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Just to the Left of the Right Stuff

Posted on Wed Apr 17th, 2019 @ 4:01pm by Ensign Briaar Gavarus & Lieutenant Mona Gonadie & Ensign Fiona O'Dell & Ensign John Carrott

Mission: Detours
Location: USS Hera, Deck 3, R&D Department
Timeline: 2396

Slowly, the large double doors from the newly established office of Research & Development opened onto the flight deck of the U.S.S. Hera.

Stepping through, silently, strode two figures clad in glistening armor. Towering in her golden EVA suit was the Tellarite engineer, Ensign Briaar Gavarus, who was taking long, dramatic strides through the billowing steam of the hydraulics as the steam and smoke hissed out of tubes at their feet.

At her side, clad in shimmering crimson was the diminutive Mariposian pilot, Ensign Fiona O'Dell. The significantly shorter young ginger took two steps for each of her larger partner's to stay alongside, the mists swirling around them as they walked onto the cavernous expanse of the flight deck, all eyes on them.

"Shiiiittttt..." Gavarus muttered under her breath. "I am still so goddamn hung over, Fiona. Everything feels like it's moving in frickin' slow motion."

"Aye. If they're g'win ta be usin' me wee bitty brain ta move the Thunderchicken today, she's liable ta be holdin her head half the time," O'Dell replied. In truth, she wasn't nearly as hungover as Gavarus, but only because she had passed out early, her low body weight and low alcohol tolerance taking her out long before she could thoroughly wreck herself as had the far sturdier argumentative engineer. She'd been the one to wake up, curled into a ball on the couch, when her tiny bladder woke her up for her 6 AM evacuation, having missed her 2 AM and 4 AM.

Stepping out on the upper flight deck, the odd couple greeted the team.

"Ensign O'Dell reportin' fer duty, Chief," the sparkplug spacer stepped up to take the lead and distract from her partner's hangover. "Whattiya say? Ready ta plug me brain box into a mecha and see if I get exponentially more annoyin?"

Mona looked up from the stack of PaDDs she was looking over to grin knowingly. "That is indeed the goal, actually. You think about moving and the system will try to compensate and mimic it."

As today was to be a simulation run and not an actual test drive, it would be accomplished with a pair of external nodes to see if it improved the reaction time, and as Carrott applied the stick-on probes, O'Dell muttered under her breath, "Carrott, me old sock, ye think ye might be able ta hit me with an anti-nausea? I'm a bit nervous and I dinna want to boak in me suit, aye?"

Chuckling to himself, Carrott went and grabbed a nearby hypo,"Aye O'Dell, here you go. Um, is Gavarus ok today? She looks.....more stabby than usual."

"She might be bearing a wee bit of a hangover from last night, so if ye have something fer her, it'd likely be a godsend ta the rest of us if ye could dose her wi'it too. Well spotted, Mr. Carrott," O'Dell whispered, a surprising subtlety from the ordinarily loud little lass.

Carrott nodded his understanding, and went to the replicator to procure a 'Toast' as he called it when he passed a glass out to everyone in attendance. In truth, it was nothing more than sparkling pineapple and orange juices which the fire-haired man had added extra electrolytes into, as well as a low-dose of pain relief snuck into Gavarus' glass.

"Here, this will cheer us all along. It's nothing that will impair anyone, just a drink to cheer the day, my own concoction," Carrott said, passing out small cups. "To our first endeavor!" he said, raising his glass high.

"Aye, to our first simulated flight wi' an all new flight control system that might joost revolutionize spaceflight. Or cook me wee toiny brain. Sláinte mhaith!" the small stereotype starpilot raised her glass in the traditional toast of her people.

"If I smell anything cooking I'll be sure to... eventually say something." Gavarus grumbled as she perfunctorily raised her drink then quickly downed the concoction. "Pineapple? As the resident pig, should I be worried if a luau breaks out?"

"Only if we build a nice pit fire and bring out one enormous spit. Besides, yer too bitter, ye'd taste awful," O'Dell chimed in. "So yuir safe. Now, let's get to... simulatin... aye? What's the plan for today, mum?" the minsicule Mariposioan directed her question at the Miradonian head of the department. "I've some ideas if ye'd like to hear 'em?"

