Re: Training Begins -Day 2 (Thread Closed)

[Tigermark]

Tigermark walked up to the bench and stood at one end.

"Yes, Recruit Triakis, you're doing alright. Use the spray cleaner and preservative to clean the grime of the lance's casing and the grip. This is the dirt and oils that get on the lance from normal day-to-day handling. Then use the brush and the contact cleaner to clean the contact points at the tips of the prongs, as well as the silver strips that run down the inside edge of the prongs. This is especially important if you've discharged the lance, as carbon tends to build up where the charge arcs out."

As the tiger began to clean the lance he'd been using, he went on.

"Two important things. One, ALWAYS be sure to remove the clip before you start cleaning your lance. IF you don't, you'll likely get to feel what a full charge is like whether you want to or not. Two,  always clean the power contacts inside the clip recess. They can carbon up with use, and when you really need it, the lance won't discharge."

[tobi3B]

"So we should beginn with the clip and the cleaning inside the holding ? " Angus slowly removed the clip placed it ti the side and then used the cleaner and the clean the lance as instructed and shown by Commander Tigermark.

[DeanFox]

Oh morning already getting into uniform and heading for the Mess hall for breakfast.  Finding that this morning the good food wasn't just a dream I try my best for a good breakfast some eggs, sausage, bacon, and some warm sweet tea with lemon and honey and a short glass of orange juice.  Walking further down the line there are grits! “Oh please have butter” saying to myself trying a bite they do, not as much as I’d like but… when your level of needs butter rivals “a spoonful of whatever into a cup of butter.” Not true but funny still. Sitting down I manage to eat my breakfast although the Orange juice is... something.  Okay let’s get the kinks out putting my tray up, I head off for the R&D tent the long way.  Jogging around trying to get back to normal so I can stand Plantigrade for extended periods of time, as a mechanic that’s what you do when there is nothing to wrench on. You wander around and clean, or at least that’s what you are supposed to do.  Jogging around humming scales then quietly singing them, till I’m ready to try singing.  Getting a Kenny Rogers song immediately to mind as I did in fact wake up this morning with the sundown shining in. just remember to take the April fools line easy. Singing as I jog till it’s time for us to assemble as per the Voice of General Steel catching my attention.  Running back the way I came as jogging is good for you, and singing while jogging allows you to go further, but you have to pay attention to where you are going.  Running back to stand at attention and notice O’Brown hey he’s here cool… although he’s only seen me twice not some strange color such as blue with an electric green highlighted Mohawk for example.  So let’s not instantly approach him ooh I’ve found a new game.  Reporting to Bane head of R&D, there are already people assembled but hopefully I'm not too late.  Looking at Bane and Sylvian as General Steel speaks.  I should, checking my watch either I'm very late or my watch stopped sometime yesterday, winding it up and setting it to ticking I'll need to find the correct time shortly.

[Rotors91]

Razor kept an ear on Angus' and the commander's conversation, in case there was anything said he'd need to be aware of. His hands were busy, following the instructions in how to properly care for this lance with out accidentally getting one of the worst shocks of your life. Weapons maintenance. Another new area he'd never really been exposed to, but now he was jumping into head first it seemed. Basic training was just FULL of firsts, wasn't it?

The lance itself was probably a simple one compare to others (or maybe it wasn't, he had not clue) but he knew that for himself, it'd take a little getting used too. He grabbed some nearby cleaner solution, spraying a generous amount on the outer casing, followed by a nice wipe down till the casing glinted in the mid morning sun.

Huh, this  weapon cleaning business was kind of therapeutic once you got passed worrying over breaking the thing.

He glanced back at Keir and waved the cleaning solution to get his attention, "Yo, Kier, ya' need this? I'm done with it"

[DeanFox]

Design cool I've done this many times on restaurant napkins, let’s try something.  Shuffling the diesel electric hybrid Cadillac idea from my video game off to one side for a moment as it's a pointless Idea with no roads.  Grabbing a pencil and a pad I choose a table and set to work.  What did we need on Noema?  Besides a new snowplow… there’s a thought I will never have to consider again as I closed that shop down. But not helpful here and now, what can I come up with.  Mind keeps going back to things mechanical/ automotive related dang it all.  Well get this dumb idea out first, then you can come up with something else.  1970’s Cadillac yank the 500 inch monster and transmission Americans love big motors let them keep it.  Fit a hi torque decent revving electric motor, hook that to a small automatic transmission direct drive, over and double over with reverse so that you don’t lose a quarter of the revs in the rear axle ratio.  Around the motor hook up the required batteries and a small diesel generator.  Use the Caddy’s tank to hold the diesel fuel, the exhaust system to dispense the exhaust.  Let’s see the batteries should get you around 200 miles, the generator with that fuel amount should be able to… why can’t this be a truck a big military transport twenty in the back with three up front.  And with dual tanks and double the capacity the truck could double for a mobile power station for power outages, enough power to run tools an air compressor.  And diesel can be made with old cooking oil so why not? Continuing the designs only scrapping the automatic double overdrive for a 4X4 transmission and a bigger motor.  This would make a dandy supply truck, work truck, ambulance ect… but again pointless and no good Ideas. tapping my pencil on the top of my head as I think.  constructive, help full for all, non destructive...

