CHAPTER 9
"Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history."
-Joan Wallach Scott
FEDERATION GALAXY-CLASS STARSHIP USS ENTERPRISE, IN ORBIT, MALCOR III
JANUARY 2367
Guinan found Rileeta laying her head on her arms on a table by one of the windows in Ten Forward. She pulled out the chair opposite the other woman and sat down, joining her in looking out the window. After a short while, Rileeta turned her head on her arms and asked, "What are you?"
"I told you. I'm the bartender. And I listen."
"Bartenders do not attend senior staff briefings."
"This one does."
She sniffed. "What for? You didn't even say a word."
"Neither did Worf, or Data."
"They're officers. They're supposed to be there."
Guinan shrugged and turned her eyes back out the window.
After another lengthy silence Rileeta asked, "So what do you want? Why did you come over here?"
The El Aurian looked down again, "You look like someone who needs someone to listen."
"To what?"
She shrugged again. "Maybe to this huge grudge you have against Jean-Luc."
"It's not a grudge. He betrayed my mate."
"Didn't sound like it to me."
"He arrested him. He testified against him in court, he put him in prison without a second thought and walked away like it hadn't mattered."
"Which part of that was a betrayal?"
Rileeta glared at Guinan. "All of it?"
"So, because they were friends you expected Jean-Luc to just ignore a spy aboard his ship?"
"He didn't have to turn him in. He could have made him just go back to the Imperium. He would have. Do you know he's not even allowed in the Federation any more? He can't visit our family's farm in Yorkshire. He can't visit me. I'm gone so often on these missions and I don't get to have him with me. I only get to see him and our kits when I'm back on Dosad."
"What does he think about what happened?"
Rileeta looked out the window again.
After a few moments Guinan prompted, "What Jean-Luc said is right, isn't it? He doesn't hold it against him. He knows he was only doing his duty."
Rileeta sniffed. "He spent too long in prison. It messed him up. He used to talk to people who weren't there. It took us about a year to get him mostly back to normal."
Guinan nodded, but said nothing.
"It was another three years after his release before I really got to spend a lot of time with him. That's when we became mates." She smiled at that memory.
"So, all those years you were always together and you were his mate but it never clicked for you. And then, he's taken away from you for a while and all of a sudden it clicks for you. Sounds to me like Jean-Luc did you two a favor."
"What? No. That's not how it works. And that wasn't why he had him arrested!"
Reasonably, Guinan said, "No, he had him arrested because he was a spy. But the effect was that it kick-started you into no longer seeing Lorac as something you could always count on. It pushed you into making a choice, even if it wasn't anywhere near the conscious level. And you hate him for that? Seems to me that you're the one who betrayed him."
Rileeta's jaw dropped open, "That's not true. He did! He tore us apart!"
"And Lorac being a spy had nothing to do with it? Did you continue aboard the Reliant with Jean-Luc after the trial?"
Her ears and whiskers drooped. "I had to. They wouldn't release me. I was always under suspicion though after that. But we still had a major mission to run."
"That had to be hard."
"It was. Lorac was in prison because of him and I still had to work with him. We tried to avoid each other when we could."
The two women fell silent for a few minutes, looking out the window.
Guinan spoke again, "You know, in all the many years I've known Jean-Luc, he's never mentioned you."
Rileeta snorted, and continued to look out the window.
"I don't think it was easy for him. I think he did his duty. Aren't you Dosadi supposed to be all about honor, even if it's painful and costly?"
She twitched her ear and tail dismissively.
"Do you want to know what I think?"
"Not particularly."
"I think you've known for what, almost forty years? That he did the right thing. The only thing he could, in honor do. And I think you've trapped yourself. You want to be loyal to your mate so you're angry at a dear friend for hurting him, even though he didn't have a choice because of what your mate did. But you can't be angry at your mate, so you've shifted that to Jean-Luc. And you absolutely refuse to admit that you were, and are, wrong.
"And I think you've been so spitting-angry and unpleasant to everyone who's ever called you on it that people just stopped calling you on it. You're wrong."
Rileeta's ears were back. She said, very quietly, "Do you want to know what I think?"
"I can guess."
"You're a bitch who doesn't know what she's talking about."
Guinan inclined her head, "I've been called worse by better. You Dosadi like history and philosophy right?"
Rileeta shrugged and went back to looking out the window.
"Here's something to take with you when you head back into that briefing – which you're due back in after so unprofessionally walking out of - in about 10 minutes. Many centuries ago, in China on Earth, two monks were walking along a dusty path. These monks were sworn to the study of the mind and philosophy and so wouldn't have anything to do with women. They didn't want to be distracted or confused, so they wouldn't talk with them or touch them; nothing!
"But as they were walking, they came to a river. It was only about thigh-deep, so it could be forded easily. But there was a beautiful woman standing on the bank, dressed in expensive and delicate clothing. If she were to wade across, her fine clothes would be ruined.
