[Ic] Lotus In Bloom (Invite Only)

[Drakeardian]

On 31/08/2016 at 9:55 PM, Lady_Viper said:

“It’s just some transmitter that void towers use to direct its corrupted around. It’s either that or a music player, but that’s unlikely.” Arthur told the other Excalibur while still having an arrow notched to the bowstring, ready to draw and unleash at any given moment. He then gave the transmitter a glance before looking to Lancelot again.

 

“And I found this because a door just happened to open and the lights in the corridor were flickering like lights on a runway. Yeah I don’t think this was by accident. Something or someone wanted me to come here...It was after I had tried to contact the towers cephalon but I haven’t seen anything other strange happening so I’m not sure if it’s actually trying to contact me or if it’s something else." 

Raising an eyebrow under his helmet as he looked around the room before looking to the Transmitter then to Arthur "I got a feeling this is one of those moments where someone touches this thing and we either discover some secret message OR we unleash a terrible evil." 

He didn't exactly like such moments before walking over to it and holds his hand over the Transmitter, not touching it but almost to the point of it.

[Lady_Viper]

Arthur watched in silence as Lancelot spoke and moved in on the transmitter before saying “You know, considering that we’ve already unleashed a terrible evil here, I’d say our odds are good” When he finnished, he moved over to the unit, put his hand over the other Excalibur and pushed.

 ---------II---------

‘Well aren’t you just the suffering martyr’ Jinx though acridly. The Trinity’s sad little smiles were starting to piss her off now instead. It angered her that she just seemed to accept her suffering. The thought that Anna also might think that putting up with all that somehow made her better than others crossed Jinx’s mind, stoking those flames.

‘Better feeling anger than sadness. Anger keeps you going, sadness just turns you into a sobbing mess.’

She didn’t say anything in response to the Trinity, instead biting her tongue so to not start an argument. Like Anna herself had said, she had a think skull, so no matter what she said it wouldn’t help. She instead turned her head to look at Zokah to see what her thoughts on all this was. And show what her own thoughts on it were, though she was not sure if the point would come across with her helmet still on.

[SnaleKing]

On 9/2/2016 at 8:09 PM, ultimatumcore said:

"Better people than you and I have tried hard to get that idea through my thick skull... We've all found it quite... Impervious." Annabelle shrugged, turning and offering Jinx her sweetest smile, the smile said more that she was used to looking past her pain for others than that she was actually happy. "And one way or another, I'll carry on, so neither of you have to worry about a medic up and disappearing... Unless... Well... I'll have to have words with the captain later about how he deals with... Discrepancies in judgement, no matter how extreme..." Annabelle offered, her tone light and lute like at first, but souring and sounding curt by the end. Annabelle looked between Zokah's and Jinx, and nodded, as if remembering what she was doing. "Unless there's anything else I can help you with, Tenno Zokah, you should check in with Healer Cordia who can discharge you back to your duties. Though I'd honestly suggest taking some time to rest..."

5 hours ago, Lady_Viper said:

'Well aren’t you just the suffering martyr’ Jinx though acridly. The Trinity’s sad little smiles were starting to piss her off now instead. It angered her that she just seemed to accept her suffering. The thought that Anna also might think that putting up with all that somehow made her better than others crossed Jinx’s mind, stoking those flames.

 

‘Better feeling anger than sadness. Anger keeps you going, sadness just turns you into a sobbing mess.’

 

She didn’t say anything in response to the Trinity, instead biting her tongue so to not start an argument. Like Anna herself had said, she had a think skull, so no matter what she said it wouldn’t help. She instead turned her head to look at Zokah to see what her thoughts on all this was. And show what her own thoughts on it were, though she was not sure if the point would come across with her helmet still on.

Zokah caught Jinx's gaze and the expectation behind it, and smoothly swung her feet about to sit upright. "Well Anna, I'm glad you don't plan on going anywhere." She stood up a bit too quickly, but didn't let her brief bout of dizziness show as she clapped a hand to Annabelle's shoulder. "Because I look forward to giving you a lot of chances to prove your worth!" Zokah inclined her head gratefully, a sign of respect she usually reserved for superior officers. "Now, if you don't need anything else, I should go make myself useful."

[NanoVega]

14 hours ago, Lady_Viper said:

- Snip -

‘Well aren’t you just the suffering martyr’ Jinx though acridly. The Trinity’s sad little smiles were starting to piss her off now instead. It angered her that she just seemed to accept her suffering. The thought that Anna also might think that putting up with all that somehow made her better than others crossed Jinx’s mind, stoking those flames.

 

‘Better feeling anger than sadness. Anger keeps you going, sadness just turns you into a sobbing mess.’

 

She didn’t say anything in response to the Trinity, instead biting her tongue so to not start an argument. Like Anna herself had said, she had a think skull, so no matter what she said it wouldn’t help. She instead turned her head to look at Zokah to see what her thoughts on all this was. And show what her own thoughts on it were, though she was not sure if the point would come across with her helmet still on.

