Helldate: January 12th, 2020 AD. 13:25
Alastor responded to Edison's remark with a slight exasperation in his red maroon eyes, mirroring Edison's uniform.
"Hmm, I must say that I was indeed mistaken." Alastor conceded to Edison before his smile enlarged after he seemed to realize something. This concerned Edison as his grin lightly faded from his face.
"Ed, I must ask you something." Alastor started off to Edison as his gaze turned from the shuttlecraft to the Starfleet Captain.
But I must ask, where is your illustrious vessel? The only thing I see in front of me is a tiny little ship, not a grand ship worthy of your Captain's title. That is, of course, if my eyes naturally deceive me."
Edison was confused; the shuttlecraft was right in front of them. How couldn't he see that they were from Starfleet?
"I'm sorry?" Edison questioned, with his triumphant grin now wholly faded from his face. Edison then realized what Alastor was suggesting, trying to push his buttons; he then thought out a way to turn back the turntables as his smile came back into form.
"Mr. Alastor, Lancelot is not the vessel I spoke so highly about. It is simply a way of transporting crew between surfaces and the vessel when the transporters are out, or the atmospheric conditions would make it dangerous." Edison responded, with his posture standing as high as his body allowed it.
"As a matter of fact, I'll bring all of you to the Excalibur, just a little tour of it if you ask me." Edison further reiterated to Alastor as his voice became more confident by the syllable.
"Wait, you'll bring us to your ship?" Charlie questioned as she overheard the confrontation between Edison and Alastor.
"Yes, of course, anything within reason that will originate a peaceful coexistence between our two worlds." Edison elaborated further as he went to the middle of the shuttlecraft, which had the faint outline of a door. He then knocked on it three times. "It's me." Edison bluntly stated to the shuttle as he waited for something to happen from the demon's point of view. Not soon after, a faint hissing sound came from the shuttle as the outline soon transformed into a ramp, which lowered down to the floor of the hotel's entrance. The person who was standing in the entourage's viewpoint was none other than Lieutenant She'rl.
She'rl, in many ways, looked similar to Husk. She had the appearance of a feline species and had an upright posture. Her fur was a golden yellow, with her hair uniformly blonde. Her hair was combed down, and the top of her hair was combed so that it was center-parted. Her sclera was yellow, with her iris existing as sky blue. And lastly, she had a small muzzle with a dark brown nose and whiskers. Her uniform was nearly identical to Edison's and the crew's uniform. Still, modifications were made to fit her species' form, and she had a different pin, signifying her rank as a Lieutenant. Her arms were placed behind her back as her face turned into one of puzzlement when she saw the demons.
"It's good to see you, Lieutenant." Edison began to speak as he walked onto the staircase of the shuttlecraft.
"You as well, captain," She'rl said with a nod and a smirk. So far, She'rl found Edison to be a good leader and admirable Captain. She found him as caring, compassionate, and above all else, bold. She always respected her captains ever since she was stationed aboard the USS Hood as an Ensign.
As Edison finished walking on the staircase, she finally got a look at the demons that were in front of her. They were considerably different in appearance to the species she'd encountered during her time in Starfleet. They appeared to be much more animal-like in nature, especially the feline demon, who in particular caught her attention. It didn't look like any caitian she'd encounter; it had wings and splotches of red and white, reminding her of earth playing cards. Its appearance almost seemed cartoon-like in nature.
As she was examining Husk closely, Husk was doing the same as well. He had been familiar with other feline-like hell species and shapes that sinners inherited, but they didn't look like She'rl. She seemed to be more concrete and straightforward in nature with her yellow fur and no elaborate markings.
"You can come with us if you want to see our ship," Edison informed the demons, attempting to be cordial and professional in the situation, trying not to appear like they were kidnapping them. Immediately, Niftfy rushed onto the shuttlecraft through its stairs, overly enthusiastic as she observed every nook and cranny of the shuttlecraft, causing an exasperated She'rl to turn around to try and reel her in over her sheer speed and intrusion onto her bird.