"Please... No more talk of eating people..." Mona's feathers looked as if the color had drained out of them. "You can chatter away about whatever else you want, but that's where I draw the line, ok? As for our plan, toss those probes on your head and hop in the sim and we can begin. One behind each ear and one on your forehead to monitor your stress levels."

"Aye... sorry ma'am. I'm all hooked up." O'Dell stepped into the simulator. "Alreet ma'am, ready when you are."

"Excellent." From the outside, Mona engaged the simulator systems and activated the neuro-impulse drivers, the cockpit of the Thunderchicken forming around the petite pilot and the capital city of Meroset 347 forming around it. "Ok, everything is showing in the green. Just relax and think about walking."

I dinna think about walkin, I usually think aboot catchin oop, O'Dell thought to herself. The lack of actual controls was frustrating to her, and her first impulse was to grab the stick and to start working the throttles and pedals. After all, she had spent years learning how to fly, and she had adapted to the walking mech quickly because it had seemed intuitive. This was neither her training nor an extension of it. This was using just your brain to move something, and in trying to second-guess how that worked, nothing was moving on the Thunderchicken at all while the tiny test pilot concentrated on moving it with her mind.

Relaxed she was not, having already gotten in trouble for banter, uncomfortable in a situation she wasn't prepared for and trying to counter all of her years of training to operate a vehicle psionically. After standing there doing nothing, she flipped the comm switch. "Could I maybe use me hands and feet a little to get started, Chief Gonadie? I dinna... m'not rilly sure what I'm doin' here?"

"Do whatever makes you comfortable, Fiona," Mona replied through the comms. "This is your time now."

Exhaling a huge sigh of relief, the midget Mariposian inserted her hands into the control gloves, then planted her armored booted feet into the stirrups, where they strapped in automatically. Given that previously her piloting had been completely manual, without the interface of the EVA armor, that element alone made a world of difference as she began moving and testing the reactions. The motion response sensors in the armor that enabled the power assist translated directly to the much larger mech, to produce much closer to instant reactions.

Opening and flexing her fingers produced the mirrored reaction in the mech, which made O'Dell giggle slightly. Raising her arms and rotating them was reproduced as well, and like a professional pilot, Fiona ran down the checklist of preflights, ensuring that all of the systems were fully operational and checked out, before she did more than take a few experimental steps. Which included running a weapons inventory check, as this was the first time she had encountered the TR-116C.

"Holy Mary Mother'agawd, willya lookit this beast? Replicator matter magazine, 80-120 rounds depending on ammo used...normal ball point, hollow point, incendiary, delayed tracer rounds, and marker round ammunition. Only single fire and three round burst enabled, what a shame, eh? Wait, no, also full auto, I see... micro-airburst, smoke grenade, rubber, low yield plasma grenade, and tear gas grenades. Wow. That'll take a bit o' gettin used to," the professional pilot ran through her inventory of onboard weapons. "Pair a'Photon torpedoes- there's a joke in that fuir sure. And a'course a heavy phaser pulse cannon, nice. Got to watch the power outputs on that I'd wager... alreet."

As she spoke, running through the inventory of weaponry options aboard, the mech continued to respond, even bringing it's hand up to rub under the cockpit in thought while she contemplated the options. Given the opportunity to use mind and body, O'Dell seemed to have adapted to the machine almost intuitively.

"Alreet mum, I think I'm checked oot and ready to take a run aboot. I was actually planning to ask for some urban environments, so this works spot on," O'Dell broadcast, the mech's hands moving to mimic the tiny test pilot's own body language. "Would ye mind if I kept her on the ground today? I want to see how she'll handle having to support her own weight in gravity, and see if I kin get the hang of getting her to walk and run and maneuver. Tis alreet?"

"Go break some stuff. Once you feel comfortable, we'll add in a few enemies for you to fight, ok?" The brightly plumed Miradonian leaned back in her seat and sighed, a grin spreading across her face. This was going better than she had planned.

Watching with a PaDD in her hand, monitoring the signals that were lighting up like the proverbial Christmas Tree, Gavarus chuckled. "For someone who was convinced that you wouldn't even get this thing to twitch, you are making this thing mimic your body language unconsciously, ya' know?"

