Mao Industries HQ Reception, Cerevis City, the Moon



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Sadb Piloqutinnguaq slumped back into the aging leather sofa with a sigh, D-Con loosely gripped in her hands as music faintly played from the earphones plugged into the device. Even though Cerevis City had been colonised for several decades already, there really was a dearth of radio stations. It would always be the same thing: the news, pop music, reggae, and the oldies. She didn't know how the lunar colonists dealt with it. It wasn't too bad for a while, but having the exact same stuff all the time? She'd go crazy! Did they really like German synth-pop that much?

She wished she was back on Earth. She missed having a sky above her head instead of a stupid dome. She wished she could hold a barbecue without being hit with a violation of public safety. That was just super unfair. The Moon was stupid.

The young woman huffed, ignoring the glances of nearby employees and visitors who were likely wondering why someone like her was monopolising one of the couches. Sadb honestly had the same question. She understood the entire thing about taking notes for the meeting with Mao, but why was she the one who had to stick around and meet up with a team of EFA pilots? It was because her boss wanted to go schmooze with industrialists at a dinner and she was the only other person in the delegation with the necessary clearance, wasn't it? Wasn't that irresponsible of him? Ditching the transfer of important files and filling in of info onto a lower-ranked agent because she didn't have anything else to do that evening? She vowed to herself that she wouldn't be that unprofessional when she was in charge. But if she was to have any chance of getting to the top, she really needed to send in that transfer request. Other branches couldn't possibly be as bad as hers.

Major Yeager seemed like a nice guy ...

Sadb vigorously shook her head. Her right earphone popped out, which she hurriedly grabbed and slid back in.

As cathartic it was to daydream about transferring to another branch and climbing to the top of the agent food chain, she still (unfortunately) had a job to do, and it was nearly time for the pilots to arrive. Mao Industries had graciously allowed them the use of a conference room for the meeting and handover, which was actually pretty convenient for her, given that she'd just been leaving the lunar headquarters before her boss dumped the job on her. It also meant that she had to wait for over an hour in the reception, but no matter how much she wanted to complain (a lot), there was no changing that. At least she didn't need to run all around Cerevis City in search of them or anything. Or make the handover in a Chinese restaurant. There were a lot of Chinese restaurants on the Moon.

She was digressing again.

Sadb sat up, straightening her back as she gathered her thoughts.

First thing: greet the pilots when they entered - brown eyes glanced in the direction of the transparent automatic doors to her left - and lead them to the private conference room. She could do that.

Second thing: hand over the important documents to each member of the squad. All the necessary files were securely stored in the briefcase at her side. She gently patted it to reassure herself of its existence. No problem there.

Third thing: quickly answer any questions that were within her clearance level. Not too confident on that, actually, but she hoped she could sneak off before they got too curious. She was just a messenger.

Maybe she could've been more curious about the Federation's new UTX Team, but it was hard to muster up any enthusiasm for learning more about them when she had access to all their individual profiles. And whatever mission they decided best fit their mandate was something she had faith in them to complete successfully. No need to worry about that.

They seemed like pretty competent folks.

She switched off the radio on her D-Con, eyes facing the door once more.

Just a little longer, and they would be here.

Mao Industries.

It was only the third time that Hazel had actually gotten to come here. First was when she had been offered use of the TT, second had been for its outfitting and pick up, and now for briefing. It was exciting. Not the briefing, the briefing would be very, very boring. But being at Mao HQ was exciting. Not as exciting as when she had gotten to visit (some [limited, under escort]) portions of the facilities, but just being there was exciting. Obviously no one famous would just be hanging around the lobby. But that didn't mean she wasn't looking. Lots of the heroes of the L5 campaign worked here, or at least had their machines built here. She might get lucky. She was pretty sure she might have caught a glimpse of one on her last visit, but it was at a distance and hard to tell.

She was digressing from the point, however.

The brown-haired pilot was one of the first through the doors, one hand in her pocket and the other holding her PDA. Made it easier to chime in if she needed to. Not that there was anything worth saying.

She could spot their contact pretty easily, seeing as she was the one with a briefcase watching the door. The mute settled for tapping one of her compatriots on the shoulder to get their attention before she altered course to head for the couch. For all her excitement internally her outward expression was neutral bordering on disinterested, only mitigated by the way her eyes roamed the lobby. As if looking for something.

Never knew what you might find.

She hefted her PDA, tapped a few keys, and paused with a frown. Then backspaced and re-tapped.

"Miss Sadb," It chirped mechanically, seemingly the mute girl's greeting. She frowned again, a little, as though considering whether or not to 'say' anything more. It was doubtful their contact knew sign language. And she disliked holding extended conversations through the PDA. Still, something seemed appropriate. If she made a friend in Mao, maybe she could visit again... "Have you worked here long?"

