trans_9 | The Rebirth of Veronica (Phase One)

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The Rebirth of Veronica (Phase One)

[ooc: PLOT POST IS HERE! Read it!]

He stalked through the hallways like a shadow, moving too quickly for anyone to keep a bead on him for long. There almost seemed to be a purpose in his movement as he made his way through the dark corridors of the ship, though it was impossible to tell where he was headed. Perhaps the young man whose body had been hijacked was exerting some kind of control, or perhaps Veronica was doing the driving.

Whatever the case, the Tyrant made his way to the City.

He emerged from the tunnels and into the wide open space, at last free of the cramped hallway. He took a few steps into the streets and sniffed the air, smelling human blood. He roared, a horrible and twisted noise, then headed into the streets.

She demanded they all bow to her. They were little more than prey for the Queen in the grand scale of things. These thoughts rang hollow in a primal mind, though, but he knew what he had to do.

They would all die.

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Jamie had hurried down as soon as he had received the summons, and was now standing there with arms folded against his chest, listening to what needed to be done. He wasn't as good as some of the others in terms of skill - but he has built a gun with Billy before, and he can certainly help in some ways.

"Right. Where do we start?"

"The internal mechanisms are simple enough," he mumbles, thinking back on their earlier escapades. "Our original gun was structurally sound, it was the ammunition that was the problem---so we'll need to make sure we have the right suppressant. That suppressant injection also needs some electrical stunning component attached."

Billy's built guns before, but never in a situation as critical as this. He nodded at Angie's assessment, trying to channel that stress into something positive.

He lays out their stored spare gun parts and starts selecting the common ones that any type can use. "We need to acquire the suppressant, design the cartridge to pierce him deeply enough to have an effect, and give it plenty of a stunning charge."

After a moment, Angie creates a small holographic projector. One that brings up a schematic of a fairly common design for tranquilizing gun. It seemed a good place to start. "So, the cartridge with the suppressant also needs to have the stunning charge?" That was going to be a challenge. "Any parts we don't have, I can fabricate."

Studying the schematic for a moment, Jamie frowns faintly. "So ye want to place the charge in the cartridge itself, somehow. Can it be boosted at all from the gun, or won't that work?"

He glances over at the other two with a slightly apologetic expression. "I can help build the gun, or get the suppressant-thing if someone has it, but I think ye or Billy will have to do the part where ye put the electricity in."

Edited 2010-11-02 00:54 (UTC)

"You're right. It's worth trying to put the stun-shot first and administer the suppressant immediately afterward, but I've been thinking---if we could trigger the electricity immediately upon impact with a force trigger and have the suppressant enter as it pierces him, that could work too"

With that, he sketches up a quick blueprint of what he means, drawing on the available parts. "Let's work on the gun. Angie, can you handle the suppressant cartridge when we get the dose?"

Billy wipes the sweat from his brow, feeling fatigue seep into his stress. Something about this isn't normal, but the devastating energy drain hasn't set in yet.

Angie nods. "I should be able to manage that, no problem. As long as I can imagine what it should look like and work like, I can make it." There are very, very good parts to her abilities, as long as she has stuff to work with.

"Aye, let's go, then," Jamie says, seemingly eager to get going on the construction of the gun. He's a little worried, though. Something about Billy seems slightly off, but he can't quite put a finger on it.

Maybe, he figures, it's just the stress of having to get the gun made quickly. Moving over to the worktable, he starts picking out the pieces that will form the base and setting those to the side to try and make things easier.

In that case, Billy's got the barrel, trigger parts, and welding tools. They're assembled as quickly as he can manage it, still taking much longer than he'd like. When they were about halfway done, he checked his timer.

"Angie, Science is delivering the suppressant in a minute or so. You should be---good to go then," he grunts, having paused with a flash of pain on his face.

Reaching covertly under the table for his morpher, he drew some energy from the coin. The building pain in his body suggested that he was going to need it.

Damn. Katara and Renne are getting hurt out there, aren't they?

