December 27th. It's almost noon when Leah arrives at the Redrock offices.
#RedrockAgency – March 3, 2022
Leah's bloody encounter required a change of clothes, but she's still dressed similarly to how she was this morning. Her grey t-shirt- torn and bloodied- has been swapped out for a white one, and her black pants have been changed into... another pair of black pants! This pair, however, have a thin grey stripe that runs up the side and match the thick, grey, wool socks that are pulled up over them almost to her knees. She kicks
her thick winter boots against the outside of the doorframe to clean them off. The amount of snow caked to them gives away the fact that she chose to walk into town rather than call on Jasper today. Sometimes you just need that time to clear your head. Drawing in a deep breath, she steps into the comforting warmth of the building, shooting a glance to the invisible receptionist behind the front desk. "Chief in her office,
Fergus?" she asks. Her arrival was warned with a text message, but she'd still rather not just barge in.
Fergus materializes with a faint fizzle, bowing his head in greeting - and confirmation. "Indeed. She awaits your arrival."
Leah scrunches up her nose in an unintentional frown as a sigh slips out. "Thanks..." she offers the holographic assistant as she continues down the hall. As she comes face to face with her boss' office door she's reminded of just how little time has passed since her last 'meeting' with Vasquez, causing her frown to deepen. This isn't the sort of thing she expected to make a habit out of. Straightening her shoulders, she brings
Vasquez is seated behind her desk as the door opens, hands clasped in front of her, clearly waiting for Leah as Fergus said. She looks much the same as the last time she was called into the office, dressed in gray fatigues, Redrock logo emblazoned on her jacket, but she's not scowling this time - instead she wears a troubled frown. She gestures to the chair on the other side of the desk, a heavy sigh slipping out. "Take a seat."
Leah does her best to prop up a bright smile as the door opens, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. Held back by the fatigue of the day. "Hey, Chief." she manages before she's instructed to sit down. The tone causes her smile to slip a bit and she offers a small dip of her head as she steps further into the office. "Hopefully your days been better than mine..." she offers with a small lift of her brows as she settles into her
seat, making small talk to try and get a read on the woman opposite of her. A conversational gauge labeled: 'Just how much trouble am I in?'
Vasquez lets out a quiet grunt in response, looking off to the side for a moment before returning her attention to Leah. "How's... your family doing?"
Leah isn't particularly put at ease by the response she gets. Grunts. We're at grunts. Fair. She nods to herself, frown taking hold once more as her focus shifts to Vasquez' desk. The question that follows causes her to suck in her lips, considering it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and looking back to Vasquez. "Rattled." she admits. "But-..." she nods, expression softening, "...they'll be alright. They're
Vasquez nods faintly, chewing on the inside of her scarred cheek as her gaze falls to the desk. She's silent for a moment, seeming a little distracted, but soon her attention turs back onto Leah. "Good." she says, the word spoken like another sigh. She looks like she means it. She draws in a deep breath, straightening a little in her seat. "Let's just... go over everything. I need to understand what happened. Be sure Redrock isn't
Leah gives a few more nods of her own as Vasquez responds. But as she gets to business, Leah sits up a little straighter in her seat, offering another nod. This one more stern, causing her loose ponytail to bob behind her head. "Of course." she agrees. "Guess I should just-..." she offers a small lift of her shoulders, "...start at the beginning? Back on Omega?"
Leah nods again, drawing in a deep breath. "Okay~..." she hums, looking as though she still hasn't quite decided where she should begin. After a moment she sucks in her lips, nodding to herself a few times before she starts. "Okay, I-... umm-... I was coming out of a bar. Just a shitty little place on the outskirts of the station called-... umm-..." she pauses, furrowing her brow for a moment as she tries to recall the name.
"Popina?" she muses before realizing it's not particularly relevant one way or another and gives a shake of her head. "Anyway, I noticed I had picked up a tail on my way out. A couple of Talons. Once I was sure they were following me, I moved to engage but-..." she tilts her head with a roll of her eyes, frustrated by missteps made in hindsight, "...they managed to catch me off guard with a shock drone. Before I knew it
Leah draws in a breath and continues. "After escaping the room they were holding me in, I encountered a group that seemed to be in the middle of negotiations. Talons and-... uhh-... as it would turn out, I guess, House Bar'adon." Her gaze briefly slips to the table as she says the name. It's another dark spot on her Redrock record. And still far too fresh for her to not feel some amount of guilt over it. "I think the Talons were
planning on selling me to them. I-..." she falls quiet, giving a small shake of her head, "...I don't really know..." she admits. "But I managed to disrupt the deal and cause some infighting between the two groups. Amidst the confusion I was able to neutralize the remaining threats. That was when I encountered Tara..."
