'Gracias mi homie' Pepe caught the bottle and took a big gulp....then coughed...his eyse bulged out as the his brain tried to deal with the lethal alcoholic content of this potent drink. He tried to breathe after the gulp but it felt like his lungs were on fire. "AIeeecaraaambah", pepe looked at the skull and cross printed on the bottle and gasped. The room was already spinning, he tried to control his breathing to avoid vomiting all over. He looked back at Ares, who was now grinning ear to ear. "Good eh?", Ares asked.
Pepe nodded back and said to himself, "What the heck", and took another drink. Holy ship, this thing could be used as a rocket fuel, or probably for dissolving ships hulls. The pain did not ease at all, infact, it felt even worse than the first gulp. He looked around and saw TBH and SCRA enjoying the drink without a problem. Pepe Tried to stand up, but felt like his legs were made of rubber. "Hmmm, I should stay seated for a bit", pepe thought to himself.
"Courtesy of the gentleman in the corner", the Bartender dropped another skull and cross bottle on pepe's table. Pepe looked and saw Pedro raising his bottle to him.
This is going to be a long evening......pepe thought......
Spacewolf walks in hes obviously that hes been shot down but yet hes smiling. He finds Pedro and ares on a table s he walks over 'The AW and bushudo lost 2 GBs today while trying to catch my fighter in cretes atmosphere that will teach them to try and fight us above or own planet'
Elder Ares just finished making his recorded post in the databanks of the brotherhood. He smiled warmly to Montoya, and he smiled warmly back.
Juan listened to the message for a short while and responded.
"All of your message was true. You should have been a lot harsher on all the green pilots we have. It is simply unacceptable for 12 Corsair fighters to not be able to do what a sixth of the number of coalition pilots can; excuse me for referring to you under that broad spectrum.
As you don't know, I am currently fighting for my ancient family home as a lawyer. I have literally zero time to train any of our pilots, and I doubt Pedro does either. Be aware, that if you are willing to help our pilots, you will probably assume command of all training operations when we are not around, which will be most of the time. You are the only one of us with time to train your brothers. I wish I could, but this is an extremely pressing concern for me. My family home is nearly eight hundred years old, and I am not willing to lose it."
"I can help, but I can't assure you that I'll be around all the time. You know how things are, I'm often busy launching attacks on the Houses, or defending our space here.
But, yeah, I'll do what I can. These guys are good, they're just unpolished. We'll get them flying their Titans in a manner befitting the Corsairs' reputation, eh?
Anyway, I hope your unnecessarily large castle is well-taken care of. Might I suggest that you could make certain sections a museum? That might make it easier to manage...
Anyway, amigo, I'm going to finish celebrating our victory earlier, even if so many rookies did have to learn evasive maneuvers the hard way!"
Ares signals to the barman, who brings both men a fresh round of booze...
"A beer; I could use one of those. This is so hard for me watching the wrecking machines move up to our villa, and at the same time watching the wreckage of the Titans our pilots have lost fall to the ground to be recycled."
Excellent, Ares had accepted to lead training, even though he couldn't be in the air all the time. This was understandable. No one could be in the air all the time.
"Come to think about it, if there is anything the Brotherhood can help you with, then ask me. Though I doubt our hermanos are in a fit state to fight after the debacle in space. Anything to do with supplying armament, more than your current supply, and ships if you need them in large quantities, could be arranged through me. This is what I offer in exchange for your service to your brothers and us. It is not much more than you have access to now, but we have little more to offer. If you ever need this, contact me."
Raul sat alone at one table, facing down, he thought about the fight last night. "We need training, more than ever. Even I could not kill more than a fly. Is this what people expect from me, an Elder? I have to do my best not to fail them..." He was with himself alone a whole hour, staring at the table the whole time. Then, all of a sudden, he stood up and left the bar quickly. He had to do something, but a bar is not the right place to think.
Raul brushed quickly past Lucendez as he walked into the bar. The sight of a newly created Elder shocked Lucendez, but he recovered quickly. Even though Juan had only been on Crete for a short while after coming home, and having being accepted into the Brotherhood, Juan had not be content to staying in one system. Turning in his beloved X-Shuttle and acquiring his Titan had been a boon in terms of accessibility to the outlying systems, and had resulted in him exploring too far, all the way into the Nomad lands and their Dyson Sphere in Omicron Major.
"Bartender, ale please." Lucendez sat at the bar, staring into a dark corner, his mind lost.
"The thirteen saloons that had lined the one street of Seney had not left a trace. The foundations of the Mansion House hotel stuck up above the ground. The stone was chipped and split by the fire. It was all that was left of the town of Seney. Even the surface had been burned off the ground.
Nick looked at the burned-over stretch of hillside, where he had expected to find the scattered houses of the town and then walked down the railroad track to the bridge over the river. The river was there."
Such a mess every day. Dirty tables, chairs laying on the floor, some of them missing parts. Broken glasses, fluids of every possible colors spillt everywhere. And the smoke. Although the air conditioning was running at 100% the Lounge was always foggy. I rather won't go into more details.
***
Pedro Alonso, the bartender, was kicking out last drunkards when he saw Pedro Maniaco coming with brother Ashton Tracks.
"What an unusual hour for you two. But I am sorry, I am just about to close.", the bartender said.
Pedro Maniaco smiled at him: "That's the point, my friend. I am sure you'd welcome every hand to help you clean this up." and he opened the door to the toilet...
... and then he closed it quickly, turning to brother Ashton, trying not to make a grin: "Brother, I know you probably have been already taught your lesson, but helping Pedro Alonso with cleaning this bar for a month will help you remember in the future."
And he turned and walked away, leaving shocked brother Tracks to the laughing bartender with no mercy...
Gentle walks into the bar and notices Ares sat there swigging away at fine corsair ale. Gentle proceeds to smack him in the mouth for his recent discourse and demands for unwarranted respect. "You want respect from me then try giving some you arrogant upstart" warns Gentle. "Now get up off the floor and stop wobbling like an outast chin" You may be an elder but Im faction leader too and if you speak to me like that again you will be drinking through a straw".
"Barman get everyone in the place some beer and get ares a bottle of our finest brandy"
"id like to be your friend but dont think you can talk to me like dirt amigo"
Gentle walks out of the bar knowing his fists are like his guns. Deadly and on target.
Montoya walks into the bar as Gentle walks out and grabs him by the arm.
He spoke in a harsh tone of voice, while drawing his sidearm.
"I heard that whole monologue by you, and you better go right back in that bar before I bust your gut with this flechette! I don't give ten Outcasts whether you are a 'faction leader' or not, but I wont allow you to talk to Ares like that. He has helped me out more times than I care to remember, and you better waltz your sorry ass in there right now!"
At the point of the pistol, Gentle turned around and walked back into the bar. Ares had recovered from the slap and stood steadfast in front of Gentle, raiseing his mechanical arm for a punch. Juan pinned Gentle's arms before he could react, and Ares loosed his fist into Gentle's face.