Battle Suit Utopia

INTRO
In the year 2052, War ravaged the World. Europe standing as a single force began a world wide invasion. Alliances were made and others were broken.

Japan, unable to have an army of its own after the terms of the Second World War, has joined an alliance formed by American, Canadian and Mexican Forces for the development of heavy mobile units, one manned robots with enough destructive power to take on legions of infantry troops.

But Europe did not foresee the rise of the Chinese, Russian and Korean forces. The nuclear winter lasted 30 years in Europe. The surviving British forces joined the new MDN or Mobile Defense Network created by Japan and the three American Continent Titans.

Now, the year is 2132. The Chinese seek to establish a new world order under the flag of communism. America, being as weakest as it’s never been, seeks to rally with the members of the MDN more countries to their side, mainly the Arabian countries. Knowing fully well of the history between America and these countries, Japan and Mexico have established negotiations with the Arab officials.

The Arabs have conditioned their alliance by stating that they will only join if the MDN liberates Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan from Chinese and Russian occupation, a condition that MDN has decided to take on.

The Elite group of the MDN is formed by some of the most extraordinary military agents from around the world. Resistance fighters and national army members are also among the ranks. The special units piloted by the elite are called Battle Suits. Each battle suit and the pilot have a codename. You are one of them.

STORY

A firefight?

Doctor Suzuhara looked over to the metal door as it opened up and a panting soldier came through it. He moved towards the soldier and placed his hand on his shoulder.

“Catch your breath son, what is it?”, Doctor Suzuhara asked. The soldier lifted his head and shook it.

“Th-They’re everywhere sir. There’s no chance… we can survive this”, the soldier said.

Doctor Suzuhara turned on the giant screen of his lab and looked at the security feed. Several hundreds of soldiers and enemy Battle Suits made their way through the military compound of MDN’s Research facility in the Himalayan’s.

“Then we must move quickly. Make sure they can keep the uplink up. I’m sending all this data to the one person I can trust, and then we’re torching the place”, Doctor Suzuhara said.

“But sir, you will die”, the soldier said with a sad look on his face.

“We all die some time soldier”, Doctor Suzuhara said. “Besides, the only person I can trust is also the only person capable of continuing my research. She will be able to decode the encryption in no time.”

“You mean Haru-chan?”, the soldier asked.

Doctor Naoki Suzuhara turned to look at the small picture frame on his desk. The picture was of him, a lovely woman who seemed to be his wife and a small child with black hair and purple-ish eyes.

“Yes, my lovely daughter”, Doctor Suzuhara said and the soldier moved to the door.

“I have some messages for her to record, so make sure they keep the uplink up”, Doctor Suzuhara said and the soldier saluted and left. The doctor then started typing on the computer and looked over to the camera as the shockwaves of the attacks on the surface began to take their toll on the building and some of the equipment began to fall down and sparks began flying everywhere.

“My dear Haruka, I’m sorry things turned out like this and it seems I’ll have to break my promise…”

Shōri (Victory) Weapons Testing Facility, south pacific near the coasts of Yokohama.

Two men made their way through the halls of the installation which lay underwater, a General and an Associate of the MDN Board of Directors.

“The attack on the Himalayan Facility was a direct challenge from the Chinese Alliance”, The General said.

“I’m well aware of that General Ramirez, but what is the status of Doctor Suzuhara?”, The Associate asked.

“We don’t know yet Director Kellen, the team is busy removing the rubble, if he’s alive we’ll find him, but I have to be honest with you, it’s not looking too good”, Ramirez said with a frown.

“Has his child been notified yet?”, Kellen asked.

“No, not yet. But she’s sure to find out in the news”, Ramirez said.

“No. The news have been altered. We can’t let them know that one of our top scientists in the area of Battle Suit technology is missing and probably dead. Keep her in the dark as long as possible, it’s best for her and best for us”, Kellen said.

“I don’t know Director Kellen, the girl is a god damned genius, I even dare to think she’s smarter than her old man. They worked together on the interface of the new Diavolon Model, it decreases the response time between the pilot and the suit to almost instantly. That same technology is being applied to the rest of the units here”, Ramirez said.

“Well, it won’t hurt to try. She’s also one of the best pilots we got. If she’s affected by this it might cloud her judgment. We can’t let that happen”, Kellen said.

“Alright sir, we’ll try”, Ramirez replied and changed the subject. “About the operation into Iraq?”

“Ah yes, I trust the team is ready?”, Kellen asked.

“We’re just awaiting the rest of the team to arrive”, Ramirez said.

“Well, you have your orders and access to any weaponry you need, we need that alliance with the Arabs, otherwise the last of the oil reserves on this planet will fall to the Chinese and we’re as good as dead”, Kellen said.

“We won’t let that happen sir, you’ll see”, Ramirez said and both men went on their way. Ramirez headed to the hangar bay in which some transports were pulling in. He looked over to the right and saw a young girl with dark hair and beautiful Japanese features in a science robe.

“Chief Suzuhara, how we doin’?”, Ramirez asked.

“Well, according to the latest readings all the Battle Suits are ready and we’ve installed the new interface in the old and new models alike. We’ll just have to see how they perform when the new unit members arrive”, Haruka said.

Ramirez turned around to see the transports.

“Well they’re here so we might just say hello”, Ramirez said.

“Well sir, that’s your job. I have to tend to the Battle Suits, so I’ll keep working over here, if you need me just call out”, Haruka said.

“Alright Chief, you’re dismissed”, Ramirez said and moved towards the transports. He stood there with the welcoming committee.

Xaiver Stryker's trip was quite a long one. He wasn't entire sure how long he had been on this transport, but he knew he couldn't feel his rear because he had been sitting so long. He was excited about the whole thing though. He was going to meet new people, see new places, and most importantly destroy everything in his path. He was one of the first people to get off the transport as soon as it landed.

"Well this place just screams welcome" he said to himself out loud.

He stretched his legs and took a look at his surroundings. He looked up to see a man walking towards the group; he could only assume that he was a head figure. He did a few more stretches for his legs just to make sure they were still there while he waited. As the man got closer Xaiver stopped his stretches and saluted the man.

Alright Xaiver, lets try making a good impression...besides there are giant robots waiting for you Xaiver thought to himself confidently.

Katsu Gosika finally opened his eyes as he felt the transport finally land gently to the ground. He stretched out his arms before finally getting up to his feet.

He walked out of the transport and stood next to the man who had gone out before him and watched as one of the men assembled outside the transport walked toward them.

He took a quick glance at the man and noticed a figure behind the man who looked...different. Dark hair, scientists robe...he couldn't tell the gender of the figure.

Katsu turned his gaze back toward the man who was still walking toward him and raised his hand in a salute.

Good impressions are important. The sooner I get my mech the sooner I can get back to fighting.

Haruka looked back and saw too youn men. It was expected as she was a Battle Suit pilot herself. One of them was japanese and she grinned to the fact. There were many japanese in the MDN but most were technitians or had administrative jobs, not too many were in the army. She was kinda glad to see another japanese in the Mobile Unit. She got up from her seat and walked over to a firearm that was about 8 times her size. She was inspecting the barrel and the trigger to see if they were in good condition. She then walked over to Ramirez and first saluted the new unit members very quickly and casually.

"Sir, weapons are in pristine condition", Haruka said.

"Thank you Chief Suzuhara", Ramirez said and when the young men saluted him, he saluted back. "At ease gentlemen."

Ramirez then stood before them.

"Welcome to the Victory Facility. Of course you may know it from it's japanese name but I suck in japanese so I call it so. This is Chief Haruka Suzuhara, you may know her father, the famous Doctor Naoki Suzuhara inventor of the Brain-to-AI interface that you've trained on. Chief Suzuhara and her father have done several modifications since to all battle suits making the "lag" you get when controlling them almost unexistant now. She will also be joining you on missions as she is a remarkable pilot."

Haruka took a step forward.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Haruka, I am supervisor of the Battle Suit project here in Shōri Facility. I also pilot Aegis jou ichi, I mean Aegis 11. You can call me on the field Phyxius as it is my pilot callsign", Haruka said.

The installation wasn't cold in fact it was warm but she was wearing a sweater and black stockings. Which to most people would seem weird.

"I am General Ramirez and I am incharge of this facility and I will be coordinating your efforts in the missions we are to undertake. Please introduce yourselves gentlemen", Ramirez said.

