ABS FIESTA REDUX

[Mr. Hurricane]

: Don't you dare pretend you ever gave a damn about Cualli, I know you were one of the people on that ship that treated her like garbage. My only regret is that I couldn't have taken her with me.

Jaakko's train of thought is interrupted by Tippy's yell. He looks for a moment then turns his attentions back to Eremit.

Jaakko stares fiercely.

"When you've been fighting the Deltans for years, and they kill your first squadron, your flight lead, your men, and hijack an airliner full of your own people that you have to shoot down, it becomes hard to tell the good and bad ones apart. Regardless of that, I promised to a squadmate long ago that no harm would come to her. And none did. No matter who she was, she was one of my men," he says sternly, in a quieter tone.

[Ad Bot]

[NoZoner]

Ash lifts his head and looks at Markus. "My man!," he says with a chuckle and a smile, "You'll love this stuff, I swear."

Ash holds out the bar for Markus to break.

[Qwepir]

Walter walks a bit before picking up the conversation again

"I would've also loved to see who got sucker punched first but I saw some of the staff watching us, hopefully after this sortie things smooth out. What's your stance anyways? ...on this whole situation? I've only really got some hand gestures from you."

: Partly because I don't want to go out like a million other punks in a nuclear bombing, mostly because I want to frag that son of a bitch Zolnerowich. I figure I can play nice for a while here, then forget off to one of the colonies, where everything's less... y'know, nosy.
: I would recommend Trejirm.

Virvel rolls her eyes and turns around to confront the new voice.
: I didn't ask- I mean, why's that?
: Weather is nice if you can stand the heat, people are friendly, there's plenty of space, and they currently have the highest level of autonomy of any of our overseas holdings. It's why they got away with sitting out the war.

"I'm in the middle of a gods damned enemy hornets nest with men to take care of! I don't trust a single soul on this damned carrier, to which we were *tippy does air quotes* persuaded to drop everything we stand for! For all I know we've all been lied to! I've done everything I could to keep your bitch of a flight leader from killing any of my crew! This could have been SO much worse! Everyone else here is virtually quiet, but me, I have yet to be convinced! When I'm backed into a corner, I get angry!"

: Calm down, Tippy, one thought at a time, you're not making a whole lot of sense. Are you saying you're just here because you think your friends will be safer away from Aesthia?

Jaakko's train of thought is interrupted by Tippy's yell. He looks for a moment then turns his attentions back to Eremit.

Jaakko stares fiercely.

"When you've been fighting the Deltans for years, and they kill your first squadron, your flight lead, your men, and hijack an airliner full of your own people that you have to shoot down, it becomes hard to tell the good and bad ones apart. Regardless of that, I promised to a squadmate long ago that no harm would come to her. And none did. No matter who she was, she was one of my men," he says sternly, in a quieter tone.

: Hard to tell the good and bad ones apart? Bullstuff. That's as much bullstuff as your excuse that you're betraying Aesthia and killing Aesthians to save Aesthia. You were just too lazy to find out what kind she was, and you never treated her like one of your own. So stop trying to use her as a low-effort guilt trip, it's not working.

Arkhip's squad leader (as you can infer from the matching patch and higher rank insignia) and a few of his squadmates are now gathered around, watching the argument.

[Badger]

: Partly because I don't want to go out like a million other punks in a nuclear bombing, mostly because I want to frag that son of a bitch Zolnerowich. I figure I can play nice for a while here, then forget off to one of the colonies, where everything's less... y'know, nosy.
: I would recommend Trejirm.

Virvel rolls her eyes and turns around to confront the new voice.
: I didn't ask- I mean, why's that?
: Weather is nice if you can stand the heat, people are friendly, there's plenty of space, and they currently have the highest level of autonomy of any of our overseas holdings. It's why they got away with sitting out the war.

Walter shrugs and gives a slight smile "I was going to pick up mercenary work afterwards or just stick here until I figured stuff out. That doesn't sound too bad though if I wanted a different option myself."

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko becomes aware that he's being quickly outnumbered. He takes it in to consideration, silently eyeing the other pilots around him before looking at Eremit. He tries to quickly dig himself out of the situation and layers it with some personal philosophy.

"Believe what you want. I'm here to stop Aesthia from getting herself slagged, and I have the responsibility to my men to see that we can cooperate to that end,"

[Tayasaurus]

Tippy recollects her thoughts and breathes in slowly.

"Sorry."

Tippy sits down on the ground in an indian pose and pats the spot beside her.

"Lets talk. Sit."

