ataraxion | [ video ] broadcast from the hangar deck

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[ video ] broadcast from the hangar deck

[ Good morning, Tranquility. If you hadn't been down to the hangar deck yet then over Hotspur's shoulder you're getting a glimpse of what it's like. A cavernous space, designed much in the same style as the rest of the ship, full of thick shadows and plenty of dead air space stretching out towards the elevator platforms. It's largely deserted – Hotspur has a bad habit of working the night hours, regardless of however creepy it is down there – except for the sleek hulks of shuttles in various states of disrepair. Post-jump, Hotspur looks animated, excited; he knows each jump is getting them a little closer to where they need to be – and if it's bringing in new potential crewmembers then all the better. ]

Hey, crew. How are we all doing? I know a whole bunch of you have had friends and family from back home turn up in the latest jump so I just wanted to check in – have we had anyone from Midgard Corps turn up? [ He's hopeful; gods, he's so freaking hopeful, it's written all over his face. ] Anyone from the Asgardreid? Hell, if there are any kind of pilots brought in from the new jump from anywhere it'd be good to have you down in the hangar decks. Flight engineers, too. We got a whole load of busted birds down here and I reckon we'd be doing a world of good if we got 'em all fixed up and flight ready. If anyone's interested then take the purple elevators and come find me – Hotspur. I'm filling in as flight officer until the rest of the old crew returns.

[ Yeah, crew returns. That's exactly what he believes is going to happen here. And then, because he really wasn't paying attention to the creepy door while he was busy being disappointed at the stowaways: ]

Talking of which, did anyone figure out who wrote 'hello' on that door?

[ ooc note : open to action tags if people would like to come and explore! ]

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yeah, pretty much pulled from all over the place. We've got people from way back in Earth's past and then people like me and a few others who seem to be from civilisations that are a hell of a lot more advanced, technologically speaking. Are you a time-traveler, then?

But are they all Earth-centric? Have you encountered people from other planets, or realms? That is, planets besides the one you've taken as your second home. Planets inhabited by other races.

[ A pause between messages. As much as he doesn't want to give away anything about himself, he also doesn't want to stem the flow of information coming to him, and knows that in order to keep it going he's probably going to have to make some concessions. Nothing ever comes for free. ]

I would not consider myself as such. More of a space-traveler.

Edited 2012-01-22 13:28 (UTC)

Not all Earth-based, no. Seen a couple of other races from other planets, mainly humanoid but for a couple of robots and the like. I couldn't tell you the planet names but there's more than a few of them< I know that much.

[ Hotspur takes the stilted nature of the message delivery in his stride; he edits and re-edits his messages as more replies flow in. He's easygoing and patient enough to answer things as they come - and it's not like the engine he's working on is going to protest if he pauses in between tinkering to answer his comms device. ]

Good to have a few more space-knowledgeable people on board. We've got a lot of green crew members who've never been off their homeworlds before, it makes for a bit of an easily-panicked crew. Have you travelled much?

I see.

[ That is interesting. Loki's mind is busily trying to puzzle out the implications of all this, wondering what kind of super powerful being could bring all of this about. ]

Are there any from your home planet?

[ And then another question directed at him. He replies without hesitation this time. ]

Quite extensively. However, if you are looking for those with knowledge of this kind of technology, [ any...mortal technology for that matter but he doesn't want to admit that much ignorance ] I'm afraid I will be of no use to you.

[ Though he would like to learn... ]

not from Earthrise. Not yet. But it seems like we're going to get new people every time we jump so chances are some might turn up in the future. Until then I'm not that worried. Folk here are friendly enough to keep me from missing crew mates from back home.

[ the question of technology gives him pause for thought; it strikes him as odd that nobody seems to be really familiar with the Tranquility's tech. ]

Don't worry, everyone's got their own uses. What's your name, if you don't mind me asking?

And this "jump" has only happened twice so far?

[ Not commenting on the friendliness of people, although people have been...friendly...so far, he supposes. If you care about that sort of thing. Which he doesn't.

He's only concerned with having allies. And it's hard to have allies when you're an anonymous text message over a vast network, an unknown. While there's safety in being unknown, there's also nothing gained in taking no risks. ]

I am Loki.

