Super Robot Wars ∀: Deep Space IC Thread - Part 2: Of Dire Tides

[Balcerzak]

It had been a pretty typical meeting, as far as how atypical they always seemed to get. Thorvald had chipped in some well-earned praise to Astin when the captain had brought up that toe-to-toe with the Luna, and a thoughtful rumble or two as far as the comments on Reise's exchange with the enemy battleship was concerned as well. The mention of attempting to take one of the enemy pilots alive lit up a spark in his eyes as well, that was a bit of a specialty of his after all, and he nodded and made some hand-motions indicating that he had added that to his personal agenda. Nobody else seemed to volunteer for that, potentially dangerous, task, but that was just fine by him regardless. If there was any mech best suited for dancing with unnecessary danger, he felt it was probably his.

With the captain's informatory segment done, things devolved into somewhat predictable bickering and demands for answers. He'd put together enough of the puzzle pieces on his own that he didn't feel urgently pressed to join in the clamor, and the secrets weren't really his to spill in the first place, so Thorvald was content to play second fiddle as the yarn unwound. Elaine kept giving him impatient looks every now and again, but that was probably just her personality. She'd be relishing the chance to do some first-hand reporting, wouldn't she? Why not indulge her.

His heart went out to Talia, though, when she decided to break the news. Poor girl looked heartbroken, and if he hadn't been on the opposite side of the room, he probably would have moved to comfort her. Luckily, Dr. Hart was on the case.

The only big unresolved question was, why had Tarquin been recalled by the professor, had it really been just to get him killed in the crossfire, to clean up loose ends? Without having terminated Talia, who'd been in a much more accessible position for him, though, that didn't make a lot of sense. Still, hashing out speculation like that in front of the children would be just uncouth, so he didn't offer up any ideas one way or the other. Given how well the small squad consisting of Tarquin, his closest friends, and himself had worked together at weathering the storm, he didn't put any stock in the questions hurled at the boy about what he would have done had the professor ordered a betrayal, but it seemed the rest of the crew needed to hear it from the horse's mouth. If only this would finally put to bed some of the friction in the unit. That might be dreaming a little too much, however.

Then the meeting was finally wrapping up, and after giving the lowdown on the refueling situation, Jess put forth a call for general questions. While fully expecting the answer, it would have been big news she would have shared otherwise, Thorvald felt obliged to continue to hammer away at the issue. "Still no word from Central then, I take it? Nobody's managed to get in contact with Admiral Martinson nor any other members of command?"

[Phoenix]

"Let's try and find a solution," Megumi began, slightly amused, "that doesn't involve putting you back in the giant robot, okay?" To start, it might help to find a quieter part of the ship for Christina to rest in, someplace out of range of most of the crew. Once her wounds were healed, the doctor didn't mind Christina experimenting with a T-Link or whatever she decided to do. Frankly, Megumi didn't want to move the girl or let her run around at all, but they had the means to handle the former safely, if the strain was too much for her. Until then, Megumi hoped the Advil would be enough to help Christina cope.

Bill's arrival was something of a surprise, even to him. Jokes were all well and good, but since he'd taken time out of his day to stop by, they might as well seize the opportunity. "We might as well do a followup since you're here," Megumi said, glancing at Valerie to see if she was busy with anything. "Tambre, you're up."

---

Tarquin hadn't quite answered Astin's question, at least not in clear terms. Most people would take issue with being ordered to betray their allies, so it almost went without saying. Almost. Whether he would have gone through with it or not didn't much matter now, since the option was no longer available, and Tarquin's history was out in the open. He also seemed to at least want to be here, and regain whatever trust he'd lost. That spoke well of his future intentions, even if he would have been willing to betray them, before. As long as there weren't any other Professor types to worry about, Tarquin's loyalty was here now, and that was good enough for Firmia not to give Tarquin's part in the incident anymore thought.

Firmia was still curious about the Umbra and the Aria. Were Apotheosis not interested in either of those? The Traitorous Professor probably hadn't gone out of his way to sabotage them either, though depending on the circumstances, that might not have been possible or desirable. It just felt strange, especially since Apotheosis knew firsthand just how much of a pain a prototype mobile suit or two could be. Letting these two specialized units fall into Jessica's hands was going to cost them dearly if previous battles were anything to go by. On the other hand, they had Liebenwalde. If these units were his work, he could still probably come up with a way for his new benefactors to deal with them, quickly and effectively. That didn't make either unit obsolete, though. Just because you know how something works, doesn't mean you could destroy or disable it like it was nothing. The Umbra and Aria should definitely be useful additions to the Riese ... ... and hopefully that was all there was to it ....

Brant seemed more interested in what was going on with Christina than the meeting itself now, but seemed patient enough to wait a proper dismissal. Maybe if he went to check on Christina, Firmia wouldn't need to. Not straight away. That was one way to handle this, and that way, she wouldn't be thinking about it as much while talking to Jessica. She had enough distractions, already.

[Nanami Touko]

That's a Wrap

"Thank you, Tarquin. And, right, the machines... Well, Talia was piloting one, and considering the two's relationship to the facility, I'll let her and Tarquin decide what to do with them. We're strapped for machines as it is, having our best shot in a better robot wouldn't be a bad idea." Even if he'd spurned them slightly, Tarquin was still quite literally their best shot. He has a one hundred percent accuracy record, and that wasn't for lack of firing. He's taken about as many shots as every other pilot. He really is that good... "Yeah, that'll do. I'll have the mechanics retrieve the Aria, and Tarquin can see about fitting himself into it. The Umbra can be Talia's, as long as she wants it. But, considering how she looks right now..." She didn't really seem like the soldier type, quivering back there, talking to Cheryl. They were definitely different, that was for sure.

"We'll see, I suppose... And no, Thorvald, not that I know of. Nothing from Central yet... We're only a day's flight away from them, in any case. Once the ship's done refueling itself, we'll be moving again. That might take all night, considering Corona Ten is not a proper military installation, but we'll do what we can." She wondered what was so important for Thorvald that he'd, have... To... Oh... His family. Right, he had a wife and daughter waiting for him. And with things the way they were, there was no way for him to contact them. Jess almost bit her lip. At least it gave her more reason to oversee the refueling as fast as it could go. Maybe they could start moving overnight, and be halfway there by morning.

"If that's all, then, you're all dismissed. The ship needs to recharge, and without a proper station for it, it will take some time, so you're all free to do whatever you need to on the ship. Unless we get attacked again, which I doubt, there shouldn't be another sortie today. Still, just remain aware that takeoff might come at any point, alright?" She hoped that was enough for now, but Jess was a little worried about one thing, entirely unrelated to their battles... Firmia was being eerily quiet. Maybe she just didn't have anything to say, this time? I hope so.

"Actually, Captain," Hannah started, surprising Jess. "Would I be able to have access to my pilot profile in the ship's registry? I attempted to access it earlier, and found I did not have the proper permissions."

"Oh... Yeah, of course... There, done." That was an... Oddly easy and slightly out of place request, but, it made sense to give the android access to her own information... Probably.

"Thank you! I had some small edits that I wished to make to it."

Cheryl smiled as the captain called the meeting, gently placing a hand on Talia's back and leading her out of the meeting room first. It would be good to keep her away from the traffic as they started to pile out, taking her closer towards the infirmary doors and away from any collisions. "So, Talia... First, I'd like to ask how you're feeling. Doing what you did was incredibly brave, fighting out there. But, from what you said in the meeting, this professor was really important to you. So this ordeal can't be easy. If there's anything you need, or want to get out, you can tell me, okay? From what I understand, they brought your things back from Corona Ten. I don't know if they've set you up a proper room yet, but we can take care of that easily." The Riese had a surprisingly large amount of empty, extra rooms. It was probably meant to be manned by a larger force. Probably more soldiers planned before their quick sortie to space.

Time Out

"O-Out of the robot? Not permanently, right?" She didn't want this to become such a concern that she wouldn't be able to help Kim anymore. In fact, if she could get better control of this, she could be even more useful! She just... Had to do that. However that was supposed to work... Surely it would just take time, that's all. "I'll figure this out. I have to help..." Oh, the janitor. He sure got around, didn't he? A head wound? Huh... That must've been some serious cleaning.

[Ether]

"For now, best assume that this how is for now on. Will try help however can make feel better... as for T-link, likely not permanent. But if always turn to T-link regulate, never learn cope without." Kim chimed in, though a bit of guilt washed over her face. Even after this, Christina still wanted to co-pilot the Artemis out of some misplaced sense of duty...

"My fault this happen. Let get distract by strange new telekinetic, drop guard in front of Vera. Know don't have to go through this, right?" Kim added, biting her lip without realizing. The janitor had stopped by as well for a followup, but there wasn't much to be said about that.

