Posted by Commander Tello Anaar (Executive Officer) in Main Sim - Welcome to Fantasy Planet - The Island of Nemornia

Getting into the boat, Janna startled at the loud boom in the distance, her gaze drawn upwards. “What the…?” Suddenly, her heart was racing and she had to force herself to take a deep breath. It was one thing to face a fear head on, but it was quite another when something else possibly huge was going on.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

At the sound of the explosion, Viyara spun around and searched for the source of it; finding it immediately. She then turned towards Janna and watched her for a heartbeat or two before moving carefully closer to her. She had been worried before, so Viyara could only imagine what this sudden explosion might have done to her nervous. Making sure that Janna could see what she was going, she placed one hand on her shoulder and asked softly, “Are you okay?”

It was so strange. Normally Janna was excellent in an emergency as living on the Athena all these years had proven time and time agin. But this time she froze. Later she could analyze it more clearly, but her emotions were amped up to begin with and her anxiety high, so it was taking longer for her to process what was going on here. She looked at Viyara, registering the touch. “I think so,” she said quietly as she got up and moved out of the boat. So much for parasailing. But as soon as her feet hit the sand, calmness flooded her.

Kane’s gaze was level, “We do have a flawless safety record and there is a very good reason for it because it is fundamental to how this place works. What you were not aware of is that your deep seated suspicions and attitude to this adventure have an impact on how this place works as well.” He pointed to the mountain, “That… shouldn’t be happening and the fact that it is comes down to one new factor and one new factor alone, the presence of your crew”.

Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

Tello drew herself up. “What?!?” That was one of the stupidest things she’d ever heard. “You can’t blame us for something we have no knowledge of! This is your planet, not ours and we were invited here! Actually, we were practically ordered here!” She looked over at Daggum. “See if you can raise the ship and let them know what’s happening. Tell them I suggest they start beaming us back as soon as possible.”

“On it, Commander.” Daggum said and turned and sprinted to his bungalow. Inside, he opened his bag and pulled out his commbadge. =/\= Hammor to Athena. Emergency communications. Come in Athena. =/\= he said as he reached into the bag and brought out a wicked looking curved knife and sheath, strapping it to his thigh.

There was no reply from the ship.

She turned back to Kane. “If there was a chance our presence would affect your planet negatively, we should have been told that. Instead, the Admiral and representatives from here kept that important, little fact to themselves. So, we aren’t taking the blame for that…disturbance.” She pointed in the direction of the explosion.

—Anaar, XO

Kane raised his hands in mock surrender. “I apologise if I have intimated that you did this deliberately but it is the power of your minds that have made this possible none the less. We could not have predicted that you were capable of being harnessed in this way so in that respect we are just as surprised as you. What remains now though is a serious question. You hold the power here, will you help us?”

Junior Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

Still standing close to Janna, Viyara watched the others and listened attentively. She really didn’t like the sound of what was going on. Sure, she loved and adrenaline rush and had put herself in dangerous situations because of it more often than she wanted to admit. But this felt different and she really wanted to know what was going on. Only that way she’d be able to help protect everyone.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Hammor, Ops

Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

Daggum cursed loudly enough it could be heard by the others outside and then came stomping out of the bungalow, his eyes fixed squarely on Kane. “So you want to tell me why our communicators aren’t working and the Athena can’t hear us? Or can we skip that part and go straight to the ‘What in the Nine Hells of Bajor Is Going On’ part, Chief?” His voice was calm, but the ripples of the muscles in his shoulders and the look on his face showed he wasn’t happy.

Hammor then looked at the XO and said “Ma’am. I suggest we get everyone gathered and somewhere less exposed than on the beach. Maybe back to the yacht and get us out of here would be a good idea.”

Hammor, Ops

Even though a part of her had expected something untoward to happen, Tello was still extremely disappointed by the fact of it. Hearing Daggum’s report made the situation more serious. Waiving everyone in closer so they would hear everything, she addressed their visitor. “Chief Kane, we need an explanation of what’s going on. We were led here under false pretenses, without a clue that our minds could influence anything on this planet. Now, we can’t contact our ship and you’re saying that we have the power to help you, but all the details have been left out.” She took a deep breath and crossed her arms. “We need information, Kane, now not later. Without it, we can’t make an informed decision about what our next step should be.” It was clear she expected him to spill the details.

—Anaar, XO

Janna was mulling over what had been said and the answer seemed simple. If their minds created this, could their minds stop it or alter the trajectory of events? She would ask but wanted to hear Chief Kane’s answer first.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

The Captain and Pydone came alongside Kane. Pydone in particular looked distraught and afraid. The Captain put an arm around the young man’s shoulder and then turned to Kane. “We have to risk it Kane”.

