DEPLOYMENT 17: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Boomstick

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's been a really rare sight at the house ever since the Friday before last. He's spending almost all of his waking hours in town, even on Mother's Day. Outside of work, he's become a lot more focused on accomplishing something with his demolitions projects.]

[Though today, he gets a belated birthday present. As he heads out the door to work, he spies a package lying on the porch. Rather than taking it inside, Balin's curiosity gets the best of him and he opens it on the spot ...]

[... To reveal a shotgun. One big enough to have its own zip code and mean enough to come with its own postal worker. It looks suited to being a turret on a scale model battleship rather than in the hands of a human. Its ammo belt already has a few canisters pre-loaded into it. The sight of it makes Balin's eyes gleam.]

... Now we're talkin'.

[ACTION - A (Anywhere in Mayfield, Morning to Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[You might catch Balin on the streets while he's out running his personal errands. In place of the Remington 870 shotgun he'd been carrying around with him for months, he's going to be carrying the Series 3 Triple Incendiary Shotgun. It comes with its own back-mounted holster, so he doesn't have the shotgun sling on him either.]

[ACTION - B (John Doe Park, Morning, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's taken a detour on his way to work in order to test out his latest piece of regained hardware. He's standing in a spot of open ground with a pail full of water from the nearby pond—just in case things get out of hand. Taking aim at the open sky, he pulls the trigger, and a flesh-searing armor-melting inferno that's twenty meters high at its most potent spews forth. Enjoy your wakeup call!]

[ACTION - C (Neutron Diner, Morning, Afternoon, or Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's also been frequenting the Diner for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, since it gives him a place to sit down, eat, and work on brainstorming and planning—and the drones don't seem to bother him at all, provided he sits down at a booth. You'll likely see him jotting down notes or making rough sketches in a journal while taking bites out of a hamburger or a pathetic imitation of a Philly cheesesteak.]

[ACTION - D (Jonathon's Tools, Early Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's taking a look around the hardware store, though he doesn't seem to be buying anything today. He's making note of construction materials and any items the store has pertaining to electronics or electric wiring, as well as checking up on the different kinds of paint for sale.]

[ACTION - E (339 Brady Lane, Afternoon, HOUSE RESIDENTS)]

[While Balin was able to rig up simple detonators from what he found at the construction yard, doing something on the level of what he had planned would require some help to get right. To that end, he's stopping by Quinn's house to see if the guy's home. If the garage is open he'll be taking a peek to see if the technomancer's hanging around. If not, he'll head over to the front porch and ring the doorbell.]

Yo, Quinn! You there?

[He really should have phoned ahead ...]

[ACTION - F (Mayfield Outskirts, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Like he's been doing for the past week, Balin continues to test and experiment with the C-4 he had created in the past week or two. By now, all the test detonations in that field have created some ready-made earthworks for future testing—a short trench five feet deep, beyond which are other shallow craters where more bricks of C-4 have gone off.]

[Balin can be found out here doing a final battery of experiments with what remains of his first few batches of C-4. Which means there'll be the occasional explosion coming from the outskirts of town—just mind the sign by the side of the road if you head out that way to investigate.]

Comments

[walking_nuke]

[He nods wordlessly every now and then while Dakki mentions TECHNICs. What gets him, though, is the mention of actual rods and wands. He can't help but imagine what the wizards from her world must look like.]

[Which means he's thinking "robe and wizard hat."]

[He refocuses on the here-and-now at Dakki's askance, though.]

—Oh, a demonstration? Yeah, sure, I can do'at. Lesse ...

[Balin glances around the park for a moment, turning about and considering the locale. Trees, lampposts, signs ... He eventually settles on a lone tree not too far from the two of them, off to Dakki's right. He points at it.]

Watch'at tree'ere.

[With a gesture that looks a little like pulling down window blinds, a holographic image appears in front of Balin's left hand. It looks like a softly glowing blue tablet, with diagrams flickering inside it that Dakki may recognize as having to do with electrostatic discharges. A moment later, a large ideogram appears within the tabula—]



[Balin pulls his hand back, then thrusts it out palm outward—launching a bolt of lightning from the palm of his hand that strikes the nearby tree, leaving a smoking charred spot where the bolt hit it. Despite being this close to Balin, though, Dakki shouldn't be adversely affected by the discharge.]

[photonicfighter]

[There are some pretty silly clothes, back in the Gurhal system. Robe and wizard hat isn't too far from the truth...

But yes, there's a here and there's a now and there's interesting possibly-photonic manifestations happening! Dakki takes it in with much interest, leaning slightly forwards to better see what the diagrams and ideograms are forming....]

Aaah!

[Though she jumps back when the bolt actually goes off.]

That's very nice! That's different! Not quite exactly TECHNIC-like... that's very interesting!

[walking_nuke]

[Balin turns back to look over at Dakki with a smirk.]

An'at's just what'ey teach'a Recruits at bootcamp.

[photonicfighter]

That's some boot camp! [Yes, she looks quite impressed.]

How long did it take for Mayfield to let you have that back?

[walking_nuke]

Uh ... lesse. Well, they gave me back my PT gear the same month they kidnapped me, an'en my tabula in September. Didn't get my actual Lightning back until after Thanksgiving.

[Looking just a little bitter.]

