What are these? (Part Six)

Posted on Sun Apr 12th, 2026 @ 9:51am by Legate Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Andrinn's Quarters
Timeline: Between meetings
1520 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Andrinn had another bit of free time now that a few more meetings were done. Andrinn decided that he would grab a bite to eat in his quarters before heading back to any meetings. Not only that, but he wanted a bit of time to work on the cultural idioms database that he had started a while back.

The database had started after a conversation with Teevs, the resident cultural advisor of sorts that was picked up by the Elysium some time ago. The Elysium and her crew were in his territory, orbiting his homeworld now. Andrinn had been doing talks with one of the leading ladies of the planet or two. Lady Emeyr was the main point of contact and after much talks, Andrinn was happy that Teevs and him had talked some time ago about stuff like cultural sayings and idioms, as well as how certain groups of people talked.

However, about the same time, the Elysium crew had found that there was a Romulan crew that had been transported to this region of space too. They had joined force with the Elysium crew and Andrinn himself had gotten some new diplomats out of it. So, it made Andrinn think about it as he was eating his meal.....what would the Romulan idioms be like?

Romulans tended to be more secretive and hide in the shadows. The Romulan Tal Shiar was like the Section 31 of the Romulans and were quite ruthless with their work. So, Andrinn swiveled in his chair and activated his personal database and created a new sub directory for the Romulans.

"Computer, create a sub directory in my idioms and sayings database and encode everything that goes into this database to be sent over to Lady Emery on the planet below once everything is saved," Andrinn said as he took a bite out of potato salad. The computer chirped and replied, "Sub directory created and will be sent to Lady Emeyr once everything is saved."

Andrinn sat back and said, "Computer, start looking through the cultural databases and find out what the sayings and idioms of the Romulan people are. Both the Romulan Republic and the Romulan Empire." Within mere moments, the computer started to spit out various sayings from the Romulan Empire and Republic. Both old and new. Andrinn sat back as he watched what scrolled down the screen.

One of the sayings caught Andrinn's attention early on because it showed him what he was just think moments ago. “A patient hawk eats before the shouting hound" was the saying and Andrinn couldn't help but chuckle a little bit as he saw that. Again, the Romulan people were a very....private people. The Federation and Starfleet didn't even know what the Romulans looked like until the 23rd century. Even after the Earth-Romulan War, the Romulans remained behind a shroud of secrecy.

But, it was also a very befitting saying. Usually, if you know where something is, like food, and you didn't flap your gums to anyone, you would have the advantage and that was something important in both diplomacy and political talks. But, another idiom or saying was right below that one that fit nearly perfectly into this one. It was “Only children show every card.”

Nobody every truly shows all their cards, unless it was the only cards to play. But, tying it back to the saying, don't always give away knowledge all willy nilly. Otherwise, you'd have no leverage or very little anything to offer up later.

As Andrinn was working through the idioms, the more that it proved to him that the Romulans were definitely a very coy and sly people. From what he knew about the History of the Romulan people, they were an offshoot of the Vulcans. Back in the great time of awaking on Vulcan, there were Vulcans that didn't want to go all logical and thus, went off and away from the Vulcan homeworld. Eventually landing on Romulus and founding the Romulan Star Empire as a result.

"It's interesting to think about how the Vulcans and Romulans are related. Even if they are distant cousins," Andrinn mumbled to himself in his quarters. Vulcans were the larger than life logical species, while the Romulans were larger than life in their emotions. "So totally doing the Vulcans next when I get a chance. I'd love to see the differences in their idioms and sayings beyond what most people think about and know," Andrinn said to himself again.

However, one saying came up that surprised and made Andrinn think at the same time. It was “Blood remembers what treaties forget.” Thinking back to what Andrinn was just thinking to himself, Andrinn couldn't help but think about how the Romulans and Vulcans saw themselves and each other. For the longest time, Andrinn remembered that the Vulcans either didn't know or kept quiet about the Romulans and their lineage with their Vulcan brothers. Even during the Earth-Romulan War of the 22nd century, the Vulcans were rather quiet about it all.

Even thinking back to the Romulan incident of the 23rd century, where Captain Kirk and crew found out the Romulans were using a new plasma based torpedo on Federation targets. That was one of the first times that the Federations or Vulcans said that they saw a Romulan. From the reporting on the incident, people quickly became suspicious about Commander Spock, the First Officer and Chief Science Officer onboard the ship because of the apparent connection. But, according to Spock himself, he was unaware of the relation, but helped to tie the pieces together.

"It shows how paranoia can quickly grow in a tight knit community, like a starship crew of any era," Andrinn said to himself. But, Andrinn quickly snapped out of all of this thought about geopolitical stuff and brought himself back to the task at hand. He took another bite out of the stuff he was eating and went back at it.

As the screen rolled down, Andrinn couldn't help but see something a bit more interesting. It was interesting due to the fact that it felt way more personal. It continued along the side of being prideful, but it felt more prideful in name, more than just serving the Empire or the Republic. The saying was “Stand straight; our name walks beside you.” The tag and interpretation was that your name is important and you represent your family in all things by your name. It reminded Andrinn a lot about the stuff the Betazoids and Bajorans did. They were very tied to their family and communities.

Another more personal saying or idiom that came up quickly after that one was “Even a young hawk must miss before it learns the wind.” The explanation was that even when you're moving up in the ranks and age, you still make mistakes and it's a part of the learning experience. So, don't take it as a bad thing. Take it as it is....learning.

As Andrinn sat back in his seat, Andrinn's face slowly gave away his feeling. Even if for a brief moment. Something that he had learned throughout this entire experience was that don't ever take anything at face value. No species. No person. Nobody, as they can show you that they aren't what's skin deep. They aren't their traumas. They can learn from their mistakes, even if it takes time. Does it forgive them, in the cases of the Cardassians? No.

But, we can't just take one trauma and turn it into another. Turn on atrocity and make another out of it.

Andrinn truly sat back in his chair this time and thought about it more, face more composed this time. This was part of the reason why he went into the diplomatic corp. Yeah, his parents were both diplomats. But, he had seen what had happened to them when they were together on the Trill homeworld back in the 21st century and early 22nd century. There was a bit of hatred for an outside marrying a Trill diplomat. Someone with such access as Andrinn's father. Not only that, but the Trill were very quiet about the joining process until the 23rd and 24th centuries. They thought of it as almost a sacred rite of passage for those who could and did eventually join.

So, when Andrinn was old enough to join, it was no wonder why there was some pushback for him joining the process. He was considered an outsider. But, that didn't stop him. So, in a way, this was a small way of understanding. Not only for Trill, but the universe as a whole.

Andrinn smiled as he gathered a little bit more idioms and sayings from the Romulans before saving it to the sub directory and closing it out. The computer came back as he saved it and said, "Transmitting new information and data to Lady Emeyr. Confirming data was received at 1735 hours, local time."

Andrinn chuckled before replying, "Thank you, computer" before heading out of his quarters for more meetings and diplomatic duties.

[OFF:]

Legate Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium