Star Trek RPG - Mission #2: "Primum Nil Nocere"

[anyrose]

"Physically I'm fine," Collins tells Dr. Villa, "except for the morning sickness, which I could really do without. But psychologically I am very confused. The baby's father messaged me while I was still on the Meitner, and his whole attitude was 180 degrees from where he was when I first told him. Here." She shows the messages to Miriam:

Fr: Ens. Ben Cooper
Thalen told me that you and the rest of the boarding party were able to get away from the Sakathian station, and are now on your way back to the ship. I'm so relieved - I was really worried about you. I can't wait to see you again! I've given a lot of thought to your pregnancy and have decided, if you're willing, that I'd be pleased and honored to be the father of your child. You don't need to answer me now. I know you have a lot on your mind. Just think about it, and let's talk when you get back. With love always, your BEN.

Fr: Lt JG Jeremi Collins
Thank you, Ben, it's good to hear from you. We will talk at length we I return, but after I've been debriefed and had a chance to rest. I hope you're not planning on meeting the Meitner, I don't want a scene and I'm afraid if I see you there, I may start crying and clinging to you. Not the best impression to make upon my return from my first command. I hope you understand. I look forward to seeing you. Love, Jeremi

Fr: Ben
Of course I understand. I'll keep my distance, although it won't at all be easy, until you're ready. Everyone aboard ship is talking about you - we all wish you well. Take good care of yourself, and your crew, and hurry back. With love always, yours, as ever, BEN

Fr: Jeremi
I am so bored in here. I'll be in quarantine for several hours more if you want to vidchat. But let's save the important stuff for in person. If I don't answer right away it's because I'm vidding with the Captain. Other than that, I'm just twiddling my thumbs.
Love, Jer

Fr: Ben
Glad you're back, safe and sound! I hear it won't be too much longer now and they'll let you out. I was in quarantine once on the

Monitor - long story - but it all came out OK. So how are you feeling? How is the baby? Did you miss me as much as I missed you? I doubt it. Seems impossible. Lots of love, BEN

Fr: Jeremi
I'm assuming the baby is fine. Other than morning sickness, nothing untoward is going on. As for missing you, well, first I am glad you missed me, but honestly I was so focused on the mission, I had little time to think about anything else. Maybe one day you'll tell me your Monitor story. *mwah* Jer

Fr: Ben
If you ever have any problems falling asleep, I'll be glad to tell you. Did the doctors scan or check the baby specifically? Do we know for sure that he or she is OK? XOXOXOX BEN

Fr: Jeremi
I have an appointment right after my duty shift. Let's have dinner tonight.

Fr: Ben
Sounds good to me! xoxoxox BEN

"I was ready to terminate the pregnancy because I am not ready to be a single mother, and he seemed indifferent to the whole idea. Now, I don't know what to do." Jeremi slumps in the chair and covers her face with her hands.

[Elendil's Heir]

Soerjosoemarno says, "Oh, yes. Have you compiled a subspace message-traffic review before, Ens. Kylah? Need any help getting started?"

Dr. Villa tells the Coridanite, "I'll discharge you from Sickbay tomorrow morning, Mr. Rangin, if you're still feeling well. You may attend the debriefing with the senior staff. But you're to stand no more than a four-hour watch each day for the next week. I'll let the Science Officer know. You need to rest."

T'Var meets with Bucci in Med Lab 1. The plump, cheery Italian virologist enters carrying four data tablets and a medical tricorder. He says, "I'm glad to help, but where's Dr. Waite? I've hardly seen him since he was released from quarantine."

Dr. Villa says hesitantly, "You don't need to show me your correspondence if you don't want to, Mr. Collins." When the Security officer insists, she reads it, frowns and says, "Well, he certainly seems very affectionate now. Have you talked to him lately, I mean, face to face?"

[anyrose]

"We're having dinner together tonight," Collins replies, "and we will talk at length. But I'm still not sure I want to side track my career. May I come back tomorrow and talk to you some more? Or perhaps one of the other doctors has a counseling background?" Collins can feel the nausea rising agin. It's definitely linked to my emotions, she thinks.

