2022-10-18: Duty, Obligation, and Promises

• Log: 2022-10-18: Duty, Obligation, and Promises
• Cast: Suberoa Zinnerman, The Garencieres Crew
• Where: The Garencieres
• Date: U.C. 0096 10 18
• Summary: Given an order that sits ill with him, Lieutenant Zinnerman considers the directions in which he is being pulled, and makes a decision that at once is a surprise and no surprise at all, depending on where you're looking. Follows on from 2022-10-17: Debriefing at Palau and references 2022-10-17: From the Memory of a Haro...

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As ever upon the conclusion of his meetings with Commander Frontal, Suberoa Zinnerman is sullen as he boards the Garencieres camouflaged freighter, making immediately for his cabin.

Steeping some coffee, his gaze sweeps the spartan quarters, before alighting on one of the few objects decorating it - a framed photograph of a girl no more than four years old, her auburn pigtails seeming almost golden in the artificial light of Globe City, shining nearly as bright as her beaming smile.

Stepping over to the desk the photograph rests on, Zinnerman picks it up, staring at the girl as if somehow she could crawl out of the image and hug him again.

"What should I do, Marie?"

Setting the photograph down, his eyes naturally rest on the object near it: A 1/14th scale model of a Sealance high-speed transport boat, its traditional blue livery replaced by a soft grey embellished with clumsily-painted stripes of orange. Zinnerman picks this up too and considers it, noting the fissure line where he had spent hours carefully gluing the toy vessel's bridge tower back in place to the sound of his daughter's barely-restrained hiccuping sobs.

The memory catalyses a decision in him, and he presses the intercom button on his desk. "Gilboa, Tomura. Meet me in my cabin, I have new orders."

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Gilboa Sant and Marida Cruz step through the doorway into Gilboa's home, and are immediately accosted by the man's kids, Tikva, Kora and Tucci. Kora, the daughter, immediately occupies all of Marida's attention by practically throwing herself at her, forcing her to drop her large duffel bag and field her like a thrown ball. "Miss Marida's back! Miss Marida's back!" The youngest Sant child gurgles with delight.

Tikva, the older brother, peers around his father's legs, frowning in concern. "Hey, is Banagher not comin' to dinner?" Gilboa frowns, crouching down. "Tucci, help Marida with your sister. Tikva, I need a word - don't worry, kiddo, you're not in trouble."

In the kitchen, Tikva listens to his father's explanation. "So... Banagher's in trouble?"

"That's right, son, and we've got a plan to help him, but we need your help to do it."

Tikva considers the older boy who had joined them for dinner so long ago. He'd kicked up a bit of an argument at the dinner table, but it wasn't like he was a bad person or anything. "... I'll help."

Gilboa nods. "Alright - take this money and go hit up the old second-hand electronics shop, and bring the thing I write on this paper back to the house. Don't drop the paper."

=========================================================================

Several hours later, a young woman in a dark aubergine coat and hat, a heavy duffel slung over her shoulder, slips out of the Sant residence and makes her way back to the docks and the Garencieres. Stepping aboard, Marida Cruz removes her hat and waits for the docking ramp to close behind her before opening the bag and pinging the intercom. "Master, I've brought the item." She pulls out a green sphere larger than her head, eyeing it warily before proceeding to the ship's cargo hold.

What follows is some careful work, with Tomura carefully inspecting the two Haros and giving the recently-bought one precisely-measured scuffs and scratches to mimic the wear and tear suffered by Banagher's, while Zinnerman reviews the content of the logs kept in the boy's own drone, deciding which ones are low-incident enough to put into the new one and give Full Frontal something plausible as intelligence while not handing over every detail on the boy's experiences to their commander. After all, Banagher isn't a soldier - he's just a kid dragged into something much, much bigger. Diving his personal effects to figure out how to manipulate him is unconscionable to the old father's mind.

This is, of course, an act of insubordination - but he'll deal with that problem when it comes.

The intercom beeps again - it's Alec, on communications. "Captain, we just picked up a transmission from Earth on the team encryption. Kwani's called from Area 11 - Observation Subject E's family are changing her life around again."

"Damn." Everything's happening at once. Zinnerman glances at Tomura. "When you're done here, how long do you think the repairs will take." The young prodigy mechanic grimaces. "At least twelve hours. Captain."

"You have five. Flaste - tell docking control we've received an emergency transmission and are preparing for expedited departure. Ivan - get the decoy Haro to Full Frontal's technicians. Alec - send back to Kwani, tell him to stall their orders as best he can so he can alert contacts M and K. If Subject E appears to be in danger, he should move to protect her and regroup at Rendezvous Point Bravo."

The expressions of his crew are a mixture of determination and concern, both for the risks they're about to take and for their comrade, and the teenagers who have become incredibly important to the Garencieres, but unlike the Torrington operation there is no doubt, no sense of unease at what they're about to do - they are united in purpose.

One foot up on the railing as Tomura works, Zinnerman throws an arm out, feeling determination surge within him. "Alright, Garencieres Team. Move out!"