A handsome young man with messy white hair and dazzling blue eyes was perched atop the metal scaffolding, strategically placed around the towering steel giant before him. His hands, calloused from years of tinkering, wielded a ratchet with practiced precision as he reached into the toolkit by his feet. Currently, he was in the process of performing minor maintenance for a regular customer's mech.
The familiar smell of engine oil and grease permeated throughout the old workshop, a small detail that has grown less common due to the extensive air filtration systems in better equipped workshops. The aging metal walls were slowly accumulating a thin layer of rust and if the locals didn't know any better, the facility could've been mistaken as an abandoned hangar.
To Zephyr, it was home.
At first glance, one may ask: Was it really safe to trust a fourteen year old kid to work on a mech worth several tens of thousands of credits?
Under normal circumstances, certainly not.
Customers who were willing to discard their apprehension towards the idea of a kid working on their prized machine walked away with a fully tuned mech for less than half the price of any other competing workshop. Not a bad deal right?
"Zephyr, how much longer till my beauty's ready to show those thugs who's boss? I've got my sights set on that prize money this time!" called out a voice from below.
After tightening one final bolt, the young man wiped off a bead of sweat rolling down his face, smearing more dark lubricant over his face as a result.
"I finished just now. As long as you don't go against a mech with a flamethrower or outright get your mech's limbs torn off, that joint lubricant should be able to last for a couple of years give or take."
"Great!"
The one who spoke was a middle-aged man who appeared much too energetic for his age. His name was Daniel, but everyone called him Danny. Danny was simply put, a hobbyist. After a long day of work, he spent most of his spare cash on his own personal fighting machine. Not possessing any formal training in mech piloting, he and his fellow mech enthusiast piloted mechs for the fun of it.
Zephyr climbed down the scaffolding with practiced ease as he made his way towards Danny, ready to finalize the payment.
Holding out a tablet, Danny swept his wrist over it as a robotic voice rang out.
"400 credits have been transferred."
Danny revealed a bright smile revealing a row of yellowed teeth.
"This settles the payment, yeah? I'll stop by later to pick up my mech when the scaffolding is moved."
He turned around with a wave as he left the old workshop.
'After counting taxes and fluid costs, only about 180 credits remained…'
In any other workshop, the amount of work Zephyr had just performed should've at least gone upwards of a thousand credits. Thanks to his father's policy of maintaining low prices to attract customers, several hours of his day was wasted on what was essentially a week's worth of groceries.
"I'm never going to be able to enroll at a mech academy at this rate…"
After grumbling to himself a bit more, Zephyr began to clean up his father's messy workshop in earnest.
***
Mechs. They were humanoid steel giants originally created to defend against alien incursions. Old conventional weapons had too many restrictions, from terrain to armament, and even cost. Human infantry were too weak individually to make any impact in the war, while tanks were bulky and slow, only capable of being fielded in specific environments.
This led to the creation of a new type of weapon. A weapon with the adaptability of the human body as well as the defensive capabilities and firepower of a tank. Along with the advantage of requiring a single pilot, the age of mechs ushered in.
Media had done its job popularizing the weapon for the eyes of the masses, as defense contractors began designing their own iteration of the iconic machine. Fast forward nearly a thousand years later, mechs had proliferated into every inch of human space. From military uses, to civilian uses, to even an outlet for sports centered around mech pilots, there wasn't a day people could go by without seeing or hearing the word mech.
Although humanity had not quite fully conquered the Milky Way, over half the galaxy had been colonized during the conquest of the stars and even in the present, this endeavor continued.
As Zephyr finished wiping down the last worktable, he heard a familiar creak in the shop's rusty doors sliding open. Simply judging from the sound of their footsteps, he knew his father returned.
His father Keith was a pretty solidly built man with a similar appearance to Zephyr. With silver hair turning black in a few areas and carefree expression combined with his refined features, anyone could tell that Keith was an incredibly charismatic man in his younger years.
"How was business today? Not too hard I hope?"
Zephyr turned towards his father with a resigned look on his face.
