Mini-Event

[mnemosynecrew]

EVENT

It happens in the dead of night - so sudden, so absolute, that for a moment, it feels like the ship itself has ceased to exist. The familiar hum of the Mnemosyne's systems vanishes, replaced by an unnatural, suffocating silence. A heartbeat later, the darkness takes hold. Total blackout.

Then, as if the ship itself is gasping for breath, emergency lights flare to life, flooding the halls in deep red. A shrill hiss follows as every interior door slide open in unison.

The system has gone dark. Terminals are dead. CL-10's have no access. Anything reliant on the ship's core network is unresponsive. Even elevators between decks are frozen in place, leaving only the cold, metal emergency ladders as a means of traversal. Synthesizers refuse to function.

And most critically -

L3TH3 is gone.

Not silent. Not unresponsive. Offline.


Yet, despite the eerie stillness, some things persist. Life support remains operational, oxygen still cycles, temperature remains stable. Airlocks are firmly shut. The engines continue their course, thrumming faintly beneath the floors. Even power still technically exists, but there is no intelligence behind it any more. The Mnemosyne is still moving - but without a pilot, without a shield and without defense.

To some, the fact that the ship's quarantine protocols also remain intact is a reassuring sign of system redundancy. To others, it is an opportunity lost. After all, a coup - or mercy killing - requires more than emergency rations and dim red lights.

---

Welcome to this month's mini-event! The system being offline will continue for a week, until the 17th. As the mod will also be unavailable at a computer during this time, direct any questions to mnemonsynecrew@gmail.com for a quicker reply.

As noted in the event, CL-10s won't be able to access the system for anything (work, ship data, etc.) during this time, but it can still be used to communicate between crew and used for personal data.

Comments

OPE_N_Wolfwood to ALL + action

[lastdecember]

[ Long hours are par for the course on this ship, and so the middle of the night finds Wolfwood down in his workshop, soldering steadily on the medical drone Hilbert requested. He's got music playing quietly from his CL-10, the lights are comfortingly low, his thermos of coffee is still half-full, and he's about as relaxed and content as he gets these days.

And then the lights go out and the humming beneath his feet stills as the ship goes dead.

Nobody's around to hear the panicked sound he makes when everything goes dark, but it's loud in the terrifying quiet. When the emergency lights come back on a moment later Wolfwood's still frozen in place, and it takes an embarrassingly long amount of time (almost a full minute, in fact) before he can get himself to move. There's power in his CL-10 still, but all systems are reporting unavailable except for comms, and so that's where he starts: ]

ALL CREW REPORT IN RIGHT NOW

[ His training takes over then, guiding his feet down the hall and further down into D-deck to check the redundant systems. Without oxygen, they'll all be dead in a few hours, so that's his first stop. After that, he'll head up through the access tubes -- the elevators aren't working, so it'll be a long climb -- first to check the engines, then up further to A-deck, to confirm that the bridge is still sealed.

Don't sneak up on him, folks. He's a little jumpy right now. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Rin reporting from C-Level. All autonomous ship systems down. Ping location, status.

[Of all the fucking times for them not to be working late.

Still, they have a good idea of where Wolfwood is - or at least where he's going. Saverem's probably going the same way, if he's not already babysitting the power systems - the moment they're done canvassing the few rooms their small collection of crew have settled into, they make for the ladders, using the display of their CL-10 for additional light on the way down.

No sneaking up - but they're taking the descent towards the working levels almost recklessly fast, letting themself drop a few feet rather than taking it rung by rung.]

[lastdecember]

[ To be perfectly honest, he doesn't read the entire message from Rin. He sees the message come through and skims over it, and when he doesn't see the words emergency or help or anything like that, he shoves his tablet back into his pocket and keeps running. The backup systems are operational, with no errors showing on any of the readouts, and he even did a pass around the whole damn thing checking visually for any of those glowing fairy cores, just in case there was risk of future shorts.

But the air scrubber and its associated generator are running smoothly, which means his next stop is all the way up on A-deck, and the bridge. Rin will probably hear him coming from half a deck away -- Wolfwood's not a small man, and the thud of his heels against the deck is loud in the unnatural silence. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[This right here? Is why Rin wishes everyone else on this fucking crew would get a neural interface. The lack of updates on key systems is noticeable and mildly terrifying. Did Wolfwood get caught in a catastrophic decompression? Are the engines melting down as they speak? For all they know, their message didn't even go through because some part of the ship network is down, too.

They send a couple extra pings as they descend through the levels of the ship, to no avail. By the time they hear Wolfwood's pounding feet they're nearly to the next level down, and they drop the rest of the way, a good two and a half meters, down the ladder to the next ledge, their mechanical legs absorbing most of the shock of impact. Hopefully they didn'tjust fuck up that one ankle joint again.]

