A Few Adjustments
I DO NOT own Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs or Sei Jushi Bismarck, they are owned by their respective animation companies.
The Price of Peace
Chapter 30: A Few Adjustments
"Okay Alex, let's see how you do in this thing," April says as he acclimates himself to the pilot pod and the controls.
Alex fastens his harness and nods as he grips the controls and hits a series of buttons. "Everything looks good so far, April," he replies.
"Then slowly bring it out of the hangar," April replies.
Alex does as instructed and slowly he manages to get the machine to move forward. "I don't see how this can possibly be equivalent to the renegade units that the Outriders have," Alex grumbles as he stumbles out of the hangar.
"From the intel we have from the wrecked units and the data boxes, the weapons should be as good as what they have. We just need to work on making them more simple to control," April replies. "It seems like it shouldn't be hard, but so far, I'm not liking the results."
Alex manages to steady the unit and begins walking at a more stable pace. "I think I've almost got the hang of this," he says as he moves a bit faster.
"Looking a little better, Alex. Think you can pull the blaster?" April asks.
"I'll try," Alex replies hesitantly as he hits a few buttons and manages to pull the blaster.
"Good, now try and hit the target."
Alex aims and fires, barely hitting the target, and nowhere near where he thought he was aiming. "I don't think I'm too good at this," he grumbles.
"Try again. It takes practice, Mr. Mackenzie," Commander Eagle says over the com.
"Yes sir." Alex tries again, getting much the same results.
He continues practicing for nearly an hour before April tells him to return to the hangar. He climbs out of the machine drenched in sweat and removes his helmet. "Can't you make it cooler in there?" he asks as he walks over to where April and the others are.
April shrugs. "I suppose it's possible, though it shouldn't be too bad in there. I'll look into in a bit to check the temperature readings. Perhaps the cooling system is not quite right yet," she says not bothering to look up from her screens, that are quickly flashing different readings. She sighs in frustration. "It seems like it should be simple enough for any one of us to operate."
"Want me to try, April?" Fireball asks placing a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her.
April sighs, "Not yet. I need to look into the temperature readings. I don't want one of you to burn up in there. That would sort of defeat the purpose of having the unit, if the pilot is rendered unconscious from being overheated."
"I suppose there's a bit of truth to that. Take a break. You've been working on this non-stop for three days. I know you've not taken more than an hour's break at a time. Step back and let the computers do their readouts and look it over after you step away for a while," Fireball says as he turns her towards him.
April nods, suddenly feeling the exhaustion of the last few weeks hitting her. "I just feel that we need to get this done, Fireball," she says quietly. "I don't want them to gain the upper hand. We might not come out as well as we have before again."
"I know, April," Fireball replies. "But killing yourself to make it happen isn't doing us any favors either. If they attacked right now, I'm not sure you'd be any use to us in the Bismarck, and I need you to be able to help us. Alex isn't fully trained yet. He's doing well, but he's still not up to speed. We are all still having to learn to adapt to his different skill sets and adjust how things are run accordingly."
"You're right. Let's go and get some food, then maybe I'll take a brief nap," she says and they turn to head out of the hangar.
Later that afternoon, Alex, Colt and Fireball are at the hangar with April. "Okay, I think I've got the cooling system fixed. So hopefully, you two won't have the same problem that Alex did. I also think I managed to make the controls a bit less touchy. Which one of you wants to try it out?" April asks looking between the men.
Colt and Fireball look a bit apprehensive, but Fireball steps forward and nods. "I'll try," he says with a grin. "Maybe then I can finally get you to take a real break."
April nods and turns to the screens. "Climb in and let me know when you're ready through the com-link, okay?"
"Roger that, April," he replies as he gets into the unit. He fastens in and turns on the systems. "How's it look so far?" he asks.
April nods satisfied, "So far, so good, Fireball. Start moving when you're ready."
"Okay." He hits a few keys and the machine slowly starts walking forward. He isn't steady at first, but quickly adjusts. "It's still a bit touchy, but easy enough to compensate."
