I never look at the team list in bold because I know what teams should be available, either it's a mistake or they finished a month early? We set Starfleet Engineering Command on a 4 month task 3 months ago so they should still be occupied this month unless they saved 1/4 of the time which is possible? @OneirosTheWriter?
I never look at the team list in bold because I know what teams should be available, either it's a mistake or they finished a month early? We set Starfleet Engineering Command on a 4 month task 3 months ago so they should still be occupied this month unless they saved 1/4 of the time which is possible? @OneirosTheWriter?
Once the Biophage has been eradicated, we will need to fortify the Neutral Zone, and have the Romulans do so as well.
Don't forget, the first references to the Borg in TNG involved the mysterious destruction of both Federation and Romulan outposts in the Neutral Zone...
Once the Biophage has been eradicated, we will need to fortify the Neutral Zone, and have the Romulans do so as well.
Don't forget, the first references to the Borg in TNG involved the mysterious destruction of both Federation and Romulan outposts in the Neutral Zone...
We are already doing that with Solitude and Indi Beta, after the crisis I think it will be hard to convince the Romulans that it's not an antagonistic move and I don't really see the in-character motivation, though if you can come up with something really good we can try.
On that note I have been thinking about setting up some sort of agreement with the Romulans and Klingons regarding existential threats.
Something like permanent channels for and a obligation to share information on existential threats, if sharing critical information reveals misdoings on your part the other parties otherwise had no way of knowing they may not reprimand you for that even if it constitutes a violation of other treaties, no extracting concessions on unrelated matters from the other parties while they are dealing with an existential threat, banning certain technologies, things like that. The problem is that it seems impossible to actually prevent trying to game any such treaty if one party is short-sighted enough to want to try, so maybe just some non-binding accord that sets out some maxims since we need to rely on everyone acting in good faith anyway.
On that note I have been thinking about setting up some sort of agreement with the Romulans and Klingons regarding existential threats.
Something like permanent channels for and a obligation to share information on existential threats, if sharing critical information reveals misdoings on your part the other parties otherwise had no way of knowing they may not reprimand you for that even if it constitutes a violation of other treaties, no extracting concessions on unrelated matters from the other parties while they are dealing with an existential threat, banning certain technologies, things like that. The problem is that it seems impossible to actually prevent trying to game any such treaty if one party is short-sighted enough to want to try, so maybe just some non-binding accord that sets out some maxims since we need to rely on everyone acting in good faith anyway.
It's a good idea, but it seems to me squarely within the purview of the Federation Council and Diplomatic Corps, not the head of Starfleet. Out of our hands.
The best we can do is keep going that Research to help diplomatic rolls.
It's a good idea, but it seems to me squarely within the purview of the Federation Council and Diplomatic Corps, not the head of Starfleet. Out of our hands.
The best we can do is keep going that Research to help diplomatic rolls.
It's not something we can decide, but we can lobby the Federation Council for things like that during snake-pits (compare diplomatic pushes to accelerate membership accession, that's actually even further outside our purview).
So our cooperation with the Romulans has been real nice so far, hasn't it? Real cozy?
For amusement sake, here's my prediction on the next update. When the Quarantine Fleet goes in to explore Area 2, they are going to find a civilization under menace from the Biophage. And there is going to be a very tense confrontation because the Romulans will want to wipe that civilization out to keep it out of the Biophage's hands and the Enterprise will be having none of that.
In light of that prediction, are you sure we don't want to order T'Faer to assist the Quarantine fleet? It might make the difference between the Romulans being forced to back down and the Enterprise having to fight a heavy warbird on its own.
I am actually serious here. This isn't all metagaming; a conflict like this is predictable in-world given the information we have. At least as a potentiality. Should we order T'Faer to send a couple of ships to support? We can have her split the fleet to do two things, remember. We can put some on escort duty and some to assist the Enterprise.
I did I a thing:
To: Starfleet Command
CC: Starfleet Ship Design, Starfleet Tactical
From: Starfleet Explorer Corp Doctrine Committee
Subject: Ongoing Starfleet Doctrine Discussion
As part of the current discussion on long term Starfleet Doctrine the Explorer Corp was asked to weigh in, an ad-hoc committee was formed, and an extended discussion took place. This letter details the result of that internal debate. We hope you take it into consideration when deciding what sort of Doctrine to pursue.
As most of you know, the explorer corp is based primarily out of larger vessels capable of extended missions. The Excelsior class is performing this role well, so we support continuing its construction. Further, we support the construction of additional yards capable of handling the vessel, as the admiralty has officially planned. [However, see the "Ambassador Program Study, Section 2" for a list of the design's flaws.] We would greatly appreciate if any future fleet design doctrine contributed to these vessels; therefore, we must back the so-called 'Lone Ranger' approach. We strongly feel it best understands the situations explorers find themselves in.
Similarly, the 'Wolf Pack' approach to offensive doctrine has substantial dual use in normal Explorer missions. While it would be easy to cite the bonuses to the sadly common hostile encounters, that is not our primary objective here. Explorers are well armed enough that these have only rarely been a problem. Instead, we feel the most useful feature relates to our encounters with unintelligent space-based lifeforms. A greater emphasis on avoiding or escaping combat so as to preserve their magnificent biodiversity is expected to have significant long term benefits and is fully in keeping with Starfleet objectives.
Lastly, the current crisis is a strong argument for keeping any enemy away from the Federation's core. When this is combined with the requirements of 'Forward Defense's' which reduce dependence on Starbases and enable longer missions, we have to support it. This logistical focus should increase the time our explorers can spend exploring by utilizing the same supply ships that would support the fleet in times of war.
A few voices seemed to indicate this combination wouldn't be capable of defending the Federation in times of war. The Explorer Corp Doctrine Committee must respectfully disagree. This combination is the best way to use the experience of our Explorers to make sure the war is fought primarily in enemy territory. Fundamentally, there are three sorts of conflicts we see occurring. The first is the aforementioned hostile encounter by a lone Explorer on a mission. The second is a conflict which doesn't escape the border region (which the current crisis luckily qualifies as). The third is a major or existential war. Once this crisis has passed, if the Khitomer Accord holds and Romulan relations don't collapse – both of which seem likely – then we can't see the last occurring for a generation. The vast majority of battles fit within the first two, and most of them into the very first. Our doctrine should map to the battles we fight, and that we plan to fight.
We know that some contest the above with some line about being prepared for all dangers, but this doctrine does that as well. It has come to our attention that the Romulans classify our Explorers as 'Battlecruiser,' and we reluctantly concede that term isn't entirely incorrect. (Note that if you must use this sort of terminology we strongly prefer the term 'Large Cruiser,' and Explorer continues to be the only official name.) The Federation is not equivalent to any historical Earth power and Space is not an Ocean. However, for those historians who delight in naval metaphors to decide our doctrine, this is closest to a large capital ship raiding doctrine. Given the flaws such doctrines have previously experienced, we need to continue our efforts to make Excelsiors not irreplaceable and continue to improve our sensors. The former should prevent admirals from trying to recall our Explorers whenever a situation gets tense while the latter is dual use with the exploration, our primary mission.
A properly executed large vessel raiding doctrine has been able to force other doctrines onto the defense [see attached simulations in the appendix]. With enough vessels, the fleet can become essentially formless while still being able to strike in strength. As long as the initiative can be maintained, the broad number of targets allows the practitioner to choose un-losable battles until they run out of targets or the enemy surrenders.
Thank you taking the time to request our input, we hope this is most informative of the Explorer Corp's needs, and we await your final decision on doctrine choice.
I know the above essay promotes a position some of you disagree with. This is why I specifically selected a partisan source to make the case. There are some places where the argument is supposed to be incredibly self-serving. I hope that if you do disagree that you find some other group that would naturally support your position to make your case, since it would be kind of cool if we could get a full in-character debate going.
So our cooperation with the Romulans has been real nice so far, hasn't it? Real cozy?
For amusement sake, here's my prediction on the next update. When the Quarantine Fleet goes in to explore Area 2, they are going to find a civilization under menace from the Biophage. And there is going to be a very tense confrontation because the Romulans will want to wipe that civilization out to keep it out of the Biophage's hands and the Enterprise will be having none of that.
