Bounty Investigation: Tak’s Cat (D6 MA)

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Her head cocks slightly to the side as she gives him a curious look.

"... It doesn't seem like the sort of thing you will be doing for long."

[Cole Ormont]

"Have you seen what passes for a clinic around these parts? If this damn moon didn't make me nauseous, I could set up shop right here."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Meant more that you'll be dead in a ditch somewhere, or taken captive by pirates or slavers." Shaisha shrugs, looking ahead of them again and away from Cole.

"You might be safer with a crew."

[Cole Ormont]

"You're probably right, deviless. At least until I throw in my lot with the least offensive," he chuckles darkly at that, "cartel I can find. I'm going to need supplies out there, I'll just have to shake my morals loose enough to get adopted as someone's pet medic."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

She looks back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Not all crews of smugglers and mercenaries are bad people, Cole. For some it's just another way of living, and some do it to help others."

[Cole Ormont]

Cole ran a hand through his hair, "it's not the smugglers and mercs I have an issue with, but crewing won't let me do what I need to. I need boots on the ground, where people can't afford to hire a medic."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"And here I thought the Republic had units who did that sort of thing? Boots on the ground, helping the locals for no pay?"

[Cole Ormont]

Cole narrowed his eyes, "you're being obtuse on purpose now, aren't you? If the Republic did anything for no pay, do you think there'd be so many refugees?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Perhaps I am," she said somewhat smugly.

"But enlighten me... what is it that the Republic truly do to support this image of yours that you are the 'good guys'?"

[Cole Ormont]

Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose, "about as much as the Empire does to live up to its reputation for killing kittens and eating babies."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Her lips pressed together in an amused snicker.

"Am I frustrating you, Cole?"

[Cole Ormont]

Huffing, "it would appear so."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Good." Her tone was annoyingly chipper.

Hard to tell if it was some Sith-thing, or if she was just enjoying poking fun at him.

She sighs slightly. "I guess it's not surprising that the Republic tries to demonize us as well... stars know we've done it for centuries in the Empire. For a long time, the rest of the galaxy was almost myth and legend, and stories of the Jedi were something used to frighten children. 'Obey your masters or the Jedi will obliterate you!'" Shaisha chuckled. "My father said that a few times."

[Cole Ormont]

"The more I look for differences, the more it seems people are fundamentally the same, wherever they're from."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"In a sense, yes, that is true. Mostly."

She brushed off some dust from her robes' sleeves. "I find that there are mostly two kinds of people in the galaxy: the ones who live in complacency with whatever their lot in life is - and the ones who dare to try and change things."

[Cole Ormont]

Cole runs a hand through his curls, "it's simpler than that." He feels uncomfortable, the grimy, dingy alleys of Shadow Town didn't seem like the setting to be discussing such things but, at the same time, he couldn't think of a more perfect place.

He indicated to a rough shack cobbled together from scrap plasteel and spitcrete and other various pieces, "pick up just about any family from the slums of Coruscant and drop them on an Imperial world. Would they even notice a regime change?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha considered his question carefully so that she could answer truthfully to it.

"Firstly, there are no slums like this on Dromund Kaas or Ziost. Most likely they would become slaves because they have no place in the order of society."

"As slaves at least they would serve a purpose."

[Cole Ormont]

"I would dispute that any man, woman, or child with the will to survive is without purpose. I don't agree with slavery, but I don't agree with places like this, either," he gestures vaguely towards their surrounds.

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Some would argue they are better off as slaves. But I'm guessing you're actually not familiar with it, apart from what you have been told."

Her nose wrinkled disapprovingly at the surroundings.

[Cole Ormont]

"Some would, but that depends more on the master than the slave, doesn't it? A slave that has it good," Cole's voice dripped with bilious sarcasm, "might as well be free. But slavery isn't about giving the slaves purpose, is it? It's about having control."

"If you demand that a slave master must be of a certain caliber: oh, he or she must not kill them, or starve them, or beat them too hard; they must be fed and sheltered and allowed to sleep and rest..." Cole runs a hand through his hair, "then why not take the final step and abolish slavery?"

"You can't throw off the yoke of slavery and call someone free, but the work of slaves will still need to be done after there are no slaves to do it."

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"Control, asserting dominance, or purpose," Shaisha slipped her hands into the pockets of her robe. "Is it not a purpose to enforce order of society, and find use for each warm body?"

"Avoid creating shitholes like this place where they still live at the mercy of those stronger, but without the protection they otherwise could have?"

As she shook her head, a few loose strands of her deep red hair came free of her braid. "It's probably no surprise to you that I grew up with slaves around me, and it seems to me... better, than what I see here."

[Cole Ormont]

"Don't let your experience blind you. Is prostituting twelve-year-old slave girls finding them a purpose? do you believe that any purpose will do?"

[Shaisha Vreysk]

Shaisha was silent for a moment as she found she had no good answer for Cole... or herself.

"... No, not any purpose will do." She eventually agreed.

[Cole Ormont]

Cole closed his eyes and nodded. It wasn't much, but it was start. If they could agree on that much, then they could build from there. He didn't believe in Galactic unification, exactly, but he believed in something, don't I?

[Shaisha Vreysk]

"... If you could change this place, what would you do?" she asks after letting the silence linger for a moment.