Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Stardate 1/9407. The Federation has enjoyed a century of relative peace within its borders. The long and devastating war against the Romulan Star Empire is all but forgotten and the Federation’s border with them remains tense, but stable. The Klingons remain silent as well, perhaps still engrossed in a conflict with the unknown enemy on the far side of their empire. The Federation’s peace-time focus is now on research and exploration, although Tellarites and Andorians argue for a stronger navy of gunships and frigates. The compromise is the new Constitution Class Cruiser. Equipped with the most advanced weaponry and home to state-of-the-art scientific research and medical facilities, these debutants of the fleet can operate for years beyond the logistical support of star bases. It is the dream of every starry-eyed Star Fleet recruit to serve on these ships.
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Bohemond
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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Bohemond » Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:52 pm

"Gremlins are a mythical creature on Earth. People would joke that Gremlins liked to fiddle around with the inner workings of airplanes and were thus responsible unexpected problems that popped up inflight. The commander appears to be calling the repair crew 'gremlins' as a put down," Jacob replies to the comm officer.

With the room situation unfolding as it does, DeVries takes a look at the quarters he'll be sharing with Alik for the foreseeable future. "Looks like you'll be undoing everything you did during the installations at Starbase 11. Guess that's one way of getting stable employment," he quips. Once a room is selected he contacts cargo bay 1 to tell him where the to bring his personal effects. He then puts in his formal request for bridge officer duty, and finally contacts the bridge comm officer to provide his name and room number. After he finishes up the 'paperwork' the new arrival begins to search for the commodore's quarters/table on the datapad.

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by ManWithDoor » Sat Aug 21, 2021 2:11 pm

"Of course, sir. A full review to be made to set everything right that the crew of Starbase Gremlins touched."

... ... ...

Alik grunts with some humor at DeVries' comment about undoing all his previous work. "Well, I wasn't on the work crew going over this ship, so I'm not personally offended by the implications. And I've seen a lot of Starbases over my life, and this one ... well, let's just say it doesn't rise to my Top 3." He quiets down during the brige and carbo bay calls. "We're just lucky that the Starbase has such a bad reputation that any negative reviews will be ignored. Although I am curious what was said about us."
Love a Gremlins reference in any Star Trek media, given the Twilight Zone episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dar2HKImK-0
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Orvost » Sat Aug 21, 2021 9:54 pm

Jacob
Cadet Serao nods sagely at Jacob as if he has shared some wisdom with her. “Grema lins” She mouths to herself as she commits the phrase to memory.

Jacob follows the commander’s instructions to the letter as far as settling in and reporting. When Jacob calls to put in his formal request of duty, surprisingly the commander takes his call and speaks to him about it.
“Yes, Cadet…science officer, I anticipated that you would want to be a bridge officer, especially after our brief encounter with the doctor. First impressions aside, the doctor is a skilled surgeon and competent professional, in spite of what the Federation Medical Board may have said in the past. But that is another conversation.”

Every state room has a comms unit, but only the most senior officers’ rooms have a computer terminal (at least in this era of Star Trek). If Jacob wants to look up the commodore’s room on a computer, he will have to access a workstation or a computer lab somewhere else aboard ship.

Alik
Alik remembers that Poljos once explained that starbase engineers and starship engineers don’t get along. It’s surprising to see that prejudice extend to a first officer. In any case, Alik is a starship engineer and doesn’t take offense.

Jacob and Alik’s personal effects are beamed directly to their room from the cargo bay. Their shared room would be spacious and comfortable for a single occupant. For two people, it is a little close. As they are stowing their belongings, they feel a slight tug toward the floor as the inertial dampeners kick in and the Pas-de-Calais unmoors and pulls away from the Starbase. Their room has a porthole window where they can see the planet and orbital station quickly recede. It seems the ship can’t get away from Starbase 11 fast enough. The ship dropped a cargo pod when it docked, but it doesn’t seem to have picked another one up before it left.

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by ManWithDoor » Fri Aug 27, 2021 3:14 am

"Alright Jacob, unless we want to bother the bridge with questions as to where dinner will be, it looks like we'll need to find a workstation. I doubt a ship this small has a library or similar, but I'm sure I can find access to schematics in Engineering. It would be nigh-impossible not to have a current ship layout readily available. Coming?" He lets the others know where he's headed, and moves out. Time's a wasting.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Bohemond » Mon Aug 30, 2021 1:47 pm

Jacob will try to keep the comms officers on long enough to get the location of the Commodore's table, otherwise he may have to ask around.

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Orvost » Mon Sep 06, 2021 1:17 am

Alik
Alik wants to leave the bridge crew alone and find answers in engineering. Jacob wants to follow the opposite approach. So, for the moment, they part company.

Alik decides to let the others know what he’s up to, so he stops by the other rooms.

Shur and Campeador are settling in. They also noticed the lack of information about the Commodore’s whereabouts. Campeador planned to check in at security and maybe find answers there. He promises to fill everyone else in with what he finds out and asks Alik to do the same with what he learns in engineering.

When Alik goes to Weathers’ room, Cadet Serao is there too. This strikes Alik as odd since it never occurred to him that they were that close of friends. Serao says she will be busy the next few hours seeking leave from Medical to get greater control of life support systems in her room, so she can set the temperature at her own discretion. Weathers offers to accompany Alik to engineering if he wants the company.

Alik finds four people on duty when he enters main engineering: two petty officers and two ensigns. Everyone casually stops what they are doing to come over and meet “the new guy”. The question they all seem to want to know first is if Alik has met the chief engineer.

Jacob
Jacob will have to raise the comms officer again. He waves Alik off as he leaves for engineering before placing the call. The bridge communications officer is less than forthcoming when Jacob asks where the Commodore’s quarters are. “Sorry Cadet, that’s something we can’t discuss on an open channel. I know that only raises more questions. If you come to the bridge I can explain why and fill you in on what you need to know.”

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Bohemond » Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:59 pm

With the issue being extremely secretive, the science officer makes his way towards the bridge without much pomp. It all seems very hush-hush for a fancy dinner on a supply vessel. It reminds me of the earth mover and Bart back on the space station. Am I really so 'lucky' as to keep falling into the midst of conspiracy after conspiracy in Starfleet? It's only been a few weeks. DeVries will speak to the comm officer and return to his quarters, at least getting some familiarity with the vessel beyond Chekov's tour.

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by ManWithDoor » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:38 am

Alik has gotten used to the pleasant company of Weathers, and is happy to have her along. There's no reason that the strained environment that they navigated together has to extend here to their actual Ship. She isn't going to be shadowing him in Engineering, with everyone giving Alik side-eye, so they can settle in to a normal working relationship.

When he gets to Engineering he goes around glad-handing his new coworkers, introducing himself and Weathers. "Nope, haven't had the pleasure of meeting the Chief Engineer yet. So far I've really only had a conversation with Commander Chekov when he welcomed us aboard, the rest was a brief tour and then settling in to our bunks." He smiles, a little awkwardly. "But I thought I should get acquainted with the people I'll be serving with for the foreseeable future. Oh, and get access to a schematic of the ship so I know where everything is. I'm supposed to be showing up for dinner with the Commodore, and I didn't think anybody would appreciate me knocking on every door on every deck, trying to happen upon the right place."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Orvost » Thu Sep 16, 2021 5:21 am

Alik
“So you need to find the Commadore, but nobody told you where he is?”

The four engineers exchange glances before one of the ensigns speaks up.

“The Pas-de-Calais configuration of the Ptolemy class is one-of-a-kind and, you could say, top secret—but not through Starfleet Intelligence. Commodore Singh had her built to his specifications in the shipyard, then had the traditional Ptolemy schematics uploaded as her own. Everywhere you look her up--even aboard ship--you’re going to find wrong information. It drives starbase engineering crews crazy.”

They all chuckle at this.

“Anyway, it’s a simple security measure. People who belong onboard quickly ‘learn the ropes’. People who don’t belong onboard are going to wander around confused. Unfortunately, much of the crew take advantage of the confusion newly-assigned personnel experience and have developed a sort of hazing ritual around it. They’ll send you on a snipe hunt, from department to department, seeking what you’re looking for. If you need to find something, just come to us. If you can’t come to us, well, unless you get a straight answer, don’t fall for a wild goose chase."

Having explained the situation without actually answering Alik’s inquiry, the engineering personnel move on to what seems to be their favorite topic and quickly start talking over each other.

“So you haven’t met the chief engineer yet?”
“What you need to realize is that he’s the only Vulcan serving aboard a human vessel.”
“He’s just trying to fit in.”
“He’s trying to keep everyone at arm’s length.”
“He’s showing his contempt for humanity.”
“It’s sweet, the way he tries.”
“It’s creepy.”

Their excited chatter is broken up when the main door to engineering swishes open and in lopes a Vulcan wearing lieutenant commander stripes. His skin is sallow and you can almost see the green blood moving underneath it, which gives him a rather sickly pallor. His straight dark hair is cut with such symmetric precision that you could swear he calibrated it with his engineering tools. His uniform looks slightly, purposefully disheveled. He walks with a happy-go-lucky gait that seems too forced to be natural. His face is contorted into a goofy, lopsided grin that is so exaggerated, so artificial, that it might as well be painted on.

Well, well, well. You must be Cadet Craig. It sure is swell to meet you. I have seen your file and you certainly have cracker-jack credentials. I am sure we are going to be good friends!

Jacob
Jacob enters the bridge and the lieutenant at comms quickly waves him over.

“What was your name again, cadet? And you’re a science officer? I’m Lieutenant Vandane. Anyway it may seem weird that we have to talk about this in person, but I hope I can clear things up. You see, the commodore is a stickler for security. You might even call him paranoid.”

“When the Pas-de-Calais became his flagship, he had it secretly retrofitted and didn’t tell anyone, except his trusted crew. You look up the schematics and it’s all wrong. We can only discuss this situation in person because he thinks someone may be listening in on our comms system. Once your identity has been verified, you’ll be privy to the location of everything onboard ship as a trusted member of the crew. Now, I’m sure you are who you say you are: I mean, who would falsely claim to be a science officer aboard a transport tug? Still, you are going to have to get Starfleet identification verification from security. Go to the main security station and ask for identification verification and clearance. Tell them Lieutenant Vandane sent you.”

Behind you, the helmsman lets out a snort, which quickly becomes a cough as he clears his throat.

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Re: Act I Scene I: Starfleet Hospitality

Post by Bohemond » Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:34 pm

Jacob looks behind him for a moment, then returns his attention to the comm officer. "And how do I get to the main security station from here?" he says, wondering exactly how much has been retrofitted.

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