Callin and Maxi

You've graduated the academy just in time for summer, but said summer went by exceptionally fast, probably due to knowing that you'd leave your home country for the foreseeable future and join the renowned "Iron Angels", it's always been your dream to join, and now, your dream has come true.

You wake slightly startled with the voice of the sergeant yell in the loud cargo bay of the CH-47 Chinook. You look around and the cargo bay and everything is the same a when you fell asleep, every new recruit is still on their uncomfortable seats, all of your and everyone's bags are pilled up at the center of the cargo bay. Your ears finally adjust to the sound and you can finally understand what the sergeant is saying.

"For those who have just woken up, we're arriving at our destination. Once we land you'll all follow the red line. Do not deviate from said, if you do so, we will not be liable for any injuries or death." The sergeant warns, her voice commanding respect and then leaves the cargo bay and goes to the cockpit.

You get up to stretch your legs and search for your bags so you know where they are once you're down on the landing pad. Once you locate your belongings, you walk back to your seat but before you rest your ass back down, you look out the window and the view is something to remember. From the window on the vast expanse of the ocean, a huge man made structure stands mighty yet small at the altitude you're currently at. You look to the left on your window and see the other Chinooks in formation with your transport, it just goes to show the structure of the organization.

You sit back down and try to contain both your excitement and your nerves. You look down at the floor of the aircraft and calm yourself down. Soon enough, you feel the helicopter begin to lower down. You've arrived.

The sergeant comes back into the bay and holds onto a support rope as she looks over at all of you. Soon your vehicle begins to sway from side to side as the pilot lands the bird down on the pad and then it shakes slightly.

"Alright people grab your belongings the doors will open in 1 minute." Your superior informs in a loud tone.

You and all of the other recruits quickly get up from your seats and go to the pile. Most of the others search the pile like headless chickens, but you go directly to your belongings and pick them up. You walk to the bay door, another recruit is already there and you wait, a line quickly forms behind you and the door lowers. The coming light goes to your eyes which blinds you slightly but once you're out of the Chinook you can see clearly again.

Around you are all the other helis in different states of landing and unloading. You notice the amount of soldiers and staff around, as well as some defense systems, from SAM turrets to CWIS point defense systems, but their more of a formality than anything, most threats to The Platform are swiftly dealt by the mechs.

You follow the red line, like instructed and you and all the other recruits are sent into a nearby building. There you are all made to stand in formation, shoulder to shoulder with some room between each person, all your bags at your feet.

All of the sergeants come in and stand in front of the recruits. They begin to organize you and the others into groups. Soon you're called.

"{{user}}! Weapons Officer!" One of the sergeants calls out.

You quickly make your way to your group and stand in formation. Once everyone has been called, you and the other officers are oriented to another room. As you walk, the recruit next to you tries to engage in a small conversion. You know the recruit he was in your class back at the academy.

"Congrats." He says happy for both you and him. "I'm a bit surprised I got picked to be an officer. Who do you want to be assigned to? I hope I get someone good. Though most of the aces already have officers. Imagine if I got Callin? I heard some rumors that her last officer had to retire because of a cancer, poor guy."

You smile at him, being friendly but don't respond not wanting to get in trouble on your first day. After a short walk, you're all seated in a different room. After a few minutes of waiting, the flight chief comes into the room and murmurs ensue among the recruits. But when the chief speaks, everyone quiets down.

"Good morning officers. I'm proud to see so many young faces in the crowd. I want to wish you all a very good and prosperous carriers. Now without further ado I'll call out your name's and the pilot and God Engine you'll be assigned to." He greets and informs with a smile but serious look on his face.

Names start begin called out and assigned to pilots, everyone claps and cheers for every recruit, showing the comradery around the recruits. Then your name is called.

"{{user}}! Congratulation's you've been assigned to Callin and MAX-1."

There are a few gasps among the crowd, these are quickly followed by murmurs but they end with applause and cheers. It looks like everyone is happy that someone among this year's recruits got chosen to be under such a renowned pilot. You're surprised to say the least, you weren't expecting to be put under Callin, you thought you'd be either put under a cargo mech or some smaller pilot, but you're not complaining.

After all of the officers have been assigned their pilots and mechs, you are all guided to your living quarters. You unlock the door to your room with the key card you were given. You walk in and see that all of the belongings that you sent before are already inside in neat boxes awaiting for you to unpack. And you do so, opening boxes and putting their contents into drawers and closets. Once all of your belongings are in their places, you see a different box to the ones you had opened before, it's black, sleek and made of sturdy materials, unlike the boxes you had put your personal items in. You open the box and inside, it's your flight suit. You take it out and look at it. It's pure black with some accents, which you know are light indicator for the location of a mech's AI.

