#(I dont want to be the owner I can never keep a server alive)

[dailynakaharachuuya]

6. Yokai AU

[sidespart]

Fanfic title: the sound of falling stars

Supernatural Sci-Fi AU,  Royality or LAMP

Patton, Virgil and Logan are engineers for some kind of inter galactic company (like star fleet but with more capitalism I guess?). They’re pretty low level and are basically a glorified salvage crew. They have their own ancient ship which constantly seems to be falling apart and they mostly get sent to deal with decommissioned ships/ stations. They pick them over for anything useful to The Company and set whatever is left over to drift off towards the nearest star. 

They’ve all got some backstory for how they ended up with this rubbish job.  Logan is super smart genius engineer but couldn't afford to go to The Academy (that’s for Earth People and he’s some poor outer edge colonist), he got in on a scholarship but pissed off the wrong people with his attitude and ended up with this assignment. Virgil deliberately picked an assignment that would keep him as far away from other people as possible...(on the run from a Dark and Tragic Past??) Patton also chose this assignment - he is the true explorer, but knew he didn't have the money or connections to get to get star ship assignment, and he isn't exceptional like Logan, but this way he still gets to see the universe.

So at the start of the story they work okay together but arn’t super close - Logan has a bit of an ‘i’m better than this’ attitude, Virgil doesn't want to be friends with anyone and deliberately pushes them away. Patton is trying but is mostly ignored by the other two.

The Company takes over a smaller organisation which has been struggling for a while. The crew are sent to pick over a newly acquired space station orbiting a star right on the edge of Company space. This place hasn’t been inhabited for years but the original owners never cleared it out properly due to lack of funds.

So they get there. The stations life support isn’t on so Patton heads over first (in a space suit) to turn it on manually whilst the other two monitor remotely. (Logan is better suited to hacking into the station from their ship computer once Patton plugs their....space flashdrive....in to the stations ops centre and Virgil is fucking terrified of space walks but they’re pretending not to know that).

Everything goes smooth. The lights and air come on, Patton takes off his helmet - and hears singing.

Nice singing. Not like the crackling automated voice that the station computer speaks with. And despite their best efforts they cannot find a source.

Virgil thinks the place is haunted. Logan thinks its just a glitch with the communications software. Patton’s inclined to to agree with Logon, except day 3 of their salvage operation Patton starts singing an old song from home, and the voice starts singing it back.

When the voice has finished repeating the lyrics Patton had sung, it carries on the song, making up its own lyrics and tune to finish it off. (Patton applauds when it’s done). 

Patton tells the other two about it but Logan dismisses it - the song is probably in the stations entertainment archives somewhere - but Patton’s not so sure. The voice sings classical music (MCR) around Virgil without any verbal prompting. And it’s...kind’ve sassy? It will wait until Logan is just about to take a sip of his coffee before suddenly bursting into LOUD operatic singing - making Logan spill his drink.

Privately he thinks the voice has so much personality it deserves a name - he starts calling it ‘Roman’.

Roman’s influence seems to more than just the communications system. The longer they stay the more unexplained stuff keeps happening. The coffee machine in the old canteen turns itself on just before Logan reaches to do it himself. When Virgil and Pat get separated exploring the lower levels, warm red lights turn on guiding them back together. When the three of them agree to take an evening off and watch a movie, Cinderella comes on no matter how many times they try to change it. When they eventually give in and watch it, the room temperature turns up just a bit and the lights dim, making the room as cosy as possible. 

Eventually all three of them have to agree that this is something beyond just the stations interface. But WHAT exactly Roman is is still a mystery - an incredibly sophisticated AI? An Alien? Some mysterious research project left behind by the old owners?

A Ghost?

Before they can start to figure it out The Company sends a message to say that, due to the size of the job and how long it’s taking them, they’re going to send additional teams to help out.

If The Company discovers Roman, there’s no doubt in any of their minds that they will do whatever it takes to pick him apart for study. Even if means destroying him in the process. 

So now they have to choose between staying loyal to The Company, who is responsible for their jobs, ship and bringing them together in the first place, or figuring out a way to protect this disembodied personality in a space station that they’re not even sure is ‘alive’.

Easy choice.

Bonus:

At some point Pat’s gotta go to some romantic looking observation deck and dance whilst Roman sings some schmaltzy number (and start imagining he was dancing with someone/ trying to picture what Roman would look like if he had a body).

Roman talks Virgil down from a panic attack by beeping the stations controls in time with his breathing count

Big dramatic ending where Patton and Virgil are convinced Logan has downloaded Roman onto The Companies servers in exchange for being given the more prestigious position he has been denied for so long

But PSYCH. Logan escorts them back to their original piece of shit ship and reveals that THAT’s where he moved Roman too - they’ve now got a singing ship instead of singing station

Sequel where the four of them are On The Run. Maybe ending with Roman being downloaded into a human/robot body so they can finally all hug idk

SPACE STUFF

For the fake fic titles asks (please dont send anymore at the moment!)