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the inner gate
"Let them in, and take them out."
Through ups and downs, the Moira and the crew have survived much together:
During the first wave of arrivals, the ship docks at a planet that has an addictive substance called Exuo — crew went through mood swings, heightened aggression, and fits of paranoia. Natives attempted to kidnap and sacrifice everyone.
A solar storm caused a power blip, and strange masks were found in every mailbox that gave them unusual abilities.
They reached Caducus Primary, a planet largely comprised of glass. The representative of CP accused the crew and captains of theft; however, they didn’t leave fast enough, and a skirmish caused damage to their Ingress, which ended with Caducus Primary cracking and being destroyed.
The power fluctuates and temperatures drop. One of the captains, Tipota, is found dead. This is the introduction of Ploiatos, who ended up being one of the original crew members affected by the power of the Ingress.
The Moira docks at Emiri, which was comprised of three main cities where the culture was influenced heavily by finding one’s soulmate. The company responsible for this, Link’d Inc, is incredibly popular throughout the universe. However, hints of forced unions, kidnapping, and slavery are investigated by the crew after an attack on all of the cities by a rebel group. The planet becomes locked down. Benjamin Link joins the crew and helps them escape.
Another month passes, and crew dock on Ceta. It is known for it’s unusual atmosphere and its living beings AKA sentient flying whales. They were hunted for valuable organic resources, and eventually, the crew decided to hire mercenaries from outlying planets to protect them from further death.
Soon after, the Moira stops at an abandoned prison station called Del Pascia with a resident AI (D-E-L) who was “irritated and snippy” but did not keep crew from exploring and taking items. D-E-L tried to persuade crew to stay, and when it became clear no one wanted to, D-E-L tried to infect them as she had infected those who’d remained behind in the prison. Everyone fought and escaped.
Amissis-Re is an unregistered planet that had no signs of life — the crew’s next stop. Here, they meet a “host” who had done the impossible and “fixed” the Ingress. However, she only reversed the energy of the Ingress, which created melted worlds and made it incredibly dangerous to discern reality from the time inside these worlds. The host gifts some of the crew with journals after she decides to go through the Ingress and remain there.
The Moira begins to malfunction, and those of Caducus Secondary, along with survivors of Caducus Primary, hunt the ship and those inside it for revenge. Negotiations started while crew tried to set up defenses aboard. Due to prior issues, the Ingress shuts off, resulting in the melding of Caducun glass with the ship and everyone aboard. When the Ingress finally stabilizes, the Moira is now in a different universe: the Runoff.
Some members of the crew are found on a slavery outpost in the Runoff, and others make a stealthy rescue effort to bring them back to the Moira. First Mate Egan and Captain Ira appear through the Ingress, explaining that they are the original members of the Moira designated to pilot the ship. The old captains hand over authority to them as the ship drifts into the Luminous Sea.
The ship crashes into one of the moons within the Luminous Sea where crew find a group of natives who are overly friendly. They beckon them to stay with food, drink, and much more. Unbeknownst to those who stay with them, an entire year passes. Eventually, what is wrong with the Moira is patched so they can leave.
After months of hard travel, the crew explore the wonders of the Mini Colony. A closed ceremony held on the MC caused crew to change in ways they’d never experienced before. Yet, during the festivities, someone triggered the “fear machine”, and crew suffered from phobias once back on the ship.
Those working on the Ingress pick up a signature for the Midway Hub and begin to make preparations to go there. The new species Ploiatos has become is named Mirtis (meer-tees); some of the crew kill him before things get too out of control again as they had in the previous months. The Ingress is then turned on, and the ship falls into a time slip.
The Moira crashes on the Midway Hub.
Captain Ira draws a map and encourages crew to split up and travel to the Inner Gate of the Midway Hub. Once inside the Outer Gate, crew experience de-powering — a safety protocol of those who’d worked on the Hub. Exploration and survival are a key focus during this time. They move through a network of caves to find the entrance to the Inner Gate.
