Post by latooni on Feb 17, 2010 3:49:06 GMT -5
"The Admiral will see you now, Ensign."
Ensign Alexa Winters quietly hopped off her chair at the XO's words, and pushed open the towering office door with all her strength. Her expression was frozen like ice as she walked through, letting the door close solidly behind her. She strode up to the mahogany desk almost as tall as she was, and tossed the folder in her hand onto it, before snapping a salute.
"Ensign Alexa Winters reporting for debriefing, sir."
Jamitov looked down at her, and nodded, as he reached for the reports. "And?"
Keeping her expression like steel, Alexa went on. "As per your orders, Jester project has been successfully terminated. All of it." As Jamitov looked through the images, he nodded at her to continue. "After being recalled to Side 7, ..." Here, Alexa almost choked, but managed to tumble on, "Ensign...Arronax was ambushed by zeon autonomous forces in the area. All information about their presence was withheld from Ensign Arronax, and she was unaware. However, their ambush revealed the positions of said units, and we gained some considerable information on their new mobile armor by tracking her with long range telescopes. There is no record of them picking up a survivor, nor is it believed any critical technology was recovered intact."
"Good. Well done, Sublieutenant Winters."
She was about to salute when she did a double take. "Sir?"
Jamitov merely tossed her a small box in response. Opening it, she saw rank pins. "You have a new assignment, Sublieutenant Winters. It will be to take a Zephyr Phantom unit we apparently had enough spare parts left over to make, and prove its effectiveness to the rest of the Federation. I will be assigning you to a special sub-flight unit left over from the V-Project."
Alexa heard, unbelieving. What the hell? "Per...permission to speak freely sir."
Heiman rose an eyebrow. "Granted."
"Why did you want the Jester Project...terminated, sir?"
"Because any technology based on the fragility of humans is flawed. "Newtype" is an abnomaly that shows up in spacenoid colonies and not on earth. It is inelegant, and it would have backfired. It survived far too long as is."
Alexa grit her teeth, but it was already too late. She couldn't internalize this much longer. Because goddammit, she liked Arronax. "Sir, with all due respect, Ensign Arronax was one of the most intelligent and dedicated pilots I've seen. Despite her spacenoid background, she accomplished things that shouldn't have been possible. She was, I believe, a large asset to the EFSF! And your reason for k...terminating the project is because she was defective? Once again, with all due respect...Fuck you, sir."
Admiral Jamitov swivelled away from her, keeping his stony face. "Sublieutenant Winters, you are dismissed."
Alexa took a few deep breaths, and saluted. "...Yes, sir."
She turned and shoved through the heavy door, ignoring the secretary, and headed straight for the elevator. Once she was alone inside, she slunk to the floor, and cried.
***
The tram screeched to a stop at the hangar, and Alexa floated out, followed by Dawn.
Alexa looked up at the imposing mobile suit that almost killed Rachel Arronax a few weeks ago. "Where's the terminal?" she asked Dawn.
"Main access jack is on the mainframe in the cockpit block. You know, you're not technically cleared to do this..." she protested as she handed Alexa her laptop.
Pushing off the deck, Alexa used the scaffolding around the Phantom to pull herself to the hatch with the ease of someone who's spent plenty of time in null g. "Then arrest me, Ellis," she retorted as she opened the hatch and began interfacing.
Dawn, who had followed behind her, watched Alexa navigate the code of what was probably the most complex system ever created. "What are you looking for?"
"List of system-wide static variables. Just shut up and let me work, will you?" She continued scrolling, occasionally hopping from link to link.
"Hey, you're pretty good for a little girl. Your parents must be so proud!"
"Go to hell, Ellis."
---
Alexa sighed. "Found it."
Dawn looked up from her PDA (Tetris never seems to die, even after 200 years) and stared at Alexa's screen.
Dawn looked at Alexa. "You went through all this effort to see this? I thought you said you wanted to show me something."
"Well, I heard you liked to name mobile suits, that you feel they're alive. So, I thought," she said, erasing a field and typing in a new string while blushing slightly, "you might understand instead of laughing at me."
"Why would I laugh-" But honestly, Dawn had to cover her mouth to keep herself from giggling when she saw the screen on the laptop held by the red-faced test pilot.
Finally, Dawn couldn't stop herself. "Well, she always was several times your size, Alexa."
"...I hate you so much, Ellis."