[Gojira]

Markus takes a small piece of the chocolate and lets it melt in his mouth. As the chocolate melts, so does the tension in his body.
"...that is the tastiest thing I've had in a long time."
He smiles, glad for the small bit of normalcy in what seems like chaos to him.

[Qwepir]

Walter shrugs and gives a slight smile "I was going to pick up mercenary work afterwards or just stick here until I figured stuff out. That doesn't sound too bad though if I wanted a different option myself."

: Ugh. Mercenaries.

Tippy recollects her thoughts and breathes in slowly.

"Sorry."

Tippy sits down on the ground in an indian pose and pats the spot beside her.

"Lets talk. Sit."

Musashi sits down.

Jaakko becomes aware that he's being quickly outnumbered. He takes it in to consideration, silently eyeing the other pilots around him before looking at Eremit. He tries to quickly dig himself out of the situation and layers it with some personal philosophy.

"Believe what you want. I'm here to stop Aesthia from getting herself slagged, and I have the responsibility to my men to see that we can cooperate to that end,"

: You don't really think Aesthia is going to take you back, do you?

[Badger]

: Ugh. Mercenaries.

Walter squints and raises his head slightly
"Not like I can go back to Aesthia, And I don't know if I'd fit in all that well here yet." Walter briefly looks at Ulrich's rank and name "Bad experience with hiring some or something? or you just don't like their disloyalty?"

[Mr. Hurricane]

: You don't really think Aesthia is going to take you back, do you?

"No, unless Tarkirov turns out to be a nuclear-armed madman, and even then probably not. They'd take me back to put me in military prison though, but maybe that's the price I'll have to pay. But I'll never be an Imperial,"

[NoZoner]

"...that is the tastiest thing I've had in a long time."

"Haha, same here," Ash replies. He lets out a sigh to relax.

"Say, Markus, where are you from?," he suddenly asks, "I don't think I've had a chance to ask you yet."

[Gojira]

"I'm from Vierte, but I had to give up my citizenship to fly for Aesthia."
He sighs, slightly homesick, if glad for the food.
"What about you? I'm guessing... Mercana?"

[Tayasaurus]

"I want you to tell me what you've and Raiden have been up to since that time we parted ways a while back. And how-"

Tippy throws her hand out and does a sweeping motion

"it all ended up at this."

[Qwepir]

Walter squints and raises his head slightly
"Not like I can go back to Aesthia, And I don't know if I'd fit in all that well here yet." Walter briefly looks at Ulrich's rank and name "Bad experience with hiring some or something? or you just don't like their disloyalty?"

: There was a time once when soldiers for hire had a place in the world, when professional armies were few and far between, but in this day and age mercenary companies only exist to exploit the weak at the behest of the strong while affording the latter a veneer of plausible deniability. They are dishonest and unreliable by nature, no better than common pirates. We do not do business with them.

"No, unless Tarkirov turns out to be a nuclear-armed madman, and even then probably not. They'd take me back to put me in military prison though, but maybe that's the price I'll have to pay. But I'll never be an Imperial,"

: If you want to walk back home and climb into a noose, that's your business.
: That's enough, cadet. Now you're just antagonizing them.

"I want you to tell me what you've and Raiden have been up to since that time we parted ways a while back. And how-"

Tippy throws her hand out and does a sweeping motion

"it all ended up at this."

: Well, after Svirask we went back home to conduct routine counter-terrorist operations in the region. Nothing too exciting, it was a lot of, "go here and take pictures of suspected training camps", and then a few days later "go back here and drop a bomb on this confirmed training camp", and the occasional "fuel-air-bomb this mountain hideout". We were free of Xiaomei for a while, but a few months ago our services were requested by her again for some... sensitive KZG operations that I cannot go into too deep detail about. We haven't really gone back to normal duties since. It hasn't been easy for everyone, when we were told what we were supposed to do on this particular mission Nagato and I were quick to speak out, but... I'm sure you can guess what sort of things can happen if you try get in the way of an intelligence bureau with too much authority.

[Badger]

: There was a time once when soldiers for hire had a place in the world, when professional armies were few and far between, but in this day and age mercenary companies only exist to exploit the weak at the behest of the strong while affording the latter a veneer of plausible deniability. They are dishonest and unreliable by nature, no better than common pirates. We do not do business with them.

Walter crosses his arms as he listens and nods lightly in acknowledgement
"Well, If you have any suggestions I'd be open to them. That's just one of my choices if I can't find myself a different life, given I'm able to after all this."