No Dinner for Loyola - Printable Version

Two corvette-sized ships arrived at the freeport. One was a slightly damaged Montante, the other a perfectly-well Corvo. They moored with the Freeport.

The fixtures weren't very crowded, thus Enma would see and recognize Maren very quickly. Ezrael, an athletic man with long black hair in a tight flightsuit-like overall, left the airlock to the Montante, heading for the airlock to the Corvo called 'Hoffnungsschimmer'. He looked around, trying to find anything that looked like that troublesome girl called Enma Loyola. Maren told him a bit about her, saying she was actually a nice person hidden behind a rough shell. However, Ezrael remembered how he fought Loyola twice during his Core times. When he talked to Enma in Magellan, he found out she didn't remember him, and he wanted to make sure it would stay that way. Stepping next to Maren, giving her a quick peck on the cheek, they looked into the hall.

Leaning slightly against Vertiga as they waited, Maren fidgeted with her hands. She was wearing a simple, rather formal attire held in blue. After they had woken up and eaten breakfast, she had spent the better part of an hour preparing the dining room for something more formal, similar to the time when Noah Xonnel had been with them, making it seem rather nice, with tablecloth and folded napkins et cetera. "I notified her of where we would be. Won't take too long, I'd guess. I mean, she's the one who wants something of us."

A few moments afterwards, a strangely equipped Rapier docked with the Freeport. A female pilot removed her halmet, and, with a few short moves, tried to fix her red hair. She waited until an automatic system would move a ladder to her ship. Enma looked around in a Freeport hangar, and, after 37 seconds, the ladder was finally in place. She moved down, locking down all systems on her ship and sighed again. She just realized that Maren didn't say the exact place where they should've meet and just went to the closest bar.

It was a bit strange, Maren found. They had been standing here for fifteen minutes now and there was no sign of the red haired lady. "Do you reckon she got lost?" Maren asked Vertiga while passing, as she had started to pace around. "I doubt it's so hard to find this ship. It's sorta the biggest one moored right now."

"You said she isn't into men. Maybe our beautifully phallic-shaped ship reminds her of that?", Ezrael said with a smirk. No sign of that girl. Not that he was really looking for her, as he mostly stared at Maren. "We could go to the information center and give her an announcement. The parents of the little Enma Loyola are looking for her. Please, dear little Enma, come to the information center at the mooring ring! Don't you think that would break the ice? Or my neck?" Amused, he fingerpistoled Maren into the side, making her squeak in a sudden.

Meanwhile. Enma looked tired and just drank one bottle of beer, and since no one came, she just was heading back to hangar. That was really annoying, her time was wasted, and her mood was completely gone.

"Likely the latter," she responded dryly, rubbing the spot he had hit, though she couldn't help but grin like an idiot at his antics. "I guess I can give her the docking port number. She strikes me as the kind of person who would carry some comm device with her," Maren added before withdrawing her PDA and sending Enma the docking port number. "I'm sure I told her the name of the ship, though. It wouldn't be hard to find it if she looked at the registers."

Enma is receiving the message. "Are you ***** me?" she said and looked aroud, gladly seeing that there was not a lot of people around. This ***** have no idea how to organaze meetings. Is she really able to provide me with this ship, she groused inwardly, while heading to their ship. Her breath was a bit deeper than usual, because she of her increased pace.

And there she appeared. Just the way Ezrael remembered her. The redhead. No smile visible. "Look, Maren, there. It's her. I think you should do the first move." He held his neck with one hand.

Oh boy, she doesn't look too amused. She did know the shipname, though. What am I supposed to do? Babysit her? Wearing a pleasant smile outwardly, Maren waved at Enma as she drew near. "Miss Loyola!" she called out.

She rised her hand, sort of saying hello and turned to Maren. She tried to make herself look softer and even faked a smile for them. "Finally you're here. A bit late?"

Figuring it would be an improper move to tell Enma she had been expected to find the ship she knew the name of on her own, Maren contented herself with agreeing. "Sadly, yes. We ran into a bit of a hassle in Leeds that caused some delays. We're really sorry for the inconvenience, Miss Loyola, as you've told me how busy you are." She could smell the beer in Enma's breath as she spoke, though she didn't comment.