@Krayzikk

Mao Industries HQ Reception, Cerevis City, the Moon

Being greeted by a text-to-speech program was a bit disorienting, even if she'd known it would happen beforehand. Sadb couldn't lie about that. People usually either spoke with an actual voice or used sign language. Not via a PDA. Admittedly, her ability to recognise signs wasn't exactly up to scratch, but despite TTS being more for her benefit than the girl's (it would be killer on her fingers to keep typing on that thing for extended periods of time), it was still sort of unnerving. There was no point however, putting herself in a tizzy just because of the manner Hazel Ada Stoll was communicating to her in. She had one job right now, and that was ... correcting the mistaken assumption.

"I'm, um, actually Federation Intelligence," she said sheepishly, rising to her feet and holding out a hand for Hazel to shake. "There ... won't be any Mao Industries staff attending this meeting, sorry."

She had daydreamed of working for Mao Industries once or twice. All their operatives and workers seemed like they were on top of their game, which was more than she could say for the rest of her branch. They were just too lacking in professionalism; if Ring Mao hadn't left the Federation Army for the life of a corporate executive and was instead working in Intelligence, then any branch she found herself in charge of (like hopefully Sadb's in this hypothetical yet impossible scenario) would be brimming with the best agents who weren't irresponsible and prone to sloth. She mentally sighed. It was a nice dream, but her only escape was a transfer request, and it was pretty unlikely that she'd quit to join up with an arms company.

For one, it was on the Moon.

If God was smiling on her, then once this meeting was over and done with, she could head straight back to Earth to breathe in actual air in a place where there was an actual sky. Instead of being stuck in Cerevis City with its lack of stuff to do and general nonexistence of blue things above them.

"Is this the rest of your team?" asked the Intelligence agent, her eyes glancing slightly away from Hazel to look behind the girl at any other Federation pilots who were piling in through the doors.

Adam quite walked down the hallway of the Mao industry HQ from the hangars. It has been a while since he had been here. The Federation Ace had been sent over to the HQ at the beginning of the war away from the frontline for half of the war. He didn't mind too much though he definitely felt that it was quite dull during the times nothing ever happened and he had nothing else to do and at times felt that he rubbed some higher up the wrong way. Though in spite of that fact he did end up developing a fondness of this place even though they didn't allow barbecues.

He took a moment to take out his device in order to look over the map they gave him and the meeting room his unit would be gathering for the new mission. The redhead didn't know what it was about, but being the UTX team it would be rather interesting, well as long as it wasn't another false alarm.

He took a few moments to wave and say hello to the staff that he recognized in his time here. Then went back to navigating the halls until he came to the correct door. The ace took a moment to readjust his clothes before stepping forward with the automatic doors opening with a 'fuuwum' and he stepped into the room.

"Is this the rest of your team?"

The Federation ace heard a woman say to one of his teammates. That must be Sadb Pilo- Sadb. He still could pronounce her last name even in his mind. He grinned at the woman and responded with.

"No we're just the janitors."

Adam said jokingly and with a friendly grin. He causally waved to Hazel, giving a small sup, before turning to Sadb.

"I'm First Lieutenant Adam Summers. Just call me Adam."

The Lieutenant introduced himself like there wasn't a mission that they weren't going to be risking their lives in.

Hazel nodded, with a brief glance over her shoulder.

The moment of silence also concealed a momentary disappointment; she had hoped Sadb worked at Mao. It was replaced, a second later, when she remembered what prominent member of the Aggressors worked in Federation Intelligence. Sadb might not be a ticket to visiting Mao, but perhaps a secondhand source... Something to pursue later, perhaps. If nothing else she needed to acknowledge her error.

"My mistake," Her PDA commented, accompanied by a faintly sheepish shrug of the shoulders. Even if the words weren't coming out of her own mouth, Hazel was nothing if not expressive. "I assumed. Given venue. Apologies. I am Hazel Stoll, though you likely know that. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

@Krayzikk@Shiyonichi

She probably shouldn't have expected a handshake from somebody whose hands were occupied by a PDA. Sadb awkwardly lowered her hand in the ensuing silence, hoping for the girl to speak - well, for some other noise to prompt the conversation in another direction so she could escape the hole that the exchange had collapsed into. It was like quicksand. There was absolutely no way out by herself.

Which was why she mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Hazel started tapping again.

"Likewise, Miss Stoll," she replied, her cheer slightly more than necessary. Even if Hazel was pretty stilted through the mechanical tones of the PDA's TTS program, it was at least a start to further communication. And the arrival of another of the pilots (Adam, if she remembered her files correctly) only helped push that along. "And it's nice to meet you too, Lieutenant Su -um, you're fine with Adam?"

There was a note of hesitation in her voice as she shifted her attentions towards the newcomer.

She wasn't entirely sure if it was proper to be so casual with someone she would be briefing soon. Well, more of a handover, but answering the questions was essentially akin to a briefing, wasn't it?

"Hey that is what I said, do you expect me to court martial you for following my directions?"

Adam walked over and got leaned against the wall. To be honest he kinda expected Sadb to be quite confused at his causal nature, it wasn't very common in the military and he has been reprehend for it a couple of times before, but since it hadn't really caused any huge issues the Ace was more or less allowed to keep it up. Though in his opinion it wasn't as "interesting" as some of the quirks of the other members of the UTX team, but he didn't bring that up with Sadb.