In light of that prediction, are you sure we don't want to order T'Faer to assist the Quarantine fleet? It might make the difference between the Romulans being forced to back down and the Enterprise having to fight a heavy warbird on its own.
I am actually serious here. This isn't all metagaming; a conflict like this is predictable in-world given the information we have. At least as a potentiality. Should we order T'Faer to send a couple of ships to support? We can have her split the fleet to do two things, remember. We can put some on escort duty and some to assist the Enterprise.
Any civilizations in Area 2 are going to have been eaten months ago.
I am worried that the Inflictor has been saving up shuttles for 2 months and will make a big push now, hopefully after the effects of research this turn come into play. They might use them either against us or against the Romulans when they recon in force. I trust T'Faer more to make the right decision on that than I trust myself though. And "support the Romulans" isn't actually one of the specific priorities we can vote for anyway.
Out of curiosity, regarding long term goals, how high of a priority does the development and deployment of the New Orleans Escort ships appear to folks? The 12 Mirandas are likely what sunk our predecessor, being the backbone of our defence fleets, but having low science and defence scores compared to their combat scores, raising militarization through the roof.
Out of curiosity, regarding long term goals, how high of a priority does the development and deployment of the New Orleans Escort ships appear to folks? The 12 Mirandas are likely what sunk our predecessor, being the backbone of our defence fleets, but having low science and defence scores compared to their combat scores, raising militarization through the roof.
Lower priority than the Ambassador, a Constellation refit/replacement or an Oberth upgrade. Centaur is fine for now and we are going to decomission the Soyuz and some of the Miranda when we run into the max combat limit.
Out of curiosity, regarding long term goals, how high of a priority does the development and deployment of the New Orleans Escort ships appear to folks? The 12 Mirandas are likely what sunk our predecessor, being the backbone of our defence fleets, but having low science and defence scores compared to their combat scores, raising militarization through the roof.
I'm pretty sure that's fixable. If I understand how the extra techs work (please correct me if I don't) there is little downside to having 1 level in all 8. When I do that, I can get a improved design with C4 S6 H3 L4 P3 D5 (using a module). I'd like to see the federation try to claim that's a military ship.
I'm pretty sure that's fixable. If I understand how the extra techs work (please correct me if I don't) there is little downside to having 1 level in all 8. When I do that, I can get a improved design with C4 S6 H3 L4 P3 D5 (using a module). I'd like to see the federation try to claim that's a military ship.
I'm pretty sure that's fixable. If I understand how the extra techs work (please correct me if I don't) there is little downside to having 1 level in all 8. When I do that, I can get a improved design with C4 S6 H3 L4 P3 D5 (using a module). I'd like to see the federation try to claim that's a military ship.
I know the above essay promotes a position some of you disagree with. This is why I specifically selected a partisan source to make the case. There are some places where the argument is supposed to be incredibly self-serving. I hope that if you do disagree that you find some other group that would naturally support your position to make your case, since it would be kind of cool if we could get a full in-character debate going.
Eh, I don't really have the time and energy to spend on IC Doctrine Arguments at the moment.
More or less my objection is as follows; while Forward Defence & Wolfpack could definitely be a Doctrine that we make use of for the forseeable future, it doesn't play to our strengths. And honestly speaking, I don't think Lone Ranger doctrine does either. Starfleet is the premier military force in the currently known Galaxy, and it specialises in Sciencing Everything Ever. In time, our lead should grow further thanks to that Science Everything attitude.
Right now, we have an Oberth assigned to the Quarantine Fleet, and I love that. It's somewhat terrifying, because I'm having Clee-San flashbacks, but I love it. To me, it makes sense for Starfleet to send a relatively lightly armed vessel into the thick of an engagement zone because they're committed to making the Heroic Play.
Combined Arms plays to that. It rewards us for not playing the Superior Tech Card and just glaring everything into submission with our ridiculously multi-purpose Explorers. Gives us a reason to put the Cruisers into our Fleet Comp, when the only reason they're currently likely to be used is because they're cheap. Will hopefully give us a reason to build Science Vessels as dedicated components of Fleets for their Sensor Hacking Skills. We're starting the Federation Snowball, which I like, and sure our GM is going to throw more shenanigans at us as things go on, but can we please try to win this as Starfleet, rather than SV-Competenced Starfleet?
