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

[likeavirtue]

Kennex remains still, rooted to his spot, and studying the woman too.

Her expression is so taut, so unmoving that he suddenly wonders if she's a Synthetic. Maybe a new model, something Nigel Vaughn unleashed onto the world in his disappearance from The City. He has the synthetic souls and - assuming he made it over the Wall - the lab space too.

Could this be one of his lab spaces, cleverly disguised in virtual reality image work? He mentally takes a note of that but nothing, so far, is conclusive.

He takes a breath.

First thing's first: "Where are we right now?"

[do_your_duty]

Aeryn settles back on the edge of the stool she'd come off of so fast and smooth it wasn't even a thought. The same way it was never a thought to reach for her gun. It was trained instinct. As close to breathing as fighting ever could be. Trained in just as long.

"The USS Enterprise-D." She doesn't look impressed to need to be anyone's primer course. Especially not about weaponized possible unfriendly. Not that she did any better. John was still yelling at her to put her gun down this little in to her getting here. "It's a starship." It's not too kindly. Like she was pointing out he was breathing air. Like he might need to know, and not be able to tell.

[likeavirtue]

Honestly?

Kennex is appreciative for the clarification. Because he's still not sure he believes her. If she is a Synthetic, she might just be part of the environment's program.

But that movement, her controlled emotions still lacking the refinement only an android can produce, or maybe something only one human would sense in another human, tells him that she is not actually made of highly advanced mechanical parts and a simulated soul.

Which leaves the environment they're in a big question. Kennex is tired. He'd been on his feet pretty much all day, and he had been ready to head home for a long-deserved night of sleep when he was brought here by something.

It occurs to him that if Dorian were here, he'd be able to confirm or deny whether this place was actually a starship. He'd be able to check the outside atmospheric pressure or something along those lines. Maybe he wasn't so useless after all.

He rubs his face.

Either way, right now he is just not in the mood for this shit.

"Look, I don't know who you are or if this is actually a starship," he starts, his tone pretty much disbelieving, "but I am just as happy to be here as you clearly are. So who's running this operation and where can I find them?"

[do_your_duty]

"The Captain's name is Picard." Though you'll notice she actually doesn't call him Captain, just places it as his designation. It's not very obvious. But he's not her captain. He's this places Captain and she has no Captain. Hasn't since she was stripped of her rank and set on the run, with a band of renegade prisoners, for daring to say one human was too stupid to have committed willful murder.

After exile, she's only more certain of the fact he's too stupid for murder. "And he can usually be found on the bridge."

For some reason, her mouth twists, oddly sharp, half tug. "Though you'll find they consider it out of bounds."

[likeavirtue]

"Out of bounds?"

Ha. Kennex laughs in the face of restricted areas.

Well, not really. More like he frowns intensely in the face of restricted areas, and then plunges forward, without a damn care for anyone who might have something to say.

His penchant for reckless behaviour and his deep-seeded anger issues don't exactly help either. But this time, there's a slightly deranged grin that appears on his face, a daring look that expresses exactly what he says aloud:

"We'll see about that."