 

 

8 hours ago, SnaleKing said:

Zokah caught Jinx's gaze and the expectation behind it, and smoothly swung her feet about to sit upright. "Well Anna, I'm glad you don't plan on going anywhere." She stood up a bit too quickly, but didn't let her brief bout of dizziness show as she clapped a hand to Annabelle's shoulder. "Because I look forward to giving you a lot of chances to prove your worth!" Zokah inclined her head gratefully, a sign of respect she usually reserved for superior officers. "Now, if you don't need anything else, I should go make myself useful."

Annabelle offered Zokah a bow in return.

"I will do my best." She promised, and looked to Jimx, on the verge of saying something, and sitting against the bed where Zokah had been. "I strive for humility... Jinx... Because every other Tenno healer I've met was able to pull a trigger at something trying to kill them or their allies. I bet it seems arrogant, if looked at a certain way, valiantly suffering or whatever, but I really am just about half as useful as every other Trinity in a fight." She shrugged, standing up as she finished.

"I need to make up for it, but I can't think of how." She didn't need to be able to read minds to tell that the Nyx was annoyed with her. That, and the fact that many had come to the same conclusions, and that most had argued with her about it, made the same old 'You really are helpful' words predictable. This slowly brought up her minds armor, an impenetrable wall of kittens, rainbows, and smiley thoughts, she actually wondered if Jinx was impeding on her mind, but wouldn't blame her for trying it while she didn't have her defenses up. She thought about redoubling her efforts to make her smiles more convincing, but figured it wouldn't help at all since Jinx had already seen past them.

[Temperance000]

When Lancelot’s palm touched the glowing console surface, the effect was gratifyingly instantaneous.  With a sudden flicker and hum, the transmat halo came alive, and the two Tenno were swept away in a flash of white-gold voxels.  

A rushing instant of white emptiness stretched to eternity, and solid ground reappeared abruptly under their feet.  The two Tenno found themselves in a comparably spacious chamber with the dim lighting and exposed workings characteristic of the functional underbellies of Orokin installations.  In spite of the vaulted ceiling, the space still managed to feel condensed, due in large part to the single bright light source in the room being focused downward on another interface pedestal, this one a delicate flowing spindle decorated with tasteful golden filigree.  The console’s display was aglow with streaming Orokin text, much of it flashing red, and above it hovered the unmistakable blue avatar of the Tower’s Cephalon.

“Tenno!” Cephalon Scitarius exclaimed with obvious relief.  Disconcertingly, his voice seemed to emanate from the very walls of the chamber.  “Thank goodness you arrived safely.”

((Just a brief post to wrap things up with Drake and Viper.  Timeskip will go up after this interaction is complete.))

[Drakeardian]

Lancelot blinked as they were suddenly transported to a strange white empty place, he asked Arthur "Where are-" but the Cephalon interrupted, making him jump and looked to the Cephalon's avatar. 

"Cephalon Sictarius, how are you feeling?" asked Lancelot "And what are we doing here?"

[Lady_Viper]

A flash of white light came over them. For a moment Arthur thought that they had been hit by a radial blind and in reflex he had drawn his Hate to lash out at whatever he could hear trying to sneak up on them. His HUD tried but failed to filter the light to levels where he could see anything, but all of a sudden he could see his own hands again. He could see Lancelot, his Hate and his own movements yet there was still a bright white light. What was off about it was the emptiness he sensed. The alarm-clocks in his head rang furiously from all of it.

They were both standing up and still there was this feeling of nothingness beneath them, even all around them, as if they were in an empty void. All of a sudden it was as if they had landed on ground again as a floor appeared beneath their feet and seemed to expand into the distance. Still clutching his scythe, Arthur’s mind was racing as a room with vaulted ceilings and machinery grew forward around them. “Did we just get telepo-“ Like Lancelot, Arthur jumped by the sudden sound of the Cephalon’s voice speaking to them.

When the other Excalibur had asked his questions, Arthur had some of his own. “First off, Where are we exactly and how did you get us here and why? And what happened to you?

[Temperance000]

A very small sound came from the Cephalon’s avatar; a minute digital buzz-burp.  Had Scitarius’ vocal cords been organic, it might have been a tiny, embarrassed cough. 

“I am…functional, thank you, Tenno Lancelot.  You will forgive me if I answer some of Tenno Arthur’s questions first to set you both at ease.  This room – and more specifically, this console – is the central server interface for this entire Library.  It is as close as any organic can come to my essential physical self, and the only place on the Tower where I can currently manifest myself fully.  You were brought here by an emergency maintenance transmat subsystem designed to be activated by someone with the proper access codes in case of catastrophic failure of a Tower’s artificial administration – which is to say, the Neural Sentry and myself.”

Again, the tiny buzz-burp cough, and Scitarius’ avatar bobbed sheepishly.

