Taking a Break [Day 4 EE, Hanger]

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie was at the foot of the mech, eating a sandwich. Bill was starting his evening prayers a little bit away. Chrisitan and Mitsuri were working on the mech.

(I left the mech blank so if someone joins and wants me working on a specific mech - like theirs - they can name it.)

[GM Yuusha]

"Keep it up. You'll be done in a couple hours tops." Kenna calls to Chris and Mitsuri as he passes them, heading toward Charlie. He stops by him, placing his hands on his hips. "You stuck with it today. Not bad. You're into gauss weapons then, eeh?"

[Charlie Schroeder]

Christian gives the chief a big smile salute. His rise to the top starts here. Mitsuri was lost in her work and didn't notice.

Charlie put down his sandwich and stood up greet Kenna. "Chief, good evening." He nods about his vote. "I have always had a fascination for LosTech. We're going to need it for what is to come." Both for the jobs and the aliens. He then shrugs. "Man, can you imagine 10 years ago anyone voting to pass up a gauss rifle factory?"

[GM Yuusha]

"No, and that bothers me. Too much damn change. Makes me think anything could happen."

He thumbs behind himself over to where Christian was working.

"You need to get him to stop saluting when I walk past. Takes time away from the job. I just want to walk around in peace. Save it for outside the hangars. Even that amazon woman ain't got no say here." Kenna adjusts his glasses after letting out an annoyed huff. "I'm going to work on that Panther tomorrow once the usual repairs here are done. Probably have it ready in time for our attack, but it needs a pilot. Any suggestions on which lance has the most need?"

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna's head turned with a customary smile as she looked up from the container of scrap she was sorting through. To be more specific, she was in the container of scrap. It was hard for her to waste anything given her background and so here she was going through every last bit of anything to make sure it was truly junk or not.

"Hey now, there's the chief himself. And good ol'Charlie too. Got my head wrapped up in this salvage so I was zoned out for a bit. Found some good stuff in here that can be used, a lot of junk though. Oh well, now we know for sure. Figure I can use this stuff so I'll keep it close and have it at the ready."

[GM Yuusha]

"Dammit Harafanhilda." He never could pronounce her name. "Don't just pop out of containers. I'm old. You'll give me a heart attack." Tapping his chest, he took deeper breaths. He waves idly in her direction to indicate the scrap. "Use as much of it as you want, but I need you to strip the Spider's armour and assess the damage so we can start work on it tomorrow."

[Charlie Schroeder]

"No, and that bothers me. Too much damn change. Makes me think anything could happen."

He thumbs behind himself over to where Christian was working.

"You need to get him to stop saluting when I walk past. Takes time away from the job. I just want to walk around in peace. Save it for outside the hangars. Even that amazon woman ain't got no say here." Kenna adjusts his glasses after letting out an annoyed huff. "I'm going to work on that Panther tomorrow once the usual repairs here are done. Probably have it ready in time for our attack, but it needs a pilot. Any suggestions on which lance has the most need?"

"Will do. He's young and trying to impress. I was a lot like that when I first started. But I'll talk to him." Charlie shrugs about the Panther. "No idea. I only suggest Alex's squad should get the Assassin because he helped. If the mech warriors want to help us in here and actually help instead of causing us more work, I say they should get first pick, but beyond that, I leave that sort of thing to the pilots and strategists."

Hrafna's head turned with a customary smile as she looked up from the container of scrap she was sorting through. To be more specific, she was in the container of scrap. It was hard for her to waste anything given her background and so here she was going through every last bit of anything to make sure it was truly junk or not.

"Hey now, there's the chief himself. And good ol'Charlie too. Got my head wrapped up in this salvage so I was zoned out for a bit. Found some good stuff in here that can be used, a lot of junk though. Oh well, now we know for sure. Figure I can use this stuff so I'll keep it close and have it at the ready."

"Hey Hrafna," he probably butchered the name, but he's trying. "It was a pretty decent haul considering where were attacking. Find any standouts?"

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Aha, got it. Can do chief." She pulled out a small notebook from the chest pocket of her coveralls along with a pen and started writing. One would think it was about the work order Kenna had just mentioned. Nope, it was for something more important, at least to her. "Chief has a weak heart, no sneakin'. Got it right here in my notes now, don't you worry. Oh and don't you worry about that Panther either. Consider that armor stripped fast style."

