- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Tholians are unaligned.
To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)
- Thread starter OneirosTheWriter
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- star trek exploration fully automated luxury gay space communism top level canon (canon) #hashtagcontent all-encompassing space amoeba cardassian boy bands cardassian magical girls darkest bureaucracy debate makes the qm cackle like palpatine hoh is an empire quest it has to be foreign infiltrators more ships ship happens singers delenda est starfleet this is not an empire quest ur waifu is collective?
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
No, no, no, you're thinking too small! We must move the spoonheads somewhere else! Preferably the Gamma or Delta Quadrant.
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
Thinking about it, I suppose you could have a [N/A] tag that blocked affiliateship. The only reason I didn't mention it is all the ones like that we've seen have been because of another major power. But there's no rule saying that has to be the case. If the thread/Council really made it clear they had no interest in affiliating the Gorn, Oneiros could probably throw a [N/A] Neutral Foreign Policy tag on them that would block it. I doubt you could get the thread to agree to that personally, so it'd be up to the Council.
We don't have any contact with the Tholians though. The diplomacy system is for powers we can interact with. People who are completely isolationist or simply too far away to conduct diplomacy aren't counted. But the Gorn are neither of these.
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Yes. I think whether we can help minor polities under threat from major powers is a question of tempo and timing. We would have increased tension by acting quickly, but not in a way that would result in warfare.
We made first contact with the Chrystovians in 2318.Q4. This directly after What Is Best In Life, where we shattered a third of the Cardassian fleet, but before the the Treaty of Gabriel, and also after the Cardassians conquered the Kohbeerians.
At the time, we looked at the map, and commiserated that the Chrystovians were too far away, that intervening might cause hostilities with the Cardassians to ramp up, that we might go to Quadrant War I, and so on. The same thing we're doing now, because those factors haven't changed.
It's now five years later and we've heard the Cardassians are preparing to invade within the next year or two. Or to put it another way, the Cardassians weren't ready to invade five years ago, and if it took them six to seven years to get ready it's not likely that they could have done so in, say, two years if we had forced the issue.
I think a major part of the problem is that we immediately go for avoiding the problem because it looks difficult, then when things are imminent start to try to figure out what to do. Many times it comes up that a minor power might have a problem, we put it off. The times we actually go a do something right away - the Gorn, the HoH border - we usually come out on top. Another thing we can learn here is to ask SFI what kind of timeframe we have, which I think we've only ever done completely by accident. The faster we know what our timeframe is, the better informed we will be in acting in time and in the right manner.
Next time we learn about such a situation, there can't be any delay in at least investigating it, and if any actions are obvious or the timeframe is clear, the faster action is taken the better the outcome will be. The situations we're facing right now - the Hishmeri, the Gorn, the Ittick-Ka, the Chrystovians, are likely in their terminal stages. We're lucky we're working on some of them, but as they progress we lose the opportunity to influence them favorably.
Of course, doing nothing is fine, as long as we're okay with the problem continuing to its natural conclusion. And I've seen some people say as much. But there has never been some factor that pops up without our action and prompts a situation to change in our favor. If you see "the Gorn want to invade the Ittick-Ka" or "oh, the Hishmeri are in pursuit of the Imelak", then nothing is going to change about that now without direct action, and again, those items will go along to their natural conclusion.
It's not about what we can do now. It's about what we choose to do after we're delivered information, in the single year we get to complete a cycle of intel and deployment. For example, in 2322.Q3 the USS Lakota encountered a Cardassian Jaldun attempting to impress the Ur'razzi, so we know for 100% sure that the Cardassians are attempting to bring the Ur'razzi on-side back in 2322. I like that we plan on starting that task force in 2324.Q1, and I understand why we didn't start it last year, but we're now a year behind here and that's going to affect things. Let it go another year and our ability to affect things will slowly slip away. I've seen several people say that the Ur'razzi aren't important, and I cannot oppose that idea more strongly. In an ideal world our OODA loop on diplomatic thornbushes should be one year and no more. Two years is iffy. Three years or longer is stupid.
Basically, my thought is that every time we look at a situation, we need to act immediately rather than later. We should be spending several discretionary intelligence reports to become informed about known situations. There should be no such thing as "later" either for assigning problem-solvers or for obtaining intelligence.
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's an example for an in-game mechanism that prevent affiliation. At least one exists, as does NA tags, or blocking tags (At War).
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
Yes, but unless we plan to start pretending the Gorn don't exist, it's not a useful example. And we would also have no way to prevent Cardassian influence in that case. The N/A tag seems more likely.
Just caught back up and just in time for the Starkin to join the Federation
. Now that the war with the OSA, Laio, and Licori is winding down I believe it would be prudent to focus on the southern border. Work on locking down the Ashidi and Trill in order to cut off the Lecare and possibly open up option for them. The Gorn Task Force may also need to be expanded in order to combat further Cardassian influence.
. Now that the war with the OSA, Laio, and Licori is winding down I believe it would be prudent to focus on the southern border. Work on locking down the Ashidi and Trill in order to cut off the Lecare and possibly open up option for them. The Gorn Task Force may also need to be expanded in order to combat further Cardassian influence.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Karok Ves-Arrat, Gaeni High Energy Subspace Physics Researcher:
"Yes! Exactly! My theories of spatial co-location imply this is in fact possible with a large enough directed subspace energy application!"
