A Most Unique Welcome

Posted on Wed Oct 8th, 2014 @ 11:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell & Commander Andrew Matheson

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Rosaleen's Office

Andrew checked his PADD and chrono to make sure he was in the right place at the right time for his meeting with Lt. Cmdr. O'Donnell. Once these two vital details were confirmed, he pressed the access panel to announce his presence.

There was a long pause before any type of response came. "Just...just a moment." Came a far away sounding voice, definitely Irish, and a bit frazzled sounding. Then the door opened to reveal...

I wasn't the piercing blue eyes, or the wet, waist-length red hair that caught Andrew's attention first. Not even the instantly infectious smile. It was the fact that the person answering the door was only wearing a towel wrapped around her...a towel that, to be honest, covered less area than the lady's hair did. "My apologies. I thought I had time to grab a shower before your arrival. I was mistaken. Please...come in." Rosaleen turned and walked toward the commons area, indicating that Andrew should follow.

Andrew felt his attention bounce from the lilting Irish voice to Rosaleen's attire before he got his eyes up to notice her hair, her eyes, and her smile. It only took him a fraction of a second to recover, but internally he was kicking himself. What a way to kick off his reporting-for-duty meeting.

At her invitation, Andrew followed Rosaleen into the commons. His eyes went about taking in every detail of the room as he ran through a couple centering mantras in his head. Having grown up on Earth, he wasn't overly deep into the Betazoid cultural heritage; however, he had enough first cousins where he had attended his share of traditional Betazoid weddings. This fact was probably the only thing that was keeping his face from being as red as Rosaleen's hair right now.

Realizing that there was nothing in the standard diplomatic protocols that was going to be of real use in this situation, he returned Rosaleen's smile and made sure his emotional shields were firmly in place. "Thank you, ma'am. I'm sorry if my early arrival unduly complicated your schedule. With the itinerary they gave me to get here, I was sure I was going to be running days behind at this point."

She turned back to face him, a sly smile on her face. "Tis quite alright. And no complications...I promise." Her eyes danced with amusement...or was it...

Before he could study them any further, she turned to walk to the bathroom. "Make yourself comfortable. I shan't be but a moment." At that point she disappeared from view. But she was true to her word, and reappeared almost immediately wearing a deep blue silk robe that clung to her like a second skin. "I apologize...I have to replicate a new outfit. Would you like anything? I have tea...the real stuff, not that replicated insult to herbology."

He sat down in a chair that gave him a good view of the room and a clear line to the door. To be perfectly honest, he wasn't quite sure which one of those criteria he was more attached to at the moment. He'd just settled in when she came back in the robe. The color accented her hair quite nicely, he had to admit. Then he realized he was admitting that to himself about a fellow officer.

He got his black eyes up and focused on hers by the end of her tea offering. Tea did sound amazingly good right now. "No trouble, ma'am. I've never had a problem with people being comfortable at meetings. And tea would be lovely if it's not too much trouble; I was dreading having to convince the replicator to try and get it close to right."

Rosaleen walked over to a small table in the corner of the room where she kept a small hot water dispenser and various tea's in containers. She chose a rather exotic blend from the planet they orbited and, with her back to him, set to work blending. "I do hope that you are getting settled in ok. It's always a challenge, moving to a new home."

Andrew smiled as he caught a faint scent of the tea. "I haven't run into any inconveniences so far. I'm just going to have to get used to the scope of the starbase; the entire diplomatic section on the Solstice would have fit in my new quarters here. How long have you been at the starbase, if I may ask?"

"Almost a year now...I was with Kathleen when we re-opened her. Came here from the Merlin." Rosaleen finished mixing the tea and returned to the room with two cups, handing one to Andrew before having a seat, her attire completely absent from her thoughts, even as the robe parted to reveal quite a bit of leg when she sat. "I had some initial concerns with being 'stuck' on a station, but every one of them turned out to be completely unfounded. And the planet...oh, tis a wondrous place to explore. We have a facility right on the ocean. Everybody maintains an office there, plus there is a medical facility. And the beach...I spend as much time there as I can, although I recently discovered a series of hot springs in the mountain range just west of the city."

