#plasma cutter my beloved

[ridl]

one of the scariest things abt dead space is always gonna be isaac's posture, but can you rlly blame him for being tense when he's stuck on a spaceship full of fleshy horros

[zoeykallus]

Crosshair My Beloved Enemy Vol.2 Chapter 3 – You Do Have A Heart

Fluff/Angst

_________

The mood is gloomy, the Marauder lost. Now it is time to gather and make new plans. However, some people just can't get rid of old habits.

_________

>Master List<

What Happened Before:

Volume 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

_________

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

__________

The Marauder itself is unsalvageable, the damage far too big. But with difficulty, you salvage the parts of the equipment that are still recoverable. You notice, of course, how carefully and skittishly Tech clears out the drawer under his bunk as you pull the wreckage out of the crevasse. His gaze flits over to you again and again, shy, almost a little hurried. You realize that he probably suspects that you must have seen the drawings he made of you when you were looking for the plasma cutter. In his arms, he holds a folder with his drawings, pressed against him like a treasure that no one must see. Crosshair, who sits down next to you and puts your necklace back on, the one with the crosshairs he gave you, makes you forget about Tech for the moment. "I found this in the refresher." "Oh," you say in surprise with a smile, glad the trinket isn't lost after all. Your fingertips touch the pendant for a moment, relieved. It's a beloved token of his affection for you that you would have sorely missed.

Crosshair kisses your temple, rises again, and helps Hunter pull up the crate of equipment they salvaged from the Marauder. There's not much left, and a strange, wistful mood hangs over all of you. The Marauder is indeed lost. Wrecker says somberly, "Even though I hate to leave our old home like this, we should probably get off this planet as soon as possible" "I agree with that," says Tech, still clutching his folder. Hunter nods with a sigh, and looks at Rex, "Do you think you can still get us on your shuttle with all this stuff?" "Of course," Rex says immediately without hesitation, "I could take you back to our base for now. There you can plan how to proceed."

The base is on an uninhabited moon. A small outpost built by Rex and a few other clones. On the flight here the atmosphere was tense, and it was quite uncomfortable, the small shuttle was crammed with all of you and the equipment you were able to rescue from the Marauder. Everyone seems a bit depressed, the Marauder is gone, the home that has accompanied you for years. This pill is bitter and hard to swallow. But Tech seems especially tense. As he helps unload Rex' shuttle, he still has his folder clutched to him like a treasure. You frown thoughtfully, worried about his behavior. Is he still that much in love with you? Distracted, you bump into Crosshair, who stops in front of you. He turns and looks at you with a raised eyebrow, "What's wrong with you? Can't get enough of me, can you?" "Sorry," you mumble, "Wasn't paying attention." Crosshair sighs, then gently kisses your lips, then your cheek and says, "That was a memorable wedding celebration by any measure"

You laugh softly and say, "Either way." As Crosshair sets about going through the equipment with Hunter to make a list of what could still be saved, you look around. You see Tech standing off to the side. He is rummaging around in his backpack, which he has stuffed full of things from the Marauder. Next to him on a box is his folder. You walk over to him. Tech hears your footsteps and immediately takes the folder back before turning to you. He still seems nervous and jittery. You say softly, quietly, "You're acting way too suspicious for wanting to hide the contents of that folder, Tech." His cheeks and ears turn red. "You saw the contents, didn't you?" he asks just as softly. "Inevitably." He sighs, nervously stepping from one foot to the other. "All the pictures?" he continues to ask.

You frown and say, "I guess so." He turns even redder. "I um... I can explain that." You shake your head. "You don't have to Tech, but make sure Crosshair doesn't see the pictures. I don't think he'll be that understanding." Tech's eyes wander erratically around the room, and he says nervously, "I really shouldn't have painted the nude pictures but-" "The what?" you interrupt him sharply. Tech's eyes twitch back to you, wide and startled. "You didn't see those at all? The little extra folder that was in the big one?" he asks, his voice suddenly higher. You run both hands over your face and groan, "Tech, what are you thinking?" "Do you really want to know?" "No!" After another sigh, you reach out and say, "You can keep the other pictures, but give me the naked ones, I want to dispose of them personally."

