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by the inquest
"Arguments on their nature are refuted by those who return to shore, wide-eyed with tales of their savagery."
All Moirans are woken to the sounds of the ship coming to a rather grating halt some time in the early morning cycle. It’s no faster or slower than any other stop, but it is unexpected as the captains didn’t mention an upcoming disembarkment. Shortly after, a message is sent to every MID:Navigation has informed us that we’re approaching bad traveling conditions: an overactive star. Instead of stopping on Liant El, we’ll be docking here on Ceta. Please exercise caution while gathering supplies and during excursions. Follow their safety guidelines. If the chance allows, we’ll also be signing new crew on the planet. Please greet them first and show them to the ship. Thank you. The Ingress has pulled you in. Your body experiences several sensations at once: being pushed forward as if a hand is resting on your back, momentary and startling blindness, a gentle ringing in your head. You have difficulty discerning whether it is hot or cold, but where you have been prodded is noticeably warmer than the rest of you. Some may suffer from dizziness while others are perfectly fine. Once equilibrium has been reestablished, you will notice you are standing on a long platform and that the room is filled with a soft cerulean light. It's slightly humid and dark despite the glow around you, and nothing is familiar.
For those few who come through Ceta's Ingress, there will be crew of the Moira there to greet you. They tell you of the Ingress, how it is broken, even on this planet, and that the ship is headed back to the origin of this technology. This planet’s Ingress is set precariously atop a floating rock formation, the only way from one area to the next is on small air-propelled boats. Crew members will guide everyone back to the Moira and take them to the Medbay; contracts will be signed posthaste.
WELCOME TO CETA
At first glance, Ceta seems mostly inhabitable, and that's because it is. The atmosphere around the planet is surprisingly thick in most places, sometimes thin in others, and without some way to filter the air, it is mostly unbreathable; it's a giant gas planet, its core made of various molten metals and the atmosphere a mix of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrous. Ceta's gravity is also uneven, meaning that some areas will have stronger focal points than others. The terrain, when it is visible, appears rather rocky—hardly the best conditions for life and stable living. What's more unusual, however, is that despite this fact, there is, indeed, a small populace "living" among the mist and clouds, but it's clear they do not live here year-round. It's hunting season, and they are there for the bounty.
These visitors have built small platforms that are hooked together by ropes and swinging bridges, which they call "temporaries". Unstable buildings are rare, dangerous, and spread out over these temporaries to prevent damage or accidents. The temporaries float along, swaying and shifting with the planet’s atmosphere, and posted at every point of entry and all open surfaces are a particular set of rules that everyone must abide by. They are written in dark ink and large block letters so that all passing by will stop and read them:
NO FIRE. Flammables, ignition sources, matches, lighters, and anything that creates a spark is prohibited. The atmosphere has higher levels of hydrogen, and the smallest spark will create a problem.
AIR BREATHABILITY. Monitor your vitals. Wear masks or re-breathers if needed.
WATCH THE EDGE. All walkways are the only thing from you and falling. Be cautious and watch your step. These signs should be given their due attention. The edge is just that: the end of where it is safe to walk. If a wooden plank gives way beneath your feet, you will plummet through hundred of miles of atmosphere before hitting the planet’s thin surface. The captains reiterate that crew should be careful and stick to the main temporaries, gather supplies, visit at their leisure, and then go back to the ship.
☄ IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE!The organisms that have evolved on this planet are unintelligent—a fact that is told to you by the other visitors. As there is no solid materials or ways for them to interact with their environments, these giants float along within the atmosphere, though it appears that they are flying when they are merely navigating through. They travel in groups of three or more and sometimes come close to the outskirts of the temporaries. Because there is an invisible filtration dome around the temporaries, this allows the creatures to pass through without harm and return again into the mist as they please. They are difficult to see at night and are rather skittish in the presence of sudden light.
☄ @ THE MUSEUM Every evening when work is done, artificial light sources illuminate the streets of the temporaries. There is one bar, if you can actually call it that, but the main attraction is a museum. The support structure appears to be made out of the skeletal system of the giants that "swim" and live on Ceta, and though the outside seems rather unassuming, the inside is not for the faint of heart. As it's considered informative, there are displays of the internal structures and functions of the very creatures that seem harmless and as unintelligent as the visitors claim. There are sections of the museum dedicated to their anatomy and what makes them so valuable: inside their air sacs, which is what gives the illusion to flying through the atmosphere, is a mineral that, when harvested, attunes and sharpens the senses so that brain capacity and function excel over one-hundred percent efficiency. Likewise, aside from these informative areas, there is also a history of how and when the visitors began to hunt them for this valuable, unnamed resource.
☄ HARVEST SEASON Are you looking for work? Or perhaps you're bored with your duties aboard the Moira and prefer to see just what it is these visitors do during the day? Hunters will often pay for menial labor to help with the killing and retrieval of the giants of Ceta. It is by day, not by hour, and once aboard one of the many ships, you will be put to work handling equipment or being on the lookout for "signs" of the creatures. Once they've been spotted, the real work isn't in capturing them or even trying to subdue them—though they give a good fight. It's in the harvest, done below deck once they have been safely brought into the ship's cargo areas by the tethers, that can get quite gruesome. As a defense mechanism, cutting into the skin creates a rather noxious emission that can cause disorientation, hallucinations, or unconsciousness. Worst case scenarios can often result in death.
☄ WORD LIMITS As things are beginning to wind up (or down), something seems to have gotten into the MID systems and caused a malfunction. On the morning of 03.13, it suddenly becomes clear that communicating with others who are not from the same universe or similar timelines seems very difficult. Understanding each other becomes rather hopeless as the day continues, and these repercussions can be felt across the entire ship. The Captains send out another MID message that appears as a jumble of unusual letters and symbols. However, there is one word that can be read by everyone and (hopefully) understood: RATCHET. Figuring out this problem shouldn't take long if everyone can leap the language barriers and work together.