"The elder of the two monks smiled at the woman, and invited her to climb on his back; He would carry her across the river. Which is exactly what he did.
"The two monks continued their journey for another few kilometers before the younger monk finally couldn't stand it any more. He berated his brother for what he had done. 'Brother! How could you do that? We are sworn to purity! You touched a woman! A beautiful woman! Her arms and legs were wrapped around you!'
"The elder monk smiled at his younger brother and said, "Brother, I set her down there upon the bank. Why are you still carrying her?"
Rileeta snorted again.
Guinan pushed her chair back and stood up. "I think it's time you put that grudge down. Everyone else has long since left it." After a few moments of being ignored, she left and went back to her bar.
Rileeta was the last person to re-enter the briefing room and all eyes were upon her as she walked through the doors. She went to the chair she had been in and sat down. Troi watched her walk past and focused on riding out the storm of emotions radiating off her.
Picard said, "Now then. What are our options?"
La Forge said, "We can wait until I finish the scan, but that will take time. And we should probably run it a second time in case he was moved from some place I hadn't scanned back to one after I completed scanning it."
There were no other suggestions. "I wanted options from each of you. Doctor?"
"I'm sorry, Captain. Until we locate Will, there's nothing I can do. I've been working with Geordi to help him refine the differences between the two species though."
"Worf?"
"My suggestion would be a violation of the Prime Directive, according to the First Contact protocols."
"I'm afraid we may be to that point, Lieutenant."
Rileeta said, "No! Jean-Luc, we've spent years on this mission. We are close to success – there is no reason for an armed raid, especially when you don't even know where you want to assault!"
"I wasn't talking about an armed raid, Captain."
She looked puzzled. "What are you talking about then?"
He thought for a moment. "I think it's time that we went ahead and made first contact, Rileeta."
"You're not talking about a public display are you?"
"No, I'm talking about making direct contact with someone in their government who can help us locate Commander Riker."
She frowned. "That would be jumping us ahead by almost a month, Captain, but I think I can have my team ready to..."
"No. Just myself and...Counselor Troi."
Her jaw sagged open. "What?"
"I don't want to alter your plans. The work you have done is too valuable to throw away – What I want to do is a very small, very personal contact with one individual. Someone open to the idea, someone who can help us. Leave your original plan in place. This will be a contact for just this purpose alone."
"So a secret contact then?"
"Yes."
"Marasta Yale." Rileeta said without hesitation.
"Who is that?"
"She is the head of their warp research project. She's very forward thinking, well-connected, and knows many like-minded people. I can think of no one else better suited for you to ask for help. But I would strongly caution you against contacting anyone else. A secret may be kept between two people, but not three."
Picard smiled. "That seems like good advice, Captain."
SPACE RESEARCH FACILITY, CAPITAL CITY, MALCOR III
JANUARY 2367
The doors to the operations center swung open and Marasta Yale walked in and sat down at the main console. She began to type commands in order to view the status of the various probes and rovers that were exploring their solar system. There was a strange sound from behind her and she swiveled her chair around to see two very strange looking beings standing in her lab.
In as mild a tone as possible, Captain Picard said, "Excuse me, Mirasta Yale?"
Trying to determine just what was going on she asked, "Yes?" Slightly alarmed, she got to her feet.
"My name is Jean Luc-Picard. This is my associate Deanna Troi. May we come in?"
"Who are you?"
Deanna, sensing the stress and alarm in the Malcorian, tried to calm her. "Please don't be alarmed by our appearance... We've come with some... important information."
"About what?"
Picard said, "About space. About the universe you are preparing to enter."
Troi continued, "We are from a federation of planets, Mirasta. Captain Picard is from a planet called Earth more than two thousand light years from here. I am from another planet called Betazed."
Suspicious, Mirasta could only grunt, "Uh huh."
Picard, projecting confidence and friendship said, "We have been monitoring your progress toward warp drive capability. When a society reaches your level of technology and is clearly about to initiate warp travel, we believe it is time to make first contact. We prefer meeting like this rather than a random confrontation in deep space.
Deana added "We've come to you first because you are a leader in the scientific community. And scientists can generally accept our arrival more easily than others."
The Captain again continued, "We almost always encounter fear and shock on this sort of mission. We hope you will be able to help facilitate our introduction."
Mirasta had had enough. "Is this a joke? Did Lupo and the others at the lab put you up to this?"
Smiling, Picard held up his hands "I assure you this is no joke. You can see we are quite physically different than Malcorians. And with your permission, I am prepared to prove what I am saying."
Hesitating, but beginning to suspect that this was indeed no joke, she allowed, "All right."
Picard tapped his comm-badge, "Picard to Enterprise. Three to beam up." and moments later, the transporter beam dissolved them in a shimmer of colors.
