{Episode 00: Pilot}

audio note: (Voice Over) DAMARI 's lines are enclosed between faint clicks to distinguish from DAMARI 's lines

audio cue: static, high pitched click

DAMARI: (monotonous) "Damari Corvus, signing on. Report 1, Day 1, 7:30 AM, June 5th. The Andromeda takes off in a little under an hour. I'm at the gates now, checking in and getting my paperwork in order. I'll be boarding shortly. The rest of this report will be audio recordings of daily conversation with the crew, as well as intercom messages and status updates, all recorded live."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice over) DAMARI: "Okay, me again. This is...awkward, but I'm just gonna say it. That was a standard protocol introduction, recorded this morning. This is a voice over I recorded later in the day—I think it's like...4 AM? Everyone else is asleep, and I locked myself in the bathroom to record this, that's all that matters. And there's gonna be a whole lot of extra voice overs throughout this. It's just...listening through conversations without context isn't very helpful, I've found. I've been trying to narrate different actions or things crew members are doing in different situations when I can remember them, so the image presented in these recordings is clearer to the listener. However, this does cause sending my reports to be...delayed a bit, as doing these requires me to re-listen to the whole thing, pause every time a new situation is brought up, try to recall as much of what was happening as I can, record a new monologue, edit it in, and then re-re-listen to make sure it all makes sense. But that shouldn't matter too much to you, should it? Sending a signal from as far away as I'll be takes...2 weeks, was it? That's 2 weeks until you get the report, and then 2 weeks before I get your response. It'll be a month—it'll be a whole month—before I get any sort of feedback, or advice, or anything, and that's just assuming you send a response within the same day of receiving my report. By then, things'll be so different, it's almost pointless to respond.
(hesitates) So, uh, anyway, I'm just putting this here so you know that there will be little interwoven segments of me just rambling about the situation."
[pause]
"For the most part this recording was done live, but I wasn't narrating them live, I added that later. That's all I should have said. I'm...tired."

audio cue: faint click

RIGEL: (Distant, cheery) "Hey! It's about time you got here! We haven't met, I'm Rigel, the communications expert on this voyage. I'll be the one reporting back all our findings to the head of the mission."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice over) DAMARI: "Ironic, considering I'll be doing the same thing, but for a different mission."

audio cue: faint click

RIGEL: (continued) "And I suspect you're our mediator, huh?"

DAMARI: "You'd be right. Name's Damari."

RIGEL: (less distant) "Right, perfect, 'cause if you weren't, we'd have a problem. You're the last one here, so now we have all of our crew accounted for. I'll take you up to the Andromeda, but I can't stay long."

audio cue: boots on metal, door sliding open

"You can go catch up with everyone else, they're in the main passenger module of the ship. I've gotta go send the message that we're ready to launch, now that everyone's here."
[Brief pause]
"Oh, that's my bad, you're a transfer from another program, right? You probably don't know where anything is just yet."

DAMARI: "And, what, is the layout the same for every ship in this program?"

RIGEL: (laughs) "Fine, fine, you got me there. I suppose I can manage to stay a few minutes longer to show you around."

audio cue: metal knocking

"This door behind me leads to the control pod, where our pilot, Orion, will be, as well as the communication module, where I'll be most of the time."

DAMARI: "Noted."

RIGEL: "Great, and that door over there on the right opens to a hallway with both the sleeping quarters—there's less rooms than members, so you and I will have to double-up, if you don't mind—and the kitchen, on either side. This little room we're in now is null ground. It's kinda like a lobby; there isn't a specific purpose besides having the only entrance and exit to the ship, which we just walked through, but it connects to every hallway for a quick exit, and it houses the suits we'll need if the situation calls for us to leave the ship. And of course, to your left is the main passenger module, which is more or less the space travel equivalent of a living room. And those are just the doors you can see from here, every room is connected to at least one other hallway, (laughs) so I hope your memory's good, cause this place is like one big maze."

