Artemis-cellaneous: Memorable whatevers from The Borderlands

[Gnai]

Was checking my email again (late at night simming always goes well) and realized I had forgotten to send in @Savel's sim's title, something that cracked me up when I saw it first, and then again when I saw it tonight (this morning??).

[Gila Sadar]

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Guide: And why does he get a weapon? This is my ship! I should be the one trying to take it back. 

 

Ignoring the blueberry's plea for arms, Savel ensured his weapon got to Talos or at least someone with Starfleet training. Then he looked back to the Bolian.

 

Savel: I have already evaluated your response to the stress of a potentially violent situation while you were being held hostage. We are all much safer if you do not possess arms of any kind.

 

Dakora/Sadar/Gnai: Responses

 

The Bolian huffed at the Vulcan's rejection and evaluation of him but didn't look to argue the point further. With that settled, Savel turned to the rest of his own group.

 

Savel: I am unsure of how long he will stay incapacitated. It could be hours, or he could awaken anytime now. I am open to suggestions on what to do with him.

 

Dakora/Sadar/Gnai: Response

 

Guide: I-I'll tell you exactly what to do with him! ::exaggerating his words by holding a single finger in the air as he just barely lifted himself on his toes:: We shoot him a-and we make sure he can't get back up! Then his friends will know not to mess with Nova Gamma Borealis!

 

Exactly why Savel hadn't given him the gun.

@Savel continuing to prove why he’s the cream of the Security crop 💯

[+ Salkath]

5 hours ago, Gila Sadar said:

Ignoring the blueberry's plea for arms, Savel ensured his weapon got to Talos or at least someone with Starfleet training. Then he looked back to the Bolian.

The blueberry!? Man, Bolians get no respect on this ship! 😆

Edited May 8 by Salkath
... even from me, apparently. I cannae spell, Cap'n!

[Savel]

2 hours ago, Salkath said:

The blueberry!? Man, Boleans get no respect on this ship! 😆

I fully thank @Gila Sadar for that addition. I loved it so much when I read it, I wanted to make sure we didn't leave it behind in the next sim.

[Gila Sadar]

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Salkath: Your position means that you might need to be... discreet in your actions. And you certainly cannot order me to perform any untoward actions. However, logic dictates that plausible deniability would protect you if I, say, chose to act without your direct input.

 

Ah, yes. Vulcan subtlety. He would waggle his eyebrows conspiratorially at her if he could, but everyone knew that them eyebrows only ever went up.

Have I mentioned how much I love our Vulcan crewmembers yet this week? 😂 I don’t know if ‘them eyebrows’ is a typo or not, @Salkath, but it absolutely elevated this piece!

[+ Salkath]

4 minutes ago, Gila Sadar said:

Have I mentioned how much I love our Vulcan crewmembers yet this week? 😂 I don’t know if ‘them eyebrows’ is a typo or not, @Salkath, but it absolutely elevated this piece!

Nope, not a typo 😉 

[Savel]

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Beck: Groovy.

The engineer paused, confused, then in a moment of illumination ran a finger along the corridor wall.

Salkath: Yes. And striated. But never mind that. We should continue.

Got a great laugh from this small exchange in @Salkath's sim.

All I can think now is that next shore leave, we have to get someone to introduce the Artemis' Vulcans to what it means to be groovy.

[Gnai]

3 minutes ago, Savel said:

All I can think now is that next shore leave, we have to get someone to introduce the Artemis' Vulcans to what it means to be groovy.

DISCO 👏 BALL 👏

@Vitor S. Silveira back me up here.

[Gnai]

When changelings invade the ship, of course you’ve got to re-enact that one Spider-Man pointing meme. @Genkos Adea did just that. Maybe it’s the fact that I read the email at 7, but I cracked up something good.

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The new Genkos pushed the real Genkos further down the corridor and followed along - they had shifted to look exactly like himself right now, right down to the lump on the back of the head.

 

Genkos swivelled as he was forced into view of the two officers around the corner - he saw Jaseb and Hallia looking rather confused as they saw two Genkoses…Genki?

 

Adea: ::pointing at the other Genkos:: He’s the Changeling!

 

Ådea: ::pointing at the other Genkos:: He’s the Changeling!

 

[Gnai]

@TAma, this title made me LOL. Thank you.

[Quentin Beck]

@Gila Sadar
I just found this bit of introspection to be especially good. Something about the wording in particular.
 

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Changeling 1: There’s another problem – it shouldn’t have been possible, but somehow we were followed through the conduit. You said that wouldn’t be possible without a Borg transceiver.

 

They had to mean the people from Amity Outpost... Gila’s eyes drifted slightly, observing the ex-Borg Lieutenant standing some paces from her. She wondered what he was feeling right now... Was this all like walking through a well-known nightmare, like reliving the worst days of his life? Or was it surreal, like barely experienced ghosts suddenly coming to life with an intensity leaving him bereft of rhyme or sense? She wondered what the victims of the Nimitz had felt as they faced assimilation, not knowing that Dr. Bailey’s salvation would pull them back from that brink... Were they saved from side-effects? Or did they too peer into the bleak abyss of the Collective, only to be yanked back from the edge, forever doomed to revisit a darker future when their minds wandered?

