M016
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lost star
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True to the hidden man's words, Bolt had been invited along, and he'd accepted the offer. You did not refuse the MTA, not if you wanted to win. He didn't resent it. Resentment implied anger at his circumstances. He was mostly still trying to process it all. Also Rats frequently didn't have choices in their life. Placating the more powerful to survive was just a fact of life.
"Hey Bolt, they found Ghoul too! I thought she was going to be left to rust. Instead they gave her to your parents and she's gonna be fixed!" Lilly bounced in the seat with more than a little glee. If the past few days had effected her it was impossible to say.
He wasn't going to press her though, especially here where they were likely under intense surveillance. "That's great to hear!" Bolt responded as he looked around the area. "Though if ya still wanna pilot her we'll probably need to revise the design."
He was probably more than a little uncomfortable despite his attempts at nonchalance. He'd never expected to leave the planet, and on an MTA transport at that. Sure it was an older model used for their sector, but it alone was probably worth more than their entire world. The decoration alone was so expensive that he was afraid to touch it. The seats were plush and comfortable, and there was enough room in just this holding area to build a mech. Most disorientating was that he was alone aside from Lilly. There'd never been a point in his life where he'd not been around at least a few family members.
Lilly hopped up and sat in his lap. "You do gotta relax you know?" She said into his ear.
"Bit hard, and this ain't making it easier." The young man said with a strangled tone as he suddenly recalled more than a few things he'd been putting off for later.
"Why? We're gonna get married soon and we're gonna do more than just this ya know?" The girl teased with a wide grin.
All right, time to address one thing he'd been putting off. "Lilly." Bolt breathed out before reaching down, grabbing her, and throwing her into the a nearby couch in a sudden motion. "Bit fast dear." He stated and leaned forward. "While I like you, and have no objections to the." He fumbled slightly as the idea struck again before continuing. "Marriage, lets actually get to know each other before then ok?"
Rather than looking dismayed the girl looked delighted. "That's perfect, and you have a pet name already! I'm perfectly fine with that, but I do expect a lot of cuddles now. Gimmie." She demanded.
"Fine." Bolt sighed and rolled his eyes as the girl hopped right back over and resettled herself on his lap looking very smug. "So, you were that attached to Ghoul?"
"It's the first mech you made for me. I plan on using a lot more, but I want to keep her." Lilly explained happily.
"As good a reason as any I suppose. What should we do to make her better though. Should probably shift her into a light mech configuration and adjust the weapons. Maybe find a good jump-" The girl poked him hard in the side. "Sorry."
With a giggle Lilly just nuzzled into his shoulder. "Ain't gonna complain about you getting lost in work, just expect me to demand me time when we're together sometimes. Now, I got a question that just occurred to me. What's the name of our planet?"
Bolt restrained a laugh and gave his girl a hug with one arm as he explained. "Oh that's complicated. The thing has five names. One official designation, three others from the nations around it, and what we call it. They like renaming it every time someone controls it a bit before the others grab it. If someone asks, call it G309 or the Rust Bucket. That's what we call it."
"And we're going to a place that won't even know that name." Lilly continued with an amused note in her voice.
"We're going into the Land of Serene Temples." Bolt confirmed with a small eye roll. "I got just the brief history, but they're an offshoot of an old Earth Religion called Buddhism. Really militant and like using spearmen or a local variant they call staffmen. They're the most open of the bunch, sorta. They'll invite people no matter who they are if they agree to fights. They called our place Bloody Karma."
Lilly's good mood dropped. "I remember one other one, Vesia or something like that."
"Ya got the name right. They're a feudal place, currently at war with someone else, dunno who. They like missiles, a lot of them. They're why we call most offworlders royals." Bolt explained before continuing. "The last one, since yer probably going to ask, is Empties. They're another religious offshoot, this one Catholic, but they follow something they called the Third Holy Book. Don't know the details. They're very isolationist. Think the history is they came in with the Buddhists and another group, then split hard over disagreements."
"And they like a weapon type too." The girl noted with a grin.
"Fire apparently. They're also very defensive and apparently the Vesians hate fighting them on their home turf, which is why they go to war with the other saps more often." Bolt gave a shrug. "I dunno much more than that. That's all my lessons on em. Got a few cousins that get really into safe handling for fire, which is why I even got that much."
"More than I got. All I got was they're all nobles and that guy that Poppa sold me to was so fake that it made me ill."
