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| - ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/45 Posted Author Slag Thu Jul 30 Crosshairs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text Only Message: "Unit Slag is hereby restricted from all non-life threatning repairs, reloads and any resources from our stores. Being such a problem to the medical personnel that he has to be given a muzzle to prevent damage to the medical bay and restrained so that he can stay there is completely unacceptable. Consistant threatning behavior towards medical and support personnel is even /MORE/ unacceptable, especially combined with having to patch him up every single week. Swoop, Sludge, Snarl and Grimlock manage to behave themselves and I will not tolerate this behavior -- not even from a Dinobot. Slag may have his munitions and repair privelidges back when his attitude changes or when he apologizes formally to the medics that he has been giving trouble. Crosshairs, Out." ============================================================================== Repair Bay Like most of the rest of the Ark, the Repair Bay is made of smooth, clean orange metal. The lighting is considerably brighter in here, though, and things are kept much, much cleaner -- there's not even a dust bunny to be found. The chamber is large, with open spaces sufficient for even the largest Autobots -- barring combiners -- to haul themselves, or be hauled. Around the edges of the room, various storage units and equipment cabinets holding specialized parts and tools, ranging from common lugnuts to special gear for specific Autobots. The center of the Repair Bay is an island consisting of several medical beds, with overhead scanners feeding information to a set of consoles. A drain at the center of the room is useful for cleaning up any messes that get made. In one corner of the room, a picture of Ratchet has been put up, depicting the famously party-hearty medic giving a thumbs-up while pouring energon into his mouth straight from the old repair bay's fuel injector. Contents: Crosshairs Raindance Sideswipe Penumbra Holo-Ratchet Obvious exits: Northwest leads to Weapons Control Room . North leads to Corridor . You send a radio message to Crosshairs: Hi Crosshairs, do you have a moment? You receive a radio message from Crosshairs: Always have time for you. What can I do for you? You send a radio message to Crosshairs: I'd like to make an ammendment to your recent order. Specifically, including an exception that injuries that cause considerable discomfort or pain would also be treated. Crosshairs is in the Ark's Repair Bay. He is currently trying to put Raindance back togeather. It's not an easy task given that there are bits of him all over the place but he is pretty game to try. Here and there he welds, here and there he puts new parts in. You receive a radio message from Crosshairs: Of course. I'm not cruel. I might leave something that causes annoyance, like a locked actuator or something but I'd disable his pain receptors /immediatly/. You receive a radio message from Crosshairs: If it doesn't work as well, I'll lift the restriction in a little while. With your permission. You send a radio message to Crosshairs: That is ok with me. You receive a radio message from Crosshairs: Excellent. Sorry it had to come to this. So, what was with the arms magazine anyway? Since when did you look at offensive material? You send a radio message to Crosshairs: Oh, shoot, actually I think I left it in the repair bay. I'll stop by and grab it. Slag stomps in, stomping louder and slower then usual as he moves into the repair bay and snarls quietly. "Where him Crosshairs?" He says as he walks around, looking around for Crosshairs. Crosshairs is standing near Raindance, apparently busy repairing him. He has an arc-welder in one hand and a bit of Raindance in the other. As Slag enters, Crosshairs puts Raindance's bits down. This might be interesting. Turning off the flow of the gas to the arc welder he turns his head towards the Dinobot. "I'm over here, Slag." He offers. "Can I help you?" First Aid heads into the medical bay just after Slag, craning his neck to look around the giant bulk of Slag, trying to spot something. The Protectobot gives the Dinobot a wary glance and says, "Er, I think he's here, Slag. If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask." First Aid had been looking for something he left here, but for now sticks around just in case Slag beats the snot out of Crosshairs. Slag stomps slower and slower over to him and looks away, growling. He just stands there, and then turns to look back up at