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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 20:42:41 GMT -5
"Attention Longstreet Compound, this is Heavy Hauler Chainless. We have a flight emergency, and are coming in for a landing." Marcus's voice was calm, level, and matter of fact. It contrasted greatly with the shouting and the blaring of alarms, most of which Marcus had muted, but some were hardwired to ON in case of emergencies.
Plenty of Grease Junkies and Gear heads had this idea that a Ship was alive. Now Marcus wasn't one to hold to that on a day to day basis. But he hoped to high hell and back it was true enough, because the Aardvark was going to need every ounce of grit vim and whatever the hell else to land at this point.
Marcus was on pilot, Hawkeye was on second, struggling to keep his half of the controls in line.
They weren't smoking or spewing fuel, anything obvious like that. They were however, flying in one of the wider, less occupied lanes, and swerving a bit at that.
He didn't know WHAT was going on in the engine room, only that Ilana was swearing at Amelia and Ray and anyone else who didn't do exactly what she was saying.
But they were coming in, fast, and wobbly, nothing else was in the way.
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Post by Ilana Logan on May 5, 2012 20:44:31 GMT -5
"Gorram it, Amelia! Hold the line steady you stupid cow!" Ilana shouted, trying to solder the engine's thick wire together with Amelia's shaking hands holding the line. Ilana cursed and screamed as Amelia whined about being electrocuted. Ray shoved Amelia out of the way and held the line with much steadier hands, though he had no gloves on. If this line didn't stay together while Ilana worked, or at least until they landed, the entire power system in the ship was going to fail and the ship wasn't going to land, it was going to fall. It didn't help that with the power from the generator being so erratic, the ship was shaking and jerking like it was having a seizure.
"Yúchǔn de húndàn! Tāmen zài sīkǎo shénme?! Did they not have a mechanic at all?" Ilana roared, wondering how in the hell the power cables could have gotten this bad without someone noticing. She hadn't caught it before now, but her crew hadn't been on this ship very long. She'd looked over the whole engine, and had only found one problem. It takes time to go over an entire electrical system on a ship this big, and she had been combing it for problems, but this had blindsided her. The problem was halfway between the generator and the engine, under the connector between the cables. The connector had exploded about fifteen minutes ago, right before they broke atmo. All power had failed and Ilana had bounced around the engine room, trying to avoid the live wire from the generator, while trying to pull on rubber gloves and grab the wire.
Once she had gotten ahold of it she had screamed for help from anyone within hearing. Amelia came tearing through the door moments later and rushed over to do what she could. Ilana shouted directions at her and she followed them, even though she knew nothing about this, and probably didn't want to get her hands dirty. Her following the directions probably had something to do with Ilana telling her over and over that if she didn't follow them, they were all going to die. Ray had shoved Amelia out of the way after he came in and heard Ilana shouting at her.
Ilana dropped the soldering gun and held her hands over the center of the cable. "Hold on tight, Ray, and brace yourself. We have to hold this through the landing. If it comes apart before we get to the ground, the whole ship is going to lose power and we're all going to die." Of course, if they got close enough, they'd just lose the landing gear, and everything that works in connection with the landing gear, but she wasn't going to tell him that because he'd let go of the cable and leave her to hold it by herself. She might be able to, but she'd rather not risk it.
The whole ship was shaking and bucking in the air. Holding this cable wasn't an easy task, even with Ray's help. "You better get us on the ground FAST Marcus!"
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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 20:44:52 GMT -5
They weren't swerving as much anymore, but that was for lack of trust on the main engine. Marcus had piped most of the output into the side engines, it put less strain on the connector that had gone all pear shaped, at the cost of vertical altitude. Good news was they had control. Bad news was, gravity always wins these kinds of fights. It's a matter of breaking even, really.
When Ilana roared over the intercom, Marcus almost laughed. "'Fast' and 'Ground' are exactly the issues I'm messing with here right now!"
Marcus got some kind of positive response from Longstreet's compound, he didn't really much pay attention to what was said, beyond. "You are clear to land" and all the rest was a blur. There was no NOT. He could tell that much. Not is NOT the sort of word he missed.
Usually.
But as the forward array got a view of the landing pad, he could see it was totally vacant. No shuttles or nothing. The largest pad, consequently the best one for this situation, was clear of all clutter. Marcus hit the breaks harder than he might have, and they came to a falling stop right above the pad. A fourty-five turn and all four stabilizers were on full blast downward.
