Cardassian Self-Defense
Posted on Wed Oct 26, 2016 @ 7:22am by Civilian Hydel Turvan & Civilian 'Arrival' Krell Antos & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
2,835 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Rumours
Location: Diplomatic Office
Timeline: Several days after "Survivor's Tale"
ON:
"It would behoove you to allow me to do all of the talking" Ambassador Hydel Turvan said to Gul Druman Nivall. The Commanding Officer of the 127th Tactical Wing of the Sixth Order merely gave an affirmative sigh to the Ambassador. The fact that he was being brought back onto the station to speak to the Starfleet Diplomatic Officer seemed to be a waste of his time.
"I understand that you are more familiar with these intangible diplomatic matters; however, I am not. I am a Soldier, my office is on the battlefield, not within conference rooms haggling over treaties and covenants." Gul Nivall said as the turbolift continued its ascent towards the Station's Diplomatic Suite.
"In case you hadn't noticed, the Federation and even the Bajorans are to be considered our allies. Therefore, these. . .skirmishes in non-defined space do nothing to help advance our cause. If anything, they bring unnecessary attention to us and to our project" Ambassador Turvan said as the lift came to a stop and the two Cardassians exited into the main lobby.
The receptionist stiffened ever so slightly recognising the Cardassian. Every time he showed up he was always so rude. None of the reception staff enjoyed having to deal with him. And this time he was not alone either. The Cardassian next to him was decorated in much finer attire. More a uniform. He must be someone of higher importance she reasoned. Slapping on the best and most professional smile she could, she waited for them to get to the desk pulling up today's schedules ready.
The two Cardassians approached the front desk within the lobby and addressed the woman sitting behind it.
"Good morning, I have an appointment with Lieutenant Reynolds," Ambassador Turvan stated to the young, and particularly attractive, receptionist.
It checked out ... for once. Ambassador Turvan had a wonderful knack of just turning up and expecting everyone to drop everything for him. She nodded. "Of course. Please follow me."
"Thank you." Ambassador Turvan said. Gul Nivall merely nodded while he followed behind the Diplomat as the were led into the expansive conference room.
The two men walked into the room and prepared to take their seat when they heard the sound of Lieutenant Reynold's voice. Gul Nivall's face took a hardened expression as he saw that the Human was flanked by two other Bajorans. One of which was wearing the standard Militia uniform.
"Ambassador welcome," Liam stated. "Thank you Natalie." He indicated the chairs and then made the introductions. "This is First Secretary Li Kaya and Major Cenn of the Bajoran Militia. Ambassador Krell requested that they attend this meeting. I believe there has been an incident."
Liam hoped they were all going to be civil with each other. He would have preferred the Bajoran Ambassador be here rather than send a military attachment in his place. He imagined Turvan was likely to take this as an offence but it had not been his choosing.
"A pleasure to meet you both," Ambassador Turvan said as he closed the distance between the two of them to greet the two Bajoran military Officers." Soraya Neryshu (Good morning)" He said, with his most convincing Bajoran accent.
First Secretary Li Kaya forced a diplomatic smile at the Ambassador's greeting and gave a slight bow at the neck . The middle aged Bajoran took note of the Cardassian's stance and his mannerisms.
Major Cenn, however, was not as good at hiding his emotions. He clenched his fists at his sides as the Cardassian Ambassador addressed them. It appeared that was the only response Desco intended to give for now.
Gul Nivall merely gave a nod towards the two Bajorans. "Good morning, I am Gul Druman Nivall, Commanding Officer of the 127th Tactical Wing, Sixth Order of Cardassia." He said authoritatively to the two Bajorans, as if to remind them of his level of importance and accomplishment. "I'm certain we all have more pressing matters to attend to this day, I allowed this brief break in my schedule to travel to the station because Ambassador Turvan informed me of a minor incident that you wished to address." Gul Nivall said as he took his seat at the table.
Ambassador Turvan gave a stern glare towards the Gul, as if to remind him of their discussion and the importance allowing Turvan to do all of the talking.
The Gul's introduction made Cenn's face break into a scowl. He kept his eyes trained on the Cardassian officer.
Shifting uncomfortably for a moment, Secretary Li spoke. "Vedek Krell apologizes for not attending this meeting himself. He is currently leading mass to pray for the lives of those lost on B'hala." She was careful to hold her gaze between both Cardassian men.
Gul Nivall sat back in his chair, remaining emotionless at the mention of a memorial service for the Bajorans that died. In his mind, they were soldiers, their lives were no longer their own the moment they joined the Bajoran Militia. However, he recognized that his sober perspective would not be appreciated amongst present company.
"Please, give the Ambassador my sincere regards." Ambassador Turvan said as he retrieved his hand from the Major who remained stoic as before. He turned and made his way to the seat on the other side of the conference table.
"Let me first start by saying that the Cardassian Empire offers its condolences to the loss of the Bajoran Officers and crew onboard the B'hala as a result of an unfortunate and tragic accident. We view Bajor as our highly valued allied and wish to put this unpleasant episode behind us." He said.
Kaya offered a gracious bow of her head to acknowledge the Ambassador's very diplomatic response.
"What exactly did happen in this incident?" Liam asked. He could sense the Cardassians lack of emotions on the mention of the dead Bajoran's.
Major Cenn was a ball of emotions in this meeting. "One of their ships obliterated one of ours. " He gestured wildly in the Direction of the two Cardassian men, and muttered obscenities under his breath.
"What...I believe Major Cenn is trying to communicate is that due to an unfortunate breakdown in communication, a vessel attached to the 127th Tactical Wing perceived the Bajoran vessel to be engaged in hostile action against either one or all of the vessels in that immediate area and used various tactics to resolve the situation. . .including lethal force." Ambassador Turvan stated with as much sincerity as he could bring to bear.
"I can assure you that if there were any other way to resolve the matter, the particular Gul exhausted it and then some, in order to protect the sanctity of life." Ambassador Turvan added.
"To believe that, is folly Ambassador." said the First Secretary. "The B'hala was a scientific vessel, and detailed scans would have shown that. She barely has...had, any armaments at all."
Gul Nivall maintained his composure as he listened to the Bajoran continue to speak. To him the matter had been resolved the second the order to "fire" had been given.
"There seems to me to be a very easy way of sorting this situation out," Liam said calmly. "Lets see the recordings of this unfortunate breakdown of communications and we can all see how this incident progressed to this unfortunate conclusion. It is standard practice in all ships to have those comms. backed up. The Bajoran's will be able to see why you felt their ship used hostile actions, and the Cardassians will easily be able to absolve their actions as it will prove that that particular Gul exhausted all other options."
"Well, Mr. Liam, surely you can see wh---" Ambassador Turvan began to speak.
"I do not have to 'absolve' any of my Guls of any action. Cardassians have the right to self-defense, especially from Bajoran terrorists posing as a standing army!" Gul Nivall said as he raised an arm to cut-off the Cardassian Ambassador. "The Guls of the 127th are experienced tacticians and soldiers. They've fought in more combat scenarios then this. . ..Major can count." He continued.
Major Cenn, didn't even flinch as he clenched his jaw and his fist in unison.
"If they perceived a vessel to be a threat, then that's exactly what is was. I won't stand to see the good name of the 127th sullied by Bajoran terrorists and their Federation nurse-maid!" Gul Nivall exploded.
Liam remained expectedly calm despite the anger seething off the other Cardassian feeling like it was punching him in the gut.
First he turned to the Ambassador, “Mr Reynolds,” he said simply. Then he informed the Gul just as calmly, “You need to compose yourself. If you continue to speak to the participants in this room and myself in this angry, aggressive and insulting manner I will be getting security to escort you out. Then I will be making a complaint with the Cardassian government as to the conduct of “one of the Guls” of the 127th. This is a diplomatic space and people do not behave in that manner. You seem to be worried about its reputation but your behaviour here is not helping it. As an experienced tactician and solider I can see no logic in you wanting to do that.”
“At the end of the day it’s your word, against the words of the Bajoran survivors.”
He paused for the briefest of moments waiting to see if he would betray himself emotionally. Was he aware of any survivors he wondered?
“Both parties are Federation allies, we have no reason to nor can we believe one over the other at this point which is why we need the facts. The facts are in that comms. Footage.”
Although neither Cardassian looked at one another, they both were slightly caught-off guard at the mention of survivors from the attack. It was one thing to want to review footage of the incident, it was something entirely different to have living witnesses who observed the destruction of their vessel Ambassador Turvan thought as Gul Nivall continued to speak.
"Save me your thinly-veiled threats, I've served in First and Second Federation Wars and defended Cardassia against the Jem'Hadar, you can call whomever you choose, but I won't sit here and beg for forgiveness from orphans of the Federation State." Gul Nivall fired back.
"Look at your Major," Gul Nivall said with an accusatory finger. "You can see the hatred burning in his eyes. He'd love nothing more than to see one of my kind accused of committing a 'crime' against his people. It would give him an actual battle to fight instead of spending his days following after bureaucrats on a space station." He said pointedly.
"It's not about how many wars you have been in or battles. This meeting is solely about this incident between you and the Bajoran's and no one is telling you to beg for forgiveness. Its about finding answers and sorting this situation out. And I don't need to see. I can feel everything everyone in this room is feeling," Liam informed him. "I'm an empath. The Major is feeling exactly the same way towards you as you are feeling towards him."
Liam let the Gul suddenly realise that he was not human and digest that fact and what he had just said. He wondered if the Cardassian realised that his statement about begging for forgiveness said more about him than anyone else in the rest of the room.
