From: Sarah Albertini-Bond (serendipity77_at_gmail.com)
Date: Fri May 11 2007 - 08:44:15 PDT
=/\=
"But I Wanna Pretty Festival Too!"
<continued from Rahul's "Meetings And Festivals">
=/\=
Location: GATEWAY STATION – 2
Stardate: 2.70511.1114
Scene: Federation Ambassador's Suite – Ambassador Bonviva's Office
It had been a lovely morning so far. She had met the new CO
(and didn't poison him – Gene and Kat would be so proud), ticked off Tee,
sworn in some new members of the Federation, and was looking forward to her
afternoon appointment. Heck there was message for her saying she could
already be a winner in the intergalactic lottery, if only she forwarded the
message onto 15 friends within the next 15 minutes, and the rate the day was
going she almost could have believed she'd win.
Eilean even bothering about taking her personal security more
seriously didn't bother her.
"So are you keeping Zeman or am I going to have to start another
Security check on some other soul?" Eilean asked while sitting before her
friend. Since it was just the two of them, the Xenxenian could relax and
sit down for a few minutes. Harassing Xana could be exhausting. "Cos you
know I do have other things to do than to investigate anyone that you're
intrigued by."
Xana looked at the Xenxenian woman. "Is that your official Security
position?"
Eilean snorted. "Yes. I can't keep wasting time on doing background checks
on people you will only fire a day later."
Xana, who was busy reading a memo that while not that engrossing was at
least not this conversation. "So what else would you be doing?"
"Keeping you safe! Do you not remember how many death threats you get?"
Eilean replied with a huff.
"I know it's in the neighborhood of more than what Gene gets, less than what
would keep you on your toes, and about on par for low-to-mid-level political
appointees," Xana replied. Looking up she said, "Am I wrong?"
"You were just the target of an assassination attempt less than a month
ago!" Eilean responded. Damn the way Starfleet trained COs, Eilean thought
bitterly, it made them all stupid when it came to personal safety.
"They didn't even get off a shot. It doesn't count," Xana replied
blithely. "And Hannibal arrested them all, for which I had to hand over
another recipe. Next he's going to be asking for my gnocchi di latte
recipe, I just know it."
"You're worried about giving out another recipe but not about your safety?"
Eilean inquired.
"I can't get too worried about my safety," Xana replied blithely.
"And why not?"
"Well then what would you and Gene do for fun if not nag me about my
security?"
Eilean closed her eyes and muttered. "Maybe we wouldn't die young trying to
save your sorry blue ass. Here's a radical thought – maybe we wouldn't nag
you if you just showed a bit more concern."
Xana thought about that for a moment. Not being nagged had it's privileges.
Then she realized something. Shaking her head she replied, "Nah you'd just
find something else to nag me about."
[[Uhm...Ambassador Bonviva,]] a male voice cracked over the intercomm
system.
Xana smiled at that. Most of her staff didn't come over with the switch
from offices but Ben Hiram, her 17-year-old well-meaning intern, did. What
he lacked in political savvy, he made up for in loyalty, which always won
points with her. And he was learning.
"Ben," Xana called out amiably, "start any coups lately?"
It was a running joke that Ben had unfortunately started. Tomas' Vukovic
had onetime said he needed Xana's signature on some official documents and
Ben had offered to sign them because he had been so bored he was practicing
her signature. Tomas' raked him over the coals for what he said was
tantamount to starting a coup. Tomas' had not been helped by Xana
cheerfully stating she would just hand over power to the intern if he really
wanted it that bad. Ben, terribly mortified (and deeply frightened of the
BORG/Human) never did it again but Xana did have fun with it every so
often. It was important, she felt, that Ben not only learned from it but
learned to laugh at it. It was the only way to survive in politics, as she
was learning.
[[No coups today...yet,]] Ben said, trying his hand at humor. [[But I have
the Ferengi Ambassador here for you. Can I send him in?]]
Xana gave a glance at Eilean before responding. "Go for it." Tapping a
communicator she called out, "Zeman, my office."
Then the Ferengis, as represented by their own Ambassador Kork, said they
were going to protest by taking all their merchants off the GATEWAY, and
indeed all other Federation stations, if the Federation didn't immediately
correct what the Ferengis said was "a pattern of racial bias towards the
noble persons of the Ferengi Alliance".
It had been a lovely morning while it lasted.
"Sir," Xana said as she sat behind her desk, "the Federation and the Ferengi
Alliance, while not always agreeing on diplomatic and military actions, have
had a strong economic relationship, would you not agree?"
"Well the Ferengi Alliance has always been more than happy to open up
economic roads to the poor Federation," the Ferengi Ambassador smiled.
"And the Federation has always been happy to support the Ferengi economy
with its wealth and prosperity," Zeman offered.
"The Federation isn't the only group that has credits and latinum to spare,"
Kork pointed out.
"So tell me, what is the cause of your complaint."
"The Federation has been racist towards the Ferengis, and quite frankly,
we're not going to take it anymore," Kork replied simply.
