Event RP with multiple RPers
>
emily of burger
( OKAY TO START, if everyone could roll a d10. )
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
emily of burger Roll: [10] Result: 10
AJ of Tea
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
AJ of Tea Roll: [5] Result: 5
tiny powerful kitten toots
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [7] Result: 7
Kim
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
Kim Roll: [1] Result: 1
emily of burger
( PFFFFFFF )
( The roll was to determine both preparedness of your characters & to determine the posting order.
10 - very prepared, they have multiple weapons on their person. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d20 and have the option to do a “saving roll” if they roll 5 or lower during a fight. Aka they just roll a 1d20 again.
2-9 - somewhat prepared, they have 1 weapon of choice. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d20.
1 - not prepared at all, they have 0 weapons and will be relying on hand-to-hand. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d10. If said character has hand-to-hand training or experience, please add 1 point to all future dice rolls for each type of hand-to-hand fighting style they know--this will be your modifier. If your character has fighting skill but no specific schooling in any particular style, your modifier will be 1. Which basically just means you'll add 1 point to any d10 roll. )
( So posting order when we get to it will be me, rigby, aj, kim )
emily of burger
( Every character is going to start with 20 HP. )
emily of burger
( Things are going to proceed more like a D&D adventure than regular RP, so I'll set the stage and then the characters can interact with the scene/characters however they want. If there's something that you're not sure about, or you want to know if your character can/can't do something, you can ask me OOCly. Posts should be kept as simple and straight-forward as possible. 1-2 sentences at most, and we'll stick to the order. If anyone wants to skip posting, just say so. Whenever we get to an encounter, I'll explain the rolling rules, etc. )
emily of burger
( I'm going to be awk too because I've never done this before either YOLO )
The location is New Haven’s busy ship port. Business is continuing as normal, people loading and unloading ships and coming and going from the port.
Inside, the lights flash red, causing nearby people to pause and wait for the impending alert to sound across the speakers.
Attention crews. The merchant vessel Epiphany has sent a distress signal. If there is anyone available to assist in extraction, please proceed to Shuttle Bay 12.
A crackle signals that the alert has concluded.
Shuttle Bay 12 has a small but stocky defense ship primed and ready to proceed. The captain, an equally stocky human with cutting eyes and a serious expression, waits for his assembled crew just outside the pressure doors which will take them to the ship.
( I'll be also doing this on Alec, because why not rp with myself, so I'll post my entrance now. )
Alec
Having just returned from his brief stint with Ray on Abbadon, Alec was in the process of gathering his luggage and planning to contact someone about a ride back to Phalerus when the alert drew his attention. Sharing nothing more than a brief look with Ray, he turned and immediately approached the bullish captain with his bag of supplies slung over his shoulder--where he did nothing more than stand silently, albeit seriously, to await further instructions.
tiny powerful kitten toots
Zeta's in the port already, having just pulled in, probably just having offloaded something unmentionable for even more unmentionable cred. Timing's fortunate - with a quick heads up to Ara, Alita and En over his comms (it's probably overly, billingually gushy and quite cute), and still mostly in his armored suit and carrying his pistol (save for the helm), he's off to the shuttle bay, too. He waves quietly to Alec, but otherwise is equally quiet, alert, and more than a little curious! (edited)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi came and went from New Haven frequently enough, and being that classic Loner Type, had been spending a lot of time in the port hangar retrofitting his 'new' used ship. So he was right where he needed to be to hear the call, assemble and head out. With just enough time to wipe grease from his hands, he grabbed his rifle and pop in with the others to meet the captain.
Ray
With his 'mission' essentially complete, his plans were few and far between. However, the alert and the message, combined with that shared look, was probably all it took for the scrapper to heft his own bag a little higher on his shoulder to follow Alec over. Ray was curious enough to find out what was going on. It wasn't often that he'd participate but... well... what could it hurt? He wasn't necessarily prepared for anything (just some clothes and odds and ends that were on his ship) but who needed to be prepared if it was something simple, right? A simple nod would be offered to any who looked his way, but otherwise he was equally attentive and prepared to hear whatever came next.
emily of burger
Once a varied few assemble, Captain Ahab stands more upright and levels a stern look upon them. ”Reports from the ship indicate that they are fighting some sort of virus that is currently venting New Haven’s much needed supplies into space. We’re unsure of the cause at this time. All those who are willing to assist with extraction, please be advised that we are unsure exactly what we will encounter.”
Everyone is given a comm device, allowing Captain Ahab to communicate with each crewmember, as well as each crewmember with one another.
Once the hodgepodge crew has boarded, the captain opens communications to the main cabin: Prepare for departure.
The trip to the Epiphany is short-lived and despite hailing attempts made by Captain Ahab to the merchant vessel, they know nothing more than what was in the original SOS.
Over the comms, Captain Ahab speaks to the crew: Docking now. Prepare to board. The ship’s computer has indicated that the anti-grav has been disabled on the Epiphany--but life support remains intact.
Upon entering the ship, there are a few things of note:
1. The hallways are dim, the overhead lights flickering -- view is obscured but possible without any sort of additional light from the crew.
2. Everything is silent, save for the distant sounds of items clattering against the walls.
3. There is no gravity. The second the door separating The Epiphany's systems from Captain Ahab's, the assembled crew will lose their footing.
Over the comms Captain Ahab’s voice comes through clearly: There has been no communication from the crew since the initial SOS. We need to bring the systems back online to escort the ship into the bay, as well as locate the missing crew members.
Alec
Though silent for much of the ride after giving nothing more than a little twitch of a smile in greeting to the rest of the people who had gathered to help, Alec made a noise of surprise (despite the warning from Captain Ahab) as he reached out to grip one of the ship's support beams to prevent him from being disadvantaged and floating uselessly.
To the rest of the crew, he'd ask, "Where to first?" He didn't know what anyone else was thinking in regards to strategy, and was more than happy to play follow the leader as much as possible.
tiny powerful kitten toots
He's probably not above making an 'Event Horizon' crack (Probably En or his sons' fault for even showing him something newer than the '70s). And never above apologizing for it, as that's also the exact wrong thing to do.
"Right, systems first. Not sure if we wanna' split for that, can't pull any schemas or maps if nothing's online. If we run into crew, we run into crew?"
His armor, alas, isn't one that's really equipped for low-grav situations this time - so he's also reduced to hauling himself along the supports, and maneuvering in a floor-is-lava sort of style.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi took the commlink and immediately popped it in his ear. He's similarly quiet, a bit withdrawn but would offer a few sparse pleasantries in response to Zeta's. Though the crack got an eyebrow lift, either because of Val, or just out of pure confusion. The elf quietly cursed not bringing grav boots, but was agile enough to maneuver himself along the supports.
"Seconding controls." Though he mulled on the idea of splitting up. "Might be hard to find each other again, even with commlinks if we do."
Ray
Although reserved, he handles introductions easily enough. Armed with the comm device, he settles in for the trip and really only adds anything to potential conversation along the way if necessary. With their limited intel, Ray's relatively introspective silence is what remains. The shape of the ship is questionable at best, and there's an ominous feeling with the flickering lights combined with that heavy silence. Knowing they're at least about to enter a no-grav state, he'd prepared with a grip onto something to maintain his footing... floating?
"I agree... might be better to get more systems running before any splitting-- and even then, in pairs." If they had better access to maps and such, it'd be a little safer in the long run. Plus, with a lack of intel on what was going on, there was a safety in numbers. "See what we find along the way... go from there."
Alec
"Sounds like a plan," he'd say as he started to use random beams and supports like makeshift anti-grav monkey bars to maneuver through the hallways and towards engineering.
Towards Zeta and Nifi, Alec would speak again after a moment, unnerved by the silence. "So uh ...nice to meet you, I'm Alec. Nice weather we're having. Anyone have any uh ...computer experience?"
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Nice to meetcha' too, man!" He fixes the comm in his own ear, and is wholly chill about the whole thing - though those like Nifi that might've run another job or two with him could probably pick up on his doing this for the sake of the others. Nothing terrifying was happening...yet. "Fayenal's got a point. Comms are useless if you're several dead ends into the ship and can't find your way out of the kitchen. Best guess, what we're looking for is in the dashboard, if this ship's got one. We'll move to the front, keep an eye out for anything like a data-port or like....Life."
Alec's the crazy monkey boy, Zeta looks like a maniacal giant green spiderman. "Enough computer experience. Nothin' like a few I know, 'course, but what was on your mind?'
Nilfilyl Alesek
Weather got a weird squint, but he never knew what to do with smalltalk. "Likewise. I'm Nifi." He poked his chin at Zeta in agreement with his assessment. "When we get close, could split up... Just a few minutes, then everyone backtracks to a designated meet-point, choose a direction from there?"
"Got some hardware experience... Not enough software to deal with a virus."
Ray
Taking in the chatter and various points, he decides to at least add his two creds to the whole thing. "Probably the best way to handle splitting. For now, we'll head for the front." Since Alec already knew his experience with things, he didn't really add input to any of that. Instead, he moved along with the rest while they talked.
Alec
To Zeta, Alec would huff a little laugh. "Nothing really, just figured it might be nice if one of us were ...eh, equipped to deal with whatever the heck it is that's causing all of this," he'd say with an offhanded wave towards the flickering lights.
