WLWCB GATKP LBGQS VWGSD ABFOP HGQKU JYEUX DYN

[detectivewonder]

Who: Tim Drake AND YOU.
Broadcast: Fleetwide video & text stream.
Action: The Marsiva.
When: 1/29; evening.

[Tim has been pacing the deck, finding every corner, every computer console, working furiously to research whatever he can since the moment he woke up. Knowledge is a form of control; secrecy is another, and he has far too much of one and absolutely no guarantee of the second, and it makes him edgy. But once he's gotten a grip on the basic concept, delaying makes no sense.]

[The video broadcast reveals a young man - eighteen, give or take a few months - in a trim blue suit and red tie, dark hair neatly parted but still falling into his eyes, which are blue and unmistakably angry or tense no matter how well we modulates his tone and keeps it off the rest of his face, crisp and professional.]

Good... evening, I think, is the local time? Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, Pilot Officer reporting for duty - or I will be soon, if I'm getting the right idea here. I wanted to reach out and touch base before I was assigned - get an idea of what the ships are like, who I might be serving with, how long everyone's been here. Anything you can tell me would be appreciated.

Comments

video forever

[aberrant_type]

[The video reveals a friendly face, at least? Keen brown eyes and a keen smile. Hange gives the kid a grin. No reason not to, since he's fresh... on the ship, as the case may be.]

A pilot! Excellent, I feel like we're a bit skimpy on those. That might just be my ship's composition, though.

Welcome to the fleet.

[detectivewonder]

It might be based on prior experience - if they do that. I have some flight experience already with aerospace vehicles.

Nothing like this, though.

[aberrant_type]

Don't worry. You're equipped with what you need to know, I'm sure. Those augments have a nice trick for that - you won't fly the ship into any walls unless you do that deliberately.

[detectivewonder]

That wouldn't be very bright. Especially not with other people on the ship.

[aberrant_type]

Well, who knows what you'd choose to do! [Cheerfully.]

Augments... do seem to have some rhyme and reason to them, as far as I've seen. I have a lab augment, for example, and I was a researcher back at home! But you could have something entirely different too.

[detectivewonder]

If I'd been choosing for myself, a lab augment is probably what I would have gone with.

[aberrant_type]

I'm sure you'll find a place to be useful with what you've got. At least if you're inclined to be useful!

[And he's dressed so sharply, her conclusion as to whether he's useful or not... could go either way.]

You'll be on board the Marsiva for, oh, a couple more days I'd guess, kiddo. Then you're going to be sent out to join one of the smaller ships. I won't be seeing you, I'm afraid! Red Fish is topped up for crew.

[detectivewonder]

I don't suppose you know which ships have openings right now? Can I access that data from here?

[aberrant_type]

I'm not sure, I've never been on the Marsiva. But I suppose I can pull it up for you. Give me a minute.

[Give it a few seconds...]

The Pathstone has an opening, as do the Bloodsport, Three Twins, Blue Fish, Wonderduck, Huntress and Bishop. It looks like First Breath is completely empty as of right now. Really it's just about everyone that has space!

[detectivewonder]

... Never? You didn't arrive here the same way I did?

[aberrant_type]

I was in the first round. I went to one of the smaller ships straightaway.

[detectivewonder]

How long ago was that?

[aberrant_type]

A few months now. About three, pushing four now, I'd say.

[detectivewonder]

How many ships were active then, compared to now?

[aberrant_type]

I'd guess one less, at most. Our group's always been small, and they don't exactly announce when they launch new ships, though.

[detectivewonder]

Too many and it's hard to develop a base that the audience can easily identify with.

[aberrant_type]

Haha, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the justification! Tell you something funny, though: talk about Drift Fleet to anyone on a waystation, or a planet for that matter, and they won't know what you're talking about.

[detectivewonder]

Maybe we're not a live broadcast.

[aberrant_type]

I don't know what that means.

action

[everydayhero]

[Hiro has noticed him bustling around, mostly because he's been doing something similar, albeit less furiously. For the first few minutes, he was panicked, sure. As soon as he'd established that he wasn't home, and that his teammates weren't here either, though, he'd taken to calmly (albeit cautiously) looking around the deck. When Tim records his broadcast, Hiro is nearby, watching him. This guy... It's like he's a detective.]

Sounds like somebody's been through something like this before.

video;

[ladiesss]

Wooow, hey.

[as a stark contrast to Tim's professionalism, have a seventeen year old girl dressed up in sweatshirt and jeans, sitting with her feet up in a chair. she's whispering, for some reason, which is probably not as weird as the whole being in space thing.]

Were you going to a meeting, or something?

[detectivewonder]

[Tim looks startled, then shrewd, then relaxed and friendly, expressions moving across his face rapidly as he adjusts.]

Nothing like this, no. But I lived under martial law for a little while. And I watched a lot of television.

[Whenever possible a lie should be misleading but true. truth is easier to remember, and never overtly contradictory. A cover story should never cut off options, only open new ones. Besides, he really hasn't been through anything like this before. Maybe a few times with the Titans where a comparison would make sense, but still...

He holds out a hand after a moment. ]

Hi, I'm Tim.

[detectivewonder]

A charity banquet, actually. I was on my way home.


[Friednly smile, open expression, no sign that this is weird. Maybe it isn't; who knows? He needs a frame of reference first. Until then, at least, trying to be charming is a great default setting. When talking to a girl, just think: What Would Dick Grayson Do? ]

[detectivewonder]

They could still be collecting material and editing it, not sending it out yet.

video

[catamite]

[oh wow. this one catches Nel's attention pretty fast, so he eventually flips on the video feed.

Tim gets the face of a kid around his age--but decorated with piercings, raggedy dyed hair, and... distinctly pointed ears.]

Wow, you're so professional. You actually sound like you know what's going on around here.