Auditioning For Voice Work

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 9, Post Number 224

-Capital Crocus, outside Catherine Corvinus' house, early morning-

Wearing her new purple short-sleeved t-shirt and black skirt with new white tennis shoes, Diana stood outside Catherine Corvinus' house on 1946 Babbage Road and rang the doorbell. She had been contacted by Catherine to help the raven-haired youth with something special, but that "something special" had not been revealed to her in the notice. Getting the full story would require Diana to go speak to Catherine in person... not that Diana had any problem with that. She was looking for something easy to do after participating in the border conflict alongside her old partner Aliarey Casady. Both of them had fought on behalf of Bellum and had taken out a large raiding group of Pergrandian soldiers who were advancing towards Bellum's border to conduct a raid.

Diana felt a certain pride after participating in the border conflict. She had not taken any special joy in killing Pergrandian soldiers, but Diana was proud of herself for fighting for the right reasons for a change. Diana had fought for the right of Bellum to exist as an independent nation and for the right of its people to continue to live, both of which were worthy causes to fight for. Even though Diana had no special love for Bellum, she could not stand by and let Pergrande march all over her home country, not without at least trying to do something about it. The huntress had been paid well for siding with her home country, but the money took a backseat to being able to feel proud of herself for once in her life.

Diana waited patiently for the door to be answered and the door soon opened. On the other side was Catherine Corvinus, who was looking disheveled in a wrinkled blue tank top, black gym shorts, and long black hair hanging freely. She looked like she had just crawled out of bed and had put on whatever clothing she could grab on the way to answer the door. The dark-haired youth tilted her head and looked at Diana for a second before recognizing the blonde.

"Oh, hey Diana! You're here early! And you got some new clothes too!" Catherine greeted Diana after the former had roused herself from her lethargy. Diana smiled and raised a hand in greeting.

"Yes I am. And yes I have." Diana calmly acknowledged both things Catherine had pointed out. She had decided to arrive early because she did not know what kind of timetable she was on to help Catherine with her special project. She also decided to arrive early in case the suspected mole in the company Mister Burke worked for had gotten Catherine's name from company files and tried to have the black-haired youth eliminated by assassins.

"Come on in, Diana! I've got to tell you about the sweet gig I managed to land!" Catherine said with excitement. She stepped back and allowed Diana to enter her home. Diana did so and the door was shut behind her.

-Inside Catherine's home-

"Sorry about the mess, Diana. I've been really busy." Catherine implored Diana's forgiveness for the mess in her living room. Diana looked in the living room and saw a lot of pizza boxes stacked on the coffee table and boxes of computer parts stacked on the couch. Diana thought that the raven would have cleaned up since her last visit, but Catherine must have been busy with one thing or another.

"It is no problem. Tell me... what is this "gig" that you managed to get?" Diana asked Catherine. The raven smiled.

"OK, so there's this studio in Capital Crocus that makes an anime show." Catherine began. Diana blinked. What was "anime"?

"...You haven't watched anime before, have you?" Catherine asked the blonde. Diana shook her head.

"I'll have to tell you about it. Anyway, there's a studio here that needs some tech support in a hurry and they called me. I want someone to come with me because the job might take all day and I don't want to walk through the streets alone at night." Catherine told Diana why she had been called.

"Really?" Diana asked Catherine. The raven nodded.

"OK. I will go with you." Diana replied. After fighting alongside Aliarey and Ami in the border clash the huntress was looking for some easy work. Besides, it was not like she had anything really important to do today.

"Great! Let me get dressed and we'll be on our way! We're not due for another hour or so, but I want to get there early because traffic can be a real pain in the ass!" Catherine said before leaving Diana alone in the living room to go get dressed. Diana waited for her client to get dressed, looking at pizza boxes and computer component boxes all the while. She wondered how Catherine managed to land a job doing tech support for an anime studio. It sounded like an easy enough job, but "easy" was a relative term.

As long as there was not any bizarre and dangerous twist to today's job Diana could handle it. Even if there was a bizarre and dangerous twist Diana could handle it because that was what she was paid to do, but she wanted some easy work today. Maybe things would go her way and today would be smooth sailing.

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-Forty-five minutes later, outside the studio-

"Well, here we are, Diana. We're outside the studio that I've been hired to help with some technical issues!" Catherine said to Diana. Catherine had dressed in a more professional-looking outfit consisting of a blue t-shirt, khaki cargo pants, and white tennis shoes. The dark-haired youth had also put her hair in a ponytail instead of letting it hang freely like she had back home.

Diana looked at the building and beheld a six-story concrete building that had mirrored glass windows. It was sturdily built and had the name Lakefront Animation in large blue letters on a large sign on top of the roof. Diana had never seen anything like it before.

"Well, it's time for me to get to work. I'm sure they're expecting me." Catherine said to Diana. Diana nodded and the pair headed for the front door of the building.

-Inside Lakefront Animation-

Catherine and Diana stepped through the glass double doors of the studio and were greeted with the sight of an expansive lobby that had immaculately polished white tile floor and a waiting area to the right. The waiting area had eight wooden chairs and a large magazine rack full of magazines with eye-catching covers. They must have been magazines pertaining to some of the shows that Lakefront Animation produced.

Diana followed Catherine to a semicircular reception desk against the left wall only meters from where they entered. The pair walked up to the desk and spoke to the receptionist, a middle-aged woman wearing black-rimmed glasses with a black jacket, black skirt, and black dress shoes. The receptionist sat in a standard black rolling chair and was seated behind a computer monitor with a keyboard in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Catherine Corvinus. I was hired to perform tech support for the studio." Catherine stated her name and reason for being here. The woman smiled at Catherine and turned to the computer monitor, then began rapidly typing until she found what she was after.

