WHAT HAPPENED?

Posted on Tue Jan 24th, 2023 @ 6:56am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Earth
Timeline: 2311
1555 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Andrinn Orin was standing in front of the Diplomatic Corp's office for Trill on Earth, watching one of the various feeds that were up and talking about the incident that had just occurred between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire.

According to the various sources, the IRW Tomed had set course for the Foxtrot Sector, located within Federation space, and went on a suicide mission. The Tomed set a course for an astroid that housed several dozen Federation citizen scientists and caused it to explode from the instability within their core. The explosion caused all of the other inhabited astroids within the sector to explode, killing hundreds of thousand Federation citizens.

The Enterprise-B was one of the first Federation Starships to answer the distress call of a few astroid bases that survived long enough to send those distress signals out before finally being destroyed by the explosion caused by the destruction of the other bases.

The Trill Ambassador to the Federation, Verad Quinn, was standing in front of the various diplomats, including Andrinn, and watched as the various incidents unfolded. The Klingon Empire, while usually staying out of the affairs of the Federation up to this point, was siding with the Federation and their calls for war.

Quinn turned back to the various diplomats and with a baritone voice said, "WHAT HAPPENED?" His voice carried so much that everyone in that room and the adjacent rooms stopped for a moment to turn to see who had said that. Everyone was worried, just as Andrinn was, about what had truly happened and what this could mean for the universe at large.

One diplomat tried to raise their voice and begin speaking, but Quinn cut them off and said, "Unless it's useful information, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!"

"Ambassador, if you'd let us SPEAK, we'd tell you exactly what happened," Emory Danthor, Andrinn's mother, said, her voice carrying over that of the Ambassador's. She was standing in the doorway heading out to the main gardens of the complex and she was carrying various PADDs under her arms.

Uncrossing her arms and pulling the PADDs out from under them, she walked over to the Ambassador and said, "The Enterprise reports that the IRW Tomed, a Romulan Warbird of sorts, came into the Foxtrot sector and ran a suicide mission to destroy the various inhabited astroids that were within the system. On those PADDs are various sensor readings from the Enterprise and an outpost that was in a few sectors over at the time of the attack. The Federation Council is calling for war, as are the Klingons. But, the Romulans are calling for a peace accord on a planet near the Algeron system. If the Federation doesn't come to the table and sign it, it would mean war within our backyard. You've got to take this to the table and get it signed by the Federation Council before we're all killed for something stupid."

Ambassador Quinn snatched the PADD up from the older diplomat and looked it over. Ambassador Ghemor and two other Ambassadors from the Federation and Klingon Empire had come together to put something together, keeping war out of the picture. However, something that the treaty stipulated was that the Federation couldn't make or use cloaking devices on their ships or war would come to the Federation. It also made sure that the Federation and the Romulan Empire knew that the Romulan Neutral Zone was still there and important to both sides. Anyone crossing the zone would call for an act of war for their sides as well.

Throwing the PADD onto the table, Quinn looked at Andrinn's mother and said, "Nobody on the council is going to listen to this! They're going to call us insane!"

Emory walked closer to the Ambassador and slapped him straight across the face and looked him straight in the eye, a finger wagging in his face. "How fucking dare you. I'm not going to have some....JUNIOR AMBASSADOR tell me what the council will say without even bringing this to their attention. Show them and keep everyone out of a deadly and costly war, or I will and I will have your job for this. I've been at this a lot longer than you have and I know this will help keep all of our people's safe. Show them and keep us safe Ambassador," Emory said, a small smirk creasing the corners of her lips because she had wanted to do that for several months now because of how misogynistic the Ambassador was and how he only cared about himself and his own career.

Not only that, but the look on the Ambassador's face said everything. He KNEW that he had messed up and he had messed up royally. He sat there, gently rubbing his face and thought about his next move for a second, almost stunned that someone had smacked him straight across the face. Let alone a woman. However, it gave him the time to truly think everything through and he realized that Emory was truly correct. Walking back over to her and closing the space between them, the Ambassador said, "Get this prepped up and make sure that someone edits this before we even consider putting this in front of the Federation Council. We aren't going to mess this up on the first go around. We'd lose them immediately. Have that son of yours help fix it up. What's his name? Andrinn?"

Smiling, Emory looked over at Andrinn and said, "Yeah, his name is Andrinn...Andrinn Orin. He's one of the best diplomats that we've got. All of my children are. Who do you think taught them everything and helped to teach me a lot?"

The Ambassador just nodded before replying, "Just make sure to get this edited and have it on my desk in the morning. I'll have the Diplomatic Corp put it on the Federation Council's agenda first thing in the morning."

With that, he just walked off, still nursing his face in the space where he had gotten smacked. Several of his junior diplomats were following him, making sure to get a few glances back towards Emory and Andrinn. Emory walked over to Andrinn and handed him the PADDs that included the first few drafts of the Treaty of Algeron.

As Emory handed Andrinn all of the PADDs, he simply smiled and said, "The Treaty was already sent over to the council chambers, weren't they? I know that the Federation Ambassador to the Romulans were already in discussions about a treaty before this even happened, along with the Klingon Ambassador. What was that all for?"

Emory looked over at Andrinn and a smile graced the sides of her lips before replying, "Cause I knew he would try and shoot it down within the Diplomatic Corp. The Romulan Ambassador, Ambassador Ghemor, is a woman and she's a very talented diplomat. Her and the rest of the women that that stupid, arrogant work of art interacts with needed to know that he can't talk to us or anyone like that, especially someone that has been around the block several times already before he was even born. Plus, he's a loudmouth that needed to shut up."

"It felt good to slap him, didn't it?" Andrinn asked, where Emory simply nodded with a chuckle. As they began walking to their offices, Andrinn asked, "What truly happened out there?"

The two of them stopped in the archway heading out to the courtyard and sighed. Emory looked into Andrinn's eyes and said, "Well, the universe is a harsh and deadly place. There are people out there that sometimes don't like each other, sometimes so much so that they're willing to go to war over anything and will do stuff like suicide mission to get their ways. It sucks, but it happens. There was some Romulan Admiral that was a part of a far fringe group that wanted to start a war. But, there are plenty of people out there in the universe that don't want to see that war come to fruition. That was a mouth full, but it will at least give you an idea of what is starting to unfold."

Andrinn's smile slowly started to wane and he said, "Do you think that we're truly in trouble? Do we have anything to worry about?" Emory shook her head and brought her son into a tight embrace, not replying to this inquiry. As Emory let out of the embrace, Andrinn could tell that she had been crying and as he was about to ask what was wrong, the two of them had been called overhead to report to the Federation Council Chambers and to report immediately. Emory said, "Looks like duty calls. Meet me over in Paris for a nice meal later tonight?"

Andrinn smiled and said, "Yeah, I would love that. But, please. Promise me that we'll be okay after all this is said and done?" Emory said, "I'm working on it. I can't promise it, but I promise that I'm working on it."

The two of them hugged once more before heading off to the Council Chambers to see what awaited the Federation and the next part of the century.

OFF:

Council Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium