Aromag …Imperial occupied system.


"Gurlic city district 3 is not yet secure, Agent Destat. We’ve had insurgents bunkered down between these two key access corridor locations right now, that have proven to be impenetrable by conventional means." The corporal moved his hand through the holographic map in front of them showing her the locations.

She had been briefed upon arrival the night past and had gone over previous logs from field officers. Most all were useful. That is, after filtering out the doctoring of failed mission attempts in the reports.
But always within the fillers and even omittinences, cycling through enough of these variables, one could derive at the sum of the problem. And many would say she was good at problem solving, if they were to choose to underrate her abilities, for she often exceeded everyone’s expectations.
She was more than good.
Karlie was a mathematical genius if one would look over just one aspect of her abilities.
And for this mission, it served the Empire to deploy her to Aromag, as a tactician.
“These two sectors have been your point of entries into the district?” She asked looking at the 3-D multi-layered holographic model before them. She already knew they were, but it was in her nature to bait him.
The 3-D map model virtually rotated, angled and elevated as the officer and Karlie seemed to examine it by touch.

“Those entry points are secure. We don’t meet any resistance until we reach these two subterranean decks…here….and here.” He zoomed to those locations.

“I see.
What’s been your primary objective here?” She rotated the 3-D virtual map, looking at, zooming in on various other details.

"We've analyzed small transmission peaks that correlate to rebel activity and district disruptions; indicating this isolated hub on subterranean level 4.… right here…" His index made the area enlarge in detail. "… as possibly their key command center."

Karlie looked over the city map and the current troop locations, along with all the hot spots both confirmed and suspected.
The mechanized occupational forces were having quite a difficult time in stopping insurgents and secure the entire city. Gurlic city had become one throbbing thorn on the system’s Moff’s side, which for months now, seemed to have infected the entire city as it was spreading like an infection, the resistance. New partisan groups seemed to have almost sprouted overnight it seemed.
The planet blockade was holding, and the few system infiltration attempts by NR backed (not confirmed but suspected) freedom fighters were not at all getting through to planet side.
What was growing was new resistance was from the citizens themselves. The current company command was loosing ground and if this was not quenched, soon control of the entire city.
Karlie asked a few key point questions concerning the main access avenues now closed due to the current situation in trying to keep the fighting from spreading further, although it having little real affect.
They were typical blocks and certainly were holding up in actually physically preventing the rebels from taking new ground. But it was the duration of this resistance that was sprouting new groups to form outside the sealed district and appearing here, there, and affecting the city. The Imperial troops had to retake that district soon, or they would loose the entire city’s control. But retaking lost ground had proved many times too costly to troops.

She was sent here to assess the situation and come up with a viable solution to the problem. The brass wanted to flash the entire district, reducing the rebels and everything back to basic elements. But the Moff wanted the area taken clean, as it was quite a valued asset to his plans of controlling this city, along with others on Aromag.
Gurlic’s District-3 was for the most part one of the city's main power generation and distribution hubs. Its generators were off line, had been shut down for weeks already.
And this was what had first drew light on loosing the district to insurgents; a good portion of the city went black. Power rerouting for the most part brought back some vitality, but it was evidently clear that the district was under resistance control.
The initial troops and the ensuing consecutive attempts at retaking it, had all met with ill fate. Troop losses were at 70+% with no viable result, nor lost grounds retaken.
The area had been sealed off and scout probes pretty summed up the hot spots which current troop using conventional means could not regain lost ground.

Karlie had excelled in tactical theory and games at the Naval Academy's Intel Division, before she had been transferred to the IBI. But it wasn't Intel at the time that the IBI had interest in Karlie. It was their R&D Weapons development program, that they found a good niche to use her talents for. Karlie's University doctorate degree in bio-science landed her a lead spot in one of their secret research facilities, where she spent a good 4 years in developing what was named Sebrix. But that endeavor had come to an unfortunate demise, when the entire complex incurred an accidental reactor detonation; destroying everything she had worked for.
Now months later, she was back in the field…a tactician for the IBI, no less.
But she welcomed it and the chance to start something anew with her life.
Karlie wanted to prove not to the Bureau, but to herself, that she was capable of doing anything at peak performance levels; as her past performances before the Sebrix incident had been impeccable.
All her experiences, earned and gotten through blood and sweat, were all there in Karlie’s memory. Her mind flawlessly recalled every bit of sweat, pain and tears that it took to get her where she was. But, not all things were in equilibrium with her.
Karlie’s mind was not the problem. It was her coordination.
She discovered this only just a few weeks back.

Where she once could scale a high wall with the best of them, she now found it most difficult and below standard operatives in her class.
Where she once could drop an opponent nearly twice her size in the art of kinix (marshal arts), she now lacked precision, timing and speed.
It were like that across all her former physical attributions. Seemed she knew the physical aspects, mentally retained all past training experiences; just that her body didn't.
It lagged. It was sluggish, compared to her former self.
She was no longer as fast and reactive as she had previously experienced/remembered. In other words, she had lost her physical prowlness…her edge.
And Karlie knew why too.
It had become evident that the lack of Midi-clorians, which her former self had, was the reason for the slow-up.
Karlie had come to conclude that the Midi-clorians had somehow enhanced her prior physically. But lack of them now impeded all prior physical attributions.
Basically, not being infested with Midi-clorians made her physically weaker than her former self. This affected her timing, aiming, and all previously flawless physical abilities, now to lack.
But her mind on the other hand was sharper, clearer…everything seemed more open to possibilities, without former feelings which swayed her one way or the other. She had never questioned those feelings before, but now the lack of that sway left her to think on her own. And her mind exercised itself to flourish.
In all, what she gained in individuality, it was offset by lack of physical prowlness she once had.

So, Ok…she couldn't kick this Lieutenant's ass now, if she could have done so prior; but the idiot couldn't see what the map was showing him, if it had arrows pointing to the obvious alternatives.
"Alrighty…
Now pay attention, don't blink and do try to keep up, corporal.
Three clicks down the power grid tunnel to ventilation duct-13… here." She was tracing out the path with her finger on the holo-map. It retained a blue path, like one breezing through a puzzle maze. Her mind was ahead of her hand and her voice even farther.
"Duct 13, branch C… 20 clicks SW, leads to the subterranean distribution corridor…here.  Corridor in turn leads to the level 4 you got tagged here…see, but that's a death trap as anyone entering that level could easily be isolated and dispatched." She noticed a smile on his features as she was explaining.
Karlie rolled her eyes.
The moron thought she was meaning the rebels would be trapped. Hadn't he lost enough men down there yet, for it to sink in?
Holding her posture, foregoing the urge to bonk him on his head, she verbally nudged him out of la-la land.
"No, Lieutenant… I'm implying our troops.
It’s a trap.
The rebels have set up another trap…just like the other ones we've been leading our troops into… here…here…anything look familiar to you?” She indicated the previous failed tactical errors. Most likely, the moron next to her was one of them. Then again, this Lieutenant had just earned his bar…most likely through possible attrition.
God, she hated educating idiots…they rarely got it.

“We aren’t going to loose another platoon. Least of all, hand our troop to them again…" She turned to him; his face was flushed realizing his error.
"Yea…you might as well shoot them yourself and save them the trouble-" She then said, adding insult to his injured pride.
Yes… she hit his nerve stem, dead center. The man was becoming uneasy and starting shift his stance loosing posture. She could enjoy this awhile.
"Heck…don't see why our troop tactics weren't transmitted ahead of them…"A tinge of satisfaction edged her to dig the dagger deeper in him, feeling the man squirm-

But she cut her ecstasy short, as someone cleared their throat just behind her.
"Ahem!"
Now, she found herself off balanced.
She had not picked up on the person entering. Not today, she didn't. Certainly over a year ago, but her senses too were not as keen as they once were.
She spun around to see who it was, as the pitch of his voice indicated possibly someone of higher rank. To her surprise it was one whom she hadn't expected, but certainly one she was happy to see. Especially on Aromag.

"Please…do continue, Agent Destat." The man said approaching the holo-map with interest, as to what Karlie and the officer had traced out so far.
"Interesting…yes….
And where perhaps could we deploy some scouts or perhaps some troops to infiltrate their command center?" he asked, looking over the 3-D map.
Karlie looked over at the Lieutenant she had been digging in on a second, then returned to the map and disclosing her tactical plan.
"Two squads for the infiltration, two platoons around the district to create the smoke.
One, use the failed entries again for cover smoke. Our Lieutenant here has the most experience with that and we won’t take that away from him.”She then turned to eye the officer.
“ But for God’s sake, don’t actually re-enter the trap this time.”Karlie then continued on with her plan.
“Dropping two squads down this other narrow access shaft once we got smoke going. Will lead the group just out of ductwork 13, down the plenum to sublevel 7…the sewage tunnel…" She turned to eye her visitor before continuing on.
" …it leads all the way across sector 7 to here…vent shat 42, which has been sealed from the surface and incidentally puts our 2 squads three levels below the suspected command center.
12 clicks further down this passage way…right here…another access shaft.
Up we climb the three levels up, putting us between the command center and the other hot spots… which are busy shooting at our smoke….corporal.” She eyed the officer again. Yes, he understood, nodding.
Good, he was paying attention, she observed. Maybe was learning something this time too.

“Three levels up now puts us right inside level 4 and our rebel friends will find themselves outflanked and trapped. We then take the command center, the district, and the city back.” She nodded, in breezing through the maze of service shafts, corridors and one raw sewage tunnel.
“I estimate the two squads will sustain a 20% total loss, if kept geared up for urban assault.
Reason.
Scenario one;
Anything less, will delay overtaking the rebel command center and then we must factor in enemy reinforcements from these two other hot spots, once they realize it was a smoke screen…here…and here.
Then we are looking at 56% casualties, before we claim the command center, as the rebels wouldn‘t have any means of actually getting to the command center with us being in this key corridor first. The path is a straight line, while our troops have cover this deep in. Basically we’ll be where they hoped to be if the smoke, had been a real frontal assault and they bunkered down to protect the command center. They will be trapped in these corridors. Unfortunately, they’ll keep fighting until they realize their futility.
Scenario 2;
Anything more than two squads will be an overkill and impede quick infiltration, as heavy troop movement through the sewage tunnel, narrow shafts, pipes and vents will not go un-noticed… and again result in a higher casualty loss …32%…due to tight urban fighting, but ultimately achieving the same result in ¾ the time.
My opinion…two squads for infiltration, two full platoons for smoke, and we have their command center while sustaining minimal casualties…
The ensuing enemy reinforcements will arrive at this point here by the time the command center is ours. Again, they will be the ones trapped in these narrow corridors before they reach the center.
They will be quite vulnerable, and I anticipate we'll have quite a stash of rebels to interrogate. It will be suicide for them to continue fighting in that level 3 corridor. It's also one level below 4, and our troops, the smoke, will engage in live fire behind them, once those positions are weakened; as the majority of the rebels there, will be headed to re-enforce their command center. Two arc disrupters on that blocked entrance wall of 4 will open up the second avenue for our troops in pursuit. Both squads and entering troops then will have the high ground looking down both sides of that corridor. " She finished, quite satisfied with her drawn out tactical plan.
Heck, she had been solving harder maze puzzles in grammar school.

Karlie then turned and stood with her hands behind her back, as she now faced her visitor.
 He was still observing , looking over her plan.
He looked satisfied and didn't seem like he was going to interject.

"Permission to accompany your team, Commander.” Karlie stated more of a order than a request.
“I'm assuming you will be leading one of the companies?"

Re: Assesment

He had walked in on her without much of any premonition as to what to expect. He knew the girl. Knew her well enough to have some reservations of feeling the same about this girl, as he once did. The trooper knew for a few months now, as to what had transpired with a secret project called Sebrix. Fel was one of a few Imperials outside the IBI and ICI Bureaus, who had been privileged with that particular aspect about the girl. And that information had come from one source he could take verbatim.
Hell, he had taken a liking to this girl from the start of her career. And that went back to basic boot camp, at a point in his long career when he had been cycled through the system as an instructor.
It were of a time when the Empire was lacking somewhat in quality control. That is; the Empire was stamping out officers that were to lead new companies, as fast as they were loosing those companies to these poorly trained officers. Quantity certainly disproved quality. And it came to be that he found himself regardless of rank, something along the line of a drill sergeant for greenbacks.   And 3 years later, successfully polishing up new cadet asses with his boots, in came Karlie. And it was without say, that this young cadet had been a real pisser from the start…literally.
Fel had come to rile her up so bad the first week in one of his hand to hand combat exercises that the girl actually pissing in her khakis. But that hadn't broken her one bit.
In fact, it had taken him off his own guard, letting her get the better of him, despite her peers present in that exercise. As frightened and humiliated as he had gotten her, she didn‘t break. The girl had pressed harder, regardless as to the fact that everyone in her class, including him, had thought her done.
They all erred.
It was the little blond piss ant, who taught him the lesson that day.

No one had ever gotten the drop on him before. Not in the battlefield, and certainly not in any of his training classes. But Miss Pissy-pants surely did. Trice, that very first month.
It was Fel's own natural keen eye that bettered him to keep it on her throughout boot camp. With that, he faired, better. But that came at a high price for both the girl and him. He pushed her like no other. She responded in such unorthodox ways that if he hadn't always prepared for the worse, he got it worse back. By the near end of it all, he came to the realization that it was her that broke him. Miss Pissy-pants was by all means a little spitfire.  
She had more than earned his respect twicefold, and with that, his heart.
Undeniably, Fel had strong feelings for Karlie, but they were unlike that of Stehl’s. What had bonded Fel to Karlie, differed with that which bonded Stehl to Karlie.
Fel had developed a fondness of her…but that of a daughter he never had.
Needless to say, Karlie too somehow started to form a strong bond for the trooper which carried on through to this day. She could trust her life in his hands.

In many ways, both Karlie and Stehl shared the same attachment to the trooper.

So, where normally he would find some time in checking up on his ol'recruit when he would be stateside (Bastion), Fel had foregone doing that for many reasons…
One was that in all honesty he just couldn't bring himself to think of her in the same manner, as the spitfire of a girl he had come to know. At least not the one he had come to be fond of. Fel, throughout the ensuing months following the Sebrix incident, had met with the Colonel a few times concerning their mutual interest; Karlie.
The subject of Karlie somehow seemed to creep up; mostly initiated by Fel, as he un-admittingly had concerns for her welfare, despite his reservations . Needless to say, the Colonel was always all too happy to share his thoughts… feelings and aspirations to him  about the girl. But Fel just couldn't bring his self to fully bridge that gap, despite being fond of the girl; or at least of the Karlie he knew before.

Fel had chalked his absenteeism up to duty… tours, varying assignments, etc… as the reason he had not gone to meet with Karlie. So far, duty had not required him to interact with the girl, in any official terms. His assignments and tours of late had him quite a distant from IBI directives. With that, he had reasoned in keeping some distance between them till he could maybe venture to discover for himself, this Karlie. Fel wasn't ready to meet her yet. Maybe he never would, as the longer the time spread that separation, the harder it was to jump that span, as it seemed like a growing fisher. And it had come to the point recently that he thought of her often. Hell, he missed the girl. Missed, Miss Pissy-pants…his little spitfire.

~ * ~
Fel got off one of the turbo lifts on deck 18, and headed in his black officer's uniform to assembly room C. There were two days before the ISD was done with its maneuvers out here before they would make a jump to Bak for troop exercises.
Fel thought nothing of this call to assembly room C as nothing more than another change of plans. Typical of the Navy when it came to troop exercises. Seemed they expected the Imperial mechanized forces to provide their own means of transports. And not that it had ever been brought up by the Generals. For it was certainly something that they were constantly bringing up and pushing. But the navy, along with the Empire had no plans in making two armed divisions, independent of the other. It was Naval transport for the Imperial mechanized forces and that was that; although not the definitive end of the subject.
The doors opened upon his approach, for Fel had full clearance on this deck, and for the most part, everywhere on the ISD. He was after all a Lieutenant Commander at this given time of the entire troop here by which was being transported by the Tecknor.
Since this tour was not an active battle front transportation, there were no Generals or Field Marshalls, nor anyone other than Naval brass, which by the way had no jurisdiction over his command than rerouting the ISD's course. Basically, the navy only provided troop transport, but had no direct dominion over the companies under Fel, nor Generals and Field Marshalls, should they have been on these exercises. The only direct coordination between the two forces, were naval support for both troop transport and equipment in both landing and retrieval.
On this particular tour, there were no one on board, including the ISD Captain, that currently outranked him over the ground forces on board.
But it was also of no surprise to Fel when he entered the conference room, finding it void  of Navy ranks.
 It was empty, say for just one man at the end of the table. An ICI colonel, no less.

Fel entered on the opposite end of the table, as to where the Colonel was sitting, waiting.
He looked over to the agent momentarily, before he started to nod in recognition as something certainly had changed with the landing exercises and it wasn't something that he would be fond of. They wouldn't have sent an ICI agent to brief him. Then too, if the agent was here on his own initiative, it wasn't going to be a much better change of plans either.

"Colonel Stehl…" Fel acknowledge him, as he resumed his trek toward him, nearing the agent sitting in his chair.
"I wasn't informed you snuck up on board." Fel settled his butt on the table, one foot on the floor, next to the Colonel.

The Colonel said nothing at first, but leaned back on his chair quite amused in hearing that.
The Colonel then answered him that it usually meant his eyes and ears were going on the trooper. That maybe he should be thinking of finding some green pastures to finish off the rest of his days…

"Funny that." Fel shook his head, letting out a sarcastic chuckle.
"Still can shove my boot down your throat and have it easily slide out your ass, Colonel." He said, slightly flexing his knee, moving his free leg which was dangling in front of the agent.
"Just somehow, I think you got to my ass first…" Fel lightly tapped his boot on the colonel's chair.
"What's the problem this time, Colonel?
… they got you going to Aromag?…ha-haha. ..yea?
Yea, now you need this old fart to help you shovel up some of that shit out for you…huh?"

