In this compile we have Day 3 and the start of Day 5 ===================================== ===================================== Mission: Where Fools Fear to Tread Day 3 Stardate: 2408.11.23 ===================================== ===================================== (USS Boudicca - Bridge - AOPS- Lieutenant Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1545) Tollian had been monitoring the energy output of the alien ship. The readings were somewhat confusing. The sensors seemed to be detecting some biogenic energy fields in addition to the more common energies produced as a by-product of matter/antimatter reactions. He was trying to isolate the exactpowersource and then identify the specific type when Ensign Rel spoke up from the science console. "Captain, Um...I've got an odd reading from the sensors, I'm getting life signs from the ship." ManyHorses grinned in response. "No doubt you are Ensign; I do believe our new acquaintances are very much alive." "I'm sorry sir, I should have been more specific, I'm not referring to life signs from inside the ship, I'm speaking of life signs from the ship itself. If Ops could possibly take a look at the sensor readings, I'd really like a second opinion." Ensign Rel stated. ~A living ship?~ Tollian asked himself in startled wonder, ~why didn't I think of that?~ He glanced over at the mission Commander, who gave him the 'command nod.' The Efrosian officer turned back to his console and fed a series of new commands into the ship's computer intiating a series of new and more specific scans designed to get to the bottom of the mystery that lay before him. "Sensors are reading a hydrocarbon hull structure, very similar on the molecular level to those found in the Gomtuu living ship, although not as rigid. Additionally, the ship is generating a great deal of biogenic energy and is producing a uniform thermal field as well. These could also be consistant with a living organism. I'm also detecting a series of chambers and a vascular network that seem to be transporting..." he paused at seeing what the scanners was showing him. "...a stabilized liquid form of animate protomatter. I an showing signs of muteogenesis. That's a definitive marker for a living carbon-based lifeform, although not conclusive. I think at this point it is likely that the ship is alive and is maintaining the biological functions of the crew through symbiosis." Yalix concluded. "If that ship is a living entity that would account for its shape and the strange interior, it would also account for why the Marshal referred to getting permission for our away team to board. I am guessing that the young female he directed his inquiry too is in some way linked with the ship - telepathically perhaps, as no words were spoken yet she appeared to be listening to somebody.... Quite fascinating...I look forward to finding out if my assumptions are correct." Manyhorses commented. Sasha then took the lead in organizing the away team using the recommen- dations that the mission commander had made. "Counsellor," he said, turning to Dorga, "you and I will lead the away team to the Mithgiln ship. Trei, Yalix, Orion, and Lorimar, you will accompany us. You are all to report to transporter room one at 1855 hours. Standard first contact protocols will be in place. Bring any necessary equipment, but no weapons. Any questions?" Yalix shook his head in the human fashion then replied, "None" ******* (USS Boudicca - Bridge - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 1547) Bob resisted the urge to send a jest back in Rel's direction after she teased him with her 'if the new Captain likes you' comment. He refrained completely from any retort, turning his attention instead to the readings in front of him. He set the display to continually replay the deceleration maneuver of the alien vessel. Fiddling quickly with the controls, he set the display to 'time expand' the maneuver the alien ~Mithgiln?~ vessel had so graciously performed. Again and again he studied it, marveling at the subspace shearing forces and how neatly their drive system dealt with the downwarping stresses. Their technology wasn't 'better' per se, but it was certainly effective and elegant. He was almost lost in his analysis, but the exchange between Rel, Yalix, and the mCO caught his attention. ~THAT would certainly explain some of these readings... but ah'd like tae examine mair data before ah offer any conclusions..~ His thought was interrupted as Stolev ordered him onto the away team. Certainly a good way to get first hand analysis... After a perfunctory and correct "Aye Aye sir," he turned back to the data he and the computer were examining. (Reply Any iyw, None needed) ******* (USS Boudicca - Bridge - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1548) Dorga listened with interest to the conversations going on around her concerning the likelihood of the Mithgiln's ship being a living creature. She would certainly like to have the opportunity to find out for sure, if she could only touch the bulkhead or whatever it was with her hand she was sure she would find out. "Counsellor," The FO said, turning to Dorga but speaking in a voice loud enough for all on the Bridge to hear him. "You and I will lead the away team to the Mithgiln ship. Trei, Yalix, Orion, and Lorimar, you will accompany us. You are all to report to transporter room one at 1855 hours. Standard first contact protocols will be in place. Bring any necessary equipment, but no weapons. Any questions?" "Only one from me, Commander, I am not concerned about going over there unarmed, if necessary I can use unarmed combat methods, but what if the Mithgiln party are armed?" (reply Stolev, any) With her usual one curt nod of acknowledgment, Dorga rose from her chair and stretched. "I have all the information that the Mithgiln sent over about food requirements so I will go and see Arania, then I'll be in my office for a while after that. So I will see you in the Transporter Room if I don't see you before." ManyHorses smiled and nodded. "Thank you Counselor." (reply Stolev, any) (posted by Sal) ******** (USS Boudicca - Bridge - FO Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 3 - 1549) "Counselor," The FO said, turning to Dorga but speaking in a voice loud enough for all on the Bridge to hear him. "You and I will lead the away team to the Mithgiln ship. Trei, Yalix, Orion, and Lorimar, you will accompany us. You are all to report to transporter room one at 1855 hours. Standard first contact protocols will be in place. Bring any necessary equipment, but no weapons. Any questions?" "Only one from me, Commander, I am not concerned about going over there unarmed, if necessary I can use unarmed combat methods, but what if the Mithgiln party are armed?" Stolev shrugged. "I'm sure Commander ManyHorses will be able to deal with that situation, should it arise. We can only control what we do and how we present ourselves. Hopefully they will also think it poor form to show up armed in this situation," he added with a small smile as he flicked a quick glance at ManyHorses. (reply any iyw) With her usual one curt nod of acknowledgment, Dorga rose from her chair and stretched. "I have all the information that the Mithgiln sent over about food require- ments so I will go and see Arania, then I'll be in my office for a while after that. So I will see you in the Transporter Room if I don't see you before." ManyHorses smiled and nodded. "Thank you Counselor." "See you then," replied Stolev. ******* (USS Boudicca - Science Labs - ACSO Ensign Carlyle Deston - Day 3 - 1549) The inherent nature of Starfleet and the universe made the (nominally) standard first contact an impromptu situation, with both parties making do at the spur of the moment. The Boudicca's science staff was reveling, therefore, in the luxury of being able to (hopefully) adequately prepare for this one. Preparations had been ongoing for days, now; when word came down that sensor contact had been made, Deston had pulled rank and retired to his office, calling up a simulcast feed from the sensors so he could watch things himself. The fact that he didn't have to scurry around the labs, fielding questions and reorganizing rosters was merely a welcome side note. The incoming data was fairly minimal, as was to be expected, but engrossing nonetheless. Deston appended some still images from the communications to look at while he perused the data... ~Very interesting - biological technology? We don't see that sort of thing very often! The Tin Man entity... wonder if it may be related...?~ A comm alert tone startled him out of his musings. "Stolev to Deston. Report to transporter room one at 1855 hours for away team mission to the Mithgiln ship. Bring any equipment you need, but no weapons. Contact me if you have any further questions. Stolev out." Deston replied, "Aye, sir; I'll be ready. Deston out." Deston's eyes flicked back and forth for a moment; seeing the coast clear, he formed a fist with his right hand, then rapidly drew his right arm in towards his waist while simultaneously lifting his right leg up; while performing this ancient dance, he hissed through clenched teeth, "YESSSSS!!" He then resumed his more relaxed pose, cleared his throat, and turned his attention toward what needed to be done. ~Three hours? Tzao-gao, the time is going to draaaaaag.....~ (reply any) (posted by John O'Neill) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Command Deck - Guardian Rennia Tenshi and Shonora Ellian - 1600) ::So what do you think, old Friend?:: Rennia asked. ::They're fast, but I think Hormal could take them in a race. They look fairly well armed, but so far they're behaving themselves, Porchan would like them. Should be interesting to meet them, their Federation is very diverse, I counted at least five distinct species, at least by phenotype.:: Ellian said, his "eyes" scanning over the surface of the Alien vessel. Rennia saw what Ellian saw, and she had watched the entire discussion between the Marshal and the other ship's captain with Ellian, through his eyes. She'd tried to describe it to her parents once, but had failed completely. ::We shall see shortly what they're like up close.:: Rannia thought, then yawned. ::You should go rest, I need you at your best when our guests arrive.:: ::I'll be fine for another hour or so,:: Rannia thought just as she felt a hand on her shoulder. ::No you won't, and I already sent for Forim to replace you. If you weren't so tired you might have noticed when I did it too. Now off with you.:: Ellian said protectively. Rennia knew when not to fight Ellian, and let her connection to him go. She turned around to see Forim standing behind her. She gave him a tired smile and stepped down. He gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze and returned her smile before replacing her on the podium. Guardian's were always less formal than SEAD Officers and Enlisted. Forim was older than she was but still a Junior Guardian, neither minded the age difference. It was about what was best for Ellian, not who was superior, besides, she was convinced Forim hated paperwork. ******* (USS Boudicca - 20's Office - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1610) The 2O sat in her very comfortable swivel chair, shoved it back so she could put her feet up on her desk and leaned way back causing the seat to tilt. Folding her hands over her stomach, she smiled happily. She had just been down to QV to see Arania about the food venue for the party that evening, and had approved all the dishes the young Iradonian had suggested, having taken into consideration the nourishment requirements of the Mithgiln. Dorga wasn't surprised that Arania had risen to the occasion, one thing she had learned about the young wife of Matt McLaren was that she was one of the most resourceful and talented people she had ever met as well as being one of the most pleasant. The thought that Dorga would be over on the alien ship within 3 hours was very exciting and she was thrilled that ManyHorses had given her the opportunity, though it was really a logical choice considering that the M-CO (who was also a counselor), would be remaining behind on the Boudicca to help entertain their guests. "Computer begin recording my log and star date appropriately." [Recording] "I have been lax with my journal recently due to family committments and preparing for this very special mission so it has been several days since I updated my log.... Two days ago a meeting was called for senior staff and Commander Stolev informed us that we had been assigned a new mission; one of our favorite kind! We were to endeavor to make first contact with an unknown warp capable species. Apparently the USS Saratoga had discovered a new warp signature never encountered before while exploring a new section of space, and the USS Boudicca is to travel to that area and search out the ship or ships that made the warp trail. That evening a general announcement to all the ship was made by Captain Rivers, in which she stated that a Mission Commanding Officer had arrived to take over the captaincy of this vessel. His name is Commander Jerome ManyHorses and he had traveled from the USS Saratoga to join us. We do not know specifically why he has replaced our captain for the duration of this mission, having only been told that Bupers he is more qualified that our Captain for this first contact. Unofficially it is rumored that Susan has trodden on one to many toes and this is some kind of punishment. I am inclined to believe the latter, and I must get around to visiting her after the party unless she makes an appearance to meet the new species but somehow I doubt it, from her tone of voice she was highly irate at being replaced...Which leads me to current events. We arrived at our destination mid-afternoon and began a systematic search and scan of the area. The M-CO also sent out a looping message on all frequencies to greet any who could hear the message, stating who we are, that we are friendly and inviting them to meet us. Amazingly we had a quick response to the message and soon got to see the aliens and their remarkable ship, which from all accounts is a living creature, while Commander ManyHorses talked to their Marshal and made arrangements for a face-to-face meeting. They call themselves Mithgiln and they actually have wings, though I have no idea if they can actually fly or not, I will find out later on today. The M-CO invited a small party of them to come over to the Boudicca for a tour and a meal, and their Marshal - Torias Wersh I believe his name is, reciprocated the invitation, so seven of us are going over to their ship and seven of them are coming to ours, and I get to be one of them! Stellar! On a side note, Commander McLaren and Leiutenant Lorimar have made great progress with their new shuttle and are at the stage now when they can begin real test flights. They are such incredibly skilled engineers and never cease to amaze me. If I ever get a ship of my own...if I ever really want one that is, I sure hope I am lucky enough to have an equally talented crew under my command. That is all for now, I will add more later when there's more to tell. Computer end recording and save." [log saved] Removing her feet from her desk top, Dorga pulled her chair up close to her desk and activated her computer terminal. It was time to do some work for a while. (reply none necessary) (posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Personal Quarters - Guardian Rennia Tenshi - 1615) Rennia walked into her quarters and secured the door behind her. She ran her fingers through her long fine white blond hair, freeing it from it's braid. Taking off her robes she draped them over the back of a chair, she walked over to the little altar she kept in her quarters. In just a thin shirt and a skirt the air was cool against her skin, but it felt good as she knelt down to pray. The temple where she trained was high in the mountains, and she kept her quarters colder than most liked to remind her of the peaks she called home as a child and teen. Lighting a candle she bowed he head and sang a quiet prayer to Morinar, the goddess she was a prelate to for years before becoming a guardian, and a second song to her Castes' Patron God, Fronar. When she was done she let the song die away and stood back up. Rennia crossed the floor, barefoot, picking up her discarded robe and walked into her bedroom. She only had a few hours, but it would be enough to pick her back up. Setting her alarm, she quickly took off her under garments and crawled into her bed, hoping for a few restful hours. It would not due for her to yawn in the middle of her introduction. (Reply None needed) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - Bridge - FO Cmdr Aleksander Stolev - Day 3 - 1546) Stolev had been watching the conversation between ManyHorses and the commander of the Mithgiln ship intently. At the prospect of a crew exchange -- for contact and cultural exchange purposes on its face, but as Stolev well understood given his tactical background, a potential hostage exchange as well -- he began mentally composing a list of away team members. As though having read his mind, ManyHorses handed Stolev a PADD shortly after the comm link had been terminated. "I think these officers will be the lucky ones if you agree." He told the FO in quiet tones, "and I think you should head the team unless you wish to recommend another to do so." Stolev reviewed the list on the PADD. Dorga was an obvious choice due to her experience and seniority, and Trei as well for security purposes. Deston naturally would be an ideal candidate to study the Mithgiln from a scientific perspective, and Lorimar, Yalix, and Orion would be able to learn about their engineering and operational capacities. Plus it was a racially diverse group, representing a cross section of the Federation and demonstrating the inclusive nature of Starfleet -- one of the most important things to demonstrate in any first contact situation. All in all, Stolev could find no fault with the Mission CO's selections. "This looks fine to me, commander," replied Stolev, "and I will be happy to lead the team." With a nod of acknowledgment, Jerome stated. "Very well, inform them right away." Turning to the counselor he said. "Advise the manager of Qulaetha Vorenda about our future guests, and ensure the information about their food require- ments is given to her if they prove to have specific needs." Dorga gave her usual one nod and assured the M-CO that she'd inform Arania immediately about the party and would transfer any pertinent information about their diet that science might receive. Then, Ensign Rel spoke up from the science console. "Captain, Um...I've got an odd reading from the sensors, I'm getting life signs from the ship." ManyHorses grinned in response. "No doubt you are Ensign; I do believe our new acquaintances are very much alive." "I'm sorry sir, I should have been more specific, I'm not referring to life signs from inside the ship, I'm speaking of life signs from the ship itself. If Ops could possibly take a look at the sensor readings, I'd really like a second opinion." Ensign Rel stated. ManyHorses nodded to Yalix at OPS to confirm that he was to assist the ACSO. Aloud he said. "If that ship is a living entity that would account for its shape and the strange interior, it would also account for why the Marshal referred to getting permission for our away team to board. I am guessing that the young female he directed his inquiry too is in some way linked with the ship - telepathically perhaps, as no words were spoken yet she appeared to be listening to somebody.... Quite fascinating...I look forward to finding out if my assumptions are correct." Stolev nodded absently, and he became even more pleased with the composition of the away team. Having two partial telepaths in Trei and Orion, plus a touch-telepath in Dorga, would go a long way towards finding out if ManyHorses was correct in his supposition. With one more glance at his PADD, Stolev looked around the bridge and saw that everyone on the list but Deston was already present. "Counsellor," he said, turning to Dorga, "you and I will lead the away team to the Mithgiln ship. Trei, Yalix, Orion, and Lorimar, you will accompany us. You are all to report to transporter room one at 1855 hours. Standard first contact protocols will be in place. Bring any necessary equipment, but no weapons. Any questions?" (reply any) Stolev then tapped his comm badge. "Stolev to Deston. Report to transporter room one at 1855 hours for away team mission to the Mithgiln ship. Bring any equipment you need, but no weapons. Contact me if you have any further questions. Stolev out." (reply Deston, any others mentioned) (posted by Aaron) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Personal / Main Security Quaters- Chief of Security, Sangel Freya Fenrisúlfr and Ursangel Electo Vistrum -1800) One thing Freya always admired about Ellian was the fact that the Main Security room was grown right adjacent to her own quarters. It could be bothersome at time but, like now it was a welcome blessing. “By the gods… seven I can’t believe this I asked the Marshal to please keep the numbers to a minimum. The gods only know what kind of poking and prodding their going to do.” Freya fumed. Has her hair was braided and placed neatly atop her head and the ties that held her long white dress in place were tied into place. First were the ties that fastened around the neck. “And all the while I get to go place diplomat, sometimes I wonder if the Marshal does this to me just to see me squirm in a dress.” Freya continued, as the last of the ties of her dress were passed under the neck piece and passed though two gold coils that held the ties in place. Thus closing the back of her dress save two long oval opening were her wings were aloud to fall freely from. It was at this time her door chime rung. “Enter.” She barked a little more severely than intended. The door opened and entered a young officer one of her pride enjoys. “Ursangel Electo Vistrum, reporting as ordered.” the young male said. Freya looked him over for a second. He was everything a red winged Mithgiln was expected to be he was large framed and close to seven feet tall, and a natural leader. It was his security squad that had shown the broadest of improvements in her drillings and that’s why Electo was before her now. “Has you by now know, we have had the good fortune to be involved I a first contact situation, and in a act of good will and exceptional faith, the Marshal has granted seven from there ship to cross over here for a meet and greet.” Freya paused letting what she had said settle on Electo before continuing. “I have selected you and your squad to provide security for and from our guest, you are to watch them and keep them from the ships more secure locations, you are to provide aid and assist in anyway possible, but if anything happens to either the Marshal or myself you are to secure their entourage for their own safety, this of course pending on what the Vice Marshal and Gaurdian order you to do ” another pause. “I hope it does not come down to that and those orders are for your ears alone, and only to be carried out in the most dire of circumstances. Do you understand what I am asking of you and your forces?” She concluded. To which Electo nodded his agreement. “Good, now go and ready your men there delegates should be here with in the hour.” “Sangel Freya, if I may so bold,” Electo said when he bowed. “If you dress like that to often you would have every male asking for the right to challenge for your hand.” With that the door shut, and Electo walked down the corridor to were his men were stationed to inform them on there new assignment. Meanwhile Freya sat dumfounded by his boldness, but still flattered by the kind words he said. ~I’ll have to put him in traction latter for his boldness.~ She though as she continued the chore of making herself look more like a lady than warrior. So what if she had nine knives strapped to her left and a small hand blaster strapped to her right legs. She stood before the Mirror smoothing out her dress before she dawned a small red cloth belt around her waist. Which nicely accented how narrow her waist actually was. Next came the wide neck piece, a marking of her house. Last came a two gloves made of some material than came close to leather but smoother and softer, both were studded with the metallic emblems of the god she followed. She was ready, Freya took a deep breath before leaving for the teleported room she would be there by her estimate about ten minutes from the scheduled leave time. “Sangel Freya to Marshal Torias Wersh I am ready whenever you are meet you in transporter room one.” She spoke into her comm. device with was cleverly hidden in her left glove. (reply Torias) She made her way to the transporter room, the walk made her feel funny. She was never one who much cared for dresses but she did enjoy one fact and that it was customary for a woman in dress to go bare footed, and far be it for Freya to go against such a far standing tradition. On such a important mission such as this. She allowed herself a smile ~If everything goes well this might just prove to be fun.~ She thought to herself and walked on. (posted by Matthew Locke) (reply Torias.) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Marshal's Quarters - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1845) Torias brushed lint that wasn't there off his dress uniform. A dark chocolate brown, it was shot with threads of gold and silver. His boots came up to his knees, and were a soft leather. He tucked a few scanners into the many pockets even his dress uniform had. His Caste always had pockets to stash a spare part, or a diagnostic device, even in formal situations. Once he was sure he was dressed appropriately, he headed out the door and towards the transporter room to a conflict he knew he was going to have no matter what. ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room One - AOPS- Lieutenant Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1850) Tollian walked into the transporter room, carrying just the bare mini- mum of sensory equipment necessary for him to do his job. That consisted of a pair of tricorders. The first was a science configuration, and would be used to study the atmosphere, molecular structure of the ship and energy readings. The second was a medical tricorder and wuld be scanning every- thing and everyone as they walked. This information would later be used to aid CMO Fickett in assessing the biological functions of the Mithgiln. In addition to the sensory equipment, Tollian also wore an Emergency transporter armband. In his experience with a first contact situation, not all such meetings went well. With a built in isolinear tag and a subspace beacon, the armband would allow the Boudicca to lock on to him even through a dampening or inhibitor field. He carried some extras for the other members of the team. Then, of course, there was his commbadge He stepped into the gathering area, nodding to those already in the room and waited for the rest of the away team to assemble. (reply Any) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1851) Detron walked into the transporter room ready for the adventure. He had his COMM Badge on and a emergency transporter band around his wrist just in case of trouble. He carried a small hand phaser attached to his belt along with a tactical tricorder just to be prepared for the unknown. Detron nodded to Yalix that made it in before him and waited for the rest to arrive. ~A living ship. Fascinating. I think they look like fairies.