Chapter 10 – Ultimatum

Captain's Log, Stardate 54979.1: We have returned with the Vidiian leader Dullahan. He has been brought before Admiral Proudmoore to face any consequences our new friends choose to impose as a result of his actions.

"If you haven't noticed, you may have bitten off more than you could chew!" said the Admiral in a rather boisterous tone. Expecting a response from his prisoner, he received only the smallest of glares.

"Captain Janeway here tells me that she once made a similar promise to you organ-thieving types, and why bother inventing my own spiel when adapting hers works just fine? If I ever, ever run across anybody like you again, the only exchange we'll have is my turbolaser fire liquefying your hulls!"

"Well, that wasn't quite what I said, but I'm not going to argue with him" added Janeway. "Still, I highly suggest that you restrict yourselves to preying on those who share a similarly-unique approach to morality as you do."

"Your actions have been nothing but hostile" finished Proudmoore. "I don't want to fight, but if I have to, I will. Don't make me destroy you."

"Seven of Nine to Janeway."

"Yes Seven?"

"We have completed our analysis of the Vidiian anti-warp weapon. Lieutenant Torres has also finished planting explosives that will destroy it once we depart."

The Captain turned to Dullahan.

"Once our teams are away, we will send you back to your station. If it were up to me, you'd be on your way to a Federation jail to await trial and likely a lengthy prison sentence, but it appears the good Admiral is more merciful than I would have been. Consider yourself fortunate."

Detonation shockwaves went entirely unnoticed by the crew of Redemption as the Star Dreadnaught's inertial compensators completely absorbed the small explosion of a few photonic charges blowing the bottom off the station which dragged their ship from lightspeed.

"I sincerely hope we do not see them again."

Janeway couldn't disagree with Proudmoore's statement toward the dematerializing Dullahan. The Vidiian situation was certainly tragic, but the means they'd chosen to alleviate it were unjustifiable in her view, especially since a cure now existed.

Were Tom Paris present, he might have called the Doctor's reunion with Denara Pel "mushy stuff."

"It's working. It's slow, but it's working!" she exclaimed upon being re-introduced to Captain Janeway, along with Admiral Jason Proudmoore in the latter's briefing room.

"And that caused a divide in the Vidiian people?"

"Sadly, yes" explained the hematologist to the Captain's question. "Many Vidiians will not live long enough to be cured, and even among those who would, grafting is still necessary in the meantime."

"So how did you end up here?" asked Proudmoore. "Please, tell us your story!"

"A Vidiian aid convoy en route to one of our colonies was hailed by a Malon waste export vessel. Obviously, we started shooting."

"What rationale would there be to do that? I recognize that many organics find the Malon unpleasant, but an unprovoked attack seems ill-advised."

Denara smiled.

"Oh, Shmullus. I must not have told you about the Vidiian's relationship with the Malon…"

"You did not, please, enlighten us."

"Well, from what you told me about your ship's reaction to this…Redemption… Vidiians being told the phage had been cured elicited a similar response. Nobody believed it at first, and the fact that the messengers were Malon just added to our doubts. You see, a long time ago some of our more aggressive Honatta tried to harvest organs from Malon—the waste export vessels were smaller and easier to board back then. But even these Malon were contaminated with theta radiation, so much that it wasn't worth it to process their organs."

"I assume these Honatta crossed Malon off their list of viable targets" said Janeway.

"Indeed they did" replied Pel. "But the damage was done. Have you heard about the Malon myth of Vihaar?"

"We have. In fact, we helped dispel that myth" said the Doctor with authority. "These so-called 'Vihaar' were simply Malon driven mad by being exposed to excessive theta radiation. Malon waste export ships would never pass Federation health and safety standards!" His tone suggested he found this shocking or incredible.

Denara chuckled. "I don't think that is a big concern for the Malon. The Vidiians became another myth—the 'organ thieves.' Malon ships adopted a shoot-on-sight policy for any Vidiian vessel. The reverse became true as well."

"So much for diplomacy" breathed Janeway.

"That's not all. As you can imagine, the Malon are not the most careful people. Some Vidiians accepted medicine brought by Malon vessels only to sicken and die even more quickly from theta radiation that contaminated the cargo."

"Classic" boomed Proudmoore, "a case of 'Nobody talks, everybody dies.' I've seen that far too many times in my own galaxy."

"I may not always agree with him, but Tuvok and his Vulcan logic would be a welcome addition to this situation." Janeway stood and continued speaking. "So what is the status of the cure now?"

"As you can see" (Pel gestured to herself) "if given time, the cure will work. But the key is to convince other Vidiians to give it that chance. I have convalesced faster due to the generosity of your Klingon crew member—most in my state would not make half this progress in twice the time I have been taking the medicine."

"So the Vidiian government thinks the cure may have been sabotaged by an enemy" reasoned the Doctor. "Is there a way we could…"

Proudmoore cut him off. "If this is as similar to conflicts in my own galaxy as I think it may be, the time for logic has long passed. In fact, it may have never existed—emotions rule the discussion and both sides refuse to accept anything other than complete admission of guilt by the other despite knowing they are equally culpable for escalation."

Dr. Pel's face turned distressed, sad. Her voice became more strained with each word.

"There is no logic here. Many Vidiians have not only become fatalistic about our chance as a species, but in the process have begun to draw pleasure from the one thing that all Vidiians have in common—the need to harvest organs from others. The hunt has ceased to be a means to an end, instead becoming a ritual all its own. The Honatta are the worst offenders, and I told them such to their faces. They are no better than the Hirogen!"

"It's not reasoning I agree with, but now I can see why some Vidiians might push back against a cure. If hunting is all they know and the solution is uncertain, then it isn't as nearly clear-cut from their perspective as it is from ours. That doesn't make it right, but any resolution would have to deal with this viewpoint."

As Janeway finished speaking, viewports went to starlines, then white-blue as Redemption jumped back to hyperspace.

"Captain, you'll be home in a little more than a day" announced Proudmoore. "Assuming we don't run into any more interruptions."

"Speaking of interruptions, this shift in technology will shake up the entire Alpha Quadrant. We should have a discussion about this before we get there."

"Now, who said I was interested in sharing?" he taunted. He was, of course, joking, but he figured humor might be a good thing, especially after the downer-fest that was the Vidiians.

Janeway glared.

"I kid, kid. Of course, there are some real safety issues we need to cover…"