05-12-2009, 07:57 PM
A somewhat rusty ship was speeding along the depth of space in the Omicron Theta system, piercing through it's nebulae towards the Omicron Gamma jumphole.
The jump sequence began, the clock counting down to the moment of the ship's dock with the jumphole.
The count ended, and the ship jumped. The bulkheads squealed as it was being thrown around the cosmos, pulled by the jumphole through space-time.
The jump was complete, the ship was now in the Omicron Gamma system.
The navigator turned towards the ship's captain and reported three ships on the scanner, two of them Corsair gunboats, and one a large battleship, the flagship of the Benitez, actually.
The ship's comm officer contacted the battleship:
"This is the Colonial courier cruiser Rising Star to the Benitez flagship, we have the Colonial Republic's diplomat on board. Requesting docking clearance with the flagship, over."
He got the clearance and notified the captain, and the mooring sequence began.
The ship slowly came about and came closer to the flagship, setting up a parallel positioning, and the docking clamps crawled through space towards the dock points of the Benitez flagship.
With a creaking sound of metal hitting metal, the two ships merged.
A grey-haired man was walking down the corridor of the Rising Star, accompanied by two rather large bodyguards.
Footsteps echoed through the empty corridors leading towards the docking hangar, the man's face expressionless.
After five minutes of silent walking, they got to the docking tubes and started walking through them, into the Benitez' flagship.
They finally got to the end of the tube, and emerged on the other side.
They were greeted by Don Carlos Benitez, some key personell, and a few bodyguards surrounding him.
The man looked around, took a breath, and stepped onto the metal floor of the ship.
He nodded towards the bodyguards, telling them to stand back and not be worried.
He stepped to Don Carlos, and offered his hand.
The two men shaked hands, and started talking.
[color=#FFFFFF]"Greetings, Don Carlos of the Benitez. Let me introduce myself. I am Jonathan Lampkin, Colonial diplomat and emissary. As you know, because you've been contacted already about my purpose here, we are here to propose a little deal, to further the good relations between us."
The Don smiled and nodded, saying: "Yes, I indeed have been notified about it. Let's go to the briefing room, get ourselves a bit more comfortable, and begin our negotiations."
"By all means, Don Carlos, lead the way."
The man ordered the bodyguards to stay there, not wanting to insult the Don with unreasonable fear, after all, their two factions were in very good relations.
He followed the Don into the briefing room.
The two men sat down, and Don Carlos nodded towards his guards to leave them alone.
"So, let us begin, shall we?" - said the Don.
"Yes, let's. I shall waste little time on unnecessary words, we have prepared a formal proposal to you for your discretion. Feel free to comment, discuss, and we can make possible adjustments."
Lampkin handed a large scroll to the Don, and awaited for him to read and respond.
The Don unfolded the scroll, and began reading:
[font=Garamond]Lampkin leaned forward, awaiting to hear what the Don would say.
The jump sequence began, the clock counting down to the moment of the ship's dock with the jumphole.
The count ended, and the ship jumped. The bulkheads squealed as it was being thrown around the cosmos, pulled by the jumphole through space-time.
The jump was complete, the ship was now in the Omicron Gamma system.
The navigator turned towards the ship's captain and reported three ships on the scanner, two of them Corsair gunboats, and one a large battleship, the flagship of the Benitez, actually.
The ship's comm officer contacted the battleship:
"This is the Colonial courier cruiser Rising Star to the Benitez flagship, we have the Colonial Republic's diplomat on board. Requesting docking clearance with the flagship, over."
He got the clearance and notified the captain, and the mooring sequence began.
The ship slowly came about and came closer to the flagship, setting up a parallel positioning, and the docking clamps crawled through space towards the dock points of the Benitez flagship.
With a creaking sound of metal hitting metal, the two ships merged.
A grey-haired man was walking down the corridor of the Rising Star, accompanied by two rather large bodyguards.
Footsteps echoed through the empty corridors leading towards the docking hangar, the man's face expressionless.
After five minutes of silent walking, they got to the docking tubes and started walking through them, into the Benitez' flagship.
They finally got to the end of the tube, and emerged on the other side.
They were greeted by Don Carlos Benitez, some key personell, and a few bodyguards surrounding him.
The man looked around, took a breath, and stepped onto the metal floor of the ship.
He nodded towards the bodyguards, telling them to stand back and not be worried.
He stepped to Don Carlos, and offered his hand.
The two men shaked hands, and started talking.
[color=#FFFFFF]"Greetings, Don Carlos of the Benitez. Let me introduce myself. I am Jonathan Lampkin, Colonial diplomat and emissary. As you know, because you've been contacted already about my purpose here, we are here to propose a little deal, to further the good relations between us."
The Don smiled and nodded, saying: "Yes, I indeed have been notified about it. Let's go to the briefing room, get ourselves a bit more comfortable, and begin our negotiations."
"By all means, Don Carlos, lead the way."
The man ordered the bodyguards to stay there, not wanting to insult the Don with unreasonable fear, after all, their two factions were in very good relations.
He followed the Don into the briefing room.
The two men sat down, and Don Carlos nodded towards his guards to leave them alone.
"So, let us begin, shall we?" - said the Don.
"Yes, let's. I shall waste little time on unnecessary words, we have prepared a formal proposal to you for your discretion. Feel free to comment, discuss, and we can make possible adjustments."
Lampkin handed a large scroll to the Don, and awaited for him to read and respond.
The Don unfolded the scroll, and began reading:
Quote:[font=Garamond]Respected Don Carlos of the Benitez. We have drafted a short proposal over the matter of a pilot exchange that was mentioned to you in our latest supply convoy into your system.
Our two nations have always been in great relations, helping each other along every step of the way, and granting assistance whenever needed.
You have supplied us with more than we could ever have asked, and we have returned the favor many times.
Our two peoples are sympathetic to each other's causes, and that might be the reason why we've always been friendly and allies.
We have decided to propose to you an exchange of half a fighter squadron from both our professional armies.
The proposal is simple in it's form.
Number One:
The Colonial Republic shall post three or more of their best qualified pilots into one of the Benitez systems.
Number Two:
The Benitez shall also post a select number of their highly qualified pilots into Tau-44's battle station Sulawesi.
As you may already have guessed, this could have many benefits to our two nations, some of which are:
- Better familiarization of our two nations' cultures, customs, traditions, values, to further our good relations, and to make our two peoples understand each other more.
- Additional strength of our defenses, as the pilots exchanged can always be called upon by their home-givers for assistance at any point in time.
- The improvement of the experience of all our pilots, the exchange of tactics and skills, etc.
And many more.
The proposal is, of course, open for discussion and change, and Mr. Lampkin is to be treated as my own Voice here.
You can propose what you wish to him, and he has the authority to make changes to the exchange how you two see fit.
I hope we can come to an understanding, as the possible uses are a myriad, and the downsides are non-existant, to my knowledge.
With utmost respect,
[font=Garamond]President Alexander Wingates
[font=Garamond]Lampkin leaned forward, awaiting to hear what the Don would say.