Star Trek Hunter
Episode 19: The Ivonovic Commission
Scene 15: Subspace Radio Ivonovic Relaunched
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Subspace Radio Ivonovic Relaunched
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"Soil. That is what this comes down to. Over the past few months, one question has reverberated throughout the Federation. Why was the Vulcan homeworld handed over to the Romulan Senate? Why was Star Fleet caught off guard? The Federation Council empaneled a commission to answer this question. A commission that unofficially bears my name.
"I know it has been some time since you have heard my voice. The voice of the Naturalborn. There is a time to speak out and there is a time to listen. I have spent the past year listening. And the time has come for me to share some of what I have learned.
"We have determined that a number of weaknesses in Star Fleet command and control were exploited. Exploited by a conspiracy to hand over Vulcan to the romulans. We actually know of several movements, including the Peaceful Reunification Movement championed a few decades ago by the now infamous Ambassador Spock. We now know that for all practical purposes, the Peaceful Reunification Movement died with Ambassador Spock along with as many as 14 billion romulans in the Hobus tragedy.
"In a way, conspiracy is the wrong word – oh there definitely was a conspiracy. It was Star Fleet officers who reprogrammed the computers to hide the movement of the 6th Fleet. They took advantage of a unique weakness at the top of Star Fleet's command structure. A weakness that Commandant Barrett th'Zoarhi has moved to correct.
"We now know that Vice Admiral Senvol, who sent the 6th Fleet hundreds of light years away from their regular patrol routes and ordered the uncontested surrender of Vulcan, had been allowed to serve in an additional capacity as Homeworld Defense Coordinator for the Vulcan High Command, in which capacity he was able to stand down all Vulcan assets as well as the Star Fleet assets assigned to the protection of Vulcan. This is an intolerable breach of security that Star Fleet can never again allow to happen.
"In light of these developments, the Federation Council, through the offices of the Commission on the Role of Star Fleet and Other Parties in the Fall of Vulcan, is now reviewing all fleet assignments to ensure there are no other such incestuous relationships between homeworld defense forces and Star Fleet admiralty."
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"It is also time for the United Earth Governments to assume control of Star Fleet assets currently assigned to the defense of Earth and Earth colonies, lest we find our own homeworld stripped defenseless due to the accumulation of too much authority in too few hands – as happened in the case of Admiral Senvol."
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"But what do all these considerations have to do with soil?"
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"When you walk out onto the concrete that covers your city street, walk a longer path today. Walk to a city park. If you can walk out onto the land without having to seek a park, perhaps you already know. Stand, not on the concrete, but on the soil. Not dirt, in which nothing can grow, but soil, enriched by billions of years of microbial life.
"And when you stand on this soil, understand that the most precious resource in our universe is just under your feet. The miracle of modern agriculture – the miracle of replication technology – these things only make that soil far, far more productive. But we have not yet learned to make soil out of lifeless clay. And you cannot live without that soil. It is your lifeblood.
"If you stand on a world colonized by Earth, the soil of Earth has travelled there to help enrich the dirt of that world and make it fertile. Perhaps you stand on a world that had soil when your ancestors arrived. Very few such worlds are discovered that do not fall under the Prime Directive. Soil is rare. The romulans lost their soil. So they found our weakness, exploited our weakness and took the soil of Vulcan for their own. And in those enormous ships they brought not only the people of destroyed Romulus, but the soil of destroyed Romulus.
"This is not the first time a federation world has been conquered. But it is the first time we welcomed the conquerors to stay and to transplant the soil of their world onto one of ours. The military reality is that we must, for the first time in the history of the United Federation of Planets, allow this aggression to stand. We must allow it to stand because we were betrayed. We must allow it to stand because our homeworld defenses were not resilient enough. We must allow it to stand because if we do not, billions of our own people will die and the soil of Vulcan would be laid bare and turned into lifeless dirt.
"But I say to you this and let this ring in your hearts. Never again. We must never again allow this to happen. Never again give one person the power to surrender one of our worlds. Never again allow our primary defense to be caught napping. Never again allow our voice to fall silent.
"I apologize for my absence. I have taken on a task much larger than I ever imagined. But I will not leave you again. I am Emory Ivonovic, bringing you the voices of the people. Bringing you Subspace Radio Ivonovic. I may not always be the one speaking – this vessel is not for my voice, but for yours. But I will not allow your voice, Subspace Radio Ivonovic, to fall silent again."
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