Fiona smiled coyly. “That doesn’t change the fact that I smoked two of your warriors in honorable combat. Tell me, for my own curiosity, were they freeborn or trueborn?”
Abigail stopped as they reached the mech bay hatch. “What difference does that make, surat? And be careful, your language slips when you get cocky.”
“It makes a great deal of difference. If I splashed two freeborns, well then, I am simply good. But if they were trueborns, well then maybe the gap is not as big as I keep hearing that it is.”
For the first time in quite a while, Fiona could not tell if the anger and condescension in Abigail’s expression was genuine or for show. “Listen, surat. You may have learned much, and I may indulge you on occasion, but do not for a moment think that you understand what it means to be trueborn. It is not just in our genes, it is also in every moment of our lives once we emerge from the iron womb. No matter how skilled or courageous you may become, you will never understand that. Now, come along.”
Fiona chose not to press the issue. As much as she liked to think she was learning to understand the people in her new life, she realized she was still merely a neophyte in their world. They strode through the bay in silence until they came to Abigail’s Timber Wolf.
The clanner gestured to the gantry steps. “You will be using my Timber Wolf’s battle computer and interface for the neurohelmet fitting. The technician should be along shortly. They will guide you through the process. There is no way of telling how long the fitting will take, it is a complex process and varies from person to person.”
They climbed into the cockpit and Fiona took the seat in the command couch. Abigail handed her a helmet, which she looked at in curiosity before putting on. “I have never seen a neurohelmet this light and compact before. Mine was always bulky, almost uncomfortable”
Abigail nodded. “Your Inner Sphere mechwarrior gear is crude by our standards. We have had generations for our scientists to improve upon the Star League technology we began with, which you seem to have lost in the Inner Sphere.”
Fiona settled the comfortable helmet on her head and sighed. “There is much we seem to have lost in the Inner Sphere over the centuries since the fall of the Star League. We have recently made strides developing LosTech at places like New Avalon, but we are still centuries behind some of this.”
“That is why it is so important that we return and rebuild the true Star League, as the founders envisioned. There, the tech is coming, I will be going. When you have finished with the helmet fitting, come and find me aboard the Lord Death. We can then begin working in the simulators and I can show you more of how advanced we have become compared to those we left behind.”
Abigail climbed out, and the tech poked his way in shortly after. He was a generally unremarkable man, slightly older, though not old enough to be considered past his prime by clan standards. He had the look of someone who had once been quite polished, but had allowed several years to roughen him. He carried a portable computer and some kind of circuit board with a series of cables. He looked at her, at her jumpsuit, then down at his computer, then plugged the cables into the link on her neurohelmet. “Hmm.”
She started to turn around to face him, but he waved her away with a flustered expression and returned to his computer. After several seconds, she broke the silence. “Hmm? That is all you have to say?”
He did not look up. “I am merely surprised, that is all.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why are you surprised?”
He punched several series of keystrokes into his pad before responding. “I am surprised to have found you here, that is all.”
She looked puzzled. “You arrived here. Were you not scheduled for this assignment?”
He swatted away her question as if it were a gnat and continued working. “Aff, I received this assignment on my schedule, but I assumed it must have been some sort of mistake. I expected to come here to find that I had been misassigned.”
She paused and tilted her head. “Why would you think that?”
He set his keyboard down on his lap. “This kind of task, the performing of a neurohelmet interface mating, it rarely occurs in the field. Normally it is done in training when a warrior is first learning to pilot a battlemech. Once complete, the variables are stored on one’s codex. There is little need to perform the operation again, unless a codex were to be lost or damaged, which is unlikely given how rugged their construction. And yet here I am, performing it, and on a freebirth at that. It is so strange I thought it a mistake.”
She smirked. “I am not a mistake, I assure you.”
He looked quizzically at her. “And yet you are a freebirth. And with no codex. Puzzling.”
She glanced at his insignia, indicating that he was trueborn. “And you are trueborn. And yet I am here becoming a warrior, and you are a tech.”
He guffawed. “You do not speak like a freebirth. What kind of freebirth are you, with no codex, here claiming you are to be a warrior?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I attempt to moderate my speech when in the company of trueborns.”
