A
Alex Hart
>On, 188604, Sybio Airbase.
After Jay's behavior in the classroom, Alex had taken it upon himself to pull the kid aside. It was clear that he wasn't going to learn from conventional lessons, and Alex himself wasn't exactly an experienced teacher. So, he decided that it would be easier to just do what he did best; Fly.
---- Hangar ----
In the massive hangar there were a few dozen U-1 mass production models lined up on each wall, with technicians scurrying around, preforming various tasks.
Alex led Jay into the center of the hangar.
"Look Jay, you seem to have made a bad impression on some of the other trainees, and I get the impression that you don't take well to normal lessons anyway. And you don't seem to have a proper respect for what we're doing here. Is that right?"
"I can respect someone that can prove they're worth my trouble. Although, you seem to know what you're doing. If I'm gonna learn to fly, I'd prefer you be the one to teach me."
"Worth your trouble?" Alex asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Someone who won't just sell me out. You seem like a decent person. I still don't trust you, but I can respect you."
"I think you'll soon come to find that people around here are more trustworthy than the type of people you seem to have met before."
"Well, considering the people I've dealt with are mostly criminals, I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised."
"Anyways, I don't think you have a proper appreciation of how hard people have worked to become a part of our piloting program. So I'm going to show you firsthand."
Alex gestured to a technical team nearby, who wheeled a mass production U-1 over to the two young men.
"Get in." Alex said, firmly.
Jay slowly climbed into the cockpit of the U-1, and started looking over the controls - somewhat understanding their use, but very vaguely.
"Wheel him out to the runway. I'll bring him up with a follower program, slaving him to my movements."
A team of humans and Gartagen wheeled the fighter out to the runway, where Alex's fighter was waiting.
It's rear fuselage was dissimilar to that of the mass production model, its "legs" together rather than forked out.
Alex mentally opened the cockpit and hopped into the cockpit in one bound.
"Tower, this is Alex, I'm taking a rookie up for a bit of one on one training." Alex spoke over the radio, able to be heard by both Jay and the flight control tower.
The radio crackled, "Roger that, you are clear for takeoff."
The two fighter's engines roared, and the began to taxi down the runway, picking up speed until they both lifted off and wheeled into the sky, Jay's craft's movements mimicking Alex's own.
Jay would be pushed back into the seat by the intense gee forces generated.
"Oh god... I think I'm gonna lose it..."
Alex's face showed up on a screen in the Jay's cockpit. "And this is only taking off. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get used to this enough to enlist?"
Jay started vomiting as Alex was talking.
Alex banked into a turn, using his feet as vernier thrusters, spiraling upward with Jay close on his tail.
Wiping the vomit off his face, Jay said somewhat weakly "I knew this would happen, though I though that it would be worse..."
Alex's legs flared out, allowing him to hover him in place. Jay's fighter did so as well.
"You insulted everyone in that room by just waltzing in, acting like you could just get in without putting the same work in that they did. Do you think it's going to be easy /now/?"
"I guess not." He said, his strength returning. "Frankly, I need people who aren't gonna sell me out."
"Why on earth do you keep bringing up people seling you out? You insulted everyone in there, and your only explanation is that you don't want to be sold out?" Alex's voice raised slightly. There was anger in his voice now, faint, but steadily increasing, a spark igniting a powder keg.
He pulled the legs back in on his and Jay's fighters, setting them rocketing toward the ground at mach speed, nose first.
"Maybe if you didn't introduce yourself by threatening people and acting like an ass, you wouldn't be sold out as much."
Jay barely managed to get out a response over his ragged breathing.
"In my own defense, the situation felt hostile. I didn't want to have to do that."
Alex pulled up at the last minute, flaring legs out and holding the two fighters barely above the ground.
"Then you should have just walked in and introduced yourself instead of threatening a room full of people you wanted to ally yourself with."
Alex began to pull the fighters back up into the sky.
"You're stuck here now, so now you're gonna learn what everyone else had to."
Alex released Jay's fighter from the slave control system.
Jay was surprised to suddenly be given control of his fighter. He tried to climb up into the air, but ended up stalling and tumbling out of control towards the surface.
Alex sighed. The outpouring of anger from him had been cathartic for him, and now as Jay approached the surface, Alex reactivated the slave control system, pulling Jay up at the last moment before transforming it into mecha mode, having the U-1 skid to a halt on its feet.
