Posted by Senior Chief Petty Officer Oscar Cameron Cascarrabias Demalia (Chief Engineer) in Unroth III Surface- Main Sim

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in Unroth III Surface- Main Sim

Posted by Lieutenant Alexis Bonner (Assistant Chief Medical Officer) in Unroth III Surface- Main Sim
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip
Dira looked around, the overwhelming sensations fro the crowd pressing against her mind. While she could block a great deal of it, she did not have the ability to block all of it, which meant she was drained faster. But her focus right now was on caring for those who might get pushed to the side, and to seek out those in distress that she could help. But as she moved through the settlement, Myqian exuded a calmness, knowing it could help even just a little.

Commander Myqian, XO

Mentally the masses were exhausted and scared, not that their faces would ever show it, any example of weakness would not be indicated by a Romulan after all. Generally though they were just tired. Tired of lines, tired of being hungry, physically exhausted, and in some cases longing for a home they would never see again. The natives of Unroth were only a little better, as they still had homes but even a few of them were mingled into the crowd. The increase in population lead to an increase in food demands which caused massive shortages. People were just tired.

Except for the children. Children always seemed to have an edge of curiosity to them, even if it was tempered with nervousness.

For his part, Oscar had been happy to be the mute curiosity of the group, although he couldn’t resist answering a few questions with snide comments. As the time progressed, he had discussions such as the following:

“Why are you wearing that?”
“See the green? Didn’t you know that Orion is contagious?”

And:

“Are you immunocompromised?”
“Well, I mean, if you consider not bathing regularly to be intrinsically compromising to the immune system, sure.”

And of course the old favorite for any away mission:

“Do we have some sort of disease that you haven’t told us about?”
“Nobody else is wearing isolation suits out here, so I’m pretty sure that I’m just paranoid.”

People behind those questioning individuals in line had chosen not to engage verbally with Oscar with anything more than an admission (or at least that was the word that Oscar found appropriate to describe it) of gratitude for his assistance.

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering

Most of these grouchy comments lead to raised eyebrows, side long looks, and huffs of indignation, but mostly people left him alone when they could.

After a moment though, the flamboyant producer, Golfink, appeared at Oscar’s side. “How much longer do we have to be here?” he whined at the engineer. “Aren’t the fed enough by now?” He looked around and frowned, “So sad what happened to them though. Really is tough luck.”

GM Wombat

Oscar sighed. The plan to leave the whole crew stranded in a shuttle craft at the Starbase had been so promising, especially with those enthusiastic crew members who saw Cascarrabias as some sort of savior ready and willing to help. But of course, Golfink had jumped in and told everybody that they already had warp-jump and warp-flight visuals from the actual USS Nightingale, so getting more of the Ogawa when they could just doctor existing footage was a waste of time. On the one hand, Oscar had to admire the laziness; on the other hand, Oscar hated that they were still stuck with people just trying to make good footage for the Federation at large, with no concern whether they were actually helping the Ogawa crew.

“We’re here to give out supplies, not count heads,” Oscar replied. “Or rather, everyone else is. I got wrangled into it because I walked out the wrong door. I’m guessing you were expecting something more exciting or motivational?”

Cascarrabias looked around at the people milling about.

“Either way, tough luck would be having a replicator system malfunction to only make hot bananas, no matter what you order,” Oscar remarked dryly, remembering a technical report a friend (one of the few he had) had sent him for a laugh. “What happened to these people is a catastrophe followed by total societal collapse due to a sudden power vacuum left by the annihilation of their central governing bodies and their central star system. That one Vulcan may have kept that supernova from doing any more damage, but it’s not a great outcome. I may not believe in any particular religion, but if not for the fact that stars go nova more frequently than we like to admit, I’d almost call it divine judgment - although whether by a benevolent or a malicious deity, I wouldn’t begin to say.”

Oscar realized what he had just said, and was glad that only Golfink was there at that moment, and that, as far as Oscar could tell, the producer didn’t have any recording devices at the ready.

