Deceptibombs

Logfile from 2K5.

Holo Arena

Inside the Holo Arena are black, rubber-coated walls to protect the steel and also to reduce the noise, as these sparring matches can get very violent. A central control room is suspended from the ceiling, heavily reinforced to protect the advanced computer that controls the holo-imaging and stores thousands of simulation scenariors. If a desired scenario isn't already available, then the computer allows for additional programming.

Thing Contents:

Catechism

Training Drone - NCC

IC Time on Earth: Mon Jul 14 15:29:25 2029

Geist is studying the drone, as it is cloaked in a hologram image of a standard sweep body... He is specifically looking at the head and back areas. His claws on one raised hand drum upon his palm with light clikityclicks.

Catechism is looking for Geist. She sees... a Sweep, looking at what would appear to be the drone done up as another Sweep. She has a, uh, one in... how many Sweeps are there, anyway? Well, there's a chance this one is Geist, and if he isn't, perhaps he knows where Geist can be found, although he might not tell her. She greets, "Oh, hello there." There is what appears to be a bomb stuffed into her cockpit.

Geist smoothly turns with a gently pivot on his leg. His head stooped slightly. "Ah..." It sounds like Geist, thank Primus Sweeps can have different voice actors. "Hello, Catechism. How have the wars been treating you?" He smiles slightly, but it does not reach his optics.

Catechism pauses and listens carefully. Okay, that sounds like Geist, so it's either Geist, or one of the Sweeps is messing with her.... but if a Sweep is messing with her, it's probably Geist. He's the one that plays mind-games, right? She replies, hestitantly, "You're... Geist, right? I've been well enough, I suppose. Busy on tasks both fruitful and unfruitful."

Geist nods once and turns fully towards Catechism as he takes a few steps away from the drone. "The same might be said for myself...." He looks at Catechism carefully. "Are you... looking for me?"

Geist lingers briefly on the device carried.

Catechism tends to ber carrying all sorts of odd stuff at any given time: a bucket made out of a dead Seeker's head, medals, the White Book of Primus... and yes, right now? A bomb. It's not live at all, just sitting placidly inert in her cockpit, for lack of a better place to stuff it. What, is he worried she's going to use it? She replies, rubbing her her elbow. "Yeah. I was. I wanted to apologise. Things have been crazy and confusing, but that's really no excuse."

Geist comes to a stop. "I see. What changed your mind?" She doesn't appear to be suicidal and Geist is usually an adept at reading emotional states. The Sweep has other thought processes clicking away.

Catechism sighs and wonders how she can put this. She doesn't think she was wrong. As a Decepticon, she has a duty to remove enemies of her cause from the medical ward, by force if necessary, and at the time, Geist was an enemy of the cause as she perceived it. So she does not regret what she did - it was the correct choice at the time, based off the given information. No, she's more sorry because of this inane rift between the Sweeps and the non-Unicronians. The Decepticons don't need that kind of internal friction. She replies, "I have a different perspective on the situation now than I did at the time."

Geist looks away. "Ah. Very well then. Tell me, catechism... would you like things to be square between us again? A clean slate? Is it a minor itch but an itch nonetheless you'd rather be rid of as quick as possible?"

Catechism crosses her arms and notes, "I do not believe that things were ever square between us. I am a Seeker. The opinions of my kind are notorious, and it doesn't matter if I agree with them or not." The opinions of the Sweeps about Seekers are equally notorious. "If you'd like to carry a grudge, you can. I just wanted to apologise." She ticks off on one finger. "But on the off chance that you would like to be completely square for some reason, I'm listening."

Geist nods, not reacting at all to the mild huffyness Catechism displays. "Excellent. That device you're carrying. Did you make it? Do you understand it's workings?"

Catechism opens her cockpit and pulls out the bomb. She has tied a purple velvet ribbon around it. Catechism hefts it with one hand and points to it with the other. Catechism replies, "This? Is a bomb. I did indeed make it, so you'd hope that I understand it, eh? It's a gift for a friend."

Geist smiles genuinely at the device and the ribbon. Even his genuine smile, though, is creepy. "Well then, I would have you educate me in the understanding of bomb workings before you present it as a gift. Is that something you are up to?"

Catechism can deal with creepy. Usually. She quirks an optical ridge and replies, "Eh, you want me to teach you about bomb-making?" She could be signing her death warrant. On the hand, getting on the the... not so terrible side of a Sweep can't hurt. Catechism warns, up front, "I can't do anything fancy, like cortex bombs. Not yet, anyway. This baby," she looks over at the be-ribboned bomb, "is strictly for taking out structures."

Geist doesn't let a hint of his disappointment show. A start is a start. "Taking out structures... can be a very effective terror tactic." He seems to think this is explanation enough of his own motives. "Let us proceed."

Catechism picked up demolition because she got into an arguement with Bonecrusher and somehow eneded uo taking lessons from him. That Geist actually has a plausible rationale is more than she requires. She sits down on the ground, Indian-style, and she sits the bomb down in front of herself. She gestures and suggests, "Get comfortable." Catechism tugs the ribbon off the bomb.

