Both Ways (20181228)

CH38

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Nasaug was idly lounging in his suite when he heard a knock on the door, a rather unusual event in these last days of travel. Nasaug hated that. He had found himself more and more restless in the anticipation of the conflict to come, yet was unable to plan for or prepare anything due to his lack of knowledge in regards to what really happening in Canea. As the visitor knocked again, he resolved to get up from his chair and proceed to the door to find out who was calling. "I'm coming!" Nasaug replied as he strode over to the door. He opened it to find the figure of Colonel Mach waiting on the other side.

"Hello again, Warmaster." Mach greeted.

"Colonel." Nasaug replied. "What brings you here?"

"You want to sit in on a briefing about what we'll be doing tomorrow?" Mach asked in turn.

"Absolutely!" Nasaug immediately accepted.

"Alright, let's go, then." Mach said as Nasaug left his suite and closed the door behind him, and the two set out.

"So, when will we arrive tomorrow, anyway?" Nasaug asked as they walked.

"Very early in the morning." Mach replied. "We will probably anchor off the coast and wait until sunrise before making landfall."

"Why not go ashore once we arrive? I thought time was important." Nasaug asked.

"I know the Commander well. It's because the sun will be behind us." Mach answered.

"That does not make much sense to me." Nasaug admitted.

"Don't worry, that will all be explained in the briefing." Mach led him through an unfamiliar part of the ship, leading to a set of double doors. As they entered, Nasaug found himself in a large auditorium style room, with many rows of seats facing a central stage. On that stage was a single podium, and behind it a large projection screen. The room was mostly full of AAF officers standing about and talking to each other, but Mach and Nasaug quickly found a seat closer to the front of the rows. As they waited for the briefing to start, Nasaug heard the unmistakable voice of Captain Salazar approaching.

"There you are, Colonel!" He called out, walking straight past Nasaug to speak to Mach.

"Well hello, Captain!" Mach replied. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, I just had a little chat with the Alerans." Salazar laughed. "You should have seen them, bored out of their minds! They were trying to watch the news!" Salazar sat down next to Mach, opposite of Nasaug.

"Is that so?" Mach said. "You should have invited them here."

"Nah, fuck those guys." Salazar replied. "There's something off about them, both of the them. Apparently, they've been snooping around and spilling OPSEC secrets all over the damn ship. I wouldn't trust them one bit."

"So much for your repoire." Mach commented.

"Yeah, it's a shame." Salazar agreed. "And I really thought we would be cool, me and Scipio." He sighed. "Guess not."

"Maybe we should see if the Commander would be alright with handling them, if they are being conspicuous." Mach mused.

"That's a good idea. You see, I've already tried on my own at his direction, but it didn't go anywhere. Maybe raising the aggressiveness will yield results."

"I suppose only time will tell." Mach mused.

"Standby!" A soldier called from across the room. All at once, every AAF soldier stood up at attention as General Powersk took the podium, leaving Nasaug awkwardly sitting.