"I lift off... My wings lift to the skies... Hm mm hmm... Arise from ashes, and now I fly.... Hmmm mmm..." Calmly humming as she made precise, yet carefree movements with the centre-stick control of her VF-1A Phoenix Variable Fighter and watched the stellar scenery, Rita kept alongside her squadron-leader. Wearing a bored expression, she alternated between singing the lyrics of a song that had appeared in her head and taking a sip from the bottle of flavored yogurt that she cradled between her legs. Making sure that outward comms from her were off, she smiled somewhat when she confirmed that no one could hear her song. Rita liked to think of herself as a decent enough songstress, it was more a concern of privacy when it came to her not wanting others to eavesdrop on her music.

[i]"All right, ladies - let's keep it nice and neat for the commander. Not to mention our new friends, they may have seen what we can do in a fight, but now's the chance to show them we can do spit-and-polish just as well as we do rough and tumble"[/i] The voice of the squadron-leader, a Gabriel Strucker, that apparently most people called Gabe or Struck and a man eleven years her senior (not that it made much difference in the grand scheme of things, Rita reflected silently) spoke over the comms. The second part especially struck a cord with Rita; during her earlier aptitude testing planetside, she had remarked that there had been a large amount of non-human observers. Rita hadn't found it too bothersome, only slightly peculiar that the opinion extraterrestrials gave would be a deciding factor in letting her remain in RDF service. Shrugging this detail off as she sucked on the straw leading into the bottle, she finished the drink, the bottle of which she then crushed underneath her foot and stuffed in a button-less area next to her seat as she spoke her response.

"Gotcha sir." She yawned shortly after and adjusted her helmet on her head as they followed Star Goose in for a landing on the Sentinel. Slowing down to let the squadron leader land first, she made note of how he landed on the alien deck. Noticing the arresting gear, she realized how close human technology was to the ET's, not just in how advanced it was, but in the methods of doing certain things. She likened it to how almost every human civilization had come up with the bow and arrow at some point, despite some not having any contact with others. [i] I guess we have more than a few things in common.[/i] She thought silently as she lined up the fighter for a landing. The hook came out from behind, awaiting to latch onto a cable on the deck and after waiting for Gabriel to taxi into a position out of her way. Slowing down enough to still have enough forward momentum but be slow enough to have enough precision, an easy feat considering the lack of danger of stalling, due to her flying in space, she brought the Phoenix to land on the deck. Latching onto the first cable, she smiled and patted herself on the back as a congratulation on the near perfect landing. She realized that perhaps her approach could have been a bit smoother, but she still was satisfied enough with the landing. "Not bad for a first time on a ET ship.", she muttered to herself as she let a rather furry looking fellow guide her to parking her plane. She awaited a moment for the ladder of the Phoenix to lower before manually lifting the canopy and climbing down.

Walking over to stand next to her squadron-leader, she nodded to him, giving him a playful thumbs-up to compliment his own landing. She watched as the commander, stepped out of the shuttle. Shooting a salute that barely lasted a second, she then watched as a red panda-esque alien spoke to her. Speaking in a way that indicated that the human language was something of a difficulty for her, she offered her greetings not only to the commander, but to the fighter pilots too. Smiling and nodding in the ailurus fulgens' direction, she then observed as the commander offered her hand to the extraterrestrial being. Suddenly, the lighting overhead turned a nauseating shade of red and an alarm sounded, one that Rita couldn't exactly classify as a Klaxon due to its distinct difference in sound. An urgent but clear voice clarified the situation:

[i]"Battlestations! All hands to battlestations! Enemy defold detected, Invid troop carriers launched and closing in!"[/i] Sighing, Rita turned to the blonde man standing next to her and spoke with a slightly cheerful tone in deep contrast to the situation.

"Orders?"