thisavrou | video; 01/04

[It's basically the middle of the night cycle when you might notice - or be woken up by - the sound of the engines starting to fade down to almost nothing. Machinery usually powerful enough to reverberate - albeit very softly - throughout the ship goes still. It's just about completely silent when the MID broadcast goes out.

Tali's isn't a face - or mask, right now - that's seen on the network much, but here she is anyway. There's a slight air to her of having prepared this in her head.]

If you just noticed the engines shutting down, don't be alarmed. They're just in standby so I can do some maintenance. [Her eyes are only just visible as glowing points behind the opaque visor, but her whole head moves to pay attention to something below the MID - and there's the sound of her keying in commands one-handed.] I'd like to tell you it's routine maintenance, but tiny bots eating into the manifolds isn't routine in most places I've been.

It'll be done in a couple of hours. [...Pause.] I don't think I need to tell you that life support's still running... Do I?

[Well, she just did. She's about to sign off when--] Oh! Almost forgot.

I asked the captains a while back if I could start doing some research into the Ingress. How it works, what's wrong with it... Anything we can use, anything that might help us repair it, or...or something. [This is clearly not rehearsed.]

It'll be slower work on my own, so I'd really appreciate some help looking into it - and anybody who works with the Ingress probably knows it better than I do right now, too.

Let me know.

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Urgh. Did you let Manasseh know?

[ Starflight sounded expectedly groggy from having been woken up from a deep sleep. He yawned, showing off a mouthful of sharp white teeth and long black tongue. ]

It's not much but I have some notes on the Ingress. I've been trying to do some research but I'm not very far along. Maybe we could talk about it in the morning.

[Her head tilts a little, and she sounds apologetic.] I asked permission first. I didn't want anybody thinking the engines were actually broken, or that I screwed something up.

[Genuinely nervous about that last point, for a few reasons.]

Actually, I thought if I did it at night, most people would sleep through it... I guess it didn't work like that.

[ Starflight sat up quickly, realizing he mispoke. ]

Oh, no no, no. I didn't mean to imply you were doing something wrong! I was just wondering cause that seems like something someone in Navigation should know about. Since it has to do with the ship's moving. Sorry.

[Oh look, it's Tali's turn to be flustered.] No, sorry, I didn't think you were accusing me of anything! I let the captains know, and I think they let Navigation know. [Question mark? No, they must have.] No one in Navigation's called me in a panic yet, so I think we're fine.

Oh! [Since she's been gone a month and totally because of sleeping.] Do you still want to keep going with the lessons? I was just in stasis for a month, so I'm sorry we didn't get to do anything...

Oh, yes! [ Starflight exclaimed before remembering he had a new roommate who actually slept. He lowered his voice. ]

That would be great. I tried to do a little research on my own but there's just so much, I didn't know where to start.

Yeah... [She sounds apologetic, head tilted a little.] To be honest, I've never taught anybody before - I just grew up with it, so it's harder than I gave it credit for.

So if I start talking in...in technobabble, just stop me. Seriously, stop me. [At least she's aware of her shortcomings, even if she's not good at fixing them.]

[Starflight smiled reassuringly.]

Don't worry, I'll be sure to ask questions if that happens. Our guardians weren't exactly the best teachers all the time, so I have lots of practice.

[The grin in her voice is more audible than anything else.] Good - I'll be in good company.

[And because she hasn't seen him in... Well, a while.] How've you been doing, by the way? It doesn't seem like more than a few days to me, but I haven't seen you in over a month.

[Starflight blinked in surprise. That wasn't a question he was used to being asked.]

Oh, I'm, um, good, I guess. It's been-

[ He started to say 'normal' and stopped himself. He hated that he had started thinking of life on the ship as normal.]

Everything's fine. We have a new roommate now, I guess. Actually we should probably talk tomorrow instead. I don't want to wake him up. If it were just Peridot it wouldn't be a problem.

Who is it? [She tilts her head, unable to hold back a tinge of concern from her voice. Maybe she's jumping to conclusions getting worried, but she's used to being slightly paranoid by now.]

That's fine, though. We should meet up for some more lessons anyway. I have a couple of ideas for things we could do.

Um. Leonard McCoy? He's a doctor. He seems ok, he kind of reminds me of my friend Glory, a little bit.

But that would be great. I'll, uh, I'll message you about it later! I'm going to go back to bed, but good luck with the engines.

And he really doesn't like being woken up? [Does anyone?]

Thanks, though - and I'll talk to you later on. Have a good night.

video; 01/04

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