[Archives] Initial Ignition

[†Valentine† 0]

Uriel sat comfortably in the seat of his mobile suit, which was perched on a rock platform in one of the many courtyards in the academy. He leaned back and watched the slow ascent of the sun, except that it was through the rear camera of his mobile suit. The sky was still dark, but it won't be long before the first rays of the morning light lit up the courtyard. Uriel then turned away and shut his eyes, to spend a few moments clearing his mind, meditating, hearing only the soothing sounds of the fountains around the courtyard.

 

He opened his eyes as he saw the last of the cadets scrambling into their cockpits. Uriel smiled as he said through the open channel, “Well done cadets, you have just taken your very first step to becoming an accomplished pilot. Let us continue with today’s lesson."

 

The first rays of the sun shone on his MS as he spoke these words. The valkryie-styled helm and angelic wings of the mobile suit basked in a golden sheen. Uriel could now imagine the looks of wonder on the cadets’ face, just like when he was a young cadet in the Pilot Academy. However he suppressed another smile, and continued, "I am Captain Demuirgos, your instructor at the academy. Today, you will be getting yourself acquainted with the most important aspect of combat - maneuvering. The fundamental tactic of all combats is to move to give you an advantage. The weapons of a mobile suit are useless if the MS itself is in the wrong position. Because of this, every pilot must first master what I feel is the most difficult skill - maneuvering a MS in combat. Combat maneuvering is completely different in nature from the slow, contemplated movement of civilian MS, which are characterized by simple flight paths and dull, deliberated decisions. On the other hand, combat maneuvering is characterized by chaos, instant judgments, and constant tension. There are no rules about what manoeuvres may or may not be executed. It is only determined by the physical limits of the MS."

Uriel paused as his sensors indicated the movement of a group of MS leaving the academy in a tight but neat formation, setting off for their routine patrol. They are the guards of the academy, piloting MS that were similar to his. The 13 MS flew overhead them, passing the courtyard, and soaring up to wards the sky.

 

Chuckling to himself, Uriel cleared his throat and said, "I suppose you're all bored with all the information and can’t wait to start doing some hands-on. However, this is probably the first time you are operating a military MS, so take some time to familiarise yourself with the controls. Don't worry, all the weapons are all disabled, so you can’t shoot me or your fellow classmates even if you want to.” Only he laughed at his own joke. The cadets were all too nervous. He then continued, “Please indicate when you are ready. We shall then split into groups and head down into the mazes of the Academy."

[Roromi 417]

Locke had gotten up early to be on time for the first lessons. He walked out into the courtyard wearing a hand-me-down flightsuit that the academy provided, it had the smell of BO that would probably never come out, and while the most repulsive thing Locke ever put on he was too excited to really care. He carried a miss-matched helmet and felt like a complete novice walking out wearing something so obvious, but he was anxious non-the-less. His attention remained mostly focuses on the colossus mobile suits waiting to be brought to life, with their stomachs opened, almost as if they were begging to be completed. The coordinator paused as he reached the center of the courtyard and he took a moment to take everything in, he wondered where everyone else was? Was it possible he was already late? 

 

(OOC: you did say we could start posting here right?)

[Fuku with Nodachi 0]

Slouched in his seat, Kyle Ashford took a look at his surroundings. The mobile suits towered above the courtyard, to such an extent that he felt a little insignificant when compared in size. But then again, he would be manipulating this iron giant very soon, so he brushed off his insecurities. Kyle surmised that his constituents were all inside the adjacent machines, although one couldn't tell as they were all immobile. It amazed him to think that these bulky machines had the potential to cut through the sky.

 

He never really did pay much attention to mobile suits in the past. Not being directly involved with any faction conflict, he saw them in the same light as any typical war machine. A tank on legs, to be exact. But now that his goal was leading him in this direction, he would have to understand it well to move ahead.

 

"I've been ready for a few minutes. Go on and tell us how to move these Mecha Specials already." He said grumpily. Apparently, he didn't even know what 'MS' stood for.

 

"...Eh? People sure are taking it easy." Zooming in on the man on the courtyard, he let out a sigh. "Well, do what you want,"

Edited April 25, 2007 by Guest

[kct 0]

Something was telling the girl that today is going to be one heck of a tiring day. Or probably something rather funny is going to happen today. She checks the time, and realized that it is early, if not early enough for her. Punctuality has been one of the main principles Sayaka had, all through constant pestering by her parents to always wake up early.

