Summary
Lieutenant Junior Grade Meng Mau serves as chief diplomatic affairs officer aboard the USS Soval. She manages the ship’s diplomatic staff and ensures the Soval’s extensive ambassadorial facilities are fully utilized. Her responsibilities start before visiting representatives step aboard and often continue long after formal negotiations have ended.
Her department operates along two closely connected tracks. One group concentrates on diplomatic visitors and negotiations. These officers prepare for visiting delegations and research the customs of the people the Soval expect to receive. They arrange accommodations and provide diplomatic parties with guides aboard the ship. They also coordinate access to conference rooms, recreational areas and other facilities that might make a long stay more comfortable.
Mau takes an active role in this work. She frequently greets ambassadors and other important visitors herself. She provides tours when circumstances allow. Hospitality is part of her diplomatic approach. Guests quickly understand what is available to them aboard the Soval. A visitor who feels comfortable while on board is more likely to speak openly and develop relationships with its crew.
The second part of her department concentrates on humanitarian affairs. These officers meet with local governments and population representatives to determine what communities actually need. They work to identify shortages and establish priorities that help Starfleet personnel assign and distribute resources. Mau then works with operations, medical and science personnel to organize the response.
Department work often examines a population’s needs from different aspects. A physician might identify an urgent medical problem. Engineers could also discover that the affected community lacks sufficient power. Scientists might need access to an area controlled by a suspicious local government. Mau’s job is to keep help these teams communicate as they coordinate their efforts. Her work also works to build a relationship with those the Soval is responding to while directing crew efforts.
During negotiations she supports the command staff with cultural information. On smaller missions she sometimes conducts negotiations herself. She is especially interested in first contact and hopes to participate in as many first-contact missions as her career permits.
Appearance
Mau has a compact, rounded face. Wide cheeks give it an almost flat appearance when viewed from the front. Her jawline meets her cheekbones in a gentle curve.
A small nose sits at the center of her face. It has a relatively broad bridge despite its petite size. Two large oval eyes have an almost feline shape. Irises the color of creamy milk chocolate carry a curious glare.
Her complexion is light brown. Subtle red-gold undertones become more noticeable after she spends any time beneath direct sunlight. Her full lips carry a natural purple hue. Mau’s favorite lipstick is a shade called champagne rust.
Thick eyebrows of inky black hair frame the upper portion of her face. Her dark hair is long and heavy with only the slightest natural wave. She normally parts it directly along the center of her scalp and gathers it into a braided ponytail that reaches halfway down her back. She sometimes brings the long braid forward over one side of her chest. A ribbon or small jeweled clasp usually keeps it tied together at its end.
Her long elegant neck leads into a lithe 5’4 frame. Mau is petite but does not appear to be fragile. Years of flexibility training have made her remarkably limber. Running provides most of her regular exercise.
Personality
Mau is unusually pensive for someone in her twenties. She tends to consider what someone has said before she responds. She rarely feels the need to fill every moment of a conversation. Her quiet consideration sometimes make her seem older than she is.
This skillset developed long before her Starfleet career began.
Mau grew up as the third oldest of eight children. With seven brothers and sisters around, any sense of privacy was scarce. Disagreements were plentiful. She gradually became one of the family members most likely to step between two competing personalities. She learned when to speak and when to let someone express their anger. She also learned that resolving an argument did not always need to decide who was right.
Natural leadership skills developed from the same environment. She quickly found herself old enough to have responsibilities over her younger siblings. She still had older brothers and sisters whose authority she occasionally had to accept. The experience left her comfortable directing people without assuming that she must control every aspect of what they do.
Her social nature contrasts with her modest behavior. Mau genuinely enjoys being around people. She quickly starts to feel isolated when she spends too much time alone. The diplomat enjoys crowded dinners and long conversations with friends. She is equally happy spending an evening on the holodeck exploring some deliberately ridiculous scenario.
Despite enjoying company, she dislikes becoming the center of attention through behaviors she views as excessive or boorish. Mau tries to almost always keep her composure. She rarely drinks enough to noticeably affect herself. She becomes embarrassed if she believes she has acted without restraint.
Books are one of her quiet pleasures. She prefers to read physical books when she can obtain them. She enjoys the weight of one in her hands and the deliberate act of turning through its pages. Tea often accompanies her reading. Brewing it is almost as enjoyable to her as drinking it. She studies different preparation methods and has gradually accumulated teas from worlds visited during her career.
Diplomatic work suits her personality because it combines nearly everything she values. The work surrounds her with people. It requires careful thought and provides plenty of opportunities to mediate disagreements. It also gives her a chance to experience cultures that she might have otherwise only encountered through reports.
Mau’s ambitions are not centered entirely on rank. She also hopes to build a family of her own. Growing up in a large family made a quiet household difficult for her to imagine as a permanent life. Whatever shape her career eventually takes, she expects other people to remain at the center of it.
First contact represents the part of that future that excites her most. Mau wants to stand among people who have never met the Federation before and establish what their relationship with it can become.