Grounded [2 BBY]

[Nelaa Kyris]

ISD Relentless
Lothal Sector
2 BBY

Operations were running along smoothly in the Lothal Sector and, aside from a few small snags, appeared to be almost at a close. Nelaa was finished on the ground and returned to the ISD Relentless to submit a giant stack of reports, and also meet with Vice Admiral Garrett to go over any last minute details. As it turns out, there were details. Commander Silus Xilarian, apparently overcome by an overwhelming need to take the fight to the rebellion, had inserted himself in a mission to bust up a rebel interdiction operation. As bad as that was, he also took the latest addition to his squadron, Lieutenant Junior Grade Bette Davis along with him. While Davis was proving herself to be an extremely gifted pilot ("Once in a lifetime talent" Nelaa had heard from more than one source) she had literally never even sat in a real TIE fighter before then. Silus' only saving grace, it seemed, was that she outperformed all expectations.

All this was background noise, however. What really mattered at this point is that Garrett didn't want to officially punish Silus. He'd reamed the man to one end of the office and back, but to put it on paper would bring a huge mess that wouldn't clean up to everyone's satisfaction. Damage control was the main concern now. Silus was in the dog house, and Nelaa was asked to help keep him there.

It really wasn't her normal thing, but she was going to be stuck on this ISD until HQ reassigned her, so it beat sitting around in the food court. Plus, Garrett would owe her a favor.

Nelaa had known Silus for a long time. Long enough to know that she could sit around and bullshit with him for only so long until he realized what the deal really was. If that happened, his urge to act up would be unmanageable. She knew she would have to play this just the right way. One thing he wouldn't do at this point, was go anywhere without his new protege and that's exactly where Nelaa intended to strike.

Nelaa was in one of the training rooms wearing tights and a tank top with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. A droid had been sent to retrieve Bette, who just had an advanced close quarters combat module added to her training requirements. As it turns out, this was something Silus had asked Nelaa to do at some point anyway, allowing her to knock more than a few birds out of the air with one stone.