Discussing the Romulan Offer

Posted on Mon Jul 20th, 2020 @ 5:33am by Captain M'Mira & Lieutenant Commander Aeryn Jameson & Telhas thu'S'Terion Sa-Shasol'kor t'Cheleb-Khor

2,220 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: Diplomacy, what’s that?
Location: Captain's Office

M'Mira was not a morning Caitian. Though, truth be told, she was not much of an awake Caitian. If she was not being properly pampered and had no immediate work to do, she saw no reason to ruin a good cat nap.

However, there was work to be done and there was a Romulan's offer to be considered. She touched her commbadge and said, =^= Commanderrr Jameson, can you please come to my office. I wish to discuss that topic frrrom yesterrrday. =^=

=/\= On my way Commander =/\= Aeryn didn’t take long to reach M’Mira’s Office. Straightening her uniform she pressed the chime and waited for a call to enter.

M'Mira stretched her legs and arms in nearly impossibly long fashions before meowing, "Come in."

Walking into the office Aeryn smiled as she greeted M’Mira “Reporting as requested Commander.”

"Welcome back, Commanderrr. I have been thinking about ourrr discussion from yesterrrday. I think I would like to meet with the Ambassadorrr. Do you think that you could brrring him herrre? I am uncerrrtain that I like the idea of being on his grrround for such a negotiation."

“I can try Commander” Aeryn nodded and tapped the comms. =/\= Jameson to Ambassador t’Cheleb-Khor would you please meet with me in Commander M’Mira’s Office as soon as possible. =/\=

It took a moment until Telhas got the message forwarded. He was still having breakfast with Nevala, something he would stop only in an extreme emergency. =/\= Commander, if you do not mind, I will be available earliest in half an hour. Please confirm. =/\=

Aeryn looked at M’Mira waiting to see if she was willing to wait for a full thirty minutes.

M'Mira nodded. There was no particular urgency.

=/\= Acknowledged Ambassador. We’ll see you in thirty minutes. =/\=


~ Thirty minutes later ~

Having left the office Aeryn returned thirty minutes later ready for the meeting with Telhas. She was actually looking forward to seeing him again, which felt strange considering up until now she’d never really bothered with anything to do with Romulus or her Romulan heritage.

Telhas arrived a minute late, but he did not care since it was a result of the complicated transporter protocols in action, with the necessity to beam to his ship and then to the station. Security was more important to him than timeliness. When he entered the office he greeted M'Mira first and then Aeryn, each with a slight nod. "Ladies."

Aeryn nodded politely. “Ambassador, thank you for coming.” She motioned to M’Mira. “Have you met Commander M’Mira as yet?”

M'Mira's tail showed her annoyance as she was addressed as a "lady," rather than as the "Commander" of the station. "We have only seen each other in passing, mostly when I was the 2XO," M'Mira informed her XO. "Welcome, Ambassadorrr. Can we get you anything?"

"No, thank you, Commander, I am fine." Telhas paused for a second before he continued. "Since you asked me for this visit, it is your turn to introduce me to this meeting's agenda." He smiled politely.

“Please sit down and make yourself comfortable” Aeryn smiled warmly as she took a seat herself.

M'Mira remained standing. She was a petite and sinewy Caitian, so when she was not taking a nap, she tended to prefer stretching herself and her legs. Her tail swished lazily from side to side. So far, she was less than impressed with the Ambassador. However, she knew that Faltan Station was meant for an exchange of ideas. Why they had not met previous to this was somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps that was something she could pry from the Ambassador later. "It seems to me, that you set the agenda the otherrr day, Ambassadorrr. You apprrroached my XO with an offerrr."

"Ah, this is why you wanted to see me," Telhas replied while taking the offered seat, "Simply said, I do not trust the Falteans, and I would say that you should not trust them either. They are planning something. And I am willing to bet quite an amount that what they are planning is not in our favour. You agree?"

Aeryn looked at M’Mira waiting to see what the Caitian would say about the Falteans.

Blunt and to the point. Interesting. M'Mira strode across the space between them and then propped herself up on her desk daintily. Her tail lazily flopped to her left on the desktop. "Norrr do I. Anyone who had half an ounce of brrrains would not and yet, Starrrfleet has said that they may abandon what they barrrgained forrr herrre. I do not like bullies, Ambasssadorrr. I do not like the cirrrcumstances of the prrriorrr goverrrnorrr's death or its lack of followup. I do not like the explanations for Rrrefalian's shooting. And I do not trrrust theirrr currrrrrent silence."

Nothing in M'Mira's words gave anything away, so the Caitian believed, but merely stated facts as M'Mira understood them. Hopefully, the Ambassador would reveal more of what his true intentions were with this statement having been placed out there.

It seems someone is not happy with her superior officers' decision to abandon this station. Good to know. Telhas looked her directly into the eyes for a moment before he explained his offer. "So far we agree. Now, it is quite simple to calculate numbers. If the attack by force, none of us would stand a chance. But what usually prevents your enemies to strike is the prospect of severe damage. Damage beyond the expected benefit. If we worked together, we can cause by far more damage. So this is the first part of my offer, and I will be completely honest. I have two hundred of my personal Reman guards stationed in my Embassy. Furthermore, I have my personal Khellian-class cruiser cloaked in orbit. The firepower of the cruiser is less than usual, because it has been modified for higher speed, but nonetheless it can deal formidable damage. In addition, I have a cloaked D'deridex in orbit since the attack on my Embassy. On board are additional three hundred Reman guards. Now as you have the numbers, you can imagine how much military power I have under my command. Together with your forces, we can repel any attack and retaliate, if necessary. And this is what I offer. Should anyone of us be attacked by the Falteans, we will coordinate our defence and aid each other. It is your decision. I am even willing to promise that I will minimise collateral damage regarding the Falteans, should such a defence ever be necessary."

