These Hands

Posted on Dec 21, 2016 @ 3:44pm by Ambassador Xana Bonviva
Edited on on Dec 21, 2016 @ 3:45pm

Mission: Aftermath

"These Hands"


=/\=

Location: VULCAN

Scene: Hussein Karimi’s Campaign - Xana Bonviva’s office

SD: [2.6] 1221.1054

The azure woman was leaning back in an office chair, and tossed a small pink ball against the thick window, watched it bounced, and then caught. She repeated this process several times lost in thought. After several minutes, she stopped once she caught the ball, kicked off her shoes, and then resumed the ball toss-and-catch.

Marie-Claire Martine stood in the doorway. “Well this looks productive.”

Xana Bonviva continued her tossing the ball.

The other woman came in and made sure to have the door close behind her. “What exactly are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Xana asked. “Minus a stoop I’m tossing a ball.”

“And if there was a -- what was that word?” Marie-Claire asked.

“A stoop,” Xana said. “A collection of stairs outside a dwelling.”

“Yes, if you had a stoop, what would you be doing?”

“I’d be playing stoopball, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Marie-Claire found a spot on another chair, away from the ball. “That meeting was interesting.”

Neither of them said anything. Approximately an hour ago there had been a meeting with Hussein Karimi, Xana Bonviva, and Marie-Claire Martine to decide the direction of the campaign.

“The ad has been made,” Xana announced. “It didn’t take long,” she continued on as she hit the vid.

As stirring instrumental music played in the background, the screen showed various people at work and each one would stop and hold up the hands. They were all Terrans, on EARTH from all over -- each continent -- and then from all over the galaxy; doing amazing things.

The first image showed a woman standing on a bridge and she held up her hands -- her left hand said “These” and her right hand said “hands” and in between the vid flashed with “are piloting a long-range shuttle”.

Next was a man standing in front of a hovercraft, his hands held up with the same words, but on the screen the words flashed “have fixed things for forty years”.

The next image showed a young woman of mixed descent holding up her hands with her hands having the same words but her screen flashed “have helped translate 5 different languages for travelers across two different quadrants”.

The fourth was a man standing on a mountain who held up his hands, with the same words “these” and “hands” written on each, but in between were the words “helped save others”.

The last image had Brooklyn Malys and her husband, their hands raised, the image taken from a campaign event. The words that flashed on screen were “These hands take from Terrans and helped the Romulans then line their own pockets”.

The ad then faded to show the distinguished picture of Hussein Karimi sitting there with his own hands raised, with the words “These” and “Hands” written on his hands like the earlier Terrans. On screen it flashed “have served with dignity for all Terrans everywhere”.

Finally the ad closed out with Karimi’s voice explaining that he approved the message for his campaign.

“It’s not a bad ad, especially that we rushed it,” Martine mused. Noticing that Xana continued her tossing the ball against the window she asked, “You disagree?”

“Ad is fine,” Xana bit out. Martine raised an elegant eyebrow the azure woman shrugged her shoulders. “It’s good, I mean it.”

“You have a problem, you’ve been sitting on the ad, you won’t release it,” Martine lectured.

Bonviva frowned but continued tossing the ball. This pattern went on for another minute or two.

“What is the problem?”

Xana caught her ball and stopped. Swiveling around in her chair so she was eye-to-eye with Marie-Claire she asked, “What’s the problem? What’s the problem? Are you kidding me? That meeting was the problem!!”

“Let’s be clear,” Marie-Claire said. “There are two parts to politics. There’s the stump, electrifying speeches, the baby kissing, and working the press. You did that part well. And if this campaign was a different one, we'd use those skills. But no matter what, there's always going to be the nitty-gritty, morally-bankrupt, backroom brawl rest of the game. It’s thankless but necessary. And we need that now. You can’t do one without the other.” Giving her a look she said, “Either show you have the stomach or develop one.”

Xana glared; she admired,respected, and even liked Marie-Claire. At this moment, however, the azure woman wanted nothing to do with the path of this conversation. No one liked having their faults pointed out, especially political types who were inclined to have egos the size of the Gamma Quadrant. “Why me?”

