A Bit Of This For That (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 14 Aug 2017 @ 12:57pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Rear Admiral Nathan West & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Ambassador Soral Varro

2,695 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - San Francisco
Timeline: MD 19, 0903 hrs

[ON]

Allyndra felt a little funny that she was not in uniform at this point. Instead she had a replicated Trellium silk dress on which did not catch the colours like the real thing. That garment had been lost along with the Galileo and there was not time to get a new one from her home world. She also wore her house colours of silver and pinned to the breast of the tight bodice was the emblem of House Warraquim with gems inlaid just above, one yellow and one red. Only the mother of the house would be allowed that.

Varro had thought that perhaps it would be best to dress in her civilian rank in order to more impress the powers with the proposal that he had in his hands. The day before a copy of the proposal had been sent to the various officials before the meeting for day.

The Council was not happy with the proposal but then again this was a request by the Mother of House Warraquim and that carried a lot of weight. She was sure that there would be more to be discussed when she went home.

In the proposal was to drop any and all charges against her and in return a small outpost would be allowed on an outer world. It was thin, but Varro had indicated that they would start with that and see where negotiations would take them, presuming there would be any at all. The fact, that they had gotten an appointment at all bespoke that there was some hope.

"Well Varro," Allyndra said shifting in the stiff dress. "I feel like between that human saying, and hard place and a rock. I think I can only negotiate away only so much without full Council approval. This is rare in the extreme."

Varro gave a nod. "Well we will both do our best. Diplomacy is never easy."

"Never, perhaps I should just accept my fate rather then try to negotiate away from it? Still I have a House that I could run but then I am not sure I am ready yet to give up this life either. I must say Varro that it seems that I feel an outsider even on my own world."

Varro gave a nod. "It is often this way. You can have both you know, lead the house and be here in a more official capacity then just CMO."

Allyndra cocked her head. "Perhaps, right now I will admit to being selfish and just wanting to keep what I have in the Fleet. Akkadia and House Warraquim is another thing at all and that I suspect will be not be a pleasant task either."

She sighed and just then the aide that was at the desk looked up and said, "They are ready, you can go in." Allyndra stood and placed a hand gently on Varro's arm. "Well here we go. May the Twins bless."

He gave Allyndra's hand a gentle pat. "We will both do our best."

Allyndra followed Varro in. She briefly glanced at the two people inside one of whom she recognized. She was not in uniform, so rather then a come to attention she instead gave a small curtsy.

"Sirs," she said, "thank you for seeing us."

Varro smiled to himself at Allyndra's curtsy. He gave a nod to those in the room.

West’s eyes took in the woman before him and instantly he suppressed viciously a smile that threatened to spread over his face. The calculus had changed and in his favor. The commander entering this room not as the Commander bit as the House Mother bodes well for him. She wanted to stay in the fleet. He stood and bowed.

"Welcome Allyndra, Mother named of House Warraquim." He said and then joy waited for the response.

"Thank you Admiral," Allyndra replied and then nodded to Varro. "I believe you know the ambassador already." She turned her attention to the other person in the room. "I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting?"

"No, we haven't," answered the previously silent gray-collared woman who was present in the room observing the interaction between West, Varro, and the winged-woman. Her azure eyes showed slight creases at the corners and the silver strands of hair near her temples betrayed her age. "I'm Commodore Varen, Starfleet Intelligence. I'm here to help...oversee the negotiation your people have proposed to us."

Allyndra made a very slight dip toward the Commodore. She then looked to Varro, "Would please make our proposal then sir?"

Varro stepped forward. "As the good doctor said, we have a proposal and would appreciate your assistance." He gestured to the chairs. "Let us sit down I believe that that we can be of great help to one another, and Starfleet."

West resumed his seat and waited for the rest to follow and then eyed the Ambassador. Communicating non-verbally that all eyes and ears were on him.

Along with her superior, Varen approached her chair, pulled it out slightly, and then slipped into a comfortable sitting position with her legs crossed. "Continue, please."

