Zimt had bigger problems than the love life of Amelia Janeway and Peter Beckett. Far more bigger ones.
She was listening to the deliberations of the Captains and their First Officers and became rather distraught. She saw no way out of a war that would destroy the entire galaxy. The Borg were weak at the moment, at least according to intelligence. The Dominion was also in a weakened state, but the Romulans and Klingons have not lost their minds either: if they notice that the Federation is keeping its war fleets in the Delta Quadrant, they will attack, so the Alpha and the Beta sector of the galaxy would be also in war. And then the weakened Dominion will also gain strength in the Gamma Quadrant, and a war frontline will open there as well. The Federation will therefore have to fight a four-sided war, in the entire galaxy.
Zimt was not particularly strong in war strategy, but that much was obvious even to her. Moreover the outcome of the war was highly doubtful. There was a very small chance that the Federation could have emerged victorious from the situation. And after the war, there would be nothing but chaos, headlessness and hundreds of millions of crippled beings.
Zimt sometimes envied the Ferengi. According to the rules of the Wealth Collection, "War is good for business". This perception protected them from being upset about the negative sides of wars. It's true that they didn't like bombs falling on their heads and torn pieces of walls flying around them either, but their optimism remained even in wartime conditions.
Well, at the end of the meeting, there was little left of Zimt's optimism. As she listened to the inventory of the war arsenal, the various tactical destruction of the Borg cubes, which entailed the sacrifice of the Borg drones, she became quite desperate. For her part, she wanted peace. However, she was only a weak voice among the older, more experienced and more determined leaders. But not even that, because she had no word in the decision. In the end, she didn't even listen to what the others were saying, there were no meaning to listen.
"Dr. Zimt!" she heard someone's voice. She flinched.
"Dr. Zimt!" repeated Captain Picard, looking nicely at the young doctor. "Are you all right?"
Zimt nodded, though nothing was wright and she knew she hadn't fooled any of the senior officers with the lie.
"Just as a doctor I swore to save lives" she forced a smile. "It is not a pleasant thing to hear about the extinction of hundreds of millions of lives."
She looked around at the officers, and none of their faces flinched at her comment. They did not seem to understand her at all, and their souls weren't even touched by the destruction of lives. Of the lives they will have to take, with their own hands. Or by using different weapons, but still. The orders for using them would be issued by these captains and commanders.
"You're still young," said suddenly Captain Riker kindly, but firmly. "When we extinguish the lives of the Borg drones, we defend the Federation against a powerful and cruel enemy. Taking their lives saves the lives of the people of the Federation."
"If there was another option against them, we would have done it already," said Admiral Janeway.
"There is nothing left but war," added Captain LaForge.
"The Borg are not as romantic a species as you imagine," Admiral Janeway tried to smile, but somehow she didn't want to succeed. "They are violent, cruel, and has not even heard of free choice."
Seven of Nine, who had been sitting among the others seriously, almost wearing a mask, flinched at this sentence. This did not escape Zimt's attention, although she only saw the Commander out of the corner of her eye. She didn't have time to take care of Seven, she had to focus her attention on the small, petulant Captain Assame of Werral, not on her patient.
"In addition, they are expanding. And this means the subjugation of many races who do not want to belong to the Borg and have no other choice. We have to protect them too, since most of them have no chance of defending themselves against the Borg."
"So, from a medical point of view, the loss of these lives is regrettable, indeed! It is also from a human point of view, since they did not want to join the Borg. But they are still part of the Collective, they will protect it against their will. Their death is a necessary evil, which for them is actually redemption."
Zimt would not have expected a logical, heartless explanation of the mass slaughter from the peace-loving, harmonious-minded Chakotay. However, Captain Picard did not let her answer the arguments of the others.
"That's why we called you here, doctor."
"I do not understand."
"You spent a lot of time with the Stargazer's commander," Captain Riker interrupted again.
Zimt nodded.
"Do you think the Commander is suitable for such a mission? We need you professional opinion, because the Commander's behavior is quite doubtful."
Zim was startled. She would have gladly screamed, out of reflex, that no, Seven was not suitable. She wanted, from the bottom of her heart the Commander to stay alive and not be harmed.
She wanted to protect her from seeing more beings die like her son, Icheb.
She wanted to prevent Seven from having to pronounce the death sentence on hundreds of thousands of lives.
It would only cost her a word.
Zimt looked at the Commander. Seven didn't look back at her, staring straight at the tabletop, which otherwise had nothing on it. So everything depended on her decision.
It would only cost her a word.
It would only cost her a word, and Commander Seven would be able to live in peace later.
The young doctor's heart was pounding in his throat.
Seven of Nine was still looking at the tabletop. She trusted himself completely to Zimt, who had been trying to pull her out of hell in the past few weeks. Z
imt's mouth finally opened and the young woman felt an alien force move her as she spoke the words.
"Yes, she is completely suitable. I trust her."