"We don't know that the Klingon supply ship has left the area," the Captain replies.

"Since it is a supply ship, though, my guess is that it is still around, just keeping station somewhere. And it is cloaked."

"As for the Klingons in the brig, hopefully they will be joined by the rest of their raiding party that's still on the alien ship. At which time, we will return to the facility and transport them down there."

"For now, they will remain in the brig as if they were drunk sailors on shore leave."

"However, it would be prudent to station a surreptitious guard on them. They are, after all, Klingons."

"If that's settled, then have you anything to report, Commander Felis?" the Captain addressed the Caitian.

"What was your perception of these Klingons and the facility?"

He'd been about to explain what he was looking for, but decided it might serve to prejudice Silviene's thinking.

After Silviene's report, Anther then waits for R.T.'s report.

He wasn't expecting Stilk to report much, and Sergei's report was apt to be medically oriented.

In short order, then, everyone has given their impressions to the captain.

"I can't say I was expecting anything different," he says with a sigh. "I was just hoping one of you, at least, would help confirm my feelings. Otherwise, I might start to think I'm getting paranoid."

"You are all dismissed now. You can take a bit of R&R... until something else hits the fan."

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 35):

     Having been dismissed, Shard stands with the others.

     "Aye, Sir." Shard says with an acknowledging nod, "I'll head down to Main Security to double check the set-up in the Brig with our...Guests...then get to a report for the Away Mission.  I'll be in Security if needed."

     Shard heads out of the Ready Room and off for Main Security.

In reply to Shard Vinzz (msg # 36):

Miranda stands.

" What suspicions would that be sir? After all, I have been through I was expecting a few things as well. Fearing and Expecting. "

"While I can see the immediate cause-and-effect of several events," the Captain replies to Miranda, "they all seem like pieces of a larger puzzle that I just can't see the full picture."

"For instance, the attack on the Catspaw can be clearly linked to the secret Klingon facility here in the Expanse. Admittedly, that Klingon captain may have over-reacted as a means to protect that secret."

"And, we believe that when the Klingon experiment was activated, it brought this alien ship from another universe here. But, did it? It's too much of a coincidence to think that there isn't a connection, but I'm not sure there's a direct cause-and-effect."

"And, why did the Klingon supply ship immediately send an away team over to that ship? There's the obvious motivation, of course, but I can't help wondering if there was something on that ship that the Klingons wanted... or didn't want us to find."

"Captain, I have the Ancestor on comms they are reporting that the Klingons have been neutralized on their ship and are requesting that they relocated outside of the anomaly so that it can reduce its effect on them. What are your orders sir?" Kate's voice comes in over the captain's comm badge.

In reply to Katherine Seward (msg # 39):

" All of which seems correct. The worries I have are are the others from another universe and How much will the Empire protect this secret Outpost. "

With everyone from Away Team One having reported and dismissed, although T'Shran still remained, he could have returned to the bridge, but he didn't see any reason to relieve Ensign Quinn of her position at the moment.

So, he pondered the situation for a minute before replying to the Ancestor.

=/\= "Greetings, Commander Eclipse. This is Captain th'Valla."

"My engineers are currently studying the problem of the device that may have brought your ship into this universe. First, we need to make sure that's what happened."

"Second, we must figure out a way to safely return you."

"Third, we must determine if this dark energy or location has something to do with it."

"Therefore, leaving this area which we call the Shackleton Expanse is not immediately advisable."

"Fourth, as intriguing as it is to meet a new species from another universe, I do not believe that justifies altering the Mongoose's mission, which is to explore the Expanse."

"I can have my engineers assist you in adjusting your ship to compensate for the dark energy and the different universal constant."

"However, I am open to suggestions. Would it be advisable for us to meet and discussion options?" =/\=

After Eclipse's reply, he checks a few things first before he responds to her comm.

=/\= "I just received a report from my Chief Science officer. She says that this particular location should have no significance to what brought you here or how to send you back."

