Haha"We're from all over the place, it seems," Chariot nodded, gripping the polyester belts over her torso. Her head turned to each as she repeated their names, clearly trying to cement them down immediately. "Vlad. Mule. Thrones. Strix. Dragoon. Feral. Pavan." Chariot nodded again with a smile, confident that she had them all straight.
"I was worried we might end up too focused on any one role, but I guess Retra knows what it's doing," she said. There were a few moments of reprieve from the turbulence, before it came back with a vengeance. The operators were practically bouncing a half-inch off of their seats as the jet rumbled. A red light washed over the cargo bay, accompanied by a gently-toned but loud ding. Their earphones burst to life with a crackling voice unfamiliar to them. It became quickly clear it was their pilot.
"Hold on tight now," he began, "Might want to flex yourself to push back into the seat. Things are about to get real' bumpy." Sure enough, the shaking in the jet had become downright terrifying. The crates and loose metal pieces all around the cargo hold were clanging and jumping, sliding and scratching. Outside they could hear a ghoulish howling of the wind, accompanied by a heart-shaking rumble of some massive engine. The red light turned into a rotating double-beam warning signal, washing red light over the operators cyclically. A harsh alarm sounded for five seconds, then went silent.
Were the operators to angle their heads aside to the small window ports, they would see the reason for their hellish ride. To both sides of the cargo jet, a city in the sky drifted at speeds only just under their own, growing closer and closer to the nose of the plane. Massive, skyscraper-sized jets spat out blue flame that carried the city aloft, and all about it were other flying objects, like sparkling white fish trailing beside the lazy wanderings of a whale.
The cargo jet drifted in closer until one of the walls of the Vindsvalr seemed as if mere yards away from their wingtips. Though the jet rumbled terribly, it kept a steady course until the massive rows of Vindsvalr's wings were below the jet itself. Slowly it approached a circular platform in the middle of the long stretch. Claw-like machines unfurled, prepared to receive the cargo plane.
The alarm blared to life again, persisting as the howling began to die down, and suddenly there was one last huge shaking in the plane, followed by a sharp acceleration that lasted but a moment. The plane no longer shook, but the wind still howled. Chariot released her sweaty-palmed grip from her seat belts and her jaw relaxed. She blinked a few times and let out a sigh of relief.
"Gonna need a restroom soon, am I right?" she said with a chuckle that was cut abruptly short. The plane bumped once, followed by loud mechanical whirring. The plane was descending straight down, the wings of the Vindsvalr rapidly ascending past their windows. The light of the sun outside darkened, replaced by artificial lights in a dark, industrial scene. It appeared as though their jet was being lowered by elevator into the Vindsvalr itself. Outside their windows was a massive hangar, though given the size of the cargo jet, appeared suited for them and them alone. A great number of people stood waiting at the hangar floor. Color-coded jumpsuits and small flashing vehicles for transporting cargo encircled the cargo jet as they descended.
The elevator came to a halt, sinking into a perfectly-sized cutout in the floor. One last alarm signaled the opening of the jet's cargo bay, and the ramp at the back lowered slowly.
"You're free to unbuckle," said the pilot, "Make it quick getting out, and stick to the walls." The cargo ramp hit the floor with a clang, and immediately workers began to rush inside to get rid of the cargo, wholly ignoring the operators as they made their way down. At the base of the ramp stood an attentive young woman with a long, blonde braid. She wore a composed, smiling expression, and kept one of her hands hovering over what appeared to be a PDA. As soon as one of the operators made it down to the floor, she started counting them with a pointing finger held close to her chest, mouthing each number silently.
"That's all of you! Welcome, welcome, new operators!" she said, "Have all your things? We'll be heading straight for the simulation. It should all be booted up by now. My name is Diver, if you remember our correspondence together! I'll be taking you through the process today, so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I know this might all seem very brisk and to the point, but we just want to get the onboarding stuff out of the way as soon as possible. Already we're itching to put you all into some real action," Diver explained.
"I know you all must be tired, but we unfortunately need to get this final examination done A.S.A.P! Any one need some coffee? Something to eat?"
