La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub
Monte Carlo Station, Provence
08:34 SMT
24 Juin, 825 AS / 741 AGS
Alors, suivez-moi ! - he said it with a slight grin on his face, then led Alice to a closed-off corner of the bar. Once there, Arnaud courteously let her in front of himself, then followed her into the VIP section. This room occupied about one fourth of the area of the entire bar, contained several booths along its walls and a long table with plenty of chairs in the middle. It also had its own toilets, as well as another door to the service sections of the bar. The section appeared to be completely empty.
Once inside, Arnaud stepped closely behind Alice and put his left hand on the right of her waist, making sure the solid object attached to the bottom of his wrist could be felt well enough. The applied pressure suggested the object was made of a metal or hard plastic, brick shaped, about half as wide as his wrist and just about two centimeters thin. Arnaud spoke to her in a calm, but solid tone, just as if he would read some facts out of a book out loud.
D'accord, [listen to me carefully. While I pride myself in my exceptional skills of lie-detection, standard protocol demands the use of an actual device for such.] - with his right hand he took out a bracelet from one of his pockets and showed it to Alice. - [Because of that, I would like you to put this on, sit down in front of me and answer the few questions I will ask.] S'il vous plaît.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub, Monte Carlo Station, Provence
06/24/741 A.G.S, 08:35
OOOOOooooo this is more civilized than I imagined.
Alice spoke up in a intrigued tone yet maintained a stale face. Still trying to hold on to the notion that /she/ actually wanted this as much as the rest of her crew. She sort of did... to an extent, but the whole procedure and what would follow would just be more mental barriers to overcome. Taking the wristband from Arnaud, she quickly tied it around, fastened it, and turned towards him - waving it slightly in an attempt to begin the series of twenty questions.
Alice sat back once she could gather that Arnaud had seen her with the bracelet on, leaning back into the comfortable couch she though deep and hard about how to answer the most anticipated questions. There were routine training sessions like this in the Royal Navy, but they were mitigated to what the cadets knew at the time. Any type of personal question could probably strike a light blow, and the truth might not help her case either.
Well then?She leaned forward, pressing her elbows out against her knees and starring into Arnaud- bracing for the worst.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub
Monte Carlo Station, Provence
08:36 SMT
24 Juin, 825 AS / 741 AGS
Nom complet ? Alice Roxanne Marie. Lieu et date de naissance ? Néo Paris, le sept Mai, 710 AGS. Travail actuel ? - regular questions were following eachother in rapid succession to initiate the conversation. Retraité, [I was a firearms training director on New Paris for a subdivision of the Royal Navy.] [That pretty thing on your pretty wrist says otherwise.] - even though no visual indication appeared on the bracelet, Arnaud knew he is speaking with a Maréchale - or likely ex-Maréchale by that point - of the Royal Navy. He, however, did not want to reveal the amount of his knowledge yet. [Then it's lying. I'm retired.] [Oh I don't doubt you are now, I just doubt that you were only a firearms trainer.] [I was a director for the Royal Navy's training divisions, I also had a foot in with weapons development but I never held any official title there.] - she explained in detail. [Are you sure that's all you want to tell me about your previous work?] - he gave it one more chance. [You said current. Previously I was a Maréchale of the Royal Navy but you already knew that.] - the little misunderstanding explained why Arnaud received conflicting information from the bracelet, but that wasn't his biggest concern: Alice revealed she knows enough about who she's talking to, which eventually meant more freedoms for him for the remainder of the test.
D'accord. - he took a deep breath, as if he'd been preparing to ask the next question for a while now, and spoke with all the seriousness he could have: - [What is your guess, how many of us fell by your hand?] [Thousands. Hundreds of thousands if I dig back further. I was a warship captain, when we disabled a ship, its crew usually followed.] - she spoke with hesitation, reciting her kill record wasn't something she'd grown to be proud of. In fact, it was one of the main reasons for her retirement. Nom des vos parents ? Frank et Roxanne Marie. Quand vous perdu votre virginité ? - he asked without much hesitation. Rude, very rude. - she thought. There was a level of self respect even if she was renounced as an affectionate person in the past. But at this point it didn't matter, her brain and heart were fixed on someone permanently. - [Someone’s a little ambitious... it was at 21.] - her tone was a bit lackluster, crossing her arms out of spite for the question itself. Arnaud let the snarky comment pass though, his aim at this point was to jump around topics randomly, only to return to a previous one for a low blow: [Your parents must be proud of the mass murderer they've raised, aren't they?] [They were.] - the question didn't really hit home, she was a hero to her family, that was enough for her.
Et vous, Mademoiselle ? - a man stood up from the neighboring booth behind Arnaud before he could ask his next question. A man dressed similarly to Arnaud, but with shorter and darker hair, perhaps even being slightly shorter than him. He stepped closer to the pair and asked further: - [What would you do if you would be given the chance to end the revolution once and for all?]
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub, Monte Carlo Station, Provence
06/24/741 A.G.S, 08:40
The question was certainly geared to allow for some interpretation as to weather or not her loyalty to the cause would be strong or weak. But the question had more than one answer, and logically speaking - both were outcomes she wanted.
I'd end it, I'd kill the king where he sits.
The answer brought out a much more curious gesture in Arnaud and the man standing behind him in the next booth. The men both seemed intrigued and afraid at the same time. But before their thoughts could be come words, or worse - actions- Marie stepped back in.
The way I see it this revolution doesn't end with more dead bodies, it grows. Regardless of if I wiped your memories today, there'd still be controversy. So yes, I'd end it, or better yet - finish it.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub
Monte Carlo Station, Provence
08:41 SMT
24 Juin, 825 AS / 741 AGS
The answer surprised both men, and though the bracelet's signal indicated some sort of emotional anomaly, they interpreted it as hatred towards King Charles. Neither of them noticed the ambiguity of the question itself.
Arnaud. - the other stood up without a word, then turned to him. [I've seen some interesting faces outside, I'll have a look.] D'accord. - Arnaud left and the other man sit down in his place in the booth, opposite to Alice.
Enchantée, Mademoiselle Marie. Je suis Général Pierre LaFlamme. [I do believe we do not need this thing anymore.] - he leaned forward for a handshake, but also to take the bracelet off of her wrist. The service door of the room opened up at the same moment, and a Gerard came through with two plates in his hand. Deux grandes sandwiches mixtes, Mademoiselle et Monsieur. Bon appétit. Avec un timing parfait, Gerard. Merci beacoup. - he then turned to her. - Bon apétit, Mademoiselle.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub, Monte Carlo Station, Provence
06/24/741 A.G.S, 08:45
One of the men she'd spent so long trying to put out of comission, or the crown rather. Strange how times change so quickly, a few years ago Alice would've never even considered being in this position. But then again she never anticipated the sudden wave of arrests under the King's belt either. At least, none larger than the previous ones. Alice took the plate from LaFlamme and took a good look at him for a moment before saying something, anything.
Merci, so now that we've established... all of this, maybe we can really start to talk. Do I get a better rank depending on when I lost my virginity, if at all?
The trademark snarky remark at the end, followed by a slight smirk. Probably not the best or most formal time to do it, but if she was going to step on the moment a little bit for fun, maybe now was the time.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub
Monte Carlo Station, Provence
08:46 SMT
24 Juin, 825 AS / 741 AGS
Pierre was still wiping his mouth with a napkin after the sandwich when the question hit. He chuckled a bit and waved with his hand: - [Don't worry about that, Arnaud tends to overplay his role a bit.] - even though behind his slight smile he thought about the idea of continuing this bit of humor, he eventually decided against it, sipped from his drink, then looked up at her and changed the topic.
[So you've said you want to reclaim the RNS Vaquelin Royale. Do you have any plan in mind?]
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub, Monte Carlo Station, Provence
06/24/741 A.G.S, 08:45
This was it, there was no honeyed expressions or backtracking that would prove her case from here on out - just the blatant status and plan. Alice took in a deep breath, re-counting the details before spiting it out in one long note.
The Gallic advance is going to press onto Bretonia, before the LeBlanc's division of the Royal Navy faded away the King was desprate to keep up the pace of the advance. You're winning here more than you might've thought. The Country's so polarized now it's only a matter of time before people truly begin to break. The advance into Bretonia - if they take that route will mean they'll have to make a checkpoint to stage their forces. I've no idea where that checkpoint is entirely, but once the Royal Vauquelin is recommissioned it'll be sent to this imaginary "chokepoint" were it will then be streamlined to the front and we may very well have no chance of seizing it in mint condition.-
- We need to move quickly, right now the vessel is still right where I left it a year ago. A few of my crewmates are aboard, and more importantly my way of tracing it remains with me. It's likely being maintained in its currently position, which was at the tau-29 border in tau-31. The vessel was more or less a staging vessel than an active duty warship, but that was because my position within the Royal Navy at the time dictated as such.
Alice took a breath for a second, LaFlamme's attention hadn't deviated, after all it was the status of the vessel that she had recounted - not the actual plan. Not yet anyways.
I've several varations of a plan in mind, but each of them require me to know how many forces you have and how many you are willing to commit to acquiring this vessel. I said I'd give you my word, my talents, my loyalty in exchange. My attitude might not account for it but that is certainty worth something if you ask anyone who knows me. If I walk in there with as little as a few marines to board the vessel this plan could work, but the more the merrier.
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub
Monte Carlo Station, Provence
08:48 SMT
24 Juin, 825 AS / 741 AGS
[Boarding the ship is one thing, first we need to get to it, alive. And Tau-31 is not the friendliest space to traverse either.] - he addressed a few of his concerns before asking the next question: - [How much do you know about Royal Naval traffic at the junction your warship is meant to oversee? How much do you know about it within the system in general? And what forces do accompany her regularly?]
La Gemme d'Istres Restaurant and Pub, Monte Carlo Station, Provence
06/24/741 A.G.S, 08:49
Royal Navy patrols are at the bare minimum when it comes to Tau-29. With the recent collapse of the Kusari Republic and their apparent desperation to extend themselves deeper into their more active fronts I doubt getting to my ship would be a problem. Leaving alive of course, would be were we'd need people to do the heavy lifting. We'd need an in system diversion for us to board and cut communications from the ship so it can't signal for help-
-But again this is all assuming we get to the ship before they pull it in for it's now annual inspection. I've no idea where the Royal Navy is pulling warships for inspection, unless there's a new outpost built or something else along those lines, we have time - but still a window.
She paused for a moment, preparing to draw up the most "recent" answers to LaFlamme's final questions.
The ship is accompanied by two gunship patrols, it meets the bare minimum requirements given it's position and what I stated recently. Tau-31 is a commercial hub as much as it is a military highway for the Royal Navy, hence they don't bat much of an eye to pack extra defenses on what they already have. I don't know what the ship is doing these days, I'm certain she's been reassigned to someone new. But it seems her mission hasn't changed, hence why this is still more possible than not for us now anyways.