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Entry tags:

OPEN

CHARACTERS: Shepard & YOU
LOCATION: Various
WARNINGS: N/A, will edit if necessary
SUMMARY: Catch all for pre-recon
NOTES: Feel free to wildcard the starter or contact me for something else if you're not feeling any of the ones I have up! Prose or action aokay.

I. DECK 023 REC ROOM

[The rec room farthest to stern on 23 has slowly been rigged into a hub for these recon missions, couches and low tables pushed around into a semblance of order and and video screen son the wall mainly re-purposed for going over and archiving data. She and a few unlucky volunteers have most categorized everything workable from the last recon, but she's clearly expecting more work in the future and has pinned down the space for the foreseeable future.

Anyone who isn't a volunteer for recon is likely to be on the receiving end of a steady, sidelong look and a pointed 'Looking for something?' There's something honed down and steely about her that mostly does a serviceable job of chasing anyone not totally determined out. For anyone part of the mission or looking to speak to Shepard in person, her kitbashed war room is the safe first bet as she can usually be found there sitting on one of the couches, one leg tucked up under herself, absently worrying her teeth against the inside of her cheek as she carefully sorts through reports and messages from various sources.

They're leaving on round two soon and there's still a lot of crap to get sorted.]

II. GYM

[Not holding the fort down in the rec-room-turned-war-room? Better check the nearest gym. Call her single minded, but there's something pleasant about the work: if not paper work, then running herself ragged (literally) as she jogs carefully timed, deliberate laps around the outside of the large room. Most of it's just practice: moving through form and technique with a certain level of aptitude brought along by years of practice, though she'll jump at the chance should a sparring partner show their face.

She'd give her right hand to be spending more time in gunnery but with limited ammunition, she's not going to burn through her reserve on target practice. This though? She can run her body pretty hard when she wants to.]

III. WASHROOM

[Freshly showered, dressed in an undershirt and jumpsuit with the arms of the latter tied around her waist, she's standing in front of one of the many sinks in the communal washroom and patiently wringing her hair out over the sink. It must be off hours; there's no one else in the bathroom and it's... quiet. Bone deep. Residual warmth from the steam of the shower trapped by the seal of the door clings to the faucets and the edge of the mirrors, her skin. Her hair's gotten long, she thinks somewhat suddenly an frowns at the dark, uneven ends in her fist. She needs a haircut. Thinks maybe she should just hack it all off.

And for a moment, Shepard straightens - lets the towel in her other hand sag around her shoulders - to regard herself in the mirror. She thinks she looks strange with her hair down as it is. Carefully drawing it up, N7 dogtags clinking around her neck, she squints at her reflection and tries to imagine what it'd look like cut short.

The moment the hatch yawns open to admit another passenger, she makes to snap her hands down.]

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[ A sensible reaction, at least. Severus is beginning to formulate an opinion that he's more inclined to tolerate muggles if they're invested in a field; in Shepard's case, military work. It exhibits a discipline and skill level certainly beyond most wizards. ]

I can operate the devices fine. [ He had A Moment with battling windows vanishing on a desktop operating system but he's recovered. Cough. ] I understand the purpose of things like encryptions, but meddling with them is beyond me.

I'm not an expert on encryption either. [She's a soldier, not an technical engineer. Tali had all but made fun of her when they'd first started using the ship's network. She takes another few bites of the food and then pauses thoughtfully - shoots him a glance over her fork.]

Would having access to an encrypted channel be useful to you? Something you could just tab on without coding the lock yourself.

Certainly. [ He's asked other people to use their locks, here and there - well aware he has no capabilities, but understanding why they're needed. He tries not to put anything incriminating concerning himself on the network even under encryption, though. Just to be safe. ] I know there's no hiding from the ghosts in the machine, but people here can be quite nosy, I've gathered.

[She promptly sets her fork down, the pressed metal clinking against the plate as she shifts up, digging in her pocket for her comm.]

I can give you access to Tali's encrypted channel. It's not completely private - Javik and I have access to whatever's on it, but it's a lot less public than the basic ship network. The encryption itself is practically bomb proof.

[ Severus is a little... oh, okay, about retrieving his network device, but he's getting a lot better at looking like he has any idea what he's meant to be doing with these things. He's not totally useless, in his defense - he figured out how all the basic functions the day he arrived, more or less.

Is he supposed to hand is to her now?? halp ]

'Bomb proof' sounds promising. [ Wryly. But he's appreciative. ]

[She holds her hand out expectantly - that's a yes, Severus, totally hand it over -, but otherwise keeps her attention on her own comm device as she clicks a few things, scrolls through a few others.]

Very.

[Once he delivers his comm - you better do it, Severus -, she taps a few other keys on his ~~what is technology~~. After a few moments she passes it back.]

There, you're on the access list. It should give you the option to use it now.

[ He forks over the comm obediently don't hurt him Lydia!! ]

I appreciate it. [ He takes a look at the function's.. app thingy.. before putting the device away again. ] What do you think of the things we can't block out on the network? Like the entity they call 'Smiley'.