Crosshairs, mumbling something amongst his growling. Crosshairs is standing in a curiously ready position. Not to attack, of course. Not to defend either. But to shield the broken down form of Raindance from a flame breath if it actually comes to that. His vocal tone is not the least bit impolite to Slag, as he tilts his head. "I'm sorry." He says. "I didn't catch that. Tell you what. Step over here, that way we can talk privately and nobody else has to hear." He's taking a horrible risk, really, as he steps over to the far wall. The /farthest/ from First Aid or Raindance. To First Aid, he throws a subtle hand gesture that says -- hold on, I'm okay. First Aid turns away, giving a subtle nod to Crosshairs as he moves about the medical slabs, trying to find something. Finally, the doctor spots it, stooping by one of the stasis chambers in order to swipe a magazine off the floor. It fell there yesterday as he was fixing Foxfire. Slag stomps. "Me Slag say Sorry." He says and growls at himself. "Me Slag want smash Scorponok, and Me Slag got mad when Me Slag didnt smash him." He says in his usual gruff tone, just turning to watch Crosshairs. Crosshairs raises his eyebrows slightly. But he hides it almost immediatly. He nods at Slag. "You're a brave Dinobot." He says. "And I appreciate you apologizing. I'll make sure that the medics know. Just remember that they are there to help you, okay? None of them are trying to hurt you." He pauses, and then gives Slag a /very/ serious look. "Slag, you are a very strong Dinobot. And a very brave one. Everyone looks to you and your brothers to be strong and brave when everyone else can't. And it takes /much/ more bravery to apologize for something you have done wrong than to yell about it. Everyone can make a fight sometimes, but only the brave ones apologize for their mistakes." "I'll let the medics know, you can repair and reload now. But just use them better in the future, okay?" Penumbra leaves to the north. First Aid tucks the magazine under his arm and glances over at Crosshairs and Slag, nodding approvingly. Even ICly he thinks maybe they should have a little bro-hug. Slag nods. He then looks to First aid and then back to Crosshairs. "So, Me Slag no in trouble? Me Slag can go smash scepticons?" He asks with a sorta hopeful tone. He glares at Crosshairs with his usual triceratops glare and scowl. Combat: Crosshairs runs a diagnostic check on Mecha-Triceratops Crosshairs looks Slag over, thoughtfully. "You can go tomorrow." He says. "One more day of rest, but you don't have to spend it in here. And remember -- if you're mean to the medics again, the same thing will happen." And then he steps towards First Aid. "Anyway." He says to him. "I thought you wern't the type for offensive weaponry?" ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/46 Posted Author Addendum: Slag Thu Jul 30 Crosshairs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text Only Message: "Slag has been gracious enough to apologize for his actions. I need not remind how difficult it is for a Dinobot to do so. He has his repair and reload privelidges reinstated, but he is aware that this will happen again if he creates problems." ============================================================================== First Aid gestures at the magazine, "Oh, Blades keeps giving them to me... and then quizzing me on the contents later... it's... sort of creepy, actually," First Aid explains. His optics dart left and right. "But although I don't like to admit it, he does have a point." The doctor wanders over and takes a seat in the chief medical officer's seat. It still has Ratchet's butt groove in it. "He put it in much more colourful terms, but I have found that the moment I transform, Decepticons from all over the battlefield flock to me as an easy target. It is frustrating." Crosshairs frowns at this. "Well, that is the downside of turning into an Ambulance." He admits. "What ought to be a non-target becomes a priority target when dealing with Decepticons." He takes a seat in the executive officer's chair just because it's open. "What about your decrystallizer cannon? I've seen you use it. It's as long as you are! Isn't that hefty enough of a weapon for you?" Slag turns to First aid. "Me Slag smash scepticons for him first aid!" He bellows as he stomps towards the autobot. "Me Slag then get repairs, and energons and missiles and be mean to him Crosshairs!" He bellows again. First Aid places the magazine on the desk, flipping through it. Per his promise to his fellow Protectobot, First Aid has read through it. "Mmmm, yes, the decrystallizer. Would you believe it was designed to be a