Crash Test Dummies

Posted on Mon Jan 20th, 2020 @ 10:15am by Lieutenant Mona Gonadie & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Kodria Mizu & Ensign Briaar Gavarus & Ensign Fiona O'Dell & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan
Edited on on Fri Jan 24th, 2020 @ 12:05am

Mission: Neutral Zone Neutrality
Location: USS Hera, Deck 13, Gavarus & O'Dell's quarters
Timeline: 2397

In her dreams she could see the fist, out of the corner of her eye, coming for the side of her face. Then there was an explosion of pain, and she blacked out. It was a dream that had recurred a few times- reliving the burly Klingon’s punch that broke the boffer belt and nearly took her head off. While she was trying not to dwell on it, Fiona O’Dell was still reliving the moment, often waking from the relived memory in dreams startled and uneasy.

In her sleep she fidgeted and muttered, curled up in a rather tight ball beside her snoring partner Briaar Gavarus. The great space swine tended to curl protectively about Fiona and Minnie when they all slept together, which was more often than not. Briaar knew it brought considerable peace of mind to Fiona and helped her sleep- simply hearing the chainsaw of the snout of snoring brought forth soothed the wee Miradonian midget, as it reminded her of sleeping in her childhood home. Feeling the vibration and warmth of the considerably larger woman next to her put O’Dell at ease and she tended to sleep like a baby.

But of late, the nightmare of being hit harder than she’d ever been struck in her life kept replaying in her head, and tonight it jolted her awake once more. But this time, instead of fear and disorientation, O’Dell was awakened with an idea.

“S’bloody genius! Briaar, wake oop!” Scrambling to her knees in the oversized sleep dress she was wearing, which was actually a half-size reproduction of Commander Paris’ anachronistic minidress uniform that still fit her like a tent, O’Dell nudged the swollen round belly of her porcine partner. “I’ve got me a genius idea here, m’love. Wake ooop!”

"Huh? Whazzit? Is... Fee? Is e'vr thin' 'ight?" Briaar muttered and mumbled, her eyes still closed as she struggled to open them and wake up. "Wha's... what's goin' on?"

Rubbing her face with the palm of her huge, three-fingered mitt, the tubby Tellarite engineer scooched slightly up on one elbow as the saggy old nightshirt she slept in had somehow migrated off of one arm entirely and hung half below her chest, leaving one boob to hang out the cut-out neck hole. The graphic on the chest of the shirt that shifted over her ample belly, with the letters that said 'Rump Roast' stretched out to be almost illegible. "Is... is Minnie okay? Did you have another shitty dream?"

“Aye, Minnie’s fine, she’s still mooin' in her sleep,” Fiona reassured the sleepy swine. When she slept, rather than snoring, the miniature Minotaur had a habit of mooing in her sleep, which both of her adoptive parents viewed as thoroughly adorable. “And aye, bad dream, but it gave me an idea!”

“So robotics are nae a big deal to construct- the hard part is getting’ a brain in there to run it all and not run amok and kill people. So me thought it, what if we made a robot fuir testin purposes, that was basically human durability, with limbs that only go in the direction of human limbs and sooch, but the entire surface area and internals are either servos to move it or sensors to record the impacts. Then we could slave it to a control unit like the banshee, and presto! I’ve got meself a robotic stand-in fuir stoof that might be too dangerous ta test in person- like the Boffer Belt. Aye?”

The little redhead’s bright green eyes twinkled as she spoke, and it was clear she felt she had come up with a masterstroke solution.

Sitting up, Briaar looked down, noticed her wardrobe malfunction and re-adjusted her assets back into her stretched out nightshirt. As she did, she slowly processed what Fiona was saying, though her mind was still resisting being awake and was firing on, at best, half power. "So... you're thinking we make a... a robot of... YOU? But... like... one that you control from a distance all safe and shit?"

Before Fiona could reply, Briaar's brain began to catch up as she stretched out a kink in her neck. "Wait, no. No. Not with the chief's neural controls. Not if there's the slightest chance of feedback. But if we rig matching sensors into your EVA suit so that it transmits your motions exactly and feeds the visual data from the source into the visor, then all we have to do is put you in a blank, roped-off section of the deck that's the same as the testing area and you should be able to feed the 'bot all the motions without any real risk to you. Is that what you're thinking?"

