Rise of the Rebellion
The Rebel Alliance => Support Services => Topic started by: GM Craig on March 08, 2018, 07:29:57 PM
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You are kept pretty busy for the next couple of days. Danny does take a moment to thank you for your work with the Dantarii tribe, but it was a quick meeting over caf.
The whole place is really busy, and the technical staff are pressed to double shifts. Apparently deadlines have been moved up and you need to be ready to house troops weeks earlier than anticipated.
After a few days of 'round the clock work, Danny pulls you aside.
"Keshani, we've got a problem. We've got a well drilled, but the auquafir isn't able to provide the water in sufficient quantity. We need a secondary water source, and the infrastructure to bring it to camp. Do you think you can take the lead on this? Find a stable water source, get a purifier constructed, and build a pipeline to provide water at the site?"
She pauses. "This is a big project. If we can't get a stable water supply, we're going to have to abandon this site, and all the work we put into it."
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"This is a big project. If we can't get a stable water supply, we're going to have to abandon this site, and all the work we put into it".
The now familiar feeling of terror surfaced inside of her, turning her stomach like a thousand butterflies were suddenly flying around inside it.
The now familiar fear of having others depending on her.
Only, it wasn't *quite* as bad as before.
There was a small bit of something else, as well - a feeling that maybe she could actually do this?
Someone had to do it, and apparently Danny thought she was the one who could get it done.
And they needed it.
So she would.....
And so she found herself nodding.
"What gear do we have to help find water sources? What mapping has already been done?", she asked.
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She pulls up a datapad. "I can give you a couple of survey droids, and a transport. We have limited manufacturing capabilities for things like piping. I'd prefer the purifier was located here, but if that is not possible, we can deploy it remotely with the security droids and monitoring. You can take some security if you think you need it, but we're a little thin in that area."
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She thought about that for a minute.
"Has there been any remote mapping done already to give me a direction to start? It seems like some sort of aerial mapping would provide a lot more information than on the ground...."
She thought to herself how useful having a high tech drone would be to things like that, and thought about the remote that she had been working on for the past few weeks. She didn't think it was anywhere near up to the job yet, but maybe some day....
"As for security, could I at least take one person with me? Someone to help keep an eye on....uh...my back, so to speak?"
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She nods. "Sure, take a volunteer or two - whomever you like. And grab rations and field gear from the Quartermaster. I expect this might take a few days, unless you already have ideas."
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An idea popped into her head.
"Hey!", she said, a little louder than she meant to, "There was a river not far from the village that we just were at. It ran from the droid factory to the village which is why so many of the people there were sick."
She thought for a minute.
"I think there should be enough water flowing through there to take part of it but still leave enough for the villagers to use.
"Since the source of the radiation was stopped the water should be clean soon, and if we had something to treat it with it would be cleaned even faster....and maybe there's even stuff in the droid factory that we could use to build a pipeline. And maybe even droids that we could kinda re-purpose to help dig and build the pipeline?"
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Danny raises an eyebrow, but smiles.
"I'll leave you to it then. We're short on technical staff, but if you need more resources let me know."
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Her head swam for a minute with all the things she would need to do.
First, she needed to see if they had anything that could purify the water.
Then she would need to find someone to go with her. She COULD go by herself, but it seemed like a good idea to have someone along to watch her back....
THEN she would need to head out to where the river was with the survey droids to try to figure out where the best place would be to tap the river for water. The closer to the source they could get the water, the purer it would be, but depending on where that was, it may mean a longer pipeline. If there some someplace closer and they could purify it on their end....
And then there was the whole thing of the droid factory and any materials that she could scavenge to help save the Rebellion from using THEIR resources (and maybe she could press a few droids into service?)
Her head swam again and she found herself wishing that there was someone here at the base that she could at least run some ideas past before she headed out. Only there really wasn't. Which was kinda scary on its own.
Shaking her head she headed off, first to the supply area to see what they had gear wise to clean the river of the rest of the toxins from the breaking down nuclear reactor and to pull some survey droids to come with her, and then to go ask Holler for advice on someone to go with her....
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You spend the rest of the day scrounging and taking inventory. Options are fairly limited, but you could fabricate a pumping station without too much trouble. Pouring the water of contaminants would be a different issues. You have a few options.
One is to build a purifier that breaks the water down into hydrogen and oxygen, then burns that while collecting the resulting condensation. It would be relatively low yield, and require significant power.
You could rig a multistage filtration system. That would be better for yield, but would require a more powerful pump, which requires more power. You could probably rig that up with what you have on site, but it would take power away from construction, which might slo down the entire build.
However, there is are trading stations on planted. The settlers here are widely scattered, and much of the planet is untouched older new, but there are a few trade stations that serve the settlers. You might be able to find something at one of those trade stations. Your information suggests the locals lack raw resources, and manufacturing. Both of those things you have her, so you might be able to trade for what you need. Some of the larger farms would have large-scale irrigation facilities, and a setup like that would be a direct route to setting up a stable after supply, including both purification and high-capacity pumps. This would make this option the fastest, and most likely to meet the needs of the base.
However, the community is fairly insular, and does not get a lot of outsiders beyond the occasional trader arriving at a trade station from off planet. Going this route, while fastest, carries some risk of spawning uncomfortable questions that the rebels would prefer never get asked.
Risks and rewards...
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Kesh sat down with a cup of caf thinking about her options.
The original problem was that the aquifer that was drilled isn't able to provide enough water. So the whole splitting oxygen and hydrogen thing seemed like it would not be a good option - too slow and too energy intensive.
The second option was a start, but slowing down the construction of the entire base wasn't something she really wanted to do, either.
The deadlines to house troops had been moved up already which meant that they couldn't afford for construction to slow down because of power issues.
The third option was going to try to get something from the traders. That would be the best option for the Base, but it relied on successfully convincing the traders to give her what she needed.
Her first thought was to try to sneak in and just steal stuff. She was good at that, and it would avoid having to answer any questions.
But the equipment she needed would be big and bulky and would make a lot of noise to try to carry away when no one was looking. AND she didn't even know where to look.
AND, even if she did get away, once they realized what she had stolen, she would have a group of pissed off traders who would want paybacks which meant they would come looking for her.
The planet wasn't that big and there was no way of completely hiding her tracks. They would find her and the rebel base which could cause all sorts of issues.
Sooo....playing it "nice" seemed to be the best option.
She sipped her caf, trying to think of how she could play this to get what she needed but NOT have them ask questions she didn't want to answer.
A trade community would be used to, well, dealing with traders.
The base had some raw materials and manufacturing equipment that she had been authorized to trade to get what she needed. She also had skills that maybe she could trade, as well, as long as it wasn't a super big job.
So that left the question, did she go alone or did she take company?
She sipped more caf as she thought.
It would be safer if she brought some security guys with her. They would be backup in case things got crazy with the traders and to help if any of the local wildlife got too interested in her.
She could probably pass off a story as to why they were with her - family or crew or something. But she was only a kid. That was certainly how THEY would see her, anyway. It seemed like it would be harder to convince traders that she was in charge if there were "adults" with her.
Besides, Danny had said that they really needed all the security guys back at base to help with getting the new base ready.
AND, she still had a 'bad taste in her mouth' after what had happened with the med techs and the natives - that they had been acting on instructions that she had not been told about.
No, she would do this alone. That way, too, she was only risking herself and decisions that she made wouldn't affect others, too.
She was used to making decisions for herself.....
So gathering up some supplies of food, water, some power packs for her blaster, the equipment that she could take to trade, some repair/tech gear in case those services were needed and some medpacs (medpacs were always useful), she set out.
[OOC: List of supplies:
Food for 2 weeks
Water for 2 weeks
Personal blaster and spare power packs
Blaster rifle (something more long range than blaster pistol) and spare power packs
As much manufacturing and raw materials as she is approved to take/can fit in the transport
Repair/tech kit
5 medpacks
NOTE: If not already done, Kesh will use some makeup to change her appearance enough that she wouldn't match up with any wanted ads that have been sent out by the Imps. Just in case.]
Sensor kit
Comm gear
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You spend the remainder of the day securing a relatively beat-up transport and getting it loaded with raw materials for trade. It is sunset by the time your gear is loaded.
You spot Hollar a couple of times through the day, but don't get a chance to speak to him. He seems curious about what you are up to, but that might be a difficult conversation since you want to go alone, and he's likely going to want to come with you, so better if it is just avoided.
In the morning, with a datapad full of topographical scans and Intel about the various settlements, you head out well before dawn.
The repulsortruck is pretty beefy, and handles like a drunk nerf, but the ride is not too bad. You'll have to be careful - the vehicle can only support a gravity column of 5 meters, so terrain will be a factor.
The vehicle has a canvas-covered cargo bay with a loader arm for cargo manipulation on the back. You picked a fairly beat-up looking vehicle to hopefully blend in better. Rolling up in a shiny-new vehicle would draw attention.
The trading post you are heading for is known as Cambor Station. It's not the closest, but it is one of the larger ones, so it is more likely to have the gear you need.
The drive is long, but interesting, kilometers and kilometers of rolling hills, dotted with those strange squat, thick trees stretch as far as you can see. You pass a herd of large herbivores - bol, you datapad calls them. There is a herd of about a thousand of them moving through a valley.
It takes the lion's share of three days, with you sleeping in the cab of the truck, before the trade post comes into view.
It is a small settlement, with perhaps half a dozen smaller buildings around a larger structure. There is a small landing pad a short distance from the station, and a couple of vehicles pulled up to the main building.
You pull up to the main building and jump down from the cab, hoping you look like a rugged trader, but worried you might not be pulling it off. You head for the main door, and head in. A small chime sounds as you enter the space, and several grizzled men and one woman halt their conversation to look you over. No one moves for a couple of seconds. Then one of the men says, "Something I can do for you, stranger?"
[OOC: I presume Keshani left her armour at the Base. What does she look like, and what is she carrying?]
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It was strange, yet familiar, setting out on her own in the beat up transport - familiar because she had spent so much of her life doing just that; strange because now she was doing it as a representative of an organization that was much bigger than herself, and one that was now depending on her to accomplish something; trusting in her skill to get this done.
She was nervous, at first, and she set out tentatively.
But after driving through kilometer after kilometer of rolling hills she felt herself start to relax and enjoy the expedition.
This was wild country; mostly untouched by humans. It was kind of neat to see the massive herds of beastly animals and stretches of strange stumpy trees fly by, the sun beating down on her face and body, her hair blowing back behind her in the breeze.
*This* was freedom; traveling where she would, answering to no one but herself.
Her choices were her own and there was no one here to punish her; to beat her or to torture her, should they decide her actions or decisions were not to their liking.
But as much as she answered to no one on this trip, she DID have a responsibility. She had a job to be done that had been entrusted to her.
She didn't *have* to do it. Nothing would necessarily happen to her if she chose to just drive away; to truly become the roving trader she was playing the part of as a guise on this trip.
But if she was not successful in getting the supplies that the Base needed she would be letting down a lot of people who were relying on her. Sure, it most likely wouldn't cause anyone to die, but it could set back the development of the Base for weeks if not months. And the Rebellion was important.
It was a very powerful feeling, knowing that a group of people trusted her, with all of the different choices and paths available to her, to choose the right one.
She blew out a breath softly and drew her attention back to the landscape in front of her.
Up ahead was the small settlement that had been her goal for the last 3 days - Cambor Station.
The moment of truth. Could she do this on her own? Could she get what they needed?
'Guess there's no time quite like the present...', she thought to herself.
Pressing the accelerator a bit she coasted up to what looked like the main building of the settlement and hopped down from the driver's seat, taking a moment to calm the flock of flutterbys which seem to have taken up residence inside of her stomach as she had been driving.
She had left her armor back at the Base, but carried a small backpack with some tech gear in it and had a gun belt around her waist where she carried a blaster pistol, her rifle slung over her shoulder and a knife sheaved in a holster around her right ankle.
Her hair and skin were dirty (helped by the fact that she had not showered or bathed in over 3 days) and her hair was pulled back loosely behind her head. She wore loose fitting clothing that appeared worn - appropriate for someone who spent their time in rugged country and had to get the most out of every belonging they owned.
She put a slight swagger into her step (made easier by the pistol hanging off her hip) - a show of confidence she hoped would come off as a "don't mess with me" attitude.
"This here's a trading town, ain't it?", she asked, forcing her voice into a slower drawl than was normal for her.
"I came here t' trade."
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He wipes his dirty hands on a greasy apron and walks over to you. "Well, ye came to the right place. You got a name, stranger? I've never seen you 'round here."
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"Name's Damaris", she said, offering her hand to shake the man's. She didn't offer any more information than that. He didn't actually ask her where she was from or why she was here, he just stated that he hadn't seen her around here before.
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He nods. "Call me Kaleco. I'm sure I can help you. What are you looking for exactly?"
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She smoothed her hand through her loose hair, putting on a slightly haughty expression that the man had just nodded at her and not shook her hand.
"Got someone lookin' fer some of that fancy irrigation equipment. Like they use on them big farms."
She surreptitiously watched the man for his reactions, chewing crudely on a piece of sap of some sort as she waited for him to speak.
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"Sure, we got a couple of those. Gear like that don't come cheap though - what you got to trade?"
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"Got some raw materials, refined metals and plastics....that kinda stuff. What's yer price?"
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"Well, let's see your stuff first. Your vehicle outside?"
The two of you head outside, and you open up the back of the truck. He hops up into the box, and opens up a couple of crates. He gives a low whistle. "Yeah, we can do some business." He seals the crates back up, and hops down from the back of the truck. "Figure three crates of metal, and two of plastic. But let me show you want you're buying first."
He takes you to a large door in another part of the main building. Punching in a code on a keypad, the door slides up. Inside you see several large storage racks. He barks an order at a binary load lifter, and the droid moves over to a rack and pulls down a large crate. Kaleco punches in a code on a keypad of the crate, and the front and top panels open up. You see what looks like a high-capacity water treatment unit. It looks to be in pristine condition, and of serviceable quality. While you are inspecting the treatment unit, the binary load lifter drops another, smaller crate. Inside is a high-capacity pump. A third crate contains a small fusion power unit.
"It comes with enough canisters for a million litres. Should be enough to run it for a year, if the rains hold. If you give me another crate of your metals, I can throw in a pair of automated maintenance droids and a charging station."
He strokes his chin. "You need any pipe?"
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She examines the equipment and can't quite push back the thought that kept trying to surface in her head:
This seems way too easy.....
She had expected traders who were, well, rough - People who didn't really trust outsiders and who wanted to try to get away with anything that they could to make a profit.
The man that she was talking to so far seemed.....fair.
AND so far he hadn't asked her any of the questions that she'd been afraid the traders would ask about why she needed the equipment.
Yup. Seemed too easy so far.
Maybe it was the fact that she was naturally suspicious. Maybe it was the fact that she had always had to struggle for anything that she wanted, but she couldn't help the feeling that SOMETHING was going to go wrong here, it was just a matter of time.
Well, she couldn't control what was going to happen. But she could make sure to be as ready as she could be when it happened....
"Nah. I'll take the maintenance droids and the charging station if they're in good condition, but I don't need the pipes."
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He nods. "Fair enough." He scratches his chin a moment. "Listen, your vehicle has quite a bit of cargo room. You maybe interested in some work? I got a delivery to make, but my truck is down until my next parts shipment."
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She thought about that for a minute.
On the one hand, any delay in getting the supplies back to Base would mean they didn't get the water supply system set up until later.
BUT. If she refused the work, would he not believe her story about being a trader?
"Where's your delivery headed?"
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"'S'a little out there. Prolly two days, less if you don't stop to sleep. 'S'a ways westerly of here."
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She hesitated for a second, thinking.
"Look. I wanna help ya ou', but I don't really wanna make the folk wait who this stuff is fer. Bad fer business an' all, ya know?
Wan' me to look a' yer truck an' see if I ken do an'thing to get it up running again?"
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He works his jaw a moment. "Sure. Not much ya could do to make it worse. 'S'out back. Come on."
He takes you out the back door, and to a large vehicle shed. Inside, you see a repulsortruck similar to yours. Parts have been disassembled - it looks like someone was working on the repulsors. Buts and pieces of the front four drives are in various states of disassembly.
"The front reopulsor coils were giving me problems. They wouldn't sync up, and made for a pretty rough ride. The left front failed completely, did a little cosmetic damage when it plowed into a hillock."
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Repulsors were something she knew a lot about.
Cracking her knuckles (purely for show) she got to work examining the parts.
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Kaleco watches you for a bit when another vehicle pulls into the compound.
"Ya know, you look like ya know what yer about. I'll be back in a few."
Left in peace, you get to work.
