Human Edge

Bruun, about halfway between regular attire and his mech pilot ensemble, was in the bay with his Firefly. Activity was sprinkled throughout the hangar as techs finished last bits of work, mechwarriors did their pre-battle checks -- and in Bruun's case, the gods of good fortune were contemplated and, hopefully, drawn around him and the others.

For a time he glared at the Firefly. "You know as well as I do that you need a name. It's probably bad luck to go into a second battle still with no name. Wait, third battle," he realized. "God damn."

Mata's head pokes up. She was apparently playing with her animal toys just off to the side so he didn't see her. She still held her new bear toy and bird toy. "It's bad luck to have a name?" That seemed odd. Alexi said they had to earn a name. Maybe aerospace fighters were different from mechs. "Well, I think God Damn is a good name. Make the enemy afraid." She gave an encouraging smile.

"Bah!" Bruun, who's usually quite aware, jumps slightly as she appears out of nowhere.

"Uh, hi, uh, Mata," he shakes it off. Surprised by a little kid? Not a good sign.

"Uh, I was saying it's bad luck to not have a name by your third battle. I'm guessing, anyway. Not every mechwarrior names their mech, but I reckon that's not very nice. If you want your mech to work hard for you, you should recognize that it's its own special thing." He steps back from the Firefly, noting the upgraded firepower of the shiny new pulse lasers.

"These mechtechs are good," he says softly, not really intending to say it out loud.

Mata nods. "Yep. My daddy comes from a long of techs. He said he was born for it. He says Theo is really good too."

She looks back at the mech. "It's good you named it then. If it is bad luck to not name it. I know being a mechwarrior is dangerous, but I like all of you. I want you to come back."

Bruun sighs. Kids shouldn't be around mechwarriors.

"Yeah, there's no nice and safe way to be a mechwarrior. But do you know what this pin means?" The tall man drops to one knee so she can see the rank pin on the collar of his puffy vest.

"That means I'm a first sergeant. So part of my job is getting as many of us home safe as possible." He smiles proudly, like he likes the job.

Mata suddenly became terrified. "Don't say that. I watched some holovids when we were Rasahague and anytime someone something like they would die."

Bruun smiles sadly.

"Oh darling," he says with a bit of a chuckle, although this is serious stuff. "We're all gonna do the best we can, and maybe it ain't gonna work out how we want, but I reckon real life ain't much like holovids." He chuckles when he realizes how true that is.

"Yeah," he confirms, "real life ain't much like the holovids. So don't worry too much, ok? We'll bring as many of us home as we can." He smiles again, trying to instill confidence.

Mata nods. "OK. I will trust you to bring everyone back. I believe in you."

Bruun feels like he was punched straight in the heart, but manages to keep a straight face.

"Er, thanks," he manages to say without sounding too wounded. Kids shouldn't be around mechwarriors, he thinks again. And it's not just for the kids' sake.

"So, uh," he thinks quickly to shift the subject. "Your dad and the other techs are doing a great job. Got my mech re armored and even installed new lasers," he says admiringly.

Mata nods. "Da... Father was really happy. He liked giving your mech 'proper' weapons. He said they should better than the lasers you used to have."

Elsewhere James noticed the two talking. He thought to himself that this was good. His daughter should be around mechwarriors.