[b][i]Martyn/Martin[/i][/b]

"Understood," Martin said in response to Thom's words, "I'll miss you, then."

Yes, just like that. Martin had crossed a line when he had played his hand, and it was best to - ugh! - cut his emotional losses. Besides, it's not as if he didn't 'get' Thom's bitterness, because he did. Either way, as his new Gundam zoomed towards the rendezvous point, he found himself being intercepted by Carrot and two other folks, including the Bosun. The young man sighed and said, "Carrot. You know, I was planning to go through the hard work of trying to get a date with you, acting all like a casanova in order to try and get you to join my plans. But now I see that it would have been disrespectful to you; you're smarter than that and I should have been more direct. So here's a counter-offer."

Martin followed up with, "You and Mick shoot the Bosun and join us, and in return, you two won't have to fight [i]Gundams[/i] and Gjallarhorn at the same time. I don't want a situation where I kill you or Mick and the other survives to swear misguided vengeance on us. And make no mistake, I [i]can[/i] kill either three of you, even in an ordinary Man Rodi; all I need is enough 'push' to do so. So will you try it? Do you two feel lucky?"

Then to the Bosun, "I and the others have endured a lot of petty indignities from you - If I don't kill you first, maybe I'll put [i]you[/i] in a cage. My counter-offer does not extend to you; you have only one chance to surrender and I'm not repeating myself. In fact, I hope you try and get yourself killed..."