"OK, Miss Corvinus, you got here a few minutes ahead of when we anticipated you getting here, but that's OK. We need you on the fourth story. The Lacrimatech Ninja Force studio's having a lot of computer trouble and they need you to sort it out as quickly as you can. I'll let them know that you're on your way." The receptionist told Catherine. Catherine nodded and wordlessly departed for the fourth story as fast as she could go, leaving Diana behind. The blonde started to move to catch up with Catherine when she was stopped by the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, Miss. You can't go past this point unless you have business with the studio." The receptionist informed Diana. The blonde frowned. Just what in the name of Ishgar was she going to do all day while waiting for Catherine? Sit in the lobby and read magazines?

"She's got business with the studio now, Mrs. Agnes. We need voice actors pronto!" A black-haired young woman in a lavender jacket, lavender skirt, and lavender dress shoes with a blue lanyard around her neck informed the receptionist before grabbing Diana by the left arm and beginning to drag the blonde past the receptionist's desk and down the hall towards an elevator. The confused blonde did not utter a single word of protest until the elevator doors opened and the pair were inside.

-Inside the elevator-

The pair were standing inside an elevator with a stark polished metal interior when the young woman pressed the CLOSE button on the control panel. The doors slid shut and Diana began to hear piped-in elevator music that was an upbeat pop tune. The young woman pressed another button and the elevator began to go up.

"Hi there. I'm Katrina." The lavender-suited employee introduced herself. Diana paused for a moment when she heard that name. Katrina was the name of one of her sisters lying in the Winchester Crypt and hearing that name made the huntress feel a twinge of emotion. Hiding how she felt, Diana turned towards the young woman and spoke.

"I am Diana." Diana introduced herself in turn.

"It's nice to meet you, Diana. Have you ever done voice acting before?" Katrina asked Diana. Diana, deciding to be truthful about her lack of experience, shook her head. Katrina smiled.

"I appreciate your honesty, Diana. You'll be standing in a studio in front of a microphone reading your lines from a script. Voice acting can be difficult at times, but the most consistent challenge comes from speaking your lines with the right amount of emotion on your voice." Katrina gave Diana a brief rundown on what to expect once she arrived in the studio.

"Really?" Diana asked with genuine interest. Diana had expected a lot more to be required from voice actors and actresses, but the way Katrina explained it did not make it sound too hard. Katrina nodded.

"Yeah. If you've acted in a school theater group or have held some other type of acting job in the past, you should be able to pull it off." Katrina said. Diana had taken acting lessons of a sort ever since she was ten and had had plenty of practice in her "other" job, so pretending to be someone else should be right up her alley. As long as she did not have to voice an overly cheerful character voice acting should be an easy job. Perhaps voice acting could even be sort of fun.

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-On the sixth floor-

The elevator DINGed and the doors opened to reveal a long, wide hallway with burgundy carpet and white walls with several doors. Above the doors were RECORDING signs that were glowing and to the right of them were signs indicating which show was being recorded. Diana also noticed a dozen young women roughly her age standing outside the doors in a line and wearing yellow lanyards with white cards inside a laminated case that read "AUDITIONING VOICE ACTRESS" so that they would not be ejected from the building by studio security. Diana walked by them with Katrina until she reached a short line of people auditioning for a mecha anime series named Armored Hearts.

"This show's just starting, so they're looking for voice actors and actresses. It's a new show, so the expectations aren't quite as high as they are for more established and prestigious shows. You should have a good chance of landing a role here!" Katrina said to Diana. Diana was not banking on landing a role, especially since this was her very first audition, but even if she did not succeed auditioning for a part was a much better way of spending time than sitting in a lobby reading magazines for several hours.

Katrina handed Diana a yellow lanyard with the "AUDITIONING VOICE ACTRESS" card and Diana got in the very back of the line for Armored Hearts.

"Good luck with your audition!" Katrina bade Diana.

"Thanks." Diana replied calmly. Katrina then moved on to perform other duties while Diana waited in line for her chance to audition. Ahead of the blonde were twelve other young men and women... Diana noticed that she made the thirteenth person in line. Suddenly the huntress was slightly apprehensive about things.

Diana stifled her anxiety with practiced ease and waited patiently for the group to be called in. About forty minutes after getting in line the door to the studio opened and out came a single young man in a blue polo shirt with khaki pants and brown dress shoes. Around his neck was the same blue lanyard that Katrina wore, marking him as a studio employee.

"Next group, please" He asked everyone and motioned for them to enter the studio. Everyone filed in with no delay and the door was shut behind them.

-Inside the studio-

The young women took seats in empty chairs against the studio walls and waited to be spoken to by a young red-headed woman wearing a blue polo t-shirt and black knee-length skirt with black dress shoes and blue lanyard around her neck. In her hands was a clipboard.

"Hello everyone! I'm Molly and I'm here to help oversee the auditioning process for Armored Hearts, Lakefront Studio's latest anime title!" Molly greeted everyone enthusiastically. The reaction from the young woman around Diana was fairly positive. Diana herself smiled a little.

"If you don't know anything about the show, that's OK. It's our newest project. Because it's so new we've made information packets for everyone so that you can get up to speed on what it's about. Once you've read over it you can decide whether you want to continue with the audition or not!" Molly informed them and began to hand out information packets until everyone had one. Once the packets were handed out everyone began to read them while Molly continued to talk.

"There's plenty of parts to be had since the group in question's aligned with The Cobalt Federation, or the Federation for short. However, competition for the larger roles is fierce, so if you want a larger part in the show, you should do your best during the audition!" Molly informed them that while there were plenty of parts, most of them were minor roles. If the aspiring voice actresses wanted a larger role in the show, then they had a chance of earning it by performing well during the audition. Diana did not expect a leading lady role right out of the gate. She was sure that the producers had already lined up top-tier talent for all the major roles to give the new series a good chance of success... or at least a chance of lasting more than one season.

Diana read over the packet and found that a lot of Armored Hearts was to her liking.

