"Indeed, we have gratefully made use of cloaking devices to evade detection as well during patrols, though we have had the odd encounter here and there with Nomads able to pierce cloaking fields, fortunately it doesn't sound like you ran into one of those." Agent van den Ham took a sip of his glass, the story of captain Kocsis up until this point seemed realistic enough. Satisfied that the captains past was covered, it was time to move on to the next topic.
"The sudden change back to more unenlightened days being a key motivator to 'seek your fortune elsewhere' so to speak, no doubt. What made you and your crew decide to reach out to the Order rather than say, the Mollies or Red Hessians, or perhaps the Blood Dragons if you had something further away in mind?"
"Each of these groups has their own political agenda, and they expect us to make sacrifices for goals that we may not even understand or agree with. Our priority is to protect humanity from the threat of the Nomads, and to research new ways to deal with them. The Coalition has conducted classified research on the Nomads in the past, but I know no details."
"As scientists, it is not our place to get involved in politics or become freedom fighters. We simply want to pursue our research and contribute to the greater good through science. Not to make revolutions."
"An admirable perspective to have, if only more people shared it." All in all the man seemed quite openminded, even other Coalition scientists van den Ham had occasionally talked with had been pretty vocal about how important the Coalitions goal was. It seemed captain Kocsis was far more pragmatic, time to see if he was pragmatic enough. "You are correct that the Order has no political inclinations or agenda, especially compared to those other organizations. That said, there are still other potential challenges you might face. People from all walks of life join the Order to push back against the Nomads and their infected ilk. This means you might find yourself working alongside Bretonians, Rheinlanders, even the occasional Corsair. Would you be able to look past potential previous grudges and work alongside former enemies?"
"As long as they don't tell me that I'm inferior to them because I was born elsewhere - I don't care." he answered, for the first time during the conversation smirking slightly. "If they however dare to say something like that - I hope your doctors can repair noses."
Agent van den Ham couldn't help but chuckle at the response and said: "Rest assured, they all received the same spiel when signing up, they should know better. Though I do hope you'll try dialogue with your potential coworkers before resorting to fisticuffs." With a small cough the agent grabbed the datapad he had placed down earlier before continuing: "That covers the past and present, now lets move on to the future shall we? In what field of study would you be able to contribute to the Order to, at least I assume you're not signing up to become a fighter pilot."
"Mostly continue doing what I was doing - field scientific work, with exclusion to now fighting enemies that is different to what we usually would encounter. This would for sure need special training, but I and my people are ready to a challenge, although I doubt at this stage we can promise you a so-called 'heroic death' for the cause."
"I am indeed will never suit a fighter - I simply wasn't taught to fly one and putting me in is equal to signing a death sentence."
"That's good to hear, all our personnel gets put through the ringer to learn basic military tactics, as well as anti Nomad techniques. New insights however are always more than welcome and frankly, the more of those scientists can fend for themselves, the easier it'll be on their escorts as well." The agent reached out to the recorder, adding one last comment while his finger was on its switch. "I, agent van den Ham, have deemed the captain to be sound of mind and pure of motivation, this interview is concluded with a positive decision." With that said the recording was finally flicked off and van den Ham reached out his hand towards the captain and said: "Welcome to the Order Henrik."
Henrik shook the agent's hand and smiled genuinely for the first time during their conversation. "I'm sure we'll find common ground very quickly," he said.
Koscis remembered what Henrik had said at the beginning of the conversation and grabbed a glass of ale, drinking it slowly and savoring the light taste. He wasn't much of a fan of spirits, but he figured the occasion warranted allowing himself a glass.
