he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
No title available
cherry valley forever
styofa doing anything
No title available
wallacepolsom
titsay
JVL
Kaledo Art
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
No title available
Misplaced Lens Cap
RMH
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Andulka
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
we're not kids anymore.
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Product Placement
seen from India
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Azerbaijan
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from Canada
seen from Italy
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
@on-a-mechtechnicality
Finding this in the server room made my day
my workplace deadblow
@karriethemechtech @on-a-mechtechnicality
Sometimes a recalcitrant piece of equipment needs to be shown its place. And sometimes that place is just a few Gentle Persuasions to the left.
Help/Hope
Sigrid turned the valve assembly over in her hands. It wasn’t warm, and steam wasn’t billowing from underneath the seal, but her fingers recognized it nonetheless. Her mind supplied the rest of the memories; the smell of hot chocolate, the way the steam hit her face, the way Karrie’s shy smile made the world seem brighter than any flood light could hope to achieve.
The sofa had seemed smaller, her quarters warmer, and her future fuller than she could manage now. The sight of the Old Girl marching out with Melissa’s star halfway through her shift was etched in her memories. It would fade over time, as all things do, but the helplessness she felt would take a while to subside.
It was odd, how much having something to live for came with the mortal fear of losing it. Part of her wanted to curse herself, for not being better. For not being stronger. For not being healed.
If you could just get over it, the part said, and strap in like you used to, you could protect her.
‘You should be out there. You’re supposed to be a MechWarrior. You should be protecting those you love.
You don’t deserve to call yourself a daughter of Rasalhague if you can’t even do your job.
She was tired. Stars, was she tired.
She sighed and shifted her grip. Not that she did much at all, really, she thought. All the fighting out there—unknown opposition, as if anything around HAWK was ever straightforward—and nothing she could do to help. She had done her work, she was sure, but the fighting was out there. The ‘Mechs, the pilots…
Karrie. Visions came of her friend, her anchor, tired and hurting in her cockpit, far away from where Sigrid could help.
You should be with her.
It wasn’t true, she knew this. But that didn’t make that part of her shut up.
She had never been a fighter. She was a scout. Even with a ‘Mech, she was never one to shield or to protect or take out an aggressor. She was eyes. She was ears. She was the one who told her lance what was ahead.
She was safety, she was there to make sure everyone else could do their jobs.
She was there to support.
That she could do.
She set the valve assembly down on the table.
She would be ready when the ‘Mechs came home.
It was ten years after Nieuwegein and Sigrid Guntran was fine.
Her colleagues hadn’t noticed. Maybe they thought she just had a case of the Fridays. Maybe the feeling that it was taking seconds to find her words was all in her head. It didn’t matter.
And now she was ‘home’. Her sparse apartment furnished with leftovers from the shop and not much else. She needed to get out of her jumpsuit.
The smell of the shop lingered. Heated metal and oil and grease. The rugged fabric chafed against the uneven surface of her shoulder. In her mind the smells mingled with ozone and gunpowder and panic.
She felt the white-hot pain in her shoulder. In her arm. Through her torso. Ten years to the day, and it still lingered. She wondered if she’d ever be free. Be able to feel again without the fear. It didn’t matter.
She needed to get out of her jumpsuit.
She willed her hand to move. Willed her body to complete the motions. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep going like this. She was fine.
She needed to get out.
It didn’t matter.
She was fine.
--
Art by @casketjones
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Kim frowned, looking over the report.
"What's this about the hip actuator?"
If there was something wrong with Creole's hip actuator, that could mean it might hinder Em in the field. If it hindered Em in the field, there was a chance it led to her taking a hit. And if she took a hit, it might hit her cockpit. And if a weapon struck her cockpit...
"Is it fixed? Is there a chance it'll flare up again? I want it double checked."
She doesn't notice her fingers whitening on the edge of the desk.
Sigrid's attention snaps back from her thoughts to the report.
"I was able to address that one on the spot. Here."
She moves next to Ms. Ash and flips the report a few pages along.
"There was nothing wrong with the hardware, just a software issue that added some unwanted latency to the VANILLA uplink for that component. A known-good backup of Creole's configuration should be able to prevent it happening in the future. If you'd like, I can coordinate with your 'Techs to have it done, or we will be able to create one during the upcoming work."
She moves back to her position, a correct distance away.
"With your approval we can add a note to the work order. It might be good to have Em on standby so we can perform a full test once refits are completed."
It takes Kim a moment to respond.
"Oh. Well, yes, that sounds like a good plan. When you transfer Creole, I'd like it if you could see if-"
Abruptly, her gaze falls behind Sigrid, to the door she entered.
"Oh, hello. We were just talking about you."
Sigrid turns around to the door and a welcoming smile spreads on her face when she sees who is standing in the door frame.
"Em, good to see you. Ms. Ash and I were going over Creole's reports.”
She had hoped for another chance to see her again, to share in her enthusiasm and get lost in technical details. She turns back to face across the desk.
“With your permission, Em could join the review. She’s cleared to receive a copy, and I believe her contributions could be valuable.”
Her eyes meet Em’s unmoving visor that nevertheless looked warm and welcoming. Maybe it was because she had seen underneath, maybe it was because she had seen how much she loved life, sitting atop Creole.
“If you’d be up for that, that is?”
She liked the idea of spending more time with Em, but it was important to do the correct thing. Maybe she could have both.
“We were covering the details on the VANILLA hip joint timeout issue we fixed, and evaluating ways to prevent a repeat or a regression. So far we identified two possible methods of creating a backup and restore routine. Having you be here would make it easier to verify that they work for the pilot as well as the ‘Mech.”
As Em took her seat, Kim considered she had been right; it was very easy to work with Sigrid. For any problem she had solutions ready to go, and she got a feeling she’d be able to explain them at any level. From pilot to engineer to handler.
Kim felt herself relax as the review picked up speed, confident in Sigrid’s ability to handle situations, comfortable in providing input, in asking questions. She felt… welcomed.
Chapter after chapter, table after table, she was put at ease that everything was under control. Not only for Creole, but Em too was in good hands.
After all, that’s what this was about – the best for Em – but something was unusual about the situation.
When was the last time Em had willingly sat in on something that could be this dull, full of page after page of management summaries?
And when was the last time she seemed so invested in it all? She leaned in towards Sigrid, not away as should normally would, and her hands lay flat on the table as opposed to laced together on her belly. She was hanging on every word.
Oh.
Kim realized exactly what that meant at the same moment Em reached out and absently picked an errant piece of wire off of Sigrid's jumpsuit.
Slowly, a smug grin spread across her face. She did her best to hide it with her hand.
“--which should cover everything in here. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them, Ms. Ash,” Sigrid finished as she turned over the last page.
She felt a touch on her shoulder, and turned to see Em holding a strip of high-temp flexwire almost the same color as the patch on her shoulder. That might have been why she didn’t spot it when she got dressed.
“Ah, thank you Em.”
She turned her attention back to Kim just to catch her shaking her head. No more questions then, the review was over. She took stock of the situation; Kim was sitting across from her, looking at the report and resting her head in her hand. Em next to her, turning the flexwire over in her gloved hands. Sigrid’s shoulders were tense, her jaw locked pretty solid. Expected after an important meeting.
“”I think that’s all from me for now then. It’s been good seeing you both, and I’m looking forward to welcoming Creole in the MechLab.”
She stood from her seat and moved towards the door, maneuvering around Em in the process.
"Oh!"
Kim abruptly stood, just catching her chair behind her before it fell over.
"Before you go, Sigrid, would you help Em with pre-walk checks before we move Creole over to the MechBay?"
Ms. Ash’s question stopped Sigrid in her tracks just as she reached the door. It was near the end of her shift, and even with Helios’ long days, the sun would soon be setting outside. On the other hand, she didn’t have anything scheduled until she was off, and the meeting had gone by smoothly and quickly.
“I still have some time left before I clock out, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
She made sure to give Em some room to stand up in, retreating to a corner next to the door.
“Em, would you lead the way?”
Kim's voice follows the pair into the corridor.
"Have fun you two~"
For the second time in as many days, Em was glad her visor hid her blush. Kim had always been able to read her through it, though, and Em suspected her friend knew exactly what she was doing.
"So, Em, I've been meaning to ask how you're doing. After you took off your helmet when I was in the cockpit, I mean."
Sigrid's words didn't come as a surprise. Lots of people worried about her health, Kim especially. What was new was Em's body's reaction to the question. It was quite similar to what her answer would be, in fact.
"Oh, nothing much. I felt really warm all over for a bit. I was worried it would be a fever, but it went away after about an hour."
----------------
A few moment later, Em found herself standing with Sigrid outside of Creole's hatch. She knew what to do, in theory, but still she felt totally lost. Sigrid sure was really nice, though.
"Um. So. We're moving over to the mechbay? I, uh, I've never really been outside before. On a planet I mean."
“Yeah, it’s my first time spending this long on a new planet too. The day/night cycle took the longest for me to get used to, it’s so different. Sky looks amazing at night though.”
She took a step backwards, looking between Creole’s weapon mounts to see the cables connecting the ‘Mech to JollyBaby; power, telemetry, communication, coolant. Disconnecting them in the right order was important.
She ran through the pre-launch procedure in her mind. Visual inspection, armament safety, bay communication, powerup, undocking, and finally the walk-out.
“I bet it’ll be even stranger for you, if it’s your first time. vDNI can pick up things like wind and rain, right?”
She moved back over the ‘Mech’s centerline to where Em was standing. Something was off about her posture. With the ‘Mech and pilot being as connected as Em and Creole were, maybe pre-launch checks should include the pilot too.
She recognized the tense shoulders and stillness from herself, whenever she neared her limit. Em’s hands, open and animated whenever Sigrid had seen them, laced together on her abdomen. If Em was feeling that tense, it would make smoothly piloting a vDNI 'Mech harder than it needed to be. That was at least part of the problem identified. A solution proved trickier.
She had no script to follow, nothing to fall back on. Whenever she herself had felt tense enough to freeze up like that, she had managed to push past on willpower alone. Her willpower wasn’t going to reach Em. She needed something else.
She seems to like you, you know
She hoped it was true, and she hoped that was enough.
“Would you like to take a moment before you step out, to gather yourself?”
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Kim frowned, looking over the report.
"What's this about the hip actuator?"
If there was something wrong with Creole's hip actuator, that could mean it might hinder Em in the field. If it hindered Em in the field, there was a chance it led to her taking a hit. And if she took a hit, it might hit her cockpit. And if a weapon struck her cockpit...
"Is it fixed? Is there a chance it'll flare up again? I want it double checked."
She doesn't notice her fingers whitening on the edge of the desk.
Sigrid's attention snaps back from her thoughts to the report.
"I was able to address that one on the spot. Here."
She moves next to Ms. Ash and flips the report a few pages along.
"There was nothing wrong with the hardware, just a software issue that added some unwanted latency to the VANILLA uplink for that component. A known-good backup of Creole's configuration should be able to prevent it happening in the future. If you'd like, I can coordinate with your 'Techs to have it done, or we will be able to create one during the upcoming work."
She moves back to her position, a correct distance away.
"With your approval we can add a note to the work order. It might be good to have Em on standby so we can perform a full test once refits are completed."
It takes Kim a moment to respond.
"Oh. Well, yes, that sounds like a good plan. When you transfer Creole, I'd like it if you could see if-"
Abruptly, her gaze falls behind Sigrid, to the door she entered.
"Oh, hello. We were just talking about you."
Sigrid turns around to the door and a welcoming smile spreads on her face when she sees who is standing in the door frame.
"Em, good to see you. Ms. Ash and I were going over Creole's reports.”
She had hoped for another chance to see her again, to share in her enthusiasm and get lost in technical details. She turns back to face across the desk.
“With your permission, Em could join the review. She’s cleared to receive a copy, and I believe her contributions could be valuable.”
Her eyes meet Em’s unmoving visor that nevertheless looked warm and welcoming. Maybe it was because she had seen underneath, maybe it was because she had seen how much she loved life, sitting atop Creole.
“If you’d be up for that, that is?”
She liked the idea of spending more time with Em, but it was important to do the correct thing. Maybe she could have both.
“We were covering the details on the VANILLA hip joint timeout issue we fixed, and evaluating ways to prevent a repeat or a regression. So far we identified two possible methods of creating a backup and restore routine. Having you be here would make it easier to verify that they work for the pilot as well as the ‘Mech.”
As Em took her seat, Kim considered she had been right; it was very easy to work with Sigrid. For any problem she had solutions ready to go, and she got a feeling she’d be able to explain them at any level. From pilot to engineer to handler.
Kim felt herself relax as the review picked up speed, confident in Sigrid’s ability to handle situations, comfortable in providing input, in asking questions. She felt… welcomed.
Chapter after chapter, table after table, she was put at ease that everything was under control. Not only for Creole, but Em too was in good hands.
After all, that’s what this was about – the best for Em – but something was unusual about the situation.
When was the last time Em had willingly sat in on something that could be this dull, full of page after page of management summaries?
And when was the last time she seemed so invested in it all? She leaned in towards Sigrid, not away as should normally would, and her hands lay flat on the table as opposed to laced together on her belly. She was hanging on every word.
Oh.
Kim realized exactly what that meant at the same moment Em reached out and absently picked an errant piece of wire off of Sigrid's jumpsuit.
Slowly, a smug grin spread across her face. She did her best to hide it with her hand.
“--which should cover everything in here. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them, Ms. Ash,” Sigrid finished as she turned over the last page.
