Casimir Makes for a Poor Sweater(FT, Closed)

[New Khitomer]

Captain Jennifer A. Whitmore
Keep Station
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

After bidding farewell to the Grand Director, Captain Whitmore turned her attention to the matter at hand. Tapping her com badge, she spoke quickly and succinctly to Commander Ch’tavor, informing him that she would be bringing three guests and two guards back with her for a tour of the Endeavour. Although she left it unsaid, she was confident that her first officer would understand her implications and would make the necessary security arrangements. After all, although she wanted to ensure her ship was secure against any skullduggery on the part of her guests, she also did not want to risk offend them by openly putting in place security arrangements in front of them. Indeed, even with arrangements put in place their guests would not see a great deal of overt security, safe for the detail that would accompany them directly; instead apparently empty corridors would actually be sealed off by invisible forcefields with security teams waiting in the wings in case they were needed. Even then, the decks would not be empty, as her crew would be going about their daily duties as normally as was possible; this was not a formal inspection by a flag officer and she wasn’t going to totally disrupt shipboard life.

“I would hope we would be making at least your entire year, Keeper Tillman,” Whitmore replied with a warm smile and a wry tone, as she led them in a brief circle of the sleek Type-11 shuttle. “You can get closer, you’ll be inside her in a moment, so no point standing on ceremony… nothing external is dangerous to touch during normal operations.”

Once Keeper Tillman had her her fill of the exterior, Whitmore led the group into the shuttle and into the rear section. Heavily modular, the Type-11 shuttle was capable of being used for everything from simple passenger transport, where it could hold up to twelve in comfort and many more in emergency situations, to VIP couriers, from carrying ad hoc cargo to advanced scientific systems. Indeed, they were almost as modular as a larger Runabout, and they were very popular amongst Starship Captains who had the space for them in their shuttle bays. In this case, the shuttle was set-up for passenger transport, with twelve comfortable seats in the rear compartment, which was where she directed her guests to. After quickly briefing the pilots, Whitmore returned to her guests as the shuttle got underway to return to the Endeavour. As with her trip over to the station, it did not take long for the shuttle to cross the distance to where the Galaxy-Class starship was hanging stately in orbit over this strange new world. Coming in for a smooth landing in the primary shuttle bay at the rear of the saucer section, they were met on the shuttle bay deck by Commander Ch’tavor.

Doubtless, the first thing the visitors would notice would be the artifical gravity, which for the initiated any difference with the real thing was almost impercivably. They would also notice the sheer size of the shuttlebay, as well as the number of auxiliary craft carried, which would reinforce the sheer size of the ship and its extensive internal space which had made the Galaxy-Class so capable and adaptive.

“Welcome aboard the Endeavour, I am Commander Ch’tavor, executive officer” Ch’tavor said simply, yet his voice was deep and cultured. “Captain Whitmore has asked me to show you around the Endeavour, as she must leave you for a time.”

Whitmore nodded.

“I must speak to Starfleet Command, inform them of our meeting, and to get the wheels rolling with the Federation Diplomatic Corps,”Whitmore expelled. “I am confident that you will be well served by my XO, I’ll join you again when you come up to the bridge later.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Keep Station, Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

Tillman had taken a bit of time to study the shuttle in detail once she had been given permission. Making sure to be careful with her touches, though she mostly appeared to be just be plain geeking out over it. She was only 26. A new Keeper, freshly graduated from the Keeper Academy a year ago; Ionia's Council had needed a specialist dedicated to faster than light science. Older more experienced Keepers didn't want to toss themselves out onto a fledgling colony, and had pulled strings to avoid getting ordered out here. Not Hanna. She'd wanted to come out here. As taxing as being among these older more experienced Keepers was, they always seemed to listen when there was some data she needed to share or when she had an idea to fix teething problems inherit in any newly founded colony.

But in the end, she was still very young, and very prone to being enraptured by new experiences.

Her eyes drank in everything she laid eyes on, barely noticing her fellow older Keepers watching everything in a more restrained manner.

The instant they passed into the gravity field, all the Keepers were aware of such things. Humans born in the age of space colonization always were aware of how gravity pulled them, the way the slight sense of the spinning habitats in stations and ships that pulled on the body and its fluids in just the wrong way to be off from the gravity they felt on a planet. They shared glances as they stood and exited, probably more gingerly than necessary. Keeper Figueroa made the instinctive movement to click her magboots on so she wouldn't float away in microgravity then immediately turned them back off. This wasn't spin grav keeping them anchored to the floor... but something else.

Damien was the first to recover and put on a friendly face(as the Guard Core stepped out and did nothing but wait by their charges, showing no reaction to anything.) A well practiced spokesperson knowing that the cameras had turned on and no matter what the developments, to put on the mask as needed. "Greetings Commander Ch'tavor." Managing the strange name on the first try, a man use to being thrown at strange people and names. "Please Captain go do as you need to. We will be nice little tourists for your executive officer."

Figueroa snorted in amusement at that, while Tillman was too busy craning her neck up to study the overhead of the shuttlebay and really everything around her except the crew. The fact that their guide was an alien barely seemed to phase her, though both Damien and Figeroa were doing their best to not be rude they didn't have the overwhelming need to learn blocking their awkward social graces.

"Commander, what generates the gravity on this ship? I did not see any spinning sections from our initial sensor data of the outside of the ship, and standing here I cannot feel any spin either." Hanna asked, turning back to look at the Andorian hopeful he could answer her question.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor nodded resectivily to his Captain as she took her leave, doubtless intending to head for her ready room, just off the main bridge, in order to make her report to Starfleet Command. Briefly considering where to take them first, and deciding that he really ought to show them the beating heart of the ship, down in the engineering section, and work their way back up to the bridge where they could meet Captain Whitmore once she was done speaking to Starfleet. The proud Andorian did not miss the slightly awkward way in which these humans were looking at him, but then given that they had not encountered aliens before it was perhaps to be expected, and something that he could accept and tolerate, as it was by no means the first time that he had been another first example of a species other than their own. It was an experience that most Starfleet Officers could relate to, if they had ever taken part in a First Contact, even humans as to other species they too were alien, and it was a responsibility that they took seriously, knowing that the impression they left would significantly influence not only their opinion of their own species but of aliens more generally.

Leading the way from the shuttlebay, Ch’tavor turned to answer the question.

“A combination of systems play a role in modulating the gravity produced and ensuring safety levels, but in simple terms, a network of gravity plates beneath the decks channel a field of gravitons generated by one or more artificial gravity generators,” Ch’tavor replied, glancing at the younger human. “Modern artificial gravity can be adjusted at a very localised level, allowing for specific decks or even individual compartments to operate a higher or lower gravity, which is very useful for certain species, and it plays an important role in the internal damper system.”

By the time he had finished his explanation, they had reached a turbolift and stepped inside, although it was a little tight given their number. Fortunately, from a practical perspective, the two security officers that had accompanied them from the shuttlebay did not join them, although they would pick up another detail once they reached their destination.

“Deck 36, Main Engineering,” Ch’tavor instructed once they were all inside the turbolift. “Computer, command express override.”

With the express override in place, it took them less than thirty seconds to reach main engineering. They stepped out into the main engineering space, with the space in front of them dominated by the large Master Situation Monitor station around which the ship’s engineering officers would gather, with the Master Systems Display on the bulkhead to their right before the corridor split to either side, and the two-deck space around the warp core to their left. Indeed, it would doubtless be the warp core itself that caught the attention of their guests; slowly pulsing as it provided power to all of the ship’s systems; whilst they were not at warp the pulsing was slow as not much power (relatively speaking) was required. To the left of the warp core was the officer of the Chief Engineer, introducing the Protectorate to their second alien species of the day; as a female Orion stepped out to join them

“Keepers, if I may introduce Lieutenant Commander Livesha Vozziv, our Chief Engineer,” Ch’tavor said simply.

In stark contrast to Ch’tavor’s blue skin, Lt. Commander Vozziv’s skin was a distinctive light green, her hair a darker green. The engineer smiled warmly, and with obvious enthusiasm, as she greeted their guests, obviously entirely unconcerned that this was a first contact situation.

“Welcome aboard the Endeavour,” Vozziv said by means of greeting. “I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Keeper Hanna Tillman

The Guard Core stuck close as they moved, the unfamiliar surroundings making it harder for them to blend into it.

As they entered Main Engineering the three Keepers all looked around with interest, taking in everything with practiced, if slightly overwhelmed, gazes.

“What exactly is this large glowing structure you have in the center of your Engineering? Just a reactor? Or something more?” Tillman asked, as she motioned to the glowing warp core, taking a few hesitant steps closer. Her gaze flicked between the warp core and her wristpad for a few breaths, an easily seen timer flicked up a few numbers at her. She’d apparently timed what she could see of the visible pulsing of the warp core mere seconds after stepping out of the lift. Tillman was a researcher through and through, she collected data as a habit, see what she could correlate to other things she would discover in this tour, what she could piece together out of the puzzle pieces they gave up. She glanced at Figueroa, but the other Keeper was busy studying a display in an attempt to figure it out. Damien seemed content to watch with a small friendly smile plastered to his face, basking in the feeling of being the first to step on the alien ship. She just wanted to learn. She wanted to learn everything.

To benefit her Prime yes, but but mostly because it was so fascinating to see different ways of doing things.

“And if you don’t mind answering, what do you call your race?” The question came out a lot more timid that Tillman intended. But how else did she ask the question? How did one learn the names of what a person was since just assuming ‘human’ didn’t work for these people. Just reading an encyclopedia of different races seemed like a good way to forget these were people and not some fictional species made up to be weird for movies.

