[RODUL] Prof. Guan Medledore, "Communication in the making."

[Deliera Jay]

((Guurnal District University))

Medledore: =/\= You better behave. =/\=

Core: =/\= I am honestly shocked that you have no faith in me. I wasn't *that* bad, was I? =/\=

Medledore: =/\= I'm just making sure you don't embarrass yourself, your family and your uni-grading. Just because you're the youngest Rodulan to get a masters degree in the Western Gate does not mean you get to give attitude to your homeworld's technological experts. Starfleet commander or not - these people are more important than you will ever be. =/\=

::Her words to her former student were admittedly a tad harsh, but it was nothing Tristam wouldn't have expected. Professor Guan Medledore, famed Rodulan engineer, did not have a soft heart. And especially not today. Today was too important for anyone to mess up for her.::

Core: =/\= I got the gist of it, Professor, you can relax. It's not the first time I've had to work with higher-ups. =/\=

Medledore: =/\= Within Starfleet, perhaps, but this is an entirely different pot of cheni. We are not military. =/\=

Core: =/\= You forget that the areas of Starfleet I've worked in are not technically military- =/\=

Medledore: =/\= Shut up. They're here. =/\

::She took the few short seconds she had remaining to smooth out her skirt and clasp her hands in front of her. Medledore was . . . surprisingly well dressed, having made an obvious effort to be presentable. Her dark hair was tied back and not as messy as it normally was and she was (today) wearing shoes. She had never personally met any of these new faces that stepped into the newly built lab, though she'd been told about them. A high politician, another expert engineer (Jhelan Kiom, someone of whom she considered a rival despite never having stood in the same room as him ever before), a reporter and camera drone, and, finally, the university's director all piled into the classroom-sized space.::

Roines: Quola Balentes, may I present to you Professor Guan Medledore - the head of the communications project.

::As much as Medledore didn't have a taste for meeting politicians and reporters and whatnot after her few technological breakthroughs, she'd become accustomed to them. The Krzexxi politician bowed her head, eye-contact constant with her own - a standard, polite, Rodulan greeting.::

Balentes: A pleasure, Professor.

Medledore: The pleasure is mine, Minstor Balentes.

::A bow later, Medledore begun her all-improvised "speech" for the group.::

Medledore: Minstor, Director . . . *Kiom* . . . ::Clear distaste at his being there:: Rodulans today live with pure green technology - and because of that, our planet is one of the cleanest and healthiest in the associated quadrant. We have never resorted to technology that may endanger this way of life. Yesterday, Rodulans were limited to auvidom - we'd successfully progressed from singular audio to the audio-visual communications. We can contact family members, friends, work associates and more across space, so long as the other side had the technology to receive it. Today, we take another step.

Kiom: Holographic communications.

::Medledore glared at her so-called rival. Kiom's rectangle head sported a skeptical eyebrow. It was clear that he was simply there to laugh should their attempt fail.

::But it wouldn't fail, because she'd worked on this personally. Nothing could possibly go wrong.::

::It was safe to say that under the hard exterior, Medledore was a complete mess of nerves and anxiety. If it did go wrong, it was possible she could be a laughing stock of the Rodulan technological community.

::No. She wouldn't allow it to go wrong.::

Medledore: Yes.

Pae: Professor, Rodulan engineers only recently created exclusive Rodulan holographic technology - how has this been possible?

::If there was one thing Medledore disliked more than Kiom, it was reporters getting in the way of work.::

Medledore: I wasn't aware that I was accepting questions.

::Medledore turned away from the group, her focus now on the console in front of her.::

Medledore: In my two hundred years, technology for our people has come very far, very fast. Despite multiple attempts for trade of resources for technology, we have declined and remained independent. This is an admirable choice - however, today, due to a lack of willing colleagues off-planet with access to the shared holo-communications array, we will be contacting a Federation starship.

Balentes: Why not contact someone on the other side of Rodul?

Medledore: Public speculation. Not to mention a certain lack of funding - we were only able to build *one* lab, not a pair. I'd also personally prefer to push the limits of this technology - if it works across space, then you can be very certain that it'll work across planet.

::The university's director gave an encouraging nod.::

Roines: Please proceed, professor.

::After giving Kiom a final glare over her shoulder (one more for good luck), the 200 year old Rodulan expert engineer initiated contact. She prayed to the Artist that Core had not been called away within that instant and that he did end up-

::Connection established. This was it. A holographic creation fizzled itself to life, revealing a single humanoid male. He'd abided by Medledore's request to forgo the uniform - the last thing she really needed was suggestion that she'd "borrowed" Starfleet development plans. This was, in fact, completely untrue. Everything they were seeing here was being processed through purely Rodulan hard work.::

Core: Professor Medledore.

::Relief flooded her system. There, in front of her, was Tristam Core. The image was not entirely perfect - there was a blue discoloration of which would have to be rectified later - but this . . . this was much more than she had expected.::

Balentes: That is . . .

::Impressive. Marvelous. Superb. Nothing could describe how she felt right now. She could hug the console under her fingers.::

Medledore: Minstor, this is Lieutenant Commander Tristam Core - Starfleet engineer. He's taken the time to meet with us today.

::It was still apparently unbelievable to the Minstor.::

Balentes: And you *are* Rodulan?

Core: Born and raised in the Western Gate, Minstor.

Medledore: He was one of my students here at the university.

::And she was extraordinarily proud of him, though there was no way she was going to admit that out-loud.::

Riones: Where are you stationed, if you don't mind my asking?

Core: Currently in the Menthar Corridor, near Cardassian space. I'm not aware of the exact distance from Basul Rodul, but . . . its safe to say that it's . . . far.

Balentes: This . . . is impressive. May I?

Core: Of course.

::The Minstor cautiously took her ex-student's holographic hand, absolutely marveled at the experience.::

Medledore: Improvements will have to be made before the technology could possibly be distributed around Rodul, but . . . the result will be similar, *better*, than this today.

Riones: This is an impressive breakthrough, Professor. Congratulations.

Medledore: Thank you, Director.

Tbc . . .

Prof. Guan Medledore
Expert Engineer
Guurnal District University