[Sandalphon]

Nikolai bristled under the captain's reprimands. Who the fuck was she to tell him how to react to these situations anyway... it wasn't like she had any authority over his feelings anyway. He decided to take the criticism and file it under F for Fucker in the mental rolodex and move on. Nope, he didn't trust the stupid girl with the inferiority complex and daddy-genetic-donor-lab-mouse-whatever issues either.

Regardless, perhaps the fact that Tarquin was on a leash now would be beneficial to him. It would be harder to do something pants-on-head crazy again if he were under careful lock and key after all.

He clicked his tongue as he tried to parse the situation carefully, unsure about how to approach it any further. On one hand, he did have questions, but he wasn't exceptionally thrilled and the prospect of asking them. Something about approaching Tarquin about the nature of his... construction felt strangely intrusive, as though he'd be peeling back the skin to peek underneath. But on the other hand, from one creature mashed and formed into some sort of weapon to another, it made him feel a little less alone about having been... messed with. modified into a thing. He watched the people scatter as he made his way towards the boy.

"Hey, so..." he said, trying to keep his tone casual as he spoke but probably failing miserably, "are there more of people like you out there, because if so could be problem... not like you have to talk about it if you are not comfortable, not looking for life story here but if there are any other potential people willing to shoot us in head under orders from morally dubious assholes would be nice to know." 

[Dandragon]

With the captain dismissing everyone, Elaine stepped out of the briefing room, letting out a built-up sigh of relief as she rested against a wall. Reporting was a lot more stressful than she thought it would be, but she had gotten by without any issues. A first for her ever since joining the crew of the Riese, which was pretty sad now that she thought about it. Still, some of the edge had been taken off thanks to Tarquin's secret being revealed to the crew, which left the spotlight centered on Tarquin more than herself. But, if she couldn't get used to that sort of spotlight, how could she ever handle being treated as a hero? The answer was simple; it was something she would have to get used to.

The time was at noon, perfect time to get some lunch and to relax for a bit. While she hadn't been particularly praised, the entire group had been congratulated on a job well done. Honestly, even if the mission had been a failure in her own personal book, there were some victories to be taken, including the two mechs they had gotten from Corona Ten. They had saved some people from the facility, and had come out with everyone alive and-...well, alive. Yes, Kim and Christina had to go to the med bay, and thus weren't present at the meeting, but Elaine had a good feeling that the both of them would shake this off, easily.

Of course, the downsides, the failures, still had to be considered. Many casualties, no data collected, and Apotheosis had still made off with what they came for. And to top it all off, Elaine still had no idea who was supplying Apotheosis audio and video logs of them. Who was a spy among the crew, and why? Did it even matter why? It would certainly be nice to know, but she doubted she would ever get an answer if she found out.

There were several ways that Elaine could go about finding out, and one of them was one she didn't even want to consider... She had certainly been offered a position in Apotheosis, and wondered if it would be possible to trick them into letting her in and revealing who else was on their side. It was a dirty tactic, and one that could put her in more danger than ever before, yet Elaine couldn't help but consider it, if only for a moment. As she rode the elevator down to the cafeteria floor, she wondered if it was the only option she had, not just for finding the mole, but for her own possible safety. The longer this fight went on, the larger the advantage Apotheosis had. And with that large, snake-like bot, the 'Regina' as Louise had called it, able to wipe out a battleship in a single blast, things did not look good for anyone apposing them. It would certainly be easier...

Elaine shook her head. No. She wasn't going to let this get to her. If she betrayed the people she fought her, then what was the point of joining the ANF in the first place? No, she could never live it down if she did, no matter how tempting Louise made it sound. Elaine was a fighter, and she was not about to back down on her own principles. Not now. Not ever.

[Phoenix]

"That's true," Megumi shrugged at Christina, "Whether you sortie again or not is up to you, but for right now, you need to be monitored carefully. It shouldn't take more than a day at the most. If there's no lasting damage or anything of that nature, I'll clear you both for duty." They'd probably race down to the hangar, regardless, but that wasn't going to stop Megumi from sticking to her role in all of this.

---

It would have been a proper staring contest, if only Jessica would commit to it. With the debriefing over, and everyone dismissed, Firmia's attention was squarely on the captain. Sensing those around her, the TK didn't need to glance around to see who was leaving and who was lagging behind. She had to wonder how long it would take for the room to clear out, but until then, it was probably a good idea to make sure the captain herself wasn't among them. "I still have my questions from earlier," Firmia reminded Jessica, not taking her eyes off the woman.

"Fair warning," Sasha chimed in from a distant corner, "she means business, this time."

Firmia scowled, but her eyes stayed fixed as she looked passed Jessica, toward her own mental image of Sasha. The jerk was grinning like an idiot and pawing her tablet ...

Brant meanwhile, watched the exchange between Hannah and the captain, wondering if the edits the former wanted to make were related to what he thought they were. It seemed likely, and boy would that be awkward to explain. Well, Sasha would have a good chuckle and Tonya wouldn't much care, but Firmia would probably have something resembling an actual opinion. The matter was settled quickly enough, and so Brant thought it might be a good idea to go check on the other TKs across the hall. Firmia was obviously going to be busy, anyway ...

"Well, good debrief," Brant said, standing up from the table, "I'm going to head over to the infirmary and make sure Kim and Christina are alright."

"Not so fast," Firmia finally took her eyes off Jessica, giving Brant a round of ominous staring, "While that's a good idea, I really need you here for part of this."

Brant wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or worried. What did she need him here for ...? He supposed he would find out soon enough.

[Shin]

The meeting had come to a close, and whilst it had been more stressful than he'd have preferred, Tarquin had managed to survive it. He'd received sanctions for his actions, but there was a reward in the form of the Aria. He'd known of the unit's existence and many of his simulations had given him a set up similar to it. Actually piloting it would be a strange experience, it was something he was technically familiar with but had never actually done in reality. Then again, he'd been piloting for less than week - he'd soon learn to adapt. The last week had been a chaotic experience, but he'd managed to pull through mostly intact. Was he really the same boy after all of it? After meeting Bruno, Mateus, Nikolai and Hannah, his own mentality had shifted entirely. If he could move on from being a solitary science marvel to part of a team, he could further escape his fate.

There wasn't much else he wanted to say or do, returning to his own room had put itself very high up on his agenda. Denying Nikolai some answers wasn't something he enjoyed, so when his friend approached him he felt some sense of duty to reply. It was a stark contrast to his furious outburst after their last mission, Tarquin had been worried that he'd lost Nikolai's trust and kinship. There was an almost uncharacteristic level of delicacy to his approach, was Nikolai trying that hard to be considerate?

"More like me?" Tarquin asked, only partly oblivious to the forced nature of Nikolai's tone. Logically, if he were numbered four there had to be three before him. The Professor had told him that there had been others before him, but T-2 was the only one he'd ever met and even then he'd been led to believe that she'd died. "I was told that I was the fourth one, but I don't know very much about the others. I was told that they were unviable and were no longer around. If T-2 exists, it is entirely possible that 1 and 3 are out there somewhere."

-

A sense of dread collected in Talia's stomach, a cold shiver going down her back as she was ushered out by Cheryl. Her heart was racing, dreading being read like a book by the psychologist. With how much she'd been through, she was probably going to call her a trainwreck or a walking disaster. She smiled weakly, trying to take the praise at surface level - she wasn't trying to pry her way into her psyche, was she? "I'm doing fine." she lied, sporting a false awkward grin akin to her brother's. "I'm just tired, after all this I..."

Her stomach continued to churn, it had only just clicked that the captain had left her with the Umbra. Was she going to be made to pilot it again? She'd have to work with T-4 too, the units were designed to be used in synergy. She put her hand to her mouth, gagging a little. Her knees were starting to feel weak, like she could crumble any moment. There was no escape, she wasn't going to be safe here either.

[Nanami Touko]

Up to You

"What the doctor said," Christina replied to Kim, almost biting it out, "it's my decision. So... So I'll keep doing it. I have to help..." And if she couldn't do that much, there was no point in being on the ship. If Kim didn't understand that, she'd make it clear when they got to ANF HQ. Hand in a resignation and... And get away from things, if she was so useless in that machine. A part of her understood that Kim's worries weren't meant to be like that. Kim just wanted her to be alright. But at the same time, it felt like she was being told that she was useless... Like Kim would pilot all the same with or without her there. So... If it came to that, then... Christina tightened up her shoulders a little, and bit her lip. All that thinking was ruining her hold on this new stupid power. "Ugh..."

Settle Down for Talks

There they were. Jess hadn't made to move, hoping that Firmia wouldn't have a volley for her, but expecting it all the same. With a sigh, she nodded, leaning back in her chair. "Yeah, sure. Fire away." Whenever everyone else cleared out, apparently... People were leaving, but Tarquin and Nikolai had stopped to talk a bit. She didn't want to disturb them, they'd clear out eventually.

