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

[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.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Well, when he puts it like that, this is an existential horror.

Rin goes to pull up their CL-10 to start running numbers, only to run facefirst into the fact that the ship files are completely inaccessible, and grimace.]

How many hits can the ship take.

[tarakan]

[ You can be relatively pessimistic and still be the optimist on the Mnemosyne.

As for Rin's question, ]

Cryogenics, [ said with no hesitation. ] System looks to be running, system looks like it is maintaining course, but I have no way of knowing for sure. Even if enough electricity can be coaxed into unit for me to run simple status report, that could possibly stop future problems in tracks.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin looks up at Vash's movement to catch the diminished beam, then back down to the console with even more of a scowl, making a few more attempts at getting it back to life, all to little effect.]

Whatever parts are connected to the AI probably went down too. L3TH3 isn't rebooting. Are there manual controls?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

You mean if we have to be frozen again.

[A question, despite the inflection of a statement as it considers the pods, but...]

Consoles are down but there might be manual ways to divert it.

[plantussy]

[ Vash sighs at that, shaking his head. ]

I have no idea, it isn't my area of expertise. She's not supposed to go down, though? Shouldn't there be backups upon backups?

[tarakan]

[ He does mean if we have to be frozen again. But also, you don't have to phrase it like that. ]

There is enough auxiliary power to maintain temperature and life support. Would gladly suffer through system ten to twenty degrees cooler if we could reroute power to something useful.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Yeah, there should be.

[Hence... everything. Rin gives up on the console and moves to stare at the beam that Vash's attention is on, their attention diverting to the inputs he's attempting on the screen of the CL-10.]

Something should be happening. Not just... floating like this.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[It's the molluscs all over again. But - there's an idea.]

Agent Massani is going to want shields. Core system access may be more critical.

[plantussy]

...yeah. I'm tired of being helpless.

[ They have no real agency in all of this, and it's terrifying. No captain, no officers, barely any access. ]

[tarakan]

Of course Massani would want shields, [ Hilbert grumbles slightly. He enjoys Massani's company, he is someone sensible to talk to, but he can be such a soldier at times—and there's something derogatory about that thought. ]

I am willing to indulge his request for shields if power is able to be rerouted. But the moment cryogenics start to fail, if that even happens, it should become top priority.

[anesthetic_rage]

[... oh, so he was going to make him run those calculations?]

Give me twenty-four hours to crunch the numbers. I have to approximate the acceleration we're moving at and the normal acceleration on average of a comet or smaller asteroid. I don't have exact figures on our hull strength but I should be able to approximate...

...

Ahem. Less than we god-damned want to happen. That's the short version. We might be able to take a hit but dont bet on it.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[You and them both, Vash. They're - getting to that. The mod in their head is making it hard, though.]

Can the ship manage on this power output? Are we going to lose vital functions if this continues?

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Rin just - nods along with that. Soldier (derogatory) doesn't seem to be a concept that they disagree with. But maybe that's just a function of having been subjected to friendly fire when the whole Wolfwood Incident first went down.]

... Engineer Saverem might be able to manually adjust power output. I haven't checked him yet.

[lastdecember]

'Bout as far as I could kick it.

[ There -- the console has power, all its little indicators lighting up. No telling what good it'll do -- a lot of those lights are red -- but it's now Massani's project.

Wolfwood wipes his hands off on his leg and hauls himself back up to his feet. No rest for the wicked. ]

Seems like we've found a real issue, though. Seems like the ship would be safer if more of this stuff could be done manually, instead of relying on some master program.

[lastdecember]

[ Rin freezes right where they're at, and Wolfwood considers, just for the moment, whether he could kick them off the damn ladder. There really isn't enough space to get that kind of movement... but he's sure thinking about it. ]

Will you move? [ It was a stupid joke, okay? Let it go already! ] Nobody's getting woken up today but some of us might end up unconscious if they don't fucking get out of the way.

[plantussy]

[ Mods in heads tend to do that!

Vash looks over at the power generator window again and rubs the back of his head. ]

She should be okay with the life support stuff for quite a while. There's still power there, it just isn't accessed.

[ He sighs again. ]

It might be how the ship was run before we woke up.

[tarakan]

Then I suspect that will be next stop for you. Personally, I need to find Dr. Baizhu and make sure he is alright.

[ As he suspects Baizhu will instantly be worried about the state of the cryogenics as well. ]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Corpses don't need life support.

[Rin for fuck's sake.

They stare past Vash towards the thin line of the power beam, expression set and tense. The longer this goes on without rebooting, the more they're thinking about trying something drastic, which shows in the mounting stiffness of their posture.]

... If something goes wrong with the power how likely is it that we can fix it without terminal access.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Well, theoretically Rin could take the hard data from Zaeed and run it themselves, but that might just put Zaeed under scrutiny again when L3TH3 comes back online -

If L3TH3 comes back online. They're feeling less optimistic about that by the hour.]

Great. So we aren't going to explode immediately, just when we hit something wrong.

[itdoesntlikeyou]

[Is there a record for the number of times in a day someone can think about kicking their crew member off a ladder? If so (or even if not) Rin seems to be gunning for it. It takes them a full second to start moving again - but they do start moving, with a grimace hidden behind their mask.]

Please confirm the next item on your itinerary.

[They have the most calm answering-machine voice while they say it, too.]

[itdoesntlikeyou]

Confirmed.

[It's not phrased like a request or an order - they notice that. Or maybe they notice the way it doesn't ping at them - regardless, they still nod, making their way back to that tether by the wall for navigating.]

Messaging is still active. Keep watching for updates.

[plantussy]

[ Vash noticeably cringes at that, but Rin kind of has a point. ]

I can handle some things manually if there's an issue, but if there's a system one and I don't have access, it'll be tricky.

[ He presses a few buttons on his CL-10. ]

Absolute worst case scenario, we can grab UR-A9A and make our way to the cryo bay. Either we freeze ourselves... or if we somehow make it into the settler bay, it has independent life support and power. We could activate M0USA1 and have them work on the issue.

[ Nevermind that the settler bay is sealed. ]

[lastdecember]

[ If there's a record then they're both going for leaderboard placement today! Wolfwood can't see that grimace, but he's wearing one of his own, so at least they're in alignment about one thing. ]

B deck. Shield generator.

[ That wasn't where he was going originally, but Rin doesn't need to know that... and he does want to put eyes on the generator, to see if there's any problems there.

Checking in on Saverem, and any other crew who might be in their quarters, will have to wait. ]

If that's okay with you, boss.