ASDAValueMilk

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

@Sep @Queen Arya @apollosarcher

Sable

Considering it was supposed to be a public holiday, it was certainly busier than Sable had been expecting it to be when he walked in. He still had no idea about the Tusken fiddling with the Speeder bike in the back but figured that his Master wouldn't let him?… she?... it, yeah ,it, that was good enough until Sable learned otherwise. Master wouldn't let it do work in the shop if she wasn't at least somewhat clued in on what it wanted.

The Togruta actually seemed familiar to the droid, apart from being accompanied by his Master's most persistent suitor, and a quick run of facial recognition showed him why. If his database was right, which it usually was, she was some sort of famous PopStar. Not that Sable had heard any of her music and given the flustered expression on his Master's face she was more focused on Artaks flirting than on whatever the Togrutas problem was.

Sable turned to Rorwoorr and gestured for the Wookie to follow him deeper into the shop. Mostly to get away from the dumb IG droid and its stupid comments, yeah Sable would prove he was the better droid by not starting a fight in the shop again. Master would certainly reward him for that ”Statement: B-1s you say, Hmmmm. Sable pondered for a moment. On one hand their parts were cheap and readily available across the galaxy. On the other hand he knew how much Master hated working on them.

He lifted the reservations book out from under the counter he was behind and flipped to a page with a few spaces on it. ”Information: Parts notwithstanding, you'd normally be looking at roughly 250 credits per droid for labour. But since you're a repeat customer we can do it at 200 per droid instead. As for the cost of any parts that may need replacing, we would go over any additional charges when you came to collect. Though you would be notified about the parts and their costs before any work actually took place. If my Master has kept the book up to date then you can bring the units down today, but it would be roughly a week or so before they would be ready to collect.”

Sable looked up from the reservation book at the Wookie before him to gauge if he had taken in all the information that Sable was throwing at him. ”Query: Any questions?”

Alanna

Alanna finished approaching Artak and the Togruta with a gentle smile on her face. She wasn't completely deaf and had definitely heard the Togruta say that Artak wanted to take her to dinner. Which wasn't a surprise since he was nothing if not persistent in his attempts. ”Thank you Artak, you're always such a charmer.” she shoots him a flirty wink before turning her attention back to the Togruta.

The comment made by the IG droid didn't go completely over her head, it was of course referring to Sable who seemed to have disappeared deeper into the shop with Rorwoorr. If Alanna was anyone else she'd have taken offence to the idea that Sable was antiqued. She'd spent most of her life keeping him in good condition and he could certainly scrap this poor imitation at what Sable excelled at. But still, these were customers and she'd always do her best to maintain her professionalism.

Could she fix him? Pah. Was a Hutt fat and slimy?

”Hmmm, wrist actuator you say? Well these IG models can get all sorts of little gremlins sometimes. Alanna holds out her hand and the IG unit places its arm into her grasp. Its arm hung loosely as she moved it around to inspect the wrist section and after a few seconds a little rattle caught her attention. ”Think I've figured out the problem.” Alanna reached for her tool belt and pulled out a small screwdriver and opened the casing of the IGs arm as easily as one would open a drinks can. ”Here's the issue.” she pulls a fuse out of the IGs arm which looks quite badly battered. ”Cheap parts like this just break too easily under the littlest amounts of force. Hold-over from Holowan making droids for the Separatists. Everything is as cheap and mass-produced as possible. But luckily I have a few spares somewhere, one moment.”

Alanna disappears behind a droid rack for a minute or so before coming back with a replacement fuse and then carefully places it into the empty socket inside of the IGs arm. ”There we go, if you try it now your arm shouldn't have any issues now. She turns from the IG to Artak and his guest. ”Should be good to go now and that new fuse should stand up to punishment a bit longer than the cheap original one did. And if Artak brings me some nice flowers I won't even charge you for it.” she gives him another wink and a smile.

As she finished with the IG unit another new person entered the store. On a supposed public holiday it was genuinely busier than it had been in the last week. She turned to face the new customer who said something she hadn't quite heard but she was happily surprised to see a familiar set of bandages staring back at her. ”Airus!” she practically squealed before running at her friend and wrapping him in a big hug. ”I've missed you so much, what are you doing here?”

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

@Sep @Queen Arya

Sable

Sable watched on in disappointment as Alanna walked out the door to go to work. She could be damned Stubborn sometimes when she wanted too. Of course Sable knew why she was doing it, she was lonely but wouldn't admit it. And when Sable or anyone else would point it out she'd deflect with sarcasm. ”Oh well.” Sable said to no one in particular as he rose from his seat at the island, it was Sable's job to protect his Master, not to be her therapist. No, she already spent a stupid amount of money on one of those already.

Attached to the spacious kitchen was Sables “room” if you could call it that. It was little more than a glorified broom cupboard containing his charge point and storage for his various stuff mostly weapons but also a few spare parts and the occasional trophy. Though most of his good stuff was locked away in his own personal vault. Sable entered the room and grabbed what he'd need for the day; Credit stick for the buying of things he wanted, a bag for the holding of the things he wanted and lastly, his blaster pistol, because some people thought it was smart to try and rob an HK droid without a restraining bolt on.

Stepping out of the apartment he made sure to lock the door behind him before exiting the high-rise building onto the busy streets. Even so early in the morning the place was busy, Founding Days usually were but with today being a special one everything seemed to just be more compared to the last few years. Pulling out the small to-do list that Alanna had left him, Sable headed off into the city.

First on his list was to go and see Vik at the Scruffy Nerf Herder. It wasn't a far walk from Alanna's apartment but with streets being closed off and others too packed to pass through it took Sable over 40 minutes to get to the Port District. Even after a decade it was still amusing to Sable when he saw people's reactions to him walking the streets unrestricted, no restraining bolt or owner in sight. Of course many of the locals were used to him by now but the way visitors and tourists, especially the more upper-class ones, reacted to a droid just wandering around always bought him some small amount of joy.

As Sable approached the door to the bar he could see it was already busy inside with spacers and locals gathered around the entrance, some drinking while others complained about having to work on Founding Day. Before he could push the button the door opened and a man came flying out, landing with a thud on the concrete next to the droid. Sable looked up and saw Vik standing in the entrance barking some rather strong language in Mando'a that Sable would definitely not be repeating. Viks eyes shot up and met Sable's optics and he visibly relaxed a little. “Sable… this is a surprise. Is Alanna not with you?” He says looking around, almost disappointed she wasn't present. ”Greeting: Hello Vik, no, Master is not here. She has decided she will be working today.”

Vik shook his head and chuckled. “That girl I swear. Oh well, to what do I owe the pleasure Sable?” He said, gesturing Sable to follow him back into the bar as he did so. Inside it wasn't as busy as Sable thought it would be, every booth and barstool was occupied but no one was just standing around drinking like they normally did, instead they had spilled out onto the streets to enjoy the festival. ”Statement: Master sent me here to work, I believe I dented your floor a few weeks ago.” Vik turned to him with a shocked look on his face. “Lanna sent you to… work? For that? Is she mad.” The last part was more of a statement than a question but Sable would let it slide this once. ”Correction: Master is not mad. Master is feeling guilty over the incident.” Vik shook his head and sighed. “So she is mad then. She honestly thinks I'd expect her to pay the bill for that? Nonsense, I got the guy you put on a ventilator to pay for it, it's his fault after all. People should be able to enjoy their time here without being harassed, Lanna especially. So you can tell your Master she doesn't owe me a single credit.” The tone of Viks voice was very matter of fact with his final statement. ”Query: So no work then?” The barkeep let out a single amused huff from his nose and shook his head slightly. “No Sable, no work.” Before he could properly finish his sentence the droid interrupted him ”Jubilation: Excellent news, I'll be off then.” before the Mandalorian had a chance to return Sable retreated a faint “Yeah sure, thanks for coming… I guess.” Could be heard as he did so.

Back out on the streets Sable headed off to his next task. “Bring coffee to Master” wasn't technically on his list but he knew she'd never turn it down. A short walk from the bar was Nanna's cafe which by mid-morning was overflowing with tourists and locals alike. Much like outside Sable got more strange looks upon entering but the one who didn't look at him strange was Nanna, she instead looked positively delighted to see the droid enter her shop. “SABLE!” The elderly woman exclaimed in a jovial yet gravely tone, hopping off of the stool she was on she hobbled over to where Sable stood in the queue. By now Nanna was an elderly woman through and through, Stubborn and cantankerous to a fault, her mechanical leg was well overdue for maintenance but she refused to get it looked at which caused her to walk with a noticeable limp on her left side. “You better be looking after that Master of yours.” She exclaimed, whacking him on the back of the leg with her walking stick as she got to him.

Sable buckled his leg at the whack of the stick and dropped to his knee allowing the woman to wrap him in an welcoming hug. ‘Affection’ in a traditional sense was not something Sable was familiar with but Nanna had been kind to his Master despite how much of an ass Sable could be, not even children were safe from him,he was more than willing to put up with her displays. ”Confirmation: Yes I am still looking after Master Alanna, she is working today and I believe a fresh coffee would do her good.” Nanna sighed and shook her head. “That girl I swear, she needs a hobby or some friends or… Never mind.” She cuts herself off and hobbles away and behind the counter for a minute or so before reappearing with a cup and a paper bag. “Here, on the house.” She says while letting Sable take the items. “She's doing work for me anyway and she's not charging me a credit so consider it part of a thank you.” Sable took the items and nodded politely. ”Acceptance: Thank you, I shall get these to her straight away. Have a wonderful day.” The old lady smiled at Sable and then hugged him around the waist. “You look after her Sable you hear, I've told you before and I'll tell you again. She's like the daughter I never had.” ”Reassurance: Relax, there is no higher priority in my programming.” He reciprocated the hug with the arm holding the bag before turning to leave the shop.

Alanna

So far the morning had gone by more eventfully than Alanna had predicted, the Tusken had certainly interrupted the little world she liked to envelop herself in when she worked but to his credit he was just quietly toiling away in the corner on the speeder bike not bothering her. It was just her, the B1s that Nanna had ordered and whatever music was playing over the radio.

Her peace and quiet was short lived however, another being entered her store, she saw the large figure out the corner of her eye but carried on her work inside the B1s chest cavity. The figure approached the counter and stood for several moments in silence before what can only be described as a series of growls came from its direction. She finally turned her head to see a… Wookie. ”Wonderful, just… wonderful. First a Tusken, now a Wookie. Great day to tell Sable to go have fun Alanna, real smart move that.” she muttered to herself, wiping her stained hands on her overalls before approaching the counter.

How would she approach this? Hand gestures? Did he even understand basic? Or did he just hope that… Alanna's thoughts were cut off upon seeing the stick the Wookie carried with an emitter at the top of it. It was him, the Jedi she'd done work for a while ago. Couldn't remember his name for the life of her but at least she knew he'd be friendly. ”Hi uhhh… I'm really sorry I… can't remember your name.” she admitted, embarrassed with herself as she said it. ”Umm. Sable isn't here at the minute so I have no idea what you just said. Sooooo.

Her sentence was interrupted by yet more people entering her shop though at least this time she recognised one of them who announced himself by very openly flirting with her, something about still being pretty while covered in droid oil, whatever it was it made her cheeks flush a light purple colour which wasn't the most professional thing when having customers in front of her. ”Artak, how nice to see you again.” she peered around the Jedi and saw a Togruta and an IG unit stood behind him in the queue. And if Artak had brought them here at least there wouldn't be any translation issues with the next customer.

