>>26286721“Mmmh-Hmm, there just ain’t nothing like it back home.” The priest’s words were muffled, his mouth was full. A beautiful lieutenant in her freshly pressed uniform swallowed a bite and answered. “You’re totally right, Santias, I think it’s this potato bun, it’s so fluffy! It soaks up the flavor perfectly.”
On the other side of the table, her fellow Black Fleet officer shook his head, disapproving. “You’ve got it wrong Justicia, it’s not in the buns, it’s in the meat. Those Hooman cows grow much fatter than ours, the marbling is incredible. That’s how the burgers get so juicy.” One of the other soldiers’ open palm sliced through the air dramatically: “With all due respect, Lieutenants, I fear you are missing the sea for the wave. The hamburger’s excellence cannot be attributed to any given component. As a whole, working as a collaborative unit, it is far more than the simple sum of its parts.”
At this very moment, a single potato fry flew across the table and stabbed into the speaker's left nostril.
Lieutenant Akai brought back some order to the table among the hooting: “Ensign, don’t play with your food, you insult our hosts! Sergeant Cales being a fucking nerd is no excuse.” Chuckles spread around the table once more.
Bantering, eating, joking, the Deadbeats were certainly in a good mood. The trip was peaceful, too peaceful for the taste of these ambitious soldiers. They’d been excited to sail on one of the fastest known Moriji ships, but then it had to limp at half-sails to match the Risuner Fleet’s speed and boredom set in. Now, they had finally arrived to the Council’s side of the continent.
One soldier asked their officers about their meeting with the /who/ authorities. “Ah, it was just like in the briefings. They’re pretty efficient if you’ve got everything ready to go, that’s why you guys got off right away.” Justicia drank some beer before continuing: “It was a bit more of a mess hashing things out with our charges. They really just kinda showed up here, right? Good way to get on the Republic’s border agents’ shit list. Some of them are probably still being questioned, but they’ll get through it, I’m sure.”
The priest then asked: “What about the RID? They give you any trouble?” Desuvius laughed that off. “Trouble? From the RID? Come on, we love those guys. I managed to get our hands on Sanallite and Sapling witness accounts for an updated census of the Holosea pirate fleets. We’ll need to review them before leaving.” He then raised a cautionary finger. “Ah, but be mindful. They are very interested in us, assume they’ve got someone listening at all times. That guy at the table behind Justicia has been reading the the newspaper for about an hour now. Don’t mind them, that’s just what they do. Now, Santias, tell me how our arsenal is looking, everything made the trip?” The priest’s smile widened…
***
The night was winding down, now. Three newspaper readers had passed the torch as the evening went by, and the group of Deadbeats had gone through as many orders of hamburgers.
“Sophiko, you’ve got a bit of an edge, something wrong?”
The soldier whispered. “Well, I was just thinking of why we’re here, and what our mission might mean… Like, you know what our diplomats said, is that really, erm…” Justicia did not speak softly. “You’re asking if we’re bluffing by tying our fate to the Risuners’?” Sophiko seemed a bit taken aback by this. “Don’t worry about our friend back there, this is a political calculus both our nations are well-aware of. The Admiralty’s conclusion was that strengthening our relation with the Risuner people was well worth a potential conflict with the Council nations. Their wood and iron is just that cheap, our shipyards have been at full capacity since that deal went through, and we’re building more. This is no bluff” This didn’t seem to particularly reassure Sophiko, but it replaced her uncertainty with something harder.
“I mean, think about it Sophiko, a war all the way out here, between Risuners and those Eastern Holos, what do you think that would look like? This will be no war of conquest, it’ll be retribution for whatever injury is done to the Risuners. A bit like the kerfuffle with HiRyS forty years back, we’ll smack each other a little bit until everyone’s a bit bruised, get a ship or two sunk, figure out a peace deal that makes no one happy, go home. Well worth the dozens of extra ships the Risuner trade lets us build per year.” Santias smiled and commented: “Geopolitics are truly a filthy thing, aren’t they, Sophiko?” The ensign simply nodded. Then, Desuvius gave his two cents. “Mind you, if any of that happens, that means *we* have failed our mission horribly, terribly. So instead of getting worried about the war, get your mind into those squirrels’ heads and figure out how to make them play ball with the plants and the spacemen, alright?” Justicia had a hearty laugh and raised her mug: “Cheers to that!”
“Cheers!”
>>26346335Anchor under Tri-fleet story.
