“Aye-aye, ma’am.”
A couple of hours latter, SE² AUSTIN arrived. “¿Adm. you wanted to see me?” As usual, the anal-retentive bastard was standing perfectly at position of attention. And, as usual, his uniform was all squared away, expect the tears and paint all over it. ¿What is this guy’s issue? she wonder, amused.
“Relax AUST. It’s me.”“Ma’am, you were Kay 15 years ago. You’re an officer now.”“Sit or I’ll tape your ass into the chair.”AUST chuckled at that. “Yes ma’am. ¿So what can ol’ AUST do for you, ma’am?”“I got an issue. There’s an old ‘Trædi cruiser west of here. You’re a scrounger. Scrounge it within an inch of your life.”“Ma’am, with all due respect, don’t ever call me a scrounger. I am an expert salver.”“¿So I guess those 15 years prevent me from calling you what you are now?” the Adm. smiled.“Ma’am, calling me a scrounge’s fine for enlisted folks. Even Tug. But you are above that.”“Fine. Salvage. I need Mecha. BADLY. Reactors, armor plate, especially.”“Roger that ma’am. ¿Anything else? ¿Laser turrets, missile launchers, that sort of crap?”“If it’s easy. Otherwise leave it alone. Actually, scratch that. Just recon it for now, figure out what’s there and report back.”“Roger that ma’am.”The next day, the trio set out in a beat up old Humvee. “¿So Tug, what’s the story?” AUST asked from the back seat.“Don’t know yet. All I know is Kay wants it checked out.”“The Admiral tole me she wants it scrounged.”“¿Did she? ¿When was that?”“Yesterday. Pre-brief. ¿Hey, what took you so long getting back, anyways?”“Ran into some pirates. Old friends of mine, actually. I impressed them.”‘“Impressment”’, AUST thought, ’so that’s what he’s calling “kidnapped and drafted at gunpoint”’. “¿How many survived?”“All of them. One shot across the bow and they struck their colors.”“Surprising. ¿Or is that you rep showing through?”“Whatever it was, they were all too willing to sign on. Rather than die. I actually got a good boat out of the deal, a two-ten.”“¿There was one left? Cool. ¿You gonna take her out?”“Hell no, I like PIRANHA. ¿Did you bring your jacket?”“I’ll need my hands free.”“Did. You. Bring. Your. Jacket.”“Yes, Tug, I did. But I’ll need my hands free.”“Wear it. I’ll let you keep your hands free as long as I can.”“Aye.” It’s so not fair… Upon reaching the T’sentrædi Warship, the three got out. Lt. JACKSON found the way in first- A hull breech just aft of what was probably the engine room bulkhead, about 5 feet up off the ground. “Come on then, let’s do this.”They started searching through the ship, finding old Regaults, and parts of them, everywhere. “No bodies” AUST commented.“Probably rotted away a long time ago” the Lt. observed.“No uniforms, no body armor lying around. ¿Think maybe it already got stripped?” AUST asked.“No” CWO MC MAHON answered. “There’s no access, and Human malcontents wouldn’t have bothered with the uniforms and body armor. Maybe she was a drogue.” Drogues were what T’sentrædi supply ships, essentially automated warehouses, were sometimes called. “Not likely” Mr JACKSON offered. “Drogues were rare, our chances of having found one here are pretty small.”“¿Maybe this was a malcontent post? Everything is in pretty good order” AUST offered.“Malcontents rarely abandoned their warehouses” Tug answered.“Unless they were killed out there” Mr. JACKSON corrected.“True enough, I suppose Teddy.”“¡¡¡HEY!!! ¡LOOK AT THAT!” AUST sang out. It was a nearly perfect Officer Battle Pod. The top gun was missing, but other than that, it was intact. “I’ve always wanted to pilot one of these.”“Easy, AUST” Tug warned.“Hey, Tug, I’m ok.” Then, brightening up, he shot out, “Betcha I can get it working.”“It wouldn’t be worth the effort” Mr JACKSON observed. “Limited armor, limited firepower.”“Ya, but my pappy tole me this story, how he was huntin’ malconts down in South America, he saw an ostrich with a VT stuffed inside. Somehow the malconts had rigged the VT to operate the pod. I betcha we could do the same thing.”“Still it wouldn’t be worth the effort.”“¿What were you thinking Jermy?” Tug asked.“Well, what if we stuffed a gimp battloid in one, modified the cockpit to take the battloid. Then you could keep fighting, even if the shell was destroyed. It’d be like if each pilot had two Mecha, rather than one.”“It’s that kind of thinking that’s got you in that straight jacket, AUST” Mr. JACKSON snidely remarked.