2024-06-27: Catching Up

• Log: Catching Up
• Cast: Murrue Ramius, Eight Orlodhari
• Where: Morgenroete Offices, United Emirates of Orb
• OOC - IC Date: June 27, 2024 (0099)
• Summary: Eight Orlodhari comes to Orb to engage in some negotiations for more ships, and it turns out that the representative they send to speak to her is Murrue Ramius--'Maria Bernes'. They talk, and around arranging business, have a chance to discuss life and war.

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<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

It was another normal day at Morgenrote Headquarters, the state owned munitions company of the United Emirates of Orb. Outside a light rain was falling, not atypical for the equatorial island nation, set in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. For Murrue Ramius, veteran captain of the Archangel, it was another day of her new life, working as an engineer for their Shipbuilding Department.

Realistically, the dissolution of the Earth Federation and the EFSF as an entity should have rendered any warrants for her arrest null and void, but Murrue still felt a little bit of paranoia. She did after all, retreat against orders, taking a multi-billion dollar warship and its crew with her and defect to a neutral nation. After which she sent out an alert of the invasion of Orb that caused many to defect with her. While it wasn't particularly likely that she'd be shot in the back by a Gaia Sabre assassin, the threat certainly wasn't zero, and so content she was to be Maria Bernes from now on.

Today however, Maria Bernes had business with an officer from the Magallanica Defence Force. Morgenrote had provided them with numerous specialized variants of their Izumo-Class defense ships, and while it wasn't usual for Murrue to handle these sorts of negotiations, the usual sales representative, had to go home ill, and Murrue received a phone call to head up to their office in the Morgenrote Orange jacket and hash things out. Stepping from the elevator, Murrue checked her watch, and to her dismay, was late, not by much, but for the company, it was certainly too much. Picking up her pace, she quickly arrived at the office, where the secretary out front told her the guest had arrived. Wonderful. Deep breath, and door open.

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Eight Orlodhari could have delegated this particular negotiation; she's not a financier, and she's not an engineer. However, she wanted an excuse to travel to Orb, and to see for herself how things were going out here.

'Officially', the whole 3SA received pardons for their behavior in the war, thanks to a deal Eight helped to negotiate with Cathedra and others. But unofficially... Well, she's going to watch her back, too. She doesn't blame anyone for making use of aliases or hiding out.

After all, she's not exactly eager to step into NUNE territory herself.

As for the visit today, Eight has already had a chance to drop her twins off at the office's daycare, watched over as well by her security escort. She's seated in the office, already present and waiting for the representative to arrive. She happens to be looking out the window at the moment--but when Murrue comes in, she'll spot an Eight in her white-and-teal MDF Admiral's uniform. And Eight will spot--

"Oh!" It takes her a second to remember her alias, "Miss Bernes. It's a pleasure to see you." She stands up, to shake her hand.

"I take it you're who I'll be dealing with today?"

'Maria Bernes' was instrumental, back then. Eight really is glad to see her.

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

"I'm very sorry for being late." Murrue said, closing the door and immediately bowing respectfully. "Mr. Soga called in ill this morning, I only just received the call to come in from Shipbuilding Department B, and it's a bit of an elevator ride-"

When she pops back up to realize who is standing before her, Murrue is surprised, but almost immediately relaxes upon seeing Eight.

"Oh, Admiral Orlodhari!" Murrue smiles, taking Eight's hand and shaking it. "Yes, it was a...bit short notice. They didn't tell me I would be meeting you!"

Murrue guides Eight over to the guest's chair, and took a seat behind the desk. "It..certainly has been a while, hasn't it? How have things been?"

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Eight smiles. The blonde Admiral waits for Murrue's apology and bow, but doesn't stand too mucch on ceremony. "That's fine," she says. "And you can call me 'Eight'. We're old friends, and this is is a civilian installation."

Well, maybe maybe not 'friends' exactly--but 'comrades' would out Murrue's past... And Eight is willing to call her a friend.

She shakes Murrue's hand. "So I see! Well, that works out just fine for me."

Eight takes a seat and smoothes out her uniform jacket. "It really has. Things are--Well, personally, things are solid. I managed to bring my husband with me on this trip, so when we're done with work we're going to get to spend some time enjoying Orb. The kids are healthy, and they're having fun meeting your colleagues' kids at the moment." Since of course, some of the people at Morgenroete probably use the daycare.