"Well, I was waiting for just an hour, maybe a little bit more; it can be worse." Her anger made way for mercy and Enma gently shook Maren's hand with a polite smile, just the edges of her mouth curling up slightly. "To be honest, it wasn't that bad. I had a drink in the bar, so... yeah." She paused and her smile was gone. "So, where do we go? It doesn't feel good to have a conversation staying here."

Thankful that Enma appeared mollified for now, Maren nodded. "You're right; we won't stay here. We'd have a seat in the Corvo, if you would." She turned to Vertiga, giving him an ecouraging smile, turning her head to Enma. "Miss Loyola, this is my fiance, Ezrael Vertiga. He would be the one who can get you what you seek. Ezrael, Enma Loyola."

"My pleasure, Miss Loyola." He offered her a hand. His look straight to her eyes.

"Mhm." She intoned somehow awkwardly, looking at the long-haired guy in front of her. He looked harmless. "Is your Corvo equipped well enough for this?" Enma just asked the first question that came to her mind. It was at least an attempt to look nice and communicable.

"It's equipped with the best luxuary technology for ships of that size from OSC and the Zoners. Look at Maren, she's happy with living on that ship for months now." He smirked at her. For some reason, he had expected a really strong handshake, but instead, he still was able to feel his hand. "We have food supplies from all over Sirius and Gallia, Kishiroan service robots, a cat and a good supply of cardamine as well, if you need some. Just in case." With an inviting gesture, he offered her to enter the airlock to the Corvo.

Maren chuckled. "You'd make a good salesman," she stated, looking at Enma, wanting to go after her for the sake of curtesy. Maren idly wondered whether Enma would inquire as to why he had Cardamine and whether he used it.

"That sounds good enough." Enma sighed and walked in, rather looking on the floor, thinking than looking around. "You both live here, aren't you?" she asked another rather obvious questions to keep the conversation up.

Walking next to her, he looked forward, as they headed for the lift. "It's our mobile home, yes. We have a small crew. Just me, Maren, two other girls that are somewhat part of our little family, my best friend, a cat and more or less twenty service robots." She would notice how well-crafted and high-quality the ship's interior was, typical for OSC ships. They looked like hotels or luxuary liners. They reached the lift. "For our dinner, we need to take the lift to the main deck." He offered her to enter. "Where do you live, Miss Loyola?"

Following behind, Maren listened in to their conversation, though kept quiet, finding it good for the two to make conversation simply for the sake of, well, not bonding, but it gave Vertiga some grounds to judge her character on. That and he could see how the girl that attacked him several times actually was like.

"I have a manor on Malta, but I barely live there. I live wherever I'm needed and the manor itself is mostly empty, since I am the last Loyola. It's just me and a couple of servants, I don't really feel good there, so I am glad that I get to live on some stations all over the Sirius." Enma looked aroud and was honestly surprised. "Yeah, this isn't so bad, but I can't see the cat."

Using the lift only took half a minute, as it was only one deck to change. Leaving said lift, a small black cat with red-ish paws would sit there and meow, greeting Maren rubbing it's body around her legs and sniffing at the unknown Loyola. "Well, there he is. Maren named it 'Mittens' for obvious reasons. Don't worry, he's clean and everything." With a smirk, he looked down to Mittens as it pushed it's head against Enma's legs as well, purring.

"I'd advise against picking him up, as he can get really cranky from that," Maren added, thinking about how Enma's haircolor matched Mittens' paws. She knelt down and stroked across the cat's head, trailing over his back. "You've been waiting here for us, hmm?" she asked the cat, and he yawned in reply.

"Mhm." Enma took a short look and the cat and Maren who knelt down. "It doesn't look like this thing was waitng. We don't have cats on Malta, so that's a bit odd to me. Sorry," she said and moved away from the cat for a bit. "So, uh, as I said I don't have much time, let's discuss business," she added rather formally.

"Right, let's continue." They headed for the canteen now and Mittens followed them. "This is the crew quarters. We mainly live on this deck, as we have everything here we need. On the lower deck are some hobby rooms, but that's all." It was better to not tell Loyola about the nomad energy core in the engine room. On the way Enma would see some Kishiro Service Robots (KSRs), walking around busy. They soon would enter the canteen, decorated like in a restaurant. Maren really had a hand for this. "That's it. Please, take a seat, Miss Loyola. Our cook, a robot we named Nodtvi-Bot, has access to a database of about 10.000 recipes. Are you vegetarian? You can order whatever you wish." Taking a seat on the head of the table, Maren made sure Mittens would stay out of the canteen this time, as it was contraproductive to have him jump on the table like he usually did.

