Athol

Legacy of Heroes: The New Age

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Kansas City, December 31, 2019, 7:30 pm

He stood in the storage loft of his shop, which did double duty as his bedroom, with his phone pressed to his ear. ”Yes G I’m sure…I’m not being a ‘stick in the mud’, you know I’m not a fan of crowds, especially when you and Stacy would be the only people I know…yes, yes I know…hey how ‘bout I meet you two for breakfast on Saturday? You can bitch at me for being a shut in in person then.” He let out a sharp bark of laughter. ”Love you to, say ‘Hi’ to Stacy for me, and Happy New Year to you both.”

Ending the call, he stuck the phone on charge and set it on the arm of the couch that was his bed. Stretching a few more times, he finished getting ready for his nightly ‘patrol’…though saying that, even in his head, sounded ridiculous. Sneakers, jeans and a long sleeved shirt, all second hand and easily replaceable; when he first started heading out he wore a bandanna to hid his face, but after the third time someone he was trying to help thought he was going to rob them, he stopped.

Ready, he headed for the shops rear exit and stepped into the growing night.

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Kansas City, January 1, 2020, 2:00 am

He was surprised at how ‘quiet’ a night it’d been. Sure there were New Years revilers, many of them hammered, but no real crime. Yawning, he walked along, eventually pushing through the doors of a 24 hour corner store. ”Morning Azi…Mr. Nasirian?, what are you doing here?” He asked, shocked to see the older Iranian man behind the counter of his store at 2am. ”Where’s Aziz?” Mr. Nasirian raised a hand and yawned. ”Good morning to you to Arty,” Came the heavily accented reply, accompanied be another yawn. ”My clumsy fool of a son tripped and fell down the front steps…he’s fine, twisted an ankle and got a few good bruises, but I think his ego took a bigger hit than he did. The painkillers knocked him out so I had to cover.”

With another, larger, yawn he stretched. ”Allah knows I love my boy, but he’s a walking disaster.” Arty laughed with Mr. Nasirian as he poked through the deserted shop for a snack. They’d met when Arty had interrupted a robbery, and after he’s got into a patrol routine, he’d met Aziz. Snagging a couple of protein bars he headed for the counter. ”Hey, can I borrow your head?” Mr. Nasirian replied with a yawn and a wave of his hand towards the back of the store.

Early on he come into the store while out to grab a snack, and had interrupted a robbery. The wanna-be gangbangers had unfortunately already beaten the hell out of poor Aziz, and were looting the place before they bolted when he showed up. Catching them off guard, he beat the ever-loving shit out of the pair before calling the police and seeing to Aziz, staying with him until authorities and Mr. Nasirian arrived. Since then he’d become friends with Aziz and his family and made a point of stopping by the store a few times a night with he was out.

"HEY YOU HAJI SAND NIGGER, HANDS UP AN’ OPEN THE FUCKIN’ TILL!” The harsh demand cut through Arty’s wandering thoughts as he was finishing up and washing his hands. He felt his adrenaline spike, fueled by intense anger, as racial slurs were hurled at one of the nicest men he’d ever met. Stepping out of the back room, his hand up and free, he saw two skin-heads standing in front of a terrified Mr. Nasirian; one had a bat and the other a cheap looking small caliber pistol. They both snapped their attention to him.

”Hey now,” He said, far more calmly than he felt. ”There’s no need for that, Mr Nasirian is just trying to run his bus-” He got cut short by the bat armed asshole driving the end of it into his stomach; he saw the blow coming and his powers took all the force from it, a surge of energy feeding his adrenaline amp’d nerves. ”My cous’n in lockup ‘cuz of this terrorist lookin’ asshole…he owes us!” The gunman spat. Still faking how effective the bat had been, Arty slowly straightened; he had a good 4-6 inches in height over either of the racist idiots and a sever mass advantage. ”It wasn’t him,” He replied with a fake gasp. ”I beat the shit out of that turd…” Though before either of the would be robbers replied, he raised a placating hand. ”Why don’t we take this outside?” ”You wanna die in th’ gutter with th’ rest of th’ trash? Fine…”

He was roughly shoved out of the small store, and as he staggered onto the sidewalk, he heard the hammer of the gun cock. His ‘stagger’ let him turn enough to see where his assailants were standing, the both of them standing side by side at almost point blank. He let the power flow and he snapped around with a kick far harder than he’d ever use in a spar or a bout; his shin connected with the bat-thugs side with enough force to almost fold him in half and drive him into his buddy. At the same time the gun went off, pain shooting through Arty’s chest, while simultaneously making him feel more energized than he’d ever been.

Recovering the kick he stepped into the gun-man, who’d stayed upright when his friend had hit him, and threw an elbow strike that shattered the fucker’s jaw and sent teeth flying. Arty’s other hand flashed out and snatched the gun away, breaking several of the thugs fingers as he did so. All-in-all, the whole ‘fight’ took only a few seconds, both targets were down, one sobbing in pain while the other was out cold. Arty’s hands now went to his chest, expecting to find a gunshot wound he couldn’t feel yet…but there was no blood…a hole in his shirt, and a spot that was already started to bruise sure…but no blood. Holy shit…

Mr. Nasirian rushed out the door moments later, as surprised as Arty to not finds him bleeding out on the dirty sidewalk. ”Arty…are you…are you alright?” ”I think so…” The power crackling through him was dissipating, along with the pain from getting shot. ”You should go home son, you’ve done enough…I’ll see to these bisho'ur.” He patted Arty on the shoulder and held eye contact until he was certain what he’d said had gotten through. Arty nodded and headed off.

---

Kansas City, January 1, 2020, 9:30 am

Music blared through Columbus Park Automotive as Arty, dressed only in trunks, worked a heavy bag. There wasn’t even a bruise now from the bullet, and though he hadn’t gotten any real sleep once he’d gotten home he didn’t feel tired from it, though the workout he’d been at since 8 was staring to get to him.

