Josh played with his food a bit as she talked, while Jason was blissfully unaware of going-ons as he pigged out. With what had been on his mind he had almost forgotten that food had been served. When she asked her question about the Confederacy, he shook his head. "No. I've always known" He spoke softly. "While I understand the reasons my Assembly works with them at present, due to the Sith Empire being a far greater threat to the safety of the people in the galaxy -- I have not overlooked the sheer disregard for innocent life the Confederacy practices. In time that lust for power and disregard for life will take them to us, and that will be something we will have to deal with. No amount of cooperative missions or festivals together will change that."
"But you must remember, Josh. I never shared the Silvers' ideals" She said and he smirked lightly. "Sometimes I wish you did" He joked dryly as he picked at his food a bit, seeming to decide it was better not to leave it to get cold. "The galaxy would be a little bit safer with your capabilities."
He didn't give that sort of praise lightly. Either way, once she was finished, he let out a sigh. "Maddy, they won't have a choice" He spoke, looking her in the eyes again. "You know me well enough to know that I refuse to sit and watch while innocents, or the people I care about such as the Silvers... Suffer and die. I will fight. And they will either have to deal with it, or kill me if they hope to harm anyone. It doesn't matter if I'm looking at the Sith Empire, The Confederacy, or your Agents of Chaos. That doesn't change."
And if Jason was on the planet at the time, and thus at risk... Well, Madalena knew well enough from her modified version of Scherezade's memories what would happen. Even if they weren't aiming for Jason, accidents could happen. That was not a risk he would take. If Jason was at risk, the safety came off.
He popped a bit of food into his mouth as he thought on what to say next. "But maybe that doesn't have to come to pass. I've been listening to how you've been describing things, and I've made some observations... First up, your faction's blanket targeting could use some work" He advised, choosing to give some actual constructive criticism instead of just chiding her. "Do some research first. Let's be hypothetical here... Let's say the Agents of Chaos leave the Silvers alone, focus on the Sith Empire, and then the Confederacy. Let's say you succeed, and major governments no longer control any systems. The only thing that even has influence over planets left is the Silvers. With your current mandate, you'd attack us, mistaking us for a governing body. Putting innocent people, the ones you want to free, at risk" He remarked after a few bites. "But we have no interest in "influence" or "governing" over anything. We've never taxed a soul, we get much of our funding by trading with the planets that work with us. Which in turn benefits them.
But this whole deal between us and any planets we work with is just that. A willing working relationship. If after you succeed in your mission though, and those planets decide they don't need our protection, don't need our help?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "We've got no problem with packing our things and going. The deal is simple. They get our protection, and can even request to open trade with us if they want it, and all we ask for is to cut down on acts of slavery so we're not protecting a crime world that's committing the same crap we're protecting from. No taxes, no governing, nothing. When they are attacked by pirates, or a government hoping to subjugate them, we're there. And if they decide they don't like that sole term of ours I mentioned, well... Like I said, it's a willing deal. We'll just go back to where we came from. If you guys succeed and they decide they don't want our protection, we pack up. We don't belong anywhere or govern anywhere.
Hell, even Kashyyyk, we are there because we have a close relationship with the Wookiees who want us to be there. If one day they decide they do not, we'll go live on some space station or something probably. No problems there. We've moved homes before. All we care about is the safety of innocents and a peaceful galaxy. And if that mantra one day changes, well..." He trailed off as he shrugged again. "You won't find me on the battlefield that day anyway. You'll find me at the homestead, with my family. Probably making plans to free some planet from oppressive forces, just like you claim to be. That day you can have at it, Space Ranger."
He ate a bit more, before giving a bit more advice.
"There's your start on research that I just gave you. As for tactics, as I mentioned before... A bit of advice there too. Tactics, tactics, tactics... You may not think like us, but preventing civilian casualties is the most important thing as far as practical benefit goes too. It's hard to say you freed those people from tyranny if "those people" are dead" He pointed out. "Controlling potential blood-lust too, is important. Like I said, do your research. Don't just attack everything for the sake of it. Otherwise, you're just a non-governing Confederacy. Monsters claiming to have human intentions. Think. If you're going to be some crusader of freedom... Then actually bloody do it right. Don't waste resources on something that's not hurting anybody. Put those resources to what you told me about. Like the Sith Empire. Who practice all these oppressive things you talk about and more. Focus. Plan. Narrow your range. Besides, with your resources... A blanket target won't work anyway. Making enemies of unnecessary targets will drain you to nothing when you're already going to have a hard time with your priority ones."
He mulled it over a moment. "On the topic of resources and blanketing... One target at a time. Based off your goals, I'd start with the Sith Empire and just the Sith Empire. If the Sith Empire are the most oppressive body in the galaxy right now, dedicate your resources to taking its planet influence down. When it goes down, move to the second most. And repeat the process. So let's say the Sith Empire goes down, I'm guessing by your remarks earlier the Confederacy would be the next target. Target it exclusively. If you jump from Empire to Confederacy to another to another to another... They can take and even retake planets faster than you can liberate them. And then you get nowhere and put innocent lives at risk for nothing. And burn resources for nothing" He remarked as he shrugged again. "Then morale goes down, your support from civilians goes down, and your operation falls apart from the inside if one of your enemies doesn't just blast you to pieces first while you're weakened."
He smiled softly. "Your idea has merit, but... There is a lot of work to be done if you're going to survive long enough to even get past one government. Or even do anything more than just hurt people. And that doesn't benefit your end goal at all, regardless of whether you personally care about people outside of your circle or not."
This was one of the few times that it would be clear that Josh had seen war. That he had been a Grandmaster at one point. And just how much war he had seen, how many operations and factions and crusades he had been on over the years. Something that he didn't like to talk about very often.
[member="Madalena Antares"]
