Mecha Piloting Course
New
AndrewJTalon
Well worn.
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Something I threw together this morning in a bit of mad inspiration. It's very rough but I hope you like the idea. I'm just using some of my world building for once:
---
Beacon Academy – Vehicle Range, Outer Training
The Unicorns stood in a neat row of six, bipedal silhouettes against the late-afternoon light. Each was a lean, reverse-jointed machine of layered composite and Dust-infused panels, sensor mast rising like a single proud horn. The 30 mm chin turret camera tracked the approaching students with idle curiosity. Fold-down troop benches hung folded against the flanks like folded wings.
Professor Goodwitch stood in front of them with her riding crop, expression already exhausted.
"These are Egil Motor Company FMP-ATST Mark II 'Unicorn' light scout walkers. Two crew: pilot and sensor/gunner. Mechashift legs, thirty-millimeter chain gun, hardpoints for whatever Ordinance decides to hang on them today. You will learn the basics of walking, turning, and not falling over. That is the entire lesson."
Ruby's eyes were sparkling hard enough to power a small city.
"They look like the cutest little death giraffes—"
"Rose."
"—with guns."
Goodwitch pinched the bridge of her nose. But, needs must.
"Teams RWBY and JNPR will pair off. Pilot in the left seat, gunner in the right. You will remain inside the designated training lanes. You will not attempt mechashift sprint mode. You will not fire the primary weapon without express permission. You will not—"
Nora was already halfway up the boarding ladder of the nearest Unicorn.
"—climb the machines before I finish speaking."
"WOO! I shall be the Unicorn queen!"
This was going to be a long day.
Unicorn One
Ruby's hands flew across the controls the moment the hatch sealed. The cockpit smelled of warm metal, hydraulic fluid, and new paint. The mechashift indicators glowed soft cyan.
Weiss sat stiffly in the gunner's seat, headset already on, fingers hovering over the targeting suite like it might bite.
"Ruby, the manual clearly states we begin in crouch mode and walk forward at no more than—"
The Unicorn unfolded to full height with a hydraulic whuff. The sensor mast rose. Ruby's delighted squeak came through the intercom.
"Look how tall we are! Weiss, we're nine meters!"
"I am aware of the height. Please return us to a sensible posture."
Ruby's foot twitched on the throttle. The left leg took an experimental step. Then another. The gait was surprisingly smooth—mechashift joints compensating for her uneven pressure.
"See? Easy! It's just like riding a really tall, angry bicycle that can shoot Grimm!"
Weiss's targeting reticle drifted across a training dummy three hundred meters away. "The chain gun is currently safed. Do not—"
Ruby leaned the walker into a gentle turn. The reverse-jointed legs pivoted with a springy grace the manuals had promised but no one had believed. The Unicorn danced a little circle in place.
"Hm... My dad made me do ballet for a month! I wonder if I can do a move from that!"
Weiss's voice climbed an octave. "Ruby Rose, if you make this machine pirouette I will personally—"
The Unicorn pirouetted. Almost.
"RUBY!"
Unicorn Two
Yang cracked her knuckles inside the pilot gauntlets.
"Alright, Blakey. Let's see what this big tin chicken can do."
Blake's ears flattened under her headset. "Yang. The instructor said walk. Simply walk."
"I'm gonna walk! I'm gonna walk hard!"
The Unicorn's legs hammered the packed earth in a heavy, aggressive gait that made the entire frame shudder. Mechashift actuators whined as they tried to keep the center of gravity from pitching forward. The chin turret jerked with every impact.
Blake's sensor display flashed proximity warnings. "You are exceeding recommended stride length by forty percent, Yang!"
"She's got claws, Blake. Look at those claws. I wanna stomp something."
"We are not stomping the training dummies."
Yang's grin was audible. "We're stomping them!"
A training pillar thirty meters ahead suddenly looked very stompable. As did the trees.
Blake reached over and physically slapped Yang's throttle hand. "No."
"Yes!"
"No-!"
Yes!"
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Unicorn Three
Nora's laughter filled the cockpit the instant the systems came online.
"REN. REN LOOK AT THE LEGS. THEY BEND THE WRONG WAY AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL."
Ren, already resigned, calmly brought the sensor suite online and began mapping the training range. "Nora. Soft inputs. Think of it as a very large, very expensive—"
Nora punched the mechashift sprint toggle.
The Unicorn launched.
Hydraulic legs compressed and released like coiled springs. The machine bounded forward in a series of explosive leaps that the designers had intended for short obstacle hops and emergency acceleration. Nora treated them like a personal trampoline.
Ren's calm voice never changed pitch. "We have left the designated lane. We are currently airborne. We are still airborne. Nora, the ground is approaching."
The Unicorn landed in a crouch that dug both clawed footpads a full meter into the dirt, then immediately sprang again.
"I AM THE UNICORN QUEEN!"
SMASH!
"... THE UNICORN QUEEN IS UPSIDE DOWN!"
Ren sighed.
Unicorn Four
"Okay. Okay. Left foot, right foot, left foot—why is it leaning? Pyrrha why is it leaning?! It shouldn't be leaning!"
