Post by Mihare on Jan 11, 2010 19:39:49 GMT -5
Name: Sharon "Banshee" Everin
Age: 39 (with 6 years cryo)
Secret Word: Sent to PLmainaccount
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Race: Human
Occupation: Field Researcher
Human Physical Description: Sharon has a somewhat willowy build that disguises an above-average resilience and a headstrong attitude. Somewhat pale from her extensive time in the labs, small tan lines are beginning to appear with the increase of field research she's been compiling out in the Iknimaya. Her figure is dainty, but she's deceptively muscular, climbing around the drifting mountains with relative ease. However, her physical prowess is still significantly inferior to that of the Na'vi or the avatars.
Possibly due to her frequenting of this area, she has developed a strong distrust for modern technology and personnel resulting in simple clothing, glasses, and an exo-pack she designed herself. Her brow is creased from many years of frowning concentration and dark circles will often be found under her eyes from frequent all-nighters. Her eyes themselves are a light grey though this is hard to tell as she tends to narrow them when she's in deep though, which is often. Hair color is a dirty blond and is often kept short so that it's out of the way. Finding it impracticable and distracting, Sharon rarely, if ever, wears jewelry. The single exception to this is a small locket she keep under her shirt that contains a small photo of her husband. To counteract this sentimentality, the locket also has as tracking beacon she can activate if she's in danger.
Well accustomed to the perilous peaks of the Iknimaya, she often carries with her a large pack for camping equipment and her research documents, a smaller belt pack with emergency medical and rescue supplies, and a small sidearm loaded with non-lethal shock rounds to deter a particularly vicious Ikran. Her apparel is simple, rugged, and functional: often donning a light weight, long sleeve shirt, padded khaki pants, and a auto-climate adjusting thermal jacket. All in all, her outfit is designed to be a small burden, but still offer significant protection.
Personality: Sharon can be overall described with one word: eccentric. Now one could argue that you have to be eccentric in order to willingly travel to Pandora, but she puts that norm to shame. How she'll treat you is nearly directly proportional to how you stand with her research: if you share a genuine interest and can intelligibly prove it, you're her best friend for life, but if you outwardly scoff at her research in favor of a separate scientific area she'll likely do put every minute of her free time into making your life miserable.
While her disposition may seem somewhat ditsy, this is generally observed only when she's particularly excited about her work...which is fairly often. This can be deceptive, though, as she maintains her razor wit deep within the excitement. She is generally friendly to others outside her circle and tries her hardest to act normal around them, a task she tends to find difficult without slipping into some form of scientific jargon.
While generally headstrong in her research efforts, Sharon is still relatively new to such extreme field research and has suffered from it in the form of an intense distrust for the unknown; a fear she must learn to overcome if she's to work in the Iknimaya. Knowing little about Pandora besides the aerial creatures that soar, buzz, and flutter above it, she is shy about making contact with the Na'vi preferring to avoid any contact at all when it can be helped.
Despite her unnerve regarding the uncertain, she has always had a rebellious streak since she knew what "rebellious" meant. Not fond of restrictive rules, she is unafraid of bending or even breaking a few of them if she feels it's in everyone's best interest (or maybe just her's). This is evident everywhere from how casually she treats her superiors to the entomopter she's been constructing in secret with her friend, Sara Rogers.
Talents: Academic Studies - Sharon is a bio-aeronautics researcher. She devotes her life to studying natural flight; it's methods, it's occurrences, and now, most importantly, Pandoran flight. With strange creatures such as the fan lizards and the large population of the fascinating Ikran, her eccentricity can flourish beyond no bounds as she studies their alien flight capabilities.
Design - Possessing a PhD in aeronautic design, many subjects such as advanced math, biological sciences, and experimental theory come easily to her. Believing herself close to a breakthrough with her studies of the Na'vi relationship with the Ikran, she designed and had a personal entomopter constructed for her at the compound with the help of an accomplished engineer, mechanic, and friend, Sara Rogers. This craft is slower and much less stable than a double rotary gunship, but is also slightly more maneuverable and significantly less threatening in appearance than the once dreaded gunships of the RDA.