Leah remains quiet for a moment, even after she's encouraged to continue, her mind running through the events of that day that feels like it was years ago. Collectors. House Bar'adon. So much has happened since Omega. "Two of the Talons survived." she says as she meets Vasquez' gaze, her eyes giving away that she realizes that was a mistake before her lips do. "I should have killed them. But-..." she shrugs, "...the objective
changed. I wasn't sure if reinforcements would burst into the building at any given moment and now I had a young girl with me that was terrified. I wasn't about to make her watch me execute a bunch of thugs. So-..." she gives a tilt of her head, "...I got her out of there." She sucks in her lips, glancing off to the side for a moment, considering her own words. "I figured that would be the end of it. That they were just
some..." she shakes her head, "...bottom-feeding thugs. Never imagined that they would be able to track me down once I left the station." A deep sigh escapes her. "...They sure proved me wrong." she adds in a mutter.
Vasquez ' frown deepens. "It's surprising." she agrees. She doesn't sound like she blames Leah for her choice. She feels for Tara, that much is pretty obvious by now, and she understands prioritizing her safety in the moment. She draws in a long breath, gaze shifting to an inactive datapad on her desk briefly. "Any idea how they found you?"
Leah gives a couple of nods, frown manifesting. She leans to one side and begins to dig a hand into the pocket of her jacket. From it, she produces an omni-tool, and holds it up for Vasquez to see. "Information broker." she says plainly. Leaning forward, she sets the device down on the edge of Vasquez' desk and nudges it towards her. "I pulled that from one of the Talons. Uhh-... ex-Talons." she corrects. "Judging by some of
comments made by one of them and some messages on that-..." she nods to the device, "...it doesn't sound like they were on the best of terms with the Talons after I broke up their little deal. On top of settling a score with me, it seems like they were hoping to make things right by bringing me in. Information brokers don't come cheap. Guess I must've really left an impression." she says, her final words coming out in a
Vasquez grabs the omni-tool, pulling up the interface and reading through the messages as Leah talks. Her final comment garners a quiet snort and a short-lived, wry smile. "Surprised a disgraced Omega goon could scrounge up the credits for that..." she mutters, finishing her reading before putting the omni-tool down on the desk again. "So... they tracked you home?" she asks, one hand lifting to scratch her cheek. The thought seems
to bother her, frown lingering and the look in her brown eyes only half focused on the here and now.
Leah draws in a deep breath, offering a small nod of her head, looking no more at ease about that fact than Vasquez is. "You saw the message, right?" she asks, "Broker pointed them right to the Respite. After that, one of the techs they hired- just some kid from Omega-..." she explains, distaste entering her features over the Talons seemingly having no problem with pulling others into their disputes, "...slipped a tracking
device onto Tara's omni-tool. Actually-..." she gives a humorless snort, rolling her eyes at how it all lined up, "...I saw her at the Respite yesterday while she was doing it. A customer even gave me a heads up after she left. Said that she thought the kid was up to something. I filed a report but-..." she shrugs her shoulders, "...what else could I do? They had already left and they weren't exactly causing trouble during
Vasquez makes a noise somewhere halfway between a sigh and a grumble. "This the kid that Halisi is operating on?"
Leah shakes her head, a frown making its way into her features. "No, that's her friend. He was with her at the Respite, though. Seems like neither of them really knew what this was about. As soon as he figured out what was really going on he tried to help me but the Talons just-..." her gaze drops and she gives a small shake of her head, "...gunned him down before he got the chance." She sucks in her lips, biting back on
whatever frustration is gnawing at her. "They should both be at the hospital. I'm gonna-..." she nods in the direction of town, jutting a thumb back over her shoulder, "...swing by and check on them after I leave here..."
Vasquez ' skepticism over letting some of her attackers walk away - and even going out of her way to save them - quickly loses steam as Leah elaborates. She closes her eyes briefly and sighs. "Give me a rundown of this morning."
Leah offers a compliant nod, shifting in her seat, as if to get more comfortable before drawing in a deep breath. "It was probably around-..." her eyes flick upward briefly, "...Seven-ish? Quarter after maybe? Tara was already outside shoveling snow and I was getting dressed to join her when I heard a gunshot..."
Leah runs through the events of the morning much as one might expect from someone who has probably run through as many debriefings as she has. Hitting key points. Sticking to important facts. There's no grisly details. It's a sanitized retelling of what Vasquez surely knows is probably anything but. It's the version that can go into an Alliance report so that some higher up who has never been in the field can read it without losing sleep
Leah lets out a sigh as she comes to the tail-end of her report. "...so I spent the last couple of hours scrubbing through their omni-tools. I compared incoming and outgoing calls against one another. Read through their message histories. Extranet browsing history. As far as I can tell, there's no reason to believe that they weren't acting alone." she explains, the thoroughness a rather scary reminder of the sort of career she's
led. One that's so often obfuscated by her cheerful, upbeat demeanor. A reminder that beneath all of that is a very capable soldier. A scalpel that has been sharpened to a fine edge by the Alliance.
Vasquez has mostly listened in silence, guiding questions rarely needed thanks to Leah's experience. As her account comes to a close she offers an appreciative nod, a thoughtful look on her face. She considers briefly whether to voice the question on her mind, but then makes her choice with a faint sigh. "Are you confident that the two survivors are not a threat to you or Redrock?"