"...Professionally, though..." She shakes her head. "I'm concerned. NUNE is already starting to show the same colors as the Federation. We need to reinforce. That's why I'm here."

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murre greatly admired Eight. It meant a lot when she was the first to respond to what was, in retrospect, an absolutely dangerous and inflammatory warning message, as the Archangel cruised into Orb's territory, a life altering decision she knew she could never turn back from.

She was certainly grateful for Eight's handling of her new identity, but when Eight starts to discuss her family, especially her husband, Murrue can't help but feel a little pain deep inside of her. She knows Eight meant nothing by it, but Murrue couldn't help but remember that her opportunity for that kind of happiness...

...no, don't bring down the mood.

When Eight brings up NUNE showing its colors however, Murrue leans forward on the desk. She hadn't heard anything specific on the news. It certainly didn't surprise her, it wasn't like any serious effort to clean house was taken by NUNE to get rid of the problem Earth Federation elements from its ranks and power structures...

...And she certainly hoped Natarle wasn't involved in anything awful. But this probably wasn't the place to start prying deeper.

"Of course." Murrue replied, logging into the computer at the desk. "Magallanica is one of Morgenrote's top customers. We'd be more than happy to help begin a fleet expansion."

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Their lives would all be very different if not for that message--and what happened at JOSH-A. It gave Eight's crew the chance to start salvaging what would become the Ra Mari II, and Eight the knowledge to prepare to leave the Federation.

Eight realizes that she was unkind in bringing up her family, bu isn't sure what yet to do about that; it's just a little flash of insight, a realization of Murrue's pain.

"I appreciate that," Eight says instead first on the matter of business. "The Uzume you gave us has been very effective; my own former XO is Captaining her, and has only good things to say about the technology."

"I have a listing of what I'm requesting, and what I'm willing to give as an opening offer," she says, handing over a disc. "It's all in here."

"...While that's all loading, I was rude, and I didn't ask you in return. How's life? How are things here in Orb? I don't often get the chance to visit, with my work. But some of our best people have chosen to settle here."

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murrue slots the disc into the computer, and leans back in the chair as she sighs softly. What a question. What a question.

"It's.." Murrue begins, "...It's something I've been taking day by day. It's hard to believe it's only been two years since the war's been over. It feels somewhat selfish...lots of people lost lots of people in the war..."

But losing two boyfriends, two men you thought you could start a future with, within a year...some days were a lot harder than others, especially watching Captain Waltfeld and Aisha together at the manor. But Murrue wasn't bitter, far from it. It was just the unfortunate roll of the dice, the tragic reality of war."...but Orb is just wonderful. I have a job I'm suited best for, a lovely home by the ocean, sure it's a little humid, and there are typhoons to worry about, but really, it's lovely here."

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

"Day by day..." Eight nods. "I don't think it's selfish," she offers. "Not to feel loss. To mourn. Sure, a lot of other people also suffered loss... But so did you. It's worth givig yourself the space for that, I think."

Many of those 'losses' came about through orders Eight and other Captains made--they accomplished their goals for the war. ...But not without cost.

"I'm glad Orb is good, though. The ocean... I admit, as a colony girl, I'm still amazed by how big the ocean is. It's beautiful though. Especially here."

"...I'm glad, we were able to protect this place, back then. Nothing tells me we did the right thing like looking out on the people here, seeing them live their lives."

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murrue smiled, still with a bit of sadness. Orb is a beautiful land, and their willingness to protect her and her crew was something she didn't take for granted. Maybe Mu did give his life for something valuable after all.

...but at the back of her mind was the reality that the protection they had was at the behest of the Atthas...and Orb's political situation was looking more and more tenuous by the day.

"...Yeah...I suppose we did choose the right fight after all."

The computer pinged, the disc loading complete.

"Well!" Murrue said. "I suppose we had better get down to business then?"

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Eight smiles back. She can't heal Murrue's losses, but Murrue seems to be doing as well as can be expected.

...The truth is that she's worried about Orb's situation too though--that's the other reason she came in person.

Ping!

