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RP [GAO] [Post Day-1 IRC] - Tricky Business

Moogle

Retired Member
"The Golden Goose", Secret Boardroom
Once again, the membership of the GAO found themselves on the classiest Shell Entertainment Starchaser they had. Some form of varnished mahogany paneling on the walls gave the room the atmosphere of a smoking lounge while various volumetric projector devices and refreshment drones lent the place a very business convention tone.

Unlike the previous meeting, this one began away from the table. The various leaders conversed about small victories and perils and general agreement of how troublesome being a leader was. As per precedent, the big man, the wannabe senator, and the walking monstrosity were nowhere to be found.

"... expanding our offerings," Il-hwa, aka Mr. Turtle, explained about Shell Entertainment. "Soon we'll have our own TV and radio offerings, so our legitimate business will be able to recruit better."

Patroklos, the Steel Condor, broke his regular silence to interject. "I asked you whether you'd be getting any more of those croissants. I did not need to hear about the bakery you bought out."

As awkward silence fell over their corner, Darla Darling and Tachibana Keisuke could both be heard bragging about their respective groups. But since such bragging is pointless to write about, we the readers will simply just gloss over that.

It was at this moment that Decker decided to enter the room, accompanied by the not-a-senator

"Ladies, gents, those otherwise, I am in an exceptional mood today! Sit down, we got a lot to talk about!"

The lot of them shuffled to their places while the table rose from the floor. Decker fumbled for a remote in his pockets, wearing an exceptionally nice coat.

"Take a guess, anybody! Anybody?"

Keisuke was flicking a ridiculously shiny gold lighter open and shut when Decker addressed the room. "The International Relations Conference. It's sent the business world into a tizzy. Market confidence has been swaying like a drunk Nekovalkyrja," he said, with an electronic cigarette in his mouth.

It didn't need to be lit - he just liked keeping the lighter on his person to fiddle with, and to admire a piece of gold. "Might make trade harder through the legit channels, which gives us more opportunities to leap in on the uncertainty and get all the ducks in a row~" He nodded.

"Alright, good guess. But no, not quite." Decker replied, "Jul, you look like you've got something to say?"

"Is it the Asura incident a few months back?" the massive Kodian asked, daintily sipping a cup of tea.

"Good, but no. We'll get to that later. No, folks. I've been busy upping the ante, and it's paid off."

Decker finally found which pocket he had the remote in (It was the front right, of course) and pointed it at the table, turning a volumetric projector on. A news broadcast flickered onto screen.

"--rate attacks have upped in the fringe sectors in the last few month, but there's been a sharp uptake since the news of the Yamataian delegates declaring the treaty void. Yamataian military officials declined commentary at this time, due to the IRC currently taking place. The attacks are better armed than previously reported attacks in the last 5 years, survivors have told Channel 5 news. Coming up--"

Decker muted the display.

"I've kept busy. I've been getting all the smaller outfits onboard and arming them, and setting things up for the Big Plan." He raised his hands, making a double knife chop gesture to the table, "It's great, we're gonna play the hero and the media's gonna eat it up. Now then, onto the more recent affairs. Satoru, you can talk the politics part since you're our resident expert on the stuff."

The well put together Jiyuuian businessman and politician nodded once in acknowledgement of Decker as he played with his own lighter in a subtle mimicry of Keisuke across the table. "Mmm. The political world has indeed been set on fire, with my sources telling me that the bloody Taisho Yui herself has just pulled Yamatai out of the DATASS treaty."

He paused a moment to light the end of some of his finest smuggled tobacco, and puff a ring into the air around the table. "The worst part of all? She claims it was non-binding due to failure of ratification by the Senate of Yamatai, and the lack of functioning legislative body on Nepleslia. She almost sounds more like a lawyer than a warrior."

"Does their bloodthirst know no bounds?" Patroklos asked in one of his rare moments of speech.

"Nope." Keisuke answered his question, popping the 'p' sound. He knew Patroklos was of few words, so it made sense to give him just a few back.

"Beautiful, ain't it? It's like they want the world to rise against them," Decker said with a dreamy sigh. It's almost too good to be true, this predictability of theirs."

Satoru smirked for a second. "They just can't stand having anything in the way of making war on who they want, when they want. It's no wonder we rebelled against them eight years ago."

"It's good for some businesses. I just hope if they rattle the wrong cage one day," Keisuke leaned back in his chair, putting his diamond-studded boots on the table, "they don't shoot down the Kyoto Stock Exchange." Mr. Turtle sweat nervously as he watched the boots scuff up the table.

"Well, on another plus side, if I tell our new collective associates to step up their piracy game in Yamataian sectors after this, then that'll add an extra level to this equation. Now then, small touching point before we go ahead. Vidiam! Gartagen things! How are you doing with all this civil-warness?"

The sole Gartagen in the room sighed through his respirator. "It is of no concern. The civil war, the royalty, I care only for the people I can keep from this conflict. The COREs don't want involvement in this. That is all there is to say."

"Are you completely sure? No second thoughts."

Vidiam let out another groan, then unzipped his shirt to reveal massive scarring down his chest, nearly matching his ribcage. "I had my faith tested once. I know where I stand."