“¿¡¿¡¿¡WHAT!?!?!?”“AUSTIN, easy. Mr. JACKSON’s right enough, you know.”“Screw you, sir.” AUST growled, then added in a more calm tone, “I mean the Lieutenant.”“AUST. Go search. NOW.”“Yes Bosun” AUST answered, clearly ticked off and happy to get away from the officers.Once AUST was out of earshot, Tug started on the Lt. “Don’t do that, sir. He’s right enough, if it can work. And besides that, that’s NOT why he wears the jacket.”“Alright, let’s just get this done” the Lieutenant lamely replied.All of a sudden, they heard a loud series of crashing sound that seem to go on a while. Quite a while. Rushing towards the source of the noise, they found AUST sitting on his ass, covered in dust and disheveled. “¿What happened?” Mr. JACKSON asked worriedly.“Well, for starters, I found the crew,” AUST answered, gesturing non-committals forwards. It was then that Mr. MC MAHON noticed it- T’sentrædi Battle Armor spread about- With bones still in them.“Hm. So you did.”“I thought they were spares, so I started climbing them…”“¿You what? ¡AUST, you could have gotten yourself killed! ¿ARE you hurt?” the Lt. asked.“No, sir, not really. Banged up, bout it. Anyways, I was climbing up when the pile shifted. That’s what cause the crashing. Sorry sir.”“No, never mind that, you’re not hurt.”“I did find MRE’s over in the corner, by the way, but I also found old RDF ‘Trædi uniforms. I guess deserters.”“Well, that explains that, then. ¿Sure you’re not hurt?”“Yes Mr. JACKSON, I’m ok.”“Alright then, lets keep looking. You be more careful.”“Yes sir, no more excitement this trip.”“Good.”After a few hours of searching they found very little of use. Just more old officer battle pods, a few intact tactical battle pods, even some artillery pods- With missiles.“Tug, Mr. JACKSON, those missiles have been here a LONG time. They’re probably not safe anymore” AUST commented.“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Best to leave them alone” Mr. JACKSON answered.“Well, AUST, you’re the Salvage Expert Second Class- ¿What do you think?” Tug asked.“Sir, I’d say we have a small silver mine here. I think I could get some of this junk up and running, but I’ll need some battloids to help out.”“¿Petty Officer AUSTIN, what do you think you can do?”“Well Tug, what I…”“That’s Chief Warrant Officer MC MAHON, Petty Officer AUSTIN.”“Sorry sir. Anyways, I think I can get us about a half-dozen each of officer battle pods, fighter pods, and about 2 dozen artillery pods on line and running.”“‘Trædi tech. ¿Is that what we’re reduced to?” Mr JACKSON muttered.“Yes sir- We’re going back to the roots of Robotechnology,” SE² AUSTIN replied coldly.“¡¿What?! Oh, ya. Right. The roots. Alright, let’s get back to base and report in.”“¿You want me to drive sirs?”“Ya, sure AUST, you’ve behaved yourself” Tug answered.Back at the base, they made their report directly to the Admiral.“So, ma’am, it is my opinion there is very little of any use to us there” Lt JACKSON was saying. AUST could be seen to be losing his cool.“Alright then. Petty Officer AUSTIN, please get yourself a cup of coffee.”“Yes Admiral JONES.” AUST knew the Admiral. Besides, he liked coffee.“¿So why’s he upset THIS TIME, Lt?”“Ma’am, he’s got this harebrained scheme about rebuilding the ‘Trædi Mecha.”“Tug. You know him. ¿Can he do it?”“I know he’d try, whether we allow it or not.”“Send him back in.”About 1Ø minutes later, they found him on the messdeck getting chewed by Senior Chief Hill. “¡You’re constantly here! ¡I mean really! ¿DO you do anything useful?”“But Senior, I already said the Adm...”“Senior, my bad. He’s with me” Mr. JACKSON piped up.“Mr. JACKSON sir. I was just saying to AUST here that just because the Adm. tells him get coffee doesn’t mean lounge about.”“Actually, Senior, in this case it did. ¿Of course, this is an exceptional case, isn’t it AUST?”“Oh, ya, Senior. Come on, Senior, you know I turn to. Besides, if I wanted to skip out, I’d just go.”“AUST... Alright fine. But don’t make a habit of it.”“Roger that Senior. ¿Mr. JACKSON, Mr MC MAHON, I take it the Admirals ready for me?”“Yes. Come on. She wants to hear your cockamamie idea.” JACKSON.“It’s not cockamamie, sir.”“AUST, I suggest you tell the Adm. your idea. Other than that, be silent.”