TEST DRIVE #3 - Alien Bazaar/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Alien planet, marketplace: So you're new to this whole space travel thing. The ship is cool and all, but there are hundreds of alien worlds out there. You want to explore. To see what the universe REALLY looks like.

Well, here's your chance! Your first stop is this lovely indoor marketplace, which looks kind of like a mall. There are stalls one after the other as far as the eye can see, and they sell all kinds of things: food, clothes, trinkets, animals, fabrics, jewelry, perfumes, books, etc etc. Some things look human, easy to recognize; other things look very alien. There are two levels, and constant chatter as people hawk their wares and discuss prices.

Do you want to explore? Poke at the weird shops? Buy a gift for a new friend? Flirt with someone at the food court? Maybe you see a pickpocket, and must run to the aid of the victim. Maybe there's some other villainy afoot. After all, a crowded marketplace is a good place for villains to lurk, causing trouble. Whether you're a hero or just an unassuming traveler, there proves to be some adventure for you on this planet.


2

Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[in_the_wrong_q]

"The number of displaced is vastly more insignificant to the actual crew of this ship. Besides, some people have just been here longer." A shake of his head. "I'm sure you'll adjust the longer you're here."

[diplomaticalways]

"I don't need to adjust. I'm not going to be here much longer."

Something about him is really grating. She can't exactly put her finger on it. Maybe it's his attitude? The fact that he's being completely unhelpful? Either way, before she can stop herself, she blurts out "Some of us have work to do."

[in_the_wrong_q]

"Trust me, colonel. Your work will be there when you get back."

Oh, these mortals. So concerned with their day-to-day continuances. It amused him slightly.

"For the meanwhile, sit back, relax, and enjoy everything the Enterprise has to offer."

oooh lookie here

[electro_kinetic]

Don't look now, but there is some interesting tech walking by, Tony. Sure, it's being worn by a young woman with a small screwdriver holding her hair into a half-improvised twist instead of the more common pencil, but unless he's developed any interest in weird hair colors, the tech will be the attention-getting part.

When Noriko slides into a chair, which she promptly leans onto its back support (she's sitting in it backwards), she glances up at Tony, because she can feel the difference in electric flow around him. And she's seriously never been the most subtle of creatures. Ever.

"What've you got there?" she asks without much preamble, looking directly at him and tapping a finger to the center of her own chest.

[funnythingsare]

Tony shrugged. "Weird. So you missed the whole... alien invasion of New York." He swallowed hard and took a sip of his drink. Shit. This should not affect him like this. "Anyway. Maybe you're lucky. Superheroes are dicks."

[funnythingsare]

Tony blinks at her. "Yours or mine?" he asks with practiced smoothness. "Because I've got a pretty good memory, and I'm pretty sure I'd remember if I'd had what you've got."

Yay Kira~

[electro_kinetic]

"Wow, hey, some of us have eardrums we'd like to keep, thanks," comes the reply from a shock of blue hair and yellow jersey and silvery metal occupying a table. Technically, yes, it's a Noriko, but Kira would be forgiven for not knowing that.

At least you caught her cleaning her gauntlets and not something weirder, Colonel. And it could get weirder. "From all appearances you appear to be shouting at us, does that help?"

[electro_kinetic]

"As in having it, or not?" she asks, eyebrows raised.

She herself has no tattoos--yet. There's a lady here who can help with that and Noriko intends to pay her a visit sooner or later.

[diplomaticalways]

"Refugee camps? Q?" She reaches up, rubbing her forehead in frustration before she continues, not actually giving him a chance to answer. "I'm starting to think I'm not in the right time period."

She pulls her hand away from her face, looking around the room until her eyes land on one of the replicators.

"I need a Raktajino. This is giving me a headache. Care to join me? You can tell me what time we're in, and if anyone knows how we're all getting home yet."

[electro_kinetic]

"If you had what I've got I wouldn't have needed to ask," she replies, with a half-amused quasi-grin. But just to be fair, she does pull down the neck of her shirt far enough that the skin exposed shows no sign of being mated to metal or any of the components of an arc reactor. Nothing unusual but a couple scars, really.

"Breasts I'm used to. Oddly glowing circles where one's sternum ought to be that alter the electrical field around you...that's new."

[empathic_pathfinder]

"I have my own drink, but please. I'll find us a table."

Terzen is keeping his voice calm, collected. He can feel the stress radiating off the woman, and the best thing to do would be to explain everything he knows to the best of his ability.

