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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?
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hownkai) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou_log2016-08-01 12:13 am
no subject
He hesitates a moment, sighing. "We wondered if there was anyway to track what where the Ingress sends people. Like what did it do to the people that attacked the ship. And after what happened at the outpost-" Peter stops, gaze darting away. "If there was someway to find out where people got sent, maybe it wouldn't have taken so long for some people to get rescued. I don't know if that's even something you can look into but, well, I told her I'd ask."
no subject
He does look a little more serious at that question, looking down thoughtfully for a moment. "I'm... not sure. If it were functioning normally and we had full control over it, I'm sure that the Ingress would have some system through which we'd insert specific coordinates when sending things out, or get that kind of information when receiving things. But I don't know if that's the kind of information we can access right now." He's not even sure how they sent off the Caducans through the Ingress, honestly, how they calculated a place to send them to. But he realizes now he wants to know too, if nothing else then so he can try to find some peace of mind. And Peter's right— it'd be important information to have, were a similar situation to repeat itself. "I can look into it, though. Who asked you, by the way?"
no subject
The humor drains as Bruce's does. The answer is a little disappointing, despite that Peter expected as much. No headway had been made in the past half year on the machine, as far as he knew, so he couldn't expect something now. "It was Toriel, she's the you know." He stands in his toes, waving a hand above his head. The tall one. He's not sure it would be kind to say the woman who looks like a goat. "Do you think the new Captain would know how? They seem to understand a lot more about this ship than we've heard before. About the machine. The old captains."
There's hesitation and a little bitterness in his voice. He doesn't trust these new people yet and he's not keen on asking either for help.
no subject
"I can ask them," Bruce shrugs, not minding much that he'd have to approach the new captains. He's been keeping his distance so far, but some questions as to where people are sent when they step through the Ingress should be harmless enough. He'll even bring up what happened with the Caducans, so maybe they won't find it all that suspicious.
Bruce is a scientist, after all. He's the chief science officer on board too, so it stands to reason that he'd want to know as much as he possibly can about the Ingress and the ship in general.
"Does she want to know just because of the Caducans, or is there anyone else she's been wondering about?"
no subject
"I think it was mostly because of the attack. I mean, she didn't say anything else. I think some of her people were hurt, you know, and maybe it's her way of, I don't know, dealing with it?" Maybe she just wanted to know what she'd really died for. Peter could relate. "You'd have to take it up with her if there was anything else to it. But it's not a bad thing, if that's just it. I wasn't even here and it's not sitting right with me. What everyone says happened."
no subject
At worst, they won't be able to answer him. Or will choose not to, for whatever reason.
"I'll see what I can figure out, then let you know. Or let her know." Shouldn't be too hard to get directly in touch with Toriel, after all. Bruce knits his eyebrows together, a moment of thoughtful silence before he speaks up again. "What doesn't sit right? What do you think happened?"
no subject
He sighs, takes a moment to try to find a place instead of answering. With his timing, his hesitation only lasts a second but it's long enough to help him gather his thoughts. "We were told to kill them." His voice is flat, an attempt at emotionless. But his expression is confused, uncomfortable. "This crew killed some of those people and the captains just signed off on it. How is that supposed to sit right after all their talk about trying to keep us from fighting? I didn't think the people here were supposed to be soldiers."
no subject
He barely pauses, just in case Peter protests that. "I'm not saying it's right. It's not. Avoiding anyone else getting hurt was the whole reason why I thought that turning myself in was the best option. But— given the situation, the captains didn't have that many choices. Not if they wanted at least most of this crew to survive."
no subject
It would have been just as bad, maybe more so to come back and find out the ship had given Bruce up to die for an accident. Loosing Sans was bad enough but that came from a more even fight. Sending off a friend to die would have worked Peter into a frenzy.
"They managed to send them away, some of them at least. That was an option. Running had to be one. I don't see why we didn't talk off whenever they showed up. This thing has to be able to, I don't know, hit light speed or do whatever they do in those old science geek shows. Something! You know?"
no subject
"We couldn't. They had a lock on the ship. Like... they docked onto us. If we'd tried to move they'd have just been pulled along." He pauses. "And I think you mean warp speed. But I don't think that's actually possible in this universe. Or with this ship, at least not so far."
no subject
"It didn't have to be far, just enough to get away. Enough to make enough time to figure something else out." He shakes his head, limbs twitching in want to pace and shake out the nervous energy the conversation is building in him. "There just- there had to be something else. There's so many people on this ship, someone had to be able to think of something that didn't end in so many people getting hurt. Dying."
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"We did figure something out. Or, well— people did. They sent them through the Ingress rather than kill them all on sight." Which was the Captains' plan, and that would've definitely ended with a whole lot more bloodshed. But it was still a battle, and people get injured during those, even killed. As much as Bruce would've wanted everyone to walk out of that situation alive, it wouldn't be a realistic expectation to have.
"People just did their best. We had few other options. It's easy talking about it now, but at the time..." He shrugs.
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But he hadn't and all he could do know was complain about how things had happened. He could only try to wrap his mind around it from the secondhand accounts.
"It just shouldn't have ended up like that, you know? And I should have been here for it."
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Then again, Bruce knew a thing or two about blaming himself over things he had no control over and no fault in, so it's not like he could talk much.
"I know... I know." He sighed, offering an almost resigned shrug. "But it wasn't your fault. I'm sure if you could've chosen to be there and help, you would have. There's just... no point carrying that weight now. What's done is done."
Rich, coming from the guy who literally never let anything go. But anyway.
no subject
But he doesn't say as much to Bruce. He's done enough baring of his soul for one day.
Peter nods, putting on a small smile. "Yeah, I know you're right. It's just one of those could of, should of situations. It sucks feeling like you didn't get to do enough."