Smile

Posted on Dec 13, 2016 @ 3:08am by Ambassador Xana Bonviva
Edited on on Dec 13, 2016 @ 3:08am

Mission: Aftermath

“Smile”

=/\=
Location: VULCAN
SD: [2.16] 1213.0024
Scene: ShiKahr

No one paid attention to the *former* President anymore. That was the price you paid for reaching so high, at some point grasping beyond your reach meant you lost sight of your footing.

Sardak was walking with T’Pau, easily in silence, ignoring the crowds who were gearing up for the next gathering. “What do you think of this?” she asked.

“I am not from EARTH,” Sardak pointed out.

They continued to walk, the sounds of the crowds grew louder, in spite of the distance.

“Where are we walking?”

“L-langon Mountains are nice,” Sardak replied.

T-Pau said nothing of the potential 10-day trek her walking partner just suggested; she knew there was no goal in mind beyond just walking. Instead they continued their meditative, circular walk, not part of the rally nearby but not ignorant of it either.

“An incumbent with experience should have had the lead,” Sardak mused after a long time. He listened to the words coming from the challenger. “Then again, diplomats are famous but unknown. Perhaps that is where the fault is.”

They continued their walk. T’Pau listened to the words coming from the rally. “She is having an improbable ride. But he is twice the candidate on her best day, and she does not have many “best” days.”

Sardak’s lips bowed in an odd movement for him. “There are many ways to judge “best” days.”

=/\=
Scene: ShiKahr - Brooklyn Malys’ Rally

“Oh my goodness, so wonderful to see you all,” Brooklyn Malys said as she waved to the crowds. “I gotta tell ya, getting off the shuttle the other day, and seeing all the white and blue and white and blue until I’m dead and cold paraphernalia everywhere.”

Leitas, the freelance campaign staffer for Karimi, stood in the back, watching and taking notes. And wincing, wishing for a drink. **Did she just refer to the Federation flag as “white and blue” and refer to herself as dead and cold?**

“And here on VULCAN I’m reminded, that competition is so good. Competition elevates the best. And Humanity deserves the best. And what we’re getting from the Assembly is not the best. What we’re getting from the Assembly is not the best, and it’s been shrinking us.”

**Ah hell every so often she says something that’s actually coherent and that’s what FNN and FedComm picks up,** Leitas thought as she glared at the 20 or 30 odd cameras swirling around the candidate.

For the next 20 minutes, Leitas took notes as Brooklyn Malys wove various innuendos and odd jabs at allies of the Federation. However, it worked; the crowds here loved it and judging from the response she had on her PADD, the instant polls from FNN and FedComm were registering positively.

“And now we’ve got another person, who would negotiate deals, with the skills of community tea and deciding, “EARTH should apologize for being a part of the deal” as our enemies sends messages to the rest of the universe that they capture and we kowtow and we apologize and then we bend over backwards and say, “THANK YOU, MY ENEMY, MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?”. Well I say to them: NO MORE! We fight back NOW. We are from EARTH, let us remember it! I’m Brooklyn Malys and I’m running to represent EARTH on the Assembly.”

“I hate that line,” Leitas sighed to herself as she was drowned out by cheers. She watched the beautiful Human family smiling and waving…

Not all of them smiled.

Brooklyn Malys smiled; made sense, she was the candidate.

Three small children smiled; that was impressive in Leitas’ opinion as children couldn’t be trusted to do anything on cue in a political campaign.

The husband, or who Leitas presumed was the husband, was definitely not smiling. He was standing in the back looking off to the side. At one point he shook the hand of a supporter but that was it.

The Andorian woman walked away from the crowd, and started furiously contacting her associates back at Karimi HQ with a simple message:

[[RESEARCH ON BROOKLYN MALYS’ FAMILY -- FIND EVERYTHING NOW]]

Initial press clippings came in, and with that more questions from the team; and Leitas knew it would only be a matter of time before they uncovered something. For the first time since trailing Brooklyn Malys, Leitas smiled.

=/\=
Scene: ShiKahr - Hussein Karimi’s HQ
TI: Several hours later

It was quiet in Hussein Karimi’s campaign HQ. Even for a prep session for a rally, this was disastrous. This was not good. Campaigns were supposed to be bustling and full of activity.

“We cannot get anyone to follow us,” Karimi yelled. “What is the point of this if no one will be there?”

Xana sighed. “Everyone, thank you for your help. We’ll prep again later.” As Karimi went to leave she yelled, “Not you.” As Karimi turned to her she said, “Those people are working their asses off for you.”

“Then we need better people,” Karimi said.

“Or we need a better candidate,” Xana countered.

