- "Understood. I'll talk to my XO and take your advice under consideration. Though, in all fairness, a familiar face can ease the transition to a different role."

As the discussion quiets down Zazan gets to work writing on his data pad between sips and contemplative stares at the ceiling. After a few minutes he sighs. "Writing to next of kin is never something one gets used to."

Oscar shook his head. “Diana and I were talking about that very problem before you joined us. I feel like I should do something more than write a damned letter but I just don’t know what.”

Zazan shakes his head."It is not your place to foster every war orphan, provide for every widow and widower, nor wipe every tear.

You lead your men into harms way and spent lives so ze lives of your comrades and innocents would be spared. We live in service to ze Hegemony, for all of its good and all of its faults. Hegemony is now responsible for ze loss felt by ze kin of ze fallen. And believe me when I say that ze fighting and the dying is best left to ze soldiers, ze sailors, no one else.

Your role now is to provide context. Why and how ze life of a loved one was spent in service to ze Hegemony, its Navy, and its citizens. You are the human voice to an entity.


The other commanders would remember Zazan's service record with the Bothislian Special forces and his counter-terrorism operations before the war with the Brotherhood.

Diana nodded in agreement with Zazan.

- "Agreed. While this may sound incredibly harsh, what else are you going to do, invite them for dinner? Yes, a letter sounds barebones and impersonal, but anything else is going to feel awkward. Not to mention, if you act guilty, people are going to suspect you are guilty, and that's a very bad place to be. Yes, if you had sent someone else your XO would still be alive, but you'd be here struggling with writing a letter either way."

She took a deep breath, leaning forward again.

- "Look, you're not the one that ordered your ship fired on. That cruiser did, and the culprits are in custody. You can't give out details and they know that, but just letting them know the ones responsible have been apprehended is vague enough not to break any rules and would give them a little piece of mind. The Hegemony would issue a press statement sooner or later anyway, there is no way they'd be able to keep this quiet with the amount of unknown ship designs they hauled back to Hegemony space and the sudden interest in Hindi that will follow."

Zazan furrows a brow, "Ze Hegemony can be quite adept at keeping information away from prying eyes when it sets its mind to it.

And if you permit me to be....candid Commander, your words would suggest Captain Hargrave oversaw some workplace accident rather than lost a subordinate in a conflict of sovereignty.

We are leaders who order Men and Women to face death...It would be wise to treat those consequences with respect lest you lose respect yourself."

Diana nodded. She had tried her hand at this 'honey and the stick' method she had heard about, but didn't think it was working out.

- "My apologies. I did not mean to insinuate that the matter should not be treated with respect, merely that Oscar shouldn't blame himself for it. That road leads to hesitation and second-guessing and, though my own experience was onboard an Academy ship, i've found there is little that hurts morale more than an indecisive officer."

Oscar raised a hand in a gesture of easiness. "I understood what you meant, Diana. I guess it is harder for me because I have not seen combat before nor have I trained and prepared myself for combat duty. In addition, I don't think that I expected our first mission to be so intense or critical to the future of the Hegemony. Hell, Arne and I were taking bets on whether it would be pirates or Brotherhood, not some unknown factions that may or may not be related to each other. It gets so muddled in my head. On salvage teams, you work together for years. Rank doesn't really come into play unless something goes wrong and even then you're only disciplined so much unless you try to hide a secret or create one by covering something up."

He hung his head for a minute before inhaling sharply and brushing his hand through his hair. "You're both right. I know you are. It just doesn't make it any damn easier."

Zazan's jaw clenched and unclenched a few times before relaxing.

"No it does not, but perhaps we can talk something that is more breath of fresh air, are either of you providing commendations?"

Diana nodded in response.

- "Yes, two Wounded Hearts for the two injured aboard the Valdar. I... could give out Starwings for participating in the boarding action as well, but i am hesitant, both because my squad saw no living enemy during said boarding action and because i feel it is somewhat gauche to award myself a commendation."

She then turned to Oscar.

- "Before the topic is dropped, i would prefer to say one more thing on it. Oscar, you're planning on going to lead Marines in boarding actions. No matter how well trained and equipped they are, you will lose troops. This is fact, boarding actions are notoriously dangerous for a reason. In other words, you risk writing a lot more of those letters, so please do us a favor and sleep on it for a night, and ask yourself if this is something you really want, or if you're trying to compensate for something. Yes or no, i will accept your decision and not think lesser of you because of it, but i want to make sure."

"I am going to be recommending the Bronze Nova [Bronze Star] for Arty, considering he helped keep the Wartooth in action until his death. I'll let the brass explain to me why they might argue against awarding it to him. He's earned his honors, that's for damn sure," he said before pausing a moment. "I'm going to put in a Naval Achievement Commendation for Scarborough, my Helm. She showed remarkable raw skill in the fight and she deserves recognition for it."

