The shuttle landed on the surface in the dock, powering down while the hull popped from the incoming air. As per procedure, the passengers rose from their seats, grabbing luggage with little effort while the atmosphere flooded the bay. The turian guide moved down the aisle by the time pressure equalized, being the first to get a faceful of ozone tinted air when the hatch opened.
"Here we are. Follow me, please." He led the half dozen personnel off the ramp, heading past the crew working over the shuttle towards an opening hallway.
For Shiro, this was an interesting experience. He grunted a little while he walked; his prosthetic wasn't swinging like he was accustomed to. This lower gravity was throwing off his rhythm, getting it right was taking some time. His boot skidded a little when he didn't want it too, frowning a little while before he figured out how to properly maneuver his leg. Slinging his duffel over his back, he found enough will to be happy that it wasn't heavier. His stump ached like mad after harsher gravity.
Observing Sanders offering a concerned look, he shook his head. He brushed his aches off when he saw the checkpoint at the end of the hallway, a half dozen guards and what looked like a weird x-ray machine, with their guide stepping aside to gesture.
"Standard security inspection, its more of a formality but it's protocol."
"Am I in the clear, at least? Ah man…" Keith slumped at the guards, shaking their heads.
Rolling her shoulders, Grissom shuffled past Sanders and Healy at a quicker pace, smoothing her scarred expression while she plopped her bag on the desk. Processing took just a couple of minutes. The guards were thorough without being too nitpicking. The only delay came from one checking her luggage, picking up a hairbrush to raise a brow plate.
One by one they went through the turians diligently following procedure; checking for spy equipment, Shiro guessed. So his impression told him when one fetched a chair.
"Need to check the leg, sir."
"Seriously?" Shiro groaned, electing to roll up his pants rather than strip. Luckily, a glance from their guide kept the guard from protesting, whiffling a metal scanner, then tapping a few times, swiftly allowing him through.
The inner door opened a few seconds before Healy was done, admitting a young redhead clutching a thin book of sorts who scurried over, her glasses showing a relieved expression. Her hair was shorter than Shiro remembered, but that smile was still the same.
"Hi everyone, glad you could make it." Karla Lorenz greeted as she approached, sparing a glance at the guards as they returned to their positions. "Sorry about that, standard procedure. I'll take it from here, guys."
Although a couple of men looked like they wanted to protest, the guide's wave made the rest sit down, the guard apparently in charge tipping his head with what seemed to be familiarity. Good enough for Shiro to follow Karla into a lift. Its large size, feeling inadequate with six passengers crowding in, fortunately they didn't go far until they opened to another hallway. Signs in turian were posted over the many doors, but Karla led them from the crowded right side to the rather sparse left, where a single larger airlock was placed.
"There're individual quarters for everyone, no hot bunking here. All rooms have bathrooms and showers installed. Rec center is down the hall there, be warned that most of the stuff is designed for turians. I wired up a TV with some old movies though." Karla pointed with a small bashful grin.
"Guessing they specially shipped in all the food. Rations are still the same?" Sanders asked, getting a nod. Finding out via chemical testing that turian and human fare weren't compatible was annoying, Shiro had some concerns about supply shipments; he made a mental note to see about setting up another greenhouse here.
"There's some exercise equipment if you guys are interested. You could guess about the weights but I put stickers on a few." Keith added. "There are also treadmills and some pull machines. They even have a little sparring ring if you wanna fight or wrestle."
"Seriously? They allow that?" Healy shot him a look.
"Yeah, I asked the same thing. They're hard on their guys, but they're more lax about off duty stuff than you'd think. They supervise it though, so don't think you can break someone's arm and get away with it." Keith explained.
"I'd ask that you don't. I'm the only qualified MD for humans around here." Karla stopped before the big door, checking the monitor. "Okay, I'm sure that you guys want to settle in sooner rather than later, but I wanna show you what you'll be working with."
"I can wait for my room. Let's see the mobile suits." Grissom spoke for the first time in a while, dropping her bag by the wall.
With a shrug, Shiro copied her, then Sanders, then Healy, the last nudging stuff out of the walkway. There weren't any personnel in sight, but he didn't want to block the path. It wouldn't be good to appear slovely.
