action + video;

[nomirage]

Who: Mirage Jenius + you!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: SS Starduck
When: Today!

ACTION;
[Frankly the amount of time Mirage gets on the SS Marsiva is far too short for even the beginnings of an introduction to this whole space show business. She wakes up in her bunk and immediately understands this isn't the dorms and isn't even the Macross Elysion or anything like that. Wherever she is she was plucked straight from her VF unit, flight suit and all.

So this starts right out as a recon mission in her mind. However she ended up here she's alone and has to find her own way back. She's barely stepped out of her room with a grimly serious expression, noting the people just walking through the hallways like it's no big deal she's standing out here.

And then woosh, she's ... being covered in confetti?

There's music?

Mirage is just sort of stuck in place, eyes wide and expression befuddled. And then she makes out her first disbelieving words to any gathered crew there.]

... Pudding?

[What's going on here?!]

VIDEO;
[Alright, so things have been explained. Sort of? There's a ship and a fleet and some kind of show, that much she's gathered by now. She's been several hours roaming the SS Starduck and getting to know it's general layout, in particular where the shuttles are stored and such.

Now she's getting down to communicating across the other ships, a need to test the system being her primary excuse. She's wearing a stern, no nonsense expression here.]

I have been briefed on my current status and situation. [And now maybe just a touch angrier in tone.] I don't exactly appreciate this sort of treatment but--

[Ahem. Stay focused, Mirage. Treat this like a report or something similar, anger won't do much good.
She sighs out loud.]

My name is Mirage Jenius. Currently I am stationed aboard the SS Starduck. If there are others here from the Xaos company or the Macross Elysion, please respond.

[... How do you end one of these broadcasts? Mirage's stern expression briefly falters, a moment of confusion peeking through. Observant eyes will catch the tips of her ears reddening just slightly before she rushes through the rest.]

Thank you very much. Over and out.

Comments

action. 2/2

[nomirage]

[Alright. Shake it off, Mirage. She straightens back up, squares up her shoulders and all that.]

Where is the SS Starduck in relation to Earth? Do you know of planet Ragna or the Macross Elysion?

[coinstability]

[His eyes immediately go to the ears, with some kind of recognition. After spending time with Lup his first assumption is she's another elf. He'll have to check that later. For now, it's more important to answer those questions.

With a shake of his head, he answers with a note of apology in his voice.]

Unfortunately, we don't know. As best anyone can tell we may be in an entirely different universe or reality than the Earth you know. I'm from Earth myself but it isn't the same Earth as the ones other people I've spoken to come from.

I'm sorry, those names aren't familiar to me. Space travel is only in the early stages in my own home.

[nomirage]

[A different reality. As strange as that might sound, Mirage is honestly more apt to buy that explanation than anything else, particularly after everything that went down before her arrival.

She brings a hand to her chin and looks thoughtful.]

There was a period of time where space travel made a large leap in my own world but that was a long time ago.

[Well, relatively. That had been when her grandfather and grandmother were much younger.

After a momentary sigh, she decides she can't just stand here staring at pudding all day. Her eyes sweep over the bridge and her brows rise.]

They put me on the bridge?

[Interesting. It's not a place she spends of lot of time at back home and this one is similar in that it's recognizable but completely different too.]

[coinstability]

You'll find that's commonplace. I'm from a point in time considered the future for some, but the past for others. If you don't mind my asking, are you from Earth yourself?

[It's notable that she quickly moves to evaluate where she is. There seems to be some familiarity here with the layout of starships - which makes sense, given what she's said. If space travel is commonplace in her time then ship designs must be easily recognised.]

That's where they send everyone when they first put you on your assigned ship. You'll have a personal quarters down the corridor. There are several empty ones, so just choose one that suits you. Are you aware of your role on the ship?

[The augment should have told her, but Connor isn't certain how easily that information sinks in for most people.]

[nomirage]

Not at all, no. I believe my grandfather was born and raised on Earth and some people do still reside there however.

[At the question about roles on the ship, she finds she can answer without hesitation. It's a surprise to her as much as anyone else that she can.]

Pilot. [She huffs in something like amusement.] That's fitting really. I can't imagine doing anything else.

[coinstability]

Only some people? Are you referring to humans or other species?

[It's not immediately clear to him, based on Mirage's appearance. Connor does nod briskly at her answer, knowing then that the augment has delivered for her the same way it did for him.]