Leah holds Vasquez' gaze, offering a small, careful nod. "I am." she says simply. She lets a small breath out through her nose, eye contact briefly breaking as a semblance of a wry smile crosses her lips. "I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending that I know that with absolute certainty, Chief. We both know it doesn't work that way. The truth is: I barely know them." she shrugs matter-of-factly. "But-..." she
continues as she seeks out the eyes of the woman seated across from her once more, "...they're just kids. Kids that saw an opportunity to get off of that shithole of a station without knowing what they were jumping into. And, once they realized that they were on the wrong side of this conflict? They were willing to die for a complete stranger to make things right." She offers another non-chalant shrug. "I'd say that
Vasquez 's eyebrows furrow, teeth rolling scar tissue caught between them as she considers Leah's words carefully. There's not much ambiguity in her expression as to what the decision she's weighing is. Eventually she nods her assent, drawing in a deep breath. "Alright." She looks past Leah for a moment, a brief pause before her next words. "Halisi told me I'm gonna be footing the bill for this surgery, so I expect you to transfer
the recovered arms to Redrock's armory as compensation." she informs with a small smirk, seeming more amused than frustrated by the doctor's audacity, but the expression fades quickly into something more serious. "T'Iavay will have a look at Tara's omni-tool. Gonna have her look into providing better device security for all family of employees, try to minimize the risk of another incident like this."
Leah falls silence as she waits for Vasquez' response. When her boss finally speaks up, she draws in a breath. The comment regarding Halisi draws a smile back out of her and garners a snort, but she nods at the request without putting up a fight. She has little use for a grenade launcher outside of Redrock operations, after all. Back to the drawing board for Nathan's birthday gift, though. As Vasquez continues, her own
expression tempers back into something more serious and she offers another nod, already reaching into her pocket. "Was already planning on swinging by her office." she confirms, briefly lifting Tara's omni-tool from her jacket and giving it a little wiggle for Vasquez to see before stowing it away once more.
Vasquez nods after glancing at the omni-tool, and then she falls silent for a moment, looking off to the side. "I could have someone assigned to your house for a while." she offers, eyes back on Leah. "If it'd help with peace of mind." Not Leah's. Francois'. Tara's.
Leah sucks in her lips, gaze dropping for a moment. "I appreciate the offer-..." she begins, and her tone implies the 'but' before she can voice it. It's a nice gesture, but it's just as likely to have the opposite effect. No better way to make someone feel like they're in danger than to assign them a full time guard. "...really, but I don't think that will be necessary." She props up a warm smile as she looks to Vasquez,
letting it be known that it truly is appreciated. It's not just lip service. "Besides, I think~ I've caused just about enough problems for Redrock without you needing to invest even more resources into cleaning up my messes." she continues, brows pinching together as a weary snicker slips out. Moreso due to the exasperation of it all rather than finding any humor in it.
Vasquez looks like she understands, offering a small nod. Leah's final comment is met with a brief, small smirk and a quiet snort. "We've got more hands than contracts right now. Wouldn't hurt some of our people to get off their asses for a bit." she points out, but then her expression turns serious. "You fucked up earlier, yeah." The words are harsh, making it clear that even if she understands Leah's reasons for what she did it
was still the wrong call. "But this one isn't on you. And I take attacks on my people seriously." she adds firmly, holding Leah's gaze.
Leah's gaze slips once again as Vasquez lays it out plainly and she nods softly, knowing better than to try and defend her actions. Even if she may not entirely agree that it was the wrong call, that doesn't mean she doesn't feel guilty over making it. And she certainly understands why Vasquez could see it differently. But as Vasquez continues, Leah looks back to her, another nod following. "...Thank you, Chief." she offers,
her words quiet but sincere nonetheless. The fact that Vasquez still even considers her one of 'her people' after the mess she's made is a testament to the faith she seems to have in Leah, and that isn't something she takes for granted. "You won't get any more 'fuck-ups' out of me." she offers, a hint of her previous smile returning before she offers a non-chalant shrug, nose briefly scrunching up. "Not for at least
Vasquez looks unamused... at least at first glance, but there's a small tug at the corner of her mouth. "That's all for now. But I still expect a written report."
Leah allows a snicker to slip out, head dipping low. She's quick to wipe her bangs out of her face, sucking in her lips as she offers a few quiet nods. "You got it, Chief." she says, the tension of the meeting seeming to slip away as the words leave her mouth. Another firing avoided. A moment passes as she shifts to the edge of her seat, but she doesn't get up quite yet, forearms coming to rest on her thighs as she looks back to
Vasquez. "So-... umm-... how was your Christmas...?" she hazards to ask, a small wince making its way across her face as she finds herself still not exactly sure where that line in their relationship is drawn. Friends or just co-workers? "If you don't mind me asking!" she adds quickly.
Vasquez ' eyebrows furrow and she looks down at her desk, the briefest hint of a troubled look in her eyes as she considers the question, but then a small, surprisingly soft smile manifests and she meets Leah's gaze again. "It... it was good. Really good." she admits, the smile widening a little after she allows herself to say as much.