She felt a touch on her shoulder, and turned to see Em holding a strip of high-temp flexwire almost the same color as the patch on her shoulder. That might have been why she didn’t spot it when she got dressed.
“Ah, thank you Em.”
She turned her attention back to Kim just to catch her shaking her head. No more questions then, the review was over. She took stock of the situation; Kim was sitting across from her, looking at the report and resting her head in her hand. Em next to her, turning the flexwire over in her gloved hands. Sigrid’s shoulders were tense, her jaw locked pretty solid. Expected after an important meeting.
“”I think that’s all from me for now then. It’s been good seeing you both, and I’m looking forward to welcoming Creole in the MechLab.”
She stood from her seat and moved towards the door, maneuvering around Em in the process.
"Oh!"
Kim abruptly stood, just catching her chair behind her before it fell over.
"Before you go, Sigrid, would you help Em with pre-walk checks before we move Creole over to the MechBay?"
Ms. Ash’s question stopped Sigrid in her tracks just as she reached the door. It was near the end of her shift, and even with Helios’ long days, the sun would soon be setting outside. On the other hand, she didn’t have anything scheduled until she was off, and the meeting had gone by smoothly and quickly.
“I still have some time left before I clock out, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
She made sure to give Em some room to stand up in, retreating to a corner next to the door.
“Em, would you lead the way?”
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Kim frowned, looking over the report.
"What's this about the hip actuator?"
If there was something wrong with Creole's hip actuator, that could mean it might hinder Em in the field. If it hindered Em in the field, there was a chance it led to her taking a hit. And if she took a hit, it might hit her cockpit. And if a weapon struck her cockpit...
"Is it fixed? Is there a chance it'll flare up again? I want it double checked."
She doesn't notice her fingers whitening on the edge of the desk.
Sigrid's attention snaps back from her thoughts to the report.
"I was able to address that one on the spot. Here."
She moves next to Ms. Ash and flips the report a few pages along.
"There was nothing wrong with the hardware, just a software issue that added some unwanted latency to the VANILLA uplink for that component. A known-good backup of Creole's configuration should be able to prevent it happening in the future. If you'd like, I can coordinate with your 'Techs to have it done, or we will be able to create one during the upcoming work."
She moves back to her position, a correct distance away.
"With your approval we can add a note to the work order. It might be good to have Em on standby so we can perform a full test once refits are completed."
It takes Kim a moment to respond.
"Oh. Well, yes, that sounds like a good plan. When you transfer Creole, I'd like it if you could see if-"
Abruptly, her gaze falls behind Sigrid, to the door she entered.
"Oh, hello. We were just talking about you."
Sigrid turns around to the door and a welcoming smile spreads on her face when she sees who is standing in the door frame.
"Em, good to see you. Ms. Ash and I were going over Creole's reports.”
She had hoped for another chance to see her again, to share in her enthusiasm and get lost in technical details. She turns back to face across the desk.
“With your permission, Em could join the review. She’s cleared to receive a copy, and I believe her contributions could be valuable.”
Her eyes meet Em’s unmoving visor that nevertheless looked warm and welcoming. Maybe it was because she had seen underneath, maybe it was because she had seen how much she loved life, sitting atop Creole.
“If you’d be up for that, that is?”
She liked the idea of spending more time with Em, but it was important to do the correct thing. Maybe she could have both.
“We were covering the details on the VANILLA hip joint timeout issue we fixed, and evaluating ways to prevent a repeat or a regression. So far we identified two possible methods of creating a backup and restore routine. Having you be here would make it easier to verify that they work for the pilot as well as the ‘Mech.”
As Em took her seat, Kim considered she had been right; it was very easy to work with Sigrid. For any problem she had solutions ready to go, and she got a feeling she’d be able to explain them at any level. From pilot to engineer to handler.
Kim felt herself relax as the review picked up speed, confident in Sigrid’s ability to handle situations, comfortable in providing input, in asking questions. She felt… welcomed.
Chapter after chapter, table after table, she was put at ease that everything was under control. Not only for Creole, but Em too was in good hands.
After all, that’s what this was about – the best for Em – but something was unusual about the situation.
When was the last time Em had willingly sat in on something that could be this dull, full of page after page of management summaries?
And when was the last time she seemed so invested in it all? She leaned in towards Sigrid, not away as should normally would, and her hands lay flat on the table as opposed to laced together on her belly. She was hanging on every word.
Oh.
Kim realized exactly what that meant at the same moment Em reached out and absently picked an errant piece of wire off of Sigrid's jumpsuit.
Slowly, a smug grin spread across her face. She did her best to hide it with her hand.
“--which should cover everything in here. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them, Ms. Ash,” Sigrid finished as she turned over the last page.
She felt a touch on her shoulder, and turned to see Em holding a strip of high-temp flexwire almost the same color as the patch on her shoulder. That might have been why she didn’t spot it when she got dressed.
“Ah, thank you Em.”
She turned her attention back to Kim just to catch her shaking her head. No more questions then, the review was over. She took stock of the situation; Kim was sitting across from her, looking at the report and resting her head in her hand. Em next to her, turning the flexwire over in her gloved hands. Sigrid’s shoulders were tense, her jaw locked pretty solid. Expected after an important meeting.
“”I think that’s all from me for now then. It’s been good seeing you both, and I’m looking forward to welcoming Creole in the MechLab.”
She stood from her seat and moved towards the door, maneuvering around Em in the process.
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Kim frowned, looking over the report.
"What's this about the hip actuator?"
If there was something wrong with Creole's hip actuator, that could mean it might hinder Em in the field. If it hindered Em in the field, there was a chance it led to her taking a hit. And if she took a hit, it might hit her cockpit. And if a weapon struck her cockpit...
"Is it fixed? Is there a chance it'll flare up again? I want it double checked."
She doesn't notice her fingers whitening on the edge of the desk.
Sigrid's attention snaps back from her thoughts to the report.
"I was able to address that one on the spot. Here."
She moves next to Ms. Ash and flips the report a few pages along.
"There was nothing wrong with the hardware, just a software issue that added some unwanted latency to the VANILLA uplink for that component. A known-good backup of Creole's configuration should be able to prevent it happening in the future. If you'd like, I can coordinate with your 'Techs to have it done, or we will be able to create one during the upcoming work."
She moves back to her position, a correct distance away.
"With your approval we can add a note to the work order. It might be good to have Em on standby so we can perform a full test once refits are completed."
It takes Kim a moment to respond.
"Oh. Well, yes, that sounds like a good plan. When you transfer Creole, I'd like it if you could see if-"
Abruptly, her gaze falls behind Sigrid, to the door she entered.
"Oh, hello. We were just talking about you."
Sigrid turns around to the door and a welcoming smile spreads on her face when she sees who is standing in the door frame.
"Em, good to see you. Ms. Ash and I were going over Creole's reports.”
She had hoped for another chance to see her again, to share in her enthusiasm and get lost in technical details. She turns back to face across the desk.
“With your permission, Em could join the review. She’s cleared to receive a copy, and I believe her contributions could be valuable.”
Her eyes meet Em’s unmoving visor that nevertheless looked warm and welcoming. Maybe it was because she had seen underneath, maybe it was because she had seen how much she loved life, sitting atop Creole.
“If you’d be up for that, that is?”
She liked the idea of spending more time with Em, but it was important to do the correct thing. Maybe she could have both.
“We were covering the details on the VANILLA hip joint timeout issue we fixed, and evaluating ways to prevent a repeat or a regression. So far we identified two possible methods of creating a backup and restore routine. Having you be here would make it easier to verify that they work for the pilot as well as the ‘Mech.”
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Kim frowned, looking over the report.
"What's this about the hip actuator?"
If there was something wrong with Creole's hip actuator, that could mean it might hinder Em in the field. If it hindered Em in the field, there was a chance it led to her taking a hit. And if she took a hit, it might hit her cockpit. And if a weapon struck her cockpit...
"Is it fixed? Is there a chance it'll flare up again? I want it double checked."
She doesn't notice her fingers whitening on the edge of the desk.
Sigrid's attention snaps back from her thoughts to the report.
"I was able to address that one on the spot. Here."
She moves next to Ms. Ash and flips the report a few pages along.
"There was nothing wrong with the hardware, just a software issue that added some unwanted latency to the VANILLA uplink for that component. A known-good backup of Creole's configuration should be able to prevent it happening in the future. If you'd like, I can coordinate with your 'Techs to have it done, or we will be able to create one during the upcoming work."
She moves back to her position, a correct distance away.
"With your approval we can add a note to the work order. It might be good to have Em on standby so we can perform a full test once refits are completed."
Sigrid made her way to her quarters through the maze of corridors that was the DropShip interior. It had been a long shift and she was tired, though she worked hard to prevent anyone from noticing just by looking at her. Her strides were as sure as ever, but it took even more effort than usual to keep them that way.
As she made her way deeper into the interior, further away from the outside hull, the sounds of rain quieted down. Though even the combination of armor and bulkheads could completely shut out the thunderstorm raging overhead. It reminded her of Utrecht, watching the lightning play over mountains from her bedroom window.
Step after step, one foot in front of the other, she made her way to her destination. It hadn’t even been the work that had been particularly grueling, it was doing the work while being ready to be interrupted at any moment, all while keeping her emotions at bay.
It had been so nice to not have to be afraid anymore, just for a single evening, but she didn’t have that luxury now. Karrie was busy, and it wouldn’t be fair to put that on her now. Was it ever really fair to rely on her like that?
She closed her door behind her, and released the breath she was holding. At least here she didn’t have to worry about being on guard, about keeping her mask on. Compared to the busier areas she just passed through, the silence here was almost louder. She could feel it ringing in her ears.
Sigrid closed her eyes to will the ringing to stop. It almost worked, just like it almost worked every time. Still, it was nice to not have to keep up appearances anymore. Maybe after a shower things would feel a bit calmer and she could try to relax. She reached for the zipper on her coveralls.
There was a knock on the door, and her hand halted its trajectory. All the deferred momentum seemed to go straight to her heart rate.
She managed to get her hand under control and opened the door. She wasn’t sure who she was expecting, maybe Karrie, maybe Melissa. In truth she wasn’t expecting anything. Somewhere far down the list of anythings she wasn’t expecting was the Spirit of Helios.
And yet a black-tinted neurohelmet and a face-concealing respirator stared back at her, somehow managing to look inquisitive.
It took Sigrid longer than she’d have liked to find her words.
“Good evening?”
@jaded-falcon
"Good evening, miss Guntran."
Crisp. Calm. Sharp. Professional. Everything about Spirit seemed put together, carefully calculated, from the sealed straps on her boots to the ammunition in pouches on her carrying rig to the blades sitting flush with her skin to the dark grey talons on her unit patch to the glossy black mirror of her neurohelmet.
She bowed slightly, almost regal. A glimpse of the Black Watch's seal caught Sigrid's eye as Spirit straightened.
Without so much as a word, the Spirit of Helios was sending a message: No one provokes me with impunity.
"May I come in?"
Her voice... wasn't at odds with how she spoke, per se, but it took a moment for Sigrid to realize that it wasn't. Her voice was softer, gentler, quiet. There was still that undercurrent of cool professionalism, that little steel cord that all the best officers had, but Spirit wasn't speaking like an officer. She sounded more... motherly, than commanding.
Sigrid once again found herself without a script to follow. No idea of a plan of what was Correct.
Maybe I should make some new plans
If she ever did, now was not the time.
“Of course.”
She stepped back from the doorway to allow the masked woman into her quarters. Spirit didn't hide her glances around the room as she entered; it wasn't like there was much to see. The only signs that Sigrid lived there were the neurohelmet perched atop her wardrobe and a single hydraulic coupling on the countertop.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
She stood out of the way, at the point between the living area, kitchenette and dining table, leaving room for her guest to choose where she would like to be.
The door closed behind Spirit with the customary hiss of hydraulics. Both hands reached up, clicked the releases on her helmet, and pulled it off, letting the oxygen mask hang drunkenly from one side. She held the helmet by the hip which didn't have a pistol. The black mirror watched Sigrid's every move.
"Let us sit down," she offered. Her face seemed familiar, hidden by the mask though it was, but never in a million years could Sigrid have placed it. Not between the glowing tattoos on the side of her head and the piercing blue eyes that she could feel assessing her every move.
Both women sat. Spirit folded her hands, neurohelmet resting on the table just beside her elbow.
"I came to thank you, miss Guntran," she announced. "Miss DeLacey was kind enough to inform me that you were the one who worked on Death Knell."
There were so many things running through Sigrid’s mind all at once. Spirit was here. The Spirit of Helios was thanking her for a job well done. It was good she was confident in her work then, because Spirit’s reputation as a grim reaper preceded her.
Would be about time, an unwanted part of her supplied. The same part she’d been fighting since she acquired her scars. It had been a constant companion to her, making her feel like she was in mortal peril wherever she went. Having Spirit turn up unexpectedly and fully-armed to the one place where she wasn’t constantly on guard made the fight that much harder.
The only one who’d been able to silence it had been Karrie.
Spirit taking her helmet off had at least made the battle a little easier. Bright blue eyes observed her from across the table, like she was looking for something within her.
Sigrid focused. She pushed her ruminations to the side and turned her attention to the matter at hand. She had ignored the screaming voice in the back of her mind for fifteen years, she could ignore it for a single meeting.
“Aye, that was me.”
She pulled up the work log on her tablet, detached it from her wrist, and presented it to Spirit.
“Panel has been replaced, all internal systems confirmed undamaged from both visual/manual inspection and the ‘Mech’s own diagnostics.”
Memories of the repairs came flooding in, the joy of working on her dream, the sensation of being in the cockpit, and the posters on her wall back home.
“We did our best to color match the paint for the panel. I hope everything was to your liking.”
"More than to my liking," Spirit corrected. "I do not know how you managed it, but Death Knell seems to move smoother and quieter; the controls are more responsive, the sensors are better tuned."
Spirit's eyes continued to analyze Sigrid, taking in every little detail, assessing, categorizing. The MechTech got the feeling of being a microbe in a lab, pressed between sheets of glass, being studied.
"The new panel was well-matched, too—though I imagine it is not difficult to paint black Multicam."
Spirit's brow furrowed; her eyes softened, like melting ice. She'd found something out of place. Something wrong.
"Are you okay, miss Guntran? You look like something is bothering you."
“No more than usual,” Sigrid started. She wasn't sure what Spirit saw, but she could hazard a guess. It had been a long day and she could feel the exhaustion in her body as well as in her mind. Fighting the same battles day after day meant she was used to it. But she never knew how much was visible to someone looking. She tried to find the words to explain.
“Just old wounds.”
Or maybe demons. Or maybe memories. Or maybe it’s just who I am now.
“They get stronger as the day wears on.”
She paused, wondering if that would be enough to satisfy.
“It’s been a while since I piloted, but some things stay with you.”
"Oh."
Thunder, a million thunderbolts falling on her metal skin
Fire, ten thousand degrees of searing agony pressing into her myomer muscles
Bile, rising in her throat as she watched her last trothkin's invincible steed explode, stagger, and fall, black smoke pouring from the upper frame
"I..."
Eyes shut tight, tight as could be, tight as an airlock. Opening her eyes to see all that she had lost. Watching in numb silence as time ticked past and the clock ticked over to 0002. The crushing weight of being wholly, totally alone—
"I understand."
Spirit's eyes softened, defrosted; rivers of blue instead of ice. She no longer looked like the perfect killing machine, the grim reaper, Pale Death; now Spirit looked human.
She leaned forwards, laid a hand on Sigrid's own. "I... can listen, if you need."
Sigrid stopped moving at the touch. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was unexpected. It made her realize how rare it had been to be touched.
Several thoughts collided in her mind. What should she do? What was Correct?
She was talking with the Spirit of Helios, going over 'Mech repairs that she had done.
She was talking to a fighter, a veteran. If anyone could understand it would be her, wouldn't it?
She was talking to someone who cared, a smile so warm she could see it in just her eyes. Eyes that had lost their hard edge.
She was trying to decide when a fourth force joined in, from decades in the past. A young woman fighting for her life from the cockpit of a scout 'Mech.
"If you're sure."
It came out somewhere between a question and a plea.
Double vision.
Sigrid, staring back at her from across the table, blue eyes lined with exhaustion and repressed fear. Red hair pulled back into a tight bun. Grease stains on her hands and her cheeks. The smell of oil, sweat, and a light tang of metal that could never, would never, wash out of her olive coveralls.
Eliza, staring back at her in the mirror, with puffy red eyes that didn't quite hide the deep ink-purple bags underneath. Rivulets of makeup running down her cheeks. Her hair, matted, sticking to her skin. The taste of blood.
Spirit nodded, sure of purpose, sound of mind. An old promise she'd made rang in her mind; not made to any one person.
You'll never go alone.
"I am."
Sigrid took a long breath. Deep in, slow out.
Thinking back on her time in the militia was always hard. A long day of work didn’t make it easier. She could feel her hand start to tremble against Spirit’s gloved fingers, but she didn’t pull away.
“I was with the Utrecht militia, tested in at a fairly young age… I guess having always had an interest in ‘Mechs helped me there.”
Had she ever really fit in? She had always liked ‘Mechs more than people. They felt safer, easier to predict.
“I was a scout. Forward observer, ahead of the pack.”
She didn’t like being in the spotlight. Didn’t want the kills or the glory or the recognition.
“We’d received word that there was some suspicious activity in Nieuwegein, so they deployed a lance. I was on point in a Flea.”
Urban environments are always harder to fight in. Harder to build up speed.
“The reports had said that a group calling themselves the Hand der Vrijheid - named after a Star League era extremist group - had heavier equipment than they were supposed to have access to.”
A forward observer only has a single job. Report back what you see, so that the rest of the lance can do their job.
“I picked up a weak EM signature. It read like a small emergency generator for a warehouse.”
Had to be fast, had to act on instinct, had to be sure.
“Turns out the warehouse was shielded. I rounded the corner into a Rifleman.”
An almost whispered ‘oh no’ from Spirit brought her out of her memories and back to her quarters. Spirit seemed to sway ever so slightly in front of her. She blinked, and felt her tears from tracks across her cheeks. Spirit wasn’t swaying.
Her hands had stopped trembling somewhere during her tale. One of them touching a gloved hand, the other’s knuckles white around her carabiner. In her mind the memories played before her.
“I stared down at six barrels of laser fire, got my Flea moving before my mind had even caught up.”
Can’t breathe, out of the way, anywhere, anything, please, move, MOVE
“I managed to dodge, just enough that not the entire alpha strike landed.”
Streaks of green, streaks of blue, coming right for her. Nothing she could do, nowhere she could run.
“One hit the cockpit, three into my side torso.”
Everything was loud. Everything was quiet. Orange flames all around her. Blinding white from her left. Sharp pain, jagged streaks on her arms.
“Ammo cooked off instantly– they told me they could see the fireball from blocks away.”
It hurts it hurts it hurts I can’t fight I can’t run I can’t get out I can’t–
“I slammed my ‘Mech into a water tower, tried to angle it backwards. I remember feeling for the ejection.”
I can’t see, it hurts I can’t–
“Last thing I remember after punching out was the roof of the water tower hitting me at eject velocity.”
Can’t breathe, can’t feel my arm–
“Next thing I know I’m bleeding out on the outskirts of town. Sand everywhere, couldn’t move, couldn’t see. Didn’t know if I still had half my torso.”
Sand and grit and blood and pain I can’t I can’t I can’t–
She takes a deep, shaky breath and tries to blink away the last of the tears.
“Sometimes when I close my eyes, I’m back in the cockpit. Back in Nieuwegein.”
Her hand comes down from her carabiner, color slowly flowing back to her knuckles.
“I see the greens, the blues, licks of orange and the white glow. Seared into my mind as much as my flesh.”
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Kim snuffs her cigarette and tucks it away.
"Take a seat, set it anywhere on the table. It's nice to meet you, Sigrid. I'd like to thank you for helping Em with the troubleshooting, first of all. A good mechtech's always welcome. She seems to like you, you know."
She stands to shake Sigrid's hand.
Sigrid returned the gesture with a warm smile, taking Kim’s hand and shaking it precisely. She practiced this movement, she knew how much force is appropriate. It was important to do it correctly.
“Thank you, I try to do the best work I can within the constraints I’m given. I’m happy it was to your satisfaction.”
She placed the folder on a mostly-empty spot on the table and opened it to the first page. Something in the back of Sigrid’s mind was trying to draw her attention, but it didn’t matter.
“I figured we could start with the management summary, and then make our way from there.”
The something was insistent.
“You can see the checks all came in clear. The table is sorted by top-down, and then left-to-right on the ‘Mech. On the Catapult the cockpit is technically lower down than the torsos, but it goes by technical readout layout to keep it consistent among chassis types.”
Maybe it was important.
“I’ll let you have a moment to look through it, see if it all makes sense.”
She seems to like you, you know?
Sigrid paused, grateful that Ms. Ash was going over the report, and turned the statement over in her mind.
People had appreciated her work before, that was nothing new. She was a good MechTech and she knew it. Given enough time and resources, she could fix almost anything that could be wrong with a ‘Mech.
People had respected her for her skills. Melissa, Theodora. She was a good asset to have in any organization that dealt with ‘Mechs, industrial or battle.
She knew she was loved. She could tell Karrie did. She knew the deep bond they share, of shared experiences and mutual comfort. She worked hard to break down her own walls, and let her in. To show what she could offer in return.
But to just be liked? For being who she was? It was a novel thought.
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Kim sat in the briefing room, thinking over her prospects. Paperwork from both her prior career and that drawn up after her meeting with General Hazen lay strewn across the desk at which she sat, pored over again and again as she tried to figure out exactly where she and Em's future lay. She needed a break.
And so the knock came as a breath of fresh air, something equally important that was by far much less stressful. The MechTech, Em's new friend, was apparently pretty skilled. Right now, Kim would welcome someone so easy to work with that even Em could feel at ease around them.
"Come in."
Sigrid opens the door and takes in the sights before her. A table covered in paper, an ashtray that looked like it should have been emptied about a pack ago and a very worn-out looking Kimberly Ash greet her.
“Good morning, Ms. Ash. Sigrid Guntran. We met briefly for the inspection and I’ve got the report here for review.”
She closes the door behind her and stands ready with the folder.
“Where would you like this?”
Sigrid made her way to the JollyBaby, carrying a much lighter load this time. A single folder under her arm, work boots making crunching in the remnants of the snow. As she entered the ship proper, the crisp Helios air outside seemed stale in comparison.
She made her way through the maze of corridors. Last time she was here, her journey ended with her finding the largest space aboard the ship; the MechBay. This time, the signs she was following set her on another route; the briefing room.
Two things tended to make her feel more uncomfortable than she usually did, small spaces and official meetings. She’d take a long shift in a dirty MechLab over a short one filled with command staff. But that didn’t matter.
It was her name on the report. She performed the inspection, she wrote down the findings, she signed it, and she had handed it off to Commanding General Hazen. It was only right that she would be the one to review it with Ms. Ash. It was Correct.
Still, as she came face to face with the closed door labeled ‘Briefing Room’, she hoped her nervousness didn’t come through too much.
Sigrid knocked on the door.
@the-emmapult
Sigrid broke off from the pair and headed into the interior of the ship. She experienced this time and time again, the differences in scale between the open air, the almost claustrophobic inner labyrinth of the ship, and the space needed to house a full BattleMech.
The first sign she spotted directed her to her right, and then left. Deeper into the guts of JollyBaby. As she moved further from the outside world, the unique sound texture of the ship became more apparent. Each ship had a voice, a combination of engines, grav-gen, life support, environmental controls, and everything else.
JollyBaby whispered. Her engines were turned off, the hum of the auxiliary generator barely audible. But the rush of fresh air from every vent surprised her. Even outside, in the barely-touched atmosphere of icy Helios the air didn’t feel this crisp. She stopped walking for a moment to take it all in. Was it her imagination, or did the life support really sound different? Like it was working harder and being much more optimized at the same time.
When she resumed her walk, the next crossroads was right ahead. Properly signposted as promised, but for this one she didn’t need it. As soon as she could see into the corridor, she was met with the vibrant oranges and pinks of the Creole.
As she entered the space, she found the pilot as well. Above the cockpit someone was lying down on the ‘Mech, not moving.
“Are you alright?”
She moved the next few steps, looking for a reaction.
“I’m Sigrid. I’m here for the inspection?”
@the-emmapult
"Oh!"
The pilot scrambles to her feet, peering down over the side to see the newcomer. The black-and-purple material of her suit squeaks as she hurries, climbing along the chassis of the Catapult's cockpit to reach a maintenance gantry.
"I'll be right down!"
With quickness and care, she descends the steps that lead to the hangar floor. There, she all-but-runs to stand in front of Sigrid, making what she thinks is a sharp salute. This is not a militarily minded individual.
"Hi! I'm Em! Kim said you'd be here soon, sorry, I should have been ready!"
A pause as she slips back into a neutral pose.
"What's your name? How can I help you?"
"Hi Em, nice to meet you. I'm Sigrid."
She returns the salute, trying her best to copy Em's, and hoping she wouldn't notice Sigrid wasn't a military minded person.
"I'm here to check out Creole. The people in charge would like to get to know her, and I figured the best person to ask would be her pilot. That's you, right? Maybe you could tell me a little about her?"
She motions around the space.
"If you've got a favorite spot to sit, we could have a chat."
"Well, I usually like to sit inside the cockpit, but it's kind of cramped. Are you afraid of heights? We could hang out on top."
She leans back to gaze back at the towering machine, placing her hands on her hips.
"She's like a friend, you know? Always been a part of my life. I took to her really well when I was a kid, and I don't think we've ever been apart for more than a few hours. We haven't been in any actual combat, but we did good on some orbital live-fire exercises. Those were fun!"
She talks as she walks back toward the stairs, motioning for Sigrid to follow.
Sigrid grabbed her toolbox and followed after Em.
"Yeah, I know what it's like to have a 'Mech feel like a part of yourself. Though maybe not to the extent you are, if I read the spec sheet correctly."
She made it to stairs and climbed up after the pilot.
"You said you've been with her since you were a kid? I tested into the militia when I was fifteen. How old were you when you started?"
They make it to the top of the 'Mech and Sigrid hops the gap right after Em to find herself standing between the massive weapon systems.
"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that. It was pretty young, though. You may have noticed, I have some health issues..."
She trails off, perhaps placing more stake in the implication than is realistic.
"Uh. I can't really... go outside, without a filtered suit or in Creole. It's got a cleanroom for a cockpit, so it's kind of my happy place."
Sigrid nods as she places her toolbox down.
"That makes sense. I didn't mean to pry. I'd like to hear if you'd like to tell me, but I won't ask."
She sits down above the cockpit, leaving enough space for Em to be where she was when Sigrid entered the hangar.
"It's very important to have a safe space, a happy place. Creole sounds like she means a lot to you though. Will you tell me about her?"
Sigrid can't see Em's face, but she can tell that it lights up.
"Of course! She's a Catapult CPLT-BW-E, a custom job, and she's very special! As far as I know the only 'pult with any type of e-war systems, and she's pretty unique in being upgraded to modern standards using a mix of clantech and inner-sphere tech. She has a reinforced cockpit and a pretty robust life support system, because, you know, I need a clean room. She's fitted with VANILLA, which is a proprietary vDNI system, and it helps me to 'feel' things when I'm piloting. It's funny, I hear some pilots feel naked when they're not in their mech, but for me it's kind of the opposite. In this suit, it's hard for me to feel much of anything, every sensation is muted. But in Creole I can hear birds, see the sunlight, even feel the breeze on my skin. Not that I've ever felt those things for real, only simulated. I've never operated her in atmosphere before."
Em gesticulates wildly as she excitedly describes the 'mech and how important it is to her. The passion in her voice fills the room.
Sigrid could recognize that body language anywhere. It was exhilarating whenever she could see it on someone else.
"I don't think I've seen a Cat with EWAR suite before, that's going to take some folks by surprise for sure."
Her eyes focus on Em’s face when she mentions the vDNI, listening intently and cycling from excitement to compassion to understanding to empathy.
“It’s… not easy, to always have something between you and the world.” It comes out somewhere between sympathy and an understanding of what it’s like.
“Creole sounds like she’s lucky to have you as a pilot. You care about her a lot, I can tell.
She places her hand down on the metal surface beneath them.
“And I think you’re in good hands with her too. You two make a good team.
She lets the touch linger just a little longer.
“I don’t have any experience piloting with vDNI, I don’t have the hardware for it. But I think you might find this interesting anyway.”
She taps her tablet and shows it to Em. On it is displayed what looks like a well-used neurohelmet with a smattering of dents and the paint is flaking off in spots. Some of the connectors in the back look like they were later additions.
“This is mine. I don’t think I’ve seen another like it. It started life as a technician grade neurohelmet. Great for debugging but much much too sensitive for use in combat. But the amount of control and feedback I get from it is incredible. I’m able to feel every single myomer twitch, every actuator hitch, every jerk in the motion of every single proprioceptive sensor.”
She swipes to the next image.
“And with the extra ports on the back, I can also have OS debug information added to the mix. I usually have those sent to my tablet, but it’s a very useful option to have if I need to keep my eyes elsewhere. Way too sensitive to ever use in combat, of course. But it’s such a good tool for a MechTech to have access to.”
Her hand drifts to her shoulder before she refocuses.
“Speaking of piloting though, you mentioned the cockpit is a clean room, right? How is entry and exit, and are there precautions I need to take if I need to inspect anything there? With your permission, of course.”
Em freezes for a moment, unsure what to say. This woman is a stranger, a new face, but she had shown so much care, so much compassion for both Em and Creole. Something makes her want to show the same care, to let Sigrid into her safest place.
"Uh. Y-yeah! The airlock is around this way, though we'll have to go one at a time.
Em scampers up the armored bulk of her Catapult, leading the MechTech to the entrance of her sanctum. She tugs on the hydraulic valve, pulling open a door not dissimilar to that of bulkheads aboard a DropShip. It opens, revealing a small space, closet sized.
"I'll go in first, and then I'll open the door for you, okay?"
As she speaks, she enters the airlock.
"I should be fine as long as you haven't been sick in the last week. For an hour or two at least."
The door closed in front of Sigrid and for a moment she found herself alone in the hangar with only Creole. The vibrant oranges and pinks reminded her of a sunset in the dim lighting aboard the JollyBaby. Soft clicks sounded from the airlock as it cycled. When the outer door opened again, Em had disappeared inside.
Sigrid had looked over the specifications and knew that space was likely at a premium inside the cockpit. She left her tools outside, and only took a few things into the airlock.
When the inner door opened, she found herself inside the small cockpit. It was dimly lit, even compared to the lighting conditions inside the JollyBaby’s hangar. There was no light coming into the space from the outside. Where she had expected the forward canopy windows to be, there were controls and displays. Windows were probably not needed when piloting with a direct interface.
The pilot’s seat and console took up the majority of the space available, with only a small pathway leading from the inner airlock door to the seat. There wasn’t much space, but Sigrid was able to sit down on the floor, her back resting against the side of the console. When she looked up she could see Em working through the diagnostic startup sequence. The indicator lights reflected off her helmet’s opaque visor, interrupted only when her hands danced between her and the lights.
“Em?”
The dance stopped, and her head turned down to face Sigrid.
“May I plug in my tablet to see the log files?”
"Please, be my guest."
Her voice had changed, possessing a surety that the girl outside could only dream of.
“Thank you.”
Sigrid connected her cable to the port and watched as the log files flowed in. Line after line flowed in with perfect green status indicators, all matching what was on the documents she’d been given. The occasional blue information lines were all routine.
Em continued her sequence, Sigrid’s tablet now joining the lights reflected on her visor.
The logs stopped, and a single message was displayed.
Self-test: OK Pass: 100% Fail: 0% Ready for VANILLA uplink
Sigrid looks up at Em and smiles. "I'm ready for you to link up, Em. Will you show me?"
Em let out a deep sigh. She could do this. She needed to for the diagnostic, right? That her heart was racing just meant that she was excited about that. Right?
"Okay."
Slowly, carefully, her hands rose to the collar of her suit, adjusting the clasp that sealed her helmet on with a hiss of air. Then, her hands went higher, gripping the dome and lifting it. Lifting until the interior of the cockpit wasn't filtered by glass, until it was perceived only by her naked eyes.
"So... this is me."
Sigrid looked up as Em lifted her helmet. The gesture was so simple, but the trust it showed overflowed the small space they were in. Sigrid looked up from her position on the floor, knowing how much this moment had to mean to Em.
The first thing she saw was pale white hair, almost the color of the visor. She lifted the helmet forward, and then turned to look at her. It was almost impossible to read her expression.
The colors of indicator lights danced across her face, joined by Sigrid’s tablet.
“This is you,”
Unlike Creole’s vibrant sunset exterior, the colors inside the cockpit were muted. Greys and blacks, now accompanied by the greens of their clothes. Em’s porcelain face stood out against the darkness like a full moon, as if the light in the cockpit was concentrated on her.
The only place the glow didn’t reach were her eyes, red in a sea of white, which were alight with a different kind of warmth entirely.
“And I am honored that I get to see.”
Em's heart continued trying to beat its way out of her chest. It was just the adrenaline from knowing this exposure to Sigrid could be dangerous, but...
"Um. Right. Linking up."
She gently pulled a cable from an alcove in the ceiling, pulling aside a lock of her hair and plugging it into a port in the base of her skull. This she'd done countless times, it was like tying her boots.
"Initiating VANILLA handshake."
The greens and reds of the consoles within thr cockpit didn't brighten, as they would in a more standard 'mech. But still, Sigrid could hear its engine whining up, the hum of its systems stirring to life.
"Initiated. All systems online."
The activity was immediately apparent to Sigrid, as new diagnostic information rushed across her screen, flying faster even than a ‘Mech’s powerup usually did. Green line after green line shot past.
And then orange in between.
Sigrid stopped the real-time scroll and went back. Orange was a warning. Nothing as serious as a red error, but still worth looking into.
[WARN] RL-H act.comm T-O; Retrying
She scrolled a little further, to see its green counterpart.
[OK] RL-H act.comm established
Nothing too serious then, but still. She re-enabled live monitoring and noticed the orange line kept popping up, every few seconds.
“Em, I’m getting some odd readings here. Can you tell me if Creole’s right hip joint feels off to you?”
The MechWarrior sighs, closing her eyes and looking inwardly. After a moment, she opens them, frowning, and turns around in her seat to look at Sigrid.
"Yeah. It's feeling numb. Like, it's harder to move than normal."
She turns forward, away from Sigrid.
"Can you do anything about it?"
“I believe so. Though it may take a little while to find the root cause. You said an hour or two should be safe, correct?”
On Em’s nod, Sigrid brought up a diagnostic view of not just the log, but Creole’s full operating system. Every node, every subsystem in view. She focused on the right leg, then the hip joint, then the actuator and finally the actuator communication module. The warning came from here.
Representations of logs, configuration files, and adjacent systems all moved under her fingertips until she found the culprit. One of the fields was not configured.
Not a problem, just needed to find the corresponding value in–
Oh.
She looked up at Em sitting above her. She looked serene, more at peace than Sigrid had seen her before. Like she was whole. Sitting here in the cockpit with Creole’s systems idling and Em in the comfortable silence, she looked like she belonged.
“Em?”
She hadn’t wanted to break the quiet, feeling almost like an intruder in this space. She watched Em blink, and then turn to face her again.
“Have you found something?”
“I have, but… I would need some data that’s stored in your implant. There should be a debug port.”
It was a moment before Em answered. Emotions flashed across her face, too hard to read in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it was because neither of them made a sound, or if the climate control was a little louder than before.
“Go ahead.”
Sigrid stood up, hunched in the small cockpit, and took out a bundle of cables. She looked through each one until she found one with a square magnetic connector. She plugged the other end into her tablet and looked back over to Em, still in the same position she was in when she answered the question. On seeing Sigrid with the cable in hand, she leaned forward towards the console.
Sigrid’s voice was gentle and calm. “May I connect to you?”
Em’s reply was steady. “Yes.”
Connector in hand, Sigrid moved aside a lock of pure white hair to expose the port in the base of her skull. The connector snapped into place with a soft click.
It took her only a few taps on her tablet to find the values she was looking for, and just as soon as the connection started, she broke it again, not wanting to expose Em to more risk than was strictly needed.
Data in hand, she adjusted the values where needed and initialized the log. Everything was green across the board.
“How does that feel?”
Em had been touched before. Diagnosed and maintained by technicians, medics and researchers. That wasn't new.
But had she ever been asked? She'd been told plenty of times what to do, people ordered her all the time. Sigrid had asked. That shouldn't make a difference. Why would it make a difference? A touch was a touch, right?
Why did this feel so different?
She froze.
She didn't actually feel anything through her ports - metal can't have nerves running through it - but she could feel Sigrid moving aside her hair, errantly - gently - place a mechanic's calloused thumb on her slender neck, however briefly. It was almost too much sensation. She wanted to apologize, tell her to leave, figure out the issue wth her hip actuator on her own, but-
The actuator. It was responding now, her leg no longer felt numb. All lights inside the cockpit read green, while outside Creole was bathed in the soft white light of the hangar.
"Feels better. I think you fixed it."
She paused, considering her next words. Sigrid had helped her, treated her like an equal. She deserved that in turn. She could stay.
"Is there anything else you need to do while we're here? I'll be fine, I promise."
“I think I have everything I need from Creole and you. Thank you so much for inviting me in.”
Sigrid bundles up her cables and sits down in her spot. Despite the small space, she finds it very easy to breathe here.
“What about you though? Do you have anything you need from me? Or anything you’d like me to look at while we’re here?”
She looks up above her, where Em seems tense. Like she’s oscillating between emotional states extremely quickly. Sigrid reaches her hand up.
Hesitantly, Em reaches her gloved hand back to grip Sigrid's.
"Thank you, Sigrid. I... I don't even know what else to say. I wasn't expecting this warm a welcome. No, I don't think I need anything else."
It's long moments before Em finally releases Sigrid's hand.
"Can you find your way out? I... think I need to be alone in here for a while."
Sigrid nods. “That sounds good. Best to stay as far away from that two-hour mark as we can.”
She stands up and finds the button for the airlock.
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Em.”
She pushes the button and disappears out of view of the cockpit. Through Creole’s eyes Em sees Sigrid gather the tools she left outside and make her way down the gantries. As she reaches Creole’s right foot, she pauses, and a sense of touch reaches her. More vibrant than it did through the glove.
“I’m looking forward to next time,” comes Sigrid’s voice through Creole’s ears.
And with that she disappears beyond the hangar doors.
Em sits in the pilot seat, helmet in her lap. The first time she felt this connected to another human in years, as beautiful and overwhelming as it was, and it's over sooner than it began. A tear rolls down her cheek as she starts to laugh. Soon enough, she's shaking from the sheer emotional weight of what she just went through.
Her first diagnostic on this new world, and she was treated as an equal. It takes her a while to compose herself enough to voice her reply, her earnest feelings, to an empty hangar.
"I'm looking forward to it, too."
END
Sigrid broke off from the pair and headed into the interior of the ship. She experienced this time and time again, the differences in scale between the open air, the almost claustrophobic inner labyrinth of the ship, and the space needed to house a full BattleMech.
The first sign she spotted directed her to her right, and then left. Deeper into the guts of JollyBaby. As she moved further from the outside world, the unique sound texture of the ship became more apparent. Each ship had a voice, a combination of engines, grav-gen, life support, environmental controls, and everything else.
JollyBaby whispered. Her engines were turned off, the hum of the auxiliary generator barely audible. But the rush of fresh air from every vent surprised her. Even outside, in the barely-touched atmosphere of icy Helios the air didn’t feel this crisp. She stopped walking for a moment to take it all in. Was it her imagination, or did the life support really sound different? Like it was working harder and being much more optimized at the same time.
When she resumed her walk, the next crossroads was right ahead. Properly signposted as promised, but for this one she didn’t need it. As soon as she could see into the corridor, she was met with the vibrant oranges and pinks of the Creole.
As she entered the space, she found the pilot as well. Above the cockpit someone was lying down on the ‘Mech, not moving.
“Are you alright?”
She moved the next few steps, looking for a reaction.
“I’m Sigrid. I’m here for the inspection?”