Play up the teamwork, take a few hits to 'maximum effectiveness' in exchange for maintaining our footing on our moral grounds. This ties in to why I want Fleet-in-Being and Base Strike as our Offensive/Defensive Doctrines. Yes, Forward Defence probably works on a Technical Level, but you know what it doesn't do? Allow for Emergency Overwhelming Response. I'm not even talking about War. If we go for Forward Defence, the goal is to keep the majority of our forces on the borders. What happens then when a planet gets hit by some plague? By a repeat of Tarsus IV? We strip our borders to respond? Fleet In Being, on the other hand, has us already prepared for less well defended borders, and has sizable fleets sitting in our core territories ready to respond to whatever emergency may pop up in a Timely Manner.
Base Strike over Wolfpack or Decisive Battle is again for this sort of reason. Starfleet isn't interested in 'Conquering' or 'Destroying' the enemy, all we care about is protecting the Federation while we SCIENCE the Galaxy. Base Strike is the only Offensive Doctrine that gives a Defensive Bonus, and that in and of itself is what makes it the 'Should Pick' option for me.
Tl;dr - I would very much like to play Starfleet as Starfleet, and Combined Arms as Fleet Design Doctrine built upon by the Fleet In Being and Base Strike Doctrines strikes me as the most distinctly Starfleet way to play.
I don't really see having a gazillion Mirandas to be blown to pieces like in the Dominion war as essential to Starfleet. I want about 40% of our home fleets (by ship count) to be Explorers/Heavy Cruisers and run as many 5 years at a time as we can manage. Just from the sound of the name I like "Combined Arms" better than "Lone Wolf", but I pick things based on what they do and not the name. Lone Wolf is simply by far the best doctrine for us to have in peace time, and competitive in war time also.
It would be nice if it was practical to have Lone Wolf as doctrine in peace time and Combined Arms in wartime after putting loads of escorts and light cruisers (back) into service. That actually seems a lot like what the Federation did during the Dominion war, actually.
Felt like writing a thing. Enterprise seems handled right now; so a return to Lt Alexandria Kuznetsova, with a reminder that it's not just the people on the very front lines that are working hard and getting scarred.
Lieutenant Alexandria Kuznetsova morosely pushes cheerfully green leaves covered in pseudo ranch dressing around on her starfleet branded plate. This must be the three hundredth salad that she's eaten in a row.
She hasn't eaten meat In months. No one doing research with the "Tiger team" has. Even the members of carnivorous species have started eating protein cubes and nutrient pastes. Raw meat brings to mind the Biophage, and cooked meat raises memories of the team's experiments with venting EPS conduits into inhabited starship sections.
She'd spent the morning (and the last night. And the last afternoon) watching recordings recovered from Starfleet and Romulan Navy engagements with the Biophage. Which meant that she'd watched the civilian passengers of the SS Skegal meet their doom over and over again, Alexandria's mission being to contribute data to the ongoing project to refine transporter evacuation protocols.
The conference room is quiet, a few members of the Starfleet Command Tactical Tiger Team are taking a quick lunch break before returning to work.
The Starfleet Intelligence woman spears a soggy crouton and lifts it up, seeing it bend and sag like deadweight, slowly watching it in resignation before exploding into movement; throwing the whole plate of food across the cramped conference room and screaming in frustration.
One of the room's other occupants looks up, "Oh, primal scream therapy! Good choice." Lieutenant Camille Alexander says, looking from a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich, eyes widening as he realises how serious Kuznetsova's sobbing is; he is used to her being off-puttingly cheerful despite the honestly horrific material she exposes herself to.
Alexandria doesn't respond, being too busy sinking under the conference table, hands wrapped around her head, her sobbing getting louder.
Camille looks around the room, no one else is moving to help her. She is by no means the first member of the team to succumb to stress, but she is the first one to do so in his presence; he's used to showing up after a restless nightmare fueled night and discovering that they've gone "on vacation."