FEDERATION GALAXY-CLASS STARSHIP USS ENTERPRISE, IN ORBIT, MALCOR III
JANUARY 2367
Rileeta sat in a back table of Ten-Forward, waiting. They had decided that she would remain in the background, as she preferred, leaving the actual contact for this species to others. It was far easier for her to maintain a professional detachment if she were not personally involved. That lesson had been learned the hard way.
Finally, Picard, Troi, and Yale walked into the lounge.
Mirasta was still looking around with child-like wonder. "It's beyond words...everything I've ever dreamed about... When I was a child, my parents would take me to the planetarium and we would sit in the dark and it was as if I was on a spaceship on my way to another world... to meet people from other planets."
Troi guided her towards one of the tables by the windows, "Now that you're about to travel beyond your own solar system, you will meet a great many more people from other planets, Mirasta."
Captain Picard again let her know, "The Federation prefers to make first contact like this, rather than a random confrontation in deep space."
Still looking out the windows in wonder, the Malcorian said, "A part of me still expects the lights to come up as the program ends." She paused. "How did you know about me?"
Troi smiled, "One of the things we do is monitor broadcast signals. We listen to your journalism, your music, your humor. We try to better understand you as a people."
Mirasta laughed, "I hate to think how you would judge us based upon our popular music and entertainment."
Picard leaned forward slightly. "To be sure, we get an incomplete picture from long distance. That's why we also do... on-surface reconnaissance."
She studied him for a few moments. It made sense. "You've had people on our planet?"
Troi confirmed it, "For several years."
Picard moved to re-assure her, "We've found that the most hazardous aspect of this kind of mission is a lack of sufficient information."
Yale snorted, "You don't have to explain. I understand. But not everyone on my planet would. They would think you were trying to infiltrate our security."
Captain Picard steeled himself and opened the issue, "We do have a complication here, Mirasta. One of our people is missing. My first officer, Commander William Riker. He was on the surface to coordinate the final details with our observation team when he disappeared. Our people have made inquiries, but we have not been able to locate him. If there's any way you can help."
"Of course. Where was Riker's last known location?"
Troi supplied, "The capital city. He was there under the name of Rivas Jakara, a tourist from the Marta community."
Worried, Mirasta warned them, "We've got to find him before someone realizes what he really is. If this gets out prematurely, it will seriously complicate matters." She thought for a few moments. "Introducing you to this world will not be an easy matter."
Deanna nodded, "It never is."
"You must already know that my people are in a transitory stage. An old staid culture has been pulled into the future by Chancellor Durken...but it is not easy to discard deep-rooted beliefs. Our entire ideology is based on the assumption that the Malrorian is the surpreme lifeform and that our world is the center of the universe. Your arrival will change our entire understanding of life...Some will not want it to change."
Picard asked, "What about Durken?"
Rileeta sat up straight, her ears focused on the trio at the table. She thought to herself, "No! Jean-Luc not again!"
"Durken will be open-minded. But cautious. I strongly suggest that you do not discuss your surveillance teams with him...not right away at least."
"But, with the disappearance of Commander Riker, wouldn't it be prudent..."
Interrupting him, Mirasta continued, "Captain Picard, you must trust me on this. If you tell the Chancellor about Commander Riker, it would undermine everything you hope to accomplish here."
Both Troi and Picard sat back, unhappy. She kept the pressure on, "Durken would assign Krola, the Minister of Security, to find him. Krola has his own political agenda. He will perceive you as the greatest threat my people have ever known. And he will not hesitate to use Riker to prove he is correct."
A short while later Guinan brought Rileeta yet another Dosadi whiskey. "I think that's going to have to be your last one." Seeing that the Dosadi looked completely miserable, she sat down opposite her, again saying nothing.
Rileeta finally picked up the glass and swallowed another long drink of the dark green whiskey. Not looking at Guinan she whispered, "It's going to happen again."
Puzzled, Guinan asked "What is?" She couldn't think how anything that had been going on related to anything Rileeta had talked about so far.
"You still don't really know him."
"Our relationship is beyond anything you can imagine."
"Has he told you about Landon IV yet?"
"No. Should he?"
Rileeta snorted. "Considering he ignored my advice, again, and took over my mission, again, and is about to destroy another entire planet full of people, again; yeah, I think maybe he should."
Guinan frowned. "Maybe you should. Though your point of view on events involving Jean-Luc appears to be pretty biased."
She laughed; a hollow, haunted sound. "I'll tell you. Then you can look it up and see if I'm being biased."
CITY OF VOGA, SOUTH-EASTERN CONTINENT, NATION OF PARLANG, LANDON IV
NOVEMBER 2331
Rileeta changed the program on the view-screen. The team was sitting in the inner chamber of their safe-house and bringing Picard up to speed. LT Picard watched the latest images – an action-adventure fiction full of patriotic themes and clever dialog. He shook his head. "So much nationalism."
