Act I
Chapter 4-2
It Ends Like This
Week 24 - Day 7
The alarm sounded inside the cockpit, signifiying the end of the simulation. Noland removed his helmet and placed it in his lap. His breathing was heavy and his hair was wet from sweat. Noland sat back in his chair, sighing. He pressed a button that caused the cockpit to open and his chair slid out with the back of the cockpit. Noland was greeted by two members of the engineering crew. One took his helmet and the other helped him out of the chair.
"Ya gettin' better," Lewis' said from the floor.
"Then why's it feel like I'm stayin' the same?" Noland asked as he went down the stairs of the platform until he got to the third to last step where he sat. Lewis walked over to the stairs and leaned against the rails.
"Ya know dam' well this ain't gonna be an overnight thing." Lewis scolded.
"Yeah but the truth is this is starting to get to me..."
"Well don't let it..." Lewis said as he stood up straight. He put his hands in his jacket pocket and began walking off. "Hit the showers," he said as he walked off, "you stink...!"
Noland sniffed his arm and recoiled from the scent. He laughed as he stood up and made his way to the locker room where he stripped down to his boxers then grabbed a clean rag along with a towel. He found an empty shower stall, placed his towel on a rack, then he turned on the hot water and let it run. He showered until he felt that he had washed the stink away then made his way back to his locker where he dried himself off and put on his a pair of blue jeans and a white long sleeved T-shirt.
When he had finished dressing he made his way to the briefing room where Lewis was going over Noland's simulation run, examining the data that had been collected. The briefing room was a fairly large room that had twenty chairs with desks attached to them, evenly spaced out from one another. All of them faced the large touch screen monitor that took up most of the wall it was built into.
"Any problems in there?" Lewis asked, not taking his eyes off the large screen.
"I still think that I have two arms sometimes," Noland said as he sat in the chair next to Lewis, "Could use an air conditioner..."
"Ya hit ratio's down five percent..." Lewis said as he rewinded the simulation's recording. "These two," he said marking two ACs on the screen, "This's where ya lost the five percent. What happened?"
"They were rushin' my left. Couldn't adjust fast enough. Panicked a little and fired a few shots to slow'em down."
"Ya can't waste shots like that anymore, Nol. Wastin' shots is wasting time.. and since ya already at a disadvantage, wastin' a second is like wastin' a minute."
"You know another way to handle that situation? 'Cuz I don't."
"This," Lewis said as he put an input into his touch pad. Lewis pulled up a data overlay that showed the Black Wolf's, Noland's AC, orientation. "Ya still facing forward at the standard angle. Ya turnin' speed when turnin' to ya left's significantly slower than turnin' to ya right but that's only because the delay when ya switchin' sticks."
Lewis brought up a side by side comparison of Noland's turning reactions in similiar situations. It showed that when reacting to flanking enemies, Noland was unintentionally giving his opponents a head start when they attacked his left side versus attacking the right. Lewis then brought up the Black Wolf's orientation data, then adjusted the orientation so that it was no longer facing the middle of the 180 degree line. Instead, his AC was angled further towards the left.
"If ya engage head on at this angle, ya'll be able to cover ya left flank more easily."
"So now I have to manage the angles my AC's fighting at?" Noland asked sarcastically.
"Nol, I'd love to kid with ya but this is serious an' I'm not gonna make light of it. You have to start fightin' dam' near perfectly now. I always use to tell y'all no mistakes... Well now I mean it. Nol, ya can't make mistakes out there. We haven't competed for two years, one o' ya arms's gone an' it's common knowledge in the league at this point. If we manage to compete next season, all o' ya opponents're gonna take advantage of ya obvious weaknesses. Ya can't expect them to play nice 'cause ya handicapped..."
"I know..." Noland sighed. He was slightly disheartened but he knew his coach was right. Lewis turned the monitor off and got out of his seat as he grabbed his jacket. Noland got up and followed him out of the briefing room. They walked to the hangar where Black Raven's ACs were located and watched as the engineering team performed their daily maintenace checks on them.
