Asgard Defense Force Einherjar

After a long night of studying Guana samples, Asgard's scientist Professor Jazz Jones retreated into a much needed sleep. He had a good eight hour cycle before being woken by classical music he had set on his phone. "STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON..." his phone alarm blared. Professor Jones reached a hand out to his phone, turning off the alarm. With as much vigor as an old man could muster, Professor Jones hopped off of his bed to continue his studies. That was until he heard a bit of commotion coming from the outside. It was one of the situation rooms and people were talking, and rather loudly. Or at least one was talking rather loudly. It was Doctor Fielder, another scientist who was supposed to be at his post.

The Professor walked down the hall, greeting Doctor Fielder on the way. He walked into the situation room, research papers still in hand. Judging by his eyes, he was still groggy from having just woke up. As he scanned around the situation room, Professor Jones had recalled that it was time for celebration- the space station was welcoming new pilots. "A ha! Welcome newbies!" the Professor threw up his papers like confetti before walking to the punch bowl. He poured himself a drink, then danced to whatever music he had in his head. As he went on, the Professor's bones cracked audibly.

He swaggered down to Major Jaeger. "Back in my day we didn't even have a space elevator!" Jones added "admittedly, dinosaurs used to walk the Earth back then! Of course, when I was your age, we just called 'em polar bears!"
 
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Major Jaeger gives Dr. Jones a bit of a knowing look. "Polar bears, eh? I thought they were too furry to be dinosaurs, but I wasn't alive back then, so maybe I'm thinking of something else. We've come a long way from the old giant slingshot method, haven't we?" He is cut off by the sudden wailing of a siren, and flashing red alert lights.

"A Gauna has been detected!" a voice announces over the PA. "Repeat, a Gauna has been detected. All civilian personnel, please move to the nearest shelter." The announcement continues for a moment longer before the Major rushes over to a console in the room and switches it on, calling up his own communications. "This is Jaeger. What's the situation out there?" He pauses while the person on the other end of the line answers, then turns to the assembled crowd. "Well, everyone, looks like you'll get a chance to sortie a little earlier than planned. A Gauna's been detected approaching the Earth...obviously enough. It's still a ways out, so we've got time to prepare, but you'll be scrambling for sortie ASAP to intercept."
 
Elisa is only briefly surprised when the klaxon sounds. It's not long until she's settled into a serious expression, her attention shifting to focus on the incoming threat. The first thing she does is turn to the Major with a question: "Sir. Who's going to be in this sortie?" As she speaks, she glances over at Chloe, making the intent behind the question rather obvious. Would Yggdrasil deploy her untrained...?

If they were going to, that's something she'd have to take into consideration.
 
"In the not so distant future there was a guy named Jones." the Professor laughed to himself before walking off. "I'd better get back to work" Jones told the major, before the alarms started blaring. Then, he ran as fast as his old legs could carry him- his bones cracking audibly on the way back to his lab. "Also newbies!" he yelled from the hall, turning his head around, "If you could get me a specimen, that'd be great. I've been needing to do research on the Gauna, but unfortunately, my last subject expired."

As Professor Jones made it back to the lab, he continued tinkering casually, as if oblivious that there was even an attack on the first place. "Doctor Ludwig, come here" Jones commanded "I've invented something." Jones picked up a contraction made up of some kind of plaid cloth connected to various blowing tubes as well as an old-timey leaf blower. "The electric bagpipes" Jones presented.
 
"Well, it'd usually be the whole squad, but this is a little unexpectedly early." The Major looks Elisa and Chloe over. "Do you two feel up to it? I really don't want to throw you into a live combat first-thing. I don't mind taking risks, but it's a little much to ask, even if you just hang back." Ho looks pretty serious. "I don't like losing pilots at all, much less green ones."
 
Ludwig glanced up as he heard the sirens. "GUANA SCUM... YOU SHALL BE DEFEATED BY THE BRAVE PILOTS! WHO WILL GET ME SAMPLEEEEEEEEES" Ludwig glanced at the Professor who just entered the laboratory. Ludwig placed down his wrench, as a robotic arm slowly moved up. "PROFESSOR!" Ludwig ran up to him, and jumped, wanting to do an air-high five with him, "A NEW INVENTION! YOU GOTTA TEST IT!" After performing or attempting to perform this high five, Ludwig glanced at the robotic arm he was tinkering with. He returned towards the arm and dabbled a bit on a nearby keyboard, as the robot hand lifted its wrist up, and turned towards Ludwig, as it moved its fingers fully upright, as it then proceeded to move quickly to perform a high five with Ludwig's hand. "Excellent... my sensory nerves were most pleased with the quality of that highfive... Oh so much more work to do."
 