[KeirStryker95]

Keir had just finished brushing the dirt off of the metal casing and contact points, listening to Angus and Tigermark discuss the weapon and watching their moves. The cleaning of this item was new to him, seeing as the weapons used back home were simply one piece and were melee weapons not really needing any maintenance other than corrosion protection.

Hearing Razor call his name, Keir looked up to see the shark handing him the cleaning solution bottle. "Yeah. Thanks," he replied taking the bottle. He spread it on the rag and began to apply it to the lance.

[Secateur]

Eddie performed the moves as Tigermark had instructed, learning how to use the lance properly. He was happy to receive proper instruction, as these were nothing like the small sticks he'd been practicing with, and thought himself to make good progress. Once done, it was time to clean the lance, which brought a smile to his face, because that was something he did have experience with. Among the odd jobs he had taken, cleaning was usually what the extra help were tasked to do. Upon hearing that you had to remember removing the battery first, he almost started laughing, but caught himself. It wouldn't do to start laughing at a serious instruction, but he knew some people from back home who were likely to forget just such a thing. Instead he cleaned the lance as best as he'd been told, double checking that the clip was removed, even though he knew it was, and using the provided cleaning agents as instructed.

[Ezra Stewart]

Jiao nodded as she critiqued him. He seemed to have overestimated the advancement of the overlord's technology. What he did find strange was that bane found a particular interest in his tea maker. He stood at attention, and gave how he would make the tea maker as bane had requested.

"Mainly, I would make the tea maker so that it would be able to mix and match different types of teas, and different flavors, as well as uses. Most teas are usually organized into certain groups. Bitter teas, herbal teas, and so on. I am proposing here that we could make a tea maker that would be able to mix these teas so that one can enjoy the flavor of one, and also get the herbal uses of the other. "

He was silent a moment, before turning his head towards Bane.

"If you can forgive me for asking. May I ask to what extent does the Overlord's technology go? How far can I create before I stray into the realm of science fiction, as you say?"

He asked this rather innocently, as he was prepared to go over his blueprints once more. This time with more realism.

[Admin]

Deep in the jungle the Chimenticore was doing as he was told, collecting rocks but only the flattest ones and picking flowers, but only white ones. It seemed like it wasn't all too thrilled with this apparentl waste of time but he continued to mill about one paw filled with smooth flat pebbles and the other with all manner of white flowers.

[Merrihop]

Sunny only had a few gut impulses and the occasional whiff of a strange scent on the air to go on, so at her slower pace, she started to wonder if she would track down the Chimenticore before dark at all. It seemed smartest to stay in the high branches of the trees, using the height to her advantage as she kept a lookout for her quarry.

Going more slowly was proving useful in its own way, as she stalked through the tree branches, she was able to take more notice of the different types of trees she was climbing through, and their different attributes. She also wouldn't deny it was nice not finding any dead branches by mistake again, she wasn't keen on another fall today.

Finally, from beneath some large leaves in the shade high up in the canopy, the marten thought she spotted something large moving on the jungle floor. She took a moment to steady herself rather than barreling straight at her target, excitement nearly taking over. But she took a deep breath and started climbing downward and toward the small clearing where the Chimenticore was working. A few large trees away from the clearing, Sunny steadied herself with a vine from the tree she was in and climbed quickly and quietly down into the underbrush, ducking beneath large plants and using her small size to stay hidden in the shadows and leaf litter.

The marten slunk through the undergrowth slowly and quietly, finding a large elephant ear plant at the edge of the clearing where she could lie unseen and observe. Her ears perked forward as she took note of the behavior. Gathering... rocks, flowers... white flowers... She tilted her head a bit and watched for at least a minute or two before she started to back away, probably even slower than she had approached. It seemed like ages before she felt clear enough to duck behind a large tree and use the lower branch to pull up higher so she could start back through the tree branches. One she was sure she was far enough out of ear shot, she picked up her pace through the trees, opting for the forest floor once she felt she was close to camp.