The interior of the Lancelot was very spacious when compared to the past shuttle designs. Inside were six rows of armchairs, allowing a dozen or so officers to occupy the shuttle, which was impressive when compared to the Class F shuttles, which could only hold around seven officers. In addition to sitting accommodations, there was a science station, which was stationed next to the door opening, and an engineering console, which could address any problems that the shuttle could be facing. At the front of the interior were helm control and tactical control, which controlled two phaser emitters, one on the top front of the vessel and one at its back. Powering the shuttle was a matter/anti-matter core, with its nacelles and Ion engines could propel the craft to speeds of warp two point five, which was incredibly fast when in contrast to the past ion engine design of the class F shuttlecraft.
Shuffling up to the craft's short staircase, Charlie raced towards Niffty as she raced through the shuttle, examining every detail.
"Slow down, Niffty, please!" Charlie called out as she tried to catch up to Niffty.
"Sorry, Miss Mange, I just looove seeing new things!" Niffty exclaimed excitedly. She seemed like a child in a candy shop due to how eager she was to explore the newfound ship.
Edison replied, "Thank you, Ms. Mange." He then turned to She'rl. "Lieutenant, make sure to prepare the launch procedures for the Lancelot; I want to show our new associates about what Starfleet truly is about."
"You mean doing the refit maneuver? Hmph, I can do that." She'rl said as she went forward to the shuttle's helm control as she started to prepare for the startup procedures for the shuttlecraft. Soon afterward, the Starfleet officers started to arrive and board the shuttle.
Kylkuc was the first person to step onto the shuttlecraft; he guided the security officers as they carried the passed officer that Kylkuc had knocked out using his nerve pinch. Kylkuc sat near the front of the shuttle, on the right side. The passed-out security officer was laid at the back of the shuttle, where a bed and medical supplies were located. The security officers then sat near and next to Kylkuc as they started to relax.
Afterward, Xehrarv stepped onto the shuttlecraft to join with his fellow comrades. So far, he liked the demons, especially Husk. He saw them as blunt and loud, values in which that any tellarite admired profusely. He reflected on these thoughts as he sat next to his security officers. He had made an effort to keep them safe ever since he'd been a part of Starfleet Security.
"I'd be happy to take a tour of your ship captain, that is, if the rest of you guys want to go?" Charlie asked as she turned back to her hotel staff.
Looking down after seeing Charlie's hopeful and questioning glance, Vaggie seemed indecisive for a moment before looking up and declaring, "If you want to go, Charlie, I'm coming too." Vaggie didn't entirely trust these people yet; it just seemed too good to be true. Spacemen coming from out of nowhere and suddenly saying to them that they'll show them their ship just didn't seem right through her perspective. But she wanted to stand by Charlie; she loved her after all and would do anything for her.
Rubbing his chin for a moment with a thoughtful and calculating look, Alstor answered with a toothy grin, "Ohh, why not? I look forward to seeing this "vessel" of yours, Captain." He was considerably anticipating these people were still telling the truth about their ship. In Alastor's mind, these people were nothing but straightforward fools who had just come into possession of this craft are using it before they took it for a joyride across the city.
Shrugging Angel started walking forward and proceeded onto the shuttlecraft and sat on one of its chairs, "Eeeh, I got nothing bettah to do." After all, he needed a break from Valentino; he could still feel a slight stinging of pain from their last encounter.
Husk took the longest to decide but came around after a glance at the Lancelot's designation on the hull. Husk sighed as he began to reach for something. "...fine, but I'm bringing this." Husk initiated walking forward after holding up a bottle of vodka for the rest to see with a triumphant gaze.
"Wait until you drink the Romulan Ale I have in storage…." Edison thought as Husk sat down on the left side of the shuttle, and with that, the entourage was now inside the shuttlecraft. Edison walked to the co-pilot's seat as She'rl worked on the shuttle's controls.
