"Ability Testing Underway: Ensign requested to instruct, approach and calculate probable effects. Minimal Danger Incentives: AI cut off from ship's systems, as per requested from subsequent event earlier ."

"Uhh..what? Can somebody repeat that please?" Matthews replies with an innate misunderstanding of the Engi's literal dialect, exploring through his communicator for some kind of outlet.

This feels like an odd setting and set of events to him. Cooped up in a large white room aboard the 'USS Alacor', several Engi scientists in Federation designed lab coats monitoring various types of equipment on the other side of the room as he shifts through menus in his communicator, a small cable attached to the small port near the wrist fastener presumably for this 'test'. Being told to simply 'instruct'.

The two Engi scientists beside a large computer vid-screen look to each other in a way that implies slight awe at his misinterpretation, as far as he can tell with their expression-less screen faces. Prompted to reiterate, one of the Engi scientists on the other side of the room replies a little simpler, as best as it can simplify it.

"Instructions will be restated: Speak to AI present in your wrist communicator. Prompt and induce for response and effect if possible." The message is still a bit vague to his comparatively simpler mind, but Matthews gets the gist of what the Engi is saying; he tries to find some sort of menu for it. He's having trouble and decides to share the perceived problem.

"Uhh, I don't exactly know how.." He takes a guess and turns on his local transmission receiver, pressing the indicated button and speaking into the sensitive microphone built into the device. "Hello? Robot..voice? You there?" He doesn't get a reply, then shaking his forearm to try to physically jolt a response, despite the AI being electronically hosted inside. "Come on you damn robot..thing!" A little bit redundant in hindsight, one of the scientists decides to give his little more-than-obvious input at his action.

"AI presence not physical: Exertion and physical effort highly unlikely to incite response."

Matthews thinks subjectively, 'No, really?' as he mindlessly flips through several frequencies, inadvertently hailing several nearby personnel outside of the room while attempting to establish contact with the AI through guesswork. The Engi scientists note the recurring method not working, one of them formally suggests something else.

"Current method invalid: Attempt alternative, last indicated order input?"

"...." Matthews doesn't seem to fully understand, simply raising an eyebrow to the Engi's suggestion, respectively. The Engi scientist reiterates it's statement, taking a relative mental note to use simpler methods of communication in future testing when available.

"Communicative block high possibility: Report shows you requested AI to go into relative 'sleep' mode. Method of interruption: Incited break in order, Artificial Intelligence cancelled it's instructions when attacked. Explained forced response method: Simulate danger."

"Simulate danger..?" He's unsure what it means by that, but the Engi takes his confused response as a yes and silently grabs a nearby device with an antennae and complex joystick on the front. A small door beside them slides open with a swift shink, a small repair drone rolls out of the small compartment under the Engi's remote control, around half of Matthew's relative size when it rolls over to him on it's one wheel. The body consists of a simple frame, the outer shell a clean white with little green lights scattered throughout the little joints of the drone and a large glass band on it's 'face' ; it's simple arms usually used to hold simple tools like a blowtorch for repairs or a fire extinguisher. It suddenly dawns on Matthews on what they're suggesting by 'simulate danger', just as the drone starts to pull a device out from inside it's frame.

"Beginning Response Testing." The Engi controller simply says as the drone turns on it's blowtorch, Matthews backing away out of his seat, yelping as he's startled.

"Whoa, whoa! Give me some warning first!" He steps back away from the drone as it slowly rolls forward with the torch in-hand, facing the flame upward to avoid injury, though Matthews appears startled by the sight none the less. As the Engi scientists were counting on with their rash testing procedures, Matthew's communicator suddenly starts beeping and the monotone female voice can be heard through the speaker; relaying a distress message.

"Warning: Hostile Entity Detected. Advisory suggested. Update: Mutliple vulnerabilities detected, Advisory suggested."

"Indicated results: Sufficient." The Engi controller says as it processes that last bit. "Questioning methods of AI: Multiple vulnerabilities? Ensign Matthews, commence introduction of commands if preferable."

Upon that badly-worded prompt, Matthews tries to pick out a command off the top of his head, blurting out something while unsure of his own choice of words.

"Err..execute..combat?" He looks over to the Engi confusedly, not being given instruction on what to do exactly, he reforms his request audibly. "Well..shutdown?" He reiterates it into a more command-like phrase. "Shut down that drone." After a quick second, the command registers with the monotone voice as a confirmation.

"Order Acknowledged: Executing."

The Engi briefly thinks, 'Executing?' just before Matthew's communicator starts to flood with various numbers consisting of 1's and 0's, he reacts justly to the strange encounter.

"Whoa, uhh.. you guys seeing this?" Matthews walks around the drone and briskly walks over to them both, displaying his forearm to them as the numbers keep rapidly changing from several indiscernible patterns, quickly ceasing altogether as he crouches beside them. "Oh..fuck. It was a bunch of numbers, what's that supposed t—" His explanation is interrupted as the drone suddenly starts to fluctuate with movement upon receiving no command to move, dropping it's blowtorch as it's still on, lightly scorching the white metal tile floor. The Engi take notice and try to regain control to no avail, the main controller commenting on the odd sight.