Andrew took a sip of the tea and immediately realized he was going to need to source this out for his own use. It was absolutely fantastic, and he knew there was no way he was getting anything close to it out of a replicator by his own efforts. He looked up from the tea to Rosaleen, his eye catching on the hemline of the robe momentarily as he listened to her. Given the scope of the starbase, a secondary facility on the planet sounded like a bit of overkill - but it might go a long way to solving some of his domestic problems. He keyed a note into his PADD to look into the diplomatic facility planetside.

Andrew then twisted his shoulders around, hearing a low pop in the middle of his back that he'd been trying to work out for an hour or so. "I suppose I was lucky on the Solstice; the captain would let me tag along with the archaeology and ethnography teams so I wasn't cooped up shipside for too many months at a time. Those hot springs sound intriguing, though; it's probably been a decade since I was in water that wasn't holographic or an artificial pool." He took another sip of the tea. "This tea is excellent, by the way. Thank you."

"You are most welcome. I have become quite good friends with the shopkeeper. A wonderful lady who is an artisan at mixing herbs. And she isn't wary of me, which is a huge plus." She caught his look at that statement. "Red hair does not exist natively on the planet. There is quite a bit of superstition associated with it. I usually wear a cloak and cowl when walking in public. Except on the beach or out of town."

He chuckled. "Every planet seems to have their share of superstitions. I'm hoping that black eyes and/or telepathy aren't going to cause any undue problems planetside." Another sip of tea. "Or up here at the starbase, for that matter. It's almost impossible to get into a good card game as a Betazoid."

"Telepathy is most definitely not a problem up here." Andrew heard, even though Rosaleen was taking a sip of tea at the time. She sat the cup on the table between them. "As long as you mind your manners, that is." She then vocalized, that sly smile once again on her face. "And thank you...that is the reason I favor this shade of blue. It does set my hair off quite well."

Andrew felt his eyes widen slightly as he heard Rosaleen's comment in his head. She was either one hell of a ventriloquist or one hell of a telepath; he hadn't detected her abilities when he came in. Though, to be fair, he hadn't exactly hit the ground running on that front. He drank the last of his tea and set his cup on the table. "You're quite welcome, ma'am." He let out a wry chuckle. "At least your hair's somewhat close to the command red. Nothing goes with diplomatic purple..."

Rosaleen studied the man for a long moment, her crystal blue eyes staring straight into his. She suddenly realized that she was toying with him...not in a bad way...without realizing it. It really wasn't fair though. Was it? She was coming to the realization that she was unusually comfortable in the mans presence. Rarely did a stranger in her company allow her to even think about relaxing, let alone opening up in the manner that she had. The only other person she had used her telepathic abilities with since the big change was Kathleen. Well there was that one shopkeeper on Haugtre, but that was to prove a point only, and she knew that...wait, what was it that she had been thinking about, Oh yes, it wasn't really fair that...

Andrew looked back at Rosaleen for a moment. He'd already come to the conclusion that blue was one of her preferred colors, and he had a sudden irrational spike of panic that purple might not be. He let out a soft chuckle. Here he was, his first day at his new post, and he was sitting back, drinking tea, and feeling relaxed enough to worry about someone else's potential color preferences. He wasn't sure how much of it was him having been wound up tight in close quarters for the last three weeks and how much of it was the realization that the starbase offered many more options than he had originally anticipated. Then he wondered how much trouble he'd get in for winning this seeming staring contest and chuckled again.

At that exact moment, Rosaleen shifted her position in the over-sized chair that she sat in, curling her legs under her. This had the effect of allowing the split in the robe to open all to expose pretty much all of the side of one leg...actually pretty much up to her waist.

Andrew blinked reflexively. That was either an incredible coincidence or Rosaleen was still in his head. Considering he hadn't noticed her getting in there in the first place... He made a conscious decision to just go with it for the time being and let out another low laugh. "Does me blinking first count towards Rule 33?"

Rosaleen let out a genuinely warm laugh...but did not change her position. She was comfortable, and somehow she did not really think that it was bothering the man. "The problem with that is I'm not your boss, my friend. But it does count as a compliment, and for that I am appreciative." Once again she did something completely subconsciously...She toyed with one of the strands of hair with her right hand, while simultaneously biting her lower lip. "But then again, I appear to have returned the compliment in a way. Would it be fair to say that I have intrigued the hell out of you?"