She saw Damien shoot her a look but she ignored him by turning to face Lt. Commander Vozziv more directly.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor smiled fondly as he watched Lt. Commander Vozziv react happily to the questions being placed to her, although Orions had something of a bad reputation as far as the stereotype went, due in no small part to the presence of the Orion Syndicate criminal network, those that chose to serve in Starfleet were well-regarded as social butterflies, particularly the women who did not have pheromones that made certain Orion women possessed and used to great effect on their home world. The younger officer, and she was comparatively young for her rank, yet still older than the youngest of the Protectorate Keepers. Nevertheless, it was obvious that she was more than happy to have guests in her engine room, and would doubtless answer questions for hours upon hours; although she was equally smart enough not to give away too much information, as she had been briefed by Ch’tavor prior to their guests coming aboard the ship in the first place. In most cases however, a simple explanation of the science behind the technology would not be all that useful, as there was a great deal of technical detail that would need to be worked out for any of the same technology to be developed.

“That’s our Warp Core, or more specifically it is the matter/antimatter reaction assembly, into which deuterium and antideutrium are channelled, from those injectors coming into the main structure, and reacting within a dilithium crystal matrix,” Vozziv replied, gesturing to the specific things she was referring to. “The result of the reaction is highly-energised plasma, which is used to power systems all over the ship through the electro-plasma grid, with the most energised being in the form of warp plasma, which is channeled to the warp coils within the nacelles which generates our warp field.”

If she was offended by the question, the young Orion engineer did not show it, instead smiling warmly.

“Of course I don’t mind answering,” Vozziv replied simply. “I am Orion.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

Hanna listened intently to the engineer, tracking what the engineer pointed to and what strange names went where. It was a lot of good information.

It was not very useful information. Too many terms and too much tech she could understand vaguely, but not break it down from just words. To put it crudely in her own mind, she wanted to start tearing up the bulkheads to study the wiring, the energy flow, the parts used to build the ship. She wanted hands on the tech and barring that, maybe some good simulations to study the math breakdowns. She understood why as there was probably a very good chance she'd blow up a lab trying to recreate this stuff.

Anything for the freedom to explore the stars at their own whims. They could still use the Casimir Gates, those were useful for civilians and smaller ships that wouldn't be able to afford the space for another type of engine, but searching out habitable planets would be a bonus all its own.

"Since you're the person who keeps this ship purring for the rest of the crew," Damien finally speaking up, "What's the fastest she can go?"

"In real space or uh... in warp?" Hanna asked him and the other Keeper frowned at her.

"Why does it matter?" Damien asked in return, both curious and a bit annoyed at the younger keeper. Tillman took the deep breath of an educated person trying their best not to throttle someone who didn't understand something they did.

"They have to two different top speeds. Trying to accelerate mass up to the speed of light is messy, time consuming and energy intensive. Since the Warp Drive distorts space-time it isn't moving the ship but the space around it so it skirts around the Infinite Energy Crisis accelerating up to light speed would cause. You don't distort space-time into a bubble by pushing energy out in the opposite direction of where you want to go. You putter around star systems with the regular engines. You need a whole different system to bend space-time to your will. That's why we don't have ship based FTL Xavier, engines can't make infinite energy to accelerate up to the speed of light." Tillman's glare at the other Keeper was intense, though Damien purposefully flicked his eyes over to Lt. Commander Vozziv, not seeming to take offense to be lectured while Figueroa watched, ready to step in if needed.

Because for the moment Tillman completely forgot she was literally standing in front of (what she assumed) was an expert with a system she'd only learned of a little while ago. She flushed almost beet red at the subtle reminder of who was around her., glancing at the deck.

"Sorry," Her shoulders hunched a little. "Should probably let the experts just answer his question. I just get... overexcited easy."

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

The two senior Starfleet Officers watched the exchange between the Protectorate Keepers with something approaching bemusement; clearly there was a great deal of interest and professional scientific passion in the youngest of the three. All things considered, this was to be expected, after all until today these people had not known that there was even a way to travel faster-than-light in any way other than using their Casimir Gates, and the freedom offered by Warp Drive was obvious even just from the snippets of information they had received about the gates. Indeed, as an explorer and an engineer respectively, it would be interesting to learn more about the gates themselves, not because it was likely that they would be adopted by Starfleet, but purely for scientific curiosity. It was particularly interesting, as instantaneous travel certainly had its advantages even if there were significant limitations.

“Our maximum sustainable velocity is Warp Factor 9.6, but to reduce the strain on the warp coils we normally travel significantly slower, but that equates just over nineteen-hundred times the speed of light, and we can coax her higher on occasion, the Galaxy-Class is over twenty years old at this point, so modern ships can sustain the speeds we can only manage for maybe twelve hours,” Lt. Commander Vozziv replied promptly. “As for sublight speeds, our impulse engines can sustain speeds up to a quarter the speed of light without much difficulty, and in our experience in general ‘full impulse’ has been the same for every civilisation we’ve encountered, although individual ships have been able to coax speeds of up to a third the speed of light, although this usually detrimental to the ship."

Vozziv smiled kindly to the youngest Keeper.

