Meet-n-Greet

[cityship]

After being released from stasis, having the slime removed from their bodies and clothed in the creepy, pulsing leaf-suit that everyone wore, and being taken to the Weapons & Possessions lockers to collect their belongings, the new arrivals would find themselves standing in the Observation Deck. Round windows lined the fleshy walls, revealing the bright display of lights that was inter-dimensional travel. They would also discover that there were people--members of the command staff and crew that had woken earlier--waiting for them.

Comments

Oh look, one of the command staff!

[prettycoolguy]

There's a man here, staying to the fringes of the mingling of old and new crew. He's very big, just a little shy of seven feet tall, and has several scars etched across his face.

The Master Chief watches the new crew members with interest, also keeping an eye out for the ones he knows already. With his new position in charge of onship training he wants to learn whatever he can about the new arrivals and even first impressions could be useful. He's also looking for any potential trouble, which is always a possibility with a new group waking up.

Still, the Spartan doesn't speak up or approach anyone. He remains at the edge, serious and alert.

(OOC: Feel free to come up to the Chief or talk to him, old and new crew alike.)

Oh look a military man.. Carol like ^_^

[marvelouscarol.livejournal.com]

Carol had gotten her barrings and had wondered around for a bit. Things were still kind of fuzzy to her, but at least she could remember her own damn name. She was Ms. Marvel, and she was stuck on a living psychic ship. God knew where in space they were, but she figured it didn't really matter. It didn't look like she was going to be able to fly out of here. She didn't want to risk that anyways. She hadn't been able to test her powers yet, to see if they were still on the fritz or if exploding into rainbows had helped.

As she wondered around she spotted a few people she might want to talk to. But first things first. She had to find out more about why they were here. Someone had to have some mission specs or something, right? They weren't just here, because.. that wouldn't make any sense. Well it would, but she doubted that it'd be that easy. So when she finally spotted the rather large, built man standing watch over them all. She figured he'd be the one to ask. He had to be military, or at least a warrior.

She used her red sash to tie her hair back, and then approached him with a soft business smile.

"Sir?" Even though it was formed as a question, she wasn't as nervous as she probably should have been. The man was at least two feet taller than her, and any other woman probably would have stayed away. But she wasn't a normal woman. She was Ms. Marvel, and she would never forget that.

[prettycoolguy]

"Yes?" the Chief replies, quirking an eyebrow a little. It isn't much of a change in him, but there's no impatience or hard edge to the word. This woman's a stranger to him, but her apparent calm in the face of this is of merit. That or an indication of mental instability, he's seen that here too.

[marvelouscarol.livejournal.com]

"You seem like a guy you'd know what was what around here." She seemed to radiate confidence, which had gotten her in trouble a time or two. "Not real sure who else to ask, so.. What's the deal with this place? We here for some intergalactic mission to save the universe? Or is this ship just completely out of her mind, and is randomly picking people up?"

[prettycoolguy]

"Stacy woke us up because there's something or someone on her bridge that's in control of her, and it was a last ditch effort to stop them. She's promised to explain what's happening to us if we can reach and reclaim the bridge," the Chief replies. He seems slightly more animate now that he's talking. Whoever this is, she seems steady enough. A bit casual for his liking, but that can't be helped with a group like this.

"Beyond that your guess is as good as anyone's, though we have our suspicions," he says. A small pause, then, "Who are you?"

[marvelouscarol.livejournal.com]

She nodded along with the man's explanation of things. It all seemed pretty simple. Pretty typical for an Avenger anyways. But she couldn't just out right say that. It would probably seem strange to him that she was taking all this in so calmly. But what did she have to freak out about, other than the fact that she should probably be dead.

"Captain Carol Danvers, sir. US Air Force. Agent of SHIELD, and card carrying member of the Avengers. Also known as Ms. Marvel." She gave a salute and then smiled, even if some of that wasn't true anymore, it still all applied. Pretty much anyways.

Re: Oh look, one of the command staff!

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara sensed a pair of eyes watching: not necessarily her, but watching in general. Those were the pair she was certain she could learn from, and at least let know about her. Katara figured if she were going to be here, she ought to let people know about her straight away. Soon she'd learn who was a friend and who was an enemy.

She observed the man out of the corner of her eye. He was hard to miss: tall, scarred and expressionless, he was one that would be hard to crack. Still, Katara didn't sense any malice behind those eyes, not now anyway. At least she could talk to him.

"Hi," Katara said. "I'm new here. You can probably guess I'm going to try and find out what's going on here instead of screaming about how weird everything is. I'm Katara. Who are you?"

[prettycoolguy]

Another kid on the ship, the Chief notes. Definitely a good bit older than the little ones and far from the youngest member of the crew, but a kid.