”Greeting: Salutations Master I come bearing gifts, oh? Quite the party in here isn't it. She still won't go on that date Artak, you know that right?” Sable. Thank goodness. For once his appearance could actually be a blessing. ”Observation: A wookie, a Tusken and an inferior droid. I feel like there are jokes that I could make but.” He looked toward Alanna. ”With your elevated heart rate I suppose you require my assistance?” Alanna nodded and gently gestured towards the Jedi before her. ”Self-satisfaction: I do so enjoy it when I'm right. Rorwoorr, it's been quite a while, what can we do for you?” Sable turned to the Jedi while placing the coffee and the pastry bag on the counter while Alanna took the opportunity to round the counter and approach Artak and his guests. ”Hey Artak, how can I help?” Her gaze shifts between the Clone, the Togruta and the IG and then back to Artak in sequence.

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

@Chev

Try this one buddy

discord.gg/uBEydHrh

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

Alanna

The smell of smoke wiggled its way into her nose. The Twi'Lek shot upright with a jolt, sweating and panicked. She looked around her bedroom and saw… nothing, just her empty room. She let out a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead with the blanket before flopping her head back down onto the pillows. "Just a dream, Alanna, just a dream. she muttered to herself, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she did so. She sighed again and glanced to her right to check her alarm, 07:15, half an hour before her alarm was meant to go off anyway. Alanna sighed again and swung her legs round off the bed, freeing herself from the blanket as she did so. These dreams of hers were becoming far too common an occurrence to be normal, but that was a problem for later. She stood from bed and turned her clock off so the alarm wouldn't ring out into her empty room later on.

Standing beside her bed she surveyed her room, everything was bathed in a deep purple glow as the sun shone in through the curtains. Alanna's bedroom was open and spacious with the purple curtains covering a wall of glazed windows which opened onto a balcony overlooking the River District. Everything in her bedroom was large and spacious as well; from the en-suite, to the walk in wardrobe, the (too)many cupboards and cabinets which lined the wall connecting to the windows and then her bed itself which, if she was honest, could probably fit three or four of herself on it comfortably. Her therapist called it "compensating for her having to sleep rough for most of her formative years." Technically he used fancier words than that but that was the message Alanna got from it.

Taking a few steps forwards, Alanna drew back the curtains and let the early morning sun bathe her room in light. In truth it was all too big for just her, but she didn't use her money in any other way; didn't wear the fanciest clothes, have the fastest or shiniest speeder or really mix with wealthy society at all. She just lived comfortably, never wanted for anything and wasn't afraid to close the workshop for a few days when she wanted a break. Stepping out onto the balcony Alanna took a few moments to look out over the city. She could tell it was going to be a busy day, below her people moved in a hurry, stalls being set up and performers going over the last few details of their routines. "Ah… Founding day, I'd almost forgotten about this." Alanna thought to herself. Never had a single day been able to make her feel so… alone. It had been over a decade since her meeting with the Paladin, and just under that since 'Nanna' had offered her the room above her restaurant. Yet she had never quite managed to fit in, not so much an outsider anymore but still an arms length away from the locals at most times.

A knock on her door took her thoughts away from her loneliness and she turned to see Sable enter the room holding a tray with a fresh mug of tea on it. "Greeting: Good morning Master, my sensors indicated you had awoken so I believed a hot beverage would get you ready for the day." Alanna smiled slightly and re-entered the bedroom, closing the balcony door behind her as she did so. "Thank you Sable, that's very kind. Just leave it on the dresser and I'll get it when I've showered." Sable nodded, placing the mug onto the dresser and departing from the room. "Statement: Breakfast shall be ready for when you come downstairs Master, enjoy your Tea." He said before closing the door behind him.

Half an hour later Alanna emerged into the kitchen fresh and ready for the day. Hot toast and a fresh Tea awaited her on the island as she sat herself on the stool. "Thank you for this Sable. It was very kind of you." "Statement: I do the same thing for you almost every morning Master, your thanks is not necessary." Alanna rolled her eyes and took a bite of toast. Sable was still a strange sight to most; Protocol droids, R-units and even recommissioned Battle Droids were something most people around the galaxy were used too, but to see a real life Assassin droid walking around so freely without a restraining bolt or anything did put some people on edge. Yes he could be a pain, a menace to society and was the cause of most of Alanna's headaches but seeing an HK droid standing in front of a sink with a Pinny on washing dishes from the night before, was something you truly had to see to believe.

Sable turned from the sink and removed the Pinny, carefully and precisely folding it into a square before storing it away in a drawer. "Query: So what are our plans for today Master. Shall we go and enjoy the travelling acts or browse the stall for souvenirs?" He asked while taking his own seat on the island, his voice almost sounded hopeful behind the robotic overtone of his speech. "No Sable, unfortunately that is not the plan. We have work to do, still have to finish up the repair on the 3PO unit for… what's his name… the Weequay… Horne, something Horne, I think… Anyway, we're behind on his order and Nanna dropped off a few of those old repaired B1s yesterday, the ones she uses as dishwashers. She thinks their motivator unit needs work, I think her Grandson just blew them up too much and she'd actually save money by melting them down instead. Not that I'd actually charge her for the work mind, but I did promise her it'd be done by next week. Sable let out a robotic sigh and placed his head into his palms "Statement: If I had eyes to roll they would have fallen from their sockets by now Master. You did the same thing last year Master and the year before that and so on and so on. You are still so young Master, the spitting image of your mother, surely there is someone you can go and spend the day with instead, a friend or even a date perhaps? Let Vex and Vax run the shop for the day, it's what you pay them for isn't it?

Alanna glared at Sable over the rim of her mug as she took a sip. "Oh yeah great idea, I'll just give one of those many friends of mine a call. And as for dates? You scare them all away by opening the door with a blaster in your hand like you're an overprotective dad or something. So those options are out the window. And as for Vex and Vax, I've given them the day off. They're young and actually have families to go and celebrate the day with. I have you Sable… and that's it." She sighed softly and finished her toast. "So no, I think I'll be spending the day elbow deep in Droid guts as usual. If you want to go out and enjoy the festival go ahead. You have your own money and we can always take a trip to Hoth soon to deposit anything you buy. Just please don't cause trouble ok? The Deathwatch will be out there I can guarantee it and you know damn well after what happened in the bar last month they'll be watching you.

Three weeks ago

It was a fairly busy night at The Scruffy Nerf-Herder, a bar in the Port District and a frequent haunt of Alanna after a particularly stressful day working in the shop, the bar consisted of a dozen or so booths in a horseshoe shape around the central bar. In the corner of the room opposite the door sits a small stage where a green skinned Twi’Lek stood behind a microphone singing a song which Alanna wasn't particularly paying attention to. She sat at the bar itself, perched on a stool and waiting to be served.

Alanna liked this bar, it was a ten maybe fifteen minute walk from the shop and was run by a Mandalorian called Vik. Vik was an aged man, probably in his late 50s or so but having been a grizzled hunter he knew how to look after himself. He had aged like a fine Wine as his wife, said signing Twi’Lek who was at least 20 years his junior, would say. And he could absolutely school some of the more rowdy patrons who had graced the bar with their presence tonight. "Good evening Miss Blasaw." Vik said as he approached her while cleaning a glass. "Rough day at the shop?" Alanna sat up a bit straighter and gave Vik a gentle smile. "Something like that Vik, some knuckleheaded Selkath went 12 rounds with a B2 unit down at the docks. Apparently it "looked at him funny" he got a broken arm but the droids owner was Pissed." She explained, popping the P on her last word. "The Selkath must have had a pipe or something because its chassis was all dented, some of its optics were damaged and one of its arm servos was completely dead. Guy came in and demanded a rush order on it, he was a total ass aswell… but when he didn't even question the price I quoted him I couldn't complain. Only got out about a half hour ago after he came and picked it up, bear in mind that the shutters closed two hours ago."

Throughout her rant Vik simply stood there, leaning slightly on the counter, listening and occasionally nodding. It was what he was good at and Alanna truly appreciated it. She liked coming here to just vent about how stupid the public could be sometimes and Vik would just listen, didn't offer comment or question about what she would say because he knew that's not what she wanted, all Alanna, and many of his customers, wanted was a stiff drink and someone to vent to. "Sounds rough Lanna, here try this, Some Corellian Whiskey. Normally I wouldn't even entertain the stuff but the guy who gave me it said it'll put some hairs on your chest." He said with a gentle chuckle, pushing a small shot glass in her direction. Alanna smiled and threw the drink back, coughing roughly once it was down. "He… he wasn't lying Vik." She coughed while laughing at the same time. Vik gave a satisfied single "hmmph" and turned to the bottles stacked on the shelves behind him. "Now that I've tortured you with that damned awful stuff, let me get you your usual." He took a few steps away from her and reached for one of the wine bottles on the wall.

As Alanna was distracted by watching Vik pour her drink an Gauntlet clad hand was placed on her forearm. "Hey there pretty lady, what's cute think like you doing in a dump like this?" She turned to see it was a Beskar clad Mandaloian who had deemed himself worthy to invade her space. She recognised him as one of a group who were sat at the booth on the other side of the bar from herself, they had been by far the loudest of those there that night and were clearly celebrating some big payout as the drinks were flowing to and from their table. "Look pal, I ain't buying what your selling so piss off before you get hurt." She tried to shake his hand from her wrist but his grip only tightened at her rejection and he laughed. "Please, like you could hurt me. Now come on, you tail heads are always down for some fun. And me and my buddies over there wanna give you the best night of your life." He nodded his head over to his table where his equally well Armoured compatriots sat watching on. Vik still hadn't reacted at this point but it was clear from his demeanour that he was ready to grab one of his holdouts at any second. "You got one more chance; let go of my arm, fuck off back to your limp dicked friends and leave. Me. Alone. AHHHH! Alanna gasped and winced in pain as the mans other hand grabbed ahold of a Lekku and pulled. "Listen here Twi’Lek…" whatever else the man was saying was drowned out of her ears as heavy metallic footsteps approached quickly and a robotic hand griped the arm currently holding her wrist, distracted the man released her Lekku and turned to face her saviour… Sable.

"Threat: Remove your hand from my Master, Meatbag. Or you will regret it." The Mandalorian startled slightly but his liquid courage stood strong. "Or what Clanker? I've scrapped hundreds, thousands, of you, what are you gonna do?." Vik took a step forward. "That's enough Jex, you and your friends need to leave. NOW!." Vik got angry very rarely so his tone in Alanna's defence was greatly appreciated. "Buzz off old man, me and the lady here were having a nice… AHHHHH!" The man cried in pain before he could finish his sentence. Sable had tightened his grip on the mans gauntlet, the plate itself creaked slightly as Sable forcibly lifted and bent the mans arm back awkwardly. With anguished Sounds still coming from the Mandalorians mouth Sable twisted his body and landed a punch with his free arm, a loud clang resonating through the bar as Durasteel fist met Beskar helmet. The Mandalorian crumpled to the floor and his helmet to flew off and landed by his side.

