For many her first assignment may have seemed like a bore particularly for those that had boiling blood or craved getting into the mix straight away. A team of archaeologists working on a site in an underground city discovered what was believed to be some sort of mecha. It was still half buried and there was no telling what sort of damage it had suffered or if it was suitable for use in the ADD.

So the ADD sifted through those with strong tech backgrounds. Luna was off base and Alex was still MIA with some unconfirmed data as to her whereabouts or if Goro was the culprit even behind things. So the assignment came her way. Pretty much check it out, see what sort of damage it suffered if any and make a note of the repairs.

She was assigned a ship for this mission, given some contact information for Doctor Andrews and coordinates to locate the team. They were probably underground at the dig site or would have someone meet her on the landing pad she had all the information to make contact.

The team of archaeologists found the mecha by accident and since they had no use for it and lived under the protection of the ADD they reported it to them. And so the information was past along until she received it.

Instead of weapons being assigned to her she was given whatever equipment she would need for working beneath ground. Extra glow rods, a breathing mask, a tracking beacon in the event she got lost and so forth along with any reasonable gear she needed such as rope, climbing kit and tools for excavation. They would grant her permission to carry a blaster pistol but not a rifle. A rifle may have been too bulky and the assignment wasn't taking her into a war zone or even a remote world for that matter.

Kenzie bounced around in the cockpit of her ship as she entered atmosphere, giddy with excitement over being assigned to such a project. It wasn’t a combat mission and nobody else had WANTED it, but to the green agent it was almost a dream come true. An ancient mech of some sort, in need or repairs likely… who knows what sort of tech it might have on board!

She had managed to distract herself in the trip to the planet by integrating what gear she could with her suit. The breather she had merely made run off her suit’s power supply, but the tracking beacons she had fully integrated into her communication system and could paint digital “Breadcrumbs” on the ground or walls to find her way around if needed. Of course, none of that really seemed necessary to her, since there wasn’t any conflict in this area, and she’d considered not even bringing the blaster pistol with her, but attached a thigh holster as she got bored of waiting for the ship to land and slid the weapon in. She had the glow sticks arrayed around a belt over her suit, and the simple rope over one shoulder… she was ready! That said, she made a note to find some means of constructing a grappling hook into her gauntlet. That’d be neat, she thought to herself, still geeking out as the ship landed and she bounced out of the exit hatch beneath it, looking around for whoever was supposed to greet her…

After making contact with the planet she had been given coordinates to set down upon by flight control once she relayed her business. Being here to see Dr. Andrews and ultimately the uncovered mech they directed her to set down on a landing pad of an office rather than the star port. It was easier and closer to her destination.

A young man greeted her and the color here seemed a bit off, everything had a red tinge and the star they orbited was massive but red. It wasn't overly warm though and the gravity here was standard.

A middle aged man met with her. Green eyes studied her, it was clear that he was impressed with what he saw or not expecting such. He smiled though when seeing the glow rods. “I don't think you'll need those. I'm Doctor Andrews, obviously you are the agent the ADD sent.” He had paused long enough for introductions but moved on once they had been conducted or if she was not going to supply him with a name.

“Come inside. May I supply you with any refreshments?” He offered once he had lead her to his office. It was the sort of place she would have expected from a professor. Artifacts from digs perhaps decorated the place, a shelf of actual books rather then the convenience of storing that information on a datapad indicated the collection of old works.

He did have a computer here and there was a chair opposite the desk. Offering her a set he would use an intercom to contact a droid to get those refreshments if they had been desired. He would fill her in briefly about the dig, mainly the mech since that was the reason why she was here.

“The machine is about half buried. It was by luck that we uncovered it too. There was a minor tremor that put a crack in a wall that we did not even realize was a building but it was a mess in there.”

Kenzie tried to calm herself long enough to be professional as she walked (briskly) up to the man greeting her. “Dr. Andrews! So nice to meet you, I’m Agent Kenzie Sands. Yes! I’m a newer agent but I have a background in engineering and a knack for… well I hate to say tinkering but that’s what it is.” She smiled, clasping her hands in front of her and rocking on her heels a bit like an excited schoolgirl.

The agent followed after him quickly as he headed away from her ship towards what she would find to be his office. “Oh… if it’s not too much trouble some water would be great. Recycled water from the ship keeps you hydrated but… well it’s pretty stale.” She admits, still (constantly) smiling shyly, though with a barely contained exuberance.

She took a look around his office as they settled and he ordered the droid to get some water, though paid attention the moment he started talking. “I see… well, I’m sure you have the equipment to uncover the rest if I understand your operation right. I’ll just… to figure out what it is, if it’s useful, and make sure it’s not dangerous of course.” She offered, clearly wanting to see it but… not wanting to be rude either. “Is there a lot of seismic activity that I should be concerned about? And do we know much about the civilization around the mech? That might give me some clue as to its purpose…” She asked, more interested than she usually would be about history.

