Star Trek: Starbase 777 - winter-woodland

It had been around an hour since Starbase 777 had received a rather odd hail. Was it a colony in need of aid? A ship under attack? Starfleet Command phoning in with some boring bureaucracy? Wrong: it was from Santa Claus, and he was in need of help. On the nearby Hromi Cluster planet of Noël Beta III, tragedy had struck. Santa reported that he had been almost finished this year’s delivery of Christmas presents – only one village left to deliver to – when his sleigh had crashed. Not having the last lot of presents delivered would ruin Christmas so he had called the first people he could think of that would be able to help: Starfleet. (And why would Starfleet help in this matter, you might ask? Firstly: someone claiming to be Santa warranted investigation. Secondly, if this was Santa, no self-respecting officer would want to end up on a naughty list.) Any officers who had volunteered to supposedly assist Santa in saving Christmas for this little colony planet had ended up here. The flickering lights of transporter materialisation cleared into dark surroundings, although the black of the sky contrasted with layers of crisp, white snow underfoot. The away team had beamed into a forest clearing. Evergreen trees, pines sparkling with frost, stood tall in a circle surrounding the area. In the middle? Nine reindeer milling around (one of which had a very shiny nose), a sleigh on its side, and a suspiciously Santa-shaped hole in the snow.

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Beaming down to the surface wearing their excursion uniform, a pair of winter gloves, and Medical blue airmuffs, as well as carrying an emergency medical kit, Quinn immediately squinted into the darkness, having been transported from a bright ship to... Well, darkness. Fishing a flashlight off their duty belt, they switched it on and began looking around their surroundings, only to be almost jumpscared by a group of what looked like reindeer. And... was that one's nose....? Huh.

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Santa Claus? In need of help? Essen didn't even think it was possible! Santa had been self sufficient for years upon years and had done so much on his own! For something to happen now? That must have meant something seriously was wrong. And low and behold, that was the case - Santa reporting that his sleigh had crashed. She didn't want to have Christmas ruined for anyone. Essen was bundled up in her winter starfleet away mission uniform, complete with the furry hood, goggles, and the winter hat. Of course she kept her signature headband underneath the hat, she wasn't going to go anywhere without it. As she was beamed to the away team side, Essen looked around -- and found the reindeer, the tipped sleigh and the Santa-shaped hole in the snow. "Hoooooly goodness gracious," Essen remarked, being careful not to swear to risk her getting on the naughty list! "Santa?! Santa, are you there?" As she approached the Santa-shaped hole, but stayed a good distance to try and look down into the hole. She looked up to the reindeer. "Do any of you know if he's in there or if he got out? I'm guessing no but I just have to make sure. He wouldn't leave all of you here like this."

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Close behind followed Rubi. Hard to contain her excitement really. She spent every single Christmas eve staying up late to see Santa, to no avail. And now, from what she heard, she'd be helping him? But, alas, she couldn't fangirl yet. She had work to do. She could get his signature later... As her shoes crunched against the snow, she was reminded that she hadn't seen much snow. It starstruck her. In awe and childlike excitement she jumped twice on the snow, ignoring whatever the other two were saying for a moment. but then, she finally looked over and saw the Santa hole in the ground...oh dear God...by the stars and moons, was he hurt?

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Konstantin beamed down in his winter Starfleet away mission uniform complete with leather gloves that were insulated with fur and a small ushanka that just about covered his ears though the flaps were sticking outwards, he was used to cold though. He was also wearing his braces as he didn't exactly feel like trying to attempt this with a wheelchair nor hoverchair through the snow, and he was just as capable in his braces. He felt very excited about helping Santa, maybe even to get to see Santa, he was almost shaking with excitement. "Oh how wonderful with snow! And Santa of course, I always wished to meet him as a kid- Right to the mission uh, does everything look okay up there?"

4

Twas a night or so before Christmas, as Ms. Umali worked around. Her shift had just begun as her cousin slept deeply, like a mouse. Maya dutifully did all her duties as an engineer with care. Nothing of note, just the usual, just doing some things here and there. 'Inspect the stem bolts; fix that lift; filese these reports; and replace the old cores!' as tedious as this all sounds, she really enjoyed doing these chores. However, this might be one peculiar night, because oh no! All of a sudden, this station received a call from someone in plight! So to volunteer to give aid she quickly went and hastily took flight. As to reading the nature of distress for context, Dear Reader be assured, a penny of thought was not spent. And so after some time, without a single deet, she beamed down to Noël Beta III, where the snow crunched beneath her feet So now Maya asked herself as to who might be unwell in Noël? And so as she got up to speed on this ordeal, the young engineer piped up and said. "Wait... are you guys telling me Santa is real?" (edited)

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The Liberated Borg beamed down and once materialized, started to scan the environment around themselves with a tricorder they produced from a waist holster. Uncaring at all about someone that claimed to be someone called 'Santa' a idea constructed by humans in the far past and mainly focused on the fact that someone had issued a distress call, Twelve initially ignored the excitement displayed by their fellow officers. It was irrelevant, they were Starfleet officers, not individuals at a Santa's grotto. "We are withholding judgement on whether or not the person with the designation 'Santa' is real or is in fact still extant." Twelve commented before, when she spotted the Santa shaped hole in the ground, she started in the direction of said hole. Once she arrived at the hole, she started to scan it. Did so and proceeded to say. "Starfleet responding to a distress call, if you are in this hole or can hear us and require assistance, call out." Her voice raised a bit.

5

Noticing the hole as well, Quinn made their way over to it through the snow, feeling really quite glad their boots were waterproof and, well, cold-proof. Last thing they wanted or needed was frostbite. Steering well clear of the reindeer, not a fan of large unpredictable animals that may or may not allegedly fly, they peered down into it with their flashlight, only to immediately look over at Essen when she spoke to the animals. "Why are you talking to animals? This isn't a two-dimensional movie from 20th century Earth. They can't talk back."

2

"Well, the animals may find comfort regardless. They are very cute..." Rubi said softly, admiring the reindeer. She'd never seen reindeer so close. Well...she'd never actually seen reindeer. She approached slowly, enjoying her every crunchy step in the snow as she made her way over to the reindeer.

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Essen looked up to Quinn, giving them a shrug. "Ah, it was worth a shot," Essen said. "But speaking of a movie from 20th century Earth..." She approached the reindeer with the shiny nose. "Hey! You! Are you Rudolph? We might need your help. Can you please shine your nose into the suspiciously Santa-shaped hole? We need to see if he's still down there or if he got out. If he's down there we need your light to be able to see when rescuing him!"

There was no immediate sign of Santa, but judging by the fact that the reindeer hadn’t scarpered, he had to be around somewhere. Speaking of reindeer – it was almost like they listened intently to what Essen said, and then when Quinn commented the ‘they can’t talk back,’ nine pairs of Reindeer eyes focused on them and one unified thought was beamed directly into their head: ‘uhm, rude?’

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No need to ask them where Santa was though – and no, he wasn’t down the Santa-shaped hole. There was the sound of rustling from behind the overturned sleigh and then the man himself popped up. He was exactly as you might expect: large build, rosy cheeks, fuzzy red hat, glorious beard and all. “Why, hello there!” He shouted over with a grin, waving to the Starfleet officers. “I’m not down there any more. Thought I’d dig myself out. It was a bit cold!”

