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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 21, 2009 4:26:02 GMT -5
Derek waited in his Guncannon's cockpit while normalsuited technicians strapped it down alongside the GM Sniper II and closed the cargo bay doors. Once closed, a tech in front of his main camera gave the 'airlock OK' signal, and Derek exited the cockpit mentally cursing his defeat.
"I don't get it, I planned to use that debris! He should've had limited options in there but he turned it all around on me!"
As he berated himself in his mind, he noticed Kreuz stepping out from the GM Sniper II's cockpit, "Well, no sense being a sore loser, after all I've gotta deal with this guy on a daily basis. I guess I'd better suck it up and congratulate him..." Derek thought, approaching his sparring partner for the first time.
"Hey, nice work out there," He said with a hint of nervousness. He tried to hide his unease with a mask of friendliness as he continued, "I gotta admit, I never saw that shield trick coming..."
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Post by nirvash on Dec 21, 2009 16:30:05 GMT -5
The blue cockpit hatch eased open, spitting vaporized hydraulic fluid as it went about its aperture-revealing ascent. A hand gripped the bottom of the blue robot's mobile panel, and the body attached to it followed the arcing metal to its peak. At the apex of its climb, the white-suited pilot gently pushed off, guiding himself down to the floor level.
Carter approached at the same time as Kreuz jerked his helmet off and peeled one of his gloves off with his teeth, shaking his hand as it pulled free from the form-fitting material. Carter, looking a little nervous, was the first to speak. "Hey, nice work out there," he said, initiating the sparring partners' first actual conversation. Kreuz spun around.
"I hope the..." he paused for an imperceptible moment, "...Zeeks won't either." He stretched his neck and continued: "Hopefully I won't let them get that close." Kreuz looked over at the Guncannon. "Good thing those weren't real bullets, huh?" Kreuz looked back at Carter and gave him a quick compliment or confirmation of a good job as well. "You're not easy to hit, Carter." Kreuz kicked off the floor and drifted to one of the hangar's doors.
"I'm getting something to eat," he invited.
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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 21, 2009 19:31:55 GMT -5
The offer of food was music to Derek's ears. Though he still felt a little uneasy around Kreuz, he'd already begun thinking with his stomach.
"Mind if I join you then?" He suggested, the two men moving to the locker room to extricate themselves from their pilot suits an don more normal attire. Captain Reed didn't concern himself much with military discipline, and as such did not mind Derek wandering the halls in jeans and t-shirts when ranking officers were not on board. To this end, Derek emerged in casual dress, heading to the "mess hall."
The two reached the small notch in the hallway where food was to be acquired. There were no seats, just a window off the side of the hallway where a cook handed out food. Since they had just left Side 7, they had stocked up a small amount of local favorites that could be served for a day or two before swapping to the less desirable food the ship normally expects. As Kreuz and Carter grabbed their food and headed to the common room in search of chairs. Silently, a figure floated up behind them.
With a mischievous grin, the man heartily slapped both pilots across the back shouting, "The Conquering Heroes have returned!" Captain Josephus Reed let out a booming laugh, wrapping an arm around both pilots in a sort of hug/headlock.
"Glad yer back boys!" He spoke loudly, as his own tray of food floated into his grasp. "I'm sure glad that test of yers didn't take long," He jested, "I might've had to head on out and left ye."
As the trio found seats, the captain made it surprisingly easy to get along, as he jovially continued talking.
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Post by nirvash on Dec 21, 2009 22:33:07 GMT -5
"...Yeah, I've been complaining about the tracking from day one. This is the first day I was able to dial it in right." Kreuz's fork dangled from his fingers in front of him as he realized how long he had gone on about "mechanical latency", "limb-drift", and not least of all: target tracking speeds.
It hadn't actually been a very long time by any standard, but the amount and type of conversing he had done as of late had conditioned him for brief, detail-rich kernels of information to be quickly exchanged between mechanics and engineers.
"You know, Carter, I didn't think something armed and armored as heavily as that Guncannon would move that fast." Then he grinned wolfishly, not unlike the predator. "I think I might win in a race, though."
