Star Trek RPG - Setup thread

[choie]

Absolutely. As an avowed anglophile I've been taught to be a francophobe, but that scene has made me fall in love with their (admittedly rather bloodthirsty) anthem. Also I love Victor Laszlo and that's where we really see his bravest moment, where he's not just some old wimp who gets in the way of Rick/Ilsa--he's genuinely a threat to the Nazis, and someone Ilsa genuinely loves (albeit not the same way she loves Rick).

Les Marseillaise also holds a fond place in my heart because it makes me think of my mom's bravest moment. She had brain cancer and was going to have surgery to remove the tumor. The morning of the surgery, my family (my sisters and I, plus my father) went in to see her before she went under. Her head was shaved and she looked utterly unlike my mom, but she held our hands and started to sing Les Marseillaise with the same defiance as Yvonne (Madeleine Lebeau) in the movie. Her eyes as she sang Marchons! Marchons! were so big, brown and beautifully courageous that I could almost forget the shaved head and her skinny frame, as well as the risky surgery she was about to undergo.

Anyway. Over the last 30 years I've usually focused only on the fact that my mom ultimately lost that fight. But whenever I hear Les Marseillaise, I remember that she went into the battle with valor.

So, yeah. I love that Casablanca scene and maybe that's why I've always loved Victor Laszlo more than Rick.

[Elendil's Heir]

Good story - thanks. And I had no idea the lyrics were that bloodthirsty: http://www.marseillaise.org/english/english.html

[anyrose]

My Dad was in France during WWII. He learned La Marseillaise and sang it loudly along with the French troops. When I took French in junior high, he taught it to me. He told me what the lyrics meant, and that's when I decided to appreciate the song for its musicality alone.

[Elendil's Heir]

You may remember the Beatles used it as the opening to "All You Need Is Love":

[CatInASuit]

Damn, Rangin has a lot to live up to now.

Also, when I mentioned the Kobiyashi Maru, I wasn't expecting to actually head into a similar scenario. At least I have the knowledge, that no matter how much Rangin screws up, at least in the future there will be Ens. Harry Kim.

[choie]

Bennett gives her a quick, encouraging smile

Geeze, who the hell is lieutenant-for-less-than-a-month Bennett to give an officer with way more experience an "encouraging" smile? Condescending Sloane Ranger limey.

[CatInASuit]

Bennett gives her a quick, encouraging smile

Geeze, who the hell is lieutenant-for-less-than-a-month Bennett to give an officer with way more experience an "encouraging" smile? Condescending Sloane Ranger limey.

She's not a Sloane Ranger. If she was Daddy would have paid for her to be in PR working for some glossy magazine on a pleasure planet telling us, the plebs, how much better her life is.

Nah, I bet she's trying to hide two pairs of white stilletos under her bunk instead. d&r

[anyrose]

So, the Captain orders weapons off line, then two seconds later, threatens to fire on the Klingon ship. WTH?

[CatInASuit]

So, the Captain orders weapons off line, then two seconds later, threatens to fire on the Klingon ship. WTH?

She ordered photon torpedoes to be ready, not phasers. They are different weapons.

[choie]

She's not a Sloane Ranger. If she was Daddy would have paid for her to be in PR working for some glossy magazine on a pleasure planet telling us, the plebs, how much better her life is.

Nah, I bet she's trying to hide two pairs of white stilletos under her bunk instead. d&r

Oh my, the definition must have drifted over the years. Back in the '80s, I remember the term was particularly popular in articles about Diana, and a decade later Camilla Parker-Bowles, and usually referred to the preppy, horsey, public-school-attending, huntin' and sportin' set; well-educated, well-bred but rather out of touch with everyday life thanks to their advantages.

Now from your description, it sounds like they've morphed into marginally less trashy Paris Hiltons or... oh, what's the name of that celebrity who's been on every panel show... Tara Palmer-Tomkinson.

So, the Captain orders weapons off line, then two seconds later, threatens to fire on the Klingon ship. WTH?

She ordered photon torpedoes to be ready, not phasers. They are different weapons.

St. Croix had already armed the torpedoes, too. But aren't torpedoes way more destructive than phasers? So it's not as if Collins was escalating the situation. In fact it's kinda surprising that Singh is going for the big guns (literally) rather than phasers, which seem to be used more for bringing down shields and are more of a first-line offense.

