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ten_fwd_ooc2014-06-22 06:24 pm
tenforward_m) wrote in ten_fwd_ooc2014-06-22 06:24 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE #3 - Alien Bazaar/Ten Forward
#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.
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.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
Since Dylan was in shock, she was willing for forgive him. So, she got up out of her seat, and did her best to guide him over to the chair and use it. Trance gave him a look like 'don't make me spoon feed the tea to you'.
"There is still a Commonwealth here--but I do have some bad news. It's only the 24th century. We're not in our past, but it is very, very similar. It could have been us, our universe. And what happened to our Commonwealth could easily happen to their Federation. Think of our universes as two puzzle pieces that fit together. Almost perfectly."
Trance fished out a flexi and dropped it in front of Dylan, before sitting back down. "I downloaded what I could onto it.But their history is on their ship's computer."
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
It just looks like a bar, though there are some people scattered through the crowd wearing uniforms.
But Trance isn't finished talking. She keeps standing after Dylan sits down, and he lets out a wry breath at her words.
"The 24th century. At least here I'm not a fossil."
People mostly say that behind his back, but he knows. He's a fossil, a High Guard relic, a remnant of a bygone era too foolish to know when he's beaten. But Dylan will never let himself buy into that.
If he does, his mission's half failed already.
He listens, brows knit attentively, as she gives what's a remarkably to the point report for Trance, and drops a flexi in front of him. He picks it up, frowning, and scans down it for a few paragraphs before he looks back up at her.
"You're well prepared. It's almost like you were waiting for me."
It's an idle comment, but as he picks up the mug she's been glaring at to take a sip, his eyebrows life and he looks up from the flexi over the rim of the mug at her.
"Have you been waiting for me?"
She's been pretty vague on the details, but ... this is Trance. Could she have known this was going to happen?
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
"It was always a possibility. That possibility gotten stronger each day. And now you are here. " It never hurt to be prepared for possibilities. Especially after the disaster that was the World Ship.
"You are remarkably active for a fossil. At least here we wont have to put you in a museum. I think you'll find this place intriguing, almost familiar." Here one fear is that it will make him homesick.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
It wakes the old ache that's been there every day since the Maru pulled him out of the black hole and Harper told him what happened to the Commonwealth. It brings it all back, seeing this parallel version summarized for him: the majesty of Tarn-Vedra, the links of friendship tying it to a million other worlds before it was lost, the might of the High Guard, the promise of justice and freedom across three galaxies.
He always aches deep inside for what Known Worlds have lost with the fall of the Systems Commonwealth, but the Federation of Allied Planets brings it right back to him, seeing it here, sends a stab of longing through him.
He's sure to let out a slow breath, keeping his smile fixed on his face for Trance, as she points out that the possibility he'd arrive here had been growing stronger, and that ... is probably the best he'll get from her.
She's certainly spoken about seeing possibilities before, however and whyever that is.
"I'd just like to point out that if Beka and the rest of you are planning to kidnap me and sell me to a museum, you've got a fight on your hands," he quips, because it's easier than admitting what her flexi just sent through his heart.
"Of course, in the 24th century, the Commonwealth was there in our world, too." As impossibly strange as it sounds to say those words.
"So, what do you think the purpose of us being here is?"
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
She smiled, giving him a few more seconds to contemplate the idea of a Commonwealth here, in this universe, before she spoke.
"It could be many things. We could be here to learn more about their United Federation of Planets, we could be here to influence certain areas, events in time. Or....whoever brought us here might have just been bored. I can't bring us back...I tried." and got brought back like a naughty child.
"How's the tea?"
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
"I'm sure you could make special arrangements for landing them a catch like me. But then Andromeda would be mad at you and you don't want to deal with an angry warship. She's very loyal, you know."
It says a lot for the friendships that have developed between Dylan and his crew over the past year that they can joke, now, about something so similar to how they met, when they'd tried to steal the Andromeda out from under them and he'd fought against them with everything he had to protect her.
"Learning more about the Federation could help us rebuild the Commonwealth," he agrees, trying not to let the flutter the idea sends through his soul reflect in his voice. He's studied the history of the Commonwealth, of course, but it had been founded on an empire, and he's not about to go down that road.
