Generator Maint. with Blaze & Ghost

[notalldead]

A meeting of the gang was called the second Jesse was back underground. He then filled them all in on what was up there; some weird new place full of grass, electricity and running businesses. They nearly had a harder time believing that than Jesse's next story about how he met a robot and she was going to come down with another robot to take a look at their generators.

But other scouts soon went topside to confirm the same and came back, mute with disbelief. Granted, few of them wandered far from the subway, just like back home; habits die hard, especially ones that keep you from dying hard. But they all the saw the same thing; a place with no zed, bright and clean and like some kind of park or mall from the times before things fell apart.

When the day finally arrives for Blaze to visit, Jesse's waiting for her topside, using his tongue to wet down a fresh cigar. Well, fresh at least that it hasn't been lit yet. It looks a little crumpled, but these things are hard to get, darn it.

Comments

[notalldead]

"Right? Sayin' somethin' about how it's manifest destiny, the zed comin' and leavin' Canada vulnerable to someone else. Load of bull-honky if you ask me. Get the states zed-free and then help the rest, that's how I'd do it if I had their firepower. As it is, we've gotten one of ours back from their snatchin' ways. One guy we called Chucklin' Chuck, an' that was only cuz we beat the Government at their own game. Got him his papers statin' he was a US citizen an' provin' he was afforded the rights of bein' one, as opposed to their law statin' anyone undead is no longer a person." Another spit. Screw the Government. "Chuck only made it out cuz who keeps ID anymore these days? Well, we will be from now on, obviously."

His mad lifts a little at the candid little conversation between them. "Aw shoot. If we Rotten gonna be one thing, I'd like us to be tenacious. And hopeful. Especially hopeful. Lookin' for a cure is what keeps us movin' at this point and I ain't gonna stop doin' that until I'm back in the ground."

[rekindledtitan]

Her optics narrow - and then flare in disbelief and anger. "What? As if you can just declare a sapient being's not a person when it suits you?" Her fists are closed again. "We need to go get them back."

At least there's no faulting Jesse's goals. "Good! People underestimate hope too often. And if a cure's what you're after, we could do some asking around. I don't know about bionics, but the Warlocks are always playing around with death and resurrection. Maybe they'll have some ideas."

[notalldead]

"I'd love to, but they keep their security like Fort Knox. We got in once to mess up their time cuz our Chuck was boxin' clever; used his engineerin' smarts to look for security flaws so we could bust in and break up some of their operations. They patched it up once we were out, but did our hearts good to know we ruined their week and set back their operations.

"But hell, if y'all and Ghost wanna raise hell with 'em one of these days, maybe we can arrange somethin'." He gives Blaze a wink. "But yeah, they declared all zed non-persons so no one loses sleep over shootin' 'em. 'Cept we got lumped in with them. Hence stickin' to the underground like we do. Ain't the best world to be a Rotten, but we get by."

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze lets out a respectful grunt at their success. A glance at her Ghost is answered with a dip of its gaze, like a nod. "We'd like to. There's no security system a Ghost can't crack. Or a door I can't. No sense standing by when we've got the firepower to help. These people need someone to teach them what a government should be doing. And your people need out of that hellhole."

Having finished assembling a rather odd little component, the Ghost seals it up in spinmetal and takes it over to start installing in the generator.

[notalldead]

"Hell, let's do this! We'll have to plan for it and start mappin' out routes and find the best spots in their walls to break in, but I've got a few cowpokes always itchin' to bust some heads. Especially Government ones. Senator Davis ain't gonna know her head from a hole in the ground, we'll hit her so fast. An' with a robot no less! Hoowee, but I hope we get to see her face when you show up and start raisin' hell."

[rekindledtitan]

She looks surprised for a minute: she's gotten pretty used to charging off alone. But then she figures, why would Jesse and his people want to be left out of the fight? If anyone's owed a swing at Davis and her cronies, it's these guys. And the Canadians. (Canadian zombies get to go first.) So she nods, chuckling grimly.