Well that was a loaded statement that Bolt wasn't sure how to process. He changed the subject to something inconsequential. Casual talk meant to pass the time. The ship they were in was an MTA auxiliary ship, so it took only a two days to travel to their destination. Both Lilly and Bolt took that time to relax and de-stress from their most recent trials.
Of mild amusement was that they both used the gym during that time. Bolt was used to hefting a few things around daily so he needed something to be active. Weightlifting turned out to be satisfactory for that and a rather soothing way to think. Lilly worked a lot on her flexibility and using various weapons to practice. It was a surprisingly companionable activity to do together, so they agreed to try to do it more often in the future.
The planet they were aiming for was called Bengalin. It was one of the better developed planets of that nation, filled with stately temples built in old earth Buddhist styles, and other religious icons, it looked more like a tourist spot than anything else. It was clean, just a bit gaudy, and loud. It was also not surprising to note that it had an absolutely thriving mech industry, with arena matches almost hourly somewhere on the planet. There were apparently even fights around temples an added local flavor. Those matches made it a point to deal damage everywhere but the temple.
Put simply, the name of nation was completely and utterly false. The Land of Serene Temples was filled with battle maniacs. Their children were raised up with staves in hand, and their battle lust was notorious. Even outsiders had heard of some of their exploits.
Despite, or perhaps because of this, they were very welcoming to outsiders. If you wanted to fight, you could find someone with a smile on their face ready to fight. If they died in battle? Then ah well, it was a good life. It was probably why Lilly and Bolt had been brought to the MTA facility on this planet. Getting people willing to fight Lilly was far easier here than any other place.
That was mostly a guess by Bolt. He had very little involvement in most of the decisions. In point of fact, soon after he landed, he was directed to a guest room and then ushered into a set of long tests that rather hurt his brain from the thinking required. He didn't get the point of half of them. Some of them were quite obvious tests of his ability. Others were less so. His best guess was that they were educational and cognition checks, but the physical checks were just a bit strange. You didn't say no to the MTA though, so even if it felt silly he went along with all of them.
It took three days before he they were finished with him. Lilly by contrast had started slow and was now spending most of the day piloting various things. Their brief contacts indicated that the MTA had thought her claims of being able to pilot anything an exaggeration and were now trying to test her on that.
Amusing as it was seeing the girl exhausted, it left Bolt fairly free. So he decided that he had to investigate what was available.
"Hey Bolt, they found Ghoul too! I thought she was going to be left to rust. Instead they gave her to your parents and she's gonna be fixed!" Lilly bounced in the seat with more than a little glee. If the past few days had effected her it was impossible to say.
He wasn't going to press her though, especially here where they were likely under intense surveillance. "That's great to hear!" Bolt responded as he looked around the area. "Though if ya still wanna pilot her we'll probably need to revise the design."
He was probably more than a little uncomfortable despite his attempts at nonchalance. He'd never expected to leave the planet, and on an MTA transport at that. Sure it was an older model used for their sector, but it alone was probably worth more than their entire world. The decoration alone was so expensive that he was afraid to touch it. The seats were plush and comfortable, and there was enough room in just this holding area to build a mech. Most disorientating was that he was alone aside from Lilly. There'd never been a point in his life where he'd not been around at least a few family members.
Lilly hopped up and sat in his lap. "You do gotta relax you know?" She said into his ear.
"Bit hard, and this ain't making it easier." The young man said with a strangled tone as he suddenly recalled more than a few things he'd been putting off for later.
"Why? We're gonna get married soon and we're gonna do more than just this ya know?" The girl teased with a wide grin.
All right, time to address one thing he'd been putting off. "Lilly." Bolt breathed out before reaching down, grabbing her, and throwing her into the a nearby couch in a sudden motion. "Bit fast dear." He stated and leaned forward. "While I like you, and have no objections to the." He fumbled slightly as the idea struck again before continuing. "Marriage, lets actually get to know each other before then ok?"
Rather than looking dismayed the girl looked delighted. "That's perfect, and you have a pet name already! I'm perfectly fine with that, but I do expect a lot of cuddles now. Gimmie." She demanded.
"Fine." Bolt sighed and rolled his eyes as the girl hopped right back over and resettled herself on his lap looking very smug. "So, you were that attached to Ghoul?"
"It's the first mech you made for me. I plan on using a lot more, but I want to keep her." Lilly explained happily.