~ (Reply Away team.) (Posted by Edward) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - FO Cmdr Aleksander Stolev - Day 3 - 1852) Stolev strode into the transporter room a few minutes early and was pleased to see some of the away team members already there. "Ah, Mr. Yalix," he said, noting the OPS officer's armband, "is that a sub- space transponder? Good idea. If you have enough for everyone, please distribute them, and if not, let's replicate enough for us all... just in case." (reply Yalix) Stolev then turned to Deston. "Ensign, good to see you brought your equipment." He then turned to regard Lt. Trei. "Mr. Trei. I see you also have a transponder, good thinking." He paused when he noticed the hand phaser on the security chief's belt. "May I speak with you in private for a moment before we leave?" he said, walking towards the far corner of the room and indicating that Trei should follow. When they were relatively alone, Stolev addressed Trei in lowered tones. "I do believe I said no weapons, Lieutenant. Please leave the phaser behind; that's an order. I understand your concern for the safety of the away team, but we can't risk causing an incident by showing up armed. In cases such as these, an away team is considered expendable with compared with the risk of sparking an interstellar conflict." (reply Trei, Yalix) (posted by Aaron) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room One - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 1852.5) Lorimar had retreated to his office from the bridge after completing his analysis. He filed his initial finding in the ships' computer, flagged for the Command staff, and the Science division, should any of those worthy folk find an interest in reading his preliminary report. After that, he took a bit of time running over Starfleet 'First Contact' procedures and regulations. The last one he had participated in was more an 'avoid contact'. He recalled with some distaste his poor performance on the Tobias mission. That was, thankfully, in the past... and he would do his very best to make a positive difference on this one. He walked into the transporter room and nodded politely at those present as he did a final pre-departure check of his kit. Along with his standard toolkit and engineering tricorder, he added the required emergency transporter armband. He thought it a sensible pre- caution, but fervently hoped it would remain unused. Emergency beam outs were not usually a good thing. He took his place on the transporter pad and waited, trying to ignore the slight sense of unease that tugged at his conciousness. (Reply Any iyw) (Posted by Russ) ****** (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1853) Detron was directed over by Stolev for a brief discussion about carrying the phaser and subsequently ordered to leave it behind. Detron sighed and placed it on a table. "Very well sir. I still like to be prepared ." Detron took a transporter spot next to Dorga and waited for the away team to take their spots. (Reply Stolev, Dorga iyw) (Posted by Edward) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Rm. 1 - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1854) The 2O had come directly to the transporter room from her quarters where she had given the twins their evening meal and prepared them for bed so Mrs. Askew didn't have to worry about that, after all the woman was good enough to be available whenever Dorga needed her and never complained about the inconvenient hours. Naturally the children had been excited for their Mother and badgered her to promise she would tell them all about the new species in the morning. Now the counselor strode in to the transporter room and greeted all who were there. It had been a long three hours since she had learned she would be on the away team. ~ It is funny, ~ She thought as she stepped up on the pad, ~ how time always seems to go by slower when you are waiting for something you are particularly looking forward too. ~ But now the time had finally come and she was eager to be on the other 'ship' so she could find out more about these winged humanoids. (reply Stolev, any) (posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Transporter room 1 - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1855) Torias walked into the transporter room, his scanner in hand, within a few moments he had what he wanted. He smiled at his assembled away team and then tapped a few buttons on the transporter console. "Marshal Wersh to Captain ManyHorses on the Boudicca," Torias started. (Reply ManyHorses) "My team is assembled, but I do have one thing to tell you before we beam over. Two members of my team are carrying weapons, one energy weapon each and multiple blades. I do not tell you this as a threat or to try and scare you, just that I highly doubt I could convince my chief of security and her deputy to remove those weapons and still beam over in time. I can have my transporter remove those weapons in transit, or I can allow two of your officers to bring what ever you consider a personal weapon over as well. I will leave this decision up to you, I am about to get yelled at by the officer I just outed. Let me know what your decision is, trust me, I'll be right here." Torias said then cut the line and turned around to look at Freya "Before you start, I understand why you're carrying multiple weapons while we are about to board a new vessel in a first contact situation, and I'm fairly certain you understand what our hopefully new friends might think if they caught you. There are two situations, either they really want to be friends, and when they discover you're carrying they become offended and you make my job that much harder, or they're lying and you may get a chance to take down one or two before they disable all of us. And while I'm not a member of your Caste, and can't claim your advanced training, but I can't see where either path works in our favor, can you?" (Reply Freya) "I've made my decision, feel free to send a complaint to SEAD Security, but trust me, SEAD command will back me up. We're going to have to settle for an even exchange of people on this one and trust that that's enough to keep both them and us in line." Torias said, then turned around as his comm line lit up with a call coming from the Boudicca. "Marshal Wersh here, what's the decission?" (Reply ManyHorses, Freya) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room One - AOPS- Lieutenant Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1856) Tollian had not been in the transporter room fro very long when other members of the away team began to arrive. The first of these was Ensign Deston. The young man stepped into the compartment with a greeting of " "Good to see you, Lieutenant!" It was a friendly enough greeting if not more exuberant than the Efrosian had expected. "Greetings Ensign" He replied- although without the same level of excite- ment in his voice as was conveyed by the Science officer. "Lieutenant, I thought we weren't supposed to carry a weapon... but no... if you don't mind me asking, sir, just what is that on your arm?" Tollian blinked for a moment. ~A weapon?~ he wondered, since he was unarmed. "I am not armed ensign. The device on my arm is an emergency Transporter beacon. It acts as a combination subspace relay and pattern enhancer. They are standard equipment for all First Contact scenarios involving transport aboard another vessel that is unknown to the away team and their leaders." He replied. He handed the ensign one of the spare armbands. "Perhaps you should read up on your first contact protocols." he suggested. Of course Tollian had been trained in First Contact protocols and had been involved in a number of first contacts including the first contact with the Trivaste. ~Now that had proven interesting.~ Tollian thought and then wondered, ~I wonder how Oggie is doing these days.~ (reply Deston iyw) Tollian's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the ship's security chief. The Klingon Betazed would be a definite boon to the mission, both as a deterrent to confrontation and as an empath should the need arise. The Lieutenant was carrying a hand phaser on his belt, a normal component of his uniform. However, Tollian recalled that the commander had ordered no weapons be carried. Perhaps the Security chief was planning on holding on to his phaser to the last possible second. The Efrosian declined saying anything to the Klingon. Commander Stolev would be along soon and if there was an issue he'd address it. Perhaps some- thing had changed and Trei had been ordered to carry his phaser after all. As if Tollian's thought of Stolev somehow summoned him- the doors to the transporter room parted once again and the commander came in, ready for action. "Ah, Mr. Yalix," he said, noting the OPS officer's armband, "is that a subspace transponder? Good idea. If you have enough for everyone, please distribute them, and if not, let's replicate enough for us all... just in case." "It is and I do sir." Tollian replied, then handed one to Stolev. Since he'd provided Deston with one already and Trei had brought his own, that only left Orion, Lorimar and 'chaNooras. Commander Stolev must have seen the phaser because he asked for a private conference with the Klingon and so Tollian turned away minding his own business. Dorga entered the compartment with her usual series of friendly greetings, but rather than mingle much with the crew beyond the basic pleasantries, she stepped up onto the transporter platform. Tollian followed her, handing her the armband as she went and explaining to her what it was, although he expected that she already knew. He settled himself onto the PADD waiting for Orion and Lorimar to arrive so that he could provide them with their armbands as well. (reply Any) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room One - Ensign Deston - Day 3 - 1856.5) Deston had seen the odd armband-mounted device on Yalix's arm, mistaking it for an unusually-positioned phaser; excitement, preoccupation and a some- what obscured view caused him to wonder out loud. Yalix's reply caused him to blush in embarrassment. "I am not armed ensign. The device on my arm is an emergency Transporter beacon. It acts as a combination subspace relay and pattern enhancer. They are standard equipment for all First Contact scenarios involving transport aboard another vessel that is unknown to the away team and their leaders." "Oh - right..." ~Idiot! Like anyone is going to carry a phaser after we were specifically ordered not to.. and then carry one strapped to their arm... OK, boyo; time to start /thinking/. Get it together!~ "Sorry, didn't recognize it at first." The lieutenant handed him another of the armbands, obviously meant for him to wear. "Perhaps you should read up on your first contact protocols." "You're probably right," answered Deston, face still red. "I was apparently a little too caught up in my own preparations. I won't make that mistake again." ~Nowhere to go from here except up...~ (reply Yalix, if so desired) (posted by John O'Neill) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - Ensign Deston - Day 3 - 1857.5) Once everyone was present and on the transporter pad, Commander Stolev gave his first mission order. "Okay everyone, if you have any tricorders or other equipment to activate, do it now." Deston activated first his AV record- ing gear, then his transponder, then his tricorder, and finally resumed his "ready" stance. Stolev nodded to the transporter operator. "Energize." The familiar effects on transport took hold, and the transporter room of the Boudicca faded out... ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter room 1 - Chief of Security, Sangel Freya Fenrisúlfr - Day 3 - 1857) She waited in the transporter room as the away team assembled, the last to show was Marshal Torias. He then went over to the console and pushed a few buttons. "Marshal Wersh to Captain ManyHorses on the Boudicca," Torias started. Freya’s smile soon faded ask the Marshal continued his converstation with Captain Manyhorses, and by the time he was finished she look ready to throttle her superior officer, her wigs vibrated fericly. Then the Marshal turned to her "Before you start, I understand why you're carrying multiple weapons while we are about to board a new vessel in a first contact situation, and I'm fairly certain you understand what our hopefully new friends might think if they caught you. There are two situations, either they really want to be friends, and when they discover you're carrying they become offended and you make my job that much harder, or they're lying and you may get a chance to take down one or two before they disable all of us. And while I'm not a member of your Caste, and can't claim your advanced training, but I can't see where either path works in our favor, can you?" She waited till he finished before she walked before him meeting his gaze, “If thing don’t go has planned at least you will make it back.” She said in soft even tones, “you know me well, better than most.” She continued stepping back. “However my deputy as you say is unarmed. If any was to blamed for any measure of deceit or mistrust that burden was to be mine and mine alone.” She stepped on the pad, and waited to be sent over. You act with you measure, and like you say SEAD command will back your decision. I will not burden you further by logging a complaint with them. All will make itself known in time.” She finished. “I await your orders, sir.” Little was more scarier than Freya when she let the screen of humor and a light heart fell. She had served on the Shonora Ellian the crew had become more a family to her. One she was willing to die to protect, and few lived after seeing Freya dance. “May the gods bless us.” (Posted by Matthew Locke) (reply none but always welcome.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room 2 - Vice Marshal, Erril Emmon and Senior Guardian Rennia Tenshi - Day 3 - 1857) Rennia, again dressed in her office's green formal robes, walked into the Transporter room where they would be receiving their guests. Her white blond hair was pulled back into a long braid, and her badges and pins were polished to a high gloss. She smiled at the Vice Marshal who was already waiting. "Good Evening, Erril, I trust you are looking forward to this?" Rennia asked, stifling a smile. "I am really," Erril said. "What's Ellian's opinion of all of this?" He asked, activating his scanning device. "He's looking forward to it, but I think he'd rather be doing anything than on an aid run, so he's happy for the break in monotony." Rennia said as the Chief Engineer and the Chief of Securities Deputy walked in in their formal attire. She was happy to see that the Security officer was free of visible weapons at least. With one member from each Caste assembled the transporter activated and the group of seven aliens shimmered into existence before them. "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, allow me to bid you greetings and convey to you a message of sincere goodwill. Thank you for agreeing to host us on your vessel. I am Commander Stolev, First Officer of the USS Boudicca. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" Erril stepped forward and bowed, his midnight blue wings spreading slightly to complete the gesture. "My name is Erril Emmon, Vice Marshal of Ellian's crew, representative of the Scholar Caste, Proctor of the College of the Infinitesimal Light. I welcome you with a message of peace." Rennia stepped forward next, as was her place. "I am Rennia Tenshi, Senior Guardian to Ellian, as a member of the Religious Caste, I welcome you for both myself and Ellian." She touched her forehead with her index fingers and bowed slightly to the assembled guests. Next up in the round of formalities was the chief of Engineering. "May name is Yeloria Mershan, I am the Chief of Engineering aboard Ellian. I represent the Worker Caste, and am Foreman in the Order of the Unending Wheel. I welcome you on behalf of my caste and my department." The tall brunette said. Her bronze wings were held tightly at her back, as she touched her chest with her closed fists. Yeloria's uniform matched her topaz brown eyes, and contained almost as much decoration as the Marshal's had. The Security officer was the last to go, her pale red wings vibrating nervously at his back. "My name is Jellen Arnorn, I represent the Warrior caste and am a Sergeant in the Crimson Guard. I welcome you who come in peace." The young officer said, bowing with his palms open and held away from his side, in an age old greeting of his Caste. He quickly stepped back to let the more senior officers talk charge of the meeting. For all their bluster and bravery, Rennia had always found Warriors uncomfortable at the diplomatic table. (Reply Stolev, away team) Rennia stepped forward once again with a pleasant smile on her face, Erril stepping up right beside her. "It is a pleasure to meet you Commander Stolev, as well as your comrades," Rennia said. "While I wouldn't think to speak for the Vice Marshal, we have prepared a meeting room far less cramped than this, where we can all sit and talk. We can talk on the way to keep the more curious among both our groups from exploding with questions," Rennia said, giving a sideways glance to the Vice Marshal. While he might be in charge of the crew, Rennia was the titular host of all formalities aboard Ellian, and was responsible for their guests comfort. If she let the vice Marshal start asking questions now, they might never eat. (Reply Stolev, Away Team) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 2 - M-CO Jerome 'Hoss' ManyHorses - 1857) ManyHorses walked down the corridor towards the transporter room where the away team from the Mithgiln ship were soon to be beamed over. =/\= Marshal Wersh to Captain ManyHorses on the Boudicca,=/\= ManyHorses responded. "ManyHorses here, what can I do for you Marshal Wersh?" He listened silently as the Marshal informed him that two of his team were carrying weapons and frowned as he heard that one had an energy weapon and the other carried multiple blades. He couldn't really under- stand why a supposedly friendly meeting merited the need for weaponry but he made no comment as the Marshal continued to say he was not informing Jerome of this fact as a threat or to intimidate him, only because he doubted he could convince his chief of security and her deputy to remove the weapons and still beam over in time. =/\= ...I can have my transporter remove those weapons in transit, or I can allow two of your officers to bring what ever you consider a personal weapon over as well. I will leave this decision up to you, I am about to get yelled at by the officer I just outed. Let me know what your decision is, trust me, I'll be right here. =/\= Jerome had no intentions of changing his mind about his team not carrying weapons but he could make doubly sure that none were brought aboard the Boudicca. As he stepped in to Transporter room 2 where he was about to greet the arrivals, he heard Marshal Wersh requesting his decision. "Marshal Wersh. My people are not armed and I have no intention of changing that order, even the security officer is unarmed and they are weaponless as a show of our sincere wish for friendship and trust. Please advise your chief of security that our transporters will also be calibrated to eliminate weapons that any of your party may be carrying. Advise her that suspicious minds are a hindrance to true friendship... I look forward to meeting you very soon. ManyHorses out." The M-CO ordered the transporter operator to make sure all weapons were left back on the alien vessel and waited for the Mithgiln party to materialize, fully expecting to see at least one of them showing signs of hostility and anger. "Sir, they are ready to beam over." The crewman at the controls advised him. "Then energize." Jerome ordered, watching the transporter pads where they would appear. As the party of aliens appeared, he stepped forward and bowed his head in greeting. "Welcome aboard the USS Boudicca, I hope your visit here will be informative and enjoyable." (reply Wersh, Any) "If you would please accompany me, I will take you to our lounge where you will find refreshment and other crew members waiting to meet you all. You will note that I have come alone to greet you as a show of my sincere desire to befriend and a show of my trust that you are of likewise mindset." (Reply Wersh, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room One - Con/Ops Ensign (sg) Michael Orion - Day 3 - 1858) Orion knew he was cutting it close, has he entered the transporter room. It was odd for him to be cutting time this close. He greeted everyone in turn before taking his place on the teleport pad. He was also glad he took the few hours to brush up on first contact scenarios, and took the foresight to replicate an armband similar to the one Tolian was prepared to hand him. Orion also carried with him three tricorders around his belt, one was set for monitoring the ships flight and astrological data. The second Orion set personal to monitor mental and psychic activity while he was on board. The third was set to even a more specific setting. It purpose was to set out and record the bio rhythm of the ship and her crew. Some might think the last tricorder a not needed set. But in Orion’s eyes this was by far the most important of the three. Orion looked around at everyone some seemed excited, others seemed nervous. The lack of weapons was a concern however Orion knew multiple forms of martial arts and he dared not believe that he was the only one with such experience. So he feared little and almost hopped on the pad, ready and willing to go into the vast unknown. (posted by Matthew Locke) (reply none needed but always welcome.) ******* (USS Boudicca, Transporter room 2 - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1858) Torias had had his words with Freya, and when everyone was suitably unarmed, and he'd passed on Captain ManyHorses message to Freya, Torias signaled the transporter officer to beam them over to the Boudicca, making sure that his transporter system removed any weapons that might have been kept. They arrived on the pad in a shimmer of blue light and Captain ManyHorses stood alone to greet them. "Welcome aboard the USS Boudicca, I hope your visit here will be informative and enjoyable." "As do I, Captain." Torias said with a short bow. "If you would please accompany me, I will take you to our lounge where you will find refreshment and other crew members waiting to meet you all. You will note that I have come alone to greet you as a show of my sincere desire to befriend and a show of my trust that you of likewise mindset." "We are Captain, my security chief was simply doing her job in preparing for the worst case scenario. She meant you no disrespect, or malice, she was simply doing her job in guaranteeing the safety of those in her charge. I have explained to her that should you indeed be evil doers that we will simply have to get by on my charm and wit to help us escape," Torias said with a grin as he fell into step with the Boudicca's Captain. "Sadly the Warrior Caste is still a vital component of our space force, even if all concerned wished their skills were never needed." (Reply ManyHorses, Freya iyw) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - FO Stolev - Day 3 - 1858.5) Stolev looked towards the door as it opened to admit Ensign Orion, the last member of the away team to arrive. "Nice of you to join us, Mr. Orion," he remarked as they all took their places on the transporter pad. "Okay everyone, if you have any tricorders or other equipment to activate, do it now." Once everyone was set, Stolev nodded to the transporter operator. "Energize." ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room 2 - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1859) Tollian had to squeeze his eyes closed almost immediately upon materializing aboard the alien spacecraft. The sheer amount of thermal and ultraviolet light was nearly blinding at first. Tollian took a few moments to allow his eyes to adjust, then reopened them. It was absolutely beautiful to behold. The ship was amazing in it's complexity. The light sources glowed with the blight blue ultraviolet light that indicated bioluminescence, That of course was just the ultraviolet spectrum that he could see. It extended off into wavelengths beyond his ability to observe as well as into the visible spectrum of light. The walls throbbed with heat and energy, there could be no doubt that the ship was alive. It was simply impossible to mimic the thermal structures of a living being this complex through mechanical means. The walls glowed with a myriad of colors ranging from yellows and oranges to warmer blues and violets. It was a sight to behold and Tollian was almost knocked speechless with the beauty that surrounded him, everywhere that he looked. When his turn came, Tollian introduced himself. "I am Lieutenant Tollian Yalix, an Efrosian. I serve as the Assistant operations Chief aboard the Boudicca. I belong to the Order of the venerated sky and also the house of V'gaylth, he said adding the two titular claims he could make from his Efrosian heritage. I am honored to meet you and would like to say that you have a very elegant and lovely companion here. May I inquire as to it's name?" "....We can talk on the way to keep the more curious among both our groups from exploding with questions." The Guardian concluded, glancing to the Vice Marshal at her side and causing the counselor to smile. As the Guardian and Vice Marshal led the way out of the chamber, the rest followed in no particular order save that of the FO who led the away team. (reply away team /escorts) Daniel Greene ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room 2 - Ensign Deston - Day 3 - 1859.5) ...and the strange and wondrous environs of the living ship Shonora Ellian faded in. Four humanoid beings stood before the Away Team, each quite passably human barring the wings. Well, the eyes were a little odd for Terran Human, but one saw such a wide variation in the minor facial features of the many known humanoid races that it hardly counted. Deston was glad for the in- conspicuous AV equipment mounted on his body, as he would have hated to ruin the moment by lifting his tricorder and making an obvious scan. Plenty of time for that in short order. Commander Stolev broke the silence, with a prepared First Contact greeting. "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, allow me to bid you greetings and convey to you a message of sincere goodwill. Thank you for agreeing to host us on your vessel. I am Commander Stolev, First Officer of the USS Boudicca. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" Each of the Mithglin representatives stepped forward in turn, introducing themselves; Deston noted that each had a very distinctive appearance, wing color, verbal introduction and somatic accompaniment. He wondered if the translated references to castes was accurate, or a "best guess" until a better understanding of the Mithglin social structure was formulated. As,historically, part of his own cultural heritage involved castes, it was a point of some small interest - completely aside from his professional, scientific interest. Again, plenty of time for that later. When the Mithglin were finished, the Away Team began their introductions. As least senior party member, Deston waited until last. "I am Ensign Carlyle Deston, the Assistant Chief Science Officer of the USS Boudicca. I am a human, native to the world of Proxima Centauri. I am honored to be here and eager to learn." ~Best to keep it short and sweet; don't want to reveal too much and don't want to hold things up.