War Stories

[Chask274]

Ziost
Commanders' Offices, Great Citadel
1600 hrs.

Commander Vaxus stood at the holotable in his office, reviewing personnel files. With the destruction of his flagship, and the deaths of so many of it's crew, he was in need of new crew. Most of the rank and file crew members were just randomly assigned or selected by his various department heads and officers, leaving him to take care of the more heavy duty administrative work. However, he did have to sign off on each selection regardless, and occasionally one would catch his eye and warrant special attention. The file currently on display was one such case. Hailey "Hex" Artillerist of the 121st Shock Trooper Division. Now here was a soldier worth taking a second look at for the veteran Commander.

With her specialty being mechanics and piloting, Vaxus couldn't help but see a bit of himself in her, although her penchant for explosives put her slightly ahead of himself in terms of ground combat capabilities at that age. However, what really made her unique was her history and reasoning for joining up with the Legion. Whereas someone like Vaxus joined simply because it's what they grew up with, only becoming truly invested and zealous later in their careers, Hailey was something else entirely. When she joined, she'd already had that zealous hatred of the enemy embedded in her. Such energy and fervor made for a terrifying foe on the battlefield, but such energy could only get a person so far, and such people were destined to burn themselves out eventually. That is, unless someone stepped in and tempered that energy. Helped them refine and properly focus it, making them even more dangerous to their enemies.

It was Vaxus' hope that with time, he'd be able to become that person for Hailey. She had a great deal of potential, and the Zabrak would be dammed if he let it go to waste. So he arranged for a little meeting between the two of them. A simple message had been sent to Ms. Artillerist, ordering her to report to the office of Commander Tallav on the double. Seeing as this was to be a formal meeting, Vaxus was wearing his Imperial officer's uniform, forgoing his usual choice of armor or flight suit. Taking a seat at his desk, Vaxus calmly awaited her arrival, a faint smile on his face.

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

'I'm screwed.' she said walking the hall. She was frantically contemplating what she'd done to be summoned by, not her squad leader, let alone her Platoon leader, but her COMMANDER. This was setting off all kinds of alarm bells for her, and that ment she would be very anxious. Never good when you need to look professional.

'What could it possibly have been?! WAIT.' she paused a moment then continued to walk.

'Is this about the time I put a tracker rigged bomb on that informant, and gave him to the enemy!? But I got results! All I did was set off the bomb with all the targets inside.. And the informant.. HOW COULD THE PAPERWORK HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS FAST!?' Hailey internally smacked herself, though for some reason she rubbed her cheek as if it were real. She didn't have enough time to truly think about it though, because when she rounded the corner, she saw the final small hallway that lead to a door labeled with her commanders name and rank.

'Here goes nothing.. Worse comes to worse, I have an exit strategy at least if he wants to kill me..' she opened the door putting on as neutral a face as she could trying not to show any hint of her anxiety or nervousness. A beat began to play in her head as if she were readying for a battle. She did it to focus herself when in a fight.

It echoed in her head.

 

[Chask274]

When the door opened, Vaxus looked up, and stood when he recognized who it was. "Ah, good, you're here. Come in and take a seat, there's some things I need to discuss with you." He gestured towards the chairs on the opposite side of his desk, sitting back down when she did. Lacing his fingers together, he rested his hands on the desk and looked her in the eye. "So let's get down to business. Before I get to the true reason I called you here, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?"

Vax knew she knew full well he had access to every record the Legion and SIN had on her, from her combat records to psych evals to medical exam notes. What he hoping to gain was some info that such records couldn't convey, and he hoped she'd be smart enough to realize that. It was the first of many tests he'd be giving during this meeting.

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Being immediately greeted, Hailey just about jumped out of her skin. What made things even worse was his courtesy. He was rather polite, and while that was a good thing, it was much of a nerve-racker just due to how it sent her blood pressure soaring off the charts. She carefully took a breath, swallowed her butterflies, and sat down as her commander said, answering his question before she sat down.

