Robotech - Southern Cross Adventure

[Purr]

Gabi also displayed respect as the new CO of Anton-17 departed. She replied to S.Sgt. Conway in a professional, if distant, manner.

"Sergeant De la Rosa, Tactical Corp, Recon Patrol, ma'am. My M.O.S.s are mecha engineering and guerrilla warfare. I am a qualified Ajax pilot and use drones and unorthodox measures to get the job done.

"Both of us have some time in country with the now-defunct Jungle Rats hover recon squadron. Are there any other Tac Corp members in your squadron ma'am? Any other Recon Patrol members?"

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan gives Ryuko a wry smile. "Tales of the bright red Ajax has reached us here, for certain. I have heard that you are a real firecracker, but a lot of good men and women owe you their lives so I'm not about to complain."

She turns her attention to Gabi and shakes her head. "No other Tactical Corps in this team besides you. Everyone besides myself are all ATAC, and as you heard, I'm an Intel specialist with the GMP. I do look forward to working with the two of you. I'll tell the same thing that I told the others when we first got assigned to work together. My door is always open for whatever concern or problem you may have. Also, we have the good fortune to have fully qualified psych support with Sgt. Alissa Kerensky. Talks with her will be completely confidential, so if you need to, utilize her skills."

"Our bunk assignments are in four person rooms, but they are gender split, so you don't have to worry about the men eyeing you too much. Right now, the two of you are sharing with a couple of the infantry force here just up the hall from where I bunk with Neo and Alissa."

"Now, while I think that it is unlikely that we'll be hit again so soon, with the state of the base right now, I don't want to have any of our mecha pilots far from their rides. Unfortunately, that means no leave to La Fuenta for some time. But I have a feeling that we'll be kept busy as we continue our search for the Zentraedi High Lord that is leading this resistance. Well, lets get your gear stowed and we can then get topside and get you introduced to the rest of the squad."

 

[Purr]

Unlike Ryuko, Gabi had hoped no one had heard of her operations in Central and South America, especially in Bolivia. She was tremendously proud of her accomplishments and her team prior to the Jungle Rats (whom she missed dearly), but if someone here in Brazil knew about them, then someone she knew and trusted in her Recon Patrol team had talked and therefore broken the faith. Impossible, she thought. You may as well ask a tanker to eat his tank. Recon Patrol were the Green Berets of the Army of Southern Cross for good reason. It was that faith, that esprit de corps, that kept them strong, lifelong.

Gabi was not worried about any men ogling her - that's why God created Ravishing Ryuko. Gabi (who was in no way bad-looking) was used to being ignored when guys spotted the two of them together. It was just a gift Ryuko had and Gabi was very glad she had it.

Gabi felt that the Third Heavy Recon having a shrink in their team was unusual, but if things like companies of mechs storming the base, inside job-provided bombs going off in sensitive places, and Captain-level COs becoming corpses before you got to even meet them was a normal thing around here, then no wonder they had a brain tinkerer in their team! Perhaps they all needed one? Whatever the case, the Chrome Shaman kept this all under her helmet.

"Yes ma'am." Gabi sighed a brief sigh disappointment at no other Recon Patrol being in the group. Like the Green Berets of old, there was often a lot of mystery around what Special Forces did. Some people even thought there was no difference between Green Berets, SEALs, Rangers, Marine Recon, Delta Force, etc. except the branch they belonged to. Gabi didn't want to be misinterpreted as just another "rotor head" or tech or scout and have her skills go to waste. When this S.Sgt. Conway got up to leave, Gabi fell in line respectfully - but she kept her eyes and ears open, for this saboteur (or saboteurs) were still loose.

And they could be anyone. Even Third Heavy Recon.

 

[Rykon]

Alan was no surgeon, but he would do his part to assist the likely overwhelmed medical staff. Most of his work would likely be administering pain killers, anesthetics, and basic sanitation. He'd also be setting up IVs to prep patients for surgery and keep those in less critical condition from suffering too long prior to seeing a doctor. He wasn't much of a talker on a good day, so most of the grim work was done with solemn focus outside of pertinent questions.

 

[Psychie]

The help in Medical from those that are able to do so makes the necessary work of treating the wounded go much faster. Thanks to your help, many lives were saved that may not have been. Even as you work, though, word of the death of the Captain spreads through the room, bringing some to tears and others to rage. Even more disturbing is the fact that First Sergeant Antonia is missing; the only person from Anton-17 that is unaccounted for. No one wants to come out and say that it was her as the base's highest ranking Zentraedi that planted the bomb to disable the defense systems of the base, but it is very suspicious that she is so conveniently gone right when the BSURP is attacked.

Elsewhere, the work of getting the mecha up and running is moving forward at full speed. Marlon is personally overseeing the work on Deunan's Spartas, getting not only the armor repaired, but the main gun pulled out and replaced with the new Particle Cannon. The delicate work is going to take a couple of days to get her mecha up and running. There is now the question of which member of the Third Heavy's Hover Tanks get the second Particle Cannon now, while the work to upgrade all the Spartas tanks in country is underway.

Deunan, Gabi and Ryuko make their way through the underground complex to Medical where the three of you find Alan and Alissa hard at work doing what they can to ease the pressure of the casualties on the full time staff. You can either wait for them to take a brief break and come over to talk to you, or you can go see Marlon as he is working on the tanks.

What do you do?

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan looks at the broken and bleeding men and women and can feel a burning rage inside her head. Someone planted that explosive, and if it were not for part skill and part pure luck, we would have a lot more bodies down here waiting to be medevac'd out. If the First Sergeant didn't do this, someone has gone a long way to make her look guilty. I need to know for sure before making a conclusion.

She looks at her two new pilots. "Lets go up and see Marlon. If he takes a break from his work, it won't cause someone to die like it would if we take Alissa and Ryan from this." She gives them a powerful look. "Listen. I want to make sure you understand that 1st Sgt. Antoinia is only a suspect, and has not been proven guilty of this . . . crime . . . of sabotage. Do not let your emotions get the better of you. If the evidence exists, one way or the other, we will find it before judging her, especially because she is a Zentraedi."

 

[Purr]

"Understood, ma'am," Gabi replied. Gabi surmised that the "Third Herd" here had affection for the fallen captain, and the sergeant here wanted payback just as much as Gabi had wanted payback for the death of her fellow Jungle Rats, but only under the right circumstances. Gabi could respect that.

Gabi felt better the moment they left the infirmary; the loss of the Jungle Rats was still fresh in its own way but, thank God, they had been avenged! Gabi had seen to that and she was very proud of it. Her debt of honor had been paid in full.

She planned to write a blanket letter to all of the families of the Jungle Rats to let them know the dead, and maybe even the living, could be at peace in that regard. As for being at peace with their loss, it probably wasn't possible. So Gabi did the one thing she knew how and that was just to live day by day. She felt she could honor their memory by living a good life since that future was denied them. To do anything less was to dishonor them. But thinking all this was one thing, living it was quite another.

She felt a smile come to her lips as they entered the mecha hangar. Here, in the gym, and in the jungle, is where she belonged. Seeing this Marlon installing some kind of new particle beam cannon into a Command Spartas immediately caught her attention. While she tried to keep her technical knowledge as up-to-date as she could, it wasn't always possible when she was out in the field for weeks at a time. And so she gazed up and grinned, partly in wonder and partly in envy, at the "mech tech" performing the swap-out. The lucky son of a llama...

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Ryuko would follow the two, also wanting to see what was happening at the Mecha hangar. "I just hope they didn't mess my Ajax's paint job."

 

[D. Rex]

Marlon had only brought one mecha into the hangar, so other engineers had room to work. But there was another just outside he planned to work on next. The one in the hangar was Deunans Spartan.

The spartan looked quite naked at the moment, as Marlon had already removed a good bit of its armor and hull, and had its cannon already removed. It had been cleaned, at least.

Its plating was nearby. The damaged bits in a pile to be recycled, and the good pieces were spread out in an orderly fashion. The camoflauged paint on them had been scored and scorched. Given the situation, getting a new paint job was out of the question. So instead, the good pieces he had simply spray painted an ugly matte brown to hide the shiny bits, still be hidden, and would work as a primer for the next time they got painted.

It did not bode well for the Ajax that awaited its turn. Its red paint certainly needed some care from its damage. And this mechanic certainly didnt seem to care thay much about making it look good. And yes. It did have some extra scratches from the haul over here. ( Gundam Watcher 27 )

Marlon himself was torso deep inside the Spartan where the cannon once was. A thick manual propped up against the tool box was beside him. He was working on the inside and the connections, and making sure that the connections were going to fit this new cannon. Sure, it would be nice if all he had to do take off the cannon and put the new one on. But modular design doesn't quite cut it when you are retro fitting for an entirely different kind of system. Had to replace the ammo storage with a power storage, run wires, replace the mechanical trigger mechanism, make sure that redundancies were in place so a single wire being damaged wouldnt disable the entire thing, heat sinks, converters, emergency blast vents, etc.