She was unable to hide that excitement and he smiled, knowing the feeling of being in love with his particular field of work. He ordered up the water and studied her for a moment. His eyes remained focused on that face, he reflected on what to tell her, what would be interesting and what would be boring to a young field agent going back to his earlier years.

He had slowed down some. So eager back then but he had learned pacing early on. His work had to be done with care after all. His breakthroughs had been slow but his work had been sufficient.

“No, the seismic activity in these parts happens to be rare. I think the recent earthquake was a result of something being triggered. I have no proof of this but one of my team had been attempting to power up some relic computers we uncovered at the time so it seems likely that he triggered something. Perhaps initiating the mecha into activating that caused the activity.

“Damage was fairly minimal and the earthquake allowed us to find the mech. It is mostly buried but we could free it with effort. My sponsors don't cover that but you're free to bring in your own team to extract it, if that proves to be in the interests of you commanders.

“The head is free and the top contains a hatch into the cockpit but I felt it too dangerous to toy around with seeing that it's activation could ruin the sight.”

The droid interrupted with the water, a newer model she would not though it was a sophisticated one as far as storing lots of information.

“As far as the culture goes we are at a loss in a way. It is a lost advance civilization. Myers is over 1,000 years old but so far we've uncovered tech that is on par with ours though there are a few exceptions. Notably the power sources, we can still activate them in many cases and it eludes us as to how they powered their tech.

“The tales state that Myers was advanced in it's time but sank due to an enormous sink hole. A sink hole large enough to draw in a city tells me that they had to be experimenting with something. Centuries past and the city was buried and forgotten until I stumbled upon enough clues to point my exploration in the right direction.”

He smiled at her. Those had been the cliff notes and he realized that she had to be eager to get started. “But I won't keep you for long. This is the part where I offer you a bit of rest after tour travels but I see that you are eager to get started, shall I bring you to the sight?”

Kenzie listened intently to everything he had to say, blushing and apologizing for assuming he could help with the recovery. “Of course, I’ll just have to convince them it’s worth preserving!” She said with a smile. The water was nothing short of spectacular when it came… she hated the idea of drinking recycled water but you had to make do in space.

“That makes sense, with the quake being caused by startup. I hope it’s not related to the sinkhole theory but… guess we’ll find out. I’ll be sure to be careful before activating any systems… wouldn’t want to put your dig in jeopardy or anything!”

“Yeah! If you don’t mind, I’d love to take a look right now… being stuck in a ship gets me down, and I’m definitely not tired now.” She giggled, already standing up from the table and hoping he’d show her the way.

“I don't think we'd have to worry about other sinkholes,” he grinned and stood. He showed her out of the office and before long she was transported her by vehicle to the dig site. There was a cave that they drove into stopping at a check point where a pair of goggles had been obtained for the pair. The goggles allowed her to see as if there was light though everything was tinged green. They drove deeper until they no longer could go any further and had to use ladders to climb down.

She found herself in the subterranean city. There were two smaller carts here. Being into tech she could tell that they were simple vehicles that were probably assembled down here. Being that they were exploring the city it was convenient to have a means to transverse the city. He drove them to a building where she could see a large stone that didn't look like a wall but there was a sizable crack in it, big enough for her to maneuver through. When getting closer to it see could peer inside. From what she could see it opened up onto a catwalk. Looking she saw the later the descended down. It seemed that the rock was some sort of artificial covering. There was a a hole in it where she could see the ceiling of the cavern though she could not see down, she would have to go out onto the cat walk for that.

"It's at the bottom. It looks as if there was a cave in from the ceiling though it could have sunk all that time ago from the sinkhole too.” Andrews add before gesturing her to take a look.

Kenzie waited as patiently as possible on the trip over, trying not to overload him with questions and remembering that the Dr. had other reasons for being out here. She let the goggles snap to the back of her head and tucked her hair over the strap, flicking them on and following again as if this were nothing new to her.

As they approached the cave in site, she took in the size of the hole, the area, everything she could, though she was more excited to see the actual machinery. It took little prodding to get her to go out onto the catwalk and peer down into the darkness below. “How big is this thing anyways?” She asked. The details in the report had been sparse and “a hatch in the head” made her presume that her initial idea of a smaller mecha was inaccurate.

He followed her in and gazing down she saw that the place resembled a missile silo. She could easily believe that the boulder covering was some sort of camouflage that possibly opened allowing the mecha out. About sixty feet below she could see the head of the think surrounded from the collapsed stone. Judging by the size of the artificial structure the thing had to have sunk so long ago as the rubble from the ceiling wouldn't be enough to bury all that much of it.