“As you can see, I have not suffered complete system failure,” the Cephalon continued.  “The Neural Sentry, however, is dead.  It seized control of the Tower when the Infested broke loose and sequestered me from most of the systems.  I was freed from confinement by an intelligence that I have not yet managed to identify, though I believe it originated from the Manifold.  This was what allowed me to send the Tower’s Moa security forces to your aid.  When the Sentry recovered from the indisposition in which that same intelligence placed it, it attempted to seize control again.  We…disagreed on that point.”

Scitarius’ avatar glowed brightly with concerted effort, and lights in the rest of the room came up from dim twilight to natural luminescence.  Looking carefully, Lancelot and Arthur would be able to see the scorch marks of several small electrical fires marring the casements of machines around the chamber.

“We fought for control,” Scitarius explained, “and I prevailed, thanks to a trick I learned from your determinedly anonymous friend.  The Neural Sentry will never again be functional, but our struggle placed severe strain on the Tower’s systems.  Most of my primary access pathways were destroyed or corrupted, in large part isolating me to the central servers and also disabling many of the Tower’s security protocols.  It was only by good fortune that I maintained sufficient access to guide you, Tenno Arthur, to the unlocked maintenance transmat which brought you here.”

The Cephalon paused to let that sink in.

“Which brings me, finally, to your last question, Tenno Arthur.  I require your crew’s assistance in reestablishing control of this Tower.  I have already reformatted all corrupted code within my reach on the Tower’s network, but I cannot attend to the hardware problems without a drone workforce.  If your or your engineers could reboot the drone production facilities from here…”

The central console sprang to life, projecting a golden hologram of the Tower on which a bright blue waypoint pulsed.

“…the maintenance drones will automatically begin working to restore their connection to the system administrator, in this case, me,” Scitarius finished.  “Once I have control again, I will be able to fully resume my functions as Curator, and will be able to assist your crew with any resources at my disposal.”

[Drakeardian]

Lancelot raises an eyebrow under his helmet at the Cephalons request, quickly switching to an encrypted private channel to Arthur, feeling unsure of the Cephalon's intentions.

"Part of me suspects the intentions of Scitarius if I am honest, what do you think?" asked Lancelot to Arthur with a raised eyebrow at Scitarius.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Drakeardian

[WingedCrusade]

On 8/5/2016 at 11:59 PM, Achaix said:

"'Come to my room'?" Kate giggled, or seemed to. The sound and gestures were similar, but something was fundamentally off with them. "Easy there tiger, you didn't even buy me a drink."

Unsteadily, she pushed Lusith's hands away from her shoulders and stood. She was starting to regret leading the Valkyr on, but hey. You had to live with your actions regardless of what your intentions were.

"I'm... I'm gonna walk to my own room, then be there by myself for a while. If you want to walk with me, sure, just... don't follow into my quarters."

-+-

Buy her a drink first? Whatever could she mean by that, and why was Kate giggling? If Lusith didn't know any better, there was something obvious in what Kate was saying but... Lusith was just too naive to understand it. Instead, she just blankly blinked at the Mirage as she pushed Lusith off.

"Are you sure you are okay? ... You are a very bad liar, Kate..."

Lusith crossed her arms and decided to continue following the Mirage for now to see to it she at least doesn't have a break down before they get to her room. For the moment, Lusith thought it best to change the topic.

"... Where is your friend, anyhow? Abra?"

[Lady_Viper]

Jinx proceeded to stare up at the ceiling again. She could hardly believe the idiocy of this Trinity, though her actions when first arriving on the ship should have been warning enough. “Of course you’re only half as useful when you’re only doing half the job required” It was beyond arrogant, it was stupid, plain and simple.

----------II-----------

Arthur wasn’t quite sure how much to believe the Cephalon, but he also felt like most of his worries could be ether confirmed or dismissed by the tri-cephalon onboard the Manifold. How odd that something or someone just happened to lend aid in the digital sphere or the AIs.

Hearing Lancelot over the com he made sure that their connection was a private one before replying “I think our own Cephalons can help us with those suspicions.”

 The black and red Excalibur then cut the com to Lancelot and spoke through the Helmet again for Scitarius to hear “We’ll convey your request and I think we got some people whom might be able to help."

[Temperance000]

Scitarius bobbed happily at Arthur’s response.

“My deepest thanks, Tenno,” he chirped.  “You need not make a decision immediately.  I am simply grateful that you would present my request to your superiors on the Manifold.  Despite the damage, the Tower’s system should remain in a state of equilibrium for some time yet, so the maintenance transmat to this room will remain active and unlocked.  Out of politeness, however, I do ask that you reconnect me before accessing archived material.  It is difficult to perform one’s functions as Curator otherwise.”

+++

In the end, the decision reached by the impromptu council in the surgical room was a simple one:  wait.  With so many injured after the battle with the Colossus, and given the crew’s marked propensity for running into trouble, it was agreed that proceeding to Pollux would be unwise until both ship and crew were fully functional again. 

