nexus_crossings | Ghosts in the Machine

Ghosts in the Machine

There’s a young woman reading through one of the pamphlets in the plaza. She’s dressed head to toe in a rather odd black garment like a padded wetsuit - it looks like it’s all one piece, soft, elastic and form-fitting. Her hair’s a little disheveled and she has a frown of concentration as she reads, but her location doesn’t seem to worry her.

As far as she’s concerned, it’s obvious where she is. The last few weeks have been nothing but tests and interviews and assessment exercises of one form or another. More than a few have taken place using increasingly sophisticated simulation tech. This is just another program, and presumably somewhere above is the AI overseeing her progress.

Still, this is definitely a new one.

“Who comes up with these scenarios?” she wonders aloud in amusement. Then shoots a look at the tiny silver robot floating at a cautious distance. “No offense meant- and that wasn’t my question, sorry.” The Ghost bobs noncommittally, and she looks around, taking in the strange mix of people and aliens, the unrealistic architecture. “So does it matter what I ask?” The answer is murmured quietly, but presumably boils down to ‘no’. She rolls her shoulders and shifts on her feet, making thoughtful sounds for a minute. She really wants to ask something good. Insightful. Practical. Soldierly.

“Is there something around here you really need weapons for?” She had two when she started here - not to mention the ridiculous armor. The assisting ‘Ghost’ AI removed them for her, but that still leaves the question of why this simulation included them...

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~~It's not every day you see a ship shaped like a literal flying saucer. Much less on that is configured with the cockpit off center.~~

It's nice that she doesn't ask. He wouldn't want to fess up to having been discharged so quickly, even if the reason was relatively admirable. It would involve a lot more explaining than he would want to get into right now. Besides, he's just happier around people who don't want to pry into his personal details.

"She's pretty old, close to sixty or seventy, I think. At least two or three owners besides me, maybe more. The nice thing about this line of ships is that they're designed to be easily modified." Those details come easily out of him. He'd talk all day about his spaceship.

"That's the gist of it. I've flown other vehicles before for people too." He figures that since Bryn got to ask a question about him, he should be able to do the same about her. "Have you always wanted to be in the military or does it just seem like the best option for you right now?"

Edited 2016-07-02 13:33 (UTC)

“Easy to change with the times?” Practical. Smart. Good things like that. She can appreciate that, despite the quirky design. And the fact that the ship does look her age the closer they get. Solid, though, or at least Bryn’s willing to assume so. What’s on the inside counts more than a fresh coat of paint, right?

She’s willing to spill her own answers, too – although the way that particular question is phrased makes her hesitate. Joining up hasn’t been her plan for very long – not long enough for her parents to be comfortable with it, for a start - and she’s sensitive to the fact that some people think she ought to sit on it a while longer.

“Well- actually I only really thought about it the last few months. They have this recruitment drive every year, and I thought, if someone’s got to go out and take some risks on the frontier, why shouldn’t I do it? Besides… it seems like my best shot at getting to see some real mysteries up close.” She sounds a little more serious there, but then she has to grin. “I mean, it’s already working. Here I thought I’d have to spend sixty years in the service before I got lost in time and space.”

…Mostly lost. She’s counting on you, little Ghost-bot!

"She is nothing if not flexible." Han murmurs with a slight smile. "You wouldn't believe how fast she can make jumps through hyperspace. Faster than the speed of light."

Though he supposes, after saying as much, whether she'll be impressed by that will depend on how fast starships travel where she comes from. At least she has some context of the kind of speeds he can hit though. The speed of light seems like the kind of thing that's constant across the multiverse, anyway ...

"Well, I think that puts you in the minority among most military people." He points out. "If you haven't gathered by yourself you can count on nine out of ten of them either always dreamed of being in the military or they didn't feel like they had any other prospects."

When they've walked far enough to get under the belly of his ship, Han will trigger approach one of the legs of the ship and hits a sequence of triggers that lowers the ramp of the Millenium Falcon.

"That is a little hard to believe, Captain," she says, turning to smile at him. And yet, she still sounds impressed beneath the teasing in her voice. How much could she really doubt him, after everything she's seen today? "Considering the best we have are near-light speed drives..."

As for his points about her fellow recruits? She has to ponder those, because it does seem like news to her. Is it unusual? Is that bad? Why would anyone feel that short on options anyway?

