From: Sarah Albertini-Bond (serendipity77_at_gmail.com)
Date: Sun Jun 03 2007 - 23:33:06 PDT
"Name The Darkness That Encroaches"
<continued from Kenneth's "Things Fall Apart">
=/\=
When the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free…
=/\=
Location: GATEWAY STATION – 2
SD: 2.70604.0031
Scen: Ambassador Xana Bonviva's Office
"No disrespect is intended but people die everyday, Ambassador.
Everyday people go mad. It happens in every corner of the universe.
Why should non-Bajorans care about what's happening on the GATEWAY?
What makes this so special?"
Xana was doing this interview with FNN because her hand was being
forced to. The newest Federation Ambassador – a Terran/Bolian at that
– should have not been doing this interview. But Kane was growling
that he had better things to do. Myall Tai wasn't trusted to do this.
And the Vedeks had closed ranks around themselves. Someone from the
GATEWAY had to speak up on this and that was tossed on Xana's lap.
Damn those men, Xana wanted to strangle them all. Now she was stuck
with an overeager wannabe-journalist who was trying her hardest to
sensationalize this mess.
"Every day people die, that's right," Xana began softly as she sat
across from the journalist in soft chair. "Despite our best efforts,
people grow old and die. They succumb to disease and famine, they
fall at the hands of their fellow humanoid for reasons that are as old
as the universe itself. This situation is different because there is
a portion of our Federation, those that believe in The Prophets, who
feel that what's happening now is part of a larger arrangement that
touches upon the spiritual."
=/\=
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth…
=/\=
Scene: Temple of the Prophets – side altar
TI: Earlier
"Don't ask me, Ambassador. I'll do it if forced, you know I serve my
homeworld and the organization she belongs to. I will jump into the
fray once more but I cannot guarantee what the results will be. And
for that reason you should give pause before asking me."
Xana Bonviva suspected she was one of the few who got to see this
side of Myall Tai – the roguishly charming, and usually inebriated,
Bajoran Ambassador. He was a very distinguishing looking man – tall,
lanky, with salt-and-pepper hair and high cheekbones that carried the
weathered face with an air of grace, in spite of the lewd comments
that usually came forth from his mouth. The silver earring that he
always wore was a reminder of his faith, but he'd be the first to tell
you that he was no longer part of the ecclesiastical community because
he wished to pursue more earthly delights, rather than heavenly ones.
Tai was sober. He hadn't once commented on Xana's cleavage, or any
other part of her body in the few minutes they'd been talking. He was
gripping the railing of the Temple's railing before the altar as if
his life depended upon it.
Maybe it did.
He had been standing alone before the side altar, his dark eyes
boring holes into the display there. She hadn't sought him out here,
but rather was summoned here by him. The Vedeks were non-too-pleased
by this but didn't argue this as they had other concerns. And since
most of the Bajorans were busy trying to get to the Orb, this side
altar allowed for Tai to ruminate on matters of religion. And because
it involved BAJOR, it naturally included ruminations on politics.
"Tai," Xana said, "someone has to speak up."
"Agreed," he nodded.
"Someone who understands the delicate balance between politics,
religion, and all the hurt feelings that will inevitably come."
"Agreed."
"That's you."
"And that's where you're wrong." Tai never stopped looking at the
altar, but his words were clearly aimed at Xana. "I entered the
monastery at a young age. I was no more than a boy. You might think
it primitive, most Terrans do, but Bajorans, at least the orthodox
ones, do strongly adhere to the practice of sending a young boy,
especially the younger ones in a large family, off to the monastery.
I don't remember much of my family life – for me family was the monks.
"I thrived in that environment, at least at first. You stop feeling
pain, they work you so hard in the fields and kitchens. You stop
feeling like an individual, because you serve the community and the
Prophets. There is no right and wrong, except for what the monks and
vedeks decree, because the only right is the Way of the Prophets and
the only wrong is straying from that."
Chuckling at his own private joke, Tai shook his head. "It was that
last one that got to me. If there is such a thing as an ultimate
reality, such a notion as the right way to follow the prophets, then
why could only the vedeks and monks know it? I left because I
disagreed with that premise. But that's why Orbs are so powerful – it
gives everyone the ability to experience the divine."
Sighing he said, "Of course everyone experiencing the divine can make
things tricky. None more so than those who want to stop it – to limit
access to the divine so as to better keep the deeper truths for
themselves, like misers hoarding their gold." Shaking his head he
continued on, "But what is the mark of a civilized people? Isn't it
to be able to see a problem afflicting their fellow person and work
towards giving them better than what they themselves had? And if you
can do so within a spiritual structure, wouldn't that give it more
meaning? Wouldn't you be then honoring, in the deepest level, the
truest meaning of humanity? So why not then give the Orb to everyone
– have everyone share in it? But then if it causes chaos and mayhem,
how can we say it's spiritual? Isn't a destruction of life in the
name of something holy the most profane thing we can do?
"My first vow, the only vow I've kept these long years, was: "I do
not divine the Prophts nor the way to join them. I am but a vessel in
this life. All I can do is take what little has been granted unto me
so as to better name the darkness that encroaches." It's my only vow
that I've kept, Xana. It's what kept me going. But now I find
myself…at a fork in the road and I do not know which way to turn. I
will do my best to work behind the scenes here in the station, to keep
life going and to stop the hatred. That is the truest thing to the
Prophets that I can discern. But please, don't ask me to speak to
millions about my faith and what this Orb experiences mean for the
population at large. Because I can't even answer that when I ask
myself that."
