Bright Lights

Posted on Wed Jul 8th, 2020 @ 7:19am by

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: The Royal Sozon Amphitheater
Timeline: MD 10
3225 words - 6.5 OF Standard Post Measure

[Sozon II, Oslerton, Royal Sozon Amphitheater]

"Nahlia! Make yourself present immediately!"

In every nook and cranny of the Royal Sozon Amphitheater, preparations were underway for the upcoming events scheduled for later that evening. Each of the twenty-two thousand seats in the three-tiered venue had been sold out within minutes of going on sale, and all of the broadcasting networks would be in attendance as well, streaming the event far and wide across the Sozon Empire. A small army of workers were scattered around, laying out t-shirts, programs, and synchronized flashing bracelets on each seat for every attendee. If Emperor Tevrin Condruil had his way, the party would start with the opening musical number and continue long after the last part of the pyrotechnic display had erupted in the night sky above the Sozon capital.

"Yes, Emperor? How may I serve?"

"Nahlia, good. I see the preparations are going to plan. And you've got everything that I've asked for? The dancing girls in the aisles? Pyrotechnics? Enough food and beverage for twenty-two thousand? Wall to wall coverage on all the networks?"

"Yes, everything has been done as you have requested, Emperor."

"Dammit, I love you Nahlia, come here you," Tevrin pulled his assistant towards him and gave her an exaggerated kiss on the side of the cheek. "Now, go and ensure this negotiating committee from this Federation has been informed about their role in the proceedings. I want a dossier on each and every member of their team. I expect they will send their best, so we will treat them like the honored guests that they are. After all, this is going to end in a wedding, is it not?"

"Understood. Right away, Emperor." Nahlia had mastered hiding her disgust after six months of indentured servitude as the Emperor's personal assistant. She was motivated by the fact that she knew one small misstep could have dire consequences not only for herself, but also her family.

Nahlia walked away, leaving Tevrin standing there by himself. The Sozon Emperor looked on as his polished, jade-green armor shimmered in the stage lighting, casting reflective beams that danced across whatever surface they shone upon. His undershirt peaked over the top of his breastplate by a few centimeters, which was correct per the latest vogue. Draped around his shoulders was a cloak crafted decades ago by the finest craftsman in the Sozon Empire. It had been passed down by each Emperor to his son - Tevrin was the fourth owner of this particular garment - and it served as an unmistakable symbol of the power and wealth of the Emperor.

As confident as he appeared, a small seed of disgust had germinated and begun the process of becoming a towering tree of wrath. He had watched carefully as the nobility maneuvered their way through the war, obtaining more and more power with each successive step. Though the majority of the armed forces still pledged their allegiance directly to him, the nobility had enough sway to invoke a centuries old document that was meant to end the war with the Tulians. Tevrin had not believed the ruling class at face value when they explained that they had simply wanted him to produce an heir. Had they insisted, any one of a score of illegitimate children could be propped up for succession to the throne. No, they wanted power. They wanted to see Sozon join the Federation.

Then, there was the matter of the Hrogan union. Only a last minute offering of extravagant proportions had stayed Tevrin's hand when he discovered the treachery of two houses of nobility. Executions had been planned as an event with all the same trimmings as the upcoming negotiations, but the nobles kept their lives. Sozon media praised the Emperor for his mercy and grace, and the sun rose the next morning over the city of Oslerton as it always did.

Now, he stood on the brink of a new chapter of life. Marriage? Children? Legacy?

Tevrin spat on the floor.

"Your worship, the dossiers as requested."

"Excellent. I will retire to my chambers to prepare. Send the girls, I feel the need for a massage as I read."

"Yes, my liege."

[USS Majestic, Deck Two, Diplomatic Offices]

Starlight streaked by the window. The Majestic was making her final approach to the Sozon system after having finally escaped the temporal anomaly that had plagued them. Luckily, time had passed normally, so to speak, and they were still on time to make their rendezvous with the

"I mean, come on, they can't be serious about any of this, right? Televised? Stadium seating for twenty thousand? This isn't a negotiation or a wedding, it's closer to a reality holoprogram. And not the good kind either. More like the kind that rots your brain and lowers the collective IQ of the population by a point or two."