"It was awful. Why do we have to keep our low rates? You know we don't get paid enough for our labor!"
His father gave him a rueful smile Zephyr knew all too well.
"Once we raise our prices, you know all of our loyal customers would rather get their maintenance done at a different workshop. They wouldn't have a reason to keep coming to our underequipped shop."
Zephyr snorted in disagreement.
"Loyal customers my ass. Even with outdated tools, we never had any issues with our repairs. If they were so loyal, they would pay us the amount we deserved!"
Ignoring his son's frustration, Keith looked at the sole mech sitting in the workshop.
"Looks like Danny stopped by today."
Although he knew his father was trying to change the subject, Zephyr let out a sigh and walked over the scaffolding knocking on it a few times in exasperation.
"Yep. All he needed was to get some new joint lubricant applied on his mech's shoulders and elbows. It wasn't too hard of a job."
Pausing for a moment he added, "The only annoying part is the scaffold assembly. When are we going to be able to afford installing in-floor lifts? It would save us so much time!"
Because mechs were so large, working on the upper parts of the body required either a lift or scaffolding. Scaffolding, although cheaper, was extremely time consuming to use. Most mech workshops nowadays had lifts installed in the floors that would be placed around where the mech sat. When performing repairs, mechanics would be able to raise themselves to their desired height with a touch of a button. When repairs were finished, they conveniently retracted back into the floor.
Normally scaffolding shouldn't take too much time either, but due to the small size of Vael's Workshop, they needed to disassemble the entire scaffolding and reassemble it when using it. Their workshop was only capable of working on two separate mechs concurrently after all.
"It's too expensive. Lifts aren't as reliable as scaffolding either. It would be pointless to install a cheap one, only to have it break down a couple months later."
Keith gazed at his sole son with a warm smile before ruffling his hair affectionately much to his displeasure.
"Are you planning on joining tonight's tournament?"
Zephyr glanced at Danny's mech behind him for a brief second before gently shaking his head.
"Although I won last time, we still didn't get the opportunity to repair your mech dad. I put too much stress on its legs so we might need to acquire some new ones before competing again."
His father rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Unfortunate. How about coming to watch anyway? Maybe place a few bets?"
Zephyr gave his father an incredulous look.
"Gambling? This is why we never have any savings! The only time you should gamble is when I'm participating! Are you trying to waste what little funds we have!?"
Keith held up both of his hands in defense.
"Now, now, why are you making it look like I'm trying to lose money on purpose? Don't worry kiddo, this time for sure we can make some quick cash."
With how his father was acting, Zephyr knew that if he didn't accompany his father tonight he would most definitely squander what little profits they made over the past week.
"Wait for me! I'm going for a quick shower. Don't you dare leave without me."
The workshop had living quarters situated on the far backside of the building. Originally, it was a mech hanger than Keith bought for cheap that he later outfitted into a proper workshop. Figuring it would simply be cheaper to live where he worked, the former storage areas were then renovated into a proper living space. There were even two floors!
Zephyr's room was on the second floor which had another entrance from a flight of steel stairs that also had a walkway that stretched across the entire outer perimeter of the workshop's second story.
After watching his son leave with a wistful smile, Keith began to disassemble the scaffolding.
***
A mere ten minute walk away from Vael's workshop, there were currently several mechs lined up in an abandoned construction area the locals now use to host small tournaments. The sun was just now beginning to set, the sounds of hydraulics and metal clashing filling the area.
"You better not lose, Toby! I've bet half my month's salary on you!"
"Joey, crush that pathetic mech so I can bring home my winnings!"
"Keep pushing forward! You've got him on the ropes!"
The father and son duo arrived at the scene, the usual boisterous atmosphere of the spectators drowning out the mech duel currently taking place in the center of a makeshift arena the locals had set up. Similar to sporting events, bleachers lined the sides filled to the brim with residents standing up and cheering for their favored contender.
"Why if it isn't the Vaels! We have some empty seats over here!"
Keith turned his head towards the voice before breaking out into a smile.
"Danny! It's good to see you!"