"Ach, I talk wi' me hands like any Bringloidian lassie would, so makes sense she's movin. Alreet, let's see here... scanners gi'me a layout of the streets and potential hazards, so... " Taking a deep breath, the redheaded spitfire cut the feed to her microphone, not realizing that because it was a simulation she'd still be heard. Closing her eyes, she let out that breath, then took in another.

"This is yuir big chance, Fiona O'Dell, so dinna screw it oop. Joost do what comes naturally, and twill be alreet. Ye're nae g'win ta let innyone down- yuir a test pilot now, go show 'em what ye kin do." Turning the mic feedback on after her little pep talk, the Thunderchicken, in walker mode, took an experimental few steps forward, then back.

Smiling, Gavarus resisted the urge to chime in that they could all still hear her as she knew it would rattle O'Dell's concentration, but made a mental note to rag her about it in Ten-Forward later.

Balancing on one foot, she trailed the right leg to put it on pointed toe behind her, dug in and shifted the weight of the mech to pull an about-face. The unbalanced machine wobbled and it clearly wasn't happy about the strain on the servos, but O'Dell nodded, the nosecone and canopy nodding in agreement.

A few sidesteps were hastily executed, much as she had demonstrated in her first flight. But now they were far more fluid, far smoother than those initial attempts. With a look both ways, she hopped, both legs lending their power to the defiance of gravity, and she landed evenly. Taking a few more similar small hops, she nearly lost her balance and had to recover, arms windmilling until she reached out with one hand to brace the mech against a building that crumbled a bit at the size and mass of the mech.

But once all of that was accomplished, the squat mech began walking forward. Realizing that the extended barrel of the TR-116C would drag the ground like this, O'Dell adjusted and tried a 'port arms' position, but the mech's legs kept bumping the weapon. Swinging it around to remain somewhat even with the nosecone, she twisted the mech at the waist to test the clearance radius. Seemingly satisfied, O'Dell let out a long breath.

Then it broke into a jog, one foot in front of the other as the mech picked up speed. As she rounded a corner the Thunderchicken teetered, on unsteady footing and the excitable ensign had to slow to compensate. Once around the corner, the mech picked up speed, the petite pixie in the cockpit giggling at the novel sensation of being able to stretch out long powerful legs and not skitter along.

The Thunderchicken walker mode mech was in a full-tilt run by the time it came to the next corner.

Leaning into it, knowing the weight differential would be working against her, the fingers of the mech trailed the ground on the inside edge of the curve. Despite her precautions, she still impacted with the side of a building in righting herself, which spun the mech around. But O'Dell was calm, piloting by feel as well as the complex instruments and systems she had available to her. This was far more than just being humanoid, this synthesis of humanoid and machine. The quick-reflexed pilot pulled out of the spin, transferring the velocity into more forward movement as she kept up speed, and the Thunderchicken was now running through the streets of the simulation, clocking in at a running speed of 56 kph.

"It's a whole lot easier wi' the suit on, Chief Gonadie!" O'Dell reported as she skidded into another turn to the right, the mech's footing sliding as she compensated. "I kin feel the feedback, get a real feel for how she's handling. Alreet, let's try..." as the mech approached an open courtyard with a fountain, O'Dell attempted to leap over it. But without engaging the flight systems, the mech couldn't clear the fountain, caught one foot on it and plowed into the cobblestones of the plaza.

Shaking her head, the linked mech attempted to do the same, and it took a moment for O'Dell to get the mech back on its feet and righted again. A long crack was now evident in the canopy, as well as scrapes down the front of the dented nosecone. "Ah, so, she's no vaulter wi'oot the flight systems... sorry aboot scratchin the paint, there."

Mona chuckled softly as she looked over the data, logged the damage, and punched in a reset of the Thunderchicken's systems. "That's why we're doing it in the simulator first. Don't worry about the damage - I'm resetting it now. Next time you jump, think about jumping higher or something and it should activate the engines and give you some thrust. In walker mode they're limited to about twelve percent to keep from overloading the SIF, but that should give you enough to clear almost all the buildings there with ease. In fact, I bet you might even be able to use the thrusters in the feet like hoverskates once the day is out..."

"Aye mum. I'm deliberately runnin her wi' nae flight assist so's we kin get a feel fuir what she can do on the ground, reet noow. Might Ah have a magnetic lock for the rifle on me right leg, ma'am? T'would free up both hands when the weapon's not in use, and twill cut the imbalanced load on that side when I'm maneuvering, aye?" The fae flygirl shook out her limbs, the Thunderchicken mimicking the moves. Engaging the system, O'Dell followed the HUD guide to the manual gearshift in the flight control yoke and literally shifted the walker mode into robot mode, reclining the seat so she wasn't pointed at the ground as the canopy did so.

"It'd be nice if the flight couch slid itself in transition to robut mode, and a tall pilot is g'win ta have a spot of trouble wi' their head and the canopy methinks." Invited to give her input, Fiona O'Dell was not at all shy about offering it on the wondrous vehicle she'd been assigned to test. "The power supply in the rifle's self-contained- could we get palm plates and grip plates so's the rifle kin draw upon the vehicle's power source, and potentially ammo packs, and or loaders from the palm unit, mum? Put it in the offhand it it might help make up for that weight differential, aye?"

As O'Dell spoke, Gavarus was entering all of her ideas into her PaDD and running numbers on the data as it came back. "I can prepare sim tests for all of those suggestions, Ensign Gonadie. But this is all gold, I'm thinking. The conversion servos are coming back with 36% stress readings. High, but still within operational limits. I think it's ready to get a real workout."

"Yeah, we finally have some real stress data. None of this point three percent BS." Mona was making notes as well. "Try mounting the rifle under one of the arms with the maglocks. That might keep it out of the way while you run. As for the cockpit, I'm enabling full transformation mode, if you want to switch it it." With a few keystrokes, a few interlocks in the chickenwalker were swapped out and the transformation control system inside the cockpit had a third, humanoid mode added.

Mona looked up at Briaar and winked. "Secret that wasn't ready for the live model until this was in testing."

Tilting her head to the side with a smirk, the Tellarite engineer chuckled. "Well, not THAT secret. All the conversion bearings and gyro settings allowed for the extensions beyond the Gerwalk mode so I was figuring on something like this. It's still extremely impressive. I've seen specs for similar concepts that no engineers could get past the drawing board."

Then Gavarus called up to O'Dell. "What do you think, Leprechaun? How's that for dancing shoes?"

There was a moment of turning, twisting, moving this way and that. It was a bit of a different perspective for one's eye level to be in one's chest, but O'Dell found the sensor mounted on the phaser cannon that formed the head, and opened a broad viewer window on the canopy amongst the numerous other control systems she was monitoring, taking a moment to modify sizes and placements in the control setup so that she could keep an eye on critical systems for what she was doing at the moment, which was getting a feel for the upright mechanoid.

"Ah could use a drone fuir eye in the sky, as an option," she muttered mostly to herself as she moved about in subtle flexes and investigating clearances. The SIF generators enabled one arm to slide along the other without any friction for the most part, unless she really pushed the point. Squaring the fingers of the mech out before her like a movie director framing a shot, she scanned the local terrain until she found a series of streets with one and two story buildings.

"Alreet, obstacle course time. Let's put her to the test and see how she does." Plotting a course over the rooftops, using the houses as hurdles, O'Dell plotted her course, then the mechanical hands came together to crack their knuckles, the phaser mount cricked itself on it's gyromount as if it were rolling it's neck, then it high-step jogged in place in an impressive display.

Then she took off at a run, reaching out to the first rooftop to vault over it like a pommel horse. Hitting the ground on the other side, she crossed the street in two strides before she was up and onto another rooftop, which shuddered under the weight of the mech but held, as she leaped for the next rooftop. But the power assist was far more than O'Dell had compensated for, and the mech overshot its mark. Sprawling into a landing, the SIF generator in the cockpit froze her in place for ger own safety as the mech plowed through a building, receiving considerable damage in the process.

"Looks like mebbe that's g'win ta take a wee bit more practice before I kin get her to run through a city like a superhero, aye?" O'Dell reported from the cockpit where numerous alarms and warnings were dominating her HUD field.