Rileeta commented, "That's not always a bad thing, Jean-Luc." It was challenging for her to interact civilly with him, although she was trying. She would never forgive him for betraying Lorac – for arresting him, for testifying against him, for seeing to it that he was rotting in Ceres even now. She closed off that line of thought quickly. 'Mission first', she reminded herself. "Pride in one's self and people can be a drive to greatness – here, let me find one on their space program."
She quickly flicked through a few more broadcasts until she came to one focusing on science. "Look – this one is talking about the benefits to everyone from the ability to go faster than light – the ability to find new resources, new lands, new challenges! There is a lot of conflict on this planet, but they are moving towards unity. It's just not an easy process."
They watched the show, Picard commenting, "These people seem to be driven to explore."
"Many of the nations here are. There are some that want to conquer, driven by lust for power or theology, but the vast majority just want to live in peace. Their architecture is beautiful – let me take you for a ride through the city and I'll show you!"
"A ride? Rileeta, you're the only one on this team who looks anything like a Landoner. You took a huge risk getting this safe-house. Speaking of which, how did you even do that?"
She grinned. "I replicated enough money to buy it outright." Seeing his look of concern she sighed and said, "I've got a good cover story. I'm the daughter of a rich land-owner from the Maenali. There is a lot of corruption in that nation and a few rich land-owners control giant swaths of farmland. They keep most of the population in poverty and force them to work the land – No one even blinked at the story."
"And you think these people are ready for first contact?"
"Yes. They're not perfect, Jean-Luc, no one is. But their technology is growing rapidly – faster than their society can adapt. Once they see what awaits them, they will come together. That nationalistic drive you are so worried about, that 'us-vs-them' attitude will show them that they are all Landoners; These silly differences will evaporate.
"Ride with me – you'll wear a full cloak and be inside a lifter, no one will know you're an alien. We've done this before, there's no risk."
Half an hour later as they wound their way through the lower traffic-levels in Voga, Picard had to admit she had a point about the beauty of the city. Central planning had resulted in a city of elegance with soaring towers in complementary colors and design. Bridges joined building to building with delicate strands and the flow of lifter traffic winding it's way around the buildings completed a vibrant tapestry of life. Even the poor here would be considered well-off anywhere else on this planet.
The streets were clean, the buildings sparkling and showing a wide variety of artwork, and the people were well-organized as they went about their daily life. It seemed incongruous with what he knew of the chaos across most of the planet. He needed to see more.
NEAR VILLAGE OF BALRAST, EQUATORIAL CONTINENT, NATION OF MAENALI, LANDON IV
DECEMBER 2331
The team was lying prone on a small ridge overlooking a rustic village a few hundred meters away. The houses were little more than huts, but the dense forest around them was lush and the people who lived there looked healthy and happy as they went about the bustle of daily life.
Lieutenant Picard, his active camouflage battle dress making him essentially invisible, put down his binoculars and looked at Lieutenant Rileeta. "They really do look an awful lot like you, Rileeta."
She smiled and lowered her own binoculars. Day by day she still struggled to even be civil to this man, much less work with him in the field. But, she continued to remind herself that the mission came first – honor demanded it. "I know. I've actually been in the village talking with some of them. They're a lot closer to Dosadi markings and build than the Parlangs in the South-Eastern continent. I'm pretty sure the higher tech and better nutrition there have a lot to do with them being so much larger and stronger."
"You've taken a lot of risks on this mission."
"Not really. The UT implant makes it easy to communicate. And the information has been invaluable. This planet is in a tremendous amount of flux. Only the Parlangs are so close to breaking the warp barrier. There are a few other higher tech nations with space flight capability, but not many."
"How many total nations?"
"175."
Picard looked stunned. "That many? How are these people at all ready for first contact? Especially with such a gulf between their technological and societal developments? "
"The Parlangs are about to launch a warp-powered probe. That trips the protocols and you know it."
"But we've never had a planet that's so...fractured." He focused the binoculars on the village again. "These people live like primitives while the Parlang's are a modern and developed society. The gulf continues to worry me. And the conflicts that are a constant on this world...So many wars."
She countered with "All of the active conflicts at the moment are low-level and usually internal. A fair number of terrorist groups of any sort you can imagine, governments enslaving citizens, failed-states that are in chaos, that sort of thing. Much of it senseless. A lot of blood feuds and tribal hatreds."
She sighed. "The Parlangs have some primitive energy weapons. There are several major nations with nuclear weapons and long-range delivery systems, and a few others with the weapons, but lacking the delivery systems. A lot of nations still utilize biological and chemical weapons as well. It's a mess."
"Then why are we even here? Why didn't you abort the mission?"
"Jean-Luc, they're good people. And they're still about to break the warp barrier."
"One group is, Rileeta."
"And with the right guidance and assistance from the Federation, we can unify the rest, bring them into the Federation and help them find their way."
Picard shook his head and looked back at the rest of the Starfleet team hidden in the brush behind them. "I think that's past what anyone could do. Or should do. The Federation is not in the business of altering other peoples' societies."
