((Capitol City High Council Chambers – Capricalia))
Ozan Zirzal tried to remain still. To center himself in a space and appear calm and control.
He was anything but calm.
In the forty-five minutes it had taken the USS Narendra to settle into orbit and get their teams beamed down, protestors had gathered in the squares of the capitol city, chanting ‘Down with the Federation!’ and carrying home-made Romulan flags on display. They wanted change, by any means necessary.
Meanwhile, at the same time feedback coms both text and verbal had poured in, relieved that the Federation was finally listening to their pleas, and scared to defecting to the Romulan Free State.
Both options seemed like they had overwhelming support. But if Zirzal ran the numbers there were maybe a thousand people protesting, and the council had received maybe 1,200 feedback messages. Capitol city alone had seven million people living within it.
So, what did the rest of the six million, nine hundred thousand souls think?
It was an unthinkably massive decision resting on Zirzal’s shoulders. One decent man who never wanted to be a politician. But here he was.
He was calm. At least he looked calm. He was in control – that much he actually had control over. He stepped forward after the golden beam of light settled to come face to face with the Bardeezan Commander.
Zirzal: Commander Fairhug, thank you for coming.
He hoped this would be productive. At the very least he hoped that this would give some clarity to his position.
Fairhug: Ahh, High Councillor Zirzal. It's a pleasure to meet you. These are some of my senior crew, Lieutenant Commander Marsh, Ensign Arlo and Ensign Tovan.
A Bardeezan, a Centauran and a Bajoran. All strong Federation members and yet Zirzal felt a tiny bit of hope seeing that none were Terran. Each of these worlds had been colony worlds once, and maybe they could start to understand his position.
Marsh/Tovan: Responses
Zirzal: Welcome to Capricalia Commanders, Ensign. I have set aside a conference room for us to speak in.
Fairhug: Forgive me, High Councillor, but before we begin, we detected an EM spike that threatened to stop us beaming down a few moments ago. As a gesture of good will, we would like to offer Ensign Arlo's expertise as an engineer to help look into what may have caused it.
He blinked, realizing that with all the reports of protests and feedback he had ignored the planetary systems reports.
Because he wasn’t an engineer, and he had enough on his plate. But now he felt bad for not being on top of that, too.
Zirzal: An EM spike? ::He drew in a long, slow breath:: If it affects your ship I see not reason to not allow your engineer to assist.
He could sell that reasoning to the council. And he hoped against hope that this was something natural and minor and not another massive issue that he would have to navigate.
Fairhug: Despite your previous experiences, I assure you, High Councillor, we are here to help. If there's absolutely anything else we can do while we are here, please let us know.
He tipped his head in an assent before straightening and leading them out of the entryway and towards more comfortable surroundings. Hung upon the walls of the council chamber was local Capricalian art. Notably it seemed to depict the colony’s agrarian roots in a romanticized way. Strong bold Capricalians out in nature, tending the local klerpals, a herd animal, and fending off linx-wolves. Happy families playing in fields and children climbing trees.
It was a far cry from the modern, industrial city the council chamber was seated in.
Zirzal: I thank you for your concern, Commander. I only hope that it isn’t too little, too late.
Marsh/Tovan/Fairhug: ?
Zirzal: I admit Capricalia to some degree got themselves in this mess. This world has always been a little isolationist. Nationalist if you will. We tried to fade away and remain unnoticed during the Dominion Wars, and at the time it worked well for our people – and I say well with some regret of hindsight. But at the time we kept to ourselves, were overlooked and came through the conflict more or less unscathed.
Zirzal had been a young man at the time, and he remembered the heated discussions on whether Capricalia should provide resources to the Federation during the war. The Federation had asked, but never demanded. Capricalia decided for the least offensive course of action – they asked nothing of the Federation and provided nothing in return.
Not even medical supplies for a post-occupation Betazed. Despite Capricalia having good natural resources which could have provided greater supplied of critical medicines. Zirzal had been a protestor at the time, demanding they provide aid to Betazed.
So he understood the need for your people to get out and about and have their voice heard. But this different this time? Or did he merely have a greater perspective with age and position?
Marsh/Tovan/Fairhug: ?
Zirzal: Of course in the decades afterwards we tried to increase our trade, but it’s been a difficult prospect. Now the population feels like we were ignored by the Federation. Though I don’t think they remember that we had a hand in that.
Marsh/Tovan/Fairhug: ?
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tags/tbc
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MSNPC Ozan Zirzal
Leader of the Capricalian High Council