[b][center][h2][color=magenta]Reya Wyatt[/color][/h2][/center][/b]

Reya stood for the briefing alongside Pops who held one hand over Sunny. She didn’t expect any kind of public recognition for tuning up Ziska’s Raven to produce a signal about ten times more powerful than it would normally. It wasn’t the Colonel’s style and it most definitely wasn’t his style towards anyone from Kurita space. She had long accepted this reality. Maybe that was part of why she chose the Green Knights. It wasn’t a challenge she could just beat with intellect alone. He was an old warrior and he had fought some of the Combine’s most heralded commanders. Gaining his approval in spite of his prejudices, even if it was just a gruff “good job” or “thanks”, filled her with purpose and strength. She knew he was a good man and not being able to pilot a mech was killing him, particularly in their current circumstance. The thoughts reminded her of how much she missed their dropship captain, Sally, who was always an encouragement to her and a buffer against the Colonel’s sometimes darker moods. 

Pops gave her a pat on the back and she turned briefly to find an approving nod of the head as the Colonel continued on about the total comms blackout the small mech would now produce. She could see some murmurings. Any of the experienced techs would know the baseline ECM equipment on a single Raven couldn’t generate the cover that he was describing and she listened on as the questions came up, replaying the array of setup screens and bypasses in her head. The same replay she’d mentally jogged through several times even in the small passage of time since the changes were made. The mech would have to be reset again to factory standards or every wiring harness inside the machine would eventually melt from overload. At least the weather on Espia would most likely continue to be in their favor- Cold and damp. She had all of the Knights beam weaponry trimmed beyond standard wattage and still operating at peak efficiency which provided an extra punch as long as the weather stayed bad… or [i]good[/i] in their case. 

[i]The weather.[/i] She remembered. 

The Colonel kept taking questions and seeing his eyes pass over her and Pops as he addressed the concerns back to everyone she mouthed the words at him to silently remind him, standing up on her toes as she did. “[i]The weather.[/i]” Poor conditions were going to make the Raven’s jamming a better sell against NPDRE observers. A morning thunderstorm or hard rain would help them blend in with regular sensor disruption and cover them from any air patrols that might get dispatched. If it was a broad, sparkling clear morning. Then they would likely only have the estimated fifteen minutes or less before someone noticed a blank spot on the map and got suspicious. The forecast for the mission operations area was going to be a major factor in how much time they would have and subsequently, how much loot they would be able to grab. 

Another thing occurred to her as she glanced across the other pilots and saw Ziska eyeing her with some curiosity. The Green Knights had never done anything like this that she could remember. The Colonel had always watchfully guided operations and commanded the field whenever they were deployed, however as soon as Ziska activated the jamming sequence they would truly be on their own. He had made it clear that they were to comport themselves professionally and it wasn’t her place to question tactics, but she wondered, when the time came, if they ran into something unexpected, [i]who was going to be in charge?[/i]