"Hey Hiro, don't you remember? You owe me $5!" Most of Delta (Provisional) squadron's members crowded around Hiro when he and Cho entered the cafeteria, and the taller of the two red-haired teens had, after the normal greetings were out of the way, led off with what should have been an obvious lie.
Hiro, however, slowly started reaching for one of his pockets, but Cho gentled him with a stiff hand, then turned her stern gaze upon the faintly grinning teen. "He doesn't owe you anything, Cein. Stop trying to take advantage of him."
Cein's grin wilted, but he responded defensively "It was just a joke. Don't be such a spoilsport."
Cho quickly asserted, "It's not funny, it's just mean." Both turned toward their audience for support at almost the same time.
Cho found support sorely lacking. The still slightly smirking Kato was Cein's twin and longtime co-conspirator, so it was obvious whose side he was on. Misha at least made an attempt to look stern in mirror to Cho, but she was clearly failing to hide her own amusement. Song, from her usual position in the back of the group, shrank back even further now, hiding behind dark bangs. The last member of their small squad, Chad, hadn't even gotten up to greet Hiro. His cool gaze could be felt, and he'd acknowledged Hiro with a nod, but he'd obviously be no support to the conflict. At least Cein wasn't getting much support, either.
Giving up on the ongoing power struggle for the moment, Cho huffed and once again grabbed Hiro's wrist and pulled him to the kitchen area. Being in the much smaller Delta Squadron had its advantages and disadvantages; the other three squadrons had to deal with somewhat bland mass-produced food, but could get hot food pretty much on demand. Delta had much better options… so long as they prepared it themselves. However, in situations like their current one, they were stuck with cold or reheated food. Cho assembled a couple of sandwiches with minimal assistance from Hiro, then sat across from him at one of the tables, well away from the others. Their cafeteria was the same size as the Einherjar squad's, so a mere seven pilots didn't even come close to filling the place.
Hiro remained even quieter than his usual self, mechanically eating his sandwich. Cho gazed at Hiro, trying to guess what was going on behind his eyes. He was always faintly enigmatic at the best of times. He'd been in Delta squad before anyone else. Sara's confirmation of Hiro's piloting potential lent strength to the long-running rumor that the squadron had basically been formed, wholly or partially, as a way to keep Hiro around, but out of the line units, while they tried to figure out what to do about him.
On top of predating everyone else in the squad, his background remained a mystery despite how long they'd been there, he rarely spoke about his past. Cho and the others knew, of course, that his 'treatments' probably contributed to his unwillingness, or potentially inability, to talk about his past.
"Hey, dreamboat, whatcha' thinking about?"
Cho jumped. Misha had slid into a seat next to her, and had caught her staring at Hiro. Then she blushed and stammered out some bland excuse, which probably merely confirmed Misha's suspicions. Despite that, the spell was broken. Misha drew her into some other meaningless conversation. Hiro seemed to recover some of his vitality as well, after eating… and used it to leave the common area and go to his room. Both Cho and Misha followed him with their eyes as he left.
Misha sighed and sunk her chin into her hands. "He is pretty cute, isn't he? I guess 'dark and mysterious' is your type, huh, Cho?"
Cho blushed furiously once again. "N-no."
"Oh, so you wouldn't mind if I made a move, then?" Misha smirked evilly.
"What?! Don't you dare!" Cho's blush transformed into a flush of anger.
Misha just laughed and waved her hand apologetically. "I was just kidding, Cho." Her face turned slightly serious, though her eyes were still bright, and she continued, "But you aren't the only one who likes the brooding type." She held up a hand to forestall Cho's protest. "Let me finish. I'm just saying, you need to lay claim before someone else does. Not all the girls on this ship are as nice as I am, and we don't have many friends outside our little squad who are going to stay back just for you."
Cho sighed. "Yeah, I know."
…
Visiting the desert in person brought its strangeness into crystal clarity. It was neither the sunbaked, hot and dry desert, nor frigid tundra. The air was somewhat dry, but it was otherwise very moderate in temperature. Which only made the total lack of life all the stranger; it seemed like the land should have been fertile.
It'd been three days since Zero Two had set out. Bus and train fares had eaten into her meager funds, and her clothes felt slightly clammy; she'd only had room to bring one change of clothes, so both sets of clothes had been worn for more than a day each, and had spent the rest of that time stuffed into a bag. Having slept in her seat wasn't doing wonders for her, either.
Things were about to get dangerous for her, though. This was the end of civilization, as far as her trip was concerned. A small rest stop along a highway crossing through part of the desert. It was the closest she could get to the time-worn crater that she'd seen.
The shopkeeper had looked at her strangely when she didn't re-board the bus before it left. When she proceeded to buy energy bars and water and started to walk away from the road, he'd run out of his store and tried to stop her, worried for her safety or sanity. She didn't think she'd fully convinced him, but she'd managed to set off nonetheless.
