Commander Rouiancet & Experimenter Maëviloïc: Help

[tonyrc...@gmail.com]

(( The Forest, Eesse Dome Ship ))

Rouiancet: We mean you no harm. We would like to help. What is your response?

Maëviloïc: The Suclese Clan of the Dome Ship requires no help.

Berglijð: As for aid, give nothing in response!

Not a particularly rousing response, all things considered. However, the pair had understood her, and their answers had made sense given Lia's statements and her question. They were communicating, at last.

Kessler: ::turning to Peri:: A clan denotes a family structure. Something to protect. We can use that to our advantage.

Corelli: Does he keep saying aid?

Katsim, meanwhile, tried a different approach. Corelli's question was sensible, and so Katsim seemed to run with it.

Katsim: The Eesse of the dome ship does require help.

Smart, Lia thought. The Suclese Clan -- if that's what and who they were -- appeared to understand the concepts of help and aid, so Katsim turned their understanding back on them in an attempt to empathize.

Berglijð: Research requires necessary loss.

Maëviloïc: Suclese always [draw sustenance] from [the unphased]. This is true.

Lia missed a couple of the words, but now she wasn't sure if the translator was having difficulties. Or, rather, it was clear the translator was having difficulties, but perhaps with the concepts the Suclese Clan were using. They might be so alien that the translator was simply providing what the beings said.

Kessler: ::still looking to Peri:: Maybe they need to understand what happens to their clan when they kill all the Eesse?

A very reasonable response, if the aliens were able to empathize with the Eesse. Katsim took Kessler's suggestion, and moved toward one of the devices that Lia quickly learned was used to draw sap.

Katsim: These drain the Eesse. If they are drained, they die. If they die, there will be no more.

Berglijð: The research must continue, the solution must be found! We require more brsss[sapppss]sss!

Well, that made it sound to Lia like they weren't all that interested in compromise or empathizing with the Eesse, either, in addition to rejecting an offer of help. They hadn't fled or attacked, however, which was a plus. But the conversation seemed to have come to a standstill, and Lia, to her surprise, glanced at Toz. Maybe, she thought, a rougher approach was warranted here.

Toz: Destroy the devices to stop the sucking. It’s the only thing left to do. ::turning to face the small group:: It won’t harm the creatures. If they are connected and I’m not sure they are, we can’t wait any longer.

Lia glanced to Katsim, who shook her head.

Katsim: If we do that, we could start a war.

Rouiancet: But if we don't do something...

Thankfully, Kessler seemed to take that as a challenge, and tossed out some ideas.

Kessler: Commander, since my tricorder was used to establish part of the damping field can you scan the sap and break down what they might be using it for? ::looking to Corelli: Kammus, They either don’t care or don’t understand what they are doing. I suggest we give them a demonstration. Can you ::beat:: sour the sap from this tree to make it appear the tree is dying?

A more potent demonstration, to be sure. Lia considered his request. Could she perform the scans he requested? In theory, she and Toz could do a full biological workup of the Suclese Clan, and from that understand where the sap was being broken down in their bodies-- But, she realized, what if they weren't ingesting it? She'd just assumed. Well, first things first, then.

Rouiancet: We would need to track the sap first, understand where it's going.

Kessler: If they don’t care then we need a way to make them think the sap is no longer good. Taint it or sour it to a point that it is no longer usable.

Rouiancet: And, maybe, where it stops flowing to.

It was a good idea, but Katsim and Corelli quickly spotted a couple of problems.

Katsim: That could be dangerous for the Eesse. We’d have to be very careful…and we couldn’t do it *here*.

Corelli: There is no way to do that with a tricorder. That would require physical interaction on some chemical level. We still don’t know why they are taking the sap. We don’t know what they are talking about. We don’t know what we don’t know.

Rouiancet: (thoughtful) But I do think what you suggested is possible, Lieutenant Kessler.

Kessler: Response

One of the Suclese Clan spoke up again, this time in a much quieter voice. Lia didn't expect to catch any of it, but the modified translators that Corelli and Kessler had put together were very good, and she caught some of the words.

Maëviloïc: (mumbling) I have heard [enough]. Don't you see, [Berglijð]? Their [troubling intentions] are plain: They will stop our use of sap.

They understood, then, at least what the Starfleet team's intentions were, even if they were opposed. Lia's eyes flicked to the other alien, the one who hadn't spoken, for their response. However, instead of speaking, they made a low, trumpeting sound out of another orifice entirely.

Berglijð: [gwk]lp. (beat) [gwk]lp.

The translator couldn't do anything with that sound, but Corelli was quick to advise.

Corelli: Hear that? Whatever he is trying to say, the UT is having a quite difficult time with it. Everyone be calm, let the computer work.

Katsim: Yes sir.

So, they waited. The members of the Suclese Clan seemed content to wait, too, and the Starfleet team likewise remained still and silent. Almost like a standoff, Lia thought, though she didn't care particularly for that comparison, since it implied two opposing sides.

Kessler: Response

The Suclese who had made the sound repeated it for a third time -- and this time, the translator worked quickly, and overlaid the trumpet with its meaning in Standard.

Berglijð: HELP.

Toz: How can we help? Make the replica sap? How?

Katsim: So you heard? They asked for help…

Rouiancet: I heard it, too. That sound, whatever it was, asked for help. Did the rest of you hear?

She looked particularly to Corelli, since he was the one who would have to stand behind the translation.

Corelli: Loud and clear Commander. I think we are beyond first contact at this point?

Kessler: Response

Katsim left the knot of officers and took several tentative steps toward the Suclese. She angled her body slightly toward the one who had trumpeted, which Lia thought was very clever.

Katsim: Help. We will help.

Tags & End Scene/Act for Rouiancet and Maëviloïc!

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Commander Lia Rouiancet

Strategic Operations Officer

USS 'Oumuamua

&

Experimental Maëviloïc

Researcher of the Suclese Clan of the Dome Ship

V238208LV0

he/him/his (player) & she/her/hers (these characters)