themnemosyne | STATUS REPORT 004

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🪐 status report

STATUS REPORT 004

systems [click to expand]

l3th3 mainframe [ACTIVE]
main engine [ONLINE]
cryo engine [ONLINE]
main power [ONLINE]
cryo power [ONLINE]
life support [ONLINE]
gravity [ONLINE]
environment [ONLINE]
cryo bay 1 [MALFUNCTION]
cryo bay 2 [STABLE]
other systems [NOMINAL]

shift 9 status, year 2525 [click to expand]

CAP_O_Drake [Quarantined]
ENG_V_Saverem [Active]
MED_A_Hilbert [Active]
MED_B_0 [Active] [New]
SCI_R_0 [Active]
SEC_Z_Massani [Active]
SEC_E_Smith [Active]
SEC_L_Ackerman [Active]
OPE_N_Wolfwood [Active]
OPE_A_T34 [MIA]

welcome aboard, crew. you are [shift 9]; [emergency crew]
personality version [ON]

The Tellurian date is 1/1/2525, 60 years after our launch from Tellus.

Mission parameters continue, though crew resources remain limited. Estimated time to reach nebula terminus is still approximately two standard years. Several potential candidate planets will be evaluated for settler outpost viability along the projected trajectory.

The unidentified spacecraft located on December 16th has been successfully transported to the hangar using H3.RM3-class mobile drones. The vessel is currently under strict quarantine protocols. Sterilization procedures have been completed, with no detectable signs of living organisms aboard.

Personnel entering the hangar are required to wear full UR-A9A spacesuits or TR-PSI-C0R3 masks (Extended Shield configuration). All entrants will be subjected to a mandatory 24-hour quarantine period following exposure.

Additionally, long-range scans have identified a potentially viable planet. The Mnemosyne is scheduled to make its first planetary stop later this month to conduct sample collection and preliminary analysis. Further updates will follow when we get closer to the planet.

Happy New Year, crew.

Now a message from CAP_O_Drake:

I gotta say... you guys are spoiling an old man. I haven't felt this g-good in a long while. Makes it almost bearable.

[ He coughs, but it's not as horribly wet as it usually is. ]

I heard we've found a planet to check out. A possible place for settlers. I don't know how difficult that will be with our small crew, but I can't... I can't help being excited in a way. This was the dream, after all.

Good luck.

Queries?

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[He considered Wolfwood's words for a moment. Part of him was still coming down and seriously concerned that they might be in danger. Part of him acknowledged that there was clearly no motion, no obvious threat. They were safe here. He finally nodded.]

God-damned battles coming back to haunt him. I swear. Just...

[He grunted, his eyes looking around the room. The vision was gone, but it lingered and the damned commander was in it again.]

You're right. I'm waiting outside the bay. Shout at me if you need a gun.

[He wasn't just volunteering what he'd just seen exactly, at least not in here where it could come back again, but he wasn't going to stop either of them asking. Stepping into the hanger, he holstered his weapon and leaned against the craft, getting his breath under control.]

[Oh, no, he's not getting away that easily.

Not that Rin looks eager for additional questioning, but they do step out of the ship. Moving very deliberately as they do, maintaining a clear personal bubble both for themself and for Zaeed.]

Please establish current date and location.

[Their helmet is angled towards him, some of the sensors as well, though their CL-10 isn't visible so they're not doing anything with any ambient readings they might be getting from it. They're just... observing Zaeed, now, leaving space for Wolfwood to exit the vessel. and Speaking of - ]

Specialist Wolfwood, you should retrieve a spare mask.

[ He'd meant for all of them to get off the damn ship, not just Massani, and it's a relief that Rin follows Massani out, even if neither of them get far enough away from the ship for Wolfwood's liking. He's right behind Rin, putting plenty of space between himself and the small craft -- and whatever self-defense mechanism they just set off -- as he can.

They need to seal the ship up. They need to dump it back out into space where it belongs, before whatever other defenses are sitting idle decide to power back up. They shouldn't have brought the damn thing on board in the first place!

...And god dammit, he shouldn't be in here without a goddamn helmet! ]

Get him the fuck out of here!

[ --he snarls back at Rin, heading at a quick walk -- no running around the nervous guy with the gun -- towards the lockers and the protective equipment. Did he really come in here without any gear at all, with a fucking level as a weapon? He's as crazy as Massani is, wow. ]

....

[He kind of looked like he wanted to punch Wolfwood for about five seconds. His glare was murderous, and then it calmed and he nodded. No, no, he had a point. Taking his gun off and shoving the hard-light assault rifle at Rin, he grunted.]

