J is for Jury-Rig

Chief Blade Ranger had been fairly convinced that his day couldn't get any worse. Cad had after all just cut their budget again, which meant that they were probably going to have to reduce the number of aircraft they had on the team the following year. Yes, he thought his day couldn't get any worse…but then the winter windstorm that was roaring its way up the canyon, and before anyone could stop it, the base's tower came crashing to the ground.

"Well, that was rather exciting." Cabbie stated flatly as he poked his nose out into the storm to observe the damage. Blade just looked at the old plane and let out a long string of curses that he could never get away with saying when the smokejumpers were on base. Finally once Maru had determined that they had all stared out into the fowl weather long enough he gave the Chief a pat on the side.

"Well." The mechanic shrugged. "There is nothing we can do until the storm blows over. We might as well finish eating dinner and get some sleep because I suspect we are going to want to be well-rested tomorrow."

Blade at first had tried to protest, but dinner was getting cold, and Cabbie offered to shelter him under his wing until he fell asleep and the helicopter wasn't going to say no to the familiar comfort. It took longer than the helicopter wanted to admit to finally drift off, but finally, the gentle warmth of the fire and comforting presence of those he trusted lulled him to sleep.

The next morning Blade and the others woke up bright and early to inspect the damage. What greeted their eyes was an unholy mess. Anything that hadn't been tied down had been tossed about by the storm and the shredded remains of the old tower were scattered across the tarmac. Cabbie gave a low whistle as they ventured out while Maru made a beeline to the place the tower once stood.

"At least it happened in the winter months." Maru said as he poked the pile of rubble. "I can't imagine just how bad things would have been if the tower had gone down with Patch in it."

He didn't have to say that Patch wouldn't have survived the collapse. All the equipment that had once been in the tower was now crushed beyond recognition and the vehicles had to carefully pick their way around the shards of broken glass and exposed rusted nails. Just looking at the mess caused the feeling of despair to build in Blade's gas tank. They would need a new air traffic control tower by spring, but they simply didn't have the funds to build it.

"Well, I guess we better get the tarmac cleared off." Cabbie finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

"What?" Blade replied not fully tracking.

"We better get the tarmac cleared off. We need to clean up the debris and snow before I head out to get some supplies to rebuild the tower." The old plane spoke slowly as though that would allow the information to penetrate the helicopter's head.

"But we don't have the budget to build a tower right now."

Cabbie gave Maru a knowing look and sighed heavily. "Blade, how the slag do you think we managed to build the rest of this base?"

"…" The helicopter moved his mouth as though he wanted to say anything, but no words came out.

"We jury-rigged most of it." Cabbie said with an eye roll when it became clear that the Chief wasn't tracking. "In general, park employees don't throw away anything that could possibly be repaired, upcycled, or recycled somewhere else in the park. Our budgets have always been too tight to not squeeze as much life out of any materials we manage to purchase."

"Ah." Blade finally started to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. "So, we have the materials mostly covered…but what about the labor? Who are we going to get to build this thing?"

Maru gave Blade a friendly pat on his side. "You are looking at the labor right here. Hopefully, you remember the skills you learned in your high school shop class because you are going to be utilizing them for the rest of the winter."

Blade looked at his two fellow vehicles with an expression of panic, which caused Cabbie to burst into laughter. "Don't worry, it will not be that bad…at least it won't if we get this tarmac cleared so I can pick up the supplies Maru needs to start sketching out a plan."

This time the Blade didn't bother arguing, he simply resigned himself to the work required to get his base functional again.

Term – Jury-rig – To build or repair something in an unorthodox manor. In the US duct tape is a commonly used tool to complete jury-rigged repairs.