"Yes, the After-Action Report from the fight in the capital was an interesting read," the pretty young Twi'lek woman adds, her accent thick. "I'm Lieutenant Liaka Atala, the overly formal Ensign over there is Kixue Nomen, and this droid here that looks suspiciously like an oversize ration can is N97."

The Twi'lek brings two more shot-glasses and pours a clear liquid from a half-empty bottle into each. "Here, it is a custom among my people to give a gift to a stranger when you meet. You are strangers, and look like you could use a drink. And the Can over there," she says, indicating the droid, a sly grin on her face, "is not drinking his share so you are welcome to it. if you tell us about life on this unimportant ball of dirt we've just been assigned to."

As the two veteran rebels consider the drinks, and this strange but friendly (not to mention very pretty) Twi'lek, she raises her glass in a toast. "To the Alliance and the restoration of the Republic!"

When the group of rebels led by Dr. Cohlen arrive, you find among them a short squat archaic looking humanoid-shaped droid. His paint is a dark rust-brown, showing years of wear. His head is flat with green optics for eyes, and other than the riot shields attached to his frame he appears equiped more for labor than for combat. He is loaded down with gear, and promptly goes to arranging the meager supplies the group has brought. After unloading he does an odd pause, as if a stuttering in his programing, or as if listening to something. At the same time you see the Twi'lek commander speaking into her comlink. Then the droid turns and enters the building to her and the other team members.

His mannerisms are little different than typical worker droids. He has the straightforward approach to work, moving efficiently and systematically. But he doesn't interact with the organics as if a worker droid, and even though not having any rank, he is is shown regard by the rebels as if he was an officer, or at least well respected for his abilities.

Entering the hall he takes up a customary position at the end of the bar, standing quietly. When he is introduced he a section of high resolution screen, almost like a scrolling message board lights up across the upper part of his chest below his chin. "Statement: Greetings." Then you see a drinking glass icon show up, filled with a light brown liquid that slowly drains. Apparently this droid communicates by emoji as well.

(OOC: He will interact more as time goes on. Here is a picture, which may help)

Nodding his head, Geoff smile. "Commander Cohlen." Following the Commander and the new, Geoff quickly briefs her about the casualties, noting any supply issues.

With the newcomers finished introducing themselves, Geoff partakes in the toast. "To the Alliance." Swallowing the drink, Geoff lets the whiskey do job before speaking.

"Doctor Geoff Hanson, surgeon and former RRM. Hopefully your first day here wasn't as exciting as ours."

The pretty Twi'lek smiles wryly. "There was a little excitement, but no enemy was encountered."

She leans in closer and fills the glasses again. "So, I understand it got a little rough when the city was evacuated. I haven't read much about it, most of what happened has been classified for some reason. But I understand there were a lot of casualties. So, another toast then." She looks very serious. "To the ones who didn't make it back."

As the drink burns her throat she looks at the Zabrak. "Your'e a quiet one. What's your area of expertise? Other than playing the 'tall, dark and handsome' role in the corner?"

Kixue downed his drink and then took a moment to catch his breath as the whiskey burned down his throat. He inclined his head slightly to the Hanson. "Doctor. The RRM you say?" then after taking up his second glass he nodded in response to the doctors question "Not as much excitement as I hear you guys went through. I was busy with reports so this time out I didn't encounter much action." He taps his data pad as he mentions being busy with reports.

He then takes a sip of his fresh drink and listens to the others for a moment as he gets to know the veteran members of this base.

Every time a glass is raised in honor of the slain rebels, N97 slowly raises his hand, formed in a fist, straight up the air in a motion of solidarity. At the same time a message scrolls across his chest. "Statement: For the Fallen: Abbreviated list:" and then follows a scrolling list of names, moving too fast to even read that goes one for over 20 seconds. When it is complete the droid mechanically drops his hand down to his side again, as if nothing had taken place.

Oro quietly raises his glass to the toast, slams back the drink, and signals for another one. He looks over both his shoulders, as if looking around for someone. "Tall, dark, and handsome? Is there another Zabrak in here I didn't know about?" As the next drink arrives, he slams that one back to, and looks the Twi'lek in the eyes with a very serious look. "My job? I stab people. Or slit their throat. Hopefully before they have a chance to react." He holds the serious gaze for a long moment. Then he smiles. "But you're on our side, so you don't have to worry about that too much." He winks at her and orders another drink.