 

She wasn't exactly sure if anything wrong is going to happen today; there are simply no chances for mistakes in this rather significant, if not entirely important day. Putting on one of the flightsuits that surprisingly showed up in their room, she grabs a simple-looking helmet nearby, before checking on everything else. Knowing that Linite have not risen yet, she quickly tries to at least wake her up; she does not want what happened yesterday to happen to her roommate again.

 

Minutes later, she is already on her way to the courtyard, where they have been instructed to assemble for some, 'lessons' on piloting mobile suits. What she did not really know is that they are going to be certainly tough for beginners, as the sight of the purple-coloured mobile suits, with a rather head design and the wings on the back, greet the girl. She noticed several of the students from yesterday were already here, but looking at the mobile suit from up front was certainly a sight for her.

 

Sayaka have heard a lot about mobile suits, what not with her father being an employees of a company dealing with mobile suits and their weapons systems. she have seen various mobile suits flying around Orb, and grow to like them a bit, but she never really figured out that she is going to pilot one of these behemoths.

 

For real.

 

Probably something from ZAFT...That is the first impression she had, especially with the mono-eye design the mobile suit probably had. It was then something stuck her as she continued looking at the mobile suit.

 

Oh wait...aren't they 'unpilotable' by Naturals?

[Dimitri 0]

Overwhelming. It was all too overwhelming. The lights, the suits, the controls... The power. And it was all under the control of a young former retail salesman from Orb. Or perhaps it was all under the control of a man who loved his family, and would do anything to protect them. But most likely, it was in the control of an over-excited mobile suit fanboy who had an obsession with video games. God help the innocent. The pessimistic would fear the guy pressing every button, yelling "Lasers! PEW PEW PEW!". The optimistic would think he'd only cause minimal damage to the academy.

 

Dimitri was smarter than that though. Even if his breath was running ragged from anticipation, his hands were twitching nervously, and his skin had chilled with anxiety, he was still thinking. And thinking required knowledge, that knowledge being a series of control scheme layouts on his monitor. Foot pedals controlled lower body movement and waist rotation. Two joysticks controlled the hands, weapon systems, and upper body facing. Numerous keyboard buttons controlled weapon locks, item switchouts, and communications features. So the basics were always at hand (or foot), and the advanced or infrequently used was right in front of him. Simple enough, even for a beginner.

 

And the first order of business, open the communications link. He closed his eyes, trying to learn the operations by feel rather than sight. Dimitri flipped a switch and pressed a button just below it, then opened his eyes to see a monitor message that stated "Communications systems online."

 

Simple enough. Though he'd have to work on opening communications links on the fly.

 

His voice came in stuttering over the squadron communications. "H-Hey... Does anyone else... F-Feel like..." A gulping sound overcame the transmission for a moment. "Does anyone else feel like... Like they could take on the entire universe?" is voice was getting confident, as he began to think of the machine as more of a game than a real-life operation. It was dangerous to do so, as people did things in games that they didn't do in life. But he had a trick to avoid getting himself killed. All he had to do, was imagine that he only had one credit left. "A-Anyway. Class Alpha-01, Student 103-1, Dimitri Shirokov. Ready for operations."

[Asahi 0]

Sure, mornings weren't always this good, Asahi knew it. However, it was a shame that he didn't wear his own pilot suit. The displays flickered to life before him, as he sat humming a familiar tune, in the cavity of the cockpit. The thought ran through his head again; if he wore his own custom, black-white pilot suit, judging from the character of the class, there'd be jealousy and wrong impressions shared all round, plenty of bad feelings towards the "nice guy" of the class. Then again, Asahi knew when to play the turtle and hide his real personality. Speaking of turtles, he paid attention to the screen, as the M.O.S loader finally finished.

"Geez baby, take your time....Don't worry, I'll be gentle." he laughed at himself, as the Dinn's camera displays slowly dissolved in the surroundings of the machine.

