Chapter eleven
Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the aliens and you are all perfectly entitled to use them if you wish other then that nothing else belongs to me except myself though I could be wrong about that.
Once more, they assembled around the briefing table. The Thrumz and Yotking sat facing each other. The survivors from Gamma Delta IV gazed at both people with hatred only they could explain. The survivor from Alpha Delta VI, who went by the name of Paul, curled up, frightened as much by the atmosphere in the room as by what had happened, near Súimúil. Since they had brought aboard he had seemed to only trust Súimúil and had become distraught when they had tried to separate them.
Kirk decided to blunt and get straight to the point by asking, " Which of you attacked the colonies?" "Captain, surely, you don't think that......"began T'Pum. "Be quiet, T'Pum, I don't want posturing just answers and if you are not going to give me them then you can just shut up and sit in your chair." Kirk then turned to the Yotking and spoke again, his voice just as harsh " Séizig?" Kesh moved uneasily in her chair and began to speak rapidly in the Thrumz language to T'Pum. T'Pum responded by hitting her in warning.
Séizig began to speak "Who would you prefer to cast as the villain. Us who differ so greatly from you or the Thrumz who in many ways resemble you? I admit that we feel some responsibility, if we could changed what happened we would but we did not attack your colonies".
T'Pum emitted a harsh laugh at this "well of course you would say that. You are not going to plead guilty when we are here to take the fall for you."
"Be silent", ordered Súimúil. The hostility in the room increased threefold and Dr. McCoy began to ask a question when Kesh cried out suddenly, desperation ripe in her voice, moving frantically away from T'Pum, "We were wrong, what we did was wrong, please forgive us"
T'Pum rose again to hit her but instead found himself face to face with Súimúil. T'Pum appeared to deflate and sank back into his chair, muttering softly.
"Captain, you believe that we and the Thrumz have been in contact previously and you would be correct in this belief though we have not had contact for many of their generations and we did form an alliance to attack your planets. I gather you have found the composition of the colonies attacked unusual. This would be due to the fact that we modified the planet to make it more habitable for species with your requirements", explained Séizig, her voice as soft, as calm as ever though there was a hint of relief.
"We never begrudged your use of the planet, she continued, in fact it pleased us to see the planet populated. We even contemplated contact".
"And I should believe this why?" asked Kirk.
"There is no requirement for you to believe us. I realise that the pain of what happened is still raw and this will make any explanation difficult to hear. Perhaps I should begin at the start" and so Séizig began to weave her tale. "This was many generations ago even for my species. Both the Yotking and the Thrumz originated on the same planet but we had already reached the stage where we could modify our surroundings when the Thrumz left their forests. We observed them with interest and one day we contact was established. It was interesting exchanging ideas especially some of the Thrumz concepts. We watched them strive to advance, each development an achievement. By this stage, we had begun to leave the planet to visit and use our abilities on other planets. Each time, we returned they had developed more technology but the planet was suffering, they were so desperate to succeed that the welfare of the planet had become unimportant. Eventually, the planet was reaching the stage where it should shortly become uninhabitable. The Thrumz appealed for our help since while they had developed space-going technology, they lacked the ability to move all of their people to a habitable planet. And so we helped them. We also helped heal the original planet. However, there past experience did not teach them anything and so the new planet began to rapidly approach the state of the first planet. We decided that this time we would not help unless they showed signs of being willing to help themselves. Which they did not" Séizig finished sadly.
"Lies all lies" yelled T'Pum "We have never been on any other planet until YOU attacked us unprovoked because we did not please you then what was left of the Thrumz became refugees in the galaxy".
"I realise that many of your generations have passed since we were last in contact but we would never hurt you. The destruction you speak of was caused by the squabbling of your people for the last of the resources. When we realised that you would never learn in time to prevent the destruction of your plant, we moved you one last though we did not move your technology with you. However, there was technology on this new planet since many generations ago, another species had gone beyond the stage you now faced. Perhaps we acted in error and we are sorry for causing such bitterness but I hope that one day we may face each other again as friends"
"Captain, you cannot tell me that you believe this preposterous tale," said T'Pum into the silence which greeted the rest of Séizigs tale.
