Private Old Friends, New Prospects

[Noah Corek]

Aldeeran
Feanor-Corek Estate
Armory

Noah hummed quietly to himself as he sat at the workbench in the corner of the armory. The armory was the pride and joy of the estate in Noah's opinion, though his wives would insist it was the estate's garden. The armory was more his style though, its wall lined with racks filled with almost any weapon that one could think of. Blasters to slugthrowers to even handheld railguns were on full display. In a smaller corner however was a section of unique looking weapons that had various amounts of wear and tear to them. These were Noah's own custom creations that he had used throughout the years ranging back to his time in the Republic Army Commandos. Being a sentimental man he never had the heart to scrap these and saw each as a stepping stone to furthering his education in weaponry.

He was currently hunched over the aforementioned workbench tinkering away at a new creation. A few days ago he had contacted Delila Castillon about a possible prospect for her and now he sat here waiting for her. Once she'd arrive she would be directed to the armory by a servant droid or perhaps one of the kids...

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila had visited the Corek Estate before,greeted by wandering children demanding payment. She hadn't been so easily swayed and had found Corek had settled down,had some youngins and lived on some fancy estate.

She was wiser this time, seeking out a servant droid to escort her though the landscaped grounds. Less talkative,didn't demand much in the way of attention or payment.

Being led to a workshop the servant droid announced her presence before turning to leave once again. Her eyes took in the weapons on the walls,she was assuming his company creations.

"How's the lap of luxury treating you. Haven't gone soft on me?"

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah had know Dells had arrived long before she actually walked into his workshop, the security system in his home being top notch after all. "Sir! Mistress Castillon is here." Noah nodded and waved the droid away, snorting when he heard Dells words. Finish his work he laid the weapon he was working on down before swiveling in the stool to smile at Delilia.

"Sorry that I made wise choices with my money and was able to semi-retire pretty well...well that and my wives have a feth-ton more wealth than me." Standing he walked over and gave Dells a simple hug before smiling at her again and letting go. "Good to see you again Dells, glad that you weren't waylaid by my little gremlins again...they've grown up though so hopefully that won't happen again."

He motioned her over to a small folding table with two chairs he had set up, taking a seat, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and pour two glasses for the two of them. "Speaking of business, how goes yours?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Gremlins is a complete understatement." Hug was unexpected but Delila did return the gesture. Grin emerged on her face, trying not to laugh. "I suppose they take after their father in the gremlin regard."

Chuckling a little, Delila moved closer to Noah, heading towards the table he had set up. It seemed to her a bit like a workshop fused with a type of mancave he escaped to. Having a wife and children could do that to someone she supposed, needing to escape to find a bit of sanity. Settling down on the chair she looked at the whisky in front of her, twirling the glass.

"Nice to see the business is booming, people are always looking for new and exciting ways to kill one another." A pause, a sip of whiskey. "I wouldn't call it business. We have a new ship now...Xin and I had some,uh,trouble but hey more room for cargo. Its been nice seeing parts of the galaxy, seeing places together. I wouldn't trade it."

 

[Noah Corek]

He snorted at Dells words as he sipped from his whiskey and raised an eyebrow at her. "If you think they're bad then you should see them now...their almost eleven now...a couple more years and they'll be ready for their verd'goten and be adults. How time flies...hopefully the next set of twins won't grow up so quickly. Also: please, they get the gremlin from their mothers...so times I wonder why I decided to marry to women at the same time..."

Noah's workshop was indeed a sort of mancave for him, it was one of the few places that his family knew not to bother him in as he often got very engrossed in his work, that and sometimes it was the only place that he could go sometimes where he had peace and quiet.

He snorted once again, this time after Dells summary of his business. "The one constant in the galaxy is unfortunately war...and yes I do profit from it and I also donate a lot of my profits to worthwhile causes...but enough about my personal guilt." Another sip of whiskey. "Well good to see that you trouble didn't leave you too banged up and I'm sure that you are making some good credits...but how would you like to make even more?"