Yes, fel was all too aware of the problem on Aromag, and it was just a matter of time before they would send some strategist from one of the Bureaus over there, to squelch some dissident ass.
The Colonel's brow had lifted, giving away that the trooper had hit it on the mark.

Fel got off the table and sighed.
"Really?…no shit….
Aromag.
But really, what the fuck you need me for? There's enough descent troops left there for you to play with. I've got 4 companies in this house boat, mostly new recruits, waiting to land on Bak. Not one of these greenbacks have done a landing, much less start policing a bunch of vagrant civis whose nut sacks have finally dropped." Fel's voice showed his disappointment in this possible change of orders.

Aromag was nothing more than an police occupation tour. He was well past those civic duties of policing, and the colonel of all people knew that.
…but wait.
Stehl was not interjecting one bit. Rather, he was letting him have his say first.

Fel suddenly fell quiet for a moment and looked over to the colonel.
It wasn't as simple as the trooper suspected.
Stehl gave him that 'Ohh… Boy' look.
"Its not that simple, is it? " Fel then said, prepared to hear the worst of it.

And the trooper again had guessed right. It was much worse.
Ok, not as worse, but what a left hook!
Fel had been prepared for anything. Throw him anything, and he'd give it his best. But not at all prepared with what Stehl presented him with.

"Damn you, Stehl. I knew I should have retired." Fel's way in telling Stehl, he was in.

The colonel sighed a relief.
Fel knew the man would have begged him, if he had some reservations of taking on the sitting job. But then again, Fel knew it was time he owned up to what he had been putting off.
"Yea…I'll watch her ass for ya…." He said, in a defeated voice.

To his surprise, the colonel got up and embraced him, patting him with both hands on his back.
"Gah…get the-" he pushed Stehl off him.
"Shit,  I was planning to pop in on her when I got back stateside to Bastion anyway. This way's a lot easier for me to save some face at least and see her sooner.
Now, get this soft on me again, and I'll lay you flat out where you stand, colonel!" He held his index outstretched, for distance.

"Hey…thanks.
Missed the ol'girl, anyway." He then said, his smile giving away his own soft side.

~*~

Fel had walked in on Karlie as she was formulating on the fly, a tactical plan of infiltration into an enemy's strong hold.
He kept some distance behind her and the corporal, following her course of direction on the map.
How in blazes could she maneuver so fast through that labyrinth of tunnels, pipes, ductwork, alleys, narrow corridors, and shafts, you named it… and avoid all the pitfall the others had failed to anticipate?
The trek she traced out seemed to just stick out like it was the most obvious route a company of troops would take in a surprise attack. It made all the sense to him as he looked it over just behind them. Ok, the dredging through the completely submerged raw sewage tunnel two levels below…
…it made perfect sense.
The rebels weren't at all in hermetic battle armor, like the troopers. Heck, they could perform in the vacuum of space, why not trek submerged through raw muck?

"Aherm.." he cleared his throat, just in time to save the poor kid from getting skinned raw from Karlie.
Yea, it was the spitfire all right. Karlie had found a weakness in the poor soul and was about to slowly devour him alive when Fel thought best to save him now.
But lord and behold…she had not sensed him at all.

Fel walked over, closer examining the map and plan she had just winged. Shit, he couldn't at this time find any other avenues that would even match the time frame. :ure, there's that route… and then that one there- …er no, that'll-
Ok, if say they took-
No.
Freakin shit…::  he couldn't see another better plan, much less even take just one of the many other different  avenues. Sure, there were other routes, but time, distances and elaborate twists and turns…
Her plan was optimal.
And as he had expected, she asked to go.

"No, agent Destat." He replied, suppressing a smile.

"I'm in, that's a given. Only, I need you here." Fel gestured to the map display.

Nope, she didn't like it one bit, the way he just blew her off like that in front of a subordinate. She even dismissed the poor corporal. And seeing how quick an exit he made, certainly indicated she was cutting him deep.

"Lieutenant…uhm, Agent Destat, no objection if I call you Karlie?" Fel then asked, perturbing her more.
Yep, she certainly reacted like his fireplug. But he wasn't here to test her himself. Not yet anyway. He was here to keep her ass in one piece; he'd feel her out better later.

"Karlie, for the reason that I reserve the right to pick my infiltration team, I can also request Intel support. You are my Intel, and I need your support here…not inside that labyrinth." He gave her as good an official reason as he could think, with all due respect given.

But the little smart-ass indicated she had the entire 3-D map layout in her head and it better served if she was at ground zero making last minute changes than in this room.
Fel had no doubt she did. He knew she retained almost everything she came across, like a snap-shot memory disk. There was no arguing that.

He turned to face her, his demeanor stood as he would be facing a peer or an officer deserving his respect. "I outrank you Lieutenant.
I have to order you to stay put, keep on our channel and monitor the operation.
I need you to watch my back good this time."

Re: Assesment

The dreary grey sepia cityscape looked battle weary. Only it was not the result of skirmishes and dissident uprisings that gave the majority of Aromag’s cites and landscapes that dull grey scale look…depressing by Karlie’s standards. Most of Aromag was, as the last 4 centuries of unregulated emissions had blanketed its skies with heavy smog, depressing. Even its architecture through the centuries of new developments, seemed to have followed a sort of industrialized trend, or fashion; like that of function first, before style. Depressing, whether it was in a war zone or not.

She had opted for a simple filtered breathing mask, as most Imperials who were not indoors or not in hermetic armor typically did, because of the smog outdoors. Karlie had accompanied Bo outside to where the troops were assembled. Bo himself was now also in armor. No visible ensignia dictating his LT Commander rank. It was all recognized through transponders, easily visible in the troop’s helmet HUD.
The team leaders, including Bo, whom had taken command of the coordinated offensive attack to overtake the deep rooted rebel command center, had all gone over the plan. A tactical plan by which she had initially come up with, and collaborate fine tuned, based on progressive and up to the minute additional analytical data and current troop performance statistics.
In turn, the platoon and squad leaders had just briefed each of their corresponding companies, of their required objectives. Together, both infiltration teams and those providing initial smoke support then storm assault would make for quite an incursion.

All was set and troops now were awaiting for the clock to start. Everything was based on coordination and timing. Bo for the most part had kept up his military demeanor. But it was for the most part.
He may have slipped, giving her just credit as a tactician. But Karlie was IBI, Intel. She could read him. Well, read the man when he was not wearing his armor that is. But had indeed read him for the past 3 hours since he snuck up on her, she did.
And Bo, had indeed slipped a few times. Karlie easily caught it, as she had indeed been evaluating him from the moment she turned to find his familiar face behind her.
His eyes. As cold and distant as he tried them on her, they faltered him.
Now clad in white dobat alloy, Bo was almost as impenetrable as his troops. Even his voice, amplified and modified, gave little hint as to what was going on inside that bucket. All she could do now was go on feel.

“You have not once mentioned our dear Colonel Stehl, 1213.” she said, keeping stride with him.

No response from him. Bo just kept walking as if he didn’t hear her.
Karlie’s momentary smirk, out of Bo’s sight, indicated she had hit her mark. ‘Damn him.’ she thought of Stehl.

“Have it your way. You know I can read you in step.” She drew a card.
At that moment, he actually staggered a step, becoming conscious as to how he was walking.
Of course Karlie was bull-shitting, but Bo once more faltered.
‘Holy shit‘, thought Karlie. ‘He’s all nerved up about it. What the hell did Stehl tell him?’

Bo suddenly stopped, stood there a moment then turned to her.
In one quick move, he plucked Karlie’s mask away from her, stretched it out from the bands a bit  and let it snap back onto her face.
“Ack!..
What the-!” she staggered back a step, surprised and at the same time refitting it properly back in place.
“You kidding me?! ..sigh…" She refrained from going at him, as they were near the troop assembly.
Instead, she swallowed it for now.
“You and I need to settle some things, Bo." She reverted talking to the man behind the mask. Hell with protocols.
“Not once did you call…see how I was doing…if I was Ok…nothing.
You hurt me. Hurt me bad, just like my former colleagues, so called  friends, who cast me aside as some kind of freak-” She was speaking in a normal tone, through her breathing mask’s transmitter. It was only directed at the 1213 unit, when Bo suddenly grabbed her by the arm.
This was not the time for it, he indicated. He also made clear he had a lot to catch up with her. Indicating he was a fool and as hard headed as they came, but he was still Bo, her friend. So he was slow in unscrambling what had been going through his noggin. He was here. He was here for her and for her to go with the program first, this offensive strike, they would settle everything else, later.

Karlie twisted her arm loose and just looked into those dark polarizing lenses. She couldn’t see his eyes, but well could envision them. Then again, no. It was frustration, following some humility on her end being played like some school girl, like that. Especially near the troops. Although they were at an awkward angle for them to have seen much or of anything. Still-
It then soon dawned on her that Bo wouldn’t be playing with her like that unless-

“Fine.” She finally answered, hiding her relief.
“But if you get yourself shot down there, I’m ordering them leave you in the sewage tunnel.”
He then slapped her on the shoulder with an ‘atta girl’, before resuming his trek toward the troops.
Karlie followed soon afterwards, a few steps behind. Her mind was whizzing about, trying to figure exactly what Bo and Stehl had conspired, concerning her. For no doubt about it, once she played the Stehl card, Bo had stepped out of that armor for her. Karlie, although wouldn’t stop trying to figure them out, she was nevertheless in a better state of mind, as she was relieved Bo was still quite familiar with her, as she had known him to be. He would always step out of his armor for her sake.
Karlie ran her hands down her uniform dress, making certain all was proper, as she caught up with TK1213. She was after all an IBI Intel officer and always in perfect dress form and poise for the troops.

~ ~


“…disregard that last order. Move forward at twice the clip toward the tunnel shaft."  Karlie took over the comm, cutting off the current support coordinator that was directing Bo’s squad down under.
 The officer that she cut off looked intensely at the map and of the real time action both deep under and at the designated points that for now were smoke. Karlie was surprised he had yet to catch that everything ws actually on time. For her to quicken the infiltration squad pace was not at all necessary.
“Come on, double time, boys…” She transmitted, as the map showed them now quite ahes of the calculated time. Still, the other officer didn’t challenge her, as she after all, devised the plan. For all he knew, she ws seeing, calculating something he just wasn’t up to par with her to pick up on.
And pick up on what she was up to, he certainly didn’t.
Karlie could see that everything had been going according to plan. But her ‘get even scheme with Bo’ just couldn’t help creep up on her.

“Don’t question me, 1213. I say keep up with the double pace.
A variant is in the mix…nothing that I can’t foresee. “ She egged the lead squad commander.
When the second squad, as they too were on the same channel, asked if they too should quicken their pace to meet up with the first..
“Nope. You boys are doing fine. Maintain your present course and pace.”

“…yes, down the shaft, to the tunnel TK1213. Quickly, now!.” She had lead Bo’s team at half the time down to the sewage tunnel.
“I said, down! Down the tunnel, please…who’s coordinating this?
That’s tight…7..8…9…come on, all you boys…12…13…good, yea, down into the sewer pipe…atta boy.” Karlie wasn’t aware she had quite a content smile on her. But the officer next to her did.
He then got it and made a face. Poor troops he now figured.

“Ok…looking good in there boys, now go down about 100 yards and hold there. “ Oh how she enjoying sweet revenge.
The other officer shook his head and kept his mouth shut.
He simply reported that the second sqad that were to meep up with Bo’s were 12 minutes on the mark behind.
"Damn, right…" Karlie nodded satisfactory.

“Oops..my bad Bo. Looks like you are gona wait in that muck till the other squad catches up. I thought there was a variant that now’s proven neutral. Stay put till the other squad catches up..” She did a fist pump in the air. She had Bo speed up to only wait in the raw sewage tunnel.

Turning to the coordinating officer again, she gave him a heads up.
“ …you got helm again.” She said, and stepped back continuing to monitor the operation as planned.
Yea, most likely the old man was steaming in a hold formation in that raw sewage. And he most likely figured out she had gotten him in there in a hurry so as to have him wait in that disgusting much, regardless that they were in hermetically sealed armor.
It was just the principal of the thing. And Karlie had gotten him back for that snap in the face mask pull he did on her. Payback was always a given with her…and Bo knew that.

~ ~


43 minutes later, the teams came out with many rebel prisoners and their command center in Imperial control.
Karlie opted to remain in the map coordination room, monitoring the prisoners coming out of the deep on the monitors. Actually, she was observing the prisoners as they were escorted from the field to the processing center. She was looking for rebel command personnel…officers. It wasn’t as easy as if they were in some sort of uniforms. They weren’t. And most likely, all of them, both foot soldiers and command were only going to provide basic personal information. It would be quite a long drawn out interrogation program to go through each and every one of them to sift out tinker, tailors from soldiers, spies, as many of them were just that, civis that had been brain washed by the dissidents.
“Her!…" Karlie pointed over to one of the prisoners in custody displayingthe monitor.
Zooming in on her, she observed her more closely. The woman’s eyes looked directly at the discrete camera, like looking right at Karlie. With literally dozens of such camera, she had honed in on that particular one.
“Its about right…” Karlie spoke to the officer net to hr, who now was looking at the woman o the monitor.
“It was very unlikely that a man would have held up that command center for so long. I bet she didn’t count on another of her like, to take her down like that…” oh how she loved to gloat sometimes.

“That’s our man…that woman. She‘s in command.”
Bring her to me. “ Karlie then ordered.

“Wait!-’ She then interjected, before the officer went ahead to place her order.
“Get her cleaned up first… she doesn’t look like she showered in awhile.” She then said.
“Go!… hop to it!…come on corporal, need I repeat myself?!” She clapped her hand, getting the officer to now act.

Karlie quite satisfied with both the success of the operation, and that  of nabbing what appeared to be the rebel leader, turned with quite a smile to leave the map room.
But only to surprisingly run right into a grimy dirty sewer smelling trooper…covered no less with raw fecal matter or similar much.
“Ahack!
…Eeew… Oh my God!…” She backed away, her uniform now quite smeared with the contents of what had clung to the trooper’s armor from that sewer tunnel.

Re: Assesment

He had a feeling…
Checking the map on his HUD did little in confirming his suspicions though. As optimum a route through the labyrinth of the underground facilities of the city, there were countless variables that he knew only the girl could foresee and redirect them properly. As thus, commands to hold, proceed and pace settings were all up to central.. up to the girl, to update and guide his team.
And that little spitfire had made him hurry up, only to have him and his team wait in the muck. It was only when the order to hold from Karlie came through that he knew he was literally in deep shit.
In armor or not, it was well played by her. He'd have to somehow figure out how to show his appreciation for that stunt.
God damn it, she led him right into it, step by step. Regardless that it was the main avenue of outflanking the rebels, as the sewage tunnels were at their fullest and stagnant, due to the trash pump stations haven been taken out by the rebels themselves, it was hold up and wait order while in the muck that was demeaning. At least due to the fact that it was the girl's intention to have them stay under for more than the required amount of time to transverse it. He could so love to hate her at times like those…

~ * ~

The operation went as planned and aside from taking the entire den of dissidents and their command center, the casualty rate was much lower than calculated. This much he was thankful of. The plan had been an optimal one and worked.

"In threes…up the open egress tunnel." Bo was now directing the flow of taken rebel prisoners.
Once they had the command center and trapped their rebel reinforcements in that narrow corridor, between his two squads and the other two platoons entering from above, surrender had been the only viable option for them.
And lucky for them this wasn't Palpatine's Empire where all and any dissidents were immediately executed.
No, this now was politics at its best. Aromag, although fully Imperial occupied, had been given constrictions as to the treatments of its dissidents. It was now up to the processing camp to sort out followers and leaders. Big distinction as to who would mostly get life or re-education.

'Commander, we have a request for prisoner 27, the female taken at rebel center. The IBI has tagged her for immediate interrogation.' Announced one of the troopers handling part of the prisoners.
The female was in his group and the order had come from a corporal back at their own command center.
Bo gestured to a Lieutenant , the second squad leader to take over prisoner detail, as he went over to the trooper's prisoner group.
It was the only female in this particular group. Bo had personally taken her down, as he too suspected her to be an officer or hold some sort of rank. It wasn't too difficult in disarming her, but taking her was not as delicate a task. She actually put up a good fight, lasting at least 8seconds, before he had her on her stomach, knee to her back and cuffed.

He approached her, and she most certainly was aware he had been the one to take her, as he was still quite covered with waste. But so was she. And her demeanor showed it. She was repulsed in the same crap that was inadvertently smeared all over her in her struggle.
Bo looked her over a moment and smiled inside that bucket of his.
But he didn't smile because the rebel female was covered in raw waste, no. He pictured someone else in a similar predicament.
The troops that had transverse through the sewage tunnel and outflanked the rebels were all covered in the same muck.
But being sealed in their hermetic battle armor, they weren't at all pervi of the wonderful aroma they permeated. Neither were the other troops. But the rebels could most definitely smell them. And this female who would normally stare him down, had her head turned, just because of the muck he was still covered in.

"I'm going to ask you to stand on your own and follow me quietly. " Bo stood over the woman, gesturing for her to stand.
She finally turned up to look at him, before actually complying. She was smart. She knew she had no choice. If she resisted, then he would most likely manhandle her. And by her experience with him already, it wouldn't be hard for him to do so. Bo in fact was giving her a choice to come quietly or be taken with force.

"Good… maybe we'll stop over at the refreshers and get you cleaned up." He then said, seeing she complied.
"This way." He then gestured her and took pace a step behind her.
He was leading her out of the tunnels, escorted and passing the other prisoners, as it looked them now had the rebel leader or someone of importance.
The sorry looks the other prisoners gave the woman, confirmed Bo had such a leader…their leader.

