1163/You Gotta Know Your Limits (With A Boombox)

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You Gotta Know Your Limits (With A Boombox)
Date of Scene: 26 June 2017
Location: Legion Cruiser: Engineering
Synopsis: Well, now that we know what the problem is, what the heck do we do about it?
Cast of Characters: Brainiac 5, 1055, Invisible Kid




Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Querl is trying to fix the engines.  Which means he is currently in one of the ship's access tunnels; the cramped, overheated access tunnels.  Sacrifices had to be made.  He has a hoverlight going and he's switched to the version of his costume that has no arms, but it's still warm in there and he's had to put on a headband to keep sweat out of his eyes, and he has a pair of magnifying goggles on as he does intricate circuitry repair.
        "Mmm."  He pauses, as he comes across a piece of slagged circuitry.  No fixing this.  He sighs, and rips it out, to chuck it into a bag hanging off his waist.  "Grife."

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        Quislet had been scouring the ship for some time now, looking for the Legionnaires.  The tiny ship that passed for his body floated along idly, on the trail of the 'brainy' one.  His sensors picked up the stink of the sweat, and from the spectrometer read out, he was certainly glad he had no nose.  He flipped on the light as he made it into the access tunnel, closing in on Querl.  Once he saw the expansive rear up ahead, he flipped on the speakers of the ship, and when he was close enough to nearly touch him with the tip of the ship, he started BLARING 'oldies' music through the speaker system.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle peers up the tube after Brainy; he's unsurprisingly as interested as anyone else in getting the engines going.  "Grife what?" he asks.  "How bad is it?  And is it regular damage, or something else?"
        And so intent is he on studying the readout on his Omnicom, he doesn't even see a tiny ship whiz by.  In fact, the unexpected blast of music is his first indication that he and Brainy might have company.
        His commment: "GAH!"  His Omnicom: flying and desperately flailed after.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Fortunately, Omnicoms are casual break-resistant!
        Querl finds himself peering down, his eyes widening, before he relaxes, and then lets out a sigh.  "…Quislet," he says.  "Hello!"  Then he pauses, perhaps unsure of how to engage the… er… the Quislet.  He gives the spaceship at pat.  "It's good to see you!"

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        The ship rocked in the air as it was 'patted', and then reversed, giving space.  "It is good to be seeing you as well!  I was thinking your delicate fleshy bodies hadn't made it, and I was almost sad.  I would have tried to work out a tear.  If I could.  But I can't."  The scan ray went over them both, "Why are you working this far into the ship?  And why have you not been back to the present?  You have been gone for so long, I decided you must be having a good time, and thus you would be needing the one, THE ONLY!  The Quislet to come and see you safe and enjoyable in your time here."

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "Good to see your ship, anyway," Lyle agrees after recovering his Omnicom.  Rugged computers are good things indeed.  He climbs a little ways up the tube and finds a reasonably relaxed way to lean.  "I mean, we can't see you personally, after all."
        He glances at his readout again.  "We're working up here, because the engines aren't working up here.  And not only is the failure defying Brainy, it even has me baffled."  He grins upward at what he expects will be a glower downward.  "I for one am open to ideas."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "There's evidence that there's a saboteur on the ship who blew out our engine test, however we haven't been able to locate ANYONE who's not a Legionnaire on the ship, and that includes a close scan for shapeshifters like Durlans who might be hiding."  Querl frowns, and says, "Unless…" He says, "The saboteur was…" He frowns.  "Quislet, could you scan for DNA traces at the sub-microscopic level?"

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        The ship hung there in the air for a bit, before it did a barrel roll, "Have no fear!  Quislet is here!  I am recofiguring scans.  You know, this might be a blessing in disguise anyway… Your ships engines were woefully underpowered for being so gawdy and large.  Some sleak, tiny micro thrusters would go along way to freeing up all this space for something more useful.  Like a dance floor.  I… Can… FLY US IN A DISCOBALL IT WILL BE GREAT!"  The speakers had a touch of static at the too loud sound coming out before it died down, the sensor scans starting to sweap the area slowly.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "What, are you thinking the saboteur is… what, a collective of cells, a virus, a cloud of biological nanobots?"  Lyle frowns, particularly since he hasn't uncovered any decent leads yet.  "What bothers me most is that I can't think of a good reason for anyone to target us in this time frame.  Almost all of our enemies won't be active for centuries yet.  Who knows we're here?  And what we're capable of?  Other than ourselves, anyway."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "Or someone who could shrink small enough that we never would've noticed him.  Like an Imskian," Brainy says, scowling.
        And indeed, Quislet's scan picks up traces of life the 'Fleshies' would've had a hard time finding even with their most sensitive equipment.  Someone microscopic was tampering with the engines.

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        A redlight flared to life, spinning as he picked up the trace.  "Oh oh oh boys we've hit pay dirt!  Let's see what we have…."  He zeroed in on the traces, magnifying the scan, and boosting the sensors with his own energy fueling the ship.  "Is that a no on the discoball, or we tabling that for later while I save your biological arses once more?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle shakes his head.  "I'll give you possible, but not plausible, at least so far as an Imskian goes.  First, what would an Imskian other than Vi be doing here in this time frame?  Second, if one was that wasn't Vi, what's the motive for messing with the cruiser?"
        Quislet's hit on some sort of biological bogey gets his attention.  "Depends on what you have there, Quis.  If it's good, I may just help you with that disco ball!"