Pyrrha's voice was pure professional warmth. "You're applying uneven pressure on the right actuator, Jaune. Ease off the right pedal just a little… there. Better. Now try a gentle turn."
The Unicorn took three careful steps, then listed hard to port. Jaune overcorrected. The machine performed a slow, dignified pirouette that ended with both legs crossed at the ankles.
They stood there, locked in a mechanical knot, sensor mast tilted at a sad angle.
Pyrrha cleared her throat. "That… was very close to a successful turn."
Jaune groaned.
"Well... Uh... Hang on... Let's look at the manual..."
They poured through it.
"Um... Let's see... Oh! This could work!" Jaune tried to reverse the actuators. "There we go-!"
The walker spun around violently, staggering like a drunken giraffe.
"NO NO NO-!"
"Calm down Jaune-!"
They ended up with crossed legs again... Just in the opposite direction and the loud sound of screeching metal.
The entire cockpit filled up with alarms, then the power systems went offline, leaving them in pitch blackness and silence.
Pyrrha licked her lips.
"... It could be worse?" Pyrrha offered.
From the gunner's station she calmly began cycling through recovery procedures while Jaune buried his face in his hands.
Twenty minutes later the training range looked like a war zone visited by a particularly chaotic god.
Ruby and Weiss's Unicorn was stuck halfway up a gentle slope, legs locked in a triumphant but nonfunctional "hero pose" because Ruby had tried to recreate the exact stance from an old Atlas recruitment poster.
Yang and Blake's machine stood in the middle of the training field, the only one that had made it. The training pillars were all destroyed, along with several trees. One foot was stuck in a tree. Yang was still arguing that it had "looked at her funny." Blake had disabled the throttle and was refusing to re-enable it.
Nora and Ren's Unicorn was currently upside-down in a drainage ditch, legs kicking weakly at the sky like an overturned beetle.
Jaune and Pyrrha's walker had somehow managed to walk itself into a perfect 360-degree spin and then freeze with both feet together, looking for all the world like a nine-meter-tall ballerina mid-plié. Pyrrha was gently coaching Jaune through the uncrossing sequence while the chin turret drooped in apparent secondhand embarrassment.
Glynda Goodwitch stood at the edge of the range, riding crop tucked under one arm, watching the chaos with a thousand-yard stare.
Behind her, two instructor Unicorns powered up, ready to begin the long afternoon of recovery operations.
Ruby's voice crackled over the open channel, bright and unrepentant:
"Professor! Can we go again once we get unstuck? I think I almost had the pirouette!"
Weiss's answering scream of pure despair was the last thing the range speakers broadcast before someone mercifully cut the channel.
---
Beacon Academy – Vehicle Range, Outer Training
The Unicorns stood in a neat row of six, bipedal silhouettes against the late-afternoon light. Each was a lean, reverse-jointed machine of layered composite and Dust-infused panels, sensor mast rising like a single proud horn. The 30 mm chin turret camera tracked the approaching students with idle curiosity. Fold-down troop benches hung folded against the flanks like folded wings.
Professor Goodwitch stood in front of them with her riding crop, expression already exhausted.
"These are Egil Motor Company FMP-ATST Mark II 'Unicorn' light scout walkers. Two crew: pilot and sensor/gunner. Mechashift legs, thirty-millimeter chain gun, hardpoints for whatever Ordinance decides to hang on them today. You will learn the basics of walking, turning, and not falling over. That is the entire lesson."
Ruby's eyes were sparkling hard enough to power a small city.
"They look like the cutest little death giraffes—"
"Rose."
"—with guns."
Goodwitch pinched the bridge of her nose. But, needs must.
"Teams RWBY and JNPR will pair off. Pilot in the left seat, gunner in the right. You will remain inside the designated training lanes. You will not attempt mechashift sprint mode. You will not fire the primary weapon without express permission. You will not—"
Nora was already halfway up the boarding ladder of the nearest Unicorn.
"—climb the machines before I finish speaking."
"WOO! I shall be the Unicorn queen!"
This was going to be a long day.
Unicorn One
Ruby's hands flew across the controls the moment the hatch sealed. The cockpit smelled of warm metal, hydraulic fluid, and new paint. The mechashift indicators glowed soft cyan.
Weiss sat stiffly in the gunner's seat, headset already on, fingers hovering over the targeting suite like it might bite.
"Ruby, the manual clearly states we begin in crouch mode and walk forward at no more than—"
The Unicorn unfolded to full height with a hydraulic whuff. The sensor mast rose. Ruby's delighted squeak came through the intercom.
"Look how tall we are! Weiss, we're nine meters!"
"I am aware of the height. Please return us to a sensible posture."
Ruby's foot twitched on the throttle. The left leg took an experimental step. Then another. The gait was surprisingly smooth—mechashift joints compensating for her uneven pressure.
"See? Easy! It's just like riding a really tall, angry bicycle that can shoot Grimm!"
Weiss's targeting reticle drifted across a training dummy three hundred meters away. "The chain gun is currently safed. Do not—"
Ruby leaned the walker into a gentle turn. The reverse-jointed legs pivoted with a springy grace the manuals had promised but no one had believed. The Unicorn danced a little circle in place.