Full as they could manage at this point. They were sapped for crap keeping gravity and everything else in order. Just fine by Marcus, they'd belly down slow and gentle, right onto their... LANDING GEAR!
"CRAP!" He flipped the switches and could see the gear images extending from one of the display screens. Fine tat in order now-
THUUUUUUD!!
They were on the ground now, and there was quite a bit of orange filling up his screens. Orange, not Red, or even flashing red. That was okay. Not good or even alright. But okay.
"People we are on the ground and I am cutting power to everything but emergency safety crap. All hands secure what needs doing than get ashore."
He was out of the cockpit, ordering Hawkeye to lock everything down.
Down the corrider, round the bridge, right to where Ilana and Ray had been working.
"Anyone dead?" It was a fine question to ask, but showed the level of concern he had right about now.
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Post by Ilana Logan on May 5, 2012 20:45:34 GMT -5
Ilana felt the jerk as Marcus hit the brakes a little harder than he should have, then a thud as the landing gear went down. A moment later they were on the ground and Ilana heard Marcus over the com, telling them to secure everything and get off the ship. She let go of the cable and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Ray let go too and it fell to the floor. Ilana turned and saw Marcus come into the room as he was asking if anyone was dead.
Ilana let out a shaky laugh and said, "No, I don't think so. But I'm pretty sure Amelia needs a change of underwear."
She smirked at Marcus and said, "By the way, how do you forget to put down the landing gear?"
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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 20:46:40 GMT -5
Marcus looked relieved, and felt it, when Ilana jested. Nobody dead. Lovely. Good. Great. His heart slowed to a marathon rate. He wanted to hug Ilana right now, actually the sorts of things he wanted to do right now were best kept unsaid.
Nevertheless, he smiled. "Well she's got plenty of panties if her laundry is any indication." When Ilana pressed him on the landing gear issue. Marcus just smirked.
"We've got belly to spare on this ship." Was his only response, but as he leaned against the frame of the room he exhaled a long breath. "Everything's cooling off now, right?" He asked, hoping there wasn't anything boiling over.
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Post by Ilana Logan on May 5, 2012 20:48:16 GMT -5
Ilana laughed at Marcus's reference to Amelia's laundry. When he asked if everything was cooling off, she said, "Yeah. The problem wasn't caused by overheating though. The main power cable from the generator is shot. It disconnected, which is why we lost power before we broke atmo. We're gonna have to have a new one before this bird goes up again."
Ilana knew they'd get one eventually. Power cables weren't horribly expensive. "In the mean time, I can finish up the minor repairs til we get that cable. A couple other things went out because of the power surge that happened when I soldered the cable back together. That new reg coupler I just bought on Persephone is shot to hell, and the catalyzer is gonna need to be replaced soon. I've got another catalyzer in with my spare parts, so that's not a problem. I can take the reg coupler out completely because it tends to cause more problems than it fixes anyway," she said. "Yeah, I'm rambling. That was a little stressful. I'm gonna get the hell off this bird now."
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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 20:48:32 GMT -5
Marcus zoned out during most of the technobabble, most of it sounded boilerplate. He'd scrapped enough boats to know what was important, what was vital, and what padded an engineer's paycheck. At least on the run of the mill ships.
He was a salvager more than a builder.
He nodded at Ilana's summation, and her want to get off the ship. "Right, all of you; landing pad. Now." He looked at the engine room and inhaled the ozone and all the smells of the chaos. Then he almost chocked, Ilana wasn't kidding about Amelia.
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Post by Ilana Logan on May 5, 2012 20:49:52 GMT -5
Ilana didn't waste any time when Marcus told them all to get to the landing pad. She was more than eager to have her feet on the ground after that landing. She went down the ramp and took a deep breath up fresh, non-filtered air. She was damn happy to be back on the ground. She loved being in the black, but after that mess, she was glad to be on the ground for a bit.
Once she was a little bit away from the ramp, she turned to watch the others come down. Of course, Amelia would be a little later than the rest. There was no way she would head outside without being what she considered perfect.
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Post by Bishop Morse on May 5, 2012 21:02:16 GMT -5
(ooc; Right, I'm gonna move ahead. Jay, Ray; you know this is where we are, and that it's active)
Marcus had made sure the ship cleared out, and was standing on the landing pad; looking up at the ship with a bit of dismay. He knew what was wrong with the ship could be fixed. It was only a matter of time and resources. Longstreet certainly had the latter.
