05-14-2016, 03:04 PM
Carmelita arrived at the refinery to the joyous sight of rank upon rank of rusted, busted earth-moving equipment and maintenance vehicles. She wasn’t a mechanic or electrician like Murray or Bentley, but she’d picked up a thing or two, and a lot of this was salvageable. Most interesting to her was the water tanker that had lost several wheels, since nothing quite said ‘I’m here to help’ than bringing a tanker of water to a town in a desert.
She began by summoning a wrench and car jack from her omnilium to prise off parts from a fuel tanker, fixing minor damage with application of a little more. Rolling the wheels over to the water tanker, which took a considerable amount of effort, she then decided to take a break. The light was already fading, and with the amount of work to do to get the tanker ready to drive through the desert, it was going to take the whole of the next morning. In the meantime, she’d take a look around the refinery proper.
It was as she was walking down one of the dirt tracks that lead between the rusting towers that she came across the main office for the site. She poked her head inside, a claw finding a lightswitch out of instinct. To her surprise, one of the fluorescent bulbs came to life, the room slowly illuminated.
The office had an old swivel chair and a broken coffee machine, but it was better than sleeping outside. She dozed off quickly, exhaustion ensuring a dreamless sleep.
---
The next morning, Carmelita found a generator and solar panels that she quickly applied to the roof of the tanker to power the electric engine. With a bit of applied omnilium, the rust fell off the tanker and Carmelita was ready to hit the road. She summoned up and fixed the keys and locks, hopping up the ladder and into the cab. As she sat in the driver's seat, a twinge in her back reminded her of the scratch she’d received from the lioness. A quick check in the mirror showed it wasn’t sceptic, but it had only just scabbed over. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the discomfort and started the tanker up. It gave a loud whir before settling down to a low purr.
From what she remembered from the information she’d found on the Endless Dunes, the best place to find water was the oasis in Carrefore, an Imperial town she’d spotted the day before. She made her way onto the overgrown dirt track that led from the refinery, the truck’s electric engine humming quietly.
Carrefore was visible in the distance when she noticed a dust cloud following her. A quick look with her binoculars showed that it was a collection of bikes, possibly travellers or bandits. She kept a close eye on them as she drove, and they swiftly gained on the slower water tanker. As they neared, she spotted one of them hoisting a machine gun onto his sidecar, gesturing for her to pull over.
She activated her cloak as she slowed to a halt, taking the key from the ignition as she hopped out the door. The bikers slowed to a halt the other side of the truck, and she snuck round the back as they came round the front.
There were four of them, one of them a grizzled leopard wielding a six-shooter whilst the others looked human, each carrying an assault rifle. Carmelita had plenty of time to circle round and find a small bluff a good twenty metres away.
“Hey Boss, there’s no one here.”
“What do you mean there’s no one there? Someone had to be driving.”
“Actually, Boss, there are some Imperial delivery trucks that-”
“Shut it Dictionary. Let’s have a look boys.”
She opened fire with her shock pistol as they clustered together, crackling balls of electricity flying straight through the air. The leopard took the first two in his back, and while his companions had plenty of time to run for their bikes, the electricity coursing through him made him stumble, an easy target for another four shots to knock him out cold. By that point, the three humans had opened fire on her location, and Carmelita ducked down out of sight. Bullets whined as they sped over the bluff, puffing as they smacked into the dirt ridge. After fifteen seconds, her cloak was ready for use again. The bullets petered out as she pressed a digit to her collar.
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know. Thessy, go and check if there’s a corpse.”
“Why me?”
“Because me and Dictionary say so. You were the one who said there was no-one driving.”
“I’m not going! You go.”
While the three humans argued, Carmelita repositioned herself quickly, working her way around behind the bikes the men were using as cover. Again, catching them off guard meant that another of them was caught in the open, cut down by balls of electricity that shocked him into unconsciousness.
“Shit! Cyclo, let’s go!”
In a panic, the remaining two tried to drive away, one hopping in the sidecar and hunkering down while the other revved the engine and accelerated away. Carmelita stepped out of cover, aiming carefully and charging up a heavy-duty shot.
“Where do you two think you’re going,” she muttered, releasing the shot. It flew straight and true, crashing into the unprotected back of the driver. He screamed and began swerving wildly, unable to see, and the brief retreat ended with the bike and sidecar crashed into a ditch. Carmelita jogged over to where the two of them lay, battered and bruised from the crash, and knocked them out with liberal use of her shock pistol. She dragged the two away and bundled the four unconscious bandits together by the bluff.
She frowned slightly. She didn’t have anywhere to put these reprobates, so letting them go was probably her only option. She did confiscate their weapons, and happily looted their pockets of assorted credit-chips, coins and notes, deciding that perhaps some Cooper justice needed to be dealt out where Fox justice couldn’t be. With a jaunty salute to the leopard as he groggily stirred awake, Carmelita hopped back into the tanker.
