Chapter 7

Valin woke up with a start and took in his surroundings. His mind was still a bit hazy from the sleep as he heard a voice to his side.

"You slept nearly 13 hours. You didn't even wake up when Brachium carried you over to a bed. I guess it's understandable that you were tired after what you have been through." Sabe spoke from beside his bed. She was a lot calmer than the last time he saw her.

He was amazed that he slept for so long without ever waking up considering that he was on a smaller spaceship and those rarely isolated all sounds from others.

"Where are we now?" He asked as he yawned away the last bit of sleepiness in his system.

"We flew back to where we started. Your transport should still be around. Do you want something to eat or drink? The others just started their dinner, and I went to look if you were already awake." She answered with the smallest bit of urgency in her voice.

'She must be hungry as well' Valin thought to himself as he sat up. He looked around and saw his belongings on a small table close to him. Aside from his coat he spotted his dagger, both of his guns and the claw he took as a trophy. He would surely make a necklace of that one, of at least part of it. The way it was now it was too big to carry around on one's neck.

"Alright, please lead the way Sabe." He said as he took his belongings with him.

She nodded and started to walk with him following along. As they arrived at the small kitchen, he saw them eating unidentifiable paste that could have been anything. Maybe it was better that way as some ingredients are just outright disgusting things you wouldn't want to eat otherwise.

Since he already planned to visit a planet with a rich food culture, he decided to hire a few good cooks for the canteen of his ship. He could just build or buy droids to do it, but droids don't have the proper senses to taste a meal like a fleshly being would. In fact, he wanted to recruit a few trustworthy humans for most of his crew's divisions.

A small squad of elite soldiers was as good as secured already. He would need some engineers, mechanics and doctors as well. He could do all those himself in a way, but primarily he was to be the captain. As such, he couldn't concentrate on small tasks all the time that he would be able to delegate easily. And he wanted some human interaction with people that had similar interests as him.

Then there were pilots and other specialized people that could bring a bit more fresh air into the small community he wanted to build. He wasn't delusional and thought that they would become some kind of big family, or at least not instantly, but he wanted to build a bond with like-minded people.

Aside from posts that needed smarts, flexible thinking and education, a few grunts were always good and together with the Mandos he would be able to put together a very decent team with the necessary discipline and abilities.

"Good evening to you all." He greeted them and sat down next to Brachium and opposite of Dunn.

"It's good to see you on your feet again!" Brachium clapped him on his shoulder as the others greeted him in their own ways.

"So how have you decided?" Valin started the conversation as he began to put food on his table.

"We decided to join you, honestly it would have been fine to just hunt a smaller game and survive in the wild a few days." Dunn answered him honestly.

Valin looked a bit nonplussed at that.

"You really think all of that went according to my plan?" Valin said with a chuckle, soon joined by Freia's and the other's loud laughter.

"But aside from the jokes, I'm pretty sure all of you have questions and conditions. Why don't we talk about them while eating?" He suggested as he poked his food with his spoon. It was normal to have some demands before working with others. Very few people wanted to spend their whole life on one ship and planned to retire at old age or have holidays and enough money to enjoy them.

In a way, most of the higher quality crews functioned like a company to an extent. Oftentimes they were a lot closer however due to the time spent together on the ship and the adventures they had together.

"The first one would be the pay, all of us are specialized and have a lot of experience in our respective fields." Corvus was the one who replied this time, he put even more importance on the financial aspect, as he was the one to manage them for their group and had the best feeling about how expensive things are. The maintenance costs of a combat-oriented ship were no joke after all.

"You don't have to worry about that. I already planned to pay you a proper salary, we can talk about the details of that later if you aren't satisfied with my offer. In return to paying you a salary however, the money and objects we earn in any way will go to me personally." Valin responded smoothly, already in business mode for the moment. A few conditions on his side were important as well, otherwise problems might arise when he recruited more people later on.

"Anything else?" He asked the technician of the team.

"I'd like to request to work with you on the engineering side. Just seeing your weapons and the few functions I guess your freighter has, makes me giddy to work on them and learn more." He passionately answered.

