FTL: Harmony Edition IC

The minotaur nods curtly. "No harm, no foul. At least, on my end... you should get that checked out, though." He taps his chin, indicating at the mark on the zebra's face. As much as he wants to berate the zebra for losing his temper, truth is Borealis had his ire raised against the drake as well. It seems Degree has that effect of people...

After waving off Belgond's apology good-naturedly, Borealis sits down on the nearest cot large enough to accommodate him and reflects on the day's events.

It was slightly surreal, even with his experience in operations. A giant ship, appearing out of nowhere to lay waste to a colony? The odds of that were infinitesimal. Who could have been the aggressors? As much as he wants to blame the Hybrids for the attack, something tells him not even the griffons, with their Yggdrasil warship, would dare pull a move like this. The Canines might, but it was unlikely, and the changelings...

He shakes his head. "I'm too sober for this." He starts regretting not accepting Degree's offer for a drink. Shrugging that off, he falls backwards onto the cot to try and get some rest. Something tells him that it'll be a busy day when they exit hyperspace.

Belgond
Golden sighs, the situation apparently resolved at last, before realizing how tired she is. She yawns, and scanning the room, starts to make her way towards a cot before pausing to look at Belgond. "Do you... um, I don't know if this is an odd question, but do you even need to sleep?" She asks, as she picks out a cot to sit down on. She slowly begins to shed her vest, and hangs it up on a peg near the cot. "With enough digitized I suppose you wouldn't need to sleep..."

It was surreal. But it was not bad. An experience unlike most anything Seva could think of. The closest thing the ACHE could think of was when they were undergoing maintenance in their hive. The chaos, disorder, confusion, the dissociation from parts of their own body -- they melted away. The “bickering” that could occur between the primary runtimes seemed to stop in the face of what felt like a miracle. Not everything was precisely in place but it no longer felt like as much of an ordeal to finish the connections. They'd still need time to make sure everything was in working order, but for now...

>>STAND BY

Seva started to connect to more of their senses, more of their systems. There was a soft glow behind their eyes as they reactivated, their first image that of a black and white close up of the floor. There was a slight twitching throughout their body for a moment as other limbs started to connect back into the ACHEs motor functions. Seva's mouth opened and closed a few times against the floor before sound actually came out. They still needed to time to fully make sure, but there also seemed to be something more connected to their systems. Familiar, but something they knew had not been there.

""Sta-a-a-a-a-a-and by-y-y-y-y-y,"" they stuttered, managing to regain some control of their vocals.

There was a segmented movement as Seva raised their head, their neck stopping and going while the rest of their body was limp, facing their savior, what appeared to be a small mechanical filly-bot. Color functions slowly started to restore, the grayscale scene changing to include blue.

""St-status: Primary alignment process complete. Currently in final st-stages of full somatic re-synchronization. Est-estimated nanocolony capability increase by 10%.""

Seva was not sure how exactly, but they knew a new system had developed in their body. As they connected to it, analyzed it, they realized what it was, a MAUD Effect Generator. That wasn't part of their functions before. Could the realignment have somehow filled in whatever gaps prevented it from coming to be before? This filly-like AI was extraordinary if she could do that. Seva didn't recall one being on board though, where did she come from? Though perhaps more pertinently though...

""Inquiry: If Copperette is not injured, why are you in the medbay?"" Seva asked, looked between the filly-bot and Copperette.

Copperette sighed, relieved that Seva was alright. "Everybody's yelling at each other in the living room," she explained, continuing to rub Seva's shoulder. "You were missing, though, so I thought I would come find you," she said, gently leaning her enchanted disk against a wall.

Seva Copperette
"Speculation: Degree and Belgond had a disagreement. The Minotaur Borealis a likely accomplice." Sweetie Bot reports, then tilting her head. "Maybe they were fighting over pillow rights? Database indicates this is common in sleepovers."

Belgond nodded his head a little at Golden before a yawn escaped from his maw. "With the right altercations, I could. However, at this point in time I don't think I'm going to make them. A good sleep sounds really good right now." Walking over to reclaim in red robe for tomorrow via picking it up with his mouth, the zebra walked over to a cot near where Golden was and hung it up on his own little peg. Before he got into his cot through, he walked over to Golden and softly nuzzled her before saying "Try and get a sleep alright? If you need anything at all feel free to wake me up."

Copperette thought they were missing. Between that statement, the physical contact, and the feeling of relief coming off her, there was an incredibly satisfying feeling to all of that. Maybe it was a side effect of their recent realignment, but Seva had this strange feeling of pieces sliding into the right places. The possibility of conflict among the crew was... unfortunate, but at least there was this.

