VIRAL

[momatoes]

Fancy banner thanks to pseudoParadox.

Welcome to the HIC Ios.

It is a modest starship, powered by one luckless sap of a redblood. In the vastness of space, the roar of its black engines must have sounded miniscule and irrelevant, much like a plaintive cricket in the night. After all, it is only one of the thousands of routine labor transports that happen throughout the Alternian universe at any given time. War never stops for snacks. But trolls do.

Luckily, the Ios is equipped with a snack bar.

...

There was a crackle of static as the PA system came to life.

> GOOD EVENING _PASSENGERS_

It was a smooth, metallic voice, neutral in tone, yet, oddly enough, unmistakably male. The voice paused. If it were possible that sophisticated pieces of technology are capable of dramatic pauses, then DAIMINN, the onboard ship AI, must have been a playwright in a past life.

> WE HAVE NOW ENTERED _STABLE_ GRAVITY LOOPCORE
> PLEASE _CLEAN_UP_ AFTER YOUR OWN VOMIT
> THANK YOU VERY MUCH
> AND HAVE A SAFE JOURNEY

Its last words were punctuated with a sudden resurge of static.

The journey has begun. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

__________________________________________________

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Maps and Ship Info

Known locations of trolls
Last updated as of Post #87

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Names are greyed if they aren't in that floor or if they went somewhere undefined. Position is only very approximate.

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[Captain Whosit]

"hi."

Delfis looked up at the red-blood who was addressing her. She stood a few inches taller than Delfis but looked sort of scrawny, to the point of concern if one had any. Delfis thought she could smell smoke on her. Delfis set her bag on the ground, next to the cage that held her three-eyed crow lusus, and spared a glance for the red-blood.

"Hiii," she said in a casual, if disinterested tone, "Guess we're bunk mates."

"i guess we ∀re." Annisa pushed her shades up the bridge of her nose with one finger, thankful for the meager shield they provided. She let the words hang in the air for an awkward moment, half hoping the stranger would meet her halfway and offer some kind of reply. "you must be ∀lk∀li. i'm kittue." The words seemed to rush out too fast.

Alkali was in uniform, so that was something they had in common. She was some sort of sniper, right? She looked every inch a military woman, with a uniform as clean and sharp as if the drill sergent would burst in at any moment for inspection. If anything, she looked like the one who would be giving the inspection, with an expression like that.

A series of soft clicks, not unlike the sound of fingernails clicking together, sounded in her ear. A shifting of weight. Regal reared back and waved his forelegs around in what would have been an amusing display if she didn't know it for a threat. She clicked her tongue, and the white spider settled back onto her shoulder with a reluctant clack.

"Kiiittue," Delfis mumbled as she keyed open her footlocker and started to place some of her essentials inside, "Yeah, III'm Delfiiis Alkaliii." Hearing a strange clacking sound, Delfis tensed and spun to face Annisa. She spotted the white spider, presumably the other troll's lusus, on Annisa's shoulder. After giving the spider a long glance, she turned back to her work, moving quickly. Her brisk responses and lack of eye contact might have suggested that she wasn't terribly interested in conversing. Meanwhile, her lusus let out a caw and began preening its feathers.

Okay. That could have gone better.

Annisa flipped her trunk open with her foot and proceeded to tug a few sets of clothes out of her sylladex. No reason to keep them in there. She then added a rectangular metal cube that took up almost half of the locker space - a small thermal hull containing several nights worth of her own blood. Not that she would be volunteering that information.

She cleared her throat. "∀re you looking fow∀rd to l∀nding?"

"No," Delfis said as she slammed her locker door shut. She stood up abruptly and grabbed the handle of her lusus' cage. "See you," she said dismissively, walking for the bunkblock exit and into the hall. She wasn't feeling in the mood to chat right now; recent events had put her in a foul mood.

The explocutioner tugged off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt the beginnings of a headache coming on... she did that right this time didn't she? "reg∀l." The spider chirped in response to his name. "ple∀se remind me why I keep doing this."

The click she received in return might have been an answer, but probably wasn't.

[momatoes]

Attention, players. The next plot point will occur right after the 20th post.