Feels like Singh was just letting loose some tension there and Collins got in her own line of fire. Hey, you can only be teacher's pet for so long.

[Elendil's Heir]

The Yorktown is at warp. Phasers can't be used at warp; torpedoes can. A captain will not necessarily have both weapons systems readied simultaneously, and in any event, it shouldn't be done without orders.

...Nah, I bet she's trying to hide two pairs of white stilletos under her bunk instead. d&r

Only two?

FWIW, a reminder of what Bennett told Graham of her background:

...She was born and raised in a large family on a farm in rural Hertfordshire. She hiked with a childhood friend across quite a bit of Mars before attending Eton and then Starfleet Academy ("My dad, who's a mad stellar cartographer, was always taking me out at night to look up at the stars, so I was very keen on astronomy even when I was a little girl. But I wanted to go to the stars, not just study them, and my Fleet aptitude tests for navigation were pretty good," she says with characteristic British understatement, "so that's how I ended up here"). After graduating from the Academy near the top of her class, she served aboard the Mandela and the Kyoto ("Both good ships, but nothing like this") before being assigned to the Yorktown almost two years ago. She enjoys her work and would like to command her own ship ("A small one, maybe a scoutship - fewer headaches, more flexibility, don't you think?") someday.

[choie]

You left out that her middle names are taken from her aunts Mary and Susanne (Sue for short).

...And yet we know next to nothing about Cooper, who's actually been in a relationship with a PC for most of the game!

[anyrose]

Well, we do know he used to be involved with Nia.

[choie]

Yeah, as it turns out that plot point didn't go anywhere. I thought it'd add some interesting tension to the mix, but not so much and it was over in three posts ("You dated her?" "Yes, don't wanna talk about it" "Hey no biggie, let's make out"). So it's now just a blip on the radar, one of the many people Nia's boinked.

[anyrose]

Until Booker & Nia double date with Jeremi and Ben

[CatInASuit]

Well Diana was an original Sloane Ranger, and TPT is a obvious example, but Camilla was one of the Home Counties Horsey set instead which would be closer for Bennett.

As for white stillettos...

[anyrose]

Boss, choie's talking to herself again

[choie]

Oh dear. Usually only my cats are aware of my penchant for self-discourse!

[CatInASuit]

Hmm, wonder if this is related to these Klingons

Collins - you're up.

[choie]

Hmm, wonder if this is related to these Klingons

Collins - you're up.

Good eye as always, but doesn't that quote say it was a Klingon battlecruiser, not a scout ship? I see the guy made threats so this could just be a spinoff from that battle. But it seems as if we knew about this Haran V place, whereas right now we're in uncharted territory.

[Elendil's Heir]

Yes, a battlecruiser is much bigger and more powerful than a scoutship. Haran V, a relatively well-known Federation colony, is quite a ways away from the Yorktown's current position. You may inquire about this further in the game thread.`

[CatInASuit]

And. here. we. go!

[choie]

Personally I'm waiting for Graham to get a chance to say something before assuming we can get to the Transporter Room. general_urko hasn't been around in the past couple of days so hopefully we'll hear from him soon.

[general_urko]

Personally I'm waiting for Graham to get a chance to say something before assuming we can get to the Transporter Room. general_urko hasn't been around in the past couple of days so hopefully we'll hear from him soon.

Sheesh was it a couple days? Sorry about that. What a crappy weekend. Back on the job as it were.

[CatInASuit]

I want someone who thinks in a... well, an alien way. I think that's you."

I can't believe Miss Lizard is telling Rangin that he's supposed to be the alien of the group. Sheesh.

[choie]

Aw, you know very well what she meant! She's referring to his being an out-of-the-box thinker and a xenobiologist. Obviously as a non-human and the only one of her kind in the entire Federation, she's not going to describe a boring ol' Coridanite as an alien.

[Elendil's Heir]

We're all aliens and strangers to somebody.

[choie]

Rangin isn't sure whether its praise or an insult. Think in an alien way... This from someone with scales, a Sidonian, and yes he knew the details of that species and who now seems to be someone on familiar terms with Ens. Graham. Yeah, this was going to be a great boarding mission.

Wow, I'm beginning to see why Graham finds Rangin a whiner. He really does assume the worst, even though as I said, Nia literally explains in her first two lines to him why she knows he can see things from an untraditional POV.

Finally, to coin a phrase, your meta is showing. Nia hasn't treated Graham with any sense of familiarity--to the contrary, if Rangin thinks she's "on familiar terms" with anyone thus far, it should be Rawlings.

(Not many other people can say they've been intimate with 1/3 of their team.)

[CatInASuit]

Finally, to coin a phrase, your meta is showing. Nia hasn't treated Graham with any sense of familiarity--to the contrary, if Rangin thinks she's "on familiar terms" with anyone thus far, it should be Rawlings.

No, but the reverse is true. Graham has stopped himself calling her Nia instead of Lt Onn. I think its the second time as well.

Let's look at our intrepid team shall we.
1. The guy who let Palver get away
2. A guy who has hunted down people and killed them and hates Rangin
3. Someone who had a major medical emergency only a few days ago
4. The leader who Graham seems to be on slightly more than familiar terms with.
5. The smallest person in Science aka Rangin
6. At least T'Var is available...praise be.

And you wonder why Rangin is a tad on the nervous side.

[choie]

He's probably overestimating the skillset needed for this mission, at least what we know of it thus far. If nothing else, whatever their disparate mental/intellectual/emotional issues are, Rawlings, Graham, and Collins are all perfectly capable of shooting Klingons!

[anyrose]

He's probably overestimating the skillset needed for this mission, at least what we know of it thus far. If nothing else, whatever their disparate mental/intellectual/emotional issues are, Rawlings, Graham, and Collins are all perfectly capable of shooting Klingons!

Damned straight!

(and Collins' 'medical emergency' was well over a week ago already)

[anyrose]

Alternately, Captain Singh could send a whole bunch of better qualified NPCs, but what fun would that be for us?

[choie]

Yeah, Nia could've assembled a good team of Rawlings (sure he screwed up w/Palver, but his role's purely muscle here), Lt. JG Jones, St. Croix, Hayes, and Villa. But somehow I think y'all would've taken some umbrage at that.

And I agree w/your timing estimation, anyrose. Has to be at least 8 days, maybe more. The miscarriage happened at the very start of Day #2 of the last mission. We caught Palver at the end of Day #3, IIRC. Stayed in orbit for at least one more day (there was that issue w/the news reporters and so on). We had a couple of days and a time blip before we got to Anubis. Stayed there at least two days due to the Kylah Incident, maybe three. Then another time jump of two days before we heard the transmission yesterday.

Soooo basically this means that Graham's been on the Yorktown for only 10 - 12 days or so, and Kylah maybe three weeks. We've crammed in a lot of adventures and traumas into that brief period!

[CatInASuit]

Yeah, Nia could've assembled a good team of Rawlings (sure he screwed up w/Palver, but his role's purely muscle here), Lt. JG Jones, St. Croix, Hayes, and Villa. But somehow I think y'all would've taken some umbrage at that.

And miss a chance to snark from the sidelines - oh wait wrong character

[Ajay]

Hey a chance to cheer on the group from the sidelines - Go team Yorktown

[Elendil's Heir]

Always nice to have some encouragement from the cheap seats!

Remember that "away team" is a TNG term; in TOS this is a "boarding party" (or "landing party" if going dirtside).

[CatInASuit]

Finally, to coin a phrase, your meta is showing.

Actually, this brings up an amusing thought on meta knowledge. Having seen several Star Trek series and films, I can probably think of multiple ways to detect if a cloaked ship is in the vicinity, but that kind of thought isn't really allowed until much later in the canon films, so its fun to try and come up with alternate ways that would work once in this situation but still keeping continuity.

[choie]

Actually, this brings up an amusing thought on meta knowledge. Having seen several Star Trek series and films, I can probably think of multiple ways to detect if a cloaked ship is in the vicinity, but that kind of thought isn't really allowed until much later in the canon films, so its fun to try and come up with alternate ways that would work once in this situation but still keeping continuity.

LOL, good point. We're stuck in this odd place where we know of several ways to work around TOS-era problems, having had the benefit of the movies, TNG, DS9 and to a much lesser extent VOY using these solutions. But our characters don't have that luxury. And worse, we can't just have a brilliant lightbulb moment where we come up with the stuff that was used later, because--in order to stay true to canon--we know those methods were invented by the various future crews at the time. So, like, Rangin can't just suddenly say "hey why don't we use a positronic sweep [from VOY] or a photon torpedo [from ST:III]" and sound like a genius.

