Hope you feel better soon, choie, and of course that it turns out not to be you-known-what.
Hope you feel better soon, choie, and of course that it turns out not to be you-known-what.
Very well played sir! A callback from...good heavens, a year ago! Forgot that strand of the tapestry.
edited to add: dang, this is one time Kylah would've been useful!
^^Yeah, what she said!
Now I need a perception check. Does Nia hear that revelation?
Hmm... I'm gonna say no. A little too far away, and there are two people other between her and the speaker, who isn't shouting.
Aw rats! I figured since Dr. Bennett heard it...
Oh. I only just realized--by "The doctor looks astonished," did you mean the museum director? I didn't even think of that.
Anyway since I also took my sweet time in figuring out the ethical conundrum we're in now, if I'd posted what I originally planned for Nia (had she heard the revelation), it would've been useless. So, here's another Emily Litella "nevermind" from me.
Yes, it's Dr. Vasilyev, the museum director, who's standing right next to the guard.
LOL. Okay, now Vargas is just being a schmuck.
Edit--hey just noticed my join date. It's my eighth anniversary, woohoo!
Edit #2--tried to sneak this question in Nia's last post, but it didn't work: What can Nia see of the two main players here? Does she see Graham's stance, or that Hutchinson's on his knees?
Heh. Vargas does have a tendency in that direction - all in the line of duty, of course. "Confined to quarters" isn't meant to be a chance to chat with friends.
Congrats on your eighth anniversary, choie! So glad you're here with us.
Onn can see only a little of Graham from where she is, and Hutchinson not at all.
Sorry for vanishing, life rolls om in tech-land, we launched a product this morning!
Yay! Man, good luck launching a product now--are you expecting there to be any issues given the lockdowns, or is your product intended for a largely WFM workforce anyway?
Edited to add: If any XP is in the offing, I think playing a woman who has to come up with soooo much double-meaning b.s. on the fly should grant me plenty. I know Kylah's LUCK is in the gutter and I doubt there's anything that can be done there, but she perhaps she can level up in INT at some point? She makes terrible choices so God knows WIS is off the table, but damn she gets difficult assignments! (I still bear a grudge for her having to make up a frickin' Elasian poem out of thin air back in Other Side of Paradise! ) Can one be DEX, verbally?
Nah, I know the scores don't mean anything really, but I'm just saying... damn the situations this girl gets in keep me on my toes! And yet I admit I wouldn't have it any other way.
Yah so it's really weird - among companies using our technology are Netflix, FedEx, and a lot of online retailers or the online division of old school retailers.
This crisis is actually good for business, which is a little uncomfortable, but, on the other hand, for businesses like Target scaling up their online sales is a lifeline!
Hope you stay nice and busy, general, but not so busy you can't post here!
Trying hard to make Yorktown a regular part of the new normal !
(Sorry I've been a bit spotty - I've been working in a frenzy on getting tech folks from other companies that are going to grow as a result of this here (i.e., some bigger ones than ours like "Amazon," "Microsoft") to organize and off-the-clock lobby legislators for new revenue sources - Seattle is going to be like a Great Depression except where 1 industry keeps growing gangbusters, with rising stock prices. Currently we don't have (for example) a capital gains, income, or wealth tax. Even if just as temporary measures to accelerate recovery - if electeds don't do it here, it will be terrible, and also just "weird." We'll have like ~10% of the workforce being like "things are great!" while the rest stagger through really hard times.)
Last edited by general_urko; 12 Apr 2020 at 05:26 PM.
On another note is anyone else watching Star Trek: Picard?
IMO, OMG: Patrick Stewart. Also dark undertones masterfully done.
Hold the phone... Seattle doesn't have income tax? How did I not know that? I think I was aware that Florida's like that, mainly because of course it is--it's Florida. Anyway, best of luck with your lobbying efforts! I hope they bear fruit.
Haven't seen Picard because of an irrational dislike of Seven, and a fear that she's omnipresent the way she took over VOY (not that i really cared as I didn't watch the show past the 3rd or 4th season, it was the principle of the thing; I was a Kes fan). Is she avoidable? I admit my even bigger fear is that Picard is going down a depressing arc a la Logan and Professor X.
(Is there anyone from DS9 involved in this? I can't imagine who would be... Molly O'Brien maybe, or even Jake? It'd just be a nice nod to fans.)
Haven't seen ST: Picard yet, but it's definitely on my list. Our youngest son is now interested in ST:TNG, so we're working through my favorite-episodes list while we're on lockdown. Today we watched "Q Who," which first introduced the Borg.
I too would be interested to know if there are any DS9 links to the show. I don't mind minimum spoilers - just a name or two would be fine.
My mistake - I wrote Cromwell a few posts back in the game thread, and it should have been Cornwall. Thanks, choie, for catching that. Now fixed.
wrt Picard we're catching up - 7 of 9 just showed up. No idea how prominent she'll be.
"Borg" look to play a big role, but no solid DS9 links yet.
Haven't seen ST Picard yet (or ST Discovery, for that matter) but I'm sure I will someday.
Literally laughing out loud here...
I mean... I kinda love it that Rangin received that particular info. Having him know that she's in such huge trouble is awesome.
But geeze! I was expecting a neutral reply like, "This user is not currently able to receive messages, your message is being sent to the officer's inbox" (or whatever nondescript autoreply would suffice).
No, instead Vargas makes sure all and sundry know that Kylah has fucked up so badly that she's one step away from the Brig. Daaamn, that is pretty frickin' harsh! She is really getting blamed and shamed here-and thus far they only know she skipped a single mission!
Don't get me wrong, this is fine with me. More fodder for Kylah drama. But Vargas's level of vindictive asshattery cracks me up nonetheless.
Heh. Thanks, but there's another possible interpretation to the message. Think about it....
Hee, a puzzle! Hmmm... okay, is it that... she's... a Sakazombie? Geeze my mind's a blank. I'd say some kind of regular illness or medical situation requiring isolation (COVID-70?), but confinement like that'd probably be ordered by Villa, the CMO, and anyway she'd be in Sickbay, right? If it'll be made obvious in time, I'll stop guessing, but you've got my curiosity all a-tingle!
Hey, while looking up the history for Nia's latest arch reference to Garcia's fuck-up on OCIII, I spotted this, in #3993 -- Graham catches his first glimpse of a certain female officer, a mere NPC at the time. Forgot about that!
Wow major props to SidonianGal
#notworthy
Ain't no big thang, it just caught my eye while looking at the other posts! Uh, I mean, SidonianGal's eye. I think I'd checked the threads when EH originally allowed me the opportunity to take on a 2nd PC and suggested Onn as a possibility. Since she'd only been mentioned that single time, it made her ripe for usage. (As she always is. ) Graham's being the only one to see her is just an amusing bit of retroactive foreshadowing.
Quick question--what happened to Russell? When last we saw him, Graham had ordered him to stay on Hutchinson while Graham checked out the crowd. In the next post, Russell says "yuppers" (paraphrasing) and we're told Graham finds him dependable.
(Funnily enough, back in the aforementioned infamous OCIII mission, Russell twice messed up orders--coincidentally involving keeping track of various people he was supposed to guard. But hey, maybe he learned his lesson after all that!)
Anyhoo, point is: we don't see him enter the ship, so is he still out there guarding Hutchinson?
Russell is standing in the doorway to the shuttle, guarding Hutchinson, as I recall.
My reaction to the appearance of Pablo Vargas and, like, an entire infantry of Security officers was a bit, um, earthier than the above meme, but I couldn't put such words into Jean-Luc Picard's mouth.
Of course Nia's first reaction might not be quite as censored. (Oh, I can guarantee that!) But I'm giving general_urko a day to hopefully get his response in first. This chilling plot twist does affect him more than the rest of us.
Do I like it? As a writer and audience member, hell yes. As a character? My thoughts are with Nia and her inevitable reference to her planet's mythological Seht'Dar's fiery balls.
An evil part of me is hoping ol' Cece Bennett was the one to rat Marala out. But I know you wouldn't grant such a boon to my competitive side, nor allow such a thorn upon your English rose.
Well, speaking of thorns... kind of a lot of them in my last post.
But, yeah, okay, so, I apologize for the ridiculously long entry--hell it's long even for me! Which is why I split most of the flashback into Apocrypha (hey, remember that?). It's important and I would love for you guys to read it, but it's not absolutely essential beyond what's strongly implied in the shorter version. I just worried that I'd included the whole story in the game thread, the weight of the thing would break the forum. Or at least make EH want to break something over my hands for shoving so much backstory into a live thread.
But the whole thing turned out to be very important info about both Nia and life on Sidonia (in this part of the planet, anyway), which honestly I wasn't expecting as I started it. It's really the first time I ironed out some ideas about what young Nia's life and society were like, and I decided to run with it. I may have run too far, because my case of logorrhea is nearly fatal. But at least it clears some things up for me, anyway.
(Wouldn't've thought I could make anyone as miserable as Kylah! But obviously she and Nia react differently to hardships.)
So, yeah. My fingers are about to fall off so I need to put some ice on them.
And man I hope this wacky plan works... but we'll see, I know!
It's all good. I'm glad to learn more of Onn's troubled past.
Thanks!
We interrupt this message because OMG OMG I am GEEKING OUT!! By some miracle of Youtube recommendations I just came across this new... sort of webseries, though it could just as easily be listened to audio only... called which is basically Deep Space Nine fanfic, except the fans include Alexander Siddig and Andrew frickin' Robinson, and they are playing Bashir and Garak, 25 years after the end of the Dominion war.
Like, I haven't even listened to the whole thing yet because I know I'm too tired to watch but I wanted to share with you guys because I am THAT EXCITED.
Ah okay, here's some background for it. It was part of a Siddig fan club ("Sid City," heh) gathering (virtual, obviously), and the actors did a live reading of the first episode, which was written by Matthew Campbell, with Story Editor Craig Alan.
Just in case you couldn't tell, DS9 is pretty much my favorite Trek, tied w/TNG,* and of the stellar cast my favorite character was Bashir due to his naivte and (initial) callowness developing so smoothly the longer this young doc served on DS9. And of course Garak was perfectly emblematic of the gray-shaded sensibility of the show, just a remarkable creation of clever writing and phenomenal actor. They made such a fascinating pair. I am just hyped to the gills that this is a thing.
* I've probably mentioned this before, but the way I judge 'em: DS9 is my favorite for ambitious storytelling, character interaction/shading, more nuanced look at the Federation, stellar acting and just overall quality. TNG is my favorite for likability of characters/cast, the exploration theme that's the soul of Trek for me, and the overall positive ideals of civilization and diplomacy.
Cool - I'll have to check that out! Thanks.
Weirdly both gerneral_urko and I seem to have blipped over your post (after Kylah's), EH! LOL, we both wrote stuff that is now kinda obviated now that I spotted it. I edited to reflect the sudden... lack of tension in the room. Curses, so much for my latest cunning plan.
Off-topic: As someone who seems quite interested in/educated about battles and history in general, do you happen to know any good nonfiction books about the French Revolution? (Preferably something not too biased in either direction. I just want to learn the facts first and then delve into others' commentaries on various sides.)
The Norton History of the French Revolution seems like a good choice but I'd love to hear any recs from you, if this is one of your many areas of interest!
Last edited by SidonianGal; 18 Jul 2020 at 09:45 PM. Reason: Forgot all about the French!
I've never read an entire book about the French Revolution - sorry. Not something I'm particularly interested in. I'd probably just read or skim the Wiki article about it and then check out the bibliography at the end.
I listened to the first episode of the YouTube "Alone Together" dramatic reading - thanks for bringing it up, choie! Good stuff. Particularly interesting to learn what's become of the ol' DS9 gang since the end of the series (especially Garak and Kira).
Today is the tenth anniversary of the start of our first USS Yorktown mission, "On the Brink." Thanks for all you've done to keep the game going! I'm still having fun and hope you are, too.
YAY! Hail the good ship Yorktown and most of all to you, EH! I know we've had complete (albeit staggered) turnover of crew, but you've maintained the fun and drama and challenges going for all of us despite how difficult that must have been at times. Thank you, Admiral!
ETA - thanks anyway re: the French Revolution! I bet Guillaume Vaudreuil would know. :smile: Just kidding--hey as an avowed Anglophile I can understand feeling apathetic about that accurs'd land across the channel.
Wow....ten years. That's like...May
Seriously tho, awesome!
Technical/layout question: Is there an intercom or some related way to speak to someone outside one's quarters?
And if not--given the description that Rangin could just barely hear the door chime--how loud will Kylah and Rangin have to shout to hear each other? Would their voices be audible if close enough to the door?
I'm only asking here because it's something the characters would know already, so I don't want to depict Kylah pressing a non-existing intercom panel. Although in fairness, that would probably be in character for her at this stage.
ETA: It makes sense that there'd be a way to communicate, right? I know on the various show episodes they save some time by having the door chime and Picard (or whomever) yelling "Come" and whoosh, the door opens. But really, wouldn't most people ask who it is? Having to shout back and forth through the door seems weird. It'd sure make for loud corridors! I think it's just a shortcut for the production--just like how almost no one says "Goodbye" in TV or film phone calls.
There is no intercom mounted on the doorframe itself. Their voices would be audible to each other if close enough to the door. I agree as to how it ought to be, but that's not what we were shown on TOS.
Gotcha, thanks! Yeah, TOS (and TNG for that matter) didn't necessarily always do a great job of predicting the future--or at least, they vastly underestimated where we'd be in just thirty / fifty years (respectively).
I searched and searched and the closest I could find was this... thing... that appears to be a comm unit and a red alert warning panel. (And frankly looks like something Mattel would produce for 5-year-olds who want to play "elevator.") But Kirk and Spock don't seem to be standing right outside anyone's quarters. Seems like this box thingy is a plain ol' corridor unit for general announcements and alerts.
Ah well! Cool that someone replicated that and turned it into a collector's item that makes whooshing Trek door noises, though! If I were ten notches geekier I would be tempted.
Anyway, thank you again!
Sure! Yes, those comm units are here and there in the Enterprise's (and the Yorktown's) corridors. Similar but not identical units are mounted on desks, conference room tables, the big chair's arms on the Bridge, and on various control consoles elsewhere. See, for instance, at 0:13, 11:39, 17:05 and 31:25 here (in fact, the third bit is the same image as you posted): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6n5g8i
Ha!! That's great. And it coming from The Trouble with Tribbles explains Kirk's "omg I am fed-up!" expression/stance in the picture I linked to.
Officious Federation bureaucrats often have that effect.
Very well played, gentlemen! What a solid scene, and kudos to Graham in particular for being much savvier with bending the truth than he would ever believe himself being. 'Twas worth the wait.