Sable wasted no time and hunched down over the mans body and picked up his helmet. "Observation: Oh dear, it appears as though you dented your helmet. Shall we attempt to buff that out?" It was a rhetorical question of course and after second or so of no reply Sable swung his body again, beating the man across the head with own helmet repeatedly. More cries of pain and pleas for mercy came with every blow. "Sable! That's enough, you're gonna kill him." Alanna barked and Sable stopped the instant her command was issued. The droid stayed stooped and observed the helmet again, its silver colour now drenched red. "Reluctance: If you insist Master. Didn't get that dent out unfortunately, did add a few more though." He said in an all too pleased with himself tone, dropping the helmet onto the mans chest as he did so. But before he stood he swung his body again landing a fist directly next to the assailants head who in response flinched in pain and cried. Promise: Dare to even look at my Master again and they'll never find your body." "SABLE! I said that's enough!" Alanna turned from her droid back to the bar and placed a stack of credits atop the counter "Sorry for the mess Vik, think I'll have to skip the drink tonight. This should cover the cleaning… and the dent Sable put in your floor. If the police come just tell em the shop opens at 8:30 please. Come on Sable let's go. Night Vik." turning from the scene the pair of them left the bar, Alanna definitely more stressed than when she had entered.

"protest: Master the only reason that fight happened was because that man put his hands on you. He made you uncomfortable. I am programmed to step in and ensure you are unharmed. And no amount of Beskar and testosterone is going to stop me doing that.” Alanna chuckled slightly at the Memory of Sable using the mans’ own helmet to beat him into the floor. "Yes and I appreciate it, Sable. But not everyone sees it that way. That guy's going to be eating out of a straw for the foreseeable future, it doesn't matter if he grabbed my Lekku or not. So I can guarantee you, you or me or even both of us are being watched." Alanna placed her now empty mug down on the counter and rose from her seat. "I have a business to run so if you're saying you'll be too bored to spend the day helping me then you have my permission to go off and enjoy yourself. Be sure to check in regularly and be back by four. Or you could head to Viks and work off what you owe him for cracking his floor and getting blood on his furniture? Either of those work. Good. She turned from the island and proceeded back up the stairs to get her work overalls before heading out the door. "Obvious statement: You know you are rather depressing sometimes Master." Sable got one final quip in before she shut the door behind her.

The shutters to The Magic Mechanic opened on time at 08:29, Alanna was nothing if not punctual with her timings. Her shop stood in complete contrast to the street outside, outside there was an abundance of people of all different cultures going back and forth to stalls and stands of all shapes and sizes, inside her shop was… empty, apart from her anyway. It was just droid racks and an oil pit for the occasional speeder inspection. It was just how she liked it, she could focus on her work with no distractions. Fulfilled orders meant happy customers, happy customers meant repeat customers and word of mouth advertising, which meant more money, which meant happiness and fulfilment…right? Right? She thought to herself, peering out from the guts of a 3PO unit towards the crowd of happy families passing by her enjoying their day.

Right?

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

Alanna

Alanna

| {Full Name} |

Alanna Blasaw

| {Age} |

26

| {Species} |

Twi’Lek

| {Gender} |

Female

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

No/Light

| {Appearance} |

Standing at just over 5’5 Alanna inherited both her mother's looks and her height. Being the daughter of a former dancer in a Hutt palace has meant that she maintains a good figure and looks very easily. She sports deep blue skin and deep green eyes with deeper blue veining running down her Lekku. Owing to her more pistol centric style of combat Alanna chooses to wear lighter gear into combat, her outfit usually consisting of a leather undershirt to aid in dampening blaster impacts a light brown overshirt and a green pilots jacket worn open to aid in concealing the holster of her RSKF-44.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• Atlas: An ST-70 Class Gunship, the Atlas was originally her fathers and his father's before him and so on and so on. The Atlas has been in her family for a very long time and as such is a well loved ship. It won't win any beauty contests but it's well loved and serves Alanna’s needs well.
• RSKF-44 Heavy Blaster pistol + 2x zoom scope. Stowed in a concealed holster under her left arm for easy access.
• A-180 blaster. Stored in pistol configuration in a holster on her right hip
• Survival Knife
• Remote control wrist pad tied to Sable’s internal systems.
• Sable's double bladed lightsaber Pike. Since he 100% cannot be trusted to carry it around himself.

| {Physical Abilities} |

• Pistol Marksman: Since settling on Mandalore Alanna knew that she would still need to know how to defend herself, simply relying on Sable all her life would only get her killed. As such she chose to have Sable train her in the art of Blaster Pistols. Her trusty RSKF-44 was the first weapon she ever fired, at both a target and in anger at someone, the scope which only improved her accuracy at distance.
• "The greatest mechanic in the Galaxy" (self proclaimed): Alanna has spent almost her entire life with a droid as her companion, maintenance and general repair was an absolute necessity. Routing around in Sables internals since the age of 8 Alanna already had a good understanding of how droids worked, and after graduating engineering college with top marks she set up her own droid maintenance shop in Keldabe. Whether it be whatever the hell is going inside Sable or the internal wiring of a starship, Alanna can handle it all.

| {Force Abilities} |

None

| {Limitations} |

Alanna is, physically at least, a very normal person. With no force abilities or cybernetics to speak of. And though she counts this as a blessing, in a galaxy filled with people who have the potential to rip starships out of the sky with their mind or shoot lighting from their fingers, she is lacking a certain uniqueness.

| {Personality} |

kind, warm and welcoming, Alanna always sought to be like her father once was, a gentle soul who despite having a hard beginning to life still sought out the best in everyone. Having lost her family at only age 8 and her older brother not wanting to take her in due to prior family tension, Alanna has fully embraced the idea that family is the most important thing a person can have, it keeps one grounded and after witnessing the car crash her brothers life had become without a family to help him she has carried the philosophy over when it came to rebuilding her own life.

| {Place of Origin} |

Saleucami.

| {Background} |

Though she did not know it when she was born. Alanna was an heir to the Blasaw fortune. Long before her family's arrival on Saleucami the Blasaw family had controlled a large criminal Empire in the Mid-Rim. The family had their fingers in many pies across the galaxy; from Smuggling weapons, Spice and even people, to protection rackets and underground gambling. If you can think of a way to make money from it then the Blasaw family had ties to it. Of course they were not without their rivals in these enterprises; The Hutt clans were their main rivals but smaller groups such as the Black Sun and the Pikes proved to often be a thorn in the family's side. For a long time the Blasaw family had a good life, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful of the Republic allowed them to put money into the right pockets to ensure their operations went on unhindered. But the good times could never last, pressure from their rivals and certain influential figures finding their moral backbone would eventually cause the family's downfall.

It started as a slow trickle, shipments being raided and people going missing, the odd Republic officer seemingly tipped off about the contents of certain deliveries or the identities of certain runners. But this quickly escalated; raids by both law enforcement and Hutt mercenaries against the family's store houses, hideouts and places of business saw their money and reputation start to dwindle. But the final nail in their coffin would come from the one place the family thought safe. At the time the Blasaw family lived in their private compound on Corellia, surrounded at all times by impressive security systems and hired guards. The family's elders, so full of hubris, still believed themselves invincible in their home, so when Hutt mercenaries were let in through the front gate by guards whom they thought loyal, the family were ill prepared.

The survivors of that day fled Corellia on unmarked transports; few evaded the Hutts' attempts to track them down. Those that did wound up on Saleucami and by either good luck or good guidance found themselves an abandoned farmstead. Names and in some cases even faces were changed as quickly as possible, seemingly overnight the Blasaw family went from intergalactic crime lords to humble farmers.

This was the life Alanna was born into, it was a quiet life of playing in the fields on the family farm. Her family had been living on Saleucami for hundreds of years before she was born, it was a peaceful existence for the family. Away from major settlements and those who were looking for them. Her father had been an adventurous man who defied his parents and left the farm in his late teens, stealing the rusty droid from the barn in the process. Using fake names and very legitimate money he travelled the galaxy with his droid companion doing any work he could get, which mainly ended up being bounty hunting work. After one mission in particular he found himself on Zygerria after completing a job, there he would meet the woman who would eventually become Alanna’s mother. A feisty slave girl who had been sold off by her Hutt master for "biting" the man who had paid for her company. Her father was enamoured and more than a little impressed from the first moment he saw her and after buying her contract he offered her a choice; she could thank him and leave with her freedom, disappearing off into the galaxy. Or she could thank him by travelling and working with him, the droid he had taken from the family farm could be quite rude most of the time so wasn't the best company. 16 years later Alanna was born.

Alanna spent much of early life as any carefree child would, running through the fields and going to school. For eight years her life wouldn't change beyond her brother becoming persona non grata with the family. That was until one night late in the harvest season, unbeknownst to the family at the time they had been found by the Hutts after so long, someone somewhere had talked and that evening blaster fire erupted from the treeline which surrounded the main farmhouse. Many of the farmhands who were working that night were cut down before anyone could react, then the mercenaries moved in. Alanna cowered in her bedroom, terrified by the noise, when the smell of smoke began to creep into her nose. The Mercenaries, in their infinite wisdom, had set light to the house and flames were creeping their way up the sides and were beginning to encroach on Alanna’s bedroom. Just as she was losing consciousness from the smoke her window smashed open and a blurry figure stood before her, the figure scooped the girl into its arms and in a robotic voice said "Reassurance: Fear not little one, I shall keep you safe.".

Alanna lost consciousness before she could see anything else, but when she awoke she was lying on the small bed area aboard her fathers ship and there was a droid sitting in the pilot's seat. The droid, as she would come to learn, was named Sable and had been in her family for a very long time. He again reassured her that everything would be fine and that they were going to find her older brother who would take care of her, this plan did not come to pass sadly as Alanna's older brother, Locrire, laughed in her face when Sable explained the situation to him. She never saw what happened to him after that but Sable deposited her back on the Atlas, left and came back an hour or so later with bloody hands.

And that was her life for the next eight years, living aboard the Atlas, just Alanna and her guardian droid, Sable. It wasn't easy, surviving was a better word to describe her situation. Fuel, food and supplies all cost money, money which was hard for a child to come across. Over the years Sable would explain her family's past to her; their vast empire, its downfall and about the family vaults. The vadults, Sable explained, are a series of hidden locations across the galaxy, only accessible to members of the Blasaw family, inside they contain a quite vast series of riches; artifacts, artwork and other expensive assets. Sable even had his own personal vault which contained his "trophies" he had collected over the years from those he had killed. The only sticking point with the vaults was that Alanna could not access them until she turned 16 as Sable was physically incapable of revealing their locations to her until she came of age.

By the time Alanna did turn 16 the pair had had a few more unfortunate run-ins with Hutt Bounty Hunters which had left her constantly looking over her shoulder and paranoid about every shadow, which for a 16 year old girl was not a good state to be in. After deliberating with Sable for far too long she set their sights on the one place in the Galaxy the Hutts might fear to tread, Mandalore, Sable was surprisingly still well connected around the galaxy and after some money changed hands and old favours were called in, the pair would eventually meet with a Jedi, a "Nerd with a glow stick" as Sable liked to call them, named Airus. But he knew The Mand'alor and that was all that mattered to Alanna. The Jedi was nice enough, pleasant even, and true to his word Alanna soon found herself standing, or rather trembling, before the mountain of a man known as The Mand'alor. He was an incredibly imposing figure and had this aura which, to a 16 year old Alanna, absolutely terrified her. But she dug deep, cleared her throat before spilling her tale to him; her family, her life, how the Hutts had torn it all from her and continued to try and do so. She spoke for what felt like hours before she stopped to take a breath, scared that if she stopped she would be dismissed without a thought. But when she did stop there was nothing but silence as the man before just… stared, as if he was assessing the scared and slightly malnourished girl standing before him.

