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Main Sim - A Rare Meeting - tag XO, COS

Posted Oct. 16, 2022, 1:16 a.m. by Lieutenant Maria Beckett (Chief of Security) (Sam Haynes)

Posted by Gamemaster Matrix (Gamemaster) 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 (23) by the Post Ghost! 👻

SNIP

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

“They are the children of the ‘reanimated’ as you put it. I was a child when we were left behind. I did see things. But it was many ages ago.”

-GM

Maria tilted her head to the side, sensing an opportunity. “What kind of things,” she asked, curiosity mingling with tension. The latter wasn’t so much directed at their de-facto guide, but at the situation. “Please,” she added with a small smile directed his way. “It could be important.” She spared a glance for the Commander, but immediately refocused back on the man. “And forgive me if I missed it, but I didn’t catch your name, sir.”

Lt Beckett, COS

Massana turned to look at the man. Senior to everyone, but not in charge. Was this man included in the four crew listed as missing, or was he someone not on the crew manifest? Why did he not fall like the others? So many questions, and yet he saw no way to ask them without traumatizing the man or inviting more trouble. He noticed that Beckett was trying to get the man to reveal who he was, even though he had already asserted that he did not have a name.

Mysteries upon mysteries, and given how the leaders had suddenly vanished without a trace, it seemed that there might be nefarious individuals who would see some sort of tactical value in this planet. Whatever the case, the king had not dismissed them, and so he doubted that the automatons would let them leave the hall.

  • Commander Massana, XO

Asked what he saw all those years ago, the old man said. “Some of the adults grew I’ll very quickly. They lost control of themselves. Of their minds. The sickness destroyed them. And it was decided that those who weren’t sick needed to flee. Their ship left three, including myself behind. Two unburied soon to rise. And myself, just a child. They said I was infected with something. But I was never sick like the others. A week later, the others rose from where they had been left, unconcerned for having died.”

The old man’s response to being asked his name again was… complicated. There was something there. But he had clearly been told, convinced that he should never say it ever again.

-GM

Dantius processed the news with a somewhat procedural take upon things. Two adults abandoned because of an infection, two others who had gone into a hibernation state so complete that they were mistaken for dead, and a child whose infection was declared but not justified to the boy. How to account for all the other people here? He chose this as the best line of investigation.

“Is everyone in the settlement related to these four? Did those four let you start your own family when you came of age?”

Massana was trying to tread carefully. If anyone here was being held captive instead of living there because they lacked an alternative, there were implications which the Commander had to consider.

  • Commander Massana, XO

“Some are descended from the four. Others from a shuttle crash 57 years ago. They were lost, we saved them.”

=^=Commander Massana, Chief Engineer Allance. Were just checking in. All’s well here, Sir. =^=

-GM
((Thanks GM… Just realized I forgot cross post))

Maria startled at the extra voice breaking in suddenly but visibly relaxed, placing one hand over her heart just for a moment. Having communications back was a good sign. At least they had that much going for them. It might mean transport was an option. Looking back to their apparent guide for the moment, she nodded. “Do you remember where the crash was? Coordinates or what landmarks are around?” It wasn’t so much that she wanted to fact-check the man, though that played a role. THey still had air assets overhead, and they might be able to recover information from the shuttle and/or haul it back up to the Memorial.

Lt Beckett, COS/CIO/CAG

“It was just beyond the frozen lake north of the settlement. Though the wreck must be buried under the snow by now.”

-GM

=/\= Understood, Chief. We are unharmed but currently still in discussions regarding the situation. Continue with standard operations until otherwise instructed, =/\= Dantius said before turning to the old man.

“Did the distress signal come from someone from the shuttle crash, or someone related? If they have been forced into settlement instead of willingly remaining, they should be allowed the choice to depart.”

  • Commander Massana, XO

“The first child of the ones from the crash. They’ve never had the means to depart. So we continue to cohabit.”