Thankfully the manual came with the shipment, and the hangar had all the tools he needed. And the shipment did have all the parts needed.

Marlon remembered what he said to Alan about the radio. About things dont get complicated until particle physics are involved. So yeah, that comes hand in hand with a particle cannon. And most of the complications was making sure that Deunan wasnt going to get blown up on a misfire.

 

[Purr]

Gabi stood watching Marlon work on the Spartas. As she admired the new particle cannon and his method of organizing the swap-out, she felt herself thinking, Why am I standing here watching and feeling envious when instead I could be offering to lend a hand? I mean, it doesn't really get interesting until particle physics are involved, right? Plus, I know I wanna see how the cannon's power draw works off the protoculture system. Will it require a certain number of shots every 15 seconds or so like the Tomahawk's beastly particle projection cannons or will it be able to fire whenever it can but up to a certain number of times per hour? PPCs had long been considered the worst of the energy hogs, but even ion-based and plasma-based energy could not compete when it came to knockdown power. It was,Gabi felt, the primary reason the Zentraedi had used it in their battle pods since before the first coming of Christ.

The mecha engineer in her was dying to see the cannon up close. Plus, she wanted, perhaps needed, to contribute to this new squad. One way or another, she was going to contribute. Her mother and father didn't raise a freeloader or a good-for-nothing lazy bum. Besides, installing that thing should be at least two people for the electrical job alone.

Feeling like the odd girl out during team-picking time on a soccer field, Gabi went with her heart. With a nod toward S.Sgt Conway, she stepped toward the Spartas. Carefully now, she thought. Don't wanna offend anybody. Sometimes a stranger just asking can invoke sensitivities. Well, here goes! She cupped her hand and called up to Marlon. "Hey! Señor ("Mister") mech-tech! I know you know your stuff and all or Sergeant Conway wouldn't be putting you up there. If you want a little help with the installation, I can lend a hand! How about it, huh?"

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Ryuko screamed when she saw her Ajax's paint job ruined. Too many scratches on it. Just who the F*** was in charge of repairs?!

She looked around from where she stood for a mechanic and pointed at Malron ( D. Rex ), not knowing he was the Idiot who messed up her Ajax. "You there! I need my machine repaired ASAP! And if you find whoever was put here in charge of the fixing it before now, i need to know that guy's name!"

 

[D. Rex]

Marlon heard a voice outside the Spartas, uhg. He had a little too much work to do to be interrupted right now, but it could be important. "One sec." He said, as he finished crimping off a wire, and kinked the ones he was working on to remind him where he was at.

Marlon crawled out from the access and straightened himself up. He was in a simple jumpsuit right now, the upper half was off and tied around his waist, leaving his torso in a now grimy tank top to try and combat the heat and humidity. He was a pretty strapped guy, and was right now covered with grease and battle grime, some of it matting his hair.

He pulled a rag that was tucked into his pocket and starting wiping off his hands and forearms as the woman addressing him talked. "Hey, I ain't old enough to be senior." He said with a smirk. Playing dumb, he knew what Senõr meant. "I'm Sergeant Marlon McKinney. Third Heavy Recon." He introduced.

Once she mentioned the staff Sergeant he would give her a look over. He didnt recognize her as one of the hangars mechanics, so she had probably came in with the convoy. "Staff Sergeant didnt put me up here. I took the initiative, else we would be having to wait in line."

To be honest, he was a but wary accepting a hand who he didnt know the credentials of. Especially with a spy in the ranks. But given how much work he had to do, he really did need an extra set of hands. "Alrighty, Senõrita, I can put you to work, be you wanting to help and all." Marlon said, walking over to a bench and grabbing his clipboard.

As he flipped through the pages he got to his checklist,"Just dont touch anything I dont tell you to. We can go over what needs done. I'm definitely going to need a hand putting the cannon in place. What's your experience?" He asked, trying to learn what systems to best send her to. His tone wasnt mean, or defensive. But he had the engineers tendency to like to keep track of what was happening to a machine.

Then someone screamed. He put a pinky in his ear to ease the ringing. What the hell? He turned to see some petite girl going on about the Ajax. "Excuse me." He said to Gabi as the girl stomped over to him.

An asshole, she was, it seemed. And apparently alone of the new faces in Third Heavy. Well Marlon wasnt one to be talked to like that. Especially from some entitled arrogant air jock. "Well you are just going to have to wait in line, sugartits. Unless you try to convince me that your ugly ass sore thumb of a chopper is somehow more important than your Staff Sergeants Spartas."

