Learning to Walk

Marten thoroughly blamed himself for what happened, especially for the way he felt he had lead Helena on. Even though she was using another name now he still found it easier to call her that in private conversation, not that he believed it was genuine. He did his best to remain friendly but it didn’t take much to realize just how upset he had made her.

The performance test of the new control interface was wound down after approximately thirty minutes and Marten finally extracted himself from the cockpit of his machine and removed the fiber optics from his helmet as they spooled automatically into a slot in the control chair. Free of the machine he looked at his own arms reflexively. Internally there was a small shiver. Even with all the advances in cybernetics from the early prosthetics one thing had never been completely solved. The sensations passed through the touch sensors of modern cybernetics were good but there was still a cognitive disconnect between them and the host body, like looking at a photograph of something instead of the real thing. This feeling was only driven home when Marten had to strip down and with the help of an aid changed from one set of limbs to another.

Once he was changed he entered the faculty cafeteria and saw a familiar face that made him take the long way around the cafeteria before sitting down at the same table as the petite blonde after a moment’s hesitation. “Are your cadets going to be ready for the combat drill this afternoon?” he asked conversationally and cast a small glance at her as he sat down. Even though they were just two instructors sitting together his own emotions reached out to her, a combination of longing and want riding in on a wave of self-effacing introspection. He wanted her and was afraid to let her go yet there was a guilt tinged edge to his conscience that was probably almost visible.

Marten smiled wryly, almost sardonically, over the edge of his coffee. He met the blonde’s gaze and returned the smile at his own expense. He sighed and blinked slowly, focusing on events of the past. For a brief moment he was able to conjure up a visible image of the first night they were together. His body all but shaking the skin pale as a ghost the moment she found him. The image faded after a moment and he sighed with the exertion. Marten was growing as a newtype but the road had been hard and not entirely painless. The doctors had said something about his neurochemistry having been affected by his intimate brush with death. They had also said that his neurons would adapt in time though they hadn’t been able to predict how long that would be.

“I never said I was or that I wanted to be, you’re a free woman after all...” He sighed for a moment and there was a more genuine smile, but it was small. Now that he was back home he had no intention of breaking his fiancée’s trust, but he couldn’t find himself letting go easily. “Perhaps you are reading too much into this.” he countered, though not really believing it under his confident air. Over their nights together she had managed to inadvertently find a way into his heart even though he hadn’t wanted her to. “My own team has been rearing for a fight for a while now, among other things...”

He shook his head after a moment and finished his coffee, trying to get a grip on just what were his emotions. Gabriella hadn’t been his only partner since he had returned and Roxanne was certainly beginning to outdo the petite blonde, but he wasn’t going to admit that directly to her face. Even now under his uniform it would be plain to see how things had been between him and Roxanne since his return. There hadn’t been much time with the two of them alone that hadn’t been spent close together, and Roxanne had obviously been determined to make up for time lost. Even now the marks on his back ached at the memory of it, not that he minded.

Marten was actually nervous. This drill was his first time going up against what he considered properly trained troops rather than just the provincials he sometimes saw the other Side 3 instructors as. The stubborn pride that came with being from Mars had yet to pass and the fact that his squad was going up against somebody who had plenty of time to go over his own tactics had him on edge. He had done a good job at training his team in the use of group tactics and maneuver warfare but he had a feeling that this time around he was up against somebody who could see through his own doctrines.

His team had been equipped identically to those they were going up against, using Hizacks with machine guns and inert heat hawks as well. He would have preferred having Gaza Ds for this exercise but those units were readily available this time. Preliminary checks had already been completed when he arrived, which was just as he had expected. If anything Marten had done an excellent job training them to be fast and efficient at preparedness.

Marten has seen the machine gun come up and had begun to move as soon as he’s seen it. At his command the Jagd Doha bent at one knee and leaned to one side before kicking off the ground as it’s engines came on. The paint rounds missed the mobile suit itself, splattering against the dummy circular shield that was a stand in for the Jag Doga’s primarily defensive weapon. One round struck dead center as the other two pattered against it. The third leaving a smear on the edge as it struck with enough force for the paint cartridge to detonate before it was glanced aside.

Inside the cockpit there was a click of recognition in Marten’s head as he realized just how responsive the machine was behaving. He’d barely thought of the maneuver before the machine reacted to it. The 120mm machine gun came up braced against the machine’s upper arm and opened fire, barking out it’s own three rounds towards the other machine’s lower body in a scything arc.

Choosing between a move over or around the hill had been obvious, and it wasn’t a difficult decision to make. Instead of charging head on Marten put his machine in to a low crouch and made for the side of the hill to his right with his shield raised defensively to cover his flank. The machine still carried the mounted shield on that arm as well so he could afford to act a bit recklessly even if these had been live rounds.

Even though Marten wasn’t available to see her he could still feel Gabby’s presence and his own took on an aggressive tang as the pair of funnels mounted on the left shield took flight. These bits were equipped with the kind of laser systems used to simulate beam weapons in training and were programmed to be recognized as such inside the cockpit of a mobile suit. The funnels went wide over the top of the hill and pivoted to rake their beams across the far side, trying to flush the Doven Wolf variant out.

The funnel that had been over the Döven Wolf’s head tried to dodge but was hit full on the side, knocking it spinning end over end before crashing into the ground with a small thud. The remote weapon carved a small furrow before coming to rest, bent and thoroughly out of action. The second remote weapon made a wide arc passing above and around the hills, angling in for another attack. The remote weapon would lose function if it broke a line of sight with the Jagd Doga and under the stresses of gravity had possibly enough fuel for another attack run at most. The space use weapon was not designed for atmospheric combat and it had taken some pressure from the pilot to get the remote weapons mounted in the first place.

Marten’s own tactic was simple, breaking out into a fluid run and using his suit’s thrusters to bring him around the hill at speed. The combination of motion and engines covered ground quickly but also created tremors that shook the surrounding area with each footstep, creating craters with each impact. The Jagd Doga’s small thrusters left it less capable of cruising under gravity compared to the Döven Wolf’s but the machine moved quickly enough to make surprising speed as it traversed the side of the hill.