Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim Away Team to Base 5

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Tenzing Trainor (Chief Operations Officer) in Main Sim Away Team to Base 5

Posted by Gamemaster Deus Ex Machina (GM) in Main Sim Away Team to Base 5
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
(Snip)
Tenzing momentarily stepped up within earshot of the Captain. “Given this may be your last supper, would you like to sit at the middle, Captain?” The Operations Chief laughed, before taking stepping back again. He felt the mood in the room beginning to lighten up, though it would go without saying both sides still had their guard up. Tenzing knew he was supposed to be more mature about the situation, but he couldn’t help but make jokes. He was starting to think Q had given him a 19 year old brain as well, though he could confirm that part later when they were back aboard the Atlantis.

Trainor
Ops

“Perhaps Commander we can get this distasteful business behind us.” Reese said after a sip of his wine. “I’ve spoken to Captain Bordeaux has been very remorseful for the misunderstand earlier.” His tone was soothing, but it only seemed to annoy Hammond.

“Mmmhmm,” Hammond started. He picked up a box, it seemed unremarkable. “Your beam weapon.” He opened in, and there it was… one Federation phaser. It actually looked to be in perfect condition. Perhaps too perfect, it was clean and shined… certainly not something that had been hidden away. “We found it several hours after you departed.” He closed the box and handed it to her. It was now fully in her possession.

Kelly opened the box and glanced at the phaser before closing the lid. For all the polite social manners, something felt off. “Thank you,” she said taking a drink of her wine.

“Its something we want to keep.” He looked at her. “If you give it to us, I’ll consider this whole business closed.”

GM

“Why is the phaser so important to you?” Trainor asked out of curiosity. Tenzing was aware that the Captain knew they wouldn’t be able to willingly hand weapons, though he wouldn’t put it past her to do so. The Ops Officer knew there was something more to what was going on, if they were willing to give the CO a pass. Hopefully the Captain would be able to see that too.

Trainor

Kelly waited to see if they would answer Tenzig’s question because it was on her mind also. There was no need to ask the same question twice just in different words.

Kelly Bordeaux

“Hmmph, Phaser, that makes sense. The technology, it seems to be some sort of phased laser projection system. Its about 4 times as powerful as our hand weapons. The battery contains about 20 times the energy of a like sized battery. With weapon setting diverse and exceedingly fine.” He tilted his head, “Well not exactly, the power extraction rate is much more efficient leading to ‘more’ effective power without more actual storage.” The answer demonstrated that they had at least run some sort of tests on the device.

Cara was interested in the answer but had a different pov to share with Bordeaux. She leaned over to speak quietly for only the Captain’s ears. “It is with notin’ Captain they are asking for one phaser that they have already had plenty of time to study and reverse engineer to an extent, however they are asking for it in trade or giving it back for a different alternative.” Yes, Star Fleet regulations said they wouldn’t trade in weapons or weapon technology, but Base 5 already had it and they could just keep it as evidence if they had wanted to.

O’Farrell

The rest of the group stood silently, some sipping their drinks at random times. The adults were talking and they didn’t want to get into the way.

GM

Kelly gave Cara a slightly nod indicating she agreed with her counselor. Looking back at Rose and Hammond, Kelly took a casual sip of her drink. “So you attempted to reverse engineer our weapon but can’t quite figure out how to get it working. It is what I would have done. The problem is,” she set the cup down still appearing relaxed, “you only have one which is pretty much worthless. My question is why are you admitting this? Why bring it up at all? You could have kept it and denied having it if we asked so why tell us you have it but need it back?”

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

“Its not worthless, Captain,” Hammond started. “We did examine it and test it.” He shook his head in agreement. “I’d be a fool to not do so. The weapon has advances that our tech boys would love to research and perhaps include some of its designs in the next generation of ours. That’s what my chain of command would like me to do. But its not our property - had you not returned I certainly would have obeyed my orders. But you did return and I’m not a thief or a liar.” So far Hammond was the only one who had not drank from his glass.

Hammond
GM

Tenzing listened patiently as he slid his finger slowly around the brim of glass, making a low but audible sound. It appeared that Q had given him his younger self’s pickiness towards food and drink, as Trainor didn’t seem fond of trying whatever liquid was inside the glass. The Operations Officer continued to think as he continued to guide his finger over the course of the brim. He was able to sense that Hammond really wanted the phaser, and would have gone as far as to acquit the Captain in whatever earlier shenanigans were done, but Trainor was curious to see how far Hammond would go if the Captain said no.

Trainor
Ops

“I appreciate that,” Kelly said. “I hope then you can appreciate the conundrum I am in right now. The Federation, who is the governmental body I represent, has a strict policy of not trading arms with non-Federation members. We are free however to trade supplies such as medical tools, communications equipment, or things?” Kelly waited to see what they were going to up the ante with.

Captain Kelly Bordeaux

OOC: Fixing a split. ~ Kate

IC

Cara hadn’t touched her drink either. She was, like the officers along the edge, here as advisors to the captain not part of the actual goings on. The fact Hammond hadn’t touched his drink told her this situation was not nearly as relaxed and casual and welcoming as it would appear. And in a very very dark part of her mind she wondered if the drink was laced. The way Hammond was watching them she had to wonder as well if the request was some sort of test as well.