"TK-7220, prioritize this prisoner 27 to wash down." He ordered the trooper in charge of washing other fellow troopers that had gone in that same sewage tunnel and prisoners that had come in contact with them. It was a booth with multi-spray and wash solution.
"Your bindings." Bo said to her, meaning he was going to undo them. She again complied and he de-energized them off her.
The woman knew enough not to make a run for it, as she was in the middle of many armed troops, both processing prisoners and others on the side securing the perimeter.
"Inside." Bo ordered her.
She knew what it was and readily jumped in. After all, she had inadvertently gotten smeared in the trooper's filth, in her take down. Same filth that was currently still on his armor.
The attending wash trooper even offered for Bo to step in the wash first. Under normal circumstances he would. Just this time round, he was foregoing the wash to present his self as a proper exchange gift to give Karlie for her thoughtful and spiteful consideration of the one she gave him.
It was poetic justice.
One which he had learned from Karlie a while back. It was a perfect payback.
 
"TK-7220, bring prisoner 27 back to Central, after she's clean. She's to be IBI interrogated.
I've got something to address at Central first." Bo then instructed the trooper.
And with that, Bo headed back, in stinky form, to take care of business.

~ * ~

He couldn't have timed it better.
Poor girl ran smack right into him.
Her reaction was priceless to say the least.

"…not my problem, girl." He shouted over the noise of the shower going.
She didn't hear right.
"I said, that's not my problem…your dress uniform. Its part of occupational hazards!" He chuckled, shouting through the refresher door.

Karlie had not been too thrilled , nor found it funny one bit, regardless that she knew that she had it coming. But her argument was that he was sealed up in what could also be a biohazard suit, and she was in her custom ordered designed IBI uniform…not anything of a standard issue.
"..not caring!…
Come on…knock-knock…how long a shower you taking anyway?" Bo looked at his crono. He was already cleaned up and back in uniform. Hell, he had went to clean up the same time Karlie ran into him. And he had been back like 20 minutes already.
Bo shook his head. "Women…" he then said, moist to his self.

"Never mind! Hurry up. We have to talk!" He replied, as she again seemed hard of hearing under her shower.

Bo then stepped away from the refresher door and walked on over to the small bar. It was a standard amenity for officers of her level.
Rummaging through some of the varieties of liquors, he settled on a dark bourbon, no ice.
It was nothing special, just Imperial stock that served its purpose for its temporary guests.
By the time the girl came out, Bo was on his second drink and watching a 3-D sports game that was projected between the sitting area and the wall.
Bo spun his sofa chair around.
"Hello to you too, sweetie… like the look." He said with a smirk.
Her hair was just towel dried and gave her quite a different look.

She sarcastically smiled back and plopped herself, on the other sofa. She needed a moment to cool off.
Bo laughed, as she did look a bit on the cooked side. Karlie must have used as hot a shower as she could possibly stand. If he didn't know better, she was on the border of having a heat stroke.
"Silly girl.." he got up and fixed her a cold iced glass of water.
Bringing it to her, he again took his seat.
She readily drank it, then putting the cold glass to her forehead.

"Truce for now…hear?" He then said.
Karlie nodded and took another good sip before settling the glass down.
She then asked if that woman she tagged had been prepped for interrogation.
"Yea, she's been in that room a while now…two hours' my guess.
When you heading over?"

She wasn't. She was going to let that scum rebel stew awhile, maybe 12, more hours.
Karlie indicated she needed to see about acquiring a new uniform, seeing how she had to incinerate the one she had.
"You mean to say that you only brought one?" He asked.

Yes, she indicated that she had brought only one dress uniform because she had no doubt she'd settle the matter in less than a day. No way was she going in front of that rebel scum in a standard officer's uniform. That woman could lie in filth for weeks, but not her. She was Imperial…clean and well dressed to boot.
Bo just simply chuckled, getting up for a third round. He would need it, as he and Karlie had a lot to catch up on.
Hell, he was now beginning to feel a little bad for the poor woman that would have to deal with Miss Prissy's interrogation.
Maybe the poor rebel woman would have been better off if he had shot her, he was starting to think.

"Well…you getting dressed, or you going out in that robe?"

Re: Assesment

Karlie couldn't scrub herself clean enough…

Of all the freakin things Bo ever pulled on her, this was the stinkiest and nastiest she could even think of. And thinking about it only made her slow cook more under the hot shower and scrub.
Bo at the moment was outside her bathroom door.
It was hard to hear what he was mostly saying as she had the shower at full blast. And good thing it had a preset high temp limit, or her skin would be popping some blisters about now. But it was just under that threshold. Although the high temp was taking a toll on her being under that water for so long.
If she didn't know better, she could swear she was actually sweating under that shower.
Wait.
Frak, she was sweating. She could feel it.
And she knew also that she overstayed her session in there. She was more than clean, she was sterile…maybe too sterile and way overdone.

The bathroom exhaust had lost its race, as the entire room coming out of that shower was completely fogged in.
Karlie wiped the condensation off her mirror.
"Holly shit!"… She was staring at a red faced double.
And yes, she was still sweating.
Contemplating a cool-down session, she opted for seeing what mister stinky bomb was up to out there. She hadn't heard a peep or a knock in some time. She even wondered if he was still in her apartment.
Towel drying her hair, she took notice of the complimentary bath robe that came with the suite. Normally she would come out in the flesh if alone or with Stehl there.
With possibly Bo out there; towel or robe…towel or robe…

Whoa, was the apartment cool and refreshing. Once Karlie stepped out of that sauna she apparently made her bathroom of, the apartment was like stepping out on a cool brisk morning. The steam fog tried trailing her out, but remained reserved in the bathroom.
And Bo was still there, now sitting and watching some guy stuff…sports.
Sure she loved sports. But couldn't sit there too long, especially watching a holo-gram rendition of it. She'd rather be there cheering and booing…maybe chuck some drink on the opposing fans…fun stuff like that, not sit there getting drunk.
She dropped on the opposite chair sofa, tired like hell. That shower took more out of her than refresher her, really. But then again, she had Bo speed her to the apartment after even going through the same wash in the field as he did. Only Bo had been sealed up neatly in his hermetic armor. She on the other hand was in a nifty uniform dress that incidentally had to be sent to the incinerator, thanks to Bo.
Ok, yes, she deserved it for not seeing it coming. After all, she initiated that prank on Bo first.

Karlie ran her hands through her hair, as the smart-ass decided to comment on it.
It didn't much matter. Bo was Bo.
"Who?
Oh her…
Yea, well let her sweat a little longer in there. I'll get to her when I'm good and ready. And right now…I'm not in the mood." She replied to Bo's inquiry and reminder of the prisoner she had picked out.
Sure enough, even Bo agreed that the woman seemed to hold a high prestige over the others that were taken alive.
She was somehow in their higher ranks…a rebel leader, if they would call her that. But they were really just anarchist…rebels and dissidents who couldn't function in a real society…and so on, and so on, went Karlie.
"I'll straighten her ass out… just you watch."


Bo on the other hand always had little to say or add to her political views on things. He had his own, but somehow it was hard for her to figure him all out. But if there were anyone she would trust her life with, it was Bo. Oh, and Stehl too.
Ok, well sometimes she wanted to kill Stehl…and why not? She loved him…maybe too much. If anyone was to kill him-
Frak, no she couldn't kill him. Yea, at times she could all worked up and throw a tantrum with him…but God she loved him so…

Bo as always, came to her rescue. She was parched and the cool glass of iced water did more than quench her thirst. It now also felt good, cooling her head off. And Bo's consideration got her head out of that vortex she was heading, thinking about Stehl.
Bo as always, knew what she needed, and not what she at times wanted.
Right now, they needed to get settling aside some old misunderstandings and patch anything that was amiss between her and Bo. And if her hunch was right, Bo and Stehl had already talked…talked concerning her.
Karlie knew she could not do without him before and certainly couldn't begin to explain how much she needed him now to be by her side, than before. She had to explain a few changes about herself too. Changes that she wasn't sure Stehl talked to him about. Even so, if she came forward to Bo regardless, he would know she was still sincere and felt unchanged about him.

And so Karlie, once back down to operating temp and with a clear mind, opened up to Bo.
It wasn't surprising that he knew a lot about her and what had taken place. But it was Karlie who presented her vulnerability to Bo. And Bo, although not liking it much, understood and accepted the changes in her, as it was only biological and not at her a change in her personality or who she was.
He also explained that the other's death had indeed pained him. Even after he was privy of her existence… He just had a hard time loosing any Karlie.
It slowly became apparent to Karlie that Bo didn't know all the details and possible theories of the other woman(it was easier to think of the other that way) still being alive. And as Bo and her talked, she was now most certain that Stehl had not told Bo that the entire Sebrix team may have duplicated themselves before their originals were killed in that facility accident.
It wasn't that Karlie wanted to withhold that info from Bo, as nothing was actually conclusive about the entire incident;  she figured it best stay where it was…in the back closet somewhere out of sight, out of mind. Nothing , nor anyone had yet to surface anywhere according to her Intel, so why even bring up that theory.

Needless to say, she and Bo had gotten back to their same ol', same ol'. She was so happy to have her Bo back, and he his 'little spitfire', as he often called her.
And Bo assured her he was there for her, whether she wanted him at times or not.
That, he made several points about.
Karlie knew exactly what that meant, too. Just, she wasn't certain she could own up to his expectations any more. She wasn't as physically adept as she once was. And that was because of the lack of Midi-clorians now. But Bo didn't much care for such crutches. He believed an individual could do most anything if they put their mind to it. And he had full confidence that she could come up to par as to the levels she was at when in her crutches.
"…lol, crutches…yea, I guess you can call them that…" She laughed, finding it funny, his metaphor for Midi-clorians. Then again, his count wasn't much to talk about and he was pretty much at top form.

Several hours later, and following another quick shower, Karlie came out of her bedroom fully dressed in civis. Nope, she wasn't still in the mood to interrogate the rebel woman scum. But she was hungry as hell and most definitely didn't want a chow down at the Imperial mess hall. She wanted a full fledged first class meal, and she was treating.
Bo knew there was no arguing with her. Besides, he was famished. All those drinks he had at the apartment needed some substance to settle him.
So, as the poor rebel woman, prisoner 27, sat in the interrogation room all these hours, and God know how much longer, Karlie was heading to a nice meal and then maybe some late night shopping; as she certainly needed a new custom made to order dress uniform. Hell, she needed to look all neat, tidy and sharp whenever she'd get to that rebel woman scum…

Re: Assesment

Gurlic was for the most part still under Marshall Law, as a good portion of its power grid was still out. This of course had been due to the rebels taking up a stronghold in District 3, one of the cities power distribution hubs.
But earlier that day the siege was over, and Fel, along with several teams both inside and out, had flanked the rebels and took many of them prisoners. And the plan which had successfully been carried out had been devised by none other than the pretty blond next to him in the speeder.
So it could be reasoned that when Karlie had the notion for them to grab something to eat that evening, that they would have to trek it across RT387 and through several check points to dine at a descent eatery.
Thus continued on their first day into night adventure.

"…I can't rightly say. The majority of security details here are adequate enough. I'll have to review some set protocols…see how affective-…
Hold up a few…" he had come to another check point on RT387 and had slowed the speeder as to the projected velocity as he approached the stop/check point.
There were 7 other speeders stopped ahead of them already, giving Fel more than enough time to check out and make another evaluation of the check point procedures.
Karlie found him funny, as most of the time his mind was always on the troops, whether he was off duty or in civies. Fel was by no means a ball buster like Karlie. And Karlie actually wasn't as hard as she wanted others to perceive her. Sure, she was a tough cookie to deal with at times, but she wasn't sadistic like so many he knew at her level. For the most part, Karlie knew and did her job way past any measured standards. She was a cut above the rest. But she did have a narcissistic streak. Although she was never too far from reeling in reality when under pressure or when needed to.
Fel was certainly evaluating the troops and personnel at checkpoints and everywhere else for that matter. It was what he always did and what had kept him alive; never becoming complacent. But too, he was evaluating his Karlie, whether she picked up on it or not. And he'd be quite surprised if she hadn't. Still, it wasn't something he just recently did with her. He had always done it, always measuring, always evaluating assessing her. And if she fell a few notches below a given level, he most certainly would always let her know. In many ways he was Karlie's check point. And she always benefitted from it. Had always benefitted since he had met her as a new recruit, way back at boot camp.

Fel took their speeder through the check point and let the troopers go about their business. He had presented them a civilian version of his ID and that of his passenger. Most officials at their level carried two forms of ID; a full official ranking ID which could be suppressed, and a standard civilian one.
Both he and Karlie were checked out and given the go ahead to continue on.

Karlie once more asked him how this bunch did. Fel smiled, shaking his index at her, as he accelerated toward Linsdrat. "Night's not over yet."    
The final checkpoint was upon entering the city limits. A more thorough scan on the vehicle, didn't flag Fel's poly-alloy concealed weapon.
Karlie naturally didn't normally carry any weapons, as it wasn't a real necessity or requirement most times. She was IBI, investigator, internal affairs and tactical theorist these days. Besides, the girl was never too detached from having an entire battalion at her disposal. And how better armed could she be, when he was at her side?
Still, she almost gave them away, when she suddenly bust out laughing when they were given the clearance to enter Linsdrat.
The sentries didn't at all pick up on anything out of the ordinary. Not even that he was twice her age and certainly she wasn't at all dressed like she was out with her father. But Fel carried his self appropriately, and for all they knew; his civi ID scan of business executive only meant that his companion was his mistress or some high class hooker… both perhaps, and on some stimulant to make her all giggly.
Naturally Karlie had no clue as to what these sentries or other check point personnel may have thought of them too travelling late evening like that. But Fel's smirk, facing away from her, did imply to them that very impression, when they looked over to his passenger sitting next to him. It was not that he was pulling a prank on Karlie or trying to look his self macho; it was part of his assessment as to the perceptions the troopers were being lead to believe. As thus, he was testing them. Testing every checkpoint to see what he could get away with using just civi ID.
And that wasn't the end of it, as Karlie wasn't aware of what Fel was really doing to test them. She was somewhat oblivious as to what Fel was implying to them, and actually thought that when a sentry officer (without armor) looked over to her and smiled when making eye contact with her, that they were flirting with her. This misconception on her part was reinforced by Fel turning also to smile in her direction. If only she knew what he was suggesting to them she was; God help him, he was silently musing.

Linsdrat City was not under Marshall Law, despite the check points throughout the city limits. It was because of the checkpoints that miraculously it had little to almost non existent rebel activity. Or so it had been reported. Fel nevertheless never took such reports verbatim; hence his concealed poly-alloy shoulder piece.
Finding a parking spot for their speeder didn't prove too difficult. Not many Aromagans could afford speeders, nor these higher class eateries. At least not your average civilian here.
"Come again?" Fel looked over to Karlie.
Was she kidding him?
"Its just…across the street a bit" he pointed to the restaurant.
Nope, she wasn't walking so far across with her heels on.
Fel looked over to Karlie's footwear and shook his head. "I didn't put them on your feet.
It's just right across-" He got lured into arguing with her before he remembered it would be pointless in this situation. It was either turn around and head back, or-

"Really…Oh lord, you haven't changed a bit…" Fel said, once more defeated as he got out of his side to go around the speeder and assist Karlie out.
Not only had he U-turned the speeder and brought her to the front entrance of the restaurant, but she had expected him to let her out of the speeder like a gentleman. The valet personnel had come to her side, but she didn't acknowledge them; rather, she wasn't budging till Fel went around and did so himself.
Fel half cursing and laughing knew she had to win this round, as he was even more famished than before. That was the sole reason he didn't just up and sped back to Gurlic when she got him to pull up in front of the restaurant, instead of trotting over across the street.
"I got it…" He gestured to the valet to recede.

"You highness…" He gestured, as she stepped out of the speeder taking his hand.
She was very much pleased not only taking his hand, but wrapping her arm around his.
Fel, let out a chuckle. Sure, why not, he thought.
"Alright, all yours boys." He then said, indicating for them to go and park it.
Both he and Karlie then were given first class entry into the restaurant. The double ornate entry doors were not automated. Rather, a doorman curtly opened the door for them as they approached. Swinging a look over to his girl, she certainly looked in her element. And here he had thought earlier, they'd go and grab some banta burger or the like.

"Hmm…" Fel could see now what his little spitfire had picked up on. Ok, so she called it on the mark here. Parking the speeder across the way and walking over, would have been too out of place for both her and him. And that also explained now why she had pressed him into wearing his formal tux-like attire.

"Smart cookie. How'd you ever find out about this place?" he asked, as the hostess came over to greet them.
They didn't have reservations, but again, Karlie uttered some word, common…actually something in which to describe the restaurant; posh.
That seemed to put a smile on the host and with an agreeable nod, welcomed them to follow him. Karlie then turned to Fel and mentioned that Stehl had once told her about this place. Fel gave more than an evaluation peer around. Oh yea, it would be something of a place his buddy would scope out. The amount of women to men ratio was about what the Colonel would see fit to make note of the place. And by the manner of which a few had gathered by the bar, Fel could see they were…waiting for dates?
Oh boy…if only his spitfire could pick up on what some women were doing here, she'd wipe that posh content smile on her features, for sure. Fel silently whistled to his self. Best not ruin his night. Yes, his night, as if Karlie took wind of what he just picked up on…
And Stehl had told her about this place? Fel thought the poor guy must have been two sheets into the wind when he spoke to Karlie about it…or the man was just glutting for punishment.

"Please…allow me, my lady…" Fel took hold of the situation, drawing a chair out from the table their host had taken them to.
Naturally, he took the opportunity to place her back to the bar and out of sight of the other ladies. Hell, he'd enjoy that view better…
Needless to say, Karlie took to the role play and rightly allowed Fel to seat her.
So far so good, thought Fel, and then ordered two drinks before their host left them.

Re: Assesment

She was up there in the spotlight singing her heart out.
And that was all that she was credited for, as she were no vocalist, or plainly speaking; she was no singer.
But aside from the fact that she was just plain drunk, she wasn't totally that off key. Only that she'd best not give up her day job to pursue a music career.
Bo was cheering her on, and so were his two lady friends that somehow or other, he had invited them to come along after the two left the restaurant.
Karlie had pretty much got silly drunk over their dinner, rightly quick. And if it weren't for Bo in bailing her out, she would have found herself lying on the front street entrance of the establishment on her tosh.
Well, how in hell could she have known that escargot, upon which the waiter so artfully suggested, were in actuality a gourmet dish of seasoned cooked snails?

The scene played out like, "WTF!"…  Karlie's eyes bulged out as she yelped out a scream and nearly jumped straight up and off her chair, that is; if it weren't for the table in the way. It all went downhill as soon as when the poor server lifted the dish cover to reveal her posh entrée.  Fueled by alcohol, Karlie went into overdrive.
True, that the particular appetizer came to be served along with her fourth round, putting her as a light weigh; but regardless, Karlie immediately flipped out, thinking it were a sort of protest statement, from the server himself, who had somehow figured they were Imps and messed with her order… hense, her head. Karlie in her somewhat primed and altered state of mind had raced right on over into believing it was indeed a disrespectful statement by a dissident.  No way was she going to take it sitting down…nor be faced with that disgusting plate of God-knows-what sewage shelled slugs they were or dredged up from. Hell no!
Unfortunately, she didn't pick up on Bo at all through all this, as before the waiter lifted the cover to her plate; Bo, doing his best not to laugh had pulled away from the table. It could have pointed to Bo knowing all too well what was going down. But she didn't pick up on it, as she was well intoxicated already. But most likely Bo knew exactly what she had inadvertently ordered and had kept his mouth zipped, knowing quite well her taste and distastes.
Needless to say, the well prepared and expensive farm raised escargot soon adorned the uniform of the waiter and then some. Karlie flipped the entire dish over, spattering most of the dish on the poor guy and getting the otherwise delicious cooked snails all over the table and floor too, as most bounced back toward her. Yes, the returning snails off the waiter's jacket pushed her up another level of frustration. How dare the ingrate! Her temper flared!  Naturally of course the entire commotion led to the other staff at hand coming over to their table trying to see if they could be of any help in calming Karlie down; which in turn didn't at all go over too well with her either. Again, mistaking their help and explanation as being sarcastic, she went on offense.
So one, two… three more good Samaritans found themselves dodging and diving for cover as the snails flew like snowballs as quick as she could scoop them up from the table.
Bo must have dropped some credits rightly quick on the table before Karlie's feet were suddenly lifted off the floor and she, still in tantrum mode was being carried out the door on Bo's shoulders. But not till she chucked one last escargot she still had in hand to the host. The chap got it right in the eye. And Bo kicked it into overdrive. Although not before first detouring with the lady in evening dress on his shoulders to make a quick pit stop at the bar for some condiments to go.
So began their real first night on the town…

Karlie couldn't rightly remember how they got back in their speeder, much less loosing her heels. But after calming herself, she wasn't about to end her night too quick. Hell, she had for the most part been cooped up for almost two years now under some unofficial house arrest of sort, due to that Sebrix mess. Hell, she had been watched over way too long. She just wanted to let off some steam. She was flying and damn was she feeling good.
Seemed Bo understood, in more ways than he should have. Then again, Bo somehow had his agenda going too, as when Karlie looked back from their speeder, there sat behind her two similarly well dressed women.
To redheads in fact. Bo had a thing for red heads. How he managed to get her out and convince these two to come have a night out with them was way beyond Karlie's comprehension.
One thing was certain, they needed more alcohol.

"STOP!!" she yelled as they sped through the center of Linsdrat.
Bo put on the magnetic brakes on so fast that the two women almost came over from the back seats on over to their side.
Bo had drawn his weapon thinking Karlie had yelled for some tactical reason. But it wasn't as detrimental as that. She had spotted an all night liquor distribution port and that was her primary objective.
"Oh shush you!…back it up, and pull over…" She said, more concerned about hitting up the liquor store.
"…and what the hell you pulling that thing out for?…you wana shoot somebody?" She punched Bo in the arm to put his blaster away. The two reds sitting behind them were finding this as funny as Karlie, and all were game for getting more booze. They were all good and set to have a good time. Then again, that's what their profession was.
So it came to pass that Bo again was the one with viable credits for the alcohol.
It was also then that as much as Karlie lagged a bit, she inquired of their name and exactly who the frak they were; those two red heads in the back seat of the speeder.
They were Lita and Phasporkina.
"Phasfor-what?" Karlie was having difficulty getting past two syllables.
'No, not for..por..Pha-spor-kina.' the tongue twister corrected her.
"Ahh, Sport…" Nodded Karlie, as she was not doing so well in opening up one of the cache they just acquired. She rightly then passed it to her. "…see whacha can do about this…"
Phasporkina had no difficulty getting it opened, and then went to hand it back to her.
"Oh, no…" Karlie tapped the bottom of the bottle. " You two need to catch up… come on, bottoms up…"

It didn't take any time at all to figure where they would be heading first.
Lita and Sport, Phasporkina's new name, knew exactly where these hot spots were throughout the city's underground.
So on to Linsdrat's underground they all headed to, including Bo who for many reasons was all for it, without a caution or worry. Seemed the old soldier had many such similar campaigns already under his belt.

As dreary as Aromag was during the day, its nightscapes somehow with a variety of neon lighting and its effects with the night fog and smog, gave it an almost surreal atmosphere. Linsdrat wasn't as badly smog'd up as Gurlic was, as one didn't usually need to use a breathing mask to get around this city. Then again, this little known underground night life of Linsdrat were not for the common, but the better off and higher caste populous of Aromag.  Mainly, those who had more than average credits and could indulge in the nightlife. Although in reality, most of these vises and hot spots were indoors if not a level or more under Linsdrat City.

She sucked. Karlie sucked real badly at Alliances and Bucket-Heads, over in Kav's Cavern Tavern. It was a holo-sim shooting game, mostly anti-Imp if she had her head screwed on right. But she didn't. And instead of shooting the Bucket-Heads, as her game character was part of the Alliance, Karlie was taking out her own kind.
"What the frak!…I took the whole regiment out, and I'm frakin out of the game!" She kicked the console platform, as Bo and the two reds, now clinging on him were laughing hysterically.
 Karlie still hadn't picked up as to even why most of her kills were from the backs of the characters. It was just seemed too easy and yet-… she lost? What kind of stupid game was that?
"Hell…you try!" Karlie then offered Bo. But Bo, laughing, declined, saying he rarely had to shoot his own team mates.
He then suggested she take another drink and offered her his. They had finished that bottle an hour ago and were now watering down at the tavern.

The Raban Conspiracy Club was one huge dance club and Karlie did her thing to the pulsing of the halo-lights and beat of the synthesizers on the dance floor; dancing with Bo, Lita, Sport and some new acquaintances.
The club was a hit and for the most part they shaved off a good three hours there. It was easy meeting people, as everyone in their genre easily seemed to meld together. There were never any talk of occupancy from imperials or any political topics, work or anything outside from having a great night, living the moment. Drink after drink followed one, two… actually constant non-stop dance floor, followed with more refreshments fueling more rave type music and dancing. In all, it were exhausting to say the least, but fun and exhilarating as hell.

How they later found to be at Blanks, a karaoke bar, with another couple Karlie's age, which they had somehow adopted, could only possibly be explained by Bo, as Karlie was beyond her normal frame of awareness.
And so came to pass that for all intent and purpose, Bo had a great singing voice, while Karlie perhaps due to her altered state barely could carry a note. Still, it made no difference, as she sang her heart out trying to keep up or even make out the moving words of the songs, which her associates picked out of her lineup. If she could remember this nigh, she'd argue the fact that the holo-projector was out of tune and most definitely not her. But at this given point, Karlie was a singing idol in her mind, and loved every minute of her stage time and her supporting audience.


~ ~ ~


Buzz..buzz..buzz..buzz…buzz..buzz….

"W…what the frak!…" Karlie suddenly was awakened by her alarm.

…buzz..buzz..buzz..buzz…
The light from her room window was all too painful and she struggled to quiet down that horrific noise.
…buzz..buzz..buzz..buzz…buzz….

"FRaaak!..shut the frak up!!!" she was frantically hitting or trying to hit anything within reach to smash the damn thing.
…buzz..buzz..buzz..buzzz…

" Oh… frak me…stop it!!" Karlie finally and with much effort opened her eyes to see where that damn freakin thing had gotten itself off to.
But , whoa… wait a freakin minute; where was she?
For moment she was absolutely and utterly disoriented. It took a few hard seconds for her to realize she was facing the foot of her bed.
…buzz..buzz..buzz…kept blaring her alarm.

Turning her head around, she spotted it on her headboard side. But no way was she going to scoot over there and hit the cancel button. Nope. Her immediate brilliant idea, going bad of course was to kick her foot over to it. Needless to say, it did little good, as it now was buzzing on the floor.
Karlie cursed at the darn machine and desperately reached back to find and grab one of her pillows. Her solution, however again fruitless was to muff out the noise around her ears.
But the little mother frakin alarm was relentless.
Karlie chucked the useless pillow and like a wounded soldier, crept back and over to the side where that darn thing could finally be silenced.
"Oh..thank God…" She said, giving herself in go back to sleep.

But…
 …what the hell was that water running?
Her eyes bugged open. It was the shower…her shower!
She then fruitlessly begged her god, that it was her which had somehow and recklessly left the shower running sometime, somehow, last night…
"Please God…"

But no deal. The water then suddenly stopped.
"Oh…my God…" She uttered, now running her hand over herself. She was still in her slim black evening dress, underlings still intact, thank God.
But she was frozen with her head facing away from her refresher door.
After a few minutes the hair dryer came on. Karlie was immobilized, thinking playing possum was the best thing to avoid something she most certainly now regretted whatever it may be.
No chance God would favor her and let it be Stehl?… she dared hope.

Nope.

"Hey, morning… I see you silenced that thing…"it was a woman's voice.
A voice which by the way stopped Karlie from breathing all together, as she held her breath and closed her eyes. Who the frak could it be? All she knew at the moment was a wild time her and Bo had last night…and… and…no way! Not one of the girls?
Sure enough it was one of them.
The girl came over to the bed and shook Karlie's bun.
'Hey…you awake?-' asked Sport. But before she finished, Karlie immediately scrambled up and away on her knees, now facing the girl.
It took a few seconds to recognize Sport, or rather; Phasporkina.
'You…" Sport was figuring it out.
'…he-he, you don't much remember, do you?' she said, with a cute smile.

Karlie was dumbfounded as she couldn't even begin to remember much of anything the night past. Then again, her head was like am anvil…a heavy clunker of an anvil, and it felt like she was being pounded by a sledge hammer.
But Sport just came closer to the bed and put her knee on it as she reached over to Karlie and gave her a quick kiss. This in turn startled Karlie and in an attempt to back away at the last second of the kiss, she fell backward and off the bed, landing on her back before rolling over and back on her feet.
Sport for a moment thought Karlie hurt herself and went around to try to help her.
"Whoa!.." Karlie put her hand forward. "That's far enough!…" taking a step back, stepping right on the alarm. This little critter wasn't at all bare feet friendly and Karlie nearly stumbled again, before miraculously she found her ground.

Sport found her funny and chuckled.
'Karlie, you were so passed out-' Sport stated to say before Karlie cut her off.
"Stop!… Out!" She then pointed to the door.

'Karlie-' again Sport tried to say something.

"OOUT!!!" Karlie then screamed, not wanting to hear or know anything.
"Out!…Now!" She was still pointing to her door, and being more assertive with her voice. She was meaning it.

Sport looked at her a moment and shook her head before she turned and headed out the door.

A minute passed after Sport left that Karlie sat down on her bed. Her head was pounding like crazy. It was even too painful to go trying to figure out what that girl was doing here, much less of all that could have transpired the night before.
But one thing was certain; she was going to kill Bo. God as her witness she was going to murder the man, so help her.
It was then that she remembered by in hell she had the alarm set at all.
"Oh frak me…" She said almost crying.
She had to be at central Command. She had a prisoner to interrogate.
Giving her apartment a quick look around for any more surprises (none scoped out) she picked herself up off the bed and went over to her door, making certain it was locked. Karlie then headed over to the refresher as she started to unzip out of her evening dress.
God, she was now dreading everything…talking that moron Bo into going out, the entire night and most of all, the freakin prisoner she herself handpicked to interrogate. Why the frak did she have to be so…so, pretentious as to really give a frak what dissidents did here on Aromag.
Most of this planet's atmosphere was polluted and would take a generation or two to clean it up to Imperial standards. For the moment, she didn't even know or care why the Empire had wanted this system in the first place…

Karlie stopped just before she entered the shower. That other woman had taken one before her. Looking over the stall, it looked clean as always, just wet.
Still, she put on the shower at full high and let the hot water run awhile before she felt it clean enough for her to step into it.
In the mean time, she rummaged through the medicine cabinet behind the mirror; pain killers. Yes… good ol' headache suppressors. God, Karlie needed them so bad, as she wasn't at all in any mental form to interrogate anybody today…

Re: Assesment

"Well what did you expect me to do?" Fel was talking to the holographic transmission of Colonel Stehl.

It was now 8 am and fel had gotten really no sleep at all.
The Colonel, transmitting from Bastion, seemed irate over the matter of the night's past. Seemed Stehl hadn't counted on his buddy Fel to test Karlie on his own like that.

"I did take your word for it, Thy.
I had my feelings." Fel explained, speaking about all that Stehl had let him in on about her.
"But what is the problem in my decision to take it to the limits of her psyche?
I mean, she is exactly the Karlie I know…now most definitely  for sure." Fel was trying to ease his friend's mind over Karlie.

But Stehl continued to be apprehensive about all that Fel was reporting that had transpired for the sake of testing Karlie to the hilt.

"She's…well, she most likely calling out this morning" Fel couldn't help but chuckle.
"Ouch.." he then put his hand to his temple. He too wasn't completely immune to the night's binge and debauchery.
"Wait… hold up a bit.
Look, she's most likely sleeping it off or still out cold right now…"

This last attempt in relieving the Colonel's worry about his girl didn't at all go down as Fel had wanted it to. Stehl started questioning her health.
"No, no, no…she's fine.
She's in her apartment. Agent Kelser's there watching over her as we speak.

Again, this didn't sit well with Stehl, as he knew the agent. Kelser was an undercover ICI operative that for the most part was an excellent infiltrator…a mole so to speak. He then inquired what the hell the agent had to do with Karlie, no mind watching over Karlie.
"Relax old buddy. Kelser was staged within a few local escort girls over at sin city there…you know Linsdrat." Fel was starting to find it funny as to how protective Stehl had become over Karlie.
Sure, Fel knew the Colonel loved her, but lately he was in love. Way too in love to even think straight… for Karlie had been out with him last night and most certainly well covered. The Colonel knew Fel wouldn't allow any harm come to her, as Fel too had an attachment to her…like that of a guardian…a father.

"Hey…first of all, it wasn't I who had put Linsdrat and the Pharos's Den restaurant in her head. She was the one who brought it up as she had heard about it from you. Hell, I thought we were going out for some real food..some banta burgers or something. I didn't have a clue as to what it was. Why did you even talk about the place to her?
Anyway,  that's when I caught eye on Kelser…she was undercover going as Phasporkina. Hell, she signaled for me to come over to her after I ditched the blond I was with-"

---

Karlie…The blond? That's who I'm talking about, Stehl…
I entered with Karlie at Pharo's.
Right…..
Kelser didn't know Karlie and thought I was with an escort.
Yes, pretty much I went with that angle.
Yes, I played Karlie off as an escort for the most part…
………….
NO, no!.. .As my escort! She wasn't even aware of the play.
God, relax, Thy.
Come on…How'd it look otherwise, hangng around her?
I'm twice her age, remember. What other angle was I to go with? I wouldn't exactly dress a daughter the way she was dressed.
…………
Yes… I'm talking about Karlie.
She was dressed…uhm…you know, nice.
…………
Nice.
Yes..nice…in a classic black figure dress.
…………
Eh?…yea, some leg was showing….
 OK, ok, a lot of leg stem. But she was with me the entire night.
………….
Er, no…that didn't end there…
…………..
Look, we sort of … Aherm…bar hopped.
Hey, I had back-up, don't sweat it. Agent Kelser was armed too. The other girl, Lita; I had her covered-"

Stehl at this point was overwhelmed. He just couldn't understand how a simple night had turned to be a night out on the town. The more Fel explained, the more Stehl wanted explanations.
It was getting just too funny for Fel. For the first time since he had known Stehl and Karlie, this was the most the Colonel had ever been up the girl's ass so far deep in love…and on the verge of jealousy too it seemed. This, Fel found very funny. A man like Stehl had finally fallen deep over end.

"The other local girl that was with agent Kelser..her name was Lita. Lita came with me after I set Karlie down the end of the night.
Yes, her apartment. Kelser stayed watching over her. Karlie's been out since we booked out of Linsdrat. We made it back to Gurlic at 5 o'clock down curfew lift. We sailed pretty much the entire escapade under the radar, Thy. All's well.
Karli will most likely sleep till late evening…he-he..
Lord was she under…totally Karlie trashed…Hahaha.." And so the night's misadventures and all were detailed to Stehl.

What Stehl had originally called Fel to do was watch over Karlie on Aromag. He did expect Fel to somewhat try her a bit. But by the sound of it, it seemed Fel had given his girl the full entire validation test.
Well, one good thing came about. Two actually.
First, Stehl was very happy that Karlie came up with quite a successful tactic.
Two, Fel had gotten Karlie toasted and tested her. The girl passed the trooper's test with flying colors. Stehl knew now for sure that Fel too believed what he believed; that Karlie was real.

The two talked till about noon, as there was a lot to talk about, of all which took place yesterday day into night. For the most part, both were certain that the girl was most likely still getting over her hangover and would sleep the entire day away…in pain.
It was then that Fel received another incoming transmission. It was from the ICI agent Kelser…the one that had gone by Phasporkina…or as Karlie knew her; Sport.