~ (Reply any) (Posted by John O'Neill) ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter Room 1 - M-CO Jerome 'Hoss' ManyHorses - 1859) The M-CO asked the visitors to accompany him to their lounge, Qulaetha Vorenda where there would be refreshments and others waiting to meet them and pointed out that he was there alone as a show of his sincere desire to befriend and show trust that Wersh was of a similar mindset. He turned to lead the way from the transporter room. Marshal Wersh assured him that his security chief was simply doing her job in preparing for the worst case scenario and meant no disrespect or malice, and then showed his sense of humor yet again as he stated, "...I have explained to her that should you indeed be evil doers that we will simply have to get by on my charm and wit to help us escape," He said with a grin as he fell into step with ManyHorses. "Sadly the Warrior Caste is still a vital component of our space force, even if all concerned wished their skills were never needed." With a nod Jerome agreed that they were unfortunately necessary. "However we also have security aboard the Boudicca, of course we are all aware that not everyone we meet is inclined to be friendly." He glanced at the Mithgiln chief of security and sensed that she was not pleased with being unarmed. ~ She will just have to get used to it, besides weapons aren't the greatest accessory for such a lovely dress. ~ Jerome led the way to the nearby turbolift and entered as the doors parted. With eight bodies inside it was snug but it didn't take long to arrive at Deck 10. ******* (USS Boudicca - Transporter room 2 - Chief of Security, Sangel Freya Fenrisúlfr - Day 3 - 1900) She rematerized in an unfamiliar world, and instantly was aware that her weapons were gone. She made motion to confirm what she suspected. She knew that they were missing; she could no longer feel their touch against her, even though she was ordered to leave them behind, it did not take long before she missed there familiar touch. Then suddenly there was a rush of emotions that flooded over her. She felt, vulnerable, naked, and incomplete as if some godly force had taken a piece of her and refused to give it back. ~How would they feel to have a piece of one of their own to be removed with their consideration? ~ The thought echoed in her mind. Did they know anything about her, her cast, or her race? No. Freya felt insulted, not only for herself but for her entire cast. The warrior cast always kept their arms close. She hoped that her being armed and thus being the only one armed showed that this federation had gained a measure of trust between the two. However more trust could still be gained. More trust could always be gained. But that now was denied her. She had been stripped of what she had been trained in for has far back has she could remember. She felt betrayed by both her own Marshal and this Captain Manyhorses. She understood both acted in belief of what was the greater good. But what was the greater good. Question ran though her mind. Questions she dared not ask, not now however. Freya wondered if the Boudicca’s own Security chief acted in like mind to her own. If so then there was at least one person on this vessel that had half a brain. She moved off the pad and wish was in her armor rather than the elegance of the dress she wore, the feeling of being small and fragile only succeeded in increasing her ire. So what if they were not armed, at least at this current time, Freya was certain the availability of arms to their host could be established in a relatively short amount of time. Her bare feet graced the carpeted flooring as she fell behind the Marshal, her head slightly lowered, her darting in every direction taking in what she saw. At last her mind settled on if Marshal Torias had any idea how she felt about what had happened to her. Was their any consideration on how she might feel if and when this act was carried out, or did he feel that she would have to just get over it? Surely there were race with in this diverse federation that had the keeping of arms as part of their culture or subculture. She wondered about this has they wondered the halls of the Boudicca. But Freya did know one thing, after this how could she trust them and if she could not trust them then how could she ever call them friend. (Posted by Matthew Locke) (Reply none but always welcome.) ******* (USS Boudicca, QV - ACSO Ensign Ayslin Rel - 1900) Ayslin paced back and forth in the lounge while she was waiting for the Captain and the Mithgiln to arrive. Her red hair had a slight curl and she'd pulled it back at the temples, to help show off her spots, while the rest hung loose. She was remarkably nervous, she had very little first contact experience, and didn't have anything more than the basics in sociology, biology, or psychology. She would just have to make due. Brushing nonexistent lint off her uniform jacket and making sure her hair was ok, she turned as the door hissed open. The Captain and seven Mithgiln walked it. (Reply Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room - FO Stolev - Day 3 - 1900) As he materialized within the living Mithgiln ship, Stolev couldn't help but look around the room in some wonder. He couldn't wait to hear what Deston and the others thought of this, but for now they had a more important task to undertake. Stolev turned his attention to the Mithgiln present in the transporter room and nodded politely as he formally addressed them. "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, allow me to bid you greetings and convey to you a message of sincere goodwill. Thank you for agreeing to host us on your vessel. I am Commander Stolev, First Officer of the USS Boudicca. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" (reply Mithgiln, away team, any) (posted by Aaron) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room 1 - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1900.5) Detron materialized on the Shonora Ellian with the usual white light clearing from his sight. The welcoming party introduced themselves one by one after Stolev introduced himself. Detron waited until they were settled in a conference room to introduce himself and extend his greeting. He didn't have that chance as they were walking to the conference room quickly upon transport.. The Mitigin people looked as he had expected them to look. They had trans- parent wings in several hues with insect like eyes in several dark colors. They were fascinating at first contact. Detron greatly looked forward to learning more as the meet goes on. (Reply Away Team) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - Day 3 - 1901) Dorga had donned the Emergency transporter armband that Lieutenant Yalix handed her and thanked him. It was good thinking on his part and as soon as the FO had noticed, he had ordered everyone to wear one. Soon they were materializing inside the living Mithgiln ship and while Commander Stolev greeted their hosts, Dorga took a good look around. It was indeed a different environment and she was certain she could sense that the ship was indeed a living entity, she couldn't help but wonder what their Efrosian comrade was seeing. She was seeing rounded corners and arched entrances that didn't look like they'd been artificially wrought, the whole room or chamber they were in was seamless and she could feel warmth emanating from the 'walls' and floor. The lighting was gentler, more subdued than on the Boudicca. "On behalf of the United Federation of Planets, allow me to bid you greetings and convey to you a message of sincere goodwill. Thank you for agreeing to host us on your vessel. I am Commander Stolev, First Officer of the USS Boudicca. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?" One of the aliens stepped forward and bowed, his midnight blue wings spread out as he did so and the Counselor marveled at how beautiful they were. ~ Though it must make it hard to sleep on their backs. ~ She couldn't help but think as he introduced himself. "My name is Erril Emmon, Vice Marshal of Ellian's crew, representative of the Scholar Caste, Proctor of the College of the Infinitesimal Light. I welcome you with a message of peace." ~ Ahh! I like that - Infinitesimal Light... so he must be the equivalent of our FO, so then who is she, the second officer perhaps? ~ Dorga's eyes rested on a female Mithgiln who stepped forward to introduce her- self as Rennia Tenshi and her position as being the Senior Guardian to Ellian, their ship. She informed them that she was a member of the Religious Caste and welcomed them on behalf of herself and Ellian. Rennia touched her fore- head with her index fingers and bowed slightly to the assembled guests. Then their Chief of Engineering, Yeloria Mershan introduced herself, stating she was representing the Worker Caste and that she was the Foreman in the Order of the Unending Wheel. She also welcomed them on behalf of her caste and department." Her beautiful bronze wings never moved as she touched her chest with her closed fists. ~ No doubt our esteemed CEO will be chomping at the bit to talk to her! ~ Dorga thought with an inward smile a she cast a glance Bob's way. Lastly another male Mithgiln with pale red wings that were quivering slightly, introduced himself as Jellen Arnorn. "....I represent the Warrior caste and am a Sergeant in the Crimson Guard. I welcome you who come in peace." The young officer said, bowing with his palms open and held away from his side before stepping back. The counselor found it fascinating that each caste had their own way of greeting them. Following their hosts example, Dorga stepped forward and saluted their hosts in the Vulcan manner, extending her right hand, palm facing them and spreading her fingers appropriately. "I am Lieutenant Commander Dorga 'cha Nooras, second officer and Chief Counselor of the USS Boudicca. It is an honor to be here and I thank you for the opportunity. Live long and prosper." She stated. (Reply Stolev, away team) The Guardian and Vice Marshal stepped forward once again with a smile on her face and told them that a meeting room had been prepared where they could all sit and talk. "....We can talk on the way to keep the more curious among both our groups from exploding with questions." The Guardian concluded, glancing to the Vice Marshal at her side and causing Dorga to smile with amusement as she knew darn well that they were all bursting with questions they wanted to ask. As the Guardian and Vice Marshal led the way out of the chamber, the rest followed in no particular order save that of the FO who led the away team. (reply Mithgiln, away team, any) (posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Transporter Room - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 1902) Bob's sense of unease quickly faded after he materialized along with the rest of the away team. He didn't even try to suppress his urge to gawk and gape about the chamber; his curiosity was nakedly evident as he swiveled his head about taking in the environment. Clearly, this was no mechanical construct, at least not in the traditional, or rather starfleet sense. His first impression was that the room and its 'equipment' (for lack of a better term) were grown, rather than built. Never had he seen any method of construction which could mimic the organic look and and feel of where the away team now found themselves. His eyes were drawn to what should have been the transporter control console. One of the aliens... ~Mithgiln Bob... get it right!~ was standing behind it. Where the console would have been, there was a pedestal like extrusion rising from the floor, which blossomed into what reminded him of an open seed pod; not unlike a splayed open 'milkweed pod' which might be found on earth. From his oblique angle of view, he could just make out what appeared to be multi- hued crystalline extrusions atop the control surface. He surmised that would be the control interface for the Mithgiln transporter system. So engrossed was he in his examination of the details he nearly forgot to speak up when his turn came. "Bob Lorimar, Chief Engineering Officer. Ah'm a simple human from the planet Earth... pleased tae make yer acquaintance." He bowed slightly forward at the waist, keeping his hands inoffensively at his sides. He studied the Mithgiln engineer closely, eager to strike up a conversation. (Reply Any) (Posted by Russ Gross) ******** USS Boudicca - Qulaetha Vorenda - M-CO Jerome 'Hoss' ManyHorses - 1902) Even though ManyHorses had not been aboard too long and that the Boudicca wasn't his home ship, he found that he was feeling quite proud of QV when the all walked in. It was a unique environment and unlike any other 10 Forward he had ever seen before. Upon entering he immediately felt as if he was somewhere welcoming and inviting. The ambiance was calming yet invigorating to the senses, a strange mixture. Music was playing in the background that wasn't distracting, he guessed correctly that it was a recording of Arania's; it immediately dissipated any tension he had been feeling. ~ Arania is a very gifted musician Great Manito, her music is powerful and moves both the emotions and the spirit. ~ At the far end of the room he could see some tables set out along the bulkhead with a wide variety of food items laid out on it, together with a stack of plates, napkins and some cutlery at one end and mugs and glasses at the other end where there was an extra large punch bowl set up alongside some urns for hot beverages. Arania was nowhere to be seen. ~ Probably back in the kitchen or her office. ~ Jerome turned to the visitors and smiled. "This is where many of us come to dine while on duty and spend time during our leisure hours. The manager of this place had it re- furbished and there is no other like it on any other ships, neither is there any other like her in our universe. Arania McLaren is the only one of her species in this dimension." (reply Mithgiln iyw) Stepping up on the stage, ManyHorses held his hands up for silence and addressed those there when the murmur quietened. "At this moment in time we are making history. Today we start what I hope... No, I mean what I *know* will be a great friendship between the Federation and the Mithgiln people. I am not going to introduce anyone, what I want is for you all to mingle and make your own introductions." He indicated with a gesture of his right hand towards the refreshments. "Everyone please help yourselves to the wonderful buffet that our hostess has provided for your enjoyment and above all, please enjoy the evening." Finished with his little speech, Jerome stepped down from the stage and re-joined Wersh to watch some of their respective groups begin to meet up in small groups while others headed for the food and drink. "Arania was informed of your people's requirements and I believe she has done a fine job of meeting those requirements, Marshal Wersh." (Reply Wersh, All) (Posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca, QV - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1905) Torias stood by as Jerome gave a little speech, offered everyone food, then set the group to mingling. "Arania was informed of your people's requirements and I believe she has done a fine job of meeting those requirements, Marshal Wersh." Jerome said. "Please call me Torias, as you said this is a friendly exchange," Torias said, looking to see his team spreading out except for the Cadet who was sticking very near his department head. "The food does smell very nice, and if she cooked it all by hand in just three hours, she's a miracle worker." Torias said moving towards the drinks and choosing a fruit based one that promised to be sweet. (Reply ManyHorses, Any) "This is very good indeed. Tastes almost like Jinva berry juice from back home. Sadly I wasn't able to get a new supply in before we left orbit, completely out of season, at least the good stuff from the Northern orchards was," Torias said with a sigh, then took another sip. "So, should we start with the formal probing questions and then move on to the less formal, or save the formal stuff for over a full stomach?" (Reply ManyHorses, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca, QV - C-MO Jerome ManyHorses - 1906) "Arania was informed of your people's requirements and I believe she has done a fine job of meeting those requirements, Marshal Wersh." Jerome said once his little speech was over. "Please call me Torias, as you said this is a friendly exchange," Marshal Torias said as he watched his group begin to spread out and mingle. "The food does smell very nice, and if she cooked it all by hand in just three hours, she's a miracle worker." Torias added as he moved towards the drinks and choosing a fruit based one. "Arania is a very resourceful young woman. I believe you will like her, and please call me Jerome, seeing as we are now on first name terms but then again, my friends call me Hoss." The M-CO said as he accompanied his new friend to the buffet tables. Everything smelled so good his mouth watered, so he helped himself to some of the same juice that Torias was drinking and sipped it appreciatively; it had just the right taste, not to sweet and not to sour, though if given a choice he preferred tart tastes. Torias commented on the juice, stating that it reminded him of Jinva berry juice from his home world and Jerome noticed a hint of disappointment in his voice as he sighed and said that he wasn't able to get a supply of it aboard his ship. "So, should we start with the formal probing questions and then move on to the less formal, or save the formal stuff for over a full stomach?" The Marshal asked. "Oh I definitely think we should eat first, I for one am famished and there are so many new dishes I have never tried I am eager to taste them... Shall we?" He walked to the end of the table where the plates were stacked and got one then a knife and fork, and then began to put a little of several items on his plate. When his plate was almost overflowing with goodness, he headed for an empty table and sat down to wait for Torias to join him. He always found eating while standing up to be awkward. Once Torias was settled at the table he said, "you wanted to know how far away we are from home and I never answered you, because as you have seen for yourself, we are from many home worlds." With a smile Jerome picked up a roasted Karaq maggot and popped it into his mouth, it was crispy and tasted like smoked cream cheese, he followed that with one of the delicious Karoba beetles, a large red beetle that had been fried in gawa (goat butter) with spices and had a crunchy nutty texture that mingled well with the creamy cheesy taste of the maggots. They were wonderful appetizers. When he had swallowed his mouthful of food he took another sip of the juice, an idea occurring to him as he put the glass on the table. He would talk to Arania about it. "So what do you think of Arania's choices?" (Reply Torias, Any - others are welcome to join the COs) (Posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca, QV - Chief of Sciences Corrisal Morrin - 1907) As the group split up to mingle, Corrisal looked around her for someone to talk to. Corrisal was tall and lithe, her blond hair tied back into a neat pony tail that hung just to her neck, and her skin was lightly tanned. Her wings were the color of tropical seas, and her large eyes were a deep green. She had long slender fingers which made lab work easy, although she hadn't spent much time at a bench in years. She was nearing the end of her third decade and had a good career to show for it. Her long legs moved her quickly towards the food, making sure to get some early and often, a habit from her days as a research assistant that she could never quite shake. The food was excellent, and she made sure to grab a drink before moving off again. To say she was excited at the prospect of meeting not just one new species, but quite possibly a dozen or more distinct species and cultures, that all existed under a unified cultural system was an understatement. The papers she could write could earn her a Deanship in her College a decade earlier than was normal. She checked the recording devise that was on her belt, to make sure it was recording both video and auditory sources. It would be invaluable when she had to write of her experiences. Brushing a loose strand of blond hair back over her ear she looked around the room once again for a member of the Star Fleet Delegation that looked willing to talk. (Reply Any [McLaren?]) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV Kitchens - ATT Lt. Cmdr- Matthew McLaren - 1908) "There that should do nicely" Matthew exclaimed as he finished putting the Nokas Cream Frosting on the Bindleberry Tarts. And besides," he added to Arania," It's not like they gave you a great deal of time to put something together I mean three hours and only 4 cook staff and two waiters..." (reply Arania) "The way I see it, they're very fortunate that you're such a talented chef." He glanced over as she was getting ready to garnish some of those beetles that she liked so much, he couldn't really remember their name at the moment. "Um. Arania..?" he said. "We might be a little cautious with the beetles." He suggested, "Maybe a smaller tray at first to see how they're received?" (reply Arania room for more) Matthew stepped away from the preparation table and reached forward and untied the apron that he was wearing over his uniform. He pulled it off over his head and tossed it into the recycler without even coming close to missing. He stepped forward dipped his finger into a small dollop of the frosting that was left over and stepping forward, deposited it on the end of Arania's nose. (reply Arania) "Now that I have your complete attention..." he said, kissing her on the offended nose, "we should stop cooking and go meet our guests." (reply Arania) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - QV Kitchens - Bar Manager - Arania - 1909) Arania hadn't been to phased by the lack of notice she had been given to prepare for the party, she managed to get some of the ops staff to come in and move the furnishings around which allowed for her and her helpers to get the food prepared. Matthew had offered to help out in the kitchen when he realized how much work was involved and how little time 3 hours were to get everything done. Arania had been very thankful, she was so lucky to have such a kind, considerate, loving man for her lifemate and had taken a couple of minutes to specifically make a point of thanking the Goddess for Her blessings by placing an offering of sweet smelling herbs on the small altar she'd set up in the new plant/insect growing section that was attached to the kitchen. Matthew was busy putting the finishing touches to the Bindleberry Tarts when he commented on how little time she had been given to put it all together. Arania put the last batch of fried beetles on a platter and started adding the garnish. "Life full of challenges is, my love, this is a minor one. I used to help out in the temple kitchens often so I saw how organization and forethought swiftly made things work out for the consumption of many. A good team even of four is enough when they are knowing their place in the doing." "The way I see it, they're very fortunate that you're such a talented chef." Arania smiled and nodded in agreement as she sprinkled some herbs and spices over the Karoba Beetles. "Um. Arania..?" Matthew said, causing Arania to look up at him. "We might be a little cautious with the beetles." He suggested, "Maybe a smaller tray at first to see how they're received?" "But they are prepared now, Matthew." She objected at first and then sighed softly, "perhaps you are right, a small dish of them first. If they do not like them then you will be eating beetles for the next week." From across the room she heard a chuckle from Cy who had come in to get a couple more dishes of goodies. (reply Matthew) Matthew was finished with his chore so he stripped off the apron he'd worn to protect his uniform and tossed it into the recycler. Then he dipped his finger into a small dollop of the frosting that was left over and stepping forward, deposited it on the end of Arania's nose. "Hey!" Arania protested, turning to glower at him. "Now that I have your complete attention..." he said, kissing her on the nose, "we should stop cooking and go meet our guests." Arania reached up and kissed him fully on the lips then lifted her apron and wiped the remaining frosting off her nose. "Very well, but first I have a couple more things to garnish, so why not go before me and follow shortly I will." Giving him one more kiss, she watched as he walked out of the kitchen. The swinging door swished back and forth, giving her fleeting glimpses of the people beyond. Soon she would join them and meet some of the new aliens but work came first. (reply Matthew iyw) (posted by Sal) ******** (USS Boudicca - QV - ATT Lt. Cmdr- Matthew McLaren - 1910) Matthew exited the kitchen and deftly maneuvered his way around the end of the bar without any worry. It still amazed him that he was able to move so fluidly, when only a few short months ago he had been confined to the anti-gravity chair that had nearly ended his career. His eyes didn't stay too firmly on any one thing. There were too many amazing things to see, the Mithgiln were fundamentally humanoid in form the largest exception was the insect like wing structures that extended from their backs. ~Fascinating~ He thought as he crossed the distance from the bar to the buffet table. He knew that Arania wouldn't be too far behind, unless she got caught up in the act of fretting over some perceived imperfection to her cooking. He placed the biddleberry tarts on the buffet table next to the New York Style Cheesecake and the Roh'keg Blood Pudding. The spread was nothing if not diverse. Matthew could see at least three dozen foods and drinks representing almost as many federation cultures. It was an incredible spread especially considering that she his wife had only been given three hours to prepare it all. He smiled at her resourcefulness and skill. There wasn't a single day where he ever regretted his decision to break the Prime Directive. The only time that he had failed to follow orders to the letter and his rewards were still coming. "What does that say about things?" he muttered to himself as he turned to look back at the assembled group. He noticed the various colored wings and wondered if there was any variation beyond the obvious. Could they mean something, was the coloration constant throughout the life of the Mithgiln or did they change as they matured? There were so many questions he wanted to ask, especially where their science was concerned. He'd heard the scuttle butt on the ship about the organic vessel and the transwarp similar energy readings. That's when he noticed her. Her wings were a beautiful blue and if they had not been there, you would never have noticed that she wasn't human. Her blond hair was in a pony tail, apparently it was a universal hairstyle. She looked to be in her thirties perhaps and most importantly it seemed that she was looking expectantly for someone to talk with. Matthew decided that there was no