| SUBMITTED: Stardate 95859.5 | FILED BY: CAPT S. Bishop | SECURITY: Level 1 - Open |
LOCATION: Temple of Ancients, Kingdom of Parin, Doza Sector.
MISSION: Attend a diplomatic meeting with the Supreme Pontiff.
OUTCOME: Diplomatic meeting a success, foundations for future contact laid.
KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT S. Bishop
CAPT A. Nimitz
CAPT Z. Sel
LCDR J. Eunbi
LCDR T. zh'Kerro
LT J. Read
CAPT A. Nimitz
CAPT Z. Sel
LCDR J. Eunbi
LCDR T. zh'Kerro
LT J. Read
NARRATIVE: Following an invitiation from the Supreme Pontiff, the above officers attended a briefing on the USS Endeavour prior to visiting. The nature of this briefing centred on the discovery in the Thuton tomb. In short, the discovery found that the "Ancients", whom the Hidrun worship, are the Thutons who inserted themselves into the history and culture of the Hidrun as their gods. As part of our agreement with the Parin government, we were not to disclose any of this information to the people of Parin, and the importance of this fact was underlined in the briefing.
The visit itself was unremarkable with little to note above what is listed here; upon arrival, we could see protests taking place, along the lines of "Long Live the King". We were escorted to the Temple of the Ancients where we were greeted graciously by the High Pontiff. The Pontiff allowed us to ask questions, which we used to learn more about the Ancients and Hidrun history. The High Pontiff tried to push us to reveal more about the discovery in the tomb, but we sided on caution and let nothing slip, instead, opening an invitation to the King and his Ministers where we could discuss the findings if the government so wanted.
Shortly after this, the event concluded, and we all returned to the Endeavour without incident.
RECOMMENDATION: Continued dialogue with the Kingdom is recommended, even if it's a simple exchange of culture and history; as an academic, this would be an enriching exchange for both parties.
I believe the main reason for the invitation was to ask about the contents of the tomb. Any further interaction on this topic should be offhanded to a time where we have definitive confirmation from the King of Parin to share, most preferably with the King and his Ministers present. I will defer this to the Diplomatic Corps.
Lastly, I feel that it would be best to mention these protests. At first, I would have thought that it would have been anti-establishment, but it seemed to be pro-establishment instead. If it does not violate diplomatic protocol, I would recommend that the Intelligence should gather some information about the current affairs of Kingdom. If one was to be cynical, the invitation by the High Pontiff to divulge information on the temple without the King present could be viewed as someone trying to undermine his authority, and this is something that the Federation does not want to be involved in. All of this is conjecture, however, and we should not pass judgement until further intel has been gathered.