As the shuttle touched down, Tashia Wex snapped to attention along with the rest of the welcoming party. The long-haired Tirolian's face was set in a professional frown, her uniform and salute impeccable. It wasn't just for the humans' benefit - It had been months since the Tirolian remnants had joined the Sentinels, but she still copped the occasional suspicious glare or snide murmur in the flagship's corridors and mess halls. The Robotech Masters had held power in the core worlds for so long that some people still saw Imperial jackboots every time they looked at a Tirolian. Well, she had been chosen for the welcoming detail, not them. That fact alone was somewhat reassuring to the young pilot - maybe someone up the chain of command saw things differently.

She was distracted from her train of thought as the human commander stepped down from her shuttle. The new aliens were always odd to look at, she thought. Not because of how different they were, but because they were so familiar. This Commander Hays even more so, with her build not as stocky as most humans - If she squinted, she could have mistaken the tall brown-haired woman for a pale Tirolian. The ramifications of this had been dominating the shipboard rumour mill ever since the battle above Tirol, especially amongst the Tirolian crew, but for her part Tash had kept herself too busy to indulge in much speculation. The humans were good fighters, that would have to be enough for now.

Tash was trying to follow the conversation between her own CO and the human commander - she had scrambled to learn the human language when it had been announced they were joining the fleet, but she was sure she had been making embarrasing mistakes every time she talked to a human in the Sentinel's corridors - when the emergency lights snapped on. She stiffened, heart racing as she cast a meaningful look at the Felness beside her, Mike. Talk about a warm welcome...