Alanna could never tell what it was that made The Mand'alor agree to offer her protection; his choice of, well anything, from her family's vaults, the chance to really annoy the Hutts or perhaps he genuinely felt sorry enough for her that he went along with it. Whatever it was Alanna didn't really care, she had what she was after. The name of The Mand'alor stood above her like a big flashing neon "Hutts beware!" sign and for the first time in almost a decade she could relax. Now it was time to find somewhere to live.

Alanna wasn't at all surprised at how few places wanted to let a homeless 16 year old and her psychopathic guardian droid live in them. It took six months of searching before Alanna's luck would change. She and Sable wandered into a small cafe in Central Keldabe with a To Let sign in its window, a long shot by any means but at this point she'd try anything. The lady who owned the establishment, known only as "Nanna", was a kind elderly lady in her mid-to-late sixties, she took pity on Alanna and allowed her to rent the space above the restaurant and in return Alanna would help her in maintaining the shop's electrical systems. Alanna could have been living in luxury by now, even with the Paladin taking his share, Alanna would still have enough in material wealth to be very well off for the rest of her life and perhaps even beyond but that… was not what she wanted, to go from absolutely nothing to anything and everything would have been too jarring an experience for her and besides she wanted to give back to the Paladin and the people of Mandalore whom she would be living amongst.

With no formal education to speak of, job prospects for Alanna were… limited. But what she lacked in education she made up for with experience, particularly with maintenance. Between Sable and the Atlas, Alanna knew her way around droids and ships and she soon found herself working in a repair shop thanks to Nanna's good word. Even with the good reference, people were slow to trust the teenage outsider and the supposed "quality" of her work but that didn't deter her, she was determined to make a life for herself and at this point nothing would stop her. It took her a long time, years in fact, before she was actually liked by the locals. Sable was no great help in this but strangely people began to find his crassness charming, like he was insulting them ironically rather than meaning every word of it like she knew he did.

At 22 Alanna would take over the shop she worked at after its owner retired with no family to pass it down to. Alanna seized on the opportunity and, for the first time since turning 16, used the money behind her to actually buy something for herself. And that has been her life for almost five years now, living comfortably, but within her means, and giving back to the people of Mandalore as thanks for the chance to rebuild her life.

The greatest droid in the galaxy

Pure unadulterated Violence.

| {Full Name} |

Sable

| {Age} |

2500 (estimate)

| {Species} |

HK-55 series Assassin Droid

| {Gender} |

Masculine Programming.

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

No/ Chaotic good. Mostly.

| {Appearance} |

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• NT-242 Anti-Material rifle (Optional disruptor mod).
• Thermal Detonators.
• DH-17 Blaster Pistol.
• Cortosis weave Vibroblade.

| {Physical Abilities} |

• Protocol Droid: when the HK series of droids were designed they were made to be meant to act and resemble protocol droids in order to hide their assassin nature. This is still true for Sable, if you can think of the language then Sable can speak and translate it perfectly.
• Unbreathing: Due to the rather obvious fact that Sable doesn’t need oxygen to survive, he is often the first to volunteer to enter hazardous environments and to do anything involving space walking.
• Electromagnetic hardening: Experience taught Sable’s owners that protection against EMP devices is almost essential given the work he would do for them and just because he has gone through a few shells in his time that doesn’t mean the protection isn’t still vital.
• The bounty board: To coincide with his in-built face scanner Sable also possesses a live link to the galactic bounty board allowing him to profit on any random bounties he comes across, or if he feels like it he could point out to his allies that there are other bounties around that they could cash in on.
• Voice changer: An ability that was never inherent to the HK series, Sable was given this upgrade early in his life with the Blasaw family who knew they could have an excellent blackmail opportunity in him. And after much tinkering with the aid of his master Sable is able to scan people’s voices and replicate them perfectly almost instantly.
• The ultimate failsafe: The Blasaw family were not idiots, they didn’t accrue their wealth by not investing in asset protection. As such every processor unit that Sable has, be they active or dormant spares, is equipped with a failsafe that activates when someone tries to access it without the Blasaw family signature, the ensuing explosion while not large is sufficient enough to remove the intruder from the vicinity.

| {Force Abilities} |

He can try and make the Force Choke hand at you, but I doubt it’d do much.

| {Limitations} |

• None, absolutely none. You cannot improve upon perfection. And if you say otherwise he'll punch you.
• Amoral programming: Being a droid he knows little of right from wrong Sable would just as soon gun someone down as help them, though he has improved since Alanna installed programming giving him basic morality, he still prioritises logical solutions than those that “feel right”.
• Over-Protective: To a droid the concept of a family is about as far from a normal feeling as possible, but after spending over 2000 years with the same family it would be impossible for something with the level of sentience that Sable has to not feel as though the Blasaw family was his family. And with Alanna being the last of her bloodline for almost two decades he has become just a tad over protective of Alanna.

| {Personality} |

Sable’s personality can be tricky to pin down, depending on who he is speaking to he could address you in any manner of different ways. He could be Rude, Condescending, sarcastic and belittling. If you aren't him then you are beneath him, if you are another droid then you are lower than dirt. Alanna may well be one of the few individuals in the galaxy that he is actually nice too.

| {Place of Origin} |

Built on Telos IV sometime after Revan disappeared. Though he has no memory of his actions before being purchased by the Blasaw family.

| {Background} |

To know Sable’s story is to know the story of one of the most powerful crime families in the Mid-Rim. The Blasaw family, they ruled a criminal Empire for over 2000 years; controlling the spice trade, slave trade and every other type of trade conceivable. Their rule was not without challenge however, Hutt cartels and other criminal organisations were always trying to muscle their way onto Blasaw turf. When looking for personal protection one should never tighten their purse strings, this was the policy that Bretre Blasaw followed when looking for a bodyguard. Enter Sable, one of the finest killing machines ever built, people talk, they can be bought out, or tortured. Droids cannot, with the proper upgrades, software and hardware a droid will keep all your dirty little secrets.

Originally just a tool for the Blasaw family Sable performed a number of tasks for them, from personal guard, enforcer and when the family really wanted to make someone suffer, he became their torturer. But Bretre Blasaw, the then head of the family, always thought Sable was a little bland, at first, he didn’t even have a name and was simply referred to as “HK” or “Droid”. It was Bretre’s youngest daughter Alemelo who gave Sable his name after finding a serial number on his right leg and thinking that the numbers 54813 were letters began calling him Sable, the name took a while to stick but after Bretre installed an upgraded personality matrix into him an actual name seemed more fitting.

However, the good life the Blasaw family had was not to last forever. The unwillingness for officials to be bought and for certain senators to take bribes would see their empire decline as the centuries went on. Their world and his finally came crashing down when a once loyal contact, someone the family had trusted for over 30 years sold their weaknesses and still exposed loose ends to the Hutts. It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t pretty, across the Outer Rim bloody fighting erupted between hired mercenary groups. As the Hutts exploited weaknesses and sold their newly acquired information to law officials, the empire that had stood for over a millennium fell apart at the seams and the family went into hiding, changing names and even some faces. Once in hiding Sable was shut down and placed into storage, less anyone questioned why a family of ‘farmers’ on Saleucami had an HK droid as a farmhand. It would not be until almost 200 years later, when the Hutts ‘found’ the family's location, that Sable would be reactivated properly. Thrown into action against the mercenaries almost immediately he made short work of the few that dared face him: first task was to rescue the then 8-year-old Alanna who was trapped in her bedroom. And after hiding her somewhere safe it was onto the rest of the family. But it was as he was running back towards that a message flashed on his HUD. “Get Alanna out. Find Locrire, he’ll keep you both...” Sable knew what the message ending like that meant he just didn't know he was going to break the news to a child. But he did as he was told, he gathered Alanna and made a break for the families ship which was hidden in the trees, shielding Alanna from the view of her home which had been set alight by the mercenaries.

Fleeing with the terrified girl they searched the galaxy for somewhere safe to stay, eventually finding her brother living on Nar Shaddaa. But he was not what Sable nor the scared child with him had hoped for, turning them away and threatening to strike Alanna when she tried to hug him. It was clear to Sable that he was truly no longer part of the family and with his protection ID gone from Sable's system he took Alanna back to the ship, left her with some music playing and went back to teach the shitbag a lesson. The sweet symphony he left on for the girl drowning out the cries of pain and begs for mercy. After leaving someone he would usually have given his life for as a bloody mess the two continued moving from place to place, never stopping for fear of being caught by more Hutt mercenaries.

After almost 8 solid years of sleeping rough and getting by on very little Alanna would eventually take them both to Mandalore hoping that the man who crushed the Hutts once before could in any small way keep her safe as well. It didn't take Sable long to find someone who knew how to contact the Mand'alor, a Jedi no less and after a shorter meeting than Sable had expected, they were standing before the Paladin and Alanna was telling her tale to the man before thembefore them. Unfortunately Sable was not privy to the entire conversation as Alanna switched him off "in case he caused another galactic power to want her head on a stick as well." When Sable was turned back on it was clear that the meeting had gone well and they were soon looking for a place to stay in the city. Over the next decade Sable would see Alanna go from a scared and hurt girl to a beautiful and strong young woman. If he could have felt human emotions for her, he would certainly be proud of the person she's grown into.

Star Wars Chapter 0: KNIGHTFALL

Alanna

Alanna

| {Full Name} |

Alanna Blasaw

| {Age} |

26

| {Species} |

Twi’Lek

| {Gender} |

Female

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

No/Light

| {Appearance} |

Standing at just over 5’5 Alanna inherited both her mother's looks and her height. Being the daughter of a former dancer in a Hutt palace has meant that she maintains a good figure and looks very easily. She sports deep blue skin and deep green eyes with deeper blue veining running down her Lekku. Owing to her more pistol centric style of combat Alanna chooses to wear lighter gear into combat, her outfit usually consisting of a leather undershirt to aid in dampening blaster impacts a light brown overshirt and a green pilots jacket worn open to aid in concealing the holster of her RSKF-44.