"Oh, are you staying to ask questions?" Hannah was suddenly interested in what was going on, stepping out of her seat and wandering over to the Alkaev and her mini entourage. "Would it be alright if I stay to observe your conversation with the captain?" She smiled, seemingly entirely innocent, before glancing at Brant and stepping back next to him instead. An odd look met his cheek and it seemed gears were turning for a moment, but whatever she'd been calculating had been decided against, taking her position at his side and hugging his arm instead. "I will not get in the way. I promise."

Jess watched... Very confused. Why was the robot hugging Brant's arm? A curious check back into Hannah's registry and-- "H-Hannah? Why did you change your name to... A-Abrams..." This was... This was very strange.

"Because Brant said I could use his last name." Hannah explained without a pause, causing Jess to gape slightly

"Wha..." What was going on with her?

Breakdown

Talia seemed to be anything but alright, and as much as Cheryl was afraid to put hands on the girl, she looked about ready to fall over. Taking a knee and gently placing hands on her shoulders, Cheryl tried to think of what to say to help with this. "Talia, you're going to be okay. The fight's over. You're safe, here. No one's coming to get you, okay? You don't have to fight, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do, alright?" Was she worried about that? It was a safe bet, or safe to assume the reaction was coming from her stint on the battlefield. "I promise. No one's going to do anything to you."

Query: Love?

Having delivered Kim to the infirmary, and waved Aliza off, that left Hannah alone with Brant... This really shouldn't have been as difficult as it was becoming, she'd said this so easily to Firmia... Perhaps to the intended target, it was supposed to be tough. The Galatea program was in full spin, running multiple emotions through her processor. She still couldn't access it, no matter what she tried, so recording it happening was her only course of action. Since paying attention it was already at four activations... It was like a pleasant virus. Something she had no control over but that improved her life-- or seemed to, at the least.

None of these parsing were going to make this any easier to tell Brant what was on her mind, but with a hefty sigh, taking him a bit away from the infirmary, Hannah tried to formulate proper words to introduce the subject. "Please do not be mad," she began, as she had with Firmia, just less severely so. Brant was a lot nicer, so far, though it wasn't as though she couldn't understand Firmia's issues. "That is, to say... This is most definitely not normal, but any stretch of the imagination, and I do not wish to trouble you if what I say to you is uncomfortable. So please, if you need to stop me at any point, feel free to do so. Otherwise, I... I..."

Now was the time to speak her mind, or at the least, attempt to. She was finding the Galatea program suddenly conflicting with her speech drivers. It hadn't even restarted to target a different task, it was simply still active from the beginning of the conversation. How much of this was being directed by it? No, matter... I am not controlled by a foreign program, I... I have to relieve this worry, or it will become worse! "I like you!" she bit out, closing her eyes, freezing up for a moment. All the program's doing, of course, but that didn't remove how it felt. "I... I do mean, as more, than j-just a friend, Brant. I... I do not know completely the, the context... But it, it is not a feeling that I can find any other explanation for. I have scoured multiple forums, sources, articles, and... That is all that it comes out to, in the grand majority of things. Ninety eight percent agreed with each other when compared to my 'symptoms'... So to speak." Her eyes finally opened up again, gently taking in the sight of Brant, biting her lip again and holding her hand gently in front of herself.

"I had asked Firmia for advice, but I convinced myself that it would be better to go to the source of the... The cause, of this." She had almost said issue, but the only issue she had with things was if this would upset Brant or not. Hannah was entirely fine with how she was feeling.

Brant didn't know what to think when Hannah asked him not to get mad. Short of hurting someone or causing some other damage, the TK wasn't sure what would get under his skin. As Hannah continued, and noted that what she was getting at wasn't normal, Brant's worry gave way to curiosity, again. "Go ahead, it's fine," Brant tried to assure her. He'd rather hear her out and adjust quickly than stop her mid sentence to spare his own feelings. Besides ... it was rude to interrupt~

The 'I's went somewhere Brant truly wasn't expecting at all. 'I like you' was the next coherent thing Hannah managed to get out, and even though Brant caught her meaning immediately, he gave her the extra moment to clarify, his mind quickly getting to work sorting out any obvious implications it could reach on its own ...

Brant stared blankly for a moment, thinking back to his own occasional brushes with these same emotions Hannah was now trying to understand. His more recent 'episode' had been with Jessica, the Riese's own captain. It was a little benign, but for someone in her position of authority to be as gentle as she was, was something Brant couldn't ignore, not after everything he'd been through. It may not be the most effective way of leading a military unit, but it was an effective way of earning his loyalty, both as a pilot, and as ...

Firmia came to mind next. Abruptly. She was the youngest member of her family, right now, and unsurprisingly the least terrible. More than that, her bossiness and overbearing nature were so impotent that Brant couldn't help but find her endearing after a while. They trained together for months, and through all the screaming and explosions, they had reached an understanding. That was not an easy thing for him to do, and so it was only natural that his fellow TK held a special place in his heart.

Then came Tonya, both his most recent and earliest memories of her. As a pilot, she had built him from the ground up. Any praise he received for his work in the field, was better directed at her, as far as Brant was concerned. His feelings for her couldn't be overstated. What began as mere attraction only grew and grew ... and then Rosa forced his hand, pushing him to the brink of insanity. So many of Brant's memories of Tonya weren't even real, but phantoms that came to comfort him in his darkest hours. Even though she was still here, even though he could do nothing with his feelings, those feelings could not be overstated.

Rosa ... Brant cringed involuntarily for a second, pulling his mind back to the present, and focusing on Hannah. "S-sorry about that. You ... you've actually got the capacity for ... well ..." Love wasn't what Brant was getting at, even though what Hannah was displaying fell squarely into that category. Despite that, it was not a term he was going to use lightly, here. Not after the trip down memory lane he had just stumbled through. "Attraction, I mean. Those kinds of emotions?"

It was odd, or rather, not normal by any stretch of the imagination, for an android to behave the way Hannah was. What did that mean, though? Was she evolving even faster than he thought? Those people back on Colony One didn't know what they had! "If you're capable of having feelings like this ... I ... I don't even know where to start," Brant smiled at her. It wasn't as full and beaming of a smile as usual, but it was coming behind a good deal of shock and a mix of good and terrible memories.

It was a shame that Hannah had developed these feelings for him of all people, Brant thought. Tonya was lazing about half naked in his room and he couldn't do much more than admire from a short distance. He wasn't going to point out this critical shortcoming, though. Brant had already promised to try not to put himself down. It wasn't a put down in his eyes, but there was no way he could phrase it to make it sound objective. However he pointed something like that out, it was still coming from his own lips.

Brant's cringe caught her off guard. He'd been entirely quiet for a moment, what did it mean? He continued on with a sorry, did her speaking of this remind him of something? It was tempting to grab his hand-- another facet of Galatea, surely, but she withheld the immediate reaction. The capacity for love, was likely what he was going to continue with. That's what she was attempting to figure out. A program could emulate any emotion it wanted to convey, but even the most qualified scientists didn't quite understand what went into love. It was simply too mixed a feeling, in every aspect. What it meant for someone meant something entirely different for another.

"I am unsure where to go, as much as I have started... I had thought speaking to people would help, but... Firmia dodged my attempts to speak of it, and... Was this a bad idea? Should I have not said anything, Brant?" He ended up smiling, so was it a good thing? Hannah did a quick search; the majority of humans tended to smile when things were positive, though there were a select few or specific circumstances where it was simply a defense mechanism. She trusted Brant to be honest with her, though... She was having issues trusting herself.

"As you said, I... I do suppose attraction is correct. A 'crush', affection, I... I do not want to label this as love, yet. Or at all... I do not know if I am capable of something as complex as that, and as I have looked at, I likely will never be. Then again... I suppose I should inform you of the programming causing most, if not all of these reactions and feelings. How brushed up on your Greek Mythology are you?" She smiled as she asked, hoping it would be a good segue.

"As I was speaking with Firmia, I began to watch my subroutines, and a program that I do not have permissions to access called... Galatea, began to run when anything regarding emotions began to spring up. Even right now it is currently running. I do not know what it does, or what I should expect of it moving forward, but... Even if these are all fabricated, I am happy. I do not know what will come of it, but even being able to speak with you about it, is making me happy. Even if you never return how I am feeling, that I can feel it at all... I cannot imagine this is ever something a human will experience. I will not cry right now, not yet, but... It is very tempting. If I ever get access to this program, I shall turn up its resistance to tears from happiness. A good idea, no? Hahah..."

Wow, that laugh almost sounded genuine! She recorded that on the side, laughs were something her voice box wasn't supposed to be able to easily produce. I will definitely have to speak with Avery about further upgrades.

