The players from the runabouts USS Cuyahoga and USS Kitchissippi are waiting outside the briefing room on Starbase 21. They have a few minutes to greet each other and make introductions before a young Human Lieutenant with a staff aiguillette steps in and says,"Lieutenants, the Commodore will see you now." She steps aside and motions you all to precede her.

Commodore Dale Stone is standing by a large view port. He is a Caucasian Human in his fifties, with grey hair and a clipped moustache. Without turning, he said quietly, "Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated." There are a dozen chairs around a conference table. The staff Lieutenant takes the seat by the LCARS console. Stone takes the large seat at the other end of the table and says "Welcome to Starbase 21. Cynthia, if you will..."

Cynthia, the staff Lieutenant, presses an icon on the console and a large screen lights up showing a large grey sphere silhouetted against a starfield. You all recognise this as Dyson One, the Dyspn sphere discovered by the Enterprise-D on SD46125.3, from your briefing materials.

Stone continues, "For the past year, Starfleet has been conducting a mission to explore the interior of the Sphere, commanded by Commander Delilah Samson. Since the cessation of hostilities with the Dominion, Starfleet has been expanding its presence in the Sphere by building three new outposts. Your runabouts have been assigned to Outpost Three, under the command of Lieutenant Teranin Atek." Two images appear on the screen.
He hands Cassiadora and Mac a pair of isolinear chips. "Your orders are on these chips. Any questions?"

"Yes sir," said the Lieutenant with the distinctly braided beard. "Ah, anything we might want to know not on the official orders?"

Confidence.  If there is one thing that shines about Cassiadora Dul, it is confidence and while some may say she is over confident, that self-assurance has both marked her and done her well.   Regardless, the young Betazoid woman seems approachable and comfortable in the social context and will introduce herself to the others while waiting.

She'll remain silent while the Commander speaks and thank Commander Stone as he gives them their orders.

Questions?  She has many but given that she'd had an opportunity to study the concept of a Dyson Sphere during the trip here, she knew that most would have no immediate answer.  That said, there was one question and she waits for Anderson's question to be answered before asking it... "Sir, has anyone laid political claim to the Dyson Sphere?   With the cessation of overt hostilities with the Dominion, I am concerned that the sphere might become the new battleground."

Of course, at the same time as asking questions, she is passively 'sensing' the room.  Is anyone particularly nervous.  Does her question elicit any odd responses.  Is anyone nervous?

[Apologies folks.  I'm new to the system.  If I need to roll dice, please tell me what I need to do!]
This message was last edited by the player at 12:57, Mon 11 July 2016.

Shione enters the room last,nodding cordially to the others as they introduce themselves.

When she greets Cassiadora,she senses a familiar accent and sends a private greeting to the lovely young woman
<<Nice to meet you,I hope we can become friends>>(In Betazoid)

Cassiadora feels a strongly shielded mind,with no sense of nervousness

Shione takes a seat near the other end of the table giving her a view of all the persons meeting there


"Yes Sir.I am wondering if the posting is intended to be a long term one?.It would seem to be a huge space and I hope we will have the opportunity to be a part of much of what Starfleet hopes to accomplish here"

Questions? The only question on the engineer's mind was if Cynthia was single and available. The rest seemed rather straight forward.

Big Dyson Sphere. Lots of places to explore. Figure out more about those who built it. Figure out how to make the best use of it to benefit Starfleet and the Federation. How more complex can it be?

If you need to roll dice, I'll state it in the turn message. You'd use the Dice Roller link at the top left of the page. A dice roll would be the number of dice in the controlling attribute +/- applicable edges, and add the value of the skill. Thus a Strength based roll on Athletics (Lifting) would be: roll against Fitness + Strength edge and add the value of your Lifting specialisation. If you don't have Lifting, you'd only add your base Athletics skill.If you have no Athletics skill, you add nothing to the die roll. Note that some skills may not be used untrained...

In reply to Gian Seingalt (msg # 5):

It's hard to determine Cynthia's status - she's not wearing a wedding ring or anything. You might try chatting her up after the briefing...

In reply to Shione (msg # 4):

The Commodore replies "It will be a standard tour of duty, meaning anywhere from two to seven standard years. I'm certain you will all do well and advance the mission. This is a great chance to push the boundaries of knowledge. As you will have noted, there are many sapient species in the Sphere and we've already had a number of First Contacts. Also, there are a great many mysteries about the Sphere itself to be unravelled."

