With no further questions forthcoming, Blade excused himself and headed for the hangar. He had no need to change his own armaments, his [i]Harlock's[/i] regular weapons fit was more than enough for the tasks at hand, being a mix of anti-armour and mid-range firepower. 
Making his way down the stairs and ladders of the Landcruisers' interior, he stepped out into the hangar. The smell of metal, oils and other industrial chemicals was overpowering as always, and he wrinkled his nose at it as he swiftly crossed the metal floor to the GEAR stalls. The maintenance crews were securing the last of their tools, and making the changes to the squad's loadouts as requested, and he exchanged a few quick words with the crew chief, before climbing up the external handholds on his GEAR and swinging himself into the cockpit. 
Like most GEARs, the cockpit was snug with little free space. He didn't strap in just yet, as there was still time enough before the mission start. Instead, he powered on the internal electrical systems and ran through the GEARs pre-launch checklist. Since it'd been a few days since he'd last been aboard the machine, it was a worthwhile task to check everything. Of course, given the attention the tech crew paid to things, he didn't expect any problems and was relieved, after the ten minutes he spent working through the list, to find nothing out of order, and several minor issues also taken care of. 
Leaning back in the pilots' seat, the vulpine took a few gulps of water from a bottle, and wolfed down a couple of chocolate bars. Tossing the empty bottle down to the crew, he checked his watch and nodded. The others ought to be there shortly, so now was as good a time as any. Buckling his helmet on, he fastened his seat straps with the help of a crewman and then motored the cockpit hatch closed. Initiating the full power-on sequence, he tapped the holographic controls and disconnected the [I]Harlock[/i] from external power. Instruments came to life, and an exterior view swum into life in front of him on the inside cover of the hatch, readouts and the HUD coming to life on his helmet visor and around him in his line of sight. The hum of the UHD batteries energising the artificial muscle-system of the GEAR became a background note, and the bay crew directed him out of the stall, and he gave a thumbs-up with the GEARs hand as he followed the directions toward the front of the bay, where he waited for the others close to the front of the bay.