Interlude – On with the show
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
ON
Every way Isha looked it the consulate’s function room would not be large enough, besides Isha wanted this to be special and to give her neice the opportunity to rub the Federation’s nose in ti, if that was what she wanted to do, of course. It had not takne Isha’s mother long to announce that she was going to arrive at Deep Space Five to see this half-breed for herself and Isha’s mother was something of a force. It had been possible to reject several venues without so much as a look – it had to be central which ruled out anywhere off the main promenade, it had to be big which ruled out several of the cosier establshements and it had to be clean, which ruled out anywhere predominantly frequented by Klingons. Isha’s shortlist was indeed short. The current favourite was to have an ‘outdoor’ ceremony. to screen off the Bajoran gardens and have it replanted with Romulan plants and for Rianni to be accepted into Isha’s mother’s House under some form of gazebo.
The Romulan Ambassador had one more appointment before she would make any decisions, a relatively new establishment, on the promenade, certainly not somewhere that Isha had ever visited, and whilst it was perilously close to the Cardassian Consulate Isha could not resist the idea of transforming somewhere into a little piece of ch”Rihan right under that bastard’s nose. The proprietor was due any moment, Isha thought.
Yolanthe was surprised to get a summons to the Romulan embassy, and half wondered if the erie'Khrein was upset with her for her poor choice of words in the science lab a few days ago. Pick on some one your own size. She shook her head. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Security seemed a lot tighter than last time. Romulan officers, who seemed to have had their sense of humour surgically removed frisked her thoroughly, removed her watch, her communicator, even the grips from her hair, before escorting her around the corner and into the Ambassador's office.
Seeing a slightly built woman sat behind the desk, she hesitated. Where was the prettyboy? "Erm. I'm Yolanthe Ibalin. I was told the Ambassador was expecting me?"
Isha tilted her head slightly to one side observing the woman for a moment before rising. "I am expecting you," she said as she walked, so smoothly she could have been gliding, round the desk. "We will sit over there," she said indicating with a glance the seating area near the door. "I assume by your expression that you are acquainted with my Chief of Staff," Isha continued as she sat and smoothed her skirt over her knees. "Raadheol will have his jokes," she added, "One of these days I shall simply leave and we'll see if he finds this office so comfortable once it is permantly his," she said.
The bokkai took a spot on the seats opposite Isha, The power structure within the consulate was obviously beyond comprehension, so she decided it was wisest not to comment, and moved straight to business. "I was told you were looking for a party venue? How can I help?"
"My niece is due to be formally adopted by my mother's House and in her infinate wisdom my mother has decided that she is going to come here and preside over the ceremony," Isha said, "the workings of Romulan social structure are as tedious as they are complicated so I will restrict my description. In short I require a venue of sufficient grandeur and if there is one thing that my mother is it is terribly grand," Isha said as though she herself were the epitome of modesty and simplicity. "You have a holosuite, yes?" Isha asked.
Yolanthe nodded. "Fifteen thousand square feet holodeck. If everyone's in the same place, it can hold approximately four- five hundred guests. Plus Eight holosuites that can be linked to the deck, if anyone requires somewhere private, but still wants to see whats going on at the main event. Naturally people have to walk down stairs to move between, but..." She shrugged. It went without saying that that was the price you paid for privacy. "We can run off standard isolinears you provide, or would you need us to program the environment?"
"Sizeable," Isha said with a nod. "I have it in mind to recreate the Hall at Ramnau, it has been our seat for a thousand years, but then we were somewhat reluctant to become civilised as quickly as the other Houses," it was difficult to torment one's neighbours if they could get revenge by arriving on the doorstep, but even old orders had to be relplaced by new ones. Isha lifted a small control and pressed a button and in the centre of the large low table an image appeared.