"Stehl… I've got something from central. Let me get back to you later.
Heh?..
Er, no…nothing important. Just…they need me debriefed. Yesterday's assault. Still lagging in paperwork…lol
I'll get back to you later…
TK1213 out." Fel closed off the transmission with Stehl.

~ ~ ~

"Go for TK1213." He then answered the new transmission.
It was Kelser, the operative from the night before. She was reporting that Karlie had ousted her from the apartment 5 hours ago and that she had just recently intercepted a message from Central, that an agent Destat, IBI…figuring it was Karlie Lynn Destat… that had been taken to the infirmary.
A prisoner had evidently escaped and the agent was rushed to the hospital.

"The hospital?! " Fel was shocked.
What the hell was this?
"What the fuck happened? I thought you'd stay with her…keep an eye on her.
Kelser, what is she…shot, or what?… And what was she doing near the prison-
Oh…shit!…." Fel then just remembered. The woman prisoner that Karlie had set aside and had her brought over to central for interrogation.

"Was this prisoner 27?" He then asked the agent.

Kelser didn't have that info at the moment.
She had only intercepted just a few emergency transmissions to and from central to the infirmary and security. Kelser had tried to make it to Central but there were blockades popping up all over the city limits for the escapee. Currently she was also going through a check point now and had just pieced together of what had taken place about a half hour before at Central.
"A half hour ago, you say?…Ok, thanks.
I'll get on the horn and make my way over to the hospital.
Listen, Kel…keep what happened last night under lock and key for now. I'll get back with you soon…
TK1213 out."

Re: Assesment

"Gasp!….oh please…someone shoot me…" Karlie faintly said to herself when the turbo lift suddenly descended.
It magnified her headache and every part of her nervous system relating to her upper spine.
She reached for the hand rail and braced herself for the stop.
"…three…two…Ah-ck!.…
…Oo…no-no…
No more turbo lift for Karlie today…" She muttered to self, waiting for her innards to descramble, then catch up with her head.

When the doors swished open she was suddenly flooded with daylight again. But this time she was shielded…Karlie was well prepared to met her daylight adversary; she had donned her dark ‘Lady in Black‘, IBI shades on.
Taking a good breath now that her insides had caught up with one another, she released her grip on the hand rail, made one quick adjustment to her dress uniform and stepped out of the lift, onto the lobby. From the losers that she made out, a ‘thank you God’ went out, that no one here knew her, to stop and chat with her; as she would most likely reach for demand for their side arm… and by God she would shoot them in their trap. But aside from her rank transponder, no one knew her personally to come up to her and ask to be shot. But that didn't stop these ass-wipes from saluting her. Naturally she was too concentrated on walking without seemingly staggering, not acknowledging anyone as she made for the front door. Maybe she was back in with God…

'Lieutenant…’ rang a voice from her left, as she steppedd out into more light.
Like…. Aromag’s normal overcast just happened to pick this morning of all its 420 this year to open up to clear skies like that?
Nope…God was still pissed at her…
Karlie was too preoccupied in maintaining her poise against all this heavenly light, to even notice it was someone calling her attention.
'Lieutenant Destat…' the voice finally hit a note…and a sore one at that.
Karlie curse to herself, as who the frak would have the audacity to call her attention like that. Couldn’t the dicks just leave her alone this morning…did all men have to wake up with a hard on?
She turned to the source and again she damned herself to hell, as God surely had it in for her.
It was another officer, a major of all the unholy crap that God was dumping on her this morning for.
Lucky her shades had built in HUD display, as no way in hell she could have ever guess on her own, at who this turd was. Ok, so he had a uniform on with some bars..hell, she couldn’t count to ten on all her thumbs if asked to, as that’s how her hands felt.
"Major Kidan…sir… good morning." She answered as best she could.
"What-
Ahem… sir, what can I do you for?"

'Ha-ha-ha… they warned me about you, lieutenant. Brilliant strategist, but curt…' He laughed, finding her funny.
Karlie didn't. Her eyes painly looked over to his mid drift…his weapon belt. The blaster looked so sweet to her at this moment. And it would have looked sweeter going off in his face, if she didn‘t have ten thumbs.
"I'm…
I apologize, sir. I was up…ahem…doing reports…. -for God sake leave me the frak alone you freak- … I'm trying to get to Central…" She did her best to maintain her integrity, as she was cursing his carcass off to herself.

'Ah…well, looks like you are in luck, Lieutenant…" He replied, oblivious to her repulsion of him.
Although Major Kidan was no prize; he was not as disgusting as Karlie felt he was at the moment. Her headache had not totally been stifled by the suppressants and she was like having the worst hangover..EVER! So everyone, especially superior officers who weren’t batting an eye on other subordinates but her were all dick wads with nothing on their mind but hitting pot luck with their hard on’s for her. She could still read cheesy smiles…

'Here we go…my speeder has just pulled up and I'm headed there myself…' He gestured to the vehicle that had just pulled up.

"Wonderfull… -I can better blast your freakin brains all over your own seats now-… thank you, Major." She replied, looking down, taking count of the building’s steps before she took pace following him.

The valet guy, thank the heavens, opened the door for her, as she hadn't even thought of doing that, other than making it to the speeder. Right, these things had doors…
Sitting down just when she did in the speeder, could be argued by Karlie at that moment as being better than any sex she ever had. God, it felt so good getting off her feet and rest her back…close her eyes…
She could just relax now, and not fight gravity and this freakin system spinning like a top  around its frakin shining star which had decided to come out and frak with her today. God, why did the planets have to spin so fast like that, she asked herself…
God, she could just go to sleep right now… just a few good more minutes…

"Heh?
…er…I…
Ahem…I'm sorry major I was thinking of something" She opened her eyes and turned to him, as the man seemed to have been talking to her once he got inside and behind the controls.

'I mean, breakfast?… we can stop at the dinner just a block before-
Er…you OK, Liutenant?…' he then asked as Karlie was almost about to up-chuck.
But she didn't. It had been just an involuntary spasm, as she could almost see, feel this guy sweating over her. No…no…she was far from any such stimulants this morning. The sheer thought of it was making her sick.

" Ahem…no…” She replied, hand to pat her collar, suppressing the urge to vomit on him.
“No… please, major…I'm good.
I…I had breakfast." She lied with on of her patented plastic smiles she pulled out of her reserve.
Naturally the moron was left handed and his blaster was now impossible to reach from her side, so blowing his other head clear through his own speeder's side window was not too viable an option. So what else could she do but smile like a dumb blond…

The smile, unfortunately pumped more fuel into the major, as at that following moment he took to showing off his pod racing skills. And yes, if Karlie had been carrying her own personal blaster, she would at that very moment have put in her own mouth and ended her misery once and for all.
Just because they made it to Central and narrowingly take out a few Aromagians, bump other speeders off course, or slam into abutments; didn’t mean the major wasn’t skilled. But riht now, any skill of that sort weren’t on her good list. Took a moment for the rest of her to catch up when the speeder slid right in place at the front of Central.
‘Lieutenant…’ The major then said, as Karlie was still locked in her seat and starring ahead.
‘…Central…’

Karlie unlocked her grip on the door rest and reached over to unbuckle. Only she had never buckled up in the first place, and was fumbling with…nothing at all.
Not finding the buckle with any clasp, stopped and swallowed.
“Thank you, major…sir…” She then opened her door and stepped out.
She couldn’t remember his name, nor did the HUD relay that info again, as it had not sensed a limit proximity to do so automatically. And she’d be dammed in remembering how to reactivate the damn thing to override it.

~ ~ ~

“I wouldn’t be mentioning it if I didn’t want you to get me a cup, now would I?” Karlie did er best not to loose it.
What was it with everyone this morning? Had they all decided to leave their heads behind, for surely they couldn’t all be idiots…right?
“Yes, a double stimcaff…like, now…if  you don’t mind at all, private.
And if you can muster it…in a thermal mug!..Hot?..like stimcaff supposed to be drank!..
Than you!…” She said, before the man 'yes sir’d' her and quickly scrambled out of the observation ante room.

“Is she like knocked out, or what?” Karlie then asked the corporal next to her.
They were in the adjoining room looking through a two way plex-ium panel reflector…or plainly a pretty strong blaster proof two way mirror.
The prisoner 27 was slumped over the table in her chair.
‘No lieutenant, she’s most likely sleeping.’ the corporal replied.

“Sleeping?..
She’s been brought down here to be interrogated this morning, and she’s freaking, napping?!” Karlie began shouting at the moron sub-officer.
Of all the stupid-

‘Uhm..er, no liuetenant. The prisoner hasn’t been moved since yesterday.’ The corporal informed her.

“Wha…?” Karlie looked at the woman who’s head was buried in her arms, sleeping sitting down on a rather uncomfortably designed hard chair and cold metal table.
“…you mean she’s been in there since yesterday?” Karlie approached the ples-ium panel taking a better look at the woman. Ok, it was fair enough. So it wasn’t just her now that had a spitting headache and every muscle in her body spent. The rebel woman had been in that interrogation room since her capture. A smile, Karlie’s first real one of the day emerged.
‘Yes Liutenant, the prisoner has not been moved from the room. Your orders were specific as to have her wait for you.’ he reminded Karlie.

“Yea… I see…” Her eyes were going over the woman’s physique, sizing her up. Then she noticed the woman’s legs were tightly crossed under the table.
“She hasn’t left the room?..no refresher trips?” Karlie asked.

‘No lieutenant. Your orders were for her to wait in the room.’

The door to the ante room where Karlie and the corporal were viewing the prisoner then opened. In came the private with Karlie’s double hot stim-caff in a temp fixed thermal mug.
“Good…good…” Karlie said, moving away from the plex-ium glass and taking the large cup from the private, before shooing him away.
“Corporal…you come in there with me while I get acquainted with our guest.” She the said, taking a sip of that wonderful hot java. God she needed it so freakin bad.
The corporal looked over to Karlie a moment. It was obvious that he had not expected her to ask him to accompany her. After all, she was IBI and most interrogations on prisoners were done solo.
“I’m not armed, corporal…I need you as stand in…muscle, get it?. This woman’s an enemy of the state…a rebel leader, if I’m not mistaken.
e're going to do a little role playing.” She surprisingly almost read his mind.
But clairvoyant, Karlie wasn’t. She could just read features well.


(continued in next post)

Re: Assesment

(continued from previous post)


“Knock…knock…” Karlie both spoke and knocked on the table, startling the woman to awaken.
The woman looked like she hadn’t slept in a bed for weeks…nor showered even, as Karlie picked up her body odor.
“Well…good morning to you… sleep well?…” Karlie said as she sat across from her.
The woman drudgingly sat up, her arms slid off the table and apparently down to her abdoman. It was obvious she was at some discomfort.

“I’m Liutenant Destat… and you are?” Karlie started leading, in quite a friendly manner. Aside from the hangover she herself was suppressing, she did a convincing job at looking quite chipper.
But the woman didn’t bite. She just momentarily grazed Karlie’s eyes before setting them down toward the table. She wasn’t talking.

“Hmm…I see.” Karlie nodded.

“Ok, tell you what. Why don’t we…uhm…I don’t know; become friends?” Karlie then said.
The woman’s breathing changed somewhat. This, Karlie expected.

“Oh…before I forget. That there… is corporal Slaghter..” naturally she made the name up, as she pointed to the man.
“He’s what we call a womanizer…or quite frankly a woman hater.
lol…Personally I don’t get it…I don’t know why he takes pleasure in gut punching women as he does…" Karlie even shuddered, showing she herself was creeped out by the man.
Then..
"Whoa, stay back there Slaughter!” Karlie went on, even as to raise her hand in a gesture of keeping the man at bay.

The woman for a split second flinched, as she had thought that the man had to be called off by Karlie.
But the corporal just stood there a few feet on the woman’s left and put on what he thought was a mastedistic face on. Karlie too was taken a bit back; as maybe this prick was indeed a creep as she was role playing him to be. But it was just one angle she was first trying on the woman. After all, it was obvious that the prisoner had to relieve herself pretty awful. This, Karlie would use to start cracking the shell the woman had surrounded herself with.
Then again, Karlie was not entirely up her curve in the condition she had showed up this morning at Central herself.
She was going to take the shorter road to start breaking the woman.

“You have to try avoiding making him impatient, you see…” Karlie was still playing up the corporal.

“Mr Slaugter, sir…could you not jump on her yet?
Please move over to where she can’t see you…you’re making her jumpy.” Karlie directed the man to move over and behind the woman.

“See… I am making an effort to be sympathetic to you.
 I mean… I do wish for us to be friends…really.
So what would it take for you to tell me your name?” Karlie went on.
She was normally very good at this. Rarely if ever had she to resort in calling a surgeon…a real mastedistic interrogator, as the Empire most certainly had them. But she was one of a few that didn’t believe in those methods, as certainly they were affective, but under such duress who was to say what was blurted out was all real or not?
Her methods were reading her subjects, by leading them to talk. This was done by several methods. One which apparently existed was that the woman needed to relieve herself and apparently had not done so since yesterday. And the fact that the prisoner had slept sitting up in that hard chair and had been in that cold room since yesterday.
But naturally and as expected, the woman didn’t speak. Rather, her eyes and head movement indicated she wasn’t too comfortable with the Slaughter guy somewhere behind her and out of her peripheral.

Knock-knock…Karlie once more knocked on the table to get the woman’s eyes on her.
“Why don’t we trade something?…you know, like, maybe a trip to the refresher for say…your name for starters?”
Still no answer.
Although the woman upon hearing refresher seemed more atuned to the discomfort she was holding at bay. It seemed like Karlie was getting to her preset weaknesses.
Even the play acting goon, the corporal, took a few steps  to the woman and put his hands on her shoulders, like that of an impatient mastedistic just waiting to get his chance at her.
This somehow was being too overplayed by the man a bit, had Karlie while the woman had her attention on the man, shake her head to back himself off.

“Now, now…don’t you go messing with my friend here, Mr Slaughter…
She and I are getting to know each other…” Karlie again pressed her gesture, for him to back off.
He did, but not until he patted the woman as a promise of sort that he was right behind her awaiting his turn.

“Creeps, huh?…God knows this galaxy has a shit loads of  them. How the majority wound up in the Empire is beyond anyone’s reckoning…" Karlie shook her head on the subject.

"So… what do you say, restroom for your name?
I’ll even take you there myself…leave Slaughter safely here.” She kept it up in that manner for a while.
Although by now an hour past, and talking of restroom, Karlie had to ditch some pee also.
How that woman could have held her bladder since yesterday was beyond Karlie’s comprehension. But even so, it was the right angle that would break this woman…so Karlie thought.

Coming back into the room, after her own trip to the girl's room, Karlie once more sat down across the woman.
The woman’s attention, as Karlie entered, was on the plex-ium panel.
“Just us three sweetie…
No one wants to bare witness and write a report on Slaughter’s little personal hobbies.
You’d think he’d just do it for the Empire, huh?
Well, no. He’s what you call a mastedistic. Not my choice of recruit. But then again, I’m no Imperial recruiter either… I’m just a girl looking to make new friends, ts’all.”What Karlie hadn’t count on was that if the corporal had indeed been a true mastedistic, upon Karlie hitting up the little girl’s room, he would have had some pre-pleasure of the woman..a quickie to wet his appetite. As such, not a peep out of him.

Karlie continued on with getting through to the woman, despite the hangover of hers wasn’t letting up. This went on till about noon or just past and Karlie had just one more trick up her sleeve. Let the woman think she thought it futile her efforts of making good with the woman and make like she gave up.
This naturally meant she would also make like she signed the woman off as hopeless.  

“You know, there are plenty of your other friends who are now sitting pretty comfortable in warm cells, after spilling their guts.” Karlie continued, with a friendly smile, looking over her holo-pad.

“Hmm…lets see what we got here…
Ahh…looks like your boyfriend is a soprano, for starters…
Interesting… sang all the tunes we wanted to hear. God, I'm so proud of him and I'm not the one screwing him.
Hmm… what else… what else…
You two share a flat…that's what you Arogs call it, right?…
Hmm…yea, a flat on the east side…Trekor Crossing, no less… nice trashy part of town, I'd say…” Karlie evidently now let the woman know she actually knew what she had been for so many hours asking.
 
“Well, this is no fun anymore…
I'm like beyond bored now.” Karlie gave her impression of being disappointed.
“I mean…well, I thought you and I could be friends or something. All I needed for you to tell me was things I seemed to already know…” She seemed to go over the already interrogated other prisoners.
 “..damn…now what can I get from you that the others haven’t already given me?” She looked over to the woman, looking rather confused.

“Nada…nothing….
 You broke me, Astrilata. Here I was thinking you and me could start a good friendship and now what? I’m tired..exhausted and plainly tired of playing with you.” Karie said, seemingly entering something on the woman’s file on her holo-pad.
“Games over now…you didn’t play nice with me one time, Astrilata.
You hurt my feelings. As such, you’re set for immediate execution…” Karlie said, finishing up an entry on the holo-pad.

“ Mr Slaughter…she’s yours. Take her for disposal. My orders are final and file is now closed on this rebel..” Karlie said, tapping her holo-pad to indicate all paperwork was set.
 
Certainly Karlie already had her name the moment she got to Central, as the other prisoners had already supplied that info. But Karlie knew her game well and getting her prisoner to say her name on her own was the beginning of getting the woman to reveal what Karlie was after.

It was then that Karlie was surprised in hearing water trickle down to the metal floor. One quick look at the corporal who was still behind the woman confirmed with the man’s head nodding, that the prisoner was indeed pissing in her pants.
 Karlie couldn’t help but smile. The woman finally broke.
And Karlie just had to look too, as her tactics never really resulted in anyone pissing their pants. So she wasn't the only one, as Bo once made her piss her pants too when at boot camp.
 She drew her chair back a bit, and peered down under the table. Yep, the woman’s chair was dripping, as she most definitely peed her pants. As Karlie’s eyes came back up to face the woman, she was met with a face full of hot stimcaff.
“Ahhhk..” Karlie screamed, as the contents were still very hot.

