Test Drive #7 - Ten Forward and Captain's Yacht

[ten_fwd_mods]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprise's off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...





Option 02. The Captain's Yacht: Oooh, you sneaky stowaway! You've found yourself in a very exclusive part of the ship: Captain Picard's personal craft, used for short jaunts when a shuttle just won't do. (One must retain some decorum, after all.) It may not be as large as the Enterprise itself, but there are sure to be some surprises aboard once people start snooping.


[OOC: The Captain's Yacht is located at the very base of the Enterprise's saucer portion, so if you put someone in there you can also play them trying to get back to somewhere they know!]

Comments

[1st_starfighter]

"You have my word, ma'am." He smiled a little, then nodded to her. "Let me clear some space for you, okay?" He moved a little closer, to grip a table, and move it slowly out of her way, then another, and as he did so, he spoke.

"We're in a time called the 24th Century by the dating of this time period and place, on what's known as a starship. Do they have such things in your time and place?" Alex glanced up at her quizzically.

[ashenmuses]

"Thank you-"

Roshanak stops, then, and stares at him. Her ears flick forward as she looks around, finally spying the window.




"A starship?" she breathes out, fear and caution vanishing in a look of pure wonder.

[1st_starfighter]

Alex grinned. That look? That look he knew well.He remembered that look from his own face and the faces of new recruits the first time they headed into space. "Yeah. Welcome to the U.S.S. Enterprise. She's a ship in the United Federation of Planets, a hundreds of planets strong alliance of people of all kinds."

He stepped near her and looked out also. "It's a beautiful place, and a beautiful ship. " He smiled, his voice gentle and light. "Not the worst place to be."

[ashenmuses]

Hundreds of planets?

Hundreds?

She can hardly think what to say, what to ask - how, how, how is this all possible - but he keeps on talking, and she's distracted enough to glance at him.

"I'd have preferred being asked, Commander."

(And yet, her eyes dart back to that window, filled with so, so many unknown stars.)

[1st_starfighter]

"Me too." He smiled wryly, lopsidedly, and nodded. "There's a crew who were here before, but a lot of us on this ship, now, are people yanked from our own times and spaces." Alex sighed.

"We're all missing something, or someone, one way or another." He glanced at her.

"May I ask what you're called?"

[ashenmuses]

"Roshanak," she says, inclining her head a little. "Yanked...you said by some power, earlier. What kind of power?"

[1st_starfighter]

"As far as I an tell, a godlike being named Q, who is not here most of the time. He's some sort of collective being of cosmic power. Doesn't seem to be malevolent, but definitely not a nice guy, with the whole grabbing, and dropping us here, thing." he waved a hand toward the rest of the ship.

"A pleasure to meet you, Roshanak. Please call me Alex. Now, the crew here seem to try their best to help us all settle in here, at least until we can find Q and ask him to send us home. Sometimes he shows up at random, apparently, and sometimes he avoids people." Alex shook his head. It was weird, and annoying, and not the fun kind.

"So far, it's not the worst kidnapping ever."

[ashenmuses]

Her mouth pulls to the side at the mention of 'godlike', but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she listens, and then snorts. It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a distinctly equine sound.

"Has he mentioned why? Or...let me guess, it's for an experiment or his own amusement."

[1st_starfighter]

Alex shook his head. "I haven't heard any one state a reason and haven't managed to encounter him, myself." He smiled lopsidedly.

"In the meantime, I'm trying to learn enough to get by until I can find a way back home." He paused, then nodded to her. "Are you hungry or thirsty?"

[aster_planetes]

"I am fine, for now," she says politely. "But I thank you for the offer."

Pause.

"Explain to me how this...'starship' works? We have airships, yes, but..." she gestures at the window.

"How?"

[1st_starfighter]

Alex nodded to her, then hmmed. "I only know the basics, but... it involves making a ship like an airship, but airtight and capable of producing its own air, and powered, with an engine that can propel it fast enough to span the distance between stars like an airship spans the distance between cities."

He rubbed his chin. "Its a science or technology far beyond that of an airship."

[aster_planetes]

"Well, obviously," Roshanak says, more than a little impatient. "What powers it? How can it be propelled - is there kind of substance out here? Another form of air?"

There is an awkward pause.

"Um. Although I suppose I should ask who is in charge here, and what we do for our keep, shouldn't I."

Practicalities, Roshanak, then science.

[1st_starfighter]

"Oh! I think it's something called dilithium crystals, and a matter-energy engine of some kind. I, ah, haven't asked to see it, yet." His hands itched to do so.

He grinned. "I want to, though. My ship runs on an intermix of polarized and depolarized tri-photons, and I was wondering of the two designs would be compatible at all." Once stuck in space, he had learned all he could, and had ended up helping to design the next generation of starfighter ships.

"A man named Captain Picard. This ship apparently belongs to the Federation of Planets, to their exploration and peacekeeping arm, called Starfleet. I guess you could talk to him. And i heard they are working on making arrangements for those of us who want to to have jobs, but no news on when that will be finished."

He didn't like being idle. He might have already driven the staff a little crazy with asking if he could help, between studying as much of their technology as he possibly could and exploring everywhere he was allowed, and possibly a few places he wasn't.

"Oh! We're required to go through a week or two of medical quarantine, which means between here and sickbay and the guest quarters, until they are absolutely sure no one here can make us sick with stuff we have never been exposed to, and vice versa, with whatever we brought in." He glanced around.

"One of their people will probably be around, pretty soon to explain everything more clearly to you."

[aster_planetes]

Half-way through his explanation, she feels her attention wandering and tries to bring it back. She repeats his words in her mind, trying to get them to stick. Not now, mind.

Captain Picard. All right.

"I...suppose I should ask," she says, her hooves shifting a little awkwardly. "Is everyone human?"

[1st_starfighter]

Alex has had that response before. It's okay!

"No. The Federation is made up of at least two or three dozen different races. Humans seem to be most of Starfleet, but we are not all of it, by far." He grinned at her. "May I ask, and tell me no, if it offends somehow, but what race are you?" He knew the legends of centaurs, but she seemed nice, so he was predisposed to discount them.

[aster_planetes]

It is less him and more how her mind works, particularly when there are so many things to look at.

Her teachers despair over her, they really do.

"I am a centaur. Not human." Then she sighs a little relief. "So I'd guess that they would be use to those with different body-shapes?"

[1st_starfighter]

"That's pretty cool. I wonder if Starfleet has any others like you, or of a similar kind." He hmmed.

"I think so. I'm sure they can adapt current things or create new stuff to accommodate you." He had to believe any spacefarring culture would want to do that. "Probably another thing to ask whoever shows up and greets you." And something for him to ask so he would know, next time.

[aster_planetes]

"Hopefully they can. Otherwise this is going to very quickly become very awkward."

She pauses.

"Has anyone ever been sent back?"

[1st_starfighter]

"I can imagine. If they can't, I'll do it myself. I learned a lot about engineering, and I'll requisition what you need myself." He nodded.

"I think so. But it seems almost random, like Q is playing some sort of, well, game. But not telling any of us the rules." And that annoyed Alex, a lot.