Xaiver had looked over to see a Japanese kid, probably the same age as him standing next to him. He nodded to the kid before turning back to the man. Now there man was joined by a girl in a black sweater with black stockings to match. He raised his right eyebrow noticing it wasn't that hot but then again he had his uncle's pilot jacket on so he really couldn't say anything on the matter. Regardless of the odd choice in clothing the girl was pretty cute. He focused his attention back on the man who was talking about the girl and her father had fixed the lag which was great news to hear, but he wasn't aware there was any lag. When he had used Nova in the training, he felt as if he and the machine had become one warrior. Xaiver just shrugged his shoulders as he let the man continue speaking. The girl introduced herself as Haruka and she was the pilot of Aegis 11. He had only seen that thing of beauty once during his days training and it was one of the most magnificent performances he had ever seen, and now he was going to get to fight alongside her.

"I am General Ramirez and I am incharge of this facility and I will be coordinating your efforts in the missions we are to undertake. Please introduce yourselves gentlemen"

The General's crisp voice broke Xaiver's train of thought as he snapped back to the real world. Xaiver took a step forward to introduce himself.

"I'm Xaiver Stryker, and I used the Nova Battle Suit during training. My pilot callsign is Psycho, and I'm in charge of making the enemy regret fighting us." Xaiver said with an added smile.

Haruka looked over at Xaiver and put a hand to her chin and rubbed it a little.

"I remember the Nova Battle Suit, so you're the top pilot Psycho? Your field work is very impressive. I can tell we really got people of quality this time General", she said in all honesty. The General nodded, indeed they were some of the top Battle Suit pilots in the MDN.

"It's good to meet you son, we can definitely use a man who can bring fear to the hearts of the enemy", the General said and looked over to the others. "Anyone else would care to introduce themselves?"

Zhao Wong walked off of the transport. He had had a long trip, and was glad to have the chance to stretch his legs. He did feel a bit uncomfortable, though. Even though he was technically Taiwanese, people still treated him like he was a Chinese enemy. It had gotten to the point where he wanted to just shut everyone who insulted him up. Shouldn't be too hard - giving people black eyes usually did that job for him, Zhao thought with dark humor. He had noticed a group of people - presumably scientists - had assembled around the transport. He then heard the introductions by the general, Haruka, and Xavier Stryker. Zhao couldn't help but feel reassured that a person with the callsign Psycho was on their side - Xavier must give those guys hell, he thought amusingly.

"Anyone else would care to introduce themselves?"

Zhao snapped back to reality. "I'm Zhao Wong, but just call me Zhao. I drive the Aero 8 suit. My callsign is 'Demon'." Zhao felt even more uneasy after he introduced himself. The people might think he was a spy, and then there was the checkered past Japan had with its neighbor, though being Taiwanese might not have any bearing on that. And then there was his combat records -he had been known to do rather questionable acts in combat.

Pete Cook and his new prototype Protos 3000 had just arrived with a small squad of MDN troopers have arrived on the once flourishing moon colony called "Arc", his mission......retake the facility that once served the great American cause.

"Sir," one of Cook's men saluted, "The mercs sent to reboot the station aren't rsponding!"

"Most likely interfearence! I think some of them are still alive." Something moved in the shadows.

"What was that sir?!" a soldier asked.

"Corpral, take two men with you to the control room within the facility. The other four and I will check it out." As the three troops went deeper into the abandoned colony, Cook and the others went down the corridor where he thought he saw the shadow go into. Sure enough, as he walked into the room, a large bug-shaped robot picked him up by the neck and shot two of Cook's companions though he shot the strange droid before it killed any more of his squad.

"Must be one of those new communist droids!" Cook gasped as he attempted to breathe. We need to warn the others!"

Cook and his two companions ran down the corridor, this time aware of the enemy presence which was abliviated every time they saw one. They arrived at the control room in a nick of time just to find the corpral and the other two troops dead. "This is definetely not good!" one of the soldiers whispered two Cook and the other private.

"Help!" a voice said comming from a supply closet. Cook pushed the debris away and helped four surviving Mercs up and armed them with handguns.

"They were everyware!" one of the mercenaries said. They killed the others, but we survived!"

"Do you know a way out?" Cook asked.

"Yes, we have a shuttle down in the open hangar! Can you escort us there?"

"Once we take care of these guys first!" Cook said blasting one of the encroaching bugdroids. They fought bravely, but were soon overun. Cook then pressed a button on his wrist, and soon enough a huge battle suit came blasting through the door. Cook hopped inside and blasted away at the army that was coming. "You guys get outta here! " he yelled as the survivors and his two sqaud members ran down the hallway. He then got out of his suit and set the self distruct setting ready for the station. Right as it blew up, he escaped in his suit.

Over the comlink to his squad memberswho made it out ok, Cook said, "Well at least we know who is here now, the communists programmed assasin droids to hold this station. They want a foothold in space too. If we want a foothold too, we may need an entire army! But for now, our beautiful moon is a battlefield, it is no man's land......"

To be continued........

As Roman had exited the shuttle, he had been sidetracked by a conversation with two technicians, and a Lieutenant who'd been sharing the merits of certain older model suit interfaces. Roman was totally oblivious to the welcoming party as a whole until the last minute, where he finally looked over, and noticed his fellow pilots talking to two figures, one seeming to be a higher rank, military brass type.

Roman trotted over with great urgency, only catching a brief last portion of a sentence, ".....I drive the Aero 8 suit. My callsign is 'Demon'." Was all he heard from one of his fellow pilots.

Roman stood next to one of them, standing a good few inches over them all, mostly assumed to be because he was older, but then again, he was naturally tall, from being Ukrainian, and such. He saluted in a professional military fashion to the now -from his own observations- acknowledged General.

"Roman Pylypovich Tur reporting sir. I apologize for being late," he said with an easily recognizable Russian-Ukrainian accent.

"If we are making callsign introductions, then I am Hydra, Battle Suit pilot of the Lævateinn 2, late build, early-type model," he told them, as he loosened up slightly, his thoughts drifting over to his Battle Suit. He could only hope that no one had been messing, or tinkering with it. It was a unique model (not to mention one of a kind, almost literally), with the early-type model cockpit builds, it required no 'upgrading', and so far, Roman had made sure no one had messed with his suit without his permission, or him being there to monitor the situation, so far. On top of the fact that his suit's individual AI system was very picky. ((If the suits' AI systems are aware at all, that is? You never really mentioned that Shana.))

He could only hope that while being away from his suit this long, no one had touched, or tampered with it. He was very attached to his suit after all, and didn't exactly enjoy being away from it too long without knowing what was going on with it.

Roman let go of these thoughts for the moment, finally looking over at the General's companion, who was a beautiful young girl, maybe a year younger than himself, wearing scientists robes, but with a sweater, and black stockings. He smiled at her kindly, hoping to make a good impression on her.

"Hello, I did not catch your name," he said politely in his accent.

She turned over to Roman and bowed slightly.

"My name is Suzuhara Haruka, my callsign is Phyxius and I pilot Aegis...11", Haruka said pausing a little to not say the number in japanese. She then moved closer to him and approached the railing overlooking the Lævateinn 2. "It's a very beautiful piece of work, I was tasked with upgrading it and checking it's system, but I couldn't bring myself to tamper with it. Especially after the AI interface it has seems to be almost a 100% synchronized with you. Not many pilots achieve this. I only took the liberty of checking the weapon system to make sure it was ready, no tampering whatsoever, my father wouldn't have tampered with it either, in fact I sent him a photo of it, he was so excited he wanted to come here and see it."

She then leaned on the railing and looked at all the battle suits.

"I have been working with Battle Suits since I was a little girl", Haruka said and then looked over to the new group. "I noticed everyone finds my attire to be a bit weird, it's because I suffer from poor blood circulation so I get cold very easily and bruised, but it's not a major thing. How about you Roman? I can tell you're not russian by your accent, as I can tell Zhao isn't Chinese per say. I have an ear for this, since we have so many people from so many countries around here."

"Anyone else would care to introduce themselves?"

Katsu stood ramrod straight at the sound of the general's voice and then raised his hand in a proper military salute.

"The name is Katsu Gosika and I have been with the MDN since I was fifteen years old. I scored high marks with the Vegas mech suit during the training period and my callsign is Vega."

He took a quick glance around and noticed a girl about his own age standing near the general and he smiled at her. He was about to ask her her name when she started speaking.

"My name is Suzuhara Haruka, my callsign is Phyxius and I pilot Aegis...11".

Katsu walked over to the edge of the railing and looked down at his battle suit and frowned. He could still remember what the suit had looked like when he had first seen it. It had looked like it had gone through hell. There had been battle scars all over it and one of the arms had been missing a hand. But it had been rebuilt and he had trained with it and he had turned it into something that could strike fear into the heart of any foe.

Except one man, he thought darkly as he looked over the other battle suits, giving each of them a look over.

Xaiver saw the group was starting to from by the railing so he made his way over there. He looked down at the battle suits that were down low and whistled.