"The man in charge of that is Sergeant Marlkn McKinney. That's me. And I'm taking care of this squads mecha right now."

Marlon raised the clipboard and flipped a few more pages, "Right here. Ajax assigned to Corporal Ryuko Narukami. That's you, it seems like. Critical damage to arms. It's a miracle that they weren't disabled and that your pulse cannon was untouched. You ain't getting it anytime soon. Normally when some idiot gives me a tone like that I'd tell them they can fix it themselves. But judging from that all you chaff is still there, and the mecha hands have dents in the knuckles, its pilot thought it wise to use a helicopter as a club and the stress fractures on the arms indicate you did so while the arms were damaged. Meaning you were up in their face despite your arms about to fall off. When you should have fallen back to the other Ajax which was smartly giving crucial air support. So rather than tell you to fix it yourself, I'm going to deem you too stupid to even tighten a nut and do it myself anyway. "

"Let me give you a tip, hun. There are numerous mecha and parts of the base that need attention right now. All of which are more important than you or any single mecha in the squad. If you approach anybody here with an attitude like that you are gonna find your self with a bruised ass as your pretty little face is kicked to the curb. I'm not on the hangar staff. I'm going out of my way to see that our squads mecha, including yours, is fixed up as quick as possible. So I have much less tolerance for that than they would. Capiche?"

Purr
Gundam Watcher 27

 

[Rykon]

Alan stepped up slowing down from his jogging pace, cigarette still in his mouth as he holstered his plasma pistol. He saw Marlon chastising a young woman standing next to Deunan and started to piece together what had happened. "Scream like that again and someone had better be dead. You know better than that in an environment like this." He flicked ash off his cancer stick then turned to Deunan and Marlon. "These the newcomers boss? Marlon? Must be, cause I don't remember either of their faces. I'm Sergeant Samuel McGregor, everyone just calls me Alan though." I reckon the two brand new people are probably the lowest profile in terms of the prospective saboteur. We'll have to get together after this mess is over

Earlier...
Alan sat outside medical taking a smoke break after getting the last living patient prepped for treatment. His phone rumbled to life with a fresh signal and several new emails. It was a real struggle holding the damn thing in a shaky hand. I did what I had to do, he would have shot me too. As usual, a bunch of nuisance alerts from newsletters, spam, spam, training, spam, and one from Lisa... Before Alan could shut it off his eyes caught a glimpse of the subject line Tom's free. Alan's eyes widened, nearly losing his cigarette before he heard a loud echoing voice from the mech bay. Gah, not another one. Here I go greasing Zeeks again. Alan thought, drawing his pistol and charging forward at a rapid pace.

[OOC: I never noticed this earlier, but the map says the base essentially is only 200-300 feet in diameter. It can't be that small can it?]

 

[Purr]

"I'm Sergeant Marlon McKinney. Third Heavy Recon." He introduced.

"De la Rosa," she replied respectful nod. She didn't bother using her rank; they could read it on her Tac Corp armor. "Third Heavy Recon, Recon Patrol."

"Alrighty, Senõrita, I can put you to work, be you wanting to help and all." Marlon said, walking over to a bench and grabbing his clipboard.

As he flipped through the pages he got to his checklist,"Just dont touch anything I dont tell you to. We can go over what needs done. I'm definitely going to need a hand putting the cannon in place. What's your experience?"

"You got it. It's your show. And thanks." And she meant it. Using care, she climbed up the Spartas like the fit soldier she was. Once in position, she had no problems with McKinney's orders nor appearance. Mech-techs who worked on cars were called "grease monkeys" for good reason.

In answer to his question, she replied. "Scored high in the Accelerated Training Programs in Fort Rucker and Eglin base," she mentioned the bases in Alabama and Florida panhandle. If this McKinney guy knew his bases, then he might know that Fort Rucker was the "Home of Army Aviation" and humongous Eglin base had everything from Research and Development to ground vehicles to aviation to Special Forces training grounds. At least, they had when she was last in the former United States. "At my last post, Myrmidons, Spartases, and Ajaxes became my main thing. Logans sometimes. Battloids and destroids, not so much. I'm a modder and designer." Gabi surprised herself a little by her openness, but then she realized why she wasn't as short as she was with this McKinney guy than she had been with her own CO - McKinney was a mech-tech. Gabi had always felt a bit more comfortable around those who shared her M.O.S.s.