Legacy of Heroes: The New Age

Arty

Arty Davidson / 'Impact'

| {Full Name} |

Frederick Arthur ’Arty’ Davidson III

| {Age} |

28

| {Species} |

Meta-human

| {Gender} |

Male

---

| {Appearance} |

A bit over 6’, and pushing 185 lbs, Arty is built a bit like a refrigerator; broad shoulders, wide hips and thick pillars of muscle for arms and legs. He works out on a regular basis to keep himself fit enough to keep up with lifestyle; all-in-all he’s a bit of a slab of muscles. He’s got quite a few tattoos, some with meaning, some just because. Despite his size and bulk he’s remarkably flexible, something he’s taken great care in achieving to facilitate his rock climbing. When not either racing or wrenching, he’s a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, looking very much like the gear head he is.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

Single bay owner/operator garage
’98 Yamaha XJR1300
’79 GMC K15

| {Physical Abilities} |

Muay Thai combatant - Having been in training since he was fifteen, he’s now a black belt and could be a certified instructor, if he ever gets around to it.
Mechanic - Turning wrenches since he was little, at his sister’s insistence he’s gotten himself ASE certified.
Free Runner
Auto/Motorcycle racer

| {Superpowers} |

In the most basic terms, he’s a kinetic ‘battery’. He can absorb the force of a physical impact and either redirect in back out as a strike of his own (Punch, kick etc), or assuming it’s not too hard a blow and he doesn’t throw a strike, he will absorb the energy. Doing so can boost things like his strength, speed or reaction, or increase his ability to heal. As it stands, his ability to absorb energy is an automatic response and not something he has control over.

| {Limitations} |

The biggest drawback is that his powers have no effect on any other form of energy (Thermal, electrical, chemical etc); if he gets hit by anything along those lines, he’s no more durable than any other human.

Running a close second, is that there is a definite limit to how much energy he can ‘store’ at a given point without releasing it. This ‘overload’ causes him to expel all the energy in a omnidirectional blast that is directly proportional to how much energy he stored. While the blast is non-fatal, it will render him unconscious for a time, and depending on how large it is, it may cause other injuries.

---

| {Personality} |

An easy going guy, Arty does his best to not let too much bother him and to keep a positive outlook. Coming from a lower middle class background, he learned to make do with what he had and that despite that, he still had it pretty good. Though not raised in a religious household, the prayer ‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference’ always resonated with him, and is something he tries to live by.

All in all, Arty is someone who in quick to laugh, but slow to anger; though one surefire way to stoke his anger is to harm those around him. His father always told him to guard those around him, and to stand by his convictions; which was why it hurt him so much when he stood by his sister, and his own convictions and heard his own parents condemn both of them. His parents have tried to mend fences between them, but until they apologize to Gwen, he’s not interested.

| {Place of Origin} |

Braeson Falls [Population 40 000]
A largish town outside of Kansas City, it is on the verge of being swallowed up by the expanding metropolis.

| {Background} |

For the most part, before the STAR Labs accident, Arty’s life was uneventful, barring a major falling out between him and his parents. Growing up in the town of Braeson Falls, he learned to turn a wrench and race anything with a motor basically from the moment he could walk; his dad was mechanic by trade and drove/wrenched for a local amateur race team, and by the time he was 14, Arty was a driver as well.

In middle school he started to really fill out, but to the disappointment of some, he showed no interest in football, instead taking up Muay Thai and getting into free climbing and parkour. Despite his size he was quite fast and agile, something that would, and still does, catch opponents off guard in the ring. As with any hobbies like racing or free climbing/parkour, he had more than a few crashes or spills but they just fueled his need for adrenalin despite any resulting injuries; he spent 2 months in hospital when he was 17 after a nasty crash during a figure 8 race.

The falling out between him and his parents happened when he was 20; his older sister, Gwen, had been going to Columbia University for Business/Corporate law and had been in her final year. She’d come home during a break…and brought her new girlfriend with her. Their parents threw a fit and threw Gwen out of their house, and Arty followed his sister. He’d always known his folks were kind of conservative, but he’d thought they were better than that; neither he or Gwen have spoken to them since then.

Five years later, after working for various shops, he took a swing at opening his own modest little ‘single bay’ auto shop with a generous loan from his, now practicing corporate lawyer, sister. While technically it does have two bays, the other is full of his truck, bike and ‘home gym’. Though probably not legal, to keep his expenses down, he sleeps in the loft above the shop’s office. His shop “Columbus Park Automotive” quickly grew a reputation for good work at a fair price in the local low income area. From there his life was a string of wrenching on cars/trucks/bikes etc, Muay Thai training and parkour to keep fit, and occasionally driving for amateur race teams.

When the STAR Labs accident happened, like most people, it was merely a note in the news for a few days before other stuff pushed it from his mind. As the weeks went on however, he began to notice something was off; a dropped hammer on his foot didn’t hurt…or bounce when it hit him, when sparring every time he got hit it seemed to energize him surprising his opponent, and himself, when a much stronger knee strike than he’d intended (he still felt like an ass for that). Though he still hadn’t made the connection to STAR Labs, it was about 5 months after the explosion that he came to realize he had ‘powers’.

Heading home on foot after a few beers at a local bar, he ended up rounding a corner and interrupting a mugging. Two local thugs were beating on a third man as he came around; the thugs caught Arty off guard and threw a punch at his head before he realized exactly what was going on. His training let him ‘tank’ that hit, but when the same thug threw his second punch, both he and Arty were surprised when it connected and stopped cold with no effect. Arty felt the same ‘surge’ as when he got hit in sparring, this time though, he replied with an elbow strike intending to do damage. The guy he hit was out cold before he hit the ground 6 feet from where he’d been standing. Running in instinct Arty went on the offensive and the other thug was down in seconds.

