thisavrou_log | Bits and Bolts

Entry tags:

Bits and Bolts

Who: Ram and Rey
When: Early January
Where: In the inner workings of Avagi
What: Tech talk
Warnings: None

Ram's curiosity for the Avagi system is far from satisfied, but one area he has not even touched yet is the inner workings, and how can you properly understand a system if you don't know how it works at its base level? So, now that the fog seems to have finally dissipated for good, Ram has set aside the day to explore the maintenance tunnels.

The further he gets in, the grimier and warmer they get. Before long, he takes off his hoodie and sweats, tying them around his waist to let his circuits get some air. He keeps a mental map of the area, these tunnels are as convoluted as the public corridors, but there's a nice bundle of wires he's currently following deeper into the system that will also acts as a guide out again. Here and there are service pannels, but they're all held fast, until he finds one with a couple screws loose.

Crouching down, he picks at one of the screws, managing to inch it out. The other one is less loose, but he starts inching it out by using the point of the first one as a makeshift screwdriver.

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While the service tunnels aren't exactly Rey's favorite place on the station, they are still a part of it that need to be maintained. And today, it has fallen to her to do so. She's left BB-9 in her room to make sure Jean doesn't try to throw away any more of her scrap (garbage, Jean would say, but Rey doesn't hold it against her because she just doesn't understand), and treks through the tunnels on her own. Though they've only been on the station a few months, she knows them like the back of her hand.

So when she runs into someone else, she is notably surprised. Her brows raise before pulling together in confusion. She places a hand on her hip, just above her lightsaber, and cocks her head to one side. "What are you doing?"

It takes some work, but he manages to get the second screw out. The other two, however, are still properly in place. He tests tugging at the side he's managed to free, but can't get it open far enough to properly see inside. So he picks up one of the screws back up and gets to work again.

It's just starting to come loose when a voice from behind him makes him start and whip round, hand instinctively reaching for the disk on his back, but stopping before he grabs it. 'Hi. I'm just trying to get this service panel open. I'm not going to alter anything, I just want to look.'

Edited 2018-01-06 20:49 (UTC)

Her muscles tense when she sees him reach for something on his back--some kin of disk, though she doesn't know what it is exactly--but relaxes just slightly when he stops midway. That's got to be a good sign, right? She exhales slowly, turning her attention back to the aforementioned panel. "You won't get it off without a tool."

Surprise and risk of confrontation seems to have eased and Ram perks up at her words now it doesn't look like he's in trouble. 'Do you have the tool?' He glances at her pack. Knowledge of the workings and presence down here means it's likely she's part of the system maintenance. 'Can I borrow it, or you use it?'

He seems earnest in his question and his endeavor, so Rey sees no reason not to help him. Besides, fixing wiring behind loose panels is her job anyway. He's helped her out. She moves forward, digging around in her pack as she does. "Yeah, somewhere in here. You new?"

Ram smiles, at ease now, and steps back from the panel so the woman can get to it. 'Yes, I arrived just a month ago. This is my first time in the maintenance tunnels though. I take it you're experienced in the area. What's your name?'

Once he moves out of the way, she shifts to where he'd been standing, dropping to her knees in front of the panel so she doesn't break her back leaning over to work on it. She pulls a screwdriver from her bag and begins loosening the screws as she answers. "Rey. And yeah, I spend a lot of time here. I fix the station." In reality it's more complicated than that, but she doesn't often think about it that way. Rey has always been good with machines, just able to figure them out somehow. It's second nature.

He stays far back enough to not get in her way, but close enough to watch, taking nite of the tool she pulls out and how it's applied. 'I'm Ram. Really? Could you tell me more about the system? I was hoping to learn more about how it works.'

Her tongue presses between her teeth as she concentrates, only half-listening to him as she finally gets the panel loose and sets it on the floor. She squints at the mess of wires behind it before her mind finally catches up with what he's asked. "The station's system? It's a piece of garbage, I'll tell you that. Unmaintained for the past couple hundred years, give or take a few."

'A couple hundred years?!' He tries to imagine a system going unmaintained for two hundred cycles. The data build-up, the growing lag, the energy use... And any programs who were part of this system... two hundred years is ten thousand cycles. 'That must have taken some work to get back online. How is it still functioning at all?'

She roots around, elbow-deep in the wall, offering a shrug. "We haven't really figured that out yet. But when we arrived, the life support systems were still online. Everything else just took a bit of tinkering to get working again."

Well if only one system is going to be functioning, life support is a good one for it to be. A starting point. 'Seems you've been pretty successful. Did you have an order of priority for the other systems? What state are they in these days?'

She considers his question, and realizes that... they should have thought of that. Prioritizing systems. She hadn't, at least. She'd just begun working on whatever had been in front of her. Rey worries her bottom lip for a moment before answering.]

We put a lot of work into the system of communication. It's probably in the best shape.

'Communication's important,' he agrees. If one system can't tell another there's a problem, it's a lot more difficult to manage.

He shifts to get a better look at the wires in the wall she's exposed, careful not to obstruct her movements. 'What system is this?'

When he shifts closer, Rey actually moves a bit to make room for him to see. She's becoming absorbed in the work already, but if there's one thing she doesn't mind talking about, it's this. "Looks like basic electrical for this part of the ship. Not life-or-death, but still pretty important."

Ram settles into the space she makes for him, peering at the bundles of wires with curiosity. 'So what sort of thing would this control? The light system? Heat? Or is it more of a general power transport that will get the energy to those systems?'

His questions aren't stupid, which encourages her to answer. She points to a red wire, tracing its path with a calloused finger. "This one is just lights for this area. Like I said, not life-or-death." She moves to point to a green wire. "This one is a little trickier. It doesn't do much here, but it runs all the way down to gravity control. Without it, we'd all be ten feet in the air all the time."

As she speaks, Ram listens carefully and logs the information. He's not coded for this, but it's interesting and given the expanse of the network, it might pay to have base knowledge of its functions.

'Must be tricky to fix the gravity systems if you're floating at the time,' he notes wryly. 'Is there a fail-safe or a temporary power reroute if this wire does get damaged? Or is the system out if the wire's out and you just have to fix it as quickly as possible?'

Edited 2018-01-24 00:44 (UTC)

As she fiddles around with the wires, separating and rearranging them into a more desirable configuration, Rey grins a bit. "The second one," she answers. "There probably used to be a failsafe, but after so long, I doubt it works anymore. So we just have to assume the worst." She finally finishes with the wires, and reaches out a hand in his general direction. "Gimme the panel."

He watches her work, trying to find pattern and reason in the deliberate way she rearranges the wires. 'Yikes. I haven't noticed anything considerably wrong so far though, so you and the other maintenance are clearly managing. Could you build a new failsafe?'

He follows her hand to the panel they had removed earlier and picks it up, handing it to her.

She takes the panel, fitting it back into place before reaching around for the screws. "If we had the resources, yeah. But we're a little light on those right now." They'd been able to bring some things back from Kaittos, but not nearly enough to sustain them.

Noting what she's trying to do, he gathers up three of the screws on the ground by his side and hands them to her. 'Is there any where to get more resources from? I've noticed this station seems somewhat isolated.'

"We visited a planet not too long ago," she explains, working the screws into place. "The Ingress--the machine that brought us all to this dimension in the first place--is somehow still functioning. It allows us to travel to other planets, but we can't control it. So if we happen upon the right kind of planet, then yeah."

'I've heard it could do that, though I haven't been to any other places myself yet.' He's been focusing on this station first. 'Are there any parts you're short on? Anything I could look out for?'

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Bits and Bolts

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wow what is... formatting.... whoops

No worries!

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