Still, had Marcus earned his share of it?
He had the parcel from their last job, the Earth-that-Was derringer gun. It was still in its case, but also wrapped up in a light bundle. He wasn't sure if Longstreet's friend would be here early or not. and there was that party he'd mentioned.
He looked around, wondering what would happen next. He just stood there, breathing, taking in the air. He'd go in and see Longstreet himself, if the man didn't come out to see what was happening.
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Post by Jay Fuller on May 5, 2012 21:02:36 GMT -5
Jay wasn't ashamed that he had hidden behind the galley counter when the ship began to rock around in the atmosphere.
He was in his room, reading over some cheesy romantic stories he wrote a while ago. He figured they were almost in atmo so he headed to the galley. Suddenly, the ship went crazy and began thrashing around. Jay fell forward and hit the floor behind the counter. So, his instinct was to grab the counter above him, sit, and hold on for dear life. After an almost-crash landing, he got up and looked around. They were alive!
A few minutes later, he made his way downstairs onto the landing pad, where the rest of the crew was waiting. He had a feeling he'd get shit for not being around when needed, even worse if anyone saw him hiding behind a kitchen counter. Eh, he figured, nothing he wasn't used to.
"Hey, guys," he said, "Pretty awesome landing. We should do stuff like that more often." he added sarcastically.
(ooc: Sorry for taking so long to post, guys.)
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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 21:02:53 GMT -5
(ooc; well lots of stuff's slow in winter)
Marcus afforded himself a bitter laugh when Jay decided to jest at the landing. "Yeah, No. We're not doing that." He looked to the crew, thinking of something to say. "Ilana, once your ready, do a once over on the ship, make sure that cord is the only the problem." He walked off toward the main office.
He'd keep things short with Longstreet. This mishap of a landing was an accident, and a result of the prior crew's negligence. He'd swallow not pressing a more thorough inspection... but what the hell. They weren't professional military, and it's not like anyone died.
This time.
/Exit/
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Post by Marcus O'Terra on May 5, 2012 21:05:18 GMT -5
Morse knew that question was going to be coming. He’d been actually preparing an answer for that over the last hour. He reached into his coat and pulled out the flask that he carried with him. The irony to the flask was that the drink it carried had almost no alcoholic content, to the point where it was almost unnoticeable. Where as many carried such things so that they could get a buzz on, he just did it because he did it because its weight wasn’t very noticeable to him. And he liked being around what amounted to his favorite. Of course ‘homebrew’ itself was misery on other people, but Morse didn’t very much concern himself with what would make other peoples lives as pleasant as possible.
”Look.” Morse started taking a sip from the flask. The taste he enjoyed wouldn’t likely be the same for most. ”For the most part I don’t give a shit.”He said now holding the silver container in his right hand, and moving it about as he spoke. ”The crews aware, they’re takin’ it worse then I am for the most part, but they’ll be fine.” He stopped to make a point. ”Ray’s takin’ it worse then the others as you can imagine.” Which was true, because most of the others didn’t voice their opinions quite so loud. ”And I don’t blame him, remember what I told ya.” Morse said thinking back to a conversation they’d had some time before it. ”These are the same people that were talkin’ about stealin’ my weapons and lockin’ me in my room while they took over my ship… before they had any idea where they were headed.” Morse said. He still had the vid-record to prove it. He saw it only a few minutes earlier as he wanted to refresh his memory. They were in the cargo bay, digging through his things which he told them not to, and then they mentioned taking a hold of some of his firepower. Merchants law dictated Morse should have put them all down right there. They were lucky that Morse went by a different set of plans then that.
Morse came to the reality of it though. ”But it aint the worst I’ve had there.” Morse remarked. ”Not by far.” Morse was referring to times during the war, and there were some considerable problems that they didn’t speak of all too often because of how bad these particular points were. His mind however was stumbling into murder, attempted insurrection, and disfiguring of people that had done nothing wrong. Had he not been at his post and seen certain things before they spilled over to become serious problems, a lot more people would no doubt have been killed. So this really wasn’t bothering him all that much because having them on his ship wasn’t presenting as hopeless of a situation as having certain soldiers under his command.”So who’s post are we knockin’ down.” Morse asked, getting back to the main point of what he was there for.
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