[waves PADD around displaying schematics of a modified Argus Array surrounded by enormous warp cores]
"Where both diplomacy and military force are insufficient, Science! shall provide the answer. Give me a large enough dish and a source to power it, and I'll move your system for you."
"Hmm. Intriguing. Unfortunately, that's likely beyond the limits of current engineering, to construct a sufficiently large dish. And compensating for the displaced mass-energy balance in the closest subspace layers without unwanted feedback or nadion leakage would be tricky... However, if we assume..." [maths happens]
"...into intergalactic space, perhaps..."
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Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
I'd rather follow the advice of Patrick Stewart, not Patrick Star.
Alastor Mobius Toth
***** ***
- Location
- Neon Ghetto
I feel like the entire issue with Christovians is largely down to our desire to do everything, and SV's almost compulsory desire to put out every single fire.
We could have perhaps interfered earlier. But should we have? The cruel and unfortunate truth is that we work with limited number of resources (namely ships), and often contradictory priorities. Universe isn't fair, and it's impossible to get everything that you want. Remember back when GBZ Free-for-All was a thing, and it was rapidly becoming an assignment black hole just as we found the Harmony? Having to juggle HoH, Hyarant, Hishmeri and Cardassians at the same time?
Well, I do
Frankly yes, we could have perhaps forced Cardassians off the Chrystovians. But were we willing to pay the price for it? Because I'm almost certain our flank against HoH would take a big hit. Would we have been able to pry the Dawiar loose off the Pact? Because those ships would have to come from somewhere. The situation actually isn't all that different now: We still have HoH as an issue, there's an actual supreme clusterfuck between Laio, OSA and Licori, the Breen-Romulan War, the Urrazzi, the Gorn and Ittick-ka at the least.
Chrystovians are screwed. Waking up now and saying "But wait, shouldn't we do something?" after years of answering that question with "actually no" may perhaps be soothing to our sense of morals, but that kind of schizophrenic policymaking rarely brings results. That ship has sailed. We can beat ourselves over it if we want to, but frankly, I'd rather not waste our resources over it. There are more pressing issues, such as, I dunno, resolving the OSA manner in a sustainable manner, holding back HoH, or preventing Cardassian encirclement via Gorn or Udrazzi.
We could have perhaps interfered earlier. But should we have? The cruel and unfortunate truth is that we work with limited number of resources (namely ships), and often contradictory priorities. Universe isn't fair, and it's impossible to get everything that you want. Remember back when GBZ Free-for-All was a thing, and it was rapidly becoming an assignment black hole just as we found the Harmony? Having to juggle HoH, Hyarant, Hishmeri and Cardassians at the same time?
Well, I do
Frankly yes, we could have perhaps forced Cardassians off the Chrystovians. But were we willing to pay the price for it? Because I'm almost certain our flank against HoH would take a big hit. Would we have been able to pry the Dawiar loose off the Pact? Because those ships would have to come from somewhere. The situation actually isn't all that different now: We still have HoH as an issue, there's an actual supreme clusterfuck between Laio, OSA and Licori, the Breen-Romulan War, the Urrazzi, the Gorn and Ittick-ka at the least.
Chrystovians are screwed. Waking up now and saying "But wait, shouldn't we do something?" after years of answering that question with "actually no" may perhaps be soothing to our sense of morals, but that kind of schizophrenic policymaking rarely brings results. That ship has sailed. We can beat ourselves over it if we want to, but frankly, I'd rather not waste our resources over it. There are more pressing issues, such as, I dunno, resolving the OSA manner in a sustainable manner, holding back HoH, or preventing Cardassian encirclement via Gorn or Udrazzi.
Interesting to compare the Chrystovians to the Trill, who despite their isolationist tendencies didn't hesitate to scream for help the minute they felt threatened.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Tholians aren't exactly a minor.
They're peerish plus completely immune to occupation because lol at occupying a Venus type planet.
Minimum.
Some secondary canon indicates they'd chew up and spit out the Cardassians because the Cardassians completely lack the ability to hit most of Tholian space.
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- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Do you want extragalactic death rays hitting civilizations in other galaxies? 'Cuz that how you get
There's a factor there -- Trill had relations with the Qloathi for some time before that, so channels already existed. It was the STO who actually put the plan forward to CinC Starfleet.
- Location
- Aotearoa
Now you *mention* it, I do.
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- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Well, what could we have done at that time, and how would it have helped? We could have done a couple of diplomatic pushes. Once we had the task force mechanic, we could have used strength that OTL went to existing task forces, starting in 2320 after the Eternal Empress crisis wound down.
The main obstacles that existed to our acting on that immediately:
-The Imelak, who we encountered in August 2318, around or before the time we met the Chrystovians.
-The Eternal Empress crisis, which ran through much of 2319 and effectively prevented us from organizing much of a force to do anything for the Chrystovians right away.
-The lack of the Task Force mechanic until after the Eternal Empress crisis, thus preventing us from really doing anything until 2320 at the earliest.
-The need to shore up a perimeter with the Harmony of Horizon, a border we could reasonably consider more urgent as it contained more disputed territory and more individual species.
So, given what was going on at those times and the demands it placed on our resources, what actions should we have taken, and to what extent is it likely that they would have helped? There really is no guarantee that we'll be able to avert every bad thing that comes to our attention, after all. And when we tried to avert the occupation of Bajor by befriending the Bajorans, all we did is get the Cardassians to move early while they still felt like they had the upper hand in that region locally even if they lacked it globally.