“What?” Marie-Claire asked.

“Why bring me back from Bolarus?” Xana said. The frustration of her life bubbling up in her. “I had a job and one I was good at. I am brilliant and this campaign is lucky to have me. ‘What’s wrong?’ I went into that meeting and I came out feeling like I got screwed over with my pants on! Why am I here?”

Marie-Claire snorted at that. “You’re not the first campaign manager who’s been ignored. This is not the first time it’s even happened in your life. Or anyone else’s.”

Xana sighed. “I know.”

“And you think we’d all be better with Brooklyn Malys?”

The campaign manager thought about her campaign’s opponent. “I know we’re painting her because of her husband.”

“Agreed,” Martine nodded. “Her record was too vanilla and people seem to love her. We don’t even know if he’s doing what we’re saying. We don’t know if his company has been colluding with the Romulans. It’s a *possibility* and we’re bringing it out for debate.”

“But we’re going to sell it like it’s definite. That Brooklyn Malys knew about it. And since when is she her husband’s keeper?” Xana said. Looking out the small window of her office she played with the rings on her fingers.

“I disagree with Brooklyn Malys,” Xana said quietly still looking at the Vulcan desert. “I harbor no desire to see her win. But I'm queasy with this approach.” Turning back to Marie-Claire she admitted, “I've been married or bonded 3 times.” Seeing Martine’s elegant face light up with questions but none come to her lips the azure woman said with her own lips quirking up, “You're doing better than most people when I say that. But I can say from experience no matter how close you are, you are *not* your partner’s keeper.” Becoming quiet as some memories flashed behind her violet eyes, “It's not fair to you or them. That's why I disagree with this approach.”

Martine sat in silence for a beat, shifted in her seat, contemplating her thoughts. “Whether or not you and I agree with the approach it's the one that this campaign has decided on.” Looking at Xana she said, “Unless you have another…?”

Xana looked at the ad on the vid, shook her head, and hit a button. “Now we wait for all Terrans to let us know what they think.”

=/\=

Scene: FedComm Studio

TI: 36 hours later

{{Good Morning and welcome to Coffee with KiKi!}} the bubbly host from FedComm host from the 2nd most popular morning show stated after a station identification break. {{And we’re back and if you’re just joining us, we’re lucky to be here this morning with one of the EARTH candidates from Assembly Hussein Karimi.}}

Hussein Karimi, of course, was sitting in a holo-studio on VULCAN, but thanks to the magic of vid-comm was being projected into everyone’s rooms via FedComm’s “Coffee with Kiki”. For the most part, the daytime morning show was a softball interview with a few real questions thrown in.

And of course there was coffee.

{{A reform group called Ameliorationists has proposed creation of a federal Spring Cleaning Commission. This commission, which would be made up of experienced managers, former government officials, and independent citizens, would identity and work to eliminate outdated laws, regulations, and bureaucracies, as well as the removal of laws that would have lead to the former neo-Essentialists that gave rise in Starfleet not that long ago. Would you support creation of such a commission?}}

Hussein gave a smile as he held his coffee cup. “Well I can certainly see the advantages of such a commission. However, to borrow an old Terran expression, one must be careful of tossing the baby with the bathwater.”

Xana Bonviva watched her candidate continued to navigate why he wasn’t for this without saying those exact words as she stood in the Production booth. All around her, there were holo-vid production engineers who were busy working to make sure that both Kiki (who was on LUNA) and Karimi (here on VULCAN) were able to converse and be shown all around the galaxy in real-time. She heard people yelling about volume of the candidates, lighting and makeup.

While Hussein drank some coffee, Kiki beamed from her set, which was decorated to look like a warm living room dressed in warm ambers and with a brick wall behind her. {{Well our viewers will want to know about your meteoric rise in the last few days.}}

The coffee was set aside now as Karimi did his best to smile but not too broadly; it was best to look confident but not overly confident. “People from EARTH want a candidate who supports *their* goals and needs who works for *their* interests.”