Andrew laughed as well. "Between having access to excellent tea, a better than average grasp of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, and some incredibly impressive telepathic prowess... Yeah, intriguing is certainly a fair way to sum up the situation from my perspective." He shifted around a little bit in his chair, another low pop emanating from his lower back. That was definitely a sign he'd been carrying some tension around lately, and the fact that it was starting to let itself go without a sedative was encouraging.

Rosaleen could sense the man's tension, but not where it was coming from. "I know we just met, so it may not be my place to ask, but...you seem rather pent up about something. I can imagine stress comes as a natural byproduct in your line of expertise, but this seems to be...deeper." Rosaleen had a lot of acquaintances, but very few genuine friends. And though she had just met Andrew, she felt something of a connection...somebody she could relax and be herself around. That was generally a huge, resounding no with her.

Andrew looked over at Rosaleen, pondering how many cards he wanted to put on the table. The current mood in the room was probably going to go straight out the window if he got onto his current angst train. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly keen on winding up with a counselor over it...

He sighed and went for it. "It's related to my profession, but not in any way a professional impediment, if that makes any sense. My wife, Rachel, is a civilian exobiologist. After four tours of duty and seventeen years on deep-space exploration and diplomatic troubleshooter missions where civilians weren't allowed, she's... well, furious... that I'd take another post in the middle of nowhere rather than retire to a life of being a useless mediator over at Betazed Civil Services. I'm working around arguments for getting her to come out here, but what I got from her when she met me at one of my stopovers two weeks ago isn't encouraging me any."

Rosaleen's thoughts flashed back over her life and career. "Service life can be difficult...and lonely. Those on the outside don't understand. But this posting would be perfect. You have a choice of either a shared place on the station, or an apartment or even a house planetside." A quizzical took over her features. "I must confess though...I don't quite understand why you would choose to take a wife when you planned on a career such as your chosen one. I knew early in my life that there was a simple choice...family or career. I guess it's fairly clear what my decision was." She stretched her legs out then rested them on the table between them. "And I have no regrets. Well, at least over that aspect of my life. Everything has led me up to this point in life...to where and who I am today."

She quietly studied Andrew, looking for reactions...there were none that she could read, and she respected him enough not to explore deeper without permission. "At some point you have to decide which aspect of your life is more important to you...career or marriage. Because as long as you try to juggle both, it's not fair to either of you." She sat for a moment waiting for his response. After a few long seconds she curled her legs back under her, resuming her former position. "I apologize...I have no right to speak of such things with you."

Andrew chuckled bitterly. "The original plan was for me to wind up on an embassy staff where I could settle down and raise a family. And for the first decade of my career, that worked out. Once the Treaty of 2370 was signed, I went back to the Academy for the leadership and command track courses to buff up my credentials for an ambassadorial or consular position. Then the Dominion War hit, and the aftermath of that led to the exploration craze in the Beta and Gamma quadrants. And suddenly I'm a diplomat with command line training. The powers that be decided I would be better utilized on missions where being independent was required."

He sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. 'After that first four-year tour, when it became clear to me that I was getting stuck on another deep space tour, we probably should have ended it then. Looking back on it, we both admit it. And there certainly aren't going to be any children to hurt." An utterly black look crossed his face. "She as much told me that it was over two weeks ago; we decided to let it cool off for a month and see what the situation was here but once she sets her mind on something..." He looked up. "I have even less right to unload all this baggage on you. Especially after the wonderful tea." A clearly forced chuckle. "But she's got the image of me from twenty years ago up on a pedestal in her mind, and I don't have any way back to who I was then."

Rosaleen stood and wlked over to Andrew, sitting on the table edge in front of him. She placed a hand on his...

The sensation was completely unexpected. Not only was her touch much warmer than he would have ever expected...almost like somebody with a very high fever...there was an odd sensation. Something akin to a faint static electricty field. However, Rosaleen appeared oblivious to anything being out of the norm...

"Of course you cannot go back to who you were then. Why would you? The truth is...sadly...that you both have grown, just in separate directions. Now the question remaining is are the two of you able, or even willing to merge your paths once again?" Rosaleen's eyes shimmered in a way he had never seen before. "The longer paths remain divergent, the more obsticals that they most work around to meet once again. Long enough separate, an abyss slowly forms between them. Given enough time and distance, that abyss becomes unbridgable."