The room was large, with twelve sides supporting a roof that tapered to a point giving the appearance of an oversized but very solid tent. At the end furthest from the entrance was a dais, and those many, many walls were hung with colours of muted rusts and blues and greens. "This is where the ceremony should take place, I do not wish to compromise, but no-one has yet convinced me that it could be made real on this station. It is important to me that my mother understands the import I put on bringing my niece into her House," Isha said.
The bartender gave the image a professional glance. It was a complex design, but Klia would eat it for breakfast. "Have you set a date for this party?"
Isha's lips twitched slightly as though she was about to smile, "That will depend on when my mother chooses to arrive, though I anticipate it will be five days before her retinue can be here. I will require the facility at short notice should she arrive sooner than planned," she said.
Yolanthe thought about timelines. "If I can take a copy of that, I can probably let you see a draft in the Box in three days. No obligations. Would that be of interest?"
Isha nodded, "I will require certain amendments, that is an architechtural representation and I feel it is somewhat flat. I want the room to live, for those hours it has to be our Hall, do you understand?"
"Completely. And I can assure you that my programmer's work is superb. If someone was beamed in blindfold, they would never know it was a reconstruction."
"Your holographic equipement is located upstairs, yes?" Isha asked. "I should tell you now that I do not want uninvited guests intruding on this event, I assume the levels can be separated?"
Yolanthe had to shake her head. "Unfortunately, no. There's just the one entrance, on the ground floor. It makes for better security that way."
Isha allowed herself a slow and puzzled blink, "Why would a bar have issues with security?" she asked with passing curiosity. "I suppose that means that if I decide to use your establishment I will have take over the entire place," she added examining the edge of a long fingernail painted a deep and shiny green.
"I guess you've not been in that many bars if you think they don't have security issues" Then Yolanthe's brain processed the rest of that statement. "The whole thing?" Well why not. it sounded like this function was a really big deal. "Would you need use of the gambling floor, or just the holodecks?" Of all of it, loss of the gaming take would be the most expensive. If the romulan's guest still wanted to gamble, she could set her price lower.
Isha chuckled very softly, "You would guess correctly," she told her. "I actually found myself wondering who on ch'Rihan would want to break in to a bar, but that really wasn't what you meant, was it?" the question was rhetorical and accompanied by an oddly distant look. "I shall ask my niece her opinion," Isha continued snapping suddenly back to the matter under discussion, "she may have a desire to entertain her friends and acquaintences. It would be perfectly appropriate. You can cater too I assume?" she asked.
"It depends what you need. Multicultural snack and finger buffets, yes. But I'm not a full restaurant, if you want something more substantial, or anything particularly Romulan, that will require outsourcing. I have a list of people I've worked with and trust, or feel free to bring in your own." The taller woman started to work through her mental check list of function organising. "I can provide all the drinks, all authentic, nothing replicated. Likewise any food, whoever's doing the actual cooking. What sort of serving staff do you need?"
"I think if I came all the way out here I would be rather dissappointed if I was served a plate of osilh, besides you would never find the fresh ingredients for a decent banquet. No, it would be an amusing talking point to surprise everyone with various alien dishes and to watch them trying to figure out what is what, some of my guests could do with trying something they are unfamilar with," she said before moving on to Ibalin's question. "In terms of serving staff, understated and deferential would do the trick, nothing too flambouyant, I think my niece will take care of that aspect," Isha remarked, still not entirely sure how her mother would take Isha's less than understated niece, nor indeed Rianni's less than understated and conspicously human mother.
The bokkai let the comment on her ability to source a banquet pass. If she got into an ego match without knowing all the details she could kiss goodbye to a profit margin. She choose to acknowledge the staff issue. "Understated and deferential. Not a problem." She assured the ambassador, and then moved on. "How many are you expecting to attend?"