""Initial observations have suggested that this ship is under-equipped. It is possible that there is a lack of sleeping resources,"" Seva responded.

Even if “sleepover” wasn't the term they would use, Seva recognized the importance of sleep, and how damaging it may be to the crew if they could not get any.

""Suggestion: We can follow you both back to the personnel quarters and attempt to aid in diffusing the situation,""  Seva then turned to face Copperette in particular, ""We can remain on standby in the personnel quarters instead of the medbay during sleep if you believe our presence our help.""

Copperette looked up at Seva nervously. "N-n-no... You need to stay here and watch all the hurt ponies," she said. She looked around, and found a blanket. "I'll just curl up in the corner," she explained, adjusting her disk to lean against the wall much like a tent before scooting underneath with her blanket.

Seva Copperette
Seeing this, Sweetie Bot will sidle up next to Copperette and sit down next to her, her tail navigating on its own to a nearby wall outlet where the tail hairs part to reveal a plug that she inserts into the outlet. She snuggles up to Copperette, and despite the flex-plate alloy being a little cool to the touch at first, Sweetie's internal power conversion process soon diffuses heat through her entire frame, creating an impromptu filly-shaped radiator. "Unit entering idle mode... please say 'Sweetie wake up' if in need of reactivation..." Her head droops slightly, and Copperette recognizes that this is probably as close to sleep as a robot can get.

The rest of the injured children seem to be napping quietly under the influence of the restorative magic that is released by the medbay - and all is quiet for the moment.

Respecting Copperette's nerves and course of action to not return, Seva nodded. They watched as Copperette made herself comfortable, Sweetie coming up close as well. One of Seva's runtimes felt the urge to get in close as well, have a direct line to the unicorn's emotions – a notion that was immediately shot down by the others. They could get by well enough on the ambiance of all the ponies in the medbay.

So instead, Seva elected to stand at attention in a key point of the room where they could keep an eye out, doing apparently nothing as they finished up the processes of bringing their body back into full working order.

As they watched the children and listened to the hum of the engines, Seva felt at least a small amount of satisfaction. In their neural network, errors still lingered, but they were starting to be balanced out by another process that was taking hold. They would make sure these children – and perhaps the whole crew – would be kept safe and healed.

Copperette Belgond Seva Degree Borealis
The lull in activity lasts for a few hours as all of the passengers settle in to rest. Some fall asleep quickly, others stay up to consider the changes in their lives, but as it was, it was... peaceful.

A few hours pass uneventfully, enough for most individuals on board to catch a restful nap, but eventually the ship begins to vibrate - weakly at first but growing more insistent, and after a few moments Degree is the first to awaken, his eyes snapping open as his experience as a traveler kicks in; the ship is soon to exit hyperspace. As the rattling becomes more severe, the other passengers wake up as well, some lazily, others a bit more acute. Activity resumes on the ship soon enough, and Degree at the helm of the ship notices a still sleepy looking but conscious enough looking Clean Cut walk onto the bridge before activating the PA system. "Can all... uhm, 'crew members' please report to the bridge for briefing."

At the corner of the bridge, Gristle cracks one eye open before stretching lavishly, settling into a cross-legged sitting pose (which is only slightly different from the pose she was in during the rest period) and taking her pipe-cane in paw.

In the living quarters, Gears mumbles something incoherently before her implants buzz slightly, causing her to jump a little. She grimaces but stretches out her limbs, sluggishly moving to slip on her vest. The children and few adults present also seem to be waking up, filling the room with a buzz of chatter and exciting talking.

The medbay's situation is a little calmer, with many of the children still in a restorative sleep until their condition is healed completely. Sweetie Bot seems to have cooled back down at some point during the few hours once her batteries were charged, and she's sitting motionless next to Copperette, her eyes closed and the usual lines of light around her body dimmed to near darkness.

Used to waking early during his training and service, Borealis simply grunts as he rises from bed, slightly groggy but determined to keep to his normal ritual - freshen up with whatever was available, arm up with his hardlight armaments, and meet the ranking officer for briefing. He supposed in this case that would be Clean Cut.

Strapping on the gauntlet part of his bodysuit and fastening the shoulder mounted hardlight projectors, Borealis pauses for a moment to see how his comrades nearby are doing, and if they needed help with anything.

Copperette was falling.

She fell darkness, unable to see much - but she was definitely falling. Periodically lights would flash as she fell past them, whispers of years gone by tickling her ears. Shapes began to form in the darkness. Copperette could see them. Her friends. Her teachers. Princess Twilight. Her uncle. Her father. They circled around her, almost aimlessly dancing in peculiar patterns. Copperette called out. They ignored her, continuing to dance about, until they crumbled away, left behind in Copperette's journey through time.

