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RP: Section 6 Internship's end.

Kim

スター軍の司書
> 188-604, Aster's house, before Operation Ice Breaker.

Aster fussed with her skirt as she waited for Jay to arrive. She had called him after the emergency planning meeting for the raid. She didn't have much time to talk to him with all of the war planning but she wanted, needed to speak to him. The message she had left on his answering service was short, just "Please, I need to speak to you in person as soon as possible."

Jay arrived at Aster's house slightly confused. He wondered why she had asked him over at such a busy time, but knew she was aware of the circumstances. This was clearly important - possibly professionally so. As he entered, he called out. "Aster! You here?"

"Hai!" Aster emerged from her office and smiled warmly, though a bit nervously at Jay. "I know your really busy but.. I haven't gotten much time alone with you and.. I thought this was important to talk to you about alone and in person." She watched him with a touch of apprehension in her violet eyes as she stopped in front of him and moved to kiss him in greeting.

"Of course." he responded, kissing her briefly. "Besides, there's not a lot going on." In fact, there was a lot going on, but Jay had already briefed the squad leaders on the mission - they could handle the preparations on their own. "Is something wrong? You know I have to do this..."

"I know and I wanted to go with you," Aster replied softly. "I've been thinking about it since the incident and I don't want to be.. useless again. I don't want to have to hide when I could be out there fighting alongside you. I was thinking about joining Saber but I wanted to talk to you first."

Jay sighed at this. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. Aster, you aren't useless. Without your APC modification, we wouldn't have been able to even try this in the first place. Besides, there are other roles outside of the front lines..."

"I didn't want to give Jack my thoughts on joining until I talked to you and.. my mother." She settled against him, hugging him. "I know that but I wanted to be more involved. Amit was my first friend here on 188-604 and I wish that I had been able to do more to save him or help. I was.. right here.. I keep thinking that I might have done.. just.. something more than hide here."

"Let me ask you something..." he responded, pulling back slightly to look her in the eyes before continuing deliberately and clearly. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

She took a moment to give her answer, there was a touch of sadness that crept into her eyes. "... I had to... on Mayer." It always came back to that incident for her. Aster nodded sadly. "We had to pull back and... the others were carrying mom and helping the others.. the gun was lighter."

Another sigh from Jay as he looked away, realizing how much pain he'd brought up. "I hope you realize... Saber isn't about morality first. Not even second."

He now looked her dead in the eyes.

"If I was just fighting for morals, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. You finish the mission first, no matter what gets in the way. After that, minimise casualties. If you don't believe me, ask Jack about my first mission with them. You want the hero shit, join the Skyguard.

"I understand." She nodded. "Do you want me to fighting alongside you? I know that this is ultimately my decision but you are a Saber officer and my boyfriend. This isn't safe and things might happen. If I might lose you, I want the chance to save you rather than being told that they are bringing you back and to meet you at the tube."

"That could be worse" he responded, shaking his head. "I don't want to ever have to choose between you and the mission. You know I'm not kidding about the Skyguard - Alex and I are old friends. I can give you a recommendation, get you started higher up. Hell, I can get you your own personal U1 to customize and fly."

"You would choose the mission," Aster replied softly. "Jack gave me a U1 and was teaching me to fly it after the incident. He was hoping it'd would give me something else in common with you to talk about and do." She added with more of a shy smile. "You would prefer me here then?"

"I'd prefer you where you want to be. You can join Saber, but as commander I cannot allow you to affect my decisions at all. I won't stop you from joining Saber - nor would I keep you from being at my side - but I can't put you in any position of authority without reason. All I'm saying is, make sure you are joining for the right reasons." As he finished this, he sat down on the couch.

She sat down beside him and thought it over. "I've never thought of myself as one seeking authority or power. I want to do more than I have been. It feels like Jack has been grooming me to be more involved with the training and the U1. I know that missions aren't always black and white. We live in shades of grey. I don't think you're a bad person and your opinion is important to me... if you don't think I'm suited for it..."

