Dawn Station

"Moushiwake arimasen. I am deeply sorry, and beg for forgiveness!"

Kensuke spoke in his near baritone, bowing deeply. "This tragedy is entirely my fault." the head of Origin Armor Works explained to the late Atuan's crew. Kelly, in his arm cast, easily looked over to Yoshiko to see what her reaction to this was. Funny enough, the younger Yamataian was wearing a neck cast, and had to rotate her entire body to glance at the dark skinned Nepleslian. "If I had known sooner the full extent of the enemy's strength, I would have never sent you all upon this harrowing mission, and again, I apologize." Kensuke went on, bowing once more. It had only been a scant few days since the last mission fell apart and took on its own life as a nightmare. And somehow, everyone, absolutely everyone, was still alive and able to attend this meeting.

'Like in anime or something.' Kelly thought. He wanted to laugh aloud at that.

"I am most certain that many, if not all of you, bear grievance against me, and I am willing to hear out whatever you wish to say before we go on to the next phase of this meeting."

Taela was, needless to say, more than a little angry. Lucien and herself nearly got their mecha destroyed, the Atuan almost ended up in ruins. Worst of all, her best friend was nearly killed, no thanks to the lack of knowledge regarding the enemy's forces. But even through this rage, Taela remembered her place. Though she was no soldier, she was a contract-bound employee. And strict outbursts against a company head, last time she checked, was not an accepted policy. So, the Neko sought to glare at Kensuke with the harshest look she could muster. It was frightening.

Journey home back to the home base that Dawn Station was went very fast. Vici remember carrying carefull wounded Yoshiko to the medbay and then going back out to retriev her mecha. Then it was sort of blur. Kelly got back and mood was so down that even Victoria though it would be innapropriate to seduce him. She also looked a little close on their Captain. It was hard to read Arah. Almost impossible to decide when she was serious and when she was having fun with you.

Now they were all back at Dawn station. Kelly and Yoshiko hurt, morale and mood down. Victoria had few things worth of mentioning and she was not afraid to tell them. She did not fear of getting booted not like she could not get work easily. "Mein herr. If I may?" she started looking straight at their boss. "I thing unsere problem was not only wenige information but also our lack of korrekt military training. Unsere team is surely full of specialist but it seemed to that not all of us were soldats. In krieg like that one you need to know what to do and not just blast your guns everywhere. That said I think we did rather schön. Seeying as what was standing against ut. Also other problem, we did not have enough weaponry able to take on schwere Zielen. But what I want to say ist that niemand is to blame for that. Wir brauchen noch mehr training and we must get to know each other as a team. For example Lucien is schwer gunner and unsere commander must know where to put him. Das what I think."

"I'd also like to say something." Dressed in his grey business suit instead of the Origin Uniform, Mark was sitting right next to Taela, somewhat childishly following her around after their last sortie. It was his first fight with more than two players. He as much more farmiliar with fistfights on the streets of Funky City than enormous space battles with mecha and starships. The scale of the death that he caused alone was new to him; and while he was considerably desensitized to such acts as a journalist, being a part of the fray was a new feeling.

He pondered briefly the blue sweat-stained Origin Uniform covered with the grime of combat before continuing to his point, "I think it's time that we as a crew are given information altogether. I don't dig this 'finding-shit-out-in-the-field' malarkey. If there's not enough information, maybe we could do a little recon or intel work first. I know these are some groovy cats when it comes to combat, but I'm a Comms man myself. There are others like me on the crew, right? Maybe before anything heavy, we could send out a small group to probe the site. I'd be willing to volunteer myself for that."

By the time he'd finished talking, Mark was leaning forward over the table, a strong look in his eyes. He reguarded everyone as he spoke, not just those in charge. His tie hung droopily over the edge of the table, its cuff link glinting in the light. It seemed for the moment he'd forgotten he was the new guy.

He stood when the others all sat.

Murakami Kensuke, head of Origin Armor Works, was a difficult man to read. He appeared stone cold, but in reality, anyone who knew what to look for could find out that he was quite distressed and uneasy, even on the verge of being fidgety while in this room full of his employees. His gaze darted from one person to the next, settling on Taela's amethyst eyes for a brief moment before Victoria spoke. Their lock broke, and the man silently paid attention to the Abwehran before replying. "You are correct on multiple accounts Soldat." He briefly adjusted his tie before continuing, recovering some of his normal demeanor.

"Your group, though having people familiar to strife, is not entirely soldier-like, and when assembled, was intended to not be completely so." He started by pointing his finger at Lucien "You. Actor." Yoshiko. "You. New mechanic." Mark. "You. A reporter." Meena. "You. Random employee." Kensuke opened his arms wide as though to gesture to them all. "This group was thought to be a failure because there were so many soldiers. It was to be a collection of people from all walks of life." He lowered his arms and gave a wily smile. "It did not succeed in this regard, and I am glad this group failed so utterly." His smile broadened. "As you all sit before me due to it." he simply stated, pausing before continuing.

"As for weapons, I will personally see to it that you will sortie with the best we can manage to bring to bear. The chain of command however..." The broad shouldered Yamataian paused and turned his gaze to Arah and Kelly, the small grin from earlier slipping away from the Executive's face as he looked upon them. The Captain simply stared back without so much as a care, but Kelly's expression hardened in determination. Determination not to fail his teammates again. "I refuse to interfere, as it is rightfully in their hands."