New shapes formed. Granny. Golden Gears. Belgond. Sweetie. Fire. Panic. Again, Copperette called out.

A silvery substance formed at her hooves, shaping into a sort of bowl that caught her, ending her fall. The bowl's edge rose, forming a bubble around her. Copperette tensed - she was trapped in this silvery stuff. And yet there was safety, too - Copperette couldn't get out, but neither could anything get in. The substance writhed and twisted around her, whispering words she couldn't comprehend. It soothed her, and yet Copperette was distraught. How could the whispers understand? She had lost everything...

Copperette awoke with a start, her dreams fading rapidly. "Nnngh..." She glanced around, noting Sweetie Bot snuggled next to her, and Seva "sleeping" in another corner. She heard somepony on the PA trying to tell her to go somewhere and do something... But why? It was far too early to be up yet.

"Noooo," Copperette groaned, rolling over onto her side to face the wall as she quickly drifted back to sleep...

Between the ship exiting hyperspace and the PA announcement, it was enough for Seva to start taking action. They slowly re-scanned the room, slowly approaching Copperette and the robot as they ran a low-level diagnostic on themselves, wanting to make sure they didn't overexert themselves like last time. Gingerly, so as to avoid too much discomfort, Seva leaned down to Copperette's level, and gently shook one of Copperette's hooves, trying to encourage her to awaken.

""Copperette, our presence has been requested on the bridge. It would be advantageous to go now, have an understanding of the area we are in, and offer input while it is still possible to do so,"" Seva politely insisted.

Seva's attention then turned to the filly-bot. Seva was still not sure, but considering the evidence at hand, the robot seemed to be a personal assistant – or perhaps more appropriately, a companion, to Copperette.

""Sweetie wake up,"" Seva stated, ""Requesting assistance in waking Copperette.""

"Goway," Copperette groused, burying her hooves and head beneath the blanket. "I'm shleepy," she mumbled, her voice muffled by the blanket.

"Bwuh!" Degree almost falls out of his seat as his senses jerks him awake, interrupting a sweet dream about credits and fire. Maybe credits on fire. Out of sheer instinct Degree pulls out the Burninator and locks in a clip of dragonflame, pumping the slide action before realizing that it's just the ship's engine doing its job. He lowers the flamethrower with a sigh, as Clean Cut enters the room.

"What's up, doc?" Degree finally says, when Clean Cut finishes his announcement.

CopperetteSeva
As Seva says the trigger, Sweetie Bot's eyes flash open, and the power lines around her chassis switch on, but instead of the usual green, they glow a deep red. "Activate Warframe Protocol! Prepare for assimila-" Sweetie Bot stops suddenly as two little spark units pop out of her shoulders. She looks at them, confused, before giving them a light tap, which produces a small electrical charge. "...It appears unit 5W33713-807 does not possess auto-combat modules. Oops. My bad. Please disregard the previous statement."

She turns to Seva, her power lines fading back into an electric green. Her optic sensors focus on the ACHE, and her processors take a few moments to calculate how to address the situation. Finally, she turns towards Copperette. "Big sister, we are needed on the bridge. There will be strategic briefings, database analysis, and other such activities of fun. Bigger sister requests our cooperation." Her processing finally decides that, given the ACHE is the older of the two synthetic lifeforms aboard the Onset Dawn, their relation can best be defined in a familial relationship, to adhere to Pony cultural sensibilities of grouping similar type of individuals into family groups. Her core processor sees no problem with this logic.

Degree
Clean Cut grunts tiredly. "Seen better days," he says, "but that's not important right now. The priority right now is to take the dependents to safety, we should probably talk this through with the rest of the... crew."

Borealis
There doesn't seem to be much in terms of trouble - Golden Gears, while groggy, is doing well enough calibrating her vest, and the pegasi Belgond brought on board seem to wake up pretty well. Night Snow is up, and seems to be getting ready to head to the bridge as a representative of the pegasi group.

Seeing no real reason to stick around, Borealis waits for a bit more for Night Snow to start moving, before he approaches Snow while also leaving for the bridge. "Night Snow, right? Never got to finish our conversation, did we?"

Copperette stared up at Sweetie and Seva with bleary eyes. "Ngggh..." she groaned, crawling out of her hole and stretching.

"...Coffee," she decided, heading into the ship to see if she could find any...

There was silence on the bridge of theDeux Ex Machina as the crew waited with baited breath to hear word from the surface of New Zebrica. Ships of various sizes surrounded them in space, but they were not real threat to them anymore; As they had launched their coup, machine cult members that had been stationed throughout New Zebrica's home fleet had sabotaged key systems, leaving the ships floating in the void defenseless; It was doubtful that many of the crews even knew what had happened yet. Strike teams using the fruits of the cults labors moved in swiftly to ensure that this war ended in less then twenty minutes of starting by capturing the Kaisar and the Council of Fifty before a war could truly begin. They did not need a civil war of all things right now...