“Aye, sure, ye’ve got the idea noow! A stand-in who can get punched all day and ‘twillnae hurt innyone nor endanger innyone, yet we kin still get the testing done! Aye?” The little lass’ enthusiasm tended to be infectious, but she was still impressed at how her tired Tellarite was rising to the occasion.

"Yeah. And making the actual robot shouldn't be all that hard. Heck, the advancements the Chief made in miniaturizing the micro-motors needed to match a humanoid range of motion and shit. This would actually be useful across the board at keeping you safer in the earliest tests of shit." Briaar said, yawning as she reached down to stroke Minnie's head lightly. "Shit, what time is it, Fee?"

“Tis 03:13. I know, I know, I should waited til mornin, but I dinna want ta forget it and wake oop without an idea, aye?” Patting the paunch of the portly pig, the picayune pilot smiled. “G’back to sleep, Briaar, and we kin talk aboot it in the morning with the Chief, aye?”

Yeah, no. I get it. I do. Here's hoping we don't both forget what we were talking about in the morning." Briaar groaned as she flumped back down onto the bed, laying there for a moment before letting out a long groan.

"Ugh, you're frickin' kidding me. Now I gotta take a piss."

“Tis always the way, m’love…”

--------------

In the morning, after breakfast, feeding time, a few diaper changes and one uniform mishap, the different duo had arrived at R&D on Deck 3, where Fiona was organizing her thoughts to present her brainstorm to the Chief of R&D, the newly promoted Lieutenant Gonadie. “So do Ah call it a 'crash test dummy', or do ye think that she’d get the idea better from what ye were sayin' last night?”

Holding little Minerva on her ample hip with one arm, Briaar had a cup of coffee in the other and was taking a sip as she thought over Fiona's question. "Well, the Chief's an engineer, so I'm sure she's heard of the term, but how you described it to me will probably get the idea across quicker. I mean, it being able to move under your control is a big part of what will make this work, I figure."

"And if we can get Minnie settled, I can start working up some basic schematics to present, which will make the whole thing easier to pitch." Looking around the space, Briaar bounced Minnie on her hip some more to keep the tiny tot from getting too fidgety. "D'ya think Mrs. Dox is gonna start today? Someone to help watch the wriggler here will make things a bit easier."

“I dunno. But in the meanwhile, here- let me take her so ye can free up yuir hands. I did me part, now ye do your part and hopefully we’ll have a solution that the Chief’ll like that’ll solve this problem,” Fiona replied, reaching up to take Minnie off Briaar’s hip, staggering back a step as she grunted to hold the toddler who was now a third of her own body weight. Setting the tyke down on her hooves, Fiona took Minerva’s hand and walked her toward the break room. “Ye wanna see if Granny Murderpunch is here today, aye? Let’s go see! C’mon… aye, like that, like a big girl, right?”

Sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth in concentration, little Minnie's face was one of pure determination as she focused on the epic task of putting one hoof in front of the other without faceplanting on the deck, as she toddled towards the break room. As she did, she squeaked out a giggle and said, "G'AM!"

As they made their way into the back, Briaar headed over to her own workstation and plopped her ample posterior down on the reinforced chair as she called up her holographic workspace and began the task of creating a working model of Fiona’s 3 in the morning brainstorm.

Entering the break room, sure enough, there was the elder Dox, who went by a number of different appellations about the starship, depending on whom you asked. In this case, the miniature Minotaur’s eyes lit up and she began to hoof it over a bit faster, delighted to see the stern Romulan woman whose tone for the bovine babe was always kind and gentle.

“S’reet Minnie, it’s Granny!” O’Dell declared, walking the tyke over to hand her off to her severe and intimidating nanny. “Aye, see, she’s here today to keep an eye on ye and whomever else is being dropped off while she invents an indestructible lifeboat that’ll hopefully nivvir hafta be used. But if it is, then she’ll be ready, aye? She will! S’right, ye know she will!”

"I will indeed. Good morning, Ensign. Good morning, Minerva." Jaeih said, getting up from the long table in the break room where she had a number of PaDD's spread out. As expected, her tone was neutral and her posture stiff, until she leaned over and smiled as she held out her hands towards little Minnie. "Yes, that's a good girl. Look at you, yes. You're quite the unstoppable little engine, aren't you, my dear?"

"G'AM!!!" Minnie yelled as she waddled over as she reached over from Fiona's hand to Jaeih's. With a light grunt, the elder Romulan woman hoisted Minerva up and propped her up on her hip as the tot gave Jaeih a tight hug, making that strange sound that was somewhere between a purr and a moo.