Once she broke the treeline and saw the camp open up before her, Sunny breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She looked around the clearing until she spotted Commander Steele and ran up to him, coming to a stop in front of him and stopping in almost a skid, panting to catch her breath.

She looked up at him with a smile, breathing heavily, "I found him sir... He was in the jungle... collecting rocks, and white flowers... and he looked really bored..."

[TheSphinx]

Back to the draft. Garran took a look to his sketches: really, he should have dared more. Many solutions were so… naïve. That’s the problem in using scrap for your projects: you get used to underestimate the possibilities of technology. Now he was going to work for the most advanced organization in the whole world. He shouldn’t hit the brake.

First of all, the stimuli collectors. He was lucky to have a few working nerves on his shoulder, but connecting a machine to the nerves was limiting. Collecting brain impulses was a better way to work; it could be used on paralyzed people too and help them using machinery. He sketched a cranial  implant to collect signals. Subcutaneous, so that it wouldn’t be too invasive. Software must be used to clean signals from any noise. This implant defines a “map” of the brain, that connects different areas to their respective functions: impulses are tracked like a GPS system does with an object. Impulses’ positions are then sent to whatever machinery and used as input like a simple remote controller, be it a limb, or a vehicle… anything.
Garran had read articles on brain-machine interfaces, and the great problem was really that: collecting signals was too difficult. So that would be his masterpiece: a perfect signal collector.

Garran turned an ear when he heard the old snow leopard asking Lady Bane for the limits of the Overlord’s technology. Now that was someone who made the right question. They were actually working without knowing what they could do. Garran paused for a moment, disappointed: he should have asked that before, not waiting for someone else to do that while he jumped headfirst on a project.
He continued working, still paying attention to the two.

He spent a little time delineating the device, but it would require months of hard work to really  have a first relevant prototype. Whatever. Wasn’t his goal to shine?

Garran then moved to implement his idea of an artificial skin. It was so simple. Few lines of program trace a matrix of the skin’s net, tracking the physical stimuli and sending them to the brain. The difficulty would not be sending the impulses back to the brain, that was already under experimentation, but to understand where to send them. A wrong connection and an itch on an arm could be interpreted as a kick on the butt. Again, he would need to work a lot on it. Maybe doctor Sylvian would be interested.

The difficult part completed, Garran moved on the simple one: movement. Why using frictions to lock the arm in place? The best solution was a worm gear! It slows the movement allowing more precision and provides stability by locking the gear in place. Good. The uncertainty was on the fingers: did the Overlord have motors small enough?
After a few moments, Garran wrote as a note: if not, use hydraulics. And made another sketch. Hell, that could be a good solution, providing to elaborate a pump silent enough.

Skeletal structure didn’t need more work, aside noting that the patient's shoulder and ribcage should be reinforced to bear the arm's strenght, so Garran paused a moment before tidying the project up and making a proper blueprint. He needed a few sheets to include every detail and every drawing, but it was finally done. And as a side note, it looked like a proper arm, too: not that skeletal metallic junk he had. Garran was pleased of his work and symbolically put down the pen.
It had been a long time since he enjoyed designing that much!

He also wrote down a more detailed blueprint of the “intelligent fabric” that he used for the artificial skin, with its many uses, as a bonus note. Cool. Two projects at the same time!
Garran rested his back on the chair, stretching his whole body, and waited patiently for his turn to talk with Lady Bane.

[KRancourt]

The lieutanant had missed the roundhouse kick from the fox, as she was scowling at her datapad.  Someone back at the Lair had hit 'reply all' on a message, and suddenly her message-feed had erupted into dozens upon dozens of 'take me off this list' and 'stop replying all' responses. Which meant she couldn't make heads or tails out of what was actually relevant.

And while she was sorting all of this out, the fox wandered away to watch the combat trials. Just before she finally got the spam-flood under control, he returned, though his expression made it very clear he wanted to be more involved with the fighters.

"Ahem. Apologies for the delay," she said, squelching her frustration with a deep breath and a forced smile. "Now, let's get on with our duties, shall we?"

Not waiting for an answer, she turned her eyes toward the jungle canopy. "Base Ops is responsible for all supplies for the Overlord's operation. This includes the islands' own resources. We are fortunate that the land can provide much of our food, thus reducing our dependance on outside sources."  She studied the fox critically. "Go to the back of the mess tent, and you will find a number of woven bags. Take one and head into the jungle. You have one hour to fill the bag with whatever you find that is edible. Bear in mind that we have to accommodate a number of dietary specialties. You do not need to collect fish or aquatic life. Focus instead on vegetation and the like.