"We're done for the day," Lewis said, not taking his eyes off the White Wolf as it was being serviced, "You should head home and get some rest."
"Yeah... I think I'll do that..." Noland said. Noland began walking towards the exit, Lewis walked beside him. When they got to the door, Lewis put his hand on Noland's shoulder to stop him.
"Nol... There's somethin' ya should know now." Lewis said, his voice a whisper. Noland, slightly confused, expressed his confusion on his face.
"What's up?" Noland asked. Lewis sighed and scratched his head. He leaned against wall and took a deep breath.
"I don't know how to say it so I'll just say it. Black Raven is officially disbanding," Lewis said his voice still low so no one else could hear. Noland jumped a little at Lewis' words. "Greer sent me the message this mornin'. It hasn't been publicly announced yet, so I'm supposed to keep it under wraps 'til all of our assets've been sold off."
"Do the others know?" Noland asked anxiously.
"I just found out. Ya the only person on the team I've told so far."
"So what're we gonna do?"
"For now... nothin'. There's nothin' we can do." Lewis said. He pat Noland on the shoulder to reassure him. "Head home, Nol. We can talk about all this later. Just wanted to let ya know."
Noland took a bus back to his apartment in the city. His mind was reeling from the accumulated misfortune his team and teammates had endured. When Noland got back to his apartment he went straight to his room where he jumped into his bed. He lay there, his face buried in his pillow.
Lewis said his good-byes to the many people he knew as was leaving the arena for the day. He made his way to his car parked in a parking section reserved for team members. He got in the driver's seat and checked his mirrors before buckling his seat belt. When he was settled in he put in his key and turned it, starting the car's engine. He activated touch screen on his dashboard and turned on some music. He sat, listening to the short but quick accoustic guitar intro. When the man singing the song began to sing, Lewis sang along quietly. "To the town of Agua Fria..." Lewis sang. Lewis drove out of the parking lot and away from the arena. He drove for a while, to the just outside the city where Cael's apartment was located.
"It's me," Lewis said as he knocked on Cael's door and waited for Cael to open the door. Cael opened the door and moved out of the way for Lewis to enter.
"I don't have therapy today." Cael said.
"Can't a guy come by an' visit?" Lewis asked sarcastically. Lewis looked around Cael's apartment, eventually coming to rest on the couch. "Thought ya'd have gotten rid of this by now..." he said referring to the couch.
"Never got around to it..." Cael said. "Why're you here?"
"To bring bad bad news..."
"Bad news?"
"Black Raven's assets are bein' sold off... And Greer'll probably be announcing the disbanding of the team after," Lewis said, sighing. Lewis examined Cael's expression, trying to see how he was taking the news. Cael's face was expressionless as he stared blankly at the floor. "Ya takin' that well..." Lewis said, trying to figure Cael out.
"Black Raven hasn't competed in two years. This was coming sooner or later..." Cael said flatly.
"Ya aren't wrong. Still... didn't think it'd happen this quick... Thought we'd have a year before we had to worry 'bout this..."
Lewis stood up and straightened his pants leg. He stretched and yawned before heading to the door. "Just came by to give ya the news..." he said as he opened the door. "Oh and invite ya to dinner. Ya haven't been by the house in a while..."
"I'll pass..." Cael said.
"Figured ya would. See ya later, kid," Lewis said as he left Cael's apartment, closing the door behind him. Once he was back in his car on the road, he dialed a number on the touch screen on his dashboard.
"Hey coach," Noland answered, "You give Cael the news yet?"
"Yeah..." Lewis replied.
"How'd he take it?"
"Ya know Cael... He didn't show it but I think he took it hard."
"... So all the training's been for nothing?"
"No, not for nothin'. Ya can get a gig with a small timer team and make ya way back up,"
"Not what I meant..."
"I know... After all this time..." Lewis said, more to himself than to Noland.
In his apartment, Cael still sat in his wheelchair, staring blankly at the floor. Tears streamed down his face and his fists were tightly clenched...