Isha leaned back and linked her fingers together over her stomach, "For the ceremony, which will be first the adoption and second followed by the affirmed the Right to Citizenship upon my niece - that will be restricted to close family and friends, so given how remote we are from civilisation, I'd say no more than two hundred." Isha had given further consideration to the idea of having to take over the entire place, but that in itself had presented another opportunity, two actually but there was only one that was relevent to the proprietor of the Box of Delights. "After the formalities .... it would be generous to invite those who serve us. Elements! I shall have to speak with the station's command or else they will think that we have chosen to invade them!" Isha sighed for a moment, "They will agree," she decided though she was talking about the officers of at least three warbirds along with anyone from her former life that Rianni chose to invite.
The other opportunity was the one that would allow Isha to hold a massive Romulan event on Cardassia's doorstep. Getal had no idea who he was ... she altered her metaphor mid thought ... messing with. In her experience if one could not fight directly, one took a more oblique approach and a longer term view whilst one's opponent burned himself out.
"It is difficult to be exact, I can give a firmer number in a day or so, but I would expect several hundred guests in total," she said.
"Not a problem." Which it wasn't. If the ambassador wanted the whole of the Box, and was willing to let things spill into the ground floor, Yolanthe could cope with over a thousand. "Which leads me to the indelicate question. Have you got a budget in mind?"
"Yes," Isha said meeting the woman's peculiar eyes, "Tell me your price." Her intent, of course was to see if the sum named was fair, if it was one sliver of latinum higher than what Isha knew to be fair for such an occasion then negotiations were over.
"Hmmm." That was difficult. So many unknowns at this stage, exact numbers, exact menus, how long Klia would need to make the recreation. Shutting the whole bar? Not cheap. The Box of Delights was Yolanthe's livelihood, she wasn't going to be bounced into pulling a number out of thin air. "Let me show that great hall to my programmer, and do some maths. I can have a quote to you in an hour or so, say based on options for three, five and seven hundred guests. Would that be acceptable?"
It was a very acceptable response.
Isha inclined her head in acknowledgement without breaking gaze. "I am quite aware that it will not be inexpensive," she said. "I was almost tempted to use the Starlight Lounge until the owner named his price. I think he took me to be a latinum bleeding fool," Isha continued. "I appreciate your honesty, Miss Ibalin, and will review your quotes with interest. Should they prove competitive we would like to view your lounge before coming to a final decision. Perhaps when you have a demonstration of the hall for me to see, and samples of the menu you would propose to serve us," Isha suggested.
Yolanthe recognised the polite and subtle dismissal, and stood. "In that case, thank you for considering me, your excellency, and I'll be in touch. I'll wait in reception for a copy of your images."
"You excellency?" Isha chuckled at the moniker. "That's terribly quaint. Delightful, but quaint all the same. Wait there," she said as she rose and swept to her desk. After a moment she turned back, pausing for a second or two as she turned bringing with her a datarod. Isha held out the rod not quite able to discern what it was that suddenly unnerved her so much about the woman ... perhaps it was her height ... certainly she had felt more comfortable when they were seated.
"Unless you wish to wait out there for several hours for the beuraucrats to shunt you up the priority list I suggest you take this. It contains the structure, and the details, as well as estimates of guest numbers and the usual sort of suggestions. I look forward to seeing it," Isha finished, the rod lying in her outstretched palm.
Yolanthe took the rod. She was surprised the ambassador had bothered to make the copy herself. Her own experience with VIPs at her previous job had taught her that they almost universally considered themselves above this sort of thing or at least used it to justify their army of flunkies. "Thank you. I look forward to showing it to you."
She smiled at the shorter woman, nodded her head respectfully, and left the office. She was turning a periwinkle blue with every step. A big function, lots of guests. Even if she didn't get the tender, it was still a sign that her business hadn't been damaged by the debacle of the opening week, and she couldn't ask for more than that.
OFF
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Planning a party with a point, point being - this is my station, and you're not invited.
