MSPNPC Oolwi: Accomodations (Part 2/2)
Chris Taylor
((Xal-Kor’Za City Center – Kobyar Capital, Galaris IV))
MacKenzie: If your armory and intelligence hub are located in the same place, then perhaps that would be a good place to start. Would you allow my officers to take reading as we walk? Taking readings of your equipment will help us to be able to identify any outliers.
Oowli: Feel free to take any readings you wish. And please don’t feel slighted if the people around us don’t come over to say hello. They know why you are here, and do not wish to be in the way of your important work.
Some of those persons might well not have friendly things to say to Starfleet personnel. The poll numbers disfavoring the Federation had gone up a few points since the Major’s last on-holo interview. But adherence to protocol was a hallmark of their society. It would not be broken just to express an impolite opinion. Not about the Federation, anyway. The Grunden, maybe…
MacKenzie gestured for Oolwi to show them the way, nodding to her team to go ahead and start scanning.
Indeethl nodded and waved everyone towards the Central Government Building. She began walking alongside them all, making sure not to get too far head of the others, for that would be rude.
As the party walked across the plaza, the first benefit of the eye-scans came into action as the cityscape registered the presence (and status) of its alien guests. The text along some of the nearby buildings changed to symbols which Indeethl recognized as belonging to Federation Standard. She wasn’t very familiar with the language herself, and had no hope of reading whichever news feed was now being delivered to the Starfleet personnel. Though she’d perused enough that she would recognize key words like ‘Federation,’ ‘Starfleet’ and ‘Enterprise’ should they be displayed.
In a pinch, her drone could read the text to her.
MacKenzie: You mentioned potentially participating in a cultural function of some sort, Major? Did you have one in mind? We are, after all, representatives of the Federation and are interested in maintaining peaceful relations while we conduct our investigation.
Oowli: That will be determined by the Central Government representative whom you speak to. What education they believe would benefit you most after your introduction. If I were to guess, a ritualized tactical simulation. In order to familiarize yourselves with our forms of combat -- Kobyar and Grunden -- so you will be better prepared should fighting resume while you are here.
The Major had put quite a bit of legwork into deciphering which of her leaders would be at the front of the line to meet the Starfleet team. All of the most likely names pointed in the direction of tactical exercise. But politics was a form of combat all its own, and there could always be a surprise victor waiting for them all behind a tall desk.
Oowli: Please, if that be the case, do not take out introducing you to our ways of warfare as a means of tricking you into joining the fight on our side. Maintaining your neutrality and non-combat status is of highest priority to all of the Services. Extricating you from conflict may be easier if you know for yourselves what form that conflict may take.
If it came to such, the soldier would put herself between the Grunden and her charges.
Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
MacKenzie: We are here at your request. At both yours and the Grunden’s requests. We have a team of equally skilled officers who are embedded with them now going through this same process. We appreciate your willingness to engage in a ceasefire while we get to the bottom of this, though I regret that it appears to not have been completely successful…
Indeethl’s eyes sank slightly into her head in dismay.
Oolwi: ::A more serious tone:: I cannot go into details of the recent flashpoints out here. But there is much to discuss once we are all inside.
Having said as much, Indeethl wanted to hustle the lot of them into a place where they could talk in some level of privacy. But she, too, was subject to protocol. She maintained the proscribed stride, cool and confident, all the way towards the building.
Several of the investigators had their tri-corders out, including Richards. Some Kobyar did look the group over. More than few particularly interested in Richard’s rounded belly. A Kobyari woman, her robe distended along the upper-back by her egg-cases, gave Richards a particularly long look. Downright rude, even. The woman ceased this unseemly behavior just before the Major would have felt compelled to shoo her away vocally and shame them both.
Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
Richards whispered words to MacKenzie. They didn’t travel very far through the air, free of sound though it was.
MacKenzie/Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
((Central Government Building – Kobyar Capital, Galaris IV))
The steps of the Government Control Building were covered in the same material as the plaza grounds, though a different shade which better suited the crystalline walls. She walked them right up to the large, gilded doors, which swung open to accept them all. The air within was exactly the same as the air without. Down to the temperature, humidity, and scent.
In shape, the main concourse took the shape of a many-storied cylinder rising majestically upwards. The walls were covered in many arched doorways leading to assorted wings, offices, conference rooms. There were precious few desks and information kiosks to be found of the floor level, where people moved with all the grace and efficiency to be found out in the plaza. Carefully avoiding contact with the symbol of the united Kobyar people, which was set into the floor in large scale.
The air was filled with holograms. More text (some Federation Standard). Images of part of the city and the world beyond. A three-dimensional rendering of the Artemis-A. A globe that projected potential hotspots, Teviere and Ghav’Aa among them. Other assorted images, and a bevy of drones hovering about them all like cleaner-fish.
MacKenzie/Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
It was the sight of the two most recent map points which concerned Indeethl most. But protocol, again, would not allow her to speak with the urgency she now felt.
Oolwi: This way. Move like you know where you are going, and that you belong there, and no one will impeed you.
((Central Government Building, Starfleet Guest Suite – Kobyar Capital, Galaris IV))
She brought them all to a decently-sized suite of rooms. Which again opened to them without incident. She brought them to a modestly-furnished foyer. Selections of plants from across the Kobyar side of the planet awaited appreciation from various pots. This room, too, had a holostream of text.
Oolwi: This suite is henceforth given over to you as a politically neutral base-point from which you may conduct your investigation. ::Pointing to doors:: Briefing room, computer lab, common area, study, holo-com booth. Bedrooms and hygienic facilities are down that hallway. I have full-access status, all other Kobyari have invitation-only status. A suite near the main entrance was selected so that you may host persons who otherwise do not have status to access the overall building. For whatever reason you see fit.
MacKenzie/Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
Indeethl instructed both drones to land upon one of the tables in the computer room and shut themselves down. She had yet to summon a tactical model, quite deliberately.
Oolwi: ::To Imril:: I trust this will be sufficient a workspace to start on your analysis of the drone software? ::To all:: You will find additional forensic resources there and in the other rooms, and I am at your disposal as well to furnish anything that is needed.
MacKenzie/Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
Indeethl next moved towards a small control panel to the side of one wall of the foyer, sided with crystal. To present to the guests what she had sold to her superiors as a diplomatic gesture.
Oolwi: Speaking for myself, the reservation some of you showed with the eye-scan did not go unnoticed, and I apologize for any discomfort. Speaking on behalf of my government, I appreciate your willingness to operate within the tenants that we choose to live with and within. Your acceptance of our ways means a great deal to us. And we recognize that they are not your ways, and these rooms are provided to be a temporary home as much as a workspace. In that spirit, within these walls, you can disengage the system and ‘escape’ the unblinking eye. ::A theatrically mischievous flutter of her airsacs:: May I demonstrate how to do so?
Once the system was down, and she saw how these fellows behaved without a monitor, she could decide how much she could say about Ghav’Aa and Tevire. The things she wasn’t supposed to know.
MacKenzie/Bergmen/Jovenan/Imril/Silveira: Response
((OOC: Anyone who needs to have their character say something in confidence can write Oolwi closing down the system. Was gonna do it here, but this post has enough tags already just to get this far.))
TAGS/TBC
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MSNPC Oolwi
As written by:
Ensign Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12