A New Start. A New Team.
From Oil and Other Fluids a quest on Fiction.live about a Shark girl getting into a professional mech league with all the sexy consequences that entails
(From Oil and Other Fluids a quest on Fiction.live about a Shark girl getting into a professional mech league with all the sexy consequences that entails)
Carmen looked up eyes closed towards the ceiling as she shut the folder in front of her. Not opening them until she heard her door slide open, the scent of cocoa in the air, hesitantly she opened one eye, watching as Roland delicately carried a tray across the carpeted room, setting it down carefully on the edge of her desk.
"Are you spying on me?" She asked the large bull-man as he set out the two cups and began pouring.
"Don't hafta, just know you." He replied moving her cup closer. He tilted his head towards the folder. "Good one?"
"The best of the bunch at least, good scores in the sim leagues." She almost wilted a little at the Bull's patient but knowing look. "We need a third, I think she's the best we're going to get. We both knew we wouldn't be getting a pro."
"Sure we are," Roland said, taking the chair on the other side of the desk. His cup looking almost comically small. "Once you sign her she's a pro."
"You think I should?" Carmen asked
"I think you think you should." He shrugged. "That's good enough for me."
"She's not from a Family. That could be trouble if things go wrong." Carmen noted.
"Could be." He agreed.
"She's never piloted a real mech." Carmen considered
"Suppose not."
"You're just going to keep agreeing with me aren't you?"
"Sure am."
"You're an idiot." She said giving an amused tilt of her head, feeling a little juvenile.
"And that's why you're the boss. So whose our lucky girl?"
It was big. That was Nikita's first thought as she stepped out of the chartered car and looked in wonder at the seemingly massive ship that was going to be her home from now on. The memory of the call still fresh her in her mind. The moment she'd gone from being a month behind on rent and struggling in the sim-leagues to an honest to goodness pilot whose signing bonus was more than she'd made the last two years in prizes. The feeling of absolute elation as she'd looked at her lease and ripped it in half...
But then she'd had to get some tape to put it back together, found that she'd accidentally ripped right along the line of the cancellation provisions making them illegible. Then spending an hour stressing about that before remembering she had a digital version, then finding her web access had been turned off because she was behind on that bill too... not important! She worked it out eventually!
Leases were a thing of the past, she was in the big leagues now with... everything that entailed. Instinctively she brushed her left ear back, pausing for a moment on the small piercing there, the result of a stupid bet she'd made with her friend Jenny back when she was first starting. She'd gotten way too cocky after a few wins and her friend had been kind enough to set her straight by hooking her up against an upper tier. The smart piercing she'd had to get after losing had her entire win/loss record on it.
Thinking of Jenny Nikita wondered if she might see her again at some point now. The Dolphin had earned a Mech Tech scholarship for some contraption that she'd built, something with a lot of weird words, that Nikki had just politely nodded at when Jenny was telling her about it. Unfortunately, it meant Jenny had to go off-world for it so they hadn't really been able to keep in touch due to the timezone differences and how busy they'd both been.
A look at her watch told her she'd been reminising for too long. If she was going to be there on time for her first day she really needed to get a move on. The call had been very succinct a simple 'hello, welcome to our team, your signing bonus has been wired to your account. Be at the sent location at the indicated time and don't be late.'
She totally didn't start running for a few seconds before changing to a brisk walk.
As she got closer the first real person she saw was a goat, the man was clearly on the older side with a bit of a gut hanging out. He was some sort of technician judging by the way he was inspecting the exterior of the ship and checking the tablet in one hand, the other occupied with what seemed to be a lunchbox. He looked over at her as she approached. Putting his lunchbox under his arm to tap a few things on the tablet. Seeming to be satisfied by what he found.
"So yar, tha new pilot thas goin to be gettin ma mechs broke." He looked her up and down, narrowing his eyes almost dramatically as he stared at her face. Switching his hands he reached into the lunchbox, pulling out a banana. "Catch." He said as he tossed it to her, forcing her drop her bag as she used both hands to catch the yellow fruit, barely remembering not to squeeze it at the last moment.
"What's this for?" She asked, staring at the fruit in confusion.
"For ya to practice on before ya get to tha lads!" The goat said moving on to continue his inspection towards the interior of the ship.
"Hey!" She protested far too late as the goat vanished into the service entrance. A second later she heard a jingling sound as a bull exited from the same place, chains running from a nose ring to his ears as another pair hung from his horns.
"We save that for the horses." He said, his deep voice sounding amused at his own joke. "Nikita?"
"Who wants to know?" She demanded, internally cringing, ok. It was OK. She couldn't show any more weakness. She was a pilot now and if she wanted to make a name she needed to set an image even to her own team. The memory of one of her idols burning in her mind as she forced herself to be rude to the bull.
"Roland." The bull introduced, "And you've just met Ramsey. Boss wanted me to come to bring you on in."
"This Boss got a thing for Rs?" Nikita asked, giving what she imagined was an assertive head tilt. Nikita didn't actually know who the 'boss' was. The caller had never bothered to give her a name and Nikita's caller ID function had been shut off along with her web access.
"Hope so," Roland said with a shrug, looking at the banana in her hand. "Going to eat that?"
"Yes I am!" She said, putting it in one of her bag's side pouches where it hopefully wouldn't get smushed. "Later!"
Roland gave her a long look but shrugged and waved her along to come with him. She pretended to take her time picking up her bag but was left scrambling after him as he didn't seem to be waiting for her. The side hall leading them up and up until they reached the bay where the mechs were stored. The massive machines standing silent in the wire-strewn, component-laden section of the ship. A single woman at work attending to them. Wait... was that...
"Yup." Roland said, seeing where she was looking. "Team Ruined Singularity, 'Fortune' or Aunt Anya." The bull said, "But only I can call her that."
"Why?" Nikita asked, trying to pretend like she didn't actually care about actually seeing in the flesh the idol she was trying to emulate. Team Ruined Singularity were legends in the mech scene until... something had happened, nobody really knew what but they'd simply stopped winning one day. They'd get kills but it had almost been like there was some invisible hand working against them or feeding their opponents information. Accusations were leveled about that but nothing was ever substantiated. Eventually, the team had broken up and all but disappeared from public view.
"Because she's my aunt." The bull shrugged, continuing to guide her along past the former pilot the woman looking up briefly and giving her nephew a wave, giving a view of how oddly transparent some parts of her clothes seemed, tattoos showing through that Nikita didn't have a chance to read. "You always like this?"
"Like what?" She demanded
Roland decided it wasn't worth pressing.
"Nevermind. Cmon, the boss is waiting."
'Boss' turned out to be an owl woman sitting behind an impressive-looking desk that had a surprising amount of actual physical paper on it, the whole thing looking almost like it was made of real wood, the synthetic material only given away as it occasionally became translucent as the owl tapped it.
"Was his shirt unbuttoned?" The owl asked after a moment.
"Huh?" Nikita asked, caught off guard by the question. Of all the ways she pictured the conversation starting this was not one of them.
"His shirt. Were all the buttons done or did he leave some off the top?" The owl asked again, fixing Nikita in place with a look that seemed to stare into her soul. As if what Nikita responded with would be the most important answer she would ever give.