Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 2, 2011 18:00:55 GMT -5
Month 2, Week 1, Day 1 - newly-excavated Decepticon base in the ice. Still, in fact, being excavated. Thread now open
Hellbender shifted the angle of his cutting blades and pressed forward, chewing and shattering the ice wall in front of him. Ice was tricky material to work with: softer than rock, it had a tendency to flow under pressure, so the tunnels had to be shaped just right and reinforced--and they'd still compress and twist themselves into oblivion given time. Hellbender would be doing annual maintenance if Scourge wanted to keep this base operational.
The main living areas and the hangars were already opened up and in use; Hellbender was digging out the physical plant tunnels and maintenance access ways. They couldn't keep running off shuttle powerplants forever, not if they wanted those shuttles available as shuttles. It was time to install the base's main powercore, and that meant drilling out more holes in the ice.
Slabs of broken ice fell to the ground at his head and were further crushed under his body. Hellbender's tail swung slowly from side-to-side, tossing a spray of slush and gravelled ice to either side of the tunnel, allowing a drainage channel down the middle. Cracking ice and running it through his grinders melted quite a bit of it, and the water had to go somewhere. Later, he'd come back and haul the broken ice and unmelted slush out and polish up the tunnel walls.
Until then, the tunnel was a confusing, unstable mess of ice water, slush piles, and broken ice--not a fit place for anyone the least bit fragile to be wandering. The humidity and the chilled air (necessary to keep the walls of the lair from constantly melting onto any less-than-waterproof equipment or robots) combined to form ice fog, filling the air with a blinding mist that frosted anything it touched. Anyone who ventured into the array of newly-cut tunnels without very good navigation skills and an up-to-date 3D map of the area (like the one being created on-the-fly in Hellbender's memory banks) might very well get completely lost....
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Nov 2, 2011 18:39:47 GMT -5
Maybe someone decided that Lyzack must be designed for arctic operation because she is blue and white. Maybe it is just that she is waterproof. Maybe it is that the ice base is out of the way and thus Lyzack is not likely to run into a combat situation here.
Lyzack is following behind Hellbender, hip deep in slush, with a whole bunch of signs, markers, beacons, and a ticker wheel to run along the wall to tell her how far she has gone. Every so often, she puts up a distance marker that is reflective, brightly coloured, and has a small LED light source and wireless transmitter, to tell 'cons how far they have gone. In cases of specific hazards, she puts up other signs, such as 'uneven' or 'sharp turn' or 'steep gradient'.
She does not complain, despite the ice that is clinging to her form. It is only ice. She can go have a hot solvent shower when this is all over. The thing is... Lyzack should be more concerned about the ice. She is an aircraft. Ice is the natural enemy of airplanes. Lyzack, however, flies so infrequently that she has all but forgotten the instinctive hatred of ice that she ought to possess.
Lionessbreast sits on Lyzack's shoulders, listlessly looking down at the work. The lioness doesn't mind swimming, but she's not a tiger, so it is not something she would actively seek out as an activity. She suspects her partner must be insane for slogging through this muck.
But Lyzack is quiet and generally tries to avoid looking directly at Hellbender. Staring would be rude. He is a strange thing, but... everyone is a strange thing, here. The surroundings are strange. She could have never imagined this much endless ice. She rubs some of the ice fog crystals that have built up on her optics off, the primary set first, then the secondary. It'll just build up all over again, but at least she can see clearly again now. It won't last long.
Then there's something of a pot hole under the slush in front of her, a sudden drop, and she vanishes under the slush with a cry, "A!" It isn't deep enough to wallow her entirely, and she feels for the top edge with her fingers, before trying to heave her stiff body up. The thing she feels most of all is not fear, though there is fear, but self-beration, because now she will need to run back to the last marker to get an accurate read, since this drop will have messed up the ticker wheel's count, and she is so foolish to make such a sloppy mistake as falling into a pothole that she couldn't see.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 3, 2011 14:53:06 GMT -5
One might assume that a single cry would go unremarked in the steady clatter of ice being shredded and tossed, but Hellbender's hearing is (a) designed to hear the sound of rocks moving a thousand leagues away and (b) designed to partially cancel out his own working noise, or it would be useless. Lyzack's cry is sufficiently different in tone from the sound of breaking ice, and it stands out, unlike the sound of someone walking over broken ice, which wouldn't. Not until Hellbender shuts down his grinders, anyway.
A quick sonar check tells him that Lyzack isn't in the tunnel behind him, but several meters too low--slag. The underfloor access shaft. He transforms, ice and snow cascading off of blue-black armor 'wings'; it's the only way to turn around quickly without just backing over Lyzack. He frowns slightly and stalks back the way he came, splashing through the slush.
