Time: July 4th, 2011
Location: Fire Moth HQ, England, United Kingdom.

---

The ticking of an overhead clock sounded throughout the room, a fairly modest office, as the two occupants sat across from each-other in silence. The man at the desk was an older gentleman, early fifties and sporting a well-groomed salt and pepper beard across his chin, accompanied by a bushy mustache. What hair wasn't grey was a chestnut brown, and he wore the contrast well. Despite his age, he looked little the wear for it, his build strong-shouldered, hands calloused, and face wrinkled only by a few crinkles under his eyes. He was in uniform, if casually, as his hat and officer coat hung upon a rack to his right. Upon the breast of the coat, the insignia for the rank of Major stood out proudly.

The young woman across from him, by contrast, couldn't have been older than twenty. Ashen of hair, she was paler than many might deem healthy, and her richly purple eyes bespoke of a nature beyond the mundane. She wasn't wearing a uniform exactly, dressed more as a well-composed civilian than anything else, but that wasn't too unusual for her kind. She was arguably less extravagant than some others of her profession, so at the least, she seemed to appreciate the idea of dressing appropriately for a formal meeting.

Spread out on the table, an open binder faced the girl, several sheets of paper pulled out. She leafed through the contents one after another, a frown slowly growing on her face, before she neatly organized everything and replaced most of it... well, that's what she'd have liked to say. After all, the "most of it" that she was singling out were the... issues she needed to address. Again, "singling out problems" was what her brain would like to have called it, but the truth was that it would have been easier to single out the bits that weren't problems.

"All due respect, sir," the girl finally said, looking up at the officer across from her, "but is this a joke? If so," she tapped the files she'd singled out from the group... which was most of them, "it's not one in very good taste."

The Major leaned back, simply raising a brow. "Are you deferring from the position then?"

The girl paused, lips tightening.

Pressing the attack, the Major continued, "If you don't think you're the right person for the job, we could always pass it on to one of the others." There was trepidation in the girl's eyes now. "If you think my judgement was in error, if you think you're not fit..."

After a moment of internal conflict, the girl's expression hardened. "It's not me that's unfit." Her hand clapped the table atop the documents. "It's this entire team." She didn't raise her voice, carefully aware of her position, but it was a near thing.

"That's a strong claim," the Major said lightly. "Care to elaborate?"

The girl's eyes narrowed. As if he didn't know. "I've seen their grades and the attached medical reports... Half this team is outright unfit for duty on the simple grounds of Honkai resistance." She scowled. "I get that they aren't going to just drop dead like the average joe might, but you're as aware as I that even if this team is only assigned to the lowest of the low missions, they are still supposed to have a safety zone. There's always the risk of the Honkai escalating, and if it were to, it would be deadly. Even a Class 1 Miasma zone would -by the books- warrant an immediate full retreat of half the team, just on principle."

"Fire Moth aims to enable all skillsets in the fight against the Honkai," the Major replied easily. "Not every Valkyrie will specialize in the same areas, and a balanced team requires variety. And moreover, you should be assured that a C-Rank team like this will not be sent up against anything that would mortally threaten them."

On paper anyway. But this was the Honkai they were talking about. Expecting it to not throw curveballs at the worst possible time was a fool's errand.

"If this were just about specialties, it would be one thing, but we have minimum standards for a reason. And some things are inherently more critical to shore up than others. These scores are just begging for a Honkai cascade... assuming a stiff breeze doesn't take them out first." The girl's expression darkened. "You're putting me in charge of leading these girls to their deaths."

The Major folded his hands at that, staring her dead in the eyes, before reaching down to flip open the binder. He slid a sheet free, the girl's own profile, and tapped a finger on a specific section. "You were chosen for this team, because you were deemed to be one of the precious few options that wouldn't lead them to their demise. Your unique 'gift' is the key."

The girl's expression tightened, but she didn't deny it. "And they couldn't have been spread out amongst other teams? Instead of having one that's practically got a foot on death's doorstep?" She ran her hands through her hair in an expression of stress. "These mental profiles are not really selling this team to me as one that will play it safe. And that's another thing..." She grimaced at the documents. "Why is it that I am -with what might be a single exception- the only sane one here? These psych profiles paint this team as a powder keg."

"That too, as you might imagine, contributed to your candidacy for leadership," the Major said, reaching over to leaf through the other files. "Miss Hughes was considered after yourself, but she was deemed to lack the force of personality to keep the rowdier elements in line."

"And Lehtinen?" the girl asked, even though she felt she already knew the answer.

"It is our opinion that she would lead the team into an especially early grave, and beyond that, no other candidates were deemed to have the capacity to ride herd on her even if she isn't leading."

