[center][color=fdc68a][h1]Chapter 1:
[u]Aboard the Ankhanne[/u][/h1][/color]
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Ulrik stood at the end of the long hallway with Elena, watching with a small smirk on his face as all the new pilots chose a mech and got themselves acquainted with their new rides inside the rusty hangar. At the same time, the chief technician seemed to be in a mad dash beside him, jotting down notes and rearranging the time allotments for repairs, prioritizing the issues that concerned the ‘Mechs the mercenaries chose. Even though they had only been on this ship for a few hours, it seemed like they had been doing this their entire life, and the sight sight gave him a rush of nostalgia.

He imagined in front of himself the long barrack buildings, the bays replaced with bunk beds as the room was filled with the hustle and bustle of DCMS infantry from various worlds either trying to rest, or busy making sure nobody could get shut-eye. Back when he was still just a lowly foot soldier, a cog in a much larger machine, the bottom of the battlefield food chain. Still, he missed those days of having nothing to do but still trying to keep busy in front of the boss whilst stationed on the border regions, and he wondered if he’ll ever feel the same sort of belonging as he did back then. Then he remembered his days serving in a ‘Mech lance, but the memories of the 4th Succession Wars quickly snapped him out of his melancholy. 

The smirk disappeared from his face and as he looked to his side, he only saw the little spots of machine oil where Elen used to stand, the woman now busy instructing the technicians on the installation of the Firestarter’s cooling system. They still had half a day, but he was already feeling anxious. He didn’t know what to expect, nor from his team, nor from their enemy. And he couldn’t shake this bad gut feeling whenever he thought about “unmarked mechs and vehicles” raiding nearby systems. The last time his unit leader told him that there would be unmarked hostiles in the area, he had to hide for almost a week before friendly forces finally liberated the area and rescued him. If these unmarked forces turn out to be a clandestine operation from one of the great houses, he was more than willing to commandeer the Ankhanne and leave this part of the Inner Sphere behind.

Still, he had pressing matters to attend to. Looking down at the tablet once more to check the time, Ulrik slowly peered back at the mechbay before putting two of his fingers into his mouth and letting out an ear-shattering whistle, muted to an extent by the cacophony of the mech bay but still loud enough to turn a few heads. He hoped it was mostly his pilot’s heads, as his eyesight isn't what it used to be and past the third row he couldn’t make out any of the faces, just blobs and blurs of people going about their business. He took a deep breath and cupped his hands as he brought them to his face, tablet still in hand, and shouted into the bay. “Alright pilots, I’ll see you at 01700 in the mess hall! That’s about 15 minutes, don’t be late!” With that, he waited a few seconds to see if anyone listened, and then decided to send them all a message on their tablets for good measure. Then he waltzed out of the bay, deciding that he’d take his meager lunch and a mug of coffee before the rest of the pilots got to the mess hall.

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[i][b]~Ankhanne, Mess Hall~[/b][/i]

He had just about finished his coffee when the first of the pilots began to trickle in. Some arrived early, some a little late, but once they were all sitting down and enjoying a delicious offering of lunch leftovers, Ulrik stood up and cleared his throat to get their attention, then motioned with his palms towards the floor for everyone to stay seated. [color=f7941d]“I hate the rush as much as everyone else, but I need to get orientation finished and some food pumped into everyone before duty takes me to the bridge for the rest of this trip. The time is…”[/color] He held a finger up and quickly glanced at his tablet before continuing. [color=f7941d]“1708 right now, and we’ll be breaking orbit around 1230 ship time tomorrow. We’ll be doing a mid-course flip around 0200 ship time, so don’t eat anything before that if you don’t handle zero-g well. Now, I want everyone to get a good sleep in before the mission if you can: I know tinkering with the mech can be exhilarating, but I’d prefer everyone is awake and ready to engage the moment we make planetfall. The enemy might be waiting for us, so we won’t have time to brew a pot and wake up.”[/color]