She started the startup program by turning on the mainpower through the matter/antimatter core to the central power frame, which lit up the inside of the shuttle like a Christmas tree, which was a tradition that occurred on earth. As power flowed through the power frame, she rerouted power to the startup thrusters, which she put at 25.67 percent power, which allowed the shuttle to hover above the ground. As she initialized the thrusters that were stationed at the bottom of the fuselage of the shuttlecraft, the craft made a whirring noise as it lifted itself from the ground of the hotel's grounds. With the shuttlecraft airborne, She'rl then activated the atmospheric flight stabilizers, which negated the need for the liftoff thrusters, which were quickly turned off, having their power rerouted to the ion engines, which She'rl had put around only at five percent power, carefully piloting the craft as it maneuvered under the hotel's canopy. She'rl had trained for this particular situation while at her time at Starfleet Academy and in training programs she had practiced in order to improve her skills as a helmsman.
When the shuttlecraft exited the canopy, She'rl navigated the shuttle to maneuver upwards to the sky, but due to the inertial dampeners that were present on the Lancelot, none of the people stationed inside the shuttle fell or even titled.
Charlie was impressed as the Shuttle steered its way underneath the canopy of the hotel and started climbing upwards in height. She was even more impressed by how quiet it was, all things considered. She imagined spacecraft as loud, cramped, and overconsuming on fuel, things that were not associated with the Lancelot.
Niffty meanwhile couldn't stop bouncing as she looked out the window near her seat, and they were only moving out of the hotel. She felt like she was a science fiction novel, first with men from another world, then aliens, then spacecraft. She wondered when the creature from the Black Lagoon would appear.
Angel looked down at the hotel in wonder; he felt like he was being flown away like a child in a stork, being flown away from his problems. Okay, that wasn't the best analogy, Angel thought as the shuttle continued on its course. To put it best, the shuttle flying away from the hotel and hell seemed like he was being taken away from all of his problems.
Vaggie was looking down at the hotel in awe; she never expected that she would see the hotel from this angle in her life. Seeing it from so high up, it seemed imposing, almost grandiose in a sense. It reminded her of a castle or a cathedral as it slowly became smaller with every second the shuttlecraft flew.
Alastor looked out the window with mild interest as he sat in his seat. He had been in the air before and found it quaint, a feeling that he was feeling right now when he was on the Lancelot. He didn't believe that they were taking him and the hotel staff to this "starship" that these fools were raving about like it was the newest nightclub in the lust ring or a new show on Voxflix. And when their trick would be revealed to the staff, he would be there with a big smile across his face. And in the very unlikely event that it was true or partially true he could always adapt it into his plans.
Husk seemed nervous until he realized that the flight would be very smooth and quiet, prompting him to relax in his seat taking small sips of his vodka as if it was an airline flight. He had always drank in order to quell his mind from the horrors of the war, if it weren't for the daily escape of a bottle, he would have been a desperately miserable wreck, something that he already was in a twisted sort of sense.
As the seconds ticked by, the shuttle climbed higher and higher into the crimson skies of hell, with the pentagram overlooking the city right in front of them. "Oh Captain by the way, in order for the lifeforms to not see the Excalibur, we raised the height from five hundred meters to one thousand, just as a way to uphold the prime directive and not to freak out any people." She'rl spoke as she piloted the shuttlecraft higher and higher into the crimson sky. "I understand Lieutenant, proceed to the Excalibur," Edison spoke before leaning into her ear. "Make sure to give them a good look of her, Lieutenant." He whispered into her ear before leaning back on the seat. "Sure will Captain," She'rl responded as she slowed down the speed of the Lancelot as it reached around nine hundred meters. The hotel staff felt the shuttle slowly down as a sign as they were close to the vessel, and their anticipation grew.
A few seconds later… something came into view of the Entourage inside of the shuttle. They were approaching a dark cloud, but through the gray expanse, they could see something… bold.