First, the left front repulsor coil hadn't been cleaned in some time by the look of it, and from the discolouration, heat dissipation had been negatively impacted. You give it a good cleaning, which should help that issue. Firing things up, you run some quick diagnostics. It turns out the main controller was the problem. You poke a little further, and find some corruption in balance data, likely caused by incorrect sensors readings brought on by the excess heat from the front repulsors. You reset the data and spend a few minutes rebalancing the coils. By the time you are done, the vehicle is purring like a kitten. You even take a few minutes to clean the gunk out of the right front repulsor - it was going to fail soon without that cleaning.
You get everything back together and are just wiping up when Damaris comes back in, about twenty minutes later. "Sorry, I got tied..."
He stops and stares at his near-perfectly level transport sitting there hovering above the floor of the vehicle bay.
His mouth sort of gapes. "What...? How...?" His voice trails off, and he looks at you speechless.
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She couldn't help but smile a big grin at Kaleco's reaction. It was more than a little bit cocky, and she didn't really have to act much to make it that way. She enjoyed proving people wrong.
"Jus' needed some TLC". She finally said with a shrug, pretending it was nothing more than "a walk around the block", so to speak, to her to get the repulsor truck working again.
She thought about bringing the man's attention back to their trade since this matter was taken care of, but thought better of it, forcing herself to wait. She was curious to see just how grateful this man was.....
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He smiles warmly. "Well i'll tell ya there a lot of work and people who'd pay good credits for someone with those skills. We're farmers and traders, 'round these parts. Technicians are few and far between. You ever get tired of trading, you could always make a good living 'round here."
He takes off his hat and rubs a hand over his dirty scalp. "Fair is fair. I gave ya terms fer helping me, and I'll honour those. Plus, if ya got time, Dinner is on soon. Yer welcome to share our table."
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She smiles a genuine smile at the man.
"I'll definitely keep tha' in mind", she answered. "Maybe there's a way to contact ya if I wanna look into that further?"
She hesitated for a second as he offered her a place at their table.
Part of her was still set on survival mode and that part of her thought about the fact that food is a great way to poison someone. And she had proved her value to this man. What if he tried to drug her and enslave her to work for him?
The part of her that was terrified of ever being held against her will again shivered at that thought.
But, it COULD also be that the guy was genuinely just being nice and appreciative that she had fixed his truck. AND he could be a useful contact if the base needed other supplies later. Or information. Traders *always* had information....
So, trying not to show her moment of indecision she smiled back at the man.
"I'd like that.", she answered, hoping that she didn't just make a really bad decision...
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He smiles, and it seems warm and genuine.
"Great. Why don't you go wash up, and I'll let the house know we're going to need another place. There's a wash-hut out back."
You are a little dusty and grimy from the work, and the trip out. You head out back and find a small hut divided into half a dozen stalls, with an anachronistic water-based shower without sonics. Old-fashioned, but functional. You scrub up a little, though the place is pretty open so you're not comfortable having a full scrub.
As you head back to the main building, you see Kaleco emerge from a side door. He waves you on over. You enter the brightly lit kitchen of the residence. You see four younger people in the room, bustling about with dishes and serving bowls and the like. Demaris calls out, "Everyone, this is Damaris. She got the truck running again." A flurry of voices welcome you, and you're having trouble tracking who owned what voice. Kaleco tosses out names, but you don't really follow amid all the flurry of activity.
Then a smaller woman comes forward, wiping her hands on her apron. She shakes your hand gently. "Welcome, welcome. I'm Jemma. Be welcome. We're having Bol stew, biscuits and gravy, greens, and sweet tea." She pauses a moment, and really looks at Keshani. It is only a moment, but her expression changes somehow - goes softer.
"Come on, dear, have a seat." She swats at a male about your age as he's reaching for a biscuit. "Shael! Guests first!" She pulls out the chair, and before you know what is going on, in a flurry of movement everyone else is sitting down.
Your stomach is grumbling - the food smells so much better than the rations at the rebel base. But everyone stops moving. You look a round, not sure what is going on. Without anything being said, the family lowers their heads. The youngest person at the table, a small girl of probably 8 years, says, "Thanks for the food, thanks for family and friends, thanks for good weather, and thanks for kind strangers."
There is a pause, then without anything being said, food gets heaped onto your plate. Conversation whirls around you, the inns and outs of the day, stories about farmers who came in to trade, jokes and laughter and ribbing and teasing - the ebb and flow of what must be a normal life for these people. Maybe this is a normal family life?
The food is very good, plentiful, and tasty. People make gentle invitations for you to join the conversation, but also respect your privacy and don't seem put off by your quiet manner.
But that food...
Before you know it, you're feeling uncomfortably full. You pause for a break, and realize that everyone else's plates are clean, and appear to have been so for some time.
Jemma smiles as she hands you a smaller plate with a second slice of some sort of scrumptious pie on it. "Warms my heart to see a young girl with such a healthy appetite!"
She looks at the rest of the table. "Boys, clear the table. Girls, night chores."
There is a little good-natured grumbling, a little tussling, and in short order you are alone with Jemma and Kaleco. Jemma pours you another mug of delicious sweet tea.
"Damaris, now, it's none of my business, and I mean no offence, but I have to ask - are you all right? I mean you can't be much older than my boy Shael. You got a place to stay? Shelter and food?"
Kaleco steps in. "She don't mean nothing by it, Damaris. It's plain as day you can take care of yourself. It's just, life on Dantooine can be hard. People here tend to look out for one another. A young girl blows in out of the wilds all by herself..."
They both look at you, apparently earnest concern on their faces.
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All the way throughout the meal she tried her best to act polite and grateful. But this feeling was building inside of her.
Run
The way this family acted - the way they ribbed each other, teased each other, but also clearly loved each other and would probably do anything for each other....it hurt. Almost a physical pain. And it made her stomach unsettled.
Is this what a family is supposed to be?
She had never known a real family. There had been the orphanage. And there had been her group of .....outcasts....afterward, lead by Chen. But that had ended in pretty much disaster too.
And there had been Trax and Niil and Collan and Nim.....but now she was alone again.
She so just wanted to be accepted by someone and loved and to be...wanted and then here these people are.
And then they ask if she's okay and act all concerned like she could just stay here and join in with their family if she wanted?
She couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of here.
Or I might never leave...., she thought to herself.
"I'm fine.", she stammered quickly, obviously fighting an internal battle.
"Look. I have to go. I'm sorry. Th...Thank you for everything".
And she bolted, leaving the house at almost a dead run and heading back in the direction of her transport.
But as she came in sight of the truck and its still empty bed another thought occurred to her.
"Frell!!" she cursed.
She had fixed Kaelco's truck but they hadn't completed the trade yet. She didn't have the supplies that she needed for the irrigation system and they hadn't exchanged any type of payment yet other than her helping with the truck.
"Frell." she said again, this time more out of embarrassment than anything else.
What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't go back in there. She just couldn't. And worse yet she had totally broken character from the hard and seasoned trader she had been trying to come off as.
What was she supposed to do now?
But just then she caught sight of movement out of the corner of her eye - a man heading slowly in her direction. It seemed as though he was intentionally slowing his pace to not frighten her further...or anything.
Kaleco.
She tried to school her expression back into one at least remotely composed and in control.
"I'm sorry. I just didn't realize how long I've spent here. I have people waiting for these supplies. I need to get going is all.", she said as he approached her.
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He looks at you, with a tinge of sadness. "Sure. It'll take the boys and me a few minutes to load up. You can stay there if you like."
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"I can help...there's no reason for you to have to do all the work. I'm stronger than I look, ya know." She replied, not really meaning anything more by it than what she said; simply feeling guilty at making them rush out to do all the work.
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He holds up a hand. "That's OK. I know you can do the work, but you did me a favour. Let me do this for you. Five minutes, and you'll be on your way."
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She watched him turn to walk away and immediately a feeling of frustration mixed with guilt mixed with confusion and regret all washed through her at the same time.
She felt like screaming. Only she couldn't. She felt like running. Only she couldn't do that either. She was trapped, standing here to wait for her supplies to be loaded.
She tried to tell herself that she just needed to get away. As soon as she got back in the truck with the supplies and was headed away from this trading station things would be fine again.
And that might be true.
Only she had a feeling it would take more than that.
Why did these people care?
Kaleco had known her all of a few hours. Yet there was definite sadness there when she had run out of the house. His wife had known him even less time yet had also shown concern.
It's none of their karking business!!! her brain screamed out. They should have just left you alone! You should be mad at them for trying to interfere and put these thoughts in your head in the first place!
Only that just felt wrong.
It didn't seem right to be mad at someone for caring about you.
She let out a sigh and watched as the guys worked to load the supplies she had traded for.
When they were done she waited for Kaleco to come back.
"Look," she said, her voice soft. "I'm sorry for running out in there. It just was....too much. You have a really nice family."
She looked down at the ground.
"I really am okay." she said after a few moments. "Just...some of us I guess have to turn into adults a lot sooner than others."
She shrugged. "Your kids are lucky. I wish they could understand how lucky they are."
Suddenly feeling stupid and embarrassed she looked down at the ground again. "Just...make sure that you always stay together."
After another moment's pause she seemed to almost physically draw into herself.
"Sorry. You don't need a lecture on how to take care of your family from a kid".
-
Kaleco frowns, sighs, and looks at the boys as they rough-house their way back to the house.
"This is my second family. My first wife, Beth, a son Mik, and two daughters, Kris and Felis - they died in a raider attack near to 25 years ago." He extends and arm at the oldest boy. "Shael there. His family was on a transport that crashed and caught fire. His momma pushed him out a hole in the hull right before she died. He was the only survivor from that ship. That was 13 years ago. His brother there, Reen, now he's Jemma's boy. Jemma's husband was killed by kath hound, oh, 7 years ago now. Now the girls, there's Kat and Ceire. Kat wandered into a farmers field one day, covered in blood, 10 years ago. No idea where she came from, or who her folks were, and no one's come looking. And Ceire, well, she's the baby, and the only one that Jemma and I brought into this world together." He shrugs. "Plenty of families on Dantooine like mine. Like I said at table, 'round here, people look out for one another."
He turns to you, and runs his hands through his black hair. "Damaris, I don't gotta tell you the galaxy is a hard place. There's a lot of sorrow and misery to go around, and I figure you seen more'n your fair share. But the way I see it, you can either live your life in fear of all that sadness, and never be happy; or you can take the happy where you can find it. There's always gonna be more misery, but that just makes the good times a treasure."
He looks at you a moment. "Just think about that."
He hands you a mini datapad. "I ain't saying you can't take care of yourself, and I ain't saying you need charity. Just remember, you ever need a place you lay your head, we got room." He then un-slings a small satchel, and hands it to you. "Food for the road, from Jemma."
-
She looked at the data pad more for something to do than anything else.
What Kaleco had just said felt like a slap across the face. He hadn't meant it that way; she knew that. But the effect was the same regardless.
She concept that a family could just be kind of....collected....over time - that two people could have such big hearts that they just welcomed with opened arms any stray kid who had come along....
It was more than she could handle. It was overwhelming.
If something like that had happened back home when they had been kicked out of the orphanage.....
How different could her life have been?
She stood there just staring off into space for a long moment, lost in thought.
And then, suddenly, impulsively, she reached out and wrapped her arms around Kaleco in a tight full body hug.
She didn't know what to say. She just somehow wished all of the sudden she could make him understand how she was feeling right now; understand the thoughts that were going through her head.
She wished she could stay here with him; to be part of a family like this; to be loved and welcomed.
But she couldn't. She had responsibilities. She had pledged her loyalty to the Rebellion and they were counting on her.
She couldn't just disappear.
But then a small voice in her head reared up. It whispered: Why not? You don't owe them anything. You're just a kid. They can't expect a kid to keep promises and to dedicate their whole life to their cause...
But that just felt wrong, as well.
Images of the Hell World and the battle station came to mind. Her hate for the Empire came rushing into her head with it.
Images of Trax and Collan and Niil and Nim came to mind, as well, and the fact that they had risked their lives to save her.
She owed them something, didn't she?
But Trax had refused to join the Rebellion.
So who exactly did she owe what?
Her head hurt. Her heart hurt.
She stood there, hugging the man who until a few hours ago had been a complete stranger, and felt a tear form in her eye and streak down her face.
-
He is quiet as his arms return the hug, one arm across your back, the other angled up so one palm cradles the back of your head. He seems content to stand there in silence, gently rubbing your back.
-
At first she tensed as she felt his hand against her head and back. She couldn't remember the last time anyone had....
She felt a pain in her chest and felt light headed for a minute, her head spinning.
But then she relaxed.
I could stay here....I could have all of this....
No.
Her brain warred with itself for several moments longer and then she sniffled softly and stirred, breaking the hug gently.
She looked back at Kaleco from arm's length.
"I really do need to get going.", she said softly. There was regret evident still in her voice.
"But I'd like to come back and visit."
She looked down at the mini data pad that she still held in her hand.
"There is a lot of stuff on this pad...." she said, her voice trailing off.
She didn't know if she should just thank him or ask how much she could trust the contacts and resources he had given her. She didn't know how to ask that without taking the chance of insulting him...
-
He pulls back, arms at his side.
"You're welcome back any time, Damaris. And that datapad - folk here on Dantooine look out for one another. You find yourself in need, there's where you can find help."
-
She nodded again.
"Thank you.", she said, putting the data pad into a pocket in her pants and then she looked back up at the trader.
"You got the stuff I was trading for the irrigation equipment right? I wanna make sure you got what was owed you, as well.."
-
He nods. "Yeah, we unloaded our share. Feel free to check though, I won't be offended."
-
She shook her head. "Do you need anything else? I can keep my eyes out in my travels...."
-
"We're usually pretty good. Lots of trade traffic means we can usually find what we need. But if you track down a working translator, or a binary load lifter, we can always use one of those."
-
She snorted at that. "Some beings there's no translator in existance that would work but I will keep a look out."
She smiled and offered her hand. "Tell Jemma thank you too. And take care of that truck!"
-
He smiles. "Will do Damaris. Until next time."
-
She nodded and turned away, checking first to make sure everything was secured adequately and then climbing into the drivers seat. Turning back to wave one more time she headed off.
Back to camp....
-
The trip back takes a little longer. The increased load, and the age of the vehicle, means you have to pick your way a little more carefully. One afternoon you spot in the distance a half-dozen Dantarii tribesmen in a battle with some sort of large predator, but they're much farther away than the tribe you met, so you keep your distance. The morning of the second day, you wake up to fins your vehicle surrounded by bol. It seems a herd moved into the area early in the morning while you were sleeping. It takes a little gentle nudging, but you extricate yourself from the herd without incident.
It is late on the 4th day when you finally return to the base. In the week or so you've been gone, they're made a lot of progress. The foundations of the main structure have been completed, and they're putting up walls. It also looks like they've started laying the groundwork for some outbuildings apart from the main bunker. The security fence is also in place, and it looks like some techs are assembling weapon turrets. But, perhaps most importantly, a large communications tower has been erected. That's going to put you guys in touch with the large rebellion.
You are intercepted several klicks from the base, and escorted in by a pair of troopers on speeder bikes.
This late in the day, the place should be shutting down, but large banks of floodlights illuminate the work areas, and it looks like most of the unit is still hard at work.
Some sergeant you can't remember the name of walks up as you climb down from the vehicle. "Specialist Keshani. We've got comms security now - check in with the comms shop to get your comlink updated. Oh, and the Lieutenant wanted to speak to you if you showed up." He glances at the vehicle. "Anything in there you need unloaded? We're short handed, but I can pry a couple of pairs of hands free if you need them."
According to your indoctrination training, the Sergeant technically outranks you. But as a specialist, you have pull over things within your specialty.
-
She let out a short sigh of relief as she came within sight of the Base. They sure had gotten a lot done while she had been gone! It was easier to focus on the job that had to be done now that she could keep herself busy again. Driving across the endless land had given her way too much time to think.
"I got some stuff that needs to be unloaded, but I guess it doesn't need to be this minute - unless you need the truck," she responded.
"Do you know where the lieutenant is right now?"
-
"Naw, you can park it over by the tech shop if you don't need it right away, and we'll slot it into the work schedule. Got a manifest or anything? Oh, and the L-T was in the command centre. They've got power and comms in there now, so she's running the show from there."
-
"Yeah," she answered, pulling out her data pad and hitting a few quick keys to send it over. "Thanks".
After answering any additional questions the sgt had she headed off in the direction of the command center to find Danny.
-
You enter the command bunker - a two story structure of reinforced ferrocrete - and find it pretty much an organized mess. A half-finished panel shows you that command is on the second floor. You manage to find an emergency stairway - none of the lifts are working - and emerge into the command centre.
Several energized panels, plenty of overhead lighting, and a central holotable are immediately visible. Half a dozen techs are installing various pieces of equipment. The whole scene seems somehow more urgent, more frenetic.
Danny, juggling two datapads and referencing them both simultaneously, is in the middle of a stand-up meeting by the holotable.
