Prior Preparation Prevents...

Posted on Tue Oct 12th, 2021 @ 3:13am by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Commander Tyler Driskill & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy & Lieutenant Syrial J'naii & Lieutenant JG Faith Vianelli & Lieutenant JG Richard Wayne & Captain Natalya Markova & Ensign Danielle Michelson

Mission: The Dexic Negotiations
Location: Conference Room

[Captain's Ready Room]

Calypso and the Ambassador had been talking for well over an hour in her Ready Room, going over the Dexic situation when she made the decision. They were already underway to the Dexicia system, another forty hours until they arrived, but as everyone knew, Prior Preparation Prevented Piss Poor Performance. There would be enough time to prepare if they began now and so Cally had sent out the summons to the senior officers on board, as well as one other... Anara Joval, the lounge manager of the Hydra Lounge.

She also decided that she'd be the last one into the conference room this time, keeping the Ambassador occupied while they waited for a few minutes, also giving the Chief of the Boat the Watch on the bridge.

[Conference Room]

The First Officer gave a nod and a quick smile to a young Ensign wearing a huge smile on her face. Adjusting his uniform before stepping into the conference room.

The mug of coffee was a permanent fixture for the Marine Lieutenant. Striding into the room, she gave a respectful nod to everyone already present.

Syrial arrived in uniform and, for once, relatively on time. They gave a toothy smile to everybody before taking a seat and looking up see what was going on.

Richard made his way through the door he still hadn't meet most of the crew as he was busy getting moved in. He gave a nod to those in the room and found a chair.

Faith took a seat quietly, trying very hard to not draw attention to her presence. Instead, she set a PaDD on the table in front of her and sat quietly, back straight, hands folded neatly in her lap while she waited.

Danielle was hoping she wasn't late as she almost jogged to her seat after clearing the conference room doors. She looked up at Cally and mouthed "sorry" hoping no one else saw her.

Stenn and Valsai entered, nodding to the assembled command team and finding seats at the table.

Anara was the second to last to arrive. She was wondering as she stepped in to the conference room why she had been summoned as she took note of the gathering of the ship's command and senior staff. She nodded and took a seat in one of the few empty chairs.

As she'd planned, Cally and the Ambassador came in last and sat at the head of the table, the purple uniformed man at her side, "All right everyone, we're on our way to the planet of Dexic, where we are to support Ambassador O'Connor here in helping to bring a new member to the Federation. I'll let him make the briefing on the world."

"Thank you, Commander." The Ambassador stood tall, tapping a button on the screen and a world of mostly land, with two large oceans came into view as a hologram. "Dexic is a Class-M world that's only about twenty light years from Breen territory and was ignored during the Dominion War. There is no central planetary government as yet, the world being run by two large corporations, the Dorge Corporation and the Aneset Consortium, rather than by nation-states. Both CEOs have expressed a mutual interest and desire to form a single world government, but they're having a difficult time hashing it out."

He brought up images of the two Dexicians, showing a round-faced semi-sauroid that was very stocky and rather short with a pronounced head ridge instead of hair. "They sent an envoy to the Starbase to request a representative, me, to come and negotiate a central position between them and both sides have agreed that what I say goes, within reason of course." He smiled with a chuckle, "Obviously I'm not going to be able to choose a position completely off their rails. There is a rather small group that disagrees with the decision of the Corporations' decision to apply for membership to the Federation, but they've stuck to protests in the two capital cities and aren't considered a danger. Their homegrown technology is about the level the Federation was at in the mid 2200s, but they use chemically fueled shuttles rather than matter/antimatter reactors for smaller craft. That's part of the reason they're looking to join us, to improve their technology. Does anyone have any questions so far?"

Nat's eyebrow quirked up a the mention of protests. "Sir, you say this small group is not considered a threat, have there been any records of violence at these protests?" She was deliberately ignoring the agitated tapping of her fingers on the table, and the slight rise in her fight-or-flight response at the mention of the Breen.

The soft drumming of fingertips caught Faith's attention. She glanced toward Nat, running a quick physical assessment, noting the slight tense draw at her temples, the hint of colour at her collar. Without saying a word, Faith filed those details away for later and turned her attention back to the Captain and the Ambassador.

“Minor incidents only, some fistfights between the police and the protestors after they got overly ‘frisky’, a handful of knives pulled out by them as well. Minor injuries, a few cuts, some broken bones.” O’Connor said.

"Sounds dangerous," Syrial commented without much inflection to tell whether they were joking or not.

"Have the Breen seemed too worried about another world so close to their border being brought into the Federation fold?" Richard offered.

