First Personal Contact

Posted on Mon Jul 19th, 2021 @ 11:08am by Captain Kelly O'Connor & Lieutenant JG John Adams

1,109 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 8 - A Blast from the Past
Location: Airlock/Guest Quarters
Timeline: 2296/03/12 0800

Previously:

O'Connor ordered Adams, "Go greet our guests. Take them by the route that shows them the least technology to some quarters and then I want you and all of my Chiefs of Staff in the meeting room in ten minutes."

"Aye captain." John started to the trubolift. Just as he was about to enter, he gave Cara a wink. While the lift was heading to the main docking port, he came up with a route that wouldn't show the 'guest' much of the workings of the ship. When he reached the docking port, 2 armed security officers were there to greet him. One gave Adams a phase pistol and holster.
And with that, he nodded to the security officer to open the airlock.

And now the continuation:

Adams stood in front of the airlock, and when it opened, he held his arms away from his sides, and with the palms of his hands upwards. "Welcome to the United Federation of Planets starship USS America. I am Lieutenant John Adams."

Claws preceded the alien's bodies as three large avian creatures came out of the airlock. Each looked to be approximately seven feet in height and covered in feathers. How thick they might be depended on how much body was actually covered by plumage. Upon seeing the pistols in the holsters, there was a loud squawk and the lead creature started backing up into his companions. "We're pwisoners!" it exclaimed. "Just as we wewer towld."

Adams tried to calm them. "No...you are not prisoners. When a new species comes aboard, we honor them with what we call, and honor guard. I am to escort you to guest quarters where you can rest before meeting our captain." He kept smiling at them, hoping this would calm them.

The avian's eyes blinked several times. Realizing there was nowhere else to go, the lead cautiously followed. Perhaps instead of cautiously, it was carefully for their claws had nothing to grip onto as they moved towards Adams. "Qwawtahs? OK. How long to be ere?

"Shouldn't be too long....we'll get you back to your planet quickly." Adams continued to lead them to their quarters. "Our home planet is called Earth. What is your planet called?"

"Ooo send us back?" The two avians relaxed slightly, their plumage shrinking visibly. "Our ome is Kelert."

The security team started to escort the bird-like creatures down a corridor. When they reached the guest quarters, Adams opened the door and waited for the guests to enter the quarters. "Here is where you will be staying."

"Ow long will we be ere?" the one who seemed to have more authority and had been solely speaking, asked.

"The captain will let you know how long you'll be our guest. I'm sure it will be soon." Adams replied.

"Till oundz wike we are pwisners. But, we will wait ere for now."

Adams looked at them. "You are not prisoners. Our rules say that non-Federation personnel cannot walk around the ship unescorted. If you want to, I'll get the captain's permission and escort you myself. In the mean time, get some rest. If you require food, tell one of the guards who will be outside this door, and we will bring you something." He looked at them. "Any other questions?"

"Do you av some berries?" They then looked around the room and saw the standard bed and furniture. "Where is a perch?"

"I believe we have a nice selection of berries in our mess. I will go and select a nice selection for you....and I'll have someone in engineering build you a perch...how high would you like it?" Adams replied.

The avian creatures looked at each other and then back at Adams. "Dat would be nice, tank ooo." The apparent leader reached to the wall and set a wing about a foot and a half off the ground. "Dis would be good."

Adams nodded. "Berries and a perch. Anything else?"

"Mall edible wocks?" the avians asked. "Elps digetion," the leader said obviously.

Adams nodded. "Understood." He turned towards the door, then turned back. "I should have these things soon."

The avian leader creature tilted its head nodded. "We wiwl wait."

10 minutes later, Adams returned, with two engineers, and set up the perch in their quarters, set several bowls of berries on the table, and some bowls of the rocks, small ones, to add in their digestion.

The bird-like creatures looked skeptically at food and backed up towards the back of the quarters as the construction occurred. They tucked their heads into their backs as the noise entered the room.

Adams saw how the aliens were reacting to the noise caused by the construction, so he walked over to them, in the hopes of calming them down. "I apologize for the noise. If it bothers you too much, we can step into the other room, it should be quieter there."

"Ow can ooo towlerate it?"

"It's not as loud to us as it is to you. Plus I'm used to it." Adams opened to door to the quarters.

"It is awful. Ow can one get oosed to dis?"

Once the guests had entered the room, Adams closed the door and the noise became less. "Used to it...that's a hard question. I like my room to be quiet, so I can sleep. My station on the bridge can sometimes be noisy, but that's because of the computer and people talking. So....I guess I learned to live with it." Suddenly, the noise stopped and the door chime rang.

"Now wat?" the Captain asked, untucking his head slightly from his back feathers.

"I'm sure it's just one of the engineers." Adams opened the door, and spoke to one of the engineers, then turned back to the guests. "They have finished with the noise. Would you like to see what they did?"

Hesitantly, there was a nod, as the Captain slowly unfurled himself, his wings opening to show claws underneath them.

Adams led the way, and when the guests entered the room, they saw several large perches attached to the wall and floor. Food stations had been attached to some of the branches, and next to the stations, were small pebbles....everything just as they requested.

The Captain immediately hopped on the highest perch, looked into the food bowl and said, "Dis is good. Tank ooo."

Adams nodded. "You are welcome. Feel free to contact me if there is anything I can do for you." He turned towards the door to leave.

The creatures started talking in a rapid set of chirps, tweets, and whistles. Whatever was being said, was certainly animated in discussion.

 

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