What happened next, was the woman flipped her chair backwards and kicking the corporal in the face.
Somehow or other, the woman’s prime objective was to take out the Slaughter guy first. That was confirmed when a blaster round -PEW!- was heard.
By the time Karlie recovered from the shock of the hot stim-caff the woman had leaped on over the table and on to Karlie. This too was unexpected and happened much more quickly than Karlie’s own reflexes to counteract. She was knocked down backwards on the floor with a slam, by the woman’s weight.
Karlie’s futile effort in the struggle to regain an upper hand was quickly subdued with the blaster’s metal handle smashing her in the nose.
But this wouldn’t have deterred Karlie from continuing to fight, despite loosing her nose‘s integrity. No.
It was the blaster now poised hard and hot, from the previous blast that was now burning hot on her temple that made Karlie submit. But she still had a good grasp on the woman’s neck.
A good three hard pressed knocks of the blaster’s muzzle to the head as a reminder as to whom had who, finally had Karlie release her grip on the woman’s throat. A woman that was straddled over her, like a predator on a prey. The warm wet pants that Karlie could now feel on herself , which normally would have freaked her out, were mere pittens to the feel of the smoldering blaster against her head.

‘You stupid silly girl…” The woman said, spitting on her face…or was it dripping sweat?
Either way, it had all turned around on Karlie faster than she could blink.
‘You think you’ve won Aromag? You imperials are pathetic…
You can’t possibly figure on the people letting you just take us over without you paying the price…” She then said pressing the muzzled harder on her temple.
 Besides the hangover pain now that as comparison to what was going on, had only been discomfort; the force the woman was using to press the muzzle of the blaster to her head was like she was trying to punch through her skull. It frakin was painful.  of the woman was like she was trying to push the blaster into her head.
Karlie moaned in pain, now waiting for the inevitable blast. She knew this was it. Damn her for not taking this woman as a serious threat. What had she been doing?..holding herself just to pull this off?

But instead of the woman blasting her skull open, she switched up and put the muzzle in Karlie’s mouth. “Ghaghh.….”  
The minute ticked by like an hour, but still no fire. Karlie dared open her eyes to see what up…not that she was in any hurry to die; just that WTF?
The woman had somehow noticed the holo-pad that was lying next to Karlie with the last entry displayed.
The woman was holding Karlie down and at bay with the blaster pressed down in her mouth while reading the display. Then she turned her attention back to Karlie. This time easing off on force feeding her the weapon, giving Karlie a chance to catch up on her breathing…although doing little to keep her now from upchucking; as it was due to the muzzle’s being pressed down her throat. The woman grabbed Karlie’s face and turned it to the side, switching up the blaster again to her temple. But at least what concoction of the night’s past, Karlie still had fermenting in her gut didn’t come up on the woman, nor cause Karlie to choke on it. Although it also came out of Karlie’s broken nose, with blood and all.
‘Re-education… You stupid fuckin Imp…re-education?!…’ the woman then said, even taking her free hand and wiping the crap from Karlie’s face.
‘You made me fuckin shoot your dog for re-education…’ The woman was more disgusted in Karlie than before. Actually she had believed Karlie when she had told her that they already had everything on her already, as the rest of the prisoners had given it all up. As such, Karlie made like she signed off the order for execution…which apparently she didn’t. Rather, she was shipping the woman off to a re-education camp. One which the woman had gone through before, under a different alias…and on a different system altogether. It was no death sentence, but something with a set mind to get through it and then fade once more into the woodwork.
And although Karlie only knew the woman as a captured rebel, the woman on the other hand knew of Karlie somehow.
 
‘Tell you what I’m gona do, Miss Lynn… I’m going to trade the end of this blaster for your fuckin life…’ The woman shifted herself on Karlie, pinning both her arms down with her knees, then swung the blaster at full force across her head.

“Ahhhk…ghhhd…” Karlie responded in excruciating pain.
Yes, this pain was worse than the headache she had previously brought with her; unfortunately she didn’t loose consciousness.

‘Oh…you fuckin stupid bitch-’ was the last thing Karlie caught of, before the second blow to her head, finally took her lights out.

Re: Assesment

Fel's day just wasn't going to get any better.
He had taken the transmission from Bastion in another room and had gone back to his bedroom to get his lady friend up and out of the apartment consigned to him for the duration of his stay on Aromag. He had to make it to the medical center in a hurry.

"Hey you…come on, chop-chop….time to get up and get dressed.
Sweetie, its time to go…” he had come in not surprised at all to find his lady friend sprawled out bare naked on the bed, sleeping their crazy night off.
She apparently seemed to finally have succumbed to sleep, most likely from exhaustion, as neither he nor she had gotten any sleep at all since they got back to his pad. They certainly did have a long night of fun, drinking, dancing and then some damn good cookie sex.
That is, after Fel first had made certain his Karlie had settled in, safe and cozy, in her own pad… and with her own lady friend to watch over her; who by the way had turned out to be an undercover ICI operative that he had recognized named Kelser.
Kelser had gone with her alias Phaspokina at the restaurant which Fel and Karlie had hit up first last night in Linsdrat, 'Sin City' as they called it. Karlie had already been two sheets into the wind, and had not picked up on the agent. Rather, Fel picked up agent Kelser and her companion, this very girl he was now trying to awaken.

"Hey-hey… sweetheart! …Yo!… come on, its past noon already. Up-up……" He spoke in a loud voice trying to stir her from sleep, as he went over to the darkened window panes and de-energized them… letting full light in.
But the woman didn't stir one bit.
"Hey…" he then went over and slapped her on her bare bottom, as she had the covers off.
Still she didn't stir.

It was then that Fel got a whiff of something in the air…
"Fuck, no!…" he then sat down on the bed next to the girl, putting his hand on her neck, feeling for a pulse.
"Shit, like I need this now…no, no..no…" Fel quickly turned her over and felt her wrist, along with her neck,  trying to see if he could pick up her pulse.
"FUCK!!"
She was dead cold.
Her open blank stare also confirmed it.
Feeling her temp, he quickly surmised she likely had died not two…maybe three hours ago while he was in the other room transmitting. He tossed her hand away in frustration, then ran his hand across his own features, trying to juggle the following course of actions to follow. Sighing, Fel reached over and closed her eyes, drawing his hand on her pretty features. Damn, she had been so pretty. Now…
Now just a junkie who had overdosed on skank…. Why did she have to go and do something so stupid like that, to him at this time?

Getting up off that side of the bed, he went around to the other side where the girl had been leaning more over. He knew what to expect to find…
There on the floor were two spent 'death sticks'…or skank as it was commonly called. The girl must have lit one…then two up, while he was transmitting in the other room and she apparently had over-dosed.
He squatted down and picked it up shaking his head before looking over to the girl again.
Lita had been her name. Damn was pretty too, which disappointing Fel even more. He never had time for romance, nor relationships. This Lita would have served his needs while he was here on Aromag just fine.
It was a shame, as Lita had kept him up the wee hours before dawn's early light, up until he got the call from Stehl. She had been much warmer, quite promiscuously fun and certainly alive before he went to take that call. Now what?…
Well, now wasn't the time for him to put too much thought on acquiring another piece of ass, that much was certain at the moment…

Fel looked at his crono…damn how the morning had flown by.  Looking over Lita's lifeless body, fel shock his head…it was all he pretty much could do for her at this time.
"Sorry sweetie…but I really don’t have time for this…" He then said, getting up and drawing the bed sheets from under her, so as to cover her up for now.

* * *

The Medical Center was more than a few blocks away from the apartment building which housed most Aromag assigned occupying Imperial officers and VIP guests, like Karlie and him.
His speeder was for the most part, illegally parked on the sidewalk of the building. But the registration and his confirmed occupancy in the apartment and especially his rank, made it legal. Fel quickly got in, backed it up and sped off toward the Medical Center.
The hospital was one of three major large ones in Gurlic. This particular one was geared up for all Imperial needs, including having the highest of securities for especially their wounded. As such, he was let pass through security with no hindering due to the rank badge he had clipped on his apparel, as he was dressed in civilian clothes. Although not in Aromag fashion, but that of Imperial style…basic black.
His inquiry of Karlie at the help desk, led him to the recovery ward…a trauma center no less.
This he didn't like one bit at all. Just not 30 minutes before he had assured Stehl that Karlie was alright and most likely still sleeping off last night's escapade.

"Damn you girl…why in hell did you have to go to Central?…" Fel spoke to his self, as the turbo lift took him up to the trauma ward.
How in hell was he going to break it to Stehl, if the man didn't already know? Hell, this incident concerning their own had already been reported. No doubt a manhunt… a woman hunt to be more precise, was currently underway for the escapee. Fel was certain that Stehl could well be finding this out already as remotely Bastion was from Aromag.
Fel was feeling like he failed both Karlie and Stehl. He impatiently fisted the panel of the lift several times as the 9 second ascent to the 58th floor was just too damn long!
The doors of the lift departd and he marched right over to her room. Two troopers were standing guard outside and they quickly snapped to attention, as Fel approached them and went in.

“Shit!…” He uttered to his self again, as he got wind of his girl.
Karlie looked a mess. There was no other way of describing her condition. Her face seemed to have the tell-tale signs of getting stomped on by combat boots. She had one bandaged nose, two black eyes…one looking swelled closed, head wrap and I-V to boot. Lord, he hoped he had gotten the report right, as it had stated she wasn't shot in the head, like her bandages seemed to show.
Fortunately for her and him, the report had been correct. Her head trauma hadn't been  from a blaster fire, but from getting pistol whipped, that her head was bandaged up like that. Seemigly sensing him or had heard someone walk in, Karlie fluttered her one working eyelid and spotted him standing there looking over her. The other eye was swelled closed…and just at that moment was starting to tear, just like the open one.

Fel approached closer, taking hold of her hand.
"Hey kiddo…looks like you're going to have to cancel your prom date tonight…" He joked.
This of course didn't go over too well with the girl, as whether it was an attempt to chuckle or cry, either one was quite painful to her features.
Her attempt at saying something also didn't quite come out coherent as her mouth too seemed to hurt. Fel was unaware yet of all that transpired to have gotten her in this condition. All he knew was that one corporal had been shot dead and that somehow Karlie had managed to fight the prisoner off. Fel had told her countless times to always be armed…always, always!
But Karlie, although quite a markswoman with a sniper rifle, as he had personally trained her, never took to side arms. It didn't go well with her custom tailored dress uniforms. Something about taking away from the lines…whatever that meant. Whatever the case; the IBI officers were not required to bear arms. They had plenty of troop at their disposal. Besides, Karlie was more an investigator, a tactician… She was Internal Affairs.

"Shhhh….come on, easy there, kiddo…you really don't look at all that bad." He tried easing her a bit. But he sucked at lying and she well could see out of her one open eye.

He then made out something from her along the lines as looking horrid…
"Horrid?… Hmm, well let's see what the medics have to say…” Fel picked up the holo-hart pad and started scrolling through it.
“Ooo….here we go…
One broken nose… 17 lacerations…slight-
Nope, a moderate concussion, it says…" He read over the file, not that she didn't know any of that already.
But he did so as to not let her think he was just doctoring the severity of the trauma. Fel could tell it like it was, same as in the field. And on Aromag, for the most part, they were in the field. Ad Karlie was a casualty.
Fel then took to accessing Central’s database with the pad. All he had to do was give one of his standing pass codes to link up.

"Not too bad a-…aherm…. beating, if you ask me.
This was prisoner 27?" he asked her, as he had taken down that woman himself.
Karlie nodded and seemed to grunt something of a yes.

"I see… an Astrilata Harteer…so that's her name…" Fel was now scrolling through some of the files they had attained on the woman so far.
The name didn't at all ring any bells. But what would be the chance of it here on Aromag anyway. And if the woman wasn't a native of this system, then neither was her recorded name.
"I'll run her profile and physical attributes through our data banks. Aside from the apartment and her normal daily routine… I'd say she looks like a sleeper. Nothing out of the ordinary, no prior tags…. Nothing to indicate at all her military training here on this system." He said, before looking over to his girl.
Karlie had her eye closed, but not asleep, just listening to Fel.
"Hmm…out and about for over an hour and no sign of her anywhere. How far could she have gone after that tuffle?… I mean…you had to have sent her off in a far worse condition than she done you…no?" he then asked.
He knew better. Karlie had been knocked out cold, left bleeding and pretty much sprawled out on the metal floor laying in her own vomit. The girl had taken a good beating that was certain. Only…
Why didn't the woman kill her…as it would have compromised her escape time working out on Karlie like that.
Not that he wanted Karlie dead or anything of the sort, but he was putting things together and they just were not properly fitting.
The video recording that he was just viewing…twice now, showed him exactly the proficiency of the woman and what ensued.
Sure, Karlie looked like she had put up a fight. The girl seemed to have fought her assailant up until the woman got the drop on her with the blaster to her head.
But why had she not shot her? Why waste time on Karlie as she did?
Seemed the woman had also been pissed at the fact that Karlie had played her into believing the corporal was going to take her to be executed, only to find that she killed the man without that particular justification. The woman had some sort of code. She seemed to spare Karlie because Karlie had in fact lied about executing her, but rather spared her to be sent off to a re-education facility.
A dissident with a moral code of conduct?…
It was starting to smell to Fel as a possible NR Agent…here on Aromag.

"Say what?.." Fel looked over to Karlie, as she had mumbled something.
"Yea…I'm thinking on those terms too.
I really don't wish to talk to you about it right now. Not till much later. This woman's not exactly important to me at this time…
We'll go over this when you get yourself back up your feet…hear?" Fel leaned in and gently placed a kiss on her head bandage.

Re: Assesment

4 days later…

Rain was coming down heavily in the early afternoon on Gurlic City. The dark overcast gave it an eerie atmosphere making this day look more like late evening, with most of the light being cast by street lights.
The speeder pulled up under the awning of the apartment building and a valet was there to open the door for her. Karlie had just been discharged from the hospital and looked tired.
She was. The bacta treatments and bone regeneration had been in consecutive treatments, as she had requested. This gave her little time for much sleep, but certainly accelerated her recovery. Still, the new generated shin tissue, bone and ligaments needed some real cure time to make them not feel so out of place on her features, for aside from some pain, most of her face felt tight, tender. The weather wasn't helping either.
Karlie stepped out and headed toward the front entrance. Again, somebody was there to open the door for her, as the building was indeed set up to cater the occupying Imperials… dignitaries, executive branches and high class officers. Karlie was IBI and fell into the executive branch category.

Her eye contact with the greeting doorman was enough acknowledgement. Although she looked like she did when she first checked into her assigned suite, she certainly didn't feel it. It would maybe take two…three more days before she felt like her ol'self. Lord, she was as sore as hell and just wanted to get up to her apartment and sleep for like a week or more.

'I see you're still off somewhere, again…thinking?' Came an all too familiar voice as she started to enter one of the turbo-lifts.
Karlie turned to him and gave a little flick of a side smile. What a freakin jerk this guy was, she was thinking. He knew what had taken place back at Central.
"Hello Major Kidan." Was all she wanted to say.

'Looks like we'll be sharing this ride too today, heh?…please, after you lieutenant' The man said, gesturing his best 'ladies first' routine.

Oh, how she should have listened to Bo. Even now, she was unarmed.
"Thank you major.." She replied stepping into the lift and doing an eye roll when he turned his back on her to hit her floor button.
She knew officers of his rank were housed 4 levels below her.

"The 357th Division…" Karlie then said, drawing his utmost attention to her, as she was talking about his regiment.

'Oh yes, the Baidadt campaign… last year…lol, let me tell you, total annihilation of the Rebel Alliance strong hold there.' He proudly replied.
'You were there, lieutenant?…I would have without a doubt not noticed you.' Major Kidan replied, as if this day was his lucky day.

"No…That was ICI Intel over there, major…
I was wondering if you had met a Colonel Thyssen Stehl?.. –yea, you freakin dickwad…now what? Wait till you hear he's my fiancé – … they were the architects of that campaign. Colonel Stehl-" She was about to virtually kick him in his ball sack, when…

'Yes…yes! The Colonel had orchestrated the architectural dismantling of the rebel stronghold. It was pure deconstruction of their entire forces… Genius!
You know, I was his right hand division leader there.
The Colonel and I are like this-' He drew a step closer to Karlie as he crossed his fingers indicating how close he was with Stehl.
Karlie had quite unexpected this play and moved a step to the side, as the lift came to her floor.

It opened in synch with her footwork effort of getting her distance back.
"Genius…sure… yes… -oh frak, why did I even have to start him on it?…Nooo…God, please…please, not this dufus again…not now. Please God, I swear I'll be good, for at least awhile- …it was a very commendable campaign, Major Kidan." She replied, trying to get around him.

But the major was too excited about the campaign which most likely got his rank out of, and jumped on the thought that it was a great conversation starter that he and Karlie could spend some time on.
'Yes, it got the Cabinet's attention which wasn't expected. Some good promotions too…
Say, your tactics seemed to have put a chink in the rebel uprising here too. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a good amount of promotions coming up here too…
You know, I had put in for leading one of the main teams going in to Distric 3… just that the brass at the last minute pulled me out and went with Lt Commander Fel, from Spec-Ops…' He continued rambling on, holding up not only the lift but her also, as his hand was resting on the panel now, keeping Karlie from getting past.

"Lt Commander Fel!" Karlie then said with relief.
God was merciful after all…

'Yes, Lt Commander Fel…he was given command-' The man replied, as he was about to continue on, before Karlie pressed through his blockade, making the major remove his arm from the panel.