 

A few minutes earlier, the class designated as Alpha One, all messily filed into a courtyard, a courtyard on the scale of a mobile suit. A rank of Dinns stood at the ready, the purple machines were somewhat ominous before daybreak, a shade of midnight purple, more like. Asahi tried to scratch his back in his stock green pilot suit, as the class proceeded to enter the machines, each one with its elevator cable at ground level. Yawning, Asahi remembered their orders given to them from Ms Matsumoto the night before, the details regarding the first lesson, et cetera. As he took the cable grip in hand, he looked up at the machine, whilst the cable began to move. Asahi pondered on something big, as he winced.

"Damn, should've got some white paint or something, she could do with a smiley a funnyface, or a crossbone." he thought to himself, licking his lips and clambering into the cockpit. He noticed that he had taken one of the first few machines, so he took the initiative and started the ignition and booted the computer. He returned to the edge of his Dinn cockpit, as behind him the machine hummed and whirred to life. Dangling his feet off the edge, he watched as the others in his class picked a suit and climbed in without hesitiation, save one. He watched as one of the girls, (he smacked his head for forgetting her name), momentarily stood still, supposedly taking in the sheer size of the machines. Whatever she had on her mind, Asahi tried to lend a helping hand, he called out to her.

"Hey, um. Sayaka, thats right. Sayaka, hate to push ya but, ya might wanna get in one of these babies. Don't worry, they don't bite." he laughed to himself, that may have sounded somewhat...bad. He hastily clambered back in, the M.O.S. may have finished.

 

He flinched, suprised, as a voice came over the comms, after the Dinn had finished initialisation, and he was comfortably seated.

“Well done cadets, you have just taken your very first step to becoming an accomplished pilot. Let us continue with today’s lesson."

Asahi looked up at the comms display, and noticed it was locked on channel 1. Probably for the ease of the students that it was locked, he thought. The voice continued, this time, Asahi looked at the pilot on his comms screen. Their instructor was a wisened male, and...that was all Asahi could see. The helmet didn't give away too much, and the screen quality was constricting on face detail.

"I am Captain Demuirgos, your instructor at the academy."

Demuirgos proceeded to gave a semi-psychological run down of combat maneuvering, luckily for Asahi, he was quick about it. Demuirgos added that when they were ready, they should indicate so.

"H-Hey... Does anyone else...feel like... Like they could take on the entire universe?" an unfamiliar voice interjected over the comm, wracked with (obviously) instability, just as Asahi was about to respond to Demuirgos.

"Take on the universe? You haven't seen anything yet, my friend. Captain. Asahi Okina, Ready Op. Just say the word Sir." the Dinn walked out of the line, and the machine eased to a stop near the Captain's suit.

Edited April 30, 2007 by Guest

[kct 0]

Sayaka continued looking at one of the DINNs in front of her, when someone called out to her. It was one of her classmates. It surprised her, she thought for a moment that she might be obstructing the others in the courtyard.

 

"Hey, um. Sayaka, thats right. Sayaka, hate to push ya but, ya might wanna get in one of these babies. Don't worry, they don't bite."

 

"Thanks for the word, I know what to do with them," she replied back to that classmate with her ever-ready tone, seemingly looking like it is used to cover the anxiety within her. Whatever it seems to be, it is not a moment to worry about anything right now, as proven by the sight of some of the mobile suits already being activated by their respective pilots. One thing though, she could hardly tell which of the mobile suits are already occupied by a pilot, if the current situation is anything to be an indication of, anything.

 

Without much question, she grabs the elevator cable from the particular DINN in front of her, placing her feet on the mount on the bottom of the cable. The cable begins to retract by itself, while she proceeds to take a look at the surrounding area as she was hoisted to the cockpit level of the DINN...which means that she is already more than several meters off the ground.

 

Climbing into the cockpit, the sight of the numerous screens and controls that were spread all over the cockpit seems to be something that might seem daunting for a beginner, but most of them here seem to have at least known something about this beforehand. Taking the seat on the cockpit, before putting on the helmet and the safety belts, she checks all the controls to make sure that they will at least do their job later. Flicking the switches on the cockpit, the cockpit hatch closes itself, as the mechanical sounds of humming and the like gives out a signal that the mobile suit is coming to life. The various screens that take up some portion of the cockpit space begins to light up, giving a view of the surrounding courtyard and the other mobile suits around, while the mobile suit's MOS begins booting up, spewing several unknown acronyms across the screen.

 

Seems like everything is fine right now. She said, taking a look around herself in the cockpit. This is going to be a long day...

