Opening Event: Enjoy Your Flight!

[red_shift]

It's not like there was any warning.

One moment you're sleeping, or powering down, or dying or whatever you do... and then next you're waking up after what feels like a particularly restful sleep, the fragments of some vivid dream fading from your recollection. A sense of motion and falling, bright colors, a snatch of laughter, the stars spinning infinitely around you... this much you remember as you blink groggily awake.

And that would probably be about the time you realize that you aren't at home anymore. Instead.. you're in a box. Specifically, a cargo box. It's just big enough for you, and the lid's already been cracked a bit, so it's simple to push the lid out of your way and get a look around.

Sure enough, you're in a cargo bay. It's packed-- boxes and canisters are stacked to the ceiling, pretty deeply, most of them held in place with nets and rails to keep anything from falling. Your box, however, is on the floor where you can easily step out, or maybe stacked on top of another crate where things got a little narrow. You can see a few other boxes like yours, lids popped, nearby. The bay is dimly lit, the thrum of some powerful subsystem and the faint breeze of cool, dry air the only other real points of interest. Whoever might have opened your box is long gone. Probably that's a good thing, since it seems that they've also somehow stolen most of your stuff and left a mark on you, like some kind of weird circular barcode.

Just what you needed to wake up to.

Comments

[cutejustice]

Maya had been meditating. It had been just another boring day in Kurain. Spirits to channel, tea to drink, bears to avoid. Nothing exciting.

Then the world got turned upside down, and she had ended up in a box. With a weird glowy tattoo thing. The symbol wasn't anything she recognized, which was worrying. The box, and the surrounding room, wasn't anything she recognized either.

Maya was trying not to freak out. She had climbed out of the box and was wandering around the room with all the crates and stuff. And looking for anyone, living or dead, that might be around to tell her where she was, and what she had gotten herself into this time.

!Event

[protectorrobot]

For a robot, being put in a box shouldn't be that odd. It was cheaper to be transported that way right? MDR didn't appreciate it. To show his lack of appreciation he kicked the bloody door off, send it skidding some distance before flopping over on its side. Walking out, his blue eyes stare around some, not even noticing the thing etched into his surface like the programming notes to a Zettertax suit. It wasn't the same, but it being purple, well, he just tended to assume things.

Though his assumption upon seeing the surprised woman did relax him some. So he wasn't alone. He probably had just freaked her out though by bursting out like that. "Hi." He tried, waving a bit before holding his head.

[gunholic]

Axl may or may not have had one pistol in a death grip as he walked cautiously around the cargo hold. It was a relief to find his weapons still answered a call from storage. Not so much to realize he had no idea how much time he was missing or where he was. The weird glowing mark on his stomach, right were a navel would be on a human, wasn't any help.

At least the mark wasn't visible through his armor. That was something.

The short girl wandering around didn't look particularly threatening-- was she wearing pajamas?

"Hi," Axl said, remembering a moment too late to hide the pistol behind his back. What was he, some kind of creeper?

[unrectified]

Empty boxes became boring relatively quickly, and in the absence of threats or proper data, Rinzler decided to move to claim a better view. The mass of crates had made it simple to maneuver up, and a catwalk above the shipping area offered a clear vantage of the scattered mess below.

Ostensibly, Rinzler was looking for an exit. Still, something about the flighty figure wandering the deck below caught his attention.

No lights. No markers, or familiar face. But even if the air between read just as dead as everything else here, the signature that registered on his scans had a familiar quality to it. Bright and clear, purposeless and absent any tags he could identify. Like Sam_Flynn. Or certain others.

"User."

The word growled out in a hiss of static and distaste. If Maya looked up for the source, she'd see a orange-lit figure crouched directly above, currently executing a full-body glare in her direction.

[thrawn]

Thrawn had accepted, as darkness closed in on him, that he was going to die. He had made plans or such an occurrence, and did not despair too much as he looked down at his chest to where blood was staining his white uniform.

As such, waking up free of pain and with disorienting memories between his death and the current moment was quite a shock. He sucked in a deep, quick breath that was surprisingly pain free. The hand that went to the wound encountered warm, wet, sticky fresh blood and a hole through his uniform jacket and undershirt.

He appeared to be alive. A few moments were spent waiting for signs of life before Thrawn cautiously opened the lid of his container. In the dim light of the room, the red glow of his eyes was highly visible. The first thing he took in was the style of the containers, then the room.

Not Imperial, but not unfamiliar either.

There were other partially opened containers. His head was full of questions that were difficult to put into an ideal order. The first among those easily answered was to see if there were people in the other partly opened boxes.