Really coulda used it'en, but it wouldn't've mattered anyhow. Anyway, I still ain't got everything I normally have, Logos Abilities included.

[photonicfighter]

They're really very horrible about giving you back anything useful when you actually need it. It took them a bit under half a year to give me my body back.

[Oh hello, bitter look! Have another bitter look!]

...this town's about making do. And it makes you all the more thankful for the things you do get back.

[A flick of her wrist, and with a flash of rapidly-dissipating blue light she pulls her photon saber from nano-storage.]

This is usually my weapon of last resort when the reactor on my double saber runs down. But you know? I'm starting to learn to love it again, since it's the only weapon from home that I've got...

[walking_nuke]

[What the town's about ... Balin looks contemplative at first, when Dakki says that. He's almost about to speak on it when Dakki summons her saber—his attention shifts to the weapon instead. It's nothing like the Blades he's seen Spies use in the AFS. The whole blade looks like it's made out of energy!]

Say ... how's'at thing work?

[photonicfighter]

[It's so fun to compare toys! And she seems happy enough to explain.]

It's powered by a photon reactor. Photons are an ambient energy that exist in nearly anything. They're invisible, except for places where they're in high concentration... but talented people can sense them. And we've got technology that harnesses that power. Nearly everything where I'm from is powered by photons.

[Making sure she's a healthy distance from Balin, she gives the saber a gentle demonstration swing.]

The reactor on this saber harnesses collected photonic energy to form a solid blade. This is an A-rank model, and it's fairly powerful... but my own experience in using the weapon makes it more powerful than if a beginner were to handle it.

[walking_nuke]

Huh. That ain't how photons work at all where I'm from. I mean, bein' particles of light an' all.

[Still, that thing looks awesome.]

The way you say that, are you sayin'a weapon is actually stronger 'cause you're holdin' it?

[photonicfighter]

I think the terminology may be a bit muddled, between here and Gurhal... Or maybe things do operate differently from universe to universe. We don't have anything quite like your Logos, after all.

[She nods to confirm Balin's question.]

That's right. It draws a certain portion of its power from me.

[walking_nuke]

Got'a point'ere ... How's it doin'at if all that Photon stuff's an ambient energy?

[photonicfighter]

The reactor in the saber generates a base amount of energy that's enough to produce the blade and keep it stable... but using Photon Arts with it will drain the reactor much more quickly. And that's where the real damage-dealing is. It'll recharge slowly if left alone, collecting that ambient energy bit by bit, thank goodness... Mayfield doesn't have recharging stations, and the town hasn't sent me back any Photon Charges.

[walking_nuke]

Huh.

Sounds pretty damn efficient, though. Our own energy-based weapons, like'a ones that shoot lasers or sonic pulses or EMP—we gotta use power cells for ammunition. An'ey eat'at shit like it was candy.

[photonicfighter]

Oh I know what that's like... photonic firearms blaze through a reactor's stores like nobody's business. [She rolls her eyes in recollection of many a time running short of ammo...] Ambient recharge does you no good when you're in the middle of a fight.

[walking_nuke]

Oh. You guys make firearms out of'is stuff? How's'at work?

[At most he can guess that it involves weaponizing the energy itself, but ...]

[photonicfighter]

It's a similar principle. Most photonic guns condense the energy into a sort of "bullet". What's nice is that a skilled marksman can learn Photon Arts that will give those bullets different properties. Fire-based ones will often set targets on fire, for example.

[walking_nuke]

[After Dakki's response, Balin nods.]

So in a way, its universal ammo. Don't gotta fuck with guns havin' all kindsa different ammunition types an' sizes, yeah?

[May be looking a little envious.]

[photonicfighter]

That's right! It's very convenient. And reloading's usually just a matter of triggering a Photon Charge from your nano-storage, if you were smart enough to bring some alone.

[Is that envy that she's seeing? Oh, now she feels a little bit bad... she releases her grip on her saber, and lets it vanish back into storage.]

Wow, rarely do I mix up "its/it's" ... XD;

[walking_nuke]

[Balin watches the saber disappear, then looks back up to Dakki curiously.]

Nano-storage? What, you're shrinkin'at thing down to'a size of a nanobot or somethin'?

So it goes, so it goes...

[photonicfighter]

Ah, no... I'm not shrinking it. There's a bit of warped space involved. I suppose if you viewed it from the outside, it would be shrinking it... but it's more that I can put items away in a pocket dimension that's linked to me. And also conveniently indexed, capable of stacking similar items, and able to link with my clothes, too!

This got buried by other tag notifs D:

[walking_nuke]

So—you got'a device'at puts sometin' in some kinda dimensional pocket? Is'at it?

[If he were any more green with envy he'd be a Forean hybrid!]

It's a busy taggy time, these days.

[photonicfighter]

That's exactly it!

[Oh, and he looks... kind of jealous. Now she feels bad.]

..I take it there's no technology quite like that where you come from?

[walking_nuke]

Not like'at, no. Lotta of'a tech we got's patchwork—new stuff from reverse engineerin'a tech from other races or from applyin' what we can do with Logos, an' whatever we salvaged from Earth.

I'm from 2014, an' Earth fell in 2007, so ... most of'a stuff we had back then was like what Quinn's got if you ever met 'em.