O’Farrell

“Then, I guess the… phaser is off the table.” He glanced at Commander Rose. “Then direct cost and damages of your excursion was around 125,000 credits. The citizens affected want to sue, but I’ll squash that, but award them about 10,000 each for a total of 50K. It is standard that another 20% is charged for punitive damages. Bringing your total to about 200,000 credits. What do you have worth that amount?” He questioned.

That was a hefty sum to come up with on the fly. Even if Kelly promised IOU’s to everyone on the ship for all the gold-pressed Latinum they had it might not even be enough. It was then she had a spark of genius or insanity. Okay time to Robin Hood or more appropriately Jack Sparrow this, Kelly thought as her expression remained neutral. The currency was not as large as a deal if they had been back in the Federation. She would just send it in as a supply request which she had done in the past. The jokes of the Federation not being Kelly’s Savings and Loan she could stomach however the problem was she didn’t have access to Edith in dispersing right now. That meant they were solidly in plan B.

Since the Atlantis appeared to be a big boy on the playing field here behind the Lorn and since anonymity could be one’s best friend at times, Kelly was going to run with that. Rose and Hammon had no idea what the Atlantis used for currency so Kelly would just make it up. Gold was a rare and valuable element in their corner of the universe. It could stand to reason that since it was a rare element found in nature back home it might hold the same value here or at least pass as a form of currency. The question was what was it worth. If gold was not a commodity then Kelly would have to cough up a lot more. If it was extremely valuable, they suddenly the crew of the Altantis was going to look like one of those OMAP celebrities and make it rain.

“If you’d like I can send Commander Rose to your ship to do an inventory and figure out what things of value you have. Or you can propose something.”

GM

“That won’t be necessary. The currency is not a problem but I do have a suggestion,” she clasped her hands together on the table and kept her focus directly on the two people in front of her. “We will provide $50,000 in currency. On top of that we will provide a crate of medical supplies and I am not talking bandages. It will be equipt with medical scanners, osteo-regenerators, and dermal regenerators. I am not sure where your medical technology resides but I promise if you like the phasers your medical staff will love them. Not to mention the ability to treat people on the spot and have them up and ready for action in minutes rather than weeks or days.” Kelly knew the civilian advantages to this but also the military application. If your troops were down, they could not fight. Of course she would not volunteer that application but she was also talking to two other officers that were thinking the same lines if they did not have the medical capabilities already for that.

Hammond raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.” He quickly seemed to understand it had more to do with weaponry as opposed to technology in general. His command team wouldn’t love the fact that he gave away a phaser that he could have merely forgotten to tell them they had, but if he could return with a medical bounty.. that likely would silence any complaints. “Continue.”

“I am also offering this,” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small device that would fit around her wrist. Tapping a button, the EMH popped out instantly producing the patented line what is the nature of your medical emergency. This was a device that Drayke had been working on and only in the trial stage. The device could not do much more than diagnose the problem on her wrist but there was no way she could have easily lugged in the components for a fully working EMH. Nash and Evrilla could work out how to get the EMH portable for Rose and Hammonds sick bays. “We call it the EMH or emergency medical hologram. It is a fully operational doctor that you can bring on line in times of crisis. We use them in triage situations mostly to diagnose and separate wounded so that the doctors know where to concentrate their efforts on the fastest.”

“Your holographic technology is impressive.” It seemed to be a fully integrated computer and hologram system. The Lorn didn’t even have holograms this sophisticated. Their computer tech was superior.

“And as a gift to you and Rose for your generosity,” Kelly nodded to Hammond and the woman, “I wish to provide you with a personal token of my appreciation. It is called a replicator. It is able to synthesize organic items on command. Food, wine, and the like according to your personal palates. Just a thank you for your help. Now if you don’t mind I would like a moment to confer with my fellow officers.” Standing up Kelly did not wait to be granted permission but signaled Cara, Tenzig, and Nash to the back of the room. They had heard everything she promised and Kelly was interested in their comments and ready to give the pep talk of we got this the second someone uttered the words, we can’t do this.

Kelly Bordeaux

“Of course,” Hammond glanced at Rose, he had a pretty good poker face, but it was clear that this was a better deal than he expected. It wasn’t quite a phaser but the net gain was probably much higher in terms of societies gain.

GM

Tenzing was beginning to question who the good guys were. “Captain, we probably should have started with offering something small like self-sealing stem bolts.” Trainor knew enough about cards not to show his hand until everything was on the table. Nevertheless, the CO gave the offer and now it was up to them to follow through.

Trainor
Ops

“True but I hate haggling. Okay so that leaves us with the currency problem. i need you guys to get out there and find some cash. Paper currency is easiest to replicate but if it is metal that is doable. Just make sure it’s more than the lowest form if currency. I want to pay the bill not look like Puff Caddy in his latest OMAP video making it rain. How many science tricorders can you spare from the science department,” Kelly looked around. “I am looking for the answer if ten,” she filled in making sure Tenzig had the right response. “We can get Nash here to program them for medical purposes.”

“You wanna stay or go with exploring woth Tenzig,” she asked Cara

Kelly Bordeaux

“Captain, it seems ta me we shouldna go wanderin’ round again. That got us in this mess ta begin with. Why not just ask ta see a sample of their currency to scan. Tell them we want to make sure our currency is of equal value. Then we go back ta the ship and get it. No need ta go snoopin’ round and get ourselves inta trouble again.” Letting her go exploring was a disaster waiting to happen anyway. Cara would get lost and then there would be trouble - no thank you.

O’Farrell