Make A Difference

Posted on Fri 7th Nov, 2025 @ 11:51pm by Magnus Temple

2,076 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: En-Route to 109
Timeline: Current

ON:

Magnus stood at the podium at the Palais de la Concorde, the crowds of Federation representatives in front of him in the auditorium. He waved triumphantly at their smiling faces.

“As your new President,” Magnus beamed, “I vow to bring peace and prosperity for all of our worlds. To make a real difference. Not just for now, but for-EVER!”

The crowd erupted into cheers, applauding his bold new direction.

“As such, we have already entered negotiations with the Borg Collective for their unconditional surrender across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants!” Magnus announced. The audience stood to their feet, a wave of unbridled excitement washing over the crowd.

From behind him, a figure approached timidly. Out of the corner of his eye, Magnus could tell it was his assistant, Ashra. “Sir?” She gently asked.

Balking at the thought of being interrupted while on this stage in this moment, Magnus shook her off. “And we will be expanding our territory in the Gamma Quadrant with new systems joining the Federation as we speak. Federation territory will expand by fifty percent in the next two years alone.”

Again, the crowd cheered this news. They began to chant his name loudly. “MAGNUS! MAGNUS! MAGNUS!”

“Magnus?” Came a voice to his side, this time more insistent. Ashra was starting to prod his shoulder, wanting his attention.

“Not now.” Magnus hissed at her, before returning to the microphone. “And starting from today, every Tuesday will be Taco Tuesday across every Federation planet!”

“TACOS! TACOS! TACOS!” The crowd went wild.

Ashra was now pulling at his sleeve. “Sir!”

Magnus pulled away from her, annoyance ripping through his body like wildfire. “Will you stop?!” He snapped. “Can’t you see what I am doing here?”

But Ashra didn’t stop, she pushed him hard on the shoulder. “Magnus!”

Magnus stumbled backwards from the push and began to fall off the podium.

*****

Magnus opened his eyes with a jolt, his body panicking from the sensation of falling.

“Magnus?” Ashra asked again, her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, but it’s time to wake up.”

As reality set back in and he realised where he was, Temple found himself face to face with his assistant, Ashra, who was looking down upon him with an embarrassed smile. From his position on the reclined chair, waking up so suddenly from his slumber, the Ambassador could only grimace in response.

“Why?” Magnus complained, as he rubbed his face. He could still hear the adoring crowd in his ears, chanting his name, awaiting his every word. He wanted to go back to them.

“We are thirty minutes out from the Starbase.” The Caitian explained plainly as she stood upright again. “You wanted to be woken when we were thirty minutes out.”

Magnus reluctantly nodded, accepting that his sleep was now over, the crowds were gone, and that he only had himself to blame, “Well that was past Magnus. I hate that guy. Don’t listen to that guy.” He quipped as he sat back up in his chair.

Magnus was traveling in a Type-11 class shuttle, taking the long, long journey from Earth to Starbase 109. He absolutely hated long distance travel on small vessels. The engines were too close and too loud; he was constantly aware of other people being in the cabin nearby. He had only just managed to drift off to sleep when he was being awoken again. All of this was entirely his own doing, of course. Past Magnus was making decisions that Present Magnus was regretting.

He was grateful, however, that they were not far away from arriving at 109. The Starbase was a floating metropolis - decks upon decks of interesting things to see and people to meet. He never been anywhere like it in all his years of service to the Federation. The journey was worth it when the destination was somewhere so impressive in scale and operation. He was excited to get there and start exploring, and to stretch those long legs of his again. Maybe past Magnus had gotten something right, if he was being honest with himself.

Rising from his chair, Magnus gave a yawn, stretching out his arms and wriggling his back loose. Sitting at the small conference table in the cabin was Genevieve Gillard, his Federation Law expert. An impressively sophisticated, intelligent woman whom could drown you an in argument and share a bottle of wine with afterwards. Ashra, his Caitian assistance, having woken the Ambassador, was preparing an iced coffee in the replicator. They were preparing for their imminent docking at the space station on the far flung end of Federation territory known as the Delavi Expanse.

Magnus sauntered over to the small table, as Ashra delivered his cold caffeinated beverage and took her seat.

“You were talking in your sleep again.” Gen Gillard spoke with a bemused smirk, her smooth voice belying a slightly mischievous tone, though she did not look up from her briefing notes. “President again?”

Magnus smiled, “Of course.”

“I hope you weren’t still insisting on free-dress Fridays.” Gen raised a knowing eyebrow, “As campaign platforms go, I don’t think you’ll win many votes.”

“Taco Tuesday.” Magnus stated plainly. “Which, I think is a vote winner, thank you. Alright, what’s the news?” On the wall in front of them was a display map of the local region, showing the shuttle’s relative distance to SB109. He could feel the excitement growing.

“Yes,” Ashra immediately pulled up a PADD and began to read, “Operations at 109 have confirmed the new Federation embassy shall be ready shortly after your arrival. We have sent out invitations to all local representatives to set meet and greets as soon as we can.”

“Perfect.” Magnus nodded, “Anything from Earth?”

Ashra tapped her PADD and the main screen switched from the map view to a communications log. She pulled up the news wire from the Federation council and read aloud, “The vote on provisional protectorate status for Salvaxe was postponed to the Security Council for review. They’re saying it’ll be six months to a year at least.”

