The Burning Skull Rises

[Charos]

"Cristina… I won’t pretend I know what you have been through but I will not condemn the actions you had to take to protect you and your crew. We all had to dirty our hands to survive through that crisis, some had to more than others.” Markus paused and drew a long breath as he faced the ship’s bridge. "You and I have both experienced that awful crisis and survived and I want to prevent it from happening again.” He touched her shoulders and talked to her with a soothing tone “You are one of the few people I know that can help me, your experience and knowledge are powerful means, I want you to lend me your strength to bring the Hellfire Legion to its former glory and prevent a crisis from happening again.” Markus backed away and stared at Admiral Hunter as he waited for an answer.

“In order to prevent such a crisis from ever happening again, you will have to change yourself. You need to be more strict, you need to be feared to a certain extent. And only then will it be possible to let the Legion arise from its ashes. I can help you as an advisor...if you so desire. However, I will not take an active role in the Legion again.”

“I tried to be a kind leader because the difficulties we face are many and we need to stand together, not because of our ranks, but because we shared a common goal. It seems I was soft and a fool to believe it, now that I think of it.” Markus let out a sigh, this conversation was taking longer than he had expected and it was getting him nowhere. “Cristina, this time I promise you that things will be different. Come to Vespucci with me and I’ll appoint you as a fleet advisor and I will not ask you for anything more than that.” The Lord Commander was alerted by his personal comms, it was the signal that the specified time was close. “That was from Leniex, they need me back as soon as possible.” Markus got up and took a few steps towards the door “You will let me go, right?"