[choie]

Kylah glances back at the screen behind her before responding to Lt. Soerjosoemarno. She hates admitting a lack of knowledge--but while her training at the Academy did, of course, include the technical and administrative skills necessary to collect and examine subspace communications, she's aware she might not be performing the task in the manner the Yorktown personnel prefer. Besides, what she's learned most about dealing with others, outside the rarified atmosphere of her upbringing, is that humility is one of the fastest ways of making oneself likeable, if such a thing is really possible. She couldn't manage it at the Academy--she was too young, too angry--or on the Sakathian station or the Meitner. But emotions aren't nearly as fraught here. Kylah hopes she'll be more successful now.

She looks back at the older man with sincere gratitude. "I have started compiling the messages, sir, that is straightforward enough. However, I do not know what method or format of review would be most preferred by Lt. Thalen or whoever on the senior staff will be going through the reports. I would greatly appreciate the assistance... if you are not too busy."

[WES]

"Your assistance is most welcome, Doctor," T'Var tells Bucci. "As for Dr. Waite...." T'Var pauses a moment. "I am certain he could be of use to us with our research, but he does not seem willing to do so."

T'Var frowns, then lets out a sigh. "He should know a great deal about the Sakathian experiments, yet claims to understand very little." The Vulcan's frown deepens. "Perhaps it is best if we proceed on our own -- for now."

[Elendil's Heir]

Villa says, "Well, my door is always open, but Dr. Noel is a psychologist, of course, and is quite good at her work. I'm sure she'd be glad to talk to you, if it would help."

Soerjosoemarno tells Kylah, "Usually the Captain, First Officer and Communications Officer - Mr. Thalen - want a one-page summary of the subspace traffic." He looks over the messages she has already compiled. "Let's see... yes, I would definitely include the arrival of the Endeavour at the starbase for an overhaul of her warp drive... the private yacht Trimalchio's stopover there on the way to Omicron Ceti III... hmmm... the war games off Boadicea... oh, and the appointment of the new Portmaster for Starbase 22. The rest of this is all right, but optional."

Dr. Bucci matches T'Var's frown. "He's our guest... but he knows more about the Miskatonic-Sakathian research project than anyone else aboard. Perhaps we could apply a little pressure, or friendly persuasion if you will, to get him to help more. What do you think?"

[anyrose]

Collins rises to leave, and reaches out her hand to Dr Villa. "Thank you. I will make an appointment with her on my way out." Which she does, then outside sickbay she heads to the nearest comm panel "Lt Collins to Ensign Cooper. Please meet me in the mess in 15 minutes. Collins out" and she walks slowly towards her dinner date.

[WES]

"I do not believe Dr. Waite will respond well to pressure," T'Var replies. "Perhaps Dr. Villa or the captain could persuade him to help."

[CatInASuit]

Rangin responds to the yeoman in the affirmative, but also relaying the doctor's orders.

[Elendil's Heir]

Dr. Noel asks Collins to come see her when the Security officer goes off-duty the next day. Collins goes to dinner with her boyfriend, the details of which will be revealed in the future.

Dr. Bucci shrugs and says, "All right, if you like. I know our CMO can be very persuasive." The two physicians compare notes on Fujishiro's and Rangin's conditions, and the data the Vulcan woman gathered on the Sakathian space station.

Rangin's reply is acknowledged by the Captain's yeoman.

Kylah completes her subspace communications summary and posts it to the Captain, First Officer and Communications Officer's comm accounts.

"Night" passes aboard the starship, as it sails steadily on towards Starbase 27, and a new day begins. Rangin is discharged from Sickbay in the morning and has time to go to his quarters before the debriefing.

[Elendil's Heir]

Cooper's face lit up when Collins entered the Mess Hall. "You don't know how happy I am to see you, Jeri," he said.

Collins smiled and sat down. "I'm happy to see you, too, but I am confused. Before I left for the mission, you made your choice clear by not answering my messages. I was not prepared for this complete turnaround. I have to ask, what's going on?"

The shuttle pilot looked chagrined. He reached out and took her hand. "I know I didn't handle it too well, and I apologize. I'd really never thought I might be a father at my age. I felt very confused and... conflicted, I guess. But when you were away on the mission I thought a lot about it. I worried about how you and the baby were doing, every day. It was really hard to imagine you both on the space station, given how dangerous I heard it was."