Anyway, so I guess if we do come up with a workaround or some other awesome tech explanation, it has to be something that's so specific to our situation that it couldn't ever be replicated. Otherwise, why wouldn't it have been known by the canon Trek folks?

(Of course apparently the more recent Trek writers didn't think of that when it came to ENT. Apparently some 31st century time traveler gave them the early Enterprise crew the secret to penetrating cloaked ships. So technically, that renders all of TOS+ canon invalid, since obviously by the time we got to Kirk, Picard et al., they should've remembered "ooh yeah, that first Enterprise, remember when they had that time travel dude show up? Why not use that technology?" Ugh, time travel is the worst.)

One of the oddities of playing a game set in the "past" of everything but TOS.


Edited to add: And speaking of technology, looks like Nia just figured out a possible solution that none of us had thought of before beaming our crew into a hostile environment. I'll be interested to see what weird technobabble makes this impossible. I mean, we were able to beam through to the Naradraen without a problem, so it's not like their shields are impenetrable. And we know Roble and Rangin have been able to count precisely the number of Klingons on board vs. the aliens. So beaming them onto the Yorktown should be possible, right?

[anyrose]

Do shields really have to be dropped for a tractor beam to work? And was "throwing the shields around that ship" not a thing until TNG? or had they tried it in TOS?

[choie]

Do shields really have to be dropped for a tractor beam to work?

Damn I know I read that somewhere when researching the idea--now I can't find it. AH! Got it, when researching the shields question. From Memory Alpha:

It took time to activate a deflector shield. A refit Constitution-class starship needed exactly 13.5 seconds to lower and raise its shields when taking a shuttlecraft on board via its tractor beam, though that included the time required to tractor in the shuttle during an automated docking procedure; flying the shuttle in manually reduced this time significantly. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Which makes sense, if you think about it. How can the ship pull anything in past a shield?

And was "throwing the shields around that ship" not a thing until TNG? or had they tried it in TOS?

Extending the shields was done in Mudd's Women during TOS, but apparently it made both ships weaker as a result. From the same article:

Shields could be "extended" to encompass another vessel which couldn't use its own shields. (TNG: "The Next Phase") This could also be used on ships with weaker shields, by matching the ships' shield emitter frequencies. (TOS: "Mudd's Women"; TNG: "The Defector", "Deja Q"; VOY: "Equinox") While the extended shielding could provide some protection in the event of a shield failure on one ship, this technique put a strain on that ship's systems, and the overall strength of the extended shields was generally not as strong as two independent shield systems.

[anyrose]

Do shields really have to be dropped for a tractor beam to work?

Damn I know I read that somewhere when researching the idea--now I can't find it. AH! Got it, when researching the shields question. From Memory Alpha:

It took time to activate a deflector shield. A refit Constitution-class starship needed exactly 13.5 seconds to lower and raise its shields when taking a shuttlecraft on board via its tractor beam, though that included the time required to tractor in the shuttle during an automated docking procedure; flying the shuttle in manually reduced this time significantly. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier)

Which makes sense, if you think about it. How can the ship pull anything in past a shield?

But the Yorktwon isn't trying to pull the Naradraen (Jeez, EH, couldn't you invent alien names we could remember without having to look up the spelling all the time? ) into its bay - it's just trying to stop the Klingons from doing so.

And, if that is what the Klingons are doing, what can't we disable their ship since their shields have to be down for them to tractor the Naradraen?

[choie]

But the Yorktwon isn't trying to pull the Naradraen (Jeez, EH, couldn't you invent alien names we could remember without having to look up the spelling all the time? ) into its bay - it's just trying to stop the Klingons from doing so.

Oh! Duh, you may be right, at least I'm not seeing anything that argues against it. (I've been typing Naradraen so often due to Kylah's research, it's second-nature to me now. )

And, if that is what the Klingons are doing, what can't we disable their ship since their shields have to be down for them to tractor the Naradraen?

Because they keep pulling awesome piloting moves and keeping the Naradraen between them and us. We haven't got a clear shot at them. That's why Nia is hoping she might get into the pilot's seat of the Naradraen and move it out of the way.

[CatInASuit]

Edited to add: And speaking of technology, looks like Nia just figured out a possible solution that none of us had thought of before beaming our crew into a hostile environment. I'll be interested to see what weird technobabble makes this impossible. I mean, we were able to beam through to the Naradraen without a problem, so it's not like their shields are impenetrable. And we know Roble and Rangin have been able to count precisely the number of Klingons on board vs. the aliens. So beaming them onto the Yorktown should be possible, right?

