Sevolth Sidega

Don't worry, I've got some stuff planned that might focus some folks attention. It might be a bad thing you mentioned where you were getting your Fed. Constitution info from. I'm sure I can find some loopholes. But honestly, I find it troubling to use something as non-canon as that to base such hard and fast rules on since there are other just as equal sources (FASA's ST:RGP "The Federation" source book also had legal and political info). Also, bringing in info set up in other sims adds some color but shouldn't be made binding on anyone. EDIT: Actually, it seems the FASA book took liberally from the Star Fleet Technical Manual. But still, these two books contradict eachother in places and ST Canon contradict both.

They were out in the open air again, walking ancient streets. Joy thought she felt the reality of it, now. Somewhere, she would have to find the numbers. Not all who made decisions would find the time to walk among the people they were supposedly here to help. Thus, spreadsheets and reports, clearer in some ways, totally detached from a dusty reality in others. She turned to her large companion. "Have I prattled enough of ideals, today. Would I be forgiven for rephrasing the problem from the abstract?" "We've had enough action without thought. There can still be some thought without actions to balance the equation." "The Prime Directive. Do not interfere with the normal development of any society." She shook her head. "So many exceptions. The aftermath of war is traditionally one of them. Provide aid to the defeated to help recovery, while meddling to create a reshaped culture such that the war need not be fought again. Always, the reshaped culture thinks itself ready to fly before the falconer is willing to let it free. Never, the reshaped culture thrilled to be treated as clay. Do you think them nearly ready to fly?" "I think many people forget that the last legitimate government Cardassia had was a civilian one. If not for the idiotic invasion by the Klingons, Cardassia would never have accepted Gul Dukot's alliance with the Dominion. So we are not talking about some featherless chick trying to leave the nest. The Cardassians have been caged by their own military and they freed themselves. Then they were caged by fear of the Klingons which just chased them into the Dominion's cage." Sevolth stopped in his tracks and looked over at Joy. "Cardassia was liberated not defeated." Pausing a moment, "I just want to help them not be afraid," he said and continued his forward pace. "I would be interested in knowing how you were going to help. You mentioned some arrangements already made." "Just a beginning." Not looking at her, "I'd hate to spoil the surprise."

The Cardassian secretary stepped into the office. "Ambassador Sidega and Ambassador Joy are here to see you." The two dignitaries followed closely behind and came to the center of the office as the administrator behind the desk looked up. Motioning towards the secretary, "You may leave." As the door closed he looked from Joy to Sidega. " I was unaware you wanted the Federation in on our governments dealings." Sevolth showed no emotion. "We can discuss those issues later." He didn't react to the glancing look the Mudd Ambassador gave him. "That's not what we're here for." "That you are even here is remarkable seeing as Starfleet has decided to shut down all commerce and travel in and out of the system." Contempt almost visible dripped from his lips at the mention of Starfleet. The whole time his eyes were locked onto Joy. "But I see the dignitaries of the Federation have free passage wherever they like." Joy spoke softly, though clearly. "Ambassador Sidega created his own freedom. I am here as his guest. I believe those with diplomatic credentials may now come and go to Aegis freely." Turning back to Sevolth. "I told you Starfleet thinks it runs or should be running the entire galaxy. Allowing them here only increases their arrogance." Joy found herself dismayed to be agreeing with the Cardassian view of a domineering Starfleet, though she suspected Starfleet too saw itself surrounded by a sea of arrogance. At some point, the various parties would have to start actually listening to one another. As she considered how to say this, however, Sidega stepped in. "Enough." There was an imposing nature to his tone. It was not something Joy had seen yet from the otherwise cordial Gorn. "It is reckless posturing like that we've come to prevent." The Cardassian looked coldly back at Sidega but remained silent. "I am more than willing to work with you to achieve the full measure of independence you want for Cardassia. But, if you press the issue now I will not support you. Your following is growing but you still need outside help or it all falls to dust." The Administrator leaned back in his chair in thought. Joy stood intrigued at the details she was not privy to yet. Sevolth remained motionless as he waited for the Cardassian to finally speak. "It is the reliance on others that turns Cardassian pride to dust." "Pride has gotten your people into enough troubles lately." The Administrator sighed heavily, making no attempt to rebut the point. "Give us time. We do wish to help Cardassia, both Gorn AND the Federation. But don't use this one mistake of Starfleet to press for something that isn't going to happen yet." Recollecting himself and sitting up straighter in his chair, "I am afraid I am not the only one you have to preach to now." He took a brief moment rearranging padds on his desks before looking back up at both of them. "A Consul-General has been assigned to your Aegis facility. This does not effect what we've already prepared Ambassador Sidega, but you will have to discuss such grander aspects of diplomacy with him." Sidega paused briefly. Quietly, "We will see to that in time." He could tell this was a posting the Administrator had sought. Some of the desperation in his voice earlier made a little more sense now. "I still believe in your vision for Cardassia's future." Cautiously, "Don't let rash actions destroy it. Don't think desperate steps are needed to keep it safe." He didn't look up at either of them. "If you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do."

