Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in Governor’s Office- The Best Kind of Secrets

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Governor’s Office- The Best Kind of Secrets

Posted by Civilian Kenzo B’tren-Hyrushi (Governor) in Governor’s Office- The Best Kind of Secrets
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Hyrushi thought for a moment and then said “How are her sone and his partner traveling? Commercial or private charter? And are they coming from Earth as well? And exactly when is this celebration due to take place?”

Hyrushi, Governor

“Batarael, which lasts six days, begins in forty-three days. Jourin and Sibusiso are travelling using Jourin’s own runabout. Jourin is a pilot and instructor in the Sol System and usually based on the Moon, but he’s teaching a course right now and can’t get anyone to cover the last bit of it, so can’t leave any earlier than currently planned.”

~Cort Belanger

Hyrushi nodded and then tapped his desk interface. For a few moments, he simply tapped, waited, tapped, waited, tapped… he was obviously exchanging a text-based message with someone. After a couple of minutes, he looked up and said “Jourin now has a skilled pilot covering his course, so they are free to leave when they like. I have also taken the liberty of having his runabout prepped and gone over to ensure everything is up to date and they have no issues between there and here. Feel free to convey such to him or his sister as you see fit. What else is an obstacle to this happening?”

Hyrushi, Governor

It wasn’t about favours or pulling strings, or at least not the way Cort knew the public assumed about politics. No, this was about people who worked closely together banding together to find creative ways to solve problems so that they could make necessary things happen. This celebration was more than just a holiday, this was about Eela as a person and how she saw herself now. It was important that those closest to her were a part of that.

Cort held up two fingers. “Two things. The next is similar to Jourin but actually easier. The other surprise guest will be arriving a couple days before and that is Eela’s best friend, Admiral Roger Kellen. Kellen is on temporary assignment near Betazed so he won’t have as far to travel but given he was the one to nominate Eela, he really wants to surprise her here at The Tower. He’ll come through customs and standard security on his own credentials, but he was hoping she wouldn’t know he was coming and given every guest has to be paged up, I figured we could make it work so long as someone in the loop escorted him up, but he also doesn’t want to cause any issues. It it’s too much hassle, he’s fine with forgoing the surprise.”

~Cort Belanger

Hyrushi said “A full Admiral arriving will raise many alerts within the Star Fleet segment of the colony. It is not an everyday occurance, nor is his arrival without some ceremony required by regulations, I believe. My suggestion… and it is a suggestion as this would be a Star Fleet matter… would be that you arrange for his arrival via the Federation Ambassador. Diplomatic arrivals can use pseudonyms legally in order to facilitate closed-door discussions. If there needs to be an official reason, please let the Ambassador know that I would like to speak to the Admiral directly about the Star Fleet Fighter Squadron currently deployed here at the colony.” He then tokk a breath and said “That was one… what is the second thing?”

Hyrushi, Governor

Belanger nodded. “The last is the more complicated one.” He brought his hands together, pressing his fingertips against each other as he gathered his thoughts. “Eela has been sharing a lot with us about Batarael as her and Caridee make plans. The holiday is the Haliian new year, but it goes far beyond a calendar year celebration. For them it’s a much more personal spiritual new year- an opportunity to take stock of the past so that one can understand their present moment and move forward into the future with a more peaceful understanding of themselves.” He grinned. “It’s very Hallian. And it’s important to the Lieutenant Governor. But Caridee pointed out that in recent years since everything with the Steadfast her mother has not been able to actually celebrate Batarael, and that’s why this particular celebration is so important.

“The problem we face is that on top of the surmounting pressure she’s facing, the public situation with the Vren will make it very difficult for Eela to take proper time off. The Third Day of the holiday is actually a public holiday on Halii because it’s a day where each person undergoes private examinations of the past, not to dwell, but to reflect. I’m doing my best already to keep her schedule free that day, but I’ve already seen her concede to letting work creep in amongst these days of celebration. And I fear it’s only going to get worse once the Vren arrive. I don’t know that there is something specific we can do except help her carve out space for this time. She’s gotten better at finding a bit more balance between work and her personal life, but Batarael is a bit of a all-consuming holiday. I know it’s not realistic for her to take all the days off, but if there’s a way increase her opportunity for downtime, Caridee says that it will do important things for her mother.”

~Cort Belanger

Hyrushi considered the man for a long time. He was silent, ebony eyes fixed on him and not blinking. Finally, he spoke.

“I sympathize with you and the Lieutenant Governor’s family. And while I wish that there was something that could be done to ensure that she had all the time off that you and her daughter feel she needs… you cannot do something like this without consulting her. Not now. That would be the utmost foolishness. Time is not our friend right now, and you trying to keep her free is detrimental to all she does at this moment.” His head tipped to the side slightly and the black eyes seemed to expand and take in all the light in the room. “And while I can understand the significance of the Hallian holiday, even it’s importance to Ms. Dasca, I would be doing her a grave injustice if I were to allow this plan of yours to go through without her input. We are at a crossroads, Mr. Belanger. A significant point in history where the choices we make as a whole will have drastic effects on our future. Those effects can be positive… or they can be negative. We must do all we can to ensure that they are the former. Even if that means taking time from holidays and family. Now I do have a suggestion. Focus your attentions on what needs to be done with the Vren. Make that the priority. Because that will take place before Batarael. We have mere days to prepare for the Vren. We have over a month to prepare for the celebration. The better we do with the first will mean the more time we can allow for the second. So you can choose. Focus on the imminent needs of this colony and its people and do all that you can to ensure that it works out in such a way as to allow for the time Lieutenant Governor Dasca needs later. Or, focus on a holiday celebration for a single family and hope that the arrival of the Vren doesn’t bring forth mass riots, destruction, and death. I will leave that choice to you, Mr. Belanger.”

Hyrushi, Governor

Alarm crossed his face first, followed by the realization that he had not made the intended point. Cort waved his hand. “Oh… no, my apologies, Governor. I never meant to insinuate that we were trying to remove Dasca’s input from her own schedule. Far from it. In fact it was actually at her insistence that we cleared her schedule for the Third Day. But what I was hoping to convey is that as she tries to make time for these important events, we obviously have to juggle the rest of the work elsewhere and the tidal effect of that can be… difficult. I did tell Caridee to manage her expectations of her mother’s time, and she obviously doesn’t know about the Vren so she doesn’t fully understand the variables Eela is dealing with. But presuming that the immediate events with the Vren goes at all well, they will be around for the foreseeable future in some capacity and you and I both know Eela well enough to know that she will throw herself fully into that side of the work in order to fulfill her promise to this colony. The… concern is that with such high stakes, what little time she had carved out for her personal celebrations will be slowly eaten up by obligations elsewhere and she will start her new year exhausted and overwhelmed. And that would truly be a shame. I bring this to you so you are aware that when the time comes she might need more support from all of us as she tries to hold back that flood of inevitable work. Emergencies aside, surely for a couple hours a day or so over the span of one week, it’s not too much to ask that once a year others let her have differing priorities?” Cort sighed. All he was really trying to convey was that Eela was a self-sacrificing person and where she could say no and claim this important time for herself, she should be allowed to. But that might require others to tell everyone else to just back off a little and give the poor woman some space.

~Cort Belanger