The engineering bay contains the ship's central security office as well as data core for its AI and many back up systems as well as being adjacent to the ship's engines.

After the events of Brink of the Verge Part 1 where the crew evaded a debris field, encountered a magical electricity spirit (gremlin) that has now merged with the ship's AI, picked up cargo from a criminal organization, and escaped near destruction from another unknown rival criminal organization with military stealth tech.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 01:41, Sun 04 Feb.

As it wasn't really in his purview to open crates or deal with non-mechanical stuff, when that became to course of action Andre made his way to the Engineering Bay again. He had a hammock set just over a heat sink and sometimes dreamt of tropical getaways and Sandra Soraan in a drink with an umbrella. Don't judge, dreams are weird.

Now was not one of those times though. He set about his analysis of the Gremlin remains and made sure to keep his steel thermos clear of the work table. That was for drinking. Few of the other chemicals would follow that track well.

Andre Klanktonne rolled 18 using 1d20+6.  Alchemy for chemical analysis

Andre finds the container mostly empty except for burn scars that appear to be in the shape of the little creature's skeleton and a gooey organic substance that was probably once flesh and blood.

Upon examination, Andre could identify it as some sort of blood but not to any creature he was familiar with. It also seemed to be conductive in nature but every time he interacted with the substance, some of it disappeared. He thought it was evaporating at first except it wasn't dissipating into the ship's internal atmo, it was just DISAPPEARING...from reality. Just poof. At least as far as he could tell given his current tools. Maybe there was something he was missing? He felt like he was so close to something and yet...the answers eluded him.

Perhaps talking to NOD when it awakens was the only way to find more answers...

Disappointed and not wanting to lose the rest of the unusual matter before he got the tools modified to do better research with it he decided that it might be closer to the fringe sciences that might allow him to track more... supernatural energies.

It just needed more delicate instruments. Ghosts, souls, undead, demons and angels, all of them were theorized to be dimensional travelers... That was the root of the word Demon anyway. Andre refused to believe that it simply couldn't be categorized. He started looking into the peripheral data to determine things that would infer these other things and perhaps correlation to prove it. "NOD-thing, are you up yet?"

Andre Klanktonne rolled 21 using 1d20+4.  Mysticism for understanding better.

"NOD" responding on the comms: "Uhhh...no." *ZzzzzZzzzz*

NOD was not being cooperative, but Andre's research into the supernatural would yield some results. Apparently the substance he was dealing with was called ECTOPLASM. It's a theoretical substance that is both simultaneously PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL. It is the stuff that connects the spiritual to the physical and it's highly volatile. If not suspended in a proper magical container, it dissipates. If saved, it can be used for the creation of many magical salves, potions, or items. Val would be the best person to seek the creation of a magical container...if she doesn't have one already. Of course the concept of "magic" is more like "spiritual forces imposed upon the physical realm" from the perspective of a scientist. And if spiritual forces can affect the physical realm, then the reverse should also be possible...theoretically.

Imagining that Val probably had some "blessed jar" or "cursed spirit thimble" but figuring that maybe he could study THAT too... He dialed over on coms, "Hey Val, I think I have ectoplasm here. I was wondering if you knew a good way to store- wait, what is going on over there, where are you?"

His ideas for more comparative research fled him and he considered other options like a squadron of interceptors leaving a carrier bay.

Val screams on the open comms.

"Monster in the cargo bay! We need backup down here!"

The captain shouts back that he's setting the system on autopilot and will be down shortly.

Andre wondered silently how much of his time as an engineer here would be monster hunting. He didn't have combat training. He had tools that could hurt things certainly...

"How big? I promise not to plug this one into machinery... Directly..." he took his pack of tools and headed to the halls toward the cargo bay.

Jhenko On coms: "All hands, red alert for anyone not already up and at'em. We have another intruder aboard. Andre, I have override codes for the cargo bay and I'm heading your way. Everyone else evacuate the cargo bay. I can space whatever it is."

Jhenko On coms: "Alright, if you got it handled, I'm stopping by engineering for a status update on our ship. You all handle whatever is going on in the cargo bay. Keep me apprised."

The captain then appears at the entrance to engineering.

Jhenko: "Hey Andre, how's our ship looking? Did you ever figure what was going on with our earlier pest problem?"

Andre put down the toolkit he had gathered and sighed, "Boss there are a couple important facts and a full explanation will take some time.

I didn't want to kill anything. Sometimes it has to happen, I get it... But we needed to get out of there and the gremlin is some kind of living lightning with an ectoplasm medium to take a physical form. It is more accurately classified as a demon- dimensional traveler. I had seen energy in its cell building up and intended to bleed it out and recharge our systems.

