forum The Drill (We’ve started, but we’re still open!)

Started March 23, 2019 by @Mojack group

tune

The Drill was massive; even the place where Espilon commonly patrolled took time, as it was huge. The Drill was longer of course than it was wider. Accompanying The Drill were several base like structures; the rock had been dug out into several tunnels, more space, and reinforced, so that they did not collapse. The space had been converted in area for teams of the various levels of The Drill to stay at.

The rooms have what you’d expect from this sort of thing; areas to sleep, areas to research, areas to train; such as your mind or yourself, areas to eat, areas to heal, areas to fix, and areas for storage. It wasn’t all too too big, space was limited of course; but still, it was enough space.

The center, the space around The Drill had several reinforced metal platforms to walk on. They all curved around The Drill, in a circle. Espilon walked around them, his plasma rifle, displayed but put down for now as he studied The Drill and the surrounding area. The Drill; or this level of The Drill - they’re somewhere in the mid-levels - rarely moved, but sometimes it would, perhaps to prevent rust or to clear the dust. Espilon didn’t really know. Or care. Overall, The Drill was made of a powerful type of metal, coloured black. It was definitely older.

In the surrounding space where tunnels had not been dug out and yet there was still space, was where The Raiders commonly did their thing; ‘raided.’ Espilon had to look at getting someone to maybe reinforce that area for once. The holes had been somewhat covered, but were bound to get knocked out in the event of a raid.

Espilon continued his walk around The Drill, focused on the current; just to patrol. He stayed silent in terms of doing it, making a point to reserve information that he noted earlier for later.

Meanwhile, in one of the tunnels was Odila, or commonly known as Theta. But she let anyone choose what they’d call her. Odila was generally seen at the medical tunnel, maybe studying, maybe treating someone..which she was doing the latter right now. This patient had been here for a while, injured from a previous Raider attack. Anyone with a medical degree of some sorts, or even anyone with no training at all could see that his right leg had to go; and it would be back up to the surface for him. Maybe to get a prosthetic and return, maybe just to return to his home. Odila was never told what happens to them, as that wasn’t in her training for this.

Currently, the patient was asleep, Odila sitting at a chair at a desk, cleaning her tools.

Cannon was, well… bored. For lack of a better word at least. The young women had just finished an intense round of training and now sat perched on a rock while her shoulder cannon recharged.

The thing she hated the most about working around the drill was the dust. Although the constant whirring noise came as a close second. Both things were always present. It was enough to make someone lose their sanity if they weren’t careful.

Renegade was laying down on one of the lower metal platforms, one leg dangling over the edge and the other folded under him. An arm rested beneath his head as he watched Espilon patrol above him. Ren would've been the perfect image of relaxation, if his free hand hadn't been clutching the staff at his side as if he'd need it any second. Those periods of time in which they weren't fighting were those that he felt most useless. He had no clue how to help fix or improve the drill, and with Odila caring for the wounded man, he was left with nothing productive to do. He supposed he could, or rather should, help Espilon out and patrol, but then, laying there was way more comfortable and he didn't want to move. Not out of laziness, but because it was near impossible for him to get sleep on a regular schedule, which left him exhausted all the time.

Lukas sat on a chair in one of the tunnels, working at a small gadget. He toyed around with it; the drill didn’t need anything done to it right now, so Lukas decided on working on his own items. He paused for a moment, then took the gadget; a small sphere like thing, with many bumps all over it, and put it in his bag that he slung over his shoulder and got up.

He walked until he exited the tunnels and onto the circle platform that surrounded the drill.

Rally paced the length of the walkways near the most common Raider zones, humming some lyricless song he'd picked up somewhere or another. His pulse rifle rested comfortably on his shoulder as he took slow, measured steps. Idle hands were the devil's workshop, after all, but it would do no good to waste his energy either. Every once in a while, he would glance up - if he strained hard enough, he could faintly hear the shifts and slight thuds as the others went about their business in the Drill.
They'd been underground for some time now, hadn't they? He missed the sun a little bit, though not enough to want to leave. There were Raiders to fight. He wasn't going anywhere.
Huffing out a little laugh, Rally turned on his heel and started sauntering the other way. Maybe he'd go grab something hot to drink in a bit.

Epsilon stopped by the entrance to the tunnels, seemingly having finished his patrols around the Drill. It seemed like long, boring work. To Epsilon, it was needed. Required. He glanced around, looking above him. Even if they were just in the mid levels, it was still hard to see the sky.

He put away his weapon and approached the railings, looking down.
—
Odila’s patient was steady for now. She’d have to return to him later, but for now he was stable. She could start the amputation - the hard, gritty work - later. For now, she exited the medical room and walked towards the main part of the base; the Drill.

Odila whistled a tune to herself as she walked through the tunnel.

Cannon watched her companions mill around. She wasn’t quite worried about another raid. She was confident she could smash any creature to bits on short notice. She pulled her lip in between her teeth, spotting the massive figure of Rally lumbering around nearby. She scooped up a handful of pebbles, playfully chucking them at the man who was almost a full two feet taller than her.

The sound of the pebbles clacking against the metal catwalk made Rally's head whip toward the sound, eyebrows raised in near-catlike curiosity. It wasn't an attack - the sound was too quiet - so his rifle arm remained untensed. He narrowed his eyes slightly, scanning the surroundings for the source of the rocks… Ah. there she was.