@the-emmapult
"Oh!"
The pilot scrambles to her feet, peering down over the side to see the newcomer. The black-and-purple material of her suit squeaks as she hurries, climbing along the chassis of the Catapult's cockpit to reach a maintenance gantry.
"I'll be right down!"
With quickness and care, she descends the steps that lead to the hangar floor. There, she all-but-runs to stand in front of Sigrid, making what she thinks is a sharp salute. This is not a militarily minded individual.
"Hi! I'm Em! Kim said you'd be here soon, sorry, I should have been ready!"
A pause as she slips back into a neutral pose.
"What's your name? How can I help you?"
"Hi Em, nice to meet you. I'm Sigrid."
She returns the salute, trying her best to copy Em's, and hoping she wouldn't notice Sigrid wasn't a military minded person.
"I'm here to check out Creole. The people in charge would like to get to know her, and I figured the best person to ask would be her pilot. That's you, right? Maybe you could tell me a little about her?"
She motions around the space.
"If you've got a favorite spot to sit, we could have a chat."
"Well, I usually like to sit inside the cockpit, but it's kind of cramped. Are you afraid of heights? We could hang out on top."
She leans back to gaze back at the towering machine, placing her hands on her hips.
"She's like a friend, you know? Always been a part of my life. I took to her really well when I was a kid, and I don't think we've ever been apart for more than a few hours. We haven't been in any actual combat, but we did good on some orbital live-fire exercises. Those were fun!"
She talks as she walks back toward the stairs, motioning for Sigrid to follow.
Sigrid grabbed her toolbox and followed after Em.
"Yeah, I know what it's like to have a 'Mech feel like a part of yourself. Though maybe not to the extent you are, if I read the spec sheet correctly."
She made it to stairs and climbed up after the pilot.
"You said you've been with her since you were a kid? I tested into the militia when I was fifteen. How old were you when you started?"
They make it to the top of the 'Mech and Sigrid hops the gap right after Em to find herself standing between the massive weapon systems.
"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that. It was pretty young, though. You may have noticed, I have some health issues..."
She trails off, perhaps placing more stake in the implication than is realistic.
"Uh. I can't really... go outside, without a filtered suit or in Creole. It's got a cleanroom for a cockpit, so it's kind of my happy place."
Sigrid nods as she places her toolbox down.
"That makes sense. I didn't mean to pry. I'd like to hear if you'd like to tell me, but I won't ask."
She sits down above the cockpit, leaving enough space for Em to be where she was when Sigrid entered the hangar.
"It's very important to have a safe space, a happy place. Creole sounds like she means a lot to you though. Will you tell me about her?"
Sigrid can't see Em's face, but she can tell that it lights up.
"Of course! She's a Catapult CPLT-BW-E, a custom job, and she's very special! As far as I know the only 'pult with any type of e-war systems, and she's pretty unique in being upgraded to modern standards using a mix of clantech and inner-sphere tech. She has a reinforced cockpit and a pretty robust life support system, because, you know, I need a clean room. She's fitted with VANILLA, which is a proprietary vDNI system, and it helps me to 'feel' things when I'm piloting. It's funny, I hear some pilots feel naked when they're not in their mech, but for me it's kind of the opposite. In this suit, it's hard for me to feel much of anything, every sensation is muted. But in Creole I can hear birds, see the sunlight, even feel the breeze on my skin. Not that I've ever felt those things for real, only simulated. I've never operated her in atmosphere before."
Em gesticulates wildly as she excitedly describes the 'mech and how important it is to her. The passion in her voice fills the room.
Sigrid could recognize that body language anywhere. It was exhilarating whenever she could see it on someone else.
"I don't think I've seen a Cat with EWAR suite before, that's going to take some folks by surprise for sure."
Her eyes focus on Em’s face when she mentions the vDNI, listening intently and cycling from excitement to compassion to understanding to empathy.
“It’s… not easy, to always have something between you and the world.” It comes out somewhere between sympathy and an understanding of what it’s like.
“Creole sounds like she’s lucky to have you as a pilot. You care about her a lot, I can tell.
She places her hand down on the metal surface beneath them.
“And I think you’re in good hands with her too. You two make a good team.
She lets the touch linger just a little longer.
“I don’t have any experience piloting with vDNI, I don’t have the hardware for it. But I think you might find this interesting anyway.”
She taps her tablet and shows it to Em. On it is displayed what looks like a well-used neurohelmet with a smattering of dents and the paint is flaking off in spots. Some of the connectors in the back look like they were later additions.
“This is mine. I don’t think I’ve seen another like it. It started life as a technician grade neurohelmet. Great for debugging but much much too sensitive for use in combat. But the amount of control and feedback I get from it is incredible. I’m able to feel every single myomer twitch, every actuator hitch, every jerk in the motion of every single proprioceptive sensor.”
She swipes to the next image.
“And with the extra ports on the back, I can also have OS debug information added to the mix. I usually have those sent to my tablet, but it’s a very useful option to have if I need to keep my eyes elsewhere. Way too sensitive to ever use in combat, of course. But it’s such a good tool for a MechTech to have access to.”
Her hand drifts to her shoulder before she refocuses.
“Speaking of piloting though, you mentioned the cockpit is a clean room, right? How is entry and exit, and are there precautions I need to take if I need to inspect anything there? With your permission, of course.”
Em freezes for a moment, unsure what to say. This woman is a stranger, a new face, but she had shown so much care, so much compassion for both Em and Creole. Something makes her want to show the same care, to let Sigrid into her safest place.
"Uh. Y-yeah! The airlock is around this way, though we'll have to go one at a time.
Em scampers up the armored bulk of her Catapult, leading the MechTech to the entrance of her sanctum. She tugs on the hydraulic valve, pulling open a door not dissimilar to that of bulkheads aboard a DropShip. It opens, revealing a small space, closet sized.
"I'll go in first, and then I'll open the door for you, okay?"
As she speaks, she enters the airlock.
"I should be fine as long as you haven't been sick in the last week. For an hour or two at least."
The door closed in front of Sigrid and for a moment she found herself alone in the hangar with only Creole. The vibrant oranges and pinks reminded her of a sunset in the dim lighting aboard the JollyBaby. Soft clicks sounded from the airlock as it cycled. When the outer door opened again, Em had disappeared inside.
Sigrid had looked over the specifications and knew that space was likely at a premium inside the cockpit. She left her tools outside, and only took a few things into the airlock.
When the inner door opened, she found herself inside the small cockpit. It was dimly lit, even compared to the lighting conditions inside the JollyBaby’s hangar. There was no light coming into the space from the outside. Where she had expected the forward canopy windows to be, there were controls and displays. Windows were probably not needed when piloting with a direct interface.
The pilot’s seat and console took up the majority of the space available, with only a small pathway leading from the inner airlock door to the seat. There wasn’t much space, but Sigrid was able to sit down on the floor, her back resting against the side of the console. When she looked up she could see Em working through the diagnostic startup sequence. The indicator lights reflected off her helmet’s opaque visor, interrupted only when her hands danced between her and the lights.
“Em?”
The dance stopped, and her head turned down to face Sigrid.
“May I plug in my tablet to see the log files?”
"Please, be my guest."
Her voice had changed, possessing a surety that the girl outside could only dream of.
“Thank you.”
Sigrid connected her cable to the port and watched as the log files flowed in. Line after line flowed in with perfect green status indicators, all matching what was on the documents she’d been given. The occasional blue information lines were all routine.
Em continued her sequence, Sigrid’s tablet now joining the lights reflected on her visor.
The logs stopped, and a single message was displayed.
Self-test: OK Pass: 100% Fail: 0% Ready for VANILLA uplink
Sigrid looks up at Em and smiles. "I'm ready for you to link up, Em. Will you show me?"
Em let out a deep sigh. She could do this. She needed to for the diagnostic, right? That her heart was racing just meant that she was excited about that. Right?
"Okay."
Slowly, carefully, her hands rose to the collar of her suit, adjusting the clasp that sealed her helmet on with a hiss of air. Then, her hands went higher, gripping the dome and lifting it. Lifting until the interior of the cockpit wasn't filtered by glass, until it was perceived only by her naked eyes.
"So... this is me."
Sigrid looked up as Em lifted her helmet. The gesture was so simple, but the trust it showed overflowed the small space they were in. Sigrid looked up from her position on the floor, knowing how much this moment had to mean to Em.
The first thing she saw was pale white hair, almost the color of the visor. She lifted the helmet forward, and then turned to look at her. It was almost impossible to read her expression.
The colors of indicator lights danced across her face, joined by Sigrid’s tablet.
“This is you,”
Unlike Creole’s vibrant sunset exterior, the colors inside the cockpit were muted. Greys and blacks, now accompanied by the greens of their clothes. Em’s porcelain face stood out against the darkness like a full moon, as if the light in the cockpit was concentrated on her.
The only place the glow didn’t reach were her eyes, red in a sea of white, which were alight with a different kind of warmth entirely.
“And I am honored that I get to see.”
Em's heart continued trying to beat its way out of her chest. It was just the adrenaline from knowing this exposure to Sigrid could be dangerous, but...
"Um. Right. Linking up."
She gently pulled a cable from an alcove in the ceiling, pulling aside a lock of her hair and plugging it into a port in the base of her skull. This she'd done countless times, it was like tying her boots.
"Initiating VANILLA handshake."
The greens and reds of the consoles within thr cockpit didn't brighten, as they would in a more standard 'mech. But still, Sigrid could hear its engine whining up, the hum of its systems stirring to life.
"Initiated. All systems online."
The activity was immediately apparent to Sigrid, as new diagnostic information rushed across her screen, flying faster even than a ‘Mech’s powerup usually did. Green line after green line shot past.
And then orange in between.
Sigrid stopped the real-time scroll and went back. Orange was a warning. Nothing as serious as a red error, but still worth looking into.
[WARN] RL-H act.comm T-O; Retrying
She scrolled a little further, to see its green counterpart.
[OK] RL-H act.comm established
Nothing too serious then, but still. She re-enabled live monitoring and noticed the orange line kept popping up, every few seconds.
“Em, I’m getting some odd readings here. Can you tell me if Creole’s right hip joint feels off to you?”
The MechWarrior sighs, closing her eyes and looking inwardly. After a moment, she opens them, frowning, and turns around in her seat to look at Sigrid.
"Yeah. It's feeling numb. Like, it's harder to move than normal."
She turns forward, away from Sigrid.
"Can you do anything about it?"
“I believe so. Though it may take a little while to find the root cause. You said an hour or two should be safe, correct?”
On Em’s nod, Sigrid brought up a diagnostic view of not just the log, but Creole’s full operating system. Every node, every subsystem in view. She focused on the right leg, then the hip joint, then the actuator and finally the actuator communication module. The warning came from here.
Representations of logs, configuration files, and adjacent systems all moved under her fingertips until she found the culprit. One of the fields was not configured.
Not a problem, just needed to find the corresponding value in–
Oh.
She looked up at Em sitting above her. She looked serene, more at peace than Sigrid had seen her before. Like she was whole. Sitting here in the cockpit with Creole’s systems idling and Em in the comfortable silence, she looked like she belonged.
“Em?”
She hadn’t wanted to break the quiet, feeling almost like an intruder in this space. She watched Em blink, and then turn to face her again.
“Have you found something?”
“I have, but… I would need some data that’s stored in your implant. There should be a debug port.”
It was a moment before Em answered. Emotions flashed across her face, too hard to read in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it was because neither of them made a sound, or if the climate control was a little louder than before.
“Go ahead.”
Sigrid stood up, hunched in the small cockpit, and took out a bundle of cables. She looked through each one until she found one with a square magnetic connector. She plugged the other end into her tablet and looked back over to Em, still in the same position she was in when she answered the question. On seeing Sigrid with the cable in hand, she leaned forward towards the console.
Sigrid’s voice was gentle and calm. “May I connect to you?”
Em’s reply was steady. “Yes.”
Connector in hand, Sigrid moved aside a lock of pure white hair to expose the port in the base of her skull. The connector snapped into place with a soft click.
It took her only a few taps on her tablet to find the values she was looking for, and just as soon as the connection started, she broke it again, not wanting to expose Em to more risk than was strictly needed.
Data in hand, she adjusted the values where needed and initialized the log. Everything was green across the board.
“How does that feel?”
Em had been touched before. Diagnosed and maintained by technicians, medics and researchers. That wasn't new.
But had she ever been asked? She'd been told plenty of times what to do, people ordered her all the time. Sigrid had asked. That shouldn't make a difference. Why would it make a difference? A touch was a touch, right?
Why did this feel so different?
She froze.
She didn't actually feel anything through her ports - metal can't have nerves running through it - but she could feel Sigrid moving aside her hair, errantly - gently - place a mechanic's calloused thumb on her slender neck, however briefly. It was almost too much sensation. She wanted to apologize, tell her to leave, figure out the issue wth her hip actuator on her own, but-
The actuator. It was responding now, her leg no longer felt numb. All lights inside the cockpit read green, while outside Creole was bathed in the soft white light of the hangar.
"Feels better. I think you fixed it."
She paused, considering her next words. Sigrid had helped her, treated her like an equal. She deserved that in turn. She could stay.
"Is there anything else you need to do while we're here? I'll be fine, I promise."
“I think I have everything I need from Creole and you. Thank you so much for inviting me in.”
Sigrid bundles up her cables and sits down in her spot. Despite the small space, she finds it very easy to breathe here.
“What about you though? Do you have anything you need from me? Or anything you’d like me to look at while we’re here?”