"Well it's better than just ignoring them."
"I'm not so sure about that. They're in a fairly isolated region of space. I'm thinking it would be better to pull the plug on this and see what happens over the next decade or two."
"Jean-Luc, that's not a good idea. They're always on the verge of a major conflict – it's one of the big stressors they all have. There are resource issues, environmental issues, energy issues, religious issues, health issues – all things that we could help with. If the Federation is able to show them how to fix those and live together, it's quite natural that they'd unite in order to take their place at the table."
He studied the village for a while longer. "Or the fact that we contacted the Parlangs would cause that final war due to fear and jealousy. Or they'd explode into the galaxy with their biological and chemical weapons and bring their wars there."
"Jean-Luc, trust me like you used to. I've spent almost a year studying these people. They're not that different than the Dosadi. Or your Earth only a few centuries ago. There's a little girl in that village who's the cutest thing you will ever see. She's smart, and funny, and you'd like her. We can't just leave and let them try to settle all their problems on their own. These less developed regions are chaotic. Warlords and armed gangs roaming everywhere like locusts, killing anyone who gets in their way. There is no reason not to help them."
He again put his binoculars down and looked at her. "Lieutenant, that sort of interference in a culture's natural development is exactly the sort of thing the Prime Directive was created to prevent. We cannot go about deciding how a people should settle their differences."
She was shaking her head and continuing to study the village. Picard was beginning to get a very bad feeling. "How much time have you spent with the villagers over there, Lieutenant?"
She shrugged. She might as well tell him, the team would be able to fill him in anyway. "A week or two. Not that long. Long enough to get to know them and their people."
He noted several damaged huts and some burn marks. "Lieutenant. These wandering gangs you mentioned. Did one attack here?"
She sighed. "Yes. And yes, it was while I was here. And no, I did not do nothing. Jean-Luc, they've got nothing. No weapons, nothing. These gangs, they rape and murder and steal children to fight for them. They brainwash them. There is nothing right or honorable or dignified or philosophical about sitting back and watching innocent and helpless people be slaughtered."
He was horrified. "What did you do?"
She looked at him. "What I had to. Don't look so annoyed. No one saw me and I only used stun when I couldn't use their own weapons. Jean-Luc, this planet is full of good people. People with potential. Yes, there are a lot of vicious, murdering, insane people too, but we shouldn't let that push us to throw out the good ones."
"Lieutenant, you violated the Prime Directive. Badly."
"I did not, Jean-Luc. We're in the process of initiating first contact now. I'm not altering anything and no one was exposed to any advanced technology. I stopped a crime, that's all."
Picard was wrestling with his own instincts. She had something of a point, but technically she had committed a gross violation. He would be within his rights to arrest her. Like he had Lorac. Damn the woman and her putting him in this position. With the suspicion she was still under, the Captain had, in fact, placed him over Rileeta. "We need to move on to the next people you want to show me."
She was disgusted. "You didn't used to be so married to every regulation and rule. You used to understand that there were times that you had to take action that wasn't covered by the rule book. You..."
She was interrupted by one of her team, "Sirs! You need to see what's going on down there."
Both officers raised their binoculars again. They could see villagers running and other people wearing dark and light striped clothing and carrying weapons, running towards the village. Rileeta dropped her binoculars onto their strap and stood up, drawing her sidearm. "Split left and right, we'll..."
Picard interrupted her, "Belay that. Lieutenant, put your phaser down."
"What? Jean-Luc, we don't have time for this, we have to..."
"We have to do nothing. We are not here to play god, or to play cavalry riding to the rescue and favor one group over another. Regulations are very specific on this point, first contact or no."
Her team had also stood up, but were hesitating. Picard was the ranking officer, per the Captain's order, but they'd been training with Rileeta and then in the field with her for quite some time. The Prime Directive was nearly a religion for Starfleet personnel – it was something you just didn't mess with.
Picard stood up next to her and spoke again, firmly. "Put it down, Lieutenant." The sound of screams and gunfire was beginning to reach them.
She glared at him. "Screw you, Jean-Luc." She started to run but he grabbed her arm, her own momentum swinging her around.
"Stop!" he called out to her team, still struggling with Rileeta. "Restrain the Lieutenant." Seeing their hesitation he commanded them, "That is a direct order."
She managed to rip her arm free of him, but two of her team grabbed her and the more she struggled, the more of them grabbed her.
"Let me loose damn you all! They'll kill them!"
She begged. She cursed. She pleaded. Her team was anguished, but had no choice. Picard tapped his comm-badge. "Picard to Reliant. Seven to beam up."
"Reliant here. Sorry Lieutenant, transporters are down for the next hour plus – emergency maintenance on the pattern buffers."
"Understood. Picard out."