[Autoptrophic Lizard]

"Postμre" Vulpes reminded while putting himself back into two feet, "Yoμ've got to have some postμre, it's the least yoμ caη do after the sceηe oη the liftoff", the effect was the polar opposite to desired, making he look even more awkward as he searched for cleaning supplies. " Nice way to make a good first impressioη, helps establish that yoμ've ηever beeη iη a ship before aηd probably shoμldη't ever be agaiη. Yμp, yoμ're gettiηg stμck oη that coloηy for the rest of yoμr life, caη it get mμch worse?" he hadn't to ponder much before realizing it could easily get worst.
He swept the floor silently, trying to sort exactly why he was there, "Yoμ thoμght this woμld be a warship, somewhere where yoμ'd be μsefμl, aηd there woμld be a fight aηd theη yoμ'd get back home, ηot some traηsport ship to some far away coloηy, what are yoμ sμpposed to do here?", quickly done, he set off to the bunk area trying to avoid the look from other trolls.
Still feeling queasy he sat on his bed and set the little amount of baggage he was allowed to carry aside him, it was then that the significance of things hit "Fμck! Yoμ ARE gettiηg stμck oη that coloηy for the rest of yoμr life."

[CraftyJongleur]

*smack* *slurp*

Hakeem Eszesz shuffled and dragged his feet as he slowly made his way toward the bunks. He was certainly in no hurry to get there. In fact, he wasn't in much of a hurry to do anything except get off of the blasted vessel he had been unwillingly reassigned to. This 'modest starship' was nothing compared to the sprawling laboratory he used to work in. Of course, the chances of him ever seeing that again were slim to none.

Although he could not see them, he felt the faze of the countless mechanical eyes, watching from all around him. Of course, he supposed that he ought to get used to that, as surely the trolls he had been assigned to travel with would leer at him just like they always did. All these psychics and highbloods always looking down on him... he would show them! He would show them all!

His bag, being much lighter than he had expected when he began packing, clattered limply against his thigh as he turned the corner past the mess hall. It had taken all of his self control to resist throwing a full out temper tantrum when he was told that his precious syringes and scalpels would be locked away for the duration of the trip. Of course, doing so would have gotten him culled on the spot, but one simply does not separate a scientist from his tools. If only he hadn't revealed that he was able to wield them as weapons, but during the 'incident' he simply hadn't had a choice. For the third time in the past hour, he cursed his rotten luck.

*thp* *thp* *thp*

He paused upon entering the Bunk Room and scanned to find the bunk which he had been assigned to. When he finally did, he found it occupied by a troll who barely looked old enough to be off of Alternia, and good god the boy was talking to himself. This, he realized with a groan, must be his bunkmate. Of COURSE he would be the one to get paired up with a mental deficient. This was probably part of his punishment.

Sighing loudly, he resigned himself to just approach the redblood fool and get it over with. He'd have to talk to him and some point, anyhow. Once he reached the bunk area, he dropped his bag haphazardly on the floor and cleared his throat.

"*smack* sho I shuposhe dhad you are my bunkmade? dypical. well, my name ish Hakeem Esh... Eshesh... jushd call me Docdor Hakeem."

God, why did talking without teeth have to be so bloody difficult?

"sheeing ash we will be sheeing a lod of eachoffer for dhe nexd few daysh, perhapsh you would like do indrodushe yourshelf?"

He waited patiently for a response. Time to see what sort of mental faculties this troll actually had.

[Autoptrophic Lizard]

"Oh god, who's that makiηg disgμstiηg ηoises?" Vulpes thought as he raised his head from his hands, looking up and realizing it was his bukermate.
"Ah, hello, Vμlpes Gieηah, pleased to meet yoμ Doctor Hakeem."

Noticing the white lab coat, along with the title made him wonder.

"So, yoμ're the ship's medic?"

[Thunder Reign]

Curled up under the covers of his bunk, eyes firmly fixed on the bland wall in front of him, Orlath Aysris shuddered internally as he heard the movement of trolls around him. He'd made a beeline to the bunks as soon as he had been granted free movement on the ship, barely glancing to check who he was saddled with as a bunkmate before clambering onto the top bed and claiming it as his own. His medical coat was draped across the metal framework, the cage containing his lusus half-heartedly hung from a hook and left to dangle in the air. Said guardian croaked in indignation as he swayed, but he wasn't going to get let out no matter how loud he fussed or how many wet splorches came from his container. ...Eugh. That second issue was going to have to be addressed later.

