Cannonball
Inactive Member
>>>>>>>>>>>ON, Civilian Sector, Hotaru Station ((Already occured ICly))
[Characters: Eriko (CB) and Caine (Tyler)]
Caine yawned a bit, feeling tired from having to do all the running around to get things set up for his sister. He'd gotten Alana set up in the hotel in the civilian sector because that's what she was. Caine brushed his blonde hair behind his ear as he left the hotel his uniform left open to show the light blue undershirt as he relaxed, heading for the elevator to head up into the military areas to try and find Katsuko. "I wonder where she is..."
“Sub-Lieutenant, Sub-Lieutenant: incoming call~” The Hotaru paged Caine with polite tact; it hardly sounded urgent but there as a sense of gravity that betrayed the simplicity of merely getting called. For one, the security encryption was…high. Somehow, it all seemed a little out of place for the civilian sector.
He rose a brow as he heard the Hotaru's chime in his mind and paused for a moment and went to lean up against a wall so he'd be out of the other people's way. Surprised by how high the encryption was Caine believe it to be rather urget and immediately responded. What is it? He responded to the Hotaru and looked around for a moment before pulling out his private communicator. They'd been required or requested to have one on the Yugumo he remembered. The thing lookedlike a black cell phone as he flipped it open and checked to see who was paging him.
“Ah, Caine-san…” The yamataian ace was greeted with a friendly looking smile; green eyes and brown hair framing the neko who spoke. The display on his comm read ‘Miyamae Eriko Shosho; Fleet Aide’ though even without that, you’d be hard pressed to find a person in the Fifth who didn’t know what a member of the top brass looked like. “…it looks like I’ve caught you off duty. Is this a bad time?”
Caine perked a brow at being called by the brass of the 5th like this; first Katsuko now Miyamae? "Oh hello Miyamae-Shosho. Nah don't worry about it, I was just about to board the elevator to head for the 5th's offices." He said and smirked slightly, his golden blonde bangs falling over the side of his face for a moment. "I just got my half sister into a hotel room, so I have time to talk. Something wrong?" He asked as he smiled back at her.
Eriko’s smile shifted imperceptibly into a grin, Caine catching a flash of her teeth as she moved to speak. “Wrong? Unless you count the galactic war going on outside, then no, everything’s fine. In fact, I’ve just finished a lovely dinner with the Lorath royalty. “ Caine chuckled a bit, a blush passing imperceptivity over his bronze skin tone. "Well other than the galactic war going on outside it's good to know nothing too bad is going on. And I heard about those Lorath, I've seen a few of them around." He quipped and perked a brow at her. Eriko hesitated for a moment. “The Loarth are…interesting. Thankfully, I don’t foresee any problems with them being around at all. That said, back to business. As strange as it sounds, I’d like your opinion on something. If you can spare a little while, find somewhere comfy and we’ll get down to chatting.”
Caine smirked slightly "Oh well, sure I have a little time right now, where would you like me to meet you at?" Eriko glanced off to her side. “I’m afraid I can’t meet you in person at the moment. As it stands, I’m on my way to meet a certain Grand Admiral Davis – yes, that one – but despite that I still have things I need to discuss with you. So you’ll have to forgive me, Caine-san, if we conduct this talk over the net. I hope you understand that I’m doing it this way, and not the other way around. Somehow I don’t think the Admiral would take it in quite the same stride. Again, find somewhere comfy and I’ll log you in.”
Caine let out a chuckle and decided to warn her. "Be careful Myamae-shosho, I hear rumours that he's not too fond of nekos, and "I'll do that, any suggestions for easy access in the civilian area since that's where I am?" He said over the communicator and looked around. Eriko let out a good natured sigh. “I hear that about most Nepleslians, Sub-lieutenant, but here’s hoping the man who served alongside some of the first of my kind, and then went on to reforge an Empire is slightly more open minded, eh?” Caine would see the Vice-Admiral turn to one side and speak to another off screen for a moment. “…anyway, as for access; well, we’ve got perfect access on every inch of this station and for a good clip outside it so go relax in the hotsprings for all I care, Caine-san. Hopefully you know enough about the Hotaru to find those?”