"Yes Sir." she said sternly, her nervousness mellowing a bit as she sat. She listened to his next set of instructions carefully, and was internally choking.

'Okay. Keep it together. He just asked about your past, right? That's not so.. Okay, just spit it out, and breath. It's pretty hard, but just do it.' taking a calm breath, she straightened up, and cracked a smirk on the right side of her mouth.

"Well." she started, pausing a moment.

"I could sit here and tell you about me as a person, or kiss up, and try to be another political creep, but to be honest.." she relaxed back in her chair, kicking her feet up on the right of his desk, and linking her fingers together.

"..I don't much think you care for bullshit Sir." she said cracking the rest of her signature grin.

"So do you want me to start at the beginning? Or from the real beginning?"

 

[Chask274]

Vaxus listened to her response with a neutral yet thoughtful expression, his slight smile turning to a frown when her boots ended up resting on his desk. While he admired confidence, Vaxus wouldn't stand for cockiness, and made a mental note to see to it at a later time. When she finished, he nodded curtly. She'd passed the first test.

"You've got some good instincts, Trooper. I'm not one to beat around the bush, nor do I tolerate any political slyness or false pretenses. How about you start with why you joined the Legion, or more specifically, why do you have such a well-documented hatred of the Jedi?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

'Well that went well.'

"It all started when I was a kid. It's rather simple honestly. I was raised an orphan on what at the time was the edge of Sith territory. I was raised to believe the Jedi were warriors of the light, fighting for what was right in such a cruel galaxy. It wasn't until the Sith liberated my planet that I could see the truth through the veil of bullshit they fed me." She was getting a rather expressive tone for her point.

"The Jedi destroyed all I had, and left me to die. They're a parasite on the galaxy, giving others the opposite of the truth, and the galaxy must be freed of them." She had fire in her eyes. One that yearned for the slaughter of the false hope known as the jedi and burned for vengeance.

"I'd say that's a better reason than any."

 

[Chask274]

Vaxus grinned a bit as she began to explain. It was clear from the look in her eyes and the conviction in her voice that her hatred of the supposed peacekeepers wasn't all talk, she truly did despise the glowstick wielding idiots. The Zabrak would even venture to guess that the official records and evals understated the extent of her hate. 'All the better to work with and direct...' The second test had been passed, with only two remaining. If she passed each one, he'd get down to the true business at hand. If not, well, there were alternatives

"Glad to see you've got a personal stake in this war, and have seen the truth behind those so called peacekeepers. Keeping their hypocrisy and lies in mind is the only way we're going to win this war." He shifted in his seat a bit, leaning forward with interest. "My next question is fairly simple; What drew you to piloting, and what's your favorite aspect of it?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

'CURVEBALL!' Hailey's heart rate jumped a bit when he asked such a question. It wasn't hard to answer either. She kept her calm, and the fire in her eyes grew bigger, blazing stronger with every question she answered, as it was apart of the determination that made her, HER.

"Too easy sir." she set her feet down on the ground.

"It's my passion. Ever since I was a little girl watching pod racing, and entering speeder races, I've had a love for such a thrill. It doesn't just invigorate me, it fuels the fire in my chest, the beat of my heart, the purpose in my step. Being a pilot is unlike anything in the galaxy!" she cleared her throat.

"You could be the greatest at anything else, and it still wouldn't come close to what it means to be a pilot. You soar through the skies, through space, and go places, no one else can without our help. The feeling it gives you when you soar along is unbeatable." she let the breath she'd built up in her speech.

"I live for the feeling it gives me sir." she was calm now.

"So to answer your question sir. All of it."

 

[Chask274]

'Three down, one to go. She certainly seems to be on a roll with this, let's see how she handles the final round.' Cracking a knowing grin and leaning back in his seat a bit, Vaxus chuckled heartily. "I'll agree with you there. There's nothing like streaking through the sky, or gliding through the void, with nothing but the roar of the sublight drives and the glow of your consoles to keep you company. Makes you feel unstoppable, and is quite the rush." His expression turned wistful for a brief moment, then went back to hardened seriousness as he stood and walked over to the large screen showing a live star map of the NE quadrant of the galaxy. "OK, Ms. Artillerist, final question before we get down to why I really brought you here. I know the troopers all talk about the highr-ups when they think nobody important can hear, hell, I did it back when I was in your positon. What i'm curious about, though, is.." He turned to face her, eyebrow raised, his expression still serious.

