Everything this Ryn was telling him, Rob knew to be true. The fact this creature also knew, meant he had good intelligence. As this Jarvis talked, Rob listened and watched both of the Ryn.

"Is that so Mr. Ragnar? Well what would you require in return for your services? You say you do not want money, but I'm pretty sure that you would not put your life and the lives of your crew members on the line for charity. If we do agree that you provide protection to me freighters, what would I have to give in return?" Rob smiled and tilted his head as he looked at Jarvis in the eyes.

He could feel the speeder accelerate away from the landing pad and moved towards a building that was shaped like a figure eight. Within it were mostly offices and also a large meeting area in which deals could be discussed if need be.

"While we discuss our deals together, would you care to stay for lunch? I could have food delivered to your friends inside the ship you came down in." Rob asked Jarvis as they finally take to stop and the door slid open.

"That sounds great. Thank you." Jarvis pulled out his commlink, calling Zal, in the freighter, to let him know what was going on.

Jarvis put the commlink away, following Stellar into the building. "We all know that money is what makes the galaxy go round, Mr Stellar; what I'm saying is that I don't want you to throw some money at me and send me on my way, when we could benefit so much from a more lasting arrangement.

"I don't want to be one of those freelance agents that roams the galaxy, forced to run from one world to another in a desperate attempt to stay one step ahead of the people I make angry. I've run before, and it's not at all enjoyable. What I'm talking about is a business deal, not a simple payoff every time I happen to save one of your freighters. I've recently. . . come into a substantial amount of money, which means your investment in the ships and crews would be nothing; they would be my ships, my men, paid for by me, but we all would be working for you, protecting your freighters and your cargoes. If you find our services to be lacking, or no longer need us, fire us. But if, after this little business experiment, you come to consider us a valuable asset, we can work out a more long-term arrangement. I need something to invest in, and seeing as I'm good at killing bad guys, and you will soon have a disproportionately large number of them in comparison to the rest of the galaxy, I can't think of a better place to set up camp.

"You don't make anything off building, crewing, and deploying warships to serve as escorts; all you care about is that the cargo gets to where it's going. Let me spend the money on ships, then you pay me to do exactly what you would be paying your own men to do. I'll make some money, you'll be spared the expense of getting new ships and training new crews, and most importantly, your convoys will be safer now, not in a month, or two, or three."

Jarvis stopped, finished. The only thing left to do, was see if Stellar liked it or not. . . and eat lunch, of course.

As they passed through the archway that led into the large conference room, Rob paused and turned towards Jarvis. He looked him over slowly, trying to see if the being was really being honest with him. It was always hard to tell with the Ryn.

Finally Rob smiled softly and nodded. "Very well friend. You have yourself a deal. Of course you understand there will be a trial period first. I mean I don't know you any more than you know me, so we must build up some trust. If everything goes well than in the future I will loan you more resources and provide you with more jobs. For the time being I think it is best if your group operated in the space before Belgaroth and Rendili, including Ojom of course."

He smile and moved further into the room, motioning both Ferril and Jarvis towards the center table filled with food. "When the time was right, I was going to establish a small base of operations within the Ojom system, so perhaps you would be willing to start one there for your base? It is central to the region as well as the trade route, therefore prove very strategic.

"Oh and of course you will always inform us any new developments of pirate activities within this space. If, lets say, one of your team locates a pirate staging area, you would be sure to tell us of course?"

With that said, Rob smiled. "Please, have a seat and indulge. Would you both care for something to drink?"

"Very well friend. You have yourself a deal. Of course you understand there will be a trial period first. I mean I don't know you any more than you know me, so we must build up some trust."

Jarvis returned the smile, relieved. "Of course; I wouldn't have it any other way."

"If everything goes well than in the future I will loan you more resources and provide you with more jobs. For the time being I think it is best if your group operated in the space before Belgaroth and Rendili, including Ojom of course."

Jarvis nodded in agreement. "That's the general area I had in mind."

Stellar motioned them toward the table, and they began walking toward their seats. "When the time was right, I was going to establish a small base of operations within the Ojom system, so perhaps you would be willing to start one there for your base? It is central to the region as well as the trade route, therefore prove very strategic.

"We've already spoken to officials at Ojom," Ferril said, just happy to get to contribute to the conversation. "We have been given permission to establish a base of operations on one of their orbital spaceports. We'll be able to begin setting up as soon as Ojom confirms that we're working for you."

"Oh and of course you will always inform us any new developments of pirate activities within this space. If, lets say, one of your team locates a pirate staging area, you would be sure to tell us of course?" Rob smiled.

Jarvis looked a little surprised. "You tell him," He said quietly, looking over to Ferril.

"There is one thing about that," Ferril said to Stellar, a little nervous.

"Please, have a seat and indulge. Would you both care for something to drink?"

They sat, once again a little nervous. "Water," Jarvis said, "water would be best."

"Yes, water," Ferril echoed, hoping Stellar wouldn't mind the next suggestion. "You see, Mr. Stellar, in regard to information, staging areas, and such, we were hoping to deal with those things ourselves. Of course," He added quickly, "we would submit full reports to Stellar Enterprises concerning any pirate engagements, and any information we gain that relates to pirating outside of our realm of influence would be turned over to you immediately, so they could be dealt with properly. And of course, any information that we would not be able to put to immediate use on our own would be turned over to you, so these threats could be removed with utmost hast.