Lieutenant Lilith Sullivan sat cross legged on one of the swiveling chairs in Cassie's office, reading through the contents of the PADD that contained the conditions and expectations of the Sozon Emperor for the upcoming negotiation. The event described in the document sounded more like a theatrical production than a proper meeting with a head of state. Page after page of the program details described the loud music, fireworks, and enough cameras to capture every reaction from every unflattering angle in slow motion.

"Well ma chérie, if there's anybody that can pull this off, it's you," Lily stood up and walked over to Cassie and kissed her lightly on the cheek, using her hand to carefully sweep a stray strand of hair back behind her girlfriend's ear. "I couldn't be prouder to be a part of your team today. If you need me to do anything, you tell me and you can consider it done. With that said, what's our angle? Are we going to play this game that the Emperor so badly wants to play?"

Cassie smiled at the touch as she sat cross-legged on her own chair. She had long abandoned her shoes and socks under her desk. Her cup of café au lait, also abandoned, lay cold on top of a small but tidy stack of PADDs. "Of course we are. This," she said, bringing up the holo simulation of the planned events above her desk. "is all smoke and mirrors. It's a show of power. We need to respond in kind, as much as we can."

She pulled up another holo simulation and superimposed it on the one illustrating the Imperial Palace already floating in the air. "This is what I want to do."

Almost instantly, images appeared. Wave upon wave of transporter beams, revealing a full complement of security officer in full regalia standing at attention on either side of the laid out carpet. The Aerowing doing a low pass of the city, ensuring it is seen from every single camera the media is doling out, before landing a few moments after the last transport. The hatch opening...

Jennifer entered without ringing, holding what seemed like an indistinct piece of fabric in various shades of green, and a pair of strappy high heeled sandals. Cassie's assistant grinned. "It's ready," she declared. "I brought the tape. We need a fashion show."

Cassie paused the holosimulation as Jennifer entered. "Now?"

Standing there wide-eyed, Lily feigned as if she had to manually close her jaw with her hand as she watched the preview of what Cassie wanted her entrance to look like. A little part of her brain had always wanted to do a low pass in atmosphere like the demonstration team pilots of centuries ago, but she had always dismissed it as a pipe dream. Lilith was only just getting around to realizing that she might finally get the chance when Jennifer had entered.

"Wait, that's a dress?"

"Or what passes for one on Sozon, anyway," Cassie muttered. She usually carefully chose her own wardrobe for events like these, outfits and accessories that gave her that little boost of confidence she needed. This, she thought, would do nothing for her; she felt it would leave her too exposed. She had even expressed her own objections, but was told nothing else would do, at least for the initial introductions.

"Look, Cassie, it's the latest couture on Sozon. One of their celebrities wore something like this at last season's show, and now copies are selling like hot cakes," Jennifer quipped. "Just...try it on."

"Well then," Sullivan smirked, trying to reign in her imagination, "it sounds to me like you should pick some music and we should walk through the introduction. Ugh, I'm getting excited just thinking about it. It's going to be so badass when you walk into the venue like this."

Cassie finally relented. "Ugh...fine. Let's get this over with," she said. "I'll meet you in the Grand Hall," she told Lily as she disappearing in the adjacent changing room, her assistant in tow.

"This is going to look ridiculous, Jennifer. I can't wear this. Green is most definitely not my colour," Cassie protested as she put her hair in a high bun, stripped down and slipped into the sequined, almost scaly, hot pants attached to the dress. "There's going to be a wardrobe malfunction, my boob is going to pop out, and who knows what else. You know how low that curtsy needs to be."

