The Council of Elders

Posted on 23 Nov 2022 @ 11:55pm by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast

1,428 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Antioch III
Timeline: Concurrent with Arrival

Oromani took one last deep breath of the fresh morning air. She wrapped her paluma more tightly around her shoulders, in reaction to a draft of the cool morning breeze. She closed her eyes and turned her face up to the morning suns, and let them warm her up before she stood and turned back to head off into the main Capitol building. Her page, a youngling by the name of Hadrea, was waiting for her by the door.

"The Council is ready for you," she said, handing her an electronic device that contained the agenda for the day's first meeting. Oromani gave the youngling a nod of thanks before sighing gently, and taking the device from her. The legislative agenda for this session was very heavy, and the opposition was breathing down her neck with an incredibly long list of proposed amendments - most of which were completely laughable, since they were supposed to address issues that were already dealt with in the existing articles. Reparations for the last conflict… The last conflict had ended over a century ago, thought Oromani. Reparations had already been made, ten-fold. But by all means, they should waste precious time debating it all over again…

"Lead the way, then," said Oromani simply, giving Hadrea a benevolent smile.

The youngling barely reached Oromani's shoulder in height, but her legs had the advantage of youth. Oromani had to struggle to keep up. "Do you have any plans for Karodee?" asked Oromani, in an attempt to slow the young page down. The religious festival was barely a span of days away. The eight-day holiday was a millenia-old tradition, meant to thank the spirits for a plentiful harvest, though there were some who always found a way to argue that commercialism had diluted the meaning of the celebration. What was meant to be a time to celebrate and rejoice with family members was slowly becoming something entirely different.

"Nothing specific, Tashi," replied Hadrea. "I'll be staying here in the Capital, there's not enough time to go home for the Holiday."

"Are your friends also staying in the Capital?"

"Some of them, yes. I think they're planning something for the third day."

"You should go," said Oromani. "You work too much, you should take some time to have fun with people your age," she said, painfully aware that she was part of the reason why the young page worked so much. Being the personal assistant to the Tashi of Antioch was no easy position. The hours were endless, and the nights inversely short, and the work tended to shift from reading intricate legal briefs to the planning of frivolous social events within a heartbeat.

Hadrea gave a shy smile and simply hefted the bundle she was carrying.

Oromani decided it was best to move on from the subject. "They're ready for me?" she asked as she picked up the pace.

"Yes," replied Hadrea. "Elder Torvani has notified the Council that he wishes to make several new amendments to your proposal."

Oromani sighed. "Honor-down, I swear he'll be the death of me," she muttered under her breath.

"He was once one of your strongest supporters," pointed out Hadrea. "What made him change his mind?"

"Trying to save his own skin," said the Tashi. "He's vulnerable in his estate. You know the demographics of Cenaria. People there aren't getting any younger, and there's an influx of refugees from the Ymmur region. They're choosing their next representative on the Council of Elders on the third Felling day of Equis, which is just five spans away. He's worried that if he gets too close to me someone else will be elected."

"So you have to win him back, but it has to look like you caved to his demands."

Oromani gave her protégé a nod, and sped up her pace on her way to the Council chambers. The heavy ornate doors parted before her, and a booming voice announced her arrival. Just as she was about to step through, Oromani suddenly stopped and remembered herself. She reached out to Hadrea, who handed her the ceremonial robes of the Tashi. She slipped on the garment, symbolically embroidered with the crests of the twenty-four regions of Antioch she was supposed to represent, drew her wire frame to its full height, and stepped through.

"All rise," called out the senior Elder. "The Council of Elders of Antioch is now in session. Oromani, Tashi of Antioch, you have the floor."

………..


"Esteemed Elders, this is outrageous," declared Torvani, the elected Elder from Cenaria. "The Tashi would believe us to be completely blind with this proposal. But I assure you, it is perfectly clear to us now that the current state of our healthcare facilities in Cenaria, and indeed in every estate in the Western counties, matters less than her preposterous Warp exploration program. I assure you, Elders, that a Warp ship will do very little to ease the workload of your physickers during the next winter. Why, the Medica in Tinuë is in such a state of disrepair as I've ever seen in my life! I beg you, fellow Councillors, to block this misappropriation of public funding, and redirect those funds to the Medical, where they are sorely needed."

A round of polite applause greeted the Councillor's intervention. Torvani slowly regained his seat, leaning heavily on his cane and favoring his right leg, which Oromani knew to be an elaborate theatrical display to emphasize his point.

As the applause died down, the Tashi gave a nod to Elder Falcio, who got up in turn to respond. "I find it amusing," she said, "that our fellow Elder would consider scientific exploration to be a misappropriation of public funding. Considering that it was his own ancestor who, seven centuries ago, set out to cross the Eastern Sea, and established the first settlement on Yll, one would think that exploration would be ingrained in his mind. But let us entertain for a moment the idea that it might be a misappropriation of public funding. The costs of the Warp program have been factored into the government ledgers for the past twelve years. The books have been inspected by our own solicitors, and subjected to independent review several times, and no misuse of public funds has ever been proven."

She took a breath. "On the other hand, over the past forty years, several reports have emerged about the state of the Medicas in the Western counties," stated Falcio, giving a nod of assent in Torvani's direction. "And in those same ledgers that validate the Warp program, we can also find expenses for the rehabilitation of Cenaria's botanical gardens. Which, I believe, are on your family's estates, Elder Torvani, am I correct? There is also a section on the expenses to renovate the central auditorium at the Pelczar Sanctorum - where I believe your daughter has a dance studio, Elder Rayne, is that right?" she added, glancing at Falcio's neighbor. "Paid out of your counties' discretionary budgets. If the current state of your Medicas is so alarming, why didn't you use those funds to bring them up to modern standards?" Falcio turned to the Senior Elder and gave a short bow. "I yield the floor back to you."

Falcio regained her seat. This time there was no applause, but more than a few Elders shifted uncomfortably in their seats, doing their very best to avoid looking at Falcio or Rayne.

Oromani worked very hard to keep a smile off her face as she got to her feet. "Esteemed Elder," she began, stopping abruptly as Hadrea suddenly appeared at her side and handed her a note. Oromani unfolded it, and read it twice before turning to the Senior Elder. "I must request an immediate recess."

The Senior Elder made as if he wished to protest, but then he glanced at the timetell on the wall, and noticed that the midday break was soon approaching. "We will reconvene in two hours," he stated.

As the Elders filed away, murmuring their inquiries at the sudden interruption, Oromani turned to Hadrea. "Where did this note come from?" she asked in a whisper.

"We just received this transmission a few minutes ago," said Hadrea.

Oromani waited until the last of the Elders was out of earshot before turning back to her page and reading the note a third time. "What in Tehlu's name is a cygnus, and what is this United Federation of Planets they say they're representing?"

………

Nilani Oromani
Tashi of Antioch III
(written by Lt. Temerant Bast
Chief Operations Officer
USS Cygnus)

 

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