-Chapter One: Re-assigned-
The clamoring footsteps, the endless voices, the sound of vents sending cool fresh air into Carrick Station. Liara took in a deep breath and sighed, staring at her reflection in her glass of Correlian ale. It had been a while since she had a good drink, and she missed the smell and the taste. She was tired and a little angry. 'Forced leave I'll take a vacation any way I can get it.' she gave a growling sigh at the thought. Liara had been forced to take medical psychiatric leave. She had just lost her entire Squad and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But still a vacation is a vacation. Liara downed her shot of Ale and gestured the droid for another. She watched the gears and hydraulics go to work as it moved about looking for her drink. Finally discovering it on the shelf. It uncorked the bottle and poured her another shot, and she downed it again, gesturing for another one. She had spent 2 weeks doing this, drinking and what others called partying. She found no real enjoyment in those activities she just went along with the ones he called her friends. After the droid poured her another shot she downed it once more. She Slammed the glass down on the bar putting it open side down and paying the droid for the drinks. She was in her civilian clothing. A green vest with red trimming, her combat cloth leggings and a standard pair of black boots. She liked it simple, if she was going to wear Civ, clothing it wasn't going to be anything fancy.
She finally walked away from the bar and scanning the faces and area around her. The training never left her. She was constantly on alert, always looking out from trouble. Luckily she hadn't made any enemies besides on the battlefield. All of those were dead though. She really had nothing to fear, it was the training it made you paranoid. She made her way through the crowds of Civilians and soldiers and officers, no matter what she couldn't help but shake the feeling that someone was watching her, looking at her, studying her. She continued to walk and shook the feeling off. She just tried not to think about it. Her mind began to drift, back to that day. The day she lost her squad. She froze in the middle of the crowd. Others kept walking around her like she wasn't even there. She heard clicks, she tried to ignore it. She kept looking from the source of the horrible noise. But to no avail, she couldn't find it, she couldn't stop it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. 'Remove Barrel, remove stock, eject clip, remove scope...' she repeated it over and over again in her head. It was the process for cleaning her rifle, she never forgot it. For a strange, reason, it calmed her. Brought her down enough to analyze the situation. "The sound is nothing, calm down Lia.' she thought to herself. She finally opened her eyes and kept walking. She rubbed her eyes from the stress. She just wanted this to be over, get back to her Job. She missed her ship and surprisingly her captain. Even if he was a hard ass.
As Liara passed by the fountains on the station she noticed a figure that she had seen before. It was a republic soldier, commando from the looks of him. She couldn't tell what outfit he was with, his armor wasn't designated. Liara furrowed her brow and stopped and turned to face him. "You need something soldier?" she asked through narrowed eyes. Finally looking at him, she was sure he was a Commando. Still couldn't tell what outfit he was with, or his face through his helmet. "Are you Sergeant Liara C. Nintra?" he asked. Liara raised a brow at soldier. He knew her, and was loking for her. This was unexpected, why would someone bee looking for her. "Yeah thats me." Liara answered still looking at him. There was a pause, and she could tell that he was talking on his Helmet comlink. Checking with his commanding officer maybe? That was the most likely explanation. But who could that be. She watched him remove his helmet, revealing a chiseled chinned, black spike haired, and blue eyed Trooper. "I am Captain Bracketh." Liara suddenly snapped to attention and saluted the trooper, showing respect to her superior Office. "Sorry Sir." Bracketh smiled at her sudden change in Demeanor. He wasn't the type to get on troops for that, but it tickled him deep down to see them react to him. "At ease Sergeant." Liara lowered her hands, spread her legs and folded her arms behind her back looking directly ahead. She was still curious what this was all about. Bracketh looked her up and down and raised a brow.
"What's with the Civ garb Sergeant?" He asked curiously.
"Sir, Off Duty sir, I am on leave for Psychiatric treatment, sir." She answered in a clear, respectful voice.
Bracketh went silent again and took out his data pad. He was checking her records once more looking her over as he did. After a few seconds he put his datapad away and looked at her. "Come with me sergeant." He about faced and walked off, Liara following him closely. Her mind still raced with questions. Who, what, were, and whys, swirled around in her head. Questions unanswered made her anxious and it could be seen in her stride, she was very anxious. They Finally arrived at an elevator and Bracketh stepped in and Liara followed. The elevator doors closed after she stepped in cutting them off from the crowds. The Elevator began to Rise, taking them to the upper levels of Carric Station. Her eyes still facing forward. She Finally asked;"Whats this all about sir?" Bracketh kept his eyes on the doors as the elevator slowed down to a step. "You will see sergeant." he replied as the doors opened up revealing a republic Operations room. The Room was empty, no one was there. Her heart was racing in her chest, she had no idea what to think. Bracketh stepped out of the elevator and Liara hesitantly followed, arms still folded behind her back. Scattered chairs, two book shelves, papers in a neat snack on the holodesk, it Looked like an Intelligence conference room. Her training kicked in again. Her eyes scanned the room taking it in. 'Exits, Elevator, 2 vents. Weapons, Vibroknife on the table right hand corner, Service pistol under the chair, Ammo light blinking, only 3 shots left, cover there, there, there... She even analyzed the Likeliness of her over powering Bracketh, if she had to. Her chances were minimal. The objects were placed as if...someone had planted them there. Bracketh walked and sat down at the Holodesk and gestured for Liara to sit at a chair across from him. She walked over and sat down without showing the slightest hesitation. The Chair was cold and hard, the cushions were ripped. It made the chair unpleasant to sit in but her face only showed in difference. She Looked across the table at Bracketh waiting for him to speak to her. Bracketh took his helmet and placed it on the table. Liara spotted a symbol on his helmet. It was a derivative of the Black ops Section of the Republic Special Forces. He was a Black Ops commando, but what squad?