After helping the victim, he went home and spent the night thinking about what had happened. What seemed like a foolish childhood idea when it first came to mind, grew stronger the more he thought about it and two days later he acted on it. Dressed in nondescript clothes from a second hand store, he went out the shop’s emergency exit with a bandanna over his face and into his neighborhood. The place had always had a pretty bad street crime problem, and now it seemed to be getting worse. In a week he stopped three more muggings, two hold-ups, a carjacking and a probable rape; though he doesn’t even like admitting it to himself, he’s having fun.

Legacy of Heroes: The New Age

Arty

Arty Davidson / 'Impact'

| {Full Name} |

Frederick Arthur ’Arty’ Davidson III

| {Age} |

28

| {Species} |

Meta-human

| {Gender} |

Male

---

| {Appearance} |

A bit over 6’, and pushing 185 lbs, Arty is built a bit like a refrigerator; broad shoulders, wide hips and thick pillars of muscle for arms and legs. He works out on a regular basis to keep himself fit enough to keep up with lifestyle; all-in-all he’s a bit of a slab of muscles. He’s got quite a few tattoos, some with meaning, some just because. Despite his size and bulk he’s remarkably flexible, something he’s taken great care in achieving to facilitate his rock climbing. When not either racing or wrenching, he’s a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, looking very much like the gear head he is.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

Single bay owner/operator garage
’98 Yamaha XJR1300
’79 GMC K15

| {Physical Abilities} |

Muay Thai combatant - Having been in training since he was fifteen, he’s now a black belt and could be a certified instructor, if he ever gets around to it.
Mechanic - Turning wrenches since he was little, at his sister’s insistence he’s gotten himself ASE certified.
Free Runner
Auto/Motorcycle racer

| {Superpowers} |

In the most basic terms, he’s a kinetic ‘battery’. He can absorb the force of a physical impact and either redirect in back out as a strike of his own (Punch, kick etc), or assuming it’s not too hard a blow and he doesn’t throw a strike, he will absorb the energy. Doing so can boost things like his strength, speed or reaction, or increase his ability to heal. As it stands, his ability to absorb energy is an automatic response and not something he has control over.

| {Limitations} |

The biggest drawback is that his powers have no effect on any other form of energy (Thermal, electrical, chemical etc); if he gets hit by anything along those lines, he’s no more durable than any other human.

Running a close second, is that there is a definite limit to how much energy he can ‘store’ at a given point without releasing it. This ‘overload’ causes him to expel all the energy in a omnidirectional blast that is directly proportional to how much energy he stored. While the blast is non-fatal, it will render him unconscious for a time, and depending on how large it is, it may cause other injuries.

---

| {Personality} |

An easy going guy, Arty does his best to not let too much bother him and to keep a positive outlook. Coming from a lower middle class background, he learned to make do with what he had and that despite that, he still had it pretty good. Though not raised in a religious household, the prayer ‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and Wisdom to know the difference’ always resonated with him, and is something he tries to live by.

All in all, Arty is someone who in quick to laugh, but slow to anger; though one surefire way to stoke his anger is to harm those around him. His father always told him to guard those around him, and to stand by his convictions; which was why it hurt him so much when he stood by his sister, and his own convictions and heard his own parents condemn both of them. His parents have tried to mend fences between them, but until they apologize to Gwen, he’s not interested.

| {Place of Origin} |

Braeson Falls [Population 40 000]
A largish town outside of Kansas City, it is on the verge of being swallowed up by the expanding metropolis.

| {Background} |

For the most part, before the STAR Labs accident, Arty’s life was uneventful, barring a major falling out between him and his parents. Growing up in the town of Braeson Falls, he learned to turn a wrench and race anything with a motor basically from the moment he could walk; his dad was mechanic by trade and drove/wrenched for a local amateur race team, and by the time he was 14, Arty was a driver as well.

In middle school he started to really fill out, but to the disappointment of some, he showed no interest in football, instead taking up Muay Thai and getting into free climbing and parkour. Despite his size he was quite fast and agile, something that would, and still does, catch opponents off guard in the ring. As with any hobbies like racing or free climbing/parkour, he had more than a few crashes or spills but they just fueled his need for adrenalin despite any resulting injuries; he spent 2 months in hospital when he was 17 after a nasty crash during a figure 8 race.

The falling out between him and his parents happened when he was 20; his older sister, Gwen, had been going to Columbia University for Business/Corporate law and had been in her final year. She’d come home during a break…and brought her new girlfriend with her. Their parents threw a fit and threw Gwen out of their house, and Arty followed his sister. He’d always known his folks were kind of conservative, but he’d thought they were better than that; neither he or Gwen have spoken to them since then.

Five years later, after working for various shops, he took a swing at opening his own modest little ‘single bay’ auto shop with a generous loan from his, now practicing corporate lawyer, sister. While technically it does have two bays, the other is full of his truck, bike and ‘home gym’. Though probably not legal, to keep his expenses down, he sleeps in the loft above the shop’s office. His shop “Columbus Park Automotive” quickly grew a reputation for good work at a fair price in the local low income area. From there his life was a string of wrenching on cars/trucks/bikes etc, Muay Thai training and parkour to keep fit, and occasionally driving for amateur race teams.

When the STAR Labs accident happened, like most people, it was merely a note in the news for a few days before other stuff pushed it from his mind. As the weeks went on however, he began to notice something was off; a dropped hammer on his foot didn’t hurt…or bounce when it hit him, when sparring every time he got hit it seemed to energize him surprising his opponent, and himself, when a much stronger knee strike than he’d intended (he still felt like an ass for that). Though he still hadn’t made the connection to STAR Labs, it was about 5 months after the explosion that he came to realize he had ‘powers’.

Heading home on foot after a few beers at a local bar, he ended up rounding a corner and interrupting a mugging. Two local thugs were beating on a third man as he came around; the thugs caught Arty off guard and threw a punch at his head before he realized exactly what was going on. His training let him ‘tank’ that hit, but when the same thug threw his second punch, both he and Arty were surprised when it connected and stopped cold with no effect. Arty felt the same ‘surge’ as when he got hit in sparring, this time though, he replied with an elbow strike intending to do damage. The guy he hit was out cold before he hit the ground 6 feet from where he’d been standing. Running in instinct Arty went on the offensive and the other thug was down in seconds.

