RP: NSS Sledge Mama Ep. 6 Bar at the End of the World

Anyone who looked in on Stripe right now would have seen an odd sight- a man surrounded with explosives and booklets, reading and occasionally muttering under his breath while munching away on some fries . He quietly read through all the small print on all the explosives, hoping to learn something which would stop himself from making the type of mistake he had on his last op.

Not blowing himself was always nice, at least in his opinion.

NSS Sledge Mama
Bar

Richard found himself in the bar, the fewer than normal visitors was a welcome comfort to him. He would normally be working extra hard, making sure his condition was in peak shape for whenever their next assignment was, he was always a hard worker, but now the large athletic man found himself delicately working a pool stick as he played against his shipmates. Everything that had happened had put his mind out of whack and he wanted to 'refocus' with some alcohol and relaxation, so much was out of his control and he just wanted to let everything slip away for a bit.

NSS Sledge Mama
Machine Shop

As the two marines worked and the third sat reading, a hulking war machine bent over Kelly's normal body. Almost childlike in comparison, its limbs dangled limply as it was moved about, panels opened and tools inserted. Without its usual uniform on, both could see what the Freespacer normally looked like. They always saw her face, a featureless, shiny black faceplate sculpted around the head, through which a single monoeye typically shone; it was dull. Meanwhile, the limbs, industrial and angular, had a family resemblance to the Super Militant manipulating them. Scaled down and streamlined, they fit into the sleeves of clothing quite well. The body however, stood out a little from the rest. Though genderless in form, a ball joint was where the chest met the waist.

It was all curious, and just that.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here anyways?" Kelly asked, yanking out little bits and pieces from her smaller body. "Major repairs and shit are usually done in the armor bays." As always, and despite the body swap, the Freespacer's voice was as it always was; a young woman who was borderline angry. All the time.

"Especially him," Kelly pointed a finger at Stripe.

NSS Sledge Mama
Bar

"Man, you guys must have had it hard," the Navy man replied, his blue uniform contrasting sharply with Richard's green. It was mostly busted suits, black bags coming back, and half-empty halls on the Sledge Mama herself. "I mean, it looks like some of you could use some 'comforting' even, you know what I mean?" he suggestively smiled. As the pool balls clinked together, the man looked past Richard towards the bar. There, a tough but buxom young woman sat, not even bothering to part her straw yellow hair out of her eyes, instead simply nursing her whiskey. Ylfa had ordered a whole bottle for herself it seemed, and hadn't even noticed Richard at the pool tables either.

"Almost reminds me of some of them Fyuunen," the sailor looked back at him. "What'cha think?"

"I thought we were here as moral support," Stripe said absently as he- carefully- set down the 'Kegbuster' and started examining a FGL-01a. "I imagine having your body blown up, shoving yourself into an enemy body, and having a friend almost die is somewhat traumatic."

NSS Sledge Mama
Machine Shop

The head bopping came to a brief halt as she saw the display on Kelly's 'face' wiggling from speech. Catching the last bit, Yuriko had taken one of the earbuds out to hang limp. Glancing down to her work, and up again, the Sergeant shrugged. "Installing Ion Rings to the Plasma Drive of my Hostile to provide a tighter compression of the plasma. Cuts down on emission waste and provides more propulsive force." tapping the assembly she'd just placed on the partially deconstructed drive. "Because the Hangar is crawling with a bunch of asshats right now."

"Software recallibration to fuel intake, emission and control with redundant backups to boost fuel economy and efficiency while not sacrificing performance. After the drive, I'll be adding a few Gravitic Centrifuges I bought from the Lazarus Consortium to the Gravimetric Drive Couplings. Four of them. Each about the size of a dinner plate with over one thousand, twenty four phased state centrifuges affixed. While by themselves they are incapable of proper inverse propulsion, by coupling to the main Gravimetric Drive, the Centrifuges are amplified several fold by interacting, electromagnetic, gravitomagnetic, quantum states." she tapped the small box with the Consortium's insignia on it.

"Comparatively, by itself, the Gravimetric Drive would dump a large amount of energy, have less precision with the gravimetric fields, but the coupled system increases overall performance several fold. So fuck it. While still not a main propulsive method, the enhanced system provides increases in acceleration, maneuverability, energy economy, and properties/capabilities inherent to the Centrifuges themselves."

