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[color=olive][h1]GRAHAM[/h1][/color][b]COMMANDER GRAHAM's OFFICE, NEW ANCHORAGE
[sub]MORNING[/sub][/b][/center]
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Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of Commander Michael Graham’s fingers hitting the surface of his desk in his office echoed in the otherwise silent room. He had been thinking. Since being hired by New Anchorage to pick up where the previous commander left off there had been a pretty large adjustment period and there was still a lot of work to be done. Graham’s first day as the newly elected commander of New Anchorage’s NC facilities had been the most disheartening day in his entire career as a military commander; the base had been in shambles, disorganized, barely functioning, filled with barely any NC-able pilots, and with a sentiment of a casual existence that made him sick to his stomach. When he had heard that New Anchorage needed someone of his skillset and expertise he thought he was going into something that was at least semi-professional— but that had not been the case.

Even after all of the weeks of restructuring, discharging, analyzing, and coordinating there was still a lot to be done. He still needed new pilots to make a functional assault force, he needed to test any civilians for NC potential, organized the current pilots in physical assessments beyond simulation, and needed to train the non-NC capable officers. He knew he could at least check one of these off the list as a group of tested NC pilots were told to be “on the way” by his boss, New Anchorage’s government. But even with that relief he had to wonder who would be stupid enough to come work for an independent faction with as shit reputation as New Anchorage’s— they would’ve had to been as desperate as he had been.

Graham looked over to the glass of liquor next to him. There was a consideration before he shook his head. [color=olive][i]No, not now. Clarity is more important than anxiety relief.[/i][/color]

His eyes moved back to the hue of his computer screen. 

Dr. James Lofgren’s report of yesterday’s simulation was pretty clear. The NC analyst had set a simulation for two of the remaining pilots from Sophia’s administration, Anastasia “Stein” Kalfox and Elizabeth “Eli” Jackspar, in response to Graham’s request for recent reports of their abilities as well as the real meaning of the scenario— their psychological states. The report as it stood showed good combat stats, especially considering that James had a habit of “tweaking” their scenarios; however their reactions mentally and physically to the simulation were out of standard for both of them. Eli’s problems made some sense, but Stein’s? Anastasia Kalfox had been doing simulations like she had since she was [i]ten[/i] if her dossier was accurate, so the idea that she considered a win scenario as a failure was concerning.

He had talked to both of them following the simulation, and re-reading the report gave some context to their responses. But that still didn’t give him a quality of answer he wanted. What exactly could have brought such a thing? 

There was a pause in Graham’s thought before he moved his hand to his ear, flipped a switch on his codec.

[color=olive]“Alvarez. When are the new run of pilots arriving today?”[/color]

Matthew Alvarez had been the most helpful members of the operation that had stayed on when Graham had taken charge following Sophia’s sudden resignation and disappearance. The operations administrator had been his window to how things had worked and everything that had happened since Smith’s Rest became New Anchorage. It also helped that he had formerly been Sophia’s second-in-command despite being an adjutant with no “real” military experience. Before the name change of the settlement they had been a bookkeeper for their NC operations and a bit of a desk clerk. It was fortunate that he was one of the best adjutants Graham had worked with when it came to dossiers, base information, and base functionality— he was like a human computer. Graham doubted he would’ve gotten things straight as fast as he did without him.

[“At 1200 hours, sir.”]

Graham looked at the clock on his computer— that was sixty minutes from the current time. [color=olive]“Very well, that’s all.”[/color]

[“Affirmative, sir.”]

Leaning back in his chair, Graham took a light breath. New Anchorage was a mess, but at least it was far better than when he arrived. He wanted to give no false appearance of the operation being a casualty of complacency; there would be no rookie mistakes. With the new pilots arriving he needed to be prepared and while he wasn’t seeking to impress a bunch of edged-out mercenaries and over-eager idealistic kids he did want things to fall into cohesion. A military operation like this needed to be a well-oiled machine. And considering he was getting the cogs, he believed he had everything else to get them started.

When they arrived he would treat it like any other operation with new recruits— familiarize them with the base, key military officers, and then see if they agree to his terms. Graham wasn’t exactly running a corporate military organization but he did need to instill mandatory routines to get things into shape. Graham also had a few meetings to look forward to with other hires but the pilots came first; it was why he prioritized them. And after all that was done he could see about getting in contact with his sources from the last fifteen plus years of his life to see what kind of contracts they could deal with. He didn’t need to get in-between the ruling corporations right now and as long as the contracts didn’t interfere with corporate policies or make New Anchorage quick enemies he could work with anybody. 

He pushed back up from his chair as he routed his codec to the base’s speakers as he had done when he had decided on announcements.

[color=olive][b]“This is Commander Graham. I know many of you are still adjusting to the change in military administration, but the new pilots will be arriving within the hour and I need things to be in order. I want all personnel to look busy by that point. I will be reassigning the NC squadron sometime following the acquisition of these new pilots. Thank you.”[/b][/color]

That should do it.