Private The Difference Between Repair and Care

[Ra'a'mah]

Ra'a'mah listened with quiet interest, giving a small nod as Novac explained the problem. Building homes was comparatively simple. Keeping an entire settlement supplied, maintained, and economically viable year after year was where the real challenge began.

"Crystals and raw materials can give you somewhere to start, but I wouldn't build your economy around exporting finite resources if preservation is important to you. Eventually you find yourself in the unfortunate position of needing to damage the thing you're trying to protect just to keep paying for its protection."

Her attention briefly wandered toward the activity taking place throughout the facility around them. "You have something potentially more valuable than minerals, though. The droids themselves. They don't need sleep, can develop highly specialized skills, and in many cases were literally designed to perform work that organics require years of training to master. Repairs, engineering, fabrication, programming, restoration. Even remote technical services could bring credits into your settlement without requiring you to continually pull resources out of Velari."

At the mention of the Farworlds Alliance, a faint smile touched her features. "Having the Farworlds to learn from certainly gives you somewhere to turn when you encounter problems you haven't faced before. The Protectorate operates on a similar principle in some respects. Independent worlds and organizations cooperating because there are things none of us can reasonably accomplish alone."

She tilted her head slightly toward him as they continued through the facility. "You don't have to limit yourself to one example, either. Look at what the Farworlds do well. Look at what the Protectorate does well. Look at what everyone does badly, because sometimes those are the more valuable lessons." A quiet chuckle escaped her. "Then take whatever actually makes sense for Velari and ignore the rest."

Her gaze moved briefly toward one of the nearby droids going about its work before returning to Novac. "You don't need to know exactly what Velari will become yet. Just be careful that in trying to give these droids a home, you don't make every decision for them about what that home should be. Give them the opportunity to help answer that question themselves." Her expression warmed slightly. "You might find they have ideas for sustaining it that neither of us would ever think of."

Novac Lyrikal

 

[Novac Lyrikal]

"yea, the main idea for the time being is use what we can to get started. though I should talk to them about any of them wanting to do work off world alter in the future once we get settled. Though I'm sure some of them wouldn't mind doing it now even."

At her mention to look to others then the alliance Novac mentioned "That's probably a good idea. Main reason I've been looking to them is because they've actually started development on more refugee housing, which I've been lucky enough to help with when i have the time. They have a lot of experience but your right, probably should."

When she said to make sure he doesn't make decisions about home for them Novac got a tad more serious, "Thats something I've made sure to not do. I refuse to choose everything for them. I will of course be there when they need me for help or guidance, but I want the place to be made by their choices..Well to a extant. with major things it will be put to vote, like in the future it'll be voted on who will lead when im not there, can't really be there all the time. But I want them to make what they want for their home, their space, their safe place. Of course not anything and everything but thats more specific based."

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Ra'a'mah nodded as she listened, pleased less by the specifics of the plan than by the philosophy behind it. Novac wasn't trying to make himself indispensable. He was already thinking about a future where the settlement could function even when he wasn't there.

"I imagine some of them will choose to work off-world eventually," she said with a small smile. "Once someone knows they have a place to come home to, exploring the galaxy becomes much less frightening. And when they return, they'll bring back more than credits. They'll bring experience."

At the mention of the Farworlds Alliance, she inclined her head in understanding. "Then it makes perfect sense to learn from them. Just remember that every successful organization solved the problems they faced. Velari will eventually have challenges unique to Velari, and there will come a point where you'll have to trust your own judgment."

His conviction about allowing the droids to shape their own home drew quiet approval from her.

"I was hoping you'd say that. Voting on major decisions and preparing others to lead when you're away are both sensible." Her smile warmed. "Strong communities don't depend on a single individual."

She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment.

"You know what encourages me most? You keep calling it their home, not your settlement."

The distinction mattered.

