She was just falling asleep again to fill the wait until Kolit appears, when Jorm speaks up. Calsera's eyes pop open and she sits up. "Congrats, Jorm! Now you're responsible for us screw-ups? I'm sorry."
Cat pauses a moment. "I don't really have much technical skill, but I'm willing to help where I can."
Now with a given goal, it's all Ty can do to not grab a hydrospanner and get to work. Mentally, he reorders the priority list.
1. Hull repairs
2. Power
3. Life suport.
4. Navigation
5. Sublight
6. Hyperdrive
Aditionally, he makes a mental note to check the craft's history for any suprises in the repair and mission logs, on the off chance they're part of captured files.
Ganet gets to work, sizing up the hull. He's not a repair expert, but he knows his way around a fusion cutter and pliable skilled labor is always useful.
She was just falling asleep again to fill the wait until Kolit appears, when Jorm speaks up. Calsera's eyes pop open and she sits up. "Congrats, Jorm! Now you're responsible for us screw-ups? I'm sorry."
Cat pauses a moment. "I don't really have much technical skill, but I'm willing to help where I can."
"Thanks...I think," says Jorm with a weak smile. "As for helping, we can always use extra hands, eyes and ears. And company."
Turning to the rest of the group, he says, "If there aren't any further questions, let's get to work on this beast. Has anyone seen Mandall?"
It's amazing how well some of the pipes on this ship carry sound. Maybe it has to do with Mandall leaning towards the pipe, maybe it's some sort of latent force echo, maybe it's just coincidence, but Mandall Daygon starts up from his hammock, nearly plummeting to the floor before catching his fall and rolling to a stop. Still crouched down, his eyes dart to the chronometer set into the wall.
"...oh shit."
With the speed of a greased lightning, Mandall stumbles into his work clothes and dashes off for the hangar.
The Vandals get their jobs and go to work. Aurelia is a whirlwind of welding, metal shaping, and wiring. Normally it would be a problem, all these people getting in the way, but she's so far ahead of the rest of the team that it doesn't matter. Jorm does his best to coordinate the less-than-techies like Calsera, Eritram, and Ganet, while still assisting Aurelia. Ty proves he's no slouch, and his hunch about checking the Tanaab battle reports saves several hours in skipped problems.
Stryker's components prove to be top-notch, with the power converters being of particular quality. Jorm estimates they should have extra power to play with even after the ECM/ECCM sensors are operational. That means power for better deflector shields and beefier engines. The hull, unfortunately, is simply average after it's been patched up and reworked - it simply can't be reinforced past its original extent.
It is a long day, but it ends with Ty unscrewing the fuel umbilical and Jorm keying the powerup sequence. A small fire bursts out of the top recycler, but Echo gently rises from the deck, floating a few feet above the ground.
Although the physical and mental exhaustion is taxing, everyone's spirits rise along with the ex-Decimator.
Mandall's been running errands all day for the various techies, and aside from checking the astrogation software, didn't really have anything to do other than get dirty and lug things arounds.
Consequently, seeing the Echo rise under its own power isn't as much of a triumph for Mandall as it could be.
Though tired, Jorm can't help but be excited as they put the finishing touches on the Echo. As Ty finishes up the fueling process, Jorm takes a moment and mounts a small plaque on one of the bulkheads:
Quote:
In Memory of Dutch Tragen
"What are you looking at? Get back to work."
Jorm let's out a war whoop as Echo lifts off the deck. He powers up everything that can be powered up in a hangar bay.
No shorts. No sparks. We're not even yellow-lining the power systems. I think we may be able to do another upgrade yet.
"Great job, Vandals," says Jorm over the comm "She's purring like a kitten and it's thanks to all of you."
It's a long and exhausting day for Calsera as she provides manual labor assistance to the more skilled workers. She manages to catch a few short naps, and ensures that everyone gets fed, but still feels like a cat that's been left out in a storm by the end of the day.
For the first time that day, Cat is able to actually put her skills to use as she takes the pilot's yoke in hand. The engines sputter and choke for a few moments before roaring to life. Then, as though right off the factory floor, the ship rises a few feet off the maintenance cradle. Calsera holds it still in that position to give everyone time to check all the systems, before lowering it back to the deck.
Aurelia feels the ship rumble off the ground through the deckplates, grinning from ear to ear, despite a glare at the drive system promising a fate to horrible to contemplate if it so much as studders.
Mumbling to herself as she looks over the console, she earmarks half their excess power to more deflector sheilds, given the...dubious...reenforcing they were able to give the hull. She looks happy, tired and covered in oil, welding soot and the occasional stray bit of wire hanging out of her pocket.
Despite everyone's enthusiasm, Jorm decides to wait on the test flight. "I think we'll take her out for a test flight tomorrow" he says, while fiddling with the Sword's ship registry. "It's been a long day and we could all use some rest. So, let's set her back down, lock her down for the night and we'll see what she can really do tomorrow."
Standing under the ramp, which had remained closed, staring at the lower turret, Ty has a brainstorm. While running cargo back on Naboo, he'd heard stories about another core-runner pilot who had rigged up a pair of cannon turrets onto his craft, then rigged twin droid brains to those. He'd used R2 units, according to the tales, which weren't the best gunners, however Naboo's creatures of the deep were usually large enough that you could hit one-handed, blindfolded, and facing the other direction, but it had supposedly got the guy out of a few tough spots. Staring at the cannon hanging from the belly of the ship in front of him, he wonders if he could rig something like that with better units for Echo. He might have to dig into what little was left over from his inheritance, but he might be able to pull it off. He makes a mental note to check the brain of processors these days when he gets back to quarters.
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