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "That depends," Querl says.  "What Imskian has cause to hate us so much that they'd sabotage the ship out of spite, Lyle?  I can think of one…"
        Quislet's scan picks up on someone—barely a speck, so small Quis's tiny ship would be basically a Corvette to him, as in the class of spaceship; and he's retreating into a section of conduit too small to follow.  With a rude gesture to the little microbe with a lot of heart.
        Micro Lad.  Frelling Micro Lad!

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        The ship tracked the movement for as long as he could, "MICRO LAD!"  The ships speakers even played the 'dum dum duuuuuummmmmm….' sound effect.  "He's retreating into the conduit, and it's too small, even for my ship.  If I tried to go into it, I could end up disintegrating portions of the engines…."  He gave Brainiac the options, waiting and watching.  He sent a few minute pot shots with the itty bitty blaster, trying to knock out the microscoptic menace.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle facepalms.  "Of course.  How could I have forgotten."
        He climbs up another rung.  "Well, wait—then what's he doing here if Vi isn't?  Unless the Trapper is going after anyone with any Legion connection, but that doesn't make sense either."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "If Shrinking Violet were here, we could hunt him down and catch him easily.  Without her, we're in a tight spot," Querl says.  "He must've…"  He pauses.  "He must've hitched a ride on one of us."  The thought of Micro Lad riding around on him like a parasite makes Brainy's skin itch.
        "I can prepare something to hold him.  But now, we need to catch him.  We have one thing going for us—I don't think he's likely to destroy the ship.  Yet."

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        Quislet called out, "He'd not be able to get home either, if that was the case!"  Quis continued to track him, till he was out of range of the sensors, and sent one last stun bolt shot, just for good measure.  "I will have to be finding a way to run my scans through the ship's computers….  So I can be scanning the entirety at once, when we are being ready to get to the catching of Micro Lad!"  'bum bum buuuuummmmm….'

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, having him stuck here with us," Lyle says grumpily.  "At least we should be able to hook you up sensor-wise, Quis.  As long as those haven't been messed with.  Oh, grife… Brainy, when's the last time we did a complete test on the sensor array?  If that little so and so has messed with those too—!"  He has the decency to not finish that thought out loud.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Querl says, "I know.  He's set us back weeks.  And he'll KEEP setting us back… until we catch him.  I wish Salu were here."  Querl pinches his nose, frustrated.  "There's no point to doing ANY work on the ship's systems until we catch Micro Lad!  As of this moment, that's priority one!"

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        Called out to them, "Well, if he's priority one, and we can't catch him till we can find Violet….  Then…."  The ship turned to look towards Lyle.  "Discoball?"

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "I don't think a disco ball is going to help catch him, li'l buddy."  Lyle gives Quislet—or his ship, anyway—a grin.  "And we're going to have to catch him without Vi at this point.  And somehow hope he's not listening in when we plan how."  As he's talking, he's typing, and he holds his 'com screen so Brainy can read it: 'Do we have any way to seal off sections of the ship that are Imskian-proof?'

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Brainy sighs, and says, in response to Lyle, "I'll find a way."  Then he looks up to Quislet.  "Thank you, Quis.  We wouldn't be able to do this without you."  Then he rolls his shoulders.  "Let's get started, you two.  And Quislet, if you catch him, I'll one-up you on that disco ball—I'll get you tickets to see the Dazzler, and I'll even get you backstage to meet her."

Quislet (1055) has posed:
        The ship rocked, and barrel rolled, and blared.  "On it boss!  I'll show that Micro Lad what a real micro machine can do!"  And with that, he bolted down an access panel, and into the wall some where, disappearing from sight quickly.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Querl watches Quislet go, and then he looks over at Lyle, and raises his eyebrows, before he gives him the tiniest little smile.  "I'm coming to realize it's all about the proper incentive, you know.  Motivation is everything.  Just like how I give you opportunities to feel like you're getting the best of me!"  He starts to float up the access tube toward the hatch.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle chuckles softly.  "You're getting the hang of this leadership thing, chief.  My condolences."

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "I know.  I'm going to need to work on being irascible to make sure that when we hold elections, nobody votes for me…" Brainy says, as he opens the hatch and slips out of it.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        "Oh, I don't know.  'Grumpy but Efficient' might make a heck of a campaign slogan."  Lyle follows, typing on his 'com, which of course he shows to his teammate: 'We need a secure communication system that Our Little Pest can't overhear—suggestions?  I haven't yet thought of anything that doesn't involve Imra turning up.'.

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        "Shrinking Violet was part of the espionage squad for a reason," Brainy says, in response, ruffling his own hair, and looking frustrated.  "The optimal solution is, we find him and we lock him up as soon as possible."

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle nods.  "You don't need to remind me how important she was.  If it wasn't for the fact it would mean she got tangled up in this whole time travel mess, I really would like to have her with us in this time frame."
        He then shows Brainy his latest typing: 'Recommend using Quis as an early warning system—if he detects non-Legionnaire presence, no discussing sensitive matters in the clear.  I think we can route sensors to/through his ship once we verify they're clean'

Brainiac 5 has posed:
        Querl nods to that, and then says, "Assume the telepathic earplug network's compromised too.  But I will make an announcement to let everyone know what's going on.  I have to."  He pauses, then pats Lyle on the shoulder, briefly, before he mouths to him, 'Be careful', before he heads for his lab.

Invisible Kid has posed:
        Lyle nods and replies with a thumb's up, mouthing 'You too' in reply and heading off to his quarters to plan and plot.