"My name is Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117," he replies, "Though "Chief" is quicker. Welcome aboard, Katara. I'm one of the two Lieutenant Commanders on this ship."

He's not harsh or short at all, but he has a certain lack of warmth and a sense of formality. The Chief's not a very expressive guy, or (despite trying) very good at being reassuring.

"What have you been told?" he asks. It will help him figure out what to say. He knows the usual unhelpful, vague spiel Stacy likes to give, but he doesn't know what Katara may or may not have picked up from other crewmates.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

"That's a mouthful," Katara commented. "I think I'll take you up on that Chief offer. So there's military designations on the ship? Well, I'm not too surprised. With these many people, you'd have to be pretty organized."

Watching him, Katara immediately likened him to Master Paku. Definitely a hard egg, and not all too forthright with the emotions. Well, that was fine now that Katara was used to it. If he was a Lieutenant Commander, it wasn't as if he could go around giving everyone happy pep talks anyway.

"Well," She said, furrowing her brow, "I know a little about the Omnicons. I know we're in space on a spaceship, although I've never seen one to save my life. I know that Stacy is our mother, but we have other AI (I don't really know what that means) that aren't as nice. I know that you have a city, and some kind of simulation that can make us see what we want."

Katara paused. "Now, if you'd elaborate on some of those terms, it would really help! You guys are definitely years and years over what my world is capable of!"

[prettycoolguy]

"We're approaching two hundred crewmen," he says. Certainly a lot of people. "It's a little rough but we've been managing. If we're going to get anything done we need structure, not a mess of people milling around." And oh boy is he bent on getting out of here. People need him at home. A Spartan's work is never done.

"A lot of the things on this ship are pretty advanced even by my standards. And they're omnicoms," he corrects lightly. "Easy letter confusion. There's also the comm rings for communication but the omnicoms are good for putting up things you need many people to notice. And yes, there are some other AI units on board, it stands for artificial intelligence. They're a like people, only their minds are programmed into computers. I'm only familiar with one myself: Cortana. She's a good friend of mine," he explains.

"There's a city here but it's empty. There are buildings stolen from lots of worlds, and we've found a police precinct there that we've been using. It should be safe now that Stacy's sterilized it but I wouldn't recommend exploring too much of it, especially not alone."

"The sensoriums make things out of solid light, for the most part. They can trick your senses and you can get hurt, but nothing in there is real once you tell it to stop."

It's kind of a lot of information at once, Katara. The Chief's been here a while and it's sort of become second nature to him. Which, if he pauses to think about it, is kind of creepy.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Two hundred. That was a lot of people, probably more than were in her own village! To imagine they were all here, to serve this purpose that Stacy was talking about without having a choice in the matter. "I can understand that. I mean, its not like you can probably get everyone to listen to you either. But I'm a little confused. What kind of people does Stacy pick out, if you have this many? Is it random, or does she look for people who are pretty strong?"

Katara laughed a little. "Oh, I think I'm starting to get used to everything being more advanced and more complicated than I could possibly imagine. It;s my brother that's going to have a hard time with all of this. He believes in science, but he's never seen anything like this in our world. He's still trying to wrap his mind around us traveling through space. I don't think he'll be accepting of AI that can talk back to him. He was scared enough with the talking molerat!"

Omnicoms, check, comm system check. She'd have to look those up pretty soon. The city was something she was a little curious about though. "Its empty? Why? And if these buildings were stolen, how did it happen? Waht kind of places are they?"

She knew she was asking a lot of questions, but every time she had some answered, new ones just sprang up. The sensoriums brought a new crop of questions, but right now she'd settle for him answering the ones about the city. She'd find out about the sensoriums personally.

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

Shook a bit up from her encounter with Admiral Spoor, Lafiel is losing herself in the press of bodies, looking for more familiar faces. She doesn't give herself permission to hope that Jinnto is here, but Samson, Sobasch or even Ecuryua would all be nice additions.

She sees a familiar face in the crowd that's not from her homeworld though, and decides to take a minute to see how he's doing. She gives him the strange salute of her people. "Master Chief. You're observing the new arrivals? Has anyone arrived from your homeworld?"

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief returns Lafiel's salute with a more traditional human one. She seems to be in much better spirits than when he last saw her, which is good. Not being at your best on this ship isn't generally good.

"I haven't recognized anyone," he replies. "I know there were no other Spartans, but it's possible we picked up people I haven't met. I doubt it though." He hasn't seen anyone else from his world besides himself, Cortana, and Kelly.

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

It's partially Chief's kindness the other night, in fact, that is responsible for her shaking the sticky cobwebs of melancholy off.

"A shame. I encountered my CO." From her tone of voice she's not entirely pleased by this.

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief picks up the lack of joy in Lafiel's statement, but doesn't comment directly on it.

