Mecha Academy - Episode 1 - Chapter 7

Mecha Academy - Episode 1 - Roommates

Chapter 7 - Happy Birthday

Previously:

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to go, Lars."
"She's nice.  Very nice."
"What happened to putting up a united front?"
"I'm not the best person to ask."

Dusty already stood at attention when Commander Haag opened the door to his billet.  "Sir, you wanted to see me?" she asked.

"At east, Cadet."  The Commander stepped aside.  "Please, come in."

"Thank you, sir."  Dusty entered the apartment, then came to a stop in the sparse living room.

Commander Haag closed the door.  "Dusty, relax."

"Sir, am I in trouble?"

"No."  The Commander sat down in an easy chair.  "Dusty, please, have a seat and relax."

"Yes, sir."  Dusty perched on the edge of the couch, leaning forward.

"Do you want something to drink?  I have some herbal tea still, and I might have something a little stronger."

"No, thank you, sir."

Mecha Academy Episode 1 Chapter 6 Commentary

Dusty's façade broke and Miyami's started to fail, in Chapter 5.

Now that the characters are established, it's time to expand the setting beyond the Academy.  Everyone has a backstory, even if it's not as mysterious as Dusty's.  Lars is from Tamar, the world the Academy is on, so he gets to be the tour guide.  Some of what he mentions will return, but for now, it's local colour.  I got to show that the planet is more than just the Academy and the starport.  There's a farming town a few hours away.  The world is out there, beyond the Academy's compound.

Dusty finally shows a bit of emotion.  She keeps her feelings bottled up.  On first seeing Rhiannon, she didn't let anything slip, not even after being hit back in Chapter 2.  Her history, as shown so far, does give her reason for not wanting to be the tall poppy,  But at some point, she needs to let her emotions out.  Dusty isn't an automaton, as much as she might wish she was one.  At the same time, she doesn't feel safe letting herself express herself openly.  This isn't a good situation for her.

Back in Chapter 1, I established Miyami as being underaged and getting in after hacking her personal information to change her birthdate.  I returned to that idea in part because Miyami needed more screen time and in part because hacking isn't that simple.  Even today, she would have to go after several databases to make the one change.  With a global computer network, getting all the sources is difficult but doable.  Across several worlds where faster-than-light communications isn't instantaneous?  That's going to require constant maintenance.  Not every network is going to be vulnerable.  Not every system is going to crack under a hack.

That leads to another issue I had to work out.  Lag exists on today's Internet, either because of old equipment, poor wiring, or sheer congestion.  The Mecha Academy setting does not have near-instantaneous faster-than-light communications.  Colonies and backwater worlds receive data packets on inbound starships.  Core worlds maintain shunt gates that allow for communications between worlds; transmission times are still measured in hours.  The Empire does maintain a fleet of communications ships to ensure that colonies and backwaters don't go months without data service.

Of course, with shunt gates, it may be time to discuss how faster-than-light works in the setting.  In short, it doesn't.  Ships cannot exceed the speed of light.  What they do instead is open a singularity to let them bypass the normal universe.  Not quite warping space; closer it artificial wormholes.  Major worlds maintain shunt gates, allowing ships to other worlds without needing a shunt drive.  Tamar, though, isn't a major world.  Shunts are one-way, no way back, so ships wanting to leave Tamar need a shunt drive to open a gate to another planet.  The safest way to travel is for two shunt gates to align and connect, giving ships stable endpoints.  Using a shunt drive at the beginning and end is the most dangerous; navigators need to keep an eye on the ship's relative position.

The scene with Dusty and Lars harkens back to the original concepts I had for the story.  In them, Lars had a crush on Dusty; she didn't return his affections mostly because she didn't feel worthy and didn't want him to get tainted with her history.  Right now, that idea is long gone.  Dusty is keeping to herself because she's been identified.  Lars, though, might still have the crush.  Why isn't he acting?  Well, Susanna.  And, as Lars reveals, Vesta.  Which had me wondering if maybe, culturally, high school girls on Tamar are the ones expected to take the initiative to ask someone out.  Ideally, gender shouldn't matter in the far future; everyone should feel able to ask someone else out with the only risk being told no.  Somehow, though, high school on Tamar seems to expect the girls to be the aggressor.  Go fig.

Friday, Mecha Academy, "Roommates" Chapter 7, "Happy Birthday".
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Kingsman: The Secret Service.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Arrow.

Camp NaNo 2018

I'm not participating this time out, but for those of you who are...

Camp NaNo has begun!

Those who are about to write, we salute you!

Mecha Academy - Episode 1 - Chapter 6

Mecha Academy Episode 1 - Roommates

Chapter 6 - Life in the Halls

Previously:

"Cadet Tudor, Cadet Tyler, in the ring!"
"Advice, sir.  Wisdom from a teacher.  Bafflegab from an officer, even."
"Pretend you're shooting me, Your Highness."
"I found inspiration, Sergeant."

