In the far left corner of the bar sits a hooded woman. She tabs her fingers on the table while seemingly talking to herself. It is kind of ironic to be here, isn't it? Acting normal among others is so exhausting, but I guess it has to be done. We have to create trust after all. She hastily looks around the room to see if anyone was eying on her. As she gets calmer she waves the bartender over and orders a bottle of rheinbier with the cap still on it. As she starts to go through her notepad she notices someone looking at her for far too long than what she thinks would be appropriate for normal behavior. Not trying to get to bothered by a single person she continues to go through her notes. I do have to say that the trust of Mr. James is rather odd especially because we showed early on who we were what do you think? Not that it would matter it was partly your idea after all. She starts to laugh and attracts a few looks on which she quickly toned down.
Iris’ exhaustion could be seen from a click away. She has been working nonstop on the Argonauta with the Unioners, without leaving any time for relax. Until now.
She went to her room, changed herself in something more comfortable and decided to go to the station’s bar.
As she walks in the bar, she starts to look around and study the people are in there. Starts noticing every detail of the bar, from all the drunken pilots to the tables filled with Rheinbier. ”Well, this should do.” She started looking around to see where to sit.
A hooded figure attracts Iris’ attention, as the laugh could be heard in all the bar. Seems nobody heard it, except her.
Then she start walking towards the left corner of the bar, to sit next to this hooded figure. While walking , she notices the notebook in her hands. And she sits next to her. As she sits, she looks at the bartender and waves to come to her.”One Rheinbier, please.”
While the bartender gave her the bottle, Iris turns to the hooded woman. ”So, I assume you write comedy books?” She smiles, and takes a sip of her Rheinbier.
She starts to look the woman up and down before turning off her notepad. And you are? She asks with a rather critical look on her face. For your information we.. I mean I do not have time for such silly matters like comedy. Her voice starts to sound a lot harsher than it did before.
She looks the woman up and down again while starting to clench her mechanical hand. Anyway.., I'm always open to exciting conversations. I'm Cortana and a currently hired engineer/scientist for Mr. James. Her voice starts to cheer up a little, as she went forward to grab the hand of the woman.
”A pleasure to meet you Cortana. I'm Iris and I work as a contractor for the Direktor. ".As she shook her hand, Iris could not stop thinking about how she got that arm, but did not want to be rude so avoided the question entirely.
She took her Rheinbier and went to the window nearby, one which was directly showing over the Argonauta. ”See this? This has been my nightmare the past few weeks." She laughed and then turned to Cortana.”If it isn't too much to ask, what do you do around here?"
She stood up and walked towards Iris with her beer in hand while starting to gaze at the ship. Truely interesting. Well, you see I also work for Mr. James, or as you call him the Direktor. For me at least the job is more security-related. But in the end, all I do is wait for Mr. James to uphold his part of the deal..
She walks back to her table and signals the bartender to bring another bottle of Rheinbier. You said it's your nightmare? Come take a seat maybe I can help you with that. My main departments are ships and weapons after all. She bursts out in laughter clearly noticing the effects of the Rheinbier.
She also started laughing as Cortana’s laughs burst. She knew the night just began, so she looked at the bartended and waved him to bring her another Rheinbier.”Well,I’ll be honest.” She sighs and passed her hand through her hair. ”This ship is kind of rusty. It’s an…old relic of war.”After staring for a few seconds at the Rheinbier, she then looked back at Cortana. ”Thats why it’s here. For repairs, and in a second time, some upgrades.” Then she suddenly chugs the whole bottle of Rheinbier, and then turned to the bartender. ”Another one please.”
She then waited a few seconds before taking another sip. She definetely felt a little the alcohol. “Now, you say its your branch. I’m looking for some advice with, a more personal project.”
She then took another sip, and placed on the bar the bottle. ”It’s about my own personal vessel. I’m looking to…improve it.”
Then she started laughing. ”I might seem crazy, and definetely the alcohol is doing its job. But want to take a look?”
When she finished speaking, Iris also finished her other Rheinbier.
While she was listening she couldn't help herself but finish and order another rheinbier. I mean if you really want me to take a look at your own work I would be more than glad to help you out if I can. She starts to chuckle.
You see I have a little problem child of my own maybe your problems can help me to find a solution on my own. She pulls out her tablet and opens a file with a password. Once she accessed it she started to scroll all the way down. See this, this valkyrie is my whole pride but it is not easy to continue to increase its combat efficiency. Not even my own weapons are sufficient enough. She starts to laugh again while pointing toward the bartender to bring another bottle of rheinbier.
Cortana’s project intrigued Iris. A Rheinland Military Fighter, in the hands of an individual outside of the Military.
Even with quite enough Rheinbier in her body, she noticed that detail that gave her a doubt. But decided to just observe. ”Well that certainly is a very beautiful ship.”
Then she decided to get her tablet, and starts looking for a file, with her Sichel. “Well, it’s not unique as yours, but it’s getting by. I was hoping to manage to improve it somehow, but most engineers don’t know how. They are usually more…inventive, on other fields.”She paused for a few seconds, then took a giant sip of Rheinbier. Then she turns to Cortana with a slightly happy expression. “But now, you have to tell me something about those guns of yours.”
She starts to giggle. Honestly, those are not that special. It's just a heavy plasma cannon that is powered by a compound my predecessor developed. But they are very power hungry and I haven't figured a way around that yet. She starts to look around to see if someone would be eavesdropping on them. But that ship of yours surely could need some help. What is it that you are looking for?
She starts to flag down the bartender to order more Rheinbier. As she takes a swig she glances once more toward the picture of the ship. Or are you looking to swap the ship itself out?
Iris changed a bit expression. She started to think about something for a few seconds.”Well those seem to actually be quite powerful if they behave like that. For a small ship like that one, it should pack quite the punch.” And starts laughing.
She turned to the bartender, and ordered another Rheinbier.She waited for him to leave, looked around her and then started searching the brainstorm of a project. ”Look, you seem nice. And efficient, or at least I hope.”She stopped for a few seconds and then drank from the bottle. When she finished the sip, she found what she was looking for.Then a picture of a ship, a heavily modified Roc, black, called Obsidian. ”It was an…investment some time ago. It’s about to be completed and have some units of this. And those will need some…improvements.”
Takes the rough schematics she had laying there with some notes. ”I’m one hundread percent sure they are not accurate, but you might get a rough idea of what is needed.”
Then she started pointing at various parts of the ship, which thought to be “underperforming”. ”Engines, power supply, navigation systems. I’m no engineer, but maybe mine really want to push this to the limits but we don’t have the technology for it.”