"... a lower priority. Focus on stabilizing the power grid, and make sure communications stay online. Jean, keep working on the troops barracks. And Nilo, that landing pad needs to be complete by the end of next week. They want to be able to land a transport ship by then." She looks around. "You all have your orders, get to it." As they walk away, she calls out, "I want updates every four hours!"
Seeing you approach, she gives you a tired smile as a tech runs up with a datapad. She glances at the datapad, authorizes whatever it said, and turns back to you.
"Keshani. I hope you have good news for me."
-
Her eyes went wide for a few moments at seeing all of the activity. Things sure were moving quickly....
At Danny's question, Kesh merely shrugged, still feeling a bit in awe of everything that seemed to be going on and a bit lost in the process. "I got the materials without a problem. Just need to get out to the site to start setting things up...."
-
"Good news. You have a completion date?" she asks, as another datapad is thrust in front of her. She skims it, authorizes whatever it says, then looks back up at you. "You need any more resources? Extra hands?"
-
She shook her head watching the craziness unfold around her. "I don't know how you are staying sane.", she commented. But then shrugged again in answer to her question. "The more hands you can spare the faster we can get it done but it seems pretty busy in here....couple of droid, an excavator and myself we could do it in prolly about 3 weeks. If I had a half a dozen or so people to help? Maybe as quick as a week.."
-
She stops then, eyes unfocused. You can almost see the gears whirling.
She quickly picks up a datapad and taps around on it for a few seconds.
"If I give you two techs, the droids and the excavator, can you get it done in ten days?"
That's a tall order. It will mean long shifts - close to 16 hour days. One crew will have to work the excavator round the clock laying pipe while you set up the purifier. And if the surveying is off by more than a fraction of a percent, more time to correct that. But, if everything goes right, it is possible to get it done in that time.
-
She let out a slow breath, thinking for a minute.
"Yeah," she said finally, "we'll get it done."
-
"Good." She taps on one of the datapads for a moment, then holds up a hand at a tech bringing her another one.
"We need this, Keshani. HQ is sending two companies of troops and a fighter squadron on the ground in a week."
She glances at the new datapad a moment before looking back at you.
"And who says I'm sane?" She smiles. "Sergeant Creel will have your tech assignments and the equipment. If you need security, take some troopers with you. I think Corporal Halloway has been harassing his superiors about your status, so he might volunteer if you asked. Otherwise, Chief Mako can assign you some troopers."
-
"Wha...why --" She stopped herself, closing her mouth. She was only a tech. And a kid at that. Why the Rebellion was making the decisions it was making was not any of her business.
At the mention of security she winced slightly. She was a bit nervous to talk to Holler, but she supposed that she owed him an apology of sorts.
"Yeah..I guess security would be a good idea...just in case." She answered. "I'll talk to Holler." Her voice was a bit hesitant but she didn't say anything further on the matter.
"Do you need anything else from me?"
-
Danny is already on another conversation. She turns and says, "Just the water. Send me progress reports every 12 hours."
Kind of abrupt, one might suppose, but she was clearly busy.
Holler isn't immediately visible in the construction zone, so you swing by the com shack to get your comlink updated. They get your personal one, as well as the one in your helmet. a fancy new crypto module. still short range, but with a booster maybe, or a comm drone, you can get live communications back to the base.
You ask around and find Hollar in the barracks. He's racked out when you walk in, propped up on pillows with a datapad on his lap. He glances up as you approach, shuts down the datapad and swings his stocking feet to the floor.
"Snaps! You've been scarce. I heard you had a trip to a settlement. How you been?"
-
She hesitated at seeing Holler racked out in bed. It felt a little...awkward...to talk to the soldier in such an informal state.
But before she could move away without him noticing he had set down his data pad and swung his feet around to face her.
Too late.. she thought to herself.
"Yeah...I went to go get materials for the water filtration and pumping stuff we need to have enough water here on base."
She still hesitated. She thought he had known about the trading post assignment that Danny had given her and was still nervous that he was upset with her for ducking out without asking him and his team along for protection.
She looked for an empty rack near Hollers to sit down on, deciding it would be less awkward than standing in front of him talking to him.
"What have you and your team been up to uh back here? Is Kicker doing better?"
-
"Yeah, Kicker is out of the med now, though still on light duties. We've been doing patrols and guard duty. Pretty boring, actually. Not what I signed on to the specs for, but I just go where the tell me. I expect we'll be re-posted shortly after the infantry land next week."
-
"Yeah what's going on with that?", she asked. "Why the sudden rush with everything all of the sudden?"
-
He shrugs. "I'm just a Corporal. That's well above my pay grade. But it's been a big change, that's for sure. I don't know what moved up the timetable, but you don't move two companies of infantry and a squadron of fighters around on a whim."
-
She nodded. "Um. Speaking of that, I'm supposed to take a team out to set up the water pipes and purifier. You interested in tagging along as the muscle?"
-
"Security detail? Sure. When you leaving? I'd need half an hour to round up the squad."
-
She winced slightly, feeling guilty about dragging them all out of bed. But they were soldiers so she supposed they were used to it...
"That'd --" she paused for a second. "That'd be great." She said. She chewed her lip for a second, trying to read anything in the Sgt's expression, body language...anything that would give her a sign if he even knew that she had gone off on her own, but she couldn't find anything.
Letting out a slow breath she stood up. She supposed, for now, she would leave it alone. It seemed weird to bring it up and mention it if he wasn't going to say anything.
What he didn't know....
"Um. One more question. I'm pretty beat right now. I just got back a bit ago. Would you or one of your guys mind maybe driving so I could catch a quick nap on the way out? It's gonna be some pretty long days, and nights to meet the deadline that Danny gave me..."
-
"Sure. Meet at the vehicle bay in 15?"
-
She nodded, again hesitating. But she nodded.
"Sure. Thanks Holler!"
With that she headed back to Sgt Creel to see about the rest of the things she would need and the tech crew. She would take the truck as it was, foregoing the time it would take to unload the other raw materials. She wanted to get out to the site and start working as soon as they could.
-
You get your techs from a grumbling Sgt Creel, along with some technical support droids, a binary load lifter, and various tool kits.
The two techs report to you looking pretty tired. You're a little chagrined to learn that are 3/4 of the way through a 16-hour shift. They're not going to have much time to sleep on the way out to the site, so that may have to adjust plans.
The excavator is loaded on a second transport vehicle, but they will need the vehicle back so you are assigned a driver to deliver the excavator for you. Hollar and his squad are ready, already packed for a field mission. Supplies, rations, and shelters are added to your still-loaded truck, along with communications gear and various security implements, and a comm drone. An armoured personnel carrier joins the other two vehicles, and your group sets out to the construction site.
You are asleep almost before they cross the gate. You briefly wonder what it would have felt like to have a shower before starting the next big project, then fall into a dreamless sleep.
You are shaken awake far too soon, and you see Peepers opening the door of the truck cab. "We're here, Snaps."
You rub your eyes to try and clear them. It is dark out, but the lights from the vehicles illuminate the area. Holler is already briefing his troopers, and your techs are unloading the excavator so the vehicle can return. First order of business is probably getting the camp set up, and your techs are probably as tired as you are, but that deadline is looming. You're at least going to need some kavvy before getting started.
[Actions?]
-
She opened her eyes groggily and looked around, her brain taking a minute to catch up with her body.
"Somebody find the kavvy..." she groaned.
Waking up a bit more she stood and stepped out of the transport and walked over to help the two techs with the excavator.
"Hey guys, I know this isn't going to be ideal for anyone here, but the Lieutenant needs this all done within the next 10 days so we're gonna have to bust our butts a bit here."
She moved her arms to encompass the area around them.
"Let's set up camp and see where we are. I'd like to get started working as soon as possible, but I also have an idea to get more help for us. It would leave the two of you working by yourself for a few hours though."
-
They don't say anything, but the look on their faces says a lot. They are tired. And the prospect of spending the next ten days or more in the field is not very motivating.
Your two techs, according to the tasking message that assigned them to you, as a human female named Mena Ardross, and a human male name Sab Tucker. Both are privates in support services. No specialties, but general technical proficiency certifications. They also have basic combat quals - you're not sure what those are, or if you even qualify for that.
Still, they are professional. One of them, a human named Mena Ardross according to the tasking message that assigned her to you, says, "More help would be good. What do you need to make that happen?"
The other tech, a human named Sab Tucker, looks just as tired, but he nods. "Whatever you need, Specialist. We'll do what we can. Camp first. Or, maybe we we can leave that to the troopers, and get started sooner? That'd save us a good hour or work time, and you don't need techs to set up a camp."
-
She looked over at the Specs, still meeting with Holler and watched them for a second.
"Yeah, I'll bet I can get them to do that for me.", she answered. "You two can get started with the excavator, you're right."
"There's an old manufacturing plant not far from here. I, uh, kinda stumbled upon it during an earlier assignments. There's all sorts of old droids there. I'm gonna go over there and rig up as many of them as I can to come back and help. It'll still be hard work on our part - they can't be unsupervised, but hopefully they can help with some of the manual labor and stuff. We could get done a lot faster then. When I get back I'll take a shift and you guys can sleep."
She waited to see if the techs had any other thoughts or questions. If they didn't she headed off to talk to Holler.
Waiting until he was finished talking to his Specs she offered him a smile.
"Thanks for coming with us," she said. "I have a couple of questions/favors for you."
After Holler responded she gave a bit of an apologetic smile.
"First, you think a couple of the guys would mind getting camp set up so the that Ardross and Tucker can start working on the pipeline? We have a really short deadline here that we're pushing to make."
-
[insert]
The techs look at each other, and a silent groan seems to pass between them.
Ardross nods. "Sure, Specialist. We'll get started. But we're on about hour 14 today. You need us to work until you get back, or can we knock off for some sleep in a few hours?"
-
"I'll leave it up to you two. If you need to sleep then sleep. I don't want you any of us to collapse from exhaustion or start making mistakes because we're too tired. But the faster we can get this done the better."
-
They nod and head off to the excavator.
You make your way over to Holler as he finishes his briefing, and make your request.
"Sure, Specialist. You do what you gotta do. We're here to keep you safe, but if we can help out while doing that, that works as well. I've got a couple of the squad off-shift right now. They'll get the camp set up before they rack out."
He looks at the techs heading to the excavator. "What's your plan? You working two sites? I'll get a team to go with them."
-
She stopped and paused at his response.
"You...never call me that.", she responded, a bit of confusion and wariness in her voice.
-
He smiles. "Just wanted to reinforce you were in charge. I can be a little informal sometimes. makes my superiors uncomfortable. I've been counselled. So you're in charge, but I'll call you whatever you want."
-
She snorted, obviously relieved. "You don't need to be formal around me, okay?
"As for what my plan is, well...so that was the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.
Remember when I got separated from you guys back when we were setting up the sensor grid? Well, I ended up finding this droid manufacturing plant. It's not too far from here. I was hoping to go back there and grab some of the droids and rig them up to a controller to help us dig and get this done faster and more efficiently. But it'll take a few hours. The two techs will work together with the excavator back here while I'm gone. Do you have anyone you could send with me, too or would that stretch things too thin?"
-
He considers, rubbing his chin. "Nah, should be no problem. If the other techs are staying nearby we can take the APC. I'll grab one of the squad and grab some gear. Give us 10 minutes?"
-
"Sure. Thanks."
After he left she headed off to grab the power core for the irrigation system. They would have to be careful since the system wouldn't run without it. But it would be the easiest way to power the droids once they got to the factory and to bring them back here. She'd figure something else out after that.
Loading the power core onto the binary load lifter she moved it over to where the APC was sitting and waited for Holler.
-
Holler and Grunt join you at the APC.
The back is relatively cavernous with only the three of you - plenty of room for cargo and battle droids. You may need to rig up some sort of load framework to carry back all the equipment, but there's plenty of raw materials at the factory if you need to do that.
Get in, disconnect the control equipment and supporting computer, then get it out. Probably a few hours work. You should be back here in less than 8 hours, if all goes well.
The drive is uneventful. Grunt does the driving, and Holler is in the back with you. Holler breaks out a sabacc deck, and you pass the time with him teaching you the game. The APC is a little rough in the handling for much sleep anyway.
You get to the coordinates, and find things much as you remember. The camouflaged bay doors, and the access hatch with that long climb down.
Hollar opens the door and does a quick check. "Looks clear, Snaps. What's the plan?" Grunt walks up behind him, weapon at the ready as she keeps an eye on the surroundings.
-
<Insert during drive to factory>
She was enjoying her time with Holler. She wasn't *awful* at Sabaac, she learned.
But as they drove her thoughts came back to the times she'd ended up being alone so far during their time on planet.
"Hey Holler? You think when we get back you and the guys could maybe help me to learn more about like self-defense type stuff? I'm getting better with a blaster, but...I've kinda not had a blaster a lot of the times I've gotten into trouble. Knowing how to better defend myself without one might be...useful."
-
He gives you a lopsided grin. "Sure, we can bash around a bit. We've all had formal training, but you might want to talk to Hassle. His training was... less formal." He smiles, and you recall Hassle has a penchant for brawling off-duty.
-
She laughed for a minute, thinking of Hassle. "Yeah, maybe I'll do that. Thanks.
"Um. Speaking of informal and all, while it's just the two of us back here I need to say something else. I was gonna say this before, but I didn't know if I should or not."
She spoke all in a rush, as if she was racing to get this out before she changed her mind.
"I'm pretty sure you know I went off on my own to the trading depot. I figure you know pretty much all of what goes on around here."
She stopped for a minute, shifting her position a bit. When she spoke it was a bit slower now, but a bit of...nervousness....was there - a slight shakiness in her voice, as if she was nervous about whether she should be saying anything and what Holler's reply might be.
"Maybe I'm just flattering myself here. If I am we can just pretend this conversation never happened. You have a job to do, maybe I'm just another 'charge' and if that's the case that's fine. But if not, I...wanted to apologize. I hope that it didn't seem like I didn't trust you or value your help and protection and stuff. Because that's totally not the case at all."
-
He looks confused for a moment, scrunching up his face like he's trying to figure out what you're talking about.
"What? No!" He shakes his head. "Look, Snaps... you are a specialist. You may be a little young, but you wouldn't be wearing that uniform if you didn't earn it. You get an assignment and leave by yourself, that's none of my business. I mean, I care and all. I like you, and it's part of my responsibility to keep people safe. But I also know you don't need 'looking-after.' You decide you need some muscle or protection on an assignment, ask me and I'm all over it. But if you decide you don't, that's fine too. You can make your own decisions, and it's no skin off my nose if you decide a guy with a gun is not a requirement. You know your job, and I know mine."
He shakes his head. "And you're not 'just another charge.' You're a lot more down-to-earth than some of the eggheds and wrench-turners back at the base. On the ship out here, you were the only one who we could relate to, you know? You seem more, I dunno. Worldly. I know there's a story there, but that's your business. I figured if you wanted to share, you would. Most of us have stories we'd rather not talk about, so we don't pry. But that's besides the point. We can be buds and mates and still be professional. I care what happens to you. I'm not some disinterested observer. But you can still make your own decisions, and I'll respect the choices you make."
-
She opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again. She did this a couple of times. No words came out.
Finally a smirk crossed over her face.
"Eggheads and wrench-turners, hmm?"
She snorted in a very un-ladylike way.
"Thanks, Holler." she said finally.
She shifted position again.
"When we get to the droid factory, we're gonna kinda be in your specialty area for a while - getting through the factory. I am happy to take point when we get to the controller and stuff, but do you think it might be more...efficient...for you to take point while moving to the Control Center? I can use my sensors and give you the layout of the land so to speak and stuff..."
-
"Sure. You... expecting trouble? I thought you shut that place down?"
-
"There were a couple of rogue droids running around that run on their own power supply that weren't so fun to mess with. But I didn't really have anything good to defend myself with. Ended up shooting a couple of droids with a bolt gun and clubbing one with it when I couldn't hit it by shooting at it..." she shrugged. "Mostly everything should be shut down other than them though. But, if there's one thing I've learned it's to expect trouble where you shouldn't."
-
He nods. "We'll stay sharp."
A while later the vehicle pulls up to a stop at the landing bay doors. Things seem just as you remember them.
Hollar opens the door and does a quick check. "Looks clear, Snaps. What's the plan?" Grunt walks up behind him, weapon at the ready as she keeps an eye on the surroundings.
-
"We need to get to the control room, which is that way". She pointed. "The remote for the droids may either be in the room or above it. I didn't get that good a look before."
-
Pulling up the facility layout, you make your way through the facility.
It was creepy enough when the factory was still operating, but it is in some ways so much worse now that everything is shut down. You only see what is illuminated by the lights on your armour or a hand lamp. Grunt and Holler are pros. It is a little intimidating how they look for threats and treat every step as suspicious. That proves to be a good idea however, as there were two rogue droids that wandered into your path. Grunt and Holler took them out before they could even bring their weapons up.
