"The usual," Rico said with a wink, taking a seat. He never tasted beer before, he only had fine wine with his parents on occasions.
"Coming right up," Katrina said with a grin and cheerfully getting the beer. He felt a bit uncomfortable with Katrina's weird overly cheerful attitude, mostly because he have never seen her like this before.
"Thanks," Rico said smiling, he took the cup and drank a mouthful, pretending he was used to beer. He made the wrong choice, and realized why Katrina was so cheerful...she gave him dish detergent. She knew he had to act chill so she took the opportunity. He swallowed it all in one gulp, he knew he might end up in the infirmary,
"What the hell was that for?!" Rico screamed sub-vocally into his commlink,
"That's for making me wear this outfit,"
"It's not my idea, I told you that already, you are so lucky we are on a mission right now, if we weren't..."
"Oooh...scary..." she said teasingly, "what are you gonna do about it?"
"You better be scared, just wait till we are done..." Rico said, "hey, why would I want to make you wear that uniform? Its not like I haven't seen enough,"
He was talking about their time together in the Tarsonis Naval Academy. Rico knew she had no rebuttal to that comment, it was a conversation-ender.
A marine leaned towards him and whispered into his ear,
"She's a hot one eh?"
Rico smiled out of a sense of pride and said,
"Yeah,"
"Where are you from?" a sergeant asked,
"Tarsonis" Rico said, taking a sip and raised his glass to the group of marines, "the place to be,"
"I been to Tarsonis before, the skyscrapers were amazing, too busy for me though," Katrina said,
"Really? I got used to it though," Rico said, pretending to be surprised. They are good actors after all, if they weren't Royal Executioners, they would be a fine addition to the film industry. Rico took another sip and said smiling, he raised his glass and said,
"Where are you from babe,"
"Korhal IV," she said, while cleaning one of the beer glasses. Bullshit, was the first thing that came to his mind, but he knew that she probably won't tell the truth, he knows that he didn't. She obviously knew he was from Aiur, and he knew that she was from Sakurass.
"Never been there, whats it like?" he said with a grin,
"Its like the countryside compared to Tarsonis, lots of grasslands and forests," she said, leaning on the bar counter,
"Are the girls there all hot or is it just you?" A sailor said with a wink,
Rico laughed, it was genuine, but not at what everyone though. He laughed at the sailor's futile attempt to pick up Katrina. Did he really expect her to fall for that bad a pick up line? He knows that she would give anyone that tries pick up lines the cold shoulder normally. Not this time, this time she chuckled.
"Your new friends are real smart," Katrina said sarcastically into the commlink,
"Smarter then someone I know," he said teasingly, he then said seriously "keep an eye out for waldos, their commander is gonna come up to me soon,"
"I was there for the briefing genius," she said,
"You weren't paying any attention,"
Waldos for the term for any hidden friendlies. They can't talk for every long on their commlinks, or it would look like they are zoning out, he is gonna try a really bad pick up line he invented on the spot, to get the attention of the Triple-R and BHG commanders,
"I'd buy you a drink, if you weren't the bartender,"
She chuckled and then said sub-vocally,
"That was the worst I've ever heard,"
"Yeah, because I'm used to not needing them," Rico replied,
Two refugees walked up to him smiling, one said,
"Hey Jim, hows it going?"
"Good, still drinking? Rico said pretending to know them,
The other said to the marines,
"Hey, I'm Waldo Oscar,"
"Mike Hidan," the other said with a nod,
Those were the codenames, just to make sure he had to ask the security question,
"Hey, how many shots you had tonight?"
"Only five this time," 'Waldo' said,
"Eight," 'Mike' said,
"Only?" Rico said, "Me and Mike ain't hauling your ass back again,"
"I moved to Section 3 B, near the turbolift doors, so it'll be easier this time," 'Waldo' said with a wink, "I'm gonna have 3 more, I only puked 2 times today,"
The conversation went just as they were briefed, the Triple-R commander, 'Waldo' picked the meeting place, and that they will meet in 3 hours and 20 minutes.
"Have fun, and won't pass out,"
Rico then said to Katrina,
"You free tonight?"
"Yeah,"
"I know some pretty cool places in the ship, wanna come?"
"Sure!" she said pretending to be excited,
Rico, pretending to be equally glad, "Awesome, wanna go right now?"
"I'm sorry, my shift ends in 15 minutes," Katrina said,
"I'll cover for you," Leigh-Ann said, coming early, "enjoy the evening,"
"Thanks!" Katrina said joyfully and said, "I'll get changed right away,"
"I'll wait" he said grinning,
He turned and said to the marines,
"Ah-ha! Finally!"
"Lucky bastard," the lieutenant said, and then whispered into his ear, 'hey, can you ask her to set me up with that Leigh-Ann girl?"
"Sure, thing bro, count on me,"
He laughed inside, they didn't know they were Royal Executioners. They never would expect it. Due to the Royal Executioner's reputation, they didn't expect them to be female, let alone beautiful. Hell, even he would have not passed if it wasn't for Luna's make-up skills. He had numerous scars and looked a lot rougher and older. Luna is a genius at disguise.