Building the Future

[Aithne Charr]

​

Solan leaned back in the chair as he waited for the next meeting he had set up. It had been two weeks after the creation of the Capital Compound, the main governmental building on Hoth in which the Confederacy would operate out of for now due to its being put in the situation of a small base of leadership for now. Solan had in that time been seeing contractors, business men, prospective government members, and so on as the list grew. He truly enjoyed the intereaction with each of these people as it allowed him to both find those whom agreed and benefited the Confederacy but also those whom Solan was previously not wary of.​

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None the less the man with whom his next meeting was with would be that of [member="James Justice"]. An independent owner of a shipping corporation that the confederacy sorely needed as his own ships could only go so far and carry so much. With a company handling shipping for now, it would provide Solan with the freedom to more easily transport goods and people out through the galaxy for trade and recruiting reasons. So with that he looked at the screen to his right and smiled. "Send in Mister Justice."​

 

[James Justice]

James wasn't too sure on the protocols with this sort of business, but he certainly wasn't about to wear a uniform. No, never. Mustafar would freeze over before that happened. Still, he felt slightly out of place wearing his normal garb of the wide-brimmed hat, trench coat, worn tan pants, and his boots. He resisted the urge to light up another cigarette, the fact that he hadn't smoked in ten minutes was really beginning to make him gittery. Calm. Calm. Ye can do this. Ye dad would want ye to.

"Mr. Justice? He will see you now," said the lovely secretary.

James gave her a wink as he stood up, "I am sure I will be seeing ye soon, miss."

She giggled. He had flirt with her when he came in, as usual. The moment James stepped through the door a rush of normal confidence and charisma overcame him. It spilled out into his aura in the Force in an almost tangible feeling. His charismatic, indomitable personality filled the room as he smiled broadly and boldly offered his hand, "Oi, its an honor to meet ye, sir, a real honor. Please call me Captain." He took a seat and crossed his legs, feeling quite at home, "Love what ye have done with the place, ye decorator is second to none." Resisting the urge to light a smoke, he drew his datapad and retrieved his notes, "Now ye tell me, what can I do for ye?"
[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

The moment the man had stepped through the door, solan was almost brought to a feeling of nostalgia at what he was seeing. It had been a long time since he ran with mercenaries and smugglers and now looking at the dress of this man made him smile as he had not gotten dressed up for the meeting. Inside that actually impressed solan where others might feel insulted for the sheer fact that this man did not try to hide who he was. The words though that came less than impressed him. Flattery was good but he really did not need to give generic points Solan had heard a million times over. None the less though Solan was still smiling as this man as already proving to be an interesting individual.

"Hmm, very well captain. I believe its quite simple why ive called you here today as i was informed of your ability to ably move shipments and people around due to the company you run. Am i wrong in to assume such a thing?" Solan's hands crossed and his fingers laced together on the table infront of him. He had a military look to him, his own clothing matching such a sight as it had a officer's like appearance to the clothing itself.

 

[James Justice]

James gave a curt nod.

"Aye, that we can, sir," James said with no small measure of pride, "we can haul anything anywhere." He gave his had one sweep to the edge of the room, "Been from one corner of this galaxy to the other, ye understands me, as a young lad. Father raised me on a tramp freighter," he winked, "Third generation. Hyperspace flows in our blood if ye follows me. I has a connection on most every system and if I dun't I can get one I promise ye that." He paused for a moment, realizing he ha subconsciously pulled a cigarette from his pocket. Instead of stowing it back, he twirled it between his fingers.

"We has many contacts in the security department," he continued."Truth be told I just signed off on a deal that gives pretty much unlimited arms and mercs that we could ever need. I am sure we can call up a sizable enough army to protect most anything ye could wanna haul," he chuckled, "within reason of course. I'll tell ye up front there are some things we dun't haul, ever. Mainly that thar being spice and slaves." the freighter sucked his teeth for a moment, making sure he had covered everything, "Does that answer ye question, sir?"

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

Solan watched the man look around, pull out the cigarette and smiled when he continued to talk and suck on his teeth after speaking on every point. This man was a rather curious one and Solan's form rose from the chair he sat in to walk past James with a quick wave of his hand. "Do walk with me Mister Justice, im tired of that chair and desk for right now and id like to know more about you." Solan just smiled as he spoke as he seemed to forget about the fact they were talking about business. But to solan he wanted to know more about the person he did business with than the benefits that person gave. Companies could grow with careful tending like any garden, it was the origin of that garden though that mattered.

Once James joined him, Solan would begin walking out of the office with the man and down the corridors, waiting for a few moments before speaking. "So, tell me then captain, do you have a son yourself yet?" Solan's eyes turned to look on the man with another wide smile, curious about what the man would say and how he reacted to the question.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Solan Charr"]

James rose, to follow Solan. He was glad, having a strait talk about who they were would make it so much easier than him trying to piece it together slowly, from bits and pieces with the aid of his empathy--which rarely was a solid ally anyway.

When asked if he had any children, James felt a wave of sadness. Memories he had long tried to forget threatened to surface. His smile was replaced by a growing expression of morose. James shook his head, eyes on the floor.

