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I managed to get a 'wing-it' commission from 
Thesociallyawkwardpinguin recently. I'd commented on how Sara would fit in with a scenario like the 'Scavengers' work, a somewhat post-apocalyptic scenario with teams scavenging parts from old spaceships, and he decided to go with it.
I wrote a story section to go with it:
The problem with having a reputation as a miracle worker is that people kept expecting you to work miracles.
Sara sighed as she lay on the edge of the cliff, the giant skunk looking down into the river valley far below. The whole area was limestone covered in sandstone, and so full of sinkholes that even though it was technically the territory of the family she worked for, nobody wanted to come out here. This was particularly true of the larger folk like her who faced a much greater chance of causing another collapse.
She wouldn't be out here now if a collapse of the cliff along the river hadn't exposed a ship that had probably been there for centuries. Likely parked in a limestone cave, hidden behind a door made to look like the cliff, and then forgotten about until the river undercut the supports for the door. Unfortunately, the cave entrance was a ways down the cliff face, and trying to climb down risked another rockfall. It looked like there had already been a collapse inside, with chunks of rock spilling out of the mouth of the cavern.
Dee grumbled a bit, the giant wolf keeping well clear of the cliff edge. "So much for a 'shortcut'. We've still got time to go around to the ford and along the river bed. It's only a couple of hours."
"Do we?" Sara pointed out across the river at the vague shapes on the horizon, then slid back away from the precipice before standing up and moving back towards the rest of the party.
Dee leaned forward, taking a closer look. Figures moving, and if they could be seen at this distance they were her size, and presumably other scavengers from a rival family. "Crap."
She turned back around to see Sara directing the smaller human members of the party in setting up sounding charges and tapping on the side of the floating drone accompanying them. "All right, everyone clear. Three, two, one." There was a sequence of bangs as small explosives went off one at a time, the seismic sensors using the vibrations to 'see' underground.
Dee knew she should be worried when Sara started grinning.
Sara turned to one of the humans. "Martin, fourteen simultaneous charges, ten at one megajoule, four at two."
While the human scrambled through the pack, Sara pulled out a hammer bigger than any of the humans and a spike, and started moving around with that same grin.
Dee groaned. She owed her life and livelihood to the skunk. She knew she was brilliant. Rumour had it that Sara had been invited to join the Technologists' Guild and had turned it down because she enjoyed the field work too much. As if people didn't have enough other reasons to think she was crazy.
That grin meant she had some idea that she wasn't going to bother explaining to any of them because explaining would slow her down.
As the charges were set out in a rectangle up a slight slope with the big charges in the corners and the smaller ones on the sides, Dee got a sinking feeling she knew where this was going. "You can't be serious."
Sara stepped back and crouched down. "Dee, you're with me; everybody else climb on and keep to the sides."
With a resigned expression Dee moved back next to her while the humans climbed onto the skunk's hips and started attaching harnesses.
"On a count of three, set off the charges. One." Sara stood up, then crouched a bit. "Two." The skunk started running forward, grasping her hammer and lifting it up, leaving Dee scrambling to catch up. "Three!" She leapt forward and started to swing her hammer.
The explosives went off while Sara was in the air, cracking the already-brittle sandstone along four lines. Her hammer came down on the rock a split-second later, crumbling the layer of limestone underneath. When the rest of Sara's and Dee's weight landed on it, the big rectangular chunk of sandstone broke off completely and fell into the cavern below. It landed with a loud crunch and then sledded forward for a couple of seconds, knocking down several stalagmites before running into an upslope of debris and then smacking into a wall.
A wall that gave out a metallic groan and fell forward in front of them, revealing the inside of a ship's cargo bay.
Sara looked around. Dee had rolled off the side of the makeshift sled and was sitting up trying to get her bearings. One of the humans hadn't secured himself well enough, and had rolled forward when the sled came to a stop; two others had disconnected and were going to check on him. And the open cargo bay looked mostly intact, including a few sealed crates inside.
Sara grinned. "Told you guys my shortcut would work."
