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Virginia thought for a moment and shook her head, "Well... when the mood strikes, why not.". Her reply was somewhat evasive - saying lengthy perhaps. Her stance, body language, and facial expressions suggested embarrassment and slight confusion, after all she had not fully expected the topic to boil down to something as common as a musical hobby. Here, in the middle of Fort Ramsey, two seasoned and dangerous commanders.
After an awkward moment of silence, Virginia decides to change the subject back to business, "By the way, I was wondering who your Alliance is requesting fuel, complicated parts and equipment from?", she asked, adding, "Contact is all I need, I'll work out the details myself."
"You're cute when you're embarrassed. But alright. You'll have to tolerate the fact that it's all shady blackmarket arrangements, plenty of people in Liberty who are after quick and easy cash, and with no compunction for who they might be dealing with. Our sources all operate on Pittsburgh, I'll forward you their details." It was a mix of things she probably didn't want to hear and something she did ask for. But she was given both anyway, clearly speaking his mind was something he couldn't prohibit himself from doing. And at least in that regard, he'd also gone ahead and made up his mind on a few things.
Her defense mechanism was hard not to notice with how often she'd been doing it, changing subject and instead deflecting to something work related. It helped spare her from anything that might be social. She obviously had her reasons for doing it, but he didn't expect to find out why right now. It was something he'd have to gradually get to know about her. "Anything else about the ship? If not, let me know when you're free next and we'll get you those drinks you wanted." He'd been here for quite a while now, and while he had enjoyed staying and talking to her, people were going to start talking about them if this kept up. There was also the fact that his continued presence might be perceived as impolite, since this was her space. And while she hadn't concluded things or asked him to leave yet, it was better if it didn't have to come to that.
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"You can send me the details later when you get to your computer, anyway, I have to ask the MFE how the evacuation went first." Virginia replied, running her left hand through her hair and pushing it out of her face. There was a hint of concern on her face - after all, the evacuation was apparently still going on, and Morreti had told her earlier that refugee transports were risky and some of them were shot down.
"Can such contacts manage to find military parts?" she asked him, casting her memory over the list of parts they would have to replace on the Roanoke, "We're talking things like pulse regulators for a battlecruiser sized engine, fusion reactor valves, or an autoloader for a mortar - all pretty specific parts for a specific class of ship."
It was true that finding fuel for a battlecruiser was not that much of a problem, even if a large amount of it was needed. Replacing damaged panels on the hull, welding bulkheads, and broken internal equipment could at worst be replaced with civilian equivalents, but propulsion system and weapons as such did not offer too much freedom.
At his mention of an invitation for a drink, she just grinned slightly, "I want to drink myself into a stupor - any night will do and any drink for that matter."
He had only recently been putting his feet in the market of military grade parts, and warships were touchy subjects. But his contacts had a bit of a routine when it came to the supply of large components in general, and he knew from personal experience that anything could be bought and sold in this House. "You can get anything you want, but they'll most likely be broken down to their absolute smallest constituent pieces to evade scrutiny. They'll offer discounts if you're willing to buy the entire assortment of parts which can be assembled into the actual unit on site. That way they're not stuck with spare bolts that they'd struggle to sell." When he put it like that, the blackmarket actually sounded quite sensible and far more reasonable to deal with than the stock market.
"But alright, tomorrow night. I'll pick you up from here." His choice of words when stating that made it sound like a date. Since there wasn't much left for them to talk about, he nodded to her to show he was leaving and then did exactly that.
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"Deal.", she nodded her head guilelessly, perhaps her main concern was to drink in the victorious battle and get drunk, "Tomorrow night.". She watched without further comment as he was about to leave, and only when he was in the doorway she suddenly added, "And don't forget to send me new network credentials, I don't have a new ID yet and only one I have is my old Legion one... which I probably shouldn't use at all from now.".
Since the somewhat quirky start and few faux pas during their conversation, she was looking a bit calmer. Plans for what she would do next and how she would do it were finally beginning to take shape in her mind. After all, she had a rather complex operation ahead - the reconfiguration and reactivation of the Roanoke, along with the recruitment and training of the new crew.