Oscar Cascarrabias,
Engineering

The small man remained silent for a moment. Oscar could probably see the wheels spinning fast enough to create steam in the little man’s head before he answered. “Well considering no one was able to stop it, we are left with fate or luck. Tragic luck then.”

He glanced around some more, “Still… How much longer will we be? A month, a day? A solar year?”

GM Wombat

Dira approached as Golfink whined and appraised the man with a deep look. “As long as we need to be,” she said, all but daring him to counter her. “We are delivering supplies and giving aid as these people require it. You wanted something to show people Mister Golfink? Step back and look at what’s going on here. There’s an important story here beyond flashy dramatics and trick camera angles… if you choose to see it.”

Commander Myqian, XO

Dira could almost taste the annoyance that came off of the producer at the perceived mocking, but he said nothing to the XO beyond a muttered, “Altruism.”

He folded his arms and watched the masses with a mixture of pity and sympathy.

GM Wombat

Oscar suppressed a profanity, albeit it would have been directed at himself. If not for the fact that Golfink was annoying Cascarrabias and sounding stupid for complaining about being among a formerly interstellar people without much in the way of an extra-planetary support network, the man’s misanthropy (although this wouldn’t be the right word, given that these were Romulans, but the appropriate term escaped Oscar for the moment) would have made him a kindred spirit. Just the tone of disgust he expressed towards altruistic values made Oscar almost reconsider his impression of the camera crew. Almost.

“Mister Golfink, I caution you, if you truly dislike the current surroundings and activities, you may wish to go elsewhere,” Oscar said. “Otherwise, one of these Starfleet crew members in service gold might just enlist your aid in increasing the number of… ¿qué dijes?… the fed.”

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering

Myqian shot Cascarrabias a glance, not quite reproving but also a tiny warning. Though inwardly she was amused at Golfink’s posturing and at Oscar’s standing up for their mission. “Not altruism, compassion. Something the galaxy always needs more of. In an unforgiving existence, being a bit kinder wherever you go can never hurt,” she said as she surveyed the teams working.

Commander Myqian, XO

The little man opened his mouth to argue but looking around quickly closed it again.

Fuming he kicked at the ground, the corner of one eye twitching as the tried so hard to hold his tongue, having long ago realized that the crew had no interest in his “wisdom.” Taking a deep breath he signed, “I am going to go start salvaging your image on the ship… This will be a hard sell. Compassion. Please.”

With that he tapped his guest badge, “One to beam aboard.”

GM Wombat

Dira quirked a furrowed brow at Golfink.

=/\=Bonner to Myqian. Commander I need to speak with you at the hospital.=/\=

Bonner, AMO

=/\=On my way. Myqian out=/\=

Dira turned to Oscar. “Keep things going here and let me know if anything changes or Golfink returns with anything more than an observational attitude.” She sensed trouble brewing and she wasn’t about to let that man turn this into some sort of side show.”

With a nod to the engineer, she made her way over to the hospital.

Commander Myqian, XO

Oscar didn’t have time to reply that he wasn’t the one who had started “things going”, and that Security seemed to be fine doing their jobs before the XO walked off. He wasn’t the type to chase down somebody, so he stayed rooted in his place, not quite gobsmacked, but a little resentful. Why did anybody assume that he was the one in charge here just because he was dressed differently? At least the Security NE who had roped him into handing out supplies knew that he was just a noncom.

“I just had to come out of that door,” Oscar muttered to himself, then turned back to the lines.

His station’s supplies were depleted, so he went over to a station that still had supplies but seemed to have nobody actually handing them out. He readied himself, ready to once again deal with the questions of both the young and the elderly regarding his appearance.

Oscar Cascarrabias
Engineering

Laurali watched the others and then when the XO started moving toward the hospital, she fell in step with the first officer “Do we really need to have Golfink on board?”

Breeden (sec)