I take it you have a similar role at home then. I'm not sure how often that factors into what augment we get, but at least you have some familiarity with it to begin with.

[nomirage]

Both. Humans and other species live together where I'm from. It hasn't always been that way but it's more common than uncommon now.

[Except with the Windemerans but even that is changing.]

Do they have fighters here then? [Ah, VFs might not be things that spanned other worlds...] Planes or things like that?

[coinstability]

It isn't that way where I'm from. Certainly not with races from other planets.

[Android and human coexistence is a pipedream more than a reality at present.]

I believe these ships have attack and defence functions, but there are no separate vessels purely for that purpose. The controls should be something you can find at your own station.

[nomirage]

[Ah, her brows rise a little. She does want to give the piloting station here on the bridge a look but his first point has her intrigued.]

Is there any fighting then?

[coinstability]

I haven't seen any myself. But I understand from the network records that there has been in the past.

[Both raiders and surface-to-space missiles, if what he's read lines up with actual events. Those are huge concerns for any moving convoy of vehicles, especially one as under-resourced and under-staffed as the Fleet.]

We should be open to the possibility it may happen again.

[nomirage]

[Ah, that's never good. Now she does wander around the stations, easily picking out the navigation area from the others. Funny how that works out, hm?]

Better to be safe than sorry.

[coinstability]

[It's a good sign that she's taking this seriously and scoping out the stations. There would be time for that later of course, but it bodes well that she's paying attention to it now. Not that he likes to think of any situation arising where it will be needed.]

That's what I believe too. In my experience here though, we're rarely called upon to do our assigned duties. Everything is much more-- freeform.

[nomirage]

... Freeform?

[She says it like she has no idea what that means. At least in terms of have duties and roles and just -- not really doing them?]

[coinstability]

[It's a terrible term, isn't it? Connor still prefers it to 'not enforced at all'. He spreads his hands in his equivalent of a shrug.]

I mean you can choose what times you do your standard duties. Nothing appears to be set, beyond automated processes that we have no input in. As a pilot you might have more active duties when we leave this system.

[nomirage]

Oh!

[She seems to get what he means very quickly with that explanation. Then she sort of... looks mystified.]

That leaves you with a lot of free time, doesn't it?

[coinstability]

Excessive amounts of it by my standards, yes. It's taken some getting used to.

[nomirage]

I can imagine. I'm not exactly used to a lot of free time.

[She's no android but she's military and she's more or less built her life around that sort of mindset.]

[coinstability]

Neither am I. What I've found is that a lot of my time has been taken up with exploring the last planet the ships landed on. It isn't a job as such -- [Not officially, though investigating leads is exactly what Connor does in his job at home] --but it does offer a lot of variety.

[nomirage]

Are the planets typically open to such free exploration?

[Not that they never are at home but there are some planets that are more sequestered than others and so on.]

[coinstability]

The one we most recently visited was. There appeared to be few limits on what we could do, beyond our own. I haven't been here long enough to experience more than that planet, but I'm sure not every world has been that hospitable or welcoming.

[He pauses for a moment, before adding with some bemusement:]

In fact I'm sure they weren't, because this world was strangely welcoming to everyone.

[nomirage]

[Strangely welcoming. Mirage's brow furrows at that.]

I don't believe I've ever been somewhere I would call 'strangely' welcoming before.

[coinstability]

[Compared to the world Connor was living it, it's downright bizarre. His perspective is a bit skewed, he knows, yet he still thinks it was a bit... excessive.]

They liked to hand out gifts to anyone they saw, whether they knew them or not. I've never encountered behaviour like that before.

[nomirage]

They didn't try to charge you for any of them, did they? I've seen it happen at a destination fairly popular for tourists before.

[Ragna was rife with such vendors if you didn't watch out for them or if you looked new.]

[coinstability]

Charge me? Not that I'm aware of.

[If they had been expecting payment they definitely had not made that clear. Connor quickly reviews all of his interactions, cross-referencing against common social etiquette. No, he doesn't think that was the case, unless these aliens had very different means of making their intentions known.]

I tried refusing them on several occasions but it became simpler to accept their gifts.

[nomirage]

That's surprising.

[She mulls on it a moment and then huffs a slight bemused breath.]

I guess that says more about me than them though.