The Treaties that won't stay still

Posted on Sun Aug 17th, 2025 @ 6:40am by Consul Andrinn Orin

Mission: Season 6: Echoes of the Zynari
Location: Chief Diplomatic Office
Timeline: MD6, 0830hrs
1065 words - 2.1 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Andrinn had just reported on duty when he turned on the console at his desk in his office. He noticed that it was beeping, letting him know that there were some new messages for him to look over. Curious as to see who they were from, Andrinn sat down and started looking over everything before he continued on with everything else.

It was a packet of information from the A'jaine, a species that the Elysium had met recently and it was a packet of both religious, cultural, and treaties that the A'jaine had collected over the last century or two. Andrinn and a few of his contacts within the A'jaine had kept in touch since they made first contact with the Elysium, as Andrinn found their species and culture quite fascinating.

Checking over a few more items and messages, Andrinn realized that he had a little bit of time to look over everything that the A'jaine had sent him. He had moved the information from the comms relay to the diplomatic archives on Deck 2 when the message came in for safe keeping, especially for when he was ready to start looking over everything.

Pulling up the information, Andrinn realized that there must have been several gigaquads of information that they sent over. Whenever Andrinn talked to the A'jaine, they were always willing to speak about whatever Andrinn was curious about. Even if it was something that they would have to get special permission for from an elder.

Since the information was dense and there was a lot to go over, Andrinn decided to jump straight in and see what he couldn't get his hands onto. Starting with some of the treaties that were sent over, he was excited to see how the religious A'jaine saw the universe and made peace with the people around them. Especially the people that might have wanted to cause harm to them for their beliefs or their culture.

Not only that, but Andrinn was curious to see how the treaties that the A'jaine made might have evolved over time. The Federation itself had evolved and how the Federation had made treaties had changed since its founding in 2161. Pulling out some PADDs of different sizes and types, Andrinn downloaded the treaties in order of when they were written, starting from the earliest treaty to the latest treaty.

Once the downloads were complete, Andrinn started to read over the information. He found it quite intriguing how easy that the A'jaine made treaties look. While the treaties were quite dense and very intricate, the way that the A'jaine and others talked within the treaties made it look like they were almost good friends instead of anything close to enemies. Thinking back to when the Elysium first met the A'jaine, they made the Elysium crew feel right at home. Both on their space station of a home and everywhere else.

However, as Andrinn started to read further into some of the treaties, something caught his eye and made him reread the information that was on his PADD. In one of the treaties that the A'jaine made with a local trading species, a section outlined tariffs on imported metals and had clearly been altered. Instead of the dry legal outlines and wording that Andrinn was accustomed to was changed to read: "All goods shall be delivered with a smile and and preferably a pie to the face."

Andrinn blinked at the text and reread it for what felt like an eternity. "That's...not right. That's definitely not standard trade language, even for the A'jaine," he muttered to himself under his breath. He scrolled down a bit further and found another line that had been shifted to read: "All disputes shall be settled in the noble arena of hopscotch."

Slowly exhaling through his nose, Andrinn rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to not laugh and wonder what was going on. Some of the stuff that was changed out was stuff that the A'jaine had no clue to what it was. Hopscotch was definitely more a Human or Alpha Quadrant thing. Not something that the A'jaine would have known about in this far off place. Maybe something close, but definitely with a more native name than that.

Whomever, or whatever, was behind the substitutions had a strange sense of humor. But, as Andrinn read on, he realized that it wasn't random. The substitutions had rhythm, intent, and was almost like the text itself was playing with him.

"That's definitely not what the original text was supposed to be, now was it?" he muttered to himself, a bit amused and frustrated at all that was happening. However, it was the next part that really got Andrinn thinking about who might be with him and what they might be doing.

As if in direct response to what Andrinn was muttering to himself, the next clause shimmered and rearranged itself right before Andrinn's eyes to read: "Clause Seven: All future trade disputes shall be settled by whoever can hold their breath the longest."

Andrinn's brow furrowed. He had only muttered something quietly to himself, but as if in direct response to what he said, the words on the PADD seemed to be listening. Switching and changing around, as though they were listening and trying to ridicule Andrinn and the work that he was so passionate about.

"Breath holding contests? That's original. Now, why didn't I think about that when I was younger?" he said under his breath again, shaking his head slightly. But, enough enough that someone must have noticed.

The treaty shifted once more, almost instantly this time and in direct response to Andrinn and his rank. "Clause Eight: Consuls are permitted to shake their heads. But, only if they do it three times and while spinning counterclockwise in a circle."

This time, the changing of the words left Andrinn a bit in shock and awe, as well as a bit creeped out. There was a shiver that ran down his spine as he read the words again. He read and reread those words for what felt like a million times. These changes weren't a simple malfunction. While the Zynari weren't directly speaking to him, they were playing with words and bending these words from the A'jaine to show how much they liked being the tricksters.

[OFF:]

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium