[CENTER][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/240816/4d09c3c33d5304aa7487cdf375dad705.png[/img][/CENTER] [indent][color=silver][sub][b]IC 286.08.16[/b] // Petrichor-8 System, Frontier Planet Alora // Approaching planet's surface. 1421 hours // [url=https://youtu.be/NsnlVNtEljY]♫ Encased In Steel ♫[/url][/sub][/color] [hr] [color=silver]Teddy rose from his seat with a lazy stretch, arms extending to the sky. He was rolling his shoulders in their sockets when he noticed Aissi was staring at him. Her mouth moved without actually forming any words for several seconds. All Teddy could do was smile. He didn't know her well enough yet to know how to put her at ease. Thoughtless words could be ordinance to the wrong person, after all. Eventually, though, she found her voice: [i]thank you.[/i] [color=white]"No problem!"[/color] He said, his grin widening as she made a quick retreat in the opposite direction. [color=white]"Break a leg, kiddo."[/color] Turning, Teddy approached his Grizzly with slow, deliberate steps. Best not to spook the girl. She took a confident stride as a challenge. The relationship between a pilot and their mech was different for every pairing. Some people thought of theirs only as war machines. Others knew every mech had a soul in its gears and pistons. Grizzly had a particularly curmudgeonly manner. If she thought her pilot too eager she was liable to slip a lug nut, pop a leak in a hydraulic line or a thousand other things. Every 'mechanical failure' was a reminder of who was really in charge here. [color=white]"Hey old girl."[/color] He greeted, patting her cold hide with the back of his knuckles. [color=white]"We got a couple'a new cubs with us today. Let's bring 'em home safe, okay?"[/color] Mounting up wasn't as easy as it was twenty years ago. Teddy could still remember the days when he could scramble up to the entry hatch without even touching the ladder. He wasn't so spry anymore, nor was he concerned with showing off for his fairer compatriots. No, he was fine carefully ascending the rungs built into the leg of the Grizzly. The interior lights flickered on when the hatch swung open, even the string of multi-colored beads he'd hung along the ceiling. He'd done it to celebrate a yuletide roughly...twelve years ago? Disentangling them from the wiring proved too much of a hassle to bother trying to remove them. A mechanical whirring from the front console triggered from the same motion sensor as the lights. A second later, the whirring was joined by the pouring of hot, caffeinated liquid into a thermos. Aberrant cores might fuel the mech but coffee fueled its pilot. Who could expect him to go into a firefight without it? Psychopaths, that's who. Teddy fell into the torn leather of his pilot's seat with a contented sigh. It felt like the embrace of an old friend. He didn't bother with running [i]another[/i] system check. All he needed was a quick glance at the lights flashing green as he flipped about a dozen switches in a row. Every screen, dial and monitor turned on at once. A powerful roar sounded as the MBM-78 came to life. The cockpit shuddered for several seconds on startup before finally settling to a dull thumping. [color=white]"Wonder who we're playin' with today..."[/color] He muttered, changing the main screen to the external cameras. Lictor was talking the F.N.G through her first deployment. Newman was her name. Teddy hadn't gotten the chance to talk to the young pilot yet but he wasn't worried for her. She was duetting with the greatest warrior of their age. A living legend who'd felled a thousand thousand Aberrants while half of this team was still in diapers. The old man had her back. She could count on it. Relief flooded Teddy when he found Aissi talking to the other new guy, Eight-Ball. He seemed like a nice kid. Making friends in the MHA was hard enough at the best of times. Being integrated with alien tech wasn't gonna make that any easier. Teddy was honestly surprised none of these hardened killers had taken a swing on her yet. Lotta people hated the Aberrants enough to do it, and he expected a whole lotta other folks would look the other way. He tried not to think of the stats he'd seen on new pilot and connie fatality rates. Your chances of death were a hell of a lot higher first starting out. [color=white]"Should be easier to keep an eye on 'em if they're together."[/color] Teddy told himself quietly. With Lictor and Aissi accounted for, that left just one last Constellation. Teddy couldn't hold in the groan that formed in his throat. Miss Zhejiang and her eighteen middle names. A noble hero of humanity, he had no doubt, but she seemed all too serious. A humorless killing machine. Maybe he was being unfair. Teddy hadn't actually spoken to her yet, and she had a reputation as an effective combatant. Teddy opened up a comm channel with her. [color=white]"Hey, eighty-five. Looks like we're the odd ones out. How 'bout it? Wanna be dance partners?"[/color] [/color][/indent]