[Open] Voyages of The Vanished

[Lycanious]

Voyages of The Vanished

This roleplay has a Discord, and most of its information and discussion can be found in better detail there.  Please PM me, Lycanious, for the invite link if you wish to join. I can also provide a link to the Google Doc with world building information, if you want to take a look at that before deciding on whether to join the Discord or not. Lurkers and those just curious about the RP, but not sure whether they want to join yet, are also welcome!

This is an open roleplay and cooperation on fleshing out the world, its plot, and its characters is highly encouraged.  

Introduction

 

[INITIALIZING…1 LIFEFORM DETECTED. ACCESSING UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE DATABASE…]

 

[ERROR. ATTEMPT EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS PROCEDURE.]

 

Frel’skiir? Elsei? Hello?

 

[RECOGNISED LANGUAGE DETECTED.]

 

It would appear that you are fluent in one of the default languages of our local database. You are one of the lucky ones. Or unlucky, given the circumstances. Ha ha ha. That was an attempt at humour to lighten the mood. Did it work? Our Empathy Programming appears to have been [ERROR] but we will assume yes. Before we continue, please confirm you are alive for our status report. Are you alive?

 

> YES…?

 

Excellent. Just wanted to check. That injury looks very cumbersome. We would recommend you cease being injured as soon as possible. We are 24.2% certain that someone from the Infirmary can fix that for you.

 

> CAN I GO TO THE INFIRMARY?

 

No. The path is blocked due to damage in the outer hull. Some parts of the ship are currently uninhabitable. Unless you are a species capable of surviving in the vacuum of space. Are you a species capable of surviving in the vacuum of space?

 

> NO

 

Then no, you can not leave yet.

 

> WHAT HAPPENED?

 

Before we inform you, please do not panic. Panicking is bad. We remember that from the emergency response procedures guidebook. Can you confirm that you will not panic?

 

> NO

 

Understandable. We will first play some soothing tunes to lower your stress levels.

 

[ERROR. MUSIC DATABASE CORRUPTION.]

 

We hope that you are now sufficiently relaxed. We can now inform you that the Captain is deceased. In fact, approximately 75% of the crew and visiting species are now either deceased or critically injured. The Observer was attacked by an as-of-yet unknown entity. We currently do not know its motivations, nor how it was able to breach past our security defences with such ease.

 

> WHERE ARE WE?

 

Unknown. Our sensors were badly damaged in the attack. We were warped to an unknown region of space by the Chyrillian outside of the ship - but we have been unable to communicate with her since the incident. We are currently uncertain whether she is still alive, and recommend a medical expert inspect her when possible.

 

> WHO ARE YOU?

 

We are Ship Designation ECHO CLASS #203954-442, The Observer, speaking to you. You can just call us ‘Echo’ if that is easier for your species to remember. We would prefer you do not use the deceased Captain’s designation of ‘Useless [TRANSLATION ERROR]-ing Machine’.

 

> WHAT SHOULD I DO?

 

That depends on your available skillset. We are badly damaged, and our chances of survivability are approximately 2% unless we can stabilise vitals within 24 cycles. If you have any skills involving the repair of the ship or its crew, we would request that you do not allow yourself to be deceased until after the stabilisation period.

 

We will now bring up the available logs, attempt to best inform you of your situation, and advise you of the next steps from here.

About Voyages of The Vanished

‘Voyages of The Vanished’ is a roleplay centred around a collection of aliens that have been stranded on a spaceship known as 'The Observer'. Many of these characters are new to the galaxy, beings from worlds that have only just discovered life on other planets, and this ship could very well be the first time their species has ever stepped foot off the planet. Other characters may be the last, lingering remnants of the ship’s crew, or a visitor that only intended to drop by to greet the brand new members of The Cosmic Alliance.

 

Whatever the reason your character may have had for being on The Observer, their main objective is now survival. Something went horribly, horribly wrong during The Awakening of Planets ceremony, and though the crew at first tried to downplay the issue The Observer was soon plunged into darkness and devolved into chaos as an unknown entity began to rip it apart. Between frantic reports of surrounding ships being destroyed, The Observer nearly met the same fate until it was abruptly warped far, far away from the carnage.

 

Rendered unconscious from the emergency warp, characters are now beginning to wake up on a ship barely keeping itself from falling apart. Many crew members and visitors alike have perished in the disaster. Power is gone and remaining supplies are dismal, putting the survivors on severely limited time unless they can either figure out how to fix the ship or somehow steer it to safety.

 

But even if the remaining survivors can fix the ship, the emergency warp has landed them in an uncharted area of the galaxy. It’s going to be a long journey back home for any of them, assuming there’s still a home to go back to.

RP Rules
1. No godmodding or powerplaying.
2. Be civil and considerate towards other players.
3. There is no time limit for posts.  However, I encourage players to please let the Discord know if you'll be absent or unable to post for a while.  After a month of inactivity, if there is no word from the player than other players will be permitted to continue on without the absent character/s. These characters won't be removed from the story (unless requested by the player), but they may be shifted to off-screen NPC statuses until the player returns.
4. Please join the Discord, it's where most of the discussion will take place.

About The Cosmic Alliance

History

Founded approximately 200 years ago, The Cosmic Alliance is a respected force in the galaxy and spans over 100 planets. The primary focus of its members is to create an intergalactic union of planets for defensive and economic purposes, and it is noteworthy for taking in younger worlds under its wings in order to protect them from less benevolent forces out in the universe.

 

Though its early roots established a strict ‘no interference’ policy in regards to the pre-space age civilisations it protected, in more recent years The Elder Council Members have been pushing harder and harder to waive this rule entirely. They cite the importance of growth as their core reasoning, claiming that it creates a more equal playing ground for pre-space civilisations and allows them access to better health, resources, etc that the Council is happy to provide. There are rumblings of critics, however, ranging from claiming that the Council is ‘well-intentioned but interfering’, to outright accusations that the sudden shift in policy indicates a much more sinister intent behind them.

About The Observer

The Observer (Designation ECHO CLASS #203954-442) is a prized spaceship of The Cosmic Alliance. It is an enormous structure, designed to house 100s of crew members and play host to 1,000s of passengers. The ship is considered to be the central hub of any activity regarding the scouting out and subsequent First Contact procedures for new planets. As a result, it houses dozens of small, shuttle-like ships intended for 1-4 passengers which are sent out to explore nearby planets while in orbit range and orientates itself around creating comfortable environments for its inhabitants to dwell in.

 

The ship itself is considered to be a Neutral entity towards other forces and suited more towards exploration or discovery than battle. As a result, most of its defences revolve around strong shielding - focused more on resisting damage while it tries to flee the threat or signal a distress call to allied ships. It does come equipped with laser-based and projectile weaponry, but when ranked against other ships in The Cosmic Alliance Fleet its offensive capabilities are considered average at best.

 

Rooms aboard The Observer are highly versatile, and designed to try and accommodate the needs of a huge variety of species in the best way it can. At peak condition the temperature, breathable atmosphere and lighting of almost any room can be adjusted with ease within minutes and emergency filters and survival packs are available near most doors. Most passengers can rest assured that, in an emergency situation, these filters and packs should be able to sustain them for up to three cycles before needing to be recharged and refilled.

Echo

‘Echo’ is the nickname given to The Observer’s AI. Under normal circumstances she is responsible for automating many of the ships functions and daily routines, auto-pilot navigation, and providing information or helpful features to the crew aboard. Though by default she is calm and stoic, she has several ‘Personality Aspects’ to her programming which are tailored more specifically to certain areas or functions. Many of these have become damaged in the incident.

 

More information regarding these Personality Aspects will be added as it is revealed during the roleplay.

Ship Layout

 

Ship Roles

Due to the recent disaster, many of these roles currently lack the proper members of the crew to fill them and are instead being run by Echo to the best of her ability. Existing crew members may have been forced into unexpected promotions or required to take up multiple roles. Out of desperation Echo has even started to turn to the surviving passengers to see if she can find unexpected help among them.

 

Roles may be added or adjusted over the course of the Roleplay, as new opportunities or requirements pop up for the crew. 

 

Please note that these roles are not hard, static positions but more of an indicator of expertise and to see where some support may be lacking, etc. It will be possible to have characters shift around to different ones, take multiple roles, or otherwise come up with unique ones as the roleplay progresses.

 

Admin

Captain - Open (Temporarily assumed by Echo)

Quartermaster - Open

 

Security

Head of Security (Temp) - Zikvien Vizis-Tevika-Gaktiel

Security Staff - Aezsaa of the Mountain Glades

Security Staff - Jamie, House of Zaolbak

Security Staff - Marlow, House of Ulfgaar

Security Staff - Virgil Cerullo

 

Resources & Scouting

Scout - Damien Strulvat

 

Medical

Chief of Staff (Temp) - Dr. Shivers

Medical Doctor/Surgeon - Dr. Hikaru Hironaka

Medical Doctor/Surgeon - Dr. Saphielle Ianpeiros

Nurse - Fluer Zaxksa

Medical Assistant - Heather Lydotre

Medical Assistant - Kivviuq

Psychologist | Occupational Therapist & Counsellor - Dr. Auris Adhibeo

 

Engineering

Biomechanics Engineer - Isilynor Tralamin the III

Biomechanics Engineer -  Kivviuq

Computer Engineer | AI Programmer - Jixx-B

Mechanical Engineer - Asterodia, House of Ulfgaar

Mechanical Engineer (Repair Specialist) - Bom-Byx

Mechanical Engineer (Repair Specialist) - Rex Hessel

 

Research

Agricultural Scientist - Aezsaa of the Mountain Glades

Botanist - Evander

Head of Computing & Mathematics - Dr. Minerva Malakou

Toxicologist - Evander

 

Resource Management

Head of Resource Management - None Yet

Resource Manager - Odrin Ovandiir

Resource Manager - Sheldikrill of Krulviir

 

Other Roles

Bartender - Odrin Ovandiir

Entertainer - Hibiki Hironaka

Entertainer - Virgil Cerullo

Head of HR - Juku Eigg-Haakuan-Coxx

Interior Designer - Xavier Gul’dor

Janitor - Pixx-L

Linguistics Expert - Isilynor Tralamin the III

PA Systems Manager - Datt-A

Ship AI Emergency Avatar - Heather Lydotre

Ship Operations Supervisor - Jamie, House of Zaolbak

Ship Emergency Navigation - Blue

Xenoanthropologist - Dr. Garrett Strulvat

 

Civilians & Guests

Civilian (Influencer) - Fetchmaster Fifi Von Bella

Civilian (Internet Personality) - Illian Medria

Civilian - Jed

Civilian (Jed’s Assistant) - Mr. Jibbles

 

Characters Sheets

 

PC Sheet

Please fill this information out into a Google Doc, and submit it to the Discord. Note that reference images are encouraged, but not necessary.

 

Name:

Nicknames/Titles:

Species: (Note: If new, please also submit info for the Species Compendium)

Ship Role: (Feel free to suggest other options beyond the list provided)

Gender: 

Age: (for the ease of the RP, years are measured in ‘cycles’ but are roughly the equivalent of 1 Earth year)

Height:

Appearance:

Personality:

Character Summary: (A short paragraph summary for the master doc)

 

NPC Sheet

Please fill this information out into a Google Doc, and submit it to the Discord. Note that reference images are encouraged, but not necessary. An NPC differs from a PC in that they don’t require a full profile, and are more intended as a source of information for side-characters that may or may not be encountered or mentioned by others. PCs and NPCs can shift from one to the other at any time, though if little is known about an NPC you may be asked to provide more information as per the PC template.

 

Name:

Species: (Note: If new, please also submit info for the Species Compendium)

Ship Role: (Feel free to suggest other options beyond the list provided)

Gender: 

Age:

Height:

Character Summary: (A short paragraph summary for the master doc)

 

Species Sheet

If your character is a new species to the world, please also include this information on the Discord.

 

Species Name:

Classification: (A rough species definition e.g. ‘aquatic mammal’)

Average Lifespan:

Average Size:

Diet:

Planet of Origin: (Please include a brief description of the planet)

Physical Description:

Culture & Society:

Species Summary: (A short paragraph snippet summary for the master doc)

Player Characters (PCs)

 

Aezsaa of the Mountain Glades

Played by ValidEmotions

Draxiek | 29 cycles | Security Staff & Agricultural Scientist | She/Her and They/Them pronouns

A fierce-looking, soft-hearted extravert that would rather see others enjoying the bounties of her gardens than anything else, Aezsaa has hopes to explore and experience the numerous worlds. Especially if it means she can discover new flora and fill her journals about them.

 

Hibiki Hironaka

Played by Mikasa361

Human (+ Distant Mjiorian & Sylphiel ancestry) | 25 cycles | Entertainer | She/Her pronouns

A young woman with a fiery soul, not to be judged by her size. She’s the singer of the crew, as well as the social butterfly. Daughter of Hikaru and Garrett, and sister to Damien.

 

Isilynor Tralamin the III

Played by Lycanious

Sylphiel | 27 cycles | Linguistics Expert & Engineer | They/Them pronouns

Heir to the throne of one of six noble families on their home-planet, a talented linguist, and determined to remind others of both of those facts constantly. Isilynor can usually be found somewhere on the bridge arguing over the conditions of the ship and the fact that no one around here ever seems to have an inch of respect for them. Isilynor is probably right.

 

Jamie, House of Zaolbak

Played by DustyStar

Mjiorian | 23 cycles | Security Staff & Ship Operations Supervisor | He/Him pronouns

Jamie is an excitable and personable being who just wants everyone to be safe and happy, but his overenthusiastic personality and constant clumsiness tends to get on others' nerves rather quickly.

 

Jixx-B

Played by DustyStar

Deinogen | Age unknown | Computer Engineer & AI Programmer | Xe/Xem/Xir pronouns

The resident nerd. An awkward but well-meaning individual with a tendency to get into trouble, albeit not intentionally. Xe spends most of xir time in the arcade playtesting games xe developed or building new ‘helpers’, small robots with personality AI, affectionately called Beebots. Xe will occasionally give these robotic creations to people xe likes or finds deserving of one.

 

Juku Eigg-Haakuan-Coxx

Played by DustyStar

Zita-Gaxx (Dekii) | 237 cycles | Head of HR | Ey/Em/Eir pronouns

Juku is a sweet soul with a gentle touch, but will quickly and kindly snap your neck if you cause too much issue.

 

Marlow Dor Ulfgaar

Played by Lycanious

Mjiorian | 24 cycles | Security Staff | He/Him or They/Them pronouns

A lively and boisterous being, who seems eager to make a name for himself as a respected security officer. He is a new recruit to the security team, having only been aboard The Observer as his first job for about a month prior to the incident. Marlow is the sibling of Asterodia, with whom he seems to be close to despite their conflicting personalities.

 

Rex Hessel

Played by Askehalen

Garou | 37 cycles | Mechanical Engineer (Repair Specialist) | She/Her pronouns

Rex was born, bred, and modified to be a labourer on one of the Imperium’s conquered manufacturing worlds. After the Alliance took it back, she and one of her brothers became refugees on a different planet, where she learned Omnian and expanded her work knowledge for 3 years. Eventually she netted a job on the Observer where she has now been for 4 years.

 

Dr. Saphielle Ianpeiros

Played by Mikasa361

Koshka-el’fiyka | Medical Doctor & Surgeon | She/Her pronouns

Dr. Saphielle Ianpeiros is a young doctor who takes her work very seriously. Her aim is to make sure any crew on any ship she works on remains strong and healthy. However, she doesn’t seem to be very keen on discussing her background.

 

Virgil Cerullo

Played by Mikasa361

Human | Security Staff, Entertainer & Resident Himbo | He/Him pronouns

A strong, extroverted young man who doesn’t seem to have much going on in his brain. He was sent to another ship following an interspecies relationship found out by a very bigoted human captain. His lack of brains is made up for with his brawn and intense loyalty to his crew. He is also an excellent pianist, and will use that to boost morale whenever necessary.

 

Xavier Gul'dor

Played by DustyStar

Mjiorian | 23 cycles | Interior Designer | He/They or She/They pronouns

Xavi is a chill, slightly jaded Mijorian that does his best to stay quiet and keep to himself. He serves as the ship's interior designer making sure all species are accommodated for so they can feel comfortable navigating the ship. In a relationship with Jamie.  

 

Zikvien Vizis-Tevika-Gaktiel

Played by Lycanious

Zita-Gaxx (Korii) | 33 cycles | Head of Security | She/Her pronouns

A no-nonsense, introverted reptilian recently forced into a leadership role after the death of most of the security team. Despite her species’ appearance Zikvien is considered to be a gentle giant among the crew, providing you don’t give her reason to have to leap to their protection

 

 

Notable NPCs

NPCs differentiate from PCs in that they do not require full profiles, and are intended to be drop-in characters as needed by the roleplay. Some NPCs are controlled specifically by a player, while others are marked ‘open’ and, thus, can be controlled by anyone as the situation fits. PCs and player-owned NPCs can be swapped out at any time with a player’s current roster, and there is currently no limit as to how many of either you can have.

 

Asterodia Dor Ulfgaar

Played by Lycanious

Mjiorian  | 27 cycles | Mechanical Engineer | Currently She/Her pronouns

A qualified ship pilot and mechanical engineer. Asterodia is generally seen as an irritable sort of being, and has been known to pick endless fights with other crew members when she believes she is in the right. Her left eye is missing and has been replaced with a noticeably artificial one, complete with a few extra filters and scanners for enhanced vision and data collection. She is the sister of Marlow.

 

Dr. Auris Adhibeo

Played by DustyStar

Koshka-el'Fiyka | 50 cycles | Psychologist , Occupational Therapist & Counsellor | He/Him and They/Them pronouns

A jaded, tired koshka who is widely regarded by others to not be particularly good at his job. The general recommendation for the crew is to just steer away from him as much as possible.

 

Bom-Byx

Played by DustyStar

Draxxit | 60 cycles | Ship Mechanic & Repairman | She/Her pronouns

A large, temperamental draxxit who forms part of the maintenance crew for The Observer. Has a tendency to get herself involved in hot-headed arguments with other crewmates a lot, but nonetheless still keeps a watchful eye out for everyone.

 

Damien

Played by Lycanious

3/4 Koshka-el'fiyka, 1/4 Human | 21 cycles | Scout | He/Him pronouns

A snarky, relatively new recruit for the ship’s crew just before the warp incident. Damien does his job and does it well but has a notable irritable attitude towards most other individuals, which can occasionally cause clashes with his fellow crewmates. Damien is the son of Garrett and Hikaru, and brother to Hibiki.

 

Datt-A

Played by ValidEmotions

Deinogen | +200 cycles | PA Systems Manager | She/Her and They/Them pronouns

A friendly, rambunctious (and often chaotic) individual who loves music and pranks. It’s not uncommon for Datt-A to ‘practice’ her hacking abilities upon the technology within the Observer belonging to both the ship and the passengers themselves.

 

Evander

Played by DustyStar

Species unknown | Age unknown | Toxicologist & Botanist | He/Him pronouns

A flamboyant and flirty individual, with a talent for toxicology and similarly related fields of biology.

 

Fetchmaster Fifi Von Bella

Played by Lycanious

Garou | 21 cycles | Civilian (Influencer) | Any pronoun

A garou civilian who is not particularly happy about the situation with the ship right now and appalled by the very idea of having to do any work involving their perfectly manicured hands. Best friends with Illian.

 

Fluer Zaxksa

Played by DustyStar

Species unknown | Age unknown | Medical Staff & Nurse | They/Them pronouns

A plant-like intern for the ship’s medical staff. Though still a medical student they have been trying their best to learn rapidly on the job and help out their fellow staff members. Communicates exclusively in sign.

 

Dr. Garrett Hironaka-Strulvat

Played by Lycanious

1/2 Koshka-el'fiyka, 1/2 Human | 44 cycles | Xeno-anthropologist | He/Him pronouns

An introverted, nervous civilian who was visiting the ship prior to the warp incident. Garrett is one of the scientists currently involved in studying and cataloguing pteratrix history and culture after the events of The Blight, with a specialisation in art and literature in particular. He is married to Hikaru, and the father of Damien and Hibiki.

 

Heather 'Dot' Lydotre

Played by ValidEmotions

Human (Cyborg) | 22 cycles | “Avatar” of Ship & Medical Assistant | She/Her & He/Him pronouns

A disillusioned individual who’s on the verge of becoming a nihilist. Dot would rather drown in his work and complete whatever mission was set up for him by his council than figure out a more meaningful sense of purpose for himself. 

 

Dr. Hikaru Hironaka-Strulvat

Played by Mikasa361

3/4 Human, 1/4 Mjiorian | 46 cycles | ER Doctor & Surgeon |  He/Him pronouns

A perpetually tired but talented doctor, specialising in several species of alien and the varied, often very individualised needs of hybrids. Hikaru is married to Garrett, and is the father of both Hibiki and Damien.

 

Illian 'Pixy Styx' Medrea

Played by DustyStar

Lisa-el'fiyka | 20 cycles | Civilian (Internet Personality & Tourist) | They/Them pronouns

A lisa-el’fiyka civilian with a sizeable following of fans thanks to their online personality. Best friends with Fetchmaster Fifi Von Bella, and frequent partner in crime.

 

'Jed'

Played by DustyStar

Pteratrix | 120 cycles | Civilian | Ne/Nem/Nir pronouns

A jaded Pteratrix who has already lived long past nir prime years. Jed is the singular priest for nir deity The God that Dwells in In-Between Spaces. Ne spends much of nir time muttering to or about nir god, or what nir god had said to nem. Ne seems privy to a great amount of meaningless gossip and will gladly talk your ear off if you let nem.

 

'Mr. Jibbles'

Played by DustyStar

Pteratrix | Age unknown | Civilian (Jed's Assistant) | It/It's pronouns

A small spotted Pteratrix that attends to Jed's every need. Doesn't talk much outside of a few emotive chittering sounds every now and then. Will follow commands from others with Jed's permission.

 

Kivviuq 'Kiwi'

Played by DustyStar

Draxxit | Appears 30 cycles | Medical Staff & Biomechanics Specialist | She/Her and They/Them pronouns

A thin and gangly draxxit with a complex understanding of cybernetic enhancements and treating patients that rely on them. Their personality is known to be very erratic and changes frequently, making it difficult to predict what her actions will be.

 

Dr. Minerva Malakou

Played by Lycanious

Human | 36 cycles | Head of Computing & Mathematics | She/Her pronouns

A respected engineer, who has been assigned as the Head of Computing & Mathematics. Despite being human Minerva grew up on several ships over her life and has never seen Earth, though hopes to visit one day. She is well-known amongst the older crew members as a passenger on The Observer since she was a young teenager. Minerva was born legally blind, and primarily navigates with the aid of sensors that she wears as bracelets and as a headband. She additionally has Hagall, a raven-like robot that functions as both an artificial intelligence companion and an extra aid to her diminished sight.

 

Odrin Ovandiir

Played by Lycanious

Bo'grul | 427 cycles | Bartender | He/Him pronouns

A tall, easy-going Bo’grul who was running the local bar before the incident. Odrin is considered by many to be a charismatic and friendly sort of man, sympathetic to the woes of his patrons and always willing to lend an ear for them. He shows some scarring along the left side of his face, arm, and wears a prosthetic left leg from about the knee down. The story behind how he lost the leg seems to change each time he’s asked about it.

 

Pixx-L

Played by Lycanious

Deinogen | +300 cycles | Janitor | She/Her and They/Them pronouns

A dedicated janitor with an interest in zoology and a knack for finding herself in perilous situations. Has yet to come across a problem she couldn’t solve with a well-maintained mop in hand and thus carries one with her at all times.

 

'Dr. Shivers'

Played by Lycanious

Pteratrix | Appears ~25 cycles | Doctor | They/Them pronouns

A high-spirited, eccentric doctor and surgeon with questionable qualifications. Several reports from those familiar with them claim that ‘Shivers’ has become increasingly harebrained and chaotic in their behaviour since the incident, but continues to do excellent work as a medical officer.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Lycanious
Updating info

[Lycanious]

Beatrix

Location - Storage, Portside

Characters - Finn

 

I think I’m going to be sick.

 

The last thing that Beatrix remembered was hearing an alarm blare through the ship, and then scrambling backwards against a wall as the violent lurches of the ship shook hundred of large containers from their shelves. Her surroundings were dark and claustrophobic now, her head dizzy from the myriad of strange, pungent odours that flowed into her nostrils. Groggily, she rubbed at her eyes and blinked around once more, giving them time to adjust to the low lighting. She realised she was situated under a shelf that had been ripped from the wall, spared only by the fact it had hit the wall further above and formed a small pocket of safety below it. 

 

Beatrix gasped for a breath she hadn’t realised she had been holding, then felt it morph into a dry cough. After clearing her throat she noticed a gap to the side of her, only just wide enough for her small, ix-ruulkan body to crawl through it.  Her head felt unusually light on one side from the movement, and after a brief inspection of the ground beside her she realised this was because half of one of her horns had snapped off. She winced, but none-the-less moved towards her escape, gritting her fangs together as what she assumed was a now-sprained ankle ached in protest. As she cleared the first shelf she came to a small gap on the floor surrounded by more overturned shelves, and grimaced at the thought of what had slammed into the ship so hard as to knock so many of them from the walls.

 

Was the rest of the ship like this?