[ What a stupid fucking name, his tone implies. ]

Some kind of AI-- [She pauses, amending as she fetches her fork up again,] --an artificial intelligence. There's data where 'Smiley' [and her tone implies the same sentiment as his] denying it's an AI, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Alternatively, it's an organic life form that's been patched in to the ship's systems. Some kind of organic-synthetic hybrid.

[Some mashup between what she'd seen with Project Overlord and what it sounded like had been happening on the Strela. She's not ruling out any possibilities - except, maybe, for the idea that Smiley isn't somehow connected with the ship itself.]

So you think it's a single entity?

[ Severus, perhaps obviously due to that question, isn't so sure. Narrative could explain his opinion but he'll probably say it next tag or so anyway hahaha I'm a good rper meanwhile, food. ]

If that's how you want to think of it, but if it's in the ship's networks it could be everywhere at any point.

[Ghost in the machine. Spooky.]

[ He nods, at least understanding that. ] When it speaks, obviously there's no way of knowing what's on the other end, but it appears to be contradictory and might even be lying, as you implied. To me it seems as though there is more than one point of view struggling for control over the same mouthpiece.

[ He's not convinced of any one theory, really. ]

If it's something that's been integrated into the ship's systems unwilling, that might explain some of the discrepancies.

[It's all conjecture and she doesn't have evidence for any of it, much less proof. But that's all there really is, isn't there? Theories and bullshit. Shepard scrapes her plate with the side of her fork, appreciatively shoveling in a few more bites.]

If we're lucky, we'll find something down there that explains some of it.

[That had been the point of all of this - find out where the old crew was holed up, what Smiley was or where it was being transmitted from. A secondary bridge. Something.]

It's entirely possible that the Smiley entity has as little control over the rest of the ship as we do, and that we're fighting a common enemy. [ Quiet for a moment, then, distracted almost- ] Did you want more?

[ Food. Not weird AI. Yes or no there, he will carry on with a related thought eventually: ] In my world we have various magics that protect information, or identities, secrets and promises, depending on the spell and ritual. It's not completely unusual for me to see someone attempt to get information across to someone else while they're incapable of actually getting the information across.

[That-- gives her pause. Shepard frowns, corner of her mouth tightening briefly as she shifts up from the table, taking her plate with her as she moves back to the stove top. That's apparently a yes in regard to his first question, but she's more than capable of helping herself.]

When we were on the bridge, the only reason we got back in time for the jump was because someone overrode the door and got us out. There was a message on the wall that makes me suspect it was Smiley and apparently that's not the first time it's helped someone out of a jam.

[Moving back, absently sucking a bit of juice from the side of her thumb, Shepard sets her plate back on the table but doesn't quite move to sit.]

And there was some guy who died after getting 'close' [--she actually uses airquotes; the future is a bright and wonderful place--] to it, but that could've been the ship or the old Crew trying to stop him from accessing information.

There is, frustratingly, just enough information to support a wide number of theories. Most of which contradict each other. But not enough information to lean in any one direction.

[ Something he feels might be deliberate, as if constructed that way. But it's just as likely as his theory of multiple voices using the same speaker. There's no way to sort it out. Yet. ]

I suppose we could always vote one person to die every other jump and have them wait somewhere crucial and record until the last second.

[ THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A JOKE a really gallows humor joke but still not a real suggestion. ]

Don't let Tyke or Edgeworth hear you say that. [Also a joke. Sort of. Severus has enemies on the ship; luckily they don't seem like the proactive type.]

And I'm not sure how many volunteers you'd get for that job. People up here seem to get a kick out of killing themselves on accident but aren't too big on doing it on purpose.

[She sits then, chair scraping gently on the deck, and picks up her fork again.]

[ Severus shrugs, unconcerned. As if he'd ever joke like that in front of them, for one, and for another, the minute SEC starts policing anyone for hyperbole, the ship is going to have significantly more problems than just the ship. He is critical of how Security is run, but he doesn't expect them to turn to fascism any time soon. 'Enemies', in his opinion, would be a stretch. ]

Half the ship thinks you're doing it on purpose, [ he says mildly. Recon missions and all the clutched pearls over them. ] But the truth is we're all already dying at a rapid rate, isn't it? Life expectancy for anyone chronically late is about a month.

[ What with the jumps killing anyone outside their pod, and all. ] I think it frightens people to be reminded of the danger we're in at all times.

In my experience, people like to ignore problems until they're right on top of them. [This ship, Reapers. If it isn't knocking on your door or actively ruining your day, then there's obviously nothing to worry about.]

But I don't have time to wait around for three plus solar years until the ship decides to do something with us.

[There were people on the Tranquility who'd been there twice, three times as long as she had and they didn't seem to know much more than the people who'd arrived last jump cycle. If anything, it sounded like the ship had gotten more dangerous, more unpredictable since then. She doesn't have the patience or time to sit on her hands and wait for someone else to figure it out for her.]

Mm. [ Monosyllabic noise of agreement; obviously, Severus feels similarly, or he wouldn't be helping her - and certainly he wouldn't be putting quite so much work into it. ]

It tries to keep us to a level normalcy, pushing back and forth between crises and letting people find 'solace' in the downtime. But it doesn't seem to like change. Did I tell you about the genetics labs?

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OPEN

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i've had a long work day

this is my favorite tag of all time

oh good so this is what i did while barely awake last night

gg

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