( ooc; All New Arrivals: you have the choice of coming through the Moira's Ingress OR Ceta's Ingress. For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )
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thisavrou_log2016-03-01 02:40 pm
Moira
It was debatable which one was more important at the moment. Luckily, she could just stay on the kriffing tin can.
She was off duty, so she was lounging against the corridor wall outside of her room, wearing nothing but her thermo and taking long, languid drags from her cigarette. Her posture was deceptively relaxed, the sort of stance she'd learned to assume while picking up customers in the bar. Her mind, however, was tense, like an elastic band ready to snap at any second. The new arrivals had put her on edge, especially given the fact that some of them were apparently from her world.
It wasn't that she expected Pryce or the Emperor to come sweeping down the halls but...well...she was a wanted fugitive.
no subject
At least by the time he's made it to the Mero deck, he's largely smoothed out his hair and most of the sand remaining is nestled in the folds of his attire. Not bad for someone who'd had a leg nabbed by a sarlacc's tentacle not nearly long enough ago.
His approach is far from barreling, his quiet stride carrying him evenly down the corridor at a reasonable rate until he comes to a gradual pause a few meters away. His brows arch slightly as he turns his gaze to her, one corner of his mouth quirking upward in a hint of a smile.
"Pardon me, miss," He tips his head downward slightly, that smile spreading wider and brightening as he does, "This is the Mero Deck I've found my way to, isn't it?"
no subject
Now there was a man with a swagger to him. He was handsome and he absolutely knew it. The type passed through Fantasii often enough. One of Maya's regulars, Hin Tan had just about the same amount of charisma.
This man, however, had more justification.
Maya blew out a perfect ring of blue smoke, before dipping her head, hair sliding across her shoulder. "This is Mero Deck. And just who are you?"
no subject
She seems more than adept at using her advantages to their full potential, too, which is a trait he can always appreciate. "A man who makes it a point to appreciate the finer aspects of most any surrounding."
"My name is Lando." And he inclines his head just slightly as he steps forward, holding his hand out with the palm turned upward, clearly hoping that she'll allow him to take hers so that he may greet her properly.
no subject
She stepped forward, offering him her hand. "Lando," she repeated. "I'd tell you it was a pleasure to meet you, but under the circumstances--what with the kidnapping and all--I feel like that would just be wrong."
Very, very tentatively, she started to probe the surface of his emotions, trying to determine just what game she was getting into.
It didn't show on her face. She smiled blithely. "Maybe...it would have been nice to meet you anywhere else?"
no subject
"I can hardly say I'm any great fan of being kidnapped, but I can always derive pleasure in making an acquaintance such as yours."
There's a lot going on that he's not letting on to as he keeps up his bluff, that carefully smoothed exterior. It's all to maintain appearances, naturally, to put his best foot forward into each new interaction that he has. But of course he's just gotten here and for all the charm and friendliness he's working to exude, he's incredibly ill at ease to be out of place in a galaxy where he's at a clear knowledge disadvantage. No easy feat when your first instinct has always been to look out for yourself, no matter how much you may be trying to grow beyond said instinct.
Which isn't even to enter into all the matters he has to tend to, now that he seems to have found himself an active and bona fide rebel - one with a city to liberate, at that.
"And what might your name be?"
no subject
And her soft heart had gotten her in trouble more than once.
But that didn't matter right now. She was being presented with someone struggling with the whole situation. Just as she was struggling.
She could tamp down the feeling, but she couldn't erase it. Not completely.
And maybe that was why she decided to share her real name, instead of a stage name of some kind or another. "Maya," she told him simply. "Maya Hannis. Of Corellia, until recently."
no subject
"Corellia?" There's clear recognition that alights in his gaze, "Unless there's another Corellia I wasn't aware of, it seems we were taken from the same galaxy. I had been on Bespin, before some more recent time spent traveling."
The details of his 'travels' don't really bear mentioning for any number of reasons, ranging from the fact that he had been undercover to his general reluctance to address the Imperial occupation of Cloud City.
no subject
In that special way that only a fugitive could get anxious.
But it seemed that for the moment, she'd decided to like Lando, so she smiled an actual, real smile. "I passed through the Bespin system about a year ago," she said. "It was a mess. Crawling with troops."
no subject
A year ago, though... it hasn't been quite that long for Lando since they even took the city.
"A mess, really?" Beneath the surface is, of course, a nice simmering undertone of anger, but externally he's perfectly collected, "Imperial troops?"
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She nodded slightly. "Yeah. Stormtroopers everywhere you looked." It was a personal victory when she didn't say 'kriffing stormtroopers.'
She wasn't a fan.
"Didn't stay long enough to find out why. Figured it was better to be far, far away."
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"And that was a year ago for you? Seems you may be slightly ahead of me." Not by too much, he would hope. He already hates to think of the Empire keeping hold of Cloud City for as long as they have.
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There was just no good way to reconcile that.
"Maybe," she said, with a bit of a frown. "All I know is that you're one of the very few people I've met here to seem to know anything about stormtroopers to begin with."
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Letting that disconcerting topic slide, he responds with a small huff of a breath, "Aren't we the fortunate ones? Though, you may find that there a few more now."
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Here was hoping he wasn't going to try to take her down.
Try being the operative word, of course.
Maya was pretty sure she could take him.
no subject
Nobody I would know of, no... frankly, I think troopers would make for horribly dull company." Suffice it to say, he isn't a fan.
Which is for the best, really; She could take him. He's more comfortable using words, wit and charm, rather than fighting outright.
no subject
"Agreed," she said, offering him a real smile.