20:45, X001 at 80%, Test run begins

Chris was called to the bridge of X001 as the War-Walker reached 80%, time for its first test.

"Scaffold control this is Chief Officer Lengrang, X001 is ready for first test, get Reaper, Landau, Pegasus and Omega squads to X001's launch bays. Oh and unlock the walker's bars" Chris said into the Comms pad on his command chair on X001's bridge, sitting with Haranka beside him.

The four squads docked at X001's fighter hangers and the scaffold unlocked the girders holding the War-Walker in place. The Power plants came fully online, the glowing scanner bars either side of the command deck shone a bright blue as power rushed through them, the searchlight between the two bars came on along with a multitude of lights all about the Walker. Everyone was gathered at the windows waiting with baited breath to see if the Walker would work.

"Helm", "Aye sir", "Lets go for a walk", "Very good sir", the short conversation on the bridge was played over the PA for everyone to hear

The Massive Machine whined, raised its forward left leg, and brought it down into the sand with a thud, scattering sand and dust halfway up its lower leg. Cheering broke out all along the scaffold as the metallic creature began to walk, slowly passing by the windows as it stepped away from the scaffold and towards the Training area. On X001's bridge exited yells and whoops of joy were heard all around the command deck, the helmsman grinning below his headgear as he walked the machine away from its birthplace.

Upon reaching the training area the command Tower greeted the War-Walker and began its systems training, giving the Wetware CPU a workout, the command crew sitting back as the internal systems were given their tests.

"You know Chris, this beast needs a name, maybe you'll think of one during the party they'll throw us when we get back to scaffold" Said Haranka in Chris' ear

Chris thought, a machine such as this needed a good name; it couldn't be referred to by its project number, X001. But what to call such a monolithic creation? Colossus? That sounded good but is didn't seem right, he sighed, a good name would come to him in time but now it was their turn for training.

"This is training control, you these are your objectives; 1) Resource collecting and processing needs to be tested, to do this you need to harvest the resources provided and use those to construct a second resource gatherer, the plans have been uploaded to build section's CPU cortex. 2) Test fighter strength, you need two squads to do the training course, you choose, they will be evaluated on formations, tactics and effectiveness. 3) Test Helm control, you got here but that's a straight line from the Scaffold, you will be required to take the Walker through the assault course provided, we know the limits of the Walker, we just need to discover the limits of its pilot. That is all for now, you'll get more objectives depending on your completion of the current ones" came the voice of training control

Chris sent everyone to work, completing the first two objectives in a considerably short amount of time, the engineering crew managing to tweak the Gatherer's design specs to make it faster and more endurable before fabricating the second, corvette sized Resource Gatherer. Landau and Omega squads completed their trials with hardly any mishaps, and then came the Walker's assault course. The behemoth Strode towards its destination, the helmsman preparing himself for the ordeal that lay ahead.

Chris went over to the man and patted his shoulder, "don't worry, you'll do fine. This course is only to measure your ability at the beginning of your career here" the encouragement obviously cheering the helmsman up Chris moved back to his seat, pressing the button to toggle the PA system, "All hands, we are about to begin the manoeuvrability assault course, my advice is to grab hold of something, Bridge out"

The Walker began the course, dodging the obstacles, round and under, spinning to avoid moving obstructions, rock glancing off the armour as the helmsman made his way along the course, all eyes on him, willing him on by force of will alone. The walker made it to the end and the bridge cheered the Helmsman

"What's your name son?" Chris asked the hero of the hour

"It's Sean sir" Sean replied

The Comms crackled and Training Command came through the speakers, "Well done Helmsman, good job. Chief, your gonna like this one, you have been authorized to test the weapon systems, destroy the targets, the go home, Training Command out"

A smile crept across Chris' face; he had studied the weapon specs during the construction phase and was looking forward to seeing them perform. The War-Walker had two massive Hydra cannons on the ends of its two arms, powered by their own solar blades attached to the rear of the cannons, two cannons on the shoulders and multiple turrets studding the body at intervals.

The Walker strode up to the firing range, the guns ready and charging, Chris called all gunnery stations, "Gunnery stations, you are going to have to work now, we get to do a little target practice, choose and fire, show me what this thing can do"

The targets appeared, remotely controlled facsimiles of Confederation war machines, Hoverins and Pacers, tanks and fighters, and even their mightiest machine, the hovering gunships known as Skimmers. The walker destroyed them all, both hydra cannons blasting into the Skimmer as an explosive finale.

The walker returned to the scaffold amidst the cheers of its population for a successful test run, Sean turning the War-Walker around and manoeuvring it into the scaffold backwards to the cheers of the crowds both on scaffold and onboard the Walker itself. The party and Chris ended up stood on a couple of girders above the head of the Great Machine, he had been thinking and had found a name that suited.

"Now that its operational I believe the War-Walker should drop its Project number, it is no longer simply X001, that is just its serial number, I herby name it, Monolith" and with that he dropped the bottle of wine onto the Walker, Monolith