By the time the few days passed before their mission, Shiva's anticipation had built to the point of advantage and disadvantage. She hadn't been assigned to any mission as high-profile as this in her life. She needed to focus once they were underway. As a result of this, Shiva slept lightly, and the little noise that Shuo made as he got up was enough to keep her awake until her alarm went off. This time, she didn't need to tap into military discipline to find the energy to get up. It all came naturally.

Breakfast was light, as was the rest of the morning routine. Shiva flew through with enough time to equip herself at a leisurely pace, if she could have relaxed enough to slow down. Even with the speed and nerves, Shiva clipped herself into her combat armour with all the right steps. Her medium combat armour was standard issue for masulu ground troops who weren't mech pilots. It sported a shield system that was simple and effective, but wasn't such a feature as to restrict movement too much, or to encourage complacency. Most other shielding systems required training with cybernetic interfaces, something that Shiva's neutrium forcing body did not accept in any viable fashion. The rest of her was covered in medical supplies, plasma batteries, a stun, smoke and high explosive grenades for good measure. A magnet held a short, but heavy looking plasma weapon to the small of her back, her rebuffer. Nestled on her hip was a similar placement for her custodian plasma pistol. The relatively simple set up made Shiva crack a small smile of pity to Shuo, who was halfway through donning his complicated looking exosuit by the time that Shiva had even started. Well, he was ArmSpecWar, he was probably used to making himself a walking tank.

Shiva boarded the Hummingbird behind Shuo feeling smaller than ever, but seeing her squadmates bending their heads down in the human-sized confines of the ship made her grateful for her below-average height. Given how Shuo wasn't so strict, and they had been sharing a room along with a dirophyd, Shiva has loosened up a little as well. "Well, you know what they say, no plan survives first contact. At least we'll be prepared...sir."