The medic flipped over so that he could watch the trolls coming and going below him, making a stab at analysing the ones he could see. More specifically, which ones were most likely to annoy him, and which ones were most likely to get sick and barf everywhere. Thank god he didn't have to perform medical duties on this ship, that's all he could say. His stomach rumbled, alerting him to the fact that he would have to get up and get something to eat soon, but that could wait until later. He wasn't feeling up to getting off his bunk right now.

[Captain Whosit]

Having put the majority of her things away, Delfis decided to give herself and her still-caged lusus a tour of the Ios because it's not a bad idea to know where you'll be spending your next five or so nights. Leaving the bunk area, the first place to catch her attention was the large and spacious recblock. A quick look suggested that this was where Delfis, and most of the other passengers, were likely to spend their time.

Delfis passed through the messhall but wasn't that hungry just yet. Her lusus cawed a bit--Delfis made a mental note to feed her some corn later. She noted that her gold passcard gave her access to the kitchens themselves, but she didn't really think she'd ever make use of that. She wasn't a late-day snacker. The only other blocks of note on this level were the private quarters, and Delfis certainly wasn't going in there. Stepping into the elevator, Delfis decided to check out deck 3.

The first place that caught Delfis' eye when she stepped out was the armory. Curious, she palmed open the door and stepped inside. It looked like there were three large storage lockers that were sealed off to trolls with her level of access. The labels said that they held weapons and armor. Delfis didn't expect that they'd have need of this stuff during the short trip, but she was still curious to see exactly what kind of gear a ship like this stocked. Maybe later she'd ask one of the highbloods if they'd be willing to open the lockers up.

Setting her lusus' cage down, Delfis examined the unlocked storage crates. It looked like they held general-purpose tools but she couldn't help but notice several crowbars as part of the complement....

[CraftyJongleur]

Hakeem glowered as Vulpes spoke the deeply hated word. "Medic! *thp* *thp* *thp* Don'd you effer call me dhad again! I don'd care whad dhe papersh shay, I am not shome mere medic. I am a shientishd, and a brilliand one ad dhad! Jushd one shdupid mishdake and shuddenly I'm demoded doo medic again. Id'sh nod fair!"

He sighed; no way was he giving this cretin the satisfaction of seeing him get so emotional. "Neffer mind dhad. For your information I am a shienshe offisher and don'd you forgedd id. And how aboud you? Whad on Aldernia doesh a shimpledon like you haff to offer dhad you're being shend do dhe colony, hmm? Eh? *smack* Shpeak up, shonny, I haven'd got all day! *slurp*"

Admittedly, he was aware that it wasn't exactly fair to expect Vulpes to respond so quickly, especially after being insulted, but Hakeem was desperate to get through these painful introductions as soon as possible. He had bigger fish to fry, like finding out how he could get his equipment out of the inventory hold, and maybe even get some ewuipment out of the infirmary. This near-wriggler was certainly not going to help him. He needed a highblood!

...Not that he would ever admit that fact.

[Blank]

Danaus set up the video recorder on a table in the large rec room. She checked it was getting a good view of window into space on the far side of the hall. Satisfied, she hurried around to stand in view and face the recorder and puts on a big smile.

“This is night one of our journey and everyone's just settling in for the plus good ride fnord!!! Her Imperious Condescension's Ios is expected to take five nights to get to her destination fnord. But the passengers fnord are sure to keep themselves busy during that time!!! After all fnord, A Productive Troll Is A Happy Troll™! We'll get a good and I dare say invasive look at the lives of the fourteen trolls fnord being carried by this vessel!!!”

She holds the smile a bit longer before dropping it. That part won't been seen when the footage gets edited. It only happens briefly, before she goes back to the vacant smile she usually has. She turns off the recorder.

As it happens, a small thing has been troubling her. The self help book she reads, Nine Recipes For Highly Productive Trolls©, would describe it as Negative Thoughts™. The book goes on to say that Negative Thinking™ should be avoided at all costs and is to blame for anything that goes wrong in your life. It should be noted it also has a very specific notion of what Negative And Positive Thinking™ are.

Which means she pushes those thoughts to the side for the moment. That's something she has become very good at that. She picks up the video recorder again. She refrains from going to her sleeping arrangements for now. After all, A Productive Troll Is A Happy Troll™.

[Autoptrophic Lizard]

"I apologize for my assμmptioη", said Vulpes in a disconcerted tone "It's jμst that I coμld really μse some medical advice right ηow".