"Shhhii..." Gavarus began to curse and cut herself off as the alarms all popped up on her own PaDD, monitoring the scenario. The feed from O'Dell's EVA suit was reading all green so she knew the pint-sized pilot was okay, but she still had a moment of concern for her friend. But the irascible engineer pushed past that to review the damage data. "We have multiple stress fractures on the outer hull. The internal cockpit shielding kicked in and kept the pod secure but I'm reading 63% power loss on the left leg coupling from a blown connector. Rerouting from the backup pathways now. We also have a reaction time lag being affected by the sensory feedback processors. But that lag means they're doing their job protecting her from feeling anything from the impact."

"Sensors are reading heavy joint stress on the wrists, knees and shoulders and there's a blown interlock on the right elbow joint." Gavarus completed her initial report.

"Yeah, good for light combat and scientific surveys... And a far cry from the last mad scientist that made one of these. His fell apart every time it transformed. I'll try re-configuring the SIF generator to compensate."Mona programmed in a few new settings and reset the damage, dumping the current data into the log. "There we go. The deflector should add internal shielding to help the SIF out now but you might see power dips across the weapons systems."

"I could be wrong, but venture to say Robo mode might not be the best of ideas, ma'am. The walker mode has some elements of humanoid function in the arms and legs. I'm thinkin' makin' it walk around like a person might be a tad too much strain on her. The more comp0act body style might lend itself better. But let's give her the right proper bangin though, aye?" With that, O'Dell plotted an alternate course down a wide street. "Let's see if he kin keep oop a head a steam, for exploration purposes. Only time a pilot's gonna be tryin this is if the flight systems are doown or in urban warfare, and t'my mind the walker mode's superior. Buuuuuut... how fast can the Thunderchicken cross the road?"

Taking a few steps to work out the gyros, little by little O'Dell leaned into the run, and arms and legs pumping, the mech emulated her and began running down the street at a surprising speed. With the power assist and only minor course adjustments such as going around pedestrians of vaulting over horses and carts, O'Dell got the robot mode up to 69 kph before she herself started panting. "Whoooo! Takes it oota ya ta do that... M'thirsty as the dickens in here. maybe an IV or somethin, or a drink dispenser..."


“The EVA suit should have a canteen attachment for the pilot,” Carrott agreed, “As well as protein bars and stim shots for emergencies. Her vitals are elevated- heart rate, blood pressure, Adrenalin levels, body temp- all signs of a strenuous workout. The potentiometer in the probes are also reading higher than normal neural activity, so this is taxing mentally too. That will need to be taken into account to formulate training regimens and recommended duration for the pilot.”


Mona couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Sounds like someone is getting a good workout. Do you need a short break? Maybe a juice box or some string cheese?"

There was a pause at that, then came, "Ohhhhhh, no ma'am, I'm fine. S'alreet, no bother a'tall, I can handle it. So what... what did ye want to do next?"

"If you're sure..." Mona called up the next scenario - Minotaur hunting. "I've loaded in fifty Minotaur for you to use as target practice. Your shoulder launchers can lock onto ten targets and have a payload of twenty micro quantum torpedoes, but the rifle should be enough for them. You should also have a few demolition targets on your HUD as well now."

"Alreet mum, as ye say. Keepin' boots on the ground, ye want this as a walker or robot test?" It looked funny when the mech moved to mop the sweat out of it's eyes, as O'Dell worked to calm her breathing and heartrate. One thing she'd learned all throughout her career was never ask for a break, don't take one if offered, and if anything she'd have to push twice as hard once they smelled weakness in the pint-sized pilot.

"Back in walker mode for these tests, if you please," Mona replied.

"Aye aye, convertin' ta walker mode." Once again, the HUD showed the gear train, and as O'Dell shifted down into the more compact walker mode, she unslung the rifle and prepared to start marking targets. She noted that the underslung phaser cannon wouldn't target- apparently they were immune to phaser fire.

The picayune pilot shrugged, as the mech attempted to emulate it. "Should get a good recoil test oota this scenario. Okay, urban pacification mode against Minotaurs... that's an odd one, but hey, who am I to say. Alreet, let's start the scenario..."

To Be Continued in 'Jump Around'...

 

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