It was a show set in a universe where a war for galactic dominance had just begun. There were two primary factions vying for power in the setting... The Vermilion Union and The Cobalt Federation. Both sides had an interest in a planet named Homestead. As the name implied, it was a newly established colony on a remote planet on the periphery of Cobalt Federation space without much to make it attractive to outsiders, but for some reason the Vermilion Union wanted Homestead and wanted it badly. As a result the Cobalt Federation was obliged to station a defense fleet near the planet, which was becoming rapidly militarized.

The Federation ground forces on Homestead were scattered, mostly stationed in the colony's large population centers. The protagonists were part of an all-female mercenary group aligned with the Federation named The Sorority of Athena, or The Sorority for short. The Sorority had been hired to provide patrols and logistical support for the Federation and they were two weeks into their assignment. Some of The Sorority were starting to get bored with having a support role, but little did they know that their assignment would soon become a lot more interesting.

Diana was definitely willing to audition for a voice role for this show.

"Is anyone interested in opting out of the audition for Armored Hearts?" Molly asked the group after it had had time to read the information packet. Four young women immediately stood up, handed in their packets, and left the room. The other nine stayed in their seats, including Diana. After five minutes had passed Molly looked at the group and spoke.

"Does anyone else want to opt out?" Molly asked the nine remaining young women. Everyone remained in their seats.

"Great! We'll start the auditions in a few minutes! Good luck, everyone!" Molly bade them before walking away from the group and walking out of the door. Meanwhile those who had stayed reviewed their information packets to get a feel for the show's universe and mood. Although the premise was a bit trite, it seemed to have enough potential to make a decent show.

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-In the recording booth, twenty minutes later-

All nine young women who had stayed to audition for a part in Armored Hearts were now standing in a semicircle in front of individual podiums with microphones. They all had scripts in front of them with all the lines for the scene and the lines each person was supposed to read being highlighted for their convenience. Molly stood in front of them as two young men who looked to be slightly older than Diana stood against the back wall. One of them was a black-haired youth wearing a white Lakefront Animation t-shirt and blue jeans with beat-up white tennis shoes. The other was a brown-haired youth wearing a navy blue shirt with khaki cargo pants and black tennis shoes.

Diana turned her attention away from them and towards her fellow aspiring voice actresses, who were reviewing their scripts. Each person had a nickname their characters went by and Diana happened to be assigned a character named Huntress Eight, meaning she was the eighth member of Artemis Squad, the Sorority's Main Battle Tank operators. Diana had reviewed the information packet and notes for the scene and learned that The Sorority was using mostly hand-me-down gear from the Federation, so complaints about the secondhand equipment was fairly common. That included the armored vehicles, artillery, even the infantry weapons and infantry body armor.

The scenario was that two vehicles of Artemis Squad that had suffered engine trouble were on a routine patrol of a stretch of farmland between two of Homestead's cities and that they were grousing about the questionable reliability of their gear and what led them to join The Sorority. Again, that idea was a cliche, but if executed properly that cliche could help set the characterization of how The Sorority was not a war machine full of battle-hardened professionals but a group with a disproportionate amount of young women who were not Federation supporters despite working for the Federation and using hand-me-down Federation gear.

A noise that indicated engine trouble played. That was the group's cue to begin reciting their lines.

"Ah, hell! NOT AGAIN!" Huntress Five, the commander of the vehicle Diana was in, groused.

"It's the damn engine again. That's the third time TODAY!" Huntress Six, the driver of the vehicle, complained.

"Well, what do you expect from hand-me-downs? These vehicles are older than we are! The ammo for the main gun was made when I was learning to walk!" Huntress Seven, the loader for the main gun, lamented and tacked on a complaint about the ammunition for the main gun.

"That's what you get with hand-me-down gear. All the shiny new toys go to the Federation while we get the worn-out ones. Besides, they don't want guns for hire having good enough gear to threaten them should we switch sides." Diana, playing her part as Huntress Eight, the tank's gunner, mused philosophically.

"That's not gonna happen. The Sorority's always sided with the Federation." Huntress Five commented.

"They coulda given us better gear to work with. Like some of those shiny new Crusader MBTs. They only have a crew of three 'cause they've got autoloaders to take the place of a dedicated loader." Huntress Six chimed in.

"Hold on! If we switched to tanks with autoloaders, I'd be out of a job!" Huntress Seven exclaimed indignantly.

"Don't be upset, Seven. They might find another role for you." Huntress Five remarked casually.

"Yeah. If you can't get into another tank I'm sure the infantry has a place for you." Huntress Six remarked in the same casual tone Five had used. Huntress Seven made a fake half-hearted laugh.

"Real funny, guys. Real funny." Huntress Seven fired back sarcastically. Huntresses Five and Six laughed while Seven fumed in silence about the joke made about how easily she could be replaced. Huntress Eight stood in silence for awhile as the tank they were in rumbled towards its destination.

"Hey Huntress One, how's your vehicle holding up?" Huntress Five asked Huntress One, the commander of the other tank in the group.

"Eh, it's holding. The engine on this vehicle needs replacement ASAP. It wants to cut out from time to time and there's a really bad grinding noise." Huntress One replied casually before a mechanical grinding noise of gear on gear that made everyone clench their teeth in pain played.

"That bad, huh?" Huntress Five asked.

"Yeah. Maybe once we get back to base Hephaestus Team can fix the engine and make it go a little longer." Huntress One replied.

"This is Artemis Lead. What's your ETA to the destination?" Artemis Lead, the leader of Artemis Squad, cut in with an official tone.

"This is Huntress One. ETA is about one hour." Huntress One replied.

"This is Huntress Five. ETA is about one hour." Huntress Five echoed.

"Understood." Artemis Lead stated simply before ending communication.

Highway sounds played as the two tanks rode down a deserted stretch of highway and looked around for anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey Five, do you see anything out of the ordinary?" Huntress Six asked the commander.