medical and construction instrument several million years ago? The idea was to weaken heavy plate armour in order to make it more flexible for molding and the like. So the idea was you'd shoot a large slab of metal, and poof, it could be shaped into whatever you desired. Never really worked out like that." First Aid stops flipping through the magazine, stopping on a circled entry. It seems to be some sort of internal component. To Slag, First Aid says, "And I always appreciate your protection out on the battlefield, Slag." Crosshairs just gives Slag a very withering look. "Do I need to take back that second post and forget that you apologized and go right back to square one? Be. Good." He does his best to return his attention back to First Aid, peering at the component. "Well." He says. "What did you have in mind there? My first tendancy when it comes to people asking me for things like this is to increase the available power for /all/ items in that mode, then modify the weapon to handle it. So if you wanted to add, for example, laser beam headlights or the like later, you could take advantage of it." "I have no other items other than a small internal repair bay," First Aid says. The doctor stands up, moving the magazine and several other items off his desk to make room for the Decrystallizer Cannon, which he brings out of Hammerspace and sets on the desk. Stood on end it would come up to First Aid's head. First Aid peers at it, tapping his chin, "As far as weapons go it really is a remarkable instrument," he says. "Large, powerful, easy to aim. It even has its own internal power supply. Maybe a bit too fragile, though, and the power filaments are old. I was short on supplies when I built it." He considers the headlight lasers, "I think the decrystallizer is all the weapon I need, really. I don't want to devote too much of my systems to weaponry." This sounds hilarious given the size of the dual barreled jet-black cannon resting on the desk. Crosshairs scratches his head and thinks for a second. "Well." He says. "It's not what I usually reccomend because . . well, what if you wanted to augment your repair bay and required more power?" This is apparently intended to be a provoking question. "But, if it's fully self contained anyway . . " He hrms, and bends over it. "You did a really nice job with it." A pause. "For a Doctor. I think, though, I might be able to get a little more out of it . . if you were askin'. Starting with swapping out that power supply." First Aid isn't offended by the 'for a doctor' comment. "Thanks," he says, "It's served me well, even if it wasn't in the original capacity I had hoped for." First Aid begins taking off the the outer cover on the decrystallizer. "I do want to also see about upping the armour grade on those outer plates. This gun should be /protecting/ me, not exploding into shards while right on top of me every time someone - usually Swindle - takes a potshot in my direction." Crosshairs scratches his head. "Hmm." He says, pouring over the gun. "We've improved in technology in some ways. Look here, for a second. You have all of the power and charge systems right here in the base, right?" He asks. "We can replace the /entire/ power system with something stronger . . and why not build it right into your roof? Then the most volatile components can have some protection from your own . . " He pauses. "Tissue paper, but, moving right along . . . then the extra space saved in the cannon can be used for structural renforcement?" Combat: Removed restrictions on BLIND for your attacks. First Aid leans in to see where Crosshairs is pointing. He swings a desk lamp over to shine some light on the base's internals. "Right," he confirms. "The power system definitely needs to go," he agrees. He brings the magazine back over, pointing at the component he had circled in red marker. "What do you think of this? It's normally a bit pricy but they're having a sale for the next twenty eight thousand breems. Then we could go with the structural reinforcements." Crosshairs hmms, and looks at the magazine. Then pulls out a data pad from his subspace pocket. Then studies the two of them. "Depending on how frugal you wanted to be, I can build this with what we have in stores. But the price is so cheap you might as well just get it, and we can find some place in your roof to stick it. The other thing I noticed . . " He points to the bits where the cannon interfaces with First Aid. "I think I can do some improvements here utilizing some borrowed targetmaster technology. Won't help your aim any, but you should be able to get a target a little faster thanks to less interface