ARES:Gods of War

Home, Weird Home

The Chief hummed as he entered the Outpost's headquarters again, alongside the Commander. Overhead, the engines of transport aircraft droned as the reinforced dual-rotor helicopters transporting Nikke squads touched down nearby to disgorge their cargo of humanity's machine soldiers. The Commander had apparently been given command of a slew of smaller Nikke units to fold into the Counters, a tactical squad of sorts that was far more flexible than your average Nikke unit. He was humming a song that Cortana had quickly identified as 'Bratishka', about a 1990s Russian Federation Pilot from the two Chechen Wars and the War in Dagestan... The two had met Anis and Rapi as well, surprisingly.

Understandable. The Commander wore names from both the East and West. Alyosha wasn't particularly western, quite slavic in fact. The young man continued strolling forward, leading the Chief back to the Dorms, only to see the Commander of the squad that had just landed. He smiled and raised a hand, greeting the boy of Asian descent, "Hey, Jake! Fresh outta hell, I see?"

The Nikkes behind him remained ramrod straight, faces and heads obscured by heavy-duty helmets and bodies covered by thick armor plating, while the other commander, a young man like Alyosha, smirked, rolled his eyes and said, "Missilis steel dealt with the hell, Aly. Good to see you, though, my man!" And he shook the boy's hand. The Missilis Products behind him hummed and looked to the Chief. A few gasps escaped their mouths, but they remained professional.

"How goes it in your sector?" Alyosha smiled, clearly familiar with the man as they shook hands. Chief waited in the rear for them to finish their greeting, while the Nikkes searched for something on their person to occupy their time with. They seemed used to this kind of thing, honestly, like waiting for the two men to finish their chat was a semi-common occurrence.

Jacob answered calmly, waving his hand as if to dismiss it, "Oh, same-ol' same-ol'. Raptures have been thinning out on our front is all," He then admitted as he arranged his uniform and made sure his pistol was still on his person. Chief shifted uneasily at the sight of a sidearm in the hands of a man he didn't know. Then again, anyone who was friends with the Commander he'd met could not be that dangerous, right?

"Not as much of a payout without them, eh?" Quipped Alyosha. That caught Chief's attention. They were getting paid for operations topside? Huh, curious little thing, he supposed, but a good incentive to make money and to win their war. The Ark probably didn't have a lot of money to spare, so they'd only give it to those who earned it by doing their most important jobs...

"Oh, no, it's still a decent pay," The young boy replied, arms crossed to his chest. He added with a hint of flippancy in his attitude toward authority, "It's just getting harder to hit some of the dogshit quotas the CG's putting on us," before pausing, noticing the Chief and blinking, staring at the up-armored Supersoldier that his Nikkes had long-ago noticed and chosen to stay out of the way of.

"Yeah, I get it. Counters situation ain't much better, though we're seeing a boatload more Raptures in our case... Annoyingly enough." Alyosha replied, then hummed as he saw his friend had probably noticed the newcomer of the gang. The Chief hummed, taking notice of the fact that the man was with other Nikkes in the squadron. And the fact that they were avoiding him.

"So... Uh... Who's the big guy?" The other Commander pointed at the SPARTAN, which garnered a short chuckle out of Cortana. He seemed fairly terrified of the Supersoldier, despite the two of them presumably working for the same objective:The safety of mankind and, now, if Chief understood it properly, the recapture of the surface from the Raptures. The enemy war machines were going to be removed by any means at his disposal. He would, obviously, take care of himself, too.

Alyosha hummed, then looked back at the Chief, "Oh, him?" and offered the big man a smile, crossing his arms to his chest, "Chief, why don't you introduce yourself?"