Exeter Symposium (Part 5)

Posted on 23 Feb 2016 @ 12:32am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Wilhelm Von Haeften & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Duval
Edited on on 23 Feb 2016 @ 12:34am

2,585 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Jupiter Station - Deck 75, Auditorium 4
Timeline: MD 82 - 1130 hrs

Previously, on Exeter Symposium (Part 4)...

With a wink and a few subroutines the hologram quickly disabled the extra voice recognition command she had embedded into the presentation system, a safeguard in case the Bolian had done exactly what she had thought he would do based on the notes she had serruptitiously been reading inside his personal database. Her ongoing study of his paranoia continued.....

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

1130 hrs: Von Haeften Presentation

Lieutenant Wilhelm Von Haeften was frightened to death by public speaking. That did not mean he didn't do it, or that he didn't enjoy it, just that the entire time he was doing it, he had clammy hands and sweat forming at his armpits and neck.

Wil approached the speakers podium, but thought better of it, pushing the thing to one side and retrieivng the microphone that was contained therein. After engaging the mic and ensuring sound would be broadcast, Von Haeften launched into his dissertation.

"The galaxy is full of many varieties and variations of species. Some have ridges on their heads, some have gills, some tails, and some have very lovely wings. They live on volcanic worlds, ice ones, water worlds, high gravity,low gravity. They have different social mores, cultural tics, and moral standards. Yet, despite our differences, we all share the same thing..."

He let the answer hang in the air for a few seconds as he took a few steps towards his audience.

"We...love...sex."

He paused, letting his words sink into the audience. A quiet snicker was let loose from somewhere in the audience.

"It is an overwhelming drive for almost every species. Oh, it comes in various forms, sometimes on a very rigid schedule, but it occurs nonetheless. Why? Because it feels amazing! Doesnt it? If you ask most biological humanoids, they will admit that the act of lovemaking is a highly pleasureable one!"

A few more snickers came forth from the audience.

"But why is that? Why should such an act be so...awesome? Because if it sex was bad, it would not drive us to perpetuate our species, and we would die out. That is the reason why sex is good. Some of you might be disagreeing with me by saying that you know very much about bad sex, but those are individual experiences, and they don't count!" Wil said, raising his voice in mock anger at the last line.

That last one did not produce a snicker, but rather a good-natured laugh from the audience. Wil even saw an Admiral or two chuckle.

"What's more, we don't even have a drive to mate with just our own species! There are countless examples throughout the galaxy of interspecies courting and procreation. Some of the very people in this room come from such a union!" the teutonic scientist said, gesturing towards the crowd.

"This is all well and good, right? Love is love and that is the way of the universe, right? Wrong!"

Wilhelm walked briskly to the other side of the stage, to now primarily address and look at the other side of the room.

"Cultures view romance with other species in a myriad of different ways, both positive and negative, and that is what we will be addressing here today, both from myself, and god-willing, some lucky victims...I mean volunteers." Wil said, smiling.

Another mild chuckle from the audience.

"We are going to talk about a handful of different cultures to see how they view interspecies romance through their own social mores. These will be brief, and there are obvious literature if you wish to learn more, although I would be careful as the search engine might lead you to Extranet sites which might lead you to a stern talking to by your commanding officers."

That one got some uproarious laughter from the audience.

"Firstly, the only species I can talk about with any authority: humans, or terrans if you prefer. We are a diverse lot, and have our own sets of tastes even within our own cultures. Some men prefer dark-skinned women, some female terrans prefer tall men, and so forth. And some even prefer to exclusively date different species! The point is, that we are so diverse in our opinions of what is and is not attractive, that our conclusion is thus..."

Again, the German let it sink in.

"...if it is even remotely possible we can mate with you, we are gonna try!"

More riotous laughter, mostly from the human audience members at the self-deprecating wit.

"In all seriousness, by and large, human social mores do not have any issues with a man bringing home a Tellarite gal, or a female Terran bringing home a klingon. We also do not exclude based on gender; if a female loves a female of another species, we say go for it! Don't look that up on the extranet; it won't end well." the German presenter spoke to Admiral Saalm for the next part. "I'm terribly sorry about that again ma'am. I'll have it removed from the science computers immediately following this."