Eventually, there was silence from below the team's vantage point. Picard looked down and could see smoke rising, even flames from some of the buildings. But there was no motion. He brought his binoculars up again and scanned. There was nothing moving anywhere.
"Let her up." He waved at the men holding Rileeta down. "I'm sorry Lieutenant. We must not allow our personal preferences to interfere with our du..."
"FUCK you!" she screamed, breaking free and sprinting for the village, phaser in hand.
Ten minutes later, Picard and the rest of the team caught up with her, working their way through the few buildings in the village. The marauders had been very thorough. Those they didn't take away, they murdered. What they didn't steal, they set fire to. When they found Rileeta, she was sitting a short way away from a burning hut, cradling the body of a little girl in her lap, singing softly and rocking back and forth.
Picard slowly walked towards her. The child looked very much like a young Dosadi, but with tufts on her ears, and instead of a uniform tan on her back and sides, there were darker horizontal stripes. Her throat had been slit and blood matted the white fur on her neck and chest. He swallowed hard.
Before he could say anything, Rileeta spoke. She was stroking the fur on the child's head. "This is Karalin. She's five. And she wants to go to school so she can be a teacher and her favorite color is green." She sniffed.
Picard blinked back tears. "I'm sorry. Our orders are clear. We can't let our personal..."
"I promised her that I'd keep her safe. I told her that there were good people who were going to make all the bad ones go away." She looked up at Picard. "She isn't some order, Jean-Luc. She's not some theoretical in the Academy. She's a little girl. She's just a little girl." She put her head down onto the child's and cried.
Picard's comm-badge chirped. "Reliant to Picard. We're ready when you are."
He bent down and put his hand on Rileeta's shoulder. "We need to go."
She gently set the dead child on the ground by her mother's body and stood up. She took a deep breath and punched Picard in the face, knocking him to the ground and then stalked off towards the rest of the team, who were staring at her in shocked surprise. Two of them came over to help Picard up, his eye already starting to blacken. The Team NCO asked, a little hesitatingly, "Uh, sir, do you want us to arrest the Lieutenant?"
Picard dusted himself off and straightened his battle dress. "For what? I tripped, Chief."
The man looked at Picard with new respect. "Yes, sir. That's what we all saw too, sir."
FEDERATION STARSHIP RELIANT, IN SOLAR ORBIT NEAR LANDON IV
DECEMBER 2331
Commander Kyle finished going through the pile of reports on his PADDs. The two officers in front of him were both very thorough, very passionate, and very logical. He had decided not to mention the giant black eye Lieutenant Picard was sporting. It looked like it was about 3 days old, but no one else on the landing party had seen fit to say anything about it.
He sighed and slid the two devices further onto the desk in his ready room. From the way the Dosadi was scowling at him, he was sure that his scent had given him away. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Rileeta. I agree with Picard. They're not ready."
"So we're just going to ignore them? What are we going to do when that first warp probe comes out of their system? Pretend that it didn't?"
Kyle was trying to be patient with her. This was a lot of work and effort for her team, gone to waste, and Picard's report on the events while surveying the village made it plain she had become emotionally involved with these people. "No. But you know as well as I do that they can spend about five years at early warp-levels exploring the stars in this area and find nothing. We'll post monitors and beacons to warn other vessels away until they are ready, or until they are on the verge of making it out of this region.
Both of your reports make it plain that they may not ever make it out. The pastoral-life movement is quite strong and seeks to end all technological progress. Religious groups demanding supremacy and control. Government slavery. The sheer number of armed terrorist groups boggles the mind and all the various nations are armed to the teeth and looking for an excuse. Any large-scale war has the potential to reduce them all to pre-space flight levels. Even their own orbital space is cluttered with junk and disasters ready to happen. Were we to make first contact now, we would only exacerbate the issue. The Prime Directive makes it very clear that we are not to play big brother to less advanced cultures; The White Man's Burden went out centuries ago, Lieutenant.
"You'll continue to monitor the situation and lead the first contact mission during this period. If and when you think they've got things together enough to warrant another look, we can pick up where you left off. You did good work here, Lieutenant. There will be other first contacts."
Rileeta sagged in her chair and just stared at Picard as he stood up.
Kyle looked at her. "Was there something else, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir." She bit her tongue and followed Picard out, getting away from him at the first opportunity.
FEDERATION GALAXY-CLASS STARSHIP USS ENTERPRISE, IN ORBIT, MALCOR III
JANUARY 2367
Guinan slowly nodded her head as Rileeta paused for another swallow of whiskey. "He was right again. And he didn't have you arrested when he could have, for a couple of things. I understand that you were angry that your friend died, but..."
Rileeta interrupted. "Oh no. Not just my friend. There's more. Let me finish. It's not just her blood he has on his hands."
FEDERATION STARSHIP RELIANT, UNDER WAY, LANDON SECTOR
MARCH 2332
Rileeta sat down at her usual console in the sensory and pulled up the day's monitor logs from Landon IV. The Parlang's first warp probe had gone off without a hitch and had made it to their closest stellar neighbor, conducted several days of science experiments and returned safely to home. And, because of Picard's unfavorable report, the Federation had done nothing.
