[I-FL] Flt. Capt. Kells: To boldly go

[Tony]

((Forward Lounge, USS Invicta))

:: After the presentation of the service ribbons from some recent disasters--Aron hesitated to call them 'missions,' though technically they were, according to the official logs--the group of officers broke up and began the reception properly. Aron, who had stood near the back, kept his eyes on Washington. He needed to speak to the Invicta's CO, but he wasn't in any great hurry to do so. Even with his memories of the last mission (...disaster...), he respected Washington and knew him to be a respected and exemplary officer--but even with all that, he didn't want to disturb the few minutes of downtime he was due.

If even that. He and Roshanara were talking, but briefly, because Aron followed Roshanara's glances: Tasnim. Actually, rather close to him. He wouldn't have minded cornering Roshanara, either, but when she detached herself from Washington, he knew where she was going. He used the opportunity to head forward. ::

Kells: Captain? Captain Washington!

Washington: Fleet Captain. I'm glad to see you were able to make it.

:: Washington's response was the sort of coolness Aron was coming to expect. He wasn't unfriendly or disinterested, but he possessed a same casual intensity that gave all things equal and dispassionate attention. Aron appreciated that about him. It was a quality he'd seen in only a few other command-level officers and other personnel--Secretary Lily Ventu, for one, and his own former CO, Fleet Captain Kalianna Nicolotti. ::

Kells: I consider it a pleasurable duty. Of course, I'm stationed here and I don't do the same for the other Expedition vessels--but I know these officers. I served as their CO for some of the missions mentioned today.

Washington: No doubt. I hope only I'll be able to award a few accolades of my own to the crew in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Kells: You will. ::beat:: And maybe sooner than you think. 

:: Well, how could he not say more after that opening? He was exasperated with himself--he wanted to talk more with Joseph Washington the man, not the CO, and get to know Washington beyond the qualities he admired. But it would be business now. ::

Kells: I have mission orders for you. Have you heard anything about a world called Adova?

Washington: Adova? No, I haven't heard anything yet.

Kells: Well, you know that Lily Ventu, Secretary of the Exterior, has had an eye on the Corridor since she was an ambassador here--and of course since the former president herself helped to launch the Invicta. ::beat:: The point here is that the Expedition's work here has a reputation far beyond our current reach, and Ventu's reach is far beyond that, even. She's asked me to see to this personally, and so I want you to take Invicta to Adova and meet with the Adovans.

Washington: ?

:: Aron hesitated slightly. This briefing wasn't a light one--but Washington needed to know in full, in order to make his own briefing to his crew. ::

Kells: Three hundred years ago, the Adovans committed genocide against a racial minority of their own population. We don't know much about this racial minority, but we do know that atonement for their past is the number one item on the agenda offered to Secretary Ventu by the Adovans' leader, the Arc. 

Washington: ?

Kells: Simply put, the Adovan government is seeking offworld alliances to help them move away from their bloody past. The Arc, via Secretary Ventu, wants help most directly in ridding their world of the weapons used against this minority--though I daresay the Arc is asking for less tangible help as well. Your job will be to assess those requests and desires and offer whatever humanitarian aid the Invicta is equipped to offer--including the removal of those weapons.

:: Disarmament was a good goal, Aron thought, but it seemed already to him like it was a possible subterfuge. Not necessarily a negative one, but what was Adovan society like now that it couldn't reasonably or easily destroy weapons that it had deployed three centuries prior? There was much they had to learn. ::

Washington: ?

Kells: I'll be meeting with the Arc myself. With your permission, I'd like to draft a small contingent of your officers to join me. ::beat:: Otherwise, the mission is completely yours, Captain. What questions can I answer for you now?

Washington: ?

Tag! and TBC!

Fleet Captain Aron Kells

Invicta Expedition Commander

Starfleet Mission to the Menthar Corridor

Author ID: V238208LV0