Kane sighed and then stood up, staring at the mountain, resolute. “How much do you know of the being known as Apollo who met Captain James T Kirk on Pollux IV”

Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

With her head tilted slightly to the side, Viyara tried to remember that particular mission from her Starfleet history classes at the Academy. She was certain they had covered it as it was ringing a bell. If only very slightly.

“We covered several of Kirk’s missions at the Academy. If I remember correctly, he didn’t believe either of Apollo’s stories—that he was a Greek god born of woman and the Greek god Zeus, or that he was just a ‘traveler’ who along with many others, visited Earth and presented themselves as Gods to the human race. Kirk believed the life form that presented itself as Apollo, was an alien life form and that it chose Greek mythology for a human reference.”

Tello looked at the others to see if they would add more information.

—Anaar, XO

“And when Kirk and the Enterprise encountered him, he wanted to take a human woman for his wife. There was some… well… let’s call it ‘pushback’ on the matter, and Apollo died soon after, making his species extinct.” And then Daggum looked at the cliff face with ‘Ares’ emblazoned on it.

“Or did it?”

Hammor, Ops

“Considering I am one of the Beings I would think the rumours of our demise to be quite false” Kane said with a shrug of his massive shoulders, “Historically we have traversed the galaxy looking for worshippers to empower us with their worship… this time a round we thought we’d try something a little more subtle. We were honestly hoping to give all of you a stupendous time and the win win would be that we and the EDOC would be empowered in turn by your own joy and wonder. However, suspicion, fear and other negative emotions plays right into the hands of Ares and his band, hence my hesitancy to explain, the more negative towards me you feel the more empowered he’ll become. We thought Ares laid imprisoned and defeated, obviously we too were wrong”.

Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

Her mind was racing trying to tie all these details together. “So what danger specifically are we in with Ares?” Janna asked. She didn’t have the frame of reference, but she understood, at least on the surface, how emotions could affect others. Applying that on a much grander scale took a leap of logic, but she’d been on the Athena too long to bat an eye at that.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Hammor crossed his arms on his big green chest and said “Ok look. Yeah… we are and were suspicious of this place. Know why? Because we are trained to be suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true. So I might suggest going forward, if we live through this, that you maybe try the ‘honest and open’ approach next time.” and he looked around again when a thought came to him. Looking back at Kane, he said “Ok… so without being negative and suspicious… truly… how do we know that this isn’t part of the simulation? I mean, the Commander here asked for some bad guys as part of the ‘experience’. So? How do we know what is actually real and what is part of the fantasy?”

Hammor, Ops

As she listened to everything that was being said, Viyara’s eyes went wide. She really shouldn’t have come here. If what Kane said was true, she was the last person they’d want to have here. The tension ball in her pocket forgotten, she grabbed her right forearm with her left hand and vice versa. She was not only holding tightly onto her arms, but she was digging her nails into her skin. Deeply. So much so that she was feeling the sharp pain from it which in turn helped her to stay focused. So hopefully her presence and her emotions weren’t going to make things even worse for all of them.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Kane looked up at the mountainside and then back at them, “As far as danger is concerned we will die to protect you so the only fear you need have is that we perish. As far as knowing whether this is part of the simulation as you call it you have only my word and the fact that you cannot contact your ship, something we would not do. As to your comment of being upfront, Starfleet gave us permission to do this covertly for fear of what some other factions would try to do with this place if they found out it’s real secret.”

The Captain snorted slightly, “Kane is leaving out the best part, now that you know the score, if you put your trust in us we will be empowered and can therefore lend some of our harnessed power to you to help us drive this usurper out. How do you fancy the idea of being able to throw a few lightning bolts around and punch through a wall?”

Gamemaster Conspiracy Theorist

“I can punch through a wall already.” Hammor said through gritted teeth. This whole thing sounded less and less appealing, and he was not happy standing on a beach in full view of anyone who cared to look.

Oh she did not like this at all. With every word they said, Tello found her anger and disappointment growing. “Your secrecy has caused this situation and now you’re telling us that you can only help us if we trust you? What kind of logic is that?” Trying to contain her emotion, Anaar set her hands on her hips and turned away from the group to take a few steps away from them. She concentrated on her breathing…in and out, slowly…

“The Commander is right. And trust is earned… not given freely.” Hammor said.

In a minute, she turned back to the group and consciously lowered her arms to her sides. “Alright, Kane, tell us what you would have us do to get back to our ship and away from this place. The more details you give us, the faster we’ll be able to come to some kind of decision.”

—Anaar, XO

Hammor, Ops