Thu Jan 06, 2011 8:56 pm by Ander Tagira
Ander walked with Trask into the bar they were planning on making their rendezvous at, their contact was to be found sitting in the far right corner of the room. It was a rather dingy place, hardwood floors and furniture made the bar look rather homely. Instead of being lit with conventional light strips and panels, oil lamps hung from the walls and rested on each of the round tables at which the patrons sat, ate, and conversed in hushed tones.
Ander's Mandalorian armour certainly drew the attention of a few persons, though each gaze was short-lived upon recognizing the make of the armour. The red plates of the former Jedi's armour represented his long passed father, who in turn had used the colour to honor his own father, whom Ander had never met or heard much of.
He pulled the buy'ce from his head, resting it on the table where their contact sat, then waited for Trask to sit before taking a chair himself.
"So..." He began, running a gloved hand through his hair before tapping the table-top with an armoured knuckle. "How about a drink?" Ander called to the barkeeper, a rather tall Iridonian that wore nothing but a light blue tunic over his mottled brown skin.
The barkeeper approached the table and waited for the trio's drink requests, Tagira himself taking a Lomin Ale, and the other two ordering likewise. As the Iridonian left for the bar to fulfill their orders, Ander turned toward Trask and cocked an eye.
"What's this all about, huh?" He asked.
Trask eyed him for a moment, then wrinkled his nose as Ander pulled a cigara from his belt and lit it, taking a shallow drag and letting the resulting smoke trickle from his nose. The Admiral looked to their contact and casually waved his hand towards the man.
"This, is one of our former Star Destroyer captains, from the Yavin Four Defense Force, Captain Paiton."
Ander cocked an eyebrow, "I don't recognise you, Captain."
The man drew his bearded face into a tight smile, "That's because I worked under Master Man'Sell, of who's military and political tactics you did not approve."
Captain Paiton spoke with a Coruscanti accent, emitting rich, rolling tones. "You never should have seen or heard much of me, I captained the Blue Moon, which was attached to the third Attack Group."
Tagira smiled, recollecting only a single interaction between himself and Captain Paiton, where Ander had countermanded orders passed on by Dav during one of their fights against Eragon Hallis over their own homeworld. The smile passed, replaced by a slight grimace; they'd spent too much time on Yavin 4 fighting...
The aging Mandalorian shook his head from of negative thoughts and memories, focusing instead on the present. "So, Captain, why is it that you are here, talking to me? I am no longer on the Council on Yavin Four, and neither do I reside on the moon itself."
Paiton smiled, "Well, with Staton dead and the rest of the Defense Force diminished, there are a lot of people looking for work."
Ander did a double take, "Wait, Staton's dead?" His face was rife with disbelief. Admiral Jethroe Staton had been Ander's own military advisor, and Over Admiral of Yavin 4's defense forces. He'd been a brilliant tactician, and a good friend.
"How'd he go?" Ander asked.
Paiton's reply was blunt, "Got old."
Ander nodded slowly, accepting the news easily. "Fair enough. What happened to the others, the other Admiral's and Deck Captains?"
Trask motioned towards Paiton, "The esteemed Captain here is one of several of the defense force leadership to resign after your departure from the Academy, Tagira. We're on the market...as it were. I heard about the rapid response force you were gathering about a year and a half ago, so I started poking around and finding out if you'd brought any of the old crowd over with you."
Ander, in fact, hadn't. The men and women of the Brigade were all volunteers, gathered from all classes and corners of the Galaxy. Ander had spent months recruiting everywhere from backwater worlds in the Rim to Inner Core planets like Coruscant.
But the Brigade needed stronger leadership. Ander was breeding his leadership from the enlisted ranks of the Brigade, but he wanted to add more experienced leaders into the fold as well, men and women who had seen more than their fair share of conflict. Ander had honestly not thought of turning to the leadership he had helped establish within Yavin 4's forces, mostly to avoid causing further political conflict throughout the Academy's leaders.
"So...you're looking for a job? A ship to captain?" Ander asked. Paiton shook his head. "No, I'm looking for so much more than that. I'm looking for a group of people that stick to their ideals and don't make compromises. I'm looking for a group of people that know what needs to be done and are willing to do it, rather than beat around the bush about what's truly important in this screwed up Galaxy. I'm looking for heroes."
The look on Paiton's face was rather intense, Ander could see that he truly felt what he was saying. The Captain's words brought a smile to Ander's face as he took another drag of the cigara.
"You came to the right place, Paiton...that's us.'