Ziost - Crown of the Sith Empire

The armor was placed over a mannequin, music blaring from a small speaker. A woman screaming and singing in Mando'a over high energy music, aggressive and driving.

The pack of DUM droids borrowed from the Colonel disassembling plating from the armor, while behind it, the Mandalorian twirled a hydrospanner betwern his fingers. Loosencurls of hair fell over his face, as he examined the exposed workings of the Strength Enhancing System.

With duty over for the day, he was dressed quite down. A black tank top, and the dark grey of track pants. His bare feet against the plating of the floor. Head bobbing to the music, before resuming his work.

Between the droids, and his ingenuity, he smiled as he tinkered with the servos and hydraulics. Reinforcing the system to aid him as it boosted his strength. "Not bad for what can be considered discount power armor, no?" He laughed to the assisting DUM droids, unsure if they understood Mando'a or not.

LE5 - Modding Strength Enhancing System - +1 Innate Skill (Athletics) - Assisted by Hala's DUM droids (Int 2, Mechanics 5, Networked droid bonus +2eB, custom toolkit +1eB, +3eD difficulty): 2eP+3eA+3eB+3eD 6 successes, 1 advantage, 1 Triumph

There was a metal rapping sound from the doorway as Moraal knocked politely before stepping into the room.

"Battle damage or just maintenance?" she asked with a touch of concern.

"Speaker, down to twenty-five percent." He stepped off of the crate he had used as a work station. Tossing back his hair from his face, he grabbed a towel, wiping his hands.

"Improvements, Colonel. Trying to get as much power out of my customizations as possible." He smiled to her, before remembering his place.

Giving a salute, he returned to attention.

"I hope my music wasn't too loud, ma'am." The DUM droids scampered around behind him, clanking into each other as they aped his salute.

"No, it was fine," she reassured the lieutenant, "though the lyrics were a bit too fast for me to catch everything. I must be rusty."

She returned the salute quickly to move past the formality. The droids did not receive any attention during the gesture, save for a glance out of the corner of her eye to verify that was indeed what they were doing.

"I think Jutrian may be spoiling them...." she mused aloud, "Or they're mocking me because I keep them in their crate most of the time."

"They seem..." he glanced over to the pack of Droids, who were reverting to cleaning up around his quarters. It was.. cramped. A bed, neatly made, small desk. The majority of the room seemed dedicated to his armor and gear. A makeshift workshop. Tyber looked back to Hala, smirking slightly, "... enthusiastic about helping." Shaking his head, he began replacing panels on his armor.

"Your Fett armor is quite the reproduction. It suits you." He said, trying to keep his tone level.

"Just enough to indicate I'm part of the family, little enough to indicate I am not truly Mando'ade," she nodded in agreement, "it was a fitting gift. I still haven't done anything with it, not like this anyway."

She gestured to his makeshift workspace with a smile. Then her nose twitched as she sniffed.

"I wasn't ever much of an armorer, but I did always like the smell of solvent. It helped get rid of all the lubricant I'd spilled trying to service my rifle in Boot."

"To be part of the family, to wear the Mythosaur, is still quite the honor. The importance of Clan, the honor and respect that comes with it." He didn't look over as he locked in the cells of the SES.

Biting his lips as he worked, he finally looked back up. "It means someone always has your back. That Fett saw in you the right to wear it? That doesn't surprise me at all." He clapped the armor, before stepping back again.

"That must have been something. To see you in boot at the Academy. And I think this room is always going to smell like a workshop now. Whenever you miss it, it'll be here." He laughed, somewhat nervously, before composing himself.

"Sorry, I'm babbling."

"No worries Rook, you know more of your people than I ever will," she said with a faint smile before sniffing the air again.

"Just make sure to replace the air filters on schedule, otherwise we're going to catch hell from maintenance and facilities when we have to give these offices back."

"Of couree, Colonel. The room will be left in a better state than we found it." He returned the smile, before looking slightly downtrodden.

"I am sorry that Killer was brought in unconcious. I hoped we would have been able to get more information out of them." His lips drew tight, looking back to his work.

"Machines. Gear. I can get those to be optimal. The boots on the ground fight? Too much chaos."

"We can only hope that he recovers. Besides, it is not as if we invited Darth Malgus to join us. Had he not executed the Killer's associates, we might have more information right now. As is, we need to continue with the next two targets on the list. The Wyrm, and Lady Nuwadi. Gil was happy to finger both of them, and he also mentioned the fourth Talon being located in Public Security though he knew the least about it. Typical. At least we have confirmation of The Raptor..." she groused.

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded in agreement. "I know where the Wyrm berths his vessel. I can see what team we can get assembled. Lead a strike." He spoke with all seriousness, meeting Hala's eyes with his own. He found himself drawn into them.

Maybe just a moment too long.

Clearing his throat, he looked away. "With live and concious apprehension being missiom critical, of course."

"Of course," she said with a nod.

"And I will deal with Lady Nuwadi. Perhaps a gentle approach might be best, given her station. Ruffling features, pun unintended, may not serve us well."

"And the added effect, if we can clip two talons at once? We may force the Eagle to make a mistake, or a desperste, ill planned action." He mused, stepping closer to the Colonel.

He was surprised that he had done so. What had compelled him?

"Tomorrow will be high risk, high reward."

"It will, but hopefully we can mitigate some of that risk. Is there anything you need, assistance wise? Kit, backup, etc." she offered.

"Tomorrow goes well and there will be only one Talon left, allegedly. Though we'd be back to square one.... maybe two. We do have some clue about their identity, but we need more...."

"I like to think I'm always prepared, Colonel. Restocked on stims, armor and gear are above spec. I don't want to be a burden on our resources." He smiled, "but thank you."

The matter if the remaining Talon.

"I'll see what I can dig up. Between my Duros friend, and what the Underworld is saying, there may be some breadcrumbs."

She nodded.

"Or maybe we will get lucky, and the Wyrm will be best friends with him and we can get two for one...," she said dryly before cracking a smile.