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• Atlas: An ST-70 Class Gunship, the Atlas was originally her fathers and his father's before him and so on and so on. The Atlas has been in her family for a very long time and as such is a well loved ship. It won't win any beauty contests but it's well loved and serves Alanna’s needs well.
• RSKF-44 Heavy Blaster pistol + 2x zoom scope. Stowed in a concealed holster under her left arm for easy access.
• A-180 blaster. Stored in pistol configuration in a holster on her right hip
• Survival Knife
• Remote control wrist pad tied to Sable’s internal systems.
• Sable's double bladed lightsaber Pike. Since he 100% cannot be trusted to carry it around himself.

| {Physical Abilities} |

• Pistol Marksman: Since settling on Mandalore Alanna knew that she would still need to know how to defend herself, simply relying on Sable all her life would only get her killed. As such she chose to have Sable train her in the art of Blaster Pistols. Her trusty RSKF-44 was the first weapon she ever fired, at both a target and in anger at someone, the scope which only improved her accuracy at distance.
• "The greatest mechanic in the Galaxy" (self proclaimed): Alanna has spent almost her entire life with a droid as her companion, maintenance and general repair was an absolute necessity. Routing around in Sables internals since the age of 8 Alanna already had a good understanding of how droids worked, and after graduating engineering college with top marks she set up her own droid maintenance shop in Keldabe. Whether it be whatever the hell is going inside Sable or the internal wiring of a starship, Alanna can handle it all.

| {Force Abilities} |

None

| {Limitations} |

Alanna is, physically at least, a very normal person. With no force abilities or cybernetics to speak of. And though she counts this as a blessing, in a galaxy filled with people who have the potential to rip starships out of the sky with their mind or shoot lighting from their fingers, she is lacking a certain uniqueness.

| {Personality} |

kind, warm and welcoming, Alanna always sought to be like her father once was, a gentle soul who despite having a hard beginning to life still sought out the best in everyone. Having lost her family at only age 8 and her older brother not wanting to take her in due to prior family tension, Alanna has fully embraced the idea that family is the most important thing a person can have, it keeps one grounded and after witnessing the car crash her brothers life had become without a family to help him she has carried the philosophy over when it came to rebuilding her own life.

| {Place of Origin} |

Saleucami.

| {Background} |

Though she did not know it when she was born. Alanna was an heir to the Blasaw fortune. Long before her family's arrival on Saleucami the Blasaw family had controlled a large criminal Empire in the Mid-Rim. The family had their fingers in many pies across the galaxy; from Smuggling weapons, Spice and even people, to protection rackets and underground gambling. If you can think of a way to make money from it then the Blasaw family had ties to it. Of course they were not without their rivals in these enterprises; The Hutt clans were their main rivals but smaller groups such as the Black Sun and the Pikes proved to often be a thorn in the family's side. For a long time the Blasaw family had a good life, rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful of the Republic allowed them to put money into the right pockets to ensure their operations went on unhindered. But the good times could never last, pressure from their rivals and certain influential figures finding their moral backbone would eventually cause the family's downfall.

It started as a slow trickle, shipments being raided and people going missing, the odd Republic officer seemingly tipped off about the contents of certain deliveries or the identities of certain runners. But this quickly escalated; raids by both law enforcement and Hutt mercenaries against the family's store houses, hideouts and places of business saw their money and reputation start to dwindle. But the final nail in their coffin would come from the one place the family thought safe. At the time the Blasaw family lived in their private compound on Corellia, surrounded at all times by impressive security systems and hired guards. The family's elders, so full of hubris, still believed themselves invincible in their home, so when Hutt mercenaries were let in through the front gate by guards whom they thought loyal, the family were ill prepared.

The survivors of that day fled Corellia on unmarked transports; few evaded the Hutts' attempts to track them down. Those that did wound up on Saleucami and by either good luck or good guidance found themselves an abandoned farmstead. Names and in some cases even faces were changed as quickly as possible, seemingly overnight the Blasaw family went from intergalactic crime lords to humble farmers.

This was the life Alanna was born into, it was a quiet life of playing in the fields on the family farm. Her family had been living on Saleucami for hundreds of years before she was born, it was a peaceful existence for the family. Away from major settlements and those who were looking for them. Her father had been an adventurous man who defied his parents and left the farm in his late teens, stealing the rusty droid from the barn in the process. Using fake names and very legitimate money he travelled the galaxy with his droid companion doing any work he could get, which mainly ended up being bounty hunting work. After one mission in particular he found himself on Zygerria after completing a job, there he would meet the woman who would eventually become Alanna’s mother. A feisty slave girl who had been sold off by her Hutt master for "biting" the man who had paid for her company. Her father was enamoured and more than a little impressed from the first moment he saw her and after buying her contract he offered her a choice; she could thank him and leave with her freedom, disappearing off into the galaxy. Or she could thank him by travelling and working with him, the droid he had taken from the family farm could be quite rude most of the time so wasn't the best company. 16 years later Alanna was born.

Alanna spent much of early life as any carefree child would, running through the fields and going to school. For eight years her life wouldn't change beyond her brother becoming persona non grata with the family. That was until one night late in the harvest season, unbeknownst to the family at the time they had been found by the Hutts after so long, someone somewhere had talked and that evening blaster fire erupted from the treeline which surrounded the main farmhouse. Many of the farmhands who were working that night were cut down before anyone could react, then the mercenaries moved in. Alanna cowered in her bedroom, terrified by the noise, when the smell of smoke began to creep into her nose. The Mercenaries, in their infinite wisdom, had set light to the house and flames were creeping their way up the sides and were beginning to encroach on Alanna’s bedroom. Just as she was losing consciousness from the smoke her window smashed open and a blurry figure stood before her, the figure scooped the girl into its arms and in a robotic voice said "Reassurance: Fear not little one, I shall keep you safe.".

Alanna lost consciousness before she could see anything else, but when she awoke she was lying on the small bed area aboard her fathers ship and there was a droid sitting in the pilot's seat. The droid, as she would come to learn, was named Sable and had been in her family for a very long time. He again reassured her that everything would be fine and that they were going to find her older brother who would take care of her, this plan did not come to pass sadly as Alanna's older brother, Locrire, laughed in her face when Sable explained the situation to him. She never saw what happened to him after that but Sable deposited her back on the Atlas, left and came back an hour or so later with bloody hands.

And that was her life for the next eight years, living aboard the Atlas, just Alanna and her guardian droid, Sable. It wasn't easy, surviving was a better word to describe her situation. Fuel, food and supplies all cost money, money which was hard for a child to come across. Over the years Sable would explain her family's past to her; their vast empire, its downfall and about the family vaults. The vadults, Sable explained, are a series of hidden locations across the galaxy, only accessible to members of the Blasaw family, inside they contain a quite vast series of riches; artifacts, artwork and other expensive assets. Sable even had his own personal vault which contained his "trophies" he had collected over the years from those he had killed. The only sticking point with the vaults was that Alanna could not access them until she turned 16 as Sable was physically incapable of revealing their locations to her until she came of age.

By the time Alanna did turn 16 the pair had had a few more unfortunate run-ins with Hutt Bounty Hunters which had left her constantly looking over her shoulder and paranoid about every shadow, which for a 16 year old girl was not a good state to be in. After deliberating with Sable for far too long she set their sights on the one place in the Galaxy the Hutts might fear to tread, Mandalore, Sable was surprisingly still well connected around the galaxy and after some money changed hands and old favours were called in, the pair would eventually meet with a Jedi, a "Nerd with a glow stick" as Sable liked to call them, named Airus. But he knew The Mand'alor and that was all that mattered to Alanna. The Jedi was nice enough, pleasant even, and true to his word Alanna soon found herself standing, or rather trembling, before the mountain of a man known as The Mand'alor. He was an incredibly imposing figure and had this aura which, to a 16 year old Alanna, absolutely terrified her. But she dug deep, cleared her throat before spilling her tale to him; her family, her life, how the Hutts had torn it all from her and continued to try and do so. She spoke for what felt like hours before she stopped to take a breath, scared that if she stopped she would be dismissed without a thought. But when she did stop there was nothing but silence as the man before just… stared, as if he was assessing the scared and slightly malnourished girl standing before him.

Alanna could never tell what it was that made The Mand'alor agree to offer her protection; his choice of, well anything, from her family's vaults, the chance to really annoy the Hutts or perhaps he genuinely felt sorry enough for her that he went along with it. Whatever it was Alanna didn't really care, she had what she was after. The name of The Mand'alor stood above her like a big flashing neon "Hutts beware!" sign and for the first time in almost a decade she could relax. Now it was time to find somewhere to live.

Alanna wasn't at all surprised at how few places wanted to let a homeless 16 year old and her psychopathic guardian droid live in them. It took six months of searching before Alanna's luck would change. She and Sable wandered into a small cafe in Central Keldabe with a To Let sign in its window, a long shot by any means but at this point she'd try anything. The lady who owned the establishment, known only as "Nanna", was a kind elderly lady in her mid-to-late sixties, she took pity on Alanna and allowed her to rent the space above the restaurant and in return Alanna would help her in maintaining the shop's electrical systems. Alanna could have been living in luxury by now, even with the Paladin taking his share, Alanna would still have enough in material wealth to be very well off for the rest of her life and perhaps even beyond but that… was not what she wanted, to go from absolutely nothing to anything and everything would have been too jarring an experience for her and besides she wanted to give back to the Paladin and the people of Mandalore whom she would be living amongst.

With no formal education to speak of, job prospects for Alanna were… limited. But what she lacked in education she made up for with experience, particularly with maintenance. Between Sable and the Atlas, Alanna knew her way around droids and ships and she soon found herself working in a repair shop thanks to Nanna's good word. Even with the good reference, people were slow to trust the teenage outsider and the supposed "quality" of her work but that didn't deter her, she was determined to make a life for herself and at this point nothing would stop her. It took her a long time, years in fact, before she was actually liked by the locals. Sable was no great help in this but strangely people began to find his crassness charming, like he was insulting them ironically rather than meaning every word of it like she knew he did.

At 22 Alanna would take over the shop she worked at after its owner retired with no family to pass it down to. Alanna seized on the opportunity and, for the first time since turning 16, used the money behind her to actually buy something for herself. And that has been her life for almost five years now, living comfortably, but within her means, and giving back to the people of Mandalore as thanks for the chance to rebuild her life.

The greatest droid in the galaxy

Pure unadulterated Violence.

| {Full Name} |

Sable

| {Age} |

2500 (estimate)

| {Species} |

HK-55 series Assassin Droid

| {Gender} |

Masculine Programming.

| {Force Sensitive/Alignment} |

No/ Chaotic good. Mostly.

| {Appearance} |

| {Equipment and Personal Belongings} |

• NT-242 Anti-Material rifle (Optional disruptor mod).
• Thermal Detonators.
• DH-17 Blaster Pistol.
• Cortosis weave Vibroblade.

| {Physical Abilities} |

• Protocol Droid: when the HK series of droids were designed they were made to be meant to act and resemble protocol droids in order to hide their assassin nature. This is still true for Sable, if you can think of the language then Sable can speak and translate it perfectly.
• Unbreathing: Due to the rather obvious fact that Sable doesn’t need oxygen to survive, he is often the first to volunteer to enter hazardous environments and to do anything involving space walking.
• Electromagnetic hardening: Experience taught Sable’s owners that protection against EMP devices is almost essential given the work he would do for them and just because he has gone through a few shells in his time that doesn’t mean the protection isn’t still vital.
• The bounty board: To coincide with his in-built face scanner Sable also possesses a live link to the galactic bounty board allowing him to profit on any random bounties he comes across, or if he feels like it he could point out to his allies that there are other bounties around that they could cash in on.
• Voice changer: An ability that was never inherent to the HK series, Sable was given this upgrade early in his life with the Blasaw family who knew they could have an excellent blackmail opportunity in him. And after much tinkering with the aid of his master Sable is able to scan people’s voices and replicate them perfectly almost instantly.
• The ultimate failsafe: The Blasaw family were not idiots, they didn’t accrue their wealth by not investing in asset protection. As such every processor unit that Sable has, be they active or dormant spares, is equipped with a failsafe that activates when someone tries to access it without the Blasaw family signature, the ensuing explosion while not large is sufficient enough to remove the intruder from the vicinity.

| {Force Abilities} |

He can try and make the Force Choke hand at you, but I doubt it’d do much.

| {Limitations} |

• None, absolutely none. You cannot improve upon perfection. And if you say otherwise he'll punch you.
• Amoral programming: Being a droid he knows little of right from wrong Sable would just as soon gun someone down as help them, though he has improved since Alanna installed programming giving him basic morality, he still prioritises logical solutions than those that “feel right”.
• Over-Protective: To a droid the concept of a family is about as far from a normal feeling as possible, but after spending over 2000 years with the same family it would be impossible for something with the level of sentience that Sable has to not feel as though the Blasaw family was his family. And with Alanna being the last of her bloodline for almost two decades he has become just a tad over protective of Alanna.

| {Personality} |

Sable’s personality can be tricky to pin down, depending on who he is speaking to he could address you in any manner of different ways. He could be Rude, Condescending, sarcastic and belittling. If you aren't him then you are beneath him, if you are another droid then you are lower than dirt. Alanna may well be one of the few individuals in the galaxy that he is actually nice too.

| {Place of Origin} |

Built on Telos IV sometime after Revan disappeared. Though he has no memory of his actions before being purchased by the Blasaw family.

| {Background} |

To know Sable’s story is to know the story of one of the most powerful crime families in the Mid-Rim. The Blasaw family, they ruled a criminal Empire for over 2000 years; controlling the spice trade, slave trade and every other type of trade conceivable. Their rule was not without challenge however, Hutt cartels and other criminal organisations were always trying to muscle their way onto Blasaw turf. When looking for personal protection one should never tighten their purse strings, this was the policy that Bretre Blasaw followed when looking for a bodyguard. Enter Sable, one of the finest killing machines ever built, people talk, they can be bought out, or tortured. Droids cannot, with the proper upgrades, software and hardware a droid will keep all your dirty little secrets.