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The piercing wail of the klaxon forced through the dark thoughts hanging over Randall, as he turns on his heel to run for the einherjar bays. Pulling his PDA from his pocket, he keyed in a request for information to the Major as he jogged. The red lights and blaring noise force his mind into a familiar mode, calm and loose as he makes it to the outer door of Warden's bay.
 
In a less serious moment, Elisa might be insulted that someone would imply that she should sit out a battle like this. After all the training and practice they'd made her do, it should be a given that she would deploy to fight off the Guana menace. That said, this is hardly the time or the place for pointless feelings of indignation. She hadn't been asking about herself, after all. No, she'd been asking if Chloe was going to end up deploying, because if then she was going to take it on herself to defend the other girl. Unit 01 was probably the most suitable for such a task, with its Aegis Gauntlet.

While she doesn't waste time or effort being insulted, she does respond promptly and curtly. "Major. With all due respect, I've trained for this for a very long time--" An understatement, but it would do for now. "-- and my skills and Einherjar lean towards close range combat. If it's up to me, I'll deploy on the front lines. I'm as prepared as I'm going to be for my first battle, and there's no time like the present."
 
"Oh, yeah, that's right," the Major answers as if he totally knew that. "Well, go on and get ready to deploy, then." He turns his attention to Chloe. "If you don't want to rush out there, go to the command room. You'll get a good crash course in what we're all about if you watch from there."

He leaves himself, marching toward that same command room. As he goes, he does his best to straighten out his clothes and look that much more presentable, though he doesn't cut the most dashing figure when he does burst onto the scene. "Alright, everyone, sorry I'm late, but I wasn't expecting an uninvited guest," he says to the rest of the command crew. "Fill me in on the situation so I can get the rest to the pilots."

Meanwhile, it takes a while for Randall to get a response on his PDA, other than the perhaps ominous "The Major's not here" from one of the other command staffers. He does eventually get a proper response. "Sorry, just showed up. Looks like you'll be deploying as soon as the squad's all ready, minus maybe one of the new kids. I'll fill you guys all in on things before you deploy, but it looks like a pretty routine intercept and destroy job."
 
Oh fuck, so soon!?

Between the loud sirens going off and the immeadiate change in the attitudes here, Chloe's relaxed confidence was shaken as the gravity of the situation was starting to sink in. The fact that she hadn't even looked at one of the einherjar before this was more than a little disconcerting.

Both Elisa and the Major were talking like this was just something inconvenient, like one had to pull the laundry down before it got rained on. The way they looked at her though. They didn't say it but she could feel it. "What good are you?" "What use can you even be?" The exact same feelings once her fifteen minutes of fame as the tournament champion were up. What could she possibly apply her skills in the e-sports ring to? What kind of "respectable, high paying job" had any kind of demand for that was the question she had been hammered with repeatedly.

It was only when the Major left, the conclusion seemingly reached, before her resolve hardened. Looking towards Elisa she put on a cockey grin to try and cover up the worry thrashing her insides.

"I'm goin' with ya, where do we go?"
 
Sending an acknowledgement, he enters in his code for the bay, before stepping through, heading immediately for the locker that contains his suit. Opening one quickly, he sheds his casual ware and starts the process of replacing it with his pilots outfit. Finishing that after a moment, he then grabs a small communicator from the locker and attaches it to a slot in his suits collar, before inserting the paired ear piece. Tapping it twice, it tunes him into the tactical network for the squadron, along with making his vitals available for the command staff. "604, all dressed up. I'll be in Warden momentarily." Heading to the hatch that provided access to the bay proper, he inwardly started a timer. Had to beat the combat protestatio preparation record, while he's at it.
 
Elisa seems to either see through the grin, or she simply doesn't pay it any mind. In truth, the last thing she's doing right now is judging anyone. She does nod to Chloe in acknowledgement of her choice.

"Follow me. We'll have to go the dressing room, get your suit on and then you can board your Einherjar. When it gets to the fight, stay behind me and don't hesitate to retreat if you have to. I'll try to keep the Guana off you, though I can't guarantee it." She starts moving while she speaks, wasting no time.

"Keep your Einherjar in automatic mode for now, that means the computer will automatically use the thrusters to cancel out any unwanted movement. You don't want to deal with manual movement untrained. The movement should be intuitive enough, but try to get a handle on it before we get into the fight." She exhales, glancing over at the other girl. "And if you have any questions or anything you want to ask me, go ahead."
 