Through the gray cloud, they could see the outline of a white cylindrical hull with a blue hue at the front of the tapered hull. What was above it was obscured by the gray polluted clouds. As She'rl changed the course to make it so that it was parallel to the cylindrical body, distinctive features were caught by the eyes of the crew inside, with the demon having a particular fascination with the hull. There was a parallel set of red lines running across the facing side of the shuttle. In Between, the red lines were lettering that was similar to the calligraphy used on the Lancelot. The words were partly obscured by the clouds, but Charlie could make out a few words as she leaned against the right side window of the shuttlecraft.
"United…Feder…" Charlie slowly repeated the words she could make out slowly as she tried to look for more signs or letters. Unfortunately, most of the letters were hidden by the aforementioned cloud. What she could also make out was a symbol, that appeared to be a yellow asymmetrical, arrowhead-shaped pennant with a red circle surrounding it. As the shuttle continued on its path, the hue of the blue became more and more present, which materialized into a large blue circle in front of the hull that became more bright in the center of it. However, She'rl didn't stop when the shuttle reached the end of the circular hull, she kept piloting the shuttle beyond it. Niffty in particular was confused about what direction they were going, so she stopped pressing her face against the window and went to She'rl's side.
"Miss Lieutenant? Why didn't we stop at the thing you piloted us to?" She asked as the caitian worked on the controls.
"Oh, by the way, you can call me She'rl." She responded as she turned the shuttle backward, something that the staff and crew could feel while inside the shuttle.
"You want to see what she looks like when it's not covered up by all of this smog right?" She further elaborated as she made the shuttlecraft go further upward, allowing it to break through the clouds and a ray of light to pierce through the shuttle's interior.
It was then the eyes of the demons and the Starfleet crew laid their eyes upon… it.
The starship Excalibur, majestically levitating above the clouds like a magic carpet and as elegant as a snowflake.
The Excalibur was a gigantic ship, around 300 meters in length, far more than the height of the Happy Hotel and certainly much more awe-striking. From what the demons could see, the Excalibur was separated into three distinctive sections. The first section they were able to clearly see was what seemed to be a large saucer section that towered above the hull that they so closely observed. Near the center of the saucer bulged outwards like a relatively flat volcano with a dome on top of it. As they got closer to the saucer, the ship's name and registry were proudly displayed across its frontward hull.
USS EXCALIBUR
NCC-1756
As they flew over its distinctive lettering, the rest of the craft could very well be seen with addition from their past knowledge of the vessel. The saucer section was connected to the rest of the vessel through a slanted neck section that was thinner than the rest of the sections of the Excalibur, which also seemed to have what seemed to be a dual launcher of sorts that was built towards the secondary hull. The secondary hull's shape was circular in nature, with it tapering off at the end into a circle shape. On the sides of the secondary hull were two angled protruding struts that held up two angular think rectangles with strips of an unknown gray material lining it's sides. On the back of the saucer were twin port engines that glowed a faint orange, which helped the Excalibur maintain its position. The entirety of the Excalibur was colored in a white metal that subsequently reflected the crimson skies of hell. In addition to the white plating, the Excalibur had the additional coloring of grey with a series of yellow, red, and white lights or windows around the ship.
The demons were simply at a loss for words. While infrequent sinners like Sir Pentious or wealthy overlords had made their own large flying vessels, the Excalibur was far too advanced to be a simple hovercraft or plane. Through the eyes of the Starfleet crew, the Excalibur was home, sanctity for themselves, and a symbol of the values of the United Federation of Planets. But for the demons that gazed upon her appearance, she was as beautiful as a succubus, as imposing as the most powerful overlord, and as impressive as the tallest skyscraper.
Charlie, who went forward towards the front of the shuttle to get a better view of the starship was simply stunned. She had never seen anything like before in her life, which said a lot when she was the daughter of the most powerful being in Hell. Her jaw fell open along with nearly every demon inside the shuttle. If these people from this "Starfleet" could accomplish a feat such as building this vessel, then she had to know more about these people.