Looking back down to O'Dell, Jaeih raised an eyebrow. "You seem... invigorated this morning, Ensign?"

“Aye! I come up with an idea for testin’ the boffer belts last night, so Gavarus is workin’ on getting a right proper formattin’ for it so’s we kin present it to the Chief. But it might joost have more applications, so bonus, aye?” Reaching over to adjust the little red and white polka-dotted dress Minnie was wearing today, Fiona smiled absently. “I was thinkin after the last test we might have a shortage of volunteers to help us wi’ testin, so I’m thinkin we’ll work up some robotic crash test dummies as stand-ins, and the Security gals can knock their blocks off without inny guilt.”

The unspoken part of this was, of course, that Fiona herself would not have to endanger herself. While the bonnie Bringloidian was brave, and often showed a well of courage that outstripped her ability, the Romulan matriarch could read between the lines to grasp that O’Dell herself was greatly relieved to no longer be the test subject of said experiment, despite her personal stake in it. The idea had been hers to try to build a portable inertial dampener which could slow down their mighty minotaur maiden as her strength increased over the course of time. Additionally, it could help protect the young Godox chicks as they were liable to be born flyers. But the injury she’d suffered in testing had still left her more than a little trepidatious about getting in the ring with a heavy hitter to test the device again.

"Yes, well. I can imagine we would want to keep our intrepid security team from any undo... stress." Jaeih said, with a knowing tone to her voice that made it clear she knew the underlying issue but wasn't going to make a point of it or embarrass the skilled test pilot, who had thoroughly proven her bravery to the elder Romulan. 

"Well, I am waiting on the Lieutenant to arrive so we may begin going over the plans for the so-called 'Daycare 1' module. But I will quite enjoy minding little Minerva in the interim and throughout. When was her last meal and changing?"

"Had a bottle on the way t'keep her occupied, and that was after the one when we woke 'er oop. Last changin' was... eh, we should check," O'Dell admitted as she pried gingerly at the seams of the diaper in strategic locations, sniffing as she did so. "She's been gettin good at lettin us know she needs to go, so we're thinkin a'startin potty trainin. I know it seems early,m but, she's and advanced sorta gal. Aren't ye. mah wee potato bug! Aye? Mumma loves ye. Yes Ah do. Ah do! And momma loves ye too. Aye, she does, she told me so! D'ye think yuir oop for learnin ta potty like a big girl, aye? Ye want to try?"

Big brown bovine eyes paused in her delight in the conversation and sought out the emerald eyes of her spirited parent. Not sure what she was agreeing to, Minnie took the hand of her mother and toddled toward the reclamator for her first lesson in potty training.

Shaking her head slightly, Jaeih couldn't help but smile. And as Fiona had her proverbial number all too well, she made no efforts to mask it as they toddled off. whispering to herself as they left the room. "Ah, how fast they grow up. Minerva included."

----------------------------

On the flight deck, Briaar was typing like a proverbial mad-woman, inspired as she swiped in the air, moving and adjusting holographic representations of the parts and pieces of what Fiona had proposed. Hovering above her workstation, was a meter and a half tall representation of a largely featureless humanoid shape. The holographic touch interface allowed her to move the imagined parts and components in space and assemble the simulated robot in a way that would let her know the viability of her designs in close to real-time. 

The process was a quick one as she had her energy up now and was beginning to dearly hope that the Chief would approve the project as the porcine engineer was now dying to get to work on the real thing. Adjusting the color input to make the body a shiny, metallic blue in the same hue as their new department uniforms, and adding a stripe of bright red along the top, she was humming to herself as she moved the holographic creation to the center of the deck in front of her station. As she did, she held up her arms and shouted, "Ta-frickin'-DA!"

"Behold, the FeeBot version 1! Or... maybe the RO'Dell?" The excited engineer muttered to herself as she called back to the break room where Fiona, Jaeih and Minnie were otherwise engaged. "FEE! Mrs. Dox! Check it!!"

Coming out of the break room, Fiona had Minnie up on her shoulders, which was a way she'd found to manage the ever-growing youngster's weight. Utilizing her entire body strength would only be a solution for so long, but for as long as she could, Fiona was determined that their young charge would enjoy this time with her, and hopefully remember a time when her spindly-limbed mother could pick her up and carry her. After all, someday she was liable to be twice Fiona's size- but for now she was a babe, and that babe deserved to feel like a child and not a burden. Making their way across the flight deck with Jaeih Dox in tow, the unlikely trio came to see what had the enthusiastic engineer excited.