"AI's control method indiscernible: Original projection shows method of hacking, updated firewall should block out further access to ship interior." The Engi attempts to reassure him that it can no longer access the ship controls, though it being able to disable the drone is up to debate along those lines. "Drone unresponsive due to signal block: Possible disruption method used in earlier event? Further discussion needed: Main focus is to find control method. Ensign Matthews, if you'd please instruct the AI to do another command?" Matthews nervously nods and approaches the malfunctioning drone from behind, it's no longer moving due to no command input and is just sitting up on it's wheel still.

"Uh, AI?" He doesn't get a response to this kind of question, he assumes it's listening to him anyway. "Pick up the blow torch." Duly accepting the command, the AI gives an odd message as the drone starts to spark.

"Advisory: Cessation of hostilities in-progress."

The drone starts to twitch as it's motors malfunction, eventually the drone starts to lose it's balance and falls forward, the power giving out all together as the green lights slowly dim and abruptly shut off.

"...huh." Matthews feels the back of his head, it seemingly ignored his last order.

"Cessation of hostilities: Complete. Awaiting further orders."

The Engi controller decides to step in and reaches down for the torch, promptly turning it off before it does anymore damage to the paneling along the floor. Grabbing the back of the frame of the drone, it tediously drags the little drone back towards the other Engi scientist, commenting on the event as they both plug wires into it to monitor any further activity.

"AI hacking methods may not be as originally thought: Disruption method is effective, however, orders given are taken as priority until said otherwise. Unpredictable outcomes are likely: Unknown if capable of other abilities. Further testing needed?"

The doors beside them suddenly beep and open, a human male Federation Lieutenant steps inside and looks clear at Matthews. The Engi scientist politely mentions what they're doing, addressing the officer by rank as it pries open the back paneling of the damaged drone.

"Current testing is live, Lieutenant. Given priority orders by designated Admiral Tully: Interruption is not an option at this time." The Lieutenant puts his hand up to his chest and lightly waves it to the side in a dismissing motion, adding some context to his sudden arrival.

"Excuse me Dr. But I've also been given priority orders, to escort Matthews to his quarters, he's been reassigned: effective immediately. Straight from Admiral Turzil, respectively. Here. " The Lieutenant moves one of his hands into his uniform's side pockets, handing the Engi scientist a slip of paper with several lines of text along the whole of it. Somehow the Engi is able to read the majority very quickly, Matthews assumes it's innate for an Engi when it just as quickly hands the slip back.

"Very well, Ensign Matthews is dismissed from this testing session: Advising caution against any further AI activity, Matthews. Suggested Keyword from Testing: Sleep mode, shut down procedures, should anything dangerous emerge." It's not hard to see why it emphasizes that, the dead drone lying right beside it. After a brief transaction of further papers and apparent data between the two Engi's, Matthews is prompted to follow the Lieutenant and duly does so, although he doesn't know precisely why he's suddenly been moved or reassigned. As they walk down the long halls of the ship, Matthews tries to strike a conversation about his apparent 'assignment', before getting momentarily distracted by the sight of several other little repair drones scattered around the area.

'Huh..' He watches a repair drone systematically and cleanly graft a piece of grey reinforced steel plating to an exposed bunch of wires across the floor, assuming it'll paint over the replacement plating. The halls looks clean but still damaged, something notable enough for Matthews to bring up as he sees two drones simultaneously carry a small girder past both him and the Lieutenant.

".. Lieutenant?" He seems to respond minimally, turning his head slightly but otherwise still walking. "What's with all the repair drones?" Oddly enough, the Lieutenant responds simply with one word.

"Repairs."

'I get that..' Matthews ignores his inner annoyed voice and asks a little more precisely. "Why are they repairing so much on the ship?" The two turn the corner of the hallway and the Lieutenant seems hesitant, despite how stone-faced he's been on this short walk so far. He answers, it doesn't seem to come easy.

"They're repairing the ship after that whole battle..you know the one." The Lieutenant stops to enter a security key to the crew's quarters, giving Matthews a moment to think as he ponders about 'the battle'. Matthews wasn't there, he wasn't even with the Federation during the whole push towards the Federation base, but everyone knew about it when Rebel cruisers suddenly flooded the skies of dozens of systems and planets taking control by force, or otherwise taking system surface control only when they didn't have the ground forces to take a planet.

'Damn Rebels..' Bundles of anger start to engross as he's reminded of them, he quickly snaps out of it as he starts to ball his fist, the Lieutenant calling to him on the other side of the doorway. '..oh.' Matthews walks past the doorway into the crew's quarters, taking note at the drones even repairing the interior. 'Fuck..it's been two weeks since and repairs are still going on?' It seems even Admiral Tully's ship took a pounding in what people keep calling 'The Last Stand'. The Lieutenant steps and stands by a specific doorway, Matthews assuming it's his own and heads toward it, unexpectedly seeing the door open and a familiar figure step out of it.

"Choh..thello Thathews." It's Ensign Melody, evidently carrying his transport bag in her teeth that muffles her speech, presumably it has all of his personal items inside.