Quickly trying to exchange subject to something that made the other troll less mad he decided to try something that works with every scientist "Yoμ're a scieηtist? Iηterestiηg, what yoμ stμdy? As for me, I'm a mechaηic, I fix war machiηes aηd this kiηd of stμff"

[BenevolentDemon]

Mitera Ategia was more flustered than she had ever been in her entire life. There had been some horrible, horrible mistake, and it would be corrected as soon as she could find someone important on this blasted ship. She had never been so mortified in her entire life, and she would be damned if she was going to go along with this nonsense. They had marked her as a lowblood. A lowblood! Hah! It was a mistake, a disgusting mistake, and she would make very sure that the troll who had made it would be punished, and if they were a lowblood, culled. They thought they could mess with her, did they know who she—

A pathetic whimper alerted her to her lusus’ distress. She had been holding him in her lap so he wouldn’t be too jostled, and now she was squeezing him just a bit too tightly for comfort. “Apologies, Charles,” she murmured, loosening her arms enough for the terrier to wriggle out of her grasp and stumble about the room dizzily. Neither of them were quite used to space travel yet, they were practically fresh off Alternia.

The room in question was not, in fact, her quarters. They had assigned her to the bunk area, with the dang lowbloods. She couldn’t be seen in there, not for an extended period of time, ugh. She had chosen to huddle in one of the bathroom stalls during takeoff. But she would have to drop off her bag in her assigned bunk; it was too heavy to carry around with her, she had packed too many books. She was pretty sure she had read somewhere that heavy bags led to poor posture, and poor posture made you grow a hump! Or maybe it was the other way around? She wasn’t quite sure. Either way, this bag had to go and she could hardly leave it lying around! There were too many expensive dresses in there.

She pulled herself to her feet with some effort, swaying slightly, and strode towards the door. Her lusus trotted along behind her, as he always did, his short little legs pumping furiously to keep up with his charge. The both of them arrived at the bunk area, speeding up their pace as they swung open the door. Mitera kept her face pointed at the ground, blushing furiously. With any luck, they could get in and out of there without any questions, without even being noticed. This was shameful, she thought as she stormed past the bunks and practically slammed her bag down on her own bed.

[Ayaka]

Well, that had certainly been an informative trip.

Pleuis reflected on what she had seen of the lower ground floor and basement briefly. Other then noting the existence of the escape pods she was sure they wouldn't be using and the cells she was positive she'd never see the inside of, the basement floor had held no interest for her. Perhaps another troll would have been curious to see what had lain behind the doors she, a passcardless lowblood, could not venture through. They key words being 'another troll'. This redblood held no interest for places her superiors did not want her in. Her thoughts drifted to the lower ground floor as she ascended the stairs, a single adequately sized bag slung over her shoulder. The gym had sparked her interest, despite the fact that her specibus had been locked up with the rest of her bags before the launch. Unfortunately, it looked like she would not be getting any sword practice in this trip, but five days was not enough to loose her edge. Besides, highbloods rules were highbloods rules. They knew what was best.

The redblood has opted not to travel via elevator to avoid coming in contact with any other trolls. Her policy to avoid other lowbloods as much as possible was still very much something she aimed to maintain. As one of the lowest of lowbloods, she had no rights to be rude to anyone higher than her, but Pleuis still preferred to avoid pleasant conversation with them as to make more room for tending to the needs of highbloods. Of course, during a five day voyage, she didn't suspect she'd be needed as much as she'd like to be. Why, there was a high chance the highbloods of this ship would want nothing to do with those on the lower spectrum. Really, it was only a short trip. They could very well spend it all avoiding Pleuis, and she dared not risk angering one. So the redblood has vowed not to look for any highbloods, but rather attempt to serve them if they found her instead. There was no use being a nuisance, after all.

Pleuis shuffled the strap of her bag slightly as she exited the left staircase of the upper ground floor, her eyes studying the empty area and the many doors around her. Which one was the bunk area, again...? She mulled over the question silently for a few moments, swaying slightly on her feet. Drat, she should have looked for it first instead of exploring the other accessible floors. In truth though, she had simply been trying to avoid her fellow lowbloods, as always. It was basic knowledge that the bunks were the most likely area that they'd assemble in first. She sighed, rubbing her temples. Ah, well. She was going to have to face them at some point, anyways. Who was she supposed to be bunking with, anyways? The redblood racked her mind for the answer, eventually recalling that it was someone named Mitera, no doubt a lowblood like her. How would she know which one was Mitera anyways? What if she went in and put her stuff in a different bunk even though her bunkmate had already set up in another bunk?