Belgond sat on the edge of his captains chair, hooves pressed against each other in front of his muzzle in deep thought as he waited for word from the brothers and sisters of the machine that he had known almost all his life. Despite the doubts plaguing his mind, he knew that this was the right course of action. With the galactic war that was raging against the invading Archetypes the Kaisarat needed to fully dedicate itself with its allies for any hope of victory but politicians had dared to jam the gears of the war machine with red tape for personal profit and petty grudges. They needed to be removed from power as swiftly as possible so that the Kaisarat could be the beacon of hope that it needed to be... with himself and the Cult at the helm.

Stirring as the PA system woke him from his dream, Belgond stared at the ceiling for a moment as his thoughts needed time in order to warm up and become something worth listening to. In the meantime the various systems that he had powered down in order to sleep started to turn back on as well. Once everything was working at least well enough to get up and get started on the day, Belgond rolled off of his back and out of bed with his hooves hitting the floor at the same time.

Glancing at Golden for a moment and admiring her appearance while she was getting her vest on, Belgond quickly donned his own robe for the day. Rolling his shoulders to work out some of the kinks, Belgond sighed as he muttered aloud "I will be better today then I was yesterday." as if it was a short prayer one said to themselves to perk themselves up and get them through the day. Waiting until Golden was ready, Belgond would walk with her towards the bridge before asking "How did you sleep?"

Seva seemed to take Sweetie's activation with their usual detached interest, though internally they made a note to double check on the origin of the robot. Were parts of her derived from combat drones? And that wasn't even touching on the manner of address. Sister? It seemed to regard both Copperette and Seva in this degree, which was fascinating since there wasn't any direct relationship that Seva could discern. At the very least, there was an obvious difference between the mechanical entity and a biological one. Again, Seva made a note to check into this at a more convenient time. At the present, they saw no need to contradict the filly-bot. There were being useful at the least, and seemed to have convinced Copperette to get up.

It seemed that Copperette needed additional incentive though. Coffee. It was unfortunate, the dependence some ponies had upon the substance, but Seva accepted that.

""Sweetie, please guide Copperette to the supply closet to locate a coffee ration. We will locate a container and boil water,"" the ACHE requested.

Copperette
"Acquisition of caffeine is in process! We will acquire the rations of coffee, and have sisterly tea parties." Sweetie Bot beams and starts nudging Copperette in the direction of the supply closet. "Ship schematics indicate dry-freeze supply storage is in this direction."

Eventually Sweetie stops in front of a storeroom door, which swings open with a firm tackle from the small robot. After clambering back up to her feet, Sweetie Bot pokes her head inside. "That cabinet holds the drink mixes," she trots over and tries to reach for the coffee mix, in a transparent pot perched high up on the third shelf, but she quickly realizes that her stubby legs barely let her reach the first shelf, let alone the third shelf. "Copperette, my master plan has failed. I require assistance..." she waves her hooves in futility at the coffee.

Seva
After some rooting around Seva finds most of the needed supplies in the food preparation room, including a mug and an auto-kettle, already filled with some amount of hot water. Seva can easily locate the storeroom after acquiring the necessary supplies.

Borealis
Night Snow nods as he starts moving, trotting next to Borealis. "You were going to... draft the boys into some kinda service for the ship, right? I can get behind that."

Belgond
"As well as I probably could have given the conditions. A few more hours would have been nice, but... beggars can't be choosers." Golden yawns as she sets off beside Belgond, the mechanical limbs curiously morphing into different abstract shapes as she worked out some remaining kinks in her back. "How about you?"

Belgond actually had to pause for a moment to consider what he remembered of his dream last night before nodding his head a little. "I actually had a rather good dream last night. Kind of a shame that it ended so soon..." Taking a moment to look at Golden, a playful grin appeared on his face as he said "You were there." Wasn't going to lie, she had looked great wearing one of the order's robes...

"I figured that between the kids, Degree, and all the other crew members, we probably want some kind of watch going on - even if only in key locations." Borealis said. "We could set your boys on rotation as lookouts - not necessarily just for shady business but also for mechanical malfunction and any sort of abnormalities on the ship."

Copperette looked up at the indicated pot. "Uugggh," she moaned, feeling distaste at the necessity of basic spellcasting at this un-Celestial hour of the day. Her horn sparked and enveloped it in her magic, gently pulling it down towards the waiting fillies...