Boarding Pass, INvite> Legacy

[Animefreak]

Theme: Broken Wings

"ARC-117 Arc-Angel." The Dock controler said into the Angel's comm system. "You're clear for departure. Pleasent journeys." "Thank you dock control Arc-Angel is flying free. Goodbye Cluster see you on the flipside" Duo said with all seriousness flipping over to the rear veiw as the Arc-Angel slowly made its way away from the Cluster Colony. "How ya holing up back there?" he asked twisting his head around to look at his passanger. Cecile Halevy wiggled a bit trying to get more comfortable crammed in behind Duo's pilot chair holding her laptop close to her chest.

"I've been better." Cecile said adjusting the helmet on her orange flight suit. Duo turned back to the main view smiling. "Well it has to better then that time you met my parents." Cecile turned bright red. "I thought we agreed never to speak of that again!" Duo smiled all the wider. "What? That was a pricless moment!" If Cecile wasn't so cramped, and the fact that Duo was also wearing a helmet, she'd have had reached over and smacked Duo up side the head. "Easy for you to say. You weren't the one the tea was split all over!"

"Did I or did I not apologize for that part?" Duo said checking to see is they had reached their destination and indeed they had. "LMB-01X Aeon. This Duo Gabriel pilot of the ARC-117 Arc-Angel requesting permission to dock over. I repeat this is Duo Gabriel pilot of the ARC-117 Arc-Angel tranfering over with personal mechanic over." A reply came calmly giving permission to land in the primary docking port. "Hold on back there." Duo said cinching up his safety harness, Cecile twisted around a bit more prepping her self for landing.

Duo brought the Angel in nice and slow wanting to make a good first impression. The Angel's feet touched down on the deck without so much as knocking a single peice of epuipment over. Walking the Angel over to its awaiting alcove Duo began shutting down the suits systems. As the last system powered down Duo popped the hatch and stepped out onto the waiting zip line. A few second later Cecile appeared in the cockpit hatch her hemlet removed and her laptop stuck inside of it.

Holding out and arm Duo waitied till Cecile hand one of her foots on top of his in the zip line stirrup before pulling her in close with his out stretched arm. Making sure that she hand her helmet and laptop secured tightly in her right hand Cecile wrapped her other around Duo's waist and nodded. Duo gave the cord a yank and the folding winch lowered the pair to the deck where a group of officers stood waiting. As they touched the floor Duo let Cecile go and removing his helmet came to complete military attension and saluted with Cecile doing the same next to him Duo inquired "Duo Gabriel pilot of the ARC-117 Arc-Angel and Cecile Halevy head mechanic of same Mobile Suit requesitng permission to come aboard?"

This post has been edited by Animefreak on Nov 6 2009, 12:15 AM

[Legacy26]

Sensors proceeded to track the inbound mobile suit, IFF labeled as the ARC-117, belonging to fellow AEF member Duo Gabriel. Kade stood on the bridge of his vessel observing the suits progress, after Duo arrived, the Aeon would once more accelerate away from the colonies and back into its patrol pattern. According to the database, Duo’s transfer was to “increase the fighting strength” and “complement the combat capability” of the Aeon.

”Receiving communication from the Arc-Angel” Lieutenant Vnadenberg stated, he requests permission to dock. Kade nodded, ”Permission granted. Sera you have the bridge, Rina with me.” Kade stated before walking off the bridge, Rina following a couple steps behind. He always met all of his pilots as they came aboard, Duo was no different. In less than two minutes the Captain of the vessel was standing in the hangar, watching as the Arc-Angel touched down in the hangar.

Smiling, the captain walked down to the floor of the hangar, observing the white and black machine. Mechanical pops could be heard, a slight heat haze emanated from the suit’s thrusters, and then the telltale sign, a slight hiss of decompression as the cockpit opened. The pilot of the suit assisted the passenger onto the zip line and then the two quickly descended to the floor of the hangar. Separating the two quickly came to attention.