noise." First Aid smiles slightly inwardly, "Aiming is one of the few battle related areas where I've had a fair bit of success. I have a steady hand." Naturally that's just a figurative for when he's an ambulance. "Targetmaster technology is, for now, far outside my area of expertise. Brainstorm has been giving me pointers when he hasn't locked himself up in his lab. I'll need your help with the installation." First Aid idly begins tapping all of the changes they're considering into a laptop computer he's barely managed to fit onto the desk. "Ok, so we have replacing the power supply, reinforcing the base, adding structural supports throughout, and installing targetmaster for the interface with my systems up on the roof. Sounds like a plan?" Crosshairs shrugs, visibly. "I think you sell yourself short and do better than you'd like to think. You get more experience than some of our front line warriors, so how bad could you be?" He leans over the other's shoulder and peers down at the computer. "Sounds like a plan. We can get started even before the power supply gets here by stripping the casing and working on the supports." He turns then, uninvited, to begin weapon dissassembly. It will likely take a long time! "You'd be surprised," First Aid jokes with a chuckle. He hunches over the opposite side of the weapon than Crosshairs, disassembling one of the barrels...
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* TRAVEL SPAM *** Cavernous Entrance Harsh, bright lights, the type seen either on movie sets or prisons, illumine every corner of this area. If any entrants have something to hide, they will have to do better than hiding it behind their backs. The area is plated over with solid, shiny, cheerful orange metal and is large enough to allow even Omega Supreme entrance to the bridge to the northwest. To the southeast, the vast expanse of the desert around the volcano rolls on as far as the optic can see. The roof has been heavily reinforced to keep this exit open in case of volcanic eruption, that the Autobots might flee to safely. Despite sound dampeners in the walls, the volcano's occasional rumble is still audible, a dull roar. There are deep grooves in the floor and walls where the blast doors, thick and weighty enough to withstand almost anything. The doors can close more quickly than one might expect; quite quickly enough to keep out pesky wildlife. Especially birds. Contents: Autobot Sensor #3597 Obvious exits: Southeast leads to Cascades. West leads to Communications Room . Northwest leads to Bridge . First Aid falls forward, arms sliding in and legs flipping about, transforming into an ambulance. Crosshairs exits from the Ark's bridge and the doors close. Ambulance swerves around one of the pylons as he races through the obstacle course. The revamped dual barreled Autobot God Cannon- I mean Decrystallizer Cannon rests on First Aid's roof. First Aid is a pretty good driver, but he's not doing as well as his normal times do on the course. Skidding into a turn around the next corner, the doctor fires a blast at one of the sandbag targets that is set up around the track. The sandbag disintigrates, but First Aid is nearly halted by the recoil. It takes him a couple seconds to get moving again. "Nnnn... all this extra weight is making this a lot tougher than it should be. What are my times like so far?" Crosshairs is standing at the end of the course with a stopwatch in his hand and a transformer sized whistle on a string around his neck. His combat visor is down, and as First Aid completes the shot he clicks the stopwatch and blows the whistle. "Eh, bad." He says, honestly. "Still thirteen seconds under your personal best and a second and a half slower than your last attempt." He considers for a minute. "I wonder if your problem isn't the weight, but where it is. Come here and humor me for a minute." He picks up a big weight that is marked 'HEAVY LOURDE'. "Open up, and we'll put this in your repair bay. I think the extra weight on top of you is making it so you can't slide through the corners without rolling. Making your center of gravity too high. Try this." Ambulance skids around the next corner, almost tipping over from being much more top heavy. Finally slowing down, the ambulance putters over to Crosshairs and opens up his trunk. There is a lot of fancy and delicate medical instruments inside. It would be a druggie's dream in there (this is not theoretical. It happened once). Crosshairs is going to have to be careful moving stuff around in order to put in the HEAVY LOURDE, though once it's in there's plenty of spots to secure it to so it won't move around. First Aid's