Firmia wasn't ... the best starting point for matters of evolving AI, Brant admitted to himself. Or perhaps it wasn't evolution at all. If there were programs tailored for this sort of thing behind most if not all of it, then ... that could mean it was something more akin to generating a complex personality profile based on environmental conditions. Something like a rudimentary learning program. That would only be slightly less impressive even to a layman, but even Brant wasn't especially good in this area yet, and could appreciate the effort that may have been involved.

Again Brant assured her. "It's fine. I'd rather know than not know," he said, unknowingly echoing Firmia.

Hannah wasn't comfortable with the term love yet either, it seemed. Brant suspected her reasons were different from his, more rooted in the nature of her existence than any far reaching implications. He only spent a split second wondering at that, as Hannah mentioned Greek mythology, priming him for even more information.

Brant sent the Argonauts back on their journey to Colchis when Galatea, the ivory women as he vaguely recalled, came up. It was a program in this instance, and not a living statue. Could a single program cause all of this, though? Hannah didn't seem totally set on that just yet. She left some room for other possible factors, only granting Galatea most of the credit initially. The evidence in favor of Galatea being at least partly responsible was overwhelming. Brant really wanted to look at this program and see what it was. Even if it was so massive and convoluted that it'd take him weeks to review it, it would be worth it.

Understanding everything Hannah could do and why she could do those things was a programmer's dream; even Hannah herself wanted to gain access to that knowledge, though for her own purposes. Though Brant was starting to notice how misaligned things seemed to be.

"Well ..." he tried to address Hannah's question after she laughed. There was something Brant wanted to get off of his chest now, but he didn't know how. All he knew was that he was coming at this all wrong. Hannah was discovering herself in big steps and here Brant was getting sidetracked by the thought of a weeks long perusal of code twenty IQ points above him. He still managed to smile after the brief pause, but he couldn't leave it at that. With a mix of frustration and gratefulness, Brant wound up putting his hand over Hannah's shoulder and pulling her gently to his side. "Listen. I'm not sure how I really feel about all of this. I'm excited, sure ... but I didn't think much about romance or anything like that. My track record is pretty bad, so it's a good thing I know how to pilot. Besides that, I'm ... going to stop treating you like a really advanced android from now on, okay? As much as I want to understand the way your mind works, and where it's going, it's just as important that there's someone you can be open with and rely on. So as far as I'm concerned, Hannah's just ... 'born different.'"

How funny it was that Firmia had said the same thing. They really were good friends, weren't they? Or at least, knew each other well. It would definitely be a good thing to get on Firmia's side, in that case. That probably amounted to piloting the Mantle well, and not giving her further cause to worry... The latter was not going to happen. Brant found it in himself to bring her over, Hannah nearly stumbling along, ending up brushing shoulders with him. Galatea sprang into immediate action, and it took all of Hannah's processing to clog the thing up with orders before it could make her do anything that she would definitely regret.

"I... I, uhm..." Of course, while trying to re-route its attention, she had to pause to calibrate things again, the stammering unintended but definitely effective-- she took notes! "I... I am glad. Very, glad... What am i supposed to do, right now? I, er... Have not looked this far into the topic. Is this fine?" She slowly put her head onto his shoulder and looked up at him, trying to study his eyes for some sort of reaction that would tell her if this was a good idea or something to avoid. It was difficult.

"That is, fine. It would make me feel better for you to treat me as Hannah... And nothing but. Am I allowed to make requests like that? Oh..." There was something that could take priority over Galatea's continued presses. "Brant. Give me a last name." She'd only ever been designated HAn4, or Hannah, nothing more or less. Having a full name would likely make this transition even better for her, and for everyone else. That aside... "It is important that I tell you that if I had the capabilities to be blushing right now, I would be. You are very close. It is not a bad thing. I am... Quite enjoying this..." Meek, was new. And it fit the smile she held now. She lacked the information to respond physically beyond resting her head, but if this was going to happen again, she'd be doing some research tonight.

Brant only let himself chuckle a little while Hannah tried to figure out how to respond. "Yeah that's just fine. Really, it's okay not to know what to do." We humans were really good at that, Brant mused. He had just such a moment himself when Hannah asked him to name her. Rather, she wanted him to give her a last name to go along with the first.

"Really? Hmm ..." Brant placed his free hand on his chin. He was really considering it, trying to pluck a few good candidates out from the countless ones he knew of. That was the real challenge, finding a name among hundreds that fit, well. At least if there were only a few options, he could quickly pick the best one. This must have been what picking out clothes from a huge wardrobe felt like.

Abrams? That was a little too on the nose ... on the nose with a sturdy bludgeon, even. Ferro? Also a bit on the nose, though for completely different reasons. What about Vass? That one was Hungarian as Brant recalled, 'Iron.' Maybe not. In fact, there was no good reason to stick with that type of theme, at all. Eros, maybe? That was also Hungarian, and a wee bit generic.

"Let's see ..." Brant continued trying to come up with names. He was quickly finding that he wasn't very good at it. Then again, who was? Baby naming websites had existed almost as long as the internet. Maybe Orlov? Brant had always liked that name, though he'd been trying to avoid Russian ones. Admittedly he wasn't exactly sure why he was avoiding Russian names. Hannah obviously wouldn't mind, and Brant didn't know of anyone else that would be put off by it. There was just something about it that felt subversive, if only in some vague and extremely benign way. Still it was a good, strong name. Brant would at least hold onto it for a minute or two.

"I might have one, but I'm not completely sure about it ..." Wait ... "Actually ..." Brant trailed off, thinking back on his own name again. He hadn't come up with it, of course. He had inherited it from his parents, and they their parents. Whoever first bestowed the name to their child might have been proud to see it carried so far into the future ... but that wasn't the point. The surname was typically an inheritance. So since Hannah was born different, rather than a traditional parent, she would have a designer. Whatever that designer's name was, that would definitely be Brant's first suggestion ... unless it didn't roll off the tongue very well, or didn't 'fit' with Hannah's first name. In that case, he would try out Orlov and see if she liked it.

"Say, who's your parent? I was thinking we could see if their name would suit you. That's how family names usually go," he shrugged, feeling out of his element, still.

Brant seemed stuck. Very stuck. Between his hums and continued pauses, Hannah felt like she'd just asked him the hardest question of his life. Did he truly have no good ideas? That was unfortunate, were it the case. She wanted him to name her... Having to suggest something on her own would ruin that fun. In the end, though...

"I have two people that would technically count as my parents. A Tabitha Gaertner, and a Liu Yon Qian... But I would rather avoid their names." Hannah shuffled a bit closer, gently hugging Brant around his waist. If she was going to be this close, it would be better to make use of it. "I have never met them, nor did I have the idea to look either of them up until earlier, discussing the Galatea program with Firmia. It would... It would feel foreign, to be named after one of them. But I know you! Or, I like you. And, it would feel more comfortable if the name came from you... Or, was... Y-Your, name..." She hadn't wanted to suggest anything, but...

"As long as you would not find that uncomfortable. I think it is a very nice name... What do you think? Hannah Abrams... Heehee~" Another functional laugh. Either her system was getting better at accommodating them, or they had always been available and simply not a set function.

"Tabitha Gaertner?!" Brant hadn't said that too loudly, but Hannah was already close enough to catch even the faintest whisper from him, so he immediately regretted the outburst. "Well ... this all makes sense, now." Really, Brant should have figured someone like her would be behind Hannah's creation. Forget Hollywood celebrities and executive producers, or even social media personalities; the people that actually got things done and nudged society ever onward were the people Brant was most interested in, and Tabitha was among them. The proof was clinging to his waist.

Brant had himself a good chuckle again, once Hannah asked if she could have his family name. She wasn't just born different, she was also going to be named different, as well. "Sure, Hannah Abrams sounds good," Brant said, deciding things would reach some sense of normalcy after the name drop settled in with the crew. There was no telling what Firmia would think about it. Sasha and Tonya would have a good laugh, no doubt. Jessicia might be put off, though. He might get a good ribbing from Thorvald ...

"Yes, Tabitha... Oh. I see. You are surprised. That makes sense." With how involved Brant was with AI and the scene surrounding it, that he'd heard of her name wasn't all that shocking. Hannah didn't know anything about her 'parents' personally, but earlier surface searches told her that Tabitha was involved heavily in AI creation and headlining. "You seem excited by this. That is quite pleasing. So I am the most impressive object of your interests, am I?" That was a way to put it. Maybe not physically, but her brain was likely driving Brant crazy, at least if he went to think about it.

Maybe physically could happen later, Hannah felt herself clinging to him a bit tighter as he okayed the name suggestion. She was smiling so wide she worried she'd tear her skin... Hyperbole, of course. "Thank you! That... That is wonderful to hear. I hope Firmia is not too distressed, but... I will wear your name with great pride and happiness, Brant." Galatea was at it again after that, Hannah pausing as her smile faded some. "Query: Galatea is attempting to force me to, quote, 'nuzzle his neck and squeeze him tight.' What is the purpose of something like that? ... Should I proceed?"