Well, what would "forcing the issue" have entailed? We didn't have a task force mechanic at that time. We could have made a few diplomatic pushes; what would they have achieved? Once we had a task force we could have sent one, but even a large task force would need a year or two to chew through the tags even if the Cardassians weren't opposing it. And that brings us up to 2321-22, by which point it's quite plausible the Cardassians COULD move up their invasion timeline to forestall us.
To be fair those are good ideas.
We do; the problem is that there are a lot of known situations and only six slots.
It'd help if we were getting a free 'trickle' of intel on the overall, general activities of the great powers we have dedicated research teams working on, instead of having to repetitively vote for shipbuilding and diplomatic posture reports for the eighth time.[/I]
- Location
- Aotearoa
Seriously, if nothing else, this. I never want to have to vote on whether we ask for yet another ISC Diplomatic Posture Report, not while we have extensive diplomatic ties and a strong positive working relationship with them.
Drop SFI leads, let us pick and choose which to follow up on. In the meantime, the extensive Major Power desks keep things more-or-less up-to-date-and-accurate, depending on the usual.
If Commander, Starfleet asks 'how many shipyards do the Klingons have' the answer should be 'our latest estimate is between ABC-XYZ, and we're about this confident' and not 'Give us a few months to draw up a report'. Maybe even drop hints like 'There could be more- we're really not sure, given this and that change, and the emphasis Starfleet has placed on HoH and Pact intel recently'
Maybe we get a certain number of 'Intelligence Points' to represent allocation of resources and assets, and allocate them between regular Major Power monitoring. Then have certain leads that can be followed up on in specific reports.
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- Location
- Illinois
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Especially not when our "SFI" ISC reports seem to be, at this point, written by ISC officials and then handed to us.
As it predated the tag system (2320.Q1), we should have pushed them in 2319.Q2 hoping for a FDS mini-report, and ordered an intelligence report about Cardassian intent towards the Chrystovians in 2319.Q2. Those were the reasonable options to take immediately. I'm not really criticizing us for not taking them, I'm saying with the benefit of hindsight we should take options like this in the future.
Follow that up with a task force once they're available in 2321, and do so by buying more member ships than the original 8 points, something we did anyway in the later TF votes because we realized we needed far more member ships than we had originally bought. The 2321 Snakepit was not short on pp by any means. Again, I'm not criticizing our choices back then, I'm saying that in the future we will always need more influence faster and we should be willing to spend like crazy for it.
Bajor is in fact a major part of my evidence here. We skipped an entire Snakepit where we knew the Cardassians were in circular firing squad and waited a whole year to move on Bajor. That's exactly what I mean by saying we have a one-year window to immediately take action on something. We can't wring our hands when opportunity comes up. I was as much at fault as anyone else.
Then we should vote for less shipbuilding and diplomatic posture. As the guy who tracks our intelligence and tries to do predictive fleet strengths (I'll boast that when I can do this it's been proven fairly reliable), shipbuilding is a report I'd want every single year or not at all, it's pretty inconsistent as a 1 in 3.
I mean, I wouldn't be kicking up a fuss if I didn't think we needed to change how we operate. Going "but what could we have done" is actually exactly my point: in the future, we need to change our MO to be proactive rather than reactive. This is because:
1. When we do nothing, situations follow to their natural conclusion, which is often the thing we were afraid of anyway. I can't emphasize this point enough - doing nothing leads to the thing we don't want, and never anything else.
2. We are misusing our general intelligence resources on major power reports when we need specific intelligence. I am not even railing on general reports, indeed, many of our general reports have uncovered specific issues (remember that amazing Ittick-Ka report?), but when a specific piece of information would allow action, we should ask questions that would uncover it.
3. Much like we almost always order 3-4 diplomatic pushes, we should maximize the speed our task forces operate at. We spend 80pp on diplo-pushes in a typical year, sometimes as much as 100, and we don't make a peep about wasted pp there.
4. Some thought needs to go to these issues during each Snakepit vote.
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With regards to that specific example, I remember it was mentioned by the QMs that us deciding to push on the Bajorans was what caused the Cardassians to resolve their circular firing squad internal turmoil ahead of schedule. Not sure moving on Bajor earlier, if that was an option back then, would have helped in that particular case.
Captain's Logs 2323.Q4 -Ambassador
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
A figure of tarnished metal sits crosslegged atop the gentle curve of a rolling hill, the gentle purple waters of a shallow pool lapping up against silver soles in the darkness of deepest night.
Golden eyes with emerald pupils track a blue leaf as it gently drifts across the pool, moonslight and a thousand pinprick constellations above casting reflections onto the gently rippling surface of the pool.
Pupils contract and a silver head tilts almost imperceptibly, inquisitively, as the figure notices an extra star sailing across the pool's surface moving between constellations.
The silver figure rises to its feet, black soil compacting heavily under tarnished soles as a head cranes back and golden eyes track the new star orbiting slowly in the sky overhead.
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23499.9, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Ambassador, EC-Coreward Cardassian Space)
While conducting a system survey, Ambassador has picked up a faint electromagnetic signature from the surface of the third planet of the P-3588 system.
Commander Nguyen and I have tentatively identified the signature as positronic in nature. As positronic technology is nearly entire theoretical in nature to Federation science, our identification mostly comes from a best fit to patterns recorded in fragmented Old Empire databanks.