"That tells me you're thinking like a steward rather than an owner. Your responsibility is to help create the conditions for a community to flourish, not to decide exactly what it becomes."

She smiled gently.

"If you can hold onto that as Velari grows, I think it'll become exactly what you hope it will."

Novac Lyrikal

 

[Novac Lyrikal]

Novac stared down at the droids below for a few moments. "I believe the reason I say its their home is because while yes I did make it, it's not intended for me. While yes I can live their and have a place set up for myself, I more or less tend to live on my ship."

"Your also right though, I don't wish to be a ruler or owner in most ways. I do know I technically am the owner of the place but I don't really wish for it."

Taking a few moments to organize and find the words to his thoughts "I guess what I', trying to say is I don't want to be their dependent? I want to...be one of them in a way. Just someone looking after the place, doing what they can to help it and its residents. I know i will and do have responsibilities above that level of course don't get me wrong."
Ra'a'mah

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Ra'a'mah listened without interrupting, her gaze following his toward the droids moving about below. There was a sincerity in his words she appreciated. Too many founders became possessive of what they built. Novac seemed almost uncomfortable with the idea that anyone would look to him as their ruler.

"I think you're looking at it correctly," she said after a moment. "A settlement doesn't need someone to own it forever. It needs someone willing to get it through its first difficult years." Her hands rested lightly on the railing. "Every community begins by leaning on someone. The measure of good leadership is knowing when it no longer has to."

She looked back toward him with a small smile. "You'll always be its founder. No vote or title will ever change that. But founders and rulers are not the same thing." Her attention drifted once more to the activity below. "If one day the people there begin making decisions without needing your approval, don't see it as them needing you less. See it as proof you've succeeded."

"And when that happens," she added, "you'll no longer be carrying the settlement. You'll simply be another citizen who helped build it. I suspect that's the role you've wanted all along."

Novac Lyrikal

 

[Novac Lyrikal]

Ra'a'mah

"Your right, it is. Just another citizen who helped build the place. It sounds nice, leading never really was my thing. Yet here i am, a bunch of droids on my ship, pets i can use in combat would rather not but, and now a settlement. I tend to become one even if I don't want to. Wonder what that says about me, eh some phycologist can figure that out." He said jokingly.

It was true though, for most of Novac's life he'd just been some random guy. First some random citizen on Butler's Cove. Then a random student to a random jedi. Then a random jedi wandering the galaxy alone, searching through of junkyards to see what he could find and fix up. Now the leader to a bunch of droids that he fixed up and a town founder.

"Life's weird like that. Just some random guy, now a jedi whos fought a sith lord, and town founder. It is nice though in a way, to know your needed and wanted."

 

[Ra'a'mah]

Ra'a'mah gave him a sidelong look, amusement touching her expression at the suggestion of leaving the question to a psychologist. "It might simply mean you keep finding people who need something you're capable of providing." Her gaze shifted toward the factory floor below them, where repaired droids moved between workstations while others underwent diagnostics and maintenance. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying being needed, Novac. The danger comes when you start needing others to need you."

She rested her hands lightly against the railing. "That's part of the reason I wanted you to see this place. We repair them here, but the goal isn't to keep them." A nearby droid that had completed its repairs was being prepared to leave the facility, something Ra indicated with a small motion of her head. "If they're sentient and capable of making that decision, once they're repaired, they're free to decide what comes next. Some stay and work. Some leave. Others need additional help before they're ready for either."

Her attention returned to Novac. "Care is giving them what they need and accepting that eventually they may not need you anymore. Ownership is expecting something in return because you were the one who repaired them." A faint smile appeared. "If you can build your settlement with the first idea in mind, I think you'll do fine. Help them become independent, even when that independence means they choose a life somewhere other than the home you built for them."

His last comment earned a thoughtful tilt of her head. "And perhaps that's where you'll find the part you enjoy. Not knowing you're needed forever, but knowing you mattered when you were."

Novac Lyrikal