2011-06-06 - A 'Goliath' Deal

Raven's Nest. Always busy, always full of hustle and trying to kep thigns from falling apart. Granted the past month or so hasn't helped the whole 'falling apart' thing, but the mechanics and support staff have to earn their pay somehow!

Speaking of support staff. One Edward Fawkes was looking for one in perticular. Granted he'd have better luck making an appointment, and the mechanic in question was probably on the SuiKyosha, but after the thing with the soup there... he kinda wanted to stay away for awhile.

"Now if I were her, where would I be?" Edward grumbled, somewhat sourly, to himself.

Where would Sinya be? Well, one place is as unlikely as the next lately. Things had calmed down significantly since the Raven's Nest got back up and running and many of the refugees had left the SuiKyosha. It's enough to lift some of the work-load off of her shoulders and give her some 'breathing room'. Still, the juggling act between the battleship and the 'nest has kept up, padding the mechanic's wallet even if it meant precious little free time.

At the moment, the only sign of Sinya being anywhere at all is the little fluff of her tail as it hangs down out of the cockpit of a gundam she seems to be stripping for parts. With her arms folded under her head, the catgirl is quite asleep, demonstrating her unusual ability to nap just about anywhere.

"If you're looking for the cat-lady..." The gruff voice of a tech mutters from underneath an Armored Core. "She's over there. Been workin' on that gundam for the past few days. Not sure what she needs the parts for, but ya learn not to ask after a while. Techs are crazy." He's obviously including himself.

"Nah. She just keeps about three dozen different things going all at once." Granted Ed could do the same with raw numbers, but the ability the girl showed in falling asleep literally anywhere stil lcaught him off guard. So wit ha short walk and peering down into the open work of the gundam. Now how do you wake a sleeping cat? Ed dismissed giving the tail a pull straight away. Even with run of the mill kitties tail pulling was a no-no, and this was someone that could probably skin him alive, or possibly worse. After all she'd been with Xiang's crew for awhile. She was bound to pick up a thing or eight in the process.

Knock Knock. Oversized fist from the big man rapping on one of the pannels over the space Sinya was curled up in. Wasn't intended to be loud but confined space, better than average hearing. Likely unpleasent.

The sound of knocking is enough to cause Sinya's ears to perk. Normally, she could sleep through just about anything, but some sounds were the usual background noise of a machine shop, others were more intentional. Groggily she lifts her head and yawns, stretching her arms out in front of her. It seems that the only way to catch her lately is to find her sleeping, but that is, at least, explainable. "Hrm?" She peeks over the edge of the open chest of the huge machine, a few wires hanging out all over the place. It seems as if she actually has something in mind with her scavenging of the Crusader machine.

"Oh, Edward. Good morning." It isn't morning, probably closer to evening, actually. "What's up? Did that information I gave you end up helping any with your ancient mecha issue?" She momentarily vanishes into the cockpit, her tail swaying behind her as metal clangs on metal. Then, a moment later, she's latching onto a cable and sliding her way down to the ground, landing in a crouch. There are a few parts balanced under one arm.

"Ah..." No mention of correct time. Probably aquired as a survival skill. "You need coffee first. Then we'll talk." Granted that was what he was looking for her about, but sleepy kitty makes poor conversation.

"I'm fine. Power nap." Sinya replies, and for the most part she seems to be telling the truth. There isn't much sleep in her eyes as she walks over to her work table, depositing the parts along with a handful of others. It all seems to be control parts, the things that go into a trace-suit system.

Flopping down into her chair, Sinya pulls one of the components over, looking at a blueprint as she examines it. "I won't argue with coffee, though. As long as you don't mind if I work in the mean time." Besides just the control parts, most of the outer armor of the gundam has been removed and boxed up, as if they are ready to be shipped off somewhere.