The audience was enjoying the humor Wil felt, as that joke, aimed at himself and not at any particular person or species, brought the most laughter.

"Next, are our friends, those lovably logical bastions of stoicism, the Vulcans. Vulcans are interesting in that, like Humans, they have a relatively open view on relationships outside of Vulcan, although the hyper-traditional circles of Vulcan sometimes frown on the act, these are a strict minority. It is not uncommon to see Vulcan in relationships with humans, tellerites, Andorians, even Klingon unions are not unheard of. The only union that consistently brings about controversy among Vulcans is Romulan and Vulcan courtships. Interestingly, unions of a Vulcan male to a Romulan female are viewed as far less noteworthy than one of Vulcan females to Romulan males. Emotional protectiveness of daughters by their fathers perhaps?" Wil said, raising an eyebrow.

That one got a chuckle from a handful, which Wil expected. He wasn't sure he'd be able to top his earlier laugh riot due to the mockery of himself, but he continued regardless.

"Getting back to the serious part of our discussion.." Wil did an aside. "Hint: it's not coming...Vulcans see little issue with engaging in relationships outside of their species, so long as its not "for fun", and the primary purpose is procreation, as it is "logical" to seek outside genetic material to enrich the race."

Wil took a sip of water from near the lectern, mostly to buy time as he collected his thoughts.

"I mentioned Klingons. 'What about them?' I hear you clamoring. Don't fret, I'll feed you my little baby birds."

A mild chuckle.

"Klingons are an enigma in this regard, with the seeming answer being: 'depends'. It depends on how 'Klingon-like' the other species is, and if the marriage produces good, healthy off-spring. If the offspring are raised in traditional Klingon ways, even gooder." Wil said, deliberately using the grammatically incorrect word.

"The most traditional of Klingons would say that any relationships with outsiders brings no honor to your house and weakens the race at best. At worst, it makes Klingon forget their traditional ways as they succumb to that most dreadful poison: love. More liberal elements in Klingon society pretty much take the route of humans: if I can mate with it, I'm going to."

A laugh slightly louder than the last one.

Wil glanced at the chrono on the wall to time him. He was 10 minutes in.

"Betazoids are next. Vaguely human in their primary physiology, at least when it comes to love, Betazoids by and large do not indulge in marriages with other species. This is due primarily to the fact that Betazoids unique telepathic abilities allow them to read the minds of others, or at least sense emotional states. Only the most disciplined of non-telepathic races can shield themselves from this gift. Why is this a big deal, you might ask? Well, to quote a Betazoid security Don Juan I once knew in the Reserves: 'It's no fun dating human women; I already know what they want, when they want it. There's no mystery, no guessing, which makes life fun.'"

Wil quirked an eyebrow high enough so that his audience could see him do it.

"Someone needs to tell that guy that I would happily trade him my ignorance for his insight. Maybe then I wouldn't smell of red wine so often at parties." Wil mimed a drink being throw in his face.

The audience roared their approval at that skit.

"Lastly, we'll cover Orions, because, let's face it: we all find them attractive. The image of the Orion slave girl is one that uh *ahem* sticks in a lot of people's minds, but what happens if you were to, say, find some nice, respectable Orion girl, and bring her home, or what if she brought you home to meet mom and dad? Again...depends."

"Orion society is deeply matriarchal; women have more freedom to socially maneuver than men do. What this means is, that an Orion girl can introduce her Klingon, her human, her vulcan boyfriend to her parents, and everything is all smiles and laughter and everything is great."

Wilhelm casually looked over his audience before continuing.

"But if an Orion man brings home a human, a Klingon, a Tellerite gal? Oh no! How could you do this to us son!?"

More chuckling from the audience.

Duval was among those who laughed and chuckled but he said nothing.

"An Orion man, any Orion man, whether the family is deeply conservative or staunchly liberal in their beliefs, that brings home an introduces a lady not of their own species, is instantly met with disapproving looks, and usually, heavily encouraged to look for some nice olive-skinned girl instead. This is not to say that unions between Orion men and females of other species do not happen; quite the opposite. Its just that every instance of this usually ends in icy relationships between families, or, at worst, banishment from Orion."