After helping the victim, he went home and spent the night thinking about what had happened. What seemed like a foolish childhood idea when it first came to mind, grew stronger the more he thought about it and two days later he acted on it. Dressed in nondescript clothes from a second hand store, he went out the shop’s emergency exit with a bandanna over his face and into his neighborhood. The place had always had a pretty bad street crime problem, and now it seemed to be getting worse. In a week he stopped three more muggings, two hold-ups, a carjacking and a probable rape; though he doesn’t even like admitting it to himself, he’s having fun.

Star Wars(AU) - After Knightfall

Alanna & Ezali

^{In collaboration with @Cuddles 1438}

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Ezali laughed at the memory of the havoc Sable had wrought on that project. ”Funny how the Port Authority wasn’t too keen on heavy turbolaser batteries on a civilian passenger dock.” Tucking her helmet into the crook of her left arm, she smiled to her friend. ”Sure I’ll catch a ride,” She added. ”Just got in system, and when I realized where my ride had docked I thought I’d come bug you at work. Last job got a bit rough so I decided to take some time off.”
Turning back towards the way she’d came, Ezali stood and waited for Alanna to catch up. ”So, how ’ve you been?”
Alanna gave a small sigh at Ezalis' question. "Oh you know, things are just… ok at the moment. Today was my last day here. Alanna gestured at the rung itself. "The twins are, well the twins are being difficult at the moment. You remember that thing I mentioned to you about Jiari? Well, Firith has taken that as his sister is now the favourite child. Sable's as annoying as ever but there's not really a lot I can do about that. And Laars is… Alanna gives a deep sigh. "well we're still together."

She gave her friend a sympathetic smile and wish she had something more than just words to offer. ”Sorry to hear that. Firith’ll get over it eventually...it must be hard finding out your sister is ‘special’ while you’re just you. The day Grumpybot stops being a pest is the day he powers down for good.” The way Alanna said her husbands name tweaked something in Ezali’s mind, there was more going on...but standing in the doorway of a droid workshop wasn’t the sort of place to try and unpack what had her friend so down.

”You said you’re done here, so what’s next? A woman of your talents shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a new shop; or are you going to open your own?”

Alanna smiled at her friends suggestion, she had often wondered whether she could open her own droid shop, she certainly had the knowledge to get by on her own for a while. But at the same time she also felt that, that part of her life was coming to an end. With everything going on with her home life what Alanna really wanted was a fresh start maybe even to just retire and move away with the kids.

"I honestly don't know Ezali, I've spent over a decade at MDY, surrounded by loud noise, annoying droids and even more annoying men. I just want to get away from it all. Maybe take the twins and retire somewhere nice and away from the big cities. Like maybe out there." She said pointing out the window at the lush forest on Mandalore below them. "Just somewhere peaceful, away from all the noise and the stress." And possibly away from Laars

As they left Alanna’s former workplace, she couldn’t help but notice that her friend failed to mention her husband in the potential retirement plans. The last time she’d visited things had seemed good with her friend, but now there was an undercurrent of something. Yeah, and last time you were here was nearly two years ago, Ezali reminded herself. Shit changes. Weaving their way along the concourse towards the shuttle docks, she tried to keep the conversation ‘light’ while they were in public. ”You? Retire?” She smirked, giving Alanna a playful shove on the shoulder. ”You’d be bored within a week and be pulling apart your speeder for something to do; but I get it, especially the annoying males and droids part.”

While the Orbital was a massive installation, it was also intended to deal with high volumes of traffic, both externally and internally. A short walk from the droid bay took them to a high speed tram line, which brought them to the ‘local’ orbit-to-ground shuttle dock in short order. During the trip, she’d tried to make small talk, but things like that had never been a strong suit for Ezali.

Seeing they’d have a moment to themselves, as they shuttle they wanted hadn’t quite arrived yet, and the waiting lounge was mostly empty, she decided to say something. ”Okay Lanna, what’s wrong?”

That question was a new one to the Twi'lek, it had been a very long time since anyone had actually noticed that something was off about her, but could she bring herself to answer; A: In such a public place. And B: While sober. There was also the issue of just what was wrong with her life. If her daughter being at risk of disappearing to the Jedi at a moments notice and her son taking that to mean that she was the favourite now wasn't bad enough, her husband was seeing another woman. The whole perfect life that she had built for herself to escape the horror that was her childhood, was coming apart at the seams and though Ezali was a good friend that she trusted, could she really dump all of her own problems onto her? It was probably best not too, at least not where they currently were.

"I don't know what you mean Ezali… things are… fine at the moment." Her tone was horribly unconvincing but if she couldn't even convince herself of what she was saying, what hope did she have of convincing another person.

”If things are fine, I’m next in line to be Mand’alor.” Ezali replied in a complete deadpan. ”If you don’t want to talk about it now, fine, but please Lanna let me help if I can.” She added quietly. She set her helmet on a nearby ledge before taking both of Alanna’s hands in her own. ”Other folks might not notice, but something is eating at you. I could tell almost right away, so please tell me. You’ve had enough shit thrown at you in your life, you’ve earned the right to have someone else share your load.”
A chime announced the docking of their shuttle, and the small lounge rapidly filled with disembarking passengers. Releasing Alanna’s hands, she took up her helmet and stuffed it on her head. ”Alright, we’ll talk about this later, and no I’m not going to drop it.”

Star Wars(AU) - After Knightfall

^{@Cuddles 1438}

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---

The Heart of Gold was guided into one of the Orbital’s many secondary hangers, landing amongst a variety of freighters and private light warships belonging to other Banners. While the others post-flighted the ship, Ezali bade them farewell and wished them luck in their recruitment.

