Deniable Asset
30 Aug 2020Servatrix
The room they were in was poorly lit. Partially by design, partially due to it taking place in the bowls of the station, where the old storage and crew quarters were during the original construction.Currently, it contained two occupants, one Pgrogenitor Korie Alford, primary mission director for the most trusted members in the Ordo Corona Stellarum inner circle, the other (and beside her) was none other than General Wilton Trujillo, commander of their ground forces.
Korie shifted somewhat nervously as she reviewed the documents in front of her in the dim light. "Are you certain we need to do a debriefing in this manner? Why not perform it like the other people we debrief, with a recording device?"
The General glanced over at her and was silent for a moment before answering. "If you knew his history, you'd know better. You haven't interacted with him much have you? He's one of our top combat pilots. Proficient with almost any ship, a very determined and single-minded focus individual. He's not used to the limelight that the others are fond of." The General stood up and paced the room for a moment before continuing.
"Unlike our faction leader, or some of the newer combat pilots. He doesn't care about glory, or spreading the name of our faction out to the rest of the galaxy. Believe me, I tried talking to him about it."
Before Korie could give a rebuttal, the only door to the room creaked open as rust fell from its ancient hinges. A man walked in slowly, more of a predatory pace than taking charge. She could faintly hear the whine of cybernetics as he moved but just barely over the hum of the air circulation. He slowly checked the room before moving to the other side of the table from the General and Korie, he took a seat and pulled out an ancient fuel-filled lighter and a box of carcinogens.
Korie bristled slightly, "I'm sorry but you can't-" She was cut off as the man slowly turned his head and stared her down as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag from it.
The man turned to the General and spoke in a very low gravely voice. "I see you made it safely off the station I transported you to."
The General turned to face Korie and motioned for her to take her seat, "I did. Thank you for that, you were the only one I trusted for that mission."
As Korie took her seat, she reviewed the documents in front of her one final time.
CMDR Servatrix
Age: 60(?), Sex: M, Birthplace: [Redacted]
Experience:
Recent Actions:
Age: 60(?), Sex: M, Birthplace: [Redacted]
Experience:
| Hand-to-hand Combat | Pistol Marksman | Rifle Marksman |
| Ground Insertion | Orbital Bombardment | Strategic Asset Denial |
She'd not seen a dossier like this in a long while. Not since the Generals in fact during her interview of him. Most of it was just pure redactions barring the occasional word. And there were 40 pages of it.
She glanced up as Servatrix took another long drag of his cigarette, he was still staring at her. She cleared her throat, shuffled her papers, and began.
"This meeting is regarding your recent activities with our war efforts. You had been absent for quite some time, and now you just showed up out of the black, like the past 4 months never happened. Where were you?"
Servatrix arched an eyebrow as a bemused smirk grew on his gaunt features. "I was trying to unwind from the previous war," he answered plainly.
There was silence for a few minutes as Korie slowly realized no additional answer was forthcoming. "Very well," she mumbled before turning to face him in earnest, attempting to stare him down just as he had done previously. "What about the current war? Tell us about your actions to date."
Servatrix took another drag of the cigarette and exhaled slowly before sitting up slightly straiter in the chair and nodding.
"Before this interview, I was taking part in multiple conflict zones, I believe my current count is 75 ships in combat. Joined up with fellow new-bloods Bad and Yehuda, along with one other, and eventually our Boss, Nirakoji."
He paused to take another drag, Korie wasn't sure if his voice was that gravely due to the cigarettes or that was just his natural voice. It did something funny to her, almost making her want to move away from him like she was being talked to by a predatory creature. Before she could move forward, he continued speaking.
"Shortly after entering a new conflict zone, our current enemy called in reinforcements int he form of a capital ship, the Ryan Fechney. Most of your military pilots were thinking about evacing at that point General, but me and my Schwermetall rarely back down from a fight. Didn't take too long to get the Fechney to clear out, destroyed its ability to vent heat and they decided to bolt. After that, the rest was just a mop-up operation. Shortly after that, I was contacted by you, Korie, to open alternative fronts." He looked over his shades at her, and she could tell that he had cybernetic eyes, they clicked and whirred slightly as they adjusted his vision to take her in clearer.
"Normally, I wouldn't go about hurting civilians." He paused and continued to stare daggers at her, making the hair on her neck stand up. "Normally, because I dislike causing intentional damage to the civilians. However, the contracts you provided were much too lucrative to turn down."
He turned to face the General, "Hopefully your men will help repair those settlements quickly, once this war ends. We'll want that infrastructure back up as soon as possible. Just because they can't make use of the factories now, doesn't mean we shouldn't take advantage of them as soon as possible."
Servatrix stood and took another long drag, finishing the cigarette and flicking the butt into the corner of the room. "Some advice, Progenitor Korie," he paused as he started to walk towards the door, "If you wanted to debrief me again, I would suggest don't." He turned and faced her one more time. "I dislike talking about the actions I take or get assigned for a simple reason: Most of what I do doesn't need to come to light. This protects you in the event I fail or get captured by our enemies. If you insist on wanting to share my demons, either I'll walk away, or you should find an alternative line of work. I do jobs no one wants to do, and I get the jobs done. Nothing else matters about that. Look to Bad or Yehuda if you want actual reports on their efforts, but mine?"
He paused as he tried to find the right words, "Give me a job, then let me go. Don't ask for reports, I'll give confirmation. Now if you'll excuse me," he turned to the General and gave a casual salute, "Work needs to be done." With that, he opened the door and exited the room.
Korie sat silently for a long while. The General got up and moved to the door as well. He paused before turning to face her, "Servatrix has a long and sordid past. I've seen a more un-redacted version of his dossier. We need him, Nirakoji needs him. Sure we've got other combat pilots, but not many of them are as dedicated to that line of work than him. He's an asset that, while we could afford to lose, I'd much rather have him aligned with us."
The General took a step towards the open door and paused one more time, "I've not heard him speak that much since my interview with him shortly after he joined the OCS. As he said, if you've got work for him, just contact him. Beyond that... best leave the man alone." He too, then left the room, leaving Korie to sit alone in the dusty and dark office.
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Servatrix slowly walked back into his quarters, passing the faction lounge where many of the other pilots gathered to relax the night away. He continued on ignoring the laughter as the people celebrated another day of victory, toasting each other, and sharing stories. As he entered his dimly lit quarters, far separated from the other faction units they rented, them his terminal started ringing, it was Korie.
He answered the call and sat in front of the terminal, "Yes?"
Korie glanced towards the camera, "I've got some work for you to do."
Servatrix paused before answering and sat contemplating for a while. "Send me the locations. I'll take care of it," then he cut the call and walked towards his hangar.