Andrew took a moment to adjust to the situation and the sensations. The room felt a bit warmer to him, and there was a charge in the air that he'd felt a couple times when his ships got caught in mid-level ion storms. Rosaleen's hand felt warmer yet, and there was an odd brightness in her eyes that he wasn't entirely sure if he saw or imagined. Given the tears he was rather firmly holding back, he very well could have been projecting that detail. Looking past Rosaleen to the window, he couldn't see anything remotely indicative of that. "I can't speak for Rachel, and I have to admit I don't even know if it is possible at this point to work past the mistakes I've made. I'm willing to give it a try. I just have to hope I've earned the one more chance I'd need to make it work - which I guess I'll find out in a few weeks." He sighed. "I suppose this is what happens when a golden touch backfires. I always wondered what would have happened if Midas had pinched himself to get out of the nightmare he'd gotten into."

Rosaleen moved her hand away from his, but the after-sensation was not much different. "Well, this certainly wasn't what either of us expected out of this meeting." Rosaleen stood and returned to her chair, feeling a bit sad. She had pushed it a bit too far. This man knew nothing of her...did not even know her at all. She shouldn't have...

'Control. You have to retain control always.' Their abilities, although the same in their basic nature, manifested themselves in very different ways. Kathleen was strong-willed and determined...a natural leader. Rosaleen on the other hand was whimsical, almost impish in nature at times, a trait which had become even more prominent since the change. But there was yet another part of her that had become more and more prominent as time passed without her realizing it. Her friends had always though of her as being very beguiling and captivating, and quite the flirt...seductive was the term used on several occasions outside of her presence. And these traits, enhanced by her change, were very prevelent in her day to day activities.

And most of the time she had absolutely no clue that she did it.

Even now, as she returned to her chair, she sat in a manner that once again showed much more of her legs than most people would show on a beach...and she just did not realize it. No, that wasn't quite it...she just did not perceive that it was in any way inappropriate.

But she did know that she had pushed her questioning too far for the man's comfort level, or so she perceived. "I apologize. It was not proper...I should not have pushed you into a conversation that you are not comfortable with." As she spoke, the room temperature noticably dropped. "I have a tendency to get a bit carried away at times."

Andrew looked over at Rosaleen as she sat back down. He was annoyed at himself for having run such a pleasant meeting right off the rails. And the worst part of it all was the trace of sadness he thought he saw in her eyes. Whatever his own personal hangups were - and it was clear he had more of them than he'd thought he did - there was no reason she should have had to be affected by them. "Rosaleen, if anyone should be apologizing for improprieties here, it's me. I come over to your office, drink your tea, and promptly proceed to ruin your mood - and a perfectly good conversation otherwise - by running down an abbreviated list of my current personal problems. And I certainly don't feel that I was pushed or coerced into anything. If anything I've said, done, or been thinking has upset you, I sincerely apologize..."

He kept looking over at her, trying to figure out some way - any way - to go back and fix what he'd just done here. She seemed very comfortable in her own skin (and, if he was going to be honest with himself, rather comfortable in not much more than that), and she'd definitely made efforts to be friendly and welcoming. He didn't get the impression that any of it was forced or manufactured, either. She truly seemed to be a kind and caring soul to him. That wasn't a personality type he ran into often in his chosen profession, and it was deeply bothering him to realize how poorly he was interacting with it right now.

Since he was failing to come up with the words he wanted to express himself, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then, for the first time in years, he focused on his mental barriers and pulled them back. He sincerely doubted they were inconveniencing Rosaleen in any way, but at least this way the emotional content might help convey how sorry he was that he'd hurt her. He kept himself in his own head and presented a silent invitation for her to read what she wished.

The temperature moderated, and Rosaleen flashed him a warm smile. "A most beautiful gesture, but not necessary. And I promise you, you are not doing anything wrong. I pressed you into the conversation. I just felt as if I forced you down a path that you did not wish to explore."

Andrew smiled back. "I don't think you particularly pressed or forced me into anything, Rosaleen. My subconscious was clearly interested in pursuing the issue once it got broached, but that's no fault of yours. In fact, I should be thanking you for it because that was certainly less painful and awkward than it would have been on a counselor's bench - though, as I said, I'm sorry the situation upset you." He twisted his shoulders around again and was relieved to not hear anything in his back protest at the movement.

"It did not upset me...thinking that I had caused you distress did." She suddenly flashed Andrew an impish grin. "And thank you. I think my legs are one of my better attributes as well."