"So, this your first time on the moon?"

Adam tried to make small talk as he waited for other members of the UTX team to come in and start the briefing. He didn't know where the others have gone since he spent quite a bit of time doing a routine checkup on his machine. The Ace had learned the hard way what happens when you don't do a routine checkup, during his newbie days and still had the scars to show for that mistake.

@Shiyonichi

Sadb didn't expect to be court martialed at all, and definitely not by a lieutenant in a completely different branch of the Federation military. But she didn't say anything about that point. All she needed to know was that Adam Summers was a rather casual guy (which hadn't really been put on any of the files), and that it was fine for her to just call him by his given name instead of his rank. Not what she'd expected during a mission handover but she guessed she could get used to being less formal. Did her boss have to deal with this stuff? If he hadn't been so eager to jump onto the Mao Industries gravy train for dinner maybe he could've told her instead of just dumping it. Having the necessary clearance didn't mean she'd done these things before.

At least not for a special EFA task force.

On the bright side of things, Adam would be shorter to say. Not much of a silver lining, but it'd do.

"First time," she replied with a nod, deciding to take up his offer of conversation. Her work was usually carried out back planetside, but she'd been dragged out here originally for the delegation to Mao. And now for the briefing and handover. She wasn't really enjoying being on the Moon though. It was just too different from Earth.

But she wasn't going to say that. A lot of people who worked for Mao were born in Cerevis City, and they were surrounding them. Not good to insult the Moon in the middle of the most Moon place on the Moon.

"It's nice."

Corinne Shourichi came to in the shower.

She had not, as could be expected of a fun-loving, devil-may-care young woman such as herself, gotten here with the assistance of alcohol. Nor had she slept her way into such a primo location to lay her head for the night; after all, had she taken either of these very plausible avenues, there would be a guy or gal here for her to share a hot shower and plenty of morning Eurobeat (it’s good for the soul!) with. No, Corinne had wound up in her present state through cold hard cash and careful geographic planning. This shower, and the lovely little studio apartment that it sat in, was exactly 21.098 kilometers away from the headquarters of Mao Industries, and was owned by a Mao employee who was enrolled in SpaceBnB, meaning he could not turn down Corinne’s money in any good conscience as long as there was nothing demonstratably wrong with her.

And there was nothing demonstratably wrong with her.

Since Corinne had fallen asleep and woken up in this advantageous position, her initial gameplan for the morning was, so far, still capable of being satisfied. Having fallen asleep nude, she rose up and promptly showered, stepping out of the shower in a Spartan manner instead of enjoying the soak of the hot water on her skin as she usually might. When she stepped out after only a few minutes, she promptly grabbed the clothes she’d left on the sink the night before and threw herself into them, saving the metallic mask that she donned for military functions for last.

She saw no reason to wake up the Mao Industries wage slave, preferring to kick open his front door to fire up her leg muscles for the hour ahead. Normally on Earth she would take this chance to breathe in deeply, savoring the crisp morning air of whatever city she happened to be laying over in. Cerevis City was a domed environment; there was no joy in the first breath Corinne took at the front door, nor was she even technically outside. Her mouth set in a hard line. It would have to do. Her morning run schedule could not be interrupted, or she would no longer be fit to even be called human. Her spine and herosim would become primordial soup inside her very flesh! This was proven science!

She was a human being. She was not soup. This was proven science.

With her destination of Mao Industries HQ set firmly in her mind, Corinne began her morning half marathon.

There were those who said that Corinne was a maniac to perform such runs on such a regular basis, and that her heart would surely give out half a century prematurely from the stress. To those people, the glorious Captain Shourichi said:

”SHUT UP, STOLL!”

Those who the masked Captain was passing on the sidewalk turned to look at her incredulously, certain that her determination was aimed at them. This was nonsense. They were worms; worms, worse than soup, for they had never been heroes at all. She was screaming for someone else.

”I WON’T TAKE SHIT FROM A GIRL WHO TALKS THROUGH A ROOMBA! I’M ALIVE! ALIVE! AAAAAAARGH!”

Her determination kept her blood boiling all the way to the vending machines in the Mao Industries break room on the floor of their briefing. Corinne Shourichi, flushed red through exertion and hot blood, and the proud owner of a 1:06:44 half marathon time, burst into the conference room after delivering a fierce kick to the automatic door. Thankfully the glass didn’t break. It was prone to breaking on Earth.

Corinne raised a sports drink in each hand, a gesture which resembled the hunter-gatherers of yore, presenting fresh kills and the promise of food to those who hugged the cradle of civilization in times long forgotten. Hazel Ada Stoll in particular received a defiant thrust of Corinne’s chin, as though the Captain had proved the mute’s doubts unfounded somehow. Her expression only brightened when she saw who she would be receiving the briefing from.

“Sadbear Gynecology!” the Captain exclaimed. “Seeing you alive this morning makes my heart beat even faster!”