"I have been working with Battle Suits since I was a little girl", Haruka said and then looked over to the new group. "I noticed everyone finds my attire to be a bit weird, it's because I suffer from poor blood circulation so I get cold very easily and bruised, but it's not a major thing. How about you Roman? I can tell you're not russian by your accent, as I can tell Zhao isn't Chinese per say. I have an ear for this, since we have so many people from so many countries around here."

Xaiver looked over to Haruka and smiled at the girl.

"I believe Zhao is from Taiwan. My uncle made sure I learned most accents in the world if I wanted to be with the MDN. He was both a pilot and a mechanic for the MDN. Maybe you heard of him, his callsign was Shiro."

Cook and what was left of his weary battlegroup then prepared to meet the leader of MDN. The mission was a failure, and the base was destroyed. He would ask the MDN for supplies to rebuild the research base on the moon. But at least he had knowlege. Knowlege of the new type of robot he encountered on Luna.

to be continued.....

"I believe Zhao is from Taiwan. My uncle made sure I learned most accents in the world if I wanted to be with the MDN. He was both a pilot and a mechanic for the MDN. Maybe you heard of him, his callsign was Shiro."

Haruka put a finger on her mouth and looked up to try to remember.

"Oh yeah! He's got that exceptional ability to patch up something on the fly. Shiro never gives up", Haruka said.

She realized most of them had started to join her and Roman near the railing. General Ramirez walked over to them and looked at the Battle Suits, which were standing on the launch pads.

"Haruka has been looking over your Battle Suits since they arrived. She's very capable, in fact, her father designed the system that most of them use and she has done several firmware upgrades herself for some of you. You'll find the HUD is improved and the targeting system has better target prediction and radar capabilities", Ramirez said.

"Oh yeah! He's got that exceptional ability to patch up something on the fly. Shiro never gives up"

Xaiver smiled at this, happy that his uncle was the same no matter where he was. When he heard General Ramirez speak about how Haruka had watched over all of these Battle Suits he couldn't help but be impressed. He looked back over to the girl with a stunned expression but quickly recovered.

"Well on behalf of Nova and I, I thank you for taking care of the big guy and I mean that."

Hang in there big guy, I'll be there as soon as I can

"Haruka has been looking over your Battle Suits since they arrived. She's very capable, in fact, her father designed the system that most of them use and she has done several firmware upgrades herself for some of you. You'll find the HUD is improved and the targeting system has better target prediction and radar capabilities"

Katsu shifted uneasily when he found out that someone else had been working on his battle suit. He alone had worked on it in the past and everything had been calibrated to his exact specifications. Still, the thought of a better HUD and improved targeting systems slightly cheered him up.

He looked over at Haruka with renewed interest. The fact that she was able to upgrade the Vegas even after all the modifications he had made to it impressed and suprised him.

Suzuhara Haruka...she's quite talented. I'll have to keep an eye on her.

He then looked back down at the Vegas and smiled as he remembered the good times he had spend working on the machine.

"Pardon me for asking, but did you make any upgrades to the weapons that came with our battle suits? And would it be possible for us to acquire new weapons?"

Roman returned Haruka's bow, as she acknowledged him.

"My name is Suzuhara Haruka, my callsign is Phyxius and I pilot Aegis...11," she said to him with a pause. Roman smiled at this, and spoke to her in Japanese, "So you are the pilot of the Aegis jou ichi, nice to finally meet you."

Roman knew some Japanese, mostly from his technicians, but it was mostly basic, often times his sentences were poorly structured, or words spoken incorrectly. He was still learning English as it was too, but he was quite a bit more advanced in that, than in Japanese. He'd hoped he'd said everything right, he was hoping to impress her in some way, after all, she was the pilot of the Aegis 11, a Battle Suit of beauty that he'd heard of, and seen on several occasions; and obviously the pilot matched the mech, so he wanted to definitely make a good impression, since he was going to be working with her on the battlefield.

She drew closer to him, and he froze, thinking he'd said something wrong, but she diverted slightly, and peered over the railing at the Lævateinn 2.

"It's a very beautiful piece of work, I was tasked with upgrading it and checking it's system, but I couldn't bring myself to tamper with it. Especially after the AI interface it has seems to be almost a 100% synchronized with you. Not many pilots achieve this. I only took the liberty of checking the weapon system to make sure it was ready, no tampering whatsoever, my father wouldn't have tampered with it either, in fact I sent him a photo of it, he was so excited he wanted to come here and see it." She told him. Roman beamed with joy, not only had she practically read his mind, and hadn't tampered with his suit, but she'd complimented his synchronization with the Lævateinn 2, something few noticed, but was extremely important to every pilot. A higher synchronization with one's suit was a show of one's skill as a pilot (in a way), and was something all pilots strive to improve upon; having the pilot of the Aegis 11, daughter of Doctor Suzuhara, pretty much flatly say he was a very impressive pilot was something Roman could have only reminisced over not even a few hours ago. Plus she told him that it was a beautiful suit, along with showing her father photos of it, which made the Doctor actually want to come and see it. Roman almost couldn't believe it, it was like all his efforts as an advanced Battle Suit pilot since he was eleven had finally been rewarded, and only within a matter of minutes upon entering the facility.

'This is a Shōri Facility! He thought to himself, as he forced himself into a state of humility, as acting out was no way of earning respect from his fellow pilots.

"I have been working with Battle Suits since I was a little girl," she said, making Roman smile nostalgically, as he'd been training with Battle Suits since he too was quite small.

"I noticed everyone finds my attire to be a bit weird, it's because I suffer from poor blood circulation so I get cold very easily and bruised, but it's not a major thing. How about you Roman? I can tell you're not Russian by your accent, as I can tell Zhao isn't Chinese per say. I have an ear for this, since we have so many people from so many countries around here." She finished.

Roman smiled kindly,and politely at Haruka, responding, "I find your attire fine, Miss Haruka, I never once thought it was weird, I too am wearing a hot garment, am I not?" As Roman motioned to the fine coat he was wearing, on top of the fact that he had gloves on too.

"I find it quite impressive that you can tell the subtle differences in my accent from that of a Russian. But you are right, I am not Russian, I am Ukrainian," he told her/them, pausing for a moment. "I know what you are all going to ask; yes, Ukraine is as bad as you hear it is, and then some," he told them, knowing full well that whenever he told people where he was from that they always were curious to know whether Ukraine was really as bad as it was made out to be, or whether it was just propaganda.

Roman simply looked from one person to the next, smiling politely, and then turning to look over the railing at the Lævateinn 2. He hoped to be down there in the cockpit soon.

"I noticed everyone finds my attire to be a bit weird, it's because I suffer from poor blood circulation so I get cold very easily and bruised, but it's not a major thing. How about you Roman? I can tell you're not Russian by your accent, as I can tell Zhao isn't Chinese per say. I have an ear for this, since we have so many people from so many countries around here."

Zhao allowed himself a small grin. "Finally, I'm glad your smarter than those dumbasses back at home. So, it seems we have two Japanese people, a Ukrainian, a Taiwanese, and an American making up the crew," he said, giving everyone a once over. A nice, diverse team, that had individuals with different personalities that seemed to balance out. One of the best possible teams, he thought with satisfaction. He couldn't help but feel a little left out though, with Roman and Xavier getting most of the praise, even Katsu's battle suit was commented on. He did admit to himself though, he didn't mind that much, being used to doing things by himself. He looked at his mech over the railing. Come on, when are we going to get into those things? he thought a bit impatiently.

"Well on behalf of Nova and I, I thank you for taking care of the big guy and I mean that."

Haruka gave him a small smile and nodded.

"You're welcome", Haruka said and turned over to Katsu.

"Pardon me for asking, but did you make any upgrades to the weapons that came with our battle suits? And would it be possible for us to acquire new weapons?"

"I only ran diagnostics on your Battle Suits, I know most of you do the upgrades and repairs on them yourselves so I didn't really tamper with them much, I only gave you some interface upgrades like improved targeting, HUD capabilities and radar sensors. Once you get in you'll see the advantages, your AIs also welcomed the change otherwise they would've rejected the firmware. But once they themselves analyzed the upgrades and accepted it", Haruka said and then started thinking. "Weapons wise, I've designed some sniper rifles, SMGs and Assault Rifles. You'll be able to check them out in the armory once you run your rutine excersizes."

"So you are the pilot of the Aegis jou ichi, nice to finally meet you."

Haruka's eyes widened, she did not expect Roman to know japanese and so she giggled.

"That's pretty good japanese. I'm also delighted to meet all of you", Haruka said.

"I find your attire fine, Miss Haruka, I never once thought it was weird, I too am wearing a hot garment, am I not?" As Roman motioned to the fine coat he was wearing, on top of the fact that he had gloves on too.