He slides under the conference table and places a hand on his sobbing colleague's back, "Hey, heyyyy…. Alex, you want me to go get a counselor?"
"I- I'll- I'll be fine," she sobs, grabbing his knee to pull herself a cross-legged squat, words coming out in thick, mucousy sobs.
A sigh accompanied by a resigned voice comes wafting down from above the table, "Honestly, I'm not surprised."
"Really, Shon?" Camille says, leaning back out from under the table to frown angrily up at the Andorian Lieutenant Commander, and considering the emotional utility of throwing a rogue utensil at the alien man.
"No. I'm serious," the blue man says, holding his palms out defensively, "She's almost literally the first one to put the pieces of the Biophage together, and was one of the founding members of this team. She's seen a lot, was out on the ground at Dunwich IV and Korlonia II. She's seen every piece of footage that Starfleet has."
An ancient Tellarite Chief stoops down to pick the thrown plate up, debating whether to to clean the salad up herself. "The Lieutenant's been here longer and worked harder than almost anyone. She's just about the only one I can think of that hasn't taken any days off."
Camille puts an arm around Alexandria as she composes herself. "Wait is that true, Alex? We all had to take time time off every couple weeks, counselor's orders"
The brunette shrugs, wiping her eyes with her hands, still bobbing slightly from the pressure to cry. "Captain Zebes doesn't have the time to follow up with every time sheet"
The male Lieutenant boggles at his colleague. "You lied on your reports?!?"
Kuznetsova crawls out from under the table, brown hair disheveled and stuck to her face in several places from tears and mucous. "Well... yeah. I don't have enough time as it is."
Camille scoots back to follow her out from under the table's shadow. "Goddammit Alex! You know damn well that those rules are in place for a reason!"
The accused woman blushes hotly as she takes a hand from Shon to help her stand up, "I just-" she sighs, "I just wasn't supposed to be right you know? I enjoy putting bits and pieces together. Imagining conspiracies and secrets is fun." She closes her eyes, holding back the images of Dunwich being burned from orbit (The result of which she analysed for weeks, including stepping foot in the dead colony itself) "I, well, uh, feel sorta responsible for this, somehow." She looks at the standard issue beige carpet dejectedly. "I know it doesn't make sense, but if I put it together then at that moment. Why didn't I do it a month sooner? Two months? I could have saved thousands of lives."
Chief Bisec helps Camille up. "It was looking at the Skegal footage again today wasn't it?" She looks at Alexandria. "You were going over all the data from the evacuation?"
The Human woman collapses onto a chair, "Yeah. I just-" she tears up a bit again, "I can't stop imagining what other would be like to be infected. I just couldn't hold it back any more."
Camille sits down next to her. "It is the worst possible nightmare. Death is preferable."
"It is a relief that the Biophage hasn't grabbed many more Starships lately," Shon says, pushing the remains of his sugary cereal away. "The last thing we need is this thing getting the idea to run right through the Quarantine Zone and over to Andoria or Vulcan."
Kuznetsova shakes her head slowly. "I don't think it works like that. I spent a week early on brainstorming nightmare worst case scenarios; I almost convinced myself that I was some sort of drone, a Typhoid Mary." She chuckles weakly. "Which is ridiculous. But there are so many ways this thing could hurt us that it hasn't."
The Tellarite chief snorts, shaking her thick mane of hair. "The thing is pretty stupid"
Kuznetsova shakes her head again, messy hair limply waving back and forth down her back, "It's not stupid. It just doesn't think like us. Most Intelligences we meet are uncommonly common bipeds, this thing is… totally different. Alien in a way that is totally inimical to every race in the Federation."
Shon shrugs, "Well we already had that figured that out when we started. We just don't know how it thinks, nevermind what it thinks"
Kuznetsova's eyes light up, her mind putting together thoughts and blessedly shoving images of flesh-covered horror into the background, "Wait. If it doesn't think like us… maybe it can't think with us?" she reaches past a confused Camille Alexander to take the remains of Chief Bisec's macaroni and cheese dish.
"Huh?"