Ambassador Turvan stopped the Gul before he could respond by placing a hand on the Cardassian's shoulder as he stood up and took a position behind the chair.
"I think. . . we all can benefit from taking a deep breath and calmly evaluating the situation." Ambassador Turvan said in a slow and calculated manner.
"More importantly, Mr. Reynolds, it is well-documented that individuals who have suffered through a traumatic experience tend to have...compromised memories of certain events. I would hardly want to place the burden of proof on the scattered details that a frightened individual may provide." Ambassador Turvan said.
"Oh I agree completely Ambassador, which is why that comms. footage is more important than ever. So we can get to the bottom of this situation and restore relations between your two people," Liam stated. "It may also help in the recovery of these poor individuals."
Having remained silent, observing, as the situation became heated, Kaya spoke again. "As it happens, the B'hala's black box was recovered during our search and rescue efforts with Starfleet." She allowed her slightly smug tone to fill the room.
Liam was surprised at the sudden turn of events. Perhaps the way she announced it wasn't the wisest though. The Cardassians were doing the best they could not to react but he could sense surprise and he dug slightly deeper under the surface. Was that some panic to this news??
"You can replay whatever footage you wish from whatever perspective fits your narrative, but the fact remains that my Guls are trained to defend their vessels with lethal force if necessary if they believe the situation warrants it. I'm certain you'll find that the Bajoran failed to follow protocol when engaging a clearly superior vessel." Gul Nivall replied.
"Perhaps...." Ambassador Turvan interjected. "....it would be best if you were to bring the two survivors before us so that we could hear from them directly what exactly they saw during that incident." He suggested.
The First Secretary shook her head. "The encounters they've had with even a Half Cardassian member of the Starfleet crew were not met with positive reactions. I don't think that forcing them to meet face to face with a Cardassian Gul, especially one who is affiliated with those involved would make it may more favourable."
"HAAAA!" Gul Nivall erupted in a loud and contemptuous voice. "Of course not. . .why should a Bajoran be held accountable for the lies they tell?" He asked rhetorically. "They've been victimized so much, we wouldn't want to re-traumatize them again. . ." He said mockingly.
"If I recall, that's the same thing the Federation said every time Cardassia sought to prosecute a known Bajoran terrorist under Cardassian laws." He added.
"I'm tired of these games, I've given you ENOUGH of my valuable time." He said as he pushed himself away from the table and stood up.
"Is this what you spend your days doing, Hydel? Playing Soldier with bureaucrats?" He asked dismissively.
"Okay," Liam said holding his hand out and trying to diminish the hostilities. "Nobody plays solider in the diplomatic deck. And there is no game playing going on either. That's all in each others heads and you are all using perspective to fit your narrative. I propose that we reconvene. You," he turned to the Cardassians, "Bring your comm. recordings. You," he turned back to the Bajoran's once more, "bring the black box. Both parties will hear and see both and we will get the middle ground on what happened and all will get their answers so we can move forward in this incident."
Gul Nivall had had enough of this. "Let me save you the time, until they bring forward these so-called 'survivors' to face me and my Guls, then their accusations mean nothing." He said with firm resolve. "So enjoy your time spent together watching your carefully edited recordings...I actually have work to do." He said dismissively as he gave a nod of acknowledgement to Ambassador Turvan and proceeded to leave the conference room.
Kaya couldn't help but be amused by the Gul's outburst. "I can assure you the recording have not been tampered with in any way Ambassador. In fact, they haven't even been examined. We would be happy to invite both of you to assist in that." She looked from Hydel to Liam. "As for the Survivors, I will speak with Colonel Wen the ship's Captain, but her crewmate is in Sickbay. "
Cenn grumbled.
"Pardon me?" said the First Secretary, shooting a look to the Major.
"I said, I think Colonel Wen would agree to a meeting if it will clear things up." He said, trying to save face.
Ambassador Turvan watched Gul Nivall unceremoniously leave the conference room. He was beginning to grow tired of the aggravation that his unit was creating. The Cardassian Ambassador barely heard the other diplomat speak.
"What? Hmm oh yes, that will be fine." He said offhandedly as he looked back towards Lt. Reynolds. "Contact my staff to make the arrangements." He added.
"Will that be all?" Ambassador Turvan asked.
"I guess so," Liam nodded.
END:
Hydel Turvan
Ambassador
Cardassian Empire
Gul Druman Nivall
Commander, 127th Tactical Wing
Cardassian Empire
NPC by Thom
Liam Reynolds
Chief Diplomatic Officer
CDO
Major Cenn Desco
Head of Security and Military Advisor
Bajoran Delegation
(NPC by Reade)
First Secretary Li Kaya
Consul-General
Bajoran Delegation
(NPC By Reade)
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