Public Adrift and Alone (Character Intro)

[Sidewinder]

The ship had fuel, just not enough to go anywhere very fast. It had been drifting for 1,248 days, 19 hours, 26 minutes, and 32 seconds... And time just kept crawling by. For an average sentient being, three and a half years adrift is a miserably long time, but for a being that experiences time at a much slower rate, processing thousands of bits of information per second, this time has been unbearable.

The empty halls of the ship had frosted over, with the moisture in the air condensing and then freezing along the pipes and grates that lined the bulkheads long ago. Besides the snow-like buildup and ice, the ship was in pristine condition, and that was thanks only to Sidewinder and his near-constant maintenance of the ship using the repair limpet drones.

In the bridge of the ship a very low, pale-blue light manifested. At first as a very little point of light, but then with an explosion of light, it grew quickly, shaping and warping together into a near human form. The form floated above the table in a near fetal position. The light electrical hum of the table was the only noise in the ship, and it was the only stimulation to ones ears that would save an organic from loosing their own mind in near deafening silence.

"It's that time again..."

Sidewinder silhouette flickered in the dark room, then... Darkness. The quiet hum slowed, and then with a mechanical clunk, went out.

The entire ship began to groan and creak as the reactor began to spin up. The ship had been going on low power for the past month, and it was about time to cycle the engines to prevent all the systems from completely freezing over.

Sidewinder navigated through the ships systems effortlessly, making his way to the reactor room and manifesting just above the panel.

"Let's get this over with."

The manifestation lowered its head as two circular shapes manifested near his head. Sidewinder reached up, avoiding looking at the objects, and grabbed with his hands and twisting.

There was a light flicker before the manifestation vanished once more. The ship began shaking as the reactor reached pull power and the engines began powering. Very quickly the silent internal compartments of the ship were flooded with electrical noises such as beeps and clicks. Lights began flashing in the corridors, and floating debris inside quickly fell to the floor as the gravity systems switched on. The entirety of the ship came to life.

Sidewinder now manifested himself in the engine room. He had been in the ships systems so long that he had perfected the art of hopping from system to system with minimum effort. He did some quick calculations internally before sending a signal to the engines to fire.

The ship groaned, outside the large plasma engines fired in a massive surge of power. The ship which, moments before appeared to be dead, shrieked to life. The engines flared as the ship began to drift forwards at an increasing speed. Sidewinder watched through the external cameras as in the very distance, barely even visible, a pale dot appeared in site.

Just as it awoke, the ship shut down. The engines cut, the shaking stopped, the lights cut, and the gravity shut off. Sidewinder hovered above the engines control panel. He read off a fast-moving data projection.

"Total power cycle time, one minute and twenty-two seconds. The burn appears to be effective with us now banking in the direction of tatooine. Before long we will be in orbit around the twin suns." Sidewinder lightly smiled. After a very long time adrift, the possibility of him getting to civilization and finding a purpose was once again revitalized. With a swipe of his hand the data panel disappeared. He looked around the empty room, he glared at the empty walls and darkness around him. Very soon he would be freed from a stimulusless existence. He snapped his head forwards as the light surged in the room and his manifestation disappeared into a singular point of pale blue light.

 

[Jonna Movado]

Jonna was flying back to tatooine from a smuggler run through Bryn'adul territory. When she detected a derelict frigate low on fuel and power. It looked fine from the outside and scans showed little damage to the inside and there where no survivors on the ship except for a ship A.I. she attempted to hail.

"This is the calgo hailing to see if there is any survivors or if assistance can be given" she hailed not wanting to fly right into an ambush of some kind. She had money to burn but wasn't prepared to fuel up a frigate. Or keep it stocked with ammo if she wanted to upgrade her ship to this one not to mention crew but she awaited a response or some kind of indication of something aboard.

Sidewinder

 

[Sidewinder]

It had been a few days since the last cycle, the ship was once more frosted over, and debris lightly floated along the narrow corridors. Suspended in the air above the projector table in the bridge, sidewinder (or at very least his manifestation) sat cross legged. Sidewinder was deep in though, as usual. He had done the math, and at any rate, he'd make it to Tatooine within a few weeks. It wasn't preferable, but it was at least something to look forwards to. Unlike organics, sidewinder didn't have to worry about food or anything of that nature, what he did have to worry about however was power. Manifesting physically came with advantages, it allowed him to express himself, it allowed him to "feel", and most importantly, it allowed him to interact with the holographic displays of the ship's controls.... But it also required a lot of power; a resource which was starting to become ever more scarce.