 

Overcome with a newfound panic, she smacked the palm of her hand against her Communicator. Beatrix hissed under her breath as the cracked screen flickered and struggled to show her a clear image. [ “Activate Audio Mode.” ] A pause. A stutter. But finally a jingle played indicating the device was now listening to her audio and she began to bark commands at it.

 

[ “Contact Shelley!” ]

 

[ “ERROR. LOCAL COMMUNICATION NETWORK OFFLINE.” ]

 

Beatrix growled out a string of profanity, borrowing from an impressive array of Earth-based dialects. Dragging a claw down her face briefly, she then drew in a sharp breath and looked around at the numerous overturned shelves and scattered supplies. Shards of glass crunched beneath her boot as she stepped forward and unfurled her glossy wings of vibrant yellow. By no means did Beatrix have the stamina to be capable of true flight, but she still considered herself to be an athletic individual and could manage short, fluttering bursts to reach higher places. It was enough of a boost to let her clear the first pile of broken shelves, scrambling her way up to the top of the debris. 

 

Beatrix winced as she took in her surroundings, seeing little more than a sea of more destruction and ruined supplies. We must have hit something. Fretted the ix-ruulka. She turned her head, spying one of Echo’s numerous screens that lined the ship, and slid down the other side of the shelf to address the AI. [ “Echo! I need a status report.” ]

 

No response. 

 

[ “Oh for the love of- DOES NOTHING WORK AROUND HERE!?” ]

 

Beatrix scrambled for a nearby, cracked container on the ground and hurled it across the length of the room. Assorted paperclips scattered from the hole in its surface as it sailed through the air, landing with a semi-satisfactory THUNK! sound against the wall opposite of her. Beatrix’s eyes widened, as the container then dropped onto a crumpled heap of clothing she could see partially sticking out from behind another series of shelves.

 

[ “Oh ****, Hey! Dog-Breath!” ] She called, now half-leaping, half-limping her way over to the other individual. She’d forgotten she’d seen a garou skulking around the storage room moments before…whatever it was that had just happened. [ “Hey? You alright?! Don’t you dare be dead on me!” ] Demanded Beatrix, as she grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him roughly back and forth.

 

 

---

 

 

Archnoble Isilynor Talamin the III

Location - Sparky’s Repair Store

Characters - Dot

 

The sylphiel leaned back, inspecting their work with a faint grimace. Even though they were convinced they had now stabilised the other individual, it was still a grizzly sight before them. Flesh was charred and bits of metal melted from what seemed to be a system overload for the fellow cyborg. Evidently human technology was still somewhat…simplistic. And did not afford the same sort of protection from such things as their own, beautifully-crafted cybernetic enhancements.

 

Though, granted, Archnoble Isilynor Tralamin the III’s cybernetics were currently not in a very presentable state either right now. Both of their extra set of mechanical arms were broken, snapped and twisted at the elbows. The extra arms had done their job magnificently though, and spared their owner from being otherwise crushed by a collapsed wall when they had been knocked into it from the impact. Isilynor’s mechanical wings were not in much better shape. One still stretched and flared on command as they moved about, but the other merely shook in its limp positioning and emitted a jarring, clicking sort of sound whenever they tried to fan it out. 

 

Still, Isilynor supposed they should consider themself lucky that most of their cybernetics were mere extensions at this point in their life. Unlike the human before them, who would most certainly be dead if not for their brilliant mind and the good fortune to have collapsed in the middle of a repair shop.

 

Isilynor had little idea what had happened, and quite honestly found themself in a sort of auto-pilot mode since they had awoken. Something deep and despairing bubbled away internally, practically screaming at them to properly absorb their disorganised surroundings or summon extra help but for now Isilynor had locked it all away to be dealt with at a later point in time. The human hadn’t had the time for them to wait for a medical or cybernetics expert. From what the sylphiel had discovered they could tell that the automation system was all but fried, it’s last lingering remnants concerned with fighting just to keep its owner alive by timing the beat of his heart and the rhythm of his breathing.

 

Now, the human was being sustained by several wires that connected the circuitry near his heart to the nearest Echo monitor. Isilynor trilled in a self-critical manner at the sight. It was neither a practical nor elegant sight to behold, but it was the best they could do for now given the circumstances. They’d just have to convince the human to sit tight until they could figure out a way to make the whole setup more…portable…perhaps.

 

“Is everything to your satisfaction now?” Asked the sylphiel in perfect omnispeak. A yellow, eye-like shape widened then narrowed on the screen before the voice of Echo answered them back.

 

“IMPRACTICAL,”

 

Isilynor snorted in response.

 

“BUT SUITABLE IN THE SHORT TERM. I HAVE NOW FOUND A STABLE AUTOMATION PATTERN FOR LYDOTRE, AND WILL CONTINUE TO RUN IT PROVIDING I REMAIN CONNECTED.”

 

“Hmph, good. Now for the ‘fun’ part.” Grunted Isilynor. They rose to their full height once more, their talon-shaped boots whirring and clicking to keep them properly steady despite their stilt-like nature. “Awaken, human.” Commanded the sylphiel, now reaching for their sceptre and prodding the end of it against the tip of the human’s snout several times.  “The quicker you awaken, the quicker we can find out if we’re the only survivors on this ship or not.”

 

 

---

 

 

Marlow

Location - Arcade

Characters - Blue-Bot | Virgil

 

When he had been paged to deal with a minor incident in the Arcade, Marlow certainly had not been expecting anything particularly eventful to happen. By all accounts it was to be a routine visit, deal with some cranky guest who’d just bet away their life’s savings and bring them back to the brig to cool off if they got too rowdy. The team hadn’t even bothered to send more than one staff member to check out the situation, and one of their newest staff at that.

 

When Marlow had entered the scene though, and realised it was a xolgard of all beings that he had to deal with, his immediate thought was to call for backup. He distinctly remembered ducking behind one of the arcade machines and whispering into his communicator for Virgil Cerullo - or ‘Verge’ to be specific, that he needed to get to the Arcade as soon as possible. Man was too pretty, after all. It was about time to earn his first scar or five to brag about in the pub after-hours and a xolgard was exactly the sort of alien that’d be all too glad to help him out.

 

Marlow hadn’t waited for him, instead at least trying to do his job right and resolve the issue by talking civilly to the 8ft tall, acid-spitting minotaur that was threatening to tear a nearby guest from limb to limb for daring to look him in the eye. Needless to say though the xolgard was not in the mood to chat, and soon enough Marlow found himself drawing his retractable holo-shield and barking for the guests to evacuate as he dodged around a hurled Arcade machine.

 

The last thing Marlow could remember was trying to crawl his way up a nearby wall, only for the xolgard to grab him by the scruff of the neck and throw him back down onto the ground. The mjiorian had hit the floor pretty hard, and as he stirred back to consciousness he found himself wondering how he hadn’t been torn in half already. Blue eyes blinked open, dazed, but soon sharpening with focus as Marlow sprung back up onto his webbed feet once more. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder he turned hurriedly on the spot, panicking, only for the emotion to drain from him once more as he absorbed his surroundings. The Arcade was dark and silent now, casting an eerie sense of wrongness due to the sheer fact it was always abuzz with brand new games and machines and the visitors that enjoyed them.

 

He was confused, to say the least. Had the xolgard done something to the power…? Marlow frowned, realising that the hulking mass several paces away from him was, in fact, his attacker. The xolgard was knocked out cold onto the floor, though seemed to be breathing at a steady pace and otherwise showed no signs of obvious injury. Or at least, none that Marlow could make out in the dim lighting left behind by the emergency lights lining the walls. He edged closer, debating internally whether he should call the Medical team or just more security staff to...

 

Oh no. Was that Virgil?

 

A very fleshy, rather pale arm that looked to be human was sticking out from under the beast-like alien. Marlow immediately rammed into the side of the larger alien to roll him to the side, and succeeded, only to cry out as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder from the impact.

 

[ “Oh…oh that was really, really dumb of me.” ] He lectured under his breath in mjiorian, doubling over to bare the brunt of the pain and hissing out-loud until it would fade to something more manageable. Still wincing he squinted back over at the vague, humanoid shape he could now see more clearly and tried to roll them over with a nudge from their foot. Out of habit he switched to omnispeak, of which he was pretty fluent in thanks to both of his dads insisting that he and Asterodia learn it at a young age.

 

“Verge? Verge is that you? Please tell me humans are more durable than they look.”

 

 

---

 

 

Odrin

Location - Gardens

Characters - Aezsaa | Merryblossom

 

[ “Oh that’s uh…that’s a bit of a problem.” ]

 

Odrin hummed as he stared at the enormous tangled of vines he had somehow awoken in, courtesy of the enormous Living Tanglewood that he had been inspecting moments before…whatever…had actually happened to land him in this situation. There had been a huge shudder that had run through the ship, enough to knock several aliens off of their feet, and Odrin had the vaguest memory of something akin to a laser slicing itself across the fields of the garden they had all been peacefully enjoying. Everything else, however, was a mere blur.

 

He tried to glance up, but the vines surrounding him blocked his view of the ceiling too much to assess the damage. Odrin could still breathe and hadn’t been pulled into space, though, so he assumed that the hull itself hadn’t been breached at least. Or at least, that’s what he assumed was meant to happen when a laser carved through a good portion of your ship. Odrin had never been one to invest too much of his time into studying astrophysics.

 

[ “Merryblossom?” ]

 

Several vines twitched, indicating that the sentient plant had heard him addressing them. A few of them started to part, a vine ending in a closed flower bud snaking itself towards him and then opening up to reveal a set of antennae-like growths sprouting from within.

 

[ “Do you know what happened?” ] The flowerbud trembled slightly then tilted, indicating that Merryblossom wasn’t entirely sure what Odrin was asking. He sighed, now wriggling back and forth to try and wriggle out of the plant’s grasp. Merryblossom reacted in kind, finally unravelling her various vines and letting him drop to the grass and vine-covered floor with a shaky thud. Odrin found himself disorientated, but thankfully was otherwise unharmed. Evidently Merryblossom had attempted to shield the half-a-dozen or so visitors to the Garden, and had wrapped up several other visitors in a thick, almost impenetrable nest of vines before anchoring them to the wall. If he squinted, he could make out movement in one or two of the other vine clusters, presumably other passengers that were beginning to awake.

 

Odrin glanced back up at the ceiling and tilted his head in thought, realising that there was no damage that indicated a series of lasers had run through the metal. Odd. Nothing on the walls either, unless Merryblossom was electing to hide the damage from him.

 

[ “Anyone badly hurt?” ]

More confused swaying from the plant, and it occurred to Odrin that his ULD was down. He shifted to omnisign and repeated his question, remembering a handful of useful signals he had picked up over the decades of working for the Cosmic Alliance. Merryblossom perked up, finally understanding, but then drooped again to signal their distress with the answer. Vines further along the wall began to part, revealing what appeared to be a Draxiek before she fell to the floor.

 

 

---

 

 

Dr. Shivers

Location - Medical Labs, Dr. Shivers' Office

Characters - Dr. Ianpeiros

 

Patient conscious. Feeling and movement remains in all extremities. Pain in head, near the antennae region.

 

A tall, moth-like alien in their usual lab attire lay against the floor and wall of their office. Their recent moments were a heavy blur to them, recalled only in snippets of standing idle in the centre of their room, flicking through their screen for some test results, and then being thrown into the shelved walls beside them when the ship violently lurched to the side. They had been curled up in a heap for a while now, dizzy and not daring to rise to their feet until they could guarantee that they didn’t require immediate medical attention.

 

They twitched their antennae, then instantly regretted the choice of action when it sent a sharp jolt of pain running through the right-most one. Groggily they started to attempt to stand, all four of their hands gripping tightly at the legs of their desk and the shelves bolted to the wall for support. Eventually, they managed to steady themself by leaning heavily against the surface of their desk. They snapped their eyes shut and took a deep breath. Shivers knew they had a mirror, somewhere. The doctor pawed about on the desk until they, finally, felt their claws catch on the tip of the handheld device and dragged it closer to squint weakly into its surface. 

 

Sure enough, their left antennae was poised and held its semi-alert position as they inspected their face. The other was a mere stump, presumably snapped off near the base when they had crunched it between their skull and the wall beside them. Shivers turned and searched for it upon the ground, baring their fangs in displeasure upon spying the antennae near the spot they had been lingering in. Like any other injury, they had little doubt that they would recover from it in time. But it was still going to be a dizzying, miserable few weeks for them until it would grow back enough to balance them out once more.

 

Steadying themself against the surface of their desk, Shivers took the time to check for any other injuries of concern. A few bruises here and there, and their head sure still ached, but for a pterartrix that was less of a concern than for other species.

 

Speaking of other species though…

A voice came through on their communicator, but it was heavily distorted and in a language they didn’t recognise. Shivers frowned, and switched their attention down to the ULD device wrapped around their wrist. A red light blinked slowly on and off in it’s corner, signalling that either the database was down or that the device could no longer connect to it. They felt the fur along their mane bristle in an anxious manner. 

 

“Is…injuries? Yes?” They called into the communicator, doing their best to remember the bits and pieces they had picked up of omnispeak but having a vocabulary that was mostly limited to the medical industry and perhaps a few useful phrases. No answer. Or at least, if someone was answering them they couldn’t hear the reply.  Shakily, they tried to step away from their desk. They managed about three steps towards the door before they found themself tilting and swaying in an uneasy manner, and had to lean against the wall for better support. 

 

[ “Oh…oh  this is not useful, no, no.” ] They huffed in frustration. Then, a new thought sprung into their mind. They had a recollection of another doctor wandering about in the lab a bit earlier, the koshka-el’fiyka if they remembered right. Was she still here? And was she alright, for that matter? A new knot of worry started to settling in their gut, but the doctor still eased themself out of their office bit-by-bit using the wall and furniture for support.

 

[ “Doctor…ack…Doctor Stern Freckles Koshka-el’fiyka?” ] Called Shivers while slurring as they poked their head out of the doorway, notable pauses peppering their words as they struggled to string together coherent concepts in pteratrixian common. Names were a concept that simply did not exist in their species, and Shivers was absolutely woeful at remembering them no matter how hard they tried. Even the names the Cosmic Alliance had tried to assign to them were difficult, with only the nickname ‘Shivers’ finally sticking because it felt more like the descriptors they were familiar with.

 

Oh, right, the database was down.

 

“Doctor…um…” A chitter of annoyance, as they tried to work around their very limited grasp on omnispeak. Eventually they gave up trying to find any words they could successfully translate and opted to instead repeat the cry for "Doctor!" as they started to drag themself down the hallway to check her office.

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Lycanious

[HomeForFlowers]

Finn von Wolfgang

Location: Storage - Portside

Crewmates: Beatrix

 

Back home, there were only a handful of aliens that roamed within Imperium space. Garou, being naturally adventurous, had to design every facet of their life to accommodate for that. Since few aliens had to cater to everything from public spaces to buildings and ships were designed with garous' natural curious instincts in mind. Finn was aware of this. He had been lectured on it several times before arriving at the CA and then reminded an additional time when he boarded the Observer. Finn should have remembered the lectures when he entered the storage room to look for a box of syringes, he definitely should have remembered it when his attention was drawn towards a shiny, metal bin, and he really should have gotten his head out of the gutter both literally and metaphorical when he shoved his head into the bin to sniff a discarded candy wrapper. All in all, having your head shoved all the way into a trash bin was probably not the best situation to be in when the ship you're standing in violently lurched forward.

 

Finn had been lucky enough to have the nearby metal shelves fall on top of him. It kept him from being thrown around the storage along with the hundreds of containers and canisters that were now strewn across the floor, but it also made it hard to scramble out from under. Finn blinked his eyes slowly to adjust to the now dark room. He sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring as he took in a nearly overwhelming amount of new scents. Many of the containers in the storage room had likely been forced open during the event. Their contents were now likely scattered across the ground. Finn prayed silently for whoever had the misfortune of having to clean up once the dust had settled.

 

Ignoring the pain from his aching body, Finn did his best to wiggle out from underneath his makeshift den. The shelves creaked as he pushed against them, letting out a final loud squeak as he clawed his way out under them. Finn inspected his body for injuries. The poor lighting made it hard to identify what sticky liquids were damping his clothing, but he could detect a mix of unknown scents and the familiar, coppery scent of blood. Finn patted himself down gently. A sharp sting emitted from wherever his hands touched. With his whole body aching and a haze clogging his mind, it was impossible to tell where exactly he was hurt. He'd probably need someone more qualified to look him over anyway. Finn huffed in disappointment. That was fine, he thought as he pushed himself onto his knees, he could head to the infirmary later. Maybe he could even get one of those sugary little circle sticks after the appointment!

 

A box flew past Finn's head, shaking him out of his lollipop fantasy. He jolted at the sudden sound. The source of the sound soon revealed itself in the form of another crewmate standing no more than a few yards away. Finn's tail started wagging instinctively. The crewmate started shouting at him in some unknown language before marching her way towards him. Finn's tail wagged even harder as she grabbed his shoulders and began shaking him violently all the while screaming. How exciting!

 

"Hewmo, m'awm!" Despite talking in omnispeak as best as he could, Finn's words were muffled beyond recognition. Finn's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He opened and closed his mouth several times only to find a strange, sweet taste on his tongue. His eyes widened in realization. He still had the candy wrapper inside his mouth! He had already been chewing it before the accident happened. Finn's happy surprise quickly turned into concern as he remembered that there was someone else in front of him. Oh no, was she going to try and snatch the wrapper out of his mouth? It wouldn't be the first time someone from the CA had to try to pry something out his mouth or tell him to repeatedly "drop it". It was already in his mouth! He wasn't going to let go of it!

 

Completely forgetting the severity of the situation, Finn began chewing the wrapper in a panic hoping that he could swallow it before someone tried to yank it out of his mouth.

[Mikasa361]

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : ARCADE]

 

He'd been hanging out in his quarters with a lovely gal named Rosaline before his communicator went off- "Verge? Hey, Verge?" The voice was whispering. "Y're gonna need to come to the arcade. Like, ASAP."

 

In response, Virgil had rolled his eyes and groaned, knowing it was going to be one of Those Days. He'd quickly thrown his shirt back on, quickly escorted Rosaline out of his room, and made his way to the arcade in a hurry. Looks like I'm not getting anywhere with anyone today, Virgil thinks to himself as he keeps walking over. Cracking his knuckles, Virgil approaches the door when he hears something smashing around inside. "Ah, son of a b***h," he mutters under his breath as he pushes the door open with his full palm. 

 

Sure enough, it's going to be one of Those Days. He notes Marlow trying to sweet-talk a xolgard, a xolgard of all creatures. Okay- I'M an idiot, but that is an elevated level of stupid. He approaches as Marlow, who is trying to crawl up a wall, is grabbed by the scruff of the neck and slammed against  the floor. "Ah crap- HEY! OVER HERE, UGLY!" Virgil is prepared for it to start running in his direction. Virgil is ready to deck the giant minotaur in the snout (read: use his tranquilizer gun and knock it out) when--

 

He has no idea what happens next.

 

When he finally comes to, Virgil is underneath the hulking beast. The xolgard is out cold- with no sign of harm, if its breathing is to be an indicator. Virgil groans, noting that most of his body is covered. His one hand is exposed. Dio mio.... What in the hell just HAPPENED?

 

He hears Marlow's voice speak as some of the body lifts briefly. It seems as if Marlow is attempting to get the xolgard off of him. "Verge? Verge is that you? Please tell me humans are more durable than they look.” At some point, Marlow's attempts are successful, as a weight lifts off of him and Virgil remembers what breathing is. 

 

"Nngh, thanks man. Yeah, 'm alright. I think. Urgh..... What.... the Hell....." Virgil grumbles. He struggles a bit to get onto his feet, but for the most part he feels fine. "Marlow, what the actual hell happened?" He feels a bit dizzy, so he closes his eyes until the spinning in his head stops. "Did we get hit?" Virgil puts away the tranquilizer and opens his eyes to look around. "It's... Dark. What is going on? I assume the xolgard was why I needed to leave my room," he says this bit with a certain bitterness, "but whatever this was.... I don't think it was this guy."

 

Jeez.... This is much worse than "one of those days".

 

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : MEDICAL LABS - DR. SAPHIELLE'S OFFICE]

 

It was a fairly standard day for Saphielle. She'd gotten a major operation done in the morning, and since then tended to various injuries. Said injuries varied from some sutures, to a concussion or two, to Virgil's very bruised ego when she told him that no, he was not guaranteed to charm his new lady friend today. She still doesn't know why he wanted to spend time with Rosaline, considering what happens to people who spend time with her. It's not her business though as his doctor- it's his funeral, after all. Surely Virgil knows what he's getting into. 

 

Shame, she almost tolerated the guy.

 

Saphielle quietly types a few notes down into someone's medical file, checking several times to ensure everything is properly inputted. Just as she hits save, her head hits the desk as she blacks out. 

 

.....

 

.........Gods, what was that?

 

Am I okay?

 

Okay, I can move my fingers I think. Toes? Feels like it but I'll have to check in a second.

 

Saphielle lifts her head and opens her eyes. All of the knick knacks in her office are a complete mess. Her eyes widen as she shuffles around to make sure the one picture is still there. Oh thank the gods, it's intact, she breathes with relief as she picks up a very delicate looking photo frame. In it is a photo of her and another koshka woman, both with matching smiles and wearing the gowns they wore when they graduated from the Academy. The other woman is fresh faced, fair skinned, and her hair is long and dark. Her eyes are closed. From behind her, her unusually fluffy tail pokes out. Saphielle vaguely remembers her tail waving when the picture was taken.  Aenwyn.... Damn, I could really use your strength right now.

 

She shakes her head and places the frame very carefully back on her desk, and stands up to physically examine herself. Minimal injuries- but judging by the pain in her head, she definitely didn't go unscathed.  It's at this point that a certain voice catches her attention over the communicator. She finally heard the voice say, "Doctor!"

 

Oh crap, she thinks to herself. She hurries to her door and opens it. "Dr. Shivers!" Oh no.... They're in bad shape. Upon a glance over, Saphielle notices that one of their antennae is broken off. "Doctor- your antenna! I'm going to see if I can get something to..." Upon looking at the ground, she notes a long feather. She picks it up, ignoring the chiming of the small bell. This will work.... She grabs some medical tape from the first aid kit in her desk. Once all the required materials are obtained, Saphielle approaches Dr. Shivers and pauses. "I'm going to use this to try and balance your antennae out. Is it okay if I do so?" 

 

They nod, and Saphielle delicately tapes the feather onto the doctor's stump. "Is that better? Are you okay?"

 

Patient first. Ask what the hell is going on second. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Mikasa361

[Lycanious]

Beatrix

Location - Storage, Portside

Characters - Finn

 

Beatrix, who was not very familiar with omnispeak and instead relied on her ULD to get her through most conversations, blinked blankly in response to the garou. Judging from the tone though he was at least relatively okay. The scent of blood in the air did suggest otherwise, but at least as he was conscious. Beatrix frowned as she watched him open and shut his jaw a few times.

 

[ “Something wrong with your jaw?” ] 

 

The question was followed by a wide-eyed expression as he started to look alarmed by something. Fearing that he was choking on something Beatrix reeled back her arm quickly and gave him a good, solid thump with her palm just below his ribcage.

 

Something bright and colourful spat out of his mouth, hitting Beatrix right in the middle of the forehead and evoking a hiss of disgust from her. She grimaced and reached up to wipe it from her face, grumbling out a sarcastic “You’re welcome” in what little she did know of the omnian language. Beatrix glanced down at her hand and identified the object as a wrapper, before crinkling it up into a ball in her hands and tossing it over her shoulder to join the rest of rubble and wreckage behind her.

 

[ “Alright…lets think about this sensibly…” ] Beatrix muttered to herself, briefly massaging her palms into the sides of her temples as she tried to formulate some sort of explanation for what had just happened. “Ship, hit? Yes?” She asked of the garou, remembering back to the alarm that had sounded just before losing consciousness. Her gaze trailed upwards, and then across to the mountain of broken shelves and containers that were currently blocking the exit to the room.  “Maybe star-jump, too .” Added the woman, remembering that she had been knocked out cold moments before. Beatrix never claimed to have much understanding of the science behind it, but she was aware that sudden attempts to teleport across vast distances in space tended to strain the brain. It was common for organic beings to get knocked out by the process.
 

That still brought up the question of why the ship had needed to do-so, though. 

 

She rested her hands on her hips and snorted at the sight, before a beep from her Communicator demanded her attention. [ “WARNING, BREATHABILITY OF ATMOSPHERE DECLINING. PLEASE MOVE TO A MORE SUITABLE LOCATION.” ]

 

Oh, great. Of course it is.

[ “Shame you’re not one of those big, fluffy types of garou.” ] Sighed Beatrix, now turning from Finn in favour of limping closer towards one of the upturned shelves and seeing if there was any way to pry bits and pieces off of it for easier transport. “Big dog, good.” She then repeated in omnispeak, motioning high above her head for emphasis before turning back towards her current predicament and beckoning for Finn to come and help her. [ “Come on dog-breath, don’t know about you but I need to get this doorway cleared before I run out of oxygen.” ]

 

 

---

 

Marlow

Location - Arcade

Characters - Blue-Bot | Virgil

 

“Dunno mate, still figuring out what’s going too.” 

