It was a hot day , even for planet Crete's standards.
A group of Corsair Elders stood at the top of the grand stairways at the entrance of the Council of Elders.
Their eyes were all pointed at one of the docking platforms several meters away.
Meanwhile Ryu was approaching Crete's surface.
Two Gladiators flew in formation with him since he entered Crete's atmosphere.
As his autopilot was navigating for the docking point Crete's most famous building came in sight.
Ryu Nakata`s Raba was escorted by two Gladiators. After the disturbing meeting near Planet Crete with a Tresher and a Bullhead of the Bounty Hunters Guild he was more than glad to see the honorable warriors of the great Corsair nation escorting him to the docking plattform of the Council.
"Hai. it seems to be warm outhere today." He just looked out of a window, then checking the temperature via neural net. "But i can`t remember a cold day at Crete to be honest" For a few members of his crew it was the first visit at the Planet. Some of them didn`t even leave Kusari before. "Look at this my brothers, i guess you didn`t see something like this before, the Council of elders building looks impressive. You all should be honored to see this..." Silence everywhere. It seems the crew was really impressed.
A few minutes later the autopilot initiated the docking sequence after they`ve reached the plattform. "Hai, there we are. I expect you to respect the Corsairs and their rituals. We are guests here" Nakata nods. "After a long time the Alliance is invited again to speak to the Council of elders here at Crete. We will see what they really want. I assume that they don`t want to talk about our Rice fields." For a second he was in another world it seems.
Nakata walks to the open door of his Raba. Isao Hiyashi, a new member of the Farmer Alliance from Planet Junyo, and Ishikawa Hasebe, his personel guard, are with him. "Oh my, Isao-san, is it really that warm? I prefer a cold breeze at Kyushu over this" He sighs. "But we are not here to talk about the weather. I think your knowledge of the corsairs can help us today. And you can learn a lot about our relationship to the Corsairs. You should be honored to speak to them" For a moment Nakata stands still....
Having seen their charge safely to port the two escorting Gladiators flew past over the top of the Council chamber.
As usual it was hot as Jose stood with the others and watched with interest as the Alliance vessel landed.
In many ways this meeting had been long overdue and Jose was hoping that there might be an opportunity over the course of the next few days to speak to one of the members of the Alliance's delegation on a particularly perplexing horticultural matter that he had recently come across.
With the sun hot in the sky, the entrance to the Raba began to swing open. As it opened it revealed the Alliance's delegation waiting to disembark. Hopefully they would not want to stand about in the sunshine too long admiring the view. It was simply too hot for that, and Jose was looking forward to getting inside the air conditioned building and the cool.
Isao Hiyashi exited the Raba along with the other Farmers Alliance members, following closely behind Ryu Nakata. Isao was fairly new to the Alliance, but hoped to one day make an impression much as his more experienced colleagues had.
He glanced around at the various building nearby. He had never seen anything of the sort in his short life, though he had heard many stories about them from his friend Rodrigo. Isao just hoped he would remember everything suggested to him so that he didn't make any sort of faux pas. He certainly did not want to cause trouble.
With that in mind, he continued to follow his countrymen.
"Hai, look up the stairs, the Elders. We shouldn`t let them wait too long. The sun is burning today." The docking area at the council isn`t far from the Council. Only a few minutes later they`ve reached the monumental building here at Crete.
"Konnichiwa honorable Elders of the Corsairs. It`s an honor to be here at the Council. My name is Ryu Nakata, a few of you already know me." He bowed "With me here are my personel guard Ishikawa Hasebe and the young Farmer Isao Hiyashi."
Nakata tried to hide his aversion to the warm temperature. "Hopefully they don`t want to talk too much about the weather here. We need to go inside very soon. I think it`s comfortably cool in the building." he thought...
One of the Elders made a little step forward to welcome the delegation of the Alliance...
Jose stepped forward to greet the Alliance member 'Welcome to Crete Senor Nakata. I trust that your journey passed without incident?' he asked.
'I think that perhaps we should step inside and get out of this sun, although I personally don't mind the sunshine I must admit to not always enjoying the heat here on Crete. Things have been prepared and refreshments are awaiting us in the rooms that have been made available for our meeting.'
Jose looked at the delegates from the Alliance who represented some of the firmest friends that the Corsairs had. It was right that they were treated with full ceremony as befitted all of the Empire's friends.