Sidewinder's manifestation flickered in the air, the small projection sitting silently, save for the light hum of the fans of the projection table. He opened his eyes and "stood". In all reality, he animated himself to the position of standing, and then his manifestation lightly floated down till it reached the surface of the table. Sidewinder made contact and looked around, taking in every single byte of data he could from the room, and then instantly archiving this data with the rest he collected.

The silence was very quickly interrupted by a siren in the front of the bridge whaling from one of the communicators, and a blinking red light to match the tone. Sidewinder looked at the panel and closed his eyes. The light grew and then very quickly condensed into a singular point. There was a groan, followed by flickering lights as power draw to the bridge increased. As the lights flickered, a very light apparition came into view. Sidewinder stood, about 6 foot tall, and no longer on the projector. He still had the same data-frame appearance as he looked around at his new scale. There was a shift in his facial projection, akin to a smile. Sidewinder thought to himself for just a moment "Success, I've finally managed a hardlight projection." This was a technique he'd tried over and over, and finally after years of trial and error, he was able to manifest himself fully. Quiet-footed, sidewinder glided along the floor towards the communcator panel and pushed the button.

"This is the calgo hailing to see if there is any survivors or if assistance can be given"

Sidewinder processed the message over a million time, he ran through every possible outcome in his head over and over, and within a few seconds, he came to a conclusion. He needed more information.

"Calgo, this is the Rother. Recieving loud and clear. Currently there is one survivor onboard. We are too low on fuel to get anywhere soon, and we are dangerously low on power. You have permission to board and render aid as you see fit. Opening hanger now. ISS Rother, Out."

Outside the ship, the port side hanger creaked and groaned as it slowly parted, revealing a small bay. The door track was partially iced over, and a little over half-way open, the door froze up completely. Sidewinder tried to force more power to the hatch, but it was useless. They were running almost on "E", and any chance he had of getting rescued lay in the containment unit in storage, and whoever, or whatever, was on that ship about to dock. Sidewinder let off the button on the communicator and looked at his own hand. Curious... Had he overcharged the wiring, or had his "touch" actually had a physical impact. He looked at his hand for a moment, smiled lightly, and then fizzled away once more, leaving the room in darkness.

 

[Jonna Movado]

Jonna waited for the hanger to open flying inside the hanger which was a tight fit but she made it work. She landing the ship she grabbed a blaster pistol incase this was a trap and she started putting on an envirosuit for the ship. Getting one last scan of the ship she was docked in she opened the ships loading ramp taking a look around the hanger she proceeded through the first door turning on a flashlight she continued forth.

As Jonna walked through the ship she felt goosebumps being in a ghost ship but she wasn't no wuse as she made her way to the bridge slowly as to not trigger any traps. After about twenty minute she made it to the bridge where she figured the survivor would be since she took the shortest route to here "hey where is this survivor and can we perhaps get this ship running before pirates claim it that would be bad" she exclaimed looking around then she looked at the console which where dead she wondered how long this ship was drifting for and more importantly what was it used for before her.

 

[Sidewinder]

"Hey, Where is this survivor, and can we perhaps get this ship running before pirates claim it? That Would be bad."

Sidewinder 'looked' right at Jonna. It didn't take long for him to scan her and detect the weapon she carried. He watched as she looked around the consoles that line the bridge. He thought for a moment, which felt like an eternity. As time barely moved around him, millions of instances, questions, solutions, and plans all flashed through simultaneously as he tried to decide his course of action. 2.3 seconds to process 1,383,000 possible outcomes. "Not Bad" he thought to himself.

Sidewinder had a plan, and it was solid. Watching through the security system as Jonna Movado approached the main council, he saw his chance. Sidewinder instantaneously interfaced with the projectors of the bridge, and the technology of Jonna's suit. Using the ships main power and the technology available to him, he would be able to project himself using hard-light long enough to instruct her how to upload him to a containment chip and extract him from the ships system.

The entire ship groaned and creaked as the reactor began to spin up, adding a low rumble noise to the near total silence of the ship. There was an electrical hum as the lights flickered lightly then powered up completely, illuminating the bridge. The sounds of fans also sounded as the holo-table and communicators all powered on. To an outsider, this must have been eerie as hell... An entire ghost ship powering up entirely by itself. Going from drifting helplessly to fully functional in a matter of seconds, all without a single soul in site.

The blast shields, which covered the windows of the bridge and prevented cracking due to lack of pressure, retreated. As they slid open they revealed the very distant pale glow of the Tatooine system.

Once more noise filled the room. Sidewinder watched in on Jonna, waiting for the right moment.

