"Alright, alright," Rodeo muttered, rolling his eyes. "Forgive me for being rude. Children normally aren't allowed in here."

"Well, Ileyna's special, so she gets to hang around here if she wants," Matt said.

Ileyna flashed Matt a charming smile at the compliment, and Rodeo once again rubbed the back of his head where Raven had smacked him. Conversation continued at the two tables, though with more friendly topics this time around.

"... so yeah, looks like they'll be initializing Project H1 tomorrow," Johann said to the rest of them. "They said that the system check completed sometime after the battle."

"That's good news," Leon rumbled as he ate. "With that thing on our side, we'll have less to worry about in the next fight."

"What's Project H1?" Hugo asked.

"You know the General's had all of that info downloaded out of the Omega Essence?" Johann's brother, Berenson, asked in return. "And how we've been making new weapons from it?"

"Yeah," R.D. said, wondering where he was going with it.

"The brains down in the science labs got together with the mechanoid engineers and pooled their resources together because of it," Johann continued. "With the Essence they were able to complete the research needed to make the Nine-Breakers, but they didn't stop there."

"They were able to create entirely new, experimental technologies," Ashley explained after swallowing a scoop of creamed corn. "These technologies are being fielded together with a new Artifical Intelligence that we developed, and placed on a new 'Super' Mechanoid using the Nine-Ball base."

"The whole operation is called Project H1," Adrian said. "But the pilots who've seen it have been calling it 'Ultimate Nine-Ball'."

Matt leaned in. "Do you know if they're almost done downloading all the data they need?"

"You'd be better off asking the higher-ups about that," David spoke up. "We know its close to being finished, but its been four months... we don't know exactly what 'soon' means to them..."

"All right. We'll do that when we can. By the way..." Matt glanced back and forth. "Is there a chance we can, um, see the Ultimate Nine-Ball?"

"Not right now, no," Adrian said. "Most of the base is still in lockdown from the battle, and most of the evacuated corridors haven't been drained of bakelite."

"You can come see it tomorrow with us, if you like," Ashley said. "Its down in a storage hanger near the coordination center is."

"Sounds good." Matt spread his fingers over his chest. "You might say that I'm a giant robot kind of connoisseur."

"More like a giant robot fanboy," R.D. muttered with a smug grin.

The table erupted with the laughter of Razgriz Squadron's more boisterous members.

Matt glanced at R.D. and let his hand fall on his lap. "W-W-What was that? That wasn't even a joke. That was a statement. That's like if I went up to you and said-" Here he looked at Rodeo, leaned foward and folded his hands. "Hi. I like butter."

That got an amused snort from Helena, who was otherwise busy eating and not looking at anyone.

Edited by The Helldragon on July 19, 2009 at 21:51:44.

Before Rodeo could make any reply, two devices went off. While Ileyna looked around in surprise, trying to find the source of the beeping noise, the Nine-Breaker pilots simply looked at both of the Dylandy brothers.

"Aw, great," Johann muttered. "The engineers got to our machines."

"What's wrong?" R.D. asked.

"Our Nine-Breakers got trashed in the fighting," Berenson explained. "No doubt the engineers want to chew us out for it."

"I'd like to see your Nine-Breakers," Hugo said. "If you don't mind."

"What, the ones we trashed?" Johann asked.

"Or are you referring to all of our Nine-Breakers?" Berenson followed up.

"What do you think?" the Mettaur said. "The ones that work."

"Well, alright," Berenson said as he and his twin stood up with their now-empty trays.

"Anyone else want to tag along?" Johann asked.

"I'll pass," Matt said, lounging on the table now.

"I can't," Helena said, standing as well. "I gotta head back."

"I'll go!" Ileyna happily volunteered, thrusting her hand into the air.

"Guess I'll go too," R.D. said, standing up. Probably best for him to stick around, due to the level of carnage the base experienced. Ileyna really didn't need to experience that alone.

"Well, hurry up then," Johann said. "The engineers get testy if we're late."

"I'll be around here," Matt said. "You know how to keep in touch with me."

R.D. waved them off as he and Ileyna followed after Hugo, Helena, and the two Dylandy brothers. After several more minutes, the remaining pilots had to go back to their duties, and left Matt and Alasea to their own devices.

And even then, it wasn't long before Alasea finished her meal and left, saying she was going to go find her father and see if he was done with his duties managing Aube.

"All right!" Matt said, in a dramatic tone. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"Your friends leave you or something, Matt?" a voice spoke up behind him. It was Jared. The cyborg walked over and sat down at the table across from him.

"Nah," Matt said. He swung his feet up and rested them on the chair next to him. "They went to do stuff I didn't feel like doing. And Helena went back to her training with those dragons R.D. knows. Ha! God help her."

"How in the heck does someone like him get acquainted with dragons, anyway?" Jared asked, looking off to the side as a short scuffle broke out. "I mean, the General's tried approaching dragons before, but they never really gave us the time of day. Too busy in Antarctica, apparently."

"R.D.'s got some history with them," Matt said, and left it at that.

"So you don't know either, huh?" Jared commented with a hint of a laugh. "Anyway, there gonna start trying to clean up this sector of the facility, Matt, so we're gonna need to clear out of here. You should probably call it a night and rest up. The General thinks we're gonna be attacked again tomorrow."

"That's a pleasant thought." Sweeping his legs around, Matt stood. "Well, I might as well hit the sack if things are gonna go down."

Jared nodded. "I'll tell your friends if I see them."

Matt made a curt salute. "See ya later, then."