Corinne knew the young woman from her days at the academy, but she hadn’t been scheduled to come across the Federation official again until it was time to object at Sadbear’s wedding and carry her off for their own ceremony. Seeing her this early - even before the engagement! - was a genuine pleasure!

“Tell me, what was your time this morning?” she asked expectantly.

And so the Captain arrived.

Subtlety was not in her nature, so of course she arrived noisily. Her defiant jut of the chin was met with arched eyebrows, a stare delivered over the top of her glasses. A second later she slipped them off of her face and folded them up, sticking one arm down her collar so that they remained on the top of her shirt. Despite her relative lack of reaction, she had no doubt as to what the Captain was feeling defiant about. Hazel had, ah, 'voiced' her thoughts on Shourichi's morning run on several occasions. Mostly that she was personally of the opinion that while exercise in the morning was very beneficial, running something that could be measured in terms of fractional marathons was extreme.

To be fair, the words she had used were 'manic in the extreme'. Which she would still argue was correct, not that it had any impact on the Captain's determination. If anything, it seemed to egg her on.

Rather entertaining.

The statement could be used to describe the Captain in general, though. Just to be a little churlish, she spent a moment pretending to ignore Shourichi and returning Adam's earlier wave. It wasn't that high on her priority list, but it would certainly aggravate her superior officer. Exactly as intended. Though Hazel couldn't help the hints of a smile, along with the barely stifled traces of a soft laugh upon hearing what she called their briefing official.

Not that Hazel could pronounce her name, either, but the PDA's TTS could at least get her first name right.

So consumed by her expectation of Sadb's morning run (This will be rich), Corinne did not notice in time that the mute had liberated the drink in her left hand and cracked it open to take a sip herself. Not something, she expected, that the Captain would observe for a few moments more.

Finally, as if to confound the maniac a little more, she signed out a 'hello' rather than using her PDA. At this, Sadb's received a quick wink over the Captain's shoulder.

The briefing might be boring, but Hazel could at least have a little fun.

"Wel-"

Adam was interrupted by the appearance of the captain of the UTX unit one of the people he would say had an interesting quirk, well more like an actual mental disorder and possibly the biggest problem child in the UTX which was saying a lot since they had a pilot who spent 95% of the day drunk. He could respect her piloting skills, but her personality was quite different to his and to be honest brought down quite a bit of trouble. Which made Adam want to raid Anju's entire stash of of alcohol and drink himself to next Tuesday, every time.

The Ace looked at the door and reaffirmed that it wasn't broken, luckily the glass they used was much tougher than what they used on earth and since it was Mao industry it would seem that the inner electronic were as tough as well. Which was good, since last time it happened they needed to write up about 37 written apologies, by they he meant him.

"You know maybe you should save the door kicking for the mission?"

Adam snarked at his captain. The redhead noticed that Hazel was once again messing with her, obviously pushing her buttons by purposely ignoring her and acknowledging the Ace's greeting instead, which was nice as the mute didn't always do that. Which was followed by stealing an energy drink from Corinne.

"Before you ask this is their regular interaction."

Adam said to Sadb, as unlike himself she was new to interacting with the UTX crew or as he liked to call it Unusual Team Xreme. Seriously, sometimes he thought he was in a sitcom. On that note it would seem the informant and their captain knew each other, so she would have a good understanding of what kind of workplace it was. Though he had a feeling that the officer from the intelligence division didn't really want to see her. Adam walked to the side of the room and poured himself a cup of coffee then offered Sadb one as well he had a feeling they both would be needing that.

@Shiyonichi@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra

Mao Industries HQ Reception, Cerevis City, the Moon

"It's Sadb Piloqutinnguaq ..." replied the intelligence operative instinctually, a small ember of hope within her snuffed out by the harsh, cold ravages of reality. "Hi, ah, Captain Shourichi. It's uhm ... nice to see you again?"

She didn't really know what she'd been expecting in the first place. It would've been super unlikely for someone with the behavioural patterns of one Corinne Shourichi, her erstwhile classmate from her academy days, to have changed drastically for the better in the time since their graduation. Except when she saw the woman's name at the head of the team of pilots she was here to hand her briefcase of files over to (Sadb quickly and surreptitiously took a glance at the brown case next to her; it was still there and untouched), she'd naively believed that maybe Shourichi wasn't a weirdo anymore. Well honestly, that was what she'd been hoping for. She'd known all along that it was a seriously long shot. Inside, she knew it was a substanceless wish. It couldn't ever possibly have come true.

So seeing the UTX team leader make a incredibly raucous scene upon entrance into the Mao Industries' reception (she inwardly apologised to her gracious hosts; they didn't deserve to be stuck on Luna with a lunatic ... nor did she, really) was essentially business as usual. Except this wasn't even supposed to be her business in the first place, so if her boss hadn't been so stupidly irresponsible then she could've avoided having to talk to Corinne Shourichi again and serve as a lightning rod for any enmity thrown at Intelligence's way by Mao because they were the ones who asked to use a briefing room to meet up with a Corinne-inclusive UTX.