Andrews shook his head. “I don't know how big it is.” But judging from what she saw it had to be big. The head had to be as large as the Statue of Liberty. While not American she was Canadian and knew about it. Assuming the rest of it was in proportion to the head it was likely 100' or more meaning it had to have sunk into the ground a fair bit in the past.

“But I'll leave you to it.” Andrews smiled then suddenly remembered something. “The ground may be unstable though after all this time I would think that all the weak areas would have collapsed. Still ...”

He unfastened his belt turning it over to her. “It has anti-grav. The clearance isn't the best, perhaps a meter clearance but once your down there you can get to the head easy enough. You should be safe enough in the mecha. I doubt it will sink any further but you could use that belt inside too to keep from adding any additional weight.”

He showed her how to activate the belt. Simple enough there was an on/off bottom but it was hidden. He then asked if she had a communicator on her so he could come back and pick her up once she had finished.

The agent peered into the chasm where the mecha was… stored? Had settled? It seemed difficult to tell, though a combination of both seemed likely. “Oh… wow. Not what I was expecting. Probably still something I can handle but it might take longer than I expected.” She admits. “Or I can call in some help from the directorate.” She muses, mostly to herself, suddenly remembering that she wasn’t alone.

“Ah, right, I’ll watch my step. I should be fine… the armor tends to prevent twisted ankles, or I would have hurt myself a lot more by now!” She laughed, and took the belt as he offered it to her. She’d used one or two of these in training but not really in a practical setting yet, and listened attentively as the Doctor explained how to use it.

“Yes, I have communications built into my suit here…” She said, syncing up a channel for them if either required it. “And ah… I guess I’ll get to work. Let me know if you need anything from me though, Dr. Andrews! I’m good with fixing things and the Directorate owes you even if they likely won’t admit it.” She laughs, before activating the belt and trying to get a feel for it… hovering a bit on the bridge before pushing off and slowly dropping herself down towards the mech…

“Well, there's no need to rush. Take your time and if you must contact others then do so. I'll be certain to keep that in mind.” He smiled at the offer and watched her at work as she made the descent. His eyes widened briefly when she dropped from the cat walk. The belt would not work that far from the ground and she fell like a stone but rather than hitting the ground the belt kicked in a meter from it halting her descent.

Youth. He should have known that a techie would know what they could get away with. He would have climbed down and turned on the belt when close to ground level but he learned a new use of the belt making a note that he could fall a great distance if the belt was on and it would just kick in. He looked down from the railing to ensure that she was safe. He smiled again, waved down at her and departed.

The mech looked like it was light green with the goggles though that was probably not the color. At the top of it was a closed hatch that opened as she neared as if it was motion sensitive. That was easy to test as she could simply move back and see it close then forward with it opening again. A ladder went down to the cockpit where there was a large seat and a computer monitor opposite it that had no problem.

The hatch closed again once she was inside and there was a click, she had been sealed inside. There didn't seem to be any other systems powered up at the time so it may have been a means of locking her in so others could not simply enter to get at the pilot.

The arm rests of the chair had all sorts of buttons that seemed to control the monitor.

Kenzie yelped a little as she dropped like a stone… she had no idea it was going to do that… she’d never trained more than a few meters off the ground. She tried to play it off cool and waved back to the doctor before shaking a bit and descending further towards the mech. “Right… one near death experience down…” She whispered to herself, nearing the hatch and inspecting it, figuring out the motion sensing technology that the door was reliant upon.

That bored her, however, so she climbed into the hatch and quickly found the pilot’s chair, not too worried about the sealing hiss behind her. She was sure there was a way out, or in, or some such. It would be rather foolish to make a cockpit with no way to get out.

She deactivated the belt and sat in the pilot’s chair, taking her time and inspecting all of the buttons, seeing if she could make sense of anything. She didn’t want to just power it up and risk collapsing some of the dig site… or blowing it up for that matter. It was very likely this was a weapon of war, she reminded herself. And yet, for an “ancient” civilization, it seemed remarkably modern. The labeling was of course, all different, and there were differences in the architecture, though she started identifying controls fairly rapidly…

She had been able to make more sense out of the controls by sitting. It seemed that the controls had been designed to be used with ease when seated. Many of the buttons were different colors and unmarked at least those on the left arm rest. The same went for those on the right but they had been all one color and the raised bumps on each stood out better on the silver backing. The others had them too but in many cases they blended in and it took more of an effort to see them but she could feel each raised groove just fine.

At first she guessed that the species had been blind then wondered why some buttons were different colors if that had been the case. Without power supplied to it she had to get an intuitive feel for where she would place controls herself.

The more she looked though the more she seemed to make sense out of it or at least felt she had. Then all of a sudden the monitor became active. She was seeing the room she had just been in though it was fixed as if she was seeing through the eyes of the mech. Sub screens popped up at the bottom and corners too and there were all sorts of alien readings, numbers or words that didn't seem to make much sense at least at first. It was strange indeed, the more she looked and tried to make sense of things the clearer they seemed. Letters and numbers began replacing what was there or at least it seemed that way. The script eventually became galactic basic.