Originally just a tool for the Blasaw family Sable performed a number of tasks for them, from personal guard, enforcer and when the family really wanted to make someone suffer, he became their torturer. But Bretre Blasaw, the then head of the family, always thought Sable was a little bland, at first, he didn’t even have a name and was simply referred to as “HK” or “Droid”. It was Bretre’s youngest daughter Alemelo who gave Sable his name after finding a serial number on his right leg and thinking that the numbers 54813 were letters began calling him Sable, the name took a while to stick but after Bretre installed an upgraded personality matrix into him an actual name seemed more fitting.

However, the good life the Blasaw family had was not to last forever. The unwillingness for officials to be bought and for certain senators to take bribes would see their empire decline as the centuries went on. Their world and his finally came crashing down when a once loyal contact, someone the family had trusted for over 30 years sold their weaknesses and still exposed loose ends to the Hutts. It wasn’t quick and it wasn’t pretty, across the Outer Rim bloody fighting erupted between hired mercenary groups. As the Hutts exploited weaknesses and sold their newly acquired information to law officials, the empire that had stood for over a millennium fell apart at the seams and the family went into hiding, changing names and even some faces. Once in hiding Sable was shut down and placed into storage, less anyone questioned why a family of ‘farmers’ on Saleucami had an HK droid as a farmhand. It would not be until almost 200 years later, when the Hutts ‘found’ the family's location, that Sable would be reactivated properly. Thrown into action against the mercenaries almost immediately he made short work of the few that dared face him: first task was to rescue the then 8-year-old Alanna who was trapped in her bedroom. And after hiding her somewhere safe it was onto the rest of the family. But it was as he was running back towards that a message flashed on his HUD. “Get Alanna out. Find Locrire, he’ll keep you both...” Sable knew what the message ending like that meant he just didn't know he was going to break the news to a child. But he did as he was told, he gathered Alanna and made a break for the families ship which was hidden in the trees, shielding Alanna from the view of her home which had been set alight by the mercenaries.

Fleeing with the terrified girl they searched the galaxy for somewhere safe to stay, eventually finding her brother living on Nar Shaddaa. But he was not what Sable nor the scared child with him had hoped for, turning them away and threatening to strike Alanna when she tried to hug him. It was clear to Sable that he was truly no longer part of the family and with his protection ID gone from Sable's system he took Alanna back to the ship, left her with some music playing and went back to teach the shitbag a lesson. The sweet symphony he left on for the girl drowning out the cries of pain and begs for mercy. After leaving someone he would usually have given his life for as a bloody mess the two continued moving from place to place, never stopping for fear of being caught by more Hutt mercenaries.

After almost 8 solid years of sleeping rough and getting by on very little Alanna would eventually take them both to Mandalore hoping that the man who crushed the Hutts once before could in any small way keep her safe as well. It didn't take Sable long to find someone who knew how to contact the Mand'alor, a Jedi no less and after a shorter meeting than Sable had expected, they were standing before the Paladin and Alanna was telling her tale to the man before thembefore them. Unfortunately Sable was not privy to the entire conversation as Alanna switched him off "in case he caused another galactic power to want her head on a stick as well." When Sable was turned back on it was clear that the meeting had gone well and they were soon looking for a place to stay in the city. Over the next decade Sable would see Alanna go from a scared and hurt girl to a beautiful and strong young woman. If he could have felt human emotions for her, he would certainly be proud of the person she's grown into.

Orbis: The Liberation of Gyrland

Jack

This was it. No more training, no more simulations… no more time. Do or die, literally. On the other end of his sights were the enemy, an actual living, breathing enemy and not just a static target on a range. And they were about to learn the Divine's wrath. "Come on, come on… gimme tone, gimme tone." Jack gritted out while staring at his fire control. Though the Cardinal was as advanced as they came with its systems the weather was still playing havoc on its targeting software. And without the drone to give an independent lase actually picking out a target was proving difficult.

He and his sister held their ground on Rimau's order, careful not to get too close to their target as the others called in their contacts. Finally after a few more moments a solid beeping noise came from the fire control and only a second or two later Black Hounds authorisation came through. "Copy commander. Cardinal One engaging."

"Blessed be the Lord my strength." he muttered to himself as he flipped the trigger guard up on the controls by his right hand and. "Who teaches my hands to war." his finger squeezed the bright red button and the Mechs left shoulder recoiled. "And my fingers to fight." The woosh of an engine igniting filled the air as the Missile jumped from its tube, its engine igniting after a few feet sending it soaring into the sky, a trail of smoke followed behind it as it flew higher and higher.

Only seconds later the missile reached its peak altitude and began to plummet back to the earth at high speed. Its target, a lone Widowmaker at the edge of the Ruzi line. The poor walker had no idea it was even being targeted before the Paladin struck home, slamming into the top of its hull with a vicious explosion. The walker appeared to shudder after the impact for a few seconds, then it went still. Another second passed before jets of flame erupted from its access hatches, the flames burned intensely and were followed swiftly by a second explosion from inside the walker which lited its turret from the hull, hurling it several feet through the air before the entire frame crumpled to the floor, black smoke still pouring from its hatches.

Before the missile had even struck Jack had sprung into action, the smoke trail was like a big tracer and he wanted to be nowhere near it when the Ruzi's looked his way. "Two, break for that treeline. Hammer the bunker, I've got the Mechs."

Cass

Cass watched as her brother opened fire on the defenders before breaking to the left and away from the missile trail. She followed her brother's orders to the letters, stepping on the gas as hard as she could and dragged Cardinal Two's frame towards the trees, by now the missile her brother fired had hit its target, the explosion of what was the Widowmaker ripped through the stormy sky, alerting the defenders that they were no longer safe. Cass said a silent prayer to herself for the souls of those who wouldn't see the sunrise tomorrow as her Mech went into a full sprint.

The treeline sat a few hundred metres away, slightly behind the Ruzi lines it would give Cass the perfect firing line down onto the bunker itself. Just as she made it to the treeline an alert warning flashed across her HUD from the LWS causing Cass to slam the brakes on, Cardinal two's feet digging into the floor in an attempt to stop quickly. She stopped just in time for a large calibre shell to whizz across her front and explode several feet to her right, ripping a tree apart as it did so and showering her Mech in wood splinters and shrapnel. No idea what fired that at her, though by the composition listed by that AI of Edwards it was probably another Widowmaker. The patter of small arms fire impacting both the ground and Cardinal Two came shortly after as Infantry and Machine Gun emplacements engaged her.

"One…" She began with a slight panic in her voice. "I've been engaged… Three new signals popped on her IFF cutting her off mid-sentence, a trio of missiles launched from Cardinal One towards the Ruzi positions. Three more explosions followed shortly after followed by the distant glow of muzzle flash from Cardinal One's Rifle. "I'm on it Two, just Hammer that damn Bunker. The quicker we're done here the quicker we can jump that second patrol." as Jack finished the gunfire in her direction stopped, the enemy's attention was not on her anymore.

Shouldering her Rifle she fired a few AP rounds at the Bunker, each punching a hole through the deteriorated metal plating the lights from inside the bunker spilling out into the darkness. This gave Cass an idea, she remembered back to what she yelled at the crane operator about Thermobaric's and airtight boxes, the bunker was anything but airtight anymore but the principal still apllied. With a flick of her right thumb the missile control changed from Fire and Forget over to Beam Riding, she lined up her sights and squeezed the trigger, the missile flew from the tube leaving a smoke trail in its wake. The Missile tore through the few hundred metres between Cardinal Two and the Bunker in less than a second, ripping a hole through the plating before detonating inside the structure.

Even from so far away and with the storm raging Cass could hear other, smaller explosions going off through the gaping hole she'd left in the side of the structure. Then came a deafening silence for a few seconds followed by the very ground itself beginning it shake. "What the… Again she was cut off as the largest explosion she had ever seen ripped out of the ground from beneath the Bunkers superstructure. Several tonnes of dirt and metal were flung hundreds of feet in all directions as the ammunition for its main gun detonated in their stowage racks, the roof of the Bunker itself was seemingly thrown like a child would a Frisbee. The fireball which reached high into the night sky could probably be seen for miles around. "By the Divine Two… I said Hammer the bunker… not crater the place…" sigh "This is Cardinal One to all Phantoms, the Southern Bunker is uhhh… "Gone" Cass interjected. "Yeah, gone. Support elements probably know we're here now, permission to hunt and engage QRF, Commander?"

Orbis: The Liberation of Gyrland

Cass

Cass physically cringed in her seat as Commander Kaas threatened her and her brother with push ups. It was a stupid mistake, one which the pair of them shouldn’t have been making. They knew procedure, they knew protocol. They had been living and breathing it for almost over twelve years, the threat of physical punishment didn't exactly scare her as the orphanage had never shied away from it when she and Jack were growing up. But embarrassing themselves in front of their new teammates when they were already being judged for being inexperienced? Now that terrified her. "Apologies Commander, it won't happen again." she put on a brave face but the smallness in her tone was obvious to all who were listening.

Despite the several feet of distance and armour plate between them she could practically hear Jack chuckle at her embarrassment. But he had always been better at putting on a brave face, Cass wore her heart on her sleeve but her brother… Well he didn't. Switching to their joint comm quickly she gave Jack a quick lecture. "Stop laughing Jack, we're not exactly making a good impression on these guys with stupid mistakes like that."

Jack

"How did you… never mind, Cass you gotta relax a bit. I don't even think any of us have actually spoken to each other yet, at least not more than a; Hi how are you? My name's Jack, what's yours?" He sighed gently at his sister's worry. "Just Breathe Cass. It's what comes next that counts, not a callsign. Besides you remember what Sister Agnes was like with the Cane, push ups are nothing." That earned him a brief chuckle from his sister. But before he could continue Commander Kaas beginning his briefing cut their conversation short.

The mission seemed simple enough for the most part, storm the beach, destroy the bunker and garrison and await further orders. The data flashing across Jack's screens along with the targeting information kindly provided by the HomeGuard painted a bleak picture for the defenders; exposed positions, open trenches, old Mechs and crumbling infrastructure. The actual bunker housing the gun seemed the only thing which had been cared for but even then "cared for" seemed a bit of a stretch. From the pictures, if it wasn't for the few feet of dirt atop it then the roof might collapse from a stiff breeze.