The two Ambassador's materialized on the street corner of the largest market on Cardassia Prime. It was an impressive site, one of the last great Habitian markets to still stand and not be plowed under by the old Cardassian war machine or Dominion occupation. But, the great causeways and bridges had but just a few lonely shoppers gracing their roads. Many shops and stalls looked like they had not had tenants in many years. Sevolth slowly began to move forward towards the central levels which seemed to be where all the open shops had converged. Ambassador Joy followed along, scanning a planet new to her, attempting to correlate the jumbled chaos of a working present with the more abstract linear teaching that is history. There seemed to be a question on her mind, if slightly distracted by the approaching merchandise. "You mentioned information and shopping. This is a world new to me. Information here in plenty. I don't know, though, what it is that seems important to you." It did not seem properly diplomatic to say, 'Give me a hint.' Sidega just continued his steady pace forward. Joy glanced up to see if she could read anything more on his alien face. She couldn't, at the moment, outside the baseline. Cold blooded. Slow. Patient. Able to move with surprising speed and strength when the moment was right. Her sister Seven's experiences in San Francisco had taught her much about reading the emotions of various races. Still, the Gorn were new to her. Reaching the open shops, Joy slowed as they came to the door of a glassware's merchant, comparing local glass spinning techniques against what she had learned at Tiffany's. The Gorn moved on. Turning, he said, "Believe it or not I'm hungry." Joy mentally added 'hungry' to the defining properties of the Gorn. She followed, though she sensed he had another intent. Finally he stopped at a produce stand. The shop keeper looked up nervously at the looming Gorn, seeming to fear "She" was the meal he was after. Looking at the bins he took stock of the merchandise. One large crate held but a few square shapes wrapped in leaves. Another had only three little things that might be confused for avocados. A few of this and a few of that attempted to fill out the shops inventory. The only thing of any abundance were the bins of a rice like grain, the standard filler for the refugee's plate. Joy was no expert on food, but this was not right. "Is this everything?" The shopkeeper nodded quickly. "This was the information I was talking about. Cardassia has come a long way since the war, but it is still a fragile place." Sevolth reached down picking up a large yellowish fruit. With his other hand he handed over a slip of latinum to the merchant. As she turned to store it safely away he sat the produce back into it's bin and slowly walked away. Walking with Joy again he glanced over at her. "I could really use that against Starfleet, especially considering the feast they provided me back on Aegis." He paused just brief enough for Joy to ponder on that but not long enough to respond yet. "But, I know the traffic hold isn't the sole cause of this. It could be made to look that way by those with certain political aims. That is why we are here." Ambassador Sidega picked up his pace and turned towards a large building that stood high over the commercial plazas. "There's someone we need to talk with while we can. Don't worry," he smiled, "we'll get back to shopping soon enough."

The Captain of the Gorn frigate sat in his ready room reviewing reports from all his departments. Medical was inspecting all the returned crew. Engineering was checking for damage done by the Starfleet tractor beam. Science was recording exactly what Aegis was looking for with their sensor beams. And finally, Tactical had submitted a thorough plan on destroying the entire Aegis facility in short order. With a grunt he cleared that last report from the ships memory With a harsh metallic chirp his attention was drawn to the wall status monitor. The lower corner changed to that of his communication's officer. "The Ambassador is signaling for you." "Connect him." "Yes sir." The image of the comm officer was replaced by a larger image of Ambassador Sidega. "Captain, I assume everything has been restored to proper order." "My entire crew is back onboard and we are ready for whatever orders you have." "Good, most of the issues have been taken care of for the moment. Be prepared to get underway to Cardassian Prime. After I have met with the Starfleet Admiral we will leave. We are going to have to rethink our position here." The Captain glanced at the now blank tactical report. "Do you expect continued troubles?" "I wasn't expecting these troubles." A slight scowl danced across his lips. "We may be better off dealing directly with the Cardassians with our project. The Federation may not like it but maybe they need to be reminded this isn't their territory. We'll just have to see." And with that the screen cleared. The Captain pondered for a moment everything that meant. It was suppose to be simple. Starfleet was suppose to be amiable and polite and stay out of the way. The Romulans were suppose to be, well...present. And this entire project was to be an easy gain for the Gorn people and a chance for Sidega to be himself for a little while. The Captain shook his head. Oh well, he thought. They would just have to deal with the Cardassians then. Maybe they could be trusted to live up to expectations.

I love how soccer players are instinctively trained to go down like a sniper just shot them at the slightest contact.

Sidega assessed the situation that was unfolding. He was learning a lot though not what he'd originally intended. All system traffic had been put on hold and he wanted to know why. He had figured if he tried to leave on his ship that they would either have to tell him what was going on in hopes that he would comply or they would have to let him go. Well, neither of those had come to be Instead, they released his ship only to lock a tractor beam onto it, which totally puzzled the Ambassador. Then they had beamed what crew they could into the stations brig. This was all starting to trouble him. He could think of four different diplomatic violations so far, impeding of diplomatic couriers, seizure of Gorn property, violation of Gorn territory, illegal detention of diplomatic staff. It seems the slight pressure he'd intended to open this case a little was now in danger of bringing the whole house down. As Sidega sat at the bar with security officers looming closer what would happen next? Would they be so bold to take him into custody as well? Did they know what effects that would have? It was amazing what little effort it took to put them in such a bind. Whatever they did Sidega would be on top. They had already gone too far. He needn't do anything but sit here and have another round. It was too bad that he had no interest in testing Starfleet....he was doing such a good job of it so far.

I'll avoid my first caption, because I don't know what these boards are rated. We'll go with....... "Unforchantly, in our attempts to make larger chickens we accidentally shrunk the rancher."

Hmm, no wonder the Fed's were keeping an eye on Jason Grimsley.

I have DSL and live 3 houses down from the local telephone substation. Envy me. :P

I was looking up information on different sims. I'm having a problem accessing the Aegis website - as in my connection is too quick so it finishes loading the tribute video before I can click "skip" and there is no option out of it once it starts. I'd really like to be able to refer back to the site without sitting through that whole thing again. Can this be fixed? Is there a link you can give that will bypass the intro?