When Mark spoke up though, Murakami Kensuke's expression grew ice cold. "They say ignorance is bliss, Mr. Vintropolis." he sternly started. "I believed all was well right until the moment the rest of the information was decrypted and our contact sent us more." He gritted his teeth, continuing in his deep voice. "To say that it was uncomfortable would have been to downplay my feelings...Yes, I will ensure you have your information Vintropolis, but know this; as the Head of Origin Armor Works, I cannot, will not, divulge every detail relevant. And that is final."

"What I can ensure though, is that you will be given every particularity on the theater of operation and foes you will face come next mission, and I will gather said particularities thoroughly myself if I must." Kensuke spoke, relaxing his intense focus.

"This group was never meant to be the might of Origin, but as it is now, not even Origin Security has this strength. You are all we have, and I will not leave you to wither."

Murakami Kensuke sat down. End of discussion.

*****

As the group filed out of the room, Arah blandly addressed them all without so much as a glance away from the volumetric sheet she was reading. "You're all free to do whatever you want for the next few days. After that, standby again."

"Arah, you're forgetting something." Ged chimed in cheerfully. The Captain merely looked up from her display and turned to look at the group of ducklings following her over her shoulder.

"We're getting a new ship."

"Gyp'd." Mark was leaning against the door outside of conference room, arms crossed, an unlit cigarette perched on his lips.

"Everybody knows information makes the galaxy spin." He would've spat, but he didn't want to lose his cigarette, so he just talked calmly, "Why would he intentionally hide something that could help us? If it's relevant, we should know."

Mark withdrew his datapad and started jotting down notes, putting information in under various categories. His face softened when he caught sight of a note to check on dry-cleaning prices on Dawn Station. Mark finished his notes quickly and stowed his datapad before returning to the group mentality.

"Anyone wanna forget the pain, and help me find a place for my dirty laundry around here?"

Lucien, who had remained mostly silent through the meeting left without saying much. He leaned next to Mark and sighed in agreement, "Aye, methinks we've been had. I dun' like that bugger one bit, even if 'ee's suppose t' be me boss above Kelly 'n Shinji."

To the Scotsman, the idea that withholding information that could've been life saving for the sake of some stupid test statistic gathering ... 'thing' was rather Machiavellian.
Did Yoshiko have to suffer just to put some numbers down? Did Meena have to abandon her frame and risk life and limb for the sake of a bar graph? Were the others forced to fight the way they were just to prove some numbers?

Suddenly, that 'divine intervention' from Seigan started looking ominous to the Scot, and he gave Mark a nod upon asking to go get plastered, "Lead th' way, mate."

Victoria stopped with Luc and Mark. "Ich verstehe das nich." She said. "Warum? Warum? You would want soldaten to test weapons. Nicht civvies. What does he want? Are we just some toys for him to have fun with? At least we get new ship. Let's hope it will have viele waffen." She stopped her chain of though there.

She then looked at Lucien and Mark. "Ja. I think this is night that is perfect for alcohol and sex. I still don't know station very much. Lead the way Herr Vintropolis." She said then.

So now they expected him to lead the way to the booze. Mark softly shook his head with a smirk. He didn't know his way around either, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. Information Personnel must be seen with information; It's a morale thing. So, he drew his trusty datapad once again and flipped through the official map of the station. Sector Nine was where all the fun stuff seemed to be.

"There's Gamma's Diner, but I don't wanna go there, it's too crowded." Mark read of the list of results after a quick search of the station's layout. "Let's see, it looks like there's a hole in the wall not too far from here, and there's a twenty-four hour dry cleaner right next door for my uniform. Cheap drinks, no crowd, and shitty music. Seems like we'll fit right in."

Mark looked up from his datapad with a smile, soft blue light reflected in his eyes. He looked at Lucien first, then Viki. Finally, he looked over at Taela, of all people. If she didn't come with them, it'd be the first time he'd intentionally left her alone (the exceptions being those times when it would've been creepy for him to follow her around) since their sortie. He wondered if she'd even noticed it, as wrapped up as she was about Yoshiko. In a way, child-like fear still plagued his mind. In other ways, he just felt like she didn't mind him, she was in his comfort zone. So he steeled himself to stop being creepy and start making friends. After all, who knew which pilot he'd be stuck with next?

"Ey, Kitty." Mark shot her an invite anyway, just for fun, "You wanna come hit up a place with some warm beer and cold women? These guys are coming with. It'll be fun."

Viki nodded. That sounded like the right place. Hmm but goin only thre of them will still be pretty lonely. It would be better if more people would come. She did not count on Async that person was strange. But Meena or Yoshiko could come. Even Kelly. OH if Kelly would that would certainly be nice.

First she came to Yoshiko, "Hey Yoshi come with us. I bet you need to get some steam off. Alcohol and chat with other peopel is best for that." Viki than walked to Kelly from behind with devilish smile and ran her finger across his broad manly shoulders. "I hope you are coming with us Kelly. It would be better. The more the merrier and it could be... bonding of sorts." She said and mustered all her language skills she could to form that sentence.