Aimi took her seat once Hannah was sitting, giving her a weak smile while she just listened to her explanation.
"The Privateers seem to be a possible option then.. though some things might be problematic about them. First of all, as you already mentioned yourself, many of them do things on their own and from what you said they aren't anything but a organized group than rather a bunch of different people with different goals who all benefit from the bit of freedom the Crown gives to them.
Anyways, a group of need of power? That's a lot of groups! You should consider which of them can give you something back and how well maintenance of the Coventry can be handled. Could the Privateers even maintain a Warship like this? From the bit of knowledge I have they don't have access to any shipyard at all."
She shortly let her eyes wander around the room once she finished talking, hoping that the person waiting in the corridor isn't too nervous. There was just waiting for the perfect moment left right now.
14/12 - Calmly sitting Bretonian with crossed legs leaned forward and took a deep breath before, a clean aur filling her lungs up.
"Privateers are strange individuals and it's up to them how are they going to achieve their goals. Either by good or evil way"
"Groups. Not many groups are willing to accept sad Bretonians who lost their home. And not all groups are equipped enough to keep our lady running. Or do you know about some? I must say GC was always my favorite movement. Sympathic I would sad"
Aimi leaned forward herself a little, attempting to stand up and get them a drink just when Hannah started to answer. So she remained on her seat and leaned back again after she heard to Hannah's quite surprising words.
"The Golden Chrysanthemums are your favorite? How so? And.. well.. this is actually a surprise.. feel free to ask me about our.. movement then. I am ready to tell you as much as I allowed to say."
She couldn't hide a sly smile, so Hannah truly thought about getting help from the GC. This seemed to be Aimi's chance.
14/12 - There was something weird about Aimi's smile but Hannah liked it. Maybe mentioning GC was a right move.
"OH really? Would you briefly introduce your movement?"
"Aimi, Golden Chrysanthemums were always my favorite ladies in Sirius. I somehow could imagine wearing kimono and undo daily rituals when I was a child. I fully support your movement."
"That's really nice to hear, having supporters and people like you understanding our cause is great. You are aware that some of the rituals involve the Orange Dream, hai? Don't worry, I myself know a few sisters who never really went to those.
So..about our movement. Founded by the immortal Yuyu Matsuda who published her poems back in 642 A.S. It were poems which showed the kusarian women back in this time how men really were, how the kusarian traditions surpress ourselves.
In 648 A.S. she leaded a planned assasination on the goveneur of Kyushu, sadly it failed and our immortal Matsuda was imprisoned. Her ritual suicide to keep the cause safe was honorable, in case of need any sister would choose this way to protect what we belief in. The rights we women have. Look at yourself, Hannah, able to command. Serve in the military without any disadvantages over men. Our dream, my dream, is a Kusari run by Amaterasu's sisters, us. A Kusari of fairness without any difference between men and women and all other the genders, except the biological one for sure."
She took a deeper breath after she finished, a short smirk appeared on her face but then she just leaned back, seemingly more serious now.
14/12 - It was awesome a short brief of GC history, sacrifices for the greater cause. But something was weird. Just two things.
"Thank you for the introduction, Aimi. I really appreciate it but something is bothering me... How is it nowadays? It's a Republic of Kusari, so women get some freedom and more right, yeah?"
"Aaaaand how big are you in numbers, do you have any warships? And is it necessary to undo Cardamine rituals??"
Hannah always wanted to get straight to business and answers. Now it wasnt an exception.
Aimi tensed up a little, the current kusarian situation seemed to be better, yet it truly wasn't.
"The Republic of Kusari offers a few more rights to women, true. The Naval Forces already accepted women into their ranks, yet the difference between men and women is still strong in our culture. Old traditions are what people cling to, traditions which make us be still less of.. worth than men.
The Republic as itself is to be questioned anyways. Suddenly after the Gallics defeated our Naval Forces the imperialistic Samura loses influence and Kishiro pretty quickly cooperates with the Gallic King and their corporations. Rumours are still there about a 'Gallic infection' inside the current political system. No matter how much the Republic wants to play the 'good guy' part, they will never fully understand us."