Although the delay was doubtless grating to some of the more impatient crew, the general atmosphere aboard the Manifold was one of relief as the artificial day cycles crept by.  Atlanta grudgingly spared a detachment of engineers to reactivate the Tower’s drone factories, and, true to Scitarius’ word, the little machines promptly set about repairing the installations’ systems and placing the friendly Cephalon in full control.  Meanwhile, crew were released from Medical in a steady trickle, and ship functions began to pick up again as Tenno returned to their posts.  Of particular note were the six engineers who had survived the cryotic explosion during the Manifold’s first ill-fated independent Void jump; having been tended diligently by both Cordia and the automated systems, they returned to Engineering to warm welcomes from their fellows, and a Flux Nova who, for the briefest of moments, seemed slightly less grouchy than they remembered.

After returning Atlanta’s Opticor, Alaric, took it upon himself to right one of the enduring wrongs of the voyage.  The day after his tense encounter with Atlanta, he tracked down Kate, and offered her a position in the Foundry.  The position, he assured her, would be available for as long as she wanted it.

Meanwhile Tacis, in the position of acting Captain while Temperance remained in Cordia’s care, reluctantly gave official authorization for Tenno to begin exploring the Tower again, though never in groups of less than a cell, and always fully armed.  It was Arthur’s cell, one of the first to be dispatched, which found the Vault where Dalimir and Setebos first discovered the Colossus.  From the terminals there, accessed with the help of the newly-restored Cephalon Scitarius, they learned that this Tower had been something of a backup facility for more clandestine research labs across the Empire, responsible for storing and keeping record of ancient and contemporary strains of the Technocyte Virus.  The Colossus strain that had caused such trouble for the Tenno of the Manifold had been the first phase of Orokin tampering with a hitherto-untouched archaic strain, held here for archival purposes when the Sentient attack on Lasria had thrown the Tower out of orbit into the depths of space.  There was a great deal of information on Technocyte biology, but alas, nothing easily decipherable by Tenno with minimal experience in high-level genetic engineering.  The best they could glean was that the Orokin had not created Technocyte artificially; merely modified it from a preexisting source, though what precisely that source was, it was impossible to say.

The rest of the Tower was a slightly different story.  With Scitarius in control, the Tenno had access to all of the Library’s records of the Old Empire: art, biographies, histories, scientific and technical journals, even works of fiction.  It was a treasure trove of knowledge and culture that left Khaldun and the research staff in what was best described as a state of euphoric delirium.  They practically had to be herded about, or they might well have taken root among the shelves and terminals.  Unfortunately - and frustratingly - information on the last days of the Old War and the Collapse of the Empire remained as elusive as ever, due perhaps to the Tower being cut off from Imperial networks after the attack on Lasria.

Towards the end of the week, Sahjey was released from Medical with a new prosthetic arm while a replacement limb was being grown in a vat of nutrient fluid.  A day later, Temperance returned to duty, along with Dalimir, finally out of his medically induced coma.

By this time, the Manifold had been worked over in its entirety by Atlanta’s teams, and the exhaustive examinations had finally satisfied the Chief Engineer enough to certify – cautiously – that the ship was space-worthy again.  Temperance left departure preparations in the capable hands of Tacis, with instructions that the crew was to be allowed a little more time to settle personal affairs, and withdrew to his quarters to attend to some business of his own.

+++Dalimir.+++ read the message he sent.  +++We need to speak.  When you are able, please meet me in Hydroponics 2.+++

Edited October 14, 2016 by Temperance000
Clarified what was NOT in the Library records. No easy answers for Khaldun ]:)

[Astralin]

On 8/8/2016 at 9:45 PM, ArrexDrandko said:

Maina:

To Maina, this bond was nothing less special than her very essence of life, but not a unique experience at all. Many, especially those in dire need, had accepted her before, just as Abra just had, and given her the peace of mind that she was still needed in this world; still able to bring about change with her kindness, her warmth, and her belief. Relishing this feeling, gliding on it like on a cloud, she airily stepped over to her CPID and mounted it to the wrist joint on her warframe, tapping away to compose the message she told Abra she would send. But instead of writing cold, heartless text, she sent a voice message, of which Abra could hear the first part, and the other Oberon who just entered Hydroponics the second half.
"Hello Sah'jey. I've heard of that unfortunate accident that befell you. ... Please know that, should you ever need someone to talk to, or to talk to you, I will be there for you. From: Maina" Her voice was so trustful, as if she had known the wounded Mesa for a long time, maybe had even been a sister of hers. Then she hit the send-button, while leaving Hydroponics.

Sah'jey had been recently let loose from the Medical bay, she had been talked too over the past few days about what her 'new' arm would be capable of during her wait for the new biological arm. The prosthetic offered an exceptional reaction time similar to her former limb though it still felt alien at first. With the help of those who had gone through such a loss she learned quickly how to compensate with it. Physical therapy focused on simple motor functions was the starting point, opening and closing her hand, moving individual fingers, and finally learning how to pick up small objects. The strangest thing to her was the sheer increase in grip strength that the new limb had, as she had accidentally crushed and popped several of the rubberized props used in her rehabilitation.