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Sykes preferred carol of the season was Bruce Springsteen’s rendition of ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town.’ While the holidays back home were little to look forward to beyond a day off, and hopefully some sort of bonus from the company, her time in the Federation has given her a renewed sense of holiday spirit…or something like that. She wasn’t about to get all sentimental on everyone, especially when they’ve got a job to do, and a rather peculiar one at that! Bruce Springsteen had one thing right: The big man’s somewhere around here, though if he was coming to town, that was up in the air. The intelligence officer had been beamed down alongside the rest, and had volunteered for the mission through pure curiosity, and maybe to see if there was any intelligence that could be gleaned from, y’know, real actual Santa Claus out in the cold vacuum of space. When the guy actually emerged from the snow, Sykes tutted her tongue. “Well, I’ll be!”

Rubi's eyes widened in shock as her hands clasped together. She gasped and her face was overtaken with a joyous smile. She jumped up and down in excitement a few times. "Oh stars, it's...you're... my- I.... Santa!!?"

"Mister Claus!" Essen said, as she approached him. "I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Essen from the Federation Outpost Starbase 777. We're all from 777, we're here from your distress call. Thank goodness you're alright. Same with your reindeer, we were worried something happened to them as well." (edited)

Konstantine with amazement moved closer to the reindeer like a mesmerized child even though he had seen reindeer, then he saw Santa and he was literally overflowing with excitement like that of a child getting to open their long waited presents. "Wowowow, Santa, it's really you, oh my God, pleasure to meet you Santa! I'm Lieutenant Konstantin Von Rotkirch, at your service!" He said with a big smile and hefty amount of excitement as he basically stood there staring at Santa.

Hanneth sighs and sets down the bag of rescue tools, dissapointed to some degree he couldn't use the laser jaws of life to cut the door off a shuttle. He didn't understand the fanfair around this normal but admittedly jolly human man.

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"Assistance from animals with non-standard noses is not required." The Liberated Borg observed as she opened up her case and proceeded to produce a standard issue torch. She'd noted in the reports that well, whoever this person who had adopted the designation of Santa was, they had encountered some form of issue that had merited a need for a distress call. They were about to shine it down the hole before the individual designated as 'Santa' proceeded to make themselves known. "Greetings." The Liberated Borg proceeded to then say as they started to approach the man. "The Lieutenant has outlined our purpose sufficiently so we do not see a need for anything further on that." They said before they continued. "As such, we must now ask, are you injured at all?" The Borg asked, completely unphased by this individual before them. Someone who looked like some form of Human male wearing clothes that aligned with popular depictions of the individual designated as 'Santa Claus'

The moment he'd heard it would be cold, he'd bundled up best he could; complete with an engineering yellow scarf and a warm, fluffy Santa hat. Hopefully that'd be enough. Oh, and some very thick gloves, too. And socks (not that they were visible underneath the uniform, but they were really fuzzy and had cats and Christmas trees on them). He stepped carefully on the snow when they got there, a super unfamiliar feeling - sure, it'd snowed sometimes in Boston, but he never really spent his winters up there - he much preferred to spend them where it was warmer. And before he knew it, he saw reindeer. Like, actual real reindeer, one of them with a glowing red nose, and then... Santa. Or what seemed to be Santa. "Holy fucking shit," he said, and then covered his mouth, "yeah. Yeah, it is cold. Holy shit, you're, like - actually - okay, yeah, sure, yeah. Sleigh's crashed, you're fuckin'... Santa Claus, and I'm Allan Allen. Checks out. So, does it need repairs, or...?"

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A shiver immediately went down the doctor's spine when not only did all nine of the reindeer look at them, but all spoke in unison in their mind. Needless to say Quinn was already thinking this would go down in history as the weirdest mission they'd ever go on. "Uhhh... Sorry...?" They responded, before immediately turning their attention towards the Santa-looking Santa-shaped Santa-sounding person that may or may not actually be Santa. Well, time for work. Immediately, they walked over to the bearded being. "I'm Dr. Rose, an emergency medical physician with Starfleet. Are you injured at all?" They enquired as they tried to not blind the man with their flashlight. (edited)

She cannot believe this, could this actually be??? Underneath all that snow, in his own ditch... could it legitimately be no one other than Jolly Old Saint Nick?! "What the frick..." the young woman said as she cradled the head which held her very much blown mind. "Could you please tell us what happened, if you would be so kind?" Although she was glad that her fellow crew enjoyed this spectacle. Maya couldn't help but feel just more than a bit skeptical.

A message was beamed into Twelve’s head next: ‘whose nose are you calling ‘non-standard’? Stop being rude. We’ll tell Santa.’

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“Welcome, welcome all of you!” The large man all dressed in read laughed, a deep and rumbly but warm sound, at the reactions from everyone. He stepped out from behind the sleigh where he had hoisted four large bags of gifts over his shoulder. “I’m not hurt, don’t you worry about me! How are you all? Not too cold I hope? I’ve got extra hats around here somewhere… Hopefully they’re not buried.” As he spoke he went about offering handshakes, large grins, and even hugs to the away team should they wish it. The man radiated warmth: so much so that the snow at his feet had already started to melt. “I was just making sure that all of these presents are fine and that they won’t get all damp. I don’t want that nice wrapping paper getting ruined! As for the sleigh… There’s no fixing that right now. Ran out of magic, you see.”

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Rubi squealed in happiness as she hugged Santa. She couldn't belivee this was happening!! She was meeting the REAL LIFE Santa Claus himself. "Mr Santa Claus sir, Rubi MacArthur, I'm a huge fan!! I used to spend every Christmas night staying up to meet you! I...never quite made it though...."

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He pulled out his tri-corder to scan the environment again, and make sure there was not anything affecting the crew. After several moments he was satisfied with the scan, nothing was wrong. He startled a bit as Santa offered a handshake. He cautiously took it, feeling the firm warm handshake from the large jolly man. Somehow he too began to feel some of the same cheer the others seemed to be feeling. He ran some exercises of his mind that his Vulcan mother taught him, yet the artificial cheer did not abate. Was it artificial? He had not cultural context for this holiday or human but he had to admit, seeing his colleagues excited was..pleasant.* "Glad to see you and your...sled...deer are fine."

Essen's attention perked up even more at the mention of an extra hat. "Oh! Yes, please, sir, an extra hat would be fantastic, but please don't go too much out of your way to get them," Essen said, shaking his hand politely. "We're glad you're okay. We can imagine you're a bit shaken by this. I mean... if I were in this situation I'd be shaken up too." As she listened to the man explain what was going on and the sleigh ran out of magic. "The sleigh ran out of magic, you said?" Essen confirmed. "Interesting. do you know any way it could have run out of magic?" As she looked to the reindeer who now were clearly sentient. "Do you all know how it could have happened? Maybe there's been a lack of magic in the sleigh before for another reason?" (edited)

"Magic. Right. Yeah, no, that tracks, definitely, um-" honestly? He was a little bit distracted by how Santa just so effortlessly had four large bags of gifts over his shoulder. Like, yeah, he was Santa, but like, a man with that kind of strength... oh, hugs were being offered? Yeah, sure, he'd take one. Gladly. "So you ran out of magic, and ... how many houses you got left? Give or take, just a rough estimate?" His eyes now went to the way the snow was literally melting around the man. The fuck?

