we lived in another world

[proxysearch]

CHARACTERS: OPEN TO ALL
LOCATION: Passengers' Quarters, one of the common rooms.
WARNINGS: Possible language? (Anything else will be added later.
SUMMARY: Meet-and-greet for all of the new passengers so they can figure out names and what to do.

Comments

[gofor_theoptics]

Tali is used to a busy atmosphere with lots of people bustling around -- that made the Normandy a big adjustment, and this place an even larger one than that. She's settled down onto a couch herself, legs crossed while she glances out over the rest of the people who were slowly gathering around.

This is like some sort of addiction-meeting. She remembers passing some of the red-sand help groups on the Citadel, and they looked a lot like this.

She clears her throat. "People -- seem to have already listed off some of their skills in the information post," she offers up to nobody in particular, "but I guess I should say again that I'm a machinist, and you can call me Tali."

awwww tali tali tali

[aguidingstar]

Also on the couch is a large, fair-haired man sitting with his elbows on his knees and his back straight, patiently watching the rest of the group. Such an odd collection of people, he marvelled - but it had worried him to see that so many of them were so young or so inexperienced. Space, he thought to himself, was a harsh environment and the learning curve would be steep for those that were more used to the softer, more forgiving life one could lead planetside.

When the lady - or what he had assumed was a lady behind the complicated lifesuit - had spoken up Hotspur had been taken by surprise: he hadn't quite expected such a fascinating voice. He sat straighter, lifting his weight from his elbows, and surveyed her features - or what he could, from the other side of mask - with an interested half-smile. A machinist! A machinist was useful, and of instant intrigue to the pilot.

"Tali," He repeated the name softly, if only to better remember it. "Good to meet you, Tali. What kind of machines are you used to working with?"

8DDD

[gofor_theoptics]

He'd likely be saddened to know that Tali wasn't all that much older than the majority of the people here -- however, she was a good deal more experienced with spaceside things than most quarians her age. She turned to face him immediately once he'd spoken up, noting that he hadn't given his name yet. Perhaps he would in a moment or two, but it felt strange not addressing him by a name, or at least a title.

"Primarily drive-cores of large space vessels," she replied carefully, making sure she didn't mention 'experimental' or 'stolen' vessels, "as well as smaller vehicles and on-board computer systems." Quarian machinists cobbled together ships and patched hull-breaches using whatever was available to them, after all. "I also have some experience with planetary research, but I can't imagine that's going to come in handy here."

[aguidingstar]

"You never know," Hotspur interjected with an even smile. "If we pass by any hospitable planets some of the crew might want to stretch their legs..." He's already quietly noted the onset of claustrophobia in some of the human passengers; it was worryingly soon considering that they had barely been on board for a day.

Hotspur shifted towards her and stretched forward a large, calloused hand to shake. "The name's Max, but call me Hotspur. I'm a pilot on the Asgardreid --" There's a touch of gentle ruefulness to his voice as he adds, "-- But no-one on board the Tranquillity seems to have heard of her. What ship are you from?"

[gofor_theoptics]

"As long as it can be proven that the hospitable planet isn't also hostile, I would be happy to go along and collect information about it." No need to lose every member of her crew but herself and a long-standing war vetran ... again.

"Pleasure to meet you, Hotspur." If that was his preferred name, she'd use it. She shook his hand as firmly as one could manage with three fingers and shook her head.

"Unfortunately not a ship that I'm familiar with either. I was a resident engineer on the Normandy SR-2 -- a frigate ship -- before my arrival here. Has any of your crew arrived with you?"

[aguidingstar]

If Hotspur was at all perturbed by the three-fingered handshake then he certainly didn't show it. He let the hand drop and gestured bleakly with a melancholic shrug. "'Fraid not. Out of the hundreds and hundreds of people on the Asgardreid, it's just me here. Loads of them were better qualified than me; not really sure why I was the one that got brought here..."

Hotspur trailed off, struck with the sudden realisation that nobody knew why they were here. For all intents and purposes, selection had been utterly random; it was fortunate that they had astronautic specialists at all on board.