Jamie wasn't the only one realizing that something was off about Billy. Especially since, well, she's looking at him when that flash of pain goes over his features. However, given her teammates, she doesn't say anything, though she plans to keep an eye on the young man.

"Right," she says instead, finding a piece of scrap metal that's not being used for anything and starts breaking it down through use of her nanotech to start molding it into whatever they'll need. "It'll be good to find out the viscosity. I'll need to know how easy it will be to inject."

It's still going fairly well. Billy keeps a grip on the table as he sends a request for a previous scan of the monster or some sort of estimate, trying to keep from wobbling. "I requested that now. Should be sent to you soon."

Drawing a little more power after a few more minutes of work, he nods to Jamie. "Perfect. Let's just hold the barrel on standby until Angie has the cartridges, to make sure they're the right size."

Inside his head, he tries to wall his mind off from the drain Katara and Renne's injuries are causing. It's getting progressively worse, but he hopes he can hold out until this is done.

"Thank you." She doesn't have an omnicomm on her. She has stuff in her head to deal with stuff like that. The hologram adds another projection once the information comes in, giving them a look at the Tyrant. Which gets a whistle out of her and she shakes her head. "Don't worry about the barrel. I can fashion these to work in whatever you have."

"Okay, then we'll finish that." And he'll do it quickly, because his consciousness needs to hold out until then. It'd be better if it could hold out forever, but the walls aren't perfect yet.

Billy notices Jamie's increasingly concerned looks, remembering that this weakness had happened in front of his friend before. A quiet nod. I'll go as soon as I can. That's why I have to hurry.

Racing against the clock in his head, Billy fights back an urge to chase after Katara and Renne. What they're working on is the only way to stop Steve. Someone will warn them soon, he hopes, and the sooner this is finished the less injuries there will be.

This is all starting to become uncomfortably familiar to Jamie, and he can see how quickly his friend is weakening even with the help of that power coin. Flicking a glance down to his wrists, Jamie wonders if there'd be some way to boost it with his own morpher - but he doesn't have time to ask.

A brief peek at the tyrant causes Jamie's eyes to widen appreciably, and he looks over at Billy with that same expression before turning back to Angie. He's trying to hide it, but he's decidedly nervous now. "Aye. It'll not be long before it's ready, though."

Not if he has anything to say about it. He bends back to the assembly of the barrel, doing his best to get it done as quickly and as accurately as possible. It wouldn't do for something to go wrong this time.

Jamie's not the only one who is looking decidedly nervous about Billy's continuing decline. She bites her bottom lip, then nods. "No, won't be long."

She eyes the barrel that Jamie's working on, getting the diameter and checking the needs and calculations in her own head. The cartridge takes shape in her hands, basing the design on tranq darts. Instead of a needle at the front, though, there are barbs to hold it against the skin and a hypospray design to inject the suppressant. At the end of the day, it would do the job without enraging the Tyrant more. The first one was set aside and she grabbed up another piece of scrap to work on a second cartridge.

"All right, great. Almost done." Billy notes the cartridge's appearance and selects the barrel, preparing to weld it on.

Hurry, hurry, but he just might make it still.

Pulling the protective face place down to cover his eyes, Jamie then holds the barrel steady so Billy can weld it into place. He manages to keep his nervousness from leaking through into his hands, but he is still looking quite anxious.

"Ready when ye are, Billy."

"I wish I had more scans as to thickness of skin and things like that." But there just wasn't time to get them, so Angie was going by guess. With any luck, she was overcompensating rather than under. Whoever the crew member was that had become this thing, they could probably live with some major bruising a lot easier than what they could do while not in control.

She finished the second cartridge, setting it down. The suppressant came to hand and she started filling the cartridges, careful not to spill any.

"I've got it." He couldn't afford to slip up here, sick or not. Pouring all his concentration into the act, Billy suited up with the protective equipment and began the welding process.

I mustn't waver. I have to finish, he thought to himself, pulling on all his strength. And miraculously his shields held up for long enough to finish the task.

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The Rebirth of Veronica (Phase One)

Re: Project Gunsmithery

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