Cmdr Blake, "First Contact." (Part 2)

[Deliera Jay]

((Meeting Room))

The Starfleet guests were brought into a large room of what Blake had initially assumed to be a villager's home. The masculine figure sat in the middle chair of three positioned seats, the two others by his sides. It demonstrated a clear hierarchy, with Storlom as the leader. 

They were, however, still very tall. And the only member of their away team that wasn't craning their chin upward to gaze at them was Lafizatar, the Mathenite being the tallest being possibly on any planet. 

Storlom: Do you come from a place that does not have leaders? You all speak at once like children.

Daulkar: How do you get anything done when you all speak?

Ukinix: Commander Blake is our leader while we are here.

Rao: Response?

Ever the quiet observer, it was now that Blake realised she was going to have to step in and actually start speaking. For the longest time, her preference was to let the smartest people in the room do the talking, then determine a way forward.

First contact, however, apparently required demonstration of control she'd only needed to present when on the Veritas bridge, in the middle of a firefight with pirates and rubbing against the Tholian border.

Blake: I prefer my people to speak their minds. Sometimes one at a time, sometimes all at once.

Storlom: You have used strange words. What do they mean?

Daulkar:: Shaking his head:: These things are new to us. They require…explanation…

oO Oh, we're in very big trouble. Oo

Ukinix: Which words, exactly?

Storlom: What is As-ter-royd and Fed-er-ray-shun?

Eyes fell to the first and second officers of Veritas. Panic crossed Blake's eyes. 

oO What are the protocols for first contact-- Oo

And then Wil started talking.

Ukinix: ::To Storlorm:: Right.  Um – well, “As-ter-oid”…

GENERAL ORDER 4. GENERAL ORDER 4. If contact is made with hitherto undiscovered intelligent lifeforms, under no circumstances shall Starfleet personnel, either by word or deed, inform said life-forms that worlds other than their own exist outside the confines of their own space.

Blake: ...is our name for a... 'world'.

Ukinix: ::To Storlorm:: Yeah. Kinda like, another word for “universe”.   You know, ::arms out:: existence.

Blake: Except smaller, and... travelling...

Ukinix: Right! And it’s all around us.  And “Federation”…

Oh, Noree. Blake's eyes ran wide again, green irises stringing as they portrayed an unintelligible, desperate panic.

Ukinix:  It’s, uh… 

Oh, Noree he expected her to contribute to this definition, too.

Blake: Uh... it's a unity of people. From far and wide.

Try as they might, no one could accuse her of being wrong with that very basic, very rudimentary definition.

Ukinix: ::gesturing to rest of crew:: you know, us.  All of us together.

Not a total disaster. But it could use some work.

Daulkar: How many are in this Fed-er-ray-shun? More than here?

This time Blake's eyes skipped Ukinix and went straight to Kelrod and Emi, wide eyes hard as she tried desperately to send them signals not to say anything about other alien planets or 'worlds' or anything space-faring and to remember protocol.

Emi/Kelrod: Response?

Storlom: Response?

Ukinix: No, no, we’re nothing special.

Emi/Rao: Response?

Daulkar/Urizni: Response?

Storlom: Response?

Ukinix: Well, if the *Maker* said it, then it *must* be true.

Blake tried so desperately hard not to cringe, her lips pursing as she held her expression.

Lafizatar: Response?

Storlom/Daulkar/Urizni: Response?

Wil removed his tricorder from his holster, and help it out slightly to show them.

Ukinix: ::Showing tricorder:: These are special rocks, from the Maker.  They allow us to study your Village and learn your ways.  May I and ::gesturing to Kionn and Zhanyt:: my friends inspect your village?

Storlom/Daulkar/Urizni: Response?

Ukinix gestured for Rao and Lafizatar to follow him out of the room. Blake moved closer to Kelrod and Emi, drawing them into a quiet, frantically whispered conversation.

Blake:::whispering:: Tell me, in comparison to your other first contacts, does this one shape up to be an unmitigated disaster? Could be worse, right?

Kelrod: Response?

Emi: Response?

Blake:::whispering:: Just thought I'd check. 

Kelrod/Emi: Response?

She rubbed her eyes, trying to blink away the stinging.

Storlom: Response?

Blake turned back to the convened council, clasping her hands together at her front. Was this a first for her? Absolutely. Was she ill-prepared and under-equipped? One hundred per cent. 

But they had a job to do and they needed to do it.

Blake: Storlom, we are seeking lost travellers. They wandered far off their path, and we believe they are somewhere nearby.

Emi: Response?

Storlom: Response?

Urizni/Daulkar: Response?

Blake: When we recover them, all of us will be on our way.

Kelrod: Response?

Storlom/Urizni/Daulkar/Emi: Response?

Tbc . . .

Cmdr Sky Blake

Executive Officer

USS Veritas

C23880SB0