Was this why the job had been ditched on her? Was it? Was the entire schmoozing with industrialists thing just a facade to escape the megalomaniacal mitts of this horribly exuberant woman?! Had freeing herself from the bindings of Earth's gravity annoyed some anirniq and she'd failed to placate its desire for vengeance? Was a torngak after her instead? Just because she was still one of the lower-ranked agents in the delegation didn't mean she was going to take such things sitting down. Her vow to be far less of an irresponsible leader was coming back to her; when she eventually made it to the top, she was going to be far more merciful to her subordinates, even if God wouldn't be.

Though she was inwardly cursing, Sadb Piloqutinnguaq had made sure to plaster a professional smile on her face (don't let personal feelings in on folks related to the job; first thing she'd learned on her first day on said job) in front of the members of UTX that had arrived. She was going to believe in their suitability for the job, and what she'd gleaned about them from their dossiers reinforced that belief. Despite any doubts about the sanity of their leader, she had utmost faith in their abilities; that should probably have been why the higher-ups had chosen them.

Sure, the first impressions she was getting from their team dynamic wasn't anything she understood, but she would just have to believe in them.

"Ah, thank you," she said after a small start, having been surprised by the coffee that Adam was offering her. She gingerly reached out to take the cup, making sure not to spill anything on herself or anyone or the floor or (especially) on the briefcase. He seemed like a good person.

"There's still um ..." There was a brief moment of hesitation as she searched her memories. "... three more members, right?"

Dammit. She was late again.

Anju had a bit of a history of being late for mission briefings and the like. It was because of her drinking habits, naturally; once she had even one glass, she just wouldn't stop until she either A) ran out of booze, B) passed out, or C) looked at the clock and remembered what she was supposed to be doing. It was a habit people had been trying to get her out of for years. Of course, she wasn't super keen on breaking it, often retorting with "Ahhhh, just let me enjoy my drinks, alright? I'll be fine." or other similar responses.

However, situations like this one just proved that habits such as Anju's were more hindrances than anything. She had to hurry up and get into her day clothes before her ride went off without her. It thankfully hasn't happened yet, but it's better not to tempt fate, as history has shown again and again.

Her driver luckily had the patience to wait for Anju right until she had arrived at the specified meeting spot. Before long, they had reached their destination: Mao Industries. From the looks of things, a good chunk of the other UTX team members had already arrived long before she had. Oh well. Better late than never.

"Sorry I'm late, folks!" Anju announced as she opened the door to the reception room. "I was just having another one of my drinking sessions. As usual." With a smile, the ex-DC looked around to see who from the UTX was already here.

The elephant in the room was, of course, Corrine Shourichi. Corrine and Anju were already on good terms; the two have been drinking buddies since the Divine Wars ended, and they often had bouts of exchanging harmless flirts between the two of them. Needless to say, Shourichi had a lot of fervor and was always entertaining to be around.

Hazel (Anju called her by her middle name, Ada, just to be a bit cute) was quite the character as well. She didn't really speak much herself, but her enthusiastic personality was still plenty apparent thanks to her PDA's TTS device, as well as her body language. That, and, though she would likely never really tell anyone, Anju had a bit of a thing for her. Girls with glasses were a bit of a weakness of hers.

First Lieutenant Adam Summers, on the other hand, was someone she never really found herself overly fond of. She wasn't really sure why; maybe it was because he was so calm and level-headed most of the time? Hard to say, really.

"So, what did I miss?" Anju asked as she took a seat. "I thought I saw a dent on the automatic door on my way in. Shourichi didn't kick it again, did she?"

Niko Hiruko, First Day

@Krayzikk, @Crimmy, @Plank Sinatra
Niko pushed himself off the ground for the three-hundredth repetition. Sweat poured from his forehead and neck. He boasted his typical tired eyes but he felt them dragged down by the physical exertion he had just been met with. He was supposed to leave for the UTX meeting about five minutes ago. He was usually a stickler for being on time, but today he felt as though he was preparing himself to walk off a bridge. He hesitated as he stared at the clock that blinked notifying him that his alarm had long since passed.

Finally, with a short breath of frustration Niko snatched a tank top and a pair of his smart glasses in order to communicate a bit better with everyone else around him. He found that starting off on the right foot in this way made everyone quite a bit calmer working with someone who had a disability like he did.

He grabbed his signature green jacket, the colours nearly as muted as their wearer, and exited his small apartment with haste. It wasn’t far from Mao Industries HQ, in fact it was only a ten minute walk. He wouldn’t arrive quite on time. But Niko didn’t rush around, however. He entered just a few seconds behind someone with hair that could only be described as extravagant. It was an array of colours and looked as if it changed completely depending on the lighting.

Immediately she began an outburst, mentioning not taking shit from a girl who spoke through a Roomba. It was a difficult metaphor to follow – but Niko didn’t try to connect too many dots. After all it was his first time meeting everyone here. Instead, he simply stood beside, but not too close to the girl who had been the victim of said tirade. He nodded casually to her, acknowledging he presence but not really insisting that she do the same for him.

Stoll? Were these his teammates?

