Audience With The Council

Posted on Sat Dec 28th, 2019 @ 10:34pm by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox
Edited on on Tue Dec 31st, 2019 @ 11:42am

Mission: Neutral Zone Neutrality
Location: Mol Krun'chi colony, U.S.S. Hera
Timeline: 2396

After two days of meetings, debates, and discussions, the delegation from the U.S.S. Hera’s mission was complete. Commander Rita Paris, Lieutenant Commander Sonak, Lieutenant Commander Mnhei’sahe Dox and the Vulcan Intel Operative Az’Prel had met and talked with the ruling council of the hidden Romulan Reunification colony world known as Mol’Krunchi and a plan was now in the works.

Ferried from Mol’Krunchi on the Artan-run Bird of Prey known as the Golden Ghost, after days of diplomacy and then covert travel through the Romulan Neutral Zone, the away team was glad when their escort vessel had finally brought them back to rendezvous with their home on the USS Hera. Getting to Mol’Krunchi had been fraught with peril, but the return trip had been blissfully uneventful. There was significant relief at being back in their own starship, on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone once again.

Commander t’Liun and the crew of the Ghost had bid their farewells to the crew of the Hera once more, and the returning officers made their reports to Captain Telvan, and prepared to settle back into their duties. But there was one unique duty left to Rita Paris. On the mission to Mol’Krunchi, the lost navigator of a universe that never was had served as a representative of the interests of the United Federation of Planets. Now it was time for her to present their official reports to Starfleet.

The subspace channel had opened, and on the small screen on her PaDD, Commander Rita Paris was mildly surprised to see the Starfleet twin towers delta replaced by the symbol of the Federation. As the call connected, she found herself viewing a panel of individuals. An aged Andorian female, a somber Vulcan male, a dark-skinned Humanoid woman, a squat, grey-haired Tellarite male and a dignified Efrosian all sat peering at her from behind a rather nice table.

“Good day, Commander Paris,” the Andorian woman greeted the time-tossed temptress, her high-pitched and reedy voice reminding Rita of an older Thex sh’Zoarhi. “The Federation Council is very interested in your report on the reunification colony, and the progress you’ve made toward reunifying the colony of Romulan expatriates with the Vulcan culture.”

While she had expected to report to Starfleet, having the call rerouted to the council chambers of the United Federation of Planets was a mild surprise. But given that the Federation was the body whom she was representing in this affair, rather than Starfleet, the change of audience didn’t faze Rita much. Noting the participants, Paris nodded, gathering that there would be no introductions. Instead, she immediately launched into her presentation.

As the council members listened, Paris summarized the negotiations. She explained the plan she had put forth which proposed creating a colony on the Federation side of the Romulan Neutral Zone, so that it could be patrolled and monitored by members of the Federation (given that her mere presence on a world on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone constituted a violation of the treaty). The concept of including native Romulans in addition to colonists was put forth, as well as the acceptance that would invite Tal’Shiar interference and likely sabotage. The discussion of taking volunteers from all three groups- the Mol Krun’chi colonists, the Romulan natives and the Vulcan volunteers, along with the logic behind that idea was explained. Then the concept of the Organians as mediators was introduced, along with the fact that such a plan would be something of an undertaking.

As she spoke, Paris sent along files- the binary star system she had chosen for it’s proximity to the Neutral Zone, along with the diagram of a narrow aisle of neutrality she proposed so that the Romulan Star Empire would be free to come and go to the colony without violating the treaty. As she was preparing to launch into the hypotheticals of building and supplying the colony in advance, the Efrosian gentleman interrupted her.

“Commander Paris, this is all good and well. But at this point, these are all hypotheticals you are proposing. There is no firm agreement on any of these matters, is what I am gathering?” the white-haired dignified gentleman pointed out, to which Paris ceded.

“No sir, none of this is as yet formalized. These are the first days of talks. While I invented an experiment in order to test the feasibility of Romulan and Vulcan reunification, picked a suitable planet and worked on hammering out the details, I didn’t manage to get all parties involved willing to set aside a few thousand years of fundamental difference in culture to agree to reunify, even on a small scale,” the buxom bombardier explained, which got her chuckles around the council table.

“What of the Organians? This seems to be a logical choice for impartial third-party mediation, but do you believe they can be motivated to participate in the experiment as peacekeepers?” asked the Vulcan representative.


“I absolutely cannot speak to that, sir,” Paris admitted easily. “The motivations and interests of the Organians are a bit beyond my understanding. We can but ask- which is the current plan. Hopefully, we won’t be doing so ourselves, as their world is a considerable distance from our proposed colony, but if the Hera is to spearhead those negotiations, we’ll await orders and do our best. I will say I believe the distance may be a factor- the Organians may conceivably be uninterested given the distance from their world. But they are legendarily fond of peace, so… that will have to be proposed to the Organians, and their reaction to such a proposal remains to be seen.”

“What of the colonists?” the dark-skinned humanoid woman asked, in an accent Rita recognized as a North American, east coast regional accent. “If an independent colony is unfeasible, will they be willing to host on their own world?”

“Potentially, madame,” the old-school officer replied. “They are very interested in reunification- it’s why they struck out on their own years ago. However, once their location is known to the Star Empire, they may very well be in permanent danger. Even if the political tides are currently leaning toward reunification, according to reports there are elements who will continue to oppose it vehemently. Thus once the Star Empire knows of their colony’s location, they will be in danger. However, that may be a risk they are willing to take. I’ll propose that idea tomorrow.”

“So you plan to basically invite the Tal’Shiar into the experiment. How will you safeguard the colonists against the sabotage that is both entirely likely, and practically unavoidable?” asked the Tellarite representative.

“I was planning to leave that up to the colony, sir,” the out of date officer asserted. “We can shield them from fleets and orbital bombardment. But we cannot be everywhere, forcing everyone to get along. In that, I believe the colonists themselves will have to decide how to deal with such issues- likely through discussion and debate. They will have some of the brightest minds in the galaxy on hand, after all.”

That brought murmurs of assent around the table, which Paris took to be a good sign.

“In closing, I can offer my insights.” Sitting back a bit, the face of the lost navigator turned thoughtful. “The Romulan people have lived under fascism for decades. The Shinzon affair pointed out that their system does not work well, and the people seem ready for change. But the few who hold power are highly unlikely to willingly relinquish it, as tyrants seldom volunteer to step down, and tend to try to scorch the earth, as it were, as they leave.”

“So while this may or may not be actually feasible, if we proceed, it will be a path fraught with peril. The Tal’Shiar have been feeding the populace propaganda for a great many years now, and between those misconceptions and the likelihood of resistance from the secret police, Reunification will likely be a painful process. However, there is hope on all sides- hope that it may work, that it may come to pass, and that it might be accomplished bloodlessly.” Awaiting the response, the five council members exchanged thoughtful expressions, nodding to one another.

“You’ve given us considerable food for thought, Commander,” the dignified Efrosian intoned. “We’ll inform you of our decision, which will likely be dependent upon the involvement of the Organians as a neutral third party. In the meanwhile… keep up the good work.”

“Mister President, council members… I thank you for your time and attention,” the extradimensional explorer replied with a smile. “Paris out.”