”Permission granted.” Kade saluted as well., ”At ease. Welcome aboard the Aeon.” the captain greeted warmly. Looking at the two and then at the suit, ”Hope you had a comfortable trip over” Kade said with a smile, knowing all too well how cramped cockpits were. Technicians from the Aeon were already hooking up the usual battery cables and monitoring systems to the Arch-Angel. Energy in combat was always at a premium.

Kade noted the suit was pretty sparse in armaments, two separate shields and a single Beam rifle. Of course there (according to the technical specifications) the suit had an additional GN cutter stored somewhere on its body. The Aeon’s hangar was now one suit closer to its eight maximum suit capacity and her crew had gained two others. As they moved away from the Arch-Angel, Kade spoke once more, ”Just so you know the Aeon works upon merit. I’ll fill you in on it in a bit.”

[Animefreak]

Duo let his arm fall to his side as soon as Caption returned the salute. "Pleasure to be aboard sir." Duo said taking a quick look around the Aeon's hanger. Already the ships own technicians were hussling about the Angel running routine maintiance and plugging in the battery cables to recharge the suits power supply, His eyes fell on Cecile and instantly caught onto her weight shifting from one foot to the next.Having talked to many mechanics in the academy Duo knew that a head mechanic didn't like people touching their machines.

"Relax." Duo said putting a soothing tone in his voice while laying a gentle hand on Cecile's shoulder. "I'm sure the crew here knows what it's doing." Cecile visible relaxed but still kept a weary eye on the Aeon's tech crews. Sighing Duo looked back over to the caption. "Well sir as comfortable as can be. Cockpits are confined enough for one but two...well thats something I don't feel like doing again anytime soon." Duo said shrugging.

Stretching his legs real quick Duo heard twin pops emit from both legs and he felt his face contort showing it. In order to fit Cecile into the Angel's cockpit Duo had to move the pilot's chair as far foreward as it would go. Not that far as Duo still needed to be able to work the foot pedals. But it was still enough that Duo was beginning to get to know his knee caps better then he already knew them. And he was sure that his knee caps would remeber somethime in the next few days how much they didn't like that encounter.

With the caption leading the group along a followed quick tour of the ship. Duo at first felt overwelmingly confused having spent most of his service on bases of one kind or another but after a few minutes of muddling it over felt he'd do just fine. Cecile on the other hand instatnly had the hang of the ship her mechanical mind instantly mapping the floor plan of the vessel.

As the group continued on it's way finishing up its tour with quick looks at the bridge and engine room as well as the observation deck Cecil suddenly pipped up. "Caption if you don't mind what exactly do you mean by 'works upon merit?' I've grown up around military hardware. My father being a civilian contractor, but I don't think I've ever heard that term used in this context."

[Legacy26]

Without pause, Kade showed the two new members of the Aeon’s crew around the vessel. As both experience and the current state of conflict had shown, everyone had to know where everything was. A crewman lost was missing manpower. Everyone had to do something, everyone contributed something, and everyone was a part of the well oiled machine that was the Aeon. Thanks to the merit system on the vessel, the crewmen best suited to each position were in that position.

”Positions on board the ship are filled on skill. If you can do the job quickly, efficiently, and all the while preserving efficiency you are moved up in rank. If one doesn’t do as well, they move down in rank or position on the ship. Thus I wouldn’t worry about your machine. Cecile, if you wish, as the Arc-Angel is your responsibility, I’ll inform Chief Torren. You can meet him after I show you your quarters.” Kade spoke to both of them before guiding them off the Aeon’s bridge.

As they walked Kade asked Duo, ”You said your father is a civilian contractor, so I’m curious, what does he do?” the captain asked the pilot. They paused before a lift, Kade pressed the button, and the elevator rapidly ascended up from a lower level. Seconds later the doors opened and the small group filed into the ship’s elevator, which once more rapidly descended. The doors opened, ”Just in case you ever get lost, the lines in the floor indicate where major locations are.”

