Log:The Irregulars: Paper Cuts - Laser Doping for the Win
Paper Cuts - Laser Doping for the Win
OOC Date: May 15, 2019
Location: Metalorn
Participants: Dyannah Nerus, Rial Het, Rhysio Ando, Zian
Rebreathers make the long ride through the desert of industrial waste that has replaced the verdant jungle more comfortable though skin itches and reddens with prolonged exposure to the air. A drizzle of acid rain falls from the perpetually grey skies leaching the color from the landscape. The employee transit bus floats along the road on its suspensors as the sun lightens the sky.
The factory would win no design awards. Long utilitarian buildings some of them a kilometer in length are packed together in long rows. Perpendicular to them is the entry building where new employees are badged and cleared before being escorted to their assignments. On the opposite side of the building is the exit for employees leaving for the day, where they are screened and searched before exiting.
The group rides together silently, a diverse cross section of the Galaxy, here to find jobs that are scarce on some planets or looking for that next step higher in their career. They have politely made space for one another, talking briefly about the heat or sharing snacks between them as the bus takes them to the subsidiary of Sureggi company. The Irregulars after months of planning have brought their group together for a little mayhem.
Several employees from Human Resources are behind desks, all of them with the bright expressions of employees who know that security cameras are trained on them and that upper management regularly reviews the films.
"Name, please." The young woman asks. She punches it into the computer and a hologram picture appears over her desk.
Having slept a good bit of time on the buss, Rhysio-in-disguise seems fresh, but the lines along his brow and the edges of his eyes tell a story of a lot of long days in a place a lot like this. He is dressed for the business they are in, in a nondescript jumpsuit that hangs loosely on his frame. His hair is a dull brown and his skin is red and ruddy, a drastic departure in physical features from those that know him.
He steps up confidently, though not dramatically, to the table with the HR representative, "Remo T. Oller."
Thankfully for Zian, his swoopsuit also happens to be primarily used for his mechanic jumpsuit. It's extremely well suited to the task, and as such has been modified some time ago anyway. In his grip is his engineering toolkit, well-used and scuffed up, and stuffed in his clothing is his M-434 pistol. Dark goggles have been pulled down over his eyes, obscuring his red gaze, and making him outwardly look for all intents and purposes like a Pantoran! Fantastic. As he approaches, he keeps his mouth shut, allowing Rhysio to charm the receptionist. When it comes to his name, he simply motions over his form. He's blue, it's not like there's likely to be very many male Pandorans on that list.
Busily typing at her terminal, the woman hardly glances at the two, "Place your hands on the square," she says with a perfunctory smile intended to appear friendly but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. The Pantoran's blue skin deserves a second glance but it is more the prurient glance reserved for gossip magazines at a holostand than real interest.
Rhysio Ando pauses, catching sight of Zian freezing up at the sign-in table. He stops, doing a slow turn, and walking back to the table. He looks towards Zian with a smile and a curt nod before he looks to the HR Rep and kneels down so he's not towering over a sitting person, "I know him. He's mute, but we worked together at my last factory job. He lost whatever Pantorans have for a voicebox in a manufacturing accident. His religion forbids cybernetics or something, from what I heard." He leans forward, as if sharing a secret, "You know, it's smart he's here. He's good with that tool kit." He tilts his head, looking at the roster, "Can you just find his name on the roster? I never got around to learning what it is either..."
He tilts his head down, smiling subtly before he looks back to the HR agent out of the corner of his eye. He proceeds shyly, and maybe a little uncertainly, "And... while you're looking him up... Can I know what office you work in? I'd... like to visit you."
Rial Het follows along behind the pair of Zian and Rhysio, complaining at Rhys gruffly, "Some of us gotta work today, you know. Will you two get moving already? Database degraded seventeen percent yesterday, and some very important people gonna be very angry if it don't get recovered. Move!" he grumbles to the pair with a scowl.
The employees standing in line behind Rial give the two holding them up meaningful looks but remain silent. One of them elbows Rial and turning away from the camera points so that Rial can see. "Just a friendly reminder," he says sotto voce.
The temporary backup that is making the groups behind them clock in late begins to move. Badges are produced, "Blue guy goes to Building 2A with you," she points to Rhysio and then lays a card with a number on her desk. "You might want to take that. Follow the signs and badge in, there should be someone to show you to your station."
Scowling down at the list of new incomers than up at Rial. "You. You will be in Quality Assurance. Building 3B, follow the signs. If you leave your designated area, alarms will be tripped. If you can't explain why. Goodbye." She looks at the three of them, and asks with a tone that suggests that there had better be none. "Questions?"
Looking over his badge for a moment, running his finger across the name printed on it, Remo T. Oller, he looks up to the HR Representative and nods his head. He looks towards Zian and tosses his head to indicate that he should follow him. When they get to Building 2A, Rhys raises his badge to make his entry into the building. He does get the once over, and maybe a look through his file, but he's shuffled off to the next area. In what feels like a whirlwind, he is situated at his station and looking over the user manual while getting himself familiar with the controls.
Zian has no problems placing his free hand on that scanner, then accepting his badge, which he clips to his jumpsuit before giving the receptionist a bob of his head. Turning, the Pantoran starts off after Rhysio, at least keeping closer to the other man for the purpose of being able to pretend to fit in better. He's never been good at this sort of thing, and it shows, having spent more time with machines than people in general. Either way, maybe the proximity to Rhysio helps him, but he's still likely going to be escorted to his workstation. He tries not to speak, regardless.
Rial Het grunts and shakes his head to the curt directions and prompt for questions. "Three B," he repeats, giving Rhysio and Zian a discreet wink in parting as the trio diverge. Entering the quality control station as if he owns the place, and settling into a seat at the appropriate terminal, he sips from a mug of kaf and reviews the hourly output. Subtly recovering a data lead from his belt, and establishing a link with the terminal, he sets the mug down with a mild clatter to cover the the low *click* of the slicing lead fitting into place.
An older man, balding and paunchy, getting towards what would be a respectable age for retirement on most planets walks down the aisle towards the two newest. He stops between the two (Rhysio and Zain) "You both have been through the training according to your file. These are good machines, keep an eye on the feed for the dopant and keep and make sure the crystals are aligned correctly. Nothing to it." His eyes shift from one to the other. "You got questions, you see something not right, you think something is off - call me with that button there. Clear?"
Setting down the manual for just a moment, Rhysio looks up towards the man who approaches them. He nods quickly in agreement, "Yup! We've both been through the training. Absolutely." He then blinks, "I might have missed one thing though. We covered how to keep the crystals aligned and whatnot, but nobody ever said what happens if the crystals get too misaligned." With a tilt of his head, he asks, "Do you know, sir?"
Zian requires no manual, and as he sits his toolkit down next to his chair and takes a seat, he turns towards the approaching older gentleman, gazing at him from behind those dark goggles with a somewhat flat, not overly welcoming expression on his face. "You die." he supplies to Rhysio, as though this were simply the weather, and it might rain outside. "Is there any routine maintenance that needs accomplished? I am proficient in any number of things to ensure everything is up and running to top performance."
Carrying a data pad, a woman walks down the aisle. Black hair back in a severe bun, white lab coat with the age old nerd plastic shield on it to clip her holopens to, she stops with a decided frown behind Rial. "Are you the new one that was sent in?" she asks with a barely disguised moue. "I don't know why we can't keep people..."
She consults the data pad, "Says you went through training, you will be doing the diagnostics on one out of ten crystals coming through. Easy, fast but it requires paying attention. We could put a droid on this work but found they don't have a feel for when a crystal is wonky. Management and I don't agree but they didn't ask my opinion. So here you are."
The older man just shakes his head. "Drek up and you are out of here so fast your head will spin. I will do any maintenance that needs doing. Alright. Get to it."
Rial Het nods once to the overseer, meeting the frown with a brief smile that is replaced by a professional neutrality. "Here I am, aye. Understood," he notes to the instructions, summarizing, "Every tenth piece, quick and easy." Bringing up the diagnostic program, he waits until the supervisor with the severe hair has moved along to begin trying to slice in and rewrite the parameters, and the delay costs him: it's slow going.
As soon as the manager-type leaves, Rhysio ducks low and turns to Zian, "Alright, Blue. What's next?" He gestures around, "I did what I could to get us this far." He then reaches over, tapping on the manual, "Plenty in here on how to use it. Not so much on how to misuse it."
The surveillance is constant on the floor. The facility is brightly lit, clean, antiseptic in some areas though our cohort of Irregulars have not been put into the clean areas. Security for that is too high. Quiet reigns as heads are bowed over computers and screens in this quiet but vital production center for the crystals used in the super laser.
Rial Het gets into the operating systems of the quality control system discreetly. No triumphant smile, nor any outward change. Just a mental exhale. Once inside, he surveys his options, and begins rewriting the calibration scale, using the latest system update to cover his data tracks.
Zian doesn't speak overly loudly in the first place, so the quiet and frowns don't bother him. It reminds him of home, in fact! Ahhh, memories. Gazing at the controls, Zian hums softly to himself, adjusting a few of the crystals to ensure they're in the right spot before he leans closer to Rhysio and proceeds to whisper. "Adjust two crystals opposite each other by exactly four degrees." As an example, he reaches out and grabs a dial, adjusting one of the crystal alignments before doing the same to the dial directly next to it. "Just four of them."
