ABS FIESTA REDUX

[Mr. Hurricane]

"The Imperium won't stop until someone makes them. Hell even as they're fighting this war they've tried to tighten their loving rat claws on the globe. Thank the Gods that we've managed to keep them from expanding their oversees influence, if only just. If you let 'em go they'll subvert, subjugate, and occupy every country on the Gods' green Reliquary. If we stop now and let 'em continue, they'll take South Aesthia and parts of the Xarian continent next, probably, and who knows, maybe they'll subvert Kintharia tomorrow? I'm sure your grandparents know what it's like living under occupation, except an Imperial occupation would be infinitely more horrible. Not finishing a war now means another war in the future. We'll go on as long as they will, for the sake of the world,"

Jaakko is quiet for a moment.

"If we go along with your plan, what will we have to do then since you've decided not to kill us? You gonna make us attack our own fleet?"

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

Theme

"The Imperium won't stop until someone makes them. Hell even as they're fighting this war they've tried to tighten their loving rat claws on the globe. Thank the Gods that we've managed to keep them from expanding their oversees influence, if only just. If you let 'em go they'll subvert, subjugate, and occupy every country on the Gods' green Reliquary. If we stop now and let 'em continue, they'll take South Aesthia and parts of the Xarian continent next, probably, and who knows, maybe they'll subvert Kintharia tomorrow? I'm sure your grandparents know what it's like living under occupation, except an Imperial occupation would be infinitely more horrible. Not finishing a war now means another war in the future. We'll go on as long as they will, for the sake of the world,"

Jaakko is quiet for a moment.

"If we go along with your plan, what will we have to do then since you've decided not to kill us? You gonna make us attack our own fleet?"

: You've got a few options. Since we were supposed to go to the Indomitus after dispatching you anyway, we could probably convince them that we swayed you to our side. Or, we'll have you drop all your munitions and hand you over as prisoners of war. Those are your options.
: Ooor we could fly towards Kintharia, get near enough the coast that we can be rescued quickly, then we bail out and you shoot down our planes. We can say we got attacked by some unknown force and ride out Armageddon almost as far away from Zentragothorum as possible!
: I don't like any of those options. I'd rather shoot you traitors down.
: You're welcome to try.
: For God's sake, don't push them!

"Worse? What did you do?" she says, lowering her gun. She casts a glance over to Elu before looking down at the engineer again. "Have you crippled the carrier for good or something? Why?"

Elu stops pummeling the engineer and stands up next to you.
: Because... we can't let this carrier get back to your fleet. You bomb the Goths, they bomb everyone, millions die in a fire, winter kills everyone else. I wish there was a better way, but on such short notice... this is all we got.

[Tayasaurus]

"There are no options on the gods damned table until we hear back from Bell. I assure you, this is something that need not be pushed yet."

[carolcat]

: Because... we can't let this carrier get back to your fleet. You bomb the Goths, they bomb everyone, millions die in a fire, winter kills everyone else. I wish there was a better way, but on such short notice... this is all we got.

Cualli goes quiet, thinking the engineer's words over. Her mind quickly jumps to the possible reasons she came up with for Arkhip leaving and the engineer can almost see the pieces falling into place in her head.

She looks over at the current state of the engineer in the glasses. "You know, if you'd explained this all before your friends had tried to shoot me, they might not be in... this state," she says, almost apologetic. Even if she doesn't have the full story, she can tell that these Kintharians have gone to great lengths to do this, which tells her that there must be some substance to what she's been told. And besides that, she can't think of any reasons for them to stab NUAC in the back after so long.

"How long do we have, and do you have a way out?" Cualli asks. She really doesn't have much to lose by taking the engineer's advice and getting the hell out of here: Elu is her only strong tie and almost everyone else on the carrier treats her like stuff after Arkhip's desertion.

[Badger]

"Engaging this intervention doesn't help us at all anyways. They will still get what they want by reducing our combat effectiveness regardless, If our mission is for nothing in the end why fight at all? What if the strike mission fails? There goes any hope of white peace while the Imperials gain an upper hand."

[Operator¹]

Bell contacts the carrier.

: Mjolnir-1 to Tordenskjold, I need to speak with the Vice Marshal.

[ZombiLoin]

Theme: You've got a few options. Since we were supposed to go to the Indomitus after dispatching you anyway, we could probably convince them that we swayed you to our side. Or, we'll have you drop all your munitions and hand you over as prisoners of war. Those are your options.

Gaffe once again chimes in over the radio. In an unsure voice, he pleads with Xiaomei.
"You know this is tantamount to a declaration of war, right? The fallout and war among the allied forces when this comes to light, and the Izzy push after would also kill many!"

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko holds his tongue. He shakes with resentment in his roosterpit. His blood boils with anger and he sees red. Surrendering to the Imperials or collaborating with them is unthinkable. He wants to avoid nuclear war, and prays that Tarkirov wouldn't be so stupid, or that Aesthian intelligence and government is actually worth a stuff, but collaboration with the enemy, and Raiden, who have sold out, is unthinkable. He reasons that his own best option is to make it to one of his own fleets and refuse to take off again. He'd sooner be sent to Aesthian military prison than conspire with the Imperials. Even if it meant killing Raiden, but they've earned it considering that they have conspired against Aesthia and were ready to kill him.

Or rather, Xiaomei, the unlikable, conniving bitch was ready to kill him. The other Kintharians seemed much less willing.

Tippy speaks reason. Nothing will be allowed to happen until he hears back from Bell.

"Nothing will happen until we hear from Bell," Jaakko affirms gravely," And who is controlling Ellie's aircraft?"

[Qwepir]

Bell contacts the carrier.

: Mjolnir-1 to Tordenskjold, I need to speak with the Vice Marshal.

: This is Lawniczak, what is it? Why are you back already?

Gaffe once again chimes in over the radio. In an unsure voice, he pleads with Xiaomei.
"You know this is tantamount to a declaration of war, right? The fallout and war among the allied forces when this comes to light, and the Izzy push after would also kill many!"

: Then it had better not come to light.

Cualli goes quiet, thinking the engineer's words over. Her mind quickly jumps to the possible reasons she came up with for Arkhip leaving and the engineer can almost see the pieces falling into place in her head.

She looks over at the current state of the engineer in the glasses. "You know, if you'd explained this all before your friends had tried to shoot me, they might not be in... this state," she says, almost apologetic. Even if she doesn't have the full story, she can tell that these Kintharians have gone to great lengths to do this, which tells her that there must be some substance to what she's been told. And besides that, she can't think of any reasons for them to stab NUAC in the back after so long.

"How long do we have, and do you have a way out?" Cualli asks. She really doesn't have much to lose by taking the engineer's advice and getting the hell out of here: Elu is her only strong tie and almost everyone else on the carrier treats her like stuff after Arkhip's desertion.

: We were supposed to just find an escape pod and get the hell out of here, you spotting us kind of put a wrench in that plan.

The engineer draws a syringe from one of their hip pouches.
: But if security is on the way, I'm gonna need another way out. You've still got a few minutes.

You see a flash at your feet as the downed engineers spontaneously combust in a manner all too familiar to Elu.

[Operator¹]

: This is Lawniczak, what is it? Why are you back already?

: A Kintharian unit is holding up my squadron and Djuriskas, and the Wyvern carrying one of my pilots was also remotely hijacked. I'm guessing that they were also responsible for the recent explosion on the carrier, but besides that, I've been told that the Imperials have a dead man's switch that will trigger once their strategic missile command center is gone.

[ZombiLoin]

: Then it had better not come to light.

Gaffe retorts, "Do you really think a combat-hardened Aesthian squadron and carrier would just mysteriously crumple after a rendezvous with you, and not make anybody back home comb over the ashes to find out what really happened? For an intelligence officer, you must be really stupid to think that."

Gaffe let's out a nervous chuckle, perhaps finding a little solace in black humor.

"Though considering you fell for Izzy's buff, I should have expected less!"

[carolcat]

"Your way--" Cualli jumps at the spontaneous combustion and takes a few steps back. "...your way out can be the same as mine, you know," she offers, glancing at the engineer's syringe.

[Qwepir]

: A Kintharian unit is holding up my squadron and Djuriskas, and the Wyvern carrying one of my pilots was also remotely hijacked. I'm guessing that they were also responsible for the recent explosion on the carrier, but besides that, I've been told that the Imperials have a dead man's switch that will trigger once their strategic missile command center is gone.

: A dead man's switch? What do you mean? Why are the Kintharians holding you up?

"Your way--" Cualli jumps at the spontaneous combustion and takes a few steps back. "...your way out can be the same as mine, you know," she offers, glancing at the engineer's syringe.

: ...I'm not going to argue with that. Let's go.

[carolcat]

"Elu, stay close, and don't attack anyone unless I tell you to. If we can get out of here without any more blood on our hands, I'm all for it," she says, turning and breaking into a sprint down the halls, leading the way to the closest escape pods. Cualli has done enough drills to know where the escape pods are by heart; at this point it's all a matter of getting through whatever resistance they may encounter.

[Operator¹]

: They don't want us to succeed with the strike, so they're keeping us from meeting up with the rest of the fleet. They believe that the command center is constantly broadcasting a signal to their missile silos so that when the signal is cut off, the Imperials will launch a missile strike against every allied country on the planet. They've said that the KZG has forwarded some intel to the Mercanans and our intelligence agency, but obviously I can't verify that.