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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 11, 2009 18:43:34 GMT -5
The Mess Hall at Green Noah was about as calm as a high school cafeteria. Meatloaf was on the menu today, and the cooks here did a surprisingly good job of it. Derek waited impatiently in line, he'd only been here a week, but the food was definitely something to look forward to. His mind wandered to the amazing chili his parents used to make, and he started to drift away to thoughts of a home-cooked meal.
"Carter! Hey Carter!" A voice yelled from the back of the line.
Snapping from his daydream, Derek looked around confused, he hadn't held up the line yet.
"Hey! We need you back in the Hangar!" The voice demanded. Looking back, Derek realized that it belonged to the Chief Mechanic, whose name kept escaping the pilot's mind.
Grudgingly, he stepped out of line and walked back to the Chief. "But sir, I'm supposed to be off duty now." Derek protested, knowing that losing his place in line already meant he was out of luck for meatloaf.
"No time for that now, some moron reset the Guncannon's AMBAC settings and I'll need you to take it out and set them correctly." The Chief replied angrily, grumbling at his incompetent subordinates under his breath.
Derek had lost this argument before it began. He wasn't one to argue with a superior officer, and all the officers under Admiral Jamitov certainly seemed to fell that they were 'superior'. ".... Yes Sir..." He said quietly, trudging past a soldier carrying a plate of meatloaf to the Admiral's office and feeling his stomach grumble.
The Guncannon Mass Production Type spiraled erratically out of the hangar, flipping end-over-end until Derek could bring it to a stop in the empty space outside of Green Noah.
"You weren't kidding Chief, these settings aren't accounting for the backpack at all! Didn't the mechanic know that this suit is top-heavy?" The radio at the Chief Mechanic's console crackled out his complaints as the man in charge of repairs sighed in annoyance.
"I don't care how stupid they were, it's been taken care of, just fix the suit. And be quick about it, the Admiral's ordered a mock combat test." The Chief ordered, switching off his radio.
Shortly thereafter, Jamitov sat in his office, finishing his lunch along with two other officers. On his desk, a dual-sided screen displayed the Guncannon's stats along with live video of the mock combat test. All three men wore a wry grin at the sight of the red mobile suit holding it's own against three GM trainers in a space paintball battle.
"It's got quite a bit of firepower for a single unit, and it's not as cumbersome as the prototype." One of the officers commented, "With units like this in mass production, we don't need certain 'other' projects to continue."
The other officer was less convinced. "Good in mock combat is one thing, but shouldn't we have some hard data to back this up before getting too ambitious?"
As the last GM was splashed with red paint, Jamitov's smile was even wider. "I agree, we'll send this unit into combat for field testing. Once we have our hard data, we'll no longer have need of these ridiculous money pits." He said, glancing at the files of various one-off prototypes that were setting on the desk.
"So shall I begin working on pilot assignment?"
"Why bother?" Jamitov replied, "The current pilot will do."
Looking down at his plate and picking up his fork, Jamitov chuckled to himself and thought aloud. "Fresh meat for the grinder..." He said, biting down on the last bit of meatloaf.
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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 14, 2009 18:08:33 GMT -5
"Finally! Food! And no one's going to take it away from me!" Derek thought joyously as he lay half inside the leg of the Guncannon Mass Production Type, working on the actuators while gnawing on a sandwich held only by his mouth. He liked working with machines, and while he lacked the knowledge of some of the senior mechanics, simple tasks like this he could perform mindlessly. Thoughts drifting away, and relishing in his sandwich, Derek never heard the officer asking for him until he was shouting.
"SEAMAN DEREK CARTER!"
"Efshur?"
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"
Derek hurriedly finished the sandwich for fear of losing it. "Uhhh... I said 'Yes sir?'" He replied, sliding out from the open section of the Suit's leg and back onto the raised platform. Lieutenant Drammen looked at the dirty, grease-covered young man, indiscernible from the mechanics running about. The sight of this supposed pilot made Drammen hesitate before continuing.
"Do you have a hearing problem boy!? I've been yelling at you for a good five minutes now!"
"Oh crap, I've done it now..." Derek thought, "Uhhh.... it's not that sir, it's just really hard to hear anything from inside the leg there... Thick armor and all... He's never gonna fall for that..."
