Delegation Onboarding

Posted on 17 Mar 2023 @ 12:17am by Captain Bane Plase & Captain Erik Larsen

1,429 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Timeline: One Hour After "Meeting the Antiocians"

ON:


=/\= Bane to Cygnus,=/\= came the voice of the Captain from the planet below. At Operations, Ensign Anderson tapped a command, which would allow Commander Larsen, currently in command of the ship, answer it without tapping a command key on the Command Chair, or have to tap his own commbadge, which would then need to be routed through the ships external communications array anyways.

“Cygnus here,” responded the XO, standing from his position in the Center Seat. “This is Larsen. How is everything going on the surface. Captain?”

=/\="So far so good. The Tashi, their leader, and her assistant had a rather big shock at seeing Lieutenant Seitha, but they seem to be taking it well, considering we just exploded their whole universal view," he chuckled. "They have requested a delegation to be able to come aboard while we are down here, a sort of foreign exchange program. There will be six of them coming up and should stay aboard until we are ready to come back. You know the drill," he said, rhetorically. "They are ready to beam up now."

As the Captain spoke, the color drained from the XO’s face and he suddenly felt nauseous. Erik had comparatively little experience in direct diplomacy, although he was quite comfortable interacting with non-humans of all shapes and sizes. “Of course, Captain,” he said nervously. “I will meet them personally in Transporter Room One. Just give me five minutes.”

=/\=Of course. Thank you, Mr. Larsen. We are making history here, today. Bane out.=/\=

Five minutes later, six very tall and very nervous people that had likely never left their planet before, and had never even fathomed another race of people would come visit them in such a blatant and overt way, shimmered into existence on the Transporter Pad. The one standing most forward looked down at the Executive Officer, both from the platform and his own towering height, with the expression of pure wonder and unadulterated disgust.

“Honored representatives of Antioch,” began Larsen, making a concerted effort to project his voice clearly. “Welcome aboard the Federation starship Cygnus. My name is Erik Larsen, second in command of this vessel.” He extended his right hand. “This is a form of greeting among my kind. In ancient times, my people would greet each other in this manner to show that they were not carrying a weapon. I offer this greeting in the spirit of friendship and peace.”

The Antiocian snorted. "With magic such as this," he said, gesturing to the transporter, "What would beings like you need with weapons. Not just a moment ago, we were standing in the Tashi's Greeting Hall. Now scarcely an instant later, and we find ourselves here. You could annihilate us before we knew you were even close by. What is to say you do not have nefarious reasons to be here now, hmm?"

The Executive Officer sighed heavily. This was going to be a bit more challenging than he had expected. “Because we come to you asking for nothing, except your willingness to listen. We understand that in all relationships it is necessary to establish a foundation of trust; but that trust can never be established if our minds and hearts are closed to the process.” He extended his hand again, further this time. “To us, the offered hand is a symbolic gesture. Not just to show we carry no weapons, but to show that we have faith in your positive intentions as well.”

The Antiocian was about to respond again, but a voice from behind him spoke up. "Relax, Jovan. They have been nothing but friendly and kind to us. If they wanted to hurt us, they could have without us ever seeing their faces, or their wonderful technology." The person speaking stepped out from behind the man, a woman arguably a great deal older than the man that had been speaking, and clearly of higher societal rank than he was, based on her clothing. "Thank you for the greeting, Erik Larsen," she said, and took his proffered hand in greeting. "I am Elder Torvani, Senior Advisor to the Tashi and leader of the Administrative Guild. I oversee all legal matters on our planet. Please forgive my colleague. He is still young and nervous," she said, referring to the Antiocian named Jovan, her rough approximation of a friendly smile on her face. The twinkle in her eye was unmistakable, though.

“No offense taken, Elder,” said Erik with a smile. “The officers and crew of the Cygnus have prepared a small reception to welcome you aboard…if you are comfortable with that.”

She bowed her head thoughtfully. "That would be lovely," she said. "If you will allow me to introduce my people here to you before we get to the reception? It may make it less embarrassing for us if you knew our names individually as you introduced us, as is part of our custom," she stated, her voice betraying a bit that she was let down that he did not ask for their names each. She thought, however, that these strange and tiny people did not know their ways fully, so she had to grant them some latitude.

“We would be honored, Elder Torvani, if you would introduce your party.” The XO was mentally kicking himself in the rear end for not suggesting such at the onset.

"Thank you," she said, bowing her head again. "My colleague here," she said, referring to Jovan, "Is Elder Jovan. He is the leader of the Warriors Guild of Antioch III, responsible for all matters of defense, both on our planet, and in our star system. As you can imagine, he will have a hard way of explaining how your marvelous ship made it to our planet without being detected." She stole a side-eyed glance at him as he stiffened up measurably and noticeably. "On my other side is Elder Eliska, leader of the Artesian Guild, charged with developing and enriching our culture and ensuring each generation knows our values and beliefs. Behind her is Elder Ectar," she said, pointing at the far more muscular and lean of the group of Elders, "who is leader of the Builders Guild, overseeing all development to our planetary infrastructure. Next to him is Elder Thendra, leader of the Healers Guild, responsible for the health and well-being of our people," she said, pointing at the shortest, though just barely so, of all the Antiosians present. "Finally, we have Elder Trindra, who is in charge of our Pursers Guild, managing and overseeing all expenses made in the name of the Antiocian people."

Larsen bowed his head in greeting as Elder Torvani introduced her colleagues. “We are honored to have you as our guests. I would like to start with a brief tour of our vessel’s command center, with the reception afterward. If you will kindly follow me to the bridge…?”

Elder Torvani again looked over at Elder Jovan, her eyebrow raised, a look of almost superiority on her face. "See, what did I tell you, Jovan? We have nothing to worry about from these people. They are taking us to their command center first. If that does not speak of trust, I do not know what will."

Jovan exhaled heavily through his nose. "We shall see, Elder Torvani. What could people as inferior as we are to them do to put up any real resistance?"

Torvani just shook her head, and stepped down from the transporter padd, ducking her head a considerable amount while doing so. To Commander Larsen, "We would be delighted, Erik Larsen. Please, lead on."

“Right this way,” said Larsen, gesturing toward the door. He leaned in toward the Transporter Operator and spoke very softly. “Chief I need you to have Lieutenants Hartley and Lisald, Doctors Dattek-Winters and Kin’Fuji, and Counselor Morak meet myself and the Antiochian delegation in Ten Forward in half an hour. Tell them the order comes from the XO.”

"Aye, Commander," she said, in an equally soft voice.

As the delegation left the room, only Elder Jovan hit his head on the top doorframe, grunting as he did so as he led the way behind Larsen. The others smiled, barely containing laughter, at the plight of their comrade.

The door swished shut behind the delegation…and the XO was ready to put the Federation’s best foot forward. It was time to dazzle their guests.



OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Erik Larsen
Executive Officer
USS Cygnus

and

The Elder Delegation from Antioch III
(as played by Captain Bane)

 

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