Sitting quietly in the no-man's land between Astelion and the rest, Gerard clutched a small silver flask in his hand. The Noveau France tricolour was embossed on front along with his name. It was an old little thing, well maintained but still bearing the regular knocks, scratches and dents that one would expect of having been in his hands as an infantryman. It was one of his hold backs, a homage if you will, to his time as a grunt. Taking another small sip, he flashed a small melancholic smile to Eric as the wine slid its way down his throat. In return, he received a moody glare before Eric turned away. Sooner or later that man would have to stop mourning over the death of his sister...harsh as it may seem. However this was war, and in war losses were incurred. Gerard would be lying if he said that Tori's death did not impact him at all, hell her death had hit all of them hard. His eyes flicked towards a battle-scarred, mutton chopped monster. Well...perhaps not all of them. Heaving a small sigh, he stashed the flask away into one of the myriad pouches he habitually kept and rolled his neck.

Images of those scant few seconds played back in his mind as he stared off into a porthole. After a botched firefight with coalition forces, the 7th were being evacuated, the heavily armoured drop ship taking a great risk to drop into a hot zone. As everyone filed on, returning fire to their aggressors, Tori took a heavy round  through the cockpit, the machine falling just short of their dropship. "TORI!" Eric shouted as he rushed forwards. With the flat of his axe, Gerard slapped him across the chest with Marauder's powerful servos, knocking him further back into the dropship. The fire intensified as the coalition members whooped upon their kill. There was no way they were going to let them take Tori, but their pilot was already starting to dust off. Given little other choice, Gerard extended his left arm and fired off the grapple. With a loud clank, the electromagnet fused to the Sparrow and the alloy chain tightened. Feeling his own machine beginning to slip, Gerard lifted his axe up before slamming the head down into the fuselage. Now with leverage, he tried to hoist Tori up even as they rose further into the air. The motor servos whined but persevered as he hauled the machine up, using every ounce of remaining power in the machine just to keep her airborne. Eventually the others helped as theey stabilised, pulling Gerard, chain and all, further into the bulkhead. He still vividly remembered Eric's face as he jumped out of his MAS.

The din of voices brought Gerard back from his reverie as his head snapped away from the armorcrys of the porthole. It seemed that their new member had arrived safe and sound, although Delacroix trusted the UEE enough with their pilots since they were a precious resource. Like everyone else, Gerard was a little bit apprehensive about having a green recruit on their team, but he figured that if they were going to have one, they might as well be malleable.. Wes was, as always, straight, rude and to the point in the least elegant way possible, but Gerard couldn't say that he disliked that about him. Not that he liked that either though. He gave a basic introduction of all the team members, but he suspected that they would most likely reintroduce themselves especially after how he butchered most of their names. With a small chuckle, he started to pace towards the squad, his deep feelings of melancholy firmly pushed down, unlike Eric who was still pacing like a caged animal.

First to reintroduce themselves was Alice, their most robotic member. Generally Gerard enjoyed spending time with the AI. She was interesting in a way most humans were not, and she bore a certain social purity and child-like naivety that the Frenchman would rather protect. Such a thing was incredibly rare in the universe. While he wasn't exactly clear how she felt about him Gerard felt slightly paternal towards her.

[color=00746b]"Brusque and tactless as always, monsieur Shanks, not to mention forgetting yourself, mon'amie,"[/color] Gerard piped up as he slowly stepped further forward, his heavy boots ringing against the deck of the ship, [color=00746b]"and while your introductions are appreciated, perhaps I shall give a bit more detail and accuracy, non?"[/color] With his wavy hair tied back, an unscarred face and warm caramel eyes, Gerard probably looked the least threatening to the newbie, especially next to Wes. [color=00746b]"Madamoiselle Williams,"[/color] Gerard said with a small bow from the hip, [color=00746b]"it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Gerard Delacroix, your melee specialist and front-liner." [/color]Turning around, he gestured to Wes, [color=00746b]"this is monsieur Wes Shanks, a...bête, both in combat and off. He is usually partnered with me on the frontlines."[/color] There was a crash followed by a muffled [color=ed1c24]'Chyort!'[/color] from the direction of a stack of crates and a large imposing man walked out from behind them, rubbing his head. Probably sleeping off another bottle of vodka, Gerard thought with a smile, [color=00746b]"and that would be Alexei Sokolov, my drinking partner,"[/color] the Frenchman said, indicating the Russian. "[color=ed1c24]Though ye heven't been drinking with me enough recently,"[/color] the bear of a man replied as he lifted an empty glass bottle.