"I find it quite impressive that you can tell the subtle differences in my accent from that of a Russian. But you are right, I am not Russian, I am Ukrainian," he told her/them, pausing for a moment. "I know what you are all going to ask; yes, Ukraine is as bad as you hear it is, and then some," he told them, knowing full well that whenever he told people where he was from that they always were curious to know whether Ukraine was really as bad as it was made out to be, or whether it was just propaganda.

"Well, when I was growing up, the ghetto in the remains of Nagano was not a very pleasant place either, I guess Katsu would know too, it was constantly in the news", Haruka said and then focused her attention of Zhao who seemed to be most agressive than the others but at the same time it didn't seem like he was picking a fight or anything like that. It appeared he had been through a lot and had developed a thick skin but also a "won't be ran over" attitude.

"Finally, I'm glad your smarter than those dumbasses back at home. So, it seems we have two Japanese people, a Ukrainian, a Taiwanese, and an American making up the crew"

Haruka walked a bit in direction of Zhao's suit and looked over to him.

"Your suit's design is quite unique Zhao, while it seems to be old, it actually is pretty advanced for it's age. It had no problem taking in the firmware and I think for someone with your skills, the new targeting interface will come really in handy. I read all your profiles and tried to incorporate some interface designs that fit the most with your skillset. I heard a lot about you Zhao, you're very commited to the cause, and if I may give an opinion I think you are really brave. Standing up for yourself when everything seems against you takes a lot of courage. And your file speaks for itself, impecable", Haruka said giving him a smile.

General Ramirez walked over to them and smiled at all of them.

"It's nice to see our team is getting along so well. Well, get settled in gentlemen, we'll begin test runs in a couple of hours. You're dismissed", General Ramirez said and went on his way after saluting Haruka who in turn saluted back.

"You guys might want to get settled first and have a look around the facility, we'll meet back here when it's time to do the test runs. I'm sure you're all eager to get back into your suits, and your suits can't wait either", Haruka said.

Your suit's design is quite unique Zhao, while it seems to be old, it actually is pretty advanced for it's age. It had no problem taking in the firmware and I think for someone with your skills, the new targeting interface will come really in handy. I read all your profiles and tried to incorporate some interface designs that fit the most with your skillset. I heard a lot about you Zhao, you're very commited to the cause, and if I may give an opinion I think you are really brave. Standing up for yourself when everything seems against you takes a lot of courage. And your file speaks for itself, impecable"

Zhao couldn't help but grin. "You just made my day," he said, feeling good for once. Looks like I don't have to worry about proving myself, he thought with satisfaction.

"You guys might want to get settled first and have a look around the facility, we'll meet back here when it's time to do the test runs. I'm sure you're all eager to get back into your suits, and your suits can't wait either"

"What time do we have to meet back here?" Zhao asked. "And how big is the facility anyways?"

Cook had just finnished his meeting with the leader of MDN and was given commands to recolonize the moon.

"Sir!" one of his squad members said, "If we are to recolonize the moon, we will need more troops, and engineers, and more battlesuits!"

"Indeed, you are right," Cook said obviously lost in a daze. He was infact given supplies by the President, and millitary transports as well. All he needed to do was consult with General Ramirez about troops he needed. He picked up his communicator, and dialed the good general's number.

"General....are you there? Well, this is Commander Cook requesting rienforcements. I have failed to take over the moon, and my squad is now down to only two of my original men, myslef, and four Mercenaries I found on the station who are willing to join my battlegroup. I will however need moe troops in order to protect myself while I put up my new moonbase no telling what kind of other monsters will attack again. The MDN President has already given me the recources to build, all I need now is you to supply me with the needed troops. Well, I hope to hear back from you soon, Sir. Cook out."


To be continued.....

"It's nice to see our team is getting along so well. Well, get settled in gentlemen, we'll begin test runs in a couple of hours. You're dismissed," General Ramirez said, saluting to Haruka. Roman also saluted as he heard the General say they were dismissed, even if it wasn't necessary. Saluting was simply a hardwired thing for Roman, as he had been trained since he was eleven, it was a habit very well ingrained.

"You guys might want to get settled first and have a look around the facility, we'll meet back here when it's time to do the test runs. I'm sure you're all eager to get back into your suits, and your suits can't wait either," Haruka said, making Roman smile.

"What time do we have to meet back here?" Zhao asked. "And how big is the facility anyways?"

"Yes, those are my questions also, although I have a suggestion as well. May we all," he said pleasantly, motioning to his fellow pilots a bit eccentrically. "Have the pleasure of taking a tour of the facility with you Miss Haruka. It would most definitely get us familiarized with the place, and would keep us from getting lost, and not showing up for the test runs," he suggested politely with, of course, a smile. Plus, of course, it would be very pleasant to tour the facility with the beautiful young woman, as it was a breath of fresh air for Roman, who was always around greasy technicians, or stone hearted older (and even younger) pilots.

(OOC: Mandalor, I will answer your call to Ramirez in the next post)

"What time do we have to meet back here?" Zhao asked. "And how big is the facility anyways?"

"The facility is actually pretty big, we're underwater but this place does have an Assembly line for standard combat battle suits, they aren't as advanced as ours but they're mostly for infantry. The factory is what makes it so huge", Haruka said and looked at her watch. "It's 3 pm so you need to be back here a bit before 5".

"Yes, those are my questions also, although I have a suggestion as well. May we all," he said pleasantly, motioning to his fellow pilots a bit eccentrically. "Have the pleasure of taking a tour of the facility with you Miss Haruka. It would most definitely get us familiarized with the place, and would keep us from getting lost, and not showing up for the test runs," he suggested politely with, of course, a smile.

Haruka looked over at Roman and grinned.

"I guess I do have a bit of time", Haruka said and walked over to a man with very thick glasses. "Take over for me Takahashi-san".

The man in glasses nodded and Haruka went back to the group.

"This way guys", Haruka said as she started to lead them to the barracks so they got settled in first.

"The Facility was built around 2082, back then the battle suits were starting to show promise. And this facility was one of the first steps towards heavy battle suit research", Haruka said and led them to the barracks. "I'm sure you'll be able to find your dormitories just fine. Each of you have your own, it's a perk of being one of the MDN's elites".

"This way guys"

Xaiver waited a few seconds before walking after Haruka. He wasn't up for a tour but he didn't want to get lost like Roman had pointed out. On the subject of Roman, Xaiver looked over at him for a few seconds. He seemed to be more outgoing then Zhao and Katsu. Xaiver made his way over to Roman and flashed him a smile.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find your dormitories just fine. Each of you have your own, it's a perk of being one of the MDN's elites".


"And here I thought I was gonna get to bunk with Roman," Xaiver said as he smacked Roman on the back. "So shouldn't we try to get to know each other a little better during these next 2 hours? I'm not trying to interrupt your fabulous tour here Haruka, I just think if we're going to be teammates it would be easier to cooperate if we all actually like each other." Xaiver added in as a suggestion for killing time.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find your dormitories just fine. Each of you have your own, it's a perk of being one of the MDN's elites".

Katsu flinched at those words. He wasn't used to being by himself. After all, he had been a constant part of a military unit since he was fifteen, at least he had been a part of one until the entire unit had been wiped out with the exception of Katsu himself during a suprise attack. He still had nightmares about it at times.

He was still thinking about the ambush when he was brought back to reality by the sound of Xaiver slapping Roman on the back.

"Would it be possible to customize our dormitories to the way we wish to them to look? Or will we have to leave them the way we found them?"

"The facility is actually pretty big, we're underwater but this place does have an Assembly line for standard combat battle suits, they aren't as advanced as ours but they're mostly for infantry. The factory is what makes it so huge," Haruka said, looking to see the time. "It's 3 pm so you need to be back here a bit before 5."

Roman smiled, and chuckled to himself as Haruka used normal, non-military time to denote when they were supposed to be back. She may have been around Battle Suits for a long time like Roman, but she sure didn't have the formal military ingraining like he did, at least from what he could see. Probably an advantage of having Doctor Suzuhara as her father, as he could only guess. It just proved that anyone could be normal in any situation, something Roman was glad to see.

At Roman's suggestion Haruka looked at him, and grinned, making Roman chuckle yet again.

"I guess I do have a bit of time," Haruka said and walked over to a man with very thick glasses. "Take over for me Takahashi-san."

"This way guys," Haruka said, heading off, Roman following suite.

"The Facility was built around 2082, back then the battle suits were starting to show promise. And this facility was one of the first steps towards heavy battle suit research," Haruka said, Roman nodded as he listened intently, as they headed towards the barracks. "I'm sure you'll be able to find your dormitories just fine. Each of you have your own, it's a perk of being one of the MDN's elites."