DAMARI: "I'll manage."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Rigel pushed open the door on the left, the main passenger module, and made a motion for me to follow him."

audio cue: faint click, hinges squeaking, boots on metal

RIGEL: "Anyway, like I said, everyone else is in here. If we're going to be on this voyage as a crew, I think introductions are in order. Hate to break it to you, but most'a us trained in the same program, so we're all pretty acquainted already. You're the odd man out, Mr. Mediator."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: (continuing) "The room looked almost exactly like Rigel described it—the space-travel equivalent of a living room. There was a monitor—I don't expect anyone to even have time to ever watch it, but it's a nice touch—a sorta coffee-table like structure built into the floor with some storage units along the sides, and a few couches. Not that I paid much attention to the room at the time, I'm not one for interior design. More important in the moment were the people sitting on the couches—the crew of the Andromeda.
(hesitant) I won't go into detail, that'd waste too much time, but from what I could see...there were only two other members besides Rigel and I, and an old-school medical bot that looked ten years out of date and had a thin layer of rust under its speaker."

audio cue: faint click

DAMARI: "I was told there were five members on this ship, but me, you, and those two only make four. Or...does the bot count as a member?"

RIGEL: "There's only four of us on staff, or five if you really want to count ol' K9, but there's another passenger in quarantine. You won't see much of them, though, they're just...cargo we're delivering, so to speak."

DAMARI: "...Delivering? I thought this was just a standard deep space mineral extraction and research mission. What exactly...is our cargo?"

RIGEL: "Oh, I...thought this all had been explained to you already. But I suppose a mediator doesn't really need to know all of our mission, that's not really what you're here for. You're right that our main goal is finding and analyzing rare materials from deep space, but they decided to kill two birds with one stone and give us a second task. We're also relocating a specimen picked up by another mission, since no one else wanted to take it on account of what happened with the last group that tried to handle it."

CORDELIA: (cutting in) "Rigel, that's enough."

RIGEL: "Hey, he deserves to know what we're doing if he's going to be a part of our crew. I'm sorry, Damari, that's Cordelia. She was the only surviving member of the group in charge of researching it, so she's a little...touchy."

DAMARI: (hesitating) "What do you mean she was the only surviving member?"

RIGEL: "I mean that all the other researchers were killed. I don't know what wasn't clear about—"

CORDELIA: (talking over him) "Rigel."

RIGEL: "What? He asked."

DAMARI: "So if I'm understanding correctly, we have some kind of...murderous alien just stashed in quarantine?"

CORDELIA: "Rigel isn't the one who should be explaining it to you—if anyone is going to, it'll be me. And Saros isn't murderous, they're just a carrier for a virus that spreads to everyone that comes into contact with them. Their species is immune to it, but there's nothing that even comes close to it on Earth, so we have no defense against it, and it proved fatal in every case but one."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice over) DAMARI: "Cordelia was the one exception, no doubt about that, but she hadn't gotten away unscathed. The right half of her face is entirely covered by a grayish mask, and the med bot stood and sat in tune with her as she spoke. It's probably so out-of-date because it belongs to her personally, not the program. That, or they just didn't have the resources to provide her with a newer one."

audio cue: faint click

RIGEL: "Right, uh, thanks for that, Del. Anyway, we never got around to introductions, and my report needs sending soon. You can probably figure that Cordelia here is our research and analysis specialist, and that rust-bucket of a med bot is model K9-5-something—"

K9: (robotic) "K950."

RIGEL: "Yeah, whatever, we just call it K9, anyway. It's Del's, but you can use it if you hurt yourself somehow while you're here, since we don't have another one on board. And believe it or not, that pipsqueak on the couch is our navigator, Orion, and not a stowaway high schooler."

ORION: (sarcastic) "Very funny."

RIGEL: (laughs) "Thanks. Anyway, Damari is a transfer from another program. He's our mediator."

ORION: "And why exactly do we...need a mediator?"

DAMARI: "What, do you think a bunch of people left alone with one another in deep space aren't going to want to kill each other after a while?"

CORDELIA: "We haven't even left yet and Rigel's head already looks good enough to mount on my wall."

RIGEL: "I'm taking that as a compliment."

DAMARI: "That's the spirit. I'm just here to make sure the mission goes smoothly, and we don't have any big issues preventing us from working. When any of you have a problem, you come to me."

RIGEL: (with a strange air of confidence) "I think you can trust that we won't be having many problems, Damari.
[after a beat] Anyway, I'll be sending my report now, so get comfortable, we'll be talking off soon."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: (long sigh) "Unfortunately, my mic went haywire during the launch, and the audio files are too corrupted to make anything out of, so I've purposely omitted them from my report. Maybe it had something to do with the frequencies from Rigel's report, or...I don't know, but I lost a good chunk of my recordings. The remaining audio is from shortly after we left the atmosphere."

audio cue: faint click, static, garbled speaking

CORDELIA: (fading in) "As long as we have the proper boundary to separate them from us, I really don't see what the harm is."