"No, mate, that didn't work out," his voice low and husky with emotion. "The children dun't--dun't happen. No family except those I see as family," He shoved his free hand in his pocket and began fiddling with his pack of cigarettes to get his mind off that. The question made him want to drown himself in alcohol again, grab a twe'lik, light up a cigarette, and forget again. He had a feeling he would later. He couldn't let that get him down and for now it was time to be in the present. It was time to look up, be mindful of the world around him, the fact that he was being interviewed for work, not the fact that he had lost everything that was important to him. He cleared his throat and looked back at Solan as they walked, "What about ye, any children or family?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

"My daughter was tortured by a hutt and now is scared of her own shadow, inflicted with the same disease that took her mother from her when she was but five... Do you understand why i tell your this James and why you are here? Also, feel free to smoke if you need one, ill even provide you a light if you need it... Your anxiety and sorrow is more than enough to tell me that you are more than familiar with pain and loss..." Solan's eyes turned onto James once more with the flickering of his illusion. The Sapphire eyes failed to show his true golden corrupted iris' that only shown for a half second before the illusion that colored his eyes sapphire returned to them.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Solan Charr"]

James listened and watch the eyes flash. He didn't say anything for a few moments, instead he took his time fishing his lighter out of his pocket and beginning his cigarette to mull the words over. He began breathing out a steady stream of smoke, it relaxed him, helping him to put some of the memories away and helped him to also think slightly clearer.

"Thank ye, but I have my own light. I think ye have a few reasons for telling me," the near-human said searching Solan's face, "First ye are reaching out. Ye want me to understand that ye understand. Building a bridge, as some say." He flicked a few ashes off the end of his cig before continuing, "Second reason being," James tried to find a way to synthesize the words he was looking for in Galactic Basic. Being a polygot protegee had a few perks, but in this moment it was a nuance. "Understanding." He nodded and repeated it, "understanding for why ye are the way ye are. Why ye aren't like ye once was. Why things are different. Aye?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

Solan's smile grew as he looked out the window to the snow covered plains of Hoth. He stared for a few long seconds before nodding to her. "In a way, you are correct. I want you to understand why i am in need of your help. I almost lost my daughter like i lost my love because of my weakness in knowing when i needed help. And now i plan to never make that mistake again." His hands came up to rub the bridge of his nose. "I also do want you to understand why i am what i am. But that alone is not why i am what i am. No there remains many other things that have happened to me to turn me into this thing that i am. I am after all in the end the same monster that i am looking to protect the people from. And in the future i will suffer the same fate. But until then i plan to give what ever remains of my time to save and protect those around me so that their lives remain better in my death... That is why i need you and others."

 

[James Justice]

[member="Solan Charr"]

James nodded in thought. He had worked for many bad people before. Many of them. He had run guns for the Hutts more than once because it armed good people who were suffering. He had more than once fought the wrong cause for the right reason. He rolled the cigarette across his lips in thought. Where James had been a good man who fought the wrong causes for the right reasons and used the wrong actions to do the right thing, this man almost the opposite. The wrong man fighting the right cause for the right reasons. He held no personal allegiances to any government as a rule. And he himself would gladly be snuffed out to save the right people. Still, here was an opportunity to do more good for common people than he had ever been offered before in his life. If nothing else the funds he raised could help a lot of people. Good people. The spacer cleared his throat.

"We all have our demons, mate," he said in a low voice, "we all carry the darkness with us or around us. Some in us. That dun't mean we can't help the hurting. As long as ye stay with helping the common people, I'll do whatever I can to assist ye. That's a promise. But ye crosses that line, ye start oppressing them," he sucked in a large draft of smoke and let it billow out as an accent to every word, "And I will lead the charge against ye. That is the rule I have, against all dictators." James flicked the ashes off the end of his light onto the floor. "Ye understands what I am telling ye?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

Solan's smile grew as the last set of words came out and with a simple turn of his body he looked right at James with his illusion dropping. His skin paled, his veins turned ebony black and his eyes a golden color that he smiled against. "I let this happen to me in that bid to help people, this and so much more up here..." His hand raised to tap his head before continuing. "Ill be dead in a grave before i do anything more than help others and if i do ever change that... you can place the bullet in my head that stops me. Agreed?" Solan's hand reached out and he smiled none the less, waiting for the man to speak or act.

 

[James Justice]

James watched the transformation with a grim look on his face. He had seen some pretty disturbing things in his life but this was certainly vying for one of the top spots, under the time he accidentally walked in on a pair of senior citizens making out.

The spacer just nodded and let a puff of smoke out of his firmly pressed lips. "I suppose we all make sacfifices. And I don't blame ye. Sometimes a dark deed needs to be done to protect," his mind wander to the time he had killed Dak in cold blood. He had pummeled the half Zabarak to death. But it had protected --the spacer couldn't bring himself to think of the name even. "I dun't blame ye. We both want to do the right thing. Sometimes--a lot of times ye got to break the rules to do that."

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="James Justice"]

Solan's eyes ran over towards the man's eyes for a few moments before the illusion returned to his face. Like a mask his appearance returned to normal where he would be a bit occupied with straightening himself up and smoothing out clothing. "I think you have satisfied my curiosity James, to the point where i can easily offer you the deal you came here to go over so it is no problem for me now." His body turned slowly to look out a nearby view port window that stretched the length of a human body height wise. Outside the wind whipped and snow was blown against the transparisteel that separated Solan from the outside.

 

[James Justice]

[member="Solan Charr"]

James nodded. His mind ran over the needs he would soon have; he needed to get the ships they would need. Heavy freighters. Bulk freighters. Mass freighters. He would need to get the network up and running an vamped up with several pilots and almost ever hand he knew to work them. He would have to get with his head of security and staff their team with more full-timers. He was about to become a very busy man. The change went back, as the illusion returned.

"Thank ye, Mr Charr," he said with a slightly cheerful pep, "I am sure we will be in touch. And I must say, it took a lot of guts to do that, I do respect that. I look forward to working with ye."

He smiled and made his way to the door. Tonight he would celebrate, not just forget.