"Splitting up makes me nervous," he'd add with a huff, "Let's see if we can get the computers online first? If it's something we can't figure out then ....we can just ...try and locate the crew instead maybe. I don't trust things to not just ...keep breaking while we're here. No offense, but I don't really want to get vented out into space if I can help it."
With that, he'd just keep pushing on ahead in their decided-upon direction, heading for the main computer bay with determination.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"I'll do what I can, man!" It was a grin, and a genuine one. Glowing eyes spark - perhaps in emphasis. "Seen most systems across this galaxy. If it's weird...props to them, s'pose. For now, if you're all gonna be...bouncing along with us, keep an eye out for symbols like this...or maybe this." He'd trace symbols in midair, or scratch some into the wall, rather heedlessly; he'd no helpful holos on hand. Proprietary USB ports seemed to be an issue even in a galaxy far, far away from earth. Capitalism gotta capitalism.
And he would head along, bouncing, crawling and pulling himself along with the rest of hem...and trying to avoid any midair collisions best as he's able. One difficulty would quickly arise - while pulling himself onward with the rest of them, monkeying about, he couldn't get to any weapons quickly at all without letting go. Luckily it didn't seem necessary yet...
Nilfilyl Alesek
The Fayenal conceded with a nod to Alec, but didn't add anything verbally. Best to stick together for now. He moved to start pulling himself along with the rest of them. He had his rifle slung across his back, the best he could do to keep it largely in-reach while his hands were otherwise occupied. He was fast-moving, but Zeta was the awkward tank they had to work around.
Ray
With their plan essentially hatching, he nodded his agreement. “We stick together until we know more.” He gave Zeta his attention and could only nod. Watch for those symbols. As the… ahem… most prepared ever, he ended up adopting the rear position of their traveling little band. He could at least keep eyes on their backs and make sure their more sluggish counterpart wasn’t left behind.
emily of burger
Once the crew decide where to focus their attention, a blast rocks the Epiphany. Considering the anti-grav systems are disabled, no damage is done to the assembled crew.
Over the comms, Captain Ahab’s voice comes through, garbled and barely audible: Something…. ..ening, ...need.. ..tach. You.. ..n.. ...own.
( I'm personally rolling to see if Alec succeeds in this post of mine. )
!roll 1d20
Dice Maiden
emily of burger Roll: [14] Result: 14
Alec
Though the ship rocked, he managed to keep hold of his beam and gave his hodgepodge buddies a worried glance. "That didn't sound good," he'd say, like it needed to be said out loud.
Saying nothing else, he glanced up onto the wall, spotted a directional queue pointing down an adjacent hallway towards main engineering. "I think we should maybe hurry," he'd suggest, using the lack of gravity to his benefit and launching himself down the hall with speed towards engineering. He was lucky that he didn't shoot off down the wrong hallway or hit something that threw him off course.
tiny powerful kitten toots
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [5] Result: 5
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [17] Result: 17
He listens, head-cocked.
"Yeah, not good, not wanting to be here any longer than necessary." He does follow Alec's glance. Engineering's more his language, and after flashing Alec a thumbs up, he...at least attempts to follow, trying to mimic the other guy's means of rocketing down the hall.
Android bulk isn't really human bulk, and he misjudges the kickoff and accidentally sends himself into an airborne tuck-and-roll, spinning wildly and only kept moving forward by his own momentum the narrowness of the halls.
It DOES nearly send him down another shadowy hall, but he snags a grip on an exposed support with a little too much cursing.
Forward is forward but...fuck, man, that still hurts.
Nilfilyl Alesek
That sounded an awful lot like 'you're on your own'. The yawing of the ship jostled Nifi, who twisted with a grunt and anchored himself better against his post. "No, it doesn't," he agreed--in time to see Zeta somersaulting past to bounce off the bulkhead. He had to throw himself flat to avoid getting... Flattened, and clenched a swear between his teeth.
A quick glance around to see where the others had ended up, and he followed Alec's advice, picking up his speed significantly.
Ray
The rocking of the ship was... unexpected, but since he was at the rear it wasn't like he was making any fast moves to begin with. He held like a clingy barnacle, fortunately, and voiced his agreement without hesitation. "Seems promising," in regard to the chosen hall. All (literal) signs pointed to this being the right path.
The fast moving Zeta flying ahead like a wrecking ball? That gets a, "Holy fuck..." slipping from his mouth without filter. When its clear that Zeta isn't about to go careening into a wall and out into space (Phew), Ray makes his way down the hallway once it's his turn.
At least, with only human bulk on his side, he's as graceful as one can be with no gravity and with perhaps a touch more caution thank you very much. "See anything promising yet?"
Alec
Alec turned briefly to watch Zeta flying down the hallway, prepared to help if necessary, but let out a breath of relief when the man was able to stop.
Luckily, they were close after their brief "soar" down the hall and Alec stopped in front of the open door to engineering to wait for the rest of the crew to join him.
"I don't have much experience with uh ..computers like this. I'll stay out here and keep watch, just in case?"
emily of burger
Upon arriving in engineering, one thing is very obvious: Something is wrong. The lights on all computer terminals are blinking on and off. Emergency alerts--flashing red--are all eerily silent when they should be blaring loudly over the ship-wide speakers. There is no one in sight.
The central hub is flashing red, but all of those lovely symbols that Zeta talked about seem to be present.
Due to the lack of gravity, there are many items floating by, both useful and otherwise.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Here, lemme' see" comes from a (somewhat battered) Zeta hauling himself back around the corner. Some effort is needed to turn himself right-side up to peer inside the door and then crawl on in, in an effort to keep himself right-side up to examine what he had to work with.
And it's not particularly reassuring.
Interfacing with his own armor had killed him the last time, and if it did it again this time, he wouldn't forgive himself for scaring his family. And he suspected it would greatly annoy Ceci.
His initial idea is something he'd try immediately just to get things working: jack into it and throw the power of his armor into the console. From there he'd see what would still work - if it worked at all.
He'd also have a look at anything floating by just to see if it's easier. And that he's not TOO familiar with these systems for long. They've only just been introduced!
emily of burger
Electricity shoots up Zeta's arms and singes his hair--he cannot pull away at first, causing more damage. (-2 HP)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi gets there shortly after Zeta climbs inside, making his way through the hatch as well and immediately scanning the room for evidence of where the crew might have gone. If they vacated willingly or something more sinister, and looking through the floating items for anything like an authorization card or other important key. No alarm might indicate a powersaving mode...
The Fayenal swears again when Zeta gets himself zapped, and if he's unable to untangle himself, will try to intervene, preferably wrapping his coat around his hand first so he's not grabbing anything Live.
emily of burger
Nifi finds a keycard floating by, attached to a lanyard. It looks like it might open one of the panels nearby--perhaps maybe one of them leads to the energy input switches.
Ray
The scrapper may not have known much but he knew this was not good at all. He didn't need even a small education to know that one. He doubted he'd have much expertise on... well... anything when it came to handling that terminal. So, with Zeta on that console, and Nifi already finding something useful, he decided to investigate those flying items as well and reach out for what was hopefully helpful. Would he reach for a winner or a loser?
emily of burger
Ray manages to get his hands on what looks to be an energy dagger. Perhaps it belonged to the crew? Either way, moving forward, Ray can use a d20 for future attack rolls.
Alec
Hearing the electricity spike, Alec peeks his head into the room. "Everything okay in here?"
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Well we know it's still live!" Har, har. Maybe it juiced it, if anything. "Was just a little too forward with it, that's all." With Nifi's help, he's freed.
His next exploration is far less reckless (no datajacking today!), his next examination is a best guess on which port to try first, or if there's any codes or commands he might need to find or Interrupt. He does make an odd grab for one of the floaty things!
"Hey, Nilfilyl, while you're tryin' that - who's on the card?" It's useful, surely - but the part where there's a keycard floating at all is A Little Concerning.
emily of burger
What Zeta discovers upon a closer examination of the ports and the main system's screen that is also located on the same panel: The computer system reads a line of system errors, indicating a data breach. One thing is very, very obvious--this was not an accident. A virus is responsible for the ship’s malfunctions.
He also catches garbage. Someone had clearly been eating their lunch in here, as it's the biodegradable wrapper of a cheeseburger. (edited)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi's quick to move on to exploration, inspecting each panel with the lanyard clutched in one hand. At Zeta's question, he pauses to inspect the keycard more closely, for a name or identification, and will relay them to Zeta if he finds anything. Otherwise, he checks to see if it really does open one of the panels. He's not sure if the energy input switches will help them, but maybe Zeta'll have an idea.
emily of burger
There's no information about personnel on the card, only that it has the same symbols as the panel for the energy input. Once the panel is open, the switches all appear to be in the "on" position.
Ray
Now weaponized, and feeling a lot better about that with things being a lot out of control, glanced to check in on the others. He decides to follow along another wall to search for anything potentially useful while making his way back toward Alec. Since they have one of the panels open, he calls out, "Any luck?" Then, to Alec, "Seems alright in here... but none of this looks good at all."
emily of burger
The other wall has nothing of interest, just rows of computers all flashing the same errors as the main panel.
Alec
With a frown, Alec regarded Ray briefly and then said, "Maybe it needs a hard restart? Do you think that works for ship computers?"