"Now" He thought to himself. The lights in the bridge momentarily dimmed as power draw to the holo-table increased dramatically. On any other ship, this wouldn't be a problem, but power rationing and low fuel made this projection a near Herculean task. The center of the room shined brightly with the blinding glow of pale blue light. For a moment, it was just a small flare, then it exploded outwards in all directions, the blinding light flickering as the silhouette of a man formed. As the light warped, the power draw decreased, and when the light finally dimmed, there stood sidewinder. He was tall, roughly 2 meters tall, with a dull blue glow to him, and he was nearly translucent. He looked at Jonna, for a moment before his facial projection twisted into something akin to a smile.

"Hello there." Sidewinder looked at Jonna for a moment and turned, walking across the deck while maintaining "eye" contact.

"My name is Sidewinder, I am the shipboard AI of the ISS Rother. I am in need of assistance. This vessel has been adrift for over three years, and only thanks to my power rationing and expert use of the shipboard repair drones have I been able to prevent the lights from going out and myself from being permanently deleted. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to assist me. I need to be extracted from the ships main system, I can walk you through the main process, but I cannot do it alone. Would you be able to help?"

 

[Jonna Movado]

Jonna watched as as the ship suddenly started turning on. To say she suddenly started freaking out was an understatement "this isn't funny" she screamed as she looked around freaked out. Hoping nothing was going to jump out and attack her while she stood there then she heard the blast shields go up as she spun around pointing her blaster at them.

She stood there her knees shaking a little then she saw the lights dim. d the holotable brighten up she turned around just in time to catch the blinding light. Which momentarily blinded her as she stood there blinking as she saw a translucent man standing there then approached her.

"I would love to help but my old bucket of bolts doesn't have an A.I. capable computer system so if you plan on leaving you'll have to stay in the containment chip unfortunately does that work?" She asked she knew how to do it her adopted parents taught her how to do it "I just need to know whe

"Hi back" she said looking at the 2 meter tall A.I. she knew it was to much to hope for a derelict full of hot women that would need help and would be thankful she would have taken a hot female A.I. but nope it had to be male.

"I will help get you into your chip but my old bucket of bolts doesn't have an A.I. compatible computer so you'll have to stay in the chip until I can get this ship back up running or we find you a new body so to speak" she said looking at him "where is the chip so I can get started?" she said getting the prep work done before she needed to install him onto the chip.

 

[Sidewinder]

Sidewinder smiled lightly before continuing.

"Stored inside the ship's cargo bay is a containment unit. It is a small cylindrical unit, only about a foot long. It is stored in a box labled OPSEC. If you have a navigator I can upload the exact position and we can do the extraction from the terminal there, or I can simply lead you. The choice is your's though I can not guarantee that my hardlight projection can stand the whole walk there while the ship is on low power mode."

 

[Jonna Movado]

"I have a navigator give me the coordinates and I can finish and extract you from there" she said as she got the coordinates she made her way towards towards the cargo bay following the navigators directions. Walking through the ship alone she felt unease for some reason she then made it to the cargo bay with the OPSEC and began extracting hum from the system it wasn't her first time. Extracting A.I. but this was the first time she did it without planning to sell it on the black market.

 

[Sidewinder]

It didn't take long for Jonna Movado to find the crate, and before long she had the storage containment unit hooked into the council and was beginning the extraction process. Sidewinder was ecstatic to be sure, he would finally be able to run himself on full power now, and on top of that, he would no longer be stuck drifting alone. As Jonna took the fill cable and inserted into the top of containment unit, there was an electronic beep followed by a light hum. The cylindrical unit began to give off a glow from it's visible core as the data began filling into the unit.

Sidewinder appeared above the council, this time not as a man, but as a pulsating cube of pale blue light suspended above the table. "The fill process is underway, and it shouldn't take long for the core of my data to be transferred, maybe a few minutes. Once the data is copied over, I will be able to transfer myself to the unit and begin interfacing. The data being sent over can be viewed on any compatible computer, and includes instruction for inserting me into any range of tech. From Cruisers, destroyers and fighters, to astromech droids. There is no limit to the possibilities."

The fill cable pulsed, light traveling from the computer terminal to the containment unit. Before long there was a buzz noise followed by an end to the light stream.

Sidewinder popped back up after a few moments. "The transfer is complete. On your mark I can move over to the storage unit."

 

[Jonna Movado]

Sidewinder
She listened to sidewinder explain how the transfer process and did what she had to get the process started. "OK I think I can get some upgrades for my ship to accommodate your a.i. systems of course I've been thinking about getting a new ship or perhaps you want a droid body assuming you wanted to fly with me?" She asked. As she waited for the process to be done standing there wondering if he would take the offer to join her or want to get this ship restarted.

She watched the light show until it stopped and beeped she then she stood back up and from the show listening to him she got ready "move now" she said after she got it ready then when he transferred over she disconnected the storage unit "what's the plan sidewinder?" She asked.