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner of the Box of Delights
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
| Title | On with the show | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin | |
| Posted | Thu Jun 17, 2010 @ 10:28am | |
| Location | Romulan Consulate, Ambassador's Office | |
| Timeline | SD24 |
Every way Isha looked it the consulate’s function room would not be large enough, besides Isha wanted this to be special and to give her neice the opportunity to rub the Federation’s nose in ti, if that was what she wanted to do, of course. It had not takne Isha’s mother long to announce that she was going to arrive at Deep Space Five to see this half-breed for herself and Isha’s mother was something of a force. It had been possible to reject several venues without so much as a look – it had to be central which ruled out anywhere off the main promenade, it had to be big which ruled out several of the cosier establshements and it had to be clean, which ruled out anywhere predominantly frequented by Klingons. Isha’s shortlist was indeed short. The current favourite was to have an ‘outdoor’ ceremony. to screen off the Bajoran gardens and have it replanted with Romulan plants and for Rianni to be accepted into Isha’s mother’s House under some form of gazebo.
The Romulan Ambassador had one more appointment before she would make any decisions, a relatively new establishment, on the promenade, certainly not somewhere that Isha had ever visited, and whilst it was perilously close to the Cardassian Consulate Isha could not resist the idea of transforming somewhere into a little piece of ch”Rihan right under that bastard’s nose. The proprietor was due any moment, Isha thought.
Yolanthe was surprised to get a summons to the Romulan embassy, and half wondered if the erie'Khrein was upset with her for her poor choice of words in the science lab a few days ago. Pick on some one your own size. She shook her head. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Security seemed a lot tighter than last time. Romulan officers, who seemed to have had their sense of humour surgically removed frisked her thoroughly, removed her watch, her communicator, even the grips from her hair, before escorting her around the corner and into the Ambassador's office.
Seeing a slightly built woman sat behind the desk, she hesitated. Where was the prettyboy? "Erm. I'm Yolanthe Ibalin. I was told the Ambassador was expecting me?"
Isha tilted her head slightly to one side observing the woman for a moment before rising. "I am expecting you," she said as she walked, so smoothly she could have been gliding, round the desk. "We will sit over there," she said indicating with a glance the seating area near the door. "I assume by your expression that you are acquainted with my Chief of Staff," Isha continued as she sat and smoothed her skirt over her knees. "Raadheol will have his jokes," she added, "One of these days I shall simply leave and we'll see if he finds this office so comfortable once it is permantly his," she said.
The bokkai took a spot on the seats opposite Isha, The power structure within the consulate was obviously beyond comprehension, so she decided it was wisest not to comment, and moved straight to business. "I was told you were looking for a party venue? How can I help?"
"My niece is due to be formally adopted by my mother's House and in her infinate wisdom my mother has decided that she is going to come here and preside over the ceremony," Isha said, "the workings of Romulan social structure are as tedious as they are complicated so I will restrict my description. In short I require a venue of sufficient grandeur and if there is one thing that my mother is it is terribly grand," Isha said as though she herself were the epitome of modesty and simplicity. "You have a holosuite, yes?" Isha asked.
Yolanthe nodded. "Fifteen thousand square feet holodeck. If everyone's in the same place, it can hold approximately four- five hundred guests. Plus Eight holosuites that can be linked to the deck, if anyone requires somewhere private, but still wants to see whats going on at the main event. Naturally people have to walk down stairs to move between, but..." She shrugged. It went without saying that that was the price you paid for privacy. "We can run off standard isolinears you provide, or would you need us to program the environment?"
"Sizeable," Isha said with a nod. "I have it in mind to recreate the Hall at Ramnau, it has been our seat for a thousand years, but then we were somewhat reluctant to become civilised as quickly as the other Houses," it was difficult to torment one's neighbours if they could get revenge by arriving on the doorstep, but even old orders had to be relplaced by new ones. Isha lifted a small control and pressed a button and in the centre of the large low table an image appeared.
