Sam's Exo Certification Training

Introduction: For the last several weeks, Sam has been working on exo-suits in the repair bay as a technical specialist (engineer), and has noted several times during general RP that he has been training on the exo-suit simulators, in an attempt to prepare to get certification to become cleared as an exo pilot (in addition to his regular piloting and shuttle piloting skills). When our scene opens, Sam is taking a break from his repair work in the EDC Hangar at Alameda, when James walks in...

Sam downs the rest of his water and sets his cup aside, walking over toward James and his Apollo. Frowning a bit at the pilot's apparent impatience even though the Apollo is fine, he asks, "Exo-suit is in working order, yes? Appears intact.."

James Bailey paces a little more, then whirls and faces Sam. "You." He walks up and gets into Sam's face.

Sam's expression goes back to neutral. He straightens a bit, looking back at James patiently.

James Bailey stares at Sam evenly. It becomes apparent that he's looking the alleged human in the eyes, but whether James is trying to read him or gauging his reaction or searching for something else altogether is anyone's guess. "Why do you want to pilot Exo-Suits?"

Sam at first doesn't seem to react. At least, he doesn't move and his expression doesn't change. Meeting James's gaze is about it. After a moment, he answers, "Honest answer perhaps is not always best answer. However.." his head tilts just a fraction of a degree to his right, "perhaps best explanation is that.. I.. have debt, and only can offer service for repayment."

Jayson Redfield heads out of medical. Now that he's sure Meghan's okay, he can take his leave. He was also checked out by medical staff, but as it turns out he only received a few bruises from the encounter with Astrotrain.

James Bailey freezes for a second. Well, of all the answers he envisioned getting, that one was kind of a surprise. But James recovers in an instant, flicking his gaze briefly over to Jayson, then the Medical Facility doors he just emerged from, then back to Sam. Finally he nods slightly, almost imperceptibly. "Come on." He turns and walks down the row of parked Exo's, passing the Ares, his own Apollo, then finally stopping in front of the Talon.

Sam blinks once, then shrugs and follows right on, stopping next to James and looking up at the jet.

Jayson Redfield is also, it can be noted, still slightly wet due to the fact that it was raining when Astrotrain decided to play Toss the Human. It doesn't bother him, though. He's heading to check on his own Talon, but James and Sam catch his attention. He grins and waves enthusiastically. "Hey!"

James Bailey stands next to Sam, looking solemnly up at the jet as well. "A fine piece of Exo-Tech engineering. One of our best. Oh sure, there are tougher Exo's, and faster, but the Talon still gets the job done." He suddenly reaches one hand out in front of Sam. In it is a generic, unmarked flight helmet with the EDC logo prominently displayed on the sides and the words 'EDC Exo-Pilot' stenciled underneath. "Once you put this on, there's no going back."

Sam glances behind him when Jayson yells, then looks back to James. With a slow, single nod, he reaches out to take the helmet. "Have no hesitations."

Curious to see what's going on, Jayson hurries over to the others. "What's goin' on?"

James Bailey looks cooly over at Jayson, then turns to look back at Sam. "So be it." He makes a pointing gesture at an EDC quartermaster across the room, who nods and adjusts some controls. The Talon's canopy slides open (conveniently a two-seater 'trainer' model) and a ladder is positioned in front of it. James climbs up and sits in the back seat. He looks over at Jayson, his manner still a little solemn. "We're teaching Sam how to fly a Talon in combat. We could use your help."

Sam looks back over at Jayson and inclines his head slightly, eyebrows raised. "Would seem to be advantageous timing for your arrival." He spins the helmet in his hands, doing a quick spot-check of it. Always have to check your equipment, especially if it's off-the-rack and standard-issue.

Jayson Redfield remembers James teaching him to use exos. And how James apparently didn't like the idea. He tilts his head slightly. "MY help? What would you need my help for? You're the expert." He shrugs. "Well, whatever. What d'you need me to do?"

James Bailey sits in the back seat of the Talon, switching on a few screens and 'slaving' to the displays to the screens the pilot will be looking at. "Well, for one thing, we're gonna need you to take out your own Talon, and practice against Sam in this one. Remember how Ion helped us out when you were learning to fly one of these? And I hope you do remember, because it wasn't TOO long ago. I fact, maybe you can also give Sam a few pointers since you just went through what he's going through." James' gaze flicks to Sam, then back to what he's doing in the Talon. Well, maybe Jayson didn't go through -exactly- what Sam's going through, but then not many humans could say that they have.

Sam climbs the ladder and settles in the front seat, looking over the control panel. By now, he's been in a cockpit dozens of times, but only as ground-crew, and never fully running one up to operational levels and moving it under its own power. After the brief inspection, he looks down over at Jayson. "Assistance would be very appreciated, Jayson Redfield." Then, dials get turned, and switches flipped. Perhaps a couple buttons are pushed and a few toggles.. toggled. Sam starts working the standard preflight sequence.

