thisavrou_log | ( august intro log )

Entry tags:

( august intro log )

Who: Everyone
When: August 1st and on
Where: The Moira
What: New “guests” join the crew on their journey and implement some changes.
Warnings: None for now. Please label your content!

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old but unfamiliar faces
"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, all at once."

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. Shortly after, you are led out and toward the medbay.

Inside this room, you are given a physical scan and offered a contract to sign that states you are now part of the crew of the Moira with a specific job. Any questions you might have would be answered in a straightforward manner as well as an explanation about how the Ingress, the thing that has pulled you onto the Moira, is broken and bringing people here unintentionally. This process also consists of a complete work-up of medical history and current health, and afterwards, you are given your MID, a device that is integrated into your hand or wrist with only the slightest pinch. From there, you are guided out of the medbay and to your living quarters.

At first, this month seems no more unusual than the previous one for those who have been aboard the Moira for any amount of time. The crew who had landed on the slaver outpost were rescued, and with everyone aboard, the ship has pushed forward into the darker parts of the Runoff. Anyone arriving through the Ingress follows the same routine—moving from the Ingress room into the Medbay for their physical and contract before being assisted by seasoned crew members and helped to their assigned decks. But all familiar things must eventually come to an end: two final travelers come through the Ingress. The first, and most noticeable difference between them and all the others, is their clothing. Both are dressed in standard Moira uniforms, though they bear the insignia of one sharing the same rank as Captains Cúrre and Thán. After a moment to take in all the people on the platform ahead of them, one of the two latest arrivals approaches one of the Ingress panels and begins to manipulate the controls. The Ingress completely shuts down. Unlike before, however, there isn’t an imbalance felt across the ship; everything remains normal and stable.

Utilizing the computer systems located in the Ingress room, they send out the following message to the crew via the MID:
To all those aboard this vessel: I am Ira Phirun, assigned captain of the Moira. First Mate Egan and I will be commandeering all rights to the ship as soon as word is sent to those currently in charge. Expect a more detailed report as soon as all records and logs in Navigation have been reviewed by myself and the First Mate. All questions will be answered in a timely matter. For now, there will be no interruption of daily routine or reprimand if conduct among ranks is broken. Thanks for your time.

Heading to Navigation, the Captain and First Mate, for seemingly unknown reasons, approach Navigator Manasseh and have her show them all records and logs of the Moira. Those working in Navigation when the Captain and First Mate arrive will see Mana greet them in a professional manner. Oddly, the Captain and First Mate act very familiar with the Navigator. They review all documents, but when they come upon news that the Ploiatos is on board, their mostly friendly demeanor shifts quickly. The Captain issues a sharp order, unintelligible to those who are close enough to overhear parts of their conversation, and without any warning at all, Mana loses consciousness and collapses right there on the bridge. Within minutes of this happening, the ship as a whole falls into a low power state with basic functions only. Mana’s MID alerts Medbay, and without hesitation, Captain Cúrre places her in cryo with strict orders to those who work there not to disturb the unit.

As promised, the Captain and First Mate soon address the crew.

☄ lights down low

The lighting has dimmed in all the rooms and halls, the normally crisp air that is pumped from the vents low, and all machines and tech are running at half-speed. These effects can be found throughout the ship. Water in the showers remain hot for only a few minutes before reverting to cold. Recreational equipment powers off not long after it has been turned on. The sanitation and water filtration systems require an hourly manual reboot, and all unused areas of the ship have no power allotted to them until a crew member steps inside. Even then, most functions are not optimal. It’s as if the Moira has been transformed into a dark house with only a candle flickering on the window sill.

☄ reuse & recycle

The Captain and First Mate are quick to establish that this is a new regime and go about making the ship and its crew more efficient in the wake of their change in course and the low power state of the ship itself. This means they will systematically inspect each occupied barracks room and leave notes for what needs to be disposed of or stowed away. Unlike before, this is no longer a pleasure cruise, and each member of the crew is a guest on board; they will not tolerate useless clutter. Anything seen as unnecessary will be either placed into storage in the Cargo Bay or disposed of through the airlock. This new need for efficiency also extends to the need to conserve resources until they reach their destination. The showers are set to an automatic timer to minimize water waste. Those few minutes of hot water are all a crew member is now given. Meals are smaller, bordering on ration sizes, and luxuries are done away with entirely in order to preserve supplies so that the ship can go longer before needing to dock at a planet.

