a bumpy start! {glyphcomm + action}

[seeingyou]

You wake up to the sound of alarms and a distinct sensation of quaking, and you're quite obviously not where you're supposed to be. This room is strangely shaped, nothing you recognize, and you definitely don't remember how you got here. The room is bathed in soft red light, which might look pretty, except it's blinking in a way that you can probably guess signals danger.

There's a symbol on the back of your hand that you don't remember acquiring, either, but that's probably less important at the moment than the sound of the alarms shrieking and the prerecorded voice speaking over the intercom. It's one of those bland, agender voices, entirely too calm in tone for the message it's relaying:

WARNING
WARNING
IMPACT THREAT DETECTED
EVASIVE ACTION REQUIRED

There’s a loud crash and another violent shaking, as that impact threat collides with the ship’s hull. The warning message continues to repeat on a loop amidst the blaring of the alarm. All passengers should be conscious now, with the noise at such a high volume. Opening your cabin door reveals a nondescript hallway, with five cabin doors on each side for a total of ten on each floor; the doors to the empty cabins are unlocked and inside the cabins hold the same plain, basic furnishings as your own. Halfway into the hallway, there is a lift on one side and a set of stairs on the other.

Comments

[tdls]

Tim's eyes widen in concern. "You crashed? Is everyone there OK?" He scans the passengers, looking for signs of injury, and relaxes when he sees a lack of anything dire.

"Navi should be fine. They're self-repairing, it just takes time. Right, Navi?" The Navigator nods their head slowly.

Yes, my essential systems are still functional. It will take quite some time to repair the damage I took, however. Luckily, the planet where we landed is compatible with all life forms currently on board, and the local population is friendly and hospitable. We should be safe here, for now.

[shahrrehth]

She nods.

"We're all right. Nothing too nasty." She hasn't smelled any blood or heard anything grinding in a way that makes her teeth itch. Then again, she hasn't done a comprehensive scan.

She's not sure of anything and doing anything too obvious seems like a bad idea.

"So since you didn't know about the crash, I'm assuming you're somewhere else. Are you safe?"

[tdls]

“That’s a relief. If anyone does turn up hurt, there’s an infirmary on the third floor. If nobody there has any first aid training, I do, and I can talk them through what to do.”

And if anyone is in super bad shape, there’s always the Neogenesis Chamber. Tim elects not to offer that piece of information at the moment. This situation is weird and stressful enough as it is.

“Me?” His eyebrows raise slightly, surprised at the concern. He’s not the one who just crashed, after all. “Yeah, I’m fine - as fine as you can be while caught in the middle of intergalactic civil rights conflict.” He chuckles quietly, and elaborates: “My partner and I are training a small group of Navigators hiding on an outer planet in a different system - it’s pretty far from where you’ve landed. But I modified some tech I had with me so we could keep in touch with Navi while they’re searching for more of their people.”

[shahrrehth]

"I've got some, actually," she says easily enough, both because it's the truth and it will make things easier for everyone. She's hoping it won't be necessary. "But it's good to know. It's not like I'll always be available, after all."

She listens to the rest of what he has to say, including the surprise; yes, of course she's concerned about him. She doesn't know where he is or what he's up to or if he's safe. And it sounds like he's in hiding which is a temporary kind of safe. That isn't the focus of the conversation, though.

"So Navi is looking for others? Are they- I guess it'd be a bad idea for you to tell me how many there are. But is there anything we can do to help Navi look for their people? The missing ones?"

[tdls]

"Well, hopefully you won't have too many stab-happy types on board," Tim says, with a light chuckle. (This wasn't the case for Tim's crew. Thanks, Jason!) "But if anything serious happens, Navi has a way to speed up healing severe injuries. I was in pretty bad shape when I showed up, and I was fixed up good as new in no time. It's just a pretty big drain on Navi's energy sources, so I'd say it's best to avoid needing to use it if you can."

Ah yes, the other Navigators. Tim's been on the case for two years, and he still doesn't know exactly how many refugees are left to be found.

"There aren't many," he answers, apologetic. "Very low hundreds, by a generous estimate. And we don't know for sure how many the Zerentians have been able to capture after the population escaped, how many have been killed or lobotomized. And once they're far enough away from the collective, Navigators lose their psychic link with each other, so it's difficult to guess how many are still scattered out there, without any idea that we're looking for them."

Tim hopes they're close to finding the last of Navi's people. There's just no way to be completely sure about it. Deaths, captures, even births could have all changed the numbers over the past couple of years.

"The thing that helps Navi the most is cooperation and teamwork with the rest of the passengers. They get a boost from that - like an energy drink. The better the teamwork, the bigger the energy boost."