As he drinks the next drink at a slightly slower pace, he considers the droid. "I've seen a lot of droids, but never one that looked like this before. Where the hell did they did this thing up?"

Kixue looks at the droid and pats it on the back "I'm not 100% sure. Maybe that info is in it's file. Regardless that little display of his has personality. I like it." He nods to the Zabrak as the man mentions his specialties. Kixue then picks up his drink and takes a sip "I think we need some music" he says as he walks towards the piano.

He places his drink on top of it and seats himself as he runs his fingers lightly over the keys for a moment before he begins playing a tune. From the way the young man plays it is clear he's had some classical training over the years.

N97 turns his head to look at Oro. Across his chest the display panel displays additional text. "Light Conversation: 'Antiquated' is practically my middle name. That is, if droids had middle names. However I have learned a few useful skills over the years that have become valuable to my owers. And because my owners continue to join the cause of the underdog. The downtrodden. The victim. The sufferer. The rebel. The meek. The just. The disadvantaged. The . . . " here he pauses, realizing he has fallen into a conversational loop. After an odd moment he then continues, " . . well, I also have ingrained myself to this cause."

There is a small break in the text then it continues, "Designation: I am known as 'The Butler' to most, but my field name is 'The Can'. However when you are off duty you may call me what you wish. You will be given my comlink address." Everyone's comlink gives a short notification that they received N97's built in long-range comlink unique code address.

Then Oro's com-link lights up, receiving a message, heard only to him. On the other end is a voice; a metallic baritone voice filled with precise pronunciation and with a tone of respect such as a servant would give to a noble-man. "It is good to know you Solider Oro. Consider 'The Butler' at your service." Then N97's display blinks out and his head turns back to the others in the conversation.

Oro nods at Kixue and the droid. "Thanks for the history lesson, but I should warn you. The more I drink, the more... blurry.... your... conversation... becomes. There's something I never thought I'd say."

After introductions, a few drinks and a few tunes, the droid abruptly turns and starts to clean up the used drink containers, napkins and snack bowls. Using precise movements he cleans the bar area and moves to quickly wash and put away the glasses and items used by the team.

He then travels through the main part of the room before turning towards the entrance to find the Quartermaster. Along the way, almost as by habit, he straightens chairs, nabs some trash that fell to the floor and ends up steadying a tipsy local imbiber of too much strong drink. Before exiting he pauses for a few brief comlink messages and then exits.

Comlink to Ensign Nomen: "Statement: Ensign Nomen, your music had a highly refined level of imprecision that I am told makes the heart stir. Thank you. I am at your service."

Comlink to Doctor Geoff Hanson: "Statement: Dr. Hanson. Thank you for your welcome. I am at your service."

Comlink to Lieutenant Liaka: "Objective: Supply recon. Establish machine shop. Six hours"

(OOC: Added response to Dr. Hanson, whom I missed acknowledging)

N97 leaves the meeting hall in his stylized mechanical stride. Not adding damping to his step the blunt mechanical steps are noticed from a short distance. He leaves into the early night to find Quartermaster Luna Somali and finds her in an impromptu working group with the head of engineering Chief Vwikk.

The droid approaches then waits for recognition. After the customary credentials exchange N97 opens up both their com-links so that he can communicate directly. His voice continues to have a precision as when in conversation, however when addressing superiors he modifies his speech to a more clipped and abbreviated form of communication.

“Greetings: Quartermaster Somal, Ma’am, Chief Vwikk, Sir. Designation: Specialist Engineer N97 at your service. Primary Tasking: Field team support. Secondary Tasking: Engineering Specialist. Objective: Establish field engineering shop. Review supplies.” He then pauses, perhaps assuming they would know that he would need to review the supplies listing, or create it if it hasn’t been done, and then be shown where they prefer the shop to be established.

