sanctuaryrpg | Ghost Ship - Arrival [tag Hawk, Sabine, later Jack, Kate, Will, and later Bat'ai, Len]

rememory posting in

It was 0317 when the cargo ship formerly called the Arethusa but now designated QXJldGh1c2E= hailed Sanctuary station. Sanctuary's docking AI transmitted a request for information a fraction of a second later. QXJldGh1c2E= replied with its specs and clamp strength almost instantaneously, but it dithered a full second, an eternity in AI time, on how to number its crew complement. At the end of that interminable second it sent:

Crew in distress. Status uncertain.

Sanctuary's docking AI's response was also delayed almost a half a second as it transmitted the information to the higher-level AIs. At the end of several exchanges it was determined that the docking AI should send:

Hold for confirmation.

QXJldGh1c2E= paced its decks--or at least did the AI equivalent, flitting from one terminal to the next, into first one crew com badge and then another, and back. If it were an emotional being, which it primarily was not, it would call itself worried. In its non-emotional state, it simply expended every fraction of a second seeking data from its chassis and its crew.

After a discussion between the on-duty station personnel, it was decided that QXJldGh1c2E= should dock in one of the older sections of the station, where it would be greeted by the station police in Hazmat gear in case "uncertain" was code for hostile. The docking AI sent the berth assignment to QXJldGh1c2E= which quickly consulted the station schematics. It immediately returned a staccato burst of 0s and 1s expressing a request for confirmation.

Once confirmed, QXJldGh1c2E= maneuvered itself into the berth, with no help from its crew, but kept its docking bay sealed until station personnel arrived. At that point, control of the ship seemed to pass to Sanctuary AIs and station personnel, but QXJldGh1c2E= remained engaged and ready to intervene in their commands if they conflicted with its core priorities.

When requested to, QXJldGh1c2E= politely opened its docking bay and adjusted its interior conditions to Station-set optimums for multiple species. It followed the station personnel in their Hazmat gear through its hundreds of security cameras, recording their lifesigns and facial expressions as they registered the havoc within. To the last genderfluid member of the crew, they were strewn about the ship. Some had appendages turned at unnatural angles. Others were splattered with life fluids, their own or their nearest neighbor's. A few had been ripped apart, most showed exterior trauma, but a very small number didn't appear to have been touched at all. The only thing the bodies had in common was that not a single one survived attempts to revive them.

[OOC: Locked to the people tagged in the subject line. If you missed the plot call and would like your character to investigate during this post, contact Allie. I will be making several TL dividers, to mark the passage of time. Please see them for where to tag in. Ship specs are here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rememory

Part of Sabine wanted nothing more than to let these angry spirits rage at Hawk the way they might have been inclined on their own, but a larger part both perversely because fuck Hawk and with self-and-Scott preservation in mind counseled compliance. So first, aloud and formulaically neither of which were necessary, Sabine commanded the spirits, "I abjure you by the holy names of God and his angels to harm none," and then sent /Play along, please. I'd prefer not to go to jail because you asked for my help/--not that it would be the first time.

Then, she allowed her contact with the spirits to fade. The black in her gaze slowly receded and the wind around her died down. When she spoke, it was in her own natural tone and said, "Hello, Hawk. I wasn't invading your crime scene. The spirits dragged me here because they were in pain, and Scott came along to make sure I was safe. Nevertheless, my apologies. All I can tell you is that for reasons none of the spirits can be sure of, the crew turned on itself and slaughtered them to the last person. As I'm here already, I offer my services as a consultant, and beg you--" Her stomach curdled. "--please don't recall these spirits to their dead shells. They're innocent and that is the worst form of punishment."

She doubted it would be effective, but maybe Scott wouldn't get into trouble at least.

From:

gshawk

"You sure as fuck did invade a crime scene. But I'll do what I can to make sure they don't get stuck back in the bodies even temporarily but I'm not letting whatever the hell happened here happen on the station," Hawk said. It was as close to a promise as she would make because if people on Sanctuary started going crazy and murdering the fuck out of each other she wasn't going to avoid something that might help.

"So all we know so far is that for some reason even the dead don't know, people went crazy and started murdering each other? Fuck me," she said, shaking her head. She badly wanted a smoke but seeing as how these two had already compromised the crime scene as it was, she'd just have to suffer without one. "Do they know how quickly it happened? Did it happen all or once or did the madness gradually move through the crew? Who was the first to go crazy and who was the last person to die that wasn't crazy, if anyone avoided it?"

From:

rememory

"No Detective. The spirits I've spoken to so far don't know any more than I've told you." Sabine suppressed a frustrated sigh and summoned her familiars to go investigate what they could without her. If Hawk would just give her time, she could answer all of those questions and more. But she didn't want to piss Hawk off more and get Scott in trouble with her. She could call the spirits to her now that she'd made contact with them. "They're all confused and frightened. That tells me that whatever happened they didn't have time to compare notes."

