Away Team 4 - Green Legacy... we shall see

Posted on Mon Jul 19th, 2021 @ 7:11am by Lieutenant JG Nerinath zh'Rhilror [Lalor] & Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Vira Vemre [Whavi] & Senior Chief Petty Officer Emily Charles {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Season 5: Episode 2: Operation Save Humanity
Location: New Canaan
Timeline: MD6 - 09h30
4114 words - 8.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The away teams had been briefed. Look around, do not start any fights, make sure you are always armed and please stay together. Away team 4, were to gather in the shuttle bay 1 at 09h30 and take a shuttle down to the planet.

Jessica entered the Shuttlebay and began to pace. Apparently she was the first person there, as usual. And apparently she had to go armed on a first contact. "Damn, this goes against the grain. I'm a fighter pilot, not a cabbie."

Victor who was behind Jessica did not say anything quiet yet.

Emily was next through the doors, she was surprised to have been chosen for an away team, but then Leilani wasn’t permitted off ship in her marine medic duties due to her pregnancy. Emily was excited to be joining the team and smiled warmly as she greeted Jessica.

Vira entered the shuttle bay trying to hold her excitement in. Her involvement in this away mission had come as a surprise even though Carrington had mentioned the opportunity to her in there brief meeting. There was a slight pang of disappointment at not seeing a familiar face but she didn’t let it dull her mood. She stood back and waited for further instructions.

Nerinath entered, her long white hair in a pony tail and her weapon holstered.

Tate was the last to arrive, having taken an extra moment to consider what weaponry she needed to bring. Not surprisingly, she wasn't used to carrying weapons as part of her regular duties, particularly for first contact. Like the others, Sullivan was also looking forward to the opportunity to get off the ship and explore, as it has been sometime since she had been part of a proper away team. The counselor was a bit concerned about how the rest of the team would respond to the people they encountered. Certainly, they all had a reason to be on edge, but she hoped they would remember to take each encounter as it came and not be spoiling for a fight. There was such a thing as a self for filling prophecy, after all.

Jess waited until everyone was there. "Alright, listen up guys... These people are going to say a whole lot of smut about us. Welll, quite frankly I don't give a damn what they think. Only thing I care about is getting this business over with and returning to the ship." Jess mentioned.

“Amen,” Victor replied to what Jess said, “Badda Bing, Badda Boom. Jessica, they probably want you here because you think fast on your feet like all the great fighter pilots in history.”

"Actually everything I do is planned out, Lieutenant. Every successful squadron had a battle plan before heading into battle." Jess noted. "Now as I was saying. If they say smut.. we don't react. Just like the professionals we are. And that seperates the aces from the rookies."

"Agreed," Tate echoed. "These are still people after all, and diplomatically speaking, this is going to go a lot easier if we take each moment as it comes and not read into anything too much because of our own expectations."

Jess spoke. "Alright everyone... C'mon. Lets go 'look around.... and not get into any fights.' Goddesses have mercy this is the worst damned idea Carrington has had so far."

When the commander was done speaking Vira looked down to check her phaser for the 100th time to ensure it was set to stun. Not that she hoped she would need to use it, having it actually felt a bit weird. Did the Elysium always go armed for first contacts? She noted to ask the question later not wishing to draw attention to herself.

Neri took the helm and began their journey.

===

The shuttle landed and powered down. Commander Vaii put on her pilot's bomber jacket and stepped outside. "C'mon. Let's go look around, and not get into any fights.." As they entered one of the settlements. Neri and Vira would be noticed immediately. Jess wasn't noticed for a while until someone managed to catch a glance at her irises.

Given their circumstances Emily was grateful that she looked Human, no one would know she was Betazoid if she didn’t give herself away. She looked towards Vaii keeping her voice low, “This place gives me the creeps. It just feels... off.”

Vaii spoke again. "Do not tell them we're Betazoids." She said to Emily. "I'd rather not be in a laboratory having my head cut open so they can learn how our telepathy works. Just stick with the Commander and you'll make it." Jess was always known on the crew for doing her best to get people back in one piece.

