[b]Virginia "Ginny" Sokolova & Vitiafa of Endiohon
Cowritten by Pragia12 and Bingelly[/b]
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Ginny was waiting in her berth, a fairly-tight quartered bunk near engineering. The maintenance closet next to it was doubling as her personal stowage. The Vodka bottle she had taken was empty now, sitting on a shelf across from her bunk. The senior Kiellar was natural for her to seek out to discuss their predicament, especially as a captain was not forthcoming among the crew. She was sitting in her bunk, legs planted on the floor and holo-sphere being fidgeted with in her hands.

"So," Vitiafa's voice broke the relative silence as she stepped through bulkhead. Her eye paused on the shelved bottle for a moment, then to the flush in Ginny's cheeks, then finally to holo-sphere in the human's hands. "I assume this is about a possible new home for us all, or at least a safe harbor before we move on to further stars?"

The ranger nodded, wincing with her leg when she rises with the priestess's arrival. Ginny wasn't military, but formal structures came naturally to her. "Something like that. I'm not from around here. Even if I were I'm not leadership material." she started "And it seems like that's in short supply around here, but you seemed like the best person to go to."

Vitiafa remained silent for a moment as she studied the ranger. She was still unsure what to make of the woman, her way of speaking stuck Vitiafa as off in a way she could not place. "Well," she sighed, "the Gods urge hospitality towards strangers, though I cannot speak for the present company. But surely there's someone else from your colony you could have approached before resorting to an priest? I must say I know nothing of operating a space-craft."

Virginia nodded her head “The Gods also smile upon prudence, and the counsel of their chosen.” She said with a strange casualness, for a human. “You don’t need to know how the ship works to tell right from wrong. Mark seems like a good man, and I’ve worked on my share of starships.” She explained. “Nobody here is from my colony, but I can at least point us all in a good direction.” She raised her hand to chest level, palm open up, and, with a press of a button, a map projected with a faint glow. “I was digging through the archives and found something that might be considered a gift from whoever’s up there.”

Vitiafa smiled faintly in response, though it faded quickly as she looked over the map. "An intact chart is a blessing for us all right now. But why keep this a secret? Is there something wrong with the data?" 

The kiel paused briefly. She turned to look and listen through the bulkhead behind her. Satisfied after a moment, Vitiafa stepped closer to the human. She was careful to still shield the map from view

"Did you steal this, child?" Her voice was low. Her tone a bit stern, but the question carried no accusation. 

Ginny's head drooped to left slightly, "Copied from Edenite Archives. If they would consider it stolen, then the people who would care are long gone." She asserted "It's charting from one of the early colony ships." She would click along the sphere, zooming in on Eden's position and the surrounding systems.

"I came here, from a sector a ways away, looking for a map to Earth." She said firmly, assenting to Viatafa's assumption nobody was listening "This is the best shot I've ever seen at finding it, and it might be the best shot you all have to find a new home."

"A sector far from here?" Vitiafa cocked an eyebrow, "Others survived the machines and the metacer? It must be easier to settle with them than to find earth, and that's to say nothing of the dangers of a voyage to Earth with a skeleton crew.

The texarkanan shook her head "Could if you wanted to, but I think there's a better shot in here than anything." She hummed, looking down below the stars projected between them "The parts I'm from are in the middle of a bit of a dust up. Lot of fighting between human supremacists and religious fanatics. New colonies are liable to be raided, and I wouldn't want to drag you all along on false hope for that." She shakes her head

"Do you have proof that Earth is still habitable after the collapse?" Vitiafa's features tightened as she pondered the route. "Or are we few choosing between war and banditry and the unknown for the souls in the hold?"

Ginny slouched, her shoulder lowering. "Nope, but I do think we're likely to pass by some candidates that a colony ship would have been looking for. Might not be Eden, but could be liveable." she offers with a shrug "I'm no miracle worker here, but I think its better than wandering aimlessly."

"You are likely right," the Kiellar nodded rapidly. "It is something tangible to work towards at the very least, and something to unify us. It is your people's homeworld, many Dhasath see Mars as religiously important, and the wormhole could still be open..." She paused for a moment, clearly lost in her own thought  "And from there, may the gods guide us home."

Her gaze returned to the chart in Ginny's hand, and she tried to follow through a probable route to take.  "We can suggest it to the bridge crew together or I can deliver the chart if you would prefer to avoid the attention."

The ranger gave a solemn nod in agreement with those words; the potential was endless, but the risk was great. "I'll get the chart loaded, hopefully our navigator can take us from there. But these people need someone to rally behind."

"They do, Ms. Sokolova, but we need to have faith in them as well," Vitiafa answered, "I will provide guidance when needed, do not doubt that, but I hope task and purpose will be unity enough for the moment."

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[b]ESS 3822-01 Vents[/b]
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The drones' expedition through the vents, though necessary, was primarily a boring affair as they whirled through seemingly endless amounts of tubing and duct-work. Thankfully for the crew, it appeared as though the various seals and decontamination processes the Edenites had employed prior to the catastrophe had held. There were no traces of various forms of pest aboard. No droppings, no nests, and no skeletons. 

Until one of the drones had reached one of the fans a little bit away from the cargo-hold. In front of the hovering drone and the spinning fan blade was a small metacer form that had managed to get aboard, likely before the evacuation. As the drone moved closer, it was rapidly apparent that it had lost a limb to the fan blade, likely when the ship had powered up, and very quickly bled out from the trauma.

The crew, it seemed, was safe from any insectoid incursion for now.
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Vitiafa of Endiohon
Bridge
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"Ms. Numosath, Mr. Lockman" Vitiafa said to announce her presence she walked into the bridge with Ginny not far behind her."Ms. Sokolova has a star chart with her. Could either of you see if you can upload it into the navigational systems?" 

Taking a seat in the bridge as she waited for Ginny to catch-up, Vitiafa put on a headset, and dialed into the ship's intercom. "Could all available hands report to the bridge for an all-crew meeting? We shall decided our course here."

She muted herself and chuckled, "It's best to be democratic at first, yes?"