As everyone began interacting and his glasses picked up the words being spoken by others he caught Stoll’s hands moving fluidly into a few recognizable positions. He felt immediately giddy, it was as if he had taken the entire weight of the world off of his shoulders. But he refused to immediately break out into joy. He was more professional than that.

However, he couldn’t help his positivity from creeping into his signing. (Hello friend) his fingers danced through the air as he turned to Stoll. He was concerned that the woman with the mesmerizing hair would notice his signing and yell at him for it as she had done Stoll. But, somehow he felt as though they was a kind of history between the two that Niko and her didn’t have yet.

Not that he would mind. While the lenses that were reporting her words were concise and quite clear about what she was saying. His personal judging of her body language, facial expression and other factors told him that she wasn’t mean per se. Rather enigmatic.

@Shiyonichi@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@GarlandDaHero@Write@Asura

Mao Industries HQ Reception -> Briefing Room, Cerevis City, the Moon

"Is that everybody?"

Sadb mentally counted down the number of UTX members present in the reception, sipping away at the coffee Lieutenant Summ - Adam - had given her. There was the ponytail-wearing girl (Anju Shirotsuki, former member of the United Colony Corps) who had plonked down on one of the other couches and the quiet, morose-looking young man that had sidled in with barely a word (he was the newest member of the team, wasn't he?), and when added to the three already present in the room, that made up a total of five members out of six. She craned her head around the group, hoping to catch a glimpse of any more pilots coming through the automatic doors. That was a total bust.

If she remembered the dossier on the UTX Team correctly, the final member was supposed to be a teenaged girl, but of her there was no sign. That wasn't good at all, because it was already nearing ten minutes since the meeting and hand-over was supposed to begin, and it wasn't like she could wait forever for another person to show up. Having five out of the six UTX pilots was good enough, right? She hadn't wanted to sit around in the reception of Mao Industries for over an hour in the first place, and wouldn't have needed to had her bosses not been lazy and irresponsible, so she had little desire to keep waiting for even long. Sadb just wanted to get off the stupid Moon and head back down Earthside where there was actual, breathable air!

And while Mao Industries had been gracious enough to lend them the conference room, she didn't think that their generosity extended all the way to having a group of rowdy EFA soldiers sitting around in their reception and annoying workers and customers. She could feel the judging, irritated gazes of the receptionists from across the room, and for that she mentally apologised. They would be out of their hair soon enough, just give her and UTX just a little more time, please!

But if the final UTX member didn't turn up, then she would just have to expedite the process for both her sake and theirs.

"I think that's enough time," she said with a nod, more for her own benefit than for the others. "Follow me."

Picking up the briefcase lying next to her, and patting it once for good measure (just to make sure, again, that everything was located where it was supposed to be), Sadb quickly waved for the pilots to follow her down into a hallway, her footsteps quickly striding out of the reception (and thus preventing more harm from falling upon the reputation of Federation Intelligence due to the actions of one Captain Shourichi and associates) as they made their way towards a conference room.

It was a pretty quick journey, which the Intelligence operative was incredibly appreciative of, because the quicker they could get everything and the handover done, the happier she would be. She wondered if she was internally complaining too much, especially when there was absolutely no way she could influence the situation to rid itself of everything that bugged her, but she clamped down on that thought. It was at least cathartic, right? It was helping her get through this unfortunate, unwanted job.

Sadb stopped in front of their destination (Conference Room #12), and clicked open the door, gesturing for the pilots to file in. It was a rather simple room, with a simple, rectangular wooden desk (five chairs on each side, and one at the front standing before a projector and whiteboard) and warm, white lights hanging from above. The operative strolled up to the front of the desk, placing down her briefcase with a brief tap and opening it up.

Here was part two of her job: handing over the important mission files.

She carefully removed the manila folders, flicking through them as she waited for everyone to settle down into their seats before she started giving them out. Everything looked fine, and she mentally sighed in relief. No problem there. That was good.

There were three files per person, so she made sure to grab out fifteen folders, tapping them together vertically against the hard wood to make sure they were straight.

"These are the missions that brass suggested the UTX Team could complete," she explained, holding out three files each to every member (starting first with Shourichi). For the pilots further away from her, Sadb leaned over the table to gently push the folders across the table surface (or push several times) to their designated receivers. "Um, there's three that you guys can choose from. I don't think they knew which suited you guys best, but ..."

There was a sheepish tone to her voice. She quickly held a clenched hand to her mouth, coughing lightly. She needed to get back on track.

"Okay um, so," she began again, straightening up. "Have a read of them and pick at your leisure. I'll ah, be around for some quick questions, but I gotta go soon."

If her clearance allowed her to answer the questions, she'd do so. Otherwise, she was really looking forward to getting off the Moon.

