Silverwind had made his way down in Max's tow, making his way through the narrow passageways of the ship to the rear hangar. Much like the lion before him, he thrilled at the scene of activity before him. The ships' utility helicopter, blades still folded and packaged up had been moved to one side of the space to allow room - barely - for the maintenance crews to fit out and run-up the Hunters' GEARs for their sortie. Side-by-side, six of the best GEARs that the ANL, let alone the RSDF could provide. 
The Hargun was new, new enough that all of its' specs weren't fully available, and that it was limited in issue to only the most elite of front-line units. Hence the reason, in fact, that the only one that [i]wasn't[/i] new, or in the very least reconditioned was Bastion's own machine, that he was now discussing with his tech. 
Looking over the array of machines, Silverwind picked out the one with the 'Command' version head; it had a double 'fin' antenna on both sides of the head, and additional cylindrical antennae beneath on each side. 
Walking over and looking at the machine as it knelt on one knee, he gave a low whistle of appreciation with his tail wagging slowly as he looked up at the machine, hands on his hips.
"Hello gorgeous," he said with a grin. 
"Are you talking to the GEAR, or me?" a female voice answered with amusement, and Silverwind took aback in surprise as he noticed the female raccoon dog stand up from behind the machines' right leg. She had a somewhat chunky build, but it suited her, and made her easy on the eye. The mechanics jumpsuit flattered the same look too, with the low zipper drawing the eye to an... impressive valley. He pulled his eye back up and found her muzzle smirking at him and a sparkle of amusement dancing in her purple eyes.
"Dunno, let's see who answers," he replied with a wink and a poke of his tongue, before walking closer. "So, miss," he continued. "I'm here fer my fittin' appointment. Reckon y'all got something in my size".
"I dunno," the tech replied, Silverwind taking a moment to notice the name 'DIMARCO' above the left breast pocket on her overall, and 'LIEUTENANT' on the right as she checked a pebble-slate. "I'm not sure the cockpit will fit your massive head, sir".
"Nah," he replied airily as he stepped into the foot holds on the GEARs thighs and back, and mounted into the pilot position. "I always have problems fitting my giant testicles in".
"Like I said," she replied climbing up behind him and assisting him strapping in, and beginning to adjust the seat fittings, restraint straps and the like, as the fox began to adjust the display settings, and set the GEARs OS into 'Maintenance' mode and began to adjust the control inputs. "...your massive head, sir".
He laughed and shook his head. "Okay El-tee, you can stay. I like you. Got much experience with the Hargun?"
"Plenty, sir. I got chosen for this assignment as I was on the team for the prototypes' OpEval and workups, and helped with weapon and system trials. I'm senior ranking tech in your maint crews, so most of 'em learnt something from my original crews, and half the tech-book on the GEAR was written by us. Hell, half your conversion training syllabus was probably based on our notes and reports".
"Bad ass, Lieutenant. Thanks for all your work". 
"No problem, sir. Just try not to break my shit, and I'm sure we'll get along fine. And I like you too," she said with a smirk of reply, and a boop to his nose. "How's it feel?" 
"Well, the boop was okay. The GEAR feels great though. Can tell you know your stuff. Obviously we'll get a running test in once we're onboard the amphib; more space fer that. Your crew get to run 'em yet?"
"Yessir, we put them through basic paces before we loaded them onto the train for transport to the docks. No noted running faults, and we re-checked everything minor already. 5 had a minor burr on the rotator cuff for the left shoulder; we just swapped out the joint assembly to save time. We'll fix the problem with the part we removed while its' demounted and keep it with the spares.".
Silverwind shrugged and unstrapped himself with the quick-release button, shutting down the GEARs' OS as he did so. 
"I can't fault any of yer work," he said with a genuine smile as he slid back out of the machines' form-fitting seat. "Y'all did an amazin' job, and I can't ask any less than that. Unless y'all would consider workin' in a t-shirt and shorts, anyway"
"Only if you work in a full face mask, sir, so I don't have to look at your stupid face. What do you want as your load-out for the mission?"
"Intel ain't fully come back yet," he replied, "At least in th' full tactical sense. But we ain't gonna have a lot of time to play pass-the-parcel." He hummd a moment and rubbed the back of his artificial hand against the bottom of his muzzle. 
"...Load me up with a 20MM with AP ammo, and a shotgun with scatter ammo under it, a Pile on the right arm, Mortar on the left shoulder, and ATM's on the right one. Knife on the hip, and spare ammo under the shield. Load the mortar with a mix heavy on HE and AP, with some smoke and EM."
She raised a slim purple eyebrow and inclined her head in a respectful nod. "Kickass, sir. Nothing on the left forearm?" she said in a more teasing tone. "You've left space. I'm shocked".
"Nah," he replied. "I always find that gets in the way of the shield on anythin' I ever piloted. Plus I'm already haulin' enough weight as it is."
"All right, Captain. I'll get it done".
"Blade, Lieutenant. Don't bother with callin' me captain unless anyone more important than me is watchin'"
"Then call me DiMarco Sir. And my first name is Gina, for the record".
"Silverwind. Glad to have ya with me, feels like my GEAR will be in good hands".
"Same, sir. Though, not so sure about the GEAR, all those bits of you missing, I'd hate to see my GEAR come back the same way".
"I'll look after for you, DiMarco, I promise. And if I don't, I'm sure y'all will get plenty of work out of it".
"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of. Now, if you'll excuse me si- ah, Blade, then I'll get to work on fitting out your machine, and detail the rest of my guys to help your squad".
As he nodded to her to excuse herself, he turned back to the GEARs' visage briefly, looking up at it. [i]You and I are going to go places, girl,[/i] he thought up at the big machine. [i]And we're gonna go through some crazy shit too,[/i] he added, patting the armoured kneepad of the machine with one hand as he looked up at it. At some point, he'd have to customise its' paint scheme. It'd been a while since he'd had a machine to call his own, and his old trusty and much-beloved [i]Gungnir Mk.II[/i] 'Spectre' was so much plasma-warhead incinerated scrap in an unnamed and unmarked corner of the world, miles and years away. With it, it had taken a lot of memories and nostalgia, and a part of his life. [i]And now you're a Ghost Hunter again, Blade[/i] he thought idly, looking at the GEARs, completely void of unit markings or insignia. 
Turning away from his machine, he looked around the hangar at the rest of the GEARs in a similar way. None of them carried much in the way of markings or unit insignia, beyond warning and hazard labels. He saw his people coming down to get their own machines fitted out, and began to walk along the row, looking to lend a hand or a few words where he could. Not to mention, he had personal weapons to draw from stores and assemble into his kit. 
"Bastion," he called out as he caught sight of the lion. "All all right?" he said, thumbing in direction of the felines' GEAR.