The Captain and the Duchess - Part 2

Posted on Wed Sep 13th, 2023 @ 9:11pm by Nevala thu'S'Terion Ko-Shasol'kor t'Cheleb-Khor
Edited on on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 5:27pm

1,675 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - Like a Thunderbolt
Location: Faltan Station, Deck 37, Diplomatic Residences and Offices
Timeline: MD06 - 1600

As agreed, Nevala had herself beamed to the transporter room closest to the hangar that could become the new Romulan Embassy. She wore a sand colored floor length dress with green ornamentation and a necklace with a dozen of thumbnail-sized blue sapphires. On her dress they appeared like water in the desert, a resemblence of the motto of the dukes of Cheleb-khor: I am the water in the desert.

Nevala was accompanied by Timarik Saeihr cha'Havrannen, the half-Reman and half-Romulan lieutenant of her Reman guards. Timarik looked pale for a Romulan, but she lacked the typical teeth and vampire-like features of Remans. She had put her long black hair in a ponytail. It was obvious that she felt uncomfortable and Nevala knew that Timarik did not like the idea of being unarmed. Nonetheless, Nevala had insisted that they were visiting friends and arms were therefore unnecessary. Instead of a rifle, Timarik had to wear a PADD now.

Nevala stepped off the transporter platform and smiled gently. "Captain Channé, thank you that you show me around personally. May I introduce my bodyguard, Lieutenant Timarik Saeihr cha'Havrannen of my Reman House Guards? She will assess the possible location of the embassy from a security point of view, if you do not mind."

"Not at all," Ronan said politely. "A pleasure to have you both on board." He guided her toward the nearest turbolift, then after entering said, "Deck 37." Once they were underway, he continued. "You have a residence as well as an office made available to you of course. Any proposed modifications will have to be discussed with our Chief Engineer and of course approved. A necessary precaution since we are, in essence, a Starfleet facility."

"Actually, I wonder what we could make of the proposed hangar. Would a light cruiser match?" Nevala reconsidered for a moment before she added "Maybe the term 'cruiser' is not necessarily correct. Frigate may match as well. Also, would it be possible to have a small garden in front of the embassy? There may be some modifications necessary as well. You know, I prefer an open place, where people from everywhere could meet."

Timarik rolled her eyes. She knew how Nevala was, but nonetheless she was no friend of an open building. It was a security nightmare. "Lady Nevala, may I propose to see the place first before you think about modifications?"

Nevala looked at her bodyguard. She was right. "Thank you, Timarik. I guess I am a little too excited." Turning to Ronan, she smiled excusingly. "I beg your pardon, Captain. My thoughts are jumping."

"I believe there's some sort of a garden in the middle of Embassy Row," Ronan said. "I'm sure the station's botanists would be happy to discuss your ideas with you." He led them to the row of embassies that were uniform in appearance and size, then stopped at the third one in. "This is the one assigned to you," he said. "The first two have already been assigned to other delegations."

The Embassy Row looked... well, like some place in a space station. Telhas would probably love it. Nevala, however, preferred more individual architecture. But she also preferred planetary sites over space stations. So she would give it a chance. "I hope we are not neighbors to the Klingons," Nevala said and laughed. Actually, she was quite open-minded to other cultures, even Klingons - for a Romulan. "No, I do not think this would be a problem from our side. Please, show me the interior."

Ronan keyed in the combination that opened the embassy and stepped back to allow the Duchess her first glimpse of the interior.

Nevala meant Timarik to give her the PADD and entered the building. She found herself in a lobby. The lobby was in a clean design, with a reception desk opposite the entrance. She took the measure of the room by pacing and made notes to her PADD. Finally, she stopped in the middle of the lobby. "We will need to change a lot of things." She pointed to the area left of the entrance. "Here should be a sitting area with four armchairs and a coffee table. There," she pointed to the area right of the entrance, "should be a sofa. And there should be windows. I want large windows, allowing people to have a look inside. This shall be an open place. And on the walls left and right should be large screens, showing images of places on Romulus."