Kade pointed at the green one that had arrows every two feet, pointing towards the ship’s cafeteria. ”That way, you can at least find your way to a major landmark if you ever get lost.” Kade then walked forward, heavy duty bulkheads here were labeled by section numbers. They could close to seal off sections of the ship in case of any hull breech. A set of double blast doors opened, revealing one of the few places there were real windows in the ships side.

”This is one of the few observation halls, it’s guaranteed that almost every other window you see is a live feed from a camera.” After a short while, they reached a set of doors, and through them, they entered the pilot’s quarters. The pilot’s quarters were arranged in a pod shape around a central “lounge” or common area. ”These are the pilot’s quarters, rooms without a lit panel is unoccupied, so feel free to choose. The elevator at the back takes you directly to the hangar briefing room. Kade told Cecile to choose a room as well. ”I’d prefer not to hot bunk people, so feel free to choose as well.”

[Animefreak]

"He was a civilian contract engineer." Cecile replied not mentionsing that the caption directed his question to Duo. She figured that the captian had a lot on his mind running such a large vessel so she let it slide. "He basiclly helped with the maintiance of Mobile Suits, Warships such as these. And pretty much whatever the military needed maintainced. He retired some years ago and now lives quietly in Central Nexus running a small vechile repair shop."

Duo on the other hand focued on the arrows Kade pointed out studing which set lead where. He paid special attension to the ones that lead back to trhe hanger deck and crew quaters. The mess hall was just so he could eat. Now he asked his own quesiton. "So caption how many MS does this vessel hold? I"m curious as to my fellow pilots as well. I make it a point to know who I'm flying with, who I can trust to watch my back. And who trusts me to watch their back."

By now the group had reached the crew quarters and Cecile took that moment to excuse her self. "I"m going to retrieve my duffle and oversee the maintiance of the Arc-Angel." She told Duo and the caption befroe heading down the corridor back towards the hanger deck. Duo watched her go until she was out of sight. Turning back to the captian Duo let Kade finish up the tour of the ship. "If you dont mind me asking sir. How often do you and the ship see combat?"

"I'm not that experienced in actual combat situations. Although I scored above average in simulations, simulations are not the real thing and I'm just curious as to how soon I'll have to put my training to the test." As what remained of the group neared the end of the tour Duo excused himself. "I'm sure you have better things to do then show the newbie pilot around the ship. So I'll take my leave and get settled in. Anything I should beware of first though?"

Taking his leave Duo headed back to the pilots dorm to pick out a room then head down to the hanger deck and retrieve his small duffle. To his surprise though he found his duffle waiting on a couch in the lounge area. "I'll have to thatnk her later." Duo thought out loud picking his duffle up fromt he one that sat next to it. It'si dentification tag claiming it was Cecile's. Choicing a room with the shortest distance from the elevator to the pilots briefing room began to unpack his few belongings.

This post has been edited by Animefreak on Nov 6 2009, 12:44 PM

[Legacy26]

”The Aeon can hold upwards of eight mobile suits presently, we can squeeze a couple more in the cargo bay if needed. If you need to know, the ship had a crew of 549, and with you two, it’s now 551. The optimal crew size is supposedly 544, but thanks to some incidents, we have a couple extra.” Then Duo asked about the other pilots, ”Excluding you, we have five mobile suit pilots total. Each one volunteered and then I handpicked them. They’re the best outside the AEF. You can trust them.” Kade responded

With that they resumed the tour of the vessel, bringing Duo, since Cecile had left to oversee maintenance on the Arc-Angel. ”If you get lost anywhere just ask the crew and always know where the lines lead.” Kade told him, then waited for a response, which not surprisingly about the vessel’s combat and how often she went into combat. ”The ship is the ship of the line for the AEF fleet, we are the emergency response and precision strike team..

”In another hour, the Aeon will set course on another search pattern. We’re seeking out Yggdrasil Swanhild with the assistance of other AEF teams in the area. For myself. I no longer pilot a mobile suit, however on deployment missions involving the Aeon’s marines, I lead on the ground. I’m not the armchair general, I lead by example.” Kade told the pilot before starting the way back to the pilot dorms.