"That's the way I like it. Hit them hard, hit them fast, then hit them again while they're confused. If they start taking people again they should remember what's coming for them. How much is there to plan out, anyway? Crack the doors, take down the opposition, retrieve the prisoners."

Blaze, it's a rescue mission, not a regular strike. Her Ghost might need to remind her of the difference. And the fact they're talking about going up against fellow humans...

[notalldead]

There's probably a few canuck zombies in the Rotten ranks, so they do indeed especially deserve the first swing. Jesse wouldn't even begin to argue that.

"Well, y'all gotta be careful with the politics bein' what they are around here. We rush in and start pullin' down walls and settin' fires at the Government's camp, then we turn around and find out the Riffs came in behind and are karate choppin' my boys in the neck. Gotta make sure there aren't any other gangs that are gonna take advantage of our advantage, y'hear? On the flipside, could be someone who's gonna wanna break a piece offa Senator Davis too. The Pharmacists might be willin' to get in there and axe a few of their patrols. Buncha little anarchists over yonder."

[rekindledtitan]

"Hrm." That doesn't suit her too well, although she kind of sees the sense in what he's saying. "Always the politics. But I guess it would screw with the objective if we got caught up with a free-for-all melee." Nor, if she recalls the risk, does she want Jesse and crew getting seriously hurt. But she's a soldier by nature, and her respect for getting the job done outweighs - even if only marginally, sometimes - her eagerness to fight.

[notalldead]

"Aaaalways the politics. Funny that even gangs got 'em, huh?" He slaps his knee in a 'ain't that the goshdarnedest thing' gesture. "Frankly, I ain't got much love lost for any of the gangs other than the Pig Farmers since they help keep us fed, and some nice nameless bunch that started out from Seattle. I mean, we COULD start off makin' nice with the others BEFORE we haul out and bash some Government heads, but that takes time too."

[rekindledtitan]

"Guess so. Alliances are best, but they're worth the work you put into them." She shrugs. "Your ground, your call. You reckon it's time, just pass us the word."

[notalldead]

He considers a moment, chewing on his cigar, then nods.

"Sounds good to me. Lemme get my ducks in a row, call in some favours, see if I can't get some folks around here to stand us long enough to help with an ambush. Like I said, I can count on the Pharmacists; they don't like us Rotten much since we don't imbibe their bath salts. Don't do our dead systems much good. But they hate government in all forms, so there ya have it.

"And maybe I'll talk to Farmer Bucket next time I'm in for a batch o' meat." Jesse considers his options, muttering to himself mostly now, going over ideas and allies.

[rekindledtitan]

"You've got it." Being about as savvy with politics as Jesse is with foreign tech, Blaze is content to leave him to it and pass her Ghost the occasional bit of materials for a bit. It does strike her just how well Jesse must have got to know the other gangs out here, even though they're not his people. Reminds her of some of the things Commander Zavala says about knowing your enemy, only put into practice.

After a few minutes the Ghost comes to a stop in front of them, spinning with contained excitement.

"I think that's it! One fully-upgraded generator! I'd like to try it out before I make any change to the others."

[notalldead]

"Yeehaw! Let's fire it up, then, and see what's cookin'!" Jesse gets up from his seat and moseys back over to to the maint. closet where the improved generator is waiting. He looks it over, wondering what all has changed!

[rekindledtitan]

From the outer casing, nothing seems different, but the little Ghost is quick to hover over an opened panel, eager to show him the changes. Blaze makes sure all the materials are sealed or covered and follows them over.

"I made some repairs and took care of any micro-fractures to make sure they didn't grow further. There's a layer of relic iron alloy and some spinmetal built into the moving components to keep down the wear and tear, so they might look a little different but they'll work just the same. I didn't want to make it harder to maintain. Or to make the changes too obvious, just in case of any intruders." It's keeping the risk of sabotage in mind, given their surroundings.

"But I did build in an extra system in." It projects a blue light, highlighting the shiny little module it built earlier, now wired into the voltage regulator and power output. "If it works, it should recapture a lot of the energy you were losing and put it back into the system. I'm hoping you'll get more than twice the power for the same amount of fuel."

