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Shogun Hokama was waiting at the Dockyard of Kyoto for the Lane Hackers. He wears a traditional black Kimono and a Katana on his belt. He is followed by two armed guards, who silently stay behind him

Aruga was next to him also wating for the Lane Hackers, he was in traditional robes while he was armed with a Katana and a tanto. "I hope they don't take too long..." He said to no one in paticluar.

Someone stood next to Hokama, a young female in Furisode dyed a crimson red with black decortive marks all over it. On her back however was something entirely different; rather she had a double edged Naginata on her back, not saying much else

Yoshida took his cardamine dose before he exited the Gunboat. He didn't want to do it in front of his hosts and perhaps unsettle them. In sharp contrast, his clothing was luxurious, his costume worn by the upper class of Liberty. When he finished he exited the ship and looked at Kyoto. "Not much has changed since my last visit, 3 years ago." He noted to himself.

Kohaku walks towards the Lane Hacker and makes a slight bow, since he is the Shogun he does not need to bow deep "Welcome to Kyoto, Yoshida-san, the home of the Blood Dragons"

Aruga also bows slightly. "Kon'nichiwa..."

The female steps forward but remains near Kohaku "Kon'nichiwa." Bowing a bit more before steping back

Yoshida bowed more deeply than Kohaku and formally exhanged his welcoming words. "I am always standing in awe, while seeing Kyoto. I hope this KNF officer we encountered before would be the only obstacle."

"I have the apprehension that this KNF officer was only one of many obstacles we will have to encounter" What really noticeable was on Kohaku was the scar under his left eye

Aruga nods and sighs. "Is it the same officer that attacked Ami-chan... and Aine-chan... gods... I hate him..."

Yoshida simply nodded to Shogun's remark. Mr Sun, another LH operative, was far behind and he will follow from distance the group. "Shogun, you are accompanied. I believe they were the pilots that were with us during the travel?"

The young girl remained quiet, not speaking unless spoken to first, however she did look up at Kohaku who was next to her

Kohaku shakes his head "No... the young Dragon who accompanied you was Aine Niwa, these here are Aruga Takahashi, one of our Hatamoto and one of our Daimyo, Yuki Hokama"

Yoshida bows again (but less deeply than before) to Shogun's companions. "It is an honor to meet you, Mr Aruga and my lady."

She bows in return "Honor to meet you." she ays in a light voice

Aruga bows too. "Hai... it is an honor..."

"This vessel is returned to its rightful owners. I hope it will serve well and efficiently under your command." Yoshida says pointing to the ship behind

"Hai... I'll have Ami-chan have a look at it when she is able..." Aruga nods.

"But your long travel here is not only because the Lane hackers want to bring back our ship... we should go to a more suited place then this for our conversation. We have a private room ready in our bar"

"Of course. I believe I am ready for our upcoming discussions."

Yuki reached into her pocket and handed Kohaku a key, before starting off to the bar alone, ahead of everyone to watch

He takes the key and nods "Please follow us" He turns around and they all walk to the Club

Aruga follows Kohaku.

As they reach the room, he opens it with the key and kohaku walks in, while the guards stay outside and guard the door

Yoshida walks inside without looking around and waits to be sent to his designated position. Mr Sun follows from behind.

The was a traditional table on the ground. But not high as a normal table. Around it, pillows to sit on them. Kohaku goes to the table and knees down onto one of the pillows

Yuki was near the wall waiting, almost looking to be made of soin while waiting

Yoshida sits on his designated pillow and Mr Sun sits on the right. They patiently wait for their host to begin the discussion.

Kohaku looks at them. There was already a bottle of sake and some cups on the table "Befor we start our conversation, would you like a cup of Sake?"

"I abstain from alcohol, Shogun" Yoshida kindly refused.

Aruga was sitting next to Kohaku.

Yuki remained against the wall,watching the converstation from there

"Anyways...." He takes a sip from his cup and then looks at the Lane Hackers "You are here today as the representative of the Lane Hackers and you wish to refresh the friendship with the Blood Dragons?"

"That is correct, Shogun." Yoshida's eyes search for a waiter in the room.
"I have been sent by the Professorship."

A maid stands in the door and asks if she can come in. Kohaku nods and looks at the Lane Hacker "Please, tell her what you wish"

"A cup of tea, please" Yoshida says and then returns to the Shogun. "While we were travelling I had proposed to conduct mutual operations in Shikoku system. That system is close to our base of operations, and still within Kusari."

The maid leaves again with their order "I see.... and you want to ask the Blood Dragons for their approval to starts your operations in Kusari space?" He takes another sip

Aruga was taking notes as they talked.

"Shogun, we already conduct operations in Shikoku, alone. I am referring to mutual operations."

He nods "While the Blood Dragons operate everywhere in Kusari, travels to places still take a long while. The only base for us in Shikoku is Moriaka. As you see our movement is limited to these hidden bases and reaction time still takes a long while... however.... I'm interested in these operation and wonder what benefits it could bring us Dragons"

Aine was mumbling about something while Aruga nodded. "Hai... it takes a very long time to react to something..."

"The Lane Hackers, as you already know are not a populous faction, such as the Liberty Rogues for example. I'm aware that the Blood Dragon pilots, even though they are elite, have also shortage in manpower. Conducting mutual operations would exactly eradicate this disadvantage."

"That is true, if we work together, our succees rate of raids and attacks on goverment ships increases highly"

Yoshida nodded. "Shogun, may I ask your opinion about the Gas Miners' Guild and the construction project they had in Okinawa?"