Tai finally turned his eyes from the altar to look at the blue woman,
"And it's all I've been asking myself since this has begun."
=/\=
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary
desert sand of dead habit…
=/\=
Scene: Conference Room A
TI: After above scene
Xana Bonviva was not used to going to people. She had been during
her time as CO and then in the diplomatic posts that followed become
accustomed to having people come to her. And admittedly, she enjoyed
that perk that came with the privileges that her new position afforded
her.
Michael Kane was not coming to her. Unfortunately, and somewhat
ironically, the security protocols that she had put in herself when CO
meant that now as a civilian she couldn't go to the CO Ready Room to
find him. The Conference Room, just below the main Ops Center, was
the perfect compromise.
The inhabitants came into the room just moments apart and kept
standing. Clearly neither one wanted to be here long as they had
other places to go.
"Captain," Xana began, inhaling and speaking as calmly as she could,
"the Federation Administration feels that someone has to address the
media."
Kane stood there as the implication became clear. "Surely,
Ambassador, there are better people. People who have more time on
their hands than the Commanding Officer who is now overseeing this
situation."
"The problem is that Federation Administration feels that seeing
the…calm face of the Commanding Officer will have a positive effect on
the population."
"The Federation Administration or you?" Kane asked shrewdly.
Xana shrugged at that. "As far as you're concerned, right now it's
one and the same, as I spoke to my superiors and they agree with me on
this. We need someone with a clear air of authority in this situation
and you have that authority."
Kane had a lot he could say to that but he chose the wiser course.
"The Bajoran Ambassador would be more suited to this, I believe."
"I agree in theory. However, the actuality is that that course of
action won't work," Xana sighed. "The Vedeks have closed up ranks
around themselves. BAJOR's homeworld government, is of course,
commenting but we need someone from the GATEWAY to say something. To
project that image of calm and reasoned assurance that everything,
while chaotic now, will work out."
"Propaganda. Trying to make the masses believe something that they
know isn't true if they look out their window," Kane argued back. He
didn't argue that he knew it wasn't true. Seeing a dead Vedek…yes, he
knew it wasn't true.
"It's only propaganda if the calm doesn't happen. When the calm does
happen then you'll be seen as prophetic or at the very least as the
voice of reason above the din," Xana argued. "You need to put aside
your own feelings for the station's well being."
"I'm not arguing that last point," Kane countered, ignoring the need
to point out that he had already been doing that, "but with regards to
your problem, I don't think it's me that you want to be speaking on
the news. I don't have the time, nor do I believe it's really my job
to be doing that. The Bajoran Ambassador or the Vedeks should be
doing this. If not…well then Ambassador you need to find another
mouthpiece."
=/\=
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
=/\=
Scene: The Lonely Traveler Tavern
TI: Now
The crowd was three people deep. Having chaos on the station tended
to make people's mouth water, and on a less commercial note, people
tended to congregate together when disaster happened. It was the need
to reach out and reassure yourself that you weren't alone
Right now the Ambassador's interview with FNN was playing on the
monitors and the speakers piped in the conversation below the din of
the crowd.
{{I am not a theologian, and I will not comment on what the Orb means.}}
{{Have you had an Orb experience, Ambassador?}}
{{That's a very personal question.}}
"That's a 'no'," one of the persons sitting in the dingy booth that
hadn't been wiped down since the Romulan incursion whispered to their
drinking partner. Sipping a vodka-bulaberry combo, the news watcher
raised an eyebrow at the other person in the booth, looking for
comment.
"That's not surprising," the drinking companion replied into the beer
that was slowly being drained.
{{What about your husband? He's Bajoran – has he had an Orb experience?}}
{{This is not about who has or had not an Orb experience,}} the
Ambassador deflected, {{this is about respecting the spiritual
sanctity that the Orb represents to its believers and balancing the
rights of all persons aboard the station.}}
"Whatdaya think?"
"Ya know…a few years ago there was a resurgence of a movement by
Bajorans who wanted only pure Bajorans, none of these half-breeds,"
the beer-drinker said. "It occurs to me that instead of dividing up
the universe by blood-type we should look….higher. Maybe divide it up
into those that have had an Orb experience and those that haven't. It
just seems more…right, doncha think?"
=/\=
NRPG: I hope this post is ok. I did re-read the old posts and I
thought it would be interesting to have some insight from a Bajoran
(an NPC but still) and then to look at those with less pure motives in
the background. The Bajoran religious vow that Myall Tai quotes is
one I made up so don't bother looking for it on a ST site lol
The poem that's quoted throughout is called "My Country Awake" by
Rabindranath Tagore.
Jerome: I hope the last two scenes work for you. Let me know – I
wasn't sure what you had planned and I wanted to keep things vague but
contribute. I just wanted to play with the tension of Xana and
Michael – the idea that they both want what's best for the station but
have different ideas and goals as to what should happen for that to
occur. And the idea of the people of questionable intentions talking
in a bar seemed like a good idea, but it if mucks up what you had
planned then obviously nothing has to be followed up on it.
Kenneth: Remember the vow from way back when?
=/\=
Sarah Albertini-Bond serendipity77_at_gmail.com
Ambassador Xana Bonviva
Federation Ambassador
GATEWAY STATION – 2
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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