Karlie gave Bo such a '-thank you-' look; one would think he had rescued her from a sarlac pit or something.
It was indeed Lt Commander Fel in the flesh that was standing behind the major. And being that Fel's rank was of Imperial Naval, it most certainly outranked the major should it have come to play.
But it didn't matter, as the major had been caught off guard and the look on his face said it all.
The exchange of formal greetings between the officers pretty much followed protocol.
 Only, Bo put his arm around Karlie's waist and pulled her closer to him.
"See you met my girl, major…
She quite a little cookie, no?…" Bo then said, meeting Karlie's eyes, with his patented smirk.
"Been waiting fer ya out here sweetie… " he gave her a little pull closer.
"Come on, gotcha a real good surprise fer ya inside…
Major…thanks for the escort." Bo then winked at Kidan before he turned, taking Karlie towards her apartment.
Karlie gave a quick glance back after a few steps, catching the lift's door closing on the dufus major.

"Oh, Bo…you're like my guardian angel…" was all she needed to say.
Normally Karlie would have handled the man easily all on her own. Just that she was now as exhausted, if not more spent, than the first time she ran into the major. Both times she was pretty much out of it, and just had enough reserve to get from point A to point B.
Her head was slightly resting on the trooper's shoulder as he escorted her to her apartment, although not as pressed as she would have normally leaned on him; being it was still tender.

The door automatically opened, sensing Karlie's presence, and Bo with arm still around his girl, entered the apartment.
It almost was comical that Karlie didn't even notice the gentleman sitting on her couch as she and Bo came in. Her first order of the day was to slip out of her dress uniform boots, which required her to either brace herself more on Bo or go sit to do it. She was not letting go of Bo anytime soon, as she most likely needed him to tuck her to bed, which had come to become quite common when she wasn't at her best.
The small chuckle coming from the living room drew her attention, as she flicked one boot off. They were not alone.

"Gasp!…!" Karlie released Bo and hobbled on over, to the man who had just gotten up himself and was heading to intercept her.
Bo managed to give her a good slap on her tush, sending her off, chuckling to himself.
Karlie hobbled right into Stehl's arms.
"Oh my God…. I'm so glad to see you…
Oh, you don't know…" She said, seemingly being rescued from hell itself, holding Stehl so tightly.
God must have been in a good mood today, for certainly he just made her day…

Re: Assesment

It was one thing assigning an operative or officer to the field, and quite another to justify going there yourself…



Bastion, ICI HC… 1 day following District 3, rebel defeat.

   
 “Correct, objective has been met on case number AG-GC3615, Dir Astiv. Gurlic City is currently back under control.” Stehl was speaking to the holographic projected image of Director Swodin Astiv.    

‘And of the rebel leader’s escape?…subsequently the dead officer and the IBI agent’s hospitalization? Appears the District may have been retaken, but the vermin slipped through what supposedly should have been a tightly tenable command center. Now again, we find cracks in one of the  foundations.
This once again raises a few red flags, concerning our tenacities, Colonel.’ The director articulated his displeasure.

“Yes it does, Dir Astiv.
Currently, aside from the IBI operative assigned from the Cabinet, I had commandeered TK1213 to orchestrate troop assignment and perform personnel assessments in Gurlic City, and outlying hot spots. Aromag will come into compliance on schedule, sir.”

‘The IBI agent, Colonel… our Lt Destat. Let’s back this up a moment.
I reviewed the recordings…the escape.
 How was it possible, this rebel scum was able to get the drop on one of our IBI operatives?
And of the fact this vermin was able to simply waltz out of an otherwise secured facility for that matter. We did have her in the box…this…this-‘ The Director had to look at the report a second.
‘…..this Astrilata Harteer, correct?
Yet, with a weapon discharge and following a one and a half minute of chit-chat with our agent…’ As the director spoke, the secondary holo-projection of the incident played out before vanishing.
‘…we came up 3 points short.
 One; an asset down. Two; an officer dead… who was shot by his own weapon, may I add… and three; a prisoner escaping.” Dir Astiv summed up pretty much the facts Stehl was well aware of at the moment.
‘I need you to see what I am seeing, Colonel… for certainly no one else should.
I have dismissed the debriefing of our IBI operative on Aromag, until an ICI officer, by my assignment,  arrives.
Currently, Agent Destat is hospitalized…my information indicates she will fully recover from the assault.’

Stehl’s poise remained the same, throughout the holo-transmission.
 He was objective and clear headed by all counts on his exterior. But inside, Stehl was in turmoil of boiling emotions. First, Karlie was hospitalized. To what degree of injuries sustained; he had not gotten those details yet. Second, Boris had been on line with him not a few hours ago, but had not mentioned the incident. In Stehl’s recollection, he now picked up that Boris had received some sort of information while they were still linked up and that was the reason their transmission may have been terminated.
This was by far not a good day at all for Stehl. The only respite was what the director had  indicated about Karlie. A slip?..Stehl hoped not.
Director Astiv had indicated the IBI operative was an asset…Karlie.
This set the tempo for many things.   
One, Dir Astiv had high regards for his operative, Karlie.  Two, there was now a better chance of Stehl to acquire an unquestionable reason to drop in on Aromag.

“If I may, Dir Astiv…
TK1213 should be currently assessing the situation, sir. It was one reason I had requested that the unit was to be assigned to overseeing occupation troop performances on Aromag.”

‘And have you received a report concerning this incident from Lt Commander Fel, yet… your TK1213 unit, Colonel?’ The director scrolled through what apparently was a data pad by his side. But through the hologram, it was out of the transmission envelope and out of Stehl’s sight.

“No, Dir Astiv. I‘ve not received that assessment from Lt Commander Fel…yet.” Stehl replied.
In truth, he had not, regardless that he had been on the line with his trusted friend.  A friend who by now Stehl knew, had done a dance number on him, not divulging what he was now up against.   
The incident of what took place a few hours ago between Karlie and the rebel prisoner; Stehl had not gotten wind of. Not by Bosiskno at least.
Not until the director himself sent him an inner departmental notice. A notice which had all the indication for Stehl to see him about it, immediately.
This came as a surprise to say the least, getting Stehl scrambling in trying to attain the details and get a hold of Boriskno again.  But the trooper proved difficult to be reached in time. Stehl had nothing else but to review the same recordings and filed reports. Reports which only reflected yesterday’s account of the District infiltration and very little of what took place the following morning…this morning with Karlie on Aromag.

‘Well, let me fill you in, Colonel…
For starters, TK1213 and our dear agent Destat were reported heading out of Gurlic last night under some sort of cover, as they were not tagged once they left the city limits. Their destination last night; apparently, unknown.
But what is known, is that they returned to Gurlic with two passengers. One, an ICI field operative… and the other…a call girl, whom by the way was just processed through the morgue not two hours ago.  Incidentally, she was picked up by a sanitarian team, at Lt Commander Fel’s suite…at his request… no less.
I assume you know nothing of these activities, Colonel?’

It’s not often that Stehl could be caught off guard like that. But this day was one of them.
“Lt Commander Fel…aherm…” this apparently was hard to swallow in light of the director being the one to inform him and not Fel, “… had a dead prostitute in his suite?” Stehl could never have fathomed anything like this.

‘Entertain me a while longer, Colonel; please, no questions today.
A social entertainer, Colonel. That’s what they are called on Aromag.
 Although aside the fact that  profession is currently outlawed, as per Marshall Law…it does somehow seem to continue to entertain…how can I put it…some of our elite troop officers.' Astiv raised his hand up to silence Stehl, as it was apparent that the Colonel was going to say something.


“Aherm…my apologies Dir Astiv.
But, no.
No, I currently do not have any information at this time concerning these incidences.” Stehl replied, sticking to the rules set before him.

‘Incidences….yes.
Well, I think now you’re getting a clearer understanding as to why I have asked for you to speak with me, Colonel.
Let me cut to the chase.
You have a personal relationship with both Lt Destat and our good trooper, TK1213. One of which is on a romantic level. I’m going to safely say that it is with the striking IBI agent, Lt Destat…no?’

“Uhm…er…yes, that’s-“ Stehl could not rebuff that statement, although he were not given the chance to complete it, as the director continued.

‘I know a few things, Colonel. Best at this time you just listen.’ Astiv then said, waving Stehl to not bother trying to explain anything at the moment.
‘I’m not at all concerned at the expiration of the social entertainer…nor am I interested in your sexual relationship, as it could just as well be with LT Commander Fel for that matter. These two things do not concern me.
But what I am concerned about, is the welfare of our IBI agent, Lt.  Destat. As I stated before…she is an asset, Colonel.
A valuable asset.
 Too valuable, to haphazardly be put in the line of fire, as she was…or be trashed about like a rag.
I’m initiating a break-in assignment for you, Colonel. You’ll be under my own directives.
One; you are to find this rebel escapee, Astrilata Harteer. Terminate her with extreme prejudice.
Two; evaluate this ICI operative Kelser whom apparently was tagged in the return trip to Gurlic with both Lt Destat and TK1213. If by chance she is a liability in whatever entanglement you may discover; I want her terminated also.
Three; safeguard our asset. I trust I don’t need to elaborate on this.
Four; we never had this conversation.’ And with that, the transmission itself terminated from the director’s end.



Aromag, Gurlic City…present.

The door to the suite opened and Stehl looked up from where he was sitting.
He couldn’t deny the fact he was relieved in seeing her, despite the telltale signs she was basically out of it. He knew that disposition…she had that dead tired and running on empty look.
Stehl had just landed not two hours ago and had been in contact with Bosiskno. Having missed Karlie’s hospital discharge due to his official processing upon landing, Boriskno had promised to intercept Karlie and escort her to her apartment…to him, and wait for her in her suite.
It had been Bosiskno’s idea in having Stehl surprise Karlie when she entered.
With the past 4 days of jump time that it took from Bastion to Aromag; Stehl had been in close communication with the trooper. All that had transpired from that first day with Karlie and Boriskno, up until today, had been well cleared between them.

Stehl rose, once Karlie entered with Boriskno. She hadn’t at all spotted him standing there in her own living room. But the trooper did, and gave him a familiar smile.
With Karlie hanging on the man for support, she managed to slip out of one boot which made Stehl chuckle.
The surprised look on her face when she went to look at who it was had been worth the wait.
Karlie seemed all forgetting she still had one boot on, and rushed over to him, hobbling.
Stehl met her halfway, catching her in his arms.  
She felt so good in his arms…

Re: Assesment

“…no, don’t….five more minutes….” Karlie sleepily muttered, resting most of herself on Stehl.
"…please… just shut it off…"

It was so easy to slip back asleep, that time itself seemed to leap forward with every shuteye.
Four days now since he had dropped in on Aromag and four days of the best recovery she could remember of late.
But time kept its schedule, and both had to get up now sooner than later, as they had already eaten up most of the transitional snooze time; following that first crono alarm….quite a few snoozes ago.

But then again, she had beaten the clock beforehand this morning. Only that now, following their pre-alarm morning sex, sleep was hard to fight off again. It felt so relaxing just lying there, half on top of Stehl… just letting herself drift in and out of thoughts and dreams…
God, she had missed him so much.

“Hmm…” She felt his hand brushing her hair aside. His touch was always welcome.
Again he was nudging her out of anoter dream which she had easily sunk into. He was somehow in the distance on the helm side of their airship, yet his words were as close as a lover’s whisper…it was past time..
“..aw….it’s not.
Its not even been five minutes…
Its still- “ Her eye peeked out of her dream but for a second to look at the time.
“Gasp!
Oh frak…no way!” Karlie jutted up, her hand on Stehl’s chest propping her up.

The crono instantly became her worse enemy. If she had been armed, which rarely she trusted herself to be; the crono would have flashed its last microsecond.
They were both way overdue…they were late! Hell, she was late again!
Well, she was going to be late for sure. No way was she going to shower and fix herself up in time. Damn men!
“Come on!…up, up!” She patted Stehl’s chest, as she slid off him and their bed.
He was chuckling, as he had been the one for the past several alarm cycles in trying to get her to move. And as always, Karlie cut it to the last minute or less.
But he was a damn man, in her invidious comparison of the sexes. Karlie knew he’d be showered and out the door in like, what..10 minutes?
She on the other hand, was going to rush it at 40..maybe 30 minutes at her best.
“Come on…come on…go…hurry up, you first…go!!” She was now pushing his naked body toward the refresher.
“I’ll get your clothes ready on the bed. Hurry!..” She gave him one last shove toward the shower.

Ok, now where did he fling her undies to, last night? Karlie, also butt-naked, spotted them and rushed over to put them on for now. She then sprawled the comforter on the bed.
She figured he’d most likely be out the door while she was showering. So she quickly got what she wanted him to wear that day and laid it all out on the bed.
And just as she tossed his sox on the spread, Stehl came out of the refresher.
“Oh Lord is this cutting it close…” Karlie hastily made her way to her dresser and pulled out new undies and delicates for herself, rushing then toward Stehl.
She gave him a quick hug. “Would in a heartbeat… but God I’m so late again today… arrg! Later…” And with a quick kiss, she let go and slapped him on his butt, before she rushed into the shower herself.


~ ~ ~
Imperial Command Center Hub…

“Sure, let me see what you got..“ She replied, as one of the security personnel monitoring all planetary transmissions informed her of the night’s findings.
"Interesting…these three transmission bursts… have the algorithms been cross matched with those that had been intercepted at Distric 3?” Karlie inquired, going over to one of the monitors. Her objective was to track down and re-apprehend the same woman who had gotten a jump on her not more than a week or so ago. And Karlie considered herself lucky, as the rebel woman during her frantic escape, had not managed to killed her, unlike the dead security corporal that had been there with her.
Karlie’s focus the last two days were on that rebel woman. And she was getting closer and closer in cornering her. The current security detachment which normally handled dissidents such as this woman had little to nothing to go by in flushing her out. But Karlie excelled in finding small nuances… minute clues and matching micro puzzle pieces which she easily assembled in her head. In many ways, she had a sort of photographic memory…when she put her mind to it, that is.
And her thoughts since she regained consciousness in the hospital was getting this woman.

"Hmm..no…
 They do match…but they are interdepartmental synchs… they are our matches.
Our coded Bureau transissions.”Karlie had to point out.

“Oh… look. These are very good. I see you have already been tagging some synchronized pulse code modulations”.. She then observed.
This was quite impressive for security detail at this level to have spotted, she thought.
But it turned out she had over credited their skills.
The security ensign hadn’t been the one to do the tagging. In fact, the man couldn’t see the tags as they were just string codes along transmission frequencies. But to Karlie, they were plain as basic dialogue.
“Those…
This…this…” She started to point blank on the screen.
Nope. The ensign didn’t see them at all.

“Right here-
You don’t know?!” Karlie finally pulled back in disappointment.
How could the man not see it?

“Here…look. ..” Karlie leaned in, kind of elbowing the man out of the way as she keyed up the codes, withdrawing them from the strings.
One…two…then all the tagged frequencies the past four days were grouped and assembled on another screen.
In doing so, it became apparent that they were ICI tags. The ICI here on Aromag was also tracking this Astrilata Harteer, the rebel woman whom had escaped this very security building.

“Damn, him!..” She cursed out.
It could be no one other than Stehl that was behind this. Who else from IBI had just dropped in 4 days ago?
And although Karlie could surmise as to why he also was hunting this woman down; one definitive reason was that the rebel woman hurt her, it didn’t make Karlie less irate.
This woman, this dissident aggressor was her collar! And Stehl knew she was focused on finding this Astrilata, so why was he or was having some lame ICI operative trying to beat her to it? Did the asshole (Stehl) think he could find Astrilata first, and then what? Give her to Karlie as a present?!
Yes, Karlie’s little temper at times flared up when it came to emotional attachments…Stehl.
He was her weakness.

“Grrr…” Karlie’s teeth gritted, as her hands formed into fists. She couldn’t strike Stehl from where she was at the moment, but she sure could take it out on this like moron, who couldn’t read codes to save his life…
But no.
‘Breathe, Karlie…’
No, she wasn’t going to pound this poor idiot ensign in front of her, for what another dick (Stehl) thought he’d do for her. Se had to abstain from punching the idiot ensign…and Stehl for that matter.
So did Stehl think she couldn’t find this rebel woman? Was that what he was thinking?!!
This infuriated Karlie, to think that Stehl was still trying to hold her hand like she was incapable of finding this woman herself.

“Leave.” She suddenly announced quite curt.
The ensign didn’t understand.

“I said, Leave! Are you as deaf as you’re blind?!
Get out!
Get out and take your other three idiot morons with you!” She made it clearer.
Without another word, the man took his leave and with him filed out the three other security personnel in the monitor room. They all knew well enough not to question her. Besides, she was IBI and had authority to do so, when it came to security personnel.

Taking a moment to squeeze herself out of the red, she emerged more clear headed and began the task of searching for all the other puzzle piees that the ICI had thought well scattered and undetectable.
“Idiots…” She uttered, as she collected and strung all she was finding in order. She could more than multitask when she set her mind set and resolved to do so.
In a matter of 18 minutes, she had collected all that the ICI had tagged and it read like a soap.
Yes, most were in the order of what her man usually attempted to do when he didn’t want her to know something.
“ohh…you’re gona be so hurtin…”


~ ~ ~

Later that evening…

She sat there at their dining room table, eyes occasionally meeting a moment barely brushing one another before settling on their respective plates.
It had been silence since he had entered their apartment. Karlie had already been sitting, waiting with a catered meal at the table.
The mere fact that upon entering, neither took the initiative to say ‘hello’ was proof of a ticking time-bomb in the room.
Stehl seemed better clear headed as he removed his concealed weapon, and left it on the small pedestal near the door, before he removed his jacket. This change of order was unusual, but done so in a matter that Karlie recognized. This may have bought the man some time before hell became unleashed. But the very fact that he did as such, changed Karlie’s game plan.

