12. Plascrete, Spanos and... friends

Jac
10-17-2011, 02:56 AM

Kind of you.

*That was said with a kind of mock sarcasm. Unless he helped her with whatever she designed, she owed him a whole lot of nothing, a drink was being kind as it was. They both knew it, but it was the kind of banter that just happened naturally. He followed her over to the storage containers, grinning for a second at the makeshift seats. He'd used his share of them, sometimes even using the starfighters themselves as seats when space demanded it. Still, he found it amusing that officers got formfit chairs in their offices where pilots and mechanics largely made do with crates or scavenged furniture. They spent more time sitting in those seats, it was true, but if the pilots and mechanic teams could make do, so could they. Better to cut those seats from the budget than the necessary military funding.

Her idea was sound, for the most part. The wiring controlled the signals to and from the weapons, so if that went the whole cannon did, even if everything still worked. Opening vent holes in certain areas would also help keep things cool, but they'd have to be careful where they put such things. Even though the fighters were technically space superiority fighters, they still operated in atmosphere every so often. Air catching a vent hole at the wrong angle at the wrong time could spell disaster for a pilot; if they weren't careful, piloting a ship modified in such a way would be worse than flying a TIE in atmosphere. That still didn't cover the durasteel all the way, though, it'd still go under normal wear and tear with each shot fired.*

Better be careful with those vent holes, air can do nasty things with them. Think TIE in atmosphere, bad stuff for the TIE pilot if they do something wrong. You're right though, the focusing lens and durasteel casing would still wear out pretty quick. Maybe a thin laser-resistant polymer coating on the inside of the cannons themselves?

*He made a bit of a face at her with the mention of the black ops missions, just a silly one. She knew he couldn't talk about it, but he couldn't help it. Truth was, they used what was necessary and what was available, they had very little access to new equipment unless it had just been captured off another faction, like the Supa and the freighter they'd used their last mission. However, he did try to keep on top of the specs for new fighters and bombers coming out for the New Republic, and he'd been able to see some that could fit the requirements of her project. It'd need quite a bit of tinkering, though. Her connections were a mystery, and he narrowed his eyes, once again mockingly. Everyone had their sources for something, and he doubted she'd give hers up. He was perfectly fine with that too, despite the necessity of having to deal with requisitions only unless he wanted to pay for things.*

Love to see it, yea. I think the B-Wing's power supplies would fit what you're looking for, but they'd take a bit of creative hammering to fit.

***

Ari
10-17-2011, 11:26 AM

Ari frowned a moment in thought as he mentioned the TIE in atmosphere scenario. She kept forgetting that while some birds did well in and out of atmosphere, some did not. She would have to keep that in mind as well. “Hmmm good point.”

When he made the face she genuinely laughed. “Oh, I forgot... I mean, you guys fly all the 'cool' missions.” She tilted her head and made an equally silly face back. She laughed again and hopped off her box as he agreed to look at her work. “Thinner coating may work. I'll have to see what we have around.”

As he commented that his suggestion may take creative hammering, she slid one from her tool belt, waggled it a bit then slid it back again. “Good thing I have Jedi-like hammering skills then, huh?” She laughed again and crawled up onto Romon's bird. The moniker GHOST would need to be touched up again soon. She tucked the mental note in her 'todo list' and slid sideways to give Jac room to climb up and see what she had been working on before heading outside to cool off.

As he looked into the compartment it would seem impressive given the explanation she had used earlier. The wire bundles were neatly shielded, the capacitors she had placed were wired true, clean and effectively. There was a final capacitor sitting on the small inner ledge waiting for installation along with a half used roll of shielding tape, a couple more tools and a small data pad with the hastily scribbled drawing of what she had in mind. There was no true schematic, but almost the equivalent of what would be scribbled in the dirt on a mission in the field. Nothing fancy, just the idea. She handed the screen towards him and waited for him to take it. “This is what I had in mind. It's just getting there that's the issue.” She laughed again just as his finger tips would reach for it, she'd snag it back. “No laughing at my drawing. I want it to work before I actually get it true drawn by the upgrade bots.” She handed the tablet back towards him grinning like a kid proud of a picked flower... stem, roots, dirt clod and all.

***

Romon Darksands (Rogue CO "Ghost")
10-17-2011, 07:42 PM

Romon walked into the hanger bay, approaching his bird from a direction that would have kept the two from view. He was dressed much like Jac, old flight suit but with the sleeves tied at the waist, a black t shirt under it. He too had some grease on him from where he had been helping Tink earlier, but probably nothing like the girl had on her now. She was always up to her elbows in something.

Romon was glad that the Rogues had a mother hen to keep their flock in top notch order. Tink was the best kind of mechanic to have. She didn't do it because she had to, or even because she was paid to, she did it because she loved it; as a result each bird bared her marks, loving repairs made to her chicks. Blast holes, fragged electronics, blown engines, melted laser cannons...she took them all in stride; scolding the pilots for hurting her babies, and them healing them with her magic touch.

As he walked towards his fighter, he was looking at the data pad he was carrying when he started talking in a loud voice, knowing she was around the general area. "Hey Tink, we should be getting those heat sinks for the cannons this afternoon. They are milling the last one now. The Lt over there keeps fussing about the durasteel alloy fragging his bits. Good call, that stuff will bleed heat quick, lowering the cool down time between burst."

Getting closer, but still scrolling through the data pad, he lowered his voice a bit. "I like what you did with the toggle switch here. It is really conveniently mounted right on the trigger, and being able to select rapid fire is nice, saves wear and tear."

It was only once he was near the ladder propped up against the strike foil did he look up from the data pad, her ideas never failed to intrigue him. Realizing Tink had company, Romon felt a bit sheepish, but with leadership came the acquired ability to mask ones emotions...most of the time...to maintain a good role model for the troops of course. Romon recovered quickly, "Boomer" he said as he gave the Wraiths XO a friendly salute. "She's pretty good huh? You should see what we are cooking up for strapping twin concussion missile launchers on the lower s-foils. Always coming up with something, that one" he said giving Tink a nod. Directing his attention to her now, he reached up handing her the data pad. "Well, I got to get back to my office, I thought I was gonna be able to play hooky today, but I have some paper work I need to catch up on. Give me a holler if you need anything."

Starting to head towards the double doors, leading to the Rogues ready rooms and associated work space, including his cubical prison that kept him out of the **** pit more than he would like, he couldn't help but add, "You all have fun, but try not to have any miss fires, I don't think the hanger all is a good back stop for one of those little guys", tossing them a wink as he headed off.