"Your hour starts… now."

[Tigermark]

Tigermark watched the recruits' progress at cleaning the lances.

"When you're done, bring the lance up here and report to me. I'll inspect it, and if it's done you can put it back in the rack."

He then walked over, placed the clip for his lance in the charger below the slot in the rack where he placed his lance. While he waited, he noticed Darius standing at the edge of the camp. He caught his eye and motioned him over.

"Darius, do you want Recruit Sunday to rejoin the main group for PT? Also, when can I have her for lance training? Even if she's not a fighter, she needs to know how to handle one."

[KeirStryker95]

Keir continued cleaning out the prongs of the lance, and then the contact points. He went over this area nearly four times making sure not a speck of dust was left to get in the way of the charge. When this was satisfactory, he moved down to the middle handle and shafts of the weapon. Moving the rag and brushes many times over the area, he continued until he could see his reflection in the metal. Knowing he'd be the last one done, he kept working to get the lance clean. "Curse my OCD. I need to relax on it a bit" he thought. Next up was the base of the pole, and Keir removed all the dust from the metal and cloth, making it shine.

[Shard Loren]

And just like that Shard was off into the Jungle. He had to fill his bag with all kinds of things that could be eaten by multiple species as part of a healthy diet and he had an hour to do it. Not the easiest of first tasks but Shard was confidant he could do it. The first thing he came across was a banana tree. "That's a perfect start if I do say so myself" he said he then put his bag at the base of the tree and climbed up it to retrieve a nice Ripe bunch. He picked the bunch and then gave it a good shake to make sure their weren't any nasty creepy crawlies hiding inside it. Finding none he slid back down the tree and put the bunch into his bag, hefted it over his shoulder and went deeper into the jungle.

[Schemmer]

Vince awoke to early morning sun shining through the walls of his tent. He stretched, got dressed, and otherwise got himself ready for his first full day on Kua'kua. Breakfast this morning was a simple affair - egg, tomato, and lettuce on toast with a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavors. It was fairly light as far as potential breakfasts went, and the bear rounded it off with a red tea. After eating, he cleared his tray and joined the other recruits where they were gathered. Some faces in the crowd were familiar, others were ones he'd only seen in passing the day before, and of course there were a good number he didn't recall seeing at all.

When Commander Steele arrived, Vince stood on his toes to get a better view, and immediately went flatfooted again in surprise. Walking beside the Commander was a quad- carrying a bag. Looking around, others seemed just as startled and confused to see the wolf as he was. When the wolf was introduced as one of the heads of R&D, well... maybe it was time for Vince to reevaluate what he considered "normal." For the moment though, his next step was to report to Lieutenant Areta. Having called Steele by his title yesterday, he did the same with the quoll now. "Lieutenant? Recruit Vincent Avery reporting in."

He hadn't been the first to arrive, there had been a white fox here before him, but he figured he wasn't the last either. James Wilson, the terrapin from yesterday, was also a cook, and the bear hoped there were more. In this case, three was hardly a crowd.

Vince nodded as the Lieutenant spoke about the island's relative independence food-wise and in general managing - and using! - the resources at one's disposal. When he heard her orders to collect a canvas bag from the mess tent and to collect food from the jungle for an hour, he nearly bounced in excitement. This was something he could do. He'd done gathering at home, and fishing of course, the jungles here were even fairly similar to those he knew, at least from what he had observed thus far. Now if she had asked them to go hunting, he would have been at a loss.

He picked up his bag from the mess tent and headed into the jungle. Since he was not yet familiar with the area, he decided to start along the stream he'd heard yesterday. He could always branch off from there later if he saw something promising.

[tobi3B]

Using the cleaning solution the cloth and the brush Angus cleaned the lance through and through. He also cleaned the contact points of the clip just to be sure. He found it rather relaxing to go through the motions and reflect over the moves he just learned in the training. He looked at his comrades and smiled.
" I think I will like it in the Overlords service" he thought to himself

[Shard Loren]

Shard was happy with his find of those bananas...but he needed more then just a single bunch of bananas, So Shard was looking for more and his nose picked up a smell he knew "*Sniff.....Sniiiiff*....If that.... Rambutan?" he went off in search of the smell and low and behold he found it a small bushel of Rambutan trees. "YES! I knew I recognized that smell." he looked for a tree with nice ripe fruit and he fond one...he picked one and gave it a smell, peeled the skin off and took a bite "Mmmm god I love these. These will be perfect" so he picked a decent amount and bagged them. and once more headed off to look for more items for his bag.