"Hey, that's my bag!" As Matthews reaches to grasp it away, she promptly pulls away from him, lifting one of her forelegs to stretch away from him; lightly swatting his hand away with her lifted foreleg. She lowers her head and lets go of the large handle, her tongue visibly sliding out of her mouth with an expression of slight disgust.

"Ech. I do wish the Federation would make some things more.. sanitary.." Seems like an odd priority for her to have, at least in his mind. He quickly settles that her species probably doesn't have a choice in that case, she doesn't have opposable thumbs to carry anything and only has her mouth for anything prehensile related, the thought briefly lingers on why she has a pistol if that's the case; it's quickly ignored as his focus shifts back towards her.

"Yeah? Well maybe you shouldn't have your mouth all over it." He attempts to grab his bag again and fails, duly swatted away by one of her forelegs again. She goes on to explain as she nudges his bag back towards him herself, visibly discomforted with his hostile tone.

"I'm not taking anything Matthews, so don't get all into a fit about it! I'm just doing my duty and inspecting your bag for anything anomalous, or otherwise deemed as contraband..respectively."

Matthews crosses his arms a little annoyed at this realization, feeling pushed to have to ask her something.

"...and? What did you find in my personal travel bag, Miss Inspector?"

She paws one of her appendages along the metal tile floor, mumbling something under her breath before speaking vocally.

"..deodorant, spare clothing, uniforms for ground duty and.. miscellaneous personal effects. Nothing out of the ordinary." She seems slightly embarrassed, it's hard for him to tell other than with her eyes and small indications of body language.

"Course not.." He angrily grabs his bag and unzips it, discovering she evidently bothered to fold the clothing she took out back inside, something he didn't expect; but not something he lingers on as he addresses the key issue. "Ensign Melody, you're not supposed to go into people's quarter's, especially not crew's belongings." She looks visibly annoyed, quickly shifting from her previously embarrassed emotion to a less tolerating one like his own.

"What, I was under orders! It's my duty to, sir!" She stomps one of her appendages onto the floor to detest, surprisingly rough sounding for a soft-looking being like herself as it clangs on the floor audibly, explaining a little further as he seems to be confused in response to her agitated statement. "What, you weren't aware of this, sir?" She looks towards Matthews, confused herself. "But I told—" She's interrupted by the Lieutenant beside them both, addressing the apparent argument they're both interacting in.

"I'm..sorry Lieutenant."

'Wait, Lieutenant? What? She's an Ensign!' Matthews thinks as he looks over to him as well, him continuing the rest of his sentence.

"I was to make the Captain aware of his new ranking upon arrival to the bridge, but I didn't expect you to be here still." The Lieutenant crosses his arms, he doesn't seem angry, just seemingly informative. Matthews notices a keyword, a confusing one.

'..Captain?' Matthews decides to interrupt them both, placing his hands above to his own chest to grab their attention.

"Whoa, whoa. What's all this 'Captain' talk about? I'm an Ensign, 0-1. So is Melody, last I checked!"

The Lieutenant responds duly, taking a quick look towards the semi-confused Melody just below them both.

"It wasn't exactly a planned promotion, I'm sorry, sir. Lieutenant Melody was present at the time, you however weren't around for the news. Admiral Turzil wanted to see you both on the bridge as soon as you both were present, Miss Melody should be able to take you there from this point, sir." It feels strange as the Lieutenant salutes Matthews and turns to leave, leaving him with an awkward moment of silence with Melody.

"....."

Melody being the less awkward side in this argument, decides to chip in and explain herself.

"I was to inspect contraband in case the incident present earlier was from anything else malicious, or otherwise possibly in the room. An inspection team already looked,.. but I decided to chip in too. They made a right mess as well." She readjusts her body's relative position to face him, she looks up slightly towards him. "Don't take my duties as a bad thing, sir." She smiles slightly, gesturing her head towards the other end of the hall, subtly saying to walk with her as she pulls up one of her forelegs. "Besides, Ensi—Err, sorry sir. Besides, Captain, from what information I've gotten, it seems like we're both being promoted to more grandeur positions." Matthews follows her, subtly observing her walking pattern, an interesting one comparable to the Mantis; each leg moving to coincide with each other to meet the inertia and a pattern to walk coherently. 'Overthinking it..' as he turns back to face her, she keeps talking, trying to start a casual conversation while on the way.

"It is quite an interesting experience, Captain. I've been present in the Federation military for a few weeks, but I didn't expect to be prom—" She's suddenly interrupted as the ship's intercom turns on, a voice speaks out loud, audibly it appears to be Admiral Turzil's voice giving a message to all crewmen.

"All personnel, brace for FTL jump; ETA is 15 seconds. Repeat, brace for FTL jump."

"Oh, get a hand against the wall Lieutenant." Melody suggests as she herself goes on her hind legs, gripping onto a piece of railing beside a portside window. Matthews takes a brief moment while gripping the railing, looking outside the clear window into the depths of space, the asteroid belt housing the station they were just on in the far distance; light displays of light show as the laser Point-Defense-Systems destroys small asteroids heading towards the station. The intercom speaks again before things suddenly get incoherently blurry.