"All right. I've got the targets ready for you. Fire when ready," April states.
Fireball moves a bit to familiarize himself with the controls then goes and fires at several targets in rapid succession. After firing, he stops and turns toward April in the hangar. "How'd I do?" he asks.
April scans the targets and nods, "Better than Alex, but you've had a bit more practice. How did it feel to you?"
"Not as easy to maneuver as the Bismarck, but after some practice I could adapt to it, I think," Fireball replies.
April sighs, "I'm trying to make it easier to maneuver than the Bismarck, not harder. You care to take a stab at it, Cowboy?" she asks turning to Colt.
Colt nods, "Sure thing, April," Colt replies and looks to Fireball. "Let's see if I can do better than you did, Raceboy."
Fireball laughs. "If you can do better, more power to you. It would make my life easier. I'd get my wife back," Fireball retorts and Colt laughs as he suits up and gets into the unit.
Colt buckles in. "Let me know when you're ready for me to move, April," he says as he hits several keys and studies the various controls.
"Anytime you are, Colt," she replies.
Colt hits a few buttons and heads out of the hangar. "Not too bad, so far," he mutters to himself. It takes a minute to move steadily, but he figures it out quickly and is moving faster than the other two had previously.
"Showoff!" Fireball retorts over the com-link.
Colt laughs. "Told you I'd do better," Colt says with a smirk. "I'm ready for shootin' practice whenever you are, April."
"Fire at will, Colt," April replies as she triggers several targets to pop up at random locations around him. Colt fires as they come up and hitting all of them. A few of them are directly on target. "Good Job, Cowboy!" April exclaims as Colt returns to the hangar.
Colt climbs out a minute later and removes his helmet. "It's still a little awkward to move. Almost like the sensors are slow to respond or something. But after watching Alex and Fireball, I knew to purposely wait to fire a second or so later than I would normally. It gave the suit time to get to where I intended it to be when I fired."
April nods and types everything in as Colt is speaking, so that she has notes to work on. "How was the temp? You still look a little red in the face," April comments.
Colt shrugs. "Perhaps it is a little warmer than I'm used to. It could be because it's tighter quarters too. You have to concentrate more and pay attention to everything, where as on the ship, each of us look at certain things and can make adjustments as needed. In the suit, you have to be alert to everything. It takes a big toll on ya if you aren't used to it," he replies honestly. "If you made the cockpit any bigger, you'd need more than one pilot, and the controls would be more difficult than they are now, so maybe we'll have to get different suits made to wear when we pilot in these new units. That is, if you ever get one past the prototype phase. Suits that have a cooling core or something, maybe."
April types the comments into the computer and nods. "That might not be a bad thought, Colt," she says sounding impressed. "I had not thought about us wearing a different suit in the fighter. Not a bad idea."
"Now, would you please come and take a real break?" Fireball asks.
April continues typing, but finally looks up. "I guess I could once I finish inputting this data. All of you could use a rest too, I'm sure." The three men nods and she smiles. "How about we go and eat after I'm done?"
"Would you mind if Sarah came along?" Alex asks hesitantly.
"Sure. She's welcome to come along. I'm sure Colt is bringing Robin, right?" April asks looking to Colt who nods.
Alex smiles, "Thank you. I think she's been a bit stir crazy. We've been so busy these past few months that she hasn't gotten to see much of me other than at night."
"Are you leaving Tyler in the child center or bringing him along?" Colt asks casually.
Alex looks confused for a moment, "I have a choice?"
"Sure. If you bring him, I'll bring Wil and we'll have to eat some place that's family-friendly, otherwise, the boys stay at the child center and we all go out to a more adult-centered place," Colt replies.
"Adult-centered?" Alex asks hesitantly.
Fireball laughs, realizing what Alex is asking. "Not that kind of adult, Alex. He just means some place they serve alcohol," Fireball replies after he stops laughing.