His words were loud enough that he was speaking to both Nifi and Zeta as well.
tiny powerful kitten toots
No cheeseburger? THE WORST TRAGEDY. Zeta will return home with a hankering, but he can definitely frown hard at that wrapper in the meantime.
"Sabotage. Cool. Coolcoolcool," is more to himself as he looks over things properly.
"It usually does." He waggles something in his hand. "If codes are needed, I've got this." It looks like a rather plain USB stick.
"See that it's not connected to support. Or that support's got a backup. The way it's actin' is leading me to believe it's not connected to the grav-systems or the virus." Everything's switched on, seems, anyway. "I'll do it on a vote, but I also don't need the oygen."
Nilfilyl Alesek
"Hard reset works for ship computers. But I can't hold my breath that long." He inspects to see if 'life support' is on one of the switches. "Ship might have a backup it can reboot to. Y'know, before the virus took hold?" He looks between them, and at Zeta's USB. Maybe he could find the relevant settings... "I'm fine voting."
emily of burger
Life support does not appear to be on the list of switches.
Ray
He gives the place a surveying, uncertain look. He's not too sure what might help at this point. "I worry it wont start back up... life support is all this thing is running at this point... we take that down and we might be sitting ducks, especially if it ends up succumbing to the virus." He offered his input, but his expertise wasn't exactly a thing here. He could be wrong.
"It's worth a shot... but we should try to find some sort of backup... just in case..." He checks the floating excitement for anything that might pass for oxygen backup should the oxygen-necessary among them need a little extra help.
Alec
With a shrug, Alec would merely say, "I trust you guys. If you don't think life support is connected, I think it's worth a shot."
"If you've got something fancy on that," he'd add, gesturing to Zeta's USB, "...that could maybe override the system... might be worth a try if we're not sure about the support systems."
tiny powerful kitten toots
Living dangerously! He'd been inorganic for so long that accounting for something like this might've genuinely slipped his mind.
"This thing might. Match this with one of those ports." A gesture. "And just leave it for now. If it can at least sniff out an override command before that ship rocks us again, could help. Give it a go here and if it bottoms out, we restart?"
It wasn't a guarantee, and he didn't elaborate further on what it could do - which was a rather nasty little helper by way of Marc, ex-Blackout. The thing generates as many possible number/symbol combos until it finds a match. Fast, but codes can be enormous, and there's no accounting for all languages or all unifying systems.
Nilfilyl Alesek
"A virus shouldn't be able to do anything to it when it's offline... But might mess with it as soon as it's back online." He nodded to Ray about the backup. It felt safest, and Zeta's cocky attitude exuded confidence. ...Which Nifi didn't exactly like, since overconfidence of others tended to get him into bad situations. But his USB still seemed like the best bet.
"Sounds like a plan. We can try that first. Restart if push comes to shove."
Ray
Feeling a bit more at ease with a shared ‘we should make sure we’re prepared’ vibe, he considered their options and nodded. “Give it a go… at this point it’s try or do nothing, unfortunately.” He grimaced a bit. “I’ll keep checking for anything else we could use supply wise.” Why not put those eyes of his to use since he couldn’t actually do much otherwise. He’d keep an eye out for useful med supplies, more weapons, or anything else they could use to their benefit.
emily of burger
Ray finds a hypo-stimulant. Where did this even come from? If he looks closely enough, it doesn't appear to be a run-of-the-mill (regularly available) stimulant. Black market, maybe?
Alec
Alec merely nods his head in approval of the plan, but otherwise doesn't say anything else.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Right, all in favor. Here goes...hopefully somethin'."
And he plugs the thing in! Nothing much to do but let it cycle, even if he'd be maddeningly silent about what it specifically did around his companions. Not that he didn't TRUST them, necessarily, but if any of them made off with this, he'd owe Marc way more cred than which he was comfortable parting.
He wouldn't venture (or float) too far from that area, though he does try to pick whatever next floats within arm's reach - out of equal parts amusement and clue-hunting!
emily of burger
The computer seems to freeze for a moment, the errors and lights pausing for just a second as if the entire computer system is shocked into a sort of stasis. After a moment, everything goes eerily dark. The only light is visible from the main screen, where Zeta had plugged in the USB and the alert lights overhead that are now slowly pulsing with warning yellow.
On the screen, the errors are no longer present. Instead, the computer says: Rebooting...
What Zeta manages to catch seems to be a dermal regenerator of sorts--standard issue--that likely fell out of one of the nearby compartments when gravity systems went to shit.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Okay, that sounded less reassuring. But Nifi held onto one of the panels and floated nearby to get a good view as he plugged the thing in. Waiting for... Hopefully good news. The group of them were still inspecting the items floating around the compartment, and since there wasn't anything to do but wait, Nifi did too.
emily of burger
This is just a place full of useful things. Nifi manages to get his hands on an energy bar. This seems like it might be useful.
Ray
Inspecting the item he did snag, he just looked mostly confused. He can’t say he’s ever come across anything like it. He considers showing it to the others, but it’s time to wait with baited breath for whether or not the rebooting is successful.
emily of burger
After a moment, the computer's screen eventually moves from the Rebooting... to a loading bar, and reflected above it in text: Full system reset completion: 10%
Beneath that, there is a list of systems:
Anti-Gravity Systems: Offline - Rebooting...
Air-Locking Doors: Offline - Rebooting...
Inter-ship Communications: Offline - Error...
Shipwide Security Cameras: Online
And so on and so forth.
Alec
With baited breath, Alec merely waited to hear a response from Nifi and Zeta where they were hovering over the screen. When he heard nothing at first, he spoke up hesitantly, "Did it work?"
Zeta Moreno
"Should probably grab hold of something." There's a smirk in his voice, though largely it's dead serious. He might've gotten banged up a bit, but as far as he knew, these folks were a whole lot squishier than he was, and landing rather suddenly and getting buried in burger and powerbar wrappers is probably not the friendliest wat to take damage.
"Comms are still down." For anyone that couldn't see, and also a rather surly grumble to himself.
"Could use those cams to find folks." That's also more to himself than anything - getting there is still an issue, after all. Otherwise all he can do is wait...
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi plucks that energybar out of the air, turning it over to check for any rips or tears in the packaging. Huh. In perfect condition. He could use a snack! Knowing that the crumbs might end up in the ventilation system, he holds off on ripping it open for now. "Ten percent." The elf pulled himself in closer to slide into one of the seats, floating roughly above it so when those systems did kick back on, he'd have a soft place to land.
He didn't add anything else, but immediately started perusing controls for those cameras.
emily of burger
The cameras are working alright and Nilfiyl manages to locate them well enough. The view seems to be stuck on the empty hallway leading to the bridge and shifting between cameras does nothing.
Ray
He kept letting his attention drift between each of the 'crew' assembled here. Alec asked the important question, so he waited for that answer. As for grabbing something, he didn't hesitate to do that. Just in case and all that good stuff. "At least we still have our ability to communicate... which helps." He nodded, too, in regard to the cams. "It's worth a shot... to see what we can find before we start combing this place over." Since those on the computer had that part covered, he lingered nearby to watch the screens for anything useful while the duo worked. "Got any tricks up your sleeve for that?" The unchanging view, that is.
The bar creeps up to 15% completed.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Pending - Rebooting...
Alec
Holding fast to his doorframe, the human looks from Zeta to Nilfilyl and Ray by the cameras. He didn't have anything fun to add, though, so he kept quiet and continued to look up and down the hall.
Zeta Moreno
"Well unless this ship's designers really liked that style of hallway enough to put it everywhere...they might actually be offline. Punch it!" Then added, "Don't."
"Here, might actually just be disconnected entirely. Just gotta' find if it's there or here." The little USB is still yet preoccupied.
And the bar is still creeping.
And creeping.
"...y'know, you don't have to take us out for a nice dinner, loading sometime today would be super nice..."
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi tried in vain to change the camera views, before giving up with a huff. "Well. We'll know if someone tries to sneak up on us." He frowned at the (immediately retracted) suggestion to punch it.
"I don't like this waiting game." Anything could happen between 15% and 100%. They were sitting ducks!
Ray
With nothing really happening ... here... he tilted his head toward the door. "I'll see if I can scout anything out in any of the nearby rooms. Still in shouting distance. Can't do much here, otherwise." They had the computer covered. Nodding to Alec, he added, "Welcome to join up or scout out here, I'm not planning to go far." Unless anyone had a reason to stop him, he'd start checking the nearby rooms (carefully).
emily of burger
The bar creeps up to 20%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Rebooting 50%
Alec
To Zeta, he'd just huff a small sound--probably laughter--before he'd look to Nifi and say, "I don't either. Seems like the computer is at least ...working in the right direction. Maybe we should start looking for the crew?"
Though, when the cameras continued not to work, the "punch it" idea was starting to look more and more logical.
Splitting up even by a room down the hall still upset him, and he frowned in response to Ray's suggestion.
"Probably not the best idea? We should stick together."
Zeta Moreno
"I'll camp the cameras and the computer. We get the cameras working, I can get you a heads-up." And there was still the means of clawing out the virus. Figuratively.
Were he more prepared, this would be a good place to station a cam drone for his own purposes. "Should at least see the scope of what's left and what's been damaged, I can work on figuring it out or fixing it up."
