Meeting the Antiocians

Posted on 17 Mar 2023 @ 12:07am by Captain Bane Plase & Lieutenant Maralen Seitha & Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Lieutenant Commander Elodin Devan MD & Lieutenant Albert Spangler

4,805 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Antioch III
Timeline: Concurrent with "First Contact"

Elodin paced the length of the transporter room anxiously. He couldn't claim to having that many First Contact missions under his belt, but he'd been around the block a couple of times, enough to know that these could go either way. His faith in the Prophets guided him to believe that this would be a joyous occasion, and that they would be making new friends today. Still, he made a mental inventory of the medkit he was carrying, just to keep his mind busy while they waited for word from the Captain.

Temerant Bast stood silently at the transporter console, next to Ensign Burke, who was operating the controls. He watched the Chief Medical Officer pacing back and forth, and tried not to get annoyed. Like the Doctor, he had very little experience in First Contact procedures, but he'd been given a briefing -albeit a hasty one - by his father, Ambassador Kilvin, on Deep Space Nine. They would need to be on their toes, but all the information on the diplomatic briefings they'd had on their way over had mentioned that the Antiocians were a peaceful people. In fact, their last international conflict had been non-violent, and and occurred over a century ago. They were indeed ready to join the intergalactic community.

"First contact. Super." Spangler whispered to himself as he entered the transporter room. The tension in the room wasn't subtle, which did nothing boost Albert's lackluster enthusiasm. Using a scientist for diplomacy seemed questionable at best, but here he was. On the bright side, this time he probably wouldn't have to kill anything. "Super."

Although Vaat was still technically relieved of duty on convalescent leave, and still working on deciding if he wanted to stay in Starfleet, he mosied into the Transporter Room, if nothing else than to wish everyone an exciting time on their First Contact mission. He slipped in and stood in the back as to be out of the way. "I sure do envy each of you for being able to make First Contact," he said. As an Alien Archaeologist by training and education, he relished the thought of being able to go down and look at their society, and to learn as much as he could about their anthropology.

Maralen had entered silently somewhere among the others and stood silently watching them. Their reactions were varied, but all seemed to have one thing in common; nervousness. Some hid it better than others, but it was there.

Maralen, for his part, was not nervous. First Contact was similar to Relations Representative in that the only member of the Federation who had been here before was likely a scout or observation team, unseen by the population. In the Realm, he had not been placed on First Contact missions; they had been training him for something much more... prestigious -- they'd wanted him to, one day, replace The Executive; a dubious honor at best. But the ThoughtSingers had made each of their Servant Tools go up every rank level, and Relations Rep was the last one before the final, First Command. He had gotten as high as Relations Rep before Tenna of Nestral had freed him.

The basic function of a Relations Representative was to go to a designated planet that had already been scouted but not approached yet. Once there, they were to meet with the leader or leaders and attempt to coax said leader or leaders to join the worlds currently held by the ThoughtSingers. This was a job he had despised, but only because he had despised them, and it gnawed at his soul to have to convince others to submit to the same fate he had been subjected to.

And yet, this was different too. Oh, the basics were the same. Go to a designated planet which had been observed but not approached yet. Meet with the leader or leaders of that world and attempt to convince said leader or leaders to join the Federation. There was one very key difference, however, at least to Maralen Seitha. He did not hate doing this. He looked forward to it. The Federation had been good to and for him, and he was happy to share that good fortune with others. So he stood and waited for the order to go down to Antioch III.

///Antioch III///

=/\= Cygnus to Bane. Captain, the delegation is ready on your command,=/\= came the notification from the Chief manning the Transporter Room controls.

Bane tapped his commbadge. "Good news. Please proceed," he said, giving the go-ahead to have everyone beam down.

At this moment, the whine and squeal of the transporter beams permeated the room. It was a sound Bane was used to and did not bother him, but he noticed the Tashi and Page both put their hands over their ears, in obvious pain, until the beam in process was completed. He took that into account and would remember to inform the ship about this as soon as he was able to make a report. For now, he smiled and introduced the people that had just arrived. "Tashi Oromani, Page Hadrea, I am pleased to introduce to you some of my senior officers on the Cygnus. This is Lieutenant Bast, my Chief of Operations and a member of the Trill species. Next to him is Lieutenant junior grade Albert Spangler, my Chief Science Officer and a member of the Human species. Behind him is Doctor Elodin Devan, my Chief Medical Officer and a Bajoran, just like me. Finally, next to him is Lieutenant Maralen Seitha, the Chief of Security aboard the Cygnus and a member of the Ledaran species."