Artist's posting at https://www.furaffinity.net/view/35451545/
Thesociallyawkwardpinguin recently. I'd commented on how Sara would fit in with a scenario like the 'Scavengers' work, a somewhat post-apocalyptic scenario with teams scavenging parts from old spaceships, and he decided to go with it.I wrote a story section to go with it:
The problem with having a reputation as a miracle worker is that people kept expecting you to work miracles.
Sara sighed as she lay on the edge of the cliff, the giant skunk looking down into the river valley far below. The whole area was limestone covered in sandstone, and so full of sinkholes that even though it was technically the territory of the family she worked for, nobody wanted to come out here. This was particularly true of the larger folk like her who faced a much greater chance of causing another collapse.
She wouldn't be out here now if a collapse of the cliff along the river hadn't exposed a ship that had probably been there for centuries. Likely parked in a limestone cave, hidden behind a door made to look like the cliff, and then forgotten about until the river undercut the supports for the door. Unfortunately, the cave entrance was a ways down the cliff face, and trying to climb down risked another rockfall. It looked like there had already been a collapse inside, with chunks of rock spilling out of the mouth of the cavern.
Dee grumbled a bit, the giant wolf keeping well clear of the cliff edge. "So much for a 'shortcut'. We've still got time to go around to the ford and along the river bed. It's only a couple of hours."
"Do we?" Sara pointed out across the river at the vague shapes on the horizon, then slid back away from the precipice before standing up and moving back towards the rest of the party.
Dee leaned forward, taking a closer look. Figures moving, and if they could be seen at this distance they were her size, and presumably other scavengers from a rival family. "Crap."
She turned back around to see Sara directing the smaller human members of the party in setting up sounding charges and tapping on the side of the floating drone accompanying them. "All right, everyone clear. Three, two, one." There was a sequence of bangs as small explosives went off one at a time, the seismic sensors using the vibrations to 'see' underground.
Dee knew she should be worried when Sara started grinning.
Sara turned to one of the humans. "Martin, fourteen simultaneous charges, ten at one megajoule, four at two."
While the human scrambled through the pack, Sara pulled out a hammer bigger than any of the humans and a spike, and started moving around with that same grin.
Dee groaned. She owed her life and livelihood to the skunk. She knew she was brilliant. Rumour had it that Sara had been invited to join the Technologists' Guild and had turned it down because she enjoyed the field work too much. As if people didn't have enough other reasons to think she was crazy.
That grin meant she had some idea that she wasn't going to bother explaining to any of them because explaining would slow her down.
As the charges were set out in a rectangle up a slight slope with the big charges in the corners and the smaller ones on the sides, Dee got a sinking feeling she knew where this was going. "You can't be serious."
Sara stepped back and crouched down. "Dee, you're with me; everybody else climb on and keep to the sides."
With a resigned expression Dee moved back next to her while the humans climbed onto the skunk's hips and started attaching harnesses.
"On a count of three, set off the charges. One." Sara stood up, then crouched a bit. "Two." The skunk started running forward, grasping her hammer and lifting it up, leaving Dee scrambling to catch up. "Three!" She leapt forward and started to swing her hammer.
The explosives went off while Sara was in the air, cracking the already-brittle sandstone along four lines. Her hammer came down on the rock a split-second later, crumbling the layer of limestone underneath. When the rest of Sara's and Dee's weight landed on it, the big rectangular chunk of sandstone broke off completely and fell into the cavern below. It landed with a loud crunch and then sledded forward for a couple of seconds, knocking down several stalagmites before running into an upslope of debris and then smacking into a wall.
A wall that gave out a metallic groan and fell forward in front of them, revealing the inside of a ship's cargo bay.
Sara looked around. Dee had rolled off the side of the makeshift sled and was sitting up trying to get her bearings. One of the humans hadn't secured himself well enough, and had rolled forward when the sled came to a stop; two others had disconnected and were going to check on him. And the open cargo bay looked mostly intact, including a few sealed crates inside.
Sara grinned. "Told you guys my shortcut would work."
Artist's posting at https://www.furaffinity.net/view/35451545/
Category Artwork (Digital) / Macro / Micro
Species Skunk
Size 1280 x 726px
File Size 142.1 kB
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