"Of course with Colt, one can never be too sure," April adds with a smirk, causing all of them to start laughing.
After a few minutes, they all calm down and April looks to all of them. "I say let's meet in a couple of hours. How does that sound?" she asks, getting nods in agreement from the others. "Okay. Meet back here then." They disperse and go their own ways.
"So, has anyone talked with Saber or Amanda lately?" Alex asks the group as they sit around chatting and sipping on their drinks after dinner.
"I talked to Saber about a week ago, I guess," April says. "He said they were doing okay. His vision still isn't as good as it had been, but he can see well enough with his glasses. Amanda is pretty much on bed rest now until she has the twins."
Colt laughs, "I don't see that going very well. She's the type to keep moving."
"Yeah, I know. I wonder if Saber is going to survive this or not. He sounded rather fatigued," April says allowing the worry to show in her voice. "I hope she's not having problems that he doesn't want to tell us about."
"I'm sure he'd tell us if there was something wrong. Maybe they just aren't' getting much sleep. I'm sure with the twins, she can't be too comfortable. She's due any time now, isn't she?" Fireball asks.
April nods. "I think Saber said that the doctor was going there tomorrow, unless she went into labor sooner than that," she replies.
"I would hope that someone would call us to let us know if she does, I'd like to know," Colt says.
"Father said that he would keep in touch with Thomas and Elaine, so if anything happened, I'm sure we'd hear about it, unless he was instructed not to tell us for some reason," April replies.
"Well, I don't think they wouldn't want us to know, so let's take it as if everything is fine. Maybe we can see about going to visit them tomorrow," Fireball says as he finishes his drink.
They pay their bill and chat as they return to Calvary Command. As they pull in Commander Eagle is approaching the front gate. "I was just going to tell the guards to send for you. The com-links are down, we don't know why. We have had a sighting of possible enemy ships nearing Saber's home colony. I think you should launch in the Bismarck immediately to investigate."
"We'll meet you at the hangar, father," April replies and Fireball floors it after being allowed onto the base, the Commander having already left ahead of them.
Alex looks at Sarah, "I'm sorry, but I have to go," he says apologetically after getting out of the car near the hangar.
"I know you do, Alex. I'll go and get Tyler and we'll wait for you," Sarah replies. "Just please be careful." Alex nods. "I will," he replies and kisses her briefly before turning and heading towards the hangar after Fireball and April.
"You know the routine," Colt says to Robin, who nods.
"Yeah. I'm used to it. I'll get Wil and we'll be fine. Go do what you do and come back safely," she replies.
Colt kisses her and smiles, "You know I will," he says before turning and running after the others.
Robin gently places a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "You never get used to it, you just learn to accept it and pray that they return in as good as condition that they leave you in," she says quietly.
Sarah turns to Robin, tears close to falling and nods. "I don't know how you manage to stay calm, Ms. Robin. I want to drop to the ground crying."
"I did that once," she replies with a chuckle, "It doesn't do either of you any good. You both feel worse for it. He feels worse for leaving you, and you feel worse for making him feel worse. It's better to focus your energy on praying that they all come back, than to focus on their departure. Also, having the boys will be a nice distraction." Sarah relaxes a bit and Robin takes her hand, "Come on, let's get the boys and we can go to my place and they can play a while."
Sarah nods and squeezes Robin's hand in thanks, "Okay," she replies before releasing Robin's hand. They head off to pick up the children.
"Load the prototype onto the Bismarck. If there's time, take it down to the Outpost there and store it there, in the event we need it," the commander states as Colt arrives. The soldiers nearby do as they are ordered.
"It's not entirely cleared yet," April protests as the prototype is loaded onto the Bismarck.
"We have a good team there that can work on it. You have your notes, send them to the team at the outpost with instructions to be making the necessary changes. That way, if we have to, we can try and utilize it. I am hoping it won't come to that."
"Yes sir," April replies and clicks several buttons and closes out the computer. "Ready." The others nod.