Beyond the airlock was a massive hangar; Shiro quietly whistled at the several hundred meter long space before him, staring to grimace at walking that far regularly when he wasn't used to his weight before he shivered. The air was chilly and smelled of chemicals. There was a constant drone of tools or clanking machinery echoing throughout the hangar. The ceiling was roughly fifty meters high, and the walls were perhaps thirty meters apart, enough room for two mobile suits to walk abreast with room to spare, with one side being lined with rows of catwalks around the bays.
Grissom quietly grunted. For whatever reason, Karla cleared her throat. "The gravity is for ease of work right now. We're still organizing things. Once there are more units online, this area is getting shuffled. When we're done with the current orders, this hangar will hold over fifty mobile suits."
Some workers were busy on the ground floor that Shiro saw. He assumed they were engineers. The ones in his field of view were either carting tools to their stations, or chatting, acting relaxed overall. Not nearly as much personnel were around as he would guess, based on what he knew about Jaburo's old facilities, or what Aina told him about Granada and Side 3 factories.
"Are the guys here on break?" He called while they walked, heading towards the first bay where some workers were busy. He heard the crackles of welders and the whine of power tools over the thrum of an air processor.
"Yeah, but normally this place isn't that packed yet. You should see the fabrication labs though, they just added a third shift to meet the deadline. Mostly designing and building the tooling admittedly." Karla called while scaling a short ladder.
A few turians were talking on the main pathway, one turning from inspecting a metal slab to see the new arrivals. Clad in a jumpsuit, he stood up to wave off his counterpart, walking over to greet them.
"Doctor Lorenz, thanks for bringing them here. You must be the trainer pilots." The turian paused a body's length away, briefly checking a computer tablet. "I'm Doctor Armax, project lead. It's good that you're here. I've been wondering how these mobile suits compare to what you're accustomed to."
Backing away, Armax waved for Shiro and company to lean on the railing, Grissom taking the end while the quartet peered down the bay. Staff were hard at work sealing plates or testing systems, doing nothing to hide the form of the unpainted mobile suit.
This machine was clearly GM derived, its blocky armor was heavily reminiscent of the GM-II Shiro had used for years. They mounted thrusters on its feet and knees, and smaller jets were placed all over its body; the skirt armor sections, the tapered shoulder plates, there were a few on its torso too. The chest hatch was open at the moment, a top mounted sliding bay like his old ground-type Gundam, although he saw no large radiator panels, instead there were numerous smaller pads scattered over its frame. Eyeballing the workstations at the other end, he guessed it was a little taller than a GM, upright, it might be twenty meters or so.
He did a double take at the head, however; instead of a blank faceplate or a visor antenna, it had a pair of ports on both sides of its face, with a large single antenna sticking out the right side. It had a recognizable chin component and what looked like vulcan ports, but it still looked bizarre. So much so that he looked over the hands twice before realizing they only had three digits.
Healy whistled. "Not bad. What are you calling it?"
"They designated this line the UA-03 Bellona, our first attempt at a mass production model." Armax stated proudly, clicking his maw repeatedly. "It's named for an old Titan of war, one known for melee combat. You can see why it felt appropriate."
"Looks cool. Got the specs lying around?" Shiro asked, seeing Karla fiddle with her device before showing rows of numbers, thankfully translated to English while he peered. He was still a long way off from having a hang of the turian language. The writing system was going to stay gibberish for a while.
Sanders grunted, and even Grissom widened her eyes at the data. Karla shrugged sheepishly. "High reactor output, magnetic coating, same plate armor as their starships, that new movable frame concept, and it has a pretty strong kinetic barrier. Nina can give you a more detailed breakdown, but as is this thing could eat any mobile suit around when we left. If we had one of these during the War…"
She awkwardly coughed, as did Shiro and Healy. "Say, where is Nina anyway?"
"She took a break from Project X earlier. She might be back by now." Armax gently took over, clicking his claws on the railing. "Speaking of, Doctor Kasshu was checking it over. Want to see it?"
"I'm game." Sanders grunted, getting a nod from Shiro.
