What are these? (Part Five)

Posted on Sun Mar 29th, 2026 @ 9:52am by Legate Andrinn Orin

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Orin's Quarters
Timeline: MD1-2 (Between meetings)
1593 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Andrinn found some time between meetings on the planet to come back up to the ship for a quick shower, wardrobe change, and a little bit of time to think. The first day of meeting with the officials of Teevs' homeworld was crammed packed and there was some interesting thoughts and ideas exchanged during those meetings.

One of the things that Andrinn enjoyed was almost something he thought was going to derail the whole set of meetings. When he mentioned that there were so many people outside of this galaxy, Andrinn thought that there could have been a moment of this is too much. He had seen it way too many times before, even with space fairing people, where they think their doctrine is right and everyone else has to fall into line. Andrinn was thinking about that one species that came from Earth and eventually landed in the Delta Quadrant. He couldn't remember the name off the tip of his tongue.

But, it was just something that was more of a shock for Teevs' people. It gave Andrinn a moment to include the PADD full of information that had the idioms from the worlds Andrinn was able to go through thus far. So, since he had a moment to just sit and think about it after getting cleaned up form his shower, Andrinn decided to add another one to the database.

This time....the Cardassians came to mind.

Andrinn asked for the computer to find some of the idioms and sayings that the Cardassians to that point were known for. Cardassians, especially their old elusive Obsidian Order, was something that was definitely intriguing for Andrinn. He couldn't wrap his head around the idea of having to basically hide in the shadows to figure something out. But, alas, Andrinn knew that there was also Section 31 as well for the Federation. Even if he didn't want to know about it.

He waved away any of the thoughts that he might've had. Andrinn turned his attention back to the screen in front of him as the information he requested was starting to be displayed.

Exactly as he thought, some of the first ones were very....Obsidian Order-esq. The first one that showed up on the screen was "If you see the knife, you have already been judged." The information below is said that for the Cardassian's believe that the real danger happens before you notice it sometimes. Basically, you've been judged for it already.

The next one that Andrinn read was that "A good operative never leaves a shadow. Only questions." The blurb for it said that ideal spycraft, just like for most, leaves nothing behind besides questions. No evidence. Nothing to tie the person back to the stuff they were trying to figure out. With that one, Andrinn let out a small huff that could have sounded like a small little laugh. Andrinn said to himself, "Well, if that's not Cardassian spy work, I don't know what is."

Now, the information was coming across the screen and there were several that were marked between Classic Cardassian idioms and sayings and others that were more militaristic or related back to something else. The computer notated where they might have come from and maybe even when they came from, as several came from the post Dominion War period when Garak helped to take over for the Cardassian Union.

One of the post war idioms caught Andrinn's eye and made him question it and ask questions from it. “The future is written by those who admit the past.” Again, the blurb underneath it said that this was a slightly more self aware Cardassian Union and one influenced by people like Garak. People like Garak and Grand Nagus Rom were making interesting changes across places like the Cardassian Union and the Ferengi.....just the Ferengi.

"Now, that's definitely a saying I would not have believed if you said it many years ago. Even back in the 2350's and 2360's, I would have said heck no. But, now? That's definitely something that I could see with the Cardassian Union. Definitely going to include that in the part of the database for the Cardassians," Andrinn murmured to himself.

Andrinn put in a few commands to his personal terminal in his room and got into the idioms and sayings database that he had created. He created a subsection for the Cardassians and started to put some of the sayings and everything that he found interesting into it. However, something that Andrinn included while doing this database and the also working in tandem with the Bajoran database, Andrinn made sure to put a special note about how the Bajorans were subjected to Cardassian rule for over 50 years in the early to mid 24th century. While the Dominion War was a tragedy for the entire universe as a whole, so was the Bajoran subjugation.

