trans_9 | The Situation, as it stands.

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The Situation, as it stands.

[ooc: Read this before tagging.]

The AI of Seamus Harper's ship, the Andromeda Ascendant was trapped here along with everyone else, her AI core stolen or at least copied to Stacy's systems. Other AIs had been captured along with her. But she did have answers to some questions, and apparently was willing to tell the crew things Stacy wasn't willing to without being questioned.

Apparently, one of those things was that Cybil Bennet, someone who had popped recently, right along with them, and was merely a police officer back home, was the captain of their crew.

Their crew of what, Harper had asked?

Andromeda's answer:

"The crew of this ship, Harper."

It was then that the eyelid-like visors covering the windows of Obs Deck started to separate, letting in the light--and oh, was there light. They were in the currents of a multi-colored cosmic riptide, surfing the stream. Stars shot past beyond the lights, nebulae, galaxies sped along them as if they were what was moving and the ship wasn't.

It was beautiful.

It was horrible, because it meant they were in space--or something like it. That was a very long way away from their homes.

"We are a very, very long way from Commonwealth space."

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Kara Thrace blinked widely at the stars, alarmed at the speed but strangely comforted by the sight. Space was all right. She was used to space, even unfamiliar...very rapidly scrolling...space.

"Then we ARE on a ship...and we're the...crew?" She regarded the hologram with a quickly deepening frown. "I'm already on the crew of a ship that needs me a lot more than this one does. What is this ship's mission? Where are we going? And why?"

Mr. Wednesday lets out a curse in a very, very old language, stepping forward towards one of the windows. His expression is as if the sight has almost physically hurt him in some way, and he nearly stumbles for a moment.

"This is a ship. Stacy is the ship. You are the crew. I, and several other AIs have also been captured and are used for various ship functions, but we are not allowed access to Stacy's classified information, even though we have tried to gain it forcibly. We do not know Stacy's mission--and believe me, I understand your crew needing you more than this one does. My own mission is more important than this. I need to get myself and Harper back to me."

Rommie tilted her head slightly.

"Unfortunately, Stacy has refused to reveal very little pertinent information. All I, and the other AIs, know is that she has a Mission she deems vitally important, has a clear destination in mind, and seems to have forcibly conscripted countless sentients."

Now for the crazy part.

"From multiple universes. She appears to be capable of interdimensional travel. When viewing the active crew roster, I can see that many of the crew are from different designations of the same planets. There appear to be billions of variations. I do not, however, know why you all were chosen--why we all were chosen, or for what purpose."

Danny looked out the windows. His biggest dream was realized, and yet:

"I know I said I wanted to be an astronaut. But this? IS NOT HOW I MEANT IT."

"Yeeup. Aliens. I called it first!" Ben said, not in the least surprised by the fact that they were in space.

"So, we've all been abducted, is that it?" She was thinking. "Are the people who abducted us also on the ship?"

Sam stood, eyes transfixed on the bursting streams of color blazing outside the 'windows.' Nothing in his life--despite all the craziness that he had seen--had prepared him for what he was looking at, or hearing, right now. His assumption that his kidnapping, and the kidnapping of the others in the room, was connected to demons or some game by a trickster was laid bare as utterly wrong while Harper and Starbuck's assertion that it had to be aliens was proven--at least somewhat so far--correct. So much for what he knew.

Finally, it hit him. They were on a ship in space. Everyone here had been asleep and woken up naked and covered in slime not too long ago, even him. Dean wasn't here and the last time he remembered seeing him was at the motel when Dean left to go to the bar. Dean had been spending what free time he had lately to enjoy what remained of his life, while Sam--in secret--tried to find a way of freeing Dean from his demonic deal.

"How long have we been here?" Sam asked, finally turning his eyes back to the hologram that Harper had called 'Rommie,' and completely oblivious to the comments of those around him. He had to know. Sam had to know how long he'd been gone and--hopefully--find out what had happened to his brother, and if it was too late to save him.

It looked like the dragons' fire.

Zuko stared, slack-jawed, shocked beyond words at the colors, colors he'd only seen once in his life (and fairly recently, at that), swirling as the stars flew past - no, as they flew past the stars, into the blackness of the farthest reaches of night.

The stars. They were flying among the stars.

If Zuko had been ~~Eragon~~ the fainting type, now would have been the time. As it was, his knees buckled, and he fell into a kneeling position. There was too much sky, too much night - too many stars, rushing past, through ribbons of light and color, like the most glorious things his uncle had ever described from his journey to the spirit world.

One thought ran through his mind as he stared in awe at the majesty that he had never, in all his life, imagined.

It would take a long, long time to get back to the Four Nations.

That misstep's done more than just leave Wednesday a little unsteady... as he turns from the window, hissing, the color's gone out of his face. The lines are sharper - he looks haggard and weak in a way that his face had denied a few minutes ago. "This is no place for me," he murmurs, hobbling his way to lean against one of those fleshy chairs - and then kicking it with a curse when his hands touch the strange material. He shuffles over to an empty spot of the floor, instead.

Zuko was joined in his slackjawed amazement by Biff, but far from falling to his knees in reverence, the older man had pressed his face up against the glass as if attempting to close the distance between himself and the endless field of stars.

If Josh had taught him anything, it was that His Father was in what stirred the heart, and Biff's - cynical bastard that he was - was certainly stirred.

"Man."

His breath fogged on the glass as the stars flew past.

"Which one of those are you at, Josh?"