Each member had three manila folders, a brief summary of the orders given on the front that would be explained in more depth if they were opened:

SUPPRESSION OF DIVINE CRUSADER REMNANT CELL ON FACTORY SATELLITE
Infiltrate and locate EOTI plans possibly stored; determine connections to former UCC officials; determine links to other DC cells

FEDERATION ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERESTS IN IRELAND
Rendezvous with EFA Irish divisions; investigate relationship between officials and local archaeological dig site; obtain data and records on OoP artefacts from LTR Organisation; establish agreements with LTR Organisation

INVESTIGATION OF CIVILIAN MARTIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS
Determine possibility of EOT use by civilian entities in Martian Sphere; report on civilian spacefarers (colloquial: Trailers); analyse success of Mars colonisation efforts; rendezvous with Federation Intelligence en route to Icarus Base

"Anju isn't it a bit too early to be drinking? Anyway, you only missed us screwing around. That's Sadb, our informant for this mission."

Adam groaned when he heard that Corinne's kick managed to dent the door. That was three more apologies that needed to be written. Just what he needed more desk work. Corrine seemed to have taken the breaking into a building part of training to heart.

"Yeah, yeah she did."

Adam turned the new entry of the room. It was a face he only recognized from a picture he must be the new member of the team. Niko introduced himself with sign language. Luckily for him the basics of training gave him a course in sign language, so he could communicate with others silently when on foot. Adam said back in sign language.

(Sup, I'm Lieutenant Adam Summer. Just call me Adam.)

The red headed Ace took some time to recall how to sigh the next part, he was quite rusty in his sign language.

(That Flashy woman is the leader of this team, oh and leave your sanity next to the door, you won't be needing here.)

One member was missing, but it would seem that both the Mao staff and Sadb was ran out of patience. It would seem the good reputation of the UTX team went down the drain... If they had one in the first place. The Ace took sip from his coffee and got up followed the unfortunate intelligence operative into the conference room. Adam took some time to message the directions to their new meeting place to Makoto over the private military channel. Adam put back his device and sat down on the third seat on the right side of the table.

Adam listened to the suggested missions it was nice of them to give them a choice for once. To him he'd rather do the second or third mission. He rather not risk the lives of the members of his team fighting a force that was hardened by a previous war, especially since their captain was quite hot headed and didn't know when to throw in the towel, which was quite a roadblock to his mission statement of keeping everyone in UTX alive and kicking.

The Ace took a another sip of coffee. He found the fact that the DC remnants still fighting under that flag ironic. They already won in a way, the EFA managed to push the Aerogators back and proven that they could fend off an alien invasion, just like how they wanted. Well it would seem the current DC was just using it as an excuse to fight against the EF, after all most of the members joined forces to fight against the Aerogators even one thirds of the UTX was former members of DC. (Though the irony of fighting with people he probably tried to kill in the past wasn't lost on him.) Adam decided to keep this mind from getting off track and quietly read over the three missions. (Of course if the team decides to go to Ireland he needed to constantly remind Anju, to save the drinking until after the mission.)

@Shiyonichi@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@Write@GarlandDaHero@Asura

---

SUPPRESSION OF DIVINE CRUSADER REMNANT CELL ON FACTORY SATELLITE
A cell consisting of remnant Divine Crusaders and ex-colonial forces have managed to take over a factory satellite that was once utilised by the EOT Inquiry Organisation for research and development. Attempts at peaceful negotiation have not been particularly successful thus far, and further action has stalled due to debates amongst the colonies' transitional government. Intelligence suggests the possibility that members of the current administration still remain sympathetic to the DC cause, and are assisting the remnant cell with regular supply deliveries.

Given the possible value of the data stored in the satellite, the Federation is unwilling to assault the cell lest important information be lost. However, it cannot tolerate the continued DC activity in space, particularly if it is able to influence colonial politics as well as communicate and coordinate with other cells that may be present (even those Earthside). Thus, the UTX Team is to make their way to Elpis to begin and investigation of the remnants. If possible, infiltration of the satellite will be optimal, allowing for retrieval of any stored data for the Federation and to determine if any suspicious communications are being made.

If combat is unavoidable, be aware that the remnants are in possession of a high-performance AM unit.

---

FEDERATION ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERESTS IN IRELAND
An archaeological dig at the Sliabh an Iarainn hosted by the LTR Organisation, known for the recovery and research of Out-of-Place (OoP) Artefacts, has been suddenly halted, with the local Federation officials having taken control of the operation. While specifics are scarce, the UTX Team has been requested to descend into Ireland in order to serve as protection for the site, as well as to obtain and assess data and records on any recovered artefacts currently in possession of the LTR Organisation.

The LTR Organisation, however, is not particularly enthused with the shift in jurisdiction, so hopefully the mandate it shares with UTX can allow for negotiations over the status of the archaeological dig to proceed with less issue. Investigating further on the exact specifics of the case and the motivations behind local officials exerting control would also be optimal. Due to the amount of Federation resources poured into the case, it is important that everything goes as smoothly as possible, and that no opportunistic remnants attack and ruin negotiations.

Local forces are still inexperienced, so if any DC remnant seeks to take control of the site, the bulk of the defence may fall on UTX.

---

INVESTIGATION OF CIVILIAN MARTIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS
Civilian spacefarers and organisations have been continuing colonisation efforts in the Martian Sphere without direct Federation input, thus necessitating regular investigations into whether or not such efforts have been successful. These groups, colloquially known by some as Trailers, are not known to submit to Federation authority, which has weakened considerably further out in space following the loss of the UCC. Establishing contact is necessary to bring them to heel and to maintain order.

