Roger, looking about and seeing that no one had yet stepped up to the podium after Yui, arose and made his way to it. For a moment, he merely stood there, looking at the model he held in his hand, rotating it slowly between his fingers. Then he spoke. "I, I don't have a speech as you can see, 'cause truth be told, I've never been much of a speaker. But I was in a unique position of knowing both the Admiral and the 17th, so there's a couple of things I'd like to say about the both of 'em."
At this point he began to cough slightly, reaching up with his left hand to stifle himself. "Excuse me," Roger mumbled, reaching into his uniform jacket to withdraw the flask again, taking a drink to brace himself. Then with a sharp exhalation, he continued. "I remember the first time I met the Admiral. I'd just gotten out of advanced training, when wham, I was assigned to the Akuro I as a technical sentry. I don't remember why exactly, but for some reason, I showed up late to my first briefing with her. The look she gave me; whoof; to this day I'm amazed she didn't decide to vent me out an airlock then and there. It was at that point I knew we were off to a good start." He chuckled slightly to himself, and took another drink. "But even as I was debating the merits to sudden decompression, I knew that this woman, as formidable as she had revealed herself to be, was acting only out of genuine concern for the fleet, and for the well-being of all of us. And not once in my years serving under her did I ever see her ever falter from doing so." He turned to her coffin, saluted, and in a very uncharacteristic move, bowed, somewhat awkwardly, he himself not used to the motion. "You were a damned fine Admiral, ma'am. I'm going to miss the hell out of you."
Roger the stepped off from the dias, and moved over to the coffin which symbolized Corro. "And you, youhardass sonuvabitch... I don't know how many ships they had to throw at you to take you down, but I know you bloodied the noses of each of 'em, and then sacrficied your own life to save as much of the crew as you could. It's the only way you operated Corro." He shook his head, small tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Sorry," he mumbled, readdressing the assembly. "Corro was my first CO, assigned to me by the Admiral. Before I was an officer, before I was chief engineer on any ship, I was a member of the 17th Kasairyuu Power Armor Wing, under the guidance of then-Cadet Corro Adlich. Mind you, I was support personnel, but still. At first I thought the guy was just another hotshot pilot who'd been put in charge of a bunch of other hotshot pilots, but then, I had to deploy on a mission with them, and damn, they really ARE a bunch a hotshot pilots." He grinned, then apologized. "Sorry, Caine, Cam." He sighed. "But there ain't a single other bunch of hotshot pilots I'd rather have covering my ass. Jaq, Bishop, Sayo, the whole bunch. And Corro, Corro... he saved my life, in the middle of a rescue mission to Taiie IV. Beat the ever loving tar out of a gator I'd gotten too close to and was trying to eat me. Without him, I'd have been so much gator chow. And I never got a chance to pay him back..."
At this point, he withdrew a small black metal box with a magnet attached to it and held it in front of him. "It ain't even close to a repayment, Corro, but well... you're going to need 'em wherever you are." With a clunk, he attached the box to the side of the coffin, and stepped back. "Use 'em if ya got 'em, captain." He snapped a quick salute, and returned to the podium, raising his flask anew. "To Admiral Katsuko Motoyoshi, Captain Corro Adlich, and the 17th Kasairyuu Power Armor Wing. God help any bastards who try to stand against you, wherever you are." He downed the remainder of the flask, said thank you, and returned to his seat.