Piloting - Her first stint of piloting was in her college years after her father disappeared. She had taken a job for a taxi shuttle service and spent 4 years as a co-pilot transporting passesngers to and from the moon colony. Newly plopped into life on Pandora, she has found that she must learn to fly her cobbled-together creation. Focusing her indomitable will upon the task, she quickly became adept at controlling the entomopter. She now uses it to navigate the Ikramaya while blending in better with the wildlife. However, despite her extensive knowledge of the Na'vi, she has never actually met one on peaceful terms, preferring to dive out of sight when she happens upon a ritual group.
History:
Sharon was born in Phoenix Arizona, the youngest of three siblings and the only girl. Her father worked as an RDA biologist on the first voyage by humanity to Pandora and was on duty when she was born. Since the message of congratulations he had sent to his wife, he was never heard from again, though the government refuse to list him as "deceased" as they never located him after he disappeared from the compound. Since then, her mother, an entomologist, became extremely protective of her only daughter who had grown up a reckless tomboy like her brothers.
Desperate to escape her smothering childhood, Sharon studied tirelessly until she was accepted into a prestigious university of science in Germany. There, she majored in Biology and Aeronautics gaining media recognition in her Junior year for designing a prototype entomopter designed for hostile atmospheric conditions such as those found on the Moon and Mars colonies. While the design was nearly flawless, it was deemed impractical in favor of the newly fitted Samson rotary copters.
However, this small stint in the spotlight didn't go unnoticed: an assembly of scientists and researchers (a few of which had worked with her father) looked into her profile and noted her incredible academic record. They had made contact with the Na'vi, gaining permission to have a research team return to Pandora and were looking into the abstract sciences for possible candidates to join them on their journey. Despite the pleading of her fiance, she accepted the contract for her transfer to Pandora. She would never forgive herself if she had let such an opportunity pass her by. The two were married the day before her departure.
6 years passed in the blink of an eye, you don't dream in cryo. She awoke in Pandoran orbit with a weak body and an empty stomach. This she had expected as much as she hadn't eaten in 6 years, after all, but what did surprise was that it was only 6. The passengers had been told that, while the journey itself was only 6 years, several more may be required while negotiations were made on the terms of their allowance to land, if at all. Yet around her had stood the deck manager and several other personnel with some interesting news.
Their co-pilot for #2 low orbit personnel shuttle had perished in cryo. Requiring a full crew for the safe transport of their negotiation team, they had gone through passenger records and learned of her past experience flying nearly identical craft. She was put to work immediately, and for the next 5 years she ferried compromise after failed compromise back and forth from the planet to the ship.
In this time, very little happened to Sharon. There were several incidents in which they were met with less than friendly reception, more specifically in the initial landing in which shuttle 1 was boarded by a Na'vi aerial hunting party who killed several crew members are nearly down the shuttle before a translator was able to reach them and explain (Sharon for her part had hunkered low during this and watched with equal parts fascination for the skillful Ikran riders and fear should her shuttle fall under similar fate before the matter could be resolved). When terms had finally been accepted on both sides, she pledged herself to one final flight as she assisted in landing what would be her home for Eywa knows how long.
At the compound she was given the nearly militaristic rundown of the camp procedures and the many dangers of the surrounding forests. Sharing her criticism of such a management was Sara Rogers, a mechanical engineer and future friend of Sharon. While she was certain things had improved since the iron military grip the RDA had held on this fascinating planet 30 years ago, the security always seemed a bit distant from the researchers, many of them no doubt wishing for times past.
2 months into her stay on Pandora, her irritation was rising. She had heard of the Ikran and their relationship with the indigenous Na'vi, but had no way of observing them in the wild due to the remoteness of their nests and the Na'vi ban of military aircraft. The solution came with a week long typhoon that hammered the compound. Confined within the florescent tomb of the lab, she had completely run out of further paths to take her research. Going back to review and correct previous documents, she stumbled across something she had completely forgotten about: the entomopter schematics. The next day found her in the relatively abandoned gunship hanger hovering over her friend's shoulder.
It took 5 months to complete the tiny craft, a rather impressive feat accomplished by sacrificing just about every second of their free time (which wasn't much with the hectic setup of the camp) and through the naive efforts of the compound mechanics to produce "experimental components." Sara was able to enlist the assistance of some of her subordinates (generally unofficial, but they knew better than to assume otherwise) to help construct individual parts, the mechanics not seeing enough of the project to guess its nature and knowing better than to ask questions about it anyways. However, despite all this, the rushed time it was completed in meant the prototype was shoddy at best and its construction was rickety. Seating only one person, she had modified the design slightly to compensate for the thicker atmosphere as well as sealing and pressurizing the cockpit. Working with data on the flux vortexes of the Iknamaya, she concluded that electronic systems would have to be minimal and not imperative for flight control.