The room was large, with twelve sides supporting a roof that tapered to a point giving the appearance of an oversized but very solid tent. At the end furthest from the entrance was a dais, and those many, many walls were hung with colours of muted rusts and blues and greens. "This is where the ceremony should take place, I do not wish to compromise, but no-one has yet convinced me that it could be made real on this station. It is important to me that my mother understands the import I put on bringing my niece into her House," Isha said.
The bartender gave the image a professional glance. It was a complex design, but Klia would eat it for breakfast. "Have you set a date for this party?"
Isha's lips twitched slightly as though she was about to smile, "That will depend on when my mother chooses to arrive, though I anticipate it will be five days before her retinue can be here. I will require the facility at short notice should she arrive sooner than planned," she said.
Yolanthe thought about timelines. "If I can take a copy of that, I can probably let you see a draft in the Box in three days. No obligations. Would that be of interest?"
Isha nodded, "I will require certain amendments, that is an architechtural representation and I feel it is somewhat flat. I want the room to live, for those hours it has to be our Hall, do you understand?"
"Completely. And I can assure you that my programmer's work is superb. If someone was beamed in blindfold, they would never know it was a reconstruction."
"Your holographic equipement is located upstairs, yes?" Isha asked. "I should tell you now that I do not want uninvited guests intruding on this event, I assume the levels can be separated?"
Yolanthe had to shake her head. "Unfortunately, no. There's just the one entrance, on the ground floor. It makes for better security that way."
Isha allowed herself a slow and puzzled blink, "Why would a bar have issues with security?" she asked with passing curiosity. "I suppose that means that if I decide to use your establishment I will have take over the entire place," she added examining the edge of a long fingernail painted a deep and shiny green.
"I guess you've not been in that many bars if you think they don't have security issues" Then Yolanthe's brain processed the rest of that statement. "The whole thing?" Well why not. it sounded like this function was a really big deal. "Would you need use of the gambling floor, or just the holodecks?" Of all of it, loss of the gaming take would be the most expensive. If the romulan's guest still wanted to gamble, she could set her price lower.
Isha chuckled very softly, "You would guess correctly," she told her. "I actually found myself wondering who on ch'Rihan would want to break in to a bar, but that really wasn't what you meant, was it?" the question was rhetorical and accompanied by an oddly distant look. "I shall ask my niece her opinion," Isha continued snapping suddenly back to the matter under discussion, "she may have a desire to entertain her friends and acquaintences. It would be perfectly appropriate. You can cater too I assume?" she asked.
"It depends what you need. Multicultural snack and finger buffets, yes. But I'm not a full restaurant, if you want something more substantial, or anything particularly Romulan, that will require outsourcing. I have a list of people I've worked with and trust, or feel free to bring in your own." The taller woman started to work through her mental check list of function organising. "I can provide all the drinks, all authentic, nothing replicated. Likewise any food, whoever's doing the actual cooking. What sort of serving staff do you need?"
"I think if I came all the way out here I would be rather dissappointed if I was served a plate of osilh, besides you would never find the fresh ingredients for a decent banquet. No, it would be an amusing talking point to surprise everyone with various alien dishes and to watch them trying to figure out what is what, some of my guests could do with trying something they are unfamilar with," she said before moving on to Ibalin's question. "In terms of serving staff, understated and deferential would do the trick, nothing too flambouyant, I think my niece will take care of that aspect," Isha remarked, still not entirely sure how her mother would take Isha's less than understated niece, nor indeed Rianni's less than understated and conspicously human mother.
The bokkai let the comment on her ability to source a banquet pass. If she got into an ego match without knowing all the details she could kiss goodbye to a profit margin. She choose to acknowledge the staff issue. "Understated and deferential. Not a problem." She assured the ambassador, and then moved on. "How many are you expecting to attend?"