"I'm Sergeant Samuel McGregor, everyone just calls me Alan though."

She smelled his cigarette smoke before she saw him. This guy, she felt, was probably a tanker. She nodded to him respectfully. "De la Rosa. Third Heavy Recon, Tac Corp Recon Patrol."

"So rather than tell you to fix it yourself, I'm going to deem you too stupid to even tighten a nut and do it myself anyway. "

"Scream like that again and someone had better be dead. You know better than that in an environment like this."

Ay caramba... ("Oh no...") Gabi thought with a shake of her head and a grin. Then Gabi readied herself. She felt Ryuko wasn't going to hit the roof; she was going to fly off like a mortar round and explode. Still, Ryuko was her own woman and could take care of herself. Then again, she thought, this was her beloved Ajax they were talking about and her fuse was already lit. Gabi continued to follow McKinney's lead while waiting for the fireworks show down below. "This your first time installing a PPC?"

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Then someone screamed. He put a pinky in his ear to ease the ringing. What the hell? He turned to see some petite girl going on about the Ajax. "Excuse me." He said to Gabi as the girl stomped over to him.

An asshole, she was, it seemed. And apparently alone of the new faces in Third Heavy. Well Marlon wasnt one to be talked to like that. Especially from some entitled arrogant air jock. "Well you are just going to have to wait in line, sugartits. Unless you try to convince me that your ugly ass sore thumb of a chopper is somehow more important than your Staff Sergeants Spartas."

"I'll have you know that 'sore thumb' has killed more Zentraedi than you could possibly ever count!"

"The man in charge of that is Sergeant Marlkn McKinney. That's me. And I'm taking care of this squads mecha right now."

Marlon raised the clipboard and flipped a few more pages, "Right here. Ajax assigned to Corporal Ryuko Narukami. That's you, it seems like. Critical damage to arms. It's a miracle that they weren't disabled and that your pulse cannon was untouched. You ain't getting it anytime soon. Normally when some idiot gives me a tone like that I'd tell them they can fix it themselves. But judging from that all you chaff is still there, and the mecha hands have dents in the knuckles, its pilot thought it wise to use a helicopter as a club and the stress fractures on the arms indicate you did so while the arms were damaged. Meaning you were up in their face despite your arms about to fall off. When you should have fallen back to the other Ajax which was smartly giving crucial air support. So rather than tell you to fix it yourself, I'm going to deem you too stupid to even tighten a nut and do it myself anyway. "

He thought she was stupid? Ha! Of only he knew what she did over in Japan during one firefight. Using a telephone pole as a makeshift club? That was definitely a neat moment back then.
"I like getting up close. Those bastards don't even have much way to react to when I come charging at them. Besides, I haven't taken critical damage yet."

"Let me give you a tip, hun. There are numerous mecha and parts of the base that need attention right now. All of which are more important than you or any single mecha in the squad. If you approach anybody here with an attitude like that you are gonna find your self with a bruised ass as your pretty little face is kicked to the curb. I'm not on the hangar staff. I'm going out of my way to see that our squads mecha, including yours, is fixed up as quick as possible. So I have much less tolerance for that than they would. Capiche?"

Ryuko looked away, muttering. "If the Zentraedi show up again, I need to be in the action. I'm not gonna sit by and wait just because some wannabe marine decided to fix my mech up last....." The last few bits were hard to understand gibberish.

D. Rex

Alan stepped up slowing down from his jogging pace, cigarette still in his mouth as he holstered his plasma pistol. He saw Marlon chastising a young woman standing next to Deunan and started to piece together what had happened. "Scream like that again and someone had better be dead. You know better than that in an environment like this." He flicked ash off his cancer stick then turned to Deunan and Marlon. "These the newcomers boss? Marlon? Must be, cause I don't remember either of their faces. I'm Sergeant Samuel McGregor, everyone just calls me Alan though." I reckon the two brand new people are probably the lowest profile in terms of the prospective saboteur. We'll have to get together after this mess is over

"I had every right to scream! That Ajax is my pride and joy! This Baka of a mechanic brought it in with more scratches than it had!"

Rykon

 

[Rykon]

Purr
"I guess if we're going by MOS. I'm SERE, heavy extraction spec ops. Though, I work odd jobs in our off time as the need arises." He offered with a courteous nod. "Glad we have a recon professional joining us, though I wish it wasn't due to the awful circumstances that brought you here."