The finished product was only slightly larger than an average adult Ikran and was painted with similar patterns and colors as the creatures. This, combined with the bio-aeronautic flight power-plant, she hoped would allow her to travel into the Iknimaya without alarming it's residents or any Na'vi she may encounter there. Also fixed within the cockpit was a simple, but crucial safety measure: a sort of rear view mirror that pointed up. The entomopter may have been able to outrun a Toruk, but that fact would mean little if such a creature could literally get the drop on it. The indigenous people who have spotted the craft during the bonding ritual with their Ikran refer to it as Ikran tsatu 'ì'awn mìso or Ikran tsleng and remark on its strange appearance and its uncanny ability of evading any efforts to approach it.
RP Sample:
So what do you think? Sharon removed her hands from her friend's eyes revealing the entomopter seated upon one of the cracked helipads in the hanger.
"You painted it? ...Isn't that what them Ifran things look like?" Sara ran her hand over the freshly painted fuselage with a critical eye. Some of the edges were uneven and the overall job was a bit shoddy, but for a first try she had to admit it wasn't half bad.
Ikrans. Yes. I don't know how they might respond to me otherwise. You remember the reports from the incident here 30 years ago. Those things ripped the manticores apart! Besides, the Na'vi have outlawed the use of any aircraft outside the compound, I don't want any-
"Scorpions." Sharon paused to stare at her friend in confusion for a moment. Sara rolled her eyes and continued. "Scorpion class gunships, not manticores."
You're an utter geek, you know that?
"Said the person who just finishing painting an entomopter she designed herself like an Ifran."
Sharon glared at her friend. When she spoke, there was a tinge of impatience and irritation. Ikran. So how does it look?
"Like a viperwolf's ass!" Sara bent over laughing at the death glare Sharon shot at her, "But that's not what's important. What's important is whether or not it'll fly."
Sharon's glare dropped into a cold, blank stare. It will fly.
"There are still several design inconsistencies. I may be an incredible engineer, but no one can match a schematic without error. Just because it works on paper, doesn't mean this prototype we've built out of scrapped Samsons will."
It will fly.
"Then of course there's Pierce. Girl, would her have a fit if he found out what we were building in here, not to mention if you were to crash it into his little penthouse."
It will fly.
Sara slid her arm over her friend's shoulder and hung over her with a big, toothy grin. "Prove it." Sharon turned her head slowly to meet her gaze and a small smile of her own grew.
___________________________________________________________________________
The craft creaked and groaned as the two strained to push it through the hanger doors onto the desolate landing strip. There were very few people who hung around this area anymore, however they did draw the gaze of a few security guards and even a couple Avatars, but they apparently decided the crazy, eccentric researches were enacting some new fool experiment and they would be better off not bothering with it.
What it meant for the still-grinning pair of women was that they were getting away with this. Settling the entomopter in the center of the strip, Sara immediately flopped against its side gasping for breath through her exo-pack. Sharon, however, wasted no time in jumping into the cockpit and starting to prep the engine. Hurry before someone sees! Crank the external gyroscoptic thing!
Too tired to even try to correct that last one, Sara reached up and gave Sharon the cue to hit the starter just as she pulled down on one of the wings. The engine sputtered and a light blue cloud of smoke puffed from the joints of the insect-like wing assembly. The sputtering grew to a whine as the gyros began picking up speed. Sara snapped out of her observation and stepped back hurriedly as the wings gradually began to flutter up and down with increasing speed. ziiiiiiyinnng....yinnng....ying....ying ying yingyingyingyingying.
"Well what do ya know...the thing works."
Inside the still-open cockpit, Sharon threw her hands in the air and gave a muffled cheer through the oxygen mask. We are go for lift-off! Even if they wanted to, they couldn't stop us now! She looked up from the many levers of the control bank and her grin vanished. Oh...shit...
Pierce stood not 3 feet away with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. "Well...I always expected you might have been up to something all these months."
His signature bored look surveyed the flying machine. "Though I can't say I expected this. What the hell is this thing?"
Sara shrunk back behind the tail boom. Sharon, for her part, sneered up at the compound manager in defiance. It's my ride to the Iknimaya, and you're no talking me out of this again!
