Lummatii
Lothian League
Marian Hegemony
The Periphery
12 May, 3149
Freyja found herself in the cavernous Mech garage at the back of the estate. Truthfully, she had completed most of the maintenance routines on the Phoenix Hawk earlier in the week, but there was always plenty of work that she could do and checks that could be performed. The Hawk probably should have been mothballed for the time that it was inactive, and she was still finding the odd quirk here or there that would cause minor issues in the field. The weapons, of course, were offline and the targeting and tracking system was locked down, so those could be in any state of disrepair for all she knew. Perhaps one day she would earn enough trust to have them reactivated and tested.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you, Miss Freyja."
She turned to face her visitor, setting the data pad on the nearby workbench. "Interrupting the reading of actuator performance data readouts can't ever really be considered a disturbance, master Peter. I was wondering how long it was going to take you to sneak off and make your way down here to the bay."
He smiled sheepishly. "It wasn't hard, father is pretty tied up with logistics this time of the year. Paperwork now is paperwork saved later on, or so he always tells me."
She nodded in the direction of the readout she had been studying. "There's always more paperwork later. Always. But that can wait. I've got to take her out to get some data on the jump jets and the heat management system. Neither of them gets taxed very much with the work we use it for. Tag along?"
"Couldn't keep me away."
She pulled off her overshirt and tossed it on top of the workbench, then looked at Peter. "You're going to boil alive in that. I think there's some old astech shorts laying around in one of the lockers. There's a spare cooling vest up in the cockpit. I'll get her warmed up, climb on up when you're ready."
As he scurried off to change, she climbed up to the cockpit and began the initialization sequence. She had the fusion reactor up and running and was halfway through the pre-op checklist when a lanky form climbed through the access hatch and moved up beside her.
"Sorry it took so long. They don't fit too well, but I wasn't going to run back into the house to get something else." His eagerness was almost infectious, reminding her of when she'd first learned to pilot a Mech years ago.
She glanced at the ill-fitting shorts as he struggled into the auxiliary cooling vest and laughed softly. "Don't worry, Mech cockpits aren't exactly the place for modesty." As she spoke, he stood abruptly and hit his head on the cockpit wall. "Or moving around. Get strapped in, and make sure your cooling vest is plugged into the heat sinking system. I don't want you passing out on me or anything."
"Don't worry about me. I've done this a thousand times in my head." She could feel the boy practically jumping out of the seat with anticipation.
She throttled the Mech forward, and turned her head in his direction once they were clear of the bay doors. "A million times in your head won't prepare you for the first time you do it for real. The heat inside the cockpit is going to get pretty bad at times here, I'm testing the cooling system, so I'm going to take some of the heat sinks off-line in sequence to isolate them, get some readings on their efficiency. They haven't been really taxed in years, what with the weapons offline. Let me know if you're feeling sick or anything, I can dial it back a bit. Trust me, neither of us wants you being sick while we're cooped up in this tight space."
She put the Mech through it's paces, at each interval making sure that the DI Computer was recording and tagging the results. She took certain of the heat sinks offline in a pre-planned pattern, then taxed the cooling system by activating the jump jets to drive the heat levels up. By the time, she had completed all the tests, it was nearing dark.
"We're about five klicks out from the estate now, and I'm done running the pattern I had programmed in. We should be heading back now." She throttled the Phoenix Hawk down and locked it into a standing position, then flipped a few switches and set the mech into a standby mode. She pulled off her neurohelmet and turned to face her passenger. "You want to take her back?"
The color momentarily drained from the boy's face, and his eyes widened. "You....you mean?"
She smiled broadly. "Yes, I mean you pilot her back to the barn. It's a straight run, no tricky terrain. I mean, if you'd rather I-" He was out of his seat before she could finish her sentence. "Alright, slow and easy is the name of the game here. There's nothing complicated, but I don't want to have to explain fall damage to your father when we get back, you understand?"
"Not a scratch, I promise!"
They began switching seats, and she knelt beside the command couch. "Alright, get the neurohelmet on and comfortable. Comfort is the key. I've got a generic test pattern programmed into the DI com that shouldn't give you too much trouble, but it's going to be an odd sensation, don't try to do anything until I tell you."
"I get it. You're the boss. I just want to get it moving. I mean, I didn't expect I was going to be piloting tonight or anything." She could tell that his nerves were beginning to kick in, ever so slightly pushing back the initial wave of enthusiasm and replacing it with apprehension.
She put her hand on his shoulder. "Look, you'll do fine. Understand your limits, but enjoy it. Think of it like your first time having sex, it's going to be awkward, you'll probably make mistakes, but it will be a feeling like no other and you'll remember it for the rest of your life. Understand?"
"Right. Just like that".
She hid her smile as she realized from his awkward gulp and flushing cheeks that perhaps she shouldn't have used that particular analogy. "Alright, I'm going to cut in the neuro-feedback system. You'll probably feel a slight wave of dizziness, maybe hear a buzzing or a ringing at first, but it will die down. The Mech is still locked in standby, so you don't have to worry about keeping her upright, just focus on getting accustomed to the feel of the feedback."
She flipped the switch and watched as a smile slowly grew on the boys face. "Wow, it's....it's like...intense but not. I know that sounds weird, it's just..."
"It's not, just soak it in. Let it become a part of you, wrap around you. It will be second nature before you know it. For now, it's baby steps. Now, I want you to flip the lock controls. It's that switch right there. Once you throw it, the myomer fibers and actuators will take over, we won't be locked in place anymore, we'll be standing. When you're ready."
She braced herself slightly. In reality, she knew it was almost impossible for the Mech to fall over, but she still had the ever so slightest of fears. She was taking a process normally done slowly, over time, preferably in a simulator first and then in a controlled environment, and simply doing it all on the fly. She watched as he flipped the toggle, and felt the slight shudder of the Mech springing to life.
"There, good. You've got it. Now, I presume you know all the basic controls of this beast? Throttle, direction, torso rotation?"
He nodded with a grin. "Like the back of my hand."
"Alright then. Slow and steady, take us back to the barn, master Peter."
Though it took slightly longer than normal, they found themselves back in the Mech bay without incident just as the sun outside was setting. They both stood, covered in sweat, looking up at the towering Phoenix Hawk. Freyja felt a sense of accomplishment, if also a little unease at what she'd just done. She knew also how Peter must be feeling at the moment, a sixteen year old who's Mech piloting dreams had just taken their first tangible step towards reality.
"I've got a few things to take care of here before I head back inside. I think you should be running along too, hopefully your absence hasn't been noticed." She noticed he was already standing just a bit taller.
"Thank you, Miss Freyja. I had a great time. I owe you one." She took note of him settling back slightly into his uneasiness, but took heart that it was ever so slightly less than it had been before.
"It was my pleasure, Master Peter. I hope it was everything that you imagined it would be"
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