driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Nightingale and you
Broadcast: Video, fleetwide
Action: On the Bishop
When: Now

[The video feed starts, showing Nightingale sitting at a table, shuffling a few papers around awkwardly until she's sure the video is on.]

Something I've noticed for a while now is that there's a lot of new people showing up near-constantly, and they all seem to have the same questions. And since they're stuck on the Marsiva for a week, they don't really have people to give them that information, past asking the network, which doesn't always work so well. Especially while people are on a planet, or busy trying to repair their ships, or things like that. And even if everyone is around to give answers, answering the same thing over and over again gets really tiring after a while.

So, I've been working on a sort of an introduction guide, for the new people. [She indicates the papers on the table.] The problem is, I haven't been here that long myself, comparatively to some. I don't know a lot, and there's a lot that people need to know. Apparently that fleet of ships that messed us up a little while ago actually attacked us once before? And I think that's something pretty important to know, in case they come back again, so we can be more prepared for fighting them off. Or anything else important that's happened.

I'm looking for people who have been here for a while and are willing to help with that project, providing information to help write this guide. So... Please let me know if you can help.

[There's a small pause, then she adds:]

Also, has anyone seen Riley Matthews lately? She also goes by Lark. I haven't been able to get a hold of her in a while, and I'm starting to get worried.

[And with that, she turns off the feed.]

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... Scenes from home, huh.

[She mulls that over as she writes that down.]

And that was April? So there would have been... two months between that and when I showed up, about.

That's right... you weren't here for when we first found the Iskaulit, were you?

I wasn't. I arrived when it was being discussed as some kind of... empty bug ghost ship? But no one would give me straight answers when I asked about it, so I still don't know much about what happened.

Yes, well... it was a difficult time for all of us and I don't think anyone was in the mood to discuss it at that point.

[She sighs, not particularly wanting to discuss it now either. However, it's only fair that people who weren't here understand what happened.]

The Iskaulit was a Nunnalis merchant ship that was infected by a fungus that took over the brain functions of the Nunnalis, completely divesting them of their free will. I'm sure you saw some of the ones who were infected on the blue planet?

I did. I helped keep them out for treatment with my sleep magic, and used fire to burn the source of the fungus out wherever I could find it.

The infection turned them mindless and violent, right? They seemed more like monsters than people in that state.

[Beverly shifts in her seat uncomfortably. Given some of the parallels between the infected Nunnalis behavior and the behavior of the Borg, she's not keen to hear any of them called monsters.]

Not all of them were violent, on the ship. In fact, the odd thing was is that most of them seemed to not care about our presence at all, as long as we didn't interfere with what they were doing. Their whole lives had become centered around one goal: spreading the fungus. It took us a while to figure out what was going on, but once we did, we started to try to find a cure. We found one, but unfortunately the crew of the Iskaulit was too far gone...

[She drifts off, not wanting to relive all that over again.]

[She can spot the shifting, but can't quite place why. Monsters seems an accurate way to put it- Giant, very strong bugs who attack people. They even sound like they function like random encounters. So instead, she assumes the discomfort is because of what she's saying...]

... I'm sorry to hear about that. But you developed a cure, so it won't affect anyone else anymore, right? That's an amazing accomplishment.

Yes, I am very grateful for that at least.

Anyway, that is how we ended up with the Iskaulit, once it became clear that we couldn't save the crew.

... We are certain it's been totally cleared of the fungus, right?

Don't worry, we were extremely thorough in the decontamination process. Besides, the fungus only affects insectoids, and I have samples of the cure on hand should we ever run into a problem with it again.

Okay, good. ... It's still worrying, though, if we don't know how it got in in the first place...

I know, but since most of the ship's records were destroyed, we don't have much to go on. The Nunnalis on the ocean planet didn't know what happened either.

... Could have been the Atroma, but I don't know if I should blame them for everything.

The same thought occurred to me. They control our flight path after all... And we just happen upon an infected ship? It is suspicious at the very least.

They control our flight path, they claim to want drama for the supposed show, and... Well, they can pull people from anywhere. Even other universes. With that kind of power, dropping a bit of fungus in a ship without anyone noticing can't be hard...

They have the ability and the motive.

[She nods.]

My thoughts exactly. I don't know that there's much we can do about it right now... but it's something to keep in mind.

... Not right now, no. But I'm going to start training up my magic again, just in case. Maybe I can regain the spells I lost that way... Something like Heal might be able to fix something like the fungus.

Maybe. I don't know much about magic, so I can't say.