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Twelve, now that human who claimed to be a fictional Human construct had had the question of whether they were injured or not asked of them twice, proceeded to idly check the scans on her tricorder. Scans they'd continued to run as it had slipped the biological element of their mind to cease it. Perhaps that would be something that provided a answer to that question from them both. That is if the individual elected to not respond in the face of more than enough people reacting as they had elected to to the presence of this person. Then someone proceeded to beam a message into their head. "Presence of entity or entities capable of telepathic communication noted, content of statement beamed into mind noted and logged." The Liberated Borg said then as they logged the message and continued on with their scan for a moment before the other indicated that they weren't hurt. She paused the scan then, reviewed the results idly and accepted the handshake when one was offered. Did so and frowned at the magic explaination. Magic was another construct, simply a explanation for things that hadn't been scientifically explained yet. Not that that was something the Borg intended to voice. "As has been queried in part, in light of your statement, how may we assist you at present?"

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Konstantin also squealed in happiness and excitement and he gladly accepted a hug from Santa, he hadn't even thought about the eventuality that this might not be the real Santa but it sure looked and acted like Santa from the stories so how could it not be? "Again pleasure to meet you Santa! So why did you call for help exactly? And oh I'd love a hat but I'm already wearing one though." He said with a large grin on his face, he was way to excited so excited he could die, but don't worry he wouldn't.

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Extremely confused as to how someone who clearly fell into the snow in a... sleigh crash(?) was uninjured, Quinn decided to do their due diligence. Putting their med kit down at their feet, and putting their flashlight back on their belt, before pulling their medical tricorder off the other side and starting to scan the man from head to toe. For all anyone knew this guy had a head injury. "I'm just going to perform some quick scans to make sure there are no hidden, unknown injuries. It's non-intrusive." What in stars name was going on right now? Magic? They found that hard to believe, but then again the deer seemed sentient? Were they a new species that looked like reindeer but weren't? Was there some sort of technology or trickery involved? It was well above their non-existent pay grade to figure this one out.

“Those houses that are left are the reason I’ve ran out of magic, actually! I’m an old man, losing those brain cells, you see. The elves told me I’d need more magic to get to that new village that’s just been built, but I was being a silly old Santa and was too stubborn! They were right – like always. I’ll have to bake them some cookies as compensation.” He was a good boss. He offered good working hours, good holiday rates, and even baked cookies for his own staff. While he explained all of this, he set the four bags of presents down on top of the sleigh’s upturned surface and went about searching for a hat bag instead. “There are twelve houses that still need delivered to,” he explained once he had re-emerged with the hat bag, and started offering those to anyone who wanted. Quinn was going to have to keep up with Santa wandering around if they wanted those tricorder scans. Hugs, hats, handshakes – ho ho ho. “It’ll be a couple of hours by the time we regenerate enough magic to get the sleigh in the air again, and that’ll be too late! I knew you lovely Starfleet folks would help. I need you to deliver the rest for me!”

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Rubi had to bite her lip to contain herself. She'd be honoured to help out! It was hard for her not to leap forwards and offer herself immediately to deliver them herself. She had to wait. The superiors would make a decision. But her excitement was evident.

Essen looked up at the man, realizing what the new mission was to be, assigned by Santa Claus himself - now, everyone could be Santa Claus. That's what Christmas was all about, in the end. It was about giving. Essen promptly smiled, and stood at attention, to give Santa Claus a salute. "Sir, yes sir!" Essen replied, before she went out of the salute. "We'll deliver the presents for you. We won't let you down, sir. You or the reindeer."

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Twelve idly checked their scans again and, while their focus remained on if they indicated Santa was in fact hurt, also looked for anything that might have explained the reactions of their fellow officers. One of them had just squealed after all. Perhaps some sort of field that caused the officers to act differently? Twelve certainly wanted some form of explaination. Then Santa proceeded to speak again. So well, as he offered more hats around, Twelve conducted another scan of him of their own. Did so and once that concluded, scanned their environment. "We can assist in the delivery of presents." The Liberated Borg proceeded to say, as it seemed like they'd probably do so anyway even though this seemed like anything but the normal thing when it came to distress calls. People usually needed medical help or engineering help or something. Present delivery? This very much seemed like a first to them.

’Let us down and we’ll eat that nice Starfleet jacket of yours,’ was then beamed into Essen’s head as the reindeer looked at her. 'Bet it's tasty.'

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"Ahh, okay, okay, well - if, after all this, you need some help baking all those cookies, I'd love to help, actually, ah - me and a lot of the crew have been doing a looooot of cookie baking recently," which was true, on account of all the times he'd been offering cookies in the chatroom lately. "Okay, twelve- easy, yeah, we can do that - are the houses far from here, or?"

Turning to the reindeer, Essen did feel a bit of fear from that but she kept herself calm and turned to the reindeer. "No, no we won't let you down, this is bigger than my jacket," Essen said. "It's about making someone's day, someone's year. Someone's life. Christmas goes way beyond Starfleet. We'll make sure we get it done, and we get it done right." As she turned to the rest of the group. "Who's with me??"

Rubi couldn't help but slowly approach the reindeer. She found them....amazing. "aren't you just the most gorgeous creatures?" She murmured softly as she admired them. but her attentioned quickly shifted back to the main objective: Help Santa. She raised her hand as Essen gave that call to action. "Oh! Me!"

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Konstantin looked oddly at the reindeer they were nothing like he had ever seen before but after all they were supposed to be magical reindeers, he wondered, then an intrusive thought entered his mind 'How do magic reindeers taste?' he shook his head rapidly trying to get that thought out of his head, he would never even dream of trying to eat one of Santa's reindeers. "Ahem, uh yes I'm with you, it'll be a blast for sure!" He said excitedly.

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Twelve continued their scans and as they did so, briefly glanced to the reindeer with the non-standard nose. "We referred to you with our earlier statement, to clarify." The Liberated Borg stated then before they added. "This statement was not intended as hostile." Twelve explained simply before they turned to look to their tricorder again. Did so before they then looked over to Essen for a moment. "Lieutenant... are reindeer usually telepathic, if you don't mind us asking?" The xB inquired then.

"Shhhh, twelve, it's magic," Essen said to Twelve. The wiggled her fingers and moved her hands in an arc. "Maaaaaagic. Just embrace the magic."

"Magic??" She asked This had to be some form of trick as she pulled out her tri-corder with a flick of her wrist, attempting to check if there was something amiss about all this. Surely this couldn't be the same Santa as from the tales of Earth from times old. Most likely this was something unique to the planet of Noël, yeah totally! that's all! Though she knew space was weird, and as real as this old man's reindeer and beard. So a case like this isn't really off the table, like how Kirk met Honest Abe after his Journey to Babel. "So... where are these twelve houses, we could try to help, if we're able?"

"Telepathy isn't magic. Betazoids aren't magic." Hanneth was confused but figured he'd see where this went. He felt his inner cheer overtaking his confusion and caution. "Very well. I'll join you."

"Response insufficient." The xB stated then before they added. "Magic is a explaination for things yet to be fully scientifically explained." Twelve paused then and glanced to the reindeer before she then looked back to her tricorder. Did so and then briefly glanced at Essen once more. "We are unsure how a individual can embrace a fictional concept." Her gaze returned to her tricorder for a moment, then she looked up at the others. "We will also join you."

Essen smiled brightly at the overwhelming support from everyone! She turned back to Santa and the reindeers. "You heard the voice of the membership," Essen said. "We're got your back, Mister Claus." As she thought for a second, and then spoke up again. "Actually... would your reindeer be willing to help us out? If we aren't able to get some of our own tech to help us deliver these presents. It would take too long for us to deliver them on foot. Maybe we each take a few reindeer that can help us fly to the houses we need to hit before it's too late!" She proposed.