Argent had been sitting quietly when the briefing began, his eyes darting at each of the new arrivals. He knew most of them only in passing. He'd spent the voyage out here to the Dyson Sphere... hadn't they named it? Just call it Dyson! ...studying everything that was available on it, though that was clearly not much.

"Sir... in case there is something I missed in my studies, I do have a few questions..."

"The presumption is that the Builders abandoned the sphere 100,000 years ago... or longer... because the sun was unstable. 100,000 years is a rather long time for the sun to sit here unstable... without something happening to it. So, are we positive that the sun is unstable, or is it possible that this is some sort of 'normal' condition that we are previously unaware of? And can we estimate its condition those 100,000 years ago? Was it hotter or cooler then?"

"I do find it odd that the Builders could construct such a place yet not be able to control the sun."

"Be that as it may, Sir, these people on the world... does the Museum of Life tell us whether they were brought here intentionally, offered a haven, stumbled into it by mistake like the Enterprise but then not able to escape... or perhaps they are descendants of the original Builders?"

"And do we have a count of how many species are here?"

He had more, but thought that was sufficient for now. He had a guess as to a lot of those answers, but he hadn't been able to find them in the available data, some of which was still classified.

In reply to Argent Merawdr (msg # 9):

Stone replies, "Good question, Liutenant. The sun was originally evaluated by the Enterprise crew as being unstable and they deduced that this was why the 'Builders' abandoned the Sphere. It turns out that the star is not totally unstable, but is rather a somewhat variable star. It has settled down in the past 5 years, but has infrequent flareups. The Museum of Life appears to be simply a catalogue of known life forms with pseudo-holographic recreations. These allow a full medical tricorder scan and when observed over a period give clues to their culture and languages. We have contacted a few dozen species, including, of course the Klingons from the IKS bortaS. It is unknown just how many species there are in the Sphere."

The star has been designated Dyson, and the Sphere is designated Dyson 1. The mission is called Dyson Base. The main outpost is Freeman's Island, named after Freeman Dyson. The other outposts are simply designated Outposts Two through Four, as are Duck Blinds One through Three.

Since there are so many questions, Cassiadora will wait patiently for the Commander to reply to her question - it was an important one really.  They needed to know how Starfleet stood within regards to the 'claim' on the sphere as conflict could easily erupt should others claim where the Federation was exploring.

In the interim, she replies to Shione <<And you, Lieutenant.  I look forward to getting to know you though how often our crews will cross paths is uncertain.>> (If Shione is receptive, she may notice an inquisitiveness within Cassiadora's communication.)

She'll also consider those in the room and how they are reacting to the announcement from the Commodore.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:11, Mon 11 July 2016.

In reply to Cassiadora (msg # 11):

<"I look forward to that as well.
I haven't meet many Betazoid's in  my previous postings so it just might be fun .
And It's Shione when We're not talking officially">

In reply to Cassiadora (msg # 11):


There is a general sense of excitement at the challenge and professional satisfaction in people's thoughts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:52, Mon 11 July 2016.

" Commodore," Lieutennat Rai interjects," a question regarding the sapient species which inhabit the sphere. Are there any modifiers to the Prime Directive which we should be aware of? After all, this structure is a technological artifice, and it's inhabitants are not what we traditionally think of as indigenous life. How do we determine what qualifies a species for first contact?"

"By your own statement, Lieutenant, the Prime Directive shouldn't apply at all. None of these species are indigenous, as they can't have evolved here," Gian interjects. "There's plenty of precedent for the Prime Directive being waived, due to previous contamination."

Mac looked over at the other lieutenant crossly, rolling his eyes briefly. People always had to bring it up.

"If there's nothing additional to the briefing, Commodore, perhaps I might be excused to look over the runabouts?"

In reply to Gian Seingalt (msg # 15):

"With respect Lieutenant Siengalt,I disagree.

While some of the cultures and peoples may have records or cultural memories of star faring peoples such as the Federation;I think we should tread lightly in the event that the only life these people remember or have record of is the one they have here.

Speaking personally and again with respect,I am always leery of waiving the Prime Directive without truly clear evidence to back up the decision"

In reply to Shione (msg # 17):

Commodore Stone breaks in, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Directive is still in force - mostly. It's a special case. The integrity of the indigenous cultures is to be maintained. As per Federation custom and law, that is sacrosanct. It is true that , as Lieutenant Kurasa states, that this is all they have known for centuries or millennia. However, with so many distinct cultures and the obvious visible evidence of their inhabiting a giant sphere, we must assume at least some form of cross-cultural "contamination", so in certain instances, you and your commanding officers, Commander Samson and Lieutenant Atek, must use your best judgement as to how much information to provide to these people, both about yourselves and the nature of the Sphere.  Commander Samson will brief you on arrival at Dyson One on the modified conditions of the Prime Directive under which you will be operating."