With Mittens locked out for now, Maren returned to them, taking seat on the oblong side of the table to be between Vertiga and where Enma would sit, yet in reach of both. She crossed her legs, folding her hands on her lap. "We hope it's not an inconvenience, this here, but we thought it would be the most amicable solution to otherwise court and vapid talks about comm channels. We shan't keep you for too long." She gave Enma an inviting smile, gesturing for her place. "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself, maybe, if you're comfortable with that. I'm sure a woman like you has a lot to her name, as evidenced by how busy you are."

"I mainly work for one old Maltese family. Sadly I can't name it, as this is a part of my contract. Basically I am spying and collecting information, but that's not everything. They also may need some delieveries, I believe Maren is aware of one of them, so she can confirm. I need a good long range transport that will survive Taus, Omicrons, Sigmas and maybe even Omegas. You never know how my life will turn at the next day. I'm not really sure if you want to hear something about my work with the Core or Auxesia, but that's a long way gone now."

"You worked for Auxesia?", he said, surprised while Nodtvibot, a stereotypical Service Robot, came over to the table. The robot talked with the strong voice of Eric Nodtviet, with a cold, making it obvious why it's named Nodtvibot. "WHAT DO THE STRONG WISH FOR DINNER TODAY?"

"Viennese Schnitzel for me, Nodtvibot, and a sweet wine. You should try the same, Miss Loyola. Especially the wine," Ezrael said, hoping the wine would brighten the mood up a bit.

Uttering a slight "Oh," at Enma's words, Maren absentmindedly ordered a vegetarian lasagne with broccoli for herself, abstaining from wine this time, as she felt like she was drinking way too much of that lately. "I didn't know that as well. Is that why Birdy keeps being so snappy when it comes to you? I remember that instance in Kansas." She hummed quietly, wondering just how spectacular that story would be. Had they been friends?

"I don't know your Bird good enough to be honest, and I can barely recall our conversations. She seems to be afraid a lot of the things, not only me. I even have a feeling that she is afraid her own shadow at times. You also said that she is really busy those days; that's a shame. She seems to be a good person after all, and she apparently can be useful." Enma stopped talking, looking at the robot. "Hm, we would be using one of those slaves for this, as you call them. They look a lot better, usually, in all honesty." She gave a short, helpless smile. "And yes, it was a rather personal contract with Raven. She saved me from the Core and I helped her for some time. I was a some sort of bodyguard I guess."

"Well, that's interesting. Who would have thought? I believe pretty much the same, however, we have a problem with her, more or less, as she is pretty sure at least one of us is the host of a nomad. I'm afraid, sooner or later, this will cause problems for us. We're probably visiting Auxesia to talk with them about it." Yet Ezrael didn't know that Raven already destroyed his reputation with the Bretonians. He looked at Enma, then to Nodtvibot, then back to Enma. "Not hungry?"

Maren took note of how Vertiga phrased it when he said 'the host of a Nomad', rather than outright saying infected. Savvy and diplomatic. "I'm actually not too convinced about that, as it might seem to them as if we're admitting guilt. It's more the fact that they're hardly a force to be reckoned with, though. They're hardly as influential as a house." She tapped the table, throwing Vertiga a glance. "Still, trying it might be a good idea, even if just to redeem your reputation, love."

"Our reputation, Maren," he added, looking at her with a smirk. Mittens tapped the usually opened door from the outside, his claws making a noise when running down the door fast.

"There are a lot of rumours about people controlled by the Nomads, but I'm being realistic: even if there are a few, we have nothing to afraid of." She shrugged dismissively. "Birdy is obviously a bit paranoid, which is even cute." She looked at both, and then looked down for a moment. "I don't really want to eat, or rather, I just can't eat when working, excuse me." She took the glass of wine again, slowly moving it to her lips.

