The Inaugural Hesiod Blue Civilian Committee for Welcoming Parties, Drink Diplomacy, and Post-War Strategies

Posted on Sun Aug 23rd, 2020 @ 12:57pm by Ignatius & Raven Mattel & Captain Tobias Rao & Lieutenant Zo & Terrekal

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Hesiod Blue

ON:

"We're going to be late!" Raven cried, as she hurried to fix up her hastily constructed dress.

"I'm almost ready." Ignatius replied, pushing the sunglasses perched on his silver mane ever so slightly back and forth to find the correct position. "How about you, Terrekal?"

The three civilians were getting ready in their tent to meet Captain Rao and the USS Palatine crew. With the Palatine now in the region with back-up and supplies for the Valkyries, the civilians were being recalled off Hesiod Blue for a hopeful return to the USS Pandora. Of course, in their typical style, Raven and Ignatius had seized the opportunity to make an impression on the new arrivals with an outfit change, in the hopes of impressing the Palatine Captain and officers. To that end, Ignatius had been busy at work making matching outfits for the trio, to signify their coordinated, professional efforts to support the Pandora's fighters - as well as acting as the official welcoming committee for their small, but effective Federation base on Hesiod Blue. Indeed, the first Federation base on the planet.

Terrekal stepped out from behind the from the flap in the tent and spread his hands, showing them the get-up Ignatius had prepared for him. Terrekal's hair was slicked back, styled under Ignatius' supervision. Even his five-o-clock shadow was carefully shaped. Terrekal had refused to shave it, saying it provided a more "rugged" and "exotic" feel to his look. It actually kind of suited him.

"Well?" he said with a grin.

"Gorgeous." Raven mused, clapping her hands together excitedly.

"You scrub up well, Mr. Terrekal." Ignatius said with a slight dip of his hat. Ignatius hadn't forgotten the revelation that the Fesarian had dropped upon them not an hour ago, but he was actively choosing not to let it bother him for now. So he would pretend, until they were back on the Pandora, that everything was fine.

"I think we're about ready, yes?" Raven asked, putting the final touches on her dress.

From outside, Crewman Zo approached the flap of the tent. "Hey, is everyone done in there?" He looked in and saw the three civilians standing in their new outfits. Zo busted out laughing.

"What?" said Terrekal.

Zo laughed some more and shook his head. "Sorry, I'm just used to Starfleet uniforms and regular civilian clothing. You three look ready for fashion week on Risa! How do we not have a collective nickname for the three of you?"

Ignatius tilted his head, bemused by the officer's reaction. "Some things are beyond names, my friend."

[USS Palatine, Transporter Room Three]

Onboard the Palatine, Chief Wilson Morby stood at his post in Transporter Room three, overseeing the process of beaming down supplies, munitions and equipment for the Pandora's Valkyrie Squadron. Morby's orders were clear:

Beam down everything that Lt Boucher requires, including pilots and personnel required for adding to the Pandora's Valkyrie Squadron.

Beam up the Civilians that were planetside and make sure that they are comfortable once the planet is clear of civilians.

Morby watched as another shipment was beamed down. Once the pad was clear, he looked up from his panel to see six pilots enter the Transporter Room and take their places on the Pad. The highest-ranked officer, a Lt Nilo, came up to the Chief position.

"Six to beam down, Chief, we're ready when you are," Nilo instructed, carrying a swagger that befitted most Starfleet Pilots nowadays. As he joined the others, Morby ran a scan of the ground location and made sure there was a clear spot for them to be sent down in. As the scanners confirmed a suitable location, Morby looked up.

"Stand by to Transport," he said. Moments later, all six pilots were clear of the pad and confirmed on the ground. Morby stood back for a moment as he worked through the checklist.

[Hesiod Blue]

Raven, Ignatius, and Terrekal were now stood in a line in front of the shuttle, awaiting the new arrivals. Raven got buzz of excitement when the blue lights started to appear before them, indicating the imminent transport of the Palatine crew. They each had their jobs to do, as part of their newly invented roles as civilian ambassadors for Hesiod Blue. Raven would act as official hostess, Ignatius the tour guide, and Terrekal the drinks master. Between the three of them, they were going to roll out the sand carpet for the new members of their make-shift home. It was their last act of duty before allowing the Starfleet folks to take control of the base, and the trio were damn-well going to do it right.

"Here we go." Raven breathed out with a smile.

Terrekal gave Raven's hand a quick squeeze. "You're gonna do great."

Raven smiled back at him, smiling proudly between Terrekal and Ignatius. "We will do great."

Once Nilo and his team materialised on the beach in front of them, Raven immediately stepped forward. She had an orange flower in her hand - which was not native to the planet but instead pulled off an artificial lei Raven had the foresight to pack in her belongings - and went to place it upon the Lieutenant's lapel.