She sat up with a start, now completely focused on the display. "Oh, shit, no." she said, reading quickly.
"What's up, Lieutenant?" Ensign Rousch, the duty officer, asked her.
"Someone blew up Saru yesterday."
"That's the big port city on Landon IV, isn't it?"
"Not any more. They're saying it was a 50 kt atomic bomb. Casualties are in the hundreds of thousands already." She continued to scan rapidly. "They're going berserk. No group has said they did it. The Parlangs are blaming several other nations."
"What's going to happen?"
"We need to go back. The Captain's got to go back. We can stop it." She quickly routed the report to her PADD and ran out of the sensory.
Commander Kyle swiveled his command chair around as the turbo-lift doors swooshed open. Rileeta almost jumped the few paces to his side and said, urgently, "Captain, we need to get back to Landon IV. Right away. Look." She handed him the PADD.
He began to read through the logs and she continued, "Sir, please, they're about to blow themselves up. We can stop it."
Lieutenant Picard, on-duty at Flight Control also stood up and walked back to Kyle. "Sir, while I appreciate the Lieutenant's compassion and desire to help, this is explicitly prohibited by the Prime Directive."
Kyle looked up at Picard. "Are you presuming to educate me about the Prime Directive, Lieutenant?"
Picard stiffened. "No, sir! The Lieutenant's energy is infectious, I intended only to advise."
"When I need advice, Picard, I'll ask for it. Return to your station."
"Yes, sir." Abashed, he turned and went back to his console.
Kyle finished reading the intercepts. "Lieutenant, from the looks of this, there's nothing we could do even if regulations allowed it. Look, they're issuing ultimatums. And..." he tapped at the device, bringing up different sensor platform's monitor logs. "All five major powers are getting ready for war. There, look." He handed her PADD back.
On it was a picture of a missile field in Lungor, Parlang's historic adversary. The silo doors were all open.
"That photo is only a few hours old. These are not the actions of peoples who are wanting someone to help them resolve their differences. What do you want us to do, drop out of warp and conquer them? Take them under our wing and guide them to the future we see for them?"
Bitter, but knowing nothing would be done she said, "Wouldn't that be better than no future at all?"
"Who's to say, Lieutenant? I understand that the Dosadi do not have a Prime Directive. The Federation does. As long as you are attached to my command, we will follow that Directive no matter how difficult a choice that it is. If it is this species' destiny to commit suicide in such an idiotic fashion, we will not take that destiny from them."
The bosun's pipes sounded and Ensign Rousch's voice sounded, "Sensory to Bridge."
Kyle pressed the button on his chair arm. "Go ahead."
"Sir, Ensign Rousch. I brought the monitors for Landon IV live, I think you should hear this."
"Route it to the bridge intercom, then, Ensign."
What they heard next was a descent into Hell. Rousch rather skillfully shifted between different monitoring devices, routing them through the universal translator, which didn't even begin to remove the desperation they heard. Civilian broadcasts sounding the alarm and urging people to seek shelter. Reports of cities blasted or poisoned and frantic pleas for help. Crisp, coded military orders obviously sending missiles, aircraft, spacecraft, and naval vessels into the attack.
Fragmentary reports of military disasters. Formations of troops being exterminated in an instant, entire squadrons of ships vaporizing, or air battles across the planet. Even the smaller nations seemed drawn into the blood lust as ancient tribal hatreds flared anew.
Everyone on the bridge was listening in horror as the war wound down. Finally, after just twenty minutes, there were no more communications being monitored and Rausch's voice came again: "We're just getting a lot of interference on all bands, Captain; Way too much noise. I can bring up a visual if you want."
"Do it."
The main view screen wavered into life, the image showing the effects of many light-years of travel through sub-space. But the image was clear enough; what had been a beautiful blue-green ball with swirls of white frosting across it was now showing widespread visible fires and smoke plumes across the entire globe. Glowing craters were visible on the night side.
"Sir, radiation levels are spiking across the entire planet. A lot of areas are already well into multiple Seiverts."
Kyle shook his head. "Turn it off, Rausch." The viewscreen clicked back to the stars around the Reliant.
Rileeta was nearly in tears. "There were nearly four billion of them. We could have saved them. We were ready to contact them. If you had only let me..."
Looking at the young Dosadi with compassion, Kyle ordered, "Lieutenant, you are relieved. Take the next two days completely off, then come see me in my ready room. All right?"
She took a shuddering breath and looked at her Captain. They locked eyes for a few moments and then she lowered her eyes, turned around and slowly slunk off the Bridge and back to her quarters.
Two days later, she had her PADD in hand when she knocked on his Ready Room door. "Come!" he shouted.