Due to rumours of unauthorised EOT usage by the Trailers, the UTX Team has been requested to head out to Mars to both assess colonisation efforts and to determine exactly if the colonists possess alien technology, and if so, to decide upon suitable ways (as laid out by the UTX mandate) to deal with the possibility. In order to reach Mars, the UTX Team has been allowed to link up with the Tin Hau on its mission to deliver potential students to Icarus Academy. They will be leaving the ship halfway through the journey to rendezvous with local Federation operatives and their handlers to obtain a better grasp of the situation on Mars and information on how to deal with unauthorised EOT.

It will be a long-term mission due to time needed for travel.

@Shiyonichi@Krayzikk@Plank Sinatra@Write@GarlandDaHero

EFA Connacht Base, Ireland, Earth

With the majority of the UTX Team having favoured a descent Earthside for their mission, the briefing and handover was completed in record time, allowing for the group of pilots to leave the Moon almost immediately, filing into a Tausendfussler that took them away from Cerevis City and down towards the blue planet that was the home of mankind. Their goal when they landed was to rendezvous with Federation forces in Ireland, and from there serve as protection for the archaeological dig around the Sliabh an Iarainn, a role that while seemingly thankless, was likely necessary to smooth over negotiations with the LTR Organisation on site. The archaeologists had not been particularly happy with the sudden halt of their recovery efforts, especially with the local Irish forces having claimed jurisdiction. It was the hope of officials that the UTX's mandate would allow them to interact more easily with the LTR representatives.

Of course, given the dearth of specifics regarding the mission, there didn't seem to be much for the UTX Team to work off. All that was really known was that the local Federation officials desired greater control over the dig, ostensibly to protect against opportunists would wanted whatever they could nab from an unprotected dig site.

Hence UTX's presence.

"We've landed," said the pilot over the intercom, the Tausendfussler touching down on the landing strip at the Federation base. "I hope y'all enjoyed the flight, and godspeed with the mission."

The EFA base wasn't an amazing sight to behold after having come down from the Moon, with the military buildings, towers and whatnot likely to be incredibly familiar to every member of the UTX Team. There was certainly a uniformity to the EFA's general approach to designing, after all.

However, beyond the reaches of the base were vast swathes of green, golden plains that seemed to stretch out into the horizon. Even when taking into account the effects of Meteor 1 and 2, the Irish countryside had changed very little over the many centuries.

Ireland wasn't much to see, not after the Moon. The base even less, after spending even just a little time at Mao.

And returning to Earth's gravity wasn't fun. It never seemed so heavy until you'd been in space, and then it just seemed unbearable. For a while, anyway. The ride was harder to deal with than the planet. Putting UTX into a single transport was.... Interesting. Corinne was in a confined space without much of anything to do, which was never a recipe for anything good. Adam sighed often enough about it to make her wish she was deaf and not mute, and that was without getting into Anju. The ex-DC pilot was friendly enough, probably over friendly, but... Something about her blood started to heat up again whenever she saw that Guarlion. She'd fought them during the war. Lost colleagues to them. That was a two-way street; the other pilot had probably lost colleagues to her, too. But the Federation didn't start that war. The Crusaders did.

Credit where credit was due, they were on the same side now. It wasn't her place to judge. So she tried her best to be... Well, at least civil back. Admittedly 'friendly' probably wasn't the word.

Niko she had a few brief 'conversations' with, seeing as she was one of the few who would understand him and he her. It was rude not to cultivate a working relationship there. But for the most part she settled into the Tausendfussler win silence, luggage stowed and a tablet on her lap. There was a complete dearth of details on their mission, so reading up wasn't going to help her. So she passed the time watching what she had saved to its memory, the shows that would keep her entertained no matter what.

It was too unpredictable a ride to work on her scale references.

"Do we know where we're going?" Hazel asked through her PDA, yawning as she stepped off of the Taus. "And where we're staying while here?"

Adam always enjoyed going to a new country, even for a mission. It was always interesting to see new cultures and new sights, even if they always had the chance of an invasion. Though sightseeing had to come after the mission.

Adam stepped out of the transport. His legs had fallen asleep somewhere along the way and getting readjusted to the gravity didn't help at all. Luckily they had time to do introductions to the new guy, Niko. Though undoubtedly he was probably having second thoughts about joining. Which he could definitely understand. He rubbed his neck which was getting sore from all the sighing he did at Corrine's antics. While not overly optimistic about potential DC, it had a chance of nothing happening. Of course something would happen it always does. Never a simple day within UTX. What he had to worry about was that the negotiations go finely and hopefully the interesting personas of he team didn't cause problems that they couldn't solve. Adam hearing Hazel's questions about where the team was going to stay and if they knew were they where going answered her question.

"A member of LTR should be picking us up, as for where we are staying, we'll be staying on site near our machines. Though If they really aren't happy to see us we'll have to set up camp ourselves."