08-28-2016, 08:27 PM
Carmelita drove through the night, a tiredness tugging at her that she chose to ignore. The patrol car could handle the arid scrub outside of Carrefour, and she coasted past the Town With No Name in the dead of night, late enough to startle a few sleepy deputies into taking wild potshots at her dust trail. She ignored them, and continued onwards, into the wasteland.
It was as the sun peeked out from over the top of the dunes that the sight of the tall laser turrets that bracketed the compound finally came into view. Carmelita yawned and slowed down, driving towards the gates.
“Carmelita at the gates, requesting permission to-”
A blast of laser fire hit the bonnet of the car and she dove out the door just as the vehicle’s engine went up in flames and it crashed into the desert floor. She extended her cloak and hid in the smoke before swearing loudly into her earpiece.
++Carmelita! Are you all right?++ Chip asked, before clearly turning to yell at the AI. ++What the hell!++
++I appear to have less control over the defence grid than I thought. Switching it off now.++
The red lights of the towers blinked off and Carmelita stared at her burning hunk of a vehicle with a resigned look. Instinctively she began summoning a fire extinguisher before hosing what remained of the patrol car with foamy water. Chip soon came jogging out, and Carmelita handed the tri-eye a second extinguisher. The two spent the early hours of the morning putting out friendly fire.
---
By the time the heat started getting to the two furry women, they left the still smouldering wreck to burn itself out and headed inside the control tower at the centre of the base. It was much the same as Carmelita had left it, banks of computer servers lit up with a green light and blinds over the windows keeping the worst of the sun's rays from entering the room, but two noticeable differences could be seen. One was the hammock, made out of chain and sheets and hung on one corner of the wall, and the other was the brightly lit monitors with a rather sheepish looking avatar of an anthropomorphic sand devil (the weather phenomena, not the demonic being).
“You must be Al3x,” Carmelita said, yawning. “Let’s keep this brief, otherwise I’m going to fall asleep here. Reason for deactivation?”
“I was deliberately mislabelled an ‘irretrievable asset’ and left behind by an Imperial Officer who didn’t like me. I was forced to take a power nap thanks to low energy reserves. Speaking of which, Chip here managed to get some solar panels up and running that are maintaining my current level of activity. When you’ve rested, I’d like to talk more on the whole ‘base rental’ shindig, I’ve got ideas…”
“Fine. Now, Chip, do I have permission to use your hammock?”
“Uh, sure?”
“Right then. Night.”
“Actually, it’s-” Chip began.
“Night!”
---
Carmelita woke up after ten hours of restful sleep to find Al3x talking with Chip as the monitors displayed a base map. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of the hammock, padding quietly over to the two of them.
“Hello again.”
Chip gave a little shout of surprise, holding a hand over her heart and whirling round. Carmelita couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Good morning, Inspector. Are you ready to talk plans?”
“I do believe I am. So, Al3x, Chip, what are we working with here?”
The map span and showed the base as a whole. As each building highlighted itself, Al3x would add a little moniker to it.
“So, here in the centre we’ve got the control tower. Good line of sight down the four main avenues, slightly off to the side, has my AI hardware and the base processing power all locked up up here. Speaking of which, I’d like to get my mind and body into a slightly more mobile platform, especially one with a hologram projector. If you’re going to be doing the heavy lifting as our resident prime, it’d be best if I could show you how we want to lay out plumbing, electricity, all that jazz.”
“Speaking of which, the base facilities. Most of the good stuff’s been stripped out, but they couldn’t nab the hardware. That means that the underground parking bay is still here, if a bit empty, and that stretches a long way underground. There’s room for dozens of vehicles and mechs down there, and of the larger variety too. We’ve even got a Warhound bay, though how on earth they were going to get one of those through the entrance was always glossed over.”
A good five storeys of tunnels and bays displayed itself on the map, the three dimensional image spinning to highlight its complexity.
“There are four exit ramps for the bays, one at each corner of the base. They’re currently hidden by loose dirt and foliage, but they’re there. For the purposes of accessing them for maintenance, however, the main entrance is in this building next to the tower, which I’ve labelled bay access.”
“As far as amenities go, we’re down to the basics. The mess hall just opposite the tower has a nutrient synthesiser and a moisture condenser that were in decent condition even before Chip had a go at them, and there’s electricity from the backup solar panels that were stored with them. To get more juice, mind you, we’re going to need to repair and replace the old solar plant that took up this space in the north corner of the base.”
