Location - Desponia, Hallway
Date - Monday, April 16th, 11:38 AM
"Alexander Mauser is the head of a pharmaceutical company, and a sixth of Persephone's Merchant Council. Of course, he also bears a certain resemblance to this lady's bodyguard. Blonde hair, that jawline; the eyes are a little bit off, but all he's really missing is a stick up his ass to be the spitting image of a younger Alexander.
"...though, I doubt that that resemblance would be reassuring for Lady Schwartzwald at this moment."
“Now now, that is just pure slander! I am far more handsome than that old codger ever was!”
The blonde’s vocal disapproval echoed throughout the disintegrating hallway, although his rifle never moved even an inch from the crew of the New York. It would seem that while the lighthearted man had no issues quipping with the Alliance officers, he would not hesitate to gun them down immediately it came down to it.
“Not that I would know, really, but it comes to reason that someone so buttu..”
“Enough!”
Elle Schwartzwald’s eyes had narrowed considerably in response to Riley’s words and the glint of suspicion was clearly visible in her dark orbs.
“Boy…. Are you another one of Mauser’s pets? You are a bit too old, but...”
"Therefore I have a proposition. I have a trained doctor with me and a ship docked two hangars away and a willingness to ferry you two to safety. If these factors are not to your liking then you can attempt to kill me and try to fight your way through my crew around the corner and to some wayward escape pod that has no doubt been jettisoned already while your lady friend bleeds out without further care."
“That’s super nice and all, but it’s not really my decision, Mr. High-flying All…”
“We accept.”
With her eyes never wavering from Riley’s figure, the wounded CEO immediately accepted Conrad’s proposition. It's not like it was a particularly complex decision, all things considered. The station was blowing up and it was unlikely that it would suddenly get any better. Fighting would most likely end up getting all of them killed and even if by some miracle they managed to win, the two of them would still need to find a way off this station.
The chances of that were very... improbable. And Elle Schwartzwald was not leading the worlds largest industrial mega-corporation because she was a woman who took insane chances.
“Lower your gun, Theo.”
For his part, the blonde mercenary immediately dropped his aim, allowing the Alliance officers to move further up the hallway. A theatric spread of hands was accompanied by a casual grin that played on the blonde’s lips, but form was still somewhat tense, clearly ready to resume his earlier stance at any moment.
Theo gave a mocking salute to the incoming Alliance soldiers.
“Theo Cassion, at your service. And this is, as that white-haired gentleman indicated earlier…” His blonde head flicked towards the suited woman he was still propping up with one of his hands. “... is Elle Schwartzwald, CEO of Bayerische Motoren Werke and one of the members of the aforementioned Merchant Council of Persephone.”
The woman merely gave a simple nod.
“Right. We have lowered our weapons and will subject ourselves to your authority, for the time being, Captain.”
“Now, shall we head towards that ship you mentioned?”
The station shook violently once more.
“I would rather not die in this coffin that Mauser prepared for me, if at all possible.”
Location - Ark Royal, Hangar
Date - Monday, April 16th, 11:35 AM
"I'm fine, I'm fine, it was just a little zap, nothing major. Damn thing didn't even knock me out."
“Is that so? You are rather lucky that I have to support this half-dead lug, or otherwise I would drag you to the med-bay right now, Takeshi.”
Anja’s eyes were uncannily sharp. Really, the older woman had an exceptionally good nose for sniffing out lies. In fact, if she had a higher resilience for violence, you could easily see her being a rather exceptional interrogator. In any case, putting the thought aside for a second, her skill in ferreting out falsehoods, coupled with her inherent penchant for mothering really made her a hassle to deal with at times.
“Either way, you will report to the med-bay after this fight for a thorough checkup, understood?”
“And no ferreting out of it, as usual, you miss this one and I’ll revoke your launch clearance.”
“Right, there was an ace custom in the White Dagger last time, I think it got damaged quite badly last battle, so I doubt it has been fully repaired by now… unless our engineers really felt like giving more help to the enemy, I guess.”
Clarissa’s eyes clouded over for a second.
“That might not be too far from the truth. We came from the hangar from where the White Dagger was stored. I must admit I wasn’t thinking about it at the time, but it looked in a far better shape than the reports passed on to me by Commander Cato indicated.”
“Though… I’m not sure you are putting the blame on the right source. You didn’t staff any EAU engineers on the ship before the arrival of the Vice-Captain and Ensign Wakahisa, right?”
“But access should have been restricted… did someone trigger automated maintenance?”
The blonde princess fell into deep thought once more.
"Clarissa, I volunteer to oversee the Valkyrie squadron if the plan to occupy the cloning Rubicon is implemented. The Helianthus is well-suited to covering fire and providing battlefield support. Furthermore, if the enemy numbers are thinned, I suggest we combine the Coinvolto's movement with the Salix's specialty to strike at the enemy battleship directly. Most Rubicons can't operate continuously without a recharge point, after all. If the White Dagger is taken out of commission, escape will become impossible for them, and the battle would be as good as won."
“Approved.”
Clarissa’s response was brusque and clipped, her mind still occupied by her earlier quandry.
“Provided that Captain Song has no objections on her part.”
“Although I must admit, I doubt that the engagement will truly last long enough for both sides to need to recharge their Rubicons. If this was a larger scale engagement, then you would most likely be correct, but as things are…”
“It will be quick and brutal, Katyusha. The suits themselves will most likely be wrecked far before they ever need to be recharged. Especially if core activations come into play.”
“It’s not like they’re the only ones with Rubicons, and regardless of the fame of their forces, the EAU has already beaten them down once. We only need to do it again.”
“Good words, Reid. Indeed the EAU has defeated them before. This ship has beaten them before. We will simply need to do so again and we have every tool to do so.”
“Besides…”
A small smirk appeared on Clarissa’s face.
“I have no intention to be outperformed by Cato and that stick in his arse.”