Peace can be hard sometimes, Part Three

Posted on Sat Sep 30th, 2023 @ 8:56am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Zander-Diplomatic Corp
Timeline: 2280s, 0315 hrs
784 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Orin was sitting at his desk on Deck Two onboard the USS Zander. He was doing a bit of a shift alone because his typical compatriot, Eric, had come down with a mild case of the Vulcan Flu. Apparently, Eric had worked with a Vulcan Diplomatic Team that had come onboard here within the last few days and one of the diplomats was carrying the virus for the Vulcan Flu when he came onboard.

However, while he was alone down in the Diplomatic Corps on Deck Two, one of the more senior diplomats was on call just in case something were to come up during the Delta Shift. The other diplomat had told Orin when he left that while he was on call, please don't call him or it would be bad for Orin.

Luckily for Orin, the night shift on that night was rather quiet, except for a few comms for the diplomats on the Alpha Shift. However, more information was slowly coming in about the progress of the Federation and Klingon Empire diplomatic overtures. Orin stopped reading the information that he had pulled up on his screen and sat back in his seat.

Orin thought back to the conversation that him and Eric had several nights prior. About how Eric had several family members that were apart of the Federation and Klingon war. Orin couldn't think about how hard it must've been for Eric, since Andrinn and his entire family didn't fight within the war itself. They only helped to make sure that there was a peace afterwards.

Orin understood pain, loss, and suffering. But, nothing quite like what Eric had been through. Orin thought back to several people that he had lost over the course of his lifetime, including his own father. But, something about Orin was that he lost his father to old age, not a fight with the Klingons or another warrior race. But, both losses, for both men, could be just as painful.

However, the doors opened behind Orin and brought him back to his current reality. Orin looked back and saw that it was Eric, who was supposed to be on bed rest. Orin just tilted his head and sighed before saying, "Aren't you supposed to be on bed rest? Doctor's orders?"

Eric walked over to the console next to Orin's and sat down without saying a word. Eric looked like he was a man on a mission and Orin wasn't exactly sure what that mission was at the moment. Orin reached over and gently placed his hand on Eric's shoulders as Eric slapped his hand away.

Orin rubbed his hand for a brief moment because of the sheer force that Eric used to slap Orin's hand away. Orin watched as Eric put some information into his console and pulled up some information about the Romulans, which confused Orin.

While the Romulans had helped the Klingons out for a little bit over two decades prior, the short lived relationship only lasted for a year or two. The most that came out of the relationship was that the Klingons gained Cloaking Technology, while the Romulans gained some technical specs for ships. Yet again, their relationship ended years ago.

Orin leaned over and asked Eric, "What's going on buddy? What do the Romulans have to do with anything?"

Eric remained quiet for a moment before coughing a little bit. Eric leaned back over after putting some final commands into his console and replied, "Well, I'm looking into something that the Vulcans told me about. I'm just looking to see if the Romulans might be helping out the Klingons to make sure that they don't join the Federation side. Think about it...if the Klingons join the Federation, then the Romulans are one of the remaining superpowers that haven't joined the Federation. Not only that, but the Romulans are distrustful of everyone. So, I'm just trying to see what I can find out about them and if they're going to try and derail our peace talks."

Orin just shook his head before leaning over to an open console nearby and Eric gave him a weird look. Orin looked back at Eric and replied, "Hey, if the Federation and Klingon peace conference is being targeted by the Romulans, I want to help make sure we find every bit of possible information and data on it. Lets get to it!"

With that, both men began working on gathering their data, if that's something that actually was happening. Orin knew his fellow diplomat might've been a little wore out and delusional. But, he didn't want to think that and be proven horribly wrong...

[OFF:]

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium