The Threat Is There (Open)

[Admiral James Norrington]

James sipped his wine as he looked out to the Citadel and beyond, he was currently on break at the moment while the other EAF forces were circling the Citadel, protecting it from an unsavory characters. However in all honesty James would much rather be out there on the Sentinel, crushing every pirate that came his way, he would show them no mercy and he would certainly show no compassion to those jackals. He growled lightly as he remembered those that got away, although he may be observant enough it did not mean he was infallible and he make mistakes now and again. James put down the wine glass and decided to take a short walk around the Presidium, he would perhaps see the recent reports on piracy and see if there is any place where he can go to curb, if not entirely eliminate, the presence of pirates in that area. The threat was always there...and by God he would protect Citadel with his very life if it meant that.

[Jess]

Fleet Admiral Alexis Jördis had taken leave from her ship for the time being to address the council directly on a pirate location that Guardian 113 and 96 had engaged and were currently engaging. Her report was delivered and she got a number of words in before the Council shut down her attempt to crusade the much more powerful HMS Colossus through open space shooting at anything with a jolly roger on it. Instead they ordered her to stand down and remain guiding fleets to those positions. She never once thought taking the position of Fleet Admiral would take her directly out of the action, but then again she figured she'd have her day again soon.

Alexis took to the next best thing she could do while on the citadel, she watched the stars from a public railing with coffee in her hand. She was wearing the uniform she made based off the EAF uniform and was currently wearing her cover despite the Citadel being a space station it was still technically a 'out doors' area. She was rather baffled by the rumors currently, that the pirates in space could be Avum remnants despite being completely annihilated by Guardian 96 several years before, "Fucking pirates," she said staring out the window, several people around and behind her gave her a dirty look, she didn't care, they'd thank her one day anyways.

[Admiral James Norrington]

James continued to walk around the place contemplating on where to go next, being an Admiral he couldn't stray far from the Citadel in case he was needed on an urgent mission. If he had been a commander than perhaps he would have been able to go all over the place and take out those filthy pirates, but alas his skill in both tactics and combat made him a prime example of what the EAF needed and therefore he had been promoted to Admiral. It is not to say he was ungrateful, on the contrary he was honoured that he had been chosen as an Admiral, but he just wished that he had a little bit more leeway on what he could and couldn't do. While he was walking her heard someone cuss and turned to see Fleet Admiral Jordis, he was surprised that there was someone else who reacted strongly against the pirates, he had not talked to the Fleet Admiral that often and she was only present during his promotoin ceremony. But he thought that perhaps it was a good time to make an acquaintence out of her as he approached her with a cordial smile, "Good evening Fleet Admiral, a nice day for an evening walk isn't it?" he remarked.

[Jess]

"Depends on the reason you're walking I'd suppose, not exactly a good time for me though," she said looking over to him remaining leaned against the railing. Her left eye was trained on his gaze, "Council wont authorize a fleet movement to take out what's potentially left of the Avum." She sighed and took a drink of her coffee which had gone cold from her just standing there for a long while. She finally stood up to her full height at 5'9 and tossed the cold cup of coffee in the trash. She looked back to Norrington, "What's got you grounded?" her brow quirked up with her question.

[Admiral James Norrington]

James tutted when he heard of why the Fleet Admiral was in a bad mood, he could certainly understand her frustration as he dealt with it as well, "I don't know why those councilman don't want to authorise a war against those jackals. Don't they realise that while they are still out there innocent merchants are being harassed and killed, which in turn is bad for business here in the Citadel! I have requested numerous permission to enegage them and all I get is the beuracratic ring around, it is vexing!" James snarled before realising who he was talking to as he quickly cleared his throat, "pardon my outburst that was a little bit inappropriate; as to why I have been grounded? The EAF thought it would be a good idea to let me have a 'break' after I hanged the last pirate crew."

[Jess]

"You're fine, at ease, no need to apologize," she said waving him off completely, "The EAF brass seems to think it best to treat the pirates with respect as if they were any other citizen or persons. What the EAF chain of command doesn't seem to understand is that the pirate crews rape and chain innocent people to their ship as display ornaments. It's insulting and they promoted me for my good job at destroying fleets of them, but the moment you torture one or execute one is the moment they flip their shit."

The Fleet Admiral crossed her arms and turned leaning against the railing, "It's all going to change soon once the TITAN is finished and Bekkit has command of it."

[Admiral James Norrington]

Finally a kindered spirit. Someone who believes in getting rid of them instead of 'respecting them' and showing them 'mercy'. Mercy? To those jackals? The only mercy he will ever give is to a decent human being as he nodded in agreement, "You should have heard the yelling that was going down when they discovered I had been hanging them, they made it sound like I just hanged an ambassador! The respect they show these animals is apalling! There are other people who we can respect, but not them...no...I won't show them any spit of respect."

