Longram: "It's kinda of a American tradition where I'm from, bond with friends and family and yeah, exchanging gifts because you care for them. We also, wait for the jolly fat man we call Santa to give everyone gifts."
"...."
"....if they're nice." ._.;
edited 10th Dec '16 7:54:35 PM by MrKirb
Pain.
That was the last thing she remembered.
Pain, the hot wetness of blood splashing upon her face, screams, the shockwave of the explosion hitting her, sending her flying through the CIC, through the glass...
"Wilhelmina!"
That was her name. Who called her? Her mind felt fuzzy, her head rhythmically pounding with the thundering in her chest.
She opened her eyes. They burned, and she winced and closed them shut, the afterimage of the searing and harsh white light floating behind her eyelids.
The pounding got louder. More painful.
She was alive, she needed oxygen—
Breathe.
Her burning lungs filled with blessedly cool and crisp air, causing her to cough.
The pounding disappeared, replaced only by a tinny little warning at the back of her head.
"ControlNET uplink terminated. Proximity coverage only. Backup activated. Systems rebooted."
Her eyes flew open.
"Isara, confirm ControlNET uplink has been terminated," she said. The little machine on her shoulder hummed a bit, the white circle on its casing flickering.
"Unfortunately, ControlNET uplink has been terminated, Paladin Charlotte-Meyers. Only proximity system coverage is available."
"Bugger." She sat up, dark eyes scanning the room. It was clean, orderly, minimalist, and so very obviously a hospital room.
But this wasn't anywhere near home.
This wasn't her ship.
"Isara, do you know where we are?"
"I'm sorry Paladin, but I was knocked offline by the explosion." The AI's voice sounded sad, regretful. "I only managed to restart my core processes thirty-six minutes before you awoke. When I was reactivated, you were already in this room."
"Isara, it's okay," Wilhelmina said. She swung her legs and stood up from the bed. "You did your job. Now let's get out of here."
"Affirmative."
She reached for her pistol, and she was surprised to find it still there. Pulling it out, she checked the magazine. Fifteen rounds. Shotgun shell for the underbarrel attachment was still there as well.
What was going on?
"Isara."
"Yes ma'am?"
"Any open communication links you can hack into?"
The feminine sounding AI laughed. "Surprisingly, yes. One moment please."
The seconds ticked by as the AI latched onto an open channel, adapted herself to the communications protocol of wherever they were, and patched herself into the network.
"Network access granted. Now monitoring communications." Wilhelmina could forgive the AI for sounding slightly smug at her accomplishment.
But first things first. "So where are we?"
"Terminus Station. Unknown system."
Well that was helpful. "Affiliation with the Avrynn?"
She waited as Isara scanned through millions of datapoints for any trace of information that would answer the query.
It felt like the longest second of her life.
"Negative. Inhabitants of this station, as far as my low-level access can ascertain, have not yet made any contact with any members of the Avrynn race."
Wilhelmina let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Good... that's good."
She holstered her gun. "Alright, let's go thank whomever saved our arses."
The AI chuckled. "Affirmative."
edited 10th Dec '16 7:54:40 PM by Baseplate
"We dream of better worlds, so that one day we may surpass them."Six: -raises his new robot hand-
-which looks like the one on this robot
◊, only sage green-
I got a grip.
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."

Six: -to Longram- December 25th?
Christmas?
-to Zero- Gift-giving holiday. Don't know much else.
edited 10th Dec '16 7:46:07 PM by SpartyMcFly
"Seven is here too, dressed like the concept of choosing clothes that look nice together was an arcane secret far beyond their grasp."