The Naradraen shields are currently down, so transportation to the ship is possible. As for why not being able to beam the Klingons back, I'll leave that to EH.

Do shields really have to be dropped for a tractor beam to work? And was "throwing the shields around that ship" not a thing until TNG? or had they tried it in TOS?

IIRC and I'm sure EH will correct me if wrong, but no, shields don't have to be down for the towing ship. Throwing shields around other ships, I think is TNG or possibly the movies, but not TOS at least not for alien ships we have never encountered before.

[Elendil's Heir]

Interesting discussion - some excellent points made!

I'm not aware of any ST canon about towing another ship with a tractor beam while it has its shields up. I suppose it depends on the shields, but my inclination would be that the towed ship would have to have its shields down, since the tractor beam might otherwise not get a "firm grip."

...(Of course apparently the more recent Trek writers didn't think of that when it came to ENT. Apparently some 31st century time traveler gave them the early Enterprise crew the secret to penetrating cloaked ships. So technically, that renders all of TOS+ canon invalid, since obviously by the time we got to Kirk, Picard et al., they should've remembered "ooh yeah, that first Enterprise, remember when they had that time travel dude show up? Why not use that technology?" Ugh, time travel is the worst.)....

"My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: Don't even try...." - Capt. Janeway, VGR "Timeless"

Remember that ENT is not canon for this game. Rule 5.

[choie]

I'm not aware of any ST canon about towing another ship with a tractor beam while it has its shields up. I suppose it depends on the shields, but my inclination would be that the towed ship would have to have its shields down, since the tractor beam might otherwise not get a "firm grip."

In any event the Naradraen must have its shields down or none of us, either Klingons or Yorktownites, would've been able to transport through.

"My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: Don't even try...." - Capt. Janeway, VGR "Timeless"

LOL, so they actually wrote in a cop-out to their script! How convenient (and not surprising) for the Voyager writers.

Remember that ENT is not canon for this game. Rule 5.

Sure, thank goodness. I was talking about the TV shows. They violated their own canon by giving the faux-Enterprise the solution to penetrating cloaks. For that matter, when the real Enterprise first encountered Romulan cloaks, they'd apparently never heard of them before.

Looks like ENT had the same problem we do--how to keep canon in mind when you're writing something about the past.

[Elendil's Heir]

In any event the Naradraen must have its shields down or none of us, either Klingons or Yorktownites, would've been able to transport through....

Yes. See game thread post 1725.

[SidonianGal]

Graham would have preferred Nia hang back since the likelihood of either the Klingon or the alien reaching the weapon without being stunned is approximately zero, but the only course of action is to adapt to what she's already set in motion.

Hey, the disruptor's only six feet away. For the Klingon, that's his body length and less, considering his arm reach. All he has to do is fall forward with the ProtoCaitian to keep covered, and he might be able to get his hands on the weapon. Can't hurt to get that thing out of the picture.

[general_urko]

Graham would have preferred Nia hang back since the likelihood of either the Klingon or the alien reaching the weapon without being stunned is approximately zero, but the only course of action is to adapt to what she's already set in motion.

Hey, the disruptor's only six feet away. For the Klingon, that's his body length and less, considering his arm reach. All he has to do is fall forward with the ProtoCaitian to keep covered, and he might be able to get his hands on the weapon. Can't hurt to get that thing out of the picture.

But now Nia's going to be only six feet away, potentially within his arm's reach!

But seriously Graham didn't think what she did was "stupid," rather it's just completely consistent with his general point of view that he's biased toward the idea of a couple Security folks with clear field of fire get control of the situation first and then go from there.

[choie]

Okay my internet is out and i am stuck typing on this crappy phone. Sorry i posted under this account instead of the sidonian gal one and it's all screwed up with code. This probably. Won't be fixed until Tuesday acc to Verizon and i suck at typing on phones as you can tell. Very irked right now

[SidonianGal]

Ok I figured out how to login as Nia. But i won't be switching accounts again so if you need to pm me please use this acc. Also I'm not going to be able to post very often so could you all pleeeeeeeease slow things down until i have regular web access again because each of these posts takes me twenty frickin minutes to tap out. I am old and hate typing on phones. I never ask to slow down and im sorry to do so when we're FINALLY involved in the action, but i beg your indulgence since Nia is important and i don't want to miss anything. Sorry again.