Vaggie also went to the front of the shuttle as she stood by Charlie. She was equally and possibly even more stunned than Charlie was. Although seeing the shuttlecraft was evidence for Starfleet's existence proved enough to convince her somewhat, she didn't fully believe that they were from a United Federation of Planets until her eyes gazed upon the titular starship. But what reason did these people have to show them this and just who were they? They didn't come here to just say hello to the demons, there must be some ulterior motive to their presence, and she would be surely ready to protect Charlie.
Angel, much like the rest of the demons, was in a state of disbelief. He had witnessed flying vessels firsthand with Pentious but his ship didn't even come close to the Excalibur. The ship wasn't dependent on airpower or propellers, it seemed like it was hovering entirely on its own. Thoughts of showing Cherri this ship as a means to provide him with help and as a sanctuary against Valentino bubbled up. But they were quickly shoved down knowing Valentino's grasp on him ran far deeper than physical means and that few people ever helped others out without wanting something. Who would ever help someone as degraded and filthy as him anyways? While Charlie showed some misplaced faith in him it's not like she could solve his problems or that her notion of redemption would work.
Niffty was simply ecstatic, she began to jump around the shuttlecraft like a ball in excitement. She couldn't contain her excitement for the new vessel. It was everything she could want for a spacecraft; large, majestic, and clean. She then wondered if the ship had a janitor on board. She was mesmerized by the starship, it wasn't like any spaceship she had seen before, whether in hell or in science fiction material.
Husk was dumbfounded like the rest, while the ship did somewhat bring up memories of Vietnam it's beauty and world-shattering notions about the universe being far bigger than imaginable and other symbolism stopped those thoughts from affecting him. A tour could certainly liven up his boring routine, as long it wasn't boring or hindered by some obnoxious false positivity robot-like a guide.
While the rest of the demons were shocked and awe-stricken by the Excalibur, Alastor who while showing surprise at first quickly switched to a calculating look. This starship was truly a large feat of engineering, something that had no equal counterpart in hell. He wondered if he could use the Starfleet crew and their ship as a tool in his crusade against sheer unrelenting boredom in hell. After all, a ship like this had to have some impressive weaponry and communication equipment to broadcast not just to the pride ring, but all of Hell itself.
As the shuttlecraft maneuvered to the back of the Excalibur, a large circular door began to open itself up as the Lancelot approached it. Inside of the large complex appeared to be officers of species unknown to the demons who were working on shuttlecraft just like the Lancelot, but with different names. The names they could see were Gawain, Percival, and Arthur. As the Lancelot further penetrated itself into the shuttlebay, the demons became more and more curious about the new aliens they had just encountered, especially Charlie, who was smiling in excitement at the new prospects of friendship with the Starfleet crew.
The Lancelot began to slow down as She'rl disengaged the ion engines and reactivated the startup thrusters as she began to slowly maneuver the shuttle down to the surface of the shuttlebay. As the Lancelot slowly descended, Edison took out his communicator and broke the long silence inside of the shuttlecraft.
"Hendrix to Sh'ithiaqos, I need you to come to the main shuttlebay, during our encounter we found friends, so to speak. I want you to show them around the Excalibur, give them a tour so to speak." Edison commanded his First Officer as the shuttle finally landed softly onto the ground of the shuttlebay of the Excalibur.
"Sure thing Captain I'm heading down right now." A calm female voice from inside of the communicator spoke to Edison.
"Alright, hope to see you here soon, Edison out." He spoke as he closed his communicator and put it back on his side.
"Who was that?" Vaggie questioned Edison in a suspicious tone of voice.
"Oh, that was my first officer, Atathia Sh'ithiaqos. You'll love her." Edison responded as She'rl began to shut down the systems of the Lancelot by disengaging the startup thrusters.
"Wait, so you're not taking us on the tour?" Charlie questioned with a slight spec of disappointment in her voice.