You look back over your shoulder, Crosshair and the others are out of earshot and still busy. Tech reluctantly hands you the folder hidden in the large folder. You open it carefully after another glance over your shoulder. The pictures are extremely detailed, your private parts, every little detail, perfectly drawn, almost like a photograph. You blink. The pictures are damn good, but also very inappropriate. "How can you even draw that from your memory like that?" you ask, frowning. Tech shrugs helplessly and says, "I have an eidetic memory, every detail of your body is burned into my mind, everything about you is burned in, every word, every smile, just everything." You look at him sadly and ask, "Is that why it's so hard for you to let me go?" Tech shrugs his shoulders uncertainly, "To some extent for sure. That being said, we inevitably see each other practically every day. There was never really any distance between us." He presses the other folder against him, as if he's afraid you're going to take that away from him, too. You don't really know what to say, after a while of silence you give him a small, sad smile and say, "I'm sorry".

"It's not your fault," he says quietly, watching you make your way to dispose of the pictures. He flinches, startled, when Echo addresses him. "Stop staring at her like that, you and Crosshair are just getting into it again". Tech sighs and says, "Sometimes I can't help it. I had her, she loved me. And I ruined it. That could have been our wedding party. I could be her husband now, but I ruined it out of cowardice." Echo says quietly but insistently, "Tech, what you're doing is unhealthy. You need to let her go already" "I would have made her very happy, I'm sure" Echo puts his hand on his shoulder and says, "I know, I'm sure she knows that too. But things are the way they are now. Stop torturing yourself. Go out sometime, maybe you'll meet someone."

You have joined Crosshair and help him unload. First he smiled at you, but suddenly his mood changes. You see his annoyed look, and you also see that he is looking in Tech's direction. "He's staring at you again," he growls. "Cross," you say softly, "let him be." "It's driving me crazy," he says defiantly. "He's just looking" "No," Crosshair insists, "He's pining for you." You sigh and lower the box you just picked up again. "Cross" "Hmm?" "Look at me" Crosshair growls softly, also setting his box down and looking at you. "Stop that" " Stop what?" You say softly, "With watching him and looking for flaws in his behavior" "He's pining for you," the Sniper repeats, growling.

"He's suffering," you say emphatically, "And he's your brother. He's never tried to hit on me or touch me in all this time. Just let him look, it's not hurting anyone." Crosshair's expression turns melancholy. "Yeah, he's my brother.... And I don't want him to suffer." "So that actually annoys you, that he's suffering?" you ask, surprised. "Of course" You smile at him. "You do have a heart" you say gently teasingly. "You married me, girl, you should know that". You laugh softly and say, "I'm just teasing you a little, honey". You kiss his chin and grab your next crate as he says, "I might have a shuttle for us" "You already have a replacement for the Marauder now?" "No," he says, shaking his head, "I mean for you and me. We would reconnect the shuttle to my brothers', like your old shuttle, like before, once they got a new one" You smile and say, "That sounds great, finally some privacy again would be awesome" "I thought so too" You pause and put the box back down. "But maybe we shouldn't travel with your brothers for a while. Could you maybe imagine that?" Crosshair pauses and looks at you.

"Why?" "Since Tech and I were together, we still saw each other every day. Maybe some distance will help him. I don't mean forever, just for a while." Crosshair sighs and says, "Sounds reasonable, actually. Can we revisit the topic when we have both shuttles?" "Of course."

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[lex1nat0r]

Plasma cutter my beloved my guiding light my sun my moon my stars

[okami-zero]

So finally got my greebly little mitts on the Dead Space remake and oh hohoooo...

I am LOVING IT!

So, I fell in love with Dead Space when, after finding out about the pre-orderable special edition of Dead Space 2 at my local GameStop, I did preorder it for PS3 and bought a pre-owned copy of the first game.

I proceeded to play non-stop in a dark living room for SEVERAL HOURS. I am not generally a horror person, but Dead Space was(is) THAT. GOOD.

Now, with the remake... Oh my lawdy... So, they kept Isaac's VA, and Nicole's VA from Dead Space 2. I beliece one of the voices from the audio logs is also the same. And they actually based the character's face on their VAs, which is neat (though Nicole's first appearance she looked much older than her VA, but that might be down to my system and her first appearance being a grainy vid recording; the aged look is gone later on).