Granted Ed was a pilot and had passingfamiliarity with at least *some* of this, but he still looked at the different gew-gews and gizmos with a little confusion. "Ah, right." He flagged somebody over. Stuffed money at them and gave a somewhat rougher than strictly needed shove before focusing back on the whole reason he was here. "What all can you control with just the helmete thing you had on Arcius?" He slumped a little, mostly so he could get a better look at what Sinya was doing, but what with the blank look on his face it was kinda clear he was out of his depth.

A few things are fiddled with, checked over, and then the part is set aside in a pile with some others. There is another box, labeled with an address on the outskirts of Hindustania. Perhaps some private buyer? In either case, no one at the 'nest seems to mind her doing outside work. With the major repairs to the hangar finished, it's just the usual random mercenary repair work in the queue.

"The control visor." Sinya nods once, understanding immediately what he means. "Well..." She reaches up one hand, scratching lightly behind her ear in a thoughtful way. "Well, most of what the headset does is feed visuals back to me. Guymelefs were originally meant for land-based combat, and the pilot would look out of the visor or slits in the chest plate. I had to replace that on Arius to make him space-worthy, so I needed a different method of seeing." Twirling a screwdriver in one hand, Sinya bites at her lower lip, "I've got secondary controls in the cockpit. Mostly button-based hand controls built in to the hand-plates which handle thrusters, targeting, life support, the buttons interface with a computer system I installed to handle such things. Why do you ask?"

Slow exhale as Ed tried wording this some way that wouldn't sound foolish. "I'd gotten a better look at what they've been digging up,," He put a hand out ot steady himself on the his perch. After all it's not easy for a big man, no matter how functional the footware, to perch on a partially dismantled mecha. "I'm going to need some way of controlling Goliath after I get him in storage. Old methods won't work and Gods alone know the kind of damage twenty plus years underground have done." Granted he'd like to know just why the suit was there in the first place, but at the same time he didn't. Because the answer would probably make his head asplode.

"Plus I'd gotten as near a replica I could manage programmed in simulation and want a more naturalistic way of puppeting it around. Y'know... on the off chance I've been stabbed in the back and the Crusaders field him against us or anything."

Slowly, Sinya sets the screwdriver down onto the table before shaking her head. "It took me the better part of six months to develop the control systems Arius uses and to install all of the modern upgrades. Computer, new armor plating, thrusters, sealed cockpit, controls..." She ticks these off one by one on her fingers, and then shakes her head. "It's not magic, or mind-reading. Arius is still mostly manual." Mostly, as there were a few functions that did seem to react to her without any mechanical device telling them to. Then again, it is a unit from La Gias, so much of that can be explained away with 'magic'.

"Without getting to actually look at it, I wouldn't know where to even start with working up a control system. If I had a way of rigging up a universal controller, I'd be rich and you certainly wouldn't find me here." Although she has gotten significantly more rich as of late - working two jobs with little in the way of expenses helps. "Once you bring it in, I'd be glad to take a look, but I'm afraid I can't really do much otherwise. An EMP pulse might knock out modern units, but older ones... especially the ancient mechs, they run more on magic than technology. I wouldn't have a clue how to shut it down."

A clawed finger is tapped to one of the pieces of the trace-suit controls, "But once you have it in, we could look at getting it rigged with some sort of control system. Trace suit, manual cockpit, or something inbetween. It really depends on how much space we have to work with and how much it needs to do."

A shrug, "If i remember right the crew compartment was about as big as your trailer. Most of it was taken up by the reloading mechanisms for the big guns but that'll be one of the many things i'll want automated and updated anyway." Edward seemed to start to lose track of surroundings as he spoke, almost like this was the first time he actually looked at the 'how everything's going to go together' aspect of this whole 'buy and refurbish a giant mecha of questionable origins' business. "There was the pilot's chair and Shroud, but last time i sat in that was... nevermind. Maybe..." Gears and whels in his head started clicking. Something jiggled loose.

"How is it still in one piece? It got blown apart." Great, Edward speaking gaian again. Also doens't really seem to matter if anyone's been trying to get his attention. "It overloaded and poof. Gone. Couldn't have been enough to rebuild from, but it couldn't be another... No. I'd know that face."