He blushed and smiled back. "Well, you hadn't caused me any distress - until that last comment, at any rate." He winked to make it a bit more obvious he was joking. "I'm still not sure how you're doing that. I can usually feel other telepaths trying to get into my head, but I get the distinct impression you've had access since I came in. Or am I just being unusually transparent for some other reason?"

"Well...lets just say that I am not quite what I appear to be." She locked herself into her own thoughts...she couldn't tell him...

But what if he had experienced others like herself and Kathleen in his travels? But Starfleet had sworn them to a strict need to know basis. But why? Just because of some silly rule that said because their race had no official relationship with the Federation that they couldn't serve in Starfleet? It didn't matter for all of those years that they were...well, mostly human.

She glanced back at Andrew...he was waiting for something...anything, especially after her last statement. "I...I'm sorry. I can't..." Her eyes dimmed. "It's not allowed to be discussed. It's not that I don't trust you. I wan't to tell you, but..." She trailed off, not sure of what else to say.

He looked at Rosaleen, still smiling. From what he could tell from her body language and the change in her eyes - which he didn't think he was imagining this time - she wasn't being evasive; she legitimately wasn't able to tell him about it. Having been in that situation many times himself over the years, he certainly wasn't about to hold it against her. "No need to apologize. I've definitely been in 'not allowed to be discussed' territory before, and I won't go prying. Besides, you appearing to be a charming, sensitive knockout certainly isn't a problem for me."

At that point, Andrew thought he might be slightly too relaxed for his dignity to survive the encounter. Knowing that she would have heard the sentiment whether or not he actually said it made him feel a little better, but he usually had a lot better control over the pathway between his brain and his mouth.

Rosaleen's features froze for a moment as she worked through something in her mind. Then she stood and moved to stand directly in front of Andrew. "I want to show you something." A pause, then that impish smile yet again. "No...not that. May I have your hand?"

Andrew took advantage of that moment to attempt to pull himself together a little bit better. As he listened to her request, he found he was still definitely intrigued - even if he was probably going to wind up dead from embarrassment before this was said and done. He smiled back, going for a rakish air, and held out his right hand. "Certainly. Anything I should know about up front?"

She did not reply, but placed her hand on top of his and lightly grasped it. She maintained eye contact, and he immediately noticed her eyes start to pale, becoming almost crystalline. At the same time his hand started to rapidly cool...not painfully cold, but enough to understand that it was localized to the surface area that Rosaleen's hand covered. Then her eyes changed again, assuming a deep blue hue, and his hand warmed...again not to the point of any real discomfort. Then her eyes started to shimmer in the manner he thought he had seen earlier, and the strange tingling sensation once again flowed across his skin.

Then her eyes changed yet again, taking on a cloudy look, and a strange feeling flowed through him. At first he was confused, as her touch had returned mostly to normal, although a bit warm. But at that moment, he realized something stranger than anything he had experienced up to that point was occurring. The first thing he noticed was the silence...the complete absence of any sound...even in his head. Then he noticed the stillness around him. Rosaleen still said nothing, but a very peaceful look had spread across her features.

Andrew kept his attention focused on Rosaleen, lightly grasping her hand in response when it started changing temperature. He was now able to confirm that she had been responsible for these sensations the last time around. A small but annoyingly persistent part of his consciousness started attempting to rationalize what was going on, but with his force of will Andrew was able to return his focus to Rosaleen.

He noticed her eyes changing again and found himself a little confused; her hand had warmed right up again, seemingly with no effort on her part. Then he noticed a slightly dead feeling in his ears, sort of like what happens to eardrums when an atmospheric craft is changing altitude. He swallowed to attempt to get his ears to equalize, but it didn't do anything to relieve the silence. He then noticed that the psychic atmosphere of the starbase seemed to be washing away too, with everything fading to peace and silence. The expression on Rosaleen's face was a pretty clear indicator to Andrew that she was perceiving it as well, if not being responsible for it. He realized that there would either be time for explanations later or that he wouldn't be receiving an explanation if he asked, so he took Rosaleen's hand a little more tightly and focused on the sensations of the moment.

