Smuggling truths [Day 0 - Night Saber]

[Fredtrey Belestor]

Fredtrey arrives before the door of Senator Adrianaa Morindel's private quarters on the Night Saber. At this time, he knows the Senator will not be disturbed by the intrusion. He straightens himself up and then knocks on the door.

Time has come for the truth to come out.

[Adrianaa Morindel]

"It's open!"

Adrianaa calls out from behind the door and the faint sound of music goes quiet.

[Fredtrey Belestor]

Fredtrey enters the Senator’s room, careful not to touch any personal belongings, he finds a spot near the center of the room and then turns to face the Senator. His stance is almost reminiscent of the attention position.
“Senator, I wish to speak to you in private, for what I have to say is not easy to say or to hear, but it needs to be said."
He pauses.
"Ma'am, permission to speak freely.”

[Adrianaa Morindel]

Adrianaa sits in front of a desk, wrapped up in a bath robe brushing her clearly wet hair.

"Of course you can. What's on your mind Fredtrey?"

She turns away from the mirror she was looking at to face the man

[Fredtrey Belestor]

Fredtrey slightly lowers his head and eyes, before staring back up at the senator.

“Life has not been easy for me, I've had my struggles, but never before have I felt so helpless. So confused. I’ve spent these last couple of days in mental torture trying to figure out what I am supposed to do with the situation I am in.

I know about black ops, but generally there is some unofficial backing and some accountability. What you described as your operations here seems, at first glance, to have neither and may be, in fact, illegal rogue actions. You are also aware that as a military officer, it is my right and my duty to refuse to follow illegal orders and to arrest any superior officers making these orders.

It seems I have the option of trusting you or arresting you.

I should have done the latter, yet some things stopped me.

Firstly, you where honest with me from the get go, you told me immediately that you were going to be involved in shady dealings. Had I found out on my own, I would have arrested you.

Secondly, I know and trust Commander Dumfries and I suspect he knew exactly what he was sending me to do. "Help the Republic in a different way" he said... And here I thought I was going to be a glorified chauffeur.

If you keep me in the loop, if I understand what we are doing and why we are doing it, I have taken the decision that I am willing to take a leap of faith and trust you."

He pauses briefly and seem to stiffen even more.

"My father always had a dream to make the lives of his children better than his. When my mother died, he decided to work insane overtime hours to afford sending us to higher education. He worked himself to exhaustion everyday. He could easily have worked for a local crime syndicate for more money and less effort. He is now retired. For medical reasons. His work almost killed him. He cannot even walk a couple of meters without considerable pain and needs to take medication constantly, yet he said to me the day he was forced to retire: "I've done nothing I regret and I've given you the life you wanted, I am the happiest man alive." From this man I've learned everything it takes to be a great man: honesty, hard work and self sacrifice.

In that spirit, I've always dedicated myself to my career, working dangerous shifts and risking my life. I may not have a family, but I've never done anything I regret and through my service to the Republic, I strive to give billions of individuals the life they want and dammit, I won't break that oath today!

If you send me extort some random merchant, if you want to smuggle slaves, if I find out I have been used like some idiot thug to promote the interests of some corrupt senator... I will make sure you never do so again!"

It has been gradual, but by the end his posture is now wide, hands balled up in fists, a scowl is on his face and a single tear is traveling down his right cheek. This is out of character for a man usually so stoic, clearly these are issues he cares deeply about.

He seems to realize his behavior, wipes the tear from his cheek and composes himself.

"I've said what I had to say, I am ready to help your cause and I will no further break professionalism."

He extends a hand to the senator.

[Adrianaa Morindel]

Adrianaa listens as the lieutenant delivers his speach. Somewhere in the middle of it, she ensures her robe is tied and stands up, offering full respect and attention to him

When he finishes, she takes his hand and nods.

"You have my promise, there will never be slaves. I will always operate in full disclosure to my crew, and while yes, we are indeed a rogue unit that has no backing, there are members of the Senate, Military, and Jedi who know of and even make requests of us."

"I promise you, should there ever come a day where your honor demands I be arrested, Ill already have put the shackles on myself. "

[Fredtrey Belestor]

Fredtrey nods respectfully.

"Thank you, Senator, your words offer me a great relief.
Now, since we won't be always acting in an official capacity, I guess I will need to do some shopping, for I do not think my uniform or my clearly marked 76th Republic Star Interceptor Wing armoured flight suit might be decorum for such endeavor."

[Adrianaa Morindel]

Adrianaa smiles and nods

"I think that would probably be a good idea. I am out of funds until we sell the Lesai ((a stimulant in SW that allows the taker to not need sleep for 24h)) but once we do, you should have more than enough from your share to find something."

"Also, I have an idea I wanted to run by you. Are you familiar with the fighter models the pirates in this area make use of?"