She noticable hesitated about the second part of Hannah's questions yet wouldn't remain quiet.
"How big our movement really is? You see, the public available population count would be roughly 20 billion people just on the surface of New Tokyo, Honshu and Kyushu. The active, directly acting part of our movement might be vanishingly small compared to the entire population of Kusari but the count of supporters we may have is countless. I am not having exact numbers myself but I would guess that the Golden Chrysanthemums have millions of people supporting our cause in one way or another. Simply by trying to life a free life free of gender differences, by helping our cause with money, goods, information, protests and all the other possibilities of support.
Warships? That's an interesting question, Hannah. I cannot tell you more than what most know anyways. We do use the old Shogunate's escort vessels ourselves.
After a short break of talking she stood up to get two glasses for them. Pouring just some water for them and taking a sip before she continued.
"The Cardamine rituals were always seen as mandatory, atleast by the older sisters as well as the once powerful Sisterhood of Dreams. The current main body of our movement are the Sisters of Light. For them, just like for me, Cardamine as security measure for every new sister isn't necessary. The ones with access get double checked by me and my cousin as well as a few others anyways.
The drug offers a huge variety of advantages, yet made us dependant on an unstable nation with never ending internal tensions."
14/12 - Satisfaction filled up Bretonian officer and with a deep breath she spoke once again.
"I see. For some it was way too strange to accept our old enemy as our ally. But we can do nothing with Imperial Forces, they are helping Crown."
"Well I would love to support your movement as much as I can. Maybe I would love to join your ranks and maybe accept cardamine into my life."
Hannah said while a bright spark emerged from her blue but tired eyes.
"I am glad you've got so many supporters but there go my questions again. Do you consider yourself more like... A terrorist or revolutionary movement? And do you own a shipyard?"
Hannah raised her left eyebrow. She is sure she would love to join sisterhood.
Hannah's words were everything Aimi needed to decide what to do once the whole questioning was done.
"The Imperial remnants just want to restore their old dictatorship, if you ask me they can go sacrifice their every single life against the Gallics. Atleast they do something useful then."
She shook her head before continueing. Knowing she shouldn't talk like this.
"I am sure the sisters would gladly welcome you Hannah. You wouldn't be the first outsider to join us and definetly not the last one. Women from everywhere are welcome..."
"The Golden Chrysanthemums engaged into terroristic acts, indeed. Never against civilians though and always with the aim to make the public as well as the goverment pay attention to us. Sadly even the Republic still forces us to use radical ways to show what we fight for, if we weren't to fight them actively like this they would cold-blooded murder us all or throw us into Fuchu where only death awaits us too.. so hai. We are a terroristic but revolutionary group. A revolution enforced by huge parts with violence where it is needed."
Aimi smiled to her own surprise as she proudly answered to the last question.
"Despite that we only manufacture smaller vessels ourselves we have access to 4 Shipyards in Sirius. The two maltese ones, yet Valetta was never needed to be used, as well as two shipyards of close allies.. or well.. friends. The Coventry surely could be brought there in case of need, I doubt that this would be a problem at all for them."
14/12 - 4 shipyards at disposal? It was much better than Hannah expected from the movement like Golden Chrysanthemums. She has always loved these flowers fighting for their freedom and after all they are the ones who might help Coventry and its crew surviving a bit more time. Maybe it was time to share her plans with Aimi.
"Awesome. You had to do all of it because of your goals so I can't really throw you out of airlock. We all must act efficiently if we want to achieve our goals we are living for. And your acts are just shaping better tomorrow, is it right?"
Hannah said happily but leaned forward a little once again.
"Sooooo you know already about my plan. I want to use Maltesians just for repairs and equipment and then we will leave them. Though we can't stay on our own for so long. Even if we were just privateers then we would have to find new allies who are able to take care of our ship. Shipyards, access to market and so on and so on. You know how it is going. I must admit, I've been thinking about your movement, but then again Maltesians are out of the game. Who are the allies or friends you mentioned?"