Jeremi smiled and squeezed Ben's hand. "I had a checkup; the baby is fine. That said, I still haven't made up my mind about keeping it. I still haven't told Cmdr. Vargas or the Captain." She sighed heavily. "How long into the pregnancy will I be able to properly do my job? I had a couple of bouts of morning sickness during the mission that may have altered how I reacted to the emergency. I have no way of knowing." Collins paused and tried to get a handle on Ben's reaction. "Then there's the issue of my career. Having and raising the baby would surely stall it, and I don't know if I'll be able to get it back on track. And what about your career? Because if I keep the baby, he or she will be both our responsibilities. We'd have to stand different watches. We'd hardly see each other." She paused again. "Okay. I'm starting to babble. Your turn."

"You're not babbling," he said. "Those are all good points. But if you want to have the baby, as you know I want you to, I know we can make it work. And if we can't make it work on the Yorktown for whatever reason, we could ask for shore assignments. I know that's not the career path you had in mind, but it would be worth it if we could be together and raise this child as a couple. I love you and I want us to be happy together."

"I need to think about this some more, Ben," Jeremi told her suitor. "I'm still not sure what I want. Shore assignments?" She shuddered, she hoped imperceptibly. "I'm not sure I could be happy with that." She stood up. "Ben, I love you, too, but I still have to figure out what I want." She kissed him goodnight, and returned to her quarters where she slept not at all.

Collins dialogue by anyrose; Cooper dialogue by Elendil's Heir.

[choie]

Kylah is grateful when it's finally time to wake up. Of course "wake up" would probably indicate that she's been sleeping. Thanks to her crewmate--who arrived last night after Kylah was in bed but quite clearly was unable to get any rest--Kylah herself had been barely able to catch more than a few moments before Collins's agitation woke her up again.

This is madness, Kylah thinks, grumpy as she hurries to take a shower before the other woman rises. I might as well be back on the Meitner for all the good last night did me. How in the name of all the stars will Kylah keep her groggy mind sharp enough for today's meeting with the Captain? And she suspects she'll need to be on her toes, depending on what the others put in their reports. In truth she barely remembers what she put in her own.

Cleaned and dressed, Kylah braces herself before re-entering the main room. She looks toward her superior. They'll have to speak to each other some time. Might as well start now.

"Good morning, Lieutenant," Kylah says, her voice even and mild--and hoarse from exhaustion, but there's nothing she can do but clear her throat quietly. Precisely what happened last night to keep Collins in such a sleepless state, she has no idea, and it's none of her business--and Collins wouldn't tell her, either. Further, Kylah knows Collins wouldn't even't want her to ask. Nor would Collins appreciate knowing that her mood affected Kylah's sleep as well.

But it's farcical to pretend she doesn't see the sleep-deprived face only a few yards away. Kylah's not completely lacking in social graces, and so she adds in a slightly more gentle tone: "Are you feeling all right, sir?"

[anyrose]

"I'll be fine, Ensign, thank you" Collins says quietly, "I'm just wrestling with a personal issue. Nothing to do with the mission. Are you through with the shower?"

[WES]

T'Var gets some rest. She prepares herself for the meeting with the captain. In the back of her mind, however, the Sakathian virus -- its cause and its cure -- keep her more distracted than she'd care to admit.

[choie]

Kylah nods and moves out of the way so Collins can start her morning routine. So much for what Kylah's two Academy roommates called "girl talk."

Suddenly realizing that she has no desire to stay and possibly hear any results of Collins's continuing battle with nausea, Kylah makes haste and leaves their quarters to seek out the Captain's conference room. She again turns her mind to today's meeting, and also--thinking back on yesterday's duties--wonders whether her work will have been deemed acceptable by those who read the reports.

[anyrose]

Collins finishes getting ready and heads to the meeting.

[Elendil's Heir]

The Captain enters the conference room at 0900 sharp. "As you were," she says when you all begin to stand. She takes her seat at the head of the Theban marble table, with First Officer Vargas to her right. Chief Engineer Cheverez, Science Officer Roble and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Villa are also gathered around the table. The boarding party - Collins, Pourtash, Kylah, T'Var, Rangin and Hayes - are already there. Delaney enters moments after the Captain, muttering an apology for being late.

