The Vermillion Logs

Marshal returned an hour ago with his passengers. Solus greeted themmand is now getting them settled. Ford is set to give examinations and prescribe a general plan for those that are injured or malnourished. The ones who

if all goes well. We won't know for certain until Fisher is installed. Ford is

but Solus is confident in the idea. The Captain has ascended to her station; the new protocol is going to take some getting used to, but it's necessary and good. She looks

need to readjust the projections on that particular peripheral. Solus descended at 0400 and has new comms from The Captain. He says she's reflective, but not concerned. She wants me to ascend within the next 24 hours, to discuss the biometrics and my new theory. It will be interesting to see her in her station. I'm hoping I can convince

asleep or awake. I installed Fisher today. She didn't want to go, but we all know how important it is. The transition went very smoothly on the technical side, but I think it was painful for Fisher. She made...a great deal of noise, none of it pleasant. Once she was fully coupled, though, she was fine. All her systems calibrated flawlessly and we're now completely integrated with the Vermillion. I asked Solus if he

and if Irix is agreeable, we'll make the necessary changes to the routine. He ascended to The Captain a little while ago and came down a bit shaken. Wouldn't say why, but I'm guessing it has something to do with their history. I told him he should speak to Solus about it and he said he would. We're going to try

and I managed to bring thirteen of them back with me, Theta included. They're all shaken, but glad to be out of there. Every one of them can be useful on board, and The Captain has ordered that they be given jobs, if they want them, and treated as members of the crew, reporting to me. I'll be working alongside Solus to help

if I can. Right now, I'm too steeped in the Vermillion. I've never felt this way before. Between Fisher, The Captain, and the ship itself, I'm on a whole new plane of consciousness. To be able to sense things about pieces of tech was one thing; to speak to a behemoth ship and have it answer you is like nothing I've ever experienced. The Captain says that if she is the heart of the Vermillion, and Fisher the mind, then I am the soul. I don't know if I believe that, not after ascending for the first time, but I'm going to take very good care of this vessel. I am

We are preparing to travel through the Corridor. The ship is ready. We are all ready. It's time to go home, resplendent.

~*~

I was all for the idea until they hooked Fisher up against her will. I know the reasons, I get the importance, but the way she just...quietly begged not to go in, and the way they ganged up on her and kept talking at her until she gave in... anyway, I'm going to keep my logs here so they stay hidden and play the part of Right Hand To The Captain for now. I still believe in this, I do, but there are changes happening that I don't like.

Ori's gone up to her perch. Her 'station' they're calling it. She won't be coming down among us plebians again. We can go up if she calls us, or if we ask for an audience. Again, I get the reasoning. That's how the Vermillion works; that's where she needs to be. But now they're treating her like some sort of royalty. More than that. Almost like a...a god. She's pumped full of these bizarre chemicals and nanotech now, and she's actually radioactive. You can't be in her presence for very long and it can damage your retinas to look at her for more than a few seconds. So, avert your eyes in the presence of The Captain. It plays into the whole thing.

Finally went up to see Ori. Every suspicion confirmed. She has a chair, a THRONE (let's be honest here) that keeps her hooked up to all her lovely techno-cocktails. She looks terrifying. Hot, but terrifying. No wonder Solus is all ready to lick her boots. Am I the only one who is seeing what a mess this is turning into? I know, I KNOW it's Important and Necessary, but the cost...this is insane.

Marshal went off somewhere at Ori's command and came back with a gaggle of Ghosts from his old loony bin. Rescue mission, he says. Recruitment drive, says I. I don't have a problem with Ghosts in general, but this lot is creepy in the extreme. They've been abused pretty bad, and are unsettling and unpredictable. Ford says they check out, but….

I'm done. This ship has ruined everyone. Solus is some High Priest of Tech, Ori's a damn Alien Queen, poor Fisher is now just a glorified ship's computer, Ford is gone full Mad Scientist, Marshal is the Lord of Spaceships with his asylum Ghosts scuttling everywhere doing who knows what...we used to be a crew. Fuck - we used to be a family. We were together so long. We'd been through so much. I would have laid down my life for any of them. Now, it's all gone. They want to go back home. I can't let them. I just can't. Not like this.

So, the backdoor protocol’s set. I think Fisher may know what I’m up to - I’ve been getting assists from some anonymous source, and I think it’s her - but she hasn’t said anything. Poor kid probably sees it as a release from the Hell she’s been ‘living’ in.

Trying hard not to think about the fact that I’m about to murder the people I care about. Twice. Murder them twice. About to murder the woman who saved my life. I guess it’s some kind of justice that I’ll be going down too.

When the Vermillion passes through the Corridor, the bioguards will fail. Everything organic on here will disintegrate. If I’ve got my timing right, the ship will emerge right as the Fairburn arrives at the coordinates and there’ll be a collision that’ll take out both ships. Problem solved. Hooray. Hail the conquering hero.

All I’m doing, really, is buying time. I get that. And I still know that something will have to be done, eventually. But not by us. Not at the cost of our souls. Not at the cost of Fisher being tortured, and Ori losing herself, and Ford losing his mind, and Solus losing his soul, and Marshal losing Doyle. Fuck, I miss Doyle. He was the first to go. Maybe he was lucky.

I don’t know why I’m writing all this, since the logs will go kaboom with the ship. Even if the Vermillion survived, there’ll be a data purge once we go into the Corridor. Just need to have it written down, somewhere. So many regrets. Taking the job, not trying harder to save them, not digging deeper, not turning around and going back when the food went kaput. Well. At least in this version, I get to correct some mistakes.

Time’s up. Let’s do this.