Geist mirrors Catechism's sitting position, on the opposite side of the bomb. If not for the considerable stature, war armor and arsenal of the two, they might appear as children opening a present, which is only half true. "My attention is yours."

Geist switches off a few com frequencies.

Catechism puts the ribbon off to the side and pulls out a toolkit. It looks pretty new, and it's not a medic or engineer's toolkit. It looks quite wrong for that. She explains, "This bomb is not currently armed, which means it is inert. Arming methods can vary. Radio, a keypad, well... anything that'll either start the timer or initiate detonation."

Geist follows the basic information. "Yes, yes." His ptics only glance at the device and then return to Catechism.

Catechism seems fairly relaxed about explaining the workings of the bomb. Geist is a fellow Decepticon. He will learn a useful ability. If he kills her, it's because she was dumb enough not to avoid it. She continues, "The very basic elements of a bomb are the reaction material and the detonator. It can be done extremely simply, or it can be complex." She pulls out her notes from Bonecrusher's lessons and pulls out the list of chemical compounds, holding it out. "Take a look at these. These are the the more easily obtained reaction materials. I find Carbombya's a good place to go for supplies."

Geist accepts the list and takes out a datapadd of his own with a large touchscreen. He makes notes for himself. "Be mindful of developing patterns, Catechism. Being a regular customer of anything, especially of arms and hazardous materials, canturn into a trap." He enters the last of the chemicals listed.

Catechism nods and replies, "That's true enough." Seems Geist isn't the ony one getting a lesson here. She takes her list back. "An explosion is basically just extremely rapid oxidation, unless you want to get into nukes, but those are an awful lot fancier." And not really themely. She selects a screwdriver from her kit and starts to disassmble her bomb, noting, "It's not too hard to rig a bomb to explode if tampered with, so you have to be careful when trying to disarm one."

Geist nods slightly, not breaking his own silence now so Catechism will not be distracted as she gets into the nitty gritty of handling the device. He continues to make notes of what is said, what he sees, and what possibilities he may wish to further explore when he is better educated.

Catechism offers, "If you have an questions, feel free to ask.I know that I had a lot whe I was learning this stuff." She pulls out a pair of tweezers from her kit and suggets, "You'll probably want to get some tools like these, although those claws of yours may make things a little easier for you." She pushes some wires aside and very gently taps a portion inside the bomb that looks a bit like putty. "I used C4 in this one, but what explosive you use really depends on what task you're making it for."

Geist grins. "Scattering shrapnel or... chemical weaponry via explosion. How does one constuct that into a device?"

Catechism brings out a datapad and draws it out as she speaks, "Depends. You just want spherical scatter or directional? You get shot of some time - iron balls if you're after humans, depleted uranium for more armoured targets, and you either pack it around the core explosive device or you shape it to explode directionally and position the tin of sharpnel like so. For gas... if you pressurise it, as soon as it leaves the tank, it'll try to escape. You could use an explosive to rupture the tank, if you want."

Geist's nimble talon points swiftly input notes, diagrams and schematics, basing them off of the internals of the bomb present and what Catechism says and presents on her own datapadd. "Hmm, and vaporization is ofcourse a factor. Deciding the explosive used will be a large factor in delivery effectiveness. Alright... Continue."

Catechism nods and grins, agreeing, "Right, if our chemical payload is heat or shock-sensitive, you need to be a lot more careful in delivering it. Anyway, the ignition system is going to depend on what explosive you're using, In a lot fo cases, you can just dump an electric shock into it to get it to explode." She points out some capacitors leading into the C4 and a set of batteries.

Geist stops taking notes to look into the bomb. "Multiple contacts. Redundancy or different functions?"

"Good question! In this case, redundancy, but in a multi-stage bomb, it might be to time different dsections exploding at different points," Catechism answers, checking each conenction with her tweezers for tightness. "You may notice that I've colour coded the wires. The Empire keeps its own colour codes, and you're supposed to follow them, but our enemies may not, so it's important to understand where the wires are leading, rather than relying on colour codes. Here are our colour codes." She pulls out her notes on that topic.

Geist records swiftly enough. "So, according to the code... This one here is the primary." His claw points. "And this is the secondary." He points again.

Catechism nods and smiles again. "You pick up stuff quickly, huh? But like I said, don't rely on it." She moves on to a fairly complex bit of circuitry. "This is the radio activation and timer. It's possible to detonate this by hand, but you get stuck in the blast radius that way. The lowest that Imperial timers go is 20 min, but you can conceal bombs fairly easily."

Geist studies the lines again without looking at them as colored and deciphers with what he has learned their correct order again. He then nods. "Concealment is already part of my knowledge base. From the overt use of camoflage, to the subtle use of choosing a place in plain sight while using psychology to ensure it is also a place no one desires to look."

Catechism smiles lop-sidedly and says, her voice warm, almost but not quite joking, "If I ever have anything else that you want to know, I may have to ask you about how you do that someday." She pauses before continuing with the lesson, "This one is keyed for a specific signal. If any radio signal set if off, it wouldn't be very good for my purposes."

Geist adds, "Making the creation of a bomb a very personal thing."