Zephyr slid into the seat next to his father as he began to watch the current duel in earnest. His focus lasered in as the conversations near him faded quietly into the background. His father had taught him that observing and analyzing was just as important as practicing. Aside from being Zephyr's mentor when it came to working as a mechanic, supposedly Keith was also formerly a mech pilot.
In the center of the arena, two light mechs clashed—one wielding a two-handed longsword, the other a one-handed battle axe and shield.
The swordsman mech charged forward with a downwards strike which the axeman mech deflected easily with his shield.
Zephyr frowned, disappointed.
'The second the swordsman mech attacked, his center of gravity prevented him from dealing a stronger blow.'
The shield the axeman mech wielded was thin in order not to disrupt the balance of the mech. A two handed swordsman mech should have had plenty of power to break past the shield. Yet, due to the lack of skill from the pilot, the fight was being dragged out.
Immediately after the strike was deflected, the axeman mech rushed forward to counterattack with a strike of his own which the swordsman mech narrowly avoided.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the fight continued on.
"Zephyr," Danny leaned over with a grin, "Your pops here just told me you won't be joining these tournaments for a while. Your mech is currently out on repair right?"
Zephyr glanced over without turning his head. He didn't like the sound of where this was going.
"Yep. Not to mention, I'm going to have to enroll in an online academy soon. I can't afford to fall behind on my studies."
Danny stood up from his seat and walked over to sit besides the young man.
He placed his arm around Zephyr like a snake coiling around its prey as he spoke in a low tone.
"Come on, don't be like that! How about you take my mech and we can split the profits fifty-fifty?"
Suppressing a snort of displeasure, Zephyr responded in the most polite tone he could muster.
"Last time I piloted your mech, I still had to pay for the repairs though."
"Why of course! Whoever damages it needs to pay right? It's common courtesy!" Danny replied with a sleazy smile.
"If it bothers you that much, just pilot it more carefully!"
Zephyr clicked his tongue no longer paying attention to Danny.
The battle in the arena was soon coming to an end. The swordsman mech was slowly getting pushed back, meter after meter with the axeman mech keeping up the pressure. The swings from the ax were messy at best, but nonetheless the pilot of the swordsman mech was visibly struggling to keep up.
"It looks like we have a winner," Keith mused.
Zephyr nodded in agreement. At this stage it would be difficult for the swordsman mech to mount a comeback. The pilot didn't have a decent grasp on the fundamentals which led to weak attacks and an even weaker defense.
As expected, after another few dozen exchanges, the axeman mech had handily disabled the swordsman mech's arms as the battle finally closed out prompting an eruption of cheers from the crowd.
"Joey, I knew I could count on you!"
"Good shit, Joey!"
"Ah, my savings!"
Around Zephyr, several spectators either pumped their fist in glee or had their heads downcast from the results of the match.
Shaking his head lightly at their reactions, Zephyr stood up ready to leave.
"I'm going home. Watching these matches is a waste of time."
Sometimes there would be good duels to watch and it served as great study material, but judging from the current duel that took place, it seemed like only rookies were participating today. Zephyr would much rather head home to prep for his online enrollment.
Keith watched as his son trotted off the bleachers leaving the block hurriedly.
"Make sure to close up the shop for me! Don't forget to finish your class registration too!"
Danny placed a hand on Keith's shoulder in understanding.
"Your son seems to be going through a rebellious phase of some sorts. Give him some time."
The older mechanic let out an exhausted sigh.
"Zephyr is just…frustrated. He wants to attend a mech pilot academy, but you know how tight my family's finances are. Just managing to keep our heads above the water is a struggle."
A moment of silence passed before Danny replied.
"A shame. He's got the talent for it too."
With that, the conversation ended. Danny knew he couldn't say much more, as he was one of those who took advantage of the Vael's low prices. Although Danny enjoyed the fact that he could get his mech maintained at an unbelievably low cost, even he wasn't shameless enough to bring up the fact that the reason Keith was struggling to get by was because of it.
After giving Keith a consoling pat on the back, Danny stood up to go collect his earnings from the earlier match.