Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 106: Launch

A low whirring sound filled the room, and below Kothar felt a strong vibration from his electromagnetic sensors, and rose to his feet with a grin on his face.

"Already? It's only been a day. I know most of the parts were assembled, but this is impressive." Kothar was impressed, he had expected the jerry rigged gear to hamper Silane far more, of course this was nowhere near what her efficiency had been like when she had had access to hundreds of labs and robots to do her bidding, but it was impressive nonetheless.

[Thanks for the compliment, but why don't you get up here, so you can get in the cockpit, and we can take this machine for a spin.] Silane piped up, now that her full focus was no longer taken up with constructing the ship, she could get back to helping and sometimes harassing Kothar.

[My pleasure.] Kothar bounded up the tunnel that led to the room that he had taken all the basic components to, only a day ago. 

AS he emerged into the room, he was surprised by how regular the ship looked. Sure, it lacked a coat of glossy paint and all the bells and whistles that one usually saw on a space exploration vehicle. But if he had seen this ship amongst the Alliance fleet, he would have only given it a quick second glance, perhaps wondering why the pilot had neglected to have his ship painted.

The ship exactly matched the schematics that he had designed along with Silane, and stood on three struts near the center of the triangle that the cockpit and wings formed, dominating most of the room.

[Let's do this.] Kothar said simply, before sending a surge of energy to his Plasma Blade Unit, forming the Plasma into an enormous saw, donning his mask to shield him from the fumes.

Kothar cut away enormous chunks of the surrounding woods, the huge hunks of wood smoldering on the ground, leaving glowing red marks all along the walls.

He cut further and further downwards, before breaking through to the main hollow, chunks of wood and Kothar himself falling into the main cavern. 

The main entrance was more than large enough for the ship, and all Kothar needed to do now was to steer his way out of the winding passageway that led into his makeshift home.

Kothar sped back up to the robotic arms, and the waiting ship, Silane as eager as he was, maneuvered the robotic arms out of the way, and Kothar clambered into the cockpit.

[Can I take off this b******* helmet, I can't stand how it makes me look like a literal robot cosplayer.] Kothar grumbled, as he saw himself being reflected in the polished quartz of the cockpit window, the copper antenna bobbling as he buckled himself in.

[Come on Kothar, there are no droves of admiring citizens on this abandoned plane here to disappoint, neither are there any passersby that need to be impressed by the young Mage. Live a little.] Silane hadn't had this much fun teasing Kothar, she wished she had had some sort of understanding of humor when Kothar had been commander of the Sentinels, he had been such a stern and serious figure  then.

Kothar simply grunted aloud in response, and tugged the helmet off of his head, the electrodes leaving bright red circles on his half shaved scalp. Now, he just looked like he had lost a battle with an octopus.

[Yeah, now that looks sooo much better.] Silane said sarcastically, giggling away.

[You're lucky, I'm so happy about his finally being finished.] Kopthar smiled, Silane's antics were tiresome, but they never failed to eventually make him laugh.

Kothar gripped the paired throttles that would control the output to either thruster, and slowly pushed them up, the ship began to gently vibrate.

Then, imperceptibly at first, the ship began to slowly rise up into the air, eventually hovering in the wide space in between the many robotic arms.

[Come on!] Silane whooped and yelled with delight, this ship had been their most ambitious project yet, especially since Kothar had done the majority of the fabrication himself, only buying a few odds and ends from the Marketplace.

Kothar now gripped the paired joysticks, and gently pushed them forward, and the ship shook slightly, before stabilizing and slowly moving forward through the air.

As they emerged into the tunnel, Kothar reduced the thrust from the rotors so they would slowly descend into the main cavern, carefully steering around the piles of tools and debris that remained from his many failures.

Once they were in the main tunnel, Kothar sped up, as his confidence with piloting the craft grew, he whizzed through the main tunnel, expertly twisting around the sharp corners, Silane prompting him to reduce thrust and change the angles of rotors when necessary, keeping the ship as stable as possible.

Speeding through the tunnel, Kothar was brought back to one of his early missions, on WR-87 chasing after a pair of smugglers who had tried to pass themselves off as Senior Sentinels in an attempt to get access to a weapons cache, intending to sell the prized Titanite weaponry on the black market.

Back then he had been in a similar state to now, barely modified and augmented, and barely distinct from your average person on the outside.

As the missions had grown more difficult and serious, and his potential had truly been recognized, so had the modifications become more serious, before the greatest modification of all, the Starheart procedure.

Kothhar remembered seeing the schematics for the first time, and feeling sick, until Silane had instantly pumped a dose of antiemetic into his system.

The maiden voyage of his new ship now felt bittersweet, now that he had gun to remember the sacrifices he had made, and would have to make again, but he knew that they would all pay off in the end.

What should have been a majestic and breathtaking experience became slightly melancholy, as Kothar and his new ship soared into the open air of Atla, soaring high above the enormous trees that lined the banks of the stream he had d near for so many months, soaring high up into the air.