There's a sheepish look on his face as Hellbender stoops and offers Lyzack a hand to help her up. "Mah apologies; Ah should have warned you 'bout that access shaft. It was a last-minute addition to the floor plan from engineering. Figured Ah'd pump it out when I came back for the clean-up pass; didn't think 'bout all that ice floating on it and turning it into a pit trap."
If she takes the proffered hand, he carefully assists her up and lets her gain her own feet on the ground again. "Ah reckon you'll want to mark it as a hazard until we get a cover on it, too. One of the little guys could plum' drown in there."
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Nov 3, 2011 20:39:16 GMT -5
Lyzack was in the process of levering herself up on her own. She certainly has the strength to do so. There is nothing bad about the design she shares with her brother. Trying to decide whether or not to take Hellbender's hand is a very complex matter. Will it offend Hellbender if she refuses? Will it en-debt her to Hellbender if she accepts his help now? Will it make Hellbender think she is weak if she needs his help? What if he just wants to throw her back in the pit and laugh at her? What if he breaks her hand for no reason at all?
She decides that she must refuse but graciously, and so Lyzack says, "You are too kind, sir. I will not dirty your hand." With an ice-stiffened heave, she hauls herself back up. She adds, "I was foolish, not to step lightly with one foot first, to check for holes and weak spots. It will not happen again. I apologise for wasting your valuable time, sir."
Lyzack moves to set up another hazard sign, and still on her shoulders, Lionessbreast shakes herself dry-ish. The Breast Animal looks very annoyed.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 3, 2011 22:05:08 GMT -5
Lyzack's refusal to take Hellbender's hand gets a short nod of acknowledgment. In his experience, most Decepticons who weren't on the edge of complete shutdown tended to refuse help as a sign of weakness. He'd been uncertain if she was actually in trouble or not--it had looked as if the jetformer might be having problems with the icing and immersion.
He frowned slightly; time to correct one notion right now. "It's not a waste of my time to check the condition and performance of troops assigned to me, soldier. It's part of my job as an officer to know what's going on with my command, no matter how big or small, and deal with whatever needs dealing with. It's a lousy officer as thinks the job is all about orderin' folks around and enjoying the benefits and no responsibilities. A good officer has a duties to fulfill and the responsibility to make sure his command is in good order."
Hellbender sighed and shook some of the snow off his armor-wings. Lyzack struck him as being self-effacing to the point of timidity--too used to avoiding the wrath of nastier 'Cons by means of appeasement? It was a survival tactic, he supposed, but problematic if she were to see combat--or in hazardous situations.
"Lyzack, if something goes wrong, Ah need to know it," he said gently. "Even if you think it's yer fault and you should've known better or seen it first or that it's too trivial to bother me with or whatever. Don't matter whose fault it is, if there's a mess, it's still got to be fixed. Workin' underground or under-ice is tricky business--if Ah drill into the wrong stress point, we could have a collapse on heads in a nanosec. Now Ah can see the ice densities purty well, so that shouldn't happen, but lesser shifts could happen. You need to be alert and willin' to speak up pronto and not worrying 'bout who's to blame, 'cause a 30-tonne slab of ice ain't going to care, it's just going to dent someone's head real good."
She was right about one thing, and Hellbender realized he'd better mention that, too. He continued, "You're right, you should have been checking your footing, but Ah should have told you 'bout the hole I drilled myself. Chalk it up to 'Lessons Learned'. Ah ain't going to punish you for that mistake, because you already figured it out on your own, and that means you'll remember it a sight better than if Ah just pounded on you for it."
He started to turn back to the half-dug tunnel and stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Don't worry too much 'bout lost time. Ah'd rather this here tunnel is dug right than dug fast, 'cause we're going to be living with it for a while. Doin' tricky stuff in a big hurry is the second best way Ah know of for a project to go bad in a big, noisy, messy way."
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Nov 4, 2011 13:27:21 GMT -5
Hellbender speaks pretty rhetoric. Yes, an officer should care about his men. Leozack does, Lyzack thinks. Leozack swore a feud over Deathcobra's murder, as was proper. However, the more powerful the officer, the less that actually matters, Lyzack thinks cynically. Enough power lets one do anything. Perhaps Hellbender believes what he says. Perhaps he doesn't. She will see, but whatever she sees, she won't trust it.
Futzing with the hazard sign, Lyzack assures, "You will be informed of anything of note, sir." He must think her an idiot, that she would not do such a thing. There is a twitch from her wings at the mention of punishment. He is within his rights, of course.