With the tour basically ending, and the pilot asking Kade a question on what he should be aware of, he responded and made sure. ”Get as much rest you can. A weary pilot is of no use to us. Be prepared to go into combat at any time and to be able to launch your mobile suit within ten minutes notice. Those are the basic requirements of all the Aeon’s pilots. However the journey to the Aeon must have been tiring. I suggest you unpack and rest. Get situated and used to the ship. Meal schedules are located in a file on the bed.” Kade told the pilot before turning around and making his way back up to the bridge.

With that taken care of, it was time to resume their patrol pattern with a full bridge monitoring all sensors. ”Sera, all was well?” Kade asked. ”yes captain.” she quickly responded. ”Ok, Lieutenant Marks, engines to 40% thrust. Begin patrol pattern 3-4. Sensors on the watch.” The orders were rapidly carried out on the bridge. The engines and maneuvering thrusters responded immediately, blue flames immediately fanning out, shock disks forming near the end. Maneuver thrusters fired, angling and directing the Aeon into the patrol pattern.

[Animefreak]

Walking into his new room Duo set about unpacking his few belongings. Ever sinse he moved out of the church that he grew up in Duo had made it a point to keep his personal items small in number making it easier to move from assignment to assignment. Unpacking what little he had in the way of spair clothes Duo then set out the four books her always took with him on the small desk that sat opposite the small one person bed. He read the titles as he placed them on the desk.

"Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RIng. The Two Towers. The Return of the King. And The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot." Reaching into his bag Duo pulled out a fifth 'book'. This so called book however was actually an electronic book that held several books if he wanted Duo could keep his hole book cllection on this tablet although he prefered to read those four books in paper back being books of special importance to him. Espically The Memphis Belle it being about a fellow pilot.

Placing the e-book tablet next to the other ones on the desk Duo reached into his duffle bag and pulling out his pilots ready out fit stripped of his flight suit and hanging it in the room's small closet walked into the small lavatory at teh far end of the room took a quick shower. After washing and drying himself Duo dressed in the shirt, jacket pants and boots of a pilots ready uniform that allowed for snappy change of clothes into a pilots jumpsuit while still remaining mildy presentable should there be a surprise inspection. Sitting down on his bed Duo quickly read over the file that lay on his bed just like Kade said it would. Desiding dinner was close by Dujo got up and headed towards the hanger deck to find Cecile.

Cecile meanwhile had already changed clothes from a space suit to the traditional jump suit of a mechanic and was already busy making modifications to the Arc-Angel. "Hand me that wrench." she said to a hapless mechanics assistant who was having a hard time keeping up with Cecile's rapid pace. The assistant sighed at the fact of having been given anm easy job but didn't relax know that his new boss was going to make things hard in just a second. "There we go." Ceceile said a moment later stepping away from the joint she was just working on. "Now all we need to do is recalibrate the thrusters, Replace a few armor components, Upgrade the targeting system, Add in that new sniper rifle and a couple of bladed weapons and then that should do it for the day."

Before the Mechanic Assistant could protest a voice suddenly broke in. "You know Cecile your going to have to eat sooner or later." Duo leaning on the railing of the catwalk that lead out to the Angel's elbow joint. Ceceile looked over to her assistant, shrugged then headed over to where Duo stood waiting. "Are you sure you want to be seen in the Mess Hall with me?" She asked. "I'm a mess and covered in grease." In answer Duo reached up with a hand and tenderly brushed a loose strand of hair back over Cecile's ear. "You look fine to me." he said rather gently. For reasons that escaped her Cecile leaned her head into Duo's hand. Duo found himself slowly inching his face closer towards Cecile's but was stopped just as their lips touched by the sound of approching footsteps.

[Legacy26]

The vessel silently glided through space, a ghostly silhouette blocking off one or two stars out of the black space she sailed through. Kade stood at the front of his bridge, looking down to the CIC under the command of Commander Kleinman. Before him was the main display screen, it served as the window, in lieu of an actual window on the bridge. Closer to Kade was a holographic projection of the ship’s systems.