"And there's no option to transfer?"

"The team assignments are final, pending casualties," the Major replied bluntly. "It's just a matter of how you wish to organize yourselves internally. So then..." his gaze sharpened. "What will be your decision?"

Resisting the urge to scowl, the girl reorganized and stored away the documents, stone-faced. "Not like I have a choice."

"We always have a choice," the Major said easily.

"I'm not leader material," she groused in defeat.

"Your records would beg to differ."

"Those were special circumstances," she protested.

"It was a trial by fire, and you rose to the occasion. Where those around you faltered, despaired and broke, you pushed on. That the situation was unusual is exactly why you are the right choice." The Major gestured to the binder. "Many of these girls need that sort of example in their lives."

The girl fell silent for a while, before scooping up the binder. "Please note, for the record, I accepted this assignment under protest. I'll have my concerns filed officially, and I hope they'll be accounted for if this goes up in flames. If I might be excused?"

"You are dismissed, Miss Richter."

The girl left the room without a word, leaving the Major with his thoughts and the ticking clock.

---

Time: July 11th, 2011
Location: Fire Moth HQ, England, United Kingdom.

---

Across the base, personal devices cried out in alarm, as the personal battlesuits of several Valkyries were pinged for duty. Wherever they may have been since being first gathered and made at least slightly aware of their new teammates, the girls would all recieve the alert clearly, with backup alerts being sent to other registered personal devices like phones. To those same devices, they would all be sent a brief mission summary, a summons to provide support for a Honkai Outbreak.

It was a call to the hangers, where they would all find a Fire Moth transport waiting for them. There was little time present or humored for pre-boarding chatter, and all would be hurried aboard into a troop transport room, located at the back of the vessel and accessible via either the quickly closed ramp or the single door that led to the rest of the ship. Sturdy, armor-reinforced walls were hued a pale grey and the area lit fairly brightly. On either side of the room, long, conjoined benches sat with compartments for storing gear set into the walls above them. Altogether, the room seemed as though it could comfortably seat twelve or potentially squeeze twice as many if some were willing to stand.

According to the intel (provided to all who had bothered to read it), they would be assigned to cleaning up the stragglers from the main outbreak, which would -in turn- be handled by three teams of B-Rank Valkyries. As a team of C-Ranks, however, this team would not be expected to face much threat. Their job was simply to deal with whatever escaped the net of destruction the stronger teams wove, as for all their power, they were still only able to be in so many places at once. While the Honkai beasts would be primarily attracted to areas thick with Honkai energy, some would inevitably range out further, and this team would be but one of several assigned to exterminate them with extreme prejudice. The Honkai miasma level in the city was expected to be high enough to be dangerous to the C-Ranks, and so they were forbidden from leaving their assigned zones to enter it.

Destination: Rouen, Normandy, France
Incident Level: Outbreak
Miasma Level: 1 (epicenter); 0 (outskirts)
Expected Honkai Opposition: Zombie-Class, Chariot-class and Angel-class. No elemental variation detected.
Assignment Details: Canvas the town of Sotteville-lès-Rouen, south of the city, and slay any Honkai present. Guard the border of the primary outbreak zone and keep the stragglers contained for the duration of the incident.

Tucked away together within this fast-transport of the by now world-renown Fire Moth, the hum of powerful engines thrumming underfoot and loosing a muffled roar outside, the trip from the UK could be expected to last roughly ten minutes. Not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but perhaps enough to gets one's bearings, make any proper introductions that haven't been had already, and perhaps get a strategy or few organized on what to do upon arrival.

The pale girl, Jessica, is somewhat tense. Though her expression is all smiles and confidence, the set of her shoulders and the lack of words passing her lips really say all that need be said to the outside observer. Though she was apparently assigned as the team lead by the higher ups -at least in the field, she has yet to organize any team activities or training, instead doing her best to let everyone get settled and adjusted... herself particularly. Perhaps this was a mistake in hindsight.

Even now, she has mostly kept to herself, has been tending to her gear and double -triple- checking that all is in order. The most words that have left her mouth up to this point are to tersely check that everyone in the team is present, accounted for and as prepared as they can be, only nodding at words of assent or restraining the urge to frown at denials.

It's the team's first combat mission since being assembled, abrupt as it is (and really, when isn't it abrupt with the Honkai?), and the silence is begging to be broken, even as battle imminently awaits your team upon the horizon, not but mere minutes distant.

The field is yours.

Remember.

As you are now, the usage of Steamwork Rook’s Burst is simply detrimental.

