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1.4 - Fire, Ice and Rock? Part 1
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After a little longer, Una gently pressed the shutdown sequence on her monitor screen, listening patiently as outside the small cockpit came the sound of bulkheads unscrewing and minute machinery disconnecting the simulator module away from her Vijaik.
The cabin was dark now, only a faint ceiling light emitting a slight glow. Una ran her hand over everything again, checking that all the control levers and switches really were still there. Of course, she had been informed that the Fluchtig had the most advanced in simulator technology, but this had been more than she could have ever predicted. Back in the academy, simulators were bulky enclosed boxes with a standardised set of controls and limited visuals.
They certainly hadn't shaken violently with enough force to match the movements of the simulation - Never had one physically winded her before. Training had used a couple old Gen1 Vijaik MBTs, which were for doing practise bouts, but those had always felt like practice. They had never made her feel trapped or scared. No, this had been different.
The simulator was a large grey rectangle on a miniature scissor lift of sorts, which raised it up into the air to attach straight to the cockpit of the actual mechs used by each pilot. Said machine had only arrived that very morning, it felt like an oddly faint memory to think back on how excited she had been when the small transport craft had arrived.
She was nearly giddy when the lieutenant offered to get everyone together and do a 'proper' simulation test to help her 'break in the new model'.
That excitement felt very distant to Una now.
The sounds of whirring outside her enclosure now quietened - Replaced with the faint screeching of tyres reversing slowly - Indicating the simulator mechanism had been fully released and that she could now leave. Stand up and walk (well float) out, away from the machine, her machine - 'Just a simulation.'
Una reached out, moving her hand to grab the control connection or CC, a small USB-like object, from its mooring, when her eye caught something. Positioned above all the monitors, above eye level in fact, and just below where the entry hatch still lay shut, was a collection of small cupboarded compartments - Akin to glove boxes in a regular vehicle.
Their use, quantity and position often varied from model to model but generally one would be empty and accessible for the use of the pilot (that one could often be found beneath the pilot's chair), with the others usually holding several different fire extinguisher types, emergency tools, possibly rations or spare clothing and of-course protection.
Una timidly felt at the surface of that last one, having to reach her hand up to its smooth face. Unlike the other boxes, this one had a small slot for an old-school brass key.
Half-heartedly, she pulled free the CC and stared at it haphazardly. She couldn't believe it had passed her notice when Lt.Kolme had first handed her the thing.
'It must be some sort of mistake...' - Una pondered but indeed there on a thin ring next to the mech's starter, was a dainty dust-coloured key. The young woman swallowed hard, unsure now if she was simply still feeling stressed from the simulation or from this new quandary.
She reached up, key first. The little lock clicked and she let the key fall from her hand, dangling freely from its footing within the lock. The now-open cupboard fell away slowly. There was, after all, only a small amount of artificial gravity aboard the ship's hangar bays.
'....It's really there... A gun.'
A submachine gun, to be more precise. From what Una could remember, it looked to be a standard issue one, the stocky-bodied type that could be easily disassembled - Quick to reload and nearly useless at any real range.
An utterly ordinary thing to find in any mech's cabin: for use in the extreme emergency that the enemy actually attempted to board your machine. Totally regulation, as were the spare ammo magazines, all held in place by little, easily pulled-away straps to ensure a pilot quick access without worrying about the thing rattling around inside the box.
Clunk
Una's heart dropped, her mouth barely suppressing a scream, as suddenly a blinding line of light appeared before her, accompanying the sound of boots bouncing onto a metal surface - All just above the gun she had been staring at so intently.
Thin but bright, like dawn creeping in under a pair of curtains, said glow soon grew larger.
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A moment later, Una laid back, reflexively sinking into her chair with relief, now remembering that it was simply her cockpit's hatch opening. Then she tensed, realising the box to be still open, its contents lay bare. She moved to close it up but found herself stopped half way when the world suddenly turned black once more.
Una felt at her face, half panicked before again feeling remarkably embarrassed at her own skittishness as she patted her face with the warm towel which had been thrown at her.