"It does seem like half the others already had family who served," she admits. "Maybe if I'd learned I could do this sooner I'd have planned it out before. You don't see too many soldiers around the Ishtar region. You just have more opportunities with some military training. Better ones, for the right kind of people. I can't really speak for the others. It just... makes sense for me." She shrugs a little, peering up at the Falcon as they get close. The Ghost trailing her just glances over the hull for any changes since their last visit.

While Han goes over to the leg of the ship, Bryn backs up under it, head tilted back while she gets a good eyeful of the plating. At least until something occurs to her and she moves hastily back to the captain's side, leaning close to his ear with an urgent question.

"Um- is she conscious?" she murmurs with genuine concern. "I don't want to be rude, if she is..."

The changes, subtle as they are, would be on the inside. It's not even modifications as much as it is repair work that has been done to the ship over the last week or so. And even then, when he's had the itch to pick up a wrench, he focused more on the speeder. There was a promise for a race he needed to fulfill before he could leave, after all ...

The sudden closeness comes as a surprise. It wouldn't occur to him that she would want to whisper a question, so his thoughts are on a completely different track when she's suddenly speaking all low and soft to him. Is she conscious? It takes him a moment to even realize she's talking about the ship.

"Oh. You're talking about the Falcon?" He murmurs. When he turns slightly to answer her, he can't help but end up gazing right into her eyes. "I don't think she is, but I talk nice to her anyway."

Edited 2016-07-03 03:48 (UTC)

There's nothing more embarrassing than asking if someone's alive where they can hear you, right? It's important to know before you, say, start ogling their undercarriage ~~any further~~. Of course, just as Bryn's concern is eased their eyes meet and she finds herself realizing just how close they are. She should probably take a step back. Should. Yeah.

"Good idea," she replies, tilting her head a little. "You never know if she'll start listening..."

At this moment the Ghost pops up by her shoulder to interject, "Well, if we don't need to make introductions, this shouldn't take too long."

Look, the bot knows he's not being even a little subtle. Even Bryn's giving him a surprised grimace this time. He's just trying his best here. For everyone's sake.

Even looking down to break the stare just gives him the view of that skin-tight body suit. For the record, he's not finding it any easier to break the moment with his eyes over there either. He closes his eyes and shakes his head.

Focus on droid, maybe. Much as he's would have loved to see where that moment was going to go, it does give him a third option among things to look at.

"Your droid has you on a short leash, Bryn." He says, firing a little bit of a scowl off at it. He's never liked bots very much, but the ones that had protocol features were by far the most obnoxious. They don't hesitate to observe every action you make and but in when they feel like it's necessary. "Apparently, you're on a tight schedule."

The Ghost actually manages to look offended, jerking backward before its optic narrows a little... at least at Han. The look it gives Bryn is oddly pleading and she frowns as she finally pulls back a step. She almost gets the impression it looks hurt, but she has no idea why.

"Ghost isn't mine," she points out hastily. She shoots the captain an apologetic look nonetheless. "He's a military AI, it's not as if I own him. Although I thought you said we weren't in a hurry," she adds to the Ghost with a pointed look. Unfortunately for the little bot, she's right. He worked quite hard on encouraging his Guardian to stay in the Nexus until she's herself again. Somewhere she'll be safe.

Somewhere she won't learn that the civilization she's remembering lies in ruins as they speak.

"I... just think it's best if we stay focused on the objective. The sooner you're properly equipped, the better... right?" She may not think he's hers, but the feeling is absolutely not mutual.

It's a shame Han isn't more trusting of the Ghost because he actually is trying to look out for everyone's best interest here. Or what he thinks is everyone's best interest, anyway.

Han might be inclined to argue (if he did come to realize this was Blaze), that she does have a right to know the truth of what has happened. That lies of omission were just as cruel as little white ones when a person does discover the truth. That maybe this return to her human roots might give the Blaze that they know the chance to do something she can't in Exo form, which isn't inherently a bad thing.

For all they know, she might lose the memories when she reverts back to herself anyway, so why not let her nourish her soul in the meantime? Or that she might never be Blaze again and then what? Lie to her forever? Or, possibly the worst permutation, what if when she turns Exo and remembers that she had the chance to do something as a human that she didn't take?

That would be the Corellian's point of view, if he was privy to what was actually going on. Ghost's efforts to preserve the status quo are valid too. If a little ... binary.

"Follow me." He says after counting backwards from ten in his mind. Droids. Hrpf.

Captain Solo leads them up the ramp of the Millennium Falcon and probably the most striking thing about the ship is how much roomier it is on the inside. That and how lived in the tech feels. It definitely lacks the pop and polish of a certain other Nexus Captain's space ship.

