The 'guest' entered the airship with what appeared to be practiced ease, following Benson at a brisk pace, but also ensuring that everything he could see, he did. Entering the lounge, he stepped over to Miss Lamarr, and proffered her a business card that simply stated 'Mister Johnston and Assoc.', as if that would explain everything about him.<br/><br/>Pausing, he spoke quietly. "Noticed several.... characters congregating near here. New pilots, I assume, Miss Lamarr?"<br/><br/>Idly, he crossed his hands in front of himself, holding the briefcase with both hands as if to ease the weight from his left wrist for a time.<br/><br/><br/>Meanwhile, below the<em>Blue Ridge</em>, groundcrew began prepping the aircraft of the pilots that had already arrived; First out of the hangar was a matte-green Grumman Avenger; not the most agile thing in the skies, but one of the better-armed planes out there.<br/><br/>The second plane to be pulled from the Hangar was a dark red Devastator, the bent-X shape of its wings and the quartet of large cannon mounted at the wing roots of the upper pair gave the biplane a vicious, hunchbacked look that was only accentuated by the Laughing skull painted on the sides of the fuselage just ahead of the cockpit, a pair of venomous snakes half-out of the grinning bone's maw.<br/><br/>The third plane, a pink and yellow Bloodhawk, with black trim, caught the eye just long enough to sear its image into one's retinas; the garish paint would be bad enough, if it wasn't for the 'dazzle' pattern it was painted in, bold jagged strokes of paint meant to break up the plane's image, while creating smaller afterimages if one moved their head just quickly enough.<br/><br/>After lining up the three planes next to one another, the crew chief nonchalantly lit a cig up, puffing away as he waited for the pilots to get off their duffs and do the final checks each plane required. After all, he was getting paid the same no matter how much work he had to do.