Just what the hell was that?
My mind raced as I walked back towards the mess hall. I held the datapad in one hand, and the chip sat deep in my fatigue pockets. Yet my mind strayed away from those, and instead was planted onto my Father and Grandfather.
Seriously, what the hell. Grandfather has been playing some damn chess game with my life, meanwhile, the reason I left was a lie?! Now they're saying I can come back as if nothing happened at all?How am I supposed to process that? I don't— Graahhh!
I raised my hands to my face and dragged them over my face and eyes, trying to make sense of it. Trying to make sense of my own emotions, of my reaction, and what game Grandfather was playing.
At least I have a couple of weeks to figure this all out. I swear the universe is playing some sick joke on me.
The walk back to the squad felt like an eternity; each step followed a logical calculation of utter nonsense and gobbledegook. I heard the music still playing from the building before I even saw it, a mixture of orchestral Federation-approved music and the latest pop to come out of Earth.
As I entered, I caught sight of my squad; they were silent as the entire mess hall was sheer chaos around them. Tomás and Park had their beloved tools in front of them, their datapad and notebook, but nothing was being inputted or written down. It was as though the whole table was frozen in time.
Eventually, they caught my eye, smiled, and waved. I waved back as I sat down at the table just across from Tomás.
"So," I started.
"So?" Jin cut in.
I steadied myself. "They came at me with three things. The first is that I got—" I paused.
Should I tell them about the datapad? I mean, it's Tiernan business, but they are my friends. Should I even drag them into it? Shit, I've paused for too long, they're gonna see something is up.
"The first is that I got an old datapad from my Grandfather I'm supposed to open, I've got no idea what's on it, mind you," I told a half-lie.
The group nodded as I could see the anticipation building on their faces.
"The second is that they offered me some firmware, a repurposed S-Grade piece that has been modified to be able to be used by an F-Grade."
Sato whistled at that.
"So you've been offered a custom framework?" Hsu asked.
"Yes, but that's not—"
"Enlightened be damned, that's insane. Talk about prep-privilege," Sato piped in.
"Let him finish first— he's still got one more thing to say," Jin shut them up.
I took a breath of air into my lungs, preparing myself, "The third and final one is that they've offered me a place in the advanced training."
The table went silent at that.
"Marcus—" Tomás started.
"Yeah, it's a lot, and I'm, I'm not sure what's happening, or—."
"You're not seriously thinking about taking it, are you, Marcus?" Jin started.
"It's a ridiculously good offer, Jin, it almost guarantees his survival post-deployment. He'd be stupid not to take it." Park said, clear trepidation permeating his words.
"Yeah, but—" she tried.
Don't make promises you can't keep. — Jin's words echoed in my mind as she spoke.
"It's fine, look, I made a promise that I wouldn't go. No matter what they offered me, I'm… I'm here to stay."
Jin visibly relaxed at that, her tense jaw loosening. The rest of the group seemed pleased with my choice, I could see Sato, Hsu and Ren all breathing out sighs of relief. Andrew gave a nod and the squad exuded much less tension, except two of them.
"Marcus, you can't be serious," Tomás said.
"I am."
"You're going to throw away the opportunity of a lifetime? And for what?"
For you guys.
I wanted to say it, but it sounded sappy and even more stupid than I first thought. I sat in silence for a moment before finally shrugging.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not going."
Tomás and Park let out a synchronised audible sigh at my stubbornness.
"Fine, it'll be your funeral. Don't come crying to us when we don't visit that farm you're gonna buy."
"Heh, no way I'm gonna buy it before your dumb ass, Tomás. Plus, I'm putting my money on Sato being the first to go."
"There's no Mr Floor in space, he might just be ok," Hsu said.
"Seriously, can we shut up about Mr Floor!" Sato cried.
The group laughed as the air of tension finally broke a little.
"So tell us about that fancy framework you've managed to get. What do you mean by repurposed?"
"Well, it's the famous Tiernan family's S-Grade framework, reconfigured to be able to be used by F-Grade pilots."
"Reconfigured? Like, re-built from the ground up? That's insane." Park added.
"Yeah, apparently the Enlightened themselves had a hand in the remaking of it."
And just like that, the table went silent for a second time.
"There was also a representative in the room when they gave it to me."
"Wait, like an actual enlightened? What did they look like? Were they like glowing balls of light? Did they have multiple eyes and wings? Cmon, stop holding out on us, Rabbit." Sato poked.