Xaiver [sp?] moved up to where Roman was, and gave him a smile, something he hadn't expected, but accepted with a smile of his own.

"And here I thought I was gonna get to bunk with Roman," the man said, making Roman laugh lightly as he smacked Roman on the back.

"Well, if that is what you wish then, by all means," he told Xaiver, ringing his arm around the shorter man's neck playfully. "Anybody else care to bunk with me? There's plenty of Roman for everyone," he joked, laughing; using Ukrainian humor that he was sure some would take offense to, and others simply wouldn't understand, even if it wasn't meant to be crude at all. But he really didn't care, life was too short not to make jokes, even if others didn't understand them.

"So shouldn't we try to get to know each other a little better during these next 2 hours? I'm not trying to interrupt your fabulous tour here Haruka, I just think if we're going to be teammates it would be easier to cooperate if we all actually like each other." Xaiver suggested. A very intelligent suggestion too.

"Very smart suggestion friend, as a 'house divided against itself cannot stand', after all," he said, quoting the famous saying of Abraham Lincoln.

"The facility is actually pretty big, we're underwater but this place does have an Assembly line for standard combat battle suits, they aren't as advanced as ours but they're mostly for infantry. The factory is what makes it so huge", Haruka said and looked at her watch. "It's 3 pm so you need to be back here a bit before 5".

"Gotcha," said Zhao, glad to get an answer.

"I guess I do have a bit of time"

Zhao sighed. He had originally wanted to go around the base alone, like he always had before, though he did admit, it would be better if they bonded as a team - it would allow them to get missions done more efficiently.

I'm sure you'll be able to find your dormitories just fine. Each of you have your own, it's a perk of being one of the MDN's elites."

Zhao grinned inwardly. Looks like he could get some time to himself after all. He did, however, notice that Katsu looked slightly concerned at the notion of individual dorms. "What? Scared of a little solitary confinement?" Zhao said, half joking. He honestly couldn't understand why people hated being by themselves - he had always got along fine without any friends for comfort. Zhao then came back to reality with a comment by Roman.

"Anybody else care to bunk with me? There's plenty of Roman for everyone,"

"Thanks, but I don't think we all swing that way," Zhao laughed, getting the joke.

"So shouldn't we try to get to know each other a little better during these next 2 hours? I'm not trying to interrupt your fabulous tour here Haruka, I just think if we're going to be teammates it would be easier to cooperate if we all actually like each other."

"Well you can definitely do that if you wish", Haruka said and turned over to Katsu.

"Would it be possible to customize our dormitories to the way we wish to them to look? Or will we have to leave them the way we found them?"

"You can do with your dormitories what you like, they are yours from this moment on", Haruka said.

"Anybody else care to bunk with me? There's plenty of Roman for everyone,"

"Well to each's own I guess", Haruka said and moved towards the wall as her PDA rang. She took it out and found she had gotten a message. She opened it and found it was mailed to her from a Mr. Robeypants. She looked at it for a moment as if deep in thought and then turned to the guys.

"I'll meet you back later, I'm sorry but there is something urgent i must attend to", Haruka said and turned to leave walking fast.

========

General Ramirez was walking through the hallways with the Director Kellan again. They were pretty much quiet the entire time until Ramirez's PDA rang. He took it out and saw a new voice mail was there. And he played it.

"General....are you there? Well, this is Commander Cook requesting rienforcements. I have failed to take over the moon, and my squad is now down to only two of my original men, myslef, and four Mercenaries I found on the station who are willing to join my battlegroup. I will however need moe troops in order to protect myself while I put up my new moonbase no telling what kind of other monsters will attack again. The MDN President has already given me the recources to build, all I need now is you to supply me with the needed troops. Well, I hope to hear back from you soon, Sir. Cook out."

"Cook again huh?", Kellan said and sighed.

"What should I tell him?", Ramirez asked.

"What we've told NASA and the others, they'll get their funding and help when our priorities have been delt with. Right now I don't care about the moon and neither does the board of directors. Right now our priority is establishing that treaty with the Arab countries. Without that alliance, private Cook can kiss his family's moon base goodbye and we can all kiss our asses goodbye", Kellen said.

"We really have no one to spare?", General Ramirez asked.

Kellen looked around to General Ramirez and sighed once more.

"Alright, send a brigade of infantry troops. No Elites, we came here to do a job and this team was assembled for it. Let's not deviate", Kellen said and walked away.

General Ramirez sent a message to Cook.

"Sergeant Cook, a brigade of infantry soldiers is going your way, sorry but we can't spare many soldiers. Especially elites, the burocrats don't really care about the moon right now, the Chinese and the Russians are pressing more for the Arab Countries, and in the end if they don't get the Arab resources they can't hold the moon base for long. Good Luck", General Ramirez typed and sent the message.

"Thanks, but I don't think we all swing that way," Zhao said, laughing.

Roman frowned as Zhao actually hadn't understood his joke, and even taken it in the wrong direction.

"Sorry, I don't think the joke was too clear. There's a story behind it, but for now it's too long to explain. Let's just say that cannibalism was more than just rumored of, in Ukraine," he said, his frown growing deeper, and his eyes spacing out as he began to reminisce, and brood.

Roman quickly snapped out of it, and even cheered up, when he heard Haruka speak up, but quickly became disappointed again when he heard what she'd said. "Well to each's own I guess."

Roman was saddened, and tried to say something, but she spoke again before he did.

"I'll meet you back later, I'm sorry but there is something urgent i must attend to," she said, turning to leave quite hastily.

"I'm not.....like that," he called after her, but his voice faded as he thought she'd gone out of earshot. He frowned with downcast eyes, and finally removing his arm from around Xaiver's neck, he shoved his gloved hands in his coat pockets, and turned to the others.

"Well, I'm not," he said plain and simply. "I'm going to go, you guys can 'bond', right now I want to go see Lævateinn 2," he told them, flashing a brief, yet half sincere smile. He too left the group at a fast pace, heading back to where the Lævateinn 2 was.

He eventually made it there, and with a little ingenuity, and effort, mounted himself on the suit's collar, where he sat humming an old Ukrainian chant, and fiddled with a box of trinkets. After embarrassing himself in front of his fellow pilots, and Haruka, he needed some time to himself, or more like, to themselves (being that he was with his suit).

'They'll get over it, and I will too. It's just hard to lose face with someone, especially after you've just met them...And you want to impress them,' he thought to himself with a barely visible smile, although one could tell it wasn't all too happy.

"Besides," he said aloud to the Lævateinn 2. "I feel I'd rather be here with you right now anyways," he said, his voice picking up in tone a bit, as he smiled a much bigger, cheerier, and genuine smile.

"I'm not.....like that,"

Katsu watched as Roman turned away from the group and headed for his mech before turning back to the others and slowly shaking his head. He then walked away from the group and headed for his Mech.

After a short walk, he found himself in front of the Vegas and after a few moments he managed to position himself on the left foot of the giant mech. He looked up at the Lævateinn 2 and noticed that Roman was sitting on the collar of the Mech.

He made a fool of himself. And in front of the entire group. Right now I believe he could use some encouragment.

"For the record, I got your joke." He called up to Roman. "I just don't laugh that much."

Xaiver laughed with Roman, happy to see someone who knew how to have fun. However it seemed the supposed good mood everyone was feeling suddenly vanished. First Haruka got a message which seemed to cause her some distress.

"I'll meet you back later, I'm sorry but there is something urgent i must attend to"

Xaiver looked into her eyes and saw the urgency in them. Whatever she got must have been very important.

I hope things go well for you Haruka he thought to himself.

He then turned to see Roman walk away from the group. Suddenly he remembered what Roman had said before moving and Xaiver realized he was embarrassed. Xaiver smacked his hand against his head before shaking it slightly. He looked over at Zhao at who was still standing there. Now their leader, which Xaiver guessed was Haruka who unfortunately was forced to leave them and Roman was already straying from the group. Not to mention Zhao looked like the loner type and Katsu looked like he kept to himself too.

Well someone has to do something. A good team always needs a second in command, for emergencies such as this.

"Alright I think its safe to say we all want to get to our battle suits, but this isn't looking good guys. When we all get back to our suits let's try talking while we work on them."

Xaiver began making his towards his battle suit and when he finally arrived he saw Roman working on his own.

"Hey big guy!" Xaiver shouted up to him. "Think you got enough guns on there?"

Giving Roman time to respond took a piece of paper and pen from a work area and began writing something down. He turned to see Katsu was here as well.

"By the way, nice voice you got there Katsu. You should try using it more often," Xaiver said teasing Katsu lightly

"For the record, I got your joke." Roman heard shouted from down below, Roman looking down to see Katsu on his mech. "I just don't laugh that much."