During the transformation, Jay's cockpit changed drastically. His seat pulled back into a cavity, allowing a harnes to snap into place around Jay's arms and legs. The harness pulled him upright after the 360 degree display shifted to show the body of the mecha from the point of view of the head.
Alex however, Transformed halfway and glided down with arms and legs out before landing, and transforming fully.
"You have control again. This might be a bit easier for you to figure out."
Jay took a tentative step forward, then another. He then tried some basic arm movements. Once he was somewhat comfortable with the controls, he did some quick arm stretches and pulled a few punches.
"Not bad." He said. "Ya think this thing can fight hand-to-hand like a person?
Alex answered simply by walking over to Jay, and flipping him by his arm.
"It can, but I don't know about you."
"Well, if strength isn't an issue here, I think I'll do just fine."
Alex tilted the head of his mecha. "Oh really? Why don't we test that theory?"
The kid clearly still needed to learn that what he knew about fighting had no bearing when in a mecha.
"You can have a free shot."
Jay would fake a left hook, then throw an uppercut with his right.
Alex activated the thrusters on the bottom of his feet and drifted out of the way of both punches at the last second.
"You thought I came here with no skills, didn't you?" He said through his teeth. "Let me assure you, I came here not to humiliate you, but to see if my skills might be useful here."
He swept the mecha's leg around in a sweeping kick.
Alex was confused by Jay's statement, but didn't let the kick catch him off guard, rather, with a quick flare of the thrusters he sent himself curving around Jay and to the side, where his leg lashed out at the single one that Jay's mecha was now standing on.
"Its not just me you need to apologize to, its everyone else whom you disrespected as well. Also, remember your mecha has features that you don't. Your fighting style needs to change to reflect that."
Jay grew more desperate to impress his instructor. He jumped towards Alex's mecha, moving for a flying side kick. Yet, he was surprised when the thrusters fired and threw him out of balance.
As the thrusters fired they threw Jay backward, since his legs were pointed forward, and he was sent tumbling.
"Alright, thats enough for today." Alex said, reactivating the slave system and transforming both mecha into fighter mode and flying them back to the base for repairs.
After Jay's behavior in the classroom, Alex had taken it upon himself to pull the kid aside. It was clear that he wasn't going to learn from conventional lessons, and Alex himself wasn't exactly an experienced teacher. So, he decided that it would be easier to just do what he did best; Fly.
---- Hangar ----
In the massive hangar there were a few dozen U-1 mass production models lined up on each wall, with technicians scurrying around, preforming various tasks.
Alex led Jay into the center of the hangar.
"Look Jay, you seem to have made a bad impression on some of the other trainees, and I get the impression that you don't take well to normal lessons anyway. And you don't seem to have a proper respect for what we're doing here. Is that right?"
"I can respect someone that can prove they're worth my trouble. Although, you seem to know what you're doing. If I'm gonna learn to fly, I'd prefer you be the one to teach me."
"Worth your trouble?" Alex asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Someone who won't just sell me out. You seem like a decent person. I still don't trust you, but I can respect you."
"I think you'll soon come to find that people around here are more trustworthy than the type of people you seem to have met before."
"Well, considering the people I've dealt with are mostly criminals, I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised."
"Anyways, I don't think you have a proper appreciation of how hard people have worked to become a part of our piloting program. So I'm going to show you firsthand."
Alex gestured to a technical team nearby, who wheeled a mass production U-1 over to the two young men.
"Get in." Alex said, firmly.
Jay slowly climbed into the cockpit of the U-1, and started looking over the controls - somewhat understanding their use, but very vaguely.
"Wheel him out to the runway. I'll bring him up with a follower program, slaving him to my movements."
A team of humans and Gartagen wheeled the fighter out to the runway, where Alex's fighter was waiting.
It's rear fuselage was dissimilar to that of the mass production model, its "legs" together rather than forked out.
Alex mentally opened the cockpit and hopped into the cockpit in one bound.
"Tower, this is Alex, I'm taking a rookie up for a bit of one on one training." Alex spoke over the radio, able to be heard by both Jay and the flight control tower.
The radio crackled, "Roger that, you are clear for takeoff."
The two fighter's engines roared, and the began to taxi down the runway, picking up speed until they both lifted off and wheeled into the sky, Jay's craft's movements mimicking Alex's own.