 

[Gila Sadar]

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MacKenzie: Well, you know me – I love a controlled explosion… What might be possible?

 

Orrey/Moore/S. Richards: Response

Jovenan continued to run computations with her tricorder.

Jovenan: The drones have adapted, but the structure and hardware may not have. We could try, uh, explode something ::shakes her phaser pistol::

Vanlith: What if we hardwired a rigged explosion? 

 

The redheaded CO of the Artemis smirked and wiggled her eyebrows.

 

MacKenzie: Now we’re talking.

Not to be that junior officer, I don’t think it’s healthy getting @Addison MacKenzie’s old friends on board…

[Ollie Bergmen]

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Jovenan studied her new team. Besides the Captain and herself, everyone else had come from the Amity, two of them were in addition wearing civilian clothes. There was the human-looking doctor – for the sake of their wellbeing, she hoped it wasn’t a PhD – with hair that could rival that of Ensign Chevalier.

That's like the fifth reference to Jaseb's hairstyle 🧐

[Gnai]

@Quentin Beck I said it in the discord, and I want to put it in this thread for everyone else to see. But this actually got me to laugh out loud irl.

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Beck: So, she called you by name. Crazy ex-girlfriend?

Who in their RIGHT MIND would think "ah yeah, the Borg Queen, Robin Hopper's ex-GF". QUENTIN BECK, APPARENTLY. I love it

And I think that's the last of the numerous appreciations-y posts from my emails today. Until the next one hits my inbox. ❤️

[Quentin Beck]

Sometimes the best way to cope is to crack jokes

[Gila Sadar]

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A cool sea breeze. A rolling fog, bringing with it cold and damp from the North Sea, and behind it a pelting rain.  The anti-borg serum was working quickly. With no nanobots in his system to fight it, the injection set to work immediately counteracting the borg transceiver in his cranium, aggressively attacking the implants like a cancer. 

 

The fire scorching the heathers fluttered and whimpered as the frigid wind whipped at it and the soaking mists gave way to a downpour. Flint could feel a tingling freezing sensation on his brow, as the connections between his external ocular implant and the transceiver within began to break down at a molecular level. It was like having a million tiny needles pulled out of your skin all at once.

 

oO Nine of Twenty: What is this? Oo

 

oO Flint: We’re adapting. Oo

That is the most poetic response to a stealth-inoculation I’ve ever read 😭 I legit teared up!

EXCELLENT Sim, @Robin Hopper!!

[Gila Sadar]

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Why was it dark? His eyes flitted around the small recovery nook that had been his the past day or two. Shaded, sure, but dark? And there was a red pulsing light. A red alert light.  oO God, what now? Oo  Worse yet, he thought perhaps he could hear the sounds of a struggle nearby. Had the crew of the Artemis fallen victim to a Changeling infiltrator in the end, after all?  oO That’d be just my luck… Oo  he thought to himself, as he rolled slowly, quietly, to the edge of the biobed and swung his legs over.  oO Finally free of the borg only to be murdered by a bloody changeling. Oo

He glanced down at his body.  oO And naked too. Perfect. Oo  The only clothes nearby was a neatly-folded patients’ gown in that god-awful teal colour Starfleet medics seemed so enamoured with. But, in a pinch, it was a lot better than facing his demise in naught but his skin.

 

@Robin Hopper - it would be really funny though 🤣

[Gila Sadar]

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Vitor moved closer so that Zie and Nan moved behind him. He was guessing Zie might not be too pleased with him allowing Hopper to “dance” around with the other target.
And that was one hell of a Salsa they were showing there.

oO I hope you realise you need more training Commander. Oo

He again overextended his confidence in Hopper, raised an eyebrow at the way she was exchanging blows, and her really unorthodox moves.

Silveira: Commander Hopper got this. I trust her.
 

Oh yeah, peak confidence there, @Vitor S. Silveira 🤣

[Gila Sadar]

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Hopper: Anyone here know how to do this without it blowing up in our faces?

MacKenzie: Give me your tricorder.

Surprised, Jovenan turned around to find the Captain standing behind them, her hand extended. The Captain took the Commander’s tricorder, while Jovenan stepped aside, perplexed of the Captain’s actions. She knew the CO wasn’t an engineer either, and while it was possible she had learnt such skills during her long service, Jovenan couldn’t avoid the thought that the Captain was doing it herself to prevent her subordinates hurting themselves.

Wait, @Addison MacKenzie, MERCIFUL!? 😧 This really is the apocalypse...

[Rahman and Rivi Vataix]

The Borg are such a supportive group for one another! From @Jaseb Chevalier

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Thirteen watched a drone fighting Richards of Rahman. She was notably more effective than the rest of them and even appeared to have almost succeeded in the Collective's quest to eliminate him.