"Brace!"

The entire ship drifts into an incoherent blur, his perception of time gets skewed as does the background, gravity shifts to the left side of the ship then quickly to the right. The feeling and anomaly ends as soon as it begins, things quickly head back into place as does the center of gravity aboard the ship, Matthews blinking a few times to get back into his perceived reality as the ship very abruptly comes to a stop. He feels very subtly dizzy, a common after-effect of a Faster-Than-Light jump, as used to it as he probably should have been by now. Melody seems a little more phased than him, rocking a little to the side before she can stand upright, audibly mumbling something as she rights herself back upward.

"Wha—Whoa, ah.." She feels the top of her head with her foreleg, lightly rubbing the top of her mane as she snaps out of her brief phased state. "Ah, do excuse me. I'm..still getting used to that feeling." She nervously smiles upon seeing Matthews recover faster than her, giving a valid excuse to her more present condition. "My native species is not accustomed to space travel, so to speak. Honestly, I should probably be used to it by now." She briefly smiles before realizing their task at hand, she gestures her hoof side along with her eyes. "Ah, my apologies. Let's head to the bridge." She takes a brief look outside the port window, seeing the vastly different background, having jumped near a small grassy planetary body nearby. They both can feel the ship shift slightly as they hear the impulse drives turn on, the ship using it's normal engines to travel the relatively small distance, in reality being several thousand kilometers away from the planet's atmosphere and FTL beacon. It's a light hum relative to the actual amount of noise impulse drives would make exposed to air at full power, audible solely by vibration in the Capital ship's frame.

"....."

In a way, he's missed this feeling. Exploring space, the FTL jumps, even the friendly personnel in the Federation. Minus the Engi scientists that sicked a drone with a blowtorch towards him, but he can excuse the Engi for that. Taking a look outside several port windows as they continue through the various halls of the ship, he takes occasional looks towards the now designated Lieutenant Melody and her apparent refitted uniform. It has a slightly different variation in it's design, the shoulders having a lighter tone of blast-armoring along the base, a small cloth strip pinned with an orange metal tip along the edges of her small shoulders. He takes a gander towards her front, spotting the new ranking pin, consisting of two conjoined silver vertical stripes with a small band in between to join them together.

'Hmph.'

Matthews puts his hands into his uniform's pants pockets, trying to remember the bind and historic meaning behind that rank. Keywords such as 'Unity' and 'Conjoined' come to mind, but he can't pick any details out, barely remembering the lectures given when he originally enlisted. His thoughts are interrupted by the sight of a Federation Carrier jumping into the nearby space via FTL in the distance, several smaller fighters following shortly after, presumably as military escorts for the freight-minded ship. It takes a moment for their impulse drives to activate, otherwise leaving them static in space.

"Hm." He makes an audible noise that Melody picks up on as he monitors the ships, she suddenly yelps as she looks over towards him as she side steps.

"Captain, watch ou—" She's too late as he accidentally slams his body into a nearby wall as they're about the round a corner.

"Agh! Oh, uh, sorry." He's not used to being called 'Captain', he briefly wonders how he even got this promotion. He decides to ask Melody the specifics, her apparently having prior knowledge of this news. "Melody?"

She duly responds after briefly asking, "Sir, are you alright?" Matthews dismisses the question and his own, settling for Turzil's explanation to this.

"..nevermind." Matthews turns to his left and places his hands back into his pant's pockets, simply replying. "Let's go, Lieutenant." He reverts back to calling her by rank, assuming that's a context she prefers. Something feels off, but he ignores the inkling feeling as they head into the main passageway towards the bridge, spotting several various crewmen along the way. Most are Human, very few being Rockmen and Mantis, Matthews has yet to see a Zoltan on-board. It dawns on him that he hasn't even seen another Equestrian, a rarity among the Federation or really anywhere in general.

"..."

He decides not to bring it up after taking a quick look at Melody. He figures 'She probably doesn't want to talk about it.' as they take another turn around a corner, nearly bumping into the forefront of a Rockman's torso, long enough to see he's a Lieutenant with designation as 0-1. Most find it hard to tell aliens apart, but they have their own defining features such as eye color and body make-up, among other simple distinctions. Simple ones like individualized rock-like body structure for the Rockmen, and Mantis with their scarring and relative body color aligned their carapace; unless they shed their outer exoskeleton at some point. Matthews is left wondering how Melody's race is or how it fared, he knows extremely little other than they're very much horse-like and vegetarians, he's unsure if they all have the same accent or same kind of outlook on the Federation. He can see the main doorway to the bridge clear down the hall, the Capital ship USS Alacor being one of the largest in the fleet and a bit of a long walk to get from one section to the other.

"..."

