Xavier exited his Osprey and proceeded to Freeport 9's conference room. As he entered the conference room Xavier noticed that the refreshments all laid out and ready for the attendees...
"Good, seems like everything has come together nicely"
Xavier then proceeded to sit in his allocated Conference chair, awaiting the other attendees.
Much had happened in the days following today. This meeting would finally bring all the
uncertainty and fear to a close...at least for as long as it could.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the Trident again after this. The Osprey has such little leg room"
Xavier noticed an attendant staring at him from the entrance of the conference room...
Seems Xavier had been caught out talking to himself again.
After turning a beet red, Xavier swiveled his conference chair to take in the starscape outside
the conference room window...
James left his offices on Freeport XV with a rather harried look on his face. Fleeing with great alacrity from the piles of paperwork involved in setting up supply lines to Omicron-74. An alarm sounded on his personal organiser, Checking it he noticed that today was the date for the beginning Corsair-Zoner diplomatic meeting. Heading to the hangar he noticed that his personalized ZBT-100Z was moored and headed to board it.
Leaving his Freeport behind for the short journey he traveled to Freeport 9 without incident.
Before alighting on Freeport 9 he took a moment to smooth his personal appearance somewhat and then stepped out onto the station. Quickly making his way to the conference room he noticed that the only other person there was Xavier.
James quickly made his way over to make a face-to-face introduction.
Tony stumbled into the kitchen with a half naked girl supporting him. He stopped in the door and just stared at Vito, before tumbling over and landing face down on the floor. He reached into the inner pocket of his long leather coat and handed Vito a small piece of paper. “The message came from a Zoner named Xa... Xavi... Triton, his name is Triton. It was relayed here from the Council Chambers so I guess its pretty important, si? ” the sailor said while trying to reaching for the rum bottle on the table. Vito read the invitation sent to him by a Xavier Triton, a zoner he knew well.
“Finally, they came to their senses. Where the hell is Berny?” His sailor answered: “He was refilling his beer Canisters the last time I saw him”. “Damn drunkard. Tell him to fuel his Correo and meet me in the main dock. Make sure you put two cases of Espi’s best rum on his ship and let me know when he’s ready”. “Si senor” Tony said, staggering his way to the door where the half naked girl was waiting. He latched onto her shoulder and they stumbled their way down the hallway. “Oh and Tony, you bastard. Stay the hell away from my rum, its my god damn rum you drunk fool” Vito yelled, his voice echoed through the corridors. “Ay..e aye hombre!!” Tony’s rusty drunken voice thundered through the corridors.
The Sailor came back after two and half an hour holding a bottle. “He’ll be ready within an hour” he said and left the room singing. “Tony, you moron, what took you so long?” Vito asked; he was getting rather fed up now, this hadn’t been much of a good day and Tony wasn’t making it any better. “The lady wanted some attention, can’t ignore a damsel in distress” Tony replied with a silly smirk on his face as he tumbled down the corridors once more.
Cadiz’s main dock, two hours later
“Where are we going? Oh, do you want some beer, amigo?” Berny asked and ordered the dock master to open the hatch. “Freeport Nine hermano. And real men drink rum, when are you going to learn that?” Berny mumbled something and then yelled in the comms: “Wake up you worm! We are leaving, so if you don’t want to spend the rest of the day installing new doors open them right now”. The inner blast-doors opened and he fired up the ship’s engines. Moments later the fast and heavily armored Correo flew out of the the second lock and made its way through the asteroids, heading for a place both of them knew well.
Omega 41, somewhere between the Omega 5 and Omicron Theta jump holes
The ship’s radar, a custom, tuned down version of the ones used on capital ships but lacking the fancy targeting systems that take most of the space in a warship's sensors array, displayed a warning message: “Hessian transponders. 2 ships. Odin Class. 11 clicks and closing”. “I prepared something for them just before we left”. Berny ejected some trash cans containing hessian limbs and heads near the Omega 11 jump hole for their enemies to find. “That will boost their morale for sure” the Buccaneer laughed. Then he increased power to the engines. “Damn I love this ship! I knew all that hard work that went into installing this scanner on this baby will pay off”
Freeport Nine’s dock number 3, a few hours later
“Hey, look at that Starflier! Isn’t that the one who flew in range our Raba in Sigma 19 last month and tipped those two Kishiro transports about our position?” Berny checked his logs. “Yes, that’s the one. Want me to land on top of it?”. “Sure, our lady can handle it. Power up the shields and crush it. Just make sure it looks like an accident and if anyone asks you say that you’re drunk”. Vito reached for a unopened bottle of rum, “Just in case someone asks for some blood samples” Vito said with a evil grin. “Lets get this over with. Just crash the damn thing and lets head for the Conference Room. Take those cases of rum with you”
Freeport Nine’s Conference room, a few minutes later
As soon as he entered the room Berny replaced the water cans with rum bottles on corsair side. “There, now we can negotiate. If you want some help yourselves” he said and pointed at the second case. “No offense amigos, but we need something with more of a kick then plain water” Berny said in a calm fashion. The situation was tense and both of them knew that irritating the zoners at this point could ruin the entire conference.