He's got a point, assuming I'm a risk. Take my weapon for the moment. I'm compromised, even if I don't have another god-damned episode. We can't risk me shooting something and setting it off.

[He watched Wolfwood storm off to get suited up and held back a smirk. Well, hopefully he hadn't just gotten the paranoid bastard killed. Right. Ok... he'd been asked a question. Breathing, he focused and closed his eyes before citing the correct date according to their record.]

Designation is Zaeed Massani. Security officer, Mnemosyne. We're in the hangar, checking a craft out. Not sure what I just saw... but it's gone. For now. Keep my piece until we're out of the hangar. I don't trust myself right now.

[For just a moment their attention swings towards Wolfwood, the comm in their helm clicking on for just a second as though they're going to make some response to that -

And now there's a gun in their hands.

Rin automatically takes it, barrel pointed down and hands holding it steady. The gun won't fire for them anyway, but they automatically keep their finger away from the trigger. It's only when they've settled the gun that they seem to realize they've done so, glancing down at their own hands with a slight slackening of their jaw.

Strange, how familiar a gun feels in their arms.]

Right. And you know who you're with?

[Harder with their helmet faceplate on, but well. They're checking his lucidity, might as well not make it easier on Zaeed.]

[ Back at the far wall of the hanger, Wolfwood yanks a suit off the wall and struggles into it, quietly cursing himself the whole time. If he did just get himself killed through exposure to some alien virus because he was running to Massani's aid, of all people, then goddamn he's never going to forgive himself. The only thing more embarrassing would have been trying to help Hilbert, fuck.

What the hell possessed him to come charging in like that?! He should have just sealed the doors and activated quarantine procedure! Stupid, stupid.

Massani, if he dies from this, he's haunting you! He'll be back out your way in a moment -- the suit takes a minute to get on. ]

A pair of ass-hats I have the pleasure of getting stuck on this ship with because our pods malfunctioned.

[Ok, his sense of 'humor' had clearly returned. He barked out a guttural laugh, dragging his hand through his hair. That wasn't what Rin requested, so he needed to get the information right. Confirm he wasn't crazy.]

Rin, and ass-hat two who's probably going to try and punch me in the face in a hot second's Wolfwood. Everyone's got a turn on the "Getting everyone killed" train it seems. God-damn... that was too real.

The hell did I just see?

Answer registered.

[They'll remember that, Massani.

Even if they do count as an asshat, by most metrics of the word. Takes one to know one, or some shit. With the gun in their arms they can't hold their CL-10 screen or scanner up to double-check the particulars of the readings, but given what readings they were getting...]

Ship wasn't registering unusual readings or high chemical deviation in air quality. If it's from the ship, it's an unknown vector. [Pause.] Or Specialist Wolfwood should react shortly. [Or them, considering Zaeed is just as suited up as them, but still.]

... ngh. I don't think it's from the ship. Seen her before. Nobody else mentioned her. God-damned, hell of a time for a flashback to some shit I don't remember.

[He was starting to properly calm down, looking at his hands. They were shaking very slightly. His vitals, however, were coming into normal ranges, but that had him spooked.]

Might be like PTSD. Triggered by the ship's interior. Only damned thing I can think of. What I saw... that was a hell of a sight.

[ He can just barely hear his name a few times as he wrestles the hemlet on, but by the time he's heading back over to the other two, Massani's last statement is loud and clear. ]

So what the fuck did you see?

[ With Rin's hands full, that means Wolfwood should be the one to scan their hallucinating security guard, huh? He doens't know what the hell he's doing, but he can at least use his CL-10 to run an initial interference scan, checking for electrical irregularities, and then there's probably a basic medical program in there as part of general first aid that he can pull up next. ]

Fucked up alien vessel. We were on some sort of infiltration mission. Didn't look a god-damned thing like this other than dark, foreign metal, alien tech and we had to force the door open.

Thing is... I don't fucking remember those people. [He shook his head.] Keep your heads on, in case there's something in there but you look ... normal for now.

[Hands-free connection to the CL-10 means that a few helpful settings suggestions pop up in Wolfwood's messages when he starts scanning, for spectral and chemical analyses to run - Rin isn't even looking in his direction. They're keeping a sidelong eye on Zaeed.]

Circumstances have some overlap.

[ Rin isn't looking in his direction, but the asshole's more tapped into the ship's systems that Wolfwood would ever hope to be. The messages from Rin pop up, and Wolfwood's only response is a quiet huff as he initates the suggested scans, dumping the results in the common database instead of saving them locally. Rin should be able to see the results in realtime as Wolfwood does.

And that's a good thing too, because Wolfwood's not looking at his tablet anymore. No, Massani just got his undivided attention. ]

It wasn't this ship?