And Isaac TALKS! Like actual lines! Yhey took yhe bits where someone was kind of speaking for him and gave him LINES, and it makes him so much more REAL! And there are aide quests that show Nicole soing stuff (I just started Chapter 3 Course Correction), but...WOW. They took the OG, polished the ever-living out of it, then added some amazing new stuff and polished again!

The weapons! I only have the trusty Plasma Cutter (my beloved), thr pulse rifle (which is gained in a very new way), and the Ripper (a circular saw powered by magnets and SPITE) right now. But... Okay my cutter needs upgrading, but the pulse rifle is actually VIABLE??? And the Ripper, holy shit... Just let the necromorphs run into the floating blade for a few second and then launch it at them. XD

Also... Well, they definitely upped the gore, if only by adding more people to find right before their inexorable and gruesome ends. >.<

One other thing- you hear Isaac's heartbeat when his pulse starts to rise, and lemme tell you... That ratchets the tension almost as much as the musical stings.

Oh, and the necromorphs. The necromorphs. Those squishy, disgusting monstrosities. I have actually come across a few I thought were playing dead to ambush me, but were actually just...dead. And some that were not. But I do not discriminate, I just keep making Necromorph Soup... 🎶Necromorph Soup, it's a very simple recipe, just giblets🎶 - sorry, Miracle of Sound popped into my head there. XD But yea, some of the 'morphs will fake you out and bust vents but not come out of them. Inconsiderate buttheads.

I HAVE gotten jumpscared a couple times, but NOT by monsters. Just by loud, creepy environmental things. Like bysting pipes, or showers turning on abruptly and thrn turning off.

So, yea. Excellent remkae so far, cannot wait to dig in more later!

[seat-safety-switch]

Have you ever seen one of those TV shows where the veterinarians rescue abused and neglected animals? I'm sort of like that, except I can't afford a nice work truck, and my parole requirements won't let me get that close to powerful pharmaceuticals. Also, I rescue several dozen horses at a time, not just one.

The client this time was an ad I saw on Craigslist. A family was getting rid of their beloved late-70s MGB. They told me that it had tons of rare parts, lovingly collected by the original owner. They said that it had been in the family so long that it was like a child to them, and was meticulously maintained. I scraped two inches of built-up dust off the dashboard with my finger, and offered them half of their asking price.

On the way home, I decided to pick up a little welcome gift for the wayward roadster. Just like when Dr. Nursetoucher is administering the right kind of high-nutritional feed to the injured rhinoceros he's brought home to his zoo-slash-tantric-sex-ranch, this little British shitbox needed a solid injection of TLC. Fuel injection, that is. On top of a bridge-ported Mazda 13B rotary engine with a massive AliExpress turbocharger glued to the side of it. And by "TLC," I mean Totally Ludicrous Chassis-Warping Horsepower.

One afternoon with the plasma cutter and a couple minutes with the fire extinguisher later, the 13B was now sitting happily in its new home. Really, the best of both worlds: the unreliable car now had an unreliable engine to be friends with, but now it was an unreliable engine that made a good three hundred wheel horsepower on a bad day. It's practically an Italian car now.

Sometimes, when I drive past the original owners' house and lay down a tire-obliterating patch, I think I can hear him chuckling. "Fuck yeah," he's saying from British Car Owner Heaven where everyone is issued a base-model 1991 Miata, "get after it."

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon Black 2 Randomized Nuzlocke Run [Part 3]

With some interesting carnage leading us through it, the second badge has been earned. Better yet, we got a TM for a Special Poison move, so Caspet can now be a little more secure in her help.

Team as of the moment:

Stella (Poliwhirl)

Caspet (Gastly)

Okay then.

New routes please.

Hey me.

I have been invited to Pokestar Studios. It’s like Hollywood. Roxie’s dad ran off there to be a movie star. Roxie’s now running off there to talk him out of it. We’re going to run off there and have a terrible time with movies.

I don’t know why I remember the movie place. I think there was either some achievement or plot barrier there, and I hated the process but perfectionism insisted on trying again and... idk. Hopefully that distaste won’t be part of this run.

Can I please just be allowed to catch a third party member.

Is there any grass here. Please.