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila sat back in the chair, swirling her whisky after having a few sips during Corek's tales. She wasn't picking on Corek's business choice, it was just an observation at the state of the galaxy as a whole. Perhaps it was an observation on humanity and morals itself. These were questions weighing as she got older, no longer was running and gunning.

"It depends on what it is. I do have morals Corek."

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah knew that Dells wasn't picking on his business choices as they had known each other long enough, almost two decades if his memory served him right, that he knew she didn't care. He finished off his whiskey and set the glass down on the workbench as he prepared to deliver his sales pitch to her.

"Ah, to be back in the days of the Pyre where we had no morals and killed people for a paycheck..." That was of a massive oversimplification of what they had done in the Pyre but that was more or less the point, it was a joke. "I have kids Dells, I know what its like to reevaluate. Anyway. I've started up a PMC and while I've attracted a good amount of experienced fighters who don't need any instruction but they're the minority. A lot of them recruits are inexperienced and I need someone who I know and trust to help shape 'em up. That someone being you of course."

 

[Delila Castillon]

Delila remained quiet for a long moment. Honestly she didn't know how to feel but the idea of an extra credit stream at the moment seemed like an excellent idea. The new vessel needed a various host of retrofitting and repairs to make it to her liking. While she didn't mind the current slow piecemeal process having the extra credits to perform the work in their free time.

"So basically you need someone to yell at people."

 

[Noah Corek]

Noah himself was no stranger to scrounging for credits to use for personal projects, the dozens of half finished and partially finished projects littered around the workshop they were currently in. He shrugged nonchalantly at her words as he reached for the whiskey bottle and filled his own glass up before offering the bottle to Dells.

"Yell at them, don't yell, be a hard ass drill sergeant or a soft mother figure to them. I don't really care how you do it Dells, just train them as best you can. Your one of the few people I know who can actually inspire and train people to a standard that I need."

 

[Delila Castillon]

"I appreciate the compliment. However, do I really look like a mother figure? If so I might need to put my work in, getting soft in my old age. Can't have my reputation ruined at this point."

She waved the bottle of whisky away. Lately she had acquired a taste for Alderaanian wine, typically having a glass in the evening while on long haul trips. Herself and Xin Boa seemed to do many stretches of time in the inky black and it certainly wasn't something for everyone. Between her military trained discipline and Xin's time in prison, they both were a perfect mix for having the patience of being stuck on a ship. Accepting Corek's offer meant she would have to get used to spending stretches of time on land again. It was certainly going to be odd.

"I'll do my best. No promises they'll turn out fine though."

 

[Noah Corek]

Delila Castillon
He chuckled at her words and refilled his own glass, again. "And do I look like a father figure? No, but my kids love the hell outta me. Like you said Dells it was a compliment. Every think about trying it? The whole parent thing?"

He shrugged when she waved off his offer of refilling, whiskey wasn't everyone's drink of choice, hell it wasn't even his own it was just the best of what he had around. Noah's own days were mostly spent in holo-call board meetings with the board of trustees, a group of people he'd rather fire but Noah would admit they had reinvigorated the company and business was one of the few things he didn't understand.

He reached down to a small box at his feet and pulled out a datapad, pressed a few buttons and slide it over the table to Dells. "I've got a list of a hundred well qualified candidates here. I want you to whittle it down to twenty, then train them up and we'll use those twenty as a basis for training the rest."

 

[Delila Castillon]

"Lifestyle is a bit rough and tumble for a youngster. What am I supposed to do, tell someone to stop shooting at me so I can breastfeed? You wouldn't have me being able to do this with a little rugrat clinging to my leg."

In her youth with her first husband a nomadic military lifestyle and a lack of maternal instincts kept her from exploring the option of offspring. Even now with Xin their lives often ran into trouble - not that Nautolans and humans could produce children. Not that she had some burning desire to have any, again the maternal instinct issue. The galaxy was quite populated without more of her DNA running around to join it.

"Got it, twenty cadets. I'll get back to you in a few days with my choices."


Noah Corek