[cutejustice]

Maya saw the blue skinned, glowy-eyed man. She saw him wandering around. The strange appearance threw her a little, but not as much as one might think. Sometimes, people's appearances changed drastically when they died. Sometimes very drastically. And between the glowing eyes and the very fresh bloodstain on his chest, this man looked very much like some sort of remnant or restless spirit.

Maya approached the man slowly, the way one would approach an skittish animal. He looked fairly solid, but that didn't always mean much.

"Um, sir? Are you all right?" she asked gently. "Can I help you?" She just hoped he didn't go berserk and attack her or anything.

[protectorrobot]

MDR was rooting around the ship at this point, out of the box and looking around to see if his plasma gun was somewhere around here. Then he heard another door open up, him turning to look over towards it. He appeared to look over the blue creature for a few moments, his mind going one way, but the blood on him and the tattered uniform sending him another. He just kind of stared before walking towards him.

He stopped at a comfortable distance to talk. "Hello there. You look like you had a rough time getting you in there. I'm MDR." He didn't know what to make of him.

[gunholic]

Axl was still sneaking around like any good paranoid Hunter should.

He caught sight of the blood first, the faint glow of the stranger's red optics filing him under possible Maverick as well. Since he was pretty sure the other cargo boxes held people.. well...

"I'd step back from that if I were you," he said, a bit more calmly than he felt, as he leveled his pistol at the serial-killer-looking guy.

[tanks4thememory]

Clu came online slowly, processes lagging unpleasantly and the remnants of some nonsensical data drifting through his consciousness. He discarded the data which was clearly fragmented beyond any kind of usefulness, and tried to bring his processes back into some coherent order. The last thing he remembered, he was...

Clu gasped and sat up abruptly as memory resurfaced, which only succeeded in causing him to bang his helmeted head on the lid of the box with a quite audible clunk, forcing him back down again just as abruptly. "Ow...", Clu groaned quietly, rubbing his head before taking several deep cycles of air, hoping to bleed of a bit of heat caused by the sudden emotional shock. The last thing he recalled was being torn apart line by line by the MCP's decompiler, and now he was whole and undamaged, a fact that was confirmed by a hasty self-diagnostic.

Which raised the first of many questions. Namely, how was he even alive? Had he been restored from a backup or something? No, that didn't parse. If he'd been restored from a backup, he wouldn't remember his own deresolution, given that he'd have been recompiled from a point long before that. But still, he didn't have any other explanation.

The second question presented itself a moment later: where was he? The immediate answer was, of course, 'in a box', but that was spectacularly unhelpful. Sitting up more carefully this time, he pushed the box lid open and looked around, hoping to figure out the answer to his question and get some data that actually made sense.

[protectorrobot]

MDR-27 wasn't one to get in such emotional shock. He was, after-all, not coming from his death. He was coming from a mere night's rest. So he was already out, scavenging for supplies and other forms of real world objects. Mostly items to tell the general technology level of this backwards place he was in. When the lid came off, the robot slid down to look over at the program.

"Shiny. You some sort of android robot?" MDR asked. He didn't encounter a lot of those. Robotics that copied organics closely were considered more creepy and worrisome than interesting. It was important to replicate the personality and functions without the form.

Though Clu could easily point out that MDR calling him out for being shiny was a bit odd considering MDR glowed himself.

[thrawn]

By the time Thrawn had explored the cargo hold enough to encounter Clu, he had stripped off his jacket and undershirt and was carrying them around folded in such a way that the blood was not visible. He wasn't the most muscular being, but Chiss had an easier time maintaining good physical condition than Humans. There was only a thin line down the middle of his torso to mark where he had been stabbed.

He had to pause at the sight of the figure decorated with glowing yellow lines. The way he stood and moved, Thrawn did not expect him to be any kind of threat in close combat, but it was still good to exercise caution.

"Welcome to the cargo hold. None of us know any more than you do."

Not, strictly speaking, true, but Thrawn wasn't going to talk about that just yet.

[gunholic]

Glowy guy~!

Axl was kind of a sucker for shiny objects on a good day, and anyway he was looking for other potential people stuck in boxes. His last couple crates had just been kit for squishies, nothing exciting.

"Hi~!" He said when he was pretty sure that the other person was awake and aware. He hadn't seen that much glow-light armor in a while.

[cutejustice]

Maya had been wandering around the cargo hold. She had met a few of the others (and hadn't that been interesting) and now she was actually near by when she saw the lid on the box slide open.

"Please don't be a zombie," she muttered. Those zombie guys were creepy.

Upon seeing the helmeted man, she breathed a little easier and approached.

"Hello! Are you all right? I think you're about in the same boat as the rest of us. Everyone else I've met so far woke up in crates too."

[unrectified]

When Rinzler reported to the Free Grid's portal, the programs running it had claimed to be certain of the match. Not another bizarre blue-lit world, no mismatched timestamps or strange mirrors to confront. He was going back. Home.

