<snip>

“That is very clever,” Dagen said. He could see some integration of this with the tech that the Federation had relating to transporter/replicator technology for toxic disposal. “Drones and micro-technology is not something that the Federation has often looked at.” Sure nanite technology for different operations, though actual drones – much different from launching probes or shuttles. Most mentality appeared to go in different directions, apart from some such as Chan. She would be intrigued here in this talk. “One people belonging to the Federation, the Vulcans, have an expression called IDIC .. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Meaning that everyone has something to contribute. Have these drones been employed in other areas, such as exploration?”
-Dagen, CE

“Unfortunately, not,” said Tong with a tone of regret. “Our communications technology has not developed enough. We are limited by the maximum velocity afforded by the electromagnetic spectrum. We have found a way to move faster than light, but our communications still is limited by the speed of light.”

GM

“Though with your faster than light travel you have surely been able to more easily explore and develop the other worlds in your system here,” Dagen said, hoping to encourage Tong. He looked around him. “Everything here is the result of what came before. Everything ahead will use this as a stepping stone.” He smiled and rapped one of the consoles with his knuckle - not close to any controls. “When I was young I joined Starfleet and entered into a world of that technology. After a number of years I took some time off. I later returned and assisted in the building of the ship that we came here in. Those few years held some significant improvements. It is slow to us because we’re in the thick of it, but so much is ahead for all of us. We engineers will never reach the end of what could be.”

Reia stepped away and took the comm.

=^=Shandy here sir. All is well.=^= she said uncertain if the tactical officer needed more information.

OOC: Apologies. I pulled a mid sim character switch. Reia is now our CIO, still played by me.
OOC: ohhh matrix style!
OOC2: Grrr! Lost my post as I didn’t know I was logged out :(

• Reia, CIO
  Dagen, CE

Thomas nodded at the technical explanation. He followed well enough, and the disposal system even made a sort of sense. Drop it all on a (as far as you know) useless rock, far away from anyone and anything it could damage.

He tried to think back to the Genny’s initial scans of the system to remember if the radioactivity of the small moon had shown up, and if there had been anything else of note about the small body.

COS

“Naturally,” said Yeeker carefully, “if we were part of your Federation, we would be able to receive help in improving our technology, would we not?”

GM

Here Dagen had to be careful. He was an engineer, not a diplomat, though he did know some things. “As a member of the Federation, or as it is in full, the United Federation of Planets, your world would enjoy the benefits of that union. There is a process to membership. ” He smiled. “Just like I am sure you are aware of political and bureaucratic affairs, nothing is immediate. The next step would be, I believe, sending diplomats to begin a more official dialogue.” Sheesh, he should have so read up on this before he came down. Working off memory from the Academy classes was not easy and Thor was not a great deal of help right now. What a time for the slug to be quiet!

“Trill, my world, took some time to get used to the idea that there were so many other peoples out in space. While we ‘took it well’ it was a stretch for everyone to wrap it around their minds and hearts to accept it. There are two different species on our world that is intelligent, so that helped us in our adapting. That takes time. We are people of science and engineering, you and I, and our minds take these changes differently than others. How are your people for ‘sudden news of space people arriving’?”
- Dagen, CE

Reia couldn’t help but smile slightly at that last remark. It was a good question no matter how it was posed.

• Reia, CIO

Yeeker answered, “Our people had always been aware of the possibility of beings from space when we ventured beyond out planet’s limits. Of course, there are the naysayers. However, considering the suddenness of the arrival, I believe we are doing rather well. The general populace is excited. There is, of course, fear and suspicion. Would our visitors attempt to take over our world? These are other similar questions have been asked, but generally our people are looking forward to the sharing that comes from such a meeting.” She sounded prepared, almost as if she knew the question would be asked.

GM

Thomas cocked his head slightly at the remark. It sounded like they had experienced a prior first contact, to know that cultural exchange was part of the procedure.

“So are we your first extra-terrestrial contacts, then?” he asked, hoping to clarify. And also, maybe, clear up one of the pre-departure theories the Genny’s senior staff had come up with for the planet’s rapid development relative to its industrial base.

COS

Dagen paused and was happy that Thomas had made that inquiry. Many worlds wouldn’t have thought that. Should he mention ‘others’ who are out there who are not as benign as the Federation? Granted, even the Federation has acted on its own self interests before. Still there were worse races out there who would seek to … serve themselves. He tried to think of the star charts and where the nearest ‘non benign’ race might be in relation to this system. The wonder that Dagen had was, when it came to ‘fear and suspicion’ .. how much of that was there? Usually it was more than the general government would like to admit. Best face forward and all that.
- Dagen

“Yes,” said Yeeker, “you are the first.” After a very short pause she continued, “We have the propulsion technology to send unmanned probes to seek out new civilisations but we do not have the communications technology to guide the probe and receive information. There is a star system near us that we sent an unmanned probe to a decade ago. It is three light years away. When it was about half a light year away from us, it stopped sending us information probably because it got drawn into a planetoid’s gravity. We spotted the planetoid but it was too late. The information took half a year to reach us and the velocity at which the probe was sending meant that it would be affected by the gravity a month after we received the information but it would take another half year to receive any information on a course change. It was very frustrating.”

GM

Dagen felt for Yeeker. “It is little different now, only on a different scale,” he replied. He was temped to say that they could pop him into a shuttle and they could scoot over there and see if they could find it. “Science never stands still, and curiosity will ever breed more ideas. You’re doing the right thing. Looking outward. Ever wanting to learn and to improve the lives of well, everyone.” He shrugged and looked around the plant. “Power goes out from here. What? A hundred years ago this would have been a dream. What will the next hundred see? I can’t wait to see what is to come.” He gestured out into space, upward. “And what is out there. There is still so much to learn. If your people have the same heart to this then you will go far.”

He looked up again. “Have you tried to get to that planetoid since? Your faster than light technology placed on a probe perhaps? It could go there and come back with sufficient programming.”
- Dagen

“You mean to let a probe go without any idea what it is getting itself into and just hope for the best?” Yeeker asked in amazement. “If it didn’t come back, we would not know why. True, we could keep building them and sending them there. There would a huge investment on those probes but that is besides the point. If there is a hostile forces at the planetoid and destroyed the probes we keep sending, would it then mean that we would eventually be telling them of our position and invite them to attack?”

GM

Aha. So there was some paranoia about hostiles out there, Dagen thought to himself. “Sir,” Dagen began, “even slow transmissions would come to you in time. Besides, you have telescopes and other ‘eyes’ out there looking. If you didn’t , you wouldn’t be concerned about other life out there - hostile or not. They would have broadcast radio or other transmissions that would have reached you by now, long ago as would yours to them. Nobody would be surprised. Much exploration is hurry up and wait - waiting for results. Earth and Trill for that matter in some early probes in the system waited 20 years for data from the farthest planets to come back.”

He tipped his head a little in curiosity. “If the planetoid, and other system for that matter, is that close, why have you not gone there on a manned expedition with your faster than light technology?” Sure, their newest experimental drives to break the lower warp barriers were ‘new’, but they did have warp capability now.
- Thor

Thomas nodded along. He was also curious as to how long it had been since they’d developed warp drive. They seemed to be a methodically-developing society, and their ships were already up to Warp 2. That had taken Earth decades, and the Vulcans nearly a century.

COS