She looks up above her, where Em seems tense. Like she’s oscillating between emotional states extremely quickly. Sigrid reaches her hand up.
Hesitantly, Em reaches her gloved hand back to grip Sigrid's.
"Thank you, Sigrid. I... I don't even know what else to say. I wasn't expecting this warm a welcome. No, I don't think I need anything else."
It's long moments before Em finally releases Sigrid's hand.
"Can you find your way out? I... think I need to be alone in here for a while."
Sigrid nods. “That sounds good. Best to stay as far away from that two-hour mark as we can.”
She stands up and finds the button for the airlock.
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Em.”
She pushes the button and disappears out of view of the cockpit. Through Creole’s eyes Em sees Sigrid gather the tools she left outside and make her way down the gantries. As she reaches Creole’s right foot, she pauses, and a sense of touch reaches her. More vibrant than it did through the glove.
“I’m looking forward to next time,” comes Sigrid’s voice through Creole’s ears.
And with that she disappears beyond the hangar doors.
Sigrid broke off from the pair and headed into the interior of the ship. She experienced this time and time again, the differences in scale between the open air, the almost claustrophobic inner labyrinth of the ship, and the space needed to house a full BattleMech.
The first sign she spotted directed her to her right, and then left. Deeper into the guts of JollyBaby. As she moved further from the outside world, the unique sound texture of the ship became more apparent. Each ship had a voice, a combination of engines, grav-gen, life support, environmental controls, and everything else.
JollyBaby whispered. Her engines were turned off, the hum of the auxiliary generator barely audible. But the rush of fresh air from every vent surprised her. Even outside, in the barely-touched atmosphere of icy Helios the air didn’t feel this crisp. She stopped walking for a moment to take it all in. Was it her imagination, or did the life support really sound different? Like it was working harder and being much more optimized at the same time.
When she resumed her walk, the next crossroads was right ahead. Properly signposted as promised, but for this one she didn’t need it. As soon as she could see into the corridor, she was met with the vibrant oranges and pinks of the Creole.
As she entered the space, she found the pilot as well. Above the cockpit someone was lying down on the ‘Mech, not moving.
“Are you alright?”
She moved the next few steps, looking for a reaction.
“I’m Sigrid. I’m here for the inspection?”
@the-emmapult
"Oh!"
The pilot scrambles to her feet, peering down over the side to see the newcomer. The black-and-purple material of her suit squeaks as she hurries, climbing along the chassis of the Catapult's cockpit to reach a maintenance gantry.
"I'll be right down!"
With quickness and care, she descends the steps that lead to the hangar floor. There, she all-but-runs to stand in front of Sigrid, making what she thinks is a sharp salute. This is not a militarily minded individual.
"Hi! I'm Em! Kim said you'd be here soon, sorry, I should have been ready!"
A pause as she slips back into a neutral pose.
"What's your name? How can I help you?"
"Hi Em, nice to meet you. I'm Sigrid."
She returns the salute, trying her best to copy Em's, and hoping she wouldn't notice Sigrid wasn't a military minded person.
"I'm here to check out Creole. The people in charge would like to get to know her, and I figured the best person to ask would be her pilot. That's you, right? Maybe you could tell me a little about her?"
She motions around the space.
"If you've got a favorite spot to sit, we could have a chat."
"Well, I usually like to sit inside the cockpit, but it's kind of cramped. Are you afraid of heights? We could hang out on top."
She leans back to gaze back at the towering machine, placing her hands on her hips.
"She's like a friend, you know? Always been a part of my life. I took to her really well when I was a kid, and I don't think we've ever been apart for more than a few hours. We haven't been in any actual combat, but we did good on some orbital live-fire exercises. Those were fun!"
She talks as she walks back toward the stairs, motioning for Sigrid to follow.
Sigrid grabbed her toolbox and followed after Em.
"Yeah, I know what it's like to have a 'Mech feel like a part of yourself. Though maybe not to the extent you are, if I read the spec sheet correctly."
She made it to stairs and climbed up after the pilot.
"You said you've been with her since you were a kid? I tested into the militia when I was fifteen. How old were you when you started?"
They make it to the top of the 'Mech and Sigrid hops the gap right after Em to find herself standing between the massive weapon systems.
"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that. It was pretty young, though. You may have noticed, I have some health issues..."
She trails off, perhaps placing more stake in the implication than is realistic.
"Uh. I can't really... go outside, without a filtered suit or in Creole. It's got a cleanroom for a cockpit, so it's kind of my happy place."
Sigrid nods as she places her toolbox down.
"That makes sense. I didn't mean to pry. I'd like to hear if you'd like to tell me, but I won't ask."
She sits down above the cockpit, leaving enough space for Em to be where she was when Sigrid entered the hangar.
"It's very important to have a safe space, a happy place. Creole sounds like she means a lot to you though. Will you tell me about her?"
Sigrid can't see Em's face, but she can tell that it lights up.
"Of course! She's a Catapult CPLT-BW-E, a custom job, and she's very special! As far as I know the only 'pult with any type of e-war systems, and she's pretty unique in being upgraded to modern standards using a mix of clantech and inner-sphere tech. She has a reinforced cockpit and a pretty robust life support system, because, you know, I need a clean room. She's fitted with VANILLA, which is a proprietary vDNI system, and it helps me to 'feel' things when I'm piloting. It's funny, I hear some pilots feel naked when they're not in their mech, but for me it's kind of the opposite. In this suit, it's hard for me to feel much of anything, every sensation is muted. But in Creole I can hear birds, see the sunlight, even feel the breeze on my skin. Not that I've ever felt those things for real, only simulated. I've never operated her in atmosphere before."
Em gesticulates wildly as she excitedly describes the 'mech and how important it is to her. The passion in her voice fills the room.
Sigrid could recognize that body language anywhere. It was exhilarating whenever she could see it on someone else.
"I don't think I've seen a Cat with EWAR suite before, that's going to take some folks by surprise for sure."
Her eyes focus on Em’s face when she mentions the vDNI, listening intently and cycling from excitement to compassion to understanding to empathy.
“It’s… not easy, to always have something between you and the world.” It comes out somewhere between sympathy and an understanding of what it’s like.
“Creole sounds like she’s lucky to have you as a pilot. You care about her a lot, I can tell.
She places her hand down on the metal surface beneath them.
“And I think you’re in good hands with her too. You two make a good team.
She lets the touch linger just a little longer.
“I don’t have any experience piloting with vDNI, I don’t have the hardware for it. But I think you might find this interesting anyway.”
She taps her tablet and shows it to Em. On it is displayed what looks like a well-used neurohelmet with a smattering of dents and the paint is flaking off in spots. Some of the connectors in the back look like they were later additions.
“This is mine. I don’t think I’ve seen another like it. It started life as a technician grade neurohelmet. Great for debugging but much much too sensitive for use in combat. But the amount of control and feedback I get from it is incredible. I’m able to feel every single myomer twitch, every actuator hitch, every jerk in the motion of every single proprioceptive sensor.”
She swipes to the next image.
“And with the extra ports on the back, I can also have OS debug information added to the mix. I usually have those sent to my tablet, but it’s a very useful option to have if I need to keep my eyes elsewhere. Way too sensitive to ever use in combat, of course. But it’s such a good tool for a MechTech to have access to.”
Her hand drifts to her shoulder before she refocuses.
“Speaking of piloting though, you mentioned the cockpit is a clean room, right? How is entry and exit, and are there precautions I need to take if I need to inspect anything there? With your permission, of course.”
Em freezes for a moment, unsure what to say. This woman is a stranger, a new face, but she had shown so much care, so much compassion for both Em and Creole. Something makes her want to show the same care, to let Sigrid into her safest place.
"Uh. Y-yeah! The airlock is around this way, though we'll have to go one at a time.
Em scampers up the armored bulk of her Catapult, leading the MechTech to the entrance of her sanctum. She tugs on the hydraulic valve, pulling open a door not dissimilar to that of bulkheads aboard a DropShip. It opens, revealing a small space, closet sized.
"I'll go in first, and then I'll open the door for you, okay?"
As she speaks, she enters the airlock.
"I should be fine as long as you haven't been sick in the last week. For an hour or two at least."
The door closed in front of Sigrid and for a moment she found herself alone in the hangar with only Creole. The vibrant oranges and pinks reminded her of a sunset in the dim lighting aboard the JollyBaby. Soft clicks sounded from the airlock as it cycled. When the outer door opened again, Em had disappeared inside.
Sigrid had looked over the specifications and knew that space was likely at a premium inside the cockpit. She left her tools outside, and only took a few things into the airlock.
When the inner door opened, she found herself inside the small cockpit. It was dimly lit, even compared to the lighting conditions inside the JollyBaby’s hangar. There was no light coming into the space from the outside. Where she had expected the forward canopy windows to be, there were controls and displays. Windows were probably not needed when piloting with a direct interface.
The pilot’s seat and console took up the majority of the space available, with only a small pathway leading from the inner airlock door to the seat. There wasn’t much space, but Sigrid was able to sit down on the floor, her back resting against the side of the console. When she looked up she could see Em working through the diagnostic startup sequence. The indicator lights reflected off her helmet’s opaque visor, interrupted only when her hands danced between her and the lights.
“Em?”
The dance stopped, and her head turned down to face Sigrid.
“May I plug in my tablet to see the log files?”
"Please, be my guest."
Her voice had changed, possessing a surety that the girl outside could only dream of.
“Thank you.”
Sigrid connected her cable to the port and watched as the log files flowed in. Line after line flowed in with perfect green status indicators, all matching what was on the documents she’d been given. The occasional blue information lines were all routine.
Em continued her sequence, Sigrid’s tablet now joining the lights reflected on her visor.
The logs stopped, and a single message was displayed.
Self-test: OK Pass: 100% Fail: 0% Ready for VANILLA uplink
Sigrid looks up at Em and smiles. "I'm ready for you to link up, Em. Will you show me?"
Em let out a deep sigh. She could do this. She needed to for the diagnostic, right? That her heart was racing just meant that she was excited about that. Right?
"Okay."
Slowly, carefully, her hands rose to the collar of her suit, adjusting the clasp that sealed her helmet on with a hiss of air. Then, her hands went higher, gripping the dome and lifting it. Lifting until the interior of the cockpit wasn't filtered by glass, until it was perceived only by her naked eyes.
"So... this is me."
Sigrid looked up as Em lifted her helmet. The gesture was so simple, but the trust it showed overflowed the small space they were in. Sigrid looked up from her position on the floor, knowing how much this moment had to mean to Em.
The first thing she saw was pale white hair, almost the color of the visor. She lifted the helmet forward, and then turned to look at her. It was almost impossible to read her expression.
The colors of indicator lights danced across her face, joined by Sigrid’s tablet.
“This is you,”
Unlike Creole’s vibrant sunset exterior, the colors inside the cockpit were muted. Greys and blacks, now accompanied by the greens of their clothes. Em’s porcelain face stood out against the darkness like a full moon, as if the light in the cockpit was concentrated on her.
The only place the glow didn’t reach were her eyes, red in a sea of white, which were alight with a different kind of warmth entirely.
“And I am honored that I get to see.”
Em's heart continued trying to beat its way out of her chest. It was just the adrenaline from knowing this exposure to Sigrid could be dangerous, but...
"Um. Right. Linking up."
She gently pulled a cable from an alcove in the ceiling, pulling aside a lock of her hair and plugging it into a port in the base of her skull. This she'd done countless times, it was like tying her boots.
"Initiating VANILLA handshake."
The greens and reds of the consoles within thr cockpit didn't brighten, as they would in a more standard 'mech. But still, Sigrid could hear its engine whining up, the hum of its systems stirring to life.
"Initiated. All systems online."
The activity was immediately apparent to Sigrid, as new diagnostic information rushed across her screen, flying faster even than a ‘Mech’s powerup usually did. Green line after green line shot past.
And then orange in between.
Sigrid stopped the real-time scroll and went back. Orange was a warning. Nothing as serious as a red error, but still worth looking into.
[WARN] RL-H act.comm T-O; Retrying
She scrolled a little further, to see its green counterpart.
[OK] RL-H act.comm established
Nothing too serious then, but still. She re-enabled live monitoring and noticed the orange line kept popping up, every few seconds.
“Em, I’m getting some odd readings here. Can you tell me if Creole’s right hip joint feels off to you?”
The MechWarrior sighs, closing her eyes and looking inwardly. After a moment, she opens them, frowning, and turns around in her seat to look at Sigrid.
"Yeah. It's feeling numb. Like, it's harder to move than normal."
She turns forward, away from Sigrid.
"Can you do anything about it?"
“I believe so. Though it may take a little while to find the root cause. You said an hour or two should be safe, correct?”
On Em’s nod, Sigrid brought up a diagnostic view of not just the log, but Creole’s full operating system. Every node, every subsystem in view. She focused on the right leg, then the hip joint, then the actuator and finally the actuator communication module. The warning came from here.
Representations of logs, configuration files, and adjacent systems all moved under her fingertips until she found the culprit. One of the fields was not configured.
Not a problem, just needed to find the corresponding value in–
Oh.
She looked up at Em sitting above her. She looked serene, more at peace than Sigrid had seen her before. Like she was whole. Sitting here in the cockpit with Creole’s systems idling and Em in the comfortable silence, she looked like she belonged.
“Em?”
She hadn’t wanted to break the quiet, feeling almost like an intruder in this space. She watched Em blink, and then turn to face her again.
“Have you found something?”
“I have, but… I would need some data that’s stored in your implant. There should be a debug port.”