The appearance of the portly droid causes the Twi'lek to raise one eyebrow in a questioning manner; the Verpine in his own way darts towards N97, inspecting his chassis and modified parts fascinatedly. "Amazing. I never thought I'd find a form of droid I didn't recognise, but here I am. What make are you?" he catches himself. "No matter. A workshop. Yes, a good idea. Several outbuildings can be found down the hill, where we are less likely to disturb the locals. I shall find out from their owners whether they can cede them to us," he leaves quickly, bustling away to find out if they can make use of the facilities, directing his team along the way with barely an excess of effort.

"I'll look to get a manifest of usable supplies to you as soon as I can," says the quartermaster. "Though what we have is very limited."

In response to the Verpine, N97 appropriately allows him to inspect his ancient servos and mechanisms. "I believe 'antiquated' is the term often used. I am afraid that I have had too many memory wipes to have direct knowledge of my origins." He pauses again to signal a change in topic, mainly for the organics benefit. "Perhaps you could see if they need a engineering task completed in barter. I will be glad to oversee such a project."

He then turns and starts organizing the items designated for engineering.

As the droid heads off and the conversation ends, Geoff turns to Doctor Cohlen. "Good to see new recruits. Issan and CT went with a different part of the unit, which is a bit unfortunate."

Looking around, Geoff asks for a lomin ale from the bar tender. "Also, I would like to get your approval to open up a small aide station here in the village. That way we can help the locals while also improving our situation. What do you think?"

"That's a solid plan surgeon, if you tell me what you need I'll give you the resources to set to it right away. I've heard that there's a healer in the village, not a trained one as far as I can tell, but you might want to work with her," Cohlen seems upbeat as she addresses Geoff, but he can tell that she's getting increasingly worn down by all the travel, indeed by the war as a whole. She looks like she needs a break, more than anything.

Liaka wakes up later than usual the following morning, cursing her hangover. After a quick meal she starts wandering about the village, taking in the sights, before taking a leisurely stroll around the surrounding area. She tries hard to enjoy the beauty of the landscape, but at every turn she finds herself thinking how the terrain could be used to defend the village or hold off attackers.

After trying to focus on other things she finally gives in and starts seriously wondering how she would use the rocky landscape and the open fields in an open battle. She asks locals about paths leading to and from the village, and where they go, even taking the time in the nice weather to go down most of them for a few hundred meters at least. She feels good about this, getting it into her head that she'll need to be able to plan and function on the ground again after several months in space.

After her initial reservations about the planet she decides she likes the place. It's very different from Ryloth, and rather chilly compared to her homeworld. Different, but good, she decides as she hikes back to the village, her hangover cured by the strenuous activity and fresh, unpolluted mountain air.

N97 spent the night re-organizing and categorizing the meager supplies the embattled rebellion troopers were able to cobble together. When completed, after about 4 hours, he walks the village using his data scanner to create a detailed 3-D map. Finally he reviews the buildings just out of town proposed to be used for a temporary machine shop. When complete he sends this data to Quartermaster Somal, Chief Vwikk and to Lt. Atala.

When the sun rises he spends a moment with his sensors trained on the various colors and light intensities that display across the valley, lighting the mountain, then down to the village. Still not certain why he keeps this ritual, but it has been part of him for so long now he doesn't even know why. He is suspicious that this is remnants of the personality of his original creator.

When the notification comes in that Lt. Atala has seen the data he presumes she is awake and sends a morning status update. In a typical fashion he sends this routine information in a non-intrusive notification.

"Greeting: Good morning. Beautiful sunrise." By now she is used his perfunctory greetings, as well has he attempts as trying to come off as 'less mechanical'.

"Status: We are resource poor. Statement: Village not ideal for short-term or long term base." This is followed by about a dozen tactical reasons to support his statement, all of them reasons she had already realized after her early morning explorations.

Kixue is up at dawn. Before the village comes to life he starts to explore the surrounding area to get a general idea of the lay of the land. After his brief exploration of the village he goes to find breakfast. Finding a nice restaurant to have breakfast at he gives a polite nod to anyone dinning before taking a table for himself and ordering something to eat. While he enjoys his first meal of the day, capped off with a fresh glass of whatever constitutes orange juice on this world, he goes over morning reports and files on his data pad.

Liaka looks refreshed from the walk and approaches N97. "I like how you described the sunrise. Too bad I was still asleep when it happened. Next time, take a picture, will you," she jests.