"I'm sure we could figure out something with the reloading mechanisms." Rather than continuing to fidget, she pulls over a broken manifold from the trace suit system, and starts to take it apart, spreading the pieces out in front of her. The deft movements of her hands are enough to mesmerize some, although it all seems to come as second nature. "But like I said, I'd have to actually take a look at it before I could do much. If you want, I could come out with you at some point, get some measurements and sketch up some specs."

There isn't much else for Sinya to do but stare at Edward when he starts to zone off into Gaean. "Um. Edward? The captain isn't here to translate. Sinya no hablas gaean? Hello, earth to Edward?" She leans forward, waving a hand in front of his face.

After a few moments of hand-waving Edard jerked back. "Huh oh... Sorry." He took a breath and exhaled. "Sorry. I'm just not sure what, if anything, the new controls would have to bite into since the whole thing, computer... for lack of better term, and power both come from different crystals and trying to get wires and or even fiber working with, well. Rock I think woud tax even you."

"Why don't you see if it even functions first. Then we can always get down to fixing it up." Afterall, if the unit had been buried for that long, there could be quite a bit of damage to any of the more sensitive systems. Then again, if it is a La Gian unit, it might have faired the ages far better than he could imagine. "If you want me to come look at it, just give me a couple of days notice and I'll get some time off and come down with you."

Rolling her shoulders in a shrug, "As for me, I'm up to just about anything. If it's a mech, I'll take a bash at it." A small grin quirks up the corner of her mouth.

"Well you're about the only person here I'd trust." Ed snorted. "Sure I kinda don't think there would be many who could make heads or tails, and nobody'll be cheap, but if it'll work at all." He let that one trial off, too much flattery and whatnot. "Too much other stuff to do. Building to secure to house it. Tools. Power..." He started scrambling down, nearly losing his footing a few times. Hey. He's Huge. Cut theguy a little slack.

"Hrm." Sinya murmurs, nodding softly. Of course, the catgirl had her own ties to the Crusaders who had eyes on the unit, but they weren't anywhere near strong enough for her to rat out a friend. "You could always see if some of the TDF ships might be willing to be hired out as guards. It's what they're around for, anyways - protecting Trailer interests." Of course, she has ties to them, too. The catgirl certainly does get her paws into a lot of things at times.

You make arrangements, I'll be there. That's pretty much what it comes down to. The 'nest owes me some time off, and the captain won't mind if I take a few weeks. He may even offer to play guard-duty if you ask." Nope, no personal reasons she'd want him nearby. None at all.

Edward had his ideas where the catgirl's interest lay, but his self preservation demanded he stay quiet. "Am Kinda hoping everyone can sit down have a nice talk if everyone starts showing up for the same reasons. But since that's unlikely..." He pulled something from his suit jacket and gave an underhand toss in Sinya's general direction. If she were to catch it she'd see a roll of bank notes bound together with a neckalce made of silver and gold strands braided together. No pendant, no visable makers mark. It could've been from any number of mass market places except for the hints here and there of red sparkling through. Dust? Some of the larger glittery specks looked like crystal.

Strange. The chain looked to be for a man's necklace, that or the lady in question wanted something fairly.. substantial in way of jewelry.

"Everyone meaning what? You and the Crusaders?" Sinya asks, her look somewhat skeptical. "They don't really seem to be the sit down and chat, types. Not most of them, anyways." Her own connections to the Crusaders had been tenuous at best, mostly revolving around Martian liberation. There were plenty of times where she ended up on the opposite end of the battlefield from people she'd otherwise consider allies. "You're better off defending yourself to start with. Otherwise you just make an easy target."

She catches the thrown object in her hands, the reaction almost instinctive. Then, she looks it over curiously, turning the notes and the chain around them. "What's this?" She asks, setting it down in front of her. "Some women might go for the jewelry and money thing... but I'm not the type." She's teasing, of course, a small smile on her features. "So... ?" She leaves the question linger, waiting for some explination.