Isha leaned back and linked her fingers together over her stomach, "For the ceremony, which will be first the adoption and second followed by the affirmed the Right to Citizenship upon my niece - that will be restricted to close family and friends, so given how remote we are from civilisation, I'd say no more than two hundred." Isha had given further consideration to the idea of having to take over the entire place, but that in itself had presented another opportunity, two actually but there was only one that was relevent to the proprietor of the Box of Delights. "After the formalities .... it would be generous to invite those who serve us. Elements! I shall have to speak with the station's command or else they will think that we have chosen to invade them!" Isha sighed for a moment, "They will agree," she decided though she was talking about the officers of at least three warbirds along with anyone from her former life that Rianni chose to invite.
The other opportunity was the one that would allow Isha to hold a massive Romulan event on Cardassia's doorstep. Getal had no idea who he was ... she altered her metaphor mid thought ... messing with. In her experience if one could not fight directly, one took a more oblique approach and a longer term view whilst one's opponent burned himself out.
"It is difficult to be exact, I can give a firmer number in a day or so, but I would expect several hundred guests in total," she said.
"Not a problem." Which it wasn't. If the ambassador wanted the whole of the Box, and was willing to let things spill into the ground floor, Yolanthe could cope with over a thousand. "Which leads me to the indelicate question. Have you got a budget in mind?"
"Yes," Isha said meeting the woman's peculiar eyes, "Tell me your price." Her intent, of course was to see if the sum named was fair, if it was one sliver of latinum higher than what Isha knew to be fair for such an occasion then negotiations were over.
"Hmmm." That was difficult. So many unknowns at this stage, exact numbers, exact menus, how long Klia would need to make the recreation. Shutting the whole bar? Not cheap. The Box of Delights was Yolanthe's livelihood, she wasn't going to be bounced into pulling a number out of thin air. "Let me show that great hall to my programmer, and do some maths. I can have a quote to you in an hour or so, say based on options for three, five and seven hundred guests. Would that be acceptable?"
It was a very acceptable response.
Isha inclined her head in acknowledgement without breaking gaze. "I am quite aware that it will not be inexpensive," she said. "I was almost tempted to use the Starlight Lounge until the owner named his price. I think he took me to be a latinum bleeding fool," Isha continued. "I appreciate your honesty, Miss Ibalin, and will review your quotes with interest. Should they prove competitive we would like to view your lounge before coming to a final decision. Perhaps when you have a demonstration of the hall for me to see, and samples of the menu you would propose to serve us," Isha suggested.
Yolanthe recognised the polite and subtle dismissal, and stood. "In that case, thank you for considering me, your excellency, and I'll be in touch. I'll wait in reception for a copy of your images."
"You excellency?" Isha chuckled at the moniker. "That's terribly quaint. Delightful, but quaint all the same. Wait there," she said as she rose and swept to her desk. After a moment she turned back, pausing for a second or two as she turned bringing with her a datarod. Isha held out the rod not quite able to discern what it was that suddenly unnerved her so much about the woman ... perhaps it was her height ... certainly she had felt more comfortable when they were seated.
"Unless you wish to wait out there for several hours for the beuraucrats to shunt you up the priority list I suggest you take this. It contains the structure, and the details, as well as estimates of guest numbers and the usual sort of suggestions. I look forward to seeing it," Isha finished, the rod lying in her outstretched palm.
Yolanthe took the rod. She was surprised the ambassador had bothered to make the copy herself. Her own experience with VIPs at her previous job had taught her that they almost universally considered themselves above this sort of thing or at least used it to justify their army of flunkies. "Thank you. I look forward to showing it to you."
She smiled at the shorter woman, nodded her head respectfully, and left the office. She was turning a periwinkle blue with every step. A big function, lots of guests. Even if she didn't get the tender, it was still a sign that her business hadn't been damaged by the debacle of the opening week, and she couldn't ask for more than that.
OFF
Ambassador Isha t'Khellian
Planning a party with a point, point being - this is my station, and you're not invited.
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner of the Box of Delights