suspensions wheeze under the additional weight. Crosshairs hmms, and considers again. "Figured that we'd have something like this to deal with. Let me find a smaller heavy lourde." The heavy-heavy lourde is removed, and Crosshairs almost seems to take pity on First Aid. "Well, with your suspensions making that sound this isn't going to work." He sits back on his haunches. "Ah, I think I've got it. Let's relocate the power circuitry and the charge coils from your roof to your undercarrige. We'll put it where your gas tank would be if you were real along with the ballast of say, this small heavy lourde over there. It's going to mean another day, but it'll make the difference I think. What do you think?" Crosshairs also points out. "You know, we might want to consider removing some of that armor you wanted . . I mean, you are an ambulance not a tank and all the wishing in the world isn't going to change that." "I'd rather get rid of the offensive firepower before I get rid of the armour," First Aid replies. Really, his dreams lay more in the defensive arena than the offensive arena. "If I need to I have no issue with replacing the entire Decrystallizer Cannon itself with extra armour plating." Ambulance 's suspension handles the lighter heavy lourde better. "My suspension is off-road quality, but it has to be soft in order to prevent my medical equipment from breaking," First Aid replies. "Undercarriage will work just fine so long as I don't need to worry about hitting a rock and having something break, but there should be room." First Aid's engine revs as he considers. "If it comes down to it, though, I'd rather get rid of the offensive firepower before I get rid of the armour," First Aid replies. Really, his dreams lay more in the defensive arena than the offensive arena. "If I need to I have no issue with replacing the entire Decrystallizer Cannon itself with extra armour plating." The gun has served him well, but in the end it's only a gun. Crosshairs thinks this is ridiculous! The best defense is a good offense. He's even brave enough to say it. "Bah, that's crazy talk. All the armor in the world can't protect you if the Decepticons -really- want to get your paitent, First Aid. Shooting them first -can-." He taps his chin though. "I think I can recess it between your back wheels." He strokes his chin some more. THE NEXT DAY. Grinka, Grinka, Grinka, Grinka, Grinka, Grinka. A giant sized socket wrench is being used by Crosshairs as he makes adjustments to First Aid's suspension to try and make up for the added ballast weight and still stay relatively soft. Grinka, Grinka, Grinka, Grinka. "Stop wiggling your brakes!" Grinka, Grinka, Grinka, Grinka. Some time later: " . . How does that feel? You never told me you taught me repair skills just so I could upgrade your cannons and then /fix everything else/." Fairway arrives from Cascades. converts back to robot mode. "No, but all the armour in the world will let me fall back or find reinforcements. I'm usually not taking patients /into/ combat. But your point is well taken," First Aid replies. "I have no problem with shooting the Decepticons first if it comes down to it." He has learned the hard way that trying to talk Decepticons down often gets people killed. THE NEXT DAY "I'm trying not to!" First Aid protests. "My brakes are ticklish there!" Crosshairs is going to have to put up with the wiggling. The NEXT DAY First Aid laughs, "You found out my diabolical alternate plan, Crosshairs, though I dare say you already knew more about weaponry than I ever have before I started training you." The battle ambulance rolls forward a bit back onto the obstacle course. "Feels good so far." Fairway says, "transform_msg_1 me=" Fairway drops into DeLorean mode. Fairway converts back to robot mode. Crosshairs has been working on First Aid for some time now. Days, really. Though he finally feels like he's getting somewhere as he leans over and places his hand on First Aid's back bumper and pushes up and down to try and rock him on the suspensions. "Looks pretty solid." He adds, connects a fnial cable. "Okay." He finally says and straightens up. "Go to it." Fairway leans partway into the room. He's got a book in his hand, and he's marking the place with his thumb. "Hello? Am I interrupting?" "Thank you, Crosshairs," First Aid says for the bazillionth time. "You too, Pinpointer," he adds if the grenade launcher is here as well. It might be getting on their nerves by now. The ambulance rolls onto the obstacle course and speeds up to a combat speed, swerving around the dirt course and disintegrating the sand bag targets as he passes by them. His time