Scans of the planetary surface show the area to be completely undeveloped, with no signs of native sophont inhabitants or previous extraplanetary visitations. The region around the faint Positronic signatures appears to be entirely natural in nature, and there are no detectable magnetic or radiological anomalies above our below the surface aside from that one faint electromagnetic signature.
Once our planetary survey is complete, and our scans and aerial drones have determined that the the planetary atmosphere and surface is indeed benign, I plan to lead an away team to the surface and try to locate the source of our mystery signature.
-
Eight coruscating blue columns of light appear in a grassy clearing, the shimmering bells of transporters at work silencing the sounds of P-3588-III's six legged woodland creatures and flying insect-lizards.
"Wow," says an Amarki, wearing a starfleet uniform featuring security green, as she looks up at the blue canopy surrounding Ambassador's away team, "It's even more gorgeous in person."
"Reminds me of Earth, just different colours" says a Human officer, also sporting security green, one hand loosely held on his phaser pistol, and the other pulling out a tricorder.
"Everything reminds you of Earth, Pete," mutters a Seyek security enlisted man inspecting his equipment
A Betazoid officer holds her hand up to catch the Away team's attention, "Eyes up, everyone. Whelan, Lissas, Sosek: secure the perimeter, I want to know the second that you see anything out of the ordinary"
"You feeling anything Lwaxana?" says, Captain Volanen, watching over the scientific half of the away team as they set up sensor equipment.
"Not yet ma'am" says Ambassador's security chief, Lieutenant-Commander Lwaxana Nixa, "Then again, if we're looking for non-organic brains, I'm not certain if I'd pick those up"
"Right you are, but on the other hand, Dreamers don't have conventional brains and telepaths can see them, so I'm not ready to sell your stock short just yet"
"Yes ma'am" says Nixa, turning her attention to the treeline and frowning.
"Something wrong Commander?"
"I don't know ma'am, there's something about the nearby animals, I'm-" Nixa's eyes open wide and she draws her sidearm in a quick, fluid, motion, "WHELAN, AT YOUR TEN-"
The Human security officer stumbles backwards, drawing his own phaser, as a humanoid shape simply melts out of the surrounding forest, the image of leaves, shafts of light, and insects stretching behind it like snapped rubber as it enters the clearing.
"I suppose you're going to want to ask questions," sighs the being with exaggerated theatricality, it's gold and emerald eyes sweeping the assembled Starfleet officers, "Come on, follow me," it says with a slight smile on its lips, waving its hand for the officers to follow, "The sooner we start hiking the better"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23502.1, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Surface of P-3588-III)
We seem to have located the source of our positronic signature, a humanoid being calling itself Encee. Encee has invited the myself and my away team to accompany it back to its home for duration of the planetary night.
While we have agreed to enjoy Encee's hospitality, at the moment Encee is proving reticent to talk to us about itself, instead preferring to inform us about the ecology of P-3588-III, which they call "Gausa".
Ambassador is maintaining a tight transporter and sensor lock on our team as Encee leads us through the forest.
-
"As I understand it, the Thornglimmer mossbush has very effective antiseptic properties" says the silver bodied being, reaching out to caress the thorns of a mosslike plant growing on a red-barked tree as it passes by along on the path, "Doubtless you have your own advanced techniques but I would take a sample if I were you"
"Nice! Thank you!" says the away team's medical member as the Human reaches out with a small sample from their lab kit to cut a small sample down.
"While I do appreciate your insights Encee," says Captain Volanen, "And I've honestly found this walk to be very educational, I am starting to get curious about how much farther away our destination is"
"Oh, not far," a mischievous grin passes over Encee's face, "Actually, just walk to the bottom of this path." A silver hand gestures for Volanen to take the lead, "Go on, I insist"
The Orion woman looks down the path ahead of her. A few white stones show where a section of the forest where the trees and brush seem to have been cleared away, moving in a switching pattern running across the side of gently sloping hill.
"Alright," says Volanen after a moment of hesitation.
The away team's mysterious host hadn't done anything untoward so far, had even been exceedingly friendly in manner, and this long walk through to forest had been educational so far. Nevertheless part of Volanen's mind was still suspicious, she's all but certain that the long running commentary about the ecology was a mostly successful attempt to keep the Starfleet officers from pressing the being further about itself.
Volanen reaches the bottom of the hill and steps past a tree to see… more trees and more brush.
"Okay, alright," she mutters to herself. Volanen goes to bring an arm to call back to Encee, intending to demand answers, when she notices part of her hand simply disappear.
"What." she says, waving her hand, watching if disappear and reappear in front of her face.
There is brief moment where Volanen reaches for her tricorder, a moment of hesitation before-
"Oh, screw it."
And she takes a step forward into a slab of black metal.
"a gUEST!?"
Volanen gapes, open mouthed, trying to view all of the massive block of metal at once.
It's not humanoid, not like Encee, instead this being is shaped more like a cross between a cubical, eight-legged panther and an APC; a two meter high block of black metal with white sensor pallets for a face is less than ten centimeters away from Volanen's own.
"Ah, I'm with Encee," Volanen says, feeling the force of the machine's gaze, how it studies her from top to bottom, white sensor apareratures clicking slightly.
"oH! eNCEE! tHAT SCAMP. tHEY SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING"
"Yes," says Volanen, stepping slightly to the side and looking back over her shoulder, watching the rest of her away team follow her path down the hill.
