far_beyond | // EVENT: STATION-WARMING PARTY

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// EVENT: STATION-WARMING PARTY

It's like a long, long blink, and then, pop - the uncomfortable feeling of squeezing the very last stubborn little bit of toothpaste out of the tube, but you're the toothpaste.

And then you're sitting in a chair in a strange bar, with several people you've never seen before in your life. The light is low, the sort of comfortable level reserved for comradely conversations around some nachos and beers. The architecture of the bar itself looks industrial - someone might be forgiven for thinking it's located in a reclaimed warehouse or something of the like.

It's not. (Not unless you want to call a repurposed mining space station a warehouse.)

There's food on the tables, and drinks - much of it looks like staple bar food (is that deep-fried mac and cheese???), but some of it is a little unfamiliar (is that a bowl of worms? are they moving???????????).

After you have a moment to look around in sheer bewilderment, a man in what seems to be a uniform stands on the dais in front of a stained-glass mural and raises a glass. "A toast. To the new crew of Deep Space Nine. By which I mean, of course, all of you!" He chuckles. "You hardly look like a crew, though. Why, you're all out of uniform!" He snaps, and you suddenly find yourself wearing a uniform like his. "Where are my manners. You don't even have your marching orders." A handheld tablet appears on the table in front of you, between a glass of something blue and what's definitely a basket of loaded potato skins. And it's definitely yours, because it has your name on it. "There! Now you all have your PADDs. Read them at your leisure."

He takes a sip of what's in his glass and makes a face. "Ugh! Kanar. Terrible stuff, don't know how the Cardassians drink it." There's a small flash of light, and it's replaced with something bright teal. "Much better. Now, the Romulans, they know how to make a spirit."

Then he sits down in the chair up on the dais and leans back so it's only on two legs, looking down his nose at everyone. "Now. I imagine that all of you have some questions for me. So to avoid any blah-blah boring repetition, I am Q, and this is Federation Starbase Deep Space Nine - your home for the foreseeable future. Don't ask me any boring questions like 'ohhh why am I here ohhh', you can find most of what you need to know on your PADD. You're here because the station needed a crew and I thought you'd be a good fit."¹ Q twirls his wrist and a pocketwatch appears in his hand. "Yes, I can dilly-dally long enough to answer some questions. At my discretion." He snaps it shut, an oddly final sound.

Once Q is done holding court, he grins. "Oh, you're going to have such fun, mes amis," he says, and vanishes in a flash of light, leaving everyone to mix and mingle. The bar is unattended if anyone is interested in trying some amateur mixology, and Q has thoughtfully taped up instructions on how to use the replicators.

THIS IS NOT MY SLEEP NUMBER
When the party is starting to wind down, information for your quarters flashes on your PADD - including the location in the Habitat Ring and how to get there. They're spartan and lacking creature comforts, but your original clothes are there, neatly folded on the bed, along with anything else you may have had with you upon arrival. The PADD periodically chimes with information that you need to know, like how to work the sonic shower, or that the station runs on the 26-hour Bajoran day. It's almost like the PADD knows what's going on...? Eh, it's about as creepily invasive as Alexa, anyway. And speaking of Alexa, the PADD also provides a crash course in how to interact with the station's computer! Which is essentially plain-language audio querying. Ask ~~Ms. Majel Barret Roddenberry~~ the computer anything you like and she will help you.

A message appears from Q later on everyone's PADDs, unable to be replied to:

It'll take about a week before they finally figure out how to get transmissions through the chroniton field.

You've got that much time to get a handle on things.

:)

-Q

¹ This is a lie. He picked you just for shits and giggles.

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Misa looks up at him. "I didn't, no." She says, softly. "It is not proper tea, anyway." She's a food snob. Having to eat the replicated food will be difficult enough for her. But, now, she doesn't have her white dress, or her proper heels.

"And I am not alright." She says, softly. "The Mistress will be quite cross, and Jocko and Freema will be missing me." She admits. "This... man." She waves at Q. "Has no concept of what he's done." She doesn't want to have the Mistress's rage turned on her. That's happened a few times, but she manages to not have it turned on her.