Caine laughed again, agreeing with what Eriko said about holding out hope for at least someone to like them. "You don't have to be so formal Shosho, I don’t' mind if you call me Caine." he said and looked around. "Yeah, there's one just within my view." He said and started to head for the Evening Star Springs. Within a few minutes he'd pay for some time in the spring and soon would be seen through the comm window relaxing in the spring itself; now being shirtless and half submerged in the water. "Alright I'm ready."
It was Eriko’s turn to chuckle. “If you insist on informality, Caine then call me Eriko. Just don’t try that sort of tone with any of the Tange or they’ll flay you alive – but if it makes you feel better, you can insert a witty joke from me here which I can’t say for fear of…” Finger-quotes. “…‘shaking your faith in the brass’.” If you could bottle irony, Eriko would’ve just filled two of them with that alone. Nonetheless, it was said in good spirits. She then paused a minute to let the Yamataian settle himself. “Anyway, here we go.”
First, a warm breeze spread across the skin as the world fell away and transformed itself. Superimposed over the Hotaru station, the faintest outlines of a beach sprung into view. The sounds and cries of strange animal life filled the air, and a sweet, unfamiliar scene seemed to wax and wane with the lapping of the waves. It seemed so familiar and yet so utterly alien. Almost like a place you’d known very well, but come back to years later. Similar yet different. Then you realised what it was. This place as so clean, so pure, so untouched. It was natural, imperfect and beautiful. A single finger stood, barefoot, and dressed casually on the beach. The sand pressing between her toes as the water went in and out around them. Eriko waved him over, calling above the eerie silence as she did so.
“Welcome to Jiyuu, Sub-lieutenant.”
The virtual version of Caine blinked, looking around at the surreal landscape and smiled at it all, it looked like a place he'd want to visit in reality. "This is one helluva a simulation." He muttered and shrugged it off and noded her wave and chuckled. Walking over to her, it felt realistic, the sand under his barefoot and the breeze over his skin. Caine was there dressed in his idea of casual: a black sleeveless shirt with slate grey board shorts considering the environment. "This is amazing, is this what Jiyuu really looks like?" he asked as he went over, the light gleaming off the triple teardrop of the earring he had in his left ear.
Eriko nodded. “We’re getting this live from orbit. Of course, I can’t say its perfect – PANTHEON is filling in a few blanks with archived data – but it’s getting more accurate by the minute. It’s a shame that we’ll probably loose a little bit of this…rugged edge after the nodal system is installed, but otherwise this is basically where we’re going to be living from now on.” Caine looked around, taking in what it looked like and committed to memory and smiled a bit. He enjoyed this kind of landscape, it always reminded him of Xiuluria, his hometown on Yamatai. "Ah I see, that makes sense. I hope things work out, perhaps you can have the nodal preserve this area of Jiyuu?" He suggested and looked at her again. Eriko tapped at her lips in thought for a moment; listening careful to what the man had to say. “Don’t worry, the nodal system won’t do anything to change all this. It’ll just be a little…tamer. Clean up the things that hurt us, regulate, that sort of thing. Business as usual.”
She let him admire his surroundings for a few minutes more before continuing. “Back to why you’re here; tell me, Caine – what does the 17th Kasairyuu mean to you?” When she asked him about the 17th, a look of pain crossed his face; remembering what happened to his friends. "I remember it. It brings back a lot of memories from the past and reminds me that I'm the only remaining one. Poor Cam is borderline insane now thanks to psionic attacks from three ghosts…but I also remember the 17th being the 'hand of the taisho' an elite unit of power armour pilots that acted as a strikeforce or a commando unit." Eriko began to make her way up the beach “Hmm…well, Sarri-chui should recover. Yaichiro-taii’s reports indicate she was only incapacitated – and thank the Empress for PSCs is the only other thing I’ll say with regards to that. The 17th though, that needs more discussion. You’re right, of course, it was an elite strikeforce. You’d know that better than anyone. Which is why Katsuko-Taisho wants to reinstate it – with you as the leader. Are you interested?”
Caine nodded to her and walked just behind her as he listened to what she had to say. Indeed, the PSCs had saved his team's backsides while they were cleaning out the battleship too; no reason to bash that. "Now I did know she wanted to re-instate it but with myself as the leader?" He asked, surprised by this. "Well yes I'd be interested in it." he said, thinking about it. "I don't remember everything about it but I do know it better than anyone else does currently." he amended, still thinking.