Edited Date: 2016-07-23 07:02 am (UTC)

From:

revisor

"They might be able to do that now?" Scott murmured quietly, the question forming on instinct because he suspected very strong that Sabine needed more time.

From:

rememory

"It would take time and patience." And probably a notebook to jot down what each said and compare it. "They can't really talk to each other very much now." Her ghosts could, but that was because of their link with her. She couldn't hold them all and play telephone operator. She'd have to do it serially.

And the longer they spent here, the greater the likelihood she'd end up in a cell. It wouldn't be the first time, but since Exodus the idea alone was enough to cause emotional paralysis. Quarantine...had been a nightmare.

From:

gshawk

"Fuck," Hawk said with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. If ghosts or spirits or whatever were going to stick around then the least they could do was be helpful. Why the hell would you stick around if you didn't at least have some information to share? The fact that they were around AND still confused and frightened wasn't real fucking great either.

"Can you help them settle down so they're not so scared?" she asked.

From:

rememory

That was a right question, one that eased the edge off Sabine's mood, if still doing nothing for her pain. "I can, but it's going to take some time. If I try to force it, they may lose the memories they have of the events."

It wasn't generally her way to explain, but she couldn't see how it could hurt the situation to be a little more forthcoming now that Hawk was being reasonable. "The problem with spirits is that they're mostly emotional imprints. They only remember the things that tie them to the living world--like family or religion, or revenge. The spirits of those who have been murdered sometimes remember their attackers, but to get anything out of them that they didn't know in life, I have to be able to compare their stories to each other and what I can learn from the scene, witnesses, friends and family. At home--" Before Muir, anyone, and she and Shola had been going back to it when she arrived here. "--I did a lot of this sort of thing. It tended to be helpful in a world where it's possible to murder someone from a half a mile away and leave no trace."

From:

gshawk

Hawk didn't think she could sigh anymore but she did, only this time it was a bit more of a relief than anything else. If Sabine could keep everything from going to complete shit in the spirit world then maybe they'd have half a chance of solving this mass murder. She wondered if the spirits even gave a shit about things like that anymore.

"Alright, I can get you access to this place legally as a consultant on a short term basis," Hawk said to Sabine before glancing at the other guy. "You can be her secretary or bodyguard or whatever. If I find out either of you do something like this again though? I will make sure you're in jail where you can't put the rest of us at risk."

From:

revisor

"Let's all hope that this kind of situation doesn't happen often enough for any of us to have to worry about that," Scott said.

From:

rememory

"This kind of thing happens often enough, I'll be in a coma, and you'll have more to worry about than putting us in jail," Sabine replied, only slightly tart, and unusually honest with a stranger.

"They won't stay here for long before they start trying to get home." That was going to be a problem, any way she looked at it. "Is there some kind of database of planets, lifeforms, religions and cultures? I already know I'm going to need it for a few of them."

From:

gshawk

It was good to know that Sabine couldn't do this endlessly but if it came to that Hawk would find some other way to keep the station safe. They were all used to dealing with shit on the fly and scrambling to find the right thing or person that could help.

"Yeah, we can get that for you," Hawk said. It was a huge list of planets and realities that was cross referenced to hell but they did have it. "What happens if they don't get home fast enough?"

From:

rememory

Sabine shot Scott an uneasy look. The last time anything on this scale had happened had been the forest of glass, and before that, Lety. Neither of which had been particularly pleasant experiences.

Sighing, she shrugged at Hawk and bit at her bottom lip. "It depends on how angry they are. But it probably won't be good. Most of them will linger and cause little problems, like flickering lights and misplaced tablets. A few of the stronger ones might actually begin hauntings. A very few might attempt possession of the living. But that balance is based on human spirits, so I don't know. I can make educated guesses when I know more about the species that made up this crew. A manifest that I can cross-reference with that database would help. Also, if you happen to know off the top of your head whether there are any powerful psionic species that regularly visit here, I'll make a point to start with them."

From:

gshawk

"Well you tell them if they have some patience we'll get them off to whatever afterlife they have. If they start any shit though, I will find a way to make them regret it," Hawk said. It wasn't an entirely empty promise either, because with as diverse as the species and technology and magic were that came through here she was sure something could hurt them. But she'd rather not go that route.

"But I'll get you, and them, everything needed to get them home safely. If anyone gives you any shit about any request you let me know and I'll take care of it. And if any of these spirits actually remembers or figures out what the fuck went on here, I want to be the first to know."

From:

rememory

Sabine refrained from observing that if Hawk went after the spirits, it would put Sabine in a very awkward and potentially dangerous-to-Hawk position. It wouldn't help, and she was capable of a surprising amount of tact when it was necessary. Instead, she nodded and said an entirely genuine and polite, "Thank you. I'll make information and pacification my top priorities."