Echo Alpha's Story

The door to the bar slowly opened up and a young woman in a light grey single breasted uniform stepped into the bar. There was no doubt as to who she was; Gina Inviere, the Chairman of the Aschen Military, the sole commander of the United Aschen Empire's extensive military arm.

Taking a step forward, she checked her time. With a quick glance at her watch, she determined that she had plenty of time to catch some R and R before she had to go back to Langara. Inviere was also here to meet with Gabby LeBeau, but she figured that could wait for now.

"I can't believe His Shadow is sending me on a go for errand for some child." The Chairman complained. All while her eyes met Echo.

"I wonder what he's doing here." Inviere said quietly to herself.

Her eyes then fell on Kianna, and she scowled even more before she brushed past her.

"Are you having fun on this wretch of a planet, Kianna?" Inviere asked as she seated herself. "He misses you, you know."

As she folded her legs, Zaria gave Echo a very long stare as he spoke. Her brows angled, just a bit. Her lips parted a few moments after he finished, but they clopped shut as a nasty woman came in and shoved a... child at him. She wasn't so sure children were allowed in Gambit's, especially that young. She got up from her seat to protest, but so meekly sat back down. Unable to say anything, unable to do anything, she just offered to exchange glances with Echo.

You talk like a robot. I wonder if that's what you are?

"... I, um, hope that my looks isn't what really attracts as many of the customers. But thank you," said Zaria softly to Sephyt. She found it almost difficult to smile. "I see you've got a purpose for now, eh, Echo? Just some advice, if my manager comes in here, she might scold you for the babe. Same for you, Sephyt, if you're going to laze around!" As if snapped out of what bothered her, she stuck her tongue out at the man.

"Can... I help either of you?" she asked Kianna and Inviere.

Echo frowned, shaking his head. "I am not a slave. I serve, and I am rewarded in turn for my service. Before then, I had nothing, and was lost. Now I have a home, and a purpose. I did not mean to sound unsatisfied."

The boy was about to go on when a familiar voice chimed from the door of the bar. He turned to face Kianna with surprise, resisting the urge to bow to her. Any attempt to speak was quashed when the child was shoved into his arms, and he hastily took hold of him, cradling him carefully. "I - Of course, E- Kianna." he replied, stumbling over his words in surprise and confusion.

As usual, the little one was not in the best of temperaments, wriggling and crying over goodness knows what. Echo stared down at him for several long seconds in apparent shock. He glanced back up at Zaria when she spoke, and he frowned. "Oh. If necessary, I will leave. I do not wish to cause trouble."

"She can scold me for whatever she wishes. I work to pay what I owe and as of this moment, I don't owe anything," he said, smiling in triumph as he nodded his head to Naria. However, the two women and the baby who entered had caught his attention, especially when the young boy seemed to suddenly be given charge of it.

"Though on that matter I would agree. A bar is no place for a child that small. Who knows who among us might have some contagious disease that could threaten his life?" He asked, his caution rooted in secret truth as he made to examine Kianna and Inviere.

"It seems this planet is hated."

"Well maybe he could stand to say as much," Kianna remarked dryly to Inviere as the Chairman strode past her.

"I expect he'll be in one piece when I get back," she told Echo before she left without another word of explanation as to what was so pressing that she would ditch the brat with Echo so abruptly.

The kid meanwhile seemed to be settling down with the departure of its irate mother and it let out a burbling giggle as it grabbed for a fistful of Echo's silvery hair.

Inviere glowered as Sephyt moved to examine or approach her. It was then Inviere's hand shot to the weapon holstered at her hip.

"Not a step closer." She said, shooting an unspoken order to Echo as she stepped back. "I'm just here for a drink, not to be dirtied up by the riffraff." She said, turning back to Kianna.

"I hope you've made progress on that thing he wants you to do." She said, before she backed up a couple more steps, and then she moved towards her table.

"Let's get our hands off the guns, shall we?" The voice of Jegun rang out as the storeroom door slid shut behind him, his hand on a gun of his own. Two clicks as he racked both hammers back, his eyes cold over the faint, hollow smile on his face.