There, the sign is up. Now she needs to go all the way back to the other marker and start the ticker wheel's count again. Lyzack would argue that doing a job slowly to do it well and doing a job slowly because one's underling is a screw-up are two different things, but that would involve actually arguing, so she doesn't.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 6, 2011 19:16:32 GMT -5
Not necessarily an idiot, but Hellbender has known far too many Decepticons who were more afraid of angering their superiors than they were of the mission going to the Pits because no one raised a warning. If things go wrong, the reasoning goes, it's obviously someone's fault, and no one wants to be the bearer of bad news--it's too easy to wind up the scapegoat. To Hellbender's mind, it's best to clarify that he wants to know about problems with the mission, so it can be fixed, far more than he wants to pin the blame on a scapegoat.
"Acknowledged." Hellbender does not miss that wing-twitch. She's known officers before who would brutalize a subordinate for simple mistakes, and he's known hard cases that had be beaten into submission before they would listen to orders--but not all 'Cons have to be. Some would just resent it and get worse. Lyzack didn't seem to be either type, but Hellbender wasn't yet sure how to get the best out of her.
"Next 10 meters, Ah should break through into the northern main traverse tunnel. Once you get that latest marker posted, go around and post hazard warnings in the traverse, please." He does not think Lyzack is either stupid or a screw-up--he has worked with Duskwing and alongside Slugslinger, after all.
He turns back to the job, transforming into his frightful worm mode. Once again, his grinders bite into the ice and slushy ice flushes down the tunnel behind him. It doesn't take very long to meet up with the aforementioned traverse tunnel.
-- Open thread after Lyzack's post?
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Nov 6, 2011 22:02:04 GMT -5
OOC: Sure, if you would like!
"Of course, sir," Lyzack replies at his directions. She will do them as best she can.
First has to get that backtrack done, though, which does, and then she works on catching back up with him again, now stepping more carefully.
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on Jan 15, 2012 21:07:42 GMT -5
Starscream understands the practicality of putting their base on Earth here, and constructing it in this fashion. It doesn't mean he likes the all the ice and water, though. He vents a bit of waste gas through his mouth. It's cold enough down here to see his breath. Judging from the noise, Hellbender should be right around the bend. The jetformer nods to himself as he rounds the corner.
"Hellbender," he calls, "I trust the excavation is proceeding according to schedule?" He spares a glance for Lyzack. Interesting design. Plenty of optics. Could do with more spikes.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 18, 2012 19:22:46 GMT -5
Hellbender, being in worm mode, settles for bobbing his head at Starscream by way of acknowledgment. "Close enough. Ice is tricky stuff to work, sir; better to go slow and get it right than rush things and have a pressure fracture drop 50 tons of ice on someone's head three chambers away. Even so, we're progressin' steadily. Should be ready for those power cores after Ah go back and clear the debris. Lyzack here has the access ways all marked and Ah'll be uploadin' the new plot to Engineerin' just as soon as we get done with this here intersection, Commander."
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Jan 18, 2012 23:24:57 GMT -5
Lyzack takes a brief moment to test her footing. Then she bows formally and ornately to Starscream, shedding ice with a crackling sound as she does. She does not look at him in any way, shape, or form, with any of her four optics.
Lionessbreast leaps off Lyzack, because the deep bow nearly dislodged her, anyway, and she digs her claws into the icy wall, just hanging there, looking bored.
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on Jan 21, 2012 0:04:50 GMT -5
"Unfortunately the plans have been revised," Starscream says, opening his cockpit and pulling out a datadisc, proffering it to Hellbender. "The science team feels that elements of the current layout may destabilize the ice shelf as a whole over time. It shouldn't require you to alter anything that's already been dug, thankfully."
And my, aren't we formal and submissive. "I trust you're settling in well, Lyzack?"
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Lyzack
Rookie
Babysitting tiny evil dinosaurs since 1990.
Posts: 139
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Post by Lyzack on Jan 25, 2012 12:51:36 GMT -5
OOC: Skipping Hellbender due to timeout.
"All is well, sir," Lyzack agrees, but only because he directly askes her a question.
She doesn't have to put up with Esmeral.
That might even might make missing her brother worth it all.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 26, 2012 20:53:37 GMT -5
Hellbender takes the data disk. "Yes, sir. That's good to know--always nice to find out how not to bring the base down on our heads before Ah do it, sir. Is this expected to set back the schedule for setting the power cores?"
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Post by Starscream (Movie) on Jan 26, 2012 21:44:34 GMT -5
It's refreshing to have a quiet, respectful subordinate who goes about their tasks and doesn't cause trouble. It's also so unusual it's borderline creepy. Starscream just nods at Lyzack to acknowledge her response.
"It shouldn't set the schedule back more than a day on the cores, but they haven't finished fabricating the secondary capacitor yet anyway. Apparently there was a dispute over lab space." One can only imagine from his tone how thrilled Screamer was to hear of said dispute.
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