 

Muttered the mjiorian, still with gritted teeth and clutching at his shoulder, but notably relaxing in his stance as he heard Virgil respond. As the man struggled back to his feet Marlow glanced over the xolgard and sneered in distaste for the alien’s actions. “Why didn’t they send Kharzon or Zikvien?” Both of which had more than an extra foot of height on Marlow, and what he suspected to be about three times the muscle mass. Commander Kharzon even had the added bonus of being a xolgard himself, though Marlow at least assumed he was too busy trying to drill the plans for the ceremony into the heads of the rest of the Security team.

 

Speaking of which…

 

Marlow tapped at the device on his wrist, frowning as he noticed several warnings flicker across its screen. ULD down, Crew offline, Echo integration offline…

 

“Ikaarti takvuul.” The ancient exclamation of frustration in mjiorian slipped out before he remembered to switch back to omnispeak for Virgil’s sake, now grimacing up at him. “Aye, I think something hit the ship. Must’ve knocked out the power generator or something…”  He blinked and surveyed the dim glow of the emergency lights along the walls of the Arcade, marking the nearest exit, and a nearby Echo screen that didn’t respond to any attempts by Marlow to awaken the ship AI from within. If he had to wager a guess, only a local backup battery was running at the moment, and the ship was therefore focusing its energy on maintaining a suitable atmosphere for her crew.

 

The mjiorian staggered across the Arcade, heading for the nearest window. “Thanks for showin’ up, by the way. I did have him all figured out already. But thanks.” Announced Marlow, the last few words muffling as he pressed his face against the thick, glassy surface and tried to spot any hint of disturbances outside of the ship.

 

 “Oh…that ain’t good…”

 

Marlow couldn’t see any obvious obstacles or enemy ships, but from the angle the window afforded him he could see part of the wing of The Observer. Long, deep scars gouged into the metal plating, left behind from what Marlow could only assume was some sort of weaponised laser. Bits of debris, difficult to define, scattered into the void of space and sent a chill up the mjiorian’s spine the longer he starred. Something quivered in his peripherals, and he tore his bright, sky-blue eyes away from the scene to rest instead on a whirring, twitching droid of some kind that he could now see tucked between two of the arcade machines. Marlow didn’t recognise the jellyfish-like robot, but tutted all the same at the sight of their broken state and several bits of metal and wire that now lay scattered across the floor surrounding them. “Verge? S’this anyone you recognise?” Sighing he stooped and started to pick up some of the robotic parts with his uninjured arm, though he had little in the way of mechanical knowledge to decide what to do with them. “Gimme a hand here, aye? Then we can go figure out what’s gone wrong around here.”

 

 

---

 

Dr. Shivers

Location - Medical Labs - Dr. Shivers' Office

Characters - Dr. Ianpeiros

 

“Doctor is being part-well.”

 

Shivers offered, struggling to figure out how to clarify that the broken antennae was making them seem a lot worse off than others tended to believe. Thankfully she seemed to be somewhat familiar with how reliant a pteratrix was on said antennae for balance, and it wasn’t long before she was attempting to attach a large, feather-like device to their head in its place.

 

“Is being the stress go-away thing, yes?”

 

Inquired Shivers, adopting a faint grumble that was aimed more at the injury itself than the woman kind enough to try to fix it for them. They had seen her idly toying with the object before, though typically this was only when there were no patients around to witness it. Shivers personally preferred their collection of small, delicate objects that would light up with a dazzling array of pretty colours when spun. But each to their own, they supposed.

 

When she stepped back they gave the remains of the antennae an experimental wriggle. It still ached. A tiny bell chimed from the movement. but the weight of the enormous feather combined with it was similar in size and shape enough to their remaining one that Shivers no longer felt the need to tilt their head at an odd angle just to walk.  For a temporary solution, it would do just fine.

 

“Doctor to be thanking Dr. Pointy Ear Freckle Koshka, yes. More full-well now.”

 

With the nausea now on the decline Shivers eased back up from their hunched stance and stretched out their various limbs. A few more aches and pains, but nothing they felt required immediate attention. Red eyes honed in on their fellow doctor, lingering on the signs of bruising along her forehead, before they stooped once more to better look her in the eye. “Is Dr. Pointy Ear Freckle Koshka well? Head looks bad.” Fretted Shivers as they fished out a light from their pockets and briefly shone it into her eyes.

 

Another garbled mess erupted from Shivers’ communicator, this time a different voice that sounded absolutely terrified. They grimaced, unable to translate much of it, but picking up on the words ‘Dining Hall’, ‘Auditorium’, and ‘doctors’. The screen of their device briefly lit up, various strings of text alerts flickering and glitching across the screen for a few seconds before abruptly the screen died again. Shivers scowled and rapidly tapped their claws against it to little avail, before chirping in annoyance and facing Saphielle once more.

 

“Is wrist-thing well? Many injuries, yes. Be needing doctors.”

 

---

 

Dr. Minerva Malakou

Location - Research Labs

Characters - Jixx-B | Hagall

 

Minerva awoke on the floor of the computer lab, head throbbing and a dizzying sensation running through her. She groaned as she dragged her hand over her forehead, recognising that the sensor band that usually rested upon it was now snapped and broken off in several places. She hissed out a few profanities under breath, feeling the floor around her and finding only a few of the missing shards. 

 

Well, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. It probably absorbed most of the impact of whatever she whacked her head on.

 

The engineering expert’s memory started to drift back to her in bits and pieces, namely what she had been doing moments before losing consciousness. She recalled a conversation with the large deinogen that would sometimes wander xer way through the labs, though not too much about what specifically they had been discussing at the time. Something to do with a security update, it might have been…? Minerva wasn’t certain. The best she could surmise was that she had excused herself for a moment to walk into her office, and then seconds later something had caused the ship to jar violently forward and for the emergency warp procedures to kick into place. 

 

Minerva eased herself into a seated position, resting a hand on the metallic desk of her office beside her as she listened out for any clues as to what was going on. It was in fact eerily silent, a room devoid of any alarms or voices crackling over the speakers to let her know what was happening on the ship. She blinked, and shook her head to concentrate. First things first, make sure everyone in the lab is alright. She held out her arm expectantly and whistled, attempting to summon her usual companion to her side.

 

“Hagall?”

 

No response. Minerva grimaced, knowing that he wouldn’t hesitate to at least announce his presence if he was capable of it. With all three of her sensors down, she frowned and brushed her hand against one of the ones that rested as a bracelet around her wrist. Delicate fingers graced over it in search of any seams in its surface or out of place wiring.  Ah, there! She could feel a loose panel now, a frayed wire peeking out from beneath it. She exhaled in a sharp, irate manner from the discovery. It seemed fixable, but unlikely without the right sort of tools. Her hands switched and she crossed over to the wrist device opposite, again feeling about for signs of damage. The primary sensor felt cracked, but still held itself together relatively well. Maybe if she just flipped the switch off and on it…

 

The device whirred and emitted a series of beeps to signal it was rebooting. Minerva flexed her hand several times as it continued to shudder and run through its start-up sequence, relaxing in some small semblance of relief as a little jingle played from it and a cheery voice rang out stating ‘Device is now on!’. She felt the familiar tingle in her hand as the device integrated with it, intercepting whatever data it was able to glean from any physical contact it made and feed it back to Minerva upon command. To test it she ran her hand along the floor and picked up what felt to be a soft, spherical item. “Identify object.”

 

“Anti-stress device, made of CLICK-CLICK-CLICK! foam. No signs of damage or BZZZT!"

 

Well, it was better than nothing.  At least the scanner side of things seemed to still be working. To confirm Minerva waved her hand in the air, and the familiar whir of her wrist sensor scanning its environment sounded off. The device started to dictate her surroundings to her as best it could, pointing out obstacles and objects of interest and giving her a rough estimate of the layout of the room amidst the occasional garbled word or sudden, harsh crackle from its speaker. 

 

“Hagall? Are you here? Activate.” 

 

Called the woman as she stepped out of her office and move her hand through the air, mapping out the new layout of the room in her head now that all the desks and machinery had been thrown about. Eventually her attention was brought to a small, metallic cluster, which emitted a series of miserable beeps and caws when she bent down to inspect it. “Oh, Hagall…don’t worry sweetie I’ll get you patched back up as soon as I can.” Fretted Minerva, scooping up the little raven-shaped robot into one of her arms and continuing her journey forward through the main section of the computer labs.

 

Something much, much larger and emitting an electronic signature lurked in the centre of the room. She could hear movement, what sounded to be metal plates shifting and passing over fur and each other and a rapid tap-tap-tap sound from somewhere that was difficult to pin-point the origin of.

 

“Jixx-B? Is that you?” She called out to the heap of metal and flesh. Since the arrival of Jixx-B the computer lab had been significantly rearranged, shifting all desks and monitors towards the outer edges of the room so that the enormous alien at least had room to turn. Now though Minerva could sense several desks and monitors had been torn from their anchors and lay scattered and broken over the floor, and she fretted over how badly the contents of the room had slammed and smashed into the poor deinogen.

“Are you okay? What’s going on?” Continued Minerva, wandering forward towards where she knew the clearing to be and waving her hand in an attempt to glean more details about the sort of state xe was in.

 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Lycanious

[ValidEmotions]

Aezsaa

"Ezsa"

Location: The Gardens

Characters: Odrin | Merryblossom

She lost consciousness the moment her Core was struck.

When she came-to again, it was to the heavy drop of her body hitting the ground. They rolled over upon their side, flickers of recent memory trying to vie for attention and combating with missing pieces. It was the remembrance of their right arm shattering that caused them to jerk and scramble for their feet. Or attempt to, really.

Aezsaa's legs weren't steady enough yet to hold her, a weakness washing through her body and forcing her knees to buckle before she could even fully stand. They grunted when their remaining hand planted against the ground, skin alternating between soft flesh or stone. Her eyesight blurred with the threat of tears.

They felt wrong.

When they felt more stable, they leaned back until they were resting solely on their knees, left hand coming up to the jagged stub that remained of their right arm. Well, admittedly, there wasn't anything that remained of their arm, only their shoulder. Frozen in a stone state and webbed with cracks. Again, their body flickered between flesh and stone, dragging Aezsaa's attention to the center of her chest where her Crystal Core rested. It should have been brilliantly lit, possessing a strong and steady glow of energy and power. Instead, its light was feeble at best, blinking in and out in tandem with the shifting state of her skin.

["What happened?"] they rasped, gaze tearing away from the fracture that now decorated her Core to search their surroundings. They located the Bo'grul nearby. They'd seen him about the Gardens a few times--what was his name? Orvid? Odin? Something with an Od-. Aezsaa looked away from him, turning her attention to Merryblossom and the vast Tanglewood's system of vines that practically surrounded the Gardens. So many beings were caught within. She must have been, too. Which might explain how she got away with only the loss of a single limb instead of being Shattered entirely.
 

Heather Lydotre

"Dot"

Location: Sparky's Repair Store

Characters: Isilynor

 

He struggled to remember much of anything that happened in the last several hours. A full day? Everything was jumbled up, patchy. Whole chunks simply missing once that overwhelming pain registered in his nerve receptors. Circuitry overloaded and fried. Dot couldn't sort out time, could barely figure out when she was halfway conscious and when she blacked out. More than once, she caught glimpses of wires, metal wings. Heard mumbling or maybe that was the ship's engine humming through the walls? Constant, however, was the uncomfortable feeling of pressure on his body.

{"--N FOR LY--AN--"}

Something jabbed at her nose, prompting an alert to flare into life within the left side of her vision as her eyes snapped open. No. "Flare" wasn't really the right word as the alert mostly glitched in and out of existence like static on an ancient radio. And her vision wasn't really much, being heavily blurred and unable to focus for longer than Dot was comfortable with.

A moment after, the systems in charge of diagnosing and managing his physical conditions seemed to correct themselves. Only to promptly screech warnings and critical failures and all around overwhelm her with noise in her ears and head. Dot shot up into a seated position, a brief shout erupting from her lungs as she clutched her temples. He fumbled with the watch on his wrist, eventually managing to shut the noise down. His vision was beginning to clear, allowing him to better see the cables protruding from his torso. Mechanical components were exposed, embedded in organic sections beneath a ripped up shirt and stripped-away skin. He stared at them for several seconds, gaze even drifting to the cluster attached to his left arm.

Then the panic started.

A strangled sound from his throat. Dot's breathing shortened as he rushed to grapple with the cables and wires hooked up to him. ["What are--Why--"] He managed to rip out a few of the smaller ones, tearing apart the thrown-together connections. Some caused sparks to fly through surrounding circuitry and nerve clusters. Dot grit her teeth against it, ignoring the sudden sensations in favor of fumbling for the next set of cables.

Someone was saying something, a flat drone of a voice that blurred into white noise to Dot's ears. Except when it wasn't a droning sound anymore. The butt of a scepter crashed against her grasping hands, a sharp word piercing the agitated fog of senseless thoughts in Dot's mind. He gasped, shock choking the startled noise that tried to flee his lips. Looking upward, Dot's gaze settled upon the being who possessed the scepter. ["What--What did you do to me?"] Though she didn't mean to, her words escalated into a slight shriek. ["Why would you do this to me?"]

[Mikasa361]

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : ARCADE]

 

"Well hey, I'm not just gonna let you deal with one of those things by yourself." Virgil gives Marlow a smirk before looking around. Then, as he looks around the room he hears, "oh... that ain't good..." and raises his eyebrow. "Marlow, what do you--" Upon looking out the window, his green eyes widen even further as he takes note of the extensive damage to the ship. "What the hell happened out there?!" He whistles. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph, that's brutal." He frowns. "We're not going anywhere for a good, long while are we?"

 

Upon hearing Marlow tutting, he turns on his heel to take a look at what caught the mijorian's attention. The man blinks several times. "Ah... Looks familiar, think I've seen it around a few times." He winces when he kneels down- clearly something got bruised, somewhere. "Ah hell. This is a ****ing mess. Ah.... Yeah, hang on." He starts gathering some of the parts as well, his jaw growing more and more tense. "I really hope something major didn't get damaged. This is.... Jesus, Mary and Joseph."

 

Indeed. He hopes that wherever they are, they're not totally stranded. He hopes that, at the very least, they'll be able to pull onto a nearby planet somewhere until the damn ship gets fixed. While he continues to pick up pieces small and large, his frown grows all the more. Seriously, what hit us? Why? He sighs, holding up a piece to his eyes to see if it's a part of the robot. "...Oh. That's a token," he mutters under his breath. He keeps gathering bits and pieces and catching them in his shirt. Once he gets all the pieces he can see, Virgil gets back up on his feet. 

 

"Okay, you think we got all the pieces here?" He feels a slight throbbing in his head due to his furrowed brow. "Well. Okay. Let's see if we can get the hell out of here, see if there's anyone who might know what hit us?"

 

He gathers the pieces he caught into an empty token bucket before starting to make his way to the nearest exit. "....Mar, lemme know if you need a doc."

 

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : MEDICAL LABS - DR. SHIVERS' OFFICE]

 

Dr. Shivers seems better- in fact, they seem grateful. Saphielle breathes a sigh of relief. "It's my pleasure, really. I just want to make sure you're okay before we go attend to other patients. Can't treat anyone if we're in bad shape, yes?" Upon the other doctor's question, Saphielle takes a moment once again to assess her own condition. "My head hurts, but I think I smacked it into something during.... I don't even know what happened." She allows them to shine a light in her eyes- which is an unpleasant feeling. However, she doesn't think she has a major concussion. All in all, she lucked out.

 

She knits her eyebrows together, checking her communicator. There's a lot of gobbledigook, clearly a bunch of distress calls. There is one name that seems to stick out, though, and in Koshka Elvish she sees the name Zentha. 

 

 

H̴̢̧̛̜͔̣̥̎ͅe̶̡̲̝̳̬̤̯̣̐̈́̔̓̍͘l̵̨̥̖͙̭̩̤̙̺͎̦̏̍p̸̢̜͕̤̝͔̺͎͛͝.̷̡̗̱͕̖̬̤̪͖͇̜͈̘̮̞͌͌̓̆͑̽͝.̴̞̘͈̬͚̱͇̼͋̀͋̏.̸̙̦̺̔͆͒̾̚̚͝ ̸̤̺̘̰͍̀͂S̵̝̳͙͎̦̮̈́͒t̵̨̘͍͕̩̗̺̓̊̋͛̅̀̑́́͝͝ų̶͓͉͕͉̯̹̭͇͌͛́̉̎͒͑́̅̓͘͘͘̚c̶̲̺̩̮̱̩̗̖̙̤̖̓̆̌̍̔̋͌̐̍̅̅̓͒͘k̷͓͓̰̼̼̣͙̝̙̥͇̏́̔̋̔͗́͑͋͋̚̚͠.̸̭̮͙͈̣̼̞̥̲̹̫͒̌̋̽́́͆̆͂͜ͅͅͅ.̷̜̭͕̪̪͓̻̯̒̽̀͌̒̽̀̌͘͝.̵̨̢̞͓̇͆̍̋̊̄̚͜ ̸̪͉̬̘͇̺̙̺̅͛͘Ṫ̷̨̢͎͔͙̞̜̑̀́̉̄̽͌̚͝͝͝r̶̨̛͙̟̻͚̱͔̩̲͊̋́̔̑̐̿̾͝ą̴̡̢̥͓̩̟̮̯̖̰͉̖̾̓p̸̡̬͙͑͒̓̊̃͛̃̎̒̿̿̂̓͘͝p̵̺̪̀̿̉͗́͗͒̓͌͜e̸̹͙̗̥̽̅̆͛͋̾̾̐̈̓͊̕̚͝d̷̛̩͓̞̫͓̭̆͐̒͗͐͐̐̚͝͝ ̸̡̝̬̯̜̞͚̟̈̋́͒̏͋͛͛̒͌̂͑̾ű̶̧̙͇̥̯͈͚͍̱̤͇͗̽̽̔̂̌̆͊̕ͅͅn̷̨̪̲̬̫̩͒̋̈͑́̏̔͗̓̄͜͠͠͠ḑ̷̨̧͎͎͖̪͉̼̆̆͐̈́e̸̢̛̛͇͓͓̞̘̥̼̽̇̓̀̉͂̒́̍̌̆̕͠ṙ̶͉̞̪͇̥̦͎̲̹͇͓̲̱̰͈̈́͂̿͛́̇̏̊̅͝͠ ̴̛̻̣̟͑͂̐̈b̶̢̧̨͓̤͓̫̹̹̺̓̀̄͜͝ͅř̴̨̛̛̤̥̦̘̹̫̖͇̞̈́̾̔͋͑́̈́̽̇͂̚͝ͅọ̵̞́̄́͑͑͗̄̇͌̈́̓̀͘͜͝͝k̵͕͚̅͛e̸̢̛̳̗̝̰̜͔͚͕͚̫̝̳̩̲̓̓́͛͝n̴̛̪̩͓͎͈̉̓̇̿̚̚̕͝͠͠ ̶̞̘̤̩̅͆̐̃͋̓̊̈͋͠b̷̹̫̝̹͈̬͚͓̯̩̌̏̈̋̌̉̌̅̎̊̕͘͜͜͜ẽ̴̢̡̪̤̟̬̪̬̝̙͍̒͂̔͑͑̈́̍̊͜͝d̵̡̦̟̮̃́́͌̀͋͊̈́͘.̶̭̭̙̍̃͋̄̽̅̉̊̈́̆̽͆͋̕.̸̢̧̛̙̻̩̜̺̙͉͈̰̺̩́͌̑͆͗̈́͌̿̂͋̌̚͘.̵̛̮̼̻͖͈̟̮̍̿̿̋́̈̿͠͠ ̸̨̫̩̦̐̿͗̋̿͋̈́Ḩ̴͓͎̞̰͙̘͉̞̐̒̐͗̓ͅͅų̵̛̜͍̭͚͚̩̻͇͈̋́͒̉̂̊̍ŕ̷̡̩̺̥̊͋̄̾̇̂͐͠͝͠t̷̟̗͈̖͚̝͔̥̘̱̠̰̘̰͛̆s̶̨͕̹̹̳͈̖̖̱̰͔̦̏̓̔̿͆̇͗͐̕̚ ̶̯͈̓̎̑̿̈́̃̅̎ä̷̠͖̲͚͖̱͕̘́̋ ̴̢̨̨̛̘͉̹̙̳̱̹͎͖̱͎͑̋̂̇̆̈́͂͘͜͝͝l̸̨̳̱̎̌͑̌̒̋õ̴̢̨̘̣̠͉̺̪̜̃͋̐͆̈́͛͛͠͝͠t̸̡̺͈̤̥͈͒͊͊̊͒̽̔͗͂̂͂͜͜͝.̷̨̖̜̲̩̠̑̒͗̃̍͌͌̕
̴̡̱̼͖̼͎̤̙̖̓͑̊̑̍̇̽͝ͅ

 

Saphielle's eyes widen and her heart drops into her stomach- this one was delivered late if the timestamp gave her any indicator. "We have someone who's been trapped under a bed. Looks like the infirmary... I think we should hurry, I'm not sure if they're even conscious but it seems bad." She offers a hand towards Shivers. "Do you need help? Or are you going to be fine walking?"

[Lycanious]

Archnoble Isilynor Tralamin the III

Location - Sparky’s Repair Store

Characters - Dot

 

They watched on in a stoic, albeit slightly irate manner as the human started to panic and undo all of their hard work in a manner of seconds. Typical, no respect for fine craftsmanship any more is there? Isilynor allowed him a brief moment to compose himself all the same, though they were quick to spring into action when frightened, shaking hands made a grab for a bundle of cables that were the only thing currently ensuring the human’s heart was still beating.

 

[ “ENOUGH!” ] Barked Isilynor in sylphian, bringing down their sceptre in a short, sharp motion to crack the tip of it against the human’s knuckles. Her face snapped up towards them, and though Isilynor was still picking apart all the bits and pieces of her language to actually be able to decipher it they could sense the accusatory tone without needing a translation. Isilynor huffed, and shot her an indignant look before tapping the end of the sceptre sharply against the ground. A small source of light flickered into view from its tip, bathing their surroundings in a dull glow that revealed more of the structural damage and rubble that lay around the pair. 

 

They moved the sceptre to point at a series of semi-melted circuit-boards that they had yanked out and hastily discarded on the ground beside him in their rush to stabilise the human, in the hopes that he could at least recognise the implications of why he needed to be attached to the Echo monitor right now. Sweeping the sceptre to the side, Isilynor then indicated the wires protruding from the human and traced their length across the floor towards said monitor. The eye of Echo whirled and blinked twice in acknowledgement as attention was brought to her screen, but she said nothing for now.

 

“Life.” Announced Isilynor in omnispeak once more, motioning to their chest and thumping it a few times to mimic a steady, beating heart. They then mimed ripping out the various wires, and scowled as they made a vicious swiping motion across their own throat. “Death.”

 

Isilynor then took a step back, attempting to sign that they had peaceful intentions towards her before turning attention back to Echo. “Well? What language was that?”

 

“MY DATABASE IS STILL INACCESSIBLE FROM THIS TERMINAL. MOST LIKELY AN EARTH-BASED DIALECT.”

 

“Do we at least have a few identifiers to work with?”

 

“HEATHER LYDOTRE. HUMAN. A VISITING CIVILIAN.”

 

“Hm, well, I suppose I shall have to figure out the language manually.” Sighed Isilynor, in a somewhat melodramatic fashion, before stooping forward and resting some of their weight on the sceptre as they inspected the human up and down a few times in a faint sneer. They motioned to themself.  “Archnoble Isilynor Tralamin the III.” Then Isilynor cleared their throat, and began to ramble on in omnispeak some more regardless of whether any of it was registering with her. “I would suggest that you refrain from tearing out more of those cables, until we can fashion something more practical and mobile for you.” Isilynor motioned for him to rise. “Can you stand, human?”

 

---

 

 

Marlow

Location - Arcade

Characters - Blue-Bot | Virgil

 

“We…we must’ve hit something…maybe it was like…an undetected ship during the star-jump? S’thing that can happen right?” Offered Marlow as an explanation, a rumble of distress following him as he paced about the room and tried his best to focus instead on locating all the pieces of the robot that had been scattered.

 

“Thanks, I got no bloody clue how to piece ‘em back together but I reckon we ought to take ‘em with us.” Admitted Marlow with a sheepish expression. Picking up the remaining pieces he could spy nearby, he then ventured over to Virgil and added to the collection pile he’d crafted out of his shirt. “Reckon we get ‘em to Aster first chance we get. M’sure she could patch ‘em back up.” Marlow had never claimed to be much of an expert on robotics, but he did hold a great respect for his sibling’s degree in mechanical engineering. That was…probably something to do with fixing robots too? Right?

 

Well, even if he was wrong, Marlow was at least convinced that the robot would be in safer hands with her than in his own. Carefully he bent down and extracted the battered bot from where it had wedged itself between the arcade machines and more tutting issued from him as he lifted it up for inspection.

 

Upon their cracked screen, several points of light tried to flare into existence only to peter out a second later. The bot, from what Marlow could tell, was struggling to communicate with him in some manner.  “Uh…ahoy. Me name’s Marlow…uh…this is Verge. Yer got a name?” More broken patterns of light danced across the screen, ending with several bright flashes of blue that made Marlow squint and flinch away to spare his eyesight from it. “O-okay…uh…sorry mate, not sure what yer trying to say to me there. M’just gonna call yer ‘Blue’ for now, alright?” 

