"Alicia? Send in Corporal Sutherland if you would please."
A few minutes passed, then two marines threw in a bedraggled man.
"This is a civilian pilot who accidentally stumbled upon the Trotsky. Now, he has broken our secrecy, and could reveal our position." Sasha stands up, takes her gun back, and hands it, butt first, to Eric. "You must choose. Kill him, or let him live. His life is in your hands."
Sasha's face was impassive.
Eric stood up, he took a deep breath, he looked at Sasha, then at the gun. He took it, holding it, he took a couple of deep breaths, then walked next to the man, he cocked the gun and held it to the man's Head.
You say he is a Civilian Pilot that "Stumbled upon the Trotsky". If he has achieved that without prior knowledge of this area, he must have atleast some skill in Navigation and Piloting. A man with such skill could be useful to the Revolution. This man can be interviewed and interrogated for his allegiance and his work, where he is from , what he does and how he found the Trotsky. After that is done ,his fate can be decided. I cannot in good conscience kill this man without Interrogating him and learning more of his intentions.
Eric lifted the gun and flipped it in his hand, he offered the gun to Sasha by the Butt, if his doing was wrong , she had the oppertunity right there to shoot him, he held the gun there, waiting for her action.
"Well, color me impressed. I half expected you to shoot him." She turned to Sutherland. "As per the recruit's suggestion, do talk to him. As he is not a confirmed combatant, don't ruff him up too badly."
Sasha accepted her gun, then holstered it. "If you had pulled that trigger, then Rassid here would have killed you on the spot. We do not assassinate civilians, no matter what. The power of our Revolution comes from the people, and if we kill the people, then what the hell are we? We would be no better then the Outcasts, or the Corsairs." She then grabs him by the scruff of the neck and drags him out to Darren, throwing him beside the anxious recruit.
"Congratulations, both of you have avoided pissing off Rassid and me...ok, well...Darren didnt, and you Eric...you did ok not pissing him off further." Alicia hands Sasha paper, which she hands to them. "Fill these out, return them. Failure to do so will end up with you being rejected. By Rassid."
She turns on her heal and starts to walk back, then stops and turns back. "Stare at me and I'll shoot you were you sit, understand?" Confidente these two would understand that this was not the Golden Chrysantheums, she re-entered her office and sat down, kicking her boots up. "Alicia! Some more coffee for Rassid and a bottle of vodka for me tovarich."
Eric sighed a bit in relief as she talked, quietly and unnoticably. As she dragged him out and threw him beside the other Recruit he looked at the recruit, then centered himself on the chair next to the other man. He only looked up to her shortly , once when she gave him the papers, and the other time when she told them not to stare.
Ofcourse , I will fill this out immediately, Comrade
He then turned back to the papers, beginning to fill them out
Otto had just arrived on the recruitment office when the two recruits left with not so much color on their skin as he had on his palm. He stood 1.73m tall, and about a third or a half of that on width. Probably larger than the two of them, he stood by, watching them leave, and as he turned his small eyes toward whomever stood behind the counter, he was met with a simple gesture to wait.
Otto wasn't exactly "fit for fighting", by Sirius standarts, but, maybe for the first time on his life, he was damn sure of what he was doing.
Quite unable to hide his anxiety, he sat down on the chair closest to the door.
The ship shivered slightly as Otto walked. Sasha leaned over to look out the door.
"Good God, who let the Lumberjack Commando in?" She looked at Rassid. "Looks like your alley tovarich; I have no experience with such things!" she said to her comrade, frowning.
The large figurine populating the two chairs ahead said nothing.
Otto had gotten used to that reaction of his looks on people so long ago that he already considered a greeting. He expected as much from a militar as well, and as such wasn't dumb enough to say or show any discontentment in any form or expression. He just kept sat and quiet, looking at the woman at the door.
He would endure whatever names they might cook for him, at least that he was certain.
Rassid took in a deep breath, and sipped his coffee. He set the cup down, and took a look at the new recruit. While he was big, yes, he showed no sign that he was embarrassed by his size. Could be a good sign. He showed no hint that he was nervous, nor scared to be here. Another good sign.
"Very well. Tell me, what experience do you have, what exactly do you bring to the Coalition, that we should accept you, eh?"
Otto, now standing on the middle of the room, stood with his arms behind his back. His belly clearly stood forward, however he showed no signs of fatigue due to his size. Soon the big mustache and beard gave room to a human mouth beneath them. He spoke clearly, with a Rheinlandish accent and the voice of a man who's background certainly laid on the military.
"Ottokar Holzman, sir, former Rheinland Armored Transport Captain."
The words sounded proud, but in anger somehow.
"The past years of my life I have worked as a transport Captain, serving the victims of wars envolving Rheinland - more recently against Liberty. Food. Water. Medicine. To serve the people of Rheinland beneath all costs, it was my job, and I have learned over the years how to defend a transport against the enemy, how to attack, but most of all, that my purpose is to do it for the people."
Proud indeed. His lungs are exhaling determination, instead of air by this moment. One knows that hauling food and water during a war is the last profitable position to be. And yet... He does not flinch. The insistence and strength on the words "victims" and "people" however... Made Otto twitch a little. He held back anger on to his past employee. He simply could not hide it.
"It took a while."
"It took a while, but I have come to the conclusion I never did fight for zhe people. But for the money pockets of some greedy Sch-."
Otto pauses for a second. His skin turning back from red to normal color.