A grin blossomed on her face as she caressed the drive, "This baby is gonna fucking soar."

NSS Sledge Mama
Machine Shop

Jaime looked over to Kelly while holding the mounts, in fact he held them up a little. "I'm adding a shield mount system, one that isn't fixed or rigged with space tape." He looked back to the Hostile and grinned, "Hell, maybe if I am good enough, I'll send the specs off to NAM if this rig works." Jaime then went and took a welding mask and put it on his head though had it open. He took a marker and began tracing the mounts on the left arm of the Hostile and bent down to take a welding torch after he finished tracing.

He held the mount by the outside most piece and began to weld the mount on, careful not to burn the weld points too much or to burn his hands.

NSS Sledge Mama
Bar

Richard chuckled at the man's comments, looking to the woman he was talking about, noticing that it was Ylfa. Guy talk was what he needed right now and he wasn't about to let the fact that the subject was his CO stop him either. "A Fyuunen huh? Yeah I have to agree with that. Though I prefer the shorter human ears so she's a bit better." He leaned across the pool table and took his shot, and well pool was not his strong suit so he was only getting one shot this turn.

NSS Sledge Mama
Machine Shop

"Pffffft!" the Freespacer's speakers mimicked the sound of someone blowing air through their lips. "As if I'm traumatized like meatbags such as you would be! I'm made for war! I'm not traumatized at all. n07 47 4ll," Kelly's voice crackled a bit. The awkward moment however was quickly deflected as some final parts were installed. "Say, aren't you worried that's going to blow up or something Sergeant?" it asked Yuriko. "I mean, it's nothing simple like what this meat head is doing here," she pointed over to Jaime. "At least what he's doing is reducing the probability of being blown up. I think."

NSS Sledge Mama
Bar

"Hot damn, I never thought I'd see the day where I'd meet a Marine who wasn't a horndog too," the sailor replied, a bit surprised. As Richard took his shot, the cue ball he was aiming for was sunk, letting him line up another shot until he flubbed. "What happened out there? Was it that bad or something?" As a part of the Navy, the blue uniformed man's job simply revolved around the ship itself. Unlike the marines who deployed out on sorties, he stayed here on the Sledge Mama herself. "You wanna talk about it maybe? I get you if you don't, but geeze. You got me worried here," he admitted.

Stripe looked up at Kelly, with an raised eyebrow. "You're worried about him blowing himself up, but not the fool surrounded by explosives who is just now learning how NOT to use them?" He stated dryly as he followed the instructions on how to take apart the "FGL-01a. "I know I'm unlikable, but I didn't realize it was so bad."

Bar

Richard chuckled some at the soldier's response. "Was it bad out there? Nothing more than usual really. Just we had a few new guys out there and we had our share of close calls. It's a good thing the neck area is so sturdy on the Hostile." He folded his arms and leaned against a wall to wait his turn. "Besides, if you get too excited when talking about a woman it makes you seem like a virgin."

NSS Sledge Mama
Machine Shop

"Explode? Naw," Yuriko waved a hand dismissively,"But it will be as nimble as one of the Cats' Power Armors. Thanks to the improved gravitics, it'll weigh about as much. Less strain on the Nanomusculature." patting the drive she began to continue her work. "But yeah, this shit is simple for me. I got the smarts for it, don't you worry your chrome-plated head, Tin-Woman. Mom wanted me to be a Doctor, of some sort or another. I chose to shoot the shit, and kill people for a living. "

Taking up the Datajockey once more, the Sergeant began tapping on the screen once more. "After this. I'll be rebuilding the Fusion Reactor. I plan on taking one out, and applying a new fuel mix. Deuterium-Tritium. More umpf. Got the idea from a few Freespacer buddies in the past. Should boost the power to a hundred thirty percent. Helps to offset the loss of the other reactor. Which I'll be replacing with a pair of Military-Grade QNCs."

Satisfied, she put the Datajockey down and began soldering more on the thruster. "Poly-Crystalline Nano-Filaments on the reactor housing. Keep the heat down to standard levels. Turns the excess into more power while Navitium-laced superconducting lines and capacitors ensure a nearly loss-less transmission and storage of power. NAM could've done right by a mean machine like the Hostile. They didn't. I will."