…

Ten minutes to destination, and Yu-Ri wasn’t sure whether she was excited or anxious. There had been no particular events previously to get the squad comfortable with each other, and it showed in the silent nature of the one that was their team leader. Jessica Richter, the thoroughbred Anti-Entropy member. They had encountered each other a few times in Salt Lake City, but neither made much of a connection with the other. There was a divide in temperament that made casual friendship difficult. A bit of a shame, in truth. She was the only one in the squad that Yu-Ri could easily put a name to. The rest?

One looked as if they had chosen ‘unremarkability’ as their sole character trait.

Another was about as much as you could expect from the European-centric organization of Schicksal, blonde haired, blue-eyed, drop-dead gorgeous, and stony-faced.

The third gave off an even more ‘leave me alone’ aura than their team leader, despite how drastically loud her haircut was. The vacuum-sealed bodysuit was impressive though. It almost looked as if were painted on.

The fourth, at least, gave off some friendlier vibes from the get-go. Her suit glowed in the dim lighting of the transport vessel, crimson circuitry looking a good deal more ominous than a C-Rank Valkyrie ought to be, but Yu-Ri wasn’t exactly the definition of family-friendly herself, not with burn scars peeking out from her prosthetic limbs and the general spikiness that was necessitated from a gothic dress built for combat.

Still. It was going to be a long ten minutes to stew in one’s thoughts. Three check-ups had been enough for the C-Rank Valkyrie; any more and she’d be second-guessing the maintenance of scientists and engineers that have had a couple decades more of experience than her in cybernetics and human-machine interfacing. She closed her eyes, feeling the rumbling of the engine tickling her eardrums, breathing in the smell of oil and perfume, of sweat and leather. Counted to ten. And…

The sensation of metal slapping against her cheeks was a good deal more painful than if it were flesh on flesh, but it did enough to force Yu-Ri out of nervous hesitation. The consequences and benefits of having fully-metal arms.

“Alright, it’s a bit quiet here! I know some of you have probably read up on each other, but self-introductions are pretty important for in-person stuff, right? So I’ll start and we can go counter-clockwise from there. Toss in a fact about Rouen too, if you know anything about it.” A bit forceful, but when was it not? Her eyes, ashen but burning, swept through the gloom as her thumb jabbed against her chest. Metal against metal. “I’m Yu-Ri Yun, but you can call me any combination of those syllables, if you’d like. I haven’t been to Rouen myself, or France in general before, but Normandy’s like, where D-Day happened, right? Is that where Rouen is too?”

She knew the answer, of course. But a question was better than a statement for eliciting participation.

You're in a new place

You're in a new country

You're surrounded by new people

You can make this work

Hinode brought a hand up to her neck, grazing the ivory charm suspended there with a pale, trembling finger. She couldn't help but think about the people occupying the transport. Would they be... ? Balling her hand into a fist, she gripped the shattered claw, hard eyes taking in her companions. There was Jessica, their supposed leader. There was something so... What's the word? Fake about her. The smile, the confidence. Ni-sama would frown and point and say she's putting on an act. A 'brave face' when really, she didn't want to be here. Ni-sama's smile would be real, it'd smack her and the crew in the face with raw positivity and the sheer force of 'go get 'em' she remembers so fondly.

Moving her gaze to the next in line, a pretty blonde woman. Hinode recalled what she'd read on her profile, and offered her a nod of respect. She felt an instant kinship with her fellow tragic figure, and idly considered if she'd have come out any different were she sworn to a Kaslana-adjacent family. 'Thou shalt live by this oath: Purge the vile Honkai.'

Liliana Lehtinen... She'll remember this name.

Next, the Faramont girl. She'd actually encountered her, briefly, in the corridors of World Serpent. After she'd come begging and screaming for revenge against the monsters that took her family. Her friends. It was only later that she learned of the possibility of some kind of fusion, a method to her means of Honkai's eradication. Of course, it wasn't available to rookies such as herself...

... The kind of rookie who gets her friends killed, because she was so overeager- so overconfident, that she ignored rule one fighting the Honkai: expect the unexpected.

Neither Faramont nor the Isa lady really held her attention, that's when her attention shifted to the third techy in their bandwagon-

"... Hinode."

She blinked, and unclasped the claw, staring the outspoken lady up and down. She was Chinese- A culture similar enough to her own to be comfortable with- and evidently one to take the initiative. Ni-sama would approve.

Furrowing her brows, she listened. Something stirred within her, a dread that only deepened her frown. She was perhaps too outspoken. Too friendly. But Hinode could hardly fault her with how dead silent the ride has been.

