Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Vora Zorell (Scientist) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages

Posted by Captain Johann Dvorak (CO) in Johann’s Quarters- Unexpected Messages
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Could be. It would actually explain a lot, if you think about it.” He laughed slightly. “‘I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.’” Keiro Roden’s father was clearly in the ‘commerce and agriculture’ business, so it was very possible he was planning to be in any of the later ones.

Vora peered at him, head tilted. I don’t know that quote, but I can understand that philosophy.” Where did she fit in all of that? But then again she was an anomaly because she had gotten off Tenra entirely. Her path wasn’t going to fit neatly.

“It’s John Adams,” Johann said. “In a letter to his wife, Abigail. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. Hence why he had to study politics and war first.”

“Ahh, yes, that context helps,” she said.

That actually prompted another question. “Any information about his education? I would assume he has one, given how he addressed you.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Her fingers shifted over the keys, scrolling through the documents she had on display. “Hmm, yes, let me… ahh, here we go. Went to the University of Kebbran”-she glanced at Johann-“one of the major ones in the capital, to study commerce. But changed programs after two years majoring in, get this mathematics and literature.”

Vora sat back and couldn’t help the smile on her face. “I wonder how upset his family was at the change. Did they allow it or did he defy them? It makes sense that the latter might be true since he obviously met my mom somehow and they ran in similar circles. I get he impression that they were both rebelling against their families and found something kindred in each other. At least for a time.”

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

“Could be,” he said. “Pretty odd to study both mathematics and literature. I dunno how universities work on your planet, but typically people who double-major on Earth pick topics that are related to each other, because classes can be shared between them and you can build off the shared base of knowledge. Majoring in two totally different things would require doing literally double the work. Unless those are easy majors at University of Kebbran.” He hadn’t yet seen a culture where mathematics was an “easy” major, but “easy” was relative; his own primary focus of physics at Starfleet Academy was pretty rigorous… and that was before accounting for the fact that a war was on.

“Then again he can probably handle that, if his success at things he hates doing is any indication.”

– Johann Dvorak, CO

Vora nodded slowly. “There’s no further information in this article about it, but I could keep digging. He does seem the determined type, if resigned.” Thoughts touched her tongue but as she went to speak them, her voice failed. There was a lot of ways this all could go, but she was all too aware that what she did here could seriously impact them, both as a couple and as officers on this ship. She didn’t want to cause conflict-it was decidedly against her nature- but she also knew that she might not have much of a choice here, not if she followed her instincts, her heart.

~Vora Zorell, Sciences

Johann noticed that Vora looked like she had something to say, but didn’t. He wasn’t sure how to read that because that was something he had never seen her do before. Rather than stop to probe, he decided to simply continue the conversation; it would either make sense or not.

“It’s also something you could ask him about,” he said eventually. “I mean, I think we’ve found out enough about him to know he’s not a dangerous crackpot or something, assuming he actually did write this letter.” That was a safe assumption since the authenticity of the subspace message’s origin point could be trivially determined. He would make sure to do that a little later.

“I agree,” she said softly. The nuances of that message were not lost on her and her instincts told her that Kiero Roden was a good person. Someone she might want to get to know.

“I don’t know how you want to play it. With the anonymity of your authorship, I mean. But you could write him back. Meanwhile I can see if we can get the ship to head to Tenra.” It was in the Black Fleet’s area of operations, and Starfleet ships did visit the planet regularly despite Tenra not being a member (yet) of the Federation.

– Johann Dvorak, CO

A startled expression crossed Vora’s pale yellow face. “You would do that? You would go to Tenra? But why?” The words slipped out before she fully realized how they might sound. Even if it was a reasonable question, she sounded… defensive? Wary? “You were willing to put our wedding on hold because of someone I don’t know but am likely genetically linked to, but now that he seems okay, we can just hop on over to a planet full of people I’ve had interesting interactions with and that’s okay? I don’t mean to sound incredulous, but I guess I’m confused.”

~Vora Zorell, Sciences