Admittedly, it had proven to be a considerable challenge even to get the new code to work and to move it beyond running simple operations and easy calculations so it would actually function through the brain of an AI. It wasn't simple and it was far from easy, but she was determined to do it. She still had the manus, which gave her a running translation of the binary flex and explained what each line of code was supposed to do, at least under the more basic functions, but it was slow work.
She was startled out of her reverie when someone pounded demandingly on the metal door to her little room. It made her jump slightly on her cot and she removed the Mini headset from her ears.
"It's unlocked!" Jessica13 shouted. She'd learned that she needed to be loud to be heard through a door that thick.
The handle twisted and Armstrong7’s powerful, lean frame blocked the neon light from the hallway outside. "What are you doing in here?"
For a moment, she simply stared at him like she hadn't heard the commlinks all but blow up with him calling all hands on deck for another drill.
"I’m performing updates on my mech," she replied. "Did you need me for something?"
"Don't play stupid with me, Jessie," the man snapped. "I know your commlink is live and activated so I know you've been listening. That tells me you know we're running drills right now and that it's all hands on deck."
Jessica13 could have pointed out that this was the third such drill in the past two days. She could have told him he might be overreacting to all this. They lived in a dangerous world, after all, and while they were safer than the average peddler out there, they would still lose people.
But none of that was something to be said to your commanding officer. Armstrong7 had given her an order and she had no desire to be the kind of person who would be insubordinate merely because she thought she was right. The possibility of being wrong was there too and in the end, his efforts came from a desire to not lose any more of his people.
And that was something she could get behind.
"Coming right out, sir." She scrambled off her bed but kept the headset connected to the chip.
The CO grunted something unintelligible, nodded, and headed farther down the hall where he began to hammer on more doors and yell at the occupants. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who had the idea of hiding out in their bunk in the hope that their presence wouldn’t be missed.
"It doesn't work when everyone's doing it," she grumbled under her breath as she pulled her piloting suit on again, zipped it hastily, and jogged out into the hallway where the others began to join her. The group hurried toward the hangar where their mechs were waiting.
There was the spirit of practiced precision in these drills again. The memory of the attack hadn't faded, of course, but every member of the team gathered their confidence once more and went through the motions they had practiced dozens of times before. The pilots all hurried to their combat mechs and mounted up as the bulletfoots helped them to get started before they moved to their support mechs.
The first time they'd run the drill, Jessica13 had needed to clench her hands to keep them from shaking, the memories of the attack still too fresh in her mind. Two drills later, though, she felt considerably better, a little calmer, and more relaxed in her work. By now, she could have done it in her sleep.
Maybe that was why Armstrong7 chose to run so many of these in such quick succession. People would think a little too much about what happened to their comrades the last time they were involved in real action, and he wanted to make sure they got the nerves clear before they were called into a real combat situation once more.
Maybe she didn’t give the man enough credit.
Jessica13 turned toward her Minato and played with the coding chip she had connected to her headset as she jogged to where her mech was still coupled.
She could bring it up now. Not only that, she had made significant progress in integrating the code between the chip and her device. The chances were that she would need a couple of field tests before she got everything right.
Still thinking it over, she climbed into the chest of the Minato while the second wave of pilots began to follow their usual routine and head toward their guardians. She almost missed Jack5 with the group until he paused and looked at her where she prepared to head to the elevator herself.
"Are you still working out of that Minato?" he asked.
Jessica13 looked up from her fiddling and studied the man closely. There was something different about him, that much was clear. It took her a few seconds to realize that his mustache was gone.
"I…yeah. What happened to that lip rug of yours?" she asked.
"Oh… I thought improving my looks wasn't worth risking having my Cinder blow up with me inside it," he said with a laugh. "But I was asking because…well, I know your mech is a fast motherfucker, but maybe one that takes ten minutes to get going might not be the best choice?"
"I’m running updates on the software and trying to get the AI working again," she said.
"Maybe don't do it while we run drills with A7 riding all our asses on it," Jack5 suggested. "If he sees you delaying, he might give you an order to choose another mech to use."
She ignored the fact that he now called the CO that ridiculous nickname too. "There won’t be this much delay for all the other times, especially if I can get the suit to stop carrying so