The going is slow, but you pick your way without further incident to the control room. You can see the controller and transmitter mounted above the room itself. It's a little larger than you remembered, but not impossibly so. It'll be a little work to get it dismounted and out of the factory, but you should be able to do it.
Inside the control room, there's a few flashbacks. The remains of the engineering droid, the damage to the consoles around the room. But the droid seems to be lying exactly where you left it. With a somewhat uncomfortable and intimate boost from Holler, you pop the access hatch and are on the roof of the facility.
You get to work with your tools. The suit helps a great deal in that regard, and after about an hour you have the controller and transmitted safely and securely removed.
There is a hitch, however.
In scanning the controller, you realize that there isn't enough data storage in the controller to encode complex behaviour. You think about it while you continue working, and by the time you are done, you are pretty sure that one of the consoles in the room below must contain encoding for complex behaviours. It then sends those out to the controller itself, that transmits the base actions. But it is that console that does the actual work of encoding complex behaviour.
As you consider this, you remember vividly the missed shots and exploding consoles that were a result of your fight with the engineering droid.
The controller and transmitter itself are still useful. But it will take some time for you to program the complex behaviours you need. But if you can salvage the correct console, that would be much easier.
You've been here a couple of hours already.
[Actions?]
-
Kesh shivered slightly as they entered the control room, memories flashing back from her previous visit to the factory. It was bad enough walking through what felt like endless hallways being unable to see anything further than the light reached in front of them. She walked fighting the urge to jump at every noise and shadow that crossed their paths.
Looking around the abandoned control room she could vividly recall the events that took place last time she was here. She could hear the whine of the bolt gun as it shot out as she aimed at the engineering droid, could smell the burning ozone-y smell as the bolts hit the console behind it instead, causing blue sparks to arc up and then the loud bang as the console exploded, throwing off shrapnel into the air. She could even feel the shrapnel as bits of it hit her, causing sharp pangs of pain to race through her body. She could hear her screams in her own ears as the droid had come at her, arms flailing.
She shook her head, trying to clear it, but it took Holler touching her arm to completely call her attention back to the present.
Working on the controller and transmitter was therapeutic in a way and gave her time to clear her head the rest of the way. Holler and Grunt were with her this time. Things would be okay.
But as she finished disassembling the parts on the roof she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. She realized that what was on the roof couldn’t be ALL of the parts necessary to control the droids; it was too simple. The console in the control room had to also have a part in all of this.
“Frell.”, she muttered to herself, hopping back down into the control room and looking at the consoles around her, trying to remember anything from before or looking for anything that might indicate which console was responsible for the encoding.
[ooc: couple of questions. Was she able to gather any data before about the consoles or does her suit this time provide any information about what they are used for? Can she read anything on them that would give her a sign of what they were for? Words? Pictures?
Also, how much time would it take for her to spend time thoroughly searching the consoles vs her initial estimate of how much time it would take for her to program the stuff she needed on her own? Would CPs help in either regard?]
-
She was gathering data about the facility, not about the control mechanisms, so she doesn't really have anything like that.
The consoles are now unpowered, and the displays are blank. There's no external indicators what each console was for, so that was probably part of the console display. Without power, you can try scanning and probing consoles to see if you can find what you are looking for, but that might take some time. Alternatively, you could rig up some sort of external power to a console and see what it was for, and move that power supply from console to console to get reads on them until you found what you wanted.
Searching -vs- programming from scratch is hard to guess. If the first console you check turn out to be the correct one, and it is still functional, you're golden. If it is the 8th console, and it's been wrecked, you'd have been better off reprogramming yourself.
There are 8 consoles in the room, four of them are damaged. You can pull memory cores out of the consoles and scan them on your datapad to identify the correct one (which takes time), or find some way to rig external power and boot them up and you should be able to tell right away. The time for scanning might go quicker if you invest some time to code an emulator or something.
CP's will affect all this. This will be based off computer programming / repair, or base technical depending on the path you choose.
-
Ok. A couple more questions.
1. Are the consoles interchangeable with the cores? Meaning, can Kesh use one console to run any of the cores or are they specific to run only in the console that they are currently in?
2. Is having the droids walk to the truck something that requires the use of the console/core or is that something that she can rig up something much more simpler to do like she did with the couple of droids on the way back to Base before?
3. Would the power supply in her suit be strong enough to power any of the consoles? If so, how many at a time?
4. Is there any other emergency power supply that she remembers seeing on the schematics before that may still hold power from when she shut everything down that she could use?
-
1. The cores are mostly interchangeable, so if you find the right one and it is intact, you could theoretically plug it in anywhere and access the data.
2. You could program some very basic "walk this way" type actions - you did that the last time you were here. The issue there is limited control channels and limited range. You'd be limited to no more than 5 or 6 droids that way - any more than that would become quickly unmanageable.
3. Yes, the suit power supply could do one console at a time, but would effectively render the suit inert for that period. There are actuators and other gear in there that keep you from feeling the full weight of the armour. Un-powered, your DEX penalty would go up if you kept the suit on. You could take it off and use the power generator that way easy enough, but you would not have access to the suit's special functions (tech scanner, skill bonuses, etc).
4. There is emergency power for lighting and door actuators and such, but those would have run down some time ago. You could probably cobble something together from the parts in the factory, but it would take time (how much depends on the Technical roll).
-
Lighting up with a rather colorful string of curses Kesh took a minute to think about her options.
If she didn't find the controller she would end up being severely limited in the number of droids she could get to come with her which would pretty much make this whole trip a pointless venture.
If she took the time to try to program her own controller, well, she had no doubt she could do it. But she didn't know how long it would take.
That left trying to find the core that was already programmed to make this whole thing worth it and not look like an idiot both to Holler and his crew and the techs. Not to mention letting Danny down, and the Rebellion..
She sighed and cursed a few more times and then moved to disconnect the power supply to her suit.
She didn't have any other useable power source nearby and the consoles weren't going to turn on just by her giving them threatening stares.
The suit would be pretty uncomfortable without the power supply. She imagined it would be kind of like trying to move through a tub of syrup if she tried. But she had Holler and Grunt with her so it really shouldn't be a problem, right?
If she took all 8 cores out of the consoles, stacked them by one of the consoles that looked like it was in the best condition, and THEN switched the power supply over she wouldn't really need to move - just swap out the cores and look at the display. That shouldn't be too bad, right?
Grumbling she knelt down to get to work.
[Actions: Take all of the cores out of each console, power up the console that looks like its in the best shape using the suit power supply and then plug them in to look at them until I find the right one. Use 1 cp as needed per roll]
-
With the power supply a little awkwardly placed on your suit, you end up taking most of the upper body section off. It's a little uncomfortable - the body stocking you wear underneath is pretty form fitting, but the specs don't seem to pay any attention, so you distract yourself with work, and try not to be aware of it.
The suit powers up the console without issue - you did have to rig an ad-hoc coupler for the supply, but you have plenty of spare parts close at hand. The bottom part of the suit is uncomfortably impairing, so you end up just popping your butt down with your legs spread-eagled, and a console between them, swapping parts in and out to find the right one. You splice in a display unit and command panel to make it all a little more accessible from your siting position and get to work.
You make a mental note to maybe install a more accessible power jack, or maybe build in a secondary power supply. It would make this kind of thing easier in the future.
The first module powers up, and nothing. Assembly line controls and commands, nothing there you can use. The second module slips in, and there's some minor damage - you spend a few minutes re-plating some connections on the control board that were torn by shrapnel before it powers on successfully. And, jackpot! Droid control commands, complex task routines, behaviour algorithms, vocabulator emulation - everything you need to make a small droid army. Scanning the commands, you don't really find much that will be directly applicable to digging and the like, but there are some construction routines for building defences and the like - you should be able to modify those. It shouldn't take long, and you could probably do it on the ride back to camp. But for now, you have everything you need to bring a bunch of droids back to the work camp, and it only took you about half an hour.
[OOC: I took 2 CP's.]
-
"Sweet!" she exclaimed, a little louder than maybe was necessary in her excitement, as she scored the right core on her second try.
Grinning she carefully grabbed the correct core, the console, the coupler that she had rigged up and anything else she needed to run the core from their transport and took a few seconds to put the power supply back in her suit and put her suit back together.
"Alright", she said once she was settled again, "Now we just get to go back to the transport, I set this stuff up with the power supply back there, and then we call the droids to us....
'Should be easy enough...', she thought to herself, regretting the thoughts almost as soon as they surfaced in her brain for fear of jinxing things....
<Actions: Gather supplies and lug them back to the transport, set up console/core with power supply there and assemble one droid army :-D>
-
There will be more work to do, but that can be done topside. Using techniques and code you've prepared the last time you were here, you activate a couple of "drones" to carry the gear for you, which is good. Apparently your presence here did not go unremarked, and an you encounter a squad of four rogue droids on your way to the exit. However, before you can do more than cry out in alarm, Holler and Grunt make very short work of them. The battle droids never even got a shot off.
About half an hour later, you are topside. Using the vehicle's power and some rigged restraints, you have the control monitor secured to the truck. Using scavenged cables, you're set up the control station. Everything looks ready. You take a breath and activate the console.
It powers up without a hitch, and completes the self-diagnostic. It takes some tense moments before the recognizes the control module, and negotiates the interface. Things stabilize, and the control module starts to ping a number of droids throughout the facility. You select the maximum you can control at once (20) and activate them. Four of those fail their startup checks, and six others report low power or other damage. You cycle through the remaining droids until you find a full 20 with sufficient power. But the results do not look good - most of these cores have a reduced capacity due to age and disuse. You are not going to be able to get nearly as much work out of these guys as you originally thought.
Disappointing, but as you think about it, you quickly hit on an idea. The droids are built to be modular and easily repairable. You can strip power cores out of a bunch of droids, and maybe rig up a charging bank at the camp, and pop a new charged core in each droid periodically. That should allow you to keep the droids active continuously, with only a little downtime when you swap power cores.
So, you march twenty droids out of the facility and have them stand in formation before shutting them down. Then you find another group of twenty that seem half-decent, and march those up.
it is a little intoxicating, having a small army of droids at your fingertips.
You are about to load them into the truck when you hit on an idea - why not have the droids remove the power cores from the ones you planned to strip? You have to do a little coding, but it is easy enough, and twenty droids stand behind twenty shut down droids, and in unison remove their power cores. Then twenty droids march themselves over to the truck, climb inside, securely stow the power core they are carrying, then cluster in an orderly little square, and securely power down.
Holler is watching all this with a look of amusement. Then you finally shut down the console, a possibly too-big grin on your face, he smiles. "Yer like a kid in a candy store. Come on, Snaps, let's get back to camp."
It's been a long day, and you are feeling it. There still work to be done. You haven't yet modified the construction routines to trench digging and pipe laying. But you have been going a long time without sleep at this point.
[Actions?]
DC's are higher due to lack of sleep, so the programming task is going to be about a 15. It would be a 10 after some sleep. Work on it on the way back (maybe with some CP's) or rest and pick it up after a solid rest?
-
"Yer like a kid in a candy store. Come on, Snaps, let's get back to camp."
The techie girl froze, a bigger-than-big grin shamelessly prominent still on her face. This was FUN!!!
But fun sometimes had to be delayed. And, she reminded herself, she DID have a purpose in collecting all these droids....
"Oh, alright." she said, with the exact tone of a little kid who was told to come in from playing for the night.
"They're pretty much all snugly put away anyway. We should be good to go. I just need to work on the rest of the coding on the way back..."
She yawned.
She was tired. That was for sure. But she also had a huge adrenaline rush coursing through her.
'This could actually work!'
"Got any caf on this rig here", she asked, as she climbed aboard and settled in to get started on the rest of the coding
<Actions: modify the construction routines to trench digging and pipe laying. Maximum 2 cps to make sure it's done right.>
-
He frowns. "No, but 'go' stims are standard issue. Not recommended for any length of time, but they can give you a boost if you need it for an hour or two."
-
"Done. Show me where they are please"
-
He looks concerned, but opens a pouch on his belt and gives you a small capsule. "Just put it under your tongue. It takes a couple of minutes to take effect."
You place the pill under your tongue and get to work. Ar first there is nothing, but it does melt quickly. Then, about 2 minutes later, it hits you. You feel wide awake, and the fog of fatigue clears from your mind.
You get engrossed in your work, and quickly re-work the construction routines for the kind of your you anticipate them needing to do. You now have a small army of droids able to contribute a little to the construction. They are not very durable, but they will make up for it with numbers. You still need to rig a recharging station when you get back, but the droids should be good for one shift on the construction at any rate. The droids will not need rest - just a few minutes swapping out power supplies every shift. They'll need to stay within a couple of kilometres of the control module, but that should be no major issue.
You get back to the camp. You are there for a few minutes making preparations for the droids and coordinating with the other techs. Then, you feel few moments of dizziness, then you crash. Hard. The go pill apparently has worn off, and your exhaustion comes over you in waves.
[Call it 8hrs passed, you've generated 19 construction points. 981 to go.]
-
She either ignored or did not see Holler's look of concern and took the small capsule in her hand, contemplating it for a minute and then shrugged.
As tired as she felt she really wondered if anything could really help.
Two minutes later she had her answer as suddenly she felt wide awake and her mind crystal clear.
She worked the rest of the trip back to camp to get the programming done, the tip of her tongue hanging out of her mouth in concentration.
Once back she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness and then extreme extreme exhaustion. It was about 1000 times worse than before.
But she wasn't done yet. She still had to set up the recharging station.
'Once that's done I can sleep', she promised herself. 'At least for a little bit'....
But not now. She wasn't ready. She still had stuff to do and she didn't want to let anyone down.
So she went off in search for Holler again.
'One more. That's all I need...'
-
Holler scowls, but hands over the capsule. He starts to say something, going on about mandatory rest periods or something, but you can't be bothered to care. There's work that needs to be done, and precious little time to do it in.
He stops speaking as you walk away. As the energy from the stim started to fill you, you got to work.
Setting up the charging station - on the vehicle so it is mobile and can go with the droids - you start cobbling together the systems and pieces you would need. It is more difficult than you first thought - without facilities and resources to fabricate the parts you would need, you need to jury rig receptacles wired into the vehicle power plant. While you are working, you notice your support techs coming back to camp. They look like zombies, obviously having worked hard. You're trying not to be irritated - they had just finished a 16 hour shift before you abducted them, after all - but there is a lot of work to be done.
You have a few flashes of brilliance, and work out some shortcuts, and as you round the first hour, you have a makings of a decent system in your head. Getting it out of your head and into the world will be the challenging part. But you make good progress, and have it done and ready to go. It is, if you do say so yourself, a brilliant piece of jury-rigged tech. However, you are just spot-welding the last of the environmental shields in place when the crash hits.
As the powerful effect of the stims leaves your system, your limbs feel weighted down, and a mental fog quickly fills your head. You try to focus, and finish the last few spot welds. You know they are rushed and sloppy, but in your condition you simply can't muster the energy to care.
With the techs down for the next 6 hours or so, you're keenly aware that absolutely no work will get done, so you stagger over to Holler. "Holler... I, uhm...." you hear yourself say. Holler starts to shake his head, and you grab him by the shirt. "Look, 10 days. Troops on the ground. No water, no base. I have to get this done, so just give me the blasted pill!"
Holler, gently but firmly, takes your hands off his uniform. "No. Too much of these things will literally kill you. We can use 2 safely, four in an emergency, but there's a mandatory 8-hour rest period after use. Yes, the water is important, but no one is going to die if the water is a couple of days late. And you're long-term work is going to be way more important that what you can do in the next 2 or four hours."
He starts walking you, gently but firmly, to your tent. "You are in charge, but in this case, I'm over-ruling you. You need 16 hours off to recover from the physical stress. And I'm posting a guard. If you poke your head out of this tent before 16 hours have passed, they'll have orders to stun you."
You're not really aware of how, but you are inside your tent now, and it feels good to lie down. You are asleep before Holler even has your boots off, and you have no awareness of him tucking you into the sleeping bad, or sealing the tent behind him as he departs.
Your dreams are filled with foggy images of an Overseer with a willing arm and a neural whip 'encouraging' you to work harder and faster. You get up at some point - you don't know when, but it was dark - and relieve yourself in the latrine before staggering back to bed. You are vaguely aware of someone nearby as you move between the latrine and the tent, but you are only tangentially aware of someone.
This time, you dream about Miss Brielle. You are her are in the kitchen, and she is having you make cookies. Except there is a lot of pressure. Hundreds of new kids are arriving at the orphanage, and you need to make thirty dozen cookies in the next half hour, while Miss Brielle stands over you exhorting you to work faster.
You wake up, your bladder urgently driving you to consciousness. The sun is up this time, and you feel much more aware than the last time you woke up. You open the tent, and don't see anyone there. A quick check of your noteputer reveals 16 hours since you finished the charging station. So much time lost! But, there is no sign of the vehicle or your techs, so they must be out in the field. That, at least, is something.
