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Rifleman101 — Memories - Solaris - CH1
Published: 2007-02-13 05:05:58 +0000 UTC; Views: 336; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 9
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Memories - SolarisBy rifleman101
Chapter 1
CHP-3P Champion. Four ER Medium Lasers. Ultra AC/10. Garret T-11C communications systems. Mercury IV targeting and tracking plus C3i and iNARC.
A Champion. Somewhat new from the looks of it, but still an odd mech to see nowadays. The once popular mech was seldom seen, especially here on Solaris 7. A worn paint job was on it, faded black. Two mirrors were on the tip of each of the aerodynamic arms, defiantly medium lasers. A multi-barrel rotary style cannon protruded the right torso, its five barrels linked together by a thick ring. It was too big to be an Ultra Autocannon 10, the primary weapon of this model of the Champion. It’s previous owner probably like heavy weapons, showing it to be an Ultra Autocannon 20. He smiled; this thing had a punch that some assault mechs lacked.
Evidently this mech was clearly lacking the NARC launcher as well as the C3i.
He quietly walked towards it, craning his thick neck up to look at the nose of the mech. This would defiantly be easy to get used to; the Champion had great visibility, unlike his old Hunchback.
He scrambled up the legs and pulled himself up, ignoring the chain ladder. Standing up on the left arm, he cautiously crawled into the cockpit.
Settling himself in a nice seat, he gently grasped the two joysticks, moving them. A slight creak sounded from the right arm, and he reminded himself to grease it.
He glanced over the control panel. It was different than on his old Hunchback; the control panel was more like that of a fighter jet, and no heavy autocannon blocking half your view. Also he could feel the autocannon’s weight, despite the mech gantry supporting the Champion. He might have to do something about that.
Quietly he began to sing to himself. “Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust, another one gone, another one gone, another one-“
“Mr. MacAfee?” A voice called out from below. Sighing he climbed out of the cockpit and made his way down the mech, finally dropping to the ground.
He turned around to face the stable master, Mathew Tonnage. “Yes, Mr. Tonnage?”
“I have heard you do your own grunt work, but I would like you to meet your tech.” The balding man looked behind him. “Sara! Will you come here for a moment?”
One of the girls working on an Awesome’s foot walked over to him, ignoring Jason. When she looked at him, his heart skipped a beat.
Boy she was a looker. Wavy blonde hair danced around as she walked, a body any guy would kill his grandmother for, and an angelic face that was absolutely radiant. But it wasn’t her looks that made his heartbeat increase.
A cold feeling washed over him as they made eye contact. A cool look formed across her face, and she nonchalantly crossed her arms.
“Mr. MacAfee, I would like you to meet your new tech-“
“Sara Kellings.” He said quietly. He took a deep breath. “Hello Sara.”
She nodded slightly. “Jason.”
“You know each other?” Tonnage asked, surprised.
“I guess you could say that.” His eyes never left hers. “How’s life?”
“So-so.” She responded quietly. “You?”
“Same.” He nodded.
“Well, since you already know each other, I’ll let you two catch up.” With that, Tonnage walked off.
There was a thick silence.
She broke it. “How did you end up here?”
“Found a contract I liked. Heavy mech.” His arms crossed.
“Tired of piloting mediums?”
“Yah. What about you?”
“Somewhat the same. Live here now. How’s my mom?”
He shook his head. “Not to well, but she sends her love.”
Sara snorted. “Like that was ever there.” She pushed some hair behind her ears. “What about your parents?”
He thought before speaking. “None-existent.”
Slowly nodding, she shifted her feet. “Never thought I’d see you again.”
“Me either.”
She allowed a small smile. “So now you’re a big shot mech jock. You finally got the break you’ve been waiting for.”
“Yep. I’ve had enough of those blood pits.”
Silence.
“What happened with you? You could be one to.”
She shook her head. “I’m happy with where I am now. Just an ordinary tech.”
“Quiet, huh?”
“Yah.”
Somewhere a gantry clattered.
“Meet anyone?”
She nodded. “I have a few friends.”
“Boyfriend?”
She allowed another small smile. “Not since you.”
“Haven’t moved on?”
“I’ve tried, just no one that fit the bill.”
He nodded, a bit of disappointment spread across his face.
“You fit the bill, if that’s what your wondering.”
“No, it’s that a girl like you shouldn’t be alone. It’s not right.”
A sad smile crossed her face. “No, I’m fine. Trust me.”
He sighed. “I just want you to move on, I’m history, remember?”
“Jason, don’t-“
“It’s true. You were right.”
Her hands went to her face, momentarily covering them.
After a while he said. “Good to see you again.” With that, he walked away.
Clearing his head he climbed up the back of the Champion. The back was open, obviously under repair. Climbing inside, he pulled out a penlight and turned it on. Glancing around, moderate engine damage was shown in the form of autocannon holes, probably from an Autocannon 5.
“Where the hell is my wrench?” A voice screamed outside.