“Knew that was coming.” Gen remarked, “The entire proposal was rushed; the agreement full of nothing-language that said a lot but did very little to protect either them or us.”

Magnus nodded with a stale tone, “The Minister was too eager to push it through without revisions.” He didn’t wish to openly criticise his boss, the Minister for the Exterior, but to say that he was less than impressed with their handling of the diplomatic corps was an understatement. Magnus had been biting his tongue for the past year now. It was usually his first act as dream President to remove the Minister from office.

Gen gave a knowing “Ah huh” look, though neither wanted to elaborate further.

Ashra raised an eyebrow and continued, “The Drax have opened the door to bi-lateral meetings, but only if the Federation goes to them, not if they come to us.”

“Oh, well that’s progress.” Magnus remarked honestly, “I mean, every little step helps. I think the Assistant Minister will likely go.”

Gen nodded, “The trip has already been scheduled, so your conference call has been moved up to 6:30 tomorrow. The Palais is looking for trade and security arrangements. You did the preliminary work, so they want some negotiation points.”

Magnus nodded while Ashra updated the diplomat’s schedule for tomorrow. “Tell the Assistant Minister, I’ll have that by the conference call time. It’s a shame I won’t be continuing on the negotiations, but Delavi was more pressing.”

“Agreed.” Gen replied.

“What are we looking at on 109?” Magnus asked, shifting the viewscreen to a schematic of the impressively large station.

“The threat level for Delavi has recently been heightened due to an increasing presence of the Ravagers.” Ashra read from the briefing notes. “Those guys… they are brutal, Magnus. The stories we have received so far, they care little for sparing lives or acting humanely.”

Magnus nodded solemnly, “I know ships who have come across them and barely escaped.” He thought of his brother on the USS Pandora. “If they have decided to push into this sector, they can be devastating in their brutality.”

“The region has been destabilised from the renewed aggression, both from the Ravagers and other pirate activity.” Gen noted, “But 109 has become somewhat of a rally point for others, it has driven further traffic and local representatives to the station. That means more diplomatic opportunities for us to pursue. Starfleet have their hands full trying to maintain security and normal operations in the sector. We will be called to assist them with maintaining the peace, as well as hopefully developing deeper relations within the region.”

“Are we expecting trouble?” Ashra asked, a little fear creeping into her voice.

“There is no specific threat to the Ambassador.” Gen replied quickly, showing some warmth. “The new Embassy is well within the security protection of Starfleet. I would suggest caution when visiting some of the lower decks, however.”

“Good advice.” Magnus said warmly. “I expect the Commanding Officer…” He paused, searching for a name.

“Captain Francis.” Ashra interjected.

“Yes! Captain Francis, will be able to give us an understanding of any security concerns.” Magnus nodded, feeling assured. “Okay, what’s the current diplomatic field of play here.”

“There are active diplomatic offices on the station.” Gen spoke next, “Including Romulan and Trill. There’s civilian operations from the Ferengi, Betazoids, Broot, and others from the nearby regions. One local entrepreneur has several businesses on board, his name is Qaraq. He will be one to make friends with as a means of gaining access to relations with the business community on 109.”

“Hmm. I’ll see what Captain Francis thinks on that,” Magnus mused, “I don’t want to step on any toes there. Some Commanding Officers prefer for all contacts to be run through them, so I’ll defer to his preference.”

Gen and Ashra both silently nodded in agreement. There was only so much they could plan and prepare on their own. It was Starfleet’s station after all, they would be calling the shots.

“Anything else?” Magnus asked as he sadly reached the end of his iced coffee.

Ashra paused, chewing on her lip. “There is one more thing.” She took a breath and cleared her throat. “There is a commentary in the Daily Tribune claiming that you’ve taken the Delavi System role just to bolster your profile and then challenge the Minister for her role. They’re saying you’re gathering allies for the challenge, which is expected before the Spring session in parliament.”

There was a pause in the air and Magnus laughed at the audacity of the claim.

“Every six months that rag the Tribune claims someone is trying to challenge a Minister.” He shrugged, “As usual, we don’t comment on their muck-raking articles. They’re just fishing for bait because they support the Earth First movement.”

“Noted.” The Caitian nodded, actually making a note to respond with no comment in her PADD. “Sad that they feel the need to write stuff that’s not true.”

“Oh it’s true.” Magnus deadpanned. “Not the Spring session time, but the rest is. We just don’t comment on it.”

Gen chortled a little. Ashra frowned, “It is?”

“I will, eventually, when the time is right and when I know the President is receptive, I plan to challenge the Minister of the Exterior.” Magnus said plainly, “But I am not going to Delavi just to bolster my profile. My work speaks for itself already. I have signed more first contact agreements than any other Ambassador in service, I have worked on negotiations with the Alrakis Pact, Drax, and many more. I have support within the cabinet and diplomatic corps.”

“So why are we going to Delavi?” Ashra asked honestly, “If it’s not part of that plan?”

“For the same reason I want to be minister and one day President.” Magnus shrugged.

“Taco Tuesday?” Gen smirked.

“No.” Magnus rolled his eyes at her before turning back to Ashra with a smile. “To make a difference.”

“I like that” Caitian smiled at this and felt content with the answer. She looked up at the main screen again. “We’re not far off docking now.”

“Let’s get to work.” Magnus said solemnly as the group stood from the table.

OFF

 

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