 

Of course, she was just in time to at least listen to the bit of the briefing given by the instructor in charge. With that in mind, she switches on the communications channel.

 

"Captain Demuirgos, cadet Sayaka Nakano, condition green."

Edited April 26, 2007 by Guest

[Fuku with Nodachi 0]

Kyle Ashford looked intently on the interface. He spent hours reading the user manual beforehand, but actually sitting in the cockpit was a totally different experience for him. He somewhat understood how to work the controls and the simplified OS, but just the thought of being able to move the giant was too much for him to process at the time. This... really is kind of intimidating.

 

"Maybe I'm just not motivated," With a stretch, he leaned back on his chair and watched the others. At least they didn't find much trouble with it. They boarded the machines one by one. He was trying to focus, but the thought kept eating away at his brain. "After all, I'm not even sure this is the path I want to take."

 

Truthfully enough, there was more to the military than being a mobile suit pilot. There are countless other things he could do in the EA, aside from being a typical grunt. "But then again, maybe this is the only thing I can do."

 

His thoughts were interrupted by a short conversation on the open channel. Kyle turned it on earlier; that much he could do. He barely caught it, but some guy was talking about 'taking on the entire universe' or something. He couldn't help but smirk.

 

"Honestly, that's a little far fetched for me." he said with a laugh. "But then again, that's what you found for yourself. Heh, I could never imagine myself get so empowered by just sitting in a Machine Soldier."

 

Just remembering he hasn't reported to the Captain yet, Kyle quickly added, "Oh yeah, Mr. Captain, I'm all set over here."

[F.A.I.T.H 0]

Morning. For some, it was the dawning of a new day, a new beginning to wash over everything and anything bad that had happened the day before. To some, it was the time where one could cheerfully wake up to happy birdsong heralding the first rays of sunlight peeking over a hill top.

 

Not for Landis Exel Zenastan. At least, not today.

 

It was not as if he wanted to grumble, but Landis had never really been one to wake up with a smile on his face that mirrored the one on the sun whenever the weather was fine. Still, he had managed almost instinctively to get through the basic and repetitve routine of doing what needed to be done in the morning quickly, change into the appropriate attire and found his way to the courtyard.

 

And there they stood, almost like a dream (though any morning lover would have conveniently pointed out that they stood out like sore thumbs, obstructing some of the sunlight).

 

They were DINNs, though he was not sure what version they were, though considering the extravagance of the academy would have him throw his doubts about the credibility of the machines out the window.

 

Noting that there were already several students here slowly fiddling around and getting used to them, Landis clambered in. He had seen a picture of a cockpit and even know a little more than the basics, but a lesson done practically beats ten spent in a lecture room. Flipping on the communication system, Landis could tell that the others present so far were as excited as he-perhaps even more.

 

This is going to be interesting... He flexed his muscles and gingerly ran a hand over some controls, as if fearing it would break had he used a little more strength. Finally...A real piloting lesson...

 

"This is Landis Exel Zenastan, Captain. I'm ready."

[evo_Sieg 0]

"Ahhh... Finally my first lesson in the academy."

 

Sieg awoke early in the morning just to psyche himself up for his first day. After his daily routine of checking his email and fixing himself up he ventured out of his quarters and into the grounds of the academy. He basked in the atmosphere of the prestigious school to ponder upon things. He's an MS freak in the arcades ever since and he'd always dreamed of being able to pilot one of these babies when he was still young. Finally he was in the most prestigious piloting school, ready to start his first MS piloting exercise. At 0600 hours he proceeded to the academy's courtyard to be greeted by a squad of neatly aligned purple MSs. He tingled at the sight of them.

 

"DINNs, I presume. Maneuverability training. How apt. Yosh!", Sieg told himself.

 

He looked for the unit assigned to him and found a way to clamber up to its cockpit. Keeping the cockpit door open he saw his other classmates pouring into the courtyard and getting into their MSs themselves. He, meanwhile busied himself to familiarize himself with the suit's different switches, gauges, sensor readings and controls after booting up the DINNs OS.

 

"Hmm, quite my laptop, only with a body. Quite overwhelming for the first day. Good thing this ain't weapons training yet. I'm sure some of us would make a boo-boo with the controls.", smirking a bit at the thought of such. Perhaps an MS grabbing its beam saber only to find out it didn't come out of its holster would be quite a sight to see.

