Team Shift Happens
Prologue, Part 3
Powering Up
Driver’s Log 2
Drivers’ Meeting
Stage 0 Camp, Arrival.
As the two huge trucks crunched through the snow on the road, 32 cylinders howling through the exhaust as the automatics kicked down to deal with the higher rolling friction, Kasiya aimed for a large space set aside for their main camp.
Kasiya and Takaraya bailed out of the cab of their respective HD-GV units, making their way quickly to the Carry All’s cargo section where their clothing had been packed. Takaraya saw Kasiya hesitating for a moment between just wearing his heavy winter clothing, or going for his armor, and said, “You do realize Kaylie wouldn’t let them in if they weren’t going to be safe to be around, right?”
Kasiya put his winter gear back in the box, pulled on his insulating under-armor suit, and stepped into his power armor, the solid clunk of 1100 pounds of metal surrounding him giving him a reassuring feeling. “Yeah, and yet Kaylie also told us to bring guns,” Kasiya replied, stepping out of the trailer and landing on the ground with a muffled thud.
Takaraya sighed, putting his winter gear on and joining most of the remaining team in the process of setting up tents. Kaylie looked over at him and back to Kasiya, then said, “Looks like Kasiya’s still a bit concerned.”
“Yeah, he was contemplating winter clothes when I mentioned you wouldn’t have let the cars run if they weren’t safe. That’s when he suited up,” Takaraya said.
Kaylie grimaced. “That was foolish of you,” she replied.
“You would let teams run who aren’t safe?” Takaraya asked.
“You think the Sinesian Rejects would survive if they crashed that welded-together aluminum bucket of theirs? Or that the Hillbilly Rollers are exactly safe? Or that half of these teams carrying guns actually know how to use them safely? Hell no,” Kaylie said.
Kivenaal, on the other hand, was busy setting up a target range while most of the camp was pitching tents. Still dressed in his gunslinger outfit, he stayed warm courtesy of his natural fur, even as he crunched his way through icy snow to set up several roughly-human-sized targets, including a few way the fuck out there for sniping practice, placed at 350 meters, for those inclined to give that a try.
He stuck a few tables down to make reloading less of a bitch at the firing line, as well as to make it more difficult to end up walking out into the field of fire by accident, then decided his range was good enough.
Kasiya, meanwhile, had taken up the task of putting the camp lights up, making sure they were spread out reasonably well, as well as ensuring the few outhouses placed around had a light nearby to make finding them in the dark easier.
He brought the numbered cable over to Norse, who plugged it into socket #2, and the camp immediately lit up a bit better as the lights came on. Takaraya arrived a moment later with cables #3 and #30, which were likewise connected, providing power to the Home Unit, as well as the Carry-All and the two refrigerated trailers respectively. The dull buzzing of the gasoline engines in the three refrigerated units went silent as the electric motors took over, while in the Home Unit, the heat exchanger’s fans spun up to speed to return the cabin to a comfortable temperature.
Jayde and Rukari worked together on making a simple campfire stew using some of the perishables they’d brought onboard one of the trailers, at least until the whole group was approached by the Speshul Forces and Constantin…
To Be Continued…