K9: "With all due respect, I do find it necessary to remind you that the 'harm' is evident on your face, Miss Jericho."

CORDELIA: (annoyed) "Which is why I mentioned the proper boundary, K9. If there isn't any connection between the two rooms—no air vents, speakers, cracks in the glass—then there's no way for the virus to transfer. We'll be fine, and they'll be fine."

ORION: "Not to side with the robot, but I really don't think that's a good idea. I don't...really want to see it that bad, anyway."

RIGEL: "Hey, don't be such a downer, pipsqueak. Don't you at least wanna know what that deadly thing we're transporting looks like?"

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Orion looked as though his answer was a firm 'no', though he didn't say anything. I could tell already he's a tense, sorta fidgety kid, not much for conversation and not much of a backbone, either. Rigel pushes him around because he lets him; he doesn't stand up for himself in the slightest. I'm not sure whether that puts him at the bottom or the top of my list of concerns. He's never been on a mission before; he's a newbie straight out of training. It's unfortunate he ended up with a first crew as dysfunctional as this one."

audio cue: faint click

RIGEL: (tauntingly) "What, are you afraid it might break the glass? Attack us? Infect us all? End the mission before it even starts?"

CORDELIA: "Rigel, that's enough."

RIGEL: "Have a sense of humor, Del. I'm just messin' with him."

DAMARI: "No, she's right. There's not much humor in joking about something like that."

RIGEL: "Are you a mediator or a buzzkill, Damari?"

DAMARI: (hesitating) "I'm just trying to keep you from upsetting anyone. It's not my fault you don't have much of a filter for what you should or shouldn't say."

RIGEL: (his cheeriness gone) "Oh, but as the mediator you're allowed to upset people, huh?"

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Ah, Rigel Pyxis, where do I start with him? Previous television personality that was taken off air because of his unconventional style and borderline offensive humor; notorious for his lack of concern for what anyone but himself thought of his content; kicked off his network when they got sick of answering complaints; retrained as a glorified intercom worker for multiple galactic research missions. Obviously, being reminded of his failure in his first career is not a happy subject for him. Hilarious he only understands touchy subjects when it's himself being insulted. Cordelia seems to have a knack for de-escalating conflict, though, I wouldn't be surprised if she also had a wink of training in meditation. Or maybe it just comes with experience in working with Rigel."

audio cue: faint click

CORDELIA: "Rigel, forget it. We've got a week to waste before we even leave the solar system, and we have to get along long enough to complete the mission afterwards. Now, as I was saying, do we or don't we want to check in on Saros?"

RIGEL: "You and I can go check out the bastard, if the pipsqueak and buzzkill want to tag along. I wanna get a good look at what we're messin' with."

CORDELIA: "Hopefully we won't be 'messing with' anything, Rigel. They're an extremely sensitive subject to be tampering with."

RIGEL: "Relax, Del, I'm not gonna try and touch it, or whatever you're afraid I'll do. I just wanna see it."

DAMARI: "I don't trust you two won't bite each other's heads off if you're left alone together. I'll go with you."

ORION: (nervously) "I...suppose if everyone else is going..."

RIGEL: "Fantastic, great group-bonding activity: go see the killer alien in the basement together."

CORDELIA: (as a warning) "Rigel..."

RIGEL: "Yeah, yeah, whatever. C'mon, fun-suckers."

audio cue: boots on metal, door sliding open, more boots on metal

"Cordelia, if you don't mind..."

CORDELIA: "I don't trust that none of you will get curious enough to go bug them in your spare time, so avert your eyes, gentlemen."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "The next door had a keypad and a combination lock to keep it shut. Apparently, Cordelia's the only one who knows how to get in. That, or Rigel's got a mean bluff."

audio cue: faint click, keypad buttons being pressed, door unlocking, second door sliding open, more boots on metal

CORDELIA: "And, before I forget, please don't try and startle them. Rigel, I'm looking at you."

