Unexpected

IMPORTANT: Bonsai's Terminal application has basic information on each of the alien races! Check it out over here! Please note that the workship is made about 20 years after Bonsai's canonpoint and much of the political information is out of date.

BASIC SERIES INFORMATION

• The protagonist is Captain Angela Birch. She is a 47 year old white woman selected from military command to take charge of the workings of the workship.


• The primary setting is the workship. It was built by Squids and Humans working together and is the symbol of their alliance. The actual name of the workship is the Interplanetary Zeta Retculi Defense Vessel. Literally nobody calls it that.


• The workship is populated mostly by Squids, but many Humans live and work there as well. Other than these two species, there are a number of Rrutatarri from the Peaceful Universe Party working there.


• The programs in the workship include the Quick Translation Project, which aims to create a device that can translate quickly between different species' languages, the Zeta Retculi Watch, which keeps track of the Grey Empire, and the Military of Multitudes Program, which aims to create a multiple-species defense force against the Grey Empire.


• The author of the Grey Area series is named William Conrad, an ex-worker in the Quick Translation Project who got his first book published before he got caught and is now on government watch.

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS

• Angela Birch
  
  • Female
  • Human
  • Captain of the workship
• Richard Tucker
  
  • Male
  • Human
  • Programmer with the Quick Translation Project
• Click
  
  • N/A, male pronouns due to inferior status in his culture
  • Grey
  • Traitor to the Grey Empire; Cultural Scientist
• Morno
  
  • Male
  • Squid
  • Secretary to the Squid ambassador on board; mates with Her'ran
• "Bee"; real name is a type of fruit on the Widow homeworld
  
  • Male
  • Widow
  • Unemployed; Widow refugee
• Rruhi
  
  • Female
  • Rrutatarri
  • Translator with the Quick Translation Project
• Tugurrin of Rruhi
  
  • Male, class a
  • Rrutatarri
  • Guard; belongs to Rruhi
• "Stark" of Rruhi
  
  • Intersex, identifies male
  • Rrutatrri
  • Works in the library; belongs to Rruhi

BOOK ONE; Grey Area: First Contact

• Important Plot Details
  
  • Captain Birch is assigned to run the workship.
  • Click, the first 'friendly' Grey, arrives unannounced at the workship and is nearly murdered by Rrutatarri guards.
  • Click is allowed to work on the Quick Translation Project under surveillance.
  • Morno, a male Squid working for the ambassador, is discovered to be hiding a male Widow he calls Bee. This is illegal, as Widows are particularly violent towards anyone helping their males out of the system in which they are mated with and eaten before they reach 18.
  • Click asks to experiment on Bee. Rruhi accuses him of having this as his motive the whole time.
  • A fight is broken up by Richard, who works with Rruhi. He volunteers to oversee Click's experiments on her behalf.
  • Work reaches the workship that Reptilians have been located on Earth, indicating that the Greys have more of a foothold there than they knew.
• Richard-specific Details
  • Richard first appears in chapter 6, when Captain Birch comes down to one of the translation labs to meet the staff working on decoding Grey language. There is a scene where he and Rruhi debate the significance of Grey purring after Birch compares them to 'nasty sociopathic cats', until Birch grows annoyed with them and leaves.
  • He appears again during chapter 13, where the various teams are presenting their findings to Click to have them compared to regular Grey language. Click comments that Richard seems particularly talented at pronunciation.
  • His next appearance is in chapter 15, but he's present for most of the rest of the book, as he volunteers to help Rruhi monitor Click's intentions, as she is emotionally compromised by her hatred of Greys.
  • Birch notices that Click appears to have an emotional connection to Richard, but Morno and Rruhi claim it's impossible, as Greys don't have feelings.
• Fandom details
  • Richard/Click becomes a ship. The song 'The Only Exception' by Paramore is named their song, their major themes are xenophilia, one-sided love, emotional manipulation and bloodplay, and debates rage on if they count as a homosexual ship or not.
  • The genderless nature of Click and the polyamorous nature of Rrutatarri attract a fandom fond of discussing gender issues.
  • Morno/Click and Bee/Click become the fandom's 'rape' ships. Rruhi/Click becomes the hate ship. New debates break out over whether or not Click is capable of romantic feelings at all.

BOOK TWO; Grey Area: Vivisection

• Important Plot Details
  
  • A dead Reptilian is found by police in America.  It's body is sent to the workship, where Click is assigned to dissect it.
  • Bee and Click are both heavily questioned on the current motives of the Grey Empire.  To everyone's surprise, Click reveals extra information he hadn't given before.
  • Morno fears he may be pregnant and begs Captain Birch for permission to stay on board the ship to protect Bee.  Rruhi volunteers to take Bee in if Morno is sent home.
  • The information from Bee and Click leads to a discovery of a plot to infiltrate major companies in America.  Warnings are given.
  • It is revealed that Click has developed a mentor-student relationship with Richard.  Richard doesn't think much of this, but Bee explains that Greys will protect their students with their lives, as they are the single being in the universe that a Grey 'loves'.
  • With a new trust fostered in Click, plans to reclaim corporate America are formed.
  • Morno gives birth.  His mate, one of the guards, volunteers to raise their daughter back on Aguatis without him.  Morno promises to return once he's given permission to bring Bee home.
  • The president of America is assassinated, the workship goes into chaos.
• Richard-specific Details
  • Richard appears briefly in chapter 2, being given permission to assist Click with the dissection.  He appears again in chapter 3 when the results are told, but doesn't speak.
  • Birch finds Richard talking casually with Click during off hours, and discovers that they were discussing Richard's childhood.  It is revealed that Richard has divorced parents and isn't close to either of them.  The personal nature of this conversation prompts Birch to investigate Click further, leading to the discovery that he truly cares about Richard.  Richard is revealed to play world of warcraft and love terrible horror movies.
  • Richard is assigned to be Click's permanent assistant.  Click purrs.  (The fandom goes wild.)
  • Richard and Birch have a discussion with Morno and the ambassador about how they need to stop imitating humans sneezing, trying to explain that this is not a social behavior.
  • Richard is present after the president is assassinated, talking to another human crew-member in the background of the scene.
• Fandom details
  • The Click/Richard fandom declares their ship canon, while those who don't ship it viciously argue that the relationship is parental.
  • Her'ran's introduction creates the new ship of Morno/Her'ran.  Some people ship Morno/Rruhi and Morno/Her'ran/Rruhi as well.
  • Bee starts being referred to as Morno's son.
  • Morno's pregnancy creates an undercurrent of mpreg in the fandom, especially with Richard and Click.  Other fans argue that this is seahorse type situation, and that 'mpreg' is not the correct word to use.

BOOK THREE: Grey Area: Backlash

• This book is not out yet!  It's scheduled to be out in 6 months.
• Promises of off-workship action have been made.
• The date was pushed back twice, frustrating the fandom.