Horror built on her face as Pleuis attempted to solve her situation. Wait, wait, she knew how to handle this. When she went in, she'd simply call out 'Mitera' and if anyone answered, she would simply unpack her stuff after an introduction and be on her way. If she wasn't there, even better. Suddenly confident now that she had a plan, Pleuis puffed out her chest and strode forwards towards the nearest door and swung it open, swaggering in as if she was someone important. "Mi--- Oh", she mumbled, the redbloods cheeks soon flushing a dull, well, red. It seems that she had not chosen the right door after all, and had instead waltzed straight into the bathroom. She was slightly frazzled, but glad nonetheless that no one had been there to seen her. Perhaps she should actually look before walking in the next door she tried?

And so when Pleuis creaked open one of the doors to the bunk areas, she did not burst in. Rather, she pressed her face against the small viewing crevice she'd created, studying the room. Yes, this was surely the place. Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, the reblood drew herself back from the door, adjusted the bag on her shoulder and pushed the door open and took a few tentative steps inside. She briefly observed her surroundings, not really bothering to observe her fellow trolls.

"M-Mitera?"
Well, drat. She certainly hadn't planned for her voice to shake. This wasn't exactly setting a confident example of herself, was it?

[Sandvich King]

Nordin walks into the bunk room lugging a rather heavy bag. He scans the room with his eyes. Nervous redbloods and yellowbloods... No surprise there... Wait, is that an indigoblood? What is she doing here, all upset about something?

Hm...

He thinks for a moment and decides not to interrupt her for now. But he'll keep an eye on her...

For now he just heads to his bunk and stuffs his bag into the locker. No bunkmate to be found? Oh well, he decides the trolls in the bunk room can wait. He wants to check out the ship first. He doesn't want to settle down till he knows as much as he can about this tin can of a ship he'll be sleeping in for the next few nights.

He leaves the bunk area and starts wandering a bit. He walks through the rec Room. ==C Neat. He peeks into the mess hall. ==C Okay.

He goes down the elevator and ends up on the lower level.

He looks in the bay. ==C Prety empty but okay... He glances at the labels by the other doorways on the other doors. ==C Gym, conference, showers, infirmary, al self explanatory. Aha, the armory. Swet!

He heads over to the door, swipes his gold card, and walks in to find... Someone else is in there? He looks at Delfis.

==C Oh... Uh... Helo. What are ya doin in here?

[Orlist]

Morita Solvex wandered aimlessly through the Ios, rubbing at her temples with the tips of her fingers. Their cold metal touch provided little comfort, but it was still better than facing the colour scheme unaided. She wanted to strangle whoever thought a purple on dirty yellow colour scheme was appropriate to put, well, anywhere really. The problem was with her robotic eyes, she thought to herself. They aren’t designed to handle this level of tackiness.

Honestly the whole ship was a disgrace. The rooms were scaled horribly and the whole thing just felt... clunky. Unfinished was another good word for it. There was one saving grace though. She had heard that this ship was carrying an advanced DAIMINN AI system, and her excitement was palpable. Just being told about it had elicited from her an embarrassingly high squeaking noise, and she was practically bouncing up and down when she was getting ready to board. She was sorely disappointed when she saw the interior of the ship though, and practically seething by the time she had explored it a bit.

She had taken special note of the escape pods (Only six? This doesn’t bode well) on the bottom level and infirmary (She hoped that this place would be a rare sight, as comfortable as those beds looked) on the level above that, and was now taking the lift up to the third level. She was thankful that there was at least lift access on every floor; she and stairs didn’t agree with each other. She considered heading over to the bunk area to see who she would be sleeping with for the next five nights, but she noticed the mess hall first and quickly barged into it. Immediately she noticed the massive food dispensing machine that seemed to rule the wall it resided on. They were instant meals of course, but food was food. Morita rushed in, failing to examine the rest of the room as she ogled the meals before her. She was surprised. Some of them actually looked appetising.

