Return to Service - Cali's redemption (Open)

[GovernorEgo]

This will mainly be some character introduction stuff, but if anybody wants to join they are welcome to.

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Loran was sitting right up on the bed, the state he was in was reflected by the excessive amounts of sweat covering his body and his rapid breathing. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes with his left hand, he contemplated how he got in this situation. He wasn't prone to nightmares. Heck, he couldn't even remember if he even had any in the past. This night was different. Was this a trauma that he did not understand. It was the only explanation that he could come up with. Today would be the first time that he would get back in that machine after the accident. He looked at his right arm. It looked like his arm. He moved his arm. It even moved like his arm. But it definately was not his arm. It didn't feel the same. It had taken him the better part of the last half a year getting to understand how it works. How he could use his new arm like his old arm. It still would not feel the same way though.

Throwing the blanket off himself, he got up and walked over to the windows of his apartment. "Blinds open" he spoke. The blinds responded by opening themselves, showing the outside the cylindrical shape of the Libra station. The apartment itself was quite expensive, however it had been worth it. Standing with his arms against the window hunched over a bit he caught his breath as his heart rate was slowly going more stable. Loran took a big breath. He didn't understand, how could the accident affect him now and not before. He had been more convinced to return to duty then before. If the Cali's rebuild had been faster he would have returned even before that. Even the simulator results indicated that his condition was back up to the levels from before the accident. Then why did he feel this way and why now?

Walking back over the bed he sat down on the edge and then let himself drop backwards. Looking at the ceiling he wondered if this would affect his performance in any way once he got onboard the real thing. There was no way to know until he would do so. In his mind he went of the changes the engineers had made to the Cali. Well changes would be an understatement. The accident had completely warped the left side of the mech, it would have been too much work to get it rebuild like that, so instead they had opted to just rebuild the entire thing. Since they would be doing this anyway, the military had opted to upgrade the systems and try to work in a way to prevent the accident from happening in the future. From the data he had read, Loran knew that it was not out of the question that a similar accident could not occur in the future as well the system itself was just to unpredictable. The solution the engineer had come up with would at least offload the operation of the system away from the pilot, so he could better focus on piloting. Having another voice onboard even if was only a V.I. (Virtual Intelligence) was not his favored solution, but he understood that this was the most effective solution. If he himself could not grow to accommodate it then the systems would need to be enhanced. The rest of the specs were just a bit better in performance from the original. They had even gotten around to implementing the suggestions from Loran himself. Having been the one to pilot it in the past he had made some suggestions towards balancing differences that would improve the response of the machine itself. The data from the simulations would probably suggest that as well, as he doubted that they would just change it on his whim. Thinking about this more made him feel a bit better. Enough to get to work.

=== Later ===

Leaning again the wall of the elevator, Loran had his eyes closed. He felt the moment of the elevator as it went up to the hangar. He had not been here for a while. Not knowing if he was nervous to get back to duty or nervous because of what happened that morning. Clutching his helmet in his left hand and the roadbook (looks like two tablet stuck together with a hinge) in his right hand, he shifted his body to loosen it up. "You sure you are up to this? Because we can postpone it if you are not ready." the woman standing across from him in the elevator spoke. "I'll be fine," Loran responded without opening his eyes, "Just need to get my body back into the flow of things." The woman did not respond other then adjust her glasses. Dr. Rosamia Argas was assigned to him to access his current state and to reinstate his flight status once he would pass this final hurdle. She had her reservations about his capabilities even though the numbers did not display anything out of the ordinary.

The elevator stopped and Loran followed the doctor outside into the hangar. Hangar six was only half filled with units, having not been her a while, Loran wondered about the state of the other units that were supposed to be there. It was always possible that they were lost. He shook his head, was he always this negative? Walking along the side passing at least one mech being maintenanced they moved to the end of the hanger where 4 larger berth's held larger units. Since the addition of the Lucifer backpack, the Cali had received a larger berth to accommodate for each larger size when combined with it. "I'm sure I told you the briefing already and updated your roadbook according to it. This will be a simple trial to assess your performance in piloting and will consist of normal trial operations. Since it will also be the first flight of the new unit you will also access it's capabilities. This will be a test flight, so stick to the goals. As indicated the Lucifer will not be attached as we're assessing the flight mechanics of the unit before combining it to test the Lucifer's systems as well. Understood?" Rosamia inquired. "Very," Loran responded. Why was she always treating him like a kid, or was she just thorough by nature?