Several days after her initial therapy she had gotten used to the limb for mundane tasks, and had finally been let loose from the bay, on a light work load she of course took every measure to ignore that, after all she was a Tenno and not one to back down from pushing herself to boot. She needed proof that she could still fight, so she was off to the firing range and the training room. The tri-cephalon refused to let her pass, before she explained that she could not do her job without knowing if she was capable, she would be unable to perform her duties aboard or ashore until she was certain that she could capably use a weapon. Mere seconds passed before the AI's came to a conclusion to allow her access under close supervision, as a spectre formed out of the hardlight emitters of the range. True to her word she started simple, taking a Lato from the weapons locker she practiced loading and unloading the weapon, field stripping it, and reassembly. It took dozens of tries before she could do it without any hiccups, now she was ready to shoot.

Taking up a position on the range she lifted the gun with her metallic arm, fingers curled gently around the grip, her index not yet inside the trigger guard, she breathed out slowly as the target appeared 20 meters out. And so began her small arms training.

(Wanna leave it mildly open for someone to approach her on the range)

[Drakeardian]

After meeting and helping the Cephalon out, Lancelot retired himself to the Armoury, practising his melee techniques and brushing up on the few weapons he figured he needed practise on, Staffs, Scythes and Pole-arms were at the top of the list.

At the moment he was brushing up on his Nikana skills, he looked over to Sah'jey as she was practising her firing skills and approached the Mesa. "Hey, how's the arm?"

[Astralin]

5 hours ago, Drakeardian said:

After meeting and helping the Cephalon out, Lancelot retired himself to the Armoury, practising his melee techniques and brushing up on the few weapons he figured he needed practise on, Staffs, Scythes and Pole-arms were at the top of the list.

At the moment he was brushing up on his Nikana skills, he looked over to Sah'jey as she was practising her firing skills and approached the Mesa. "Hey, how's the arm?"

Sah looked to Lancelot after a few misplaced shots, "It is strange.. hard to feel the recoil i guess." She shot again this time hitting but her follow-up shot was lower, "Overcompensating, it's hard not to after doing it for so long."

[Owlrrex]

Souna

The fact that she had avoided injury in the big battle was no reason for Souna to be smug about it. With the crew's combat power weakened like that, she rather took it as a motivation to keep herself in even better shape: A few hours a day she put into analysing the extensive logs the ship's AI had transferred to her, and the rest of the time she was either eating, sleeping, or training: A marathon a day throughout the ship's hallways, athletic practices as well as melee- and firearm-practice, she basically became a permanent guest in the ship's training area. Whenever she could muster a group of 3 volunteers, she would venture out into the tower's near halls and perform acrobatic aerial maneuvers under the sky-high ceiling: Latchint to the pillars, jumping off the walls in the most majestic game of 'the floor is lava' one would easily get to see. 
Sometimes she offered some soft sparring there to those who accompanied her - without any regulating measures like in the dojos or the ship, even she was careful - to hone her skills at assault from above. Those were the moments when she felt truly alive and truly at home, and many Tenno had problems with dealing with an opponent that just didn't stay earthbound for more than a second or two.
Whenever Souna fell into bed these days, she was exhausted and felt her muscle's slightly sore, just so that she would've regained over night. It was her duty to provide the Manifold with the absolute best she could offer, and the few calm days in the tower really helped her find a new peak in her abilities, which  - as her AI had constantly reminded her in her orbiter - were still far lower than what she was able to do before her cryostasis. 

But all this didn't mean Souna was antisocial. When she took well-measured breaks in her workout, she casually conversed with other Tenno, often talking about matters of tactics and combat. And, by staying on good terms with two of Atlanta's engineers, she managed to finish her analysis report of the ship's software systems on the same day when the Chief Engineer ticked off the last box of her checklist for the Manifold's departure.
On that day, she kept a special lookout for Tacis onboard the ship. She was eager to hand in the data stick with her report - and a copy of the data Iudicium had handed her, of course - to him, even if it meant catching him during a meal or just passing him along a hallway. She even rushed through her practices in the training area a bit, leaving just as Lancelot arrived, whom she granted a stern nod with her helmet. Before, she had left an appreciative remark with Sahjey about her efforts to stay in active duty, not meant as a conversation starter since she had more important things to attend to.
Since she had not met Tacis so far, she would search for him on the bridge next. Somehow, she disliked the idea of just arranging a meeting with him via the CPID... he might demand she dropped her work off at someone else, and she knew that to leave an impression, personal contact was paramount. But there were always members of the Manifold's 'native' staff at the bridge, so going there was the best shot she got. 

