He didn’t know how to respond. So instead, he removed the IME and various cables as he’d been instructed, adjusted the valves, unplugged plugs, closed the access panel and locked the armor back in. Sousuke punched in the code, and Al’s main power booted up. Now he could leave the rest to Al.
The cooling unit let out a low hum; the Laevatein was awakening.
Sousuke removed the strips of caution tape reading, “REMOVE BEFORE LAUNCH” that were affixed to the machine here and there, then climbed up to the back of the head.
He stuck his pistol and other equipment into the storage space under the cockpit hatch. There wasn’t much room, as it was just about the size of a travel bag, but Sousuke managed to shove an old rocket launcher into it. This was a compact disposable model called an M72 LAW, once used by the US Armed Forces. It wasn’t as powerful as the anti-tank weapons currently in service, but it had one thing going for it: it was compact and light enough to fit into an AS’s storage compartment. The tube could be carried around in shortened form, then telescoped into firing readiness when the time came to use it.
The hum of the palladium reactor’s activation echoed through the hangar, although the Laevatein’s prototype reactor was much less quiet than the almost silent reactors found in typical M9s. From atop the Laevatein’s back, Sousuke put on the familiar headgear before noticing Goldberry, who was packing up her medical instruments and getting ready to leave.
“I’m heading out,” she said. “About Sachs...”
“You tell her,” said Sousuke. The news shouldn’t come from his lips; this was something Goldberry should do.
“I will,” she promised. “Take care, Sousuke.”
“Roger.”
The screen was already on. The cockpit and master suit were those of the M9 he was so used to. Sousuke put his arms through, grabbing the levers and stepping hard on the pedals. He moved the cursor with his left thumb; the boot-up procedure was in progress, and the voice interface was already active.
“Al,” said Sousuke.
《Yes, Sarge?》 It was the familiar deep male voice. His machine’s AI, Al, was responding to him.
“Establish data link,” Sousuke told him. “Acquire vessel data from Dana.”
《Roger. Accessing C1 channel. Response from Dana. Priority C. Connection complete.》
A window opened in the corner of the screen displaying the de Danaan’s current combat status: it was still locked in combat. The de Danaan wasn’t about to go down that fast. Still, they’d taken losses to their stealth and speed. They’d lost any element of surprise they might have had and were now locked into a brutal brawl.
Meanwhile, they’d shaken off nearly all of the US Navy ships. The last of them, the USS Pasadena, still seemed to be in pursuit, but wouldn’t be able to catch the de Danaan in its current condition. They had already taken out two of Amalgam’s high-speed submarine craft, the Leviathans, as well. Another was being targeted by a mobile mine that Tessa had deployed in the water... There was a distant explosion: a hit. Tessa had finished off the third Leviathan.
But there were still a few Leviathans left, and they were entering combat positions. More high-speed torpedoes were on the way, a total of four. Tessa returned fire. After releasing a third torpedo, she entered evasive maneuvers immediately, dodging two torpedoes on a pulse-pounding course before accelerating forward to continue the battle. She really was a monster.
《Sarge, a question.》
“What is it?” Sousuke replied.
《Three o’clock, distance zero. There is a human-sized object I cannot identify. What is it?》 The covered, strapped-down corpse was visible in a corner of the image taken by the machine’s optical sensors.
“That’s Lieutenant Sachs’s body,” Sousuke explained.
《Lieutenant Edward Sachs, chief of maintenance, is KIA?》
“Affirmative.”
《Could you tell me the cause of death?》
“The ship took a hit, and the impact caused the external generator unit to lose balance and slam into him. He was so busy getting you booted up, he didn’t lock it down.”
Al didn’t respond right away, and there was a brief silence. But after a moment, he said, 《Understood. Thank you for the explanation.》
The activation procedure continued. The emergency deployment booster attached to the back—the XL-3 jury-rigged for the Laevatein—underwent its control tests. Most of them worked, which meant he could fly, but one error persisted. Sousuke reran the test.
They’d called it the “XL-3” but that was really an arbitrary name assigned to it by Sachs. It wasn’t a prototype unit created by an arms manufacturer, and never would be. Of course, they had done no flight tests, just computer simulations. Sousuke still didn’t know if it could really fly or not, and he was honestly shocked that Sachs’s hard work had even gotten the connections established in time.
Another error.
While Sousuke continued to retry the XL-3’s tests, he lifted the locks on all the joints. He stood the Laevatein up and guided it to the large elevator at the back of the hangar.
He felt another hard jolt as an enemy torpedo exploded at close range. The damage was mild, but the external EMFC array had been badly damaged. The de Danaan would lose more maneuverability.
Sousuke could be no help with the aquatic combat. Once the Laevatein reached the elevator, he locked it into a standby position and kept testing the XL-3, which continued to spit out errors. The sub-wings’ control line and supplemental circuits weren’t responding.
《Do you think it’s my fault?》 Al asked as he tried it again.
“It was a total kitbash,” Sousuke answered. “A few kinks are to be expected.”