"Hm?"

Ayane pivoted, tearing her gaze away from the Walkers and searching for the speaker. It took a moment to find her; the cheerful young woman seemed to be with the one dangling sandals above her head. Looking for a shop to get one from, maybe? That seemed unlikely. Horizon had a large enough garrison that such garments were probably easily identified as being of military issue, in some form or another. Perhaps a servicewoman herself, then. Still, she seemed a friendly sort. Energetic in the way she held herself, an unmistakable sign of emotional buoyancy. Still, no matter what it would do no harm to answer her question. She turned her shoulder a little to better show the emblem to the balcony, pointing at it with one finger.

"Federation Far East Brigade," She began, endeavoring to keep her accent out of the words. She hadn't conversed entirely in English in a couple years. Still fluent, of course, but her pronunciation was a little rusty. "Out of Tokyo. My previous posting. Inoue Ayane, ma'am. You are...?"



"Yankee? God, no. Ich bin aus Deutschland." Ben may have laid on the accent a little thick, but it wasn't often he indulged in his native tongue around others. Especially not for such an entertaining purpose. He shook Hassan's hand cheerfully, half the fun of having the old man about was using his last name. He was a good-natured sort, he took it in stride. The other woman still didn't seem familiar. The uniform she wore wasn't quite standard, but it did identify her as a Captain. Not that he cared overmuch. The other old man was the only one that got much deference due to rank. "I tell you, Hassan, it's a crime. Kebabs would go over great."

"That," He began, looking the same way as the other Captain. "Is a Chinese Walker. Jiangnan Arsenal, I think. No disrespect, Ms. Winston, but we know plenty about 'em. I'd heard we had one on base, hadn't gotten to take a look. Under the hood they're pretty much the same as what I'm used to, it's the gear that's different. I could pull up specs on most of 'em, but I don't want to get any screens greasy."

"Pilot's real good. Looks like maybe a parade-spec unit? Close combat, for sure, don't see anything except the vulcans. Whatcha think, Hassan, those hands look like melee weapons to you?"

@Norik@Caasicam@Krayzikk



Ah, so she was military. The question would have worked equally well if Ayane had been a civilian. Just one person admiring the fashion of another. The reveal of their shared service was certainly nicer than finding out someone was selling knockoff pilot jackets though. And Tokyo fit with her features and the faint accent accompanying her words.

"Beryl Harken, Test Team 4, Horizon Research and Development." She replied with a smile at Ayane and a raised eyebrow at Nova. "Would you like to come up and join us? Looking up like that is just asking for a crick in the neck."

The Japanese pilot tilted her head, just a few degrees, to regard the trio above her.

"Sure," Ayane answered, after considering a moment. More likely than not these three would have a better idea of where she could find White, and the balcony seemed like a better place to watch the parade from than the street level. She didn't especially feel like going to find the stairs, though; she hadn't technically been invited by the owner of the establishment, at least she suspected not, and getting past the door with her duffel might raise a few eyebrows from the other occupants. Better, then, to raise the eyebrows on the street where there were other spectacles to watch. "One moment."

Ayane let go of the end of her duffel, and instead swung the strap over her head so its weight was borne across her shoulders and freed up her hands. The balcony was only a story up, and clearly robust enough to support a person thanks to the sandal-wearing-one. She planted a foot on the low concrete ledge that indicated the edge of the property, taking care not to step in the planter set into it, and stepped the other up; the Japanese girl wasn't exactly tall, but the bottom of the balcony was aaalmost within reach. A few seconds to gauge the distance, confirm her estimates, and she sunk halfway into a crouch. Leg muscles coiled, and released. Little lower than she would have liked, considering the duffel, but it was enough for her hands to catch around two of the railing's bars. Bars that, thankfully, did not give out under her weight. Another on target guess.

The easy part was pulling herself up enough to plant a foot on the balcony's edge, and use it to push herself level with the others. She swung the other leg over the railing, taking care not to accidentally kick anyone, and stepped onto the balcony proper. A faint smile played at the edges of her mouth, and after a breath she inclined her waist a few degrees in greeting.

"Lieutenant Inoue Ayane, formally. On leave for the moment. Good to make your acquaintance, Ms. Harken."

Liam gave a satisfied nod gestured for the door. "Good, then lets head out," he said as he walked to the door. Hopefully having the Sargent around would be enjoyable.

@UltimoScorp

"Leutnant Benjamin Armbruster." The engineer's eyes flicked briefly back to the woman, now identified as Captain Steinbach. Ben smiled and nodded to her, then inclined his head towards Hassan. "But I'll stick to English, for the old man's sake. Good to meet you, too."

"The swords, for sure, but I think those fists are reinforced." The German cocked his head, pointing towards the Chinese Walker's hands. "Don't look like any manipulators I've seen. Not sure what the function could be, except reinforcement. Maybe I can take a look when it goes back to its bay, if I ask nicely. Or if I'm sneaky enough."

"Speaking of, how's the Jinn checking out, Hassan?"

@Norik@Caasicam@Krayzikk@Selvariabell



A peal of bell like laughter rang out from the tall dark haired woman ans she stepped back to give Inoue room. Her eyes shone as she returned the bow with a dip of her head.

"And yours Lieutenant Ayane. Welcome to Horizon."

She sighed and followed him Liam out.

"I'm gonna regret this."



It was a little while later that Ruby found herself along the parade route. It was nice, being a part of the crowd. Today, she was just another person here to celebrate and watch the show.