"Hm... My dad made me do ballet for a month! I wonder if I can do a move from that!"
Weiss's voice climbed an octave. "Ruby Rose, if you make this machine pirouette I will personally—"
The Unicorn pirouetted. Almost.
"RUBY!"
Unicorn Two
Yang cracked her knuckles inside the pilot gauntlets.
"Alright, Blakey. Let's see what this big tin chicken can do."
Blake's ears flattened under her headset. "Yang. The instructor said walk. Simply walk."
"I'm gonna walk! I'm gonna walk hard!"
The Unicorn's legs hammered the packed earth in a heavy, aggressive gait that made the entire frame shudder. Mechashift actuators whined as they tried to keep the center of gravity from pitching forward. The chin turret jerked with every impact.
Blake's sensor display flashed proximity warnings. "You are exceeding recommended stride length by forty percent, Yang!"
"She's got claws, Blake. Look at those claws. I wanna stomp something."
"We are not stomping the training dummies."
Yang's grin was audible. "We're stomping them!"
A training pillar thirty meters ahead suddenly looked very stompable. As did the trees.
Blake reached over and physically slapped Yang's throttle hand. "No."
"Yes!"
"No-!"
Yes!"
STOMP! STOMP! STOMP!
Unicorn Three
Nora's laughter filled the cockpit the instant the systems came online.
"REN. REN LOOK AT THE LEGS. THEY BEND THE WRONG WAY AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL."
Ren, already resigned, calmly brought the sensor suite online and began mapping the training range. "Nora. Soft inputs. Think of it as a very large, very expensive—"
Nora punched the mechashift sprint toggle.
The Unicorn launched.
Hydraulic legs compressed and released like coiled springs. The machine bounded forward in a series of explosive leaps that the designers had intended for short obstacle hops and emergency acceleration. Nora treated them like a personal trampoline.
Ren's calm voice never changed pitch. "We have left the designated lane. We are currently airborne. We are still airborne. Nora, the ground is approaching."
The Unicorn landed in a crouch that dug both clawed footpads a full meter into the dirt, then immediately sprang again.
"I AM THE UNICORN QUEEN!"
SMASH!
"... THE UNICORN QUEEN IS UPSIDE DOWN!"
Ren sighed.
Unicorn Four
"Okay. Okay. Left foot, right foot, left foot—why is it leaning? Pyrrha why is it leaning?! It shouldn't be leaning!"
Pyrrha's voice was pure professional warmth. "You're applying uneven pressure on the right actuator, Jaune. Ease off the right pedal just a little… there. Better. Now try a gentle turn."
The Unicorn took three careful steps, then listed hard to port. Jaune overcorrected. The machine performed a slow, dignified pirouette that ended with both legs crossed at the ankles.
They stood there, locked in a mechanical knot, sensor mast tilted at a sad angle.
Pyrrha cleared her throat. "That… was very close to a successful turn."
Jaune groaned.
"Well... Uh... Hang on... Let's look at the manual..."
They poured through it.
"Um... Let's see... Oh! This could work!" Jaune tried to reverse the actuators. "There we go-!"
The walker spun around violently, staggering like a drunken giraffe.
"NO NO NO-!"
"Calm down Jaune-!"
They ended up with crossed legs again... Just in the opposite direction and the loud sound of screeching metal.
The entire cockpit filled up with alarms, then the power systems went offline, leaving them in pitch blackness and silence.
Pyrrha licked her lips.
"... It could be worse?" Pyrrha offered.
From the gunner's station she calmly began cycling through recovery procedures while Jaune buried his face in his hands.
Twenty minutes later the training range looked like a war zone visited by a particularly chaotic god.
Ruby and Weiss's Unicorn was stuck halfway up a gentle slope, legs locked in a triumphant but nonfunctional "hero pose" because Ruby had tried to recreate the exact stance from an old Atlas recruitment poster.
Yang and Blake's machine stood in the middle of the training field, the only one that had made it. The training pillars were all destroyed, along with several trees. One foot was stuck in a tree. Yang was still arguing that it had "looked at her funny." Blake had disabled the throttle and was refusing to re-enable it.
Nora and Ren's Unicorn was currently upside-down in a drainage ditch, legs kicking weakly at the sky like an overturned beetle.
Jaune and Pyrrha's walker had somehow managed to walk itself into a perfect 360-degree spin and then freeze with both feet together, looking for all the world like a nine-meter-tall ballerina mid-plié. Pyrrha was gently coaching Jaune through the uncrossing sequence while the chin turret drooped in apparent secondhand embarrassment.
Glynda Goodwitch stood at the edge of the range, riding crop tucked under one arm, watching the chaos with a thousand-yard stare.
Behind her, two instructor Unicorns powered up, ready to begin the long afternoon of recovery operations.
Ruby's voice crackled over the open channel, bright and unrepentant:
"Professor! Can we go again once we get unstuck? I think I almost had the pirouette!"
Weiss's answering scream of pure despair was the last thing the range speakers broadcast before someone mercifully cut the channel.
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