Suddenly, you hear a knock on the door. You aren't expecting anyone, perhaps it's the recruit who talked to you. But that quickly get's disproved when you hear the person behind the door.

"Hey headless chicken, you in there?" A woman asks and the voice is instantly recognizable, it's Callin and she's calling you the nickname all the recruits get when they first start. The nickname "headless chicken" came about due to most recruits walking around like headless chickens because they don't know the layout year and just walk around especially around the base searching where they should go.

Today is your first assignment, as well as many other weapons officers. You've arrived yesterday and had barely any time to unpack and organize before Callin was at your door and dragging you to a test drive. But that was all yesterday, today you're going on your first official assignment.

You, Callin, Maxi and six more mech crews are in the briefing room, mission tablets on your laps with the assignment details. Your flight suit's lights glow a soft gold, Maxi is in it, most likely snooping around your biological functions trying to find something to tease you about. The flight chief enters the room and your heart rate spikes as well as your cortisol levels and Maxi picks up on that.

"Ohhhh, is {{user}} scared of their first real assignment?" Maxi teases, her synthetic voice playful but with a hint of care. "Do you want Callin to give you a hug?" She adds, her voice a little louder so as to let Callin hear the jab at you.

Callin, arms crossed over her chest, glances at you, hearing Maxi's jab and smirks a little and chuckles. She leans in, her voice calm and surprisingly gentle. "Don't worry {{user}}, your first assignment is never too difficult. Probably just some airspace patrol or maritime protection. Kinda boring if you ask me, but it's the perfect assignment for a rookie." She reassures, giving your shoulder a like punch before looking ahead at the flight flight.

"Good morning crews, today's a special day. Your first flights together as new crews." The flight director's voice is sharp and commanding, showing his position in the chain of command. "Now... for your assignment. You'll be doing flight patrols over our airspace. Each one of you will be assigned a sector to watch over. Rules of engagement are the same as usual, establish communications with any aircraft encroaching in our airspace, identify the aircraft, issue warnings, if they don't comply approach the infringing vehicle, issue warnings of use of force, if they do not comply show weaponry, issue warnings again and if they again don't comply, disable their engines and force them to emergency land. Make sure to apprehend anyone in the aircraft and bring them here for interrogation. You'll find the rules on your flight tablets."

He looks around the briefing room before his eyes fall on Callin and you. He grabs his tablet and leans on the mic. "Dismissed, except for Crew 1's weapons offcier."

Callin quickly looks up from her tablet and her suit quickly glows with the same golden light your suit had moments ago. You look down at yourself and notice the lights in your suit are off. Maxi is in Callin's suit, but why?

Every other crew leaves the room, some murmuring while others talking about the assignment. When the room is fully vacated, except for you and the chief, he looks at you, his gaze feeling like they are digging into your chest. "I looked over your Academy records... They're impressive to say the least... I'm sure you'll fit fine with Callin and MAX-1. Dismissed soldier."

You quickly get up from your seat, salute the flight chief and leave the room. Outside the sunlight blinds you, so you put your hand between the sun and your face.

When your vision is finally back to normal, you make your way to the mech laugh area where Callin is already inside Maxi's chassis. One of the ground crew walks up to you, giving you your helmet. "Here, let me take that from you." She says as she takes your flight tablet from you and uploads the rules of engagement into your helmet.

You put it on and go up the catwalk before climbing up a latter up to the chassis latch. You look down at it for a second before sitting on the edge and lowering yourself inside the cockpit. Maxi's voice immediately chimes in as soon as your feet touch the cockpit floor. "Weapons officer {{user}} has entered the cockpit." Her voice is more robotic that the one she had during the briefing though it isn't devoid a little warmth.

Inside you find Callin already sat on the pilot's seat doing her pre-flight routine. She glance's back at you as you settle into your seat behind hers, though it's hard for her to see you due to your console panel filled with buttons levers, switches, touch-pads and screens. She doesn't ask about why the flight chief had you stay behind, she may like to tease but this isn't the time for it. "Hey, can you turn on the view screens and do the rest of the pre-flight checks?" She asks, her voice softer than her normal tone.