It was a moment before Em answered. Emotions flashed across her face, too hard to read in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it was because neither of them made a sound, or if the climate control was a little louder than before.
“Go ahead.”
Sigrid stood up, hunched in the small cockpit, and took out a bundle of cables. She looked through each one until she found one with a square magnetic connector. She plugged the other end into her tablet and looked back over to Em, still in the same position she was in when she answered the question. On seeing Sigrid with the cable in hand, she leaned forward towards the console.
Sigrid’s voice was gentle and calm. “May I connect to you?”
Em’s reply was steady. “Yes.”
Connector in hand, Sigrid moved aside a lock of pure white hair to expose the port in the base of her skull. The connector snapped into place with a soft click.
It took her only a few taps on her tablet to find the values she was looking for, and just as soon as the connection started, she broke it again, not wanting to expose Em to more risk than was strictly needed.
Data in hand, she adjusted the values where needed and initialized the log. Everything was green across the board.
“How does that feel?”
Em had been touched before. Diagnosed and maintained by technicians, medics and researchers. That wasn't new.
But had she ever been asked? She'd been told plenty of times what to do, people ordered her all the time. Sigrid had asked. That shouldn't make a difference. Why would it make a difference? A touch was a touch, right?
Why did this feel so different?
She froze.
She didn't actually feel anything through her ports - metal can't have nerves running through it - but she could feel Sigrid moving aside her hair, errantly - gently - place a mechanic's calloused thumb on her slender neck, however briefly. It was almost too much sensation. She wanted to apologize, tell her to leave, figure out the issue wth her hip actuator on her own, but-
The actuator. It was responding now, her leg no longer felt numb. All lights inside the cockpit read green, while outside Creole was bathed in the soft white light of the hangar.
"Feels better. I think you fixed it."
She paused, considering her next words. Sigrid had helped her, treated her like an equal. She deserved that in turn. She could stay.
"Is there anything else you need to do while we're here? I'll be fine, I promise."
“I think I have everything I need from Creole and you. Thank you so much for inviting me in.”
Sigrid bundles up her cables and sits down in her spot. Despite the small space, she finds it very easy to breathe here.
“What about you though? Do you have anything you need from me? Or anything you’d like me to look at while we’re here?”
She looks up above her, where Em seems tense. Like she’s oscillating between emotional states extremely quickly. Sigrid reaches her hand up.
Sigrid broke off from the pair and headed into the interior of the ship. She experienced this time and time again, the differences in scale between the open air, the almost claustrophobic inner labyrinth of the ship, and the space needed to house a full BattleMech.
The first sign she spotted directed her to her right, and then left. Deeper into the guts of JollyBaby. As she moved further from the outside world, the unique sound texture of the ship became more apparent. Each ship had a voice, a combination of engines, grav-gen, life support, environmental controls, and everything else.
JollyBaby whispered. Her engines were turned off, the hum of the auxiliary generator barely audible. But the rush of fresh air from every vent surprised her. Even outside, in the barely-touched atmosphere of icy Helios the air didn’t feel this crisp. She stopped walking for a moment to take it all in. Was it her imagination, or did the life support really sound different? Like it was working harder and being much more optimized at the same time.
When she resumed her walk, the next crossroads was right ahead. Properly signposted as promised, but for this one she didn’t need it. As soon as she could see into the corridor, she was met with the vibrant oranges and pinks of the Creole.
As she entered the space, she found the pilot as well. Above the cockpit someone was lying down on the ‘Mech, not moving.
“Are you alright?”
She moved the next few steps, looking for a reaction.
“I’m Sigrid. I’m here for the inspection?”
@the-emmapult
"Oh!"
The pilot scrambles to her feet, peering down over the side to see the newcomer. The black-and-purple material of her suit squeaks as she hurries, climbing along the chassis of the Catapult's cockpit to reach a maintenance gantry.
"I'll be right down!"
With quickness and care, she descends the steps that lead to the hangar floor. There, she all-but-runs to stand in front of Sigrid, making what she thinks is a sharp salute. This is not a militarily minded individual.
"Hi! I'm Em! Kim said you'd be here soon, sorry, I should have been ready!"
A pause as she slips back into a neutral pose.
"What's your name? How can I help you?"
"Hi Em, nice to meet you. I'm Sigrid."
She returns the salute, trying her best to copy Em's, and hoping she wouldn't notice Sigrid wasn't a military minded person.
"I'm here to check out Creole. The people in charge would like to get to know her, and I figured the best person to ask would be her pilot. That's you, right? Maybe you could tell me a little about her?"
She motions around the space.
"If you've got a favorite spot to sit, we could have a chat."
"Well, I usually like to sit inside the cockpit, but it's kind of cramped. Are you afraid of heights? We could hang out on top."
She leans back to gaze back at the towering machine, placing her hands on her hips.
"She's like a friend, you know? Always been a part of my life. I took to her really well when I was a kid, and I don't think we've ever been apart for more than a few hours. We haven't been in any actual combat, but we did good on some orbital live-fire exercises. Those were fun!"
She talks as she walks back toward the stairs, motioning for Sigrid to follow.
Sigrid grabbed her toolbox and followed after Em.
"Yeah, I know what it's like to have a 'Mech feel like a part of yourself. Though maybe not to the extent you are, if I read the spec sheet correctly."
She made it to stairs and climbed up after the pilot.
"You said you've been with her since you were a kid? I tested into the militia when I was fifteen. How old were you when you started?"
They make it to the top of the 'Mech and Sigrid hops the gap right after Em to find herself standing between the massive weapon systems.
"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that. It was pretty young, though. You may have noticed, I have some health issues..."
She trails off, perhaps placing more stake in the implication than is realistic.
"Uh. I can't really... go outside, without a filtered suit or in Creole. It's got a cleanroom for a cockpit, so it's kind of my happy place."
Sigrid nods as she places her toolbox down.
"That makes sense. I didn't mean to pry. I'd like to hear if you'd like to tell me, but I won't ask."
She sits down above the cockpit, leaving enough space for Em to be where she was when Sigrid entered the hangar.
"It's very important to have a safe space, a happy place. Creole sounds like she means a lot to you though. Will you tell me about her?"
Sigrid can't see Em's face, but she can tell that it lights up.
"Of course! She's a Catapult CPLT-BW-E, a custom job, and she's very special! As far as I know the only 'pult with any type of e-war systems, and she's pretty unique in being upgraded to modern standards using a mix of clantech and inner-sphere tech. She has a reinforced cockpit and a pretty robust life support system, because, you know, I need a clean room. She's fitted with VANILLA, which is a proprietary vDNI system, and it helps me to 'feel' things when I'm piloting. It's funny, I hear some pilots feel naked when they're not in their mech, but for me it's kind of the opposite. In this suit, it's hard for me to feel much of anything, every sensation is muted. But in Creole I can hear birds, see the sunlight, even feel the breeze on my skin. Not that I've ever felt those things for real, only simulated. I've never operated her in atmosphere before."
Em gesticulates wildly as she excitedly describes the 'mech and how important it is to her. The passion in her voice fills the room.
Sigrid could recognize that body language anywhere. It was exhilarating whenever she could see it on someone else.
"I don't think I've seen a Cat with EWAR suite before, that's going to take some folks by surprise for sure."
Her eyes focus on Em’s face when she mentions the vDNI, listening intently and cycling from excitement to compassion to understanding to empathy.
“It’s… not easy, to always have something between you and the world.” It comes out somewhere between sympathy and an understanding of what it’s like.
“Creole sounds like she’s lucky to have you as a pilot. You care about her a lot, I can tell.
She places her hand down on the metal surface beneath them.
“And I think you’re in good hands with her too. You two make a good team.
She lets the touch linger just a little longer.
“I don’t have any experience piloting with vDNI, I don’t have the hardware for it. But I think you might find this interesting anyway.”
She taps her tablet and shows it to Em. On it is displayed what looks like a well-used neurohelmet with a smattering of dents and the paint is flaking off in spots. Some of the connectors in the back look like they were later additions.
“This is mine. I don’t think I’ve seen another like it. It started life as a technician grade neurohelmet. Great for debugging but much much too sensitive for use in combat. But the amount of control and feedback I get from it is incredible. I’m able to feel every single myomer twitch, every actuator hitch, every jerk in the motion of every single proprioceptive sensor.”
She swipes to the next image.
“And with the extra ports on the back, I can also have OS debug information added to the mix. I usually have those sent to my tablet, but it’s a very useful option to have if I need to keep my eyes elsewhere. Way too sensitive to ever use in combat, of course. But it’s such a good tool for a MechTech to have access to.”
Her hand drifts to her shoulder before she refocuses.
“Speaking of piloting though, you mentioned the cockpit is a clean room, right? How is entry and exit, and are there precautions I need to take if I need to inspect anything there? With your permission, of course.”
Em freezes for a moment, unsure what to say. This woman is a stranger, a new face, but she had shown so much care, so much compassion for both Em and Creole. Something makes her want to show the same care, to let Sigrid into her safest place.
"Uh. Y-yeah! The airlock is around this way, though we'll have to go one at a time.
Em scampers up the armored bulk of her Catapult, leading the MechTech to the entrance of her sanctum. She tugs on the hydraulic valve, pulling open a door not dissimilar to that of bulkheads aboard a DropShip. It opens, revealing a small space, closet sized.
"I'll go in first, and then I'll open the door for you, okay?"
As she speaks, she enters the airlock.
"I should be fine as long as you haven't been sick in the last week. For an hour or two at least."
The door closed in front of Sigrid and for a moment she found herself alone in the hangar with only Creole. The vibrant oranges and pinks reminded her of a sunset in the dim lighting aboard the JollyBaby. Soft clicks sounded from the airlock as it cycled. When the outer door opened again, Em had disappeared inside.
Sigrid had looked over the specifications and knew that space was likely at a premium inside the cockpit. She left her tools outside, and only took a few things into the airlock.
When the inner door opened, she found herself inside the small cockpit. It was dimly lit, even compared to the lighting conditions inside the JollyBaby’s hangar. There was no light coming into the space from the outside. Where she had expected the forward canopy windows to be, there were controls and displays. Windows were probably not needed when piloting with a direct interface.
The pilot’s seat and console took up the majority of the space available, with only a small pathway leading from the inner airlock door to the seat. There wasn’t much space, but Sigrid was able to sit down on the floor, her back resting against the side of the console. When she looked up she could see Em working through the diagnostic startup sequence. The indicator lights reflected off her helmet’s opaque visor, interrupted only when her hands danced between her and the lights.
“Em?”
The dance stopped, and her head turned down to face Sigrid.
“May I plug in my tablet to see the log files?”
"Please, be my guest."
Her voice had changed, possessing a surety that the girl outside could only dream of.
“Thank you.”
Sigrid connected her cable to the port and watched as the log files flowed in. Line after line flowed in with perfect green status indicators, all matching what was on the documents she’d been given. The occasional blue information lines were all routine.
Em continued her sequence, Sigrid’s tablet now joining the lights reflected on her visor.
The logs stopped, and a single message was displayed.
Self-test: OK Pass: 100% Fail: 0% Ready for VANILLA uplink
Sigrid looks up at Em and smiles. "I'm ready for you to link up, Em. Will you show me?"
Em let out a deep sigh. She could do this. She needed to for the diagnostic, right? That her heart was racing just meant that she was excited about that. Right?
"Okay."
Slowly, carefully, her hands rose to the collar of her suit, adjusting the clasp that sealed her helmet on with a hiss of air. Then, her hands went higher, gripping the dome and lifting it. Lifting until the interior of the cockpit wasn't filtered by glass, until it was perceived only by her naked eyes.
"So... this is me."
Sigrid looked up as Em lifted her helmet. The gesture was so simple, but the trust it showed overflowed the small space they were in. Sigrid looked up from her position on the floor, knowing how much this moment had to mean to Em.
The first thing she saw was pale white hair, almost the color of the visor. She lifted the helmet forward, and then turned to look at her. It was almost impossible to read her expression.
The colors of indicator lights danced across her face, joined by Sigrid’s tablet.
“This is you,”
Unlike Creole’s vibrant sunset exterior, the colors inside the cockpit were muted. Greys and blacks, now accompanied by the greens of their clothes. Em’s porcelain face stood out against the darkness like a full moon, as if the light in the cockpit was concentrated on her.
The only place the glow didn’t reach were her eyes, red in a sea of white, which were alight with a different kind of warmth entirely.
“And I am honored that I get to see.”
Em's heart continued trying to beat its way out of her chest. It was just the adrenaline from knowing this exposure to Sigrid could be dangerous, but...
"Um. Right. Linking up."
She gently pulled a cable from an alcove in the ceiling, pulling aside a lock of her hair and plugging it into a port in the base of her skull. This she'd done countless times, it was like tying her boots.
"Initiating VANILLA handshake."
The greens and reds of the consoles within thr cockpit didn't brighten, as they would in a more standard 'mech. But still, Sigrid could hear its engine whining up, the hum of its systems stirring to life.
"Initiated. All systems online."
The activity was immediately apparent to Sigrid, as new diagnostic information rushed across her screen, flying faster even than a ‘Mech’s powerup usually did. Green line after green line shot past.
And then orange in between.
Sigrid stopped the real-time scroll and went back. Orange was a warning. Nothing as serious as a red error, but still worth looking into.
[WARN] RL-H act.comm T-O; Retrying
She scrolled a little further, to see its green counterpart.
[OK] RL-H act.comm established
Nothing too serious then, but still. She re-enabled live monitoring and noticed the orange line kept popping up, every few seconds.
“Em, I’m getting some odd readings here. Can you tell me if Creole’s right hip joint feels off to you?”
