TO: Echomet World Union Diplomatic Offices FROM: R'kal t'Kuro

[Osi_]

Stardate 93524.9 TO <Echomet World Union Diplomatic Offices> FROM Governor R'kal t'Kuro SUBJ Allegations Against Starfleet

To whom it may concern,

To start this message off I would like to acknowledge that I am aware, of course, that there is a minuscule chance of you having heard of my planet before, let alone myself. Nonetheless, the government you represent has become an interest of mine as of late. The planet which I am a representative of is Terix II, a former colony of the Romulan Star Empire, and a planet who exists in the heart of the neutral zone between the Federation, the Romulan Republic, and the Klingon Empire. I understand that a world such as yours is far from the worries of the situation in the neutral zone, and thus there has been no real reason for us to be in contact with each other. There does become a need to contact you, however, when you start making quite sever allegations about an ally of ours, specifically about a fleet which has risked their lives to protect our citizens. I'm sure you understand that at this point it becomes imperative that intentions are cleared up.

I should like to talk specifically about a matter that occurred last night (or whatever time it was in your region). While on a visit to Deep Space 13, the ship I was travelling on received a distress call from on of yours saying that it was being attacked by a Starfleet vessel. Now, before I continue this discussion any further I should like to apologize for not responding to it, but by the time we had received the distress call other vessels were already responding and on their way to the scene. Back to the matter at hand, once a few hours passed after this event, and I retired to my quarters for the night, I decided to do some research on your planet and came across a news article describing Starfleet interfering with, or as you put it, 'molesting', your ships. The article also referenced existing tensions with the Federation, which begged further investigation. I then found more news about how Starfleet officers of the 38th fleet, and by extension the Federation, have become a nuisance and, dare I say, an enemy of your people.

As I have had first hand experience of these same people risking their lives for my own citizens, I have to stop and question the validity of these accusations that you so harshly cast. If these do prove to be true, then our friendliness with the Federation may need to be put under closer scrutiny, however if they prove to be false, the reputation of Echometa on a wider galactic scale may become suspect as news of your perfidious actions would spread to the Xarantine sector and the nearby powers there, of which there are many. Your planet is in a very crucial stage of its development right now, and it cannot afford to stand alone. Please consider very carefully what you wish to imply with these statements against the Federation, and how sure you are of their validity.

Finally, I would like to say that despite the apparent pro-Federation connotations of this message, Terix has had its share of hostilities with Starfleet in the very recent past, and is still very much a neutral nation. Should you have need of it, we would be happy to serve as a neutral setting for discussion between the Federation and the Echometa, and even act as mediators for anything that might happen.

May the elements be with you,

R'kal t'Kuro

//SIGNED//
Governor R'kal t'Kuro
Governor of the Vetruvis Province, Terix II

[Katriel]

MSG ORGIN Echomet Prime SIGNED <Prime Minister's Office/Rieskl> MSG DEST Vetruvis Province, Terix II TO Governor R'kal t'Kuro SUBJ Re: Allegations Against Starfleet TRANSLATED STARDATE: 93548.6

To Governor R'kal t'Kuro:

Respectfully do I receive your missive. Though we are unfamiliar now, it is both mine and Echomet's intention to learn more about our galactic neighbors and befriend those who are willing. I see that for now, the distance of your planet to our own home system would make a genuine diplomatic relationship impossible. Still, I am not opposed to laying the groundwork for future ambitions.

The contents of your message do not surprise me. As an ally of the Federation, it is only sensible that you should desire to see their name cleared of negative connotations. In all honesty, I have no doubt that the Federation and Starfleet have accomplished a great many positive things: defense and rescue missions for their own and others, assistance with research or expansion projects, etc. Their reputation precedes them and, indeed, it was what attracted our humble planet to Federation membership to begin with. We, too, are a species who wants to discover what is out there and assist our neighbors, and we felt the Federation would welcome our participation.

I will not bore you with the details of our failed suit. Though we qualified for conditional membership, the onus to change our rules of governance to suit the Federation was too great, so we refused to comply and withdrew our application. Since then, we have seen a rather ugly side of the Federation, one that is not afraid to use their military might to bully and intimidate our people into complying with their demands. They do not let us carry out our own investigations or police our own criminals. Trespassers on our ships, wrecked though they may be, were 'rescued' out of our detention and our children taken to far away starbases, never to see Echometan soil.

