Erina lay in her bunk, eyes closed. She took her off-duty time [i]very[/i] seriously. She couldn't afford to pilot anything when not at 100%. The Hawthorne might as well be a giant coffin without suits supporting it. But given the atmosphere on board, there were days when Erina just didn't feel like bothering with the others. She hadn't seen a group this mixed up since boot camp. It couldn't be helped, since everyone in the AEUG was a turncoat of some fashion, but to be paired up with former Zakus? That was just nuts! There wasn't a day that went by where she didn't feel some kind of frustration from Zeon-garbage being spewed by her immediate superior. She'd quietly requested a transfer, but given how short-staffed the ship was, she was stuck with Quintzem.

The familiar alarm jolted the CPO out of her daydreams in no time. She was on the ground and getting dressed before the first alert had even finished. Then she heard good old Ensign Tomi on the comm. "How about the memory of the innocents lost, huh?" Erina groaned to whoever in the squad was around to hear it before reaching for her own radio. "Roger, we're on our way now. Keep my seat warm."

Arriving at the hangar, her blue Hizack was easy enough to spot. She'd gotten the machine back when it was brand new. At the time, the clearly Zeonic influence bothered her, but she couldn't deny that it was a big improvement over a hand-me-down GM. Eventually she decided that the look was fair game. Zeon lost the war, therefore the winner takes what they want. How ironic it was that those Titan bastards were fielding them in spades.

Since defecting from the EFSF, Erina had only been in a few skirmishes here and there. Mostly at long range with inconclusive results. Real engagements were hard to come by and her excitement to prove herself among her new allies drowned out any nervousness she had deep down. "So...twelve enemy suits, right?" She hopped into the cockpit and began the required checks. "That's more than enough to go around. Let's give those schmucks in J-Squad something to be jealous about."