"Wait they're telepathic to?!" He said in terror of what he had just thought, his intrusive thought, oh dear oh lord. He quickly thought up a 'Sorry, didn't mean it' before returning back to the group hoping that was enough to satisfy the reindeers if they had heard his intrusive thought. He had never been one much for telepathy even though being half Betazoid. "Wait aren't the reindeers like magic to? So aren't they like out of magic as well? Sorry I don't know a lot about magic, stupid question maybe." He said with a shrug to Essen. Now he wondered how they would deliver the presents undetected, can't be a lot of houses that have chimneys anymore and couldn't just knock on the front door since that would ruin the surprise. Argh, they'd just have to find out he guessed but what an adventure, this might be one of his favorite away missions so far.

Essen turned to Konstantin, and opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it after she realized that could be an issue. "Good point." As she then crunched through the snow over to the reindeer. "What do you all think? Are you able to fly still? If so, if Mister Claus allows it, we might need your help." (edited)

’We are the most gorgeous creatures, thank you,’ was the reindeer message beamed into Rubi’s head next. One of the reindeer took a step forward to bump its head playfully off her arm before it retreated back in line with the others.

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Once he had distributed hats, he started throwing the rest to the reindeer. With powerful back legs, they sprang up to snatch them out of the air and promptly eat them. Every time one jumped, there were little sparkles beneath their hooves: magic, surely! “The village is just through these trees,” he said and pointed in the right direction. It was hard to see given that it was still pitch black, but not too far from the treeline was the start of the village. “There are four streets, so if you split into four groups and do one street each, you’ll have it done with time to spare!” “It was a good idea, Essen, but your friend Konstantin is right.” Had everyone given their names to Santa? He seemed to know them regardless. “The reindeer are magic too: they need to rest. But; it won’t be too long on foot, and if you’re split up then you only need to carry a sack per team. They’re not that heavy! Besides, you Starfleet folks are strong. I’m sure you’ve all been good officers this year and haven’t skipped any gym days!”

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"Oh! It's just thataway? And only four streets?" Essen said, looking in the direction Santa pointed. "Well! No need for fancy tech anyway! That makes things much easier. All we need to do is split up into groups then! Good thinking too, Konstantin. If that's the case then this should be a piece of cake!"

"Today was leg day thankfully. I can carry a sack." He offered. Still wondering how the reindeer could eat hats or cause sparkles, he did his best to focus on...whatever this away mission had turned into. Someone needed help and he was going to help.

4

Still trying to just process... whatever this all was, Quinn decided the best approach would be to not overthink it too hard, lest their brain explode. Instead, they focused on what they did understand: Someone was asking them to do something, and they saw no harm in trying to to help this person, whether they were actually Santa or not. Glancing briefly at the jumping reindeer, and having somewhat awkwardly accepted their Santa hat but opted to put it in their pocket instead of wear it, the doctor put their tricorder back on their belt and picked up their med bag once more. "As much as I have the capability to carry a sack I kind of have my hands full."

"Suppose I could probably also carry one, yeah," he definitely wasn't as strong as Santa, but surely he could get away with carrying one, if they truly weren't that heavy. Otherwise, he'd probably have to hand it over to a Vulcanoid or someone who had also done leg day today. "One street per group, seems good, I'lllll... take the first street? How we doing groups? Draft picks?" He laughed, because he was Not going to be doing draft picks.

Essen thought for a moment, then looked back to the team. "Once we're split up, I can tackle getting the presents in to houses that have chimneys," Essen said. "I'm small enough to fit and can climb up through and into and out of the chimneys. I mean, if Santa can do it!" Then she turned to Allan. "I can team with you Allan!"

"You'd better let the reindeer pick," he mused and started hauling the four sacks down from the side of the sleigh (which was more like the top of the sleigh right now, given that it was on its side). Each bag had a picture on it: a reindeer, a gingerbread man, a pinecone, and a Christmas stocking. "They'll get upset if they're not involved!"

The reindeer looked back and forth between everyone, their movements completely in unison. That was a little Borg-like, but at least they still looked cute. Telepathically, everyone received the number of team that they would be assigned to.

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"What the f- okay, okay. Yeah, that's... you know, it actually makes total sense that the reindeer are telepathic. Why not?" Just a little bit freaky, but mostly really cool! And hey, now he knew how the teams were sorted, so... "Yeah, alright, Essen, team 1 it is. There aren't any warp cores around here for you to eject, thankfully," he said with a little bit of a teasing smile.

4

Wha--! Essen's mind received the number and all of a sudden, she felt right away who she needed to go with as the reindeer assigned her. "Heh, remind me to stay on your good side," Essen said to the reindeer.

Konstantin hadn't been frightened by the telepathic message as he was used to telepathy to some degree but it did feel a bit odd getting it from reindeers, that was something new. He hadn't heard of telepathic animals but he was also no scientist so there could have been a lot of telepathic animals he didn't know if yet. "Team two!" He finally said lifting his hand up in the air displaying two fingers to symbolise the number he had spoken. This would be the story of a lifetime, to actually help Santa and deliver his presents that would make for one hell of a log.

This was quite the interesting event. Santa, the human man who delivered presents to the young was real? He wished he hadn’t told a young Acul learning about Earth culture he wasn’t. “Someone should take notes on this. This is quite….the discovery.” He said with a smile. “I think I can take team 4.” He said, raising 4 big Gorn fingers into the air.

Looking back at Allan, Essen snickered. "Yeah, thank goodness, I don't want to deal with warp cores, heh. This is much more within my experience range. It helps to know kung fu so I can climb in and out of the chimneys with ample strength." (edited)

"I guess its fair to let St. Nick's reindeers make the pick." She said, after hearing Santa's explanation, she didn't want to feel like a mean prick. Maya shivered a bit, both from the cold and from the reindeer her number. "Team two!" She cheered as she walked over to Konstantin. Real or not, this was truly an adventure that really had her interest locked in.

“I do not think knowing Kung-Fu helps you with chimneys.” He said with a chipper tone, to make sure Essen knew he wasn’t trying to be a jerk.

6

Compelled by the Christmas spirit, the man whose birthday was the 25th of December had also joined the group. He was bundled up in warm clothing, but his nose was as red as Rudolph's. "Gonna be honest, Mr. Claus: I've skipped more than a few gym days."

9

"That's the teams decided, then!" He hadn't been privy to the reindeer's decision, given that they had telepathically spoken to everyone who needed a team (i.e. not him,) but everyone's reactions said it all. Reindeer telepathy wasn't something you saw every day. Once people had started gathering up into their respective teams, he handed out the sacks of presents. "Follow this path down to the village. It'll take you to the square: town hall, fountain, some shops - you can't miss it. There are only four streets, so they're easy to find. Your sack has a picture to show you which one you're going to. Reindeer Road, Gingerbread Grove, Pinecone Place, or Stocking Street!"

"Oh cool, the streets are alliterations! That's kinda sweet." Though, in my opinion, a good ol' yuletide rhyme couldn't be beat. (edited)

5

"Oh! Alright, easy, we've got, uhhh- Reindeer Road? Nice." He looked out at the path that went down to the village, picking it up but probably handing it off to Legs Day guy once he figured out they were on the same team. "Alliterations, yeaaah, that's the word," one of his favorite words! One of his favorite words that he always forgot. "Okay, so - team one, then, let's fuckin' gooo, and - everyone else, good luck and - stay warm," on 'staying warm', he stepped over to Mo and gave him a quick little kiss on that red nose of his. To make it a little warmer, obviously.

