Ze'ev walked into the confrence room on Saga Station, looking around, he began to relize just how much work there was still to do. Admiral Mcintosh of the SCRA would be here within days, along with his entrage. These revolutionaries worried him, but Master Morimoto insisted they were important, and could help the AFA achive it's goals. This Ares was the one he was really worried about, he had spoken to some of his contacts on Crete, and they had warned him about Ares. While they spoke of Ares skill in battle, and strengh of character, they also spoke of his stubbonness, he was sometime so stuborn as to not see the forest for the trees. Ze'ev would need to be on the top of his game for this meeting, he felt it would either go very well, or very badly, but nothing in-between. Ze'ev called in his chief of staff, Maku Takara, and begain to go over the details for the confrence. There was much to be done, while Ze'ev assumed the SCRA delegation would be staying on thier own ship, but they would need the use of one of the antirooms, to use during breaks, as well all of the Saga Station facilities would be at thier disposal. Next Ze'ev and Maku moved on to security. Admiral Mcintosh would be bringing his own security contingent, and they would be well trained, solders of the Revolution. His security men could learn from them, but Ze'ev stressed to Maku, this was our base, and our responsablity to secure. His men could work with the SCRA security people, but they could not give away their role, aside from the fact that the AFA was capable of doing the job, it would make them seem weak to their guests, and the perception of weakness could torpedo the whole confrence. With that Ze'ev sent Maku off to begin making preperations, they agreed to meet at the end of the day to check on the progress of the preporations.
Maku Takara walked down the corridor. For someone who had grown up on a farm, the cold, sterile confines of Saga station were like a vise, tightening on his chest. Takara felt uneasy whenever he had to spend time here, but here he was needed. As cheif of staff for ambassador Barak he had to be here. He liked it so much more in his small office on Planet Kyushu. Officailly his job title was special assistant to the Governor of Kyushu. The Governor was a huge benifactor of the AFA, but his support had to be under the radar. Takara came to the end of the corridor, knocking on the door, he entered.
"Maku....where have you been? Your half an hour late." asked Ze'ev Barak, with just a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I'm sorry Mr. Ambassador. I have been going over some disturbing messages from the Governor's office." responded Maku, not really wanting to be the one to deliver this information.
Ambassador Barak slowly moved his fingers to his temples, "What now, what else could possably go wrong?" Baraks annoyance quickly moving toward anger.
"Well... It seems The Brotherhood has exiled the Coallition from the Omicron Gamma system." Takara responded hesitantly. "It seems there was some kind of diplomatic row, tensions rose from there, and while no shots were fired, it seems this incedent may have significant consequences."
Barak's jaw buldged, "This is just what I needed, we're 48 hours out from a meeting with Admiral Mcintosh, and this will probably throw a wrench it the whole thing. It's taken weeks to set up, just to get them to respond." Barak walked to the window. " I need to think about this, Maku, why dont we meet back here in 3 hours, figure out where to go from here."
"Yes Mr. Ambassador." responded Takara, after which he quietly gave a formal half bow, turned and left the room, leaving Barak gazing out the window.
Ze'ev looked gazed out at the stars. He always seemed to find himself here, at the window, looking out into the endless map of glowing orbs. As a child he had gazed at the stars from a diffrent perspective, but the first time he left Kyushu's docking ring, he saw things diffrently.
This mess between the TBH and SCRA was problematic, at best, but Ze'ev felt that as long as he could get into the same room with Admiral Mcintosh, he could show him the benifits both groups could gain from an agreement. The only problem was he thought it was quite improbable that was going to happen given the current situation.
Barak walked to his desk and sat down, he begain composing a message to Admiral Mcintosh to determine the fesablility of the meeting......
Ze'ev sat at his desk, working on various diplomatic messages. There was quite a bit going on at the moment. Benitez, SCRA, and the countinuing effort to recruit new members, there was so much to be done............
Ze'ev walked into his office, activating the lights. He walked over to his desk. He was amazed at how much paper and dust had collected during his time with the Gaians in Britonia. It was time to get back down to work. He had been called back to Kusari by the Governor of Kyushu. He felt that the time was right to Begin recruiting again. Current event in Kusari demanded the reemergence of the AFA. Ze'ev sat down, and opened the top folder............
Ze'ev walked down the hallway of the ship, coming to the lift, he pressed the button to command level. Stepping on to the bridge he was alittle taken aback by all the activity. His once tiny group, had been gaining recruits by the shuttle full. This new ship required a crew of 300 men, a staggering thought to Ze'ev, when Morimoto had come to him with the idea, they had trouble scrapping 3 pilots and 5 techs together and now... Ze'ev Barak was truly awed at the thought. He looked over the bridge crew, supervising all the activity was the ships Capitan, Mariko Tanka. She was a very able Capitan, although in most situations when this ship would be deployed, Ze'ev would be in command. Mariko's main responsibilities were making sure the ship and her crew were ready for action at a moments notice, Ze'ev had know Mariko since his time in the KNF, he knew she would train the crew very hard, and enforce strict military disiplne, something he knew was not one of his strong points. Walking past the main ready room, Ze'ev instead walked over to secondary command room. Ze'ev had given the primary ready room to Mariko, as she would be in command 90 percent of the time. Entering the room, he assisted the situation, he started noting what he would need to make this space his own. He wrote up a list for the deckhands at kagoshima to fill, three grow lights, wood furniture, 2 bonsai trees, and sand for a rock garden in the corner. Ze'ev preferred to make himself relaxed in his office, and he reminded himself he would need to fly home to his parents farm to get a few seedlings to start in his office. Laying down on the sofa, Ze'ev began to doze.
Ze'ev awoke to the sound of the comm panel. Blearly, he stabbed at the button, "uh, what is it you want?" Ze'ev called out, slowly trying to figure out where he was. "Ambassador, We have arrived at Kagoshima." Captian Tanka voice came across the channel, "Kureno, and Hazabachi are waiting to meet with you stationside. Docking is complete and all but a skeleton crew have been given leave on the station. We are going to need at least a week and a half to do the repairs and upgrades that the cheif engineer has said are needed." Ze'ev sat up, trying to wrap his head around what was going on. He had drank quite a bit of Sake last night, he and the officers had gotten together to celebrate the succsessful shakedown flight of the Farmer's Rage, the new flagship of the AFA. Begining to remember what had happened the night before, he cleared his throat, "ok, leave granted for the crew, get started on the repairs, and tell Kureno and Haz to come up here to meet me, and tell them to give me an hour more to sleep."
Captain Tanka was looking out across space. The Fallowed Ground stood 25K out from the Osaka facility in Honshu. While Captain Tanka was a smart captain, she did not like being this far from Kagoshima. Taishi Barak had order the AFA's flagship to Honshu. Apparently hostilities were brewing between Samura and the GMG, and the Taishi want to be ready if the hostilities spilled over into the Honshu system. The Rage's orders where to protect Samura's Osaka facility. Tanka was still hoping Barak would be able to defuse the situation in a diplomatic manner.
Ze'ev looked around this newest incarnation of his command ship. Gone was the Luxury Liner, replaced with a Gunship of Gaian/Kusari design. Smaller, but faster and built to fight, he felt more comfortable in it, dismissing most of the crew of the Fallowed Ground most importantly Captain Tanka.
Ze'ev didnt sleep much anymore, he would go five, six, or seven days without sleep, keeping himself alert with the use of pills and Sake. Sitting at his desk, he threw back another glass of the bitter rice wine, feeling it burn it's way down his throat. He enjoyed the pain, it was one of the only emotions he could still feel. His comm panel came to life, his helmsman's voice blasted into the room. "Sir, we have a distress call from the KSP in Honshu, apparently there is a Dragon Battleship near planet Honshu." Ze'ev felt the weight pull his head down, again, he found himself more and more coming to the aid of the KSP... "pathetic" he thought to himself, punching the comm panel, he cleared his throat from the Sake, "Set Course, I will be out in a bit." The KSP, Ze'ev was beginning to think he was being taken advantage by them, being used for their ends while they protected the Libertonian and Rhineland transports that he saw as the true threat to Kusari. He felt sick in his stomach, a feeling he was becoming used to.....
Ze'ev jolted awake in a cold sweat. Sitting up, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Ze'ev grabbed the glass of water on his bed stand, and the bottle of pills next to it. Opening the bottle he threw five or six pills down his throat followed by the water. Getting out of bed, he put on a robe that was hanging from a hook on the wall, and walked into his office. Sitting down at the desk he started looking over files. The files contained information of Kishiro, Interspace, GMG, and Samura shipments, as well as KSP escort logs. Ze'ev had been spending his time analyzing stats, running numbers on where the most pressing threats to Kusari were coming from, and as he learned more he could see they were coming the south and the east, not the west as most Kusari thought. Ze'ev spent several more hours studying the files before trying again, in vain to get to sleep.
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