boys (and girls) and their toys | the sensoriums [closed]

[sonofalderaan.livejournal.com]

[Closed to the mechanics and engineers who are going to be involved in the Great Rogue Upgrade project. see this com post.]

The sensoriums had been set to look like an empty hangar in which a couple X-Wings sat. Tycho had no idea what else the engineers would need for their initial planing phase, but he figured whatever it was, they could tell the sensorium to create it themselves.

He conjured himself up a crate to sit on, and scrolled through some squadron numbers on his datapad as he waited for everyone to arrive.

Comments

arrivals

[sonofalderaan.livejournal.com]

[plz mingle and brag about your mechanical aptitude here :|a]

[thewunderkind]

Of course Lash was going to be the first who would arrive! She was way too excited about this project.

She peaked in, and ran in before making herself a small stool to sit on. the type you'd find in a mad scientist's lab and that got very little usage when she was usually up and about.

Re: arrivals

[on-an-impulse.livejournal.com]

It was a room of infinite possibilities, and there was no couch.

In the Sensorium, Shinn swapped out the plantsuit for his regular red uniform, gave the commanding officer the second-shorted salute he'd ever pulled off, and sprawled out on one of the couches usually found in the Minerva's ready room. If he had to endure this geezer to improve Destiny's performance, he'd do it.

Re: arrivals

[kitbashurgundam.livejournal.com]

Lowe was the next to arrive, letting out another whistle at seeing the X-Wings. Even if he had already seen the real things, he was still impressed by the thing.

Creating a chair, Lowe took a seat, taking the time to at least salute Tycho as he did.

Re: arrivals

[on-an-impulse.livejournal.com]

Shinn frowned at the new arrival. It didn't seem like he knew the command staff's fighters, so... what was he doing here?

[wynthegame.livejournal.com]

"Hi, everyone!" Wyn called out cheerfully as she entered the Sensoriums. The turnout was already pretty good, but she summoned a rolling chair and flopped into it with an excited smile as she waited for any other new arrivals. This was going to be fun!

After a second of thought, she hastily shifted her plantsuit into the oldest, most battered pair of jeans she could remember owning and a St. Andrews University rugby team t-shirt. There really wasn't a point in changing into nice clothes if they were going to start working, was there?

Re: arrivals

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

Dean sauntered in. He would have preferred the actual hangar to this. But he knew the benefits of the Sensoriums for simulations. He had done his own hunting sims after all. Which is what this looked like. Another sim.

He immediately headed toward one of the X-Wings, looking like he was trying to figure out how to look under the hood.

[voiceofserenity.livejournal.com]

Kaylee shook her head as she watched Dean walk in. Laughing, she stepped around and bumped shoulders with him, eyes concentrated on the X-Wing. Back in her greasy old coveralls again--the only way to work, that.

"You can try all you want, but that panel you're starin' at don't open."

[jesushasagundam]

In his head, Kira was already trying to work out the changes he'd have to make to the various mobile suit OSes to account for any upgrades - if they were still calibrated for the previous specs, something could go seriously wrong in combat.

It'd be a lot of work, so he was hoping to get a jump on it early - but then again, it was hard to envision without knowing exactly what would be changing.

So if you saw Kira sitting on a munitions crate, one leg pulled up, looking very deep in thought? It was because he was.

[silverduelist]

He was curious. The idea of changing his mobile suit was still something to get used to. But Yzak figured, this was a different situation entirely. Of course, in order to maintain a fighting system like the one they were going to be aiming for, there would have to be modifications on all fronts in order to balance it out correctly.

Creating a comfortable-enough chair, he sat down, thinking.

[newtypeamuro.livejournal.com]

Amuro was a pilot first and formost, but he'd actually spent more of his life working with machines and technology. If there was any work to be done with machines, it was only right for him to try to get in on the ground floor. He stared intently at the X-Wings. What technology they employed was of great interest to him.