This request made Valin pause for a bit. The technology was one of his greatest strengths and difficult to get their hands on. Even then he could use the DNA resequencer to give people certain genes and make the different technology only accessible when specific genes were present. In the end he saw no harm in it as long as Corvus proved himself to be loyal, his first impression of him was a good one at least.

Aside from that it was always his plan to give others access to the systems and a select few even full access when he deemed them trustworthy and loyal enough to put his life into their hands. He just had to look out for easily corrupted and greedy individuals. He wouldn't even consider them for his crew in the first place if they were unsuitable, so the risk was nearly non existent from the beginning.

Nodding to the man, Corvus grew a content smile and leaned back into his seat to show that his conditions were all fulfilled for now.

"What about the both of you?" Valin asked the twins.

"I think I can speak for my brother and myself if I say that we only need a good fight once in a while. Some time off to relax on different planets would be nice as well." Thwak answered as Brachium nodded along and gave a thumbs up.

Their demands were surprisingly simple and Valin easily accepted them. Turning to the two females sat at the table, he saw them whispering to each other before Sabe turned to him.

"We will accept if you make us some good equipment, guns and explosives especially." She said eagerly.

"No problem on my part with those, I already planned for it and you would have gotten them without asking anyways." Valin replied.

"Then we are in!" Freia exclaimed with the same content smile on her face that Sabe had.

In a way their expectations were realistic, and while they were expensive for normal people, they were easily met by Valin.

He then turned to the last of them and the one he thought would have the most demands, considering his current standing in the crew.

"How about you Dunn? Any special demands? In a way you will lose your current position in some cases." Valin honestly stated as he looked at the experienced commander.

"It depends, I won't desperately hold onto a leading position, otherwise I wouldn't have agreed in the first place. How about this, you tell me which position you want me to fulfil, and I give you my thoughts and conditions on it?" Dunn asked in return.

"That's fair, I guess. I'm more surprised that you are the only one asking so far." Valin chuckled a bit at that.

"They all are only focused on things that interest them. So far it was my job to keep them in line and from doing something dumb." He smirked with reminiscence in his eyes. They were already together for a few years and had their own share of adventures and missions during that time.

"You don't have to worry about that, I would like to keep you as the team leader if I deem it necessary that you act together. At other times it might just be some of you going in smaller teams or with other future crew members. Aside from that I thought you would do good as either the commander of our combat forces or the vice-captain of the ship."

Hearing his words, most of them were a bit surprised. It sounded as if their ship and the crew were bigger than they originally expected. But that was fine as well, might makes right everywhere and the more they had to rely on, the better it was.

Dunn took some time to think about it before he would reply. He was qualified for both positions, he was experienced at both tasks and in the end, it came down to what he wanted to do. Valin didn't interrupt him as it was an important decision for both of them and it was important to be sure of it.

"I will take the position as commander then. My talents while varied, still focus on the militaristic part and I think your second in command should be more varied in their approach than I would be." He answered after thinking for a few minutes as the others just ate in silence.

"Then it's settled, if you have any wishes or worries, please voice them. That is something I want all of you to remember, talk to me if anything burdens you or you need something. And Dunn, I will rely on your council." Valin said as he finally took a look at his plate. While concentrating on the conversation, he didn't even realize that he already finished his meal.

"Please do. What have you planned for now? I think I am speaking for all of us if I say that we are curious to see our ship and other crewmates." He answered with a small smile and the rest nodding along.

"The ship is close to being completed and I will bring you there in just a moment. I will just need to get another cloaking device from my ship. As for the crew, I am afraid that you are the first ones aside from the droids." He said as he got up to get the spare cloaking device he kept in the freighter.

Until the ship was completed and running, he didn't want anyone to know where he and his crew were. While he had a decently sized elite force considering the Mandos and his hopefully finished elite squad of combat droids, opponents like the Hutts or Trade Federation could just bombard his shipyard from high up. He would feel a lot safer with a giant and heavily armed ship up and running, having his back.

Excited to get back to his projects, Valin quickly excused himself to go over to his freighter and get them on their way.

Hearing him speak and leave the room, all of them were various levels of curious. Valin didn't explain too much about that part after all.

Corvus especially was lost in his own thoughts when he heard the term cloaking device as most of them were rather simple in function and technologically advanced at the same time.