"Thank you comrade Katsu, I'm glad you did get it, although I don't know how. But don't worry, I'll make sure to say something in the future that'll make you laugh, and won't make me look like a fool, I promise," he shouted back to Katsu, his old, happy mood quickly returning. In Ukraine, you learned not to focus on the negative too long, or it could literally get you killed. Something Roman was actually glad for.

"Hey big guy!" Xaiver shouted up to him, making Roman jump a bit, as he wasn't expecting Xaiver to be there (or Katsu, on that matter). "Think you got enough guns on there?"

Roman looked around, his suit was spotless when it came to weapons, even it's Rotary Gun had been removed, only the 70mm guns embedded in the Lævateinn 2's head were there, as all the others had been removed for transport, and checkup. He could only guess that Xaiver had seen his, and the Lævateinn 2's dossier (even if it was heavily censored, and classified), which had a minor description (of him, and the suit), and a list of some of it's weapons load out, even for those who had low level access.

"No, I would've liked a Microfission-Bomb Sling, and maybe a Heavy Microwave Cannon too, and some giant titanium-cloth mitts for Lævateinn 2 as well, to keep his hands from rusting in the nuclear winter. But they said my suit wouldn't be able to do Skid Combat so loaded down with weight," he jested back, the first two weapons actually being real armaments, and the last one about the mitts simply to add the humor to his remark.

"But in reality friend, ammo on my Battle Suit disappears faster than cookies in a ghetto, pardon the saying," he shouted, making sure to pre-apologize for anything he might say offensively.

And at that Roman proceeded to replace the trinket box to it's former place in a compartment in the neck of the Lævateinn 2, and he began singing quietly to himself in Ukrainian-Russian, walking precariously along the collar of the suit, over to the other side, where he proceeded to mount the suit, and go up to it's shoulder. Once up there, he leaned against the Lævateinn 2's head, and sung louder, only in a normal tone though; but it still echoed in the hangar softly, anyone could hear it, though it was somewhat eerie, he wasn't singing it for anyone, only himself, and the Lævateinn 2. If others heard, then they could form their own opinion on his vocal abilities, he didn't need acceptance to be happy, with his suit (although he would still prefer the acceptance, being a sociable person in nature).

Cook sighed, he had many troops at his disposal already. The brigade that was sent by Ramirez was enough to try and take over the moon. The transports that arrived were also spaceworthy and they immediately did the small hop to the ruins of Arc. It took two weeks for them to get a station up, but once they did, Cook's scientists flocked their to their new base. The good news was that their were no enemies aware of their pressance! But maybe that was because they were building a base of their own. That was discovered when a scout found a communist base within the side of one of the mountains. He reported back.


"General Ramirez,

I leave you another message, I have succesfuly set up a small facility on the moon, only to discover that the communists have set up one of their own during my absence. Should I take it out? Once I take it out and I have your blessing and I get my project up and running, I will rendevouz with you in the Arab countries. Commander Cook out."


(Actually, you called Cook private, though he is actually an officer or else he wouldn't be commanding a mission of his own. Just a note)

"Thank you comrade Katsu, I'm glad you did get it, although I don't know how. But don't worry, I'll make sure to say something in the future that'll make you laugh, and won't make me look like a fool, I promise,"

Katsu nodded up at him. Before his unit had been wiped out they had fought at the very edge of Ukraine's borders for a short time and he had seen actions such as cannibalism and brutal murders that had shocked him and the rest of his unit.

He looked up at Roman who was leaning against the head of his mech and was apparently...singing.

"If you all will please excuse me, I'm going to head for the dormitories and get some sleep before we meet up with Haruka again."

And with that Katsu slid off the foot of his mech and began walking toward the dormitories.

Zhao rolled his eyes as Roman and company walked away. So he didn't exactly get the joke, but he did try to be humorous. Zhao decided to not go after Roman. As soon as someone was made a fool of, even if it was completely unintentional, Zhao didn't believe people would listen to reason after that. Besides, the only reason he had gone with everyone was just so the team could effectively bond, and therefore, carry out missions effectively. He really didn't care much about friendship at all - Zhao didn't even believe it existed, he had been ostracized so much. Well, may as well find my cabin, Zhao thought. A little bit of decorating and feeling at home couldn't hurt. Haruka was right - finding his cabin wasn't that hard at all. He went into the cabin. With no lights on, it was pitch black, so he couldn't see anything. He swore in his native Taiwanese dialect after tripping over himself in the darkness, and then yelled an obscenity in his native tongue when he hit his head on the wall trying to get back on his feet. After fumbling around for the switch, he was able to get the lights on. The room was pretty boring - just a bed, a nightstand, and a communicator of sorts on the stand (Probably for urgent needs, Zhao thought), and an alarm clock. Zhao flopped himself down on the bed. He began to try to imagine where certain parts of furniture and decorations would go. A desk could go here, he thought. Maybe a lamp there. A new paint job would be nice, too. Zhao felt comfortable in his room, as boring as it was in its current state. After all, where else could he get some alone time?

((OOC: Mandalor, I thought I had told you that everyone was the same rank but oh well, I'll let it go this time I made your character a Sergeant, sorry no higher I had been over this with you in the multiple pms we sent each other, any more stuff you want to add to the story, you have to consult with me, and this goes for everyone and the answer may be yes or no. Any other changes like this will be ignored or just resolved with the finger of god (erased from existance). There are rules I put up in the RP. So read those please. This mostly affects Mandalor's character, everyone else is perfect.))

As she walked away, Haruka heard Roman say: "I'm not.....like that,". She had meant her comment as a joke too but she wasn't able to follow through it thanks to the PDA. She got to her desk. There wasn't anyone in the small office around, everyone was outside and she could see from the window overlooking the Battle Suits that her teammates were already inspecting their mechs.

She plugged in her PDA to her computer and she started writing code to try to decrypt what was sent to her by Mr. Robeypants. She knew it was a message from her father, he used to play a character called Mr. Robeypants when she was little and so she knew something had gone wrong. But she realized the encoding was really strong. She would need to be at it for a couple of hours, a couple of hours that she did not have at the present time. She decided to keep it in her PDA and lock it with some more encryption so no one could get access to it.

Haruka then walked outside to see that Xaivier, Roman and Katsu were there. She approached the railing and could hear Roman singing, Katsu looking at his mech and also Xaivier playing around with Roman. Takahashi, the man in the thick glasses approached her and stood next to her with a cup of coffee.

"So what do you think Boss?", Takahashi asked.

"I think we're gonna have to accelerate our plans. So far everything has been perfect, the elites I chose are here. Now it's time to see if they are willing", Haruka said, her expresion much colder.

"I can sense something is troubling you, I've known you since you were a kid Haruka, your dad and I were best friends", Takahashi said.

"Yeah I know, that's why he assigned you to me, so that you could keep me out of trouble", Haruka said with a small smile. "But now dad is in trouble Takahashi-san, I think he may even be..."

"Don't say that Haruka, why do you even speculate about that?", Takahashi asked.

"I got a message from Mr. Robeypants", Haruka said in a saddened tone.

"That's the user he said he'd use in case he...?", Takahashi tried to finish the sentence and it brought a single tear to Haruka's eyes as she nodded.

"I'm sure he's fine, if he wasn't then General Ramirez would let us know right?", Takahashi said but Haruka looked at him wiping her tear away.

"With that burocrat Kellen here?", Haruka asked and scoffed. "Kellen doesn't give a **** about any of us as long as we do the job."

"So what are you gonna do now?", Takahashi asked and Haruka turned to him.

"For now, we'll let these events unfold, see where it takes us. After that, we'll see", Haruka said and walked over to the elevator and got down to the level of the Battle Suits. She then moved towards Aegis 11 and sat down on the left foot, and she took out a laptop which she plugged in to a small port in the foot. She started to run diagnostics and wiped her eyes one more time discretely so no one would notice and just continued her work.

Xaiver laughed at Roman's cookie joke taking no offense to it what so ever. He was sitting down on Nova's right foot when he stopped writing to look up. He didn't know why but something told him to. When he did look up he saw that man with glasses and Haruka. He stared at her for a few seconds before looking back to Nova. Something felt out of place but he wasn't sure what. He dropped the piece of paper on the floor and scratched his head for a few seconds. He got up and walked over to where Haruka was.

"Well my plan didn't work on out too well, but at least were starting to talk to one another. So the real reason I came over here was to try to get to know you better since you had to leave before we all had a chance to talk...but I can see your busy so I'll stop by later." Xaiver said scratching the back of his head. "Hey if you ever have any free time don't be afraid to come see me, and that goes for everyone too."

