Commander Mira Novak and Lieutenant Teydra Nireth materialized atop the Central Plaza that sat in front of Founder’s Hall, M-11’s seat of governmental power that sat in the heart of the planet’s capital city, Eisenstadt. The buildings that dominated their sightline were several stories high, and were constructed with an eye toward the Grecko-Roman aesthetic of ancient Earth. Massive columns ringed the plaza they found themselves in, giving the space a majestic feel while still feeling accessible to visitors.

“Impressive sight, isn’t it, Commander?” Teydra asked with a small smile as she watched Novak taking in the sights with a mixture of curiosity and quiet respect.

“It reminds me of field trips I took to the ancient parts of Rome as a child,” Mira remarked as she drew comparisons in her mind.

“It’s a deceptively long walk from here to Founder’s Hall. Because of security concerns, this is as close as they’ll allow us to beam anything down. There’s a transport inhibitor network set up around most of the major buildings around the Eisenplatz,” the Trill explained as she pointed toward the building she’d named.

“I imagine the architecture was designed to deliberately throw off your sense of scale,” Novak remarked as she began following her subordinate.

“Overwhelm it, is more likely,” Nireth chuckled. “The Eisenhart family wanted the planetary capitol to represent their pride in Earth heritage while using the natural grandeur of the landscape to elevate it to heights unseen on Earth.”

“That would explain the naming conventions,” Mira said dryly as she continued to scan the landscape around them. “What can you tell me about the participants of this planning meeting we’re heading to?”

“Governor Wakefield will be heading up the committee meeting. Since you’ve already gotten front row seats to her particular personality, I don’t believe we need to revisit her,” Teydra said with a smirk.

Novak let out a sigh before she could catch herself, “Of course she would be. Who else?”

“We have two representatives from the Eisenhart family in attendance. Chairman Matthias Eisenhart, who leads the Colonial Council, and his son Alaric, who’s serving as the Deputy Commissioner for Cultural and Event Planning. Unlike Wakefield, the Eisenhart family are far more supportive of our presence, even when we lacked one during your predecessor’s time on the station,” Nireth continued.

“So the founding family is still active in politics…” Mira mused with a hint of a frown.

“Yes, they are,” the Trill nodded, “But Chairman Eisenhart is the first member of the family in several generations to hold a seat so high up in the government. They usually occupied Commissioner positions at most after the first fifty years of colonization here.”

“So not exactly a dynasty, but still widely respected?” Novak asked.

“That’s probably close enough to the truth of it, but I doubt their pride would ever allow them to agree with it in public,” Teydra nodded as they began to climb the first set of steps up to Founder’s Hall.

“Anyone else I should know about?” Mira pressed.

“The other three people are the Commissioner of Public Safety, Omar Nassar, the Commissioner of Commerce and Trade, Takumi Watanabe, and the Commissioner of Arts and Culture, Claire Dumont,” Nireth paused for a moment to allow the information to sink in. “None of them come from particularly influential families, but each of them is highly qualified to hold their individual offices. There are more members of the committee, but they recently held their general assembly last week, so we’ll only be meeting the key players today.”

“Anything I should look out for with any of the participants?” Novak inquired as she reached the apex of the first flight of deceptively long stairs.

The Trill shrugged, “Aside from the Madam Governor, most of the people on the committee are focused solely on their piece of the event and don’t really care where we fit in as long as it doesn’t involve us dictating anything. Wakefield, on the other hand, is likely dead set on handing off a lot of the grunt work so that she can bask in the glory of a celebration well done without having her people do the work this year.”

“Then I suppose she will be our biggest concern,” Mira reasoned.

“More like she’s among our concerns,” Teydra corrected, “The other members of the committee still have agendas, and may still make asks of us since it means they’ll have a new pool of personnel that they can tap into to augment efforts already in the works. Just because they don’t want us to be in charge, that doesn’t in any way eliminate a desire for cheap labor.”

“Of course…” Novak grumbled in annoyance.

After the second flight of stairs, Mira was thoroughly fed up with the austere architecture that was starting to make her legs cramp up. They entered the large rotunda of Founder’s Hall not a moment too soon for Novak, and were quickly greeted by one of the buildings many workers.

“Commander, Lieutenant,” the woman nodded to each of the Starfleet officers in turn, “We’re delighted you could make it today. Please follow me to the Council Chamber.”

Mira shot Teydra an inquisitive look, only to be answered back with a shrug that implied she hadn’t been aware of that being their destination. Novak willed her expression into one of complete neutrality as they were led down the corridor toward the almost unnecessarily large doors that separated the Council Chamber from the rest of the building. Their guide pushed the doors open to reveal the large amphitheater-style room that looked as if it had been artistically carved straight from the rock formation that the building rested against.

Seated at the far end of the room was Governor Morgan Wakefield and another Human male to her right that Mira assumed to be Chairman Eisenhart. In the row of tables directly in front of the large dais-like table sat four others, though Novak couldn’t make out which of the committee members were which simply from the backs of their heads. Mira continued inside the room first, followed closely by Teydra, the door being closed slowly behind them after they’d entered.