 

Maina

Even in these unfamiliar surroundings, the past week had been quite a normal one for Maina. Engulfed in her own beliefs that showed her a world so different from what's actually around her, the physical location did not matter much to her. She did as she always had, acting on the same principles, oblivious to the strict directives that govern most of everyone's daily life.
On the evening of the day when she met Abra, she had first appeared in the medical ward with her tablet in hand and wearing her warframe without its helmet again. Explaining her doing to the healers only if prompted, she offered her services to the patients who were awake, these service being a nice chat, listening to what they need to tell someone to find their peace of mind, or just keeping them company, maybe reading a story to them. Make their time in the beds feel less like imprisonment. Doing Good in this way, caring for the injured's mental health, she didn't even consider asking for permission with the healers, and if asked, answered as if this was the most natural thing to do that every person in this world should have access to a friend's company.
Regardless of if she was allowed to have her way in the medbay or not, she would return with the same concern once or twice a day, every day, staying for an hour or two if possible. The rest of her time, she wandered around the ship, visited hydroponics to talk to the plants, or idled in the mess hall, waving and smiling at people passing by and just being a generally positive and approachable presence aboard. Everyone's big sister, basically.
Only once in this time the little Banshee visited the shooting range, practicing with her Sybaris and a single Magnus, perfoming decently. 
Up to an hour per day, mostly in the evenings, Maina stayed in her room, locked in and alone. During this time, she practiced dancing and a song in a language she does not understand, listening to a bad quality, probably old recording of a male voice singing it, and imitating it while working out her choreography.
Also, there is a ritual that Maina performed every single evening for as long as she could remember, in solitude except for the Tricephalon's surveillance systems: Dancing on the spot, turning and weighing, singing the same melancholic song every time in a state similar to a trance. Sometimes she emitted weak waves of her warframe's energy in the process that permeated her quarter's walls and rippled throughout space harmlessly, too weak to be nosticed by most or affect anything. 

At the current time, Maina was on her way to the Engineering area. She had one great idea of how to pass the time, and for that, she would need some help of the Engineers... just one tiny little favor. Of course she had heard of Atlanta's infamous temper, but the light-headed Banshee was convinced that a harmless and easy request like hers couldn't possibly lead to any harm. And so she strolled and peeked into the inside of the Engineering bay when the heavy doors slid open with a hiss, curious what this part of the ship might be like.

[Dalimir]

On 10/13/2016 at 8:29 PM, Temperance000 said:

+++Dalimir.+++ read the message he sent.  +++We need to speak.  When you are able, please meet me in Hydroponics 2.+++

After finally waking from his long slumber, Dalimir was very... unhappy. Both with himself and at the current situation aboard the Manifold. In his state, he had foolishly exposed his intentions to the target, compromising his investigation already. Upon his release from medical, he went to great pains to avoid the Command crew, Tacis and Temperance especially. He had been drunk on pain and anger. he would not make that mistake a second time. 

His pistols had already been retrieved for him, and despite Tacis' enforced "Cell size or above" tower groupings, he snuck off the Manifold alone,making his way back to the vault where the Colossus had been contained. Once there, Dalimir moved to finish downloading a copy of the data onto the data crystal he had received from Cephalon Scitarius. It did not matter that the contents of the terminal were practically undecipherable to him. All knowledge is precious, and as per his duty to his clan, he must preserve as many copies of this treasure trove of knowledge as he could, to expand their library. After he had finished that task, he began moving towards the vast library, when a thought struck him as he remembered  the alert issued by Tacis before he had gotten back to the main group. The only way they could have known the Infested were in the tower before Dalimir or Setebos could warn them was if they knew to look for the Infested in their scans already. Seeing as the alert was issued almost immediately before Setebos even contacted Tacis, the only way they could have known, was if someone had felt their presence. He growled. Yet another fact to prove his theory that Temperance was secretly infested with the Technocyte, and recent events proving others did know and were protecting him.

The fools, Temperance is now a ticking bomb, waiting to go off at the right moment and attempt to consume both the ship and its entirely unaware crew. He had to gather proof quickly, take Temperance away from his command position and trap him in heavy quarantine, while attempting to place someone who wasn't an idiot in charge of the ship without making it look like a mutiny or grab for power.

Just before he made his way to the Libraries, his CPID pinged with a message. And of course, it was from Temperance of all people. +++Dalimir. We need to speak. When you are able, please meet me in Hydroponics 2.+++ Damn it all... He thought as he shook his head. Best get this over with quickly. He marched his way over to the requested location, ensuring his twin Magnus pistols were working properly and had full clips. He holstered them just before he entered the room, he looked around, and upon spotting Temperance, he moved toward him, though keeping a healthy distance away from him. Temperance would see that Dalimir was completely tense, and no amount of humour was present in his voice when he spoke. "Temperance. If this is about your shoulder, I'm not apologizing..."

[Wolfheart297]

At the end of the week, Kat was finaly let go of the Medical Wing. She had been warned not to try such a stunt again. Her arms had healed up nicely, but a second attempt at forcefuly removing the Corpus devices could lead to permanent nerve and muscular damage, possibly rendering her arms paralized.

However, Kat could only think on how she had missed the big fight with the Behemoth because of her impatience. Her strength could have helped avoid a lot of injuries. And speaking of which, she had been a whole week strapped onto a bed (because she had tried several times to go practice, but the Trinity in charge kept pulling her back, and eventualy had to bind her to the bed to prevent her from leaving). She needed to make sure that she was still in shape, not to mention to check if her arms were in fact back at 100%.