Armax waved over his shoulder, sweeping his gaze over the ongoing construction before departing. Shiro was aware that a few workers spared glances their way, but nobody made a comment or anything; he guessed they were used to humans wandering around thanks to the development team. While walking, he decided he was going to go through and meet some of them, find out names and a bit about them. It never hurt to get to know the maintenance staff at least, although he couldn't pretend his own curiosity wasn't gnawing at him.
The next couple bays were empty, one not even containing any tools that he saw, the other only having some heavy equipment being wired into place. But in the main pathway, the party had to halt for a moment; a couple of car-sized pods were being ferried on a floating transport, egg-shaped things which were securely strapped down. A few men were on the bed with them, one resting on a knee with a diagnostic tool.
Armax tracked the cargo with a nod, getting a wave from a couple of engineers. "Flight simulators, we've been retrofitting them to mobile suit designs. That's actually going to be the first thing I want to start with tomorrow."
"Fancy gear, the new pilots are going to be spoiled rotten. Great that they're getting the right stuff, though." Healy chuckled, swiveling towards a large crane moving over the bay.
"Hey, I wanna check them out." Shiro called.
Armax glanced at him, waving at the transport which stopped it in place. The technicians glanced at them, one lowering a datapad when Shiro approached, grunting as he climbed on. An offered claw was waved off, hopping up with a small breath while the turian's assistant paused what he was doing.
"Do they work?" He laid a hand on the side, tracing the hatch towards a handle. Two tugs were needed to pry it open. It wasn't airtight, but he underestimated how strong the latch was, pulling hard to allow it to open.
"Not these two. I'm still running software diagnostics on them. The rest of the pods are functional or will be once the data is uploaded." The technician replied as Shiro looked inside.
It was a close replica of a GM cockpit, a little larger than his unit, and he noticed it was lacking some safety equipment. Nonetheless, it had a standard floating seat currently resting in place; the walls showing that it was a deactivated panoramic display, although he noticed there weren't that many controls or readouts by its seat.
"They came off of a huge delivery from Trebia about a year ago. A bunch of trainer pods had new sim mechanisms installed. Wanna see?" He peeked at Armax, who nodded.
"Sure, go ahead." Shiro agreed, seeing the other turian hop off to drag a power cable towards a floor outlet. The rest of the party was crowding closer, although weirdly, Armax seemed amused.
Once the pod hummed to life, the technician tapped on his pad, furrowing his brow at the information. "Alright, I'm manually controlling this one, so I can't let you get in there. Safety regs. Without the right tuning, it could turn you into mincemeat."
"Huh? But it's stuck here." Shiro gestured. He was last to see Armax and Karla sharing a small laugh.
"That's why they're new. If you have something small on you, I can show you what they can do, use a keepsake or a rock or whatever." The technician explained.
Shiro thought for a second, then reluctantly massaged his finger, dragging his wedding ring off. The guards hadn't done more than a tap on the band, so he assumed they wouldn't mind. Wiggling the ring free, he frowned.
"I'm gonna get this back, right?" He had to check.
"If it gets stuck on something, I'll fetch it for you, don't worry." The technician waved. "Just stick your hand past the hatch there. Be ready to pull it out if something happens."
Taking a small breath, Shiro put his fingers right where the turian indicated, seeing him punch in commands. While he expected the machine to hum louder, he was not at all prepared for the sensation that hit his hand; a sudden tug almost ripped the ring out of his grip. He grunted in surprise while moving his arm, feeling his hand jostle from the force being exerted.
Doing a double take, Shiro raised a brow as he realized what had happened. At the turian's nod, he relaxed, allowing the ring to fall… straight forward. With a tiny clatter, the ring tapped on the far side of the pod, tinging as if he dropped it. As he watched his ring, the technician messed with the controls; the band sliding along the sides until it was on the right, before abruptly falling towards the left, then rattling back to the first spot.
Flicking something sent the ring flying, sailing out into his fumbling grip. The technician was twitching his mandibles with a chuckle, deactivating the pod and closing the hatch.
"New Element Zero technology. It can simulate interia on the pilot's body for added realism. Another few decades and we won't even need trainer craft anymore." He explained with audible pride.