"Would you, perhaps, know how to return to Canto Bight?" She asks.

Poe listened to Misa quietly both her answers and the things about not being alright, the people that she had been taken from (though, he has to wonder if he should be concerned about this "mistress" if her reaction to someone going missing was to be cross opposed to worried or relieved if they turned up.

He sighs and shakes his head at her question, "I hate to disappoint you, but I don't know how to get to Canto Bight from here. I don't even know where -here- is and how far we are from anywhere we would know. Outer or Inner Rim."

So, it seemed as if Misa was from the same part of the universe as he was. That was... honestly relieving. Maybe they could work together but first things first, they needed a rough idea of where this station was compared to Canto Bight. He was alright with going there first if that's what it took. The Resistance wasn't tethered to a particular place anymore. He feels a lump in his throat at the reminder.

Besides, he doesn't envy anyone who has to go and return there. He wouldn't want to let her go alone, at least. Home(?) was home. Even if it was a questionable place like that and well, he didn't feel right considering what he knew had happened there and recently. Especially after the giant mess that his friends managed to make during the few short hours they had been there looking for a master codebreaker. If anything, he was sure that the entire planet was probably on some sort of lockdown about now or somehow managed to be operating as nothing happened to those who were rich enough to find it enjoyable.

"But, don't get me wrong. If I knew, I'd be trying to find a way back there and of course, I'd be willing to help. I was hoping to have a few words with this Q."

His eyes moved over in the direction Misa had been waving in. A few words... it was polite, he had the feeling trying to stay polite was for the best right now, but it was... probably not quite what he wanted to have. He wanted answers. He wanted things to be put right. For everyone.

He knows where Canto is. That is something that she's grateful for. "Probably Wild Space," she says, softly. She's never heard of space stations or beings like this Q in Wild Space, but why not? It's called Wild Space for a reason.

She sighs. "My name is Misa, sir." She says, softly, curtseying again. She's a courtesan to be and she will act like the Mistress has taught her. She looks around the room. "I find it very odd that there are only humans here." She cocks her head to the side. "You don't suppose he is Empire, do you?" She knows he's not the Emperor. She's seen him on the holonet, both before and after the fall of the Jedi. She's worried about it, because the Inquisitorius are not unknown, and they tend to... disappear people. If that's what has happened here? She's in a lot of trouble.

"Wild Space," Poe muttered, "Has to be. That's not good."

That doesn't make him feel even the slightest bit better. That meant that trying to find a way back through piloting a ship would be nearly impossible, perhaps actually impossible without any sort of direction to go in. Not that there were any ships here he was aware of either. There might be more information on the computers here and he makes a note to go through everything he could find. It wasn't something he typically needed to do, but he supposes that it's at least a rough idea if not a plan.

"Empire? The Galatic Empire?" Poe looks confused and for a moment he tries to think of something to say in response to the mention of what was essentially something that had been not-so-long-ago destroyed and in a different, perhaps even more horrifying, form beginning to resurface, he shakes his head and gives her a look, "You mean the First Order, right? The Empire's been gone, kid. For a while minus a group of fanatics who think they had the right idea and want to make the idea work this time."

Then he sighs;

"Whoever Q is? I don't think he's Empire and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. He seems like... something else entirely. Not New-Republic, not Empire, hell not even some long lost Jedi."

"What is the First Order? Or the New Republic?" She asks, staring at him. "The Galactic Empire just took control from the treacherous Jedi five years ago. I remember Emperor Palpatine giving a speech about it."

Look, she remembers Empire Day. She remembers the slaughtering of the Jedi, and the change of who was in charge on Cantonica. She remembers all that, because it had only been five years ago! Surely this man is mistaken.

She looks over at Q. "He's no Jedi." She would know. She would know. Misa doesn't like the feel of that man though. "He's... something." She admits. "I've never seen anything like him, even at the House."

"Palpatine?" He raised an eyebrow, "Palpatine's been dead. He died when the second Death Star blew up. The Empire crumbled steadily after that. Even then... what you're describing... that was more than a decade ago and what you're describing happened before I was even born."

Poe then decided to move onto her question. It was easier than trying to run through the timeline of recent glatatic history in his head.

