Arturo glanced at Valdez and gave her a cheerful smile, "Yeah, I know smoking is bad, however, I also know it isn't as bad as getting shot by photons, lasers, tachyons, nuked, stabbed and drugged. I will be fine". Sforza put a hand into his jackets inner pocket and momentarily after took out a wonderful platinum old-school Zippo lighter with engravings of the Sforza familia crest on the left side of the lighter whilst the right side had the Legión logo. The Legionnaire flipped open the lighter and a vivid golden flame appeared immediately after. Arturo moved it to the front of the cigarette and made a brief inhale, making it glow in a luminous crimson manner. Exhale. Ample amount of silvery-grey smoke exited his nostrils, "Nothing beats a cigarette before entering an unknown location hosted by a dubious group of individuals."
Sforza casually ran his fingers through the beard and leaned in ever so slightly, whispering to Valdez, "Say, what are your expectations of this festival?", the formally informal legionnaire mumbled something under his breath as they continued down their path to the wherever the festival may be held. Arturo drew another puff of the cigarette as he was looked at his surroundings. Noticing all kinds of personnel that were employed or slaved. The general area around him looked a great deal different than all of those bland and boring stations that he is so very used to whenever he is deployed in the Taus or far Omicrons. Once again, a dense cloud of smoke exited Arturo and evaporated quickly.
A handful of thoughts were perpetually coursing through his mind, mostly regarding different extraordinary substances and refreshments. "What kind of degenerates and filthy human beings will attend this meeting?" Was the more important question in his mind which he had no obvious answer to. Well, no matter. He was already here with no distinct escape plan in sight.
Airi nodded with her head and took a seat next to Valeria.“Good to hear that, I'm sure de Motti-san is proud to see the completion of the first stage. Do you want something to drink?“
She waved and a girl appeared with 2 cups of sake.
“Let's drink, that our cooperation continues to be fruitful as in the past. Dōtō no pātonā ni.“
She smiled at Valeria waiting for her to drink her cup.
Valeria, with a smile, has taken an offered small cup with the drink and drank it. She did not taste Sake before - for her, the drink was tasted like very dry white wine. "Dear senorita, I am wondering how many guests have come to the festival. I am sure there is a lot of them, but... how many, for sure?" - Cortez has asked her interlocutor and with an interesting look at her.
Three Blood Dragons entered the main hall after a delay of not more than twenty minutes. The old man gave his coat to one of the Sisters, revealing the uniform of a Prefect of Kusari. His daughter was closely behind him, followed by another, younger woman who appeared to be their servant. Together they took a seat nearby the exit, the old man sighed.
"Kazue, my dear, can you get me a tea?"
His daughter nodded and got up, searching for one of the waitresses.
⧫ Morioka Base, Main Hall.
Aimi was arriving at the main hall a few seconds after the Lane Hackers. Seeing the silhouette of Weisen made her smile, though a bit insecurely. She approached him from behind, tapped his shoulder.
"Weisen. It's good to see they sent you."
She gave the guest a welcoming smile and briefly nodded towards the rest of the delegation. "I suppose the flight was short and calm? Given you are usually at Leiden if I remember correctly. Who did you bring with you if I may ask?"
⧫ Shikoku, proximity to the Fuchu Prison
While the festival was slowly starting, Mi managed to get Kasai chase her. Tired of his endless efforts to capture her, she engaged into her typical game of running and mocking with him, trying to convince him to give up quickly and that she was urgently needed elsewhere. Who knows if this was going to be successful though...
Walking ever so elegantly and purposefully behind Weisen, Irma makes mental notes of this station hallways and corridors to make possible escape routes just in case something unsavory happens. As the only Assassin in the group her responsibility is to ensure Weisen, the Senior ranking Hacker at this time is kept safe with other members of the Inner Circle at this event with less priority. Irma is wearing a light toned pink dress with black high heels, light make-up to bring out her golden brown eyes. Her dress design is actually tactical with the bottom half able to be ripped off to allow full flowing leg movements should she need it, her high heels able to be snapped off rather easily and can be used as knives. With the subtle insult coming from the Gen'an Chrysanthemums by not officially inviting the Lane Hackers to this festival Irma has prepared for any possible outcome just to be on the safe side.
As they approached the verification section for guests, Emissary Weisen speaks his name and then followed by Irma.
Matriarch Kiri entered the room from the back. She wore a black Kimono with the gen'an emblem on the back and the obi around her waist was a a golden color. The lower part of her face was covered by a solid gold mask. Behind her was Ikeda Yume, her communications officer and advisor. The gen'an Chrysanthemum in the room made a polite bow.
"Yoku irasshaimashita mina-san, It is good to see so many arrivals to our festival."
