Bankor

Today Chase was working on that upper body, lifting some weights. Standard bit of the regimen as it was. Dressed in her fatigues, gun in her locker, and a decent accumulation of sweat from workout leading up until this point Chase was still pushing it. Giving it all her body's got.

After the morning he'd had, Niall felt a need to do some working out. He'd finally felt as though the work Vera was having him do was paying off.

And so, dressed in his fatigues and tank top, Niall found himself in the gym. He sat down, ready to do some lifting, but Chase's mighty effort gave him pause. "Goodness, Lieutenant." He murmured. "Save some weights for the rest of us."

"Can't, Captain Organa," Chase said, breaking up the sentence between lifts. "This is nothing compared to the pit."

Niall frowned curiously. He moved behind her, ready to spot for her if she needed it. Since she, presumably, would finish sometime.

"The pit?" He echoed.

Chase did, in fact, in order to continue the conversation finish up with weights. Through the motions of setting them down she slipped off and away and with some guided falling found herself rested in a nearby bench.

"The cockpit?" Chase enunciated with a raised brow. "I didn't think that one would be all that hard to follow, Captain."

"Oh. Right." Niall said, his tone turning a bit sheepish. "That makes sense. Of course."

He spread his hands. "I'm sorry. It's not something I often think of. I've never been in the pilot's seat myself."

Chase just cracked a grin, looking him over, "You're... not really what I expected. No need to be apologizing Captain. Just havin' a little fun with ya is all. If I'm to be completely honest I almost never really refer to it like that anyway."

"Still, you're a good man. Saw you working with those people, even if the whole things a bit of a jumbled mess. I'm real good at the one on one kinda thing, I like to think. Snap someone outta there mind but you've got the power o' personality to get a whole group listening to ya. Guess that what makes a man as young as you a Captain huh? I can see it. You've got the talent to lead people into and outta the kinda things that might kill 'em."

"Damn, thinking about that again I barely managed to get a thought out before I was suddenly back in the ship again with a guy. All the rest just happened so fast it's hard to separate it all. We got those folks home though, that's what counts, right Cap'?"

Niall's lips quirked. "And just what were you expecting, Lieutenant?" He crossed his arms casually in front of his chest, smiling just a little. He almost thought to add that they were decor off, meaning not to stand on ceremony, but it didn't really seem necessary.

He hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Thank you. And that's a big part of why I'm a Captain, yes. The other part was sheer luck." His lips quirked again. "Although my Jedi friends would probably tell me that there's no such thing."

After a moment, Niall gave Chase a nod. "You do pretty well yourself, you know. Cool head in a crisis. And you focus on helping people. Like you said, that's what counts. I like that in a soldier."

"Jedi friends tend to have this habit of telling you the force does everything, kinda coincidental they're also the masters of the force isn't it? Heard a guy on Coruscant trying to sell that line once. Swore on his mother that his miracle cure would work he did," Chase said, resting her head back a bit.

"Hmm." One of Niall's eyebrows went up. "It rather sounds as though you don't believe in the Force. Or maybe not as the Jedi see it?" The question was casual, without judgement.

"I believe in what's in front of me, and all I've seen for sure is that the Jedi have some power and that's all anyone can really prove," Chase said, returning her full attention and crossing her arms.

Slowly, Niall nodded. "Fair enough." He said.

Consciously or unconsciously, he mirrored her, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Although it seems to me that you believe in a bit more than that. You believe in the Republic, for instance."

"I do, the Republic fights for what's right more often than not and without any other options it's really the best. I signed up to do my part, and for all it's flaws and it's damned politics it's a lot better than the Empire. Better to see the galaxy rid of those bastards," Chase said.

This time, Niall's nod was quick and firm. "I quite agree. And I'm glad to hear other soldiers that think the same way."

He spread his hands. "I think sometimes people lose track of the objective. As soldiers, our job is so often to kill the enemy. But killing the enemy isn't really the objective. It's helping people. If what we're doing isn't helping the people of Bankor, then I think it's time to re-evaluate."