Varias Caliburnis Core Unit (without Lucifer Backpack attached)

As the approached the berth, Loran recognized the appearance of his ride. The red paint was sharply reflecting the light from the hangar. You could tell that it was new, it probably had the new smell to it as well. As expected it was shifted forward so it would clear the guns on the Lucifer. The frontal hatch was opened and several engineers were running around it, probably fixing up last minute things. Looking up, Loran noticed the differences. Most of it was it minor, but some things stood out, like the new horn, which housed the Banshee system, the added verniers on the legs and the forward exhaust ports. He had seen the details from the new specifications material that he had received a while back. Obviously he should be familiar with it if he was going to pilot it. He smirked as he saw that the engineer's had reinstated his family crest on the left side of the shoulder guard, he had wondered if it had been lost after the paint job, he guessed that they wanted to keep everything as much the same as possible. An engineer approached them.

"I'm guessing you are him," the young engineer remarked seeing Loran dressed in his red flight armor. "If you mean him, by the pilot of this thing. Then Yes, I am." Loran said in reply. "Good," the engineer responded, "I'm Garth Anderson the Chief Mechanic of this hangar. I know all about you, Knight Valentine so no need for introductions, we can talk when you get back. The Varias Caliburnis is already to go. If there is anything that needs adjust it, pass it on to my crew and we'll take care of it for ya." Loran wondered if this guy was not to young to be a chief mechanic, maybe their understaffed or maybe they want to stay away from the curse of this thing. 24 died during the accident, of which 17 mechanics, so if they're scared of it then he could not blame them. Maybe this is what he felt this morning as well. "Alright, I'll be sure to push your handywork to it's limit." Loran responded looking up. "You will do no such thing," Doctor Argas interrupted him. "Haha," the mechanic laughed, "We're confident in our abilites, this thing will not break so easily and if you do break it we'll fix it up again. So go right ahead, would like to see you try." The doctor was starting to get angry now, "Don't you encourage him," she replied. The mechanic held up his hands in defense, "Sure, sure." he said, knowing when to back off. He quickly made sure to stay out of her way.

Turning her attention back to Loran. "I'm expecting a clean flight, no showing off or any antics. I'll be in the Command Center to check on you and if I get any word about such things, I will ground you for life." Wow, this was one scary lady. Loran made a mental note to watch out for her. "Yes, ma'am," Loran responded. "Then get going." she said as she started to turn around. Loran watched as she walked off, before turning his attention back to the Cali. "Pff. Now to tackle this." He got ready to board the unit.

[GovernorEgo]

Loran climbed down the throat-ladder to the already opened hatch of the Pilot Shell. Greeted by the lowlight of the emergency lighting, it had been a while since he had last set foot in here. Well technically he had never set foot in here as it was a new unit, it did feel the same as the old unit, then again the simulator was build exactly the same. The drawback of the ladder was that he need to wear the helmet already and hang the roadbook off a hinge on his belt. At least it was made for it already. He had gotten used to doing it this way. He instinctively wanted to hit the button to close the hatch, but luckily remembered that the unit was completely switched off, so he would suffocate in minutes if he did that before starting up the necessary systems. He smiled at it and moved over the seat. Taking the roadbook of his belt and putting it opened in it's slot on the right forward side, it would serve as a secondary display and would easily give him access to some of the more hidden flight controls. Sitting down he made sure to lock his flight armor into the slots in the back of the seat, didn't want to fall out. They would nicely hold him back during maneuvers, but still give him some way to move around.

"Alright, let's light this puppy up." Loran spoke to himself as he pressed the ON button on the road book. It's screens lit up displaying the Lightning bolt symbol and the introduction words below it: Electroknight OS v6.3f. It shifted to it's normal working display before picking up the connection to the Cali. As it found that it was sitting it's cradle the screens shifted to indicate the connection being ready and that the controls would be accessible.
The screen displayed that they had the umbilical was connected and that both External Power and Fuel were available. Sliding his fingers across the screen he shifted to the "Start-up Checklist". Although he had done this many times before it was a matter of principle to go over all the requirements. "ExPU to ON, EPU to ON," he spoke out loud as the check that both button were lit up on the right side panel. "Good, BATT to ON." Loran continued pressing the appropriate button. Noticing the charge building he pressed the next few buttons in the sequence. "APU ON, GEN1 to ON, GEN2 to ON." the numbers starting to increase on the panel. "Power raising. Selector to BOTH," he said, turning the dial from OFF to the BOTH setting. Turning to the left panel, he started filling switching, "MAIN BUS, COMPCORE1, COMPCORE2, LIFEPACK, HOLO."