“You might want to send someone to Dock 3, senor Triton. That place needs some cleaning, I think we landed on something” Vito sat down and looked at the two zoners already in the room: “Now what? Where is everybody else?”
Xavier hears someone approach from the entrance to the conference room.
James Church enters first, closely followed by Vito of the Corsair Council.
"Greetings James, how was your trip here..and to you Vito, how was your
trip from Gamma?"
Xavier notices the jugs of rum enter the negotiation room.
To himself, Xavier displays a slight smirk whilst rubbing his hands together.
"Ah! Rum? It's been too long with all this diplomatic toiling. Haven't had a
chance to partake of some good rum."
Xavier then began to survey the room for tankards...there were none. Just glasses
and small cups.
"Hmm, *activates wrist communicator* Tom, do we have any tankards on station?"
Xavier then faces away from his communicator and towards the new arrivals.
In the darkness of space two Titans and a Correo fly in wedge formation.
The starlight shines bright on Brotherhood heraldry painted on their wings.
Their destination : Freeport 9 ,
though this time they are not on a warpath.
The Titans, flown by Centurion Werss and Hermana Baila Morena ,
are escorting the old Centurion Juanez Buonocore , who was appointed by Sephardi himself as a Brotherhood spokesman.
''We are closing in on Freeport 9 señor.''Werss's voice sounded over the comm channel. ''Bueno , get into a close perimeter of the Freeport ,
but do not lower your shields, I do not thrust these gringo's one bit...''Buonocore replied. ''lets see where this takes us.''
Two vessels almost simultaneously undocked from freeport 5. An eagle with clear Freeport five markings and a large llama pained on the sides and a freelancer crow. The comms started chattering:" Llama one this is freeport 5, scanners show two Hessian Odins around your desired path and a corsair Correo nearing the Jumphole" Dali looked at his navigational computer and said: "Right Jennifer, lets get the hell out of here, if those Hessians are planning something this situation might sticky real quick." The two fighters quickly made their way to the jumphole.
Jennifer noted two containers full of Body parts and mentioned."Clearly someone left their trash out, jump seems clear, after you mr Llama."
The rest of the flight was uneventful, Freeport 9 quickly came into range. "Right lass, head to the bar or get some shut-eye or something, this might take a while. Diplomacy has its downside." The old Mercenary said as he was quickly making his way to conference room.
There used to be pictures here
once known as Richard Farbridge, OBE and Ronaldo Benitez
Genine watched from the bio dome at Freeport One as the last of the heavy lifter ships transferred its load aboard the Enduring Freedom, one of the two solaris carriers in the station's defense force. Nearby she could see two Fearless class destroyers on station just a few kilometers away. Closer to the base, ready for an emergency dock were four whales and six border world transport ships loaded to capacity with supplies. Farther in the distance the small star like lights of the station's patrol ships could just barely be seen among the many trading ships both coming to and from the Freeport and those passing by as they connected to the trade lane network.
She liked to walk through the gardens of the dome. It allowed her to clear her head, and being near the plant life, both decorative and for consumption was dear to her after nearly a decade spent in deep space. The hydroponics in her small exploration craft were what kept her alive on the return trip. Clearing her head was a much needed but nigh impossible task, however. The previous week and more spent in hours upon hours in closed door session with delegates from several stations, the two large Zoner factions of the OSI and TAZ, as well as representatives from the Corsair Empire. Was it truly possible that an agreement had been achieved at last? It seemed hard to believe but it had been accomplished. Over the last day the delegates had left to their own stations to prepare for the signing of the treaty at Freeport 9. An ancient song came to mind, 'I will dream the impossible dream...'
'Miss Savage,' a female voice interrupted. 'It's time.'