“I could fire you,” Hussein threatened.

The Bolian/Human shrugged. “Go for it. I’ll pack up and go back to Venice.” When there was no comment from Karimi she asked quietly, “Do you want this?”

Karimi looked at her carefully, “What?”

“Do you want to be on the Assembly?”

“I’m running.”

“You’re running like you’re being chased, you’re not running like you want to cross the finish line first.” Xana began pacing. “So I’m asking you, ‘Do you want this?’. Or are you wasting everyone’s time, energy, hopes, and dreams?”

“Xana…”

“Why do you want this?’

“Xana…”

“Why do you want to be on the Assembly?”

“I want it.”

“Why?”

“XANA!” Karimi for the first time raised his voice beyond what he carefully controlled volume. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

The azure woman raised her hands. “And that’s the problem. You’re trying to say what everyone wants you to say, be what everyone wants you to be.” Walking in close she said, “I’ve watched you, worked with you, and I can tell you what kind of man you are, but even I can’t say what your motives are for running. Nobody can. I can’t fix this for you. Nobody can. Only you can introduce yourself to all of EARTH and say why you should do this. Why do you want to be on the Assembly?”

Marie-Claire Martine, who had ignored Xana Bonviva’s admonition to leave, watched this little interplay with interest from the shadows. She agreed with the assessment; right or wrong people felt like they knew Brooklyn Malys.

As an Andorian aide came in, Martine stopped her and intercepted the PADD. Reading it over she mulled over the opportunity. Nodding she allowed the woman to pass.

“Leitas,” Xana sighed, “I sent everyone home.”

The Andorian aide swallowed the lump in her throat. “You’ll want to see this.”

Xana took the outstretched PADD and glanced it. “We knew there was something hidden,” she murmured, “but not this.” She shook her head and said, “No we don’t win this way.” When Martine stepped out of the shadows, the campaign manager continued, “It’s based on rumor, conjecture and we’re playing to fear-mongering.”

“What way?” Karimi said.

Xana exchanged a glance with Martine who stepped out of the shadows before turning to Karimi. She gestured for Leitas to brief him and the Andorian woman stepped forward. “It’s not Brooklyn Malys. It’s her husband. She’s running a very-Earth first campaign but her husband may have ties to Romulan insurgents. We think, we’re not sure. Looks like his company has sold some weapons to the Romulan government.”

Karimi held out his hands, as he read through the PADD. Smiling he said, “Xana, you’re right, we need to tell people why I’m running.”

=/\=
Scene: Bonviva Home
TI: That night

The three of them had more or less settled into a routine since coming onto VULCAN. Every morning was a series of organized chaos to get 3 people washed, dressed, fed and out the door at an early time to school and work. Night time they gathered back again, a small dining room table littered with food and homework.

After sending a message on the first day the kids settled on sending a message every couple of days to the father, and while he was able he sent back messages.

Xana received nothing from Jake -- either a response to the message she gave with her gift before she left or the divorce proceedings.

On that unusually quiet night, when Dahlia was working on conjugating Klingon verbs and Ben was working on his read and record, Xana sat down to work on a Communication Plan for Karimi but instead found her thoughts turning again, as they had been over the last few nights, to her dying marriage.

It occurred to her that despite her age, she had behaved like a child. Jake had been rather clear about where he saw their relationship going which was towards the end once he finally signed the Agreement. And to be fair, so did she; so what if she had last minute regrets? He had, in giving her space to pursue her career, accepted her as she was. He might not like it, but he was kind.

So then she had to accept him as he was, even if it jarred with her heart and her regrets and recriminations. Over time, she could prove that her love wasn’t a hindrance to their co-parenting and perhaps, if she was lucky, it would simply slip away.

When Ben asked if could send another message to Jake, she may have felt tears sting in her the corners of her eyes, but she willed them away; she smiled at her son as she set up the call, but walked away so that it was only Ben that Jake would see. The same was when Dahlia asked if she could send Jake a package with her latest engineering design. She smiled and offered to drop it off to the shipyard on the way to Campaign HQ.

Long ago, Xana had a twin sister who died; and it was the first time that she ever really experienced a soul-aching grief. Her family was torn apart by the death of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood. Sometime after the funeral and the many dark months afterwards, her grandmother said to her, “Smile even if your heart is breaking. The grief will be there, but you are giving it permission to ease. And one day, it will ease and you will feel better.”

Xana had done her best then, and so many times afterwards. She was going to do her best now to smile once more.

You made the people you love happy, the way they wanted to be happy.

=/\=


Sarah Albertini-Bond

~writing for~

Xana Bonviva



Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile.

-- Unknown