Trychon looked at the motley crew. The doors were closed, but he waited for the sounds to disperse from the hall before continuing. He used the time to observe the expressions of their employees, so to speak. Tocar stood out the most. He was clearly still a bit uneasy about the entire situation, but that was to be expected. The expressions of the other two were more extraordinary, as both seemed to be handling the situation well. He could feel that they were both curious, but neither seemed to feel threatened or worried. That's probably why he and Raezyr had a good feeling about them though. He also noticed that Haley seemed to have no lingering effects from the stun blast, and Falka seemed to do a good job managing his more substantial wounds.
Once the voices were gone from the hallway, Trychon continued. "I'm sure you have questions, but we'll leave that for later. We don't want to stick around too long here... so I want to nail down the basics." He paused and saw both Falka and Haley nod, while Tocar just stared. "Ok... good. Here's the idea. We're not smugglers or pirates, nor do we aspire to be. We'll do whatever work fits our needs, but it's really not among our major plans as a whole. The things that we work towards are often academic... knowledge and understanding. As well and good as that is... we need income as well. You'll serve us to that end, as well as the occasional information and contact."
They seemed to be with him so far, and Raezyr didn't feel as though he wanted to add to it. "We want you to start from scratch for a number of reasons... but most importantly, that's the easiest and often most successful way to start a new endeavor. You'll go in with all of your knowledge and combined experiences... and build from the ground up. That's the important thing though - we want you to build. Obviously, you'll be starting small since there's a small number of you. You can hire in more now or later and you don't even have to tell them of us. We don't need the attention, honestly."
All three seemed to be listening rather intently now, and Tocar even seemed to be calming down a bit. "We do need you to grow though. We'll be taking a percentage when you liquidate what assets you gather from here. Then to help you get started, we'll start with a rather small cut of your earnings for a while, giving you more ability to grow. As you grow, your rewards will be greater and so will ours. To this end, we will do what we can when we are available to help you. However, please keep in mind that we won't really be available that much as we do have things to take care of. It's also worth noting that our order of the Sith highly values independence and resourcefulness." He eyed them each individually. "VERY highly values."
Trychon was surprised at the continued silence. "Well, I don't want to keep you too long, as I'm sure that given your new positions, you'd like to oversee the work they're doing now. Naturally, we will be in touch with you... but here's your chance for any quick questions you have on your mind."
Fittingly, the Khommite Captain spoke first. "Where would you have us go?"
Trychon shook his head. "Don't run from us, don't attempt to hide from us. Beyond that, you were selected because we're putting our trust in your abilities. You three can make that decision."
Tocar got an excited look on his face. "I know of an abandoned monastery on Tatooine that would probably serve us well... and the high amount of traffic in that system means more competition... but it also means we can blend in easier, and we'll have good access to contacts and work." He smiled for the first time since the Sith arrived. Trychon could feel that Tocar was starting to become excited at their new prospects as he looked to Trych and Raezyr for approval. Trychon looked to Falka. "Captain?"
Falka nodded. "This is the sort of insight I picked you for, Tocar. We'll put it on our short list of places to look into. We'll probably find ourselves in that area when we try to offload all our belongings anyhow." He waited for Trychon to respond, but when he didn't he continued with his last question. "Finally, Fillis called his group the 'Blood River'... what would you have us call ourselves?"
Raezyr made a face. "Ugh... anything but that."
Trychon laughed. "Agreed. Going with my earlier point, I offer 'Black Phoenix' as a suggestion."
Falka nodded. "Black Phoenix it is then. Let's get to work, crew..."
Haley got up from her chair. "How exactly am I supposed to undo the mess you did to my system and offload all of our data in under an hour? We can still use all of that... and I have some important programs of my own."
Trychon turned to Falka. "You're dismissed. I needed to talk to Ms. Stargazer about communication protocols and I'll help retrieve your data. You'd better get underway to make sure you get what you want most out of this place." They watched as the two men left and the door closed again. Trychon checked the security monitors to ensure that they were underway before continuing.
"I've already undone my own mess. It's always easier when it's your mess and you understand how it was made. The full contents of the computer here is already uploading to a remote station that will work as the dock for our communications. I'll give you a copy of all the information you'll need to access it as well as contact us through the station." Haley nodded and walked around behind Trychon to take a look at the screen herself. Trychon pulled up the computer transfer, which was nearly a third complete already.
Haley watched it as it slowly progressed, then she reached out over Trychon, who considered stopping her. He let her continue, and she hit a few keys. The transfer sped up noticeably. Trychon turned and smiled at her. "See? That's why we picked you for third in command. You're almost as good as me."
"Almost?" She backed away and folded her arms with an incredulous look on her face. "I was testing your methods and movements before you slipped that bug into my system. I wasn't expecting something so nasty or I would have had the system protected better."
Trychon couldn't help but to continue his smile as he looked at her. He was amused. "We'll see. In any case... that's exactly why we needed you as the third in command. You're going to act as our eyes and ears on the organization. We have no reason to doubt Falka or any of the crew yet... but we have less to trust them for either. We have a good feeling about Falka... but also about you. Keep a close eye on the crew as well... they may not all have their hearts fully in place behind what we have going on."
She seemed to be thinking it over. Trychon continued. "This will be good for everyone. We'll have extra oversight to make sure that things are going how we'd like them, and we can leave Falka alone to do his job for the most part, which will make him and the rest of the crew more comfortable with their new arrangement."
She looked Trychon up and down. "Ok. Don't mess with my computers again. I don't see why we can't work well together. Falka's a good man to lead, I think."
Trychon nodded and stood up. "Good. Ok." Haley took this as her cue to leave, and began to walk out. Trychon called out to her as she reached for the door control. "Besides... I'm always looking out for new slicing toys anyway."
She turned and gave him a look of shock. "Toys?!"
Realizing that she must have thought he had meant her, considering her cybernetic implants, he stammered to correct himself. "I uh... I mean that I'm always looking out for great computers and tools. The best. I'll share what I can, and make sure you have the top of the line systems to work with."
Haley Stargazer gave him her first real smile since their first encounter.
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