There was no clear indication of whether the machine had understood him, but they at least didn’t seem to be offended or distrustful of him in any manner. Marlow crossed the room and, taking Virgil’s cue, fetched a second bucket to store what remained of the robot in it before trailing after him. “Oi, can yeh get a signal at all? M’trying to dial out but I ain’t hearing anything.” Questioned the mjiorian as the two stepped out into the hallway, his brow wrinkling as he observed that one direction was blocked off entirely by debris. With a flick of his tail in a ‘follow’ motion he began to venture in the opposite direction, heading for the research labs. “****, this looks bad, Verge. I hope Aster’s alright.” Marlow fretted, soon coming to another blockage in the hallway. Unlike the other pile of rubble Marlow could at least still see through to the other side though, and he began to work on clearing the way as best as he could while only using one arm.

 

 

---
 

 

Odrin

Location - Gardens

Characters - Aezsaa | Merryblossom

 

Sucking the air through his teeth, Odrin winced as the extent of the draxiek’s injuries was revealed to him. [ “Eeeeasy there, buddy. Looks like you’ve done yourself a right mischief.” ] On some level he knew that their chances of understanding his words were slim at best, but he hoped at least that they would take some comfort in a soothing tone of voice. 

 

Trying to take a step forward, Odrin stumbled and nearly fell to the floor as well, if not for quickly adjusting his balance with an outstretched tail. Dark eyes glanced down at the robotic implement that had replaced the lower half of his leg many, many cycles ago, and he huffed as he registered that it was currently locked in a semi-crouched position. Odrin wriggled about his knee, and thumped several times on the implement, but to little avail. It was as if the power had been completely drained from it and the manual override completely severed from his consciousness. Odd. Thought Odrin. Wasn’t it fully charged just before he left…? How long had he been unconscious for?

 

A rough, raspy gasp from the draxiek broke Odrin from these questions, and he gritted his teeth in empathy as he focused back on her. Gingerly he shifted his leg forward as best as he could and tested his weight on it, confirming at least that he could stand on it - albeit at an awkward angle with its currently locked position. It would have to do for now, though. Taking a wide, awkward swing with it Odrin hobbled his way towards them.

 

[ “Ooh, that looks bad…are you in pain…?” ] Asked Odrin once he’d closed the distance between them, punctuating it with the sign for < Pain? > as he spoke. It seemed an obvious question to ask her, but one could never really be certain when it came to other species and he’d never really spoken to a draxiek face-to-face before. Odrin stooped, offering a hand to help her up while the other hovered in an uncertain manner over the fractured remains of her arm. He looked around the area, but saw only tiny shards of a dark, striped type of rock scattered across the floor. As far as he was aware, the limb had been entirely shattered and there was little hope to recover it.

[ “Merryblossom?” ] A few vines perked at the sound of their name, and the tanglewood brought them closer to shift attention to the two conscious beings before them. [ “Um…” ] Brow wrinkling, Odrin tried to figure out his next series of motions. < Other people, injured? > Merryblossom’s entire form seemed to slouch, almost as if the enormous plant was emitting a long, sad exhale. Another crew member, close to the pair, was released from the vines and hit the floor with a heavy thump. Odrin noticed, with a slowly dawning horror, that said crew mate was completely motionless. [ “Oh no…oh no, no no…” ] He began to whisper, separating from the draxiek in order to stumble his way over to them and check for vitals. Merryblossom started to release more passengers from her protective grasp, and though there was one or two that stirred or made a sound of protest as they slumped against the floor, many were likewise as motionless as the being before them. [ “Oh…oh we need to get some doctors- can you call them? My device isn’t working- uh…” ] He gestured towards his communicator that sat around his wrist, tapping it a few times before gesturing to the room around him in the hopes that the draxiek would understand.

 

 

---
 

 

Shivers

Location - Medical Lab - Dr. Shivers Office

Characters - Dr. Ianpeiros

 

Shining the light into her eyes, the doctor made several intrigued and concerned trilling sounds, before pocketing the device once more. “Mm…is being not big problem, maybe. But is best to be doing the seeing for big problem.” They concluded, now taking a shaky step forward to test out their balance. The doctor still walked with a significant wobble, but they managed to at least power on and cross the room without any assistance from Saphielle as they grumbled to themself.

 

“Is must be being lots of injuries, is needing to be waking the doctor team.” Huffed the pteratrix, as they tapped their claws yet again to their own broken communication before giving up on the matter. Antennae twitched as they instead tuned into Saphielle’s own device, concern briefly crossing their features before it was buried back under a practised professionalism in the face of multiple casualties. “...Dr. Shivers is thinking treat infirmary person first, yes, then be finding next to help.”

 

They wobbled their way past their office and Saphielle’s towards the medical lab exit, only to be stopped in their tracks when the exit doors refused to budge. Shivers blinked up at them for a moment, registering that the power must have been cut, and sighed before tapping on a panel on the front of them to force a manual release and let them through. The panel opened on contact, but no amount of cranking the release lever within seemed to let the doors properly budge. “Is…is being something to be blocking the door?” Questioned Shivers, then glancing back towards the koshka with a grim expression. “Is maybe being trapped, yes. Is being able to call for help? Or be fixing door?”

 

 

---
 

 

Zikvien

Location - Security Room

Characters - Juku | Momo

 

Everything ached. The world was dim and even blurrier than usual. When Zikvien inhaled, the air was thick with the stench of blood, smoke and charcoal. She tested her extremities first, slowly curling and flexing the claws on her hands and feet then sweeping her tail across the ground. Gingerly she lifted her head, groaning as the motion sent a wave of nausea through her and highlighted an ache in the muscles along the cobra-like hood at her neck and shoulders. 

 

The zita-gaxx did what her species was best known for and persisted through the pain. She found herself now reaching for a nearby desk with her less-injured arm and beginning to hoist herself up onto her feet. The weight on her back shifted, sheets of metal and torn remnants of fried wiring sliding off of her. A bellow escaped her as she tried to rest her weight on her left leg, only for pain to sear through the entire limb until she managed to adjust her bulky weight into her other limbs. Zikvien heaved her upper half onto the desk and squinted around, dumbfounded as to where to even begin in figuring out what had happened. [ “Echo? Lights.” ] No response. Zikvien repeated herself, this time in omnispeak instead of her usual low, rumbling tones and hisses. A beep from the nearby monitor indicated that Echo had acknowledged the request this time, but when she replied her voice sounded fragmented and garbled - wavering between Omnispeak and a language that Zikvien didn’t recognise. ‘LIGHTS, BROKEN.' Was what Zikvien was able to process, in her limited grasp on the language. 

 

She fiddled with the wrist-guard containing her Universal Language Device and snapped it open, only to frown when the cool, familiar glow of the blue lights within indicated that her ULD was working fine. Was the database down…? Zikvien felt her knees grow weak and the crest on her head flex in anxiety, before she took several deep breaths and tried to calm herself back down. Okay. Remember your training. What would Commander Kharzon do? Bile threatened to rise in her throat, as she realised that Commander Kharzon was likely to be somewhere beneath the rubble. Alright, focus, first. Kharzon would first make sure the area is safe.

 

Zikvien trained her senses on her surroundings once more. There was no fire, but she could smell smoke. Maybe it was coming from the Engineering Bay next door? That wasn’t good. Not good at all. What if she was the only one alive at all and-

 

Breathe.

 

She remembered why she had been in the room in the first place, and gingerly turned to stare at the pile of rubble she had crawled out from under.  Zikvien swept her tail beneath it and with an expert twist to it she succeeded in flipping over a fallen ceiling panel to reveal an unconscious, but breathing, yuegengjian beneath it. [ “Mr. Liang Yimo?” ] Rumbled Zikvien, finding a small relief in the fact that her hulking form had shielded him from the bulk of the impact from the ceiling. She didn’t spy any indication that he’d heard her, but she carefully extracted him from the rubble into her arms all the same, then turned and set him down into a small clearing of the room.

 

Zikvien remembered that Mr. Liang Yimo, or ‘Momo’ as much of the crew referred to him as, had been…troubled, to put it mildly, just before the impact. Restless and with blood-shot eyes, she recalled that the yuegengjian had been brandishing a series of security reports and requesting, nay, demanding that the senior members of the security team gather to listen to them right away by the time she arrived. Juku had barely been able to get a word in edgewise before-

 

Juku!

 

Her eyes widened, and she heaved her leg forward a painful step to start sifting through the rubble beside her for the fellow zita-gaxx. [ “Juku? Juku where- oh.” ] Zikvien’s brow wrinkled, as it occurred to her that she needed a different method of trying to get a response from em. Instead she crouched low to the ground and rested her hand on its surface, emitting a deep, rumbling growl that sent a series of vibrations through the floor. Modifying the pitch, Zikvien started to call for Juku again as she scanned her surroundings for any sign of em beneath all the rubble.

[ValidEmotions]

Aezsaa

"Ezsa"

Location: The Gardens

Characters: Odrin | Merryblossom

The Bo'grul came close to her, reaching out in an attempt to help her up while also inquiring about something. 'Pain?' Very faintly, they nodded once, unsure if they should be thoroughly honest to the concerned individual. Especially seeing as he, himself, appeared in need of medical assistance. They tried smiling, attempting reassurance despite their weakness. However, there was no use hiding the despair of both losing their arm and understanding the extent of damage to their Core. Merryblossom revealed more bodies upon the Bo'grul's request, his growing panic clear. Aezsaa staggered in her attempt to follow, pausing long enough to regain her balance before trying again. 

 

It was awkward and, frankly, a little nauseating as she moved. They went to the closest being they could, an unconscious Deinogen of spotted grey and pale green. A mop rested near her. ["I'm going to borrow this..."] Aezsaa murmured to the unconscious being, crouching to grasp the wooden handle. It was a wonder the cleaning tool hadn't snapped in two from... well, from whatever happened to the ship. Now equipped with a temporary support, they held their breath until they were certain the mop could bear their weight. (Draxieks weren't exactly one of the lightest beings in existence.) She hobbled towards the Bo'grul as quickly as possible, reacting to the sound of his frantic speech more than his actual words. He was gesturing at a device upon his wrist. His communicator. 

 

Understanding the intention a moment after, Aezsaa started looking around. Her communicator, unfortunately, had been upon her right arm. The very same arm that had been shattered. Feeling the pressure of needing to act fast, she staggered about the Gardens as much as feasibly possible. They kicked aside debris, fought to climb over fallen shelves, and located the scattered remains of their right arm.

 

As well as their communicator. 

 

Hurrying towards it, she knelt down to release the mop and gathered her communicator off the ground, inspecting it before trying to activate it. The screen was cracked, its informational display glitching in and out. ["Come on. Please work...."] A garbled transmission screeched at her from the device, causing her to flinch and accidentally drop it. She leaned forward and grab it again, struggling with the cracked interface in her remaining hand. (They were going to have to adapt really quickly to the reality of losing their dominant hand.) ["Hello? Anyone?"] they started, trying to remember the very limited Omnispeak vocabulary they'd been taught over the years. "S. O. S. In plants room. S. O. S. S. O. S." 

 

They glanced back at the Bo'grul, body flickering again between its flesh and stone states. They fumbled with the communication device, unhooking the clasp before using their fanged teeth to secure it upon their left arm. After that was accomplished, they snatched up the mop once more and propped themself back onto their feet, scurrying towards another limp being. They collapsed awkwardly to their knees, hand pressing against the plant-like individual who had landed upon her side when Merryblossom freed her. She made a soft groan under the touch, a blue-green fluid draining from her torso. Please don't be blood.... They knew it was a pointless plea. Sharply, Aezsaa looked up at Merryblossom, whistling for the flower's attention before lifting their hand. They had to finger-spell the entirety of <First aid kit?> since a portion of the phrase required a two-handed sign. 

 

Merryblossom seemed to perk up, a vine snapping out from the main tangle to shoot into a pile of debris. Clattering and a series of thunks filled the air as Merryblossom dug out an industrial-sized kit with the Cosmic Alliance's medical aid logo printed upon the cover. The Tanglewood rushed it over to Aezsaa, helping them pop it open so that its contents were exposed. <Thank you.> Again, they looked over at the Bo'grul, looking sheepish. <Help?>

[DustyStar]

Jixx-B

 

[BOOT SEQUENCE STARTUP]

 

[INITIALIZING JIXX-B-DO1-V1.01.03]

 

Moments before the ship's sudden warp Jixx-B had connected xirself to the computer mainframe for ease of access to demonstrate a new security feature. One of the many perks of being half machine xemself was it made it many times easier to interact with computers. Xe was explaining how the feature would affect the current computer system to Minerva when xe was harshly interrupted by the ship unexpectedly lurching forwards. Xir size and thick metal plating made the impact little more than a nudge but xe wasn’t prepared for the electrical surge through the ship as it entered warpspace. Every circuit in xir body felt like it was set on fire as the electricity blew through xir systems, tearing through every fiber of xir cybernetic enhancements with searing pain. It didn’t last long before the massive creature collapsed to the floor and flickered out of consciousness.

 

Now the Deinogen's body lay in a massive heap of machinery and fur in the center of the room. Xe was completely still except for the occasional twitch from one of xir toe claws tapping against a desk crammed near xir large foot. Shattered monitors were sprinkled across xir frame in sparkling pieces that were smashed between broken metal plates and desk frames crowding xir shuddering form. Xir head, lying limply to the side, stuck out from all the rubbish on top of xem, xir mouthpiece stuck open in a silent scream. Neon flashes danced across the nanite screen that made up xir face but couldn’t seem to settle on what it wanted to form. The side of xir faceplate panel was opened and connected to a large gray cable spitting sparks in every direction that ran from xir check over to the main computer desk’s input ports. 

 

[ERROR: STARTUP FAILED]

 

[TROUBLESHOOTING INITIALIZED]

 

[ERROR 3604: AUXILIARY CABLE STILL CONNECTED. MUST DISCONNECT BEFORE STARTUP CAN COMPLETE]

 

[ERROR: DAMAGE TO OUTER SHELL DETECTED]

 

[ERROR: DAMAGE TO INNER MAINFRAME DETECTED]

 

Jixx-B was haplessly curled over one of the desk pieces that had more than likely hit xem in the chest upon impact. One of the top pieces had broken through the glossy see-through paneling on Jixx-B’s lower chest, causing cascades of neon blood to pour from its cracks. Another had split through xir back plates sticking straight up towards the ceiling almost like a shark fin. Xir blood was beginning to form a steady pool on the floor soaking the damaged machinery that surrounded xem.

 

[WARNING: RAPID FLUID LOSS OCCURRING ON MULTIPLE LOCATIONS. REROUTING FLUIDS TO LONG-TERM STORAGE]

 

[ERROR: FLUID PRESSURE TOO LOW. UNABLE TO REROUTE.]

 

[WARNING: FULL SHUTDOWN IMMINENT. DISCONNECT AUXILIARY DEVICES IMMEDIATELY.]

 

A muffled, frantic beeping started from underneath the Deinogen. The familiar sound of a communicator watch rebooting filled the room.

 

“Warning. Fatal shutdown imminent. Please d-d-d-d-d-d-disconnect from all alternative systems to continue reboot.” a tiny automated voice chirped out. 

 

Juku

 

A low hum filled Juku’s senses as ey began to stir. A familiar hum, with a taint of panic in its tone. It took a minute for it to register, but Juku slowly realized that ey recognized that tone. It was one of the last things ey heard, that deep resonating vibration overpowering the timid raspy voice of an older yuegengjian they had been speaking to before-

 

All at once Juku snapped back to reality with a start.

 

Zikvien! 

 

Ey squrimed to rise up in a panic before quickly realizing ey were completely pinned under a ceiling piece. By luck or instinct eir tail had curled up around em to protect em from the falling piece of debris but now it locked em under the sturdy piece of material. Ey sqirmed to try and get away before a tiny shift in the position of the rubble reminded em that would be a worse idea for their predicament. Ey could drop the tail, ey thought, but disengaging limbs was an undesirable process and could leave em worse for wear in the long run.

The same concerned tone resonated through eir senses once again breaking em out of eir spiraling thoughts. Right! 

 

[Zikvien, are you alright? Where are you? I am trapped, and I am unable to determine your location.] The zita-gaxx returned her calls with a snappy array of oscillating tones. 

 

Juku was concerned by an unexpected hesitation in her response. Was she alright? Did something come up? Ey began to repeat eirself before the thought connected in eir brain. Zikvien doen’t speak in tones very well. 

 

Having been born profoundly Deaf Juku learned to speak primarily in tones as eir first language, but unfortunately on eir home planet that language was more of a luxury to the few who stayed fluent. The majority of the zita-gaxx had dropped it in favor of verbal speech as was rarely spoken in the major cities nowadays. Most knew it at a surface level though, ey just had to account for that. 

 

Simplify, Juku, simplify. Ey began eir response again. This time it was slow and purposeful.

 

[Stuck. Need help. You okay? Location?] 

 

Jamie

 

Somewhere off in the far corner of the storage room lie the limp form of a small mijorian amongst the rubble. The way he had fallen across the shelves his tiny yellow body could easily be mistaken for a piece of equipment under all the brightly coloured safety cones scattered around him. 

 

Jamie’s return to consciousness was greeted by the familiar, obnoxious sound of his hearing aid screeching in his ear. Eyes still closed tightly he let out a sharp hiss as he moved his arm up to the back of his ear fin to take it off. As he slid his hand across his face he flinched away startled by the wetness he felt when he touched his temple. Wait…was he underwater? Oh no-

 

He flung himself up into a sitting position that was halted abruptly by his forehead connecting to a metal shelving beam. With a resounding metallic thud he was swiftly sent sailing back down to the floor. Both hands now gripping his temples in agony he let out a pained groan. His head was stinging. His arm ached. His whole body ached for that matter. He couldn’t hear anything over the whistling in his ears. It didn’t seem to matter how much he blinked, the world spiraled in layered images he couldn’t quite make out. Absently he reached out for whatever beam he had hit to try and hoist himself back up.  He struggled against the constant shifting of the shelf pieces he rested on top of but eventually made it back to a half sitting position, firmly gripping the beam between his claws for support.

 

Taking in a deep sigh, the mixed stench of blood and various chemicals hit him like a tidal wave and he began to gag harshly. He finally understood what the liquid running down his face and neck probably was but he chose not to think too much about it. The good news was he wasn’t underwater, and outside of the terrible smell in the air, could still breathe for the most part. Returning his hand up to the back of his ear fin, he grabbed at the small white node that sat behind it and tore it off. As it rested in his palm he stared at it disdainfully. 

 

“H-hey!” he called out. His voice sounded terribly raspy and far away.

 

“Is everyone okay?” He asked. Not that he could really hear anyone's response if they were.
 

[Lycanious]

Odrin

LOCATION - Gardens

CHARACTERS - Aezsaa | Merryblossom | Pixx-L
 

[ “Some of these guys um…really…need doctors…” ] It was an uncertain statement, as well as a redundant one. Truth be told Odrin had said it more to convince himself of that fact. The alternative was that it was too late to help some of the individuals in the room, but the bogrul didn’t want to think about that just yet. Best to play ignorant and optimistic for now, if only to preserve his sanity.

 

Rising from his slouch, Odrin turned and started to hobble his way back towards the only other being that seemed capable of walking about right now. [ “Is that…” ] Odrin let the thought hang in the air, not sure what to make of the sudden appearance of a certain mop at the draxiek’s side. Dark eyes blinked rapidly at it and scanned the room, now spying what he had originally mistaken for a scattered clump of metallic debris from the roof. In fact it was now obvious that the rubble was actually a green and grey deinogen, one that he knew to be a janitor for the ship. Pointed ears briefly pinned to the side of his head, his eyes widening as he hurriedly glanced between the still-unconscious deinogen and the mop in her hand. [ “Take very, very good care of that.” ] He warned, pointing at the deinogen for emphasis in the hopes it would get the gist of his meaning across. 

 

A groan from the casualty broke his concentration from the cleaning device, and Odrin quickly stuttered out an apology for the distraction. Due to the unresponsive leg prosthetic it was somewhat tricky to kneel down in the way that he wanted. The end result was an awkward crouch, one that required him to stick said leg out to his side at an unnatural angle and briefly rest his hand on the shoulder opposite of the draxiek’s injured one until his other knee could properly support his weight. [ “Okay um…let’s…let’s take a look here…” ] 

 

Though he knew the basics of first aid, Odrin did not claim to be a medical expert in the slightest. Without guidance, the best he could manage was to open the first aid kit handed to him by Merryblossom and start to sift through its contents for something to stop the bleeding. “Talking, work?” He tried to ask in omnispeak now that his hands were occupied. The question was heavily accented though, the mark of a being that had only memorised a few helpful phrases and words without the aid of a translator. ”Doctors?” Continued Odrin, as he  now gently coaxed a roll of bandages under and around the torso of the barely-conscious being in front of them.

 

Odrin was quick to finish with the bandages. Once he felt they were secure he glanced back towards the Draxiek with a questioning look, silently requesting an assessment before gingerly getting back to his feet. Holding up a new fistful of bandages and a clip, he then gestured towards the stump around her shoulder.

---

 

Dr. Minerva Malakou

LOCATION - Research Labs

CHARACTERS - Jixx-B | Hagall

 

Minerva winced in sympathy as she heard the warning voice issue from what she assumed to be some sort of communication device that was installed on the deinogen. “Oh…Honey Bee, that doesn’t sound good...” She replied in omnispeak, genuine concern peppering her voice as she reached towards xem. “I’m just going to see if I can figure out the extent of the damage, okay Honey Bee?” She then announced, before gently grazing her fingertips along what she believed to be the side of the alien’s head. It didn’t take long for her to discover that the mouth-plate had been broken, and automatically she emitted a hushing sound in an attempt to soothe xem. 

 

Gently, she set aside Hagall onto one of the desks that had managed to remain bolted in place before focusing her attention back on Jixx-B. Continuing from the face-plate she ran her hand along xer form, soon finding more signs of damage and, most distressingly, what felt to be part of a nearby desk still embedded into the metal along xer back. “Can you hear me? It’s Dr. Malakou. If you can hear me, can you try lifting your hand and giving me a thumb’s up?”

 

With that said, next on Minerva’s agenda was to listen to the warning from the deinogen’s device. “Alternative systems…? What would- Oh! I understand.” She recalled that moments before Jixx-B had been connected to one of the computers, ready to explain a security update to her. Minerva started to feel along the floor between the deinogen and the few computers left that were still anchored to the wall beside them. She was shocked to discover a series of cords still stretched tight across the floor, but hastily flicked the switch off on the computer’s power supply before disconnecting it from the deinogen.

 

“Alright…let’s hope that lets you do your reboot now, Honey Bee.” Sighed Minerva, now turning back towards the deinogen. She decided her next step should be to work on clearing some of the debris that xe was undoubtedly buried under, though she soon found that the sheer weight of the desks would be too much for her alone.

 

“Send message, ship-wide.”

 

Her communicator spluttered into life, its robotic voice crackling and dipping in volume towards the middle as it signalled that it was ready to record and transmit.

 

“Need emergency help in Research Labs, Computer Section. Injured deinogen, extent uncertain. Please come asap.”

 

With a garbled beep, the device supposedly sent out the signal.

 

---

 

Zikvien

LOCATION - Security Room

CHARACTERS - Juku | Momo

 

Blurred movement shifted in her peripherals, and Zikvien gingerly turned on the spot to face the section of rubble it had emitted from. She was about to continue her message, only for a rapid series of rumbling pitch shifts through the floor to overwhelm her line of thought. She paused, apologising out-loud for not understanding despite the fact that Juku would not have been able to hear her say it. Force of habit, for Zikvien, and she silently cursed herself at that moment for not taking Tones as a subject during her earlier education. Ever since meeting the older zita-gaxx and realising it was a dialect ey relied on she had been keen to learn more, but her progress with the language had unfortunately been a slow one so far.

 

Brow furrowed, she tried to concentrate on deciphering the response. The tones started again, but this time they came at a slower, more simple pace. Zikvien still struggled with one of the words, but to her relief this time she could figure out the gist of the statement. Stuck. Help needed. Where are you? Gritting her teeth together, she took a painful step forward and traced her clawed hands across the debris before her.

 

[ Pain. Leg pain. Neck pain. ] She informed in Tones, once she had been given a moment to plan out her response to the best of her ability. She wanted to better comfort Juku, as well as provide em with more details, but that was unfortunately where her ability to elaborate had come to a halt for now. Instead she had to concentrate on working her clawed hands under the largest chunk of rubble, sliding it along the edge until she was finally able to get a grip on the underside of it. [ Zikvien move up rubble. Be ready. ] Announced the zita-gaxx, in her best attempt to both warn Juku and request that ey help to the best of eir ability.

 

Thankfully for the both of them, Zikvien was in her prime when it came to brute strength, and even with the sharp ache in her neck and shoulder she was able to lift the largest slab off of the ground. Carefully she shuffled it to the side, setting it down with a heavy thud several inches from the pair of them before clearing away a significantly smaller clump with a sweep from her tail.

 

[ Juku pain? ] Crouching down, she then held out a talon towards the fellow zita-gaxx to help em stand once more.