"Yeah, let's freakin' go!" Essen said. Of course she didn't shame Allan for swearing. She just wouldn't do it herself. Gotta stay on that nice list!

"If a bag of presents was going to street named after a fish, would it have a picture of said fish?" Hanneth asked genuinely. He took the sack of gifts from Allan and hefted it over his shoulder with a smile. "Alright, let's so this!" He grinned feeling cheerful and spiritied.

Despite feeling utterly befuddled Quinn couldn't help but start to feel a bit... Festive? They usually didn't like the holiday season all that much, it stressed them out, but there was something almost addictive about everyone's positive attitudes. Standing over with group 1, they couldn't help but find themself enjoying the street names behind their usual blank expression.

He gave Allan an affectionate swat, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I'll pay you back for that one later. Git goin', git." What was Allan, a horse?

6

4

"Oookay, I'm going, I'm going," Allan said and then did a little hair flip - except it was just a little flip of that long part of the Santa hat with the little ball at the end. It matched the color of his hair, at least! And then he walked with the rest of group one to Reindeer Road, nodding at Hanneth's question. "Probably? I don't see why not. A fish, or like, a bear, or like... anything, really?"

"Bear Boulevard." Hanneth said to himself more than anyone, and smirked at the alliteration.

"I like bears." Quinn commented idly as they followed the group they were with to Reindeer Road.

Hanneth chuckled "The animal or otherwise? Because yes." He walked casually, keeping the bag steady and ensuring the contents stayed safe.

4

2

"Mephis the red-nosed captain, he had a crimson nose. Whenever Allan saw him, you would even say it glowed." Maya gayly sang to herself, though so no one could hear, she kept the volume hushed and low.. "Alrighty then, we all heard Mr. Claus, it's time to go! Now, Allan! Now, Essen! Now, Emta, Rubi, and Rose! Come Konstantin! Come Twelve of Twenty! only so much time to give these gifts of plenty! As Captain Mo would probably say 'Let's make it so!'. Now Team 2, let's now head to Gingerbread Grove!" It was a mystery on what got her to such a groove, but it's best not to ask because it's hard to make the rhymes and references good.

10

9

"Well I don't think I'll be the best choice to carry the bag." He said with a chuckle pointing at his braces that were put on outside of his snowboard like pants that kept him warm and protected from the cold and wet snow. After all he was sort of paralyzed completely, not yet but who knew maybe in a few years. He couldn't help but feel very excited about all of this but he worried a little about how they were going to get into the houses and leave the presents undetected, they weren't exactly Santa with magic, but hopefully they'd find a way when they got there. Also why were the street names all Christmas themed? Konstantin gave a small thumbs up to Maya as he followed onto Gingerbread grove! "

He did a little snort-laugh at Maya's rhyme, but then clarified, "I think you've mistaken me for a Captain with substantially less hair," and then went off to another channel with team three in which he would be roleplayed later.

Vanik had been standing quietly in the back of the crowd and listening intently as...Santa Claus spoke. So they were to...bestow presents upon the villagers' houses? Because Santa Claus had run out of magic. Vanik idly wondered if Santa's Sleigh really ran on dilithium and he hadn't enough reserves in his stores, a bit confused. Nothing about this scene made sense and yet, things he had learned from Terrans in his very recent days at the Academy lined up very nicely with what was happening in front of him. Though they'd told him it was only a children's story... With his Vulcan eyebrows slightly raised at being telepathically told where to go, he followed the group heading toward Pinecone Place. Maybe his engineering skills could be of use... (edited)

T'She had been there the whole time, don't worry about it, and had simply found this whole mission quite fascinating. But soon enough they were ready to go with their team to their designated street.

Nikiyta was there the whole time, just chilling, literally. He followed the rest of the peeps towards the streets to deliver gifts!

Twelve eventually arrived back at the winter woodland area. Once there she headed to wherever Santa was. Did so as she idly pulled out her tricorder and initiated more scans while she walked. Walked around and looked for them. Should Santa be located, Twelves greeting for them amounted to a simple statement. "Greetins, Presents have delivered to our teams assigned house."

While the away teams had been away (as away teams tended to be), Santa had spent his time feeding the reindeer a mixture of hats and carrots that he seemed to procure from mid air. The sleigh had been turned the right way up again. "Ho ho ho, well isn't that good news! Thank you very much for your hard work, you've helped to save Christmas for sure!"

3

"We acknowledge your statement and thanks, we are a officer of Starfleet, we are here to help." The El-Aurian simply responded then before they added. "While we do not agree with your assessment due to other factors, we appreciate the meaning of this to you." They then looked to the Reindeer before they looked back at the individual that had elected to masquerade as the fictional character Santa. Is there any further assistance we can provide?" (edited)

From beneath the bushy fur of the rim of his hat, Santa quirked an equally bushy eyebrow. "Why, whatever do you mean that you don't agree? You've helped to save Christmas here: it's a fact!"

"We assisted in the delivery of presents to Juvenile individuals in one house out of a number that required the provision of gifts through this manner due to unknown reasons." The Borg responded simply before they then proceeded to say. "We possess insufficient data to come to the opinion ourselves that we assisted in the saving of Christmas." The El-Aurian then turned them fully turned to face them and said. "We are Borg, we do not understand the human ability to believe without the requirement of scientific evidence and attendant explanation as to why something works the way it does." Twelve explained simply. "We have helped individuals and affected an effort to ensure what we see as a fiction is maintained for others as best as possible as we have observed that the individuals in question believe that it is not fiction." A longer pause followed that as the Borg seemed to consider everything. "After consideration, we find that that is all that matters, others believed and it aided then." They observed smoothly. "Our opinion as to what this or that thing related to that fact is irrelevant." (edited)

Twas the night Starfleet saved Christmas! Yes, GMs, this again for a third time. Right around after team two returned from their mission so clandestine. After she took up another cookie and a glass of milk to quench her lip, because she felt greedy, Maya assumed it would be prime time to take her leave and dip already. And so, a bit behind, she followed the rest of her team to meet up with jolly old Saint Nick. "Hello Santa! We're back! Oh by the way, here's your magic sack.... is it okay if I say a few questions I've always wanted to ask?"

3

Almost having his hand bit off by a particularly hungry reindeer, he crunched back through the frosty grass (for that's all that there was around him now, the snow having melted with his magical warmth), to climb up onto the sleigh. He patted the seat beside him to welcome the two aboard. "I understand. It's always difficult for outsiders to believe - and I can see it would be doubly so for a former Borg. Maybe one day you'll find the way to." With that he took the empty sack back from Maya. "Come up here and ask away: as long as your Starfleet friends deliver those presents in time, then I'll have all the time in the world to answer them!"

"We are a transfer from the Cooperative, our personality following previous Collective activity, is Borg caused." Twelve responded simply then before they added simply. "We assess the likelihood of our achieving the outlined end result as low, we are not like the previous extant personality of this bodies former spouse." As the other officer then indicated they had questions to ask, Twelve moved off. They stepped away with the parting comment made of. "We hope our assessment is incorrect, we also appreciate the sentiment of your statement."

