Raptor One – Chapter 94
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The silence was harrowing as I and Mercy kept looking at one another, our eyes cold as we glare at each other, it last for one entire minute before Mercy open her mouth.
“Did you know that there exists species long lost, dead ones coming back, anomaly at all times, and most of all, it’s the lair of the archonexus network of this galaxy area, you where either lost or dead along with your girls...” Mercy words come with heaviness as she lock on to my eyes.
I sigh and nod my head before talking. “Da, I’m a dead one, three times at that, the first at birth, the second when I was bitten by a Fungal zombie, and the third when my planet ceased to accept living things.” I say and show my grey eyes to her, my pupils dilating so much that it cease to exist as it gray color show with traces of pulsating red in it, locked to Mercy.
Mercy herself take this information with a shaken look, her eyes wide open and fingers going haywire as it spasm to a stop before resuming normal function.
Seeing that I did not move out of my place nor smile she calms down, more so as my eyes return back to normal as I don’t want my virus reactivating.
“Happy now?” I say with a rough voice before looking at my back, the girls are there, looking at me with clear... Intrigue?
What the?
“Privet devushki.” I say with a nod before looking back at Mercy.
“Hello young ones.” Mercy say with a small nod, following my way of doing before focusing on me again.
“Are avalis averse to contact?” Mercy words make me tilt my head before replying.
“Da, we are born predators, despite being a extremely social race we value distancing, not because we like it, but because it’s a instinct, so we can react to aggressive individuals.” I say with a shake of my head.
“This behavior can be more or less prominent, it varies from pack to pack and clan to clan.” Zu say with a nod.
“Not to mention that some packs and clans are very toxic to talk to even if you are from the same race, what they call it?” Peppy reply with a finger on her muzzle.
“Abrasive.” It’s Shy that reply to Peppy while shaking her head.
“Right, Abrasive... I prefer toxic.” Peppy say with a nod making her sister sigh.
I chuckle at the twin antics and look a lot more relaxed, so I place my eyes at Nail and Cold, they nod at us with a hand on their rifles, making me wonder...
“Are they loaded?” I ask both Nail and Cold, their expression falter for a second before I hear their sighs and get a nod.
“You know what to do.” I say with a nod and look at Mercy again, she looks somewhat relaxed but a look at her fingers show she’s ready for attacks.
Mercy soon understand as she sees Nail and Cold unload their rifles, surprising me too was Zu, Peppy and Shy also unloading theirs, making me look with a tilted head their way.
What I get is a tongue from Peppy, a blush from Shy, and a nod from Zu, when I look back at Mercy I see her sweating at the sight of 5 girls unloading their guns, looks like if she was hostile the girls was ready to shoot her down.
“As I said before, we like keeping our distance to react to hostile actions.” I say with a sharp grin before calming down again.
“Understood...” Mercy say with a normal face... If you ignore the sweat. “Still want to undertake that test?” She ask me and I look at the girls, they nod showing they heard it from the start making me shake my head with a chuckle.
“Da.” I say with a toothy grin and get up from the tri layer piston. “Where do I start?” I say after paying the 371k of credits.
“Follow me, as for the weapons they will be sent to your ship.” Mercy say while sliding away.
“Peppy, with me. Nail, get Selket on a spin, I want some escort if this test reach space, but don’t act, only keep your distance, Zu and the rest, I want this ship on a hanging dock, I can’t work with this much gravity even with a top notch crane to help.” I say and start following Mercy, Peppy runs to my side after a brief yes.
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“Understood!” The others say and get to work as I and Peppy disappear into the winding corridors of the station.
20 minutes of walking later we arrive at a small docking area, where mechs of all types are docked, some in need of repairs, others being refueled, and some being taken apart.
We stop in front of a console which Mercy taps with her fingers in a rhythm making the armored elevator in front of us open and lift a mech, it looks lean and tactical, very hard to hit with a small frame like that but a glance gives out it’s as armored as a Heavy tank despite looking lean.
“That’s the Modular mech I want you to pilot, you can check it for defects and hazards if you want.”
I nod to Mercy words and wave for Peppy to help me as I check the Modular mech, Torso... Not sealed propperly, need some repairs or I would suffocate in space, but it’s rebreather system is working properly, the controls however are not in sync.
As both a Modular Mech it needs arms to use weapons, many just weld a makeshift arm to their mechs to reduce costs, but this one have proper arms and fingers, but they aren’t working too, at least it’s not sparking...
Drill and Rifle test gave back a OK, so lets test the legs... Legs are okay too, just need to sync.
With the tests done I jump out from the cockpit, landing in front of Mercy while Peppy refresh herself with her own hand as the testing was long and exhausting.
“Adeptus Mercy, it’s your first Mech Frame?” I ask Mercy and she shake her head.
“No, I have built many more, but they all led to death or just broke down, some had to be scraped due to glaring faults, how’s the Modular mech?” Mercy ask me with a tilt of the head.
