Closed Doors

[Alexandra Thul Drast]

Aldera had become a second home to Alexandra due to her dual duties to both the house Thul-Drast and her fledgling Imperial career. Usually, the head of the family would represent the family interests abroad but lately, her mother Meera had been delegating the duties to others, including Alex. Today she was to travel from the family estates to the capital, meet some foreign delegation and ensure that her family received its due from whatever came from the meeting.

Alex wouldn't be able to bring her armor on this task but that would hardly stop her from bringing her favored lightsaber for comfort despite her mother's concerns as to how that could be perceived. The dark blade hilt made an interesting contrast against her fine white robes which only forced her to stand out against others around her. Sadly the never-ending threat of violence or attack from hidden sleeper rebel cells did, unfortunately, mean that even travel from home to 'work' required Alex to take an escort of troopers along even for such a short and usually safe trip.

When her shuttle arrived that cold morning and the sun slowly rising behind her, Alex walked calmly out to greet the troopers who would be ensuring her safety today.

@Herrith

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

"So what are we lookin' at today, Kazzy? Milk run?"

The filtered voice of a young man through a helmet speaker came from her right. She tipped her head in agreement as she stood up from her kneeling position and looked at the helmet in her hands. The rest of the squad seemed to be all business--for now. Probably talking on private comms. Hell, they might have asked the Corporal to start talking to her. She fixed the sling on her rifle before looking up while the shuttle destined for them came in for a landing. Guard duty, is what she had been told. Children sent to watch over a warrior. Perhaps they were more akin to handlers-make sure if bad things did happen the public would see their friendly neighborhood Imperials instead of a murderous Sith. But this was more important than that news story a little while back, then again. The trooper cleared his throat as Astrid started to reply.

"Milk run. Keep your weapons ready anyways. And please be mindful where you throw detonators--I'd rather not be on the front page of the holonet, much less with you lot."

She smirked and pulled on her helmet, letting the visor flip on while a dark figure approached. Chuckles were silenced while they waited for their guest of honor to get down the stairs. Astridia saluted the Sith briefly and discretely (especially if people looking to open fire on them were watching) before speaking out of her helmet, the tech distorting her voice slightly.

"M'lady. We'll be making sure nobody makes an attempt on your life today. I'm sure you know the procedure, but I'll run through it anyways as we go. If you'd prefer."

 

[Alexandra Thul Drast]

"Be my guest."

Alex motioned to the shuttle and tipped her head slightly, before making her way over to enter it for the short journey. A datapad sat in between her hands as the screen flickered to life with the days briefing and intelligence information that was relevant to the meeting. Alderaan had been quiet for some time for the most part but there was always rumors and murmurs of trouble stirring or unrest of some kind. Alex hoped a little peace and prosperity would stem the major threat for now, but there was much work to be done before anyone could rest easy.

Alex looked over toward Astridia for a short second before returning her gaze to the datapad. "Unlike some others in my family, I like to know that I can trust the service people who are tasked with protecting me and I certainly cannot trust someone I do not know."

With a quirky smile before a full-blown smile emerged, Alex reached out her hand "My name is Alexandra which you already know but you can call me Alex if my mother isn't around. Please indulge me, what is your story and how did you end up on Alderaan?"

@Herrith

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia nodded respectfully as they walked back toward the shuttle, her squad fanning out in a rough delta up the stairs with her parallel to the Sith. She kept her rifle ready in one hand as they walked, encrypted comm chatter between the bunch filtering out of her mind while she collected the scripted and routine dialogue to say. Usual stuff. She opened up her external speaker as Alexandra looked over the details of her meeting. Astrid made it a point to not sit and stare. For all she knew it was about how terrible of a soldier she was. That wouldn't be surprising, especially with her track record of perfection. Psht. Yeah, right. Tough chance.

"If--apologies, when we make contact with someone trying to stir up trouble, I highly recommend leaving it up to this squad to deal with any threats. Though I cannot order you, I prefer keeping my VIPs in one piece. Let us clear landing sites if we make any stops before you exit, take a blaster bolt for you--"

Astrid trailed off as the woman looked over and spoke her own piece. She knew the drill already. Had probably run this same route a million times over. But the next part was unexpected, particularly the smile and dropping of formalities. She herself hadn't expected any interesting chatter to occur and hesitated for a brief moment before picking up her stride again while they made their way to and entered the shuttle. She tipped her head, smirking lightly under her helmet while the Sith--Alexandra..Alex, asked about her history. She cleared her throat as the rest bristled, clearly not expecting this to be so...at ease?

"Well, uh..I'm Agent Kazaczecho--Kaz or Agent or my first name...Astridia; all are fine, I supposs. I've been in the Imperial Academy from a young age with a desire to serve and protect the Empire and its subjects. I command our little protection unit here--or try to. We're on Alderaan because we were transferred here due to lack of personnel. Odd sounding...but it just so happened we were assigned to you for today, m'lady--ah, Alex."