@Raider Dog

"Definitely close combat. Interesting choice, but it can work. I'll have to try and ask the pilot about it." The German mused out loud, nodding his head in assent. Watching the machine's fluid motions was fascinating, seeing a Warrior move with a precision and grace sorely lacking in the motions of most Walkers. It didn't speak, necessarily, to a better machine; just a skilled pilot. That was something technology could only compensate for so far. "Maybe a sim battle, sometime. I'm quite curious."

"That's excellent," Ben added to Hassan, with a bit of a sheepish grin. He'd gotten caught up in his own thoughts and almost forgotten he was talking to people. "I'd offer to help, but if he's good to go there's no need. I've spent most of the morning tracking down a power issue on my Vernichten, anyway. You get custom wiring, you get custom faults. Boat loads of fun."



"No, not generally." Ayane admitted, glancing back at the railing with a note akin to sheepishness creeping into her voice. "I didn't want to try and navigate the party to get here. A little excessive, perhaps. These are just the essentials, Ms. Marcus. Most of my belongings are being shipped, along with my Walker. This bag merely contains the things I don't trust shipping services with."

"Thank you for the welcome, Ms. Harken." The newcomer's rude arrival did not receive a similar greeting, instead met with a faint frown curling the corners of the Japanese pilot's mouth downwards. Such interruption would have been rude anywhere, but where she was from such a thing was especially intolerable. So after a moment's consideration, she elected not to acknowledge it. She gave the other pilots a polite nod, and tilted her head slightly. "I don't suppose any of you would be acquainted with a Ms. White, would you?"

---

---

"Ha, I hear ya," Nova grinned at the not-too-complete trust in luggage handling. Losing personal effects somewhere between Horizon and the other side of the world, or in her own personal case; the moon, was not something she was keen on tempting fate with.

"I don't suppose any of you would be acquainted with a Ms. White, would you?"

"Uh, don't think so..." She replied, her cheery expression taking on a thoughtful frown as she considered for a moment. The name was certainly familiar, though given the rather insular nature of the Horizon base, that wasn't a complete surpri-

The realization hit Nova a second later, and a wave of understanding washed over her face. Feeling a bit sheepish that it hadn't come sooner, Nova began again, "Actually, I do know a Lieutenant White. Well, know of, acquainted is a strong word. She's another pilot. In the Raptor program, that is."

"That her?" She asked Ayane, focusing back on the recently transferred pilot.

@Krayzikk@Norik@Silvan Haven

"Heh, yeah, it can be a pain." Ben grinned and shrugged a little, then jerked his thumb back towards the Test Team bays. His grin widened a little more, and he made at least an effort at wiping some of the grease off his hands on his pants. "I ain't gonna complain, though. I actually get to work on some of my ideas. And Vernichten may be a little finicky, but I love the old girl. She does good work."

"Hasn't overloaded on me yet, either."



"That's her."

A gleam crept into the Japanese pilot's eye, and she nodded. The smile that crossed her face was the first genuine, unrestrained expression she'd had since arriving on the balcony. She nodded, again, and slipped her hands into her pockets. Ayane sat, or maybe closer to leaned, against the railing and inclined her head at Nova.

"She's a dear friend of mine. We were stationed together. I would very much like to find her."

@vietmyke @Norik @Selvariabell @Caasicam @Silvan Haven @ArmorPlated @Plank Sinatra @UltimoScorp @Raider Dog

“Noah?”

“Yes, sir?”

The Lieutenant swiveled in her seat, glancing back at the Major seated at his station in Ops. All had been quiet since he started reading through the day’s notices, and the odd tone caught her attention quickly. McKinley had something on his mind, even if he was still working out what it was. He snapped his fingers once and looked up from his tablet.

“Can you pull up the registry details of those shipments from the Union?”

“Yes, sir,” Noah answered slowly, fingers already dancing to retrieve the relevant information. A quick flick brought the specifications up on one of Ops larger screens, to which she gestured questioningly. The older pilot scratched at the stubble on his chin, leaned way back in his seat. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, something important. He just needed to figure out exactly what it was.

“Stop me if something sounds weird, LT,” The Major began, pushing himself out of his seat and pacing towards the display. “But these readings don’t look much like freighters, do they? General size is close enough. Within the parameters you’d expect. But they don’t match any freighters I’ve seen coming through. These flight plans are precise, and they’ve been followed without deviation. Nothing. The one coming here originated from New Berlin, that flight plan avoids most of the Federation outposts between here and there. Are there any other registered flight plans originating from New Berlin around the same time?”

“One moment.”

Noah spent a few moments refining her search parameters, and when the system spat out its results she frowned.

“Yes. Six others left on the same day, with matching registry specifications. All within minutes of each other. All registered to the Dyson Foundation. Bound for the six other mass driver cities.”

McKinley pivoted in place immediately, shifting from pensive to focused in the span of a heartbeat.

“Pass this to the Colonel. Recall all pilots to base. How long until Luna can get eyes on them?”

“Twenty minutes, sir.” Noah answered, furiously swiping and tapping to forward the data up the chain of command and activate the city’s alert system. Aside from a monthly test, it hadn’t been fired up since it was installed. Two long tones to recall the pilots. The sounds would emanate from just about every telephone pole in the city, they couldn’t miss it. The pilots in the parade were exempt, but it would at least put them on alert; the rest would need to hurry back to base. It wasn’t hard to see where the Major’s line of thinking was going, but she hoped he was wrong. Or at least that the pilots would be able to get back quickly.

At McKinley’s console, the Major issued notice for the base to be on alert. Only about a third of their fighting force was actually on-base, but he needed that third to be ready.