In Need of Assistance? (Day 8 MM, Maintenance)

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"Well, I can probably manage." He replied with a nod, though he wasn't to keen on the idea. At least you didn't find zombies in ducts.

"My tool kit is pretty compact too, so that should help."

[Hatoful GM]

Smiling, Riggs clapped him on the arm. "Good lad. You're saving us a lot of hassle, believe me."

He took a deep breath. "Okay. Here's the deal. The entrance is up there." He pointed to a hatch up a ladder. "There's a lot of piping goes through there, carrying heat. Kilometers of the stuff. The valves are coming lose it a lot of places, which means heat waste, which means all the rooms are colder." He grimaced. "Don't want the rooms to get much colder than they already are."

He gave Silas another nod. "So, think you could help us out? Go through, tighten the valves?"

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"Yeah, I think I can." Silas replied as he stripped out of his jacket, and started to apply a little grease to his elbows, and knees. It might help him slide around if it came to it.

Stepping towards the ladder, he looked up at the Hatch. "I know it's a long shot, but do you guys have any hydroponics or anything around here? I was trying to get my hands on some fruit." The question was asked as tool kit around his belt, and glowrod in easy reach he started to climb the ladder.

[Hatoful GM]

The mechanics all looked at each other, frowning. Riggs looked back up.

"Let me see what I can do. Most of what we get is rations, but there's a bit of fresh stuff. I'll bet we can find you something."

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"Thanks! I got some stuff to trade for it if need be." Silas offered the men a grin as he opened up the hatch, letting it swing out of the way before climbing inside.

[Hatoful GM]

"You fix those valves, I'll get you some fruit!" The big mechanic called up to him.

...

In truth, it seemed like the vents weren't that tight. After all, they were made with being fixed exactly this way in mind. And they were rather warm, all things considered. On the other hand, they were slightly damp, square, and full of hard metal and more than a few sharp edges.

[Silas Myles Pearson]

Silas breathed a small sigh, he was worried it was going to freezing up here. Still no time like the present to get started, moving forward in the ducts he tried to avoid all the hard pipes and sharps edges as he made his way towards the valves. He could deal with being a bit wet and sweaty, but he really didn't want to be bloody and bruised along with it.

[Hatoful GM]

It wasn't too bad, and Silas' skills were easily up to the task. Mostly, thought, it would take a bit of time.

The vent system seemed to be a series of loops, with access points where the loops joined up. Doing a single loop would be easy. Doing two might be possible, depending on how quickly he worked.

[Silas Myles Pearson]

Well, quickly would likely be better, though he could always finish up later? Well, probably.

Still best to try and get them both done if he could manage.

[Hatoful GM]

Everything was going well...

As he was crawling along, though, Silas heard what sounded like someone softly crying. A woman, maybe? It was hard to tell; it was up ahead, and possibly coming in through one of the grates that he periodically encountered that let air and heat out.

[Silas Myles Pearson]

That was odd, and while Silas didn't think he should be intruding on anyone's private moments it still had him curious.

So moving towards the next grate, he attempted to look through it. Maybe there would be something he could do to help? Even if now seemed like a bad time to try.

[Hatoful GM]

Peering through, it looked like one of the lower ranked rooms; there were two double-stacked beds in the little space.

The source of the crying seemed to be from a woman on one of the top bunks. She was dressed in standard Republic undress fatigues. She had pulled her feet up, resting her face on her knees. She cried quietly, her short brown hair moving slightly as she did so.

[Silas Myles Pearson]

Silas sighed, this was bad, he should probably just leave, it's not like there was a access ladder down anywhere near here.

Still he found himself hesitating so eventually he spoke. "Um... Excuse me, Miss.... I don't mean to intrude, but are you okay?"

[Hatoful GM]

The woman jumped, her freckled face looking up. She was almost surprisingly young; eighteen or nineteen at most

"What the..." Wiping a hand across her face, she looked around. "Who's that? Tankets, if that's you, I swear I'll pound you..."

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"Ah, Sorry." The young Jedi said rather awkwardly. "I Didn't mean to frighten you, or disturb you. I was just up here fixing some of the heating elements in the ducts, and I heard you.... My name's Silas."

There was a momentary pause. "I probably sound like some weird creepy guy now don't I? Sorry, Miss. I can move along now if you like."

[Hatoful GM]

"No..." She sighed. "That's fine. I... just didn't expect anyone."

She sat up a little, chin on knees. "Silas?" She frowned. "I don't know any Silas. Are you new?"

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"New? Well, Kinda... I'm here as part of my training." Silas offered in explanation.

"So I guess it's more like i'm passing through." He shifted slightly in the ducks, managing to bang his head against a pipe in the process. "I'm helping out Riggs a bit while I'm here."

"Could I ask your name?"

[Hatoful GM]

"Just passing through? Lucky." The young woman sighed.

She shifted, letting her feet dangle off the edge as she peered upwards into the vent. "Nice to meet you, Silas. I'm Jes." She laughed softly, wiping a hand across her face again. "Some meeting huh? Sorry for interrupting your work. I didn't mean for anyone to hear."

[Silas Myles Pearson]

"Lucky? I suppose so." This place seemed like it would get pretty boring pretty fast. "But then again, I'm likely going to graduate over the next few weeks, and then all my friends will be scattered across the galaxy to learn from different masters." Which still felt a little lonely.

He smiled. "But nice to meet you Jes, I'd come down to shake your hand, but the grate here doesn't really open.... And really you don;t have to apologize, if I don't finish now, I can always crawl around here later. I mean it's really not too bad, kinda like a sauna with weird damp spots and low hanging pipes to bang your head on.

[Hatoful GM]

Jes snorted. "Yeah, I think I've been in a sauna like that a few times."

She did a double-take, blinking up at the vent. "Wait, are you one of the Jedi? Great. I was crying in front of a Jedi... just my luck."