"T'Pum, it must finish here" spoke up Kesh from behind Súimúil, "whatever our reasons may have been, our actions were wrong".
"Traitor, how could you betray our people like this. Very well then, I'll finish it now." T'Pum began to speak in the Thrumz language and the hull of the Enterprise was shook by phaser fire hitting its unshielded hull. Red light began flash as the ship went to red alert and the shields went up. As Captain Kirk began to reach forward to contact the bridge. Séizig spoke quietly, firmly, "No" was all she said and all became quiet.
"Why didn't you do this when our planet was under attacked?" asked Elke, her voice laden with pain.
" I was on a rest period and the other members present are young with no contact with outside species. By the time they were ready to react it was too late. I am truly sorry. We would not even be here had we not been in contact with an interesting species deep within the surface of Gamma Delta I." Séizig then approached Paul and gazed into his green eyes and a sad soft song arose from then she turned to Kirk. "It was your people who the Thrumz hurt. So you have the right to punish them as you see fit, but I think that Kesh and several officers who didn't agree with what happened should be allowed to help other colonists to rebuild the colonies. We would like to help also and perhaps remain in contact to discourage other attacks".
"Oh do you think that we could?" cried Kesh, " I am truly sorry for not making more of an effort to stop them. There are several other officers who feel as I do".
"Traitor" sneered T'Pum. Turning to T'Pum, Kesh replied, "I'd rather be a traitor then a murderer", then she turned to Kirk with a plead in her eyes.
"That will be the federations decision but I'll see what I can do. It would also probably be best if you and these other officers remained aboard the Enterprise". Answered Captain Kirk.
"Captain, we have one last request" said Séizig. With some surprise in his eyes, the Captain asked "what might that be?"
"We have found the concept of a federation fascinating and we would like to have closer contact perhaps even join" was Súimúils solemn word on the matter.
"I think the federation would be delighted to have you but membership is a long complicated process", answered Captain Kirk.
"Time does not pass in the same way for us as for you" answered Séizig.
Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the aliens and you are all perfectly entitled to use them if you wish other then that nothing else belongs to me except myself though I could be wrong about that.
Once more, they assembled around the briefing table. The Thrumz and Yotking sat facing each other. The survivors from Gamma Delta IV gazed at both people with hatred only they could explain. The survivor from Alpha Delta VI, who went by the name of Paul, curled up, frightened as much by the atmosphere in the room as by what had happened, near Súimúil. Since they had brought aboard he had seemed to only trust Súimúil and had become distraught when they had tried to separate them.
Kirk decided to blunt and get straight to the point by asking, " Which of you attacked the colonies?" "Captain, surely, you don't think that......"began T'Pum. "Be quiet, T'Pum, I don't want posturing just answers and if you are not going to give me them then you can just shut up and sit in your chair." Kirk then turned to the Yotking and spoke again, his voice just as harsh " Séizig?" Kesh moved uneasily in her chair and began to speak rapidly in the Thrumz language to T'Pum. T'Pum responded by hitting her in warning.
Séizig began to speak "Who would you prefer to cast as the villain. Us who differ so greatly from you or the Thrumz who in many ways resemble you? I admit that we feel some responsibility, if we could changed what happened we would but we did not attack your colonies".
T'Pum emitted a harsh laugh at this "well of course you would say that. You are not going to plead guilty when we are here to take the fall for you."
"Be silent", ordered Súimúil. The hostility in the room increased threefold and Dr. McCoy began to ask a question when Kesh cried out suddenly, desperation ripe in her voice, moving frantically away from T'Pum, "We were wrong, what we did was wrong, please forgive us"
T'Pum rose again to hit her but instead found himself face to face with Súimúil. T'Pum appeared to deflate and sank back into his chair, muttering softly.
"Captain, you believe that we and the Thrumz have been in contact previously and you would be correct in this belief though we have not had contact for many of their generations and we did form an alliance to attack your planets. I gather you have found the composition of the colonies attacked unusual. This would be due to the fact that we modified the planet to make it more habitable for species with your requirements", explained Séizig, her voice as soft, as calm as ever though there was a hint of relief.
