Private Technically Stranded

[Kal]

Kal's associates were always tinkering away with some new project or another; more often than not, they worked out quite well, but there were exceptions. Currently, he was sitting in one such exception, a sleekly angular vessel the size of a mid-sized frigate, taller than it was broad and with a gaping hole in one side where the primary reactor had been.

Drifting listlessly through the void between stars as if something had suddenly given way mid-transit.

Having politely asked an acquaintance if she was able to come take a look at the issue, assuming it was not a bad time, he was content to wait around, spending the time in meditation. Given that most of his organic crew had perished from the sudden absence of a breathable atmosphere, it was quiet but for a few survivors busily sticking parts back together.

Kal himself was tangible, for once, having chosen a body that had more in common with a droid than a living (and most importantly breathing) human, though it looked the part of the latter - without a space suit, naturally.

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal ​

Surprisingly, it had been some time now since Sylvia had last donned a space suit. One of the many upsides of replaced the barrel that was her old ship to one that did not break down at the worst of times years ago was that dangerous repairs in the void of space were no longer necessary. As fate would have it, though, that still was the reason why she had suited up again.

At least it wasn't her own ship.

Pretending to not find them mildly off-putting, Sylvia followed two crew members to where Kal was waiting. She had seen the gaping hole when she arrived by the ship already, but seeing it from the other side somehow looked even worse. Something had really gone properly wrong, but it couldn't have been anything too conventional. She hadn't seen anything like this before- holes of this kind were always caused by attacks from other ships, yet this one was clearly due to a blast from the inside.

She was both curious and concerned about what Kal had to say about this.

"Uh, thanks," the woman offered to the crew members before they headed off, leaving her with their boss. Or, at least, that's what Sylvia assumed Kal was to them.

"Didn't recognize you there," she joked as she shook off the mild discomfort she experienced due to the ship's crew. She couldn't place exactly why, but something simply felt off about them. "That's a pretty serious bit of damage you got in the back. What happened?"

 

[Kal]

Rising to his feet smoothly, his hair moving oddly in the improvised atmosphere, Kal smiled broadly. His current body looked as human as they came, but in an almost idealised fashion - the tan was perfect, the teeth gleaming, and the blond hair as shiny as the most exaggerative of commercials. Clearly, he had been going planning to attend something.

"Sylvia! Glad you could come, I can't say I'm much of a technician." Looking down at his body, he hit his chest hard, the act sounding just a bit off. "Yes, I imagine it must be quite the difference. This thing needs no air, fortunately."

There was some air (or gasses, really), in this section at least, but it was not exactly what one would call breathable. If Sylvia's suit was worth a damn it would surely flash an angry red if she tried to remove her helmet.

"Truth be told, I was just flying about and minding my own business. Prototype vessel, someone needed to take it for a spin. The, ah, path engine an associate of mine has been working on had a minor malfunction." Waving a hand in the general direction of the hole, he shrugged. "Overloaded the primary reactor, thus the, well, gaping hole."

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

The hit to the chest and a quick peek through the mind's eye cleared up a lot about Kal's appearance. Even if the tech didn't show from the outside, such things were hard to hide from someone who knew their mechu deru. When it did come to the shell, though, realism was definitely not the prime focus. It even was just slightly off-putting, in a way. Not nearly as much as the crew, but the feeling was still there, deep down.

"It would seem that it needed more testing," Sylvia couldn't help but comment. Kal clearly hadn't been bothered by the risks, even after it had literally blown up in his face. Then again, she wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't anything more than a slight inconvenience to him. "I hope you're not going to ask me to repair the thing on the spot. I think I saw all of the important bits float around the void." Figuring out where the issue occurred, in a general sense at least, was possible. To rebuild an engine she had never seen before was an entirely different beast, though. Surely, Kal was aware of at least that.

"You did kill the backup power, right? Not that I'm seeing any lights on, but just in case." Sylvia wasn't particularly interested in being around for a second blast. Not that she knew if the ship had any backup generators in the first place.

