seventeenth jump;

[mathematically]

CHARACTERS: any and all
LOCATION: Gravity Couches and beyond
WARNINGS: maybe some swearing, or even some violence, and more than likely some implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness.
SUMMARY: Another month, another jump, another round of new faces.
NOTES: Keeping up with the tradition and copy pasted like always from the last one 



You wake up in darkness.

There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're deposited on the floor of a stark, sterile medical bay.

You are not alone.
There are others who have come before you, others who are awakening beside you. Some may be familiar to you, perhaps even friends. Others have much less amiable plans. Some are merely alien and inexplicable, but there are always those who might mean you harm.

After you catch your breath and your vision returns, you notice a number on the inside of your forearm. Maybe it's a familiar number. Maybe it means something. Maybe it's just a number. But the number—completely unique to you—is a tattoo, and it does not come off.

If you enter the room adjacent to the medbay, you will find a small locker with your number on it, surrounded by rows upon rows of identical lockers. Inside, you will find a few of your personal items, a communications device, and a ship's uniform in your exact size. The comms device is fully powered and connects directly to the ship's network; it's your only means of communication beyond physical conversation. Upon turning the device on, a neutral, automated voice will say, "Please take the blue lift to the passenger quarters." Any other attempts at communicating with the rest of the network are met only with static.

This is your welcome party.

Comments

[transwarped]

Ah, Captain. There we are, I was beginning....

[Unlike Kirk, Scotty had been fully expecting to see the young captain up and about somewhere on board. It was a mysterious situation apparently crawling with danger and doom, after all. Practically had Kirk's name stamped on it so far as Scotty's experience went. His shock doesn't show, in fact, until he's actually turned and had a moment to take in the man's appearance. That was...

Huh. Unexpected. Which was why what, exactly, Scotty had been beginning to do would be forever unknown as that statement is left trailed off in favor of a question.]

You seem a bit...a bit spry. Just how long've I've been in that gunk, then?

[goldshirt]

[the question might half be a joke but Jim takes a beat too long as his brain tries to catch up with what he's seeing, takes a moment to restart and move from surprise to action. ]

You've- [he blinks, squints as he finally catches up with himself] Wait, do you remember being here before? [because a lot of in his change had happened in the time Scotty had come and gone- the wraith and the masks- with how nearly nonchalant the engineer is, Kirk can't quite tell at a glance what he might know. Not like with Uhura.]

[transwarped]

Before, is it? No. Unless time's gone and become a wee bit less linear than the last time I checked up on the rascal.

[Despite the light words, the hint of concerned disbelief- the same one that had never strayed too far from his tone during his first meeting with Kirk- had crept into his voice and didn't seem terribly inclined to leave.]

So, let's go and start the story under the assumption I haven't the faintest clue what's going on, shall we?

[goldshirt]

[that's two returns with no memory, and while it's disappointing, Jim doesn't linger on that. instead, he waves Scotty closer, his hand lingering in the air until the engineer is close enough that Kirk can lay a hand behind his shoulder. the gesture would seem innocent enough, turning the man to walk with him, but for a moment when his fingers flex, squeezing briefly into fabric and the curve of skin and bone with a little too much force. not enough to hurt, but there's something demanding in it, reinforcing himself that Scott is real and here.

when he lets go he takes a breath, falling into step with him and pulling up an information post on the datapadd he's carrying.]

This is the Tranquility, a colonization vessel in a remote part of space in an alternate reality. I've been here with Mister Spock for seventeen jumps, has anyone told you anything about that yet?

[transwarped]

[Scotty glances down at the hand on his shoulder for half an instant, lips parting...then leaves it be. Whatever the problem, whatever had happened to the Captain in the (apparent) time since they'd last met, was the other man's to deal with. To discuss, or not, as he would. So long as there was a direction to follow Kirk towards, Scotty was still more or less content in his trend of following.]

Jumps from no specific location to no known destination, aye? With more passengers each time, no rhyme or reason to it.

[goldshirt]

[Kirk's brow arches and he tips his head, a sort of wry nod.]

That's the gist of it. The tech employs the creation of black holes to leap from one section of space to another. The theory is that something went wrong and that's why we're all here. [and his mouth pulls at the corner, sending a sidelong glance to Scotty, because while the entire crew had dealt with the fall out of the Ambassador and Nero coming back in time, Scotty was one of the few who'd had first hand experience with that older Spock.] The previous crew is gone, save acting captain Ward and chief engineer Resnik. She's the only one with access to the jump drive, none of us have seen it. [because he knows that's likely to be one of the first things Scotty keys in on, and judging from Jim's tone of voice he isn't pleased with it. Kirk had seen first hand what Scotty could do, and he's sure that if he could get the Scot into that room they'd be out of here in no time.

of course, that was assuming they could get control of the thing, which is why the young captain goes on instead of leaving it at that:]

What's more is that nobody but the ship seems to know where we're going.

[transwarped]

Black holes...oh, that's brilliant. Assuming, a'course, you dinnea kill every soul aboard fairly horrifically...and seems we're on the other side of that. But barred access, is it? Can't blame the lassie for locking up her delicate bits. Clearly I didn't have proper time to filly display my tender touch last time I was about.

[If talking about machinery in a near sexual way was wrong, Scotty had no intentions of ever being right. An unhelpful chief engineer was not the best news he'd heard that day- and, to be fair, there was a rather large amount of news to compete for being worse than that fact- but he had hope. When it came to engines, it was only a matter of time before he figure it out, no matter the resistance.]

[goldshirt]

The only reason we've made it is because of those chambers. Without them?

[he just shakes his head, because he's seen what happens to those bodies.]

I think if anyone can track Resnik down and maybe change her mind it'll be you. [if not only because Scotty wasn't the sort of person to let a challenge lie, just like Kirk himself. if he wanted to get his hands on those engines, he was going to get his hands on those engines. but something about having this discussion with Scott seems to ease some tension out of Kirk's shoulders.

it's the familiar, something that makes sense softening his anxiety] Maybe then we'll find out how this ship is flying itself.