time like the present. He glanced back at the kitchen, there was still no sign of his wife, so he'd have to go this one solo. He took a deep breath, picked up a fresh fruit juice drink and walked over to the waiting Mithgiln woman. "Hello, My name is Matthew McLaren, It's a pleasure to meet you." he offered. (reply Corrisal Morrin) He was careful not to offer to shake hands or to make any sudden greeting motions. He had not idea if these people may have taboos concerning physical contact and besides, there could be other concerns, such as touch telepathy to consider. (reply Corrisal Morrin) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca, QV - Marshal, Torias Wersh - 1910.5) Torias followed Jerome to the food table and gathered a plate of various things. Jerome took a few items that reminded him of what he'd seen Warriors eat during survival training, and Torias steered clear of those dishes, instead sticking to things that at least looked more familiar. Once Torias was settled at the table he said, "you wanted to know how far away we are from home and I never answered you, because as you have seen for yourself, we are from many home worlds." They both took a few bites tasting a variety of foods before continuing their conversation "So what do you think of Arania's choices?" Jerome asked. "Quite good, and quite a variety of choices," Torias said taking a sip of his juice. "It does appear your Federation is made up of a great many worlds. We have our allies in our sector, but I don't think there have ever really been talks of joint missions let alone a fully mixed organization, but then from the looks of it, our space is a little less densely populated than yours is." Torias said, before taking a few more bites of food. (Reply ManyHorses) "So, as you came all this way just to meet us, I'll give you the honor of asking the first question. That and I'm having trouble thinking of any questions that aren't incredibly personal, or that my Scholars wouldn't laugh at me for asking. After all I'm just a computer programmer who was a little too organized and got promoted," Torias said with a chuckle. He remembered when he had gotten his promotion to Marshal, his wife had laughed when he asked why they wanted him in command of an explorer. She had simply smiled at him and told him he was too organized, and always filed his reports on time. (Reply ManyHorses, Any) (Posted by Patrick) ******* (Shonora Ellian, Meeting room - Guardian Rennia Tenshi - Day 3 - 1910) As they walked into the meeting room Rennia turned towards the officer named Yalix. "You had asked what my companions name, before we left the transporter room, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to answer until now. His name is Ellian. Shonora was the name they gave themselves as a group when we first met, it means Ship in the Religious Caste's language. Apparently they had never needed to identify themselves as a group to another sentient species prior, or at least in many generations. I can't give them full marks on their creativity, but it serves the purpose it was intended for," Rennia said with a shrug and a smile. "If you'll excuse me one second..." Rennia said then turned to the rest of the room, which contained a few more Mitgiln Officers to bring their numbers to eight, as well as all the Star Fleet Officers. The room Rennia had chosen to hold this meeting in was a large room with a enough space to have a flexible lay out. She'd chosen a number of small tables to help break up the groups some. With the Marshal and the Boudicca's captain meeting on the Boudicca, it allowed her meeting to be a little less formal. A large, round, table had been set with various food and drink near the center of the room so all would have easy access. A large screen dominated one wall showing the Boudicca floating across from Ellian. She had given the team from Operations 3 hours to set everything up, including preparing the food. The Worker Caste continually amazed her in just how fast they could do a job. "I'd like to thank you all for coming here. To our guests, specifically, I again offer you a message of friendship and peace. One can never have too many friends, and I hope that today we can lay the foundation for a lasting friendship. This meeting will be far from formal, so please talk amongst yourselves and enjoy the wonderful food." Rennia said her voice not necessarily loud, but it carried, a skill learned from years of singing in Temple. Turning back around she smiled at Lieutenant Yalix. "I'm sorry for that interruption, where were we?" (Reply Yalix, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1911) They walked into a large room with a enough space to have a flexible lay out, a few more Mithgiln were waiting there and a number of small tables had been set out giving it an informal ambiance. A large, round, table had placed near the center of the room which held several food and drink items, and a large screen dominated one wall showing the Boudicca floating across from Ellian. ~ Similar to our conference rooms ~ thought Dorga as she went to inspect the edibles while Guardian Rennia Tenshi thanked them all for coming and gave a short speech about friendship. Dorga gave a friendly nod towards her and picked up what looked like a flat tray with indentations in it that she guessed was their version of plates. Beside these were several two pronged 'forks' with one of the long prongs' upper edges looking very sharp, possibly to serve as a cutting edge. ~ What a good idea! I might just replicate something like this to use at home. ~ Having half filled her food tray and adding a tumbler of what smelled similar to iced tea, she smiled at the Vice Marshal who was also helping himself to some of the goodies and had joined her at the food station. "What do you recommend I try, Vice Marshal? I do enjoy trying new things, especially food. Perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me what some of the dishes are and what they are made of." (Reply Emon, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******** (USS Boudicca - QV - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1911) "So what do you think of Arania's choices?" Jerome asked. "Quite good, and quite a variety of choices," Torias said taking a sip of his juice. "It does appear your Federation is made up of a great many worlds. We have our allies in our sector, but I don't think there have ever really been talks of joint missions let alone a fully mixed organization, but then from the looks of it, our space is a little less densely populated than yours is." Torias said, before taking a few more bites of food. "So, as you came all this way just to meet us, I'll give you the honor of asking the first question. That and I'm having trouble thinking of any questions that aren't incredibly personal, or that my Scholars wouldn't laugh at me for asking. After all I'm just a computer programmer who was a little too organized and got promoted," Torias said with a chuckle. "Sometimes to get to know someone it requires personal questions, so I have no objection to you asking, but as I have the first question, how many worlds are in your sector and of those how many do you know of as being populated and how many of those actually have warp travel technology?" Jerome asked, his curiosity piqued. and then he shrugged and smiled apologetically. "Make that the first three questions." (reply Torias, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Corridors and Meeting Room - Ensign Carl Deston - Day 3 - 1911.5) Almost immediately after the introductions had been made, the entire party was led from the transporter /chamber/ (~a nicety, perhaps, but perhaps more apropos given our location inside a living being...~), with the promise of comfortable surroundings and food. As they walked through the obviously - but beautifully - organic archi- tecture of the living ship, Carl made casual scans with his tricorder. He didn't want to be blatant about it, but didn't want to be blatantly surreptitious about it, either. Furthermore, considering his "guest" status, he kept the scans very limited, doing nothing that would (or at least should) penetrate the living walls of the corridor. Atmospheric composition, radiation readings - generally speaking, passive scans that shouldn't arouse attention or ire. Once everyone understood each other better, intentions made plain, and permissions established, it would be time to get down to some serious data-gathering. Even if permissions were not given, Deston had a somewhat sneaky back -up: his AV gear. After due consideration, he'd decided that it was quite fair to rule that the AV gear should encompass the entire range of the audio and visual spectra that were used by any and every member species of the Federation; after all, the record should be accessible to any Federation member, and thus perceivable regardless of their sensitivity ranges. This allowed Deston to cover a huge audible range, and a very large visual range, with plenty of infrared. Considering that the Shonora Ellian was a living creature, that should ensure something akin to the fabled "X-Ray Glasses" of old. Why be abusive with aggressive active scans? Deston noticed that the ship wasn't 100% organic: here and there, pieces of obviously artificial technology were seamlessly integrated into the organic matter; most interesting. The minimal reports on the historical "Tin Man" being implied a purely organic organism with no artificial tech; Deston wondered if there were any relationship between the Gomtuu and the Shonora, or if a simple case of parallel evolution was operative. After what seemed to be just a few moments, the party arrived at the meeting chamber and entered. (Reply none) (Posted by John O'Neill) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 1912) They made thier way to the meeting room at the behest of thier hosts. The sumptuous and aromatic array of food and drink laid out would normally have occupied more than a fair bit of his attention, but Lorimar was totally engrossed in the ship and to a lesser degree thier hosts. Seeing the away team mingling and mixing, Bob took that as permission from Commander Stolev to interact. He found his way to his counterpart, the Mithgiln engineer. "Yeloria Mershan correct? Ah was wondering if ah might trouble ye wie some questions... and perhaps answer some that ye may have about us." He smiled broadly, always delighted at the opportunity to talk tech... even if the tech was not what he was used to. Perhaps that was even better! (Reply Mershan, Any) (Posted by Russ) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - Chief of Sciences Corrisal Morrin - 1912) "Hello, My name is Matthew McLaren, It's a pleasure to meet you." an Federation officer said approaching her. Corrisal turned to face the new person. "The pleasure is mine," she said. "My name is Corrisal Morrin, Chief of Sciences aboard Ellian, Scholar Caste, Proctor of the College of the Shining City," she said, expertly balancing the finger foods and drink in her hands as she bowed, sea blue wings spread slightly. (Reply McLaren) "Thank you for hosting us here, it's quite a ship you have," Corrisal said looking around the room. "I can't say any of us were expecting to run into a first contact situation out here," Corrisal said with a smile. "Were you out here specifically looking for us, or were you passing through? Oh, and do you mind if I record all this, notes for papers and lectures and all that," Corrisol said, patting the scanning/recording device one her belt. (Reply McLaren, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1912) After it was explained that Shonora meant ship in some ancient language, it made more sense to Detron. Detron took a sample of what was presented on the table. He had no idea what the items were, but was willing to try anything. Being half Klingon serves well for an adventurous spirit. Detron naturally chose to talk with the Security officer Jellan Amom. Detron found a seat next to him and introduced himself. "I am TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei on the Boudicca. I serve as head of Security and Tactics. I am a mix of two worlds. My mother is a Betazoid and my father is a Klingon with makes me half Betazoid and half Klingon. The forehead ridges you see come from the Klingon half and are symbolic of a warrior. That may be similar to your warrior caste. The Betazoid half is much more reserved or less intense that the Klingon warrior but also adds some extra abilities such as an Empathic sense and Telepathy in close contact. I grew up on Betazed but was also trained by my father to fight as a Klingon warrior. Your ship is fascinating. My empathic sense is picking up signs the ship is alive. Your wings are fascinating as well. Do they serve any purpose like flying? That is a good start now you tell me about yourself." Detron took a bite from one of the food items. (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Chief of Engineering Yeloria Mershan - 1912.5) Yeloria quickly gathered up her favorite foods from the table their cooks had set out, impressed as normal with their results. Clearing out of the way of the other she made her way to a table in the corner to set up shop. She was quickly approached by her counterpart aboard the Federation ship. "Yeloria Mershan correct? Ah was wondering if ah might trouble ye wie some questions... and perhaps answer some that ye may have about us." He smiled broadly. "Not a problem, Chief, just give me a second," Yeloria said, quickly unbuttoning the top button of her uniform jacket. "Great Spirits, I hate having to wear this stuff. I'm not saying they don't look good, but by all that's right and proper in the world, they are the most uncomfortable things ever," Yeloria said, opening up the collar and brushing a loose strand her mid length brown hair that had fallen in front over her face back over an ear. "Sorry about that, I hate getting dressed up for these things. If you're going to base your opinion on my uniform, well then we're probably going to say the wrong thing at some point anyway, might at well be comfortable when you start an intergalactic incident." Yeloria said with a grin. "If you've got questions, let them fly, I'll do my best to answer them, and I'll be sure to toss out my fair share in time. Honestly, I'd love to take a look at your engine, must be a thing to behold at high warp." Yeloria said before taking a quick bite of her food. (Reply Lorimar, any) (posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 1913) "Not a problem, Chief, just give me a second," Yeloria said, quickly unbuttoning the top button of her uniform jacket. "Great Spirits, I hate having to wear this stuff. I'm not saying they don't look good, but by all that's right and proper in the world, they are the most un- comfortable things ever," Yeloria said, opening up the collar and brushing a loose strand her mid length brown hair that had fallen in front over her face back over an ear. "Sorry about that, I hate getting dressed up for these things. If you're going to base your opinion on my uniform, well then we're probably going to say the wrong thing at some point anyway, might at well be comfortable when you start an intergalactic incident." Yeloria said with a grin. "If you've got questions, let them fly, I'll do my best to answer them, and I'll be sure to toss out my fair share in time. Honestly, I'd love to take a look at your engine, must be a thing to behold at high warp." Yeloria said before taking a quick bite of her food. Not that he was any part xenophobe, but Bob found himself immediately put at ease with his counterpart's relaxed demeanor. It seemed that she was going to be easy to talk with. His only hurdle now was containing his own enthusiasm, and not revealing any federation secrets accidentally. He looked a bit sheepish, but was not conscious of it. Hopefully she wouldn't misinterpret the look as something else entirely. "Ah'd like tae clear the air a bit first, if ah may? Your naming conventions... in our society, well human society, not throughout the federation entirely... in human society we tend to have a surname or 'last' name, and a given or 'first' name. In my case my given name is Robert, or Bob for short. Lorimar is mah surname, which males and sometimes females retain from their parents. So mah question would be this: how dae ye prefer tae be addressed? Ah dinnae wish tae offend unknowingly before we even get started,,," (Reply Mershan) "Ah... alright, now that we have that sorted out, we can talk. Ah should admit this is my normal duty uniform. Ah had nae thought about putting on my dress uniform, and no one in the command staff ordered it... so please don't be insulted at mah informality. Ah personally prefer comfort and the ability to work and move with ease tae some artificial layer of formality, would ye agree?" (Reply Mershan) "At any rate... thank ye for the opportunity tae come aboard your grand ship! Tis something I have many questions aboot. I've heard ye use the masculine pronoun in reference to it (him)... are there two 'sexes' of ships in the biologic sense? Do they reproduce sexually? I daresay that might be much more efficient than our method of building ships in a yard... What aboot repairing damage? Dae they just regrow damaged sections? Is there a medical or technological adjunct that you can assist in the process?" He stopped, not wishing to overwhelm her with questions in so short a period. "Let me gie ye a chance to answer, and ah suppose it would be your turn tae ask questions of me, ah'll try tae answer as best ah'm able, alright?" (Reply Mershan, Any) (Posted by Russ) ********** (USS Boudicca - QV - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1914) "Sometimes to get to know someone it requires personal questions, so I have no objection to you asking, but as I have the first question, how many worlds are in your sector and of those how many do you know of as being populated and how many of those actually have warp travel technology?" Jerome asked, his curiosity piqued. and then he shrugged and smiled apologetically. "Make that the first three questions." "I don't have the exact numbers with me at the moment. But in this sector, which also contains the our home world and all of our colonies, we know of at least One Hundred star systems. Of those about three quarters have some form of native life, of that 75 maybe a quarter are sentient. I'd say only twelve of those have Faster Than Light travel. However if you travel through our sector on the path that you were on, the sector adjacent to ours also has a fair deal of warp capable Systems. If you take a Galactic right hand turn, back where you were searching for us originally and continue on at a high warp for a few weeks, you'll start to get into areas of space we haven't put a lot of work into exploring yet and I'm sure my Government would be more than happy to offer to trade mapping data with you if you ever happened to head out there exploring." Torias said, certain that his science department would be horrified if they caught him rounding numbers on something so important. (Reply ManyHorses) "So, how many Species are in this Federation, I've seen at least a dozen so far on your ship, are there more?" Torias asked. (Reply ManyHorses, Any) (Posted by Patrick D. ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - ATT Lt. Cmdr- Matthew McLaren - Day 3- 1914.5) The Mithgiln woman turned to face the new person. "The pleasure is mine," she said. "My name is Corrisal Morrin, Chief of Sciences aboard Ellian, Scholar Caste, Proctor of the College of the Shining City," she said, expertly balancing the finger foods and drink in her hands as she bowed, sea blue wings spread slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you Corrisal. As I said a moment ago, My name is Matthew McLaren. I am a specialist in Advanced theoretical technology. I am an engineer by training and experience." Matthew returned the bow as similarly as he could. "Thank you for hosting us here, it's quite a ship you have," Corrisal said looking around the room. "I can't say any of us were expecting to run into a first contact situation out here," Corrisal said with a smile. "Were you out here specifically looking for us, or were you passing through? Oh, and do you mind if I record all this, notes for papers and lectures and all that," Corrisal said, patting the scanning/recording device one her belt. "Actually we were here specifically looking for you. One of our ships had detected your warp drive signature and we were dispatched to make contact. The Boudicca is an extraordinary vessel. Her primary role is peaceful exploration, but in times where we are forced to fight, she is well equipped to protect her self and others as needed. I've served aboard her most of my career." He smiled. "And you are certainly welcomed to record anything that you'd like for later review. I assure you, we're doing the same." "I'm curious" Matthew started, "you mentioned that you were from the Scholar caste. How many castes are they and what is the distinction between them?" (reply Corrisal) Matthew nodded, "I see. On earth, my home world, there were several societies that were regimented by caste structures through out our history. Most of those were determined by one's parent positions inside the structure of the native society. This originally led to the dissolution of those castes in favor of social equality. How is one's caste on your world determined, and how does this affect your social strata? (reply Corrisal) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - C-MO Jerome ManyHorses - 1915) Jerome learned that the sector of space they were in contained the Mithgilns' home world and all their colonies which made him wonder how many colonies there were, perhaps that would be one of his next questions. Torias went on to tell Jerome that there were at least one hundred star systems, of which three quarters have some form of native life on them and those, only a quarter were sentient life and only twelve of those had faster than light travel. "....However if you travel through our sector on the path that you were on, the sector adjacent to ours also has a fair deal of warp capable Systems. If you take a Galactic right hand turn, back where you were searching for us originally and continue on at a high warp for a few weeks, you'll start to get into areas of space we haven't put a lot of work into exploring yet and I'm sure my Government would be more than happy to offer to trade mapping data with you if you ever happened to head out there exploring." Torias concluded. "That would certainly be most helpful to us, Torias as our fundamental missions are of exploring space." Jerome smiled and nodded as he thought about how excited the scientists would be to get their hands on that data. "So, how many Species are in this Federation, I've seen at least a dozen so far on your ship, are there more?" Torias asked. Pausing in the munching of his tidbits, Jerome informed Torias that there were at least 150 member states that he knew, and most likely more, comprising of colonies, protectorates, and other planetary governments, which were united under the goals of universal liberty, equality, trade, exploration, scientific advancement, peace, and mutual protection. "...The Federation, unlike its traditional rivals who derive power from a single dominant species that seek to subjugate other races within the boundaries of their empire, the Federation's various Member States join willingly and are all considered to be equals in the Federation's democratic society...." He chuckled, "I sound like a salesman trying to sell club memberships, I assure you I am not attempting to persuade you to join us, though I am sure the Federation would not be adverse to that... Tell me, how many colonies do you have, are there any close by?" (Reply Torias, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1915) They had taken their time walking between the transporter room and the meeting room that had been mentioned. All along the way Tollian remained silent, trying hard not to gawk at the myriad of colors and patterns that were present all around him. There was so much beauty that he could hardly keep himself from touching the bulkhead in wonder. And if he had thought that the transporter room had been beautiful, he had found that the meeting room was doubly so. The walls pulsed with ripples of color unlike anything he had ever seen before. The ship was most definitely alive and it was fabulous to behold. (reply away team /escorts) Daniel Greene ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - Vice-Marshal Erril Emmon - 1915.5) Erril hunted through the food looking for some of his favorites, when the Boudicca's Second Officer came up to him. Her plate was already half full, and she had a glass of wellim tea. "What do you recommend I try, Vice Marshal? I do enjoy trying new things, especially food. Perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me what some of the dishes are and what they are made of." Erril looked around the table for a moment, "Well, the talat steak in the marrim herb sauce should be good, one of the cooks family raises talat's and knows how to prepare them just right." he said pointing at the red meat. "Hmmm, next to that we have urum root that looks to be braised in a dark bellit wine sauce. Over there is some grilled inga bread with a soft cheese that happens to be made near my home in the dessert..." Erril said looking around for other good dishes that the officer might like. "You also might like the erap, it's made from pureed legumes with herbs and spices, it's good on bread." (Reply Nooras, any) "You might like the teer, it's an avian, generally sauteed with herbs or baked or grilled, it's pretty common, has a good flavor. Drink wise, you've already got some tea, there are some fruit juices on the other side of the table that are fairly popular in the tropical regions of Mithgil." Erril said. "We were just home less than a week ago, so a lot of what you see is fresh rather than replicated. It's good to get home from time to time." (Reply Nooras, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Security Officer Jellen Arnorn - 1916) Jellen was munching on a few different things at a table by himself, watching the people start to mingle, when he was approached by one of the Star Fleet Officers. "I am TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei on the Boudicca. I serve as head of Security and Tactics. I am a mix of two worlds. My mother is a Betazoid and my father is a Klingon with makes me half Betazoid and half Klingon. The forehead ridges you see come from the Klingon half and are symbolic of a warrior. That may be similar to your warrior caste. The Betazoid half is much more reserved or less intense that the Klingon warrior but also adds some extra abilities such as an Empathic sense and Telepathy in close contact. I grew up on Betazed but was also trained by my father to fight as a Klingon warrior. Your ship is fascinating. My empathic sense is picking up signs the ship is alive. Your wings are fascinating as well. Do they serve any purpose like flying? That is a good start now you tell me about yourself." ~Well, he's direct,~ Jellen thought ~Might as well follow suit.