AWD #346: Grab Your Ankles
Grab Your Ankles
Summary: Everyone's come out to help with the Iron Pilgrim. Rules need not apply.
Date: 2 June 2016
Related Logs: All Iron Pilgrim Logs
Alejandro Fairfax Halena 
The Iron Pilgrim Cargo Bay
While light cargo ships such as this have a series of bays for moving freight and men, this particular bay is the largest. It is currently undergoing a retrofit. All unnecessary materials have been stripped, and the space is instead littered with men and tools. Scaffolds have been set up, allowing workers to access the high walls and ceilings. Most appear to be busily drilling and welding to cover the space with blast-resistant paneling. However, the most remarkable piece of work is happening along the starboard side of the bay — a new wall is being erected, with large cargo doors to allow access between the larger space and the smaller one. Theres not too much work going on in the smaller space, just now, save for the building of that partition.
AWD #346

What time is it? Doesn't matter. What does matter is how many hours remain until the end of the 72 hours. Right now? It's 56. It says so on a countdown clock that Halena has had jury-rigged in the cargo bay. And what a cargo bay. It's a fastidious person's worst nightmare. Bulkead torn off in random places. Wall partiitions and framing randomly cropping up along the length of the room. Men and women in jumsuites hanging from heights or crawling on all fours. The constant hum of equipment, or shouts of 'Clear!' or 'Port side!' or other necessary instructions. The eye and the ear will naturally be drawn to what sounds like a small explosion coming from one side of the bay. It looks like an explosion of some sort too. A peice of the old bulkhead has just popped away in a puff of … air? Water? Hard to say, but it's blown about two feet from the wall and topples over, right at the boot of the Chief Engineer, Captain Tremaine. Her red hair is messier than normal, and she's a bit paler than normal too. Likely comes from being tired. She has a smear of grease on one cheek, and more on her jumpsuit. She wears protective goggles, too. She looks down at the hole they've just blown in the inside panel and nods once. "Good," she calls to those around her. "Let's get that shielding off and we can run the auxilary cables down the inside and seal it up again. Johanson, clear these old panels out, we'll want double-thick blast-resistant for this whole quadrant." She turns and starts to walk toward a nearby metal crate, her limp more pronounced than usual.

Fairfax steps into the work area, in his off duty fatigues. His walk is slow and careful, not wanting to end up on the wrong end of flying things or some other industrial mishap. He glances this way and that, apparently looking for someone.

Alejandro is here, dressed in Navy fatigues instead of his more usual officer's blues or flight suit. The Lucky Strikes Squadron Leader is wearing an arc welding face plate and is up on the scaffolding with the regular engineers and deck crew. A pair of work coveralls that are decidedly not orange are worn over his fatigues for an extra layer of proction from hot metal and sparks. The Lieutenant is focused on the work he's doing with a weld but one of the engineers makes some comment and the viper jock pauses to laugh. The laughing stops and more than a few heads, including Alejandro's, turn to see what the sudden noise was. He shuts off his arc welder and tips his face plate back to wipe his face before he starts down the scaffolding, leaving the tools in place.

Poor Fairfax — he's searching for an orange jumpsuited needle in a stack of orange jumpsuited needles. He'll have to check the bars on each one to determine which one is the right one, assuming he's seeking someone in charge. Halena, in the meanwhile, has reached the crate and crouched down beside it with a bit of a flinch. She collects two long, heavy coilled metal cables made of woven fibers and stands again with a dainty lady engineer's grunt. She turns and starts heading back to the more exposed portion of the bulkhead, slowing to a stop as she looks up at the men along the scaffolding. One isn't like the others, but beyond that she can't really tell who for what, right now. Not through those damn bug-eyed goggles. "Excuse me!" She calls up high, her voice carrying easily when she needs to project, apparently. "Can you see a thick black pipe exposed behind the bulkheads there at that breach?" She asks someone in Alejandro's general direction, pointing to a bit of the exposed portion he was just working on. "Is it visible?" she clarifies.

Find an orange jumpsuit. Check bars. Rinse and repeat. That is Fairfax's life right now. Hunt the Captain. He's trying to avoid disturbing the extremely important and time sensitive work, however, so he doesn't just collar someone and ask them as he normally would.

The stops the Lieutenant. He looks back to see one of the other fellas using the arc welder while he went down to take a break and have a drink, but they are busy and not responding to the Captain. So Alejandro gives her a wave and starts back up the scaffold so he can have a look and ask the others. There is some looking and a light is shifted around to try and see better. Salazar looks back down Halena's direction, his dark hair tossled and sweaty, "Yes, Captain. We've got a light on it." Alejandro then waits to see if she has instructions for them.