It's a tough decision and there's always the chance of something going weird with the computers while they were out, but...man, some of these operating systems. "Actually...We'll go as a group. First. Just to cover this hallway and area we're in. Grav's comin' back so we can at least...move a little more normal. Check back in here, this is home-base, yeah?"
Nilfilyl Alesek
The elf wasn't so keen on splitting up, but at least their Single Camera had view of the hallway enough that if he was just scouting nearby rooms, it shouldn't cause issues. "Looking for the crew's smart... If he stays here, he can check the comms if they come back online too." And the rest of the cameras.
Maybe. Maybe. He was frowning, but considering it. "Yeah. Home base."
Ray
He glanced back to the computers and grimaced a bit. "I'm not sure there's much else I can do here... and at least I could help start looking for any crew." Still, sticking together was still their best bet, and he crossed his arms to lean against the frame of the door. "I'll give it a little time..." At least he was trying to cooperate as a team player. This place was ominous enough with a lack of detail to ease his mind.
Zeta's words, at least, made enough sense. "If there's any crew... I'd imagine they'd be close or at least tried to evacuate here to get a handle on the situation." And, a nod, "Agreed... we can consider this our rendesvous spot even traveling as a group."
If nothing else, they seemed to be on the same page. "We stick together?" And if that was the unanimous decision, he'd not hesitate to take the lead spot on heading back down the hallway toward the first door. At least he had a weapon now.
emily of burger
The bar creeps up to 30%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Rebooting 75%
Alec
Content that they wouldn't be splitting up, Alec merely nodded his head in acceptance.
"Sounds good. If we get split up for any reason, we know here is safe at least."
As the one still holding onto his door frame, he was likely the closest to the exit, and thereby took point in heading back towards the main hallway--which was as good a place to start their search as any.
"Where are we thinking the crew are hidden? I don't think a ship like this would have a lot of places to hide.." he'd speak back to the others, keeping careful grip of the supports as he went.
Zeta Moreno
"Home base!" Zeta stuck close to the boys as they moved down the hall.
"Feet back on the floor, could use this a little, guys, still got some bounce to it!" And bounce that wouldn't rocket that weighty android chassis into a wall, this time.
"On the cameras, had there been any indication of where the others cameras would be?"
"If someone was attacking remotely and got control that way, I'd try to be where the cameras aren't. Or...wreck any that are near me." There's a nice little loop trick he would've employed, another time.
Shrug. "Otherwise. Room by room? Someone protecting the cargo?"
emily of burger
( To answer that question: Any time Nifi would have tried to switch between cameras, literally nothing would happen. It didn't just keep the same image and then flip to another camera name or anything like that. To give a little more detail. )
Nilfilyl Alesek
In response to sticking together, a unanimous "yeah". He moved to follow, keeping near the 'floor' so that he wouldn't have far to fall if the gravity kicked in suddenly. "Nope. I didn't see anything. Could mean someone else has control of them... Or that was the only camera." That seemed unlikely, but...
To Alec: "Best guess, is wherever the evacuation shuttles are located. If we head in that direction, maybe we'll get lucky." The question was: had anyone actually seen where those were, relative to the exterior of the ship.
Ray
With the agreement to stick together, Ray made his way out as well. He took in the thoughts of the others and considered. "I guess room by room is the best way to start since there might not be many places to hide-- see if we find any clues along the way. If there's damage, it might be worth checking into. Like you said... create a blind spot by destroying the cameras would be the way to do it." He gave the walls a glance in case there were any signs pointing out any points of interest. "We'd have to be careful around the cargo area... this ship's been bleeding supplies as it is..." Ray ultimately nodded. "Evacuation routes could be worth checking if we can find them. We'll just have to comb this place over a bit while the systems finish rebooting."
Welp, time to try getting into the first room, right? No time like the present.
emily of burger
Ray doesn't find anything useful in this room. It's empty.
The bar on the computer terminal reads 40%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Online
Lights: Rebooting....
The system turning back online seems to jolt the ship just the smallest amount. Or that's how it feels, anyway.
In the distance, down the hall, there's a sound of clattering things--and even further, muffled, the sound of arguing voices.
Alec
An empty room was better than a room filled with ...nefarious foes. "Welp! Off to look we go!"
False enthusiasm, thy name was Alec.
Luckily, he was holding tight to the wall when the gravity kicked back into gear, and only stumbled slightly--but he could hear those arguing voices and turned to regard his companions.
"That sounds promising."
Zeta Moreno
Nifi's camera observations would've made Zeta queasy...were he able to get queasy.
As it was it was just one more maddening unknown. Ah, well! Improvisation!
Each one had their own ideas and they were all good; he'd nod and point and voice little agreements to each. And with Ray taking the lead, they set to combing.
One room was empty - but then there were unmistakable voices. A shared glance with Alec, and he echoed with a slight grin. "Off we go! Not much of a choice mmm? Check the weapons just in case!"
Nilfilyl Alesek
The sound of clattering indicated that gravity kicking in. Fully prepared, he landed light on his feet, barely disoriented, and continued on. First room empty. The voices... He upholstered his rifle from his back, keeping the barrel low.
"Or worrying. Why didn't we hear them earlier?" If they were friends, they could be hiding from something. Something they should be wary of. The elf kept in that direction with the gang.
Ray
While he found nothing, he was not discouraged. At least he didn't find something bad.
The jolt of the system is, as expected, a little jarring, but he manages not to do more than a stumble to get his footing back under control.
The clattering and muffled, arguing voices certainly is promising. "It means someone's alive... whether they're an enemy or not is the better question..." He secures his grip on his weapon, certainly grateful he found it among the debris. "I agree... it's odd we didn't hear them before." With too much on the table and not much information to sort it out, all that could be done was continuing to move with the group toward the voices.
"Should we... call out?" He didn't quite like his own idea, but sneaking up on someone who could turn around and open fire on them for being potential enemies? Yea... best not be too surprising.
Alec
Following Nifi and Zeta's lead, he pulled his gun from his holster as well.
"Maybe we pissed them off..." he suggested lamely. Ray's suggestion seemed ...eh, like not a good idea.
"I think we'd best approach with caution. Better to shock the crew by being silent than giving ourselves away.. while we have at least a tiny bit of an element of surprise."
He'd wait to hear everyone else's ideas, though, and took stock of his own supplies while he did so.
Zeta Moreno
"I'm with sneaking. Quickly." Head-bob to Alec. "Quickly sneaking. Gives us an edge if they are the sort ready to fire."
He has his pistol. He takes stock of the others as they draw their own weapons. Nifi's rifle has the edge in this case; it's as ranged as the bunch has. Another bob in Nifi's direction. "Should probably clear a path for him." And then waved an arm like h e was inviting the others to a fancy event in the direction of the voices. "Shall we?"
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi weighed Ray's idea. "If we sneak up on them, we risk them firing on us out of fear, if they're friendly." But the alternative was risking alerting an already-hostile force if they called out. Of the two, he'd rather risk the first.
At Zeta's nod, he hefted his longarm a little higher, moving to press along one wall a little in front of the rest of them, both so he could turn a corner faster, and to make sure none of them were in the path of his rifle. "Sure." He headed towards the voices!
Ray
Since he wasn't necessarily on board with his own idea, he didn't seem to object the chance of someone coming up with something better. If they had pissed someone off... well, then it just meant it was possible they weren't crew. There'd be no telling without more details, unfortunately. Sneaky was the winning choice, so he'd just nod his approval. Since he lacked a ranged weapon, he was quite prepared to end up at the rear once again. He'd be useless in the front if it came down to shooting.
"Lead the way."
emily of burger
The trip down the hall would yield the same muffled noises along the way--essentially acting like a beacon to guide the crew, if they so chose to follow it.
If they did, it would lead them to the door of the bridge. The green indicator light above the door displays "unlocked" green, and the muffled voices very much appear to be coming from the other side of the door.
Do you go through the door or try and find another way in?
--- Back in engineering, the computer indicates that the reboot is 50% completed.
Lights: Rebooting 50%
( Skip on Alec, he's following. )
Zeta Moreno
Time was of the essence, and this entire adventure seemed set on making the lot as noisy as possible.
They all walked right into the door; Zeta couldn't help but make a 'Really?!' face - even going so far as to mouth it.
He tries to listen in on what they're saying, with a 'one-sec' motion to the rest.
emily of burger
He doesn't hear anything other than the muffled sounds.
Zeta Moreno
And it's reflected in that frown on his face. Yeah this isn't working. He tried.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi circled around to the other side of the door as Zeta leaned in to listen, raising an eyebrow at him for anything Helpful. Well, that didn't work. Now they were all just... Standing here waiting.
Nifi made a questioning motion, turning an invisible doorknob and quirking his brow again. he wasn't about to break the silence. How badly did they want to scare the shit out of what they could only hope was the missing crew? He had his gun ready, barrel pointed downwards with careful trigger-control.
Ray
It was... a good effort to try and listen in. It was unfortunately decent craftsmanship that kept the sound muffled. Since everyone seemed to agree that sneaking was the best option, he whispered, "I can look for another way in... before we just try the main door." He nodded to the door itself. "Keep your weapons ready... I won't be much use with a knife if it turns into a fire fight." So, yep, he's gonna look for another possible way in to at least get some info.... if possible.
