The Citadella slowly made its way through the Keiun Cloud and towards Morioka. With the addition of Saint Mark to the ranks of the Maltese Legión and the Impero nearing its completion in Valetta's spacedock, the somewhat aged destroyer had long given up the role of a flagship of the Legión. What it still offered though was the ability to traverse the vast void of space much faster and stealthier than its much bigger brethren. With the destroyer nearing the Chrysanthemum base's perimeter, a hailing transmission was sent to notify the Kusarian hosts of the Legión's arrival.
"This is MNS Citadella to Morioka, we are inbound with guests for the festival. Preparing for mooring procedures."
Inside one of the Citadella's crew cabins sat Eliza Valdez, contemplating if she was glad to be out of her usual pilot's uniform or if she was actually starting to miss it now that she finally had the chance to conduct the Legión's affairs in something more casual. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh - Kusari culture was far from her thing and this festival likely meant a lot of it. Her PDA that was laying on the small stand ringed - they had arrived. A childish though of making an entrance with a breach charge, a pair of stun grenades and a lot of rifle fire as if this was some sort of LSF SWAT operation on planet Los Angeles played through her mind.
Sadly for the sake of international relations and the good of the Cardamine trade this was to remain just a silly thought in the back of her mind. The Maltese got up from the bed, gave a quick glance at her somewhat plain red dress attire and once finished reassuring herself that this is the best she'll be able to do given the circumstances she marched, as much as a person in a dress could, out of her quarters and towards the mooring docks of the Storta-class destroyer.
At the docking hatch was Arturo "Muerte" Sforza awaiting in a rather informally worn formal attire which contrasted heavily with the pair of legionnaires doing guard duty next to the docking port in combat gear. At least next to him she would look modest and classy, or so she hoped. Unless of course, this somewhat macho outlook was all carefully engineered to impress the expectedly overwhelming female population of the festival. Even for an old or even ancient by the rest of Sirius's standards man, the old Muerte still seemed like he had it in him to do just that. Or at least he wanted to portray it with a cigarette in his mouth no doubt.
"You know smoking's bad for your health, Arturo?"
Eliza poked jokingly with a smirk while waiting for the hatch doors to open. The notorious hiss of pressure equalization played out as the reinforced alloy hatch opened up, revealing the station's dock. On the other side they were greeted with Chrysanthemum's version of guards - women dressed in combat uniforms and looking rather on edge from all the traffic that Morioka was seeing because of the festival. Luckily enough the Maltese duo did not look suspicious enough to warrant interrogation before being let through into the station, especially since they did not look armed.
The station had passed some major redecoration since Eliza last visited and with all the festival lamps and whatnot it was not too hard for the two of them to navigate to the main hall where whatever ceremonies the Kusarians had prepared were meant to be played out.
Cartel's yacht "Marmore", Keiun Cloud, Shikoku system
23th June 826
One of the crew was a man with short hair standing at the window gazing out into space. His name was Luis Torres he currently operated as the Cartel's Security Chief's right hand. He was dressed in his usual outfit of black fatigues accompanied by the Grey Chest-plate of Armor that bore a slight shine due to it being polished specifically for this event, Torres also wore a holster around the leg of his combat trousers. The Holster was occupied by a semi-automatic pistol loaded with Hollow tip rounds. Under his arm was the trusty helmet that accompanied his Armor, it shared the same Grey colouring and had a black T-Shaped Visor and a built-in Cardamine breather. Torres thoughts were focused on rather menial matters. Things like how he wished he could just take his trusty Sabre or that he could be getting into some action against the Gaul's or whatever another enemy was up for offer. After all a festival was definitely a change of pace for Torres especially one set with scuh a different culture from what he was used to. His thoughts however, were interrupted by Valeria's question. "Another fifteen minutes give or take"He responded rather blankly before his thoughts started wandering again
Fifteen Minutes Later, Outside of Morioka, Shikoku system
23th June 826
Torres and Valeria had left the Yacht using one of the "Spatial" class shuttles in the Hangar to avoid taking up space on Morioka's mooring fixtures. Torres was at the controls of the shuttle now wearing his Helmet as well the armor and proceeded to radio the Morioka docking controller's and when they were cleared to dock and Torres lined up the shuttle for docking. After docking and shutting down the shuttles system. Torres began the opening procedure of the shuttle's hatch and waited for the hiss of the hatch and stepped out with Valeria following behind him as they went to meet the Golden Chrysanthemums that were there to greet them
Valeria went out from the shuttle, left the Luis behind her. They were met by a Chrysanthemum representative - young kusarian girl suited at traditional clothes welcomed the guests with respect.
