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[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/ec/e8/62ece85412fc617fbdfffc64281c5f1f.jpg[/img]

[color=lime]INS Roanoke
Hyperspace
Local Time: 1030[/color]

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Aleks shook his head, and held up a hand in Abigail’s direction.

“No. That is a reference to our obligations towards her. Coalition Intelligence are just that - intelligent - and will see this as an anomaly in our usual naming schemes. All they need is a reason to investigate, and they will investigate - their resources available for finding Sunray are effectively limitless, and they will pursue every possible avenue towards that end.”

Aleks nodded.

“There was a man in my SRG section, famous because he had slept with three military police officers, and because he was so bad in bed they fined him. We called him Shitfuck, because he was a shit fuck.”

Seamlessly, he looked up again at the others.

“Shitfuck, or something like it, is an option.” He half-joked.

But then Aleks’ demeanour shifted - instantly and with no regard to his previous sentence, or the humour it was going for - as it so often does.

“Your highness.” He began, stiff and formal, a complete whiplash from his previous sentence that was made only worse by the awkward pause that followed it as he struggled to find a way to word his thoughts without offending the Princess. “I would not ever disrespect you by presuming that you are ignorant of history - I am certain, you are more educated on this subject than me.” Began the preamble.

Aleks paused again, glancing down at the floor, and folding his arms before he looked back up.

“The Coalition have been sworn enemies of the Empire for hundreds of years. Even just this single episode of war, it has gone on for longer than many of us here in this room have even lived, and the relative peace we had before it was truly nothing more than cold war and arms racing. Every family in the Empire has lost somebody to the Coalition.” 

He remembered Jaatikar.

“I’ll just ask. Do you believe with all your heart that there is a realistic chance at lasting peace? Not another cold war, but a real peace?”