Deal With a Devil

Speech

Thought

The meeting was going better than Aeron Kotenai planned.

"If you would each put one of your index fingers on this spot right here, we can formalize the deal. I, Aeron Kotenai shall, to the best of my ability, assist you in both the strategic and technological aspects of your war against the Sirens, and in exchange, you shall provide me with a salary, room and board, access to your engineering facilities, and most importantly, the rights to utilize, transport, and manufacture any new technological development derived from your current technology or Siren resulting from the application of my world's technology, as well as a supply of your current technology that is derived from Siren technology. This can of course be changed at a later date if both parties agree to it beforehand."

Aeron passes the datapad around the table in the meeting room, to the representatives from each faction, Enterprise for the Eagle Union, Queen Elizabeth for the Royal Navy, Nagato for the Sakura Empire, Bismark for the Iron Blood, Richeleu for the Iris Libre, Jean Bart for the Vichya Domain, Vittorio Veneto for the Sardenga Empire, Yat Sen for the Dragon Empery, and Sovetsky Soyuzfor the Northern Parliament. All of them did as he asked, signing the agreement. Aeron was almost surprised how easily he managed to get them to agree to his terms, although him pointing out that the Siren's technological advantage meant they likely were capable of doing far more damage to them than before if they wanted, and the somewhat affordable salary he asked for, with the justification that the technology was the real reward, most certainly helped his case.

"With that out of the way, I hope to build a good relationship with each of you and your nations, so that we can make the most of our cooperation," the man said as he took the datapad back and stood.

"Now, I suppose I should tour this base and see what I have to work with, starting with the dining facilities.", Aeron says, turning to the exit.

Akagi spoke up."Kotenai-san, I can escort you if you wish."

Aeron smiled "Sure thing, lead the way."

While they were walking to the dining hall, Aeron crossed paths with a blonde-haired girl wearing dark clothing and he decided to introduce himself to her. "Hello. I don't believe I have met you yet. I'm the new… Strategic Advisor at this base, you can call me Aeron Kotenai.", he spoke, making eye contact with her and putting out his hand for a handshake.

The girl accepted the handshake and responded with a smile. "Nice to meet you Aeron, I'm the Heavy Cruiser Roon, I hope we will get along well."

Aeron smiled and spoke in his dignified tone. "Now, I shouldn't take up too much more of your time and I wish to try out the food here so I'll be seeing you around."

Roon smiled,turned to walk off, before saying,"You should try the pudding, it's great."

Aeron simply replied "Alright then." as he continued to the dining room with Akagi, who seemed more than happy to get him away from Roon. As they walked he thought to himself, "That girl, I see it in her eyes, she's like me, a cold-blooded killer underneath that mask of politeness, I like her already. As for my guide..."

Interrupting his thoughts, Akagi spoke to Aeron. "That girl, be careful around her, she's dangerous," she advised.

"I am aware of that, I have to be very perceptive in my normal line of work after all," Aeron replied as they continued walking until they reached the Dining Hall.

Once they arrived, Aeron walked towards the line with Akagi, and began to assess what selections they had. He was pleasantly surprised to see items that seemed not too dissimilar to items he was familiar with back home.

As he was considering trying those out to see how similar they were to what he was familiar with, Akagi spoke again "I suggest the fine Sakura cuisine such as okonomiyaki."

"I suppose I will accept your suggestion," Aeron replies, before making it to the counter and ordering an okonomiyaki and a pudding, wanting to try the suggestions he was given.

After getting their food and sitting down at a free table, Aeron made a comment after he started eating his okonomiyaki "The food of the Sakura Empire… I quite enjoy it, I'm glad you recommended it to me."

Akagi replied, "Nothing but the best for you, Kootani-san. If you wish, I can even personally prepare you a fine dish."

Aeron smiles, "You can just call me Aeron, and I think I'll take you up on that offer sometime" As he says this he thinks to himself, "This woman really seems eager to please, well I suppose that isn't a bad thing, I do being respected for my abilities."

Akagi responded, "Well, Aeron, I will be sure to exceed your expectations."

As they continued eating, Aeron noticed some strange glances coming his way from some of the other patrons, but he decided to wait until someone approached him and took a spoonful of his pudding, being pleasantly surprised at the flavor and continuing to eat. Then, while he was thinking about thanking Roon for the suggestion, he was approached by a pink-haired girl who introduced herself, "I haven't seen you around here. I'm Bremerton, a Heavy Cruiser from the Eagle Union, nice to meet you."

Aeron replied with his usual charismatic smile, "I'm Aeron Kootani, the new strategic advisor here, as for where I'm from, well I'm from a place known as New Eden, very far away from here to say the least. I helped against the Sirens during their last attack, even destroyed their command ship."

Bremerton replied, "So I guess you're the captain of that strange vessel that fell from the sky just before they attacked, thanks for your help for that. I guess that also explains the strange clothes too, if you're from some far away place."

Aeron looked at the time with a watch before he said, "You are quite welcome, but it would be more accurate to say I was that "strange vessel" as you put it, thanks to the technology of my world. Put shortly, my mind is interfaced with my ship, which allows me to respond to threats with great speed and efficiency by making that ship effectively become my body. Anyway, I suppose we should be going now, I'll try to talk with you more later on, you seem easy to talk to."

Bremerton replied, "Thanks, I hope we get to have a proper conversation later too."

With that, Aeron left the Dining Hall with Akagi, and they headed to their next destination, the Lab. While they walked, Aeron thought to himself "I wonder if that was enough to really catch their attention if obliterating one of their strike forces didn't completely do the trick. They've got all these surveillance devices for a reason. While I could point them out and destroy them, I think it would be for the best if they thought I was unaware of their presence, This might be even more fun than I thought."

Somewhere in the Mirror seas, unbeknownst to everyone else, Observer Alpha watched from a hidden surveillance device as the capsuleer went on his tour of the base, "What a fascinating specimen. While it is inconvenient, I suppose we must update our parameters for this simulation to account for him. Well, you better be worth all the trouble you're causing us, Aeron Kotenai."