Somewhere between the laughter and the bizarre spinning specks of light? Rinzler began to suspect that assessment had a serious fault.

The container he rezzed into was cramped and unfamiliar, but with the lid propped open, that wasn't the security head's biggest concern. No, the strangest thing was how dead everything felt. No familiar hum of the Grid beneath him, no living currents of data and power charging the air. He tried to feel for a system link, pinging for #timestamp and #location. No connection at all. The uneasy feeling cycled deeper through his code. Even if he were locked out, this shouldn't...

Rinzler shook his head. No point looping the calculations, and he wouldn't learn more by sitting here. The lid was unceremoniously shoved aside, a quick scan circling periphery for threats as the program stood. Sparse red-orange lights burned evenly across his armor, and a smooth black helmet turned to look around the space. Panels and containers, strange unlit tethers holding them in place, and a dim glow above lighting the place in neutral-white. What was this?

A glance of motion to the side caught his attention. The mask turned quickly towards the new approach, pausing in something that might be disbelief or suspicion. The voice that came out eventually was harsh, staticky, and decidedly unimpressed.

"Identify."

[thrawn]

The white, blood-stained uniform had been traded for a simple gray outfit pulled from one of the storage boxes. Even before the dark figure turned towards him with a quick movement, Thrawn was wary. His eyes were narrowed to glowing red slits.

The voice made him re-assess some of his initial observations. The short clipped speech, not at all friendly. Thrawn remained still and calm, and took a step back to be in better position with the stack of crates should there be an attack.

"Thrawn."

Whoever, and whatever, this being was, he was just as out of place as anyone else Thrawn had encountered.

"And you?"

[gunholic]

Axl had taken up peering into boxes as a hobby. There wasn't much else to do, and maybe if he could figure out the cargo manifest he could figure out where the hell they all were.. or were going. That or find an exit. An exit would be the best, but the cargo hold just kept going. He was going to need a ride chaser to get around with any speed at this rate.

Most of the crates were just your basic kit, though. Clothes in a wide range of sizes, toiletries.. one crate held some first aid supplies and crutches and so on. It seemed a little out of order since some of the boxes had also held all of them. Dick move if whoever or whatever was trying to ship them was also trying to make up by making sure the basics were available. Their stupid face to punch would have been more helpful.

Axl was busy rooting around in a crate, since he'd finally scored and found a whole bunch of empty datareaders. Maybe one or two had a chip or something in them? He'd taken the one that was in the box with him, but it wasn't too useful unless he wanted to play Tetris...

The voice suddenly speaking up behind him made him jump and whack his head into the lid. He could have sworn there wasn't anything living around just a second ago...

"Ow! What the hell?"

And that was a pretty glowy suit, there.

[tanks4thememory]

Clu had been doing a bit of exploring, digging through a few of the containers. The contents of most were rather unremarkable. Clothing templates (already rezzed, for some reason), small tools and objects that looked like they were meant for cleaning, what looked like some type of patch kits... basic supplies. Nothing especially useful at the moment.

Though unremarkable went right out the window when he rounded the next stack of containers and found himself staring at a helmeted program with sparse but alarmingly reddish circuits. And despite the static, Clu knew the tone of that command well enough to guess the stranger's function even if the strange armor hadn't tipped him off already. Security. Red security. Glitching wonderful.

Clu did his level best not to look nervous, despite the situation. Play it cool and he might just be able to get out of this. "My name's Clu," he said, doing his best impression of a somewhat lost inter-system messenger. "I must've been transferred here by mistake, and I've been trying to find my way out of this... storage area ever since I came back online."

"I don't suppose you have any idea how I got here? Or what system this is?"

[protectorrobot]

A familiarish blue glow came from the robot that was tossing pieces out of a container near Rinzler as he came too. He turned towards the orange glow and looked him over for a few moments. He walked towards him for a few moments, seeming to scan the form. "Material Defender Robot, Serial Code 27. Modified for special du..." He hit his own head there for a moment before holding it. He waited for a moment before looking up. "Don't say that. For all that's held in the Abyss, don't say that. I'm MDR-27. Automated responses have the worse time of popping up. Thought I purged those years ago. Since I introduced myself though, I would appreciate your introduction." He seemed a bit snippy.

[warehouse_whammied]

Claudia had woken up quite quickly. She does not sleep well in a box, but that's not what was worrying her the most. She has been opening any box she can, only to find a bunch of useless stuff that wasn't going to help her, except for a few small tools.

Now she's found herself at a door. A door that doesn't seem to want to open. And she's tried just about everything she can think of. Yelling "OPEN" in the few languages she knows, and the two or so she got from movies. She tries waving her hands at every single thing she can think of that looks like a sensor. She's even punching in different codes she can think of until the she's gotten so annoyed she kicks it.