"Good day, Palatine crew." Raven beamed. "On behalf of the Hesiod Blue Civilian Committee, we want to welcome you to our unofficial Federation colony-paradise."

Ignatius had a PADD in hand, "We've taken the liberty of producing a map of the facility, and bunk assignments for those lucky enough to stay here."

Terrekal grinned. "There's plenty of food and drinks here, too! Starfleet gets a special one hundred per cent discount! See manager, yours truly, for alcoholic beverages. Synthehol provided for those on duty!"

Lt Nilo and the rest of the Fighter pilots stood easy for a moment as the greeting party met them and explained about the preparations that they had taken for the new arrivals. Lt Nilo stepped forward to speak with them.

"Thanks for the welcome, Lt Hanson Nilo, USS Palatine Fighter Division, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said as he gave a small bow to the Greeting party. "Its kind of you to sort out a map of the facility, and bunk assignments for us, we're here to support a Lieutenant Boucher?" Hanson explained. Whilst he was happy to meet the civilian committee, he also knew that he and the others were there to do their duty.

Raven tried not to be put-off by the Lieutenant's lack of enthusiasm. "Uh, yes, Lieutenant Boucher has just taken receipt of the supplies your ship has sent, and he's organising everything near the Valkyries."

"He won't be too long, I'm sure," Ignatius said with a smile. "We can take you on a tour of the facilities, and I believe Mr. Terrekal was going to serve a special juice concoction for the occasion. The Hesiod Blue Lagoon."

Terrekal beamed. "And it really is blue!"

Lt Nilo smiled as he could see that the civilians here were doing all they could to be hospitable. "Very well, let's have the guided tour then," He answered before gesturing that they lead the way. Nilo was willing to get to know the site a little better knowing that his squadron would be here for some time. Knowing also that the civilians would soon be on the Palatine, it was a good idea to get to know the place.

Ignatius and Raven gave the officers a good, thorough tour as Terrekal made final preparations to the cantina.

"If you ask my opinion," Ignatius was saying, though no one had asked, "The Talarian attack was not surprising given the circumstances. We would have acted with equal hostility if someone was moving starships around in our own backyard."

Raven peered into her blue drink; not quite sure what the taste actually was but knowing it was delicious nonetheless, "Iggy, I was damn scared for my life because of those Talarians. I think if the roles were reversed, a Federation ship would have communicated first and could be reasoned with."

"Not necessarily," Ignatius shook his head, "We're still living in a post-galactic war geo-political environment; trust is out of the window, honey."

"But you can't ignore the natural aggressive tendencies of others and expect everyone to react like Starfleet would." Raven countered, raising her eyebrows, "Not everyone is going to be swayed with a fancy cocktail. As fabulous as this is," She raised her glass to Terrekal across at the cantina. "And it is fabulous, darling!"

Terrekal raised his glass and grinned back. He was enjoying the interesting back and forth of his two very new friends. He'd only been part of the Pandora for a few weeks. While he didn't feel completely settled in, he was glad he had made a few friends. Raven and Ignatius were unlike his other friends. These two loved and accepted him. That was a rare thing for Fesarians. He'd even observed Mindo feeling out of place at times, though everyone seemed to like the Chief Engineer. Terrekal was a rogue, and everyone knew it. But he badly wanted to be a part of this family. Maybe he could actually be good for once.

Ignatius raised his glass too, but he was not swayed, "All I'm saying is, have we tried that tactic? Instead of the fighting?"

Raven shrugged, "No, but it would probably work a lot better than trying to hide the shuttle with palm leaves." She burst out laughing at that.

A few minutes later, Nilo's comms badge thankfully beeped for attention.

"Chief Morby to Lt Nilo" came the Transporter Chief dull tone.

"Nilo here, go ahead Chief."

"We've beamed up the last of the required equipment. We're ready to beam up the Pandora Civilians, Please prepare them for transport."

Nilo looked at the civilians nearby. "Looks like its time for you to make your way to the Palatine," he said.

Raven found herself taken aback, gasping in air a little. She knew this moment would come, but she hadn't expected it so soon. "Oh? Already?"

Terrekal took a look back at the temporary base they had built in less than two days. "Goodbye, Blue World!" he said with a wave.

Ignatius stood between Raven and Terrekal, and spoke philosophically, "All good adventures end, my friends, so that another may begin."

Raven nodded, despite feeling a little sad, "I'm actually going to miss this little home we made. It was nice to have a vacation from the Pandora, and from ourselves for a while."

The clothier next to her tilted his head a little and looked to Raven; he noticed a few wisps of her long natural hair coming from underneath her wig. "Why would you say that?"

She just looked back to him and planted a smile on her face, "Ohh, you know, a girl's gotta have a holiday every now and then."