…
The pilots filed into the briefing room to get the days orders. Like the cafeteria, it was much larger than needed for the seven of them. They each headed for their preferred seats. Shortly after they settled in, a separate door in front of the pilot's seating opened and a man walked through. Unlike all the pilots, he was obviously an adult, and he looked far more proper in uniform than they; with his stern look and close-cropped hair, the teens before him looked like they were playing dress up in comparison.
The illusion was only enforced when the children waved at him, and Misha called out, "'Morning, Captain Septimus. What're we doing today?"
Septimus's face turned even more stony at this informality, but he replied anyway, "You will follow the standard training schedule today. You will be using Beta Squadron's backup Einherjar today, since they're at full readiness right now; we won't be interrupting their operations like we would with Alpha or Gamma."
Misha pouted slightly, and Cein and Kato moaned and chorused, "aww, when are we gonna get to test the Doppelsoldners again?"
Septimus relented slightly and revealed, "We're planning to run more compatibility tests with the Doppelsoldners tomorrow. We've got all four of our complement onboard now, though we haven't found any new pilot candidates recently. Don't too excited, though; tomorrows plans are not set in stone."
Even Cho had to restrain her enthusiasm at this announcement. Piloting the single-seat Einherjar mechas was enjoyable enough, but the entire reason that the teenage pilots where on the Bifrost at all was because they showed the capability to pilot the two-seater Doppelsoldner mechas. For as-yet-unknown reasons, only pilots born after a certain date showed the capability to synchronize with another human as well as the larger mechs. The energy burst denoting the last battle against the VIRM was suspected to have something to do with it.
While they had yet to run into any VIRM, or other starfaring opponents, for that matter, preliminary doctrine called for the Doppelsoldner units to be the core of offensive operations.
…
Delta squadron split up for the male and female changing rooms, removing their normal uniforms and donning the pilot suits. And air- and skin-tight suit was put on first. This would provide protection against the vacuum of space. To allow them to move in a vacuum, they stepped into stalls where a powered exoskeleton was attached. Hard belts were built into the wrists, ankles, hips and shoulders of the suit, and the machinery in the stalls connected those hard-points with a flexible chain of powered reinforcements along the spine and outside of each limb.
While dressing, of course, the modicum of formality they held in front of Septimus was absent. Kato and Cein got in a rat-tail fight with their towels, and only a stern gaze from Chad kept them from attempting to drag him into it as well. They left Hiro alone as well, still slightly repentant after Cho's scolding the day before. In short order the teens trooped back out of their respective locker rooms. They formed into two parallel lines as they walked toward the lift to the other side of the ship, where Beta squadron's hangers were located. They sat in the subway-like lift car as it travelled around the carriers disk-shaped hull in the same order, drawing attention to the hole in their group. Four Doppelsoldners meant there needed to be eight pilots, but one had yet to be found. Time was running out, as well; well-worn rumor was that the Bifrost would be leaving the solar system within a few months.
…
Zero Two stumbled as the ground shook. She'd already stumbled several times, but she'd put it down to exhaustion the first few times. She'd been walking for a day and a half, and only had one bottle of water left. Getting back to civilization was going to be dicey. After the first couple of times, she'd thought she noticed a faint rumble. This time, however, it was obvious. Rocks groaned, and all she could do was spread her feet and brace as first smaller, then larger rocks slid down the slope toward the center of the crater.
The first flash of real fear crossed Zero Two's mind. She sorely hoped that the volcanic crater wasn't about to become an active volcano again, with her in the center. Then, the shaking finally stopped, with an odd sense of finality. Looking around to assure herself that the earthquake, if that's what it was, was over, she saw something else. A yawning maw had opened up in the side of the crater, near the bottom. And near her. The rocks sliding around should have covered up any caves, not revealed them which, combined with the angularity of the entrance, told her that this 'cave' opening up before her was no accident of nature.
Zero Two pulled a flashlight out of her bag, touched the pendant on her chest, and walked toward the cave entrance.
...
Entering the cave confirmed that it wasn't a cave at all, but only raised more questions in Zero Two's mind. While it obviously wasn't natural, neither did it appear to be man-made. A tunnel descended downward, and her meager flashlight was swallowed before reaching the bottom. The walls were too regular to be natural, but the marks on the walls looked more like claw marks than tool marks, as though this was the lair of some massive creature. Just to make things stranger, there was an obviously manufactured platform, complete with a handrail at the end of the level part of the tunnel, before the shallow slope.
Stepping onto the platform to try and see down the shaft, Zero Two started slightly at another rumble. Instead of another earthquake, and risk of a deadly cave-in, though, this time the source was the platform beginning to slowly descend the shaft. Exhausted mentally and physically, Zero Two sat down on the platform and leaned back against her bag.
