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Main Sim - A Rare Meeting - tag XO, COS

Posted July 30, 2022, 9:45 p.m. by Commander Dantius Massana (XO) (Nicholas Villarreal)

Posted by Lieutenant Maria Beckett (Chief of Security) in Main Sim - A Rare Meeting - tag XO, COS

Posted by Gamemaster Matrix (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - A Rare Meeting - tag XO, COS

Posted by Commander Dantius Massana (XO) in Main Sim - A Rare Meeting - tag XO, COS
Posted by… suppressed (18) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

Commander Massana recognized the shift in iris color. Usually, such changes were gradual, even when they were observable. The fact that the king’s iris color had changed immediately due to emotional input was off-putting. He knew several species where this happened, but regular humans were not among that group.

“One last line of inquiry before we depart, sir,” Dantius finally chose to state. “What do you make of this ‘rogue citizen’ declaring that you are lost? Are others among you likely to come to this view, and if so, how are we to explain future distress calls, should there be any?”

Massana wanted to make it clear that he was going to be thorough with his investigation, but had no desire to uproot the society here, whatever hierarchy they had established. The rest of the research team had declared whoever had been on the planet upon the project’s abandonment missing, and Starfleet had not chosen to pursue the matter further. The planet was technically under Federation jurisdiction and was recognized as such by multiple treaties. However, it fell under self-governance rules in the Federation charter, wherein newly-discovered civilizations, even those technically in Federation space, could not be coerced to accept Federation oversight.

“Please understand that I am wanting to fully comply with your desire for isolation from external influence, and merely wish to determine the most efficient manner to do so.”

  • Commander Massana, XO

The King’s eyes grew bluer again, becoming almost iridescent. “The delusional will do as they do. See what they will. Lost? Heh. Of all the people in this room, I am not the farthest from where I should be.” He snapped.

-GM

Beckett tensed but didn’t raise her weapon. The situation was sliding away from diplomacy and it seemed they were wearing out their welcome. Once again she clocked the exits and considered the options for a hasty retreat should they need to make one. At the same time, she prayed they wouldn’t need those options.

Lt Beckett, COS

“Be that as it may, my question remains unanswered - what should we say to other people off-world as to the appropriate response to any future distress calls, theoretical though they may be?”

Dantius noted that the king had just made a large admission - namely, that he was not ‘where he should be’, whatever the meaning, even though he was not as far as any of his compatriots. The Commander was aware that asking for clarification would be going a bit too far - as the elder man had stated, he needed to speak carefully. He noticed Beckett’s slow shift in posture, and knew that the best he could manage at this point was to prevent the situation from turning actively hostile. He wasn’t sure how these people had dealt with their wayward citizen, but Dantius was getting the impression that the king would treat him and the rest of his team the same way if he became too displeased with the situation.

  • Commander Massana, XO

The old man who had greeted them looked up towards the ceiling and then timidly approached the King. “If I may intrude. Some of their party were left on the surface, under supervision. They have requested to bring in further personnel. They too claim to be here in a humanitarian capacity.”

The king pondered. “So, Massana, Beckett? How am I to receive this news?”

-GM

For the moment, Maria kept silent. This was Massana’s show.

Lt Beckett, COS

“That depends upon what you are considering to be news,” Dantius said, still trying to discern what relationship the old man had with the others in the room. “If you are referring to the rest of my crew currently on the surface, then I am surprised that you did not already know about them. As to the request for additional personnel, I trust who I left in charge, but he is not aware of your desire for our immediate departure. All members of our crew have a certain level of general capabilities, and so the removal of four members of the team may be hindering the tasks we typically undertake in responding to a general distress call.”

He was almost inclined to let Beckett speak for the sake of not feeling like the success or the failure of this mission was entirely his responsibility. Admittedly, as the Executive Officer, the mission’s success was technically something which he needed to control. He was wary of sharing too much information, and he caught himself before he continued to speak.

“And still, I wish to know - how are we to inform others regarding future distress calls, regardless of what we say in our official report regarding the distress call which brought us here?”

  • Commander Massana, XO

Maria caught the look and tilted her head for a moment. “We’d have to have something that was… ” She paused for a moment then studied the commander, then glanced back at the king, then back at the commander. Moving next to him she murmured so as not to let her voice carry beyond his ears. “The simplest solution is to consider them a sovereign colony in Federation space with a Do Not Contact request. The Federation generally honors the matter. The other option is we set up something damn scary in the logs. A terrible plague, for instance, and warn everyone off with a hazard beacon.”

Lt Beckett, COS

“No, no, NO!”

The lights went out for just a second, and when they came back on, The King and all his advisors had gone. Only the Memorial crew and the old man who greeted them remained.

-GM

Dantius was curious, but given the sudden appearance of the five, their sudden vanishing was something which he had anticipated, if not desired.

“I suppose we were not as cautious with our words as we should have been,” Commander Massana said, keeping his tone as flat as possible, albeit his accent did not make that entirely possible.

He turned to the old man. “Well, we have met the King and his council. Who are you, and why did you not depart with them?”