Wil took another sip of water to quench his parched throat.

"Through this examination of inter-species courtship, I hope we've learned something today: number one, humans will make love to anything that moves."

The audience laughed at that one.

"Number two, it is "only logical" for you to date a vulcan, as I'm sure our Vulcan audience members will agree." Von Haeften said, nodding his head as he spoke to Vulcan members he could see in the audience. Another chuckle rang up from the audience.

"And three, it doesn't matter what or whom you are attracted to. Go out and love whom you choose and how you choose. Because, to borrow our friends the Vulcan's saying, if there is a creator of the universe, he must love endless variety, as so many different models of life have been created. Let us love who we wish, and see infinite diversity..."

A few seconds to gaze around the room. Pointing briefly to each new species of the audience he could see, before finally pointing to himself.

"...in infinite combinations. Thank you ladies and gentlemen."

The audience gave him applause, and a few members who particularly laughed even stood up. It was by no means a standing ovation and calls for encores, but Wil thought it was successful nonetheless.

Duval smiled, he found the speaker to be highly interesting but he had no questions as his thoughts went to his brother who as fortune had it, was married to a Vulcan woman with four children with her. He smiled as he thought of T'Leneera as he had been the one to introduce her to his brother over fifteen years ago. He missed his friend.

"Before they introduce our next speaker, are there any questions from the audience or comments?"

Once things had died down a short of stature Vulcan lady waved a hand. "Lieutenant S'veh'ek. As has been noted previously in the literature, development of sex, or sexes is to help the mixing of genes. The hybrid vigor model of which you doubt are aware. Other than Horta, do you think such an idea would also extend to other alternative biochemical species as well?"

Von haeften had a feeling this would come up, and had prepared something for it.

"It certainly is possible ma'am; we have seen a radically large amount of species that are unisexual, that is, they contain only one gender. So far as we have seen, there is an absence of, shall we say, complex, lifeforms, such as ourselves. This is not to say the Horta is not complex life, as surely it has shown that it is. But so far as we have found, more complicated life forms, like those that develop language as we understand it or space travel, seem to require more than one sex, possibily in order to allow the genetic mutations that bring about such things as dexterous hands and large brain capacity. Research in this field is still ongoing, however, so I fear I cannot provide a definite answer at this time. Sorry."

A human cadet senior in the audience raised a hand.

"Cadet Bellman. Sir, would you say that, as a starfleet officer, your sexcapades are frequent, since the appeal to exploration and adventure tends to attract partners rather robustly? Or have you found that the imminent danger can cause those not accustomed to the dynamics of StarFleet life to 'run away', so to say."

The cadet appeared deadly serious and slightly creepy.

"Uh...firstly Cadet, may I say that frankly, my sex life is none of your business. That being said, I'm certain that few of us in this room are high up on the Kirk Scale..."

The audience laughed at Wil's reference to the tongue-in-cheek rating scale that "measured" a persons attractiveness.

"...I think we attract partners more based upon factors such as mutual interests as well as possible bio-chemical signals that are little understood even today, rather than our occupations. If that was the case, every Marine in here would put Kirk to shame, right Marines?" Wil called out the Marines he saw seated around the auditorium.

"OO-RAH!" Came a loud crescendo from those few Marines, who enjoyed the good natured back and forth witticisms between themselves and the rest of the fleet.

"Anyone else?"

The moderator stood and said, "We are running a bit behind. Thank you Lieutenant for a most......shall we say stimulating talk."

Duval smiled to himself, sometimes these events were as dull as watching paint dry but other times like now, they were great fun to be at and he was having a grand old time.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero V
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 2nd Class Rebecca Williams
Yeoman to the Commanding Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC McCarthy]

LCmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
(and a few temp NPCs asking questions)
USS Galileo

Lieutenant j.g. Naois Mercy
Counsellor
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

PO2 Rheneas Malacy
Archaeologist/engineer
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
pnpc Tyrion

...and other assorted Galileans

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