"After all, I'm in a bit of an aggravated mood, considering one of your people shot up the place not long past."\

Zaria did not look at the two Aschen women who were speaking, but she was listening to them very intently, even as she spoke gleefully to Echo and the tiny baby. "It's not inconveniencing me. I'm more worried about what Miss LeBeau will say to you. And about the baby." She poked a finger out at the child for him to grab. "He's cute, isn't he?"

She spoke to Sephyt without turning towards him. "Just a bit. We've been through a lot of stri-" She stopped short, catching sight of the chairman. Her complexion paled.

"We don't allow any violence in Gambit's."

Expression shifting to one of horror, Echo swiftly rose to his feet, drawing the gurgling child close and out of the line of fire protectively. There was an almost undetectable shift in the boy, the skin of his arms wrapped around the baby reflecting the light slightly differently.

"Stand down, please." he said to Jegun, the innocent and inquisitive tone of his voice replaced with cold certainty. "Do not threaten the Chairman. No violence is sought."

"If you plan to shoot me, I would hope for your sake that you kill me with the first shot, or else I'll definitely repay the favour," he said, raising his empty glass a little towards Inviere as a gesture of some twisted sign of agreement. He turned, not particularly caring if she even planned to follow up on what he assumed was a threat. She could shoot him in the back all she liked as far as he was concerned. It had been long since his body did anything but swallow them.

"The child probably requires some sort of sustenance, but I fear it is not alcohol. I assume the mother has much more important events to tend to, though next time I would advise her not to leave the child in a bar unless she wishes to set up an interesting origin story for his future self."

The Chairman didn't pull her weapon, but there was a distinct high pitched whine that signaled the weapon had been powered and ready to fire.

"Consider the ramifications of what you're threatening." Inviere said to Jegun as she stared at him. She was working the angles in her mind, her eyes flitting from corner to corner. Even assessing her own personal protection, a thin kanvium vest worn under her uniform jacket. Certainly capable of repelling even the most powerful of firearms, but not the best at kinetic energy absorption.

She didn't pull her weapon, but would be ready in an instant.

Stretching, Gabrielle busied herself in the kitchen, checking to make sure everything was still in its place. She wanted everything to be perfect and had spent most of her time checking the storeroom in addition to other areas of the bar to make sure they weren’t running out of anything as well as to make sure everything was nice and clean still. The boy from the previous night had helped with the dishes and from what she could tell, did a really good job. Of course, Zaria was there to supervise him the whole time, so she wasn’t too worried about it. Still, she couldn’t keep allowing people to do tasks in the bar to pay for food, drinks, and board, but she hated turning them away. Running a few fingers through her brunette locks, Gabby glanced towards the door of the kitchen, her eyes peering out the small window. It sounded rather busy out there, which was a good thing as long as there wasn’t any shenanigans going on.

“Hnn… guess I should at least show my face for a few minutes…”

Making her way towards the kitchen door, she glanced down at her current outfit to make sure it hadn’t grown filthy while she was inventorying things. Luckily, the material was pretty stain and dirt resistant and still looked brand new. Today’s outfit consisted of a blood-red tank top and a pair of black slacks. Beneath the slacks were a pair of thigh-high boots with a chunky 2-inch heel. Moving out into the main part of the bar, she arched her brow, taking in everything at once. There apparently was a youngish male with silver hair holding a baby, Zaria working the bar and speaking with the same fellow as before and some female with her hand on her gun, which Gabby figured was why Jegun had his hand on his own. Yep, just another day at Gambit’s.

“HEY! GET DE FUCK OUTTA DE BAR IF YOU’RE GONNA BE SHOOTING YER DAMN WEAPON, LADY!” Gabrielle placed both hands on her hips, glaring angrily at the uniformed woman.

"I am, and frankly, I'm not impressed." Jegun's tone went flat, the faint smile vanishing as quickly as he'd adopted it. "But to clear things up for you, I'm in charge of security around here. And your hand on that gun is a threat to that security, so I suggest you take it clear."