That response causes Halena to purse her lips thoughtfully. "Alright," she calls back up — a strange sound, her calling around, as she speaks so quietly otherwise. By now she's surely recognized if not Alejandro's form, than his voice, though she gives no indication of it just now. "Make sure you tell them not to touch it, and then come down here if you wouldn't mind," she says, turning to face the cargo bay once she's reached the gap in the siding that was just blown out. It's then she spots a creature she did not much expect to see. A lost-looking Marine. Her brow furrows just a touch at that. "Excuse me," she calls in Fairfax's direction as she tosses down one of the cables, using the free hand to pull up her goggles. She has line impressions around her eyes, giving her a racoon look. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Ah yes." Fairfax sounds grateful, heading over to where he can talk to Halena. "I'm looking for Captain Tremaine." He can see her bars, now. "Which, hopefully, would be you." He doesn't say more than that, right now, waiting to see if he has the right person

"Yes, Sir!" Alejandro turns his attention back to the others who keep working. He passes on the word and they in turn pass the word on down the wall and the bulkhead both directions. A filthy hand reaches up to remove the protective faceplate he had tilted back and Salazar wipes his face with his sleeve before he starts back down a second time. One of those carts with water bottles is his first priority before he starts walking in the Captain's direction. See seems to have attracted the attention of a CMC Major of all things. Fairfax gets eyed but Hobo stops a few steps back to open his water and take a drink from it, so not to interrupt them.

"I'm Captain Tremaine, sir," Halena says with a sigh, hefting down her other heavy coil o' cables. Once free of her burdon, she shifts her weight onto her good leg and reaches into one of the cargo pockets of her jumpsuit, pulling out a kerchief of all things. She dabs her nose and eyes with it, clearing away sweat. She misses the smear on her cheek. "Forgive me for not meeting you upon your arrival, I wasn't aware to be expecting you." She speaks now in her quieter voice, her tone touched by the class of someone who has, at some point in life, had elecution lessons. The redhead glances once in Alejandro's direction thoghtfully, just enough to make sure he knows she sees him. Then she looks back to Fairfax. "How may I be of assistance?"

Fairfax has definitely /not/ had elocution lessons. His accent is rough, low class, tauron. "Quite alright, Captain. I didn't send ahead to warn you, hardly a formal visit." He's not in his dress uniform, for one thing. "Actually, I rather hope I can be of assistance to you. I'm tweaking the duty roster for the next few days, so you should have marines in and out of here as a labor force. While I'm here, I thought I might lend a hand. I was taught a little bit of repair-work, once upon a time."

Fairfax isn't the only one who skipped finishing school, or any other higher education other than OCS. Alejandro's Scorpia-Canceron mixed twang was born of low class for an officer. He idly watches the Captain and Major for a minute and drinks from the bottle of water, then turns his attention to what the others are doing up on the scaffold in the event he's needed to lend a hand. His coveralls he unzips to cool down. Seeing the Captain's busy for the moment, he tucks the water bottle into a side pocket and wanders back to the scaffolding to help some others hand up materials.

Fairfax's offer has Halena's brows rising again. "I see," she says, thoughtfully. And then one corner of her mouth tilts upwards just slightly, but enough that one could make an argument that she's smiling. "I would certainly be grateful, both for the assistance of your Marines and your own, sir. Though before we explore your repair experience, I have something of a different request for you and …" her head turns toward Alejandro, who is just about to make his escape. Not so fast! "Lieutentant," Halena calls toward him in a tone to encourage him back. If he does come toward them, Halena will speak when he is in as easy earshot as Fairfax is. "Correct me if I am out of line, gentlemen, but with a Marine and a Pilot at my disposal, I should think I have two men who are particularly attentive to their upper-body workouts in the rec room. Would I be correct in this?" That same ghostly touch of a smile is there, so hopefully she's at least teasing, a little, if not outright kidding.

Fairfax laughs softly at the comment, or perhaps at the tone in which it is given. "Captain, we Marines pride ourselves on being particularly attentive to /all/ our workouts, in the rec room or elsewhere." He observes with amusement. "But yes, I suspect I am suitable for what you're looking for."