After a brief respite, crew learn that the entrances to Gate A and Gate B are inside one of the caves. Groups are split, TABS are synced, and crew explore carefully until an entrance is found. Crew discover Gate A first, and all crew are contacted to gather there. The captains remain at the cave entrance until all crew are accounted for, and then, they enter through the gate together.
Finally, after entering through the Inner Gate, the crew head down through a system of tunnels that lead them to an underground - and main - section of the Midway Hub. Initial scans show that there is a catacomb of rooms and hallways that seem to have been patched together hastily and messily, suggesting that the builders added on new areas as they were needed. Anyone who has abilities, and tries to use them now, will realize that they are no longer depowered as they had been for the last several weeks. Crew are allowed to explore and are encouraged to look for any evidence as to why the previous tenants are gone, as well as take any supplies found or find ways to radio out for assistance.
☄ FLOOR ONE - jan. 3rd
Deeper in, the first level of the Hub is littered with thousands of papers and notes regarding things on the Ingress. Some are highly classified while others are of the smallest consequence to anyone reading them. Upon closer inspection, some of the things listed might even make sense to those of the crew slightly familiar with Ingress technology—reports of energy distortion and time slips, effects of the energy on those traveling through it, how to isolate particular parts of the Ingress' energy and use them to transport to other places. Only a portion of these documents are legible; the majority have either been torn into pieces or charred. Smaller rooms can be found here as well, offices and labs that are only large enough to hold five or six people at a time, and within some of them, pieces of machinery and electronics can be found. Most recognizable are the circular-curved mechanisms that belong to an Ingress. Yet, rather than just one, there are hundreds. Some have been left in piles of twisted, melted hunks, and some, those parts still (probably) capable of being used if the occasion presented itself, are thrown about carelessly, tossed under desks and under chairs and even embedded in parts of the walls where they - more than likely - exploded.
Not much else can be found on this level. Unless empty cups and broken computers are justifiable as something.
☄ FLOOR TWO - jan. 4th
Crew who travel even further within the Hub will find that not all things have been deserted. Sort of. What greets anyone who explores here is the visible evidence that some sort of intense struggle happened between those who worked on the Hub and a group of outsiders. Dead bodies cover the floors, in hallways, and inside personal quarters. The one constant in the tableau is that none of them died in any sort of peace, and the visceral knowledge of that is clear by the amount of blood spilled and the putrid smell that comes from it having been sealed off for such a long time. Be careful to tread lightly and step with caution. Also, breathing the air for any more than a few seconds without some sort of filter isn’t advisable. Items worth taking might be in the form of blankets and clothes, but most of it seems to have been taken in a rush.
☄ FLOOR THREE - jan. 5th
And even further within the Hub, below the offices and labs and unfortunate death, a power source can be found. From obvious signs, it is clear that someone had lived here recently, and anyone who looks through some of the things left behind will find a list of recordings readily available to them. They are as follows:
audio log 1
audio log 2
audio log 3
audio log 4
audio log 5
☄ FLOOR FOUR - jan. 6th to the 24th
Inside the Ingress Channel, a group of fifteen have taken up a defensive position, standing in a small circle towards the back. When approached, they’ll tell crew to stay where they are; they want to talk to them but with lots of space between. There doesn’t appear to be a leader of this diverse group, but one person comes forward and asks who they are and what they were doing on the Moira as they had seen it crash. With this new group being unwilling to divulge any information, the conversation is slow to reveal anything important or useful.
Through patience and diplomatic efforts by the crew, the following is eventually discovered: these people call themselves Savrii and aren’t native to the Midway Hub. The Savrii aren’t hostile, though they are skittish at first. Their people were sent through the Ingress to destroy all the documented research on Ingress technology and energy that could be found here, taking out anyone who tried to stop them. Their mission was critical, meant to protect the universe from those tampering with such an unstable, natural force. During the incursion, the Ingress machines on the Hub were damaged, and they are what’s left of the group of Savrii that didn’t make it back through before the machine shut down. They’ve seen footage and schematics of the Moira and would have destroyed it, too, if it had landed instead of crashing. The Moirans did the job for them.