"Make sure you take the key out and turn the lights off, Rookie. There's no need to run down the battery," came the stout voice of Sabban Vint. It was weird hearing it now, close-up and personal. A gravelled voice that seemed to exclusively speak in a monotone and with quant grunts between sentences, as though the act of talking presented an efforted strain with little returns given for such labour.
He stood with one hand held to the rim of the open roof that acted as the cabin's exit & entry point, looking down at her impassively. He seemed intent on two things, and Una wondered if one of those things was that.
"Kolme is a real idiot, ain't he? Really threw you at this, eh?" Sabban said with a raised eyebrow, now getting a better look inside the cabin.
Una was slightly taken aback by the sudden change in Sabban's way of referring to the group leader outside of combat;
"There'll be the proper gear in your quarters, ‘should make piloting a little more comfortable for ya, new or not the Neo types still get pretty damn warm inside."
Una flushed a little, concluding he must be referring to the sweat she now wiped away with the towel. It was a natural part of any profession of course, but it still felt a little weird hearing it be mentioned by a former classmate; then again, she could hardly deny the fact that the cabin was indeed warm.
'This warm for just a simulation.'
She had little time to think on this before Sabban nodded his head in the direction of the still carelessly open gun-box;
"Something missing?" He added poignantly.
Una blinked absently before flailing her arms, "What? Eh no, no. I mean er... umm, it's just I think there's been a mistake. I'm not sure this should be here-",
Before she could flounder any further - Sabban cut back in, "Leave the brass key in it. No one else ever bothers taking it out. After all, if you ever need it, the last thing you want is to be fumbling around looking for where you left your keys. Oh, and don't worry about any of that bullcrap from before,” Sabban finished. He still held that absent look on his face, his off-hand planted firmly against the back of his head amongst his black-mottled hair - A sort of crew-cut that had been left grow out, with the air of having been once maintained but more recently fallen on hard times;
"When that ass from the Investigations Bureau started trying to give Miss Hoki trouble over 'What you could and couldn't have' here, well, let's just say Kolme stepped in and gave the man a taste of what talking to a real soldier is like".
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Sabban sneered before continuing on;
"He'll see to getting you a sidearm soon enough, too, so don't worry about it," with that and not waiting for another response, Una watched Sabban shove himself downwards, back towards the hanger floor and out of her sight.
Quickly, Una followed after the man, relocking the cabinet and turning off all the instruments and lights - Leaving the small key in the now locked box as instructed. Once out, she agilely glided down to the hanger floor, glancing back around to stare up at her machine.
Standing at nearly twenty metres, it was still hard to actually see it as ‘her mech’; gleaming in fresh paint, straight off the assembly line. A perfectly new 'Third Gen', Neo-Type-Vijaik Mark C - And all of it hers.
She found Sabban a few paces ahead, standing at the foot of his own machine while staring vacantly forward. The room they found themselves in was the ship's secondary or 'underhanger'. A box-shaped room below the main hanger, with tall ceilings but just enough floor space for its inhabitants and mech storage facilities. The layout was functional at best and cramped at worst, with the idea of maximising storage in mind:
Three holding cages a piece (which prevented Vijaiks from floating away) stood corresponding to each other on two of the walls. A large industrial elevator took up a third and finally on the fourth was space for two more machines.
As it stood her machine was in 'the cell' nearest the elevator, Sabban's next to that and the Lieutenant’s at the opposite corner.
On the far wall, with only two cages, were the red and cyan machines, standing next to one another. A shiver ran down Una’s spine just looking at them. Of course, now they stood silently, solemn even. The red eye of Miss Scarlet's machine was replaced by the hollow dimness of the powered down, angular head's visor - And as for Miss Hoki's terrifyingly powerful long-range rifle, it wasn't in reality even present, instead being upstairs in the workshop of the main hanger.
'Just a simulation.'
Una made her way hesitantly to Sabban's side. Her mind did feel a little calmer now, but a number of new thoughts took the place of the discarded tribulations of earlier:
There were Sabban's comments about the gun and well, hygiene. Then there was the question of whether they were happy with how she had performed during the pretend battle - For all she knew, they'd think her a complete failure. Maybe they would even send her back to the base if she couldn't keep up with them; at the least, she might get swapped to escort duty and have one of the escort pilots take her spot on this team.
