Useful Acquaintance

Frankly, there was no need to hurry - we're not flying anywhere right now. The Astral is swarming with enraged Demons. You can't avoid facing them when you're out there. We can hold on as long as our cannons keep them at distance, but if they make it to the deck, we're done for.
As far as I know, you're on a friendly footing with mercenaries? Why don't you ask them to join us? The Empire will pay generously!

What is it you want?

Do you want to hire mercenaries? That we can provide, but here's the thing...
We are used to fighting demons, but only on allods and not in the open Astral on the other side of the world. That requires special qualifications.