She walked in and set the PADD on his desk. "Sir, please. I am begging you. By anything you hold dear, if there is any compassion in your heart, please, there are people alive. Look."
He sighed heavily and picked up the device and read the intercepts she had extracted from the static.
"Please! If there is anyone out there, we are in the third sub-basement of the Tawi research station. We're sealed in but we only have a few days water. Help us!"
"To any station receiving, we are trapped at..."
"...we have children, please help!"
"...seven of us at the polar station is there anyone there?"
"...desperately need medical help, many injured..."
"...children, someone, anyone, help us!"
Kyle put the PADD down and turned it off, then passed his hand over his face. "You know I cannot."
Her left eye and ear twitched. "Sir, there aren't that many survivors. Maybe a hundred all told. There is no culture left to influence. Nothing that needs the protection of the Prime Directive. Just frightened, injured, desperate people. Children...Sir, please. We can take them to the Imperium. You can say I forced you and lock me up forever, I don't care, but please, don't just let them die."
"If you think this is easy for me, you are an idiot. And I know you aren't. You know I can't do a god-damn thing, no matter how much I want to. Do you think I'm some heartless monster to let these people die with the planet they blew up? Do you think I don't have any compassion? FUCK you, Lieutenant!" He took a deep breath and composed himself.
"I apologize for that remark, Lieutenant." He paused again. "I swore an oath to uphold my orders and especially the Prime Directive. There's a reason it's the PRIME Directive. Wiser heads than mine have analyzed what happens when we attempt to interfere, with the best of intentions and it is always a disaster. We cannot know what would happen to these few refugees from a dead world and an extinct culture, or how they would affect any society they were placed in. We cannot even imagine the horrors they would endure every day, if they did survive. Quite possibly they would long for death. We cannot know.
"What we can know is that it is forbidden to us to interfere. And we can follow our orders and live up to our oaths. " He sat back in his chair and studied her. She was clearly furious and heartbroken. "The Federation knew that horribly difficult situations like this would arise. They made an absolute rule of non-interference so that there would never be a question. So that even when confronted with what looks like a hideous and cruel choice, we would know what to do. This is exactly the situation that the Prime Directive was created to cover.
"Lieutenant, I am ordering you to report to sick bay for counseling. And when we complete this cruise, I want your request for transfer on my desk. Understood?"
She stood straight. "Yes, sir."
FEDERATION GALAXY-CLASS STARSHIP USS ENTERPRISE, IN ORBIT, MALCOR III
JANUARY 2367
Guinan studied Rileeta. "And you blame Jean-Luc for that?"
"Yes. It was his report that Commander Kyle used to terminate the first contact protocols. In all the years I've done this, I've safely brought ten species through first contact and into the Federation. I've lost one. The Landoners."
"It seems to me that they were pretty clearly not ready. Again, I think he was right."
"His report, his advice, doomed four billion people to death."
Guinan looked at her more closely. "You don't look stupid."
Surprised, Rileeta asked, "What?"
"Everything you have blamed him for, he was right to do. Legally, ethically, and morally right. The consequences were horrific – to him and others – but he was right. And you know it."
"How were they right? He betr..."
"I've listened to you, will you please listen to me?"
Rileeta gritted her teeth, but nodded.
"You're angry because he caught your mate being a spy. And did his duty by turning one of his best friends in to the authorities. You're angry because he followed his orders and the highest orders of the Federation and did his duty by not letting you interfere with a more primitive culture. You're angry because he gave an honest report about a fractured, sick culture that simply wasn't ready and because you wanted to play mamma to the whole planet and save them from themselves.
"Are you starting to see a pattern here? Everything you've built up into this hatred is because he did the right thing despite the personal cost and because you wanted to do the wrong thing." She shook her head. "You said you knew him so well it nauseated you. You are the one who knows nothing about Jean-Luc Picard. You don't know anything about the costs he has born or the trillions of lives his actions have saved.
"Here's my advice to you, Captain Rileeta. Sit down someplace quiet and go through everything you just told me and this time instead of looking for reasons to nurse your hate, ask yourself who was doing what they had to. It's entirely possible you both were, even though that put you in conflict. Your mate seems to have understood that.
"If you're as stupid as I think you aren't, you'll just keep on hating a cardboard cut-out that you've created and ignore the real, complex, person. Why don't you ask yourself what you owe someone you claimed as th'mew and go from there."
Guinan stood up. "If you're as smart as you're supposed to be, you'd talk with Counselor Troi. Learn something about Captain Picard – learn something about what has happened in the last thirty years and more. Learn something about what happened all those years ago beyond what you've convinced yourself of." Rileeta didn't even look up, so Guinan turned and walked back to the bar, leaving the black-furred Dosadi woman looking out the window and alone with her thoughts.
Rileeta laid her head back down upon her arms, looking out the big windows in Ten Forward at Malcor III as the Enterprise orbited above. She stayed there, alone, for a very long time.