The Desert Rat
>11:47am>Deserts outside of Ba Sing Se>Rat RadioA figure on the dashboard, with a comically over-sized head bearing some minor resemblance to the ever energetic radio-op, bobbed its head up and down as the modified Kyoshi RS soared over yet another sand dune. The car rattled slightly as the souped up suspension and shocks absorbed most of the impact, the arm on the bobblehead- stretched up high with a rocker's fist matching the rhythm of Not-Sumire's head. The windshield flickered a bit, the edges distorted for a split second as the cameras attached to the car reacted to the sudden impact, its various vision spectrum effectively scrubbing all the sand, dust and grit from 'view'. A scratchy radio blared loud rock music as a pair of gloved hands drummed almost casually against the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself formed the center of an almost cockpit-like layout- the interior of the car was almost foreign to its original form. Where most of a standard vehicle's controls sat in the center of the car, between the two front seats, this vehicle had almost all of its functions within hand's reach of the steering wheel, forming a sort of shell of buttons and switches around the driver. The center of the car itself was mostly empty, save for a gear shift stick, a GPS screen lazily hanging off of a bending arm, and the butt of a short carbine.
Nestled inside the driver's seat, buckled into his seat by a full harness instead of a typical lap belt was one of SynEn's many Pipe Runners: helmet visor popped open, plumes of smoke slowly flowing out of the open maw. Peeking out of the open helmet was a shock of ash white hair contrasting tanned, mocha skin. Usually piercing green eyes stared lazily ahead at the growing walls of Ba Sing Se, a beat up, bent and half burned cigarette mashed unceremoniously between his lips.
"Really putting me on a pedestal, huh Miri?" Jin grunted into a mouthpiece built into his helmet. Sumire had forgotten to mute her end of the headset, so Jin had heard most of her side of the conversation through his earpiece.
"Would you rather me tell them the truth?" came the hissed reply, "You remember who this is right? Can you
please clean up for- Hm? Oh uh, nothing! Don't mind me! Right this way-" Sumire's voice cut off as her attention returned to the suits around her, this time remembering to shut off her mic.
Jin Wei chuckled to himself as the car caught another bump in the dunes, the bobblehead rattling as he tore across the desert sands. He wasn't quite sure why they were pulling him off the pipes and recalling him to BSS- usually he came back to the city of his own volition, maybe once or twice a month. Something about a ride along, but Jin Wei found it exceedingly odd that one of the Moon's themselves would bother with the likes of him- nevermind even stepping foot into the harsh desert sands. The pessimist in him told him that they knew he was a bender and that this was an overconvoluted plot to do him in, and to just book it far into the desert and never come back. The realist in him told him he didn't have the supplies at the moment to last any longer than a few weeks out in the wastes anyway.
So, set up or not, there was little else he could do but return to Ba Sing Se. The great walls of the lower ring grew to consume the whole horizon as he grew ever closer to the city. A flicker of a shadow through the sunroof caught Jin's eye and he spotted a drone flying alongside him, keeping pace with him surprisingly well. A battered, sanded SynEn Logo was emblazoned on its body, and the barrel of a 40mm automatic grenade launcher was pointed a bit ahead of the Kyoshi to compensate for their high speed. A red light flickered across the body of his vehicle as it scanned him.
"That you Jin? Is it that time of the month already?" crackled a drawling voice over his comm. The two shared a chuckle before the drawl went about its usual, company mandated spiel.
"Please raise the driver side shutters and confirm your ID number."With a flick of a switch, the view on his driver side window blinked off for a moment, leaving him staring at the back site of a metal plate before that too slid up and out of the way of his window. Jin squinted as the sunlight broke into his vehicle, shading his eyes a bit as he glanced at the drone sidling up alongside him.
"Jin Wei, ID number 2464, coming in for refit and reassignment." Jin called into his mic as he offered the drone's camera a lazy salute. Seemingly satisfied, the drone lifted up and flew off.
"Roger that Jin, please proceed to Garage S3, Bay 17." Jin's GPS seemingly updated as the voice spoke.
"Looks like you're doing some work for Lady Moon huh? 'Whole company's talking about it, lucky you eh?""Pah," Jin snorted sarcastically.
"If that's what 'luck' is, I don't want it."
>Ba Sing Se>SynEn Storage FacilityThe garage filled with the sounds of a loud, muscled up engine as the Kyoshi slowly rolled into its designated spot in the garage. Tracking in sand and soot, it was quickly attended to by a small team of mechanics as Jin climbed out of the driver seat. Usually, he had to do all the spot repairs on his own, but one of the few good things about returning to Ba Sing Se was that SynEn had a whole team of techs to fix up everyone's rides- a full refit and repair, all on the company dime- or at least subsidized by it. Just as well, the Kyoshi had gone through the ringer in recent weeks- bullet marks and ricochets scored the driver side armor plates, while one of the roof mounted foglights was just missing, torn from its housing. The cargo netting on the sides and top were torn and sand covered, and the spare wheel was gone.
Without a word, Jin tossed the keys to the lead mechanic, a portly looking man with a prosthetic foot, before making his way out of the garage and through the halls of SynEn Storage Facility. Pipe Runners generally stood out amongst the employees of SynEn, mainly due to their lack of uniformity- in the outlands, even SynEn admitted that comfort and utility took precedent over uniformity, and Jin was no different: brightly colored helmet under the crook of his arm and broad, dusty jacket. Other employees generally gave him a wide berth- not because he was particularly mean or nasty, but because they didn't want to explain to their managers why their uniforms were suddenly covered in dust, sand and dirt.
The doors to the control room hissed as they slid open, and there were a few muffled, muttered curses as the SynEn Pipe Runner stepped into the room, a solid pair of boots tracking desert sand all over as they
clunked against the steel floor.
"Oh for spirits' sake Jin, you're
trying to make me look bad, aren't you?" The junior Runner and Operator whined, taking a distinct step away from her senior as he stepped forward to greet her. "Don't you
fucking dare." she growled, pointing an accusatory finger at his dusty jacket.
"Now why would I be trying to do that?" Jin asked innocently. He was rewarded with a flat, blank stare.
Sumire took a deep breath, calming herself before jerking a thumb towards the 'big boss' on the other side of the control room. Another deep breath, and Sumire was back at it, her cheery voice ringing across the room.
"Ah! Miss Moon, here he is, our senior Pipe Runner!" Sumire chimed enthusiastically, delivering a not so subtle, sharp elbow into Jin's side.
With a pained grimace, Jin stepped forward and offered the golden haired lady a relatively formal salute as he greeted her- seemingly his best effort at appearing serious.
"Ma'am, Jin Wei, reporting as ordered."
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