"I figured even if your new beau isn't interested he might appreciate the thought. The money's from me to you as an advance." Ed looked down and frowned before muttering something about his boots and pulling a rag from a pocket to try cleaning... whatever it was he'd just stepped in off. Sure they were flight boots rather than dress shoes, but he still wanted them looking reasonably nice.

"Beau, come on Edward, seriously?" Sinya rolls her eyes slightly, although it's hard to tell if she's reacting to the concept of her having a relationship, or the word he happens to be using. "If you want someone to work defense, you'll have to contact the defense fleet yourself, I can't really offer much help there." The fact is, as close a relationship as she might have with the SuiKyosha's captain - she has no say in what missions he and his people take on. She gives one glance at him as he cleans mech-goo off of his boot, and then plucks up the roll of money, unlacing the chain from around it. "So where did this come from?" Curiousity is a cat-like feature.

"Nono i wasn't paying you for that." The idea of him trying to get her to act as middleperson on hiring out one of the TDF ships (The Exact Cause of the Catastrophy? NO YOU! Hm... He did hear good things about Your Mother.) "That's an advance on your looking ...whatever is actually in Goliath whenever I get him in. And... Well I have a few friends who know a few people who know a few ways of getting things. Sure they're probably nothing compared to what most people here have in way of contacts, but i've ben owed favors in the past and called one in on a jeweler. Not sure what the red stones are. Not ruby is about all I can say." Eww. Stubborn mucky oily goo. "What leaks stuff that's pretty much tar?" Edward made a face. "Oh and I wanna know who came by while we were talking. I just landed in something that's probably going to ruin these...." Ruin being a subjective word here. The boots are perfictly useable. Able to be presentable in high company? Hell No.

"You don't have to pay me for that, Edward." Sinya seems to object to getting money for helping a friend, but she doesn't actually toss the cash back towards him. Instead, she fiddles with the chain for a moment, feeling the cool metal against her fingers. "But I certainly won't argue with you over it. I'd be glad to take a look at this 'Goliath' of yours. Just let me know when you need me to pull up stakes here for a few days and I'll get things taken care of." Sliding the chain into one pocket of her overalls, and the money into another, she takes one glance around to make sure their transaction isn't noticed, "As for the Captain, I'm sure he'd do the same. We're all family here. One... really screwed up family, but..."

Trailing off of that subject, probably not wanting to dwell too long on mention of the SuiKyosha's Captain. Edward already seemed to know too much about things. She sighs, speaking in a lower tone of voice, even if there isn't anyone nearby enough to hear. "By the way, would you mind not being quite so... public about my relationships? I know you've figured things out for yourself, but you're the only one, and I'd like to keep it that way for now. It's... complicated." About three-hundred Chinese subjects complicated. Ugh.

Luckily, the mech-goo is enough to change the subject and Sinya gets to her feet, walking over to a small station set up for techs to wash up. She pulls down a bottle of some caustic smelling liquid, as well as a rag. "Here, this should take care of it. Just may smell a bit strange until it wears off." She offers rag, and cleaning solution out to the tall man.

"Relax." Ed smirked. "You and the kid make a cute pair." Wait Kid? He waved somebody off before continuing. "But-" Hey it just cleans right off? Neat. "Any idea what this'll do to the leather? I've had these boots for awhile. Good and broke in." He was trying despirately to not lean on Sinya while she cleaned. Both because he was afraid of pushing the wrong way and cuasing bot hto topple, but mostly because he really did not want to make people think this was part of some twisted service agreement. Gee. From one Awquard to another.

"Hey, just because some of us don't have past lives that we relive constantly doesn't mean we're 'kids'." Sinya smirks, offering another roll of those large green eyes. Once the goo is cleaned off, Sinya takes back the cleaning stuff, setting it down onto the table. "The leather should be fine. This stuff is meant to work on skin, so it isn't really going to harm anything." She luckily doesn't end up toppled over, otherwise people might start the rumor that she is cheating on poor seventeen year old Ling with Edward.

