Meeting Onboard the Malachite

[Petitioner]

As David calmly lounged against the table, he checked his watch. The room was neatly ordered and concise, a small painting on the wall suddenly becoming his object of interest. Suddenly, his watch began to buzz quietly. Pressing a button on it, he received a message from one of the few civilian personnel onboard the usually strictly military only carrier. "Greetings Comrade Secretary, it appears that Dankien Moebus and Mr. Rackham have arrived. I'm sending them in right now." Grigori sighed, and stood behind one of the chairs. Hopefully this meeting would go off without a hitch... it was crucial for so many reasons that the Zoners viewed the ICMG favorably.

[color=#99FF99]"Well, may as well get it on with," he said to himself. Hopefully Kai Scheiffen, Jack Selkner, and Roger Sterling all also arrived on time...

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[Silver.2]

Damn, it had been a long day.

That, among a mass of other thoughts, flitted through his brain, twisting around and tying up, all in the instant before they slipped out of interest, and out of existence. His dull, amber eyes made a fuzzy reflection out of the holographic overlay covering the Kingfisher's internal cockpit. His eyes lazily drifted down onto the nav map, before looking up, almost startled.

There it was - The Malachite, it's sillhouette looming against the star's helioshpere. One could see slight ripples around it's idle shielding as the farther energy waves glanced it. With a quick flick of his wrist, he started moving parallell to it, and then again, positioning himself towards the engine gap - the hangar.

Tapping the comms screen, his headset suddenly came to life, and a voice quickly tuned into focus.

"This is the ICMG-Malachite, Flight Deck Operator speaking. State the clearance code and your designation, pilot."

He rolled his eyes. Did they honestly need to ask? His ship was instantly recognizable amongst the fleet - ah, well. Must be a formality.

"The code would be DG-13-53-82-FS, of course. And, this is Secretary Jack Selkner, my friend." The last two words bit, just slightly, in his customary passive-agressive demeanor.

He smiled when he heard the hints of aggrivation in the Deck Operator's voice

"Voice check confirmed, sir."

Jack's smile grew just a bit. The man had taken his crap and threw it right back at him. He liked that.

Pushing on the steering stick ever so slightly, and pulling back on the throttle, the Secretary smoothly slid into the hangar area.

[moebus]

Dankien Moebus enters the room looking tired and tense but still smiling: "Good day gentlemen, I am pleased to meet you. I am Dankien Moebus, I manage the trade and supplies department of Zoners Trading Consortium (Dankien shakes hands). I've just received a communication of the Rheinland West fleet, it s unbelievable how things can goes wrong so quickly... Anyway, thank you for your humanitarian convoy to support freeport 1, it s really appreciated. Is everybody already there? "

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[Petitioner]

Grigori smiled. "Ah, greetings Mr. Moebus, welcome to the Malachite. Indeed, the Westerliche Rheinland Flotte" (he pronounces the strange-sounding German words with the ease of practice) "is unfortunately known for their... quickness to overreact. To answer your question, no. We are still waiting on Secretary Scheiffen and Director Sterling. I believe you mentioned that a member of the TAZ, Mr. Rackham would also be attending?"

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[Schatten Research Facility]

The rustle of several hundred sheets of paper falling is heard from beyond a door - which slides open to reveal General Secretary Kai Scheiffen standing resolutely behind a timid looking aide, busily fumbling to gather the torrent of spilled papers. Scheiffen readjusts his glasses before walking into the room, clearing his throat loudly before speaking.

"Guten tag herr Moebus. Jack, David - good to see at least two among us can be depended upon."

The timid aide, a stack of several hundred papers towering above her in her arms, rushes to the table - laying it down before whispering in Scheiffen's ear.

Scheiffen slightly bends down to allow the aide access to his ear, and listens intently - occasionally nodding before giving a nervous smile and dismissing the aide to the back of the room. The aide picks up the stack of papers before scurrying out of sight - leaving several papers wafting down to the floor in her wake.

"My apologies, gentlemen," he begins as he coughs to clear his throat, "quite a bit of paperwork has held me back."

Scheiffen takes his seat, re-adjusting his glasses as he does.

[moebus]

Suddenly Dankien's transmitter starts to beep.
"oh... Excuse me gentlemen" And Dankien takes his message.
"hum.. this is really bad news... Mr Burns and Ferguson have ordered the juggernauts to be prepared... It can means only one thing. We are living the system." Dankien make a pause.
"So my presence here become useless since ZTC is no longer involved in any Sirius business. If you don't mind I would like to go back to omicron-74 now."
"I really very sorry of this situation. At least the TAZ ambassador has something interesting to propose to you so this meeting would not have been a waste of time,"

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[Petitioner]

As Dankien speaks, a look of shock crosses Grigori's face. "The ZTC... is leaving Sirius... altogether? I understand that the Zoners have had difficulty with Bretonia and the Corsairs recently, but... are you sure this is a wise move?"

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[moebus]

"I really don't know what to think about all of this. I am just considering some facts: despite only a few zoners may have cause some incidents affecting various faction, in a few days the whole zoners community was blamed. The MNS-Rosario bounty, the Bretonian blockade, the Corsairs attacks. the WRF rising hostility and also Liberty complaining about zoners technology utilization... According to me, it means that there is growing hate against zoners community. The last few incidents involving zoners cannot justify what is happening now. I am pretty sure that there is something more behind. But maybe I am becoming paranoid.. who knows..

However, we are not fighters, we are traders. And it seems our economic power is useless in the current situation.
If things keep going on like this, I am afraid ZTC zoners will be hunted and enslaved in death camps before the end of the week. I don't want to see that happen and it may also be the feeling of ZTC leadership. With Juggernaut, we have a chance to escape and it may be wise to take it.

Of course I am not very pleased to live the rest of my life in a Jinkusu but it seems to be an acceptable compromise. Do you really see another option?"

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