One box monitored her own vitals as if some sort of internal sensors had been activated. Another contained the status of the mech itself. Weapons available and so on. It appeared that the mech itself took some damage but was still sitting at over 70% of full capabilities. It was fully armed too she found. Equipped with missiles, lasers and even a blade. It could even unleash chaff to throw off sensors.

It's sensors had various modes too. One that could sweep for life signs, another that had been configured to seismic scans, even one that used X-rays. The weapons were controlled by the colored buttons and the silver allowed her to toggle things like sensor settings, movement and such though she had refrained from movement. As far as she could tell it wasn't fully powered up, that the computers just activated independent of other systems.

In any case it was a field day working this all out. It was more intuitive as far as how it worked. She seemed to know which buttons did what as if that knowledge was being transplanted into her or it was just logical that this would do that after reading those gauges.

She would be at it for a bit though. It seemed that there were no shortage of things that the mech could do. She discovered that it could even operate underwater or even in space though it could not launch itself into space itself. Operating time in such environments had been a few hours as the mech had it's own life support that was cut off from the outside.

Three hours or so she figured though she was unsure it was a bit. Before she could find out for certain her communicator went off interrupting her. It was Dr. Andrews of course. “You seem to be enjoying yourself. My team has just uncovered something that seems a bit out of place, mind taking a look?”

Kenzie jumped a little as the machine sprang to life, or at least the cockpit monitors. When she realized it was only displays, and the internals of the mecha hadn’t actually activated, she relaxed a bit, and began to study. Unfortunately, it seemed to be displaying in some sort of language she didn’t understand… perhaps if Dr. Andrews…

Before she could even finish the thought, the machine seemed to pick up on this, and changed its programming to display in galactic basic, which always seemed hilariously close to English to her, given that humans, let alone English speaking ones, were so new on the galactic scene. At any rate, it made things easier, and she began to record notes into her armor’s communication system.

“Mecha seems to have powered on display subsystems as a result of pilot presence… main systems thankfully remain inert for the time. Systems are impressive and diverse, and definitely designed for combat. Personal note… not sure what you would need something this big to fight, except another mech.” She laughed.

The rookie agent eagerly proceeded to take notes over all the features she uncovered… underwater capabilities, operation in a vacuum, various sensor arrays… she was almost going to test the sensors when her communicator started beeping. Answering the call, she was surprised to hear the doctor’s voice already… or had she been down here for a while? She sometimes lost track of time when she got to tinkering.

“Yeah… alright, I’ll make my way back up.” She offered, not sure what else she’d be interested in… something related to the mecha? She wasn’t sure. At any rate, the agent activated the anti-gravity belt again and used it to assist her climb back up. Fortunate that he’d given her the device… she had certainly passed all the physical tests for the directorate but she still felt she was less physically adept than a lot of the agents, who she saw as superheroes. Finally she had reached the catwalk again… considerably slower than the descent had been.

The hatch beeped again as she neared it, unlocking and allowing her to exit. She could be certain now that it locked to prevent others from getting inside while it was occupied at least. There was probably a means in locking it too if a pilot left for whatever reason, perhaps to explore an area too small for the impressive mech. It was huge, bigger than the ones she saw it most Anime, which were only about a fourth the size.

What could it be used for? Was it a deterrent like a nuke? No one messed with the society because they had this but if that was the case did they rule out of fear or did others half similar tech to maintain a checks and balances? Climbing back up she found that Dr. Andrews had already been waiting for her outside. “You're going to love this.” He smiled. Bringing her to the site they were currently working on she found it was close. For them to have discovered the mech in the first place it had to be close. There were a few others inside a building that seemed well intact.

A pair had been observing a droid . It was pretty much a black sphere. Dr. Andrews allowed her to have a look. It had a few retractable items a grasper claw for manipulating things, internal storage that held test tubes and a smaller laser that wasn't much of a weapon but more of a tool she gathered. It had extendable sensor ports and other small tools.

A probe droid meant to obtain samples and the like it seemed though the model was unfamiliar to her. The sensors were sophisticated. But there didn't seem to be any damage to the droid at all … odd.

“This wasn't the interesting thing,” Dr. Andrews said from behind her after a time. He had allowed her to tinker a bit before drawing her attention further down the hall.

The building consisted of long halls and large rooms. One such room looked to have a retractable roof. There was a cat walk and three other mech's that appeared green with the goggles. They were smaller though, about a fourth of the size of the other. Unlike the other these weren't buried. There had been all sorts of maintenance equipment here and computers. Nothing was powered up presently though given the batteries of the old civilization that shouldn't be tough to drum up. Lights and other factors.

All in all this reminded her of some sort of hanger for the mechs.