"Primarch Quintus called in a big favor to deliver thirty of these sims to this program. Thanks to the test pilots' input, it's virtually indistinguishable from the real thing once it's online." Armax added while Shiro climbed down once he was on his feet. The transport moved on.
"You weren't kidding about being well funded." Sanders nodded quietly.
"Simulates gravity? No shit. They really are being spoiled." Healy beamed while the party moved on, approaching the indicated bay.
"Feeling jealous?" Shiro ribbed him, spotting the crane swiveling over their destination, carting what looked like a reactor.
"Hell no. I'm glad these guys have time and gear to get actual training." He shot back, eying Grissom, who was steadfastly keeping calm. "Hey Captain, what do you think about it?"
"Don't know enough about this stuff yet, but it looks promising. Doctor Armax, are you planning on using the prototypes as trainers? However good those sims are, nothing beats actual flight time." Her gaze swiveled once they were upon the bay, where more engineers were at work.
Shiro noticed this station was more lively, he spotted many more workers bustling about up there, and they were speaking more loudly than at the other station. From scuttlebutt, he knew this was the flagship unit of the entire program. It made sense they wanted the test model in better condition. There were also wild rumors of sackings when it wasn't ready for the demonstration, although he had his doubts about that part.
Rather than answering, Armax led them up the steps, Shiro waving off Sanders when he silently offered to help while hobbling up the much steeper stairs, and upon hitting the top, found a decently well organized mess. Several engineers were busy at terminals, one detaching to call to a comrade for some technical jargon, while beyond a swarm of engineers were piling out of the bay.
Save for one, a human waving his hands above an open chest hatch while the crane lowered its cargo; Doctor Kasshu was gesturing for the operator, calling out, "Easy, easy! Slow! Hold… got it!"
A thunk rattled the bay as they came up to the railing. Shiro needing to grab the metal as he muttered, "Woah."
The mobile suit before him was a wholly different beast than the Bellona. Taller by at least two meters at a glance, it possessed an oval-shaped torso instead of the blocky designs he was used to, different sections ending in a seam rather than rounded like Zeon equipment. Its shoulders carried the same aesthetic, leading to arms that had angular armor which enlarged at its wrists. Segmented legs had huge vented thrusters that led to narrow skirt armor that then ended in sharp points, the feet at the end bearing a resemblance to avian claws. Bizarrely, there was a massive backpack underneath the bay. He spotted three huge vanes at least twelve or fifteen meters in length, each studded with small radiator panels.
But the head, that was all too familiar. A larger mask like cover, twin eyes with a crest on the skull, and topped by a long V-shaped antenna on its forehead.
Armax was practically beaming. "Comrades, I present to you Project X. We call it the UAE-01 Gundam Nerio."
Shiro drank in its appearance, so much that he didn't notice the hands on the railing beside him didn't belong to Sanders. Instead Grissom was there, but rather than gawking like Sanders and Healy, she just stared. Features closed in, her scarred expression just gazed at the V on the head.
"You okay? Grissom, hey." Shiro nudged her twice before she did a double take, blinking before huffing with a small grimace.
"Yeah, I'm alright. I'm fine." She looked away while Karla went over the specs.
"Did you face one during the War?" Shiro guessed. Several Gundams were deployed throughout the War, although none held a candle to the original prototype on board the White Base; Aina called that one the White Devil, terror of the Zeon forces throughout the entire Earth Sphere.
After a second, Grissom shook her head. "A few years after… never mind, it's in the past. Anyway, who's the test pilot?"
Karla grinned, and when Kasshu stomped up, he seemed to catch on as well, chuckling while leaning on a railing. As much as Shiro was concerned about Grissom, he followed the pair's eyes to Armax, who shifted his feet with his mandibles twitching.
"You? Really? I thought you were the project lead?" Healy raised a brow.
"Well, calling me a pilot is being a little disingenuous. Since this mobile suit is being built by and for turians, I just meant to ensure a turian was involved with the pilot interface data. It's not like I flew it… much… just around the station a couple times. We're still waiting on a proper pilot-" Armax loudly cleared his throat.
