Posted by Gamemaster GM (Gamemaster) in Away Team 1 -Shuttle to Pallasia

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson (First Officer) in Away Team 1 -Shuttle to Pallasia

Posted by Ensign Reia Shandy (CIO) in Away Team 1 -Shuttle to Pallasia
Posted by… suppressed (19) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Magnus smiled at the man with the landing lights, he remembered reading about something similar in history class as a child, he decided that he wouldn’t mention it to the poor man that visual navigation was very much a thing of the past. Well mostly, viewports and windows on shuttles were still a thing despite being of almost no practical use. He stood up and turned around to face the crew “All right, Dömur and Herrar, let’s get one final look at this world” In his case first and final look he supposed.

When the door opened he stepped out first after giving the Security NE’s their final orders to close the shuttle and be prepared to leave at any sign of trouble. He took a deep breath of fresh(ish) air and looked around the alien landscape.

XO

What he saw was much like 21st century Earth. A military suited Pallasian was waiting for the team to exit the shuttle craft.

“Welcome to Pallas,” the man said with a bow. “I am Major Sandy. I am very pleased to meet you.”

GM

David followed behind the XO as the away team exited the shuttle. He silently observed their welcome party and looked around for any other surprises that might await them.

-Lt David Michaels, CSO

Reis slipped out of the shuttle behind David, glanced around, and settled in for introductions and whatever may come next.

• Reia, CIO

The man patiently waited for the whole away team to emerge from the shuttle.

GM

Tom stepped out of the shuttle and straightened his black jacket. Flicking some imaginary lint from his shoulder, he moved to stand near Magnus. He appeared relaxed and inattentive but was actually paying careful attention to the Pallasians body language and vocal stresses.

• Tom, IntSec

Thomas confirmed the XO’s orders with his security men, then exited the shuttle himself. He saw that Jarvis had gravitated to the XO, which he appreciated. The amazing vanishing act’s skills were best suited to the sort of information gathering they were here to do, and if push came to shove Thomas had no doubt he would make a very effective bodyguard, not that the XO really needed one.

For his own part, he moved to stand near their small Intel officer, giving a nod of acknowledgment in the general direction of the Pallasian and the XO.

COS

Magnus looked back at the team gathering behind him and smiled, it was a smile he’d worn more or less since his arrival just a few short days ago. “Pleasure Major” He said looking at the stranger with the same smile “Please lead the way” He resisted the urge to ask him to take them to his leader, mostly because it was unprofessional but also because he couldn’t be sure that no one else had attempted the quite common human attempt at humour. His hands came from behind his back and the group could see that he held a leather pouch roughly the size of a mid-length paperback novel.

OOC: After XO’s reply …

IC: “Please come this way,” Major Sandy said. They were brought into a building that was about 400 metres from where they landed. The team was brought to a large room where there were seats, like a huge living room. There were three three individuals there. One man in civilian attire which the team recognised as Mr Sora. There were two in uniform: the man was General Clogtho and a woman who the team had not met before.

GM

Magnus had not met any of the men but having read all the relevant logs and briefings he had a rough approximation of who the leading members of the group were “Afternoon, I am Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson” His slightly Scandinavian accent, although probably made no difference to the aliens, gave an unusually friendly feeling to a Natural Federation Standard speaker “First Officer of the USS Genesis” He waited to introduce his members for later.

XO

“Welcome Commander,” replied Mr. Sora. “To my right are Admiral Clogtho and Commodore Pipa. Admiral Clogtho is the commander of our fleet and Commodore Pipa is the Chief Operations Commander.” The two uniformed individuals bowed slightly in acknowledgment.

GM

‘Interesting,’ Thomas thought, *’That we decide we want/need more information on their government and they greet us with three members of the military.’

COS

Magnus gave each of the men a respectful half-bow “A pleasure, truly” He smiled at the two Military Officers “Generally there is a specific protocol when handling gifts between two new governments but I think we can write this off as an unofficial welcome to the galaxy at large” He said as he raised his hand showing the small leather pouch “It’s a little taste of Human art, some music and visual art and an introduction to Federation History from it’s founding over two-hundred years ago. I also put in the standard, the Federation Charter and our Constitution, I understand your government has shown interest and that should give you a good idea of how our Government works” Magnus said with his usual smile. He had used the information they had gathered and replicated a simple data storage device of Pallasian Design and imported the ‘Voyager Golden Record’ With the relevant information.

XO

Mr. Sora did not reach out his hands. “First, I thank you. However, I believe it would be more suitable if you would hand the gift to Mr. Neve, our president? He regrets that he is not able to greet you in person. We are here to escort you to him. I believe you would be able to understand the reasons for his not being with you when you meet him.”

“Shall we proceed?” asked General Clogtho. “We will take the underground to the President’s Office.”

GM

Magnus’ smile did not shrink as he pulled his hand back “You know I think you might just be right” He put the pouch under his left armpit indicated forward “I’m curious, why is the President’s office underground?” He asked with genuine curiosity.

XO

Reia followed the conversation closely. Her curiosity was piqued by the comments regarding the president.

• Reia, CIO

They were led to an underground railway station. There was a short train, a small driver car with two passenger cars. The door to the first car opened and the Pallasians showed the away team into it. After a four to five minute ride before the train stopped and they arrived at another station. The team were then led from the underground station up to the ground level where the windows showed a garden on one side and a forest on the other. There were guards at strategic points in the building. Then, they were led through a corridors with doors on both sides. After passing three doors, Mr Sora stopped and knocked. The door opened and Mr. Neve was standing in front of a desk with a gentle smile on his face.

“My apologies for not being there to welcome you. Please come in and take a seat.”

GM

Magnus gave his team an odd expression as they entered the room, a mixture of joy and paranoia, Turning to face the Pallasian leader his expression changed to his usual smile “No problem, Mr President, thank you for giving us your time” He said in his diplomat’s voice. He nodded to his team before taking a seat “I have a small, gift if you will” He said extending the leather pouch “A little welcome to galactic society”

XO

Thomas, for his part, had been keeping a count of all the guards they’d passed on their trip. It was a frankly concerning number, far more than he would feel comfortable fighting if push came to shove. Frankly, concerns about exposing their level of technology aside, he would recommend an immediate beamout in that case.

It did make sense, though, to have their leader so well guarded.

COS

Reia had taken careful count of guards and doors along the way. As she entered the office with the others she gave it a casual yet thorough scan before focusing her attention on the president and the safety of her other team members.

Again, she noticed her proximity to the COS. It wasn’t something that she had intentionally done but just seemed to be happening a lot.

• Reia, CIO

Neve took the gift and said, “Thank you.” Then he took out opened the pouch and looked inside. He looked up questioningly …

GM

Magnus chuckled “Right sorry, It’s a little taste of Human art, some music and visual art and an introduction to Federation History from its founding I also put in the standard, the Federation Charter and our Constitution, I thought you might be interested in an academic explanation of how our language works. The translation might be a little spotty, but generally, our computers do good work” He crossed his legs and put his hands on his thigh with as he explained, “Consider it a little ‘Welcome to Galactic society’ present.” Generally, he liked to research more about the gift-giving aspects of an alien culture before giving gifts but seeing as it was more of an introduction to the Federation and his own species he allowed himself the indulgence.

XO

Mr. Neve smiled. It was not a creepy kind of smile; just a simple smile that said he was happy. His face showed that he had had lots of stress recently and this was one of the few times that he was relaxed and contented.

“Thank you” he said. “We will definitely learn more about the galaxy and its ways … your ways.” He placed the folder on his desk behind him. Then he turned back and said, “How may we help you?”

GM

Magnus inclined his head “Thank you, sir” Magnus interlocked his fingers and relaxed his posture but retained enough rigidness to show respect “Well mostly we came to have our final discussions before moving on with our mission of exploration. Our Diplomatic Corps will be informed of this, our first Contact and they will send representatives if you wish them to. From them, your government can learn a great deal about Galactic society and decide what steps you wish to take. This time in a Civilization history is often both the slowest and the fasted growing, my species spent a long time before we started exploring the stars” Although this was his first meeting with this species he did understand the impatience around their lives and the discoveries.

