Toledo Lounge

[Rodent]

It's not everyday that the Order high rankers walk in for drinks and relaxation.

This was not everyday.

Robert D'Souza walked into the bar with a very wide grin, and shouted in a loud voice, enough so that everyone can hear.

"We have an agreement with the Dragons! Drink, for renewed friendship and victory to come, drink!"

Taking a bottle, he quickly opened it and began drinking like a thirsty man drinks water.

[Ryummel]

Myles stepped into the bar, carrying a backpack. He glanced quickly around the place: He could notice a Kusari-looking man, admiral D'Souza drinking in a pure happiness state and some Order uniformed agents.

"Seems the admiral is a good example for the 'troop', drinking like a boozer..." He mumbled.

He sat in the nearest empty table, taking out a datapad of the backpack, as well as a book titled 'Exopolitics' and began to read it.

---

[Jeremy Hunter]

"Good" Jeremy replied. Getting a Root Beer, and sat down and drained it. He looked over to Troy. "Funny, Never seen you up in the black." Jeremy shifted. "I'm Jeremy Hunter, the 19 year old crazy Major of the OCV-Ghost Eye." Jeremy put his glass down and waited for Troy to say something.

---

May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Nathan]

"Well Mr Hunter. Just got promoted. However they need credits for Transponder change... That is..kinda wierd."

Takes a breather.

"Anyway im Troy Goldman. I tend to hunt around for Toledo's Missing Keg. Still no clue as to where it might be."

Downs 2 pints of Beer and looks at Jeremy.

"Im a heavy drinker"

He winks at him.

[Jeremy Hunter]

Jeremy mentally rolls his eyes. Little did either of them know that later they would be fighting side by side to defend their home.

"Whats teh missing keg?"

---

May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Rodent]

It is a massive surprise to the bartender when a Single member of the High Command strolls in for a drink. It is a kind of an event, and a tussle to keep inquiring lower ranks away from the officer, he's come here for a rest after all. Imagine the Bartender's surprise when he saw not one, not two, but all six members of the High Command strolling in, with guards flanking them.

He promptly passed out when behind them followed high ranking officers of the Coalition with their own guard. The Leadership of the two factions promptly took up the biggest table in the bar, which had to be enlarged by dragging adjacent tables to it.

The guards however, were on the move, pushing everyone sitting in the bar out of it, and in some cases, carrying them out. Their response to all the questions was the same....

"Important Meeting. None of your business."

Soon, the bar was empty, save for the leadership and the Bartender, who had slowly regained consciousness. The Bar had been closed down completely, and the Guards were outside. Motioning to the Bartender to bring drinks for everyone, Mid Admiral Robert D'Souza got up. Moving to a makeshift Projector that had been hastily arranged, he began to speak.

"Hermanos, Amigos, Gentlemen. We all know what we are here for, so I will get straight to the point. We have both already directed our pilots in the search for suitable rocks in the Tau systems, but we must plan ahead. If you will recall, I had put a rough estimate for the cost involved at around Five hundred Billion Credits. That can be reduced significantly, but only through intensive planning and a lot of work on our part, as well as the entire manpower of both our factions.

We are operating under a time constraint, we do not know how much time we have, but we must assume the worst. The base must be livable in under Six months and fully constructed in under a year. For that, we need you, Amigos...."

He clears his throat.

"We need the best of the best in everything, from digging the rock out to the men and machinery required to work, and we have to keep the resources required flowing. We have discussed many means to do all that, in brief. I think it is now time to make elaborate plans. Soon the rock will be found, what then?"

He moves back to his seat, smiling a tad wearily. It had begun.

//The Lounge is now closed for SCRA-Order Leadership till we are done. Attempts to enter will get you shot.//

[arvg]

Premier Katz took his seat at the table, and accepted the drink that was offered to him.

The quiet, well mannered man watched keenly as the Order Admiral's moved to prepare their presentation. They were efficient, as they always were, especially when it came to making the Coalition feel welcome.

Though there were many ideological differences, a friendship between the two groups had formed, a mutual respect built around a common threat. Katz knew the importance of keeping friends close.

He glanced at Commandante Warner, sitting beside him, and settled in to watch the briefing.

When eventually the question was asked, Katz tilted his hand up, "The first task will be to complete a full survey of the location. Ensuring that whatever is located around doesn't pose any kind of direct threat during construction. If and when we start building, we are going to require swift action to get the base established before the local combat forces realize we are there... however..."

Katz stood, slipping a hand into his trouser pocket, pushing back his long black coat. "This is where the chaos in the Taus works to our advantage. The Kusari and the Bretonians are currently focused in Leeds, and along the Tau-31 corridor. Tau-23 being a battleground between the Outcasts and the Colonial Remnant keeps both concentrated here..." he motioned, "and here. Which leaves us free to explore the further edges. If we are quick and move in absoloute secrecy, we should be able to secure a prime piece of real-estate sufficiently off the beaten track... failing that, I might propose we look around Falkland base, and the mining operation there."

---

[Rodent]

D'Souza stood up.

"We have reports of several large rocks located in Tau-37, but they are right on the major trading routes. We could either continue to try to find one in exactly the right position, or we could find the right position and then drag the rock to the position. As you can see, the latter option is much more feasible, we cannot rely on luck to find the right asteroid in time.

Now then, Dragging an Asteroid is difficult work, and usually done through either a fleet of Lifters or Specially equipped Capital class ships. We can move neither that far though, so we will have to look for help. Thankfully for us....The IMG operates in the area and they are specialists in what we desire. Provided we can get them to deal, the IMG can move the rock to a location we have found...so we can began work on it. If possible, their own diggers will speed up the process of hollowing out the Asteroid even further.

The downside here is, that we shall have to tell the IMG about the location of our base. This could be dangerous for our secrecy. This is something we have to decide....." He sits down again.

[arvg]

Katz frowned as he stared at the map, stroking his chin. "Lt. Commander Razin, a rather eccentric Coalition Recon Scout, he had a thing for rocks. Also One Ms. Nichole Schmidt, a Freelancer who does work for the Coalition from time to time, she's experienced in grand scale logistics and over saw the reconstruction of the JiangXi colony. If we are going to bring in experts, these two would be invaluable, Schmidt's strong ties to the Zoners will help us if we need to procure supplies. As for the IMG, I don't see any way around it, if we need to move such a large object... But we should exhaust our search for a suitable rock already in place before we consider relying on the IMG... I concur on the security factor." He moved back to his seat and sat down.

---

[Rodent]

Robert rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The thing is Premier....I do not know if we can circumvent the IMG's involvement in this. They are miners, and prospecting for new ore rocks is their job. They go
very deep into most asteroid fields, and I assume a large rock like the one we are looking for will be
charted and marked by them, even if they are not worth any resources.

If we can talk to them, maybe their extensive Asteroid Field maps can assist us.....? This is a difficult situation!" He ended.