This was an absolute eye candy. The glazing, the ice cream. It was definitely worth dealing with all these strong scents of cheese, fish, garlic and butter of the previous meals, just to look at this masterfully prepared tarte tatin. Ezrael had no idea how this was called, and since nobody else said it, in the funny way the name was pronounced - like a very french gatling gun - he dodged the opportunity to giggle about the gallic language's quirks. The fruits were soaked with slightly buttery caramel and their own juices and the ice cream was slowly melting. Waiting for the amiral to do the first move, he followed suit. Maybe he should try to do one himself when there is another big off-time on the ship.
"Admittedly," he began after swallowing the first bite, mostly eyeing the ice cream sliding closer to the bottom-up cake, "When I came here, I was expecting the worst, despite what Sombra told me about you. Simply because of the different levels of power. My crew is probably on edge right now, since this meeting took longer than expected. They are just waiting for something to happen, to react. Any wrong move and my ship would have left the area within a minute."
He scooped up some ice cream. "... if they stick to the protocols I wrote, that is." And it went into his mouth. Chewing, swallowing and then taking a sip of the Armagnac. "When we left the Core, I needed a few months until I realized I had to rewrite all the protocols and guidelines. After all, we are fully on our own. No fleet, no bases, not even snubs or bombers. The Core, and I believe most other factions and house militaries, have multiple groups of assets they can rely on. But the Apahanta is alone. Makes you wonder how your crew has to react in certain cases. What if the Captain dies. What if there is a hostile take-over? What if the ship got hacked? What if, what if, what if. What if the Captain got kidnapped."
Leaning back, he eyed Isabelle again. "The question is, when is the crew allowed to give up? When are they to leave the ship? Are we going to rescue our crew members in very dangerous situations at the risk of even more crew members and the ship? My guess is that your military has already established guidelines long ago. I wonder if you had to bother with these questions. I assume yes. If not on that level, then on another level. The war, and how many gallic soldier lives are worth continuing it. When to stop, what to do if this and that happens..."
Shaking the glass a little bit to create little Armagnac waves, he chuckled and smirked at her. "Luckily I've been treated well here, amiral. All the tension and worries for nothing, as I sit here, enjoy a very exquisite lunch with the so far most charming gallic amiral I've met." Raising the glass, the Curacaoan nodded at her. "Cheers!"