[Rotors91]

Razor eyed the lance in his grip critically, looking for any specks of dirt he may have left behind. He felt he'd done a decent job for his first time, as the weapon was looking pretty well cleaned. At least as far as his untrained eye was concerned. He turned it this way and that to make sure he hadn't missed anything during the first check through and decided that he'd done well enough. Tigermark was going to give it a look over anyway.

Though, seeing Keir cleaning his own lance several times over had the shark feeling a little concerned. He mentally questioned if he should do the same for a brief second, before shaking his head.  He was pretty confident in his cleaning job. Peering over at Angus, he noted the smile on the bears face and he laughed a bit.

"Didn't think ya' found cleanin' that much fun, my man"

[KeirStryker95]

"Hm?" Keir looked up as the sound of Razor's voice cut through his concentration. "Oh this? Ah haha, no, not really," he said as he raised the lance. "It's more of an OCD thing I have. When I do something, I do it to the best possible manner, and if it doesn't look right, or come out right, I start all over again. But I have a feeling I've cleaned thing enough that I have taken off the anti- corrosive agent," Keir laughed uneasily at the statement, then rose to his paws so as to pass the shock lance off to Tigermark for inspection.

"If you want, I can look over yours really quick just in case," he offered to Razor and Angus, pausing to hear their responses before we would go see the Commander.

[Rotors91]

Razor offered his lance to the tall wolf without hesitation, "Go wild man. I have no clue what I'm doin' any way".

Having another set of eyes never hurt, honestly. The shark was tired of looking at the thing anyway and figured what was cleaned was what would be cleaned. He did  get a kick out of Keir's statement when it came to his OCD, "Well, at least ya' certain ya' got the job done right! I'm the type of guy who just does it right the first time and what happens happens." Saying this, he raised his shoulders in a lazy shrug, and waited for the tall wolf to give him a preliminary assessment.

[KeirStryker95]

After going over Razor's lance two or three times, knocking of what appeared to be dust, he handed it back to the shark.

"Believe it or not, you've gotten this thing pretty darn clean," he said passing it back. "There were a few little specks here and there, but overall, job well done! I'm pretty sure Commander Tigermark will be pleased," Keir said ecstatically. He then turned to face Angus to wait for his reactions and to see what he wanted to do.

[Secateur]

Having cleaned all the parts of the lance per instructions, Eddie was happy with how it looked. But, he guessed that the commander would be picky, so he quickly went over any hard to reach areas that could be easily missed, and cleaned them extra thoroughly. While doing so, he realized that it would be for his own good to have a properly functioning lance. Therefore, he went over the parts Tigermark had mentioned specifically once more, even though he didn't really notice a difference. At least, he took out the pocketed clip and gave it a quick clean. Grabbing the lance in one hand and the clip in another, he smiled to the other recruits still busy cleaning, and carried the lance and clip to present to Tigermark.

[Tigermark]

While Tigermark was waiting for Darius' answer, Recruit Nielson approached him with lance in one hand and clip in the other. The Tiger waited a moment for the recruit to say something, and then prompted him.

"Recruit, the proper way to do this is to approach, just like you did, stop and come to attention, and announce, 'Sir, Recruit Nielson reporting as ordered. My lance is ready for inspection.' You did well in having the clip out and in hand, so I could see that it was not active. If your hands were empty, a salute is proper, unless we're in a combat situation. Now, go ahead."

[Rotors91]

"Well, thanks a lot Keir! Really appreciate the feed back!"

As he was taking the lance back, he spotted Eddie making his way to the commander with his lance in one hand the clip in the other. He cursed mentally and stuffed  a hand in his pocket, sighing in relief when he felt his own clip and pulled it out.

"Heh, would've been bad if I'd forgotten this baby, huh?" He chuckled a bit, wiping the clip down with a rag. His attention was draw back to the tiger and bat not to far off, overhearing the proper way to present his handiwork to his commander.

Well, good thing he hadn't finished cleaning his lance first because he surely would have done it wrong. Giving his lance one last look over, he waited for Eddie to be done with his business. The sun was getting rather high in the sky at this point, so hopefully lunch time wasn't too far off.   He was hungry, but thankfully not to the point where his stomach was moaning and groaning for food. At least not yet.

[Sponsored content]