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As Victor Steiner walked the corridors of the venerable York, he thought about the words he received in Dagon's comm. What rattled him the most was the mention of a gift. That woman, in his mind, was cunning and a beacon of darkness that sent chills down his spine most of the times they talked. The ambiance in the York was different since he last set foot in here. Patrols in every corridor. A marine in every corner. Security cameras, and above all, the image of the bretonian flag and of the Queen displayed without restraint. When he docked, he found marines training, and combat Exos being serviced. A testament that this ship was to be at the vanguard of any operation or any defense regarding Bretonia.

These men were short in their words, hard in their demeanor, and they glanced at Victor several times, looking for something, although he did not know what it was. After six security checkpoints, his feet finally brought him to the office of the Commanding Officer of the York, Commodore Kaze Nelson Reidman Dagon. Two guards stood in attention, barring the door. One of them raised his hand to stop Victor.

"The Commodore is training inside. She is not to be disturbed."

Victor raised an eyebrow looking at the man.

"The Commodore summoned me. Victor Steiner, Lieutenant Commander of the Bretonian Armed Forces, Black Watch."

The marine pulled up a small wrist-pad and looked at its small holo-console. After ten seconds, Victor spoke again.

"This is of the highest importance, soldier."

He looked at Steiner for a second, obviously disregarding him and continued to browse the contents of his holo-console. Twenty seconds later, he closed it and talked to his comm device.

"He is clear."

Steiner heard the mechanical sound of rotors working behind him, and as he turned his head, two wall mounted automated gattling lasers retracted into the wall. Gulping ever so slightly, he noted the unnerving fact that he did not hear them move to begin with. The guard turned to him.

"You can go in, sir. But I have to warn you. She does not like to be disturbed during her training."

He opened the door, and Steiner, mustering his bravado walked in, and the marine shut the door behind him. He surveyed the office, and to its surprise it was spartan. A steel, modern, desk with several holo consoles was in front of him. However, unoccupied. The walls were the common wall metal found in the battleship rooms, with the floor however being wood. Steiner tentatively walked towards the desk and noticed that the office expanded to the side, where a large open room was shown. There a single bed, military style, with several papers on top of it laid against the far wall. A small sofa, a coffee table, a small kitchenette with a small door, probably the bathroom, dotted the middle. And several weapons and electronic devices laying everywhere, from the couch to the kitchenette counter. He noticed the air was permeated with the smell of tobacco and incense.

Finally, trying to peer into the personal space, he noticed the room also opened to its right side. There, in the kusari style, a small training room, barely ten meters by five, and the woman he sought, practicing what it seemed martial moves but also almost a dance, in what he could describe a trance. If she was aware of him, she did not show it. The sweat glistened from her head, and her feet moved with precision, with the arms displaying what it seemed defensive moves. And there he saw it. A small phoenix tattoo between her shoulder blades, and the bionic arm and what seemed a foot as well. Slowly stopping her martial dance, she turned her back to Steiner and bowed to something. Steiner tried to look at what it was, only finding a long paper parchment with kusari writing on it.

"Lieutenant Commander." Her voiced sounded through the silent room, with what it seemed a low growl. Steiner stood in attention, displaying his own training.

"Commodore." He saluted, as she picked up a towel. She gestured with her hand to the entrance of the room, where her desk was. He quickly turned to the entrance and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. They were not the most comfortable, metal chaffing against his back. He tried to find the proper position but he could not find one. Dagon showed up, less than a minute after, drinking a bottle of water and sat in what it seemed a piloting chair, comfortable, but without the technology that normally exist in them.

"We have much to talk about your.. mission you took upon yourself." She said, placing the bottle on the desk.

He managed to find a position that suited him and managed to stop fidgeting. It was strange that Dagon, of all people, would bother to see him. It was little secret that Dagon and Steiner didn't much like one another, he considered her aloof, dark and far too muderous for her own good. She on the otherhand considered him to be little more than a coward, and while Victor did angery easily...she pissed him off. While he didn't see much of a reason for formality, he hid his more honest thoughts beneath a mask of calm.

"We do, I apologise that my message was a little vauge, but considering the circumstances at the time, I had to be brief, as I mentioned. Although now....Well I suspect you have questions,''

Dagon leaned in her chair, and paused for a couple of seconds, eyeing Steiner. The discomforting moment ticked on, until she decided to speak her mind.

"The game you are playing already damaged Bretonia, Lieutenant Commander. As you know, the Maltese Exiles are considered criminals within our borders, something at the time I didn't even knew as well. But later on, we both did learned that fact. And you still persisted in allowing the University access to your interview." Her voice was tempered yet agressive.

"Now, the relationship between Bretonia and Malta is without a doubt stressed, due to this event, as their political boot-lickers came crying over a fact that had no consequence whatsoever in whatever aspect of their or ours reality these days. We all have a lot more pressing issues than a random outcast criminal in Freeport One, answering some questions." She leaned over her desk and grabbed a small pack of cigarettes. With a sharp gesture, she lit one and breathed in the sweet smoke.

"And the one that created this mess now comes to me, with a particular way to clean himself from the situation he created, by potentially worsening the whole subject that is now collecting dust in our foreign affairs department." She raised an eyebrow. "Normally I would call you daft. Normally I would point out the massive negative result of what would happen if you were caught."

"Yet.." Dagon sighed. "I can relate." Her bionic hand tapped the the cigar and the ash fell into the ashtray.