Mac gritted his teeth and kept silent for the rest of the briefing.

Well then, he thought, I guess there's no point in trying to participate if the Commodore's decided to blow me off.

He forced a false smile to his lips and waited, cycling through vast array of curses for his dismissive superior officer in his native tongue.

In reply to Mac Anderson (msg # 19):

Having dealt with the questions, Stone looks and Mac and continues, "Sorry. Mr. Anderson. You may indeed be excused. The runabouts are in Launch Bay 34Delta. They've just been certified for duty, but I'm sure you'll want to give them a complete inspection prior to taking them out. I think we're finished here." He gathers up a number of PADDs before him and says, "Good day, Lieutenants. May the Great Bird of the Galaxy watch over you." He leaves the briefing room.

Lieutenant Cynthia stands and asks, "Lieutenants, will anyone be needing anything else before proceeding?"

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 20):

I'm doing a bit of catch-up here. It seems I missed questions by Mac and Cassiadora, so I'll fill that bit in.

Mac:
Stone: "There are a great many things not detailed in the orders, Lieutenant Anderson. Much of this material will be explained in detail by Commander Samson. Much of this information is classified and not for public disemination. For instance, there has been a Romulan spy discovered among our personnel. This has led to a complete background check on all Vulcans, as the late Subcomander Tzilia was disguised as a Vulcan officer, one Ensign T'Zill. There has also been an attack by a force of androids from something called the 'Fifth Imperium', which killed six Dyson Base personnel. Lieutenant Commander M'Rel," he continues with a look of distaste on his features, "has contacted a powerful being known as Möbius, who he purports to be an ascended Edward Morbius, PhD from the Altair Incident. You can look up the details in the historical database. M'Rel and his crew have begun hanging out with a being named Gurrrps who apparently can dimension shift, and there has been contact with a crashed shuttlecraft from an extragalactic Earth colony from the 29th century called the Havenic Imperial Federation. They have an Havenic officer as a liaison. M'Rel and the crew of the Lena seem to be kind of weirdness-magnet. Finally, a group of 23rd century Klingons from the IKS bortaS, the legendary Battlecruiser Vengeance, the command hull of which crash-landed in the Sphere and formed the hub of veng bortaS or Bortas City. A mission has been coordinated with Emperor Kahless and the Klingon Empire to prepare these Klingons for repatriaton into the Empire."

Cassiadora:
Stone grimaces and answers, "There is that possibility, Lieutenant Dul. The Romulan infiltration indicates that the Star Empire is very likely aware of the Dyson Sphere mission. Even though they were, reluctantly, allies against the Dominion, relations with the Star Empire are, to put it mildly, strained, especially after the exposé of Section 31. Thankfully, the possibility of Dominion involvement seems remote, given Ambassador Odo's assurances and the general condition of the Cardassians."

In reply to Relic GM (msg # 21):

Herendeth the briefing. Continued in Launch Bay 34Delta...
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Thu 14 July 2016.

Her reply to Shione, <<No, there aren't too many of us in Starfleet.   It's good to meet you though.  I'm sure we'll be able to catch up later when we're off duty.>>  And then maybe as an afterthought she'll add, <<Cassiadora.... Cassy.>>

If she'd intended to say more to Shione it is cut short as the discussion about the Prime Directive 'kicks off'.   Believing she was far from qualified to debate the philosophy and validity of the Prime Directive here, she kept quiet and was relieved when the Commodore ended the 'discussion' and moved things forward..

Commodore Stone then lists a number of additional 'concerns' for them to consider.  Everything for archaic Klingons to time travellers?  What were they getting themselves into?   She smiled, Something good!

Then the commodore dealt with her question.  His response did not entirely relieve her concerns but to some degree they had a window of opportunity.   So the question now was... was there further infiltration?   She didn't want to point an obvious finger, by Shione was half... 'Vulcan'?   It would do to keep an eye on the young woman.  Her Betazoid half might very well be being used as a cover to hide a Romulan's lack of Vulcan... control.  "Thank you, Sir."

And dismissed, she headed for the Launch bay.