Jayson Redfield nods. "'Course I remember. As I recall, you were twitching a little..." He grins, and glances to Sam. "I told you before, just call me Jayson, okay?" Then, to James: "I'll be ready in a sec. Hang on." He darts off to his Talon and promptly gets inside.

James Bailey enters the Exo-Armor Talon .

You enter the Exo-Armor Talon .

James Bailey tries to keep an eye on what Sam is doing, but like he expected, his latest trainee's already got the fundamentals down.

Sam finishes the startup routine, as the trainer Talon hums to life. "Main power on, all systems er.." he finishes a visual inspection of the gauges, "all systems nominal. Exo-suit prepared for departure from hangar." He settles the helmet on his head, strapping it in place and initializing it to connect with the Talon. "Er.. all ready, awaiting launch confirmation."

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon , Jayson Redfield preps his exo. It takes on an offensive stance, typical of the pilot's street fighting nature. "Whenever you're ready!" It actually feels weird going up against a friend, but it's something he'll have to get used to if he himself wants to improve.

Outside, The EDC Quartermaster says, "Talon Trainer Three-One, you are cleared for launch. Good luck."

Sam responds, "Affirmative," to the Quartermaster, and sets the Talon in motion, moving it out of the hangar. He flips the radio over to a channel connecting the two exo-suits. "Have had practice time in simulators, understand basic operations. Prepared to follow instructions for training, however."

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon  Robot marches out of the hangar in response to Sam's commands.

Outside, You move west to the Landing Fields ...

James Bailey says, "All right...this is a training excersize, but we'll still be using live ammunition. We'll just set the most powerful weapons on 'safe' so that we don't have to make any -more- trips to EDC Medical today." Is it your imagination or does he say that with a trace of bitterness. "Sam, show us what you've got."

Sam moves the Talon out into what would be best described as the 'ass end of nowhere' on the EDC grounds. No stray equipment or personnel to worry about. He turns it around and waits for Jayson to move into an opposing position. "Talon three-one ready for training engagement." He sets the tracking systems to ignore the IFF signals from Jayson's Talon.

James Bailey says, "All right Sam, Jayson. The situation's simple. Jayson's Talon over there is a Decepticon Seeker-Class hostile. Sam, you've got to shoot him down...or else at least survive with more than 50% systems effectiveness. Begin!"

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon , Jayson Redfield does the same. Don't want his systems telling him to not shoot at Sam--that would get annoying. He's still looking uncertain about this, but hey, Sam has to learn sooner or later, right? "Okay... You ready to rock?"

Sam frowns a little, tightly, obscured by his helmet. And the fact that he's facing away from James. "Ready." About one second later, the trainer Talon turns and starts moving in an arc, keeping even distance from Jayson's mech, at about 60% throttle. By the book, there is no combat without movement.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon  Robot starts to trot along as directed. It's still a little rough in it's movements - simulators can only do so much in the way of mimicing a real moving Exo-Suit.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon , Jayson Redfield takes the opportunity. He's learned from growing up in New York to never let his guard down--that is, of course, sometimes difficult, but this is not the case. He has nothing to distract him. He rushes his exo forward, and controls it to through a swift punch at the other Talon.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon  Robot strikes you with punch for 6 points of damage.

James Bailey checks his safety harnesses. And the 'eject' controls.

Sam obviously isn't moving the Talon quickly enough to avoid the attack, nor does he bring the mech's arms up in time to deflect much of the blow. Armor on the trainer's torso crumples as the other Talon delivers its attack. "Ah, yes. Streetfighting tactic? Standard response to melee-combatant would be increase range, yes?" He sets his controls to move backwards, attempting to -just- make the trainer mech lurch in that direction, but then abruptly changes what seemed like his plan of disengaging close-combat, in favor of attempting to deliver a swift kick to Jayson's exo's leg.

Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon  Robot with kick.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon , Jayson Redfield grins. "You catch on fast. Yeah, it's a pretty basic move." He barely winces as the other exo's attack hits--he's taken much worse damage. For starters, Dirge's missiles come to mind. He distances himself from his opponent and brings out the machine guns. "Now let's REALLY rock!"

Outside, You evade Exo-Armor Talon  Robot's ballistic attack.

Sam takes the cue to back off when the guns come out. Sidestepping an automatic weapon may be out of the question, but hitting the jump jets to launch out of the way seems to work nicely. The trainer exo lands a little awkwardly, facing not quite the right direction. Sam tries to pull the robot suit around and bring the laser rifles to bear, firing off a few brilliantly-colored light beams at his opponent. "Rock?" he asks, in the process.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon  Robot evades your arm laser cannons attack.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon , Jayson Redfield laughs a bit as he swerves to dodge the lasers. "Just a bit of slang you might wanna pick up on. Or not. Your choice." He extends the blades on his exo's arms, rushing and slashing at the other.

Outside, You evade Exo-Armor Talon  Robot's blade attack.

