[TEASER END] Amb. Rivi Vataix & Gelehi Falshikai: Bad Blood (Part 2)
Koihime Nakamura
((Chief of Mission's Office, Level 15, Copernicus Center))
Vataix: Come in…
The doors parted and…
Gelehi looked at the gathering - and the dark brown-haired woman looked at the others. Her skin was a healthy white for a Mislenite, and she brought her right arm to her left, in an odd sinusoidal method, her species’s polite greeting. She was insistent, yes, but no reason to be rude about it. She was dressed in a simple red outfit and spoke up
Gelehi: I won’t apologize for the insistence, but I greet you in the name of my Warding Darkness, the Lady Protector Telahisi of Mislen, and in the name of the Kathesis Pact, a union of Mislenites, Nygeans, and Pensarkans, to the Federation of Planets, we bid welcome. I am Gelehi Falshikai, an envoy of the Pact.
The Betazoid ambassador stood up to greet Keehani and the other woman who’d walked into her office..
Vataix: Hello, I’m Ambassador Rivi Vataix. I am always happy to meet with new arrivals to our station, but I’m in the midst of a meeting with Mr. Summerside here of the Briori Sun.
Ukinix/Carter: Response
Summerside: Response
Gelehi nodded. She was determined to get this out, and part of her wanted to make it crystal clear how the pact felt about this expo they were putting on.
Gelehi: I know. I admit part of my insistence was to make sure Briori hears this. I have sent a press release to your FNS as well.
Vataix: Concerning?
Although if the woman’s surface thoughts were any indication, Rivi had a fairly good idea.
Gelehi: This expo you put on... While certainly, we appreciate and applaud this way of building community, and showing the good faith and intention of the Federation, we must protest the inclusion of the Viidian Stellar Union.
Ukinix/Carter: Response
Summerside: Response
On one hand, Rivi of course sympathized with the passion that Gelehi felt about her cause. But as the Federation’s representative in this quadrant, starting their first major event by excluding certain species seemed antithetical to her–and the Federation’s–stated mission.
Vataix: While I understand individual species may have grievances with one another, the spirit of the expo–and on behalf of the Federation as the hosting organization–is to be a welcoming event for all.
.oO Typical Oo. Gelehi had expected this. Before she had come here, she had studied what records were available of the passage of the ship USS Voyager, and while there were some records that seemed unreal, and some that had to be simply rumor and misgivings about their passage, one consistent theme came out. Naivety and an overfocus on diplomatic solutions.
And while she might think that admirable, there could be no diplomacy - no forgiveness - of two millenia of murder and medical torture. And sure, they had apologized and started to make some reparations, but could you make reparations for the lost colonies? The murder of billions over millenia?
Gelehi: You would have us welcome those that destroyed us? That took the beating organs out of us, as we lived, for a species that saw us no more but parts? For a species that we know have killed millions of other sentients? For a species that, we remind you, at multiple times took hostage your own spacers and killed your crew? Do you value the lives of your military so little?
Rivi and the others stood silently as the woman continued.
Gelehi: You may place little value on past events, but we place great value. This is a formal warning, from the Pact to the Federation. If the Viidian Stellar Union is not expelled from this expo, the Pact and many of our trading partners will boycott this expo, and we do not preclude further economic actions, including potential sanctions…up to and including a total blockade of this star system.
This threat had more teeth than they potentially realized, as the Pact bordered the system, and could effectively cut off almost all methods of transit. Although, Gelehi was unsure if it’d work entirely. But the point was also to make it crystal clear - aid the Viidians in any way, and be considered an enemy of the Pact.
Summerside: Response
The woman turned towards the reporter, who still had his pen and notepad out.
Gelehi: I’m not surprised the Briori Sun is here - we do receive your paper, after all - but I imagine you would understand this more than the Federation, who haven’t been here in any number for decades. After all, you had to defend yourself as well from the Viidian menace. In any case, we are on the record, if you wish to report this as well.
Summerside: Response
Vataix: Madam Falshikai, I hear your concerns–and demands–loud and clear. Let me discuss the situation with my staff, and perhaps we can arrange a follow-up meeting to talk over this further?
Gelehi: Of course, Madam Ambassador. May the darkness of the sky lead you to the beneficial outcome.
Gelehi again genuflected, and then turned and left the room.
After all, she had but one mission here, and the Federation had many - to make the Viidians pay for all they had done, over the centuries.
TAG! END
(OOC: Do not continue this scene! Do not collect 200 bars of gold-pressed latinum. Proceed directly to Act 1, set a few hours after this meeting with Summerside having left now to do as he sees fit while Rivi, Wil, and John discuss what to do now privately.)
CUE OPENING CREDITS MUSIC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ASTu7XNts
Gelehi Falshikai
Envoy of the Kathesis Pact
C239112CA0
&
Ambassador Rivi Vataix
Chief of Mission and Commanding Officer, Amity Outpost
Federation Diplomatic Corps, United Federation of Planets
I238705TZ0