Playing a Delicate Game
Posted on Sat Oct 28th, 2023 @ 9:48pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Lorut Vila & Lieutenant Daisheliss "Lissa" Kerr & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell
2,683 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
First Contact
Location: USS Intrepid: Diplomatic Suite
Timeline: MD2: 0800 hours
Typically, Max hated the standard dress uniform, but with the advent of the new uniform, it seemed Starfleet had bothered with developing another new one. Dressed in his in the uncomfortable, new dress uniform, Max stepped out of the turbolift to find Rena and Vila waiting for him.
“Let’s hope breakfast goes better than opening them up in sickbay went last night,” he suggested seriously.
Lissa approached from down the corridor. It was her first day on the on the Intrepid as the Chief Intelligence officer. She planned to remain mostly quiet at this meeting, she was not only trying to learn about the Helivans, but the dynamics of crew.
"Let's," Vila replied. She turned to lead the other three. The Counselor, she'd learnt, was one of the Captain's confidantes, and also, her skills were useful. Vila appreciated that.
Rena smiled. "They're calmed down now. The Princess is apologetic and embarrassed by the actions of her second hand," Rena said. "I think the shock was a lot. I am glad that we didn't act too rashly," she said.
“We weren’t the ones who started stabbing people as soon as we woke up,” Max lashed, perhaps a little too quickly. “Sorry, let’s get First Contact initiated properly and we’ll chalk up the stabbing to stasis psychosis.”
Vila made a face. "I remember the first time the Federation came to liberate us from the...labor camps. A few of the older men were a bit...combative. My brother. The trauma and fear..." she saw Rena nod out of the corner of her eye. "I understand, is all." She settled in as they arrived at the Ready Room. "I've been in contact with Command already," she said.
Max could sense the unease in Vila as she explained her liberation from the Cardassians, the trouble the Bajorans had accepting Federation assistance. “Alright,” he said, a bit less moody, “let’s make sure we make a better second impression.”
Walking through the doors, Max made a slight bow to the trio, arranged much the way they were. Max stood at the lead for his group and the Princess at the lead for hers. “Welcome aboard the USS Intrepid, my name is Maxwell Culver and I represent the United Federation of Planets.”
“It is our duty to respond to distress calls, as we responded to yours. We were surprised to find you had developed warp capability and are fleeing your planet. It’s very uncommon for people in your developmental stage to create a warp drive. It’s a very impressive achievement.”
Rustav spoke first. "And my apologies for my rash actions in the medical facility. It was just a surprise - a strange alien staring at you isn't the first thing you'd wish to see when you've woken up from stasis," he paused. "The warp drive is the Princess's doing. She is quite clever."
In one of her travels, the young woman had found the idea of a warp drive. She had brought the schematics back and had had some of the best Helivan engineers create one.
“Clever is an understatement. Starfleet didn’t create a warp drive for almost another hundred years from where your people are technologically otherwise,” Max explained. He extended his hand to the seating area. “This is my Executive Officer, Commander Vila Lorut. Her species is Bajoran. My Counselor, Rena Campbell, is half Betazoid, half human. She’s empathic. Finally, our Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Lissa Kerr. We would very much like to come in and learn more about you and your people. Do you mind?”
Rena manipulated the air as Max spoke. She imbued a sense of calm and trust. She ignored the glares from the XO as she did so.
"I don't mind," said the woman, and Rustav gestured them in. The Princess remained silent. "In Heliv, it is a custom to bring guests a refreshment. I have checked out this...machine," she indicated the replicator. "Can I get you something? There's no Heliv pine tea in it, but I do like the one labeled "Irish Breakfast." What is that?" she asked.
“I’ll have some fresh tea and scones made,” Max assured her. “While we wait, please, tell us your names and how you came to be in a warp capable shuttle, but in stasis tubes."
Rula looked at the others. "We were going to the Romulan colony on the next planet for help. Our atmosphere has been changing and we're not sure why. We're finally at a place where we were desperate. The Romulan colony there have been neutral to us, and us to them, for the past century," she said. "We were looking for advice, help, supplies." She paused. "We got thrown off course by an unexpected ion storm. We were forced into stasis when our ship went into autopilot to save necessary resources. Our ship, you already likely know, are former Romulan Empire cargo ships. We retrofitted them to remove the firepower-we're a peaceful people who wanted to be left alone."