Re: arrivals

[re-engineer.livejournal.com]

Angie did not jump and clap her hands when she saw the X-Wings, but it was a close thing. She did grin like a mad woman, though, keeping her hands behind her back so that she wouldn't be tempted to touch before allowed to. But damn, it was tempting.

Re: arrivals (Finally Nanashi gets thrown off her high horse.)

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi was amazed by the great pieces of machinery in front of her. She had gone over the specs, and had a vague idea of how they worked after spending two days straight in the media centre, researching the bits of technology that had skipped her world.

Still, seeing the ships in front of her made her feel like she ought to turn back around and leave.

Not that her pride could let her admit defeat.
Especially not after spending all that time trying to catch up. Unfortunately, being in such a rush, she more of had a spattering of knowledge of the workings of various lasers, a complete understanding of the modern uses of gunpowder and the improvements thereof, and the idea that these things were run by what-might-as-well-be-magic power sources, and somehow managed to fly.

She heard Kano's mocking laughter in her head, and before he had a chance to say anything she said out loud, "Yeah, I will need to do some catching up."

INTRODUCTIONS

[sonofalderaan.livejournal.com]

Everyone seemed to have arrived, so Tycho stood, clearing his throat to draw their attention.

"Now that everyone's here, I think we can get started. I think all of you have either met me or talked to me on the coms. But I don't think all of you know each other, so let's do some introductions before we move on to the technical stuff."

He smiled slightly. "I'll go first. I'm Colonel Tycho Celchu, Rogue Squadron's second in command. I'm a pilot, not a mechanic or an engineer, so I'll be relying on the expertise of the rest of you. I do know how to maintain an X-Wing, but that's the extent of my skills." He looked around the room. "Who's next?"

Re: INTRODUCTIONS

[jesushasagundam]

Kira looked around the room at the assembled group, many of whom he knew, but many of whom he didn't - and then returned his gaze to Tycho. Since he was seated close to the older man, he figured, might as well go first?

"My name is Kira Yamato," he spoke up. "I'm the pilot of the X20A Strike Freedom." As he spoke, the Sensorium shifted - there was now one more craft in the hangar alongside them, though its armor was gray and inert. "I know a bit about mobile suit maintenance, but not as much as some."

"I used to be a computer engineer, so I'll probably be handling any rewrites and changes we need to make in the on-board OS due to the upgrades..." he looked at Tycho again, and then once more around at the room, "...unless anyone has any objections to that."

[silverduelist]

"Yzak Jule. Commander in the ZAFT military."

A pause, and a white machine towering just under twenty meters appears alongside the X-Wings. He motioned toward it. "I pilot a ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited."

"Like Shinn, I've had plenty of basic training in those areas. As well as some operating system modification knowledge." Sure, he knew some. As a Coordinator, he could make adjustments within due time, though not at the speed as somebody like Kira. If he were to reflect on his time on Earth where he was more or less a sitting duck in the desert for a time, with his mobile suit's OS as it was ... well, he was glad he had at least a little experience with that.

Re: INTRODUCTIONS

[newtypeamuro.livejournal.com]

"Amuro Ray, RX-93 Nu Gundam's Pilot..." Nu gundam (http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/cca/rx-93.htm) appeared just as the other machines had, towering several meters taller than it's brother mobile suits, "As well as it's co-designer."

"I have almost as much experience repairing and maintaining mobile suits as I do piloting them."

Re: INTRODUCTIONS

[re-engineer.livejournal.com]

"Doctor Angie Spica." Angie raised her hand, letting everybody see where she was. Like she didn't stand out or anything. "I also go by The Engineer back home, but Angie will do just fine unless you tick me off." She grinned, though, since that was a joke, really. "I have multiple degrees in various sciences, but my first doctorate was in mechanical engineering with a bent toward human-machine fusion. So I'll probably pick up anything you need me to pretty quickly."

[notadamnangel.livejournal.com]

"Dean Winchester, I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum. And I'm all out of bubblegum," Dean smirked, and then added, "My old man and Bobby, he's a close family friend of ours taught me a lot about cars. Rebuilt my Impala after a bad accident. Also made an EMF detector from my old Walkman, so know a thing or two about mechanics and electronics."