I struggle to put myself in Starfleet's shoes, to see things as they do. I believe they mean well, truly, but in their constant assumption that they are superior to us and know better, they have trodden over our independence and our sovereignty. We cannot fight back against a superior enemy such as this and we have no intention nor desire to do so. We are not a violent people. Rather, we must hope that Starfleet's officers eventually see the error of their ways and permit us the liberties that are due any sovereign nation.

We have nothing to hide. Should you be interested in starship recordings or logs of our encounters with Starfleet, I shall see about having them released to you and you may judge for yourself whether Starfleet has infringed upon our rights as a nation. We have only ever been interested in the safety and lawful pursuit of justice for our people and if you are willing to review our interactions with Starfleet in this light, I believe you will see it, too.

I thank you for your inquiry.

Cordially,

Prime Minister Rieskl
Echomet World Union

[Osi_]

Stardate 93524.9 TO Prime Minister Rieskl FROM Governor R'kal t'Kuro SUBJ Allegations Against Starfleet

Prime Minister,

I wish I could say it is a pleasure to hear back from you, but I must say that what you're telling me is troubling. To understand why I think this I will need to briefly educate you on what has happened between us and Starfleet. Last year our planet was under the control of another planetary government, one which was being influenced too heavily by our military and suffered from issues of corruption. There were many people on the planet who wished to see this government go away, but they were sloppy in execution and lacking in basic morality, so they happened to get the Federation involved in our internal affairs, and soon a war on Terix broke out as the situation escalated. Starfleet had intervened and set up a blockade so that, ironically, foreign powers, such as the Romulan Star Empire, couldn't interfere our civil war. When the ruling government at the time decided to bomb the terrorists in order to weaken their position, Starfleet intervened thinking that the civilian population might suffer casualties during these bombings. In doing so both Starfleet and Terix lost lives due to their intervention.

So you see, Starfleet has interfered with our planet as well, and they have done so to much more disastrous effect. The government then would've said that they were a foreign power trying to change us to be people we weren't, and that they were abusing their military might to subdue and suppress us. That same government was found to be corrupt, abusive of their power, and poor at keeping their citizens happy. I don't know how it sounds to you, but if I was to give a random miner on the streets your statements speaking out against Starfleet's worse side without any references to Echometa, they would think it's propaganda from the previous Terixian government, a government which proved to be in every way awful to its people.

Therefore, I cannot accept your word on the matter as it stands. I will require any and all proof you have to be sent to me and the United Terix Republic Diplomatic Offices. Please ensure that it is fair and accurate. We may be independent, but we are still Romulans, so we are very good at telling if something is true or not, and if we are getting the full picture. Should you be right and Starfleet is abusing their military power I will do what I can to try and get warbirds under our command to defend your vessels and assist you in warding off the Federation.

Should you prove to be unreliable, however, I will have no choice but to make all the records and our analysis of them public knowledge. Should you decide that this is a risk you are unwilling to take, then you will be making an obviously suspicious move and I will have no choice but to make this correspondence public knowledge.

I hope your government isn't spreading false propaganda,

R'kal t'Kuro

//SIGNED//
Governor R'kal t'Kuro
Governor of the Vetruvis Province, Terix II

[Katriel]

MSG ORGIN Echomet Prime SIGNED <Prime Minister's Office/Rieskl> MSG DEST Vetruvis Province, Terix II TO Governor R'kal t'Kuro SUBJ Re: Allegations Against Starfleet TRANSLATED STARDATE: 93549.2

Governor,

I see now that you have drawn me into discussion under false pretenses. It does not seem to me that you have any intention of remaining open-minded to our position on these matters, but you would condemn us for attempting to avoid wasting your time further as well. I wish I were more surprised by this, but I have been a politician long enough to be more resigned than angry. I think you will be disappointed by the lack of ill intent or conspiracy to uncover, Governor, but it is your and your staff's time to squander, in the end.

Mine is not a corrupt government and I am dismayed that you could even draw the comparison. I may remind you that we did qualify for conditional acceptance to the Federation, which has extremely high standards for quality of life and fairness of governance. Consider that before you disparage my people's systems.

I will authorize the World Guard to declassify and release information to your keeping. Rest assured, it will take no time at all to ensure that it is accurate, but only you can judge whether or not it is 'fair'.

Please do not contact my office again.

Prime Minister Rieskl
Echomet World Union