Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Governor’s Office- Diplomatic Overtures

Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in Governor’s Office- Diplomatic Overtures

Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in Governor’s Office- Diplomatic Overtures
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

At that ever so gentle mental brush, she closed her eyes, a deep sigh slipping from her lips. Bending forward, Eela braced her arms on her thighs and held her glass, letting her eyes open and take in the view. She remained silent for a good thirty seconds before she found words.

“It’s not Jeanette’s fault; she couldn’t have known. She wasn’t there for that one. That’s the problem with diplomatic work… the reports are objective assessments of how everything went. Rarely do they capture the reality. And we do write first hand accounts, but not everyone gets to read them. Sometimes they end up classified. The work that Mathis does, that I did, it takes all shapes and forms. A lot of people think we go out there and just say pretty things to elicit an outcome we can be happy with. I know because I’ve had people make comments to me that said just that. It makes me want to punch someone.” She took a heavy gulp.

“The situation with the Khari was exactly as I described: a cultural divide where the more progressive portion of the population was threatening to leave the planet. But what isn’t explained in the overview that someone probably casually used as a reference point when they were briefing Mathis is that those people were so desperate that a group of them held a protest. Forty of the Khari’s most brilliant minds were so desperate that when they refused to come back to the mediation table, I went out to talk to them and the leader of the group told me that the ouench, the old guard, weren’t listening. They weren’t considering their status as people and they were tired of being treated so callously. Knowing about my touch telepathy he offered his hand to me and told me they made sure no one else would get hurt, so I needed to go. Now. And then I understood, because he let me into his thoughts. I tried dissuade him, to convince him there was another way, but they had made a pact and they were going to go through with it so others did not have to suffer any more. Kenzo, I got out of there as fast as my bad back would let me, knowing what was about to happen. The bomb concealed within the middle of the group went off about thirty, maybe forty seconds later and I was safely out of the way, but… for an empath it was close enough,” she said in a hushed voice.

Eela drank heavily from her glass, her shoulders sagging slightly. “Their protest had the effect they had thought it would: the other side was shocked into finding a compromise that I helped negotiate. And thus according to the record, they avoided civil war. But it was not my win. And I went back to Earth feeling numb. I refused to go back on assignment for a whole six months, saw my therapist, worked through it all. But it’s not something you just forget about. And all the while, it was also the longest stretch I had been home with Cory since I had been released from the hospital, and by that sixth month I went on assignment, not because I felt ready, but because I could feel how frustrated he was with me. He had gotten strangely used to my anger and stronger outbursts that this quiet and withdrawn woman shocked him even more. But I couldn’t speak about it all to him. My emotions didn’t feel safe with him. Not any more. And they never really did again, even after I found away to let the events Khar remain behind me.”

In acknowledging the thing that was causing her pain, she could feel a small bit of relief. Eela finally allowed herself to look at Kenzo. “I haven’t told anyone but my friend Roger about the Khari. And I know that Oed is not at risk of anything like that, but if the Vren are experiencing a cultural clash, we would be negligent if we didn’t at least keep in the back of minds that we can’t always predict how these things will go. It would be easy to be mad at Mathis, but I can tell she’s doing the best she can on short notice with what she’s been given. Even as experienced as she is, there is a bit of scrambling involved when an Ambassador is brought in later. My professional opinion is that the situation was seen as a scientific one first, which is sort of fair, but the diplomatic side came a bit delayed, and now we’re all a couple steps behind.”

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.

Kenzo was silent for a long time, sipping his drink and staring at the city. “It is easy to be mad at the Ambassador… and the Diplomatic Corps… and Star Fleet Science… and many, many others.” he said at long last. “And it is not unwarranted. To me… and, should the timeline of these matters ever become public knowledge, the people of Oed… this is just another time we are an afterthought. As the lone Federation site with any previous contact with the Vren… at a minimum… you and I should have been informed of the original contact. Before any of this.” Kenzo took a drink, and though his face was expressionless, the anger was evident in tone. He took a breath and slowly stilled his emotions.