“Don’t worry about getting over excited, Keeper,” She said with a warm smile. “You should have seen me on my first cadet cruise at the Academy.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

Damien whistled softly in appreciation. He wasn’t as number savvy as Tillman, but he could understand the gravity of such numbers. “Probably a good thing we won’t be entering any races against your ships anytime soon.” He joked smoothly.

“So your ships don’t suffer any effects from acceleration even at sublight speeds?” Figueroa finally spoke. “Is that the just work of the artificial gravity? Or is there more to the dampening of those forces? Because we can accelerate the metal up to significant speeds if we try but the flesh doesn’t respond too well beyond a certain point.”

Tillman’s blush had faded somewhat but not gone away. This time she just let the others ask questions while she listened to see what they would say. At least the engineer seemed nice enough to take her outburst in stride, she was grateful for that.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor and Lt. Commander Vozziv shared a knowing glance; whilst it had been the fastest ship in the fleet when it had first been designed, the Galaxy-Class had been surpassed in that respect by newer ships, and that was without even considering the Quantum Slipstream Drive. As their Captain had instructed, they were not only keeping the more sensitive information about their capabilities under wraps, from a security perspective, but also doing their best not to overstate the Federation’s technological advantage in some areas. By all accounts, the Protectorate had at its disposal a number of fairly advanced technologies, and save for the their shortcomings in artificial gravity and true faster-than-light travel, they would not be considered that dissimilar to any number of civilisations the Federation had encountered over the years. Indeed, very little was known about their tactical capabilities and the firepower of their weapons, whilst it could probably be safely assumed that they would not be as powerful as those available to Starfleet it was still a somewhat dangerous assumption.

“All of our ships are equipped with an inertial dampening system, which makes the kind of acceleration we can pull under impulse power possible, it is a linked but independent system to the artificial gravity system, using many of the same principles,” Vozziv replied promptly. “As I’m sure you can imagine, there are redundancies upon redundancies for the inertial dampeners, so although one level of the system piggybacks on the artificial gravity system, it’s by no means the only one, and there are dedicated inertial dampeners as well.”

It was at this point that Ch’tavor stepped forward.

“As much as I am sure that Lt. Commander Vozziv would continue to answer your questions until the heat death of the universe, we probably should be moving on, I’m sure your people don’t want you to be away for too long, as you’ll have much to discuss,” Ch’tavor commented wryly. “I’m sure we can arrange for the Commander to spend some more time with you before we return to the Federation, or for future ships that come to visit you to spend some time with you, Keeper Tillman… thank you for your time, Chief.”

“Of course, Commander,” Vozziv smiled.

Gesturing for one the corridors leading away from Main Engineering, Ch’tavor led the way towards their next generation.

“The Galaxy-Class starship was designed to be Starfleet’s premier explorer, which entails long-term deep space missions, often with very little support from Starfleet, which meant that we needed to be self-sufficient as well as capable of a wide range of taskings,” Ch’tavor explained. “As a result, the class was designed with not only the most advanced and capable sensor suite but also over a hundred separate, and highly adaptable, scientific research laboratories, allowing us to conduct dozens of experiments and studies of the anomalies we encounter.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

“That’s… Keep station levels of laboratories.” Figueroa said, glancing over at Tillman who was scrolling through a list of something. After a second the young Keeper looked up, most traces of her blush gone.

“We have nothing like it but then again we don’t usually need to bring that many laboratories to the thing we’re studying.” She said with a smile. “Keep Stations and planetside research labs are most common because as you can imagine some things don’t respond well to being studied in microgravity.” And to be fair, Keep Station which Endevour sat near was a massive station, it’s rotating sections large enough to house thousands of people and their various jobs. There could be hundreds of labs in that station along with everything else the station served for Ionia.

Damien looked thoughtful. “So is she, “ he paused for a second, “sorry, so the ship, is it like a mostly civilian operation with a military crew to run it or purely military operation?” A simple question that would probably reveal a lot about the state of their fleet and military. A civilian operation would mean they were probably more likely to be peaceful and as democratic as they claimed( as lugging around civilians wasn’t easy.) Military might be harder to gauge, but would probably be a bit at odds with the whole exploration thing they seemed like they were.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor nodded; the Galaxy-Class had been designed to be the most capable explorer ever designed for Starfleet, and was significantly more capable than any preceding design, and only the most ambitious new classes would even come closer to surpassing her capability. Moreover, without the ability to travel the stars there was not much need for the Protectorate to operate such large and capable exploratory starships, as they had themselves said there was no need to take the laboratories to their discoveries when, for the most part, they could simply build a research station within their own territory. In any event, the Galaxy-Class was still a special case, as both the sheer number of labs she carried was also combined with an incredibly unique array of specialised equipment, as well as more than sufficient margin within both her space and power requirements to allow for specialised labs to be built for specific long-term projects. By contrast, most Federation Starships, including some flagship explorers from previous generations, tended to have more generalised labs and specialised science ships would be deployed where required; the Galaxy-Class was therefore specially designed for deep space independent exploration in a way that was unmatched, even by her highly capable predecessors in their own right as explorers.