"He wanted to play with the big robot." Keith snickered at his distress.
"Alright, enough. I've been meaning to ask about that actually. I wanna know more about the guys you called us in for." Sanders said loudly, putting an end to the mild teasing.
"The brass are sorting out candidates planetside. Last I heard, they want the first batch to be thirty guys. Enough for a full sized squadron." Kasshu supplied, grunting as he climbed under the railing. "The plan is a mix of newbies and vets, all trained fighter pilots. I talked to some guys and they're sending a couple of infantry instructors too, figure it'll help them get used to things if they have their own people translating info."
"Thirty men? With seven trainers, plus some support staff, we should have them covered. What do we have for requisitions?" Grissom was all business, pointedly avoiding looking at the Gundam.
"That was supposed to be covered in the briefing later." Armax coughed, regaining his composure. "For now, I can show you around the inside of a Bellona. If any of you are interested, I can give some flight time on the Nerio here. It should be fully operational in a day or two. Now, from what Hickam and Mackenzie have told me, you should know its response time is fast…"
000
Looping the buttons of his jacket, Shiro meticulously tied up his new dress uniform, delivered from Texas just yesterday. The new outfit was broadly similar to the standard Federation uniform, but newer and made of cotton; word was that Manswell had commissioned the uniform change in case the colonies needed to change their slapdash defense forces. Though for unclear reasons, someone decided that instead of beige it needed to be blue, so when he looked in the mirror he groaned.
"I look stupid." He muttered, getting elbowed in the back by a passing Hickam.
"Join the club, either get with the program or go home." He snickered while he walked, his own fatigues matching Shiro's to his constant complaining.
While Sanders brushed his remaining hair as well as rubbing his freshly shaved cheeks, Keith slumped, then forced himself to stand up straight. "Okay, I can do this. Kou and I always kicked ass during aggressor training, even when the brass sent us those junk Zakus. Oh man, Kou would be better at this…"
"You know he always said you were good too." Mackenzie tidied her short skirt, rolling her shoulders. While Shiro personally wondered why that part was included in the female uniform, he admitted to himself that Aina would rock that outfit…
He shook it off when the conference room door slid open, admitting two turians. The first was a thickly built older man in full armor with cracks all over his facial plates, messing up his paint so much that it resembled broken glass. Staff Sergeant Torin was his name, one of several personnel seconded from a training facility on Digeris; for being an alien, he acted every inch the hard-nosed Drill Instructor, hardly different from the men who rammed Shiro through basic so many years ago.
Having just arrived a couple days ago, he didn't have the chance to get to know him yet, just that he was good at churning out soldiers. Whatever they couldn't instruct to the trainees, he and his assistants could cover.
Torin stepped out of the way, allowing a familiar face to enter. Everyone present stiffened, Keith and Hickam and Shiro to snap off salutes, although Healy and Sanders looked uncertain of whether or not it was the correct procedure. Shiro actually wasn't sure where they fit in the chain of command; were they formally recruited? Contractors? Glorified mercenaries? Whatever the case, he waved them down.
"Everyone, are you ready?" Captain Cincannato checked. Freshly transferred at the Primach's request a couple days previously, he was assigned to handle the training phase of the mobile suit program, using his experience at combining turian doctrine with MS technology to ensure the best results.
"Let's do it." Healy decided, taking the lead ahead of the others. Staying by the rear, Mackenzie snagged a remote to shut off the television, silencing a news report that announced a krogan fleet had been spotted near the Apien Crest Relay.
Torin led the party without a word, exiting the common room of their wing towards a makeshift amphitheater located next to the main hangars. Shiro was in the middle ofthe party, rolling his shoulders to dismiss some nervousness; the sims were tricky to get used to, he still didn't have the layout down yet. But he felt he was ready.
The door opened to a large room that had a projector set up alongside a sim pod, their briefing area. The second Torin stepped inside, an entire group of turians straightened up, someone barking, "Officer on deck!"
