Providence (Amity): Difference between revisions

Following complaints of interference by manatee-like spaceborne creatures from the benamite miners on Barossa Sector Asteroid 6585 Poseidon, Amity’s senior staff was assembled to begin looking into the matter<ref name="Vataix-Providence">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/XE_kqkU4sqo/m/S4jAeQZEAgAJ "Providence (part 1)"], [[Rivi Vataix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Considering the necessity of benamite mining to the Federation’s interests in the Delta Quadrant, and the Outpost’s continued operation<ref name="Carcetti-Hard">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/zTWeueVKXO0/m/dcsamtTgCQAJ "Hard Truths"], [[Rivi Vataix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>, high priority was placed on resolving the ongoing interruptions.

Lt. Commander Wil Ukinix, Lieutenant Ceciri Ariadust, Lieutenant JG Scotty Reade, and Ensign Bec Iko were assigned to rendezvous with Michael Rubio, a representative from the miners to directly assess the situation aboard the Defiance Class USS-Independence B<ref name="Vataix-Providence"></ref>. According to Rubio, the miners colloquially refer to the difficult-to-detect nuisance animals as space cows or mo-mo’s<ref name="Iko-Questionable">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/cwfpmRAFVYQ/m/NnHzEZeAAgAJ "Questionable Mo-Mos"], [[Rebecca Iko]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Evidently, the creatures enjoyed playing around and impacting against equipment and ships<ref name="Vataix-Welcome">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/v1Mm5qD8Jng/m/gSrOIZmPHwAJ "Welcome to the Neighborhood"], [[Rivi Vataix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>,<ref name="Ukinix-Pigs">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/UEW5T5z54iE/m/07Tnj1xxAwAJ "Pigs on the Wing"], [[Wil Ukinix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref> as well as ingesting vented plasmas<ref name="Ukinix-Sacred">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/Hpsjvy5ITQY/m/HVN0d2ytCAAJ "Sacred Cow"], [[Wil Ukinix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Arriving aboard the Poseidon Mining Rig, the crew began talks with the miners in order to learn how the creatures’ might be peaceably dissuaded or distracted from interfering with the miners’ operations<ref name="Ariadust-Ideas">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/FXibl_RWX9A/m/tJIp8PCUCQAJ "Ideas"], [[Ceciri Ariadust]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Rivi Vataix, Lt. Commander John Carter, and Amity’s Chief of Mining Operations, Evelyn McLaren, met to discuss the creatures’ impacts on mining operations and potential solutions<ref name="Vataix-Providence2">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/2wyMsFJ7VPU/m/XDTpH71FAgAJ "Providence (part 2)"], [[Rivi Vataix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. The meeting was swiftly interrupted by Luminary Prarim, a religious leader and representative for a nomadic people called the Hawlat, who claimed the creatures were culturally significant to the Hawlat, referring to them as “Angels”<ref name="Vataix-Providence2"></ref>.

According to Prarim, the “Angels” served as spiritual guides for the Hawlat, leading them through the stars “from pasture to pasture”<ref name="Prarim-Pasture">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/3ASCxmjRcYc/m/OuHaeCtUAgAJ "Pasture to Pasture"], [[Kivik]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Evidently, centuries earlier, the Hawlat’s homeworld experienced some sort of devastation that led them off-world, following the “Angels”<ref name="Prarim-Bond">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/St7NuIUXvP0/m/upCh_cFpAwAJ "Bond of Faith"], [[Kivik]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. As such, they would tolerate no disrespect to the creatures, viewing the deployment of the Independence as a potential provocation<ref name="Prarim-Pasture"></ref>,<ref name="Vataix-Providence2"></ref> and the suggestion of relocating the creatures shocking<ref name="Taven-Conflict">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/dmVNPLPi-QU/m/iWtGTDHyAgAJ "Conflict of Rational"], [[Kamoyo Aleksandrov]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. In order to determine whether the Federation’s intentions could be trusted, Luminary Prarim invoked a traditional ceremony called “The Ritual of Trust”<ref name="Prarim-Bond"></ref>. Carter was quick to volunteer to partake in the ritual<ref name="Carter-Riddle">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/BPLXVd8em10/m/1sHKyKE4CQAJ "Riddle me this, Riddle me that."], [[John Carter]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>, which involved consuming a hallucinogenic substance the Hawlat referred to as “Angel’s Milk”<ref name="Prarim-Angels">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/xCUf1mAUAQc/m/rVcZaSbKAQAJ "Angel's Milk"], [[Kivik]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>19.

The team began by inquiring about the Hawlat’s own knowledge of the creatures and their history, with Sahim able to provide some knowledge of their biology and behaviour as well as recommendations for respectfully studying the creatures<ref name="Sahim-Establishing">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/iYkLafTsZ1w/m/Zg9xzjf0AgAJ "Establishing some limits on religious figures"], [[Kelrod]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Following that, discussion turned to culturally sensitive options for mitigating the creatures’ interference in local operations<ref name="Ukinix-Letting">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/ajqrhZw8dfY/m/ngCfmhz-AgAJ "Letting Someone Else Have Your Way"], [[Wil Ukinix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Eventually, it was determined that a field-study of the “Angels” was in order and Wong’s team was assigned the shuttlecraft USS Yosemite to get a closer look at the creatures<ref name="Ukinix-MOU">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/Dbo4Jgn6FlU/m/YeRht1fZAwAJ "MOU"], [[Wil Ukinix]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. During their study, they determined that the creatures ingested gasses and plasmas from the surrounding nebula and incorporated them into their carapaces, explaining why they were hard to detect on ordinary scans<ref name="Wong-Natures">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/52hKDrk3838/m/9NVs6MNUCAAJ "Nature's Wonder"], [[Ikaia Wong]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>,<ref name="Kivik-YouAre">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/hw2xurxg6SY/m/dYGMXACWCAAJ "You Are What You Eat"], [[Kivik]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>. Lieutenant Wong filed an initial report on their discoveries<ref name="Wong-TheAngel">[https://groups.google.com/g/sb118-amity/c/dI9qKk5-w_s/m/AH_zHWCVCQAJ "The Angel Report"], [[Ikaia Wong]], [[Amity Outpost]]</ref>.