'..This feels familiar..' An eerie feeling starts to creep up, a twisted recollection of deja'vu as he stares at the bridge's access door, it's the same make of what he remembers. Matthews closes his eyes and ignores the feeling before he gets noticeably distraught, making a small cough as he enters his security key into the door UI and waits for it to respond after a brief moment. The sliding door opens and both enter the room, an almost oval-shaped large command center filled with various personnel on monitoring equipment staring at vid-screens and typing into virtual keyboards in their designated positions, the back of the room with a large reinforced window as a general outlook towards the front and outer hull of the Capital ship. It's an interesting sight, one he hasn't seen for a while as he steps past an empty Captain's chair, Turzil standing with his arms behind his back seemingly staring out the window towards the nearby planet they're on a course to. The Admiral waits a moment before addressing them both, hearing them step and stop behind him, they duly salute as he turns around to face them.

"Admiral." Melody simply says, dropping her right foreleg back down, Matthews simply putting his hands behind his back in respect. Turzil addresses them both simply, turning towards Matthews.

"Lieutenant, Captain. I apologize for the perceived frantic assignments across the ship: Not the intent to overwhelm you both. Prior knowledge of your arrival was clear: Addressing both of your new designations and assignments. Confusion may end up as present: Assignment essential freelance."

Melody decides to chip in, waiting for the Admiral's method of speech to cease.

"Lieutenant Melody reporting, sir. Might I ask what you mean by 'Freelance' ? I'm not sure I'm..familiar with that term, at least not as a designation." Turzil puts his short arm upward, halting Melody's question as he presents an oddly worded answer.

"Freelance as a designation is as explained: Freelance work, limited free-reign over current assignment at your own discretion, otherwise authorized or denied by general superiors once instructed. Explanation of this designation confusing: Captain Matthews has been given this designation, given priority above typical officers at similar rank." Melody chips in again, but unexpectedly interrupted by Matthews instead.

"Sir." Matthews addresses Turzil, continuing with some slight hesitance present in his tone. "Are you sure I'm fit for this assignment? I..don't remember a Captain's procedures well, and I'm not sure I'm qualified for—" He's interrupted by Turzil, putting his hand up again.

"Concern is understandable, Captain: This decision was not made by myself alone, Admiral Tully gave free reign over your designation as well. Overall agreed, though not coherently clear to the outside observer: The AI imprinted to you is a great advantage for the coming battles if could be finely tuned to the controller, or otherwise mass produced. Trial testing has been granted under near unanimous voting: You are to be designated in general control of your own ship with a designated crew, among the most prominent members being Lieutenant Melody." She looks mildly surprised, trying to keep her professional look in front of a superior, Turzil continues with his explanation while now looking over towards Melody. "This AI presence has a designated name, the origin is still up to debate: Named Twi. E. Sparkle."

'..Sparkle?' Matthews subtly thinks as Turzil continues, it feels like a weird name, but it becomes clear as to what he's addressing shortly after.

"Name shows origin with the Lieutenant's species: The Equestrian home world. Familiarity is not to be expected or demanded, respectively, Melody." As expected, Melody chimes in with a short confirmation before Turzil continues.

"I'm sorry sir, that not doesn't sound familiar to me personally. It does sound..right, however, if you mean it's origin is from there. I'm afraid I don't know what the name would mean, 'Sparkle'. "

"Your admission is to be dismissed Lieutenant: Knowledge of the Equestrian planet is limited, I would not expect you to know it's current news or going-ons currently underway. This AI shows to be of Engi and Zoltan-make, but the name is to be questioned. General briefing purpose is not to overwhelm you: It is to fine tune this AI for military purposes, should the opportunity be present. This AI was found to be made for the Federation." Admiral Turzil steps to the side, pacing slightly away then back again while explaining further. "However, it did not show Federation as a registered ID: A curious set of events given present circumstances." Admiral Turzil faces upwards towards Matthews directly.

"Captain, information output is a lot to take in, your assignment is simple: Under special authorization color, Violet, you are hereby designated as Federation Freelance." Turzil readjusts his stance and puts his hands behind his back again.

"Your first assignment is to head towards the general area of the Equestrian's system: gathering supplies and brokering whatever is deemed necessary to achieve your mission. Operation Restoration is in effect: The Federation's main focus is the gain of allies to bolster our defenses and attack ability. I would highly encourage you along the way to give a positive example of the Federation: help all allied forces whenever you deem it necessary, peaceful means take priority, but engage hostiles at your own discretion. You will not receive official and overall military reign over the following systems: Galaxy is no longer under our control. Many allied with Rebels willingly or by force: more present dangers such as pirates and further impeding hostile forces. Rebel forces are in retreat: Hostile superior numbers still present, enemy forces not organized and scattered from lack of leadership. Tactical advantage is present: AI imprinted to you and you only, capable of various disruption abilities under your command." Turzil pulls a small slip of paper from one of his uniform's pockets, showing it to both Melody and Matthews, the outside has a metal holographic slip with some kind of official seal.

"Enclosed in this data packet is your authorization codes and objectives: Your mission takes priority. Find the origin of this AI imprinted to you: Build allies whenever possible, be aware your position is seen as an affective Envoy for the Federation: Support Federation forces when deemed necessary along the way to the described systems. Requisition of supplies has been granted. Your mission priority level: Violet. " After the long explanation of his gargantuan assignment, Matthews decides to speak honestly to Turzil, regardless of it all still feels overwhelming.