The MechWarrior sighs, closing her eyes and looking inwardly. After a moment, she opens them, frowning, and turns around in her seat to look at Sigrid.
"Yeah. It's feeling numb. Like, it's harder to move than normal."
She turns forward, away from Sigrid.
"Can you do anything about it?"
“I believe so. Though it may take a little while to find the root cause. You said an hour or two should be safe, correct?”
On Em’s nod, Sigrid brought up a diagnostic view of not just the log, but Creole’s full operating system. Every node, every subsystem in view. She focused on the right leg, then the hip joint, then the actuator and finally the actuator communication module. The warning came from here.
Representations of logs, configuration files, and adjacent systems all moved under her fingertips until she found the culprit. One of the fields was not configured.
Not a problem, just needed to find the corresponding value in–
Oh.
She looked up at Em sitting above her. She looked serene, more at peace than Sigrid had seen her before. Like she was whole. Sitting here in the cockpit with Creole’s systems idling and Em in the comfortable silence, she looked like she belonged.
“Em?”
She hadn’t wanted to break the quiet, feeling almost like an intruder in this space. She watched Em blink, and then turn to face her again.
“Have you found something?”
“I have, but… I would need some data that’s stored in your implant. There should be a debug port.”
It was a moment before Em answered. Emotions flashed across her face, too hard to read in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it was because neither of them made a sound, or if the climate control was a little louder than before.
“Go ahead.”
Sigrid stood up, hunched in the small cockpit, and took out a bundle of cables. She looked through each one until she found one with a square magnetic connector. She plugged the other end into her tablet and looked back over to Em, still in the same position she was in when she answered the question. On seeing Sigrid with the cable in hand, she leaned forward towards the console.
Sigrid’s voice was gentle and calm. “May I connect to you?”
Em’s reply was steady. “Yes.”
Connector in hand, Sigrid moved aside a lock of pure white hair to expose the port in the base of her skull. The connector snapped into place with a soft click.
It took her only a few taps on her tablet to find the values she was looking for, and just as soon as the connection started, she broke it again, not wanting to expose Em to more risk than was strictly needed.
Data in hand, she adjusted the values where needed and initialized the log. Everything was green across the board.
“How does that feel?”
Sigrid broke off from the pair and headed into the interior of the ship. She experienced this time and time again, the differences in scale between the open air, the almost claustrophobic inner labyrinth of the ship, and the space needed to house a full BattleMech.
The first sign she spotted directed her to her right, and then left. Deeper into the guts of JollyBaby. As she moved further from the outside world, the unique sound texture of the ship became more apparent. Each ship had a voice, a combination of engines, grav-gen, life support, environmental controls, and everything else.
JollyBaby whispered. Her engines were turned off, the hum of the auxiliary generator barely audible. But the rush of fresh air from every vent surprised her. Even outside, in the barely-touched atmosphere of icy Helios the air didn’t feel this crisp. She stopped walking for a moment to take it all in. Was it her imagination, or did the life support really sound different? Like it was working harder and being much more optimized at the same time.
When she resumed her walk, the next crossroads was right ahead. Properly signposted as promised, but for this one she didn’t need it. As soon as she could see into the corridor, she was met with the vibrant oranges and pinks of the Creole.
As she entered the space, she found the pilot as well. Above the cockpit someone was lying down on the ‘Mech, not moving.
“Are you alright?”
She moved the next few steps, looking for a reaction.
“I’m Sigrid. I’m here for the inspection?”
@the-emmapult
"Oh!"
The pilot scrambles to her feet, peering down over the side to see the newcomer. The black-and-purple material of her suit squeaks as she hurries, climbing along the chassis of the Catapult's cockpit to reach a maintenance gantry.
"I'll be right down!"
With quickness and care, she descends the steps that lead to the hangar floor. There, she all-but-runs to stand in front of Sigrid, making what she thinks is a sharp salute. This is not a militarily minded individual.
"Hi! I'm Em! Kim said you'd be here soon, sorry, I should have been ready!"
A pause as she slips back into a neutral pose.
"What's your name? How can I help you?"
"Hi Em, nice to meet you. I'm Sigrid."
She returns the salute, trying her best to copy Em's, and hoping she wouldn't notice Sigrid wasn't a military minded person.
"I'm here to check out Creole. The people in charge would like to get to know her, and I figured the best person to ask would be her pilot. That's you, right? Maybe you could tell me a little about her?"
She motions around the space.
"If you've got a favorite spot to sit, we could have a chat."
"Well, I usually like to sit inside the cockpit, but it's kind of cramped. Are you afraid of heights? We could hang out on top."
She leans back to gaze back at the towering machine, placing her hands on her hips.
"She's like a friend, you know? Always been a part of my life. I took to her really well when I was a kid, and I don't think we've ever been apart for more than a few hours. We haven't been in any actual combat, but we did good on some orbital live-fire exercises. Those were fun!"
She talks as she walks back toward the stairs, motioning for Sigrid to follow.
Sigrid grabbed her toolbox and followed after Em.
"Yeah, I know what it's like to have a 'Mech feel like a part of yourself. Though maybe not to the extent you are, if I read the spec sheet correctly."
She made it to stairs and climbed up after the pilot.
"You said you've been with her since you were a kid? I tested into the militia when I was fifteen. How old were you when you started?"
They make it to the top of the 'Mech and Sigrid hops the gap right after Em to find herself standing between the massive weapon systems.
"Oh, uh. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable talking about that. It was pretty young, though. You may have noticed, I have some health issues..."
She trails off, perhaps placing more stake in the implication than is realistic.
"Uh. I can't really... go outside, without a filtered suit or in Creole. It's got a cleanroom for a cockpit, so it's kind of my happy place."
Sigrid nods as she places her toolbox down.
"That makes sense. I didn't mean to pry. I'd like to hear if you'd like to tell me, but I won't ask."
She sits down above the cockpit, leaving enough space for Em to be where she was when Sigrid entered the hangar.
"It's very important to have a safe space, a happy place. Creole sounds like she means a lot to you though. Will you tell me about her?"
Sigrid can't see Em's face, but she can tell that it lights up.
"Of course! She's a Catapult CPLT-BW-E, a custom job, and she's very special! As far as I know the only 'pult with any type of e-war systems, and she's pretty unique in being upgraded to modern standards using a mix of clantech and inner-sphere tech. She has a reinforced cockpit and a pretty robust life support system, because, you know, I need a clean room. She's fitted with VANILLA, which is a proprietary vDNI system, and it helps me to 'feel' things when I'm piloting. It's funny, I hear some pilots feel naked when they're not in their mech, but for me it's kind of the opposite. In this suit, it's hard for me to feel much of anything, every sensation is muted. But in Creole I can hear birds, see the sunlight, even feel the breeze on my skin. Not that I've ever felt those things for real, only simulated. I've never operated her in atmosphere before."
Em gesticulates wildly as she excitedly describes the 'mech and how important it is to her. The passion in her voice fills the room.
Sigrid could recognize that body language anywhere. It was exhilarating whenever she could see it on someone else.
"I don't think I've seen a Cat with EWAR suite before, that's going to take some folks by surprise for sure."
Her eyes focus on Em’s face when she mentions the vDNI, listening intently and cycling from excitement to compassion to understanding to empathy.
“It’s… not easy, to always have something between you and the world.” It comes out somewhere between sympathy and an understanding of what it’s like.
“Creole sounds like she’s lucky to have you as a pilot. You care about her a lot, I can tell.
She places her hand down on the metal surface beneath them.
“And I think you’re in good hands with her too. You two make a good team.
She lets the touch linger just a little longer.
“I don’t have any experience piloting with vDNI, I don’t have the hardware for it. But I think you might find this interesting anyway.”
She taps her tablet and shows it to Em. On it is displayed what looks like a well-used neurohelmet with a smattering of dents and the paint is flaking off in spots. Some of the connectors in the back look like they were later additions.
“This is mine. I don’t think I’ve seen another like it. It started life as a technician grade neurohelmet. Great for debugging but much much too sensitive for use in combat. But the amount of control and feedback I get from it is incredible. I’m able to feel every single myomer twitch, every actuator hitch, every jerk in the motion of every single proprioceptive sensor.”
She swipes to the next image.
“And with the extra ports on the back, I can also have OS debug information added to the mix. I usually have those sent to my tablet, but it’s a very useful option to have if I need to keep my eyes elsewhere. Way too sensitive to ever use in combat, of course. But it’s such a good tool for a MechTech to have access to.”
Her hand drifts to her shoulder before she refocuses.
“Speaking of piloting though, you mentioned the cockpit is a clean room, right? How is entry and exit, and are there precautions I need to take if I need to inspect anything there? With your permission, of course.”
Em freezes for a moment, unsure what to say. This woman is a stranger, a new face, but she had shown so much care, so much compassion for both Em and Creole. Something makes her want to show the same care, to let Sigrid into her safest place.
"Uh. Y-yeah! The airlock is around this way, though we'll have to go one at a time.
Em scampers up the armored bulk of her Catapult, leading the MechTech to the entrance of her sanctum. She tugs on the hydraulic valve, pulling open a door not dissimilar to that of bulkheads aboard a DropShip. It opens, revealing a small space, closet sized.
"I'll go in first, and then I'll open the door for you, okay?"
As she speaks, she enters the airlock.
"I should be fine as long as you haven't been sick in the last week. For an hour or two at least."
The door closed in front of Sigrid and for a moment she found herself alone in the hangar with only Creole. The vibrant oranges and pinks reminded her of a sunset in the dim lighting aboard the JollyBaby. Soft clicks sounded from the airlock as it cycled. When the outer door opened again, Em had disappeared inside.
Sigrid had looked over the specifications and knew that space was likely at a premium inside the cockpit. She left her tools outside, and only took a few things into the airlock.
When the inner door opened, she found herself inside the small cockpit. It was dimly lit, even compared to the lighting conditions inside the JollyBaby’s hangar. There was no light coming into the space from the outside. Where she had expected the forward canopy windows to be, there were controls and displays. Windows were probably not needed when piloting with a direct interface.
The pilot’s seat and console took up the majority of the space available, with only a small pathway leading from the inner airlock door to the seat. There wasn’t much space, but Sigrid was able to sit down on the floor, her back resting against the side of the console. When she looked up she could see Em working through the diagnostic startup sequence. The indicator lights reflected off her helmet’s opaque visor, interrupted only when her hands danced between her and the lights.
“Em?”
The dance stopped, and her head turned down to face Sigrid.
“May I plug in my tablet to see the log files?”
"Please, be my guest."
Her voice had changed, possessing a surety that the girl outside could only dream of.
“Thank you.”
Sigrid connected her cable to the port and watched as the log files flowed in. Line after line flowed in with perfect green status indicators, all matching what was on the documents she’d been given. The occasional blue information lines were all routine.
Em continued her sequence, Sigrid’s tablet now joining the lights reflected on her visor.
The logs stopped, and a single message was displayed.
Self-test: OK Pass: 100% Fail: 0% Ready for VANILLA uplink
Sigrid looks up at Em and smiles. "I'm ready for you to link up, Em. Will you show me?"
Em let out a deep sigh. She could do this. She needed to for the diagnostic, right? That her heart was racing just meant that she was excited about that. Right?
"Okay."
Slowly, carefully, her hands rose to the collar of her suit, adjusting the clasp that sealed her helmet on with a hiss of air. Then, her hands went higher, gripping the dome and lifting it. Lifting until the interior of the cockpit wasn't filtered by glass, until it was perceived only by her naked eyes.
"So... this is me."
Sigrid looked up as Em lifted her helmet. The gesture was so simple, but the trust it showed overflowed the small space they were in. Sigrid looked up from her position on the floor, knowing how much this moment had to mean to Em.
The first thing she saw was pale white hair, almost the color of the visor. She lifted the helmet forward, and then turned to look at her. It was almost impossible to read her expression.
The colors of indicator lights danced across her face, joined by Sigrid’s tablet.
“This is you,”
Unlike Creole’s vibrant sunset exterior, the colors inside the cockpit were muted. Greys and blacks, now accompanied by the greens of their clothes. Em’s porcelain face stood out against the darkness like a full moon, as if the light in the cockpit was concentrated on her.
The only place the glow didn’t reach were her eyes, red in a sea of white, which were alight with a different kind of warmth entirely.
“And I am honored that I get to see.”
Em's heart continued trying to beat its way out of her chest. It was just the adrenaline from knowing this exposure to Sigrid could be dangerous, but...
"Um. Right. Linking up."
She gently pulled a cable from an alcove in the ceiling, pulling aside a lock of her hair and plugging it into a port in the base of her skull. This she'd done countless times, it was like tying her boots.
"Initiating VANILLA handshake."
The greens and reds of the consoles within thr cockpit didn't brighten, as they would in a more standard 'mech. But still, Sigrid could hear its engine whining up, the hum of its systems stirring to life.
"Initiated. All systems online."
The activity was immediately apparent to Sigrid, as new diagnostic information rushed across her screen, flying faster even than a ‘Mech’s powerup usually did. Green line after green line shot past.
And then orange in between.
Sigrid stopped the real-time scroll and went back. Orange was a warning. Nothing as serious as a red error, but still worth looking into.
[WARN] RL-H act.comm T-O; Retrying
She scrolled a little further, to see its green counterpart.
[OK] RL-H act.comm established
Nothing too serious then, but still. She re-enabled live monitoring and noticed the orange line kept popping up, every few seconds.
“Em, I’m getting some odd readings here. Can you tell me if Creole’s right hip joint feels off to you?”