“It is perhaps difficult to consider Starfleet in the, if you’ll forgive me, relatively simplistic terms of military and civilian, as the institution is too vast and varied to be so simply designated, but we are the Federation’s uniformed exploratory, diplomatic, and defence service,” Ch’tavor replied honestly. “It is true that we have adopted many of the traditions and structures of the military services of our various member worlds, and Starfleet personnel operate under a separate code of justice, but we are not a military in the traditional sense of the word.”

Ch’tavor paused as they continued to walk.

“We use a naval rank structure, including both commissioned and non-commissioned distinctions, largely in order to provide a legal framework for our command structure, as befitting our custodians of the Federation’s combat capability, but with a very small number of exceptions that combat capability is a collateral of a Starfleet Officers other duties as an explorer, diplomat, or scientist,” Ch’tavor continued. “Whilst there are certainly scientists, for example, who are not members of Starfleet, there are many more who are a part of Starfleet Science and who conduct their research and studies whilst serving as commissioned officers within Starfleet, indeed there is an entire career path for those who want little to do with the operations of their ship, yet it is all within the overall aegis of Starfleet.”

Ch’tavor smiled wryly. 

“I appreciate that none of that will have answered your question, but I thought it worthwhile to give you an idea of where Starfleet sits within the Federation, and how it sees itself as a uniformed service, as it will doubtless help your people’s future interactions with us,” Ch’tavor commented. “To answer your question, there are non-Starfleet scientists aboard the Endeavour, however the majority of scientific personnel aboard this ship are from Starfleet Science, however all aboard are bound to the command of Captain Whitmore.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

Damien nodded. “I think I get it. Bit like how the Keepers have various jobs and assignments outside of just being Keepers, we serve The Protectorate in multiple ways beyond just being, say, politicians or researchers. We don’t, however, run the guns. That’s mostly the Fleet and Guard Core’s responsibilities.”

“It sounds like Starfleet wears a lot of hats.” Tillman said, “I bet your history is fascinating to get to the point of combining three vastly different jobs into a single organization, usually those types of people have clashing personalities, explorers being independent and a touch reckless, diplomats being stuffy and political and Fleet being well… Fleet.”

“Saying knuckledraggers to their faces tends to starts bar fights.” Figueroa pointed out and Tillman grinned.

“Can’t piss off the boys in blue.”

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor nodded; Starfleet certainly was a true behemoth of an institution that wore many hats and conducted a great deal of the practical work of the Federation Government, particularly when it came to dealing with both external powers and its own member-states. As such, Starfleet was perhaps the most flexible and versatile organisation to have ever existed in the histories of all of its member-states, and it’s reputation in that respect was one that every member was proud of.

“We certainly do, however regardless of their eventual career, all of our officers attend Starfleet Academy, and our crewmen and petty officers attend the same Enlisted Training Program, meaning that all have the same identity and ‘culture’, which helps smooth rough edges when interacting with different parts of the organisation, although the competing demands can sometimes be a headache,” Ch’tavor replied honestly. “The fact that Starfleet is, by some distance, the largest and most capable institution within the Federation helps build that identity, and the appeal of serving in Starfleet is certainly one that attracts people to it, over serving in a system defence force, or conducting research at private or government institutes, which means that our recruits are in the right mindset.”

Ch’tavor paused as they stepped into a turbolift and he called out a deck in the saucer section.

“There is very little inter service rivalry within the Federation, largely due to the sheer size and status of Starfleet, as well as the fact that, by Federation Law, Starfleet is in a position of legal superiority over system defence forces operated by individual member-worlds, even more so in New Khitomer as in the old UFP, due to the more centralised power of the Federation Government,” Ch’tavor added. “This significantly simplifies logistical and practical considerations, which is vital when we’re dealing with ships, stations, and outposts spread over hundreds if not thousands of lightyears, as well as simplifying our defensive posture whenever we’re called upon to defend the Federation, so whilst we wear a lot of hands both our institutional mindset and our legal status help us do so effectively.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

“We’re definitely not the interservice rivalry types either, but we definitely have more distinct lines between the political and the Fleet than you do.” Damien said. “The Guard Core is just to protect us Keepers and mostly keep to themselves. They aren’t the rivalry type at all.”

It was almost easy to forget the two Guard Core were there, silently following along in their faceless armor, steps so light they almost couldn’t be heard. They said nothing to backup Damien, no reaction whatsoever. Whatever they were, they were definitely very, very well trained in their ability to not be noticed. It was honestly a bit creepy how stoic they were but the three Keepers ignored them with the ease of long practice and tradition.

“To be fair, I think Starfleet has more responsibilities than we do.” Tillman pointed out as they stepped into the lift. “We only need to worry about our worlds and the occasional breakaway. We haven’t had the need to change much about our system.”

“You think we need to change?” Figueroa asked.

“Maybe some more diplomatic training in the Keeper Academies since we have people to be diplomatic with.” She smiled. “Even if we have to wait for them to come to us all the time.”

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor nodded sagely.