"Right, good to know." Decker mumbled. "Next... Rumia, what was it we were going to talk about?"

Decker's left hand simply stated, "The asura incident."

"Oh, right. Great profiteering opportunity. Turtle, Keisuke, I'm expecting big smuggling operations out of you two, since that whole Leo Starbase thing happened. Tobacco, guns, explosives, lots of lovely things for civil unrest. Place is a goddamn. . . damnit, what's the phrase?"

"Powder keg?" Darla suggested from her seat before taking a swig from a flask she'd pulled out.

"That's the one! Satoru, anything else we should know?" Decker pointed to the not-senator once more.

There was a grumble from the Asuran. "The decision to move Leo Star Fortress is putting a serious dent in my operations nearby. I made a deal with you to offer the use of my manufacturing platforms, but with all the stepped up monitoring of traffic in and out of the area, it's going to prove difficult to avoid drawing suspicion."

He took a long drag, before adding, "On the plus side, the chaos of DATASS being abrogated has thrown the plans of my rival Shiori to build up her 'Joint Task Force' into some significant delays."

"Oh you're telling me, the baldy in Yamataian Senate is priceless!" The businessman spoke up, raising his gold-plated lighter. "You can see the dead-to-the-world look in his eyes, ever since he had that hotel get attacked on Albini," Keisuke chuckled, slapping his knee.

Decker took this moment to flick to a video of the senate proceedings - which, unlike the IRC, were actually televised. After about a minute of subtitled content, he laughed. "The Ketsuruis all voted no, too! It's like they're making a set of dominoes for us!"

The businessman looked around the room as Decker monologued, speaking with his hands, "did any of you guys send that? Never thought I'd see rock creatures so props to whoever did that."

The GAO head looked at Keisuke and said, "Oh, sorry. Got caught up in the glory of it all. No, rock creatures aren't mine. And I already spoke with Returner, it isn't one of her monstrosities either. Anybody else? Rock monsters?"

"I've heard some rumors around the mines on Siren II," piped up Satoru, rubbing his chin a moment, "Colony #4 did some blasting awhile back, and woke up something like what you're mentioning. I thought it was just crazy talk, but maybe there's more to it."

Keisuke's expression sunk when he considered that this wasn't Returner's work, eying her empty seat. "Huh... Furthermore, we didn't know the bloody Phoenix would be doing there either." Keisuke raised an eyebrow. "Must be a third party, because this happened before they made PSG. Oh well, rocks. Whatever," He motioned for whoever to continue as a silence fell over the room at the mention of the Phoenix. "Well...?"

"Oh. Right. Those assholes," Darla growled under her breath. "I took the time and fuckin' effort to train those Sunbursters and they got knocked up harder than a Funky City street-walker! They had ONE job!"

"Well, you can't win them all. Besides, that was our testing force, since there was that convenient bounty on one of their members." Decker said, waving a dissuasive hand.

"Test a little harder next time, then. Stop holding back." Keisuke shook his head at the ever straightforward Darla. "Bring Breaker too for a double-date with fuzzface." He wiggled his eyebrows at Darla.

"On that subject, PSG's been getting a bit more... annoying for our smaller smuggling operations." Decker quickly switched topics, feeling his Right Hand behind him silently fuming. Keisuke puckered his lips at her. "They haven't hit any of our bigger operations, thankfully, but they're begining to become,"

He took a moment to consider his words. "Inexcusably irritating."

"READ: PROCEED TO STAGE 1." Boomed the freespacer in the back of the room.

Decker made to pinch at the bridge of his nose, but he was sadly still helmeted. "Ah, right. Stage 1. So I plan on making an announcement soon. We're gonna be goin' public, folks."

Keisuke stopped leaning back in his seat, coming forward in the chair and putting his elbow on the table. "Wh- Are you shitting me? Akachanbara's all off the books, remember?"

"Not like that. Shell's being kept separate, as are most of your ventures. I mean the GAO itself is going public. We're going to be the heroes this universe deserves, and it all begins with our little pirate associates," Decker said, standing up in his chair and making an open-armed gesture, that exceptionally nice coat of his swishing as he did so. "And I have a guaranteed way to do it, too."

Darla sat back in her chair skeptically as Keisuke was mirroring her expression, leaning on the table and eyeing Decker, making an enormous yawn. "And just how would y'all go all heroic suddenly?" Darla asked.

"Well, you see this?"
Decker flicked the remote again. It showed an image of a small band of pirates meeting with Decker - the leader of which was wearing a particularly nice coat. In fact, it was the one Decker had at that very moment.
"I wanted to get them on my side, but I asked that they reign it in a little until we asked them to step up their game."

He flicked to an image of that same band looting a small ship.

"They didn't listen very well."

"Dumbasses." Keisuke shot in.

He flicked to another image, showing a shuttle docking with that ship.

"So I decided to interrupt one of their raids with Mask squad. You know blood is exceptionally easy to clean from whatever the hell this fabric is?"

Keisuke nodded. "Made for war, pressed into civilian service, works right baggy or tight." He looked around, knowing a few in the room didn't think tight was right. They were missing out.

