Aimsly walked through the corridors of the old mansion that served as the headquarters for the mercenary group that employed her, The Dancing Devils. She rolled her eyes at the name, a change made by the commander after she had joined. Before, they had been the Stygian Fixers, a name she found more honest. Still, a rebranding had been necessary, since they acquired their new titan, Silent Joker, and its new pilot.

Her.

She entered the briefing room, a converted stage theater, and was looking for a place to sit, when a voice called to her.

“Aimsly,” Commander Erik Ivan Eula Isaias Olsivic’s deep baritone turned her head to the stage. He had set down papers on a lectern he stood behind. He was a tall, older man, salt and pepper hair glinting like silver on velvet. He had pale skin and eyes so blue, they were almost white. He wore a dark suit, similar to you’d find in Endpoint City but with Vasori style calf-hugging boots. He smiled as he gestured to the two chairs that stood beside him. “Up here, if you please. I’ll be introducing you to the team.” 

She suppressed a sigh and nodded, climbing the stairs. As she sat, others began filing in, speaking loudly, laughing, and basically being as boisterous as any military team on Haven. All were dressed in a uniform of black with silver highlights, newly created. When the last member sat, Erik stepped forward. 

“Devils!” he intoned. “Welcome to our first briefing as a single titan company!”

“Huah! Huah! Huah!” the crowd called. Erik chuckled. 

“We have much to cover today, but before we do so, let me introduce the woman of the hour,” he motioned to her. “Titan Mage Aimsley Sunderling, pilot of Silent Joker.” He turned to her. “Please stand and take a bow.” 

As she stood, murmurs passed through the crowd, as they often did when people saw her out of a titan or rig. She was tall, a little over six foot, with muscles that looked they had been perfectly sculpted by a matter mage. Contrary to most mage suits catered to women, hers emphasized those muscles, with her other curves shown almost as an afterthought. A small half cape covered her right arm. Her brunette hair pulled back into a pony tail that left her neck exposed. This, she knew, was the real reason for the murmurs.

Rather, it was the silvery mass on her neck. 

She took her bow and sat back down. Erik turned back to the company. “She is a bit unusual. As you can see, she cannot speak.” His face turned serious. “I will not elaborate as to why. If she chooses to tell you why she’ll do so in her own time. I suggest,” he emphasized the last word, indicating words much stronger than that, “to not annoy her about this. I’ll say again, she is the titan mage. If things go badly out there, it’ll be her who is called in to save you.” 

As the company looked at her, she gave a feral grin. She wasn’t a fan of intimidating people she had just met , but history had shown her that many people saw softer methods of dissuasion as, “Try harder, and I’ll cave in.” This way, however, had the benefit of forcing any nosy people to rethink their choices. Erik cleared his throat and everyone quieted down again.

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“Now, onto something we all like,” he said, shuffling his papers. “How we all get paid.” Another round of “Huah!” resounded from the crowd. “This week, we’re going to take things a little easy.” He pulled out folder with the Arcane Index logo and opened it. “We do have some private contracts coming down the pipe. Nothing has been set, so we’ve pulled some bounties from the Arcane Index in the mean time.” From the folder, he retrieved three stacks of papers. “As all of these are relatively close in difficulty and in proximity, I will  allow the squadron leaders to bid. After this batch, we’ll go into a standard rotation.” 

“All of these take place in the Archstone Wilds,” he began, only to be met with grumbles. He looked up, a sympathetic look on his face. “Sorry, kiddos, the days of easy bounties with just shadow dregs are over. We now have to go an take care of monsters and bandits. Which means we need to go where the monsters are. But hey, at least these things won’t try to take over your corpse.” He paused for a moment, considering. “Well, maybe some monsters, but nothing like a shadow dreg.”

What followed was an outline of three basic monster thinning bounties and four people bidding for them on behalf of their squads. Aimsly watched on in fascination as the squads would confer as parts of their bounty were auctioned off by their squadron leader. A hand rose and a voice followed, quieting the crowd. “Sir,” a female rig pilot asked. “Where will Silent Joker be?” Both Erik and Aimsly nodded at this. 

“Silent Joker will be running patrols around the muster and egress point,” he said. “While she is not new to piloting a titan, she is new to Silent Joker. As such, we felt a simple shakedown patrol would help Aimsley learn her new titan’s abilities and quirks. Make no mistake, she will be ready to assist if the call goes out.”

Aimsly nodded resolutely. There was plenty of time to get in on some choice bounties, however she had read over the service history of her new titan. It promised to be a lot of work, but if she can get it dialed in just right-.

Her musings were cut short as cheering and groans rose from the company. Three squads were celebrating and one looking very annoyed. Erik’s voice cut through the din. 

“Squads one, three, and four. I expect your leaders in my office immediately after this for full mission details. But first,” he turned to Aimsly. “I say our new mage deserves a welcome home gift.”

She looked as perplexed as everyone else in the room aside from him. Reaching into the suit’s jacket he pulled out a small, wrapped parcel. He motioned for her to come to him. As soon as was beside the lectern, he handed it to her. She opened it quickly, her decorum and curiosity fighting until she say a small box. Inside, was a bracer and four different colored, but all too familiar crystals. She looked up in shock. Erik just nodded. 

“A lot of money went into acquiring both you and Silent Joker,” he said apologetically. “We can’t afford to kit it out to take full advantage of your void mage abilities.” He indicated the box. “I hope this proves to you, we value both you and your skills. May I?” She nodded again and held out her right arm. Taking it from the box, he strapped the handsome black leather bracer to her forearm and slotted the four crystals in their places. A fifth channel remained empty, but Aimsly knew psy catalysts were still as rare as a humble Vasori. She smiled as she held it up and inspected the silver design on its outside: A winged, horned devil sitting on a mountain watching three smaller devils dance. 

She closed her fist and thumped it to her chest. Erik seemed to understand.

“Now, Devils. Let’s go make some money!”