( OKAY TO START, if everyone could roll a d10. )
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
emily of burger Roll: [10] Result: 10
AJ of Tea
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
AJ of Tea Roll: [5] Result: 5
tiny powerful kitten toots
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [7] Result: 7
Kim
!roll 1d10
Dice Maiden
Kim Roll: [1] Result: 1
emily of burger
( PFFFFFFF )
( The roll was to determine both preparedness of your characters & to determine the posting order.
10 - very prepared, they have multiple weapons on their person. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d20 and have the option to do a “saving roll” if they roll 5 or lower during a fight. Aka they just roll a 1d20 again.
2-9 - somewhat prepared, they have 1 weapon of choice. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d20.
1 - not prepared at all, they have 0 weapons and will be relying on hand-to-hand. Their dice roll for all attacks henceforth will be a d10. If said character has hand-to-hand training or experience, please add 1 point to all future dice rolls for each type of hand-to-hand fighting style they know--this will be your modifier. If your character has fighting skill but no specific schooling in any particular style, your modifier will be 1. Which basically just means you'll add 1 point to any d10 roll. )
( So posting order when we get to it will be me, rigby, aj, kim )
emily of burger
( Every character is going to start with 20 HP. )
emily of burger
( Things are going to proceed more like a D&D adventure than regular RP, so I'll set the stage and then the characters can interact with the scene/characters however they want. If there's something that you're not sure about, or you want to know if your character can/can't do something, you can ask me OOCly. Posts should be kept as simple and straight-forward as possible. 1-2 sentences at most, and we'll stick to the order. If anyone wants to skip posting, just say so. Whenever we get to an encounter, I'll explain the rolling rules, etc. )
emily of burger
( I'm going to be awk too because I've never done this before either YOLO )
The location is New Haven’s busy ship port. Business is continuing as normal, people loading and unloading ships and coming and going from the port.
Inside, the lights flash red, causing nearby people to pause and wait for the impending alert to sound across the speakers.
Attention crews. The merchant vessel Epiphany has sent a distress signal. If there is anyone available to assist in extraction, please proceed to Shuttle Bay 12.
A crackle signals that the alert has concluded.
Shuttle Bay 12 has a small but stocky defense ship primed and ready to proceed. The captain, an equally stocky human with cutting eyes and a serious expression, waits for his assembled crew just outside the pressure doors which will take them to the ship.
( I'll be also doing this on Alec, because why not rp with myself, so I'll post my entrance now. )
Alec
Having just returned from his brief stint with Ray on Abbadon, Alec was in the process of gathering his luggage and planning to contact someone about a ride back to Phalerus when the alert drew his attention. Sharing nothing more than a brief look with Ray, he turned and immediately approached the bullish captain with his bag of supplies slung over his shoulder--where he did nothing more than stand silently, albeit seriously, to await further instructions.
tiny powerful kitten toots
Zeta's in the port already, having just pulled in, probably just having offloaded something unmentionable for even more unmentionable cred. Timing's fortunate - with a quick heads up to Ara, Alita and En over his comms (it's probably overly, billingually gushy and quite cute), and still mostly in his armored suit and carrying his pistol (save for the helm), he's off to the shuttle bay, too. He waves quietly to Alec, but otherwise is equally quiet, alert, and more than a little curious! (edited)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi came and went from New Haven frequently enough, and being that classic Loner Type, had been spending a lot of time in the port hangar retrofitting his 'new' used ship. So he was right where he needed to be to hear the call, assemble and head out. With just enough time to wipe grease from his hands, he grabbed his rifle and pop in with the others to meet the captain.
Ray
With his 'mission' essentially complete, his plans were few and far between. However, the alert and the message, combined with that shared look, was probably all it took for the scrapper to heft his own bag a little higher on his shoulder to follow Alec over. Ray was curious enough to find out what was going on. It wasn't often that he'd participate but... well... what could it hurt? He wasn't necessarily prepared for anything (just some clothes and odds and ends that were on his ship) but who needed to be prepared if it was something simple, right? A simple nod would be offered to any who looked his way, but otherwise he was equally attentive and prepared to hear whatever came next.
emily of burger
Once a varied few assemble, Captain Ahab stands more upright and levels a stern look upon them. ”Reports from the ship indicate that they are fighting some sort of virus that is currently venting New Haven’s much needed supplies into space. We’re unsure of the cause at this time. All those who are willing to assist with extraction, please be advised that we are unsure exactly what we will encounter.”
Everyone is given a comm device, allowing Captain Ahab to communicate with each crewmember, as well as each crewmember with one another.
Once the hodgepodge crew has boarded, the captain opens communications to the main cabin: Prepare for departure.
The trip to the Epiphany is short-lived and despite hailing attempts made by Captain Ahab to the merchant vessel, they know nothing more than what was in the original SOS.
Over the comms, Captain Ahab speaks to the crew: Docking now. Prepare to board. The ship’s computer has indicated that the anti-grav has been disabled on the Epiphany--but life support remains intact.
Upon entering the ship, there are a few things of note:
1. The hallways are dim, the overhead lights flickering -- view is obscured but possible without any sort of additional light from the crew.
2. Everything is silent, save for the distant sounds of items clattering against the walls.
3. There is no gravity. The second the door separating The Epiphany's systems from Captain Ahab's, the assembled crew will lose their footing.
Over the comms Captain Ahab’s voice comes through clearly: There has been no communication from the crew since the initial SOS. We need to bring the systems back online to escort the ship into the bay, as well as locate the missing crew members.
Alec
Though silent for much of the ride after giving nothing more than a little twitch of a smile in greeting to the rest of the people who had gathered to help, Alec made a noise of surprise (despite the warning from Captain Ahab) as he reached out to grip one of the ship's support beams to prevent him from being disadvantaged and floating uselessly.
To the rest of the crew, he'd ask, "Where to first?" He didn't know what anyone else was thinking in regards to strategy, and was more than happy to play follow the leader as much as possible.
tiny powerful kitten toots
He's probably not above making an 'Event Horizon' crack (Probably En or his sons' fault for even showing him something newer than the '70s). And never above apologizing for it, as that's also the exact wrong thing to do.
"Right, systems first. Not sure if we wanna' split for that, can't pull any schemas or maps if nothing's online. If we run into crew, we run into crew?"
His armor, alas, isn't one that's really equipped for low-grav situations this time - so he's also reduced to hauling himself along the supports, and maneuvering in a floor-is-lava sort of style.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi took the commlink and immediately popped it in his ear. He's similarly quiet, a bit withdrawn but would offer a few sparse pleasantries in response to Zeta's. Though the crack got an eyebrow lift, either because of Val, or just out of pure confusion. The elf quietly cursed not bringing grav boots, but was agile enough to maneuver himself along the supports.
"Seconding controls." Though he mulled on the idea of splitting up. "Might be hard to find each other again, even with commlinks if we do."
Ray
Although reserved, he handles introductions easily enough. Armed with the comm device, he settles in for the trip and really only adds anything to potential conversation along the way if necessary. With their limited intel, Ray's relatively introspective silence is what remains. The shape of the ship is questionable at best, and there's an ominous feeling with the flickering lights combined with that heavy silence. Knowing they're at least about to enter a no-grav state, he'd prepared with a grip onto something to maintain his footing... floating?
"I agree... might be better to get more systems running before any splitting-- and even then, in pairs." If they had better access to maps and such, it'd be a little safer in the long run. Plus, with a lack of intel on what was going on, there was a safety in numbers. "See what we find along the way... go from there."
Alec
"Sounds like a plan," he'd say as he started to use random beams and supports like makeshift anti-grav monkey bars to maneuver through the hallways and towards engineering.
Towards Zeta and Nifi, Alec would speak again after a moment, unnerved by the silence. "So uh ...nice to meet you, I'm Alec. Nice weather we're having. Anyone have any uh ...computer experience?"
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Nice to meetcha' too, man!" He fixes the comm in his own ear, and is wholly chill about the whole thing - though those like Nifi that might've run another job or two with him could probably pick up on his doing this for the sake of the others. Nothing terrifying was happening...yet. "Fayenal's got a point. Comms are useless if you're several dead ends into the ship and can't find your way out of the kitchen. Best guess, what we're looking for is in the dashboard, if this ship's got one. We'll move to the front, keep an eye out for anything like a data-port or like....Life."
Alec's the crazy monkey boy, Zeta looks like a maniacal giant green spiderman. "Enough computer experience. Nothin' like a few I know, 'course, but what was on your mind?'
Nilfilyl Alesek
Weather got a weird squint, but he never knew what to do with smalltalk. "Likewise. I'm Nifi." He poked his chin at Zeta in agreement with his assessment. "When we get close, could split up... Just a few minutes, then everyone backtracks to a designated meet-point, choose a direction from there?"
"Got some hardware experience... Not enough software to deal with a virus."
Ray
Taking in the chatter and various points, he decides to at least add his two creds to the whole thing. "Probably the best way to handle splitting. For now, we'll head for the front." Since Alec already knew his experience with things, he didn't really add input to any of that. Instead, he moved along with the rest while they talked.
Alec
To Zeta, Alec would huff a little laugh. "Nothing really, just figured it might be nice if one of us were ...eh, equipped to deal with whatever the heck it is that's causing all of this," he'd say with an offhanded wave towards the flickering lights.