"This certainly has been just that," Terrekal said with a chuckle. "Sun, sand, cute pilots, and a little bit of danger... what kind of vacation is better than that?"

"Cheers to that." Raven declared and the trio lifted their glasses once more.

[USS Severn, Hesiod Region]

Having left the rendezvous with Mauricio several hours previously, Owen made sure to push the engines of the Severn as much as he dared to get both himself and the real Admiral Francis to the Hesiod System. Now that the pieces of the puzzle were falling in place and the Admiral was with him, Owen knew that he had to get to the system as fast as he could and to try and contact the Pandora.

He was lucky that the trip had gone quietly so far, however, that wasn't a given that it would be that way once they arrived. A sensor beeped for attention at the pilot's console and Owen smiled as he checked its readout.

"Admiral, we're entering the Hesiod System," he said as he pulled the Runabout out of warp but keep the Danube Class vessel at maximum impulse. Once they passed the marker, Owen started to scan the system.

"I'm going to try and locate the Pandora, all being well that she's still here," he said.

The Admiral had been quiet for a while. Over the last few hours of travel he'd actually done some sleeping at the co-pilot's console. He and Owen had made some small talk, and the Admiral was hoping to give the Commander an accommodation for his work, if it was possible he'd still have his rank after this mess.

The Admiral yawned. "Do you know what I'm going to do as soon as I possibly can?" he asked. "I'm going to take a very long, quiet bath. And then I'm going to find a comfortable surface and sleep for a week. I've had about as much excitement from this ordeal as I can take."

Owen smiled. "I don't honestly blame you, I think I'll do the same...and to think, I had two weeks of shore leave to use up before this whole trip began." Just then, a blip on Owen's console showed the location of a Starfleet vessel.

"Hot dog!" the Admiral exclaimed.

But it was not the Pandora. The readings showed that of the USS Palatine, in orbit of Hesiod Blue.

"That's odd, its the Palatine," Nash said in surprise. "Although, if she's here, it means that she's here for a reason." Owen opened a channel to the Palatine and hailed the starship.

[USS Palatine, Transporter Room]

The civilians were beamed onboard the USS Palatine and were immediately met by an Operations officer. A sweet young thing, clearly on her first official duty, here to debrief the team on their mission and find out exactly why they were present on the planet.

"So Captain Temple placed you in charge of the base?" Ensign Silver asked, eyebrow raised. "But you're... civilians?"

"Well, we were more like the service team." Ignatius replied with a shrug, "We looked after Lieutenant Boucher's pilots, tended to the camp, kept everything running while the fighters protected the area."

"The help." Raven added, though she laughed gaily at the term. "But we were more than that, Ensign. We were a team, a ménage a trois of morale-boosting, drink-making, life-giving au pairs. And, may I add, the first unofficial delegates of the Federation colony on Hesiod Blue."

Silver looked up from her PADD, incredulously, "The... what?"

"Unofficial delegates of the Federation colony on Hesiod Blue," Terrekal said with a shrug. "You could say we were there to keep the place together. An important job, when you think about it. They wouldn't have won the battle without us!"

"I see," She demurred, looking Terrekal up and down, "And you are a... Fesarian? Forgive me for asking, we don't normally see many of your species around here."

"Indeed, I am a Fesarian. Terrekal, jack of all trades, at your service," Terrekal said with a small bow. "My friends here are the lovely Raven Mattel, the most elegant roller-skating barista this side of the Neutral Zone, and Ignatius, the poshest fashionnaire currently in the Expanse."

"Posh?" Ignatius inquired with a raised eyebrow, a small grin on his lips; he knew it was true.

"But you have no training in Starfleet protocols and systems?" Silver asked, "None of the formal qualifications required to work in an official capacity as Starfleet supplemental crew?" She shook her head and mumbled under breath, "It's staggering that you were allowed near that base."

"Honey, with respect," Raven smiled through gritted teeth, "We have worked more years in hospitality and service than you have ever spent in your cute little uniform. We likely know more about looking after folks of all shapes, sizes, and species, than any Starfleet manual could possibly teach us. Captain Temple trusted us to do our job and that's exactly what we did."

"Fabulously." Ignatius added for effect.

As Ensign Silver spoke with the Pandora Civilians, suddenly the conversation was broken as a comm line beeped for attention. Chief Morby stood at the Transporter panel and opened the channel.

"This is Commander Owen Nash abroad the USS Severn, hailing the USS Palatine, please respond," came the voice over the speaker.

This caused a stir amongst Raven and Ignatius, who recognised the Commander's voice right away. "Commander Nash!" Raven cried out as Ignatius cheered in his own subtle way. If Nash was making contact, it must mean the Pandora would be soon be found. It was a sign that things might just be getting back to normal. And even if it meant leaving their adventure behind, the civilian committee for Hesiod Blue were glad to be going home.

OFF