That poker stare shifted slightly to Echo. "And I ain't in the army anymore, friend. Stand down means not a thing to me, and its the wrong term anyways."

He didn't shift his own hand from its casual lie on his sawn-off's handle, not quite gripping it but not too far off the mark either.

"Perhaps it's time I take my leave," he said as he moved away from his stool. "If I remove myself from presence, then this woman will have no reason to be so hostile and this.. Stand-off, here, will cease."

He pulled his jacket close, raised his hood over his head and moved towards the exit, not saying a goodbye to any of them as he greeted the night.

She kept her weapon readied, and her eyes on Echo for the moment. "We both know how the Empire will spin this, it won't end well. You might be head of security here, but I'm in charge of the Imperial Military, which is a whole hell a lot more equipped than you could ever hope to be. I have made no threatening gestures, so stay your aggression, and your rudeness." She said, her eyes moving slowly over to Gabby.

"Miss LeBeau, I'm glad you could join us. I'm here to finalize your entry paperwork and consent forms. His Shadow is eager to meet with you." She said, shooting a subtle look over towards Jegun.

"He would be very disappointed if something happened here that would preclude your audience with him."

With the seeming decline in tensions, Echo took the opportunity to depart the bar with haste, to keep Kianna's son out of harm's way.

This had the potential of escalating to the point to actual gunshots being fired and Gabrielle didn’t want that one bit. Luckily, her work crew had patched up what had happened previously, but she didn’t want to have to keep calling them just because people were trigger happy. Carefully watching Jegun and the woman, Gabby vaguely heard the male that had done the dishes the night before say he was leaving in hopes of helping stop the standoff and she made a mental note to search him out later and ask what had happened. Her gaze shifted towards the male holding the baby and she started to say something, but decided otherwise. After all, she and her older sister had grown up in the bar since birth pretty much. Plus, he left the bar with the kid, so that was even better.

Her purple eyes narrowed when the woman spoke to her because at that moment she realized she was an Aschen. She really had no idea what started the whole hostility, but really didn’t want it to go any further, so she just walked over to the woman and just shook her head at Jegun. This whole affair was starting to get extremely irritating, but hopefully her trip to see the Divine Shadow would stop all it from occurring over and over again.

“Get your hand away from your gun and stop threatening my security and patrons. You seem to have forgotten that the reason I am even going to speak with him is because of what McGregor did the other day. You are not helping matters one damn bit. Let’s get the paperwork signed and then you either sit down and get a drink and stop threatening people, or get the hell out. Your choice, but I’m not going to be threatened just because you’re in charge of the Imperial Military.”

At Gabrielle's shake, he lifted his hand from the handle, stepping back a few paces to lean against the bar. Letting the young woman take command of the situation, he nonetheless remained as coiled as a viper, though in a pinch, it would have to be the magnum from under his jacket, if he had to resort to that. Accidentally winging his employer wasn't exactly a good thing.

His gaze remained centered on Inviere, however. Pulling out his modified PDA, he checked the security feeds and gave a ghost of a smile noting the cameras were rolling just fine.

Inviere shook her head as she moved her hand from her weapon, and then gestured to a table where the generous six inch stack of paperwork had already been set up.

"In my defense, your security officer threatened me first, prompting me to defend myself. I'd recommend better training in your security, they lack professionalism, and tact when dealing with sensitive situations." She said as she slid into her seat.

"I don't feel comfortable in here, for all I know your security is planning to shoot me when I'm not looking." She said, while she settled into her seat, smoothing down the uniform and tugging on the collar, and then she placed a small tape recorder on the table.

"This is a formal Visa interview, and the paperwork will secure your Visa, it's just a formality, and required for entry. We can begin whenever you're ready."

She shot another glare at Jegun, and then turned back to Gabby.

The gardens were quiet, the busy sounds of the city far-distant, and the pathways only walked by a small scattering of individuals and groups. They were a haven away from the chaos of the rest of Wing City, picturesque and relaxing.

Just off of one of the main paths, Echo was sat gazing off across the flowers. The silver-haired boy seemed entirely tuned out from his surroundings.