"The Gas Miners Guild is an important ally to the Blood Dragons, they supply us with most of the commodities we need, so we dont mind sharing a part of Kusari with them and leave them alone in what they do"

"I see. The Lane Hackers' archrivals, Ageira and IC frequently operate in eastern Kusari. And that creates a significant problem to us."

"Ageira and Interspace Commerce are not enemies of us. It might happen from time to time that we rob one of their transporters for supplies or raid their convoys but these are mere coincidences" The maid returns with their orders and puts the plate down with the drinks befor she bows and leaves again "Our real enemy is the Kusari goverment..."

"Of course Shogun. But when IC economically supports Kusari, sustains it when it was ready to fall apart and perhaps even the Shogunate to take over, then they provided an invaluable assistance to the government." Yoshida sips a bit of water in his mouth to clear his throat and continues.
"Similarly, Ageira was the sole provider of the Gate Lane parts for the Chugoku Jump Gate project."

"That might be true but we never focused our force on the companies alone. We try to cut their supplies towards the goverment but never really hunted them actively"

Yoshida scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Under the rule of the previous Shoguns, a Lane Hacker wing was given allowance to operate in these areas and against these specific targets. The results were very good."

He nods "I also think if someone particulary takes care of these supply companies, it would benefit our fight against the goverment.... however... we never forget that these Captains are civilians too... they just do their job like they suppose to do. The Blood Dragons stand for honour and pride, and killing innocent civilians who just do what they need to do is out of question. Of course if someone is stubborn enough to give resistance, we need to still take care of this matter. But if bloodshed can be brevented... then that is the best solution"

"I understand. As you already know we have no operational bases within Kusari and the Golden Chrysanthemums currently lack a central leadership. It is my hope that your local bases can accept this wing."

"In this matter I must disapoint you, the Blood Dragons do not pocees any base inside okinawa.... however we have a base in Honshu which is only about 15 klicks from a Okinawa Jumphole away"

Yoshida nods his head in thanks. "The Lane Hackers are glad to renew this old agreement. It is an important agreement for us, Shogun." He exhanged glances with Mr Sun and continued. "While waiting for your ships to arrive, back in Shikoku, your transport captain informed us that he procured supplies from Liberty."
"As you may know, we have an organized smuggling ring. Perhaps we could assist you in a way?"

"Hai... we use smuggling routes to supply our bases inside Kusari and we take every help we can get to strengthen our forces"
"Daimyo Yuki, takes care of such transports and also pay everyone who helps the Blood Dragons with supplies"

She nods from the wall in responce

Aruga continues taking notes.

Yoshida glances at Yuki briefly. "That's good to hear. Are you currently upgrading a newly constructed base? These must be especially demanding and our assistance could more efficiently be used there."

He shakes his head "We have currently no base under construction"

"I see. I'd like to request your Daimyo's attention afterwards, to further discuss our supply assistance."
Yoshida drank from his cup tea and since noone said anything he continued.
"I have presented you Shogun with some important matters. Do you have any matter that you wish to bring to my attention, perhaps?

"Hai... the numbers of ships you wish to bring into Kusari"

"You must be referring to the wing we will re-deploy in eastern Kusari, yes?"

He nods

"I... had not been given exact intel about the size of the wing. But since typically our wings consist of four ships, I believe that is a safe answer, Shogun. As we also suffer from shortages, it will usually be smaller.

He nods "Good... I will allow you that you take a wing of 4 ships to hikone in Honshu and Okinawa as well as 1 gunboat if needed"

"Thank you Shogun. I assure you that our pilots will deliver a significant interest in the local interests of Ageira and IC. And always abide by the limitations that you have set."

"But be warned... if the Lane Hackers exploit the civilians in kusari, this contract will immidiately be void"
"Also a last thing.... you will not touch nor harass any GMG vessel inside Kusari"
"All GMG vessel stand in protection of the Blood Dragons and act of hostality agains GMG will be punished"
"The same goes for the Junkers and Order ships"

"Of course. GMG is not the ones we are after. I believe I made clear of who are true enemies are. And we will honour our agreement as much as we honoured the previous one."

He smiles "Good... now that everything is clear... lets drink on the refreshed friendship between the Blood Dragons and the Lane Hackers" He rises his cup

Yoshida nodded and rose his tea cup as well.

"Kanpai!" He smirks and drinks his cup empty

"Kanpai!" Aruga also rasies a glass.

Yuki, who was against the wall, says the same thing but raise a glass of water she asked for

Yoshida and Mr Sun also finish their drinks. Their attention now shifts to Yuki standing on the wall...

He also looks at Yuki and nods

Yuki nods to Yoshida, listening to what he had to say

"Daimyo, would you honor me by joining us? I do not feel comfortable talking to you over such distance."

Yuki does just that, walking over however taking a seat where Kohaku just motioned to before looking back at Yoshida, "What is it you wish to speak about?"

Aruga watched carefully as he took more notes.

"About the trading opportunities..."

Yuki nods "I offer a good amount of money for some cargo, depending on the target its taken from, and what it is, there are bonus and things like that yes." She reachs into her pocket and brings out her data pad and sending Yoshida a private data link before noding and putting her pad away

Yoshida nods and grabs a small stick for a neural net stick from his pocket. "I will save the channel and we will respond when we return to Liberty."

She nods "I'll add the Hackers to the bonus sheet as well when I get a moment to access the channel again."

"Thank you, Daimyo." and with that he finished his tea while waiting for Shogun to end the meeting.

She bows her head and looks back at Kohaku

"Very well, I will give out a announcment about this contract as soon as possible" He nods "Yoshida-san, please feel free to stay on Kyoto and take some rest"

"Thank you, Shogun, we indeed had a long travel and lengthy discussions. We could use a rest."