Richards: I. ::Tug:: Am. ::Tug:: Not. ::Tug:: SALVAGE!

Thirteen of Thirteen (Chevalier): *Go, little drone, eliminate that unassimilated!*

 

[Gila Sadar]

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En route to the sickbay, they passed a viewport. Jovenan stopped there for a moment, looking out into the vast space. The orbit was littered with ships, many of them adrift, some of them so badly damaged that their remains were scattered into large clouds of metal and other debris. The destroyed bulk of the Spacedock floated nearby, a result of the destructive capability of the fleet.

They may have defeated the Borg, but it was difficult to call this a victory.

But behind it all, Earth continued its slow rotation. On one side, the blue oceans glimmered in the sunlight, and on the other, cities shone bright as the shadow of the planet rolled over them and lights were lit. There were still oceans and cities, and people who lit the lights when the Sun was setting.

Maybe they had won, after all.

@Jovenan!!! 😍 What a beautiful end to the mission!!

[Gnai]

Vulcans are the funniest Star Trek species and I will die on this hill. Exhibit A: @Salkath

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Salkath: Yes, sir. ::flicking through the reports::  Ahem. The primary comms array junction still needs a complete rebuild. As does the secondary sensor control room in the pod. The port ventral phaser array is still inoperable, and there are various small hull breaches along the array on deck 17. The main shuttlebay needs extensive maintenance after explosive decompression and a crashed shuttle across the deck plating. Somehow, the upper computer core sustained blast damage. ::this one was particularly irksome to Salkath, and it likely showed on his face::  We are fortunate that critical systems were not irreparably disrupted by that. Numerous consoles, panels, and hatches throughout the ship. Shipwide EPS issues. Oh. And one more... a hull breach on deck one...

 

He peeked a raised eyebrow over the top of his upraised PADD at that one.

 

[Gila Sadar]

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Dakora: If anything, Nathan, it’s my fault. I’m the one who put us in that position. ::He paused and let out a long sigh.:: If you wear that uniform long enough you’ll have more of these moments– where doing what you must feels like doing something wrong. And, yeah, It feels like shit every time.

Richards: Response

Talos reached over and pulled open one of the drawers in Sarah’s desk and continued moving the contents into the crate as he spoke. Whether or not the Engineer knew it, the words were for both of them.

Dakora: But here’s the thing: in the end, we have a choice. We can beat ourselves up over it and let it consume us until there’s nothing left, or we can accept that what happened here—Sarah’s death, and all the others we lost on F-Day for that matter— will not be for nothing.

He reached out and placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Dakora: If we find the strength to persevere, to rebuild, then we honor them. That’s how we make it matter. That’s how we move forward. 

😭

[Gila Sadar]

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Dakora: At your earliest convenience, Commander. ::He grimaced.:: Every time she thinks about that window, the risk of my untimely demise grows higher.

She offered a smug smile to her first officer, momentarily appeased.

Never for long, eh @Addison MacKenzie? How long must @Talos Dakora slave away before the new window of the Ready Room is forgiven and forgotten? 😆

[Gila Sadar]

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Silveira: Forgive me, I am burdening you and making it awkward. You are so much alike… ::Vitor paused, shaking his head.:: Were so much alike, but yet so much apart. And my feelings for you… I remember the first time I saw you in the Excalibur briefing. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to see you grow and I just… I just want to make you happy, protect you and help you in any way I can.

Jovenan: I…

Her mouth remained open, but no voice came through. Her brain was filled with words, bungled and incomprehensible, but none were said. The words, unknown even to herself, were caught in her throat, pressing against like tears she had swallowed.

Sometimes, her friends and colleagues aboard the Artemis had been so kind as to thank her for the times she had succeeded. But… this was not like that. She also remembered one time in particular, when Vitor had, her senior back then, called her to his office urgently in order to compliment her of her skills and growth. This, this was not like that either, although she felt something similar remaining, an emotion that had persisted.

This was not a compliment. This felt like it was meant to be more.

She couldn’t even spell the word out for herself.

Feeling conflicted, she was unable to do anything for a while but to look at him, her mouth slightly ajar, silly and pathetic. Her heart was racing again, but this time, she didn’t know if it was good or bad. Her thoughts were foggy, her stomach taking turns and her hands, tucked between his, were warm. She didn’t want to pull away, but she knew this wasn’t… This wasn’t right, not what was meant to be.

Jovenan: Vitor. I’m not her.

THE JOVEIRA SHIP HAS LEFT DRYDOCK! REPEAT, JOVEIRA HAS LEFT DRYDOCK 🥳

(Except, now we're going to be going through the most interesting period - the one where they struggle with the whole 'I dated you in an alternate universe, and that's awkward'-phase 🤣 I CANNOT wait. If anyone on this boat is gonna knock that kind of storyline out of the park, it's @Jovenan and @Vitor S. Silveira!)