"Good. Besides, if this is all for nothing, you should be there when Amanda has the twins, which could be any day now. Dr. Izumi left this morning to do an examination on her and to see how Saber is doing. I've yet to hear back from him, so I am hoping everything is fine," her father replies.
"Let's hope all is well on all fronts," Fireball says as he turns and enters the ship.
"Yeah, all of us can use some good news for a change," Colt states as he goes in behind Fireball.
Alex nods as he files in, April going in last and closing the ramp behind her. "Ready boys?" she asks.
"Ready," they reply and Fireball takes off from Calvary Command.
"We're approaching the place where the enemy ship was sighted, Fireball," Alex states after scanning his screens. "So far, I've not seen any sign of of the enemy ship."
"It's around here somewhere, keep an eye out," Colt states.
"We'll keep heading to the outpost, unless something shows up," Fireball says.
Alex nods and continues scanning the screens. About a half hour passes when the alarm starts sounding. "What the?" Alex mutters as he starts hitting several keys.
"What is it, Alex?" April asks.
"Something is coming and fast from behind us! I can't get a fix on it for a visual," he replies.
"It's got a lock on us!" Colt says as he hits several buttons.
"Pulling up our shields as fast as I can," April states just as the ship is hit and they are all knocked out of their saddle units.
They scramble to get up and Alex runs a scan of the area. "It looks like some sort of renegade unit," he says.
"It sure hit like something stronger than one," Colt says as he gets seated once more.
"Yes it did," Fireball replies.
"Here it comes again!" Alex says. The unit fires at them and they barely manage to evade it.
"That was too close. Going to challenge phase!" Fireball exclaims and he hits the button to begin the transformation.
"Challenge Phase I complete," Alex says as the renegade fires at them again.
Colt grabs the blaster and fires back, cancelling out the enemy fire. "Well, what now?"
The unit charges for them, pulling a laser-bladed weapon. "Damn! Fire with everything we've got and move back quickly!" Alex says as Colt fires and they narrowly manage to thwart the attack. "I think we need to go to Phase II," Alex says.
Fireball nods. "Right," he replies as he hits the button and they go into Phase II.
Alex pulls the blade just as the unit comes at them again. It swings and they manage to block the bow, but then are hit by a second blade, which causes a good bit of damage. Alarms start going off and power flickers. "Where did that come from?" Alex asks aloud. "I didn't see the second blade." He starts hitting buttons and then gasps in shock.
"What?" April asks.
"It's a different type of unit," he mutters. "It can't be!"
"What, Alex?" April and Fireball ask simultaneously.
"It has weapons from the Tirpitz," Alex replies in shock.
Colt lets out a whistle, "That's not good."
"No kidding, Colt," Fireball retorts as they manage to breakaway from the unit momentarily.
"We need to get away from this thing. It could do us in!" April says urgently.
"I'm trying but it's not letting up. Whoever is piloting that thing is relentless," Fireball says as Alex parries another attack.
"Well, we've got to do something," Alex says. "It has to have some sort of weak spot."
"We just need to find it," Colt states.
"I've got the scanners running, so we can see how it's made and what weapons it has," Alex says as he continues fighting with the sword.
"Won't do us any good if we die here!" Fireball quips.
"I'm doing the best I can! If you think you can do better, then get over here and do so!" Alex says frustrated, just as they are hit hard with a beam then the sword.
The ship starts falling. "I can't pull out of this!" Fireball says as the alarms continue blaring. "We're either going to crash on the colony or get blown up."
They are hit again by an array of beams, one causes an explosion and a minor fire. A sprinkler system quickly douses the fire. "Our shields are down," April says as they are hit again and start spiraling towards the colony.
"I'm trying to get some control of this ship!" Fireball says as he fights to right the ship. "I think I can crash us near the outpost. Buckle in, it's gonna be a hard landing." Everyone straps in and braces for impact. Fireball manages steer them towards a vacant area not far from the outpost. "Here goes." The ship hits the ground hard and catches fire and the crew is knocked out from the impact.