A smirk grew on Pierce's face. "Who says I'm going to talk you out of anything?" The man turned and ducked under the buzzing wings.
Sara edged around the corner. "I really wouldn't mess with that if I-"
He interrupted her. "Stay out of this, Miss Rogers. I could just as easily have you both shipped straight back to that dying planet of ours for this..." He lifted the engine cowling on craft's side and peered into the whirring engine compartment. His smirk changed into a glare of determination while his hand began to move towards his sidearm.
Sharon's eyes widened and she jumped out of the cockpit. What do you think you're doing!? NO- She began to lunge at him put paused as his hand continued past the weapon and drew a small uni-tool from his boot. Assembling it into a spanner, he reached gingerly into the compartment and began adjusting something.
What- what ARE you doing? Her manner had shifted suddenly into one less furious and more curious. She leaned over his shoulder and peered at his work.
"You were about to begin a voyage to the Hallelujah Mountains with a faulty gyro-stabilizer. Jesus Christ, you would have crashed into the first rock! Granted if you could have even made it out of the compound. " He gave the sprocket one final twist and closed the cowling, rubbing the grease from his hands.
Sharon stared at him speechless for a moment. Finally she seemed to gather her wits back together and aimed them at a new target. Sara! You said you cranked the gyro thingy!
Her friend's hand went over her face, smearing it with even more grease and sweat. "I DID crank it. That was the external alignment starter. THIS is the gyro-stabilizer that YOU designed." She huffed and fell back against the entomopter again. "And that's all for today folks, I'm going to catch some z's. Wake me up if you crash and die. Nice knowin' ya. See ya Pierce."
As Sara walked away, Pierce looked up at Sharon expectantly. "Well?"
Blank stare. What?
He motioned exasperatingly to the still fluttering wings of the entomopter. "Are you going to fly off in this thing before I catch you, or what?"
Sharon blinked in disbelief but nodded and began climbing back into the cockpit. I still don't understand why you're letting me do this.
Pierce half shouted over the din of the speeding-up engines. "Because I care about you!"
She yelled back at him. Who are you and what have you done with Pierce!?
He laughed as the entomopter lifted from the strip, slowly gaining altitude. "No idea! But I dig the paint job!"
Age: 39 (with 6 years cryo)
Secret Word: Sent to PLmainaccount
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Race: Human
Occupation: Field Researcher
Human Physical Description: Sharon has a somewhat willowy build that disguises an above-average resilience and a headstrong attitude. Somewhat pale from her extensive time in the labs, small tan lines are beginning to appear with the increase of field research she's been compiling out in the Iknimaya. Her figure is dainty, but she's deceptively muscular, climbing around the drifting mountains with relative ease. However, her physical prowess is still significantly inferior to that of the Na'vi or the avatars.
Possibly due to her frequenting of this area, she has developed a strong distrust for modern technology and personnel resulting in simple clothing, glasses, and an exo-pack she designed herself. Her brow is creased from many years of frowning concentration and dark circles will often be found under her eyes from frequent all-nighters. Her eyes themselves are a light grey though this is hard to tell as she tends to narrow them when she's in deep though, which is often. Hair color is a dirty blond and is often kept short so that it's out of the way. Finding it impracticable and distracting, Sharon rarely, if ever, wears jewelry. The single exception to this is a small locket she keep under her shirt that contains a small photo of her husband. To counteract this sentimentality, the locket also has as tracking beacon she can activate if she's in danger.
Well accustomed to the perilous peaks of the Iknimaya, she often carries with her a large pack for camping equipment and her research documents, a smaller belt pack with emergency medical and rescue supplies, and a small sidearm loaded with non-lethal shock rounds to deter a particularly vicious Ikran. Her apparel is simple, rugged, and functional: often donning a light weight, long sleeve shirt, padded khaki pants, and a auto-climate adjusting thermal jacket. All in all, her outfit is designed to be a small burden, but still offer significant protection.
Personality: Sharon can be overall described with one word: eccentric. Now one could argue that you have to be eccentric in order to willingly travel to Pandora, but she puts that norm to shame. How she'll treat you is nearly directly proportional to how you stand with her research: if you share a genuine interest and can intelligibly prove it, you're her best friend for life, but if you outwardly scoff at her research in favor of a separate scientific area she'll likely do put every minute of her free time into making your life miserable.