"I think anyone can be suited for anything, given the proper training." he interjected. "Having you where you want to be is the best way of doing that. Speaking of that, where exactly would you want to be?"

"I want to be more involved with the Saber branch of Section 6 but I want to continue my research with R&D but... I've also been designing a lot of weapons too. I like to see the practical application of the designs since it has more meaning to see how things actually perform in the field. I don't want to design something to have it fail at a crucial moment. But I don't want to design anything that I wouldn't want to use.. does that make sense?" Aster replied thoughtfully.

Jay nodded in agreement. "You could probably handle both, once the training is over with. Hell, I'm still involved with the Shiva. Which by the way has more parts than a god damn cruiser. Just prioritize and you should be OK."

Aster nodded and smiled brightly. "I'm excited to get started. Do you think we'll have time to get me spun up on this run?" She gave his hand a small squeeze. There was a knock on the front door behind them. She paused and glanced to the door, uncertain.

Jay frowned, also glancing at the door. "Should I be concerned?" he said quietly, his hand moving instinctively to the holstered pistol on his hip.

She rose from her seat and moved cautiously towards the door. She pressed a button on the back of it to reveal the video feed of the area in front of the house. A tall, muscular woman with caramel brown skin and bright red hair dressed in jeans and a well fitted black blouse stood on the front step. The woman wore a pistol on her hip and a large crate sat on a grav-dolly behind her.

Aster blinked in surprise. "My mom is here..."

Removing his hand from the holster, Jay's expression lightened somewhat. "Pleased to meet you, miss Blake." he responded with masked apprehension. "From what I've heard, you aren't one for pleasantries, so let's get straight to the point if you don't mind."

Belinda grinned a bit at Jay as Aster let her in. Her voice was a lower pitch and rough, like she had a sore throat. "Hello. You must be Jay." Her emerald green eyes appraised him and she nodded a bit as she moved past them into the living room. "Yes, I came to check on my Yomena-chan after the news of what happened across the street."

Aster watched how her mother and Jay were interacting with a nervous smile, but relaxed when Belinda nodded towards Jay. Her expression brightened and she moved next to Jay and waited.

Belinda continued. "I would have come sooner but we had some other business come up. I brought you some toys to play with, if you are in the business of getting shot at, it won't hurt to give you a chance to field test some of this Power Armor we are developing along with these weapons, if you are both of a mind to do it."

Nodding in response, the commander responded. "We have upcoming combat operations within the next 24 hours, so I doubt I'd be able to distribute it, but I could test it personally if you like." Looking over at Aster, he continued. "Although frankly, your daughter has helped extensively with testing homegrown power armour. Which brings me to my other point - Aster was just asking me about joining Saber. Although she seems quite ready and capable, as commander I can't be giving her any preferential treatment in application or training." Looking back at the elder Blake, he finished. "I would like to hear it from you. Do you think she can handle something like that?"

Belinda looked at Aster, who stood up a little straighter under her mother's scrutiny. She turned her gaze back to Jay once more and nodded. "Aster is resilient and willing to do just about anything. But, she's got the resolve to see things through to the end, she might not give herself credit for it, but she's fairly strong, mentally. I don't know many people that endured that nightmare we lived without coming out broken." She paused again a gave Aster a small smile. "I think she's capable. And it sounds like she's willing."

Aster beamed a bit.

"Well that's good to hear" he said in response. "Now tell me about this power armour of yours. As much as I'd love to wing it, we're probably all better off knowing what exactly this is."

Belinda moved the dolly and the crate into the house and then at length, described how the Vikhr power armor was to be worn and the various features of the system, and the armaments. The armor was almost ready for full scale production and sale but they were still field testing it more rigorously in different gravities and environments. After she was done explaining it she paused, "If you didn't use it immediately in favor of the gear you know, I wouldn't be offended. It's better to use your own gun than someone else's. This is something new and the mission is soon. Up to you, but you have the option, if you do use it, I just want to know how it performs, I don't need specifics of the mission other than the suit itself."

