About forty minutes later Amber knocked on Wayland's door before opening it.
"Ma'am, we're ready to go now. Unless you want to try to scrounge up some extra pilots..." Amber cleared her throat and absently picked at one of the freshly stiched cuts before chiding herself for her carelessness. The last thing she needed was an infection.
A battle had been the cause. It was always a battle. Always had been. Her pod had been recovered from amidst the wreckage of her fighter and it was he who had delivered it here. The surprise of the docking crew was expected: How often did a Council-made ship land on an Outcast base? Let alone a man of his stature.
The Outcast by the name of Samantha had been dropped off before he requested to dock. It seemed cruel to just let her float towards the base, but it was what she requested. Moments later, his Basilisk nudged its way into the hangar after gaining clearance to dock.
The centuries-old ship was not as graceful as a Sabre, but it managed to maneuver into the base and extend its wheeled landing gear. The rubber wheels squeaked as they connected with the hangar deck. The canopy popped open as the scruffy Warden placed a mask over his nose and mouth. "Can't be too careful," he mused as he hopped from the light bomber, his combat boots hitting the metal deck with a loud clang as his legs bent to brace the impact.
He wore light armor that covered his torso and arms. The coloring was a dull grayish blue with various tally marks drawn onto random areas. On the back was a spray painted Cross of Lorraine in a rusty red color. Military fatigues of urban camouflage pattern were tucked into combat boots with steel plating over the toes. Strapped to his hip was a rather ordinary pistol. His face was mostly covered by the mask, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that his features were angular and firm. His hair was a greasy mess that was slicked backwards as best as he could; the odd strands stuck out here and there. A pair of emerald green eyes stared about, meeting every other pair of eyes that stared back at him.
After the short staring contests he wheeled about in search of his hostess. Being on an Outcast base was a little out of the question, but under these circumstances he could manage. Funny what girls could do.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
Samantha just finished getting out of her ejection pod at the hangar's
recovery station, when the noise of screeching tires drew her attention to the landing ship. To her it was a
little wonder how that thing could even be airtight let alone serve as a combat vessel, not to mention that
the only flying machines she'd seen standing on rubber tires were pictures of ancient atmospheric fighters
at the Naval Academy.
She noticed the man who just jumped out of the cockpit "scanning the room" with his eyes quite obviously
looking for her. Samantha took her helmet off and handed it to a technician who happened to be nearby.
Her amber hair was combed tightly so it could fit inside the helmet she let it go though the resulting chaos
her head turned to didn't quite live up to her expectations of a dramatic 'hair let-down'. As she started
walking towards the Gallic ship Sam begun disconnecting various pipes and cables dragging from her gold
striped black flight suit. When she finally reached the ancient ship and thus its owner she smiled and bowed
her head in a barely noticeable manner.
[color=#FFCCCC]"I'd like to thank you for getting me out of there... Can I tempt you for a drink in the bar,
señor?"
While walking to the elevator they passed by a row of Series "Z" Sabres adorned with a golden Maltese
Cross on each wing and a red emblem underneath the cockpit depicting a shark holding a missile, on the
opposite side of the hangar several different models of fighters were positions quite unevenly contrasting
with the striking precision the Maltese sabres were parked. Samantha looked at them, then turned her head
towards Lelouch.
[color=#FFCCCC]"Welcome to Kirkwall, home base of the 13th squadron and currently them..."
Samantha pointed at the disorderly row of fighters.
"...Crossbones, some merc organisation or something like that. Some genius in
high-command gave them permission to reside on this "secret" installation, because it is a common
knowledge that Maltese Naval bases especially hidden ones act as Freeports in their spare time..."
Samantha smiled ironically
"Well at least so far they haven't been a problem, they follow the restrictions I imposed
and mind their business not causing trouble apart from being terrible drinking companions..."
It was more than he could ask for. Attractive woman, sight of another base, and a history of those on it. Never a 'pretty' man, Lelouch held handsome qualities that made him attractive. Perhaps this Sam could see them? He shook his head unnoticeably, clearing those thoughts from his mind. Business, he reminded himself. Business.
He played silent, letting her talk on before raising his mask to show a smile. It was only a moment before he lowered it and spoke, "A drink would be excellent, Sam. Mind if I call you Sam? If you do, I'll let you call me Loo Loo." He looked up at the Sabres, taking in their entirety. Marvelous ships of marvelous size. It was no wonder the Council hated these guys. Looking back at the previous action against the Outcasts who strayed into Gallia, it was a miracle they even won. The quality of the pilots was what was so poor.
His hands went to the side clasps of his armor, loosening one or two out of the ten and allowing his chest some leeway to breathe and let out a bit of the sweat and pressure. The air conditioning unit in his Basilisk had gone bad. Worst of all, he hoped no one would notice. They were all spacers after all. When you lived the life of a soldier and a sponge bath with dirty water was as close as you got to a shower, you sort of got used to the smell or lost the sense all together.
"So where is it that you will take me for drinks and table diving? I must warn you that I am an adventurous and dangerous drunk. I once punched my second in command in the face for telling a bad joke and then proceeded to shout obscenities at our ships. Hell of a day..." He looked up nostalgically, hand slicking his hair back.
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
Any sense of reason or logic had now completely abandoned Lich, drunk would be an understatement, the English language was becoming harder to understand with each passing moment all he could do was concentrate on finishing the drink.
''I need another drink,''
He looked down at the table and noticed that a new glass filled to the top had arrived, he couldn't remember if someone had bought it for him or if he'd simply forgotten buying it.
''Magic!!!''
He picked up the glass having concluded how it had arrived at his table and threw it down his throat. The people around the bar looked over at him after having made such a noise for seemingly no reason.
''Cig time,''
Lich patted around his pockets trying to find his tobacco without much luck.
He looked over to a woman now and tried to figure out if he recognized her and more importantly to him whether she was attractive or if he was just so drunk that even the most hidious of the universe's creations would seem alright. He concluded that he'd need a second opinion on the matter and thus started talking to the empty chair next to him.
The bar door opened with a hiss revealing a rather colourful picture inside, the
sound of laughing people classing glasses images of off duty personnel having fun viewed through a layer of
white tobacco smoke covering the upper part of the room. The station had about 150 people on board and it
was probably a good guess that at least one third of them were in the bar at that moment.
As they walked in Sam smiled and said
[color=#FFCCCC]"So you punch people...That's rather mild..."
She laughed and pointed at a blackened gun hole on the bulkhead still having bits of tinfoil fused to it
[color=#FFCCCC]"...that's what I did last time I was drunk."
She then noticed Lich who obviously believed that the station was having position keeping issues judging from
the sudden twitches he occasionally made to preserve himself from a rather unpleasant meeting with the floor.
They finally reached an unoccupied table, when they finally sat one of the waiters approached them Samantha
ordered a bottle of imported Whiskey and lit a cigar while waiting for it.
"So Loo Loo what brought you to '23 in the first place? I've been seeing other organisations
from Gallia there lately but that's the first time I've caught a glimpse of yours."
The bar was quite neat despite the occupants. The bars on Marne were cesspits where you could smell the weak-old vomit and pungent oder of love-making. The only reason any one visited them was for the cheap drinks and shady services. But like any bar, this one was full of drunks of both quiet and loud caliber.
His eyes fell on her cigar enviously, words coming out slowly in response to her question, "Necessity. The Maquis are not as big as you think. And it would take an idiot to not see that the situation in Gallia is hopeless." His hands came up to play with his mask as his attention was totally fixed on the cigar.
He suddenly broke eye contact with it and looked into her eyes, "And we of the Maquis are allied to the Council. We normally look to them for a direction, but not a method of travel. Now that they are rather...confused, we are choosing our own path."
"THE HULL HAS BEEN BREACHED AND THESCIENCEIS LEAKING OUT!"
With his freshly rolled cigarette now lit Lich, with the aid of his invisible chair friend, had concluded that the woman he was looking at was infact a breed of dog cleverly disguised as a barmaid.
''These animals when will they ever learn!''
The room span and Lich fell off his chair. Getting up again would not be so easy but as he did so he saw Samantha with someone he did not recognize and pondered whether or not if he should make himself known to her,
''Tad bit cold in here,''
Lich picked the remains of his cigarette that had dropped to the floor and an idea came to him,
He then smashed the glass of spirits on the table and set fire to it, suddenly realising his mistake as everyone looked over at him he desided the best way to put it out would be using someone else thus Lich grabbed the nearest person to him and slammed their body into the fire destroying the table but thankfully taking the fire with it. He deemed the plan a success.
''Barmaid a drink for my newly splattered and slightly burnt friend!!!''
Samantha noticed Loo staring at the cigar, and blushed a bit. [size=small] [color=#FFCCCC]"Oh Excuse me, where are my manners"
She made a sign to the waiter who came to her and after being ordered to he brought a box of cigars
and offered it to the Gallian. The serenity of the moment was brought to an abrupt end with the sound of
braking wood and glasses being broken...
[font=Palatino Linotype]"Lich...excuse him señor Roux, he's usually having disagreements with the
alcohol levels in his blood"
After everything settled down she took a sip of her whiskey and diplomatically asked
[font=Palatino Linotype][color=#FFCCCC]"So...might I ask what path do you have in mind?"
![[Image: jeremy10.png]](http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/16/80/35/65/jeremy10.png)
![[Image: 11237_s.gif]](http://signavatar.com/11237_s.gif)
![[Image: Tyrael.gif]](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070319171309/diablo/images/a/a5/Tyrael.gif)
![[Image: r3vange.gif]](http://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/r3vange.gif)
![[Image: 2132o1.gif]](http://i51.tinypic.com/2132o1.gif)