Wow that sounded a lot better in my head

Xaiver backed away and looked up at Roman and called out to him.

"Hey Roman, wanna see what the other two are up to? I know your busy but I'd love to hear that story of yours."

She then moved towards Aegis 11 and sat down on the left foot, and she took out a laptop which she plugged in to a small port in the foot. She started to run diagnostics and wiped her eyes one more time discretely so no one would notice and just continued her work.

((Uh Cyborg, ya kinda messed up on that one, you would've never noticed her crying, or would have intercepted her, cause she already made it to her mech's foot in her post. On top of that I have to start all over now, cause my post that I was making is ruined. :( - Ah well, whatever. You got there first, fair game I guess.))

((Alright, edited a post in, hope it's not too, blah! Seeing as the other one went down the toilet. - Don't worry Cyborg, I don't hold it against you, I was just saying. :whtsmile: ))

"Hey Roman, wanna see what the other two are up to? I know your busy but I'd love to hear that story of yours." Roman heard called up to him from Xaiver down below.

"No thank you friend, I want to stay with the Lævateinn 2, there's a reason I'm nearly 100% synchronized with it," he paused as he looked down at Xaiver, and noticed Haruka on her mech's foot. He scratched his head, his eyebrows furrowing as he went into thought, he hoped she didn't think he was....'the other way'.

"And it's not because of my singing either," he continued, joking with Xaiver some more, his gaze dwelling on Haruka below, as he felt like saying hi, but he didn't feel like embarrassing himself further today. He'd simply have to make up for it, and prove himself in the test runs.

"You should go and see about Katsu though, I think my singing scared him off. Zhoa too. He seems the loner type, but even they ((loners that is)) need talking to, friend," he told him, leaning back, so that he was no longer looking down from his mech. "Besides, I'll tell all of you about the story later, it's getting too close to the test runs for me to be reciting nostalgic stories about Ukraine."

With that Roman proceeded to climb off of the Lævateinn 2, and down onto the scaffolding-catwalk that wrapped around it's chest, where he began checking an input panel on the outer side of his suit's cockpit. If Xaiver left, he would take that time to apologize to Haruka, even if there was no real reason, or obligation to do so. It was always better to say you were sorry for making a mistake to others you believed you'd lost face with.

"Well my plan didn't work on out too well, but at least were starting to talk to one another. So the real reason I came over here was to try to get to know you better since you had to leave before we all had a chance to talk...but I can see your busy so I'll stop by later." Xaiver said scratching the back of his head. "Hey if you ever have any free time don't be afraid to come see me, and that goes for everyone too."

Haruka looked up as he said these things and she giggled a bit.

"Ok, thanks that's good to know. And don't worry, there will be plenty of time for us to get to know each other", Haruka said. Which was true since they would be working together for now on. She looked up and saw Roman working up there. She was kinda worried that he had been left with the impression that she thought he was something he wasn't but she wasn't sure if she should just go up there and talk to him. She just figured if he wanted to talk about it he'd come to her so she continued to work on her diagnosis.

Xaiver smiled at Haruka's giggle, and on top of that he was happy with her response. At least he felt comfortable around two people in the group now.

"You should go and see about Katsu though, I think my singing scared him off. Zhoa too. He seems the loner type, but even they ((loners that is)) need talking to, friend," he told him, leaning back, so that he was no longer looking down from his mech. "Besides, I'll tell all of you about the story later, it's getting too close to the test runs for me to be reciting nostalgic stories about Ukraine."

Xaiver had forgotten about the tests for a few seconds, which he found a little odd; He didn't usually drift off like that.

"Good call, I guess I'll bring the wonder twins back here." and with that Xaiver walked off towards the dormitories.

((Well, this is basically the same post as the one I was going to put down from not even two or three posts ago. I just did some necessary editing, and presto, potpourri post surprise!....Or something funny like that :¬: ....Yeah. So, nothing to worry about, I griped for nothing...Sorry Cybog, I was very....uncool, I guess. I 'Pologize! :D.))

Roman glanced over the edge of the catwalk as he heard Xaiver say, "Good call, I guess I'll bring the wonder twins back here."

"Anytime comrade," Roman replied, finishing his work on the input panel.

Roman scratched his head before he covered the input panel back up, and looked up at the Lævateinn 2, and smiled as if he'd heard something.

"Thank you Lævateinn 2, I shall," he said with a smile, moving towards the end of the catwalk. He descended to the bottom level, and proceeded to walk towards the Aegis 11, all while resuming his singing. Once he made it, he climbed up the left foot to where Haruka was, and sat down, his singing quieting as he stared off into the hangar.

He got quiet, and looked at her, staring for a few moments before finally piecing together what he wanted to say in Japanese, "Hello Miss Haruka, you're as pretty as the last time I saw you." Roman was trying to go for the 'I'm not like that' demeanor, but he felt that he was already beginning to fail, and deflated a bit.

"Nevermind.....So, you look cold," he commented normally in English, although his older wisdom, and common sense, told him she was in the least a little preoccupied in action, and thought. He hoped it wasn't because of him.

He fiddled with his thumbs nervously before saying quietly, "I'm sorry about earlier, even if I didn't insult anyone, or you, what I said still caused unnecessary problems. I'll be more careful in the future, I promise."

Roman was getting more nervous as the silence continued. "I, uh....." he tried thinking of something that would lighten the mood, and make Haruka smile.

"Would you like to wear my coat, the lower levels of the hangars are always colder than the rest of the facility, or so I've thought, and you really do look cold," he admitted, somewhat shyly.

"But, you said it was nothing to worry about," as he removed his coat, and set it to the side, between Haruka, and himself. He wanted to cheer her up, as she seemed preoccupied, but he didn't know how, until a thought popped into his head.

"So, Miss Haruka, do you like cookies?" He asked, referring back to his supposedly funny remark from earlier that she hadn't heard.

"Hello Miss Haruka, you're as pretty as the last time I saw you."

Haruka grinned slightly at his words and continued to type in her computer, trying to finish quickly before turning her attention to him. As she finished, she heard him say a lot more. Trying to justify his words from before and apologizing. She turned to him as he said the stuff about her being cold and then completely change the subject with the cookie remark. This made her giggle a bit.

"I'm a bit cold but I also have this thermal shirt underneath so it's all good", she said giving him a small smile. "Oh and don't worry about what happened earlier, I did get the joke, I was joking too but I had an emergency so I couldn't follow up I'm sorry. And yes I do like cookies sometimes, why?"

She looked at him intently, he was a very interesting man. She could tell he was worried about her thoughts about him and this was a bit amusing but she respected his feelings about it.

Roman was beginning to cheer up as he saw Haruka grinning, and even giggling at his comments.

"I'm a bit cold but I also have this thermal shirt underneath so it's all good," Haruka said, smiling at him, making Roman smile back, somewhat abashed that he thought she might need his coat. "Oh and don't worry about what happened earlier, I did get the joke, I was joking too but I had an emergency so I couldn't follow up I'm sorry. And yes I do like cookies sometimes, why?" Haruka looking at him with great intent, making Roman a bit more abashed, and nervous too.

Roman was, however, relieved to hear that Haruka had understood his joke to some degree, and had even wanted to follow through with a joke of her own in response. This lifted quite a lot of stress off of his shoulders, obviously.

"An emergency you say? I hope it wasn't too bad," he commented, hoping that any worries she had about said emergency might be somewhat alleviated through his comments. "I'm here if you need anything Miss Haruka, and even if there's nothing I can do, then you have my support. Even the kind where I make a fool of myself offering you my coat like some old fashioned gentleman, not realizing it's the 22nd ((I think that's right)) century," Roman laughed, although it was an honest one, it was still half-hearted, as he had reminded himself of yet another one of his blunders on his way to attempt to impress Haruka in some way.

"As for the cookies, I uh....." Roman looked at his feet as if he'd just realized they existed, trying not to say it in too offensive of a way, but in the end, he realized that commenting on cookies disappearing in ghettos would be too high of a risk to take, when it came down to it. He didn't want to chalk up another blunder, nor did he want to insult the beautiful young girl who'd grown up in one of those very ghettos.

"....Glad to hear it.....Yeah, glad to hear it," he replied blandly.

"'I'm getting nowhere like this,'" he said in Ukrainian-Russian, looking up and over at the Lævateinn 2. Roman looked at Haruka, and smiled, trying to buy time; but to no avail, he had no more ideas, and he was beginning to run out of juice when it came down to speaking in English too. That was it! Language, he would ask her about that.