At the introduction, Maralen bowed his head slightly in respect to the leader and her aide. He did not say anything at this state, but even if he had been intending to, their reactions made him pause and study them.

Both Oromani and Hadrea in unison said, "Great Sachemegins," at the sight of Lieutenant Seitha. Clearly, they had never seen anything like him before.

Spangler followed the Antiocians' gaze to the Security Chief and back, "Like y'all are something to look at." He whispered to himself, ignoring the fact he had a similar reaction to the first time he met a Ledaran.

Elodin spared a glance at the Science Officer, and stepped closer to the young man. "Are you all right, Mister Spangler?" he asked in a hushed voice. "You're looking a little flushed."

Albert leaned slightly towards the Doctor, speaking in a hushed tone, "That's just what I look like. Besides, crowds and meeting new people give me gas." Spangler gave Elodin a knowing nod, turning back to the Antiocans. He figured it was best not to mention the hangover.

Tashi Oromani looked also rather flushed herself, her eyes darting from one person to the next in rapid succession. She placed her hands on her desk and slowly lowered herself into her chair and took a deep breath.

"Welcome to Antioch," she said finally, at a loss for anything more profound to say, which was uncharacteristic of her - being the Tashi usually implied strong oratory skills, but this situation was overwhelming.

Captain Bane Plase stepped forward a step from introducing his crewmates, towards the Tashi. "Thank you, Tashi Oromani. We understand this is a very big day for you. We will take it as slowly, or as quickly, as you wish," he reassured her.

Oromani's eyes kept darting from one Cygnus officer to the other, as her brain tried to grasp the full measure of the situation. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, before reopening it and reclosing it. Finally she turned to Harea, a determined look on her face. "Please get the Guild leaders from the Council of Elders. This is a momentous occasion, to be sure. Decisions have to be made for Antioch, and though I am the elected Tashi, these decisions are not mine to make alone."

The aide to the Tashi nodded curtly. "At once, Tashi," she said, turning on her heel and nearly trotting out of the room to fetch the seniormost members of the Council of Elders, as ordered.

Maralen watched all of this silently, his Shield of Calm in place. Not a look, not a movement, betrayed what he might be thinking or feeling. But he could not help but notice the look on the leader's face. She was overwhelmed, and who could blame her! This was a lot to take in for someone who, only yesterday, didn't even know that there were other life forms outside of her own world.

As he watched -- he was pretty much watching everyone and everything -- and listened, he began to adapt to the native language. The Translators were doing their jobs, but he did not use one. He never did. He preferred to hear the native language spoken and adapt to it. In only a few minutes of listening, he would adapt and be able to converse in the new language. Of course, that would only give him the dialect spoken here by this group of people, but that was a start. And so he watched and listened in silence.

While they waited, Bast drifted over to the window. Bast guessed from the view that the building was located at the top of a hill, and overlooked the entire valley. A great river had made its bed along the floor of the valley, and the city had been built around it. Bast could see a few tall buildings, but most of the city seemed to be built of single- or at the most two-story buildings. Which, by the average height of the Antiocians of about two and a half meters, could still be higher than the typical Federation buildings. Bast made a mental note to have Engineering stand ready to adapt the guest quartes on the Cygnus, should a delegation from Antioch ever come on board.

The stratosphere's mix of rare gasses, combined with the makeup of the Antiocian sun, gave the sky a slightly greenish hue, and the light had a golden tint to it that Bast found slightly offputting. While not unpleasant, he thought it would take some getting used to.

As he looked out the window, he could see families strolling about the plaza just outside the main government building, and a few public transit vehicles going along their route, with passengers getting on and off, oblivious to the major event that was just about to change their perception of their world and their place in the universe. Monuments could be seen here and there around the square, works of public art that would undoubtedly have been erected to commemorate people or events of importance in the history of Antioch.

One of the few pointers he'd received from his father, Ambassador Kilvin, regarding First Contact was to give the Universal Translator a wide berth during the initial phase of First Contact. Most of the time it was programmed from a brief monitoring of the planet's broadcasts, which tended to be sanitized and formatted language that could be slightly out of phase with the way people really spoke. And there was always a risk that it wouldn't understand or correctly render idiomatic expressions. He picked his words very carefully.

"The Capital City looks very beautiful from here," he said, trying to keep the Tashi's mind grounded while they waited for the Guild leaders to arrive. "It seems to have a long and proud history."