“I assume you were hoping to reach your warp one ships, or someone on the planet with your distress call?!” Max both questioned and assumed.
Rustav nodded. "Yes. We were. Hopefully the colony, as Runa explained. They patrol the space in this Quadrant," he said. "But then you came along. We have heard of you - the Federation of Planets," he said. He wasn't impressed.
Max actually chuckled. “Well, surely you know that the Romulan Star Empire has collapsed as the dominant power in the Quadrant? The recognized government has given us the responsibility to follow up with their interests in the Beta Quadrant.”
The man shrugged. "That may be. We don't care about your politics. We just know that they have supplies we need, and we have supplies THEY need," he said.
“But that’s changed now,” Max interjected. “Romulus and Remus were destroyed, the Romulans won’t be trading supplies with you anytime soon. On top of that, your planet has been reduced to little more than a desert. What could you possibly have for them besides a planet they might terraform?”
Lissa quietly processed what the Helvians were saying. It had been more than centuries since the Romulans would have considered any world neutral enough to permit them to enter their space - much less render them aid. For over 200 years the Romulans have been xenophopic, secretive, and aggressively protective of their space. These individuals were truly from a different time - if they were telling the truth.
Vila passed out cups of tea and placed a tray of cookies and pastry on the table. She settled in.
"I see. Why you three, though?" she asked.
The Princess Filia finally sat, her back ramrod straight, before she began, "I chose to leave - I left my father, the reigning Monarch, my mother, the Queen, and my brother, the Heir Apparent - to run things. I have always been a bit…eccentric, as my mother says. So it wasn't a difficult decision for me to do what was necessary for my people," she finally spoke. "I have seen other worlds, traveled this part of the Quadrant often.”
“Of course, Mother wouldn't let me go alone. I had to bring these two. My personal advisor, Runa Belu, and her husband, my Guardian, Rustav Belu They've been with my family for nearly a century," she said. "We're long lived people - my grandfather had seen 300 rains when he died," Filia responded in perfect Federation Standard.
The older woman clarified for them. "That's about...how do they say, two hundred and fifty Earth years," she said. "Even as a little girl, her mother and I couldn't hold the Princess Filia back - she was interested in EVERYTHING. How the planet worked, and the sun and moon," she said. "It only makes sense a diplomat and scholar of her caliber is permitted to leave," she said. "The planet is changing. A virus has befallen us - only about fifteen hundred remain - as of when we left. The Princess Filia thinks this is due to the change of climate affecting our crops and the way our food animals eat," the Elder Stateswoman said.
“Even from this distance, we’ve determined that your planet won’t support life very long, even with such diminished numbers in your population. Within months, everything on the surface will be scorched and inedible. We’ve detected your two other ships. We can set a course to rendezvous with them. It wouldn’t be difficult to repair your ship and we would be honored to provide you with an escort.”
Vila's scientific mind was already at work. She smiled.
"We would, Captain. Perhaps you and Mister Belu would give us ladies some space?" Runa asked. "We can have a bit of girl talk. Besides, I am a trained scientist. The Princess and I can speak on that subject at length." Runa looked pointedly at Culver.
"I assure you, Mister Belu, we will be safe," she said.
Lissa watched the interaction, wondering how the Helivan - guard was it? - would react.
Max was surprised by the request, but there was no reason not to disallow it. Perhaps it was a more matriarchal society that they had encountered. After a short time, Max simply responded, “Of course. I will personally vouch for the safety of the women as they discuss…whatever it is they would like to discuss.”
Looking to Rustav, Max slapped his thighs and rose. “I think Mister Belu may like a visit to the holodeck for a game of Velocity.”
Max turned to Rustav. “Velocity is a game of marksmanship, played by opposing players but entirely safe. The only thing you might take away is a sense of accomplishment or embarrassment. Or maybe just happy you don’t have a knife in your gut.”
Max chuckled as he looked at the women in his crew and nodded. He had faith in them to be able to speak to the Helivans. He had a thought to have Lieutenant Dove join them, but she was busy fixing the Helivan shuttle.
“I think that sounds quite interesting, Captain,” Rustav said as the men exited the room, leaving the women to their discourse.
“But I wonder if we have the time…” Max’s voice trailed off into the corridor.