You do your business and step out of the latrine to find Holler walking towards you with a steaming mug of something that spells like caf.
"I was about to wake you." He holds out the cup. "I brought a peace offering. And there's hot rations ready if you're hungry."
[OOC: You have generated an additional 42 construction points, plus the droids generated 38. Total remaining required is 901]
You have been in these clothes for nearly 40 hours...
-
She shakes her head trying to clear the thoughts away that had, well...haunted her....as she slept.
First Holler forcing her to sleep, then the dreams.
Admittedly, looking back, she realized how much she had needed to sleep. But. Although he had done it nicely, she still got the jitters from someone (especially a male), making her do something that she didn't want to do.
Maybe that's what triggered the dreams of the Overseer with his neural whip and Miss Brielle in the kitchen...
No.
Holler was not the enemy here. He was a friend. And he was doing what he needed to do to look out for someone that he considered a friend.
The dreams about the Overseer, well, they certainly weren't new.
But. She also realized maybe she was going a bit overboard here.
She forced herself to take a deep, intentional, slow breath.
no one is going to die if the water is a couple of days late
His words came back to her, albeit as if through a haze.
She closed her eyes again for a second as she stood there, breathing in the scent of the caf that Holler still held out in front of her.
When she opened them she offered him a sheepish half smile and took the offered cup.
"Sorry." she said with a half shrug. "I bet I sounded pretty ridiculous before, didn't I."
-
Holler shrugs. "You were going pretty hard. Those stims are powerful, but they kick your metabolism into high gear which wears you out."
He starts to walk with you to where the small field kitchen is set up. You can smell warm food, and your stomach starts working in anticipation. Holler says, "No big on my part." He pauses. "Are we good, Snaps?"
-
She smiled. A real smile this time.
"Yeah. Thanks, Holler."
She moved over to grab whatever food was available. She wasn't feeling extremely picky at the moment.
"Hey," she said, "Do you know what time the techs headed out to get started? I want to go check on the charging stations I rigged before to make sure they actually do look ok and then maybe change my clothes but then I'm good to start working again. Just not sure what has been going on while I was.....out."
-
"They went out about 10 hour ago, taking the droids with them. They seemed pretty impressed with the work, but I can drive you out there if you like."
-
She nodded, thinking. They had been working really long hours so far. They could keep doing that, but their work would start to suffer as they got more and more tired. 16 hour days were long.
Maybe they could switch to shorter shifts? 8 hours on alternating would at least give them some down time, get some sleep and relax a bit?
"Let me grab some food real quick, change and then I'll take ya up on that. I can do some work on the chargers once I catch up with them, make sure the power supplies are good to swap out when we need to and then maybe I can relieve them a bit early and let them get back and take a real break."
She still felt guilt at taking a whole 16 hours off, even it it was relatively forced.
-
You grab a quick bite, and hop into the cab of the transport beside Holler.
After a few minutes of driving, you make it out to the work site. The place is a pleasing scene of organized chaos, with twenty droids working on the trench and the techs overseeing, while doing more complex jobs like laying in pipe sections with the load lifters, and sealing pipe seams. All seems to be going well, though you can tell the techs look exhausted. They've probably been working 16 hour shifts since they hit the ground. You are used to it, of course - there was precious little downtime as a slave.
Three of the security squad are here, keeping an eye on the local wildlife and ensuring the techs don't have to worry about any surprises. Visually, it is a little disturbing. It reminds you of the guards overseeing slave work parties. The troopers are facing outward, not watching the techs, but the visual similarities hearken back to a darker time. You have to remind yourself that the troopers are there to protect the techs.
The work has been progressing well. The techs have a good length of pipe already down and sealed, but you are fully aware of how much farther they have to go. And the pumping and purification system hasn't even been started yet - that will take some time, though you are in not bad shape. With a little more than 8 days to go, a rough guess puts about 6 days of work in front of you. That will leave some time for testing, and dealing with any complications that come up.
The droids were obviously a huge asset. You lost a lot of time getting them, but it was a good investment. Based on what you are seeing, those droids are worth about three techs. There's going to come a time when unskilled manual labour will not be helpful any longer, but maybe you can schedule things so minimize that happening. There's not much about this project that is dependant on things happening in a specific sequence, so you can get concurrent things done to keep the droids fully employed for most of the project.
You spend some time going over the charging station on the cargo truck, and find a few places where you took some slightly embarrassing short cuts. You clean those up, hiding the evidence, and the charging station should be a little more dependable now. Still, even with a few short cuts, the charging station is some solid work, especially considering you had to fabricate most of it in the field without a proper tech shop. It seems like the kind of thing that gets circulated in the tech briefings that you've been getting (and probably not reading) from alliance command lately. Maybe you could write one?
With the charging station tightened up, things are looking good. The charge levels on the power cores are not great, but enough to get them through a shift, and you're under 8 hours for a full charge, so you should be ing ood shape regarding droid up-time.
By the time you are done, one of the techs is coming off shift and needs a ride back to camp. Mena Ardross shuffles over, looking pretty wiped. "Hey, Specialist." She yawns, covering her mouth. "Great job on the droids - they're a big help. Mind if I grab a ride back to camp? I'm due for some downtime."
-
She shivered slightly at the site of Holler's team and for a moment felt a fleeing urge to run as far away as she could.
But then she remembered. This was Holler's team. Not the overseers or Hell Hole guards.
She forced herself to take a slow breath and then stepped forward into the chaos.
Looking around and watching the droids work she let a little smile tug at the corner of her lips out of pride. She had been afraid that she had wasted too much time trying to get the droids to work; that the tradeoffs wouldn't be worth it.
She was glad that fear seemed to have been misplaced.
"Hey Specialist. Great job n the droids - they're a big help. Mind if I grab a ride back to camp? I'm due for some downtime."
Kesh threw a smile at the female tech.
"You guys have been doing an awesome job. Thank you so much. I know it's been pretty insane work wise.
"Sure. Head back to camp. I'll see you on the flip side".
After Ardross left Kesh walked out to where the work was being done to see what she could help with next.
-
You and Sab Tucker spend the next 8 hours working. At some point, the security squad changes, though you don't notice when exactly it happened, only you looked up for a moment and saw different troopers on watch.
You make some excellent progress during this shift. By the time the APC returns carrying Ardross, you've covered a lot of ground.
Tucker looks at you, and he looks very tired. "That's it for me, Specialist. I'll grab some shut-eye. See you in 8." He shuffles off to the waiting APC, and you watch Ardross crossing over to where you are working.
"Wow! You guys made some great progress!"
You see Hollar walking over from the APC as well. "Hey, Snaps! You staying out here, or you want a lift to the camp?"
[OOC: Excellent progress - you generated 55 points during this shift. 847 to go, with 26 shifts until the deadline.]
-
She smiled a small smile at Holler. "I'm gonna stay out."
She took a step back to look at their progress. They really were doing pretty well. So far. But.....things that were going well sometimes tended to NOT go well really quickly. She wanted to be as far ahead as she could for when that happened....
-
Holler nods and head back to the APC to drive Tucker back to camp.
The work here is pretty tedious, but there's a sort of meditative quality to it that is not unpleasant. But after another eight hours, you're feeling pretty wrung out. When the APC rolls up bringing Tucker back, it's a welcome sight.
It's a little rough working in the field. With no real camp, you're eating cold field rations. You do have the truck to to take shelter in for brief breaks and to take meals
[OOC: Another excellent shift - you get 64 points generated. 783 to go.]
There's a lengthy section of aqueduct done now, and a good head start on finishing. But you still need to assemble the purifier and pumping stations - that's going to take several days close to camp. For all the meditative qualities of working the excavator, you're going to have to spend time doing the complicated stuff soon.
Hassle is driving the APC when you crawl into the cab and start the longer drive back to camp. Staring out the window, your mind starts working, and you realize that pretty soon you're going to have to start accounting for travel times as the work site gets farther and farther away from the base camp. There's a few ways to do it - allow shorter shifts for the folks working the excavator to account for travel time, or set up a site camp far enough away from the work site to give some peace and quiet for resting. That's going to make Holler's job harder though. Protecting three sites might stretch his people a little thin.
You get back to camp, and find Screamer working the camp kitchen, with some hot food ready. As tired as you are, hot food will be nice.
Screamer looks up as you shuffle over, and wordlessly hands you a steaming bowl of something resembling stew. The smell is actually quite appetizing, and it looks to have fresh vegetables and actual meat in it. You haven't had fresh rations since you left for Dantooine, so this is a surprise.
-
She took the proffered bowl and sniffed it curiously. It'd been....well, a while....since she had had anything with real meat in it. It smelled....delicious didn't even begin to cover it.
She wondered for a minute where it came from but she decided that it was maybe better not to ask right now. She was too tired to want to think about it much anyway.
"Thanks", she said distractedly as she sat down with the bowl.
The digging was going really well. But the distance was starting to add up. It was about a 4 mile distance between the river where the base site was located and base. Eventually they would have to cover that entire distance with pipeline. That meant that at some point pretty soon they would be driving up to 2 hours each way just to get to the work site. That was a LOT of time lost for travel. She was totally happy sleeping in a truck. It sure beat some of the other places she had slept. But she had a feeling that wouldn't really go over as well with the other two techs. Not to mention whoever from Holler's team got stuck driving 4 hours at a time....
She tried how to make that work - longer shifts that overlapped, each only pulling one shift out there per day....
Problem was that there was ALSO work that needed to be done back at Base. They hadn't really touched the purifier and pumping station yet; there hadn't really been a need. The pipeline had to be dug and set before any of the other things mattered. But those things HAD to be done back here. Back at the base camp. So it wasn't like they could just move the base camp.
She supposed they COULD, but there was a lot of heavy equipment here and the purifier and pumping station sure couldn't move.
So if she tried to move their base camp closer to the dig site it wouldn't really matter. The dig site was changing every day, and it would STILL make Holler have to guard an additional site as whoever stayed back here to work on the pumping station and purifier...
That left either dealing with the drive back here after each shift or setting up a more temporary, much more rudimentary, camp site by the digging so that people could stay out there and still get some rest but not have to deal with the travel time.
She knew if she were doing the digging she would prefer that. Again, she had slept in worse places (real beds were still kinda weird to her), eaten worse things than cold rations and not had a shower for way too many days before to really care that much. But. The other techs weren't like her. They didn't have her history. And they hadn't exactly volunteered to be here.....
She thought about Holler for a minute, too. If they set up a secondary temporary base it would still mean one more place for his team to protect. She knew he wouldn't be super happy with that. But she also knew he would do what he needed to do to protect the techs and their project here.
She let out a breath, closing her eyes for a second. Man it felt good to close her eyes.
The secondary base seemed to make the most sense to her. She knew morale would take a hit, but as cold as it sounded, they WERE a rebellion group here fighting against the Empire. It wasn't exactly the type of job where you should expect coddling, right? And this job needed to get done....
She finished the last bits of her stew, called out a thanks to Screamer again and stood up.
She needed to sleep soon. But she wanted to talk to Holler first to at least give him a heads up. She would talk to the techs after she slept.
-
Screamer just nods, in her typically wordless way, and gathers the dirty dishes.
Holler is not far, and looks to be walking a patrol while speaking on a comlink. He ends the conversation as you approach, and slings his rifle.
"Hey, Snaps. Uh, shouldn't you be getting some sleep?"
With a full belly of meat stew, you are feeling pretty sleepy. But there is a lot to look after.
-
She smiled at Holler's comment, trying to pretend that she wasn't tired. But it wasn't really fooling anyone.
And she knew if she asked Holler for more stim packs he would not be very happy with her.
"Yeah," she answered slowly, "In a bit..."
"I, um, wanted to talk to you first."
She looked around, gathering her thoughts for a second.
"The digging is going great, but the drive is getting really long.
"How do you feel about us setting up a primitive base camp out by the dig site to save on drive time?"
"I know it'll make things harder for you all, so if you don't think it'll work we can figure something else out..."
I just really don't want to let Danny down..., she finished silently to herself.
-
He thinks a moment. "It'll stretch us a little thin, but I think we can do it. If it gets back, I can put in for some reinforcements from HQ. If it comes to that though, a word or two from you might help that. So, let's give it a try for now, and re-evaluate in a day or two?"
-
She nodded, again feeling the exhaustion wash over her.
She hoped that soon they would be close enough to HQ to make this less of an issue anyway.
"Thanks again, Holler".
She hesitated, debating asking for more of the stims that Holler had, but thought better of it. The other techs could manage without her. She would sleep for at least a few hours, then go back out and talk to them and set things up, maybe put in a few hours helping out there and then come back here to work on the purifier and pumping station.
So instead she just thanked Holler again and headed off to her cot to catch a few hours of sleep....
-
You are shaken awake at some point - you're not sure exactly when, but it seems like you just got to bed. Things are a little fuzzy, mentally, and it is dark out. Through the glare of a glow-rod, you see the furry muzzle and thin torso of Grunt.
"Specialist, you left a shake order. There's been some technical trouble at the dig site - a mechanical breakdown, but they got it handled. They wanted you to know. Breakfast is on, and I started a fresh pot of kavvy."
She lets the flap fall into place, and you hear her walking away.
Beyond the tent, you hear the racket as Dantooine starts to wake up. Birds calling in the pre-dawn, the calls of animals you can't identify farther away. Then your mind comes back, and you recall Grunt said something about a mechanical breakdown.
-
"Um, wha...?", she mumbled out loud once her brain finally processed what Grunt had said, but Grunt was no longer there to answer.
Shaking herself the rest of the way awake she ran out to grab something quick to eat and then, partially in a panic, went to find someone to drive her out to the dig site.
-
Grunt is at the mess tent, and holds out a comlink in her open palm as you approach. "The APC will be back in a bit. You got time for some food and a wash. Everything's back up to full operation, but they're on the com if you want to talk."
-
"Oh. Right.", she said, feeling stupid for a minute. Com. Right.
Taking the comlink from Grunt and staring at it for a minute (she still wasn't really awake...), she waited for her brain to catch up and remember where she was and what the thing she was holding in her hand was before activating it to talk to the techs at the dig site.
"Specialist Keshani checking in...", she finally spoke.
-
"Specialist. This is Private Ardross. Everything is under control, but we had an incident in the night. A power converter on the excavator's main motivator overheated, which caused a blowout that damaged the motivator. The feedback fried several of the control actuators. We got the motivator patched and repaired about an hour and a half ago, so we're back to full capacity, but we ended up losing most of the night shift."
She sounds tired.
"Sorry, Specialist. I can fill you in on the details when you get here."
[OOC: With the mishap, and the need for two techs to make repairs, this shift did not go well. You generated 19 points, which puts you at 236 total so far, and 764 left to go, with 24 shifts remaining. You're still in pretty good shape, but your margins are getting a little narrower. You should still finish close to two days early, despite this setback.]
-
She took a slow breath, trying to hide her disappointment. They should still be okay, but her stomach hurt a bit thinking about the time they had lost.
She also felt the strong desire to spend time checking over the whole rest of the equipment to make sure everything else looked okay. And to sit there onsite the whole time so that if there was a problem she could fix it, and give the techs time to rest and.... --
She forced herself to stop mid-thought, taking a mental "Step back".
She reflected on what she had just been thinking and the insanity of it.
"Slow your roll, girl...", the muttered to herself.
She had to trust the techs.
She had to rely on other people.
It was super super hard. She had gotten burned way too many times trying to rely on anyone else for anything. She had gotten too used to always just doing everything herself.
Her stomach felt flip-floppy at the thought that she had to trust these techs.
But...it was what she needed to do.
Keying up the commlink she spoke again.
"Thank you for working to get it back up. The APC should be back soon and I'll head out."
<note: if the one tech is coming back here then she'll talk to him before heading out and then talk to Ardross when she gets there about setting up the temporary camp. Her plan is to stay out there for a shift helping them to get things set up and then come back to base to start working on the purifier and stuff>
-
A short while later, you hear the sound of the transport returning, and a tired-looking Sab Tucker gets out. He walks over to you as you walk towards him.
"Ardross told you?"
You nod. "Yeah."
"We've been using these excavators round the clock since we hit Dantooine, so they're bound to break down eventually. Never enough time for maintenance, always time for repairs, but try and tell the L.T. that. Sorry, Specialist. I know this sets us back a bit, but your droids are sure making a dent. I ran some numbers on the drive back here. We should still be OK."
-
She nodded again, processing Ardross's words.
She smiled a small smile at him.
"You two have been doing a great job. I, uh, know this assignment wasn't exactly your choice..."
Her smile turned into a frown.
"Look, I'm really sorry, but for the next bit of time this assignment's gonna get even more sucky for a few days."
She watched the tech's expression. He knew. As she said those words he knew what she was going to say next without her even saying it. They all knew the drive was getting to be unmanageable....
Knowing didn't make it feel any better....
"Just for the next couple of days. Until we get closer back to HQ. Then you can start using that as a base instead...