He folded his arms. "So far, I think we've been good about that. But it's something that we should always keep in mind."

"Uhuh," Chase vocalized, straightening her posture and sitting up straight on the bench.

Niall's lips quirked. "Does that grunt mean 'I disagree', or 'I hope this guy leaves me alone and lets me finish my workout soon'." He asked. "Either one's okay. I just like to be sure."

"Means I'm avoiding saying the thing I wanna say, cause I shouldn't," Chase said, honestly.

Niall glanced quickly around. It wasn't too busy.

"Go ahead... Chase." Niall said, dropping the rank. "Say what's on your mind."

"Seems to me that I'm the only one in that room that speaks up for the people we're trying to help, that we've got a chance to help. Yet, here we are, helping some monks with their personal conflict."

Niall frowned. "You think so? Baesal is representing the Resistance." He grimaced; in truth, he'd have preferred a member of the Resistance, but a Jedi would certainly represent their interests. "We're sending support to Garig Port Town. And we turned down a plan that the Admiral put forth because it was too dangerous to civilians."

He shook his head. "But I guess that's what I see. What do you see?"

"We're given a chance, a golden opportunity to free people from slavery, and we pass it up to come help these monks in the jungle, and we don't even know if they're on the right side of things," Chase began, leaning in on her knees. "We abandon people to their fates in the cells of Camp Besh in an effort to find the resistance, whom all blew themselves up because of a commander they all seem to worship and protect. Even so far as to not actively hunting him now because the man in supposedly a hero of the resistance but he's really just a damn fool and a coward."

"And that's supposed to be better because we turned down a plan that we should have turned down every time, this once we're doing what we're supposed to be doing? Is that what gets us a pat on the back? A job well done? One decision to help Garig against this back drop of... what? Seeking to find reasons why we shouldn't help certain people? Because we're limited? Yet each time we turn around and send the same resources into a different direction. And each time we come into something that way we keep coming out of it worse."

Niall's lips pressed together for a few moments.

"It seems to me-" he began, "-that you're not disputing that we can't help everyone. You just don't agree with who we've chosen."

He spread his hands again. "If you take a close look at just about anything, you're going to find drawbacks. The people in Camp Besh are still alive; do you think we could say the same of the Rygor Resistance if we'd left them? The request to help free slaves came from a Hutt. One can only imagine what a closer look there would reveal." Niall grimaced.

"But that's beside the point. The Republic is like a family. And just as you can't choose your family, you can't choose who has the right to request aid. Everyone needs our help, and sitting in judgement of who deserves it is a difficult thing." Niall's eyes narrowed as he looked at Chase. "Have you lost anyone in your command yet, Lieutenant?"

"Rygor resistance is gone anyway," Chase said, shaking her head, "But no, that was at least a hard call. Not when we look at this one, not the one right in front of us. We had the monks that wanted their home and the Hutts wanted their palace back, and they can damn well have it but those pit fighters. The ones everyone seemed so keen to support not saving because we didn't have the resources to treat whatever mental trauma they might have. They're going to die because we're here now. In the middle of the Jungle. Not doing a damn thing to save anyone from anything."

Niall spread his hands. "The monks are sentient beings on a Republic planet. They have the right to request our assistance."

He sighed. "I hope you're wrong about the pit fighters. Because we're not stopping until the invaders are off this planet. Which means we'll be going back for them. But... this brings us back to the question I asked before." Niall gave Chase a direct look. "Have you lost anyone in your command?"

"No, I've not, but I don't see how that helps your point at all. We save this planet now, without going back for those pit fighters and the Hutts just come back for them. We lose our chance to take them from the pits without the Hutts being any the wiser. Those monks might be sentient beings on a Republic planet but they've made it clear they only asked in order to get revenge, they want us to kill, not protect. And there's no one else in this damned jungle we're helping. We could be doing more, but we're not because some people wanted to preserve something other than life."