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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5110506" data-attributes="member: 143">Thanks,  Haraash Saan! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. * * * * * Interlude: Priorities (August 5-11, 2009)"Hey there, Jarvis.  Feeling better, I hope?  Look, I'm really sorry, that's never happened to me before." The engineer accepted Catalina's apologies, and insisted that he was fine, really.  Although the immobilizing foam cast he wore made further declarations impossible. The doc said his broken legs and cracked ribs would heal in about a week. Lucky for him that Catalina had fallen on him in the most advanced medical facility in the world.  The damage done to the reactor housing was likewise not critical, but it looked to set back the project a good day if not more. OOC Catalina De Ferrago: Climb +6, Balance +9, roll: 1 (automatic failure). Result: -1 engineer/week on reactor project (and one engineer out of commission until next week) Almost as soon as the semi-conscious engineer was carted away to the medical wing, along with the bruised Catalina, Jane intervened at the damaged housing.  It looked like Catalina's fall had dented an important juncture box, putting pressure on a critical fiberoptic control line.  In a flash of inspiration, Jane was able to use her laser rifle on low power to heat the housing, and using a multitool she was able to correct the dent. OOC Jane Swift: Craft Mechanical +12, roll: 19 (31) (major success). Result: +2 engineer/weeks on reactor project A few days after the accident, Grace Thelon Beluca stood in the control room, which was crowded with most of the engineering staff (minus Jarvis), the X-COM leadership, and Alpha Team.  She grinned as she pulled down the heavy lever on the main junction box. There was a flicker of the lights, and a distant noise. "Don't worry, it'll take a few minutes to come online," Grace said.  She frowned as the flickers continued for a few seconds longer, and then the lights came back on, and the control board showed green all across, including the new indicator marked, "Laser Defense 1". "We're in business," the Chief Engineer says, flashing a wide grin.* * * * * * * * * Jim read the note from Stan, getting visibly excited as he did so. The suspicions the team had about the possibility of resuscitating near-dead soldiers were right! It was only a matter of scaling the medikits up, using the high-speed microdispersal technology that was already present, albeit in a rudimentary way, in the existing medikits. Jim typed quickly, then hit send:* * * The alarm klaxon sounded at two in the morning, shattering the uneasy sleep of Alpha Team in their bunks.  As the veteran operatives surged out of their beds and lunged for their lockers, the intercom hissed, drawing their attention.  The voice of the tech on the intercom was calm but intense. "ALIEN CRAFT INCOMING. TARGET TRAJECTORY INDICATES DESTINATION IS HQX. TIME TO INTERCEPT 3 MINUTES. ALL PERSONNEL TO ACTION STATIONS. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."They’d barely had time to throw on clothes and grab their weapons before the entire base shook, a trembling that pulsed through the ground like an earthquake.  “What was that?” Jane asked, but none of them had any answers, could do nothing but follow Vasily to the briefing room. Garret wasn’t there yet, but Grace and Doctor Wagner were huddled together over the smaller screen jutting from the wall display panel.  The two women looked up as the Alphas entered, and Grace’s face broke into a wide grin. “Looks like the Laser Defense Array works,” she said. * * *</blockquote>

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