"So you're able to deliver presents to more planet's beyond Earth? And all in one night?? Even with magic, how does that work?" Maya asked out of curiosity, though she would be surprised to know if there was actually some advanced technology. " Another question I have is... what would you think would be the best gift for my bestie Alaya... because so far all I made for them was a handmade stuffed toys of a cute squishy shrimp and a smiling papaya..."

1

The red-clad man chuckled deeply and settled back into the seat of the sleigh. "I'm sorry if it's disappointing, but I'm not the Santa of your legends - not one that delivers presents on Earth. I've only ever existed here: Noel Beta III." There wasn't any advanced technology involved, but there was real, scientifically-explainable magic. "For your friend, you've chosen those items for a reason. You've made them by hand! The best gift is always one that you've put your heart into, no matter what it is."

5

"If we understand you correctly, does this mean that you are indicating that there are different Santa's delivering on multiple words?" The xB inquired then as the scrutinized the scan results from their latest tricorder scan of this individual who referred to themselves as Santa. "You being the Noel Beta III Santa?"

"Why, I don't know if there are any others out there. But I know that I," he plucked a carrot out of his beard and threw it to the reindeer before giving a resolute nod, "am here!" And he was, according to the tricorder. No holo-technology, no terrasphere shenanigans: Santa and his reindeer here were very much real.

1

"Considering the wideness of the belief in 'Santa Claus' and your statement, the presence of multiple Santa Claus throughout the Federation seems to be a viable explaination for a number of things in relation to this." The Borg paused a moment then and clarified their statement with a added. "That is, if a individual believes a number of things about this situation and-" She snapped her mouth shut then. "We are electing to cease outlining that opinion." Twelve then looked at the non-standard nose related data for the Reindeer as she added. "We note your reindeer appear to be very good at catching."

"...wait so you're not the same Santa from Earth that delivers presents from New York to Perth? But there might also be other Santa's based on stories from those in worlds like Vulcan, Qu'noS, Bajor, and Alpha Centauri?" Although she already grew up believing in Santa as she grew up back on Earth, but the knowledge that there may be Santas in other worlds felt great for what its worth. Maybe its something funny for Little Paco to study. "Thank you for your kind words, Sir. I really appreciate it. And either way I get to spend time with them, and I guess thats an essence of the Christmas spirit."

2

After helping his team deliver the remainder of their presents, Vanik made his way back to Santa, his sleigh, and the weird rorses to report back. He was feeling kind of lightheaded, way more relaxed than he could ever recall feeling in his entire life, and very, very hungry. He remembered he had a cookie in his pocket and oh! The brownie! The young Vulcan walked up to Santa Claus and a teeny tiny smile appeared on his normally impassive lips. "Excuse me, Mr. Claus. The Galardonian family on Pinecone Place left these out for you." And he offered santa half of a "fun" brownie-cookie-sandwich that he hadn't eaten (he had ripped off the parts that he'd bitten). "You work very hard to make magic happen for these families. Thank you for allowing me to participate in the magic of Christmas."

2

Coming back into the winter woodland (after taking some selfies with Carol and lots of pictures of the scenery of the town, especially those ice-skating birds with the tiny skates that did flips), Allan was wearing significantly more scarves than he'd had on before as he shuffled through the snow to get to where everyone else and Santa were at the moment. Looking around at everybody, he was about to go up to Santa and ask some questions (because boy, did he have so many), but then he saw Vanik - smiling? More than normal? "Hey, Vanik, everything - everything go well on your team, I assume?"

Vanik’s sensitive Vulcan hearing was still working and he heard Allan approaching but he was pretty honed in on Santa for the moment. At least until Allan, clad in so many warm, soft looking scarves, came over and asked him a question. The Ensign, still in his Starfleet issued cold-weather uniform, looked over his tall shoulder to see Allan and his face lit up even more somehow. “Allan. Hello, things did go well. Christmas is magic. I do not believe in magic. But. I might believe in magic at this time.” He was still holding the half eaten “fun” brownie cookie sandwich since Santa hadn’t taken it yet.

He arrived back at the winter woodland absolutely Full Of Snilk (yeah, he was going to need the loo soon). He looked at Vanik, how he was acting, his pupils... He probably should've mentioned those fun brownies probably had weed in them. Oops. "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all of this, but I don't wanna know what it is."

5

Returning to the winter woodland area, Nikiyta danced his way all the way there. The Tak-Tak had taught them how to MOONWALK! Very fun!

3

Allan unwrapped one of his many scarves (really - he'd one when he left to deliver gifts, and now had what, three? Four, maybe? from his face so he could talk more clearly to Vanik, laughing when he received the ensign's explanation. "Yeah? So do I, so do I - well, no, I believe in it, actually, I mean - fuck, I just met, like, Santa's... mom, I think? Name's Carol. Very sweet woman. She gave me - get this - her family recipes for cookies. And hot chocolate. I'm gonna make soooooo much of the stuff, my quarters're gonna smell like cookies for weeks."

5

Hanneth grinned cozy in his new scarf as he approached everyone. "We met Santa's mother!"

2

“Cookies? I am so hungry. Can I help? Or, can I help eat them?” And he laughed just a little, a noise Allan had never heard him make before. “Santa’s mom? That is illogical. But…this place defies logic.”

1

"Apparently Santa wished upon a shooting star to be Santa and thus became him. Do I have that right, Allen?" Hanneth was definitely cheerful and much less...serious than before. "Apparently it is magic, to them." (edited)

He laughed right with Vanik, finding the Vulcan's laugh very surprising but also contagious, and he was very glad to see him happy, too! "It does, yeah. But it's still logical, really, in a way. Like, you just have to consider the magic and all, and ... you know, we can ask Santa about that after he's done explaining whatever it is to Maya," he said, putting in that explanation as to what was occupying Santa's time at the moment given his last reply. "And yeah, Hanneth! Have that pretty much right. Oh, and Carol also said that we could totally be Santa too, if we like, met a Q or something, so. Yeah, there's that, too."

"I don't think it's magic, there's probably a scientific explanation," Nikiyta mentioned, a scientist and skeptic when it came to santa. There were many things they didn't know, but it didn't mean it was magic. "Yeah maybe Q or some non-corporeal being. There are tons of those in the galaxy."

“Do you think Santa’s Sleigh can travel at Warp 10 and not turn into salamanders like Admiral Janeway and Tom Paris?” He asked, suddenly very serious. His eyes were still huge though.

"Oh, maybe, yeah, we'll have to ask-" he tilted his head, starting to notice Vanik's eyes- "hey, Vanik, um - whose team were you on, again?"

Rii had definitely started to feel the weed brownies and was getting pretty high due to eating a full brownie. In hindsight, taking them might've not been the best idea, but. The fun brownies could've contained mint or a unique flavor. While everyone was talking about stuff, Rii and the many pieces of them were constructing snowmen! And by that, each of the seven pieces were all constructing their own snowman (edited)

7

"Now that you mention it, I heard that travelling warp 10 makes you be everywhere at once. Perhaps Santa just travelled warp 10?" Nikiyta thought aloud about what this 'santa magic' could be.

“Hm? I was with Captain Mo, Commander Rii, and some others.” He said, noticing Mo and Rii weren’t very far away. He looked over at Niki. “I think Santa is hiding an advanced warp engine in his sleigh.” Vanik had a glimmer in his eyes now, like he wanted to take the sleigh apart like a LEGO set. (edited)

"Okay, I- right, so-" he was going to go to either of those other officers before he heard the talk about warp 10 and looked at the sleigh, suddenly curious about the same thing.. "Huh, I mean, it could, but also, like, with extra magic involved...? Or - no, no, because he said we couldn't fix it when we got here. And we totally could fix it if it was a warp core."

