The MBU Project (426 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 2 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by metroidkillah (View user info) at 2005-01-18 18:00:21 EST
This is the body of the story I promised. The links for the other posts regarding this work are below. Enjoy.
Backstory:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/56887
Intro:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/56854
When Ensign Jacobs awoke, he was in his bed back at base. The dour gaze of Commander Fredric Richardson greeted him. The base's physician accompanied the Commander.
"Well," thought Jacobs as he quickly stood up, "at least I didn't get captured."
"Ensign Jacobs," addressed Richardson.
"Sir," replied Jacobs as he saluted.
"The doc here says that you should be just fine. I came by to personally tell you that I expect you to be at the breifing room at 0900 hours for your squad's performance evaluation in yesterday's battle."
"Yes, sir, I'll be there. Did my machine survive, sir?"
"Just barely, Ensign; you'll hear all about it at 0900. In the meantime, you had better clean up and get dressed. You only have about thirty minutes."
Jacobs looked at his watch. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed, "I've been unconscious for... almost twenty hours!" Jacobs regained his composure and straightened up. "Uh, sorry sir. I'll get right on it," he said, and saluted. The Commander returned the salute and left the room.
Jacobs was still in his battle suit, so he stripped it off and deposited it back at the hangar dressing room. Then he grabbed his casual clothes and some fresh undergarments and ran to the showers. By the time he got out, he had just enough time to make it to the briefing room before the session began. He found a seat just as Commander Richardson took his place at the front of the room.
"Well, men," began Richardson, "yesterday's battle was a pretty nice piece of work. All enemy units were destroyed, and our casualties were kept to a minimum. In fact, the only pilot to fall yesterday was Ensign Hal Jacobs here; and even then, he was able to severely damage several enemy units before his machine was knocked out of commission.
"Now comes everybody's favorite part of the evaluation. The part where I pull out the holo-projector and point out the some mistakes we made out there. There weren't many, just so you all know. "
The lights were dimmed and a small pillar rose a few feet out of the floor. It took a second to warm up, but soon it projected a scene from the previous day's battle, focusing on a specific robot.
"Our first example is Lieutenant Evan King," began the Commander as he pointed to the holographic image, "He made the nearly fatal mistake of standing in one place while shooting. This made him an easy target for the enemy; and Lieutenant King, though he didn't go down, sustained heavy damage. Let this remind you all that, despite how it feels, piloting a mech does not make you invincible." The scene switched its focus to a different machine.
"Our second and last example is Ensign Hal Jacobs. He also committed a serious blunder by turning away after seeming to eliminate an enemy robot without confirming that it had been totally disabled. This mistake nearly cost him his mech. As you can see, the downed robot was still able to take one final shot at Jacobs as he turned to engage another target. The result? The left arm of his mech was almost blown off. To his credit, Jacobs was able to keep fighting; and, as I mentioned before, he was able to severely damage several of the enemy before going down. His mech is in the repair bay right now, and was saved from total destruction because just before the killing blow was rendered, the Ensign attempted to shed his outer armor. The chest plate was just beginning to fall away when the missile hit, as you can see here. The shock of the explosion was absorbed mostly by the chest armor, as it was away from the main body; but enough of the shock got through to shut down the already seriously damaged mech." The holo-projector receded back into the floor and the lights went back on.
"I don't think I need to remind you that it costs a lot money to repair and maintain these machines; so if you want to keep us from running out of money and ultimately shutting down the MBU project, you all will have to pay close attention to your training and keep your wits about you in battle. That said, I want you all to know you all did a great job out there yesterday. If we can perform like that in every battle, we can win this war in no time. Dismissed."
User Reviews
Submitted by Sassmasterr (user info) at 2005-01-18 20:58:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i'm getting good visuals from this. keep it up.
Submitted by metroidkillah (user info) at 2005-01-18 18:12:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I hope this goes without saying, but this is only a small part of the whole. Unfortunately, There isn't a great deal more. Like I said, it's a work in progress.