~ "My name is Jellen Arnorn, My mother is a Gunner with the 5th assault force, and my father is a strategic planner with the rapid response command. I was born and mostly raised in the mountains of my worlds Small Southern continent. I've only been in the Space force for a few years, before that I was a member of our Diplomatic protection force." Jellen said in a straight forward way. "Our wings don't allow us to fly, I think they used to many millennium ago, but it's been a very very long time, prior to becoming sentient I think, I think the scholars would call them vestigial. Ellian is most definitely alive, I will be sure to have one of the Guardians pass along your compliment to Ellian. Is there anything you would like to know about my people?" Jellen asked. (Reply Trei, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Chief of Engineering Yeloria Mershan - 1916) "Not a problem, Chief, just give me a second," Yeloria said, quickly unbuttoning the top button of her uniform jacket. "Great Spirits, I hate having to wear this stuff. I'm not saying they don't look good, but by all that's right and proper in the world, they are the most uncomfortable things ever," Yeloria said, opening up the collar and brushing a loose strand her mid length brown hair that had fallen in front over her face back over an ear. "Sorry about that, I hate getting dressed up for these things. If you're going to base your opinion on my uniform, well then we're probably going to say the wrong thing at some point anyway, might at well be comfortable when you start an intergalactic incident." Yeloria said with a grin. "If you've got questions, let them fly, I'll do my best to answer them, and I'll be sure to toss out my fair share in time. Honestly, I'd love to take a look at your engine, must be a thing to behold at high warp." Yeloria said before taking a quick bite of her food. He looked a bit sheepish, but was not conscious of it. Hopefully she wouldn't misinterpret the look as something else entirely. "Ah'd like tae clear the air a bit first, if ah may? Your naming conventions... in our society, well human society, not throughout the federation entirely... in human society we tend to have a surname or 'last' name, and a given or 'first' name. In my case my given name is Robert, or Bob for short. Lorimar is mah surname, which males and sometimes females retain from thier parents. So mah question would be this: how dae ye prefer tae be addressed? Ah dinnae wish tae offend unknowingly before we even get started,,," "Yeloria's fine. Chief to Chief there is no reason to stand on formality in my opinion," Yeloria said taking a bit of her food. "Ah... alright, now that we have that sorted out, we can talk. Ah should admit this is my normal duty uniform. Ah had nae thought about putting on my dress uniform, and no one in the command staff ordered it... so please don't be insulted at mah informality. Ah personally prefer comfort and the ability to work and move with ease tae some artificial layer of formality, would ye agree?" "Of course, you think I'd be in this get up if I didn't have to be?" Yeloria said, absentmindedly running her long fingers through her shoulder length chocolate brown hair. While on duty she normally pulled it back, she left it loose for the meeting, feeling it looked less strict. Yeloria was roughly six feet tall, and her topaz eyes matched her uniform well, and she held her long bronze wings tightly against her back out of habit from working in close quarters. Yeloria had just celebrated her thirtieth birthday, and her elevation to the status of Foreman. "At any rate... thank ye for the opportunity tae come aboard your grand ship! Tis something I have many questions aboot. I've heard ye use the masculine pronoun in reference to it (him)... are there two 'sexes' of ships in the biologic sense? Do they reproduce sexually? I daresay that might be much more efficient than our method of building ships in a yard... What aboot repairing damage? Dae they just regrow damage sections? Is there a medical or technological adjunct that you can assist in the process?" He stopped, not wishing to overwhelm her with questions in so short a period. "Let me gie ye a chance to answer, and ah suppose it would be your turn tae ask questions of me, ah'll try tae answer as best ah'm able, alright?" "I'm not necessarily the best person to ask about all of the biological workings of Ellian and the other Shonora, but I can answer you the best I can. Yes, Ellian is the equivalent of a male from my or your species. And yes, there are females as well. You'd think it would be more efficient, but they still have to grow before they can manage a crew, if they even decide to take one. They aren't all bound to serve, it's their choice just as it was my choice to serve. They can heal injuries, just as I assume you, and I can do. I do manage a team of scholars who handle the biological aspects of Ellian's functions. We are an interesting department in that we're a little more interdisciplinary than an engineering department on a purely artificial ship. We do have a type of dermal regenerator that is slightly larger than normal to assist in repairing major damage that might endanger Ellian's life. (Reply Lorimar iyw) "I'd love a tour of your ship, to be honest, but I won't pry about your technology right now," Yeloria said with a good humored smile, "I doubt you're allowed to just hand over schematics to your warp drive and subsidiary systems. As long as you don't tell anyone that I did this, I'm going to avoid engineering questions for now, I'll have plenty of time in the future to press you and your engineering colleagues for the details. What can you tell me about your home world. Engineering is a constant, a gear is a gear, slam anti-matter into matter and the energy out-put is a predefined and known quantity. Tell me about you, about your home, what do your people do for fun, entertainment, what is your family like, that kind of stuff," Yeloria asked, leaning forward, a small smile on her lips and a glint in her topaz eyes. (Reply Lorimar) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******** (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1916.5) The Vice Marshal looked at the foods that were displayed elegantly on the table and recommended several dishes that all sounded very triable. "Well, the talat steak in the marrim herb sauce should be good, one of the cooks family raises talat's and knows how to prepare them just right." he said pointing at the red meat. "Hmmm, next to that we have urum root that looks to be braised in a dark bellit wine sauce. Over there is some grilled inga bread with a soft cheese that happens to be made near my home in the dessert..." He looked around the display again. "You also might like the erap, it's made from pureed legumes with herbs and spices, it's good on bread." ~ They all sound delicious. The erap in particular sounds very similar to a terran dish called hummus, I will be sure to try a little of each. ~ Dorga thought as she listened while he picked out and described more dishes and helped herself to a little of each of those he had already told her about, though she did have some of the juicy steak and bread on her plate already. "You might like the teer, it's an avian, generally sauteed with herbs or baked or grilled, it's pretty common, has a good flavor. Drink wise, you've already got some tea, there are some fruit juices on the other side of the table that are fairly popular in the tropical regions of Mithgil." Erril said. "We were just home less than a week ago, so a lot of what you see is fresh rather than replicated. It's good to get home from time to time." The 2O nodded and then it occurred to her that perhaps a nod didn't mean 'yes' or 'hello' to the Mithgiln, for all she knew it might mean 'get lost' or 'no', so she verbalized her agreement. "Yes, it has been quite a while since I was on Vulcan, though really the Boudicca is home to my children and me." She turned to face the Mithgiln. "Do you have children, Vice Marshal? Are families permitted to be on board with you?" She asked, lifting her glass to take a drink of it. It didn't taste at all like iced tea but it did have a citrus fruit juice of some kind in it. Although different she found it delicious and refreshing, it felt like little explosions of flavor were happening in her mouth, not an unpleasant sensation. Glancing around the room she could see that the away team was mingling well with the Mithgiln. (reply Emmon, any) Using the very practical fork/knife combination utensil, she cut off a piece of the juicy steak which would have been compared to a cordon bleu steak, bloody enough to satisfy her Klingon genes and chewed it appreciatively. When she was done she commented. "Someone knows how to cook steak properly!" (reply Emmon iyw) "You must be curious about us, do you have any questions?" (Reply Emmon, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - Vice Marshal Erril Emmon - 1917) "Yes, it has been quite a while since I was on Vulcan, though really the Boudicca is home to my children and me." She turned to face the Mithgiln. "Do you have children, Vice Marshal? Are families permitted to be on board with you?" She asked, lifting her glass to take a drink of it. "I don't have any children at the moment, my wife, who is actually aboard your ship at the moment, have both been dealing with our careers. We are likely going to ask, either for a transfer to a station, or hopefully Mithgil, after our current tour." Erril said with a smile on his face, thinking about his wife, who was probably pestering some poor officer on the Boudicca at that very moment. Using the very practical fork/knife combination utensil, she cut off a piece of the juicy steak which would have been compared to a cordon bleu steak, bloody enough to satisfy her Klingon genes and chewed it appreciatively. When she was done she commented. "Someone knows how to cook steak properly!" "As I said, it is their job, and they are quite dedicated. I will be sure to pass along the compliments." Erril said. "You must be curious about us, do you have any questions?" "You mentioned that your children call the Boudicca home, do all your officers bring their families along? It seems like it would be quite dangerous to me, especially this far away from your home," Erril said. (Reply Nooras) "I'm not sure that children will ever be allowed on ships, they're allowed at bases, and on stations, but other than short and temporary visits, children tend to remain home. Tell me, what is your world like?" (Reply Nooras, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV -Chief of Sciences Corrisal Morrin - Day 3- 1917) "I'm curious" Matthew started, "you mentioned that you were from the Scholar caste. How many castes are they and what is the distinction between them?" "There are four castes, Scholar, Worker, Warrior, Religious. I'm not sure what you mean by distinction. Each caste is responsible for performing duties that fall within their Castes purview," Corrisal said. Matthew nodded, "I see. On earth, my home world, there were several societies that were regimented by caste structures through out our history. Most of those were determined by one's parent positions inside the structure of the native society. This originally led to the dissolution of those castes in favor of social equality. How is one's caste on your world determined, and how does this affect your social strata? "Caste membership is determined by family line, my parents were scholars, as were their parents, and theirs before them. As to social strata, I don't understand how caste would effect social strata, all duties performed by all four castes are necessary to the physical, mental and social well being. The Worker Caste builds our buildings farms our food, maintains the physical structure of our society among other things. The Warriors protect our society, maintain law and order, sacrifice their lives when necessary to protect those that rely on them. The Religious caste looks after our souls, counsels those in grief, marry those in love, and perform all the other rituals our society has developed over the years. My Caste care for the sick and injured, study the universe around us, and the biology within us. Our society depends on all four castes, no one persons service to that society places them above another." Corrisal said. (Reply McLaren) "No, we weren't always as...even minded as we are now. Roughly one thousand years ago we had what is now referred to as the Great Caste war. Over time the castes had taken control of various regions and ruled them unilaterally, each caste believed they were the more worthy of leadership, their duties the most necessary to the continued growth of our society. War finally erupted, caste fighting caste, friend against friend. I won't go into the horrible details, but the War horrified every- one. It finally ended when the three most senior members from each caste met in secret. When they finally emerged they declared that the fighting would stop. They taught us the error of our ways, that we had, for so long, been living and working for the betterment of only our castes and not our people. The castes united in a new understanding that all of the castes were needed for all of us to survive, that each of our skills made the whole better. Those twelve Mithgiln formed the first great council, and the Great Council has lead us since, each caste equal. We learned our lessons the hard way, and wouldn't wish that trauma upon anyone else," Corrisal said. "Our being able to make the caste system work, also may have something to do with the fact that our evolutionary ancestors were caste based as well, even back to before they developed sentience, so it's in our blood so to speak." Corrisal said with a friendly smile. "Sorry, that was long winded, I'm a sociologist, I tend to have trouble stopping the lecture once it starts." (Reply McLaren, Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1917.5) Apparently the Vice Marshal had no children yet and his wife was aboard the Boudicca. He told her that they would likely ask for a transfer after their current tour. When prompted by Dorga to ask some questions of her he asked if all the officers on Boudicca brought their families along and commented that he thought it would be quite dangerous, especially so far from home. "No, not all officers bring their families and it can be quite dangerous at times, but as I am their only living parent it was their desire to be with me and mine to have them here. I assure you that if their safety and the other civilians' is ever jeopardized we have ways and means of keeping them from harm." Dorga replied. It wasn't the first time the decision to have her children with her had raised such a question. Erril Emmon stated he didn't think children would ever be allowed on ships, explaining that they were allowed at bases and stations, and had short, temporary visits. He asked what her world was like. "Vulcan is a founding member of the United Federation of Planets. There are over 5 billion people on Vulcan and we also have one of the Federations largest starship construction facilities in our star system." She told him proudly. "It has a high gravity and a thin atmosphere. Most of the planet's surface consists of large deserts, which are prone to great amounts of heat, light and electrical sand fire storms, or of mountain ranges. There are bodies of water - seas, but they are small and scattered. Our habitation zones are divided into provinces. However I am not a typical Vulcan." She informed him. "My father is Vulcan and my mother is Klingon, so what you are seeing is a mixture of the two." Dorga touched her forehead ridges and the bridge of her nose." These are Klingon features." She touched her ears and eyebrows, "and these are Vulcan features, and then there are the attributes that are unseen." The 2O grinned at him, "I think I got the best of both worlds," she stated. "Both races are physically very strong, so I am stronger than the average Vulcan or Klingon female and I am also a touch telepath, which means I could talk to your Ellian by touching a chamber wall, but where I come from there are strict rules about such things and I could only do that if given permission, although I will admit that I was very tempted to touch him on the way to this chamber and invite him to read my mind. I figured he would soon see that our intentions are purely friendly." (Reply Emmon, Any) (Posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1917.5) "...The Federation, unlike its traditional rivals who derive power from a single dominant species that seek to subjugate other races within the boundaries of their empire, the Federation's various Member States join willingly and are all considered to be equals in the Federation's democratic society...." He chuckled, "I sound like a salesman trying to sell club memberships, I assure you I am not attempting to persuade you to join us, though I am sure the Federation would not be adverse to that... Tell me, how many colonies do you have, are there any close by?" "We are about three days out from our home world. There is a mining colony not far from here, but I can't say they'd be entirely entertaining to visit, at least not for very long. We haven't colonized this area of space very heavily, there are some young species and we don't want to crowd them unnecessarily, want to give them a chance to expand once they achieve space flight." Torias said. "We have maybe ten fully functioning colonies or so, that doesn't include any transient mining operations on random asteroids or research stations." (Reply ManyHorses, room for more if needed) "You mentioned "traditional rivals", do we have to worry about any of them following you out here. I'm not sure we'd be happy being placed in the middle of any of your on going conflicts this early in our relationship." Torias said with some concern in his voice. (Reply ManyHorses) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Guardian Rennia Tenshi - Day 3 - 1917.5) Turning back around she smiled at Lieutenant Yalix. "I'm sorry for that interruption, where were we?" "I was marveling at Ellian. He's the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen; so vibrant and alive. I'd love to meet him, is that possible?" "It would only be possible if you are a telepath of some form, and if Ellian agreed," Rennia said. She wasn't sure how to feel about someone asking to merge with Ellian mere moments after stepping aboard. (Reply Yalix) "Every Shonora that works with the Mithgiln, chooses three Guardians. Guardians are chosen from those Religious Caste members who have some degree of telepathic ability. We are responsible for representing the Shonora in all matters that effect them, and to safe guard their well being where they can't speak for themselves." Rennia said with a nod. (Reply Yalix) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - ATT Lt. Cmdr- Matthew McLaren - Day 3- 1917.5) "Caste membership is determined by family line, my parents were scholars, as were their parents, and theirs before them. As to social strata, I don't understand how caste would effect social strata, all duties performed by all four castes are necessary to the physical, mental and social well being. The Worker Caste builds our buildings farms our food, maintains the physical structure of our society among other things. The Warriors protect our society, maintain law and order, sacrifice their lives when necessary to protect those that rely on them. The Religious caste looks after our souls, counsels those in grief, marry those in love, and perform all the other rituals our society has developed over the years. My Caste care for the sick and injured, study the universe around us, and the biology within us. Our society depends on all four castes, no one persons service to that society places them above another." Corrisal said. "Has it always been like that, a peaceful co-existence between the castes?" Matthew asked genuinely interested. "No, we weren't always as...even minded as we are now. Roughly one thousand years ago we had what is now referred to as the Great Caste war. Over time the castes had taken control of various regions and ruled them unilaterally, each caste believed they were the more worthy of leadership, their duties the most necessary to the continued growth of our society. War finally erupted, caste fighting caste, friend against friend. I won't go into the horrible details, but the War horrified everyone. It finally ended when the three most senior members from each caste met in secret. When they finally emerged they declared that the fighting would stop. They taught us the error of our ways, that we had, for so long, been living and working for the betterment of only our castes and not our people. The castes united in a new understanding that all of the castes were needed for all of us to survive, that each of our skills made the whole better. Those twelve Mithgiln formed the first great council, and the Great Council has lead us since, each caste equal. We learned our lessons the hard way, and wouldn't wish that trauma upon anyone else," Corrisal said. "Our being able to make the caste system work, also may have something to do with the fact that our evolutionary ancestors were caste based as well, even back to before they developed sentience, so it's in our blood so to speak." Corrisal said with a friendly smile. "Sorry, that was long winded, I'm a sociologist, I tend to have trouble stopping the lecture once it starts." "That's incredibly interesting." Matt said with a nod. "In contrast our own caste-based societies collapsed or fragmented. Eventually they ceased to be a form of social organization, but Humans most assuredly, while social creatures do not derive their societal structure from any genetic disposition to caste-like organization., In fact, our societal structure is more reminiscent of a social herd, although engendered from a non-agrarian ancestor." "I'm certain that you also have questions. I'd be glad to answer any that you have to the best of my ability." (reply Corrisal) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - Chief of Sciences Corrisal Morrin - Day 3- 1918) "That's incredibly interesting." Matt said with a nod. "In contrast our own caste-based societies collapsed or fragmented. Eventually they ceased to be a form of social organization, but Humans most assuredly, while social creatures do not derive their societal structure from any genetic disposition to caste-like organization., In fact, our societal structure is more reminiscent of a social herd, although engendered from a non-agrarian ancestor." "I'm certain that you also have questions. I'd be glad to answer any that you have to the best of my ability." "Do the members of your Federation retain independent control over their homeworlds? I'm just wondering exactly what level of control the Federation exerts over it's members, it is only on a interplanetary scale or does it influence down to the city and towns on it's member worlds?" (Reply McLaren) "Relations are peaceful between all of the members in the Federation?" Corrisal asked with a smile, before taking a quick bite of her food. (Reply McLaren, any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******** (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1918) Amom told Detron of wher he was from and how he grew up. Detron nodded intently as he listened to the story. Amom came from a line of warriors just as most Klingong have come. Detron respected Amom for that with a common Klingon fist pump to the chest signifying an honored gesture among warriors. Detron had some more to ask. "So the wings are just for show now. They have no purpose? What are the food items I am sampling now? One has a distinct steak taste as Klingons are mostly meat eaters. There is a different disk called Gagh which is live worms and bugs. This is considered a delicacy for Klingons. Have you explored other worlds and what was your impression of them? I too have not been in space for long but have encountered many worlds. What do you do besides work?" (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (USS Boudicca - Qulaetha Vorenda - Chief of Security, Sangel Freya Fenrisúlfr - Day 3 - 1918.5) In the time it took to walk to, what she overheard was a place called Qulaetha Vorenda. Freya waited for an attack that never came; instead she and her companions were meeting with smiles and whispers of honest curiosity. She found smiles were she though knives would find there way in her and her companions back, what she found made her anger being abate, and new thoughts enter her mind. ~ was I really being the overbearing, that paranoid, that shameful? ~ She asked herself. She suddenly found herself feeling very small and ashamed. Her father had once told her ‘The best victory one can wish for is a victory that requires no weapons and no bloodshed.’ ~ How far have I fallen to forget those words? My pride and paranoia almost damaged something that could never be fixed. ~ ~ But there is still time to make things right? ~ She though as she entered the QV. She lifted her head and took a deep breath to steady herself. But found her senses assaulted by so many wonderful smells and the soft moving music. She closed her eyes, ~ how could I have been so blind. ~ She entered the QV, her steps in step with the soft melody that carried her across the room. A smile crept on her face has she found herself at one of tables heavily lain with food. She filled a small plate with many of the different selections determined to try all that her stomach would allow her. Next she made her way to table that was serving drinks, where steamed raised out of many of the cups. She looked over the drinks, until she saw one, the liquid was a deep crimson and steam rose from the cup. Picking up the small cup she glanced at the tag that marked its contents. “Pomegranate tea,” She said in low tones, “I wonder what it tastes like.” She then moved to a table where she could keep an eye on everything that was going on in the room, but her step was noticeably lighter. She sat the chair was comfortable and one of her bare feet tapped on the floor keeping beat with the music. While she brought the tea to her lips, taking a sip. The liquid filled her warming her from the core of her being, the powerful and sweet taste of the pomegranate flowed though her. She brought the cup from her lips and sighed never before had something tasted so good. Her aim then fell on one of the tasty morsels on the plate before her. Freya spent the next couple of minutes trying the many different foods on her plate chasing each bite with the tea, and in such came to one conclusion that if this federation was good was making a decent meal, and making one feel at home. She looked over the crowd seeing everyone happy many of her companions were already in deep conversations. She wondered about a conversation with one of the many different races that were gathered, but which one. She then thought of something that she needed to be said. She slowly raised herself from that table and moved to the table where the Marshal was in deep conversation with Manyhorses. “Excuse me.” Her voice was frail and sweet, she looked over at Manyhorses. Once she got there attention and broke what had to be a good conversation, (Reply Marshal Torias / ManyHorses.) “I wanted to apologies to you Sir.” She motioned to Manyhorses. “I see that I have judged you and your federation too harshly, and I that I humbly ask your forgive- ness even though I am not deserving of such.” She looked toward Torias her wide eyes full of regret she wings shivering where she body stood still, again being betrayed by her wings. (posted by Matthew Locke) (Reply Marshal Torias / ManyHorses.