Sense and Sensibility and Stormtroopers (PvP)

[Android 17]

The fifteen-minute presentation had been surprisingly quick. By the time Trixie had finished disseminating the intelligence on the potentially nefarious business owners, Seventeen had a filled a handful of pages in his notebook.

As he finished a final sentence, he glanced up to see that his First Sergeant had killed one of the live feeds and switched to one of the maps she had shown earlier in the debriefing. “That’s every piece of intel that central has passed on down to us.”

“What’s the call, First Sergeant Zulenka?”

Seventeen glanced over to the speaker. It was one of the new soldiers issued to their unit—a corporal by the name of… Harbaugh?

Trixie turned to address the young woman, who was looking exceptionally fresh in what had to be a new set of formal attire. “Obviously, we won’t have everyone out on this mission, Corporal Harbaugh,” the woman paused for a moment when she saw Seventeen pump his fist at seemingly nothing. He didn’t make eye contact with her, but she saw him mumble something under his breath. Yes? Shaking her head at the man’s continued goofiness, Trixie turned and pointed to one of their destinations. “Select groups of three or four will be dispatched to assess each situation and act accordingly.”

“What’s to assess?” Another soldier asked.

The First Sergeant stared at the man for a few minutes before scowling and gesturing to something on the screen. Seventeen noted it was just a bunch of number that probably had a deeper meaning that he hadn’t parsed together quite yet. “All we have is revenue figures and some news feeds that show a few of these individuals engaged in possibly illegal activities. We’re not going to go in gun’s blazing, even if this is Tier 1. I want this to be as by the books as possible, am I understood? Reconnaissance first. Then I want field reports. Then I will decide on a course of action, understood?”

A chorus of ‘Sir, Yes, Sirs!’ filled the bridge of the permanently drydocked spaceship before the collected soldiers fell silent to await further instructions. After allowing them to stew in silence for a little bit, the First Sergeant cleared her throat and addressed them.

“Return to your quarters and change. This is a recon mission, so any armor you decide to wear needs to be able to fit underneath a civilian outfit. Conceal and carry at all times. Blaster pistols and nothing more. If this becomes a hot mission, they don’t want any shell casings left behind.”

A private took that moment to interject. “Then they can spin it as some kind of grudge hit?”

“Or perhaps they tried to stiff their black-market supplier and got taken out,” Seventeen added before a look from Trixie killed the chatter.

“Get changed.” She instructed. “You’ll be receiving your team placements by the digital, so keep an eye on your tablet or your handheld. Lieutenant wants me back here,” the woman’s facial features made it clear how enthused she would be leading a mission from their base of operations. “I need to ‘acquire experience leading from behind the front’.”

If this was a situation with just Trixie and him, Seventeen would have taken this moment to throw his head back and laugh. Instead, he swallowed a grin, gave a quick salute, and slipped out from the bridge.