Eviction Notice

Posted on 30 Nov 2023 @ 10:50pm by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Captain Bane Plase

1,638 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Hall of the Ancestors
Timeline: Following Diplomatic Entanglements

The Hall of the Ancestors in the Government Palazzo was an impressive sight this early in the morning. The room was bathed in a soft golden light from the rising sun, and the magnificent ceiling painted by Elder Heloise, of the Artisans Guild over six hundred years ago, caught every little reflection and used it to highlight every minute detail in the fresco. Tashi Nilani Oromani advanced slowly through the center aisle, trying to find her inner peace in this sacred hall before too many people came in, to collect themselves and mourn the passing of a loved one because of this terrible disease.

She herself was lucky. She hadn't been personally affected - at least, not yet, she reminded herself. But she had lost so many around her. Nearly a third of the Council of Elders had succumbed to this disease, and countless more staffers and aides. And Hadrea...

Her eyes came to rest on the dais, where not so long ago, or an eternity it seemed, she had stood with Captain Bane Plase, and introduced her people to these visitors from above. Little had they known that these visitors would also bring death and chaos with them.

She walked slowly and crossed the enormous chamber, and picked up a stylus. The Government Palazzo also served as a Center House for this part of the Capital City. Normally it would be the Death Writer's task to do this, but in this case, she had pulled rank and insisted on writing this particular name in the Death Scrolls herself.

Bane came around the corner, a million things on his mind, and was blinded by the light. Putting his hand up to shield said light, and squinting so he could see, he was mildly annoyed that the Antiocians had yet to invent automated polarizing windows. Of course, the beauty of the room and the light play off the various pieces of artwork scattered throughout was thoroughly lost on him.

Spying the Tashi through squinted eyes, he stood by and waited for her to finish whatever it was she was doing.

Oromani picked up an ornate quill from the desk, and carefully unrolled the Death Scroll on the flat surface in front of her. She dipped the quill in the inkwell, and in her best handwriting. wrote down the name. Hadrea Oromani.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw the captain from the Federation ship standing there, waiting for her. Part of her wanted to hurl him through the beautiful stained-glass windows high up near the ceiling, while another part felt sympathy for him, and the pain she imagined him to be under at the thought of being responsible for so many deaths. In the end, unsure which part would emerge on top, she kept a cautious distance.

"Did you know that she was much more than an aide to me," she said. "She was my sister's child. I was her tuan'Tashi - her mentor. In Antiocian society, we are meant to train our nieces and nephews so that they may follow in our footsteps one day. She was destined to become Tashi of Antioch one day."

The guilt that Bane felt seemingly had no end, and the bad news kept coming. "I was not aware of that, Tashi. What are the policies in place if a niece or nephew is not available?" He steeled himself for the answer, hoping it wasn't a terrible answer.

"Hadrea was the eldest. The task now falls to her younger sister. But I had been training Hadrea for the past ten years."

She finished writing Hadrea's name in the Death Scrolls and ceremoniously replaced the quill in its receptacle. "To answer your question, if I had no other surviving niece's or nephews, then the task falls upon the cousins and their children."

"I am relieve to hear there is a procedure in place. Tashi, I am so sorry about Hadrea. I am so sorry about all of this. I know there is nothing I can say or do to make up for everything that has happened these last few months. I am trying, though."

"Will your sorrow bring back those who have died?" challenged Oromani. "You came here claiming friendship. We welcomed you with open arms. We did not expect that friendship to come at so high a price."

Bane had been expecting the first part of her reply and had an answer ready. He was not, however, expecting her second comment, and it stung. "No, nothing we, or I, could ever do will bring back those that have been killed. Each of their lives were precious and special and unique. The only thing we can do, together Tashi, is to try and make things as right as possible. We, the Federation," he clarified, "Would never intentionally do something like this. I talked to my superiors earlier. They are sending three additional ships, with your permission, to help you navigate these perilous times. Things like medical facilities to increase the speed in which your people are inoculated. Things like helping to supplement your police force. Things like food and infrastructure repair from all the riot damage." He took a breath. "We desperately want to be your friend, and desperately want to try and make this as right as possible for you and your people. We ask nothing in return, but the hope of having you as a friend."

Oromani blinked twice, looking at Bane in disbelief. "More ships," she said. "And what do you think the reaction will be, if I announce that soon we will have not one, not two, but four ships in orbit of Antioch? That is not a offer of friendship. That is an invasion force."

Plase nodded, and smirked a little. "You and I are on the same page, Tashi. That is exactly what I told the Ambassador the arrival of additional ships could be viewed as. Look," he said, his expression softening. "I think you know we are not an invasion force. I think you know we truly didn't mean for this to happen. You know we are working hard to ensure this disease isn't mutating more, making it more deadly, or Prophets forbid, resistant to the medicine we have created to fit your physiology. You and your Council of Elders have allowed us to stay here. We are working with your people, under their directions, to help maintain peace and order. We are working with your people to rebuild infrastructure that have been damaged or destroyed in the riots. You know me and my sincerity. I believe if you truly thought we were here under false pretenses or nefarious reasons, you would do everything you could to remove us from your planet."

"Yes, I know you," agreed the Tashi. "I have known you for all of seven spans. For all I know this could be some elaborate scenario to gain our trust. But actually, this is all irrelevant. It doesn't matter what I believe."

She was silent for a moment, letting the muffled sounds of the angry mob outside be heard. She tilted her heard toward the window. "It's what they believe that counts. Nothing I or any of the Elders say now matters. You are no longer welcome here."

Plase nodded. With those words, he and the crew of the Cygnus had failed their mission in the most extreme way. "Very well, Tashi. We respect your wishes, and the wishes of your people." He tapped his commbadge. "Bane to all Away Teams. Please beam back to the ship immediately." He looked back at her. "Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?"

Oromani stood at her full height, towering over the Bajoran captain by three heads. "I could hold you prisoner here. Put you on trial for crimes against the Antiocian people, and imprison you for the rest of your life. But what good would that do? Would it ease the suffering of those who have lost loved ones? I don't know that anything would accomplish that. Antiocians do not believe in vengeance."

She took a breath. "Remember what has happened here. Make sure it never happens again. By order of the Council of Elders of Antioch, I give you two hours to gather your staff and depart Antioch."

She walked around him and headed for the exit, but turned back to him after a few steps. "The Tashi has spoken," she declared. She then lowered her voice, and let the sorrow creep into it. "But as Nilani Oromani, I can only tell you how sorry I am at the outcome. We should have celebrated this event, and embraced the intergalactic community. We shouldn't have to mourn our dead in this way. I did consider you a friend, Captain Bane Plase. I know you are not personally responsible for what has happened. Please, check up on us... discreetly... in a hundred years or so. We may welcome you back then."

Plase smiled. "Thank you, Nilani." It was the first time he had used her given name. He then used his official Captain voice. "We will all be gone in two hours, per your edict, Tashi. I will also have those other ships reverse course. They will not even come into this star system, let alone orbit." While the outcome of this First Contact had been a disaster, the door to friendship was not closed forever. It might be very minor, but it was something, and where there was hope, there could be success.

"Farewell, Captain Bane Plase," said Tashi Oromani. "May the Fates be forever in your favor."

She turned, and within seconds she was gone.


OFF

A JP by

Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commanding

and


Nilani Oromani
Tashi of Antioch III
Played by Elodin Devan

 

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