"That would explain why his sack is so thick," Nikiyta stated, not trying to make it sound suggestive but it definitely came out that way. The funniest thing is Nikiyta actually knew what he was saying in Standard.

2

"Well you know what they say. Big mittens, big sack." Hanneth said straight faced but broke out into giggling at his own joke.

3

"I do not see how they correlate," Nikiyta did not get the joke at first and then-- ohhhhhh his white Aenar eyes widened and he nodded. "Wait.... wow," and then he proceeded to laugh with Hanneth.

Okay, yeah, after that joke, Allan was reminded to go talk to Mo, walking over to him and wrapping his fourth scarf back around his neck. "Hey, Mephistopheles, is ah... is Vanik-" he dropped his voice to a whisper just to be safe, because Vulcan hearing and all, "is he... good right now? Like, your team's all good and everything?"

2

He wasn't entirely sure the whispering would help, but regardless, he whispered back, "He ate some fun brownies."

4

"Ahhhh." He nodded, suddenly everything fell into place. "That makes... perfect sense, actually. Does he-" he looked at the cookie-brownie-sandwich in the Vulcan's hands, "is that... also the same brownie? That he's trying to offer to Santa right now?"

He had an amused smile on his face as he glanced over to the offered brownie. "Mhm. Should we tell 'im?"

Vanik did hear Allan and Mo whispering and turned away from the laughing Aenar and Bajoran to address his two superiors. "They were fun. They have sprinkles." And he held the brownie-cookie-sandwich up to show them.

7

He laughed a little, and then shook his head. "Eh. I feel like Santa'll just know like he knew all our names and stuff-" he snorted with laughter when Vanik turned to them and shared some lovely additional information about the brownies. "Oh, sprink- sprinkles, really? Are they colorful sprinkles?"

"I am a little jealous we didn't get fun brownies," Nikiyta heard talk about sprinkles and brownies. "I love brownies, especially with sprinkles."

"I enjoy the 'fun' brownies time to time. I'd say I was jealous but I did get to meet Santa's mom, and I got this cute scarf." Hanneth grinned. Seeing such a Vanik so cheerful, almost gleefull, was a stark contrast to how he knew Vulcans to be.

"My team did learn how to dougie, and moonwalk," Nikiyta shook his head side to side to jingle the little bells on his three santa hats. One one his head, two on his lil antennae.

"Mhmmm. And I got three cute scarves," Allan flipped the tail of one of them over his shoulder as emphasis, "in addition to the one I already had, so that's... four? Yeah, four." He looked at Mo, actually, to see if his nose was still red. "Do you need one, actually? I do have four. Wait, you-" he laughed yet again as he overheard Nikiyta, "you learned how to dougie and moonwalk? At - where?"

3

3

"Yeah we did! From one of the people in the houses. A Tak-Tak apparently, he really had the moves," And Nikiyta then proceeded to wiggle his body in his attempt to show off his new dance moves. Nikiyta was a so-so dancer, but he had great energy!

"90% of dancing well is enjoying it. If you are having fun, then it counts." Hanneth nodded approvingly.

4

His nose was less red than before, now that he had two scarves covering it, but still the bite of the cold left it pink. "We saw a giant isopod house."

5

"You need another?" He asked with a small tilt of his head and a teasing smile, and if Mo said yes, he gladly wrapped another scarf around his handsome face. "Giant isopod house? Is that a vision from the fun brownies or like, a real thing? I - so we've got a dancing house, a giant isopod house, and - you know, actually, we found a house with like, 30 cats in it."

Having safely made it back to their starting point along with the rest of their group, Quinn felt a need to decompress from what had just happened, having gotten all but entirely overwhelmed by the bizarre events that had unfolded, but despite that they couldn't help but feel... Oddly a little cheerful. They'd helped do some good, at least as far as they could tell, even though they still didn't understand a single thing about this place. Standing to one side away from the main chit chat, wearing their new scarf (which was surprisingly warm and comfortable, even with their beard) that complimented their earmuffs quite well, the doctor watched on with the tiniest hint of a smile as the group mingled, trying and failing to wrap their head around the mission they had been sent on. From expecting to help injured persons, to meeting someone who may or may not be Santa, to helping deliver presents via weird floating abilities. This wasn't a day they'd probably ever forget, that was for sure.

3

Vanik stared intently at Allan with the sweetest expression as he dressed Mo with the very soft-looking scarves. He desperately wanted to touch the scarves but hadn't lost so much of his inhibition that he would. Anyway, he laughed again and addressed Allan. "Yes, the sprinkles are rainbow colored. Also, the Captain did not eat any brownies in the very small house where we found them. But yes, the final house was an isopod house. Inside it was zero gravity. And there were lasers." He deadpan raised one eyebrow like he normally would, paused, and then laughed again.

3

In the background, Santa had been tending to the reindeer and the sleigh. It was still dark outside (because of course this colony followed the rules of winter to a T, and it wouldn't be bright again for hours), but it was nearing the time when the most excited of children would be getting up very early. The magic had almost finished regenerating: at the base of the sleigh and around the reindeer's hooves, little sparkles of Christmas-coloured green and red danced around. When approached by Vanik, Santa had sniffed the cookie-brownie combo and accepted it gingerly with a half grimace, half smile. "I think I'll give this one to the elves," he had commented before stowing it away.

5

Rubi had also returned with her team, and was looking around the woodland, admiring the sparkles appearing around the sleigh and the reindeer. Her whole childhood... it finally was complete. She'd seen Santa, seen the reindeer. Every single Christmas night she had stayed up to meet him, left out a paper and a pen for his signature (and been left disappointed when the paper was blank the next morning), it was all worth it. She had met the man himself. Santa Claus. And not only had she met him. She had been one of the lucky few to help him! "Mr Santa Claus, sir, it was an honour to be able to help you this Christmas!"

4

Shook his head. He didn't need three scarves. "50 cats? Sounds like a serious hoarding situation. I hope they're okay. The isopod house was - here, lemme show you." And so he showed Allan the pictures he had definitely taken of the isopod house.

2

"I like 50 cats in theory, but in reality I think i'd need 50 hypos," Nikiyta said, who was sadly, very allergic to cats.

5

The fellow engineer listened to Vanik, he really did, and thank God Vanik had laughed, because he sure did too. It really was contagious, it seemed. "There - zero gravity and lasers. All in the isopod house... that's-" he turned back to Mo. "Incredible. And no, no, thirty, good Lord, not fifty," as if that was a whole lot better - well, actually, yeah, that was almost half better. He pulled up his camera and showed Mo the pictures of the cats while he was shown the isopod house photos.

"Thirty cats?! That's still a lot." Konstantin said as he couldn't help but overhear the conversations that were happening. And he sort of wished that they would have gotten some.. fun cookies as well but they had not, sadly. He walked over to a pile of snow and began making a snowball, a hard round compact snowball perfect for throwing it at someone but he would not be the one to initiate a snowball fight.. At least not yet.

"They're all very cute, though. Wish I'd seen 'em. By the way, you could give Santa one of your many scarves if you wanna. It's a pity he gives so much and never receives..." He turned to Santa. "When's your birthday, Mr. Claus?" What if it was the 25th, same as his? That would be wild.

