The hanger is filled with smoke, oil leaks, blood and god knows what other smells.
They've stopped fixing the paint on the Sandstorm for a while now, only when it needs to be shown off in the public do they paint on anything, but after two sorties there was more metal than paint visible.
High above the rough, black flooring Maera exits into the docking port. It is covered in sweat from head to toe, but the medic in the dock only took note of the saliva.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, tracing her fingertip over her chin.
Maera wiped the drool off its face with an awkward fingering though the grates of the muzzle. "I'm fine, it felt great, but I'm a bit lost... You know, as usual."
The medic blindly typed on a tablet while inspecting the hound's body, tightly shaped by the sensor-suit. "Any damage?"
The hound gave a whoop: "Too much to mention! The legs–"
The medic cut it off: "On you."
It turned it's eyes down: "Oh, no nothing really."
Then the Handler came in. Her boots too black, her medals too shiny. She took up the entire room with her energy, so cold, so stiff, so strong. "It's lying." The words seemed to have wrapped around the hound's throat. The creature collapsed on the metal floor, heaving and writhing. "N-n-no... I didn't... I'm okay... I'm healthy..."
But the Handler did not take that refutation. She took a step that reverberated in the entire dock. The reinforced tip of her boot landed between it's paws and She bended down, seizing the muzzle and dragging the begging mess towards Her. "Down"
The hound's body seized up and then slumped down. It curled up in a strange mixture of childish crawling and dog-like elegance, tenderly nursing its right arm.
"See, it's much easier to be honest. Now medic, fix my hound."