“Once that’s done, we’ve got to fix up the auto defence mainframes and systems. As the charred skeleton of a hover car will attest, I don’t have proper access and I suspect we’re going to need a manual reset of each tower, but they are at least serviceable and used to have stun features as well that I have a feeling we’d prefer as a less-bloodthirsty group than the Imperial Security Forces were.”
“Completing the quartet of central buildings, you can see the armoury’s over the crossroads next to the tower, the mess hall and the bay access. It’s empty, of course.”
“The rest of the buildings are split in four. This building over by the solar plant in the northern quadrant is the research lab, again empty of anything useful but it could be used for its original function. This building in the east quadrant is the main garage, with plenty of empty space outside for parking and maneuvering the vehicles.”
Chip interjected at this point, tapping the table. “Give me tools and materials, Carm, and I’ll be happy rearranging the two mechs that were left behind. On top of that, there are workshops here, in the south quadrant, that if restocked could quickly be used to start making prototypes and reconfiguring old equipment.”
Al3x gave a quick thumbs up on screen before returning to the map.
“It’s as the pretty girl says, and more besides. I’ve got a bunch of manufacturing programs for making all sorts of stuff with the automated equipment that fill in the space between the workshops. While the computers aren’t there any more, the wiring still is, so with time all seventeen of them could actually do something useful.”
Carmelita frowned, leaning in.
“So far I’ve heard a lot of technical talk, but the concept of a being an outpost for a non-political police outpost requires training facilities, bunk-houses and briefing rooms. What do we have to serve those needs?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Al3x said. “May I please present to you all fifteen buildings in the western quadrant. Fifteen completely empty warehouses, one of which used to be used to house site personnel. Chip can vouch that the plumbing is still functional.”
The tri-eye made a face and scratched her purple fur.
“Barely…”
Al3x rolled his eyes on screen and drew up a list of contents.
“So first, the solar plant. Second, the automatic defences. Third-”
“The plumbing,” Chip scowled.
“Very well, third is the plumbing. Fourth, my mobile body. Fifth, the garage and your patrol car. Sixth, the workshops. Seventh, the policing facilities.”
Carmelita’s eyes perused the list, mentally ticking off each item.
“Seems good. We’ll get started after I grab something to eat.
It was as the sun peeked out from over the top of the dunes that the sight of the tall laser turrets that bracketed the compound finally came into view. Carmelita yawned and slowed down, driving towards the gates.
“Carmelita at the gates, requesting permission to-”
A blast of laser fire hit the bonnet of the car and she dove out the door just as the vehicle’s engine went up in flames and it crashed into the desert floor. She extended her cloak and hid in the smoke before swearing loudly into her earpiece.
++Carmelita! Are you all right?++ Chip asked, before clearly turning to yell at the AI. ++What the hell!++
++I appear to have less control over the defence grid than I thought. Switching it off now.++
The red lights of the towers blinked off and Carmelita stared at her burning hunk of a vehicle with a resigned look. Instinctively she began summoning a fire extinguisher before hosing what remained of the patrol car with foamy water. Chip soon came jogging out, and Carmelita handed the tri-eye a second extinguisher. The two spent the early hours of the morning putting out friendly fire.
---
By the time the heat started getting to the two furry women, they left the still smouldering wreck to burn itself out and headed inside the control tower at the centre of the base. It was much the same as Carmelita had left it, banks of computer servers lit up with a green light and blinds over the windows keeping the worst of the sun's rays from entering the room, but two noticeable differences could be seen. One was the hammock, made out of chain and sheets and hung on one corner of the wall, and the other was the brightly lit monitors with a rather sheepish looking avatar of an anthropomorphic sand devil (the weather phenomena, not the demonic being).
“You must be Al3x,” Carmelita said, yawning. “Let’s keep this brief, otherwise I’m going to fall asleep here. Reason for deactivation?”
“I was deliberately mislabelled an ‘irretrievable asset’ and left behind by an Imperial Officer who didn’t like me. I was forced to take a power nap thanks to low energy reserves. Speaking of which, Chip here managed to get some solar panels up and running that are maintaining my current level of activity. When you’ve rested, I’d like to talk more on the whole ‘base rental’ shindig, I’ve got ideas…”
“Fine. Now, Chip, do I have permission to use your hammock?”
