Test Drive [OPEN to Black Knights]

[Zane Burnlight]

Zane sat atop his Knightmare, drumming his fingers on the hull. “They’ll be back any minute now,” my ass![/i] he thought, well beyond annoyed. He had arrived at the hangar that housed his Frame over an hour ago. The intervening time had been spent waiting for some batch of rookie Devicers to return from training. He couldn’t take his Frame out to the course until they got back. Zane had lost count of the number of system checks he had put his mech through.

He looked at the machine. The Gekka’s design had been based off of the Guren Mk-II and it showed. It had a broad, arrowhead-shaped torso, upturned shoulders, and a slender waist. It looked more like a work of art than a weapon of war. “Then again,” Zane said, thinking aloud. “There’s not a whole lot of difference between the two.”

If Zane had any gripes about the Gekka – and what soldier didn’t gripe about something? – it was the cockpit. Based on what little time he had spent in the cockpit so far, the seat design was in definite need of reworking. Being hunched over the control surfaces was horribly uncomfortable. Zane laughed as an idea came to mind. He could ask the technicians to figure out some method of attaching a more conventional cockpit to the Gekka’s frame. He shook his head at the mental image. “That’d be ridiculous. Don’t worry, girlie. I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said, patting the Knightmare affectionately. She was going to be mad enough as it was with the added weight of her weapons. The last thing he needed was for her to think herself ugly.

[Yekaterina Tsurugi]

"I do hope that wasn't meant for me, soldier. "
A deep, soft voice began, soon the owner of it emerging from the rear left of the Knightmare. Had the man thought aloud, the woman wouldn't know - but his last sentence, she had heard very clear.

With everything Yekaterina had her hands always full with, every time there came a moment when she would lay it all down for a moment, and go over for a stroll around the base - to see what really was happening, how everything was going, but in an unofficial fashion to really be able to get a grasp of the organizations reality. Uncalled check ups, visiting here and there, conversing randomly - what better way to see what's truly happening under one's nose.

And now, she had made her way down to the R&D. Quiet enough, it seemed down here - what Anju had on and going, the secretary general had yet to find out, as she had but arrived to the said zone. She had been passing by the hangar, by the said Knightmare, but now her going had stopped, the direction being altered slightly. Why, a soldier sitting up then on his - could be assumed - Knightmare. Even for the comment that had stopped her, he might have had a word or two to share as he seemingly just sat there with not much to do.

Not recognizing Burnligh at first, the secretary general looked up to the man and greeted him, showing that this was nothing too official, though every bit of her presence still making it clear who was in charge if it would come down to it.

[Zane Burnlight]

Zane’s head snapped to the side at the woman’s comment. He couldn’t remember the her name, but he knew her face and voice – she had given him a bit of a start when they first met. More important than her penchant for making Zane jump, she outranked him by a wide margin. He slid off of the Gekka and landed a bit awkwardly. The Knightmare was kneeling and the fall wasn’t as far as it could have been, but that didn’t stop the landing from hurting. He swallowed the pain and stood at attention.

“No, ma’am. I was…” He stopped, realizing that the truth of the matter was going to make him sound at least a little bit insane. Then again, he had been a Britannian Devicer before defecting to the Black Knights; insanity was probably a prerequisite. “I was talking to my Knightmare.” And that was it. No matter what he did from now on, she would likely always remember him as the crazy guy that spoke to inanimate objects. He could only hope that she wouldn’t have him thrown into a padded cell.

[Anju Saravati]

Humming idly, Anju strolled back down to the hanger, switching her attention between not walking into anything and reading Devicer reports from the lastest batch of Frame tests. There had been an incident earlier that month where a Britannian infantry Frame had accidentally keyed into the BK GPS system and had seen both where each mech was located and theirs specs, as well as audio on their radio transmissions. While the soldier involved hadn't been quick enough to do damage with that information before the Knights had realized what was going on, went on radio silence, and eliminated the enemy Frame, the possibility of a repeat performace was not a happy thought. Just because the Britannian army and the Black Knights had their own preferances for Frame specs didn't erase the fact that both used mostly the same models out on the field, and thus could potentially connect with each other.

Anju had been working on completely rewriting the programing for the BK Frames, but changing them enough to prevent furthing invasion without altering control-to-response operation was proving difficult. Already, there had been mishaps with Frames not reacting correctly to commands, and interior automatic functions stalling. She huffed her breath: she would like nothing more than to give everyone a Pandava, but wishes and reality weren't going to mix any time soon.

Entering the hanger, Anju noticed Yeka and Burnlight talking near a Geka. "OI! Anything I can help you with?"

[Yekaterina Tsurugi]

Why, talking to a Knightmare he was - is taht so. Yekaterina blinked, blankly, then an amused smile pulling her lips. He, on the other hand, looked like he'd swallowed a hedgehog and now trying not be stung by it's spikes. Why, could the Secretary General only wonder - if talking to machines was something that highly suspicious activity their leading technician would've been the first one to be locked up somewhere where the sun wouldn't shine. That, of course, he wouldn't probably know - it soon dawned upon her. So, she was about to give him a sort of a reassuring smile and a word too, when none else than the above mentioned tech person herself appeared already in front of them. Well, speak of the devil.
"Oi, Anju-san. Nothing to me, specifically, but seems like this one here could use something to do."
How had she guessed. But, having time to talk to machines did usually mean people had something better ahead, something they'd wish to do instead of just sitting and blabbering. Or so had the Secretary General deduced. Of course not Anju - she spoke to machines all the time - but an ordinary person nonetheless.

After having greeted Anju, the woman looked at Burnlight again.
"Why, soldier, you won't need such anxiousness about talking to your lady. It's not at all so uncommon you would think.". She winked, making a quick glance at the direction of the chief tech, perhaps not so discreet as she should have. But, it was Anju all right - surely no offense taken from Yekaterina herself, after all.

[Zane Burnlight]

Zane's head lashed to the side at Saravati's shout. If I keep this up, I'm gonna give myself whiplash, he lamented. "I was hoping on taking my Knightmare for a test drive. Going into combat without experience piloting it would just get me killed," he replied with a quick look towards the bay doors. Still no sign of those rookies. If they were members of his Squad, he was going to PT them until they puked.

Yekaterina's words of reassurance brought Zane back to the present, and away from thoughts of push-ups and over-head-arm-claps. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you." he was infinitely grateful that she wasn't hollering for security to take him away. All the same, he would be more careful about talking to his Knightmare from here on. He shifted his attention back to the approaching Saravati.

"The group that's training right now is hogging up the course and I can't do anything until they get back. If you need anything done, I'm your man," he said, full of confidence. He had heard a few stories about Saravati, but doubted that she was even half as scary as they made her out to be. Besides, the techies no doubt had work of their own to get done and Zane didn't want to be in anyone's way. He figured that the best way to keep from being a problem was to be a help.