"Well, I was always told that I had a mind for seeing things that could transpire in a battle. I guess that extends to these... tactical games?" Kris replied, still unfamiliar with some of the terms that were used in the wider galaxy.
"With enough practice, you could well become a great tactician! Possibly even a master of the game!" Dagan stated, glad to see that these ladies had much in the manner of untapped potential.
"I don't doubt that she will! Now, tell us of why you are being chased and why you feel the need to run instead of fighting this... pirate queen," Tawny told him as she put away the chess pieces and board.
"For that, I will have to go back to the days when I was a young man. When I was wide-eyed and eager to see the galaxy and everything it had to offer me. Back when I still had hair," Dagan chuckled dryly.
"You, with hair? I couldn't see it," Tawny told him with a slight smirk on her lips.
"Well, I did have hair, and it looked good, but that's not the point of this story. The point of it was how I have become the man I am now, and it all started with my first job. You see, as I was eager to get out into the galaxy, I took a job on a merchant ship. We were shipping goods to various ports across many worlds, and I would see many various and exotic locales wherever I went!" Dagan started, getting into a storytelling mode.
"I've seen and been to places all over and in many different empires! Salaagh V, Eden's Dawn and I even had been to Veldhern once, back when it was still a whole planet. I was living a good life and had a plan to one day run my very own shipping business! It wasn't long after that is when I met... her. Zerafima Khazarin, the woman who would one day become my wife," Dagan told them.
"Wait, you have a wife?!? You're married???" Kris asked, gawping at the man.
"I was, but not anymore. I will get to this point in the tale, as long as there are no more outbursts?" Dagan asked, fixing both women with a glare at being interrupted like this. Kris and Tawny looked chagrined and let the man continue with his story.
"When I first met her, like many a man, I was smitten by her good looks, strong will, complex intellect, and easy charm. The more I spoke with her, the more I fell in love with this woman and, as I said, I was not the only man who desired her. But I was the only man who she allowed to get close to her, to learn more about who she was at heart. It wasn't long after this that I learned she had come to care for me as I did for her," Dagan went on.
"When it came to getting her attention, that was more than a little tricky. Many had tried to do what I had, and they all failed. Wooing her was more than an ordeal in itself, as she was exceedingly picky about who she gave her time to. I would later learn that she never wasted time with those who weren't going to help her in making her way forward in life. She would only associate with those who would propel her forwards, not hold her back," the smuggler captain continued.
"How it is and why she chose me will always remain a mystery to me. But I believed that in me, she saw someone who would not only help elevate her, but a man who would stand by her, no matter what happened. That I would be the man who would be everything she ever wanted or ever needed in her life. And for her, I was. Or, at least, I tried to be," Dagan said.
"Eventually, we did it. We finally got our own ships and started a shipping and merchant business together. It was tough at first, but after enough time -- sweat, blood, tears and sacrifices -- we made it work. Soon enough, we would have a business that was not only profitable, but respectable."
"Over time, every deal we brokered would not only net us a new client, but others would hear of our business and wished to employ us to move their goods. Our prices weren't the lowest, but we were the most honest shipping group in the sector. Sometimes, clients would come from several sectors away to seek our business, because of the integrity we had," Dagan stated as he got a faraway look in his eyes, as his mind hearkened back to better days.
"But, like many good things and good days, it would all come to an end. This end came in the shape of an old friend who I believed would help us in expanding our business. Little did I know I would be making the worst mistake of my life that would not only see the end of my business, but the end of Zerafima and I," Dagan said in a tone that spoke of regret.
"At first, all seemed well, and Brad was a good fit for our business. He helped propel us to the upper crust of the shipping business, to where we had wealthy clients begging us to ferry their merchandise! We had secured lucrative trade deals that would see us all insanely wealthy inside of another decade's worth of hard work! For a time, it seemed like everything was going the way we wanted it to!" Dagan said with an air of hope.
"While it seemed like I was helping a good friend out of a slump, little did I know he envied me and all that I had. My business, my finances, and even my wife were all the things he coveted. His plan was to supplant me and muscle me out of the business so he could take the life I had worked so hard to build. Unfortunately for him, things didn't go as he had planned," Dagan continued, as a smug smirk played across his face.
"Unknown to him, Zerafima and I had already taken steps to ensure than anyone in the business couldn't do so by any legal skullduggery. So on paper, there was nothing that Brad could do take the business from us. When that idea failed, he then resorted to a more... scorched earth tactic to see me fall. If he couldn't take my life for himself, he would then see it burned to the ground, as no one could be better than him."
"Our business would start encountering irregularities in the goods we shipped. Parts of our shipments would go missing, and even at times, entire ships from our fleet would just disappear! We did everything possible to recover what was lost, but could never find what became of it! What we would find was only scraps of what was once ours, which put the business and my marriage on the knife's edge," Dagan sighed.
"When things started to go downhill for us, is when Zerafima and I started fighting constantly. Sure, we fought, like every other couple does, but we would always make up afterwards. This... it devolved to where it was like we were at an all out war with one another. As we fought, the losses mounted, from ships hit by pirates, to clients losing faith in our business," Dagan went on, painting a picture of what had happened.
"In the end, we were down to our last client and the only one who had not deserted us despite our hard times. Because of our failing business, it was down to the three of us, me, Zerafima, and Brad. Down to our last ship, we had to carry out the delivery ourselves, or suffer utter ruin. We had to succeed by any means possible, no matter the cost."
"At first, the journey was going well and without any issues or problems. It was on our third leg, out in deep space, that we were attacked by pirates. I had heard of this group before, as they were making a name for themselves as feared raiders. They boarded us and attacked, doing what they needed to, to keep us at bay as they took what they could."
"While we weren't in the best position to do so, we fought back. They must have been expecting us to just lay down and die, as we caught them by complete surprise! We killed several of them and quickly drove them off our ship, putting the fear of the gods into them! Once any pirates were dead or driven off, we sealed the hatches and detached from them, hurriedly making our way to the jump point," Dagan told them.
"We knew that this was the end of our business and while we did have a fight over it, Zerafima and I mended things. We had seen that things weren't going to be the same as they were before, but with the two of us, we would find a way forward. It was after that is when we decided to settle up what we could and step away from the shipping business," Dagan stated with a sigh.