"Ohayō gozaimasu," she said, bowing them in traditional kusarian greeting. With a cute smile, Valeria did the same, asked the girl how to come to the festival room. Torres with a scowl followed them.
Misaki noticed the new arrivals, Luis Torres and Valeria, and jumped off her pillow to greet them. "Yoku irasshaimashita, I recognise Torres, so you must be from the Cadiz Cartel!" She made a polite bow to Valeria, then turned back to Torres "I am that bomber girl, remember me?"
She turned around to wave and yell at Chika and Yattsu. "I will be back soon! Just need to see my old friend Torres. Last time he was shot by a Rheinland cruiser!"
She turned back to Torres. "We got sake here, want to join us for a drink?" Without waiting for an answer she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him with her towards Chika.
Rin joined the arrivals and spoke to Valeria, while ignoring Misaki. "Ohayō gozaimasu" she bowed respectfully. I am Rin, you might have heard of me. I am normally stationed on Malta and serve as the Gen'an Sisterhood spokesperson there and command the Fuyuzora, one of our primary cardamine vessels. Yoroshiku.
Torres grinned slightly upon seeing the lunatic bomber pilot and nodded pretending he understood the Kusari Phrases being used "How could I forget?"
Torres was about to ask if they had any whiskey but before he could speak Misaki had already grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the group she had just yelled to. Torres shrugged slightly at Valeria before being dragged by Misaki to the group.
Misaki smiled at Chika and Hachiro before gesturing Torres to sit next to Hachiro. "Torres, this is Yattsu and Chika. Yattsu is a Blood Dragon. Chika is one of my close friends. This is Torres, He is a member of the Cadiz cartel, one of our premium suppliers of cardamine. We fought together several times."
She waited until Torres sat down on the pillow, before taking place next to him. On one side of Torres sat Misaki with a wide smile, on the other side sat the Blood Dragon.
Hachiro looked offended when Misaki introduced Torres. "Hajimemashite, Inoue Hachiro, captain of the cruiser Mugenmirai" He decided not to rattle off his full title this time, yet added extra emphasis to Hachiro. Chika peeked out from behind him, filling both hers and Hachiro's cup. "Watanabe Chika, always glad to see the Maltese around here. Yoroshiku." She gave a bow of the head. Hachiro spoke as she finished. "I don't think I have ever been this close to an Outcast before. But I guess today is a day of strangeness." He finished with some slight disdain in his voice, downing another cup of sake with Chika.
Airi spotted Valeria from the Cadiz Cartel, she slowly walked towards her and as she approached her, she made a slow respectful bow.
„Go aisatsu Valeria, a pleasure to meet you again. My aspis, the Kyohime, is such a wonderful ship, i can't thank you and de Motti-san enough for gifting us one. I feel so much safer traveling in it, than my old ship. Misaki seems to have her fun with Torres.
Ā, wasureteta...How is the colonization going on?“
She smiled at Valeria awaiting her answer.
The Lane Hacker wing submited its credentials. A few moments later it received a positive reply and initiated the automatic docking sequence.
Morioka being located so close to Leiden is a frequent destination for the Lane hackers. Thus the travel for the group was neither long nor dangerous.
But that was not the only difference the Lane Hackers had compared to all the other guests. They were also the only group that did not receive a direct and formal invitation from the Gen'an Chrysanthemums. Instead they received the information about the festival from the main Sisterhood. After inquiring they eventually received an invitation, but the initial omission was obviously a hidden insult from the Gen'an, and the Lane Hackers delegation was well-aware of it.
Typically fashioned in a business suit that was all the rage back in the 810s, Wolfgang Weisen was walking ahead of his team, as the most senior Hacker. Knowing Morioka too well, the team arrived at the main hall just a few minutes after docking.
Before entering however there was a small reception, to verify approved guests and help them with anything else they might have needed.
"Emissary Wolfgang Weisen, of the Lane Hackers." the middle-aged man said with an obvious Rheinland accent. He also seemed pleased with himself.
"We almost completed the first stage of the foundation of the city," Valeria has answered to the girl. "Glad to hear that you appreciated our vessel, Señorita."
With a soft smile, she offered to Airi to sit down, drink and speak a little. Valeria should know more about the guests of the festival, and that woman can help her to get more information about them.
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