“Aye-aye, Mr. MC MAHON.”A few minutes later they knocked at the Adm.’s door. “¡Stand by!” A few moments a after that they heard “¡Enter!”“Adm. Here he is.”“Petty Officer AUSTIN, I here you got something for me. Let’s hear it.”“Ma’am, respectfully request to get the chalkboard from down the hall.”“¿Huh? ¿Why?”“I’ll need it to help explain my idea.”“Make it quick.”“Roger that ma’am.” A few minutes later he returned with a chalkboard in tow. “Ok, ma’am, here’s my idea.” He started crudely sketching an officer pod. “Ok, my idea is to take one of our worn out battloids, maybe even a VT the RDF left behind, and stuff it into the cockpit of the officer pods and some other stuff. I know it sound a little strange, but my pappy tole me he saw basically that exact thing down in South America. An ostrich with a VT inside. He also tole me a story about when he was young, he saw a pic of a deuce and a half with an armored personnel carried shell on it’s back. What I figure is I can rig the battloid into the ‘Trædi pods, then pilot the battloid to get us some firepower.”“¿What about the armor? It’s pretty thin, you know.”“I was thinking, strip out cruiser armor, then use that. Give it easily 2 or 3 times as much armor.”“At 3 to 4 times the weight.”“Our reactor can easily overcome that, ma’am.”“You’ve got one month to get one on-line and running or I pull the plug.”“¿One month, ma’am? I’ll need access, authorization, priority... Can’t be done, ma’am. Not in a month. Period, no can do, ma’am.”“You’ve got all access, and priority, just route the chits directly to me. And one month.”“Yes ma’am. I’ll need people, too.”“¿How many?”“At least a three dozen. And we’ll have to work on site, in shifts. Ma’am, I’m a Salvage Expert, and I doubt even I can make this happen in just a month.”“¿How long do you think it will take?”“At least 2 months for the first one to come on line. Another month to get the bugs worked out.”“You have one month to bring it on line, and 1 week to figure out what’s wrong. Dismissed, Petty Officer AUSTIN.”“Aye-aye ma’am.”“Tug, you’re going to supervise, make sure he stays on track.”“Aye ma’am.”“Mr. JACKSON, you’re going to make sure he gets what he needs.”“Aye ma’am. But this isn’t going to work. Not like he says it is.”“Let him try. Either way, it keeps him out of trouble for a month.”A week later, AUST rounded up his crew. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen- ¡¿We’re gonna go, we’re gonna do this thing, and we’re gonna get it done ON TIME, right?!”“¡YAH!”“We got 1 month now, so let’s make it happen. ¡¡¡Now get on the trucks, and let’s GO GET IT!!!”Everyone started loading up. AUST knew what they really wanted- They had been promised all but a free ride. Just do your job, and you were good to go. Most were coming because of rumors that Tug and AUST had “liberated” a shipment of condoms headed to the Americas. (Well, maybe not “liberated” so much as “stole “, AUST thought.) Guard duty was being handled by R.E.P. people, assisted by G.M.P. Battloids. A couple of worn-out T.C. Recon Battloids were already on-site for heavy labor.The next month seemed to fly by- With the exception that AUST didn’t seem to sleep. Every few hours, it was something else. On one occasion, the gun pods weren’t working. Another time, the MT 844 wouldn’t fit into the OBP. And then, there were the accidents- Like the reactor that tried to scram itself, the ball bearing that fell on Private Langstrom’s foot… On and on. AUST came through with his word, though- The people never had it so good. It was just he himself that hated all life on Earth. Work, work, work, that’s all I seem to do here…Just one more week, Jay ol’ boy, and you got it licked man.Even the armor plating became an issue.“Listen, AUST, I know YOU think it will work, but I know it won’t” Senior Chief Hill was telling him.“Senior, this is simple- This is my project. Now strip out that bulkhead, cut it to fit, and slap it on. I don’t care if it’s spot welded, just do it.”“AUST, listen to me- That’ll take hours to do, and the pod won’t be able to handle the weight.”“Admiral says do it to me.”“¿AUST, I know you’re a scrounge, ok? I understand that. ¿This? This won’t work.”“Sen- Never mind. I’ll do this myself.” Getting on his hand held, he called the Battloid. “Drone Two-One, Plant.”“AUST, this is a waste of time.”“Two-One, go ahead.”“Ya, swing by here real quick.” The only reply was a double click.