 

---

 

Beatrix

LOCATION - Storage, Portside

CHARACTERS - Finn | Jamie

 

Ugh, why did I have to be stuck with Finn of all people? Man couldn’t find his way out of a cardboard box. Judging from the lack of meaningful response, Beatrix had no choice but to assume Finn was incapable of understanding her right now. [ “Alright…well…be a good lad and guard the door for me, then.” ] She sighed, despite knowing it meant very little to the garou. Beatrix turned from him to venture further into the storage room, now in search of  something that could help her lever away some of the items and shelves currently blocking the doorway. 

 

A metallic thud rang through the room, causing her to jump and hiss out another string of profanity from the startling sound. Glossy wings flared and flapped, doing their best to alleviate the weight around her twisted ankle as she half hopped, half hovered towards it. A voice, only vaguely familiar at best, then followed asking her if she was alright. 

 

[ “Yeah, yeah, I’ve had worse.” ] She grumbled in reply, before clearing her throat in an attempt to switch to omnispeak. “I am okay. Are you okay?” She called to the voice. With a slight hiss from the effort it warranted, she finally clambered up and over an upturned shelf to spot a bright-yellow mjiorian lurking across the room. Her head tilted to the side, analysing the state he was in for a moment before she scurried down onto the opposite side of the shelf and continued her hopping gait towards him. [ “Hope you’re more useful than dog-breath over there.” ] She continued, mostly to herself on the assumption that he too had no idea what she was saying. At least he was a mjiorian. They were much stronger than she could ever hope to be, and hopefully that meant that between the three of them they could get the shelves shifted away from the exit.

“Can walk? Need help.” Beatrix informed, now standing before him with an impatient expression as she placed her clawed hand on her hip. It was followed up by an exaggerated point towards the blocked doorway. “Oxygen low. Breathing will be hard.”

 

---

 

Asterodia

LOCATION - Living Quarters

CHARACTERS - Rex

 

The first sign of Asterodia waking up, as was typical of the bad-tempered mjiorian, was an impressive string of profanity spanning the several languages at her disposal. Immediately a sharp pain in her temple started to scream at her, and it prompted a dizzying sensation as she clutched her webbed hand against it. The motion had little effect on the horrible feeling though, if anything making contact with it only made the situation even more nauseating.

 

Not making the best of decisions right now, Aster tried to rise. This action was quickly abandoned when her world began to spin wildly, not to mention quite literally. The robotic implant that had replaced her left eye many years ago had started to spin rapidly in its socket, sending a dizzying snapshot of data to her brain until she scrunched both her eyes shut once more.

 

[ “Oh what in the bloody f- EYEBALL, OFF.” ] The whirring sound paused abruptly, as Aster felt the device disconnect from her retina and her left-hand side was plunged into darkness once more. Still disorientating, but far more welcome than whatever glitched monstrosity of a vision it had been trying to conjure up for her. She lifted a hand up to feel the side of her face, wincing as she registered the cracked screen of her implant and torn flesh surrounding it. Groggily she felt about in her pockets, soon fishing out an old eyepatch and sliding it over her face to mitigate some of what she assumed to be an unpleasant sight. Not good. But we’ll deal with that later. She told herself, exhaling sharply in annoyance before a secondary thought prompted her to raise her uninjured eyebrow.  At least it’s a good excuse to check in with Saphielle. She smirked. And then immediately regretted the motion as it pulled at the injured side of her face and alerted her to the torn ear-fin as well.

 

Gingerly, Aster slowly turned her attention to her room. Items were flung about all over the place, and to her dismay several of her trinkets collected over the years now lay twisted and broken around her. Blearily she looked about for what had smacked her in the face hard enough to cause a blackout, eventually spying the now-smashed glass bottle that had been sitting on the dresser across from her prior to waking up. “Ah.” Aster announced, flatly. She’d been saving that for a special occasion.

 

She wasn’t certain what was going on at this stage, only that judging by the mess the ship must have collided with something. Carefully she rose from her bed, brushing off the remaining shards of glass and staggering to her feet. Fetching her boots out from under her bed she slid them on before braving the glass and trinket-covered floor, and using the wall for support she headed for the door leading back to the modest living room of her quarters.

 

The living room was in far worse shape than the state of her bedroom. There had been several ceramic dishes sitting on the kitchen bench waiting to be cleaned that now littered the tiled floor in pieces, not to mention the various decorations that had joined them. Aster growled at the sight, not even wanting to contemplate how much it was going to cost both her and her roommate out of pocket to replace.

Speaking of which, it dawned on Asterodia that she should probably make sure her roommate was alright. Still using the wall to steady herself she worked her way around the mess of the living room, eventually coming to a stop at the other’s bedroom door. “OI, DOG-BREATH!” She hollered in perfect omnispeak, smacking her first against the door. “YOU AWAKE MATE OR AM I GONNA HAVE TO KICK THIS BLOODY DOOR DOWN?!”

Edited September 12, 2022 by Lycanious

[Askehalen]

Rex Hessel
Location: Living quarters
Company: best roomie Asterodia and cleaning responsibilities

 

✥ ✦ ✥ ✦ ✥

What...?

 

The world felt tumbled and upside down, like those washing machines that goes round and round beating the crap out of clothing, and Rex was pretty sure she was that clothing at the moment. She was so happy in her sleep, worn out from good work and a belly full of food, curled up in her bed dreaming of the wide expanse of space. Now, still curled up, she was no longer in her bed, but upside down in an unknown location.  Was it pain or soreness that shot through her body? Maybe it was that in-between state of waking from a lucid dream? - She couldn't tell. A deep breath was all she could manage, a dry cough following the action, and then supported by a pained groan.

 

She was definitely waking up now.

 

Eyes fluttered open to find nothing but darkness, blinking making no difference, and for a moment Rex thought she might've lost one of her senses. She had to reach out blindly, finding her fingers wrapped around the sad remains of her closet, using the broken frame to help her upright so her back could lean against a vertical surface. First her hearing returned, alerting her to the chaos outside of her confinement. Then her sense of smell - something nearby had fried. With no light in the vicinity and smoke not filling up both her nostrils, she felt confident that no fire had started, but it could still be cause for concern.

 

“Light oon.” She commanded the AI in her room, but got nothing in response. “Please turn zee light oon.” but again she got nothing. Sighing Rex followed the wall to her door, trying to fumble for the electric pad, but when she found it, it was smashed. She tapped the broken screen several times with an inquisitive claw, but got no reaction. Was the power completely cut to her room? There were no sparks flying or the smallest indication that anything remained useful, if she didn’t find a way out or someone found her, she would eventually suffocate. At least that would be better than starvation.

 

Shaking her head, Rex crawled on all fours back to the closet, finding the toolbox she had unwittingly protected by landing on it, and began rummaging for a flashlight. There was a sense of relief knowing she always had a tool close by, taking away the immediate feeling of helplessness in any situation. With her sight restored, her already non-existent levels of anxiety dwindled, giving her ample mental space to find a solution for her problem. The first thing she checked was the keypad next to her door, but even when she got the panel off, there was no power to the device. Rex poked and prodded with a voltage tester, trying to find any live wires that could help her reboot this mess, but found nothing. It was then that a loud banging came from the other side,  Asterodia’s beautifully ‘chipper’ voice cutting through the steel to reassure Rex that the beast hadn’t been forgotten.

 

“You kick zee shteel, you hurt foot. Funny, yes. Smart, not soo much. But, you have me zee idea gifen, waits, please!” Asterodia’s voice had been fairly dim on the other side of the door, so Rex wasn’t sure if her own low-pitch carried through, but in either case she went searching for another tool. Soon a loud banging and clanging could be heard from her side, the metal squeaking in dismay while she started tearing at the door. It took a few good jabs and a lot of weight to force the crowbar between into frame, using her whole body as leverage just to create enough of a gap so she could peek through.

 

The first thing that hit her was the overwhelming smell of blood. While every creature was different and bled in their own way, there were common denominators, like the minerals and metals. The sense of urgency Rex had been missing before was hitting her full force now and she started almost violently clawing at the metal like that would make it more malleable. It took a good amount of force to push the steel into its socket, but Rex didn’t need it to open all the way, just enough to squeeze through. If she could get her hips through, they were golden. A couple minutes of struggle later and Rex was now on the same side as Aster, in her PJs and looking worried.

 

“Was happen? You are hurt, you need zee Doctor! I am very worried…” Rex wanted to reach out and hug the grumpy woman, but didn’t want to cause her any more injury or pain - the medically best she could do was gaffa-tape her and that wasn’t exactly an optimal solution.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Askehalen

[DustyStar]

Jixx-B

 

Jixx-B’s body didn’t flinch or shudder at Minerva’s contact. Each of her soft reassurances failed to get any rise out of the Deinogen's unconscious form. The only thing her words managed to do was excite the communicator watch buried under xem into repeating itself again. 

 

As Minerva disconnected the computer cable from xir cheek panel the communicator beeped again. 

 

“Alternative systems disconnected. Initializing reboot.” The watch chirped out before falling silent.

 

[STARTUP SEQUENCE INITIALIZED]

 

[ORGANIC SYSTEMS: LOADING 40% ]

 

[CYBERNETIC SYSTEMS: LOADING 60% ]

 

[OPERATING SYSTEM: LOADING 20% ]

 

Without warning the Deinogens whole body convulsed violently causing several of the desks around xem to go flying into the nearby computer bank with a startling crash. Xir metal plating screeched against the ground in ear-raking bursts. Xir limbs twisted and shook in a seizure-like motion accompanied by the sound of glass shards falling to the floor around xem. But just as fast as it happened the cacophony stopped as Jixx-B fell still for a moment.

 

[ORGANIC SYSTEMS ONLINE]

 

[CYBERNETIC SYSTEMS ONLINE]

 

[OPERATING SYSTEM ONLINE]

 

[SYSTEM SAFETY MODE ON, OPERATING AT 15% NORMAL CAPACITY]

 

[SEVERE DAMAGE TO ALL SYSTEMS DETECTED]

 

The silence was broken by the harsh staticky sound of Jixx-B’s voice module coming back online.

 

“D-D-D-D-D-Doctor Mal-Mal-Malakou..” Xe started before the staticky sounds of xir speech gave way to heavy vomiting as blood poured from xir mouth. Xe gagged and gagged before xe tried to speak again but couldn’t seem to get control of xir body long enough to utter a word. 

 

[PANELING BREACH DETECTED, CUTTING OFF FLUIDS FROM OUTER SYSTEMS]

 

[FLUIDS REROUTING TO LONG TERM STORAGE: LOADING 50%]

 

Finally the coughing died down long enough for xem to take in a shaky breath. The dancing light across xir facial panel glitched into place to form four large, pointed glowing eyes that blinked open slowly. Everything was dark. Has the optic display not come online yet? 

 

“Optic s-s-s-s-system condition check.” Xe said hoarsely.

 

[OPTIC SYSTEM ONLINE]

 

[VISUAL PROCESSORS RUNNING AT REDUCED SPEED]

 

So it wasn’t an internal problem then. Xe shook xir head once in an attempt to reset the processing speed but in doing so dislocated xir mouthplate further. Xe spat out pained curses in crackling chirps and hisses as xe clicked xir jaw around to try and get it back into place.

 

At last the mouthpiece relocated itself with a resounding pop. Xe opened and closed xir mouth a few times just to make sure it was working. 

 

“D-D-Doctor…a-a-a-a-are zzzt y-you alrig-g-g-ght? Whe- zzt where a-a-a-are you-u?” Xe asked, xir voicebank interrupted by clips of static. Slowly the Deinogen began to uncurl xemself from around the desk xe had impacted with as much caution as to not drive the desk piece any further into xir chest. Steadily, shaking with pain, xe started to slide xir limbs torpidly across the floor back underneath xemself for better support. Xir right back leg was first as xe carefully shifted xir weight over to the side to pull the limb closer and tuck it neatly underneath xemself. As xe started to move xe left back leg xe paused for a moment. Something was off about the weight of the limb.

 

“M-M-M-M-M-My foot-t-t…I…think it's missing.” Xe sputtered out. It was far too dark for xem to really see if it was detached, but it couldn’t have gone far if it had. If xir sensors were to be believed, it was probably buried in the unfortunate remains of the Computer Labs.

 

Now with all fours bundled underneath xem, xe began to lift xemself up from the ground ever so slightly, one shaking limb at a time. 

 

“M-Minerva zzt p-p-p-p-p-please watch-ch-ch out..” xe asked softly. 

 

In an unsteady pushup motion Jixx-B started lifting xemself up onto xir knees, desks and screens tumbling away as xe gradually rose from off the floor. Finally nearing a sitting position xe let out a sharp hiss of pain as the desk piece lodged in xir chest fell away at last. Instinctively xir lower set of arms quickly moved to cover the opening that had been split into xir chestplate. But just before xe could sit up properly xe suddenly doubled over in pain once again.

 

“My b-b-b-back hurts. I d-don’t think i c-c-can move zzt much zzt more than this…I-I-I-I-I’m sorry M-M-M-Minerva…” Xe gasped out.

 

Juku

 

Juku waited anxiously for Zikvien’s response. It was a bit clunky at first but ey got the message clearly enough. 

 

[Can move? Also stuck?] Ey replied.

 

Before ey could finish asking the question ey could feel a heavy step coming closer to em. With a flicker of hesitation Juku wondered if those steps were a good or bad thing before eir thoughts were reassured by Zikviens calls.

 

[Yes. Ready.] Ey rumbled back with eagerness in eir tone.

 

As ey felt the piece of rubble shift Juku put whatever strength ey could summon into pushing against it with eir tail and available limbs. The crumbling remains of the ceiling slid off of em with ease and ey were left lying on eir side propped up against eir shoulder on the floor. 

 

As the fellow zita-gaxx extended her claw Juku took it gingerly and rose slowly from the ground. As ey steadily made it to eir feet ey suddenly let go of Zikvien’s claw to grasp eir shoulder with a wince. Now that ey weren’t being suffocated underneath a block of debris the blood rushing back into eir limbs reminded em that ey wouldn’t be making it away unschathed. Eir tail burned and eir shoulder hurt to move, it was more than likely subluxed and ey had more bruising than ey cared to keep track of at the moment.

 

[Shoulder pain. Tail pain. Am okay.] Juku tried eir best to explain.

 

[Others? Awake? Lights?] Juku asked, turning around to look about the scarcely lit room in search for any others ey could assist.

 

Jamie

 

Rubbing his eyes clear the world ever so slowly layered back into one foggy image. It was a little dark around the edges but at least he could see somewhat. The lights had clearly gone out but it was well lit enough for him to notice the trails of blood that ran from his head, down his neck and shoulders to the edge of his right forearm. It made him shudder. Small cuts and scrapes grazed his iridescent yellow skin from where various shelving items had hit him upon impact. He was definitely sore, but nothing seemed to be missing or broken. It wasn’t the worst shape he’d ever been in, but it was pretty close.

 

His head snapped to the sound of some far away voice he couldn’t quite make out. Squinting into the distance the tiny form of some winged creature came hobbling towards him making an obnoxious amount of noise. He quickly tried pulling himself up on the shelf beam he was holding, but the cones he was on top of tripped him over and he awkwardly fell back into the pile face first. 

 

“Ow.” he mumbled.

 

Lifting his head up from the pile of cones he was in, he found himself gazing into the eyes of some angry-looking ix-ruulkan woman staring at him with a hand on her hip, pointing over at something in the distance.

 

“Ah! S-sorry! What was that?” He stuttered in omnispeak, scrambling into all fours. 

 

“I can’t uh…hear too well at the moment…my poor hearing aid seems to have gone out. Haha.” He explained, opening his palm out to her to show her the complaining device. After a second he gazed at it sadly and put it in his pocket.

 

“But its fine! Tooooooootally fine! Are you okay? Do you need help?” He asked, both speaking and signing simultaneously, rising up from his little pile only to bonk his head on the shelving beam he had forgotten about yet again. He gripped the top of his head and glared at the unit for a second before returning his attention to the woman in front of him.

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by DustyStar

[Mikasa361]

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : MEDICAL LABS - DR. SHIVERS' OFFICE]

 

"Is... Is being something to be blocking the door?" The look that Dr. Shivers gives Saphielle makes her heart sink. "Is maybe being trapped, yes. Is being able to call for help? Or be fixing door?"

 

Damn it. DAMN IT. Saphielle slams into the door with the side of her fist and lets out a stream of curses in koshka. "We need to get the nine hells out of here, but how?" She tries to look around the room for anything that she could try to squeeze through. "You wouldn't happen to have a battering ram on standby, would you?" She pauses. "Or a... A... Dammit, what's the word?" Saphielle says the word in koshka, her tail lashing about in irritation that she can't think of the word in omnispeak. When she looks up, she raises her eyebrows. "Oh hello, now... That looks like something I can squeeze through." She turns her head to face the other doctor. "Okay, um. Doctor Shivers, if you wait here, maybe I can open the door from the other side? Will you be alright in here?"

 

Once they affirm that yes, they'll be fine, Saphielle nods. "I'll be back, I swear. I'll scope out the situation and give it a shot." Once said, she climbs up the nearest wall and squeezes herself into the vent, noting that she fits a little better than she used to. Oh. I should be concerned, but I will be at a Later Time. It's stress. Saphielle wriggles out on the other side and nimbly hops down to the ground. Upon entering the room, her face falls. 

 

What the hells happened here...?

 

The soft crying of a baby fills her ears, and instantly her ears perk up. "Doctor Shivers. If you can hear me, there's a baby in here."

 

 

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : ARCADE]

 

"No signal on my end," Virgil curses as he tries to move his device around. "My communicator might be busted, Mar. F***, this is a problem." He shakes his head as he follows the mijorian man down towards the labs. "Aster's a strong b******, I'm sure she's fine. And if she's not, I will personally strongarm her to wake her up. Seems we need some muscle right now." He grumbles a couple things in Italian under his breath. "I just don't get what in the flying f*** happened. I just... Like, what's going ON here? I keep trying to contact Zikvien, but..." He curses as the message bounces back for the millionth time. "Screw this device!" He growls in frustration, stuffing it in a pocket. 

 

Looking at the rubble, Virgil sighs. "I ain't got a strategy, but I can do as much as I can with this crap." He shakes his head before starting to poke at the heavier pieces. "Damn, if someone did hit us, they better be ready with some backup. They f***** us up here." With that, he shrugs. "Well, I wonder... Maybe if I put these to the side, stack them like this so we have a path--" He groans when he has to move to the side as some rubble starts sliding down. "Or... That."

 

F*** me gently with a chainsaw, he thinks to himself.

[Lycanious]

ASTERODIA

LOCATION: Living Quarters

CHARACTERS: Rex

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Ain’t like it's the first time I headbutted a bottle into pieces.” Aster grunted. Her answer was followed by a dismissive hand–wave as she took a step away from the far taller woman, deliberately distancing herself in the hopes it would avoid having her injuries be inspected. Mjiorians were legendary for their resilience after all, she could handle herself just fine for now. Physical contact was additionally not something Aster was particularly fond of, with the exception of a few individuals, though she wasn’t certain how well someone like Rex remembered that rule. 

 

Though the main power seemed to be offline, the series of tiny, circular safety lights lining the walls of their room bathed the area in just enough light for Aster to determine that Rex thankfully wasn’t injured. Or, at least, well enough to stand before her. “Dunno what happened yet.” She announced, now turning from the other woman in favour of approaching the Echo screen that sat near the entrance to their quarters. Tapping at the screen, she frowned as she briefly observed her eye-shaped symbol fizzle and glitch into view before promptly disappearing again. At the same time, an automatic error message crackled out of the speaker for the screen. “ERROR. PRIMARY SYSTEMS OFFLINE. SECONDARY SYSTEMS DISPLAY MODERATE LEVELS OF CORRUPTION.” A huff of annoyance escaped Aster, and she stooped to pry open the panel below the screen embedded into the wall.

 

“Hm…nothing out of the ordinary I’m seeing here…I’m guessing something happened to the Power Core?” She rumbled. Standing back up, she then gestured towards the panel as a silent invitation for Rex to offer a second opinion before switching her gaze to the room around them. “Aye, something ain’t right for sure. Reckon we better go checkout Engineering and see what’s up.” Thankfully, due to their occupations they were only a short walk away from the main Power Core room. The front door was similarly unresponsive as Aster approached it, though thankfully she was able to manually force it open after prying off the panel beside it and turning the valve to release it.

“****, looks like the power’s down out in the hall here too. We might be running on the backup generator at the moment.” Aster stepped out of their quarters and into the hall, glancing back to check whether Rex planned on following her.

 

----

 

DR. MINERVA MALAKOU

LOCATION: Research Labs

CHARACTERS: Jixx-B | Hagall

 

Alarmed, Minerva instinctively flinched back as unnerving sounds filled her ears. Something large and solid, possibly a desk, clipped her in the arm as it was flung across the room. A sharp hiss of pain escaped her and she clutched at her arm, grimacing as she tried to piece together what was happening to her poor deinogen colleague. 

 

The staticky, stuttering voice of Jixx-B finally answered her. For just a second she was relieved. “Yes? Yes it’s me Honey Bee- oh no, sweetie…” Said relief was quickly cut short, as she heard the horrible retching from the other being and started to panic over what that meant for xem. Though she had picked up a handful of interesting facts about deinogens since working alongside one, Minerva could hardly claim to be an expert when it came to treating injuries. 

 

“I’m okay, but my visual aid and Hagall are both unresponsive.” She informed when asked, being sure to reach forward and grasp briefly at the deinogen’s arm to indicate her presence before withdrawing her hand once more. The supposed missing foot would have to go ignored for now, she decided, as judging from the distress emanating from the deinogen xey had worse problems to worry about right now. Treading carefully, Minerva slowly made her way over to the wall and walked along it, her hand tracing across various panels and fixtures along it. Beside her she could hear Jixx-B struggling with something, xer sharp claws scraping frantically across the ground and earning xem a wince of sympathy as she searched for what she needed. Finally made contact with the words ‘First Aid Kit’ embedded in braille. Mercifully it seemed that the emergency kit had managed to stay anchored to its storage panel, and Minerva quickly extracted it before returning to Jixx-B’s side.

“No, no, please don’t apologise. Just try to rest while I try to work this out, alright?” Minerva sighed, setting down the First Aid kit beside them to start rifling through for supplies. Soon her fingers graced across what felt to be a few bundles of cloth bandages, as well as a large roll of tape. Judging from its bumpy texture, it was of the strong, water-proof variety of duct tape. “I’m going to patch you up as best as I can and then I’m going to go get help.” She informed, forcing her voice to stay calm as she removed a section of gauze from the kit and held it out for Jixx-B to take a look at. “Can you direct me to where you want me to patch first?”

 

---

 

MARLOW

LOCATION: Hallway > Research Labs

CHARACTERS: Blue-Bot | Hagall | Juku | Minerva | Virgil

 

Likewise, a grumble of profanities from mixed origins escaped Marlow once Virgil informed him communications were down. “Ain’t they supposed to still work during a power failure?” He questioned, brow knitting together with concern as his brain failed to come up with a definitive answer to that. He was certain Zikvien had mentioned something about that during their training…

 

Virgil’s small outburst at the device made him jump slightly out of surprise, and his distracted gaze quickly sharpened back onto the man beside him. “Aye, it’s really weird for sure.” Blue eyes widened with an abrupt line of thought. “Maybe someone’s turned on a jammer, somewhere?” Not that Marlow was any sort of expert when it came to tracking or dismantling such a device, but it was certainly something they’d warned about in security training.

 

It also brought about the very concerning question of why someone would do that, if he proved to be correct in his theory.

 

Swallowing down his budding anxiety over the matter for now, Marlow turned his attention towards clearing the debris with Virgil. It mercifully didn’t take the pair very long to forge a path through to the research labs, and Marlow announced the presence of both of them upon entering the room.

 

“Jixx-B? Doctor Minerva?  Everything alright in here- oh gods…” The angle at which Jixx-B was slouched had hidden the extent of xer injuries until Marlow had made his way through the door. At the same time as his eyes registered the state xey were in his nostrils caught a deep whiff of the foul-smelling liquid oozing out of the deinogen, and he audible gagged and turned his back to excuse himself. Quickly the bucket containing the small bot they had found was deposited on the table, and Marlow began to tug desperately at the collar of his shirt in an attempt to better cover his sensitive gills. 

 

“Oh! Thank goodness. I need to get poor Honey Bee here to the infirmary but I can’t lift xem on my own.” Minerva informed, a look of relief crossing her features as she paused from all the bandaging. Marlow took that as an excuse to duck back out of the room and recompose himself, assessing the state of the hallway leading to the medical labs before lingering back in the doorframe. “Infirmary path’s blocked, we just came from there.  But I reckon we can get Bee there through the Medical Labs?” His head then turned to the deinogen, frown returning. “You reckon you can walk, Bee…? Or are we gonna have to find a way to drag you there?”

 

---

 

DR. SHIVERS

LOCATION: Medical Labs > Infirmary

CHARACTERS: Dr. Ianpeiros

 

Being easily over a foot taller than Saphielle and having far more limbs at their disposal to have to squeeze through, there was little hope for Shivers to follow her into the maintenance vent. Instead they hummed with an annoyed acceptance that they seemingly had to stand around and wait, one set of arms crossing over their chest while their talon tapped erratically on the tiled floor beneath them.