Not good, so not good. Xana looked over at Kork, trying to gauge the
situation and not getting much of a read. "That's it? You're off all
stations then?"
"Well that would be Stage 1. Of course we would prefer not to go that
route," the Ferengi Ambassador replied.
Xana sat back in her chair and looked at the Ferengi Ambassador. Racial
bias did not, normally, just spring up out of nowhere. And if there was a
pattern of it, well then it most certainly had to start at some point.
Additionally she sincerely doubted that all Ferengis were going to be off
all stations tomorrow. It was simply too prosperous. Still a…sick-out or
something of the like by the Fernegi would dampen relations. So the
question was...why were the Ferengis bringing this up now?
"Let me see what your requests are." Xana then took the PADD from the
Ferengi Ambassador and glanced at the list. It was a good thing she hadn't
eaten something yet from the candy jar on her desk, surely she would have
choked on it. "Hmmm...immediate discount of 99.9995% on all rental spaces
with immediate refunds of "overpay" dating back to inception of the
leases...priority cargo hold space for all Ferengi-imported and exported
merchandise...priority hangar space for all Ferengi freighters...waivers
past all Security and Customs searches...well the list goes on but those are
the top requests," the hybrid said. "You know this is quite a serious
list. To be honest with you, I'd have to go to my superiors about all these
provisions."
"I understand," Ambassador Kork said as he got up, feeling that he was
*this* close to getting what he wanted.
"Ambassador," Xana called out, "what was it that made you file this?"
"It's too painful to discuss," Kork replied.
If he hadn't smiled, Xana could have dredged up enough sympathy. But he did
smile, so that just made her want to beat him now.
Bobbing her head, Xana tried to figure out another tactic. "So will I see
you later?"
"Later?"
"The Gratitude Festival," Xana offered.
Kork scowled at that. "Ferengi do not celebrate Bajoran festivals. Not
when we have our own to attend to."
After the Ferengi Ambassador left the Arcadian Chief of Staff and folded his
hands in front of himself. "Ambassador, I do believe that it's quite
possible that the Ferengis' demands are nothing more than – "
"A temper tantrum," Eilean filled in with a scowl.
"Agreed," Xana nodded. "Ben!" she bellowed, "Get in here!"
Ben came running in from the front office – when not acting as greeter, he
usually was the de facto personal lackey for the Ambassador. Such was the
life of an intern – living on the whim of your boss. Skidding to a stop in
front of the Ambassador's desk, the teenager pushed his unruly brown hair
back and looked at his boss. "Yes, Ambassador Bonviva?"
"You're a man on a mission now," she informed him. "Go into every bar on
this station, find the barkeep, reassure them you don't want a drink because
you're underage but you need Ambassador Myall. If they protest – and they
will because it's Ambassador Myall and he will have run up a lovely tab and
they won't want to let that go, then let it slip that you've seen Ensign
O'Patterson on patrols—"
"I saw him?" Ben asked, very confused.
"Ben, work with me here. You've seen O'Patterson on patrols before. You
know he wouldn't want you in a bar because of the vast legal ramifications.
You're merely informing the barkeeps of this. You're just *very conviently*
leaving out the fact that you didn't see O'Patterson today," Xana
coached. "Now
back to what I was saying, you saw O'Patterson on patrol and he knows you're
underage. That should get them willing to kick Tai out. Then you're job
gets harder."
Ben was looking a bit nervous. It was bad enough the GATEWAY had quite a
few bars, but now he had to go in each looking for an Ambassador.
"Harder?"
"You have to keep Tai from going into another bar as you escort him here. It's
not an easy job but it's yours," Xana told Ben. "Do it and you can have
Saturday off."
"I had Saturday off already," Ben muttered as he left.
Xana ignored that and turned to Zeman. "You are to go to Security and will
not leave until O'Patterson gives you some kind of briefing on diplomatic
complaints. If he asks you why, then explain that the Ferengis have taken
up their complaints with my office because Starfleet isn't listening to
them. If he doesn't kill the Ferengis for going over several heads, or heck
just because it's a day of the week that ends in the letter "y", then see
what you can get from him. I have a nagging suspicion that the complaint
isn't from a Ferengi business from from Kork or Kork's family. There's
something else afoot here, and I'll be damned if I don't find out what it
is."
Zeman nodded at that. "Ambassador, perhaps after all this is over then we
can take a look at that request from Starfleet to assign you a military
liaison."
"Excellent," Xana nodded. "You know I've known quite a few liaisons in my
time and I started on a list, get going and I'll give you the final list of
who I thought of – "
"I don't think so," Eilean replied after Zeman left. When Xana gave her a
startled look the Xenxenian waggled her finger at her, "I know how your mind
works. The first thing you'll think of is everyone who ever was a liaison
and then you'll wanting to be bringing back gods know who. This is not a
reunion – you don't not need to bring back every stray you ever met and is
somewhere floating in that orbit that is your life."