And he would. He doesn't want anyone to be completely unprepared. So, he's going off to find them a table.

[diplomaticalways]

She smiles humorlessly, her eyes narrowing just barely.

"I'm not the relaxing type. Then again, I'm not much for games either. So I'm going to go find someone who's a little more forthcoming with what they know."

[in_the_wrong_q]

"Being a bit presumptious, aren't we?" The man says, resting his chin on his hand again. "For all you know, I could know exactly what you need to know. You might not have asked the right question."

:D

[diplomaticalways]

At first, it almost looks like she's going to turn and totally blow up in response to those comments. Instead, she smiles. It's a smile full of irritated restraint, but it's still a smile.

She turns to Noriko, and answers, her voice one of forced cheerfulness. "No. It doesn't."

[electro_kinetic]

"Then you might need to refine your question," she replies, faintly dry. she's very rarely affected by people she doesn't know shouting at her. There's a line to cross before it actually gets to her personally.

"This happens sometimes. Long story short, apparently this universe pissed off the biggest troll known to man and he decided we'd all do well with a forced vacation in the middle of literally nowhere." Space being a vacuum and all, Noriko would have rather been dumped in rural Virginia, where at least she could exist if she walked outside.

[diplomaticalways]

That gets her to come closer. She even leans forward, resting her hands on his table, so her face is nearly level with his.

"Didn't I just say I don't care for games? If you know something about how I got here, why don't you just spill it now, and stop wasting my time."

[diplomaticalways]

It's not long before she's back with a generous cup of the Klingon beverage. She seats herself across from him, and after allowing herself a sample of coffee, she looks across at him, ready to get down to it.

"Okay. So, the "why" doesn't need more explanation. I thought we were finished with Q, but I can't say I'm completely surprised that he's back. I guess the real question is WHEN are we? And where."

[in_the_wrong_q]

"Well, Q certainly picked an interesting player." The man says. If he's concerned by how close Kira is, he isn't showing, instead, his grin is widening.

"And, I'm afraid, colonel, that you may not have a choice but to play Q's game. He's the only one who can send you back, after all."

[diplomaticalways]

"So the same thing happened to you?"

Okay so maybe she'd overreacted. Just a bit. Not that she'll apologize or anything, but she might drop the attitude. Or most of it, anyway.

"Who's the troll?"

[empathic_pathfinder]

"I'm glad you're aware of Q. That saves a lot of awkward questions and disbelief." He takes a sip of his tea, smiling. He's been through that a few times.

"The when? Stardate 43367.2." He comments, that Stardate being three years prior to Bajor's liberation from the Cardassian Occupational Forces. "We are currently en route to Alemar III."

[diplomaticalways]

"Q?! That's who did this?"

For a moment, she's actually speechless. She straightens, and in frustration, she waves an arm around again.

"Is any of this even real?

[in_the_wrong_q]

"Of course it's all real! Come now, colonel, do you really think that this is all an illusion?" He laughs at that. "Do you really think Q would invent something so dull as a human starship?"

[diplomaticalways]

"I was afraid you'd say something like that." She responds with a dejected sigh as she replaces her cup on the table. Staring down into it, she can't help but think about the precious little time she'd had left with Odo, and how it was being squandered away on some maniac's game.

But, with a grimace, she forces those thoughts away. Lamenting it isn't going to get her back to the right time.

"What's the Enterprise's crew doing about those who've been... displaced?" What can they do?

[empathic_pathfinder]

Oh, he can feel that. That sadness like a knife into his heart. Sometimes, being an empath wasn't all it was cracked up to be...

"I'm sorry." He says, meaning it. "As for what we can do? I'm not sure there's anything they can do. We're not even sure if we're in the same dimension as we were."

He sighs, himself, taking another sip of his drink, before setting it down, clasping his hands in front of him, before he looks up at Kira. "I'm from nearly two years into the future of this vessel and it's crew, myself. At this moment in time, I'm a Lieutenant on the Pathfinder. There are people here from even further back in time, and even different dimensions. If it were simply time, we could work with that, but..."

He didn't know what else to say. He wasn't exactly an expert on this, though he has read up on the subject since being displaced to the Enterprise.

[electro_kinetic]

"Because I look like I belong in the world of military, plastic design, and unisuits?" Noriko asks, sending Kira a raised eyebrow and a look full of what were you smoking.

"Something named Q. Other than he tends to piss off the illustrious leader of this boat and he's got a sense of humor I'd like to realign with a steel bat, that's all I've got."