He laughed. “Why should a freebirth care what a trueborn thinks? You are strange. Again, I ask, what kind of freebirth are you?”
She paused a moment. “I should think it the other way around. Why would a trueborn care how a freeborn speaks? Then again, you are a tech, quiaff?”
He laughed heartily. “I believe I like you, freebirth. You are pompous enough to be a warrior, that much is certain. But again you evade my question. Are you sure you are here for warrior training, not to become a merchant?”
“If you must know, I am a bondsman from the Inner Sphere. Does that answer your question?”
He stroked his stubbled chin. “Aff. And Neg. It also raises more questions. But questions are for the scientist caste. Let us get to work. If you are from the Inner Sphere, you should be prepared to be shocked. We do not fight with antiques and homespun trinkets like you do. Our equipment is most efficient and precise.”
The rest of the fitting process went without incident. The tech, whose name, she learned during the course of the course of the testing process was Alvin, was quick and efficient, and he had a minimum of problems getting her helmet algorithms adjusted to perfection. He slipped in several more questions about the Inner Sphere, which she happily answered, and before she knew it, the process was complete and she was heading off in search of Abigail on the Warship.
She eventually found her, and the two made their way to what at first appeared to be a cargo bay, but upon entering, she saw it held no less than fifteen oval shaped simulator pods. “The simulators are fairly realistic, and will probably be quite advanced compared to what you are used to. I will show you the locker room and we can get kitted out. The simulators are idle at the moment, it will be just the two of us, running a series of trials and maneuvers with AI opponents. As you progress, I will see if it is possible to train you against some of the warriors aboard.”
They made their way to the locker room and logged lockers. Abigail had brought a bag with her, which she set down, and the two started to strip down for the cockpit. When she had stripped down to her underwear, Fiona paused. “Where do I get a cooling vest?"
Fiona unfolded and slipped on the form fitting mesh bodysuit. In spite of totally covering her other than her hands and her head, it felt like wearing practically nothing at all. It was certainly more comfortable and practical than the bulky coolant vest she was used to wearing in the cockpit. “This is amazing. And it works just like a coolant vest?”
Abigail nodded. “Better, in fact. It gives you full body cooling. The small pack at the waist regulates coolant flow once you plug it into the command couch. It also doubles as a small medipack should you get injured, it can administer basic drugs. There should be a pair of boots for you in the locker, and you already have your neurohelmet, so we are almost ready to go.”
She zipped up the knee length boots, grabbed her helmet, and followed Abigail out to the simulators. She climbed in the first pod, which was laid out generally like most simulators she had used in the past, a fairly generic battlemech cockpit meant to simulate no mech in particular. She easily found the leads for her suit and helmet and plugged them in.
Abigail stood in the hatch, holding her helmet. “The startup sequence is abbreviated for brevity. Once you are assigned a battlemech it will be like normal. The pods to a reasonable job simulating heat and cockpit movement, so be ready. Your controls will be locked until I am in the next pod and online. Are you ready surat?”
Fiona smiled broadly. “You have to ask?”
She found the startup switches easily, and the simulated cockpit came to life around her, as did the heads-up display and the displays and power on her neurohelmet. She ran through the abbreviated startup sequence and found the controls indeed locked at first. She took deep breaths, waiting for her instructor to flip the switch and start things running.
“Can you hear me, surat?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Good. I have activated your pod, so you should now have full access and all displays and controls should be functioning. The simulation has you running in a Summoner Prime right now, it is al all-purpose heavy mech favored by our clan.”
“Fiona remembered some of the details from her studies. The Summoner was a 70 ton mech, but more powerful than any 70-tonner she had ever seen in the Inner Sphere. Roughly humanoid and heavily armored, she imagined it could take on many assault mechs she was used to.
Abigail came over the line again. “You have a heavy mech with reasonable speed and good armor. I know you are used to piloting a medium, but this is a better starting point for overall learning of an omnimech. You have a dual-purpose autocannon in one arm and an extended range PPC in the other. Your shoulder missile rack is long range, but can strike in all range brackets, unlike the Inner Sphere LRMs that you are used to. It also has jump jets, which you seem to have a liking for.”
Wow, I guess she really did study the BattleROMs of my fights with their pilots, she seems to have a grip for how I fight and what I like.