[Captain Whosit]

"Hnn??" Delfis jerked back in surprise from the toolbox she was perusing just as her lusus began to squawk. She mentally reprimanded herself for letting someone sneak up on her, even if the other passengers on this ship aren't supposed to be a threat. Quickly collecting herself, she turned to face the intruder and, seeing that he's a step above her on the spectrum, straightened up and replied. "Nothiiin'," she said defensively. "III just wanted to see what sorta gear they kept iiin here." This was all true, though there was no reason to tell anyone else that she could find a tool fitting her strife specibus down here.

Hoping to deflect any questions before they could even be asked, Delfis continued quickly, "All the good stuff iiis locked up though." She punctuated the statement with a brief shrug, as though it couldn't be helped. As she finished talking, she walked to the side of the block to allow the jade-blood unobstructed access while also giving her the chance to slip out if he decided not to keep chatting with her. He may not be a highblood, but she probably can't afford to get on his bad side by storming out just to avoid a conversation. From what she'd seen of the ship so far, it was going to be too small to avoid everyone for the whole trip, much as she'd like to.

[CraftyJongleur]

Hakeem rolled his eyes in disgust at Vulpes. "Bah! Mechanicsh. Alwaysh fiddling aboud with machinesh... machinesh are rubbish! Noffing like a liffing breaffing organishm. *thp* *thp* *thp*" Though he was clearly unimpressed by Vulpes' career, the question seemed to have the desired effect as he puffed his chest out. "Dhad'sh whad I work wiff. Biochemishdry; daking dhe droll body apard and pudding id back dogeffer again, finding waysh do make id bedder, or make id worshe. Or at leashd I ushed to before a sherdain inshidend god me reashigned do dhis worffless ship." He frowned and unconsciously poked tongue around his gums as he remembered that fateful day. Just one experiment gone awry and he ends up losing his teeth, his job, and his dignity all in one fell swoop. He never needed the additional reason to despise his superiors, their system, and everything they stood for, but he certainly got one none the less. How dare they demote a true genius like him? How dare they leave him bunking with a godforsaken mechanic? Clearly they were merely envious of his brilliance, and he would give them good reason to... and good reason to fear it.

[pseudoParadox]

Annisa huffed. May as well go exploring, she didn’t really want to hang around all these troll at once. Plus the greenblood that kept making those slurping sounds was starting to piss her off, and she didn’t want to be in the brig for assault on the first day. She stalked off in the opposite direction, breezing past around a highblood (who surely had to be lost) and the redblood hovering in the doorway. “excuse me.” She muttered.

In the hall she peeked over her sunglasses… before hurriedly shoving them back up. By the ancestors she was glad she wore shades, that was the ugliest color scheme she had seen in her life! She took her time walking down the hall, keeping a running mental commentary on the sucky design. Annisa was no architect, but she’d been on more than a few ships, and this was the biggest pile of intergalactic shit she had ever laid eyes on.

The Mess Hall wasn’t much better. The floor was a lovely mosaic of swirling tiles… in mustard yellow and royal purple. It was hypnotic in the worst way, like a spaceship wreck; it was too horrible to stop watching. A smattering of tables were scattered about the space, and on the far wall there was a food dispenser with a wider selection than she was used to seeing.

With a start that drew a protesting chatter from Regal, she noticed the brownblood standing nearby. Holy – how long had she been there?! She grumbled softly and settled cross-legged on a nearby bench, long legs making her look like some great dark grasshopper on a twig. A worn metal lighter appeared in her hand almost without thought, and she toyed with it while she spoke. "∀nnis∀ kittue" She thought she sounded pretty casual - this really was pathetic. She might as well throw herself on the pyre now with how grubbing pathetic this was. “and you?”

[Sandvich King]

Nordin steps a up to the storage spaces.

==C The neat stuf is locked, huh? Oh wel. I was just coming in to se what this ship's got as far as weapons and tols go.

He walks over to the toolbox and pokes around in it for a moment. Lots of useful tools, even some wrenches that would fit very well in his strife specibus. He decides to leave them alone for now though, since he doesn't have any immediate business taking stuff from here back to the bunks.

==C Loks like this place also serves as a workshop. That sure is handy.

He walks up to Delfis and offers his hand for her to shake if she wants to.

==C Name's Nordin, by the way. Are you here just checkin stuf out as wel?

[BenevolentDemon]

Mitera stiffened as she heard her name being called and looked up, replacing her furious ground-glare with a stiff, forced smile. The girl who had called her name looked subservient enough, typical lowblood fare. Obviously not worth her time, shouldn't be too hard to shake off.