"Negative, Six. Nothing. Nothing but grassland as far as the eye can see." Huntress Five replied.

"Same here. Nothing but prime farmland. Kinda reminds me of home." Huntress One replied without being asked. Since nothing out of the ordinary had been spotted the two tank crews continued to rumble along trying to make up for time lost by the poor quality of their worn-out engines. They still had an hour to go and that was if they suffered no further engine trouble.

"Yeah, me too." Huntress Five chimed in.

"Yeah? Where did you come from?" Huntress Six asked.

"A grassy planet named Emerald. And before you ask, it's actually called Emerald, like the gemstone. It got its name from the green grass that's all over the planet. There's a lot of it between cities." Huntress Five explained in a nostalgic tone.

"Man, I wish I had been born there. Me, I grew up on a planet named Cali. It's packed with big cities and skyscrapers. Couldn't even see the sky unless you stood on top of a skyscraper or went way outside of a city into the wilderness." Huntress Six gave her own story as the two tanks rumbled towards their destination.

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Diana listened to the other characters talk about their home planets and how their lives were before they joined The Sorority. Then it came her turn to talk about where her character had come from. According to the script, Huntress Eight had come from a backwater farming planet named Manah that exported food to other Federation worlds in exchange for raw materials.

"I come from a backwater farming planet named Manah. Nothing exciting ever goes on there... unless you count farming and raising cattle as exciting. Which it's not." Diana said in a tone of voice that all but stated that she was glad to be away from such a dreary existence even if it meant the possibility of getting involved in military action.

"Did you join up to get away from that life?" Huntress Five asked Huntress Eight.

"Yeah. Farming and raising cattle wasn't for me. It was so boring there. Day in and day out I'd get up early, feed the animals, take them out to pasture, clean the pens, bring them back in, rinse and repeat." Huntress Eight replied in a tone that made the lifestyle sound boring, which it really was to her character. Huntress Six laughed.

"Heh heh... so you didn't want to be a cowgirl?" Huntress Six asked.

"Nah. My parents were pissed when they found out I joined The Sorority when I turned eighteen. They told me to get out of their house and to never come back. I was happy to oblige. I can't say I miss the place." Diana replied casually. Her character had wanted to leave Manah ever since she was eight years old. Huntress Eight was twenty, so she had spent eighteen of her twenty years on that backwater farming planet.

"Do you regret joining The Sorority?" Huntress Seven asked Huntress Eight.

"Nah. There's nothing waiting for me back home, so I don't have anything to regret by joining up. With The Sorority I get a steady paycheck, job training, and a chance to see the galaxy." Diana replied in a tone of satisfaction with her life. She had channeled how she felt about her life in Bellum into her lines to give them a little more oomph. There was more truth to her lines than anyone in the studio realized.

Just like with her character Huntress Eight, there was nothing for Diana back home. There was nothing waiting for Diana back in Bellum, so although she had not been kicked out she had no real reason to go back to Bellum. The Winchester Estate was nothing she really cared about either... it held too many bad memories for Diana to consider living there unless it was the only housing left to her.

Once Diana said her last line the group went silent and the recording stopped. Molly walked up to the group and spoke to them.

"OK, that was nice work, everyone! Now you get to go on break for about fifteen minutes before we do some more recording! Be sure to leave your scripts in the studio! I'll come and get you when it's time to record again, so please don't be late!" Molly told them. The nine young women left their podiums behind and exited the studio to go on break.

-Outside the studio-

Diana and a few of the other young women had made their way to the vending machines to buy drinks and snacks before they went back into the studio to resume auditioning. Diana walked over to the water fountain and drank from it for a few seconds before standing up. She wondered what Molly and those two men thought about her performance as Huntress Eight so far. Diana was not sure if she would find out today, but she would still put her best effort into it.

Diana was having fun with the role she had been given. She liked Huntress Eight's background and found parts of it to be relevant to her own situation, which made it easier for her to get invested in the role. The other young women in her group seemed to be having fun with the audition too because they were chatting amiably in front of the vending machines. Diana walked down the hall until she located the restroom... like with the Colorado Action Special movie marathon she had attended on board the gambling boat Gambler's Paradise several months ago, this audition might take awhile and she did not want to have to use the restroom during the audition.

-Inside the recording studio, twenty minutes later-

The group returned to the studio and returned to their respective podiums to wait for instructions while Molly watched over them and addressed questions. Diana stood at her podium and waited calmly for the audition to resume. A little over twenty minutes after everyone had went on break the two men returned and Molly instructed everyone to get ready for the audition to resume.

The two men walked up to the group and the dark-haired youth spoke to them.

"OK, that was good work on the first scene! Now we're going to be doing something a little different for this scene. In this scene you're going to be finally arriving at your destination in a Federation base on the outskirts of the city to meet with Artemis Lead. There you'll find that the Federation hasn't quite set up shop yet, so they're relying on Demeter Company to help them fill the gaps until a base can be properly established." The dark-haired youth set the scene for them. The group found that their scripts had been flipped to the appropriate pages with the appropriate lines highlighted for them. Diana browsed over them and noted that a lot of the lines dealt with the situation on Homestead and how the hurried buildup of Federation ground forces meant that the base was not fully established. It was lacking facilities like a commissary and barracks, meaning that Federation forces had to turn to The Sorority's dedicated logistics corps, Demeter Company, for help.

Demeter Company had set up multiple field kitchens to feed both the Federation and The Sorority. After leaving their tanks for repair in the Federation garage the two teams of Artemis Squad would go to the field kitchens to get long-overdue rations while they waited for their vehicles to be repaired. Once the group had been briefed on what they were about to do next the two men stepped back and they gave a hand signal to a studio employee manning the recording equipment. The recording light came on and the auditions resumed.