Varro thought a moment, "We can all agree that Doctor Warraquim's world is still very foreign to us. It is an untapped jewel that we all want to know about. I know the Vulcan's have been lobbying for it. In fact I've discussed this proposal with the Vulcan council and they are eager to assist in anyway possible. In fact they have offered to supply a ship for the cause. Strategically it's a great place for us to have a presence. That being said her planet has resisted so far and Starfleet has not pushed. I posit that it is possible to have a presence and not be intrusive." He waited for it to sink in. "Am I right in thinking this is something that we'd be just as interested in as the Vulcans?"

West nodded "You are correct, please continue."

"What if I was to tell you that there is a way to ensure that we have a small three man outpost placed on Ryn, which is a small Class M moon around the Lock. There would have to be restrictions of course for comings and goings but I'm sure we could come to some agreement that's good for both parties and it would cost Starfleet very little." He paused to let that sink in. "I mean we could observe, work to learn the culture, trade medical knowledge and have a new ally," Varro said.

Allyndra had taken a seat and sat as if she was in the Council chamber, bolt upright. Of course, the costume did not allow for slouching of any kind either. She kept her mouth shut for the moment but a couple things partially startled her. She was unaware that Vulcan, one of the Federation's founder members and one of Earth's closest allies was that interested. The second was the way ally was mentioned. Akkadia was allied but it was a loose arrangement, there was no way she could vouch and was pretty sure the Council would turn down membership.

Varro looked at those assembled. "So the offer, gentlemen and ladies, is full charges are dropped in respect to the Nehret syndrome and Starfleet gets a very small three man outpost observation on Ryn the M class moon around the Lock with some reasonable restrictions on comings and goings." Varro knew that they would not go for it but he thought he'd try it. "Agreeable?"

The scoff that Varen was about to project was quickly suppressed by years of intelligence training. Yet, as much as she attempted to keep her expression neutral, her fingers danced together under the table while she leaned over to speak quietly in West's ear. "Sir...this proposal gives us petty recompense," she started, her voice a soft whisper among the silence. "We should be granted full rights to construct an outpost with both logistic and intelligence capabilities. We need to explore beyond the frontier, and this world is a strategic location for fleet resupply. And it would give us critical data of the Akkadian's technological capabilities.."

West remained silent just a half a second longer than was typical allowing the Ambassador to guess West's answer to the proposal before he spoke.

"While that offer is very generous it is not quite strong enough to remove the charge that is currently against the Commander. I would suggest a full Class 4 logistics and intelligence starbase with no personnel restrictions from our end with regards to staffing the base. I am more than happy to allow for restricted personnel movement to the primary home planet. We would also appreciate a secondary intelligence base on Akkadia VII. This would allow me to drop all charges and place a letter of reprimand in the Commander's file." As West stopped speaking his eyes turned to Warraquim and then back to Varro.

Varen cast a brief sideways glance at West, which revealed her content of his counter-proposal with subtle creases at the corner of her eyes. Intelligence was invaluable, after all, and if they could collect information on the sectors of space surrounding the Akkadian planet, it would open up an all new area of space to visit and colonize.

Allyndra shook her head. "I am sorry there is no way that even Warraquim could convince the Council in the current state of things to let that many off worlders in. I do not think they would care much if you nose around the outer planets but a single base is about all they might be willing to go for." She thought a moment, "A ten person base, and allowance for temporary expeditions of five scientists to Hulibria and Anesidora to study flora and fauna?" She herself would be interested in that. Oh, it might be in the archives somewhere but right now there was not a whole lot know of the flora and fauna of frozen Huibria or the steamy dangerous jungles of Anesidora.

West looked to the Commodore beside him and waited for her response. Things were going quite well thus far and he violently suppressed a smirk as he listened.

The commodore frowned and looked at her superior once more before replying. "I don't understand this," she paused and looked down at her PADD to review some of the Akkadian cultural details she'd previously noted, "restriction on personnel. Don't your people want closer relations with the Federation?" Varen asked. "They must if they will allow us this concession. So why are limits being placed on our operational structure? What difference does ten, fifty, or one hundred of our people make?" she asked.