Stop dragging me to movies.

Stop dragging me to terrible movies.

Like there’s clearly some Emotions going on with Roxie’s father, but oh my gosh I do not play these games for becoming a movie star. ;-; Free me. ;-;

I have control of myself again, so I don’t know if I actually have to shoot a movie, but I feel like Roxie and her dad might require me to, and in any case, one won’t hurt too badly. I guess.

Wait, was it a medal thing? Is that why I made myself nuts over this?

Movie shot, script followed, yay, leaving.

Ahoy, plot!

Sequel Team Plasma is so very open about wanting to take over the world. How refreshing. They’ve gone from knights to pirates. Most excellent.

Pop Roxie is back to captaining, so it’s time to run off to Castelia and find another darn teammate.

And our first act of being in Castelia is a clown giving us a bicycle. Rocking.

A boat takes us to Liberty Garden. I think this is where Victini is if Victini is activated, but I’m not sure if that will be the case with this version. The important question is... does it also have other grass.

Fuckdamn it doesn’t.

Yay, entering random buildings in Castelia gave me an Exp. Share.

In keeping with me doing stupid things, I go to the Game Freak building and chat up some of the trainers who are not nearly as strong as they are post-game, thank goodness.

I really.

Really.

Would like.

More than two pokemon in my party.

I also finally gave in and talked to the medal guy in the Pokemon Center.

My achievement hunting tendencies are going to be the largest obstacle between me and any progress ever.

-whispers-

I want all of them.

Other conversations gave me an Eviolite, so that goes to Stella. ...Wait, no, Caspet. Uggggggh.

Burgh is missing from his Gym, which is fine, since I don’t think I’m ready for another round. I’m just walking around trying to check off whatever plot stuff I can that will let me catch something else.

Oh hey, I think talking to Iris opens up the sewers! I think that means I can catch something down there! !!!!

Pleeeeeease give me something.

Please, ominous guise of darkness.

Oh no.

Russell’s partnering with us, so. Uh. What’s the rule for this? I have to catch the first thing I see, but as long as I’m in a duo, I won’t be able to throw a ball very easily...

Fuuuuuuck.

Okay. We took out Panpour.

I have the ability to throw a ball, which means.

This is my catch option for the route.

Haaaa. And Russell’s Dewott is using Fury Cutter. Its damage will keep going up. I think I have two tries to catch it.

Yeehaw.

Try one is a bust.

Oh hey that’s neat! The Dewott used Razor Shell on Stella, because Stella has Water Absorb and had taken damage! That’s smarter than I expected from the partner AI.

And that means I can spare a turn or two trying to put Serperior to sleep. Since Stella still has Hypnosis.

Yo, it hit! And Dewott heals me again!

But. I need Serperior to be more damaged. I shouldn’t risk attacking. ...I’ll just keep throwing balls and wait for Dewott to hurt it a little more.

HECK YEAH WHO’S DA MAN.

Hot damn that was stressful.

Now I gotta give this girl a name.

Sylarana, wanna rock?

Also, now having Russell with me is a good thing, because this squad could use some levels.

What are you like, Syl?

She’s Careful and proud of her power.

Yeah, pride looks good on that sprite.

I don’t know what Serperior’s stats are with a neutral nature. That takes some stress off, since I’ll just go with the flow, but I prefer to know what I’m getting into, usually. Either way, Defense is stronger than Attack, and that’s just fine.

Female Nidoran are down here, too.

This is working out well enough. Yay for buddy healing. I almost don’t want it to ever end. It’s so convenient.

I shouldn’t do this forever, though. That would get boring fast.

My starter breathing. Also cool pirate outfits in Pokemon Go.

Mooks dispatched.

Gym Leader located!

Look at Burgh being all artsy with his tour of the sewers.

Huh, and Russell just hands us Strength. Because all our pals are true bros in this gen.

Then a dude with anime hair walks out of the hole in the wall.

YO NEW ROUTE.

‘ello there.

...I am possibly not going to be able to catch you due to lack of poke balls and you being remarkably stubborn.

Hey, there we go!

What to name you... what to name you... A magnificent sea serpent with a rainbow tail...

Nessy!