Bad weather, zero visibility, an enemy that can't target anything beyond visually thanks to poor maintenance. If Jack played his cards right this could be easy. Could… that part was important to remember, this wasn't training and it wasn't just his life on the line, a quick glance to his left reminded him of just that. Jack steeled himself and reached above his head to the comm panel and dialled in Rimau's frequency. "Ramshackle, this is Cardinal One, sorry you're stuck babysitting. We'll try not to disappoint."

Water flooded the compartment and the rest of the Brigade made their way out. As their turn came the twins stepped forward in sync. "No please, age before beauty, old man." Jack rolled his eyes and he knew his sister was giggling to herself in her seat. The weather outside was even worse than it looked through the windows. Were it not for the Cardinal's extensive sensor suites he and Cass could have been wandering off into the unknown. The IFF signal was strong which was good and kept them on Blackhounds path until they hit the sand.

The group split, with Jack and Cass heading in a southerly direction, always checking to make sure Rimau was keeping up with them. It was an instruments only trip which made it more perilous and the thought of physically bumping into an enemy Mech before seeing it made Jack sweat enough to turn up the AC in the cockpit. For all its advanced systems the only one Jack actually wanted to use, the autonomous recon drone, couldn't actually take-off in weather this bad sonic was thermal sights and the motion tracker all the way. At 500m the motion tracker returned a ping and Jack stopped in his tracks, Cass only a stride later. "Ramshackle, multiple contacts, 500m, Southwest, Mechs and Infantry. Doesn't Look like they know we're here yet. What's the play?"

Orbis: The Liberation of Gyrland

Serene

A month prior
It had been a long time since Jack and Cass had been back in Serene, years in fact, not since they left the orphanage had they tread foot on its streets. The pair stepped out of their hotel and into a bustling market street, it was Harvest season in Thelème and farmers from all over the country had come to the capital for its yearly market festival to sell their goods, one of Cass's friends had told them that if the farmer was lucky they could make their entire yearly revenue off of just this one event.

It had all been rather cryptic, the reason for the twins being recalled from their training exercise with a few neighbouring nations. A simple message from command that they were required to attend a meeting at the Grand Cathedral, urgently at that. The streets of Serene were busy, packed full of vendors and tourists alike and if the twins hadn't known their way around the city's back streets it could have taken almost two hours for the pair to reach their destination.

The Cardinal guards at the main gate scanned the pair's ID and after a few checks they were let through and escorted up and up the building till they found themselves in front of the Arch-Bishops office. It had been an even longer time since the Twins had seen the man sitting inside. The guard opened the set of double doors and stepped into the room ahead of the twins. "Jackson and Cassandra Parker, as requested, your eminence."

The man behind the desk looked up from the paperwork in front of him and looked towards his visitors, his expression changing immediately from a soured grimace to a gentle smile. "Cass, Jack, come in please." He glanced at the guard. "Thank you Arthur, you may leave us." The Guard nodded and closed the doors gently.

The man looked at the pair and sighed contentedly. "My, my look at you two. By the Divine haven't you grown. It must be, what, ten years now since you've seen your old man?." Cass's face broke into a big grin and she almost skipped across the space between her and the man and hugged him. "Hi dad." she breathed, squeezing him tightly. The man glanced over Cass's shoulder at Jack and smiled. Jack simply nodded. "Your Eminence?" he said Inquisitively, raising an eyebrow as he did so. "Yes, yes. A lot has changed since we last spoke, my boy. Now come, both of you sit, there's someone I want you to meet." The man finally managed to break free of the vice grip Cass had him in and moved back around the desk.

Jack moved next to Cass and the pair sat in the chairs on the other side of the desk. The man fell down in the large leather chair with an old man groan. "As you can tell I'm not quite the spring chicken I was when you two were kids." He said with a chuckle. "Anyway, sadly I didn't call you here to reminisce. The gentleman over by the window." The Bishop said, gesturing over to the man staring out of the large pane window on the far side of the room. "Is Commander Walter Kaas, of the Gyrland Royal Guard. As you two are no doubt aware, Gryland was invaded some time ago by those Heathens of Ruziyane and he has come looking for pilots to join the Phantom Brigade, a resistance group… I believe helping to fight back against Gyrlands occupiers. I may have got that last bit wrong but they're fighting Ruziyane, I know that much. He's been very impressed by the two of you and how well you've been putting the Cardinal through its paces. Commander please, they won't bite. I supported Jack and Cass throughout their childhood, they're my children in every way but legally." The Bishop gestures for the man to come across to introduce himself.

"You two have shown remarkable skill. The Phantom Brigade is looking for folks with skills and dedication. Specifically for an operation to begin retaking my homeland." That was a bold claim it had been ten years since the invasion and the Homeguard hadn't exactly won many major battles. The fact they were still going was mostly thanks to foreign aid. "And I'd like you both to join."

Jack's brow furrowed as his head turned back towards the Bishop. "And you want us to go as well, why? We don't exactly have any actual combat experience." The Bishop nodded in agreement and shuffled a few papers on his desk. "That's very true my boy, you don't, what you do have, however, is experience in the Cardinal and it has yet to be combat tested, there are a number of buyers eyeing both it and the Paladin Missile. So as much as I am sanctioning this mission so you two can help the people of Gyrland, you are also going to gather much needed performance data on the Cardinal." Jack's eyes narrowed at the Bishop. "Well at least you're being honest that we're gonna be guinea-pigs…" He was cut off mid sentence as Cass's hand landed on his knee.

"Jack we have to go, forget the whole data thing, those people have been suffering, they need our help. Remember Sister Francine? She's originally from Gyrland and I've kept in contact with her. She was able to save her parents and bring them here but the rest of her family has just disappeared after the invasion." Bringing up Sister Francine was a low blow, even for Cass, she had been Jack's boyhood crush and Cass knew that. Even after ageing out of the system he had still checked in on her occasionally. He sighed in defeat, this wasn't a debate he was going to win. "I go where you go Cass. he said plainly.

Cass's face lit up at his words and he turned to the Commander. "We're in. Where do we need to go?"

"I'll send you the details. Welcome to the Phantom Brigade." He stood and gave a salute. "Enjoy the festival. Orders and logistics personnel will help you get everything ready for the crawler."

Jack

"Breakfast doesn't taste so good a second time round." Jack thought to himself as he lifted his head out of the toilet bowl, never in his entire life had he experienced weather like this, Thelème was a landlocked country so he'd never even seen the sea before but it was fair to say he wasn't a fan. Cass was handling the situation a lot better than he was, or she was putting on a brave face to help him stop worrying, he couldn't tell which. After cleaning himself and the toilet up he headed back into his room and made note of his belongings and their placement. A person's belongings weren't sacred at the orphanage and this little routine had stuck with him throughout his life. Jack nodded to himself confidently as Captain Karstens orders came over the intercom, "The Divine protects." Jack thought to himself as he took one last look at himself in the mirror. Nodding at his reflection solemnly he picked up his helmet from the bed and exited the room. Stumbling out of the door and into the wall opposite as another wave hit the Crawler.

It was much the same all the way from his quarters to the hangar; Wave hit the ship, Jack stumbled, banged his head off of something metal. Rinse repeat. He passed several crew members on the way, all rushing around with boxes of supplies, securing them in almost any free room they could find. By the time Jack reached the Hangar he was about ready to see more of his breakfast again but quickly pushed that feeling down when he saw the Commander standing on the gantry in front of him, Jack gave him a nod and followed him as he descended the stairs, turning away at the bottom to head towards his Mech.

Cardinal One, he hadn't even had a chance to think of a callsign yet, sat in its bay next to both its and his sister. Cardinal Two and Cass. She had barely left her Mech since they boarded the Crawler, spending the last few days personalising her Mech to her liking. At present she stood atop a lifter helping a crane load the last Paladin into its Launcher. With the missile in its tube she lowered the lifter and hopped off, and finally noticed him standing beneath her Mech.

Cass

Cass had hardly been able to sleep the night before, the almost crippling realisation that this was no longer just a big adventure to meet and help new people had hit her like a backhand from Sister Bertha at the Orphanage. This was real, she would have to actually fight, most definitely kill and she could be killed, Jack could be killed. She had pushed his buttons to make him agree to come, she knew mentioning Sister Francine was a touchy subject for Jack but what she said back in Serene hadn't been a lie. Cass looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and splashed cold water onto her face and shook the thoughts away.

It was late at night when she exited her quarters and made her way to the hangar; it was empty, dark and eerily quiet considering it was full of giant metal monsters. Making her way over to her Mech she flicked on some flood lights and began doing what she'd always wanted too, adding some personality to it. Behind her seat in the cockpit hung a Thelème flag but she wanted more.

By the time others began to enter the hangar hours had passed and a storm had hit. Like Jack she had never even seen the ocean before but luckily her stomach was empty apart from the water she'd been drinking through the night. She had been a busy Bee overnight, putting her artistic skills to use and had quite effectively tattooed each of her Mechs arms. The Divine Protects. was drawn eloquently down the right arm and she was putting the finishing touches to My faith is my shield on the left arm.

By the time the Captain's orders came over the intercom she was already well underway on readying her Mech for its trial by fire, but when she looked over at Jack's Mech she saw he was still absent despite the ten minute call. CLANG! Her attention snapped to the missile pod above her and the missile which the crane operator had just wacked against the Mechs shoulder. Cass shot daggered eyes at the mechanic. "By the Divine!, I thought I said be careful with these things. Do you know what happens when a Thermobaric goes off inside an airtight box? It'll be a lot worse than some paperwork and a headache. Let me guide it, just lower it into my hands."

With the last missile loaded she lowered herself back down to the floor and turned to see Jack had finally arrived. She closed the distance quickly and wrapped her arms around her brother, who even under his helmet looked rough. "You OK Jack? Look like you've been gut punched. You haven't fought one of the Vinland boys already have you?" she said, adding a slight tease to her tone at the second question. Jack rolled his eyes, sighed and returned the embrace. "No I haven't been punched and haven't had a fight. It's the damned storm, I swear Cass when we get home I'll take the Vows if it means I never have to see the Ocean again in my life. I've seen my breakfast twice and looked far less appetising the second time around if that's even possible." Cass giggled and released her brother from the hug and glanced up at his Mech. "You've got like… five ish minutes you know that rig…" Jack cut her off with a finger pressed over her lips. "What do you take me for Sister? I had that done before I went to bed last night. Just turn it on and it's good to go." Cass nodded along, impressed at her brother's diligence.

"Are you OK? Jack asked, clearly it was visible she hadn't slept much. Cass nodded at his question and watched as he searched her eyes for any shred of doubt but he would find none. He nodded back once. "The Divine Protects, Cass. We're here for a reason. We've trained on these for months, we know them inside and out, we know each other inside and out. We'll be fine. Just remember your training and have faith." Cass tilted her head to the side. "Were you saying that to me or to yourself?" Jack chuckled once. "Yes. Now mount up, systems check time." he pulled Cass into a bear hug before departing for his own Mech.