As the captain exited, one of the servers brought through a tray with hot tea, milk, cream, sugar and scones of many varieties, all hand made. The diplomatic suites had a nice galley of its own with fresh food.
When they were alone, Vila settled back. She did better with women, though still not great in groups.
"Alright. Anyone want something to drink? Miss Kerr, why don't you begin while I pour more tea." She started to do such.
"Well, I think we were hoping to learn more about your world," Lissa started. "There is some debate between a virus and climate change. Can you tell us about how your world works. What sort of buildings and industry are they involved in? What kind of technology do you use to provide power sources do you use? Like electricity, how does your planet produce it?"
Lissa was trying to get a feel for how industrialized the planet was, without feeding them too much information. She wondered if they could have been inadvertently polluting their atmosphere, as so many world have during their evolution.
The older woman spoke again. "We use nuclear fusion," she said. "We're a small planet, and Filia's grandfather wasn't excited about updating things," she said.
"We've been slowly trying to bring us into modern times but our population is small, and dwindling more and more, and the atmospheric changes have been more pressing." She took the tea the other woman poured out. "Thank you. Your Captain used the phrase "twenty first century", which may be true.”
“Until Princess Filia began to explore and get her schooling, we didn't leave our space much...most of our technology is from earlier generations who visited other systems and, of course, the Romulan Star System. We had been, once, to Betazed, though that was a disaster," she said. "I've only heard oral tellings of the tale, but we weren't welcomed. They thought we were working directly with the Romulans," she said. "The oldest technology we have is about 200 years old, from around your date of 2000," she reported.
"And there are Royals, obviously," Lissa started. "What about the others. Are there classes of people? Workers? What jobs do your workers perform?"
"We are a mostly agrarian society," the Princess replied. "We have a class system, yes, insofar as we have the Monarchy - and the not-monarchy - but we also have a representative Parliament," she said. "Your ancient country of England is a good, close example of our system. Along with that, we have a national police force, a national Science council, and a University," she said. "As for jobs, you can be..anything. The poorest are, of course, the farmers and agrarians, but we also need teachers, builders. People like that. The Royal house ourselves employ three hundred people for our day-to-day operations, as well as one hundred fifty crew for formal events and things like that. We also have a national news service-both physical papers and a television program," she said. "My older brother, Joris, runs that."
"Fascinating," Lissa responded with a warm smile, though she had definitely caught on that there was inequality between the classes. "And you say the Romulans had previously been friendly with your people?" she asked. Romulan subterfuge was definitely not outside the realm of possibilities of what may have happened to their planet. Especially if it were so close to their space.
The Princess nodded this time. "As friendly as they can be," she said, in a tone that indicated that she regarded them with weariness. "They introduced us to warp technology," she said. "My grandfather was a great man, and a brainiac - I suppose that's where I get it from - and formed an alliance of sorts with them.”
“We leave them alone, they leave us alone, and it's good. Only once has the alliance been broken. The Twenty Years' War. My father had just ascended, and the Romulan senate took it a sign to invade. It lasted...well, twenty years, until a peace agreement was reached and the Alliance re-signed," she sighed. "When we leave Heliv, we try to go the other way, to avoid crossing into their space, and they do the same.”
“I don't think I've seen them even doing exercises over Heliv for...a decade, at least." She said. "My biggest concern at the moment is that the changes to the atmosphere is something they've done. Is that possible?"
Max felt the chronometer on his wrist buzz. An indication that the women were ready for their return. Truth be told, he was happy to have stopped in the galley and be interrupted eating than while playing Velocity.
It buzzed a second time and Max silenced it. “It seems the ladies would like us to return. I owe you a game of Velocity before we go our separate ways.”
“If there is time, Captain. All this Pomp and Circumstance will go to our Princess’s head, I am certain. It has been a long time since she had space, a comfortable bed with clean linens and fresh food. I may not know what this is, but I do know it’s GOOD! No, I fear for her when we rendezvous with the other ships.”
“How so?” Max asked, a sincere concern in his tone.
“We are with the Princess. We have the best supplies. We have the most food. I am worried for what we might find on those other ships.”
“Well, one more day, so we can seem to be your escort. Then we will find your people. We will feed them and care for their illnesses. Just one more day, Rustav,” Max promised.
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