No barbarous public execution ? - Pierre turned to d'Argenlieu while Townley was pressing the buttons of her device. - You surprise me, Contre-amiral. I still remember the parade Charles' son had throughout the Crown-controlled media a few years ago. Whole families of suspected rebels caged in and gunned down mercilessly on screen and in front of live audience. It's a pleasant surprise to see even the aristocracy can improve. - he couldn't wait for the other's response as Townley continued her speech. It's uncertain if anyone else heard him or not.
The shared evidence was intriguing, Pierre took some extra time to inspect them while listening to Schneider's monologue. One detail, a half sentence, however, drawn his attention.
With the Aland ultimatum ? - he stood up and asked, not hiding his surprise. - Excusez-moi, I was under the impression the Guild has been a victim of the greater war ever since the Gallic Royal Navy seized two of their bases in the Tau Region, Java and Holman, over seven years ago. The Guild asking for our and Crayter's help while offering Roussillon and assistance in the cooperative development of a save haven on Toulouse did indeed help forming that impression in me, and that the Guild, albeit against their will, eventually embraced the situation and tried to get the best out of it. For long we agreed to tolerate the royalist presence in the proximity of your assets and avoided being seen together with you in order to keep the GRN's ire from turning against you, because in return the Guild aided us when the royalists did not look.
That apparently changed when the Guild finally developed some sort of Stockholm-syndrome, began defying the defensive, Sirian side of the war and associating themselves with their occupiers, all this so bluntly and overtly, I dare to say carelessly, as to provide ample evidence of it both pre- and post-war. Last month with the GRI, this month with the Enclave. - now with a concluding tone slowly turning accusing, Pierre pointed towards his device with the visual evidence displayed on its screen. He then turned towards Escudero, his tone considerably turning more hostile the more he speaks to the Consul.
And you ? Maltese forces attacking an IMG installation while we sit here supposedly discussing terms of peace reeks of backstabbing and makes me question my expectations regarding outcasts. I can't help but feel naive to agree to negotiate with you, after all history and experience already proven why you got that nickname from the rest of Sirius, and you seem to act no differently today either, as if you couldn't change what's inherently part of your nature. So why are you here today ?
He looked around the rest of the delegates, took a deep breath to calm a bit down, and addressed them with his last, likely rhetorical, question before sitting down: - If promises spoken here end up empty, be it the claim to aim for peace or the condemnation of the Enclave, then why even are we here ?