The Tashi blinked several times at Bast, though she did not yet remember his name. So much had happened in the last half hour. Everything in the whole sphere had been rocked right off the level. "I suppose it is. How many of you are there," she asked him. She kept a close eye on the rest of the bunch, including Captain Bane. She was not apprehensive naturally, but everything about today, at least in the last short bit, was a bit much, even for her.

Bast paused to consider the question, which was somewhat ambiguous. Was the Tashi referring to the crew complement of the Cygnus? To the Federation population in general? The number of planets in the Federation? One thing was certain in his mind, she was stalling for time, waiting for the Council members to arrive. He decided to humor her and give her all the time she needed.

"There are a little over 130 core members in the Federation, representing that many species. Some of these members have also colonized other uninhabited systems. The Federation includes nearly a thousand planets. If you're asking about the total population in the Federation, I would guess somewhere in the area of three trillion people. But if you're asking about the Cygnus, we have a crew complement of seven hundred and sixty-eight."

Behind Bast a few paces was Captain Bane, listening in on their conversation with approval, and any conversation that the rest of the crew was having. Currently, most were talking amongst themselves about the sights (and size) of everything here. He was also listening for the pending arrival of the rest of the Council of Elders, and wondered how they would react. Would they react positively, like the Tashi here did, or would they be much more guarded and reserved, as the aide to the Tashi had been? The next several hours would be interesting for Bane and the crew of the Cygnus, and altogether civilization-altering for the people of Antioch III.

Tashi Oromani's eyes widened again. "A thousand planets....all filled with different types of people....three trillion people....seven hundred on your ship...." She trailed off for a moment. When she looked back up at Lieutenant Bast, her eyes were unfocused and glossy, as if she could not comprehend what she was hearing. "I must admit Bast of the ship Cygnus, this is quite a bit to digest." She continued, seemingly unable to help herself. "Your technology is incredible. How far ahead of us are you, technologically?"

Bast smiled. "Respectfully, I'm afraid there's no simple answer to that question, Tashi," he replied. "While it might be possible to quantify our advancement concerning one particular technology, your people might be more advanced in another area, and in yet others you might have taken such a radically different approach that any comparison would be useless. And even within the Federation, not all members are equally advanced, though most if not all are willing to cooperate and share in their technological advancement."

The skin on the Tashi's forehead squished, a telltale sign she did not understand. "I..." she started, but was interrupted by the massive doors to the Chamber of Elders opening up to the Private Office of the Tashi of Antioch III. From the bright light beyond, seven figures appeared. The first, leading the way, was the aide of the Tashi, which all of the Starfleet Officers were already introduced to. Following her were the Guild Leaders of the Council of Elders, six in all, all of them every bit as tall as the other. "Great Sachemegins," two of them said in unison, looking from one Starfleet Officer to the next. Each of the six gasped or otherwise paused for a moment as their eyes were laid upon Lieutenant Seitha, though all of them were more than surprised at the tiny aliens before them. Coming up to the desk of the Tashi and fanning out, three on the left side, three more on the right, they stood as impressive Sentinels of the Antiochian people.

And there was that word again, Maralen thought. Was it the name of some deity? Or perhaps a great leader? Whatever it was, it represented an exclamation, and their expressions showed surprise. He could only guess that they had never seen a felinoid before -- and of course they hadn't, he reminded himself; these were the first aliens these people had seen. As he did not yet have enough of the language to properly determine the exact meaning of the word beyond that rudimentary guess, he waited and listened.

Captain Bane stepped forward, two steps ahead of where Bast was standing. "Tashi of Antioch III, esteemed Guild Leaders of the Council of Elders," Bane said, having practiced that line a hundred times in front of his mirror in his quarters before he beamed down, "It is the highest honor of any Starfleet Officer to make First Contact with a new-to-us civilization, and doubly so to a civilization that has joined the interstellar community in discovering faster-than-light travel. I assure you, it is relatively rare that civilizations make it to this stage in their technological development. It is a testament to each of yours leadership and to the society in which you belong. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Interstellar community."

Tashi Oromani looked at her colleagues, appearing to take note of who was present before glancing at her aide.

"The others had already left, but they've been summoned to return," mumbled the aide apologetically.