"Indeed she is, I can't be giving tours of my ship when I have duties to it. I'm a Captain, not a guide." Edison joked as the main power to the Lancelot shuttered and the staircase opened down to the floor of the shuttlebay, leading a clear path to the interior of the Excalibur.
Without any hesitation, Niffty shot out of the shuttlecraft like a supersonic train at full speed as she raced across the deck of the shuttlebay, speeding through Starfleet officers as they tried to avoid the hyperactive demon. The Starfleet officers frankly didn't know what had raced across the shuttlecraft, all they saw was it racing out of the shuttle where the Captain was presumably on.
"Nifft-! Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" She'rl begrudgingly spoke as she raced out of the pilot's chair and hurled out of the shuttlecraft's stairs as she tried to catch Niffty.
"Sorry! Coming through!" She'rl spoke as she raced across the shuttle bay trying to catch Niffty.
"Is she always this hyper?" Edison asked Charlie as he watched his pilot try to catch a one-eyed demon like a Vulcan Kom'ama'kso chasing its prey.
"Well no, I've never seen her this excited before," Charlie responded to Edison's question.
"Hmph, I supposed that means something," Edison responded as he sat from the co-pilot chair and signaled his hand towards the outside of the shuttlecraft.
"Well Alice, welcome to wonderland," Edison said in an almost triumphant voice, welcoming the demons into the new, almost alien world that awaits them.
Angel was the first of the demons to step out of the shuttlecraft and onto the Excalibur. He was speechless as he looked at the sheer scale of the shuttle bay, it was around the length of a small soccer field with technicians and officers of different races unbeknownst to him in the slightest. He wished he could live here far away from Valentino, this place was perfect for him. Perhaps Cherri could visit, as long as he could leave for property destruction with her. But he couldn't escape from him, he was obligated and bound to him. The bruises he started massaging were a dark reminder of that one horrible fact.
Angel was then followed by Charlie and Vaggie as they stepped off of the shuttle's staircase together. They were impressed by the design of the shuttlebay; it was in stark contrast to the interior of the hotel. Instead of royalty, gothic, or slum feel that hell was dominated by, it was all smooth and clean, yet efficient.
Husk was slightly reminded of the few times he spent on aircraft carriers and hangars but with a far less gritty and more futuristic feel. He wondered if things had really changed, had the values of old creep into the ones of new, or did things really change for the better?
Alastor had taken to observing the layout of the hangar and the other shuttlecraft. While giving curious glances to the many unfamiliar species that made up the crew. He was enthralled by the layout of the Excalibur, everything was streamlined and advanced, a clear contrast to the oldness and traditional layout of the hotel he was previously in.
Without notice, a door opened up to the shuttlebay to reveal a person that was in stark contrast to the human captain that the demons had first encountered, along with the Vulcan and the tellarite. The new species appeared to be a woman, with a protruded chest and hips that were typical of the female sex. However, she did not appear like any human that demons had seen or heard about. For starters, the lifeform had light blue skin and white hair that was straight in the front and sides but quickly became curly on it's side when it extended further down her body, stopping at around the midpoint of her chest. She wore the same uniform as Edison and was around the same height. Another distinctive trait was a pair of antennas on the top of her head, it was also blue just like the rest of her body.
After the doors opened, the lifeform stepped through it. She walked with confidence as she crossed her arms behind her back. She was gleefully smiling as she paced through the shuttle bay floor. As she passed through the crewmen, she was given nods by the crew, as signs of respect. She then saw a strange short one-eyed person running around the shuttle bay as Helmsman She'rl was trying to seemingly catch her. When Niffty saw the blue-skinned officer, she was immediately fixated by her, as she raced towards her before stopping at her black leather boots.
"Can I help you?" The female officer questioned as she knelt down to Niffty, allowing her to be on the same height as her.
"Wow! I never met someone who was blue before!" Niffty said the female officer.
