Regarding Your Message

[MrDrankum 0]

To:

Ambassador Joy Two, Sky Harbor Aegis;

 

CC:

The Aegis Advisory Committee;

Commander Brian Brown, Sky Harbor Aegis;

 

From:

Ambassador Drankum, Station Commander, Sky Harbor Aegis

 

Re:

Your Message

===========================================

Greetings my female robotic humon Ambassador,

 

I can appreciate any individual's curiosity about the future objectives this facility will have since our relocation into this new region. While the legal mandate for the move included discussion about safety, I would place a bet on the exchanges a goal of serving as a relay point for future exploration is also a motivation.

 

Having information when appropriate is indeed a requirement for operations. Looking to what I already know to be the upcoming items which will effect the profitability of this venture, I must take this opportunity to point out that I fail to see the justification for the diplomatic circles to remain the way the have operated. Being honest female, as the humon saying goes, we aren't in Cardassia anymore.

 

To this end, a formal request has been transmitted to all involved diplomatic circles for the reclassification of the diplomatic areas as consultants to their particular governments. Since none of the involved powers who helped construct this profitable venture have serious government representation this far out, it will allow a focal point for representative citizens.

 

In addition, I must inform you that a personal request has been transmitted terminating the authorization of the Mudd embassy given the change just mentioned. Should this be approved, your services will continue to be needed, but serving as the head of the humon consulate for the Federation in this region. It will not present any dictates over policy or procedure, but will given the humons and their relatives an official 'government' representative to handle things like changing their voter registration cards or paying taxes. Further, if an individual is needed from the politcal circle of the Federation, one will be available.

 

Before I conclude this note, I do want to touch on two important points. First, regardless of your dislike for the Goran, I would prefer if you kept such emotions personal and not public. This facility does not need dirty laundry in the public eye. We are looking forward, Ambassador, not back.

 

Second, I do not make a habit of explaining myself to those who do not pay for the pleasure. This being the case, I will make an exception. This facility must be capable of defense. It is now located weeks away from substantial aide and support. There no longer is a military force, as poorly organized as the Cardassians are, to help in defense or a humon task force a day away.

 

We are an outpost at the edge of the abyss, Ambassador. Ahead lay great profits and great discoveries, not to mention great threats. I would hate to be unable to exploit the first two because we were not prepared for the later.

[Joy 0]

Subject : Diplomatic Concerns

From : Ambassador Joy Two

To : Ambassador Drankum

CC : Ambassador Joy Seven, Earth; The Aegis Advisory Committee; Commander Brown, Kith Ghemor

 

Ambassador

 

I appreciate your concern about what my embassy is called, but I wouldn't put too much effort into correction. Yes, in the Starfleet documentation it is called the Mudd Embassy, while the internal embassy documentation calls it the Federation Embassy. The proposals for the rebuilding of Pylon Two are a consistently inconsistent illustration of a little disagreement I had with Captain Muon. If you read the memos written at the time, you might also note I generally appended "UFP" to my name, and Starfleet to hers. Since you took over, I haven't felt a need for the "UFP."

 

In the embassy lobby I have displayed both flags, with the Federation's given precedence, though not many are up on the details of flag protocol. As my diplomatic credentials were signed by the Federation Council Chair, not Coordinator Norman One, and as you feel it will make things clearer, I'll take down the Mudd flag and change the signs a bit. I'll skip fighting a holy war to get all the Starfleet documentation changed, but feel free to have your people do this if you'd like. Frankly, Captain Muon had enough problems that she didn't need a full scale hissy fit of a protocol skirmish too. Thus, I kept it very low key to the point that I'm surprised anyone noticed. I knew who signed my credentials, who assigned my mission, and what my mission was, but was careful about how hard and how often to reminded her of it. It just felt in everyone's interests to keep such disagreements subtle.

 

Do you feel any need for a presentation of credentials ritual? We have both been here long enough, and have been busy enough, that I have not considered it necessary.

 

I have been considering sending the MMS Mudd on a tour of the local powers to say hello, we come in peace, we respect your culture, listen to a few bands, kiss a few babies, and all the usual. The intent was to keep things very bland, with no agenda other than establishing contact and reducing tensions. In planning the trip, I managed to give myself a headache. The original Aegis Treaty was written assuming the station would be part of a military occupation in the aftermath of war. The rewritten and not yet approved new treaty was written assuming it would be stationed in an occupied host system. Alas, we are now in an unoccupied asteroid belt in unclaimed space. I might be tempted to shoot the author of the new proposed treaty for failing to anticipate such a thing, but I am programmed against harming myself.

 

What rights to you intend to claim and over how large an area? The Aegis Alliance is not a sovereign entity, so a formal territorial annexation would be... interesting. The clause in the old treaty forbidding it was not removed in the draft sent to the Advisory Committee. The new treaty authorizes negotiation for things like air traffic control, communication frequency use and criminal jurisdiction. Since there is no one to negotiate with, a modest claim of control in these areas seems correct. I believe the usual interstellar laws and traditions regarding things like piracy and mineral rights would still prevail? Would you trust me to make a broadly normal non-controversial set of claims, or would you care to give more explicit instruction in any area?

 

My primary intent would be to assure the local powers we aren't here to seize control over large areas or to expand empires, but I don't want to say we won't claim a given set of authorities if we in fact intend to do so. Bad form. I'd also mention the midway and an intent to support trade, with the caveat that we aren't quite open for business yet. I'd open the possibility of making business and diplomatic space available, without making commitments. I'd also badly like to access various local media to see if our presence is being revealed and how it is being spun.

 

During the recent drill, I requested the usual high level tactical feed from Ops, but did not get the usual response. I do not consider this important when it is just me active in the diplomatic area, but a bunch of diplomats sitting around being kept out of the loop will have nothing better to do than work themselves into a frenzied froth. It might be prudent to focus their anger on whomever is attacking Aegis rather than the Aegis command team. If you intend to develop the diplomatic aspects of the station, could you consider some mechanism to keep us informed while placing a minimal burden on Starfleet?

 

I am also mildly surprised by your view of the tactical situation. This station is now performing a border station mission, and yet has retained fixed firepower usually allocated only for a capitol world or wormhole junction. One cannot expect every point along the border to retain sufficient strength to protect itself from the entire combined fleet of the power on the opposite side of the border. An attempt to be strong everywhere would only result in weakness everywhere, or to provoke an arms race.

 

Aegis was designed for capitol world defense, to face fleets of hundreds of ships of the line. To abandon all diplomatic, economic and security projection missions in order to have our few mobile hulls augment the unusually strong fixed defenses seems an unusual decision.

 

Thank you

Ambassador Joy Two