He had heard about the latest project and he did not know the man he hoped he would show them no mercy, "I would have been glad to be part of that ship, but I have not heard of this Bekkit character...what kind of man is he?" James asked.

[Jess]

"You haven't heard of Grand Admiral Joseph Bekkit? He leads the Citadel fleets, I mean, I know he just got promoted to the position after Alessa stepped down and retired, but the Grand Admiral is known for some of the bloodiest battles in space history," she leaned forward slightly, "He's the whole reason the entire Avum fleet was destroyed, even though the Biggusurī get the credit of finishing them off. He's also the one who stomped their prison break into the ground by shooting the ships engines and making it easy for the Guardians to take charge. Granted they were a bit late," she tilted her head to the right where her eye was missing and then moved her left prosthetic cyborg arm.

[Admiral James Norrington]

Ah yes...he had heard about the man, stories of him, and he had always appreciated that he took a hard stand against the pirates. If it was a man like him then he could appreciate why the new ship would soon be under his command as he nodded approvingly, "Of course I heard stories of him, than I believe the pirate threats would soon be stopped as soon as he takes command. Someone has to take a stand against them and if it's not us then Bekkit would be our last hope, for all merchants and innocent ships alike," James remarked.

[Jess]

A small smile came to the Germans face a rare moment in history when that happened. She wanted to believe those words were true but she understood that even the Grand Admiral was stuck under the jurisdiction of the Council even if he was above the EAF brass council. The one thing she was grateful for was those above the council's code of conduct.

"Currently Guardian 96, one of the Biggusurī is assaulting a pirate fleet on his own in his Swordfish I fighter. Got to hear some of the radio broadcast he sent in when I was addressing the council, he's downed a third of their fleet and has infiltrated their capital ship. It's only a matter of time before that route is clear of pirates again for a while.

"The new addition to council space assaulted the same fleet with Guardian 113 a couple days before this incident. Best part about the Guardians is that the EAF and Council can't touch them for anything they do in the name of the Guardian code."

[Admiral James Norrington]

Ah yes...the Guardians, they were the crux of the Citadel forces, the best of the best. However he knew that the Guardians were few in numbers and they could not cover all of the trade regions all the time. They had their other duties to attend to, it was truly a shame that the Citadel councils were so narrow minded, but that is how it is and therefore he would have to work with it. "I envy the Guardians...they are able to do things that we EAF officers cannot do...unrestricted access and unrestricted duties, if there were more of them then the pirates would be wiped off the face of the galaxy. But alas we both know that even if one route is cleared it won't be long before it is infested with pirates again and the same cycle continues..." James said with a sigh.

[Jess]

"That's just how things work unfortunately," she sighed, "at least people will get the all good on the route and be able to travel it for a while before it gets dangerous again. Besides, the pirates never try to occupy the beacon route, that's pretty shocking honestly. Rumor is that their Avum remnants which is even more shocking since Guardian 96, 92, and 81 took their entire fleet out and main base and then Bekkit and Guardian 102 took out the Avum leadership in prison. Just means these guys are pretenders."

[Admiral James Norrington]

"There are jackals out there that would do anything to gain some money, whether or not they are pretenders they are still pirates and as such I will show them the same mercy I show to other pirates. None at all," James said looking to the sky, "it is our duty to protect the Citadel and to protect the innocence...how we do it is the question we must ask...even if it means destroying an entire fleet."

[Jess]

"If I had it my way, I'd take the most powerful ship we currently have into the next pirate scuttle and show them the might of the Citadel with a single shot of the Galaxy Cannon just to make sure they know we're here, but the council doesn't want to move the main fleet ship in case we get attacked," she frowned, "like the Citadel is going to get attacked with those Telikos platforms looming out there around the Citadel, everyone knows what those things can do."

[Admiral James Norrington]

"Well this is the result of beuracracy that are only focused on 'protecting' the Citadel and showing their might to the various alien nations instead of actually taking care of the common people. Although I may come from a prestigious family and I do know the 'nobility' so to speak it is my personal opinion that we have a duty to the common people. To protect them and to make sure that the trade routes are secure, without a strong economy any nation will fall...that should be common sense and yet those fools at the council refuse to see that!" James hissed in anger his eyes flashing. "It is as you said, if we showed them the might of the Citadel and wipe them out of the galaxy then wouldn't that be better? We wouldn't need to waste more resources on a constant war with them and we can actually get some commerce around here for once."