The First is the Worst (OPEN/Brit military)

[Aloysius Drebbel]

The Chief of Science hummed out loud - slightly disturbingly loud, perhaps. But such had no meaning. It had been a while since the said man had been on actually a good mood.

But it had better be time already - with all the disappointments and grief tossed at his face the past months, it was time for better days. Really.
So, there he was, humming and strolling down the corridors of the R&D facility in an unusually light manner. He might have gathered some glances, though that wasn't unusual. Yet this time the glances were also spiced with smiles - finally, the times of grunt seemed to be over.

And a single man to thank for it, really.

The said officer Hawcroft could hardly imagine what influence his arrival had on the whole Research and Development section, let alone in its core, the team Tintagel.

Time for some test drives it was, for the first time in ages. Now they could only hope the devicer would fulfill their expectations, or at least his duty. Though the Chief of Science was now in high moods, it wasn't guaranteed to last with. It never was. Especially if it was anything involving his work.
It was serious business. Dead serious. Always.

Arriving to the hangars in which their test equipment was stored, the preparations for the first test of the day were already in full process. Aloysius was told that Hawcroft had yet to show up - but, it wasn't crucial. Yet.
So, the red head headed towards the monitoring room to check where his crew was going in regards of the preparations.

[Luka Hawcroft]

You see, nothing to worry about. Just let me do the driving, you handle the weapons an' stuff.[/i] Luka walked towards the R&D facility slightly annoyed by the fact he was late... again. Not a good way to start at a new position as a test driver... "And, once again you're the one to thank to. Besides, last time I gave you the chance to drive, we both ended up on ER".

The door's of the R&D facility opened up and Luka stepped inside, heading towards the hangars. "You know, it sometimes is a virtue to stay out of peoples minds" Well what can I do? I'm stuck in here weather I want or not. Besides I think we're a great team! We're totally balanced, like now for example. You're mad, I'm on a good mood, you mess things up, I cover your back, I mess things up and you're the one to clean them. That's the way it goes right? A turn to right, down the hallway and a few clicks straight up. The hangar doors were close by now. "Well I don't have time to discuss about who does what, and I don't even care. Just stay out of my way and don't say ANYTHING you haven't thought twice. I don't intend to lose this job of mine, you know. Yeah, sure, you're the boss. But remember, I'll take over if something happens. And that's not something you can talk me out of.[/i]

The hangar doors were now in front of the senior officers face. He waited a moment for something to happen, but the doors wouldn't move an inch. "Hello? Chief?" A wacky, eye looking thingy, sprouted off the wall on his right. For a while the machine just stared at him, apparently measuring his size and checking some face recognition stuff Luka had no clue of. The Chief had said to stay still until the machine would give him further details, but this seemed ridiculous. Being stared by a mechanical eye. "Well, what's the problem? Are you just going to stare at me or what?" Exactly what I meant, not to say anything you hadn't thought twice[/color] Well so what? What should have I done? Just stared back at the machine until we decompose? The argue was seized by the beeping machine. Please identify yourself. Luka Hawcroft, senior officer, identification number One-One-Zero-Zero-One-Two-Zero-Lima-Hotel. Identification complete, senior officer Luka Hawcroft, access granted. The doors opened and Luka stepped inside the huge hangar. Okey, let's just stop this and try to work as a team. Deal? Deal.[/i]

For a while he felt a bit lost in such a huge hangar. The Chief of Science hadn't mentioned WHERE he actually should be, just that he was supposed to be at the hangars 9:30 am. The clock on the wall told him he was 10 minutes late and completely out of direction. But as every officer knows, a man who doesn't want to be found walks besides the walls. So in this case his path headed straight to the middle of the huge hangar.

[Aloysius Drebbel]

The last calculations running on the screens, the last confirmations ringing through the comm-link set into his right ear, the Chief of Science sat in the monitoring room gazing down to the hangar. His fingers were drumming the surface of the table slightly, he'd stopped humming a while ago. Occassionally he would answer a word or two to someone going behind his back, or to a voice speaking through the earpiece of his. but a slight frown had began to take a hold of the man's face.

The test pilot - the long awaited test. pilot. was late.

Had Aloysius' known of the bad directions given to the man, he might have been a bit more forgiving. But it had not exactly crossed the scientist's mind that when he did suppose that officer Hawcroft's superiors would have briefed him well enough, it was actually him who would have now had to do so for after all. After the man's transfer under his precious team's orders, he was, in fact, the superior to him. But did that occured to Aloysius? No, not really. What he cared about was that the man should have been on time, no matter who he did get his orders from - and, today, on the first morning of his actual duty as a test pilot, he wasn't.

Though luck.

But then, the scientist's eyes did spot someone in the middle of the hangar, looking quite like he didn't really belong there - or, more likely, had no idea where to proceed. First, the frown on Aloysius' face deepened even more, but with a sudden realization, the look on his face brightened immediately. Ohh, there he was, there he was~~
The Chief of Science almost jumped up from his chair - a sudden, suave move it was, anyway - and reached for his commlink to switch the channel for a common one of the loudspeakers of the entire hangar. And soon, a delighted, light voice rang through the entire section of the building.
"Good morning, everyone~ I see you've arrived at last, too, officer Hawcroft. You all know what this means, eh? We'll have our test drives begin~"
Some applause went through the hall. The team was excited, for sure - but none of them, probably, were as excited as the Chief of Science himself. His ways were known well enough by most of them team, though, so they just played along it. But the applause could have also been a bit more louder, still.
Then, Aloysius turned his attention to this new, aforementioned crew member of his, and continued.
"Ahh, good morning to you also all personally, officer Hawcroft. I'm most delighted to see you've joined us for today. As for today's schedule, stay where you are. You'll soon get more directions." A small pause.
"Hans, please send in the Ywain, now would you?"