She let her eyes wonder across the room and quickly identified the current attendees. She identified Torres, Chika and what looks to be a blood dragon sitting next to her, Valeria, Muerte and Valdez, Weisen and Sister Amaia. The rest of the guests were unknown to her.
"While we await for the remaining guests to arrive, please enjoy our hospitality. Our Sisters will be ready to assist you if you need anything. I made sure we have most drinks in stock for this event. Even Muerte's vodka. The guests of honor of today's festival will be our fellow Golden Chrysanthemum sisters. We both serve Matsuda in our own ways. Their representative will have the honorary seat."
When she was done speaking the Sisters bowed again and resumed their work. Kiri walked towards Muerte and handed him a bottle of vodka. "I did not forget, legionare."
The geisha saw the blood dragon woman (Kazue) looking for something and walked towards her. "Can I assist you in any way?"
Rin walked up to Weisen. "Konnichiwa, I am Miyazaki Rin, one of Kiri-sama's lieutenants." She made a polite bow. "We are sorry for our improper behaviour towards to the Lane Hackers, but our honorable Sisters rightfully pointed our flaw out to us. We are glad you still decided to accept our invitation." She made a bow again. "I command the the Fuyuzora, one of our first cardamine vessels and I act as one of the Sisterhood's voices on Malta. Yoroshiku. Is there anything I can help you with while my mistress is occupied?"
As always, the Rogues show up fashionably late already drunk and high and rearing to party.
The Liberty Rogues have always considered themselves the life of the party so their entrance was nothing less than a spectacle of lasers and swearing. Hank was flying Lord Moka's flagship transport, the Illegally Borrowed. Moka was sitting comfortable and indulging in a pre-party orgy. Sex was his favourite past time and like hell he was going to a party hosted by Asian woman rocking a boner you could see from Alcatraz. The last thing he needed was a diplomatic issue because he couldn't keep his cock in his pants.
They made berth and began to disembark while the rest of Moka's entourage started to arrive. Amy had gotten distracted with a trader, Hemlocke shot up a few cops in both Liberty and Kusari and to top it off, Miss Brookes had gone AWOL.
But now the Rogues had arrived, it was time to get down and dirty.
Misaki looked up at Moka's voice and got up. She walked clumsily, almost tripping over her kimono, towards the rogues, with a bowl of sake in her hands.
"Depends, do you have the liberty ale?"
She stood right infront of Moka and let her eyes glance over all the rogues, before looking up at Moka.
A Tridente class gunship entered the vicinity of Morioka base at great relative to it velocity. Such an event could be a reason for alarm on the base if the gunship didn't have an escort of three Orchids - the Hikari wing - and if they all didn't have the correct GC IFF response. Still it costed some nerves, screams and swearing for Morioka traffic control. However the ships shot past the station at significant distance, more than enough to avoid any accident, yet well within the sensor range of the Tridente for it to be able to get the reading of the vessels nearby. Pilot of the gunship smiled, guests brought a significant firepower with themselves. It was not only a matter of appearances but also a matter of safety. She expected no less.
It took a few minutes before the ships decelerated, turned around and made a less obnoxious approach. Once the Tridente neared Morioka, the name on its side became clearly visible, "Metal Tango". The "Metal Tango", once legendary 101st Ghosts of Razgriz vessel, it was a relic of the past, long forgotten like the past itself. Nevertheless, the vessel seemed to have been meticulously maintained and in excellent shape, especially given it hadn't seen action since its pilot Savannah Maya turned her back to what the Ghosts and the Outcasts turned into. Despite the Tridente itself having vanished from scanners and reports, vessel's name lived on with another ship piloted by several high-ranked Golden Chrysanthemums sisters on many occasions.
Savannah was somewhat a mystery herself, which could equally be told about her past. She could be called extravagant with her strange love to her golden armor-adornment she was never seen without. She could be called reclusive for appearing on public less and less as time went by. She could be thought as an outsider by some Sisters because of her non-kusarian origin. But no Sister questioned her authority and right to carry weapons - or dared to - as Savannah strode through the corridors of the station.
Savannah entered the main hall. The way she covertly assessed every entrance and exit of the hall hinted it wasn't only in space that she had seen her share of combat. A warrior, a diplomat, an enforcer? An Elder who came to the festival to honor the memory of the great woman?
"Konnichiwa, hola and hello," Savannah said, nodding to each of the guests present in the main hall, walking straight towards Matriarch Kiri. She stopped at polite distance several steps before the woman.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet in person the leader of this Cell," Savannah made a slight bow. "I believe you might not know me. I'm Savannah Maya, an Elder of the Golden Chrysanthemums."
Savannah measured the woman with her eyes before continuing. "So, you call yourself a Matriarch. Very funny. Do you also call yourself a general?" Savannah giggled slightly, looking at the woman intently.
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