"I'm glad for you," he says. Well, it's what he says, but Lafiel might pick up a hint of... not so much sarcasm as masked condolence. "What's the situation with that?" he asks. He has to wonder what he himself would do if anyone ranked above him from his own home world showed up. Part of his ability to remain independent here has been on his insistence that only the UNSC holds his full loyalty, and that what he does here is just in effort to hold the crew together.

[not-prncss-tldr.livejournal.com]

"Admiral Spoor is an excellent tactician. She commanded the fleet that covered us with twenty to one odds during the engagement where...during the battle at Lobnas. I owe her quite a large debt for agreeing to enter this engagement, despite those odds." And her look says And she intends to cash it in, I am sure of it. At this juncture, Chief is the only person she can bring her silent plea for advice to.

Re: Oh look, one of the command staff!

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

Spoor isn't in the least intimidated (or at least she doesn't show it) and she simply strolls up to Chief. He might recognize that she's in Abh, if he's spent enough time around Lafiel - same blue hair, same pale skin. No pointy ears though.

"And who are you?"

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief notices the blue hair and the paleness, and though the only Abh he's met is Lafiel he puts two and two together from her earlier statements about there being another on board.

"Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117," he replies. "But "Chief" is faster." He's an advocate of faster. "One of two Lieutenant Commanders aboard. Yourself?"

[bored-admiral.livejournal.com]

Spaurh smiles, "Master Chief? Very good."

An enlisted rank then - or at least an NCO. She knows those well enough. She shoots off a lazy Abh salute, "Rear Admiral Spaurh aronn Saicspath Nimh Laitpanr Painaigh."

[prettycoolguy]

The Chief returns the salute with the human kind, his is much more stiff and formal.

"Welcome aboard, Rear Admiral," he replies. "Is there something you need to ask?" Most likely, considering that she's a new crew member.

Re: Oh look, one of the command staff!

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

There's a lot you can tell about someone by their bearing alone, and to Gauron, it's pretty clear that Master Chief is military, probably special forces or something along those lines; that means Gauron's probably going to have to watch himself even more in the meantime - especially because, judging from the way he holds himself, Master Chief's in charge of something around here.

Either way, Gauron doesn't want to make trouble now - not before he knows just what he's been dragged into, at the very least - and to underscore that point, he unloads his guns - a H&K UMP and a SIG P226 - and packs them carefully back away in the stylish (actually not stylish at all) duffel bag that's ended up here with him. There are grenades, flashbangs, smoke bombs, and two knives in there, along with his extra ammo and a first aid kit; though he's made carefully certain that Master Chief has only seen the guns, briefly, he wonders if he's going to have to get any of this shit registered. He's probably about to find out. He decides it's fine to approach openly, making brief eye contact with Master Chief before working his way through the crowd; somehow, he manages not to move like a natural born predator.

He doesn't have to crane his neck all that far to make eye contact again as he approaches; he's only about six inches shorter than Master Chief. Somehow, he manages to dull the too-sharp predatory keenness in his eyes; the brief, slightly tense smile helps. "You look like someone who'd have an idea of what's going on around here."

[prettycoolguy]

"I do," the Spartan replies. The Chief's eyes jump briefly to the bag with habitual wariness born of long years of practice casing a situation. A bag's always something to be cautious about, it can contain potential unknown dangers. He doesn't look at it long, accepting it as a variable but not too concerned for now. He's given most people he's met on this ship the benefit of the doubt, though something about this man seems unnerving.

"Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN-117," he offers by way of introduction. It's a lower rank despite his status as head Spartan. Something equatable to a Sergeant Major. Spartans have never been offered too much authority.

"To make a long story short, we've been kidnapped by a sentient space ship that's hauling us across the universe for no clear reason and expects us to do its bidding for the time being."

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

"Glad I ran into you, then - Mr. Wednesday said you were one of the people I should probably talk to. I'm Gauron, by the way." If there was anyone here who knew him, they'd probably be surprised that he remembered how to smile without being unsettling about it. "I don't want the short story, by the way, though it looks like things are a little busy now - is there going to be an official briefing later?"

[prettycoolguy]

"It's hard to get everyone in one place, so the odds are no," the Chief replies. "If you have any questions, try to ask older crew or command staff. Things get done if you speak up, but we don't have time to handhold everyone through this. We're doing what we can but it's a messy situation."

[venominsilicon.livejournal.com]

Evidently, he'd hit a sore point without meaning to. Gauron was almost tempted to give it a deliberate prod by saying that everything would be all right now that he was here - that he'd instill some discipline in this rabble in no time - but borrowing trouble this early definitely wasn't worth it, and especially not from someone like Master Chief. "All right, then - here's my first question. What's the weapons policy aboard the ship?"