[rekindle.livejournal.com]

Cagalli was sitting on a random crate as well, glancing around as each person spoke. Waiting until there was a lull in the string of introductions, she decided now was as good a time as any to speak up.

"Cagalli Yula Athha, representative and leader of the Orb Union, and, subsequently, head of the Orb military. I've commanded a spaceship, mobile suit squadrons, and I've had lessons in warfare tactics. I'll be the pilot of the ORB-01 Akatsuki (http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/seed-destiny/orb-01.htm)," she paused and made a motion to the shiny, golden mobile suit that appeared nearby. "I'm not as experienced with piloting as some others here, but I'm more than willing to learn and do what I can."

Re: INTRODUCTIONS

[kitbashurgundam.livejournal.com]

As the others finished, Lowe stood up and introduced himself.

"Ah, yeah. I'm Lowe Guele, technician from the Junk Guild." Lowe said, lifting up the suitcase device with him. "This is 8, my computer companion. As I said, I'm a technician as well as a junker. I also pilot my own Mobile Suit..." Another suit joined the group - resembling some of the other MS there, but colored red and white and with a katana by it's side "...the MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame. (http://www.mahq.net/mecha/gundam/astray/mbf-p02.jpg) Even though it was one of Orb's prototypes, I've modified it to make it my own!"

Please don't hit me! Lowe thought to himself, wondering if Cagalli would take offense of that. Then again, the first time they met, she chewed his head off.

[madeofwyn.livejournal.com]

"I'm Wyn Callahan, mad scientist and Rogue Squadron's current chief mechanic. Fair warning, I'll probably be picking the metaphorical brains of the Gundam pilots after this meeting." Wyn says, waving to the room from her seat. Most people generally assume that 'picking someone's brain' isn't meant to be a literal action, but Wyn's a mad scientist; it usually pays to be specific around them.

Re: INTRODUCTIONS

[sanguineroyal.livejournal.com]

Nanashi had summoned herself a large royal red velvet cushioned chair that looked like a cross between a throne and a love-seat. Curled into the chair with her feet tucked to the side Nanashi finally introduced herself. "I am Queen Nanashi of Kuninoryu. I am a weapons specialist. I invented the cannon, and I was in the process of inventing a weapon much like your rifle, about 600 years faster than the earth records show."
"But I have also spent some time familiarizing myself with some of the advancements your worlds have made ahead of mine. Frankly, I am impressed, and I have a few things I would like to try."

BUSINESS BEGINS

[sonofalderaan.livejournal.com]

"Now that we've all introduced ourselves, I think we can get down to business. I'm going to be turning things over to Wyn, who as Rogue Squadron's chief mechanic, will be in charge of this project."

Tycho turned to the petite blond. "Wyn? The floor's yours."

[forthewyn.livejournal.com]

"Okay, so." Wyn clapped her hands, grinning excitedly at the room. "This project is really sort of a combination of a couple of smaller projects. First of all, we're going to try and upgrade the engines of all of the Gundams in order to bring them more in line with the capabilities of the X-Wings. I'm not sure about the specifications of individual Gundams just yet, but we need to get them achieving a reasonable fraction of lightspeed-- and that's going to either necessitate installing some kind of reconstruction of the fusial thrust engine to replace the Gundams' primary engines or just upgrading the existing engine to achieve speeds that are basically comparable to the X-Wings.

"The second thing is that we're going to have to install weaponry on the transport shuttle, which apparently should have guns on it but doesn't right now. Since that's the ship that'll be responsible for ferrying all of the pilots in and out of danger, and it's kind of... not the fastest ship in existence, having guns on the shuttle would be a good thing."

"There are a couple of other things that'll need doing eventually, such as upgrading the shielding tech on the Gundams, tweaking the X-Wings a bit, and upgrading just about everything on the shuttle, but the first two projects are priority one right now."

"Anyone have any questions so far?"