is doing much better now, though it'll take a while before he hits his personal best. "Hi Fairway! Bye Fairway!" he says as he zips past the Autobot. He can't chat much, concentrating on the course. Crosshairs nods at Fairway. "Not really." He says, a little bit gruffly. "We're trying to balance out First Aid's modifications. We've had some poor luck. It'd have gone -much- faster if he wasn't a /brake pad wiggler/." He watches First Aid intently as he goes through the course. "Faster!" He yells. "Faster, Faster! Hit your high RPM band! Too cautious!" Fairway watches First Aid run the course. "I was just looking in to see who was here. I recently returned from Mexico. So, how's he doing this run?" Ambulance is one of the most cautious Autobots, but Ambulance is one of the most cautious Autobots, but not when there's lives at stake. As saving others often comes down to his driving skills, he takes the obstacle course very seriously, revving up into the next RPM band. His engine is racing as he peels through the next set of corners, obliterating a pair of sandbags in two separate shots. For all his other combat faults, he wasn't kidding when he said he was a good shot. "Time?" calls out the brake pad wiggler. Crosshairs is looking at the stopwatch rather than Fairway, though he nods a little at him. "He's doing a whole lot better actually. I think the ballast is successful." He continues urging First Aid to hit his higher RPMs. "I don't see any tire smoke, yet! /FASTER!/ You've got someone inside you dying!" He settles back as First Aid finishes the course. "Excellent." He says as he hits the stopwatch. "Within three seconds of your personal best. Once you're used to it, you'll do better I think." Ambulance kicks it to his highest gear. He's swerving around, barely in control as he whips around pylons and goes up and down the dirt ramps that they've set up outside the Ark. He misses a few sandbags with the Autobot God Cannon, but at the speed he's going it's to be expected. Finally First Aid races past the finish line, skidding as he applies the brakes. Coming to a halt in front of Crosshairs and Fairway, First Aid doesn't transform just yet. He's too exhausted! "Yes... it still feels a little weird. Thank you for all your help, Crosshairs. I think we've solved this technical problem." Fairway nods. "Well done, friend Autobot," he says politely. "By my estimation, at any rate." He doesn't come out onto the course; he waits to see what Crosshairs does, not wanting to overstep his bounds. He is clearly an interloper here. Crosshairs actually goes so far as to pat First Aid on the roof. "Seems to be good." He echoes, then puts his stopwatch and his whistle away. "I'm pretty satisfied as well. Let me know if you have any problems, all right?" He doesn't add 'Mister Wiggles' but he's really tempted to. "I wonder, as well . . " He touches his chin. "I wonder if different tires might help." "Thank you!" First Aid replies to Fairway. "I have to admit I'm rather proud of that run there." The decrystallizer folds away into Hammerspace as Protectobot transforms into robot mode, looking exhausted. "New tires can be for next time," he says with a chuckle. Ambulance 's front section folds back as a pair of legs and arms pop out, transforming into First Aid. Crosshairs nods, once more. "Anyway!" He says. "I have to go back and attend to all of the duties I've been neglecting to /FIX YOU/." He says, sternly. "Raindance is still under one of the medbay tables in a bucket!" He waits a moment, secretly hoping First Aid will be horrified. "I kid. He's all repaired. Still, have munitions to fix! I'll see you both later." Fairway lifts a hand. "Bye, Crosshairs. Good to see you!" First Aid manages to look guilty despite not having much of a face. "See you around, Crosshairs, and thanks again. I guess you really /did/ learn something for your medical certification," he jokes. Fairway chinrubs. "I never did stop by his office to get my certification. I shall do that when he is not so busy." First Aid glances over at Fairway, "Which certification is this?" Fairway chuckles. "Honestly, he never specified. Crosshairs asked me to drop and see him after he found me repairing Sideswipe and I told him I was an engineer temporarily acting in the capacity of a medic." First Aid ahhs, "He probably just wants to see to it that your hard work does not go unrecognized. Well, I'm going to head in and see about finding a car wash, Fairway. I shall see you later." Dirt obstacle courses are dirty, you see. Fairway waves. "Be well, friend First Aid. See you in the future."
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