This felt weird. Just a little.

 

[Alexandra Thul Drast]

Alex followed the conversation thoughtfully and nodded and exposed a small grin as the agent stumbled through her names before finally settling on Astridia. "Interesting, I wonder if.." she started to say before dipping her head back into the datapad with a few rapid taps on its screen before returning her gaze back while trying to pretend she hadn't seen what she had, think of something quick! "The uh ..Empire has quite the file on you, but despite all of that your superiors still give you glowing reports in protection instinct."

Alex shuffled back into her seat to gather her thoughts a little before continuing.

"Alderaan is typically quiet on the rebel front but we have had some chatter which is currently of minor concern. You would do well to read up on it but for now, I should ask something of you first."

The young royal was someone who quickly trusted and bonded with people in the right circumstances, this had often scorned her not to mention going against the political principals that her family had been trying to instill into the young lady. Everyone and everything was politically motivated her mother parroted often she recalled, "Nobody works for free and if you're not paying then you're the product, my dear."

Pressing on Alex considered hesitating before relinquishing her doubts. "If I were in danger, I do not believe for a second that you would not immediately move to protect me, as you have been ordered to. While you are certainly most valuable to me as a bodyguard here, I would be interested in taking on your services abroad if my own requirements called for assistance."

She paused to watch the young lady across from her to gauge her reaction. Alex's own missions would entail intelligence work against rebel cells and the like while hunting down serious dangers to the civil peace inside the Empire but secretly she hoped to also turn Miss Kazaczecho into her own little intelligence asset within the Empire itself, after all, information was everything.

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia looked at the Sith, her questioning look hidden beneath her helmet while the woman quickly changed the subject. Or, not necessarily changed the subject about something..rather avoid the details. She returned her gaze forward as she tipped her head and accepted the compliment, ignoring jeers from her squadmates over their private comm channel. She switched it off and spoke into her external microphone with a scoff of flattery as she readjusted the sling of her rifle. After all, she didn't deserve all the praise. Most of this squad she had been with since the beginning. Most.

"I think my superiors overstate and add flavour to my record. I've been here and there, done a few things, but thanks to my squad I've lived a lot longer and gotten the praise they deserve."

As was the way of the military. Her squadmates snickered, evident from a couple bodies shaking subtly, but she let them. They deserved credit where it was due. Astrid also thought it best to set aside her curiosities as to why Alex had suddenly avoided saying what she was going to say. She pulled out a datapad to check out recent activity but held back and listened while the Drast proposed a deal. A very appealing deal. Being in the favor of a Sith, a Drast, in her predicament would do her good. Less questions would be raised about her allegiance. There were also risks, too--perhaps this was part of a grand plan to kill people relating to her sister. It seemed Alex was really interested in a friend, however; Astrid was willing to push a bit for what she wanted.

"I'm listening. But my squad comes with me."

 

[Alexandra Thul Drast]

Alex quietly contemplated the bargaining attempt by Astridia and held somewhat of a neutral expression that occasionally dipped into a smile as the young woman obviously shared an empathic trait with her. Blinking beyond the line of sight of anyone but herself, Alex pondered the meaning behind a small and seemingly unimportant event that was connected inexplicitly with the agent in front of her. A small locked recording file was attached to miss Kazaczecho's service file but it appeared to have been sealed by someone well above her station and rank.

The matter intrigued Alex greatly but she also understood the nature of the intelligence services and their secrecy. The most likely explanation was that this agent had been involved in some kind of covert operation and Alex herself simply was not in the necessary or relevant position see it. Perhaps with time and advancement, she would be able to learn more about this woman sitting in front of her, an interesting secret it could be, itself did not cause Alex to distrust her otherwise good record.

"Very well, I will make the arrangements to take your entire squad into my service but understand that you will be held wholly accountable for any and all of their actions. In return for your service, you will be well taken care of and of course, you will benefit as I benefit from our mutual advancements within the Empire itself. Do we have an agreement?"

 

[Astridia Kazaczecho]

Astridia began to wonder if she had pushed too far and blown her chance at a pretty advantageous promotion. Her helmet didn't quite show her uncertainty as she eyed her teammates, some of which had resorted to checking their weapons or staring out the viewport, supposedly doing their job. If she was being honest, they wouldn't be able to do much if an airspeeder came out of nowhere and rammed into them. Maybe shout threatening things its direction or something. Alex's face remained unreadable as she made a decision. Perhaps there was more involved than just her service record here, then. Not exactly reassuring, but it'd have to do.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, Alex agreed to bring her and her people under her jurisdiction, with the scripted dialogue of 'everything they do is your fault' that she heard every time she was transferred. Astrid unmuted her comlink long enough to talk to the rest of them.

"See that? I got you bloody idiots a promotion."

Astrid nodded her thanks to Alex and let the voices of her comrades drone into the background.