Post 11 - Oh How the Flowers Bloom

Posted on Tue Jan 5th, 2021 @ 7:50pm by Vice Admiral Augustus Taqin
Edited on on Tue Jan 5th, 2021 @ 8:49pm

Mission: Episode 1: Acta Non Verba
Location: Starfleet Headquarters
Timeline: Day 12 - Early Morning

[Outside Starfleet Headquarters]

Augie pushed backwards, feeling his spine straighten against the seat back of the bench he occupied outside Starfleet Headquarters. He felt a few pops as he cracked his back, and smiled warmly as he settled once more. Beside him on the bench, Commander Dantes tapped furiously away at a padd, which also made Augie smile. She hadn't so much as looked up since he had sat down to enjoy the sunrise on their way towards the office.

"You can go ahead to the office if you'd like." He spoke sotto voce, as if speaking in a holy place instead of out in what amounted to a public promenade. "I'll be along once our friend there makes an appearance." He indicated towards the east, where a soft glow was coming to the sky.

"You know I can't do that, sir. You are to have at least one attache with you at all times outside of your residence." She spoke in terse words, her mouth only moving enough to make the crisp, clear syllables heard. Her voice made no attempt to be loud or soft, just heard.

Augie smiled again, taking a deep breath in through his nose as he watched Sol make its first rays visible over the horizon.

"Oh, how the flowers bloom..." He intoned, mostly to himself though he knew that Commander Dantes would hear the words clearly.

Whether it was the way he spoke, or the odd choice of words, her head came up and her fingers stilled. She looked at him for a moment, then at the sunrise, and then around them as if she may have missed something. He couldn't help a slight smirk of amusement, which he promptly hid as her head pivoted once more to look at him.

"What flowers are you talking about sir?" She asked, visibly perplexed.

The smirk came back. Around them was a small field of grass, with trees here and there and no flowers for several meters, certainly not close enough to be remarked on.

"Ah, my apologies." She had not been clued in on some of his eccentricities. "The Trill poet Gurill Nen wrote a poem for the inauguration Federation President Thelianaresth th'Vorothishria in 2321, Earth Calendar. She compared the sunrise here in San Francisco with the sunrise on the Presidents native Andoria. The final line was "Oh, how the flowers bloom. It cause quite a stir as those who did not know the President well thought it was a subtle dig, and mistook the single tear Tha shed as having been offended. Thelianaresth th'Vorothishria had grown up the child of botanists on Andoria, and before stepping into the political arena had taken a great interest in the varieties of flowering plants here on Earth. The poem was a call linking not only Tha Presidents home planet with Earth, but Tha Presidents earlier life with where their life had led. Once it was all understood, Gurill Nen was lauded across the Federation."

"Why did you reference it just now, then?" Commander Dantes asked, her padd momentarily forgotten.

"Thelianaresth th'Vorothishria held the inauguration at sunrise, and the soft blue just before the first rays of the sun shine out over there look like the blue of the sun coming through the ice at the topmost layers of the city of Andor." He shrugged and stood, straightening his uniform. "I guess it just reminded me of the poem. Shall we get onto the office, I doubt those padds do wonders for eye strain."

His eyes twinkled in amusement as Commander Dantes stood, padd in hand. The previous demeanor had taken hold again, and the young woman was all business, though Augie could swear she looked more relaxed in his presence. That, and the sunrise, made the diversion from going into the office quite worth it.