[notalldead]

"Smart thinkin' about others gettin' ahold of this tech. Don't need 'em knowin' we've got somethin' big here. Good luck on raiders pullin' a whole generator outta here, but then again, they've taken bigger."

He scratches his temple as he listens to the changes, looking dutifully where directed. "I'm glad y'all ain't gettin' into the nitty-gritty of it cuz it's sure as shootin' gonna be lost on a cowpoke like me. But I'll have our engineer look it over and study it real good so he knows what's up too. Guess all that's left now is to turn the dang thing on, huh?"

Jesse primes the generator a few times, then presses the button to fire it up.

[rekindledtitan]

"We spend plenty of time destroying our enemies' equipment," Blaze remarks. "Better make sure they don't get the same chance."

She looks up as the generator kicks in; it sounds a little different, just as loud but the timbre of the machine's changed subtly. But with the Ghost hovering over it, the new circuitry links up smoothly with the old. As it starts burning fuel the extra power hits the system, safely controlled by the regulator so the generator slows accordingly. The Ghost dips in to make some tweaks, but the lights are on, burning steady and bright.

[notalldead]

"Well, knock me over with a feather. It works." He looks up at the lights, going so brilliantly and steady, then at the other generators that aren't even full capacity like the new one. "It really works! Look at this! Look what y'all did! This is incredible!"

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze lets out a loud celebratory whoop. The smaller bot's finally daring to look away from the circuitry and around at the lights. "Good work, Ghost!"

"Thanks. I'm glad it's running smoothly. It should be simple to make the same changes to the other generators. I'll get right on it."

[notalldead]

"Ghost, if y'all had hands, I'd be shakin' it til it dang near fell off. You're a lifesaver." Jesse's quiet for a moment; he can hear other members of the Rotten loudly exclaiming back in the common and living areas, wondering and marveling at the strength of the lights now. The sound of his people being happy makes him grin.

"This is gonna make our quality o' life so much better, y'all don't even know."

[rekindledtitan]

The Ghost looks up at him for a few moments, optic flaring bright as it spins. Then it ducks a little, scooting off to get working on the other generators. It seems happy, but it's not so good at expressing emotion sometimes. Not that it has much to work with, of course.

Since Blaze does have hands, she claps Jesse on the shoulder. "Hey, you've all earned a few breaks by now."

[notalldead]

"Heh. Yeah..." He can't even think of what to say; just thinking that they'll even have proper working lights is almost too staggering and wonderful to imagine. And they'll go even further on their fuel than before? It's crazy.

"I'm not gonna mess with you; if I could, I might be cryin' right now." Jesse swipes a fingertip at one corner of his eye regardless. "Ain't no shame in that," he mutters, almost defensively. He just gets emotional when a good turn comes for his folks, that's all.

[rekindledtitan]

"Hey, I'm not gonna judge," Blaze assures him, sealing up the panel her Ghost had open. "Think you can fund a use for the extra power?"

[notalldead]

"Darn tootin'. Better livin' through electricity. More movie nights, fer starters. Which y'all are both still invited to, of course. Not havin' to live in the dark like the usual zed is enough to make us happy; anythin' to remind us we're different, ya hear?"

He adjusts his hat and sniffs once, looking over the generators again. "...I mean it. We're in deep with y'all now. You want somethin', you just name it. It's yours."

[rekindledtitan]

"I understand. And we'll have to stop by for those movie nights: don't know about my Ghost, but I've got a lot of stories to catch up on."

As to the rest, Blaze gives him a steady look, like she's figuring this out for a moment. She's not going to blow off a sincere promise, but she wants to be honest too. "Sure. You help us and we help you. You didn't pull us out of our way, though, don't think you owe us so much."

[notalldead]

"Movie night might have to wait for another day, of course; I reckon I'm gonna have my hands full dealin' with our local engineer nerd lookin' over this thing and tellin' everyone what happened and how we're gonna be seein' a lot more light these days."

He scratches the back of neck, musing partly to himself, "Doesn't seem right to pull fuel from the Nexus, but. You think they sell it there?"