Hannah certainly had a way with words. No wait! No machine overtones, Brant quickly reminded himself. "No~, not 'object,'" he gave Hannah a knowing look, "Most impressive girl." Yeah, he'd go with that. Maybe he was taking it a little far there, but really it was for his own sake as much as Hannah's. Keeping himself from getting caught up in the technical side of things wasn't easy; it was his biggest hobby.

Giving Hannah his family name to use was definitely going to seem weird to some people, particularly Firmia, but if Hannah was happy, that was good enough. If she was proud, all the better, Brant supposed.

Hannah seemed to hit a fork in the road with this Galatea program, asking him how she should proceed, as well as what the program's preference was meant for. There was no getting around the fact that Hannah was an android with some extra programming messing with her primary processes ... not unless he chalked it up to some head fairy or alter ego trying to control her, but that too was probably going a bit far. He was trying to keep himself from getting distracted from Hannah's feelings, not buy into delusions. As for what Galatea wanted, it was a cute response, but what would it try next? How much longer was Brant's shirt going to be on at this rate ...?

"It's a sign of affection ... very high level," Brant said, nearly stammering, "It's fine, though."

He had to clarify girl... So he was going to go through with this. Hannah wasn't going to complain. Along with feeling more human every moment, having Brant treat her like one was warm and fuzzy... Yes, that was what loaded. Warm and fuzzy. It was incredibly pleasant. She kind of wanted more... What could she get him to say that would produce this process again? It was something to think about for the future, at least.

"High level affection? But... You say you're fine? Hmm..." If he said he was fine, that was permission, correct? Then... Even if it was feeding Galatea, Hannah took a step in front of him and hugged him properly, pressing herself up against his chest, arms wrapped neatly around his back, and head gently nestled up against his neck. He was pretty tall, wasn't he... Taller than her. Not on your toes worthy, but noticeable. "This is nice..." She didn't really want to do much else now, even Galatea seemed satisfied, not issuing a further order. So it does know when to stop pushing the envelope... Interesting. "If my softer parts are causing alarm, please inform me, and I will let go."

Galatea was certainly something to keep an eye out for, but for right now Brant was comfortable. He was almost completely desensitized to awkward, brazen, or poorly timed actions from women. Almost. Still, it had been years since he had been embraced like this, and more still since it'd been a welcome thing.

"You worry too much," Brant chuckled, returning Hannah's hug and resting his chin gently on her head. He inadvertently started a slight back and forth sway before long, having no idea how that always wound up happening ...

He was swaying now? And he was reciprocating the affection. "Hahhh..." Hannah left out a nice, calm sigh, gently resting against Brant as he swayed. "Is this what bliss is supposed to feel like? I do not think I have ever experienced such a calm throughout my entire system." Even her voice was lower, eyes slowly closing as she relaxed into the motions of Brant's small swaying.

"Brant... I do, believe that I love you, in some way. You are... Too kind, accepting. Warm. Comfortable... Like a home that I never was able to experience, I am... Drawn to see what life is like through these little interactions. For you, they may be simple, perhaps uncomfortable in some ways, but for me... Every little thing is entirely new and exciting. Whether or not... Whether or not this subroutine is determining things for me, I welcome it all, gladly." She hadn't wanted to talk so much, but the words spilled one after another as they came.

"Can I stay, in your room?" The question fell out after her miniature rant, keeping her eyes closed. She could analyze his heartbeat like this... "I do not have an official place to sleep, on the Riese. I do not know if I am able to sleep... Or dream. But I would very much so like to try... If that is possible."

Hannah was remarkably easy to please. The lack of an ego or unrealistic view of herself and the world apparently went a long way toward making her so receptive to joy ... or 'bliss,' as she'd put it. Brant could only say, "Well, maybe ..." in response, not being quite sure, himself. His uncertainty would only continue as Hannah told him that she loved him. Brant hadn't heard those words spoken to him in a very long time. It brought an unseen smile to his face to hear them. Hannah was definitely minding her wording, and went on to lay out the situation from her own perspective. It reminded Brant of his early years--what he could still remember, at least: his first encounter with a mobile suit, his first time flying solo, so many new and exciting experiences. Hannah was like a little kid experiencing the sheer vastness of the world ... and a good portion of the surprises were coming from within.

"My room?" Brant's thoughts went back to his shirt, and this Galatea program, though only for a brief second. Tonya was still loafing about in there, wasn't she? She had her own room set aside just for her, but wasn't making use of it. Kicking her out wasn't something Brant was capable of, mentally. She had the run of the place ... so that meant he could wind up with two women loafing about in his room when there wasn't an emergency or meeting to deal with. That didn't bother him, per se, but he knew how it would look.

Brant supposed if Hannah didn't have a room of her own anyway, he had all the excuse he really needed. She was treated primarily like hardware anyway, so it shouldn't be that strange. While Brant saw it as a girl sharing a room with him, the others could just as easily look at it as Brant acting as Hannah's programmer or whatever, and keeping her in his quarters, with his computer and other equipment to make work easier. Who didn't want to work from home? Sure ...

"Heh, sure," Brant nodded, "Fair warning, it won't just be us. Tonya would rather stay there than use her room. Her excuse is that she'll be heading out soon, but the Reign's upgrades aren't finished yet, so ..."

Hannah pulled back a bit and smiled at him, as wide as she was allowed. This had gone quite well, hadn't it? At least for her. It was a bit difficult to tell how happy Brant was, but he certainly seemed accepting of things, if not pleased. "There is no maybe concerning my happiness, Brant. While I am still unable to entirely understand how I feel about you, beyond the vague label of 'love', what has transpired here has brought me happiness past understanding. It will take me some time to completely evaluate all of this... Thank you." Now was probably as proper a time to cry if there was any, wiping at her eyes to stop them from soaking down her face. "Truly, I will need to adjust this function..."

Staying in his room would hopefully prove fruitful in regards to understanding him more. "I do not mind Tonya's presence. If her being there also makes you happy, then there is no issue with it as far as I am concerned. I am sure that I will be able to get along with her, so do not worry about me. How will our sleeping be assigned? Will I be sharing the same bed as you? That feels as though it would be quite comfortable... Emulating your body temperature has proved incredibly feasible, and has not cost me any functioning. If... You are comfortable with the thought." Hannah finally let him go and took a step back, starting to process things immediately. What made her happy would take some proper filing.

"You are wonderful, Brant."

Wonderful might be taking it a bit far, Brant thought. Excessively easygoing, sure. That fit him much better. Perhaps he was even a bit of a pushover at times. He certainly had years of practice being pushed over, both figuratively and literally. He couldn't kick Tonya out, or even set some reasonable boundaries, so there was definitely a case to be made there. What about this bed situation, though? The thing was going to be a little crowded, soon ...

"... we'll ... figure that out later," Brant promised. Some bridges were best dealt with on arrival.

Edited November 24, 2017 by SnakeMomMelissa

[Ether]

"Know is your decision. If still want, won't stop you. Just don't want you get hurt, Chrissy." Kim replied, cowed by the influx of emotion from Christina. The Doctor's decision was about as expected, wait a little bit and observe for complications, otherwise no changes. If Christina was adamant on continuing to co-pilot the Artemis, then Kim would just have to work even harder to make sure a situation like this didn't happen again.

[scorri]