Twice, yeah. Some are reckoning that it's going to keep happening, though.

[ The name pulls him up short, fingers poised over the keys on his comms device as he slowly processes the possible significance of the name. Unlike so many of his crew back on the Asgardreid Hotspur had brought with him on board a deep-running and profound belief in the Old Gods of Sol Earth and the spirits of the new ones that sprang up amongst the frontier settlers in the wilder parts of Earthrise. It may have seemed odd for a man whose entire life – indeed, his livelihood – depended on unfathomable feats of science, technology and engineering to believe so profoundly in half-forgotten gods and superstition, but for Hotspur it was the most natural thing in the galaxy. Whilst his knowledge and practices hadn't extended to recognising the significance of the Midgard Corps's name – nor even the makes and models of the ships he flew: the valkyrie interceptors, the svadilfari ships or even his own precious fenrir heavy fighters – the name Loki was certainly one he recognised. Even if the myths were unrecognisable and warped from the loss of three millennia worth of Sol Earth information being lost in the exodus, at least the names remained. ]

Your parents knew of the Old Gods?

[ It was no odder than someone naming their child Jesus, or Moses – both of which certainly happened. In the frontier settlements on Earthrise, the names of all the Old Gods were remembered. ]

[ Making a mental note to look further into this whole "jump" business. Go back down to the medbay and look more closely at the grav couches. All of this technology is weird and unfamiliar to him but he's definitely up to the task of figuring it out...

But for the moment he has something slightly more interesting on his hands. The tilt of a smile at the corners of his lips, obviously not visible without the video and there'll be nothing in the plain digital letters to give it away. But it's there all the same. ]

Did yours?

[ Someone raised this man right, apparently. Loki thought that mortals had all but forgotten the gods, or at the very least they didn't refer to them with titles like that anymore. Clearly the fact they're the "old" gods tells a little something, but it's better than being treated as little more than a fairytale creature.

Not that he really cares about the recognition, he has much bigger things on his mind usually, but it's somewhat nice. To be worshiped, and feared. ]

[ the fact that Loki hadn't really answered his question went completely ignored by Hotspur. At his end of the comms he was too busy setting aside his device to carefully unloop the necklace of military dog tags from around his neck and hunkering down to spread them on the gunmetal grey floor with the ID number face down.

On the reverse of one of the dog tags was a rune, crudely engraved. It was Hotspur himself who had engraved the algiz on to his own dog tags with a few borrowed tools from a flight engineer long before he discovered the tattoo artist's needle and started making his charms a little more permanent. Once satisfied with its placement he raised the comms device again to take a still image, and quickly forwarded it to Loki with an added comment. ]

ATTACHED IMAGE: 0001.jpg No, I didn't know my parents very well. I knew about the the Old Gods as a child but it wasn't until after I enlisted that I started to believe in their protection.

[ Well. That is interesting. Loki wasn't aware mortals recognized those symbols anymore as anything other than the crude markings of an ancient civilization. Of course, to him they're the letters of a very important script, each letter invested with its own power and when used in combination create powerful spells. Given the context, he recognizes it for what it is rather than a mere coincidence. And to see it so suddenly in this foreign place throws him for a moment, causes his eyes to widen just a fraction on his side of the comm device.

Still, it's quite possible this guy still doesn't fully grasp the meaning, doesn't fully understand its power and, even if he did, probably wouldn't know how to harness it. To him, it may very well be just a badge of superstition. It would be very typical of a mortal. ]

Nice amulet. What does it mean?

[ A test, of course, but posed as an innocent question. After all, for all Hotspur knows Loki could be completely ignorant of anything remotely to do with runes, right? ]

[ back down in the shuttle bay Hotspur sighs in disappointment; he'd truly hoped that Loki would at least recognise it, never mind be as enthusiastic as he was about it. He collects the dog tags and loops them around his neck again, fingers hesitating sadly over the crude engraving as he tucks them back below the neckline of his jump suit. The little slips of metal - suddenly cooled in their exposure against the steel gratings that made up the hangar floor - was a comforting weight against his chest. ]

They're my ID tags but I added the symbol back when I was flying valkyries a few years ago. It's supposed to help with good luck, courage in the face of death and protection of the Old Gods. It's worked pretty well for me so far, I think.

