Quite the shrewd businessman, isn't he?

Maxing out his bartering skill. And probably took a few related perks too

Charlie is an absolute wonder at spotting any and all opportunities for making something out of nothing.

He's natural at it

btw, I would love to see a weapon factory or a weapon shop in this world you're crafting.

I like the detail you give of Rick pistol, Oh and also I watch that movie for sure.

Idea worth considering

Hang on, don't be so quick to cut out the supporting cast just yet. After all, there are at least two bad ass fighting femme fatale's who could easily be secondary protags with Tiger.

Of course, the downside is that if one brings in actresses suitably hot enough to play the girls, some people might believe that the film industry is sexualizing them needlessly. At least until they see photos of the actual heroines being represented anyway.

At that point the conspiracy theory is that the film industry outright staged the attack on the ship for that 'Based on a True story' tag.

I bet that the conspiracy theorists in a scifi society like this are even crazier than the ones we have in ours