M'Mira lightly hopped off of the desk and started pacing to and fro across the room, mulling the situation. She gave a glance over at her new Executive Officer and wondered what she was thinking. "What makes you think that the Falteans could even make an attack with such forrrce? And why the offerrr now? Why not several months ago? Orrr to Commanderrr Prrrescott or forrrmerrr Captain Rrrefelian?"

Aeryn looked at Telhas, she was curious about that too. Why hadn’t he offered assistance before? She waited curiously to see what Telhas would say.

"What makes me think they could attack by such force?" Telhas grinned. "My experience with them. They can fanatize the masses, if they want. And I am not sure if I could stop them. Why the offer now? Because it took me some time to fortify my Embassy, and to get my troops where I need them. But let me be honest. This is not all. I have planned it earlier, but I cannot just place my House Guards here and do what I want. Without the political power to enforce such a deal against opposing senators, it would make no sense to offer it. Unfortunately, this took some time. Also, I remember that you told me that I had arrived too early, that the planet had not been pacified when I arrived. To be honest, I have been close to taking it as a personal insult. After all, the Federation had invited all galactic powers to send ambassdors as soon as they could. Your predecessors here are representatives of that Federation, who think everything is peaceful and do not know they are placing a base on a hostile planet. You are different. You are no diplomat, Commander, you are a military officer. And you should note this: I am not the typical Romulan senator. I honour the traditions of my ancestors."

"I can be verrry diplomatic when I feel the need," M'Mira replied with a thoughtful purr. "And, you werrre earrrrly. Do you have any idea of what the condition of this place was before I fixed it with a verrry inadequate supply of engineerrrs. I would not want any guests to sufferrr the inconvenience of inadequate serrrvices. Not to mention that, as I rrrecall it, you did not wish my assistance then, eitherrrr."

Telhas shrugged. "Well, I have been stupid enough to believe your Secretary of the Exterior's information that the place was safe and that we construct our embassy as soon as possible. This will not happen again. We have a Senate decision now that a full guarantee for the safety of all personnel and buildings is needed before we construct any new diplomatic representation. However, this is too late for Faltan. And it seems Federation diplomats do not only lack knowledge of the safety of places, but are also willing to give up the impressive work you, Commander, have done here, for some minor power's vague promise of peace. Honestly spoken, you give up Faltan station first, then the Falteans will demand you to leave the entire Faltan system, and next is the entire Raeya Sector Block."

Aeryn looked at M’Mira “In my opinion Commander, we need the Ambassador’s help and support. I feel that we can trust his intentions, I am after all half Romulan ma’am.”

Reluctantly, M'Mira admitted, "I agrrree with yourrr assessment, Ambassadorrr. I do not trrrust the Faltean Goverrrnorrr." She paced the room, her tail crooked up. "Verrry well, Ambassadorrr, we will agrrree to mutual aid in the event of a Faltean attack."

Telhas nodded. "A wise choice, Commander. Do we need to sign a contract? Or let me rephrase this question: Do you want a signed contract? Because I would say, if my word is sufficient for you, yours shall be sufficient to me."

"I would prrreferrr that we would keep to ourrr worrrds, Ambassadorrr. Afterrr all, I am cerrrtain that you can apprrreciate my position. I am not an Ambassadorrr and I do not know how my superrriorrrs would look upon it. So, we will have to trrrust one anotherrrr." There was definitely some derrogatory tone to the word "superiors," in M'Mira's voice.

Telhas noticed the tone in her voice when she said 'superiors', but he kept it for himself. "Good. Now to my next part. It is not an offer, but rather a request. Your predecessors offered me a wired transporter connection between my Embassy and Faltan Station. At that time, I refused, because I had the feeling that there is a mole in Faltan Station. I still have this feeling, but if we setup protocols correctly, we should be able to avoid any surprise attacks. However, I want to keep this to the most senior staff and your intelligence department. If you agree, we could have a kind of first aid mobility of small teams between our places, be it military aid or other aid. However, I would need to set it up together with your intelligence department. What do you think?"

"I do not know that it will avoid surrrprrrise attacks, Ambassadorrr, but I do believe it may save one of ourrr lives should the Falteans trrry to do something morrre nefarrrious. Do you not agrrree?" She looked over at her XO, wondering at her thoughts.

“I think it will be advantageous to both sides Commander” Aeryn smiled. “It will also open doors of cooperation between our Romulan Ambassador and the Federation. A plus on both sides.”

M'Mira decided that the half-Romulan Commander might be over eager. At the same time, she could not deny the logic. She hoped that she was not falling into some sort of trap.

"Well, it depends quite a lot if we can find an encryption that is safe, but not telling any of our intelligence secrets to the each other," Telhas added, "but I am sure your intelligence department an I will find a solution to this issue."

"I will inforrrm them and starrrt making those arrrrrrangements." She rose to her entire five feet in height and asked, "Is therrre anything else that you wish to discuss?"

Aeryn looked at Telhas with a warm smile waiting to see if there was anything else he had in mind.

"Currently not," Telhas replied, "Anything from your side, Commander?"

“I don’t think so” Aeryn smiled warmly. “If I think of anything I’ll be sure to let you know.”

"Then, ourrr business is concluded for the day," M'Mira informed everyone in a manner that was clearly a dismissal. The Captain silently watched, her tail swishing as everyone left. Do I need to keep an eye on the Commander? the Caitian silently wondered.

 

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