Orange Team Onward!

[voidtreckermods]

Arrival

Their flight path makes sure they are well out of the way of both the battles taking place and they get to the shield station within an hour as long as they fly quickly.

There are no enemy ships around but it is clear there has been an attack, the shield disk itself is damaged and there seems to be no power in the station.

Once they dock they will be met by some technicians who quickly explain the situation.

Help is needed everywhere. The power needs repaired, the shield needs repaired from the outside, there are injured technicians who need medical care. There is a small med-bay available.

Maintenance

Once the initial crisis is dealt with it is a case of keeping up with things. A patrol is needed to guard the station from other attacks, there are four shield stations in total and so the voidtreckers may chose to split themselves once things are a little calmer.

Keeping up the shields is an almost constant job, especially with the attacks. Once one thing is fixed it seems another thing is down. The maintenance itself is very technical but there are parts that can be done by the unskilled as long as they have direction.

Comments

station repowering

[blue_ice]

Once they arrive, Kaiba immediately moves into position. He rapidly takes notes from the technicians on-site, then activates his SCA's flashlight mode to have a look at the damage. He circles around the station, noting every damaged point and mapping the controls.

"If this is going to work, we need to coordinate. How steady are your hands?"

[stealsyourheart]

"Magician." Kaito grins at him.

And thief, not that Kaiba knows that.

"Tell me where and what."

[blue_ice]

"Third panel from the left, purple and green breakers. Connect them with this wire when I say so."

And Kaiba flips a few switches, fingers hovering over the next one.

"Three, two, one...now"

If all goes well, the light nearest Kaito's head should blink.

[stealsyourheart]

"On your signal." He agrees, waiting with steady hands until Kaiba gives him the go ahead.

"Done. I have a blinky light, is that right?"

[blue_ice]

"Right. When that's done, connect the yellow right above your head to the orange on your left."

He's flipping switches, and all seems to be going well....except...his own light dies above his head.

"Never mind. I must've missed something. Any ideas?"

[stealsyourheart]

"Uh." Kaito eyes the jumble of wires doubtfully - he's a hacker, not an engineer. Normally, he has plenty of time to review specs before he tries something like this.

"What happens if I connect yellow to the right instead?"

[blue_ice]

Kaiba looks over his work again, once more...and nods.

"Some idiot would probably say 'one way to find out'. But I've thought this through and there's a 90% chance of success. Like your odds?"

[stealsyourheart]

"Lady Luck and I have always gotten along well." He shoots Kaiba a reckless grin.

"If you say 90%, that's good enough for me. Here we go then."

He's careful, all the same. This could work, or it could end... badly.

[blue_ice]

"Alright. Ready...go."

And he flips the switch. Everything flickers on as it should, and he breathes a sigh of relief...

...too soon. There's a spark from the console and it burns his arm, but with a quick move from his other hand he shuts it down. Oof. That stings, but they're fine.

"We're good," he says through clenched teeth.

[stealsyourheart]

"You okay man?" Kaito cranes to look at him.

"I know nothing went boom, but that looked painful."

[blue_ice]

Kaiba shakes his head. "I've had worse pain. We can keep going."

He picks up his toolbox and looks around for the next sparking mess, then notes the switch nearby. "I'll shut it down from here this time."

[stealsyourheart]

"You sure? We have actual magic healers here you know, if you need em."

But he follows Kaiba over.

"Okay. Where do you need me?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"Mine are pretty steady," answers Curufin, who has been following the technicians and likewise taking notes. "What repair shall we tackle first?"

[blue_ice]

"East port," Kaiba suggests. West port was already stable, and what mattered most now was bringing up the entire base.

"How's the rest of the station holding up?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"The technicians are saying power is partially restored to some areas, but there's a lot of work left to be done. Let's get started on the east port, shall we?"

[blue_ice]

"On it."

Kaiba immediately circles the room to survey the damage when they arrive, taking notes in his book.

"Ever worked a space station before?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin has his notebook out, too, and is making drawings and notes.

"Never worked a space station before. Never even been on a space station before! This is a most interesting experience."

[blue_ice]

Kaibs nods. "Most people haven't. It's expensive to build the infrastructure it takes to get out here, which would explain why it's fallen into such disrepair."

He sighs as he kneels to check on a sparking wire. "Stop to take a look if we survive this, though. The view from here is...something."

[so_dark_a_road]

"You think some of this damage -- or what looks like damage -- wasn't done by the Empire forces, but is a result of neglect due to lack of maintenance funds?"

He comes over to look at the sparking wire too. "Looks like a short."

"I agree, though. I'd like to stick around this place for a while, if we win the battles and are all still alive. It's not every day a person gets to see the universe from a space station."

[blue_ice]

"Very possible. Priorities often shift rapidly during a war, and the ones with the money are rarely truly aware of the situation on the ground."

Not that he...knows anything about that or anything.

"Hm. If we survive, that's something to look forward to."

[so_dark_a_road]

"My world didn't have that problem, since we didn't have money and every war effort had to be supplied by the combatants themselves. But I realize that more modern civilizations have huge hierarchies and the people at the top hold the purse-strings."

Curufin goes to the console that makes it possible to trace the circuitry and punches up an image of the whole east port, with current, voltage, resistance, capacitance, induction, and other circuit values -- both what they ought to be and what they are. "Whoohoo! Definitely a short circuit. Probably a wire got fused to another when the fire from the Empire ships caused a current surge. Now we just have to find its physical location and replace the damaged connection." He thinks, anyway.

He smiles. "I certainly am looking forward to doing some sightseeing. I really hope we get to do it."

[blue_ice]

"The hierarchies are nonsense," he says easily. "Vile people playing with lives as if they were merely playing a game of chess."

Never mind that he's done the same thing. He's better now. Mostly. He looks over at Curufin's work and nods, glancing up and around to get a mental map of the location.

"Try this way," and he's already starting off toward a small stream of smoke. Bingo. "And if we work fast enough, we just might."

He's kneeling by the burnt wire. That sure...is a mess. "Do you have clippers?"

[so_dark_a_road]

"Yes, those hierarchies. I don't think humans of any kind do well when their societies become too hierarchical. The worst people climb all the way up to the top, and they don't have the humanity to refrain from taking advantage of the people below them."

Curufin's not entirely innocent either. But he no longer makes the mistakes he made during his life in his own world, and he strives to do the opposite.

He looks where Kaiba is headed and sees the smoke. "Whoops, we'd better get to that one quickly!"

He pulls his tool satchel off his shoulder and digs into it. He hands the wire clippers to Kaiba. "Here you go." And he goes to get the carton full of spare wires, cables, and connectors that he has been lugging around. He sets it on the floor and opens it up.

[blue_ice]

"As I've learned. But I like to think I'm adjusting."

Kaiba's fingers move fast as he removes the fused wires, then silently requests the new ones for Curufin. He threads the replacements in as delicately as he can.

"Grab that side for me."

[so_dark_a_road]

"Luckily for us, we are capable of learning and adjusting to reality!"

Curufin hands Kaiba the new wires and watches him work. Kaiba has the hands for this kind of work.

Curufn does as requested. "You got it!"