Yes, she kicked a metal door, and she still never learned those moves Myka showed her a few times so now she's hoping around on one foot 'owing' at every hop.

[cutejustice]

This was how Maya found her. She approached Claudia slowly.

"Are you all right?" she asked. "Nothing's broken, right? What did you do?"

Claudia hadn't really been quiet about trying to get the door open. Maya had kind of heard her yelling at it from halfway down the hall.

[gunholic]

"Uh. Want a hand?"

The door was a nice improvement, but the person hopping around in front suggested it was a little busted. Human, maybe? It explained how a single kick might cause that much damage. This place was getting close to hitting the record for number of humans spotted in a single day. Axl had a feeling he was gonna have to get used to it.

[protectorrobot]

MDR heard the kick, punching the door panel to open it up. He had his fist up, but that dropped upon seeing a human. At least something familiar on this rust bucket of a ship. "Oh. Hi. Sorry about that. Was about to head out to find the bridge. I'm MDR-27." He pulled out of the door so she could come out into the well lit but dark colored hallway.

bear with me as i collect icons

[highexpectations]

[At first; closed to Thrawn .. because reasons. Chiss secret handshakes.]

There are probably worse things than waking up cold, wet and naked in a box, but right now it's pretty high on the list of unpleasant ways to suddenly jolt to awareness. For a good halfdozen minutes the clone doesn't move, the lack of burn when he inhaled strangely comforting, listening for any sign of ... anything at all that might explain why he was completely soaked, and also completely without anything like clothing. The silence wasn't exactly heartening, but did mean it was likely safe to tilt the lid up and take a quick look around.

Pushing the lid open reveals only a cargo bay of some sort, lit at a remarkably comfortable level, and boxes much like his own everywhere. When nothing stirred in the wake of his opening his own box or sitting up, carefully he levered himself upright, spotting a small commlink in the bottom of the box and picking it up. The design didn't look precisely.. familiar, and it was as soggy as he was.

More questions than answers. Where was he? How did he get there? What had happened, to leave him soaking wet and with hair far longer than he should--

The thoughts are put aside, as soon as attempting to figure out the answers only leaves him with confusion and glaring gaps where there should be neat, precise memories. Something had clearly gone wrong, to a degree he had never planned for. First things first. Clothing, weaponry if possible, and some sign of where the hell he was.

Finding him amongst the boxes might not be terribly difficult, given the trail of water he leaves behind. He's being quiet, but there's only so quiet one can be while digging through boxes for SOMETHING to put on beyond what he was fairly sure was a curtain but at least was long enough to provide a bit of dignity when wrapped around his middle. He might even be easy to overlook in the dim lighting, but for the fact that his eyes glow.


[Later on, post clothing, free for all time!]

Still in the cargo bay. There's nowhere else to go for the time being, which meant doing something here that was at least worth his time: inventory.

There's a lot of boxes, and now with clothing and at least dry, the strange commlink tucked into a pocket, he's diligently going through the endless array of cargo boxes. He could go say hello to people but that seemed to be handled already by others, so he's going to set himself to a far more useful task and actually begin sorting them if he's able to shift the bulky containers. He's not even bothering to try to hide what he's up to, and if someone happens to be in the way of a box he wants to get at, well, they'll politely be asked to relocate.

Besides which, he arrived in one of those boxes. There could be other people in them as well. A thorough check could well save lives.

Anyone who'd run into Thrawn already may well recognize his features. Blue skin, blue-black hair, glowing crimson eyes - even a certain family resemblance, though that could simply be the fact that most aliens tend to look alike.

[thrawn]

Thrawn was still methodically making his way through the cargo hold. It was too large to belong on any ship that matched this style of construction. He was distracted from his task when he came across a wet trail; foot prints, and drip splashes. That was certainly worth investigating.

He followed the trail towards the sound of someone rummaging through a crate. The sight of blue skin and long dark hair made him pause and narrow his eyes. Another Chiss. Given the nature of everyone he had encountered so far was far from the galactic core and everything he knew, Thrawn was naturally suspicious.

"I encountered a crate of clothing, here, this way." He spoke in Cheunh, as he couldn't be sure this young Chiss would know other languages. For now he could remove his newly claimed plain gray jacket and offer it to the other Chiss.

sorry not sorry can't resist

[gunholic]

Axl was really getting tired of aimlessly wandering through boxes. Just sayin'.

He did do a double-take when he spotted the guy who looked an awful lot like that Thrawn guy digging through boxes. Actually, without the long hair they could have totally been the same guy, at least from a distance.

"Hi!" He said after a moment, politely waiting for the other guy to be not leaning into a box and in danger of hitting his head. Axl wasn't raised by wolves.