”You know, you could stay and help…” Ede said with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

”Tempting…” Ezali laughed as she put her helmet on. ”But I’ll have to pass.” With that she disembarked the ship and headed out of the hanger. With the Founding just around the corner, the station was a hive of activity. Clearing Customs and exiting the hanger and taking a moment to orient herself and watch the crowds; Mandalorians, Army, Navy, Banner or civilian, made their way amongst one another with the occasional Imperial, Corellian or other foreign national dotted about.

As she was starting to find her bearings, she spotted an info kiosk that was offering maps of at least this section of the Orbital. She felt a bit ridiculous having to play the part of ‘tourist’ and load the map into her helmet display…but they had added a whole lot to the station since she’d been there last. Map loaded, she now knew exactly where she was, and spotting a tag on the map, she knew where she was going first.
--
Weaving her way through the crowds she eventually made it too the droid workshop where her friend Alanna worked. Letting herself in, Ezali made her way past racks of droid components and the silent shells of shut down droids. Eventually she found the Twi’lek staring out a window at a passing CR-90. She rapped a durasteel clad knuckle on a workbench, and pulled her helmet off. ”Hey Lanna, surprise!” She chirped with a grin before looking about. ”Where’s Grumpy-bot?” She asked upon not seeing Alanna’s cantankerous HK unit about.

Revenant: Chapter 2- The Hunted (A Sci-Fi Adventure)

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---

Earlier

While the decryption ran, Val found herself in the unfortunate position of needing to kill time with another person in the room, which meant ‘small talk’; something that she freely admitted she was terrible at.

Her own lack of social graces were compounded by Sadaet’s smoking, not that the smell bothered her with her nose ‘off’, she just disliked the habit on principle, and the fact that he kept giving her odd looks for a reason she couldn’t pin down. After a few clumsy attempts that didn’t go anywhere, she settled on sitting in silence until the programs had run their course. Mercifully that didn’t take too long, so upon their completion she shuffled the unlocked files back onto their drive, before handing said drive to Sadaet to send to Stryker, after all the rest of the setup in the room was his baby and she knew how much it’d bother her to have some rando messing with her gear.

”Well…um, see you..” She said awkwardly, as she stood, before leaving his room.

Now

When Stryker made the call, Val headed for the War Room and claimed the first seat she found. Since she got there before everyone else, she immediately went back to trying to chase down and plug Revenant’s memory leak; it was looking to be a project that was, unfortunately, going to keep her busy for some time.

Star Wars(AU) - After Knightfall

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---

The transition out of hyperspace woke Ezali from the bunk she appropriated. Grabbing her helmet from where she put it when she went for a nap, she headed towards the bridge of the Gozanti class she was hitching a ride on.

”Keldabe ATC, this is the freighter Heart of Gold of the Banner Keldau’s Reach, requesting approach vector to the Orbital, over.”

”Keldabe ATC to Heart of Gold copy, ID confirmed. Sending you nav lane heading now. Contact Oribital Docking on 676.7 in five minuets. Welcome Home”

”Copy Keldabe, adjusting course to nav lane now, will contact Docking on 676.7 in five mike. Thank you Heartof Gold clear.”

She’d stood quietly and just watched as the pilot, her Banner-brother did his job; but now that things were settled she spoke up. ”So Ede,” She asked, leaning against the pilot’s seat to peer out the window. ”How long you figure before we get station-side?”

When Ezali had left Mandalor to go try her hand at mercenary/bounty hunting, the Orbital had been a vast skeletal web, and during her infrequent visits home she’d seen it slowly come together but now, it looked like it was complete; and if that was the case she hoped the Corellians, Imps and Mandalor could put all their shit aside at least long enough to go and deal with the Confed once and for all.

While she’d been musing, Ede had been working the ship’s consoles. ”Ah, you’re awake,” He said in a way of greeting. ”But yeah, with this traffic we should be station-side in about thirty.”

Ezali thanked Ede and was about to leave the bridge when Ji, the co-pilot twitched in her seat and bent over the sensor display. ”Damn, would you look at that!” A few key strokes brought an external camera to what she’d spotted on sensors, and then routed the feed onto a cockpit holo.

”Is that what I think it is?”

”If you’re thinking a Hapes Nova class, then yes.”

”Never thought I’d see one of those…especially here. Wonder why they’ve come out from under their rock?”

There were of course no answers forthcoming, so leaving the flight crew to their work Ezali headed back to the bunk she’d commandeered. The Heart of Gold had been heading back to Mandalor in time for the Founding on a recruitment drive for the Banner Keldau’s Reach, the mercenary company which owned the Heart of Gold and employed Ezali, Ede and Ji.

Only Ede and Ji were along to try and hire new blood, Ezali had simply caught a ride because she hadn’t been home in quite a while and after how nerve wracking her last job had been, she felt she deserved some time off.

Star Wars(AU) - After Knightfall

Ezali Halkrin

Ezali Halkirn

Ezali

| {Full Name} |

Ezali Halkirn / Clan Halkirn / House Vizla

| {Age} |

35

| {Species} |

Miralan by birth, Mandalorian by choice

| {Gender} |

Female

---

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

Yes/Neutral

| {Appearance} |

A bit shorter than average and slender, but well muscled from wearing beskar’gam. She keeps her hair short of ease of wearing under her armour, and keeps it back with an ever present golden hair band that was a present from an ex-girlfriend (whom she is still on good terms with). The first of her face tattoos, the six triangles along her cheek bones, came from her Miralan mother Setuo upon the discovery that Ezali was at least a little Force Sensitive; the rest came to mark important moments in her life, and as a way to honour her Miralan heritage.