"The First Order? Well, to put it simply, The First Order is an political organization with it's own military that has been more or less a pain in the ass for a while, but now they're steadily gaining control over the entire galaxy now that they destroyed Hosnian Prime which was the center of the New Republic and sent everything into chaos...again. I'd say they are going to the like a "New Empire" as it's made up of a bunch of the remnants of the Empire. The New Republic is just that. A group of people who tried to rebuild, re-establish the Republic, to restore to what it was but make it into something better..." His voice and words trail off for a second, he feels the edge to snort, because it sure as hell fell apart even faster than he original one did, it took even less to make it fall, "You seriously haven't heard of either of them?"

He wonders if he may have made her more confused. He also wonders about what she described to him. Had Q managed to reach across both space and time? How was that possible? How do you explain years and years of things that you've only been told the stories about to someone who has yet to even live them? He has to admit that he typically was better with his words than this, but he was exhausted and everything... was just a lot. Also he likely made a face, there had been a sour, bitter taste in his mouth as he tried to explain the First Order, as he spoke.

"Well, I only kind of know the one, but she's definitely not like that. She would probably be in Q's face right now after his little speech. Maybe. I'm basing that off of a mutual friend's stories and the fact that's all I want to do right now..."

She stares at him and steps back. "What's a Death Star?" She asks, her voice trembling. She isn't sure she wants to know. It sounds... dangerous. "Palpatine was just on the holonet, telling us about something." She doesn't remember what, exactly. It seems like he gives a speech every week. "He's not dead." She says, firmly.

What would happen on Cantonica, if the Emperor died? It's... The Rim is a dangerou place. The Republic hadn't cared about places on the Rim enough to even catalog the populations, let alone stop the horrors that take place everyday there. She's sure he's wrong though. The Emperor is still alive.

"I don't know this First Order, or the 'New Republic'." She says.

"I see..." Poe starts not sure where to even begin, how much information to start her off with as she believed the emperor was still alive and kicking and she doesn't even know what the Death Star was so he has to assume she never heard about Alderaan, "Well, let's see if I can answer your question because that's a whole long story in itself. The Death star was basically a battle station and superweapon. It was the size of a small moon and it could... destroy a planet using a superlaser. It was mostly invulnerable. Thousands working on it, a lot of fighters ready to scamble at a moments notice. The group of people died getting the plans to the rebels and they managed to exploit one weakness purposely built into it. They later tried to rebuild it. Don't worry that got destroyed too, but well, it's not a pleasant thing to even think about. And it worked, the first one, Alderaan... it destroyed Alderaan."

Poe can only shut his eyes. He had never went up against either version of the damned space station, though, his parents had. His father on Endor, part of the ground forces - the pathfinders - and his mother from space, a extremely skilled pilot. He had barely been able to sit up, placed with family during the war. But he had gone up against Starkiller. And Starkiller had managed to do even more damage during it's short life than either Death Star. He felt his hands shake slightly remembering when it happened but at least there had been a mission to focus on to keep from thinking about it. But he wasn't going to mention that just yet. He felt he was already overloading her. It was a lot. A lot, an unbelievable amount, had happened over just his life alone. Going into the recent past was enough to even make him stare blankly and blink on a bad day.

AFter his explanation, a general one at that, he can't help but think outloud.

"I wonder what are the odds the New Republic screwed up worse when it came to the Outer Rim than the Republic had. I mean, I knew they didn't do really enough with the planets that everyone knew had been and still were struggling, to help? Govern? That kind of thing. Well, in any case, we can at least agree that we're from the same part of the galaxy - more or less?"

Though, based on what was happening to them a thought did cross his mind...

"Q took people from all over the place, right?"

A question more to himself, however.

She scoffs. Nothing can do that, and there's nothing true about what he's saying. "Alderaan is still there, still run by the Organas." She shakes her head. "There is no reason to believe anything like that." She says, sighing.

They are from the same basic area of space. He knows Cantonica, he knows Canto Bight. That's something.

"Well, he's not from the Hutt Syndicate, that's for sure. They don't tend to be so flashy." She knows that too.

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// EVENT: STATION-WARMING PARTY

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