Unintentional wanderings....

[GM Craig]

He nods. "Yeah. I do. The Emperor rules through fear, Keshani. And as big and powerful as the Imperial Navy is, they cannot be everywhere. The galaxy is too big. All we need to do is show the galaxy that you can fight the Empire, that they are not everywhere. We need a big win, and more systems will openly revolt. That's how we win this thing, and how we beat them. So yes, it can be done."

[Keshani]

She thought about that, but still, the idea of having a force big enough to even accomplish a "big win" was unfathomable to her.

"I....don't know how much I'm allowed to ask..." she said, scuffing the toe of her shoe against the deck in front of her idly.

[GM Craig]

He smiled. "Well I'm not going to be sharing any big secrets - safer for you that way. If you're not interested in signing on with our Rebellion, then the less you know the safer it would be for you. But you can ask questions. I'll decide if I want to give the answers.

"But yeah, I think a big targets. There's lots of targets out there, and many of them are only lightly defended. Like I said, the galaxy is too big for the Empire to be everywhere."

[Keshani]

She thought about that for a minute.

"But the kind of places that are 'lightly defended'....aren't they like places people live and stuff? Not military places?"

She frowned.

"And it's not that I don't want to join the Rebellion. It's......more complicated than that."

[GM Craig]

He shrugs. "It's a big deal, joining. You don't have to justify not joining it to me. And yes, we're talking about military targets. Shipyards, supply depots, communication arrays, military staging areas, barracks. We're trying to free the beings of the galaxy, not kill them." He sighs. "Yeah, some are going to be caught in the crossfire. We can't predict where a ship will crash, or what the Empire might do in response to a local uprising. But I can promise you this, Keshani - we're going to do everything we can to keep innocent people safe.

"We've got plans for benevolence missions - supplies, food, medicine - to the worlds suffering the most under the Empire. We're going to do what we can to keep people safe, while hitting the Empire where it hurts."

[Keshani]

"Are you sure the people who need those things will get them instead of the Empire just taking it instead?"

She fidgeted again. "I just wish I could help without.....I don't know. Swearing unconditional allegiance to something or someone sounds an awful lot like prison..."

[GM Craig]

He shrugs. "You can help in other ways. But for your own safety, we're only sharing the big important things with those are are dedicated to the cause. If oaths and orders sounds like prison to you, then so be it. No hard feelings, and you can help where you want. But there are things you won't be able to do." He shifts in his chair to look at you.

"Keshani, the oath we asked for was not about prisons or rules and orders. It was about recognizing that sometimes, there are things in this galaxy more important that ourselves. That dying trying to fix them is a worthy death. That fighting for what is right is worth it, even if we die. Sometimes, our free will and desires can take a back seat to really important things. And we feel defeating the Emperor and restoring freedom to the galaxy is one of those things."

[Keshani]

"I have no problem dying", she retorted back, again without thinking. Her tone was half...defensive...and half, something else. Something like a mix of seriousness, and maybe even a small speck of something close to hopefullness?

[GM Craig]

He chuckles. "While we all risk it, it's not about dying, Keshani. It's about allowing other people to live. It's planting a shade tree you will never get to enjoy. It's about giving people a chance. It's about stopping others from having to go through what we have gone through."

He stops himself. "And here I go, sounding like Bail. You have your reasons, Keshani, and I do not fault them for you. But I ask you not to mischaracterize what we are doing, and what this movement is about."

He stops again and looks at you.

"I don't know much about you, Keshani, but I know a week ago you wore a slave collar. Tell me: if you had the means, and you met a young girl trapped in the life of a slave, would you help her?"

He holds up a hand. "I'm not looking for an answer from you. I just wanted you to think about it. Maybe you would help, maybe you wouldn't. That's your choice. But for my part, I would help. And that's what we're trying to do here. Only instead of freeing a single slave, we want to free whole planets. Instead of stopping one cruel overseer, we want to stop a cruel tyrant."

[Keshani]

She opened her mouth to say that absolutely without a second thought she would rescue the slave. Because she knew what it was like.

But she stopped even before the Senator stopped her.

Because something else floated into her mind unbidden - Collan.

Collan had also been a slave. And because of that he had assumed that he knew how she felt, as well. But he didn't. No one could know what another person was going through really, could they?

"Um. This may sound silly, sir...I mean, uh..Garm, but who defines who the 'slave' is? Who defines the 'cruelness' of a tyrant and who's to say that what will come in its place is any better?"

She frowned.

"People seem like they're always telling others how to live...who's to say they want that help?"

[GM Craig]

He smiles and shakes his head. "That's the whole point, Keshani. Right now, the Emperor is telling everyone how to live. We want people to be able to make their own choices. To have the freedom to organize themselves -or not - as they wish. To be free from slavery, taxation without a voice in how those taxes are spent. I want the people of Alderaan to be pacifists if they wish to be. For Corellia to be a haven for small traders, if they choose to be. For people like you to live without fear of slavery ever again. You didn't choose the life of a slave. We want it so that no one has that forced on them ever again." He sighs.

"Defining a slave is pretty easy. It's someone who is considered the property of someone else, and who is forced to work for someone else without pay against their will. Someone who can be killed with no more repercussions than breaking a glass. That's what a slave is. And that is what we, all of us, are to the Emperor.

"I don't know what the galaxy will look like after the Emperor is gone, Keshani. But I'll tell you this - I want to see it. I want people to decide how they want their little piece of it to look. I don't want a galaxy forced to conform to one will. I was a glorious mosaic of difference."

[Keshani]

"And you really think that getting rid of one person, no matter how powerful, will change that?"

She shrugged. Part of her wanted to sit down somewhere, the other part was hesitant because she was afraid that at some point the Senator would get either bored or angry at her and tell her to go away, which was much more awkward if she was sitting down....

"I'm from Bakura. As far as I know we weren't really influenced directly by the Empire. But corruption was there anyway. People got things because of who the knew or the money they had. When I got sent.....*there*, it wasn't any Emperor who was making the Stormies do what they did. That was pure cruelness on the part of a whole bunch of people. Or maybe it wasn't all cruelness. Maybe it was fear, as well, that if they didn't do it THEY would become the slaves..." she shrugged, pushing that thought away because she didn't like the road it would lead her down - that not all of the people in the slave camp were truly evil...

"But either way...I didn't see any Emperor having a direct hand in that...."

[GM Craig]

He shakes his head. "And who allowed the organizations on Bakura that allowed corruption to grow? Who permitted that sort of thing to flourish? Our focus is the Emperor, but it's also about the apparatus of government he created. Governors have no checks on their power. The empire has sterilized entire worlds for refusing to be enslaved. The Emperor, his governors, and the entire Imperial government exists to enslave the galaxy.

"I'm sorry you cannot see that. Perhaps in time you will."

[Keshani]

She felt chastised. Like she was a kid and understanding was beyond her. She felt ashamed but also a bit angry at feeling brushed aside.

"I guess that's beyond a street urchins capacity to understand " she retorted, sarcasm quite evident in her voice. She turned to leave but hesitated. What he said DID make sense. She just didn't like his insinuation that she couldn't understand it.

"I hope you're right, " she said softly

[GM Craig]

He shakes his head. "We seem to view the galaxy differently, Keshani. I'm not going to argue with you about that. You are entitled to your opinions, and I reserve the right to maintain mine. I have tried to show you why we're fighting, but we do not see things the same way. I find this disappointing, but you are entitled to believe as you wish. I meant no insult, though you have obviously taken it that way. For any offence I may have caused, you have my apology."

He returns to his calculations.