Gathering

Posted on Sun 1st Feb, 2026 @ 6:38pm by Lieutenant Pampo Gnu & Magnus Temple & Lieutenant Nalani Emmiad

3,060 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: [MAIN] From The Ashes
Location: Deck 636 - Embassy Row

ON:

{Deck 636- Embassy Conference Lounge}

The new Federation Embassy, located in the north-east corner of Starbase 109, was still very-much under construction. The consulate had been recently expanded, taking in additional office and meeting spaces, along with a new main reception area. These plans had been in place before Magnus Temple's appointment to the station but the new Chief Diplomat had chosen to put his own stamp on things with re-designing the reception space and updating the meeting rooms to be more open and welcoming. He had a vision for what the Embassy could be for SB109 and Delavi itself, so station Operations definitely had their hands full getting the required changes completed.

Thankfully, in the recess of the Embassy, the meeting room was functional already. Located at the outer hull of the station, the room had a large bay window into the space outside, with a long glass table in centre. At each chair placement was a screen projected onto the glass, allowing each participant to access files and view important data during meetings. The room was still to be decorated - there was just a singular Federation flag on the wall opposite the windows, a small replicator, and a couple of armchairs off to the side of the table. It wasn't much, but it was all they needed at this time to get the ball rolling on Magnus' agenda.

Seating in the middle of the table was Magnus, his finger scrolling casually across the glass panel as he was reviewing the previous diplomatic logs from the area. Across from him was Genevieve Gillard, his Federation Law expert, who was typing so quickly and energetically onto the tabletop glass that it sounded like rain hitting a window during a tropical storm. She was deep into a revision of diplomatic credential SOPs; Magnus had gotten used to the noise by now, able to drown it out while he was reading. Ashra, his personal assistant, was walking around with a PADD, occasionally holding it up to a wall and frowning. She was using the computer's imaging program to generate decorating ideas for the room.

Magnus paused his reading to look at the time on his display panel. He had sent out a memo to all active diplomatic staff, asking for their attendance at a 'get to know you' session in the new Embassy. He realised that his team would soon be arriving, so he closed down the display panel and took in a breath, allowing his mind to return to the room.

"I hope this goes well." He remarked aloud.

Ashra was trying to decide if a model of the Palais de la Concorde would look better on the table or the counter but she still nodded, "It will. Though I've sent a message through to Personnel requesting more staff already. Just in case."

Magnus smiled, "Of course you have." He was never-not impressed by her diligence.

Gen didn't look up, distractedly adding, "If we are to fulfil your ideas for the new embassy, we will need to recruit more staff."

Ashra frowned, but Magnus laughed, "If you took your nose out of your notes, you'd know she was already on top of that."

Gen paused and raised a purposeful eyebrow at him, "Do you want the credentials SOP updated or not?"

"As you were," Magnus playfully shrugged.

Pampo came into the room with a presence which filled every corner like a gas expanding to the volume of its container. He was semi-retired, living a life of luxury awaiting the call to service. When his badge had chirped, the sounds was muffled beneath the billowing Hawaiian shirt and drunken snores from the Lido deck of the water park's fake boat ride. Pampo didnt actually imbibe true alcohol, one of the few in the almost 25th century to appreciate Synthehol for "all the fun, and no drawbacks." To the fun loving old officer, to get drunk and be able to shake it off was a miracle, and suffering from none of the physical drawbacks was exactly what his old body wanted.

"Hello, please tell me I am in the presence of a newly forming Diplomatic Office, and not the remodel of a run down hotel? Ha!"

Pampo laughed at his own joke, and moved with energy and purpose to greet Magnus.

Magnus stood as the officer entered the room, and was surprised to see the officer in casual attire. He had a lot to learn about who was on this station. Magnus reached forward to meet Pampo half-away, extending out his own hand, "You are indeed. I am Chief Diplomat Magnus. This is Genevieve Gillard, Federation Legal expert, and Ashra, my assistant."

The boisterous fellow made a mirthful noise at their names, and made a minor head bow to each.

"Jena veev... I love that, and A-shraaa, I am taken aback at the magnificence frankly, how wonderful to have met you all. I have been reactivated for service effective tomorrow it looks like! Thank you sir, and to your staff as well. I am delighted to be back in the field."

He had circled to a spot with a chair he found suitable, and made a point of swiping it clean of non existent debris just say, "the dust will clear soon I am sure." He took a seat, the large frame overlapping the chairs boundaries entirely.

Magnus stood by the small replicator, "May I offer you a refreshment, sir? And perhaps you can give me a more personal history of Starbase 109, from your perspective? I've read some reports, but I'd like to hear your take. If you don't mind, of course."

Nalani had been lingering outside of the open door, listening to the goings on, and trying to reduce the sense of dread she felt at the change in command structure happened. She misliked change, and had gotten used to how things had been. There was no time like the present to enter and make her presence known. Her grey uniform was pristine and crisp as she finally stepped into the room.

