Let's have a Conversation

Posted on Wed Oct 1st, 2025 @ 1:21am by Captain Andre Hunt & Atys Tur & Vira Mihal

1,378 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Trillius Prime
Location: Brig

The L'Dira Captain Tur sat in the brig, with two security personnel standing outside guarding him. When the MACOs arrived on the ship his band of pirates tried to mount some kind of resistance. But the MACOs quickly moved throughout the ship effortless and obtained their target. Tur's ship was left disabled and under the control of Trill patrol as the Meridian was enroute to the L'Dira homeworld.

Captain Hunt entered the brig with the diplomat Vira Mihal in tow. They didn't know much about the L'Dira other than piracy but that was all about to end here with a conversation with Tur. "Captain Tur, it's time that we all have a conversation. Here with me is Trill diplomat Vira Mihal. Currently we're enroute to your homeworld to meet with your people to work on this piracy issue that you and others like yourself have presented to this region."

Vira regarded the space of the brig with assessing eyes. All things considered, it wasn't a bad place, necessarily, to spend one's time...if one had to be 'locked up.' "I have been wanting to meet with you for sometime, Captain Tur."

Atys Tur eyed the diplomat, while appearing a bit shocked. "Figured there would be a judge or a police force of some sort. Not sure why you brought a diplomat down here. Though I don't mind the view."

"Your going to do some good for a change," Andre explained. "Prepare us by telling us how to make this all work. There could possibly lead to a lesser sentence or avoiding death."

It was at that moment, he weighed his options. Piracy was a necessary evil to acquire what his people needed. Their government always denied that they were working with pirates. Carrying on to their people that the lack of Acelon was worse than ever.

"What is it that you wish to ask me...Diplomat Mihal?"

Vira stepped closer to the forcefield, her voice calm and deliberate, the way one might speak to someone sitting across a negotiation table rather than inside a brig.

“Your people’s dependence on Acelon is no secret. What is uncertain is why your government allows the pirates—yourself among them—to shoulder the burden of acquiring it. You and I both know that your raids are not simply for profit...it appears intertwined with the survival of your people...” She paused for a moment and softened her tone, continuing with her question. "Could you explain to me why your leaders turn a blind eye to this - otherwise I will only hear the what 'truth' they will tell us when we reach your homeworld."

Tur's eyes flashed in anger as the cogs in his brain turned over, looking for a wheedling answer to their situation. He knew his cargo needed to get home, Homeworld would could not do without the resources they had plundered and thieved from across several systems. Try as he might, he could find no weasel words to bluff his way out of this one. 'We're desperate,' he said flatly, defiantly staring down the diplomat and the Starfleeter. 'Our people need the Acelon, and we can't produce our own.'

"Have you ever just consider coming up with some kind of trade agreement with the Trill?" Hunt inquired.

'Have I considered that?' Tur asked, almost incredulous, 'what, you think I have that much influence if I had thought about it? I'm a privateer, Captain. I have my letters of authorisation from my government, nothing more. We pillage our way across the sector so that we can survive, and I do my job well. But our government doesn't quite like acknowledging what I do for them, so there is very little question of any sort of proposal coming from me holding any weight with them.' He sighed, 'besides, we have nothing the Trill would want to trade for.'

Andre thought about what he said. There was always something that could be offered, even if it was providing a service or manual labor. "What do you think your government will do once we show up with you? Finding out that the Trill now have three of your pirate ships and their crews can't be a good look at all."

Tur looked at his hands, flipping them over so he was looking at their haired backs, he shrugged. 'I'm not entirely certain,' he said quietly, narrowing his green eyes in thought. 'There are relatively few L'Dira who have achieved what our three ships have achieved,' he said carefully, teasing out his thought process. 'It might be egotistical of me to think that we are indispensable to the cause of our survival. But there are many competent crew members aboard those ships. Our government might be willing to strike a deal.'

He looked at the Trill. 'If it was amenable.'

Vira inclined her head, her expression betraying neither approval nor reproach. “That is precisely what I hoped you would say, Captain Tur. Indispensable people rarely remain silent assets for long. Your survival—your people’s survival—may require you to become something more than a privateer. Perhaps even a negotiator.”

The fur along the back of his neck bristled. 'I am a privateer, not a negotiator. My skills lie ... elsewhere,' he concluded fatalistically. 'I can ensure that your ships are not automatically shot from the sky but beyond that ... it will take people with greater skills than I.'

Andre watched as Vira asked questions and began what would hopefully lead to some kind of lasting agreement between the Trill and the L'Dira. The Pirate Captain was crude, but far from stupid. The man wouldn't have moved up the ranks to commanding his own ship, if he was simply a mindless idiot. Hopefully he would take a deal, save himself and perhaps his crew that was now under the authority of the Trill patrols. "I'm not in the mood to bombard a planet from the sky. So hopefully there would be no issues. But with your help, I feel that our diplomat here can get the job done. And resolve this matter."

Vira’s lips curved in the faintest suggestion of acknowledgment—not quite a smile, but a diplomat’s signal that something of substance had been reached. She stepped closer to the forcefield, lowering her voice, as though the brig itself was a negotiating chamber rather than a cage.

“Captain Tur, you underestimate yourself,” she said smoothly. “Negotiators are not born of training manuals. They are born of necessity. You have survived where others failed, led where others fell silent. That tells me you already possess what is required—resolve, resourcefulness, and the will to act in the face of impossible odds. These are precisely the qualities your leaders cannot ignore once we arrive.”

Her eyes held his, calm but unyielding. “When your government sees you not only alive but speaking with us, offering terms that protect your people rather than shame them, they will be forced to acknowledge you. That is power, Captain Tur. Power that you can wield not only for yourself, but for every L’Dira still dependent on stolen Acelon to see another season.”

She tilted her head slightly, her tone sharpening. “So the question is not whether you are a negotiator. The question is: will you use this moment to shape the future of your people—or will you let your government discard you as conveniently as they once empowered you?”

Hunt's gaze went from the diplomat to the pirate. Hopefully he would embrace this offer which could be the start to a trade agreement in this region of space. Perhaps even the United Federation of Planets could somehow get involved in the future at some point.

Looking at the two individuals before, Tur nodded in agreement. "I will comply."

"I'm glad that you have agreed to help bring piracy to an end," the Captain spoke. "We should reach your homeworld in about five days. That will give the Ambassador a chance to get prepared to put something together to negotiate with your people."


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Captain Andre Hunt
Commanding Officer
USS Meridian

Vira Mihal apb T'Ria
Trill Diplomat

Atys Tur apb Plaatjes
L'Dira Pirate Captain

 

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