(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9h_FmmDtwcQ/TkWBhEQm8NI/AAAAAAAABFs/zAjdm4rAZCI/s400/CCG_Unlimited_Hatchetman_S.jpg)<br/><br/><br/>Ranna Krannok<br/><br/>Base Camp<br/><br/>Prepping Harlequin<br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/>Realizing Walter's meeting was breaking up without any fan fare and Graff and Erich were heading to their mechs, Ranna grabbed what was left of her breakfast along with a bottle of water and slowly moved towards Harlequin.  She stared up at the ominous looking mech, it's hatchet head turned to the ground to support the mech was an powerful weapon Ranna had learned to wield with deadly accuracy over the years.  The half Black, half red face of the head showed the dual nature of their connection and reached back to the original roots of her death machine's name.  The multitude of battle scars and refitted parts were hidden to the unseeing eye by the mechs grey paint scheme, but she knew were every dent and scar was located.  She smiled thinking of the brawls she'd been in with Harlequin, and the death and destruction they'd shared over the years.<br/><br/>Shoving the meat and bread sandwich into her mouth and the bottle of water into a pocket on her leather jacket, Ranna climbed the hand holds on Harlequin's leg till she reached the chain ladder which carried her to the shoulder.  Slipping into the cockpit, sealing the door behind her she slipped her leather jacket into the locker behind her chair and sat in seat, buckling herself in.  Connecting the neuro connections to leads on her body suit and the coolant hose to a slot in her left thigh, she shivered as the air began circulating around her body.  Slipping the neuro helmet over her head, the computer chimed in again "In which Circle does the Harlequin dwell?" Ranna grinned, thinking of the old story from which the extension of her body is named.   Harlequin protects the eigth circle, the evil ditches."  With the command accepted the neuro lockouts released as the already started mech came to life.  Ranna sighed with a sense of joy as she felt the gyroscope and Harlequin's computer begin reading her brain waves, translating the neuro data into form and function.  Harlequin rose from his sleeping slumped postition to a tall regal stance, lifting the hatchet over his shoulder.<br/><br/>A whine of systems activating filled the cockpit with a soft hum and a flood of air which warmed the cockpit.  The targeting reticle set the Ranna's eye movements flashed onto the heads up display spread across Harlequin's faceplate.  Tactical readouts and systems readouts flashed onto the HUD.  Content with the status of the system, Ranna tuned up the comm system to a level she could deal with this early in the morning.  Setting the command freq and the Lance command Freq on different buttons on her left stick, she set her inter-mech freq to her right stick.<em>"Alright Blue team, Check in, Then form up behind me in a loose formation"</em>Ranna pressed the Lance command button on her left stick quickly.  "Harlequin checking in.  All systems go."  With that she took up position behind and to the left of Graff's Marauder.