"Mylady, why Romulus? It is..." Timarik started, but could not finish.

"I know that it is destroyed, Lieutenant," Nevala snapped, "but I like the way it looked." She made a sketch of her ideas for the room to her PADD. "Where shall we continue? Left door or right door?"

Timarik sent a thought to Ronan. Please talk some sense to her. Windows are a bad idea.

The words slid into his mind; Ronan gave no outward sign. His friends back at the Academy said that he was good 'at playing his cards close to his vest'. Not an idiom he understood until after few nights playing poker with them; and by then, other idioms had joined that one. He stepped forward now, engaging her attention and said smoothly, "Forgive me, Duchess, but windows would not be permitted. I am responsible for the safety of this embassy as I am for every other soul on board the station and windows would represent a serious security breach. Perhaps, you could find another, more creative way to appear welcoming."

Nevala open her mouth to say something, but closed it again. She looked at her PADD, then at Ronan, and back at her PADD. "I will need some time to think about this." She went to the door left of the reception desk and opened it. She found an office space behind. The office seemed to made to welcome guests. "Consular services, I guess?" She made sketches to her PADD, showing the room how she would prefer it.

"I believe so," Ronan remarked as he followed her. He'd had a look at the plans before arriving for the tour and, of course, he made it a point to visit all of the embassies once they were established. Communication was an essential part of the job after all.

"It should look more friendly, don't you agree?" she asked as she made a few steps into the room. There were two doors, one in the wall opposite to the door from where they had entered, and one to her right. She moved right and went through that door into the next room. It was a large room, with a long table in the middle with many chairs. Looking left she could see a large screen on the far wall. To her left was another door, and the opposite wall showed also two doors. "Conference room, I would say." She made some sketches to her PADD and continued, turning left and opened the second door in the wall closest to her. It revealed an office with a large desk, several shelves and a door each to her left and to her right, respectively. She looked at her PADD, added a sketch of this room and turned to Ronan. "Left door, consular services. Behind me, conference room. And here," she moved to the door to her right, which opened to reveal a smaller room with a table for ten persons and two more doors, one in the opposite wall, and one to her right, "Uhm, dining room?"

"I believe so, Duchess," Ronan answered. He moved forward to open both of the doors. The one on the opposite wall led to a butler's pantry and beyond that to the embassy kitchen. "The replicators are programmed to provide ingredients, should you employ a Chef, or fully prepared meals."

Nevala paced the rooms and nodded to Ronan. "This will do." She added sketches of the rooms to her plan. Then she went to the other door. Apparently she was in a living room. It was quite spacious for a space station. Still, it did not match her expectations. Pointing to a space of about one square metre, she said, "I want this part to be prepared for small plants. Spices and flowers. At least a small garden area to make this place more... planetary. Do you think this is possible?" A second later she added, "And please, call me Nevala."

"And I am Ronan," he responded as he thought about her suggestion. "I can have the station botanist reach out to you. He's got an initiative going to 'green' the station, has reams of reports citing the health benefits. He'd be delighted to work with you on making the garden area a showcase."

Nevala smiled. "This sounds good. Honestly, I do not like space stations. Starships neither. They are so... so... unnatural. I miss the blue sky, plains reaching the horizon, mountains and rivers..." She shook her head and laughed. "If one would have told me twenty years ago that I could ever say something like that, I would have called him an idiot. I have been an urban girl. I enjoyed cities, architecture, buildings planetside and in space. Please don't get me wrong, I still like architecture, but I started to like nature more."

"As do I," Ronan said. "One of my favorite things to do is camp out. No real gear. Just me in the wilderness." He smiled at the memory, as though a touch of the peace he brought back with him from those days lingered still and could be summoned by a memory. "It's my hope that one day we'll be able to return to the base, make it ours again. Even if that does look a bit unlikely at the moment."

"Maybe you will. At least your buildings still exist. Our embassy, actually, my embassy, my building, my design," Nevala could not hnide her anger, "has been leveled. We do not leave anything to hostile aliens, which could be used against us."

 

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