Without Russell healing us every fight, we can’t stick around. Back out of the sewers we go, to receive happy words from Iris. Well. Sort of happy words. She worries about Russell and tells us to challenge the Gym.

I, being a compliant sort, walk back into the sewers after healing.

Okay I guess it’s a cave. Sylarana out front, Nessy with Exp. Share while I contemplate what the heck this team does against a Bug Gym.

Ooooh, Forretress.

...

Is. is there anywhere I can go that can pave the way to me getting a Fire pokemon?

You know what, I don’t like things that blow themselves up at me. Guh, this is taking forever. I might need to buy a few Repels just so I can explore the cave properly... I believe there’s grass somewhere past the sewers, and if I could have a slightly more diverse team going into the next whatever, I’d like it.

Oh, and before I forget, Nessy!

She is Quirky and mischievous. She and Stella have half their personalities in common. Delightful. Marvel Scale is also a neat ability to have. Not one I can utilize properly because I’m a competitive failure, but still cool.

Neat, there’s Pidgeot down here.

Looks like there’s not much of the cave to explore at this point in the game. Ah well. Back to the sewers.

Hm. Would the desert north of Castelia be open to me yet? That could prove useful. Heck, is anywhere outside of this city open? I just need a little patch of grass somewhere new.

Bridge still being inspected.

A wild Bianca appears!

Dowsing Machine get!

Hello, this is new.

But there’s still spots of desert.

OH MY GOSH LOOK AT IT.

Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh.

Caught!

Your new name is Itsy, and you are much beloved!

Itsy is Modest and somewhat vain, and ouch that is not a nature I think I like for this little one, but adorableness beats everything, so we’re good.

Butterfree is also in the desert. Oooo Pawniard. Back to the sewers, though. Easier training fodder.

Grass located!

...And if I were a better trainer, I would go back and buy poke balls before exploring, but I have the impulse control of a toddler. Oh, and it’s dark grass vs. light grass...

Decision will be made by rapidly running between the two and seeing what triggers an encounter first.

Dark grass it is!

Aaaaaaaa fuck off.

I love Lapras so much. So so so so so so so so much. But I have two Water pokemon already, as well as an Ice one. I. can’t focus on catching the Lapras. It would be a bad idea.

You have never seen anyone so sad to encounter a Dratini during a Nuzlocke.

The wild Lapras fainted.

Oh fucking hell the Dratini knows Dragon Rage and both my pokemon are under 40 HP. Caspet’s turn on healing Caspet, Sylarana’s turn on getting her out of there.

Okay. Confused and slept.

Now I just. catch it. With four poke balls and two great balls left.

...Three poke balls, and guess who woke up.

Great ball. C’mon great ball.

..One great ball left.

Also if Dratini hurts itself in confusion one more time it is dead.

FORTUNE SMILES ON THE CRIMINALLY STUPID.

Now let’s run everyone back through the sewers and--

Did. did I really hit the no nickname option.

Ffs.

Okay, run back through the sewers, hit the Pokemon Center, and then name the critter. The Name Rater’s somewhere in the city, I think.

Heh. The guy in the alleyway still gives us Flash.

Congratulations, Puff! You are now eligible for activity!

Puff is Quiet and alert to sounds. An adorable addition to our squad. He’s going to be temporarily up front thanks to Dragon Rage. The Game Freak fights are once a day, and it’s been a day, so!

I believe in you, Puff!

Dragon Rage is so op this early. Dreamor agrees. But Puff’s ours, so that makes it okay.

Hm. I have six now. They could keep each other out of trouble.

There are so many areas in these sewers I can’t get to. Or maybe I can, it just involves more maze work than I’m expecting. ...Yeah, it’s looking like that side. Hey, a nurse guy! Yay for less walking up to the Pokemon Center.

Oh, and Poison... might be super effective against Bug? I think the whatsit thing he has is Bug/Grass, so that isn’t actually much of a confirmation. Eh, I’ll find out soon enough.

I’ve found a room full of Zweilous. That’s a safe grinding area, right? Itsy’s got Ice and everything. Vullaby and Dwebble are also here.

Heeeeeey, Caspet’s evolving!

And wants to learn another physical Ghost move.

Bye Lick.

Okay, Gym it is.

...Wow Burgh. Really went full Art on the place, huh? Did trainers complain that you were forcing them to walk through honey before letting them fight you?