The hybrid blinked her violet eyes at that. "Are you implying something?"
"You adopt people. I'd say it's endearing except that you've got an
unnatural habit for adopting strays that bite you or that you break," Eilean
pointed out. "That thing the other week about AJ – "
The Ambassador waved that off. "That's a different story."
"How?"
Xana drummed her fingers on her desk. "You know wanting to marry someone
eons ago – "
"It was only four years ago."
"-- isn't really adopting them."
The Xenxenian snorted at that. "It is not your job in life to try to keep
him safe," the Security officer said, "if he wants suicide by Romulans then
you're going to let the next Romulan that is lucky enough to find him the
luxury of killing him. It will make the Romulans happy, it will probably
make SFI happy, and it will for the love of all that's holy make me happy
because it means you're not trying to dicker with the BORG for kicks." Picking
up the list Eilean scanned over the names on it. "First off we're
scratching off Flip Halloran."
"Why? I think Flip would be great at this."
"Flip and you would go back to this unending cycle of trying to kill each
other, attempting to understand each other and missing horribly, somehow
offending each other, and so on. It's exhausting."
"He sent a very lovely gift when Dahlia was born."
"You called him a cheap bastard for sending you an empty cardboard box."
"I didn't call him that to his face! I sent a nice thank-you note. And how
was I supposed to know that Betazoids often give babies cardboard boxes to
stimulate their minds? I didn't figure that out until later on when I was
reading one of those baby books," Xana said. "You know he was right in
sending that, I think it has stimulated her imagination. Gods knows she's
got enough toys and yet she loves that box," the Ambassador continued
on. "Although
recently I got a message from him, now that I think of it. Something about
how I should let Dahlia watch paint dry but it just doesn't seem right."
"We're crossing his name off the list," Eilean announced as she went through
the list.
"I like him."
"You can like him from a quadrant away," the Security Chief muttered. "And
Andy Quest is also off this list."
"Now, Andy would be great at this."
"Andy was in need of serious medication after the last time of working with
you. So he's gone," Eilean replied. "Egads, you've got half the PROPHECY
and GATEWAY's old Senior Staffs on here. Oh no, I'm going through this
list. When I'm done you'll be accepting a person you've never met before."
Xana watched her Security Chief walk off to her office with the list of
military liaisons. "You know I wonder if other Ambassadors have to put up
with this," she sighed to herself.
A little while, later a tall, dark haired, distinguished Bajoran came into
the Ambassador's office. Xana had a strong affection for the only
Ambassador who had on his record, "Lock up your women and liquor if he comes
to your area".
"Tai," Xana smiled as she got up from her desk and walked around. "Thank
you for coming. I've got a situation with the Ferengis – "
"And you sent for me? Well thank the Prophets!" Tai replied
cheerfully. Shrugging
out of his jacket he tossed that off to Ben and said, "Be a good chap and
take care of that. Don't have the credits on me, but I'm good for it."
"I don't know where to put this," Ben whispered.
Tai turned around at that. "You're not the manservant?"
"Intern."
"Close enough," Tai replied easily, never having much time for any male in
the room. After Ben left, Tai leaned over to kiss Xana once on each cheek.
"My darling, you're looking positively buxom today. Well done."
Xana blushed at that even as she grinned. "Well…yes…I work with what I've
got. Let's sit and have a talk."
Sitting across from Tai in front of her desk, Xana shared a drink with the
Bajoran Ambassador while detailing the situation with the Ferengis.
"You know…the Gratitude Festival is very important to the
Bajorans," Tai said seriously once it was just the two of them in the room.
"I know," Xana nodded.
"You know I used to be a monk, right?" Tai asked.
"I knew that but not much else," Xana said.
"I was a Prylar," Tai explained. Lifting up the jingling glass
of scotch he indicated to Xana, "I left the monastery for this and the
company of women. Not a bad exchange, if you ask me, but I do remember that
the Gratitude Festival was one time we all looked for bring the flock back
into the fold, if you will."
"What are you driving at?" Xana asked softly.
"Not myself, but I do imagine that the Bajorans as a whole will
not take too kindly to having their holiday marred by the Ferengis having a
fit," Tai said as he sipped the scotch.
=/\=
NRPG: Hello all! This is merely a rest stop on the roadtrip that is
Jerome's mission extravaganza. You may stop here but this is not the
delightful destination of said mission so don't camp out and make it your
home.
(NOTE: this means that you can play with the Ferengis all you want but it's
not the driving force of the mission and Jerome will hop on a plane to choke
me if you all start chasing after them and not whatever torments he has
planned for us. 'Kay?)
Steve: There's an opening there for that idea you had, if you want.
Chance: It's a tag from me to you. Feel the love.
Jerome: Mission accomplished ;)
=/\=
Sarah Albertini-Bond serendipity77_at_gmail.com
Ambassador Xana Bonviva
Federation Ambassador
GATEWAY STATION - 2
He deserves Paradise who makes his companions laugh.
-- from The Koran
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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