“Senior Chief, I don’t CARE if it’s a waste of time. I got 1 week to finish the outfitting. It’s done, that’s it.”“Alright AUST. I’ll do it.”“So kind of you, Senior. Just cut the patterns I marked out. “Two-One, cancel last, proceed to the refer and start cutting.” The refer was what they had started calling a particularly cold room. For no apparent reason, the room just would not stay warm.“Roger that, plant.”Two weeks later, they had it done. “Alright Tug. It’s done. I offer to pilot it on its shakedown myself.”“¿When’s the last time you slept, Jermy?”“Last night. ¿Why?”“I mean decent sleep.”“I don’t know.” AUST snortled. “A few years ago, I guess.” After a moment, AUST added, “This is my project, Tug. If anything goes wrong, it’ll happen to me. And that’s it.”Tug thought about it a moment. “Alright, AUST, you got it. But get some sleep first. That’s an order.”“Aye.” That night, AUST slept so hard, he almost didn’t wake up. The next day, he ran right into Tug on the messdeck.“AUST. ¿You ready for that test drive?”“Ya, Tug. Sure I am. This is just a test of the lower drives, the flight systems…” AUST started.“Negative, AUST. This is a full system test. You go all the way today.”“Oh. Uh, I see.” After a moment, AUST asked, “Tug- ¿Are you sure about that? We haven’t had time to test any of those systems.”Tugs looked at AUST and answered, “It’ll be a weapons system test, as well. We’ll hook you up with a stable target range.”AUST didn’t say anything for a moment. “I see” he answered slowly. Then, more energetically, “Well, I’d better get some breakfast.”“Lunch. It’s past lunch, actu...”“¡Past lunch! Oh sh...”“I told them to leave you alone or I’d break every bone in their bodies one at a time. You were too tired to even sleep.”“Cool.” AUST stopped a moment. “¿Tug, did I have a nightmare?”“Yes, AUST, you did. The woman dream.”“Oh. Oh. Well, never mind that.”“¿You don’t sound enthusiastic about the extra testing” Tug asked.“¿Huh? Oh- Nah. No worries, either it works or it don’t, and the equipment wasn’t all that bad off, just rusty, really. I know they fixed that, ‘cause I inspected it myself before authorizing libbo for that crew.”“¿Tany and Bob?” Tug asked.“Well… Heh, ok, you got me Tug. It was them. But their clothes were on when I found them, so I’m pretty sure they turned to all the way.”“Except for a 3Ø minute cigarette break.”“¿Huh? Heh. Well, Tug, you know… I mean…”“Don’t worry about it. I knew what they were up to, and those two little lovebirds have been working REALLY hard. A skate day was just what they needed.”“Glad you see it that way, Tug. I’d hate to explain that to the Admiral.”“If you hadn’t have given it to them, I probably would have. Go get ready for the test after you eat.”“Aye aye.”A few hours later AUST climbed into the cockpit. “Naulon Zero-One to Control. I’m ready when you are.”“Naulon Zero-One, copy. Naulon Zero-One, you’re clear to begin. Patrol Vector Tango Two-Seven.”“Roger Control.” Well AUST, this is it.AUST started out the crudely cut hanger doors. Unfamiliar with the way the pod handled, and unsure about how reliable the splicing job was, he hesitated, moving cautiously. Even still he managed to scrape the door fairly hard. Damn. Nothing to do about it now. Except- “Control, Naulon Zero-One, for future reference, have everyone staying away from the hanger doors until we master this thing.”“Negative, Naulon. Ops wants the bay cleared from now on, until we master these things.”“Roger Control, that sounds like a better plan to me. I’m beginning the full power run trial now.” A double click confirmed Control heard him.As he brought the pod to full speed, he could feel the problem start. It seemed to happen when the right foot would impact, a shudder, ever so slight. ¿Bad actuator? ¿Motivator misaligned? After about 1Ø minutes of that, he brought it back down to stop. “Control, Naulon One, run complete. There’s something wrong with the right leg, probably worn out actuator or motivator. Ready to begin flight trial.”“Naulon, stand by. Ops has something in mind.”“Roger control.”“Nalon, check hydraulic pressure to the right hip actuator for the frame unit.” It sounded like Tug. ¿So he is operational control today, huh?After a few minutes he saw it- The hydraulic pressure gauge read normal for a while, then would spike. “Control, I see it. ¿Bad pump?”