Marching down a darkened, lengthy corridor, industrial lights flickering off and on as the echoes of boots impacting upon the cold, unforgiving metal of the floor resonated out, a young lieutenant stopped in front of an opened door. He spun softly on the heel of his left foot, stopping in the doorway and rapped a knuckle against the iron piece that stood ajar. As the gentleman behind a massive desk looked up, the man swallowed nervously and snapped to a brisk, firm salute. "Excuse me, Colonel Steinmetz...?" he meekly stated. The man behind the oaken desk rose, towering up above him even from the distance between them. He returned the salute, allowing the younger soldier to break his and gestured for him to come in.
"Yes, lieutenant? What can I do for you?" Steinmetz asked softly. A deep, husky voice ushered out from under a salt and peppered mustache, the whiskers shaking ever so slightly as his breath passed them. Standing at roughly 6'10" tall, broad shoulders that almost matched the width of the doorframe, the Colonel began walking around the desk, his hands behind the small of his back as he kept his eyes on the young man in front of him.
"I'm... I'm sorry to trouble you sir, I wanted to let you know that the Whale King from the capital has arrived. I was asked to pass the message along." Another deep sound emitted from the behemoth of a man, this time a low, thundering chuckle as he leaned his head back, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. He brought his gaze back down and shifted a hand out from behind him, motioning to the phone on his desk.
"Lieutenant, you know we have a marvelous device called the telephone... it's a communication system that allows you to talk to someone quite a distance away without having to walk all the way to reach that party..." His calmed chuckle turned into a booming laugh at his own ribbing of the young man, who shifted uneasily but smiled at the comments. "So please, enlighten me more as to why you decided to come all this way to see me in person instead of using this to reach me. Not trying to butter me up are you, perhaps offer to polish my insignia while you were at it?"
"No sir! Nothing like that I swear!" the man blurted instantly, unease showing in his stance as he shifted and fidgeted in place. "Honestly sir, I swear it! I wasn't even the one originally tasked with doing this! I was handed the duty from someone else in one of the bays, and he outranked me and... you... you can't argue with your superior officer, and..." His voice trailed off, realizing how ridiculous he sounded as he tried to defend the fact that he was here before the man in person. "And, well, I don't know the number here and it just felt more important than a simple phone call. I know we've been waiting on this arrival for a while now and I figured you'd want to be told in person." Steinmetz waved a hand, offering the man a seat as he went and poured himself a small tumbler of whiskey, nodding a little.
"Well this is actually quite true. I do appreciate the fact that someone in this facility has the politeness to actually come see their CO instead of just assuming I'd want to hear a voice on a line. As for someone passing off the duty, I can assure you I can trace that even further up the line as I specifically gave orders to someone to inform me himself when our guests from the Guygalos capital, so I will make sure to have a nice chat with him about sherking duties and passing them along to those below him. He hasn't reached his rank by passing off his responsibilities before, and he shouldn't start now. But... that is neither here nor there, and a concern of mine and not yours Lieutenant...?" The voice trailed off as he looked at the man, trying to figure out who he was. Though the facility wasn't the most heavily staffed in the Guylos Empire, it was still enough of a body count to not be able to keep track of everyone, especially when his office was so far away from everything else on base.
"I'm sorry, sir!" the man replied quickly and firmly, trying to exhume a level of confidence to his CO in order to try and impress him a little. "My name is Lieutenant Vance Raign." Steinmetz raised an eyebrow as he took a sip from his drink, the whiskey stones clattered against the glass.
"Raign? I'm unfamiliar with that name..."
"It's... not a common one sir, and I have just only recently transferred to this facility myself. I was actually stationed in the southeast more towards the beach front areas."
"Then whom, I must ask, did you piss off in order to be transferred over to one of the loneliest, darkest, coldest research facilities on the continent of Nyx?" Steinmetz inquired, chuckling again as another sip drew more of the chilled alcohol down his throat, feeling it heat the esophagus before settling into his stomach, the cold feeling giving way to a warmth that made him smile, stretching the corners of his lips and the ends of his mustache to stick out.