"So what kind of control system were you thinking about anyways?" She pulls the chair back over with her tail, twirling it once before sitting down. "Interactive controls, manual? A trace suit installation requires quite a bit of space to move around, so if it has most of the cockpit space used by the gun reloaders, that wouldn't be able to be rigged." Ahh tech, the one thing Sinya can easily talk about without any problems. "But it also depends on how much La Gian insanity it functions on. If it's made of rock like you were saying, I can imagine it will be trouble to modernize. It pretty much guarantees that there's magic involved."

There was a thoughtful look as Ed considered his options. Trace suit? Yeeeaaa. Just try picturing the big guy in a skin tight spandex outfit. We'll even provide the brain bleach. "Well there was room enough for three other guys, enough shells for a couple vollies, and what passed for saftey gear. If possible though i'd rather go wit ha variant on the cockpit I've got already. At least for the basic stick and pedel layout since i doubt a good four fifths of it would be needed. The visor seems like a good option since I'd really rather not have to put screens everywhere and if i remember right it's a straight line from seat to door and I'd rather not block my exit with anything complicated that could jam up at a bad time."

"Probably doable." Sinya doesn't seem to have any issues with the mental image of Edward in a trace suit, but then again she is a bit strange to begin with. Perhaps it's due to the fact that she isn't human, but then again - she is dating a human. Interspecies relationships, always a bit odd. "I'm sure I could rig up a headset-to-helmet display system. That's not difficult. Depending on the way that the mech is rigged, I could probably even get it to follow motion like Arius." Rolling back towards her desk, the catgirl taps onto a datapad, bringing up some information. "We'll have to see if it's air-tight, too. If not, we'll have to pressurize it and seal the cockpit. That's harder, since you have to find any place open to air. A lot of the older units just don't have that." Or else they somehow manage to do it by sheer 'how can that happen' magical insanity.

There was a handwobble. "Unless when it got rebuilt, either by Thomas or my old employers or... however it got here." He made a vuagely finger-wiggly mystical motion at the idea, "it's not air tight." He really didn't want to recount how he knew this. It got messy. "Also would want to look into crew compartment insulation. Never could get that one solved." He paused and considered his options. Sure he's already invested money in a warehouse to store the thing, money set aside to buy and hopefully repair it, but cost of materials. "Other than the energists, how easy are the parts for Arcius to come by?" Relavent question is relavent.

"Then we'll have to look into getting it sealed up. Even if you don't plan on using outside of Earth's atmosphere, there are a number of really weird mechs out there, and you'll want to be able to control the environmentals as much as possible." Even Arius's shielding had taken a pounding when having to go toe-to-toe with the sun-god that the Crusaders were fielding at the moment, and if she hadn't had some environmental control, it's likely that Sinya would have become a crispy critter. "The key thing with Arius is that I made good notes of his design work before I ever got started on him. I can fabricate most any part for him, except for the energists. That'll be harder if your 'Goliath' isn't in working order, because we may not have base parts to work from." She had to replace some of the guymelef's original components even while working for Zaibach, but for the most part she still knew every piece that went into the gryphon knight.

"I have a few ideas, but mostly it depends on what happens when I get him back to a place where we can take a good long look." Ed looked around, popping his neck several times as he did so. "I'd probably better get going. I've got a client later and, y'know. Work."

"Hrm." Sinya nods her head softly, "I need to get back to working on this Arachno. I've got parts that need to ship out today." The fact that the unit is a bit unusual to see at the Raven's Nest isn't even addressed. She simply starts piecing together the few of the bits for the trace suit system. "Just give me a ring when you've got your suit ready for me to look at." Her hand slides into the pocket of her overalls, fingering at the necklace hidden there. If nothing else, as much as she might deny her interest in jewelry, apparently Sinya seems fond of it.