 

As the sun begun to show itself the sensors detected a fleet of MSs taking off not far from them. A fleet of DINNs as well. Adjusting the MS's cameras he checked them to see the said suits go out in a close formation. "A patrol perhaps, or an earlier batch of students." This made Sieg even giddier to start the training.

 

 

Then a couple of voices came into the communication system. First it was their instructor giving out the introduction of their training. Then he gave a remark about how the weapon systems were disabled so they couldn't shoot the living daylights out of each other. Then a couple of ego-boosting remarks were said and some "I'm present" messages to the instructor. Surely an ego boost would perk anyone up but he already had his little contemplative moment a while earlier. He decided he'd be reporting in as well in his usual casual voice.

 

"Sir, Siegfred Correa here, reporting in."

[Roromi 417]

Locke crawled into the cockpit of the ZAFT machine and sealed the hatch behind him. As the cockpit closed he latched on his helmet and sighed as finished buckling himself in. He took a moment to pause and take in what he was about to do, actually pilot a real life mobile suit!

 

He reached forward to boot up the operation system, it sounded like an old computer as the mobile suits monitors flickered onto life. Locke toggled a few more switches and the monitors displayed what was outside the mobile suit in real time.

 

Checked and double checked, Jonathan was meticulous, he wanted to make sure that his mobile suit was performing correctly so that any errors that could occur he would know was his own fault and not the suit’s. Filled with a sense of wonderment and joy Locke wrapped his hands around the controls. He raised one of the DINN’s hands to look at it through the monitor then replaced it back to its original position.

 

Reaching to the radio he made sure he was on the correct channel then replied back to instructor, “Captain Demuirgos, Jonathan Locke standing by!”

[GraceJP 0]

Linite Estral’s eyes slowly opened, welcoming the new day. She felt a few sunrays peeking through the miniscule crack in between the two halves of the curtain, a grey wall that blocked all signs of the pleasant weather on the other side.

Linite swung her legs over the edge of her bottom bunk and straightened up, stretching out as she did so. She peeked up at the top bunk, only to find that her roommate, Sayaka, had already departed to the class’s meeting spot.

 

“She probably tried to wake me up…” thought Linite as she recalled a few nudges she had felt in the midst of her slumber. She quickly shot a glance at her watch, which told her that she still had enough time to get ready, speed on her way down to the courtyard and make it there with time to spare; that is, if she didn’t get lost in the confusing hallways and various buildings on the campus.

 

As soon as she was dressed, Linite stepped in front of the mirror in the bathroom, standing as far back from it as the shower would allow, in order to get as full a view of herself as possible. She smiled as she saw how remarkably good she looked in the academy-issue pilot’s suit.

 

Linite arrived at the meeting spot soon enough, and was able to avoid getting lost. She stood in front of her giant machine and tilted her head back, gazing at it’s massive metallic head, off of which glinted the same sunshine that had been her wake-up call. Linite felt slightly overwhelmed as she placed her foot into the long cord that descended down from the cockpit of the gigantic mobile suit.

    As it carried her up, her nerves ominously stirred as she held on much tighter than was really necessary. It was nearly in vain as one of her hands slipped and she nearly lost her grip. Shaking from the surprise, she closed her eyes and swallowed.

“Oh for crying out loud! If you can’t even handle getting up to the cockpit, how can you hope to pilot this thing?!” she told herself as she refocused and stepped onto the cockpit’s floor, and then proceeded to settle herself in the seat.

 

The ensign let out a sigh as she stared at all the complex controls and various buttons that were cramped into what a small space the cockpit was.

“For the first time in my life…I wish I was a coordinator…” she thought, imagining how much easier this all must be to the coordinators.

Over the intercom she heard the instructor’s voice.

 

"I am Captain Demuirgos, your instructor at the academy. Today, you will be getting yourself acquainted with the most important aspect of combat - manoeuvring…”

 

“Oh joy…and I can barely even make it up to the cockpit without tripping…”

“Please indicate when you are ready. We shall then split into groups and head down into the mazes of the Academy."

 

“Well, if I said I wasn’t a little nervous I might be lying, but here goes.” She thought as she replied to his instructions. “Captain, I’m all set over here!”