Jay would be pushed back into the seat by the intense gee forces generated.
"Oh god... I think I'm gonna lose it..."
Alex's face showed up on a screen in the Jay's cockpit. "And this is only taking off. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get used to this enough to enlist?"
Jay started vomiting as Alex was talking.
Alex banked into a turn, using his feet as vernier thrusters, spiraling upward with Jay close on his tail.
Wiping the vomit off his face, Jay said somewhat weakly "I knew this would happen, though I though that it would be worse..."
Alex's legs flared out, allowing him to hover him in place. Jay's fighter did so as well.
"You insulted everyone in that room by just waltzing in, acting like you could just get in without putting the same work in that they did. Do you think it's going to be easy /now/?"
"I guess not." He said, his strength returning. "Frankly, I need people who aren't gonna sell me out."
"Why on earth do you keep bringing up people seling you out? You insulted everyone in there, and your only explanation is that you don't want to be sold out?" Alex's voice raised slightly. There was anger in his voice now, faint, but steadily increasing, a spark igniting a powder keg.
He pulled the legs back in on his and Jay's fighters, setting them rocketing toward the ground at mach speed, nose first.
"Maybe if you didn't introduce yourself by threatening people and acting like an ass, you wouldn't be sold out as much."
Jay barely managed to get out a response over his ragged breathing.
"In my own defense, the situation felt hostile. I didn't want to have to do that."
Alex pulled up at the last minute, flaring legs out and holding the two fighters barely above the ground.
"Then you should have just walked in and introduced yourself instead of threatening a room full of people you wanted to ally yourself with."
Alex began to pull the fighters back up into the sky.
"You're stuck here now, so now you're gonna learn what everyone else had to."
Alex released Jay's fighter from the slave control system.
Jay was surprised to suddenly be given control of his fighter. He tried to climb up into the air, but ended up stalling and tumbling out of control towards the surface.
Alex sighed. The outpouring of anger from him had been cathartic for him, and now as Jay approached the surface, Alex reactivated the slave control system, pulling Jay up at the last moment before transforming it into mecha mode, having the U-1 skid to a halt on its feet.
During the transformation, Jay's cockpit changed drastically. His seat pulled back into a cavity, allowing a harnes to snap into place around Jay's arms and legs. The harness pulled him upright after the 360 degree display shifted to show the body of the mecha from the point of view of the head.
Alex however, Transformed halfway and glided down with arms and legs out before landing, and transforming fully.
"You have control again. This might be a bit easier for you to figure out."
Jay took a tentative step forward, then another. He then tried some basic arm movements. Once he was somewhat comfortable with the controls, he did some quick arm stretches and pulled a few punches.
"Not bad." He said. "Ya think this thing can fight hand-to-hand like a person?
Alex answered simply by walking over to Jay, and flipping him by his arm.
"It can, but I don't know about you."
"Well, if strength isn't an issue here, I think I'll do just fine."
Alex tilted the head of his mecha. "Oh really? Why don't we test that theory?"
The kid clearly still needed to learn that what he knew about fighting had no bearing when in a mecha.
"You can have a free shot."
Jay would fake a left hook, then throw an uppercut with his right.
Alex activated the thrusters on the bottom of his feet and drifted out of the way of both punches at the last second.
"You thought I came here with no skills, didn't you?" He said through his teeth. "Let me assure you, I came here not to humiliate you, but to see if my skills might be useful here."
He swept the mecha's leg around in a sweeping kick.
Alex was confused by Jay's statement, but didn't let the kick catch him off guard, rather, with a quick flare of the thrusters he sent himself curving around Jay and to the side, where his leg lashed out at the single one that Jay's mecha was now standing on.
"Its not just me you need to apologize to, its everyone else whom you disrespected as well. Also, remember your mecha has features that you don't. Your fighting style needs to change to reflect that."
Jay grew more desperate to impress his instructor. He jumped towards Alex's mecha, moving for a flying side kick. Yet, he was surprised when the thrusters fired and threw him out of balance.
As the thrusters fired they threw Jay backward, since his legs were pointed forward, and he was sent tumbling.
"Alright, thats enough for today." Alex said, reactivating the slave system and transforming both mecha into fighter mode and flying them back to the base for repairs.