"Splitting up makes me nervous," he'd add with a huff, "Let's see if we can get the computers online first? If it's something we can't figure out then ....we can just ...try and locate the crew instead maybe. I don't trust things to not just ...keep breaking while we're here. No offense, but I don't really want to get vented out into space if I can help it."
With that, he'd just keep pushing on ahead in their decided-upon direction, heading for the main computer bay with determination.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"I'll do what I can, man!" It was a grin, and a genuine one. Glowing eyes spark - perhaps in emphasis. "Seen most systems across this galaxy. If it's weird...props to them, s'pose. For now, if you're all gonna be...bouncing along with us, keep an eye out for symbols like this...or maybe this." He'd trace symbols in midair, or scratch some into the wall, rather heedlessly; he'd no helpful holos on hand. Proprietary USB ports seemed to be an issue even in a galaxy far, far away from earth. Capitalism gotta capitalism.
And he would head along, bouncing, crawling and pulling himself along with the rest of hem...and trying to avoid any midair collisions best as he's able. One difficulty would quickly arise - while pulling himself onward with the rest of them, monkeying about, he couldn't get to any weapons quickly at all without letting go. Luckily it didn't seem necessary yet...
Nilfilyl Alesek
The Fayenal conceded with a nod to Alec, but didn't add anything verbally. Best to stick together for now. He moved to start pulling himself along with the rest of them. He had his rifle slung across his back, the best he could do to keep it largely in-reach while his hands were otherwise occupied. He was fast-moving, but Zeta was the awkward tank they had to work around.
Ray
With their plan essentially hatching, he nodded his agreement. “We stick together until we know more.” He gave Zeta his attention and could only nod. Watch for those symbols. As the… ahem… most prepared ever, he ended up adopting the rear position of their traveling little band. He could at least keep eyes on their backs and make sure their more sluggish counterpart wasn’t left behind.
emily of burger
Once the crew decide where to focus their attention, a blast rocks the Epiphany. Considering the anti-grav systems are disabled, no damage is done to the assembled crew.
Over the comms, Captain Ahab’s voice comes through, garbled and barely audible: Something…. ..ening, ...need.. ..tach. You.. ..n.. ...own.
( I'm personally rolling to see if Alec succeeds in this post of mine. )
!roll 1d20
Dice Maiden
emily of burger Roll: [14] Result: 14
Alec
Though the ship rocked, he managed to keep hold of his beam and gave his hodgepodge buddies a worried glance. "That didn't sound good," he'd say, like it needed to be said out loud.
Saying nothing else, he glanced up onto the wall, spotted a directional queue pointing down an adjacent hallway towards main engineering. "I think we should maybe hurry," he'd suggest, using the lack of gravity to his benefit and launching himself down the hall with speed towards engineering. He was lucky that he didn't shoot off down the wrong hallway or hit something that threw him off course.
tiny powerful kitten toots
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [5] Result: 5
Rigby, Also Green Roll: [17] Result: 17
He listens, head-cocked.
"Yeah, not good, not wanting to be here any longer than necessary." He does follow Alec's glance. Engineering's more his language, and after flashing Alec a thumbs up, he...at least attempts to follow, trying to mimic the other guy's means of rocketing down the hall.
Android bulk isn't really human bulk, and he misjudges the kickoff and accidentally sends himself into an airborne tuck-and-roll, spinning wildly and only kept moving forward by his own momentum the narrowness of the halls.
It DOES nearly send him down another shadowy hall, but he snags a grip on an exposed support with a little too much cursing.
Forward is forward but...fuck, man, that still hurts.
Nilfilyl Alesek
That sounded an awful lot like 'you're on your own'. The yawing of the ship jostled Nifi, who twisted with a grunt and anchored himself better against his post. "No, it doesn't," he agreed--in time to see Zeta somersaulting past to bounce off the bulkhead. He had to throw himself flat to avoid getting... Flattened, and clenched a swear between his teeth.
A quick glance around to see where the others had ended up, and he followed Alec's advice, picking up his speed significantly.
Ray
The rocking of the ship was... unexpected, but since he was at the rear it wasn't like he was making any fast moves to begin with. He held like a clingy barnacle, fortunately, and voiced his agreement without hesitation. "Seems promising," in regard to the chosen hall. All (literal) signs pointed to this being the right path.
The fast moving Zeta flying ahead like a wrecking ball? That gets a, "Holy fuck..." slipping from his mouth without filter. When its clear that Zeta isn't about to go careening into a wall and out into space (Phew), Ray makes his way down the hallway once it's his turn.
At least, with only human bulk on his side, he's as graceful as one can be with no gravity and with perhaps a touch more caution thank you very much. "See anything promising yet?"
Alec
Alec turned briefly to watch Zeta flying down the hallway, prepared to help if necessary, but let out a breath of relief when the man was able to stop.
Luckily, they were close after their brief "soar" down the hall and Alec stopped in front of the open door to engineering to wait for the rest of the crew to join him.
"I don't have much experience with uh ..computers like this. I'll stay out here and keep watch, just in case?"
emily of burger
Upon arriving in engineering, one thing is very obvious: Something is wrong. The lights on all computer terminals are blinking on and off. Emergency alerts--flashing red--are all eerily silent when they should be blaring loudly over the ship-wide speakers. There is no one in sight.
The central hub is flashing red, but all of those lovely symbols that Zeta talked about seem to be present.
Due to the lack of gravity, there are many items floating by, both useful and otherwise.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Here, lemme' see" comes from a (somewhat battered) Zeta hauling himself back around the corner. Some effort is needed to turn himself right-side up to peer inside the door and then crawl on in, in an effort to keep himself right-side up to examine what he had to work with.
And it's not particularly reassuring.
Interfacing with his own armor had killed him the last time, and if it did it again this time, he wouldn't forgive himself for scaring his family. And he suspected it would greatly annoy Ceci.
His initial idea is something he'd try immediately just to get things working: jack into it and throw the power of his armor into the console. From there he'd see what would still work - if it worked at all.
He'd also have a look at anything floating by just to see if it's easier. And that he's not TOO familiar with these systems for long. They've only just been introduced!
emily of burger
Electricity shoots up Zeta's arms and singes his hair--he cannot pull away at first, causing more damage. (-2 HP)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi gets there shortly after Zeta climbs inside, making his way through the hatch as well and immediately scanning the room for evidence of where the crew might have gone. If they vacated willingly or something more sinister, and looking through the floating items for anything like an authorization card or other important key. No alarm might indicate a powersaving mode...
The Fayenal swears again when Zeta gets himself zapped, and if he's unable to untangle himself, will try to intervene, preferably wrapping his coat around his hand first so he's not grabbing anything Live.
emily of burger
Nifi finds a keycard floating by, attached to a lanyard. It looks like it might open one of the panels nearby--perhaps maybe one of them leads to the energy input switches.
Ray
The scrapper may not have known much but he knew this was not good at all. He didn't need even a small education to know that one. He doubted he'd have much expertise on... well... anything when it came to handling that terminal. So, with Zeta on that console, and Nifi already finding something useful, he decided to investigate those flying items as well and reach out for what was hopefully helpful. Would he reach for a winner or a loser?
emily of burger
Ray manages to get his hands on what looks to be an energy dagger. Perhaps it belonged to the crew? Either way, moving forward, Ray can use a d20 for future attack rolls.
Alec
Hearing the electricity spike, Alec peeks his head into the room. "Everything okay in here?"
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Well we know it's still live!" Har, har. Maybe it juiced it, if anything. "Was just a little too forward with it, that's all." With Nifi's help, he's freed.
His next exploration is far less reckless (no datajacking today!), his next examination is a best guess on which port to try first, or if there's any codes or commands he might need to find or Interrupt. He does make an odd grab for one of the floaty things!
"Hey, Nilfilyl, while you're tryin' that - who's on the card?" It's useful, surely - but the part where there's a keycard floating at all is A Little Concerning.
emily of burger
What Zeta discovers upon a closer examination of the ports and the main system's screen that is also located on the same panel: The computer system reads a line of system errors, indicating a data breach. One thing is very, very obvious--this was not an accident. A virus is responsible for the ship’s malfunctions.
He also catches garbage. Someone had clearly been eating their lunch in here, as it's the biodegradable wrapper of a cheeseburger. (edited)
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi's quick to move on to exploration, inspecting each panel with the lanyard clutched in one hand. At Zeta's question, he pauses to inspect the keycard more closely, for a name or identification, and will relay them to Zeta if he finds anything. Otherwise, he checks to see if it really does open one of the panels. He's not sure if the energy input switches will help them, but maybe Zeta'll have an idea.
emily of burger
There's no information about personnel on the card, only that it has the same symbols as the panel for the energy input. Once the panel is open, the switches all appear to be in the "on" position.
Ray
Now weaponized, and feeling a lot better about that with things being a lot out of control, glanced to check in on the others. He decides to follow along another wall to search for anything potentially useful while making his way back toward Alec. Since they have one of the panels open, he calls out, "Any luck?" Then, to Alec, "Seems alright in here... but none of this looks good at all."
emily of burger
The other wall has nothing of interest, just rows of computers all flashing the same errors as the main panel.
Alec
With a frown, Alec regarded Ray briefly and then said, "Maybe it needs a hard restart? Do you think that works for ship computers?"
