"Herr Admiral, one of your guests has arrived." "Bring him up, Badstuber." Gunter closed the intercom.
Located on the highest floor in the Military headquarters of Stuttgart, Gunter Kunrad walked from his desk towards the window. The view showed other tall skyscrapers close to the one he inhabited. Further away- to his shagrin were the forever going farm fields, ran by Synth Foods. He vowed to one day evict the Liberty corporation once and for all, but all due in time. Heavy taxations, Gallic food imports and his secret collaboration with the Landwirtrechtbewegung hurted his nemesis, but not enough for Synth to pull out yet.
He snapped out of his thoughts and walked towards the door to welcome the first of his 2 guests.
The office itself was of a traditional, Rheinlandish style. Brutalist yet with a luxurious flair. Going through the entrance, one could see the lounge table and seats with a view outside through the wide window on it's right. Perfect to create a relaxed athmosphere during meetings.
At the end of the room, passing the lounge area, Gunter's desk was simple compared to the rest of the room, but it's sturdy, granite material also gave off a flair of authority, fitting to his rank. On top of the desk wasn't too much special: A portable hologram, a small lamp and a picture of his family on Holstein. The wall behind his desk displayed some medals, pictures with old military comrades throughout his career and a large, steel pitchfork that felt out of place, yet reminded him of his farmer's past.
The door opened with Adjudant Badstuber entering, followed by another man. "Your first guest, Admiral."
A blinding flash and the Lyra Dromedary class freighter jumped into the Stuttgart system from the Omega 7 system. Christian reached his hand to the overhead panel and pressed a few buttons to activate the autopilot, arrival points appeared on the panel and he selected the planet Stuttgart. He took his hands off the controls and unbuckled his harness, he still had a couple hours to spare to change and gather his thoughts for the meeting.
Though it wasn't a long journey, the flagship Hyperion had jumped into Omega 7, but the journey from the remote sector of the system to the jump gate was extremely dangerous given the number of pirates, but any additional escort could attract even more unnecessary attention.
As the ship neared the planet, Christian had already donned a more appropriate suit for formal meetings, and was in high spirits - one of the Phoenix's pressing problems was about to be solved soon, which would strengthen the group's position in such a volatile place as the remote part of the Omicrons. As they approached the planet, Christian glanced out the window, just at that moment the truck crossed the dense layer of clouds and one of the largest cities of the planet, Stuttgart - his destination - appeared in front of him a dozen kilometers below.
The ship tilted slightly backwards, the engines shrieked nervously and went deafeningly silent, the autopilot shut down all systems, Christian unbuckled himself from his seat and opened the cargo bay, descending he went directly to the arrivals hall. Walking leisurely to the building, he activated his comm interface and found the address of the Rheinland Military headquarters.
Entering the building he directly approached the reception desk and said "Good afternoon, I had an appointment with Mr. Kunrad". The assistant nodded and said “Mr. Kunrad is waiting for you. Please proceed to the elevators and press the top floor, continue down the hall to the left." Christian nodded politely and made his way to the elevator car, pressed the button and the doors closed. He felt the ground start to go out from under his feet - the high-speed elevator was already stopping at the last floor. Stepping out of the cab, he followed through the corridor where an adjutant was already waiting for him "Mr. Burton, I presume? Follow me." Christian nodded politely and they walked together to the end of the corridor, where Gunter Konrad already met them.
Christian smiled and took a few steps more to greet him "Mr. Kunrad, it's nice to meet you." he extended his hand for a handshake and looked around the room "I guess Daumann representative is not here yet?"
Kunrad answered with a firm handshake himself. "Wilkommen, Herr Burton! By all means, call me Gunter. I hope you had a comfortable journey towards Stuttgart?" Gunter smiled. While his face always seemed a bit cold to the outside, he was genuinly happy to do business with likeminded individuals. He was hoping this could be a fruitful conversation for all 3 the parties. While he got to know Christian already a bit from their previous communication, he was not known with the representative of Daumann, and Gunter didn't like to be unprepared.
He gestured to take a seat at the lounge area near the window and talked a bit about the planet itself. "...While it lacks the weather of Baden Baden and "some" of it's occupants,-" A near unnoticable tone that felt like annoyance could be heard during that short moment while his eyes passed the far way farm fields. "-Stuttgart has still plenty to offer for tourists. Did you visit Rheinland yourself often, Herr Burton?"
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