-GM

“This disease you mentioned, do you know what the R-nought value is? Or rather how likely is it to spread and how fast,” she asked. While she wasn’t a medical expert she knew enough about quarantine procedures and the like. Having to enforce them was one thing. But also knowing them in the case of a bio-weapon attack, or knowing the ‘yield’ of a bio weapon. That was part of the job. There was a growing gnawing in the pit of her stomach. More questions floated on the edge of her mind, but for now she didn’t want to overwhelm the gentleman with too many questions too fast.

Lt Beckett, COS/CIO

“The surface computers might, unfortunately I know very little about the disease itself.”

-GM

The Commander nodded. “If lacking a means to depart is the only reason why they remain, why is the King insistent upon forcing them to remain here?”

  • Commander Massana, XO

The old man waved his hand dismissively. “Power requires a means to exert itself. He has power, literal and figurative. The literal maintains the figurative for only Alexander’s sake. Why risk violence if there is food and warmth here? So the power balance remains as it is.”

-GM

“And if the people around - did you say Alexander is the king’s name? - knew that food and warmth are available elsewhere, would they still be as willing to remain?”

Dantius knew that he was treading dangerously close to asking if the people around were willing to revolt. He was somewhat unable to stop himself; his homeland on Earth had gone through multiple revolts on its way to independence. Additionally, those revolts had occurred with the French Revolution in the background. He was very wary of despots of any form, and was also a little more interested than some of his compatriots regarding the personal liberties of a society’s inhabitants.

  • Commander Massana, XO

The Commander had some very good questions. She’d caught the name drop as well, but he’d beaten her to the punch, not that she wanted to interrupt. And he had a good point as to why the people stayed. It wouldn’t be anything for the Memorial to move them, give them citizenship, set them on a new world with better conditions if they wished, or let them visit any particular world they wanted to go to. Earth, Risa, Bajor, Gamma Tiltium IV, Kaminar… there were so many worlds and peoples out there.

Lt Beckett, COS

The old man sighed. “Even if they could be persuaded that there was an elsewhere, getting there safely remains a large enough doubt that everyone may not accept the risk.” He didn’t verbally acknowledge that he had given away the King’s name, but his face betrayed that it made him nervous.

-GM

Commander Massana found himself intrigued.

“Would they be more likely to be afraid of the journey, or of the risks involved with departure?”

  • Commander Massana, XO

“The risks for traveling would not be very high at all. I fail to see how that would be a greater risk than staying here. Departure, sure. But the actual getting to somewhere new, at least within Federation space, isn’t all that dangerous.”

Lt Beckett, COS/CIO

“Departing is the most dangerous thing for any of us. Even discussing it, I’m taking certain risks.”

-GM

-bump-

Dantius nodded. As he, Beckett, and the three Security personnel accompanying him had still not been given leave to depart, he knew that they were also likely in danger.

“Have you all become dependent upon this planet’s environment? If so, I am sure that our medical personnel could figure out a solution. Benzites and Barzans, for example, use specialized atmospheric devices to assist them away from their natural planetary environments.”

  • Commander Massana, XO

“We are accustomed to bitter cold, and the absence of any sun. Some of the healers predict that younger children may struggle with exposure to direct sunlight at all. Now that whole generations have existed underground. I do not know if it is true, but there are children now born to parents who have never themselves seen the sun. What that does to a child… I cannot say.”

-GM

-bump-

Maria nodded. “I’m sure there’s a lot of nutrient deficiencies going on. Like living on a submarine, or on a deep space cargo vessel. It’s different with access to proper healthcare. But in a situation like this?” She shook her head. Having grown up on the SS Atlas hauling cargo from one world to another, she had some idea. Then there would be the xenophobia. The older generations might lack it or have it to a lesser degree, but the younger generations, having never known the outside world, would be pretty much terrified of any strangers. Until there was enough generational gaps to be curious about the outside world. The other factors, she couldn’t immediately guess at either.

Looking toward her superior, she frowned. “With your leave, I’m going to start looking for solutions for a quick extract in case we need it. Though I wish we had a science officer or engineer with us. I’d feel a little better about it. I’m a little rusty.” She was still engineering certified from her time on the Atlas, and kept up on it, and wasn’t too bad with general sciences and particle physics, but she wasn’t actively working in those fields.

Lt Beckett, CoS/CIO


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