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1918.5) "I'd like to thank you all for coming here. To our guests, specifically, I again offer you a message of friendship and peace. One can never have too many friends, and I hope that today we can lay the foundation for a lasting friendship. This meeting will be far from formal, so please talk amongst yourselves and enjoy the wonderful food." Rennia said her voice not necessarily loud, but it carried well. Turning back around she smiled at Lieutenant Yalix. "I'm sorry for that interruption, where were we?" "I was marveling at Ellian. He's the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen; so vibrant and alive. I'd love to meet him, is that possible?" Tollian was so engrossed in the idea of speaking to a living ship that he almost forgot that there was food prepared and that he was surrounded by so many different members of the Mithgiln species. (reply Tenshi) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - C-MO Jerome ManyHorses - 1919) The Mithgiln were only three days out from their home world, so it had to be close by. Torias told Jerome that there was a mining colony close, and stated that they hadn't colonized this area of space very heavily as there were some young species and the Mithgiln didn't wanted to give them a chance to expand once they achieve space flight. Torias said. "We have maybe ten fully functioning colonies or so, that doesn't include any transient mining operations on random asteroids or research stations." "I have noticed that your people have different colored wings, which is not really surprising as the peoples on Earth have different colored skin, but does it have any significance?" The Marshal explained the caste system to ManyHorses in great detail. Jerome was fascinated, it reminded him somewhat of an ant community in many ways. "But don't you have anyone born to one caste who desires to be a member of another caste?" (reply Torias) "This is all quite fascinating, Torias. Can I answer any more questions for you?" Jerome commented. "You mentioned "traditional rivals", do we have to worry about any of them following you out here. I'm not sure we'd be happy being placed in the middle of any of your on going conflicts this early in our relationship." Torias said with some concern in his voice. ManyHorses shook his head. "No." He stated emphatically, "the Klingons are now our allies and the civil war is over. The Romulans do not trouble us and are to far away to be of any concern. Please do not worry about possible conflict." (room for more) As ManyHorses finished his meal while conversing with Torias he glanced up to see the Mithgiln Security Chief. He wondered if he was about to be regaled about his decision to ban weapons, but the tone of her voice as she excused her presence belayed his concern. “Excuse me.” Her voice was frail and sweet as she looked at Jerome. "What can I do for you, Chief?" He asked, remembering her last name but finding it hard to pronounce and not wanting to offend her by misprouncing it he decided to call her Chief. (Reply Marshal Torias/Fenrisúlfr) “I wanted to apologies to you Sir.” She motioned to Manyhorses. “I see that I have judged you and your federation too harshly, and I that I humbly ask your forgiveness even though I am not deserving of such.” She looked toward Torias her eyes wide eyes and her wings shivered slightly. Jerome smiled sincerely at the young female and gestured to an empty chair at their table. "Your concern was understandable, Chief, I am sure that my security officer also wished to take weapons with him, it is the nature of the beast so to speak. Please ...Won't you sit down and join us? Or if you prefer by all means mingle and do not be further concerned about judging us as possible enemies, for really any stranger is." (Reply Marshal Torias, Fenrisúlfr, Any) (posted by Sal) ********* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Security Officer Jellen Arnorn - 1919) The Boudicca Officer pounded a fist against his chest in what Jellen could only assume was some kind of greeting gesture among his the Klingon's people. "So the wings are just for show now. They have no purpose? What are the food items I am sampling now? One has a distinct steak taste as Klingons are mostly meat eaters. There is a different disk called Gagh which is live worms and bugs. This is considered a delicacy for Klingons. Have you explored other worlds and what was your impression of them? I too have not been in space for long but have encountered many worlds. What do you do besides work?" "The color's of our wings denote our caste, but other than that, no, they serve no other purpose," Jellen said working his way through the list of questions Detron had. "You are currently eating talat steak," Jellen said, but avoided commenting on the live bugs. He'd had to eat live bugs during his survival training, and had subsequently decided that whenever possible he'd stick to regular cooked food. "I have been on a few worlds, but none of them struck me as special or note worthy, I was there to protect the members of this crew that were exploring, I didn't have much time to form impressions. Aside from work, I exercise, read, and mostly relax. I guess that if I was home instead of here, I might spend my time outdoors, but I can't say I do anything very remarkable. What do you do?" Jellen asked. (Reply Trei, any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1919.5) "It would only be possible if you are a telepath of some form, and if Ellian agreed," Rennia said. Tollian shrugged in a very uncharacteristic human manner. He frowned. "That's a shame. I'm not gifted with that ability. None of my people are." He replied, " I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. I find it incredibly exciting to meet new beings. I actually specialized in First Contact in the Academy. I've managed to meet six new species during my career. It's an amazing experience. Each one is unique, the Shonora doubly so. To my knowledge the Federation has only encountered one other living vessel prior to this encounter. What is the nature of their relationship with the Mithgiln?" "Every Shonora that works with the Mithgiln, chooses three Guardians. Guardians are chosen from those Religious Caste members who have some degree of telepathic ability. We are responsible for representing the Shonora in all matters that effect them, and to safe guard their well being where they can't speak for themselves." Rennia said with a nod. Tollian nodded as well. "I understand. So did the Shonora and the Mithgiln co-evolve then?" (reply Rennia) "So how many other species have your people made contact with?" (reply Rennia) Daniel Greene ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - ATT Lt. Cmdr- Matthew McLaren - Day 3- 1919.5) "Do the members of your Federation retain independent control over their home worlds? I'm just wondering exactly what level of control the Federation exerts over it's members, it is only on a interplanetary scale or does it influence down to the city and towns on it's member worlds?" Matthew nodded. "They do, indeed. The individual home worlds are free to dictate their own laws and to self-governing as they see fit, provided that certain guidelines are maintained. For example, no federation world is allowed to repress minorities or other members of their populations." "By joining the UFP, they have agreed to the provisions of the Articles of the Federation , as well as agreeing to adopt the Bill of Sentient Rights. They basically function like very independent provinces, who agree to uphold a larger universal legal and social system. Each planet contributes to the Economy of the UFP as well as to her defense and social well being. The Federation of councils has a representative from each member world. Those beings make legal policy and govern the larger entity that is the UFP. The head of the federation is the President. He is the individual most responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the Federation as a whole. So we are basically organized along a parliamentary structure and broken into three distinct divisions. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Each works with the others to the betterment of all." Matthew answered. "Relations are peaceful between all of the members in the Federation?" Corrisal asked with a smile, before taking a quick bite of her food. "If by peaceful you mean are their conflicts?" Matthew replied rhetorically. "Of course there are disagreements and occasionally those disagreements may become incendiary. Starfleet, the portion of the organization that this ship belongs to, is multifunctional. We act as the back bone of the fleet in several different capacities. We are the explorers, the diplomats, and when necessary the policing and military forces needed to protect our people and to maintain peace. That is not to say that disagreements get resolved through the use of force, in fact we prefer that they are handled in a diplomatic arena. But when that is not an option and all other avenues have failed, Starfleet is capable of blockading conflicting planets and using limited military and economic force to aid in getting a diplomatic discourse restarted. We also act as the defense forces against those that would threaten our citizens or way of life." "To be honest with you, there was recently a conflict between two factions of our Federation. One was a pro-militaristic dictator that wanted to subject the members of the UFP into becoming a military hegemony. The other were elements of the fleet that opposed that change and wished to continue the Federations peaceful exploration through diplomacy rather than force." "The non-military faction re-established control after the coup, although there was a very expensive price to pay for that victory. What else would you care to know?" (Reply Morrin) Daniel Greene ******** (USS Boudicca - QV - ACSO Ensign Ayslin Rel and Vice-Chief of Engineering Quaris Telmarin - 1920) Ayslin looked out QV's window at the Ship/Creature. It was massive and from what she had over heard, sentient. That it was biologically able to create a warp field, travel at nearly warp 9, and maybe faster, and allow humanoid sized crew members to safely live and travel inside, was quite amazing. "He is quite amazing," a deep voice said suddenly from beside her causing her to jump in surprise. Looking over, her heart not racing, she found that one of the Mithgiln officers that was visiting was standing next to her looking out the window as well. The man looked like he wasn't adverse to physical work, only five or six inches taller than Ayslin, he was well muscled and stocky. His large eyes were an light aquamarine, and his wings were a light tan. His hair was a rusty brown, and cut short, and he had a friendly smile on his face. "I'm deeply sorry," he said, honest concern in his eyes, "I didn't mean to frighten you. I just figured we should make our respective leaders proud and talk some." "It's ok, you just surprised me," Ayslin said with a smile. "My name is Ayslin Rel, I'm one of the Assistant Chief Science Officers, I'm a physicist on board the Boudicca. It's a pleasure to meet you." "The pleasure is mine. I am Quaris Telmarin, the Vice-Chief of engineering on board Ellian. I am a member of the Worker Caste, and a Foreman in the Order of the Silver Gear. Do you mind if I ask what could be a personal question?" "Why not," Ayslin said with a small smile. "You can't learn anything if you don't ask the big questions." "I notice that your Captain, and your first officer who went to our ship, as well as many others here all appear to be one common race. You appear to be of that race as well, except for the markings on your forehead and neck. Are they tattoo's similar to the one I saw on your Captain, or are they something else?" "No, the captain and other members of the crew you have noticed are of the Human species. I am of a Species called Trill. My spots are permanent and a normal trait among Trills." Ayslin said, leading Quaris over to a nearby table and sitting. Quaris looked at the chair for a moment, then turned it sideways so it's back wouldn't interfere with his wings. "Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems odd that spots would be the only difference between two species that evolved on different planets," Quaris said, taking a bite of a finger food. "I didn't say they were the only difference. Trills are actually a symbiotic species, some of us are joined with a sentient vermiform symbiont, which will actually be placed in a new host upon my death. To be fair, I am a merging of my host and my symbiont which contains all the memories of all of my past hosts," Ayslin said with a nod. "See, now that's the stuff we're all supposed to learn about each other," Quaris said with a grin leaning an arm over the back of the chair. "Now that I've gotten my question asked, It's your turn. It's only fair." Ayslin grinned at Quaris, "Fine, I'll give you two, you mention you're from the Worker Caste, how many Castes are there, and what does "Order of the Silver Gear" mean?" Ayslin asked with a smile on her face. "Number of castes...four," Quaris said, then paused and looked at Ayslin for a beat. "Oh, you want to know what those four castes are, ok I'll give you that one for free because you seem like a nice person. There are the Worker Caste, the Scholar Caste, the Religious Caste, and the Warrior Caste, brown, blue, green and red, respectively," Quaris said extending his wings to fully horizontal to show his meaning. "As to my order, or a religious caste church, or a warrior's phalanx, or a scholar's college, are where we learn our specific careers. For instance, my order is focused on mechanical engineering. From the teenagers starting out as apprentices, to the four Archons who run the order, each and everyone is a mechanical engineer. Marshal Wersh is a member of the Order of the Golden Thought, each and everyone a computer programmer and technician, I've personally seen the Marshal talk a computer into a fit, it was entertaining." Quaris said with a chuckle. "Do the orders teach the trade, or do you get your initial teaching and then join the order?" Ayslin asked leaning forward now, food quickly forgotten. "Early education, reading, math, history, basic foundational science, is handled in a mixed schooling until the age of 16 or so. After that they move into the Castes get some counseling to help the teenagers decide what careers are a good fit for them. They are accepted into Orders at the training levels and they are taught the field and they move up from there." Quaris said. "Are your orders set for life?" Ayslin asked, curiously. She'd never run into a Caste system before. She knew the Bajoran's had one prior to the Cardassian invasion and occupation. And some ancient culture on Earth had been caste based. "No, people do move from order to order sometimes. Some orders are very specific, hard climate farming, neurosurgery, whatever those Warriors consider specific. A lot of those orders members tend to start in another, related order and them transfer into the specific one." Quaris said. "Now, I've answered a whole lot of your questions, which I'm more than happy to do, but now it's my turn. Tell me about your home, not the Federation or the biology behind your species, but about where you live, where you grew up about your family." Ayslin blushed, she had been dominating the conversation, and Quaris did ask a good question, one of the best ways to learn about someone to was learn about how they live. "I'm sorry, I can't help myself sometimes I guess." "Don't worry, some of my best friends are scientists, I'm used to it," Quaris said with a friendly smile. "I grew up on Trill, on the smallest continent named Yora. I lived in a small city with my parents and two brothers. My dad is an engineer like you, he works in a machine shop repairing land vehicles and other things with engines. My mom is a teacher and my brothers are both gear heads. I guess that makes me the oddity in my family." Ayslin said, "Although I learned enough from my family to fix my lab equipment and even cobble together new devises when needed," Ayslin said with a shrug. "Ah-ha, not such the oddity after all, are you then. I bet you I could make you an engineer, especially if your a physicist, just have to get you thinking on a larger scale," Quaris said with a wide grin. "How much you willing to lose?" Ayslin asked with a mischievous grin. "Remember, I have a father and two brothers who had a very long time to try just that. I think they'd advise you to not try." Ayslin said, her smile broad. "Fair enough, but like I said I've got plenty of Scientist friends, so I won't hold it against you. We all have our roles to play." Quaris said downing the rest of his drink. "So, where's home now, still on Trill?" "I don't really know, here I guess. I went from school to the academy back home after my joining, and then came here. When I leave Star Fleet, I'll have to figure that out. I guess it depends on when I leave, whether I go teach, or just retire some place quiet and read." Ayslin said shrugging. "I've still got plenty of time to figure that out." "That you do," Quaris said with a smile. "So, let me tell you about my home," Quaris said as the two officers continued to talk near the windows. (Reply Any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1920) Apparently the Mithgiln weren't far from their home world having left it three days ago. Of course Jerome realized that their concept of three days could be significantly different to his own. There was a mining colony close by which the Marshal deemed as not very entertaining to visit. He had gone on to tell Jerome that they hadn't colonized that area of space very heavily as they wanted to give the younger species room to expand once they achieved space flight. "...We have maybe ten fully functioning colonies or so, that doesn't include any transient mining operations on random asteroids or research stations." Jerome gave a nod, though he thought ten colonies was a significant number. "Our prime mission on the Boudicca is for exploration. We seek out new worlds and new species to befriend, what kind of missions do you undertake?" (Reply Wersh, room for more if needed) "You mentioned "traditional rivals", do we have to worry about any of them following you out here. I'm not sure we'd be happy being placed in the middle of any of your on going conflicts this early in our relationship." Torias said with some concern in his voice. ManyHorses smiled reassuringly. "No need for concern at all, The Klingons have been our allies for a long time now, and the Romulans are a very long way from here. We tend to stay out of each others way if at all possible and should we meet, we are cordial to each other." Movement at the bar area caught his eye and he spotted Arania coming in to the lounge from the kitchen bearing yet another platter of goodies. "Perhaps you would care to meet our hostess?" He asked Torias as he stood up and caught her eye, beckoning her to come over. Arania had squeezed the platter of goodies on to the table by shifting a few closer together and stacking some empty ones, and with a smile of satisfaction picked up the empties to carry back to the kitchen, but when she turned around she saw the M-CO gesturing her to go to him. ~Urdits! ~ She grumbled to herself, there was so much work to be done she really wanted to get on with it. NRPG: Urdit is a rat like rodent that can grow as large as 2 ft. long with a prehensile tail as long as its body. Very tasty meat similar to rabbit. RPG: As Cy was just walking by with another plate of edibles, she told him to collect the empty ones, put the stack back on the table and glided over to the Mission CO and his guest, where she bowed respectfully. "May I be of assistance?" She asked. "No we are fine, Arania. I just wanted to introduce you the the CO of our guests. Arania this is Marshal Torias Wersh....Marshal this is our esteemed hostess and manager of this lounge... Mrs. Arania McLaren." Arania gave another respectful bow to the Marshal. "It is with pleasure we meet, sir. I am hoping you are enjoying the humble offerings prepared for you." (reply Wersh, Any) (posted by Sal) ******** (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Security Officer Jellen Arnorn - 1921) "I mostly hang out in in the lounge referred to as QV for short when on duty and have visited the Holodeck off duty many times. As for when home on Betazed, I enjoy going to the beach and havings walks among the nature. Tell me about Ellian please. I feel it is connected to you somehow. Is that true and how does it work? "Connected to me? No. The Guardians are the only ones who are able speak to Ellian. It takes a telepath to connect with Ellian," Jellen said. "I'm not sure what to tell you about Ellian, he isn't a war ship, but he gets the job done when needed. He has a sense of humor, which can be an issue at times, but entertaining when your not on the receiving end of the joke." Jellen said with a grin at some of the memories. (Reply Detron) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1920.5) Amom told Detron about the color of the wings connected to their casts. Detron understood that better. Amom told of how he liked to read and do outdoor activity when home. Detron told of what he liked to do. "I mostly hang out in in the lounge referred to as QV for short when on duty and have visited the Holodeck off duty many times. As for when home on Betazed, I enjoy going to the beach and havings walks among the nature. Tell me about Ellian please. I feel it is connected to you somehow. Is that true and how does it work? (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Ensign Carl Deston - Day 3 - 1921.5) After entering the meeting room, Deston spent a few minutes quietly circulating, allowing his AV equipment to get a good view of everything - and every one. He made a few tentative grabs at some of the food items in a distracted fashion, not allowing the unusual flavors and textures to divert his attention. He did make a few passes over the food table with his tricorder, first for basic chemical signatures, and then some much more refined cellular scans; always good to know what the local variations on DNA nitrogenous bases were. While he was certain that no actually poisonous amino acids would be present, the presence of neutral and beneficial ones, and in particular their proportions, provided an excellent basis for understanding the higher- order biochemistry of the organisms which were being eaten; these, in turn, told much of the entire biological history of the Mithgiln, albeit in a form with plenty of skew and bias. No doubt, reams of exactly such data would be traded with the Federation later on, but Deston enjoyed the fact that he was on the "ground floor", so to speak. Eventually, though, Deston tired of his solo excursion; a social animal, he wanted to mingle. He had noted that the four Mithgiln who had greeted the Away Team had been co-opted into conversation already; he'd also noted that there were four other Mithgiln waiting in the meeting room. As he understood it, the wing colors indicated the castes; while eager to talk with anybody, he decided that the best exchange of data would most likely be with a member of the Scholar caste... blue wings, if he wasn't completely mistaken. He glanced about, spotted a set of blue wings without an accompanying Starfleet uniform, and made his approach. "This is an excellent venue your people have provided; I can't think of any first contact occurring under such pleasant circumstances." (reply Mystery Date) "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ensign Carlyle Deston, Science Officer" ~we can discuss 'assistant chief' later on~ "of the USS Boudicca." (Reply any, my Mystery Date) (Posted by John O'Neill) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1922) Amon told Detron that the guardians are the only ones to talk with Ellian (the ship). He said they have some telepathic ability and can connect that way. Detron has some telepathic ability being half Betazoid so he proposed to talk with the ship. "I have some telepathic ability being half Betazoid. Can I try to talk with the ship from here?" (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Guardian Rennia Tenshi - Day 3 - 1922) "It would only be possible if you are a telepath of some form, and if Ellian agreed," Rennia said. Tollian shrugged. "That's a shame. I'm not gifted with that ability. None of my people are." He replied, " I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. I find it incredibly exciting to meet new beings. I actually specialized in First Contact in the Academy. I've managed to meet six new species during my career. It's an amazing experience. Each one is unique, the Shonora doubly so. To my knowledge the Federation has only encountered one other living vessel prior to this encounter. What is the nature of their relationship with the Mithgiln?" "Every Shonora that works with the Mithgiln, chooses three Guardians. Guardians are chosen from those Religious Caste members who have some degree of telepathic ability. We are responsible for representing the Shonora in all matters that effect them, and to safe guard their well being where they can't speak for themselves." Rennia said with a nod. Tollian nodded as well. "I understand. So did the Shonora and the Mithgiln co-evolve then?" "No, we and the Shonora only met about three hundred years ago. We were making our first manned expedition to the fourth planet in our system, which was just inside an asteroid belt. At that time all long term space flights included a counselor to make sure the close quarters and long time away from home didn't ware too hard on the crew. It just so happened that the counselor on this trip was a Religious caste member name Denin Wellis, and he was a telepath. A herd of Shonora were grazing on the edge of the asteroid belt and were curious about the ship that was getting closer. Guardian Wellis and one of the Shonora made contact, but not before the crew of our shuttle were given a good scare by the large unknown creature bearing down on them. The Shonora had legends of a time when they had a crew before, but it was many many of their generations prior and they were just stories and legends. Quite frankly, I think they found and still find us amusing, but in the end they wanted crews and their help allowed us to leap into the stars faster than we would have been able to otherwise." Rennia said with a shrug and a smile. "So how many other species have your people made contact with?" "I honestly don't know the exact count, I would have to say well under one hundred, not necessarily all of them friendly. We are not a large people and we tend not to like to spread ourselves too thinly. It is quite possible that meeting your Federation in full could double or triple the number of species we know. (Reply Yalix, Any) "Guardian Tenshi... Second Officer Dorga 'cha Nooras, I hope I am not interrupting." She asked, looking from Tenshi to Yalix inquiringly. "Not at all, what can I do for you Officer Nooras?" Rennia asked with a smile. "No doubt there are several of our party who would like to get to know Ellian a little better, and I count myself among them, so I won't beat about the bushes. I am a touch telepath and have literally been itching to touch the chamber walls since I transported over, however I have refrained out of respect for you and your living vessel, but I believe