While her disposition may seem somewhat ditsy, this is generally observed only when she's particularly excited about her work...which is fairly often. This can be deceptive, though, as she maintains her razor wit deep within the excitement. She is generally friendly to others outside her circle and tries her hardest to act normal around them, a task she tends to find difficult without slipping into some form of scientific jargon.
While generally headstrong in her research efforts, Sharon is still relatively new to such extreme field research and has suffered from it in the form of an intense distrust for the unknown; a fear she must learn to overcome if she's to work in the Iknimaya. Knowing little about Pandora besides the aerial creatures that soar, buzz, and flutter above it, she is shy about making contact with the Na'vi preferring to avoid any contact at all when it can be helped.
Despite her unnerve regarding the uncertain, she has always had a rebellious streak since she knew what "rebellious" meant. Not fond of restrictive rules, she is unafraid of bending or even breaking a few of them if she feels it's in everyone's best interest (or maybe just her's). This is evident everywhere from how casually she treats her superiors to the entomopter she's been constructing in secret with her friend, Sara Rogers.
Talents: Academic Studies - Sharon is a bio-aeronautics researcher. She devotes her life to studying natural flight; it's methods, it's occurrences, and now, most importantly, Pandoran flight. With strange creatures such as the fan lizards and the large population of the fascinating Ikran, her eccentricity can flourish beyond no bounds as she studies their alien flight capabilities.
Design - Possessing a PhD in aeronautic design, many subjects such as advanced math, biological sciences, and experimental theory come easily to her. Believing herself close to a breakthrough with her studies of the Na'vi relationship with the Ikran, she designed and had a personal entomopter constructed for her at the compound with the help of an accomplished engineer, mechanic, and friend, Sara Rogers. This craft is slower and much less stable than a double rotary gunship, but is also slightly more maneuverable and significantly less threatening in appearance than the once dreaded gunships of the RDA.
Piloting - Her first stint of piloting was in her college years after her father disappeared. She had taken a job for a taxi shuttle service and spent 4 years as a co-pilot transporting passesngers to and from the moon colony. Newly plopped into life on Pandora, she has found that she must learn to fly her cobbled-together creation. Focusing her indomitable will upon the task, she quickly became adept at controlling the entomopter. She now uses it to navigate the Ikramaya while blending in better with the wildlife. However, despite her extensive knowledge of the Na'vi, she has never actually met one on peaceful terms, preferring to dive out of sight when she happens upon a ritual group.
History:
Sharon was born in Phoenix Arizona, the youngest of three siblings and the only girl. Her father worked as an RDA biologist on the first voyage by humanity to Pandora and was on duty when she was born. Since the message of congratulations he had sent to his wife, he was never heard from again, though the government refuse to list him as "deceased" as they never located him after he disappeared from the compound. Since then, her mother, an entomologist, became extremely protective of her only daughter who had grown up a reckless tomboy like her brothers.
Desperate to escape her smothering childhood, Sharon studied tirelessly until she was accepted into a prestigious university of science in Germany. There, she majored in Biology and Aeronautics gaining media recognition in her Junior year for designing a prototype entomopter designed for hostile atmospheric conditions such as those found on the Moon and Mars colonies. While the design was nearly flawless, it was deemed impractical in favor of the newly fitted Samson rotary copters.
However, this small stint in the spotlight didn't go unnoticed: an assembly of scientists and researchers (a few of which had worked with her father) looked into her profile and noted her incredible academic record. They had made contact with the Na'vi, gaining permission to have a research team return to Pandora and were looking into the abstract sciences for possible candidates to join them on their journey. Despite the pleading of her fiance, she accepted the contract for her transfer to Pandora. She would never forgive herself if she had let such an opportunity pass her by. The two were married the day before her departure.
6 years passed in the blink of an eye, you don't dream in cryo. She awoke in Pandoran orbit with a weak body and an empty stomach. This she had expected as much as she hadn't eaten in 6 years, after all, but what did surprise was that it was only 6. The passengers had been told that, while the journey itself was only 6 years, several more may be required while negotiations were made on the terms of their allowance to land, if at all. Yet around her had stood the deck manager and several other personnel with some interesting news.
Their co-pilot for #2 low orbit personnel shuttle had perished in cryo. Requiring a full crew for the safe transport of their negotiation team, they had gone through passenger records and learned of her past experience flying nearly identical craft. She was put to work immediately, and for the next 5 years she ferried compromise after failed compromise back and forth from the planet to the ship.
