Gone Fishing [Mission: Balendin and Brianna]

[balendin]

The Lux Vice President and his Dragonite stood on the deck of the super-dreadnaught class battleship known as the LNS Indigo. This ship had been the first one of its class commissioned into the Lux Navy. The old sentinel had went through a lot of hassle to convince those greedy bureaucrats to dish out the money to build it. At the time, many in Lux were content to let murderers and scoundrels to handle Lux affairs at sea. Fortunately, Blaine had finally been convinced to cut ties with those no good pirates and bring the justice they deserved down on their heads. The LNS Indigo was the flagship of a small fleet of naval vessels assigned to the task of wiping out any pirate vessels they caught coming to and going from the Sevii Islands. It was a large area to cover and the fleet was far to small to stop them all, but still quite a few pirate vessels had been sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Balendin had tried to get an aircraft carrier assigned to the fleet, such as the LNS Thalia de Luca III, but none could be spared.

Although it may not be appropriate for a Vice President to do, Balendin would take part in a mission to clear out one of the islands. He would head to Knot Island and do what he could to drive the pirates there out. The long time sentinel had sent a message to Sentinel HQ to have someone sent to join him in this operation. Balendin did not know who might be left to spare since the more experienced Sentinels no doubt all were out on the overload of missions that flooded the Sentinel office. Chances were that he would get some greenhorn. That would do though. It was the duty of the veterans to past on what they could to the newer sentinels. Even though Balendin did not make much of a teacher or mentor, he still might be able to aid in the growth of the younger generations.

The Lux founder would continue to wait. Surely his 'partner' on this mission would show up soon.

[Brianna]

Sadly, Balendin didn't even get a greenhorn. He got a trainee, albeit one who had been working hard for over a year to finally catch Lux's eye. From Slateport to Cinnabar to Ever Grande, she had been on bad mission after bad mission. Today, she decided, was the day her luck was changing.

She arrived at the deck of the Indigo, saluting Balendin as she arrived. "Brianna Taccardi reporting for duty, sir," she answered, a determined look on her face. This was her big moment. A mission with the head of the Sentinels and the Vice President of Lux himself. If there was any chance of her making a big splash in Lux, this was it. And if she messed up here . . . forget it. That would be the end of her career for good.

"How shall we be handling this mission? The direct approach, or something with a bit more . . . subterfuge?" The girl barely revealed a smirk. With a Dragonair and a Tentacruel at her command, Brianna was a master at underwater combat. All she would need is a proper distraction to kick up her own little underwater addition to the blockage . . . and clearance from the bossman, of course. If she ran off on her own and messed up this opportunity, she'd never hear the end of it.

[balendin]

The old sentinel eyed up the arrival. He had not met this one in person before and did not recall seeing her on the roster, but he had become slightly detached from the sentinels in more recent times. The added responsibilities of Vice President mixed with his already constantly busy schedule had taken its toll somewhat. He would need to have his people send him a detailed dossier on this one for him to review.

"Those lazy good for nothing bureaucrats would no doubt want us to use more cunning means. They become distressed at the very idea of killing their precious pirates. Some of them cannot accept the fact that they have to stop relying on cheap murderers for sea power and instead cut their pay checks a bit in order to fund the glorious Lux navy. No doubt they are fuming at the actions the Lux navy has already taken. It would probably be their desire that we try to get this operation to seem like it came from Nox somehow."

Balendin turned away staring across the water towards Knot Island before turning around again to face the other sentinel.

"I do not give two shits about what they want. We will drive the pirates from that island by whatever means necessary and I would gladly openly do it in the name of glorious Lux. Of course, I am not worried about by career. You may wish to move with more caution to protect your own interests. I will let you take the lead on this one. We will handle things as you see fit."

[Brianna]

What. Brianna was in charge, and the goddamn head of the Sentinels was the one who declared it so. The girl blinked twice, figuring she had to be dreaming, before she realized that this was indeed reality.

If that was the case, then she would be the best squad leader Lux could ever ask for. Her unsure posture shifted to one of command, and the look in her eyes hardened.

"Alright, if that's the case I think I've got a plan.

We don't show them our whole fleet right away. If we show them our whole hand, they'll take out theirs as well. No . . . if we're going to rout them, its gonna have to be on our terms. I say we scatter the fleet to surround the island from a distance, call a meeting with the head of the island and his cronies, and order them to get out. If they comply, we're good. If not . . . that's what the rest of our fleet is for. We crush them beneath our heel in a show of overwhelming force. If the loss of their leader doesn't convince them to get off of our island, taking down the rest of them should do the trick well enough."

[balendin]

Balendin nodded. Somewhat underhanded, but scum like these did not deserve any better.

"I will speak to the commanding officer of this fleet. Although Sentinels have the authority to take command of military units as they see fit, many military officers resent it. It is best to make a request than to start by straight out ordering them to do things. Knowing this commander from experience, he is more likely to approve a request from me than some Sentinel he has never seen before. I do not know how you plan on getting into contact with the leader on the island, but I am certain you can handle it. I shall follow along shortly."