“The potential for causing change in the civilisations we make contact with is the reason why Starfleet, and the Federation as a whole, is incredibly careful about how we interact with them, in order to minimise the changes and certainly to ensure that we don’t cause negative changes through our actions,” He commented as the turbolift moved towards the saucer section. “Indeed, it is Starfleet’s General Order One, our Prime Directive, to avoid at all costs interfering with the normal, natural, development of pre-warp civilisations, as in most cases they are simply not ready to be confronted with knowledge of other worlds, and significant damage would be done to their culture or society.”

Ch’tavor paused.

“The Prime Directive also generally prevents Starfleet, or the Federation, from interfering in the purely internal affairs of another civilisation, regardless of their respective technological or societal development, as a matter of principle,” Ch’tavor added as they reached the requested deck and made their way down the corridor. “For yourselves, as you say for the moment at least it seems that any future contacts you have will be coming to you, rather than the other way around, so you largely won’t have to consider such things.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

“Funny,” Figueroa mused. “I bet Earth would of loved to meet anyone even pre-warp. It sounds like a good rule to follow however, maybe if we manage to find an inhabited world on our own we should follow something similar.”

“We can work on a pitch to the Prime Director and High Protectorate!” Damien replied.

Tillman was never the biggest fan of how often her fellows spouted off about the High Council. She knew what they were her leaders and all eventually reported to them, but damn it! They were on ship of alien make and origin and that’s all they could think of? Maybe it was just their age or something, less able to be charmed by their surroundings than she was. Whatever, even after embarrassing herself earlier, she was going to learn as much as she could and worry about her superiors later.

“What is our next destination Commander?” Tillman asked before the convo about what to report to the High Protectorate could go any further.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

“Whilst many pre-warp civilisations, particularly those in the early spaceflight period, would of course be more than eager to be contacted by a true space-faring power, but think of your own history, would you want advanced technology in their hands?” Commander Ch’tavor smiled wryly. “No, although the Prime Directive has on occasion arguably done harm, it absolutely has done far more good than it has harm, and the Federation would always counsel its friends to adopt a similar policy in their own dealings.”

In answer to the question posed to him, Ch’tavor simply led the way into the next compartment; a large space containing a number of tables and chairs, a bar, and its most striking feature; wide panoramic windows across the forward bulkhead looking out ahead of the ship and providing a stunning view ahead of the ship. There were maybe two dozen Starfleet Officers in the compartment, sat either together or separately, but such was the size of the space that it seemed almost empty.

“This is Ten Forward, the largest of our social and recreational spaces; the Galaxy-Class was designed for long-term exploration missions, potentially up to five-years without returning to the core and only infrequently visiting a Starbase or other outpost,” Ch’tavor explained. “As such, the leisure facilities aboard the ship are as important as its tactical and scientific capabilities; the wellbeing of our people is just as important, as their skills and experience are an integral part to the missions and investigations that we complete.”

Ch’tavor glanced around.

“As they exist for much the same reason, I’ll show you our holodecks in a moment, but in the meantime, can I interest any of you in sharing a drink together?”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

“To be fair to our past selves.” Damien said dryly. “We uh, were a volatile bunch but it didn’t stop us from climbing to the stars. Going to space actually made things a bit easier in the end.”

Both Figueroa and Tillman nodded. The history of Prime Redux was full of conflict and strife in its early days. Things eventually settled, but when you have some 5 trillion people on one ball of rock, things start getting cramped even with the best technology has to offer at the time.

They didn’t elaborate on the history, tho Damien’s tone and words probably indicated that getting FTL earlier might of made their ancestors lives easier. Not exactly a disagreement, but then again, Prime was FTL capable (even as limited a system as it is) they didn’t need to worry too much about the temptations of Federation's FTL. Not to mention hindsight is very much 20/20, of course it would of made their lives easier, but who knows what sorts of problems would crop up when new tech would be given to those in the past.

All those people were long dead. They were here now because of them, and that’s all that matters.

“Sounds like a stalling tactic and a way to loosen our tongues.” Damien joked, glancing back as the two Guard Core took up places on either side of the door inside Ten Forward, unwilling to let their charges out of their site for even a minute. “And I thought we were going to be a sly and sneaky ones.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea.” Figueroa cut in with a smile. “Don’t mind Keeper Damien, he likes to blow hot air which is why our citizens here love him.” Damien made a point of looking hurt while Tillman wandered over to the windows, careful to stay away from any tables taken to stare out at the view. Still around Keep Station the massive station with its equally massive rotating habs dominated the view, with the beautiful Ionia underneath it. Currently nighttime on this side of the planet, the darkness was broken with the occasional pockets of lights from habdomes that were easy to spot with no planetary atmosphere in the way to diffuse them.

And still in view was the massive Casimir Gate, it’s dark metals containing the slight shimmer of light and space-time distortion in its center. It could easily fit the Endevour, hell it could fit Keep Station it was so massive, but it hung there above Ionia like a guardian above it’s world. It was a stunning view. Took her breath away anytime she saw it. Especially the Gates. She loved those.