“It’s bad, the cockpit is leaking, the arms are sizzling out, and the legs are totally out of sync, just like all other pieces, the Mech Computer Mainframe can’t even tell what piece it have installed, but it’s working is solid, with some fault repair it can be piloted like a normal Modular mech, albeit a very frustrating one.” I say with a sigh.
“You have a lot of knowledge about modular mechs.” Mercy say with a raised brow.
“Da, I have, not just mechs, but vehicles in particular, I just specialized in Modular Mechs due to the easy of use and low cost compared to a Tank or complexity like a hovercraft.” I say but can’t prove as I don’t have my Personal tricorder with me.
“Oh, White, White, here.” Peppy call for my attention and give me my personal tricorder. “I thought you would need it.” She say with a smile before walking back to the mech and waiting my orders.
I give a nod of thanks before checking my security code, it’s clear, so I open it and show my research tree to Mercy, opening the mechanic research tree and showing the modular mech specialization, 100%.
“That’s a good thing for me, can you share your knowledge with me about modular mechs? I’ll pay you with upgrades to your mech, I'll make it galaxy standard with steel plates.” Mercy say with a glint in her eyes but I shake my head.
“Niet, only if you place a mobility MK1, Economic Mk1 and Armor MK1 computer chip along with your words then I'll accept, and that’s if I pass the test.” I say and look back at her.
“That’s too much.” Mercy say with a displeased face.
“You are making me repair your mech for you into flyable status, then do a crash test with it and you call it too much? Sure, I’ll just take the mech.” I say with a sigh and start walking to Peppy.
“Okay, okay! You win, I'll make the requested improvements when you return with the mech.” Mercy say with a sigh. “You drive a hard bargain you know that?”
I just shake my head and get to work with Peppy as I give her directions on where to work and what to adjust, we start with the legs as a non synched leg will just topple the pilot and lose most of the mech advantages in ground combat, with my knowledge and Peppy’s help the work took only 10 minutes from what normally would take 30 or more.
With the legs adjusted we start working with the arms, that one was a little harder but we still managed to do it under 18 minutes.
We sigh as we rest a little, all this work is tiring, I look down at Peppy that’s sitting next to me and smile as we share some food that I took from my cloak while organizing it, something I should do more as I was wasting space.
“Thanks White...” Peppy say and looks up at me.
“What’s on your mind tovarishch, I'm all ears.” I say and wiggle my ears to her making her giggle.
“Will you really do the test? There’s no need to put your life in risk...” She say while looking me in the eyes, a small frown on her face as she looks worried my way.
I pat her head with a visible smile before talking. “Da, there’s no need to take the test but it’s something we will need sooner or later, I don’t mind passing some life crisis for my pack.” I shake my head as I pat her head, making her close one of her eyes as she squeaks from the patting.
“Let’s go, we have a Modular mech to restore.” I say with a visible smile and get up, my hand leaving her purple hair feathers.
“Okay!” She say with a chirp after some seconds and run my way.
With some effort and well placed coordination we finish the work on the cockpit in the record time of 9 minutes making me grin.
“So you are done with the changes?” Mercy say after returning from her duties in this area.
“Niet, we need to finish the computer mainframe, that one is a horrendous piece of tech, but it works.” I say with a sigh.
“You’ll have it upgraded as soon as it’s done as I'll take it to reverse engineer.” Mercy say with a nod before going on her way.
“Peppy, help me link the parts with the torsi mainframe computer, just do as I ask and well be done in 10 minutes at most.” I say and jump inside the cockpit and start working on the mech mainframe computer.
“Sure thing!” Peppy reply and we start our work, it took more time than I desired as I needed to get the frame data, acknowledge the equipment and all that.
With the work done I start testing the mech, the glass canopy close above my head as the controls latch to my body and align itself with me, some movements show that the mech is working just like it should and it’s servos are singing just like I want it to, and it’s balance is excellent.
With a nod I stop the mech on it’s rest area and hop down as it enter it’s standby mode, it’s frame much more accessible to enter and exit now.
I look as Mercy comes my way and inspect the Modular Mech.
“That’s a nice work you did, it looks much more refined than the heaping junk we have here.” She say with a nod of contentment before focusing on me. “Will you undertake the test?” She ask with a nod.
“Da, after all that work, why shouldn't I go?” I say with a big sharp smile, she nods at my words and waves her hand at the restored mech. “It’s all yours for the test, as you can see, it’s being refueled with 'L.E.F' for flight, don’t do crazy stunts with it, I don’t think the fuel inside it will like it.”
“HA! As if I can do that with it on full basic, it’s not even galactic standard nor improved.” I say with a shake of my head and hop into the mech, it’s canopy closing and it’s frame leaning back, making it’s size more prominent.
“When you return victorious from the test I'll give you something you will like.” Mercy say with a glint in her eyes.
I just wave with the mech and take off into the void of space, the mech changing from ground operation to space operation on it’s own...