Across her limbs and torso she bears more than a few scars from those times when her ego out paced her skill; while a good dose of bacta could have healed any of the injuries without leaving a mark, she deliberately had the scars left as a reminder to herself…not that its always worked.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• Mandalorian Armour
  <sup>- With the exception of the cuirass, the armour is all durasteel
  - The armour was gift from her step-mother Rith, upon her successful verd'goten.</sup>
  
  • Cuirass made of beskar, a Clan Halkrin relic dating back centuries, it was once part of Haede Halkrin’s armour (Rith’s younger sister)
  • Helmet has a macrobinocular viewplate with tactical displays, comlink with the antenna tipped by a rangefinder for enhance imagery
  • Left vambrace contains a shield emitter, sonic stunner and grapple line thrower
  • Right vambrace contains a wrist laser, repulsor and wrist missile launcher
    ^{{Mini concussion missile loaded - Spare ammo carried on right hip}}
  • Boots have magnetized soles
    ^{- Predominantly gray with red highlights. Gold detailing can be found on the vambraces and around the helmet’s viewplate. There is also Miralan style black diamond patterning across the ‘cheeks’ of her armour. Right shoulder has the logo of the free company Keldau’s Reach (Mythosaur skull over two crossed beskad) in blue.}
  • Armourweave body suit
    ^{- Black}
  • Armourweave kama worn around waist
    ^{- Gray with red accents}
• Customized Merr-Sonn Munitions JT-12
  • Increased fuel tanks and newer, more efficient, thrusters for improved endurance
  • Improved armour. A resin impregnated layer of armourweave bonded to the JT-12 and then covered with a thin sheet of durasteel. While it has added some weight, it had significantly improved durability.
  • MM3 Seeker Flechette anti-personnel launcher. Targeted via the viewplate, the launcher can engage up to ten targets.
    <sup>{Cluster Munition - Single shot}
    - Same colour structure as armour</sup>
• WESTAR 55 Heavy Blaster Pistol
  ^{{Right Thigh}}
• WESTAR Blaster Carbine
  ^{{Mag-locked to JT-12}}
• 2 V-6 ‘Haywire’ grenades
  ^{{Left Thigh}}
• 2 V-1 Thermal Detonators
  ^{{Left Thigh}}
• 2 Mini Concussion Missiles
  ^{{Right Hip}}
• 2 Mini EMP Missiles
  ^{{Right Hip}}
• Vibroblade
  ^{{Left Hip - Styled after a traditional beskad}}
• A pendant originally given to her mother Madelle by Setuo on their wedding day, Madelle gave it to Ezali after Setuo’s death.
  ^{{Worn under body suit}}

| {Physical Abilities} |

After becoming Mandalorian, Ezali was trained extensively in marksmanship, piloting and close combat, both armed and unarmed. Clan Halkim even managed to convince a few Jedi to come and offer instruction to Ezali and her peers while they were training. A bonus for her was that, when one of the Jedi realized she had a bit of Force talent he taught her how to get the most out of what ability she did have. Now after more than a decade as a freelancer in one of several Mandalorian Banners that ply their trade in the Empire, she is a supremely capable fighter.

| {Force Abilities} |

While her connection to the Force is not strong enough for her to directly influence or affect the world around her, she can focus the connection to allow her a kind of hyper-awareness. This can be used as a kind of lie detector during questionings or to significantly increase her spatial awareness and reaction times, letting her fight with an almost Jedi like swiftness.

| {Limitations} |

Even now she finds herself being too reliant on her connection to the Force, which unlike those with stronger Force connection, can ‘cut out’ if she over exerts herself. Add to that a bit of Mando ego, and she can and has found herself in a tough spot more than once.

---

| {Personality} |

The reputation of a Mandalorian is that of a taciturn and stoic warrior…and something that Ezali enjoys disregarding as much as possible to the frustration of more than a few older Mandos. Usually cheerful, and with a small smile, she tries to not take things too seriously without reason.
Despite what some see as rather flippant behaviour, she is still a Mandalorian and a consummate professional when needed, willing to do whatever is needed to protect her Clan, her House and her Republic.

Beneath the smiles and the duty however is still a young girl mourning the murder of one of her mothers; and while she’s come to live with the sadness, grief and anger, they’re not going away anytime soon.

| {Place of Origin} |

Coruscant - She tries not to think too much about it. Her last memories of there are watching from the window of an evacuation shuttle as districts burned under orbital bombardments while she worried where her mother Setuo was. Any memories from before that just remind her what she lost.

| {Background} |

Ezali never knew her birth parents as she was given up for adoption at birth, but she did know she was born on Coruscant. Adopted almost right away by her then newly married moms, Madelle and Setuo, her early life was pretty normal even though the Galactic Republic was in the middle of a war. The only real shake up in those early days was when she was found to be Force Sensitive. Her parents where afraid to loose their daughter to the Jedi, but when the Jedi’s own testing showed Ezali’s connection was at best very weak, they opted to leave her be.

After that, things went back to normal until she was about seven, when her parents divorced. There had been some tension that she’d been oblivious to as a child, but most of the split stemmed from the realization between both Madella and Setuo, that they were better as just friends, then as a couple. There was the expected sadness and such when they split, but they both made sure Ezali knew they both loved her dearly, and once the hurt had passed, things went back much to what they’d been, though with a bit more movement for Ezali as she split her time between her mom’s places.

Three years later, that peace was shattered when General Grievous launched his surprise assault on her homeworld. Woken in the middle of the night by Madelle, they fled to an evacuation shuttle with only the clothes on their backs. As the shuttle fled, she can still remember vividly the sight of whole districts on fire from enemy bombardments, and the chaos that surrounded the Jedi Temple…where Setuo worked. Setuo was one of a multitude of clerical staff the Jedi employed to keep the day-to-day affairs of the Temple in order, and while that night was one that Ezali usually spent at Setuo’s place, Setuo had been working very late the past while as everyone scrambled to deal with the, what turned out to be diversionary, surprise attacks.