“Are these… viewscreens or actual view ports to space?” She asked as she reached out to gently touch the window, a crease wrinkled her forehead. “Doesn’t feel like a screen.”

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

“They are real viewports, all of those aboard this ship are made of the latest generation of transparent aluminium, which is more than sufficient to form part of the outer hull, particularly when tired into the structural integrity field of the ship,” Commander Ch’tavor replied wryly. “Theres a great deal of studies, from a wide range of species, as well as by Starfleet Medical that suggest that viewports are incredibly useful for maintaining crew mental health on long-term cruises, particularly avoiding cabin fever or related issues.”

Leading the group over to the bar, it would become quickly apparent that although the surrounding officers and crewmen were interested in the Keepers it was also not the first time they had had guests in their personal space. As the group stood at the bar, they were approached by a bartender, who would be a ‘civilian’ in as much as he was non-starfleet responsible for operating the bar, but was also the partner of a member of the crew. Such an arrangement was not unusual, allowing family members to live aboard a Starship with their family by taking up collateral duties.

“What can I do for you, Commander?”

“Four glasses of Andorian Ale, please, Stacy.”

“Sure thing,” Stacy replied. “You want replicated or the real stuff?”

“It wouldn’t do to give our guests a bad first impression, so break open one of my bottles,” Ch’tavor answered after a few moments of thought, turning to his guests. “Andorian Ale, as the name suggests, is native to my homeworld… we’ve had trouble recreating the real stuff since we lost our link to our home.”

Stacy returned with a tall bottle of blue liquid and poured four shot glasses worth of liquid, handing one each. Designed to be drunk in shot glasses, Andorian Ale was ideal for toasting and was often used in this capacity by the Andorians themselves, as a key part of their martial nature and background. It had a strong, but not entirely overpowering, taste and something of a kick, and was served ice cold, reflective of Andoria’s environment.

“To new friends,” Ch’tavor said simply.

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

"To new friends." All three of the Keepers chimed in unison. Figueroa and Damien both knocked back their shots with ease, and Tillman hesitated a second before following suit, coughing once and Damien patted her on the back.

"You okay?" He asked the younger Keeper.

"Yeah." She said, giving a small shake of her head. "Haven't had anything like it since graduation night."

The two older keepers nodded in understanding, obviously whatever graduation Tillman had gone through was the same for all three. Damien stepped back once Tillman seemed like she had recovered. She seemed content to stare out at the Casimir Gate looming outside the window, even with its size, the proximity meant that she saw a small ripple in the distortion in its center and a ship popped into existence. She placed the glass down on the bar for the bartender and tapped in a query into her wristpad. It actually took a second for the thing to give her the info (given the unfamiliar ship wrapped around her this wasn't surprising) and a registry popped up on the screen. Nothing special, just a freighter carrying more habdome supplies. But it did at least indicate that Director Tachy had lifted the temporary stop of civilian traffic through the Gate. It wasn't like they were going to keep Endevour a secret. By the time they had properly contacted and asked to meet the news was flying all over The Net, and the Federation ship had proved friendly, so the civilians were most likely safe.

"Anything interesting?" Damien asked.

"Just habdome supplies. I think our new friend is safe from civilians sop letting them through with the supplies Ionia needs isn't going to be a big deal." She smiled, glancing around Ten Forward. "Beautiful ship so far though Commander. An absolute marvel of your technology and I'm sure we haven't seen half of all the tech you use to keep this ship functioning."

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Commander Ch’tavor smiled slightly at the youngest Keeper’s reaction to the Andorian Ale, it was known for its kick and it was not for the faint-hearted; meant to be consumed by warriors and those who had blooded themselves in combat. At least that was the traditional mindset, these days it was more often used as a quick, and not-entirely-unpleasant, shot in many a nightclub all over the Federation. Nevertheless, for those Andorians in Starfleet it was still popular as although the Andorian martial flame was dormant, it was by no means extinguished… just like the same flame that could be found in humanity. The ideals of Starfleet and the Federation had tempered the worst instincts of many of its member species, and nurtured the best features, but when needs must they stepped up and did what was necessary to protect the Federation.

“It would take some time to show you everything that keeps a ship like this running, a Starship is an incredibly complex machine as I am sure you can imagine based on your own experiences, which is only made more so by including faster-than-light travel,” Ch’tavor replied wryly. “Captain Whitmore mentioned that we would be putting together an officer exchange programme, I imagine that your engineers and scientists will be tripping over each other in order to get the opportunity to see our ships closer, as I’m sure will ours, as they’ll be eager to learn about your technology too.”

Ch’tavor smiled.

“After all, there is only so much information that we can gather from even the sensors aboard this ship, particularly on passives only!”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

“I can imagine it takes a while to get to know a ship. You look at pictures and scans all you want, but you have really work in the ship to know it. Those FTL prototypes don’t build themselves.” Her gaze had wandered over to the Guard Core still standing still as statues near where they had entered. Her eyes were a bit unfocused as she stared at them.

