Christian remained emotionless, although Harabero pointed out his initial thought, a mere plan to make Freeport 9 once again free for all and never let those barbarians enslave their fellow Zoners again. “I would like to concur with all your points. The stronger our common strike force the better it would play out for us. To relief possible counter offensive we could fank from East / West banks, so their scouts would have a less change to lurk though our forces and report the main Gamma fleet.” he took a deep breath “I understand the risks, if we would fail with Freeport taking over the removal of the biodomes has the point. Although I would take it only under critical circumstances, the last thing is I want to kill my people. But without the biodomes their original plans would fail to feed up the Crete. Although tactical advantage would remain.”
Christian gestured with his left hand and slightly above the desk appeared a map and the Omicron Theta star chart “My initial plan was to gather our forces in darkside of the Pygar planet. This spot is relatively free from any Corsair attention, so we could gather without dragging them into full alert, as taking them up by surprise still can relatively relieve the cost of our mission and raise the chance of success.” He leaned back in the chair for a more comfortable posture “I“We will bring the most prepared Zoner warships in our arsenal - Hyperion and Persephone. We still have disembarked Nephilim class vessels that could provide additional firepower, but they would remain on the rear, but it really depends on the situation.”
Glad points made were resolved, and having remained quiet for some time, he begins to speak
Chenzo:"Well, it seems the plan this side is sorted with only minor at the time details to sort out. I assume it goes without saying that we are to leave the majority of our forces back in Alpha for Maltese, Delta for the Core. As they seek to re-enforce, we can sandwich their efforts into nothing.
Burton, it seems the next stage of this is for you to have a similar sit down with the Coalition. Make them rest assure that we will not attack them for this is a effort on your part to suite us all. Time will tell if they have any honour or respect for Zoners, or indeed their own lives.
The Coalition's passage is much less guarded than any of our routes. I suggest allowing them to amass as much as possible on the dark side of Pygar 'caus when go-time hits, their guns will be needed.
Gabrielle raised her eyebrow as Chenzo was speaking. She let him finish before speaking herself.
"Excuse me, Chenzo. You seem to have misunderstood me. There is no possible scenario when I will share a system with Coalition ships and not open fire on them. II cannot, should not and would not, no matter the circumstances, act as if the Coalition were my allies.
I agreed to them doing their thing two systems away. But this? Nuh-uh. No way."
" If they want to run their blockade or distract the Corsairs in the Omegas, I'm okay with it. But anything that involves their presence in Theta during this operation is unacceptable to me. I will not put my people in danger by having Coalition warships in their close proximity. "
Surprised at the outburst from Daniels, he listens and responds.
Chenzo:"Do not take what I said lightly. Also don't take more than what I said. In no way, shape or form was I suggesting to ever call them allies. I'd turn guns on them sooner than I would on you. I do believe they can be useful, though. In literally zero other circumstance would I say it. They can join with the Zoners presence.
Senorita, after all; You would be forced to have zero shots fired at any other Freeport after all, no? I believe this is literally the one time in which such a notion is acceptable. Once this dealing is over, I'll happily be shooting them too, don't worry about that.
Is there no room what-so-ever for reasoning here?"
Gabrielle was getting slightly annoyed by now, but she didn't show it one bit.
"Excuse me, but was I not clear enough? The Coalition cannot be trusted. Although I do not like to repeat myself, I'll do it just this once, Mr Chenzo.
I will not fight alongside the Coalition and neither would my men.
First, I do not want to. Second, my men wouldn't want to. Third, the Coalition will turn on us as soon as they get the chance. And believe me, they will get the chance if we enlist their help in this operation.
If the Coalition is present, proper tactics would dictate we ignore them for the time being until the corsairs are dealt with and absolutely eradicate them afterwards. However, whether this would be the case or the Coalition would be engaged earlier, I make no promises. The only certain thing I know is this - they will be fired upon by us."
Almost amused but not showing it, he asks another question.
Chenzo:"What about if they were present, achieved a mutual goal and did not fire at any of us, then on this one occasion could you allow their presence?
We'll go hunting for them afterward, I promise.
But for this one time, give them but one chance to be useful? That's if they are even willing to, past a meeting with Burton."
He gently gestures with a nod toward Burton
Chenzo: "Senor Burton over there is a Zoner, after all. The whole reason this is to be a meeting between us is because he enjoys and persuades neutrality around his bases. Call it as a one off, as if you were to meet anyone at any Freeport. If they shoot first, we all shoot them. simple, si?"
" I cannot promise I wouldn't hurl thermonuclear warheads at the Coalition. I might push myself just enough to do it after we've taken the Freeport, but mark my words. The Core will engage the Coalition. They are our enemies and we cannot simply pretend we're buddy buddies with them. That's not how we roll."
Chenzo takes a moment to absorb Danial's words, the idea of a third party inadvertently shooting at the very strike force of the operation was of course a troubling one. He had no reason to believe the Coalition would be willing to partake on neutral terms, nor did he have any confidence the Coalition would keep their word if they were to agree a temporary cease fire. After a few moments he speaks
Chenzo:"Well, I certainly admire you sticking to your guns, Daniels. Senor Burton, it's quite clear we'd have a cat amongst the pigeons if the coalition were to have any direct involvement here. the resulting cross fire would be inevitable and more of a loose cannon effect on the operation at hand. Perhaps if the Coalition are to be involved, their forces are to keep the Corsairs blockaded from entering Theta from Omega 41, think this is something you can do? It'd be an advantage to us if the only place the Corsairs were to likely come from is the wretched Gamma anomaly itself meaning we can spread forces on all sides of the Freeport.
Christian understood the concerns that apprehend Gabrielle's thoughts. “Mr. Chenzo is right, ms. Daniels. That's what I was talking about. We would act as a united entity on this mission, so anyone who would break up the agreements would be shot at, regardless of their identity." He stood up and strode a few stamps in the direction of the panoramic window, whereas Hyperion sight was seen. “ The Phoenix fleet is a fraction of firepower in comparison to yours or Outcasts combined due to our numbers, but together we are unbreakable.” he turned around and crossed his hands and glimpsed on Gabrielle. “If they would dare to give a resistance to the Core during the liberation of the Freeport, it would be much worse for them.”
The shotgun exchange between Daniels and Chenzo prior had highlighted the Core's inability to accept any involvement of the Coalition to positive effect. Chenzo wasn't entirely sure he could resist shooting them himself. Before Daniels exploded with anger, Chenzo spoke.
Chenzo: "Senor Burton, I do feel that Miss Daniels would order open fire on the Coalition upon sight meaning obvious detriment to the operation. May I reaffirm my suggestion to ask you to get the Coalition to front from Omega 41? It would highly raise chances of success of our efforts on the front line.
The Coalition amass in 41, you, the core and Maltese fleets make a sudden hit on the freeport from all sides except Gamma. The Core and Maltese of course leave the bulk of our forces in Delta and Alpha respectively to sandwich any enemy reinforcement"
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