"We ask this for several reason. The first is simply that we have a few—though only a few—contacts within local pirate groups, and they don't feel comfortable working with anyone other than us. In addition, captured pirate vessels could be repaired and used to supplement or replace our existing forces, and any captured bases could be used by our own forces to effect a greater degree of security throughout the region."

"As you said before, we must build trust," Jarvis said just as Ferril finished. "You are free to inspect any aspect of our operation at any time, and if you would like, you can even station Stellar Enterprises officials on our ships to monitor our actions and ensure that we aren't doing anything wrong. Actually, we would appreciate any help you could give us in identifying and returning any stolen cargo we might acquire from attacks on pirate bases and staging areas. I know this may sound risky to you, but right now, the only thing you have invested in this is the safety of your freighters, and they're already at risk. If we fail, or do something wrong, don't even worry about paying us; just fire us. But if this works, you'll have safer spacelanes and cheaper protection for your convoys."

Jarvis looked down at the table, remembering that he was supposed to be eating. He selected a few things, put them on his plate, then looked back to Stellar, hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.

Rob put some food on his plate and took a bite before looking at Jarvis. "I must ask, or rather, require for the time being you stick with capturing as many ships as possible and reporting all damaged one to use for collection. I can not tell you why at the moment, but for each fighter and ship you capture you will be highly rewarded. To help with capture missions, you will have the use of some of Stellar Enterprises boarding parties."

He smiled and lifted a glass of water. "You may use their bases if you capture them, but we want their ships. What do you say?"

And this was exactly why Jarvis didn't like business. There obviously wasn't anything to say but "yes," no matter how he felt. Stellar had the bigger credit stack, so he was in charge. With outlaws and idiots, you could shoot them or blow them up, but with proper businessmen, you just had to hang your head and say, "Yes, sir."

"Okay," He said reluctantly, nodding his head. Ferril looked surprised that Jarvis would so easily abandon their plans, but Jarvis knew that he didn't have anything left to bargain with, and he figured just being allowed to meet Stellar had probably used up all of his luck points for the day. "However, I'm trusting that 'highly rewarded' means the same thing around here as it does from where I come from." He smiled back, mimicking Stellar as he raised his own glass. "The future is nothing more than the end result of the present's opportunities. I heard that once, somewhere. . . never believed it until today. I'll sleep better tonight knowing that when I wake up, I'll be one step closer to realizing all of the opportunity you've presented me with today. I won't let you down, Mr. Stellar; I promise you that."

Rob could see the Ryn was reluctant and understood why. The other had his own ideas and no one liked to be told "no" too. Jarvis did not complain and seemed fairly submissive to him, which was interesting to see. Rob would have to let them know later that all his employees could express their idea's or thoughts freely.

He raised his glass and sipped it slowly. "Thank you for agreeing and I'm glad we could reach an agreement here today. I sure you, however, later on you will be able to keep those ships or perhaps if you work for me I would be able to provide you with replacements."

Rob smiled and set the glass down. "I'm sure your group will not disappoint and we shall have a beneficial relationship together.

"How long will it take you to get your operation up and running? I actually have a shipment leaving here tomorrow. Would you be able to stay and escort it to Ojom with you?"

Jarvis nodded. "Yes, tomorrow will be fine. I'll send a few people ahead to get things started at Ojom. We can have a basic base of operations established almost immediately, and by the end of the week, we should have enough ships to start forming some kind of escort schedule. Another week, maybe two, and we can send out the first of our attack groups to disrupt the pirates at their own bases."

Jarvis was rather proud of himself. Running through the lists in his mind, he knew he had just enough in place to make it all happen. There were lists of potential crewmen who were just waiting to hear if the deal had been done, ship owners waiting to sell their craft to him, and enough money in his bank accounts to make it all happen. It was all coming together so. . . perfectly. For the first time in a long time, everything was happening better than Jarvis had envisioned it.

"I am glad you have it all planned out Mr. Ragnar. Or may I call you Jarvis? You can call me Rob." He smiled and nodded at Jarvis. "Just please remember, I need all the ships you can capture."

Rob looked down and finished off his plate slowly. "IF you like you may stay here, we have guest rooms, enough for your friends as well."

"I am glad you have it all planned out Mr. Ragnar. Or may I call you Jarvis? You can call me Rob."

"Of course, Jarvis is fine."

Rob smiled and nodded. "Just please remember, I need all the ships you can capture."

"I'll be taking extra steps to ensure we capture as many ships as possible, and in the best conditions possible."

With Rob almost finished his plate of food, Jarvis looked down at his own half-eaten meal. He had been talking so much, he hadn't done very much eating; that, and he had still been a little nervous at first, and had been worried about what might happen if he started eating. He started eating faster, but not inappropriately so, and was almost done when Rob made his next comment.

"IF you like you may stay here, we have guest rooms, enough for your friends as well."

"Thank you," Jarvis replied, wiping his mouth with a napkin and taking a drink from his glass. "But I need to get back to my ship in orbit soon. There are some things I need to go over with the group I'll be sending back to Ojom, and I'd like to send them off personally. Besides, most of my people don't like new places." Jarvis smiled lightheartedly, letting Rob know he appreciated the offer.