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

[defendergirl]

"Are you lookin' for someone?"

Rose - blonde-haired, brown-eyed, dressed in blue jeans and a bright pink hoodie - hasn't yet had the pleasure of someone popping up out of nowhere right in front of her while in Ten Forward.

(Her own 'winking' into this ship had been by way of Blue Box, after all, and it was nothing but storage and cargo bay to greet her.)

She'd literally been about to take a seat with a cup of tea when Dylan appeared.

[spideys]

"Whoa - hey!"

Following the exclamation is the sound of something sloshing (but more or less remaining intact), and the sound of a plate clattering to the floor, and with it synthetic-but-still-(once)-delicious spaghetti and meatballs.

That's ... gonna leave a stain.

Sorry, Ten Forward.

The young man who had very nearly collided into the good captain, and only narrowly missed slamming right into the man's chest because of his innate Spidey sense, glances at him.

Uh - he's tall.

And Peter Parker's not exactly short.

"Man, they really need to figure a better way of getting people onto this ship."

Re: Telemachus Rhade | Andromeda

[not_gaheris]

It was certainly sounding like this Dylan was siding with Rommie, who, just a few hours ago had taken one look at Telemachus and responded that his blood alcohol level was practically toxic...and probably grateful he wasn't trying to take a seat in the pilots chair. Don't fly drunk.

"You never know until you try, Captain." Rhade slid that in there, throwing him a bone since this wasn't his Dylan and it took too much effort to hate him. He was too lazy to hate him. Being drunk was easier.

"You know, if you stopped getting yourself into foolishly suicidal positions, we wouldn't need to save you." Telemachus was definitely slurring his words as he poured himself another cup.

Re: Garyn Balvadares, the Nerevarine | The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind

[dreams_dont_die]

Dylan's still uneasy in this place, even after talking to Trance. He doesn't trust nothing else to happen, and he's considering what his options might be when he hears the shout and turns to see who's doing the shouting.

This could be what he's been expecting to happen.

If it's not, it's sure something he can at least do something about. A creature of a race completely unfamiliar to him, shouting, wielding a sword that looks very much like it's stained in blood?

This is the point at which instinct takes over, instinct and years of High Guard training and High Guard operations and living with the lance as a part of himself. Slowly, not taking his eyes off whoever this is, Dylan draws his lance and holds it out in front of him. He extends the lance and, in one smooth movement, steps forward to take up a classic defensive stance of his own.

He can read the body language of combat well, and this looks like somebody who's not about to leap straight to the attack, but he's going to take guard anyway.

"Whoever you're looking for, they're not here!"

[This is what you've got. Big guy, big stick.]

[dreams_dont_die]

"Yes."

Dylan is standing, still, assessing, bright blue eyes narrowing as he looks around him. But this is definitely no room aboard the Andromeda Ascendant. For one thing, it's full of people, and Dylan has a crew of five on a ship with a complement of four thousand. And it's not some sort of weird time-slip, because these people aren't High Guard. In fact, there are races he doesn't recognize, and people in uniforms that are like nothing he knows.

"But I don't think she's here," he says, turning now to look at the young woman who'd spoken to him. She's a lot smaller than him, shorter even than Harper, and she's holding a mug of something in her hand.

"Because this is not my ship. I'm Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant. And I ... have no idea where I am."

[defendergirl]

"Well, Captain Dylan Hunt of the Commonwealth ... etcetera, etcetera, you're definitely not on your ship anymore," Rose says, putting her cup of tea down.

It clinks with a very normal, very familiar sound of ceramic hitting table-surface.

She offers the big bloke a smile.

"Hello. I'm Rose Tyler.

"And you're on someone else's ship. A - uh, Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise." She waves a hand. "A whole bunch of us are a bit far from home too."

[dreams_dont_die]

The sudden shout makes Dylan lurch, ducking back a little out of the way of the young man who seems to have appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

And that means that the plate of food which had suddenly gone flying mostly misses him and just gets a little bit of the sauce splashed onto the highly-polished surface of Dylan's boots.

Now, this is strange.

He's been walking along corridors on Andromeda before and wound up somewhere completely different, but that was somewhere (or somewhen) on the same ship, at least. There is something very wrong happening here.

"Which ship is this?" Dylan asks, looking up from the floor. "Because I should be on the Andromeda Ascendant."

[spideys]

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, the Enterprise."

Peter crouches down to scoop up as much of the noodle mess as he can with the utensils that he'll obviously not be using after this.

There goes lunch.

(At least until he gets another plate from the replicator.)

"You've got a ship too?" Why is he not surprised? The mutterings of the teenage boy can be heard as Peter says, "How does everyone seem to have a ship in this place?"

[dreams_dont_die]

"The Andromeda Ascendant," he repeats, but there's little rancor in it. If anything, Dylan's got a suggestion of a smile on his face as he looks at her. "That would be why she's not talking to me."

Which he'd already worked out, and which is really disconcerting. This is like that time when Harper's tesseract machine was going haywire with time and space around the Andromeda, but that was localized. This is clearly not. There was no ship anywhere near the Andromeda.

