Negotiations [Closed to Celestial Being]

[shootingblancs]

Michael sat on the side of his sniper perch, constructed on the sidewalks of one of the main boulevards in the City. Normally this was his firing range, but now he was here for a meeting - with one of the most troublesome groups on the ship. As much as Setsuna and his comrades were pains in Starfighter Command's neck, they needed every last body they could get for the mission ahead.

He'd chosen this spot since it was out of the way, where people were unlikely to intrude if the discussion got heated. All there was left to do was wait.

Comments

[shootingblancs]

"Sooner rather than later, yes," Michael said to Tieria. "We don't have a lot of time to argue about this. There's no way of knowing when the Ohm are going to attack, and from what we learned at Zokez, they could wipe out the world in less than a day if they're not stopped."

His gaze went to the others who'd spoken. "You're asking a bit of a Catch-22 here. We're putting together the battle plan right now, but any plans might change depending on if we get more pilots and machines in the field - like yourselves." Michel paused for a moment.

"What I can do is tell Grayson to make his battle plans assuming you all will be on the field. That way it won't change much when the time comes, if you do sign on."

And then to the girl. "The mission plans aren't finalized yet. I can give you the intelligence we have about the planet and the Ohm - population, details on the asteroid cluster, and the capabilities and fighting strength of the Ohm as we know it," he tapped the device in his hand, shutting it off, and tossed the palm-sized bud to Feldt. "But that's all I have for you right now."

[eltneg.livejournal.com]

"Feldt. Familiarize yourself with the data and brief us as soon as you are able." Tieria comments as he watches the device change hands.

"Michael Blanc. See to it that you provide an unabridged report of the battle plan as soon as it is available." It's a statement, not a question. They were not a charity group. They had their own agenda to fulfill. The preservation of their members was of the utmost importance. They could not rid the world (their world, if it even still existed) of its bloodlust if they were dead.

And though Tieria might not admit it aloud, it was also in his own, personal interest to see that his colleagues (each and every one of them) survived.

"Otherwise I— we— cannot guarantee our cooperation." Notably, 'full' has been purposefully omitted.

[sniping-meister.livejournal.com]

"If you would prefer to provide us with plans that do not make such assumptions -" Here Lockon glanced quickly over at Setsuna and Tieria "- then it will allow us to make our own plans on how we best fit in. We work as a team, and all exercises must be executed accordingly."

They could not end up bound by an overly complex plan that involved too many units. They needed to be free to support each other as necessary to protect their own goals first and foremost. And, of course, Setsuna could be a bit of a loose cannon, and Lockon wanted a way out if necessary.

[jesus_is_gundam]

Speaking of said loose cannon...

"We've committed to nothing," Setsuna stated coldly, his irritation only having grown thanks to Michael's presumptuousness. He couldn't bring himself to be as diplomatic as Lockon about the matter. "Make sure your superiors know that." He wasn't going to even allow them the impression of otherwise.

"We've nothing further to discuss," he stated tersely, calling a rather abrupt end to the meeting. As far as he was concerned, everything of importance had been asked and answered, the rest was waiting on information to be delivered and dissected.

[pinkbridgebunny.livejournal.com]

"Yes, Tieria," she said to the Meister before her eyes went back to Michael. "Thank you for the data. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take the Red Haro and go over the data."

The last part was directed towards the Meisters and Michael. She didn't wait for them to excuse her, she headed out to get the other Haro and start going over the data.

[praises]

With Feldt's leave, that would be that until the data was consolidated into a tactical brief that may or may not have won Celestial Being's tenuous allegiance with Starfighter Command. Allelujah had remained silent for the tense duration of the discussion, his desire to act on his more kind-hearted tendencies checked only by the truth in what the rest of his comrades had to say. A choice had lead them to the Gundams, and everything would be meaningless if they were to abandon that choice now.

They were short on time, but he had a feeling it wouldn't take them long to reach their true answer.

In an attempt to diffuse the charged silence that followed, Allelujah stepped forward, breaking off the closed air around the meisters. Fighting now before anything concrete had been decided one way or the other wouldn't do either faction any good.

"Though you said it was included in the data, for the time being, can you tell us more about the planet?"

It sounded innocent enough, but it was fairly obvious what he meant. Could they defend themselves if necessary?

[shootingblancs]

Well this was quickly going nowhere fast. Michael made a concerted effort to keep calm; to keep from letting the quickly-boiling anger show on the surface. Who did these idiots think they were, anyway? "As soon as that information is cleared outside of Command, I'll see what I can do. Even if the point of a battle plan is for everyone involved to be included." There was a bit of a dry tone to his voice there.

The sniper looked coolly at Setsuna for a moment before turning his gaze to Allelujah. "Habitable world, like the planet you all probably come from. Pre-Bleed, pre-Warp technology, just beginning early space flight and exploration. A few billion inhabitants who have no idea that the sky is about to burn above them."

"They'd notice Stacy if she came in, but the Quarter is small enough so that they won't pick us up. But they don't stand a chance against the Ohm without help."

And that was the part that really made him angry. Who did these clowns think they were? Were they really so arrogant to think that their own hides mattered more than billions and billions of lives?

[eltneg.livejournal.com]

"Then we will continue this discussion when that occurs." But for right now, matters among themselves needed to be discussed.

Would their opinions align? Tieria could only speculate.