Edited 2016-07-05 20:13 (UTC)

Conversely, maybe the Ghost would see his points, were he prepared to trust Han with his dilemma. The truth is, the Ghost is afraid. Afraid of losing his Guardian completely. Afraid of being alone again. It's bringing out the wary habits of a very long search in the friendless wild, and he may not be able to get away with it for much longer, but he's trying.

After all, while there is much Blaze could learn from this, he's also privy to things she doesn't share with anyone else. How destructive her response to the past can be.

Perhaps he should have more faith. Perhaps he should ask her opinion. Instead he's trying to handle this alone. And faced with the new situations that a human companion apparently presents... he's panicking just a bit.

For all the good his plan is doing. Bryn lingers behind Han a moment, giving the Ghost a thoughtful frown. She certainly has the feeling the bot's not telling them something. But if it thinks Han is dangerous she'd expect it to just say so, and it doesn't offer a word of explanation. So she shakes her head and catches up with the captain. They have a ship to check out.

Han certainly doesn't have to worry about any comparisons with Earth warships. Although Bryn takes note of how well-worn it is - and how lovingly maintained. It's a very different vibe to either the transports or the small science vessels she's visited before. She makes a small, thoughtful noise as she follows Han, one hand touching the nearest bulkheads lightly. Just so she doesn't run into anything when she turns to look around. Which she's doing a lot.

"You've got more space than I expected," she comments with relief. "I bet that's some relief on a long trip. But you'd have to be pretty good friends with your crew-mate, all the same."

"My co-pilot? He's my best friend." There's absolutely no hesitation to that answer. Maybe for a brief period of time Han was a little uncomfortable with the Wookiee following him around, but he pretty quickly came to realize how valuable Chewie was as a crewmate and then as an ally.

"I wish he was here."

Ultimately, Bryn is gonna miss out on getting the tour because of her little robot's instance they should hurry along.

With the layout of the Millenium Falcon largely circular, they have to walk around to the opposite side of the ship to get to the cabin. The cabin itself, which is little larger than a walk-in closet; has three sets of double bunks, a few footlockers and a small area to wash up. That's it. One can imagine life on his ship to be pretty spartan, just by the look of the living quarters.

He pulls a footlocker out from under his bunk and pulls out two jackets. One is lightweight and navy blue, something about the look of it reads as 'flight jacket' even though it doesn't have any insignia to speak of. Sort of like the blanks you would find in a military surplus depot. The second is a much heavier leather jacket. Brown. More in line with classic earth fashion and what people around the Nexus wear.

He lays them both out on his bed (which he's thankful that he generally makes when people end up in here) and lets her help herself to one of them. "Which one suits you, darling?"

She gives him a sympathetic look when he speaks of his friend, a remark about it being lonely dying in her throat. That might be her first hint of the man beneath the charm, and she's not about to prod a sore spot. "...I guess finding this place isn't all it's cracked up to be."

Bryn hangs back a bit when they reach the cabin, unsure what to expect and not about to just stroll blithely into someone's personal space. She lingers in the doorway, reaching up to push the Ghost firmly back. It means well, she's sure, but it's been intrusive enough for one day. At least it takes the point - and her meaningful look - and stays out in the hall while she follows Han in. It's just peeping anxiously.

Lacking proper boots, her tread is soft as she joins the captain and considers her options with a low 'hmm'. She moves to pick up the lighter blue jacket, then smiles ruefully at herself and switches to the leather one. Sure, it's not as formal, but it's warmer and tougher. "Better be practical, I suppose." She doesn't waste time shrugging it on once chosen, but then she pauses to touch Han's shoulder.

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I appreciate the help, even if my... companion seems like he has a few circuits crossed. I owe you one."

It's been interesting to be able to interact with Bryn. She came to him with no preconceived notion of who he is. Ready to believe what he was going to spin to her. Though he hasn't lied to her, he certainly has painted something of an inaccurate picture. More of the man who he'd have liked people to have seen him as and less of the man he (feels he) is.

"Forget about it." He says with a faint smile. "I get the feeling you would have done as much for me if things were the other way around."

A thank you is enough for a stand-up guy, right? The guy he should be more like. Still, he finds himself holding his gaze at her skin tight outfit a little longer than he thinks a 'nice guy' probably should.

"The jacket suits you." He says finally, as he aims his eyes back up towards her face.

There's an interesting conversation to be had there, should it come up. Whether with Bryn, or with her Exo counterpart. After all, there are things about herself even Blaze doesn't share freely. For that matter, Han may be unaware of it but the Ghost knows perfectly well he's omitting information: it's just choosing not to rat him out for reasons that go beyond its fears of rocking the boat.