"So, I have a question Miss Haruka. Would you mind teaching me some Japanese? So far I've learned on my own from listening to my technicians yell at me, but that doesn't create stable ground for learning a new language," he asked, and told Haruka with a kind smile. "Besides, it will help us pass the time until the test runs, seeing as I'm finished with anything I wanted to do on the Lævateinn 2, and you seem finished with what you're doing on the Aegis ju ichi."

Roman smiled yet again, only far more nervously, thinking, 'I'm looking more, and more like the fool in front of her. Next she'll find my trinket box on the Lævateinn 2, and see my picture of when I lost that bet, and had to wear pink versions of my clothes, and make everything else on me pink too: hair, eyebrows, and eyes included! That would be just wonderful!'

((No problem...but now you owe me that story :thmbup1:))

Xaiver made his way to the dormitories, wondering how much longer it would be until the test runs. He called out to Zhao and Katsu ready to tell them about what was happening.

"Hey guys, I told Roman and Haruka I'd bring you two back to the battle suits. They'll be waiting..." Xaiver began to say.

Alone...he set me up! Well why should I care anyway, I mean I just met her...I mean them. Besides they all probably think your just another American who doesn't care about anyone but himself. I'm not though...am I? Xaiver snapped out of the conversation with himself.
"...for us, we should hurry back there."

He began to make his way back towards the battle suits. He didn't know why he was getting worked up like this, it was probably best to just let it go for now. As he got closer to the battle suits, he kept his eyes fixed on Roman and Haruka. He didn't see a chair in his path and smacked into it. He quickly covered his mouth to stop himself from yelling and continued walking like nothing ever happened.

"Miss me?" Xaiver called out to the two of them as he continued walking towards them. "Zhao and Katsu should hopefully be on their way," he added almost forgetting about them.

"An emergency you say? I hope it wasn't too bad," he commented, hoping that any worries she had about said emergency might be somewhat alleviated through his comments. "I'm here if you need anything Miss Haruka, and even if there's nothing I can do, then you have my support. Even the kind where I make a fool of myself offering you my coat like some old fashioned gentleman, not realizing it's the 22nd ((I think that's right)) century," Roman laughed, although it was an honest one, it was still half-hearted, as he had reminded himself of yet another one of his blunders on his way to attempt to impress Haruka in some way.

Haruka's eyes widened a bit and then looked at the jacket.

"Oh sorry, thanks a lot. I'm just not acustomed to others giving that kind of courtesy towards me", Haruka said and put on his jacket over her shoulders. "I feel a bit warmer now, thanks", she said giving him a small smile.

"So, I have a question Miss Haruka. Would you mind teaching me some Japanese? So far I've learned on my own from listening to my technicians yell at me, but that doesn't create stable ground for learning a new language," he asked, and told Haruka with a kind smile. "Besides, it will help us pass the time until the test runs, seeing as I'm finished with anything I wanted to do on the Lævateinn 2, and you seem finished with what you're doing on the Aegis ju ichi."

"Well I don't know how much I can teach you in so small a time", Haruka said giggling a bit and then looked at him. "I guess it won't hurt to try, you already have the basics down for all the phrases you've said so far."

She then looked over to where Xaivier was coming towards them.

"Miss me?" Xaiver called out to the two of them as he continued walking towards them. "Zhao and Katsu should hopefully be on their way," he added almost forgetting about them.

"That's good, let me see...", Haruka said as she turned to the monitor on the wall. It seems my test will the the first one so you guys get an idea of what we're gonna do. Each trial is different given the kind of fieldwork you specialize in. Mine is aerial and close range combat. So a lot of my training is in midair", Haruka said.

Zhao heard Xaivier's voice call out to him and Katsu, though it was a bit muffled, as he had the door to his room closed.

"Hey guys, I told Roman and Haruka I'd bring you two back to the battle suits. They'll be waiting..."

Zhao poked his head out of his room just in time to see Xaivier disappear down the hallway. May as well join them, he thought. He then noticed Katsu hadn't come out of his room. Probably asleep, Zhao thought. He then went up and banged loudly on the door to Katsu's room. "Xaiver wants us to get back to our mechs," he said in a raised voice, so Katsu could hear. Zhao didn't know why he felt compelled to help Katsu, as Zhao himself was very anti-people. I must be eager to get out of here, he thought. Zhao then walked down the hall and into the hangar. "Alright, this better be important," Zhao said to the others, annoyed that he didn't get more time to himself. "Katsu's probably waking up from his nap, and I'm itching to get back into my mech."

"Xaiver wants us to get back to our mechs,"

Katsu slowly opened his eyes at the sound of someone knocking at his dormitory door and then opened his eyes even wider at the sound of someone shouting at him through the door.

The last thing he had remembered was finding his dormitory and then laying down on his suprisingly comfortable bed. He had been having nightmares again.

I should really see if there is a therapist on base.

He got up off the bed and walked out the door and headed for the area where the mechs were docked arriving after a few minutes of walking.

"So...May I ask why we were summoned here?"

"That's good, let me see...", Haruka said as she turned to the monitor on the wall. It seems my test will the the first one so you guys get an idea of what we're gonna do. Each trial is different given the kind of fieldwork you specialize in. Mine is aerial and close range combat. So a lot of my training is in midair"

"I'm all about close range, I've turned Nova into the ultimate close quarters warrior." Xaiver stated proudly.

"Alright, this better be important," Zhao said to the others, annoyed that he didn't get more time to himself. "Katsu's probably waking up from his nap, and I'm itching to get back into my mech."

"Amen to that Ace. Well we're each taking the tests individually and each trial is based off what your suit specializes in. Haruka here will be going first," Xaiver said to Zhao and Katsu before turning to Haruka "Speaking of going first, is the second slot already slotted or are we taking volunteers?"

"So...May I ask why we were summoned here?"

"How quickly they forget", Haruka said jokingly. "We're about to begin our training excersizes guys."

"Speaking of going first, is the second slot already slotted or are we taking volunteers?"

"Well the order is a first come first served. They said I should be first because I'll be gathering data of your performances. Takahashi-san will gather info about me and Aegis 11. But if you guys want to settle among yourselves, you can decide the order", Haruka said and pointed towards a terminal near the monitor. "Over there you can make a selection of weapons you might want to test out, my designs so make sure to take advantage of all their features".

"Oh sorry, thanks a lot. I'm just not accustomed to others giving that kind of courtesy towards me," Haruka said and put on his jacket over her shoulders. "I feel a bit warmer now, thanks," she said giving him a small smile.

Roman smiled back warmly, somewhat relieved by her remarks. "You're very much welcome. But you don't have to wear it, it was simply a kind gesture on my part, no obligation goes towards you to wear it Miss Haruka, if you don't want to, that is," he explained kindly.

"Well I don't know how much I can teach you in so small a time," Haruka said, giggling a bit, and then she looked at Roman, making him grin abashedly. "I guess it won't hurt to try, you already have the basics down for all the phrases you've said so far."

"You should hear me when I try to carry on a conversation! I end up saying things so wrong, the technicians don't even want to tell me what I said half the time," he laughed at himself, unashamed. "Besides, Miss Haruka, you don't have to teach me now, considering the time restriction, but if I may ask, would you be willing to teach me over a long term period?" He asked with a small, but handsome smile.

"Miss me?" Roman heard from off to the side, looking over he noticed Xaiver was back. "Zhao and Katsu should hopefully be on their way," the younger man said, making Roman raise an eyebrow as he thought of how expediently Xaiver had returned. He'd hoped that his friend would have gotten the idea to give him some time.

"That's good, let me see..." Haruka said as she turned to the monitor on the wall. "It seems my test will the the first one so you guys get an idea of what we're gonna do. Each trial is different given the kind of fieldwork you specialize in. Mine is aerial and close range combat. So a lot of my training is in midair," she told them.

Roman smiled at this, he couldn't wait to see Haruka, and the Aegis 11 at work finally. Roman sat and listened to the remarks going back and forth for a bit.

"So...May I ask why we were summoned here?"

"How quickly they forget", Haruka said jokingly. "We're about to begin our training exercises guys."

"How quickly indeed," Roman added, chuckling at Haruka's joking manner.

"Well the order is a first come first served. They said I should be first because I'll be gathering data of your performances. Takahashi-san will gather info about me and Aegis 11. But if you guys want to settle among yourselves, you can decide the order," she told them all, Roman leaning back, somewhat nonchalantly.

"If it's all the same then, I call third slot, after whoever goes after Miss Haruka. I want to at least see one of my fellow pilots' performance before I go out," Roman said.

"Over there you can make a selection of weapons you might want to test out, my designs so make sure to take advantage of all their features." Roman smiled as he looked over at the monitor Haruka was pointing at.

He looked back at Haruka, he remarked, and complimented, "I'll be sure to take a look Miss Haruka. Considering they're your design, they're probably very good."