"Rose. You can call me Dylan." There aren't all that many situations in which he insists on 'Captain Hunt' since the Maru pulled him out of the black hole. After all, that was one of Beka's rules for joining his crew.

"The USS Enterprise?" he asks, brows drawing together in concentration. It's certainly not the name of any ship he's ever heard of. Of course, there are countless ships out there he doesn't know, but given the lack of operational High Guard ships, there aren't many out there big enough to have a mess of this size on them.

"I don't know it. But what do you mean about people being a bit far from home? You're saying this happens a lot here?"

[defendergirl]

Andromeda.

Oh.

Oh, wait.

"You were talkin' to your ship just now, weren't you?" And now she wonders whether it answers him back, in full conversation - and how jealous would the Doctor be of that kind of thing? Ha.

But ... they'll get back to that in a bit. For now, she's going to do her best to be an unofficial welcome committee.

"Hello, Dylan.

"Yeah, it's been happenin' for a little while now, far as we can tell. People are getting pulled in from every which way by this bloke called Q of the ... well, Q. You're the most recent arrival, I reckon."

[dreams_dont_die]

"I wouldn't be much use as a captain without one," he points out, though he doesn't expect anyone to recognize the insignia on his collar anymore.

"The Enterprise?"

He considers for a few moments, thinking about the name, but as this is clearly not a High Guard ship, it's not really a surprise he doesn't know the name.

Just how far away is he, to have wound up on some other ship when there wasn't one for a long way from Andromeda? And, more pressingly, how in the name of the Empress did he get here?

"I'm not familiar with this ship. Just how did I get here?"

It was really kind of like that tesseracting, but far, far more powerful.

[spideys]

Peter picks up the tray of discarded food and deposits it at a nearby empty table. He'll deal with that - and lunch - later.

"You were uh - winked here." He shrugs. "You know, like - one second you're on your own ship and the next you're - poof. Here. I don't even think you could go so far as to say you were dematerialized and then reconverted into matter, because there's the transporter for that. Maybe something similar, but I haven't figured it out yet."

Another shrug.

"That's how everyone else was brought here too. A lot of them from their ships. I just got here from the street, on my way back home."

He wipes a hand against the fabric of his jacket, and offers it to the very large, semi-intimidating man.

"You got a name, captain?"

[dreams_dont_die]

"I was," he confirms, looking ruefully at the ceiling as if that would make Andromeda's image appear in front of him and give him the information he so suddenly needs. "I was going to ask her what her sensors saw, but I think I know the answer now."

Dylan, disappearing from a corridor on his way to Command, and reappearing far out of her range. By now, she's almost certainly paged the rest of the crew in alarm and demanded they help find him. He'd like to find himself, because that could really help them out, but knowing that Rommie and the others will be looking for him always a good thing to have in the back of his mind when things get tricky.

"What, there's a person doing this?" he asks. What is going on? Some sort of megalomaniac with a tesseract machine? "What are his intentions?"

Because that sounds very much like being taken captive, and without knowing where he is and how far away he is from his ship, he's got no way of contacting her to tell her.

[defendergirl]

"A sort of person. I think he's more like some kind of alien, really, but no one's really got that much information. At least ... nothin' they're willing to share."

Not that she's the sort of person to just sit around and be okay with that. Her and the Doctor and Jack? Oh, they'll be figuring this one out, and no one's going to stop them.

"A few people have met him though. I mean, I wouldn't mind getting a word in if I can. And as far as anyone knows, he ... sort of does this kind of thing for fun. Like a sort of test."

At least that was what Lt. Barclay told her and the Doctor.

[osirian_doctor]

This time, Simon's smile isn't mere politeness, it's amusement, unusual for him from a complete stranger, but her attention is rather flattering, whether because she's good-looking or because her bearing and enunciation remind him of times long lost is difficult to determine.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. It could just be because so far he's managed to have a conversation with a woman without making a fool out of himself.

"None of those, I'm afraid. I was a trauma surgeon, and now I'm the medic on a small transport ship."

That's ... probably the best way to describe Serenity without going into too much detail.

[not_gaheris]

He could probably use a bath too. There was a bit of a water shortage in the Seefra system. "Aren't you a helpful ray of sunshine," Telemachus scowled, slurring his words. Which was quite a feat for a Nietzschean. He was working hard at getting drunk and exploring his self hatred.

"So who the hell are you?" Looking around, it seemed that this ship was in the same dilemma as the Andromeda. She wasn't going anyway. Fabulous. "And why am I on a ship that's not moving?" For Andromeda, there was an easy explanation. There was no where to go, not that Dylan wasn't working on it. This? This was not his problem. And no one was going to make it his problem.

Of course, if Dylan were here, it would take all of 5 minutes before it became his problem. He needed a new captain. One that wasn't so....enthusiastic.

[asklepian]

Well, Julian wasn't going to comment, but now that you say something...anyway, he certainly tries. His cheer levels are a bit depleted at the moment.

"Doctor Julian Bashir, Starfleet. And it's not moving because the warp drive is currently offline."

