'm sure."

Devon had been making more notes on his datapad whilst people answered his question, but paused to give Idaya an openly skeptical look before turning his attention to Fiarr.

If the Corellian was surprised that Fiarr claimed membership to the infamous Bothan Spynet, he didnt show it beyond a raising of the eyebrows.  But then again, perhaps he'd heard the old joke: 
Q:  In a room full of Bothans, how do you find one that's in the Spynet?
A:  Throw a rock.

"I'm findin' myself wondering what would happen if the Spynet gave you a mission that had you workin' against us."  Devon paused, thinking.  "What would you do then?"

Mika gives Fiarr a smile.  "No worries, long as it doesn't happen again, except in the line of duty." she chuckles.  But she let's anything else slide as Devon had a rather pointed query on the table.

"I don't know much about them honestly.  I'm not an active member of the Spynet but I have been approached before.  All I know is they may call on me to gather information and since their activities are strongly Anti-Imperial I can't imagine it will impact on the group."

Devon grinned.  Fiarr had given him exactly the answer he'd expected - no answer at all.
"That really doesn't answer my question, does it?  I'm asking what you will do if the Spynet gives you a mission that puts you at odds with our group."

Dohr waited for the room to quiet down before speaking up again. This time he made sure to keep it short. ”What am I skilled in? What would I bring to the table… As you have without a doubt gathered from my story, I am man of two sides. A healer and a killer in one body and mind. It is a contradiction for sure, but it is also what I am - who I am. I have been a doctor for all of my adult life, a combat medic, a surgeon. It is what I do best.” Dohr took a sip of caf through a mug made for his kind.

”But I have also been trained to kill and when needed and justified, I do not hesitate to take a life. I am a soldier to the bone and infantry is my branch. Other than that, I do not have a real military specialization. I have learned to take a realistic approach to what I can and what I cannot do. My physical… limitations deny me access to effective mobile use of heavy weaponry even though I am fairly skilled in their use. I am a good shot with a blaster, but probably not sniper grade. Naturally as an officer of the DAF the main focus of my training was in military tactics.”

”But the Kel Dorian way is to negotiate first and then negotiate again before taking up arms. It does not make us weak, at least in our own minds, but strong. We try to use the peaceful approach for as long as possible, yet many have witnessed out might and our wrath. When possible and worth the while, I too prefer the weapons of diplomacy over destruction. But sometimes… Or perhaps fairly often in our line of business, forceful approach is the only option.”

Dohr looked up from his hands and straight at Devon. ”So. That is me. Got questions? Fire away.”

Fiarr shrugged.  "That's a very difficult question with a lot of 'what if's'.  All I can say is if I'm approached before a mission I would request a leave of absence.  If it was during a mission I would do nothing to compromise the safety of the team.  As I mentioned, the Spynet is strictly Anti-Imperial so I don't forsee a problem there."

"Simply stating that you calculate the odds of this occurrence as being negligible is insufficient.  Perhaps you mistake the point of the query.  You fail to address the underlying issue," CC9 states flatly, "which is: given your acceptance into this group, if your SpyNet contacted you and gave you a mission that specifically put you at odds with this organisation - whether directly against us or not - which would secure your higher priority?  The SpyNet or your team?"

Fiarr stared at CC9 with a bemused look. "I stated I would do nothing to compromise the safety of this team. What more do you want?"

"Inaccurate. You stated that if you were approached thus you would not compromise the safety of the team if you were currently on-mission. While you would request a leave of absence should a call come while off-mission you have stated you would request a leave of absence; not compromising our safety on-mission is not the same as stating outright that we will not find ourselves in direct conflict with you. Your words imply much but do not state whether you would turn the SpyNet down should their wishes put you at opposition with us." CC9 tilts his body slightly forward, perhaps as emphasis. "Nor whether you are even permitted by the SpyNet to turn down missions."

"I suppose it would depend on WHY the mission would bring me into opposition. If your group is on a low risk mission motivated by profit and the Spynet had an urgent mission that would save numerous lives or seriously hurt the Imperial war machine I would have to support the Spynet. I would hope in such a case this team would accommodate me.