“Commander Novak,” Governor Wakefield called out, interrupting whatever conversation had been taking place before her arrival, “It is so good of you to join us. Please, take your seat.”

The Governor gestured to a place slightly lower and to her right her own dais that had two chairs sitting behind it. Mira glanced over at her aide, who whispered, “That is where members of Starfleet generally sit during actual Council Meetings. We’ve historically had a seat at the table, but it’s always been more symbolic than functional.”

Novak gave the Trill a single nod before quickening her pace just a bit to cross the expansive chamber and took the indicated seat, allowing her an unobstructed view of the meeting participants.

“Now that everyone is here,” Governor Wakefield said, rising from her chair with a practiced smile, “let us begin the meeting proper. While most of the committee is familiar with one another, I believe that in the interests of getting our newest member acclimated, we should begin with a brief introduction. As the Commander and I are already firm friends, I will forego my own introduction in favor of those who she has yet to meet. Chairman Eisenhart, would you care to take the lead?”

“Yes, Madam Governor, I believe I would,” the Chairman said, rising to his feet as the woman sank back down in her own. “As Madam Wakefield already mentioned, I am Matthias Eisenhart, Chairman of the Colonial Council. I wish to extend the warmest of welcomes to you, Commander. It has been years since someone from Starbase 11 has graced us with their presence and their support for our time-honored heritage and I cannot express in words how grateful the people of the M-11 colony are of your renewed involvement in our lives, no matter how grand or small it may be.”

Mira gave the Chairman a curt nod of acknowledgement, her face not betraying how insincere she found his words to be. The Chairman appeared to assume based on Novak’s appearance that she possessed the same emotional control as other Vulcans he’d encountered and accepted her gesture gracefully, sweeping his arm toward the tables that were facing them.

“Commissioner Dumont, would you be so kind as to take us around the room?” Matthias asked, taking his seat again.

“Absolument, Mister Chairman,” the woman responded as she rose from her seat, “I am Claire Dumont, Commissioner of Arts and Culture for the colony. I serve as the voice of our creative heritage and cultural growth for our people. We are fortunate to have many talented artisans from every conceivable body of work, a point of pride for our colony to be sure.”

Mira’s eyebrow floated upward slightly at how expressive the woman was, watching as her hands did just as much of the talking as her words did. Even when she passed things over to the person next to her, she did so with flourish.

“Sat next to me is Commissioner Watanabe, without whom we would not be able to extend our cultural influence beyond our atmosphere,” Claire said before sitting down.

The next speaker stood a beat later, straightening his outfit in a business-like manner, “I am Takumi Watanabe, Commissioner of Commerce and Trade for the colony. I oversee all matters of imports and exports to ensure the flow of goods remains uninterrupted as it has since our founding.”

The curt manner in which the man gave his introduction felt perfectly reasonable to Mira as someone who had also dealt with logistics both great and small throughout her Starfleet career. If anything, his posed delivery and economy of movement and words was something she could respect.

“Commissioner Nassar,” came the clipped handoff before the Trade Commissioner sat back down.

“Thank you, Takumi,” came the equally curt but more surly response from the next attendee.

Rising deliberately to his feet, the man stated evenly, “I am Commissioner Omar Nassar of Public Safety. It is my honor to serve our colony by providing for the protection and security of the citizenry here in the colony. I plan to continue the long-standing tradition of a safe and secure Foundation Day event with the assistance of this assembly.”

Contrary to what the previous Commissioners had done, Omar merely sat back down and made no effort to introduce the last member of the room. If the younger man took any offense to this, it didn’t so much as cause a twitch on his face as he stood up without any associated fanfare.

“Good day, Commander. I am Alaric Eisenhart, Deputy Commissioner for Cultural and Event Planning. Unlike most of our esteemed Commissioners, I will be handling the majority of the actual event logistics, which will hopefully include coordinating with you and your staff aboard Starbase 11.”

Mira noticed that the man had been looking at her throughout the entire exchange, but when it was her turn to speak it became all the more obvious that his attention had been squarely on her, without only scant mind being paid to what he was actually saying. She couldn’t help but feel just a little perturbed by it.

“Thank you, Alaric,” Governor Wakefield said, cutting off any further conversation the man might have tried to engage her with. Novak idly thought that it would likely be the last time she was ever grateful for the Governor’s interjection into things.

“Commander, if you would be so kind?” Morgan asked, her lips curled into a smug smile.

Mira sighed within the confines of her mind, but stood up with an impassive face and made the requested introduction, “I am Commander Mira Novak, currently assigned as the Commanding Officer for Starbase 11. I look forward to watching these proceedings to get acquainted with the Foundation Day event and gain an understanding of what it entails. I will ask for your forgiveness upfront if I remain a passive observer for this first meeting, as my predecessor did not leave behind any historical reference from which I can draw upon to gauge how active our involvement needs to be.”

“Thank you for that, Commander,” Chairman Eisenhart was the first to speak up, “Rest assured, your mere presence at the table, alone, is more than enough for today. Now, if you wouldn’t mind reviewing the notes from our last meeting, Alaric, we can get to the business at hand.”

Novak settled back into her chair, ready to watch the war of words play out around her as she formulated her planned responses and investment into the event to come.