Do we have....an understanding?

Posted on Wed Sep 28th, 2022 @ 8:32am by Staff Warrant Officer Reo'thanra Sandtail & Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: TBA
2355 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Orin had just arrived on the station and completed several tasks for him, including meeting some of his fellow diplomats and the protective detail that was meant to keep all of us safe. Some of the diplomats were strongheaded and didn't know when to back down, including when to just let the protective detail of Starfleet and the Federation take over, working with their own protective details.

Orin decided it was time for him to get something to eat after the several meetings and before the ship got into anything really major. He headed down to the Mess Hall on Deck 10. The good news was that it was between major duty shifts, so there wasn't a lot of people in there at the time, except for one of the Diplomats that Orin saw earlier at the meeting.

Walking over to the person, Orin smiled and introduced himself. "Hey, I think I saw you earlier. You were one of the Diplomats that I saw in the meeting earlier with Captain Matthes, I think his name was? The protective detail dude. What a meeting right? Might I have a seat?" Orin said, pointing to the free seat across from the very fuzzy and cute looking little fellow.

Reo'thanra Sandtail Looked, by all accounts, Ready to assault a Klingon ship in person, between the Armored plates that were strategically placed along his Uniform, to the boxy looking Carbine magnetically attached to his back. He glanced from his Vermicula and a small computer screen on his wrist, His Expression briefly unreadable as he studied the Consul for a brief moment, before a kind grin spread across his muzzle, the briefest flash of fangs visible beneath his lips. "By all means Consul," he said gesturing to the empty seat, his voice cheerful yet reserved. "I don't know how well the Confederacy is going to take having our Security autonomy revoked, but I suppose we'll just need to wait and see."

As he took a seat across from Sandtail, Orin couldn't help but smirk as he looked at his fellow diplomat. He has heard similar situations a million times before by a million different diplomats. It was truly all the same, so it just put Orin into a smiling mood when he heard that. Taking a bite of his food, Orin said, "You know that the Confederacy will eventually deal with it. Cause all we're here for is to help you guys out while you're onboard the Elysium. Both my parents were diplomats and had to contend with similar situations to this, so I can understand your unease with it. But, just give it time. I'll personally show you that it will work with our diplomatic guards."

Reo Just chuckled, his tail twitching lightly. "I'm more concerned about your guards personal health if they entered my quarters unprepared," he remarked.

Looking over at the smaller person and listening to his remarks about it being unhealthy to enter his quarters, Orin raised an eyebrow and said, "Why? Is your quarters hotter than most humanoids? Cause I've been to Vulcan and they have a very.....hot and humid climate on their homeworld. So, nothing could be worse than that. Plus, I'm half Trill. My father's species knows how to deal with a bit of heat."

"The average surface Temperature on My sub-species homeworld is 57 C," Reo said with a soft shrug, his tail swaying about. "And I keep my quarters at about 50 C,"

"The average temperatures on the Vulcan homeworld goes anywhere between 43 and 50 degrees C and can get up to 65 C on a hot day. Now, I've been on the Vulcan Homeworld when that has happened and I took it. So, don't you worry about that my friend," Orin said with a small smile and chuckle. He knew that he was able to withstand it, especially if he was only to live through it for a little bit.

The diminutive alien shrugged again his expression shifting ever so slightly at the mention of Vulcans. "Well...just pointing out that most species of the federation find those temperature ranges intolerable at best and unlivable at worst."

Taking a sip of his drink, Orin just nodded for a moment. He knew that there were species that lived on colder or hotter planets, but Orin understood that there was more than that.

"Just because most species live on hotter or colder planets doesn't mean that we can't find security forces for people who live in those climates. We could find Vulcans or other species that could easily survive those temperatures, if you give us the time to look for it," Orin said with a smile on his face, trying to be diplomatic and open with what he was saying.

"I have nothing but time, at least until the Vote, and the subsequent Ulanthu' period," Reo shrugged the Translator chugging over the word with a soft sputter.

"What's the vote and Ulanthu period? If you don't mind me asking. I don't think I've heard much about them," Orin said as he took a sip of the drink he brought in with him.

The Arten blinked and shook his head, his large ears twitching slightly. "Well the Confederacy is Voting whether to apply for federation Integration or Remain independent," he pauses, his face scrunching up with concentration, before he went on. "Ulanthu, roughly Translates as," he started, the translated, smooth, almost human sounding voice abruptly cutting off as He Spoke the worlds In rough, but understandable english. "political and Social Integration," His voice Coarse and sharp in stark contrast with how he normally sounded when Translated.

Orin slapped his head as though he just had an epiphany and the light lit above his head. Orin replied, "God, I feel like such an idiot. My brain isn't all here today because I've just came onboard and have been trying to get everything situated onboard. But, what do you think about it all? Would you like for the Confederation to vote to integrate into the Federation or would you like to remain independent from them?"

"I honestly wish there was a Compromise...," Reo muttered, his tail twitching. "that we didn't have to be one or the other," he muttered quietly. "Personally there's things about the Federation I'm not...particularly fond of," He added. "The eut'tra for starters..." he paused and winced. "Gen-et-ic Manufacturing And Regulation Laws..." he said in His Natural voice. "I think thats right..."

"You're not talking about the Eugenics Laws that the Federation has in play, are you? Cause, while they were started with the best of intentions, it was due to Earth and Kronos' inabilities to not screw around with people's genomes that caused that. Humans and Vulcans....are such fickle creatures," Orin said, thinking back to his previous host, Ranul and all that he went through over his lifetime.

