<snip>

Power plants, university, food production and a hospital. All seemingly safe, and a quick way to get a gauge of where they were and what the Federation could provide via trade.

Thomas nodded at the train. It looked quite efficient and clean-powered. If it had been a coal or oil powered train, he would have been much more concerned that this society had a lot of progress yet to make.

COS

As they travelled on, they saw a kind of airport. The planes looked like those in 21st century Earth. Thus, they were still using fossil fuel despite the great use of nuclear power. That explained the pollution as the shuttles entered the atmosphere. Yet, in the locale of the airport, there were fields of some kind of crop growing.

Eventually, they slowed down and the train arrived at a costal town. There was a vehicle waiting for them. It was an electric vehicle. “We will need to travel by car to reach the power plant. It will take 15 minutes,”

GM

The car moved through a small village. Strangely, there were no one on the streets. However the crew did notice eyes peeping through the curtains as the car moved. The trip took 13 minutes and 25 seconds, to be exact. They had passed by a heavily guarded gate before reaching the entrance of a small facility.

Thomas took note of the empty streets, and the peeping eyes. Perhaps some sort of security restriction, aimed at keeping the visitors seat from any dissident elements… or vice-versa.

Neibu and Nongfu opened the doors of the car. “Please alight,” said Yeeker.

They noticed about four men in yellow coats waiting for them at the entrance. One of them cane forward, “Welcome to the Kita Coast Atomic Facility. I am Tong, the Chief Officer of this facility. These are …” he introduced the three women who were with him, “Nuer, the Chief Engineer; Utara, the Chief Technician; Dang, the Chief Scientist.”

GM

Thomas stood back, ready to let Dagen re-introduce the group.

COS

Marishka stood back with Thomas. She didn’t envy Dagen’s job of making all the introductions over and over again. Perhaps she should have offered to do it instead but it made more sense to keep things the way they were.

• Marishka, CIO

Dagen watched and took things in. He had been on a kind of ‘train’ like this when he was young. Very young. It was exciting then. Somehow age had dampened that some, however the technology was always something to experience. Planes, trains and automobiles - the stuff of legends and museums now come alive. An atomic facility. It had good security, but then back with these facilities they needed it. One small issue and boom. Well, more like meltdown and nasty radiation for a very long time. “Thank you for your welcome,” Dagen said, meaning it. “I am Dagen Thor, chief engineer on board our ship. These are Lieutenant’s Marishka and MacGregor. Lt MacGregor is our security chief and I am sure can appreciate greatly the pains you have taken to secure a facility such as this. Lt Marishka is a specialist in many different fields.” He felt that since they held to stating the different titles of their people that Dagen should do the same. He danced about Marishka’s ‘Intelligence’ title; this was tour and a muli-spectrum person would be expected. Given the tech level here he felt that she could fill that role while keeping her eyes open for her true calling. It was interesting that three of their main technicians were women.

“Energy is certainly what makes things go,” Dagen said to them. “You do noble work here, Chief Officer Tong, you and your technicians.”
Thor, Eng

Tong looked very pleased with the remark. “Please come this way,” he said.

The trio were led through a series of tunnels with pictures on the wall depicting the history of atomic power usage on the planet. The pictures were drawn rather than photographs. There was a wealth of script that was unintelligible to the Starfleet officers. Finally, they reached the main reactor cores. The design of the cores were very similar to those found on 21st century Earth. However, the power produced were on average 15% higher than Earth’s.

Dagen moved though his attention was on the progression of their technology. Drawings. Pictures. Holos. All the same. Their power outputs were impressive. Inwardly he was glad that his words had not offended especially around security. Sure they were a unified world, but one still did not allow the cook to deliver to the main control room.

“Our government hopes that our technology is satisfactory to your Federation?” Yeeker asked.

GM

“You have done more than many worlds in the adaptation of atomic power, Secretary,” Dagen replied. “As we approached your world we witnessed the unfortunate accident on one of your vessels. But what we marveled at was the way your people undertook the clean up of the radiation from it.” He took in Tong and the technicians. “That is never easy to do. You have done very well in that. Your people have an eye to not just advance but a conscience to fix. The Federation admires those qualities. I’m curious how you scrubbed space as you did. Are these stations the main way you power your world?”

He looked back to Thomas and Marishka for their input. This ‘diplomacy’ business was hard.
Dagen

“You’ve managed a great start,” Thomas added. “Reaching, let alone surpassing, the speed of light is a seminal moment in the development of any species. Your people obviously have some very brilliant scientists and engineers.”

COS