"Well, before ye tell me yuir good news, let me tell ye ours... Minnie went potty! Number one AND number two! Her first big step, aye? Because she's such a good girl! Aye she is!" Atop Fiona's shoulders, Minnie squealed and laughed, clearly impressed with herself as she bounded up and down on O'Dell's shoulders excitedly.

A smile exploded on the face of the towering Tellarite who ran over, her hooves cloning o the deck as she did. And with Minnie on Fiona's shoulders, the miniature Minotaur came up much closer to her much taller mother. "Holy shit! She SHIT!? Like a big girl in the potty and everything!?! That's frickin' AWESOME!!! Gimmie!"

Grabbing under Minnie's arms, Briaar hoisted their unlikely daughter up into the air as high as she could manage, taking the mounting pressure off of Fiona's straining spine, as the squealing babe giggled and pumped her tiny, three-fingered fists in the air. "Look at you! Our little girl is using the frickin' POTTY!!! You are just so amazing, Minnie moo! Yes you ARE!! Who's amazing? Minnie Moo is, isn't she?"

"FIKKIN' POOO!!!" Minnie giggled and shouted, mimicking her exuberant mother while Jaeih looked on with that same wry smile she usually reserved for their antics. 

“At’s right, frickin poo indeed!” Fiona grinned, tickling the furry part of the youngster’s hooves. “So why don’t we see what yuir brilliant momma has come up with for the RoboFiona, aye? See what she’s g’win ta impress the Chief wi’ this morning, hmmm?” One eye was wandering over the designs as Fiona spoke, the tiny test pilot taking in the details and looking for potential design flaws that would be evident to her non-engineering eye.

"So..." Leaning in to the smaller hologram that approximated Fiona's proportions, Gavarus tried to reach down to manipulate it before shuffling little Minnie slightly. "Okay, Moopers. Mommy's gotta show your Mum what she made. Here, wanna let Grandma Jaeih hod you for a bit?"

Glancing back and forth, it was clear that Minnie was starting to get a little overstimulated by all the attention and was getting fidgety in Briaar's arms. Seeing the visual cues, Jaeih stepped over and tilted her head as she smiled and gently lifted the tot off of Gavarus' hip. "Oh yes. Someone's having a big day, isn't she? I've got you. And now we can watch both of your mother's work. Isn't that nice, my dear?"

As Minnie bounced on Jaeih's hip, watching intently, Gavarus leaned over and waved her hand in front of the hologram, which spun weightlessly in space in a full 180. "She's rigged for physical manipulation without any mass right now, so you can give her the once over. And here's the range of motion controls. It's nothing like what we'll do with your EVA suit, but for now, you can stretch her out a little."

Pulling a 3-dimensional pad out of the air, Briaar handed the controller which looked like an ancient remote controller with multiple directional buttons for each limb, to Fiona.

“Well, me first thought is that the interface needs work, but we’ll cover that wi’ the link to the EVA. But fur noow…” Experimentally, Fiona tapped at some of the keys, seeing how the model responded, then she quickly began coordinating the efforts, catching on to the interface and recognizing how to manipulate it at a remarkable speed. While the picayune pilot was a 90-pound weakling, fragile and prone to alcoholism, this was far and away the one arena where she truly shone, and within a few minutes she had the virtual robot moving fluidly.

“Could use a bit more reaction time, there’s a few microsends of lag time lag between the command and the performance. Have ye got it set to limited to bipedal humanoid range of motion? Maybe alarms when a joint is goin too far or somesuch?”

"Yeah, It's set up to humanoid specs. The real FeeBot will have micro-miniature force-field accentuators to basically act like cartilage and kneecaps and shit. With some silicone gel packs as physical back up. She won't be able to do anything you won't be able to do. Alarms are a good idea, though. Solid way to know you would have broken something."

"Hmmm..." Jaeih hummed audibly as she watched from the side with a raised eyebrow. "But will it be able to match Miss O'Dell's full-motion range? There appears to be rigid plating that might be too wide between the neck joint and the shoulder, Miss Gavarus."

Tilting her head, Gavarus looked it over and nodded. "Yeah, good catch. Thanks. Let me wiggle that in a hair." As she spoke, she adjusted some numbers on her console and in real-time, the sculpted holographic form adjusted as suggested. "As for the lag, that's something that the sensors I'll build into your EVA armor for the REAL control interface should counter. For that, I'll need to do some actual machining, but this interface should be a good proof-of-concept for the chief."

