The NC pilots' transport began to slow down as it reached a relatively unassuming, circular structure a quite far ways away from New Anchorage proper. The truck stopped at a checkpoint, and Bill gave an authorization code in a whisper. It then continued its' journey, stopping at a large door, which soon opened. The driver parked inside the structure, obviously an entrance into the actual facility which must've been underground.

[color=00aeef]"Well.. if it ain't obvious, we're here. Disembark, pilots. Get to it, a functionary will meet'cha."[/color]. After a few moments, all of the NC pilots were out. When they got inside the facility proper (going down a short flight of stairs, as the elevator seemed to be busy being serviced), they met a well-groomed, yet somewhat bland fellow who must've been the aforementioned functionary.

"Lovely to meet you, pilots. I'm Matthew, Sophia's assistant, and NA NC operation functionary. Please follow me and I shall show you around. We'll be going to the NC hangar first. Try to keep up." He spoke abnormally fast, and walked with high efficiency as well. 

"Aren't there any signs showing a few ways around here?", Verona inquired.

"Oh, there are small maps and guide signs around the facility, sir."

"In that case, I'll be off to the briefing room. Have a good day, sir."

"Very well. Ms. Jackspar, Mr. Van Gent, and Mr. Moore, please continue walking with me." With no objections, the functionary and the other pilots continued their short tour and 'show-around'.

Joe made his own way to the facility's briefing room, using the guides and maps in every other hall. When he got there, he would've found Sophia standing near the table and shuffling through documents.

She seemed to notice his nearby presence without even looking in his direction. Dryly, [color=8882be]"What is it, Verona?"[/color]

"Nothing, just waiting for the briefing, unless you have something specifically for me."

[color=8882be]"Hmm..."[/color], Sophia looked up and towards Verona. Sophia seemed a bit icier then usual, which could be seen even by Joe. 

[color=8882be]"Don't get yourself killed out there? Pffha.. Aside from the obvious, I don't have anything to say."[/color]

Joe lifted an eyebrow at the sudden unusually cold coldness in Sophia's voice. "It would be detrimental to me, if I would get myself killed."

[color=8882be]"Of course it would. In any case, the engineers have been making some minor improvements to the Swarm. You should run diagnostics with it. Get used to the changes."[/color]

"Thank you for the heads up. On another note, did the synch-rate test on startup get fixed in Swarm's software?"

[color=8882be]"I apologize, what are you referring to-... Ah, yes, yes it was. Should be, anyway. Now get going, see for yourself?"[/color]

"I'll be back...for the briefing."

Joe headed for the hangar. As he did so, Sophia went back to what she was doing and scoffed a bit. [color=8882be]"Never change..."[/color]

As Joe got inside the surprisingly large hangar, he could see the team's four NC's, his own standing proud... and there was a fifth one for some reason. It seems like Volkov sent another pilot? That wasn't in the memo. Technicians were crawling all over it, and some blonde woman was sitting on the NC's head upside down, running her own diagnostics it seemed.

Joe thoroughly examined the 5th NC, since it was quite unusual for memos to be outdated this quickly. His looks were quite noticable.

The apparent head of engineering, wearing a full-body, shock-proofed engineering suit for some strange reason, looked over at Joe, while standing under the fifth NC. He beckoned him to come over for a talk. 

Joe did as asked, there was no reason not to. "Yes, what is it?"

An older male's voice answered, the lead engineer's face covered by the suit's welding-mask/helmet hybrid. "Verona, yes? Someone probably mentioned your NC had some minor upgrades, if not, now you know. Here to check on them, yes? If you're going to do that now, I suggest you should absolutely make sure all the missiles' safeties are on on your end. One of my wrench monkeys apparently damaged your fire control system, should be fixed, but check it yourself and all that. I'd do it, but... I don't exactly have a plug!", a slight chuckle ensued.

Joe audibly sighed: "Thanks. However, regarding you being unable to test, what about direct control via software?"

"... I seemed to have forgotten that exists... I've been doing physical crap too often, Heheheheh! Well, in any case, you need to make sure everything is working as it should from a pilots' perspective anyway. Before you trudge along, perhaps you should greet Ms. Stein up there?"

"Happens to all of us, and thanks again." Joe then decided to shout a little in Stein's general direction: "I was told to greet you, Ms...Stein!"

The blonde-haired girl looked away from the suit, shifting her view toward the direction of the shout and the newcomer. Was this one of the other engineers or one of the pilots she had been told about? She motioned a wave before she lifted herself back on top of the head of the bipedal tank before climbing down quickly. As she landed she lifted up her welding goggles over her bangs, her blue eyes looking closely at the person who required ‘greeting’. 

[color=0076a3]“Consider yourself greeted.”[/color] She replied.

The lead engineer got back to work, a subtle shake of his head could be seen if you paid close attention. "Oh god, two people-machines? One would be enough..." he thought aloud.

Joe couldn't supress a grin at the lead engineer's reaction.

Stein looked at the engineer quizzically. [color=0076a3]“That’s [i]absurd[/i], I assure you I was birthed naturally.”[/color]

"...I said that aloud? Well... uhhhrm... Check on the Swarm already, Joe. And, continue running those checks of yours, Stein."

"Really now, head engineer? You were the one suggesting me to greet her in the first place."

"Well gee, I didn't know the both of you talking would just turn into a strange half-silence such as this. I thought you'd say hi and discuss NC piloting things."

[color=0076a3]“I could’ve done plenty of repairs in this time if I did not need to come down from my NC. Why did you waste my time, engineer?”[/color] Stein’s brows narrowed in irritation before making back for the top of her NC to continue her diagnostics and repairs.

Joe couldn't help but giggle a littlebit now. "I guess this joke was beyond you." Joe faced Swarm and started to climb it to enter the cockpit. If anyone, who knew Joe, would have been there, they might've found his reactions a littlebit...more intense than they used to be.

Joe ran diagnostics after plugging in. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, aside of some of the names in the NC's list of components being changed, and it generally having improved statistics, such as available extra power and fuel storage. Seems like it really got a well-deserved renovation across the board. Out of pure interest Joe ran the now hopefully fixed synch test. Unlike before, the program didn't crash before it launched, however now it crashed after the test. "[b]Error: NaN[/b]" 'I guess another fix is needed.' He thought.