He wouldn't answer her, the only thing he seemed to do was walk back towards his gunship, leading her all the way back onto it. Once they were both aboard, the crew was already instructed with what they were supposed to do, which was to leave Volgograd, escape its orbit and then sling-shot all the way back to Jiang-Xi. Once there it was a matter of descending before they were hovering within viewing distance from the residential blocks of the largest settlement on the planet.
Despite this, the crew was ordered to descend further, till the wash of the gunship was flowing over some of the nearby buildings, people going about their daily lives stopped to look up, only hoping the Commissariat hadn't come by to condemn their entire block. To their surprise, when the rear door swung open it would reveal Comrade Vaschenko to all the onlookers. It didn't take them long to recognize her and start chanting slogans in her praise, upon noticing the Field Marshal standing right beside her, they simply grew louder, to the point where they could be heard clearly despite the whining of the engines.
In a show of solidarity to please the onlookers, Keller would take Vaschenko's hand in his and raise them into the air, a gesture of unity and of collective purpose, they were both soldiers and in many ways Vaschenko was Keller's contemporary. "Let this remove any doubts you might have about serving again. Just do me a favor and don't play into the hands of the damn Commissariat or worse yet, become one. You and I are going to be great friends for a long time, Comrade Vaschenko."
"Knowing Humanity - We will be duty, bloody and unavoidable."
"Let this remove any doubts you might have about serving again. Just do me a favor and don't play into the hands of the damn Commissariat or worse yet, become one. You and I are going to be great friends for a long time, Comrade Vaschenko."
Katya hadn't expected anything like this, initially believing that their short flight would be out to Zvezdny Gorodok or some other such base, but hardly to Jiang-Xi. Nonetheless, Katya stood firmly on the rear ramp of the gunship, looking down over the now assembled crowd of people with a stoic expression on her face that betrayed very little emotion, if any. After a long moment which seemed like an eternity, Katya finally turned her head toward Keller and spoke softly.
"I've no intention of turning to the Commissariat...and of course, I look forward to our friendship."
Her gaze shifted back out over the crowd and as the gunship's ramp began to close she allowed a slight smile to cross her lips, she hadn't expected people to remember her, but she was glad that they did.