Chapter one:
The Promise of Force
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Titha you need to have that leg checked out, I don't care if it's not bothering you."
Titha turned to look at the man standing before her, his thumbs were hooked over his belt and his mouth was set thin with a glare.
"You've got pieces of metal in your ankle, you can hardly walk, let alone fight!"
She looked at the rack next to where she was sitting, upon which a large anti tank rifle rested. Her gaze returned to the man before her, she said nothing.
"We've got to convince the brass that you're efficient and reliable. We can't do that if you won't let anyone help you!"
The ground shifted as she rose to her full height, she was looking down at the man now. Her massive form eclipsed the light fixture in the center of the garage, casting the room into darkness. The man's head tracked up to maintain eye contact with her primary optical lens. The gigantic mech stepped forward, tens of tons slamming into the ground. Tools rattled as the man stepped back, and birds fled from a nearby tree. The movement also sent jolts of simulated pain up from her leg in the form of errors and sensor feedback from loose cables and the metal shrapnel electrically grounding to her chassis.
"Is Gamison in there with you?"
Her optic twitched in irritation at the unwanted question. With an audible hiss she popped the hatch in her back and turned, displaying an empty seat with dummy controls. Her external speakers emitted her cold synthetic drawl.
"And I haven't seen that one either, so don't ask."
"Hrmph… grumpy AI."
Her narrowed optic followed him as he walked away to a different room. The hatch in her back resealed and she evacuated the atmosphere from the cockpit. She always depressurized the space because of the odd sensor feedback she received from the interior pressure. When a 'pilot' was aboard she would often instruct them to trip the manual resets for said sensors, temporarily alleviating the uncomfortable sensation. Gamison liked to call it 'scratching the itch' she admitted it was similar, but still didn't like him calling it that. The green light of her primary optic turned to look at a pile of boxes that she was obscuring with her chassis.
"Is Bren gone?"
Gamison's helmeted head popped up over the edge of the boxes, his grin was just barely visible through the tinted visor.
"Yes, Bren just left. You should know lying is very difficult for me, and in exchange for helping you skimp out on your duties I will require a favor of you."
"Umm… ok."
Titha's green lens focused in on his face, and the protective armor flaps around it splayed open.
"I need you to install a port for a CAT28 ethernet cable into my chassis."
"No, I uh... I can't do that."
Titha's long steel arm extended, and her finger pointed accusingly at an electronics work station.
"Yes you can, there's a soldering set right on the table over there."
A panel in her extended right arm popped open revealing a 3.5mm audio jack connected to a large circuit board. Titha's chassis moved closer, invading Gamison's space.
"And you can't say that you don't know how, you've made similar modifications before."
The irritation in her speech was readily apparent, and she was quite pleased with the nervous shudder Gamison made as he stared up at her towering frame. Gamison himself was quite displeased with her close proximity and threatening posture. Some days he swore that she could have killed him if she wanted to, despite the elaborate measures to prevent that very occurrence. Even without causing direct damage, there were still many avenues the AI could use to make his life quite uncomfortable though.
"Why do you need internet access?"
Titha's took a few milliseconds to find an answer that wasn't strictly a lie. At that moment the door at the far end of the room swung open and hit the metal wall with an audible calng.
"Ah Gamison, where have you been? I need you to help me with the mech's leg!"
Gamison was about ready to inform Bren of Titha's requested modification before he felt the pressure of several large metallic fingers on his shoulder. They were dreadfully cold and though doing no harm, their presence convinced him to keep his mouth shut on that particular subject. Titha filled in an excuse for the two of them instead.
"I began talking to him soon after you had left."
Not a lie, just not the whole truth.
"What were you two talking about?"
Steel fingers applied light pressure, and Gamison, who had no problem telling lies, took the lead.
"We were discussing the leg modifications planned for this upcoming combat demonstration, right Titha?"
Titha spent half a second playing back Gamison's words, omitting all but the first four and the sixth word he said before responding.
"Yes, we spoke of the modifications."
Bren thought something felt off, but he couldn't quite place it.
"Well we best get started then, we've got a whole lot to do and not a lot of time to do it."
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