Dusty returned her gauss rifle to the armourer, making sure the weapon was signed back in properly.  As she turned to leave, Ric caught up to her.  "Hey, wait, okay?" he called.

The idea of pretending she hadn't heard him crossed her mind, but she had turned when Ric called.  "Sure."

Ric signed in his gauss rifle then joined Dusty.  "We really need to talk."

"Isn't that what we're doing now?"

"That's . . ."  Ric sighed.  "You didn't have to provoke Rhiannon like that."

"It worked."  Dusty turned to leave.

Ric fell in beside her, matching her pace.  "What happened to putting up a united front?"

Mecha Academy Episode 1 Chapter 5 Commentary

Time for the squad to learn to be solderies.  Dare Rhiannon take advantage of being in the same ring as Dusty in Chapter 5?

At some point, I needed to show my cast in training.  I figured, why not continue the inter-personal conflicts in a situation where the tension can become physical?  Other than I may lose a main character far earlier than anyone would expect.  But, before the main event, the warm up act.  Ric and Lars.  A little bit of action, more for me than the reader.  I wanted to exercise my action writing chops.  This is a preview for what's coming up later.

Miyami doesn't get to show off her skills.  While rewriting and updating the original idea, the idea of Miyami not fighting fair entered my head.  She doesn't have a reason to fight fair, as far as been revealed.  Miyami has already been shown to be bending regulations, having changed her birth records to get into the Academy.  However, because she doesn't get to fight this chapter, I could only hint at what she is capable of.

Rhiannon and Dusty's match could only go one way in my head.  Dusty has reasons for not wanting to hit Rhiannon, the big one being not wanting to cause any more pain in the young noble.  Rhiannon, though, has a reason to beat Dusty to a pulp.  Dusty has her limits on what she will allow.  Sergeant Chang has no idea of what's happening behind the scenes and can only react to what she sees.  While technically, the cadets outrank her, she has the authority to send them for laps.  Mind, Dusty isn't seeing the running as a punishment.

In the original idea, Ric was designated as the squad's leader.  However, there wasn't anything written down showing that he had leadership qualities.  He was just there by writer fiat*.  The rewrite/reboot/restart took what I had and found it lacking in areas.  Ric, though, decided to be the soul of the team.  He is sociable and friendly, which helps when referring to help from a senior officer as "bafflegab".  Commander Haag, fortunately, is easy going and understands the problem, far more than any of the squad.  The scene let me show a pleasant relationship, one where neither person involved is getting hurt in any way.

Rhiannon and Miyami's description of Suzanna Schroeter - "Valkyrie" and "Amazon", respectively - gave me pause.  Both descriptions come from Terran myth.  The question that leaves is, "Does Earth exist in this story?"  I don`t have an answer, still.  In Chapter 3, I called the setting the Poulos Nova Empire, after the main stellar phenomenon within the borders.  The Empire's main rival is the Grand Republic of the Coreward Worlds, so, again, no Earth.  Yet, I've been using names from Earth for characters and, now, made references to myths and legends from the real world.  The answer is a definite maybe.  There could be a Terran Coalition of some sort, but it's not important to the story I'm writing.

The subject of technology returns.  I may have mentioned before that I like my space opera to look like it's in the future.  Why have cars when I can have anti-grav sedans?  Same thing goes with weapons.  Why have gunpowder firearms when I can put in laser rifles and gauss pistols?  Thus, the cast gets trained on weapons based on magnetic acceleration of metal.  As officers, they are expected to at least be armed with a pistol, a tradition in officer corps even today.  As part of the Foot Guard, they are expected to be able to shoot a rifle.

Of course, once something gets introduced, it needs a name.  I knew the weapons were going to be gauss weapons, but militaries don't have platoons where each soldier has a different rifle.  Standardization means that parts and ammunition are interchangeable.  The military I used as a base standard was the Canadian Armed Forces.  The Canadian army has a selection of weapons which are used in different situations, with one main rifle in use for deployments, the rest being used in specialized situations**.  This gives me an out later if I find I need something else, but for now, the two main weapons are around.  The rifle, the Imperial Military Arms Model Seven Mark Three, gets its name after the weapon the British army used in World War II, the Lee-Enfield Number 4 Mark 1; there's no need for the weapon to have a fancy commercial name given that the main buyer is government.  The pistol's name - Horvath and Lung Model Fourteen Army - was inspired by the manufactuer Heckler-Koch and the Colt Army pistol used by the 19th Century US Army.  All this for two pieces of technology that are just going to be references as "rifle" and "pistol".  At least the description added to the NaNoWriMo word count.

Friday, Mecha Academy, "Roommates" Chapter 6, "Life in the Halls".
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Josie and the Pussycats.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Kingsman: The Secret Service.


* The FIAT made an appearance in The Devil You Know Chapter 2.
** For example, the .30-06 bolt action rifle is used by search and rescue operations to protect both the rescuers and the rescuees from Canadian wildlife.