"That.. is actually a very good question, sir. I wish I had an answer myself. I was just handed papers and brought out here. But..." Before he could continue, the colonel raised his hand silencing the lower ranking officer.
"Yes, yes, I know. Whale King landed, meet the party, yadda yadda... Son, having been in this field as long as I have, these formalities are nothing more than that. A handshake here, a compliment there, yes sir I love my post, no sir I haven't been able to see my family lately but we keep in contact through calls and videos, yes sir a little more funding could help spruce the place up a bit, thank you for your generosity, please allow me to bury my nose in your ass..." The final part of his speech caused a burst of laughter to escape from Vance's lips, though he quickly stifled it. Steinmetz shook his head and held a hand out, palm up and motioned up and down, as though encouraging him. "No, please. Don't stop yourself on account of me, Lieutenant. My comment was one of jest, I would like to know that perhaps I still have my sense of humor and haven't become some wrench in the gears that has nothing left of his soul having been in the service as long as I have, especially while I rot away behind these walls." Raign chuckled again at the commentary from his commanding officer, not used to such an informal way of speaking with someone of such high rank.
"Well sir, it was quite fantastic, I will give you that. Though I would like to advise, if I may as a lowly ranking man of the Empire's army, that maybe you not speak like that in front of our wonderful guests?" Another roar of laughter booms out of Steinmetz, filling the room, cascading around the corner and washing down the empty halls. The colonel finishes his drink and sets the glass down onto the table's corner on a coaster and takes his hat from off the center. He steps over to the mirror and runs his fingers through his hair. Though thinning a bit, it was still thick enough to cover most of his head, only showing a receding hairline caused more from stress. Affixing the hat with a slight adjustment, he turns to Raign and nods to him.
"I will definitely take your words into consideration, seeing as how despite being a lower rank, some of the best ideas come from your area." A playful smirk tugged at the right corner of the colonel's mouth as he places a hand on Raign's shoulder. "Come, seeing as you were the one forced to deliver this news to me, it's only fair that you get to be with me to greet them." A barking laugh from Raign as he looks up at the mountain of a man before him.
"Now is this a reward or punishment? Rewarded by rubbing elbows with folks from the capital for taking it upon myself to find you, or punishment after your little speech of ass kissing?" The colonel winks at him, passing by and entering the hallway. Raign follows, shutting the door behind them.
"Well, I suppose that is for you to try and figure out when you see how the meeting goes. If by some chance you find yourself furthered in your military career from this, then it's a reward and congratulations, followed by you're welcome." Steinmetz looks over his shoulder as the two men march down the corridor again, heading towards the hangar bay. "And if it turns out to be the dog and pony show I made it out to be, well then I assume you won't ever bitch about being in the position you're in now compared to mine, now will you?" The lieutenant ponders his colonel's words as they close in on the massive bay and scoffs quietly with a content smirk.
"Touché, sir... Must come with the years of experience." They both share a hearty laugh as the doors slide open, and they walk into the gigantic structure, noticing lines of electrical cords running from the massive transport ship, a steel walkway extending out to the open mouth of the craft as a group begins to disembark. "Lets see... suit, suit, suit, suit... looking more like an ass kissing party so far..."
"So it does, so it does... Well for now, let's not let them know we feel that way, shall we Lieutenant?" The two of them stop at the end of the ramp, noticing a few soldiers walking off as well. One immediately stands out to both of them, clad in a black pilot suit of some type that neither has seen before. Raign looks up at Steinmetz, noticing an uneasy look on his face. Despite the noise of work being done to all the Zoids in the hangar, the lieutenant hears a very uneasy growl rise from the throat of the colonel behind him. That alone was reason for his guard to immediately come up. Who was this pilot, and what was the battle hardened Steinmetz's experience telling him to be weary of?