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Main Sim - Bridge - Setting Out

Posted Sept. 24, 2020, 9:41 a.m. by Gamemaster CockRoach (Gamemaster) (Robert Archer)

[snip]

Inola looked up suddenly, hearing a slight change in the background noise of the universe. She tried to narrow it down, and once she could hear it, she realized what it was. “Captain, they’re sending out a distress call!”

So, it has become a rescue mission, thought Glen, and little chance of us observing them before contact now, as we will need to act urgently.

“When we reply to them, they are going to freak out!” replied Glen. “It is obvious they have no idea about intelligent life beyond their own world. We are going to have to rescue them and there are at least 28 of them. I can’t have them free to walk all over the ship, so we need to prepare some kind of receiving space for them. And quick! I’m open to suggestions? it needs to make them feel comfortable and at home, and not anxious. One of the Cargo Bays repurposed, maybe? I wish we knew more about them. We can’t even replicate furniture because we don’t know their size.”

“Standby with the reply, Inola,” Glen told her. “I need to get the tone of this right. Open to suggestions on that too!”

“The cargo bays are the best fit. I would suggest perhaps primary hold 4 if there are any security precautions.” He was no tactical expert but it seemed like the best place “My environmental readings show temperatures slightly above Human standard, I can give you a more detailed anthropological estimate after first contact, I suggest that we clear the bay and prepare rudimentary seating arrangements and go from there.”

Another option once they got in contact could be that the damage whatever was done was not making the ship a total loss, it could be in fact they might be able to repair the ship’s drive system assuming the alien Captain was agreeable and proper communication could be established.

“I want to see the look on their faces when our repair team beams over to their ship,” Hal said. “Still, they do have warp. And this is probably a first contact scenario.”

Inola looked at the rest of the Bridge. “If they aren’t in immediate danger, we should just hail them. Ease them into it slowly, instead of freaking them out with people randomly appearing on their ship.” She looked at Hal with that last sentence.

“I really don’t want to spook them with the hail, but a hail in advance of them seeing us would probably be better than us just appearing in front of them,” said Glen. “And obviously, we should attempt to repair their ship first. Removing them would be a last resort, it is just that these readings show a very poorly constructed vessel. They were taking a risk even getting aboard her, never mind exploring other systems. All I want to do is to be prepared for every eventuality. So, if needs be, we will accommodate them in Primary Hold 4 with an environment to suit and maybe allow them to bring possessions so they feel at home. Let’s have someone get that ready.”

“Okay, let’s hail them with an offer to repair their ship”, Glen said. “But we must give them a choice so they feel like they are in control of the situation. Luckily, it doesn’t look like they have any ship’s weapons they can turn on us.”

“Inola, make to them, ‘This is Captain John T Glen of the United Federation of Planets starship Merrimack. We have received your distress call and are here to help. How may we be of assistance?‘ Okay?” said Glen.

Inola nodded and transmitted his message. “Waiting on a reply captain.”

Hal said, “And it seems to me that the point of first contact, is to prevent any potential threat of them exploring and starting up an interstellar conflict with their neighbors.”

Hal’s comment struck a cord with John. He still blamed himself for the world they had abandoned to blow itself up. Hal wasn’t to know, as it happened between his two deployments on the Merrimack. Not that Glen could have done anything differently. By rights, the world was pre-Warp technology and subject to General Order number one, the Prime Directive, and they had broken that by even going to the surface. It still didn’t sit well with Glen and it probably never would. Just how can the Federation sit by and watch millions annihilate themselves in a pointless nuclear war, and do nothing! To do nothing at all, yet pretend that it is doing the righteous thing. However, it couldn’t be made any clearer in the regulations. Suborder 25, paragraph 9 states that Starfleet officers are prohibited from directly intervening in the natural outcome of any internally motivated political or military conflict, even if non-intervention would result in the extinction of an entire species or the end of all life on a planet or star system. Of course, the pen-pushing Commodore who wrote that had never had to watch it happen himself.

“Captain.” Kord said from just over Glen’s right shoulder, “If possible, we should use shuttles. Keep their exposure to our advanced technological aspects as limited as possible. Like the mess crew bringing in carts and trays of food rather than giving them access to replicators and such. Keep it as close to their technology level as possible whenever possible so to speak.”

“If they come aboard? I agree!” replied the Captain. “Let’s see if we can fix their ship up first. But yes, we play down our level of technology, and don’t let them know how many crew we really have.”

-Glen, CO

While waiting upon the reply, Glen could only wonder at the consternation and anxiety that their message would now be causing on the alien ship. Even though the aliens appeared to be on a voyage of discovery themselves, if their own history mirrored human human history at all, then first contact between different cultures was wrought with problems. The disruptive nature of first contact often lead to dire consequences for the less technological society, including armed conflict and the introduction of disease. When you add the possibility within their society of xenophobia, culture wars and cargo cults, there was much to fear from this meeting that may or may not have been thought through yet. So, while they hoped for a quick reply to their hail, they had to given them some space. It wasn’t something they could force by sending out a repeat, and they would just have to wait.

-Glen, CO

William did not turn to watch the Captain work but did focus his hearing and a part of his attention to the conversation, the rest of his mind was focused on watching the sensor data.

CSO

OOC: Sorry for the delay was sicker then I thought!

A reply finally came through on audio. The UT was still processing through the language so the message was fragmented =/\= By the Great Beyond! This is unknown words Unknown Word of the tri-party Council ship Unknown word we are in distress and need unknown word unknown word you can provide. To repair our unknown word unknown word..=/\= the female like voice said.

GM CockRoach


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