'If you would like to follow me we can proceed inside and out of this heat', Jose turns and begins to lead the small party into the cavernous entrance of the Council Hall of the Corsair Elders before turning and proceeding toward the meeting room.
Nakata was impressed by the ceremony, though he never get used to such a spectacle like this. For him something like this is a waste of resources. But still, he was honored....
"Hai Benitez-san, the only exception was a little inciedent at Crete with Bounty hunters. Nothing to worry about though. I saw a few Pretorian Bombers starting. So i guess the problem was solved only minutes later. So i think we should move on like you said. It`s unbelievable hot today. I prefer a cold breeze at Kyushu over this to be honest." He smiled. "So go ahead. We are close behind you."
After a while they reached the meeting room. The double door was already open and the delegations of the Corsairs and the Alliance moved into the well temperatured room. Nakata saw a few attendants at the left side around the table with the refreshments. "Hai, women handing out the refreshments. Now it feels like at home, Isao-san." he whispered and smiled. "Ishikawa-san, go over there and give one of the woman the box of Sake. They should place it somewhere on the table." Hasebe noded. "I bet Buonocore-san is first one who wants to try it...."
Nakata also noticed a few beautiful antique looking corsiar warrior statues. "Maybe i can get a few similar statues at Crete after this meeting is over." he thought...
The huge round table in the middle of the room was full of little place cards. Nakata was looking for his name. A few seconds later he found the card with his name on it. "Isao-san, over here. Our chairs are here..."
Isao was impressed by the man who greeted them, Jose, as well as the whole location. He gazed around in wonder at everything that lay before him. As they walked into the room, he continued to be fascinated by everything there.
"Isao-san, over here. Our chairs are here..." Nakata said, snapping him back to reality. Isao nodded and followed him over. He, too, noted the statues and how different they were from his favorite holo-sculpture which decorated his Raba and depicted a black dragon eating Libertonians.
As he sat down, he glanced at the women and whispered to his colleagues, starting to ask "what are Corsair women like anyway?" He was unable to finish as important looking people began talking.
Jose waited for the Alliance delegates and the Elders that were present to take their seats. Having allowed a few minutes for people to settle he rose from his seat and coughed gently to draw the attention of the delegates.
'Senors', he began, 'I'd like to open this meeting by saying that it is once again good to see delegates of the Alliance government here on Crete. I fear that sometimes our work and duties prevent us from meeting like this as often as we would perhaps like'.
'There are a number of issues that we would like to discuss and I believe that the first item relates to food supplies. The Empire is very aware of the fact that there are many that would like nothing better than to see the people of Crete starve. Whilst we are in the process of working on improved methods of food production we still have need of your assistance both in terms of technical expertise and food shipments'.
Pausing to take a drink from the glass on the table in front of him Jose continues, 'In very recent times we have experienced a very small reduction in the food shipments arriving here at Crete. This seems to be as a result of the activities of our enemies, and whilst it is not sufficient to cause any concern in the short term I'd not like to see it continue for a significant length of time. Therefore, if it would be possible for the Alliance to increase the shipments for the next period it would be most helpful'.
'I would like to take this opportunity to remind our honoured guests that should a military escort be required then the Empire will be happy to provide one, resource allowing'. Jose sat down and retrieved his drink from the table top.
Nakata put his glass of water back on the table. "Hai. We both have a lot of work to do. But we do it for our nations."
He wasn`t surprised that Jose want to talk about Food for Crete. "A glorious nation like yours have many enemies and people with a grudge against your honorful citizens..." Nakata paused for a second. "....so i am not really surprised about their attempts to disrupt the Food supplies for Planet Crete."
"And of course we are able to bring you our best Kyushu Rice like we did in the past. But Kusari has changed. It`s not easy to travel in Kusari without trouble with the Kusari Authorities anymore. Some of them are still loyal but nontheless it`s difficult sometimes so a few Corsair vessels would be a good idea from time to time. A distraction is always welcome" For a moment he held his breath.
"However, a vessel of the Alliance escorted by the Corsairs within Kusari, or even in the Sigma`s, could, well how to say that, frighten the new Government. Not that i really care. But right now your people are not really marked as kill on sight targets in Kusari. Unlike us. The Elders want to change that?" he asked...
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