"In Normandy, France, yeah." She had surface-level knowledge on the topic, but she was more concerned with the layout of their destination. A Honkai Outbreak... When she'd received the briefing, some small part of her had hoped- foolishly- that her monster may make an appearance. But after reading 'No elemental variations detected', her enthusiasm drastically waned. It was still an opportunity to prove her mettle, and one step closer to receiving the power she needed to exact her revenge. Besides, stragglers or not, she will still be putting a blade to Honkai. That's good enough for her. "There's a river. River Seine."

She pulls out her phone, brings up Google Maps, and leans over to show her, and anyone else who may want a look.

"It'll be roughly East of us when we land."

She zooms in on Sottevile, tapping the screen.

"There are three main roads that all lead towards the perimeter. If we split up, we could clear a path to our destination and hopefully spread a wide enough net to catch the stragglers."

She pauses, glancing towards Jessica... Then slowly leaning back and pocketing her phone. Splitting up was probably a bad idea- they were brought together as a team for a reason, after all, even if she didn't know what that reason was.

Tapping her fingers on her thigh, she looked to Liliana again.

That dread built up, bubbling to the surface in a haze of frost and lightning- "You wanna be my wingman?"

The words just spilled out. She couldn't lose another friend. She couldn't afford to make another friend, but out of all the people here she was the only one she suspected she'd get along with. Well enough to perform her duties without worrying about friction.

She composed herself, distracting her racing mind with the gleam of her hair and the odd getup that reminded her of the word 'eskimo'.

"As in... Pair up. I'm actually used to working with someone with cryonic powers. We liked to joke and call it magic... Eheh..."

Oh... She's already making a fool of herself.

Another girl with long brown hair was leaned against the transport’s bench. Beneath the rods and the the thin frame of her power suit, she wore an elegant ensemble - a white blouse with an open top, black frills of lace and ribbon, and a matching skirt. She was very pretty, and had sort of a refined air about her, which was not at all lessened by the diamond crown upon her head. The only things that seemed out of place about that picture were her serious green eyes, and the dark circles that lay beneath them. Her name was Sarah Hughes. She was a new valkyrie that had been making waves with her high test scores and her unusual psychic abilities. She hoped to prove herself in this outing with Fire Moth. Due to the larger battle that would be going on nearby, the assignment could turn out to be really dangerous. But she was sure that she could handle it, unless things went totally sideways.

A notebook lay open on Ms. Hughes’ lap, and a pen was relentlessly scribbling into it. Only, the instrument was wielded by no hand. It seemed to move of its own accord, recording copious notation at an impressive speed. Sarah kept track of it disinterestedly - so accustomed to the minimal psychic effort required for writing that her attention, with her eyes, mostly lingered on the other girls in the vehicle. Only occasionally did she look down again to check the pen’s progress. A page flipped, and then another. It was mostly recording details about her new teammates, and it even produced sketches of each one's appearance. They were simple drawings without much shading, but they managed to capture characteristic details fairly well. Jessica's tense smile, Hinode's distinct attire, and Yu-ri's metal hand, they were all there. Putting things down on paper wasn't as efficient as keeping computer files, but Sarah had grown quite fond of it. These journals were her personalized accounts, and there were certain advantages to keeping them in analog.

Yu-ri suggested that they start with introductions, and she had no argument. She had grown quite comfortable with these types of exchanges after being moved around by World Serpent and finally transferring to Fire Moth. "I'm Sarah Hughes," she said with a pleasant smile, offering a wave of her pale hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. You all seem like fine Valkyries. I have full confidence in the success of our mission."

Asked to provide an interesting detail about Rouen, Sarah’s mind immediately oriented towards history - her research specialty. “Rouen proper has been a site of interest for thousands of years. For the Romans, it was the second greatest city of Gallia. They erected temples, bathhouses, and an amphitheater. The Franks, the Normans, the English, and the French all had their turn with the area. Our destination, however, is less storied. It was a railway town that developed in the 1800s.”

In response to Hinode’s comment about covering the inbound roads, Sarah pushed back. “Rouen is not properly fortified, so in truth there are as many entrances as the beasts care to make for themselves.” They could potentially tear through walls, climb over buildings, or sneak in through other routes not marked on the map. A strong perimeter seemed too optimistic for this occasion. They’d have to monitor the area, especially the northern side where most incursions would be originating.

“Besides, spreading the team thin here isn’t ideal. We’ll have to concentrate our fire if any big fish make their way into our net.” Her words weren't cold, but they transparently showed her analytical way of approaching the situation. Before she finished speaking, her eyes fell on Jessica, and lingered there a moment. She couldn't help but be curious about that woman. Even if things got dangerous, she was prepared to follow Jessica's orders, but only time would tell how effective they would be. Sarah relaxed and glanced back towards the others. "But doing what's ideal isn't always possible. We'll have to take whatever formation is necessary to contain the outbreak."