Oscar played with his mustache a few seconds before leaning on the table towards Diana. His tone was quiet but not defensive or offended. "I'm not a Marine. Hell, I am not combat trained. I am going to keep as many of them alive as I can. Not out of some sense of noble duty, but because they deserve to come home. Not all of them will live through the tour, you're right, but the Saints and Secret as my witnesses I will bring every last one of them home. If I have to write more letters then I will be damn sure it is not the only thing their loved ones have to grieve over. I have seen what happens when a suit breaks and a salvager is lost. When you have to tell a distraught love one that there is no body because it is too dangerous to recover or pressure turned it into a meat tin. You can't fight the Void or environments, but you can fight the enemy and that is what I want to do. Because fighting along with the Marines is something that I can do to prevent more death the only way I know."

Zazan tries to keep the emotions from his face, though a conflicted look might be perceived if either captain looked closely enough.

"And we'll make sure to get you home in one piece yourself.

Turning to Hersson,
"I do recommend Starwings for all who suited up and went into ze maw of ze hostile ships including yourself and Captain Hargrave. Such an action must be commended, not diminished or qualified by contact with ze enemy.

I will also recommend a commendation for Gunner Bayali of ze Randver for her single-handed destruction of Draken-1.

Diana thought for a moment, before replying.

- "Hmm... Okay then. I'll recommend my squad for Starwings, though i'm going to ask one of you to recommend me for my own Starwings. Giving medals to myself really doesn't sit well with me. I'd also like to put the crew of the Valdar up for a Meritorious Unit Commendation, for rescuing enemy combatants along with survivors of the Sigfred, providing medical aid without prejudice and fair treatment of POWs, while the ship had 56 people aboard on a maximum crew complement of 20, with 24 of them POWs in holding cells, and 12 in Medical from the Sigfred. Even with careful rationing and the air scrubbers on full blast, life support was running on fumes when reinforcements arrived and i'd like to see that degree of conduct under pressure rewarded."

She looked at the other two captains.

- "Not to mention, we'll also have a lot of Astral Trooper badges from getting the entire crew Exosuit training."

Oscar gave Zazan a nod in thanks and turned to Diana. "I can't say I blame you, but I don't mind putting you in for your wings."

I do hope that at least one of the deck officers in ze squadron will know how to play Chess. This last cruise was quite disappointing. I had worked through all of my remote moves by ze time we spiked into the Ultima Black System.

I am also quite curious as to what the data records showed in ze stations drone.

Secrets....many secrets there.

Diana gave Oscar a nod in thanks before turning to Zazan.

- "Can't really say it's my kind of game either, sorry. I could ask around for you though?"

She took a deep breath, followed by an audible sigh.

- "Indeed. To be fair, i don't know if we'd get sent out to Ultima Black again after this. On one side, us and our crews are 'in the know', but on the other i could just as well see Command decide that encountering not one, but two individual factions allied with each other on the border of Hegemony space, right out of a war with the Brotherhood, may be well above our pay grade. I'd say chances are abut even myself, though Ultima Black is going to get locked down tight either way."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:50, Wed 01 Sept 2021.

"Where else would you send a squadron with first hand experience with a hostile enemy? Back into ze fray iz where I believe we will go. If not Ultima black, it'll be in ze sector.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Sat 04 Sept 2021.

- "Unknowns, not hostiles."

Diana looked at Zazan as she corrected him.

- "Fact of the matter is, we know next to nothing about either faction, to the point of not even speaking the same language. It would make sense for the Hegemony to deescalate the situation until they know what they're dealing with, and the best way to do that is by not waving the people that took out a cruiser and its escorts in their faces. It depends on their foreign policy, and we've brought back a LOT of people to interrogate: Even odds."

Zazan shrugs "I am not a politician or a noble but to me if an unknown ship fires first rather than signal or communicate, it seems like a hostile to me."

“Gunboat diplomacy has worked too often not to be at least considered. Hostile or not, we have proven that we can beat them. We were caught off guard and still were able to come out victorious but at high cost. I have a feeling that the Hegemony will likely go to a shoot first mentality to prevent more subterfuge tactics like the nuke trap.”

"Speaking of nobles, ze whispers in the ducts told me that our patrol has generated quite some attention from ze fairer classes of our lovely gasball.

Pride is also felt for ze prodigal children of Covas Sparka and Thakun, though  ze children should write and visit more."

A raised eyebrow betrays silent mirth through dry delivery.

- "Makes sense. We got an unexpectedly good result for the Hegemony, it's only logical that a number of people are going to flock around and peck at the breadcrumbs. It's a fad -- it'll pass in time."

Diana smirked before hiding it behind a sip of her drink.

- "I will send them a letter though, but later, so i get to sign it with Cmdr. Hersson. I feel i am allowed that luxury."

Oscar revealed a genuine smile at the mention of his home. “Do you think that it means we can get some decent slamball seats that won’t require us to sell a frigate? I could use a crowd and some overpriced food to relax.”

Diana failed to suppress a chuckle at hearing Oscar's comment.

- "Heh, if a crowd and overpriced food is what you were looking for, you wouldn't have had a reason to leave Bothislia."

She thought for a moment.

- "Note to self: When the time and budget would come to allow us to get that Cruiser, reassign some cargo space into a slamball arena and allow the crew to form teams."

Zazan's screen shows a Chess match, possibly with some of the Station's personnel while he chimes in,, "Back in my day, you put on your enviro-suit and played Slamball outside like our ancestors. Our sailors could use some extra EVA training."