  • Commander Massana, XO

The old man bowed just a little. “I am a servant. An intermediary between the King and Council and those the people whom you saw outside.” He stepped close to Massana and Beckett. “The King, he’s a passionate man. Impulsive. But he is descendant of the founder, so he is heir. You seem patient. If you’re careful, you may be able to win him over.”

-GM

“Pretty sure he doesn’t like me,” Beckett said. “Whether it’s sexism or not, I am not sure. It would not surprise me in a quasi-feudal society.” She shook her head. “Every time I spoke up or did really anything, he seemed to bristle about it. Even things he should not be able to hear or know.” She turned to regard the old man. “Do you have a name, sir?”

Lt Beckett, COS

The old man’s eyes turned sad as an old memory hit him. “I haven’t had a name in many years. There is usually no need to refer to me at all.” He recomposed himself. “He doesn’t like you. If I had to guess, it’s because he takes you for an armed guard, or potential assassin. A diplomat and a gun.”

-GM

“Well, that is my job. I’m our Chief of Security. Captain of the Guard if you were to put it in terms of a kingdom. Or Master at Arms. And Master of Whispers. But I’m also a peacekeeper. Negotiator. In some ways an ambassador or diplomat of sort in my own right. I don’t like to use force if I don’t have to. I’d rather meet people in the middle and use reason and logic. To seek empathy and understanding. If I have to use my phaser, things have gone truly wrong.” She shrugged and sighed. “Though I think Commander Massana is better at diplomacy than I am.” She broke out into a momentary grin. “I could maybe use some pointers.”

Lt Becket, COS

Dantius smiled back slightly. “Lieutenant, for a very long time, I trained to be an expert in combat and tactics. My diplomatic abilities are a… recent development, I assure you. That being said, I appreciate that you are here to protect me.”

He turned back to the old man.

“I am unsure that The King will allow me the time to… what did you say? Win him over.”

  • Commander Massana, XO

Beckett shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s an option at this point. At the same time, I don’t really like the idea of having to fight our way out of here. I haven’t seen any weapons, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. And who knows what those synthetics are capable of.” The destruction of Mars and Utopia Planitia Shipyards was still a pretty fresh memory. The fact that they even had a Synth on planet was a violation of Federation law at this point.

They were outnumbered approximately thirty-five to one. Even if both of them had tactical backgrounds and could cover each other, one wrong move, one lucky shot, a momentary lapse in attention… Any of it could be bad. And they wouldn’t likely have the luxury of taking it slow, working angles, pie-ing off corners. Limited penetration was a good tool any time. A lone operator could use it in most any situation. Except when they had no way to control the tempo of a fight. Dynamic entry wasn’t of much use either.

At least for exfil, she already had some idea of how to manage it, but the odds were still not good. No need to worry about that just yet. There were a lot of other factors in play and they just weren’t there yet.

“How do you wanna play it, boss? Kick rocks. Dig in. Step off and get a bigger stick and then dig in. Somethin’ else?” Truth was this whole thing stank. The investigator and intelligence side of her head wanted to get to the bottom of it. But the hairs on the back of her neck were still standing on end.

Lt Beckett, COS

“For the moment, I believe that we allow them to release us,” Dantius replied. “It seems like they aren’t inclined to be violent toward us… well, not as violent as we might otherwise anticipate. The automatons are barely within the laws of the synthetic ban - akin to holograms, they are very much obviously not attempts at cybernetics or androids capable of fully independent behavior - but security robots are, as you said, likely armed internally, since they don’t actually require digits to operate internal devices.”

After another moment of consideration she sighed. “I would also be remiss if I didn’t point out that, with this colony or whatever we want to call it came about after the Federation abandoned this outpost. Regardless of how we feel about it, they’re an independent society. And they appear to have reverted quite a bit. I see no signs of advanced technology really. Which means that the Prime Directive is at play here. And they’ve requested for no outside interference. The prime directive dictates we leave them be, as does their own wishes.”

Lt Beckett, COS

The old man paced back and forth while Beckett and Massana exchanged words. “It is unfortunate that fear grips the king the way it does.” Resentment twinged his voice. “It is very few who wish to send you away.”

As for exfiltration and whether they were armed, it was true Beckett had seen no weapons being carried, but the automatons did seem to have some built in armament.

-GM

“For the sake of making sure that we are following a directive from a duly chosen authority - is the king’s rule autocratic? If it is true that a majority of the inhabitants here do not desire our departure, and the king does not have full authority of command, we would be remiss to obey his instructions.”

  • Commander Massana, XO

“The people who lived on the surface. The ones who were left behind. They were dead but they were reborn. But they were different. Some now have strange abilities, others barely survive. The King has the power to exert his will by force should he see it being defied. Unless you are prepared for what he may bring, then run and never speak of this place again. It would be wise.”

-GM

The more time she spent down here on the planet, the worse the cold knot in her gut seemed to get. Whether or not some of the locals had abilities or not, it seemed they believed it, and that was a bad enough reason. Outnumbered as bad as they were, a determined group could overpower them by weight of numbers. Belief was a powerful thing.

Becket

“As esoteric as that response was, a simple, ‘Yes,’ may have served the same purpose. However - are you actually saying that the people ruling over you now were somehow reanimated after perishing? Were you witness to these events?”

  • Commander Massana, XO

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