He almost slipped off! The Lieutenant doesn't quite get back to the scaffolding before he hears Halena. Ale turns and comes back, stuffing his hands into his coverall pockets and looking pretty scruffy even for a pilot. He lifts a dark brow at what she asks, then looks Fairfax up and down. Surely the Tauron's not precicely a wimp in build, but Salazar's fairly lean. Back to Halena, he twists his mouth into an amused smile, "Not really, Captain. I'm … more .. a fast fly'n, blow'm up kind of guy. I leave the muscles to the …" Eh, meatshields might not amuse the Major, "Marines here. What do you need?"

"I'm pleased to hear it, Major," Halena says when Fairfax responds, turning to look once more to Alejandro. She nods at his answer. "I'll give you the job that requires faster reflexes, then, if it would suite you." She moves to the exposed blown panel and turns to face them both, sitting down on her rear. She speaks as she moves, reaching for one of her cables and starting to unlash it from itself. "We're running a series of sixteen cables to pump power into this part of the hanger from an auxilary power source some of my stokers are setting up below," she explains, speaking quickly and easily in that posh tone. "However, the highest the guys downstairs can run their auxilary connection without taking half the hull apart is still five feet below this floor. I need to reach it with a power drill." She lays on her back and puts her hands on the exposed bulkhead, sliding her head and shoulders inside the ship to have a look around. Then she wiggles herself back out again. She reaches for a headlamp and pulls it on, the elastic pushing her hair and bangs into all sorts of ridiculous directions. She looks between them. "So I'll need one of you to feed me the auxilary cable and the pressure cable for the high-powered drill — and watch the drill to make sure I don't overheat it— while the other keeps an eye on the vent guage; the black pipe you saw earlier," Halena says, adding the last part to Alejandro. "To make sure it doens't overheat while my face is next to it. While holding me upside down by my ankles, of course." She looks between the two, that slight touch of amusement (or perhaps enjoyment?) remaining on one side of her mouth. "Would you gentlemen be up for that?"

Fairfax listens intently, as though taking mental notes. "Ok. So we hold you upside down by your ankles while you perform this repair and we monitor the dials and so forth." He summarizes. There's a nod. "Can do, Captain." She's the expert here, after all. If she thinks it's safe…

"Hold onto your ankles? That's what safety lines are for, Captain." Why, even a viper pilot knows that. "But sure, I can watch the vent guage." Alejandro looks around, "I don't know where that is though." She'll have to point it out to him. But yeah, he'll do what he can to help.

"We can rig a belay line," Halena explains. "Doing this safely would mean pulling a lot of these bulkheads apart. With a day and some change left in the deadline, that's not really an option. And the space in-between these hulls was never designed for doing some this … against regulations," she admits. She does motion over a deckie who has rigged a tether with D-clips on either end. "I'll have an emergency fall line," she promises. "But it can't hold me in the position and placement that I need without a fairly complex rigging. So. This is your guage, Lieutentant," Halena says, lowering her head again to point to a gauge on the black pipe just inside the blown bulkhead. "If it starts to spike tell me immeidately. It'll likely heat up too quickly for me to notice based on temperature on my own adn get out of the way so please do monitor it. If it does start to spike, this orange button here," she looks over her shoulder, pointing clearly with one slender, pale finger. "Is an emergency override, that will tell the system to vent to a different pipe for now." She looks then to Fairfax, nodding to the drill gun attached by a spiral cord to a box with a guage and some switches on it. "You've the easy job, Major. If this needle goes into the red zone, I'm too hot and I need to pause and let the drill cool. I try to work fast in there because…" she wrinkles her mouth a touch. "Hanging upside down isn't entirely comfortable and I don't wish to drag this out." While her speech has been quicker and a touch more excited while going through shop talk, she still maintains a warm professionalism. As much as one can who is about to be dangled by two grown men. "Any questions, gentlemen?"

"Watch the guage and if it starts to spike, give you warning and push the orange button to emergency vent it. Got it, Captain." All while trying to steady her position while she hangs upside down on the straps. Alejandro has done stranger things so he takes it in stride, "Oh, and breaking regs. Gotta love it." The Squad Leader gives the Major a cheeky grin and stands ready with both hands free to assist with lowering her down when the Captain's set.

Fairfax shakes his head. "No questions. Watch the needle, in case it goes into the red zone." There's a grin back at the Squad Leader. "I won't tell if you won't." His gaze returns to Halena, then. "Ready when you are, Captain."