Currently it was looking at the Aeon’s engines outputs, everything from the specific impulse to the temperature of the exhaust gases was displayed in clean light red characters, floating in midair. When Kade looked at it however, he noticed the number five engine was frequently shifting impulses and temperatures. A wide change, not the small light changes the other engines normally experienced. ”Bridge to Engineering” Kade called into his radio. There was no response.

A couple moments later, a reply was heard, ”This is Colonel Reynolds, most of the engineering crew is in the hangar. I’m just watching over the control room.” he stated. ”Well keep an eye on it.” Kade spoke into his mice. His voice wavered between annoyed and angry. As he walked off the bridge, ”Rina you have the bridge.” he told her before rapidly storming to the elevators. Moments later he was quickly making his way down to the hangar.

His footsteps echoed through the hallway as feet touched the ground. When he entered the hangar, he completely ignored Duo and Cecile and instead yelled even further into the hangar as he walked in. ”John! Mister Amster, to engineering NOW!” Kade stated sternly. That quickly drew their attention. ”Engine number five is off balance. Fix it.” he told them before walking back out towards the bridge.

When he passed the Duo and Cecile, he paused, ”I would suggest you two find a more secluded place next time. Dinner is in twenty minutes.” He told them quickly before walking back off to the bridge. When he returned, he walked halfway up to the center of the bridge, before taking another, more detailed look on the engines via the systems command console. He watched for a couple minutes before the numbers started going normal again. Turning to whole of the bridge crew, he told them it was lunch, two seconds later, the secondary bridge crew reported in, confirming they were taking over for the time being.
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[Animefreak]

Duo and Cecile quickly separated at the sound of the approaching footsteps. It soon became apparent to the two startled people that the foot steps belonged to the Captian who was busy yelling towards a couple of engineering crew memebers about something being wrong with the engines. At first Duo thought he and Cecile's almost moment went unnoticed until the Captian turned and suggested that the two of them find a more secluded spot. At this Duo had to look away an embarrassed look over coming his face.

Cecile was no different. In fact she could hardly get her next few words out. "I'll um meat you at the cafeteria in about twenty minutes." That was all she could get out before she hurried down the corridor to her quarters. Duo leaned back resting his elbows against the railing leading into the hanger area. And leaning his head back let out a deep sigh. "What's gotten into me?" He asked aloud. A passing mechanic stared at him for a second then shrugging set back about on his work.

Duo ignored the befuddled mechanic but instead began to wonder about that almost moment with Cecile. Growing up Duo made friends with girls yes, but those never extended past the friendship stage. As he got older he spent more and more time working trying to get his pilot career off the ground. Now he'd almost kissed a woman he really didn't know. The dilemma slowly and shirley just served to confuse Duo even more and more. He pushed off the railing and headed off towards the cafeteria his mind still racing.

***

Cecile ran as fast as her wobbly legs could take her. In what seemed like a hours walk but was in reality no more then a couple of minutes Cecile finally made it back to her cabin. Hurring inside Cecile slummped to the floor her back to the cabin door. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she said slamming her head against the cabin door in time with each word. "Right in front of the Captian! How much more stupider could I be!?!" Hitting her head against the cabin door once more for emphasis she pushed her self up off the floor and began to clean herself up a little.

Duo was already waiting for her outside the cafeteria when Cecile showed roughly twenty minutes later. Both of them tried to speak at once and began motioning for the other to start but in the end Cecile won and Duo spoke first. "Well um...it's obvious we have something we need to talk about. But um I think we should atleast wait till dinner is over. Mabye in the lounge by our quarters when we're done eating?" Cecile nodded then spoke trying to keep her voice even. "I think that is a very good idea so, shall we eat?" Duo stepped to the side sweeping an arm out. "Ladies first." he said letting Cecile walk in first before walking in himself.

[Legacy26]

The bridge’s command crew split off and became many other smaller groups, each one separating to their quarters, looking for perhaps rest or perhaps to simply to relax after a long deserved shift. It was also at this time that dinner was about to be served. Knowing that, Kade dragged along both Sera, who had become akin to his most trusted sister, and Rina, his short, likely long term significant other. Sera, Kade could view as someone he could live long-term with.