Astin had left the meeting room quickly, not wanting to interfere with whatever Firmia had wanted to talk with the captain about. Left with nothing to do, they briefly considered just going back to their room and reading, but instead they wandered down into the medbay, hesitating at the doorway, looking in. It was a crowd in there, but still. Making their way over, they smiled at Kim and Christina, who seemed to be in the middle of a conversation. Still, "Sorry if I'm interrupting but... How are the two of you doing?"

~~~~~~~

Val frowned. The man had seemed fine but... "Well come sit down over here. I can check yoyr stitches and check you again for a concussion. I wouldn't have thought you got hit hard enough for that but you never know."

[Sandalphon]

Nikolai nodded grimly, it would make sense then. Presumably, if whoever was behind the whole operation had been willing to hide the fact that the obnoxious one had survived, then it would be pretty feasible to believe that the other two was running around. Still, if any of them were as... dippy and mopey as the other example he'd been shown, they would be fairly easy to dispatch along with Tarquin's help.

Or maybe they could all be friends and make friendship bracelets and bake each other little cupcakes... he doubted it though.

He shrugged, shaking his head as he glanced back to Tarquin. He hoped that the boy wasn't taking everything too hard, he seemed fairly deep in thought...

"Then it not matter, will burn bridge when come to it. Not a problem, I am sure we can handle anything that get thrown our way, right?" He said, trying to keep the tone casual but probably sounding a little manic as a result of the attempt at cheer, "do you want to get coffee? coffee sound pretty nice."

He bit his lip as the pair made their way out of the room into the corridor. This situation had gotten a lot more complicated, and at any rate, if the whiny girl tried anything he'd probably use up the last of the goodwill he'd incurred from the captain. It would probably be worth it, though.

 

[Phoenix]

Jessica was naturally surprised and confused. Sasha started laughing too, just like Brant expected him to. Firmia though, she just sat there for a moment, eyes closed. Brant sensed frustration and a hint of confusion there. Firmia probably didn't like having even more questions suddenly come to mind out of the blue like that. She also probably didn't think what Hannah was doing was even a good idea, but Brant would have to wait until she said something to know for certain.

"Can one of you explain--no ... no, never mind," Firmia shook her head suddenly, "I can get the details later. There's already enough I need to deal with."

"It's not a long story," Brant offered, frowning slightly.

"It's really not," Firmia scowled, ready to shoot off her own summary of events, "She's acting more human, so she wants a family name like everyone else, and since you're so ... you, she took yours. I've got it. Moving on ... and Sasha, give that back." Sasha handed over the bulky looking thing and sighed in the captain's direction. "Where do I even start ...?" Firmia winced, quickly looking through her notes.

There was actually a TK to deal with this time around, so Firmia felt the timing of the Artemis issue was a little off. That didn't mean everything was fine, now. There was still a 'feature' on that unit that was doing more harm than good overall. The issue was worsened by that same overarching problem that was slowly driving Firmia crazy ... "I guess I'll start with the Artemis," she eventually started, "It has some kind of field that interferes with TKs. Christina's causing it somehow but apparently she can't control it or turn it off." If Jessica already knew about that part and deployed the Artemis with Christina aboard anyway, it was typical negligence. If she didn't know, communication and organization was at fault, once again. "I'm just going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't know a TK would be piloting the Regalia at Dry Lake Base. That doesn't explain today, but there hasn't been a whole lot of time to address problems with the mobile suits." Forget the mountain of work Firmia herself had gotten done in the day since her arrival ... "My question is what are you going to do about that jamming field? Most of the time, the only one it's going to be affecting is Brant. You can just shrug and tell him to stay away from it, but it could still get him killed in a chaotic fight." Hopefully pointing out the worst case scenario would get the captain's attention, even if that outcome seemed somewhat unlikely ... and hopefully that blasted field wouldn't be stronger now that Christina was a full fledged TK. Maybe it would disappear, instead. Maybe she would at least be able to control it, now.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Phoenix

[Dandragon]

The elevator door opened up to the bottom deck, and Elaine stepped out, her destination in mind being the cafeteria. She hoped it would be quiet, but if it wasn't she could always just take her tray to her room. At the risk of getting called by Louise, again. With the fear of being called by her, was there any place where she could get some peace and quiet? ...Well, there was the hot tub, though she had been considering the possibility that there was still a bug or a camera at the pool. Ultimately, she made the decision that she would try and relax in the hot tub after she ate. She needed the relief, and exercise just didn't seem too appealing today. Among the several other options she had to deal with stress.

Elaine turned the corner into the cafeteria, thankful that it was still fairly quiet, and made her way over to make herself some lunch. She opted for a simple cheeseburger, some fries, and a soda as her beverage. It had been the usual meal she had eaten many days on Colony 2, although on the ship, she wasn't walking off the carbohydrates as much as she had been walking back and forth between her apartment and the local fast food joint she went to. As she placed in the burger in the microwave, Elaine looked down at herself, wondering if maybe exercise was the better option. She hadn't weighed herself in what felt like ages, and almost worried that she might have gained a bit of fat. Almost.

Who am I kidding? She thought. No one's been looking at me like that since I dropped outta school. And why would they? The microwave beeped, Elaine took her meal out, and placed it on her tray. I'd be lucky to even get someone staring at my ass for too long.

Elaine nearly slapped herself. Had she really just thought that? She let out an exhale through her nose, resigning herself to the fact that there was definitely more than one thing wrong with her. A visit to Cheryl wouldn't be a bad idea, though she had already approached Talia, and was most likely dealing with her issues already. For now, it was time for her to eat, and eat she did.

[Nanami Touko]

Questions and Answers

"That is mostly accurate, Firmia, though there are more details. They can be discussed at another time, as you appear distressed." Hannah gathered what was making her distressed... But also didn't care very much, content in her position and with her permissions. To her, this was a Brant central issue, and as long as he was comfortable with things, she wasn't going to be bothered. Resting her head on his shoulder again, she closed her eyes and let the meeting get back to its proceedings.

Jess was... A bit stuck on the Hannah situation, to properly field the question she'd gotten, stammering for a few moments before looking at the table and trying to process it. "I, uh... N-No, I was never told about anything like that. By the mechanics, the pilots, or Brant... If it's an issue, we'll shut it down. I'll contact Avery and have her disable whatever's causing it, if they can't get it under control." Why had no one mentioned it to her? Maybe it just wasn't as dangerous as Firmia was making it out to be. Well, it could potentially be that dangerous, and maybe they'd simply been lucky, so far. Lives weren't something to hold up to a lucky standard.

"What else is there?" Firmia likely had more. It was Firmia. And more questions would help Jess keep her mind off of... the Hannah situation.

How it's Going

"You could get hurt just the s-same as me, and you keep doing it. So there's no reason I can't..." Their circumstances were a bit (a lot) different, but Christina could try to hold onto the point all the same. She was hit with another wave of mild concern, as Astin walked in, trying her best to just refocus on Kim. This was so hard... "H-Hey, Astin... Uh... Not, doing so great. Kim seems fine, at least." It was too much of a mouthful to blurt out her situation, the doctor or Kim could explain it, or she could do it later.

[Shin]

Tarquin hadn't thought too much about the existence of others like him. T-2 didn't appear to be anything spectacular, and logically he wouldn't need to have existed if the other three had been successful. Logically, there would be some kinship between them based on their shared origin, but Tarquin didn't feel any connection to T-2 at all. She was no more than a distant cousin to him, he didn't have the understanding or the motivation to approach her. She was just so pathetic, it was almost painful to watch her. Whilst he could relate to her plight in being created as a tool... it was unsettling that she seemed to fail so badly at it.

"Unless the second version was an anomaly, I would not be too worried. We can handle whatever comes our way." Tarquin replied, following Nikolai's lead. He'd heard of coffee, although it was on the list of things that he'd been told to avoid. Considering there was nobody around to pull his strings, this presented a fantastic opportunity. He was getting coffee, even if it turned out that he hated it. There was an odd air of freedom, as if he'd finally started his own life. "Nikolai... I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about all of this. I've spent so long being told what to do, what to say and where to go. Even if I didn't get to tell people myself, I'm happy I don't have to hide any more secrets."

He let out a sigh of satisfaction, the weight had been lifted from his shoulders. No more tests, no more reports, no more expectations. He could strive to be great on his own accord without being watched and monitored like a lab rat. T-4 was no more, he was now just Tarquin.

-

Talia covered her mouth with her hands, her entire body trembling. The thought of flying again terrified her, she'd only done it last time to avoid dying. There was no way she could do it again... but what else was she good for? She had no other abilities or talents, she was a waste of resources. The only thing she could do was pilot, and even then she knew how bad she was at it. She dropped to her knees in the middle of the hallway, staring right into the ground.

"I can't do it... not anymore." she mumbled, her hands lowering to her knees. She looked up at Cheryl, her face showing how defeated she was. "Nobody will do anything to me... I can't do anything for anyone else. I'm completely useless... that's why he left me behind."

The Professor had been right, Talia knew that she was just a stepping stone to the next version. What was left for her? Was she just going to be left in her room and shunned by everyone else? It would be Corona Ten all over again, except now the bane of her existence was never going to go away. T-4 wasn't going anywhere, he was going to be a constant reminder that she had been forgotten and replaced. The worst part was that people actually seemed to like him, people like Elaine and the purple haired oddball were the only ones with any sense. Even the captain had barely punished him.

-

Bill sat down obediently, still trying to make sense of the strange sensation. "It's a real corker this one, it's not like it's hurting or anything, but it's the strangest sensation. Thinking about it, I noticed it a few times even before the light fell on my head. It's like I'm listening to things without even hearing them. Maybe I'm just going bonkers." Bill replied, looking over at the crowd around Christina. "Felt it the most when we were in space, thought I was just being seasick at the time."

There was something odd about the group that he couldn't explain, and it wasn't just the pretty young sheilas! He craned his neck, trying to getting a better view. Was there someone he knew in there? The Asian girl seemed ever so familiar, was she truly the girl from the taco commercials? It was a longshot, and the chances of an actress being part of a ship's crew were like them growing the anklebiters from cabbage patches. Next thing you know they'd have cyborg captains and people who could read minds, Bill almost laughed at how wild his own imagination was at times.
 

[Phoenix]

"Sorry," Brant winced, "I thought you knew. I made the suggestion that we should see if there was a way to set up my T-Link so it's not affected by the Artemis' jamming field, but we never got around to it. Avery's got her hands full too, so there's definitely not going to be time to figure that out, now." Between the near half dozen new mobile suits and the constant run ins with Apotheosis, it was a wonder she found the time to sleep. They were having battles at least once a day, and at this rate, it was hard to get any serious work done while also fully recuperating. With the latter always taking priority among the pilots as a whole, T-Link adjustments would be on the shelf for the foreseeable future, in Brant's estimation.

So Jessica didn't know, after all. Firmia's eyes narrowed as she studied the captain. Brant wouldn't have brought it up, naturally, even if he did know Jessica was out of the loop. That came with the training environment. Why didn't the captain know what was going on with the machines, though? Shouldn't she and Avery be in regular contact? Shouldn't the head mechanic at least be forwarding reports and potential problems up to the senior officers, if not the captain, herself? Firmia had a dozen things like this to bring up, and knew she should try to find a way to condense all of it into one or two items, otherwise they would be here for an hour or longer. Something like this really shouldn't take that long, since all of this came down to roughly two problems. Everything else: the Artemis, the lax security, literally everything else, were just symptoms of the real problems. She had to drop everything else and focus on the core issues, or the captain would just stop listening at some point.

On the bright side, it seemed like Jessica wasn't going to shrug and tell Brant to be careful around the Artemis. He would have been fine with that, since he was used to piloting with the guarantee of being shot down in flames at some point, but that didn't make it right. "I'm not going to tell you how to run your ship, but I would keep on top of everything that's going on down there. With that out of the way, I think I'll just try to get to my main point. Everything else I wanted to bring up stems from that."

She wanted to get straight into it, but Hannah's affectionate ... affectioning was distracting her and Jessica, both. "Would you get a room?" ... it wasn't a second, half a second, or even a nanosecond afterward; Firmia's regret found her square in the middle of the comment. As Brant tried and ultimately failed not to chuckle, Firmia knew that Hannah had gotten more than just a cookie, a glass of milk, and Brant's last name out of the deal. "Would you set some freaking boundaries or ... or something?!"

Edited November 25, 2017 by Phoenix

[Nanami Touko]

Tough Stuff

Cheryl winced as Talia collapsed onto her knees, slowly pulling into her into a hug, trying to gauge how she was going to take it. "It's okay, Talia... Your doctor made a mistake." This one's going to be a tough one, isn't she... I don't think I can help all of this in one talk. Gonna take a few more, and I might need Megumi's help. "He left behind two beautiful children that needed a proper parent in their lives. You don't have to pilot anything, you're young, and free to do whatever you want to do. No one's going to give you orders, or force you into anything. And you've got plenty of time to figure out what you want, alright?" Slowly patting her hair, trying to calm her down, the infirmary was looking like a much better place to be right now... Wait, Kim was in there, right?

"Do you want to meet the other people here? Seung-Min's really nice, she's resting with her friend after the fight. It could be really nice for you to chat with someone around your age..." She seems like a teenager, at least. Older than Tarquin. Don't really know how old, but she can't be that far off of seventeen... She hoped it would present a small escape for the girl, at least. Something else to do, and think about.

Run it Better

Jess glowered a bit, sighing. "You're not going to tell me how to run my ship, but that's exactly what's about to come out of your mouth... Get on with it then." There was no point in trying to fuss about this. She doubted Firmia would be doing any better in her position, if she tried to run her iron fist tactics around, no one would listen to her and she's have gotten insubordination within a week. Even if things were more open here, the crew got along better than most, she'd bet her hat on that. It dawned on Jess that Firmia's only frame of reference was the Russian military, they must've been incredibly strict if she was so upset about all these decisions. Even with the Artemis, Brant hadn't flagged it as an issue. She understood that it was one and she was going to get rid of the source, but was it really something worth this much ire? She didn't get it...

The Hannah situation though, that she understood entirely. "I... Really?"

"Yes, really," spoke the android, still content to keep her eyes closed there. "I have not been assigned a proper sleeping quarters on the ship, and Brant was kind enough to agree to my request. Though I may have to sleep in the corner of the room, there will be little room for three people in the ship's registered standard beds."

"Th-Three? What... I'm, just... Gonna deal with Firmia first..."

Seriously

Olivia scoffed quietly as she set the Advil down next to Christina's bed, stepping away from the scenario. "The janitor's a telekinetic too? Seriously? Pfft." Ship full of snowflakes, this one... Either way, if it wasn't bugging him, he was probably a really weak one, if at all. "Maybe that's why he's such a good cleaner. He can always feel where the mess is."

Edited November 25, 2017 by SnakeMomMelissa

[Phoenix]

Brant had something of a response for Firmia and Jessica, but they both looked and sounded more interested in taking care of business, first, so he quietly sighed and let them continue. Hannah seemed to be enjoying the reactions, that or she didn't really care about them and was just focusing on his arm and body heat ...

Firmia glanced at Hannah ever so briefly. So the boundary was the bed ... for now. Oddly enough, this was all according to one the plans Firmia hadn't yet committed herself to. She still wasn't sure if she should use Brant's connection to Hannah to get the latter over into their 'camp,' but Firmia was certain she had to keep an eye on things as they developed, as annoying as it was to actually watch. For now there was the post-debrief to deal with.

"No," Firmia shook her head at Jessica's comment, "I've already accepted the fact that your priorities and mine are different." Better to word it that way than how it had originally formed in her head ... "Not completely different, but ... ... Let me put it this way. If you make a mistake, or Apotheosis exploits just one of the dozens of weak spots this ship has, we're doomed, and there's not much I can do about it on my end. I can make suggestions and take care of my people and machines ... and that's it. If you've ever been on an icy freeway with a tipsy driver in Russia, that's kind of what this feels like. All I have is my seat belt and a prayer ... no offense ..."

"You don't trust her?" Brant frowned, again.

"I don't have to trust someone to work with them," Firmia batted the question aside, "This ship seems like it's the only one not limping away from fights with Apotheosis, but if they knew half of what I've gathered, they could kill us in five minutes and not lose a man. There's too much at stake for us to be relying solely on how strong the ship is or how good the pilots are. As the captain of the one ship that can deal with them, you have a responsibility to the world to fight Apotheosis. If you don't address every weakness you can find, Apotheosis will ... at least if they're not as stupid as I wish they were." It made sense to her, but Firmia had part of a backup plan coming together, regardless. There was no telling just how much effort was too much for these ANF types. "It would be nice if all that advanced tech was balanced out by stupid people thinking they can brute force their way into ruling the world, but that's probably not what it is ..."

"I'm not expecting you to act like a drill sergeant or anything ... you don't have the body for it," Firmia teased, though her smirk was gone so quickly, you'd be forgiven for questioning whether it'd actually happened, "but I do think we'd be much better off if you ran a tighter ship. There are a lot of problems on the way that you could prevent with just some basic procedures in place. I've been to fast food restaurants with better communication and organization than this ship, so of course I can't just stand by and say nothing. I have to at least point it out." The quiet one that said nothing was just as much to blame as the tipsy driver, in Firmia's view.

[Nanami Touko]

Less Thick

Jess would be lying if she'd said she wasn't shocked by the way Firmia was coming at this. It was a lot less heavy than she was expecting... Not that it didn't remind her of what was at stake here. The Riese really was the only thing standing up to Apoth, wasn't it? It was... Jess sighed. We're going to have to try and save the world... She'd forgotten, honestly. Getting through each day without going crazy was already hard enough. She didn't want to form some stupid habit to try and keep her stress down as the ship and everyone on it fought against the strongest super power to date... The ANF's regular forces were starting to match up to Apoth's regular troops, but they had too many unique models, ones that seems capable of dealing with entire squads of ANF machines single handedly. Even the new Legionary models weren't a match for the weaponry on whatever machine had been trapping them, and the Artemis, the most advanced thing they had, was nearly torn to shreds trying to take on Vera in single combat.