"Cannon!" Rally exclaimed in recognition, a smile already tugging at his mouth as he bent down to scoop up one of the fallen stones. "Don't tell me you've mistaken me for a Raider!"

He slung the pebble in his hands back in her direction in a wide arc. "Tell me, how is our pintsized powerhouse doing? Bored, it seems!"

Cannon grinned as she ducked to dodge the pebble. “My deepest apologies, Rally! I thought you were a class six!” She shot back, her tone light and teasing. “I’m wicked bored. My gun’s gotta charge and there’s nothing around to slice up.” She added, rather dramatically as well, a lopesided smile forming on her face.

"Well, it's not like it's not a common mistake," Rally replied with a chuckle, shaking his head. He shifted his shoulders in mock-thoughtfulness, bringing his free hand up to his chin. "But for the boredom… I could offer to spar with you, but I am not sure I like the idea of you slicing me up…" He snapped his fingers.

"Ah - I know. Have you tried asking Epsilon for some chores?" The teasing in his voice deepened, and he visibly struggled to keep a straight face.

Cannon was unable to contain herself as she erupted in a fit of laughter. “Oh, for sure.” She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I believe he’ll want me to to do some dusting. He’ll hand me a broom and make me wipe every pebble off the face of the earth.” She rolled her eyes, halheartedly flinging another pebble at Rally.

Epsilon paused from his gaze to the depths of The Drill, somewhat hearing his name. He glanced in the general direction of the conversation, but said nothing.

Odila arrived into The Drill. “Good morning everyone - or is it afternoon? It’s hard to tell down here, isn’t it?” She announced her presence to no one in particular.

Lukas turned to Odila as he heard her. He smiled as he greeted her, “Hello, Odila! What have you been up to?” He asked, approaching the woman.

Ren sighed and decided he might as well get up, upon hearing the voices nearby. He pushed himself into a sitting position, using his staff to help him all the way up, then laid it across his shoulders, tiredly making his way to the others. "Hey. What's up?" he asked casually, arriving just in time to hear Odila's words.

"It will be a lesson for sure," Rally agreed, amused. "You can only truly appreciate the Drill once you've tried to do its job with nothing but a broom!"
He caught the pebble and tossed it back, turning the exchange into a miniature game of catch. After a second or two, he tilted his head in question. He could barely catch some snatches of conversation. Was that Theta's voice? It seemed to be.
"Is it me, or are the others having a gathering without us?"

“It wouldn’t be the first time. I have a theory that Señor Serious is trying to get rid of me.” She slid off the rock, landing smoothly on her feet. “I would say it’s a tall people meeting, but they rejected you too, so I suppose not.” She stretched lazily, hefting up her now half charged weapon. “Let’s see what this is about, shall we?”

"Davai, let's go," Rally said. "Lead the way." He was half-tempted to laugh aloud at Señor Serious, but he held his tongue. He felt that Epsilon had a sixth sense for detecting attitude half the time, after all.
He waited for Cannon to start walking, taking a moment to note - not for the first time - just how tiny she was compared to him. She probably weighed as much as his rifle - but that didn't stop her from being possibly one of the ablest soldiers he'd met.
"They're probably gossiping again," he mused with a half-serious sigh. "The nerve of this crew."

“I’ve just been dealing with a guy in the medical room. He’s sleeping right now, but I’m going to have to go back later and finish up. I’ll have to amputate one of his legs. A Class 4 bit it pretty hard. Usually it would’ve come right off, but for some reason the Class 4 didn’t bite it right off. The leg won’t work no more, that’s for sure though.” Odila sighed.

Cannon led the way over to the group, having to take two to theee steps for every one step Rally took beside her. She generally liked the the young man, he was amusing to be around, good with his gun, and made this place just a little less awful. As they strolled up to the group, Cannon caught the last of Theta’s words, frowning a bit. “Another one bites the dust.” She sighed quietly.

"Damn, that's awful," Renegade sighed, attempting to straighten out his perpetually messy hair. He was thankful now that she'd been the one to handle his recover, since amputation wasn't exactly something he was experienced in. "Any good news?"

"Good news would be nice to hear," Rally agreed, coming to a stop beside Cannon, nodding towards Renegade in affirmation and turning his gaze onto Epsilon and Theta. "And if that's too much, I would appreciate a solvable problem. It has been quiet - have you noticed? The stir-craziness is setting in."

“Well, on terms of good news, we should be finally receiving some reinforcements for the places that need it down here. Though in all honesty, while it will make it easier to defend ourselves down here, it’s still pretty boring.” Odila said.

Epsilon approached. “I have a feeling it might not be quiet for much longer.”

“Thank the gods. I want to blow something up!” Cannon grinned, patting her shoulder cannon excitedly “I bet all we’ll get is some weak class ones anyways. We haven’t had a real challenge in at least a week.” She complained, rolling her eyes.

"But what does that mean?" Ren asked, briefly returning Rally's nod of acknowledgement. "What is your feeling grounded upon, I mean," he restated, looking to Epsilon.

Rally tilted his head a bit, considering. To Odila, he offered a gracious smile.
"We'd never turn down extra defense," he commented. "Boring as it is."
He glanced over at Epsilon.
"This feeling," he said. "It wouldn't happen to be a foreboding gut feeling, would it? I may have one just like it."