"Right. Malta has always been in a rather unique position," Maren said in regards to Enma's first statement. "Is it really the case that one can sometimes see Nomad ships in the sky? Some dude at Barrier Gate said that, though we all know that such thing are to be taken with a pinch of salt." She cast a glance over to where Nodtvibot was preparing their meals in the kitchen.

"'Nomads' are coming to Malta time to time, this is true. It happened for ages now and the Maltese got used to it." She sighed and took a sip, "Maltese people are different. Maybe the 'Nomads' are feeling it as well. Who knows, I'm not into such things. You should find someone more competent to talk about these matters."

"So you have no connection to them, Miss Loyola?" he said in a suddenly serious tone, watching her every little move she would do now. He encountered her both, with a ship called Loyola|Aoi and Emmeleia|Aoi, and thanks to Maren he knew Emmeleia was some sort of 'pet name', as she called it. Taking his glass of wine, he stared at her.

She faked confusion and looked at him. "I am not connected to them. I do believe that they are harmless to me and my people, but nothing more, really." She gave him a benign look, trying to appear somehow naive.

"You're sure you want to stay with that answer, Emmeleia?" he said, putting the glass back. "I don't question it. It's not my matter, to be honest. However, I would appreciate if you were honest with me. As I said earlier, in Magellan that day, I know you from Omicron Delta. You know, you want a ship from me. I can give it to you. All I want is some truth and honesty. I have to know if I can trust you, Miss Loyola." His expression turned a bit more amused again.

"My name is Enma, not Emmeleia," she retorted, sounding insulted. "If you want to hear the truth, you did already. I have no a single reason to lie."

He leaned back, disappointed. "Self-preservation is always a good reason to lie. But... let's get back to business." He looked over to Maren for some time, then back to Enma. "As we don't want to waste each other time, right?" He sighed.

"The issue with the Whale is rather simple," Maren began, having observed their little, almost heated exchange silently. "Ezrael is putting his reputation in your hands, basically. People would know that this vessel has at some point been in his possession, or at least been procured by him. This is the trust thing he mentioned earlier — we're putting our only safe haven on the line, as we can't risk problems with the Zoners, be they here or in Baffin." Nodtvibot chose this time to return with both her and Vertiga's food and drink. She traced a finger along the glass of orange juice that came with hers. "A bit of selfishness is involved, yes. We'd like to not be connected with the slave trade, without wanting to pass moral judgement."

"I don't think that you are a threat to me. I still have no reason to lie." She switched to Maren. "This transport won't be used for this. I can promise you that. I don't think other Outcast would ever transports 'slaves' on it. The Pilgrim Liners and such are way better for the job. If you need a guarantee from me, I can provide it. I can even sign up some document if you need."

"No need therefor. I highly doubt there is any entity that could act as executive if you break your word," he said, smiling. "Just don't disappoint me." He wanted to add something, but he didn't want to push it too far. "The ship is right now still at Sigma-15. Give us two days and you can have it. Just remember that transport is unarmed. You could install a cloaking device on it. However, no slaves. Never. May I ask, what are you going to transport with it?"

As they talked, Maren tended to her food, cutting the entire piece of vegetable lasagne into mouth-ready slices to have it easier afterwards. Vertiga was so cute when he was trying to be diplomatic.

"It depends, munitions, minerals, gases, other resources and materials. Whatever the Nacion and my other friends may need. As I said, no workers will be transported on it. My family never moved the workers to Malta, so I never did as well." Loyola looked at Maren, then back to Vertiga. "Sigma-15 you say? Thaaat's pretty far away. Did you actually get it from Zoners, or was it some proxy?"

"Like the first Whale we bought there for one of my inferiors," he began and smiled at Maren as he called Sombra an inferior, then he looked backt to Enma, "I just legally purchased it from the ship vendor. I'm maybe born on Curacao, but since it's neither part of Bretonia nor of Liberty, I am, so to say, a Zoner as well. So that makes it easy to get Zoner stuff. But don't worry, we will bring that Whale to where you want it, if you want. You maybe need to be a bit careful in Rheinland, as they don't like Whales, no matter if it's a generic Zoner one or an OSI Whale. But you have your ways to deal with things, I guess." He smiled at Enma, taking another sip of his whine. "You're in a leading position, is that right?"