“Ah, another arrival.” Magnus beamed at the officer, trying to ignore the feeling of apprehension that had washed over him. “Welcome to our little gathering. I’m Magnus, Chief Diplomat.”

"Lieutenant Nailani Emmiad" she answered quietly, her eyes scanning the room before fully settling down at the table. "Diplomacy and Linguistics."

"Nice to meet you," Magnus nodded, "Thank you for coming."

Pampo pulled a small snack from his shirt pocket, a cookie of sorts and munched on it, once he had swallowed most of it, he asked, "So what brings you here sir, what is your life story in brief? It is good to see Starfleet is finally pouring resources for the diplomatic sector to outreach into the Triangle."

"Exactly that," Magnus nodded as he took his seat. Gen instinctively put her PADD down to focus and Ashra took her spot at the table, too. "Firstly, I'm really interested to know about the current Diplomatic operations on the station. I've read some reports but I'd much rather hear it from the people who are here."

Pampo made a performance of thinking aloud, "Welll, I havent left on a ship in a year. but enough comes our way. We have dozens of species interests involved in the station and trades. The recent Xir'kai conflict saw our base as the first responder for refugees and the peace talks. I scrubbed in as a basic medic for those conflicts. Romulans, Refugees... We have a Xindi contingent on board doing research as well. Placement of refugees is difficult, and Starfleet will not allow Romulans on board in any number, election and election protests get us out of our chairs."

"We have Romulans in abundance here, being so close to their new homeworld." Nailani commented quietly "Starfleet has yet to protest about them, in any capacity."

Magnus raised an eyebrow, which Ashra took as a sign that it was important enough to note down in her PADD. Magnus addressed the point, “Do we have reason to protest? Are they just monitoring us or do we think it’s an overture to something more?”

"You said that Starfleet wont allow Romulans on board in any number. That is not the case here. Their ship has a full compliment and have a section of the civillian base allotted for their use. " Nailani shrugged eloquently "Their ambassador has never turned the diplomatic staff away and the glimpse into the culture that survived is truly fascinating. They have a shrine to the elements and some of the Resturants have been experimenting with their quisine. I would suggest curiousity rather than suspicion until offered another alternative."

Pampo looked to Nailani, “Nice to meet you, I am Pampo, and I don’t appreciate your tone. I’ve lived here for some time, and what I said is what I’ve seen. I want to see every Romulan refugee uplifted. I want to see the civilians here integrate, but we aren’t there yet. How many Romulans are on board? We have upwards of 300,000 folks, what percentage of them are Romulans? How many of that number hold positions of Tactical importance? How many briefings have we both sat on discussing distributions of refugees across this sector and how to monitor their activities? I didn’t create the divides, but I do see they are still in play.”

“I’m sure there is no intent to cause offence.” Magnus interjected softly but purposefully. He wasn’t about to let his first meeting descend into an argument, “I want us to freely discuss our views without it becoming personal. I hope that is understood.” He shifted in his seat, continuing without a pause, “To my earlier point, do we have anything specific to suggest a concern about the Romulan presence? Is it a case that, perhaps, maybe they need us?”

Nalani's temper was already short and had nearly been set to blazing at the phrase he didn't appreciate her tone. She was not however, going to embarrass herself by losing her temper at the rudeness of a crew-member that she'd never seen or worked with before. "For the record, I've lived here just as long as you have." There was an unspoken challenge there, but she continued instead of giving it voice. "I've also spent the majority of my time at the consulates here, because I am the only diplomatic-linguist certified in Romulan, Klingon and Vulcan on the station at this time. My perspective on them is unique."

How many Klingons, Ferengi, Cardassians or even Halanan's do we see in Starfleet, wearing the uniform? How were they treated when they were still considered by many to be 'the enemy?'

"In response to the actual question- there were a full compliment of 1500 crew on board the RRW Ehtevau, which is docked outside of the Romulan Embassy. The Garden sector has an additional few hundred, so too does the kA'hhteri. There are Tal'Shiar among them, but I am certain that Ambassador Verelan has a complete list of who is and is not an actual threat. She's..." she paused to find the right word, to not misplace her meaning "Dedicated to the cause."

Pampo held up his hands in mock surrender, "I was just reacting to implications of tacit bigotry, apologies if my tone was bristly. I would be thrilled to have an expert in the current state of affairs catch me up, I'll admit Romulans have not been in my inbox here. However I do feel it fair to point out, by your own admission that there are Tal Shiar adherents among the population here, and those 1500 of the Ehtevau, remain for the most part on their docked vessel?"

"It's reasonable to expect that they would have operatives aboard such a ship, just like we have Intelligence operatives and other species special forces here just existing. I don't have direct knowledge of the Tal Shiar operatives movements, I'm just certain they exist." Her eyes crinkled at the edges as she thought about it more.

“Very well, I think we can proceed with friendly caution on the Romulans. Which is pretty much exactly how the rest of the Federation has been proceeding, really. I’ll extend an invitation to open a dialogue.” Magnus remarked, more for Ashra’s sake as she also noted this down in the PADD. Magnus shifted in his chair, “The biggest threat, but also the biggest opportunity, is the Ravagers. Intel reports that they have become more aggressive, more offensive, more likely to strike civilian targets. Starfleet will likely be preparing a response to their forward movement into the Delavi Expanse. On the positive side, that does give us a common ground with everyone in this region. They are a common threat to us all.”

Pampo nodded enthusiastically, "Piracy has taken this whole sector, in my Intelligence briefs I can apprise you that the Thunderchild has some exciting new capabilities for us to be an effective player in providing counter piracy efforts very soon and begin pushing back. There are two major outfits that have dominated our efforts so far, Ravagers are actually the newcomers, displacing another outfit the Second Sons. That group, the Second Sons by the way took a beating trying to take our Mobile Star Cradle, Ticonderoga, that jellyfish looking mini starbase out there. We caught the Second Sons using portal technology we believe they purchased or scavenged from a First Federation world. The Ravagers seem to be setting up in Delavi an actual pirate republic of sorts possibly. Orders to date on both Intelligence and Diplomatic fronts are hands off, both of them present major threats to interests across the Sector."

“That makes sense, for now at least. What are we hearing from non-aligned species in the sector?” Magnus asked.

Ashra cleared her throat, this information at hand, “We have sent out invitations for preliminary talks with the Broots, and other Delavi races. The subject of a potential summit on the Ravager threat has been proposed.”

Magnus leaned back in his chair and thought about that for a moment. “Holding a summit here on 109 would show the region that the Federation is taking an interest in the security of the region, as well as cement our position as a central role in protecting Delavi from the Ravagers. What do we think?” He looked to the others.

"Can't hurt relations any." Nalani said softly, pulling up the list of languages people spoke in the area to see where she needed to brush up or start learning.

Pampo started listing the files, "We've largely been given a program to run with the locals. There are four Federation planets in the sector, Green and Pluuh II, two research station facilities; Laflin a dilithium mining colony; and Starfleet populated Nicolii where a dilithium mine which is full to bursting was located. Support to those worlds is ongoing and well, no issues to report."

Pampo swapped to another list "Problem children" it was titled.

"Then we have Vulcan colony world Kirvan, we do nothing there, and are told to keep away. Intelligence suggests its their listening post, and I was told to allow it. Ongoing development to inhabited unaffiliated worlds like Cyclopus, Lakeland, Precipice, Rashile and Wall are expensive but the returns on trade deals have made us many loyal partners. Rashile has the distinction of being a corporately owned planet by Rashile Gourmet Foods who also own the planets Carwile's World and Yeartes who were are within Federation boundaries but not subject to its laws. Similar situations on Newliin III, Derigo, Zwaalan and the small mining moon of Turbulence. The Xir'kai have just ended a war so we are involved there..."

He strained to think of others,

"Baker's World, Devotion, Gibraltar (planet) and it's moon Morning Garden, oh the "News..." New New Aberdeen, New Sahara, New Siberia, GRM North Pasadena, Refit outpost Takanarra II... Those are my cases at least. Lots of em are self-governing multispecies worlds on slowtrack to joining up. The Orions, Klingons, Romulans and unfriendly races they bring with them are blight in the corn far as I'm concerned. No negotiations go on without one of their governments tipping scales."

Ashra was noting this down with fast typing. Magnus nodded along, “We’ll start with the most likely to respond. As this is a Delavi concern, we can focus on those most affected by a potential Ravager invasion.”

Genevieve raised her hand, “Are we aware of any existing treaties or blocs between these worlds?”

Pampo shook his head, "Delavi has been a no go intelligence wise. We've sent folks in, but they are either outed, or unable to pierce the veil. When we press too hard they go underground, but still maintain their hits on freighters with swift effeciency. Though, this has been a largely passive effort. With more resources I am sure we could get a better picture of the goings on."

Gen pursed her lips for a moment, thinking it over. "I think we can assume a trade and safe transport agreement, in principle if not in writing. We may be looking at more informal relations; verbal and personal agreements, traditional friendships."

Magnus nodded, "Could be a beneficial factor, if they agree with us that the Ravagers may be a threat." He looked back to the others, "We'll start putting our feelers out as soon as possible. Perhaps we won't need intelligence, perhaps just asking will work?"

Ashra chuckled to herself a little, knowing that was a likely delusional suggestion on the Diplomat's behalf, but she wrote it down all the same.

"Right," Magnus sat up straight, "I think we have a game plan now. Is there anything else you guys would like to discuss?"

Pampo raised his hand and just started talking, "Looking forward to working again sir, been sitting on my hands for too long." He looked to Nailani, "And hey no hard feelings on the Romulan matter from earlier, believe me I'm as eager as any to lift that embargo on the Ale. Count me in on the projects as you see fit."

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You might want to keep the embargo....but the rest..." she shrugged eloquently.

With a well earned giggle from Pampo the meeting eased on it way.

-End-

 

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