The conversation continued in a normal manner, a few bits of laughter and cursing rising above average volume here and there, and after they were done eating, Kreuz dropped off his tray at a hall window and propelled himself towards his warm bunk, feeling like it had been a rest well earned. "I guess I'll have to take a look at the GM tomorrow. Hope Carter didn't knock anything loose," he mumbled under his breath while fiddling with some door controls, forseeing himself searching for some lost settings in the morning.
He sighed as the bunkroom door whispered open, and rolled over onto a makeshift bunk in the heavily (and oddly) modified ship and reclined as much as one can in the absence of gravity. Which surprisingly, is a fair amount. Chewing on his lip, he thought about his brother's message-- and in turn, his reply to that message-- but all of the anger he might have felt for that was tempered powerfully by the combat victory. It might have been a mock-combat trial, but it was a victory nonetheless.
Kreuz suspected he should probably be worrying more about his brother, but things would work out one way or another, and... he beat Carter!
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Post by zerodash0 on Dec 22, 2009 3:44:08 GMT -5
The trio split off as their meals were finished, first Kreuz, followed by Carter, leaving Reed to his dinner. Carter wandered the halls to his own bunk. This was an old ship, one that didn't even bother attempting any form of artificial gravity. As he slid into his bunk, which was little more than a sleeping bag attached to the wall, it struck him that he'd actually gotten along quite well with Kreuz. "I guess he's not such a bad guy after all... but if we do any more combat drills, I still gotta win, can't let him outdo me too much now..." he thought with a chuckle.
Captain Reed returned to his quarters, which consisted of little more than a slightly nicer bunk, a desk, and some file cabinets. He retrieved a small bottle of whiskey from his desk drawer, noticing a small flashing light on his desktop computer indicating a message. His screen flickered to life as an image of Lt. Drammen appeared, instantly looking scornful of the bottle he could see from his end.
"Captain Reed, I have new orders for you sir." Drammen said curtly, trying but failing to hold back the disdain for the superior officer.
"Ah, how are ye Drammen, still uptight after all these years? Ye should learn to relax now and then. I'd offer to have ye over for a drink before we leave, but I don't 'spect ye'd take me up on it." Reed replied, making the lower-ranked Drammen's eye begin to twitch slightly. Now then, about these orders of yers. What can I do for ye my good man?"
Drammen grimaced at Reed's words, "You can at least pretend like you're fit to wear the uniform for starters...." He thought, reminding himself of the pecking order before answering. "Those test pilots you've got with you, seems they'll be serving a more active role from here on. A launch will meet you at 06:45 with hard-copies of their orders, after which point you will serve as their mobile base of operations until notified otherwise."
Reed ran the orders through his mind before responding, "I take it the old ribbon-chests 'spect things to get rough fer us..."
"Yes sir, you're probably right about that."
Reed knew the war was getting serious, even if he typically chose to act like it wasn't. "Listen to me Lieutenant..." He said calmly, "I know ye don't think much of me, but thems a pair of fine young lads ye got there, top rate pilots too. I can't say what the war'll do to 'em, but I'll see 'em through to hell and back, ye have my word on that."
Drammen was taken slightly aback by the captain's words. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he quickly replied, "T-thank you sir," and ended transmission. "It's just a simple transport mission, he didn't have to get that serious about it..." He thought, fighting the inkling that he may have misjudged the captain.
Back on the ship, Reed slowly screwed the cap off the whiskey bottle. He had long since mastered the art of manipulating objects in gravity-less environments, so drinking without a sealed bottle and straw was effortless. He drank down a small measure of the deep amber liquid, then capped the bottle and put it away.
"That Drammen'd be an excellent soldier, if only he weren't so blamed obsessed with rank 'n file." He thought, carefully placing a pinch of tobacco in his pipe and lighting it, relishing in the unique dispersement of smoke that a lack of gravity provided. "The freedom of flyin' through space... I wonder if captains of time forgot felt the same out on the seven seas..." He thought as he relaxed and enjoyed the aroma of the burning tobacco.
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