“Of course. Though, perhaps ‘reinstate’ was the wrong word – we can’t resurrect the 17th, but we can build it anew; same purpose, same name, new soldiers.” Eriko stopped and turned to face him.” What we…what I would like is to build an elite armour squadron. The Kaisaryuu wing fits my purposes nicely. For the same reason, I’d like you to lead it. Not because you were a part of it previously, but because you’re one of the best aces we’ve got. I’m not interested in your history, or your circumstances but your skills and what you do with them. Looking at it that way, do you feel any differently about the offer?”
"Not at all." Caine said, smiling again. "I'd be proud to lead the 17th." He said, brushing his hair over his shoulder and watched her. "Though there is a request I'd like to formally make but it can wait until later." Eriko brightened up considerably – the seriousness of her offer now over. “Good to hear, Caine. I’ll hear you out in a minute after I explain a couple of things. I know I’m asking a lot, but here’s what the Fifth needs from you: we need pilots who can do the sorts of things you used to do with your wingmates; borderline suicide missions that shoot out the enemy’s kneecaps. For that, we’re asking you to be a trainer first and a leader second – you’ll have young bloods, and you’ll need to take them under your wing. Secondly, this is why I’m speaking to you now and not some more accessible personnel manager. You’ll be assigned to the Ascendancy task force under my direct command, and to be honest I wanted to take a good look at you…in all your beach shorts-ed glory.”
Caine nodded to her. "Well now, at least it's not my 'full' glory." he said with an embarrassed chuckle; visually sized her up as well – just like any other neko, she was naturally attractive. "I can do all that, in fact we just finished one of those when we captured that battleship." He said and thought for a moment. "I see, well it's always best to train the young bloods. But I'm going to try and get experienced power armor pilots before I start recruiting new bloods." he pointed out. "After all, the 5th has the best ones after all." Caine chuckled a bit and nodded. "The Ascendancy…the new command ship. That'll be good." He said.
Eriko smirked. “Eyes front and centre, Sub-lieutenant – you can ogle after we’re done.” Eriko winked and cracked a wry smile. “That said, I’ve done my part now. You’ve heard the offer and you’ve accepted it. Believe me when I say I’ll be trying to get experienced pilots, but things are getting more than a little desperate around here…even if we have plans to turn all that around. So, because I’m a nice girl and this negotiating thing is a two-way street, what were ya thinking you’ll need?”
Caine laughed softly and smiled back to her, she'd busted him ogling her. Wait, he wasn't ogling her! He was simply taking in her physical appearance with his eyes. He was pleased to be working under her command at least; he knew of Eriko's manner and how she tended to be all business, almost at any cost. "My apologies, Eriko. All I can really do is look anyway.” Eriko laughed. “I know, I’m just messin’ with you.” Caine smiled, then facepalmed himself – he’d almost forgotten! "And actually, I was going to request a Sarah armour be sized up for my own usage as the leader of the 17th. If that's not possible, at least an upgrade in the weaponry of the Daisy. For the wing, it would be safe to assume the best possible equipment would be provided?"
After hearing his request, it was Eriko’s turn to seriously examine the blonde – specifically, his height. “…hmm, yes, I can see why you’d request something like that. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of sending you into space with a ground armour. So I’ll either get an armour upsized for you or I’ll cut a few inches off your height when you’re not looking. The rest of the wing will have the best we can offer, naturally.”
Caine sighed a bit with a slightly dry expression on his face. "That would hurt like hell if you did while I was asleep." he said, cracking a smile. "And that's good to know, after all, the 5th is a large family in and of itself so it makes sense to provide the best. And in return to expect the best, which is what you'd get." he said.
Eriko cocked her head to one side. “Oh? It sounds you’ve been with me for a while already, Caine. Keep this in mind when you do what you have to – I don’t care how you do things. In that regard I will never judge you. If you can do your job in bunny slippers as well as you can in regulation boots, wear the slippers if it makes you feel better. If you can beat back the SMX stark naked, by all means get out there and show them how we do things! If you do your job, and you do it as best you can, how you did it is up to you. I expect you to teach your charges the same while under me. Bring out their best any way you can. ANY way.”
Caine nodded to her in a serious manner, fully understanding what she meant and smirked slightly at the mention of going out there stark naked. Because that's what any pilot did when they went out in their armours after all. "I understand Eriko." He said. "I'll be sure to bring out the best they have to offer any way I can. And going out there naked...don’t' we all do that when we don our armours?" Caine smirked just a bit. "And I'll make sure we bitchslap those damnable Mishhu back to whatever sewer they crawled out of then nuke the damn thing." he said with a slightly evil grin.