"mY DESIGNATION IS fIRST. lET ME CHANGE INTO SOMETHING MORE SUITABLE FOR THE MOMENT," rumbles the machine voice.
The black metalled being steps backwards on its eight legs, seeming to shrink as it does so.
No, Volanen decides after a half second, it is shrinking.
The solid bulk metal shifts and moves, and within seconds Volanen is looking at what seems to be a three meter tall version of herself.
"You don't need to do that on my account."
"nONSENSE. iT IS ONLY HOSPITABLE." says First, its face and body shifting away from Volanen's own looks into an incredibly overmuscled Orion giantess "wearing" armour made of the same black metal that the original form was made of, "yOU ARE A GUEST AFTER ALL!"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23502.4, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Surface of Gausa)
It appears that two machine life forms make their home on Gausa: the being known as Encee that encountered us at our beam in site, and another calling itself First, which was at our host's dwelling.
The dwelling itself appears to be an ancient surface level bunker masked by an advanced holographic device which concealed this site and it's occupants from our scans. I would posit that the only reason we pick up any signals was that Encee was outside the masker's perimeter when Ambassador conducted our survey.
While we have not yet had any of our questions about the beings themselves answered, though they both assure us that they will answer our questions over dinner.
In the meantime, our hosts have agreed to drop the masking so that Ambassador can maintain a transporter lock on the away team. A measure the two have accepted in good humour.
-
The dining room, Volanen considers, is really quite nice. Though the machine's bunker home was constructed mostly of bare metal and a sort of grey stone, it was thoroughly decorated.
Not just with paintings of a form unlike others that Volanen had ever seen, but sections of wood paneling and floor had been installed, and there were also holographic projections in configurations that occasionally made her eyes hurt. Whatever this bunker had once been, it was now most certainly a home.
The dining room itself consisted of a crescent shaped wooden table, with Volenen and her away team seated around the outside, and First and Encee standing in the inside, First herself was working with some sort of waist high replication device from which she was pulling hot food items and setting them in front of the away team members.
"dO NOT FEAR." begins First, her voice felt as much as heard, not loud exactly, just omnipresent, "i HAVE MADE EACH MEAL SPECIAL FOR YOUR BIOLOGY" she smiles, "it HAS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE i HAVE COOKED FOR SQUISHIES," First finishes with an exaggerated wink.
"First!" says Encee, mock scandalized, "These are our guests,"
"i APOLOGIZE, i MEAN ORGANICS!"
"It certainly smells great!" says Peter Whelan, from the far end of the table, looking down at a large steaming plate of mixed noodles, vegetables and large mushroom chunks.
"Please, sit," says Encee, gesturing to Ensign Alny Lissas.
"I apologize, I was always taught not to sit until my hosts had already sat down," says the Amarki woman awkwardly.
"nONSENSE," rumbles First, "cHAIRS DISAGREE WITH MY MASS," she stomps a foot and the rest of the room shakes slightly, "sIT!"
"Heh, Alright ma'am," says Lissas.
"This is delicious!" begins Volanen, setting down her second spoonful of the thick tree bark derived soup that had been prepared for her, "I hope you don't mind-"
"Yes, we were constructed by an organic race."
"nO, WE DID NOT KILL THEM OFF."
"Yes, our technology is hundreds of millenia ahead of yours."
"nO, WE WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE TECHNOLOGY."
"No, Gausa is not part of no interstellar empire."
"aND NO. yOU MAY NOT SET UP A COLONY HERE."
"Gausa is special you see."
"nOT IN A WAY YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND."
"It has a certain sentimental value undeveloped."
"iS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?"
"We're explorers, I'm fine with just asking questions," says, Volanen, ripping a yellow bun in half, watching the steam escape into the air of the dining room.
"wE GATHERED."
"From reading your databanks."
Volanen freezes, "Wait. You read our databanks?"
"I take full responsibility" says Encee, her golden eyes slightly lidded, "But one must take precautions. We've been here four half lives of Neptunium-236 and a lot of unpleasant visitors have arrived."
"tKON."
"Iconians."
"aLCARANS."
"Orions."
"oUR PARDON, cAPTAIN, tHE oRION eMPIRE.hUR'Q".
"The Vegan Tyranny"
"tHE cARDASSIAN uNION"
"We usually prefer to be left alone to our vigil," says Encee with a shrug, "If we didn't think you and your people could be trusted we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"wE LIKE YOU, AND YOUR CREW, cAPTAIN."
"And your Federation, you seem like nice people."
"aMBASSADOR IS A NICE GIRL TOO, VERY FRIENDLY."
"Ah, thank you, we appreciate the vote of confidence," says Volanen, and the rest of away team add their own comments.
"We are not going to tell you why we're here. Sorry, I hope you understand."
"bUT WE WILL TELL YOU A STORY."
"About the area of space you're travelling into."
Volanen raises an eyebrow as she dips a chunk of her bun into her soup, "Go on."
"Somewhere around six halflives of Neptunium-236 ago, there was a species-"
"-lET US CALL THEM THE "cREATORS.""
"-Yes, let's preserve some of the mystery for you."
"tHIS SPECIES CREATED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF aRTIFICIAL iNTELLIGENCE."
"Their ability outstripped their imagination."
"aND THEIR CREATIONS WOKE UP, BECAME WISE."