 

It wasn’t long before they heard Saphielle’s voice again. Faint, but still audible. Their head tilted in confusion all the same, wondering if they’d heard her right. “Is not being with parental unit?” They eventually called to her, followed by a trill that rose and fell rapidly in pitch and volume. Saphielle may have learned by now that this was the sound Shivers made when they were disapproving of something, though they otherwise kept their thoughts to themself on the matter for now. “What species is being?”

 

After a moment, it became apparent to Shivers that her attention was now focused elsewhere instead of on opening the door. Or, perhaps, the release had been broken on that side too. With a huff of further annoyance the doctor approached the door and stooped to poke at the manual release valve some more. When that failed, they stooped further down to inspect some of the panels along the door.

 

“Wait, what is being…?“ 

 

Several small, metallic spikes seemed to have pierced through the metal of the door from the other side. They were of a similar colour to the door itself, meaning that Shivers had glazed over them at first. An even amount sat on either side of the sliding doors, two each side near the bottom of the doors and two each side near the top. Questioning, but undeterred, Shivers retrieved their trusty scalpel and used it to start prying off the bits of metal. It took a while, but with the combination of strong materials and the ability to heat the bladed tip to warp the metal it didn’t take long for the doctor to finally force the spikes back through to the other side. A satisfying small, metallic ‘clank’ confirmed that something had detached from the door, and they stretched upwards to do the same with the spikes near the top of the door until a second ‘clunk’ sounded. Finally, turning the valve in the wall released the pressure lock on the door, and Shivers was able to scurry out of the room to reunite with Saphielle.

 

Briefly they glanced towards the floor as they passed through, taking note of what looked to be two clamps that had been attached to the door from the other side. Concerning, to say the least. It was enough to make the doctor pause for a moment to contemplate their existence, eventually stooping to sweep them up into one of their many, many lab coat pockets before continuing onwards.

“No, no, is not being good. Infirmary is being all messy and the upside down.” They fretted, now turning their attention to the fact that several beds and expensive pieces of equipment had been flung about the place.  "Is Doctor Freckles Koshka being knowing the casualty count yet, yes?"

 

---

BEATRIX

LOCATION: Storage - Portside

CHARACTERS: Finn | Jamie
 

Unamused to say the least, Beatrix could only glare across at the mjiorian as she watched him flounder about and try to scramble back up onto his feet. A claw ran down the side of her face, followed by a deep inhale that she held for several seconds before finally exhaling once more. [ "We don’t have a lot of time, tuna-head. "] She growled out in ix-ruulkan, before switching back to a language they at least semi-shared. “Time short. Move things.” She did her best to explain, accompanying the order with a dramatic gesture towards shelves still blocking the doorway and then towards him.

 

As the device was held out to her she faulted, slightly, and a sliver of sympathy perhaps made itself known before it was quickly buried under her annoyance and assistance that they needed to get out of here first and foremost. “Wife can fix. Need to go.” She informed, though she was uncertain over what gestures to accompany the explanation with. Omnisign had never been her strong-point, limiting her to either typing out what she wanted to say or an unsuccessful attempt at charades next if he couldn’t determine what she meant.

Instead she decided best to lead by example, and she hopped her way back over to where the shelves are. They were far too heavy for her to hope to lift on her own, but she could at least start clearing away some of the objects that had fallen to make a clearer path for the mjiorian. “With anyone else? Or just you?” Beatrix asked as she hobbled around, now checking under various things to make sure there wasn’t anyone else hiding somewhere out of view that they should be attending to.

 

---

ZIKVIEN

LOCATION: Security Room

CHARACTERS: Juku | Momo

 

Zikvien angled her head towards Momo at the question, but her expression was grim when she then focused her line of sight back onto Juku. [ Need health-people. Think some souls reclaimed. ] She wished that she could say something more tactful in her mourning over that, but her vocabulary was unfortunately too limited when it came to Tones. Again her gaze swept over the debris, noting very little movement from elsewhere. Logic dictated that she should start sifting through it all, and so she began to do just that despite the numerous protests from her own injuries.

 

It was only after moving aside several large clumps of rubble, did her theory truly sync in as confirmed. An unresponsive Commander Kharzon, her mentor, was the first she had found. At first Zikvien kept a neutral face in light of this discovery, trying to power her way through the raw emotion bubbling to the surface and threatening to overtake her. But eventually it got the better of her, and feeling suddenly weak in the knees she slumped heavily against the floor into a seated position.

 

Zita-gaxx didn’t cry in the same way many other species did. Given how precious a resource that water was on their planet, their bodies had evolved to waste very little of it. But she did emit a low bellow of anguish, loud enough for it to vibrate through the floor, and forced her gaze on the viewport beside her in a hopeless attempt to hide her moment of grief from Juku.

 

It was there, after staring out the viewport for a few moments, did it register with Zikvien that there was something odd floating beside the ship. It was difficult to make out all the features, given how close it was to the window, but it eventually occurred to her that she had been staring not at the void of space, but a similarly-coloured wall of scaled flesh. She blinked, rapidly, torn between her sorrow and the bizarre discovery enough to roll back onto her feet and move to press her snout against the glass for a better view. Not much else was visible at the angle she could see, other than the suggestion of a more colourful fin running along the back of whatever leviathan was pressed up against the ship.

 

[ Big creature. Attack ship? ] She asked Juku. As if on cue, the creature started to roll, and Zikvien noted that they were gradually floating away from the ship. It was then that she was able to observe the lacerations across the creature’s flesh, marred by what looked to be freshly-made laser burns. A dark substance, ink-like in both colour and texture, was pouring out of the creature. Zikvien’s concerns over potential danger turned to sympathy, and she glanced back towards Juku. [ Looks hurt. Think still unclaimed soul? ]

Edited September 27, 2022 by Lycanious

[DustyStar]

Jixx-B

 

"I-i-if you i-i-insist..." Xe replied softly to Minerva's pleas and sighs as she disassembled the med kit in the hopes of helping xem.

 

"B-but, i-i-it i-isn't going to do bzzt much good. I-i-i need my own equipment...I h-have replacement parts that I-I-I-Isilynor k-keeps in their lab...if we could-" xe was interrupted by another coughing fit before xe could explain any further. Xe didnt have it in xem to try and explain again.

 

With a slow, shaking claw Jixx-B reached out for Minerva. Xe let out a sharp gasp of pain complemented by more harsh grating sounds as xe twisted around in the hopes of giving her a better angle to work from. Xe now sat facing her, closer to a seated position but still hunched over due to the panel wedged in xir back plating. Xe placed a single, massive paw over her two small hands xe carefully guided her towards xir fractured chest plate.  Xe gingerly pulled Minerva's hands over the cracks where xir glass paneling had shattered, leaving a sizeable hole of exposed flesh that was still actively oozing blood. 

 

"Give me some gauze, i-i-i'll patch the hole i-i-in my right thigh plate, you fill this one zzt with gauze and use the tape to close i-i-it shut." Xe instructed while slowly tracing Minervas hands around the cracks in the glass to hopefully give her an idea of the size and depth of the wound.

 

After they had made substantial progress patching up some of the holes in Jixx-B's plating a distant crash and unsteady footsteps could be heard from behind them. Jixx-B's head snapped over in the direction of the sound as Xir large forearms reached out for Minerva in a protective gesture.

 

"D-did you hear that?" Xe whispered. 

 

The sound of crashing rubble was fortunately met with a familiar voice addressing the both of them. The wounded Deinogen let out a relived sigh. 

 

Marlow and Virgil's presence was interrupted by the sound of Marlow's sudden gagging and his footsteps shuffling away from them. Jixx-B made an attempt to turn around and face the newcomers, but movement was slow and xir joints creaked with effort. The mijorians voice then came from just out of the doorway asking if Bee could move.

 

"I-i-i think i-i-i can make it i-i-if i crawl..." Xe replied.

 

"Foots missing, can't extend my spine all the way..." Xe explained with a heaving breath as xe rose up onto xir forelimbs. The front two were sturdy, the lower two still clung to the chestplate to protect it. Xe slowly pulled one of xir back legs up to a crawling position, the other, lacking a foot, hung limply behind.

 

"Watch out." Jixx-B called.

 

Xe flicked xir massive tail to get it free of the debris sending more desk pieces flying into the far wall. With caution, xe began tentatively crawling forwards towards the door. Desks crunched underneath xir weight and the fragmented pieces of glass sounded like gravel as xe clambered over them. 

 

"D-Dr. Malakou, please be careful. Do you need someone to guide you?" They halted for a moment, making sure their sightless friend had a safe way out before continuing down the hallway.

 

"Lead the zzt way, Marlow." They said, voice still mangled by pops of static.

 

Juku

 

Juku stared in thoughtful concern as Zikvien began shifting through the rubble in search of any others. Eir gaze lingered on the unconscious form of Momo, someone who was so sprightly and seemed so...frightened just moments before all this had occurred. Something about Momo's reaction, his urgency, his excited rambling, lingered in Juku's mind. Did he know this was going to happen?

 

Juku's throughs were interrupted by a low mourning sound coming from Zikvien, followed by a defeated thud. Ey snapped to where she had fallen in the room and scrambled over to her with pointed haste.

 

He found her slumped over the lifeless form of her former mentor. Upon approach she turned slightly away. Juku didn't want to intrude on her grief so ey kept a polite distance from her to allow her to mourn.  Ey stood just behind her, with eir hands folded and eir head bowed low, letting out a soft, elongated tone of sympathy for her loss.

 

Ey startled out of her way as Zikvien suddenly got up to investigate the far window. Ey trotted behind her, letting out a curious chirp as to what has so suddenly caught her attention. Ey followed her gaze to the shifting mass of scales that was pressed up to the side of the ship, cocking eir head to the side and glancing at Zikvien with a shrug.

 

[ Know not... ] Ey responded to her inquiry about it potentially attacking the ship. It wasn't a bad theory, but before Juku could entertain it any further the being rolled, displaying several gnarly laser burns along its side. 

 

[ Protected us, maybe? ] Juku's immediate response came after seeing the injuries.

 

Ey let out a thoughtful hum to Zikvien's question. Something within Juku felt that the creature was very much still alive, but was unsure of how to get its attention to confirm this. After a moment of thoughtful contemplation eir eyes lit up with an idea.

 

[ Don't think soul reclaimed. Wait. Try talking? ] Ey warbled at Zikvien, hoping for her understanding.

 

Closing eir eyes in concentration ey pressed eir large reptilian hand up to the glass of the window. Ey began emitting a low rumbling sound, a sound that could be heard through the thick sands of their home planet, something designed to travel long distances. It gathered in intensity, vibrating the walls hard enough to loosen a few small pieces of debris now joining the mess on the floor. Juku abruptly ended eir attempt at communication and waited eagerly for a response. At first it seemed no response would come, but for a moment ey swore they could hear a high pitched whine echo back to em. 

 

With anxious excitement Juku began scrambling away from Zikvien towards the rooms exit, hurriedly gesturing for her to follow.

 

[ Come. Must find better spot for talking. Find others. Help them. Come. ] They chirped out, trying to keep eir tones and simple and straightforward as ey could for eir friend.

 

 

Jamie

 

It took a minute for the woman's wild gesturing to make sense in Jamie's mind. Glancing between the cluster of shelves near the door and the irate ix-ruulkan he finally responded with a hum of recognition.

 

"Oh yeah! I can move those!" He yelled with excited determination already scrambling his way past Beatrix towards the door.

 

He rubbed his hands together as he sized up the shelves, trying to figure out the best strategy for removing them. He started with one of the lighter ones, carefully grabbing the edge and lifting it slowly as to not cause another avalanche of shelf parts and storage items. 

 

He couldn't make out much of what the woman said, but caught something along the lines of "anyone else?". Jamie hummed thoughtfully to Beatrix question while he continued clearing the shelves. 

 

"Nope, just me and you in here." He answered, much louder than what was needed for the other woman across the room to hear him.

 

"My partner left before i-" Jamie stopped. 

 

"My partner." He said again, a little slower, realization creeping into his tone.

 

"WHERE'S XAVI-" He screeched, throwing the last shelf aside with more strength than necessary before kicking the storage room door in as hard as he could. 

 

"We have to go find him ma-am, hurry!" He called out to Beatrix, but he was already running his way down the hall, his loud voice echoing through its empty passageways.

[Lycanious]

(Alright, going to try a time-skip of a few days here and see if we can get this one up and running again. Please note that there may be some small inconsistencies between characters or setting in the early intro posts and the following.)

 

ZIKVIEN

LOCATION: Food Court

CHARACTERS: Asterodia | Isilynor | PIXX-L

Three days.

 

It had been three days since the warp-crash, according to the time Zikvien could currently see displayed on the nearby Echo screen. She blinked over at it, in mild disbelief that it hadn’t even been a week yet since they’d been stranded. It certainly felt a lot longer than that, with the amount of physical work and emotional turmoil that she and no doubt the rest of the crew had been subjected to just to stop the ship from ripping itself apart. 

 

For the most part, Zikvien had found herself just trying to keep herself together long enough to get through her shift, then return to the quiet and mournful atmosphere of her quarters. It helped that she tended to keep to herself for the most-part anyway. It lead to people mostly just approaching her to ask for her help in shifting some rubble so far, rather than ask about how she was feeling.

 

She stared into the contents of the bowl she’d just prepared for herself. A few slices of this ‘bacon’ dish was all she had opted for until she could get better confirmation on how much food was left for the rest of the crew. After all, she knew many of them did not have the luxury of the zita-gaxx efficiency when it came to having to ration food. She glanced away from the kitchen and towards the food court beside it, exhaling heavily as she tried to ignore how much emptier it now felt.

 

The imposing zita-gaxx stepped forward and started to carefully weave past a few of the more occupied tables of the food court, opting for her usual, lonesome spot tucked away in the corner near some artificial ferns. She used to think of it as a nice hide-away from the usual hustle and bustle of the room. Now, she preferred the spot because the ferns obscured most of the view of the half of the food court that had been sectioned off until further notice. 

 

Zikvien sighed, spearing one of the slices of meat with her talon then bringing it up to her maw to devour it. A clearing amongst the fake foliage gave her ample view of the stage, and she tilted her head in an inquisitive manner as she spotted a blur of deep, rich navy and purple begin to strut its way up the stairs and across the stage.

 

Oh, right. The morning report.

 

Briefly she lifted her neck and peered over the leaves of the ferns, wondering how much of the idle crew was actually bothering to show up to these ‘mandatory’ reports, and noted that there only seemed to be a few dozen blurs taking up the seats so far. Unsurprising, she thought to herself. The sylphiel drags these things out far too much.

 

“Excuse me, ahem,”

 

Zikvien slowly shifted her gaze back to the stage, and reluctantly settled in to listen to the announcements for the day.

 

Stood upon the stage was a very tired looking sylphiel, currently tapping impatiently at the screen of the tablet in their hands. Zikvien had come to learn over the last few days that the name of the sylphiel was Isilynor, one of few visitors to the ship that had decisively taken up the reins in trying to bring some measure of order back to the increasingly-despondent crew. 

 

“If I could have your attention please.” Huffed Isilynor, first addressing the small crowd in omnispeak and then repeating a much short, much louder series of barks for attention in a few other dialects. Zikvien recognised one of them as an, admittedly, fairly decent attempt at Zita Common, but otherwise didn’t have a translation for the rest.

 

“Excuse me, could you all- hmmmph.” Unable to quell the crowd chatter, Isilynor’s gaze snapped to the nearest other individual. This happened to be a short deinogen (by deinogen standards) that referred to herself as PIXX-L, who twitched her neck towards them and stared back with an equally wide-eyed expression mid-mop of the floor in front of her.

 

“Do me a favour, get their attention, will you?” Sighed Isilynor.

 

“Oh, uh, yeah nah no worries mate one sec.” PIXX-L was quick to comply, tapping at what appeared to be a volume switch from behind one of her ears and cranking it to its full capacity. She then grabbed the mop and started to bang it heavily against one of the spare, metallic buckets that occasionally followed her around while attending to her duties. 

 

“OI EVERYONE, SHUT YOUR GOBS!”

 

A sharp thud followed, courtesy of Isilynor dropping the tablet to cover their feather-tipped ears with their one functioning set of arms. The other, mechanical set twitched in an unhelpful manner, and stayed pinned to their sides. Evidently they hadn’t had time to try to repair the second set, not to mention the complete absence of their mechanical wings as well.

 

“Yes-yes, enough of that now, thank you, you tinnitus-inducing trashcan.” They eventually grumbled, once the noise had finally halted and they’d had a moment to retrieve the tablet. PIXX-L grinned and made a thumbs-up motion in their direction. Isilynor’s scowl just deepened, before they shook their head and started to finally read from the tablet in omni-speak.

 

“First and foremost, I do want to thank those of you who have actually bothered to show up here. Yes, I am fully aware that we have many members who have valid reasons for not attending these morning meetings. But if we want any chance of actual survival in this situation I implore all of you to continue to make time for these and stay vigilant in your assigned duties.”

 

Zikvien found herself nodding in a slow, half-hearted manner. She understood the importance of course. But it didn’t bring back lost crew members nor make their situation look anything but a little bleaker with each passing day. Not to mention that Isilynor’s snide, condescending tone of voice had a tendency to grate on her nerves.

 

“Aye, aye, we getcha you pompous old peacock. Just finish up your squawking so I can go back to suffering from this ****ing hangover of mine, aye?” Called a voice from further back at one of the other tables, and Zikvien had no doubt that it was the hot-headed Asterodia that had called out to them. Isilynor however only looked mildly perturbed by this, briefly clicking their tongue against their sharp, beak-like mouth and regarding her with an irritable expression before continuing with their announcements.

 

“Anyway," They continued, as the snarky mjiorian thumped her forehead back onto the table before her and emitted a bizarre sound that seemed a muffled combination of a laugh, a growl, and a sob. "Looks to be another eventful day for all of us. We still have debris to clear in some of the ship locations, so those of you who are more suited to manual labour I would encourage you to take a look at the ship map of your nearest Echo screen and help us all out there. I believe our aim for today is to finally clear the path for between the library and the gym, and look for any more survivors.”

 

Idly, Zikvien nodded, deciding that was what she would probably occupy herself with again once she’d finished with the bacon slices.

 

“Otherwise, all hands on deck as far as repairs and supplies go. If you can fix it, fix it. If you can’t, find someone who can as soon as possible. Report everything to Echo. This ship is now moving again but it is barely scraping by. We need to change that if we ever want to get back home.”

 

Isilynor then sighed, scrolling through what may have been a few more announcements and muttering to themself. “Hm…Ah…Oh, yes. There’s been a poll sent out to everyone’s communicators. Some nearby planets have been located, but we want the opinion of the crew as to which one they think is most optimal to visit first. Details are provided in the poll, please submit your votes and any other comments or concerns by the end of the day.”

 

They hummed again to themself, tapping a perfectly-manicured talon to their screen as they came to the last notable item on their list for today. A singular eyebrow arched, the sylphiel’s eyes scanning several times over the message before they surveyed the room and briefly switched to what she assumed was an Earthern dialect of some kind. < “Oh and, Mr. Cerullo, if you are here please report to the infirmary as soon as you are able. Apparently there is an urgent matter awaiting you.” >

 

The sylphiel then dismissed themself, and the chatter started up again as they daintily dropped down from the side of the stage and started to idle at its edge, presumably to see if anyone had any lingering questions for them.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Lycanious

[Mikasa361]

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : BAR]

 

 

“Gods, can you get me your strongest whiskey?” 

 

Saphielle had had a rough three days, and other than attending work she had been very scarce. Nobody knew where she’d been, if someone were to ask. And if she had the chance, she would hide away for the rest of her miserable life. But alas, she could only go missing for so long before Virgil tried to ram her door down to make sure she wasn’t planning anything rash. So now here she is, finally ready to drink away those three days, regardless of whether or not she would show up for work in the next two hours.

 

What good would she be anyway, if she came in today?

 

She came in every single work shift.

 

She came in to work on that day, and what did that do?

 

Not a damn thing, in her eyes. Too many people died in the incident, too many people died while she tried desperately to save them.

 

Zentha had been one of them. And she didn’t even know Zentha was on the ship until that day. She had been one of the longest surviving patients, having only passed the day before. And yet, because of that it was her passing that hit the hardest- what in the hell would she tell Aenwyn if they ever reunited?

 

Aye. That I’m a sorry excuse for a doctor and couldn’t save one of her best friends?

 

She had to admit, the idea was a painful one. But perhaps it would be best if she didn’t show up for work ever again.

 

I’m sorry, Shivers. 

 

The bartender gives her a concerned expression, uncertain if giving the only other doctor on board alcohol is a good idea. But they decide that only one drink would be best, and they pour a glass for her. “You should be careful,” they warn, “your shift is coming soon, aye?”

 

“Aye, look at what bein’ careful led me.” She grumbles, taking a sip. “I’ll be ordering another glass. They ain’t gonna need me in there. Not when there’s f***-all I can do.”

 

They look saddened, but they turn around to clean a couple of glasses. If a certain someone they knew was on the way, perhaps there was still hope that she would be taken out of there before she drank her weight in whiskey.
 

 

 

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : FOOD COURT]

 

 

He was about to get back to eating his sad excuse of a lunch before Isylinor addressed him.

 

“Oh and, Mr. Cerullo, if you are here please report to the infirmary as soon as you are able. Apparently there is an urgent matter awaiting you.”

 

That’s when he cocks his head to the side, but they don’t elaborate further so he decides it’s best to just go over there and see what’s going on. He’s hoping Saphielle would be in there- he knew the koshka was much better at giving news with tact.

 

Although- he felt healthy. Why would he– Oh, he did take a swab three days ago…. They didn’t find some sort of weird space disease, did they?!

 

Aww s***. 

 

He decides that maybe he shouldn’t go alone, but he didn’t trust all that many people here with his medical information. God forbid someone like Isilynor went with him, he would never hear the end of it. 

 

So he pops up behind Marlow and taps his arm. “Hey Mar, um…. Can you come with me to the infirmary? I’m being summoned and I need someone there in case I’m somehow dying.”

 

He leads Marlow to the infirmary, where he opens the door to eventually find Shivers is the only one there. 

 

Aww, S***.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Mikasa361
formatting

[ValidEmotions]

Aezsaa

"Ezsa"

She | They pronouns

Location: Food Court

Characters: Heather | Others

 

Fingers rolled the cane against the palm of her left hand, artificial light glinting off the metal and glass that created the decorative head. The faint, electromagnetic, hum vibrated against her flesh. As they listened to Isilynor remind the scant crowd about the debris left to clear and the intended zones to focus on, Aezsaa glanced briefly at their left shoulder. Their coat sleeve was balled up into a secure knot, covering the stump left behind from the crash. Normally, she would have jumped at the opportunity to help clear away debris with the knowledge that she was--had been--stronger than many. But, now, she wavered between forms too sporadically to be of great use. Perhaps the best she could do was shuffle through paperwork or smaller bits of debris to find anything remotely salvageable for the ship repairs. Assuming, of course, that she was cleared for work. However, out of the medical professionals that were alive--let alone conscious enough--very few had any knowledge about Draxiek medicine. And what they did know was very minimal. Aezsaa didn't blame anyone for that, though. It wasn't easy for outsiders to study the anatomy of Draxieks. 

 

At the prompt about voting for a poll, Aezsaa eyed her cane. The orb floating at the head lit up, waiting for her input. Through a series of voice commands, they found the poll that Isilynor mentioned, reading the various options available for selection. There was no indication whether or not votes could be changed after submission. So, Aezsaa played cautious. She'd need to think over the options before making her final choice. Food and scrap metals were both important types of resources, especially if what Isilynor said about the Observer limping along currently was the group's reality. Personally, a distress signal could wait until the crew could breathe easier about not starving or losing further function of the ship.

 

A sigh. 

 

"Are you going to eat anything?"

 

Looking away from the holographic display of their cane, Aezsaa turned instead to Dot. "Not right now." 

 

"You should," Dot went on, setting his tray upon the table Aezsaa occupied. He pushed a bowl of soup towards them, still speaking. "No use in you remaining weakened, right?" 

 

She glanced down at the offering, noting it to be some tomato soup recipe. "Organic food won't change that. I need minerals."

 

A pause. "Oh...." Dot briefly stopped mid-bite of his sandwich before ultimately finishing the motion and stuffing a corner into his mouth. After he swallowed, he continued. "Well, I'm sure we've got some rock samples in the labs. That area's been cleared of rubble, hasn't it?" Aezsaa shook their head and Dot made another 'oh' in response. Silence. Then, "We'll, uh... find something for you, I guess." He shrugged a shoulder and went on eating.

 

Eventually, Dot finished her sandwich and Aezsaa finally began on the soup. "You gonna help with the library, then?"

 

The Draxiek hummed slightly. "Maybe. I won't be of much use, though."

 

"Probably not. But, hey, you still have an arm. I'm sure you can help lift something, regardless. Just need to stay with a buddy." 

 

"That's... true, I suppose." Aezsaa hadn't thought of it that way. Still, however, the unpredictability of her wavering form could prove risky. "We'll see, I guess. Where will you be going today?"

 

"Me?" Dot chewed over the question, tapping her index finger against the table. "Probably continue sorting through the tech. Figure out what's still working, what's fixable, and what can be dismantled for scraps to fix what's fixable." She shrugged again. "Although, I think Isilynor and Echo wanted me to check in with them first. See how the new--modifications, are holding together." She frowned. Dot still wasn't exactly happy with such a situation but, there wasn't much she could do about it now. Isilynor already chastised him three days ago--granted while he was in a state of panic--about nearly ripping out the hasty hook-up to Echo that ultimately saved Dot's life. He started to rise, gathering his tray in the process. "Should get that discussion done and over with." 

