[snip]

For instance, if the female Tri-Council member’s name were to translate as “Man-Conqueror” or “Gynocentric-Warrior” that would be a give-away.

=/\=Thank you, er… Our Universal Translator machine has been having some slight problems with unfamiliar terms and names, =/\= Glen told the Tri-Council unnamed female. =/\=Please could you repeat your name again? =/\=

=/\= Of course Captain, my name is Falee =/\= She said this time to the UT getting it right.

Glen nodded to indicate that the UT had translated correctly. He didn’t note any significance in that name. Hopefully the UT had now overcome its glitches.

Tia listened from the back of their group. She was more suited to the engineering sections and crawl spaces than Council chambers and First Contact discussions. As the questions of Kord’s coloring came up, she stiffened a moment. It wasn’t overt or highly visible and she quickly forced herself to relax. Being the last of his kind, she wondered many times if discussing his race was a hard thing for him to do. As he answered with all the dignity and professionalism she would expect him to uphold, she also couldn’t help wonder at the pain that was possibly under the surface as she wondered how long before someone recognized his past tense reference to his kind.

When the option came to ask questions, she couldn’t think of any that weren’t directly in line with the status of the ship they had accompanied back. She was no diplomat and knew nothing she was apt to query about would be of any consequence to anyone else.

=/\= I see your governing body is a trinary body. Is there a significance? Religious, caste, something else? =/\= Kord asked.

=/\= We are representatives of the three major tribes on our planet, Commander Kord. We are then each given advice by our advising council when needed =/\= Falee explained.

Inola nodded, remembering the information she had received from the Third on the ship.

A gong sounded somewhere nearby and the three Alstair females smiled in turn, Falee turned her attention back to the away party. =/\= Ah Captain it would appear our regional chefs have finished preparing some sample platters for your team to try. If you would like to continue our discourse over some finger food and drinks we could go now if you like?=/\= She said.

=/\= Splendid! We would appreciate the honour and the opportunity to continue to converse more informally. =/\= replied Captain Glen.

-Glen, CO