Blood and Ice
by Soledad
Author's notes:
Rear Admiral Bennett is a canon character. His only appearance was in the DS9 episode "Doctor Bashir, I presume".
Picard's declaration about the first duty is quoted – with small modifications – from the 5th Season TNG-episode "The First Duty". Obviously.
Chapter Eight – Politics
Two hours later Picard was still in his ready room, drinking tea and facing a highly agitated Rear Admiral Bennett, the Judge Advocate General of Starfleet, who didn't seem particularly pleased with his mission report – and rather vocal about his displeasure.
The fact that they'd known each other since the Academy didn't help much. Especially as they never truly liked each other. Picard had always thought Bennett a brick-headed bureaucrat with a particularly narrow tunnel vision, while Bennett, for reasons nobody really understood, considered Picard something of a loose cannon.
"You can't be serious, Picard!" Bennett insisted. "Are you telling me that you want the Regulan quarantine lifted? I've just had a most… embarrassing conversation with Kyle Ryker, our best tactical advisor, and he told me that his son supports this… this outlandish idea of yours. Have you both gone insane?"
"It's not I who want it lifted, Admiral; it's the Regulan natives," Picard replied, calmer than he actually felt. Certain admirals always brought out the worse of him, and Bennett belonged to that category. "And they have considerable support already. Professor R'Nata has finally persuaded some friends in the Rigelian Senate to hand in an official request to the Federation Council; and as far as I've been informed, certain diplomatic circles on Vulcan are in agreement, too."
"Easy to do for them; they're not in any danger," Bennett snorted. "That R'Nata woman is a menace. Do you have an idea what lifting the quarantine after a hundred and fifty years would mean? It would mean chaos! We wouldn't be able to contain the bloodworms much longer – an outbreak on other planets would be inevitable. Billions would die!"
To his credit, he actually seemed to believe what he was saying. Which didn't necessary mean that he was right, of course.
"I think you're mistaken about that, Admiral," Picard answered with forced patience. "Federation medicine has made considerable headway in the last two centuries. Besides, we're not talking about a complete lift of the quarantine; not yet. The idea is to allow limited access to people with natural immunity, like Vulcans or Rigelians…"
"… or Klingons," Bennett injected unhappily. He was one of those old school officers who would never trust a Klingon. Not even a dead one.
Picard nodded. "Or Klingons, yes. I'm as aware of the risk we'd be taking with that as you are. Klingons are uncertain allies at best, and there are fractions on Qo'noS that wouldn't hesitate to use the bloodworms as a weapon against humans or any other species with iron-based haemoglobin."
"Exactly!" Bennett exclaimed. "It would be suicide…"
"Which is why the lifting of the quarantine must happen gradually, over a long time, and it mustn't be lifted completely until the planned genetic alteration of the bloodworms has been finished," Picard continued, ignoring the admiral's remark.
"You really think it could work?" Bennett seemed to doubt that very much. "R'Nata has been researching those damned worms for longer than you and me have been alive; without any useful results, I must add."
"Perhaps, but it was not her fault," Picard reminded him. "She was simply not given the right kind of support, because nobody believed that any research concerning a quarantined species would be necessary… or profitable."
"It wouldn't be, if we'd seal off the Regulan system more tightly," Bennett muttered.
Picard shook his head. "No, Admiral. Regardless of how closely we watch the Regulan borders, we can't seal them airtight. Rohan slipped through; others would slip through eventually, too. No; we need to deal with the root of the problem: the bloodworms themselves."
"By letting a mad Rigelian scientist free reign?" Bennett asked sarcastically.
"She won't have free reign," Picard corrected. "Doctor Crusher – both Doctor Crushers – will be there, as they need to be quarantined anyway for the time being. And Doctor Selar volunteered to join them, until the Vulcan Academy of Sciences can send in the true experts. I'm quite sure that a small army of Vulcans will be able to keep one eccentric Rigelian within her reins."
"I still don't like it," Bennett declared sourly. "It's too risky."
"Neither do I," Picard admitted. "But space exploration is risky business in itself, and Commander Ryker was right: we can't keep an entire species imprisoned out of fear; or to cover for past mistakes. The first outbreak of the Regulan plague was the fault of humans, but we punished the Regulans for it anyway. That has to stop."
"Just wait until they start demanding reparations," Bennett said glumly.
"That would be well within their rights," Picard answered. "We – the Federation – have taken their chance to grow and expand, and that for a century and a half. The least we can do is to help them rebuild their infrastructure to a standard all other people within Federation territory have to their disposition."
"They'd hardly stop by that," Bennett prophesied. Picard shrugged.
"I don't know. If Mr. Rohan is any indication, they're a hardy people: intelligent, territorial and fiercely independent, like most reptilians. I don't think they'd want to become dependant on us. They just want the same chances as everyone else."
"This will cause the biggest scandal in the history of the Federation," Bennett said darkly.
Picard nodded. "Doubtlessly. Nonetheless, we must do the right thing. The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth... be it scientific truth, historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based. If we cannot find it within ourselves to stand up and tell the truth about what happened... we do not deserve to wear this uniform."
Bennett snorted. "You've always been a hopeless idealist, Picard."
"I consider that a compliment, Admiral," Picard replied. "The sad fact is, we've neglected this fundamental first duty for the last one hundred and fifty years; it's time that we correct our old, grave error, no matter what it costs us."
"By the book, to the bitter end, that's your way, isn't it?" Bennett commented with a sneer.
But he had lost the argument, and they both knew it. The Vulcans and Rigelians had already made their move, and there was no way the centuries-long injustice could be covered up again.
"I see nothing bitter in it," Picard said with a faint smile. "Good day, Admiral."
~The End~