"But it also means we're gonna have to divide and conquer a bit too, since the purifier is back here.
"If I stay back here and work on this, it'll mean you two are on your own out there."
Her smile returned slightly, tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Think you two will be okay with that for a few days?"
The way she phrased it she tried to say with her voice and her expression that she had no doubt that they would be, but she had to ask just to make sure.....
-
He sighs, but nods. "Sure, Specialist. And closer to the end, we'll get actual beds and three square meals again, so we can tough it out for a bit. Don't worry. We may not have signed on for this, exactly, but we did sign on for the Rebellion. That was going to mean a lot of remote areas, and we both knew that when we joined."
-
She smiled again at the tech and nodded.
"Thanks, Ardross.", she said.
"I'm gonna head back over there now. I think maybe it would be a good idea for Tucker and I to go over all of the equipment and make sure there's nothing else that we need to repair or fix before anything else happens. Once you are back I'll head back here to start working on the purifier..."
-
[OOC: You could do that. Preventative maintenance will take away from construction points, but reduce the likelihood and severity of any future mechanical failures.]
He nods. "Sure thing, Specialist. I'm going to go turn in. See you in 8." He heads off to the tents, and Holler steps up to you.
"Ready to go? I'll give you a lift. I need to rotate the guards anyway."
-
"Yeah. Thanks"
(OOC: Preventative maintenance...sounds like a plan to me.)
-
You and a couple of the security team pile into the truck, and Holler drives. The ride is pretty quiet - every is probably still waking up for the start of their shift. You actually doze off during the drive - surprising considering the rough terrain. Holler wakes you up some time later. "We're here, Snaps." You see the worksite. They've made more progress than you expected, but a lot less than you had hoped. Still, the excavator is working now at least.
[Actions? You mentioned wanting to double-check the repairs, but you'd need to shut down the excavator to do that.]
-
She took a slow breath looking around. It was hard - she wanted so badly to have this go well and her instinct was to just keep pushing. As much as possible. But, that could also cause problems - both for people and for machines.
Catching the attention of the tech she gestured around them. "Hey, let's take some time to double check all the gear and make sure that we hopefully won't have any other issues, ok? You guys are doing a great job. I really do appreciate your hard work."
-
She nods and shuts down the excavator.
"Sure, Specialist, if you think that's best."
The two of you spend the next four hours double-checking the repairs, and giving everyone a once over. You find a few of things that could use a little technical TLC, and spend the remaining 4 hours making repairs and adjustments. The equipment has been working pretty hard since you got to Dantooine, so it's not really going to eliminate failures, but it should reduce the chances, and make the impacts lower.
So the shift ends, and you accomplished little actual progress, but you should be well set up to avoid or minimize any more equipment-related disruptions.
The transport rolls up with Grunt at the wheel, and Sab Tucker in the passenger seat.
-
As Tucker came over Kesh signaled Ardross and Tucker to both wait for a minute.
Her expression was apologetic.
"I already talked to Tucker about this, Ardross, but it still sucks and I know it. I'm gonna need the two of you to set up base camp temporarily out here to minimize drive times. It really is getting too long to drive back to base, and the times are just going to keep getting longer.
"I'll come out and help when I can, but I need to start working on the stuff back at Base and getting that set up.
"The good thing is that soon you'll be close to the REAL base and then you two can go back there and get real food and stuff during your down time....
"I'll still check in with you two via commlink and I can definitely come out if you two need me, but you two are good techs. You know what you're doing. You can handle this on your own, yeah?"
She wasn't trying to sound condescending or trying to challenge time or be rude or anything. She did expect them to tell her the truth if they didn't think they'd be ok...
-
Ardross nods. "Yeah, Tucker and I were already talking about that. It makes sense. Besides, it's only a few more days, provided everything goes well. No sweat, boss. We'll handle it."
Tucker nods, but then interjects. "Specialist, the Lieutenant made contact while you were out here. She wants a stats report submitted by the end of the day, with projections for project completion."
-
She nodded and took a slow breath again. It was still so strange to think of herself being in charge of something.
"Boss..." It both excited her and terrified her. Maybe more terrified than excited.
She smiled at the techs.
"Thanks, guys. I'll contact the LT. I mean it. If you need anything let me know. I'm happy to bust my butt just as hard as you two are..."
Waiting for any responses she turned back to the transport to head back to base. The drive felt like it would take forever. But she could work on the sitrep for Danny as they drove....
-
A couple of the soldiers pile in with you, but you quickly doze off during the ride back. Holler does not wake you until you are pulling into the camp.
The place looks pretty empty. Peepers and Jacks get out and stretch, and head for the tents. Holler says to you, "I'm going to walk a perimeter to check on everyone, and turn in myself. There's grub in the mess tent if you're hungry. I told Hassle to put on a fresh pot of kavvy."
He starts walking towards the perimeter where your guards are stationed.
-
(Ooc: wanna get a time check. How much longer can she stay up and work without penalties?)
-
~6 hrs.
-
She watched Holler walk away and then headed over to the mess tent. She would grab come kavvy and call Danny to check in. Then she would get in a few hours of work on the equipment out here before she had to get some rest.
Then a thought occurred to her as she arrived at the mess tent to see Hassle just finishing with the pot of kavvy.
"Hey Hassle?" she asked nonchalantly, "Ya know those stim things? You happen to have any?"
-
Hassle avoids eye contact.
"I have them, but there's standing orders not to use them or give them out without authorization."
-
She was very aware of the Spec pointedly avoiding eye contact with her.
She thought about trying to convince him to break that standing order for a split second, but that was all. Hassle was a Spec. He wouldn't break orders. And she didn't want to try to make him. That wasn't fair to him.
She forced herself to take a slow breath.
There would be enough time. They still had a bit over 6 days left.
If they could continue working at the rate they were going they should be ok.
And, closer to the deadline, she would hope that maybe Holler would be a little bit more lenient with the stim packs if they were necessary for a short while to get this thing finished.
Afterall, it was important for the Base as a whole....
So she took a cup of kavvy and thanked Hassle and headed over to where the equipment sat for the purifier.
She would work until she needed to sleep. When she got to the point that it wasn't safe or productive to keep working she would sleep. She had learned from before. If she didn't sleep she would crash and things would be worse....
<Actions: Head out to purifier and work as long as she can without penalties>
-
You put in a solid 7 hours, and are making some good headway.
You take a few minutes to grab a bit to eat. While you are eating the surprisingly tasty stew, your comlink beeps. It's Mena Ardross.
"Specialist, the new camp's all set up. We had a good shift - soft ground made for good digging. Tucker's on his own, so we're shutting down the excavator to keep the droids running. And don't forget the report for the lieutenant. Anything you need from me before I turn in?"
-
[OOC: A good shift. 76 points generated. 688 to go.]
-
"Nope. Get some rest. And thanks.", she responded back to Ardross, fighting the urge to smack herself on the forehead for forgetting to call Danny. She had meant to do it on their way back to Base and then again before she went off to work on the purifier but apparently it had slipped her mind.
Before she could forget again she pulled out her commlink to make the call.
-
It takes a few minutes, but you eventually are connected to Danny.
"Keshani, hi. How are things going out there?"
-
She was momentarily confused by the informality of the call. Lately Danny had been pretty formal with her, referring to her as "Specialist" and all...
"It's going ok, -- " she broke off, unsure as to whether to address her as "lieutenant" or "Danny" but decided to err on the side of caution "--Lieutenant." She finished. "We've had a couple of setbacks with the equipment. It's been running kinda hard. But we should still be okay - we will be finished by the deadline", she corrected herself.
"You might see Ardross and Tucker at Base within the next few days. The drive back to our base camp is getting to be so long and soon they'll be close enough to Base to make that drive much more sensible."
She was sure that some of her fatigue came across in her voice as much as she tried to hide it. But hopefully her tone also conveyed confidence. They WOULD get this done.
-
"We don't have any equipment to spare, but I might be able to spring some supplies and another tech if you need it. We're on a time crunch there though, so if you'll be done on time as is, I'd prefer to leave it at that." There is a pause. "Are your people OK? Or should we be swapping in new techs? I know working in the field can be rough."
-
"I think we are okay. It's pretty rough on them right now having to camp out at the dig site but they know its only for a few more days."
She paused for a minute thinking about it.
"I trust them and they know what they're doing. I feel like if we brought in a new team we'd lose time. But, can I tell them that they can look forward to a bit of a break when we are finished?"
-
Danny sighs, and you can hear how tired she is. "I'll see what I can do."
Another brief pause. "And how are you doing? We haven't really had a chance to talk since we left to come to Dantooine. Are you doing ok?"
-
"I"m ok.", she answered, a bit uncomfortable with saying too much over a comm link where she couldn't see Danny's expression. "It's been interesting to say the least."
Again a bit of an awkward pause, not quite sure of this whole friend vs. Officer thing.
"Wouldn't mind getting a cup of kavvy or some thing with you once this is finished. But, I know you're really busy. I'm ok."
-
She's quiet again for a moment.
"Ok, Keshani. If anything changes with the schedule, or you think you might be done early, let me know immediately. And take care of yourself. We'll see you in a few days."
-
"Ok," she replied, a bit confused, "Do you *need* us to be finished early?"
-
She laughs lightly. "Keshani, I have a month's worth of work to get done in a little more than a week. If you can give me back resources early, it'll help me get the impossible done. Don't kill yourself or your techs, but yes - if you can get done early, it would help."
-
She nodded. If only Holler would let them use the stim packs.....
"We'll do our best. You take care of yourself too."
Waiting to see if Danny had anything else to say, Kesh put the comm link away. She needed to sleep for a few hours but then she would be back at it again. She could work 16 hours in a day; Maybe more if she pushed it...but she didnt want to push herself so hard that she made stupid mistakes. That would at the very least slow them down and the worst destroy the whole setup.
She sighed and headed off to catch a few hours of sleep.
(Actions: sleep minimum necessary and then go work again. If she runs into Holler at all she may think about making a case for more stim things but she isn't going to actively go search him out at this point)
-
You're all alone in the camp now, and there's a lot fewer soldiers here with you, so things are a lot quieter. You set an alarm for 6 hours, and turn in.
It's sunset by the time you wake up, and the camp is deserted, though you see soldiers on perimeter patrols a couple of hundred yards distant.
Stretching, yawning and scratching, you spend a few moments in the improvised fresher and head to the mess tent. The pot of stew is still there, though it's a lot lower than it was. There's also some fresh buns (how did they make bread?!?!) and what appears to be a fresh pot of kavvy.
You do a quick check-in with your techs. One had the last shift off, so productivity was a little low, but they still did quite well.
[You made another 56 points, giving you a total of 368, and 632 to go.]
-
Feeling nervous but also proud of the two techs, Kesh headed out to the purifier to do her part....
(She can work 16 hours right? Or that too long without a break?)
-
[There will be breaks, but effectively 16 hours, yeah.]
-
(K. Do that then....)
-
You work through the night, and as the sun starts to rise you take a quick break for some food and more kavvy. A new stew is on - you didn't even see who made it - and some sort of local fruit that is quite tasty, if a little tart.
Checking in with the work crew, they had a great shift as well.
[You earned another 63 points, giving you a total of 431, with 569 left to go.]
You're tired, but you could go for another shift.
-
She decided to stick it out and work one more shift before taking a break. She was kinda on a roll and didn't want to break her stride by stopping now.
It was peaceful, in a way, back working by herself. She felt protected by Holler and his team so she could just lose herself in the work and she felt herself relaxing a bit as she worked, a small smile even appearing on her face.
Yeah, it was rough work and crude conditions, but this, to her, was almost "normal". And not having anyone standing over her threatening her or worse, well, she was in a pretty good mood.
(Actions: keep working for another shift)
-
You really sink into a rhythm - "the zone" - and get a significant amount of work done on the initial set up. You are elbow-deep in the purifier when you feel a hand on your shoulder - you didn't even hear anyone approach.
You look up and see Holler.
"Hey, Snaps. It's been 8 hours. You've been going nonstop. You need to at least take a break and eat something."
Your stomach growls, and you realize you are quite hungry. And, you really need to pee. It really didn't feel like 8 hours...
after a quick freshening up you are sitting at the table eating another bowl of stew, and looking over the report Mena Ardross sent along. They did some great work as well - this has probably een your best day yet. You close your eyes and do some rough figuring, and it seems you guys are past the halfway point, and the end of the 4th day. That's really good. You take a moment to process this, looking out over the gently rolling grassy hills of Dantooine, painted golden red by the setting sun.
[Actions?]
Holler and Grunt at at the table with you, preparing to turn in for the night.
-
[OOC: You put in an amazing 81 points this shift. That's a total of 512 points in, with 488 left to go.]
-
She jumped at the hand on her shoulder, almost dislodging a part that she had just teased into place. Almost.
"Geez, Holler! Don't sneak up on me like that!", she exclaimed.
But at the mention of food her own stomach mutinied against her, announcing agreement with the Spec.
"Fine, you traitor," she grumbled under her breath but got up to follow Holler, ending up sitting at the table eating with Holler and Grunt.
It was so easy to get lost in work and totally lose touch with the world around you.
She supposed that it again spoke volumes of how....safe....she felt around the Specs.
Back on Bakura there was no WAY she would have allowed herself to get so lost in anything that she didn't know what was going on around her. She would have been killed.
Reading the report from Ardross made a small smile tug at the corner of her lips. Only a small smile. Because they still had a long way to go.
But they were getting there....
She looked out over the grassy hills glowing red from the setting sun and her smile did get a bit bigger. And she felt herself.....relax.
Holler, Grunt....
They really were like family. Like the big brothers (and maybe sisters, although it was hard to lump Grunt in with any girls she had known before) who looked out for you and who you could maybe razz once in a while.
Maybe she could keep doing this. Maybe.
"I guess I need to sleep too," she commented idly, poking at the bottom of her now empty bowl with the spoon (she was so hungry it really hadn't stood a chance).
"Since someone won't let me keep just stimming myself awake." She mock (at least mostly) sighed and then shrugged and stood up, stretching.
"You guys doing ok?"
-
Holler scrubs his face with both hands before answering.
"Yeah, we're good. Still, it'll be nice to get under hard cover and not have to scrounge for fresh food. Game's been a little scarce the last few days - we might have to resort to rations again."
Not great news - the rations were edible and all, but hardly tasty. The stew, fresh veggies and meat, has been lovely.
-
"You mean back to real base?" She asked, her face flushing a bit with embarrassment at having to ask about something she felt like she should know. "Is that hard cover?"
-
He smiles, looking tired. "Yeah, a roof and four walls. Hard cover. Sleeping under canvas can wear on you after a while. By the time we get back, there should be real barracks."
-
She smiled and nodded, thinking for a second of all of the times in her life where "four walls and a roof" had actually been a luxury she had been provided.
"I'll see you in a few hours...", she said, heading off to grab some sleep.
<Actions: sleep and then repeat>
-
The night passes far too quickly, and you feel like you just went to sleep when the alarm goes off.
You sped probably too long on hygiene, and head to the mess test. The kavvy is fresh and hot and strong, which helps. However, there is no stew this morning, so you're relegated to eating military rations. They have the taste and texture of mud, but they're still way better than the "food" you got on the station or the work camps, so you don't see anything to complain about.
Checking in with the team, the results are a little disappointing. It seems Ardross ran into some difficult ground in the night, so her progress was slowed a little. It's not terrible, and certainly not a mishap. With Tucker on duty this morning, maybe they'll be able to make up for lost ground.
You see the guards changing, but there is no sign of Holler. The truck is missing, so he's probably checking on his people.
[Actions?]
A bit of a slow night - only 11 points. That puts you at 477 total to go, with 6 full days left to go.]
-
It felt like she had swallowed dust in her sleep. Her throat was scratchy and her head felt like cotton.
One day she would actually be able to sleep in.....
Shaking off her tireness (or more accurately maybe melting it away with the ship fuel they called kavvy), she felt a little...disheartened....at the slow progress over night.
But, they still had time, she reminded herself.
They'd be ok.
She wondered about Holler being missing already. Does that guy ever sleep?, she couldn't help but wonder.
He always seemed to be up, watching out for everyone else.....
No wonder he didn't want to give her any stim-shots - he was probably using them all himself.
She sighed, and, grabbing her gear, headed back over to the purifer to begin working....
-
You put in a couple of hours, and are in the zone when your comlink beeps. Activating it, you hear Hassle's voice.
"Specialist Keshani, we're going to need you to move into the camp and take cover."
-
What. The. Frell ?
She thought it was a joke for a second. What the frak would she need to take cover from???!!! There was nothing on this planet that she'd seen yet but the natives and droids.
What. The. Frell???
But she also realized that that would be a pretty bad joke......
So, securing what she was doing she shrugged a bit warily and hurriedly moved to follow the instructions given over the commlink, looking for someone once she got back to find out what was happening from....