Honestly she was wondering if she would be able to participate in this exchange program if and when it came to fruition. Barring some emergency or extremely important promotion, there was no part of her research that couldn’t be handed off to a graduate of her same class, and her spot of the Council could be filled fairly easily. Only problem was she was a Keeper. A Keeper wasn’t exactly shackled down, but the importance of the knowledge of the chip in her head was such that no Keeper was ever truly as free as a normal Prime citizen. Guard Core was a constant presence in the life of a Keeper, they might hide themselves, stay out of sight in their gated neighborhoods, walk silently through the passages of Keep Station and blend themselves into the scenery, but they were always there, around. There was no way the Protectorate would let her wander alien space (even friendly, allied space) without constant guards. She wondered if the Federation would allow that, or if they would consider it a distraction or even danger. Questions, she supposed, that were for the Prime Director and the representatives of the Federation to workout.

“Have to admit,” Damien said after a moment, watching Tillman with a sort of passive interest, “Glad we weren’t the only one staring at the new ship through our sensors. Before my wife went into labor I heard all sorts of arguments for giving your ship a solid active pulse to see what we could find. Probably a good thing we decided to err on our usual tradition of considering active directed sensor pulses to be aggressive. Can’t imagine we’d be in your charming company otherwise.”

Figueroa rolled her eyes at Damien’s tone, Tillman still seemed distracted as she stared at their guards.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Starfleet can be awfully understanding when we need to, and we entirely understand the surprise and perhaps fear of an entirely alien ship suddenly appearing in one of your star systems, so we could have forgiven along,” Commander Ch’tavor replied. “Although we will defend ourselves when pushed onto the thin ice, as my people say, our peaceful ideals also mean that we can forgive and forget instinctive reactions and misunderstandings, but that is only through long practice and living to our ideals.”

Ch’Tavor paused thoughtfully.

“I’ve got a few more stops to make before we go, including our holodecks,” He commented. “But is there anything you desperately wanted to see how we do it?”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
USS Endevour
Ionia
Keeper Hanna Tillman

Figueroa and Damien traded thoughtful glances, while Tillman finally pulled out of whatever revere she had fallen into to look back at the alien commander.

“Biggest problem is that this isn’t our ship.” Tillman said honestly. “I don’t know what to ask to see that is interesting. And all three of us,” she made a small motion to the other two Keepers, “we’re raised as space-faring humans. We live, fix, and breathe environments like this from the day we are born to death. Unless your life support or some other mundane system has something special going on, I doubt there is anywhere we could guess that would truly blow our minds.” She paused a second. “Anyways, the places you show us are probably in someway special to the Federation, either points of pride or technological marvel, so seeing what you consider to be worthy of a tour has merit.”

“That’s usually the part you don’t say out loud Keeper.” Damien chided lightly, Tillman looked like she might of been heading towards a rude hand gesture and turned it into a dismissive wave.

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” She countered. “Bickering aside, whatever the holodeck is, it sounds interesting, like it’s a theater or immersive Net room.”

[New Khitomer]

Commander Ishriv Ch’tavor
U.S.S. Endeavour NCC-71624
Ionia System, Sector B-04
Stardate 66691.9

---

Ch’Tavor nodded and led the way from Ten-Forward with a smile. They did not have all that far to go, although there were holodecks in other parts of the ship, new to the crew quarters, they were also heavily concentrated around the area in the forward part of the saucer section near Ten-Forward. Entering the holodeck, the visitors would first be confronted by an apparently empty compartment entirely black with the exception of a yellow grid on all the bulkheads, the deck and the deckhead as well. Once they were inside the space the door to the rest of the ship, closed, leaving just the archway which contained the control and interface system. At first it would likely seem entirely ordinary and unremarkable to the guests, but that was primarily due to the fact that all the inner workings of the system were well hidden.


“Computer, Federation Plaza, midsummer, early evening,” Ch’Tavor said simply.

In the blink of the eye, the empty space of the holodeck was replaced by a large marble plaza on a warm summer’s afternoon, a gentle breeze blew through the space cooling it down a little. At the centre of the plaza stood a great fountain with a central statue made up of figures of a dozen or more species, all looking upwards at a lone flag fluttering above them. The buildings around the perimeter of the plaza were modern in design, with the largest being at the northern end, a fifteen story complex that towered over those surrounding it. This was Federation Headquarters, by no means the tallest building in the capital city of New Khitomer, as in the middle-distance a number of skyscrapers could be seen, but it was obviously a building that held a pride of place. The plaza was bustling with activity, as Federation officials, Starfleet Officers, and citizens made their way to and from the various buildings of state that surrounded this, the beating heart of New Khitomer.

“The holodeck can create pretty much any possible scene or environment that you can think of, as well as an extensive cast of characters and others to interact with,” Ch’Tavor explained, looking around fondly. “As such, it has become a very useful tool for training as well as an invaluable resource for recreation and crew morale, and is by now a regular fixture aboard even small starships.”