However she was also someone that Kade didn’t see himself in a long term relationship. She was like his younger sister, but in terms of relationship, more like a lost twin, needing much time to catch up on what they had been doing over the past years. That according to this time would have to wait until they were off deployment and the present issues resolved. Knowing that the three walked down to the ship’s cafeteria, Rina especially hungry, Sera looking forward to the surprise,

When they arrived on the common level, the scents of food could already be sensed wafting out from cafeteria doors. There might be vending machines built into certain sections of the wall, but true food was always served in the cafeteria. Ever since the artificial gravity had finally been stabilized, and not releasing gravity every twenty seconds the food had become much greater. Even at .85 gs it was way better than almost nothing.

After entering, the three split up, proceeding upon their own plan of attacks, each one acquiring their favorite dish, for Sera, the sandwiches, even during dinner, for Rina, the random international foods that were prepared, and for Kade, he pretty went to the shortest line. So Kade wound up with some green bean casserole and sliced ham. That and a slice of 3 meet lasagna, which had pulled so much cheese when sliced that it appeared to have curtains of cheese draping the sides.

Thus the three gathered themselves, looked for the newest crewmembers, of which had found themselves a table, and when older members of the crew passed them, said hi or welcome aboard. The three simply went down to them and asked if they could sit down at the table… Having the ok, they sat down, and then began to eat, enjoying their food and eventually starting to make small talk between Cecile and Duo.. ”Sorry about back in the hangar, but you were so out in the open… I don’t condone relationships in the crew, but please, keep it private and when you are off duty.” He told the two.

[Animefreak]

The line for food went quicker then Duo thought it would. After grabbing a cheeseburger, a small stack of cheese sticks and a coke Duo began to scan the cafeteria for a place to sit. Finding one at a nearly abandoned table Duo took a seat at the far end of the table. Cecile soon followed carrying a plate of her own food. Glancing at her plate Duo saw to his amassment that it was full to the max with traditional Mexican style dishes. Smiling Cecile took the seat across from Duo and began to eat.

They ate in relative silence for a couple of minutes except to say hi or accept the occasional welcome aboard that many of the older crew members were stopping by to give. Before long though to Duo and Cecile's complete surprise Kade and a couple of others walked over and asked if they could join them. "Of course." Duo and Cecile exclaimed almost at the same time. Small talk soon followed then that itself was followed by Kade apologizing for his actions earlier. Duo almost chocked on a cheese stick.

"Yes sir we'll endeavor to do that sir." Duo said finally swallowing the offending piece of food, "But to be honest sir. I don't think Cecile or myself realized that our feelings for each other extended past that of friendship." Putting down her food Cecile stood a slight amount of red seeping into her cheeks as she spoke. "In fact sir Duo and I were going to fully discus this incident after we were done eating." Deciding that, that was a hint Duo also excused himself and grabbing the remains of his food deposited them in the nearest receptacle and accompanied Cecile to the common area outside of their neighboring quarters.

Without any preamble Cecile sat down on one of the couches and motioned for Duo to come sit next to her. Tacking the indicated seat Duo interlaced his fingers before draping them between his knees, his eyes locked on a spot a few feet in front of him. "So." he said stuttering. "I guess we have some talking to do." Cecile nodded from where se sat knees curled up to her chin. Duo spoke again. "I don't really see the need to talk. It's now incredibly obvious that there's something growing between us. And I'm willing to see where it goes."

Cecile pulled her knees in tighter thinking for a couple of minutes gathering her thoughts. "Yes I would like to see where this goes as well." She said leaning over to rest her head on Duo's shoulder as Duo leaned back against the couch. Letting his hands fall apart Duo laid his right hand on his leg palm face up. Cecile took his hand in hers and the two of them just sat there enjoying each others company. Neither of them moved for several minutes. Duo was the first to move. His left arm came up and gently tilted Cecile's head back. As their lips touched Duo thanked God no one was around this time.