Shona had always found something about a pre-deployment GEAR bay exciting, and the feeling was only amplified now that’s he knew there was more than a testing range waiting for outside. Upon stepping onto the launch deck she quickly made her way over to the matte grey and brown form of her Rapier. 

The software tech was a young stoat girl called Eines, one of the regulars from Ourven Base transferred to the Claw along with her and her machine, and she spent a moment catching up and learning the names of her new tech crew. 

“No nick you want us to stencil on last-minute?” 

“Nah, I haven’t really done much to earn one yet.” Shona replied as she lowered her helmet into place.

“Sure you have!” Eines said, grinning from above her PADD’s screen. “I can give them a few from Ourven…”

Shona responded by tossing her half-filled water bottle at her. “Shush, you. If I wake up to find my machine re-christened “Ears” I’m going to put its fist through a bulkhead.” She said with a grin, turning to hoist herself up the side of her mech.

One of the advantages of being so short, she supposed, was that she had a little more elbow and head room inside the cramped cockpit. She set about powering the GEAR up, the usual system checks as familiar to her by now as the fur on her paw (some of the less glamorous stories she had from the test range involved shutting down and re-starting buggy machines over and over, for hours). As the cockpit cover swung down, sealing her inside the hologram-lit compartment, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could do this. This, right here, was her space, her element. As the rest of the unit started to detach from their umbilicals and call in, she set her jaw and pushed her machine forward.

“Bell and M227, ready to go.” She reported over the radio, using her Rapier’s serial number. She winced slightly. [i]I really do need a callsign…[/i] “We’re kitted out light and fast, and we have good eyes – I can scout out front."