Elisa's sudden departure surprised Chloe, her quick and sure strides were a bit difficult to keep up with. She was still catching what the other pilot was saying. The suit thing was a little confusing, earlier there was a mention of no real uniform thing. Unless maybe it was like a space suit. In case something happened with the einherjar. Maybe?

For a moment Chloe almost wanted to laugh, half expecting Elisa to ask her to look up and down and if she wanted to invert the camera control. The moment passed quickly when she seen some technicians running by quickly, reminding her this is not a tutorial to a game.

"How do ya actually control the thing? Like I heard somethin' about neutral- neuro-...neural? Some kinda brain thing. But is there like any joysticks or like a dashboard or something?" Briefly her hand brushed against the extra can of Orbital Dew in the pocket of her hoody. "Oh! Can I wear this over that suit? It's kind of my luck charm."
 
"It's a combination of the neural link and handheld controls. It's designed for ease of use, you shouldn't have much trouble with the basic controls." She pauses, glancing over at the hoody. "No, I don't think that will work out, sorry."

Elisa's pace doesn't falter, and her expression stays serious as she moves towards the Einherjar bays, and turns off towards the female changing rooms. Elisa then promptly points at a locker. "Your suit should be in there. Strip down and get changed, then we can head out and board our units." And with no further ado, she moves off to grab her own suit and start changing.
 
It was a bit disheartening to hear that her lucky charm couldn't join her, but Elisa knew what she was talking about so she wouldn't try to sneak it in.

"All right! Thanks."

True to her directions, there was in fact a suit inside. It looked like her size. Looking further down the locker room Elisa was wasting absolutely no time in getting ready. Chloe's own face got a little red and she went behind a set of lockers to change out of sight. Arguably slipping into the outfit seemed a bit more embarrassing than changing in front of someone else. It was a bit tighter than she wanted, especially around the midsection. Totally completely unrelated to Orbital Dew. Completely.

Looking out around the lockers towards Elisa, "A-are you sure we can't wear something over this?"
 
Elisa's already changed, apparently either being used to or having no problem with the skintight piloting suit. Hers isn't tight around the midsection, far from it. She's in exceptionally good shape, due to habits instilled by training regimens. "Don't worry. The Guana aren't here to leer at you." Was that a joke? Yes. Yes it was. Elisa probably figured it might help relax the other girl a bit.

"But more seriously, let's get moving. If you don't have any further questions for me, we need to board the Einherjar now."
 
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"HaHaHa." She shot back in a relatively flat tone, still it helped ease her worry. What was it she kept hearing before anyways? The military was a lot like playing a video game, especially when using the drones. You just used the controller and could blow up the bad guys! This would be a little different, but the it was the same idea. She just needed to use the controls and blows up the bad guys!

"One last question, I promise. How do we talk to each other inside?"
 
"There's a comm system, by default it'll be configured to let you talk to all pilots and the bridge. So just speak normally." At this Elisa starts moving, gesturing for Chloe to follow her.

Once they're out in the Einherjar bays, Elisa indicates Unit 06. "I believe that would be yours. Head up the ramp there and get in, then follow the instructions. And, take some deep breaths and try to keep yourself calm. The neural link may feel a bit strange at first, but you'll adjust to it. You were picked for this because you can handle it, so don't worry about that. And, while I don't usually say this... Good luck."

And with that, Elisa sets off to board her own Einherjar.
 
In the bay where she could see the different Einherjar assembled, that feeling of butterflies in her stomach started up again. The sheer size of them was something that needed to be seen in person to appreciate. She had been told in actual measurements and had a vague idea, but actually seeing it up close and personal like this was right up there in the top five moments of her life now. Ideally there would be many more moments to compete in the future.

Speaking of which...

"Why don't you normally say that?" Is it cause I'm a rookie went unspoken, even if Chloe had been conscripted for being capable of the neural link she didn't have any experience with this type of a life. Just dramatized stories and competitive games playing at this kind of life.
 
"Because I prefer skill."

And with that, Elisa is off, climbing into the cockpit of 01. She quickly settles in, initiating the neural link and getting 01 ready for battle. It's not long until she speaks out on the comms: "Zero One, ready for deployment."

And at the same time, her thoughts are racing.

Here we go... It's all been leading up to this.

I'm going to kill this Guana and bring the rookie back alive.

I have to.
 
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