Their people don’t believe in fighting or chaos, unless the Ingress energy is being manipulated in any way. The ship was the first of its kind, created by severing some of the energy from the whole. This upset an already delicate balance and caused issues with Ingresses all across the universes. The Savrii liken it to taking a child away from its mother. When the crew explain that they were only passengers, the Savrii believe them. They lower their weapons and open the floor to peaceful discussion. From this point, crew learn that the Savrii have been surviving here as they try to fix one of the Ingress machines, which they are close to but are lacking one of the key elements. Science technicians from the Moira, who have studied the Ingress will realize that after sorting through the wreckage the part they need survived the crash, and with help, the crew are able to assist in replacing the broken element.
When the Ingress is rebooted, they send one of their group through, who returns a moment later with good news. The damage on this side didn’t affect the Ingress Complex on the other, a place where the Ingress Energy was first discovered and built around. They tell of their home, with the largest and first Ingress machine, that is a mecca of travel and culture. It might not be the crew's original homes, but the Ingress there is functioning, and they can use it.
The Savrii can go home. The Moirans are allowed to come with them.
Step through the Ingress and
welcome to thisavrou
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hohnkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2017-01-03 09:25 pm
Floor Two, because why the fuck not.
He remarks on it as little as his friend does, and perhaps there's still some awkward sheepishness left over from the sting of their brutal argument, but he doesn't need to be told about the similar relief he senses from the other man, likely as little as Obi-Wan needs to be told in turn.
Anakin starts to take the lead as they approach the second floor, until he halts at the first door they see and he feels the sudden, intense urge to vomit. The Force is both a blessing and a curse, he's always been told as much, but he never thought he'd get to a point of willing it away, knowing painfully too well what that silence feels like. He takes a deep breath and immediately regrets that too.
There's no need to be as well-acquainted with war as he has been in his 22--no...it's 23--years to understand what lingers in the air. Lanteeb is the most painful reminder, the most present and visceral, as they'd hidden from the Separatists among bodies too numerous to count. Not even the Temple, as awfully ruined as they'd witnessed it, compared to this.
He coughs, and turns back with a nauseated wince. There isn't much choice but to go forward, not unless they want to stick to the deserted first level for another eternity.]
Please tell me we're not going to get used to this.
no subject
We haven't yet, have we?
[ And yet Obi-Wan feels every bit like they've been presented with far too many opportunities to do just that. ]
Watch your step.
[ A simple word to the wise, and one he intends to follow himself as he picks his way through the rotten carpet of once-living organisms. Scrubbing against his watering eyes feels ill-advised, but he'd rather that than trip into the putrid mess they've happened upon. ]
no subject
As is, he keeps his overlarge robe sleeve fixed over his mouth and nose, and tries to maintain breathing through his mouth only. It's little help, the decay is so cloying in the air, it tastes about as well as it smells. No, no one could ever get used to this.]
How long do you think they've been here? This smells too bad to be recent.
[He follows Obi-Wan cautiously, picking his way through the abandoned, likely forgotten corpses (if anyone was even around to remember them), but keeps fixated on anything else he can in their surroundings: the layout of the structure, the ceilings, the less obvious signs of struggle. He has to try to stay focused on everything but, because of course their senses return only in time to be overwhelmed with such complicated misery.]
no subject
Where Anakin is doing all he can to avoid the mess of people, Obi-Wan finds he can't look anywhere else. It's like a battlefield — worse maybe, in that it doesn't appear those left behind could have had much of chance against whatever tore the place apart. ]
I wouldn't venture to guess.
