Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vanessa Slade (CNS) in MAIN SIM Meet and Greet Soiree with the King

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

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Magnús Pétursson (First Officer) in MAIN SIM Meet and Greet Soiree with the King
Posted by… suppressed (18) 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

“Captain Marius I am so humbled to meet you and your fine crew,” the King shook his hand with the vim and vigor of an old friend. There was however far more pressure in his grip than what might be considered reasonable. It could best be described as male bravado where one wanted to ensure superiority over another.

Calvin was not a small man and he frequently was decked out in a uniform with impressive number of medals and awards. He was very used to men trying to out muscle him somewhere or posturing in front of him. He met the King with similar force but ended the handshake first. allowing the King to take the victory in that Marius could not sustain the grasp. He wasn’t going to participate in such petty posturing, when one engaged in a pissing contest both people got covered in urine.

While King Casper Artemis knew his planet needed this treaty, on some level he resented that he had to deal with all these Captains. He was a King ordained by birth. At the very least, the President of this Federation should be standing here instead of another gaggling group of decked-out preening peacocks. Their proximity to the elusive Gorn Hegemony and the cloaking technology made the Federation eager to set up the alliance. For King Casper Artemis, it was simply a means to an end to rid themselves forever from their sworn enemies. Looking at the Genesis entourage, he greeted of the crew verbally by name with a large, welcoming smile.

“It is I who is humbled to stand before you. We are honored by this gesture and welcome and stand at your disposal.” Calvin smiled, but it did not reach his eyes . His eyes were flat and emotionless as if you were looking at a set of eyes painted on a picture.

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.

“I’m sure we’ll see it when we know what we are supposed to be looking for,” he murmured. This was entirely guesswork at this point. Still it was something that was an engineering mystery and as such he was wanting to see more of it. Everything was flashy lights and a big show. Reia moved among it like she was a celebrity and he couldn’t help admire her moves and her. He was quite proud of her ability to see things that he completely missed. That said at times at ‘home’ it could be more perplexing.

• 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

‘By the end of this you may wish you had been,’ Dagen thought as another array of lights seemed to flash in his eyes. He had his turn in being greeted by the king and his particularly firm grip. His general impression was that of an insurance or used hovercraft salesman. As he worked his fingers after the greeting he modified that to a salesman who worked out.

COS

Surra observed the scene unfold before her with curiosity and skepticism, her analytical mind already dissecting the intricacies of the Beltran’s technological prowess. As the introductions commenced, she kept her thoughts to herself, preferring to listen and observe rather than interject prematurely.
When Dagen began pondering the technical aspects of the shielding technology, Surra took an interest and moved beside him as couldn’t resist gathering his engineering experience and thoughts on the matter. “It’s fascinating, isn’t it?” she remarked quietly, her voice betraying a hint of excitement. “The scalability of their cloaking technology suggests a sophisticated understanding of spatial distortion fields. I wonder what principles they’ve based it on.”

“I don’t know whether it is as spectacular as it is or if this is a flashy sales pitch and sleight of hand,” Dagen whispered back. “If it is as good as they say then yes, very impressive.”

As Tom made his belated entrance, Surra watched him with a curious gaze. “Forgotten or deliberately delayed?” she mused under her breath, she wondered if he’d been wandering around trying to figure out the cloaking technology.

Throughout the encounter, Surra remained silent for the most part, her mind abuzz with theories and hypotheses. She knew that there was much more to uncover beneath the surface, opulent facade of the Beltran palace.

Lieutenant Almikaz
(CSO)

“Now come,” the King made a sweeping gesture for those to follow him. “Let us enter the palace and partake in some festivity and camaraderie.” Due to their height, the stride of the Beltran’s was longer than most humans. Based on anatomical differences, some of the crew might feel as if they were running to keep up while others might just feel the gnawing sense of exertion. Casper did not seem to care or notice as he briskly walked toward the large marble steps that would lead into the palace.

