"I think the worst thing about that crazy evil dictator woman," Jake said, "Is that if I'd even had Scrapper here, I could have taken her."
Whether or not that was true was an entirely different matter, but Jake could visualize it, at least. He frowned at his general uselessness during that fight, and then looked up at Zeke who was doing something with the tech in his jaeger, his mood lifting as he observed the other man who was clearly in his element. They were in the control center, and Jake was off to the side and staying out of the way until he was needed.
"So I'm still working out a name." Ezekiel had mentioned that issue to him and Jake had no qualms with changing it. "I don't plan on piloting it so it's harder to think of something." He punctuated that thought by taking another oreo from the package and biting down thoughtfully.
“Uh huh,” came Zeke’s reply from where he was working under one of the side consoles that controlled the HUD. “I’m sure you would have kicked her ass, mate.” The words were said with a distracted tone.
The Conn-Pod was a mess, from where Ezekiel had stripped control panels down so he could see how everything was connected and what did what. Jaegers were unique in that there were no two that were alike. They all followed basic protocols to make them work - each had a Conn-Pod that acted as the control center and cockpit for two to three pilots and the Conn-Pods were detached, for the most part, until they were ready to be deployed from the Drivesuit Room, but each had its unique wiring and each Jaeger usually had one dedicated J-Tech team to work on their systems.
So it wasn’t a surprise that Ezekiel hadn’t yet gotten too far, in mapping out the systems of Jake’s Jaeger. It was still just him by himself, but he was planning on talking to Jake about the team he was thinking of recruiting. “Have you ever thought about testing for compatibility with someone else?” He asked, as he rolled out from under the panel he had been digging into on a creeper trolley. “So that you could potentially pilot this thing again?” Sitting up, he wiped his greasy hands across his chest, leaving stains on the raggedy work shirt he used when he didn’t want to get his regular clothes dirty.
"Oh I've thought about it," Jake said. "Had someone interested but they've since disappeared." He offered Ezekiel a shrug. "The process is so invasive. Without a reason to actually pilot this thing I'd almost worry about why someone was signing up."
Another oreo. He was going to go through the entire package while Ezekiel worked.
"That is, of course, unless they just really wanted to pilot a giant battle robot, because I could understand that. Who wouldn't?"
Ezekiel understood the suspicion that came with why someone would so easily offer up their mind like that, but luckily for him, he would never have to worry about that. No one was going to get in his head like that. Ever. He was just happy to work on the tech that came along with all of this. “Yeah, I mean, we got enough nutters in this place that would want a go in the giant battle robot, mind fuckery or not. But don’t worry, once I get a decent map on the systems on this thing, I’ll combine it with what I helped come up with for Starfleet and we’ll get you a solo piloted robot.”
Pulling his legs up and propping his arms up on his knees, Zeke added, “Which, speaking of, I think I have a dream team that I want to work with if you want to hear some names and either veto or not?”
Jake wasn't sure he'd even recognize any of the names, but he nodded. "Yeah, sure. Who's on your dream team?" Since Zeke seemed to be taking a break, Jake offered him a cookie.
Taking the offered cookie, Zeke started listing names. Lifting one finger, he started, "Doc McCoy for the biotech aspect. He's worked with Cerebro in his world, which links minds with technology. He's a good candidate to be the lead for the neural bridge tech, which is sort of key to everything really." Second finger. "Then we have Morgan Yu. Neuroscientist and tech head. Ethics of his original self are kind of funky, but he's sort of a whole new guy these days and is on the right side, thanks to an alien upgrade and sketchy experiments done on him."
Biting into the cookie now and chewing, he lifted a third finger. "Murderbot. Security unit with sentience that gained free will. Really good with code." And yet another finger went up. "Brigitte. Mechanical engineer. Specializes in armor, but can do hell of a lot more than that." And now all five fingers were raised. "Aloy, for ethics checks. I'm fully capable of not becoming an evil scientist through this project, but a little insurance wouldn't hurt. Plus, she's new and I think it would be nice to include her." The cookie was long gone by now and Zeke held out a hand for another one, making 'gimme!' motions. "What do you think?"
Jake handed over two more oreos, and then nodded. "Yeah that all sounds good. But how much is this gonna cost me?"
He had the money to pay a crew to create a new jaeger for him, but they sure didn't know that. Of course, he'd heard of money showing up from back home and no one here knew that he didn't have access to that kind of cash back there. And the crew Ezekiel listed off all sounded pretty good, just based on their assumed roles, if they were all interested. Jake was trying to keep his expectations low, but the idea of having his own working jaeger was enticing.
Because with something like Scrapper? He could have taken that crazy lady down.
“I can run numbers for you and they’ll probably all have their own thoughts on pay and compensation. It’s not going to be cheap though. But I can also kick in funds for it. I’ve done a lot of contract work for some very rich people so I have a stash. I’ll work for free, so long as I get to use the tech how I want it, outside of the Jaeger program. Again, not evil scientist stuff, but I like to create things and this tech can help with that,” Ezekiel explained, as he pulled one of the Oreos apart and licked the cream filling off. “Oh, you’d also have to buy all my pizzas for like the next six months. But that’s all I really need.” It would not be the first time Ezekiel worked for pizza and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
"Right, so, I'll work on funding. Maybe Vallo will gift me money the way it's given me this base and my jaeger?" He said that last bit louder, looking at the ceiling of the Conn-Pod, as if putting it out there. "Would make me three for three, after all. I got some other ideas though. Can you gauge interest? And the pizzas won't be a problem, mate. Neither will the tech."
He'd offered that to Ezekiel when the base showed up, essentially, though now he was second guessing himself as the other man mentioned he wouldn't go evil scientist for the second time in a minute. Briefly he questioned what his father would have thought, if he did show up and found strangers working on a jaeger, with Jake having allowed it. Probably a lot different than if he showed up and it was Mako.
But for now his father's double standards were a moot point, and Jake was eager to have something he could pilot in case he had to fight another crazy woman turned dragon. Being useless in that fight had really bothered him.
Ezekiel didn’t do social interactions very well. He had lived a pretty unique life and talking to people? Reassuring them of his intentions? Never was a thing for him before. So he didn’t realize by trying to reassure Jake, he was doing the exact opposite.
Thankfully, Jake seemed to have gotten used to him enough that he knew he wasn’t evil. “Alright. I’ll work on them, you work on the money, and we’ll reconvene about this soon, yeah? Anything else we need to go over?”
"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Just, you know, clean up after." Ezekiel had access to a lot of the base, yet another thing Jake's father would probably disapprove of. But they weren't at home, and they weren't at war.
"If you need anything, you know how to reach me. Even if it's just to message me to send the next pizza your way." He flashed the other man a grin. "I appreciate this."
“What, not sticking around to look pretty and hand me things?” Zeke asked, grinning. He appreciated how easy Jake was about everything, about letting him have access to this place and tech. It was the first time in a long time that Ezekiel felt…content. Working for Starfleet and the Jaeger program had been one of the happiest times in his life and to have a piece of that back, well, he felt a little sappier than normal.
"I mean, I thought you were telling me you needed me gone," Jake said, handing over another oreo before taking another for himself. "I guess I can stick around and be useful. I'm already pretty."