His words were loud enough that he was speaking to both Nifi and Zeta as well.
tiny powerful kitten toots
No cheeseburger? THE WORST TRAGEDY. Zeta will return home with a hankering, but he can definitely frown hard at that wrapper in the meantime.
"Sabotage. Cool. Coolcoolcool," is more to himself as he looks over things properly.
"It usually does." He waggles something in his hand. "If codes are needed, I've got this." It looks like a rather plain USB stick.
"See that it's not connected to support. Or that support's got a backup. The way it's actin' is leading me to believe it's not connected to the grav-systems or the virus." Everything's switched on, seems, anyway. "I'll do it on a vote, but I also don't need the oygen."
Nilfilyl Alesek
"Hard reset works for ship computers. But I can't hold my breath that long." He inspects to see if 'life support' is on one of the switches. "Ship might have a backup it can reboot to. Y'know, before the virus took hold?" He looks between them, and at Zeta's USB. Maybe he could find the relevant settings... "I'm fine voting."
emily of burger
Life support does not appear to be on the list of switches.
Ray
He gives the place a surveying, uncertain look. He's not too sure what might help at this point. "I worry it wont start back up... life support is all this thing is running at this point... we take that down and we might be sitting ducks, especially if it ends up succumbing to the virus." He offered his input, but his expertise wasn't exactly a thing here. He could be wrong.
"It's worth a shot... but we should try to find some sort of backup... just in case..." He checks the floating excitement for anything that might pass for oxygen backup should the oxygen-necessary among them need a little extra help.
Alec
With a shrug, Alec would merely say, "I trust you guys. If you don't think life support is connected, I think it's worth a shot."
"If you've got something fancy on that," he'd add, gesturing to Zeta's USB, "...that could maybe override the system... might be worth a try if we're not sure about the support systems."
tiny powerful kitten toots
Living dangerously! He'd been inorganic for so long that accounting for something like this might've genuinely slipped his mind.
"This thing might. Match this with one of those ports." A gesture. "And just leave it for now. If it can at least sniff out an override command before that ship rocks us again, could help. Give it a go here and if it bottoms out, we restart?"
It wasn't a guarantee, and he didn't elaborate further on what it could do - which was a rather nasty little helper by way of Marc, ex-Blackout. The thing generates as many possible number/symbol combos until it finds a match. Fast, but codes can be enormous, and there's no accounting for all languages or all unifying systems.
Nilfilyl Alesek
"A virus shouldn't be able to do anything to it when it's offline... But might mess with it as soon as it's back online." He nodded to Ray about the backup. It felt safest, and Zeta's cocky attitude exuded confidence. ...Which Nifi didn't exactly like, since overconfidence of others tended to get him into bad situations. But his USB still seemed like the best bet.
"Sounds like a plan. We can try that first. Restart if push comes to shove."
Ray
Feeling a bit more at ease with a shared ‘we should make sure we’re prepared’ vibe, he considered their options and nodded. “Give it a go… at this point it’s try or do nothing, unfortunately.” He grimaced a bit. “I’ll keep checking for anything else we could use supply wise.” Why not put those eyes of his to use since he couldn’t actually do much otherwise. He’d keep an eye out for useful med supplies, more weapons, or anything else they could use to their benefit.
emily of burger
Ray finds a hypo-stimulant. Where did this even come from? If he looks closely enough, it doesn't appear to be a run-of-the-mill (regularly available) stimulant. Black market, maybe?
Alec
Alec merely nods his head in approval of the plan, but otherwise doesn't say anything else.
tiny powerful kitten toots
"Right, all in favor. Here goes...hopefully somethin'."
And he plugs the thing in! Nothing much to do but let it cycle, even if he'd be maddeningly silent about what it specifically did around his companions. Not that he didn't TRUST them, necessarily, but if any of them made off with this, he'd owe Marc way more cred than which he was comfortable parting.
He wouldn't venture (or float) too far from that area, though he does try to pick whatever next floats within arm's reach - out of equal parts amusement and clue-hunting!
emily of burger
The computer seems to freeze for a moment, the errors and lights pausing for just a second as if the entire computer system is shocked into a sort of stasis. After a moment, everything goes eerily dark. The only light is visible from the main screen, where Zeta had plugged in the USB and the alert lights overhead that are now slowly pulsing with warning yellow.
On the screen, the errors are no longer present. Instead, the computer says: Rebooting...
What Zeta manages to catch seems to be a dermal regenerator of sorts--standard issue--that likely fell out of one of the nearby compartments when gravity systems went to shit.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Okay, that sounded less reassuring. But Nifi held onto one of the panels and floated nearby to get a good view as he plugged the thing in. Waiting for... Hopefully good news. The group of them were still inspecting the items floating around the compartment, and since there wasn't anything to do but wait, Nifi did too.
emily of burger
This is just a place full of useful things. Nifi manages to get his hands on an energy bar. This seems like it might be useful.
Ray
Inspecting the item he did snag, he just looked mostly confused. He can’t say he’s ever come across anything like it. He considers showing it to the others, but it’s time to wait with baited breath for whether or not the rebooting is successful.
emily of burger
After a moment, the computer's screen eventually moves from the Rebooting... to a loading bar, and reflected above it in text: Full system reset completion: 10%
Beneath that, there is a list of systems:
Anti-Gravity Systems: Offline - Rebooting...
Air-Locking Doors: Offline - Rebooting...
Inter-ship Communications: Offline - Error...
Shipwide Security Cameras: Online
And so on and so forth.
Alec
With baited breath, Alec merely waited to hear a response from Nifi and Zeta where they were hovering over the screen. When he heard nothing at first, he spoke up hesitantly, "Did it work?"
Zeta Moreno
"Should probably grab hold of something." There's a smirk in his voice, though largely it's dead serious. He might've gotten banged up a bit, but as far as he knew, these folks were a whole lot squishier than he was, and landing rather suddenly and getting buried in burger and powerbar wrappers is probably not the friendliest wat to take damage.
"Comms are still down." For anyone that couldn't see, and also a rather surly grumble to himself.
"Could use those cams to find folks." That's also more to himself than anything - getting there is still an issue, after all. Otherwise all he can do is wait...
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi plucks that energybar out of the air, turning it over to check for any rips or tears in the packaging. Huh. In perfect condition. He could use a snack! Knowing that the crumbs might end up in the ventilation system, he holds off on ripping it open for now. "Ten percent." The elf pulled himself in closer to slide into one of the seats, floating roughly above it so when those systems did kick back on, he'd have a soft place to land.
He didn't add anything else, but immediately started perusing controls for those cameras.
emily of burger
The cameras are working alright and Nilfiyl manages to locate them well enough. The view seems to be stuck on the empty hallway leading to the bridge and shifting between cameras does nothing.
Ray
He kept letting his attention drift between each of the 'crew' assembled here. Alec asked the important question, so he waited for that answer. As for grabbing something, he didn't hesitate to do that. Just in case and all that good stuff. "At least we still have our ability to communicate... which helps." He nodded, too, in regard to the cams. "It's worth a shot... to see what we can find before we start combing this place over." Since those on the computer had that part covered, he lingered nearby to watch the screens for anything useful while the duo worked. "Got any tricks up your sleeve for that?" The unchanging view, that is.
The bar creeps up to 15% completed.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Pending - Rebooting...
Alec
Holding fast to his doorframe, the human looks from Zeta to Nilfilyl and Ray by the cameras. He didn't have anything fun to add, though, so he kept quiet and continued to look up and down the hall.
Zeta Moreno
"Well unless this ship's designers really liked that style of hallway enough to put it everywhere...they might actually be offline. Punch it!" Then added, "Don't."
"Here, might actually just be disconnected entirely. Just gotta' find if it's there or here." The little USB is still yet preoccupied.
And the bar is still creeping.
And creeping.
"...y'know, you don't have to take us out for a nice dinner, loading sometime today would be super nice..."
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi tried in vain to change the camera views, before giving up with a huff. "Well. We'll know if someone tries to sneak up on us." He frowned at the (immediately retracted) suggestion to punch it.
"I don't like this waiting game." Anything could happen between 15% and 100%. They were sitting ducks!
Ray
With nothing really happening ... here... he tilted his head toward the door. "I'll see if I can scout anything out in any of the nearby rooms. Still in shouting distance. Can't do much here, otherwise." They had the computer covered. Nodding to Alec, he added, "Welcome to join up or scout out here, I'm not planning to go far." Unless anyone had a reason to stop him, he'd start checking the nearby rooms (carefully).
emily of burger
The bar creeps up to 20%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Rebooting 50%
Alec
To Zeta, he'd just huff a small sound--probably laughter--before he'd look to Nifi and say, "I don't either. Seems like the computer is at least ...working in the right direction. Maybe we should start looking for the crew?"
Though, when the cameras continued not to work, the "punch it" idea was starting to look more and more logical.
Splitting up even by a room down the hall still upset him, and he frowned in response to Ray's suggestion.
"Probably not the best idea? We should stick together."
Zeta Moreno
"I'll camp the cameras and the computer. We get the cameras working, I can get you a heads-up." And there was still the means of clawing out the virus. Figuratively.
Were he more prepared, this would be a good place to station a cam drone for his own purposes. "Should at least see the scope of what's left and what's been damaged, I can work on figuring it out or fixing it up."
