#Deck4 – March 31, 2016

Harmonia is in the cargo hold, instructing Nathan, Jasper and Nalota in the piloting of the Triton ADS. The grated metal floor of the hold shudders as her mech walks across it, stopping in the middle and turning to face the three of them. The cabin of her mech is open. "The Tritons are old Alliance combat mechs retrofitted for deep sea exploration. The arm-mounted cannon has been modified to shoot flares to illuminate while

Spencer is watching the goings-on in the cargo hold from a distance, leaning against the wall near the northern elevator.

Nathan jumps from one foot to the next, giddily listening as he watches the mech stomp across the floor. He's dressed in his black bodysuit used for his armour, thought the only part he has currently equipped is his boots and greaves. It seems he was halfway changing out of it before being summoned to mech training. And, being too excited to watch, had completely

Nalota is listening to the instructor intently, looking over the mech. The last comparison makes a small smile tug at her lips, but she otherwise doesn't show much in terms of facial expression.

Jasper is wearing a different pair of coveralls than usual. Slightly darker shade of grey, although even the stains are in nearly the exact same spot as on his other pair. He gives a wave of his hand, "Now you ain't gotta tell me none of this. I'm a natural! Been workin' on these sonova beanbags fer' mosta my life." He takes a step towards the mech and waves Harmonia over. "C'mon, hop on outta there. Lemme have a go at this big

Nathan looks aghast at Jasper. "Hell no, ol' man! If anyone is getting first dibs, it is me!"

Nalota sighs, but doesn't comment.

Harmonia lets out a snort. "You'll get your chance, for now I'd rather not have one of you jackasses tripping a mech and blowing a hole in the hold. Any of you have experience with anything that isn't a cargo lifter?"

Jasper scowls. "Who you callin' jackass!?" he shouts back. His gaze slowly turns to Nathan and a big toothy grin appears on his face, "Oh..." he says simply, "Fair 'nuff." After a quick chuckle, he gives a nod of his head. "Sure do. There ain't much that I haven't diddled in. Alliance engineer fer' most a' my life. Could tear that thing down to its nuts and bolts 'fore you could do a somersault."

Nathan glowers at Jasper, though there is a playful smirk lingering. He looks back to Harmonia. "Mostly cargo, but ran a few simulations with military-grade mechs."

Nalota gives a slight shake of her head. "Afraid not," she says.

Harmonia nods a couple of times with a skeptical chuckle. "Mhm... putting things together doesn't mean you know how to handle them." She starts manuvering the mech over to a nearby crate, lowering the left arm and grabbing hold of it with the Triton's gripper. "They're slow, and clumsy, even more so underwater, but they're sturdy, and can carry a lot of equipment."

Nathan raps his fingers against his arm as he crosses his arms across his chest. He listens intently. An expert is talking, so he should listen.

Jasper folds his arms across his chest as well. "Mmhmm. Slow." he agrees, rattling off exactly what Harmonia is saying moments after she says it, as if just to prove he was already aware, "Really clumsy. Sturdy, yep. Sure can haul a helluva lotta junk."

Nathan chuckles as he looks toward Jasper, shaking his head at the man. He looks back to the mech and arches a brow. "I'm surprised there wasn't an armed one provided. Considering the possibility of facing geth, I thought as much firepower as possible would be preferable. I mean, yeah we have the Grizzly, but shouldn't the mechs have an additional escort?"

Nalota keeps an eye on which controls are being moved, remaining silent.

Jasper also tries to pay attention to the controls, although he's much more incognito about it.

Harmonia stops manuvering the geth for a moment to look at Nathan. "Doubt you're going to find many geth on the bottom of the ocean." she says with a grunt and then starts to lift the Triton's left arm, moving the crate up, and up, until it is behind the mech. It attaches to the back with a loud clunk. "The mechs have been rigged with heavy duty mass effect field emitters on the back, so you can store equipment or samples there.

Nalota observes the movement, stepping aside to get a better view of the crate being put on the back of it. "Does it give sufficient warning when that's about to happen?"