Sam frowns, even as he pivots his suit around on its heel, barely scraping past the onrushing Talon's blades. Angling the other foot, he ignites the propulsion system there to force a much faster spin rate, extending the right arm of the trainer and activating its own arm-blade and using the momentum and arc of the spin to drive the blade toward its target. The trainer lurches horribly in this arc, this maneuver definitely not agreeing with the pilot (or likely the passenger), regardless of the actual outcome of the attack, leaving the suit looking momentarily drunk. "Er.." Sam manages to get out, "simulator did not make.. correct interpretation of maneuver.."

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon  Robot evades your blade attack.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>, Jayson Redfield sidesteps the blade. "Hey, take it easy, Sam," he advises. "You'll get used to it. Took me awhile to get the hang of things. Sometimes the exo decides to have a mind of its own." He brings out the machine guns once more. Let's try this again!

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot strikes you with ballistic for 7 points of damage.

James Bailey puts his hands against the sides of the seat he's in to brace himself. "I think you've got the right idea, Sam...but he's right, piloting a robot takes some getting used to. Maybe try jet mode? It's not too different from a Shrike."

Sam's mech rocks backwards under the force of the attack even as it's staggering. Shaking his head, Sam tries to clear the momentary disorientation. The exo falls forward to one knee, palms flat on the ground as if for stability. "Affirmative, will attempt different tactic." Using the kneeling position of the Talon to his advantage, Sam ignites the jet propulsion and kicks off the ground, launching rapidly into an ascending arc over the other exo's head. The trainer's arm-rifles spray the area around Jayson's exo, perhaps as much of a distraction as anything. At the top of the arc, Sam cuts the engines long enough to activate the transformation sequence, reigniting them and gaining some altitude.

Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot with arm laser cannons.

Outside, The Exo-armor Talon <Michael Briar> robot mode shifts into jet mode.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>, Jayson Redfield winces and backsteps as his exo is hit in the shoulder. "Nice," he comments. "Keep it up!" He aims carefully, then shoots a beam toward the newly-transformed Talon.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot strikes you with laser for 11 points of damage.

James Bailey eyes some of the displays in the back. "Uh...armor's not as strong in this mode." He probably should have mentioned that before...

Sam is a little more comfortable with the aerodynamic configuration of the exo-suit in jet mode. Make that a lot more, since for whatever reason he's got some piloting skill tucked away in that brain of his. Since there's no like-oriented pursuer behind him, Sam is free to bank the jet around and line back up with Jayson for a strafing run, just in time to catch a few lasers across the fuselage. "Erm.. damage report?" he requests of James, while lining up his shot. Hey, these things are equipped with railguns. The low pass is interrupted briefly by the sound of an electromagnetic gauss rifle discharging a few thousand volts along its length, drawing out a ferrous slug. With the weapon training safeties engaged, the round travels much slower than its traditional hypersonic velocity, but is still fast and heavy enough to pack a punch.

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=============[ Brief Self Diagnostics ]========================== Health: [||||||||||||        ] 38  / 62  -- (61.3%) Energon: [||||||||||||||||   ] 82  / 100 -- (82.0%) Systems: [||||||||||||||||||||] (100%) Couend: 15

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Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot with nose laser cannons.

James Bailey says, "Looks like we're at 61 percent overall defensive effectiveness, 82 percent on fuel. No internal system damage yet. How you holding out, Redfield?"

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>, Jayson Redfield winces again. "Heh, not bad...let's even things up a bit, though." He initiates the transformation sequence, and once in jet mode, he promptly takes to the air, banking to the right as he retaliates. "Sixty-nine-point-four percent for defense, seventy-six percent on fuel."

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot strikes you with laser for 11 points of damage.

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=============[ Brief Self Diagnostics ]========================== Health: [|||||||||           ] 27  / 62  -- (43.5%) Energon: [||||||||||||||||   ] 82  / 100 -- (82.0%) Systems: [||||||||||||||||||||] (100%) Couend: 15

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Sam rolls the trainer, and pulls up at a sharp angle, trying to climb away from the attacking jet. Lasers pepper the tail section of the exo and one of the engines starts to smoke. "Ah.. system status reporting below 50%." A pause as he confirms that. "Erm.. and engine two shutting down." He levels out the jet, and starts banking around for the airfield. "Aborting training exercise and returning to landing field."

James Bailey blinks. "Okay, guess that's it. Nice job, both of you. Redfield, you've come a long way." He pauses for a moment, then nods at Sam even though the pilot probably can't see him. "You too, Sam. You're still a little rough, but you're handling this thing like a pro. I'm recommending you for Talon certification. It'll still have to get approved by a ranking officer."

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>, Jayson Redfield tilts his head a bit. "That's it, huh? Hope I didn't hurt you or anything." He starts to descend, and can't help but grin at James. "I've been been workin' on it. I should hope I'm better."

Denouement: Landing and handshaking and whatnot are all assumed, since we wrapped up really, really late (5am EST).