"I.." He moves his hands away from his back down to his waist, sharing his opinion further as his mind is rapidly running with conflicting thoughts. "I.. I didn't expect to undergo a mission like this, Admiral. I-I'm not sure if I.." Matthews looks towards Melody, who calmly looks up towards him waiting for his answer, his decision turning absolute when faced with this amount responsibility. "..I'll accept this mission. I'm..I'm honored, sir." Matthews briefly salutes Turzil and gently grasps the data packet, tapping it gently into his uniform's pocket with the tip of his finger. Admiral Turzil turns towards Melody and begins to address her, taking out another data packet with a similar seal.

"Lieutenant, you are hereby transferred to command of Captain Matthews: effective immediately. Your mission and assigned duties are to supervise the ship and keep general situational awareness high: Your council is more than definitely imperative to the effort of this mission to discover the origins and manufacture of this Equestrian-named AI, as well as support to broker alliances should the need come to you both whatsoever." Turzil decides to speak openly with Melody for a moment, moving his hands behind his back yet again for the statement, his mechanical tone implying a sort of proudness imbued into it. "You are aware that this is the first of your species to be assigned to this rank and designation, respectively: Very few Federation personnel are given priority code color Violet and tagged as Freelance. Your mission and assigned duties along with Captain Matthews are vital to the survival of the Federation and all of it's inhabitants: Ground, space, civilian, speculation results even the rest of the known galaxy under distress. These responsibilities fall upon you both equally: Will you accept this assignment, Lieutenant?"

Melody seems to be mildly shaking, trying her damndest to hold back breaking down from excitement at her rapid advancement into the Federation rank and her further responsibility the Admiral describes. Something she's yet to have heard of with her species, or most of her fellow members of the Federation for that matter with such an advancement in such a short amount of time.

"I..I..I.." Her eyes widen for a moment, she quickly regains her composition and raises her foreleg up towards her forehead to formally salute, not being able to hold back her enthusiasm with a bold smile. "I accept this mission, sir!" She moves her head forward and grabs the data packet between her teeth, gently sliding it into her own Federation uniform's pocket, visibly trying to hold still much like Matthews. Admiral Turzil bows his head in agreement and formally salutes, both Melody and Matthews follow shortly after with their own, he addresses them both with instructions.

"Captain, Lieutenant: Report to the hangar and await further orders, we are to dock with a local civilian space station for your assignment. A shuttle will be there to pick you up shortly to take you aboard." Turzil bows once more with a simple closing line. "Dismissed." Matthews and Melody briefly bow once more and turn to leave, Admiral Turzil stops them immediately while holding something in his right hand. "Logical error present: I had almost forgotten. Captain, step forward and kneel if you will." Unsure of what he means to do, Matthews none the less gets down to one knee and Admiral Turzil removes his uniform's pin.

'..oh.' He didn't realize he still had his Ensign pin to his uniform. Turzil unpins it and places something else in it's place, Matthews briefly has a look before it gets fastened into a place, the feeling is overwhelming in his mind as he comes to the realization finally: That's a Captain insignia pin, represented by an orange-colored diamond and black star in the middle. '...' He's speechless as his arm badge also gets systematically removed, replaced with another with the similar insignia and black badge, bordered near the top with four gold stripes and a star in the middle. Admiral Turzil stands at attention yet again, prompting Matthews to stand as well, disclosing one final order that emanates for a minute.

"Dismissed, Captain."

Matthews turns around while lightly tugging at his arm badge and insignia pin, examining his newly assigned rank and assignment as he walks along with Melody. Matthews just mutters a single word in disbelief, his mind still running to the newly appropriated news.

"..well."

Melody looks up towards him with a held back smile as they exit the entryway to the bridge, she didn't seem to want to break professionalism in front of Turzil, but is willing to show a little enthusiasm along the way. She shares her own feelings in the matter, minimally in front of her now deemed commanding officer.

"I..I can't believe it, Matth—" She lightly coughs, still clad with a small smile across her face, a subtle nervousness enveloping her tone as she attempts to correct herself a little more professionally. "Oh, I'm sorry Captain for my abruptness, it's just..it's so much to take in. I..I believe I'm the first of my kind to be at this rank and designation! I didn't expect to move this much forward so soon." She looks towards Matthews proudly, attempting to reassure him of her abilities. "I am fully capable and ready for this task, sir. I will make my CO..well, I suppose that's you now, very proud of my new position. I will be dutiful as much as humanly possible, Captain." Feelings of slight irony emanate from that sentence, but is otherwise understood very clearly; she's very eager and is willing to show it. Matthews and Melody step into a nearby elevator to head to the lower deck, she steps in first and Matthews follows shortly behind while deciding to pick around with the buttons on his communicator. Matthews says something without warning while attempting to get in contact with this AI, consequently installed into his communicator.

"..I wonder what the Admiral sees in this AI.." He thinks back to what name the Admiral said, referring it to Melody in question. "Twi. E. Sparkle? Was that the name?"

The communicator suddenly beeps and several numbers run across the device, repeatedly showing visuals of 1's and 0's like before in rapidly sporadic patterns. The monotone female voice addresses Matthews directly, seemingly also Melody, in an odd way.