-
As you move, Hassle continues speaking on the comlink. "Specialist, I've patching you into unit comms. Peepers, report."
Another voice - Peepers. "We've got a herd of about a dozen Thule about 100 meters away, about half and half young and adults, with one big bull. We spotted a Graul hunting them, about 200 meters away. Angles look bad - it the herd stampedes, they could be coming right through camp."
A third voice, sounds like Screamer. "Confirmed."
Hassle again. "Specialist, what's your position?"
You are about 50m from the supply tent - that's probably the best spot to get cover.
-
"Frell..." she mumbled under her breath.
"I'm gonna hang tight in the supply tent for now. That should be okay right?"
-
"Affirmative."
You break into a trot and make it to the supply tent.
Over the comlink you hear Peepers. "I'm in position. You want me to spook them, Hassle?"
There is quiet for a moment. Peepers says again, "Hassle?"
A moment later, hassle says, "Wait for the flashes."
You hear some faraway "whump" sounds, and some sort of trumpeting calls, followed closely by the sound of a blaster.
"They're on the move!" You can't tell - there's some distortion.
"Hassle! The Graul!"
"I see him. Screamer?"
Screamer says, "In position."
You are hearing some earth-thumping sounds, and an angry roar, getting louder.
[Actions?]
-
She was momentarily in awe of their professionalism.
She had worked with them for a while now, but she hadn't really seen them function as a unit much in that time (which was a good thing).
The calmness that they were communicating with each other now....
It was kinda neat to see.
And, she felt totally safe knowing that they were in control of the situation.
But, as she heard the angry roar and accompanying thumping sounds getting louder, she couldn't resist peeking out of the tent to see what was going on. Just a tiny corner of the tent flat wouldn't hurt, right?
-
You poke your head out and have a look, but there's not much to see. You have a general idea of where the action is, and looking that way, you can see some rising clouds of smoke drifting lazily on the breeze.
"He's charging!" comes over the coms. You can't tell how that is.
There is a pause.
"Screamer down!" That might be Peepers.
You hear then some quickly approaching thumps. Looking in that direction, you spot a terrifyingly huge creature. You can only see the top of it over the tents and trees, but it must be 10 meters tall.
You see blaster bolts hitting the creature, but it doesn't seem fazed by the burns appearing on its hide. The creature thunders into the camp, raises it's head, and roars. The sound is overwhelming, and you involuntarily raise your hands to your head, but with your helmet on, it doesn't help.
More blaster bolts ping off the back of the creature, and there is a flash and a loud crump sound as a pair of grenades go off at it's feet. That gets it's attention, and it turns back the way it came.
You see Hassle there, armed with what looks like a huge blaster cannon with several barrels. The barrels start spinning, and blaster bolts fly in rapid-fire at the creature, stitching pockmarks all over the chest of the creature. It roars, and charges at Hassle.
[Actions?]
-
She bit down on her lip to keep from screaming. Although, it probably wouldn't have mattered if she had - the noise that was happening from the camp would have covered up anything she herself could possibly add.
Her stomach felt sick as she watched, and she wasn't honestly sure if it was more sick because of the injuries they were causing to the huge creature (what had they called it again?) or because of the danger to the "good guys" in the camp.
She still wasn't a big fan of blasters and shooting things, and between the grenades going off and the huge ass blaster cannon that Hassle was holding.....
She fought very hard against the urge to cry out into the comm pleading with the specs to stop.
This creature thing was just...doing what they do, right?
They had invaded ITs area...
And now they were going to kill it....
Her stomach lurched again, but fortunately she failed at keeping her stomach contents down and succeeded in not activating her commlink and not vice-versa.
Deciding she didn't want to watch anymore she let the tent flap go and curled up on the ground of the supply tent hugging her knees to her chest and, taking her helmet off, really did cover up her ears so that she didn't have to listen anymore.
She assumed she would be able to tell when things were over....
-
Hands over your ears gives things a less immediate, more distant sound to them. You can almost believe it is happening over the next hill or something, not 30 yards in front of you.
There's roars, explosions, and the sound of blasters, and the roar of the cannon Hassle was using.
It goes on for perhaps thirty seconds before things get quiet. Then you sit for another thirty seconds in blind silence, afraid to move. Then there is a sudden brightening, and you see Peepers standing there, blaster rifle held at the ready in one hand, his other holding back the tent flap. He looks around frantically, then relaxes when he spots you.
"Come on, we need to move."
His armour is spattered and smeared with blood, but he looks unharmed.
-
She blinked as the light passed through the open tent flap, reaching her eyes.
It took her a few moments to register Peepers' words but she finally did move to stand up.
"What's going on?", she asked as she moved to follow him
-
"The Graul is down. Hassle and Screamer..." He sighs. "I need to get you to safety. Come on!"
-
She let herself be pulled away by Peepers but her face paled. "Wait. Hassle and Screamer what?", she asked, panic pushing its way into her voice
-
"They're down. I don't know how bad. Come on, I gotta get you to safety."
Peepers is looking pretty frazzled.
-
She closed her mouth and concentrated on keeping her legs from giving out, letting Peepers lead her wherever it was they were going
-
You notice that at least some of the blood on Peeper's armour is coming from a wound on the back of his neck. It's bleeding pretty bad, but maybe it looks worse than it is?
He's leading you through the camp towards the are where you park the trucks. You come around the mess tent and he stops cold.
"Shit shit shit... Hollar has it... shit..." He sounds pretty close to panicked.
-
"Wait. Peepers. Holler had what? And...your neck...."
-
"The truck! Holler as the truck! I forgot..." His hand goes to his neck and comes away red. "Guess he got me... worse than I... thought..."
Peeper's eyes roll back, and he collapses in front of you.
-
"Frell!", the teenage girl cursed, freaking out for a moment in panic before she could calm herself down enough to kneel next to Peepers to see what she could do. At the same time she spoke into her commlink - "Th-this is specialist Keshani. Peepers is down. I'm gonna try to help him. A-awaiting further instructions"
Actions:first aid roll. Spend up to 2 cps to get Peepers up again
-
The comlink is silent. Part of Keshani's overtaxed brain recalls there is a limited range to a personal comlink, but there is a more powerful unit near the mess tent.
Peepers is in a bad way. The wound actually cuts deeply into his neck. It missed any major arteries, but still did some significant damage. From the look of his armour, he's also suffered blunt-force trauma, though you'd need to remove the armour to get a better look.
You apply a wound sealant. The med scan shows a concussion, cracks in several ribs, and a deep puncture in the neck that missed the carotid artery by less than a millimeter.
Working quickly, and trying to ignore the pounding of your heart, you manage to stabilize Peepers. He still needs medical care, but he'll be stable for a few hours at least.
[Actions?]
You took him from mortally wounded to incapacitated. You can try again with a medkit, but the difficulty goes up. You spent 2 CP.
-
"Frell!!" She cursed again, louder this time. Shiviati!
She remembered that there were only the three Specs with her right now back at this camp. The others had gone on to help defend the other camp where the two techs were working.
With Hassle and Screamer down and now Peepers....
I'm alone
I'm alone!!!
She let her brain freak out for another few seconds and then took a slow breath forcing it to calm down. She couldn't afford to freak out. The Specs needed her.
She thought back for a few seconds to the conversation that they had had in the truck on one of their return trips - about how the Specs were here dedicating their lives to helping others.
Well, now it was her turn....
Frell.
Peepers would be okay for now. But she didn't know about the other two.
Also, Peepers was so insistent that they had to move. But the Graul was down. So what was the problem?
Activating her sensors she did a scan of the surrounding area trying to find information about where Hassle and Screamer were and also if there was some other danger to the camp at this point...
<Actions: Sensor Scan - focusing on the area that the sounds were all coming from before?>
-
You hop in the truck and activate the sensors. A scan doesn't reveal any immediate threats, certainly nothing as large as a Graul. There are faint lifesigns east of the camp, but you can't get any details.
-
Taking several slow breaths Kesh thought about her options. She could either drive off on her own with Peepers to where the other site was set up, which might save herself and Peepers, but would leave the other two to most likely die or she could head out in search for them, possibly risking her own life if there WAS something dangerous here still.
Her stomach churned a bit.
She imagined herself trying to tell Holler that she had left Hassle and Screamer to die.
He would probably not say anything about it. He would claim something like their first priority was her safety. But it would hurt. A lot. She couldn't do that. Not without trying. Hell. She couldn't look herself in the face if she did that.
Taking another slow breath she checked Peepers one more time to make sure he was stable and got him in the truck before driving it off to the east of the camp where the faint lifesigns had been detected on the sensors.
I hope it's Hassle and Screamer and not some other surprise..., she thought to herself as she drove.
-
Peepers looks to be stable, at least for a few hours.
You move through the camp towards the faint lifesigns.
The body of the Graul is sprawled in the edge of camp, right near where Keshani had been working. There is superficial damage to some of the pumping equipment. At least it looks superficial - you'll have to inspect it for a definitive answer. The Graul registered as very dead to the truck's scanners, but you're still nervous as you circle the body. As you come around the head, it looks like the graul ate something explosive - there's extensive tissue damage, and the head is significantly deformed. You continue to circle, and Hassle comes into view. He looks extremely pain, resting in the right hand of the Graul. He is on his back, and you can see several armour-rending lacerations over his torso, and what appears to be a massive bite across his upper chest. He also appears to have been exposed to a close-range explosion, and most of his face is burned and puffy.
-
"Hassle!", Kesh yelped. "No way!"
The Graul seemed dead. Peepers seemed okay at least for now.
Her heart pounding she knelt down beside the Spec, pulling out her med kit. She still didn't know where Screamer was. But Hassle looked pretty bad....
If she could at least get him a little better so he wasn't actively dying....
She fought the urge to vomit as she went to work on him.
"Please don't die", she whispered frantically.
(OOC: Use up to 2 cps as needed to stabilize him)
-
[You spent 2 CP.]
You quickly triage and deal with the worst injuries first. You end up having to cut him out of his armour to get at the puncture wounds - some of them quite deep. You apply a biosealant to stop the bleeding, and give an injection to stop the internal bleeding, at least for a while. Hassle is still in a bad way, but you have bought some time at least, but he is going to need more care soon if you are going to save his life.
[Actions?]
Based on your rough scan, Screamer should be somewhere north of you, about 100 meters.
-
Her heart still pounding, Kesh took a slow breath, thanking the Force and whatever other powers she could think of that at least, for the moment, Hassle seemed to be breathing and circulating blood throughout his body instead of OUTSIDE of his body.
All she could think in her head was that she couldn't be the reason that they lost any of these guys.
She had spent enough time with each of them that the loss would hit her hard. But to have to take that news to Holler....
She couldn't do that.
So they wouldn't die.
That was all there was to it.
Fighting to move Hassle into the vehicle she got back behind the controls and slowly headed off in the direction that the scan had indicated that Screamer should be.
She found herself begging to the Force that she would find him breathing, as well...
<Actions: move Hassle to the truck and go find Screamer>
-
You load Hassle into the truck, and take off to go find Screamer.
You find him laying in a patch of flattened grass, pinned by what looks to be a large boulder. Leaping from the cab of the truck, you run over to him, hands already opening a medkit as you skid to a stop beside him.
His left leg is completely hidden from view, and you can only see his right foot protruding from under the boulder. His upper torso is clear and his chest armour is intact, so his vital organs appear to be intact. The scan shows his vital signs are erratic, and his pulse weak and rapid. You cannot penetrate the boulder with the medical equipment you have to see how bad it is under the rock.
[Actions?]
-
"Screamer!", she exclaimed, wringing her hands slightly as she looked at the Spec trapped under the boulder.
His leg looked crushed and Kesh winced in sympathetic pain at seeing him. Her first instinct was to fight to get the boulder off so she could pull him free.
But as she calmed down a bit getting over the initial feeling of panic and shock at seeing him she had the thought that maybe that wouldn't be good right away.
The leg might be building up toxins as blood wasn't circulating to it and if she moved the boulder without doing SOMETHING first it could make him even worse off. Also, the boulder would take some time to move.
If she could stabilize him first it would hopefully make it safer. And maybe Holler would come back and be able to help....
(Not knowing her luck so far, but still...)
Taking a slow breath she pulled out another medpack and knelt down beside the injured spec.
(OOC: Use up to 2 cps as needed to stabilize him)
-
You administer come medications to deal with shock and replace lost blood with a synthetic blood injection, sealing the open wounds with some syntheflesh patches. It's not going to work long-term, but you've bought some time.
But that's two of them on borrowed time, and the clock is ticking. Holler will be back eventually, but that could be hours from now.
There is a higher-power transmitter at the camp that you use to communicate with the other camp, and even the main construction site. You could call in support. It would take Holer up to an hour to get to you, but the main Base should have a shuttle or something for a medevac, maybe?
-
She breathed a quick sigh of relief as Screamer's color got a little better. She knew it was only a short-term fix. But it was something.
So what to do next?
She needed to let Holler know what was going on. But to do that she needed to be back at camp. Which meant either moving Screamer or leaving him here. Which she wasn't willing to do.
So. That meant moving the boulder. And quickly. But how?
She could try just pushing it, but she wasn't that strong. And she didn't think that rolling it over the already seriously injured Spec would be a good idea.
Which meant lifting it off of him somehow so that she could drag him out from underneath of it. Or somehow using a lever of some sort to lift it off of him and then roll it up in the air away from his body....
She looked around to see if there were any big branches or pieces of wood or metal around that she could use as a pry bar/lever of sorts or if there was anything in the truck. Also, she looked to see if there was any repulsor emergency kit or manual jack lift of any sort to lift up the truck for repairs...
There had to be *something* she could use....
-
There is an emergency repair kit in the truck, which includes a repulsor jack. You spend a few minutes digging, and make an opening large enough to fit the jack in. You activate it, using the prybar to help guide the boulder as it rises, and you manage to get it a couple of inches off the ground. The jack shifts when the ground beneath it gives way, but you manage to quickly compensate and stabilize the boulder. Leaving the lifting mechanism to its own devices, you move to Screamer's shoulders. You're worried about not stabilizing his spinal column, but there's not much to do while he's under the boulder.
Fortunately, the ground beneath the bounder was relatively soft, and his body was driven into the ground, which helped absorb a lot of the force of the impact. You manage to haul him out. He looks to have internal injuries from the impact, but his lower body is not completely crushed. His legs, however, are in rough shape. They are bleeding badly once you remove him from the ground, in several places and he has complex compound fractures on both legs, and major internal bleeding.
-
Wincing in sympathy for the Screamer's injuries and trying to keep her stomach from relocating its contents, Kesh fought to as gently as possible get the injured soldier into the truck and then drove the truck as quickly as she could back to the base camp so that she could hopefully reach Holler.
She was going to have a decision to make.
If she could reach Holler, maybe they could rendezvous somewhere in between the two camps. And maybe, just maybe, with Holler's help they could stabilize both of the injured Specs to keep them alive.
It was as if a huge clock was ticking in Kesh's brain, or a time capsule with sand sliding from the top to the bottom. Her time was quickly running out.
But, by leaving the camp she was also leaving the purifier unprotected.
But she really wasn't much protection for it, anyway. Not if these things could take all the Specs like nothing...
She sighed.
First thing was first. She would see if she could reach Holler or if she was truly on her own...
-
You spend a few minutes getting your patients into the back of the truck. It is a struggle - years of street living and slavery has made you wiry, but not overly strong, so getting them into the back of the truck without aggravating their injuries is no easy thing. Finally, arms and legs shaking from the effort, you drive the short distance back to camp. Hopping out of the truck, you to the tent beside the mess area, which served as a command post. You as you approach the tent, you can hear a distorted voice. Throwing open the flap, you see the unit is active, and you can hear Holler's voice.
"... is Holler. Please respond. ... Camp one, this is Holler. Please respond..."
-
She moved over to the comm and activated it. "Holler! It's Kesh...."
She took a slow breath. Professional. She had to be professional, right?
"A graul came into camp. I...have Screamer and Hassle with me but they're bad. I..don't know if I can help them both."
Distress was clearly evident in her voice
-
He is quite for a moment. "OK, you'll be fine. Is the Graul down?"
-
"Yes, but Hassle and Screamer..."
It was clear that she was trying her best to act calm, but was panicking inside...
-
"Ok, so you're safe. Are they still alive? Stable?"
-
"I...stabilized them for now but they're both hurt pretty bad. Look, are you close enough to get here to help? I...don't know if I can help them both on my own"
-
"Ok, if they're stable, that's good. You're doing great. I can't get there - I'm 45 minutes away. But that's OK - you're going to call on the comlink and contact the base. You're going to request a medivac for three, and additional security. Explain what happened, they'll get Screamer, Hassle and Peppers medical attention. Ok? You got that?"
-
She nodded, although no one could see her. "Yeah." She took a slow breath. "Thanks. And....sorry..."
She closed the line and started a new call to base.
