Some Assembly Required

[rassafraggin]

A day or so following Disi's auspicious boarding the adventure vessel Wave Dancer, those topside are greeted by the sight of a growing mass of dark and disturbed surface waves; whereupon an alloy-clad creature almost as large as the ship herself rises alongside, calling for the Begman visitor to emerge and send down his luggages and any other newly arrived belongings, followed by himself. The outside appearance and functions of the Solar Flare are on display: The segmented figurehead doubling as versatile sensory array; the jointed radial propulsion element; and so on but most strikingly, the glassy obsidian decking, barely reflecting the Amberian sun's rays. Merrisol is already on board, perhaps confirming the idle gossip of a prior sailors' card game belowdecks (sans moneys), that trumps exist to allow remote porting into that elusive Begman beast.

The airlock protocols are seeeen but bypassed, the vessel being at neutral pressure at the time. The ships of the married captains only linger side by side for as long as it takes for the human counterparts to make their farewells, before the Wave Dancer departs for another shadow destination and the Solar Flare seals hatches and performs a controlled dive to a depth which allows her systems to come alive but not to be unduly taxed as yet.

Merrisol gives as thorough a tour as he ever has to any non-Begman guest, with patient stops for up-close examination and questions. If it wasn't clear before, it is crystal certain now that Captain Merrisol is merely a knowledgeable user and tinkerer of Begman technology, a small-time inventor at best. When it comes to major systems adjustments, he relies on his small crew of Engineers for the heavy lifting. A loyal, competent, and dedicated pack of four they seem to be, now on their third renewal of service, despite some temporary issues from a couple of years back. That the vessel's needs in times of crisis would be better supported with six, or even better with eight full-time operations crew, would be a fair analysis. But maybe it's just that tricky to locate a trustworthy Engineer who absolutely isn't attached to Tourism. Or perhaps the sub commander really prefers the urgent yammer of the woopsy-bells and emergency power diverting from lights to life support, and that hectic scramble to return to All Systems Normal...

All told, Disillusion Valentino has three suitcases neatly lined up ont he deck and ready to be taken down to the Solar Flare; two have brass plates with his name inscribed on them and a third, the heaviest of the bunch, with "LOGIC" inscribed. The Begman looks a bit pale as he stands by the railing with a pair of brass opera glasses in hand to observe the submarine as it pulls alongside. Holding his pocketwatch in his other hand, he clicks on it periodically to time something or other. Finally, it is his time to get up close and personal with the vessel and while on one hand he is looking forward to being aboard, on the other... he is occasionally pulling a kerchief from his pocket to cover his mouth. Gripping the railing, he focuses on the horizon a moment to steady himself and then makes a thoroughly clumbsy way on down, barely having time to get a few glances in at things about that snoot or the deck or the... The execution of the dive helps on several levels and the addition of a smoke and a small tonic of his own devising brings color back to his cheeks in short order! Why, now the Begman Playboy is back to running on all cylinders as he takes in the tour, lavishing the engineering crew with charm and plenty of praise for keeping up with the demands of such a ship with such a headcount before finally asking the all important question... Schematics and documentation! What had they managed to build up thus far?

This was to be expected, and after citing a very reasonable 'no duplication' rule, Merrisol complies with a stack of broad, powdery, almost translucent sheets, bound on one end, and rolled for portability. These diagrams and footnotes were penned by one Mr. Hugo Fflere, AE. A silver gear is embossed next to his name, though surely he would have been awarded a golden one for this singular feat, had circumstances turned out less presumably fatally for him.

Aside from the peculiarities of style, the vessel is also necessarily uniquely designed in most of her complex functions, rather than utilizing the decent stock builds offered by the subnautical division of the Begman Engineers' Aquatic Repository of Schematics. The photovoltaic system design is without question the most astonishing stroke of genius out of the lot. The materials used for the frame and outer cladding are likewise exotic and custom made undersea, apparently from unnamed Rebman suppliers. All of these things come together in a product with a supposed superiority in depths more than double that of other documented submersibles. Dates listed in the build log suggest that the Solar Flare had been Hugo's magnum opus, forty years of sourcing, development, testing and modification, which in Begman engineering circles is quite unheard of.

As to whether any attempts have been made to improve on the functions, these are comparatively few addendums. Cursory adjustments to fluid composition, gear configurations, and the like. There are small notations for the addition of some strictly mechanical juryrigs done by Baroness de Sorgo. All in all, the Solar Flare is just what she seems, a well-conceived if somewhat whimsical vessel of science and extended exploration of the mysteries of the deep. There doesn't seem to be any room in the schematics for weaponry additions, although there is the possibilty of some careful restructuring of Engineering to improve on propulsion and power conversion...

Not a worry! Assurances are made that while *some* of the schematics will need to be duplicated in the course of planning and mapping systems to compare the actual current layout against the designs while also pondering potential changes, all of this would remain aboard the vessel at the project's completion. Every system must be tested and measured thoroughly! Every underlying foruma assessed! Each material studied! Disillusion offers his solemn word as a GRANDMASTER Artificer, the most sacred thing he can do! Somewhere along the way, he has produced a collapsable chalkboard, presumably from his personal belongings that had come aboard.

With chalk in hand, in the laboratory, he settles into a professorial lecture with many a word being circled and underlined or reinforced with a doodle or formula. "Fourty years of work is quite a bit to digest all at once, but doing so will be step one! A full assessment of the complete capabilities of the ship so we are absolutely sure of what we are working with. This also winds up serving as a baseline that we can compare against as we proceed. Then, and only then, should we proceed to the next phase of carefully studying shadow travel itself for a... Scientific means of replication. Studying multiple methods, if possible, would be invaluable. How can we navigate? How can we propel the ship? These are the key questions! Beginning to attempt to answer those and perform tests... is where the real fun truly begins! Obviously, the most important thing at the start of all this is one looming question. Coffee. What is the situation here? Subquestions. Maximum output capacity in a day? Is it robust? The mugs, do they have good handles? Are the walls of said mugs insulated enough to keep it sufficiently warm should inspiration strike? How manual is the process of brewing and should we begin by investing time into improving this?"