Gundam Watcher 27 D. Rex
Alan gave an exhausted sigh, speaking in an even but grave tone. "That scream had me ready to utterly annihilate anyone in here. We just got out of an ambush from an inside saboteur. They could have been here, the highest value target left in base, for all anyone knew of this situation. I've just got through hauling broken, bleeding, and dead people out of this wreckage and I will not tolerate another false alarm for any reason. So, let's drop the tunnel vision and remember why we're here." Alan tossed his lab coat aside by his locker and grabbed his toolbelt so he could get to work. He rolled his shoulders with audible pops and tossed the cigarette butt into a nearby ashtray. "Marlon, where do you need me to start?" Alan asked, knowing his friend already knew the status of each damaged vehicle and where he had left off.

 

[Purr]

"Glad we have a recon professional joining us, though I wish it wasn't due to the awful circumstances that brought you here."

At the compliment, Alan probably noticed a surprised and pleased grin on Gabi's face (before she remembered to hide it). Recon Patrol had to be professionals; amateurs could not do what they did and survive. The second part of his statement got her thinking. She replied to it with an unworried seriousness. "Awful circumstances is where we're trained to go, sergeant. Without them, we're kind of out of a job, you know?"

"That scream had me ready to utterly annihilate anyone in here. We just got out of an ambush from an inside saboteur. They could have been here, the highest value target left in base, for all anyone knew of this situation. I've just got through hauling broken, bleeding, and dead people out of this wreckage and I will not tolerate another false alarm for any reason. So, let's drop the tunnel vision and remember why we're here."

Third Heavy Recon was already on edge. They had clearly seen action before the ambush at Anton-17 and probably before. Gabi wondered when they last had a siesta ("nap" or "mid-day break"). If they ever had. Either way, Gabi hoped Ryuko was up for the task of teamwork. While comfortable operating alone, Gabi was a natural team player who wanted to be there for every member of the team. But Ryuko? Alan here had just come out of the first gate of Hell as far as Gabi was concerned. Meanwhile, Gabi wasn't sure what card her fellow Tac Corp "shotgun" would play next.

She just hoped it was a wise one. Gabi tried to give Ryuko a cautioning look that said, "Hey, chica. Ease up and go slow here, okay?"

As Gabi followed Marlon's direction on the PPC, she watched the SERE specialist for one long moment. She felt this was a guy who pulled people out of burning vehicles for a living. He was anything but frosty and for damned good reason, but Gabi felt he was playing it as cool as he could, maybe for everyone's sakes. "Hey, Alan." She hoped he would let her get away with calling him what everyone else called him. "Muchas gracias ("Thank you very much") for helping handle the medical crisis, man." She turned back to their work. "I'm no medical specialist, but without people doing what you do... Well, it would be a lot darker around here if no one got in there, you know?"

 

[Rykon]

Alan gave a relaxed, but seemingly fatigued smile. He was happy to be appreciated, as unfamiliar as it seemed in the course of his life. "Yeah... I do. Thank you, Sergeant De La Rosa, and welcome to the Third Heavy, both of you." Alan felt his hands quiver a bit before stifling the shakes again. "Once things are back in order here, we need to make time to settle in as a team. Lord knows we're about to be sent back into the field before long anyways."

 

[D. Rex]

Marlon watched the woman climb up the frame. Certainly looked like she new how to climb one. As she listed off where she was from, he would nod. Certainly somebody from there could pull their weight. "Good, Spartas' are our mainstay. And its my first time on a full retrofit for a PPC. But I'm familiar the weapon system and the Spartas itself." He explained.


Then small girl went off again. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and let out a terse sigh. She was one of "THOSE" types of pilots. The glory hog. The thrill seeker. The kind of hot blooded 'ace' that risks her squads lives.

"Listen here, 'Ace'. A Zentraedi doesn't need a mecha to lay your mecha flat on its ass and crack it open. Their weapons will punch a hole through that flimsy armor and you haven't the shielding to withstand it. Dumb luck is not a skill that keeps someone alive."

"You aren't the star of the show here. You are grunt in a squad of grunts. Brag about your kills again and I will knock your teeth out. That's not how it works here. We aren't some thrill seeking high fliers looking to look cool and bang all the chicks. We work together and cover each other. We coordinate and plan ahead. A kill one of us makes is a kill all of us makes."

He gestured to the tank behind him. "Do you know what a tank is? If nothing else know that it has a really big gun. And we use those guns a lot. We use shells of various intensity. Causing explosions of ten to fifty feet. If you are in that range you will suffer the same damage as the enemy. If your cockbrained bravado gets so close to an enemy that you can punch it, then we cant fire on it. That enemy can still fire on us and get us killed. All the while you are tickling it with your fists rather than using the objectively more effective cannon on your arm. If that is the type of pilot you are then you will be nothing but a burden. And we wont have victories because of you, we will have victories in spite of you."