"Well I've never met someone who had only one eye, but I guess there's a first time for everything. My name is Atathia Sh'ithiaqos, first officer of the ship you are on." Atathia calmly introduced herself.
"Well, my name's Niffty! It's nice to meet you Atathia!" Niffty as spoke to the first officer she raised her hand to the Andorian, who shook it with her much larger hand.
Atathia then stood up and then straightened her uniform, while still looking at Niffty.
"Well Ms. Niffty, I…" Atathia spoke before her gaze was soon distracted by the nearly 8-foot tall spider-like creature walking in the direction opposite of the shuttlecraft Lancelot, with Captain Hendrix stepping out of it, with two women following him.
"...Hang on for a moment," Atathia said before she strode to Edison, giving combined looks of confusion and fascination with the strange new life forms walking beside her. In turn, the life forms looked back at her with fixation, it was like being in a zoo of sorts from her point of view. She then stood by Hendrix and began to speak with him.
"Captain, who are these people? And what happened with that Lieutenant they're carrying?" Atathia questioned as she saw the chief medical officer and security personnel carry an unconscious crewman to the turbolift where she had once entered through.
"Kylkuc had to perform a nerve pinch on him in order to keep him from causing an incident. And to ask your question, it's especially complicated. Have you ever read pieces regarding Terran religions prior to First Contact with the Vulcans?" Edison asked seemingly out of the blue to Atathia, who at first seemed confused by the question.
"Terran religions? I mean I did study some courses in order to get my test score better for my Terran Culture Test, why's that?" Atathia questioned.
"Well if these lifeform's claims are correct, we are in a dimension very loosely based off of the Abrahamic Hell," Edison responded calmly but with some hesitation in his voice.
"Wait, Hell? Are you sure about that?" Atathia asked, seemingly becoming nervous at the very thought that they were in a world associated with never-ending pain and suffering.
"Well no, there aren't constant screams from everyone being tortured and burned. But it's the only information we have and these people might be our chance of getting out of here." Edison responded.
"Or the interpretation of the Abrahamic hell could be different from the one we've come to expect." Atathia rebutted.
"Perhaps but even then there seems to be something more about this place than what the Terran religions hinted at or could have even imagined. And that just leaves a thousand more questions. For now, we must gather as much information as possible. I'll be up on the bridge to help decipher anything we can find on this place's internet with Lieutenant Reynolds." Edison said to his dependable first officer as he walked forward to the turbolift. "For now, lead them on a tour. If you can gain any information about this place do so, but don't press the issue too much. I'm trusting you on this Number One, I know you can do this." Edison said as he entered the turbolift with Atathia remaining outside of it. "Bridge." Edison calmly commanded the turbolift as the door closed, leaving Atathia by herself.
"Of course, they couldn't have the Enterprise study the anomaly… it just had to be fresh out of spacedock us," Atathia sarcastically said to herself as she turned back to the demons who were continuing to study the shuttlebay. Atathia would be lying to herself if she would say to herself if she wasn't nervous. It was one thing for you to give a tour of a ship you've only been serving on for half a week now, it was another thing that you had to give a tour to actual demons. But she was confident in herself, she managed to get by the skin of her teeth for about 12 years in Starfleet, so that meant something in her mind. And if she could serve on a quarter of a dozen starships, she could definitely give a tour to some demons that could only somewhat imagine what a starship could be.
She contemplated these thoughts as she arrived at the inquisitive demons. She then straightened her uniform and stood confidently as she began to motivate herself. She was Atathia Sh'ithiaqos, first officer of the starship Excalibur, fiancee of Captain Svyahl Ch'silalraq of the USS ShiKahr, and daughter of Federation Councilman Shras Th'ethaorheth. "I can and will do this!" She thought to herself as she began to speak to the demons in a calm and relaxing voice.
"Hello there. I am Commander Atathia Sh'ithiaqos and I welcome you to the Federation Starship Excalibur." She said confidently to the demons, ready to show to them the wonders of Federation Values and Cooperation.