Close, But No Cigar

Settling In and Moving On

The USS Orville was declared ready for her next mission. Admiral Halsey outlined it for Ed and Kelly as they sat in the Orville briefing room. "Are you familiar with the Navarian-Bruidian conflict?"

"Over Lopovius? Sure. Oh, boy," Ed replied to Halsey' question.

Kelly squinted in confusion. "Uh, you might have to refresh my memory."

Ed explained, "They're two races who have been fighting over the planet Lopovius forever."

Halsey took over and continued the explanation. "They each say they colonized it first. They've got some bloody history, and they're on the brink of war again... which would be a disaster, because they're right on the border of Union space, and you can bet they'll drag their allies into it. The USS Nikita was initially assigned to it, but they were unexpectedly engaged by the Krill and were taken out of commission. They survived but the ship needed extensive repairs. And, of course, the Calivon situation impacted Fleet deployments, which didn't improve the situation. It took a lot of negotiating on our part to get the two parties to resume the talks. Needless to say, tensions have risen even higher because of the delay."

Ed asked, "How can we help?"

Halsey answered, "Well, in the meantime, an ancient artifact has been discovered on Lopovius. The Bruidians and Navarians have agreed to allow it to be examined for residual DNA by a neutral Union archaeologist. If either species' DNA signature is found, that race can lay claim to the planet."

"Wow," Ed exclaimed. "Do we really think they'll honor that? I can't imagine either side losing gracefully."

"They say they will, so all we can do is take them at their word," Halsey intoned. "They've agreed to have the Orville host while they await the results. The artifact is currently aboard the USS Olympia. You will rendezvous with her in orbit of Lopovius, where you'll take on board a forensic archaeologist who will perform the tests. And the Navarians and Bruidians are each going to send an ambassador and staff."

Ed, looking resigned, told the admiral, "Well, we'll do our best."

Halsey just sighed as he replied, "I know you will."

Alara groaned when she received the name of the anthropologist, then raced to have the shuttle docking prevented, only to be too late. She looked on as Ed greeted the anthropologist, Darulio, the Retepsian Kelly cheated with which broke up their marriage. For all intents and purposes it looked like a calm and civil, if cool, reception by her command officers, the civility perhaps marred slightly by Ed simply standing there when Darulio offered his hand for Ed to shake, then let it fall to his side after an uncomfortable moment. Alara went down to them and upon seeing her, Ed told Darulio she would lead him to the lab, his face showing only calm disinterest.

The security chief asked Darulio to follow her, which he did without hesitation as Ed and Kelly looked on betraying no emotion other than cordiality.

Alara could only marvel at Ed's equanimity at learning the archeologist in question was Darulio, the Retepsian that Kelly had an affair with (which almost everyone on the ship knew about), and dealing with the delegations of the opposing factions that were constantly bickering and arguing with each other. She told Gordon as much when they were in their quarters getting ready for bed.

"Yeah, most of that is Ed being Ed, but the Darulio thing, I don't know," Gordon said. "He and Kelly seemed to have gotten close again after being trapped in that zoo all that time, so I guess seeing Darulio didn't faze him like it would have otherwise. I just hope it stays that way."

Ed may not have been as sanguine about Darulio's appearance as others believed.

"I still don't know why they couldn't have just let the artifact itself be scanned by Dr. Finn. She's the expert on genetics, not that guy. You don't need an archeologist to scan something for DNA, right?" Ed groused to Kelly, who just nodded agreement.