Marlon gestured to her Ajax. "Havent had critical damage? You had your arms damn near blown off. Then you went did the equivalent of poking an enemy mecha with the barrel of your pistol rather than pulling the goddammned trigger. Not to mention now you be storming in here caring about your paintjob like some rich folks thot daughter screaming that a bird shat on her car."

He pointed again to the Ajax. "You aint getting back for a couple days yet, and longer probably. But you know what, you got an assault rifle in its storage. Use that. Find a mounted gun. Spend your time helping somebody rather than bitching like a brat."

He walked over to the bench, away from this new member. The nerve of her. Who the heck did they piss off to be sent someone like that?

To calm himself, Marlon lit a half cigarette that he had put out earlier while planning. "Alright. This is where we are at. Duenans Spartas is undergoing repair and fitting for the new cannon. Her shields took the worst hit, I got it stripped already. Gonna need new plates to replace what was damaged. Dont need those yet."

He pulled out some pages of the clip board and laid it out. It was a checklist over a print of schematics. "I'm working inside out. Was running wires and making the new connections. Rosy, I have already gutted the ammo storage. I need the power storage installed in its place. Once we get done there we can test the wires and move onto the other parts. The input and output needs adapters for this model of Spartas. It needs to stay calibrated to one particle ejection per tick. The storage holds enough power for three ejections at these parameters," he said as he circled a series of numbers and equations,"then it needs to recharge. So long as it tests within those parameters, the power draw isnt going to interfere with the rest of the mechas power. Below it are the numbers for output." He said, though if she had the background she said she did, he shouldn't have to worry. But he just wanted to be sure. "I am working my way your direction, so I'll have the wired pull for the full connection by the time you are ready to connect. We will move on to the next part from there."

He turned to Alan, as Marlon talked he had forgot that he had lit his cigarette and had not actually took a puff out of it while he was talking, so quarter inch of ash just hung there as it went out again. "Once we get the PPC installed, I will need help with the armor. Having the armor already prepped will be a big help. When we finish with this, we will move to the Ajax. I need both of the arms disconnected. The armor can be scrapped. I'll start checking and refurbishing the innards once the Spartas is done then we will armor it, and get it attached again."

"Next is Neo. She needs some armor repair. Most damage was done to her shields, should be a quick fix. The rest of us only need some cleaning and a reload." He said, he was grateful for Alan's help. Now he had two extra pairs of hands. This should be able to go a lot faster now. He was a bittired, and didnt give all the details he normally did. Thankfully his grease covered face did well enough to hide his tired eyes.

Marlon rubbed his eyes, and placed the clipboard back on the work bench. "The diagnostic for each machine is on the board. In the back if each I have listed what needs attention.

 

[Rykon]

Marlon's explanation was rather thought provoking given Alan's recent off-duty training. He looked over to a nearby terminal, seeing that all of the mecha in maintenance still had hardwired connections to the onboard computers. With a couple of surgical dives through the file structures of the machines, he'd search for the armament drivers that got fired by the Spartas OS's boot loader. "I uh... I can actually handle the weapons calibration routines just let me know when they are fully hardwired in and I'll run the diagnostics to tune its energy throughput." While they were working on the physical installation, Alan opened the API documentation for the new cannon and began writing an addon for the program. With a little work on pinging the hardware, he'd route various indicators to display the charge of energy on the control panel's display. A little basic algebra later and he had a working calculation to show the current power draw amplifier for the cannon.

"I believe I've got this to where the Spartas will tune the particle cannon on the fly. If it starts wearing out and needs more juice it'll detect the charge delay and gradually boost the output. Same goes in reverse, if it's revving up too hard, it'll pull back on the power draw to make sure the cannon doesn't burn up, or worse. I've rigged up an extra blip on the display to indicate what level the cannon's system is set to at any given moment." He looked over the damaged Ajax then down at the terminal, and decided to load it next out of curiosity. He looked down at the diagnostics on the maintenance computer and visibly cringed. Man, she was close to becoming a crushed tomato can. He ran queries on the damaged parts to be replaced, both from the Ajax and the two damaged Spartas tanks, then exported it to the fabricator. "Good thing we got all that scrap to recycle, cause we're gonna have to extrude a lot of fresh plates for these things... I reckon they'll be like new. New Veritec smell air freshener and all."