There was also the question of what precisely the protocol was now: should she be standing to attention?
A final question, which she really felt rather annoyed at the importance of, was how exactly to address the man standing next to her.
'We were classmates, right, and we just practised together? So I should be friendly, chummy, ya? He can't really have forgotten me...'
As if to answer her unspoken questions Sabban suddenly started in his usual low rumbling tone, not bothering to make eye contact; "Here we go again."
Una shot him a puzzled look before turning to try and get a view of whatever he had commented on. What she saw was the same as before: the two Vijaiks that had been on the opposite team of the simulation; however, there was a minor change in each. Miss Hoki's cyan machine now had its hatch open, although there was no sign of the woman herself.
Conversely, Scarlet's machine, which uniquely, instead of an outcropped hatch to match the other four mechs, pertained a flush circular doorway - Had also now opened.
Then there was nothing for a few moments, to the point that Una was almost about to ask the obvious question, when finally she saw someone step out onto the lip of that circular entrance.
The Ace Pilot - Known simply by her somewhat extravagant nickname 'Scarlet Scourge' - Stood glaring absolute daggers across at the cockpit of her cyan neighbour.
Una found herself begrudgingly admiring the very way the woman held herself, poised as though ready to fight at any moment, yet far from overly tensed. Aided by her long abundance of deep crimson-hued hair and her singular eye-patched eye, she stood out like a character from some sort of adventure story, truly befitting of a former 'space pirate'.
'If only she had a nicer personality,' at least that's what Una believed might have gone through her head a few hours ago, as it was; however, looking at the woman inspired a different emotion: Fear. The way she had brutally swung around those large weapons. The precision, skill and most of all, ease with which she'd matched herself and Sabban.
That single glowing red eye seemed to ominously flash in her mind when she looked at Scarlet's face. Of course, from Una's distance, she couldn't see the details but she distinctly remembered seeing Scarlet's eye the day prior - Thinking how strange it was to see someone with an almost blood-red tint encircling their brown iris.
The word 'pirate' suddenly seemed far less romantic and far more sinister, far more real - Una could feel herself tensing just looking at that callous glare on the woman's face.
"You alright?" Sabban said abruptly, breaking her thoughts for not the first time that day; "First time on that simulator can be... vigorous," he mused aloud.
Una nodded as best she could, glad for the surprisingly kind words even if the man's tone had remained droll. Her focus back on the end of the room, she watched silently for a few more moments as much like her, Scarlet simply stood glaring across at Hoki's machine, until finally the illustrious woman appeared.
She floated up through the opening of her mech's cabin, swiping her long auburn hair behind her before gracefully swinging herself over the side of the machine and beginning a slow descent down to the ground.
Una noticed a couple things immediately: For one, Hoki, like Sabban, wore the proper piloting equipment. The specialised gloves, thin but sturdy boots and so on - All designed with the aim of keeping the pilot as comfortable and refreshed as possible but equally allowing them to feel in tune with the controls of their complicated mechanisms. In contrast Scarlet wore no such gear, instead sporting a worn pair of ankle-length trousers and a half-buttoned jacket with puffed shoulders, over a nondescript black T-shirt - Finished by a pair of tall, worn rigger boots and fingerless gloves.
Furthermore, where Hoki's hair was long but neatly kept and well combed, Scarlet's crimson branding was a flutter. Wisps and split ends haphazardly strewn around, something more akin to a 'mane' than a haircut.
Before Hoki had even reached the ground, Scarlet finally broke the silence;
"The Hell was that, you trying to act the fool girl?" She barked downwards before grabbing a thin rope that had ejected from the roof of her mech's doorway and using it to start her own trip back landward.
Not bothering to turn around, Hoki daintily landed, arms folded as she replied calmly, "That's rich coming from the roving façade, whom gave the enemy all the cover they could ever ask for."
Scarlet's face scrunched in retort as she hopped off the rope before landing on the metal floor with an oddly loud 'clunk' - "Come again, princess?"
And so began yet another long argument between the two, thought the first Una would have the ‘pleasure’ of observing.
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