His attention turned back to the roadbook display. The main unit was now in boot up sequence and the main computers were coming on line. The holodisplay shuttered before lighting up, slowly building up the display of a young woman with voluptuous breasts, her tanned skin, long green hair and green eyes completed the ensemble. Who ever designed her like this was obviously perverted. The woman started to come alive, yawned and stretched herself. "Good morning, Loran." she spoke. "Good morning, Domino." Loran replied to her as his attention shifted back to the checklist. "Oh, it's the real deal today," Domino spoke reading some document she had just pulled out of thin air. "Yes, it is. O2 is 100% for all tanks. Selectors to AUTO. We won't have the Lucifer today, so you can sit back and enjoy the ride." he responded her. More switches on the left panel were switched on. The whole cockpit seemed to come alive as the panoramic displays came on-line, showing the exterior and immediately making everything in the cockpit brighter. As her only real job was to control the Rutherford field itself, without the Lucifer attached it was not necessary for her to do anything else. "Very well," she spoke a bit grumpy, crossing her arms in front of her and lifting her breasts up. Loran shook his head before continuing, "Fuel 100% on both tanks. Main flow valves open. Engine startup." A low hum entered the cockpit from below indicating that the engine was now running. "EPU to STANDBY, ExPU to OFF. Sequence complete. Let's get underway." His hands moved back to the roadbook display as the hatch behind him closed, the troat covers closed and the external umbilical was retracted. Loran pulled up the flight plan, it was plain and simple, a test for the new Varias Caliburnis core to show it's performance. Without the Lucifer they only had 37% of the total output available and no access to the main flight booster. Moving the controls he moved the Cali's arms and picked the shield and rifle from their wall hardpoints. Connecting the shield to the left arm and storing the rifle on it's hardpoint on the back. While both of these were uncommon when the Lucifer was attached, he still had to test them as they were in the flight plan, it was good to have additional equipment as a back up though.

"Preflight. Full Check all systems." Loran called out to Domino. She responded by looking at him and calling off the systems checklist. "Generator 1 and 2 100% output available, APU stable, Computer Core 1 and 2 99.99% efficiency, current load 3%. Fuel status 100% on RCS and Main tank, Secondary tanks not available. AMBAC (Active Mass Balance Auto Control) available, mode set to NORMAL. Banshee system available and in STANDBY mode. Lucifer not connected, addition checklist cut. Flight System Check. Apogee motors 1 to 9 checked in, full motions available. All verniers available. 1 to 48 checked in. Weapons check. Main Capacitor charged. Current charge 100%, AP Lasers available, 1 to 6 checked in. AM Lasers available, 1 to 4 checked in. Missile pods full and available, Launcher 1 to 16 checked in. Smoke Dischargers available, 1 to 22 checked in. Beam sabers available, 1 to 4 checked in. Rho Aias Shield System connected and available. Twin Launchers available, 1 and 2 checked in, clip check 10 rounds. AM Lasers available, 5 to 8 checked in. Agios Rifle System located. Capacitor charge to 100%, Grenade Launcher available, 1 round. Systems check complete." She was far more efficient in calling gathering all that data, he could go over all the screens and look at it, but this was far more efficient.

With his right pinky he tabbed the button to turn on the radio system and connect him to Command. "Flight Control, this is Vanguard 00. Systems check complete, all systems available. Requesting permission for Box out and Launch." Loran spoke. He pulled the faceplate of his helmet into position as he waited for an answer. "Vanguard 00, this is Flight Control. Box out confirmed, Flight Window is open. You are first on deck. Good flight." the response came from the smooth female voice spoke over the communication channel. "Thank you Control, Vanguard 00. Box out." Loran said, doing a quick sweep of the area up ahead, before moving the massive machine into motion. With it's first big stride out of it's bay the massive feet's stabilizer shifted and doing it's best to support the weight of the unit. Obviously it was not as stressed now as with the backpack attached, but it didn't mean that the weight was easy to control. More movements causing the machine to turn in through the middle of the Hangar. The warning lights around the Hangar came on and everybody made sure to clear the center of the Hangar. You didn't want to get trampled by one of these feet. Tapping the radio channel button once again Loran spoke, "Vanguard 00, Box out complete, area clear. Permission for Launch?" The operator once again responded in the soft voice, "Launch permssion granted Zero Zero." Hearing those words, pulled the controls into motion as the massive machine, moved into a sprint down the Hangar center line towards the now opened Hangar doors. With a slight hop the enter unit came loose from the surface and the Apogee motors lit up, accelerating the machine even further across the Hangar. Blasting through the Force field of the Hangar, the Cali cleared it's way to space. It's external lights cutting a path through the darkness.