Karlie didn’t say a word, just lightly patted the table top, next to her plate.
Stehl recognized that as an invite to sit. And so the man walked over to the table, well knowing he was now treading in a mine field…

Re: Assesment

There were many reasons as to why the apartment complex used plasteel-glass in the suites…and not just to make them blaster proof.
Stehl face palmed his frustration, as he stood there. Most of his wardrobe were now scattered on the carpet, below the window glass. And Karlie’s futile effort in trying to use one of the dining room chairs to create a dramatic exit of his belongings were finally burning her out.
Even cursing at the glass, didn’t encourage it to shatter for her.
She finally put the chair down a moment and leaned down on its backrest to catch her breath. It was after all a dining room chair…solidly constructed, and quite sturdy… Stehl had observed that, of its integrity.
And once more it was providing support for its user. Although not so much as a seat. Karlie was exhaustedly leaning on it… her head resting on her arms which rested on the back arch of the chair.
This gave Stehl a quick moment to asses over the dinner and plates which a few moments ago were tastefully arranged on the table. One would think he had been caught with his paw on another woman. But that would have most likely resulted in one or both either being dead or taking some sick leave in the infirmary. In all due seriousness, it would most likely not be his choice to try that avenue, as Karlie always seemed to hold him…and that was ever since their beginning.
He turned back over to look at her and the straggle of his wardrobe just short of the window she had wanted them exit. Stehl caught their reflection in the glass. She was eyeing him, as he, her.
The battlefield witch had beforehand been a simple but stylish apartment was like any other war zone…everything was in disarray. But Karlie was coming back down from her surge, as she had spent all her ammo going into it with guns full blazing. He could tell.


~ ~ ~
Stehl had known this confrontation would ensue from the moment the director gave him the break-in. After all, it was to shadow Karlie, and this, Stehl knew would be a matter of time for her to get wind of it. There wasn’t much that he could pull over her, regardless as to how careful he was. She was one keen operative.
Stehl had pulled his chair out and sat at the dinner table. He knew something big was going down at any moment when Karlie took to serving him.  
And so the first shot was fired.
Karlie had intercepted the encoded ICI correspondences concerning his hunt for the rebel woman Astrilata Harteer.
But unknowing that he had received those orders from the Cabinet, she had assumed he was doing it for her; which was in the first place what had lit her fuse. She didn’t need his damn help, she wasn’t some school girl with a bully problem and so on and so on…
His attempt at diffusing the situation, only made it more volatile, as he could not back down in his pursuit of the rebel woman. This of course was not debatable on Karlie’s end.
There was much also to be said of her interrogation skills and methods, as somehow or other she did attain the real reason from him. This of course was realized too late by the Colonel. And although he was quite taken back and one could say ‘impressed’, he nevertheless got on the defensive. This was mistake number 3, as it was in a way his third strike out this evening.
Not having the chance to taste that well prepared dinner she had in wait for him, he nevertheless experienced it on his lap…then much like when a gravity field malfunctions on a cruiser; the plates, glasses and everything on the table became airborne. How she managed to not cut herself was in itself a miracle, as most of the ceramics were already breaking in their collision with everything on the table, as the woman was very efficient in clearing the table in this manner.

Then of course, his further attempt in calming her down resulted in his closet and chest draws becoming upheaved and scooped up in a frenzy, to be distributed out of their window suite and on to the Gurlic City streets below. Fortunately, the window glazing were of the plasteel-glass…blaster proof.
Karlie had either seemed to forget that, or in her tantrum was going to be the first ever to smash a chair through it. Needless to state;  the plasteel didn’t budge. But lord almighty, she most certainly tried…and tried………and tried.
Stehl knew better than to try to stop her. The tactic of ‘best let her burn out first’ was always a working model in these instances…  
~ ~ ~


“Talk now?” he calmly asked, after her energy was all spent.
This by the way, only made Karlie kick out the few remaining remnants of her tantrum, on the chair’s leg. She then straightened up and pushed the chair over.
 Her eyes did their best to lie, as she was trying to project a ‘no’. But her poise, her body,  were too exhausted and spent to win an actress award,; was undeniably saying ‘yes’.

Stehl side stepped avoiding the floor food going over to her, as she headed to the one couche that had scathed most of the eruption. There were food items and most of his belongings literally everywhere. Karlie plopped face down on the couch… burring her head under one of the throw pillows, that for some reasons unknown, never got thrown.
He sat right by her mid drift, starting to unbuttoning his food stained shirt. She didn’t say anything.
“They are my directives, Karlie….not yours.” he continued as calmly as before.
She didn’t stir, just kept her head under the pillow. Stehl then placed his hand on her shoulder blade, gently massaging it. He knew the emotional strain their relationship had on her…had on both really. They were on the most part, on opposing executive branches it seemed. One Bureau, spot-checking the other, and so on. It was a means of keeping the balance of power so as one branch wouldn’t dominate over the other. And most often than many believed, the two Bureaus worked very efficient together. Just that inter-bureau relationships, much like Stehl and Karlie, were hard at best to work as such. Especially on their level and in their circumstances. Stehl had been given directives to terminate Astrilata Harteer and if need be, the ICI field operative who had been undercover the first night Karlie and Boriskno had come and gone out of Gurlic. But the latter directive, Karlie had not picked up on, as it was after all a directive from the Cabinet and Stehl had already processed through the said agent.

Karlie had her focus on the rebel woman whom had escaped and assaulted not only her, but had at point blank; shot the security corporal that was present with Karlie during the woman’s interrogation. What reasons the woman spared Karlie were yet unknown, as that rebel had been known to kill many Imperial officers.
What Karlie was doing was part of her job. It was self-directed, as it fell under the scope of getting Gurlic and as such, Aromag, altogether under control. And that meant to squelch dissident uprisings… to hunt down rebel leaders and instigators, so as to break their cells, and thus, the entire rebellion faction on Aromag. And if there was anyone that could do it in that format, it was certainly Karlie.

But he was ICI, more military minded and supportive than the IBI which was more internal affairs. Being that Aromag was a fully occupied non-combatant zone and dissident aggressors were more terrorists than soldiers; it fell also under the IBI jurisdiction. At least in a political stand view. With the IBI present, Aromag was an Imperial system, and not one under just a military occupation. The military presence was here under a police action and not one of war.
And Karlie knew it was all bull. Stehl knew it was all bull. The Empire was here under a military occupation of a system which didn’t want to be part of the Empire. But both Stehl and Karlie had their objectives. And if they coincided or clashed, it was something they both had to deal with in a manner that justified and satisfied the Cabinet and Imperial objectives.

“How do we separate our objectives presently, without us separating?” Stehl’s hand moved to her neck, massaging the knots which still held remnants of spent adrenaline that had coursed through her like a flash flood.
She then stirred. It was more her letting go, as he could feel the knots on her neck relax.
She was listening.
“I want you to put my clothes back in our bedroom.  I can’t leave, nor can you let me leave.” He continued.
Karlie gave a low grunt sigh, as she gave the sofa cushion a kick, as she lay there. It was her way of agreeing to their dilemma.

“We’ve gone through this before. We both met our objectives in all those instances…challenges we called them afterward. I still think you respected me later, same as I was proud of you to checkmate me so often…
This is who we are, Karlie…” He now felt her move, turning her head more toward his direction; although it was still under the throw. Stehl picked it up off her and placed it on the arm of the couch. Karlie’s features were still hidden under her hair and he gently parted it to see her blues looking up at him. They were calmer, tired, with a bit of remorse peeking through; registering that she was completely out of the volatile state. It was her vulnerability stage, as she was crashing fast. Her hand reached over to him, finding his belt, and wrapped two fingers around it… securing herself to him. She then closed her eyes shutting down for a while.  She didn’t seem to want to drift off and later find him not there.  Stehl knew her too well. As such, as she had escalated and let her emotions run wild; he had discovered that best let her explode like that without adding fuel to the fire. In this matter, all her anger could only build up to the limit of what she perceived without verifications. This fire burned quick, but hot. Seemed it was Karlie’s way of dealing with trials and tribulations that always seemed to pit her against him…and in this case, Stehl, against her.
“You’re still going to put my clothes back, you know… the rest, I’ll get janitorial…” He kept rubbing her neck, feeling her slip deeper and deer into sleep.
“We’ll go figure out the rest… like we always do.”

~ ~ ~

“It’s 3 in the morning…
What do you think I’m doing?” he replied, continuing to unbutton her blouse.
He had already removed her heels and had carried her into their bedroom. Karlie was just now awakening after he settled her down again.
“You’re going to go back and finish sleep…
 And I’m in need of sleep myself, period.” He continued to undress her, leaving her in just panties, before he pulled the comforter over her.  
Karlie sat up a moment, semi awake now, but still exhaustedly tired, watching Stehl undress and slip into bed with her. She was yet unsure of all the damage she had done in her tantrum… not knowing if Stehl was mad or understanding for she appeared to be ready to talk things over now.
“Think we had enough excitement for the night…”He wasn’t mad, nor wanted to talk things over at the moment, sweeping her back down next to him.
“No more talking…” the man spoke.
She then snuggled up closer, taking hold of his arm that he had slung over her, not saying anything… as tomorrow would time for damage assessment.  Now was the time to sleep it all off and figure it all out later in the day.

“You owe me breakfast, by the way….” he said, feeling a bit short, missing dinner as he did.
Stehl then kissed her shoulder and closed his eyes to rest.

Re: Assesment

__________________________
 " No…" She laughed. "Not mine. Just an old concoction that I thought you may have tried once." Karlie replied, following what looked like distaste from him. God no, had she gotten it mixed up with something else? Damn now if she could be certain. But how is it that she couldn’t remember?…it was not like her.

Stehl put his glass down next to hers and walked towards the balcony. But not before gesturing to the two mixes. He then let her in on a little secret. “Not everything in one's profile is verbatim, you know…" he said.

Karlie dropped her smile and looked over at him with all seriousness. This was not the time for her to play kitten. She was a fully trained operative and damn atop of her class.
IBI, ICI, it made no difference here… they were on the same team. Did he think he was going to lecture her?…
And why was he walking away?
It was Karlie’s first real assignment and with a senior ICI operative no less.

" Thank you Mr. Stehl, for that insight… Or rather, from now on, I’ll call you Thy.” Karlie said as she got up from her chaise lounge and followed him out to the balcony. Where the hell was he going?…she was talking!
Coruscant was much windier than she thought it to be, as she stepped across the threshold on to the balcony. Then again, they were up a few kilometers from wherever the bottom of this city was.
‘Great, there goes my hair… keep it cool, Karlie…’ She said to herself as she came up to him.
He then repeated what she was going to call him, not turning to her but looking out over the greater cityscape.

“Yes… Thy." she pronounced.
 "It sounds more personal and intimate, I should point out.” She replied, trying to see perhaps at what he could be looking at.
 Well…maybe everything; as everything, every structure was lit and everything else pretty much in motion. The amount of speeders and ships layered through and above in patterned lanes were astonishing. Nowhere in any of their systems did they have such mass traffic.
“Intimacy, Mr Stehl.  It’s the image we are to project on this assignment, isn't it?” She pointed out.
“I mean it would certainly draw attention to us if we are so formal… and stiff at times, in public. We are meant to be projected as a couple… lovers…" Karlie continued. But why was she the one to have to point this out? How was this making her seem like?

He was about to interrupt her, when she suddenly turned and went back inside. Going as far as one of the end tables, she spun around. She had suddenly become a bit annoyed with this role playing. Something was driving her in this direction, aside from the said assignment. Perhaps she was to establish her place… her role and purpose on this mission. She wasn’t quite sure, but she went with it. She was on some kind of roll… Sort of…right?
God, she had to make clear that she was an equal at this stage. Damn this man!

" I understand your concern and how your department… you, operates. I know of our mandates… Our mission objectives…" She stated, making clear she was part of it.

She had somehow picked up from his body language and the way he talked, looked at her that he was indeed a bit comprehensive about having her team up with him.
There had not been any bit of sarcasm and irritation in his voice… Nor were there any in form of his manners. Although there was something she was picking up from him thatput an uncomfortable edge on him.
Whatever the case, she felt he suddenly had taken on a burden…her?
This triggered a bit of anger inside Karlie. He was playing her off…not paying attention to her.
OK, certainly she was younger than him, but her track record proved she was indeed at the top of her class. She could pull off this guise here on Coruscant. Many old fogies had younger trophy women, and she certainly fit that category…damn him!

"… Whether you like it or not, Thy, darling.” She suddenly let some sarcasm go. Yea, she could play that…
This got him to turn and look at her.
Yea, bingo. She finally got his attention. She had something there and kept on the roll…
” We are to work together as a team.
 What I know, you will know, and vise-a versa…see." She said, as she found herself suddenly using her hands to drive in her point.

Stehl seemed taken back for a moment at her sudden change of mood and governance. He remained poised there for a moment absorbing every word she uttered. Karlie never felt so in control…and of a senior ICI operative too. Pfft, she could run circles against these agents, she thought.
And she was soon to be proven wrong.
“ Well, aren’t you going to say anything?” She finally said, as she dropped her defense down but a notch.
Stehl took her by her forearms and drew her closer to him. Her mind suffering a momentary lapse of reason let his lips zero in on to hers. Stehl letting go of his hold on her, only drew Karlie’s arms around him, pressing herself closer to him.

‘Oh frak, I’m in freakin deep shit trouble now…’ were her last thoughts before giving herself up to him.
_____________________________



~ ~ ~

Her eyes opened wide, awakened by her dream's arousal.
Once more she had awakened ahead of the alarm. The remnant of the dream lingered for a few moments. It had been a replay of their first assignment together. God, she had been so green and way over her league. But God, she had fallen hard that first kiss.
Her heart was beating wildly again, fresh with memory and arousal now. Yet, she didn’t stir, but quietly reached over to cancel the alarm before it would sound off an hour from now. Last nights tantrum and events collaged over her dream. She had to get to the rebel woman before he did. And she had a good idea where he hadn’t looked.
Slowly she rolled like as if turning in her sleep. She was timing it all to synch with his deep sleep cycle. In turn, she gently slipped out of bed and quietly picked up her clothes and snuck out of the bedroom.

She quickly but quietly dressed made it to the quest refresher to dress, as the living room as she recalled was a battlefield with shards of broken glassware and stuff. Stuff she threw all over their apartment. With little face and hair prep, as she had to be quick, Karlie slipped on her heels and went to slip out of the apartment.
Upon entering the living room, she could see that it had been cleaned up already, say for Stehl’s pile of clothes by the window still. She momentarily looked back over to their bedroom for a moment. She was hating herself now. God, how much he had to put up with her.
Still, she had to remain focused. No way was she going to have him get to that rebel scum first. That bitch was her collar. And she was going to bring her down…and alive.

~ ~ ~

“I don’t know!
What difference does it make? Bring me his speeder…God!” She couldn’t deal with the laborers here too well. How difficult was to valet?
She asked for a speeder…any speeder.
“Come on…. before today, maybe?!” She shouted at the man, as he went for the speeder. Karlie was tapping her feet, looking over at her crono. God she hoped he was still asleep.
“…come on….come on…” She was muttering to herself impatiently waiting.
It was still pre-dawn, and just now some indication of overcast light was starting to appear.

Stehl’s speeder finally pulled up. Karlie ran over to the driver’s seat, and almost pulled the poor man out herself.
“Thank you, thank you…thank you…now out of the way.” She said, quickly getting on the accelerator and speeding off…





.

Re: Assesment

He didn’t have to turn, nor reach over to know she wasn’t there laying next to him. It wasn’t even the sense of the void, the emptiness of the bed, and that missing of completeness that she so often seemed to have over him.
Stehl finally opened his eyes as the sound of her bare feet were silenced by the suite’s door closing behind her.  She had finaly left the apartment.

He let out a big sigh as he sat up over the edge of their bed. This was going to be a long ardeous day.  He ran his fingers through his hair after stretching to get up. Yes, he had played sleep as Karlie slipped out of their bed and sneaked off. Stehl knew exactly what she was up to, and where she was heading.
Reaching back over to her side of the bed, he touched the soft opening drawer. Her small blaster she normally carried was still where she had placed it last night.

“What the frak…” he said jumping over to her side of the bed.
The spare blaster packs were in there too. No way could she have been so distracted in her zealous lead over the ICI, to forget her blaster, he reasoned.
“Damn, you Karlie.” He cursed under his breath. He knew that even if she now in her flight, she realized her mistake; no way would she return back to the apartment for it. He knew Karlie would expect him to stop her from going on her own, or even going altogether for that woman. But was exactly what he needed Karlie to do. And that was to be there when that woman was taken.
Regardless, Karlie was too hard headed to chance the comeback for her weapon, even if it meant going ahead alone and unarmed. Karlie got that way sometimes. Especially when it concerned not being shown off by the ICI…or better: by Stehl. For Karlie, this had somehow become a sort of contest between them again.

“Damn you, girl…”Stehl grabbed the blaster and spare packs, quickly setting them on his dresser before donning on his own clothes. He was hurrying, but not madly rushing. He knew she’s pull something of this nature. After all, he was ICI. He had the heads up on what had taken in course over at Central command yesterday. He knew of what Karlie had dug up.
Naturally always packing his own heat under his shoulder, Stehl slipped Karlie’s issued personal blaster into his jacket’s pocket.

The upturned living room, reminded him of last night’s early scuffle before they both had given in to their mutual need of each other. There was never any denial on his end as to what she meant to him. On the other hand, he wasn’t too sure if her feelings were as damaging to her as his were for her. Being of a kind to not over analyze it, he took her for what he felt for her…giving little thought or matter if it wasn’t returned the same. He loved her and that was all that mattered to him.
Still…
The broken glass, the disarray of their apartment as the result of their initial confrontation…
Damn, he loved that girl. She had more than fire. She most definitely matched his own demeanor.

 “TTS-5, report…” Stehl commanded on his com as he headed out of the apartment and toward the lift.
“TTS-5, standing by.” Responded a voice over his comm.
“Pick up in two.” Stehl instructed.
“TTS-5 set.” Came the reply over his com, just as the building’s turbo lift doors closed.

He entered the lift and up it went. The destination was not the lobby, but the roof.
There on the roof platform pad was the Troop Transport Speeder all fired up and waiting.  
Stehl boarded and it quickly lifted off, gaining enough safe altitude before its afterburners blasted it out of sight.