Julian sips at his tea, noting the bone spurs on the man's wrists, and recalled what Trance had said, about Nietzschians. He had to wonder, was this man one of them, or was this just a stupendous coincidence?

[not_gaheris]

Well Rhade has no idea what a warp drive is, but he can figure it out. He's Nietzschean. If were stupid he probably would have been drowned as a child.

Well, it could certainly be that Julian's cheer levels were depleted, or it could be the dark cloud of angst that was Rhade sucking it all out of the room. He looked around. If it was a choice between this place and the hell that was Seefra? Fuck, he'd take Seefra. Even if there was no water, it was a hell of a lot more fun than this.

"Never seen a Nietzschean before, Doctor?" Telemachus scowled. Usually he's much more pleasant!

[asklepian]

"No, because you're in a different reality, and Nietzscheans don't exist here. Before now, obviously." You're currently sitting across from the closest thing to, Telemachus. "I've been told a bit about your people, by someone else pulled in from your universe."

The beige and tan colors of Ten Forward Julian actually finds quite relaxing--it's not as dark and shadowy and chaotic as Quark's can get, which is a welcome change.

[not_gaheris]

"Fabulous. I get pulled from Andromeda to the Seefra system, some sort of inescapable pocket dimension, and now I'm here. This is Dylan's fault. Or Trance. It's one of them, they did this."

He looked at his empty cup, wanting more but really to lazy and drunk to go get it.He hated to admit it but maybe Harper was right. And just because he was drunk didn't mean Rhade had lost all his manners, he gave Julian a mock salute. "Lt. Commander Telemachus Rhade of the New Systems Commonwealth starship Andromeda Ascendant." Telemachus narrowed his eyes, staring at the young doctor. "You've never really seen a Nietzschean." And on that thought he felt a little guilty. Rhade was not exactly in the best spot to be an ambassador of his kind. Until normal circumstances he'd be perfect. Unfortunately at the moment he was an unwashed drunk drowning in self pity.

[asklepian]

"Q, actually. Trance has been nothing but helpful--unless you ask the security officers." Julian rather likes her, actually. "Though I suppose that answers the question as to whether you know her or not."

Julian tilts his head toward Telemachus' cup. "What's your pleasure, Commander?" His tea's gone that unpleasant sort of lukewarm and he's feeling magnanimous. And curious, though indulging in the middle of Ten Forward might not be the smartest thing he's ever done. Safe enough, though, if he couches his questions in the trappings of an interested scholar and not the personal one of being an Augment himself, post-Eugenics or no.

Re: Garyn Balvadares, the Nerevarine | The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind

[moonandstar]

Nerevar shifts his stance to face the enemy directly. As he is indeed an enemy, until he shows otherwise.

"Oh? And who have I found, pray tell?"

He looks the man over. Clearly, he's found someone who knows how to handle a quarterstaff. He can't rule out the possibility that the weapon is enchanted, either. He's tall - at the very least not much shorter than Nerevar himself. Best not to attack him until he knows he must. His clothes belong to no army or service that he can recognize. He doesn't know who or what this man is. But he can venture a guess or two.

"A mercenary? A spellblade? Whatever Dren's paying you, I can pay more."

[not_gaheris]

"Trance? Naturally, of course Trance is here. Figures. There are only 5 people on our ship with a crew complement of 4000. Yeah. I know her."

Telemachus forced himself to look around, and then back at himself. What a disgrace. It really was his luck. He meets this guy who has never seen Nietzscheans before. He couldn't have met him a year ago? Before his world went and died on him.

"Something alcoholic, if you would. No doubt I'm going to regret this in the morning." Rhade smiled at the man ruefully. "I"m afraid I don't think I can get up."

Rhade really did want to talk to the man. But he also really wanted his head to stop spinning and the opportunity to tell his stomach contents to stay where they were.

[asklepian]

"Well, the universe is a big place, and I didn't want to presume." Julian gets up from the chair easily, going back to the bar and returning after a few moments with something bright orange that he sets in front of Telemachus, as well as a glass of water, and a hot toddy for himself, because when in Rome. Yes, he can juggle all of those. He's a surgeon, dammit.

"Drink some water first, it'll help you stop looking so green around the gills." He sets back with his drink. "I can call a medical emergency if you pass out," he continues, a joking tone in his voice.

"Though on the scale of things that deserve a stiff drink, being shifted between realities ranks well up there." Cheers, buddy.

[not_gaheris]

Rhade chucked at that suggestion, and took a large sip of water. "Thanks. You might have to. I've already passed out once today."

Talk about embarrassing though. First Harper hits him with a chair to wake him up out of his drunken stupor, and then he might pass out in a bar on a strange ship while drinking with a doctor. Harper was right. He chose a crappy day to explore self hatred.

"That's a good reason, but not while I'm drinking. My family's dead. My children. My wife. My lover. The entire known worlds have probably gone to shit and I was stuck in some hell hole I couldn't get out of. And now, it turns out I'm stuck in a different hell hole." Of course that had been his excuse nine months ago too. It was such a good excuse he couldn't help but keep using it.