"Like, well, It clearly doesn't use its victims to think despite their continued consciousness." the Intelligence analyst purses her lips for a moment, "I'll bet at least one of the Romulan officers it grabbed had half a dozen plans to invade the Federation in their mind, and the capability to think up more."
She pokes at the abandoned lunch with a knife, "The Biophage sees the memories and personalities of the incorporated victims as a resource as much as their biomass is." she sticks the knife into a yellow glob, "It is all one mass directed by whatever binds this all together. It probably uses the memories almost instinctively to hide from detection"
The Tellarite nods, "Like the Korlonia II colony"
Alexandria hums in deep thought,before nodding, "Exactly. Do we know what it is that binds all these minds together? Is it possible to, uh, sever the connection?" She absentmindedly uses the knife to push individual macaroni away from the mass on the plate, flicking them harmlessly and messily onto the grey table. "What would happen? Would they fight back? Have any control? Would it even hurt the Biophage? Does it need the mind's like it needs the flesh?"
Shon tilts his head appraisingly, "And how could you accomplish this? Targeted virus? Mind meld? Nanotechnology?" The Lieutenant-Commander hmms to himself before continuing, "I think we should pass the idea along to the VSA or the Infectious Diseases crew, maybe put a couple of our people on it."
Alexandria straightens up. "Great, I can start in on that while my evacuation simulations are running."
The Andorian points at her. "No, you're not. You're clearly starting to burn out. I'm going to look the other way about literally forging fraudulent time sheets as long as you take the next two days off and take your scheduled breaks from now on." Shon knows that her recovering from her breakdown is an act at best, if she keeps pushing herself more, she'll snap entirely. And Starfleet needs her mind and her talents right now.
Alexandria holds her breath for a moment and looks like she's about to argue before crossing her arms and huffing.
"And don't sit in your quarters doing secret analysis. You need to relax, Lieutenant Kuznetsova." Shon's no counselor, but he knows that a mind needs rest. If he'd known, he'd have had her take a rest months ago. He also makes a mental note to schedule her a meeting with a counselor.
She huffs again.
Camille scratches his neatly trimmed beard. "Listen, sir, I've got my scheduled downtime soon too. Let me take it a couple days early and I'll make sure she relaxes" he doesn't like the thought of Alexandria snapping any more than Shon does. He rather quite likes the usually cheerfully odd woman, and would like to keep her around and healthy.
Alexandria sighs. "Alright. Fine. I'll hang out with Camille." She turns towards her fellow Starfleet Lieutenant, smiling slightly. "I don't have to like it though!"
"... It's just ... it's not the same without Alex. I know that in her line of work she's liable to disappear from time to time, this isn't the first time she's had to leave without warning, I'm sure whatever she's doing is vital ... but I still miss her." Anne Usha sighs, leaning back in her chair. "Here I am, trying to share a nice meal with you, first time you've been in port in three weeks, and I can't keep Alexandria Kuznetsova out of my thoughts for just one day."
"You make her sound like competition," Han Seung jokes. She'd met the spacer about a month ago on a blind date - literally blind, actually, the restaurant's lighting was so dark. They'd hit it off well, went on a second date a week later, and then he had to leave with his ship.
"It's not like that, you know that." Usha sighs. "It's just ... every day at lunch I sit there alone and wonder if she's even still alive. As if my work weren't enough, it's a daily reminder of the crisis on a personal scale. And this is someone who's been part of my life since my Academy days. We were -"
"Roommates, suffered through Ceres Station together, had your first tour on the same ship... I know the story. I know she's important to you. You've told me before." He sips his wine. "But I want to know about what you're doing."
"Oh, right, sorry! Well, we haven't entirely stopped with the regular design work, which is nice - it's good to have a break from worrying about the biophage and all. We're still plugging away at some of the same old projects as before. Of course, that's not really what's been keeping me so busy lately. It's kind of disturbing, actually. Arming civilian ships, designing systems to speed up warp core breaches, redesigning conduits to let plasma out into crew spaces ..."
"Wait, arming civilian ships is up there with making plasma leaks and warp core breaches easier? I mean, isn't it prudent to protect our ships? I have to say, if I were running cargo out to the Zone, I'd want a phaser bank and a detection grid on my ship."
