Captain's Personal Log, July 17th 2152
"I feel it should be noted somewhere that Lt. Reed was right to be suspicious of the Vixlettes. He maintains that a closer look and a longer conversation before bringing them on board wouldn't have made a difference, that we could not have known from the outset that there was anything wrong with them. I wish I shared his certainty. Instead, I feel like I let my crew down, and put them unnecessarily in harm's way without their knowledge or consent.
"At the same time, Trip and T'Pol have both informed me that we're out here to explore, and to meet these new civilizations. If we won't even make contact with them on the off-chance that they might be carrying some disease we can't detect in advance, we don't have any reason for being out here. Much as I hate to admit it, the point's well made. If we start hiding from people, shunning them because we're afraid they might hurt us… we might as well just go home. You can't make new friends hiding in isolation. You can only make enemies.
"Paranoia and fear are bigger enemies than any parasite or disease. In all my studies of human history, these were the primary forces behind the destruction of most human endeavors; most particularly nations and empires. When prudence and caution gives way to irrationality and terror, that's when a society collapses and a people vanish. Sometimes it causes a war that didn't have to happen. Sometimes it fosters an oppressive regime that becomes corrupt and vicious in the name of protecting the people until there's nothing left worth protecting. It doesn't matter in the end. The simple fact is, when a civilization lets the fear of potential harm becomes so great that it does certain harm to itself or others, that's when that civilization is lost. I won't have it on my ship. I won't have Enterprise go out that way.
"Trip thinks that's an extreme view, and maybe he's right. But I know Malcolm nearly lost his life because of those parasites, not because they were consuming him, but because they were paranoid that he would stop them, when he was actually in no position to do so. And I saw their fear through the eyes of the people they'd infected when they learned there might be a disease on board that would kill them. It was that fear that allowed Phlox to cure the crew. Their terror at the thought of their hosts dying prematurely was so great that they never paused to wonder whether or not that threat was genuine, and so they accepted a "cure" that was worse than the disease they believed they might have. And that fear is ultimately what killed them.
"Most of them.
"According to Phlox, some of the crew are still carriers of the parasites. A handful of parasites were able to resist and survive the body's defenses, and have apparently already modified their behavior in order to avoid triggering the immune response. Phlox says that's not a sign of intelligence, but I still have my doubts. In any case, these crewmen are technically healthy, the parasites now being no more life threatening to them than any one of a dozen other parasites and bacteria humans carry with them. Phlox says they can't reinfect the rest of the crew, but that they may pose a continued hazard to humans or other susceptible species who have not received his cure, or that his cure would prove ineffective on. He's working on that. But he says eradicating a species in its entirety is nearly impossible, and those crewmen should be prepared for the possibility that their lives will never be quite the same as before. Phlox also maintains that we were damned lucky no one had a more severe reaction to his quick fix cure than they did, and that it was as effective as it was. Humans in particular are a fragile species, health-wise, and he says that if the cure as it exists now was disseminated widely, there's a good chance some people would die from it. Something I would've liked to know before I agreed to trick the entire crew into taking it… though I suppose it wouldn't have made much difference since it was a choice between potential death and certain death, which isn't that hard to make. Even so...
"Otherwise, life has pretty much returned to normal aboard Enterprise. Repairs to the Armory are continuing under the supervision of Lt. Reed, who has recovered from his ordeal with admirable grace, though he still seems to be on eggshells whenever I talk to him. I can't blame him for that, and nobody else seems to hold it against him for being a little bit on the jumpy side. With time, I hope the damage can be undone. If I ever get taken over by an alien life form again, I hope the crew mutinies and puts me in my place. One man against an entire crew is anything but a fair fight.
"Meanwhile, the Dolizet have flatly refused our cure for the parasites. As Phlox speculated, the Dolizet have some immunity to them. For the most part, unless an infestation gets out of control, the parasites don't kill the Dolizet, and in fact do minimal harm to them. Their scientists looked briefly at Phlox's cure, and it is their opinion that it would be more dangerous to them than the disease. Phlox doesn't seem to agree with them on that point, but we have to respect their wishes. We can't make a blanket decision for an entire species just because we think the galaxy would be safer. If we start doing that, we'll be making a lot more enemies than friends, and find ourselves in a war where we're playing the role of tyrants everyone wants to get rid of. All we can do is offer to share our medical knowledge.
"I suggested to Phlox that he should design a parasite suppressant based on the allergy medication, so if we do encounter the Vixlettes (or perhaps another race) in future, we can hear from them with a clear head whether or not they want to continue being hosts to these parasites. Phlox says that, even though the medication would only have a temporary effect, it would still be assault and medication potentially against the patient's will and the ethics would be questionable at best. I suppose he has a point, but at the same time… all sentient beings deserve a chance to be free and make their own decisions, something these parasites are taking away from them. Then again, if the parasites really are intelligent, then what I'm proposing is nothing less than genocide. But what do you do when allowing a species to complete its natural life cycle means allowing it to prevent your own species from doing the same, and when its survival requires the sacrifice of your free will?
"It seems that some questions are still too big and complicated to be easily answered.
"But, at least for today, we're still here. And our mission continues."
A/N: Thank you for reading (and reviewing), I hope you enjoyed it, and goodnight everybody.