Shadows of Bankor

Okay. So she was learning stuff. But her actual physical progress was nil. Still, she didn't give up, literally rolling up her sleeves and hoping nothing else came up to hinder her progress.

Day 8, Late Evening, installing droid systems in CIS ship, Hard Mechanics roll, upgrade from Vaya's floating triumph for ship, bonus die from ME advantages: 3eP+1eA+1eB+3eD 2 successes, 1 Triumph

Well, it had taken her almost eight hours, but the work was done. Rails installed, electronics installed... And it was all very clean and orderly too. Taking off her welding gloves and helmet and tucking her tools into her overall pockets, she went to go find Bowze.

Bowze was not hard to find as he was worrying over the battleplans in the central control room...like most of his time today. He broke from this when Ela came in

''Oh, Miss Elaranu. How are things going?''

"Finished. There were some setbacks, but the materials you provided and those schematics you gave me were both very helpful. I cannot truly test it until the droid are in, but on holopaper, everything works."

She wiped off her brow as she leaned on the door frame.

''That is good news!'' the nemoidian replied with enthousiasm ''I am sure we will be able to test the droid capacity shortly...but before that, how much de we owe you?''

"Nothing? Just make sure to take fifteen hundred credits out of your parts and scrap stockpile, no? We are working towards the same ends, I think."

Bowze was surprised. He could not help but insist.

''Still you deserve something for your work. Allow us to compensate you for your time''

Her brow furrowed and she stood up more straight, "Are you sure you have the funds to spare? After all, we are in quite dire straits. Besides, with the Imperial lockdown, it is not like I can just walk into town and buy things at the market. So compensation is just illogical at this time."

''Compensation would be only proper courtesy...but if not creds perhaps we could offer you something else?'' he wondered

"Only proper? ...I suppose I see your point. Well, whatever you decide upon that would be traditional seems fine by me. I would hate to go against the norm."

''Might I ask if Captain Djanik has informed you of what we are doing here? Our group, I mean...''

"You... are part of the rebellion against the Empire, yes? I know that is his goal, more or less."

''Yes but we are also some thing somewhat different. We have reclaimed the name of CIS, short for Coalition of Insurgent Systems, and while we work with the resistance we are our own entity.'' he explained ''We are more strategic in our goals and we will not limit ourselves to Bankor.''

"I see. ...I understand, but forgive me if the difference is lost on me. Reclaimed titles and master plans are beyond a sumple mechanic from far away. All I want is to not be arrested or killed."

''Do not lessen yourself'' he replied ''Engineering takes great intelligence and knowledge to pull off.''

He paused, thinking on something

''I doubt the conflict will end here. From what I learned the insurgence will be galaxy wide phenomena...we are looking at a nascent civil war. There will be plenty of work for someone supremely killed like yourself. It would be an honor that you would consider to do that work for us Miss Elaranu. I can guarantee you will be challenged and get to opportunity to work on a wide variety of ships.''

"I will consider it. You will forgive me if I do not rush into choices at the moment; That instinct of mine is what got me into this situation in the first place."

''A logical course of action.'' he replied ''Take the time you need but I admit I would like your expertise on whatever CIS ships we will be able to reclain as soon as possible.''

He let out a sigh

''The Providence-class and Luckre hulks-class were well designed ships but...heh...the rest of the navy where designed under the pressure of bankers and merchants, not by people who actually knew anything about ships''

"I would like the opportunity to design my own ships, some time in the future. But I can appreciate the economics of reclaiming and repairing existing materials.''

''Ship production is...something more long term.'' he admitted ''We hope to find old factories but...well...it won't be easy''

"Such chaos. One will find a hard time of it in war without the ability to replace losses, whether that be personnel or ships."

''True, that is why we must fight smart and calculate our risks'' he said in agreement ''I like the spirit of the resistance here on Bankor but spirit alone will not achieve victory. You must be able to see the counter moves comming and be ready for them.''

"And you do not believe they possess tactical acumen then? I suppose that discussion the other day WAS rather heated...''

''Tactics and strategy are two very different things miss Elaranu.'' the tone was a bit severe, not unlike a professor ''Tactics are used on a battlefield on a case by case basis. A strategy is more like an overarching plan for an entire theatre of war.''

He paused looking for an analogy

''Speaking of theatre...tactics are like scenes while strategies can be acts.''

"I am aware of the difference in words, even though my Galacitic Common is not the best. Is strategic acumen a phrase though? I thought it would be a grammatical error."

''My apologies, some frustration came back up'' he gave a slight bow ''I believe it is indeed applicable.''