Jess fell into her seat some. "I know that." Of course, she knew all of that. It had needed reminding, but it registered all the same once it had. "That doesn't mean I know what to do. What would you do, in my shoes? Do you think you'd be able to handle an entire crew, in the face of this?" She didn't want to make it seem like she was throwing the burden of fixing this onto Firmia, so she continued without waiting for an answer. "They don't teach you crisis situations in school. Not on the worldwide scale. Colony One, yeah, we learned that. I didn't do a great job, but I know how to deal with that much... Saving the whole world? This is my first ship. I've got less than a month on it under my belt, and two weeks of that were spent in a hangar just getting to know the design."

What she was getting at was, "I'm not ready to save the world, Firmia. I don't know how best to even go about keeping my crew together. I know you get upset when I call these relaxation times or I'm not as harsh, but I'm willing to bet everyone's feeling the same weight I am... Top it all off, we're a small crew without any contact with Central. We've barely got more than ten pilots to our name, on a ship that should be housing at least twenty. Two of them almost died today." She paused to not cry at that, Kim and Christina both had come far too close to losing their lives in this fight.

"So... Yeah. I could crack down more. I could tighten the rules, make everything more safe, but to what end? I'm already at my wit's end trying to get everyone through to the next day." Now she felt this was going to be handed over to Firmia... And there wasn't much she could do to stop herself. "What would you do?"

Evan Hannah's smile faltered in the face of this, trying to parse everything she'd heard, not coming immediately to satisfactory conclusions. Perhaps a more veteran captain with proper experience would know what to do, but they only had Dwight on board for that much, and he was far too old to be in the captain's seat again. One hit too hard and the old man's heart could give... It was a wonder they kept him on the bridge during combat. Hannah's gaze fell on the XO for a moment, but as haphazard and uniquely weird as Jess' captaining was, it had a much, much better combat track record than Roxanna's. Maybe there was a replacement they could find for the girl at Central, and they were close... That was a satisfactory conclusion to come to, but she didn't like that one. She wanted another, and decided to keep processing.

[Sandalphon]

Nikolai sighed despite himself, he wasn't quite sure but he was sure he saw a hint of something akin to relief on his friend's face. Something about the moment of respite felt genuinely calming if it weren't for his characteristic paranoia bubbling under the surface. Regardless, he tried to shunt those feelings aside, he was now a man on a misson.

And that mission was to find a cup of coffee.

To be honest, Nikolai's experience with coffee was dubious at best, vaguely remembering how to prepare the stuff from occasional pilfered military rations. He was, however, utterly miserable at the task, with his attempts at even instant coffee ending up mildly reminiscent of lukewarm bitter mud. Still, he figured someone must have made some somewhere at the cafeteria, and despite the unpalatable nature of his own attempts to brew a decent cup of joe he did genuinely find the concoction comforting enough when he got it, not to mention that it gave him enough of a caffeine boost to stay awake and alert in case anyone came by in the dead of the night to give him a nifty new neckhole from which to breathe with a machete or something.

Not that such a thing was likely given the circumstances in which he found himself, but the thought of being slightly more prepared was genuinely nice.

"Coffee... should be at place with food. Cafeteria is called? It would make sense because 'cafe' is in name but sometimes names are stupid and not make sense..." He said with an air of slight uncertainty.

[Ether]

"Oh, Astin. We... sort okay. Could obvious better, but still alive, not missing bits pieces. Chrissy... having head issue. Shock, feedback from T-link not good." Kim replied, not divulging the extent of what was happening with Christina. It was up to her whether she mentioned the changes taking place in her own head, after all.

"Good work on field. Make sure my mistake not worse than already was."

[Phoenix]

It seemed like the full extent of Christina's TK troubles weren't coming out just yet. The fact that Bill might be one was strange, but also interesting. He seemed like the low maintenance type, so aside from that head injury, he shouldn't be giving them much trouble. Astin's arrival got Megumi thinking, though ... was the meeting over? Had she handed off the headphones too late to glean anything, or had Astin simply stepped out early? "Is the debriefing over, already?"

---

Firmia had to hold herself back so as not to get into all the little details of how she would theoretically run things. Her suggestions were all lined up like bullets in a magazine, but there were still just a couple of overarching issues that she felt needed most of the attention. Solving those would go a long way toward making the ship more Apo-proof. Going about it entirely in her own way wouldn't have worked with a crew like this, unfortunately. "I couldn't handle this crew, no," Firmia admitted, "I'd gladly take over if I thought anyone other than Brant would listen to me. At least then I'd have some control over the situation. The way things are now, if you screw up, I have to watch everyone I care about die and then die too." A bit harsh, but completely true as far as Firmia could tell. "Anyway, I know this is hard on you and everyone in general. Believe me, I know, but if Apotheosis destroys this ship, or captures it, then who else is going to deal with them? I hate being stuck here, waiting for those bastards to ambush us, but I'm doing everything I can. That's also part of what I wanted to talk to you about." More on that later ...

"My suggestions come down to improving communication, organization and security inside the ship, and better management during battles. There's no point in telling you to be more strict with people when they screw up, because I don't think most of them have been trained to have the proper response ..." Really, her sense of some of the crew members led Firmia to believe that anything more than a slap on the wrist would outright break some of them. Jessica herself was on the verge of tears over nearly losing two of her people. It almost seemed like the drop in morale alone would do the crew in if someone was ever killed. "If the stress is getting to you, then delegation is the solution, not neglecting potential problems."

Firmia looked at the list in her notes as she continued. "For example, to keep people from faking authorization, you could make final checks mandatory before any launches. If there wasn't a deployment order, they check with a senior officer directly, you, your second in command, or anyone else you trust to approve something like that. That's all you'd have to do to keep someone from throwing the ship into chaos on a whim, and you only have to tell them how to do it once. I have other ideas that would have gone along with that, but I'm starting to think the fewer fully automated systems you have, the lower the chances of a successful cyber attack."

"So those automated gun turrets are out, then?" Sasha smirked. That had been one of the more amusing concepts on Firmia's list. They had nothing to do with preventing unauthorized launches, though, and seemed to fit in more with this 'capture the Riese' plot that the Alkaev had referenced throughout her notes.

"I'm keeping that idea for myself," Firmia muttered, keeping her eyes on the tablet. "Anyway, Captain, you need to stay informed, make sure people are telling you what's going on and doing their jobs properly. I think your head mechanic especially should be sending you daily reports so you know exactly what you're working with in battle ... and what annoying experimental systems are being used." Some basic security wouldn't hurt either, but Firmia was beginning to lean sharply toward trying to address that problem, herself. At least in part.

Edited November 25, 2017 by Phoenix

[TheRoon]

Well that meeting was certainly interesting. There's so many people on this ship it was a little overwhelming. Aliza didn't mind too much, although it was hard to find a spot to really fit in. Still she'd have to find it considering she'll be on this ship for a while. it was also easy to get lost, but that would come to her in time. Until that time will come she had to stick to asking around and she began by asking where the infirmary was. She had to update poor Hicks on the situations assuming he was awake. He had to be by now.

With some directions from a nice operator Aliza had entered the infirmary. There was a lot of people here indeed, but she didn't quite take them in yet. She just went straight to Hicks' bedside to take a seat and bring the man up to speed.

"...hm, I gotcha..." He took a sigh. "Well it's your life. Do what you want with it rookie...I'm leaving this ship as soon as I see the chance."

"Right right..." Aliza nodded. She had never lost someone like that, and she knew Hicks and Sledge were close. It had to really hurt to lose someone. Aliza had comforted people before but not over this. She wouldn't even know how to start. "...hm...well I wish you luck too and...if you need anything lemme know."

"Yeah thanks..." Mumbled the guard, not really taking her words in all that well. Yeah he was hit hard alright. So he just rolled on his side. "Sorry. Gonna catch some sleep for a while. Could you..."

"Oh yeah." She stood up and nodded her head before leaving his bedside. She had taken a few steps away from his bed and after that was done she held her head with a slight groan. "C'mon, Aliza...is it really that hard to bring someone out of a funk like that...?" The Italian had no idea what to say or do to help the man. When she was sure she was far enough to not disturb his slumber she stomped the ground in frustration and grumbled. "Dammit..."

Edited November 26, 2017 by TheRoon

[Nanami Touko]

Taking Steps

"I would listen to you, Firmia," Hannah mentioned, having resumed smiling.

"That's wonderful, Hannah... Delegation, huh." She could give a phew people permissions to handle those sorts of things if they ever came up again. "Would you mind that responsibility, Brant? I'll ask the mechanics to reach out to me first, but if I'm unavailable, would you be willing to be one of the rungs down? I'll probably ask Thorvald, too. He can probably handle that much..." It wouldn't fit, asking anyone else. They either had too much on their own to deal with, or didn't have the willingness to enforce those sorts of orders. Brant might not have that either, but he certainly had it more than some others...

"And have Avery send me robot reports. That's fine. Doable... Alright. Geez..." Jess sighed, running a hand through her hair, and taking off her hat. "I was just stressing too hard, I guess... This all sounds like really simple stuff. Thank you, Firmia." Thinking too hard, it happened sometimes. Jess was looking far past the basics and trying to figure out how to save things, before thinking about how they were going to save themselves, were something to happen. "Okay. Was... Was there more?"

"There is always more," Hannah commented again, seemingly taking a small jab at Firmia. That was interesting... She could make jokes? Huh.