Ensign Alexa Winters quietly hopped off her chair at the XO's words, and pushed open the towering office door with all her strength. Her expression was frozen like ice as she walked through, letting the door close solidly behind her. She strode up to the mahogany desk almost as tall as she was, and tossed the folder in her hand onto it, before snapping a salute.
"Ensign Alexa Winters reporting for debriefing, sir."
Jamitov looked down at her, and nodded, as he reached for the reports. "And?"
Keeping her expression like steel, Alexa went on. "As per your orders, Jester project has been successfully terminated. All of it." As Jamitov looked through the images, he nodded at her to continue. "After being recalled to Side 7, ..." Here, Alexa almost choked, but managed to tumble on, "Ensign...Arronax was ambushed by zeon autonomous forces in the area. All information about their presence was withheld from Ensign Arronax, and she was unaware. However, their ambush revealed the positions of said units, and we gained some considerable information on their new mobile armor by tracking her with long range telescopes. There is no record of them picking up a survivor, nor is it believed any critical technology was recovered intact."
"Good. Well done, Sublieutenant Winters."
She was about to salute when she did a double take. "Sir?"
Jamitov merely tossed her a small box in response. Opening it, she saw rank pins. "You have a new assignment, Sublieutenant Winters. It will be to take a Zephyr Phantom unit we apparently had enough spare parts left over to make, and prove its effectiveness to the rest of the Federation. I will be assigning you to a special sub-flight unit left over from the V-Project."
Alexa heard, unbelieving. What the hell? "Per...permission to speak freely sir."
Heiman rose an eyebrow. "Granted."
"Why did you want the Jester Project...terminated, sir?"
"Because any technology based on the fragility of humans is flawed. "Newtype" is an abnomaly that shows up in spacenoid colonies and not on earth. It is inelegant, and it would have backfired. It survived far too long as is."
Alexa grit her teeth, but it was already too late. She couldn't internalize this much longer. Because goddammit, she liked Arronax. "Sir, with all due respect, Ensign Arronax was one of the most intelligent and dedicated pilots I've seen. Despite her spacenoid background, she accomplished things that shouldn't have been possible. She was, I believe, a large asset to the EFSF! And your reason for k...terminating the project is because she was defective? Once again, with all due respect...Fuck you, sir."
Admiral Jamitov swivelled away from her, keeping his stony face. "Sublieutenant Winters, you are dismissed."
Alexa took a few deep breaths, and saluted. "...Yes, sir."
She turned and shoved through the heavy door, ignoring the secretary, and headed straight for the elevator. Once she was alone inside, she slunk to the floor, and cried.
***
The tram screeched to a stop at the hangar, and Alexa floated out, followed by Dawn.
Alexa looked up at the imposing mobile suit that almost killed Rachel Arronax a few weeks ago. "Where's the terminal?" she asked Dawn.
"Main access jack is on the mainframe in the cockpit block. You know, you're not technically cleared to do this..." she protested as she handed Alexa her laptop.
Pushing off the deck, Alexa used the scaffolding around the Phantom to pull herself to the hatch with the ease of someone who's spent plenty of time in null g. "Then arrest me, Ellis," she retorted as she opened the hatch and began interfacing.
Dawn, who had followed behind her, watched Alexa navigate the code of what was probably the most complex system ever created. "What are you looking for?"
"List of system-wide static variables. Just shut up and let me work, will you?" She continued scrolling, occasionally hopping from link to link.
"Hey, you're pretty good for a little girl. Your parents must be so proud!"
"Go to hell, Ellis."
---
Alexa sighed. "Found it."
Dawn looked up from her PDA (Tetris never seems to die, even after 200 years) and stared at Alexa's screen.
UNITDSGN == "RX-X Gundam Zephyr Phantom"
UNITNO == "02"
CODENAME == "LUCY"Dawn looked at Alexa. "You went through all this effort to see this? I thought you said you wanted to show me something."
"Well, I heard you liked to name mobile suits, that you feel they're alive. So, I thought," she said, erasing a field and typing in a new string while blushing slightly, "you might understand instead of laughing at me."
"Why would I laugh-" But honestly, Dawn had to cover her mouth to keep herself from giggling when she saw the screen on the laptop held by the red-faced test pilot.
UNITDSGN == "RX-X Gundam Zephyr Phantom"
UNITNO == "02"
CODENAME == "RACHEL"Finally, Dawn couldn't stop herself. "Well, she always was several times your size, Alexa."
"...I hate you so much, Ellis."