example of a bastard's thoughts and motivations

[swordandshield]

Felix looked across the war room table at the woman standing on the other side. She was in full armor but Felix knew her well enough by now to imagine the small furrow in her brows, slight frown angling her lips downward. She was staring at the holographic image of the soon-to-be-battlefield projected on the table with a look of concentration. Felix had just informed her of the new intel he'd received about the enemy formations and she was determined to figure out a new strategy for the battle tomorrow.

What Felix hadn't told her was how he got that intel. It had looked like he went out with a few of the New Republic's troops to spy on the enemy and cause a disruption to their movements if possible. And that was what he did. But he also was the one to personally put a knife in the backs of the two recruits he had taken with him once the opportunity had arisen. He blamed their deaths on the enemy, of course, saying that they had been discovered and that the two soldiers had played hero in order to allow Felix enough time to get out safely and get the updated information to their leader.

He had felt nothing but boredom as he told the leader of the New Republic of Chorus the tragic demise of his fellow scouts. Yet outwardly he spoke with respect and honored them for their heroic deeds, conveying his sorrow and gratefulness with just the right amount of emotion to garner the perfect response from his audience. It had worked beautifully, as always. Kimball, the resolute woman staring at the war table and leader of the New Republic, had listened to Felix with rapt attention and responded exactly as he expected: with a deep sated hatred of their enemy but a cool, mostly calm determination to avenge the fallen soldiers and not let their deaths be in vain. With the proper guidance, she had become a capable leader and a reliable source of entertainment. And by capable Felix meant "easily manipulated" and by source of entertainment, well, he meant that one literally. Her actions never ceased to amuse him. He knew how to pull her strings.

After more than two years on Chorus and the past odd amount of months with Kimball in charge of the rebel army, he ought to know how aptly. He knew how these people thought, how they fought, and he knew Kimball especially well having worked so closely with her as her assistant in this war. His mercenary skills were invaluable to Kimball and not only did he know that but she did, too, and gave her trust to Felix to see this war through. He had no qualms in letting her think that, and helped to facilitate such thoughts.

The truth was Felix would see this war to the end. And he would be the last one standing over all their corpses, New Republic and Federation alike. Because his goal was to see them all dead. Both sides of the civil war needed to be wiped out in total for him to get his final paycheck. A big, very fat paycheck that he couldn't resist. For a moment he was lost in consideration for what he might do with all that money and tech he would get for completing his covert mission.

Kimball's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "What about over here?" she said as she gestured with her hand at the projection of the battlefield map.

Felix looked at the area she indicated and reiterated the information he had "found and stolen" from the enemy. (Locus had actually given it to him freely. It always worked out that way, making it easy for him to "scout ahead" or "attack the enemy's base" by himself so that he could come back with useful information. Information that was mostly accurate but specifically designed to decimate both forces when the ensuing battle took place. He and Locus had it "easy" here, manipulating the two faction leaders and controlling the flow of battle.) She made an acknowledging sound and returned to scouring over the map as if she could wrestle out a new failsafe strategy from simply staring at it to death.

Fortunately for her, Felix had had enough standing around the war table. He was ready to get to the mess hall, grab a quick bite to eat, and then get enough sleep to see to the battle preparations for tomorrow. This may have been the easiest war Felix had to win, but it was still a war and he had a job to do. His professionalism won over Kimball as he gestured while speaking to her. A few troop placement suggestions was all it took for Kimball to fall in line and grasp the bait laid out in front of her. With Felix's opening recommendations, Kimball managed to figure out a further detailed plan of approach on how to attack the enemy base tomorrow. Felix nodded along, appeared to listen carefully, and offered small, useful tweaks to her ideas here and there. The rest fell into place without much effort on his part. She was getting better. The problem was Felix always had the upper hand and could easily sway her plans by knowing what she would chose before she ever got the information in front of her. After all, he had taught her most of what she knew about strategizing and working out a plan of attack. He had taught her only the things he wanted. That made it all the more easy to predict her strategies.

They determined a set of actions and reactions for the battle tomorrow, set it into the computer for one more review in the morning, and turned off the projection as a final resolution. They were as ready as they could be for the moment.

Felix leaned on the table for support as he let his exhaustion show. It wasn't feigned as after the long night he really was tired. Sometimes that sort of show of weakness was the best kind of manipulation he could use. The sincerity of it worked wonders. "Get some rest, Kimball. You did good. It's a solid plan for tomorrow. Trust me, I couldn't have come up with better on my own."

A huge compliment coming from him and he knew that Kimball knew it at this point. Comparisons to himself were the highest compliments he ever gave out and she had already figured that out ages ago. Sometimes he worried about how sharp she was, especially at understanding people and their motivations, but so far he hadn't had too much trouble manipulating her. She needed him too much to analyze him too far. When she pushed too hard, he put up a gruff front and she had to back down or lose her greatest confidant. She couldn't afford to lose him so it worked almost every time. For everything else, Felix came up with something that either distracted her or deterred her from further investigation. Sometimes he liked the challenge of it.

"I can't help but feeling like there's something more I could--"

"Vanessa. Stop it. Stop thinking about it." Felix made a vague gesture to catch her attention and bring it to his center. "You've done as much as you can with what you have. It's time to get some rest and prepare for tomorrow. It's not going to be an easy day. You know that."

She would lose troops. People she knew would die and not come back to base in the end. The soldiers under her command would follow her to their death, and she knew that. She knew that tomorrow there would be fewer of them left to worry about come the next battle. Felix knew that made her upset and sad, and he understood it on an intellectual level. His point was she needed the rest and a clear mind to operate tomorrow lest she lose even more and hate herself more than she already would. He knew that, she knew that.

Kimball took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "We'll go over it again one last time in the morning." She wasn't going to wait for him to say something in reply and he nodded in acknowledgement instead of speaking. "Some rest might help me figure out what I'm missing..."

"Exactly," he jumped on the opportunity. "Now, go relax. Get some rest. I'll see you in the morning, Vanessa. Remember, your men are counting on you."

It sounded great as a motivational speech. But Felix knew that last line would haunt her in her sleep, if she even got any. The words would get stuck in her head and she would worry about the next day's battle. But ultimately she would attempt to rest, fail, and in the morning she would probably still be no better off than she was now and the plan would go as currently set. Which was what Felix would prefer.

He wished her a good night and left her standing at the war table with a thoughtful tilt to her helmeted head. All in all, a good day's toil at the job. Felix checked it off as a win on his part, and headed for the mess hall with a satisfied smirk on his lips that no one could see. Tomorrow would be brutal but he wasn't worried. After all, he knew exactly what would happen. It was all part of his plan.