-
A great deal happens in a short amount of time once the call goes through. Medical teams are scrambled, and a pair of evac shuttle are dispatched. In about 15 minutes, the small camp is a lot more crowded. Medtechs check over your patients and whisk them away. You try and stay involved, but the medtechs shoo you away, so you're kind of left worrying without any information. Then, somehow, they're a lot more soldiers around. They must have come in on another shuttle. Through the chaos, you see a young woman in uniform some over to you.
'Specialist Keshani, I'm Lieutenant Vance, Alliance Infantry. I've been assigned to oversee security of this project moving forward."
-
Kesh looked around in a daze at all the activity. So many questions came to mind, but she didn't see anyone to ask them to. So she just stood, staring.
When the Lt walked up to her she actually jumped slightly, being brought back into her physical body and out of her wandering mind.
"What about Holler?", she couldn't help blurting out before she remembered where she was and who she was talking to
-
She raises an eyebrow.
"If you are referring to Corporal Halloway, he and his team will be rotated out for R&R. They've sustained significant injuries, and have been working very hard. They need time to recover, and they'll find it at the base."
-
Her cheeks flaming a bit red she nodded.
She wondered if she would ever see him or his team again. She hoped so. She needed to talk to them. And to Holler. To apologize.....
But this new Lt was standing in front of her and she had to say something.....
"Ok. Were you briefed by....Corporal Halloway.... on the setup here?"
-
She shakes her head. "Not completely. Cpl Halloway is due to return in a few minutes. I'll get briefed by then. In the meantime, I've been told that this is your project, and I am to follow your direction, except where the safety of you or the project is concerned. Is there anything I need to know before Corporal Halloway returns?"
-
She thought for a minute and shook her head.
"I don't think so....except..I don't know how common the Graul are to this area? Maybe there should be spotters sent out or something in case more are around? This one sure did a lot of damage...."
Her voice trailed off as she thought about the 3 injured specs. She was still almost afraid to see Holler. She was afraid of what he might say; of what she might say....But at the same time she really needed to see him. To tell him she was sorry...
"I really should check in with the other camp, I guess. I haven't gotten to check in with them in a while. And then I guess I need to get started working back on the setup up here...."
The teenage techie fought off the feeling of extreme overwhelmingness that was threatening to wash over her.
So much had happened in such a short amount of time.....where did she even begin?
-
She nods. "Don't worry about that, Specialist. We'll have you covered. Once I debrief Corporal Halloway, I'll be taking a team over to the other site to cover them as well. You're welcome to hitch a ride with me there and back."
She heads off towards a knot of activity - soldiers and medics, by the look of them, and you are left to your own devices for a while.
[Anything you want to do? We can skip to Holler's arrival if you want.]
-
Watching the Lt go, Kesh shook her head a bit as if to try to clear it. A LOT had happened in just a short time and she felt like her head was spinning.
But she forced herself to focus at least a little. She should check in with the other techs.....
Pulling out her commlink/moving over to the comm unit (OOC: I forget which one I need to use...) she called up the other team.
-
[OOC: The main com unit generally, but your comlink can be patched in through the main unit to reach them.]
"Tucker here, Specialist. We heard you had a rough shift. You ok? Do you need one of us to head there and help out?"
-
"Hi." She took a slow breath. It was nice to hear a familiar voice, even if she hadn't known the other techs for that long.
"I should be okay up here I think." (In her head she swore that she WOULD be okay. No matter what. She would make it work.)
"How are you doing down there?"
-
"We're good. Been having a good shift with good progress. The troopers are a little uneasy - we heard there were some casualties."
He pauses. "Specialist, we've been making good progress. If you need one of us to spell you off, we have some slack still in the schedule, and Mena and I can pull extra hours to make it up. It sounds like it got rough."
-
(OOC: Can I get a recap of where we are right now point wise and how much more we need to do as well as how much time is left to do it please?)
Kesh let out an audible sigh. She wasn't actual leadership. She wasn't an actual officer. She hadn't received any training on hiding her emotions or presenting any specific "front" to those that were reporting to her (that thought of people reporting to her was still a bit...scary).
Her voice, her sigh....they spoke volumes that her actual words did not.
She was freaked. She was hurting. She was scared. She was exhausted. And she felt extreme guilt at what happened to the specs while they were protecting her.
But all of those things also fed into her a type of manic energy. She wanted to show that she could still do this. She wanted to somehow make up for what had happened. She wanted to make up for the specs getting hurt. Holler's team getting hurt.
And maybe, just maybe, she wanted to push herself to extremes here to punish herself in a way.
"Let me regroup a bit up here and see where we're at. I'd prefer to have you two not have to bust your butts anymore than you already are if I can help it...."
-
[OOC: I'll update your stats tonight. Remind me if I forget.]
-
[OOC: You keep working through the day. Your productivity was impacted, but you still made decent progress, overall.
You have completed 632 points, and have 368 points to go with 5 days left to complete the project. You've been averaging a little over 40 points a shift. If that keeps up, you should be done in 10 shifts, or a little over three days.]
-
Kesh sat back on the ground beside the console she was working on. She was exhausted. Physically, yes, but mentally even more.
She wished she had an energy stim to help her stay awake.
But that line of thought made her again think of the specs and Holler, since he had forbid all the specs from giving her any without his express approval....
She was willing to admit to herself that she was hiding out here as much as she was working.
Tech was easy. It made sense. If there was a problem there was a way to fix it. You just had to trace it back to its roots....
People not so much.
She let out a sigh. She needed to talk to Holler. But at the same time she was afraid to. Screamer, Hassle and Peepers had all gotten hurt protecting her. This whole thing was her plan; her decisions. So them getting hurt was her fault too.
She knew she had to stop soon and get some sleep. Otherwise she would start making mistakes. And, they were doing fine, theoretically, on their progress. They should still be finished before the deadline that they had been given. Within all rights she should go, get some food and get some shut eye. But she wasn't quite ready to do that yet.
So, pushing herself up off the ground she went back to work, trying to close everything else out from her mind and just focus on the mechanical pieces.....
-
[So you're extending your shift?]
-
Yes as long as it's not to the point she's going to start causing damage...
-
You are a couple of hours into your extra work. You're definitely getting tired, but the work helps keep your mind off other things. Then you hear some footsteps behind you.
"Hey, Snaps - uh, I mean Specialist Keshani?"
You turn around and find Holler standing there. He looks apologetic.
"Look, I know you're working, but I wanted to say good bye before I head out. They're, uh, shipping me and the others back to base. Don't worry about Screamer or the others - they're going to be fine. Medevac got them under care quickly. The medics said... they said you saved their lives."
He looks over his shoulder at the whine of engines starting up - it looks like the shuttles that ferried the infantry troops here are heading back.
"I gotta go, they're my ride."
-
She looked over at him and tears sprung up in her eyes despite her best efforts. Suddenly she turned and flung herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug.
"Holler I'm so sorry", she said in between tears
-
He embraces you, stroking the back of your head.
In soothing tones he says, "Hey now, easy. Easy. You don't have anything to apologize for. Well, I mean, yes. Hassle can be a pain in the rump. And yes, saving him means I have to keep putting up with him. But even so. I'd still miss him if he wasn't around, so you don't need to apologize. Even for that."
-
She snorted and snot ran down her face, which she promptly wiped, without thinking about it with her hand.
Then, she reached out to Holler's shoulders with her hands (still snot covered, of course).
"If they hadn't had to protect me then they would have been okay in the first place though"
-
He says soothingly, "That's not true. Someone needs to be doing this work, and someone would be guarding whoever was doing that work. If it wasn't you and my team, it would have been someone else. And I guarantee you, another team would have fared much worse against a graul. A frelling graul, Snaps! Look, we specs all put ourselves on the line. Yes, we take losses. But we take a lot fewer losses than other folks do. We do more with less, more often than anyone else. I can tell you that the Lieutenant and her two platoons would not have fared half as well as half of my squad did against that thing. So, yeah, we took some hits. We take them, again and again, willingly, so that other people don't have to. So none of this nonsense about this being your fault. It's literally our job, and they did it excellently."
-
She sniffled a bit and hugged Holler again.
"Will I see you again?"
-
He hesitates but says, "Sure, Snaps. We'll be back at the base at least until Hassle and the others recover. But listen, we move around a lot. Skills like our are in demand. We don't stay much of anywhere too long."
He hesitates again. "You ever get tired of infrastructure work, Snaps, let me know."
-
Her expression changes to one of confusion at that.
"What would I be able to do on a Spec team? It's not like I can shoot very well..."
-
He starts to walk away, turning around to walk backwards as the pitch of the shuttle engines rises.
"Always work for a combat engineer, Snaps. Shooting can be trained."
-
She winced at that. She wasn't sure that she would ever like shooting at things....but the stuff about protecting others? She wasn't sure. She'd have to think about it.
"Don't leave for good without saying goodbye if you can. And let me know how the guys are doing please?"
She offered a small smile and wave as Holler continued to walk toward the waiting shuttle.
-
He waves back as he boards the shuttle, which quickly lifts off and flies away. In seconds it is out of view.
[What's the plan now?]
-
After speaking with Holler Kesh suddenly found herself feeling completely exhausted. All of the adrenaline from the past few hours had left her and everything that happened suddenly hit her.
Taking a slow breath she finished what she was doing and headed off to her tent. She needed some sleep. And some food. Then she would go back to work....
-
The extra time wasn't entirely productive - you had a lot on your mind, and the sleep you finally had wasn't exactly restful. You finally awaken to the chime of your datapad after a shift of rest, and head out to the mess area. Things are certainly a lot different this morning - there's soldiers everywhere, including apparently, several cooks. There's actual meals available now. It's preserved and processed stuff, not the hand-made bacon and sausage the Spec's managed to come up with, so it lacks the personal feel, but it's all way better than slaves get so it's probably all a matter of perspective.
You go over the reports from the previous day. Your work was, understandably, not as productive as it could have been - the Graul attack certainly disrupted things. But Ardross and Tucker put in some good work. They are most of the way to the base now, with their trenching and pipe laying.
Looking over the numbers, and making some projections, you figure you should be wrapped up in a good solid day, maybe two, with 5 days left to go. A comfortable margin. It might even be possible to shave off a little effort and have Tucker and Ardross travel back to camp to bunk down for their downtime. That should certainly ease their stress.
A cook walks by and refills your kavvy cup without being asked, and leaves a small plate of some sort of processed baked goods. Maybe having the soldiers around won't be so bad? The camp is a lot noisier, and a lot larger, but the extra security might be handy.
Lieutenant Vance appears in the mess area, spots you, and heads over.
"Morning, Specialist. It was a quiet night. With your permission, I'd like to set up some barriers and get some floodlights installed to increase security." Not much for personal interaction, this Lieutenant. She takes a seat at the table across from you.
| Earned | Running Total | Needed |
| 14 | 653 | 347 |
-
Soldiers still made her uncomfortable, although it was something that was being worked on. First Trax (who, to be fair was nowhere near a typical soldier), and then the Specs here...
So when Lt Vance took a seat across from her, Kesh didn't entirely tense up, which was definitely an improvement....
She still felt exhausted, and she had stared at the small plate of baked goods that had been set in front of her for what felt like a long time before deciding she should actually eat it.
It was nice, in some ways, to have all of the extra people in camp. But she was never very good at adjusting to changes quickly....
"Uh. Sure.", she replied back finally, realizing that the Lt. was waiting for a response.
"I think I'm going to have the other two techs start heading back to the actual base camp on their down time, too. They've been working pretty hard and could use the break. We should hopefully be done pretty soon with all of this..."
-
She raises an eyebrow.
"We can accommodate that. I'll make sure we have a personnel carrier made available. My troops will keep security in place regardless - we don't want anything moving into the area while your techs are sleeping. I have a request: can you put your techs on matching schedules to simply security and transport? Right now they only overlap by 8 hours, and I'll effectively loose bodies and time with transport runs every 8 hours."
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Kesh thought about it but nodded. Having them on matching shifts would mean work would be slower since there would be a period when the droids wouldn't be able to run, but they should have enough time, and morale counted for something.....
"I think we can do that..."
-
She nods. "Excellent. We'll implement the changes directly, and I'll put in a requisition for additional transport support."
She pauses a moment. "If there's nothing else? I have forms to file."
-
"Nothing else. Thank you Lt."
After the Lieutenant left, Kesh sniffed at the baked goods in front of her again before reminding herself that she needed to eat.
After forcing some of the food down, as well as a not so healthy serving of Kavvy, she got up, intending to head back out to the work site again....
-
You plug away at the filter and pumping station equipment without issue. There are a lot more soldiers around now. It feels more secure, but even Keshani can tell these folks are not as well trained as Holler and his troops.
Checking in with the other site over lunch, you are pleased to hear they had an excellent shift. They are actually within sight of the base, and figure they will have the pipeline completed and sealed off tomorrow.
For your part, the filter is all set up, and you're almost done with the pump and connecting it to the pipeline. Is all goes well, you should be finished tomorrow, a full 3 days early.
[OOC: Lt Vance does not check in with you, but she's around if you want to talk to her.]
-
Kesh let out a breath. They were almost finished. And they did it.
A sense of accomplishment rolled over her as she realized this was the first project she had ever been completely in charge of.
But then all of the bad things that happened flashed before her, as well.
She missed Holler. And the others.
All the soldiers around right now were making things feel way more like they had....before.
She shivered involuntarily. She was glad this would be done soon and she could get back to Base. Back to some familiar faces....
Finishing up her meal she headed back to start working again....
-
This shift goes particularly well. By the time the day is done and you are reviewing the results with Tucker and Adross, it's looking like this has been your most productive day yet.
[98 points generated. You need 249 points to go, and you've been generating an average of 359 points per day. If all goes well, you should be done tomorrow, a full 3 days early.
At this point, it is pretty much a done deal. I'm prepared to warp to the project completion, unless there are any scenes you wanted to have happen before that.]
-
No, I think I'm good. She would just want to try to talk to Holler when she gets back if he's still there.
-
After a gruelling stint in the wilds, the final connections are made, and you pressurize the pipeline. Sure enough, clean water starts to flow. The project was completed as required, and early to boot. Keshani took some risks, but they payed off in big dividends.
When you arrive in camp, the place looks a lot busier than you remember. A large contingent of troops has arrived. Lieutenant Webster is in a meeting when you arrive, so you don't get to talk to her, but she did leave a message for you thanking you, and promising you personal time later.
Rumour has it the base now has a propper commander, and operations have been turned over from the engineering team to the command staff. There's a little chaos and the new chain of command is sorted out, but you and your team are officially disbanded, and placed on 12 hours mandatory rest.
After catching up on sleep, you manage to track down Holler grabbing a mug of kavvy in the newly finished mess hall. He smiles when he sees you, and pours a second mug before handing it to you.
"Hey, Snaps. Glad I caught you - we're getting shipped out day after tomorrow." He nods to a small table to the side of the room, and the two of you take a seat.
-
She smiled at seeing Holler, but her smile turned to a frown when he said they were heading back out.
"Everyone's ok then? And um, does that mean I won't see you again ever?"
-
"Yeah everyone is good, or soon will be, mostly thanks to you. And I don't know, Snaps, but never is a long time. We are a combat unit, so we'll be in hotspots a lot, but they rotate us out from time to time. I'm sure we'll see each other again."
He pauses and smirks. "If you're going to miss us that bad, you could always put in for a transfer to the specs. We could use a combat engineer."
-
Between her hesitation and the slight shift of her expression it would be clear to anyone observing the girl that she at least somewhat considered the suggestion.
Afterall, this was the second time Holler had mentioned it, and, although she had sent her letter to Trax what felt like forever ago, she had not received a reply.
What if they had all forgotten about her?
Holler and his team felt almost as close to family as Kesh had right now, and if Trax and the others weren't going to re-enter her life at all, well, family was a good thing, right?
But, her thoughts flashed back to her time on the Death Station and the combat they had seen there. She hadn't really been very good with that, had she? And she was still just a kid. What could she possibly do to help Holler's team that wasn't just getting in the way and causing them to babysit her?
She let out a sigh and sipped her kavvy tentatively (not sure how hot it was) for a moment for an excuse for her hesitation if nothing else.
"They need me here." she said, finally, but it was clear she wasn't quite sure anymore.
-
Holler nods. "Sure. But you get a voice in that as well, right? Lots of need to go around, and we can make some choices in that. Keep it in mind is all I'm saying."
-
She smiled but then her smile faded.
"I don't even have combat training, though. How could I be a combat engineer? I just get people hurt who are looking out for me. Who wants a kid around to be responsible for protecting all the time? Shooting can be trained, but not the instincts you all have."
She shook her head.
"I should probably just stay here. But, Holler, thank you. I was feeling pretty lonely and lost here before I met you and your team and you guys *did* kinda take me in. It's nice to feel like family."
And without thinking, she reached out to wrap the Spec in a tight hug, not really giving him a chance to resist.