ooc: that would be if they still had fuel vapors. The jets are Ionic in nature.

OOC: Well that's good, now I don't have to worry about blowing up stuff... Is it dangerous to have cigarettes in the cockpit?

ooc:Well it might piss off your life support system which would probably drop an oxygen mask thinking the place was filling with smoke the dousing you with Halon.

Kyle watched as the rest of the group filtered in and powered up their mechs. He had been here since the meeting, going over his mech and having it painted for this sortie. Kyle turned around to take a good look at his machine. It was painted in standard space camo, which is to say that it was all black with a few specks of white on it. Kyle preferred to have his mech painted to suit the battlefield as opposed to some fancy nambly pambly paint job that would only make him stick out. Although he did have a special paint job for his mech, he only used that on show occasions, and it had always been the earth forces white blue and green with a hint of gold thrown in. On the right shoulder was his old battalion symbol, a sword in front of a shild with a picture of earth painted on it. On his left shoulder was his personal symbol, an old grey nosed wolf sitting atop a rock staring out at the world with a gleaming look in it's eye like it is in on some hidden joke that no one else knows about.

Kyle climbed up the mech and stepped into the cockpit. He already had his cooling suit on and his special neuro helmet was siting on the chair, the jack which was supposed to be put into pilot's necks sticking out of it. Upon seeing the jack Kyle shook his head in sadness. He had seen plenty of good pilots die because of those things, and the ones that died were the lucky ones. He much preferred his neuro helmet. The neuro helmet took much more practice and concentration to master, but in the end it was safer, and provided most of the benefits of actually being jacked in....unless you lost concentration. Most never bother with neuro helmets due to the time it takes to master them, and the lessened benefit when compared to actually jacking in, and the cost because fine tuning is required for each individual pilot. Of course, his helmet was paid for by his previous employers and Kyle had plenty of practice over the many years to get used to using a neuro helmet.

He sat down in the command chair of the mech, placed the neuro helmet on, strapped in, powered up the systems, and then took a few cautious steps out of the mech cradle. It was slightly stiff, and not as advanced as he was used to. But he could wear it in, and in time it would become more suited to his style.

"This is Kyle, all systems are green. Moving into position."

[OOC] Hey Jad, can I use the neuro helmet or should I just delete that part of my post? [OOC]

OOC: Edit, I skimmed.

And does getting our Mechs painted cost extra, or is it cheap and ignored?

OOC: he brought it with him. Only needs a neck jack to work, no installation required

well, and it needs a pilot who can use it. Methinks a neuro helmet on an unstable individual could really fusk up your mech.

ooc: It's fine. I went with the clan enhanced imaging Idea just no tattoos, I always thought that was king of stupid. your neuro helmet would just give you better piloting control not the enhanced targeting. but you won't get electrical feedback from PPC damage. Also Paint is 15 credits a pop.

OOC: What is PPC damage? One of the arm weapons was a PPC thing...

Wayward was the last to leave. He didn't bother following the others. There wasn't any point.

He motored his hoverchair past the rows of Legionnaires (he had never gotten into the habit of referring to them as Legionaries) and as he approached the hangar doors, he snapped his fingers. In the corner of the hangar, a black and purple UCV powered up, rising from a crouch into a standing position. Its single red monocular glowed, and it turned and walked towards the entrance, shaking the ground with each step. As it approached Wayward, it bent down, scooping him and the chair up in its free hand. Its cockpit hatch slid open, and the hand tilted, pouring Wayward inside.

The cockpit was bare, the seat having long been taken out, the internal controls built into his hoverchair and interfaced to the UCV's systems via secure data transmission. There was not personal memorabilia here. He didn't believe in cluttering up the cockpit with useless stuff like that, and besides, he didn't need it. All his good memories lived inside his head, where they couldn't be stolen, damaged or destroyed. Memories like when he had reached the A rankings in the Arena, after he had survived near-impossible odds on near-suicidal missions, and so on. And the bad too, like the loss of his legs, the death of his parents, the many comrades he had lost over the years as a Raven.

But the time for psychobabble was not now. Now was the time to get things done. The memories could come later.

Magnetic clamps secured the chair inside the cockpit, and a white mesh dropped from the ceiling as the hatch closed. As he put it on, the screen in front of him flickered, then the familiar HUD appeared, framing an external camera's view of the world. A feminine voice spoke directly into his head.

Good evening. Detached battle backup unit ADA. Ready for combat, Reiji.

"Don't call me that. How's the self-check?"

All systems functioning within normal parameters.

"Good."

He opened a channel to Pillbuy's Legionnaire.

"I am Wayward. I am ready."

(OOC) Was able to get on the computer for a while today!

Erika climbed in and started the power-up. Running through the power-up checklist, she started to feel a little nervious. As soon as everything came up green, she said "Erika here, all systems green."