Oromani waved the concerns aside and turned back to the Cygnus crew. "On behalf of the people of Antioch," she said, "thank you, and welcome to our world. I am Kalina Oromani, Tashi of Antioch. These are some of our Guild Leaders." She waved at them in turn, from left to right. "Elder Torvani, leader of the Administrative Guild, who oversees all legal matters. Elder Thendra, leader of the Healers Guild, who sees to the health and well-being of our people. Elder Ectar, leader of the Builders Guild, who oversees all develpment to our infrastructures. Elder Jovan, leader of the Warriors Guild, who is responsible for all matters of defense." There was a brief pause as Oromani locked eyes with Jovan, who would undoubtedly have to explain how a ship like the Cygnus could have approached their world undetected. "Elder Eliska, leader of the Artists Guild, who is tasked with developing and enriching our culture and transmitting our values from generation to generation. And Elder Trindra, leader of the Pursers Guild, who oversees the allocation and distribution of our resources."

The crew of the USS Cygnus all bowed their head respectfully at the introduction of each of the esteemed Elders names. "Thank you, Tashi Oromani, and thank each of you, Elders, for the warm reception. I am sure you have questions for us, and we would be thrilled to answer them. We have questions for you as well, and would love to be able to get to know you and your people, as you see fit."

He had given bows of the head to each Elder as they were introduced just like the rest of the officers had, but Maralen was thinking that these Guilds reminded him of the Lessanthi Sects. They even seemed to be divided up similarly. Fascinating. He wondered if they also had a spiritual Guild as the Lessanthi had a Spirit Sect. The whole thing sparked the curiosity that all cats have -- he was just better trained to suppress it than most -- but he held back for the moment, giving the other officers a chance to speak first. Besides, Security accomplished more by silent watching than by chattering.

It occurred to Spangler that it wasn't quite clear which of the Guild Leaders were responsible for scientific endeavor. They'd advanced sufficiently that their research capabilities must be somewhat robust. The cynic inside Albert eyed the leaders of the Warriors and Pursers Guilds, contemplating whether he'd prefer the accountant or the grunt.

The Tashi nodded regally and looked at her staff. "Indeed we do, Captain Bane Plase. But first, I think we need to confer amongst ourselves. I'm sure you'll understand that encountering an alien species - or multiple alien species, as is the case here - so suddenly in my own office, is not a contingency that we've elaborately planned. My aide, Hadrea, will lead you to a waiting area nearby, and we will join you in a few moments."

Plase nodded. "Of course, Tashi. Take all the time you need. Gentlemen, please follow Hadrea," he said nodding to his crewmates, and to Hadrea to lead the way.

The young page, who still stood about two heads taller than the Away Team, led them to a room a few doors down the corridor. It was lavishly furnished, with seats in the brightest of colors, large windows overlooking the same public square as the Tashi's office, and heavy curtains that had somewhat been faded by the sunlight.

"The Tashi will be with you shortly," said Hadrea, before retreating back into the corridor and closing the door behind them.

Bast took out his tricorder and began scanning the room. "I'm not picking up any listening devices of any kind," he said after a minute.

Bane nodded to Bast, a non-verbal thanks going to him. While it was obvious they never expected aliens to come to their planet today, who knows what this room had been used for previously, and what sort of devices were in here to give them the advantage. "It seems like things are going well," Bane stated. "The Tashi and her aide were taken aback by me," he said to the officers assembled in the room. "They did not panic, nor did they get hostile with something as alien as us." Sensing questions coming, he added, "They asked me a few really good questions before you all beamed down. Intelligent questions. I suspect you all may have questions," he asked of those assembled. It was his hope that whatever question they had, would help them to perform their duties as things progressed.

"I think the Tashi was surprised by the notion that some Federation members are not so willing to share each and every technological advancement," said Elodin. "Did she expect us to help them make a 400-year leap forward in technology that they might not be ready for?"

"We can certainly help them to understand why technological advancement needs to proceed at a certain pace," replied Bast. "We should focus on the Federation's emphasis on dialogue and cooperation. From the diplomatic briefings we received on our journey here, the Antiocians value their history. Exploration and discovery are at the core of the Federation charter, that's something that would be very meaningful to them, more so than making such a giant leap forward in technology."

Spangler had been taking in the room, appreciating the minor details of design that came with a foreign culture. The crown molding, or whatever they called it here was an interesting touch. He was vaguely taking in the conversation, his mind switching between the reality of first contact, figuring out his place in it all, and contemplating what this table was made from. He gave the surface a tap with his knuckle. Weird.

"I wouldn't mind observing the Antiocians' approach to the scientific method." Spangler looked up to his companions, "You can learn a lot by how a person approaches a question in the lab."