"I daresay this makes us a cabal of misfits. Ah well, let's begin." Halena lays flat on her back and flips on her headlamp, and then attaches her belay line to her reinforced belt and then to a hitch inside the wall panel. She pauses, for a moment, looking to Alejandro — the one on her right side. "I would request, Lieutentant, that you're rather gentle with this particular leg as you can be? There's some surgeons on the Offut who would be most displeased to see their recent work undone." With that, she slides in, and almost immediately begins arching back, allowing her body to slide down and inside the hull — so long as she's held, of course.

<FS3> Alejandro rolls Body+body: Success.

<FS3> Alejandro rolls Reaction+reaction: Success.

<FS3> Fairfax rolls Body+body: Great Success.

<FS3> Fairfax rolls Reaction+reaction: Success.

"Understood, Captain." Alejandro slaps his right leg, "They had to piece my leg back together before I came on board the Orion myself." Lucky for him it didn't bump his ass out of pilotting. It could have! Probably not the stronger of the two of them, the Lieutenant takes his cues a little but from Halena herself and from Fairfax. He lends his strength and tries to be careful as they guide her downwards to start her work, then hold her steady as the drill starts up. Salazar's muscles strain and he tips his head up as far as he can to try and see the guage. If he's got to reach suddenly for that emergency vent button, one hopes the Captain won't get dropped.

<FS3> Halena rolls Repair: Good Success.

Fairfax seems quite adapt at manhandling, albiet gently, the Captain. He doesn't seem troubled sharing the holding duty with Alejandro, seeming far more focused on watching the dial. That's apparently the part he is afraid of messing up on. Halena he holds onto with a casual confidence.

Halena will not necessarily make holding her form terribly easy. She wriggles, and swings a bit in order to manuver the drill and the auxilary cable as she needs it. Also she shies a way just a bit from the right side, perhaps to avoid the potentially hot pipe or because of the strain on her bad leg. Alejandro will have to vent the pipe twice in the time it takes Halena to complete her task, and it'll be at least four times that she overheats the drill but thankfully Fairfax is on the spot with alerting her to it before it becomes a serious problem. The whole thing takes about eight to ten minutes, though it must feel like longer for all involved. Finally, the men will hear a slightly choked, "Clear!" as a sign that she's ready to be pulled back up.

It's just as well that there are two of them holding her steady, to compensate for the other when guages need to be tended to. Alejandro's dark hair falls over his brows but is currently cut short enough to not be in his eyes. He mostly keeps his attention on the dial, glancing down now and then to keep tabs on the Captain's progress with the drill and her turning about. There's a glance to Fairfax, then the Lieutenant starts to help haul Halena back up out of the hole between decks. "So… you allowed to say what's going to be quarantined in here, or is that classified?"

Fairfax begins hauling with Alejandro at the given signal. "Are you asking me, or the Captain?" He queries. "If you're asking me, I don't honestly know what's going to be holed up in here." He doesn't appear to be lying, or being evasive. "They'll tell me if I need to know, I'm sure."

When Halena is finally pulled upright, she lays back on the floor of the hanger for a few moments, having set the drill aside. Slowly, she unhooks herself, and turns off her headlamp, and then pulls the goggles from her face. She's extremely flushed, but then that happens when blood rushes to your head. So she just lays there for a moment, eyes closed, letting her blood and heartrate settle. At last she sits up, leaning her forearms on her knees. She shakes her head. "Those are questions I make a point not to ask. But from what I do understand is that this ship is being designed to hold things that even the Intel guys can't quite identify. So I suppose that's about as fair of an answer as anyone is likely to get." She heaves another gentle sigh, hazel eyes opening to flit between the two men. "Well. There are 15 more of these, if you gentlemen are so inclined."

Alejandro almost laughs, "I always like to ask. I'm a nosy son of a … " he changes his word mid sentence, " … shipyards mechanic." Ehem. Hobo lifts a brow at 'things that even Intel guys can't quite identify' and the Lieutenant doesn't look any less interested, "Well, guess I'm glad I'm not your cargo freighter pilot. I hope you found one though, Captain." He gives her a nod and checks his chronometer, "I can help out another two hours. Then I need to hit the head at shift change and fly CAP." So until then, he's all yours, Captain. Fairfax gets a grin.

"15 more? I think we can manage that." It may be that Fairfax is enjoying the thrill of being out of the office and hidden away, as it were. He certainly is grinning as though he's enjoying himself. "I've got a while before I'm due on duty again."

Halena nods to them both. "Well let's see what we can get done in two hours at least." With that, she heaves a sigh and moves to stand, to lead the trio over to the next of the auxilary cables that needs to be run. 15 more. Only 15 more…

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