"As good a reason as any I suppose. What should we do to make her better though. Should probably shift her into a light mech configuration and adjust the weapons. Maybe find a good jump-" The girl poked him hard in the side. "Sorry."
With a giggle Lilly just nuzzled into his shoulder. "Ain't gonna complain about you getting lost in work, just expect me to demand me time when we're together sometimes. Now, I got a question that just occurred to me. What's the name of our planet?"
Bolt restrained a laugh and gave his girl a hug with one arm as he explained. "Oh that's complicated. The thing has five names. One official designation, three others from the nations around it, and what we call it. They like renaming it every time someone controls it a bit before the others grab it. If someone asks, call it G309 or the Rust Bucket. That's what we call it."
"And we're going to a place that won't even know that name." Lilly continued with an amused note in her voice.
"We're going into the Land of Serene Temples." Bolt confirmed with a small eye roll. "I got just the brief history, but they're an offshoot of an old Earth Religion called Buddhism. Really militant and like using spearmen or a local variant they call staffmen. They're the most open of the bunch, sorta. They'll invite people no matter who they are if they agree to fights. They called our place Bloody Karma."
Lilly's good mood dropped. "I remember one other one, Vesia or something like that."
"Ya got the name right. They're a feudal place, currently at war with someone else, dunno who. They like missiles, a lot of them. They're why we call most offworlders royals." Bolt explained before continuing. "The last one, since yer probably going to ask, is Empties. They're another religious offshoot, this one Catholic, but they follow something they called the Third Holy Book. Don't know the details. They're very isolationist. Think the history is they came in with the Buddhists and another group, then split hard over disagreements."
"And they like a weapon type too." The girl noted with a grin.
"Fire apparently. They're also very defensive and apparently the Vesians hate fighting them on their home turf, which is why they go to war with the other saps more often." Bolt gave a shrug. "I dunno much more than that. That's all my lessons on em. Got a few cousins that get really into safe handling for fire, which is why I even got that much."
"More than I got. All I got was they're all nobles and that guy that Poppa sold me to was so fake that it made me ill."
Well that was a loaded statement that Bolt wasn't sure how to process. He changed the subject to something inconsequential. Casual talk meant to pass the time. The ship they were in was an MTA auxiliary ship, so it took only a two days to travel to their destination. Both Lilly and Bolt took that time to relax and de-stress from their most recent trials.
Of mild amusement was that they both used the gym during that time. Bolt was used to hefting a few things around daily so he needed something to be active. Weightlifting turned out to be satisfactory for that and a rather soothing way to think. Lilly worked a lot on her flexibility and using various weapons to practice. It was a surprisingly companionable activity to do together, so they agreed to try to do it more often in the future.
The planet they were aiming for was called Bengalin. It was one of the better developed planets of that nation, filled with stately temples built in old earth Buddhist styles, and other religious icons, it looked more like a tourist spot than anything else. It was clean, just a bit gaudy, and loud. It was also not surprising to note that it had an absolutely thriving mech industry, with arena matches almost hourly somewhere on the planet. There were apparently even fights around temples an added local flavor. Those matches made it a point to deal damage everywhere but the temple.
Put simply, the name of nation was completely and utterly false. The Land of Serene Temples was filled with battle maniacs. Their children were raised up with staves in hand, and their battle lust was notorious. Even outsiders had heard of some of their exploits.
Despite, or perhaps because of this, they were very welcoming to outsiders. If you wanted to fight, you could find someone with a smile on their face ready to fight. If they died in battle? Then ah well, it was a good life. It was probably why Lilly and Bolt had been brought to the MTA facility on this planet. Getting people willing to fight Lilly was far easier here than any other place.
That was mostly a guess by Bolt. He had very little involvement in most of the decisions. In point of fact, soon after he landed, he was directed to a guest room and then ushered into a set of long tests that rather hurt his brain from the thinking required. He didn't get the point of half of them. Some of them were quite obvious tests of his ability. Others were less so. His best guess was that they were educational and cognition checks, but the physical checks were just a bit strange. You didn't say no to the MTA though, so even if it felt silly he went along with all of them.
It took three days before he they were finished with him. Lilly by contrast had started slow and was now spending most of the day piloting various things. Their brief contacts indicated that the MTA had thought her claims of being able to pilot anything an exaggeration and were now trying to test her on that.
Amusing as it was seeing the girl exhausted, it left Bolt fairly free. So he decided that he had to investigate what was available.