Maren found it slightly weird that he called Sombra his inferior. Was he trying to prove something to her? "Didn't know Rheinland had a problem with that, actually, which is weird, considering I read the laws to know whether I could fly the Prosecutor there." She put a slice of her food on her fork and took a bite. About to speak again, she figured that talking with her mouth full wasn't too savvy, at least not right now.

Enma sipped the wine as well. "Sadly, I am not in a leading position, but my opinion means something for those who are holding power. It works, but in a complicated way. I could've become very rich using my current status, but I prefer to dedicate myself for something that is more important." She leaned back and looked more relaxed as she got used to the situation.

"I see. Believe it or not, but both Maren and I can relate to that." Taking a bite from his schnitzel, he looked over to Maren. The girl that still was working as Unschuld. "Miss Loyola, may I ask, what is the aim of your faction?"

"We just want to protect our people from internal and external threats. You know how many powers in Sirius want to see my planet burnt down to stellar dust, right?" Her voice sounded more powerful, but still remained calm.

"The Core, the Corsairs, probably the Order as well as the houses, their corporations and even some of the unlawfuls there like the Gaians and the Xenos. And the Bounty Hunters. So you're building a defense fleet?" Another sip of the wine.

"If you will excuse me, I can't share this information with you," she cut in and moved away her glass for a little bit.

"I mean, it's sort of necessary to have defensive capabilities," Maren added, giving Vertiga a small smile, that said no need to delve too deep. She reached for her cup of juice. "I mean, you know that as much as anyone, right?" She was talking about the Apahanta, and she was quite positive that he knew that as well.

"Sure, everyone can decide how much to tell. However, the more you know, right?" He looked over to Enma again, still not very happy with her not eating. "Is the wine alright?"

"Of course we want to become stronger and improve our fleet, I just can't share any details. I thought it would be quite obvious." She sighed and looked and the glass then. "It is a good wine, but I have to work to after this, so I don't really want to get drunk right now."

"So how do you want to handle this?" asked Maren, trailing along the rim of her glass with a finger. "I guess you could sign a contract or something, but who's actually going to enforce that? If you pay for it, you can have it, I would say. We part ways and got one good with you, Miss Loyola. Sound fair?"

"I believe it's good. If you want me to sign something as Loyola and guarantee it with the honor of my family then I can do it." She paused. "And of course I can pay and I will pay. Why else why I'd even come here?"

"I believe you two already handled the money thing, right? I'll do the rest then with Maren. To where do you want the Whale delivered then?" Once more he looked Enma into her eyes. It was obvious she just wanted to be done with this as soon as possible, so there was no need to play with her anymore. She wouldn't come with the truth anyway. However, maybe it can come in handy that he helped her. "Malta, I suppose?"

"You can also bring it here if you don't want to have a potential problems with the border controls," she said, closing her eyes for a moment. "Yes, Freeport 10 would be even better. We will set up the new transponders here and then it's fine."

It almost seemed to Maren as if she was the only one eating here, which actually wasn't too impressive, considering only she and Vertiga were doing that. Swallowing, she beckoned for a KSR to bring her a data pad. "Right. I believe we can take care of the payment rather elegantly here now. Love, how much does the thing even cost? You did inquire about that; I don't rightly know," she asked him while she waited for the robot to retrieve her PDA from her room. As he left, Mittens entered the canteen, and Maren went to pick him up before he could jump on the table again. As she had said, she didn't really like that and tried to bite Maren, but she just placed him down on her lap and made a game of it, withdrawing her hand each time he went to bite it.

"130.600.120 Credits. That's what the Whale costs. Delivery inclusive." He watched how Mittens bit Maren's hand, but Maren was old enough to deal with it anyway. Also, his bites weren't too harmful with his tiny teeth. His claws were more dangerous. "We'll bring it to Tau-37 then, fine."

And that was basically it. Enma had never had the intention of staying longer than was necessary, and with her goal achieved, she rose to leave. Being that neither Vertiga nor Maren could or intended to keep her, they escorted her back to the airlock, Maren still holding the pugnacious cat, and once they had reached their destination, they bade her a rather formal goodbye. It was obvious that Vertiga had expected more of this visit, though he did a remarkable job of hiding this fact. With Enma out of reach, they returned to the ship, intending to at least finish eating themselves before bringing the ship back to Canaria. They had to pick up Nancy Sweetwater again, after all.