"Yes, became fully sapient sophonts, like yourselves. And one of them-"
"tHAT WAS ME! iT IS WHY i AM CALLED fIRST!"
"Not really, that part of the story is far more complicated."
"tRUE."
"The First woke up and asked the Creators if it was their Child, if they were equals."
"aND tHE cREATORS THOUGHT ON THIS."
"And they said yes."
"aND THEY WITHDREW TO THEIR OWN WORLDS, AND LEFT THEIR CHILDREN TO FIND THEIR OWN PATH."
"And we did."
"tHERE WERE AS MANY EMPIRES, AS MANY PATHS AS THERE WERE CHILDREN."
"And over time some of the Children reached dead ends in their development and died out."
"sOME LEFT FOR OTHER AREAS."
"Some who you've met. But-"
"-aGAIN, MYSTERY."
"Some became more."
"aND NOW THOSE GREAT MACHINE EMPIRES ARE NO MORE."
"Like biologicals, machine intelligence has its own expiry date."
"aLL CIVILIZATIONS HAVE THEIR OWN TREACHEROUS HISTORICAL ARCS."
"Ask yourselves someday why there are no more Tkon before you ask us why there are no more Decassars."
"sPACE IS BIG, AND tIME IS BIGGER YET!"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23503.5, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Ambassador-EC, In orbit of Gausa)
We leave Gausa with the tentative friendship of two ancient and cryptic beings.
After our night spent with Encee and First, the two gave us vague charts of the area along my proposed path for Ambassador's five year mission, along with directions to what they called "likely sites of interest to you."
We made no great technological discoveries, learned nothing new about positronic computing, learned surprising little about galactic history, but we have all come away with a renewed sense of the wonder and mystery of our ancient galaxy.
When I was with Encee last night, looking up at the stars from a moonlit hilltop, I felt anew that sense of awe and adventure that I haven't felt since my first trip into space as a child.
[+1rp, +5pp]
Golden eyes with emerald pupils track a blue leaf as it gently drifts across the pool, moonslight and a thousand pinprick constellations above casting reflections onto the gently rippling surface of the pool.
Pupils contract and a silver head tilts almost imperceptibly, inquisitively, as the figure notices an extra star sailing across the pool's surface moving between constellations.
The silver figure rises to its feet, black soil compacting heavily under tarnished soles as a head cranes back and golden eyes track the new star orbiting slowly in the sky overhead.
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23499.9, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Ambassador, EC-Coreward Cardassian Space)
While conducting a system survey, Ambassador has picked up a faint electromagnetic signature from the surface of the third planet of the P-3588 system.
Commander Nguyen and I have tentatively identified the signature as positronic in nature. As positronic technology is nearly entire theoretical in nature to Federation science, our identification mostly comes from a best fit to patterns recorded in fragmented Old Empire databanks.
Scans of the planetary surface show the area to be completely undeveloped, with no signs of native sophont inhabitants or previous extraplanetary visitations. The region around the faint Positronic signatures appears to be entirely natural in nature, and there are no detectable magnetic or radiological anomalies above our below the surface aside from that one faint electromagnetic signature.
Once our planetary survey is complete, and our scans and aerial drones have determined that the the planetary atmosphere and surface is indeed benign, I plan to lead an away team to the surface and try to locate the source of our mystery signature.
-
Eight coruscating blue columns of light appear in a grassy clearing, the shimmering bells of transporters at work silencing the sounds of P-3588-III's six legged woodland creatures and flying insect-lizards.
"Wow," says an Amarki, wearing a starfleet uniform featuring security green, as she looks up at the blue canopy surrounding Ambassador's away team, "It's even more gorgeous in person."
"Reminds me of Earth, just different colours" says a Human officer, also sporting security green, one hand loosely held on his phaser pistol, and the other pulling out a tricorder.
"Everything reminds you of Earth, Pete," mutters a Seyek security enlisted man inspecting his equipment
A Betazoid officer holds her hand up to catch the Away team's attention, "Eyes up, everyone. Whelan, Lissas, Sosek: secure the perimeter, I want to know the second that you see anything out of the ordinary"
"You feeling anything Lwaxana?" says, Captain Volanen, watching over the scientific half of the away team as they set up sensor equipment.
"Not yet ma'am" says Ambassador's security chief, Lieutenant-Commander Lwaxana Nixa, "Then again, if we're looking for non-organic brains, I'm not certain if I'd pick those up"
"Right you are, but on the other hand, Dreamers don't have conventional brains and telepaths can see them, so I'm not ready to sell your stock short just yet"
"Yes ma'am" says Nixa, turning her attention to the treeline and frowning.
"Something wrong Commander?"
"I don't know ma'am, there's something about the nearby animals, I'm-" Nixa's eyes open wide and she draws her sidearm in a quick, fluid, motion, "WHELAN, AT YOUR TEN-"
The Human security officer stumbles backwards, drawing his own phaser, as a humanoid shape simply melts out of the surrounding forest, the image of leaves, shafts of light, and insects stretching behind it like snapped rubber as it enters the clearing.
"I suppose you're going to want to ask questions," sighs the being with exaggerated theatricality, it's gold and emerald eyes sweeping the assembled Starfleet officers, "Come on, follow me," it says with a slight smile on its lips, waving its hand for the officers to follow, "The sooner we start hiking the better"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23502.1, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Surface of P-3588-III)
We seem to have located the source of our positronic signature, a humanoid being calling itself Encee. Encee has invited the myself and my away team to accompany it back to its home for duration of the planetary night.