It jumped the circuits. It is a part of NOD now. The old code looked something like THIS," he said turning his tablet for the Captain to see. "It took three seconds to happen, but..." another tap showed plainly alien code. "It hasn't really done anything NOD wouldn't aside from word choices and pretend to be asleep. It would take weeks and a complete defrag to extract and NOD may not be recoverable. I might be able to work with Val and get something going for a better shot of it if you like. NOD may be sequestered in one of, or multiple black boxes but I don't think this thing plays by normal rules of computing. In short, I expect that some issues are possible but I hope it isn't probable and I am monitoring the situation. I would love for it to be a system I wholly owned but aside from being an actually intelligent system and not knowing everything that entails yet- I'm sorry." To call it a multidimensional rookie mistake would likely be accurate but this was the first Andre heard of anyone exploring multidimensional computing, mechanics, and physics. Jehnko might be unhappy that it happened to HIS ship and if he couldn't find an upside, it might be a pay hit or even firing.

Jhenko scratches his chin.

"I've seen weird things in my time but that sh*t takes the cake. NOD's special neuroprocessors were designed to sync up with a living brain and allow a human to think as fast as a computer while maintaining a sense of self. The project was supposed to produce perfect pilots but it ended in failure..."

He swipes through the data.

"...Maybe it worked for that weird creature. Who even knew such things existed out here in the dark?"

He shakes his head.

"I locked down primary commands before I came down here. I can override NOD on everything but it's near impossible to properly operate a ship long distances without an AI. So I guess we're going to have to find out if this "gremlin" or "demon" thing is friend...or foe..."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Tue 13 Feb.

Andre was pleased that Octavius took the information well. "As best I can tell it was electrical energy given sentience and physical form through an ectoplasmic medium. If we encounter a few more fairytale creatures I may be able to test or even scan for them. I had doubts to the functions but knew they COULD exist. Neither side of the scientific nor spiritually minded camps is fond of saying the other may have a point, but some of my readings and studies..." He opened a different file and once more withdrew the gremlin's 'game pad' to let it rest on a nearby table, "Here we are with the closest anyone may ever come to the beginnings of evidence. There is a lot of aliens out there... Probably... Just how alien is the real question. So is the possibility of harnessing their extra dimensional energies. I'm not sure how much of the gremlin's old rules and ability still apply."

He looked over at the security feed camera to address the creature directly once more, "Gremlin, what should we call you I tire of calling you simply 'the gremlin' and NOD doesn't seem right because you aren't really the old computer... spirit. I want to know what kinds of things you used to be able to do so we can see what you are still capable of, and maybe what I can rig so you can do more..."

Jhenko nodded.

"I've seen some crazy stuff, Klanktonne. I'm a believer. Once watched Val stitch me back together with her hoodoo after I was sure I was a gonner. No tech, just the hoodoo. Plus the alien signals, the mutants, the androids.... Hell, if all this fairy tale sh*t wasn't real before it sure as hell is now these past few years. I'm pretty open-minded these days."

He sighs.

"Most mortals only care for names when they want to point fingers. But as it hardly matters at this point, you can call me Gryftrr."

A voice came out from behind Jhenko, responding to Andre's inquiry. There stood the gremlin, reformed as if out of nowhere. Only now it looked like a robotic version of the creature with eyes that resembled NOD's original avatar which had once been just a floating mechanical eyeball.

"This new form sure is sweet. Gonna take some getting used to. I'm defragging myself right now as we speak...well, most of myself."

Upon closer inspection, Andre's keen eye for all things mechanical and computerized noticed the faint flicker. The gremlin was a hologram. It was using a mobile projector to give the appearance that it had manifested but it was merely displaying a digital avatar as a ruse. A less mechanically inclined eye would've missed it. Even as a machine, the gremlin was still being tricksy.

---

OOC
23:55, Today: Game Master, on behalf of Andre Klanktonne, rolled 14 using 1d20+6.  cipher or investigation or physics. – [roll=1708062924.38522.378256]

Pronounced: "Grif-Ter"

This message was last edited by the player at 05:58, Fri 16 Feb.

"There Gryftrr is! In the projection... Boss were you aware we had mobile projectors?

I am quite interested in this crewmate and helping them adjust to the rest of us. Maybe you should go to cargo, or perhaps just the bridge, Captain." The mobile projectors gave Andre even more ideas. He looked for schematics and maintenance files.

"Hmm... Being a gremlin in shape to our eyes... Is that important to you? Do you remember leaving your dimension or how you got to the wreckage we picked you up from?"

Jhenko jumped and took a step back.

"What the f--? What the hell is that?!"

He looks at Andre.

"Mobile projectors? Well, there are holoprojectors on nearly every room but none of them were mobile..."

The implication of this realizing was slowly starting to sink in. Gryftrr had been the ship's AI for less than an hour and had already started taking things apart and rearranging them....in this case there was probably a control panel somewhere that had had its projector ripped out and put on a drone.

The gremlin projection scurries into the room and begins fidgeting with some random equipment on the table examining them but not actually turning anything on/off.

"Of course I do. Andre, my dear metal wizard, I remember when you joined the crew. They're in my logs. In my head."

He smiles, a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"This whole neurolink with your ship spirit has had some very interesting effects on me. Aside from being a little disoriented, I can't complain. I even love the body upgrade. It's like being in many places at once...and being in a metal box instead of a flesh bag. Though it is easier on the consciousness to 'be' one place a time, thus the projector."


He twirls around like everything he'd been explaining was a performance.