She laughed. “You’ll fit right in on one of my ships I think (though the rest of the army would look at me like I was mad). I like you, Caine and you’ve managed to reassure me; let me believe the 17th really can come back to life – as good, if not better than before.” Eriko put her hands to her hips and stood straight, tall, proud and looked forwards with pride…staring right into the taller man’s chest. She breathed deep. “I grant you your request Sub-lieutenant, and Hotaru will send you further information.”
Caine smirked back to her, pleased to have made her laugh. "I promise you, it'll be better than it was." He said, blushing slightly for a moment at how she was staring. His torso was muscled and well-defined with a 6-pack in his abs as his golden hair danced around his shoulders in the simulated breeze. Eriko looked up and perked an eyebrow. “Don’t flatter yourself, sub-lieutenant – I just don’t feel like looking up to you today. Now accept the damn request." Caine coughed. "Yes ma'am! I will be awaiting it." he said with pride and smiled. "Good Luck with your negotiations with Davis." Eriko gave a sharp nod at his concern. “Thank you, Caine. Now before I go though, is there anything else you need?”
"Oh, and my sister is on the Hotaru like I said before. And I've been trying to find her a good place to live and work..." Caine said, pausing to think out how to ask it. "Could you suggest anything? I figure I could ask while we're here." Eriko tapped her foot absent mindedly before staring out across the water ; the vermillion sunset that was slowly sending shadows creeping towards them. Sometimes, she forgot how time in space was such a different thing to time on a planet. It added a sense of finality to their closing conversation. “I’ll see what I can do for her, Caine…in fact, I might have just the thing. We’ll see though. Thank you for taking the time out for this meeting, Sub-lieutenant. You have my p permission to stay here as long as you want. However, if you’ll excuse me, I must be going.” She snapped him a quick salute; her virtual avatar dissolving back into code and data before vanishing.
Caine watched her go and smiled a bit and would stay for a little longer, savoring the scenary before withdrawing from it himself and returning to the real world. It was almost time for him to get out of the springs, starting to prune slightly. She certainly is an interesting woman. he thought as he relaxed for a bit more.
[Characters: Eriko (CB) and Caine (Tyler)]
Caine yawned a bit, feeling tired from having to do all the running around to get things set up for his sister. He'd gotten Alana set up in the hotel in the civilian sector because that's what she was. Caine brushed his blonde hair behind his ear as he left the hotel his uniform left open to show the light blue undershirt as he relaxed, heading for the elevator to head up into the military areas to try and find Katsuko. "I wonder where she is..."
“Sub-Lieutenant, Sub-Lieutenant: incoming call~” The Hotaru paged Caine with polite tact; it hardly sounded urgent but there as a sense of gravity that betrayed the simplicity of merely getting called. For one, the security encryption was…high. Somehow, it all seemed a little out of place for the civilian sector.
He rose a brow as he heard the Hotaru's chime in his mind and paused for a moment and went to lean up against a wall so he'd be out of the other people's way. Surprised by how high the encryption was Caine believe it to be rather urget and immediately responded. What is it? He responded to the Hotaru and looked around for a moment before pulling out his private communicator. They'd been required or requested to have one on the Yugumo he remembered. The thing lookedlike a black cell phone as he flipped it open and checked to see who was paging him.
“Ah, Caine-san…” The yamataian ace was greeted with a friendly looking smile; green eyes and brown hair framing the neko who spoke. The display on his comm read ‘Miyamae Eriko Shosho; Fleet Aide’ though even without that, you’d be hard pressed to find a person in the Fifth who didn’t know what a member of the top brass looked like. “…it looks like I’ve caught you off duty. Is this a bad time?”
Caine perked a brow at being called by the brass of the 5th like this; first Katsuko now Miyamae? "Oh hello Miyamae-Shosho. Nah don't worry about it, I was just about to board the elevator to head for the 5th's offices." He said and smirked slightly, his golden blonde bangs falling over the side of his face for a moment. "I just got my half sister into a hotel room, so I have time to talk. Something wrong?" He asked as he smiled back at her.
Eriko’s smile shifted imperceptibly into a grin, Caine catching a flash of her teeth as she moved to speak. “Wrong? Unless you count the galactic war going on outside, then no, everything’s fine. In fact, I’ve just finished a lovely dinner with the Lorath royalty. “ Caine chuckled a bit, a blush passing imperceptivity over his bronze skin tone. "Well other than the galactic war going on outside it's good to know nothing too bad is going on. And I heard about those Lorath, I've seen a few of them around." He quipped and perked a brow at her. Eriko hesitated for a moment. “The Loarth are…interesting. Thankfully, I don’t foresee any problems with them being around at all. That said, back to business. As strange as it sounds, I’d like your opinion on something. If you can spare a little while, find somewhere comfy and we’ll get down to chatting.”
Caine smirked slightly "Oh well, sure I have a little time right now, where would you like me to meet you at?" Eriko glanced off to her side. “I’m afraid I can’t meet you in person at the moment. As it stands, I’m on my way to meet a certain Grand Admiral Davis – yes, that one – but despite that I still have things I need to discuss with you. So you’ll have to forgive me, Caine-san, if we conduct this talk over the net. I hope you understand that I’m doing it this way, and not the other way around. Somehow I don’t think the Admiral would take it in quite the same stride. Again, find somewhere comfy and I’ll log you in.”
Caine let out a chuckle and decided to warn her. "Be careful Myamae-shosho, I hear rumours that he's not too fond of nekos, and "I'll do that, any suggestions for easy access in the civilian area since that's where I am?" He said over the communicator and looked around. Eriko let out a good natured sigh. “I hear that about most Nepleslians, Sub-lieutenant, but here’s hoping the man who served alongside some of the first of my kind, and then went on to reforge an Empire is slightly more open minded, eh?” Caine would see the Vice-Admiral turn to one side and speak to another off screen for a moment. “…anyway, as for access; well, we’ve got perfect access on every inch of this station and for a good clip outside it so go relax in the hotsprings for all I care, Caine-san. Hopefully you know enough about the Hotaru to find those?”
Caine laughed again, agreeing with what Eriko said about holding out hope for at least someone to like them. "You don't have to be so formal Shosho, I don’t' mind if you call me Caine." he said and looked around. "Yeah, there's one just within my view." He said and started to head for the Evening Star Springs. Within a few minutes he'd pay for some time in the spring and soon would be seen through the comm window relaxing in the spring itself; now being shirtless and half submerged in the water. "Alright I'm ready."
It was Eriko’s turn to chuckle. “If you insist on informality, Caine then call me Eriko. Just don’t try that sort of tone with any of the Tange or they’ll flay you alive – but if it makes you feel better, you can insert a witty joke from me here which I can’t say for fear of…” Finger-quotes. “…‘shaking your faith in the brass’.” If you could bottle irony, Eriko would’ve just filled two of them with that alone. Nonetheless, it was said in good spirits. She then paused a minute to let the Yamataian settle himself. “Anyway, here we go.”
First, a warm breeze spread across the skin as the world fell away and transformed itself. Superimposed over the Hotaru station, the faintest outlines of a beach sprung into view. The sounds and cries of strange animal life filled the air, and a sweet, unfamiliar scene seemed to wax and wane with the lapping of the waves. It seemed so familiar and yet so utterly alien. Almost like a place you’d known very well, but come back to years later. Similar yet different. Then you realised what it was. This place as so clean, so pure, so untouched. It was natural, imperfect and beautiful. A single finger stood, barefoot, and dressed casually on the beach. The sand pressing between her toes as the water went in and out around them. Eriko waved him over, calling above the eerie silence as she did so.
“Welcome to Jiyuu, Sub-lieutenant.”
The virtual version of Caine blinked, looking around at the surreal landscape and smiled at it all, it looked like a place he'd want to visit in reality. "This is one helluva a simulation." He muttered and shrugged it off and noded her wave and chuckled. Walking over to her, it felt realistic, the sand under his barefoot and the breeze over his skin. Caine was there dressed in his idea of casual: a black sleeveless shirt with slate grey board shorts considering the environment. "This is amazing, is this what Jiyuu really looks like?" he asked as he went over, the light gleaming off the triple teardrop of the earring he had in his left ear.
Eriko nodded. “We’re getting this live from orbit. Of course, I can’t say its perfect – PANTHEON is filling in a few blanks with archived data – but it’s getting more accurate by the minute. It’s a shame that we’ll probably loose a little bit of this…rugged edge after the nodal system is installed, but otherwise this is basically where we’re going to be living from now on.” Caine looked around, taking in what it looked like and committed to memory and smiled a bit. He enjoyed this kind of landscape, it always reminded him of Xiuluria, his hometown on Yamatai. "Ah I see, that makes sense. I hope things work out, perhaps you can have the nodal preserve this area of Jiyuu?" He suggested and looked at her again. Eriko tapped at her lips in thought for a moment; listening careful to what the man had to say. “Don’t worry, the nodal system won’t do anything to change all this. It’ll just be a little…tamer. Clean up the things that hurt us, regulate, that sort of thing. Business as usual.”
She let him admire his surroundings for a few minutes more before continuing. “Back to why you’re here; tell me, Caine – what does the 17th Kasairyuu mean to you?” When she asked him about the 17th, a look of pain crossed his face; remembering what happened to his friends. "I remember it. It brings back a lot of memories from the past and reminds me that I'm the only remaining one. Poor Cam is borderline insane now thanks to psionic attacks from three ghosts…but I also remember the 17th being the 'hand of the taisho' an elite unit of power armour pilots that acted as a strikeforce or a commando unit." Eriko began to make her way up the beach “Hmm…well, Sarri-chui should recover. Yaichiro-taii’s reports indicate she was only incapacitated – and thank the Empress for PSCs is the only other thing I’ll say with regards to that. The 17th though, that needs more discussion. You’re right, of course, it was an elite strikeforce. You’d know that better than anyone. Which is why Katsuko-Taisho wants to reinstate it – with you as the leader. Are you interested?”
Caine nodded to her and walked just behind her as he listened to what she had to say. Indeed, the PSCs had saved his team's backsides while they were cleaning out the battleship too; no reason to bash that. "Now I did know she wanted to re-instate it but with myself as the leader?" He asked, surprised by this. "Well yes I'd be interested in it." he said, thinking about it. "I don't remember everything about it but I do know it better than anyone else does currently." he amended, still thinking.
“Of course. Though, perhaps ‘reinstate’ was the wrong word – we can’t resurrect the 17th, but we can build it anew; same purpose, same name, new soldiers.” Eriko stopped and turned to face him.” What we…what I would like is to build an elite armour squadron. The Kaisaryuu wing fits my purposes nicely. For the same reason, I’d like you to lead it. Not because you were a part of it previously, but because you’re one of the best aces we’ve got. I’m not interested in your history, or your circumstances but your skills and what you do with them. Looking at it that way, do you feel any differently about the offer?”
"Not at all." Caine said, smiling again. "I'd be proud to lead the 17th." He said, brushing his hair over his shoulder and watched her. "Though there is a request I'd like to formally make but it can wait until later." Eriko brightened up considerably – the seriousness of her offer now over. “Good to hear, Caine. I’ll hear you out in a minute after I explain a couple of things. I know I’m asking a lot, but here’s what the Fifth needs from you: we need pilots who can do the sorts of things you used to do with your wingmates; borderline suicide missions that shoot out the enemy’s kneecaps. For that, we’re asking you to be a trainer first and a leader second – you’ll have young bloods, and you’ll need to take them under your wing. Secondly, this is why I’m speaking to you now and not some more accessible personnel manager. You’ll be assigned to the Ascendancy task force under my direct command, and to be honest I wanted to take a good look at you…in all your beach shorts-ed glory.”
Caine nodded to her. "Well now, at least it's not my 'full' glory." he said with an embarrassed chuckle; visually sized her up as well – just like any other neko, she was naturally attractive. "I can do all that, in fact we just finished one of those when we captured that battleship." He said and thought for a moment. "I see, well it's always best to train the young bloods. But I'm going to try and get experienced power armor pilots before I start recruiting new bloods." he pointed out. "After all, the 5th has the best ones after all." Caine chuckled a bit and nodded. "The Ascendancy…the new command ship. That'll be good." He said.
Eriko smirked. “Eyes front and centre, Sub-lieutenant – you can ogle after we’re done.” Eriko winked and cracked a wry smile. “That said, I’ve done my part now. You’ve heard the offer and you’ve accepted it. Believe me when I say I’ll be trying to get experienced pilots, but things are getting more than a little desperate around here…even if we have plans to turn all that around. So, because I’m a nice girl and this negotiating thing is a two-way street, what were ya thinking you’ll need?”