Drammen paused, and looked past the visibly nervous seaman at the Mobile Suit behind him. "Hmm... I suppose that makes sense, it must echo pretty bad in there. Come to think of it, You're the pilot of this suit, so why are you the one fixing it!?"
"OH! Er... The maintenance crews are a little overwhelmed right now, what with the new pilots and machines transferred in, so they've been having me do minor work on the Guncannon so the more experienced guys can take care of bigger problems."
"I see, well don't let it interfere with your duties. Speaking of, there's a meeting regarding the status of MS testing at 14:30, all pilots are required to attend. And for goodness sakes, clean yourself up and get a uniform on!"
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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 15, 2009 5:18:29 GMT -5
'14:15' glowed on the clock in the shower room as Derek rushed to make himself presentable for the meeting. His uniform was uncomfortable, and his hair defied any attempt at combing. Giving up, he tussled it into one of those "intentionally unkempt" hairdos, and rushed out the door.
"They just had to put the barracks on the other side of the base from the conference rooms didn't they?" he complained in his head as he finally reached the hallway leading to the meeting. His watch read '14:25', still early, but he had a sinking feeling that he was the last one to arrive.
Stepping through the doorway an unexpected number of faces greeted him. Engineers, pilots, and officers from five different mobile weapon development teams were seated around the table. Lieutenant Drammen gave him a stern look, "At least button your uniform Seaman..." He whispered to Derek followed by "What a disgrace..." under his breath
As soon as he sat down, he couldn't help but notice the other pilots in the room. He didn't know any of them, and most of them looked like they wanted to be the only project operating from this side. One thing that instantly struck him was that he was the oldest pilot in the room. This meant that everyone Else had one thing he lacked, ambition.
"As everyone is here, we will begin." An old, bearded office whose name escaped... pretty much everyone, spoke with calm authority. The man's voice seemed to trail off almost instantly. Derek knew his input wouldn't likely be required, and that everything covered in the meeting would be in the hard-copy in front of him. He was far more interested in the other pilots. Most of them looked at each other with dagger eyes, sizing each other up. One man however, seemed completely disinterested in the other pilots. He watched the events of the meeting intently, cold blue eyes taking in every detail. Those focused blue eyes began to slowly glance in his direction, and Derek instantly found something else to look at.
Suddenly the bearded officer's voice seemed to be coming from right behind him. "So, to put it simply, you can all expect in the near future to begin field testing under practical combat situations. However, until such orders are given, we will begin mock combat drills to bring those of you who have not seen combat up to speed. Furthermore...." his voice began to fade again as Derek's mind began to work.
"All these other pilots trying to act tough, and it's this guy that makes me nervous..." He thought, mindlessly thumbing through the information on the meeting table. "What am I freaking out over anyway? I mean we're all on the same side here right?"
Stealing a quick look at the blue-eyed man's uniform, "Kreuz? I remember that name, some of the mechanics were talking about him... The thought of those stories rushed into his head. "Oh, I remember now, he's the guy who's testing that sniper unit, the one with the scary-good aim, no wonder he gives me the creeps!" Just as he tried to dismiss his unease, another though occurred to him, "I also seem to remember people saying some pretty nasty things about his family..."
Snapping back into reality, the old officer was still rattling on. "....the unit from Project Jester will not likely participate in the combat drills, as it is currently field testing. As for the rest of you, participation is mandatory, but the other details will be decided by the test groups involved."
The old man seemed finished, but it turned out he was just changing subjects. "And now we'll go over the current status and test data provided by each prototype thus far." He began as Derek's senses dulled to the boring tone of the old man's voice.
"How long is this meeting gonna last?" Derek thought, rolling his eyes, only to have them briefly lock with those of Kreuz. "Oh great, he looks like he's gonna kill me in my sleep or something..."
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Post by nirvash on Dec 15, 2009 11:03:23 GMT -5
The room was buzzing with quiet small talk and nervous laughter could be heard once in a while, cut off at nearly the same time it was let out. Kreuz arrived a little early, but most of the seats were already taken. After a moment looking for some place to sit, he slid into a chair on the near side of the room, raising his hand briefly to one of the enthusiastic engineers he knew, who was excitedly waving to him.
