Elliot Braide // ROOK
Ensign
Ensign Braide it said, right there all shiny and polished. Elliot took a slow moment of relishment as he slowly reattached the shiny name plaque back to the dress uniform with an almost reverential touch. Elliot had dreamed of this for so long, for as long as he could remember really. Elliot had wanted to be a pilot since the day he’d first seen a picture of a MAS. Mommy! Daddy! he’d cried out, I want to fly the big boom bots! Of course his parents had brushed him off as usual and instructed Elliot to go play or find some other way to occupy his time. That had never stopped him though, and although they’d seemed to ignore his pleas there had been a certain specific change in the style of toys he would continue to receive and play with as the years went on. Elliot had fostered his own interest in MAS over the years and through a few strings pulled here and the influence of his family he’d finally managed to achieve his goal. Even still though it felt like not quite enough, Elliot couldn’t put his finger on why and as such shoved these feelings to the back of his mind. Here he was finally, a real pilot surrounded by other real pilots with an entire fleet of se-technicians and naval men and women standing by to service their needs and ensure that whatever they needed to achieve their goals would be theirs. Elliot should be relishing in his victory, his achievement. And so he did, dusting and detailing the dress uniform that he’d worn in his graduation ceremony. It had been the best day of his life. Those nagging feelings of emptiness would just have to get shoved in a box to be forgotten about, dismissed.
Elliot turned away from his uniform and surveyed the rest of his room; it wasn’t much, yet. Elliot would change that, with time of course; he’d just need to make some calls and a few demands, maybe twist a few elbows. The only thing that really showed any lick of personality in the room was the rough pile of books that Elliot had gathered on his bed, most of them being the only real possessions he kept. A majority of the books were about MAS, theory and practical knowledge; a portion were more generalized topics that Elliot wished to have a basic understanding of. More than a few had bookmarks, sticky notes, dividers, and all manner of things poking out of them as a way to mark important entries. A few of the technical manuals looked plenty more worn and opening any one might reveal an untold amount of handwritten notes between the lines of text. To an onlooker it was chaos, to Elliot it all made perfect sense. He knew where to find whatever he might need whenever the moment called for it, he’d read most of these front to back numerous times. Elliot's eyes landed on a specific one, one of the only fictional novels in the pile, with a particular sense of fondness. Elliot picked it up and dusted it off, surveying the cover and reminiscing about the days as a child reading through the adventures of the book's protagonist and his cheeky sidekick. This one in particular had a hefty bit of influence on Elliot’s desires as he was growing up and as such would likely never leave his side, a prized possession of sorts.
"General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to battle stations. I repeat: General Quarters. General Quarters..."
Elliot was so locked into his memories that the call for quarters practically sent him flying out of his own skin. Thankfully the room was empty and no one heard the yelp of surprise he let out as the book he’d suddenly dropped landed squarely on his toe. With a splutter of curses Elliot quickly pivoted and burst through the door into the hallway already bustling with activity.
“MOVE IT! MAKE WAY! PILOT COMING THROUGH! THAT’S AN ORDER! MAKE WAY!”
Elliots voice boomed down the hallway like a fog horn, a sudden air of arrogance taking place upon his shoulders like a form fitted cape. This was everything he’d dreamed, techs and other service men and women scrambled to make way as he barreled down the hallway, those who didn’t move quick enough were not of Elliot’s concern. He did his absolute best not to step on anyway or cause any injuries, massive ones at least. The occasional slow mover may just have found themselves brushed aside in an unceremonious manner though and a couple individuals might have found themselves falling to the ground as Elliot shoved aside. Regardless Elliot wouldn’t let anything stand between him and reaching the pilot bay in 90 seconds. They’d made it very clear that this expectation was an important one and Elliot wouldn’t have his first operation starting off on the right foot, commoners be damned.
Elliot made his way into the bay on the heels of his fellows, unnoticed by the more seasoned pilots. Elliot knew they didn’t hold much of an opinion of him, yet. It was to be expected as the new guy and Elliot had no illusions of his place. To him it just meant he’d work even harder to achieve the respect he so desired. These individuals, his squadmates and the fellow pilots in the flotilla, this is who he’d always dreamed of being amongst. Likely the only figures he ever felt an inkling of respect for were pilots, everyone else was too weak or too useless to get behind the stick and to Elliot that meant they were useless or not worth his time. Nevertheless Elliot had learned to at least tolerate being around those beneath him for the use they could pose in achieving his own goals. These fellows though, his squadmates, were the real deal. Practically walking gods in his eyes. Elliot was tickled pink to finally be amongst their ranks.
Elliot scrambled into his cockpit without a word, sparing little time to admire his MAS. As reluctant as his family had been about his choices Elliot had managed to at least get him to spring for one badass piece of machinery. In the name of his safety, as he’d spun it to his parents. In reality Elliot just wanted to pilot the same MAS as his favorite book character, the one he’d been reading about for years. Elliot had a surprisingly intimate knowledge of the MAS based on that alone, for a fictional story the author had been surprisingly true to reality, or as true as they could be. As for the rest, well one of the more beaten up manuals back on Elliot's bed was for the Venerator.
> Confirming Pilot Assignment: ENS ELLIOT BRAIDE
> ...Pilot Confirmed
> Initializing systems…
Elliot was on time but slightly behind his squadmates as he listened to their friendly bickering, a smile coming to his face. Elliot always had trouble suppressing his joy when piloting a MAS, like a dream come true almost. Simply put, he was giddy as a lune.
> Reactor: Online_
> Life Support: Online_
> Shield Generator: Online_
> Weapon Systems: Online_
Elliot wasted no time as he settled into the cockpit and ran through his pre-flight checks. So far all systems were coming back as expected and he was green across the board. Today was gonna be a good day.
> All Calibrations Complete
> All Systems Nominal
> Standby for Launch
“ROOK SOUNDING OFF! SIR!” Elliot shouted, perhaps a tad too enthusiastically, and might bit a tad too loud given the direct line to his squad's ears.