"Thanks. I get the feeling I'm going to need it," Bryn says dryly. This time there are no distractions, and it would be hard for her to miss that lingering look from him. She lifts her chin, face flushing a little as she meets his gaze and reminds him quietly, "Eyes up, captain."

Ghost would stand to make it very difficult to not start tripping up over some of his own omissions if he blew in Han. And at that point, Captain Solo probably would suddenly realize the alternate identity of the woman before him. This is why this sort of thing gets people into trouble ...

And speaking of getting into trouble, he can't really play the most recent eye-grope off like it was anything other than what it was. He aims his eyes to a nonspecific point at the wall and nods. Eyes-up. That is where they belong. He doesn't apologize, but he does look a little sheepish at being caught.

He clears his throat.

"If you're still up for it, was gonna start guiding the two of us toward grub."

Tangled webs, indeed. Ghost already misses his partner's normal directness. Right now he's just worried about the way the two humans keep looking at each other, because if that goes any further he will feel obliged to warn the Captain, at least, of what's going on.

But at the moment, Bryn just holds her gaze on Han, studying his face a little longer. He's kind of cute when he's looking sheepish, even if the lack of apology doesn't totally escape her. She makes a low, thoughtful sound in her throat, dropping her gaze before she nods in return.

"Good plan." She flashes a smile his way. "Come on, I'm already curious to see what people eat around here. And I need someone to tell me what's actually edible for humans."

Han doesn't entirely realize how disrespectful it is to look at a woman like that. On some level he knows that it's impolite, but in his mind and in the crowds he runs with, it's dismissed as 'a kind of compliment.' Scoundrels. He's spent too many years around them for his own good.

While she hesitates, he finds himself thinking over how he's behaved and wondering what he should have done differently ... because he sort of expects her to turn him down. He actually has to call upon years of playing cards to mask his surprise at her eventual reaction.

"I am just the sort of man that's perfect for that." He insists. Really, he's not more qualified than anyone else who's only lived in the nexus for a few months to catch her up on regional cuisine, but he's naturally going to assure her she made the right choice. And smile back at her too.

He's got to start showing her the way, so he gets started leading her out of the Falcon. It only just occurred to him that her bot could have been snooping though his ship for part of that time, but with how possessive it was over Bryn and it's proximity to the entrance of the room, he's willing to believe it's more likely that it didnt.

Bryn isn't the type to change her mind easily. Sure, she might hesitate before she reaches a decision, but once it's settled she's not inclined to look back. Which is a large part of how she wound up as a recruit, in fact. It's a trait that the eavesdropping Ghost finds very familiar, much to its hopeful relief.

And speaking of the little bot, it's waiting to fall in with them when they emerge, clearly not having strayed far at all. It's unusual for a Ghost to miss the chance at examining a whole new ship of unknown design, and it did make a few perfunctory scans of its surroundings... but anxiety kept it circling back round to listen in on them.

On the other hand, one can tell it's cheered up now because it's taking the opportunity to flick its sensors curiously over everything they pass. Without straying from behind Bryn's shoulder, of course. You'd think it was attached with magnets. On the upside it's close enough that Bryn can tap it gently to stop when she notices it prying.

For her part, she matches Han's pace, sorry to leave the ship but eager to see what else is in store. Not that her curiosity about him is sated, by any means. "So you've been here for a while? What do you do when you're grounded like this?"

There is no cargo that he doesn't want to be found on board, so Han's guard is a little bit lax right now. He still wouldn't be happy if the little bot was noticing these strange areas of his ship that are resistant to scanning. That would be, more or less, discovering all of his prime hiding spots.

And frankly, he'd be pissed at the intrusion.

But ... he can't be mad about what he doesn't know and he'd appreciate that Bryn was trying to be a polite guest when she did notice Ghost trying to catch glimpses of what Han wouldn't want to be seen. If he noticed. Good thing he's in the front of the party right now.

"A few weeks." Probably closer to a few months, actually, but he's not been diligently keeping track of the passage of time. And time is such a funny thing in The Nexus, besides. "To be perfectly honest, when I'm on the ground I'm usually looking for a reason to get back in the air."

It won't take him long, but Han is not going to leave until The Falcon is closed up.

"I arrived here by accident like a lot of people do. Out of fuel was the first problem, which is a pretty easy thing to fix, but some overdue maintenance has been making things complicated."

