Posted by Lieutenant Tom Jarvis (Internal Security) in MAIN SIM Meet and Greet Soiree with the King

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Reia Shandy (C Intelligence -Comm Officer) in MAIN SIM Meet and Greet Soiree with the King

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dagen Thor (CE) in MAIN SIM Meet and Greet Soiree with the King
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Dean seemed to brace himself with a deep sigh as the vehicle stopped before opening the door. Instantly the vehicle was almost bombarded with sights, smells, and sounds. It was a drastic change from the quiet little spaceport they left five minutes earlier. Loud choral-like music filled the air. It was not unpleasant and felt almost ethereal to a listener. The vehicle was in what looked like a courtyard filled with colorful banners and flowers. Fountains were scattered about the space clad in gleaming white marble. A sweeping staircase led into the palace at the far side of the courtyard. Beltrans milled about talking as if it were a garden party but abruptly stopped speaking as Lt. Dean stepped out. Clapping and loud whispers filled the space as every Beltran waited for the rest of the people in the vehicle to disembark. It was as if the crew of the Genesis were celebrities and every Beltran was waiting for a glimpse of them.

GM Kate

Magnus adopted the posture he’d learned to use during his years with the diplomatic service on the Celtic as he followed the Lieutenant out of the vehicle. Straight-backed hands clasped behind him, a smile that showed no teeth, and a neutral if friendly expression on his face. “Very palatial” He said his tone no longer had his usual half-amused quality. He straightened his uniform with a practiced maneuver “I’m assuming this is their high society?”

XO

“Are you being punny,” Vanessa asked looking at Magnus with a subtle smile as she stood next to them. The intelligence they had received stated the height of the Beltrans but it was extreme but seeing it something different. “I think I am going to need a step stool to have a conversation with them,” she joked.

Vanessa Slade CNS

“Everybody smile for the cameras,” Dagen said just before stepping out. To Reia he said, “We didn’t get this kind of attention at our wedding. Guess we can be a celebrity couple.”

He stepped out and aside waiting for Reia to join him while scanning all about. ‘Deeg would be so paranoid right now, waiting for everyone to turn into large blue multi fanged creatures and eat him.’ .. Dagen half wondered if that was .. accurate. Everything was so flashy, distracting. Was that the point or was this what they were like.

“Lt Dean, does everyone get this .. reception?” he asked as he passed him.
- Dagen

“Yep…well no,” Dean paused looking around. “Only the brass. They are looking to impress you and I am more just a pain in the ah,” before he was cut off suddenly by the sound of fabric rustling and immediate clapping. “God I hate when they do that,” Dean cursed under his breath.

Reia stepped out and joined Dagen. She briefly looked around and wondered why the hell they were stuck in dress uniforms. It made practical sense but not a good showing in her opinion.

“Where are the children?” she whisper very softly to Dagen.

It had been something on her mind since they had hit the ground for some reason. Damn her grandparents for all their silly ideas.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

Just as Dean had alluded to, the Beltrans showed their flair for theatrics. Around each of the five fountains suddenly appeared several groups of Beltrans. The smiles they wore on their faces indicated they were pleased with themselves. All the recording devices focused on the groups of Beltrans. “Welcome honored guests,” one of the Beltrans stated walking directly at the vehicle. “I am King Artemis. Welcome to our humble city.” He bowed with a flourish before standing erect before Calvin and Magnus. “I assumed you would want to see the shielding in action so I thought it was only appropriate to give you a demonstration. What do you think? Had no clue we were right under your nose did you?”

‘Humble?’ Thomas thought, with a small frown on his face. ‘Compared to Vegas, maybe…’

There was a certain smugness and arrogance to the King’s speech. He knew the shielding was far above anything the Federation possessed. Those exiting the car had more than enough time to look around the space and at the casual glance, nothing had initially seemed out of place. In retrospect, the Genesis crew might have noted that no one had been sitting around the fountains even though there was seating at the base. The lavish greeting outside the palace steps now made sense knowing the King and his entourage had been lurking behind their shields like a bizarre game of hide and seek.