Jason looked up and saw a wrench attached to a nut, and began to loosen it. Slipping the nut into his pockets, he began to loosen a damaged plate. He kicked something with his shoe, and realized it was a bucket containing washers, nuts and other assorted parts. Shaking his head, he pulled the nut out of his pocket and dropped it in the bucket.
Slowly, he removed all nuts and pulled off the plate. Inside were damaged coolant pipelines. He flipped the wrench around to the other end and began to loosen it.
“I’m a marinade… of what’s hot this summer… I’m an early comer…” He loosened it and switched to the other side of the pipe. “Bought a gulf war hummer… every fad, I feel its force, every trend, I do endorse, got my genomes mapping, caught my smart dog napping…” He realized he didn’t know the rest of the song and switched. Gulf war? What Gulf war? He shook his head, realizing he had gone over this subject for the umpteenth time.
“Where is my wrench?” The same voice cried out.
“Deadly as the viper, peering from its coil, the poison there coming to a boil.” He loosed another nut. Apparently this mech was not so new. “Ticking like a time bomb, the fuse is running short, on the verge of snapping if it’s caught. And all the pressure has been building up… for all the years it bore the load… the cracks apea-“
“You need any help?” He jumped, bumped his head against a pipe and cursed. He was not exactly accustomed to being snuck up on.
“No.” He turned around.
“Sorry about your head.” She said sheepishly, putting her arms on the edge of the armor and resting her head on it. He heard the clatter of a catwalk underneath her as she shifted her feet.
“Nah it was my fault.” He said, turning back to his work.
“You never were one to blame someone else.”
He put on a fake smile. “What can I do for you?”
“Well for one, you have Sarge’s wrench.” She said, smiling in an accusing way.
He looked down and pointed the flashlight at the wrench. Sure enough, the name ‘Sarge’ was scrawled on it.
“WRENCH!” Cried out a frantic voice.
“Um, yah.” He said, handing it to her. Taking it, she took a step back and yelled. “Hey Sarge!” She waved it in the air.
“My wrench!” An excited voice said, and she tossed it down.
Dang it, now how would he- “Here, use my set.” She said, pulling up a little box. “I don’t mind sharing.” Smiling, he opened it and pulled out what he needed. “So tell me, what happened since we last parted ways?”
“Not much to tell.” He said absentmindedly.
“Friends, girlfriends, what’s happened, yah.”
He sighed. “Nothings really happened.”
“Fess up.”
Jason muttered something under his breath, and then spoke. “No friends, no girlfriends, and life sucked.”
“No girlfriends? I thought you would have picked right up after I was-” He shot her a venomous glare.
“Don’t.”
She closed her mouth, swallowing. “I’m sorry.”
“You did that on purpose, you know what happened last time.” His eyes were smoldering.
She silently nodded. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t push me, you know my limits.” It was then he noticed his white knuckle grip on a pipe. He let go, exaling.
She nodded, and gave him a sad smile. “I guess… neither of us have moved on because… its still there.”
He forced himself to calm down. “What is?”
“We can’t let go.”
She was right. He couldn’t let go.
“Why cant we?”
She crawled up and sat down near the entrance on a coolant pipe. “I don’t know. I just can’t.”
He looked at her. “Cant, or don’t want to?”
She sighed and readjusted one of the straps on her tank top. “I don’t know.”
She watched him work for a while. “Can you?”
He shook his head. “I can’t. No how much I try to get away, I just can’t.”
“Does it hurt?”
Jason closed his eyes and rested it against an armor plate. “All the time.” He said softly.
Slowly she nodded, looking at the ground. “Me to.”
Neither moved for a long time.
“Did it hurt?”
He gave her a quizzical look.
“No I mean the…” She made a throwing motion with her arm.
A small smile grew on his face. “Mate, it always hurts when you get hit in the face with a blow dryer.” Another bolt came off.
Sara gave a bitter laugh. “Yah, I guess so.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry about that, I shouldn’t have lost it.”
“At least you didn’t impale me with that curling iron.” He chuckled.
She allowed herself a small giggle before the seriousness of the conversation set back in.
“What happened to your parents?”
He turned to look at her. “Look, I re-”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have brought it up.” She put her hands to her face and tried to rub some sense into her head.
“You say that a lot.”
“Say what?”
“I’m sorry. You say that a lot.”
“There are a lot of things I wish I hadn’t done; it’s the only way I know to let you realize… realize…”
“What you wish you hadn’t done?”
She nodded. “Yah.”
Slowly he went back to work, trying to keep the flood of emotions from doing anything.
She hopped out vanished from sight. “Your first match is in two days. I’ll grease the left arm.”
“I don’t need any help.”
She looked back in. “You never needed anyone’s help, Jason. You always took care of yourself. But this is my job, and I have to do it.” She walked down the catwalk.
Slowly he looked away from the opening, and removed another damaged pipe. Then, he gripped another pipe, trying to hold on to something as tears flowed down his face.
No! He couldn’t lose control, not now. Move on, move on past her, he told himself time again.
But he couldn’t. She was still there, in his mind...
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Comments: 1
Splendid. you posted it finally. Lol I always liked this series. ^^
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