 

[Psychie]

With all of the screaming being done by Ryuko, it is not long before another grease and sweat stained man comes walking up, irritation on his face. "Whats all this ruckus in my vehicle bay? I'm shit deep with repairs to make, and I get pulled away from needed work like a parent of a couple of squabbling two year olds!" He looks between Marlon and Ryuko with a glare. "I don't know what started this fight, and right now, I don't care. If I hear another word out of either one of you that is not mission oriented or ends with 'yes, Lt. Danfield', you will both end up on my shit list, and if you don't think that is a bad thing, you ain't seen nothin' yet! I don't care about your combat records; the fact that you are here speaks volumes for your abilities to hold it together in a fight. But we are within spitting distance of the enemy from out there," he stabs an angry finger out the main hangar door, "to be making enemies of each other in here. Do you get me?"

Before he leaves, Lt. Danfield spots Deunan, and gives her a look like, "Deal with this, or I will!" Then, he stomps off to find another mecha that needs his touch.

After he leaves, a second technician comes over, this time, its a woman. "Um, Sergeant? We got two of these Particle Cannons in with the shipment, but your mecha only holds one. Which mecha of the squad gets the second weapon?"

 

[D. Rex]

Internally, Marlon was not to happy the rebuke. Yeah, he didnt exactly help things, but he should have expected she was going to drag him into trouble. But he wasnt going to show his displeasure, of course. Besides, getting back to work was what he wanted anyway. "Yes, Lt. Danfield." He said simply. Commenting no more on the subject. And as ordered, did not so much as give Ryuko a bad look to blame her.

Back to work. No fighting. And he would expect to hear it from Deunan when she had the time to give him an earful. Sure he was a tired and on edge, but it was no excuse to put her in hot water because of it. Should have remembered his discipline.



"That sounds like a plan, Alan. Go for it." He said, writing in the clip board to keep track of who was doing what, and setting some pages of specifications down for Alan that he copied from the manual for quick reference.

Back to work for himself, now. Once he helped Rosa get caught up to speed on what has been done and needed to be done on the hardware, he would climb back inside the Spartas and the wiring.

 

[Gundam Watcher 27]

Ryuko just stayed silent. This mechanic (Malron) just don't get what her own problem was. Sure, she's reckless, and likes to fight up close, but her problem was the fact she lost her family, and she isn't going to forgive the enemy for that.

A LT would walk in to break up the argument, before leaving, Malron would shoot a dirty look at her, which in turn had Ryuko stomp on his right foot hard. If there was anything worse than clashing personalities, it's that she's now working with an Asshole of a mechanic.

A female technician would enter, asking about what to do with a spare Particle Cannon they obtained. Ryuko would answer.
"I'll take it once my Ajax is fixed."

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan shakes her head at the antics of her team. "I'm sure that the Ajax has enough toys for it to not worry about this big gun, with your wing ordnance and the ability to pack dual arm mounted weapons. No, I think that Marlon will be getting the new PPC for his Spartas, but the repairs are the priority. After all that is done, we can then worry about this pea shooter."

She looks around at the team, and says, "Ok, here is the scoop. We were set up to get blasted in this attack by someone placing an explosive in the Operations Center. Not only did it take out our wall mounted turrets, it killed several people in Operations, including the Captain. Right now, First Sergeant Antonia is missing, and right now, with her being a Zentraedi, the suspicion is on her. I have been tasked by Lt. Hulsizer to do some digging into the 1st Sergeant's computer logs to see if there is any proof that can be leveled against her before we jump to conclusions. We will not spread any rumors that might inflame tensions between our Zentraedi allies and the human crew in the base. Am I clear on that?" She waits for everyone to acknowledge her instructions before going on.

Looking at Marlon and Ryuko, she says, "Now, if I leave here and start on this, will the two of you be able to play nice together and not fight? We have too many problems out there to bring any in here."

 

[Psychie]

Neo's eyes go wide as Deunan tells of the sabotage and how that the 1st Sgt. is missing. "Oh, no! That's terrible! She was always so good to us! I hope that she was not the one that was responsible for all of this. It has to be a mistake, and everything will bear that out."

She then thinks for a moment, then says, "But that means there is someone in the base that is trying to get us all killed. If it were not for the advanced warning of the early arrival of the supply convoy, the insurgents would have been on us at the walls before anyone could have deployed in their mecha." Neo shudders at the thought. "Not a good sign, is it?"

"Sergeant? What now?"