open | first medibay shift

[asafepairofhands]

WHO: Ratchet and you!
WHAT: First shift in the medibay
WHERE: The medibay
WHEN: early in March
WARNINGS: Medical stuff? None otherwise


If you have a reason to come into the medical bay, there's a new face around. Ratchet is acquainting himself with the place, learning where things are, triage protocols, and building a workspace for his ten-foot self over in the corner so he doesn't have to hunch over the tables they already have.

He will also be in his human form, with his ambulance body tucked into a corner, helping to tidy the smaller, regular-sized instruments and supplies that are used regularly.

If he isn't doing that, he'll be sitting and reading up on organic medicine, just in case anybody squishy comes in with an injury of some sort. He knows the real test will be the next kaiju fight, but for now he's just making himself comfortable. Please feel free to disturb him.

Comments

[lostdestiny]

Shinn glances from Ratchet to the medical equipment and then back toward the hangar again. "I get that you're a doctor," he says, a bit defensively. He did listen last time, thanks! "But you're a robot doctor, so -- can you fix machines?"

This is a totally fair inquiry in Shinn's mind, especially because there aren't any dedicated mechanics.

[asafepairofhands]

"I'm a machine doctor, so... yeah, probably," Ratchet says, not sounding offended this time--it is a fair question, especially if something of Shinn's needs fixing.

"I can't promise anything until I look at what I'm working with, but I'll try to help out. What's broken?"

[lostdestiny]

Shinn scowls faintly, but it's an expression of embarrassment at himself -- he's not proud that Destiny took a hit like this or that he's not a good enough mechanic to straighten it out. "One of the palm cannons is down," he admits. "And I do all the routine stuff, but this place doesn't have any real mechanics, so it's been through two fights without a real repair session...."

This can be LILITH's fault somehow, right? Who brings robot pilots without their mechanics?

[asafepairofhands]

"Oh, it's one of your suits. Yeah, sure, I'll take a look." Ratchet lets the rest of the medical team know he'll be stepping out and nods at Shinn.

"Let's go to the hangar. You can show me which one is yours and where the problem, and any specs if you have them. It's my first time working on these so I'll see what I can do."

[lostdestiny]

“Mm, ‘mobile suits.’” Shinn’s body language is a little lighter as he heads toward the hangar, his expression a little brighter, at having someone lined up to try helping.

Speaking of brighter, Shinn’s ocular implant flashes for a moment as he transmits the technical manual for the ZGMF/A-42S2 Destiny Spec II over to Ratchet. It’s pretty clearly meant to hit hard and fast, with an elaborate system for speed boosts plus swords and guns in various shapes and sizes, aaaaand also…

“Have you worked with nuclear reactors before?”

… if it blew up that would be bad.

[asafepairofhands]

Ratchet rolls his optics. "Yeah, mobile suits, whatever." He slows a little as he gets the specs, his optics lighting as he flips through them quickly.

"These things have swords? How do you even hit each other properly in space? You know what, never mind," he says as they approach and he looks Destiny up and down with a critical optic.

"I think I can take care of this. It's not that different from surgery, now that I have the specs. And I know enough about nuclear reactors to know how to be careful. You said it was the palm cannon, right?"

[lostdestiny]

"We get close before we use the swords," Shinn says touchily. Yeah, he just asked this guy for a favor in the form of a robot-checkup so he probably shouldn't be rude, but slicing up huge enemies with an anti-ship sword is basically Shinn's trademark attack and he's not gonna let anyone talk shit about it.

But he forces himself to talk business for the sake of his beloved mobile suit, his tone getting noticeably more focused and professional for a moment, like he's giving a report. "The hand and the cannon were damaged by an explosion last October. I did basic repairs on the hand, but the cannon -- " He winces here, and the professionalism falls off. "I wasn't gonna blow up the base trying to get it back online. Before the base blew up, I mean."

[asafepairofhands]

"And you use the thrusters to keep from just bouncing off each other, yeah, I get it," Ratchet says, refusing to take Shinn's tone personally. His attention sharpens when Shinn straightens up and starts giving him a report.

"Do you know where the damage was that disabled the cannon, or am I going to have to pop this whole thing open looking for the power short?" he asks. "I promise I won't blow up the base. Honestly, I might open this thing up as much as I can just to get a good look at how it works in practice. Nothing I can't put back together, though."

[lostdestiny]

Shinn straightens up, alarmed, at open this thing up as much as I can (and, for the moment, too distracted to answer the question about what damaged the cannon). "You'd better be able to put it back together!"

His eyes flash from Ratchet to Destiny and back with real worry underneath the agitation. He loves this robot unconditionally, and even though he asked Ratchet for help in the first place, open this thing up has him rattled and reconsidering.

[asafepairofhands]

"Relax," Ratchet says, going up to Destiny and double-checking the specs before he starts carefully lifting panels on the mobile suit's arm. "I just need to get under the superstructure enough to see the circuitry for the cannon. I've been working on people-shaped machines this size for five million years, I'm not going to do anything I can't fix. Do you want to come up on the catwalk and watch?"

[lostdestiny]

"Yes," Shinn snaps, still jittery and protective as he scrambles up to the catwalk -- even if he weren't a bit nervous, he's used to hanging around his mechanics as they work on his mobile suits. Internally, he forces himself to go through the reasons he asked for help in the first place (this is a robot doctor! Robot doctor should know how to fix robots! Destiny's been through two kaiju fights without a real tune-up, and that palm cannon still needs to be fixed!), and, after clenching his teeth, re-focuses for the sake of his beloved sparklebot.

Right. There was a question about how the hand got messed up in the first place. Back to that. "I swatted a plane and it exploded." He's back to a passably quasi-military tone, although there's definitely a sullen and defensive edge to it. Shinn still thinks it's nonsense that the planet exploded like a bomb instead of just getting smacked away. "I don't know what exactly took what part of the detonation. There was a lot going on."

[asafepairofhands]

"Feel free," Ratchet says absently, not looking up from his work. He nods vaguely to Shinn as he talks, then redoubles his concentration on the laid-open mechanisms of Destiny's arm, testing circuitry and replacing parts when necessary. He's meticulous and careful, and it takes a while working on the area where the plane had hit before he leans back and starts to close everything back up.

"All right, you want to test it, see if it activates properly?"

[lostdestiny]

Shinn watches Ratchet work interest — a robot working on a robot! Dang that’s weird — and apprehension. But Ratchet’s work looks as solid as the work of any mechanic Shinn has worked with, and he’s not seeing any obvious errors. Plus, if this results in a nuclear meltdown, it’s not Shinn’s fault.

His head jerks up when Ratchet asks him if he wants to test out the repairs. “Yes,” he hollers from the catwalk, a note of cautious enthusiasm in his voice. He swings over the edge of the catwalk and into Destiny’s cockpit with a bit greater speed and fluidity than a normal human would have (bolstered by the recklessness of knowing that he can teleport if he misses a step), and a moment later the machine shifts from the dull grays of its low-power mode to the reds, blues, and blacks of fully armored mode. And, a moment after that — “I’m not gonna fire it, but back up.”

[asafepairofhands]

"Appreciated!" Ratchet says with only a little alarm in his voice, backing up quickly and watching as Shinn practically backflips into the mobile suit. He's almost positive his repairs were successful, but working on a whole new system is, well... new. He waits with anticipation to see what Shinn says.