In Milliways's garage

[explosive_artist]

Sabine exits the elevator and starts looking for Jay’s work area and the drones. Of course, finding anything in the garage can be a challenge and so she calls out a few times before hitting on an inspiration. Pulling up the comm on her gauntlet, she sends out a binary ping which results in a hum of inquiry and incoming drones.

“Hey guys,” she says in greeting. “I’m sorry I’m not familiar enough with you but I’m looking for Lock, Shock, and Barrel?”

The three drones bob in air with a manner that seems to be affirmative, so Sabine grins. “I was hoping you guys could help me again. I don’t have any new tech with me, but I could bring some later. What I need is another scan, like you guys did of that old data pad before? This time though, I need the collar I am wearing. Could you do that?”

In answer, the three separate and surround Sabine, soft hums and quick flashes of light all the response she gets. She’s pretty sure they add up to agreement, which is confirmed when a scan hits the collar.

Unfortunately, Sabine's nerves ignite into pain as the collar reacts defensively to the scans, shocking her.

She falls to her knees and the drones stop immediately; worried boops and blips of lights as they zoom in close to her.

“Karabast, that was unpleasant. I need the scan though, so go ahead.”

The drones back off.

“I can take it. Please.”

The drones stop but make no move to return to scanning, though they do seem to be talking amongst themselves.

“Okay, I get you don’t want to hurt me, but I need to know how this is put together so I can work out ways to break it. I’ve gotten myself caught by slavers and it’s not just me that needs to break free. There are fifteen other people, some of them families. I’m their best chance at freedom but I need to know how to break these collars and I can’t do that without knowing how they’re put together. So please?”

Hesitantly, the drones move forward again.

“Thanks, but try and be quick,” Sabine says before she can’t think of anything else but the pain.

Comments

[runningred]

Stock sends a message to the others, who fetch Jay. He comes at a run, trying to make sense of what's going on. "Guys, back up."

[explosive_artist]

Sabine lays there, twitching a bit. Signs likely point to her having been tazed. The nice new collar she's wearing, which is crude by her other tech, might be the culprit. Her breathing is strong, if shallow and her muscles start to relax as he watches.

[runningred]

Jay touches her carefully with the back of his hand, checking the shock has passed. "Situation report?" He asks the drones, getting a series of beeps and whistles.

"Okay, let wait till she comes to. Can you display me what you've got so far?"

[explosive_artist]

The drones's holograms flicker and come to life, projecting a full scan of the collar Sabine is wearing. And a nasty piece of work it is.

While he's looking Sabine groans again and then starts awake, arms shoving out as she tries to understand where she is and what's happened.

[runningred]

"Sabine. Take it slow." Jay says in a carefully authoritative tone.

[explosive_artist]

His voice seeps into her awareness and it takes a moment but she realizes she knows it. The worried chirp of the drones help in identifying his as well.

"Oooo," she groans. "I will not be doing that again if I can avoid it."

[runningred]

"Good plan." Now she's conscious, he puts a steaming hand on her shoulder and helps her into a sitting position, sensing one of the drones off for water.

"Wanna talk me through what you've got going on here?"

[explosive_artist]

"Yeah, I suppose I should," Sabine says wryly while checking to see the drones are okay. "This was all on me, the drones were just helping."

She pauses to look at each in turn. "Thank you for that. I know you weren't comfortable with what I asked but you helped anyway."

Turning back to Jay, she continues, "I came across some slavers who were taking in some new 'merchandise'. I don't like slavers, so I decided to get involved and got myself caught. On purpose."

"The drones were helping me scan this shock collar to find it's weak point, but the scan tripped its defenses and so it shocked me. I needed the scan and thought I could take the shock, so pushed the drones to keep scanning."

"The shock was a little more than I was expecting. I wouldn't advise it."

"Did you guys get good scans?" The last, of course, is directed at the drones, who project their findings.

[runningred]

Stock chatters urgently at Jay who nods as Barrel comes back with a bottle of water for Sabine. "Yeah, I know. It's not your fault." He placates gently, reaching out to stroke the drone. "You did the right thing."

Jay nods to Sabine. "They got a pretty clean scan. How about we find somewhere more comfortable to sit down and review the specs while you recover. Then we can talk about tooling you up for taking down these bastards." Jay doesn't deal well with slavers either.

[explosive_artist]

Sabine nods and moves to pick herself up.

"Would you mind if we went to your work area? Still a little jittery from the shock and not sure I'm up for a crowded room."

[runningred]

"The workshop is fine. You're not far off." He holds out an arm of her to lean on. "We can analyse the specs there."

He helps her over to his workshop, offering her a seat.

[explosive_artist]

The drones quickly project the 3D hologram of the collar, tech 'blown-out' to show all the components and how they interlock.

As she studies the virtual blueprint, Sabine's stomach growls; which makes her smile a little. "You happen to have any snacks down here I could trade for?"

[runningred]

Jay tosses her a bag of cookies and sends one of the drones off to grab them some proper food.

"Alright." He leans on a bench, eyeing the blueprint. "Let's break this down."

[explosive_artist]

Sabine catches the bag and bites into a cookie. "This looks promising...no, leads to a fail safe."

The device is simple and brutal, with only a few defense mechanism. The problem with simple and brutal is that is doesn't leave a lot of flaws.

Still, between the two of them, and with the help of the drones, it's only a matter of time until they find the flaw.