Bracketh took out his datapad and Looked down at it. "Sergeant Liara C. Nintra, Age 28 Born on Corellia, Raised by a Military family, Joined the Republic at age 18. Trained to be a marksman, and you excelled. 9.5 out of 10. That was your score when you left he Academy. Graduated from the Academy at the top of your class. Trained in everything from High Powered rifles to, Oh, Starship Cannon Batteries." Bracketh Looked up and Smiled at her with approval, and looked back down at the pad again. This wasn't the first time she had her credentials read out to her, or even singled out because of her skills. This was the 3rd time. At this point, she just wished it would stop happening. She adjusted her position in her seat, and Looked Bracketh over trying to get a read on him. He began to resume but was shocked that some of her records were covered by black bars, covering Data. He looked at her with a small grin. She had been on a few spook missions. Liara looked at him with her blank stare. He resumed "Later assigned to the the Starship Nexu Under the command of Captain Gerric. Says here you lost your squad in a fire fight on Alderaan. You served with them for 5 years. My condolences Sergeant. Now on leave, Psychiatric Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." Obviously done reading her file he looked at her. "You come highly recommended for various assignments Sergeant. But the Captain Keep you all to himself." Liara straitens in her chair. "He promised my father that I would be on his ship. They were close friends Sir." Liara's father was stationed on the Nexu before he retired; he made Gerric Promise to station her there so Gerric could teach her, the right way. Liara was proud to be part of that Legacy. Bracketh smiled at Liaras reply. "That's cute." he said condescendingly, as he stood. Liara fought the urge to narrow her eyes at the captain, and bit her tongue to hold back a snide remark. In her younger years, she would've never held back. That had almost gotten her into big trouble at one time. Ever since then she kept it in check.
Bracketh paced around the table as he spoke to her. "I called you hear for an assignment... Liara raised her brow again to him. An assignment? She was on leave, directly from the Captain. Did he have the authority to do this? ...You are familiar with the Black Ops section Republic Special forces No doubt... Liara nodded at him keeping her eyes on him as he paced. "Yes sir." She could Tell that he assumed that from all the black on her file. She had been a Black Ops Agent for a while. Retraining, reconditioning, that training made you see the galaxy through a different lenses. For some, after they trained,they saw the everything as either Targets or assets. It took Liara months to sleep without twitching at every sound she heard, and reach for her blaster at every loud noise. It was brutal.
"There are squads that operate in that branch. I belong to such one. I am here to recruit you."
Liara looked at him just as he turned to look her in the eyes. Recruited to a Black Ops Squad. She had been an agent, but never been in a squad. "We operate above the other branches of Black Ops. We handle the Jobs that need a little more...assertiveness, than the Agents can Provide." She watched him weighing her options wondering what to do. What to think, was she ready to go back in the field? "What's the catch sir?" Walked over to the small view port window that looked out over the fleet. He folded his arms behind his back. "That catch is...We will erase everything you were, you will leave no Identifying mark. You will no longer exists." Liara looked down at the table and sighed. It was a lot to take in. This wasn't like her other Black Ops. She was about to delete herself from the Galaxy. Everything she was, everything she is would be gone. Could she do it? Bracketh didn't even turn to face her. "We will allow you to finish your Psychiatric treatment and the rest of you leave time. You have 24 hours to reply Sergeant. I will send you my holo frequency." Bracketh snapped his fingers and the Elevator doors opened and Liara snapped her head to the doors. "Dismissed.' said Bracketh. Liara stood and saluted him and made haste to the elevator and stepped in and watched the doors close behind her. She gave out a long sigh as the Elevator Descended to the main level of the station.
Liara Laid in the the bunk on her ship. The Air was stale and cold. The Ship was Quiet, it was unsettling. It wasn't helping her make her decision. His words still rattled around in her head. She didn't know if she was ready. She was only 28 and she was confronted with all of this. She sat up and scooted to the edge of her bunk and placed her feet of the cold durasteel floor of her Ship. She looked at her dog tags that dangled from her neck as she looked down. She grabbed them and clinched them in her hand. She was a strong woman. But was she strong enough? She was conflicted. She thought about what she wanted to do. She thought about what the captain wanted her to do, and finally, what her father and mother would want her to do. Her father and mother served in the war. Fought empire on Alderraan, they saw the monster. Liara joined the Military to stop the monster. Was she doing all she could to stop the empire if she didn't do this.
She gave one final sigh and closed her eyes. 'History is made by the choices we make today.' It was what her mother told her when she was assigned to the Nexu. Liara always lived those words. She opened her eyes and smirked. 'No since changing now.'' She was going to do it. She got up and walked to her holoterminal on her ship and punched in Bracketh's holo frequency. She began to pace with anticipation and Anxiousness. When Bracketh's hologram appeared, it bathed the bark ship in a bright blue hue. Liara stood at attention and saluted him. "At ease, I hope you have an answer for me sergeant." Liara smiled at him and leaned on the holo terminal. "I'm on board sir." Bracketh smiled and folded his arms behind his back. "Good to hear, Welcome to Hellfire squad. We will contact you when we are ready to introduce you to the squad. Bracketh out." The Hologram dispersed and Liara walked back in her Bunk looking up at the stars through the skylight in the ceiling, and finally nodded off to sleep.