Consultations regarding Luwiyan Commonwealth

[Felenn]

To: Commodore A. Nimitz @Nimitz,
CDR K. Sedai @Katriel
CC: CAPT A. Mirazuni @Sam,
CAPT A. Timoreev @Timoreev
From: CAPT W. Lesyak
Subj: Consultations regarding Luwiyan Commonwealth

Commodore Nimitz, Commander Sedai!

While providing assistance to USS Attar due to propulsion issues, USS Endeavour and USS Aspasia received a distress call a few light years into newly designated sectors targeted under Tupaia Initiative Exploration.

The encounter is described in detail in the first attached AAR (Sons of Luwiya). In short, vessels of Luwiyan Commonwealth were attacked by a star-shaped vessel which Luwiyans identified as belonging to a faction called Ashuri.

The rescued crews are Humans, whom I firmly believe are ancestors of ancient Luwiyan tribes from Earth. My suspicion is they were transported from Earth in similar way like native tribes on Amerind and, in your most recent encounter, Daleike Bolians.

We have proceeded with First Contact protocol with Luwiyans and initial introduction of United Federation of Planets, as noted in my second AAR (Lord of Luwiya). I have briefly spoken with one of the individuals who serve in “head of state” capacity (head of state institution is performed by three persons in Triumvirate).

We agreed to take a brief pause for a second round of talks in order to consult our respectives commands/governments, but I am uncertain how this second round will go. As I already expressed these concerns earlier to Captains Mirazuni and Timoreev, I will not hide them here - it is not easy to keep a completely objective approach to this First Contact simply on the grounds that Luwiyans are indistinguishable from Earth Humans.

Had we encountered them under peaceful conditions, I would have no doubts how to proceed. However, I am concerned that Luwiyan government may request assistance in containing what may be a re-emerging threat by the Ashuri and they may base this request on their ancestral connection to Earth. Not out of ill will, but simply out of natural desire to survive.

Of Ashuri, we know nothing yet except that the star-shaped vessel which we had encountered had no crew aboard (at least not carbon-based one) and that it was heavily armed.

Therefore, any indications of cooperation against the Ashuri would be based on our currently “one-sided knowledge” of Luwiyan-Ashuri conflict.

I am seeking advice on a following question: How should USS Attar, USS Endevaour and USS Aspasia respond in case of another Ashuri-Luwiyan skirmish while our vessels are in Commonwealth-claimed territories and, especially, during the currently ongoing diplomatic efforts?

I am aware there is no straightforward answer and the best one can provide are general guidelines for different sets of circumstances. Prime Directive has broad interpretations but not many cover displaced populations like Luwiyan Humans or Daleike Bolians.

I will be grateful for different perspectives in this matter.

Thank you for your time.

//SIGNED//
Wanya Lesyak
Commanding Officer,
USS Aspasia

—

//ATTACHMENT// AAR: Sons of Luwiya, AAR: Lords Luwiya

[Nimitz]

To: CAPT W. Lesyak
CC: @38th.Command, CAPT A. Mirazuni, CAPT A. Timoreev, CMDR K. Sedai
From: CDRE A.H. Nimitz
Subj: RE: Consultations

I’ve taken time to review the reports, I can’t say I have much to offer upon the subject of actual consultation. It is clear that before the Federation can provide any real assistance to the Luwiyans, there must be a permanent peace with the Ashuri.

In the event of another outbreak of hostilities, we must remain a neutral third party, humanitarian efforts and aid can and must be rendered after hostilities cease to both parties. Efforts to protect Civilian population centers should be taken into consideration if possible without violating our stance of neutrality.

That’s said, should either side take hostile action against your vessel, you are expected to take any and all measures necessary to preserve your commands and the lives of your crew.

At this time, should the Luwiyans wish to explore Federation protectorate status or annexation based on their Earth origins, we can not open discussions until the state of hostilities between the Ashuri and the Luwiyans have been permanently settled. If needed, we can try to send a team of Horta diplomats to open negotiations with the Ashuri should they wish for a non-Humanoid party to avoid favoritism from the Federation due to their connection to Earth.

//SIGNED//
Alistair H. Nimitz
Strategic Operations Officer
38th Fleet

[Katriel]

To: CAPT W. Lesyak
CC: @38th.Command, CAPT A. Nimitz, CAPT A. Mirazuni, CAPT A. Timoreev, CAPT Kermit, J. ((@kermit))
From: CMDR Sedai
Subj: Re: Consultations regarding Luwiyan Commonwealth

Good evening, Captain Lesyak.

What a remarkable set of events. While I appreciate being consulted, however, this is a drastically different set of circumstances from Daleike to the point where I find comparisons to be fairly meaningless. The Luwiyans, Earth origin or not, have independently evolved through thousands of years of civilization, to the point of developing working starship and warp technology, so though I understand the impulsive emotional kinship that may be felt, the diplomatic strategy cannot follow any policy except ones we would use for any new alien species we encounter. Earth has no right or claim to these people and any application of the Prime Directive here would be borderline preposterous.

To that end, any assistance rendered to the Luwiyans should be generally limited to defensive measures; under no circumstance would sharing in an offensive against the Ashuri be condoned. Priority and resources need to go towards studying and tracking the Ashuri so that they and their motives can be better understood. This goes hand in hand in understanding more about Luwiyan history: as the ‘displaced’ civilization, there remains the uncomfortable possibility that their presumptive claim to the Luwiyan star cluster could be superceded by some more ancient claim that none of us (including the Luwiyan) are aware of.

Finally, the coincidence of two displaced civilizations in neighboring star sectors is straining all credibility and I am frankly wondering if a proposal to halt all free exploration in Tupaia should be considered. It begs the question if there are other displaced populations located in the immediate vicinity and whether or not we might be near an epicenter of Progenitor or other less known or totally unknown supercivilization’s interfering activities. One has to ask if even the Ashuri themselves might be displaced from somewhere!

//SIGNED//
CMDR K. Sedai
XO/Science, USS Reyga