"The lag time won't be that much of an issue unless I'm fightin' back. Although with servos and sooch, Ah can be doin' more than joost bein a punchin' bag. Aye, lag isnae s'bad here, I'm gettin the hang of it." As she spoke, Fiona made an adjustment or who, setting the controls to suit her purposes, then walked her fingers across the control PaDD in her lap, stopped, pivoted, then walked back even as the robot began emulating walking. It's arms held stiffly at it's sides and the test pilot muttered minor curses in Gael. Immmhersa ahram daed, the bleedin arms arenae movin, s'throwin off the gyros. Gimme a tic here... " making adjustments on the fly, the virtual robot stopped, pivoted in place, then took a step forward, wildly flailing its arms about."

"Sweet muthera christ, crash that..." It still took two more seconds for the virtual android to stop flailing, and the compensators of its virtual internal gyros were overcome by the inertia of the mispiloted arms, and the robot registered minor damage on hitting the ground. "Ach, lookit that, yuir damage sensors'r working. Good job, Gavarus."

"Shiiiiiiiit." Gavarus muttered as she looked over the data coming it to suss out why the arms locked up.

"So definitely test under a forcefield when we build the real thing, aye? In case a' piloting error..."

"And in case of a robot uprising? You're aware of the Federation restrictions on testing dummies, right? Especially after the whole debacles with Commander Data and holographic life forms?" Mona, somehow, had snuck her way into the office while they were preoccupied with their testing, munching on a Miradonian version of a breakfast burrito as she did so.

It seemed she almost perpetually had food in her hands these days and was bigger every day. Then again, she'd just entered the home stretch of carrying three chicks. "The designs look good so far and there are no control systems whatsoever in it, so we should be perfectly fine. Just whatever you do, don't even add even the storage capacity of a PaDD. We don't need Sentient Rights or PETA coming in here and trying to hammer us for creating a new life form like that."

"Ah, no mum, joost a robot stand-in, that was the plan. Empty noggin. Like a shuttlecraft but smaller, bipedal and wi'oot an onboard computer, so literally nae chance 'a sentience," O'Dell reassured, then leaned into Gavarus conspiratorially. "Nae brains, right? Back me oop on this?"

Slightly taken aback as Mona seemed a bit more moody and irritable than she had ever seemed capable of, Gavarus was a bit slow on the uptake before finally catching Fiona's cue to chime in. "Huh? Oh, yeah. Totally brainless. No processing ability whatsoever. They only thing that will be in that head is a rig of accelerometers for impact detection."

"The plan is to rig up Fiona's EVA suit with a sensor grid I'm designing. It will make it into a sort of motion capture rig. A full body waldo. So, it's only means of actual locomotion will be remotely controlled by Fiona." The portly porcine added. "All the brains will be hers. No neural interface or anything. Pure mechanical control."

Listening, Jaeih stifled a chuckle at what she internally decided was far too easy of a joke at the midget Mariposian's expense. But she would log it away to possibly use later in Ten-Forward over drinks with the duo.

As the brightly plumed chief finished off her meal, she reached out and quickly spun the holo, tapping at it in several places to mark it for edits. "Chicks barely let me sleep last night and I'm extra hungry today so if I'm a bit off, I apologize in advance. As for your design, the servo controls at these points are wired the same as in the Banshee's main joints. Since it's a sentient analogue, they should all be using the same servos as in the fingers and be wired... Like so."

As Mona went over the FeeBot and fixed the setup of the servos, she nodded along to her own work, explaining why she was doing what she was doing as best she could to hopefully help Gavarus become a better engineer. "Other than that, the control system looks great, the feedback system is good, and the sensors look good enough to build into a shuttle. Ready to give it another test?"

Watching her superior officer cut through the design flaws like a phaser through warm butter, Gavarus scrunched her face slightly and blushed with embarrassment. She was a good engineer, but was internally chastising herself for missing so much and, at the same time, was amazed at how efficiently Mona saw through the issues and created solutions while trying to help her through it at the same time. There were clearly many reasons this department had been created just for her mind to flourish.

Looking over the data readouts, it took a moment for Gavarus to snap back into the moment. "Uh... yeah. Revisions are updated into the system. Wanna give it another spin, Fee?"