Plase enjoyed listening to his friends talk and ask questions that would be useful to answering other questions later on, if the Antiocians offered them that opportunity. Just as he was about to speak, the doors to the room opened up, the Assistant to the Tashi reappearing. "Thank you for your wait," she said. "It is not customary of our people to keep foreign dignitaries waiting like this."

Bane looked over to Maralen, his eyes wide with surprise.

The Assistant continued. "The Tashi and the Council of Elders will now see you. Please, follow me."

Maralen had silently listened to the talk around him. From what they knew of these people at this stage, he suspected Bast was right. The fact was that their information was limited, and he would prefer to have more to work with to make a decision of best approach, but they didn;t have it, so there was nothing to do but to proceed the best way they could, and that was likely as Bast suggested.

When the captain's eyes turned to him, Maralen nted the surprise in them. Admittedly, he felt similarly pp as evidenced by the way his ears swiveled toward the aide and his whiskers twitched -- but his outward reaction was brief as was the captain's, he noted.

'Foreign dignitaries' must refer to representatives of other parts of her planet since they had already stated that the cygnus crew were the first aliens they'd seen. But why should they be concerned about the wait time -- it had not been a lot at any rate -- when deciding something as momentous as this? Perhaps they were concerned that if they made the aliens wait too long, said aliens might take their offer and go home? Longer wait times would be expected in this situation. Hell, for his money, they hadn't waited long enough. That had likely beed the reason for the captain's look of surprise too, he reasoned.

"Thank you," he offered politely to the aide. "Please lead on."

Page Hadrea's mouth went agape as Maralen spoke. It looked as if a soft summer breeze would topple her right over. "It speaks?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper, to Spangler, who, by sheer happenstance was closest.

Maralen was slightly caught off guard. Feline hearing being what it was, he had heard that whisper -- it helped that the crew had not been standing far from each other when Hadrea had entered the room. His eyes tracked to Bane for a second, and there was a strange look of question in them. It lasted only a fraction of a second, though, before his expression once more resolved itself into his normal mask of calm.

Spangler had found himself looking around at minor details of the facility, borderline oblivious to the activities of the group. The words directed at him startled him almost as much as realizing that they came from right next to him. Albert's eyes went wide, the terror of being called on without having read the material.

"..Do what?" Was what escaped the Science Officer, scrambling. His mind raced, careening from mental guard rail to guard rail. What did she say? Did I say something? Crap, was I supposed to say something? Why is everyone staring at me? He wanted to look down to make sure his zipper wasn't down, but was too paralyzed with social anxiety. Wait, I don't have a zipper. Why don't these uniforms have a zipper? How am I supposed to use the restroom in this thing? Wait, how do I use the restroom? What if I have to pee? Do these people even have restrooms? How do they pee? Why is this alien ghost lady still staring at me?

Spangler blinked, as his train of thought fully derailed. The words came out strained, as he tried to remember how to breathe. "Nuh.. um. No?"

Hadrea blinked in surprise at Spangler for a beat, not sure what to make of what he had just said. Then again, she thought, it could be hallucinations from the excitement of the day, meeting these aliens and what was clearly a guardian beast of some sort. But, then why did it wear their clothes? Of course, it could be a custom quite unfamiliar to Hadrea (and for that matter, to the Antiochians) that these aliens practiced. Getting her senses back under control, louder, she repeated, "Please, this way." She led the group of aliens out of the room and back to the cavernous meeting hall where the Tashi and the Council of Elders (at least, the ones that had been around to be summoned). "Tashi, Council of Elders, I present the Cygnus aliens."

Oromani rose to her full height, towering at least two heads over the crew of the Cygnus, and assumed as regal a pose as she could. "On behalf of the people of Antioch, I welcome you," she stated formally. "For millenia, we Antiocians believed that we were the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Over the past two centuries or so, we gained the belief that this could not be. Our writers and artists conjured up stories and fables in which we travelled to the stars, and encountered strange and wondrous, and sometimes frightening, new life. But we had no evidence that such life did indeed exist."

She exchanged glances with the Council members. "Until today."



OFF:

A quick little JP by:

Lieutenant junior grade Albert Spangler
Chief Science Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Lieutenant Temerant Bast
Chief Operations Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Lieutenant Maralen Seitha
Chief of Security
USS Cygnus

&

Dr. Elodin Devan
Chief Medical Officer
USS Cygnus

&

Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commanding

 

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