My First Post

The GTVA encouraged us to make regular posts detailing our lives for "future prosperity" in case anything happens to us. I smell politics all over this move since we don't have a lot of time to write about anything, much less get the antiseptic smell from our helmets off of our faces and out of our hair when we get out of the cockpit. Still, it's kind of nice to sit down and do something other than wait for the next patrol rotation.

So what to write for my first entry? I guess I could describe some of my team mates and where I am. If I put down something that shouldn't be out on the GTVA military network, it'll get auto-censored by the iceboxes anyway.

I've just been assigned to the 53rd Hammerheads and are awaiting transfer to the GTD Aquitaine. The pilots are as rowdy a bunch as you can expect with a mean game of poker, the kind that can leave your pockets empty and your head filled with hurt from pushing yourself to win it all back with liquid courage.

Wilkins will also come over with me and he's got that smile permaplasted on his face as usual, but he always gets excited over the smallest change in our routine. He's always been a motormouth which has gotten him into trouble on more than on occasion, but with this journal thing and the transfer, I'm guessing that he's just going to get worse. He loves chatting about anything, whether it's the new Vasudan cruiser he saw on patrol the other day, or bragging about how one of his cousins had actually seen a Shivan (which I doubt...a lot).

Sheryl is one of the other pilots who has been with the squadron for the past year or so and she seems to be something of an ace. I made the mistake of thinking that she might want to spend time teaching me the finer points of poker, but from what I've seen of her record, she deserves every word of praise that she gets. I think she was surprised when I tied her in a simulator challenge the other day, but have a feeling that she's the type that loves to eat up a challenge.

Roger "Three Hawks" Studi is the quiet type, but he's a veteran of several skirmishes with the NTF over the past two years that he's been a part of the 53rd. He and his family are Cherokee and can trace their line all the way back to the 18th century on Earth. How he ended up here is something I've always wanted to ask, but he just gives that smile of his, telling me to ask him next time there's a war on.

Hiroshi Takeda is an intelligence officer that loves to come down to the ready room and join in on the fun on occasion. From what I understand, he used to be a pilot himself until an incident with the NTF had him change his mind about what he was doing and he requested a transfer to GTVA Intelligence. Now he hangs around on the bridge, doing what spooks always do, but he's shared some interesting tidbits with us on occasion. I'm sure bridge command wouldn't be too happy about that, but I'm not complaining, not when what he says might actually save our asses out there. He's also coming over to the Aquitaine with us.

I'm being told that we have to review the training modules for the GTF Myrmidon, a new fighter everyone says is more advanced than the Herc it's replacing. I don't know, some of the vets think it's actually worse, that it flies like a stuck pig, and looks just as pretty. I suppose I'll find out.