Promenade 2.0 & Tyrella Nano-Virus

[Grizz]

When a new face appears on your station and buys out an entire deck, what do you do? Attend her kick-ass launch parties, of course! After ~TF~ kindly delivered a working version of Vanderbilt to our doorstep, with a revised Promenade, the door was open for a few changes. Changes which I've been looking for an excuse to implement since the series began.

After Gaila's swift semi-removal from the roleplay early in the first season, the Promenade has been a little vacant. The bar held a tense stand off in a late Griff-i-sode and Professor Fox held on to one of the six establishments on the deck, but it wasn't really being used as it should. So this was an opportunity for me to introduce a new character as a the new face of the Promenade. A professional is willing to get stuck in to the work on an intimate level.

But somebody whose intentions aren't entirely clear. Off the bat, she used the as-of-yet unexplained explosion on the Promenade to swoop in and buy a number of business owners out of their retail space. Then she loans out that space to several members of the crew (including Tabor & Adams) while asking nothing in return. She's making nice with the crew, handing out bulks of stock for free and keeps her establishments clean of wrongdoing - so Commander Costello won't be tripping up over any stolen goods behind the bar in The Outer Space club any time soon.

Kensi Shaw is a character I will be returning to at many a possible moment. Seeing the crew during off-hours is a very important thing for me. With a new push on character development this season, I'm sure we will be spending more time in and around Outer Space. But more pressingly, we already found out that Shaw is getting caught up in something big.

In 2383, the crew of Asteroid Base: Alpha responded to the distress call of an alien transport vessel. On arrival, they found that the crew was afflicted by a virus. This was determined to be a synthetic nano-virus. The Tyrella Nano-Virus, as it is now known. The ship was destroyed by Doctor Rush, to prevent the outbreak from spreading, and no survivors remain. No information was recovered on their species, where they came from, or how they came to be plagued by the virus.

Three years on and the Tyrella Nano-Virus gets it's first mention since that day. I can assure you that similarly to how the Accobarians/Halkonians got their big moment, the origins of the Tyrella virus are fast approaching a reveal in the biggest possible way. Sooner or later, somebody is going to end up dead.

Is Kensi Shaw a worthwhile addition to Pioneer Station - or should she go the way of her Ferengi predecessor?