It was clear wasn’t wearing her brace as she sat back up and leaned back in the chair. Her back was slightly resentful of the previously hunched position. She noted the bit of emotion he allowed through, or rather that he had to push back. She envied him that ability. She had had it before but now it was a crapshoot most of the time.

“It was not fair that you were thrust into such a potentially dangerous situation. And it was even more unfair that you have had to deal with the ramifications of that with no one to speak to outside of a professional.” Kenzo said with deep understanding. “And the fact that you did not feel comfortable with sharing your troubles with your then-spouse does not reflect well upon him. No matter the changes that you had gone through… the difficulties and trials… he had made a vow to you. His failure to maintain that vow is… displeasing.”

Kenzo

Eela sipped generously from the glass as she gazed out over the view and a bitter chuckle sounded in her throat after the liquor had passed. “Well, there’s a reason we’re getting divorced. We both have changed. I’m not claiming innocence in any of this either. I certainly made my own mistakes and I didn’t exactly make it any easier on him. Cory is a good man. We wouldn’t have been married for forty years otherwise. But…” She shook her head. “Yeah, it’s not been an easy few years. I joined the Corps because I wanted to feel useful, Kenzo. After my injuries, I was given a choice of teaching and/or a desk job at Starfleet Command, or an honourable discharge. I was still in physical rehab and the Admiral who came to see me seemed to think they were reasonable options. On the surface, sure, they were. But I was indignant and I had not had the chance to do the mental work to learn how to control my emotions. Let’s just say I used a lot of unpleasant words and told him to get lost, so to speak.” A sly smirk sneaked onto her face for a brief moment. “But the accident, retiring, some of those much harder cases with the Corps, the divorce- it’s been a lot. It’s ironic I did end up in a desk job. But I don’t feel like I’ve settled for anything here. It feels far different now than it would have when I was given what felt like an ultimatum. But I’ve changed again in recent months. You told me Oed would show me the brutal truth.” A true if tiny smile snuck onto her face. “Brutal is right. But it’s also been lovely. I like it here. I’m not sure I truly expected that, and certainly not so soon.”

Kenzo looked away form the city and at Eela. “You are here because you should be here. And I am glad that you are.” He looked back at the city and took a large drink. “Easy years are not fated for people like you and I. And while you say that your former spouse is a good man… I will disagree from my perspective, and never having met the man.” He downed the last of the Japanese whiskey and poured another glass for both of them. “Although perhaps some day I will be able to express my disappointment in him in person.” and a small smile played briefly across his lips.

“The way I see it, you and I have specific areas that we naturally have more experience with than the other. And I’ve noticed that we have a subtle way of playing Good Cop, Bad Cop as the need arises. It works for us. Though I pity the poor soul who catches us on a day where we both decide to play Bad Cop,” she said gazing at him with a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

“Pity? No. If someone has managed to push us both to that point, I dare say that they deserve everything they get.” Kenzo said with a very soft chuckle.

She sipped on her drink again. “I’ve been cautious about making plans but I see somethings forming in my mind that make a helluva lot of sense. I wasn’t here for the Vren attacks, but I do actually understand that terror that people must have felt at the time. I won’t brush it off. But I’m a good judge of character and I’ve been good at the jobs I’ve had, Kenzo. I believe Ambassador Kek is being genuine with us. Hell, his enthusiasm is contagious. We can get angry behind the scenes at the people making decisions elsewhere, but I think it’s time to take a page from your book and craft a path in certain areas that is uniquely Oed’s and entirely of our own devising.” Dasca had been holding onto her ideas and thoughts over the last days as one crisis after another presented themselves. She didn’t want to reveal them too early lest she not have the right information. But maybe now was the time.

~Eela Dasca

Kenzo contemplated his glass for a moment and the said “Of everyone involved in this matter, oddly, it is the Vren I have the least amount of issue with.” He stared at the glass a few more moments before looking at Eela. “So what path are you now considering?”

Kenzo