"The coat, you imbecile. I was talking about the coat." Decker sighed, putting a hand to his visor again. "That group will fall in line now that I've given it new leadership. Just like all the others. We'll use these to conduct frequent, fast raids on civilian vessels, and have them leave before any military can get to them. And then, when we come in, we become the saviour. Credibility's the name of the game."

Decker placed his hands on the table, and the room could almost feel the grin behind that helmet. "And we're going to have loads."

Satoru took a few more puffs of his cigarette, the well-dressed Jiyuuian businessman finally breaking his silence and giving an approving nod. "A well-thought out plan, Mr. Decker. What this organization lacks is sufficient credibility, and having that credibility allows us to operate more in the open without fear and hesitation. If your new allies are willing to play the whipping boy... a few well-placed rescues and some strings pulled in the media can make the GAO a household name before you know it."

"I have my own media strings to pull, but I'll accept the extra help. It'll sell the whole shebang, alright. So we set up the racket, build up a customer base, and then up the scale. And when the time comes, I'll take my country back and Yamatai'll just sit there."

In a low growl, he added, "And watch."

The compressed helium fuels magnate tapped a finger or two on the table, glancing at the helmeted ringleader. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, eh? You need to setup the playing field to your advantage first... before closing the trap. Bleed Yamatai of it's riches, slowly but surely, and look lily white while doing it."

Satoru straightened his tie a moment, before adding, "I can even use my supply convoys to act as a stage for our first 'privateer' production, if you want to control all the angles of this enterprise."

"Are you suggesting I wait to announce the GAO's introduction on the world stage?" Decker queried. "The time is very, very ripe now."

"Indeed it is," half-smiled Satoru as he extinguished the spent butt of his tobacco on a convenient ashtray. "Savor the moment today, but realize it's still a long road to the restoration. The seeds of that revolution are going to be sown by this one."

"Then when everything begins sprouting," Keisuke raised his golden cigarette lighter to the plan as outlined, "we're going to make this place ours. We'll be rich, unstoppable, even!"

"That's nice an' all, but where does that leave us in the action?" Darla asked.

Decker simply shook his head. "Don't worry, you all will still have parts to play. The heroics are one thing. But there is so much rigging behind the curtains to set up, folks. Can't make a good show if you don't set up the stage."

"Settin' up stage and rehearsals is one thing. I'm more worried about how we handle improv and, ah," Keisuke scowled, clicking their lighter back into their pocket and crossing his arms. He furrowed his brow underneath his blinds shades, "audience participation of you know who."

"Last time we covered a preliminary plan, but this time we should solidify. Darla, you're on bird-smashing duty, pending Returner's little jump-ins. If he turns up at one of our operations, you have full reign of the fight. If he attacks one of our little pirate cohorts, don't bother popping by, we don't need the press or association. But if they interrupt anything else, take them out of the game. If the problem gets worse, we'll bait a trap and make ourselves a birdcage. Capice?" Decker instructed, much to Darla's delight. 'Free Reign' were words that she loved to hear, like 'malt whiskey', 'high-octane explosives', and 'destroy Luca'. "Otherwise, anybody else - pull out. I don't want to risk anything else when we already have two different groups bearing down on these guys."

"Yeah I figure fighting him together's like wrestling a pig," Keisuke chipped in, "you get all dirty, and the pig enjoys it, am I right? Just hope you can make bacon out of the bastard, I mean - sideburns are out of fashion." Perhaps he was thinking of a smear campaign.

"The guy's got more credibility than most of the nations do at the moment. We need to act carefully when we do engage. Either go all in or not at all, because if we half-ass any of those encounters then it could mean the end of the whole operation. I especially don't want any sensitive information to land in the hands of that. . . What did you call her, Codemender?"

"NEAR-MACHINE-GOD."

"Yes, the Freespacer on their team." Decker sighed, leaning back in his chair.

The Kodian in the room calmly sipped tea while remarking, "I hear tell of a new power in the stars, located uncomfortably close to your intended goals, Decker."

"It's the first I've heard of it. Rumia, tell the monitors that they're slacking off too much!" Decker barked at the nekovalkryja, who nodded then vanished from the room. "A topic for another time, I think. For now, I'll send a scout to check things out."

Satoru had been fairly quiet up until this point, as the goings on with this Luca fellow that was a thorn in their side was of little value to him. However, when the bear spoke up his eyebrow quirked. "That wouldn't happen to be the rumors of strange ships being sighted in the nebulas to the north of Yugumo, would it?"

The politician and business man glanced towards Decker for a moment. "My spies in the Jiyuuian government tell me that Senator Mochizuki was overheard planning an unannounced trip there... something about UOC survivors being found. I would take it with a grain of salt, though."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me. Well, looks like I'm getting On Squad to do it. Speed's the name of the game, it looks like. No risks. No variables."

Decker ran his hand over his helmet.

"I think we've covered enough ground for one meeting, don't you? I'll get my guys to shape up the announcement video. The eye of the universe is going to be looking straight at us. And I intend to make it flashy."

♫ Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra - Tricky Business ♫
 
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