How was the Federation founded? Could it offer some guidance to a soldier who's had to be diplomat, statesman, mediator time and again just to pull together a fragile handful of worlds? If she's right, and there is a purpose to them being here, then surely it must be that.
He's giving her a thoughtful look, brows creased, when she mentions trying to bring herself and Harper back. Before he can say anything, though, she asks about the tea.
"The tea's great," he says, voice a little flat as he watches her. There's always so much beneath the surface with Trance, and the longer he knows her, the more convinced he is that he has only ever touches on what there is to know.
"Should you have been able to come back from another time and universe?" It's quiet, but there's a firmness, no more, just a hint that this is a serious question. Dylan's been back in time -- and back -- before, but this is something completely different.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
Trance's eye flashed a little and in that instance instead humanoid eyes, there was a planet orbiting a star. And then she blinked. "Haven't we done that before?" Trance asked, smiling, waiting for him to put the pieces together.
"I think the more we learn about the Federation, their history, negotiating tactics, how they choose planets for entry, the better off we will be. This is an opportunity, no matter if it the reason we are here,or not.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
"I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing, except from Harper's point of view."
He makes that sound perfectly logical, too, and this time, it's because it is. That stuff is foul.
But then something happens, a strange flash in Trance's eyes that it's hard to be sure he sees, and as he narrows his eyes at her. Going back in time? Yes. They have. And not just Dylan teleporting, but the whole ship.
Back in time on a day he wishes he'd never seen. A day that chills him to his soul to remember.
A day when she'd been flying. When she'd fled Command when he'd stormed in to find out who'd been doing what to his ship.
They'd written it off as an accident.
But this is Trance.
"You did that on purpose."
Even he's surprised by how cold his voice is, haunted by a hundred thousand deaths.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
One word. One simple word. Honestly she was surprised he hadn't figured it out before now. On his own. Maybe she had done a better job than she thought she had. But Trance knew from the face Dylan now wore that he didn't understand the reason behind it. Instead, he was just angry. And it was a quiet angry.Sometimes, despite everything she'd tried to teach him, guide him with, Dylan still thought with his heart. That was his strong point, but at the moment, it was also a weakness. He couldn't step back and see why she had done it. Why it had to be done. It wasn't just him. Everyone played an important role that day.
Maybe she should have ordered Dylan some alcohol instead.
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
Nietzschean legends call him the Angel of Death for what he did that day. For what she made him do. Oh, she didn't tell him. They'd worked it all out themselves. What happened if those ships stayed in the skies. What happened if the helped the Commonwealth. Which way the Long Night could get even worse. The hard mathematics of how many people he had to kill to stop a Nietzschean Empire or a total overrunning of the galaxies with Magog.
He leans forward, his hands on the table, barely controlling his anger enough to keep his voice level, though it's still just as full of cold fury as it was.
"There were a hundred thousand people on those ships."
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
She gave him a slight smile. Not a happy smile, but a smile.
"But that's not the point. Dylan. Focus."
Trust Dylan to dwell on that. That was why he was Dylan, but, at the moment, it was hindering their conversation. He could yell at her later, once he understood all the components. But now was not that time.
"Remember where you are."
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
That day tore him apart.
He hates the Nietzscheans for what they did. Hates them for Gaheris Rhade. For the Commonwealth. For the enslaving of so many worlds in such brutality. Whatever Rev Bem might say about him being proof that there can be good in a race that brings so much evil.
But never. Never would he have committed that slaughter for anything less than the stakes that situation stuck him with. Hell, he didn't even do it when it would have saved the whole Commonwealth.
(Sometimes, something dark inside him regrets that.)
"And just what do you want me to focus on, Trance?"
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
Trance looked at him, hoping to see a glimpse that he was understanding what she was trying to tell him.
"Do you understand?"
Re: WEIRD THINGS GOING ON? Look for a Trance!
He's spent a lot of time since that day trying not to think about it. Trying to avoid the crushing feeling of knowing what he did, of standing on the Andromeda Ascendant's bridge as Harper's weapon tore through a thousand Nietzschean ships.
"So we have to be ambassadors for the Commonwealth." He gives her a half-smile, not entirely genuine. "It's not exactly like that's unfamiliar to me, Trance. I've lived and breathed the Commonwealth. I'm from Tarn-Vedra. I knew the history and the story of the Commonwealth from the time I was a child."