'I noticed the last lifter dock a short while ago Alicia,' Genine replied. 'and for heaven's sake, please stop with the Miss Savage, we're friends so call me Genine.'
'Trappings of the office I'm afraid,' Alicia said. 'Besides, you never call me Allie so quid pro quo.'
Genine laughed. 'Well then, considering your new role, I hope you don't expect me to start calling you Miss Blake.'
'From you? Never, but I'm not sure I'm cut out for this new job.'
'You've been with me since I returned to Sirius space, been with me through the turmoil of the war here, been with me through all of this, and you've helped manage this place and helped build it to what it is today. You know our hopes for the future.' said Genine. 'Now take that hope and that tenacity and just do your best for the Confederation. It's not on your shoulders alone, it's going to take everyone's cooperation and effort to see this through to make it a success.'
They each kept to their own thoughts afterward as they boarded the dromedary Envoy One, and made passing small talk as the small ship made the all too short trip to dock on the carrier. Genine's hand fondled the pendant around her neck as she stood on the bridge of the carrier and watched the viewscreen change to that of the security office on Freeport One.
'Security Director has the conn,' she said matter of factly. It was procedure and try as she might, she was hard pressed to not use it when performing her routine tasks. 'Until I return, he's in command, take care of my station.'
'Yes ma'am,' the officer of the day responded. Genine knew that the director was out there in space, aboard his ship, Winter is Coming, not being one to sit idly by in his office at time like this.
'Open comms to the winter' she commanded. When the channel was open she said to her friend, 'I know you don't like staying behind, but I need someone I trust to run the One. Take care of her and our people.'
The response was a small growl followed by a bit of laughter. 'Assuming direct control,' he said as he chuckled. The comment was a longstanding private joke between them.
The small fleet with its escort ships began underway. There were enough escorts that all of the carrier's own snub craft were docked and ready in their launch tubes. The supply ships were destined to all of the stations in the conflict region, and after discharging their cargoes they would be returning home immediately to fetch more.
----------
On arrival at Freeport 9 the transport ships remaining after stops at Freeports 5, 15 and Corfu immediately began unloading their cargoes.
To the acting secretary for the signing she and Alicia reported an incident outside Freeport 5. 'Independents from both the Bounty Hunters and Corsairs as well as a couple of mercenaries looking for quick cash were engaged outside the station. When all of them refused to move their fight beyond the neutral zone they were put down. All escape pods were recovered and handed over to FP5 for dissemination back to their home worlds.'
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The women's entrance to the conference area was announced. 'Miss Genine San Savage of Freeport One and Miss Alicia Blake for the COF' the attendant said. Both made their own greetings to those delegates already there.
Apparently being the boss had some sort of perks. At this particular time Jose could not think of a single one of them as he piloted his Titan toward Freeport 9. Dealing with Zoners was rarely something that he enjoyed doing ' as a rule they were far too slippery.
Nevertheless, the responsibilities of being a Corsair Elder and Commander of the Benitez required that he attend this meeting.
It'd been a fair while since he'd last been on this station and the subsequent events were well documented. He was looking forward to seeing what might of changed.
Nearing the station he spoke to the control centre to inform them of his imminent arrival and to ascertain the location of his docking bay.
Having landed and disembarked Jose asked one of the techs in the docking bay where the negotiations were being held. He was told that they were being held in the stations conference facility, and he set off to find the rooms.
Entering the conference room Jose saw Vito had already arrived, and was pleased to see that he had bought along what appeared to be a case of a particularly good quality rum that he and his men always seemed able to get hold of.
Even better he noticed that Vito had thoughtfully replaced all of the bottles of water on the Corsair side of the table with some of the bottles of Rum he had bought along.
Nodding a greeting toward some of the Zoners, Jose crossed the room and sat on the same side of the table that Vito was seated at. Reaching forward he took a glass and poured himself a measure from one of the bottles that had been so thoughtfully placed on the table in front of him.
'Hola Vito, I'm glad to see you managed to get some of the good stuff away from your bar tender'.
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During a break in his conference with the leader of OSI and the former Omicroners, John Holliday tuned in the negotiations on his comm system and locked the frequency. This was too important and it was also his ambassador's first big assignment.
"Xavier, I do hope you're careful," he said to himself.
He then sent a private message to Xavier's datapad:
Do be careful, my friend. My concern is that if the Corsair empire gets what it wants that it will want more. Be careful in what you give. This is your show as I will stay out of it. Once an accord is reached, send me the final draft for my review and, if I like it, my signature.
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