Her eyes went back down to the scrap as if she was still picking stuff out. "Always somethin' good to be found is what I say, Charlie. If it was up to me we'd keep the whole lot just to have it in case we need it. You never know when you might need seven different kinds of springs and ten different cogs. But I'm limitin' myself to keep the really good stuff which is in here. Electronics mostly, things to quickly swap out when we need to. This is just the stuff that would get tossed, but not with Hrafnhildur on the case. No sir."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie nods. "Good. We can always find something to use the salvage for eventually. And if not, we can sell it." Charlie was a bit of a hoarder himself.

[GM Yuusha]

"Just don't let it distract you from your main duties." Kenna grumbles. He moves to walk past Charlie but stops to give him a somewhat awkward pat on the shoulder. "Good work." Was he happy about Charlie's promotion? His face gave nothing away.

He heads off to get stuff done.

/ Exit

[Charlie Schroeder]

"Just don't let it distract you from your main duties." Kenna grumbles. He moves to walk past Charlie but stops to give him a somewhat awkward pat on the shoulder. "Good work." Was he happy about Charlie's promotion? His face gave nothing away.

He heads off to get stuff done.

/ Exit

That took Charlie by surprise. He replied with a simple, "Thanks." He was pleased. He liked this crew so far and this was a good sign he could be staying for a while. But he knew enough men like Kenna to know that any more would likely get a response similar to Christian's salute.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Bye Chief! I won't get distracted Chief!" Hrafna waved enthusiastically as Kenna departed. She hadn't known that he knew she existed but it appeared as if he did and that was a good feeling.

She turned to Charlie with a smile. "Feel free to look over this stuff too. Always good to have another set of eyes on these things. A set of eyes that know what's what."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie gets down starts digging through it. Mostly, useful things, if not particularly valuable. Oh. What is this? Charlie pulls out an electronic board. "Mind if I have this? It'll make a good replacement for the mech we're working on actually. It's still usable, but this is nicer."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Aha! Good eye Charles. It's all yours of course, this stuff is for the good of us all. If we can use it then it is more better. More better? More good? More gooder? Then it is more better." She nodded at that, sure of it. "I'm thinkin' you got first dibs anyhow on accounta you being my senior and all."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie shrugs. "I'm not your direct superior, so no need to worry about rank too much. Honestly, I just like fixing mechs. It feels..." Charlie face falters for a moment as he remembers something he'd rather forget. "It feels purposeful. My father had big plans for me. He was going to have us kids bring him greater glory and use it to improve his station. But honestly, fixing mechs, doing what I can to keep the mechwarriors alive is all I want. If I worried about rank, I would have returned home after the tour with my first company."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna nodded and adjusted her position in the box she was standing in. "I know what you mean on that, Charles. Hey now, I think it's just what some of us are meant to do. Some are supposed to do these other things, and we are supposed to get out hands all dirty and fix things up and solve these problems. Use our heads to keep things goin' and everything. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean on that, Charles."

She bent over to pick up something that caught her eye but as she did it turned out it was only half of the part she thought it was. "I'm glad we got you here and glad to be workin' with you."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie nods. "Thanks. I'm glad you're hear too. I saw the work you did on the Panther. Where'd you learn to fix things like that?"

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna took the time to smile and adjust her stance in the box of scrap before answering. "Back home I was just workin' it farm stuff you know, tractors and things. That's where it started so I guess I had the brain for this stuff. Then I get involved with this outfit here and that know how just kind carries over to workin' on those mechs. Hard to explain but it's just a way if thinkin' I suppose. You got a good brain for this too, I'm thinkin' if I set you down in front of a piece of machinery you never seen before you can figure some stuff out. It's kinda like that I guess. But then I just kept at it, kept learnin'."

[Charlie Schroeder]

Charlie wonders where she'd be if she had attended a college like his. She seemed impressive.

"I sorta know. My education was a little more formal, but I always loved machinery. I remember sneaky into the factories when I was a kid and just watching them work. I always wanted to know how it worked, so my dad sent me to school when for it when I got old enough. Not that he had intended to me to become a mercenary, but," Charlie shrugs, "well, I did love learning. It's great to learn new things. Man, I hope they hit Budai next. Some gauss rifles.... have you ever seen one? They're beautiful."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"Aha, a mers...mecen...a mecenstary. I never thought about that but here I am one of those too, just like you. You and me got more than that in common actually. See, young Charles was out there figurin' things out too. They got schools for this stuff? Hoo boy, that woulda been fun. Goin' to school, first of all, then learnin' how to fix stuff there. I can see why they give you all this response...respoonsitility, havin' people report to your and things like that."

Finally, since she starting speaking, she climbed out of the box and dusted herself off. "Goose rifles? Not really, I know those are some big tech things though. I'd love to see them with my peepers and figure them all out."