Second Secretary Aitas - The Value of Information

[Aitas]

((Chancellor’s Office, Hovan III))

Aitas: And while I will admit that trade is not my particular expertise, ::she motioned to Keehani and Kizat, who no doubt had more prepared on that account:: our artistic endeavors are shared far more easily than sensitive technology.

She let her hands come to rest, still open. There were a few favors she could call in if needed, but these negotiations were not merely hers. 

Keehani: In fact, we have a museum on Amity that we would love to share with your world’s artists.

And Aitas, for her part, would happily utilize Berit’s connections, 

Kizat: Response

Keehani: Chancellor, the Federation seeks expansion in the Delta Quadrant. Not in the form of colonialism or hegemony, but of relations. Relations can lead to treaties. And treaties can lead to benefits for both-- all parties involved.

It could be a difficult experience, encountering the emotions of a new species. Aitas’ empathy was strong enough to make such a background at all times, a hum or tangle of intertwined threads or so many other metaphors that were inadequate to the whole.

She could feel the way Keehani’s words hit the Chancellor like a wound. But she simply nodded; the Consul had found a tack to pursue and far be it from her to interrupt it. 
 
Kizat: Response

Keehani: In time, we would be willing to share technology, best practices, know-how, that can benefit your people. But that requires dialogue, and interest in us. Second Secretary Aitas was asking questions to find out more about you, because she is showing our genuine interest in you. It may be to your benefit to do the same to us, Chancellor Ril. ::smiles a little:: And Second Secretary Aitas is right. Sharing of our art is something that can start much sooner.

Ril: ::clears his throat slightly:: Ahem. Well, I will include all of this in my report to the Assembly. As I said, it’s they who make the decision.

Keehani: The Uwezo are on the eve of something wonderful, that hundreds upon hundreds of civilisations in our galaxy have achieved. And they will discover they are not alone, which can be startling. In their case, to discover they have neighbours *so close*, who have achieved what they are about achieve, will be just as startling-- it may even be frightening. And fear can be a motivator for aggression.

And there was a little touch of dismissal from the Chancellor, which Aitas had to consider folly. The Uwezo did not have grand feats of technology, but there were a great many ways to inflict harm on a larger target.

Let alone what horrors might still lurk in the Delta Quadrant. The Uwezo didn’t need to be skilled. They just needed to stumble across the wrong plague, the wrong bit of weaponry, or some lingering fragment of the Borg and bring it home. 

Aitas: Your thoroughness is appreciated, Chancellor. And your patience. We know our ways are still strange to yours.

 Kizat: Response

Keehani: We have established a small but important footprint on the other side of the nebula, and our Outpost is home to a multitude of people of different species, different backgrounds. It is used as a place of trade and transit by many other species form this region of space. We have a treaty with many Hirogen tribes, cordial relations with the Kathesis Pact, and the Talaxians are on the verge of their own important step - membership of the United Federation of Planets.

Keehani: We have much to offer. All we ask for is the opportunity to help other worlds, other communities, in and around the nebula maintain peace and stability in the region. With that in mind - what is it that the Hovans need most, how can we help, and do you need assistance in your eventual relations with the Uwezo? Because, Chancellor, relations with them, good or bad, are inevitable.

Ril: ::huffs a laugh:: Is this what you really seek? To be an intermediary between us and the Uwezo? What makes you think we can’t handle our own affairs?

Keehani: Response

Aitas: Would you offer us your expertise in matters with the Uwezo, then? As you say, we are newcomers here. 

Kizat: Response

Ril: If you truly desire to help, you will keep your hands out of affairs that do not directly impact you. 

An interesting presumption. As if what had happened in the Delta Quadrant never reached back to the Federation, to the other powers known and unknown. But then, whatever the Hovans had heard was likely fragmentary. 

Keehani/Kizat: Response

Ril: Do your people not have laws that prevent you from interfering in the natural development of a species?

Aitas remained silent at that one, and let the others answer. It said something about what the Chancellor had heard, or been told. The webs of politics spreading out even further. And yet what polished little tidbits had he been given, to think the Federation had nothing useful to offer from amid all its member worlds?

Other species did tend to find the replicator and transporter technology particularly compelling, even if they failed to understand just how many changes it might offer. 

Keehani/Kizat: Response

Ril: If, Envoy, if. There is no guarantee their attempts at faster-than-light travel won’t fail. Perhaps it is best that we set aside this conversation to see if there is even anything to discuss.

Keehani/Kizat: Response

Aitas: As you say. But, you desired candor before, Chancellor. Might you indulge me in one more act of it? We could offer you a thousand reasons and all of them would be true, but only a portion of those would be mine. 

She leaned in a little, hands still open, the chair shifting around her as if it sought to push her into a posture her spine was never made to reach. 

Ril: Response

Keehani/Kizat: Response

Aitas: The Federation is not outside the reach of the Borg. I know several El-Aurians who sought refuge in our borders, and the Federation itself has had to drive the Collective back again and again. 

She had not been old enough to truly remember the battle of Wolf 359, but she’d heard tales of it. She’d seen El-Auria overtaken through Jakarn’s memories and dreams. And then, of course, there was Frontier Day. 

Ril/Keehani/Kizat: Response

Aitas: The shadow of the Collective was deepest in this quadrant. We can hold every hope that they have finally been defeated, but every connection here means more warning, more allies, should even some fraction of that shadow return. 

Or be unearthed. 

Ril/Keehani/Kizat: Response


Tag/TBC

Second Secretary Aitas

Federation Diplomatic Corps

Amity Outpost

O239307A10