"It will be, and there won't be. It's going be fine," Jennifer simply stated as she fussed over Cassie, applying tape in all the appropriate places. "You already kind of have olive skin, we can get you a tan. Turn towards me," she ordered, then adjusted the golden brooch that seemed to magically hold everything together just under Cassie's bellybutton. "Yeah, definitely a tan," she mostly muttered to herself as she moved behind the diplomat and applied double-sided tape on Cassie's lower back.

Cassie looked down at herself and fussed over the pieces of ruched fabric that barely covered her torso, and adjusted them to cover her breasts just a bit more. "It looks bit better this way. Less...exposed, I think. Although I do like the detail and the cap sleeves," she commented.

Indeed, there were large sequined intended to emulate jungle flowers on the front of the dress, and more green and turquoise sequins of various sizes on the shoulders, made to look like palm tree leaves. Jennifer continued to adjust the dress for a few minutes according to a sketch she had pulled off a Sozon fashion magazine, taping here, pinning there... "Computer, 360 degree mirror, please," she finally instructed, and a perfectly cylindrical mirror appeared around both women.

"...Oh," was all the diplomat could say as she saw herself in the mirror. She looked slightly away to look at the reflection of her back, only now noticing that it was backless, and only a strip of wound fabric was attached to the back of the cap sleeves. Her tattoo sleeve seemed to be a natural extension of the dress, as her right arm was covered in various tropical birds and flowers. She lightly held the longer-than-floor length skirt and gently flapped it. "Hmm, drama. That's good." In only a few seconds, Cassie seemed to have grown into the garment.

"Yup," Jennifer answered as she grabbed the sandals, which matched the dress. "Foot," she instructed, then slipped the sandal on her foot, then the other, then stood back up. "Let me just braid this real quick, and voilà. Jungle warrior queen."

Cassie was genuinely impressed at her assistant's skill. "Tan, viking braid, warrior queen makeup in the same tones... that's the fashion, yeah?"

Jennifer grinned. "Get the hell out there."

Cassie ordered the mirror down, walked to the door that opened to a short corridor that led to the Grand Hall, and peeked in. "Hi."

"Cassie! You're going to crush it! Get em!"

A voice that Cassie would have known to be Lily's sounded out from the Grand Hall, but it was impossible to tell where it had originated from. The cavernous room, which had been empty a moment before, was now full of holographic depictions of a raucous crowd like the one they would be expecting upon arrival at the Royal Sozon Amphitheater. Hundreds of flashes illuminated the room like electric fireflies the instant the ship's chief diplomat stuck her head through the entryway.

Cassie breathed in, out, gathered that tiny bit of confidence she needed to strut in such a dress, and walked out. The skirt billowed behind her as she walked, almost seeming to fly in the wind, which was the effect that it would create on the surface of Sozon II.

Loud music began to play, mixing in with the simulated crowd noise to create a cacophony of chaos. Blending into the crowd, Lily stood and cheered, adding her own whistling into the noise before realizing that she and the rest of the Majestic's crew were unlikely to be received positively. She took out her PADD and adjusted the parameters of the simulation, slowly souring the tone of the crowd until the first sneers and boos could be heard, resulting in a less friendly, more neutral uproar.

"I mean, it's only fair, right?" Sullivan looked at Jennifer who had joined her in the crowd. She essentially had to shout to be heard over the noise. "They're not going to greet us like liberators or anything. There could be even more vitriol than this!"

"Hope for the best, expect the worst, as they say," Jennifer shouted back, shrugging. She'd worked with Cassandra for years; she knew her enough to know the diplomat was usually quick on her feet and ready for just about anything thrown at her. In this instance quite literally: she saw from the corner of her eye that Cassie had just casually swatted away a blunt projectile thrown at her by one of the simulated spectators, not even breaking her step.

"On a happier note though, amazing work getting everything prepped for her. You do an incredible job giving her the tools needed to succeed, and I thank you for it," Lilith smiled, leaning in so she could speak in a normal voice. She realized that even though her appreciation of Cassie's personal assistant had always been implied, she all too infrequently stated it aloud. Just by proximity, the three of them spent a lot of time together, and this mission would be no different. There was no reason not to attempt to be better friends. "I don't say thank you enough. I'm going to work on it starting now."

