Eclipse

Date/Timing: 30 May 2017
Setting: beach at Clovelly, Australia
.
Cameryn kicks off her thongs, buries her toes in the sand. "Best seat in the house," she purrs, leaning back in her beach chair.
""Cam?""
"Toby! Over here!" Waves him over.
He picks his way across the beach, drops his chair, plonks in. "How's the cutest barkeep in Sydney?"
"Feeling 'specially sunshiny tonight."
"Is that why it's so bright out here? Thought it was the moon."
"Hardy har har." Cameryn tosses her hair. "There's a special treat headed our way."
"You dragged us out for that new Jaeger, ay?"
Cameryn squees and flutter-kicks the sand. "The first VS off the line!"
Toby rolls his eyes. "You and your Jaegers."
"I only /wish they were mine."
Toby fakes innocence. "They're not?"
Cameryn blows a raspberry.
Toby chuckles. "I tell you one of the pilots used to be my running buddy?"
"No." Cameryn blinks. "Really?"
"Yea, Jack and I—"
"That's the oh-one?"
"Uh huh. We used to run twenty-kays on weekends for a lark." Shakes his head. "And that nut used to mess with /triathlons. Never did—"
"So he's /perfect!"
"Who's perfect?" says Brayden, floating down a blanket and sitting.
"Jack Jones, 'parently."
"The skinny Trekker dork from uni?"
"You thought he was /adorable 'til you found out he was straight as a yardstick," drawls Dan, setting down an ice chest and parking on his chair.
Brayden sulks.
"So why's Jack Jones perfect, Your Flyness?"
"Be-/cause the VS is waaay specialized and doesn't fight like any other Jaeger."
"What's 'specialized' mean?"
"It doesn't just punch 'em to death?"
"Is it still an Australian Jaeger if it /doesn't?"
"Shut it, you."
"Apologies, Flyness."
Cameryn sniffs. "The VS isn't built for power or speed, it's all about /endurance with her, so a triathlete pilot is /perfect."
"Huh."
"She's meant as a long-distance patrol unit: /super fuel efficient, she'll run the Kaiju down like a wolf would and /nibble it to death."
"It has teeth?"
"Don't be an idiot, Toby."
"Thanks, Dan," says Cameryn. "See, the VS is kind of a weakling for a Jaeger. She's only got her fists and some wimpy railguns. So, she doesn't hit hard, but she'll keep hitting and hitting and hitting until the Kaiju drops."
A distant rumble.
"So it /can punch things to death."
The ground trembles under their feet.
"Is that it?"
"Yea," breathes Cameryn, "that's it. That's the Jaeger Quake."
"You get off on this."
Cameryn laughs, "Biggest, best vibrator in the world." 
"Gonna invest in one of your own?"
"I /wish."
Dan snorts.
A portion of stars go missing.
"What is /that?" squeaks Toby.
The void slowly moves on, eclipses another section of sky.
"What's what?" challenges Brayden. "There's nothing out there."
Stars reappear, others disappear.
"That 'nothing's /moving!"
The moon vanishes.
"That's her. /Vulcan Specter."
/Le masina returns.
"Sweet Christ on a whole wheat cracker."
"Holy shit, it's /huge."
"Eighty meters, toe to crown."
"Like I said."
"Oof!"
Stars disappear, others reappear.
"She has the widest field of vision—two-hundred-thirty degrees!—of any Jaeger. Comes closest to being able to see her own feet—best downward visibility. Her arms the the longest and torso the shortest and narrowest at the shoulders of all the Mark IIIs." Cameryn stops for a deep breath.
Toby jumps into the gap, "Sounds like a bit of a stringbean."
"Kinda like Jones was, ay?"
"I'm gonna elbow you again."
"Shut up, both of you. Cam's waxing rhapsodic about Jaegers."
Two groans.
Some stars near the horizon go missing.
Cameryn snorts. "It's her legs that're her most unique feature. They're proportioned so she actually uses /gravity to supplement engine power to move. /And those engines have an automatic standby-and-quick-restart mode, too, to help her save fuel."
The ground stills.
"Huh."
Cameryn rolls her eyes. "You have absolutely /no idea how /awesome and /unique all of that is."
"Nope."
"Nada."
"None."
She heaves an enormous sigh. "Why do I bother talking to you three?"
"Because you li—/ow!"
No sound but waves lapping the sand.
"She's. so. awesome." Wistful sigh. 
"Someone's in love."
"Yea, I think I am. There's no more awesome machine on Earth."
"Thought all the Jaegers are awesome."
"Of /course, but the VS is just so /weird. It's /special."
"You like 'em weird, ay?"
"Just looking for a kindred spirit," chuckles Cameryn.
"Of course."
A companionable quiet.
"Sooooo ...," hazards Dan, "what're we gonna do now that the show's over?"
"She has to come back this way."
"Well, yea, but what if she passes farther out?"
"She can't. Strictly a shorebird, that one. Her armour can't handle deep water."
"That's kinda stupid for something that's supposed to fight sea monsters."
"What part of 'patrol unit' did you guys not understand?"
"We were supposed to be listening?"
"Ow!"
Cameryn huffs. "Patrol unit, yea, but it's not like she can't hold her own. Reinforced fingers and arm joints and her armour's light but strong. She just can't take the all-over pressure of deep water."
"I stand corrected."
"Speaking of fluids, we have anything to drink?" asks Brayden.
Dan says, "I brought—"
"Your taste in alcohol is sh—"
"/Oi!"
"Wear your comfy shoes, mate."
Dan sniffs, digs into his ice chest.
"Cam, /please tell me you brought something good."
"Got some high-class dishwater for you in the cooler."
"The same stuff as last time?"
"Better."
"Ooo. I like the sound of that." Toby liberates two bottles, hands one to Brayden, coos, "You're my favourite barkeep."
"I'd better be, Sparky." Cameryn retrieves and twists the lid off her preferred brand of green coke, sprawls, and waits for /Vulcan Specter to come back.
Category:Ficlet
Category:Sydney (setting)
Category:Cameryn
Category:Cameryn (ficlet)
Category:Cameryn's POV
Category:Cameryn is a Jaeger
Category:Toby
Category:Toby (ficlet)
Category:Brayden
Category:Brayden (ficlet)
Category:Dan
Category:Dan (ficlet)
Category:Jaegers
Category:Vulcan Specter (mention)
Category:Vulcan Specter (meta)
Category:Jackson (mention)
Category:Jackson is a nerd
Category:Ficlets with images