Disclaimer: CBS/Paramount own Star Trek, I'm only responsible for the story and original characters.
Author's note: This is only a short snippet of a chapter. BUT, good news, the story is finished, it just needs to be edited and refined, but I should be able to post more chapters when I get caught up with my NaNoWriMo work.
The lead Srivani researcher asked the group, "If we abandoned this research mission, what would we say to Research Command about why we did so?"
Again, it was the youngest of the group who answered her, "More to the point, what would they say to us about sending us on this pointless mission, which almost certainly meant we'd be lost so very far from home? Think about it, they sent us on this lunatic mission, they didn't bother telling us how we were to get back. Which indicates to me, that they didn't really care if we did get home or not. Therefore, why would they even order a mission where the likeliest outcome would be our loss and the loss of any data we might have gathered?"
Another of the scientists spoke up, "Those are all excellent points. I agree, we should scrap this mission and go back home."
The lead researcher asked, "What about our careers? If we do this, if we really abort the mission and go home, what will that do to our careers?"
One of the other senior scientists, who had been silent up to that point, answered her, "I don't really care about my career, I just want to make it back home, and I think most of us are in agreement about that, aren't we?"
Once again, the heads around the table nodded their agreement. "I think we should take a vote, do we really want to do this? Think about it, our careers will likely be over and we will probably be barred from doing any research in the future. Is going home before the experiment is finished really worth that?"
She could see that all her people were determined to give up on the current mission. Nonetheless, she wanted it in the official record that a vote was taken on the subject. Maybe that way her job could be saved by proving that leaving wasn't her idea, and that she was outvoted.