As the conversation continued, a tall Human/Vulcan man came over; he was the Executive Producer here at FedComm. “Ms. Bonviva?” he asked while holding up a small holo-vid. As Xana nodded, he passed her a small earpiece which she placed in her right ear; in doing so she managed to hear the audio to the vid that he was playing for the hand-held holo-vid. It was playing a Brooklyn Malys rally that was occurring right now.

{{We are demanding that Hussein Karimi meet with us, we just can’t these kind of I don’t know what these things are called but we can’t have them!}} the former SF captain raged as a rally cheered her on.

Xana exchanged a look with the Executive Producer, who nodded at her candidate who was still drinking coffee with Kiki.

“I’ve always believed in freedom of the press,” Xana smiled as she handed back her earpiece.

The Executive Producer gave a slight smile and suddenly began speaking softly into a hidden microphone giving directions to his staff and Kiki.

{{Wait I’m hearing now that we have a feed of Brooklyn Malys’ rally and she’s addressing you directly,}} Kiki interrupted.

Hussein paused to drink some coffee as he watched with interest the live feed of Brooklyn Malys’ rally where she was indeed addressing him and his latest ad where he stated that she and her husband had profited from the Romulans.

{{What do you say to this?}} Kiki asked.

Hussein Karimi put down his mug of coffee (with the logo of “Coffee with Kiki” carefully showing towards the vid) and faced towards the projector. He did note his campaign manager was behind a plated glass, and despite her usual professional dress of a women’s pantsuit (today it was a gray pantsuit with a white blouse) she was very firmly nodding at him. “Well if Ms. Malys wants to meet, I’m happy to have an open debate so that all the issues can come forward for all Terrans to hear and decide upon.”

Kiki gave a brilliant smile, {{Let me see if we can get your response to our reporters in the field.}}

There was a tense moment as all watched as the FedComm reporter waved his hand at the Brooklyn Malys rally and he shouted at her Hussein Karimi’s desire to have an open debate. Everyone watched the neophyte candidate rear her head back, her blonde hair swinging in the wind, as if visibly struck. She gained her composure quickly and said, {{I am a STARFLEET OFFICER and we don’t run from confrontations. I WILL beat down that man and I will push his tea out of his hands.}}

Hussein Karimi, back in the studio, raised an eyebrow at that. “Actually I’m enjoying my coffee very much,” he mused to Kiki.

Kiki, host of Coffee with Kiki, grinned, {{I am too. And viewers you heard it here first, Hussein Karimi and Brooklyn Malys will be debating to represent EARTH on the Assembly!}}

=/\=

NRPG: Covered quite a bit here in the post - hope that was ok and clear.

Hussein’s campaign released an ad (“These Hands”) which stated that Brooklyn Malys (his opponent) knew/was implicit in her husband’s dealings with the Romulans.

It was unclear, however, if Brooklyn Malys ever knew of her husband’s dealings with the Romulans or if her husband ever actually dealt with them.

All that made Xana upset, and Martine too probably, but Xana released the ad anyway because they had no other strategy

Xana’s got an ego the size of the Gamma Quadrant (that’s not new and it’s been in existence for years - I just find it hysterical to write about and when people knock her down)

That ad with those implications lead to (in a day and half) Hussein jumping up in the polls

Hussein got to go on FedComm’s morning program (“Coffee with Kiki”) answered some questions and during which they heard live Brooklyn Malys (in her own way of destroying language) saying she wanted to meet with himi

Hussein Karimi called for a debate with his opponent -- Malys agreed


Next steps (which I promise I’ll resolve soon): The debate and wrapping up this election.

Hope you all are enjoying (political) life! :)



Susan: Thank you for your help and letting me bounce ideas off you! :)

=/\=

Sarah Albertini-Bond

~writing for~

Xana Bonviva

“In politics, a lie unanswered becomes truth within 24 hours.”

--Willie Brown (former mayor of San Francisco)