[ So it is just a matter of superstition. Not that Loki expected anything different. And it's not like it's a bad thing. On the contrary, it would be weird if mortals knew how to read and write with a script like that, let alone use the runes to their fullest potential, weaving magical and casting spells. Like watching a dog walk on its hind legs.

But something in that message does throw him off, and as much as he'd like to play along and pretend he fully understands so as not to implicate himself—he just........... ]

"Flying valkyries"?

[ What. He knows there must be some other meaning but if you can just imagine...the image that creates in his mind..... ]

[ Querying the model names of the ships is hardly anything to raise suspicions – hell, there were plenty of civilians back on Earthrise who wouldn't know what Hotspur was going on about. But unfortunately for Loki, talking about his beloved ships is something Hotspur would always jump at the chance of. Such a geek. ]

Valkyrie class interceptors ships, mainly used for light combat. [ oh god Loki now you've got him talking. ] They're good little birds, pretty nimble and hard to catch but it's no fun flying on your own. I swapped over to flying the heavy combat Fenrir fighters a couple of years ago and never looked back. Flying with a co-pilot in the bigger Fenrir is a hell of a lot more fun than scrapping it out on your lonesome with the other dogfighters in the Valkyries. Course, now all I've got is a single working shuttle on the Tranquility and two score that wouldn't even make it in atmosphere conditions, let alone space. I would pretty much give anything to have even a Valkyrie to mess around with, but you gotta make do with what you've got I guess.

[ No, no. This is perfectly fine. This is what he wanted. He wants other people to talk and for him to listen (or...read, as the case may be), to soak it up. Like a dark scheming sponge. Even if it's not all relevant, he can sort through what's useful and what's not later. What he's gathered so far from their conversation is that Hotspur is a soldier—of some sort, he's been throwing the word "pilot" around a bit so Loki's filing that one away—one that flies, apparently. Flying technology is not unknown to Loki, though it is unfamiliar. People don't fly in ships on Asgard. The Valkyries—the real Valkyries—well they have their winged horses. Thor has Mjolnir. And then there's the Bifrost...and Loki has his own ways of getting around.

It was quite a shock to learn mortals had figured out how to fly, but not entirely unsurprising. They've always been rather clever creatures. And always rapidly advancing, letting go of mysticism and tradition in favor of gadgets and cars and high-rise buildings. Once he'd spent a little time on Earth, Loki had begun to wonder how Thor ever managed to survive in such a place.

And yet, it seems the gods aren't completely dead to mortals. At least, not the mortals of Hotspur's world. Throwing around words like "Asgard" and "Midgard" and "valkyries"—and "Fenrir," he caught that one too. ~~(h e h)~~ Wearing runes around their necks and referring to the "Old Gods." All very fascinating. Loki sits forward, rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip as he reads the text. A couple times. It's almost like reading in a different language, with so many unknown terms and a slightly different way of speaking.

Then, ] Can that working craft be used to exit the Tranquility?

[ ohhhh no. Hotspur’s been fielding question of this kind for a while now. He suppresses a sigh and passes the comms device back and forth between his hands thoughtfully before resigning himself to the same old response that he gives everyone that asks: ]

Yes. But I know where you’re going with this question. We can’t use them to get back home again. That shuttle will only get us so far – in this dimension. Bearing in mind that so many of us are from completely different galaxies – possibly even universes – I reckon the only way out is the way we came in.

[ Well that's a little disappointing, but Loki can't say he didn't expect it. Of course if the craft could be used to escape, someone would've done it already, probably Hotspur himself since he seems to know so much about it. And then they wouldn't be sitting here chatting. But getting out at all to explore the surrounding area would be something worth looking into, perhaps.

Once he's done exploring the ship itself, that is. Things to consider. ]

The way we came in... Meaning the [ what're they called—ah ] gravity couches?

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[ video ] broadcast from the hangar deck

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