“Yes,” said Mitera, and turned back to her bag without further explanation. She would rather die than admit that she was stuck in these quarters against her will, it was damned undignified. She would take this matter up only with someone important, and this lowblooded girl was certainly not important. Who was the redblood, anyway, her bunkmate? Ugh.

[momatoes]

PLOT POINT

While it would have been rude for DAIMINN to interrupt the pleasantries that had already been happening on its ship, necessity far outweighed any courtesy it owed the trolls. The sudden, unexpected intrusion of its voice not so much as boomed, as simply filled all spaces, overriding all conversation.

> GREETINGS ONCE MORE PASSENGERS
> IT SEEMS THERE IS AN UNAUTHORIZED SHIP WITHIN AN HOURS VICINITY
> I AM ATTEMPTING TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SHIP
> IN THE MEANTIME PLEASE DO NOT BE _ALARMED_
> THIS IS SIMPLY PART OF PROTOCOL
> THANK YOU

__________________________________________________

The next plot point will occur after the 29th post.

[Orlist]

Morita hadn't even noticed Annisa enter, and had just begin to turn and face her when DAIMINN interrupted. She started a bit at the sudden intrusion, and made quite a show of furiously glancing around for the source of the voice. But as it continued on she finally realized what was happening, and a smile slowly formed around the corners of her mouth. By the time it finished she was practically grinning. "wowh, thath wash amazingh," she exclaimed. "honestlyh thath AIh ish theh onlyh redeemingh..." ...She took a deep breath... "...featureh ofh thish awfulh shiph."

She grinned and leaned against the dispenser, accidentally ordering a nut bar. "theh name'sh Moritah Solvexh. Whath bringsh youh hereh?"

[pseudoParadox]

She jerked when the AI first started speaking, but once she’d figured out what it was she settled back into her seat. The breathless troll’s reaction made her smile faintly. Solvex might not be entirely painful to talk with. “But the décor is so ch∀rming.” Laughing, she gestured at the vomit-inducing floor.

“just exploring.” She snagged Regal off of the table before he could sneak closer to the other troll. The spider was curious as a wiggler. “why d’y∀ think the ∀I told us about the other ship?” Couldn’t the fancy-shmancy computer take care of that by itself?

[Autoptrophic Lizard]

"Bioeηhaηcemeηt? Soμηds really..." started Vulpes, before being suddenly interrupted by the DAIMINN's disembodied voice. Even if the message explicitly told them not to be alarmed, anyone could see his eyes getting wide open and his arms trembling, in a expression that would look like a crude caricature of fear, if not for the sincerity on his face. He stood frozen for a second before starting to talk again, clearly shaken "It's probably ηothiηg right? Jμst some raηdom traveliηg ship or eveη better! Jμst a mistakeη readiηg by the AI! Right? Yoμ've beeη iη ships before, stμff like this mμst happeη all the time I'm sμre?" and while his mouth said words he knew meant nothing, his head was elaborating many possible scenarios for what was inside that ship: pirates, vengeful aliens, a warship that would gun down this one just for the fun, some highblood's ship that identified a problem with this one and decided to seize it, and the list went on in his mind.

[Captain Whosit]

Delfis puts out her hand to accept the handshake--it would be quite rude not to.

"Delfiiis Alkaliii, soldiiier," Delfis replies as she shakes briefly but firmly. Yeah, III was just-- the rest of her sentence is interrupted by the ship-wide announcement. Delfis listens intently, but appears puzzled by the end of it. She wondered if this mystery ship was an enemy alien vessel, unlikely as it seemed. It could be an Imperial vessel. It wasn't unheard of for a troll crew, especially if it was heavily low-blooded, to go AWOL, but those were usually hunted down quickly. The third possibility that came to her mind, and the least threatening one, was that it was just a ship that had become adrift somehow. Maybe their engine died suddenly.

"Unauthoriiized shiiip, huh? You thiiink the captaiiin iiis gonna iiinvestiiigate? III don't know iiif we're equiiiped for that, but...." Her eyes drift towards the locked weapon lockers. Maybe if there was trouble she'd get a chance to show everyone what she could do. She wouldn't actually mind if the other ship was hostile, just so long as they got a chance to board them. Maybe if she took out the enemy crew, her superiors would forgive her and she could get her old post back. Delfis starts to get a faraway look in her eyes as she starts to daydream.