“Negative. Bad cylinder. They promised they’d fix that before it got shipped.”“Well, nothing to do for it now. ¿Think it’ll affect ops?”“Not for the rest of the test. Proceed with flight at will.”“Roger.” A few minutes later he was off the ground. “Control, Naulon One, we’re airborne. She’s holding steady. Ready to begin attack run.”“Naulon one, roger. Ops has a test range set up for you, Lambda Lambda Four Four Eight, targets are zero two Alpha Alpha Charlie’s.”“Control roger that, two Alpha Alpha Charlies. ¿Special instructions?”“None, Naulon. Just kill them.”“Roger that.” AUST saw them quickly- A pair of Armored Scouts rigged on top of radio control trucks. As he began his attack run, they turned- And fired. “¡Control, Naulon, those aren’t dummies!” AUST frantically called out, targeting one.“Negative, Naulon, they’re not. Kill them.” It was Tug’s voice.AUST targeted, fired, fired again. The first one blew up, and the other was caught in the blast area. Then he targeted the other, firing as he went.It exploded so violently, AUST thought it would affect his control. As it was, he ended up flying through its fireball.“Control, down two Alpha Alpha Charlies” AUST called out.“Naulon one, roger that. Come on home.”In the hanger bay Tug met him. “¿Tug, what happened? They were supposed to be dummies.”“¿Were you in danger?”“¿What from a couple of baby slugs? Never. ¿But what happened?”“I wanted to se if it could FIGHT. Don’t worry, I powered down the blasters.”“You shouldn’t have. I could have taken them.”“Heh. ¿Test a success, then?”“Tug, we’re ready for the admiral.”“Let’s do it then.” 12 Nov, 2Ø4Ø. 2123 hours.“Chief Warrant Offic er MC MAHON, I understand that Petty Officer AUSTIN has finished. ¿Is that so?” Admiral JONES asked rhetorically.“Yes ma’am, he sure did. Field AND combat tested, too.” AUST could be seen preening.“¿You realize you’re overdue, don’t you?”“Couldn’t be helped ma’am. AUST here has been working overtime, I can testify to that.”“¿Lt. JACKSON, do you concur?”“Yes, Admiral, I’d say facing an impossible task, Petty Officer AUSTIN did a commendable job. The time overrun was not in any way his fault, and he should be congratulated that he managed to come in as closely as he did.”“Very well. Congratulations, AUST. This is as good a time as any to tell you” Reaching into her desk, the Admiral pulled out a shield with three chevrons. “They’re yours” she said smiling.“¿First Class? ¿I made the cut?” AUST asked incredulous.“Yes. I believe you now.”“¿Believe me now, ma’am? I don’t understand.” AUST’S face was changing; Confusion had obviously hit him.“AUST, what we need are Mecha. Lots of them. TODAY. ¿Guess who’s gonna make that happen for us?”“Ma’am with all due respect, this is more a job for an MK, maybe a DC. Not an SE, I strip old gear, not build new stuff. My job is to break machines.”“AUST, you are going to turn that ship upside down, and build me something I can use to take out the hive west of here. Turn to.”“Aye aye ma’am.”The next few days were spent mostly working up what was in the old ship: 15 full battle armors, 8 Officer Battle Pods, 2 missing one hand or the other, 9 Fighter Pods, 21 Light and 1Ø Heavy Artillery Pods, 7 Recon Scout pods, 2 Theatre Scout Recon Pods, and a few hundred Tactical Battle Pods.Well, let’s think here, AUST thought. I got to build new Mecha out of this junk… The tacs are worthless, so I could use them for parts. Same for the bodies of the recons and arty pods. The missile launchers off the arty pods are probably useless to us, but I’d better keep them for now. The Cyclopes are too few in number to be valuable... At least yet. Better save them for now, though. Ok, so I rebuild the officers, and maybe the tri-thrusters. ¿What, tac weld the tacors in place? Think AUST, think…Sitting at his bench, AUST started to nod off, then to dream. A hundred thousand T’sentrædi Officer and Fighter pods were coming screaming at his Scout. But I can take them. I am Slug, I can handle them. Wait a minute, I’m not a slug. I’m a slug, I kill ‘trædis. The Pods came closer, ever closer, until they were so close they seemed to e one, Officer Pods to Fighter Pods, joining, adding to their fire power.AUST awoke with a scream. “¿What’s wrong?” Tug called out.“Nothing. Nothing. Just a bad dream.”