A few minutes passed before a rumpled looking seaman entered the room, and Kreuz stole a sidelong glance at him as he sat down. He looked like another pilot.
The meeting started, the engineers and mechanics speaking in turn about their own mobile suits animatedly, almost seeming to be competing, almost as if they were trying to show how their mobile suit was clearly superior to the others. They probably were competing, actually. A few nods and questions from the COs showed they were used to ignoring the competition and were picking up the important points.
Kreuz paid attention to all of the groups, but he paid particular attention to his own Suit's segments, trying to pick out anything new or anything one of the mechanic crew might've neglected to tell him. Focusing on the presentations, he chewed his thumbnail, concentrating on numbers, statistics, and development progress.
Focused though he was, he looked around the table at the other pilots every once in a while, curious about their Mobile Suits and wondered how differently they piloted compared to his. Most notable was the last person to come in, the pilot on the Guncannon team.
Kreuz locked eyes with him a few times, and each time he felt like the other pilot, Carter, Kreuz recalled, look back at him strangely. Was he imagining it? Kreuz bit down hard on his thumb, the pain reminding him of the information in front of him.
The rest of the meeting passed normally.
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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 15, 2009 18:12:18 GMT -5
It had been over an hour, but the meeting had finally drawn to a close. The various engineers mingled for a while, and each returned to their pilots with mixed emotions about their agreed test schedules. All of the engineers were older men, mostly balding or wearing flowing white beards, the youngest probably in his late forties. As Dr. Fredrickson, the lead engineer of the Guncannon team, returned, his wide smile nearly reached the corners of his glasses.
"Good news everyone! I've managed to arrange a series of tests that will really show what our machine is capable of." He explained cheerfully, "We'll be engaging in mock combat drills with the GM Sniper II, a much better suited opponent than that fighter or... well, I'm still not really clear on exactly what that 'Gee-Armoire' is..." He trailed off for a moment, as though he had forgotten what he was talking about, "Huh? O-oh yes, where was I? You'll be taking part in a mock duel against the sniper type later today, we should run some final checks on the Guncannon's systems, come along Mr. Carter."
"....I still haven't slept yet... and I'm still hungry... Derek thought, speaking up, "Uhh... sir? Can I meet you down there in five minutes? I've got to take a report to uh... Commander Keen sir."
"Oh? Well, alright. Give him my regards then." The engineer said, happily walking off in the direction of the hangar. Little did he know that there was no Commander Keen. Derek instead made a mad dash for the mess hall, quickly assembling three sandwiches into one very large pile of various deli meats, cheese and vegetables held together by bread. Running while eating wasn't the wisest thing to do, but he managed to get back to the hangar in time with only one final bite of food to go. Finishing his quick meal, he hurried over to the Guncannon and began running systems tests.
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Post by nirvash on Dec 15, 2009 18:48:17 GMT -5
"...And that's why we need you to have a little test battle against the Guncannon." The engineer punctuated his explanation by sniffing loudly and using his little finger to flick something out of his nose.
"It doesn't exactly have the same range the Sniper has," Kreuz commented, his eyes scanning over the data file in his hands. He flipped another page. "There's a lot of beam weaponry here." The engineer frowned and ran his fingers through his long white hair, before finding the rapidly expanding bald spot and quickly crossed his arms in front of him.
"Don't forget that that's good for us. We're on the same side, Kreuz." Kreuz suddenly felt as though he had been away from the fighting for a long time, despite his short stationing at Green Noah. He had begun to forget who the real enemy was while starting to feel the same competitive spirit the engineers and mechanics on the test units had radiated. Kreuz looked away from the paper and stared at the GM Sniper II, sparks spraying all across it and the whine of tools piercing the air. The long-haired engineer spied someone working on the leg and ran over, worriedly shouting about damaging the armor. Kreuz smirked and made a noise as close to a short laugh as it could be in the workshop's din.
Zeon... It feels strange to be on the outside looking in, now, he noted. Kreuz locked eyes with the behemoth knight, and he felt a strange connection, an unlikely fraternity with it. He broke the connection and looked back at the file in his hands. He found the section on the pilot and remembered the earlier meeting.
"Carter, huh?" Kreuz turned to the locker room and looked over his shoulder at his metal companion, issuing a challenge to it: "If you've got something to prove, we're going to do it out there."
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