Another pause.
Then, a pair of doors, BIG doors at the left side of the hangar - from Aloysius' point of view, anyway - began sliding to open. And what was then brought in, was something the world had yet to witness - but something the team Tintagel had waited for the last three years to get into this point.

The Ywain.

[Luka Hawcroft]

"Good morning, everyone~ I see you've arrived at last, too, officer Hawcroft. You all know what this means, eh? We'll have our test drives begin~" Voice from the loudspeakers silenced for a while for applause. 'You know, that sounds pretty familiar to me. Are you sure we've never met him before?' 'Yeah, pretty sure I haven't. Can't tell for your past though, maybe a relative you've forgotten?'

The applause halted. Still unaware of where he really should be, Luka looked to the far end of the hall, where he thought the office, from where the Chief of Science spoke through the loudspeakers, was located. He then tried to locate the staircase leading to the monitoring room, but was soon interrupted by the Chief of Science. "Ahh, good morning to you also all personally, officer Hawcroft. I'm most delighted to see you've joined us for today. As for today's schedule, stay where you are. You'll soon get more directions." The voice brought back memories from his jr. officer days. Not sure why, Luka thought of the barracks, especially the living quarters.

"Hans, please send in the Ywain, now would you?" The image faded as huge metal doors right of Luka started to rattle open. A Knightmare like he'd never seen before stood in the next hall, silent, big and dignified.

'What on earth is that'[/color] 'Dunno, but i'm going to find out.'[/color] Unable to silence the voice of his side personality, Luka could only stand still and prepare for the coming desecration. "Hey Drebbel! Come over here, I aint keen on speaking through loudspeakers! And what on earth IS that?!" Ira shouted. 'Well, you really made an impression, thank you.' You're welcome.' Luka started to walk towards monitoring room, scanning the hall from left to right and back as he wandered through the hall.

[Aloysius Drebbel]

"Hey Drebbel! Come over here, I aint keen on speaking through loudspeakers! And what on earth IS that?!"

Now, that was an outburst. For a moment, the hall was all silent. Of course, the scientist in the monitoring room did see officer Hawcroft begin his walk towards the end of the hangar, away from the Knightmare just brought in. Yet, it took Aloysius a while to consider his words.
It wasn't every day when someone spoke of his creations - hardly ever, as a matter of fact - in such a brusque tone. Even the First Prince, no matter how he might have disliked their work, was kind enough to voice it out through polite tones of speech. On the other hand Aloysius had completely forgotten about the side personality of his test subject already. Not that it really mattered to him anyway.

For a split second, the Chief of Science didn't know whether to laugh or burst to the microphone. But as today was such a special occasion, a moment he'd been waiting ever since the- oh he couldn't even remember, it shouldn't be ruined my meaningless snarling. So he did, in fact, choose the first option of those aforementioned.

And so, soon a burst of laughter rang through the hall - still through the loudspeakers, of course. The tone of it was seemingly a polite one, yet something of quite not so kind a tone might have been heard underneath. In the monitoring room, the Chief of Science had gathered some odd looks. His staff had been all prepared for something quite else - well, frankly, rage, instead of some... laughter. You'd never fully know the ways of their head scientist, now would you.
"Please do hold your position, officer Hawcroft. You would be much more close to getting rid of the loudspeaker talk if you'd kindly step into that Knightmare instead of walking away from it." The word Knightmare was heavily emphasized, and, the hint in the latter part of the sentence was nothing short from an order.
"I might also be then able to tell you a little more what we're about to do today. But first, I would really like you to turn around and get back to the Frame. I might as well tell you this along your way. Today, you will get to know the Ywain." The last word could clearly be heard to have such emphase and devotion one would hardly grant for a machine - that is, if it wasn't for this particular Britannian Chief of Science. Some of the staff changed subtle glances. Yep, poor pilot, said their eyes. They were sure the new man's yell had angered their chief for good. It would have been reputed. Hardly, they knew.

So, I thank you for your interest, though. I, unfortunately, have my current occupation right here, as you do a few meter behind yourself, but I'd be delighted to brief you more - that is, if you prefer a comm-link over our present discussion. " The Chief of Science then quieted down and was left to wait. His fingers had stopped running on the keyboards for a moment, and the green eyes were now pretty much just staring out of the window straight to the man in the middle of the hall. He had gotten closer, so no doubt he'd see Aloysius as well by now.
The scientist had a slight frown, yet his posture was more that of a curiously leaned over the table to gaze at the man, rather than if he'd been bustling in rage. There he was, the ignorant little officer who had yet to learn the excellence of his creation. Aloysius would just wait and see. Everything would be fine, as long as the man wasn't here to harm this precious Frame of his in anyway.

The man started humming quietly, subconsciously. Then again, the speaker line was still open.