Immediately they formed an orderly line as Torin stopped in the center, leveling a harsh stare upon the trainees. Cincannato was next, managing a calm stride to his side, overlooking the bunch. But when the humans entered, Shiro was aware of the confusion rippling through them; nobody muttered a comment or exchanged looks. The most he saw was soft shifting weight. Nonetheless, Shiro formed his own group line, trying to match the stiffness of his counterparts.
"Recruits, welcome to Project Nerio." Cincannato greeted calmly, exchanging a glance with Grissom. "We have selected you to form the first squadron of a brand new type of space fighter, which utilizes the new particle weapon technology that was recently developed."
Cincannato gestured, stepping aside as the turians swiveled. This amphitheater had a window on the side, its blast shield currently raised so they could peer into the hangar, where thumps began to rattle the hull. Shiro hid a grin at the surprise rippling through their ranks, seeing the ones closest to the glass bit back curses at the mobile suit walking out of the bay, the enormous Bellona taking cautious steps as part of its system check. Whoever operated it took a moment to swivel its head to their spot, its sensor ports flashing.
"What the news withheld was that we did not develop this technology solely on our own. It was traded from these new people, humans. High Command was intrigued by the platform that the humans designed and has decided to try it for ourselves. You men are the first pilots of what will soon become the Navy's Mobile Suit Corp." Cincannato explained, just like he practiced the previous night, staying calm like Shiro and Healy encouraged. "As these humans are veterans in operating mobile suits, they have joined the program to instruct you how to fight with them."
His hand raised to Grissom, who stepped forward, putting on the calm demeanor which saw them through a long journey. "Recruits. I am Captain Jane Grissom, acting as chief instructor. I've fought in two wars and led men into battle in fifty engagements, in both ground and space environments. Most of the personnel with me have similar experiences. It is my job to have you ready for deployment within six months. I will not accept failure. You will succeed or you will die trying."
Shiro cleared his throat, waiting for both Grissom and Cincannato to nod. "Hi there. I'm Acting Ensign Shiro Amada. I just wanted to add on to Grissom's statement, it's my responsibility to make all of you as prepared as possible, I promise you that I will give it my all. My first command to you is to come back alive."
Although part of him was half expecting some cheers, his composure cracked when a few of the pilots exchanged uncomfortable looks in spite of Torin's glare. One near the end of the line raised a hand. Cincannato waved him forward; he was taller than his counterparts, with a wider set of gray plates than the rest. Helping him stand out was an absence of face paint. Shiro dredged his memories and realized he had never actually seen a bare faced turian before.
"Sir, Ensign Ulcha Arterius. May I ask our… instructors a question?"
"You may." Grissom nodded after Cincannato, whose mandibles stilled.
"Thank you, sir. Chief Instructor, what is your total combat experience against the krogan?" Arterius stared, his comrades sending him glances.
Shiro stiffened, muffling a grimace as Grissom hesitated a second. "One engagement so far."
"One. I ask because I have personally flown into battle on six separate occasions in the past year. However experienced you may be in your conflicts, what can you teach us that will be of value in our war?" Arterius stated flatly.
"You never know, actually. Pardon me sir." Hikam spoke out of turn, maintaining a smile until Cincannato nodded in affirmation, making him cross his arms. "Now yeah, I think you're right. I know little about krogan fighting. What I do know is that you guys usually use fighters as screeners and ground support. So I have a question for you: have you sunk a ship before?"
Arterius clicked his jaw. "Once. It cost most of my squadron."
"Well, I have. A lot of ships actually. So how much do you wanna pay 'em back?" Hickam shrugged.
Unlike him, Mackenzie waited for permission first. "It's a learning experience for all of us. We'll be modifying our own methods as we go on, but I have full confidence that together we can meet expectations."
Cincannato stepped forward, regaining their attention. "I'm certain that many of you are uneasy about the lax protocols in place here. We're doing something that has never been attempted before. There's bound to be mistakes. But I will push through. I expect all of you to give the same effort. We will succeed."
"Whatever it takes." Grissom finished for him, meeting a nod from him and everyone else.
"So." Shiro clapped his hands, mustering a small grin. "If you're feeling as ready as I am, let's get this show on the road."
000
As usual, major thanks to KisaragiKei. Go check out his stories while you're here.