It's a tough decision and there's always the chance of something going weird with the computers while they were out, but...man, some of these operating systems. "Actually...We'll go as a group. First. Just to cover this hallway and area we're in. Grav's comin' back so we can at least...move a little more normal. Check back in here, this is home-base, yeah?"
Nilfilyl Alesek
The elf wasn't so keen on splitting up, but at least their Single Camera had view of the hallway enough that if he was just scouting nearby rooms, it shouldn't cause issues. "Looking for the crew's smart... If he stays here, he can check the comms if they come back online too." And the rest of the cameras.
Maybe. Maybe. He was frowning, but considering it. "Yeah. Home base."
Ray
He glanced back to the computers and grimaced a bit. "I'm not sure there's much else I can do here... and at least I could help start looking for any crew." Still, sticking together was still their best bet, and he crossed his arms to lean against the frame of the door. "I'll give it a little time..." At least he was trying to cooperate as a team player. This place was ominous enough with a lack of detail to ease his mind.
Zeta's words, at least, made enough sense. "If there's any crew... I'd imagine they'd be close or at least tried to evacuate here to get a handle on the situation." And, a nod, "Agreed... we can consider this our rendesvous spot even traveling as a group."
If nothing else, they seemed to be on the same page. "We stick together?" And if that was the unanimous decision, he'd not hesitate to take the lead spot on heading back down the hallway toward the first door. At least he had a weapon now.
emily of burger
The bar creeps up to 30%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Rebooting 75%
Alec
Content that they wouldn't be splitting up, Alec merely nodded his head in acceptance.
"Sounds good. If we get split up for any reason, we know here is safe at least."
As the one still holding onto his door frame, he was likely the closest to the exit, and thereby took point in heading back towards the main hallway--which was as good a place to start their search as any.
"Where are we thinking the crew are hidden? I don't think a ship like this would have a lot of places to hide.." he'd speak back to the others, keeping careful grip of the supports as he went.
Zeta Moreno
"Home base!" Zeta stuck close to the boys as they moved down the hall.
"Feet back on the floor, could use this a little, guys, still got some bounce to it!" And bounce that wouldn't rocket that weighty android chassis into a wall, this time.
"On the cameras, had there been any indication of where the others cameras would be?"
"If someone was attacking remotely and got control that way, I'd try to be where the cameras aren't. Or...wreck any that are near me." There's a nice little loop trick he would've employed, another time.
Shrug. "Otherwise. Room by room? Someone protecting the cargo?"
emily of burger
( To answer that question: Any time Nifi would have tried to switch between cameras, literally nothing would happen. It didn't just keep the same image and then flip to another camera name or anything like that. To give a little more detail. )
Nilfilyl Alesek
In response to sticking together, a unanimous "yeah". He moved to follow, keeping near the 'floor' so that he wouldn't have far to fall if the gravity kicked in suddenly. "Nope. I didn't see anything. Could mean someone else has control of them... Or that was the only camera." That seemed unlikely, but...
To Alec: "Best guess, is wherever the evacuation shuttles are located. If we head in that direction, maybe we'll get lucky." The question was: had anyone actually seen where those were, relative to the exterior of the ship.
Ray
With the agreement to stick together, Ray made his way out as well. He took in the thoughts of the others and considered. "I guess room by room is the best way to start since there might not be many places to hide-- see if we find any clues along the way. If there's damage, it might be worth checking into. Like you said... create a blind spot by destroying the cameras would be the way to do it." He gave the walls a glance in case there were any signs pointing out any points of interest. "We'd have to be careful around the cargo area... this ship's been bleeding supplies as it is..." Ray ultimately nodded. "Evacuation routes could be worth checking if we can find them. We'll just have to comb this place over a bit while the systems finish rebooting."
Welp, time to try getting into the first room, right? No time like the present.
emily of burger
Ray doesn't find anything useful in this room. It's empty.
The bar on the computer terminal reads 40%.
Anti-Gravity Systems: Online
Lights: Rebooting....
The system turning back online seems to jolt the ship just the smallest amount. Or that's how it feels, anyway.
In the distance, down the hall, there's a sound of clattering things--and even further, muffled, the sound of arguing voices.
Alec
An empty room was better than a room filled with ...nefarious foes. "Welp! Off to look we go!"
False enthusiasm, thy name was Alec.
Luckily, he was holding tight to the wall when the gravity kicked back into gear, and only stumbled slightly--but he could hear those arguing voices and turned to regard his companions.
"That sounds promising."
Zeta Moreno
Nifi's camera observations would've made Zeta queasy...were he able to get queasy.
As it was it was just one more maddening unknown. Ah, well! Improvisation!
Each one had their own ideas and they were all good; he'd nod and point and voice little agreements to each. And with Ray taking the lead, they set to combing.
One room was empty - but then there were unmistakable voices. A shared glance with Alec, and he echoed with a slight grin. "Off we go! Not much of a choice mmm? Check the weapons just in case!"
Nilfilyl Alesek
The sound of clattering indicated that gravity kicking in. Fully prepared, he landed light on his feet, barely disoriented, and continued on. First room empty. The voices... He upholstered his rifle from his back, keeping the barrel low.
"Or worrying. Why didn't we hear them earlier?" If they were friends, they could be hiding from something. Something they should be wary of. The elf kept in that direction with the gang.
Ray
While he found nothing, he was not discouraged. At least he didn't find something bad.
The jolt of the system is, as expected, a little jarring, but he manages not to do more than a stumble to get his footing back under control.
The clattering and muffled, arguing voices certainly is promising. "It means someone's alive... whether they're an enemy or not is the better question..." He secures his grip on his weapon, certainly grateful he found it among the debris. "I agree... it's odd we didn't hear them before." With too much on the table and not much information to sort it out, all that could be done was continuing to move with the group toward the voices.
"Should we... call out?" He didn't quite like his own idea, but sneaking up on someone who could turn around and open fire on them for being potential enemies? Yea... best not be too surprising.
Alec
Following Nifi and Zeta's lead, he pulled his gun from his holster as well.
"Maybe we pissed them off..." he suggested lamely. Ray's suggestion seemed ...eh, like not a good idea.
"I think we'd best approach with caution. Better to shock the crew by being silent than giving ourselves away.. while we have at least a tiny bit of an element of surprise."
He'd wait to hear everyone else's ideas, though, and took stock of his own supplies while he did so.
Zeta Moreno
"I'm with sneaking. Quickly." Head-bob to Alec. "Quickly sneaking. Gives us an edge if they are the sort ready to fire."
He has his pistol. He takes stock of the others as they draw their own weapons. Nifi's rifle has the edge in this case; it's as ranged as the bunch has. Another bob in Nifi's direction. "Should probably clear a path for him." And then waved an arm like h e was inviting the others to a fancy event in the direction of the voices. "Shall we?"
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi weighed Ray's idea. "If we sneak up on them, we risk them firing on us out of fear, if they're friendly." But the alternative was risking alerting an already-hostile force if they called out. Of the two, he'd rather risk the first.
At Zeta's nod, he hefted his longarm a little higher, moving to press along one wall a little in front of the rest of them, both so he could turn a corner faster, and to make sure none of them were in the path of his rifle. "Sure." He headed towards the voices!
Ray
Since he wasn't necessarily on board with his own idea, he didn't seem to object the chance of someone coming up with something better. If they had pissed someone off... well, then it just meant it was possible they weren't crew. There'd be no telling without more details, unfortunately. Sneaky was the winning choice, so he'd just nod his approval. Since he lacked a ranged weapon, he was quite prepared to end up at the rear once again. He'd be useless in the front if it came down to shooting.
"Lead the way."
emily of burger
The trip down the hall would yield the same muffled noises along the way--essentially acting like a beacon to guide the crew, if they so chose to follow it.
If they did, it would lead them to the door of the bridge. The green indicator light above the door displays "unlocked" green, and the muffled voices very much appear to be coming from the other side of the door.
Do you go through the door or try and find another way in?
--- Back in engineering, the computer indicates that the reboot is 50% completed.
Lights: Rebooting 50%
( Skip on Alec, he's following. )
Zeta Moreno
Time was of the essence, and this entire adventure seemed set on making the lot as noisy as possible.
They all walked right into the door; Zeta couldn't help but make a 'Really?!' face - even going so far as to mouth it.
He tries to listen in on what they're saying, with a 'one-sec' motion to the rest.
emily of burger
He doesn't hear anything other than the muffled sounds.
Zeta Moreno
And it's reflected in that frown on his face. Yeah this isn't working. He tried.
Nilfilyl Alesek
Nifi circled around to the other side of the door as Zeta leaned in to listen, raising an eyebrow at him for anything Helpful. Well, that didn't work. Now they were all just... Standing here waiting.
Nifi made a questioning motion, turning an invisible doorknob and quirking his brow again. he wasn't about to break the silence. How badly did they want to scare the shit out of what they could only hope was the missing crew? He had his gun ready, barrel pointed downwards with careful trigger-control.
Ray
It was... a good effort to try and listen in. It was unfortunately decent craftsmanship that kept the sound muffled. Since everyone seemed to agree that sneaking was the best option, he whispered, "I can look for another way in... before we just try the main door." He nodded to the door itself. "Keep your weapons ready... I won't be much use with a knife if it turns into a fire fight." So, yep, he's gonna look for another possible way in to at least get some info.... if possible.