In this time, very little happened to Sharon. There were several incidents in which they were met with less than friendly reception, more specifically in the initial landing in which shuttle 1 was boarded by a Na'vi aerial hunting party who killed several crew members are nearly down the shuttle before a translator was able to reach them and explain (Sharon for her part had hunkered low during this and watched with equal parts fascination for the skillful Ikran riders and fear should her shuttle fall under similar fate before the matter could be resolved). When terms had finally been accepted on both sides, she pledged herself to one final flight as she assisted in landing what would be her home for Eywa knows how long.
At the compound she was given the nearly militaristic rundown of the camp procedures and the many dangers of the surrounding forests. Sharing her criticism of such a management was Sara Rogers, a mechanical engineer and future friend of Sharon. While she was certain things had improved since the iron military grip the RDA had held on this fascinating planet 30 years ago, the security always seemed a bit distant from the researchers, many of them no doubt wishing for times past.
2 months into her stay on Pandora, her irritation was rising. She had heard of the Ikran and their relationship with the indigenous Na'vi, but had no way of observing them in the wild due to the remoteness of their nests and the Na'vi ban of military aircraft. The solution came with a week long typhoon that hammered the compound. Confined within the florescent tomb of the lab, she had completely run out of further paths to take her research. Going back to review and correct previous documents, she stumbled across something she had completely forgotten about: the entomopter schematics. The next day found her in the relatively abandoned gunship hanger hovering over her friend's shoulder.
It took 5 months to complete the tiny craft, a rather impressive feat accomplished by sacrificing just about every second of their free time (which wasn't much with the hectic setup of the camp) and through the naive efforts of the compound mechanics to produce "experimental components." Sara was able to enlist the assistance of some of her subordinates (generally unofficial, but they knew better than to assume otherwise) to help construct individual parts, the mechanics not seeing enough of the project to guess its nature and knowing better than to ask questions about it anyways. However, despite all this, the rushed time it was completed in meant the prototype was shoddy at best and its construction was rickety. Seating only one person, she had modified the design slightly to compensate for the thicker atmosphere as well as sealing and pressurizing the cockpit. Working with data on the flux vortexes of the Iknamaya, she concluded that electronic systems would have to be minimal and not imperative for flight control.
The finished product was only slightly larger than an average adult Ikran and was painted with similar patterns and colors as the creatures. This, combined with the bio-aeronautic flight power-plant, she hoped would allow her to travel into the Iknimaya without alarming it's residents or any Na'vi she may encounter there. Also fixed within the cockpit was a simple, but crucial safety measure: a sort of rear view mirror that pointed up. The entomopter may have been able to outrun a Toruk, but that fact would mean little if such a creature could literally get the drop on it. The indigenous people who have spotted the craft during the bonding ritual with their Ikran refer to it as Ikran tsatu 'ì'awn mìso or Ikran tsleng and remark on its strange appearance and its uncanny ability of evading any efforts to approach it.
RP Sample:
So what do you think? Sharon removed her hands from her friend's eyes revealing the entomopter seated upon one of the cracked helipads in the hanger.
"You painted it? ...Isn't that what them Ifran things look like?" Sara ran her hand over the freshly painted fuselage with a critical eye. Some of the edges were uneven and the overall job was a bit shoddy, but for a first try she had to admit it wasn't half bad.
Ikrans. Yes. I don't know how they might respond to me otherwise. You remember the reports from the incident here 30 years ago. Those things ripped the manticores apart! Besides, the Na'vi have outlawed the use of any aircraft outside the compound, I don't want any-
"Scorpions." Sharon paused to stare at her friend in confusion for a moment. Sara rolled her eyes and continued. "Scorpion class gunships, not manticores."
You're an utter geek, you know that?
"Said the person who just finishing painting an entomopter she designed herself like an Ifran."
Sharon glared at her friend. When she spoke, there was a tinge of impatience and irritation. Ikran. So how does it look?
"Like a viperwolf's ass!" Sara bent over laughing at the death glare Sharon shot at her, "But that's not what's important. What's important is whether or not it'll fly."
Sharon's glare dropped into a cold, blank stare. It will fly.
"There are still several design inconsistencies. I may be an incredible engineer, but no one can match a schematic without error. Just because it works on paper, doesn't mean this prototype we've built out of scrapped Samsons will."