Status.

[They call it out before they can even see him properly, staggering their way back up onto their feet.]

[lastdecember]

[ If he were thinking clearly, then he'd understand that Rin wants to check in with the team as much as he does.

But he's not thinking clearly. He's not thinking about anything other than air and quarantine! Individual members of the crew are much further down on his list of priorities at the moment, sorry. Systems first, then people.

But one of the people puts themselves to the front of the line, landing hard enough on the deck that Wolfwood has a moment's panic that some other system has failed. Did part of the hull just explosively decompress?

Oh. No. It's just Rin. ]

Redundant scrubbers online, [ --he barks back, as soon as Rin comes into view. Wolfwood's not slowing, heading right for the access hatch Rin just came through. Only when it registers that Rin's come from the upper decks does he stop, breathing hard but in no way ready to stop moving yet, with the same sort of focused fear on his face that he'd been wearing during his foray into mutiny and murder. ]

You check the bridge?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Well, that's... something. Wolfwood still looks freaked out, and Rin's not feeling much better - ship systems don't just power down like this unless something's gone catastrophically wrong somewhere - but hours to days is a better timescale for the emergency than the minutes to hours estimation that sent them out of their quarters in the first place.

They stop to pull out their CL-10, sending another ping and scowling behind the line of their filtration mask, before Wolfwood's question makes their head snap up.]

No I didn't check the bridge when there were no updates on life support.

[Rin grits the words out, defensive and incredulous, then has immediate cause to regret the tone. Their jaw snaps shut so quickly they bite the inside of their cheek, their leash letting out a little warning beep as they go stiff, the grip on their tablet momentarily spasming. When they speak again, it's a careful, neutral tone, much subdued compared to their insistance moments before.]

If we're going to the bridge you should get a suit.

SEC_Z_Massani

[anesthetic_rage]

Hey! You're not the boss of me, you know.

Massani reporting. Currently in Security. Quarantine on hangar is holding.

[lastdecember]

[ Oh, Massini hasn't seen bossy yet. ]

Confirmed. Shields?

[ As far as Wolfwood knows, Massani's more internal security than exterior defenses, but they're all working too many jobs these days. ]

[anesthetic_rage]

Working on it. This thing's flying like it's on rails, but the shields are down. Least we're not in an asteroid field right now.

Better get these things back up before we are in one though.

[lastdecember]

Report status fifteen minutes.

[ And then, just a couple seconds later when he realizes that he never checked in... ]

Life support functional. Backups fully powered. Bridge quarantine confirmed secure.

[ There, now they're even. ]

[anesthetic_rage]

[Fifteen minutes later... a prompt reply came back as requested.]

Sub-systems aren't accessible. Can't even try to hack them. It's like a partial EMP hit this ship.

Gave me a bit of an idea though. Meet me when you're sure we won't all die suffocating.

SCI_R_0 + action

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[For once, Rin isn't in the Science labs, when the ship dies.

They're not asleep either - sleep has proved next to impossible since the discovery of their new mod, and so it has tonight. No media to watch, which would at least make this tolerable - just staring up at the dark ceiling of their room.

Then everything stops. It's not like in its shows, where every damage a ship takes is accompanied by a dramatic boom and a flicker of the lights as the actors pretend to be shaken about. It's like being swallowed by the void. And then it's worse, because at least being swallowed by the void would be quick.

By the time their door hisses open and the red light floods their room, Rin has already lunged for their CL-10, to test the damn thing - there's no alarms. Where the fuck are the alarms? They grab for their PSI-CORE on the way out, sealing it over their face.

Right. First things first:]

System status report

L3TH3: down
Data access: down
Lift: down

[The first three are sent in rapid succession, as Rin tries various avenues of investigation - then, since they're on the crew decks (That'll teach them to be responsible with their time and energy) they knock a fist against the wall, moving towards the small segment of inhabited rooms on the ship to rouse and gather anyone who might somehow have slept through the failure.]

Power's down.

[It's almost eerie, how flat and matter of fact they are as they say it. If they're panicking right now, it sure as hell doesn't show.]

[tarakan]

[ On the one hand, Hilbert kind of wants to use this to find some way to sneak onto the Bridge and get what he wants (blood samples from the captain). On the other hand, there are so many ways that can go wrong, and with L3TH3 out of commission, it didn't make sense to chance something that might go poorly.

Hilbert wasn't in his room when the power went down. But he has the same thought as Rin: check to see if people are sleeping. So, as he climbs down the emergency ladder, he spots his coworker. ]

Power is indeed down, [ he nods, equally calm. ] Though oddly enough, not completely. Emergency functions remain.

