Marit safed all the weapons, set the feed systems to unload the launchers and backed Archie into the ‘Mech Bay, the BattleMech leaning on the scaffolding to take weight off the actuators. Once the reactor had shut down and the gyros had spooled down safely, she untangled herself from the cables connecting to the neurohelmet, the six point harness and the tubing from the cooling vest. Taking the helmet off was always a relief, especially after eleven hours, and she took a few seconds to revel in the ability to roll her shoulders again. Setting a 50 minute timer to make it to the debriefing in time and uploading the BattleROM data, she went over the past eleven hours in her mind, looking for anything the Colonel might chew her out for to prepare for it: Some lapses in comms discipline, getting so fixated on one aerial threat she missed another. On the other hand fate decreed she called attention to the threat of Meteors just before the Warriors arrived, so maybe that would go unnoticed, and looting the extra containers was something she said, even if it was an obvious thing to do. She also took the time to note down a Striker, a turret and a Warrior, as well as an assisted Raven, into her logbook.

Next up on the agenda were the post-deployment checks. Two minutes later, her side of those was almost done and she climbed out of the ‘Mech. Lovett was already waiting for her at the hatch with a towel and a bottle of water to rinse off the crust of sweat she’d built up during the mission, while the rest of the technical team were pinning the actuators and doing preliminary visual checks. Retreating back into the cockpit to get dressed somewhere warm, she finished the last item on her checklist by reading off the runtime clocks to Lovett.
“So how are we looking overall?” The senior technician of the ragtag team asked, checking what she reported against his notes.
[color=76D0FF]”Dents from LRMs in armor plating, legs and center torso, but nothing breached it. Others had it way worse. How are we looking on regular maintenance?“[/color]
“Next up’s the gyros, 2804 hours left on those. Everything else is 4k plus.”
[color=76D0FF]”By then we’ll be long gone.”[/color]
“One way or the other.”
[color=76D0FF]”Oh shush, yee of little faith.”[/color] She jokingly chided the ‘MechTech, a wagging finger rising up from the hatch, [color=76D0FF]”Anyway, as far as Overhauls are concerned, we’re laughing. You need me here for anything else?”[/color]
“No, we’re fine. You brought him back in good condition.”

With her responsibilities out of the way, she set about climbing down the scaffolding, stopping at the ‘hip level’ where the techs were busy preparing to start removing the damaged armor plating. When they set out in the morning, she hadn’t noticed Rimmer’s swollen lip. [color=76D0FF]”Afternoon, guys. Dave, how long will this take?”[/color]
“It’s only a few sections, less than a ton. Two hours, but more if the mountings are damaged, why?”
[color=76D0FF]”When you’re done here, I’d like you to head on over to Alleycat and Ramrod’s bays, see if they need extra hands. Those two got beat up pretty bad.”[/color]
“Yea, I saw. What did you piss off that could do that?”
[color=76D0FF]”A Raven, a Jenner, a Wolfhound and a Longbow.”[/color]
“Smeg… Alright, will do”

Despite the deaths, she still felt good about the mission. They lost four of their number, yes, some food and ammunition and had been forced to abandon some of the cargo containers. But still, there was some good news too, in addition to the nine trucks of loot and surviving an ambush by the Crimson Fists. [color=76D0FF]”We got one!”[/color] She called cheerfully to a crowd of onlookers with a thumb up as she set out to take a walk around the ‘Mech Cave. She’d go check on Ziska once the doctors were done with her. The Colonel was correct - she was hungry and thirsty alright, but most of all, after eleven hours in a chair, she needed to stretch her wooden legs.