Pride in his peers

((quote: "I cannot think of a better ship than the Lotus and myself to handle such a mission, Sir."))

Certainly not the Artemis... nor me, chuckled Kheren silently in his own mind.

The Andorian was proud of his ship and would not exchange it fo any other in the fleet, even the souped up USS Lotus. But his pride did not blind him; not only was the Artemis much, much older, less advanced despite its own recent refit, significantly slower, less armored and armed than the flagship, but it was the very ship where the cultists had attempted their first coup... and where they had all been stopped and even their leader apprehended. Approaching them with his ship would not just lack the prestige of the flagship; it would be seen as a provocation.

The captain of the Artemis however still felt pride; but this time for serving in Lotus Fleet, with these officers, like this Oseno Jureth tactical officer and this Captain Gould he knew nothing about. Despite the deadly menace they were facing and all the forces raised against them, the commanding officer of the flagship still looked for the peaceful solution without fear or prejudice; something Kheren found he himself had a hard time to do where these murderous religious fanatics were concerned.

"And there is a Starfleet officer for you," he now commented to his crew.

Then he raised his voice so as to be heard by all.

"Captain Gould, I commend you for your dedication to peace and the spirit of cooperation in these trying times. My crew and I faced these cultists before; although I beleive your project is admirable, you should know this: the Horizon Children seem indeed to know in a rather vague way that the anomaly is an opening to another universe; but in typical religious confusion, they seem to beleive that we want to destroy it. That's why they act so violently and irrationally against us."

The Andorian then turned towards Allen Samji.

"Sir, it should be possible to show them how wrong they are; show them that our operation is in no way planned to destroy it but to simply contain it; and even more, show them our desire to keep it open for exploration and contact with its potential inhabitants. The possibility of colonisation over there is of course also in our minds; why not by them? They could be offered this opportunity, if they but ceased their mindless violence against others."

He made a pause to let everyone think of it before concluding:

"If Captain Gould is willing to make this overture, I beleive he should be fully supported in this. We will still be prepared if they reject reason and opt for violent insanity; but peace and friendship are always the best tool against war and enmity, Sir."