RIGEL: "Ah, come on."

audio cue: boots on metal, now with a slight echo, faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Subject 844: Saros; singular subject referred to as 'they' and 'them'; alien species captured by a past mission, The Dreyer, seven years ago; carrier for a deadly virus that infects the bloodstream and lungs; researched for six years before funding was cut on account of the high mortality rate of scientists that worked with them; admittedly...non-threatening, in appearance. Looking past the bluish skin, antennae, and yellow eyes, they looked almost (hesitates) child-like, I thought."
[pause]
"Cordelia's warning must not have gone both ways. They jumped up from their corner and pinned themself against the glass, excitedly or desperately, I couldn't tell."

audio cue: faint click, the sound of something hitting a thick glass barrier

ORION: (startled) "Sweet Jesus—"

RIGEL: (sounding disappointed) "Ah, this thing doesn't give off killer vibes. Are you sure this is the same subject that wiped out your crew?"

CORDELIA: "Looks can be deceiving, Rigel. For example, you can't see the virus in their bloodstream or the awful, rotting of the skin from the inside out that comes with the infection. All you see is the harmless carrier, the unsuspecting assassin."

RIGEL: "I think you're turning our navigator green."

ORION: (quietly) "I'm fine, I'm fine."

DAMARI: "I feel like I'm looking into some kind of zoo enclosure, it's unsettling. How long are we staying down here?"

CORDELIA: "I think this little viewing party is long enough as is; Rigel, are you satisfied, or do you want to stay longer and see if they'll spontaneously grow fangs, break the glass, and become the killer you were expecting?"

RIGEL: (still sounding disappointed) "Yeah, yeah, we can head back up. I have a report that needs sending, anyway. Mission control needs an update on our speed and location to update our expected arrival times. Orion, boot up your computer or whatever and give me the information I need when we're up there."

ORION: "Can-do."

audio cue: boots on metal and doors opening faintly in the background of the conversation

RIGEL: "Damari, in the meantime, can you try to get settled into your sleeping quarters before you have to spend any sort of time actually sleeping there. I know you're (hesitates) new to the whole space-travel thing, but considering you and I will have to share a room, I'd rather you figured out how to get comfortable and actually fall asleep in a reasonable timeframe so I don't have to suffocate you with a pillow at an ungodly hour just because you aren't comfortable sleeping on a ship yet. Orion, you do the same when I'm done with you."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Who made Rigel the leader of our crew, I don't know, but he has a steel grip on the position of telling us what to do. I'd tell him off for it if I weren't supposed to be our mediator, but starting a conflict is the opposite of what I want right now. Thankfully, training at the academy means learning how to sleep anywhere you can manage—that way, they can stick you in any mission in any place without any technicalities in training for it. Sleeping aboard the Andromeda is as easy for me as sleeping in my own bed."

audio cue: faint click

DAMARI: "I don't think you'll have to worry about me keeping you awake, Rigel, but I could use a quick nap right about now if it means no one will bother me for a while."

audio cue: door opening, boots on metal dispersing. Only Damari's footsteps can be heard now

(talking to himself, mumbling) "Lets see, if the quarantine connects to the passenger module—"

audio cue: door opening

"—and the passenger module connects to the lobby-type room—"

audio cue: second door opening

"—and that connects to—ah, there, that wasn't so hard."

audio cue: third door opening, boots on metal, then forth door opening

CORDELIA: "The doors aren't labeled, and I reckon Rigel didn't specify which one was yours, huh?"

DAMARI: (startled) "Cordelia, I, uh, didn't hear you come in, you scared me. And yeah, Rigel didn't...really...mention which quarter was...mine."

audio cue: faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "Rule one of training: don't let your guard down. Rookie mistake, Damari, rookie mistake."

audio cue: faint click

CORDELIA: (laughs) "Closest to the hallway door is Orion's, then mine, then yours and Rigel's, against the back wall. You know, in case you ever need to bother any of us in the middle of a sleep cycle. Bathrooms are the different colored doors in between."

DAMARI: "Right, right, thank you. If I'm not back in an hour, send someone to wake me."

CORDELIA: (amused) "Alright, then. I'll try to make sure it's not Rigel."

DAMARI: (laughs, vaguely uncomfortably) "Thank you."

audio cue: boots on metal, door opening, faint click

(Voice Over) DAMARI: "The sleeping quarters are less than homey, I'll admit, but they're not meant for anything more than a quick rest in between shifts, anyway. I took the cot on the left, since my pre-packed bag had been tossed next to it, and the right cot was disheveled already, presumably from Rigel getting settled in before I'd arrived."

audio cue: faint click

DAMARI: "Turning off the live audio mic now. I'm gonna try and get in some quick shut-eye before the next part of this report. Damari, signing off."

audio cue: high pitched click