Windrose, where the wind blows

[tothefly]

Who: Windrose crew and you, distinguished visitors!
Broadcast: Naaah.
Action: Windrose, various points in the near vicinity
When: Until we get off this frozen rock

[On New Year's Day, the crew on board the Windrose and those nearby may notice the chill as the doors to the cargo bay are left open, and their captain making quite a bit of noise as she inspects their newly expanded home away from home. This is likely to go on for a while. Feel free to come investigate, chat among yourselves, complain about the cold, etc!]

Comments

[unbearablynaive]

Another? Not anyone we have here, I'd hope?

[Or does he have someone else he needs to keep an eye on?]

[dancingmd]

[Well, yes technically they have Tek but she's not about to drag Vision into that mess.]

At home. There are these beings called the Q - very powerful, capable of manipulating space, time, and matter, which they primarily seem to use in order to meddle in the business of us mere mortals.

["Mere mortals" said in the most sarcastic way possible, of course.]

I have always suspected Atroma might be a being or beings of a similar make.

[unbearablynaive]

[He might actually be useful if that situation comes to a head...or he might not. It really depends.]

Somehow I can't be surprised they do that. I imagine they find it "entertaining", do they not? [Said very dryly.] Because if entertainment is their goal, I can see why you'd imagine Atroma has similar motives, if different methods.

[dancingmd]

They do, though it's recently been claimed by a member of the Q that he was actually testing us. I hardly find that more comforting.

[She sighs.]

I'll give this for Q, at the very least, he has deigned to interact directly with us so there was more possibility for... an exchange of sorts.

[unbearablynaive]

How reassuring. The laboratory mouse isn't being tortured randomly, but tested.

[Oh yes, he knows the type.]

If nothing else, it would give you a name and face to your opponent, and perhaps logic--convoluted though it may seem.

[dancingmd]

[The face of Q is a dubious thing… in their natural state, Q don’t have a face, not how humanoids would think of one anyway.]

Convoluted logic indeed. My captain seems to have bought his story but… I’m still not so sure.

[unbearablynaive]

[But he appears with one, mostly - which puts him on a level the human mind is more capable of comprehending. He's familiar with that.]

In this case, it would seem your doubt is warranted. Perhaps we are being tested by Atroma now, in addition to causing amusement.

I strongly disagree with the lack of informed consent on our parts, however.

[dancingmd]

As do I. Especially when there are so many children involved.

[unbearablynaive]

[He hasn't spoken to that many...but then, he isn't on the Blue Fish.

Also, technically the Vision is younger than everyone else in the Fleet.]

I'm sure the excuse is that it helps to attract younger audiences.

[dancingmd]

[She crosses her arms and snorts derisively.]

There's no excuse for it.

[unbearablynaive]

[The Vision smiles, very slightly.]

It's certainly not a good excuse. But then, neither is entertainment in general. Perhaps their writers are on strike and more reality broadcasts are the only solution.

[dancingmd]

[Yeah that reference... just goes right over her head.]

What do you mean, their writers might be on strike? Like a labor union action?

[IS IT SOMETHING WE CAN USE AGAINST THEM???]

What makes you think that?

[unbearablynaive]

[Well, it is much more current events to him. Does the Federation even have reality TV?]

It was exactly that that caused a rise in reality television programming in my own timeline. Though, conversely, once the strike was resolved, there was also a rise in the general quality of scripted programming and a move toward the story arc model rather than the episodic model.

[He shrugs apologetically.]

It would also explain Calibrations, if the signal were temporarily offline for some reason.

[dancingmd]

[Not really. She has some hazy recollection of it being A Thing at some point in history but well... It never took off the same way in her 21st century as it did his, with the devastation of World War III and its aftermath. So this only makes a little bit of sense to her.]

I believe the other fleet had something to do with that, personally, when they drove us into the nebula.

[unbearablynaive]

[WWIII is something that, thankfully, they've yet avoided. Of course, there's also the matter of alien contact long before the Vulcans in his time, so that may have something to do with it.]

You don't think it was intentional by Atroma, then?

[dancingmd]

I don't, not after seeing how Diamond and Beau were acting, and how everything has lost its... Smoothness since then.

[unbearablynaive]

[He nods.]

We've not heard from them since then, either. Perhaps they were held responsible and have been fired from their positions.

[dancingmd]

Now that's a thought... I don't know how it'd help us any but it might tell us something more about them if that turns out to be the case.

[unbearablynaive]

Any knowledge can be useful, I agree. We have so little about them.