Jasper continues to watch, pointing at it and glancing over at Nathan as she maneuvers the crate to the back. "You watchin', Ten? Don't want you blowin' yerself up an' takin' me with ya." he grins.

Nathan flips Jasper the bird with a grin. "I'm more worried about you doing that. Y'know, senility and all that in your old age," he quips back.

Jasper scoffs loudly, "Senility? Soon as I remember what that means, I'm gon' be reeeal offended-like!" he says, jovial grin from ear-to-ear, "Who are you again?"

Nathan creases up with laughter, all thoughts of the mech gone for the moment. "Me? Oh, I'm the guy you were going to relinquish the Grizzly tank to!... and give all your life savings."

Jasper snorts loudly, giving a slow nod. "Yeah, yeah. You want 'er that bad, I think we can work somethin' out. Even though I did whip ya fair n' square..."

Nathan raises his hands and does air quotations. "Fair and square," he repeats.

Harmonia lifts one of the Triton's legs and slams it down against the floor with a reverberating slam. "Pay. Attention. Dumbasses."

Nathan jumps and pops off a militaristic salute, arm quivering as he pulls the most comical, yet serious face he can. Paradox. "Yus, ma'am!"

Nalota sighs as the two Redrock mercenaries keep slowing the instruction down. She casts a disapproving glance their way before returning her attention to the mech pilot.

Jasper falls in line with his own salute, the timing almost in perfect sync with Nathan's. "Yessir!"

Harmonia looks at Nalota. "To answer your question, yes, the cabin has a solid sensor readout that'll let you know if you're about to fuck up, along with other things."

Nalota nods. "That's what I expected, thank you," she says, but there's no follow up questions.

Jasper gestures over to the mech as he looks to Nalota. "Don't worry 'bout it too much. Jus' like in all walks a' life, keep foreign objects outta yer' tailpipe and you'll be fine."

Nalota glances his way. "Uh-uh," she says before returning her attention to Kozma.

Nathan simply chuckles at Jasper's comment.

Harmonia scrunches her nose at Jasper's comment, and then shakes her head. "Alright, so... are you lot ready for a test drive?" She starts unbuckling herself from the seat and then climbs out of the Triton, dropping to the floor with a grunt. She points at Nathan. "Show us what you've got." she says and steps aside, making sure to leave plenty of room between the mech and herself.

Jasper frowns when he's not called upon. "Savin' the best fer' last, are ya?"

Nathan nods eagerly and is already scrambling up the mech with monkey-like speed. He drops into the cockpit, buckles himself in then closes the hatch. He looks around at all the shiny buttons to press and chuckles. "Oh man it has been awhile," he says.

Harmonia covers her face with her palm and then waves her arms before gesturing at her ears.

Nalota takes a step back. "I sure hope the infirmiary is prepped," she jokes.

Nathan just catches the woman's movements and furrows his brow. "I wasn't talking to you yet... obnoxious bitch," he mumbles to himself before turning on the external speakers (or whatever it is).

Nathan opens the hatch and looks over to Harmonica. "Not even going to let me bask in the glory of this brilliant machine before getting all antsy with me? For shammmmme."

Jasper waves his arms about and does some sort of awkward motions for him to open the hatch. He crouches low and makes as if gripping something on the floor with both hands, then stands up, lifting it high above his head."

Nalota doesn't take her eyes off the emch.

Harmonia nods. "Theeere you go. Okay, the controls are fairly standard. You can't see the HUD while the hatch is open, but you don't need it right now. Make sure not to turn too fast, or it might fall over. You'll notice a couple of buttons on the control panel. The yellow one controls the headlights and the red one controls the ascent thrusters. DO NOT PRESS THE RED ONE." She pauses for a moment to make sure the instructions

Nathan nods. "Alright. Do not press the red one... becauseeeeeee?"

Jasper brings a hand up to his forehead. "Cause it's gon' turn on the thrusters, ya dingleberry! Ain't ya listenin'?"

Nathan sighs. "I know, but she punctuated it so much, I was hoping it would do something more... wacky.."

