<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/b7/CmdrNomuraMacross2032JPG.jpg) (https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/bb/LtCmdrClancy02Macross2032JPG.jpg) (https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/bb/EnsignChuMacross2032.jpg) </div><strong>Name:</strong>Cmdr Nomura, LtCmdr Clancy, Lt Chu<br/><strong>Date:</strong>March 11, 2032, 16:00<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Ready Room 04<br/><strong>With:</strong>T'chak, Kathryn Foss, Max Cosinara, Zephorus<br/><hr/><br/>The shuttle from Earth had arrived late at night, delivering the newest crewmembers of Aluce base to one of the smaller hangars in the fighter base that also was home to the base's two Cats Eye recon planes. By the time the new arrivals had reported to the duty officer, had their ID cards updated, received the key cards to their quarters, it was almost morning. Finally informed that the new officers of Electronic Warfare Wing 05 should report to Ready Room 4 by 1600, they were shown the way to the military base, to find their apartments and settle in.<br/><br/>The apartments were easy enough to find, all pilots housed close to the fighter base in buildings that could have belonged to any Earth-based military installation, apartment buildings for a few dozen people each, three or four stories high, under an artificial sky that was now beginning to turn from a starlit night to pink-touched fluffy clouds in a slowly brightening blue sky.<br/><br/>Electronic clocks placed over every building's entrance proclaimed the time to be 06:35 by then, the middle of the dawn hour that ran from 6 to 7, the end of a night that started with the beginning of dusk at 21:30. A little over nine hours till the briefing that would mark the new officers' official entrance into the EW Wing of Aluce.<br/><br/>* * * * *<br/><br/>Ready Four was one of the largest ready rooms on the base. Officially assigned to Hawk squadron, Ready Four could at times still be cramped, as it was also used for All Officers Meetings of the whole wing, a total of three dozens pilots and radar officers. On those occasions junior officers had to stand, unless they were among the lucky few who could find a folding chair somewhere – and a place to put it without getting in the way. But today the room was almost empty, the rows of large comfortable chairs all unoccupied, except for a pair of middle-aged men in flight suits in a corner. One of them seemed to be dozing, earplugs connected by thin cables to one of his chest pockets. The other was reading a book, but looked up every time a newcomer entered the room, offering a friendly nod in greeting, before he returned his attention to his reading.<br/><br/>At the front of the room the only other three occupants of the room sat on a podium that ran most of the width of the room. To the left, next to a lectern, sat a man and a woman in chairs that were of the same style as the pilot chairs – large, comfortable looking, something that might have come from the business class of an airliner. Both were dressed in the more formal style of duty uniform, blue jackets over their grey undershirts marking them as part of the flight crews, the woman having opted for a black skirt instead of the trousers that were also allowed with the female uniforms. The two were carrying on a quiet conversation, their expressions neutral. "Have a seat," the man, a commander by his rank insignia, invited each new arrival.<br/><br/>Also on the podium, but at the other, right-hand side, a young officer with vaguely Asian features under his dark hair sat behind a large desk, clad in the less-formal jumpsuit of a pilot. He tried hard to pretend his full concentration was on the two monitors on his desk, but couldn't hide completely that he was a little bored. Desk duty in the ready room was not terribly exciting, most of the time, but someone had to do it, and unlike the two Ready 15 pilots who relaxed in the corner of the room he could not just relax, especially not when his wing commander was around. That he had a bunch of maintenance reports to look through and sort for his superiors didn't help either.<br/><br/>From time to time the young Lieutenant glanced at the three large monitors that filled most of the wall behind the podium. One was switched off at the moment, the central one showed a view of a fighter launch hangar but there was hardly anything to see there either. The next launch wouldn't start for at least another hour. Not that the third monitor provided much excitement with its graphic representation of the moon and the flight paths of the craft currently in space. Just routine operations, nothing more, like most of those days.<br/><br/>When the new crew members had all arrived, Lieutenant Chu began to pay a little more attention, studied those unfamiliar faces from the corner of his eyes. He had his RIO, so he wouldn't be flying with any of those people under most circumstances, but they would be part of the little family that was the Electronic Warfare Wing. They were, he concluded after a moment, a rather mixed bunch. Could the large Zentran even fit into a Veritech cockpit? And the small woman looked almost too small to reach all the controls in her cockpit. Those two sure were not what one would normally expect. But the girl was cute.<br/><br/>Before the Lieutenant could continue his musings, the officer facing the room rose and addressed the new arrivals in an unhurried, gentle tone.<br/><br/>"Welcome, everyone. I am Commander Nomura, Commanding Officer of Electronic Warfare Wing 05. This here is Commander Clancy, who happens to command Hawk squadron. She also happens to be my XO, and deals with most day to day operations of our wing. Now, before I let her deal with your assignments and duty roster, there's something you'll have to understand about this wing.<br/><br/>"Strictly speaking, Hawk is a recon outfit, Phantom is officially an Electronic Attack wing. We are having none of that. Phantom does recon flights, Hawk trains for electronic attack. We will have no needles specialization. If the next war comes, we will need everyone to pull their weight and know how to fight." While the Commander's voice had remained casual all through his little speech, his eyes had hardened during is last two sentences.<br/><br/>"Any questions, so far?" he asked as he took his seat again.