Even knowing where to look, it would be hard to see the shielding sewn into what seemed like a banner or tapestry that was piled up at the base of the fountain. Only from very specific angles could one possibly see the slight distortion of the shielding which visually could be compared to the shimmer of the heat off a road. The distortion, like the weather anomaly, could only be noticed if one knew where to look for it or what to look for.

GM Kate

Magnus tensed when the strange aliens suddenly appeared but he didn’t give an immediate reaction. Training kicked in and he put on an expression of shock and delight, the appropriate reaction. The expression morphed into a friendly smile “Not a clue your majesty, a magnificent display” He relaxed his tensed muscles, those standing behind him could see his shoulders relax and his stance lighten “Your Highness, I have the honour of introducing Captain Calvin Marius of the Federation Starship USS Genesis” He said gesturing to the Captain and giving the King a half bow, the introduction was only to give the Captain a moment if he needed a moment to decide if he should throttle the king or not.

XO

Dagen had seen nothing but then he had not been looking for anything. The dazzle and glitz and fanfare was distracting enough. For them to pop out of nowhere was just more theatrics to the Trill. This was something that was more fit for a stage production. Sure he could appreciate enough the idea of it perhaps just not from the audience. So it was a form of cloak that looked to be able to go as small as individuals and as great, perhaps, as entire space stations. Could sensors slip through it? Was it just optics or could they manage what the Romulans and Klingons had done which was nearly eradicate the detection of their cloaked ships. Moreover did the Federation adopting this violate the Treaty of Algeron? Certainly that the Federation didn’t adopt the technology but if it wouldn’t work if Starfleet happened upon a cloaking device at a rummage sale neither would it work for this. But then that would be for a lawyer to work out.

Still, having a look under the hood would be nice, you know, for theoretical purposes and all that. Personal cloaks were nothing new. First contact teams would cloak their own persons and billets on worlds they were investigating. Were the defense stations cloaked that would be impressive. This was theatrics. To use the same system was ingenuity to be able to scale the use of it.
- Dagen, CE

Reia adopted an unaffected, rather bored, look to her. Somebody had to she thought.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

Their orders had been to come dirtside to a formal dinner to discuss the entrance of Beltran into the Federation. It had not been to attend a garden party as if he was on a shore leave. Calvin did not relish loud, crowded places so he was already tense exiting the car, probably from his old days as a Marine surveying the landscape. When the King popped out like some wanna-be magician, it took Calvin by surprise but not enough that his squared-shouldered straight-backed posture visibly changed.

As his XO spoke, it allowed Calvin the time to run through what he wanted to say but could not. The greeting he wanted to give would probably not speed up his time in the diplomatic negotiations arena. The King of Beltran was lucky Calvin had learned the art of patience. “Your majesty,” he extended his hand. “I am Captain Calvin Marius. I am honored to meet you and participate in the negotiations to make you a formal partner in the United Federation of Planets.”

Calvin Marius CO

While Dagen awaited the round of introductions he took the time to look around and take in the people and place and where there might be any projectors for this cloak. Energy needed a source and unless it was a field like a on ship force field that had emitters to either side then it was projected in some way. They came from behind the fountain. Could it have come from the fountain and the face of it shrouding them from their eyes. Localized. He scratched at his arm. This dress uniform felt tight when he was thinking shop. Small emitter. Small scale. Large emitters. Large scale. That was typical but what was actual? And would they get to that point of talking shop or just diplomatic niceties? Still if they had entire stations cloaked overhead that they couldn’t see from any direction, were the emitters on each station giving an entire circumference coverage? That would be the most likely. At one time the Federation had looked to overlapping shields but since then they had let that drop - space big, ships small.
- Dagen, CE

Reia listened as Marius began exchanging greetings with the king. This also gave her a chance to observe the situation. The landscape certainly was beautiful, well manicured, and definitely fit the situation at hand. She wondered if her grand, an amazing Gardener and her gramps, a gentleman farmer, could pick out where these shields were.

“I can’t spot them either.” she barely whispered to Dagen in very passable trill.

• Reia, CIO/Comms

A moment later another vehicle pulled up. A vaguely familiar figure stepped out dressed all in black but, the all black outfit was definitely a dress uniform.

“Excuse my tardiness, I seemed to have been forgotten.” Tom said with a light laugh as he joined the party.

• Tom, IntSec

COS