He was also curious as to what he could expect in regards to his Science Officers warnings “As you probably guessed First Contact is an incredibly important event and although it is one of the primary missions there are protocols to follow” He smiled diplomatically “There is a limit to what we are allowed to share with you, both information and especially technology, those are the hurdles that our Envoys are equipped to answer.”

XO

The Pallasian leader paused for a moment before replying. “I am naturally disappointed with what you have said. However, I am also aware of the dangers of rushing into a new technology. My people’s history bear witness to that as well. We had been reckless in the implementation of new technology and we are faced with different groups of people wanting different things. I am sure, if you had paid attention to the things that had happened when your first group came to visit us, that there are those who oppose reaching out into the unknown, there are those who feel that they have been short changed in our rush to embrace new technologies are are fighting to get more from the little we are trying to conserve. Then, there are those who would want to put those two groups aside and embrace as much new things as possible to move my people to what they think is the future. The majority of my people are from the last group. I stand in the small minority that does not belong to any of the above groups. Whilst I do share the ideals of these groups, I believe in advancing without sacrificing one group or the other. The group I belong to would rather take the middle ground, being careful not to retard the natural growth of my people but at the same time trying to keep as many people as safe as possible. It is a tough balancing act. I am sure, that with your more advanced technology, you would have noticed that we had had not much success in squashing the rebels among us. One would think that we would have discovered their hideouts by now. My group sees that the rebels pose as a balance to the extreme of seeking out advances without caring about the possible devastating effects of these advances and those who would prefer to isolate my people totally from these effects. Many might see us as being manipulative, but I see my role as trying to minimize the devastating effects and at the same time giving Pallas a chance to move forward in growth.”

OOC: Just to clarify, what Neve is doing is similar to what the Second Foundation was trying to do in Asimov’s Foundation Series.

GM

‘Many might see you as being manipulative because you bloody well are‘ Thomas thought, body tensing at the President’s declared disappointment. As he went on to explain his position, he relaxed only slightly. Neve was definitely a manager, and like a lot of managers was substituting his personal opinion for what would actually be best for his people, and restricting personal freedom in the process.

COS

For her part, Reia thought he used far too many words to convey something that would be said better concisely. The slight tensing of the COS didn’t go unnoticed by her but she didn’t react and continued observing closely.

• Reia, CIO

If Magnus was either surprised or angered at the Presidents words he did not show it physically, he just kept his friendly smile and listened intensely “That is the price of advancement, people with different ideas come out of the woodworks each with their own ideal way to deal with the situation.” He said trying to sound as diplomatic and neutral as he could “I understand that during my peoples first visits large crowds had questions, questions of a more nervous nature. Something to be expected for sure but I wanted to offer some answers if it would help calm the populace made frightened by the arrival of alien strangers such as us, if you believe it will help your people.”

XO

“Every five years, we hold an election. I present my ticket as one who embraces progress. There are others who also propose progress. The vote for progress is overwhelming. Those who ride on the ticket of conservation usually gets the least votes. Two years ago, I was elected to office. I cannot be re-elected. I do not want to be the cause of social upheaval for my successor to deal with,” said Mr. Neve. “That is why I agreed to let the previous group of officers from your ship to visit the people. I do not want to lie to the people who elected me.”

“As I recall,” said Admiral Clogtho, “the general populace were receptive to you. It was when the one person who was against you created a scene that the populace started to panic. The majority of our people are not xenophobic. They may be fearful because you are strangers, but they do not hate you or desire that you leave.”

A check with the sensor data regarding that visit would show that the Admiral was not lying. The people looked curious and nervous at the same time but definitely did not display signs of xenophobia. At the same time, one of the Pallasian security officers was killed in the process of protecting one of the away team.

GM

“There are always dissenters in any group. Usually dedicated observation can find them before they get to do too much damage.” Tom said from behind Magnus’ left shoulder.

Tom still looked unfocused, looking around the room like he was seeing some nuanced architectural features that amazed him. In his mind, however, he was running scenarios and calculations to predict their best courses of action should anything go wrong.

• Tom, IntSec