TEST DRIVE MEME #4 - The Arboretum/Ten Forward

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01: Aboard the Enterprise, The Arboretum: In exploring the Enterprise, you end up on Deck 17, section 21 alpha: the arboretum. Instantly upon entering you can tell this room is different from all the others. For one thing, you're now standing on grass. It's no illusion, no simulation; it's real grass, leading up to a small pond in the center of the room. All around you grows a variety of plant life, trees and bushes and hanging plants, flowers and herbs and even what one might consider weeds. The arboretum is, for all intents and purposes, a botanic garden, used both recreationally for passengers to relax and enjoy, and scientifically for research and study. After all, the scope of alien plant life is impressive, from the Cyprion cacti down to the Earth variety roses.

The room is well lit and large, with benches to rest on and small walking paths. Children are grouped off in one corner working on botany projects, while some passengers are seen kneeling in the dirt carefully tending to their garden patches. There are even windows along one wall, allowing for a view of space while the room itself gives the illusion of daylight. It's the perfect spot to relax, read a book, or grab a spare spade and dig in the dirt. Or perhaps you've been looking for the right moment to say hello to the passenger standing off by the venus flytraps.





Option 02: Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: Or maybe not. You've just arrived, and you have no idea what just happened. One minute you were somewhere else, and now you're in what looks like a spacious, well-appointed bar. The hum of the crowd is inviting, and the drinks look invigorating. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

Try to find out why you're here, or catch a drink at the bar; there's always something happening here.

Comments

[unkindness]

Seven sweeps past him towards the doors--she'd also erased the log of his intrusion, and hers. Once people realize her engineering skill it won't prevent her from being suspected, but for now it will throw them off.

He can follow her, or not. She's leading the way just as he asked.

She's not quite as familiar with the layout of a Galaxy-class ship like she is with Voyager, but the turbolifts are the same, and she can request a location of the computer. Most are probably going to be off limits. But the crew lounge surely would not be.

"Deck 10."

[partofaplan]

Peter's just going to follow her, looking around, frowning. This definitely wasn't like any other ship he had been on. Pretty big, all gleaming metal, bright lights...

It was weird.

"So... How big's this thing, anyway?"

[unkindness]

"Length 641 meters, beam 190 meters, height 473 meters. A Galaxy-class vessel such as this one has a crew compliment of 1,012 and a maximum evacuation capacity of 15,000."

She preferred her own ship. Smaller, but with sleeker lines and far fewer people. She isn't precisely comfortable with large groups of them.

[partofaplan]

"Holy shit." Here, have a low, impressed whistle. "Only high-end Kree warships come even close."

He shakes his head.

"And... are these... common?"

[unkindness]

She's not familiar with the Kree, not even vaguely, which enforces her suspicion that they were also dealing with spatial displacement of a more severe kind--between realities. Seven knows billions of species by name.

"There are ten in service by 2374, with more being built."

Galaxy-class ships were some of the more powerful, after all, and the Federation had been at war.

[partofaplan]

"You must be fightin' some big-scale war or somethin'."

Because why else would you need big-ass ships? To be explorers?

[unkindness]

"While Starfleet is the Federation's defense force, at this point in time there is no sustained warfare. These ships are generally used for scientific and diplomatic expeditions."

She knew of the Dominion War, but that was a few years from occurring. And there was always the Borg.

[partofaplan]

"...You seriously use a huge fricken starship for diplomatic reasons?"

Excuse him while he just gapes at you.

"Talk about showing your strength."

[unkindness]

He gets another primly arched eyebrow. Your reactions to this situation are certainly interesting.

"This in particular is the flagship of the fleet. It is often called upon to mediate negotiations between other powers."

"It is not as specialized as the ship I am from. Voyager's intended purpose is long-term deep space scientific research and exploration."

[partofaplan]

Hey, he's been kidnapped before. No sense going too overboard.

Besides, he's learning as well as reacting. He's just doing it in his own way.

"So, you send a big-ass starship to show that you're not to be dicked around with?"

[unkindness]

"I am not sure that is the intention." But it is an efficient tactic of intimidation, not that the Federation in her experience is generally the sort to do that.

The Borg would be, but they didn't go in for diplomacy anyway.

The turbolift hisses gently as it stops and the door opens, and she leads the way back out, taking a brief moment to orient herself before moving towards the crew lounge.

[partofaplan]

"Mhm. I bet that's what they tell you."

Excuse him, he's just a bit skeptical about everything. He's just come from a place where a thousand years of war is a common occurance.

He steps out of the Turbolift, looking around, frowning.

"This place looks familiar."

[unkindness]

"They would not have reason to tell me anything. I am not generally involved with efforts at diplomacy." With her abrupt manner, that's certainly hard to believe. Though really it's a combination of that and her obvious Borg appearance. Not that she has many implants left, but everyone knows where they're from.

She doesn't address his exclamation of familiarity, but she feels it too, like a ghost of perception on the edge of her senses. Captain Picard's memories still exist in the Collective's consciousness after all, and thus in her, though not easily accessible and hardly complete.

[partofaplan]

"Yeah, that's hard to believe." The slightest hint of good-natured sarcasm, there.

They walk down the corridors and Peter just stops.

"No... Way." He says, looking around, sudden realisation dawning on his face.

[unkindness]

The look she gives him confirms she picked up on it, even if she isn't saying as much. With Tom Paris and the Doctor around to emulate, sarcasm was one of the first forms of emotional expression she picked up.

She turns when he stops, though, hands clasped behind her back and head tilted in invitation to elaborate.

[partofaplan]

"Star Trek, man!"

He exclaims this as if it should be obvious.

"Space, the final frontier and all that... The bald guy in the chair... John-something, with the 'Make it so' and stuff."

He stops himself. Maybe spilling that this was all a TV show in his universe wasn't such a good idea.

"I've... uh. I've come across this place before. Just... been a while."

[unkindness]

The only thing Seven thinks is obvious is that you're insane. She's not particularly concerned about that, because he hasn't thus far seemed to be the dangerous kind of insane, and even if he did attack her, she was very capable of defending herself.

"Jean-Luc Picard," she corrects--and it's not particularly strange that he knows that, he's a widely respected captain and that of the flagship besides.

Lucky for him she seems to dismiss him at that, not pressing for further information.

[partofaplan]

Quill is perfectly dangerous, but... well, he doesn't feel too threatened, so he's perfectly content with being his regular dorky self.

He's just going to keep staring around the corridor, amazement in his eyes.

"Boy, when they said the multiverse was big, they sure weren't kidding."