☄ new jobs, same faces

The Captain and his First Mate, as expressed in their addressing of the Moira, explain that work efficiency is a priority. Applications for a head of the following departments will be accepted for a short period: Navigation, the Tower, Medbay, Defense, the Hold, Sanitation, Ingress work, and the Galley/Mess Hall. (Here.) After reviewing what they receive, one head of department will be chosen and tasked with helping crew find positions relevant to those departments and their own skillsets. They will be allowed to retain any positions that they held before that aren’t ship-functional jobs, but they will have to be done in leisure time. In two weeks time, they’ll be accepting department position applications which will be approved, and all those that do not apply will be assigned in accordance with their initial work application. They will also choose three individuals to act as guards of Ploiatos to ensure that there is a rotation available at all times. Will you choose to follow this new decision and promote yourself into a position of responsibility? Or will you simply wait for a reassignment?

( ooc; For questions, go here. Please comment to activity check to receive new ranks (if applicable)! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Anything Leia does can't be hesitant in her daughter's eyes. This is a woman who can overthrow an empire and wrangle a fractured galactic government. If she takes her time, it must be poise, right? Something like that.

Well, Jaina will do her best with what she's got. Hands plant on her hips and tilts her head to look up at her mother as she approaches, considering a hug doesn't seem entirely appropriate just yet.

"I'm Jaina." A pause, and she barely refrains from biting her lip. How much does she say without it being dumping too big a surprise on Leia? "I've been training with Uncle Luke, so when all this came up, I thought I'd sign a contract with the ship. A Jedi has a duty to help, right?"

She wants to reach out to Jaina--a pretty name, though not one that means anything in particular to her--but after Ben, she also wants to be cautious. Jaina's only a child still, and she's already warmer and more cheerful than her brother, but without knowledge of the future, Leia can't be sure of anything.

"That's right." Duty. She can't help smiling a little. So different from Ben, and yet undoubtedly her daughter. If only Luke could be here to see her. "You made the right choice. Where did they put your bunk?"

"Mero deck, number seventeen."

Jaina knows where it is, and is pretty confident she could make her way back there without too much trouble. She's always had a knack for learning shipboard layouts. The truth is that she's hardly set foot in the room. Everything she has except the provided ship's clothing is on her anyway, and Jaina is not a person interested in setting around with her feet up in a bunk.

"Family thinks alike, I guess. How long have you been on board?"

She won't be far from Obi-Wan. That's good, even if the knowledge that Anakin, too, is on Mero deck is unsettling. She can warn Jaina, if nothing else--but first, there are several other things they need to discuss. Whatever questions Jaina might have, and then Ben.

Leia's dreading that talk a little. What if Jaina's memories are still of a good-natured Jedi apprentice? She has no idea how far apart in age the two of them are.

"Five months." And if her tone is anything to go by, it's been a long five months. "And we'll be lucky if we aren't here for another five months at minimum. This is a long journey."

"Well, the Falcon is nice and all..." Somehow this statement is lacking in sarcasm or irony. "But I've always wanted my own ship. I think I can handle five months of deep space."

Leia's tone about spending five months on the ship seems normal, though, considering she tended to be more grounded than Han. Not that this takes too much effort. Granted, five months is a long time to take a break from studies at the Academy. The kids have gotten breaks either for personal reasons or to handle a crisis, so she's certain Luke would understand her absence. The main thing is...

"I might have to practice while we're away, but I won't need to get off the ship for that."

"Well, you can visit the cargo bay if you're feeling homesick." At least there's some good news to give her. Leia smiles a little crookedly--the kind of smile Han's ship requires. "The Falcon is down there."

The fact that the Falcon is as home to Jaina as it is to her father is strangely comforting. Some things, it seems, never change. Whatever their future looks like, it wouldn't be right without his freighter.

"You can train with Obi-Wan." It's permission as much as suggestion--if Jaina's going to keep practicing, Leia wants it to be with Kenobi and not Anakin. "Your uncle and I told you about him, I'm sure."

"There's probably a lot he never got to share, too." A decisive nod. "We'll definitely need to have a talk."

Her mom's here. The family's trusty ship. And now even the man who got Luke started as a Jedi? It should be impossible, a phrase Jaina supposes is going to rapidly become quite meaningless.

She does scratch her head a moment, considering, before she suggests, "I don't think the Falcon would have been appreciated in the normal Ingress. How'd it get here?"