that if Ellian and you will permit it, you will quickly find out what we are all about, and will also know that what we profess to be is true." "Thank you for asking for permission before doing so," Rennia said inclining her head to Dorga, "I can ask him for you, but I'd prefer to do so on the Command deck, there is a location there that allows me to more fully connect with Ellian. If he can see my experiences as well, it will speed the process up. If you and Lieutenant Yalix would care to join me, we can handle everything from there, I highly doubt that Ellian will say no." Rennia said. (Reply Nooras, Yalix) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******** (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Security Officer Jellen Arnorn - 1922.5) Amon told Detron that the guardians are the only ones to talk with Ellian (the ship). He said they have some telepathic ability and can connect that way. Detron has some telepathic ability being half Betazoid so he proposed to talk with the ship. "I have some telepathic ability being half Betazoid. Can I try to talk with the ship from here?" "I would suggest you speak to the Guardian about that. It might be possible, but I'm not sure," Jellen said, looking somewhat uncomfortable. (Reply Detron) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - FO Cmdr Aleksander Stolev - Day 3 - 1923) Stolev had been hanging back a bit, sampling some of the food, and listening as the various subject matter experts quizzed their counter- parts about their technology, culture, and other aspects of their lives. He wandered over to the Vice Marshal, his apparent counterpart in Mithgiln terms, and casually listened to his conversation with Dorga. At a break in their coversation, Stolev leaned in. "Vice Marshal, I greatly appreciate your hospitality and would like to thank you. I am curious, what sorts of mission does your space force engage in? Are they primarily exploratory, diplomatic, military... or some combination thereof?" (reply Emmon, any) (posted by Aaron) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - 1923) "Thank you for asking for permission before doing so," The Guardian said inclining her head to Dorga after the 2O asked if she could communicate with Ellian. "I can ask him for you, but I'd prefer to do so on the Command deck, there is a location there that allows me to more fully connect with Ellian. If he can see my experiences as well, it will speed the process up. If you and Lieutenant Yalix would care to join me, we can handle everything from there, I highly doubt that Ellian will say no." She stated. Dorga beamed at her, "thank you, I'll gladly join you. I am sure that Ellian is as curious about us as we are about him. This reminds me a little of something that occurred during my assignment as Chief Counselor on a starbase shortly after I graduated from the Academy. We encountered a powerful computer on a planet devoid of life, it called itself the Oracle and literally took over my body. Turned out it was convinced it was Godlike and wanted new subjects to worship it...." She stopped, it really wasn't time to tell tales about some of her adventures, this was an information finding mission after all. She smiled apologetically. "Well I digress, I'm certain Ellian is far more amiable than the Oracle was." (Reply Rennia, Yalix) (Posted by Sal) ********* (Shonora Ellian, Meeting room - Chief of Medical Yellin Welmarin - 1923.5) Yellin stood watching the large wall screen monitor that showed the outside world. It was a view he'd gown quite fond of over the years. Nearly as old as the Marshal, he'd been in service with SEAD for nearly his entire adult life. He earned his Deanship while serving with Ellian nearly a decade ago. He found himself contemplating retirement from the service, and settle into a nice teaching job before applying for an elevation to Chancellor in his College. Yellin was of average height, his short cut rusty colored hair starting to go gray at the sides. His wings were a pale, sky blue and his eyes were a deep amber. He wore his uniform well, although no one would ever refer to him being in peak physical condition. He was pulled from his revelry by the approach of one of their guests. "This is an excellent venue your people have provided; I can't think of any first contact occurring under such pleasant circumstances." "I'm glad the room is to your liking," Yellin said to the man, who if they aged at similar rates looked to be half his age. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Ensign Carlyle Deston, Science Officer of the USS Boudicca." "My name is Doctor Yellin Welmarin, Chief of Medicine here. Member of the Scholar Caste, and Dean in the College of the Argent Thought. I hope you are enjoying your time here." Yellin said with a small smile. "What can I do to help you?" (Reply Deston) (Posted by Patrick D.) ********* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Ensign Carl Deston - Day 3 - 1924) The Mithgiln that Deston approached seemed to be one of the older ones in the room; he introduced himself as Dr. Yellin Welmarin, apparently the equivalent of the CMO. Deston found it interesting that there should be a correlation between Starfleet uniform color identi- fication and the Mithgiln caste wing coloration. ~'Coincidence is the secret thread that knots the world together.' And the universe, apparently. Good call, Dad.~ Yellin continued after his introduction. "I hope you are enjoying your time here. What can I do to help you?" "I am definitely enjoying this, thank you. I just wanted to make your acquaintance; I'm afraid I let a combination of my job duties and my natural curiosity keep me from being social. A party is no place to be antisocial," Deston said, with a wide smile. "I know there's going to be a formal period of information exchange later on, so I'd like to spend this time exchanging less formal information. If that's not objectionable." (reply Welmarin) "I am curious about your position; it seems to be analogous to our Chief Medical Officer, in charge of the health of the crew. Do your duties also include the... include Ellian, to any degree?" (reply Welmarin) "Fascinating," Deston said. "Your training must have been intensive. How long have you been on board the... on board Ellian? Have you served on other Shonora? I hope I have that right, please accept my apologies if I'm mangling the terminology." (Reply Welmarin, any) (Posted by John O'Neill) ********* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1924) Amom told Detron only the Guardian can contact the ship telepathically. Detron understood this but proposed a solution. "Our Second officer has telepathic ability as well. I can attempt to work with her as a team to reduce the mental strain and be able to maintain a connection better. Apart from that, do you have any family? I have a sister on Betazed. She is 3 years younger than I am and is considering Starfleet Academy." (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - 2O/CCOUNS/Lt.Cdr. Dorga 'cha Nooras - Day 3 - 1924) When Commander Stolev had addressed the Vice Marshal during a pause in her conversation with the Mithgiln, he had asked what sort of missions his space force engaged in. It was a good question and she listened with interest to the reply while she finished off her plate of food. (Reply Wersh) While doing so, she looked about the chamber, pleased to see that their away team were mingling well with the Mithgiln and seemed to be having a good time. She spotted a Guardian talking to Lieutenant Yalix. ~ What is her name again? Ren something Ten something... Rennia Tenshi! That's it. Well, she's the one to talk to about linking with their ship, perhaps I can do that now. ~ Politely Dorga excused herself from the group and stopping by the buffet table for a re-fill of tea, she headed over to Yalix and Tenshi. With a nod of her head and a smile she re-introduced herself to the Guardian. "Guardian Tenshi... Second Officer Dorga 'cha Nooras, I hope I am not interrupting." She asked, looking from Tenshi to Yalix inquiringly. (reply Tenshi, Yalix) "No doubt there are several of our party who would like to get to know Ellian a little better, and I count myself among them, so I won't beat about the bushes. I am a touch telepath and have literally been itching to touch the chamber walls since I transported over, however I have refrained out of respect for you and your living vessel, but I believe that if Ellian and you will permit it, you will quickly find out what we are all about, and will also know that what we profess to be is true." (reply Wersh, Stolev, Tenshi, Yalix, any) (posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1924) "...We have maybe ten fully functioning colonies or so, that doesn't include any transient mining operations on random asteroids or research stations." Jerome gave a nod. "Our prime mission on the Boudicca is for exploration. We seek out new worlds and new species to befriend, what kind of missions do you undertake?" "Exploration, primarily, another division of the Space Exploration and Defense agency handles the defense area and is mostly Warrior Caste. We are currently on a medical aid mission to the Dentanis system." Torias said. (Reply ManyHorses) "We have a loose time table for it. The wet season is set to begin in a little over two weeks we have a window of a few more days to arrive and begin operations. We're only the operational team, our job is primarily to set up any necessary infrastructure, and to begin vaccinating at risk populations. At least two medical crews will arrive behind us by a few days to a week, and will take over research, and medical care for the sick. If it becomes necessary they'll be the ones to call in one of the Warrior caste's security contingents if they feel that the population is getting a little panicky." Torias said. (Reply ManyHorses) "We'd be glad for you to join us, although you might end up a little bored while we work. We have all the necessary supplies in our cargo holds, but we could easily continue our talks on the way to the Denantis system as well as after." Torias said (Reply ManyHorses room for more if necessary) The spoke for a few more minutes before Jerome offered to introduce him to their host, to which Torias agreed. "Perhaps you would care to meet our hostess?" He asked Torias as he stood up and caught her eye, beckoning her to come over. Arania had squeezed the platter of goodies on to the table by shifting a few closer together and stacking some empty ones, and with a smile of satisfaction picked up the empties to carry back to the kitchen, but when she turned around she saw the M-CO gesturing her to go to him. After handling a few more issues, the hostess finally arrived where Torias and Jerome were standing. "May I be of assistance?" She asked. "No we are fine, Arania. I just wanted to introduce you the the CO of our guests. Arania this is Marshal Torias Wersh....Marshal this is our esteemed hostess and manager of this lounge... Mrs. Arania McLaren." Arania gave another respectful bow to the Marshal. "It is with pleasure we meet, sir. I am hoping you are enjoying the humble offerings prepared for you." Torias returned Arania's bow with a deep one of his own, his wings held tightly against his back, his hands touching his chest. "The offerings are far from humble and you should be commended and lauded for accomplishing so much in such a small amount of time. I and my crew thank you for hosting us in this wonderful venue, and for obviously working very hard while the rest of us do little other than talk. Thank you for doing such an excellent job, your efforts make our efforts easier and more pleasant," Torias said, giving full praise where it was due, especially to someone, who had they been a Mithgiln, would have likely been a member of his own caste. "I hope that our dietary requirements didn't cause you or your staff too much trouble in preparing the menu for this evening." (Reply Arania) "I know that you did not come out here to talk and are still busy, but as host your are entitled to the same courtesy as the rest of the Boudicca's crew, do you have any questions for myself or my crew that you would like to ask?" Torias asked with a friendly smile. (Reply Arania, ManyHorses) (Posted by Patrick D.) ******* (USS Boudicca - QV - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses & Bar Manager Arania - 1924.5) Jerome asked Wersh what kind of missions his crew undertook and was told that Exploration was their primarily one and that another division of the Space Exploration and Defense agency handled the defense area and were mostly Warrior Caste. "....We are currently on a medical aid mission to the Dentanis system." Torias finished. Jerome's interest was piqued even more, but he was suddenly concerned. "That is very interesting but I hope that our meeting won't cause problems to your mission by delaying you. Is the aid urgent?" ManyHorses wondered aloud to which the Marshal replied that their time table was loose. Torias went on to inform Jerome that a wet season was due to begin in a little over two weeks so they had a window of a few more days to arrive and begin operations. As they would be the first team to get there, their job was to set up any necessary infrastructure and begin vaccinating those who were at risk, making Jerome wonder what it was they needed vaccination against, was it something similar to malaria infested mosquitos that used to be so prevalent in the hotter climes of Earth. Apparently there would be two two medical crews arriving after the crew of Ellian who would take over the research and medical care for the sick. "....If it becomes necessary they'll be the ones to call in one of the Warrior caste's security contingents if they feel that the population is getting a little panicky." Torias said. "I see." Stated Jerome with a nod, "but tell me, what is it they are to be vaccinated against? Is it some kind of insect borne disease? Obviously it is seasonal from all accounts. It sounds like an interesting project." (Reply Wersh, room for more) "We'd be glad for you to join us, although you might end up a little bored while we work. We have all the necessary supplies in our cargo holds, but we could easily continue our talks on the way to the Denantis system as well as after." Torias said. "Exactly so!" ManyHorses replied, his eyes lighting up with delight at the prospect of continuing to learn more about this intriguing species. "I believe I would like that very much, as I am sure the rest of my crew would. Thank you for the invitation." (Reply Wersh, room for more if necessary) The spoke for a few more minutes before Jerome spotted Arania and offered to introduce Torias to her, to which Torias agreed. Standing up and making eye contact with Arania, Jerome beckoned to her to come over. After talking to Cy Tudor, she glided over to them and bowed respectfully as she inquired if she could be of service. "May I be of assistance?" She asked. "No we are fine, Arania. I just wanted to introduce you the the CO of our guests. Arania this is Marshal Torias Wersh....Marshal this is our esteemed hostess and manager of this lounge... Mrs. Arania McLaren." Arania gave another respectful bow to the Marshal. "It is with pleasure we meet, sir. I am hoping you are enjoying the humble offerings prepared for you." The Marshal was just as polite as Arania as he also bowed deeply, giving Arania a good look at his wings as he did so. He complimented her for her accomplish- ment at providing the refreshments in such a small amount of time and commended her on the venue, bringing a flush of warmth to her cheeks at his praise. ".....I hope that our dietary requirements didn't cause you or your staff too much trouble in preparing the menu for this evening." "Not trouble at all, sir. Much help I have from my good workers as I am sure your caterers have also. I could not have done all this without help from them and we are very used to a many preferences for food." "I know that you did not come out here to talk and are still busy, but as host you are entitled to the same courtesy as the rest of the Boudicca's crew, do you have any questions for myself or my crew that you would like to ask?" The Marshal asked with a friendly smile. Instantly Arania thought of something and asked eagerly. "Possible perhaps that some trading could be done between your chefs and me for recipes and ingredients? Much good, fresh vegetables, fruits and some livestock I am willing to trade. Gladly a list could be provided if desired." (Reply Torias, Any) (Posted by Sal) ********* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - Security Officer Jellen Arnorn - 1924.5) Arnorn told Detron only the Guardian can contact the ship telepathically. Detron understood this but proposed a solution. "Our Second officer has telepathic ability as well. I can attempt to work with her as a team to reduce the mental strain and be able to maintain a connection better. Apart from that, do you have any family? I have a sister on Betazed. She is 3 years younger than I am and is considering Starfleet Acadamy." "As I said, it would be best if you spoke to Guardian Tenshi concerning this matter. I am not versed in telepathic communications, I am not aware of what levels of strain you would be under, and permission would need to be obtained by Guardian Tenshi from Ellian before any contact can be even attempted. I have no authority to give you or any member of your crew permission to speak to Ellian, only the Guardians can do that," Jellen said, becoming slightly concerned at the alien's increasing desire to speak to Ellian. ~~He is very insistant, I hope he understands that he must speak to the Guardian about this, not me.~~ Jellen thought before continuing. "I have no siblings. I was wondering what you could tell me about your ship." Jellen said, trying to change the subject away from Ellian. (Reply Detron, any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ********** (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1925) Amom told Detron he has no siblings and changed the subject to what the Boudicca is like. "Well. The Boudicca is a fine ship. The crew is one of the finest in Starfleet. I am greatly honored to serve with them. What do want to know about the ship?" ~I guess that figures since I am prying about his ship.~ (Reply Amom) (Posted by Edward) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - Vice Marshal Erril Emmon - Day 3 - 1925) "Vice Marshal, I greatly appreciate your hospitality and would like to thank you. I am curious, what sorts of mission does your space force engage in? Are they primarily exploratory, diplomatic, military... or some combination thereof?" Stolev asked. "Exploritory missions are the basis of Ellian and this crew. Shonora are able, so some degree, to control their physical layout and resultant full grown size, by a mechanism that we don't understand as well as by simply nutritional ingestion. This results in a variety of phenotypes, all roughly the same shape, but size, speed and strength, all vary to some degree. There are Shonora that are the equvilent of war ships, evolved, we assume, to protect the herds from outside aggressors. So the Space Exploration and Defense administration do also take care of defense of our systems as well. Currently we are on a medical aid mission to the Dentanis system. Diplomatic mission do occur, obviously, but they aren't our primary mission by any means." Erril said. (Reply Stolev) "Oh no, don't worry. We can't stay here long, but we have a decent sized window for arrival. Dentanis three is going to experience an outbreak of a very bad virus in about two weeks when the wet season begins and the insect vector hatches from it's larval state. We're merely the advance team to go in and set up operation posts and begin working on the getting the vaccine distributed and administered. Two medical crews are being assembled now that will take over from us when they arrive and will help handle medical care for the sick, further research and vaccination. You're more than welcome to follow us to the planet if you'd like, I don't think your help will be necessary but when we're done, we can continue our talks." Erril said with a reassuring smile. (Reply Stolev) (Posted by Patrick D.) ********* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting room - FO Commander Stolev - Day 3 - 1926) "Exploratory missions are the basis of Ellian and this crew," explained Vice Marshal Emmon. "Shonora are able, so some degree, to control their physical layout and resultant full grown size, by a mechanism that we don't understand as well as by simply nutritional ingestion. This results in a variety of phenotypes, all roughly the same shape, but size, speed and strength, all vary to some degree. There are Shonora that are the equiva- lent of war ships, evolved, we assume, to protect the herds from outside aggressors. So the Space Exploration and Defense administration do also take care of defense of our systems as well. Currently we are on a medical aid mission to the Dentanis system. Diplomatic mission do occur, obviously, but they aren't our primary mission by any means." "A medical aid mission?" replied Stolev with mild alarm. "I hope we haven't distracted you from something time critical." "Oh no, don't worry. We can't stay here long, but we have a decent sized window for arrival. Dentanis three is going to experience an outbreak of a very bad virus in about two weeks when the wet season begins and the insect vector hatches from it's larval state. We're merely the advance team to go in and set up operation posts and begin working on the getting the vaccine distributed and administered. Two medical crews are being assembled now that will take over from us when they arrive and will help handle medical care for the sick, further research and vaccination. You're more than welcome to follow us to the planet if you'd like, I don't think your help will be necessary but when we're done, we can continue our talks." Erril said with a reassuring smile. Stolev nodded, reassured by his counterpart's lack of alarm. "That would be good. It might also give us a chance to learn more about each other through seeing each other at work... though I imagine in this case, it'll be mostly us seeing you at work," he added with a grin. "And I'm sure once the situation on Dentanis Three is stabilized, we would be happy to resume discussions." (reply Erril iyw, any) (posted by Aaron) ******* (Shonora Ellian - Meeting Room - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 3 - 1927) "So how many other species have your people made contact with?" Tollian asked the Mithgiln woman talking with him. "I honestly don't know the exact count, I would have to say well under one hundred, not necessarily all of them friendly. We are not a large people and we tend not to like to spread ourselves too thinly. It is quite possible that meeting your Federation in full could double or triple the number of species we know." "Most assuredly, There were nearly 800 member species in the UFP the last I heard, and more join all the time. I've not met them all, of course, but I'd like to, I think it would be exciting." "Guardian Tenshi... Second Officer Dorga 'cha Nooras, I hope I am not interrupting." She asked, looking from Tenshi to Yalix inquiringly. "Not at all, what can I do for you Officer Nooras?" Rennia asked with a smile. Tollian nodded his agreement. He smiled at the slight misuse of the Commander's positional title. "No doubt there are several of our party who would like to get to know Ellian a little better, and I count myself among them, so I won't beat about the bushes. I am a touch telepath and have literally been itching to touch the chamber walls since I transported over, however I have refrained out of respect for you and your living vessel, but I believe that if Ellian and you will permit it, you will quickly find out what we are all about, and will also know that what we profess to be is true." Dorga continued. "Thank you for asking for permission before doing so," Rennia said inclining her head to Dorga, "I can ask him for you, but I'd prefer to do so on the Command deck, there is a location there that allows me to more fully connect with Ellian. If he can see my experiences as well, it will speed the process up. If you and Lieutenant Yalix would care to join me, we can handle everything from there, I highly doubt that Ellian will say no." Rennia said. Dorga beamed at her, "thank you, I'll gladly join you. I am sure that Ellian is as curious about us as we are about him. This reminds me a little of something that occurred during my assignment as Chief Counselor on a star base shortly after I graduated from the Academy. We encountered a powerful computer on a planet devoid of life, it called itself the Oracle and literally took over my body. Turned out it was convinced it was Godlike and wanted new subjects to worship it...." She stopped, it really wasn't time to tell tales about some of her adventures, this was an information finding mission after all. She smiled apologetically. "Well I digress, I'm certain Ellian is far more amiable than the Oracle was." Tollian shrugged, it was amazing what you could learn about people during first contacts. "I'd also be delighted to accompany you." he replied then followed to the bridge. (reply Dorga, Tenshi) Daniel Greene ================================= ================================= Mission Where Fools Fear to Tread Day 5 Stardate 2408 11.25 ================================= ================================= POST INDEX: (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 0703) (USS Boudicca - Security - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei 08.00) (USS Boudicca - CEO's Quarters - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 0905) (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - CEO Lt. Lorimar -0933) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1045) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - FO Cmdr Aleksander Stolev - Day 5 - 1046) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - ACSO Carlyle Deston - 1046.5) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 5- 1047) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1047.5) (USS Boudicca - Bridge - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1048) (Shonora Ellian, Command Deck - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1050) ============================================= (USS Boudicca - Main Engineering - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 0703) Bob was not a happy man. He had spent almost two hours of his morning already working on a difficult and critical repair job. Two hours worth of repair work would normally bring a smile to his face, but not this time. Two hours of no progress was causing him a moderate measure of distress, and his normally lengthy patience was growing unusually short. The crews working with him were aware of it, and even though unaccustomed to having to do so, they were being very careful indeed not to chafe on the CEO's temper. Lorimar scowled at the recalcitrant equipment, subconsciously willing the problem to clarify itself. The fact that it was an old problem once again rearing its ugly head was not helping Bob's temper either. Earlier in the morning when he had first been summoned by the duty engineer, he had ruminated about the fact that this issue was *supposedly* fixed during their last yard period. Somehow it had gotten lost in the shuffle; evidently the problem was inadvertently removed from the 'gripe' list as having been fixed. Clearly, this was not the case. From his position under the removable floor panel at the impulse engine control console, he could hear one of the technicians grousing --again-- about that very fact. At that point, his fuse very nearly burned to its end. "Laddie, if ah hear one mair complaint about the yard engineers nae paying attention ye'll be scrubbing recyclers for the next week!" He was immediately sorry, but he needed to vent as much as they did. He poked his head out from the cramped space he was in and gave a half smile toward the tech. "Jonas, ah dinnae mean tae snap at ye... but this is wearin' doon mah patience as much as yours. Let's just focus on the problem, aye?" "Sorry sir... I know we've been over this, but I'm on the end of a double shift, and we--" "--Are doin' a job that was already supposed tae be done. Ah unnerstond lad... as ah said, let's fix the problem and we can send the nasty letter tae the yard later," Bob finished for him. A light chuckle followed his retort, and crew got back to their work. After several more minutes and several more diagnostics, they were seemingly no closer to an answer than they had been when they started. Making his best effort to keep his voice neutral, he tapped his commbadge. "Bridge, this is Lorimar. We are havin' a spot of trouble running down the problem with the primary impulse engine control software. Ye'll need tae continue usin' the secondaries... but that shouldnae impact yer functionality, provided there are nae further failures. We'll keep ye posted as tae progress." (Reply Any, None) (Posted by Russ) ******** (USS Boudicca - Security - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei 08.00) Detron walked the halls of security holding a glass of Earl Grey. As with the First Contact, he anticipated some difference of opinion. Detron ordered the scan he conducted during First Contact just in case the planet they were extending aid to had hostile intentions.. He told the response teams to stand by for the action order. ^= Trei to Bridge. I initiated the tactical scan of the aid planet. Hostile response teams are standing by sir. Trei out.