Kat made her way to the Armory, where she found the VR training rooms. She got into one after adjusting the settings she wanted. "Commence simulation!" she yelled. The room projected a bunch of flying green plates, hardly bigger than her head. She then crouched, evaluating their position, then leaped foward. One after the other, she would punch and kick the plates, dodging their laser shots. She would summersault backwards only to dash so fast that she was almost a blur. She would even use her momentum to run along the walls before jumping and delivering a few heavy punches and kicks upon the plates. Kat then pulled a few Hikou Prime stars from the pouches on her thighs, holding three on each hand, between the fingers. She then turned around and threw them, the stars flying in an angle that would hit the plates from the sides, rather than directly foward. In the end, one plate switched forms and became a Grineer Bombard, heavily armored and carrying an Ogris. She growled and hissed, crouching down. The Grineer shot it's weapon, the overcharged rocket heading right at the Valkyr. Kat dashed foward and triggered her Warframe. When the rocket was about to hit her, a deafening scream echoed inside the VR room as her Warframe glowed with a bright orange color. The rocket hit her right on the face, but she tanked it as she emerged from the smoke cloud, eyes glowing as her bright orange energy claws appeared. She threw herself at the Bombard, swipping furiously, shredding layer after layer of plating. She then empaled "him" with one hand, rose "him" above her, and then empaled the projection with her other hand. She growled and screamed as she forcefuly spread her arms, tearing the Bombard in half.

At that moment, the Simulation ended. She deactivated her Hysteria and breathed deeply. She was panting, her Frame energy levels were low, and she had a small headache from tanking the rocket while her Warframe Ability wasn't fully activated. However, she was more than pleased. Her arms had behaved perfectly, with nary a single failure of twitch. As she left the VR Room, she allowed herself some respite and pressed a button on the side of her helmet. The Bastet helmet hissed and slowly split in half, revealing Kat's face. She was... gorgeous. Her skin was soft and almost pearly white, and her hair was of a dirty blonde that contrasted her skin perfectly. However, the signs of old abuse flawed such beauty. She had a small scar of a cut on her bottom lip, another one close to her right ear, and her eyes, once a clear blue, were foggy, only lit by the small circle, of the same color as her Frame's energy, at the center of her iris. Her hair was wavey and flowed freely, but it was shaven on the sides, giving her a silky and long mohawk, which would fall softly over the right side. She stretched, making her shoulder joints crack a bit.

[Drakeardian]

On 15/10/2016 at 0:17 PM, Astralin said:

Sah looked to Lancelot after a few misplaced shots, "It is strange.. hard to feel the recoil i guess." She shot again this time hitting but her follow-up shot was lower, "Overcompensating, it's hard not to after doing it for so long."

Lancelot nodded slowly as he watched the Mesa shooting at the targets, he coughs and says "Ah, You seem to be adapting to it quite well." he then looked to the targets that seemed to be a bit misplaced in her shots.

He then watched as Sah'jey kept shooting, observing her performance with a stroke of his chin.

[Astralin]

Lancelot nodded slowly as he watched the Mesa shooting at the targets, he coughs and says "Ah, You seem to be adapting to it quite well." he then looked to the targets that seemed to be a bit misplaced in her shots.

He then watched as Sah'jey kept shooting, observing her performance with a stroke of his chin.

Sah's prosthetic hand continued to pull up far too much with successive shots. Single shots she was fine and could hit on target quite well. "Gah.. damnit. How do you, ignore something you've had to deal with forever." She let out a heated breath of frustration. She reloaded the gun and started again emptying the entire clip in a single go, the spectre next to her sounded, "Crewman Sah'jey refrain from excessive anger or we will be forced to remove you for your own health."

She seemed to bite her own tongue before she spoke at the machine, "I'll do better." She put the lato down on the table for the firing range and took a moment to just breath and try and relax the entire time staring at her hand, "What are you doing Lancelot? Practicing or just watching?"

[Drakeardian]

"Mainly just practising with the Nikanas." he said as he motioned to his hand holding the nikana still in it's sheath. "Thought I'd take a chance to relieve some stress and ah, see how you're holding up also." he then looked down the range at Sah'jey's shots, sporadic and unrefined.

He took a moment to return to the Armoury's Melee area before he turned around to look at Sah'jey "Say why not have a chat with Tenno Abra?" the Excalibur asked the Mesa "He's got a prosthetic and he's probably had it longer, maybe he could offer some advice." he then began to practise his Nikana fighting style of Blind Justice, performing the Zato's creed a few times.

Edited October 23, 2016 by Drakeardian

[fishworshipper]

The Grandmaster had been kept rather busy over the week of recovery, with the roles of acting Captain being added to his list of duties as the chief of security, and as such on a standard day he could be found in a number of locations - Sparring with Jinx or Arthur in the training rooms, leading expeditions in areas deemed particularly unsafe, or perhaps marching through one of the Manifold's many hallways to give some poor sod one hell of an admonishing. Now, however, is a time when he would be found at the Bridge, preparing for the Manifold's departure and allowing the crew time to settle what must be settled and to gather what was left aboard the Tower. 

