2011-02-02 - A Thankful Captain

The Cutlass Fighters are in the process of being repaired as the pilots climb out of the cockpits. Operations seem normal in the hangar, including drones repairing the interior of the hangar. Medical teams are out in the hangar to see to the pilots. However, when the Amenthes is docked in the hangar, another group walks their way out to the hangar, led by a brunette. "Mister Luddite, I presume?"

The cockpit opens, the black energy canopy retreating like it was composed of feathers - simply disintegrating. From the cockpit rises a man with one of his eyes bandaged off, standing up inside of it and walking to the front of the cockpit to look out over it. He quickly notices that a group is walking his way, lead by a brownhaired woman. He raises his eyebrow a bit, confused about this sudden interest in him. But then, Dr. Hell too had somehow found a particular fancy for him. So... why not?

"I'll be right down." He states, upon which the machine lifts a hand up to the cockpit, which he steps out on. Amenthes then lowers the hand, putting him down in front of the brown haired woman, and the young blue haired man jumps off with a little wince upon catching himself. He then stands at attention, and salutes the woman. "Yes, that is correct."

The Brunette woman nods a bit as she crosses her arms. "It's good to finally meet you, Mister Luddite. I think our last meeting was on Mars a few months ago. I don't remember it too horribly well, but the captain does." Extending her hand to Ascian, she continues. "Miranda Helmsley, XO of the Ark Hammer." The sound of metal being cut off of a fighter can be heard as she XO hold out her hand.

Ascian raises an eyebrow as the brunette extends her hand, claiming that somehow, he and the captain of this particular ship had once met. Whatever this ship was, it was new. In fact, he'd never once heard of the 'Ark Hammer' before today. He'd watched it of course, from his vantage point over the battlefield, keeping track of everyone. He'd seen some of its armaments. But the design... it didn't look at all familiar.

Not wishing to be rude however, he extends his hand in reply, and accepts Miranda's, shaking it firmly. Well, as firmly as a Martian can. But then, he /was/ an Orbital Frame pilot, his physique certainly was more sturdy than even most military suit Martians. "Ascian Luddite, BAHRAM framerunner of the Amenthes unit." He introduces himself. No longer just a mere 'scout'.

He then retreats his hand back to his side and gives the woman a continued confused look. "You say she knows me? But, I don't think I've ever seen this ship before... what is your captain's name again?"

"Not personally, I believe. But you'd have to confirm it with the captain herself." Miranda says, withdrawing her hand and giving the pilot a quick once over. She wasn't a martian herself, but the look draws a bit of a smirk from the brunette for a split second. "Her name is Divada Kirador. The rest, I believe, is up to her to explain. If you'll follow me." She says as she turns away from Ascian and heads for the blast door entrance to the hangar. This woman wastes no time.

That was a good thing. Ascian rarely had the patience to have his time wasted. Admittedly, he tended to be kinder to women than men in that aspect. But the same change of mood was still present most of those times. The young man follows the XO with his hands wrapped around his belly - looking around with his one unbandaged eye.

At one point, one hand goes up to get some of his blue hair out of the way - looking all bishonen and rugged. Like one of those 'just out of a fight' prettyboy anime heroes. But his mind is on that name. Divada Kirador? No, it rang not a single bell. He keeps racking his brain over it, but just can't figure out where he would have met someone with that name -- not realizing he should be trying to figure out if he'd seen this ship before.

Miranda led Ascian to an elevator that seemed to be made for much larger people, perhaps power armored marines? Who knows. But the elevator ride isn't too horribly long. "Don't be too worried about it, Mister luddite. You want to have our medics have your eye looked at? It looks pretty bad." Miranda says walking around in front of him to take a look.

A few seconds later, They arrive on the bridge where quite a few people are working feverishly, more than likely conducting repairs on the ship. However, a single tall blonde woman makes her way towards Miranda and the pilot. "Mister Luddite. Good to finally meet you." After giving Ascian a look over as well, she turns to Miranda. "Continue with the repairs, Miss Helmsley."

"I'm find. It just needs some rest. The reason it's bandaged off is because medics already looked at it." Ascian says, denying Miranda's offer, turning his head to look at her for a moment, before turning his attention back to the door of the elevator they were riding. He'd taken a good look around, and the blue haired young man had indeed taken note of the expansiveness of the ship. It was roomier than the Argama, that was for sure.

Then, when the elevator arrives at its destination, and the doors roll open, Ascian follows Miranda out - noting that the'd arrived on the bridge - and salutes when he comes to a halt before Divada. He gives her a look over, at the same time as she did. Wondering why a captain would need such a tight bodysuit. She looked somewhat young - too young to be a captain in his eyes -- but the Chevrons clearly noted that she was, indeed, the captain.

"Ascian Luddite, at your orders, ma'am." He puts that hand to his head as he holds his salute - feet put together professionally and everything. He truly was a soldier. The young man then waits. He doesn't ask for permission to speak freely, and likely will remain in attention until she tells him to be 'at ease' or something.

Chuckling, Divada rises to her full height and puts her hands behind her back. She then gives Ascian a salute in return. "At ease, Ascian." She says before turning to the side. "Welcome aboard the Ark Hammer, Ascian." She keeps an eye on his stance and smirks a bit. He truly was a soldier, not a parade ground soldier like the Federation, but a soldier nevertheless. She watches Miranda continue the repairs on the ship before she turns back to Ascian. "The main reason why I asked you to come aboard is because I wanted to thank you personally, for your assistance against the Aerogaters on Mars months ago..."