"If there are any others here besides the conscious crew and the unconscious people in Podsleep, they are not in any sections of the ship that I have access to. There are, however, areas of the ship that are locked," Rommie said in answer to Cybil.

She paused, before answering Sam. "My AI was activated 6 months, 14 days, and 35 seconds ago. You've at least been on board this ship for that long. Other than that, there's no way to be sure how long you've been here. However, it's entirely possible that due to Stacy's design, time may not necessarily be a factor worth worrying about."

Sam's gaze fell to the floor, in all its grotesque glory, as the weight of how long they'd been trapped on this...this...ship sank in. Sucking in a deep breath, he willed himself back to the present. As much as he hated to admit it, Dean would be the first person all over his ass if Sam allowed himself to get distracted from 'the job' by his emotions, especially if those emotions led him no where.

Nodding as he processed what had happened to him, he turned back to 'Rommie.' "You said there were 'other' A.I.'s here," he said. "How many?"

"Six MONTHS?!" Starbuck exploded, and likely several others did as well. Who even knew what had happened to the fleet in that time? But then...the odd wording of her response caught at the edges of her consciousness. "...not a factor? How could that NOT be a factor?"

She was quickly starting to realize that there was a lot more going on here than she was likely going to be able to understand. Without even realizing it, she found the statuette from her bags in her hand, rubbing her thumb over it for comfort. What she really needed though was in her flask, a good stiff drink. And then a smoke. And then a lot more drinks, far more than she had with her.

"Multiple dimensions," Lucca replied absently from the window, absorbed by the stars and galaxies rolling past. Her expression was a curious blend of "deer in headlights" and "kid in candy store window."

"Time won't necessarily elapse at the same rate between them. Six months here could easily be six minutes back home." Or six years, she added silently, keeping that fear to herself.

Kory's eyes narrowed as she heard those words. She crossed her arms, taking stock of everyone there with her. "I've had enough of multiple dimensions, quite frankly," she said. "And I've had more than my fill of space recently."

She longed to be home.

Or at least on the planet she now considered home.

"Precisely," Rommie said to Lucca, looking pleased that they had a big another brain among them. Much as she cared about Harper, it would be nice to get into a conversation with a smart human that didn't hit on her.

"Also, due to the mechanics required for interdimensional travel, it's quite possible Stacy can travel through time as well. Time is likely not a factor. If we can find a way to return home, it's likely we can return to the approximate times we were taken."

To answer Sam's question: "Not counting myself, Stacy, or the minor AIs used in many of the ship's functions, there are seven active AIs that are responsible for minor ship functions and can interact with you. They seem all to have been taken against their will as well. It seems the only one here that truly intended to be here is Stacy herself."

"So...basically what you're saying is that, okay, if you can return us home, then we return home maybe a second or two after we disappeared, so, in their eyes, we weren't really gone? So we won't appear, like, six years later in some bizarro future timeline of our world?" Kitty waited a beat. "Will we remember any of this?"

"Quite possibly," she said in answer to Kitty's theory. As for the rest, "As for what would happen to you as you were sent back--or even if it's possible I do not know. I'd need to analyze the means Stacy used to bring you here to know how it could send you back. I am merely deducing that Stacy may have the capability to send you back to the time you left, or that time dilation would make the length of your time here irrelevant. I have access to very little information. Unfortunately," she said, sounding very annoyed that there was something she didn't know, "I'm nearly as much in the dark as all of you are."

It wasn't the first time Jono had been to space. But he'd always known he was going up before it happened. Now? This was just unnerving.

He reached out, fingers pressed to the window nearest him, staring out into the stars. Assumin' 'at Stacy's got good aim, he said absently on a broad projection, sot hat everybody could hear him. If she ain't, can only guess when we'll end up. As fer memories... He shrugged, looking to Rommie.

"Great. Kidnapped by an alien ship. No communicators that will help me reach any of the other X-Men. No idea where in time or space we are. Yeah, this is going to end well." Kitty stood next to Jono, taking relief in the fact that he was an X-Man as well, if not from her world, than at least another. It made him somewhat familiar. "So, can we phase through this ship thing and take her down?" Not that Kitty was certain whether or not she had enough power for something like that.

||Attempting to phase-shift into restricted areas will earn you Violations, Katherine Pryde. 15 Violations will result in Punishment.|| Stacy chimed in. ||As well as cause you possible harm. The walls of restricted areas are shielded to prevent such an occurence and an attempt to breach them would likely cause you great pain.||

"That should answer your question. It will be difficult to accomplish anything with Stacy watching everything we do. There are areas where her internal sensors are no longer functioning that could provide you privacy, but I'm not being allowed access to the information that would allow me to know where they are." She added, "And no, I don't know what "Punishment" is. It seems prudent, however, to avoid it."

Kitty's mouth was set in a straight line. "Guess I'll have to rely less on my powers and more on my brain."

"That leads me to something else that bears mention," Rommie said. "According to the manifest, almost all of you have metahuman, meta-alien, magical, or divine abilities or other qualities of note, such as intellect, marksmanship, combat ability, technological savvy, resourcefulness, or leadership skills. It seems that Stacy did not select you at random."

"So she's assembling an army." The Doctor had chosen to remain silent in a corner, listening, but now he spoke up. His expression was serious, almost angry, but he wasn't near as shocked as many of the others. He'd guessed part of the truth, if not all of it. In one hand, he twirled his sonic screwdriver, thinking.

"A multi-universal army capable of unknown quantities of damage, assuming she can get us to work for her. And why would she try, if she couldn't?"

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