"The Arten Agree that making super soldiers is...An unacceptable practice," Reo said with a slow shrug. "But two Thirds of our Population are the Result of extensive Genetic modifications." He paused. "wouldn't be sitting here if We'd not Done our Gene splicing."

"Aren't there laws that ban anyone from joining the Federation that have done stuff with Eugenics or have they finally gotten rid of those arcane laws? I haven't had the chance to brush up on that part of my Federation Law, since I don't make the laws myself. I leave that up to the....politicians...." Orin said with scratch of his chin, thinking about how his own people have worked in various ways with genetics.

"There are Laws against Eugenics and Genetically Modified Organisms...but The Arten didn't do either...per say..." he sighed quietly. "The Dune-paw and the SnowRunner Sub Species of the Arten were Created almost from scratch to be able to survive our Adoptive Homeworlds Comfortably.." he paused and shook his head. "The closest thing we have A...super anything is the Dunepaw Kidneys..which Are Far better at water Retention and recycling then other species..." he trailed off, a sheepish look on his face as his ears folded back.

"So, you guys were....genetically helped out by the people on your world. But, it was also, natural evolution? If that makes sense?" Orin replied, as he wasn't a scientist entirely, but knew enough to get himself started.

"The Dunepaw and snow Runner sub species were Genetically engineered centuries ago, to make it safer for our species as a whole to colonize the Homeworlds companion planets of Artania and Cordia" Reo shrugged. "the only Genetic tweaking since then has been to remove genetic Diseases from the Genome..."

Orin stopped and looked at Reo, who he could tell was a little bit uncomfortable with the questions about his people's genetic modifcations. Orin thought back to his days within the academy and learning about the Federation and Earth's own history with Genetic Modifications to their own genome.

So, Orin thought about it and asked, "Has it helped your people? I know that the people on Denobula have worked with genetic modifications for centuries by now and it has helped them with making them less likely to get diseases like yourselves."

"We've colonized two separate worlds rather Extensively that would have Required Massive Terraforming Operations, or Domed cities to colonize...our species has flourished and Prospered because of our Unique Cultures..." The short alien gave a quick shrug. "I'd say its been a net positive."

"How about you? What do you think about the genetic modifications beyond the ones you've just mentioned? How does it make you feel, knowing that you've benefited from this and people from like Earth might view you in a more negative light?" Orin asked, curious as to how the smaller person felt about it all.

Orin could remember when Trill was less accepting of outsiders and people that weren't fully Trill. They had bad experiences with the whole of aliens and it made them a bit more distrustful of them. But, with time, they came around as a whole.

Reo Sighed. "Well..its hard to say...Humans have good reason to be wary of genetic engineering, based off of what I've read about the Eugenic wars, but it...makes me nervous, If it ever became wide spread knowledge that fully two thirds of our population were Artificially created species... I fear the Populations of the Klingon Empire and human worlds would...turn hostile towards us."

Watching the body language of the smaller person, Orin took a few sips of the drink that he brought with him and took everything in. Orin laid the cup down on the table separating the two men and replied, "Well, how many people know about it? Besides me? I don't want to cause you any harm."

"Its not...a well guarded secret," Reo muttered quietly his gaze drifting to the table his large ears folding back. "But we also don't run around announcing it to the universe," he added, his ears pressing forwards. "But even a base level medical scan would notice the...tampering to our Genome if they scanned A Dunepaw, or A Snow Runner."

"Well, you're an awesome person. I'm sorry that I'm so...wordy and curious about your background. You're just so interesting and I'm glad that you're working with me!" Orin said with a smile on his face, watching the other man as they went on.


The Vulpine Alien gave him a coy smile and a nod. "I'm Happy to talk with you," he said with a nod, his tail waggling slowly. "After all, being a Diplomat does necessitate Me having to talk...and listen," he said with a chuckle, his large ears twitching about.

"Plus, your Federation Standard is awesome! Way better than my first try at it before Federation Standard was even a thing. We just called it English back in the day. So, I'm glad that you're here and I'm beyond glad to have you on my diplomatic team," Andrinn said with a genuine smile on his face, as he talked to this young and energetic person.

"Its very difficult for our species to speak it...our Vocals are...not set up for it," he chuckled. "But I was a linguist as my tertiary Specialty with the fleet." he paused and thought for a moment. "Cait was far easier...but hey I'm up to the challenge."

"That's very true. Cait definitely has its challenges, but it's not too hard to learn the basics," Andrinn said in Cait, with a small smile on his face as he tried to help make the younger man more comfortable.

Rea could help but stifle a chuckle before speaking in nearly perfect Cait, his only Deviance being the odd accent that layered on his voice. "Not bad...though Humans tend to have trouble with the Rrrs," he purred out softly.

"It's cause we don't have a lot of native languages that roll their R's like the Caits do. The only one that comes up to mind immediately is Spanish and Portuguese on Earth," Orin said with a small chuckle, replying in Cait and realizing that he wasn't rolling his own R's that well.

"Well that and your vocal chords aren't Evolved for it," Reo shook his head lightly. "English has been a Challenge for me though... some of the sounds I just don't have the Characteristics to make."

"Well, maybe it's just how your vocal chords work as compared to ours, as you just mentioned? It maybe will just take a little bit more time, too? I wouldn't stress it too much because you're an amazing and have been doing such a good job with it!" Andrinn said with a smile on his face.

Taking a sip of his drink and thinking about it, Andrinn asked, "Hey, why don't we have talking sessions sometimes? Like we have today? Since you'll be working for me, we can totally work on it whenever. How does that sound?"

"Sounds great to me," Rea said with a smile, his tail twitching about. "Good practice For linguistics, and its part of the job of Diplomat," He twitched his ears in an imperceptible Arten Gesture.

 

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