Edited 2016-07-13 15:58 (UTC)

Ghost really doesn't see the problem. He's just staying aware of their surroundings like a good guide/companion/tactical advisor. And looking for hiding spots just in case he needs them. It's for the best he doesn't realize he could annoy Han by checking out his ship.

Bryn just figures the bot rates his mysterious objectives above 'trivial' things like human privacy, which... isn't far off from the truth.

She's kind of puzzled by how... well, manual the Falcon's operations seem to be. Maybe that's just how it works when you don't have a resident Shipmind? Either way it gives her something to watch curiously while she waits for him. Taking notes, of course. She has no idea what might be useful to know in the training ahead of her when she gets home.

"You'd think it would be easy to get repairs in a place like this," she remarks.

Well, making sure the ramp gets closed and his ship's defenses are up isn't the kind of thing he'd expect for her to find insightful, but she's welcome to watch. Although, not too closely, because it's largely entering a set of keystrokes into a nine button security panel.

Anyway, he'd balk at the idea of an AI flying the ship entirely on it's own. For one thing, he wouldn't trust it to make the right call in those moments that he thinks require human decision making. Taking people out of flying, he'd have to imagine, would make it a joyless ferry system all around the galaxy. Which sounds incredibly boring to him.

With a tip of his head, he indicates the way they need to walk to the diner and he starts leading them in that direction.

"Availability of materials and parts plays a factor." It does even in his galaxy with his ship being sixty-something years old. "So does having the capital to buy them. Broke my wrist too, that slowed everything down a bit."

She was raised properly - she's too polite to peep at people's passcodes, and she glances at Ghost to make sure he shows the same restraint. She's so used to AIs pervading her environment (albeit usually the small, semi-sentient kind) that even having one physically hovering behind her doesn't really stick out. It's safe to say she's a lot more tolerant of letting them run things... but she's still used to more independence than Ghost expects. ~~She probably even opens her own doors.~~

Speaking of human decision-making, though, her attention's back on Han as they walk. "How did you do that?" The touch of concern in her voice is genuine, though she can't help a little amusement as she adds, "Everyone tells me this place is so safe."

Oh.

Hrm. He probably shouldn't have brought that up considering the fact that he was fighting people for money. It doesn't really jive with that good guy image he was trying to project. Doubly so when his opponent was kidnapped and forced to fight him ...

"Well, it is pretty safe most of the time." He begins. "I have to be honest, that wasn't my proudest moment here. I got offered money to fight someone in front of some spectators - more than enough to cover the cost of the parts that I needed for my ship and ..."

He just shakes his head and lets the thoughts trail off. Some of these ideas he has in his head seem a lot better before he has to tell someone else about them out loud.

"You're kidding." She gives him a startled look. "People do that here?" What kind of uncivilized place have you found yourself in, young Venusian? And yet... there's the spark of something intrigued in her eyes as she hesitates over what to ask. Sure, the culture she was raised in may have been strictly fighting-as-a-last-resort, but she wouldn't be on the path she is if she were wholly opposed to violent solutions.

Or if she were opposed to getting paid for violence, for that matter. It's all about the right circumstances.

(Ghost, meanwhile, is rolling his optic because if Bryn is anything like her future counterpart he knows how this subject is going to go down.)

"So... what happened?" She's definitely looking at him differently. Perhaps not in a bad way. Better to leave out the whole kidnapping part though. "I mean- did you win?"

As far as Han has experienced? There are way, way more societies that have some form of combat sport than the number of ones that don't. The touch of embarrassment he feels over participating is largely do the fact that he thinks she'd want to see some remorse in him and the fact that he didn't realize they were gonna kidnap his opponent and chain the two of them together.

Thing is? There's not a lot that he wouldn't do for the right price. Even less if he thought it would help him take care of his ship. Han Solo loves his starship something fierce.

He tilts his head thoughtfully when Bryn asks her questions. He'd expected something like the initial reaction, but not the asking him if he won part ...

"They don't usually do things like that here. I think it took a lot of people by surprise." Understatement there. He can't help but have his lips curl into a smile at the memory of the victory, though. It wasn't a long fight, but damn if it wasn't ferocious. He certainly had to earn the win.

"I did end up winning."

Edited 2016-07-15 16:01 (UTC)

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"He's not mine, I'm just with him."

He hasn't met C3P0, but ... he'd be comparing Ghost to him right now if he had.

Ghost would argue he'd /never/ lose his head in a fight scene.

That's true. Ghost can hang in a fight. He's like R2 and 3PO combined.

Combined and admittedly squashed a lot!

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