Caine laughed softly and smiled back to her, she'd busted him ogling her. Wait, he wasn't ogling her! He was simply taking in her physical appearance with his eyes. He was pleased to be working under her command at least; he knew of Eriko's manner and how she tended to be all business, almost at any cost. "My apologies, Eriko. All I can really do is look anyway.” Eriko laughed. “I know, I’m just messin’ with you.” Caine smiled, then facepalmed himself – he’d almost forgotten! "And actually, I was going to request a Sarah armour be sized up for my own usage as the leader of the 17th. If that's not possible, at least an upgrade in the weaponry of the Daisy. For the wing, it would be safe to assume the best possible equipment would be provided?"
After hearing his request, it was Eriko’s turn to seriously examine the blonde – specifically, his height. “…hmm, yes, I can see why you’d request something like that. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dream of sending you into space with a ground armour. So I’ll either get an armour upsized for you or I’ll cut a few inches off your height when you’re not looking. The rest of the wing will have the best we can offer, naturally.”
Caine sighed a bit with a slightly dry expression on his face. "That would hurt like hell if you did while I was asleep." he said, cracking a smile. "And that's good to know, after all, the 5th is a large family in and of itself so it makes sense to provide the best. And in return to expect the best, which is what you'd get." he said.
Eriko cocked her head to one side. “Oh? It sounds you’ve been with me for a while already, Caine. Keep this in mind when you do what you have to – I don’t care how you do things. In that regard I will never judge you. If you can do your job in bunny slippers as well as you can in regulation boots, wear the slippers if it makes you feel better. If you can beat back the SMX stark naked, by all means get out there and show them how we do things! If you do your job, and you do it as best you can, how you did it is up to you. I expect you to teach your charges the same while under me. Bring out their best any way you can. ANY way.”
Caine nodded to her in a serious manner, fully understanding what she meant and smirked slightly at the mention of going out there stark naked. Because that's what any pilot did when they went out in their armours after all. "I understand Eriko." He said. "I'll be sure to bring out the best they have to offer any way I can. And going out there naked...don’t' we all do that when we don our armours?" Caine smirked just a bit. "And I'll make sure we bitchslap those damnable Mishhu back to whatever sewer they crawled out of then nuke the damn thing." he said with a slightly evil grin.
She laughed. “You’ll fit right in on one of my ships I think (though the rest of the army would look at me like I was mad). I like you, Caine and you’ve managed to reassure me; let me believe the 17th really can come back to life – as good, if not better than before.” Eriko put her hands to her hips and stood straight, tall, proud and looked forwards with pride…staring right into the taller man’s chest. She breathed deep. “I grant you your request Sub-lieutenant, and Hotaru will send you further information.”
Caine smirked back to her, pleased to have made her laugh. "I promise you, it'll be better than it was." He said, blushing slightly for a moment at how she was staring. His torso was muscled and well-defined with a 6-pack in his abs as his golden hair danced around his shoulders in the simulated breeze. Eriko looked up and perked an eyebrow. “Don’t flatter yourself, sub-lieutenant – I just don’t feel like looking up to you today. Now accept the damn request." Caine coughed. "Yes ma'am! I will be awaiting it." he said with pride and smiled. "Good Luck with your negotiations with Davis." Eriko gave a sharp nod at his concern. “Thank you, Caine. Now before I go though, is there anything else you need?”
"Oh, and my sister is on the Hotaru like I said before. And I've been trying to find her a good place to live and work..." Caine said, pausing to think out how to ask it. "Could you suggest anything? I figure I could ask while we're here." Eriko tapped her foot absent mindedly before staring out across the water ; the vermillion sunset that was slowly sending shadows creeping towards them. Sometimes, she forgot how time in space was such a different thing to time on a planet. It added a sense of finality to their closing conversation. “I’ll see what I can do for her, Caine…in fact, I might have just the thing. We’ll see though. Thank you for taking the time out for this meeting, Sub-lieutenant. You have my p permission to stay here as long as you want. However, if you’ll excuse me, I must be going.” She snapped him a quick salute; her virtual avatar dissolving back into code and data before vanishing.
Caine watched her go and smiled a bit and would stay for a little longer, savoring the scenary before withdrawing from it himself and returning to the real world. It was almost time for him to get out of the springs, starting to prune slightly. She certainly is an interesting woman. he thought as he relaxed for a bit more.