Something else that caught Andrinn's eyes was that there was a section of Cardassian sayings and idioms for the Bajoran people. Prior to the end of the Dominion War, they were often harsh and almost downright cruel to the Bajoran people. Almost mocking their cultural and religious beliefs. But, the part that caught Andrinn's eyes was that there was a shift during the post war period where the Cardassians were almost realizing their own faults and their idioms followed suite.

Some of the sayings included stuff like “Their faith outlived our certainty" and “A people who survive gods and conquerors need fear neither.” Andrinn almost had to read it a few more times to truly believe what he was seeing that the computer was putting out.

"Computer, are these accurate post war sayings of the Cardassians about the Bajorans?" Andrinn asked to the computer, in order to clarify that what he was about to put into a database was correct. The computer chirpped back and said, "Affirmative. Sayings in the post war era on Cardassia showed the ideological and philosophical shifts of the Cardassians towards the Bajoran people."

Andrinn scratched his chin and asked the computer, "Was there any certain reasoning as to why there was a shift besides Garak's leadership and the war itself?"

The computer chirped back and said, “Historical and sociocultural analyses indicate that the shift in Cardassian perspectives toward Bajorans cannot be attributed solely to the influence of Elim Garak or the outcome of the Dominion War. Other factors that came into play during this period included: Prolonged Exposure to Bajoran Resistance Tactics, Psychological Impact of Occupation Fatigue, Internal Political Fragmentation on Cardassia, Increased Direct Interpersonal Contact, and Religious and Philosophical Curiosity. Among other things."

"I can see some of that, but also, not," Andrinn murmured to himself again. Part of Andrinn wanted to believe that Cardassians could change and he has seen it. But, it would take more than a generation or two to do that. Or so he thought. Andrinn shrugged his shoulders as he looked over more of the information that was coming through on his screen about the idioms and sayings. There were more sayings about how the Bajorans were bad or the Federation or Humans or anyone that basically wasn't Cardassian. More sayings like “Trust a Bajoran’s faith—just not their patience" and “A Bajoran forgives slowly and remembers precisely.”

Those last sayings were stuff that meant that maybe....just maybe.....everything wasn't necessarily healed quite yet between Cardassia and Bajor. But, like Andrinn was thinking, it wouldn't take a generation or two to completely or even get close to healing the relationship that those two powers had. Was it on the mend.....yes. Were there still glass shards all over the floor.....also, yes.

Andrinn just shook his head and started putting more information over into the Cardassian database and making attachments to relevant Bajoran sayings from that database. "Computer, run a cross cultural analysis between Bajor and Cardassia. How is their relationship now and how far have they gotten along since the end of the Bajoran occupation?" Andrinn asked of the computer.

Again, with another chirp, the computer came back after a few moments and said, "There have been lessening tensions between the two powers. Especially since the end of the Dominion War. However, mutual trust between Bajor and Cardassia remains limited and conditional. Points of convergence include shared war trauma, value of survival, and pragmatic diplomacy."

"Define pragmatic diplomacy in terms of Bajor and Cardassia overlap," Andrinn asked the computer. The computer came back and said, "The practice of maintaining cooperative relations based on mutual necessity and strategic benefit, rather than emotional reconciliation or ideological alignment. In terms of the Bajor and Cardassia relationship, it means that following the end of the Bajoran Occupation and subsequent Dominion War, both Bajor and Cardassia adopted diplomatic behaviors consistent with pragmatic models. Such examples include the following: Restraint Over Retribution, Federation Alignment, and Selective Engagement."

Andrinn finally had a bit of a lightbulb moment when he heard all of that. Once the computer was done talking, Andrinn said, "That makes sense. Andrinn quietly acknowledge the computers input and started to put the rest of the sayings and idioms away. Once everything was uploaded to the computer, Andrinn said, "Save everything to their appropriate database and close out the databases. Then, upload new information to PADD #1320-Alpha-902-Beta."

A few moments later, everything was saved and uploaded to the PADD. Andrinn grabbed the PADD and headed out of his quarters before heading back down to the planet for more talks.

[OFF:]

Legate Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium