Yukiko nodding after Yoko mentioned the gifts. The woman stood there rather awkwardly. She obviously felt like she was in the wrong place and uncomfortable. She listened carefully, not saying anything at first. She stood quiet until Yoko spoke."If there is more you need from us to be able to grant us this personal favor of having Yoko's ships repaired, I can offer my services as well. Economically. I worked as a Freelancer before I was rescued and taken in by the Task Force. My story is a long one, I've given Yoko my word to help her in anything she needs, and I shall do so. However, I could understand if such a personal favor is denied. The resources of the Blood Dragons are limited as well. A Dragon will always be a Dragon. So as the daughter of a Dragon and the sister of a former shogun, I ask you for this favor personally. To have her ships repaired and back in action. Whatever it costs, I am willing to pay." Yukiko took a deep breath. She bowed in respect, awaiting an answer.
Councilor Sasaki listened to his guests with a calm expression. It took a brief moment, but alas, he looked slightly taken aback by the propositions of both women. "Ms. Mori, Ms. Hideyoshi, I must say, I am surprised that you even considered the idea of paying for the repairs. There appears to have been a misunderstanding. The repairs for Pipilo and Ocai were never meant to be a bargaining chip or part of any diplomatic negotiation. These repairs are a token of goodwill, given freely in recognition of your past and ties to the Dragon movement."
He paused, letting his words sink in before continuing. "The Blood Dragons remember the contributions and sacrifices made by those who have stood with us, in contrast to that, restoring the ships to their former glory is the least we can do and nothing short of a formality." With that said, it could be felt that the atmosphere in the room grew more collaborative. "Now then, if there are no other personal matters to address, we shall continue with our negotiations."
"Oh!" She blinked several times in surprise before settling into a far more relaxed expression. "That's a relief. Thank you." She turned to smile at Yuki, then shifted her wait subtly to her other foot, still standing as she waited for their host to sit first. "Um. In that case, I'm now acting as Adjutant Mori on behalf of Task Force Prometheus." She took a deep breath before continuing, speaking slowly. "As... hm. Our goal as an organization is to remain neutral within Kusari space. While we can help you in subtle ways, but open friendship or collaboration is out of the question, at least for now. As little as I like it, we don't really have the resources to openly fight up here, and we need things like optronics and energy field equipment to function." She grimaced and shook her head. "That said, we can definitely work on stuff as neutral parties, especially in areas far from the KOI's prying eyes. We can use Port d'Amelie as an intermediary for economics, and we can definitely share intelligence on Liberty, like you said. We can help fight Xeno, Rogue, and Hacker influence in Galileo, too, and introduce you to organizations that may be able to help you more directly."
She paused, letting her words sink in, before continuing. "Ultimately, we need to rebuild. We need to fix up and expand our capital fleet, we need infrastructure, we need facilities, we need money, and we need goods. So... that's prolly what you can supply in return. I mean, even just having help with things like resupplying Port d'Amelie would free up a lot of logistics for other stuff. We're hoping to build a barge for major projects too, preferably not openly aligned with us—maybe we can work on something like that together? It just depends on what you can offer and what you need."
"Very well." Sasaki slowly took a sit on the floor pad and gently gestured to his guests to do so as well with his right hand. "I understand your situation within the Task Force, it would be truly injudicious of me to ask for direct assistance when you have your own overwhelming burdens to bare." While initially he talked with a head bowed to the ground, he suddenly lifts his eyes to give a piercing stare to Mori. "It would be unwise to assume any neutral area is safe from the KOI's influence. We would ask to share intel only on our own stations or through heavily secured nodes, there's is little room for discussion on this I'm afraid. Concerning the plethora of boisterous neighbors on the southern edges of Kusari, the dragons prefer to not intervene in their aimless affairs but should you be in need of help, you wont be denied it."
Sasaki turns his head slightly towards his right hand man who was kneeling, head bowed, eyes fixed on the floor, hands resting quietly on his knees. "Abe, do we have information of this station our guests mentioned?" "No, sensei." Replied Abe firmly. "Ms Mori, you are to relay the necessary information on this station you mentioned, we will use it as an intermediary point for trade if you can vouch for its safety. What about the ships, Abe?" "The ships will be ready in 2 standard days time, sensei." "Good, I kindly invite our guests to stay on Kyoto for this short period. You will depart once everything is in order."
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