Rosaleen slowly looked around the room, closed her eyes for just the briefest of moments, then moved her hand from his. Even thus, the odd sensation did not change. Rosaleen finally spoke...her voice taking on a lilting tone. "I am holding us in a moment of time. Do not be alarmed...in no way will it harm you, and we can return at any time. My abilities are limited to this moment...I can neither go back nor forward." As she spoke, waves of relaxation flowed through her. She had yet to understand why it affected her in this way. Maybe it was because in this state, nothing could harm her. All of her troubles and stressors were frozen outside of her plane of existence here. She was...

Free.

Andrew stood up slowly, not wanting to risk any sudden disturbance. The utter tranquility holding sway in Rosaleen's quarters was an incredible sensation. As he stood, he felt the last of his tensions melt away, as though they were unable to reach him here. He turned slowly, noticing small details with what seemed to be preternatural clarity. A light on a console panel across the room was seemingly locked halfway on; a couple of dust motes he must have disturbed when he stood up hovered in midair, seemingly immune to gravity and airflow. As he thought about it, he noticed he wasn't feeling even the background air movement provided by the omnipresent environmental systems.

He noticed the intense feelings of relaxation emanating from Rosaleen, and he felt honored to have been taken into her confidence about something that was clearly so personal to her. He couldn't quite keep the look of awe and wonder off his face as he turned back to her. "This is... well, incredible. I'm definitely standing here experiencing it, but it's beyond anything I've experienced at the same time. It's..." He chuckled then. Unbidden, a phrase from an old piece of Earth popular music bounced through his head. --It's only forever, not long at all...--

"Thank you."

Rosaleen simply smiled and reached up to place her right hand on his cheek...and everything snapped back to normal. She lowered her hand, turned and returned to her seat, once again resuming the seductively relaxed pose that had become the norm that evening. "Now you understand just a bit of my existence."

Andrew felt the warmth from Rosaleen's hand on his cheek, and with that contact the spell was broken. The indicator light blinked quietly in the corner of his vision as he returned to his seat as well, his head ever so slightly spinning as he tried to internalize that moment before the details faded. Noting her pose in the chair, he took a more relaxed posture in his chair as he sat. "That was definitely something that has to be experienced to have a chance of being understood. Again, I thank you."

It really was amazing how much more comfortable the chair was when he didn't have a million other things swirling in his mind. There might be something to be said for living in a moment rather than trying to control everything with reach as far out as possible. It was a perspective he'd have to pay attention to as he got settled in to his new position.

"As much as I would love to sit here and talk all night...I am actually quite hungry. I didn't have time for lunch with everything that has been going on today." She stood and started toward the rear of the room where the bathroom and a small sleeping area was located, along with the replicator. "Would you care to join me, or have you tired of me already?"

He rose to follow her, realizing that the last solid food he'd had was about twelve hours behind him at this point. "If it fits with your schedule, I'd certainly care to join you. I don't want it to be an imposition, though."

"No imposition at all. Actually, I was thinking planet-side...I have a bit of a favorite place on the bay." She stopped in front of the replicator and typed in a code. A moment later a new set of clothes appeared, which she picked up and carried over to the small bed that was located there. She turned back around to face Andrew, a coy smile on her face. "I can't exactly go dressed like this." She said as she reached down and untied her robe. As the belt fell aside, she reached down and started to part the robe...

...and just like that, she was standing before him. Fully dressed and ready to go. She wore an emerald green gown with a deep purple cloak and cowl. The laughter that escaped from her was warm and heartfelt. "There are practical applications to my abilities as well."

He blinked twice, feeling his jaw drop as he tried to figure out what he had just seen. Suddenly, it clicked for him and he laughed as well. "I can certainly see where moving between the ticks, as it were, could be practical and advantageous." Looking down at his standard uniform, he was grateful that his purple accents seemed to match hers. "And at least we'll somewhat match, though I can get something more casual if the uniform will draw unwanted attention."

She patted him on the chest. "The uniform is just fine. I chose my colors for a reason." She turned and walked to the terminal on the wall for a moment, then logged out and returned to where Andrew stood waiting. "My ship will be ready in five minutes. Shall we?"

He collected the PADD he had brought with him to the meeting and slipped it into his pocket. "Certainly. Please, lead the way." He made a note to himself to review the protocols for using the ships that were detailed to the Diplomatic Corps. Being able to flit off planetside without half a dozen armed security personnel on five minutes' notice was something he expected he could get used to.

To be continued...


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Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant
Starbase 80

&

Lieutenant Commander Andrew Matheson
Chief Diplomatic Officer
Starbase 80