Woody yells out, “C’mon man – hurry up, let’s go! Meet you downstairs.” As Woody descends the stairs he scans the room. “Where did she go?” he mumbles. “Hi I’m Kalli …” as she pops out from behind one of the large pillars at the bottom of the stairs. “You’ve got to stop doing that!” Woody says. Kalli laughs. “I’m Woody... So why are you here in our hanger exactly?” Woody asks. “The Commander forgot to tell you where to report for work.”, she explains. “Come to think of it, she did.” Woody chuckles. “She called me this morning and asked me to escort the two of you to work since we’re going to be working together.” Kalli says. “Morning! I’m Woodman.” Woody jumps, “Man! Didn’t hear you come down the stairs.” “WOW … Woody, you work fast. Who’s your friend?” Woodman asks. “This is Kalli.” Woody answers. “Nice to meet you. If you don’t mind me asking … how did you get in here?” Woodman asks. “You left the door unlocked,” Kalli explains. “Man … Got to leave the door unlocked more often bud.” Woodman replies. Kalli giggles. “Well, we’ve got to get going or we’ll be late,” Kalli says as she starts to walk off. “C’mon, we can take my ride this time.” Woody turns as Woodman hits his shoulder. He whispers to Woody, “Very nice!… Look at that ass. Got to love fitted coveralls,” he laughs. Woody smacks his shoulder and says, “Hey … C’mon!” As they exit their hanger, Woody asks, “So, Kalli … how do we lock our door?” “Push the green button next to your card swipe – When it’s green it’s unlocked, when it’s red it’s locked.” She explains. Woody replies, “Thanks!” Woodman claims a seat in the back and signals Woody to take the front. Woody walks around to the front seat.
“Thanks for the lift Kalli … “ he says. “No problem … Hang on guys!” she shouts as she peels out into the traffic. The boys scramble to fasten their seatbelts as she weaves in and out of traffic. “WOW … our E.Bs don’t go this fast.” Woody says. “Yeah … I took the governor out. Oops! Don’t tell, ok Woody?” Kalli pleads. “I like to move fast,” she says with a gleam in her eye. Woodman is in the back seat thinking ‘Damn!!! … Woody’s going to have his hands full with this one’ as he chuckles softly to himself. After five minutes or so of weaving in and out of traffic, Kalli turns the wheel sharply and brakes. The E.B skids into a parking spot. The boys gratefully get out. Woodman turns to Kalli, “Thanks for the ride.” Woody adds, “Yeah … thanks Kalli.” “You’re welcome … Woody.” Kalli says. “We have five minutes … Quick! We have to get in and swipe our cards then stand in formation.”, Kalli pipes as she runs down the hall. The boys quickly follow. The hall opens to a huge bay with at least twenty Mechs of all weight classes. “Holy shit! I’ve died and gone to heaven!”, exclaims Woodman. “Quick! Swipe your card and follow me,” as Kalli quickly swipes hers. They run towards a group of people standing in several lines. Kalli gets in the second line. The boys line up behind her. “No boys … you’re in the first line,” she clarifies. The boys look at each other and shrug their shoulders. “Fine,” Woody replies, as they step into the first line. No sooner do they get in line when a loud horn sounds.
Blade steps out of an office and stands in front of the crowd. “Morning all!” Blade calls out. “Morning sir,” everyone replies. “Glad to see you all made it here on time today,” he continues. “We have a couple of new hotshots joining our squad. Be sure to make them feel at home, but not on MY time … is that clear?” he adds. “SIR! YES SIR!!!” the squad replies in unison. “If you don’t know them, they are Woody and Woodman… They’re our light Mech specialists.” Blade says. Woody thinks to himself, ‘Oh shit … Here we go. I knew it was all too good to be true. It feels like I’m back at school and I’m a junior cadet all over again.’ Meanwhile, Woodman is thinking, ‘Oh yeahhhh … they recognize my abilities. Sweet! This is going to be a piece of cake.’ “Well … what are you all waiting for? To your posts … we have works to do.”, Blade says. “I expect everyone to get their shit done today, CLEAR???...” Blade shouts bringing the boys back to reality. “SIR! YES SIR!!!”, everyone chimes back and quickly run off to different areas of the hanger. Blade continues, “You two! … Into my office.”
Woody pipes up, “SIR! YES SIR!!!”, and moves swiftly into Blade’s office. Blade continues standing, all the while looking directly at Woodman. “Oh … oh yeah. SIR! YES SIR!!!”, replies Woodman. Blade then moves into the office with Woodman following closely behind. Woodman quickly takes a place next to Woody in front of Blade’s desk. “I’m ex military boys. I run my squad like the military, with discipline and respect. You have to earn the latter from everyone. This is our morning routine. You boys noticed that there are pilots ranging from 18 to 40 years of age. I treat everyone as equals, so you’ll get no special treatment here. This is our work group, but it’s also our sub clan “SONG”. This is the group you’ll be sent out on missions with. This is your new family. You two boys are part of our light Mech crew, so you’ll be working on all light Mechs. Kalli is the crew chief for our light division. She’ll give you your daily assignments. She is also your chief in battle, so listen to her … She can teach you a lot. That’s it for now. I’ll address any further matters as they come up. That’s all. Report to Kalli, and get to work.”, Blade concludes. “SIR! YES SIR!!!”
Submitted by Woodman 1201# 832644