"What is your honest opinion of me?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

'WOAH. Hold up. My opinion of the commander?' Hailey took a solid moment took think about such a thing. She didn't really think about that kind of stuff. She was to stuck in her own feelings and motivations to really think about such a topic. I mean, atleast she wasn't just sitting her room thinking about stuff for hours at a time. She was either out having drinks with some of the few pilot friends she had, at the range relieving stress with her Particular choice of weaponry, or working on something of hers, fixing it, or what ever it may be.

She straightened a bit when he asked, and she contemplated her words carefully, or they might not be the right ones. God knows she liked living.

"Well, to be completely honest with you Sir, I don't much know about you. It's not that I don't know of you, and some of your accomplishments, I simply am busy doing something is all."

'Aight. Good Start.. Keep going.'

"However, I can at least say this much. One of your most recent ventures, of which wasn't your fault, was a much more nasty disaster than it could've been. Granted, while your use of of the resources available was very well placed, your crew was very lacking in certain areas. While you are a bold commander, of whom, I would follow without question, you still are missing one thing, one true thing that makes you unstoppable." she smirked a slight grin.

"A fire in your eyes."

'Welp, I just called him a wuss to his face. He'll start shooting any moment now..'

 

[Chask274]

As her response began, he nodded in sheet, and walked over to a small cabinet against one wall, picking up a glass and reaching for a decanter of amber liquid. Just as his fingers touched the crystal container, however, the beginning of the second part of her answer made him freeze. He stared straight ahead at the wall, jaw clenched as he listened. When she said her final statement, the glass in his hand shattered, and he dropped the shards to the ground before squaring his shoulders and drawing himself to his full height.

"Group, Attention!"

His voice rang with authority and a carefully controlled amount of anger, a tone she'd easily enough be able to recognize as being extremely similar to the one her training instructors would use just before tearing recruits a new one. Spinning sharply on his heel, he stalked over to Hex, stopping two feet from her. His expression was impassive, but his eyes blazed with energetic determination bordering on fanatic. "Listen up, Trooper. As a fellow pilot, I can understand and thus tolerate cocky behavior to a certain extent, but I draw the line here. You said you don't know much about me, but yet have the audacity to claim I lack conviction, that I don't have the needed spirit for victory?! Those explosives if yours must've knocked some brain cells loose if you think you've got the right to make such claims!" As he spoke, his voice never quite reached shouting levels, but it was loud and full of spite.

"Since this war truly started, I've lost a leg, a good friend, my ship, and far too many of my crew. What all of that has taught me is that untempered enthusiasm, ferocity, and energy only lead to failure in the long run. So do not mistake me calmly taking things one step at a time to ensure success for a lack of fire in my eyes.

Am I understood, Trooper?"

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Standing at attention as soon as the commander had called it, his grievances having been said, she kept a calm face as he said exactly what she'd hoped he'd say.

"Absolutely sir, I must say this." she cleared her throat.

"Thank you for proving my point." she stood up, grabbed a dust pan, and hand broom to sweep up the mess he'd made.

"I meant only part of what I said commander. I merely wanted proof of the fury inside you I've heard so much about." she finished throwing away the broken glass, and sat back down, this time crossing a leg over the other instead of putting them on his desk.

"Sir. I have the utmost respect for you is my real answer. I would fly into any void you ask of me, and do it with a smile. You are hands down one of the most tactfully advanced Commander I have ever had the pleasure of serving under. The way you treat your crew, and your ships is bliss." she gave, not a grin of cockiness, but of utter respect, and confidence.

"So I will ask of you. What would you have me do?"