Bankor

"You haven't?" Niall smiled sadly. "That's... fortunate. Because no matter how good you are, sooner or later, it happens. It was a while ago, for me."

He shook his head. "It's relevant because one of the hardest lessons of command is that you can't save everyone. Not that you shouldn't try, of course, but sometime all you can do is try to slow the bleeding." He paused a moment, taking a deep breath.

"I won't say you're wrong to say what you're saying. But..." Niall took another deep breath. "I don't think these decisions are easy ones. I know they wouldn't be for me."

Chase pushed herself to her feet, "I think you're just hiding from the decision. It's easy to sit here now and talk about how hard of a decision it is, but we were in that room and I knew the right call. I fought for what I knew was right, and people fought against me. Now we're here, in this jungle, with nothing to show for it. What can I say Captain? I hate being right when it leads to this but the damned evidence is piled up around us."

"Until we start fighting with a bit more heart, a little more conviction, I'm not quite so sure we get to call ourselves the saviors of this planet. Just the ones that came in to stop the Mandalorians."

Niall was silent for a few moments. "I'm not going to say you're wrong." He smiled. "But I hope you don't mind if I hope you're wrong. And I have to believe that you are; that the Republic is going to do the right thing."

He gave her a slow nod. "I'll also say that when it comes to fighting with heart, at least it's clear that you're not just talking. You really mean it. You showed as much with those sick soldiers yesterday. That was well done; very well done indeed." Another nod.

"I hope I'm wrong too, but you saw the woman in the meeting last night. They asked us here for revenge, little hidden there," Chase shrugged. "I signed up to help people, do right by people, and when it doesn't look like we're doing it right I'm gonna speak up and see if I can't correct that. So, here I've been. Getting myself into trouble on behalf of the people I swore to help because I still think we can be doing way better."

"But, uh.. thanks, I guess. For seeing passed the fact I'm not just some hotshot pilot with a bleeding heart."

Niall sighed. "I won't pretend that I don't take part in a little hypocrisy from time to time. But I do try to keep it to a minimum. And it seems to me that I can't profess to believe in the Republic, and tell you to keep what you believe in to yourself."

After a moment, his lips quirked. "Perhaps not in front of outside representatives if you can avoid it, but, well, that's not an order from me."

"Only hear from me in the command room, don't have much call for talking to people when I'm sat in a hunk a metal going faster than you can think," Chase said, gathering her things together. "My word of advice on this one is still the same though. Don't trust these monks, they're hiding something."

"Hmmm." Niall frowned, his brows drawing down. In truth, he wasn't entirely sure about them either.

He looked back to Chase, his expression clearing. "Well... if you don't mind a piece of advice... or rather, another piece of advice." His lips quirked. He did have a tendency to lecture... he cleared his throat. "Don't waste all your energy on the last fight. We're here now, for better or worse. Do the best you can, and save that energy for the next fight."

"I don't think I'm really getting your meaning Captain," Chase said.

"Don't try to fight old battles." He said. "There's nothing you can say that will make it so that our forces went to help the pit fighters. You can only change what we do next."

He shrugged. "I know, it seems obvious to say. But it's easy to forget. Fighting old battles is familiar, after all."

"I'm a pilot," Chase said flat, "Not my kinda hang up. I'm not gonna stop from sharing my mind, using it in the future when people start going the wrong way. We didn't help those people and that hangs on us. And if no one else is gonna acknowledge that, I will. I'll keep it with me for as long as I need."

"Can't change what happened but you can always make somethin' outta it. I intend to make everything I can outta my time here. It's what I've been doin' since I signed up, won't stop now."

Niall shrugged. "You choose what you carry with you. And what you do with it."

He looked off to the side. "I've got my own baggage. And regrets." His lips quirked. "Rather more than I expected at the age of twenty-two, but there you have it."

He looked back to Chase. "I'm curious to see what you'll make out of it."

"Geez," Chase said, finding her towel and moving it about onto her other shoulder.

Niall sighed.

"Well... lecture over, then. Carry on." He said. "And good luck. See you on the other side, I hope."

"Catch ya then," Chase said and went to signal off in a more casual salute but thought better of it. Offering a proper one she made her way off toward the showers.

Niall matched the formality of Chase's salute, although his eyebrows went up curiously. "Take care."

He watched as she walked off to the showers, his lips pursed thoughtfully. A lot could be said with a gesture, even a formal or informal salute. Respect, or a lack thereof, for instance. He wondered which one this was.

With a sigh, he turned to do his own workout. There was always more to do, after all.

/scene?

/scene