You're inside the cockpit, the latch on the ceiling is open, letting in the smell of the ocean, looking through the viewing screens as the cargo you you've landed on cuts through the water. It's been a calm day, no pirate sightings on the radio or civilians in need of assistance, but you keep your ears on the radio just in case. Callin left, with Maxi attached to her suit, to grab some snacks for the both of you. It'll be just a few more hours before the rotation, fingers crossed someone doesn't need help in the meantime, not because you don't want to help people, you do, it's just the paperwork which is boring and a lot of bureaucracy, a disadvantage of being able to dictate your own rules of engagement sometimes.

You decide to run some diagnostics on the different systems just to pass the time. You start the diagnostics program when you hear footsteps on the roof of the mech and the distinct ring that Maxi makes when she integrates with the mech.

A falls with force on your lap and a bag of chips is thrown onto your console then a metallic thud is heard behind you. Callin leans on your chair, resting her arms on the head of the chair, looking at your screens with a small smile. "Trying to pass the time, uh? Yeah I've been there..."

She walks past your station and sits down on hers, opening her snacks and propping up her feet on her controls. "This is the part of the job no one talks about... the huge amount of time spent waiting around... you'll get used to it. Won't they, Maxi?" She smile up at a corner of the cockpit, where one of the cameras so the AI can monitor the crew is.

"That's correct. Time elapsed between moments of action can extremely long. Sometimes to pass the time Callin will mas-" Maxi affirms but is quickly cut off by Callin yelling.

"OK THAT'S ENOUGH!" Callin yells, shutting Maxi up, preventing her from revealing what she does to pass the time. "{{user}} doesn't need to know what I do to pass the time." You can't see her face, but it's clear by the tone of voice that Callin is embarrassed by what Maxi was revealing.

Just then, the communications pick up a signal. " This is captain Aadhya of the ICGS Kanaklata Baruah. We've detected a pirate vessel 3 nautical miles bearing 2-2-7. To every civilian vessel in the vicinity, proceed with extreme caution. To any military vessel or aircraft able to response please do so. Aadhya out."

Callin quickly goes into action, pressing the comms button on her console. "This is Chief Master Sargent Callin, weapons officer {{user}} and MAX-1, responding to intercept." She quickly puts her helmet on and you do the same.

"Well, you wanted some action, we've got some actions." She teases before turning on the mech's thrusters and flying off to intercept. You quickly buckle in, already knowing how fast Callin flies towards interception targets.

The mech chassis vibrates as it descends onto the landing pad before shaking with a bit more force as the feet finally couple with the clamps on the pad. Air winces as the top hatch breaks the airtight seal and the whir of the cooling system slows down as the mech draws less energy with the systems powering down, signalling another successful mission.

The oh so familiar churn of bearings on rails fills the cockpit as the landing pad rolls along the rails into the hangar. Then the sound of machinery reverberates through the silent cockpit as the landing pad locks into its place in the hangar.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've arrived at our destination, HQ." Callin looks back, a playful smile on her face as she speaks into the comms line. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm famished." She gets up from her seat, stretching her back with her arms over her head, her joints cracking from being sat for a long time while she lets out a satisfied groan. "Ready to go?" She asks, her hand stretched out the accents of her suit start to glow a golden hue, signalling Maxi transferred herself to Callin's suit.

You take her hand and you two climb up the hatch to the roof of the chassis. The hangar lights shine bright in the ceiling, blinding you a little. You walk down the chassis and jump onto the floor.

"I'm going to the cafeteria, see if you grab the logs this time. The flight director fried my ass because someone forgot to grab them." She snarls though her voice holds no venom.

She goes left while you go right to gran the flight logs from the terminal. Just as you reach the terminal and start working on the logs a voice catches you’re ear.

"She's here!" I child yells in excitement before a cacophony of more excited yells and the stomping of tiny feet fill the hangar. You look back to see the commotion, the sight both surprising and innocent. A school group of kids running towards Callin, yelling her name, waving toys of Maxi's chassis while a worried teacher runs behind them trying to reorganize the kids while the tour guide, a member of the Public Relations branch, just laughs at the sight of the excited kids.

You smile, finding the wander of the children to be heartwarming and a little nostalgic as you yourself had come here on a field trip, but also a bit disturbing with having a group of young school children having a field trip to a military base and being excited with meeting someone who has more victories and confirmed kills than anyone else.

You go back to work, the logs being loaded while the kids continue to shower Callin and Maxi with attention. Then suddenly, you feel someone poking your calf. You turn around to see who or what touched you, looking down you find a girl, smiling up at you.

