Guess who is coming to dinner?

Posted on Tuesday December 1st, 2020 @ 9:44am by Lieutenant Commander Olivia Lorrietta

Mission: Jeepers Creepers!
Location: XO's office

Olivia stepped into the luxurious offices of the base executive officer's office, after checking in with her new assistant who had been marvelous at streamlining issues.

She had gotten several critical issues out of the way. She rarely did things for just one reason.

With the chaotic chief engineer replaced while also her dead sister's last wishes, she hopefully placated the Commanding officer's problem with the department, ensured the safety of the station, and managed to do it while still looking like The good guy(TM).

Everyone always assumed diplomacy was reserved for empires but diplomats knew better. Every single society had it's own politics and sociological ecosystem, and this base needed some work in that regard.

The new chief of security was a fabulous choice and she wrote down a reminder to get Admiral Wellington that order of soft shell crabs for funding her someone capable of reigning in some of the wilder aspects of the department like the mermaid woman.

A sane scientist and sane engineer had also been on her shopping list, and she didn't even want to go into the terms and conditions and favors cashed in for those. Surprisingly, Miss Bogdonavich hadn't cost nearly as much as her Vulcan spouse-apparent.

With a more balanced crew, she estimated she had probably indirectly reduced the Commanding officer's stress levels by 46%. A full half that was named "Bogdonavich".

The station was starting to shape up, barring the pirate attacks in the area, but the possibility of setting up a task force specifically to deal with that was already rounding a few Admiral's mouths, including one she may or may not have been blackmailing after learning of his affair.

She leaned back, reading through some of the station readiness reports, and sipped her coffee.

Security would have to do a full go over of the station to verify the Borg Gremlins had been properly destroyed and disposed of.

Science and Diplomatic services were going to be overburdened with reports coming in from the ship trying to chart the Shackleton expanse, and preparing all the socially appropriate requirements for the upcoming peace conference. Olivia longed for the day's her life was that simple.

Medical. Olivia scowled. She had mandatory grief counseling. The crew physical would be pretty routine. The freighter crew was being treated, and with the influx of new staff coming in, Olivia imagined the poor chief medical officer had more than enough on her plate for three chief medical officers.

Station operations and engineering were the least of her concerns on the list. They were still patching up the damage the Borg left behind, and the paperwork pushers were always content to push paperwork. As long as everyone did their jobs, operations would be fine.

The civilian population was getting restless. The business licenses for the promenade appeared backlogged. Perhaps a visit to Security was in order. Given the tensions they were already feeling after Calysto Trading got hit by a nasty pirate attack, the last thing Olivia wanted was civilian panic. It made for bad P.R. and bad P.R. made for angry admirals who stopped returning calls and favors.

She got up to stretch, and looked through the last of the PADDs, while placing her new office.

Someone named Atwood was complaining about the delays in Calysto Trading business licenses. Her Starfleet intelligence file heavily suggested placating her would be easier than arguing or explaining.

The last PADD was a new memo from the diplomatic corps.

Olivia sank back into her chair, and gave the PADD an almost devastated look.

"No." She whispered. "Nononono." She shook her head, and threw it at the wall. "IT WAS GOING SO WELL! I ALMOST HAD THIS JOB DOWN!" She shouted at it.

The PADD had a simple notation on it.

The Romulan Star Empire was sending a diplomatic convoy to the Starbase.

Olivia and Romulans got along about as well as Klingons liked tribbles. Too much awkward past. Not to mention, Olivia had no way of knowing if the Romulan government was aware of her previous posting which included destroying three Romulan vessels after they instigated incidents along the borders while her ship had been conducting peaceful missions.

Worse, still.

Olivia was the Executive officer of the base. Not only was she, a diplomatic officer, expected to be diplomatic, she had to ensure that the Romulan ambassador being onboard was not a serious concern for the running of the base.

That particularly included putting a muzzle on Lieutenant Commander Olivia Lorrietta.

"So.

God. Damned. Close." She grumbled to herself.

With the Shackleton expanse being so close to Romulan space, they could throw a giant spanner in the works by convincing one or both planets coming to this conference that the Romulan Star Empire could protect them better.

Given the local area's ongoing pirate plague, this would be difficult to refute.

For the first time in a while, Olivia's normally unshakable self confidence faltered.

"This is not going to end well." She muttered aloud, as her assistant walked in to investigate the noise.

Her assistant looked towards the offending PADD.

"Can I get you anything?" Her assistant frowned.

"No, but thank you. I'm going to have to cash in some more favors, I think." Olivia winced. "You've been great, though. I haven't even had time to learn your name and you've been keeping me super charged all day."

"Stefanie Scott." The woman replied, with a nod. "Steph is fine."

"Only if you call me Liv. I'm going to get my fill of the prim and proper pretty soon." Olivia nodded.

"Ma'am, if I may suggest-?" Steph asked.

"Yes?" Olivia looked hopeful.

"Maybe the Romulan ambassador being here will be a good thing?" Steph asked.

Olivia gave her a silent judgmental glance.

"Not the optimistic type?" Steph frowned.

"Not with the Borg, pirates, or Romulans. No. Otherwise, yes." Olivia paused. "Steph... When you've got a moment, would you mind running that paperwork down to station administration? It's all ready for them to start the requisitions for the peace conference."

"How much of those requisitions are you expecting to get?" Stefanie looked through the PADDs.

"Provided a specific Admiral's wife who is also an Admiral remains unaware he's having an affair with his assistant, a surprising amount of it." Olivia winked. "Sometimes it's about how you ask."

"I wish him luck. Historically, that doesn't end well for the guy." Steph winced.

"No, but it's temporarily exploitable. I've been saving it for something important." Olivia looked towards the paperwork. "I suspect this is more important than face value. I think I'll get security to triple check the arrangements."

"You could always have them reviewed by an objective third party if you're worried." Steph shrugged. "Provided the base commander hasn't done that already."

"First rule of bureaucracy, Steph?" Olivia asked. "There is never enough redundancies when lives are on the line."

"You're going to need more coffee, then."

"You're the best."

"I try."

---
Lieutenant Commander Olivia Lorrietta
Executive officer

&

Chief warrant officer Stefanie Scott
Administrative assistant.