4

3

"Me?" He asked and looked to Mo, having been busy watching some of the reindeer start to kick off and float around. They moved their legs in mid-air like they were walking. "The 15th of March. Not a very Christmassy date, people like to point out!"

6

"Weren't the cats singing Christmas songs? Or am I just unaware of what Christmas songs are and they were just screaming?" Hanneth asked sincerely. "They were quite loud, but friendly, though I do think I have some claw marks in my skin from them using me as a climbing post." His uniform still had quite a bit of fur stuck to it. Despite trying to brush it off with his hand, it mostly just got smeared around. (edited)

4

"Wish I'd seen the isopod house," he said, and then listened as Santa shared his birthday. Huh. "I think they were definitely singing Christmas songs. Just, like. Cat Christmas songs. Catsmas songs? Um, Santa - do you want a scarf, actually? Technically, some of these might've been yours at some point, I got 'em from your mom, but this one, uh..." he held up his engineering yellow scarf with the delta on it. "This one I had before we got here. It's, um. Because I'm an engineer, and - oh, speaking of, Vanik and I kinda wanna know, do you have a juiced up warp core in that thing, or is it just all the magic, or a bit of both, and if it's magic, how does the magic..."

4

The man beamed at the offer of a scarf - and also of the mention of his mother, because of course it would be her distributing scarves. Christmas kindness ran in the family! "I would love a scarf, thank you very much, Allan!" As soon as it was handed over, Santa had it wrapped around his neck. It contrasted with the red of the rest of his outfit, but oh well! "And you mean the sleigh? No warp core - just magic. A long time ago, when I was young, I wished on a shooting star that Christmas was real. The shooting star was a passing Q who blessed the colony. For a long time they pretended to be Santa, and then when I was old enough, I took over. I've been Santa ever since."

8

"Yeah, totally-" he gladly handed the scarf over, and hey, it might have contrasted, but it was still a good scarf! Extra fluffy. "So, no juiced up warp core..." he almost looked disappointed at that, but the mention of taking over the role of Santa from a Q thing had him smiling again. "Honestly? That's pretty damn cool. So like, theoretically, if you were to ever retire, you'd have to give the role to someone else, right? Someone with experience?"

When Allan looked disappointed, he looked disappointed. Santa brought his hands together and cupped them. In the middle, there was a sparkle of green and red magic - and suddenly, he was holding a light-up warp core bauble. He held it out to Allan. "I suppose if I was to retire, someone new would have to take my place... I don't suppose you're asking me to consider you?"

6

5

5

"Goddamn. Q really are powerful. Nice that they can be benevolent sometimes, too." Also, Santa just straight up did magic? Like, he had been the whole time, really, but making something appear like that really took the cake. Wild. If only that one engineering guy could see this. What was his name? Serene?

"Ho- holy shit," he whispered, his green eyes practically sparkling as he took the little warp core bauble, "that's - thank you, oh my God, I... uh - yeah, actually, um - your mom already put in a good word for me, so, you know, just... for your consideration, really, in however long it is. I'd actually super love it. I loved... this, all of this, is it - can we like, is it okay if we take like, some group photos? Tooootally cool if not, but like, I have some friends will probably think I'm like, crazy enough to be sent to the medbay if I tell them about any of this."

5

"Oh please, I'd love a photo - and so would they!" He gestured his head in the direction of the reindeer. All nine of them had started to float - the magic was almost regenerated. "Let's help you to spread some Christmas cheer. And that goes for those who don't celebrate it, or if they celebrate something else. Faith and love in one another is what makes this time of year truly magical. Always remember that."

8

Having been there the whole time but just ✨enchanted✨ by the magic, Essen was all along with the group and posed for the group picture! Cheeeeeese! And Essen looked back to Santa. "Truer words have never been spoken, Mister Claus," Essen said. At this point in time Essen was truly on the best behavior she'd ever been in. It was rather odd. But, also, rather peaceful. She didn't really feel like being a little devil right now. She simply looked up at Santa, with awe. Sure, part of it was to ensure she was on the nice list. But at the same time, she thought -- 'Have I ever been on the nice list? Things have been near shit almost my entire life and I've never taken it well until I met Kaylee. Maybe it really is about loving one another after all.' In that moment, Essen considered asking Santa to bring back her father Senutt for just one day for Christmas. She opened her mouth to do so, but upon realizing what she was asking, she closed it, shaking her head 'no' instead. In that moment she didn't know what to ask Santa for. Perhaps it was a happy new year for her and Kaylee. Perhaps it was for her mother to heal on her recovery journey. But for right this second, Essen refrained from saying anything further. (edited)

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"Oh, fucking perfect, okay, bet," he grinned, nodding in agreement with Santa - and, upon hearing that last bit about faith and love being magical, he grabbed Mo's hand, pulling him over. And then he excitedly got out his camera, took some shots, and then eagerly gathered everyone who wanted to be in the pictures together in a group (maybe having to pull Vanik and Rii a little bit due to their varying levels of sobriety). "Very true, yeah," he said in reply to Essen, really just taking a whole bunch of pictures with whoever wanted them, honestly, just having an amazing time, laughing and occassionally taking some videos of people going about in the snow and the reindeer floating, "oh, Santa, do we - so, your mom, she said you got strong because of the cookies she fed you, but that's the magic too, right? Or a bit of both?" Listen, he had to get all his questions out!!

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He was surprised to be yoinked over there, but went along with it; after all, even he kinda wanted a whimsical selfie with Santa! "Everybody say Christmas Trees."

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Hanneth posed with the rest, scarf around him, and a big lopsided grin. "Christmas tree!"

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Briefly pulled from her internal angst stint, Essen smiled again. "Christmas Treesssss!"

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Rii's pieces had constructed various sizes of...What appeared to be attempts at building snowmen, but it looked more like balls of snow. Allan managed to get Rii's head for the picture, but many of the other pieces of their organism were still continuing to make the balls of snow for the snowmen. Rii and their colony were having the time of their life. This was one of the best Christmas away missions ever! (edited)

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He climbed up onto the first step of the sleigh so he could stand behind the officers but still be visible. Behind him, the reindeer posed dramatically. "Cookies, magic - who knows? Eat your vegetables too, they're good for you. Christmas trees!"

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Not big on selfies but feeling a little... Festive, Quinn decided they'd probably regret not joining in, and so they too got in on the selfie, although decided against saying Christmas trees. Despite that, though, they still found themself smiling for the picture, quite enjoying the moment.

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"Vegetables, cookies, magic, okay, pretty good checklist, alright, thanks-" he grinned as he said 'Christmas trees' with the rest of the group, and then after the photo, he turned back, swinging Mo's hand idly in his own, kinda just having a lot of joy bundled up in him right now, "so, just so we're on the same page here, you won't forget me, right? I mean, my name's Allan Allen. My parents made it pretty easy to remember."

"Christmas tree!" Konstantin said shuffling to a good position with a big smile. Best away mission ever, clearly. Helping Santa what could be better? And even a photograph?

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"Don't worry, Allan Allen. I never forget a name." With that he climbed up onto the sleigh properly to take his seat. The sleigh rumbled as if responding, like it was showing it was ready to go. "Now Dasher, now Dancer; now Prancer and Vixen," he called to the reindeer, and with each name the reindeer stopped their floating and returned to the sleigh, ready to ride. "On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen! And now, Rudolph, you take the lead: and to everyone else here, thank you for saving Christmas with such speed!"

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