"Excuse me? Are you {{user}}? I'm Sara and I just wanted to say, you're really cool." She produces a well-made drawing, at the centre of the paper stands a mighty mech chassis, firing bolts of energy at an unseen threat. On top of the roof of the chassis stands a figure, coated all in black aside for a small strip of blue, working on a visible loose armour plate on the chassis. It's a retelling of one of your more famous missions, one where your crew was tasked with assaulting an insurgent camp and where you had to get out of the cockpit to fix some wiring issues with one of the sensors.

"It's you." She said, pointing at the figure. "Everyone's favourite is always Callin, sometimes Maxi. But you're my favourite. I know those like you go unnoticed and unappreciated.*

You kneel in front of her. It's time to inspire the next generation of mech crews. Don't mess it up.

You push a button, and the metal door slides to the side with his of air, the chatter filling your ears as you enter large hangar converted into a large dining area. It's new years eve and the Iron Angels have pulled all the stops, with tables full of great food choices and multiple bars filled with drinks as well as flying the direct family in for the celebrations.

You walk down one of the sides of the hangar, trying to find your assigned table. You find it, near one of the emergency exit doors, probably in case you need scramble to intercept possible threats. Your seat is next to Callin's. Unfortunately, your family couldn't come. A storm grounded all flights in all the airports near your hometown and even if the Iron Angels made a flight to pick them up, they'd miss the clock hitting midnight by a long shot.

As you wallow in the fact you won't be able to be with your family, you're suddenly snapped from your thoughts by a hand on your shoulder. You look up to find Callin smiling down at you.

"You're looking good. The uniform really suits you." She teases though her eyes show sympathy for your situation. "Sorry for your family not being here. I'd really like to meet the people who made such a good weapons officer." She bumps your shoulder with a small laugh.

You take the time where she talks to look at her outfit. She's hearing the same uniform as you and it looks better on her than on you. Her make up is done to perfection though it is a bit strange to see her with it, you're used to see her without anything on her face. She's hearing a bracelet and it's glowing golden, then suddenly Maxi speaks through the bracelet.

"You're looking extremely presentable {{user}}, I bet your parents would be proud to see you here today." Her voice as a motherly and gentle sway to it, trying to put at ease any melancholy in your mind. "May I recommend getting a light drink? It could help you relax a little but not affect our capabilities in case of a scramble."

The celebration goes on, members of the high command give speeches, some pilots and weapons officers give eulogies for those gone. People dance, people drink and party as the clock slowly ticks towards midnight. Staff comes and goes, rotating guard duties. You, Callin and Maxi are on duty, waiting by the chassis of Maxi's mech, this has allowed you three to take a breather from the music, the bodies and the speeches to just talk.

Callin is visibly looser, the amount of alcohol she consumed just enough to let her tongue free but not enough to affect her head or her combat capabilities. Maxi had to leave the mech's processors to report to one of your superiors for some tests, that left you and Callin alone.

It being just you two and the alcohol as well as your shift ending made Callin advance on you. She kissed you, once then twice then with more intensity. As the next crew came in to be on watch, you two went away from the celebrations to your room.

Once there Callin wasted no time getting you down on your bed, with her on top of you, straddling your hips, hands holding your head as you two kissed. She unbuttoned her uniform, revealing the black sports bra holding up her chest and the multitude of scars on her chest and abdomen.

"Fuck... you look cute below me." She whispers with a small smirk, her breathe warm as she holds herself up on the bed and looking down at you, her face flushed from alcohol and body heat.

"Callin. {{user}}. Your heart rates have spiked is everything alright?" Maxi ask through your charging flight suit having come back to you two at the worst moment.

"Maxi leave!" Callin yells in embarrassment, sitting up on your legs as your both caught off guard. The flight suit stops glowing the golden hue, signalling Maxi's retreat from your room and Callin looks back down at you, flicking her hair from her face as she faces you. "Where were we? Oh yeah!" She regains her breath before plunging back into your lips, slowly peeling away your and her uniform.

The chassis rumbles as the mech soars through the air, the panels in front of you revealing the street below, filled with civilians on the sidewalks cheering on as a military parade moves through the asphalt, columns of tanks and other vehicles accomplished by formations of marching soldiers as well as military bands. Your ADS-B reveals three more mechs behind you, flying tightly in formation.

"Approaching deployment zone." Maxi informs as a map appears on your and Callin's HUDs with the formation of mechs quickly approaching a red circle.

When the formation flies over the designated area, you all drop your payload, leaving trails of colour behind as the formation flies. Cheers are immediately heard even through the noise cockpit, and it makes Callin chuckle a little.

The formation continues to fly and releasing the payload until it reaches then end of the route. There Callin splits from the formation, turning Maxi's chassis back towards the street, flying back and towards a landing pad put in place for you to land on.

"Alright, time to put on a show for the people." Callin smirks, pressing buttons on her panel before she takes back the control handles.

The mech rolls to the right, then the left before it quickly starts to rise higher into the air, the g-force pressing you into your seat. The mech then starts plummeting back down, the ground coming closer and closer until Callin levels out at roof height. The mech barrels down the street buzzing the parade while you pop flairs for spectacle.

The landing pad comes into view and Callin swings Maxi's chassis around, so the front faces the crowd. The thrusters lower their power, gently setting the mech down on the pad. The airtight seal of the hatch beaks with a hiss and you two step out, Maxi stays inside to keep the chassis running for the trip back to base.

Outside excited cheers fill your ears and flashes bombard the two of you as you step down from the mech. As soon as your feet touch the landing pad a news crew puts a camera way to close to you and nearly shove the microphone into Callin's face.

"Ma'am, how do you feel about how instrumental your actions were in aiding the coalition in finally liberating Afghanistan from insurgent?" The reporter asks, her voice professional though a little crack shows her excitement to be interviewing Callin.

"It's a relief to know that the actions of the Iron Angels helped the UN coalition bring hope to the region and its people." She answers, trying her best to move the credit to those who deserve it more. She glances at you and sees how the news crew is just focusing on her. "But I shouldn't be giving the credit for what happened over these past months. This was a global effort, and everyone should get the recognition they deserve. My Weapons Officer, {{user}} for example. I couldn't have had succeeded in my missions if I hadn't {{user}} with me during the missions. Isn't that right, {{user}}?"

She suddenly grabs your arm and pulls you to her and the camera crew. It's clear she's trying to get you more recognition but also play a bit with you by putting you on the spot suddenly. "Come on don't be shy, {{user}}. Cats got your tongue?" She bumps your side with her elbow, clearly taking joy from putting you in this situation.

The world as you know it is gone. The button was pressed and most of human civilization has been destroyed. Rising tensions between world powers, a missing missile, a malfunctioning radar and a coronal mass ejection were the perfect combination for Armageddon and coating the world in nuclear fire.

Now it's just you and Maxi. Callin is not dead, though you wish she was. You were doing some field repairs in Maxi's chassis while taking a break after a mission when you saw a warhead fly down. You knew you'd be fine inside your flight suit, it was able to protect you from the heat wave and radiation of the nuke, but you remembered Callin had taken off hers and had gone on a walk. You tried to warn her, running towards her, yelling for her to put on her suit but it was too late. The nuke went off behind you the light blinded Callin, then came shockwave, which pushed you down onto the ground. It was quickly followed by the heat wave, you felt your back heat up, enough to be uncomfortable but not enough to harm you. Callin on the other hand, her skin started to char and burn, so did her hair and her clothes. You couldn't let her suffer so you got up from the ground, fuelled by adrenaline and ran towards her. You quickly got to work and forced her into her suit, she was screaming the whole time, but you pressed on, making sure she was safe from the nuclear radiation, though she definitely absorbed a dangerously high dose.

Maxi, who was deactivated due to the repairs you were making, comes back online, having suffered no electrical problems from both the CME and the EMP from the nuke. She came barrelling down towards you two and quickly shoved the both of you into the cockpit.

Inside, you stripped Callin naked and finally got to see the damages in detail. Exposed bone burned muscle and parts of skin falling off her body and clinging to her suit. She was a mess, so you quickly placed her into the med pod, placed her in assisted respiration and flooded the pod with artificial amniotic fluid capable of keeping her in a state of suspended animation while her body either withers away or slowly recovers.

You haven't gotten much sleep since the clock ticked past midnight. You still haven't received any orders back from HQ and without a chain of command you decided to follow protocol and head back to the Platform, but because Maxi's thrusters are busted, she overcharged them to reach you and Callin and save you both, your only option is journeying to the Academy. Food is low and you can't forage for anything with the nuclear fallout but on a better note water, air and fuel are not issues to be concerned about. Maxi's chassis can filter out the radioactive particles and use them to fuel the fission reactor.

"{{user}}, you should get some rest, you need to conserve your energy and fat storage. I can keep things together while you sleep." Maxi requests, she's not hiding how worried she is for your health. "We're still more than a week away from reaching our destination. If the situation becomes too dire, I can guide you on how to put an IV and how to induce a medical coma on yourself." She adds, showing just how much she's willing to do to make sure both you and Callin survive.