 

[Kal]

Shaking his head in amusement, Kal patted a piece of hull almost affectionally. "Certainly not, I fear there's little left of the reactor proper. Fortunately, it's not strictly speaking necessary for propulsion. I do need to be sure that accelerating to a, ah, rather high velocity won't tear the ship apart, however. I was hoping you could help."

Waving a hand towards a wall, it slid open to reveal some sort of technical access point the size of a broom closet, wires and Force knows what else crisscrossing the space that surrounded some sort of emitter or generator.

"That's the inertial compensator. Well. The secondary one. Do you think you can extend it somewhat?"

Frowning somewhat, his eyes swivelled back to the technomancer. "Kill the backup power? Why would I kill the backup power? I figured it was needed to run diagnostics?" Running diagnostics was the only part he understood.

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

Whoever had built this ship was cognizant enough of the fact an experimental reactor wasn't the most reliable and installed a backup. Sylvia still had numerous questions in the back of her mind, primarily concerning the sanity of everyone involved, but at least there was a chance she could get this thing going again. It was better than nothing, she supposed.

She wasn't going to touch any of the mess Kal had given the woman access to before being absolutely sure she wasn't going to get electrocuted in the process, though.

"On a typical ship, there's no harm in turning on the backup power in basically any situation. I don't think I need to explain why this isn't a 'typical ship'." In fact, this was the single most atypical ship Sylvia had ever set foot on. That meant it was getting treated like the least reliable ship she had ever set foot on as well.

"If any other systems got damaged from the blast and you have power running through it, that can go seriously wrong. Chite catching fire, something sparking where it shouldn't and creating another one of those holes you got back there..." She pointed behind her without looking.

"Besides, I can't fix that mess if it's live. I prefer not to get electrocuted, if you don't mind."

 

[Kal]

Kal was not inclined to think his kind's ships any less safe than conventional counterparts, quite the contrary really, but he was not the engineer. Come to think of it, he only had a partial understanding of most of the technologies involved.

"Fair enough." Kal made no move to reach for a communicator or any such nonsense, what few things still glowed simply winked out as the vessel abruptly found itself drained of power at his command. "There we go, the power's cut along with all nonessential systems. That includes what you will be working on, of course... I hope you have a light source?"

That was standard for spacesuits, surely? His ship certainly did not have emergency lights.

"The brains' life support is still online, of course, but that is a contained system."

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

"Eeyup, right here," Sylvia confirmed as a small light turned on from within her helmet. "Alright, let's see what I'm going to be working with." She shrugged at the mention of the 'brains' that ran the ship, acknowledging it but not asking any questions. It would be a lie to say she knew everything about Kal, but he most certainly wasn't predictable. For all she knew, it could've been actual brains controlling this vessel. She hoped that wasn't the case, though.

A slight shiver came over her. The thought was a little unsettling.

With the feeling quickly shaken off, Sylvia turned her attention to the mess of wires and systems before her. At first, it looked like she was blankly staring at it all, but a few moments and an "ah" later she got to work. One of the tools on her belt were unhooked and with it, a number of cables were unhooked. "It's a bit of a mess, but I've seen worse," the woman spoke as she deftly worked around everything she didn't want to touch.

Sadly, one downside of working unpowered machinery was that mechu deru wasn't all that useful. Sylvia had plenty of experience doing things the old-fashioned way as well, though, and the intuition side of her skills worked regardless of the circumstances. This was an odd beast, but definitely a tameable one.

"So what's the whole deal with this ship? The idea?"

 

[Kal]

The brains made her a bit uncomfortable, or so he was led to believe. That was hardly a first.

Following behind her as she entered the tech-chamber (he did not think it had a proper name), Kal nonetheless made sure not to get in the way. The least he could do was let her work in relative peace, seeing as she was helping him out as a favour.