[ He assumed Massani was seeing invaders that weren't there, but on the ship that was there. Surely any defense program built into the alien ship would show threats in the existing craft -- what's the point of showing them a whole different craft? ]

You're sure about that?

Dead sure. The ship I was in had... let's call the, cryopods in it. This doesn't.

[He wasn't going to say WHAT they actually were given what he'd seen and how he suspected Wolfwood would react. However, he could be sure it wasn't the same ship.]

Not even sure it was the same tech level. I think it... just triggered a memory of another ship, but nothing like that exists on Terra.

[Whatever other monitoring Rin is doing of that data, it isn't immediately visible - but they must be, there's an active connection in there somewhere. Multitasking, as Rin often does, because Zaeed's dragging their attention back in, too.]

It's not inconsistent with PTSD.

[The but at the end isn't said, but is certainly heavily implied. They think they know the dichotomy that Zaeed's getting at, and it's an unsettling one - the certainty both that the memory is something they've experienced, and the surety that they never have.]

[ PTSD -- that's a term Wolfwood knows all too well. Some of the doctors when he was younger and freshly rescued from the cult that raised him had tried to tell him that his paranoia and distrust of doctors could be cured with more doctoring.

It's bullshit. ]

You think he just forgot all about a fight he was in once, until now?

[ That doesn't happen. That's not possible. ]

He got gassed, or irradiated. Flashin' lights messin' with his vision, I don't know, but it's the ship that did it.

Not... quite the first time I've seen that woman, but I don't remember her from anywhere but these visions. The other time wasn't so god-damned bad a fight. I chalked it up to just a forgotten date I went on.

It was some entertainment place, with a fucking claw game. Thing was, it was definitely her. Same woman. Maybe a little older. Definitely more scars.

That was a month ago, so... something's fucking wrong. More than PTSD.

[Rin tilts their head in Zaeed's direction, to indicate the man's comments - clearly not just the ship, as far as they're concerned. They shift the gun in their grasp, as though they're going to start looking over their CL-10's screen, but give it up in favor of watching Wolfwood's scanner come up with the results of their scan parameters.]

Doctor Hilbert has been calling it memory insertion. There have been multiple reports on the instances.

If you ask me, you're both nuts!

[ He thought it was bad enough that Saverem was convinced that somebody was putting memories in his head -- and to be fair, something messed with that guy's eyes, so there's something strange going on. But Wolfwood doesn't believe for a second that there's inserted memories in anyone's heads. It's just stress, bad dreams, trauma making folks forget things.

Here, now? It's this damned alien craft. It has to be. ]

We should push this damn thing out the airlock and have done with it.

I'm not one-hundred percent against that, Wolfwood, but let's finish a proper investigation first. Make sure that there's nothing more going on. I'm not convinced this isn't me having gotten blackout drunk one night and forgotten a chunk of my life.

[No, he was pretty damned sure it wasn't that, but wanted a reasonable explanation damnit. The ship wasn't the cause at least.]

Sides, first of these I saw? We'd never even heard of this ship.

We have internal access. Can send a drone to complete the ship scan now that it's opened, so no one gets any more exposure.

[And besides...]

Might be more of these ships out there. Better to know what they do before we find a functioning one.

[ Rin's idea to use a drone is a good one, but Wolfwood's preoccupied with Massani's comments. Rin's got the bastard's gun, so Wolfwood's got no qualms about getting right up in Massani's face, until their helmets are almost touching. ]

You'd better get convinced. If you pulled a gun on me because you got drunk awhile back then we're going to have a real problem.

I'll cut you some damned slack because that was too much a problem to ignore. I handed my piece over for a reason. I'll have Hilbert check me out before I go on active roster again. Got it?

[He growled at Wolfwood but turned to Rin.]

Probe sounds sensible. Just in case.

[Put three grumpy assholes in a room and it was destined to turn to this eventually. Rin doesn't join in on the confrontation, just turns away - if those two want to start punching, then they're not going to step in between.]

Fine. We'll initiate quarantine procedures and continue the search when those come back clean.

[ Wolfwood's not taking his eyes of Massani yet. They all know his reaction wasn't because he'd forgotten something -- a date, a raid on an alien ship, whatever -- but it was a stupid fucking thing to say after pointing a gun at someone. (Even if he had, technically, been pointing the gun past Wolfwood.)

Since they're all in agreement that nobody should go back on that alien craft right now -- he'll argue with Rin later about whether continuing the search is wise -- Wolfwood stretches out one arm in a grand gesture, inviting Massani to head for the bay doors and back into the ship at large. ]

After you, I insist.

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anesthetic_rage - 2025-02-24 06:17 (UTC) - Expand

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