"Assigned Designations Underway: Pending.." Matthews and Melody look towards the device as he turns his arm slightly so she can see, Melody especially curious trying to understand the mess of patterns of numbers, seemingly scrambled in a completely incoherent way.

"Is it talking about our rank—" In confirmation of it's newly assigned director, it addresses it's own previous statement.

"Assigned Designation Identification: Complete. Federation ID's confirmed." Melody decides to make something apparent when the AI, Twi. E. Sparkle, finishes it's statement.

"Sir, I thought that the AI was cut off from ship systems? How is it recognizing our—" Something dawns on her, she says what's on her mind immediately. "Uhm, sir. I think this device was listening to our conversation with Admiral Turzil, was this device turned off when you went inside?"

"I..don't know, Melody." He tries to be honest, but he's angry with himself when he remembers back to what he was told. 'Fuck me..' He realizes he didn't tell it to go into 'sleep mode' before he arrived, he gives his own theory to discredit that possibility, though it seems harmless anyway given the AI's inactivity thus far. "It may have turned on once I said it's name, the one that Turzil told me." He twists his arm and stares at the communicator briefly. "..hm."

Melody tries to support his theory, not wanting to accept if it was actually listening into their conversation either. "Alright, Captain, try..well, talking to it. I.. suppose. Try addressing it." She's unsure of her own suggestion, it's an odd request, but Matthews takes her suggestion none the less. He doesn't have much of a choice, his assignment regards getting familiar with it at least.

"Uh..Twi E. Sparkle, do you read me?" He attempts to re-format it into a way it can recognize, into some kind of order. "..Twi. E. Sparkle, report." He briefly thinks 'That names a mouthful..' as it duly beeps, the screen floods with another series of 1's and 0's as it's mic seemingly turns back on, a brief sound of static can be heard before they display.

"01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101110 01100001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110000 00100000 01101100 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111" After a brief moment, it replies back with an semi-related statement.

"Status Report: Unable to transfer data locally. Unknown Variable Interference: Signal block detected, unable to properly appropriate background processes. Advisory Suggested." Matthews tries to reiterate his statement, it mistakenly took his order as a 'status report' instead.

"I'll take that as a yes." He clears his throat, attempting to address it in a more formal way. "Twi. E. Sparkle..am I able to give you a new name or..nickname, I guess?" Matthews turns towards Melody, explaining his question. "That name's a mouthful, I wonder if I could change it is all." The communicator starts scrambling numbers inexplicably again in another incoherent pattern of 1's and 0's, playing a period of static as it displays various patterns of numbers, significantly longer than the prior mess.

"01101001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01101110 01100001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01101110 01100111 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01111001 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01101111"

"Damn.." He mutters upon seeing the eyesore of mass numbers, turning his arm away before he gets a headache from the rapid movement of numbers. It seemingly takes longer to register, the monotone female voice addresses his order.

"Self Designation Change In-Progress: Pending input.."

Assuming it means it's waiting for him to input something, Matthews thinks for a moment before deciding it's name; settling on something shorter, but still related. "..Twi." Melody looks up towards him and shrugs, passively accepting the name as a replacement. After a brief few seconds, the AI seems to register the command clearly.

"Self Designation Change: Complete. Referential Address to Unit: Twi." The communicator beeps once more, saying something else. "Awaiting further orders."

Matthews smiles upon realizing it finally registered what he said, he tries out it's new name as the elevator door finally opens, attempting a previous command that seemed to work before as they make their away to the ship's hangar.

"..Twi, activate Sleep Mode, await further orders until I say your name again." The communicator beeps, registering the more complex command as it begins to shut off.

"Acknowledged."

Matthews smiles again while looking downward towards Melody, trying to lift his own spirits up. "Hey, I think I'm getting used to this thing. Wish it'd speak a little simpler, though." He lowers his arm and both of them continue on their way to the hangar, making their way past a few more repair drones simply carrying material to another unknown part of the ship. Melody attempts to strike some conversation, immediately interrupted by their untimely arrival to the hangar's doors.

"Capt—" The entryway to the hangar opens, an automatic one unlike many of the security lock enabled ones aboard. Melody stops her train of thought and steps inside, seeing several crewmen carrying various kinds of crates via transport onboard a nearby unarmed shuttled. Melody continues her train of thought, prompted by the reminder in front of them as they both stand beside a mass of metal crates. "Captain." She grabs his attention, continuing. "I don't believe you were aware of this, all the crates are being shipped to the planet below. I don't know much beyond an initial supply run as the other objective of this vessel, I suppose we have different priorities now.." Melody leans against a crate on her side, calmly watching the personnel load crate after crate onto several shuttles, briefly spotting a Rockman crewman carry heavy-duty crates beneath it's rocky strong arms.

Matthew says as he momentarily examines his communicator, "..it all seems to be going by so fast." as Melody still simply watches the personnel carry things away while he's stuck in a trance-like state. They both can hear the whir of one of the shuttle's engines as it prepares for flight, the turbine spinning ready for the initial take off, awaiting the impulse engines to start once they enter the vacuum of space.