“Wahhhhhl, what kind of a test pilot would I be if I dinna want ta test pilot?” the little Leprechaun offered with a grin. “Alreet, remote piloting on a keyboard, take two. Ooop ye go, Scarecrow…” with those words, the dexterous digits of the diminutive damsel danced across the tablet in her hand, setting presets and reactions for the servos. Having already worked with two walker models prior to this experience came in handy, as Fiona, like any good test pilot, know not only how to make the vehicle work, but the whys and wherefores as well as the tolerance of the vehicle.

Adjusting the controls in her lap, she created two joysticks, tapping about to customize them for control interfaces that would enable her greater control and limiting the virtual bot to ‘humanoid’ range of motion. A few more adjustments, and her bright green eyes scanned over her work until she was satisfied. “Alreet, let’s take her for a spin, aye?”

The first few steps were jerky as O’Dell got a feel for the controls, the ‘robo’ moving somewhat more like a human. The movement smoothed out slightly, although it was still a bit clunky and ungainly. Walking across the ‘room’ and back, it didn’t suffer a catastrophic failure as it had the last time, but it was far from fluid. Experimentally, the pint-sized pilot tapped out a command then had the virtual robot drop into a fighting stance that made Mrs. Dox roll her eyes, as the weight was unbalanced and it was obvious, even using the crude interface, that O’Dell had no idea how to balance her weight for combat, produce an actual defense or, as the virtual robot executed it, how to throw a punch.

“For the rough model, looks aboot right, aye, Ah think that got ‘er screwed on right. Ye want me to go suit oop to go to the next stage of prototype, mum?” O’Dell asked.

"Yeah... We should be good to proceed," Mona replied, one hand on her belly as she frowned, staring at the holographic model. She then reached out and drew a very basic, cartoon smiley face on the head. "So we know which way is front. Computer, add yellow and black safety circles around the major sensor points."

Smiling, Gavarus blushed slightly as the computer chirped its compliance and the requested graphic additions appeared on the holographic mock-up. "That's perfect. What'cha think, Minnie moo? Does that look like your Mum?"

Squinting and tilting her head, still resting on Jaeih's hip, the miniature Minotaur stuck out her tiny tongue and blew a raspberry at the simulated crash test dummy. "PBBBBT!!!!"

Laughing, Gavarus saved their work and shut down the projection. "That's right, kiddo. Your Mum is way prettier, ain't she? I can start fabricating this for real asap." to which the child bounced and giggled, making grabby hands for her carrot-topped matriarch.

"P'tty!!! P'tty!!"

"Well, no ignorin' that call to action," O'Dell leaned in and grinned at the adorable moppet, then looked up at the rest of the team. "Howboot I take the wee one to pasture right quick, then I'll get suited oop..." Pausing, the tiny test pilot cocked her head, making a realization.

"Mrs. Dox, wouldye be so kind? Ye've a wee bit more experience in such things, and the rest of us have duties to tend to. I think this might joost be why command agreed to give us a daycare sa'long as the daycare had a nanny. Wouldya be a dove, please?" O'dell finished, gesturing as if a game show model to the bouncing bovine bundle of boundlessly boisterous babe.

"Indeed, Miss O'Dell. I shall attend her needs immediately." Jaeih said with a respectful nod to the young Ensign. In her new position as the department's nanny, she was responsible for the children under her care, but felt an additional responsibility to ensure that those children's parents felt secure and comfortable with her involvement. And that meant attending to their emotional well being as well.

"Come, Minerva. Can you show me how good of a big girl you are? Jaeih said in an almost sing-song voice as she walked to the breakroom.

"Damn. Look at her go. She seems to like the gig." Gavarus said as soon as Jaeih was out of earshot.

"Damndest thing ye ivvir seen, cept fuir the rest of our lives, aye?" Patting Gavarus' knee, O'Dell grinned, then scampered off to wrestle into her EVA suit Stopping short, she turned back around a perplexed expression on her face. "So wait, mum... do I go suit oop in me regular EVA or the flight suit ye designed that's wot, in Engineering?"

"It's been transferred down here into a secure locker, if you want to wear it," replied Mona with a sly grin. She'd added some combat enhancements to it that the normal MACO armor didn't have, but otherwise, it was a nice, neat amalgamation of the current test flight suit and MACO armor. Just scaled down to fit Ensign O'Dell.

"Flight suit testin' at the same time- that's a right smart use'a time Chief!" With that, the puny pilot trotted off to the locker room, to get suited up for a day of testing.

Because testing was what R&D did- testing what was, pushing the boundaries, inventing, backtracking and leaping forward as together, they forged the future.