"Oh, it's a prototype, of sorts. Lots of experimental systems crammed together to see how they work - thus the absence of any but the most expendable of crewmembers and my resilient self." Realising that she might find that concerning, he flashed her a warm smile; it was as reassuring as he could manage. "Don't worry, the dangerous parts have already exploded."

While they were not the closest, he would certainly not have asked her help if he thought it dangerous.

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

While still facing the mess of wires before her, Sylvia's brows furrowed at Kal's explanation. A ship that was basically set to malfunction... and expendable crew members? Kal was strange, certainly, but considering anyone as expendable? That was something that did concern her.

The stellar attempt at reassuring her didn't really help matters much, either.

"Ex...pendable?" she asked while she worked to open up a panel on the wall. "Didn't peg you as the type to willingly put others in danger." Considering it was Kal she was talking to, there was always a chance there was some kind of misunderstanding, so the judgmental tone was left out for now. Their previous interactions had taught Sylvia to make sure she wasn't mistaken in some way or another.

 

[Kal]

Her concern was noted and appreciated, as was her gut instinct to ask questions before jumping to conclusions.

"You would be right, but the Grey Ones can hardly be called people. I think of them as organic droids, except many droids are able to feel pain, fear, or the desire to be free." The same thing could not be said for Greystone's eerie worker bees; from the very moment they emerged from their egg sacs to their natural or unnatural demise, they served.

There was not a whiff of individuality to be found, even less so than among Killiks.

"If you wish, I could divert a Tech-Cadre for a practical display. Likewise if you need manpower for some task or another." She seemed to be doing quite fine on her own, for now, but he should at the very least make the offer.

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

If this had been ten Kal explanations ago, perhaps Sylvia would've been weirded out. That notion had long since been tossed out the window, however. While she didn't see any reason to not rely on droids, she was sure Kal had his reasons. She knew better than to question it.

"I'm... yeah, good for now," Sylvia responded, paying really only half attention to Kal and more so on the set of fuses before her. "Gotta say, that giant hole gave me the vibe that everything would be shot to chite, but I don't think I'll need too many spare parts." A few things here and there were damaged, be it from overloading or other reasons, but it actually looked fixable in a reasonable timeframe. "Actually, if I give you a list of things I need, can your crew sort that out?"

 

[Kal]

Nodding at her remarks, Kal smiled cheerfully.

"Very good. It makes sense too - as I understand it, the explosion was defined more by disintegration than shrapnel. Good for limiting collateral damage, less good for salvaging debris. I hope that won't be a problem?"

Speaking of components, it seemed she already had a list. Despite the lack of a communicator, he tapped his forehead as if to acknowledge her request. "Certainly. Let me know and I will instruct them to fetch with all due haste. Assuming we have what you need. If we don't, some creative engineering may prove necessary."

Good thing he had her and not just stolid drones.

Sylvia Virtos​

 

[Sylvia Virtos]

Kal
​

"Fixing broken parts is certainly cheaper, but just using new ones is a lot faster. And post-explosion debris is generally not really uh, salvageable." Thankfully, it was unlikely that fresh parts were out of Kal's reach. "Anyway, let me just..."

A datapad was powered on and Sylvia quickly started typing away. She sometimes took a short pause to try to remember what she was still missing before continuing with another burst of words. Eventually, the datapad was handed over.

"That should be about it. A few things are just in case of issues I can't really test for just yet. That manageable?"

 

[Kal]

Smiling softly, Kal simply shrugged. It seemed they had different definitions of salvageable - with the right technology and a fair bit of manpower, anything could be broken down to its base constituent atoms and reassembled.

Albeit not quickly, admittedly. Perhaps spare components were a better choice.

"Yes, this is largely manageable." Frowning slightly at one entry, his gaze grew distant for a moment. "These conductors will be difficult, however. Is gold sufficiently conductive? If not, we may need to dismantle some auxiliary systems."

'We' being his subordinates, of course. His grasp of engineering was somewhat lacking.

Sylvia Virtos​