"You sure know how to make things interesting, Val." Tobias chuckled at the view of the crowd gathered to witness the long awaited launch of the Nightfall, early in the morning of November 11th, where the maiden voyage was to fulfill a two-fold promise that Valentine had made to fly over two particular structures; the first being his school to Serenity, and the other, more official-political one, which was the White House in Washington DC for the Remembrance Day celebrations taking place there.

"Two words: Flying. Battleship." Val replied as everyone else standing with the two of them, the members of the Nightfall's crew, chuckled at the comment. "Now, who's the one that's gonna give the speech this time?"

"That would be me, with a little pomp and circumstance that Rico requested to do, 'his way' as he'd worded it. You might like his idea, trust me." Tobias replied with a smirk, since everyone but himself and the mech didn't know what that idea happened to be. "Alright, I think it's time for a little crowd control and grandstanding." Tobias then nodded for Valentine to join everyone else in stiff formation behind the awaiting podium, all dressed in crisp BSAA formal uniforms, each adorned with their official rankings and the brand new black patch on their arms to signify that they were the crew of the Nightfall. Only Sheva wasn't present in the group, which Valentine knew at least that much was part of Rico's apparent 'idea'.

The crowd of media and civilians, as well as many BSAA personnel themselves, fell quiet as Tobias' tall frame approached the podium and brought with him a complete devotion of attention.

"Today marks a crowning achievement in the fight against bioterror. No longer will the ship you see behind me stay idle on the ground. Today is the day that it will become an active BSAA asset, ready for action at a moment's notice." He began as he scanned the crowd by slowly turning his head from left to right as cameras clicked and several camera drones idly hovered a few feet over their heads. "To those uninformed, this is the Nightfall, the first of it's kind, a battleship capable of not only ocean travel... but direct VTOL flight. Yes, that's right. It's not just a big boat... It's a big FLYING boat. Designed for the purpose of ridding the world of bioterrorism, including to directly combat large-scale B.O.W threats that are beyond the capabilities of our usual infantry based methodology."

Tobias paused for a moment, placing his hands onto the sides of the podium to let the curious murmurs die back down before he continued his speech. "Alongside the ship and the crew you see standing behind me, the Nightfall includes an additional affiliate, who will be joining us shortly to give the official launch's traditional naval blessing. As we await word from them, we have time for only a few short questions, either for myself or the Nightfall's commanding officer, my son, Captain Valentine Darkwood."

With that several of the media - located at the front near the stage itself - began clamoring with questions as Valentine stepped towards the podium to stand beside his father, then pointed out a reporter at random.

"Jen Constant, New York Times. For Captain Valentine, there's an unconfirmed report that the Nightfall is expected to participate in the Remembrance Day fly-over tradition in Washington DC later today, could you verify this information?"

Valentine approached the microphone and imitated Tobias' previous pose with his hands on the edge of the podium. "This information is correct. As part of the political involvement with Congress and the President, I did indeed declare that the Nightfall would participate in the fly-over the White House during a meeting with Congress in October."

"William Hollard, independent reporter. Are the Nightfall's specifications permitted to be announced? Such as dimensions and armaments?"

Tobias placed a hand onto Val's shoulder, a very subtle action, taking the question instead. "Until such a time when a meeting to specifically discuss disclosing such information is held, that information is presently unavailable to the public beyond the most basic of numbers and names, such as dimensions and direct images of the ship."

"Last question, Rico's almost ready." Tobias whispered into Val's ear as Valentine pointed to the next reporter.

"Valerie Brown, also independent. Is it true that the Nightfall's home port is here in Los Angeles, yet the ship is not bound by the auspices of the United States Air Force?"

"That is correct. The ship is based here in this very shipyard, but is able to conduct operations all around the globe, acting out of the nearest BSAA base to the operation zone. Now, that is all for questions at this time, the affiliate that was previously mentioned is now ready to perform the traditional navy blessing. The crew of the Nightfall are to report to their stations aboard the ship immediately." Tobias spoke into the microphone as the sound of heavy thudding reached their ears over the clicking cameras and low conversations. "I now wish to present to you, Cherub Class BSAA-NF01, Rico. And his pilot, Staff Sergeant Sheva Alomar-Darkwood."

Awkward applause broke out as the crew left the stage and out of sight, only for another sight to appear from around the side of the Nightfall's bow, which was Rico himself as he carried a comically over sized bottle of champagne in both hands.

"Greetings, I am Cherub Class BSAA-NF01, otherwise known as Rico." He introduced himself as he placed the big bottle onto the concrete, while also opening his armour plating and the underlying cockpit to reveal Sheva inside, who stood up and waved her metal arm while she lifted her T-15's mask away from her face.

"In accordance to navy tradition, I hereby bless this ship in all of her voyages and battles." Sheva's voice spoke in place of Rico's from his external speakers as she sat back down in the cockpit and lifted the champagne bottle into one hand by the neck, then swung it against the nearby bow with a splash of booze and carefully aimed glass chunks crashing against the concrete out of harms way, earning loud applause from the crowds as more and more pictures were taken before the pair gave firm salutes - Rico himself, and Sheva with the same arm from inside the still opened cockpit - before heading back around the side of the ship as the entire shipyard began to fill with the sounds and slight rumble of the Nightfall beginning to launch.

Up in the command deck, everyone was ready to go, watching as Rico used his Boosters to rise over the side of the ship - in the crowd's blindspot, of course - and gave a thumbs up to the command deck to let them know they were clear for launch.

"Nightfall, standing by for launch. On your call, Val!" Alice reported from her station beside Koko and Tojo.

"Launching!" Valentine announced, already easing the lift control as the ship began to slowly rise into the air, maintaining a level trim as the shipyard shrank below them. "Alright, first things first, the local fly-over that I promised you, Sere. My school!"

"Plotting route with low altitude for visibility, then our main route to DC will be right after we pass over the school." Rize reported from her own station with Kaneki. "Course is set, let's go!"

And with that, the Nightfall flew through the air, a sleek and menacing battleship that drew the gazes of almost every LA citizen as it smoothly moved through the sky. And when it reached Valentine's school, it smoothly dipped low enough to cast a dark shadow over the students and schoolbuses that had just arrived for the start of the Monday morning.

"Heh heh heh... I knew the little brat wouldn't do what he said he'd do." Trump chuffed with a pleased smirk as the vintage B-17 flew overhead while flanked by a pair of P-51D Mustang's at 10:55am local time. He was standing with the rest of Congress to participate in the Rememberance Day traditions at the White House.

Beside him another politician noticed a slight murmur rising in the crowd of civilians, some pointing past the spot that the Congress was standing at. His inattentiveness drew Trump's gaze, then they both looked up to see a massive black shape descending from a bank of clouds, smoothly approaching the same flight path that the propeller-driven aircraft had just taken, and smoothly passed overhead, which also revealed a long line of people standing at the bow of the ship beside a huge robot, and all of them were saluting, including the robot, as the ship continued to ominously just stretch on and on, until Trump spotted another figure with silver hair standing alone in the front window of the command deck...

"... Darkwood." Trump scowled lividly as he growled under his breath. "That little Russian cocksucker..."