“Don’t do highway robbery, Spots. That’s a lesson for the road.”
Grimacing at the quality of her rusty humour, Carmelita drove onward to Carrefore. The bandits were left in a shower of dust.
She began by summoning a wrench and car jack from her omnilium to prise off parts from a fuel tanker, fixing minor damage with application of a little more. Rolling the wheels over to the water tanker, which took a considerable amount of effort, she then decided to take a break. The light was already fading, and with the amount of work to do to get the tanker ready to drive through the desert, it was going to take the whole of the next morning. In the meantime, she’d take a look around the refinery proper.
It was as she was walking down one of the dirt tracks that lead between the rusting towers that she came across the main office for the site. She poked her head inside, a claw finding a lightswitch out of instinct. To her surprise, one of the fluorescent bulbs came to life, the room slowly illuminated.
The office had an old swivel chair and a broken coffee machine, but it was better than sleeping outside. She dozed off quickly, exhaustion ensuring a dreamless sleep.
---
The next morning, Carmelita found a generator and solar panels that she quickly applied to the roof of the tanker to power the electric engine. With a bit of applied omnilium, the rust fell off the tanker and Carmelita was ready to hit the road. She summoned up and fixed the keys and locks, hopping up the ladder and into the cab. As she sat in the driver's seat, a twinge in her back reminded her of the scratch she’d received from the lioness. A quick check in the mirror showed it wasn’t sceptic, but it had only just scabbed over. Gritting her teeth, she ignored the discomfort and started the tanker up. It gave a loud whir before settling down to a low purr.
From what she remembered from the information she’d found on the Endless Dunes, the best place to find water was the oasis in Carrefore, an Imperial town she’d spotted the day before. She made her way onto the overgrown dirt track that led from the refinery, the truck’s electric engine humming quietly.
Carrefore was visible in the distance when she noticed a dust cloud following her. A quick look with her binoculars showed that it was a collection of bikes, possibly travellers or bandits. She kept a close eye on them as she drove, and they swiftly gained on the slower water tanker. As they neared, she spotted one of them hoisting a machine gun onto his sidecar, gesturing for her to pull over.
She activated her cloak as she slowed to a halt, taking the key from the ignition as she hopped out the door. The bikers slowed to a halt the other side of the truck, and she snuck round the back as they came round the front.
There were four of them, one of them a grizzled leopard wielding a six-shooter whilst the others looked human, each carrying an assault rifle. Carmelita had plenty of time to circle round and find a small bluff a good twenty metres away.
“Hey Boss, there’s no one here.”
“What do you mean there’s no one there? Someone had to be driving.”
“Actually, Boss, there are some Imperial delivery trucks that-”
“Shut it Dictionary. Let’s have a look boys.”
She opened fire with her shock pistol as they clustered together, crackling balls of electricity flying straight through the air. The leopard took the first two in his back, and while his companions had plenty of time to run for their bikes, the electricity coursing through him made him stumble, an easy target for another four shots to knock him out cold. By that point, the three humans had opened fire on her location, and Carmelita ducked down out of sight. Bullets whined as they sped over the bluff, puffing as they smacked into the dirt ridge. After fifteen seconds, her cloak was ready for use again. The bullets petered out as she pressed a digit to her collar.
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know. Thessy, go and check if there’s a corpse.”
“Why me?”
“Because me and Dictionary say so. You were the one who said there was no-one driving.”
“I’m not going! You go.”
While the three humans argued, Carmelita repositioned herself quickly, working her way around behind the bikes the men were using as cover. Again, catching them off guard meant that another of them was caught in the open, cut down by balls of electricity that shocked him into unconsciousness.
“Shit! Cyclo, let’s go!”
In a panic, the remaining two tried to drive away, one hopping in the sidecar and hunkering down while the other revved the engine and accelerated away. Carmelita stepped out of cover, aiming carefully and charging up a heavy-duty shot.
“Where do you two think you’re going,” she muttered, releasing the shot. It flew straight and true, crashing into the unprotected back of the driver. He screamed and began swerving wildly, unable to see, and the brief retreat ended with the bike and sidecar crashed into a ditch. Carmelita jogged over to where the two of them lay, battered and bruised from the crash, and knocked them out with liberal use of her shock pistol. She dragged the two away and bundled the four unconscious bandits together by the bluff.
She frowned slightly. She didn’t have anywhere to put these reprobates, so letting them go was probably her only option. She did confiscate their weapons, and happily looted their pockets of assorted credit-chips, coins and notes, deciding that perhaps some Cooper justice needed to be dealt out where Fox justice couldn’t be. With a jaunty salute to the leopard as he groggily stirred awake, Carmelita hopped back into the tanker.
“Don’t do highway robbery, Spots. That’s a lesson for the road.”
Grimacing at the quality of her rusty humour, Carmelita drove onward to Carrefore. The bandits were left in a shower of dust.