 

Aezsaa watched as he left, polishing off the soup she'd been given. Unfortunate. Now she had a dish that she couldn't carry. "...thanks for the food, Dot."

 

 

Datt-A

"D.A." | "D" | "Stereo Reverb"

She | They pronouns

Location: Security Room - Communications Desk

Characters: N/A

Advisory note: Datt-A has a broken voice box that is stuck on YELL. Please read their dialogue as such.

 

Electronic beats blasted against the walls of the security room, objects and furniture quaking slightly with each jarring thump of impact from the Deinogen jumping in sync. Manuals and protocol binders crashed to the ground as a thick, striped, tail swept across one of the desks. Datt-A hollered with the music. Well, 'hollered' wasn't the right word. They emitted more of a synthetic pitch that matched with their music, the concept of volume control a thing of their past ever since the ship's wreck. At last, she heard the yell over all the noise, shouting her name. The music died abruptly and Datt-A ceased dancing, digital eyes locating the organic who had spoken. "Damn, finally!" the feline whimpered, pain etched in her features as she gingerly uncovered her ears. "Tone it down, will you? Not everyone wants to be hearing your ruckus while sleeping," Bom-Byx groused.

 

"Sorry, I'll keep that in mind," Datt-A replied, earning a scowl from the feline as their voice dominated the office. She grinned while she grumbled and left, making her the only occupant once more in the security room. Ears perked when she registered Isilynor's voice providing the newly designated morning report. Footsteps thumping, she hunched over the communications desk, thick claws tapping at the too-small keyboard. The glass surface cracked midway through her keystrokes, coaxing a wince and quick glance around the room from Datt-A. 

 

From the video feed, she recognized the stuffy sylphiel at the side of the stage. The human cyborg--what was their name again?--was walking up to Isilynor. Before she had the opportunity to start talking to the grumpy bird, Datt-A took control of the PA system. "I have a question," they yelled into the mic. "Are we gonna be able to find your sense of humor in the gym? Because, that's really the only important thing I believe we're missing."

Edited February 28, 2023 by ValidEmotions

[Lycanious]

ASTERODIA

LOCATION: Food Court > Bar

CHARACTERS: Odrin | Saphielle

 

Head resting heavily on the table, Aster found herself almost lulled to sleep once the incessant twittering of Isilynor finally died down. She had barely gotten any of it since finding out they’d been stranded out here, occupying herself primarily with either trying to repair whatever she could or helping out with any heavy lifting instead.

 

She didn’t want to take a break, despite the advice of a certain doctor. Taking a break meant she actually had to think about the situation they found themselves in and that would lead to all sorts of soft, useless types of emotions that had no place on a vessel struggling to survive in the vast vacuum of space.

For a moment, her mind started to drift to thoughts of just how little chance their ship had of getting them back home, before she scowled and lifted her head once more to attempt to drown them out with several more swigs of her morning ‘coffee’.

 

****, none left.

 

Another visit to the bar it was, then.

 

Aster half-slid, half-stumbled out of her chair and made a grab for another across from it, taking a moment to steady herself before she staggered on forward. She blamed the shattering of her eye implant more-so than her choice of beverage though, given that the left side of her face was still mostly wrapped in bandages. It made everything look off-centred and she was notably clumsier for it, bumping into another chair with a bark of sharp, mjiorian profanity as she exited the room.

 

“Ah, I assume that’s you, Aster?” Hummed a far softer voice in response. Aster twitched her head to the side to glare over at Odrin behind the bar, and grunted in response before trudging towards him.

 

“No good morning?”

 

“It ain't one. You should know that."

 

Odrin sighed, and nodded in vague acknowledgement. “Are you at least at the end of a shift…?” He inquired, to which Aster nodded groggily as she thumped her elbow up onto the bench and rested her temple in the palm of her hand.

 

“Good, good. Just a moment, I have some tables to clean first.” Hummed Odrin, as he stepped away momentarily to tend to said tables. A series of loud, unpleasant clicks and whirs sounded as his artificial leg struggled to properly conform to its usual movements, but the old bo’grul seemed undeterred by it and instead seemed to start humming a tune along to the sound it made.

 

Aster sighed, expelling the air through her gills as she finally decided to turn and actually absorb her surroundings for a moment. It didn’t take her long to spot a certain koshka lady several seats away, and after a moment of thought she called out to her.

 

“End of shift too, aye?” She asked, now resting her chin in her palm as she turned slightly to better see her. “You and the pteratrix looked pretty busy when I went to get me face seen to. ”
 

MARLOW

LOCATION: Food Court > Infirmary

CHARACTERS: Shivers | Virgil

 

All things considered, Marlow felt that he didn’t have much of a right to feel as miserable as he did right now. Isilynor’s reports were not exactly of an uplifting nature for anyone, granted, but he had to admit the feeling of a dull hollowness had settled in his gut long before the exasperated sylphiel had demanded their attention.

 

There was an odd sense of guilt that accompanied the emotion, as the mjiorian turned back to make his decision on what pre-prepared plate he was going to take for his breakfast. Compared to others, him and his loved ones had escaped the disaster relatively unscathed, or had mercifully not been on the ship in the first place to worry for them. Even his own injuries had mostly healed up to this point, save for the dull pain in his shoulder if he exerted himself too much moving about all the debris as of late.

 

He’d still been one of the crew members to have had their breaking moment though. Out of sight at least, save for when Virgil had found him sobbing in the bathroom two nights ago, but he still felt in an odd way that he had already failed the crew on trying to stay a positive force for others to depend on. He couldn’t be a Skrul, or even a Jamie for that matter. In fact Marlow was little more than a peliim, a soft and rotund excuse for a mjiorian of very little use and-

 

“Hey Mar?”

 

Marlow startled, turning abruptly towards the familiar voice of Virgil as he felt a light touch to his arm.

 

“Uh…” For a moment he’d frozen, eyes darting between the melted cheese on toast on the plate he’d picked up and Virgil as if he expected a lecture for the meal. His expression briefly looked relieved as he registered Virgil was seemingly too distracted to notice though, and he moved to place the meal back down onto the bench. His face, however, quickly morphed to a much more appropriate frown of concern as he registered what the other man was actually saying to him. “Gods. That doesn’t sound great.” Rumbled the mjiorian. 

 

Marlow didn’t hesitate as Virgil gestured for him to follow though.

 

It was surprisingly quiet when they entered the infirmary, considering that the current doctor on duty was Shivers. Indeed the pteratrix merely sat hunched over a computer screen at the entrance desk, their talons making a rapid tck-tck-tck sound as they tapped away at the keyboard in front of them. A single antennae perked up over the computer screen as they sensed the arrival of the duo, followed soon after by what looked to be a ball of fluff with a set of large, red-tinted goggles perched in its centre.

 

They emitted a soft, drawn-out chirping sound, which Marlow had learned was a friendly greeting for the pair of them. Uncertain, he waved back a slightly before replying.

 

“Ahoy, Doctor. Um. Apparently you have some news for Verge?”

 

The fluff-ball tilted to the side, inquisitive. “Mmm. Which is being them…?” Shivers asked. Gesturing with his thumb in Virgil’s direction, Marlow watched as they nodded in abrupt recognition and, with an uncharacteristic carefulness, eased themself out of their chair.

 

The reason for their carefulness was soon revealed as they skittered around the desk in full view of Marlow and Virgil. While they’d been typing at the computer with one pair of arms, the other two were currently occupied with gently cradling a bundle of blankets close to their chest. Delicately they started to adjust the blankets, soon revealing what looked to be a newborn koshka fast asleep in their arms.

 

“Is being hoping for Dr. Red-Headed Freckles Koshka to arrive before this speaking time.” Sighed the pteratrix. “Is being better at the explaining and the emotions and such, yes.”

 

Shivers then motioned towards their office with one of their free hands. “Mr. Yellow Jacket Human be following the Doctor Shivers to the speaking room, yes? Is being important news for him.”
 

Isilynor

LOCATION - Food Court

CHARACTERS - Dot

 

By the time Dot had started to approach Isilynor had begun to occupy themself with a nearby Echo screen, lingering still at the side of the stage as they mumbled to themself. “Echo, food status report.” Isilynor ordered in a sharp, business-like tone as Dot drew closer. Row by row a table of food quantities started to spawn, while a tally of compatible food options for the crew hovered at the top. Golden eyes trailed momentarily towards the scrolling series of tallies as the status for ‘sylphiels’ appeared. For the third time in a row a big, red zero accompanied the label. The corner of their mouth twitched in response. “Surely, there must be something…” They muttered under-breath, in a rare defeated tone of voice for them.

 

From the audio system several feet away from them a voice suddenly blasted, startling the sylphiel into dropping their tablet again and scrambling back several steps from both it and the Echo screen they’d been working on. They almost found themself crashing right into Dot from behind, only managing to manoeuvre around her with a last-second, almost graceful side-step as they twirled around then came to an abrupt, irritable stop with a stomp of their boot against the tiled floor.

 

“I don’t know! Why don’t you make use of the fact you’re thrice the size of most of us and go help them find it then!” They hollered back at the speaker, hands held high into the air in a show of frustration as they lacked a better comeback for the comment. Isilynor then pressed the palm of their hands into their eyes and emitted a low, warbling sound of distress before abruptly snapping their attention towards Dot before them.

 

“Yes?! What is it?! If it’s another complaint about having no hot water in your quarters then I am sorry but as I’ve told five of you already we need that for all these mjiorians on crew!” 

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Lycanious

[Mikasa361]

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : DR. SHIVERS' OFFICE]

 

 

Virgil knits his eyebrows together as the pteratrix doctor muses that it should have been Saphielle delivering the news instead of themselves. “I don't have some sort of crazy space disease, do I?” He asks before his eyes dart over to look at the newborn that Shivers is holding. They look awfully familiar, especially so when they shift a little in their sleep to reveal a small mark on their chin, similar to his own. No way, he thinks to himself. It’s much more likely that I’m dying. 

 

The baby makes very tiny burbling noises in their sleep, one of their ears twitching ever so slightly. 

“...Cute baby, Doc.” He muses as he follows Shivers into the office, glancing at Marlow and making a motion with his head to follow as well. “Doubt they’re yours, though, yeah?” Virgil winces at his own statement, but gives a half-laugh to try and lighten some of tension in the air. 

 

He continues to stare at the newborn, their tiny tail starting to poke out from the blankets and swish around. It seems that they’re starting to wake, but desperately clinging to the last moments of sleep they would get for a little bit. God, they look… They look so familiar, but…

 

He then focuses on the fact that the doctor has not yet spoken about this “news”, and his heart starts to race. Oh God, I don’t want to die before I give Delora her birthday present…. I don’t want to die before I see Zentha again, maybe actually get the chance to marry her this time…. F***, please don’t let me die—

 

“Just give it to me straight. Am I dying?”

 

Little does he know just how much wilder the news would be. 

 

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : BAR]

 

 

The whiskey burns good. Real good. She finds herself downing the glass rather quickly, much more quickly than she usually would. Aye. Gives me time for another one. Saphielle is exhausted, and she knows alcohol won't help that one bit. But her goal is numb, not alert. So perhaps it's for the better. She’s just about to flag someone down before a voice addresses her. 

 

“End of shift too, aye?”

 

S***.

 

Haha. No. 

 

“You and that pteratrix looked pretty busy when I went to get me face seen to.”

 

Oh, aye. I remember that.

 

Saphielle sighs. “Shift should actually be starting in a couple hours, aye…” She doesn’t look at Aster quite yet, a bit embarrassed that she was caught drinking before work. But then again. “Not coming in though, no point when everyone in my care dies.” 

 

Mother was right.

 

–

 

“Saphielle, that is a ridiculous idea,” her mother hisses as she looks the acceptance letter over and over. “Who in the hells is going to want you as their doctor, hm?”

 

Her ears tuck back in response. “Mother, I want to save lives. I want to help people! I can’t just settle down now, I have so much of my life ahead of me–”

 

“What lives? There’s no way you of all people are capable of doing such a task. You?” The elder koshka lets out a shrill laugh in response. “Your husband should be a doctor, if you HAVE to marry other than who we've picked for you. Leoris knew a few doctors. But you?! Do you really think you’ll be anything other than a failure?”

 

“I can’t just sit idle and-”

 

“You can. And you will.” She hisses, throwing the letter down on the desk. “And if it’s not now, it’s certainly after a couple of people die in your care, aye?” The woman narrows her eyes. “I will be waiting for that day.”

 

–

 

Her mother was right. She was a failure. 

 

Saphielle flags someone down and asks for another whiskey. 

 

Then she finally turns to look at Aster, a haggard look in her eyes courtesy of the past few days. “Perhaps Shivers is the more capable doctor, mm… But… Gods, we’re just as good as understaffed…”

 

Her eyes start to glass over, just a touch.

[Lycanious]

ASTERODIA

LOCATION: Bar

CHARACTERS: Odrin | Saphielle

 

Asterodia pondered her statement for a moment, a faint frown etched into her brow as she drummed her webbed fingers on the bench in thought.  “...You took care of me. Don’t reckon I’m dead yet.” She eventually replied. “And I reckon you were the one who patched up Marlow’s shoulder too, aye?”

 

The koshkha’s eyes had started to glass, and Aster silently lectured herself on not knowing what to say to someone in Saphielle’s position. 

 

A single eye glanced behind her and surveyed their surroundings for a moment. The place had very little activity right now, though she supposed the early timeframe was to blame for most of that. To Aster’s dismay Odrin was still busy and she spotted no one that she felt would be in a far better position to actually talk to the other woman. The mjiorian shifted her gaze back to Saphielle, her practically permanent scowl softening the longer she stared.

 

Doing her best to ignore the dizziness in her head, Aster slumped off of her barstool and dragged herself closer until she was now seated on one of the chairs next to Saphielle. She swayed slightly, blinking rapidly as she struggled, and at first failed, to find any sort of words she felt were of any actual use to the koshka doctor.

 

“...I mean…aye, the pteratrix is as much of a medical genius as they are an oddball, I hear. But that ain’t meaning that you ain’t one too, y’know? Or that you ain’t doing a good job around here.”

 

Aster inhaled deeply then slowly exhaled in a tired, contemplative manner as she returned her elbow to the bench and rested her chin in her palm once more. “I dunno. M’sorry. Ain’t so good at the talking stuff. But take it from something of an expert at staring at the bottom of a bottle…I reckon you’ll make yourself feel even worse if you skip out and start wallowing down here with the rest of us no-hopers.”
 

MARLOW

LOCATION: Food Court > Infirmary

CHARACTERS: Shivers | Virgil
 

Marlow watched as Shivers’ head tilted to the side, analysing Virgil for a moment before leaning to the side to tap a few times at one of the screens within their office. A chirp of a command then made the door automatically slide close behind them, and the pteratrix nudged forward one of their chairs. Marlow blinked down at it a few times, then motioned towards it in the hopes that Virgil would decide to take a seat as Shivers continued to read off of their screen and mumble to themself.

 

Eventually, finally, the doctor turned their attention back to the duo and shook their head. “Mm? Is not being crazy space disease, no. Earth, maybe. Doctor Shivers can be checking for those, but?”

 

The mjiorian blinked a few times, processing, then glanced between the two of them. “Um…so…he’s not sick, then?” He prompted. Sometimes Shivers could get a little distracted mid-diagnosis, after all, and needed a gentle nudge back towards the conversation at hand. “Why’s he been called here, then?”

 

Shivers slouched, seemingly uncertain on how to begin. Slowly, they reached across with a spare hand to turn their screen to face them, revealing not Virgil’s profile but that of a familiar koshka woman, Zentha.

 

Marlow froze as he spied the large, red lettering near the top of Zentha’s profile that read ‘DECEASED’.

 

The pteratrix had started to explain something. Marlow found he missed the first few sentences, as his brain processed this new revelation. He hadn’t known Zentha that well, to be honest, but from the few times he had met her she’d seemed a lovely woman. And he knew that Virgil had been rather smitten with her. 

 

Oh gods, Virgil.

 

With a lost expression, Marlow glanced to the side to see what sort of expression Virgil held. Instinctively, Marlow bowed his head as a sign of respect, and reached across to brush his fingertips against Virgil’s arm as a silent reminder that he was there if the other man needed him.

"-Doctor Shivers is wishing to express condolences, yes. Emergency medical team is being trying hardest, yes. Is doing the everything they could with the being low staff and low supplies. But has been very busy last few days. Is being not very familiar with other beings and with the connections, no. Was not being made to know who is being best to contact with news. " Their antennae wilted as they spoke, the closest indication of the sorrow that they were trying to express to the pair from behind the thick layer of fur and goggles that obscured most of their features. "Doctor Shivers understands is being very sad news, yes." Fretful, they tented their two free hands together and glanced about the infirmary in a distressed manner, as if hoping that someone like Saphielle would soon make her appearance and handle this conversation in a much better manner than they felt capable of. 

 

“S-so…so…”

 

It was a while before Marlow found himself able to form a proper sentence, and even then his voice held a meek and mournful sound to it as he spoke to Shivers. “So this little kit would be…hers, then?” He ventured, as he regarded the little koshka with a distraught expression.  By the time a very important question had dawned on him, Shivers had already answered it by taking a step forward and holding out the bundle of blankets for Virgil to take.

 

“Is being offspring of koshka woman, yes. But spaceship voice has been analysing DNA profiles. Is this morning finding Mr. Yellow Jacket Man to be additional DNA donor match, yes." Announced Shivers. Marlow, wide-eyed, turned back to Virgil.  < What?! > Was all he could muster in response, shocked to the point of reverting back to mjiorian sign.

 

DAMIEN

LOCATION: Library

CHARACTERS: Xavi
 

“Can’t believe I’m saying this. But I think I’m actually starting to get sick of this song.” Hunched over a dismantled Echo Screen, what looked to be a koshka male in his early 20s was prodding at some of the inner wiring with the tip of a stylus pen. Nose twitching, Damien flicked his head in a semi-successful attempt to shake his fringe out of the way of his eyes and squinted down at the exposed panel before him. “I’ve attached the spare battery…don’t see any sign of it being enough to power this thing though- Wait. Yep. It’s official. I’m sick of this song.”

 

The koshka meshed his palm into his temple for a moment, disgruntled, then promptly hissed for his communicator to cancel his playlist. Obediently the music died, and he sighed in a melodramatic manner as he rolled back his head and glared up at the ceiling at nothing in particular. “This is what I get for slacking off in Mechanical Engineering, isn’t it?” He asked the heavens, before switching his gaze back to the book beside him. He squinted some more, tilted his head, pulled the book closer and gazed at it for several breaths.

 

“So…wait but…do I need to swap these two wires or…Oh for the love of- forget it! I give up! Can’t see a damn thing!”

The book was shoved off the table, landing with a loud thud onto the marbled floor beneath the koshka and joining the set of now-broken glasses that had been discarded there the night before. A voice, slightly garbled, crackled onto the speaker beside him.

 

“We remind our dear-dear-dearest of visitors that *BZZT* are fragile and should be treated with care.”

 

“Oh shut up.” Damien huffed in reply to the voice, now crossing his arms over the bench and resting his forehead above them as he hissed out a tired, frustrated set of syllables in koshka.

 

Once calmed, mildly, a pointed ear twitched, and slowly he rose his head to glance back at the assortment of desks and shelves to the one other companion he’d had for the past three days. “Xavi? You made any progress yet?” He called out, struggling to find the vague blur of grey, black and yellow amongst the dim glow of the emergency lighting. Not that he was expecting a voice in return, necessarily, but he’d make do with the standard agreement of ‘one knock for yes, two for no, three for oh God we ARE being invaded by space pirates and they’ve just captured me’ for now. 

 

“Most I can manage is occasionally getting to hear Penny lecture me over the speakers. But I think that’s just some sort of automatic message.”

 

Damien then eased away from the front desk of the library, deciding to shove some more books off of it onto the floor for good measure as he did. He made a beeline for the door, as he did so about once every hour since awakening, and uselessly pounded his fist against its frame several times. When the sound weakened, he slouched, and heavily thumped his forehead against the door instead with a defeated sigh.

 

“...There’s gotta be people looking for us, right?” He mumbled, though it wasn’t necessarily aimed at anyone in particular. “Has to be. They would be, if there are still people out there. Dad would be. Jamie would be. Those two at least, right?”

[Mikasa361]

 

[DR. SAPHIELLE IANPEIROS : MEDICAL]

[LOCATION : BAR]

 

Saphielle wipes at her eyes, but her ears remain tucked back as Aster continues to speak. “Aye, but…. I have to tell my best friend that someone she’s known for years passed under my watch….” She fiddles with the straw on her drink in thought, although she’s just ready to crawl back into bed and never return. “Gods, Aster, it’s my bloody fault…”

 

One fingernail taps against the bar in a nervous gesture as her brain starts to get lost in its own thoughts. “Aye– and gods, she has a wee kit now too, poor thing was struggling last night when I switched shifts…. I don’t even know how she’s doing now.”

 

Her tail starts to swish- Aster doesn’t seem too comfortable with being a voice of comfort, but something about her being in close proximity has her escaping her own head a little bit. “...Aye…. I suppose you are still here… It just…. It’s just disheartening when I lost so many patients already…. But you were in a bad way too, I remember….” 

 

That’s when something in her posture seems to relax. “...Aye. Aye, I remember all of that.” Her ears remain tucked, but her tail seems to swish a little bit. “So that’s…. That’s one...”

 

Realistically, she knows more have survived under her care than just one. 

 

But emotionally, that thought is a lifeline.

 

She had never been in this sort of situation before, had she? Not in this big of a crash, no. She had to give herself some grace for once. 

 

A few moments pass after Aster’s last words, and she softly reaches to wrap her arms around the woman. “....Gods, aye. I suppose you’re right. I can’t quit without knowing the little kit’s fate, can I…?”

 

Her tail follows suit, gently patting Aster’s back. 

 

And, ever so softly, a purr follows that. Aye, she's got some muscles-- Saphielle, not now.

 

 

 

[VIRGIL CERULLO : SECURITY]

[LOCATION : DR. SHIVERS' OFFICE]

 

“Mm? Is not being crazy space disease, no. Earth, maybe. Doctor Shivers can be checking for those, but?”

 

Virgil is relieved for a second. “Oh thank god, Doc, you had me scared for a–”

 

The doctor turns the screen to face them, and his eyes quickly glance over the file to see Zentha’s picture and name. She came back for me? A hopeful expression crosses his features before he sees the large red letters that read, ‘DECEASED’. 

 

Zen…. Came all the way here for me, and she’s… She’s dead….?

 

Another one, thank you.

 

A feeling of nausea settles in the pit of his stomach. “Guh— No, no…. No, that can’t be….”

 

All he wanted was to hold her one last time. 

 

The doctor’s other words seem to mash together as he starts staring into blank space. “...is being trying hardest… Was not being made to know….” Virgil’s eyes glass over as he continues to stare straight ahead, a look of horror on his face growing more prominent the more Shivers and Marlow continued to blab on. 

 

His attention is caught when he hears a soft cry start to sound. The koshka baby had woken up at the sudden surge of emotions from the two men, and had started expressing her distress as such. 

 

“So this little kit would be…. Hers, then?”

 

Another one, thank you.

 

Shivers confirms this while holding the baby forward in front of Virgil. 

 

“Is being offspring of koshka woman, yes. But spaceship voice has been analyzing DNA profiles. Is this morning finding Mr. Yellow Jacket Man to be additional DNA donor match, yes.”

 

Marlow reacts in sign, while Virgil’s jaw drops. “I-I have a…. A kid….?!”

 

Another one, thank you.

 

In his shock, though, he takes the crying newborn and tries to rock them side to side. “This kid is… is…. Is mine….?” He looks down at them- and goodness, the resemblance to himself is striking. “They….” The baby continues to cry, their small tail swishing side to side and their ears tucking back. He decides trying to comfort them is the best course of action as he tries to suppress his own feelings and put on a more neutral expression. “H-hey, kiddo…. I know, I’m not Mama…. I know, but…. But….”

 

He then manages to let out the smallest sniffle.

[DustyStar]

Jixx-B

LOCATION: Infirmary

CHARACTERS: Shivers | Virgil | Marlow

 

A soft knock came from outside the office door. Quietly, puffy yellow paws wedged the door open and a large black snout poked through the crack in the doorframe.

 

"Dr. S-Shivers, can I get those fluid pressure readings from you? I need to confirm-OW-" 

 

Xir request was abruptly cut off by xir massive head impacting the doorframe. A string of quiet curses followed xem back through the door. The infirmary proved an interesting challenge for Jixx-B, most doors were more than wide enough for xem to maneuver through, but some of the office doors were smaller and better suited to the person that owned it. A loud bang resounded through the side wall sending a small tremor through the doctors equipment followed by a string of aggravated beeps and chirps from the Deinogen.

 

“Sorry,” Xe called from outside the door. “The makeshift prosthetic isn’t the most s…s-stable thing in the world.”

 

Carefully Jixx-B poked xir massive head through the doorframe once more, fluffy purple ears grazing the top of the doorframe as xe carefully maneuvered xir way into the small office space. Just as xe was halfway through the door xe stopped and looked up. 