...
Delta squad took a moment to admire the awe-inspiring view of the Beta squadron hangar when the arrived. Delta's home hangar was imposing in its own way with the sheer size of the four Doppelsoldners housed within its solemn depths, but the 36 Einherjar in ranks along both walls of hanger, and the smooth efficiency with which they were constantly coming and going had an impact all its own.
A color-coded light lead them to the mechas they were assigned for the day. As usual, they were at the far end of the hangar, furthest from the gateway to open space. The pilots split up and entered the enclosed catwalks leading to the hatches of their respective craft. Once they were situated, they hooked into their restraints, attached the interface devices to their suits, and started their activation sequences.
-Einherjar systems online-
-Synchronizing pilot-system interface-
-Releasing hardware locks. Fly safe-
With that the Einherjar were online, free to move to their pilots wills. They remained attached to their cradles though, and a countdown appeared in each pilot's field of view. The launch queues counted down by one each time another Einherjar left the hangar, until it was finally Delta's turn. As each of them reached zero in turn, they pressed the button releasing the locks holding them to the ship and carefully maneuvered out of the bay. Aware of the dangers present around so many moving craft, the teenagers attempted to maintain the same air of cool professionalism that their hosts kept.
Chad, as usual, provided the best imitation. He'd been in training as an Einherjar pilot before he'd been selected for the Doppelsoldner program and still had closer ties to some of his companions in the other squadrons than to the rest of Delta.
Cho and Song both piloted cleanly enough, but Song's timidity showed through in that she gave wider berth than regulation required to all obstacles, though her deft piloting made it clear her caution was little needed.. Hiro as well was plainly competent though unspectacular.
The other three appeared borderline jittery as they exited the hangar. Staying below the speed limit in the bay, and in the safe lanes, was obviously a challenge, not due to a lack of competence so much as a desire to drive to the limits of their craft. As soon as they cleared the hangars confines, Cein and Kato goosed their thrusters to maximum for a moment, catching up to the others faster than was strictly necessary.
Once they'd shaken down into formation, looser for some than for others, Septimus radioed them with their training plan for the day. As they split their group in half as well as they could, given their odd numbers, Cho commed Hiro. "Uh, hey. You seemed a little spaced out this morning. You up for this?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking. I had an odd dream last night."
Cho, interest piqued, pushed further. "Oh, a dream? What about? We've been training so much I've been dreaming about flying." She laughed a bit at the end of her own statement.
Hiro chuckled and replied, "Nothing like that. It wasn't anything I'd seen before... I think." He paused to concentrate his thoughts. "All I saw was a cave, and a girl. I felt like I'd seen her before, but it was... hazy, like I couldn't remember something."
Cho's knuckled turned white as she gripped the contols, but before she could pry further, Chad broke in with a message for the whole squadron, "We're approaching our designated starting point. Go to radio silence once the excersize starts."
...
Zero Two opened her eyes. It seemed she'd fallen into a nap while the elevator descended. She had no idea how long she'd been laying there, or how far down the platform had gone. The air felt heavy and mist seemed to swallow her flashlight's beam even faster than the darkness at the top of the tunnel had.
Despite this, her intuition seemed to grow to the strongest pitch she'd ever felt, with one possible exception, and she slowly walked forward. As she progressed, a faint glow seemed to emanate from the mist. Eventually she turned her light off; between the ambient light and the mist swallowing the beam, it wasn't doing anything, and she wanted to conserve the batteries. The tunnel began to open into a large chamber, and Zero Two could once again tell she had reached the end of her journey.
Again she heard a rumble, and again it was a different type. It was slow and cyclic. Her pace slowed even further at a flash of recognition. It sounded like the breathing of some creature, but so low and slow that it must be of unimaginable size.
Reaching the center of the chamber, she stopped and turned in place. Despite the mist that seemed to cover the rest of the cavern, she could clearly see the walls now. The regular pattern proved that the walls were not natural, but her train of thought crashed to a halt as one of what could only be scales moved, revealing an enormous cerulean eye, locked onto her.
Without a sound, a voice fit to make mountains tremble echoes inside her mind.
"What is your desire, little one?"
...
Author's notes.
Credits to Hurricane Florence for this chapter. I wrote a good third of it at work since the servers were down most of the day (and I wrote half of it while spending the weekend away from home).
I wasn't originally planning to end the chapter here, but as things stretched on, I felt like this was as good a place to end as my original plan (which might end up being the end of the next chapter.
I'm not 100% happy with Zero Two's scenes so far; I don't think I've got the writing chops to give them the gravitas I want.
I feel kinda bad for dumping a bunch of new characters in at once, but I think it had to be done.
Let me know what's working and what isn't. The earlier I get feedback the easier it is to change things (if it's something fixable).