Parking herself into the rather comfy chair in the cockpit she flicked a switch and the hatch sealed behind her, ending with the hiss of the pressure seal. A few more switches, breakers and one button later and the Mech roared into life. Panels and screens lit up in front of her and the cockpit light came on, bathing her in a gentle yellow hue. Slipping her helmet on she checked over the HUD, her and her Mechs vitals were displayed so she knew she'd done the start up right. "You there Squirt? Jack's voice was loud in her ear. Hastily turning down the volume of the Comms before she replied. "Yes I'm here, damn near blew out my eardrum but I'm here. Also… you're not still calling me Squirt are you?" Jack laughed deeply into his Mic. "Don't blame me, Brody gave you the callsign." Cass's eyes almost rolled out of her head. "Yeah and Brody was almost 7ft tall. He called everyone Squirt." That was a bare faced lie. Brody was Cass's boyfriend when she had transferred to Jack's unit, one of the few Jack had tolerated until he left anyway. Jack just laughed again. "Whatever you say, Squirt. My systems are all green, you?" "Mine too." She changed from their private comm channel. "Cardinal's One and Two reporting all systems green Sir. Awaiting your orders." she said looking over her monitor to where the Commander was by his Mech.

Orbis: The Liberation of Gyrland

The Twins

Shared history:
Jackson "Jack" Parker and his twin sister, Cassandra "Cass" Parker have been on their own since the very beginning. Orphaned as babies they were left in a basket on the steps of the Grand Cathedral in Serene by birth parents they would never know. Being raised in one of Thelème's orphanages gave the twins very little in terms of career paths, two choices were all that was ever presented to them; the clergy or the military and in truth neither were bad career paths to go into; the clergy offered a route into both politics and if you were very lucky, even high society. While the military route offered a respectable career with a decent pension option after ten years of service.

But if the twins were honest it was just the lack of choice which frustrated them, through no fault of their own they had any notion of free will ripped away from them by their parents decision to leave them on those steps. And they were the ones having to pay the price for that.

Growing up the twins were inseparable; they did everything together, went everywhere together, they were each other's world and no-one else, not even the bishop who fostered them, the one whose last name they bore, came close to the bond they share.

When Gyrland was invaded the now Arch-Bishop Parker saw an opportunity to test Thelème's new advanced weapon systems against the heathens of Ruziyane. Thelème had always had a small army, its population couldn't support anything larger and its industry lacked the ability to support heavy war machines. But advanced lethal weapon systems, however, were completely attainable. Jack and Cass were volunteered, by the man they once called papa, to travel thousands of miles from their home and do exactly that. Fight Ruziyane, help the people of Gyrland and gather performance data on both a new Mech and a new advanced missile system.

Jackson

”You hurt my sister and you’ll find that The Divine is not always so forgiving.”

Gender:
Male

Age:
28

Personality:
To anyone but his sister, Jack is a quiet man, not cold or rude, at least not intentionally, but quiet, single word answers, grunts of acknowledgement or simple nods are his go to response to most people, Cass prefers to do most of his talking for him anyway. To Cass though? To Cass he is the bar by which all others are judged, a good man, an honest man, one who never breaks his word without a damned good reason too and who will back those he trusts until his dying breath.

Appearance

Jack is a tall attractive man standing at 6'3'' with a strong, athletic build. Atop his head sits a crop of Hazel hair which matches his eyes in every way. The only visible marking on his skin is the blood type tattoo on his neck (A+)

background

Jack, the self proclaimed older sibling of the pair is by all accounts the stereotypical overprotective older brother. He was always there for his sister, no matter if she was at fault or not, she was all he had and he would turn the world upside down to keep it that way. But that was also a problem, Cass has always had him at her side, her force multiplier if you will and when the time came for the pair to choose their career paths as they aged out of the orphanage at 16 he prayed to The Divine that his sister would choose the Clergy and stay safe, but when she turned up to join him for basic training he didn't try very hard to hide his disappointment.

Early in his training Jack proved himself to be an overall exceptional soldier, disciplined and dutiful, with just enough of a heart in his chest to separate himself from a machine, he was picked up quickly by Thelème's new and developing Mech programme and proved himself as an exceptional pilot as well. The only thing that has ever held him back in his career has also been the most important thing in the world to him, Cass, compared to him she was still a good soldier and eventually an excellent pilot. But the thing that truly separated them and made their superiors favour his sister was her personality, Jack had the technical skills but not the people skills, the ability to network with others opened many doors for his sister that would and indeed still do remain closed.

Jack's career was mostly unremarkable, Thelème's position on the global political and geographical stage meant it didn't have any outright enemies nearby. Avrupa couldn't burn down its biggest food exporter afterall. But as Thelème's Mech programme took off Jack found himself a second home, in the cockpit of his Mech he could, for once, be himself. He missed his sister sure but without her constant presence he could be his own person and make his own friends.

When Cass was transferred to his unit several years later he was, again, angry at her. Angry that he may fall back into the slump of being at her beck and call but to his surprise that didn't happen. Cass had grown both professionally and personally in their time apart, for the first time in his life he saw his sister hold her own in a fight without his intervention. He was proud of her and damned sure he wouldn't fall into his slump again.

The combination of Jack and Cass as Mech pilots was a fantastic one, their innate ability to read one another's actions and intentions without so much as a word made them a deadly duo in nearly every training scenario they were involved in, including joint operations with other Avrupan states. The Twins earned themselves quite a reputation among Mech units and even if Cass overshadowed him, as long as she was happy, he was happy.

When their foster father volunteered the twins to go and join the Phantom Brigade Jack almost had an aneurysm, being thousands of miles from home, strange country, strange people? Cass would love that sort of thing… but Jack? Well if Cass was happy that's all that mattered.

Cassandra

”The Divine teaches us to enjoy life to its fullest. I just wish my brother got that message."

Gender:
Female

Age:
28

Personality:
Cass, unlike her brother, is a naturally warm and kind person. Always trying to see the best in people and believing wholeheartedly in The Divine's teachings that Heaven can be achieved here on earth as well as in the afterlife and as such seeks to get as much enjoyment out of her life as possible. And if possible, drag her brother along for the ride.

appearance

Cass is a quite attractive woman at just over 5'8" with a lean and toned build. Shoulder length wavy blonde hair with pink tips adorn her head and like her brother she sports deep Hazel eyes and a blood type tattoo on her neck (A+). The biggest change from her brother though is the gentle smile she wears wherever she goes.

background

Cass has always been a carefree sprint when it comes to most things in life, but not without reason, because she has always had Jack in her corner. Bullies at school? Jack was there to sort them out. Bad boyfriend, Jack was there, bad… just anything and he was there night or day, right or wrong. As they grew up she did all she could to cling on to him, the only family she had, the only person she could rely on.

When they were supposed to go their separate ways, Jack to the military and Cass into the Clergy, she did all she could to fight it and stay with her brother. She can still remember the anger and venom in Jack's voice when he chewed her out for turning down a safe life in the clergy and risking everything he had done to keep her safe, to give her the best life possible.

But his frustration with her could never last and as they went through training and settled into regular army life he was transferred away from her unit and into Thelème's Mech programme. While Cass, thanks to her ability to make connections with others, was fast tracked for officer school. She was a good soldier just like her brother but her natural charisma drew people to her and made them want to follow her orders.

A few years after their separation Cass was presented with a dilemma, her career had been fantastic up to this point, promotions and accolades had come her way frequently and she had been given a golden ticket by army command. A transfer, anywhere she wanted and she would be there. Even the Cardinal Guard, Thelème's elite force, the best unit with the best equipment and receiving the best training, courted her. But to Cass there was only one option, "The Revenants."

Jack wasn't best pleased when Cass showed up at the unit's Barracks, not that she expected any different, but she took to integrating with the new group quickly, endearing herself to just about everyone but her brother in a short space of time. The only one who didn't like her at first was one of the mechanics with a crush on Jack who somehow missed that she and Jack were related.

The years apart had been good for both her and Jack. Cass had finally become more independent, able to stand up for herself without her brother's presence in the background constantly. And Jack had become more than just her guardian, he was his own man with his own friends and ambitions. But when their foster father volunteered the twins to join the Phantom Brigade Cass worried for her brother, to her this was a great adventure; new people, new places, a chance to help people and spread The Divine’s teachings. But to Jack? This seemed like one headache after another, as if all his old fears had come back and he was determined to drive himself into the ground to keep her safe.

FV4201 “Cardinal”

Designation: FV4201 “Cardinal”
Role:reconnaissance, flanking, Infantry support
Weight Class: Light
Description:
The very latest Mech to roll off of Thelème’s production line, the Cardinal is the sum total of all of their technological advances in almost 20 years. Thelème cannot hope to afford to produce let alone maintain a fleet of advanced medium or heavy Mechs so they went for the next best thing: a small number of incredibly advanced light Mechs. The Cardinal is packed full of advanced systems that can aid it in dominating a battle space; Independent target tracking, HD Thermal vision systems, motion trackers, recon/targeting drones and one of the most advanced anti-Mech missile systems on the planet help the Cardinal excel in almost any environment.

The Cardinal is a light even for a light Mech, with a top speed of 30mph (50kph) and armour rated for little more than high calibre small arms, the Cardinal excels at engaging foes from range or from their flanks and relying upon its advanced suite of countermeasures to avoid anything close to a fair fight.

Primary weapon systems:

• L8A1 30mm Mag Rifle:
  The L8 family of Mag Rifles have been the standard issue armament for Thelème’s Mech’s since the programme began. A venerable and rugged design the L8A1 is made to be highly accurate, durable and easy to maintain while keeping true to the weapons original design specifics. The L8A1 is equally capable of mincing infantry with HEF rounds or poking holes in light and medium Mechs with its APDS rounds. Sporting two fire modes; Semi-Automatic for distant targets or Fully-Automatic (750RPM) for closer engagements.
• Paladin LR-NLOS missile system:
  The Paladin missile is the Cardinal’s claim to fame, perhaps the most advanced missile system on the planet; it comes standard with 16 km range allowing it to engage targets well beyond visual range. Capable of both Fire-and-forget and Beam Riding the Paladin is designed to engage both ground targets and low flying aircraft, it pairs perfectly with the Cardinals independent recon drone which carries its own laser designator allowing the Paladin to engage targets on the other side of large terrain. The Paladin comes as standard with three missile types; Tandem Charge; for engaging hostile Mechs, Proximity Fuze for engaging hostile aircraft and Thermobaric for engaging Infantry.

Secondary systems:

• Targeting systems:
  The Cardinal boasts an advanced set of targeting systems, allowing the Mech to engage multiple targets in multiple directions simultaneously.
• Countermeasure systems:
  Much like its offensive systems the Cardinal’s defensive systems are equally advanced, a necessity since the Mech can take absolutely zero punishment; Thermal Smoke grenades, Laser Warning Systems, ECM jammers and a Soft-Kill APS system help keep the Cardinal out of the enemies sights for as long as physically possible.

Thelème

Nation name: Grand Republic of Thelème.

Membership: Avrupa

Position in the world: Thelème is nestled within the central plains of Avrupa.

Recent history: The Church with a State, Thelème was founded as a nation in the Aftermath of the Plague, Thelème was founded by a charismatic preacher known as "The Cardinal" and his followers. They arrived in the lands preaching about the word of "The Divine" and preyed on the locals' fear and superstitions about the origin of the Plague, creating a loyal and obedient populace in the process.

Nowadays Thelème is known as "Avrupa's Bread Basket." Its location in sunny Central Avrupa gives Thelème access to perhaps the most fertile farmland in all of Avrupa. Thelème has a total of three major cities including its capital Serene which gives it a relatively small population for its size as most of its land is dominated by great farming estates and woodland. Its small population translates to Thelème's military as well, small and professional, driven by equally healthy doses of propaganda and religious fervour.