"Will there be any questions?"

Heidemarie glanced around the OPS room to see if anyone had any further information to request or to offer. The other instructors, she saw, were doing the same. The operation was very straight forward in terms of strategy and execution, and not a single other officer present had any doubts about the plan. Even the mechanic instructors were confident the plan was good; the body posture of all personnel present indicated this.

"Well then, dismissed." The base command then stood, and with a nod of her head, left the room.

Heidemarie stood and turned to leave. Matthew, ever the joker in the group, was animatedly demonstrating something to another mechanic. She caught his eye and raised her eyebrows at him in response to his 'story telling'. Feeling tired, she decided to leave the OPS room and catch some early sleep in preparation for the mission the next day. She was just able to reach for the door when it opened for her. Looking around, she saw Matthew holding it open for her to leave.

"Ladies first!" It still sometimes surprised her how… chivalrous he was, mostly because the rest of the time he was the most unserious person she had met. Only when interacting with superior officers (He being only a Captain, while she was a Major), or when working with the Striker units did she see the serious, work-to-the-bone side of him. However, she noticed that with some high ranks, such as her or other mechanic instructors, did he speak and interact informally. Some thought this was disrespectful but those who knew him and worked with him before knew that he did this because, in his own words, 'When you work with someone and need the highest level of trust, you gotta be a human being'. This she understood well. She trusted him more than any other mechanic as during training for the mechanics he used her Striker to demonstrate the technical and theoretical aspects of the machinery and in the process, knew everything about her preferred set-up and kept the unit in perfect condition. Never has she worried about the unit failing her; never did he worry about it failing her either. Trust was a two-way street in war.

As the pair walked through the headquarters building Heidemarie asked the man his thoughts on the mission.

"So, do you think we'll be OK?" She looked over at him and waited.

"I don't see why you're worried. There are 5 flights, 5 instructors and an actual Strike Wing less than three clicks away."

"Well things happen, you know."

Matthew just stared. At first Heidemarie didn't understand why he was looking at her like that, and then remembered he had nearly been killed in a Neuroi attack once.

"Oh. Sorry." Heidemarie apologized faster than she ever had in her life. Matthew just kept staring at her, gradually contorting face into the most ridiculous… thing she had ever seen. Heidemarie could only laugh. He finally spoke after she had lost her control.

"Don't worry about it. Just try to relax, y'know? You'll die from worry."

"Shut it, you."

With a start Heidemarie opened her eyes. In the gloom of her bedroom she stared at the ceiling wondering why she was suddenly awake. Unable to figure out why she couldn't fall back to sleep she rolled over and looked at the clock beside her bed. 12:37, she thought, so much for a good night's sleep. Deciding that perhaps some fresh air would do her some good Heidemarie got out of her bed and dressed. Glancing at the clock again, she headed out of her room to clear her mind.

She didn't have any specific path or destination in mind, but within minutes she found herself opening the door to the 333rd's hangar. Inside she could hear loud voices and the sound of tools being operated and Strikers being calibrated. She closed the door behind her and proceeded to walk to the main floor of the hangar where the wing's mechanics, led by their instructor Matthew, were preparing the unit's equipment for the upcoming sortie.

Turning the corner to the main floor Heidemarie stopped, leaned against the door frame, and watched. Besides the mechanics in training, Heidemarie also saw Matthew working on her Striker as well as offering advice and giving criticism to the trainees. The radical change in Matt was obvious when watching him in the hangar. Gone from his face was the goofy grin and mischievous look; instead his face was hardened in concentration, his eyes set on the task at hand. As well as working on the unit in front of him he was also fielding questions from his charges.

"Captain, the output on this unit is reading as unstable. Everything is configured properly, what could be causing it?"

Matt didn't even look up from his own work when he answered back "Check the OLSA bridge between the output and the SCP control arm. The instability on the magical output is usually caused by the bridge not stabilizing the magic flow to the RPM controller in the OLSA."

Heidemarie didn't understand one bit of the explanation but obviously the mechanic who posed the question did as after a few seconds of tinkering the mechanic called back to Matt "Wow. That's perfectly stabilized now."

Matt walked over to the mechanic's station and checked both the Striker and the graphing machine that it was connected to, spoke briefly to the man at the station, patted his should then returned to his work. Heidemarie decided to go over to speak to him; she found a sort of comfort in his personality when stressed and felt that a good conversation with him may calm her down.

As she approached her Striker she became aware of every mechanic in the room, except Matt, watching her. It wasn't often the mechanics see a Witch in the hanger this late into the day. Matt looked up at her and said "This is unusual, seeing you in here this late."

"Couldn't sleep" was her reply, "and decided to clear my head."

"OK then. Speaking of which, what kind of performance do you want tomorrow?" Heidemarie looked at Matt with a look of confusion, so he elaborated "I meant your Striker. Any specific set up?"

"Oh. A bit more speed, maybe? I may want to move around in reaction faster."

"Fair enough."

For the next couple of hours Heidemarie and Matthew talked about anything and everything, from their childhood to their future plans. Heidemarie learned that Matt used to be a pilot but switched to being a mechanic for the Witches because, in his words, "Seems way more fun, and who doesn't want to be surrounded by cuties?" earning him a smack from Heidemarie. She also learned that he wants to start a family in the future. When she heard this her mind, for no reason known to her, started imagining being married to the man, and immediately blushed. Matthew, ever the opportunist, saw this and started teasing the Witch about having a 'dirty mind' and 'a vivid imagination', earning him another smack. Once thing Heidemarie didn't notice, however, was the lingering gaze he gave her when she looked across the hangar to the open bay door.

The only thing that Matt had learned was that her eyesight had been damaged a young age due to her inability to control her magic, and that she too wanted to start a family. Although he wouldn't admit it, he had teased the woman in front of him because he had the same thoughts about her.

After a bit more discussion, Matthew turned to his crew and shouter over the ambient noise "OK, is everyone done?" After a chorus of affirmatives, and the silencing of the sounds of work, we called his team together. Heidemarie stepped away from the group; this wasn't her place now. He had orders to give to this team. She pretended to be interested in her Striker as he gave his final orders for the night.

"OK boys, good work. Remember, wake-up call is 0700 hours. Make sure you're fed and ready to go here at 0745. The mission starts at 0800, so we need all Witches armed and ready to go at 0800. This includes any last minute configurations. Also, make sure that you are in Combat ready state; it may sound funny but warzones don't exactly have fixed lines, and a Neuroi laser won't care if it hits behind the line. Dismissed."

As the mechanics filed out, Matt turned to Heidemarie and asked "Want me to walk you back to the barracks?" Heidemarie obliged the man, and once she was back in her room she sat on the edge of her bed and looked at her clock.

4:02

With a groan Heidemarie rolled over into her bed and closed her eyes. As she drifted to sleep, her last thought was of a blonde man and a silver haired woman standing on a balcony, overlooking the world.