Setbacks.
He sighed, tossing the wrench to the table with a huff. It wasn't really like Malfeitor to become frustrated while tinkering; after all it was his joy and calling in life and the Forsaken always seemed to derive pleasure from his craft even when things weren't entirely successful. A long string of happy failures had dotted his career and he was seemingly never disheartened by it. He'd always just chalk it up to the learning process or scientific method and keep on going even if his experiments seemed an unrealistic waste of effort.
This was different though and despite a marathon of three long days and nights with no break there was nothing productive to show for it; he had a deadline that seemed impossible to meet and a troubling chain of malfunctions that threatened to sabotage the entire project. The transponders weren't working, the transmitters not transmitting or the receivers not receiving, something was miswired or perhaps maybe the parts themselves were to blame. It was impossible to tell and the engineer was flustered.
Maybe it was because the reclusive rogue simply worked for his own gains, more a hobby these days than anything, except for this all important project. It was a long, ongoing body of work that included another engineer as well and it was the first official job he'd had in years.
In the middle of the project, Malfeitor had experienced a stroke of genius. A brilliantly clever idea that his instructor would have been proud of him for piecing together. But it was all for nothing if he couldn't even get the prototype to work and Szandor was counting on him. That mean old Cardinal also expected results to top it all off and here Malfeitor was now, at a loss and back to square one.
He'd already wasted so much time by diverting from the original commission, knowing this invention would surpass the former in all ways and yet...if it failed he wouldn't even have time to do his half of the work that he'd been assigned. He had to get this prototype to work or he couldn't even approach Szandor. After all, what good was an idea that was little more than an impossible daydream?