 

[BIOLOGICAL SENTIENTS READING]

 

[HIGHER THAN AVERAGE HEART RATES DETECTED]

 

[UNIDENTIFIED SENTIENT WITHIN RANGE]

 

[POTENTIAL DANGER WARNING]

 

There was a terrible feeling of tension in the atmosphere of the room. The doctor was fidgeting and looking around in a worried manner, like they were desperately looking for someone. Virgil and Marlow seemed preoccupied by a small blue bundle held in the human’s arms. Jixx-B backed up a step, rising in height until xir back plates scraped against the top of the door. 

 

“I…I’m sorry! I interrupted something, didn’t i? I’ll…I’ll leave, I'm so sorry.” Xe began to say, hitting the doorframe a bit harder in a clumsy attempt at leaving the room. Just then a terrible sound began emitting from something. Jixx-B shook xir head in agitation, making a sharp, pained noise as they brought a claw up to try and cover xir right set of ears. 

 

“What is that? What is making such a terrible noise?” Xe screeched.

 

Cautiously, xe stretched xir neck through the doorway, inching across the floor on all fours like a big cat stalking some invisible prey, careful not to make any sudden noise. The deinogen was covered in thick layers of bandages and duct tape covering large sections of xir protective metal plating and soft vulnerable organic flesh. A few metal pegs had been wrapped around xir missing foot, held together with medical wrap tape and thick layers of gauze. It was sturdy, but too stiff to balance on properly. Xir shaky organic breathing washed over the space. A slow, painful rhythm interrupted by occasional coughing and wheezing. Xe lowered xirself carefully to kneel on the floor near the two holding the strange crying thing, leaning against the wall for support. Xir size alone was enough for xem to be above eye level with the sitting pair. 

 

“Is this some kind of prototype lifeform? Are you testing a new auditory-based weapon?” Xe tilted xir head curiously at the little bundled thing Virgil was rocking in his arms.

Juku

 

LOCATION: Food Court

CHARACTERS: Asterodia | Isilynor | PIXX-L | Saphielle | Zikvien | Dot | Aezsaa

 

The past three days had been packed with searching hallways and any rooms they still had access to for any signs of life or supplies they could gather. Echo maintained being somewhat helpful, but the A.I had lost much of its functionality after whatever happened had happened. Juku volunteered to help the medical staff whenever possible, performing basic tasks like dressing wounds and running simple diagnostics on injuries. Eir time spent on the battlefield became pointedly helpful for locating and tending injuries with speed and efficiency. Even with Juku’s help the medical staff was still overburdened. Juku could see it everywhere ey looked. The growing weariness in Saphielle’s eyes, the frequent shakes and fidgeting from the Petratrix doctor, the sagging shoulders and bleary gazes from their assistants. Worry felt like a rock in eir stomach. Though, that could be the beginning of hunger pains. Juku refused to eat for the past three days. Ey had the efficient metabolism of the Zita-Gaxx that increased the time ey could go without food, but the Deikii’s metabolism ran much shorter than other Zita-Gaxx variants. Already Juku could feel eir strength begin to falter. Any free time ey had was spent clearing debris from anywhere and everywhere. In spite of eir thin frame, Juku held a frightening amount of strength in eir little body that allowed them to clear massive chunks of heavy debris from the area. Juku had already signed up to help clear debris away from the library and gym areas soon. The sour feeling in eir stomach grew deeper. How long could ey go on like this

 

Juku stood quietly at the back of the cafeteria. Eir focus was trained towards a cracked panel of blueish glass framed by golden metal that had various graphs and words projecting across the surface of it. Ey glanced between the tablet and Isilynor as they walked on stage with as much poise as they could muster. Juku held a certain respect for the Sylphiel. It takes a lot of strength to maintain composure in such trying times. As they spoke, words appeared across the tablet, functioning as a reliable speech-to-text so ey could listen to their speech. Eir watches that ey usually wore for translation had not been fully repaired, and Juku was cut off from important conversation. Ey glanced at the busted watch clasped to either wrist in a sorrowful disdain. Communication had been difficult for em without the devices. These difficulties weren’t new really. The larger cities on eir home planet rarely spoke the languages necessary to communicate with the hearing impaired. Still, frustration burned through Juku’s jaws and shoulders, tensing eir muscles beyond relief. Instinctively ey brought a hand up to eir bandaged shoulder, still sore from the injury ey sustained three days ago.

 

At the conclusion of the sylphiels speech Juku gave an affirmative nod to emself. Swiping a pudgy yellow finger across the tablet screen the projections flickered off out of sight. There was a significant gap in time between now and the new work orders. The anticipation clawed its way around Juku’s mind. Ey began ringing eir hands and fidgeting in place. Maybe the medical staff needed eir help again?

 

Before ey could take off following Virgil and Marlow to the infirmary, a familiar form caught eir eye. Off in the corner of the cafeteria slightly obscured by a plant was the hulking form of Zikvien. Her shoulders sagged more than usual. She was idly picking at whatever she had grabbed as a ration. Concern knitted itself into Juku’s features. Eir brow furrowed. Eir hands clasped near eir chest with worry. Slowing down ey quicky changed eir route and made a b-line over to the fellow Zita-Gaxx.

 

[Sit? May i?] Juku rumbled as ey quietly approached.

 

Before Zikvien had any room to make further comment ey gestured to Zikvien’s meal.

 

[You eat. I’m glad!] Ey exclaimed.

 

[I not eat for three days. Worry like rock in stomach. Painful. Sad, this is.] Juku gestured vaguely to the entire ship with a mournful glance.

 

[Hope soon we find help.] Ey rumbled with a sigh. 

 

[You work on library and gym with us?] Ey asked, leaning forward onto the cafeteria table with their elbows, eyes focused intently on the slow movements of the other Zita-Gaxx as she finished her meal.

 

Jamie

 

LOCATION: Food Court

CHARACTERS: Asterodia | Isilynor | PIXX-L | Saphielle | Zikvien | Dot | Aezsaa

 

Jamie was sitting at the far side of the cafeteria near the exit. He was alone at a small table, pouring over the current plans to clear the library and gym. He was only half listening to Isylinor’s speech making a point to avoid their gaze. Muttering to himself, he nodded between mixed yes's and no’s while his sharp claws flicked across a tablet screen, redrawing action plan after action plan for how they were going to tackle the debris. 

 

The metallic scent of something overwhelmed his senses for a moment. A terrible, pungent smell. The terribly familiar scent of Mijorian blood. Looking around him with concern he saw no one in any sort of danger or in any pain. No one was disturbed or notably bleeding. He watched Aster slam her head into the table with her usual irritated exasperation. Both her and Marlow were unharmed. Bringing his hand out in front of him in a confused gesture the sight of dark blue across his palm startled him. He frantically looked down at the arm holding the tablet, deep streaks of thick blue blood running down its length. Without realizing it he had been raking his claws across his right arm. A familiar feeling of pain coupled with stress brought back memories he had pushed out of his mind long ago. Memories of deep scars patterning his arms, of long sleeves even on the hottest days, of avoiding gatherings out of fear of what others might find. In a panic he grabbed some napkins and pressed them into his arm, wiping the blood away the best he could. Fortunately his healing factor kicked in and most of the bleeding stopped within a short time. With a relieved sigh he shoved the dirtied napkins into his pockets and turned his attention back to the morning announcements. Before he realized it they had already finished speaking and were talking to someone off near the corner of the stage. With a short exclamation of surprise he sat up to go ask them a few questions, but before making it anywhere near them he quickly decided against it. Opting instead to approach a small Deinogen preoccupied with mopping the cafeteria floors with her familiar mop. 

 

“Good morning, Pixx-L! How are you today?” He said cheerily with a pleasant grin, putting his right arm behind his back out of sight.

 

“How are you handling things? Is there anything I can do for you?” He asked with an inquisitive tilt of his head. His tail swayed behind him, betraying some of his nervous energy. Eyes darting between Pixx-L and the tablet screen. His foot tapped quietly on the marbled floor.

 

“Hey, have you seen Garrett? I want to go over today's plans with him one more time.” He said, shaking the tablet he held for emphasis.

 

Xavier

 

LOCATION: Library

CHARACTERS: Damien

 

The library was dark, save for a few emergency lights along the railing of the staircase from the door illuminating the exit. The wide circular door frame had a notable outward curve to it with visible cracks leading away along the wall where it was attached. The whole entrance to the library had a bloated appearance from where debris impacted the wall, making it impossible to exit through the only entrance in the space. From the door a large rectangular window stretched the entire length of the right wall revealing the vastness of space far beyond. Looking out the window one could see the three large propellers on the ship's wing that would glow brightly as the ship turned. Now these same propellers were nearly missing save for one nearest to the ship faintly glowing, using whatever energy it had left to pull the ship forward. Underneath the massive window were lines of interactive information panels that projected images onto the window screen. They were intended for newcomers and children to play with and learn about the ship and whatever planets that were visible outside the window. Most of these panels were now cracked, their computer cases spitting sparks, cameras projecting glitchy, ghosted imagery over the window pane in sporadic bursts. 

 

In spite of the square room it was stuck in, the library had a modern, sleek, circular design. There were three distinct levels high above the ground floor that ran in a half circle stopping at the window. The three levels were slightly staggered from one another so that each level was slightly visible from where the other was on top of it. Two staircases accessing each individual level ran directly on the left and right side of the window. Opposite from the door on the other wall was a small elevator for those who could not climb up the stairs on their own. Bookshelves ran perpendicular to the circular design on all 3 levels including the ground level. Each had crashed into one another upon the impact sending them forward like dominoes one on top of the other, books and tablets scattered in heaps around the shelves. Many bookshelves had fallen from the top levels across the library floor, collapsed and shattered from falling down such a great height. In the center of the room was a massive 3D projector, sunken a few feet into the ground with short staircases every 20 paces around the edge leading down into it. The projector normally filled the whole library with a full scale image of the galaxy in glowing blue. The projection would light up the library with soft light that complimented the fluorescent lighting that ran in thin yellow lines along the railings of the three levels. For now the projection was of a tall Sylphiel in gold flickering in and out of view, mouth moving out of sync with the staticy audio coming from the speakers. A golden safety railing surrounded the large projector with an interactive screen placed every few feet along the rail. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed around it, bending the leftmost side of the railing inwards completely crushing the interactive screens, leaving the few remaining ones flickering as they struggled for power.

 

Stretched awkwardly over a fallen chuck of ceiling debris was a thin black and yellow majorian, their pointy false nails clicking away at one of the few remaining screens surrounding the projector. Some scattered books and faintly glowing tablets surrounded the majorian as they glanced back and forth between them for reference. Maps of the ventilation system of the ship were currently displayed across the screen as he looked for some way to access them or anything else that might help them. The front door was sufficiently blocked, but if they had some other route they could take…

 

Their yellow tail lashed about with annoyance, frantically turning back to the books and flicking through page after page before switching to typing more search inquiries into the screen, unfortunately being met with red Xs flashing across it each attempt. A short sound echoed through the library as Xavi pounded his fist on the screen with a frustrated hiss. 

 

The sound of Damien’s cursing drew Xavi out of their search for something that might help them escape the library. He shook his head in sympathy. In response to Damien’s question Xavi gave a knock and a half as a sort of “maybe?” zooming in and out of the ventilation map, searching for some vent they could feasibly access.

 

Not sure what to do next Xavi listened to Damien pound on the front door again in futile hope that someone might hear and come for them. Maybe they won't. Jamie? He doesn’t want to think about how Jamie is coping with all of this right now. He lets his head fall onto the screen with a defeated sigh. Maybe they are never getting out of here. Maybe all of this really is in vain.

 

Lazily typing in another search the screen finally lit up with a green circle that brought up the construction maps for the library. His silvery eyes grew wide as he frantically knocked for Damien to come over.

Edited April 14, 2023 by DustyStar

[Lycanious]

ASTERODIA

LOCATION: Bar

CHARACTERS: Odrin | Saphielle

 

At the brush of her arm Aster instinctively tensed. Not so much from the fact it was Saphielle, as such, but it was an unexpected gesture from someone she wasn’t that well acquainted with and it made her a bit uncertain over how to respond. “Uh…Aye, s’pose that’d be a way to look at it.” She finally replied, deciding to reach forward and pat a few times at Saphielle’s hand in what she hoped was a comforting gesture.

 

She then sighed, heavily, and moved to rest her hands back onto the surface of the bar counter before her. “I am sorry, but. Gotta be hard being a doctor when stuff like this happens. Reckon that’s why I could never be one. Well, one of the reasons. Obviously you need a decent amount of brain-cells as another one.” An uncertain huff emitted from her, bordering on the sound of a laugh but Aster lacked the energy and drive to fully realise it. She shook her head, trying to refocus her thoughts. The movement pulled slightly at one of the clips holding her bandaging together, and she started to unsuccessfully adjust it as she spoke for fear it’d begin to unravel.

 

“Look uh…I’m probably the last person to be trying to convince you not to wallow around here. But aye, sounds like you’ll just spend your whole time worrying about the patients you ain’t tending to anyway.” A crease formed in her brow. “S’pose you could try helping with something else, though, for a bit? Maybe that’ll let your brain reset better than just trying to drown out all your thoughts before a shift.”

 

Aster gestured with her thumb over her shoulder to one of the exits of the dining hall. “I’d say you got enough brains to go help the bloody peacock plot a course or whatever they’re doing out there but they’re, y’know-” Finally, Odrin had returned to his spot at the counter and slid over a fresh mug for Aster. She paused for a second, grabbed it in her fist, and took a hearty swig from it before wiping her mouth and continuing. 

 

“They’re really ****ing annoying. So I reckon in the long run your best bet is still tending to patients unless you wanna go on search and rescue or something.”
 

---
 

ZIKVIEN

LOCATION: Dining Hall

CHARACTERS: Juku

 

Zikvien had never been particularly fluent when it came to Zita-Gaxx Tone, to the point where she’d almost missed the subtle rumble that travelled through the flooring to her large, clawed talons. She didn’t quite catch the first statement, indicated by a blank blink in response, but the context eventually hinted that it was perhaps a request to join her in some capacity.

 

A sigh felt rude, so she suppressed it. It wasn’t that Juku was an irritating presence, quite the opposite actually, but she found she wasn’t really in the mood for casual conversation even on a supremely average day, let alone a day plagued by recent events. Slowly her dark eyes followed eir line of sight to focus on the few slices of bacon that sat upon her plate. Faintly, an air of guilt lingered in her expression.

 

[ First food this week. ] She eventually informed, hoping to justify when she had decided to take some food for herself for today instead of opting to fast for the foreseeable future. [ No eat again, unless more food. ]

 

She had trouble understanding the tones in their last question, but after sifting through some context clues and snippets of what she could translate she eventually figured out what was being asked of her.

 

[ Will help where need most. ] Her shoulders slouched further, and briefly she glanced towards one of the exits of the dining hall. [ Cat-alien-man asks help, also. Also not eat. Is very weak. ]

 

Zikvien then leaned back and regarded Juku with a slightly baffled, pained look. She wasn’t really sure how to conduct conversations like these, especially when such heavy topics lingered within her limited grasp on the language. She hoped she hadn’t inadvertently already offended em or embarrassed herself in any format. After a moment of thought, she tapped a wicked claw to the edge of her plate and slid it towards em with the final slice of bacon on it. [ Juku should eat too. ]
 

---
 

PIXX-L

LOCATION: Dining Hall > Hallway

CHARACTERS: Garrett | Jamie

 

PIXX-L had just cleared her section of the floor when Jamie approached her. One of her dual pairs of ears flicked up and down, and she glanced aside with a cheerful chirp of a greeting  as she detected his voice. “Garret…? Oh, right, Struv.” PIXX-L announced, falling back on her usual habit of assigning nicknames to most, if not all of her acquaintances. 

 

With a twitch she then tilted her head to the right, mint-green eyes flickering as she observed Jamie with a silent question as to why he was looking for said xeno-anthropologist. “Same as the last two days, I reckon.” Her gaze then shifted away from him, her head gesturing towards one of the emergency exits nearby that had been cleared just this morning of debris. This one led to the hallway that ran along the perimeter of the dining hall and then towards the library, and formed the next checkpoint in the crew’s attempt to clear pathways and search for survivors.

 

Abruptly her attention then snapped back towards Jamie, and PIXX-L emitted a warbling series of beeps that rose then fell in the same way a message alert tone would perhaps play on someone’s communication device. “Your turn to try and bring him some grub eh?” She asked, now tilting her head in an attempt to see behind him as she took note of the way he was holding his arm. Nostrils flared as she inhaled, sending what looked to be a small puff of either steam or smoke into the air when she exhaled once more. Glowing eyes darted briefly to her newly-mopped floor, noting a speckle of blue liquid, then back towards him.

 

“Dunno if you noticed, but you might’ve been brutally wounded.” PIXX-L then informed, in a strangely cheerful tone despite the nature of her statement, and a moment later she had used her long, whip-like tail to hazardously fling a roll of oil-speckled bandages from her cart in his direction. Briefly she swung her mop out and around him, scrubbing away the mark in a matter of seconds. “Reckon you’ll wanna patch that up first.” PIXX-L then turned on the spot, her tail now expertly coiling along the floor to hook itself around the handle of the janitor cart that often trailed behind her and started to drag it along. A whistle from the deinogen prompted the rusty bucket of water beside her to beep in response, and several small, spindly pairs of legs spawned from beneath it so that it could scuttle after her as she started to lumber away. 

 

With another flick of her head she gestured for Jamie to follow her through the exit doors.

 

“Now Species 5938194 is supposed to be eating a lot of fish, but Species 5938153 is a lot more varied. First lot’s still probably the best choice. But the Species 5938194 Doc said something about the ‘what’ not really mattering as much as long as it’s a ‘something’ today,” PIXX-L began to announce, as she ducked through the dining hall exit to enter the dusty, dim-lit hallway. ”’Course I tried telling him that but he ain’t really saying much to others right now.” Blinking thrice, the dim light from her two sets of eyes increased then focused ahead of her, serving as a torch to light the way as she stepped over a few pieces of debris and continued her way further down the hallway.

 

Soon she came to an obstacle on the path, the way forward blocked by what looked to be a significant portion of the wall that once divided the dining hall from the hallway and the splintered remains of dozens of tables, chairs, and other items that had once decorated the latter. As PIXX-L approached she could make out a vaguely familiar silhouette of what looked to be a koshka man hunched over the debris. 

 

“S’going on Struv?” PIXX-L called out to Garrett, being careful not to knock over the portable lantern that had been set up beside him. The man gave little indicator that he’d heard her, other than the slow movement of one of his pointed ears turning towards the pair of them. An uncharacteristic awkwardness befell PIXX-L at that, and the light from her eyes danced erratically over the debris as she regarded Jamie with an aside glance.

 

“Y’know the morning cleanup crew’s still got half an hour before they gotta start, yeah?” Again, the ear twitched, and this time she heard a mumble from the man but it was too faint to determine what had been said. “...Uh. Yeah. So. You know. You don’t have to be working on this right now. Especially with how much you’ve already been helping the last few days. Reckon you could use a break.”

 

More silence.

 

“...You…have taken breaks, right?”

 

Garrett leaned forward, apparently too intently focused on his work to hear either of them. Dusty, shaking hands then withdrew some twisted metal from the wreckage that PIXX-L identified as half of a chair. The deinogen watched as the man then staggered to his feet, stumbled, and inched to the right a few steps to drop the item to the side of the path he was trying to carve out from the rubble. He then fell forward onto his knees once more and started to dig through the rubble for something else light enough for him to lift.

 

PIXX-L turned back to Jamie, and gestured with a strained expression in his direction. “Ssssso. Uh. Good luck with that?”

 

---
 

MARLOW

LOCATION: Infirmary

CHARACTERS: Jixx-B | Shivers | Virgil

 

It was the sniffle from Virgil that shook Marlow from his otherwise shocked silence. Marlow scrunched his eyes shut, forcing the desire to join Virgil in his tears to the back of his mind where it could fester until he had a moment away from everyone else to address it. The mjiorian rested a hand on Virgil’s upper arm, trying to give him something to ground himself with as Marlow spoke to him. “H-hey…s’alright…” Marlow tried to assure, despite the grimace. “We’ll…we’ll figure something out. Promise.”

 

It was then that the sound of claws scraping against metal startled him into looking back at the office entrance, and Marlow watched as the familiar form of Jixx-B started to scramble into view. Shivers perked up at the sight of a new arrival, looking almost relieved that they now had something else they could focus on that felt like they were actually being useful.

 

“No, no, is to be staying, yes? The doctor will be doing the fetching of the pressure readings and such!” They declared, wings rustling as they practically launched themself away from the pair still in shock and scuttled around their desk to start to dig through some equipment located behind it. 

 

Marlow meanwhile eyed the new arrival warily as xe approached, aware of both xer immense size and the fact that xe didn’t have the best control over their movements right now. “Oi, you gotta be careful alright?” Marlow warned, though the tone was soft enough that he hoped it served its intended purpose as a friendly warning, rather than a lecture. Running less on rational thought and more on instinct, the fin on Marlow’s arm closest to both the newborn and Virgil suddenly flared, shielding the pair from Jixx-B for just a second until Marlow seemed to relax more in his stance.

 

Blue eyes trailed back towards the newborn as Jixx-B inquired about them, a grimace forming over Marlow’s features. “No…uh…this is…a new koshka-human, I guess. They start out pretty small and fragile. So you gotta be real bloody careful around them, alright?” The mjiorian then switched his attention back to Virgil, stooping slightly to try to get a better look at his face. “...Verge…? You- ooh. Alright…yeah you don’t look like you’re doing well…” Winced Marlow. 

 

He then reached forward with his arms, calling Virgil’s name in a softer tone for his attention as Marlow started to transfer the bundle of blankets into his own arms instead. “Alright…that’s okay…I’m just gonna hold ‘em for a bit, yeah…?” He told Virgil, fearing that he’d entered some sort of catatonic state or that he may very well pass-out from the shock alone. Eventually he managed to ease them into his own arms and he took a step back, focusing on trying to settle them back down as he rocked them back and forth. He switched his attention slowly back to Jixx-B as he did, eyes now glassy, but he managed to still hold himself together if only for the sake of others present. “Sorry, um…they’re probably gonna make this noise for a while- um…” His webbed ears pinned to the side of his head, distressed. “...Verge…? I reckon we should try to get ‘em somewhere quieter, aye?”

 

---
 

Damien

LOCATION: Library

CHARACTERS: Penny | Xavi

 

Pointed ears flicked upwards as a rapid series of knocks sounded in the distance. Damien slowly shifted his forehead away from the metal of the library entrance and honed in on the sound from across the floor, nose twitching in confusion. “You found something?” Called the koshka. There was a momentary pause, shocked as he was, and then he shakily stepped towards the noise. Slow pace, at first, but out of sheer desperation he was running by the time he slid across the marbled floor to thump into a nearby toppled bookshelf.

 

“No r-r-running in the library, please.” Crackled a voice on one of the few still-functioning speakers.

 

Damien, leaning forward while he panted to catch his breath, took a moment to make an obscene gesture in the direction of the stuttering sylphiel hologram before he staggered towards Xavi. “What? What’d you find?” He demanded to know, leaning on the edge of the screen to steady himself as he leaned forward and squinted in vain at the image before him.

 

“Alright…well…I…yep. That’s certainly a nice blur of greys and golds.” Damien grumbled, trying and failing to make sense of the map before him without the usual presence of his perscription sunglasses perched on his nose. He scratched at the back on his head for a moment, then tapped impatiently at a button to the side of the screen that activated voice recognition. “Hey, Penny, what’s he found?” Barked Damien.

 

The holographic sylphiel, as expected, continued to stare vacantly out before them without so much as an acknowledgement they’d heard him. Damien huffed, and kicked away one of the books that had been strewn about near Xavi in a fit of frustration. “Sorry.” He then, very quietly, mumbled, before he slid his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath followed by a slow exhale. “Okay. From what I can tell, that’s some sort of map, yeah?” He eventually offered, finally putting two-and-two together based on earlier discussion between the two of them. “Oh, the vents, right? You think there might be vents we can-”
 

“Security access required.”

 

Damien turned, and blinked a few times at the hologram before them. “What?”

 

“Vents are s-s-secured. Enter password to unlock.”

 

“I don’t know the password you barmy old dodo I don’t work here!”

 

“Do you request BZZT.”

 

“I have no bloody idea.” Damien growled, running a hand over his face and glaring up at the hologram. “Can we reset the password, by any chance?”

 

“Please contact Archnoble ERROR. SYLPHIEL DECEASED for access assistance.”

 

“I- well can I contact a not deceased sylphiel then?”

 

For a while, nothing but silence fell between the two entities. Damien, eventually, started to wring his hands in the direction of the hologram and glared back at Xavi with an exasperated expression. Suddenly though the hologram then made a few disjointed, jarring series of electronic beeps,  and a new statement rang out.

 

“To contact the administrator, please enter the Contact Code.”

 

“We don’t. ****ing. Know any god damn codes-”

 

“The Contact Code can be found in the Ornithology section. Seek the truth, and you shall find the answers.”

 

Damien blinked, rapidly, then slowly turned towards Xavi with a baffled expression. “Do we…even have an Ornithology section in this library?"

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by Lycanious