[ There are too many factors in play for Obi-Wan to know anything. Given time and equipment he could make some kind of determination, but as it stands, all he can think about it how he's not sure he wants to proceed if he isn't certain there's a different way back. ]
We shouldn't linger. The fact that we haven't encountered bodies before now does not seem like a coincidence.
no subject
Anakin grimaces, but Obi-Wan is right to push forward. There's not much else they can do.]
You think we'll find what did this?
no subject
[ Crass though it is, Obi-Wan knows that there is a great deal more going on than anyone knows, and somehow the crewmembers of the former-Moira are particularly good at getting to the bottom of such things.
Honestly, he won't be surprised to find out it's something the former crewmembers of the former-Moira are responsible for, much like Caduceus Prime. ]
It doesn't appear these people had much of a chance, does it?
no subject
Close quarters with maybe one good exit? [He'd given the Tusken Raiders a better chance than that. He swallows back the memory, but lets the wince stay. Regret may not be any good here, but it's about all he can give, the memory it's attached to doesn't matter as much.] We're lucky there are discernable remains at all.
[They push on, the hallway ahead and the adjoining rooms looking much the same as the entrance to the floor. This had been an all-out massacre. And he's rethinking the idea that not knowing how this happened is better. After several more minutes of this, however, the air is so thick with decay that it's not just unpleasant, but choking. He glances around, trying to find another way out, when his eyes catch on the tiled ceiling. He nods upward to get Obi-Wan's attention without opening his mouth.
Air vents?]
no subject
The difference is immediate, although there's less room than Obi-Wan would prefer considering his tired back and aching knees. He'll probably need that head start. ]
This way, I think.
[ Really, he knows. And he's certain Anakin can feel it too, where the Force finally takes a breath beyond the choke of death this as stew. ]
no subject
That must have been the worst of it. Exit bottleneck, right?
[It's a more hopeful utterance than it is bolstered by anything true. Up here, it's difficult to tell if the source is confined when it filters and dissipates to the rest of the floor. It may not be true. (Their luck lately, it's nothing approaching the truth.) Force only knows where that trail leads...or ends.]
...Obi-Wan? [He pauses to let the question sit, but not long.] What do we do if we find whoever did this?
[He knows what he wants. What his righteous disgust calls for. But he can't shake the (several) arguments they've had on these points before, and maybe it's time to hash out exactly what's expected. Here and...well, they may never get back home, but shouldn't they have a contingency plan for that too? It's a deeper question than the one he asks, with larger implications than this investigation alone. He doesn't like feeling unsure, but he likes the feeling of having done something wrong even worse.]
no subject
He doesn't slow, although it is clear in how he holds his breath that he's listening to his own thoughts for a moment before replying. ]
We attempt to take them into custody. And hope that's the end of it.
[ But when is it ever? And what authority do they have? Kenobi does his best to avoid sounding uncertain. Even without the Republic behind them, they have the Jedi Code to guide them, to tell them what is right and what is wrong. And not stepping in where lives are in danger is most definitely wrong for them. ]
I don't see how this is all that much different than any other mission we've performed. Unwanted, uninvited... [ His voice turns wry and he suppresses his frustrations, hiding himself in the Force as he approaches what looks like the junction to the next floor up. ] We might as well be home.
no subject
This is nothing like home.
[Even he has to admit there are certain similarities. To the war. To Lanteeb in particular. But beyond that--]
Home makes more sense.
[Sometimes, that's arguable, but he's never crashed this much, this frequently. Lost a year unknowingly. Been faced with a future far more tangible than a dream. They have authority at home, and something to stand on. And here that's continually ripped from underneath them, time and again.
He'd almost take a repeat of the war over this.]
no subject
I would argue, but it's obvious to me— [ Grunting, the older man pulls himself into the next level. ] —that I may never understand the motivations of some.
