Walking my mech into the giant Orbital Carrier, I secured my 'boots' to the ground before disconnecting from the mech, removing the synapse connection and allowing me to open the hatch to step outside.
With my Ullr strapped to my back and the rest of my weapons holstered away I was back to my normal self, the familiar weight of each of them reassuring me as I climbed down from my mech, joining the others on the floor and preparing for lift off.
There were four other Einherjar inside of this Orbital Carrier, as well as an entire Outpost's worth of soldiers escaping one of the worst battlefields on the entire planet; it had been nearly overrun and taken over by the Chukanids, and just looking around at the survivors I could tell it had been a near death experience for them all.
The journey over to the Orbital Carrier had been uneventful, with the Muninn Gunship clearing out a majority of the horde we had been entangled with while the walk over to the pick up location had been only interrupted by a few lingering Chukanids scavenging around for something to eat.
Tyr 03, Tyr 09 and Jotunn 12 returned to their Outpost to begin the deployments of the other mechs, their reassignment coming swiftly upon their return; conversely, I had been called back to the 'Vessel of Gymir' for a moment of rest before I got my own reassignment.
"Well well well! If it isn't 'ole Hrefna! How's it going girl?"
Stomping on over to me was a giant of a man, the vast difference in physiques from our people making itself known here and now as I stared up at the other Einherjar; towering over me at around seven feet tall, the golden haired and pale skinned man was more muscle than anything else as he grinned at me, living up to his name of Bjorn.
Covered in thick plates of metal armor powered by a generator on his hip, Bjorn was a walking tank that no one wanted to be on the bad side of, with the equally giant shotgun strapped to his back serving as his cannon.
Before I even had the chance to think of a reply, Bjorn just let out a booming laugh before asking "They had you over with that Shogun Class Chukanid right? I heard it over the comms! The battle must have been a glorious one, no?", instantly drawing the attention of the three other Einherjar.
A woman the same height as me tilted her head and stared at me closely, her sapphire eyes narrowed as she waited for an answer, while the thin, yet tall man beside her crossed his arms and bared his fangs in what I now knew to be a smile.
The last one was in the process of sharpening her daggers on the metal vambrace she wore, and her glittering emerald eyes were trained on me intently as she joined everyone else, though she didn't stop dragging her blade across the vambrace at all.
I knew each of them - Bjorn, Brynhild, Erik and Aife respectively - rather well since all of us Einherjar were well acquainted, but still, I wasn't entirely comfortable around the boisterous Bjorn or the serious Brynhild...
Though I suppose that was a theme in general for me; I grew up on my own anyways, isolated in a forest with only a few others to keep me company, and we learned how to hunt and stalk long before we were able to be reintegrated into civilization.
My 'siblings' had acclimated well to that, but I guess I just always enjoyed the peaceful serenity of being alone in that forest to the point that even today I still didn't really understand why people wanted to be so communicative and friendly to one another.
It just didn't make sense to me why they acted the way they did, but I also knew I needed to respond, so after another moment of thinking up a way to say this without letting them down, I pursed my lips and said "It wasn't a battle with a Shogun Class, at least not us against it. A Muninn Gunship leveled the battlefield for us upon its sighting."
Bjorn deflated a little while Aife clicked her tongue and turned away, the assassin walking away from us and leaping onto her Nidhogg Mech to rest, leaving me with the other three for the time being.
"Ah, well... the battle against the horde of Chukanids was a good one still, yes? Why, the northern hemisphere was absolutely swarmed beneath those alien bastards, much to my delight! Haha~! The things I was able to-"
I vaguely listened to Bjorn as he boasted about the battles he had fought these last few days, and soon enough Erik joined in as the two men began to wander around as they shared stories and began to exaggerate their tales enough to make even a bard raise a brow, leaving me with the slightly older, and far more intimidating Brynhild.
"Was everything alright down there, Hrefna?"
Her voice was steady while her eyes showed little emotion at all, contrasting the Eldi LMG that she had slung over her shoulder; her weapon was fiery while she was as steady and cool as ice, and that was why most of us tended to give her a wide berth.
Nodding once, I just stared back at her before she too turned away and returned to her mech, leaning against the thick leg of the Jotunn and shutting her eyes as the Orbital Carrier's engine rumbled to full power, preparing to lift us into the atmosphere above.
It had been a long time since I had been off of the planet's surface - relatively speaking in terms of the time I had spent fighting - so I was looking forwards to these hours of rest before I was redeployed to yet another battlefield.
Having some real food, being able to sit back and relax... all of it was going to be incredible, even more so since I could huddle into my cabin, shut off the lights and bask in the darkness for however long I had.