Jennifer smiled. "Thanks. We were lucky enough to finally get a response from the Sozon advisers and be able to plan this in a fairly short timeframe. We'll have everybody ready in time for our arrival."

With her resolution started, Lilith turned her attention back towards the center of the Grand Hall where Cassie walked in with the swagger of a thousand queens returning victorious from battle, then stopped in front of the simulated Imperial balcony on which the Emperor was standing. She looked at up at him, silent, for a full minute before ever-so-slightly turning her head towards the left, lowering her eyes, and gracefully dipping into a low curtsy until her knee touched the floor. Only after she rose did the simulation end. "There, that's it."

As she approached, Lily slowly lowered the volume to a level where a normal conversation could be had. "Here's the playback, Cassie," she spun her PADD around and handed to her so she could view it. "That poor Emperor isn't going to know what hit him. As for the team, I assume you're going to want the rest of us in our dress uniforms?"

Cassie nodded. "Only for the formal introductions, though. After that, regular uniforms for my security detail and negotiation party. Anyone not directly participating can wear whatever they feel is appropriate." She turned her attention towards Jennifer, giving her puppy eyes. "Please get me out of this thing."

"Appropriate for this sort of setting? Oh, how the mind wanders," Lilith finished the rest of the thought aloud before studying the form fitting garment up close for the first time. It only took a few seconds for her to immediately rule out anything in that style for her own wardrobe, but even she had to admit the brilliant shades of shimmering green would certainly catch the beholder's attention. Lost in thought, a moment passed before Sullivan realized that she had been staring. She shook herself back to the present with an apologetic smile.

"I've got to get in the holodeck and practice this flyover so we don't make the Sozon news in any unintended fashion. By the way, you have convinced me," Sullivan took her PADD back from Cassie as the three of them began to walk towards the exit. "I'm sold. If we're going to put on a show, let's put on a show!"

[Sozon II, Oslerton, Royal Quarters]

Laid out on a chaise longue, Tevrin idly scrolled through the pages of the dossiers his intelligence teams had gathered on the arriving diplomats as the royal masseuses continued to work on the stress building in his shoulders and feet. He grimaced and held his breath as a strong hand kneaded away a particularly stubborn knot in his neck, shaking his head in relief once he realized he had regained his full range of motion.

"Look at this," he held the digital tablet up for the masseuse to see. "A negotiation for the future of my Empire, and they expect me to negotiate with a female! Outrageous! Although..." His voice trailed off, but there was no response. The royal masseuses were strictly forbidden to speak unless specifically asked a question, and the days leading up to the Emperor's wedding was no time to break the rules. "This one here, the lead negotiator - her light shines more brightly than any I have ever seen. And how the surprises continue - the number and quality of her attendants would designate some royal status, would it not?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Interesting. Very interesting indeed. There is every possibility that this Leblanc-Reed is more than the common broodmare. I almost feel guilty for enforcing the dress code," Emperor Condruil scratched his chin, waving away the masseuses with a flick of the wrist. "Well, we wouldn't get the viewership without the sex appeal, now would we ladies?"

"No, my lord."

"You are dismissed," Tevrin muttered, a decidedly perplexed look etched on his features. "Oh, and thank you - a job well done as always."

He stood up and walked over to the balcony railing overlooking his city. On a nearby monitor, the plotted progress of the Majestic showed that they would be arriving early the next day, in plenty of time to make the schedule for the opening night of events. Tevrin poured himself a beaker of his favorite brandy and as the sun disappeared into its nightly slumber, he drank and contemplated a new variable in his equation.

---

Cassandra Leblanc-Reed
Chief Diplomat

Jennifer Ruggirello
Diplomat's Aide

Lieutenant Lilith Sullivan
Chief Flight Control Officer
(pnpc Hanover)

Tevrin Condruil
Emperor of the Sozon Empire
(pnpc Hanover)