Life moved forward however and while they both grieved, they were evacuated along with many others to Mandalorian space. Taken in, Madelle found comfort with a woman named Rith Halkrin, eldest daughter of Clan Halkrin. Though massively different from her life before, Ezali took to Mandalorian life with more ease than her mother at times. Though from significantly different backgrounds, Madelle and Rith fell hard for each other and were married in short order, which lead to Ezali being adopted formally by Clan Halkrin before her thirteenth birthday. She had already been training with the younger members of the Clan but had always felt, and in small ways was, treated like an outsider. Once, however, she and her mother were officially members of the Clan, she was greeted as a ‘lost’ sister and has never looked back.

Upon completing her verd'goten at thirteen she was now an adult in the eyes of her adopted people; and despite the ‘late’ start she got un her training, Rith was pleased at how well Ezali did during her trial. Though Madelle was less than enthusiastic at the idea, at sixteen Ezali set out with a few of her cousins to Imperial space to join on with the Mando ‘free company’ Keldau’s Reach who had set up shop there to take jobs harassing all things CIS.

| {Other} |

Speaks Basic, Mando’a, Bocce and some Durese and can understand Huttese, Shyriiwook and Droidspeak

[Edit: Changed blasters, moved missile launcher back to vambrace]

Star Wars(AU) - After Knightfall

Ezali Halkrin

Ezali Halkirn

Ezali

| {Full Name} |

Ezali Halkirn / Clan Halkirn / House Vizla

| {Age} |

35

| {Species} |

Miralan by birth, Mandalorian by choice

| {Gender} |

Female

---

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

Yes/Neutral

| {Appearance} |

A bit shorter than average and slender, but well muscled from wearing beskar’gam. She keeps her hair short of ease of wearing under her armour, and keeps it back with an ever present golden hair band that was a present from an ex-girlfriend (whom she is still on good terms with). The first of her face tattoos, the six triangles along her cheek bones, came from her Miralan mother Setuo upon the discovery that Ezali was at least a little Force Sensitive; the rest came to mark important moments in her life, and as a way to honour her Miralan heritage.

Across her limbs and torso she bears more than a few scars from those times when her ego out paced her skill; while a good dose of bacta could have healed any of the injuries without leaving a mark, she deliberately had the scars left as a reminder to herself…not that its always worked.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• Mandalorian Armour
  <sup>- With the exception of the cuirass, the armour is all durasteel
  - The armour was gift from her step-mother Rith, upon her successful verd'goten.</sup>
  
  • Cuirass made of beskar, a Clan Halkrin relic dating back centuries, it was once part of Haede Halkrin’s armour (Rith’s younger sister).
  • Helmet has a macrobinocular viewplate with tactical displays, comlink with the antenna tipped by a rangefinder for enhance imagery.
  • Left vambrace contains a shield emitter, repulsor and grapple line thrower.
  • Right vambrace contains a wrist laser, sonic stunner and a repulsor.
  • Boots have magnetized soles
    ^{- Predominantly gray with red highlights. Gold detailing can be found on the vambraces and around the helmet’s viewplate. There is also Miralan style black diamond patterning across the ‘cheeks’ of her armour. Right shoulder has the symbol of the free company Keldau’s Reach (Mythosaur skull over two crossed beskad) in blue.}
  • Armourweave body suit
    ^{- Black}
  • Armourweave kama worn around waist
    ^{- Gray with red accents}
• Customized Merr-Sonn Munitions JT-12
  • Increased fuel tanks and newer, more efficient, thrusters for improved endurance
  • Improved armour. A resin impregnated layer of armourweave bonded to the JT-12 and then covered with a thin sheet of durasteel. While it has added some weight, it had significantly improved durability.
  • MM3 Seeker Flechette anti-personnel launcher. Targeted via the viewplate, the launcher can engage up to ten targets.
    <sup>{Cluster Munition - Single shot}
    - Same colour structure as armour</sup>
• Colning Arms PM-1119 Heavy Blaster pistol
  ^{{Right Thigh}}
• Kala-Rinco Concern TKVd-79 Blaster Carbine
  ^{{Mag-locked to JT-12}}
• MashToch SB-11-N Mini Concussion Launcher
  ^{{Underslung attachment on TKVd-79 - Single Shot}}
• 2 V-6 ‘Haywire’ grenades
  ^{{Left Thigh}}
• 2 V-1 Thermal Detonators
  ^{{Left Thigh}}
• 2 Mini Concussion Missiles
  ^{{Right Hip}}
• 2 Mini EMP Missiles
  ^{{Right Hip}}
• Vibroblade
  ^{{Left Hip - Styled after a traditional beskad}}
• A pendant originally given to her mother Madelle by Setuo on their wedding day, Madelle gave it to Ezali after Setuo’s death.
  ^{{Worn under body suit}}

| {Physical Abilities} |

After becoming Mandalorian, Ezali was trained extensively in marksmanship, piloting and close combat, both armed and unarmed. Clan Halkim even managed to convince a few Jedi to come and offer instruction to Ezali and her peers while they were training. A bonus for her was that, when one of the Jedi realized she had a bit of Force talent he taught her how to get the most out of what ability she did have. Now after more than a decade as a freelancer in one of several Mandalorian Banners that ply their trade in the Empire, she is a supremely capable fighter.

| {Force Abilities} |

While her connection to the Force is not strong enough for her to directly influence or affect the world around her, she can focus the connection to allow her a kind of hyper-awareness. This can be used as a kind of lie detector during questionings or to significantly increase her spatial awareness and reaction times, letting her fight with an almost Jedi like swiftness.

| {Limitations} |

Even now she finds herself being too reliant on her connection to the Force, which unlike those with stronger Force connection, can ‘cut out’ if she over exerts herself. Add to that a bit of Mando ego, and she can and has found herself in a tough spot more than once.