If by 'direct conflict' you mean assassination of a team member, the Spynet deals in information, not death. Information I should add that they are sometimes willing to share for services rendered.

And yes, I can refuse missions unless they are of critical urgency."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:55, Thu 22 May 2014.

Devon watched the back and forth between CC9 and Fiarr with interest, but didnt move to interfere.  Once it appeared both had simmered down, Devon gave them a moment more - just to be sure - before turning his attention to Dohr.

"Just so you know, the nature of our work means we sometimes dont have the time to negotiate.  In our last mission, a capture mission - and yes I am avoiding specifics - we did give the defenders of our target an opportunity to surrender...  They chose not to, so we took the target by force."

Devon paused, watching the Kel Dor.
"I personally am all for giving the other guy a chance to walk away.  Gimmie a choice and I will shoot to stun, if I shoot at all.  But sometimes we wont have that luxury - today was a good example.  I hope that wont be a problem for you."

Dohr smiled and nodded to Devon. ”Do not worry. I have been there myself. It does not mean I like it, but in war or warlike situations taking the enemy by surprise and using lethal force can be necessary. Only few hours ago we had no choice but to gun down the gangers. I know I did at some point suggest talking to them, but that would not have worked. They were set to kill anyone approaching. So in principle we acted in self-defence. And they knew the risks when they picked up the weapons and started killing people.”

”To me it would seem you did negotiate during your last mission. Your enemy had a chance to surrender, but did not take it. End of discussion. Sometimes diplomacy can be handled without a word. Begging, bargaining, bribing, threatening… They are all forms of diplomacy.”

”So no. It will not pose a problem for me.”

Sighing and sitting back in his chair, Devon swigged from his bottle of beer before continuing.

"OK.  So after we get Kyvarr patched up - I'm thinkin we move on from that station.  We're gonna need a place where we can lay low for a couple of weeks - till we can link up with the boss and head back to base."
Devon left it unsaid that there was no way he was taking anyone back before Mark and Zyra cleared them.
"Plus we're all gonna need to pick up supplies and stuff - replace what we lost back on Det Akari.  And we're gonna want to run some exercises - see how well we can all work together, that kinda thing."  The shipjacker shrugged. "Might even be fun."

"Fortunatly, I've been looking at star charts and theres a place nearby thats gonna let us do all three - and have plenty of scope for some actual real downtime as well.  We're going to Nar Shaddaa."

Fiarr was surprised at Rian's choice of destination.  Not in the least bit disappointed, but surprised.  The Bothan was looking forward to going there.  It was a place where nearly anything was possible, if you had the credits.  The fact that she and Kyvarr had no money was irrelevant.  Nar Shaddar was also a place of opportunity, especially for someone with her skill set.

Kyvarr looked at Devon curiously.  "I've heard some soldiers in my squad went there on leave but never went myself.  Is it some kind of pleasure planet?"

The name, Nar Shadda, had little meaning to Idaya. She was foreign to the planets on this side of the galaxy and waited to hear more about the planet  from those who knew it better.

"'Pleasure planet' would be one way of describing it, Hammer," Cor notes, "though perhaps 'opportunity planet' would be more apt.  It is a highly urbanised moon owned and run by Hutts - an enormous amount of power and wealth is displayed and hidden there.  Significant capitalist focus.  The local law enforcement is entirely owned by the Hutt Cartel.  It is, in fact, a little like Det Akari was - though a great deal more so.  As long as one has credits one can make or break a fortune there.  Though it is worth noting that the owners make sure that no matter whether a visitor makes or breaks a fortune, they themselves always come out on top."  There is a pause.  "It is not a place to safely take at face value but the Hutts have a vested interest in making certain that nothing too disruptive occurs there.  Not visibly, anyway."

There is another pause.  "It would perhaps be most wise to keep CC9 and the two B1 droids aboard the ship for the duration of our stay there, though certainly the M4 droids should be no issue.  Idaya, your DRK-1 droid may also attract undue attention."

"Sounds great!"  The Zeltron blurted, speaking for the first time since the meeting began.  "I wonder if I can top the 'party of the century'!"