"If it had something to do with the dark matter or dark energy, then leaving the Expanse could be an issue. Since we still know so little about either phenomena, it's impossible to say how they may have interacted with the research facility's experiment. In any case, we have a complete record of that event, which will help if we need to recreate it to send you back."

"And, while I would enjoy a visit to your ship, I believe we'd be better served if you were to visit my ship for now. That way, our scientists and engineers could ask you about anything they don't understand as they try to solve the problem."

"You and your mate are welcome aboard. Do you use transporters, or would a shuttle be more appropriate?" =/\=

there again a slight pause before Eclipses response comes back

"Captain th'Valla, we have transporters, but not sure if they will link up to yours, no Shuttle, but I do have another means of transport if you could send me a visual of a location we could safely arrive at that would be all I would need for this alternative method."

The captain understood what Eclipse was saying... that the Ancestor's transporters might not be able to link with the Mongoose's transporters due to the different quantum signature. He felt it wasn't important enough to mention site-to-site transport. If she had an alternate method, the first thing that came to mind was foldspace transport. Or maybe they had developed true teleportation.

Instead, he replied:

=M= "Certainly. You might as well use our transporter room, as it's designed for that sort of... arrival." =M=


He then contacted the Transporter Room to inform them.

"Captain th'Valla to Transporter Room. Expect incoming visitors but not by transporter. I'll be right down."

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 44):

Miranda nods and moves with the Captain.

Once the Away Team is beamed back aboard the Mongoose, they are directed to report to the Captain's Ready Room for a debriefing.

Whenever is there, the Captain speaks.

"There's no such thing as being disappointed in a First Contact," he begins. "If you feel that way, then you went into the situation with the wrong expectations."

"Every First Contact is different, even the ones that are similar. What we need to do in this case is to assess what we did get out of it."

"What I need now is for each of you to give me your perceptions of the brief encounter."

"Why don't we begin with you, Petty Officer Starbird."

"I can go first, Captain," Koram spoke up at the reluctance of Pacomio.

At the Captain's nod, he continued.

"I did not observe any secondary technology in use. Yes, they had plasma weapons, and the ship was of greater technology than the Federation currently has, but there did not appear to be any supporting technology."

"My guess is that most of their technology is... acquired... from some other species. I don't believe that they can build much of it on their own."

“Ummm.... well, I dunno.  They didn’t seem happy to see us.  I had the feeling they thought we was musclin’ in on their territory.  Even though Starfleet ain’t in that kind of racket, but they don’t know that.”

Eclipse stepped forward after Pacomio finished.

"To me they did seem very adamant on denying this region of space belonged to anyone, I was reluctant to use my empathy, as without knowing anything about them I was not sure if there could be any effect positive or negative. To me though their ship, to me seams more like they have taken what they know works and adapted it for space, more like a forced technological evolution, they had sailing ships, so they took what they knew they could build and turned it into a space vessel. I am a bit concerned about the creature they where attacking, though, especially if it has any ecological impact on either the place they come from or the place they go to."

Eclipse looked over at Miranda quick before back to the Captain.

"I also volunteered to have the Ancestor follow the ship back to their planet, with the Ancestors active stealth system fully operational the ship should be ale to follow them with minimal risk. Though I would like to test the Ancestors Active stealth against your ships sensors first."

"Once we stopped the hunt, the creature they were hunting flew away and... disappeared," the Captain responds.

"Our sensors didn't get a very good reading on it, or on how it disappeared. Our science department is still working on that."

"Commander T'Shran relayed your offer to me, and I was tempted to let you try even though I don't know what stealth capabilities your ship has. I decided that the information we might gain didn't justify the potential problems it might cause."

"Interesting thought, Eclipse, and we'll keep that in mind, but, remember, it has a neutronium hull. I'm not sure those two facts go together."

He waited to see if Elle or Shard had anything to add. Then he dismissed the meeting and returned to the bridge.

Elle had held her tongue, but spoke up when only awkward silence hung in the air — the conversational atmosphere she was most used to.

"Just a feeling, sir," she said finally. "I'm no empath of course, but even on Earth hunting for sport was eventually... well, let's say, frowned upon. If the creatures they considered their prey actually were genuinely threatening to their way of life, that's one thing to consider of course, but... if the creatures were sentient, endangered or otherwise, the hunters themselves might be responsible for causing some..."

Elle struggled with how to put it, "Imbalance, in the already chaotic Expanse... sir."

She exhaled sharply. Putting her thoughts into words was often as trying as even the most dangerous maneuvers at the conn.

" Quinn if you need time and space to think more conversationally come with me and let's talk. "
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 20:15, Sat 16 May 2020.

Starbird’s eyes seem to light up following Ensign Quinn’s remarks.  “Yeah, I see what yoos means about huntin’.  It’s like back home, when a rummy refused to pay his gambling debts, and we used to send Big Lou to break his thumbs.  After a while, we figured out that if his thumbs was broke, he couldn’t work.  So fuhgettaboudit.  We stopped breaking thumbs.  And even when we laugh about the old ways, we hafta admit, it was uncivilized.  Maybe in a hundred years they’ll be the same way with huntin’.”

"Thank you. You've made some very good points," Captain th'Valla said.

"They do seem to have ritualized this Hunt. We have no way of knowing just how intelligent their prey is, but it does occur to me that they might be intelligent enough that one of them sacrifices itself for the Hunt so that the others will be left alone."

"They might be intelligent but without any civilization or technology other than a herd mentality. That keeps them from finding an alternate solution."

"Likewise, the Hunters have ritualized their Hunt to the point where they don't or won't consider an alternate solution either. Who knows how many generations this has been going on for."

"Anyway, please keep all this in mind for when we encounter them the next time. Since they seem to live somewhere here in the Expanse, I think it is inevitable that we'll run across them again. Hopefully, we'll be able to establish a better dialogue when we do."

"We can now continue with our mission, and everyone can resume normal duties. At 10 hundred tomorrow, though, I would like a report from all department heads on what we've learned about the Expanse so far."

"Dismissed."

((OOC: Not sure we have any Department Heads left, though, so the reports can be done 'off camera'.))

As everyone filed out of the Ready Room, Anther joined Eclipse.

"I'm not sure we've discussed this yet," he said to her, "but I'm assuming that you would like to return to your own universe. I suppose if you were escaping from something that might not be the case, but from what you've said, I don't think that's what you are doing."

"So, my questions are: do you have any idea how to go about that, and do you need help from us? Secondly, is there a time factor involved? Will you start getting sick if you remain here too long?"

“Now that I thinka it, I do feel a bit peaked.  Might just be a hangovuh, though.”

Starbird briefly considers requesting a promotion to Head Officer in Charge of Craps, but decides against it.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Fri 29 May 2020.

In reply to Anther th'Valla (msg # 54):

Eclipse waited till the others had left to respond to the Captain.

"I would like to go back home, as what happened would be an equivalent of you and your crew ending up in another universe. I am basically a pirate hunter, but it's part of my duty as a member of the Star Fleet branch of the Stellar services, and it's what my ship is best at. We make sure the pirates know that they are no longer the big fish in a pond full of minnows. As to how we ended up here, I have no idea, we were at warp one moment then the next thing we're here and all the ships systems are dead. I am not prideful enough to refuse help when I know it's needed captain, so any help you can provide would be appreciated, which was also why I brought some of the material from Navorns truck to have your scientists analyze to see if they could determine if that might have been a reason why it was us who where drawn here by what ever brought us here. As to time frame, thankfully no, but that's only because I have the children here, if it had just been me or even just me and Navorn, I would have had to be back to my universe within a year, or I would start to suffer psychological degradation."

"Let me check on the bridge for a moment, and then we'll head down to Science to see what they've found out," Anther says to Eclipse.