"We never begrudged your use of the planet, she continued, in fact it pleased us to see the planet populated. We even contemplated contact".
"And I should believe this why?" asked Kirk.
"There is no requirement for you to believe us. I realise that the pain of what happened is still raw and this will make any explanation difficult to hear. Perhaps I should begin at the start" and so Séizig began to weave her tale. "This was many generations ago even for my species. Both the Yotking and the Thrumz originated on the same planet but we had already reached the stage where we could modify our surroundings when the Thrumz left their forests. We observed them with interest and one day we contact was established. It was interesting exchanging ideas especially some of the Thrumz concepts. We watched them strive to advance, each development an achievement. By this stage, we had begun to leave the planet to visit and use our abilities on other planets. Each time, we returned they had developed more technology but the planet was suffering, they were so desperate to succeed that the welfare of the planet had become unimportant. Eventually, the planet was reaching the stage where it should shortly become uninhabitable. The Thrumz appealed for our help since while they had developed space-going technology, they lacked the ability to move all of their people to a habitable planet. And so we helped them. We also helped heal the original planet. However, there past experience did not teach them anything and so the new planet began to rapidly approach the state of the first planet. We decided that this time we would not help unless they showed signs of being willing to help themselves. Which they did not" Séizig finished sadly.
"Lies all lies" yelled T'Pum "We have never been on any other planet until YOU attacked us unprovoked because we did not please you then what was left of the Thrumz became refugees in the galaxy".
"I realise that many of your generations have passed since we were last in contact but we would never hurt you. The destruction you speak of was caused by the squabbling of your people for the last of the resources. When we realised that you would never learn in time to prevent the destruction of your plant, we moved you one last though we did not move your technology with you. However, there was technology on this new planet since many generations ago, another species had gone beyond the stage you now faced. Perhaps we acted in error and we are sorry for causing such bitterness but I hope that one day we may face each other again as friends"
"Captain, you cannot tell me that you believe this preposterous tale," said T'Pum into the silence which greeted the rest of Séizigs tale.
"T'Pum, it must finish here" spoke up Kesh from behind Súimúil, "whatever our reasons may have been, our actions were wrong".
"Traitor, how could you betray our people like this. Very well then, I'll finish it now." T'Pum began to speak in the Thrumz language and the hull of the Enterprise was shook by phaser fire hitting its unshielded hull. Red light began flash as the ship went to red alert and the shields went up. As Captain Kirk began to reach forward to contact the bridge. Séizig spoke quietly, firmly, "No" was all she said and all became quiet.
"Why didn't you do this when our planet was under attacked?" asked Elke, her voice laden with pain.
" I was on a rest period and the other members present are young with no contact with outside species. By the time they were ready to react it was too late. I am truly sorry. We would not even be here had we not been in contact with an interesting species deep within the surface of Gamma Delta I." Séizig then approached Paul and gazed into his green eyes and a sad soft song arose from then she turned to Kirk. "It was your people who the Thrumz hurt. So you have the right to punish them as you see fit, but I think that Kesh and several officers who didn't agree with what happened should be allowed to help other colonists to rebuild the colonies. We would like to help also and perhaps remain in contact to discourage other attacks".
"Oh do you think that we could?" cried Kesh, " I am truly sorry for not making more of an effort to stop them. There are several other officers who feel as I do".
"Traitor" sneered T'Pum. Turning to T'Pum, Kesh replied, "I'd rather be a traitor then a murderer", then she turned to Kirk with a plead in her eyes.
"That will be the federations decision but I'll see what I can do. It would also probably be best if you and these other officers remained aboard the Enterprise". Answered Captain Kirk.
"Captain, we have one last request" said Séizig. With some surprise in his eyes, the Captain asked "what might that be?"
"We have found the concept of a federation fascinating and we would like to have closer contact perhaps even join" was Súimúils solemn word on the matter.
"I think the federation would be delighted to have you but membership is a long complicated process", answered Captain Kirk.
"Time does not pass in the same way for us as for you" answered Séizig.