“There is an obstacle course laid out a few kilometers from here, it should be marked in your nav system. We will proceed to it, and you may use the travel time to familiarize yourself with the feel of the mech.”
She moved the Summoner forward at a walk at first, flexing the arms and torso to get a feel for its mobility. After a short time, she kicked it up into full throttle and practiced torso rotations at full speed. “It responds incredibly. And it is fast. This thing weighs as much as an Archer, yet it is faster than my Wyvern was.”
Abigail moved her mech alongside at a reasonable distance. “Aff, surat. It mounts an Extra-light engine, allowing for greater speed at reduced weight. It is slightly bulkier, and can be damaged through your side torsos as well, so be cautious. Side torso hits can weaken the shielding and cause waste heat and sluggish performance. But the trade-off in weight savings and speed is worth it.”
Having gotten a decent feel for the mech’s responsiveness, she decided to test the jump jets, pressing down on the foot pedals and launching the machine into the air. Her first jump was cautious, and she landed with ease. Once the jets had fully recharged, she slammed the pedals down to maximum burn, and at the apex of her jump, turned her leg slightly and feathered the right jets to impart a spin. When she had spun almost 180 degrees and was facing Abigail’s Timber Wolf which was pacing slightly beside her, she countered with a slight touch of the left jet to stop her rotation and allowed her mech to plummet to the ground, softening her landing with a quick burst of the jets and going immediately into a backpedal.
“You are attempting to showboat, surat. I assure you, I am not impressed by your feeble acrobatics. We are almost at the obstacle course. Turn your mech around and proceed reasonable to the starting marker.”
Suitable chastised, she spun her mech around and walked it to the starting point. “It is a timed course, I presume?”
“Aff. Throttle up when you are ready, time begins when you cross the first marker. Slalom through the waypoints, but be cautious, the computer will penalize you for missing any of the boundaries. And the course is ground only, so none of your acrobatic nonsense, surat, quiaff?”
“Aff, Abigail.” She took several deep breaths, readied herself, and then threw her mech into a run. She broke the plane of the starting marker at full speed and began working her way through the course. The first markers were easy turns, but they grew progressively more complicated and required careful handling to avoid a fall or skid at high speeds. Finally, she made the last turn, and bounded past the final marker.
“One minute and forty-three seconds, surat. Not bad for a novice. I am sure you could impress a sibko with that feat, but you will have to work harder to earn my accolades. Now, let us proceed to a combat exercise.”
Fiona grinned. “All I am hearing is a lot of talk, Mechwarrior Abigail.”
She heard a laugh over the comms. “You are attempting to goad me, surat. But I will indulge you this once. Our Battlemechs have the same top speed, so the results will be obvious, even to a freebirth. Watch and learn, surat.”
She turned her mech to watch the course, bringing up the magnification on her display to show the hunched form of Abigail’s mech. The chicken-walker mech began at a slow lumber, but quickly reached top speed as it crossed the starting line. It handled the first turns just as easily as Fiona had, but in the harder turns, the mech leaned and twisted with an almost graceful deftness that she doubted she had matched on her run through the course. She watched the timer running up as Abigail brought her mech around and bolted through the final turn and over the finish line.
“One minute and thirty-eight seconds, surat. I trust your ego is suitably in check now?”
Fiona shook her head. "Message received, Abigail"
"Good. Our final exercise for the day will be a combat simulation. You should already be seeing an enemy unit displayed on your tactical map. It is a single AI opponent. Defeat it."
She grinned. "One simulated enemy, smoked, coming up."
She located the enemy blip on her tactical radar and oriented her mech to face it. She brought the Summoner up into a brisk walk, and once the enemy unit was in range, she hit the control to bring up the enemy on her HUD. It was big. Very big. "What the hell is that?"
She heard amusement in Abigail's voice as she responded, "That is a Dire Wolf, surat. It is the largest omnimech ever made, one hundred tons, and over half of it dedicated to pod space for weapons. It can shred even the likes of an Atlas or a King Crab. I trust you will have no problem defeating it however, quiaff?"
She took a deep breath. "Aff."
"Good. This is your final training for the day. When you have defeated this scenario, the rest of the day is yours. I have other duties to attend to. Good luck, surat."
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