Catechism chuckles. "It can be. It can also be extremely impeersonal. Make it out out of stolen supplies, be sure to wear gloves, dispose of your tools when you're done, set it and hide it, and... well, it'll take a very good investigator to figure out who did the deed. The ultimate in anonymity."

Geist thinks on this as he makes a few more notes. His data entry ceases. "This particular bomb you've made... as a gift yu said?"

Catechism nods and says, "Uh-huh." She has a funny idea of what constitutes a gift. "Why do you ask?"

Geist and Catechism are sitting on the floor of the holo arena. A small device placed between them. "In gratitude or retaliation?"

Catechism actually considers Geist's question, trying to sort out her own feelings on the matter. "Gratitude, I suppose. More debt."

Geist studies Catechism as she answers and questions her no further on the matter. He reviews what he has heard, seen and noted so far. "Please continue with the lesson then, Catechism."

Catechism pulls out some of her spares - a few spools of wire, some solder, batteries, capacitors, and an assortment of tools. She sets them down in front of Geis and encourages, "Construct a detonator, using Imperial colour codes. Let's see how you're following along."

Geist observes the given components. His datapadd is put away and he inspects the tools first, testing them. He then goes to work. He may lack the confident practiced speedyness of a constructicon, but every movement he makes is not wasted. There is no second guessing. The base frame is built upon. Circuits routed and closed. Color code is followed. And finally as the last whiff of solder smoke disappates, Geist installs the batteries. The tools have all been replaced meticulously where he originaly picked them up from. The test project detonator is placed on the floor.

Catechism carefully checks over Geist's work, following over each line. When she's done, she looks satisfied, and she deems, "Not bad at all. Now... back to my bomb." She grabs a bit of wire and splices it into the bomb. "Can you follow what I just did there?" She's set it up such that if someone just tried to yank off the outer plating, the detonation cicuit will be tripped, and the bomb will explode.

Geist lets his logic sense run with his perceptions. "An extra connection, contact with the casing. Electric flow anomoly added to the equation when... Yes. You've set a trap. Insidiously efficient."

Catechism goes back to her box of supplies and takes out the radio control, putting in a keypad instead. She also pulls out a small bit of circuitry and wires it under the keypad. She prompts, "And this?" This one is interesting. If the wrong keycode is entered, the countdown will start, but it won't show on the screen.

Geist arches an optic ridge and picks up the bomb. He then taps in a probably random sequence of numbers quickly. Whoops?

Geist shrugs and looks to Catechism silently.

Catechism dives for her tools and hisses, "That was bad, Geist! Luckily," she's here? "we're in a training room." She grabs her wire cutters and quickly disarms the bomb. Catechism explains, "I had it rigged so that any code other than the detonation code would cause it to start a countdown but not show it on the screen." She gesture to the components behind that process.

Blitzwing comes in and looks over Catechism's shoulder. "Oh hey, bombs. Mind if I sit in? Won't touch nothin'."

Geist smiles, "Ohhhhh.... is that what you did? Well, that bit of poor judgement on my part served as a learning experience in itself." Yes, he got to see Catechism go on edge even just briefly... and he got to see how to disarm her trick. Insight. "So, how does one get around codes and casing trap wiring and what other sorts of nasty tricks there could be?"

Catechism looks up at Blitzwing from where she is sitting on the floor and replies to Blitzwing, "Huh? If Geist doesn't mind. This is his lesson." There is also a purple velvet ribbon on the floor. She reassumbles the bomb as it previously was, with the radio control rather than the keypad, but she leaves the first trip wire, the one attached to the casing in. "How do you get around it? You're careful, that's how." She selects her screwdriver and very gently unscrews the outer plating again. "See, if I just barely tug on this, I can feel resistance. That's how I know something's up." She grabs a thin flashlight and peers into it. "And then I can check it."

Geist does not look away from Catechism and her work as he says, "Blitzwing may remain." Sounding both casual and authoritative at the same time. His fingers idly rub together as if testing sensitivity.

Blitzwing crouches down with his wrists over his knees (it's hard for Blitzwing to get up if he sits down because of how topheavy he is) to watch relatively quietly.

One might question why it is that Catechism is teaching Geist about bombs, given that Seekers and Sweeps usually don't get along. 'Usually' is actually the key. Catechism has no inherent problem with Sweeps. If one does something to piss her off, she'll dislike him, but she'll dislike anyone who pisses her off. Catechism bolts the bomb back together and adds, "If you want to use Imperial parts, the requistion forms are like this," she offers Geist another section of notes. "Once you're confident, you can apply for your certs."

Ramjet comes into the Holo Arena.

Geist copies the given notes as if sighning a cheque and sees that the basic lesson in bomb theory, engineering and handling is over. The datapadd disappears. "Yes. My thanks for cultivating my newfound ... hobby. That itch of yours, I am sure it must be gone now." He rises smoothly to his feet.

Catechism snorts and cleans up everything, putting her tools back in their places and ties the purple velvet ribbon back aroun the bomb, tucking it safely in her tosro. She leans back and looks up at Geist. Catechism grins lopsidedly and insists, "Always happy to help a fellow Decepticon better himself. Let me know if I can ever be of any other use to you."