99102.6
T'Vel
LOCATION Orbit of Kacam.
MISSION Commencement of discussion pertaining to provision of humanitarian aid for Kacam.
OUTCOME Limited success. Initial agreement established in principle for:
- Provision of formal request from Kacam; primarily nutritional/consumable
- Initial meeting of formal request from United Federation of Planets
- Permission for multiple Federation vessels to enter Kacam space to effect delivery
- Initial distribution of supply among nominated Kacam spaceports
NARRATIVE
Approach: Exploratory and transparent at all stages. Initial introductions included best-practice immediate statement of name, representation, and intended diplomatic counterpart to establish expectations. Demonstrated understanding of, and reference to, sector-wide political entities throughout discussion with Director Vetax. A variety of conversational routes employed: querying to establish and display understanding of situation, appeal to mutual interests and objectives, projection of eventual personal/professional advantage to counterpart in maintaining open dialogue, clear statement of Federation values and commitments, appeal to emotion and perceived individualist/nationalist pride.
Reception: Projected indifference to broader planetary situation. Perception of factual statements as threatening. Care taken to demonstrate resolve in the face of perceived Starfleet military presence. Displayed uninterest in mutual objectives or seemingly broader planetary health. Unwilling to share pertinent data points if at hand. Dismissive comparison made between life expectancy of broader planetary population and commodities market; not unexpected as veneer of strong bargaining position (outcome of negotiation made probable through underlying situation).
Highly averse reaction to aid offered without cost as per Azedi cultural background; priority in discussion chosen as transparency and avoiding broader sector-wide perception of UFP aid arriving with price tag attached in one or more circumstances (Further aid will require the Azedi acclimatised to its provision without charge unless UFP intends to become nineteenth wing within Bank of Bolius). This follows prior discussions of long-term and high-level priorities for sector outcomes with Amb. Perim.
Suggested line for future scenarios: UFP negotiations do not cast away foundational principles for momentary advantage regarding one individual; ongoing efforts to build trust rely on consistent demonstration of Federation policy from outset rather than necessitating potentially unsettling changes during longer term relationship-building.
Intelligence (actionable): Little. Establishment of contact: Director Vetax, Board of Directors.
Intelligence (background): Tangential state-of-play between post-Confederacy words, inferred and summarised:
- Kacam: the position of the current Board of Directors potentially (and in all probability, likely) more tenuous than previously indicated. Domestic tensions within economic strata of population: current government likely to seek active display of security. Expected volatility.
- Ralin: unable to meet contracted provisory requirements with Kacam. Expected as per prior briefings; suggests deeper faultlines cross-party than previously reported in Ralin’s inexperienced Governing Coalition in light of continued food production.
- Viggo: either unable to establish, or unwilling to prioritise, spacefaring military presence or operation concerning relief for Kacam or intervention with orbital debris. Implication of association with Viggo within conversation conspicuously undenied. Assume prior and current contact in parallel with UFP efforts.
Support: Good. Minor breach of protocol committed by myself in addressing one of Captain Tungsten’s officers directly with a query; circumstances prompted necessity of immediate inquiry. Responses efficient and informative from crew. Suggestions given by observing Captains partially employed. Admirable humanitarian instinct and inclination towards immediate action from Starfleet personnel despite political situation.
Suggested line for future scenarios: UFP intervention must be at behest of present governing bodies; cannot unilaterally decide what is best for the inhabitants of a non-member world any more than it unilaterally decides what is best for the people of [reference relevant member homeworld].
Incidents: During negotiations, an unauthorized party interjected to propose a counter-offer from a third party. Though post-negotiation conversation indicated this to be ostensibly a well-intentioned bolstering tactic, it has fundamentally undercut UFP credibility towards longer-term relief efforts. The Federation cannot be trusted to control which parties impose into negotiations from the very bridge of a Starfleet vessel; it therefore certainly cannot be trusted in the deployment of long-term relief on Kacam. This was, as such, communicated demonstrably to Director Vetax. One does not rise to ascendancy among such a governing structure by being unobservant of detail. Captain Tungsten will be able to provide further information; believe this to be unnecessary at present.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendations (short-term): Centred around immediate demonstration of reliability and credibility:
- Provision of itemized aid as per agreement in principle with Kacam
- Request to Starfleet Intelligence for report on information (publicly available) re: Chief Executive and Board of Directors – names, areas of responsibility, and broad career outline
Recommendations (long-term): Centred around mitigating initial incident/approach:
- Identify alternative contact among Board of Directors, if not Chief Executive
- Identify alternative diplomatic representative best-placed to establish new line of communication/negotiation
- Prepare strategy for antagonism within government from Director Vetax at potential replacements within diplomatic process
RECOGNITION As referenced through preceding notes on support, the crew of the USS Dragon and the other officers present are to be commended for their instinct to uphold the values of the United Federation of Planets and their professional response to immediate need.
OOC I hope I haven’t overstepped by doing one of these; if it’s not done right or is supposed to be left to the IC Captain, then please just let me know and I can amend / remove. Here’s the mission brief posting and the log of the event that @DrakeTungsten provided. Thank you again to @kermit for running the event.