Mecha Academy - Episode 1 - Chapter 5

Mecha Academy Episode 1 - Roommates

Chapter 5 - The Rifle Range

Previously:

"I'll go check on the girls, make sure none of them died overnight."
"We are so going to the Harvest Fair there."
"Because I am not letting anyone fail."
"Don't promise the impossible."

Ric ducked under Lars' outstretched arm.  He danced around the larger man, trying to find an opening, but Lars had the advantage on reach.  He was vaguely aware of the trainer, Sergeant Chang, shouting at both him and Lars.  Ric swept out with his leg, trying to catch Lars by surprise.  Lars leapt over the leg without a problem.  Ric rolled, getting inside the bigger man's reach again.  A quick jab caught Lars in the stomach, the oversized boxing glove landing with a thump.  Lars stumbled back, then lunged again.  Ric fell to the ground, ducking under the attempt to grab him.

"Time!" Sergeant Change called.  "Cadet Ortiz, Cadet Thorensen, enough!  Take five minutes."

"Thank you, Sergeant."  Ric accepted help from Lars to get back to his feet.  "Dude, you're faster than you look."

"Cadet Tudor, Cadet Tyler, in the ring!"

Dusty's head snapped up.  "Sergeant, is that a good idea?"

"I am not letting anyone fight Cadet Watanabe," Sergeant Chang said, fixing her stare on Miyami.  "I've seen you in the holo-rings.  I won't take responsibility if any of your sparring partners are incapable of having children after fighting you."

Mecha Academy Episode 1 Chapter 4 Commentary

And the space opera starts looking like a soap opera.  Chapter 4 sees inter-personal conflict grow.

Coffee was never meant to be much more than a quirk of Ric's.  After all, it didn't matter how everyone took their coffee, just that they drank it or, in Dusty's case, didn't.  But, it turns out, it became a point that kept coming up.  I try to have people do stuff, like making and drinking coffee, while talking.  First, it lets me avoid using tags like, "Ric said," and "said Rhiannon" over and over when I have more than two people talking.  A dialogue between two people just needs the occasional reminder of who is speaking.  When you have a mass of people talking over each other, the tag gets awkward but necessary.  Second, conversation doesn't take place in a vacuum.  People just don't stand around talking, except in doorways blocking everyone else from getting through.  This also helps give a sense that time is passing for the characters.  Plot can progress when plot needs to during the talking.  Third, since this was NaNoWriMo, I got to pad my word count in a natural way.  Having Dusty check the coffee maker for a timer added far more words than, "Dusty said."  Since I tend to find myself being dialogue heavy, it helps keep things going.

As for how the cast takes their coffee, Ric takes one cream, two sugars.  Rhiannon has hers in the classic double-double.  Miyami, who is still getting used to the idea of drinking coffee as an adult, has hers as a triple-triple.  Lars takes his coffee black; Dusty drinks her tea the same way.  Each character has a reason for how they take their caffeinated drinks, which I hope either comes through or will come through.

Dusty did provoke Rhiannon.  She has her reasons which still haven't come out yet.  It's not time yet.  But, her creative use of insults did need to begin.  Once I got going with them, I decided to not repeat any.  Yeah, let's make this more interesting.  Fortunately, this is just the fourth chapter.  It's not a problem yet.  Dusty only used two insults.  Granted, "Your Highness" is just general disrespect, but it hit harder than she expected.  Dusty could have backed down there instead of going with "Your Queenship" right after.  It's the audience's call whether Rhiannon overreacted or was perfectly justified in her response.

One of the fun things I tend to do when re-writing is completely deviate from the original direction from the previous draft.  Yet another reason why I hate re-writing things - just where do I stop when multiple drafts have very little in common?  Here, because the original work was just bits and pieces spread over a about a year in-story, I started filling in many gaps.  One gap got filled with Cadet Suzanna Schroeter.  She was not one of the original characters.  Her main role was to be an early love interest and distraction for Lars, one who was the more aggressive of the two.  But, as I've pointed out in other stories posted, one-shot characters tend not to stay one-shot, much like Mara in The Devil You Know.  Suzanna will return.

With the cast expanding beyond the original, I knew I was going to have problem with names.  I have an Academy of characters waiting for names.  Even if I provided a name only when needed, I was still going to spend time figuring out as my main cast interacted with teachers and the occasional student.  Fortunately, I figured out a method.  Lars set the style for names of people from Tamar, and it turned out that the style used in the Mongoose Traveller supplement, The Sword Worlds, Scandinavian without being accurate to the country.  The Sword Worlds included sample names, including a random name generator.  Suzanna wasn't the first person I named that used the random generator; that honour belongs to Abby, full name Abigail, in Chapter 1.  The name of Suzanna's cousin was chosen from the list of names.

Friday, Mecha Academy, "Roommates" Chapter 4, "Teamwork".
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, hiatus week.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, Josie and the Pussycats.