Ascian is still racking his brain. The Aerogaters on Mars? Had she been there during the battle against Baraq? Then... suddenly, his eyes widen a bit, and he lifts his head. His body loosens up again, and his posture - although still firm - changes. Feet a bit further away, and he drops the salute.

"I remember now." A slightly disturbed look appears on his face, not too keen on remembering that day. "You were the ship me and my sister flew past during the attack on the BAHRAM facility. Together, we shot a series of them down on our way to the Urenbeck catapult." His head nods a bit as he says this, and his one visible eye is set upwards as he tries to recollect.

He then bows his head slightly. "Admittedly, you were not really my concern at the time. They were simply in the way. However - you are still welcome for the assistance I seem to have given you." He doesn't realize that what he'd blasted through weren't 'just' Aerogater units... some of them had been part of a part of the Divine Crusaders which had launched against Kirador. But without IFF signals, and using non main-line mass produced units, it'd been impossible to tell them apart. Even not for the lady before him.

Holding up a hand to stop him, Divada only smiles with a bow of her head. "It's fine. I know your situation at the time and... I'll admit you fared better than I did when it happened to me." She then looks out of one of the many windows on the bridge. "If it wasn't for you, Ascian, The Ark Hammer might not have made it off of Mars at all. Even after the help you gave us, we were stuck on Mars for repairs. We watched the Assault on the Neviim and the final desparate attack of the Balmarians on the ground. I'm more glad they were defeated, but saddened that the alliance the various factions were able to form, dissolved so quickly." When done, she turns back towards Ascian with a bit of a smirk. "But, we sort of expected it, didn't we? The Federation always has to beat their chests and claim the Alpha male role, while anyone else has to fall in line or be declared terrorists. Such is the constant battle of 'whose is bigger'"

"Don't forget that Katharon, upon agreeing on a temporary alliance with Dr. Hell, immediately backstabbed the man - after he put so much resources into repairing their units." Ascian adds dryly, making sure that Divada had more details. He'd been there, at the White Star, during the final offense. He'd fought off countless and countless of Balmarian drones, keeping them away from the main forces.

The young man raises his chin again, so that he could look straight at Divada - he was slightly taller... but he still was amused at how tall this female was. After all, on Mars, he'd never seen a woman get that close to him in height. "But you are right. Such allegiance is drifting. Unless there is a permanent enemy threat, we are stuck fighting amongst eachother."

Divada shakes her head and shrugs as she turns back towards Ascian. "Dr. Hell was a fool if he didn't expect that sort of treatment. Getting the plans for Turn X willingly from the Argama at anytime is a difficult affair. Demanding it in return for repairs in a time of crisis was somewhat foolish." She then shakes her head again. "But then again, it's not my way of doing things. If I were to get gundam specs, I'd use them in different units." She then tilts her head a bit. "At least we got a small measure of retribution against the Argama, didn't we?"

"Suppose we did." Ascian nods his head in agreement, looking around the bridge, taking note of those present at the moment - then turning back to Divada. "Will that be all then?" He wasn't entirely sure why the captain of a Divine Crusader ship had called him in like this - let alone just to say 'thank you'. After all, that could easily have been done on the Radio.

He takes a step back, clearly with the intent on leaving already. "No need to prepare any quarters, I'll sleep in my own unit, by the way." He adds quickly -- knowing that the Shadow Mirrors probably were trying to figure out their temporary living situation whilst the ship is en-route to earth.

Divada raises an eyebrow at the step back. She chews upon her lip a bit before shaking her head. "Yes, Mister Luddite. That will be all." She then nods. "I understand. If you wish, we could conduct repairs on your Orbital Frame." She looks a bit disappointed, but it's then suddenly covered under a very authoritative mask. "Thank you again for helping us out, Mister Luddite."

"You are welcome." Ascian replies, nodding at Divada. "And no repairs will be needed. Though I think I'll be getting off before we reach the Urenbeck catapult. Mars needs my assistance greatly at this point, and I cannot be away from it too long with the invasion of the A-LAWS so pressing of a matter." The young man takes another step back, and gives Divada a strange look... and halts.

He was good at reading expressions - exceptionally so. "What is it?" He insists, his voice suddenly one of authority -- much like he'd sounded during the arrival of the mission they'd just completed; the retrieval of Axel Almer. Though, there is a slight difference. There was a sign of worry - or interest. "You seem to be holding something back."

Shaking her head, Divada puts her hands behind her back. "My next question was to offer you a place on the ship, Mister Luddite. However, you seem eager to get off of my ship, so I won't worry about asking you. I'm sure BAHRAM will appreciate your hard work to liberate Mars." She then gives Ascian a lazy salute. "You are dismissed, Mister Luddite."

An offer for a place on this ship? Ascian's eyes widen for a moment in surprise... then ease down to one of understand. "I indeed must decline your offer for now. But... get back to me when the crisis on Mars is over." His voice is lowered into the realm of mystery and darkness, before he salutes Divada as well, clacking his boots together - then drops the stance and turns around.

His right hand then goes up into the air, as to say 'goodbye' to Divada. "Nice meeting you though." He states and wanders back into the elevator, and turns about - so he's facing miss Kirador. "Good day, miss Divada. May our paths cross again."

Divada waves to Ascian as the elevator doors close, but then her attention goes back to overseeing the repairs of the ship. She doesn't totally worry about Ascian and the Amenthes at the moment, she had her own problems. When Ascian gets down to the hangar, he'll find techs and drones still performing repairs upon the hangar bays, but, as asked, they are laying off the Amenthes. Seems the captain knows how to respect wishes....