"I have to say, I agree with you about the village," she says, turning serious for a moment. It's a nice place, and pretty easy to defend, but it's also a deathtrap unless troops here have airborne evacuation vehicles standing be. There simply isn't any feasible way to fall back if facing an overwhelming number of attackers. And we know the Empire, they specialize in that."

She looks around, trying to see if any other members of the small rebel cell were out and about. "Somehow I don't think we'll be staying here for long. It would almost feel like a vacation, and a vacation seems like a waste for people like us," she says, winking at the droid.

N97, as typical with most droids, has no easy facial features to give quick and easy feedback in a normal conversation. Even the protocol droids, who have been designed for this purpose, will often struggle with what N97 would call 'low substance casual conversation'. Not to say that he finds that conversation to have no value, in fact he has noticed that it is those type of interactions that allow the organics to thrive, to connect and to establish trust with each other.

It takes time, but most will get used to interacting with him. Lt. Atala has over the last months become very comfortable with his style. But even with this familiarity N97 usually will put up short social responses on his display to confirm that he is listening and to give that social feedback organics require.

So during his conversation with Lt. Atala he displays various words and phrases as are appropriate. After the remark about vacation he states: "Observation: After their betrayal by one of our own, a short vacation may be what these troops need." Again he does a pause, which signifies his wish to add another comment, but never seems to be timed exactly right.

"Objective: New team assignments. Assess hardware needs."

The teal-skinned Twi'lek somehow feels relaxed around N97. There was just something about the droid that felt comfortable. Almost like spending time with the family. She had never felt like he judged her like the others. "You might be on to something about the troops stationed here. I was more referring to our new arrivals. Sorry, should have been a bit more clear about that. But yeah, it will be interesting to see what they do with the traitor. It's not like we have the means to transport him off-world for some sort of a military tribunal. It's hard enough to smuggle fighters like us onto this dirtball."

When the droid mentions his new orders Liaka yawns. "Sorry again. It's not that I'm not interested. More that I didn't get enough sleep last night. What sort of hardware can you get in a small mountain village like this?" She looks around. "Well, until orders come in I haven't really got much to do. Do you need some help? You know how it is. It's like you said the other day. Or, well, the other week. People tend to disregard requests made by droids. They might not mean to, but it's what happens. So if I can help with your thing I'd be happy to. Just don't get any grease on this jacket. I really like it."

Kixue takes a sip of his oj as he pulls up a series of files, first looking for any after action reports that may have been filed before focusing on searching for the file of the traitor and information on where he might be held.

The aftermath of the party can be seen across the village. Rebel soldiers, used to months on the very edge of their nervous tension, have finally been given an emotional release - and they took it to full effect. The evening's casualties are sprawled out in the early morning sunlight, in billets or not even that far, in gutters and olive groves. The villagers seem well enough - used as they are to the powerful local liquor - and have already begun going about their daily tasks in quiet acceptance of the detritus of the evening.

Yet even among these scenes of 'devastation', there are still duties to be completed and tasks to be assigned - and so it is that a large group of Rebels find themselves gathered in the village's great hall. The Rebel soldiers who are still passed out have been shifted into the back rooms by long-suffering medical staff, and a row of benches assembled around a single table. Lieutenant Braxus looks as if he has slept for sixteen hours in a feather bed - and you can clearly remember him downing beers with the best of them - as he issues assignments. For the most part they are patrol routes or foraging tasks, but his last assignment is a unique one.

"Lieutenant Atala, Ensign Noman, I want you to head downstairs to the store rooms below the hall. By now no doubt you've heard about Captain Zavvel's actions at our prior base. Take Surgeon Hanson and Trooper Logray, along with your droid, and see what you can find out from him - he might respond to them, we know he's dealt with them before. I want to know why he did it, who else knew about it, and what his long-term plan was. Any further insights you can glean, I want to know. Take this," he hands a device to N97. "Record everything that happens, and download it to your long-term data storage. I want to see everything when you get back. Any questions?"

"Yes, one," Liaka responds quickly. "Has he said anything about his motives so far, either during the fight or after being captured? Anything that could shed some light? It might influence how we question him." She looks at Braxus and the two rebels present who were there in the battle where Zavvel was captured.