"Rabbit? Hey, man, come on, that was uncalled for. And no, I think they were just human. Probably just a representative of the Enlightened for the federation to liaise with, I don't think they were an actual Enlightened."
"Still, that's cool as hell. What were they like?"
"Sato, let's hold fire on the questions so we can get an idea as to what we're working with framework-wise." Tomás cut in.
Sato nodded and mimicked zipping his mouth shut.
"So what does the framework do?" Tomás continued.
"I'm not entirely certain, but it's supposed to be a predictive and modular-based framework that will allow me to interface and pilot most federation-based technology. Well, all the enlightenment-based works anyway. Corporate-sponsored mechs will be locked out, but it's still fantastic."
"Sounds quite similar to your deviation and your fighting style up to this point. I wonder if that's just a coincidence."
Well, I did grow up idolising Lydia; maybe this was a subconscious drive.
"Well, it was the same framework my Great Aunt used. So I guess I was sort of imitating her in that sense."
"Great Aunt Lydia? The Luminary?"
"The very same,"
"Jesus Marcus, you're getting the Framework used by a legendary pilot?"
"Yeah, I guess I am, but it's supposed to be a much more toned-down version of it. I wouldn't be able to make use of the original."
"Still… Maybe you'll be the next coming of Lydia, what was her deviation?"
I hesitated, trying to draw the information back up. It wasn't exactly classified or confidential, but it felt like I was breaching a form of privacy if I said it out loud. I swallowed that feeling and spoke.
"It was a kind of temporal perception," I said, "She was able to see backwards in time. Depending on what she was trying to see, it could be detailed and short-reaching or blurry and far-reaching. She could see what had happened before and calculate the most likely scenario that was going to happen next. Learn from history and all that."
"So, past analysis to create a dataset for present prediction," Tomás said. "That's not much different from what I do."
"Huh, I guess you're right."
"Heh, maybe I should take that framework off your hands, sounds like it would suit me better," Tomás joked, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Fat chance, Captain Notebook, this one's all mine."
"Tch."
"Wait, so, do you only get to keep them if you go off to this advanced training bullshit?" Jin asked.
"Nope, it should be all mine. Regardless."
"So are you going to make use of it? Is this going to be your first firmware?" Park asked.
"Sure am, I'd be stupid to look a gift horse in the mouth."
"Good, milk that nepotism for all you can," Andrew said.
"I plan on it."
The rest of the afternoon, leading up to the start of training, was quiet and contained. We discussed the details of the firmware and how it would likely work and build up into our future plans. We didn't bring back up the point of my transferring, which I was grateful for. I said that I wouldn't leave, but a part of my mind was telling me this was the best course of action.
Every time I imagined going off to the advanced training, the taste of copper flooded my mouth.
Soon enough, our free time was over, a morning gone by in an instant, and we were back up to our regular duties. We assembled in the yard out the front of our barracks at precisely 1300, all in line, all in formation. Vance stood ahead of us, eying us down.
"That concludes the first six months of basic training, greenies. Congratulations to those who survived and are still standing. The first six months were about hammering the foundations— now the real training begins."
He paused, letting us process what he was saying.
"For the next week, you will be working solely in the simulation machines. You won't be able to properly interface with any Mechs until your firmwares have all been installed, so you get to play with the toys before the real thing. The schedule will remain the same, except we will be substituting all hand-to-hand and physical work with simulation time. Get yourselves ready, because when your firmware and platoons have been assigned, that's when this gets real."
Simulation work? I suppose they'll be using the typical Aegis-Assist to act as base firmware.
"Get ready for your afternoon lessons, we have academics and cultivation. Dismissed."
The barracks fell out of their formations and began heading off towards the academics block. I found Tomás and the others as we walked on over.
"Oooo, we finally get to work with the Mechs!" Sato exclaimed as we walked.
"Mech or no mech, you're still gonna get your ass handed to you. At least you'll have protection when being pounded by Mr Floor." Hsu said.
"If you don't shut it, I'll pound you into the floor."
"Careful, Sato, you might make Mr Floor jealous again."
Sato lunged at Hsu, and they scrapped for a few minutes as we walked. We mostly paid them no mind, eventually reaching the academic block. We filed in, found our classroom and sat at our desks. Okafor stood at the front of the classroom, and on a large whiteboard was sprawled:
MECH 101: THE SYSTEM AND YOUR MACHINE