---

| {Personality} |

The reputation of a Mandalorian is that of a taciturn and stoic warrior…and something that Ezali enjoys disregarding as much as possible to the frustration of more than a few older Mandos. Usually cheerful, and with a small smile, she tries to not take things too seriously without reason.
Despite what some see as rather flippant behaviour, she is still a Mandalorian and a consummate professional when needed, willing to do whatever is needed to protect her Clan, her House and her Republic.

Beneath the smiles and the duty however is still a young girl mourning the murder of one of her mothers; and while she’s come to live with the sadness, grief and anger, they’re not going away anytime soon.

| {Place of Origin} |

Coruscant - She tries not to think too much about it. Her last memories of there are watching from the window of an evacuation shuttle as districts burned under orbital bombardments while she worried where her mother Setuo was. Any memories from before that just remind her what she lost.

| {Background} |

Ezali never knew her birth parents as she was given up for adoption at birth, but she did know she was born on Coruscant. Adopted almost right away by her then newly married moms, Madelle and Setuo, her early life was pretty normal even though the Galactic Republic was in the middle of a war. The only real shake up in those early days was when she was found to be Force Sensitive. Her parents where afraid to loose their daughter to the Jedi, but when the Jedi’s own testing showed Ezali’s connection was at best very weak, they opted to leave her be.

After that, things went back to normal until she was about seven, when her parents divorced. There had been some tension that she’d been oblivious to as a child, but most of the split stemmed from the realization between both Madella and Setuo, that they were better as just friends, then as a couple. There was the expected sadness and such when they split, but they both made sure Ezali knew they both loved her dearly, and once the hurt had passed, things went back much to what they’d been, though with a bit more movement for Ezali as she split her time between her mom’s places.

Three years later, that peace was shattered when General Grievous launched his surprise assault on her homeworld. Woken in the middle of the night by Madelle, they fled to an evacuation shuttle with only the clothes on their backs. As the shuttle fled, she can still remember vividly the sight of whole districts on fire from enemy bombardments, and the chaos that surrounded the Jedi Temple…where Setuo worked. Setuo was one of a multitude of clerical staff the Jedi employed to keep the day-to-day affairs of the Temple in order, and while that night was one that Ezali usually spent at Setuo’s place, Setuo had been working very late the past while as everyone scrambled to deal with the, what turned out to be diversionary, surprise attacks.

Life moved forward however and while they both grieved, they were evacuated along with many others to Mandalorian space. Taken in, Madelle found comfort with a woman named Rith Halkrin, eldest daughter of Clan Halkrin. Though massively different from her life before, Ezali took to Mandalorian life with more ease than her mother at times. Though from significantly different backgrounds, Madelle and Rith fell hard for each other and were married in short order, which lead to Ezali being adopted formally by Clan Halkrin before her thirteenth birthday. She had already been training with the younger members of the Clan but had always felt, and in small ways was, treated like an outsider. Once, however, she and her mother were officially members of the Clan, she was greeted as a ‘lost’ sister and has never looked back.

Upon completing her verd'goten at thirteen she was now an adult in the eyes of her adopted people; and despite the ‘late’ start she got un her training, Rith was pleased at how well Ezali did during her trial. Though Madelle was less than enthusiastic at the idea, at sixteen Ezali set out with a few of her cousins to Imperial space to join on with the Mando ‘free company’ Keldau’s Reach who had set up shop there to take jobs harassing all things CIS.

| {Other} |

Speaks Basic, Mando’a, Bocce and some Durese and can understand Huttese, Shyriiwook and Droidspeak

Revenant: Chapter 2- The Hunted (A Sci-Fi Adventure)

^@TheEvanCat

---

---

Val wrinkled her nose as Sadaet lit up a cigarette; since she was a kid she’d never understood some folks fascination with poisoning their organics with cigarettes. Alcohol could at least get you drunk, loosen you up a bit; all tobacco did was fuck up your body and make you stink. In that vein, she did do as Sadaet said and shut down her olfactory receptors…which improved her mood greatly.

”Don’t mind if I do.” She replied, as he offered her a chair. Sitting carefully, she’d broken more than one chair by sitting too heavily, she was a fair bit heavier than she looked, she looked over the pieced together rig until she saw a data port. ”Let’s see what sort of fun we have here.” She added, interlacing her fingers and ‘cracking’ her knuckles, rather unnecessarily.

Reach up to the base of her skull, she pulled a data jack out, the retractable cable disappearing into her hair. Plugging the cable into the rig she began typing at a furious pace, the screen before her flickering madly as she opened and closed dialogue boxes, implementing a whole series of tasks before ever going near the encrypted data.

First, even though it was an isolated system, she created a virtual hard drive for the data to isolate it from the rest of the machine. She then downloaded a couple types of military-grade firewalls from her own system and wrapped them around the virtual drive. Once those were up and running to her satisfaction, she shielded her own connection with a barrier of her own design.”Quarantine online…” She muttered before realizing, unlike normal, she had an audience. ”I know the rig is isolated, but even with only a cursory look, that encryption is pure Alliance…and they can hide some nasty shit in there.”

Another dialogue box popped up, showing another string of programs being loaded into Sadaet’s computer. ”First, a couple ‘sniffers’ I wrote. Sometimes the like to slip auto-execute attack barriers into the encryption to go on the offensive the moment you start running a decryption. The sniffer sort of passively probes the encryption to try and get a look at it; not the most detailed, but it should give me a rough idea of what I’m up against without prompting any active response.” As the sniffers ran, she made a bit of a face, this machine was so slow…well, not really, but compared to the processor in her head it was; they took a whole 50 seconds!

”Riiight…. here we go,” She said, as streams of code began appearing in a new box of the screen. ”Definitely Alliance…a version of the CXD type encryption, older yet still very effective, but not as likely to hide ‘surprises’ fortunately.” More programs were loaded in, the first ones starting to actively ‘map’ the encryption architecture, while the follow up one set to work on actually breaking it down.

Reaching over, Val unplugged herself and sat back with a smile. ”Now all that’s left is for the program to run its course…assuming there aren’t any ‘surprises’ along the way.”