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-Five minutes later-

The two Artemis Squad vehicles had arrived at the Federation base and their crews had left the garage so that their aging vehicles could be repaired by Federation maintenance crews, who were incredulous that the obsolescent Knight Main Battle Tank was still in service with some mercenary groups. They also commented that finding replacement parts for the Knights could be a challenge considering that the design was fifteen years old and had mostly been phased out of Federation service. The two Artemis Squad crews kept quiet about it because at the moment the Knight MBT was the best tank that their group could afford. The only consolation was that a lot of second-line Federation forces on other planets were still using the Knight MBT because the Crusader MBT was being issued to its best armored forces before the new model trickled down to the rest.

Huntress Five had also heard that there was a lot of bureaucratic wrangling holding up the production of the Crusader. Several planets were jockeying to be the planet that hosted the second factory where the Crusader would be produced and the lack of a second factory was slowing down production even further. The first and main factory was on the Federation's capital planet, but as one could imagine, having only one factory producing the MBT was making its distribution slow and unpredictable.

Once outside the garage and safely away from the Federation maintenance crews Huntress Five commented about their situation.

"I hope that the Federation maintenance crews can find the replacement parts they need. Hephaestus Team has them, but they haven't arrived on Homestead yet. They won't be here for another three weeks at the best." Huntress Five said to her crew.

"I hope so too. That worn-out engine of ours could get us killed if it decides to crap out on us in a combat situation." Huntress Six added a grim note. The Knight's primary strength was its high speed, but with a worn-out engine it was hard to maintain that speed for very long. The Crusader had a stronger engine that allowed it to not only match but exceed the speed of the Knight by at least 30 kilometers per hour and reach its top speed in only half the time it took the Knight to reach its top speed. While it took about thirty seconds for the Knight to reach top speed, it took the Crusader approximately fifteen seconds to reach its top speed.

"Well, that's the nature of the business. When you're not official Federation members, you get the hand-me-downs. At least we have well-maintained main guns." Huntress Seven remarked. The Knight MBTs in Sorority service were well-used and had a lot of faults because of that, but their main guns were kept in top shape. The guns were the best part of the vehicle... it was said that the Knight's main gun could punch through the Crusader's armor despite the latter being a newer design, but being able to do so was another matter entirely. The Crusader could easily outrun the Knight and strike back with its own powerful gun at a time of its choosing plus it could fire faster thanks to its autoloader.

"Yeah. Every element in The Sorority needs something and there's just not enough budget to go around. Even the Federation has that problem and it has a bigger budget than we do." Huntress Eight casually commented on The Sorority's budget situation. She was not too concerned about the overall picture because she was not paid to think about it. She was paid to be a gunner in Artemis Squad and take orders from Huntress Five, not to think about the big picture.

After a few minutes of silence the group approached the Demeter Company mobile field kitchens, which had been set up and were serving soup and sandwiches to Federation and Sorority personnel alike since the bulk of their supplies had not arrived yet and the Federation was working on a deal with the locals to send food to the base. While in line for food they ran into Huntress One, who turned and greeted them.

"Hey guys! I see that you managed to limp here just like we did!" Huntress One greeted Huntresses Five through Eight.

"Yeah, you could say that. Our engine had trouble holding its speed and nearly died on us twice. Huntress Six managed to coax just enough performance out of it for us to keep moving." Huntress Five replied.

"It took some doing, but I managed to get us here. Artemis Lead probably isn't gonna be happy, though. We got here several minutes late." Huntress Six chimed in.

"So did we. Artemis Lead wasn't happy about that." Huntress One replied to the statement. Huntress Eight kept any comments to herself. According to the script, while she had opinions on the matter, she did not feel brave enough to voice her opinions aloud. She was glad to have a place in The Sorority and did not want to jeopardize that place by biting the hand that fed her.

The group waited silently in line for rations and received them, then went to a large rectangular table where Huntresses Two through Four were waiting on them. The two Artemis Squad tank crews sat together because there was really no one else to sit with.

"I see you guys made it. I bet you had engine trouble too." Huntress Two, the driver for the other tank, greeted them.

"Yeah. Our tank's engine decided to try and die on us a few times. I had to practically beg it to get us to where we needed to go." Huntress Six said to her fellow driver. Huntress Two laughed at the remark.

"I thought the rest of us were gonna have to get out and push while Two drove the tank. But our driver got us there." Huntress Three, the loader for the tank, dryly commented on the difficulties they encountered getting to their destination.

"Thankfully it didn't come to that. It's not like we can call for a tow truck if our engine breaks down." Huntress Four, the tank's gunner, remarked dryly.

"The Federation base doesn't have any armored recovery vehicles yet, so if we had gotten stranded we would have been on our own." Huntress One added.

"Great. Just great." Huntress Six complained about the lack of armored recovery vehicles.

"Well, this base was just established, so the Federation's having to bring in assets as quickly as it can. Sometimes things get lost in the shuffle." Huntress Five defended their employers. Huntress Six made a dissatisfied groan and was about to say something else when she opted to remain silent. According to the script, a Federation captain was passing by and the driver went silent to avoid getting in trouble with their hosts. After the captain passed by Huntress Six spoke up.

"You're right, Huntress Five. I just hope nothing happens before Hephaestus Team gets here with some new engines." Huntress Six said before the two tank crews let the matter drop to focus on eating the soup while it was still somewhat warm.

[Post Word Count: 1,194]
[Total Word Count: 6,228/10,000]

After eating their soup and sandwiches the two tank crews of Artemis Squad had went back to the garage to check on the status of their tanks. They learned that the base had been so hastily established that some things had been lost in the shuffle by the Federation. As luck would have it, engines for Knight MBTs were among those lost items and the mechanics were unable to replace the worn-out engines. They were having to do a patch job with duct tape and chicken wire to keep the engines going just a little bit longer. Neither Artemis Squad crew was happy about that.

"Well, that was a bust." Huntress One remarked with obvious disappointment once everyone was safely out of earshot of the mechanics.

