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Wings and Dreams

Jet sighed and looked around his work room. And then shook his head and went back to the hangar he'd been in. To look at Angelos. Always Angelos. He had Chandi, his testbed, operating at about 85% maximum efficiency with Mick piloting. But that was after years of attempts. And Chandi at 85% was probably Angelos at 50%, which wasn't good enough. There was no way he could dream of getting it an assigned pilot.

He'd built it as a Gundam and it was a complete failure from the ground on up. Too ambitious. Too complicated...

No one could fly the damned thing, despite their best attempts. Or they'd do okay with it in one mode but couldn't handle it transforming. Not even Mick, though he often got the closest.

They'd stopped fixing the dings and dents Angelos was getting in each failed attempt. It didn't seem worth it. No, Angelos would just stand guard, waiting...

Jet swore and went back to look at Chandi and his other test machines.

"Hey--"

Jet was thankful he didn't jump - it was apparently much later than he thought if Mick had already made his way down to the work room.

"Lost in thought?" Mick questioned.

"Lost in something," Jet admitted. He let Mick pull him close and kiss his forehead. Mick had his hair back in a loose ponytail - he probably wasn't going to bother with a helmet despite Jet's nagging. Mick trusted too much. Especially when it came to test machines.

"What's wrong? Can't decide who we should play with tonight?"

Jet shook his head against Mick's chest. He liked this flight-suit on Mick - it wasn't his normal one. This one was maroon and black, matching Chandi, with the same teal accents of Chandi's visor.

"Angelos," Jet finally said. "I just... Mick, if I'm so smart, why can't...?"

Mick sighed and leaned to kiss Jet properly.

"Mick!"

"I'll do that every time you say something like that," Mick replied firmly. "It's not you. It's me. It's... just that you've made something so much better than anything that exists and I haven't caught up."

"I don't know," Jet said as he pulled away. He sighed again and looked around. "I'll go out with you? I'll take my Safphir. I guess you could take Geshtinanna?"

Mick chuckled. "You want me tired tonight, don't you?"

"I want some good information," Jet replied. "I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out..."

"Put a suit on," Mick said as he headed over to Geshtinanna. Jet watched Mick as he went, ponytail swaying just above the inviting lines of his flightsuit. Obviously, it was intended to draw one's gaze.

Jet smiled and went to grab his own flightsuit. He kept nothing as fancy as Mick's - it certainly didn't matter for testing purposes. No one ever saw them unless they were helping. But most nights it was just Mick helping him.

Mick climbed up into Geshtinanna without hesitation. It was a purple machine, Rubis base, and not entirely finished. It had a few exposed joints, mismatched panels... It had wings like the ones that Linkers had... Varuna had suggested taking a look at the Linkers for ideas on a mobile suit that could also fly like the Linkers had. Jet wanted speed and utility, strength, firepower.

It shouldn't have been so difficult!

Once Jet got up into his Safphir's cockpit, he sent a quick message.

0: [How long did it take to build the Linkers?]

He wasn't expecting a response right away.

NIN-ANA: [The Linkers themselves didn't take long. Getting them to fly properly took a lot longer.]

Jet almost smiled. And there was Geshtinanna, going through a few mock-stretches as Mick reminded himself of its ranges of motion.

0: [Thanks.]

NIN-ANA: [You two going out to work on the usual problems?]

0: [Yeah. And you're welcome to help at any point, you know. It's okay if I don't figure it out tonight, but... I'd like to figure it out eventually.]

NIN-ANA: [I might take you up on that. And I know you'll get it, Jet. You're a much faster study than I ever was.]

That, Jet didn't believe. Not one bit. Varuna had reinvented the world more times with nothing before him. He'd had help, though-- his friends, family, partners...

"Are you coming?" Mick questioned over their comm.

"Just checking a couple of things," Jet replied. "I'll be right there. I have to do the set-ups to monitor, you know."

"I know. But... you don't even have all your cameras on yet."

"I got a message! I had to respond." Jet finished switching cameras on, lighting up the Safphir's visor.

"I can only think of one person you'd have to respond to. Is he going to be watching us?"

"Maybe," Jet replied. "I don't know. But... I really am ready to ask for more help. I've been banging my head against the same wall for too long. I... think I've just had too much pride."

"Believed your own hype?" Mick questioned. There went Geshtinanna around a corner and out of sight. Jet momentarily wished he had his rifle loaded with something other than paintballs.

"Hey!"

Mick didn't respond right away and the more Jet thought about it, as he followed Mick, the more he supposed that Mick really did have a point. It wasn't that he wasn't... brilliant. Anyone could look at his other mobile suits and see... Just this one. He needed help with this one.

"We'll get this," Mick finally said. He was waiting just outside the colony, flexing Geshtinanna's wings.

NIN-ANA: [I'll stream data and see what I think. Gesh looks to be moving well...]

"Yeah, I know," Jet said. He smiled. "Let's get some good data tonight."

This was going to be good. It was all going to end up good.