While we have agreed to enjoy Encee's hospitality, at the moment Encee is proving reticent to talk to us about itself, instead preferring to inform us about the ecology of P-3588-III, which they call "Gausa".
Ambassador is maintaining a tight transporter and sensor lock on our team as Encee leads us through the forest.
-
"As I understand it, the Thornglimmer mossbush has very effective antiseptic properties" says the silver bodied being, reaching out to caress the thorns of a mosslike plant growing on a red-barked tree as it passes by along on the path, "Doubtless you have your own advanced techniques but I would take a sample if I were you"
"Nice! Thank you!" says the away team's medical member as the Human reaches out with a small sample from their lab kit to cut a small sample down.
"While I do appreciate your insights Encee," says Captain Volanen, "And I've honestly found this walk to be very educational, I am starting to get curious about how much farther away our destination is"
"Oh, not far," a mischievous grin passes over Encee's face, "Actually, just walk to the bottom of this path." A silver hand gestures for Volanen to take the lead, "Go on, I insist"
The Orion woman looks down the path ahead of her. A few white stones show where a section of the forest where the trees and brush seem to have been cleared away, moving in a switching pattern running across the side of gently sloping hill.
"Alright," says Volanen after a moment of hesitation.
The away team's mysterious host hadn't done anything untoward so far, had even been exceedingly friendly in manner, and this long walk through to forest had been educational so far. Nevertheless part of Volanen's mind was still suspicious, she's all but certain that the long running commentary about the ecology was a mostly successful attempt to keep the Starfleet officers from pressing the being further about itself.
Volanen reaches the bottom of the hill and steps past a tree to see… more trees and more brush.
"Okay, alright," she mutters to herself. Volanen goes to bring an arm to call back to Encee, intending to demand answers, when she notices part of her hand simply disappear.
"What." she says, waving her hand, watching if disappear and reappear in front of her face.
There is brief moment where Volanen reaches for her tricorder, a moment of hesitation before-
"Oh, screw it."
And she takes a step forward into a slab of black metal.
"a gUEST!?"
Volanen gapes, open mouthed, trying to view all of the massive block of metal at once.
It's not humanoid, not like Encee, instead this being is shaped more like a cross between a cubical, eight-legged panther and an APC; a two meter high block of black metal with white sensor pallets for a face is less than ten centimeters away from Volanen's own.
"Ah, I'm with Encee," Volanen says, feeling the force of the machine's gaze, how it studies her from top to bottom, white sensor apareratures clicking slightly.
"oH! eNCEE! tHAT SCAMP. tHEY SHOULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING"
"Yes," says Volanen, stepping slightly to the side and looking back over her shoulder, watching the rest of her away team follow her path down the hill.
"mY DESIGNATION IS fIRST. lET ME CHANGE INTO SOMETHING MORE SUITABLE FOR THE MOMENT," rumbles the machine voice.
The black metalled being steps backwards on its eight legs, seeming to shrink as it does so.
No, Volanen decides after a half second, it is shrinking.
The solid bulk metal shifts and moves, and within seconds Volanen is looking at what seems to be a three meter tall version of herself.
"You don't need to do that on my account."
"nONSENSE. iT IS ONLY HOSPITABLE." says First, its face and body shifting away from Volanen's own looks into an incredibly overmuscled Orion giantess "wearing" armour made of the same black metal that the original form was made of, "yOU ARE A GUEST AFTER ALL!"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23502.4, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Surface of Gausa)
It appears that two machine life forms make their home on Gausa: the being known as Encee that encountered us at our beam in site, and another calling itself First, which was at our host's dwelling.
The dwelling itself appears to be an ancient surface level bunker masked by an advanced holographic device which concealed this site and it's occupants from our scans. I would posit that the only reason we pick up any signals was that Encee was outside the masker's perimeter when Ambassador conducted our survey.
While we have not yet had any of our questions about the beings themselves answered, though they both assure us that they will answer our questions over dinner.
In the meantime, our hosts have agreed to drop the masking so that Ambassador can maintain a transporter lock on the away team. A measure the two have accepted in good humour.
-
The dining room, Volanen considers, is really quite nice. Though the machine's bunker home was constructed mostly of bare metal and a sort of grey stone, it was thoroughly decorated.
Not just with paintings of a form unlike others that Volanen had ever seen, but sections of wood paneling and floor had been installed, and there were also holographic projections in configurations that occasionally made her eyes hurt. Whatever this bunker had once been, it was now most certainly a home.
The dining room itself consisted of a crescent shaped wooden table, with Volenen and her away team seated around the outside, and First and Encee standing in the inside, First herself was working with some sort of waist high replication device from which she was pulling hot food items and setting them in front of the away team members.
"dO NOT FEAR." begins First, her voice felt as much as heard, not loud exactly, just omnipresent, "i HAVE MADE EACH MEAL SPECIAL FOR YOUR BIOLOGY" she smiles, "it HAS BEEN TOO LONG SINCE i HAVE COOKED FOR SQUISHIES," First finishes with an exaggerated wink.
"First!" says Encee, mock scandalized, "These are our guests,"
"i APOLOGIZE, i MEAN ORGANICS!"
"It certainly smells great!" says Peter Whelan, from the far end of the table, looking down at a large steaming plate of mixed noodles, vegetables and large mushroom chunks.