Calvin let the king take the lead as was his right, by position and as host, but he turned to his team and jerked his head forward, letting know he expected them to keep up. Not that there was any doubt of that, but to let them know that the pace was likely intentionally high to assert control.

He was going to have to do most of the ‘glad handing’ thus he would have to rely on his team to get the information he needed and not get themselves into trouble.

Their scamper was unlikely as dignified as they might like it to be and Dagen quickly felt like a page scurrying after the King. Festivity and camaraderie. That could be interesting.

Upon crossing the plaza and reaching the steps, the crew would find the steps also designed for Beltran physiology making them awkward enough to climb. The height of each step was higher than Federation Standard and the tread was slightly longer. This translated into every step the crew took on the staircase falling short of a natural stride. When one took a step up, one would need to take almost a second step on the tread to reach the other stair. The tread length however meant only the shorter females of the crew might be able to get two steps in on each tread. The males of the crew would need to do more of a shuffle or hop in order to find the right pace and not trip going up the stairs. The pace the King kept going up the steps also impacted the issue with the stride. Keeping up with the King’s pace would almost feel like working out on a stairmaster over walking up a set of stairs.

GM Kate

Dagen hung back with Reia to go up together and, while it may not seem as the purest professional thing to do he hung close so that they could steady one another. In this effort teamwork would seem better than individually scampering about to keep up with the King. While he may not be that accommodating, neither should they risk injury in trying to keep up. He couldn’t fault them for working their architecture for their needs but if they were invited to a party the least they could do is .. slow down a little. In this he was mentally revising his general opinion of these people and not necessarily for the better.
- Dagen, CE

Marius.

Magnus looked at the stairs, made a first test step and made the quick calculation and grinned as he looked at the Captain then at the rest of the senior staff “This is going to be fun” He said trying to insert some cheer although he did genuinely think this was going to be fun as only one obsessed with exercise could. Keeping up with the longer stride of the King had been interesting, he was so used to having longer legs than many others that being on the receiving end was odd. The stairs were a far more entertaining challenge. He performed a few heel stands as prep before taking the first step.

XO

Tom leaned in close to Marius and spoke quietly into his ear “The king taking off up the stairs like that, knowing our difference in stature, is his first power play to display who is in total control of this situation. He expects us to scamper up the stairs after him like good little subjects. Keeping up with him will not earn us any respect and will only serve to stroke his considerably sized ego but, if we take it at our own pace safely, potentially our own power play, he might take it as a slight.”

• Tom, IntSec

Marius tilted his head, he agreed overall, but angry crew lead to angry decisions. “I don’t imagine the could have built a different staircase for us. Nor would I have liked to have the change made. That would make us look weak. Better to handle the stairs with ease and without compliant.”

“And you are,” Vanessa stated looking at Tom. She had a nagging feeling in her gut of Deja Vu that she knew this man only for the life of her, she could not place his face with a name.

Vanessa gathered up the front of her dress in one hand and felt someone grab her elbow. Her gaze snapped to her left and fell on Lt Dean’s face.

“I am assuming you are not wearing sneakers under that dress,” he shot her slightly irritatedly. No matter which command team had beamed down, there was always one officer that was more difficult in the bunch. Counselors had more leeway in dress codes but she was not ready for a vertical fun run.

“I have been out running men in heels since I could put on lipstick. I am pretty sure I can beat the lot of you up there,” she countered. Vanessa attempted to pull her arm away yet Dean’s grip was firm. Waiting any longer to start to ascend the steps would make them far more obvious. It would also cause them to fall behind the group. Letting out a sign, she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. Due to her shorter stride, it did not take Vanessa long to realize being short was an advantage here. By shifting her weight like the children’s game of hopscotch, Vanessa could get two steps on the treads before hopping up to the next step. It made her visually look like she was hopping up the steps instead of walking up them but it still got her to the top.

Vanessa Slade CNS

Marius