"You can say that again. I thought that they could have replaced the engines for us, but that's apparently too much to ask. If they haven't even set up commissaries for their own people yet that should tell you how disorganized everything is." Huntress Six complained bitterly. She had hoped that the engines could be replaced so that the next time they went on patrol they could at least be assured that their engines would not die on them and leave them standed. Now that that hope had been dashed the driver was unhappy, to say the least.

"This base was set up in a hurry when the Vermilion Union suddenly took an interest in this planet, but we can't complain. They're hosting us and fixing our tanks. All they want in exchange is help conducting patrols between cities and feeding their people." Huntress Five defended their Federation hosts to Huntress Six. Huntress Six hmmm'd in response and calmed down a little.

"You're right, Huntress Five. But if they knew that we were bringing main battle tanks, you'd think they'd at least try to have replacement parts on hand, especially since Hephaestus Team is three weeks away." Huntress Six conceded Huntress Five's point before making a point of her own in a slightly less critical way than she had made her first point about the hurried establishment of the base.

"Those Knights were first made when most of us were learning to walk, Six. They've been in service for that long. We shouldn't expect them to run like they just rolled off the assembly line." Huntress Seven pointed out that it was unrealistic to expect peak performance from fifteen-year-old tanks. Even when said tanks were carefully maintained, there came a point where they needed to be replaced by something newer and better. That point had come long ago and The Sorority had approached the Federation about buying Crusaders, but the Federation had refused, citing the need for secrecy concerning the new design. Reading in between the lines of that statement heavily implied that the Federation did not want a mercenary group to have their latest MBT.

"True. I'm just disappointed that we can't get the engines replaced." Huntress Six conceded and let the matter drop. Complaining about things was not going to make the needed engines magically appear, but Huntress Six was still upset. Tanks depended on their engines as much as they did their guns to survive on the battlefield and a tank with a worn-out engine was in grave danger if the engine suddenly gave out in a combat situation.

The two tank crews had no choice but to wait for the Federation mechanics to finish patching up the engines the best they could. All of them wished that they could get their hands on Crusader MBTs, but that was not going to happen. They walked away from the garage and were on their way back to their makeshift barracks when Artemis Lead herself appeared. The crews could only guess what she wanted.

"Huntresses One and Five, report to me. The rest of you, go to your barracks." Artemis Lead ordered. The tank crews did as they were told: their leaders reported to Artemis Lead while the others went to their barracks, which was a long rectangular canvas tent that had been put up hours ago. Their beds were bare-bones mattresses on metal frames.

The scripts were flipped to the next page and the aspiring voice actresses learned that the next scene was them settling into their barracks and waiting for Huntresses One and Five to return from reporting to Artemis Lead. The mood was one of speculation as to what was so important that Artemis Lead herself showed up. All of them had a suspicion that there was more to it than finding out what they had seen on a routine patrol.

"I wonder what Artemis Lead wanted?" Huntress Seven asked the group.

"Beats me. She sure was pissed to find out we were late to the city. I don't know why she was so mad when she knew we were driving vehicles with crummy engines." Huntress Six chimed in.

"She's probably feeling pressure from The Sorority's top brass. From what I heard, she's from one of the old families who founded The Sorority and she's under a lot of pressure to perform." Huntress Two added.

"Oh." Huntress Six replied laconically once she found out why Artemis Lead was so upset about them being tardy despite having a good reason to be late. They then quickly moved on before someone overheard them and told Artemis Lead about what her subordinates had said about her.

"Anyway, I hope those Federation mechanics know what they're doing. I would have preferred for Hephaestus Team to make the repairs, but since they won't get here for at least another three weeks, we'll just have to count on our hosts." Huntress Six changed the subject back to the tank engines. As the tank's driver she had a vested interest in how the repairs went, perhaps even more of an interest than the rest of the crew except for Huntress Five. Huntresses Seven and Eight were more worried about the ammo rack being full and the main gun being operational, but without a good engine to get them to a fight they would be useless. It was in their interests to be concerned about the engine repairs, but they were less vocal about it than the tank's driver.

"I'm sure they'll get it done, Six. Since we're filling the gaps in their manpower they'll do the job right." Huntress Eight casually assured her crewmate that the job would be done right. It would be foolish for the Federation mechanics to slack off or to otherwise not put forth their best effort. The Sorority had a history of working with the Cobalt Federation and for the Federation to sabotage them would be unthinkable... at least to Huntress Eight.

"I hope so." Huntress Six said in an effort to finally put the subject to rest. The conversation then changed to the subject of when a more permanent barracks with actual beds would be established. They estimated that the establishment of a permanent barracks for them would be around the same time that Artemis Squad got their hands on the Crusader MBT, which would be "not any time soon." Another possibility was that their barracks would be set up long after the need for housing had passed, likely by the Federation bringing enough of their own forces to Homestead to make The Sorority's presence unnecessary.

[Post Word Count: 1,225]
[Total Word Count: 7,453/10,000]

-Eight hours later-

"OK people, that's a wrap on the pilot episode of Armored Hearts! Go and take a break... you've earned it!" Molly told the nine young women after auditions had finally finished. Most of the young women hurried out of the studio to visit the restroom, but Diana did not have to because she had went to the bathroom on the last break and did not drink very much water. The worst problem she had was her legs being a bit numb from standing for a little over eight hours.

The group had just finished recording a scene where they had went out on patrol in loaner Knight tanks the Federation had scrounged up from the motor pool and authorized Artemis Squad to use until The Sorority's tanks had been repaired. On the orders of Artemis Lead the two crews rumbled out of the base in their loaner tanks towards a place in the countryside where a meteorite was seen heading towards the planet. The Federation commander on Homestead, a grizzled old veteran named General Anderson, doubted that anything had gotten by the Federation fleet positioned over Homestead, but he still wanted a patrol to make sure that the Vermilion Union had not slipped anything past the fleet. It fell to Huntresses One through Eight to check it out.