Puff’s up first. I don’t have much type advantage here, so it’s just going to be hitting things until they break.

Burgh.

Hey Burgh.

This Gym is creepy.

The cocoons just suck you in and zoom you up. Only think Willy Wonka style.

Mooks have level 20s, so this should be a little uncomfortable for a few of the younger members, but Caspet, Stella, and Sylarana should be fine. For now, Puff’s still in front and Dragon Raging all the things.

And we’re going to the Pokemon Center after every fight, but hey. Baby steps in all things. Puff is on one of the slower exp tracks, so every little bit helps.

...Burgh. Buddy.

You want to talk?

This Gym feels like a cry for help.

In true shounen protagonist style, I will settle your troubled emotions through battle! Even if none of the dialogue will admit to how concerning the aesthetics of your chosen arena are!

Everything is hitting critical hits.

...Oh wait, I’m supposed to narrate these fights, aren’t I?

Uh. Swadloon down, Dwebble down, Leavanny left, Leavanny’s level 24. Caspet’s out to deal with it after Puff handled Swadloon and Nessy handled Dwebble.

Caspet one-shots it like a champ, and on we go.

Burgh, this trinket in no way makes me less concerned for you.

Still, though! Everyone’s alive, and we have a team full of six! Nice work, ladies and Puff. Five more badges to go! Let’s hope they go well!

[zoeykallus]

Crosshair - My Beloved Eenemy Vol.2 Chapter 2 - Losing Home

Warnings: Angst/Tension

________________

The restless planet beneath their feet makes the rescue operation more difficult than they had hoped. But giving up is not an option.

________________

What Happened Before

Chapter 1 - Quaking Ground

The Rescue

His heart is hammering in his chest, his breathing is heavy, and his thoughts are racing. "I have to get down there," he says, horrified, and is already about to climb into the rift, but Hunter holds him back. "Wait, don't act mindlessly, we'll help you," he says urgently. Crosshair is tense, hesitating for a moment before standing back up and looking at his brothers. "We have to get her out of there." "We will", Hunter says firmly, "But we should be careful about how we proceed, and still move quickly, another quake could make things worse" Tech frowns looking at his datapad as he looks up he says, "Rex should get his shuttle, maybe we can use the steel cables to connect the two ships and pull the Marauder out, but we should get your wife out first. If something goes wrong in recovering the Marauder, she could get hurt." Rex immediately runs to the hill where his shuttle is to get it. Crosshair kneels at the edge of the rift in the ground and calls out, "Kitten! Can you hear me?" Crosshair feels a little sick to his stomach because of the tension. He is grateful that his brothers are thinking along, at the moment he feels blindsided and overwhelmed by the situation. Nervously, he waits to hear an answer from you. The ship turned when it fell into the rift and the ramp points downward, which will make rescue even more complicated.

Your side hurts, nothing is broken, but it is certainly bruised. Cursing softly, you straighten up and realize that the Marauder is tilted. You realize that means the exit is tilted down into the rift. Letting out another curse, you climb over the pilot seat, which is now in a sideways position, and carefully move toward the exit of the cockpit.

"Of course," you say quietly to yourself, "We're celebrating our marriage and the damn world we landed on for this is going down."

Uttering an angry snort, you awkwardly climb out of the cockpit and finally move from bunk to bunk, up towards the open ramp. Cautiously, you look out. The ramp is bent and only half hanging from the shuttle, but you're more concerned about the depth that shows beneath it. The rift narrows, the Marauder probably wouldn't slide any deeper, for now, but you could still fall very deep should you tumble out of the ramp.

"Fuck."

Frowning, you consider how you're going to get out of here, but part of you calms down with the thought that the guys are probably already working on a solution, Tech would definitely come up with something.

"Kitten! Can you hear me?"

You call back, "Yes! I'm right here. I'm fine, for now. But the ramp is pointing down, into the rift, I don't know how to get out of here."

Crosshair looks at Tech and says, "There's not enough room to climb past it, we're going to have to cut open some access.

Tech nods slowly and says reluctantly, "I've come to that conclusion too, however our tools for that are in the ship. Do you know if she can handle it?"

Crosshair shrugs, "Time to find out."

"Hey Kitten, have you ever used a plasma cutter?"

"No"

"Well, there's a first time for everything," he calls back.

With a sigh, you turn and look at Tech's bunk, the drawer below it holding most of his tools, as you know. You're not even sure what exactly a plasma cutter looks like, but it can't be that complicated, or so you hope.

A vibration goes through the Marauders. Tense, you hold your breath, it rumbles, the earth moves and with it the Marauder. You lose your balance and almost fall out of the ramp, but just manage to grab the edge of the bunk next to you and pull yourself further back into the ship.

The noise is again deafening, goes through your spine and even hurts your teeth. Then as suddenly as it started, it stops shaking again.

"Shit!" you growl shakily, rushing to Tech's bunk and shouting, "I'm looking for the plasma cutter."

"In the drawer under my bunk," you hear Tech call, and you could swear he sounds nervous.

As you open the drawer, you see why. Since the ship is in a sideways position, almost all the contents fall out when you open it. Among other things, lots of drawings, very nice, detailed drawings, of you. Mostly with a smile or thoughtful.

You sigh softly and say, "Oh, Tech."

You quickly gather up the drawings, and shove them between a small pile of other, technical drawings. It's probably better if Crosshair doesn't get to see them.

Finally, you find the plasma cutter, a slightly bent pole with a plasteel handle. You hurry back near the open ramp and call out, "I've got the plasma cutter. But now where do I cut through without blowing up the ship or something?"

It takes a few seconds, then Tech calls back, "The way the Marauder is laying now, right above my bunk, you have enough room to easily cut an exit without hitting fuel lines or power lines."

You take a deep breath and call out, "Okay, I'll get started on that now"

Crosshair stares down at the Marauder, waiting impatiently to see where the plasma cutter would penetrate the metal of the ship. Tech crouches down beside him and points downward to a specific spot.

"Over there is where she will cut the opening".

Crosshair follows his finger pointing and nods silently.

Tech says quietly, "Don't worry, she's a survivor, always has been. She can handle it"

"I know. But the second quake makes me nervous, it could quake again, at any moment and make everything worse"

Hunter paces restlessly, the planet beneath his feet is in turmoil, he can feel it, he knows more quakes are coming. He keeps this realization to himself for now, he doesn't want to make Crosshair unnecessarily nervous. However, he already suspects that the Marauder cannot be saved.

Rex's shuttle swoops down and lands relatively close to the action. Gregor and Wolffe are with him, both carrying steel cables.

"How's it looking?" asks Gregor, "Can we get the fair maiden out of there?"

Wolffe says sullenly, "Of course, whether, is not the question here, but how."

Wrecker explains, "She cuts her way out with the plasma cutter, then we throw her a rope and I pull her out, should be easy"

Rex breathes a sigh of relief, that really sounded pretty easy. Echo next to him is eerily quiet and looks very thoughtful.

It's not easy at all, the plasma cutter is empty, nothing happens when you turn it on. You shout your realization out over the ramp in frustration.

Tech frowns and pushes his goggles up the bridge of his nose with his index finger as Crosshair gives him a piercing look.

"Don't look at me like that, I couldn't have anticipated this situation," he growls to his brother.

Down into the depths he calls, "There should be at least one spare cartridge for the plasma cutter…. among my things in the drawer."

You roll your eyes, call out, "Okay," and dig through Tech's drawer again. Through the drawings, which you admit to looking at again curiously, various tools, data cards, and loose cables. Finally, you come across the spare cartridge, swap out the empty one with the full one, and try again.

This time, the cutter comes to life. You cover your face with the mask you found among the tools and get to work.

"Look!" exclaims Wrecker excitedly, the first to spot the glowing orange trail of the plasma cutter.

Crosshair tenses even more, but allows himself to take a breath.

"She's not out yet," he says quietly, more in conversation with himself than with anyone else.

Hunter stops abruptly and automatically everyone looks in his direction, seeing his serious, grim face.

"Tell her to hold on and not lose the plasma cutter, the next quake is coming," he growls urgently.

Crosshair hastily relays the message, but you don't hear him over the crackle of the cutter right away. The next quake, surprising you, knocks you off balance, but it is smaller and shorter than the last one and you remain unharmed. Still plopped on your butt, your heart beats up to your neck, you finally want to get out of here.

