VIDEO; DECEMBER 17

[neveroutwrenched]

[Only a few hours out of a two week cryo sleep, Ratchet feels like he's waking up to an entirely different ship. The corridors are empty and dark, and the usual steady hum of smoothly working ship is distant at best. Manesseh's message was a startling first communication, adding only more questions (and concerns) to the pile. He was groggy, he was hungry, he was freezing his ass off...and looks exactly that happy in the MID comm, although he tries to force a somewhat positive note into his voice, despite the hunched shoulders and shivering.]

So I noticed....uh, I noticed it's a little chilly on the ship. [An awkward pause.] And also that one of our captains is dead...

[A longer pause there as he hesitates, trying not to sound irreverent.  He hadn't known the Captain in question, but it didn't make her death any less serious.  When he does continues his voice sounds strained.]

Does anyone want to help fill me in here? Power's still on the fritz, there's maybe someone killing people, with a particular taste for the captains, and there are a....lot of...cats? Am I missing anything? Does anyone want to tell me what the heck is going on?

Comments

[hatesimprovising]

I swear I couldn't make that up if I wanted to.

[ A cat-producing tree is not something he'd ever have imagined in his wildest dreams. And he has a lot of cat-filled dreams, so that's saying something. ]

Not exactly, no. ...Actually, that's too optimistic. As far as I know, we have no idea what it is, but it has trouble attacking people in a group; seems to get confused or something.

[neveroutwrenched]

Fantastic.

[Ratchet rubs the bridge of his nose with an exasperated sigh. You take one two-week cryo-nap...]

What about the power? Looks like life support is still barely functioning...that can't be helping matters. Has it been out this whole time? is anyone doing anything about it?

[hatesimprovising]

The power's been like this the whole time, yeah. And, uh, the cold...started maybe two weeks ago. Mostly we've all just been holing up in the library for warmth.

[ His voice is sheepish there--he wanted to go out with a few other people familiar with spaceships to try to figure out the problem, but he never had the courage to actually stand up and ask anyone to go with him. ]

I think there are a couple people investigating the problem, maybe, but so far it doesn't seem like they've come up with anything...

[neveroutwrenched]

[Well he can't say he's surprised. Ratchet isn't sure he's met anyone on this ship yet that he would trust to have the know-how to solve this kind of problem in the first place. Maybe Tali. But even a brilliant engineer could be stumped if the technology was too different from what they were used to. Or if the halls were being patrolled by something that was trying to kill you.

He hesitates a moment.]

Do you know this kind of thing? Engineering? Electric? Space ships specifically. [He makes a vague 'so on' hand gesture. This was not a niche-know-how kind of scenario.]

[hatesimprovising]

Me?

[ Wash nearly points at himself to make sure the thing--guy--whatever, is actually asking him that. Clearing his throat, he releases a soft, wishful little chuckle. ]

No. I'm used to being on spaceships, but I don't know anything about their engineering. I'm kind of the guy they send out to fight, not fix things.