O’Connor shook his head, “If they are, they haven’t let us know about it. As I’m sure you know, aside from the Dominion War, the Breen typically remain in their own territory with most of the communications amounting to various levels of ‘Stay Away’. The Intelligence estimates I’ve been given indicate less than a one in ten chance of the Breen actually doing anything about Dexic joining the Federation.” He raised one hand slightly, “But the protestors are using the fact that the Breen didn’t attack during the Dominion War as proof positive that by remaining independent, they are safer. We had a handful of starships stationed here during hostilities, but it was mostly a gesture and outpost because the area was well away from the main theater of battle. They couldn’t have stopped more than a minor probing attack and were apparently dismissed as a target. Does your own analysis of the information show any red flags mine haven’t seen, by chance, Lieutenant?” It was a polite question, seeking information not as a challenge.

"No your Intel is sound and similar to what I have seen in area briefings. I just want to point out during the war not many planets where spared. So this is something we will need to keep track of." Richard explained himself.

"Never trust Intel, or the Breen." Natalya's voice had turned ice cold. She closed her eyes for a moment, pushing away the memories of enemy craft overhead. "The Breen never need a 'reason' to act," she continued now taking in the Ambassador. "Sometimes they can just decide to."

The tone of voice as Nat spoke again caught Faith's attention. She cast another glance toward the Marine Commander, still not speaking, just filing the information away for later. This meeting was not the time, at least, not right now.

“Moving on.” The Ambassador cut off any possible return of fire from the Intelligence Officer, “There will be a full cultural brief available to everyone, but what isn’t readily apparent is a four inch frill around their neck that is analogous to say… A horse’s ears. It can be an indicator of their stress and emotional state. A proper Dexician greeting involves an expansion of the frill and what appears to us to be a grimace, which acts as their smile. Verbal greetings are a fifty fifty probability, but if they don’t flare their frill, it’s a clear sign of aggression from them. So, when greeting one of them, we use our hands like so,” He flattened his fingers and palms to each side of his neck and gave a death’s head grin in what was truly a comical appearance, “To imitate the frill.” He looked to Calypso next.

“Which brings up what is coming up. The Dexic envoys will be coming aboard the ship as a neutral negotiating location. At the Ambassador’s suggestion, he and I along with an honor guard in dress uniform will greet their delegations and then we’re going to have a reception for them.” She smiled at Anara, “Which is why I asked you to join us, Anara. What are the possibilities of you putting together a diplomatic reception in the next forty-odd hours?”

Anara considered the question for a moment. She would need to research Dexic cuisine and hopefully develop a menu suitable for the Dexic and humanoid attendees. She glanced at the Ambassador. "I will need input from the Ambassador, but I don't see it as too much of a problem. I will of course need to see the guest list to know how much to make."

O’Connor nodded, “There will be about six delegates, three from each corporation, two of their Generals from the Dexic Defense Force plus call it about ten Fleet officers. Their security people are just going to be out of the way.”

Cally turned her attention back to the officers, “This reception will be mandatory for every one of you on board to attend. Dress uniforms are required for it, because we want our best foot forward.” She waited for the certain groans to fade, “Which brings up another thing: I want to put people on the ground, one group in each capital city to get a feel for things down there. Do I have any volunteers?”

"Marines are Ground-Pounders." Nat replied at once. "We've got sixteen on board, I suggest splitting us in half, one for each city. I'll head one team, Gunnery Sergeant Hijani can head the other."

“No.” It was more than one voice and Cally didn’t recognize all of them at that first moment, but caught the Ambassador’s eyes and he gestured to her, “Perhaps an escort, but I would have thought of security instead of Marines. I want these teams small and as non-threatening as we can if we can help it. Escorts will have hand phasers, set on stun only and not to be used if at all possible. I don’t want us to look like invaders, Natalya, and having a fire team of Marines suddenly appear, especially with a few others, might give that impression. These are our friends, notionally, and hopefully a new member world.”

Richard was one of the few who voiced no as well. "I agree this is a diplomatic matter with very low chance of hostility we don't need to open the cage door with shock troops. As for volunteers I can see value for me in both the ground teams and at the reception so I will leave it to the ship's judgement where to post me but I am open to both," Richard offered.

The response from Nat, given what Faith had witnessed so far during this meeting, was not at all surprising. "I think any decisions regarding who goes to the surface or why need to be made for the right reasons," she said softly. "We should be careful not to let our own fears and concerns of the known or unknown unfairly prejudice our decisions."

“Right.” Calypso agreed with Faith, which changed things a bit, “Reasoned deliberation rather than just asking for volunteers to get out of dress uniform duty.” That would require some thought and discussion with her Exec on who to send, “I’ll have the away teams figured out before the end of the day then.” She glanced around again, “Any more questions or concerns?”