“Don’t worry, I intend to fit in as much as possible while we’re here” She smiled warmly at Jess.

"You think you have problems," The blue skinned Andorian commented from behind them.

Emily turned to look offering a smile. “As long as we stick together we’ll be okay.” She just wished her Betazoid senses weren’t telling her to get the hell out of dodge!

Victor added, “I am getting a foreboding feeling and a sense of deja vu. After so many missions like this, you have to wait.”

“It’s all very... odd.” Emily looked around. “The feeling I’m getting doesn’t match what we’re looking at. It’s all a... jumble of emotions, and not just from directly around us.”

Victor’s eyebrow went up. “You mean like one of us?”

"She means we're being watched, Mister de Tolly. I'm wondering if this is a very bad idea." Jess noted. "I don't like this, I think we're done looking around. Back to the shuttle."

Emily stopped walking and looking at Vaii. “Don’t you think it’ll look suspicious if we just turn around and leave when we’ve only just got here? Maybe we should make it look like we’re venturing in another direction and work our way back towards the shuttle?”

Vira stepped forward, "They could just be curious about us, perhaps if we match their curiosity with our own it might... decrease the tension?"

Jess spoke. "Kid i love Risa. I love the food, the beaches, the beach parties, the resorts, the Jamaharon. I hope to the goddesses you're right, Ensign. But understand. These aren't the nice, upstanding, accepting humans of the 24th. Nope, these are going to be humans before first contact. And they were no saints once upon a time."

"That's judging a people as a whole, they may not have all been accepting but not giving a people chance to prove their intentions says more about us I feel. I've never made first contact so call me naïve but how can we expect them to welcome us if we don't give them the chance?" Vira was ready to stick her foot in her mouth, she held her breath waiting for the commander to shut her up and sending her packing back to the shuttle for speaking the way she was.

"It's a fair point," Tate agreed looking toward Vira. "Certainly, this would not be the first time any of us had to interact with people who seem quite different from us. I think it will be helpful to remember how we would like to be treated by those who have a completely different perspective and set of attitudes from our own. If the roles were reversed, ask yourself how you would want to be treated?"

"Excuse me?" called out a voice to their left. "I say, are you the people from Earth?" A woman was approaching them, of a certain age, smartly dressed and coiffured, in a skirt and jacket combination strongly reminiscent of the late twentieth century. She looked them all over as she approached, a bevy of others in tow, trying to figure out which one was in charge. "Madeline St Croix. I'm the chief administrator here in Emerald Peak. On behalf of our little enclave, I just want to say we're so pleased to meet you all." She beamed at them. She didn't even blink at Neri as she tried to size them all up.

"Lieutenant Commander Jessica Vaii." She began introducing the team. "I'm the Actcing Commander Air Group from the USS Elysium. This is my team."

"Dr. Tate Sullivan," Tate greeted, offering her hand. "Assistant Chief Counselor from the Elysium."

“I’m Petty Officer Emily Charles, I’m a Nurse.” She smiled warmly as she greeted those who’d gathered.

After watching the others introduce themselves Vira stepped up next to officer Charles. "I'm Ensign Vemre." She said with a dip of her head.

“ Ensign zh”Rhilror” Neri said her face straight.

"A pleasure to meet you all," St Croix beamed. "Let me Introduce my colleagues. Dr. Harlan White, Director of Public Health, Kenneth van Dien, chair of infrastructure, and Monica Reyes, chief superintendent." The people who had followed St Croix like a gaggle of ducklings nodded greetings. "We have a tour bus waiting. We'd like to show you what life is like here. I can't imagine it matches up to the glories of Earth but we're proud of what we've managed in two hundred years."

"Jesus Christ Almighty, it's an egg-head reception at the Daystrom Institute." Jessica muttered in a low voice. "And to think I woke up at 0600 for this." Jessica noted. "Question; Did your people come here in one of the old DY model Sleeper ships? There were plenty of colonization initiatives with them back during the day."

St Croix indicated that they should move towards the bus, "I don't know the exact modrl, but The Abraham was a sleeper ship. it was something of a miracle all the crew survived in those days."

Emily nodded as she walked towards the bus listening, fascinated by it all. "Things are a lot different now, as I'm sure you'll see."

"Lucky is an understatement. Those old DY Series Sleeper Ships were state of the art for their time, but their navigation systems were old Starlock type navigation computers. They were good enough as long as you didn't run into any heavy EM anomalies. We began running into thos old sleeper ships when Dr. Zefram Cochrane created the first Warp Drive."

"Cochrane?" One of St. Crox's colleagues spoke. "His warp drive ideas were correct."

Jess spoke. "Not only were they correct. He actually flew Earth's first Warp Driven vessel. It was around the time the Third World War ended. Zefram Cochrane was determined to build a warp driven starship. So he took an old Titan II missile and built his ship out of that. It was called 'The Phoenix.'" Jess mentioned. "And on April 5th 2063, he launched that ship and sustained Warp One for about fifteen seconds. There and back again." Jess mentioned. "All to the music of Stepphenwolf's Magic Carpet Ride."

"I don't know that song," St Croix said. "We didn't have much room in the databanks for music. We were keeping more vital information. I wish our ancestors had found more space for it. We've made our own music, but I would love to study music history in detail."

"The story doesn't end there. You see when Zefram Cochrane made his warp flight, a scout ship from another world detected Cochrane's flight.... And they landed on Earth to meet Dr. Cochrane. After that, Humans learned it was not just them in the universe, and after a third world war... well." Jess noted. "The reality of that hit home in a way that ended every religious, political, and ethnic feud on the planet." Jess mentioned. "It hasn't been all glorious, Ms. St. Croix. As I said; ups and downs. but through all that, I guarantee you. Earth would have never made it without the Federation."

"We have had brief contacts with aliens," The administrator admitted, "But the central government stops any contamination long before it reaches the surface. We don't get visitors or," she nodded at Nerinath, "keep any as servants. So I'm afraid I've never heard of The Federation".

Jessica looked at her team with the look like she didn't like the sound of that.


As Tate boarded their transportation, she was uncomfortable on a couple of fronts. She wasn't sure she wanted to be taken as a group to an as yet unknown location. Secondly, she was a bit concerned about all of the information Jessica was sharing at once. It was a lot for this particular group to absorb, and while Sullivan would never endorse heavy suspicion or hostility before they even had a chance to introduce themselves, some careful observation wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "I imagine it's a lot to absorb," Tate echoed. "For now, I expect it will be helpful for us to understand the life you've made here."

Neri sat quietly. She didn’t say a word, she didn’t think it was wise for her to do so. Her antennae was twitching as she sat there and listened.

"I expect its very simple compared to earth." St Croix said. "It took us nearly a century to boost the population to self sustaining levels, and even then we had to make sacrifices. Not all of our efforts went to plan. Perhaps we can show you our memorial." She leaned to the side to call to the driver, "Green Park please," She turned back to Tate. "The park runs along some of the shoreline to the actual Emerald Lake. we have all several memorials there. The Centenary Gate, our Garden of rememberance. The colombarium too."

Internally Ensign Vemre chuckled. ‘I bet the woman outnumbered the men and they had to share, oh what a sacrifice.’ She thought.

Vira couldn’t hold back her curiosity, “What sacrifices had to be made?”

Emily looked towards the others. “If you have so many memorial areas, How many people did you lose?”

"Many," St Croix admitted solomnly. "The early days of the Maturation work was filled with experimental failures and losses, some of the earliest settlers avoided radiation on earth only to fall foul to exposure when the Abraham landed, and the defects it put into the genes was magnified exponentially when we first started. There was even an attempt at cloning in the earliest years along with maturation, but that created so many issues with mutation and replicative failure in just a few iterations that the scientists of the time scrapped entire generations. For a while it looked like our colony would have died out here, our DNA so dengenerated we'd not be human anymore."

Emily nodded. “So how did your people overcome all of that?”

"They didn't. I'm willing to bet they still have problems to this day." Jess pointed out.

“That wouldn’t surprise me” Emily nodded. “But it might be something we can help with.”

The Director of Public Health addressed Emiily. "The same we always have. Endless vigiliance for defects and mutations, and pruning them ruthlessly. Our overall incidence has declined, and of the three cities, I'm proud to say Emerald Lake has the lowest level of Law One occurances or violations."

Jess got up and transitioned to the back of the bus. The telepaths in the room would hear her thoughts. 'Nazi bullshit....'

Emily looked shocked. “You simply deny life to anything that isn’t perfect? Even on our society we have physically and mentally disabled, they have a place in society like anyone else.”

The locals looked at Emily for a moment, processing her words. And then burst out laughing.

When St Croix managed to get herself under control, she gave emily a look you'd normally see on a mother explaining to her child why the puppy was dead. "No, my dear. They don't. That's why our ancestors left. There wasn't resource to spare coddling the defective then, and there isn't now. Your life and labour is limited, the capacity of the community is limited. You can't really be so naive to think that there is anything to gain from letting them live, miserable and limited, and polluting the lives of those condemned to raise them with resentment and wasting the best years the normal people have to give."

Emily looked at the rest of the away team with dismay. These people would not fit in with the Federation at all. "How do you feel about those of... other species? The Federation is made up of many different species, members of every race that are members of the Federation."

Jessica spoke. "I'll tell you Eva von Braun up there thinks of the races in the Federation. We're just not worthy, aren't we. She'll use Heinrich Himmler's goddess damned playbook to decide who's superior or inferior. Christ.... I woke up at 0600 to visit egghead space nazis."

Vira's discomfort was growing steadily. She had a brief recollection of what a nazi was from her studies at the academy and was pretty sure she wanted nothing to do with its likeness. She found herself look to Nerinath as she waited for St Croix to continue.

St Croix looked at Vaii, and then at Neri. "Aliens aren't allowed to stay here. Our ancestors risked their lives to keep the human genome pure. We have occasional trade with individuals, but we are complete with out them, however exotic they may be." She looked along the bus to Vaii. "And ad-hominem attacks are as good as admitting the otherside is right. Which we are. You might not like it, but with screening we put a stop to unfortunate conditions before they start. Better to lose one half formed mass of cells than let it grow and to take over the lives of its parents and its community. Would you prefer we were all now deviants raddled with mutations and congential defects inbred to the point of extinction?"

"I'm not going to argue with you any further. I know better than to talk sense to someone who has abandoned it. But I will say this; if you people are planning something... I will know instantly." Jess made sure that remark was cryptic. She and Emily did not tell them they were telepathic.

Emily looked at Jess and the others. “We shouldn’t be judging these people, it’s not our place to judge how they run their society. We don’t have to like it but it’s nit our right to interfere. The non interference directive is there for just such an occasion.” She looked at St Croix. “How would you feel if I said I wasn’t Human?”

St Croix blinked, and the Director of Health leaned forward to study her intently. Both Emily and Vaii could feel the discomfort and morbid curiosity the humans all around them radiated. "I must say," The public health official said. "You pass very well. How was it done? Surgery? Genetic reprogramming? You'd never know to look at you. I'm assuming you're not human, otherwise you wouldn't ask."

"You just don't get it... Don't you?" Jessica mentioned. "You've shared company with Two Humans, two Betazoids, One Risian, And a Andorian." Jess smiled. "What we look like, is how we look natually, no bells or whistles."

Emily looked at St Croix and the director. “I’m a Betazoid, we’re one of the closest species you’ll find to Humans. We look Human, we’re not that much different from a Human apart from the fact that I’m a Empath.” She held back on the telepathic part for fear of alarming their hosts. “I can sense emotions, but only when I focus on them.”

"Can't everyone do that?" St Croix looked sceptical. "I don't need alien superpowers to tell she's hostile," she wagged a finger at Vaii, "and your blue friend is nervous, and you believe in being polite even when you don't like what you hear?"

"That's it, take us back to the shuttle. I've had it with the Nazi bitch and the SS Fan Club here." Jess noted. "Driver, turn us around, or I will toss you and everone else off this bus.."

Ellie looked towards Jess, she couldn’t blame her for wanting to return to the ship. “Commander... she’s right isn’t she? We’re all feeling exactly what she said. The observation is sound.”

Jess spoke. "Petty Officer? Do you want to know what these fucking nazis did once upon a time because they wanted breathing room? They invaded the Soviet Union in a war that left forty million humans dead in Eastern Europe. I don't need Empathy to tell me we're here for propaganda purposes. I'll grieve for the people they euthanized over this pile of filth. Ms. Croix, turn the bus around before I have to start giving this team orders to seize this bus and throw all of out on your asses."

The superintendant who had been quietly observing the newcomers nodded to the driver, and made a turning gesture with her fingers.

St Croix looked at Vaii with pity. "We are not, and never were Nazis. We didn't invade anywhere. We left, and we didn't force anyone to join us. Our ancestors were ensuring humanity survived in the face on an event which could have destroyed us all. I can see reaching back to our roots is pointless, humans still haven't learned to prune themselves as efficiently as they prune any other species they develop. No long term eye on survival."

"Oh I don't think I want you pruning anyone, or anything anytime soon, and Humans do not prune other races. We never have... Besides here you are still with planes, trains, automobiles, and chemical powered rockets. On Earth there is no sickness, no mutations, no war, crime... you name it... we've done away with it. And travelling to Risa for Pina Collada's and dancing in the rain is as easy as booking a transport." Jess mentioned. "Good day, Sirs and Ma'am."

"Humans don't prune other races?" St Croix sneered. "What about those Nazis you're so quick to compare us to? Does not wiping out 97% of the indigenous population of the americas by europeans not count as pruning? I do believe somewhere in the balkans made a valient stab at pruning their muslim population in the late twentieth century, roughly at the same time the Hutu tried to wipe out the Tutsi. I'm pretty sure 25% of cambodia counts as pruning. Fifty percent of the native algerians by the French in the eighteen hundreds. I can go all the way back to the sack of Carthage if you'd like?"

"Driver, can you drive faster please?" Jess ignored St. Croix.

St Croix just smirked.

Dr White, the Director of Health leant forward, but addressed his remarks to Emily. "No sickness, no mutation? How have you managed to do that?"

Emily offered a response. “Our medical technology is a lot more advanced now than it used to be, advances in medicines as well. Sickness does still exist but only rarely do we face something we can’t help with.”

"Ms. Charles. Prime Directive..." Vaii noted. That was a hint to tell the Petty Officer to shut her mouth.

Emily looked towards Vaii “Sorry Commander.”

"Prime Directive?" The doctor asked?

"Nothing you need to know about, that's for damn sure." Jessica mentioned. "Don't worry, we'll be out of your hair in less than ten minutes, then you can go back to your... 'pruning...'" Jess looked at them. "You people are psychopaths."

Tate was frustrated and disappointed in Vali, but she wasn't about to contribute to the free for all that had developed and undermine her role as team leader. The team had already seen enough unprofessional behavior from Jessica and Tate didn't want to model any more. That would need to be addressed later. For now, Sullivan tried to lower the temperature.

To St. Croix, she offered, "Clearly, your way of life is incredibly difficult for all of us to accept. Many of us have or care about someone with these defects you speak of. To us, the notion of not existing or not having those we love is as unfathomable to us as our way of life is to you. As difficult as all of this is for us to hear, we all took an oath to behave professionally and ethically, and yours is not the first society we've encountered that is so different from our own. I'm hopeful when emotion passes, we will remember that. Name-calling is certainly not the best representation of who we are."

Victor takes a deep breath as he observed. Scratching his scalp a bit. “Amen. Well said.”