[Start Shore Leave] Lt. Cmdr. Lhandon Nilsen - The Draft Agreement
Lhandon Nilsen
Executive Officer & Senior Diplomatic Officers' Log, Stardate 240309.30
We are remaining at Deep Space 14 both for repairs to ourselves and to assist in the repairs of the station.
I still do not know how to process that day's events. We were so close to peace, so close to an agreement. For all his pomp and posturing, he wanted the best for his people. A statesman, yes, but under it all, a good man. He was killed in a cowardly act at point-blank range by members of the Concordat Bloc, a political faction in the United Dominion of Planets. I have made contact with the Ascendant Coalition and expressed my deepest sympathies, but such words seem unfitting. Perhaps fuelled by a certain anger, I have, in my report to the Federation Diplomatic Corps, recommended that the Concordat Bloc be treated as a terrorist faction. This is yet to be approved.
We have, at least, made friends in the Ascendant Coalition, and I know we are getting another visit from the UDP soon, with a request to see Akan's body.
Meanwhile, my ship is now without a captain. Captain Rouiancet will be recovering away from duty. As such, my duty now is to steward my own ship until a replacement CO can be found. It will surprise no one that I put in a bid for the centre chair myself, but it was not to be. I can at least take comfort in the fact that our crew is staying together, and whoever our new CO is, they are going to get the finest crew in Starfleet.
I have been able to get a few hours away from the ship. There is one final diplomatic matter on DS14 that I feel the need to handle personally.
End log
(( Conference Chamber, Diplomatic Department, Deep Space 14 ))
The door to the Diplomatic Department had not been opened in a few days. The repairs to the Diplomatic Department and the Conference Chamber were lower on the long, long, long list of things the Corps of Engineers had to do, so Lhandon had asked, very, very, very politely, if he could open it himself. They had said yes.
Mostly to be rid of him.
Lhandon had brought the hyperspanner, or Ay's hyperspanner depending on who asked, plus a tool bag and the jaws of life, a massive tool designed to cut metal and gain access to places. He didn't need it, and instead, turning back to the hyperspanner, he folded out the attachment and loosened the bolts that connected the door to the bent wall. The door groaned and creaked, and he noted that there was a little bit of movement and play. With his weight, he leaned against it, pushing the door with his shoulder.
He pushed again, and again, with more force, and then again before it fell away and Lhandon stumbled as the door gave. He grabbed onto the frame with a grunt.
The corridor behind still wore the signs of the explosions, and dust was thick on every surface. His boots left the first prints on it. The Conference Chamber ahead had fared better than the corridor, but was much worse than he remembered. A ceiling panel had come down across the far end of the seemingly infinitely long table; chairs too lay abandoned, one on its side, one facing the wall, and then the most curious thought came to mind.
o0 Akan's socks? Did that person steal them? Was that bit even real? 0o
Akan's chair, however, seemed to sit perfectly where the General had left it, at the head of the table. He too found his own chair, a little off-centre, and spun around, supporting a ceiling panel that had crashed onto the table and rested on the back of the chair. He braced himself, bent his knees, and lifted the panel off the table with a graceless thud. He let out a breath, and then he saw what he had come looking for. The PADD was still there. There was a crack from corner to corner, and the device itself had a thick grey coating of dust. He pressed the power button.
o0 Come on 0o
Nothing. He turned it over and saw that the back plate had become loose and the power cell had shifted. Lhandon nudged it in with the hyperspanner, and a small spark followed. The screen flickered through all the colours, as if it was trying to make connections before it went white, and he saw the last thing open on it.
- reciprocal recognition of each other's ships as non-hostile
- weapons only used in immediate self-defence
- no pre-emptive attacks
- incidents investigated jointly
- consultation before establishing new permanent installations in the other's recognised sphere of interest
- immediate formal trade discussions
Akan had yet to give his thumbprint, but the offer in the draft agreement was still there. At least Lhandon would have hoped if Akan were still alive. He sat on his chair, elbows on his knees, and read it more times than he remembered. The room was silent, save for the almost inaudible hum of life support.
Lhandon made copies of the draft, first to his own PADD and then, when he got back to the OEB, to her drive and later once more to a data rod. Lhandon read it one more time, smiled to himself, and then saved it again.
[End scene/start shore leave]
Lieutenant Commander Lhandon Josif Nilsen
Executive Officer & Senior Diplomatic Officer
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)