"No concerns here," Syrial responded as they rotated their chair back and forth just the slightest. That was a lie. They had plenty of concerns; largely, that this could downhill pretty quickly. A world run by corporation with active and potentially violent protesters did not seem like the ideal planet to add to the federation, but oh well. Those were decisions made way above them, no use voicing concerns now.

"I'm suspecting I'll lead a team, Captain," Tyler spoke up and looked over at Cally, he was guessing she was going to the surface and he didn't think reminding her of the regulation was necessary. "Lieutenant Valleroy would be a good candidate for the second team," he tossed his opinion out there, hoping it didn't get shot down.

Calypso spent a couple heartbeats thinking about it, then shook her head slightly, “Good idea, Exec, and Mark, I’ll definitely have you lead one of the teams, but I want you on board Tyler. I’m going to be tied up and I just have this gut feeling I should have you basically on hand to coordinate our ground people. Richard, I’ll probably tap you for the second team.”

"Yes ma'am" Tyler replied and gave a nod to his superior. She wanted him aboard so he would stay on the ship.

"Understood, ma'am," Mark said with a nod.

"Sounds good to me I will take some gadgets that will help us with our exploratory mission," Richard said with a grin as he thought of what all he wanted to throw in his go bag.

"It's not a big ordeal, or it shouldn't be." Cally tried to maintain a serious tone, "I'm just going to want you two to go down, talk to some of the people and get their feel for what they think about joining the Federation. If you can find some of the protestors and talk to them, all the better, but I want both of you and your teams to be careful."

"A prerequisite of Federation membership is stable, peaceful and unified planetary government " Valsai noted. "The presence of dissent among a segment of the population would indicate the Dexic have not yet achieved that position. The Federation specifically avoids becoming involved in any planet's internal conflicts, we cannot be seen to take sides in civil matters.

Contrary to some of the statements made earlier, it would be in the Breen's interests to disrupt the planet's entry into the Federation. That they are behind some of the protests is a possibility it would unwise to ignore.

However, it maybe possible that we can facilitate negotiation and discussion between the the pro and anti-membership fractions. Even if these are not successful, it would at least demonstrate to both sides that the Federation is open to all opinions and that membership will not proceed unless the planet is entirely in accord."

She sat back to allow further discussion to take place.

The statement irked Calypso, the definitive way the diplomat had stated that and she leaned forward in her chair, “Obviously I’m no ambassador or even a match for a diplomat on their worst drunken days, but are you saying that if so many as a single person dissents to joining the Federation that their entire planet would be denied entry?” It was a curious question, she was sure she knew the answer, but it was best to hear it from the real professionals.

Syrial glanced at Calypso and at the diplomat. They agreed entirely with what the Vulcan had said. And they also agreed with Calypso's question, though they were still not sure whether it was rhetorical or not. But, well, they didn't bring it up. Not now. Sending a ship down to do this footwork was no small feat of bureaucracy; if Starfleet was already at this point, the decision was well made long ago. Negotiations might stall it, but stalling was all it was. The J'naii smiled, trying to keep any worries out of their facial expression. Look at you here they chided themselves. Becoming a pessimist again.

"Denying planetary membership on the basis of a single citizen's dissent is not logical, neither do I believe I spoke of it in those terms. I referred to a unified government" Valsai responded. "As in most democracies, the various parties, as representatives of their people, may disagree on policies but have broad agreement and be entirely in accord with a specific goal, such as Federation membership." she bowed her head in the direction of the Commander "I apologize if that was unclear Captain"

“No worries.” Calypso said absently, “I probably misunderstood. But yes, the reason for this mission is that unification. The corporations have been working on joining to make that government but have hit a snag, which they’ve called in Ambassador O’Connor to mediate. Then, once that is settled, they can move on into their application.” She glanced around the rest of the room, “Any more questions?”

"Anything in particular you want us to keep an eye on while we're on the planet?" Mark asked. "Or is it just going to be more mingling with the locals, ask them what they think about random things?"

“Mingle, light casual chatting. Feel free to tell them you come from the ship in orbit. And for the Four’s sake, be friendly, The last thing we want to look like are the evil overseers looking for chattel.” Cally shook her head slowly, “If you run into trouble, report it immediately. Back away from confrontations and get out of there, you know, the normal.”

No one else was speaking up, so Cally placed both hands onto the top of the conference table, "Well then, if there's nothing else.." She smiled slightly, "Let's be about it, then! We've got about forty hours before it's go time, let's be ready."