Nalota folds her arms as she keeps her eyes on the mech, she is not amused.

Nathan makes to walk the mech forwards a few steps to get a feel for its response time. After a few practice steps, he makes to turn the mech around, not too quickly.

Jasper gives a proud thumbs up to Nathan. "Yer' a natural." he cheers.

Harmonia looks on, arms folded across her chest. "Where did the company even find these jokers..." she mutters.

Nathan hums a laugh, enjoying himself. He turns the mech once again. He then starts to move the arm with the grip behind his back, reaching for the crate. He would grab onto it and detach it, if there are no issues of course. If successfully grabbed, he would bring it back over to the front and make to replace it back where Harmonia plucked it up from.

Jasper nods slowly to himself. "Not half bad, Ten. Nooot half bad. I'm impressed."

Nalota keeps staring at the mech, not entirely comfortable with the Redrock mercenary piloting it.

Harmonia nods slowly. "Not too shabby... why don't you close it up and take a look at the interface, see if there's anything that's throwing you off?"

Nathan throws her the thumbs up before sealing the hatch again. He studies the interface once it appears.

Nathan hurms and looks around teh interface. At least for the moment, it all seems pretty clear to him. He looks out the hatch and offers Harmonia a thumbs up and a nod.

Jasper gives a nod towards the mech. "Eatin' yer' words now, ain't ya?" he says to Harmonia, "See that? We know our dookie."

Nalota is still watching the mech.

Harmonia scoffs. "Mhm... why don't you give it a shot next?" She says with a glance at Jasper.

Jasper cocks an eyebrow at the woman. "You sure 'bout that? Wouldn't want yer' boss ta walk in an' see me showin' you up. Good way ta lose yer' job."

Nathan turns the mech around and stomps over to the group, bringing it to a stop near them. He pops open the hatch and grins cockily. "Sooooooo? How'd I do?"

Jasper raises both hands in the air and gives a slow clap. "Ya did great, son!" he says, not bothering to wait for Harmonia to assess him.

Harmonia grunts. "Decent. We'll see how you handle yourself planetside." She gestures for Jasper to go ahead.

Nalota remains where she is, not having anything to say.

Jasper approaches the mech, rubbing his grubby little paws together as he waits for Nathan to disembark.

Nathan nods in agreement. "And then some," he says to Harmonia before he disembarks, easily dropping the distance and landing with a grunt. "There you go, old man. Don't kill us all now!"

Harmonia watches in silence, keeping her concerns internal.

Jasper grips a handhold and crouches somewhat, then returns to his starting position. Then crouches, then returns to his starting position. "One, two-..." he grunts as he pulls himself up into the cockpit of the machine, "...let's have a looky-loo." As he settles into the mech's seat his eyes light up, dancing over all of the buttons and levers. "Awright. Whatcha want me ta' do? Loop-de-loops?"

Nathan stands over with the other two spectators and folds his arms across his chest. "Do a barrel roll!"

Nalota sighs, but still doesn't say anything.

Harmonia lets out an exasperated sigh. "Why don't you try walking around a bit, and picking something up..."

Jasper snaps his fingers and then points at Harmonia. "You got it!" he says. The mech slowly turns and walks in a straight line back towards the crate. Having been something he was quite familiar with, it's a pretty fluid stroll. He begins to control the gripper, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, and slowly eases it around the crate Nathan set down. "Easy as pumpkin pie!" he chants as he rotates the arm to place the crate

Nathan claps and nods at Jasper. "Good show, old chap."

Harmonia shrugs slightly. "Alright, not bad. Why don't you take a look at the interface as well." sounding unimpressed still.

Jasper nods once, adjusting the beat-up old cap on his head. "Sure thang!" he says. A moment later, the hatch slides shut. As the sounds outside grow muffled, he gets the overwhelming urge to press that beautiful red button, just to show her he can handle it.

Jasper's hand hovers over the button to raise the hatch, but he actually feels it physically shifting over to the red button. An internal struggle commences but eventually, the hatch opens once more. "Looks like everything is in order, ma'am."