^= Detron went into his office to prepare for the aid mission. (Reply Manyhorses) (Posted by Edward) ******** (USS Boudicca - CEO's Quarters - CEO Lt. Lorimar - 0905) After finishing the level II diagnostics on the impulse engine control system, the failure had been isolated and the main controls brought back online. The bridge crew, it was hoped, would be pleased at that. To Bob, it simply meant he was able to release the gamma shift engineers that had been held over for the repair job, and he himself was able to return to quarters and get cleaned up to continue his day. He was humming happily to himself in the sonic shower when he heard the faint beep from his desk terminal indicating the computer wanted his attention. It couldn't be very important, he judged, as neither his commbadge or the ships' general alert systems were activated. Something routine, no doubt. He opted to finish his shower. As he was getting dressed, feeling refreshed and almost rested, he tabbed the flashing indicator so that the computer would play the message. The starfleet comm logo briefly appeared, followed by the communication tags indicating it was a personal message for him. With somewhat greater interest, he listened as he finished pulling his undershirt on over his head. As he headed for the recycler to drop his soiled uniform, the voice coming from the viewer froze him in his tracks. "Hello Bob," began the unmistakable voice from the message. "It's me... Elise." ~As if ah couldnae tell *that* voice! Does she think ah could ever forget that voice??~ "I hope you don't mind me sending this recorded message? I wanted to send it live but the fleet comm station said that wherever you are it wasn't possible for live relay, and I was only allowed to send this burst packet. Anyway..." He dropped his uniform to the floor, completely forgotten. As the voice continued his hands went numb and he turned to face the screen, listening but not believing what he was hearing. He could feel the veins in his neck jumping with each heartbeat, and his face colored crimson as he walked over to the desk, pressing close to the viewer. His entire body lost all sensation as he focused on the words coming out of the display. The voice continued on to tell its tale in a measured pace, stopping only for breath and a couple of pauses for effect. "... so at any rate, I wanted to make sure you heard it from me before someone else got to you. I hope we can still be friends? Take care okay? Stay away from all those bad things out there in the Galaxy." The screen went dark, then the comm logo popped up with a dialog asking if he wanted to archive the message. He stood unmoving, stunned as though hit by a stasis field. It was several heart- beats before he reacted. An anguished, ugly, primal cry of despair welled within him but wouldn't quite burst out. Try as it might, he refused to let it escape. His eyes brimmed briefly with tears of anger and betrayal; his lips moved, but no words came forth. Everything within came to a violent boil, but he refused it, denied it, would grant it no release. Suddenly, it was too much and his right fist clenched tightly and lashed out, meeting the duranium of his cabin wall with an audible thunk and crunch. He knew instantly he had broken something in his hand, but cared little and felt even less. He turned and flopped on his bunk, nearly surrendering to the anguish he felt. ~Why?~ The question repeated itself for what seemed an eternity, but was really only perhaps a minute or so. He sat up, and stared unseeing at the viewscreen. He found his voice, albeit horse and strained. "Computer archive message." [Message saved to personal archives: Lorimar, R.W.] He did his best to bring his emotions under some semblance of control, using all the techniques that his friend Dorga had taught him. It was not enough; but at least he was partially successful. Enough, he hoped. He washed his face with some cold water, hoping any traces of emotion would be wiped away. Slowly, he finished dressing, pulling on his boots with his undamaged hand last of all. He stared at his right hand as though it were not a part of him. It was very painful, and the swelling had already begun. ~Bob ye bloody fool! Now ye hae tae bother someone in sickbay! Senseless Oaf ye are!!~ He stood, fixed his features with a neutral expression and headed for sickbay. The pain helped: It gave him a place to focus his thoughts beyond his own stupidity and the message from her. ******** (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - CEO Lt. Lorimar -0933) He walked quietly into sickbay, trying desperately to hide his shame. He looked around hoping that someone would have time to help him without asking too many embarrassing questions. (Reply Someone in Sickbay, Any) (Posted by Russ) ********** (USS Boudicca - Sickbay - aCMO Ensign Dr. Jahlen - 0934) Jahlen was happily humming a silly terran tune to herself. She couldn't remember all the words, something about whistling and working but it was a catchy tune that had stuck with her after the previous evening spent in the company of Tollian Yalix. Sickbay was quiet as far as they had no patients there, so everyone was catching up on mundane duties that often got ignored when they were busy, but there was a buzz of excitement in the air because they knew that the Mithgiln's mission was for medical aid, and understandably the medical team was anticipating that some of the staff would be going to the new planet, if not to help at least to observe. In the silence of the room, Jahlen heard the sickbay doors part and close with an almost silent swish and looking up she saw the CEO entering, or perhaps slinking in would have been a better description. ~ He certainly looks like he wishes he was anywhere else but here. ~ Jahlen observed as she strode over to greet him. "Good morning, sir!" The J'Naii spoke cheerily, "what can I do fo......." Jahlen didn't have to finish the question as she looked down at Lorimar's right hand which he was cradling with his left. "Please come with me." She stated as she led him over to a small area they used for standing injured who didn't need to be lying down to be treated. With a lift of her chin towards a special reclining chair she told him to take a seat. While he settled on the chair she went to get the bone knitter, a dermal regen- erator and prepared a hypospray with a moderately strong pain killer as his hand was looking pretty beaten up; Jahlen couldn't help wonder what or whom he had hit with it. Maybe she'd find out by the entrance of someone with a broken face before she had a chance to ask him, and ask him she would! With the medical equipment on a tray, she walked over to where Lorimar was and placed the tray on the stand beside the chair. Reaching into her pocket she brought out her medical tricorder and ran it over his injured hand. After a few seconds she nodded. "Nasty break, sir." She gazed into his eyes. "How did this happen?" (Reply Lorimar, Any) (Posted by Sal) ================================= ================================= Mission Where Fools Fear to Tread Day 5 Stardate 2408 11.25 ================================= ================================= (USS Boudicca - Bridge - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1045) The initial parties and tours had been thoroughly enjoyable by everyone, if the reports from the officers were anything to go by. Jerome had been thrilled when he'd been invited aboard Ellian to dine with the Marshal the previous evening, and had been shown around afterwards by Torias. He felt like he had definitely made a new friend. He had marveled at how such a creature could have originally allowed other beings inside it and accommodated them with appropriate environ- mental conditions. What a beautiful creature the Shanora was, it was as if it had been created for the purpose of carrying humanoids through space. It was during that meal that he had told Torias that the Boudicca would most certainly be accompanying the Mithgiln on their mission, as they all wanted to continue learning more about these interesting, winged beings and their stately companion ships. Now Manyhorses was on the Bridge seated in the command chair reminiscing about the first contact, and beginning to feel quite excited after hearing that they had entered the Dentanis system, in which the planet they were heading for was situated. It wouldn't be long now before they would arrive at their destination, just over another hour though it would feel like far longer as it always did when he was waiting eagerly for anything. The Mithgiln had thoughtfully kept their speed down in order for the Boudicca to follow closely behind. He turned to the FO. "Number one, have you drawn up an away team list?" (reply Stolev) Jerome nodded, "sounds good Commander." He stated, "and I think it will be acceptable to take phasers. He then glanced towards the science station where Ensign Deston was seated and then at Ops. to the Efrosian officer. "Start scanning if you haven't already started, Ensign Deston, Lt. Yalix, I want to know as much as possible about this system and in particular the planet when we get there.... Mister Orion inform me when we are fifteen minutes ETA so the away team can prepare for transportation." (reply ALL) (posted by Sal) ******* (USS Boudicca - Bridge - FO Cmdr Aleksander Stolev - Day 5 - 1046) The star trails on the monitor compressed into pinpoints as the ship dropped out of warp and entered the Dentanis system and proceed towards the third planet on impulse power. Stolev was tapping at his console, assembling a preliminary list of away team candidates, should a mission to the surface be required. ManyHorses turned to the FO. "Number one, have you drawn up an away team list?" "Just finishing up one now," replied Stolev. "I imagine we will stand by unless and until we hear from our new friends that our presence or assistance is requested." Jerome nodded, "sounds good Commander." He stated, "and I think it will be acceptable to take phasers." Stolev nodded. "Agreed," he said. ManyHorses then glanced towards the science station where Ensign Deston was seated and then at Ops. to the Efrosian officer. "Start scanning if you haven't already started, Ensign Deston, Lt. Yalix, I want to know as much as possible about this system and in particular the planet when we get there.... Mister Orion inform me when we are fifteen minutes ETA so the away team can prepare for transportation." After a moment, Yalix spoke up. "Commander Manyhorses." (reply manyhorses) "Sir, I've noticed some discrepancies here that you may wish to be aware of sir." (reply Manyhorses) "Well, firstly the inhabitants of this planet seem to possess the technological equivalent of an early post-industrial period, similar to Earth's late 20th to early 21st century. I am showing microwave transmission and relay satellites in orbit. No inhabitable space modules, and am only detecting communications in the Frequency modulated radio wave range. "I believe that this society may be pre-warp which would make contacting them off-limits under the dictates of the Prime Directive. Perhaps Mister Deston could confirm my readings with a more detailed analysis?" (reply Deston) Stolev turned to ManyHorses with a look of alarm in his eyes. "We can't possibly send an away team down in this case. In fact, sir, I recommend we cease our approach to the planet in case we get close enough to be detected by any sort of orbital telescopes or the like." He then turned to gaze speculatively at the Shonora on the viewscreen, still on its course towards the planet. "Perhaps the Mithgiln don't have any sort of regulation analagous to the Prime Directive," he said thoughtfully. After a moment's more thought, Stolev tapped a few commands on his console and quickly pulled up the text of General Order One. As he suspected, the order itself was quite simple and straightforward: "No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society." However, the attached compilation of legal rulings, opinions, and precedents was enough to keep an average person reading for days, not to mention the list of all known instances of its violation, along with the circumstances and/or justifications given by the officers involved. With a small sigh, Stolev began scanning through the compilation and lists for anything that might apply to their current situation. (reply ManyHorses, Deston, any/all) (posted by Aaron) ******** (USS Boudicca - Bridge - ACSO Carlyle Deston - 1046.5) Normally, Bridge duty was a little onerous for Deston; he generally preferred getting "hands-on" down in the labs, or at least clearing out the voluminous recordkeeping that spawned faster than a Zabriskan fontema in an undiluted solar flux. ~A fontema,~ Deston chuckled to himself. ~Corporeal planet-bound ergovores are funny.~ However, this was promising to be an extended First Contact situation, and the best place to be for now was Upstairs. Things had been routine, but they were now rapidly closing on the target solar system - Dentanis, according to the data provided by the Mithgiln - and the pace began to pick up. Deston set up some additional scans to document the extent of the solar system, from the bow-shock on inward; he kept it detailed, just in case the Boudicca decided it wanted to be the first Federation starship to play tag with an Oort-type protocomet: you never knew what a particular solar system was like, the first time, and some had surprisingly messy boundaries. He was a little gratified to have already taken that step when, a few minutes later, the Mission CO requested he do just that. Deston replied, "Detailed sensor sweeps are now underway, sir." (reply any) (posted by John O'Neill) ******** (USS Boudicca - Bridge - AOPS- Lt. Tollian Yalix - Day 5- 1047) Tollian was on the bridge as the Boudicca approached the Dentanis system. The planet that they were heading for wasn't very far away but even as the two ships dropped out of warp and to impulse drive, Tollian immediately started noticing things were not as he expected them to be. The first thing he noticed was that there was absolutely no subspace chatter at all. It wasn't just that there wasn't a large volume of chatter, no, it was very simply that there was no chatter at all. For a species that had developed warp drive or had access to warp technology, that was a very unusual thing. Out of curiosity more than anything else, Tollian began scanning for any active signals along the radio wave frequencies. There were several frequencies that were filled with communications. He noted that they were all in the Frequency Modulated band of the Radio waves. These were usually the second layer of transmission frequencies that most post-industrial species began utilizing. He decided to listen in and see exactly what was being transmitted. The first frequency he chose was filled with a strange music perhaps made by a non-amplified stringed instrument. Some words accompanied the strumming sound and it took the universal translator a moment to render them. =^=If you believe that everything that dies comes back around again, forever... Would you want to be with me again?=^= =^=And if we're wrong and nothing lasts And this is all we have together Would you stay with me until the end?=^= The words struck him as melancholy, yet Tollian wondered if this was merely the result of the translation. =^= If I should fall Finally lose it all I will ride your love Down to the ground=^= =^=you believe that all you see around you Is nothing but illusion Is there any reason to this all?=^= =^=And if everything we do lasts Only for it's season Why build it up to watch it fall?=^= =^=If I should fall Finally lose it all I will ride your love Down to the ground =^= After a few more moments, Tollian shifted frequencies. =^= ...And Lozaria pushes the zokat across the field to Mola who slaps it home with a Bligger for another amazing round of Harr'Math. The number zuk players on the Forga team are lining up for the brizgill. You can almost feel the tension in the air as the sound of the Grathmolk sounds...=^= Another frequency shift, =^= and so you have these disillusioned youths trying to make a place for themselves in today's modern society. The post Gray era is a rapidly emerging socio-political time of change and trauma. With crime on the rise and our cities beginning to sag under the massive economic and social strains of a misidentified generation, you begin to see more instances of social disobedience...=^= Tollian frowned then ran a few orbital scans of the planet to which they were headed. Dozens of post industrial, early space-aged artificial satellites. NO signs of any orbital space stations or even any indication of lunar colonization, although it is apparent that the natives have at least reached their moon. "Commander Manyhorses." Tollian spoke up. (reply manyhorses) "Sir, I've noticed some discrepancies here that you may wish to be aware of sir." (reply Manyhorses) "Well, firstly the inhabitants of this planet seem to possess the technological equivalent of an early post-industrial period, similar to Earth's late 20th to early 21st century. I am showing microwave transmission and relay satellites in orbit. No inhabitable space modules, and am only detecting communications in the Frequency modulated radio wave range." "I believe that this society may be pre-warp which would make contacting them off-limits under the dictates of the Prime Directive. Perhaps Mister Deston could confirm my readings with a more detailed analysis?" (reply Deston, Manyhorses, Any) Daniel Greene ******** (USS Boudicca - Bridge - TAC/SC Lieutenant(SG) Detron Trei - 1047.5) Detron stood at the tactical station on the Bridge listening to the discussion about Prime Directive. Detron agreed that if the first rule applied to this situation, that the Boudicca should not interfere with their operations. Detron also felt that if aid can be provided without interference to the planet operations, the Boudicca should try and help the people. That wasn't his call so he stood at his post waiting for a decision. ~Come on make the decision already or not.~ (Reply Manyhorses, Stolev) (Posted by Edward) ******** (USS Boudicca - Bridge - M-CO Jerome ManyHorses - 1048) Just as Jerome had expected, the FO had already drawn up his list of team members to visit the planet, and stated that he imagined they would just stand by unless the Mithgiln wanted their presence or assistance. ManyHorses then glanced towards the science station where Ensign Deston was seated and then at Ops. to the Efrosian officer and requested they start scanning if they had not begun already, to which Deston replied that detailed sensor sweeps were underway, and then Lieutenant Yalix addressed Jerome. Commander ManyHorses looked towards the Efrosian OPs Officer and gave him a nod to continue speaking, obviously he had something important to report. "Sir, I've noticed some discrepancies here that you may wish to be aware of sir." "What are they, Lieutenant?" The M-CO leaned forward expectantly to listen to the officer and what he heard took him by surprise. The inhabitants of the planet seemed to possess the technological equivalent of an early post-industrial period, similar to Earth's late 20th to early 21st century. Yalix was receiving evidence of microwave transmission and relay satellites in orbit. There were no inhabitable space modules, which were to be expected if the planet was more advanced, and the AOPs was only detecting communications in the Frequency modulated radio wave range. "....I believe that this society may be pre-warp which would make contacting them off-limits under the dictates of the Prime Directive. Perhaps Mister Deston could confirm my readings with a more detailed analysis?" Yalix concluded. As Ensign Deston had already confirmed that he was doing detailed sensor sweeps, Jerome was sure that the young officer would soon be reporting similar findings. This was not what ManyHorses had anticipated, he had taken it for granted that the inhabitants were at least space travel capable seeing as a species of space travelers such as the Mithgiln, had made contact with them. This was a fine kettle of fish! Jerome's elation at the prospect of further first contacts was now deflated by disappointment. It looked like they had traveled all this way for nothing. (reply Deston) Stolev turned to ManyHorses with a look of alarm in his eyes that matched how Jerome was feeling inside, and spoke the M-Co's thoughts aloud. "We can't possibly send an away team down in this case. In fact, sir, I recom- mend we cease our approach to the planet in case we get close enough to be detected by any sort of orbital telescopes or the like." He then turned to gaze speculatively at the Shonora on the viewscreen, still on its course towards the planet. "Perhaps the Mithgiln don't have any sort of regulation analagous to the Prime Directive," he said thoughtfully. "It would appear you are correct, number one." Jerome concurred before ordering Ensign Orion to take the Boudicca behind the largest of the three moons that were orbiting the planet. (reply Orion) Deep in thought, Jerome tried to think of some way they could at least observe the Mithgiln at work on the planet without making their presence known to the inhabitants while Stolev tapped a few commands on his console. "No starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society." the FO stated. ~ Yes. I should let Torias know why we've deviated our course. ~ The Commander thought as he nodded to Stolev. "Hail Marshal Torias!" He ordered and waited a moment for the communication link to be opened. When he was given the go ahead, he stood up and looked up at the viewer. "Marshal, I'm afraid we cannot let our ship's presence be known to planet's inhabitants so we are heading to station our ship behind their largest moon. We also may not be able to accompany you to the planet's surface unless we can find a way to do so without allowing the people there to know about us." (reply Wersh) "The Federation has a prime directive that emphatically states that no starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society, so unless we can find a loophole in the regulations etc. we must remain hidden from them." (reply Wersh, any/all) (posted by Sal) ********** (Shonora Ellian, Command Deck - Marshal Torias Wersh - 1050) Torias sat in the command chair, reading reports as the deck around him hummed with efficient activity. "Sir, the Boudicca has changed course to place the third moon between them and the planet." "Any indication as to why," Torias asked, confused. "Nothing sensors are indicating. Possible standard planetary approach pattern?" His comm officer said with a shrug of his brown wings. "Anything's possible, continue on course for a standard orbit, watch out for space debris, survey said they're launching satellites on a regular basis, and the whole orbital sphere is a mess. Monitor for any communications from the planet, and watch for anything aggressive, reports don't indicate them as such, but still..." His comm officer spoke up just after his helm officer answered in the affirmative. "Sir, we have an incoming hail from the Boudicca." "Put it on the main screen," Torias said. Looking up to see Captain ManyHorses' face appear. =/\=Marshal, I'm afraid we cannot let our ship's presence be known to planet's inhabitants so we are heading to station our ship behind their largest moon. We also may not be able to accompany you to the planet's surface unless we can find a way to do so without allowing the people there to know about us.=/\= Torias was confused, as were many members of his crew. "I don't mean to pry, but may I ask why?" Torias asked, standing up and smoothing out his uniform coat. =/\=The Federation has a prime directive that emphatically states that no starship may interfere with the normal development of any alien life or society, so unless we can find a loophole in the regulations etc. we must remain hidden from them.=/\= Torias stood there a little confused for a moment. He could see the rationalization that would prevent them from intruding in political conflicts, but a medical aid mission that could easily save millions of lives and distinct cultures, that he couldn't wrap his head around, and with a quick look around the deck, he could see his crew had issues too. "I can't say I understand your directive, but I can't force you to help. We weren't expecting you to be here in the first place and our plans can go forward as if you weren't here. May I ask why you were allowed to initiate contact with us but you can't with the Dentarians?" Torias asked calmly. (Reply ManyHorses, Any) "I'm sorry, but that seems like a rather arbitrary set point. I know you didn't come up with it, but I still can't say I understand. I'm sorry, but I need to sign off, I need to prepare to contact planetary leaders, they're going to want to know what just flew into their orbit and why where here. If you change your mind, please don't hesitate to contact us, I'm sure the Dentarians would be glad to know there are more than one friendly race willing to help them through this crisis, roaming the galaxy." Torias said, he knew it came off as bitter and angry, but he didn't quite care at that moment. (Reply ManyHorses, any) (Posted by Patrick D.) ============================================ END TRANSMISSION ============================================