Impossible doesn't look so impossible anymore--not after Leia met her own birth father and mother. Some of it is amazing; a lot of it ranges between frustrating, irritating, and frankly worrying. How old can Jaina be? Old enough to take care of herself, sure, but to hold her own against someone like Ben?

She's going to have to tell her about her brother before they part. But first, she'd rather answer her questions.

"They receive mail from our homes each month," Leia says, and she can't help a little smile at the memory. It must seem ridiculous on the face of it. "Somehow, the Falcon qualified. Your father was ecstatic."

A little pause. This might be the way to start discussing more difficult subjects. "He'll be happy to see you, too. We have plenty of family here to greet you."

It might speak to the growth of Han Solo in Jaina's time that she never questions why he hasn't simply hopped in the Falcon and flown away from this ship. Instead, she's trying to picture the old bucket of bolts being delivered like it were any sort of mail.

"I'm glad Dad's here. Hey, if Chewie's not along, I'd be glad to co-pilot for him."

There's a little bit of fishing in that offer. Jaina's had the opportunity to work the controls before, and she's honorary captain of her friend's shuttle. But it's a special treat when your parent lets you get behind the wheel of their prize ship.

"You'll have to ask him about that." Leia might not be anyone's mother yet, but she recognizes a dropped hint when she hears it, and her own response comes strangely easily. There's a sort of warmth there, almost teasing. I wonder how different I seem to her. "But introduce yourself first. We didn't come here expecting to meet our children."

And now that she's said that, she'll have to explain it. Jaina's old enough that she might pick up the plural there, or how quickly Leia accepted the fact of being her mother.

Her expression sobers a little; she wonders if she ought to reach out to the girl, set a hand on her shoulder, but she doesn't. "You should know, too--your brother is here."

Jaina's chin tucks, and her eyebrows draw together. If Jacen were here, she would be the first to know. If he'd beat her here, he would have come to the Ingress to find her. She knows he's fine, but he is not on the ship. That leaves...

"Anakin?"

Leia stiffens at the name when it's spoken, her first thought of a very different man by the name. The Darth Vader she knew at home, the Anakin Skywalker she's met here, twisted into some sickening spiral of darkness and...well, whatever Anakin is at this point.

She must have heard wrong. She would never--never. Jaina must be mistaken. Or Leia must be a very different person than she is now.

"Anakin?" Question and expression of disgust all in one. It's not one of her more premeditated moments, and later, she's likely to regret it. But the shock of a son named for her birth father, not her adoptive father, is a bitter one. "I meant Ben."

It's instantly clear that Jaina is dubious, though the young woman should know to handle this reaction with more care and tact. Little Anakin has some developing issues with the name as he gets old enough to realize what he's been saddled with, but...Ben?

"No, I mean Anakin. Mom, I thought you never even met Obi-wan." The way she says it is, well, matter-of-fact. The Force runs strong in their family; it may be a heavy burden for Anakin, but a reminder of that heritage makes more sense to Jaina than a man who meant more to her uncle.

"Obi-Wan saved my life," Leia answers, a little absent, as she stares at her daughter. Her breath is cold and heavy in her chest.

Anakin. Anakin Solo. That can't be right. She would never--could never--surely every time she looks at that child, she thinks of the man who could never be a father to her. Even imagining a little boy, dark-haired like Ben, with Han's angular features, and naming him after a remorseless murderer seems impossible.

(All right, all right, Luke thinks there's still good in Vader. And however furious she is with the Anakin here, he's not yet Vader. That doesn't change how horrifying the thought of a son named for Anakin--for Anakin, not for Bail--is to her.)

But right now, Anakin Solo is a theory only, while Jaina Solo is standing here before her. Leia forces herself to focus on that fact and, a little dryly, asks, "Just how many siblings do you have?"

"Two brothers." She loves them, even if they're also incredibly exasperating sometimes. Jacen probably would have found a way to start an all new menagerie on the ship already, and it'd be up to Jaina to find a way to let him actually keep them in spite of the ship's spartan new direction.

"Jacen is my twin. You'll probably know if you ever see him." He'd been putting a little height on her lately, but the resemblance is still strong. More important questions are starting to come to the surface. Nothing too terrible, just a bantha like "The brother you mentioned. He's named Ben, isn't he?"

Blaster bolts, life of the ship is going to get complicated.

"I'm sure I will." Three children, then, perhaps four. Is this why Ben is so obsessed with Darth Vader? Did they name him Anakin and call him Ben, and then--but it doesn't feel right, somehow. She's not sure where it falls apart, but something seems wrong.