The two tanks rumbled to the impact site only to find that there was a crater where something had landed on Homestead, but there was no evidence of what that something was. Huntresses One and Five even got out of their vehicles to investigate the area closer, but they could not find anything about the identity of the mystery object, so they were forced to get back in their tanks and radio their findings to headquarters. Artemis Lead relayed their findings to General Anderson, who then ordered Artemis Squad to return to base as quickly as they could. That was where the pilot episode ended.

Diana wondered why the decision was made to end the episode on a cliffhanger like that, but it was not her place to question the studio. They were doing her a favor just by letting her audition for a part on a show without even being an "official" aspiring voice actress. However, it was up to the studio whether Armored Hearts saw the light of day or not. For all Diana knew her work had been for nothing and her audition was in vain, but it was an interesting way to pass an afternoon.

Diana left the recording studio and went to join the other aspiring voice actresses in hoping that they had not done all of this work for nothing.

-Outside the recording studio-

Diana walked over to the water fountain and took the first sip of water she had had in hours, then walked to the restroom. There she waited in line for a few minutes, then went in when the opportunity presented itself. She washed her hands and emerged a few minutes later to find her fellow voice actresses gathered around the vending machines like they had earlier, but this time there was no cheerful chatter. Instead all of them were quiet and a few of them were even anxious.

Diana calmly walked towards the recording studio door and waited outside of it. It was not a matter of being "better" than the others in her group. She just did not feel like talking because she too was anxious, though no one who looked at her could tell because of the mask of calmness that she always wore. Diana waited out her break and was the first to answer the call when Molly emerged to round up the Armored Hearts voice actresses. Molly emerged from the room and started to walk out to get the others when her eyes settled on Diana.

"Oh! I didn't expect to see you there!" The redhead said in surprise.

"Sorry about that." Diana calmly apologized for startling the studio employee.

"It's OK. I just didn't expect to see you there." Molly said. She then walked away and rounded up the others in the group while Diana calmly watched. Once Molly guided everyone back to the studio she went in last and closed the door behind her.

-Inside the recording studio-

The nine young women had reentered the studio and now stood behind their podiums while the two young men who had been watching them stepped forward to speak to them. Just like last time the dark-haired youth went first.

"Hello everyone! All of you did a good job today as Artemis Squads One and Two and we appreciate that! However, it's gonna take a week or so for the studio to review it and see if they want to keep Armored Hearts on the air or not, so unfortunately we won't be able to tell you today if you got a part or not!" The dark-haired young man told them. Most of the young women were disappointed, but Diana betrayed no sign of how she felt. She had went into the audition with low expectations, so she was not nearly as disappointed as her colleagues.

Diana remained calm and listened to the blond-haired man address them.

"Like my business partner said, we appreciate the effort you put into today's audition. Even though some of you were brought in on rather short notice, thanks to your hard work I think we have a pretty good pilot episode to show the studio executives. The fate of the project's in their hands, but I'm feeling confident about our chances!" The blond young man assured them. Molly soon stepped up to address the group.

"Now that the audition is over for the time being, you may leave the studio. But remember that you're not allowed to talk about your audition until the show's officially announced!" Molly told them. Diana had been keeping quiet about a lot of things, so another vow of silence was not a challenge for her. She handed over her lanyard and began to walk out of the studio to go find Catherine and see if she was OK.

-Outside the recording studio-

Diana was the last of the Armored Hearts group to leave the studio. She followed the stream of young women away from the studio and followed them towards the elevator when she heard the sound of feet on carpet coming up behind her. Diana turned and faced Molly, who was reaching out to the green-eyed blonde.

"Can I help you?" Diana calmly asked her.

"Yes. Would you mind giving me your iLac Lacrima Identification Code so that we can call you and let you know if Armored Hearts is approved?" Molly asked Diana.

"What about the others?" Diana asked Molly and pointed towards the elevator with the index finger of her right hand. Molly hurried past Diana and ran to the elevator as quickly as she could.

"Wait there, please!" Molly bade Diana. Diana, not really having much else to do at the moment, did as she was told. Hopefully Molly could round up the others in time to ask them for their Lacrima Identification Codes.

[Post Word Count: 1,193]
[Total Word Count: 8,646/10,000]

-Catherine's House, two hours later-

It was nearly nightfall by the time that Catherine and Diana had returned to the former's house after a busy day at Lakefront Animation Studios. Molly had managed to gather the Lacrima Identification Codes of the other young women who had auditioned for Armored Hearts just in time, then she got Diana's code. Diana had studied Molly's body language and learned that the redheaded studio employee was telling the truth when she claimed that the studio would not give out their numbers. Now that she had given it, Diana was instructed to wait for a call from Lakefront Animation Studios... they would be identified under that name in her contacts list since Molly would be the one to call her and let her know whether the show was still on or not.

While Diana was busy auditioning Catherine had been fixing technical issues around various parts of the studio, a job which took almost eight hours to do. If Diana had not been literally dragged into the Armored Hearts project by Katrina the former would have been stuck in the lobby waiting for Catherine to return from her work. Even if the show was not going to make a full season the audition had saved Diana from a long and boring wait in the lobby that would have taxed her patience to the limit.

"I'm glad that's over. They paid me well, but man do they have technical issues! I had to go to three separate floors and fix their computer problems! And just when I thought I was finished more problems popped up!" Catherine said to Diana. Diana remained calm as she made a reply. She had to remember that she was no longer Huntress Eight of Artemis Squad, but Diana Winchester the mage.