Looking approvingly at the armour, Jay nodded. "Not exactly my style, but I can give it a go. Might take some slight adaptation on the neural interface, but other than that it should be fine."

"Excellent." Belinda nodded as she folded her arms and glanced at her daughter. "Are you joining our family as well?"

Aster blushed a fierce shade of red and stared at her mother. "...mom..."

Jack and Mark had been talking while hanging around Jack's garage when a strange woman showing up with a large crate peeked their interest. Strangers showing up with sketchy luggage had become a sort of apprehensive topic given the Lazarus incident.

"I'm sure if she past the checkpoint she's fine.", Mark said as he leaned over the top of Jack's DR1 to talk with Jack who sat on the ground next to it working on the fusion engine.

"There is a reason for that checkpoint remember. Well just knock and check to make sure everything is good. Who knows it could just be a relative, but I'm gonna worry my brains out if I don't at least check," Jack responded getting up and cleaning his hands before grabbing his jacket.

Mark grabbed his katana he'd brought to show Jack and never left home without, "Fine." The only thing he said as they headed for the house. Stepping up to the door, they looked at each other before Mark knocked.

Jay sighed. "Here we go again. Is someone going to get that?"

Belinda looked at Jay, her posture relaxed a bit, "I'm serious. Are you planning on it, Jay?"

Aster was beet red when she checked the door and saw it was Jack and Mark. She opened the door for them, hoping that it'd make it less awkward. "Hi! What's up, Jack.. Mark...?"

"We were over at his house and noticed a woman with a large crate coming here. We figured it might not be anything, but we just wanted to check on things," Mark said pointing a thumb to Jack.

"Can never be too cautious, especially after the incident, sorry if we interrupted anything.", Jack added.

"Not at all. In fact, maybe it's better that you're here, Jack." Turning to face the elder Blake, Jay continued. "Miss Blake, this is Jack Pine, director of Section 6 and my immediate superior. Jack, this is Aster's mother Belinda."

Belinda looked over at the newcomers faces, noting that Jay was strategically avoiding answering the question. She offered the men a casual smile and offered her hand. "Nice to finally meet you gentlemen. My daughter has said so much about you. Thank you for encouraging her."

"The pleasure is ours miss Blake, Aster is a very bright young woman and a good friend to my son. We are fortunate to have her here." Jack replied accepting the hand.

"Her work has been excellent, and her ideas even more so.." Mark added in.

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Pine, there is something we need to discuss." Jay said, more clearly uncertain. "You see, Aster has... expressed interest in... ah... joining Saber. May I have your thoughts on this?"

Aster looked between her mother, Jay and Jack, uncertain.

Belinda firmly shook Jack's hand. The feel of her hand was rough and calloused, a soldier's hand. "I have no objections to her joining, it is her choice and I will support it."

"Hmm, well she's the age to allow joining."

"She passed physical training with flying colors."

"Her skills in the lab have not been in question for sure."

"She shown her marksmanship with a firearm."

"Trained already in use of the Revenant."

Both Jack and Mark passed back and forth looking at each other.

"I think she's ready, she's already passed every criteria, and it's her choice to join. Her proficiency piloting is a bonus.", Mark said.

"Agreed, and we'll need everyone we can get for the operation. ", Jack concurred before turning to Aster, "Aster Blake, you have proven your skills in every field a SABER trooper is tested in. Physical, Mental, weapon systems proficiency, and staying level headed in dangerous situations. If you so choose to join the USO's most advanced fighting unit, it will be gladly accepted. But as every trooper is instructed, this unit specializes in high risk operations, and in extreme conditions. The choice is yours, do accept?"

Aster smiled and nodded, "Yes, I accept." Her gaze shifted from Jack and Mark back to Jay, expectant and a little uncertain.
 
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