Allyndra turned to gaze at the commodore. There was so much that she could not say, and so much that what she could, may not make a lot of sense. "Most of council commodore is highly conservative. Akkadia has kept to itself for so long, it is only House Warraquim that has pushed much to move forward with contact with others. While there are other houses that are starting to come around, things move with considerable slowness at times."

Allyndra then smiled slightly, "Besides, we can be nothing more than an allied world by your own laws and standards. We have no warp technology of our own. Thus since we cannot be a member planet, we must be continue to exercise caution in whom we show favourtism to. That is the current reality. Thus, I would ask that you give us, Akkadia time to get more used to not being quite so isolated."

The commodore cleared her throat with the end of a small fist to her mouth, then looked back down at her PADD. It was interesting that the Galileo commander had just mentioned Akkadian propulsion devices...

"Our intelligence reports of your people seem to show that you have other technology besides warp capability. Something more efficient and advanced, that you refer to as 'fold drives'. Is this correct?" Varen asked.

Varro cleared his throat and spoke to Varen, "Starfleet regulations forbid us to give technology to races less developed then ours. It's part of the prime directive. To advance a civilization before it's ready would have effects that can be catastrophic. Now even if such a ship did exist it would be well more advanced and we cannot ask them to give us that." He decided to play another card too, "This...fold drive you speak of. What was your source?" He'd bet his goat she wouldn't reveal the source. He had to take the conversation away from the fold ships. He didn't think Starfleet was ready for them.

West spoke up, "There is a large difference between providing warp technology to a civilization that has yet to master the wheel and allies assisting with the development of a more efficient faster than light engine. As to your point about Starfleet regulations as you and the Mother so eloquently pointed out, Akkadia is not a part of the Federation or Star Fleet so applying our regulations and laws on them would be a breach of their Sovereignty. The Mother also did not answer the Commodore's question as to why an allied civilization would be so adverse to the comings and goings of such technologically under developed individuals as Star Fleet would be able to field. If my counter proposal is not to your liking I await yours with extreme anticipation."

Allyndra could not help but sit even more upright when the commodore mentioned fold drive. She had told others about the fold ships but had asked they be kept a secret. It was obvious that someplace, sometime either somebody had broken that or there was something more going on. She was interested as well as to what the source was.

She took a breath and answered, "There is nothing to share there. It was said that long ago the A'ksu developed something that allowed one to move from one place to another in seemingly no time. Much was lost and it was decided to put away such technology. I am afraid it has been lost to history." The later was a lie but hopefully that would put things away. "For many generations we have lived only a simple life."

As to the Admiral, she turned and said, "Sir, as I said, we have for generations led a simple life, Akkadia no longer has much technology and due to the past technology has been frowned upon. As to an answer, it is hard without knowing our history." She took a deep breath. "It is said that we nearly destroyed ourselves with devices. The Houses that exist today came from that time. It was decided that we make each dependent upon the other, to learn to get along and at the same time, much technology was gotten rid of. The comings and goings then of the Federation represents that technology that so many have been told was wrong, evil, something to be avoided." She shrugged, "Perhaps we went to far, I think so and thus why we have been slowly feeling our way toward others that still have advanced technology. I ask that you realize that such technology represents what has been taught for generations as something painful in our past and understand why then I request those restrictions."

Varro listened to Allyndra. He had one more tactic he had yet to try, "Ladies and gentlemen I suggest a break in negotiation at this point." They had been going for two hours now talking, negotiating. "After the break we could either reconvene and we will present our final offer." He needed time to talk to Allyndra. He had a plan. He hopped the brass went with it.

"Yes, of course, ambassador," replied Varen who was grateful for the quick break to reconcile her thoughts with her superior.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Medical Officer
Mother Named of House Warraquim

CDRE Varen
Starfleet Intelligence
[PNPC Saalm]

Ambassador Soral Varro
Diplomat
Starfleet

Nathan West
Rear Admiral
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence
Starfleet Headquarters, Earth

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