With that he lifted a leg over the simple plasteel bench and took a few steps away from the tables, folding his arms as he ended up leaning against the simple counter in front of the kitchen. [color=f7941d]“I’m going to try and press our Republic contacts for more info before the drop, and in the meantime I’ve uploaded everything about the mission and the Ankhane to your tablets. I’ll assume everyone is familiar with the Union-class Dropships, and in that regard I have some good and bad news. Good news is that we’re almost a 1000 tons heavier, minus the rust eating away at this old derelict, so I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised to find that you’ll only need to share a room with one other person: you’ll have to box out who sleeps on the top bunk.”[/color] Opening up a schematic on his tablet, he held it up for the crew to see, though everyone could access it anytime on their own if they wanted, so it was more for the show than anything else. [color=f7941d]“We’re two floors above the ‘Bay, this floor is what the crew have told me they affectionately call the “The Mess”. If you go head right here-”[/color] He pointed at the door on the far end of the room. [color=f7941d]“Then you’ll get to the sick bay, crew lounge and/or bar, and I am happy to say, the simulators. Only two pods, but maybe we can squeeze in some more if this mission goes well. Dr Rachel will give you a tetanus shot if anyone stubs their toe on one of the rusty panels in the ship, otherwise I’m sure you’ll get acquainted with her after the battle. If you head the other way, you’ll find the personal quarters of every officer on the ship, and also the quartermaster’s office. I suggest you go say to Daisuke if you have the time: if you need anything, and I do mean ANYTHING, on the ship for yourself or your quarters, he’ll be the one to ask. He’s also the one who’ll be making sure you guys don’t make a mess, so I suggest being on his good side unless you want to say goodbye to the luxuries of alcohol and clean sheets for your bunk. What else…”[/color]

Ulrik looked over the pilots for a second before he stared up at the ceiling above and at the flickering neon lights. [color=f7941d]“Up a floor is the bridge, the captain’s quarters, and as you know the orientation room. I’m informed that they have gutted one of the truly ancient server rooms that the ship apparently “didn’t need”, so it now serves as the ship’s bar, where I’ve heard our dear Elena makes amazing cocktails, but I wouldn’t expect her to be there anytime soon. And finally, a floor below is the crew deck: that’s all the bunks and cleaning cabinets you’ll need for a lifetime. Daisuke assigned all of you rooms so that all the pilots sleep together and not with the other parts of the crew, but if you want to bunk with a technician, I’m sure we can get that sorted out. Not much else on that floor: a small common area and some storages from what I’ve seen. The rest of the ship is just the engines and storage, so I think that covers orientation.”[/color] By the end of his sentence Ulrik had to let out a small sigh. He couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken this much, but captain Konrad insisted that he told wherever everything was on the ship to his pilots, since the rest of the crew was busy patching up leaks and switching fuses to put the ship into a flyable condition even as they were in transit. The last thing they wanted was for the Ankhanne to be stranded on a moon with a barely breathable atmosphere and enough radiation to kill off anything more complex than moss, lichen and a few plants that adapted to the conditions. Scratching his stubble as he looked over the tablet one last time, Ulrik hung the device onto his belt and gave a nod to the pilots in the mess hall before he pushed himself away from the countertop.[color=f7941d] “Message me if you need me, or you’ll find my quarters at the end of the hall here. Make yourselves at home, and welcome to the Ankhanne. I want to see everyone in the orientation room tomorrow at 1200 to go over the plan once more before we suit up. Everything else you need to know is on your tablets. That’ll be all.”[/color] With one last lingering look over the otherwise empty mess hall, Ulrik pushed himself away from the countertop and raised his ups in a small wave towards the pilots as he disappeared behind one of the doors in the hallway. He was heading up to the bridge to talk with the captain and make reports for his Republic contacts, and he hoped that the new Mechwarriors could occupy themselves for long enough for him to finish his work, get a smidge of sleep, and refine their battle plans before landing. There were a lot of things he still needed to do in the little time they had, but at least they weren’t being shot at, which was a definite improvement over his time spent in the army.

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