[center][h2][color=00aeef]Benjamin Armbruster[/color][/h2]
[@Norik] [@Selvariabell][/center]

[color=00aeef]"Come on, now."[/color]

The sentence, half plea and half growl, wasn't directed at another person. Not that you would guess, since the man in question seemed to expect an answer. Ben had the day off, actually, but work [i]was[/i] play in his mind. He planned to go out and catch the parade, but his morning diagnostics were throwing some wonky errors. What should have been a quick fix turned into full scans, taking off panels, getting elbow deep in wires and cursing. He wasn't going to make the parade. But that was kind of liberating. Meant he could just focus on actually fixing the issue. The festivities could wait til later, there'd be plenty of things to see in the afternoon. Vernichten needed him [i]now[/i].

After about an hour of digging through power couplings and software diagnostics, he finally narrowed the issue down to a fault within a single meter-long section of cabling. Could he patch it? Probably. But it'd be quicker just to replace it. He pulled his arms back out of the cramped space he's been fishing around in, and glanced at his hands. Absolutely covered in grease. Somewhere along the lines he'd gotten it in his hair, too. Probably ran a hand through it when he was thinking. Whoops. Not really any point in cleaning off, not until he was done. Ben was glad he rolled up his sleeves, though; the gunk that got worked into Walker components was a pain in the ass to get out of fabric. Didn't want to have to clean off [i]another[/i] work shirt. 

He clambered down off the catwalk two steps at a time, leaving his jacket hanging on his work station. Activity in the hangar was pretty much at a minimum, so he was honestly content. No one to bug him about keeping his workspace clean, or ask why he was talking to himself. Nothing of the sort. He'd have to make a note of the components he grabbed out of storage, but that was easy enough. Vernichten's bay was closer to the testing fields than the main complement. Made for a bit of a hike towards the parts he needed, but a little exercise did the body good so he took off at a jog towards the other end of the hangar. Something else the boss wasn't around to lecture him for. 

There [i]were[/i] a couple other officers in the hangar, though. Whoops.

[color=00aeef]"Hey, Ahmad!"[/color] He called out, slowing down to a walk on his way over. The bigger man was a familiar enough site on base, though for the life of him he didn't know why he wasn't at a barbecue or something. He was always looking for an excuse to fire up the grill. Protocol might've been a salute, but when did he ever pay much attention? The little wave'd do. He didn't have any idea who the young-looking girl with him was, but that didn't say a lot. Took him a while to learn about the new pilots. [color=00aeef]"Don't you have a grill to man somewhere? Isn't that usually your thing?"

"They got you working today?"[/color]