"....."

He stays silent, quietly watching Melody simultaneously watch the crewmen, oddly seeming to take an interest in their actions. Matthews is surprised as she suddenly mutters something.

"..Captain." He's spooked, thinking she must know he's watching her, assuming she thinks it's inappropriate to do so. She continues with a tone he doesn't expect, something a little softer with a bit more emphasis with her accent. "..I know I've said this before, but.." She briefly lifts one of her forelegs and places it back down. "..I didn't quite expect to get here so fast. My ranking, I mean." She looks to the side, her eyebrows rounding about her eyes as she continues. "..I expected more of an upbringing, some more training before I got promoted." She looks towards Matthews, explaining her choice of words. "I don't mean any disrespect sir, I truly don't, I just didn't expect myself to move up in ranks so quickly even with my qualifications. I'm grateful for it, but it feels..strange." She resumes looking away and leans her head against the metal crate. "..I'm a bit nervous, sir."

Matthews wipes his face, looking down towards her and addressing her with some sympathetic words of his own. "I'm nervous too, Melody." Matthews takes a look towards the Federation crewman hauling crate after crate, adding onto his statement. "I think we all are." He looks down, hesitating to tell her, feeling she should hear some words from her new CO for encouragement.

"....."

He decides not to, she doesn't need to know the specifics, the evidence is all around them; he hangs his head low as he hears the familiar whir of an incoming shuttle, the engines quickly shifting from impulse to stabilization controls to land.

"Perhaps." Melody simply says in response to his previous statements, speaking of something personal. "I took my own risks joining the Federation, the travelling, the enlistment... I don't think I've seen another one of my kind enlisted, sir. Not that I am aware of, anyway.." She lightly smiles, encouraged seeing a Mantis help a human crewman lift a nearby heavy-duty crate with it's hardened pincers. "We're all treated as equal here, Captain. That's one of the reasons I joined." Matthews decides to give his own input, feeling compelled to.

"It's what makes us strong, Melody." She turns to face him again with her violet eyes, one of her ears lightly twitching as an involuntary action while he expresses words of encouragement.

"It's something the Rebels don't seem to understand, or seem willing to understand. The Federation is a combined set of states, countries, planets, a conglomerate for the greater purpose of conjoining and strengthening our differences to use practically. Instead of differences keeping us apart; it's what keeps us together as a whole."

Melody warmly smiles at Matthews, commenting on his encouraging choice of words.

"And I suppose those are your own views, Captain." Matthews simply nods in agreement, adding on one more line.

"It's the principle I was taught to follow, that we're all equal. It's what I was raised to believe."

He closes his eyes, having accidently shared something overly personal with her. He resists the temptation of sharing anymore, hearing a distinct shift from impulse engines to stabilization controls, he quickly changes the subject before she feels compelled to inquire more. "I'm guessing that one's our's." Her eyes shift over towards a shuttle, several little inertia thrusters keeping it stable as it slowly touches down onto the main deck.

"I suppose that is, Captain. Let's go." She rotates one of her shoulders before she begins walking, Matthews following shortly behind, curiously watching her walk cycle again.

"....."

He has one last thought as they board the shuttle, walking up the entry ramp. The inertia thrusters cut through the air like knives, like a strong gale whistling through the air with extreme heat. It subtly sounds like people. People yelling in the distance. People screaming.

"....."

The thought lingers.

'..I hope I'm doing the right thing..'

Author's Note

Again, chapter titles are most likely going to be placeholders for now!

Have been enjoying making these for a bit, though I wish I would get some more replies of positive AND negative feedback through comments, so I can learn what I'm both doing right and what I'm doing wrong if applicable. :)

Also questioning if I should change the tags a bit, admittedly there's the obvious thing with Mature tag being blocked by default, views not the only thing I worry about as much as the categorization. May change it to Teen for both reasons, it's hard to say, may end up asking a Moderator with examples of violence and the description of death in the story, albeit the description being very short. I tagged Mature due to the mental depictions, such as orbital bombardment of a civilian planet colony, which would cause mass death and destruction though I don't describe that tidbit as much. It is apart of the story, but unsure of how that fares unless I choose to describe it in detail. Again, may ask a Moderator if that's the case and if I should change as appropriate (or not appropriate I suppose).

I do quite enjoy playing FTL, lot of replay ability due to ship unlocks and amount of weapons and tactics involved :) So should say I'm acquainted with it well, though in reality the game has very little description of it's background and happenings due to it's simplistic design and story, but it opens up a lot of room for it's lore: such as the story above!

People have their own depictions of the various species of FTL, such as Engi, Mantis, Rock, Slug, and Zoltan. My version of Engi are simply short, just because to me they seem short in-game, but people have all different views of them and all. The game's graphics are very simple and pixel-based, so it gives a general shape but not a definite image or range, so there's a bit of fan art out there depicting the species or otherwise the game in varying shapes and sizes. This one being an adorable one, based on the stylized art for Adventure Time. I love the Slug :)

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/097/b/2/shirt__2__ftl___space_time_by_ipancakes-d5vd310.jpg