 Behind his ever-present helmet, however, Tacis was performing another task: He was composing a private message for Jinx. The notable avoidance of the CPID for this message had several reasons, most notably that a helmet-bound message was unreadable and undetectable to any outside parties. 

 

Tenno Jinx,

I have asked of your brother a special task - to serve as surveillance for me on individuals deemed potentially hazardous to crew cohesion. I now ask of you a task of similar importance, yet different nature. I do not trust the Captain. Given the "companion" that I am sure you know he has, I do not trust in his inability to manipulate other members of the crew. I have need of an individual who knows what the Captain is, what the Captain used to be, and what creatures similar to the Captain are capable of. This individual must be discreet, must be impartial, and must be impossible for the Captain to have somehow suborned. Put simply, I require a confidant - someone to share knowledge with, develop contingencies with, and if necessary someone capable of taking my place should the position become open for any reason. You fit these qualifications. I request that, when you are available, we meet and discuss the specifics of this arrangement and whether you are amenable to it. 

Chief of Security, Grandmaster Tacis

Edited October 27, 2016 by fishworshipper

[Astralin]

"Mainly just practising with the Nikanas." he said as he motioned to his hand holding the nikana still in it's sheath. "Thought I'd take a chance to relieve some stress and ah, see how you're holding up also." he then looked down the range at Sah'jey's shots, sporadic and unrefined.

He took a moment to return to the Armoury's Melee area before he turned around to look at Sah'jey "Say why not have a chat with Tenno Abra?" the Excalibur asked the Mesa "He's got a prosthetic and he's probably had it longer, maybe he could offer some advice." he then began to practise his Nikana fighting style of Blind Justice, performing the Zato's creed a few times.

Sah'jey listened to Lancelot talk about his initial reasons for coming down to the armory, "I woul-" she looked back at the spectre once again biting her tongue. "I would have loved to have joined you, but i'm afraid melee combat practice is still off the list for another day or two.. The Sensible cephalons and the chief of medical operations.. believe I have yet to recover physically from the trauma and can't do many laborious tasks." She seemed to clear her throat more towards the Spectre out of annoyance, "Despite how it might help in the recovery process. Do you have any idea where i might find.. right the CPID. Nevermind, I hope your training goes well Lancelot."

Picking up the Lato Sah'jey stripped it of ammo and gave the weapon a look over once more before returning it to the firing range locker, with spectre in tow she pulled up her CPID interface and searched for Abra's location, if he was on ship she headed his direction to have a chat. 'perhaps lancelot was right i just need to talk it over.' However baring he was not aboard the ship she would instead send a message asking for him at his earliest convenience. 

[NanoVega]

On 10/9/2016 at 8:31 PM, Lady_Viper said:

Jinx proceeded to stare up at the ceiling again. She could hardly believe the idiocy of this Trinity, though her actions when first arriving on the ship should have been warning enough. “Of course you’re only half as useful when you’re only doing half the job required” It was beyond arrogant, it was stupid, plain and simple.

 

- Snip -

 

Annabelle had refrained from responding, assuming that all she was doing was agitating Jinx. Over the course of the next week, she seemed to avoid people entirely, contacting Scittarus when possible from inside the ship to request digital copies of books to download, and spending a worrying amount of time alone in her room, coming out for meals, and attending to her medical duties with a smile, but afterward not speaking to anyone unless spoken to. She made an exception, however, when a Valkyr that Cordia had needed to strap down was released, Annabelle just finished cleaning up the area and had a bit of free time, and decided to follow along. She watched the simulation practice with an impressed expression, she could usually track Tenno easily enough, but this one actually seemed to move more quickly. She bit her lip when the bombard landed a rocket on Kat, but kept silent and didn't interfere. She looked to Kat as she stepped from the VR room. 

"Quite commendable, Tenno Kat... Moving like that, and fresh out of the medical ward too." She said, turning to follow along with the Valkyr.

[Achaix]

Abraham sighed contentedly, leaning back to admire his handiwork. Every surface had been cleaned and polished to a mirror sheen, all ingredients sorted alphabetically into neat containers aligned on the wall, the tools were hanging from their magnetic strip.

The Food Foundry lay in a corner, gathering dust.

Consciously ignoring that gastronomic abomination, Abra left the kitchen. Tacis was a tidy man: he was sure the Grandmaster would keep the new level of cleanliness. Yes indeed, the kitchen was looking nice and hygienic, and there was absolutely no risk in leaving the door unlocked.

Yet, as he left, a chill ran down the Oberon's spine. Something menacing was coming...

-+-

In the Foundry, a Mirage lay beneath an auxiliary fabricator, surrounded by components and spare control modules as she fiddled with the machine's defective magnetic suspension system - vital for assembly. Her right hand poked out of the casing, grabbing for something futilely amongst the mess.

"Boss?" She called, unable to see under the fabricator. "I don't suppose you could pass me a fresh DT-46 circuit board?"