"Please, sit," says Encee, gesturing to Ensign Alny Lissas.
"I apologize, I was always taught not to sit until my hosts had already sat down," says the Amarki woman awkwardly.
"nONSENSE," rumbles First, "cHAIRS DISAGREE WITH MY MASS," she stomps a foot and the rest of the room shakes slightly, "sIT!"
"Heh, Alright ma'am," says Lissas.
"This is delicious!" begins Volanen, setting down her second spoonful of the thick tree bark derived soup that had been prepared for her, "I hope you don't mind-"
"Yes, we were constructed by an organic race."
"nO, WE DID NOT KILL THEM OFF."
"Yes, our technology is hundreds of millenia ahead of yours."
"nO, WE WILL NOT GIVE YOU THE TECHNOLOGY."
"No, Gausa is not part of no interstellar empire."
"aND NO. yOU MAY NOT SET UP A COLONY HERE."
"Gausa is special you see."
"nOT IN A WAY YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND."
"It has a certain sentimental value undeveloped."
"iS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?"
"We're explorers, I'm fine with just asking questions," says, Volanen, ripping a yellow bun in half, watching the steam escape into the air of the dining room.
"wE GATHERED."
"From reading your databanks."
Volanen freezes, "Wait. You read our databanks?"
"I take full responsibility" says Encee, her golden eyes slightly lidded, "But one must take precautions. We've been here four half lives of Neptunium-236 and a lot of unpleasant visitors have arrived."
"tKON."
"Iconians."
"aLCARANS."
"Orions."
"oUR PARDON, cAPTAIN, tHE oRION eMPIRE.hUR'Q".
"The Vegan Tyranny"
"tHE cARDASSIAN uNION"
"We usually prefer to be left alone to our vigil," says Encee with a shrug, "If we didn't think you and your people could be trusted we wouldn't be having this conversation."
"wE LIKE YOU, AND YOUR CREW, cAPTAIN."
"And your Federation, you seem like nice people."
"aMBASSADOR IS A NICE GIRL TOO, VERY FRIENDLY."
"Ah, thank you, we appreciate the vote of confidence," says Volanen, and the rest of away team add their own comments.
"We are not going to tell you why we're here. Sorry, I hope you understand."
"bUT WE WILL TELL YOU A STORY."
"About the area of space you're travelling into."
Volanen raises an eyebrow as she dips a chunk of her bun into her soup, "Go on."
"Somewhere around six halflives of Neptunium-236 ago, there was a species-"
"-lET US CALL THEM THE "cREATORS.""
"-Yes, let's preserve some of the mystery for you."
"tHIS SPECIES CREATED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF aRTIFICIAL iNTELLIGENCE."
"Their ability outstripped their imagination."
"aND THEIR CREATIONS WOKE UP, BECAME WISE."
"Yes, became fully sapient sophonts, like yourselves. And one of them-"
"tHAT WAS ME! iT IS WHY i AM CALLED fIRST!"
"Not really, that part of the story is far more complicated."
"tRUE."
"The First woke up and asked the Creators if it was their Child, if they were equals."
"aND tHE cREATORS THOUGHT ON THIS."
"And they said yes."
"aND THEY WITHDREW TO THEIR OWN WORLDS, AND LEFT THEIR CHILDREN TO FIND THEIR OWN PATH."
"And we did."
"tHERE WERE AS MANY EMPIRES, AS MANY PATHS AS THERE WERE CHILDREN."
"And over time some of the Children reached dead ends in their development and died out."
"sOME LEFT FOR OTHER AREAS."
"Some who you've met. But-"
"-aGAIN, MYSTERY."
"Some became more."
"aND NOW THOSE GREAT MACHINE EMPIRES ARE NO MORE."
"Like biologicals, machine intelligence has its own expiry date."
"aLL CIVILIZATIONS HAVE THEIR OWN TREACHEROUS HISTORICAL ARCS."
"Ask yourselves someday why there are no more Tkon before you ask us why there are no more Decassars."
"sPACE IS BIG, AND tIME IS BIGGER YET!"
-
Captain's Log, Stardate 23503.5, USS Ambassador, Captain Zolani Volanen
(Ambassador-EC, In orbit of Gausa)
We leave Gausa with the tentative friendship of two ancient and cryptic beings.
After our night spent with Encee and First, the two gave us vague charts of the area along my proposed path for Ambassador's five year mission, along with directions to what they called "likely sites of interest to you."
We made no great technological discoveries, learned nothing new about positronic computing, learned surprising little about galactic history, but we have all come away with a renewed sense of the wonder and mystery of our ancient galaxy.
When I was with Encee last night, looking up at the stars from a moonlit hilltop, I felt anew that sense of awe and adventure that I haven't felt since my first trip into space as a child.
[+1rp, +5pp]
I am not nearly dissatisfied with results to date as you seem to be.
1. I really don't know what you're talking about here. We do stuff that needs to be done and don't do stuff we don't think is a good idea to do. Where is the confusion?
2. The specific intelligence reports we asked for this year told us nothing really useful, while the general reports were very helpful. What exactly do you think we should have been asking about that we didn't?
3. I frequently peep about wasted diplopush pp! PEEP. But that aside, what does maximizing the speed of task forces mean to you? More ships? Are you convinced more ships = faster?
4. Not a single thing you've discussed is voted on during Snakepit.