It will fly.
"Then of course there's Pierce. Girl, would her have a fit if he found out what we were building in here, not to mention if you were to crash it into his little penthouse."
It will fly.
Sara slid her arm over her friend's shoulder and hung over her with a big, toothy grin. "Prove it." Sharon turned her head slowly to meet her gaze and a small smile of her own grew.
___________________________________________________________________________
The craft creaked and groaned as the two strained to push it through the hanger doors onto the desolate landing strip. There were very few people who hung around this area anymore, however they did draw the gaze of a few security guards and even a couple Avatars, but they apparently decided the crazy, eccentric researches were enacting some new fool experiment and they would be better off not bothering with it.
What it meant for the still-grinning pair of women was that they were getting away with this. Settling the entomopter in the center of the strip, Sara immediately flopped against its side gasping for breath through her exo-pack. Sharon, however, wasted no time in jumping into the cockpit and starting to prep the engine. Hurry before someone sees! Crank the external gyroscoptic thing!
Too tired to even try to correct that last one, Sara reached up and gave Sharon the cue to hit the starter just as she pulled down on one of the wings. The engine sputtered and a light blue cloud of smoke puffed from the joints of the insect-like wing assembly. The sputtering grew to a whine as the gyros began picking up speed. Sara snapped out of her observation and stepped back hurriedly as the wings gradually began to flutter up and down with increasing speed. ziiiiiiyinnng....yinnng....ying....ying ying yingyingyingyingying.
"Well what do ya know...the thing works."
Inside the still-open cockpit, Sharon threw her hands in the air and gave a muffled cheer through the oxygen mask. We are go for lift-off! Even if they wanted to, they couldn't stop us now! She looked up from the many levers of the control bank and her grin vanished. Oh...shit...
Pierce stood not 3 feet away with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. "Well...I always expected you might have been up to something all these months."
His signature bored look surveyed the flying machine. "Though I can't say I expected this. What the hell is this thing?"
Sara shrunk back behind the tail boom. Sharon, for her part, sneered up at the compound manager in defiance. It's my ride to the Iknimaya, and you're no talking me out of this again!
A smirk grew on Pierce's face. "Who says I'm going to talk you out of anything?" The man turned and ducked under the buzzing wings.
Sara edged around the corner. "I really wouldn't mess with that if I-"
He interrupted her. "Stay out of this, Miss Rogers. I could just as easily have you both shipped straight back to that dying planet of ours for this..." He lifted the engine cowling on craft's side and peered into the whirring engine compartment. His smirk changed into a glare of determination while his hand began to move towards his sidearm.
Sharon's eyes widened and she jumped out of the cockpit. What do you think you're doing!? NO- She began to lunge at him put paused as his hand continued past the weapon and drew a small uni-tool from his boot. Assembling it into a spanner, he reached gingerly into the compartment and began adjusting something.
What- what ARE you doing? Her manner had shifted suddenly into one less furious and more curious. She leaned over his shoulder and peered at his work.
"You were about to begin a voyage to the Hallelujah Mountains with a faulty gyro-stabilizer. Jesus Christ, you would have crashed into the first rock! Granted if you could have even made it out of the compound. " He gave the sprocket one final twist and closed the cowling, rubbing the grease from his hands.
Sharon stared at him speechless for a moment. Finally she seemed to gather her wits back together and aimed them at a new target. Sara! You said you cranked the gyro thingy!
Her friend's hand went over her face, smearing it with even more grease and sweat. "I DID crank it. That was the external alignment starter. THIS is the gyro-stabilizer that YOU designed." She huffed and fell back against the entomopter again. "And that's all for today folks, I'm going to catch some z's. Wake me up if you crash and die. Nice knowin' ya. See ya Pierce."
As Sara walked away, Pierce looked up at Sharon expectantly. "Well?"
Blank stare. What?
He motioned exasperatingly to the still fluttering wings of the entomopter. "Are you going to fly off in this thing before I catch you, or what?"
Sharon blinked in disbelief but nodded and began climbing back into the cockpit. I still don't understand why you're letting me do this.
Pierce half shouted over the din of the speeding-up engines. "Because I care about you!"
She yelled back at him. Who are you and what have you done with Pierce!?
He laughed as the entomopter lifted from the strip, slowly gaining altitude. "No idea! But I dig the paint job!"