"It's a betrayal of principles. You're not supposed to need weapons. Starfleet's supposed to be able to protect you." Usha sips at her wine. "Besides, it's also a pain to actually work out how to install the phaser banks in the first place. There's little standardization among the blueprints we've received, not even ships of the same class - every one of you captains thinks they're a tinkerer."
"Look, my ship is, like... personal. I've made the Diva my own."
"And there's no problem with that. I like it. In the abstract, it's fascinating just what people can get up to from the same baseline... Up until we have to completely rework the power systems to hook up a simple phaser bank. Still, that's nothing like the other work. Now that is disturbing." Anne shudders.
Seung nods.
"We're literally going against our principles here. We're literally designing ships to be unsafe. The whole point of a spaceship is to protect you against the dangers of space travel. It's ... kind of scary how easy it is to go the other way." She sips at her wine.
"And even scarier that that's better than the alternative. I've heard stories about Franklin..." He whistles. "I mean, I like my ship and all, but I'm not interested in getting that attached to her."
"Bit dark, there." Anne chuckles anyway.
"It's not that bad, is it? I mean, all I've heard is rumors, really - they can't possibly be true, can they? Is it really as serious as they say?"
Anne sighs. "Oh, yes. It is. We got transferred an engineer from Challorn, and the stories he's told... this thing is deadlier than they're letting on. Well, the worst of it is, that's not even entirely accurate. The way he puts it, you're not dead, exactly. You're probably in some sense still half-alive, still semi-conscious, if you get consumed by it. Your mind's somehow incorporated into the phage. Else how is it using memories the way it did at Dunwich IV, or with Franklin?"
"At Dunwich IV? What do you mean? What did it do?"
"I probably shouldn't say this, but it reportedly sent communications out to distant family, tried to fake that they were still alive. Convincingly, by the sound of it - nobody had any idea about Dunwich IV until they scanned the place."
"So, what you're saying is, stay the hell away from the Zone?"
"Oh god yes."
Seung smiles. "Alright. I was thinking of going, doing my part ... but I think I can let someone else step up. I'll sit this one out."
"It's not your job. Speaking of ... where have you taken Diva?"
Seung looks a little embarrassed. "Did a courier run. To, uh, Risa."
"Oh! Alex and I were thinking of going there, actually!"
"You sure she's not competition?"
Usha laughs. "I was going to take you along. Maybe even hitch a ride on your ship?"
"I'd love to show you. God, what a beautiful world. Gorgeous beaches, lovely weather ... and the people! So friendly and welcoming ... almost a little too welcoming, honestly."
"Oh, you're suspicious of them, like Alex is? That's why she picked the planet in the first place - to find out what they must be hiding."
"Not much." He snickers.
"Oh, who am I to talk? I was mostly going to check out their shipyard."
Han laughs. "Oh, now this you have to explain."
Usha smiles back. "It comes down to this: the Risans have some really interesting ship designs. Oh, they're all thoroughly obsolete - but just from what I've read, they do things so differently. Like, take this -" She reaches for his breadsticks.
"Hey!"
"Sorry. Alright, I'll use my own." She flips over her bread plate, grabs two breadsticks of her own. "Okay, so, normally, you've got your ship body, and then two nacelles, with clear fields for the ramscoops, aligned in a pair to form the warp shell." Anne uses the bread plate and breadsticks to represent this. "You generally mount them above, sometimes below, the main body of the ship, always maintaining clear separation between the two. It's possible to do alternate arrangements, but two is the standard."
"Sure."
"But with the Risans, their ships all bring the nacelles close together, like so. Essentially, you've almost got a single massive nacelle. And I mean massive. Risan designs tend towards very large -"
Anne follows Seung's eyes and looks up at the waiter who's appeared next to her. The waiter, who looks quite disappointed in the grown woman playing with her food. Embarrassed, Anne hurriedly flips her bread plate back over and rests the breadsticks on it. "Um, I think we'll need a few more minutes to decide?"
We heard that you people like content, so we set out to provide. (Independently, it just sort of aligned that we posted at the same time from the Alex/Anne duo)
