Queenly Well Wishes

Posted on Mon May 25th, 2020 @ 10:29am by Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Return to the Core
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: 2397

Having finished up her normal Starfleet work for the day, Captain Enalia Telvan took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair with a big stretch. Now she had one last important piece of business to attend to before she could actually call it a day.

Unclipping her comm badge and setting it on her desk, she headed over to the tiny closet where she kept spare uniforms and swapped out her normal Starfleet uniform top for her Artan uniform top and returned to her chair, tapping in a private comm code for her heir and successor to the throne of the Artan Empire. They had arranged for a call this evening, but she hoped that it was still a good time.

It was only a few moments before the spinning Artan logo was replaced by the smiling face of the Trill woman known as Elysius Magnus, interim queen and soon to be full queen of the Artan Empire. Her long golden brown hair and spots framed her thin face almost in stark contrast to her bear of a father and you'd never know they were related if they hadn't told you.

"Ely! It's so good to see you again. Congrats on graduating from the academy. How did everything go?" Enalia smiled softly, almost in a familial way as she spoke.

The woman on the other end returned the smile even brighter. "It went amazingly well. I can see where you're coming from in so many more ways now. In fact, I'm pretty sure I can see where your plan for the Empire was headed. You've already moved us from being pirates to privateers and the next step is to an actual empire... But in name only, isn't that right?"

"You're ultimate goal is to form another Federation, isn't it?" Elysius teased, her grin taking on a conspiratorial element.

"Well, that's the idea," Enalia replied with a chuckle. "Once we have enough systems under our protection that have been abandoned, the goal was to form an alliance and propose a dual governmental body. One for defense and exploration and one for governance similar to how the UFP does things. Then the old matriarchy would have to phase out or... well, that's for future generations to decide. It's a really long term plan."

"And it's all laid out in your care package you'll receive after your coronation in a few days," Enalia added with a more serious look.

The younger woman gave a nervous chuckle at the mention of her impending coronation. "Yeah, the coronation... Are you sure I can't just remain the acting queen?"

"No, you're ready for this. You've trained your whole life for a similar position and you have a good heart so I trust you and know you can do this." Enalia replied with that soft smile of hers. "Besides, I can do more good out here and you can do more good there. There are a lot of people in the Artans still that either trust me too explicitly or not at all and I can't lead like that. They can all trust you the right amount once they get to know you."

"That's true. Trust is important and there isn't enough of it in our line of work. There are far too many people in our fleet that are alone. That's one of the societal changes I'd like to spread, you know? No one fights alone." This time it was Elysius's turn to look serious.

"And that's why I trust you." With a deep breath, Enalia leaned back in her chair and studied the woman on the other end. "I'm sorry I can't be at your coronation, Ely. We're just too far away to get there in time and Starfleet orders..."

"I know, it's ok. Plus you're retired from here anyway, so it's not like I can demand it. You're like a sister to me." The slightly younger woman dropped her gaze for a moment before glancing back up. "You'll at least watch the live feed?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Enalia replied with her brightest smile. "And I'll make sure Sarika does too so she knows who to report to from now on."

That got a laugh out of Elysius. "Oh ho! As if she'd ever listen to anything I said. I'm surprised she's even going along with any of this."

Enalia couldn't help but return a chuckle of her own. "She knows her duty and I suspect she'll return to her fleet soon. She's ben getting a lot more messages than normal lately, after all. As for Schwein... I think you can mark her off as inactive or retired. I think she'll be staying with the Asgardians for the foreseeable future."

"I had read the reports. I'm glad she finally found happiness," Elysius replied, letting an awkward silence fall between them for a moment. "My final fitting for the coronation uniform is in less than twenty minutes. They say it's fine if I'm late, but you know my motto. If you're not early, you're late."

"It's been wonderful seeing you again, Enalia. Please feel free to stop by anytime. This is still your home too, after all." With an almost sad smile, the younger woman waved to her predecessor.

Enalia waved back as well, returning the same smile. "Thanks. Good luck. I know you'll blow them away."

With a click of the desk terminal, the connection was closed and the screen went blank.

With a glance over at the small closet a thought occurred to Enalia.

This was likely the last time she would be wearing her Artan uniform.