[ After all, they're still breathing. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Probably means the engines haven't blown up.

[Cheerful thought, huh. Rin gives Hilbert a quick look over, confirming that the man is fine, before they turn back away to survey the rest of the corridor. Not that there are any new insights to be found there, but it's better than trying to meet Hilbert's eyes in the dark.]

Functions probably work independently of L3TH3. Her going down might be the source of the problem, but I can't get shit to respond. [Bad choice of words for Reasons but whatever. They're not going to stop cursing in a situation that definitely fucking requires it.]

[tarakan]

I wonder...do you think those odd floating things managed to work their way entirely to L3TH3's core? Suspect there are multiple processing centers in depths of ship to power something like L3TH3. But if enough of them are compromised, could bring entire system down.

[ After all, if you've recently dealt with glowy floaty things knocking out power and also L3TH3 has now lost power...well, it's easy to make guesses. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Thought Saverem said they couldn't get into main power generation. [A beat.] Maybe he was wrong. If he was they could've gotten onto the bridge.

[Another pause.]

L3TH3 was responding abnormally during the last status update.

for Vash

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[There's too much of the ship and too few people to properly check everything, with the ship's systems down. That's the whole point of L3TH3 - to manage the complexities of a journey far beyond the capacity of a simple human lifespan, even multiple human lifespans.

The problem, of course, becomes obvious the moment things go down.

Rin may only be a scientist by the crew log but they're not really sold on the concept of getting blown up and sucked into space, so despite the sheer level of alarm that hits them when the system goes down, they send out their messages and get moving. Of course one of the first places they try is the power systems, an obvious conclusion when the lights go out.

There's no ladder for them to drop down and scare anyone half to death, but they still practically hurl themself around the corner, already scanning the space for Vash.]

Saverem.

[plantussy]

Come on, baby! Please?

[ Vash is next to the power generator's window, desperately clicking away on his CL-10 at the speed of light - the red of 'error' reflecting in his yellow glasses every time he hits another wall.

As soon as he hears his name, he looks up at Rin with a very lost expression. ]

She's not talking to me!

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Look, they can't talk shit about how anyone processes the emergency especially when they're getting their job done - Rin has spent pretty much the entire time since they were jolted awake running a background stream of curses in their head as they move from task to task - but really Vash?

Rin does come closer, though, aiming not for Vash but for the nearest terminal, double-checking how... well. How dead it is, clearly. Great.]

It's the whole ship. [Just the news he wants, right?] How bad is it here?

[plantussy]

[ Hey, we all have our weird shit. Vash's just happens to be... weird.

He looks a bit more relieved now that Rin's here, though. They know computers far better than he did, so...

Oh, great. Shipwide. ]

Emergency power is holding. It's not like when the power had gone down from that blast, back when we first woke up. This is a system error.

[ He points towards the window, where the generator's beam has gone from the thickness of a thigh to a pen. ]

It's enough power to run all the life support stuff, at least.

Action (Open)

[anesthetic_rage]

Zaeed was less of a 'report in' sort and chat on direct communicators. Instead, he began moving from compartment to room to make sure that security protocols were still in place and to check if there were serious issues to get ahold of specific people over. He could be found in engineering and medical first, making sure that they weren't about to lose power to some critical system.

Eventually, however, he made his way to security, testing and looking at the shields with a frown.]

Blasted things need redundancy. What if we hit a damned space rock?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Against all odds, Rin has found themself one of the more communicative members of the crew - they hate it. They saw some message response from Zaeed, at least, so when they've finished the first initial panic-sweep of the ship, they make their way down to Security as well - there's an off chance that some of the monitoring systems there like cameras are still working, after all.

But, given Zaeed's annoyed grumbling - seems like tough luck there. Fuck.]

L3TH3's controls are down. Probably tied in there.

[Maybe AI was a mistake.]

[anesthetic_rage]

That seems to be the case. I haven't brought it up to the damned thing yet, but next fucking status report assuming we don't crash into the local equivalent of Ceres and die you damned well know I'm bringing up the need for a redundancy if it goes down again.

[He snarled and looked the screen over before giving a resigned sigh.]

We'd have better odds using a shuttle to defend the ship right now, but opening the hangar doors is a lost cause.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Some systems are already redundant - colonist sections have backups.

[Rin's expression is dubious as they survey the surrounding stations, to grim results.]

Unless we can port over colonist AI, there may not be an alternative to L3TH3. Manual controls require access, and Drake isn't responding yet.

[anesthetic_rage]

Those manual controls also require overrides in some cases. You know, in case one of us pulls a wolfwood. Redundancy in the wrong places.

...

we should get a backup AI. Really should. Just in case.

[Name him Wheatly...]