[ A few more feet of air vent and they should be able to access the next hallway. Obi-Wan keeps going, relieved now that he realizes the smell of the dead is restricted to them. ]
But even home makes little sense, especially now, so it's not saying much, Anakin.
no subject
annoyinglypulls himself up through the vertical vent with little issue. Sure, he's relying on the Force in a way that would have made the man with him frown very intently when they were both years younger, but they both have more to worry about than frivolous assistance when both they and their equipment are worn thin.]Even a little sense is more than we've got right now.
[He's not particularly adamant about pushing it--there's little point when the distance between here and home is incalculable and impossible to traverse.
The air becomes lighter and more bearable as he pulls himself up to the next floor, which is a much better sign. While the dead are rarely a shock anymore, the witnessing always hurts in a way that makes his heart throb. The farther they can put that back for the moment, the better.]
How much farther?
no subject
[ Comforted by this back-and-forth, the Jedi Master almost wishes they could go on. But as time is always pressing, he stops to remember they're trying to accomplish a goal, not live in what feels easy. ]
Wait here. You can follow my lead when I've made sure there are no surprises.
[ Which is to say, he would rather not plunge them both into the unknown. It's unlikely they'd run into trouble they couldn't get out of, but if they don't have to risk it, why should they?
Obi-Wan unlatches the grate and it swings to hang from the vent. He's poised to drop down into the hallway, but he waits for Skywalker's confirmation. ]
no subject
Can we just get out of the vents?
no subject
[ But, alas, they've spent nearly every moment together for so long, Kenobi already knows it's a fruitless endeavor. His friend is not one to sit back and wait and they both know it quite well.
Shooting Skywalker a look of acknowledgement, the older man then drops down to the floor below. Predictably, there's no trouble to be found, but he begins creeping forward regardless, not willing to let his guard down just yet.
He only goes a few feet before speaking up. ]
The absence of dead bodies is a welcome change of pace.
no subject
The hallway is starkly different from the floor they've just left behind. It isn't quite sterile, not in a hospital's sense anyway, but it's clear and empty. The air moves here, cold and much easier to take in. The scent of death up here is faint, and barely distinguishable, likely impossible if one hadn't taken in a lungful of it already.
It leaves him with a lingering sense of unease, but thankfully no urge to up-end his insides to top it all off.]
I guess whoever did this had to run out of fodder at some point.
no subject
[ Obi-Wan doesn't expect that anyone would be able to hold up against the two of them without some trouble, particularly now that the Force is with them again. While neither ever seem to be looking for a real fight, should they happen upon one, it won't be beyond either of them to put their newly returned skills to the test. ]
There's hardly anything here.
no subject
[But that doesn't mean nothing is here. He's always been more skilled at reading into the living; the call of machinery is a wholly different feeling. There's some draw here, the kind he gets when his fingers itch and he comes to understand the layout of the technology in front of him.
There may not be people here, whoever did this is still a step or two away from what they've uncovered, but the things they left behind must be.
He grimaces and instead of taking the hallway ahead of them, he pushes into the first "empty" room off the corridor. It looks as strewn and deserted as the first floor had: the mess of frantic work left behind in a rush, and what looks like a computer. The technology is ancient and not immediately familiar.]
But "hardly" still means something...
[He glances back at Obi-Wan before getting to work. An audio log is the most recent file accessible, and it sounds like thunder in the near-silent graveyard they're traipsing through.]
no subject
Resisting the urge to rub at his chin — he has no idea what he's gathered on his hands during this travel but little of it can be good for him — he lets the audio file play out and then turns his already raised eyebrow in Anakin's direction. ]
Well, that's awfully telling.
[ And convenient, although he doesn't say as much, only thinks it. ]
Are there more files?
no subject
He finally pulls himself up from the console with an uneasy huff. His arms cross as he regards Obi-Wan with that set grim expression that speaks of nothing other than severe disappointment.]
Can we maybe meet a scientist who isn't lying about what they're doing? Just once?