LTJG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen - Diplomatic Drinks
Lhandon Nilsen
((The Celestial Temple Pub, Deep Space 14))
After attempting (and failing) to mediate between two feuding traders, and accidentally knocking a Federation captain off his feet, Lhandon's experience at this diplomatic conference had been far from smooth.
Surprisingly, the captain he'd sent sprawling—one Captain Del Vedova—chose to stick around and even offered to have a drink with the clumsy lieutenant... provided the lieutenant paid.
The Celestial Temple Pub was a cosy establishment nestled just outside the conference hall on Deep Space 14. It had warm, amber lighting and rustic Bajoran decor and the walls were adorned with tapestries depicting scenes from Bajoran mythology. At the centre of the pub stood a bar, whose surface was inlaid with swirling patterns somewhat reminiscent of the Bajoran Orbs. Behind it, rows of bottles containing liquors from across the quadrant.
In one corner, a small stage would host occasional performances of Bajoran music, and Lhandon was reminded of this Bajoran he met in the academy who would have been a bard if he hadn’t gone into the medical feild. There was a gentle hum of conversation, the occasional clink of glasses and bursts of laughter. He wondered how that Cadet was doing, the two certainly made sure that there academy years were not boring.
It was here that Lhandon and Captain Del Vedova found themselves, ready to continue their conversation over a drink.
Nilsen: Exactly sir, we’re trying to build on that momentum from the United Dominion of Planets and what we achieved with them.
Captain Del Vedova seemed to have shown interest in Lhandon's career thus far, and their conversation shifted to the joint action between the Federation and the UDP. Vothaw excused himself, heading off to work on his own projects.
Del Vedova: Response
Nilsen: It showed that we can work together, we just needed a common goal, and at that point, it was to support all the slaves who had been liberated from the King's Path and help them make their own choices, something both our people have in common. :beat: But they really need us to forget. Despite their name, they don’t want to be known as the Dominion.
Lhandon felt as if he were giving Del Vedova an impromptu briefing on the political and diplomatic landscape of the Gamma Quadrant. He welcomed this slight change of pace. After the chaos of the past few months—from his falling out with Toxin to the trial where he was falsely accused of murder—having a simple conversation about the finer points of Gamma Quadrant diplomacy felt almost like a holiday. For once, he was actually experiencing something akin to shore leave.
Del Vedova: Response
Nilsen: Yeah, it ain’t quiet out here.
Del Vedova: Response
Then he had a question, something he didn’t know how to word.
Nilsen: How do you do this? Like this whole diplomacy thing?
Del Vedova: Response
Nilsen: Well I just sort of stumbled into this, Alpha Brenkelvi making contact with those ancient Bajorans, the Chedy’langa and the UDP. ::beat:: How do I do this stuff…deliberately?
Del Vedova: Response
In hindsight, Lhandon wondered if this was the right question to ask. His diplomatic successes seemed to follow a pattern of happy accidents rather than deliberate action. If he were being honest with himself, he recalled Toxin's words of his appointment as assistant chief of operations when they were on the Unity Dow: "He's simply a circumstance of convenience."
Yet Lhandon also at this moment felt something else it was a sensation he was unfamiliar with there was a sense of anxiety and trepidation in this but also a sense that he is doing the thing right now and a sense that for the first time in his life, his destiny was in his own hands.
Tags/TBC
Lieutenant JG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Assistant Chief of Operations.
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)