She hadn't been tapped to lead the squad. That was fine. She hadn't expected to be. Not with her disciplinary record, anyway. Still, Fire Moth couldn't have found a better squad lead than this Richter girl? The little bitch didn't even look like she wanted to be here. Richter hadn't even done anything in the last few days, spewing some nonsense about letting them get settled in.

Still, Liliana set all that aside for the moment. The fact that they were deploying in France, of all places, was already raising her ire. Her mother and father had died uselessly not too far from the combat zone they were headed to. Liliana unconsciously clenched her fists into a death grip on her seat's grab rail, trying to not let her emotions show on her face. In a rare moment of empathy, she decided to go a little easier on Richter for failing to conceal her expression, if only because she was no hypocrite.

The rest of the squad started to pipe up, and Liliana's ire immediately shifted to the Chinese cripple. A fact about Rouen? God help her, she actually considered saying it: her parents died not two hours from the city by car. The ever-shrinking part of her brain that wasn't screaming to throw herself straight at the first Honkai Beast she saw forced sense back into her thought process. It wouldn't do to utterly shatter morale right before they dropped into a hot zone, no matter how much of a bitch she wanted to be at the moment.

"Liliana Lehtinen, of Schicksal." She introduced herself, folding her arms together under her chest. "Anything we actually needed to know about the city was already covered in the mission briefing. Save the rest for trivia night, there's Honkai to crush." Never mind the fact that they should have done this sort of thing the first day the team was gathered. Liliana hadn't resolved to be nicer to Richter for her leadership skills, only her poker face.

The Japanese girl turned to her, babbling some nonsense or other about magic. Liliana forced herself to sit through it and actually listen, resisting the urge to sigh in annoyance. All the other girl wanted was a partner, it seemed.

"Do what you want, unless the squad leader countermands it." Liliana replied flatly to Hinode, closing her eyes as she resisted the urge to add anything especially cutting onto the end of her sentence. God forbid that Richter actually do anything related to her role yet.

The call to duty really hadn’t come at a good time for Isa.

She was completely distracted, fiddling with her left arm bracer with a small tool gripped in her mouth. She’d just been in the process of upgrading the lights on it, purely because she was bored, when she’d received the alert. Of course it didn’t affect the functionality of her suit at all but she hated being interrupted. So she was continuing on the transport, hunched over on a bench and completely ignoring her new teammates.

All she needed to do was reconnected some wires, tighten it all at her wrist… There! The circuit jumped back to light, crimson glow joining the other wires running across her body. With that done she stopped zoning out just in time to hear a couple of introductions - not that she cared much for personal information, or that on a town in France. Locations tended to be boring. Isa had never been much of a sightseer… Not that they were going sightseeing.

Isa listened to their names, memorising it easily, and only half paid attention to what Hinode said about the city. She’d read the briefing and they’d be there soon enough, she didn’t see the point in facts about the amount of roads and such. She definitely didn’t need to know anything about history. She found herself agreeing with Liliana with a nod. Surprising. The model Schicksal member (at least as far as appearances went) didn’t interest Isa at all. Well, her battlesuit didn’t.

“Guess I’m next?” Isa smiled, looking way too cheerful for someone on their way to deal with an active honkai outbreak. “I’m Isabelle Oliviera Kainde, but you can just call me Isa. It’ll be easier. Nice to meet everyone.”

As she spoke Isa finally took a proper look at her teammates, gaze flickering from one to the other. Their leader, whose name she’d honestly glanced over and chosen not to remember, was giving off very icy vibes. The gear she was tending was kind of interesting, but not enough to hold Isa’s attention. Her gaze passed over Hinode and Sarah quickly - not interesting at all. Hinode’s tech seemed basic, and while Sarah seemed smart she was the boring kind of smart. Moving on-

Isa paused, lips curving up into a wider grin and amber eyes lighting up. Without any care for personal space or other people she jumped over to the opposite bench, reaching out for Yu-Ri’s arm. “Is this Anti-Entropy technology? Wow, it's pretty cool. Impressive how smoothly it all moves… I’ve not seen many suits like this. How much of you is mechanical?”

If Isa was given the chance she wasn’t to look at all of Yu-Ri’s prosthetics - and ideally take them apart to see how they ticked. Probably not the best idea right now, or ever. She’d definitely be stepping on some other scientist or engineer's toes.

But still. This was the most interesting thing she’d seen in <i>months</i>.