"As challenging as it is, it sounds like steady work, Catherine. If I were you I would take steady work whenever I could get it." Diana advised Catherine, still managing to channel Huntress Eight despite herself. Mister Burke was the closest thing Diana had to a regular client and he was a good employer who provided high-paying work. Whenever he called she dropped everything and hurried to Shirotsume.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't complain about such a sweet gig, but man was it hard. I had to fix the computers for Lacrimatech Ninja Force, then I had to hurry to the second floor to fix the computers for another anime named Meteor Strike Team, then I had to hurry to another floor after that!" Catherine explained to Diana some of the difficulties of the job. Now that Diana had that bit of additional information she saw that Catherine's work was not exactly a walk in the park. Neither was voice acting. Catherine's eyes met Diana's for a moment.

"Hey, that reminds me... I didn't see you around the studio until late! What were you doing all day?" Catherine asked Diana.

"I was auditioning for a role on a show. I did not intend to audition for anything, but a studio employee literally dragged me into it." Diana replied, deliberately omitting the name of the series as part of the agreement she had made with the studio to keep quiet until the show was official or it was cancelled.

"What show was it?" Catherine asked. Diana shook her head.

"I am not allowed to say." Diana replied in a serious tone of voice.

"Oh, so you're under a confidentiality agreement! That's cool. I won't ask any further then." Catherine said. The raven knew the value of keeping a secret, so she would not ask any further about what show Diana had auditioned for. Diana appreciated that.

"Now that I'm home, what did you want to do from here, Diana? Did you want to go home or did you want to spend the night since it's already getting late?" Catherine asked the blonde what she planned to do. That was a pretty good question.

"Truth be told, I was thinking of going home, but I do not quite feel up to it." Diana said with obvious exhaustion. She was not faking it. Her legs were quite sore and she was more than a little tired from the unexpectedly long work day of an aspiring voice actress.

"OK, you can stay at my place then, no strings attached!" Catherine said to her. Diana smiled a little. Catherine was a life-saver in more ways than one. A mage of Diana's power could easily take on the local hoodlums and win, but the huntress preferred to avoid fights if she possibly could. She was not quite feeling up to a fight and fighting while tired and unfocused was also something to be avoided.

"I would be glad to do so... if you have a place for me." Diana said, making a reference to the disorganized state of the living room. Catherine blushed a little and hurriedly began to clean up. Diana felt a little bad for saying what she did because it sounded like she was taking a cheap shot at her hostess' lack of organization/laziness/whatever, but if Catherine did not have room for her Diana would be glad to move on.

"I'll get these out of your way! Sorry, Diana!" Catherine apologized for the piles of computer parts boxes on the couch and piles of pizza boxes on the glass coffee table. The black-haired youth began moving the boxes of computer parts out of the living room while Diana watched.

"Do I need to help you, Catherine?" Diana offered to help her hostess move the boxes. Catherine shook her head. Diana hoped that she had not come across as insulting because Catherine was doing her a big favor by letting her crash here.

"No thanks, Diana. I need to move these boxes and I have a particular way of arranging them." Catherine politely refused the offer of assistance and continued to move the computer parts boxes out of the living room while Diana watched from a safe distance. Diana kept quiet and let her hostess work in peace... if Catherine had a particular way of organizing the computer parts boxes, she did not want to break Catherine's concentration.

[Post Word Count: 1,034]
[Total Word Count: 9,680/10,000]

-Catherine's House, twenty minutes later-

Catherine had cleared off both her couch and the coffee table in record time. Now they were both free for Diana to use. Diana felt sort of bad for the low blow she had accidentally thrown when she had remarked that she would be glad to stay... if Catherine had a place for her. Catherine did not seem to hold it against her... whether she did not take offense to the remark because she did not see anything offensive about it or she had just opted to let it slide because of Diana's help in the past was unknown, but the raven-haired youth did not seem upset by the remark. Either way Diana was not going to question it... she would let it go and watch what she said more carefully next time.

"OK, Diana! The couch is all clear and ready to use!" Catherine announced with pride. Diana gave a small smile to her hostess.

"Thank you, Catherine." Diana thanked her hostess for putting in the work to make a place for the huntress to sleep.

"It's no problem, Diana. I needed to clean up anyway but I just kept putting it off for whatever reason. Mostly because cleaning house isn't very fun." Catherine brushed off the gratitude by claiming that she needed to do cleaning anyway. Diana accepted that without complaint. She was not the world's best housekeeper either... not that she stayed home long enough to have to worry about cleaning house very often. Such was the life of Diana Winchester.

"Still, I appreciate the effort you went to to clean off a place for me to sleep." Diana insisted on thanking Catherine for the work she had put in on the blonde's behalf. Catherine waved the gratitude off a second time.

"It's no big deal. Anyway, I'm about to go to sleep since I've had a long day. If you need food or drinks you can go into the mini-kitchen and get anything you need. I'll see you in the morning, Diana!" Catherine bade Diana good night and granted the huntress permission to get whatever she wanted or needed out of the mini-kitchen.

"Later, Catherine." Diana replied calmly and waved goodbye to her hostess. Once Catherine had left the room Diana walked over to the couch and sat down, then took off her tennis shoes. She set them aside and lifted her legs up while turning her body right until she was lying on the couch. It was not a bed, but considering that she was getting to spend the night for free, Diana was certainly not complaining.

Diana lay in silence while wondering if Armored Hearts was going to be approved. She hoped that it would because she had put a lot of effort into her role as Huntress Eight and she did not want it to go to waste. She had also had a lot of fun with the role and had felt energized by the enthusiasm of her fellow aspiring voice actresses. However, the show's approval was not in her hands, but rather the hands of the executives of Lakefront Animation Studios. The two young men seemed optimistic about the show's chances, so Diana would keep her fingers crossed and hope for the best.

If Diana could get her foot in the door with Armored Hearts, voice acting could be another legitimate job for her to do. It would probably not be very lucrative until she landed roles in bigger and more prestigious shows, but like Katrina had told her, Armored Hearts was new, so there were lower expectations for that show than there were for older and more famous shows. Diana hoped that today was the start of a possible new career option for her.

[Post Word Count: 628]
[Total Word Count: 10,308/10,000]