"But a frigate, huh? Are you military? You must have seen plenty of action on board her."

[gofor_theoptics]

Whether she was military was -- well, a complicated question. She'd been working with the Admiralty Board on a research mission and she'd been spending time with Commander Shepard, so she certainly had military experience, but ... "No, I'm not exactly military. I've seen my share of conflict, but that's par for the course when you're part of the Normandy crew. Most of my life has been spent on research and engine repair with my own people." Shepard seemed to attract attention like a gigantic electromagnet attracted metal objects.

"I think you've probably figured out that the selection process seems more or less random." She's not so self-deprecating as to say that she's not useful for this sort of ship, but they seem to be lacking a steady Commander, and Shepard would fill that position with glee and fervor.

[aguidingstar]

"More or less, yeah," Hotspur agreed with a rueful nod of his head. He ran a hand through his hair, impatient and frustrated at the idea that their selection was seemingly entirely at random. "Well, hopefully with whatever kind of reason it is that they've brought us here you'll be doing more of the engineering then the fighting bit. Not going to lie, I'd be pretty damn happy if whoever's running this place let me have a look at the hanger decks."

Escape via shuttle wasn't really on the agenda, or so Hotspur thought. Escaping now would be rather pointless; there were too many unanswered questions to be feasibly left ignored, and if they had been so abruptly brought here before then what was to stop them being dragged back once again? "I'm still trying to figure out if there are any other pilots on board..." He glanced aside at Tali, and added: "Have you found any other techies?"

[gofor_theoptics]

She paused. "I spoke to Resnik briefly, and as far as I understand it she's the one who's running engineering. Other than that -- I've run into some people that I'm sure would be capable of working with tech." The mysterious blue fellow, to say the least.

"I'm sure you could ask on the network whether anyone else has flight experience." She tilted her head to the side a little more, "I admit that working with the Normandy crew gave me more combat experience than the average engineer. It's almost something I'm comfortable with by now." Her decryption skills had certainly been put to the test.

"As for how permanent this place is -- who knows. We'll have to figure that out when -- if -- someone disappears."

[aguidingstar]

"Yeah, I think I will..." Hotspur trailed off, quietly contemplating the idea of canvassing the network at large for other pilots. So far he was yet to make a formal appearance, preferring instead to remain a passive spectator offering only the odd few interjections when someone mentioned something he was familiar with. Ever the spectator, Hotspur preferred to watch and form his opinions on the sidelines. For now, at least.

"But I don't reckon disappearing is an option," Hotspur continued, sounding entirely more confident than he actually felt. He shook his head slightly and continued, "Someone's gone to a hell of a lot of effort to bring us here. Why would they let us go so easily?"

[gofor_theoptics]

"It would be helpful to know who's used to flying what. If this thing needs to be manually controlled," she glanced around the hull, "It'd be nice to find out where navigation is, too."

At least the guy had a good attitude about things -- that was rare after such a short time on a strange ship. Maybe he'd been in a similar situation himself. She shrugged.

"I'm not going to pretend to understand whatever brought us here. For all we know, it wasn't much effort at all."

[aguidingstar]

“That - that’s a very good point,” Hotspur agreed with a slow, thoughtful nod. “I guess we can’t make much of an appraisal of the level of technology this ship’s operating on yet. That said -” He lifted a hand, gesturing at the leviathan-esque design of the ship’s internal architecture, “-I’ve never been on a ship that looks like this. It’s so - empty. Cavernous. God knows where they’ve even keeping the damn technology. I’m used to flying in ships a little more, I don’t know... Practical. Have you seen those lifts? They’re colour-coded. What the hell people are supposed to do in the dark when they can’t see the colours I have no idea.”

[gofor_theoptics]

"This place is almost like the Citadel in that way. It's -- well, it's not unlike some other ships that I've seen that house entire reproductive parts of species." Which is just unsettling. This place might well be housing whatever species designed it originally in the bowels of its decks. She tried not to think too much about that particular idea.

"They have FTL-technology, we know that much." But it didn't work anything like the FTL they had at home, as far as she understood it.