“Uh, sure?”
“Right then. Night.”
“Actually, it’s-” Chip began.
“Night!”
---
Carmelita woke up after ten hours of restful sleep to find Al3x talking with Chip as the monitors displayed a base map. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and got out of the hammock, padding quietly over to the two of them.
“Hello again.”
Chip gave a little shout of surprise, holding a hand over her heart and whirling round. Carmelita couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Good morning, Inspector. Are you ready to talk plans?”
“I do believe I am. So, Al3x, Chip, what are we working with here?”
The map span and showed the base as a whole. As each building highlighted itself, Al3x would add a little moniker to it.
“So, here in the centre we’ve got the control tower. Good line of sight down the four main avenues, slightly off to the side, has my AI hardware and the base processing power all locked up up here. Speaking of which, I’d like to get my mind and body into a slightly more mobile platform, especially one with a hologram projector. If you’re going to be doing the heavy lifting as our resident prime, it’d be best if I could show you how we want to lay out plumbing, electricity, all that jazz.”
“Speaking of which, the base facilities. Most of the good stuff’s been stripped out, but they couldn’t nab the hardware. That means that the underground parking bay is still here, if a bit empty, and that stretches a long way underground. There’s room for dozens of vehicles and mechs down there, and of the larger variety too. We’ve even got a Warhound bay, though how on earth they were going to get one of those through the entrance was always glossed over.”
A good five storeys of tunnels and bays displayed itself on the map, the three dimensional image spinning to highlight its complexity.
“There are four exit ramps for the bays, one at each corner of the base. They’re currently hidden by loose dirt and foliage, but they’re there. For the purposes of accessing them for maintenance, however, the main entrance is in this building next to the tower, which I’ve labelled bay access.”
“As far as amenities go, we’re down to the basics. The mess hall just opposite the tower has a nutrient synthesiser and a moisture condenser that were in decent condition even before Chip had a go at them, and there’s electricity from the backup solar panels that were stored with them. To get more juice, mind you, we’re going to need to repair and replace the old solar plant that took up this space in the north corner of the base.”
“Once that’s done, we’ve got to fix up the auto defence mainframes and systems. As the charred skeleton of a hover car will attest, I don’t have proper access and I suspect we’re going to need a manual reset of each tower, but they are at least serviceable and used to have stun features as well that I have a feeling we’d prefer as a less-bloodthirsty group than the Imperial Security Forces were.”
“Completing the quartet of central buildings, you can see the armoury’s over the crossroads next to the tower, the mess hall and the bay access. It’s empty, of course.”
“The rest of the buildings are split in four. This building over by the solar plant in the northern quadrant is the research lab, again empty of anything useful but it could be used for its original function. This building in the east quadrant is the main garage, with plenty of empty space outside for parking and maneuvering the vehicles.”
Chip interjected at this point, tapping the table. “Give me tools and materials, Carm, and I’ll be happy rearranging the two mechs that were left behind. On top of that, there are workshops here, in the south quadrant, that if restocked could quickly be used to start making prototypes and reconfiguring old equipment.”
Al3x gave a quick thumbs up on screen before returning to the map.
“It’s as the pretty girl says, and more besides. I’ve got a bunch of manufacturing programs for making all sorts of stuff with the automated equipment that fill in the space between the workshops. While the computers aren’t there any more, the wiring still is, so with time all seventeen of them could actually do something useful.”
Carmelita frowned, leaning in.
“So far I’ve heard a lot of technical talk, but the concept of a being an outpost for a non-political police outpost requires training facilities, bunk-houses and briefing rooms. What do we have to serve those needs?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Al3x said. “May I please present to you all fifteen buildings in the western quadrant. Fifteen completely empty warehouses, one of which used to be used to house site personnel. Chip can vouch that the plumbing is still functional.”
The tri-eye made a face and scratched her purple fur.
“Barely…”
Al3x rolled his eyes on screen and drew up a list of contents.
“So first, the solar plant. Second, the automatic defences. Third-”
“The plumbing,” Chip scowled.
“Very well, third is the plumbing. Fourth, my mobile body. Fifth, the garage and your patrol car. Sixth, the workshops. Seventh, the policing facilities.”
Carmelita’s eyes perused the list, mentally ticking off each item.
“Seems good. We’ll get started after I grab something to eat.