The two heads together attract the bald man's attention. It looks strange to him though he couldn't tell you why if asked. Walking silently he seems to materialize behind the two though in fact he just has very quiet shoes. "What needs that kind of consultation?" His voice is gruff and brooks no delay in an answer.
In the meantime, Ms. Severe Bun, has left Rial to his devices or so it seems. On her split screen she has a picture of what is running on his terminal. Clever Rial. There is what appears to be running and what is really running which does not show on her screen. She puts down her cup of caf and glances over at him.
As the boss materializes behind him asking for an immediate answer, Rhysio's improvisation training kicks in. Yes, and, you son of a... Turning, a finger dips into his pocket clandestinely and produces the card given to him earlier, "Oh, hey boss." He holds up the card he received earlier, "I got the contact information of a girl not too long ago and my friend here knows a little bit about Pantorian healing crystals. He's explaining to me that using four crystals with a four degree counter offset will channel energies that would keep me in the spirit of the moment for far more than the forty-five minutes to an hour worth of moments I'm already good for!"
He smiles wanly, beginning to ramble incessantly, "Have you ever tried Pantoran healing crystals? You don't know what you're missing. My coworker's mother has a friend who knows this girl who may be involved in a multi-level marketing program who may be able to get me an initial shipment for only a small fee. Hey, have you ever thought about SELLING Pantoran healing crystals boss? I'm betting a virile man such as yourself would have no problem whatsoever moving them by the ship load."
Zian leans back slightly as the bossman approaches, turning his goggled gaze up to him as his lips draw into a thin line at being interrupted. not that he voices his annoyance. He's not in charge here, after all. Instead he simply sits back up properly, allowing Rhysio to handle it with... Whatever the hell he's saying. Pantoran healing crystals? A soft snort is suppressed, and a few more mild, difficult to detect, and utterly catastrophic (Over time) changes are made to the crystal alignments. It's subtle enough to not be easily noticed, but severe enough to be extremely damaging. A job's a job, you know.
Rial Het keeps his eye on the screen, setting a randomized percentage of scans to fail that is slightly below average. It won't do to have ALL the crystals start passing, would it? With the link between scanners and quality assurance suitably overwritten and disguised, Rial extracts the data lead from the terminal, and makes a show of running through a few more scans, before glancing up and catching the supervisor's eye. The ghost of a smile tugs at his lip, before he looks back at the screen.
It is all in a day's industrial sabotage work. A little extra money lining the pocket for a job well done for the Irregulars. Nothing untoward seems to be going forward, though in both buildings the new workers somehow stand out from the other new arrivals that have darkened these pristine work floors before. The woman with the severe bun watches Rial out of the corner of her eyes. And the two in the crystal doping building also get the occasional frowning scrutiny from their supervisor. Lunch comes and goes and the bell signaling the end of the shift can be heard.
Outside several buses idle waiting for the workers. One of them has a blue haired woman driving. A special shuttle for special workers.
As the horn for the end of the shift sounds, Rhysio locks up his work area and then stands up. He stretches his arms after a hard day's mind numbing work, confident that if this whole industrial sabotage thing doesn't work out, he'll make a killing in MLM.
With a nod to Zian, he begins walking towards the door, losing the number received for the HR lady and the boss's daughter and anyone else he might have accidentally picked up along the way. Spotting the blue-haired special bus driver, Rhysio reaches up to run a hand through his falsely colored hair. He looks back over his shoulder, muttering, "That wasn't the worst job I've done." With that said, he's on the bus and already looking forward to washing up.
It's not the first time Zian has engaged in industrial sabotage, but honestly you'd be extremely hard pressed to discover any of his other handiwork. Regardless, he's not unfamiliar with such a work setting, and after he's made his adjustments he actually does the job without much trouble. Best to appear competent in most of the work. As the workday ends, he stands from his place and heads on out, retrieving his toolkit as he goes. With a quiet, stoic (if slightly frowning) expression on his face he makes his way to the bus, boarding like nothing really happened in the first place. Professionalism is important!
Rial Het boards the bus cheerfully, the more colorful cadence of his normal speech brightening the words as he greets the driver, "Fair day to you, captain. That is what we call the driver of a vessel, innit? Captain?" he grins, sharing a merry wink with the blue haired getaway driver. Rhysio earns a small chuckle and a smile passes to include Zian. "Nice and smooth, aye lads? Not enough jobs go nice and smooth."