"We do not like to fail what we love the most. Even if it means it will kill us." She smirked. A curious event to Steiner. "So... I will help you in this undertaking."

With a hand raised, she stopped Steiner in his tracks. "However I am here to also state what will happen if you do get caught and fall into enemy hands or even outcast ones." Grabbing a small box from one of the desk drawers, and slid it over to Steiner. "In there, there is a blaster gun, traceless. A tracker, in a pin form with the smiley design. Very in vogue these days. Just press it three times in a row to activate it. And three identities." She exhaled some smoke. "If you do get caught by our enemies or outcasts, you press the tracker. To save Bretonia from your failure."

Her eyes tracked Steiner. "We will not save you. We will not mount a rescue operation. What the tracker will do is that it will tell me your position, and that you are caught. I will then fashion the death of Victor Steiner in the front lines, and totally disavow and deny any and all facts stating otherwise." Once again the ash fell into the ashtray, with a cloud of smoke rising in the air. "Bretonia must not fall. So..."

Her eyes pierced Steiner soul. Those wicked eyes. "Am I wrong in my assessment?"

He listened to what she had to say, taking in her eye movements and the tone of her voice. Any fool could see she was talking, more or less, from experience. She was calm, yet cold, willing to help, yet made her distance very clear. This was the extent of her help, both for practical reasons and for security. He found it strange how such an insignificant thing, such as an interview, could cause so much trouble.

When she sild the box over to him, he examined its contents closely, everything she said was there. A blaster, along with a tracker in the form of a pin. Neither of which he hoped to use. Still, better to have them and not need them rather than not have them at all.

"Am I wrong in my assessment?" She asked
"Of course not. But what you think of me, and what could happen is ultimatly irrelevent, rather than focus on a possibility, however likely, is a waste of time. Anything could happen, so while your concern is touching, reminding me that I am alone is not needed. Let me work Commodore, let me do it, quietly, effectivly and without you or the Admirals breathing down my neck.''
He closed the box and brushed it aside. Looking back at her with a neutral expression, it was hard for him not to wonder about her, considering she had, on more than one occasion, belittled him for not checking his curiosity. Now here he was, and it seemed almost like she was encouraging him to be curious...or rather, to find answers. Something she had done in the past no doubt.

Still, if this was to be his last meeting with her, he might as well have some fun.
"Anything else love?'' he grinned at her.

Dagon leaned back, hearing Steiner and a smirk traced through her lips, hearing the man in front of her. As he threw his final question, the grin was displayed in full bloom.

"Disregard for authority, a firm set of beliefs.. You are probably wondering why am I doing this." She nodded. "After my first assessment of all the pilots in the Armed Forces when I became Captain, you were the one that showed most promise." Her hand flicked more ash to the ashtray, a twirly column rising from the tip of the cigarette.

"Your talent does not lie in the front lines. No, your beliefs, your instinct is all wrong for the hell we face everyday." Her eyes trailed him. "Your talent lies beyond them. In three months, you have actually gained the trust of a corsair, and several outcasts. Never mind Order as well. That is what I could glean." The cigarette went to her lips once again, and a second later, its smoke exited them.

"So. Yes. I am not doing this only from my very own bleeding heart, 'love'." She raised an eyebrow. "I am doing this as a trial. To see if you are capable or not."

"For Bretonia lacks information and knowledge to aid our forces both in space.." Dagon sighed. "And in the ground." Her bionic hand tapped the the cigar and the ash fell into the ashtray.

"You may be the first of many, Steiner. Men and women, willing to go forth without backup. Without safeties. Without care. With only one thing in their mind." A tense couple of seconds passed. "Bretonia."

Rising for her seat, Kaze put down the cigarette. "However, this is a conversation to have after you finished this mission of yours." Her hand trailed the edge of the desk, obviously thinking in her next set of words. "If you fail, you will fail yourself and Bretonia." Her bionic hand clenched in a fist. "And if you don't, the juice is not worth the squeeze, to put it as an old teacher of mine once told me."

Her eyes tracked Steiner. "Their databases are old. Obsolete. Nothing of value can be gleaned from them. However. The test is there." She sat at the edge of the desk, eyeing Steiner. "Fail, and you will fail Bretonia. Achieve, and the information will be for nothing. But.. You will find more about your true self more than ever."

The bionic hand rose to shake his. "So good luck. And.." Her smirk was arrogant, audacious and showed her victory.

"Welcome to the monsters."

He didn't like it when she grined, it was most unsettling. But when she told him what she thought of him, to say he was surprised was a momumental understatement. He was finally on the right track, and that wasn't such a bad thing.

Her last comment about monsters spooked him a bit....that was about the only way he could describe Dagon...spooky. But she was good, she had a heart, he knew that because he'd seen it, if only for a brief moment in time.

"Welcome to the monsters."

"For the Empire'' he said taking her hand and shaking it before grabbing the box and turning on his heel and leaving her office. It was time to get to work.

As he finally left, Kaze sat once again, facing her desk. Pulling one of the holo-consoles, a program appeared with the title "Military Intelligence". Opening it, she clicked the assets database. In other holo-console, she brought up the BAF file on Victor Steiner, and dragged it to the database. Taking another sip from the water, she opened a comm.

"This is Commodore Dagon, prepare my fighter for departure. Destination, Leeds. ETD, twenty minutes. Thank you."

The voice replied in an affirmative tone, and Dagon got up. Stretching herself, she yawned. Sleep could wait.

Bretonia could not.