"Yes," Eight says, "Let's. So I was hoping for three more of your ships, as you can see, plus supplies and munitios for each. I have enough personnel with all the refugees joining up to crew them, too. And..."

She starrts to go into what's on the disc; the money of course is considerable, but she's the Admiral; she's authorized for it.

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murrue quickly looked over the requests and the funds. For most people, this kind of money would be unfathomable, but for the wonderful defence industry and military budgets, this was nothing.

"Three more Izumo-Classes..." Murrue absentmindedly chews on a pen as she goes over the figures."That all seems to be in order. I'm sure if there are any discrepancies I haven't caught the finance department will set it straight!"

But Eight's trailing "and..." intrigues Murrue.

"...and?" She asks.

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Magallanica's resources are considerable for a single colony--mostly because of its manufacturing base. Eight is still sometimes a little shocked by the sums they can throw around, especially once Nergal gets involved.

"Great," Eighht says. "By all means, check them out. If there's anything they need to work out, our finance department can, too. We've got Nergal-trained accountants now," she says with a laugh.

But 'and'...

"Well," she says, "On top of NUNE, it looks like the old Neo Zeon war hawks are at it again, and they're pretty close to home for us. 'Dawn of Fold', they and their allies call themselves. It's concerning."

"But that's just more reason to keep up our relationship with Morgenroete, right?"

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

"Dawn of Fold? I haven't heard anything about them."A new anti Earth government faction was the last thing the world needed at this point.

"You don't think there...you don't think there's going to be a war do you? I mean it's only been two years since Bloody Valentine! How many people died when GENESIS hit the Orbital Ring? How many people died when those nukes that hit the PLANTs got through? I know tensions are high but...I mean if this is some kind of small terrorist group...you don't think NUNE is going to...go the way of the Titans, do you?"

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

"That doesn't surprise me--NUNE is keeping them quiet. But they staged an attack on Luna recently."

"It's possible," Eight admits. "We're going to do our best to head one off, but at the same time, I can't allow our forces to just prop up an unjust regime if that's how it turns out."

"...They might. I'm using what diplomatic levers I can, but..." Eight shakes her head. "But it's not a guarantee at this point. Right now it's just tension. Nothing that requires NUNE to fully mobilize. For now."

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

"They did?" Murrue was now very concerned. If there were actual attacks being launched, then she had a bad feeling things were going to get very bad, very quickly. And at least Eight and Murrue were on the same page for unjust regimes. They had each made that choice two years ago.

"Well...Morganrote and I are happy to do anything and everything we can to help, though aside from these ships, I'd have to figure out what that could be."

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

"Yes. Our forces stepped in, because there were innocents in the crossfire... But then the base cut the oxygen to those innocents. It's only because we and the other orgs involved had ground troops on-site that they were rescued."

"These ships will be a big help," Eight assures her. "From you and Morgenroete both. As for you..."

"Well, if you want to stay here, not get involved--we've already asked all we can ask of you. It's your choice what to do with your life now."

Eight smiles. "I mean it."

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murrue nodded at those last words. Then...then she thought. She thought about the secret hangars under Akatsuki island. She thought about the big one. The White and Red legged ship that sat, waiting for the lights to turn back on. For a crew to rally. To cast off once more. But then she thought about the Captain's cabin on that ship. And on the top shelf of the closet, a box full of collected objects that were too painful for her to look at, and next to it, a spare purple helmet, with white feathers on the beak.

It was just a fluke. That cabin wasn't really hers. That chair wasn't really hers. That ship wasn't really hers. She was an engineer, that was her life now, just as it had been before an important pickup on Heliopolis went awry. Nothing more, nothing less...

...right?

<Pose Tracker> Eight Orlodhari has posed.

Eight watches Murrue for a long few moments after she finishes talking. She can guess what she might be thinking about; Eight knows full well how thing went for the Archangel... What they lost.

She won't ask Murrue to sacrifice more than she already has.

"Well," she says, "I think that covers what I needed to go over. ...It's really good to see you again, Miss Bernes."

"Thanks." She rises, to shake Murrue's hand again, as she gets ready to go.

<Pose Tracker> Murrue Ramius has posed.

Murrue rises as well, shaking Eight's hand. "Of course Eight...and was good to see you again as well."