Ben might be younger than Jaina and her brothers, but Jaina's a teenager. Just how long will Leia be having children? Even if they started within a year, that would still mean babies into her thirties, and frankly, that just seems exhausting.

"And that's right--Ben. He's very tall, darker hair than yours, looks like your father?" If that's Jaina's Anakin, then maybe Leia understands what's going on. If not...

"Having dark hair and looking like Dad are our favorite things to bond over," she jokes. The notion that she could have another brother at some point is strange. Not unwelcome -- she's well past the point where childish jealousy could set it -- but the Solo children are all already learning to be Jedi with their uncle. It'd be a change. And would the child have to be guarded like they had been?

It doesn't matter, apparently, because this Ben is very tall and that frankly implies he's older than her. Jaina eyes her mother, and wonders if he's closer to Han in height. You know, as long as he looks like him. "Sounds like I'll have to get used to not being the oldest for a while." It had never been a real advantage to hold over the brothers, anyway. The whole twin thing.

Leia can't help but smile. She can see the resemblance in the shape of Jaina's face, even a little in the way she talks--she's Han's daughter, all right. It's endearing, the way bits of her and bits of Han twine together in one entirely new package. Endearing the way it was when looking at Ben's holo.

"You aren't alone in that," she says dryly, then adds, "He's older than me, too. Closer to Han's age."

Which probably doesn't help Jaina a lot, she realizes after a moment. For her daughter, her father has always been older than Han is now--. "He must be around thirty, to look at him."

That's right, Leia is younger. Jaina's head bobs a little to show understanding. "I can't believe he never mentioned the rest of us."

It's pretty curious, in fact. Is he trying to hold things back? It's something she'll have to try and remember to ask when she gets a chance to talk to him.

"I don't suppose there's any other big surprises waiting around this corner or that?"

"I can," Leia mutters, then cuts herself short, a little wave of embarrassment curling in her stomach. You know better than to badmouth one child in front of another--even if you've never had them before. "Listen, Jaina: be careful around him. He's...I don't know how he'll react to you."

The thought of Ben trying anything with Jaina leaves her cold. He's strong in the Force, and he's easily pushed--even if Jaina's learning the skills of a Jedi, Ben has years and centimeters on her.

"More than we can talk about here." She doesn't know how to begin explaining Anakin, but she knows that she doesn't want to discuss it here. "Why don't you show me where you're bunked?"

It only takes a moment for Jaina to look around and reorient herself. She'd come wandering down this way, and with the ship's general layout...

Empathy is one of Jaina's weaker areas, and she misses her mother's embarrassment and dread. She does wonder if if Leia intends to take the discussion into private now, or if it's a parental deflection. If so, it's something Jaina will have to get after later.She's just starting down the corridor with a wave of her hand for Leia to follow, and a quick, "Sure, what are we waiting for?"

Better to get it over with now, Leia thinks, before Jaina runs into anyone she hasn't been warned about. As little as she wants to discuss her birth father, she can't put it off if her daughter is roaming the ship. They'll run into each other eventually.

"They put me on Mero deck when I first arrived. Your father was in the room next to mine," she tells Jaina with a little smile, trying to think of inoffensive things to talk about on the way. "It's not a bad place if you don't mind sharing a refresher with the whole deck."

Which she did, a little--but at least it was a nice refresher. And then, an idea coming to her, she adds, "There's a girl on that deck--she's called Bee. You might like her."

There's plenty of energy in Jaina's step as she goes, and the revelation that the Mero deck's refresher isn't individual to each room doesn't hamper it. "Don't worry, I've made do."

Swimming with her friends aside, Massassi architecture on Yavin 4 isn't exactly apartment living. Plus privacy gets weird when you have an empathic bond with your family.

"What's Bee like? I'll try to keep an eye out."

"Good. We're doing a lot of that--" Making do, that is--"these days."

She's made her opinions known on the subject, and that's that. Leia finds herself glancing over at Jaina repeatedly as they walk, unable to stop looking for herself and Han in her. "She's a little younger than you. A lot of curly hair, a smart mouth. If you don't recognize her, I'm sure she'll tell you who she is."

Jaina refrains from pointing out Leia doesn't know how old she is, not really. Instead, she gives a nod, peers about to make sure she's making the right turn at the right intersection of corridors.

"What about responsibilities? It seems like we've all got something we need to work it." Jaina has to peer back at Leia for that thought. Without a political system to navigate, which of Leia's skills have the ship's leadership been relying upon?

( august intro log )

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