Hastily you get back to work, every now and then a spark burns your skin because you don't have gloves, and you curse, but you don't stop. Finally, you pick yourself up by the bunk and kick the metal part cut loose in the hull, and it clatters out, slips over the outside of the hull, and gets stuck between the Marauder and the earth rift.

You take the cooling spray and spray the edges of the incision, and finally start to climb out. You hear the voices above, all in relief.

"There she is! Way to go, Kitten!"

A little unsteadily, you remain crouched on the Marauder's outer hull and look up, the heads of the guys above you farther away than you thought. Letting out another nervous curse, you wait for the rope they throw you. You tie it around your waist and hold onto it with both hands.

Your heart beats up in your throat as you are finally pulled up. The sun has risen by now and blinds you as you look up. But as quickly as you are pulled up, you are sure it must be Wrecker pulling at the other end.

Finally, you see Crosshair above you, one arm outstretched toward you, looking nervous, tense and impatient. You barely get a grip on his hand before he hastily pulls you toward him and over the edge of the earth rift.

You shakily wrap your arms around him and finally allow yourself to take a breath. Here and there you hear one of the guys laugh in relief. Finally, you look up into Crosshair's face, and he flashes you a smirk.

"You really do have to make a drama out of everything," he teases you.

You poke him in the side and say, "I guess you can't blame that on me, I can't cause earthquakes yet."

You turn around and look down cautiously. Apart from the hole in the hull you climbed out of, the Marauder doesn't look good, one wing is broken off, it has cracks and dents and as you know the ramp is damaged too.

Next to you, you hear Tech sigh.

"I don't think we can save the Marauder, even if we can get her out of there. But we still have to try to salvage her, almost all our equipment is in the shuttle," he says seriously.

"Watch out, another quake is coming!" exclaims Hunter.

No sooner has he finished the sentence than the ground beneath you begins to vibrate, the edge of the rift in the earth crumbles, and the deafening noise returns. The screeching of metal does not bode well. Hastily, you all retreat a bit from the edge of the rift until the shaking subsides and finally stops.

Hunter is the first to look back into the gap. The walls of the rift have moved, buckling the Marauder in the middle. His heart grows heavy as he says softly, "Well…. Shit."

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

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[seat-safety-switch]

There’s a time in any man’s life when he begins to take an interest in making pretty welds. Those nasty booger-splatter shit welds that you once did to just get a panel started or improvise a repair to a beloved farm tool don’t cut it anymore.

No, you start to worry a little bit about technique and maybe a little less about passion. You watch your wire speed. You’re always careful to clip the ball off the end before you start feeding again. And when you’ve got a little free time at home, you want to study up on the experts, but this is where the household problems can begin.

Among my many other jobs, I have been a freelance marriage counsellor. My customers tell me that I’m a very good listener, and it doesn’t hurt that the troubles and foibles of my neighbours often give me material for the tall tales I tell at taverns for a token tequila of thanks. A couple that I worked closely with - perhaps too closely - was a victim of this mid-life crisis.

You see, the wife of the couple could only stick weld. Yes, she did it with great enthusiasm, and nobody could argue that the job didn’t get done. Porosity wasn’t a problem. Everything you could want in a welder. Yet, one day while she was moving around some shit in the shop to look for the bottle of gas she had to take back for refunds, she found a certain magazine. An adult’s magazine. A magazine full of weld pictures.

Immediately, I was called in to try and heal the breach, but the gap was too big for me just to stuff with wire and then grind the surface back until it could look kinda smooth enough to put Bondo on. This was a problem bigger than the obvious faded paint lines on the Frankensteined panels of my continually-rotting ‘72 Galant. After listening to both proposals, I decided I would solve this shit like King Solomon. I asked them to bring their young baby to me, and then dragged out my plasma cutter from the car.

Suddenly, they decided to reach a compromise. She would take some welding classes, and he would try to fix the rocker panel in their Plymouth Arrow using only a marine battery, some nails, and a sheet of newspaper for a face shield. I was relieved at the outcome. There was no way I had brought a big enough compressor to cut through a largely non-ferrous child, and they would have revealed me as a fraud right away.