"Hey boss, spook commander wants a word."

Ingram rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh. Of course the spooks wanted to talk. The spooks could almost certainly tell that no one here wanted to talk to them, so they took the next obvious step of coming over here and forcing them to do something they didn't want to do. That's what all spooks did, after all. Before Ingram could respond, Aryo was already heading off to his MAS, most likely to prep for launch. Aryo always was a quiet one in their group, easily the best shot on the team, but also the most reserved. A peculiar one, Aryo Jameson was, reliable, but peculiar. 

Almost to echo Aryo's observation, the spooks spoke. "Who's in charge of this outfit?" Ingram grimaced and internally groaned. Fucking spooks, they were as derisive and condescending as ever. Despite not being in the military- technically they were a law enforcement agency- nothing ever stopped them from strutting around everywhere and acting like they owned the place. Well, to be fair, being the Royal Family's favored men and women would do that to anyone. Rolling his shoulders and standing up, Ingram walked over to the ISS servicemen with a lazy, cocky look on his face.

"That would be me, Lieutenant Commander Shaw. What can I do for... Nikita..?" Ingram's brash, brassy voice trailed off as his eyes widened in realization, saying his sister's name almost reflexively, confused and almost awed. That look lasted for a brief moment before his brows furrowed and his eyes hardened, the cocky grin replaced with an undisguised scowl. His stance shifted, hands crunching into fists that trembled slightly.

Nikita read her brother's expressions and heard the shock in his voice when he said her name. She nodded once to confirm his surprise. "I've been attached to this unit for the time being." Her eyes shifted over to the rest of the 12th, spotting a few surprised glares from the others who had known Ingram for so long. She turned her gaze to the rookie who took some of the attention away. Nikita nudged Ingram with the back of her hand, something she used to do to get his attention when they were younger. "Seems she needs to speak to you more than I do. I look forward to flying with the 101st again, commander." Nikita turned away to oversee the movement of her MAS into one of the bays. Despite not showing on her face or in her voice, Nikita was happy to see her brother.

Ingram brushed the hand off brusquely, hard eyes glaring holes into Nikita's back even as she turned around. He had heard stories that Nikita had been snatched up by some black ops type unit after a short stint in the 101st. He had never really believed the stories though, he'd just assumed Nikita was dead or something. Just his luck that he'd be stuck with her, of [i]all[/i] of the Royal Family's attack dogs. His jaw shifted as though he was about to spit out a retort but eventually bit his lip and turned away. Releasing his clenched fists, Ingram was only vaguely aware of the trickle of blood running from small crescent cuts on the inside of his palm. Taking a breath to compose himself, he turned to address the new rookie.    

"At ease, Ensign." he replied to her with a small gesture of his hand. "Welcome to the 12th squadron, my name is Lieutenant Commander Shaw, but the boys and girls of the 12th like to call me 'Boss'. Ignore the spooks, they'll be out of our hair soon enough." he said, gesturing with his chin towards Nikita and the other ISS pilots. Grabbing at his datapad, he flipped over to Chloe's dossier and gave it a quick lookover. 

"North Ganymede Military Institute, top of class." he said with a low whistle. "Well, congratulations are in order Ensign. Looks like your skill has seen you to the end of the war alive."

That comment, along with its low, lightly mocking tone incited a few chuckles from some of the nearby squadron members. Among them, Delaney laughed the loudest- earning him a sharp elbow from Brit. "Why're you laughing Dell? You've flown a total of 4 patrol missions in your career, and almost pissed yourself in one of them. You can't talk for shit either."

Ingram waved them off before turning back to Chloe. "All jokes aside, its good to have you with us, we've been flying without a 12th for a few months now. Sorry we don't have enough time for actual introductions, but I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to meet the rest of the Squadron."

Putting away the datapad, Ingram grabbed his thermos and took a sip of coffee. He scowled, still tasted like shit. Shaking his head, he gestured for Chloe to join the rest of them in the circle. "Anyway, I don't know how much you've been briefed on this mission- if at all, so I'll give you the abridged version. We're flying security detail for the Terracotta docked at Attica station for the peace talks. This detail is purely for ceremony only. You [i]will not[/i] open fire unless explicitly given the order to do so. I know you rookies are eager to get some tallies under your belt, but you [i]will not[/i] jeopardize the possibility of intergalactic peace with your itchy trigger fingers. Understood?"

A loud klaxon interrupted the impromptu briefing. It blared for a second before shutting off, and shuffling engineers began to shuffle a bit faster. Standing up, Ingram straightened himself as he looked at the rest of the squadron. 

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, suit up and get to your MAS, its about time we let Sara and her team get some rest. Atalyah, get the rookie towards the spare Shrike, she'll be flying it." - Not that there was much guidance needed really, in the crampt hangars it was hard to miss a giant robot.

"What? How come she gets the Shrike?" protested Delaney as he cleaned up the cards and shoved them in his pocket.

"Because she didn't crash her sentinel against the Artemis when she tried to land!" drawled Brit, slapping the other rookie on the back of the head.
[hr]
Waiting for him at the base of his machine was his crew chief. A serious looking woman dressed in a pair of surprisingly clean mechanic overalls. Of average height and build, the chief's blond hair was meticulously tucked back and out of the way and she had an air of grave seriousness that stood in contrast to several of the other personnel members in the hangar. She gave Shaw a sharp nod and handed him his helmet as he approached his Sparowhawk.

"Commander." she called out calmly as he approached her. Easily falling in step with him, the crew chief quickly ran the numbers on the Sparrowhark as they walked- datapad in hand.

"- is ready to launch whenever you need." the crew chief finished in a prim and proper manner, "Dawks has just finished refueling the booster unit." she added, gesturing towards a mechanic who was sitting on one of the Sparrowhawk's combination missile pod-boosters, fiddling with one of its thrust components. 

"Excellent work Chief." Ingram said in thanks, "Help yourself to some coffee." He added, tossing her his thermos. He was already climbing the ladder when the chief took a sip of the coffee and promptly spat it out.

Moving with well-practiced ease Ingram climbed the catwalk that stood beside the large metal machine of state-of-the-art death that he had spent the better part of several years fine tuning entered the cockpit of the Sparrowhawk. A highly customized, sleek modern designed MAS, the cockpit and body of the MAS looked and felt more like that of a fighter jet with its aerodynamic lines. Settling into the cockpit's seat and pulling his helmet over his head, he flipped through the switches required for a cold start up and unit check.

"12th Squadron, comms check." Ingram requested as he connected his helmet speakers to the MAS itself.
[hr][sub][color=lime]CSS Perseus[/color][/sub]
"I'm telling you, those talks are going nowhere, they're not going to do a thing." Barret retorted into a comm device as he and Sika made their way down the corridors of the Perseus and towards its engineering spaces. "They'll be back at it as if nothing ever happened."

Sika elbowed his commanding officer- who was speaking rather loudly into the communication device, causing a few passing soldiers to give them an annoyed grimace. Barret rolled his eyes, but spoke more softly. "Anyway, I'll talk to you in a bit, me and the kid gotta finish up some work."

"I'm not a kid." Sika complained, holding open the elevator that lead down into the Perseus' engineering. "And I'm ready to do my part."

"I'm just messing with you kid, lighten up a bit, you sound like you're working a funeral detail."