"Welcome back to the Yorktown," Capt. Singh says to the junior officers. "Although I know the Sakathian mission did not proceed according to plan - to put it mildly - it's good to have you all back. Dr. Villa, any update on Mr. Fujishiro?"

"Still in Sickbay on life support," the CMO says, shaking her head. "She's now in a persistent vegetative state. I'm sorry to say I see very little chance of her ever emerging from it; her fever caused systemic neurological damage."

"Thank you, Doctor. Do what you can."

"Of course, ma'am."

Singh turns and says to the boarding party, "The senior officers and I have reviewed your mission reports. Is there anything you'd like to add, or emphasize, now? Any observations to share, or lessons learned for next time?"

[anyrose]

"Sir," Collins begins, and once acknowledged, she continues "although the obvious answer is to never go on any mission unarmed, I believe the bigger oversight was in not verifying the home world's policies and laws for ourselves, that is Starfleet, before accepting the mission. That said, I think all of my team will agree that Dr. Waite was more of a hindrance than an asset."

[CatInASuit]

Rangin thinks back over what happened and considers that his report was accurate enough for people to draw conclusions from it. He remains silent, slightly glum over the news of Fujishiro.

[WES]

"I would have to agree with Mr. Collins," T'Var says evenly. "While I find Starfleet's policy to explore and assist other cultures whenever we can noble and good, I believe we need better guidelines and information before investing our time -- and most importantly our lives -- to this policy."

[Elendil's Heir]

"Is there any way in which you could have gathered that information yourselves before beginning the mission?" Roble asks. "Or do you depend upon your superiors to do so?"

"And where is Dr. Waite, anyway?" Cheverez adds.

[choie]

Kylah bristles at Roble's insult--and apparently faulty memory. "With respect, sir," she says as evenly as possible, "we were in a position where all available information, whether it came from our briefing, from research, from those on the Station, or from Starfleet itself, was either spotty or false--deliberatly false, in the case of the team including Dr. Waite, as we now know all too well."

Not wanting to sound like a guilty child pointing a finger at a sibling, Kylah adds swiftly, "I do not wish to blame Dr. Waite for everything that went wrong on this mission. I fear there is more than enough blame to be shared; almost all of us in the party made errors in judgment--and--and I include myself," she admits with a lifted chin. "But the initial mistake, if it can be called one, was Waite's."

She swallows. She didn't intend to bring up Waite at all--unless he denied his mendaciousness and no one else called him on it. Kylah has been fully prepared to speak her mind about all she chose not to include in her written report, particularly the lack of judgment on the part of her superiors. But now, reluctantly, she has to back up Collins and focus on Waite.

"Sir, we know he almost certainly lied about telling the Captain of the prohibition against weapons, and worse, blatantly lied about the purpose of the experiments going on aboard that station. Without the knowledge that only he could have provided, there was little we could except rely on past reports of Starfleet's experience with the Sakathians.

"And--forgive me for speaking on your behalf," Kylah says with a quick glance toward Hayes. "--But Ensign Hayes did gather all the available information on past Starfleet missions to the station. She said as much during the meeting that took place when we briefly returned to the ship, as you may recall, sir. According to her research, none of those prior mission logs mentioned the weapons ban. Since it is unlikely that all those other landing parties neglected to share this somewhat important piece of information, it seems logical to conclude this was a brand new rule. One about which only Doctors Waite and Pierce could have told us." Kylah's voice softens as she concludes: "Unfortunately, Dr. Pierce's role in this affair cost her her life."

With any justice, Waite's will cost him his career and earn him a lengthy incarceration. Which would be light sentences, in Kylah's opinion. On Elas, his life would be forfeit as well.

[WES]

"It is only logical to assume that our superiors would provide us with the best possible information so that we can successfully complete whatever mission we are given. We are your subordinates for a reason," T'Var tells Roble. "Then again, if these superiors are provided with information that is not correct or misleading in some way...."

[anyrose]

"Perhaps in this particular case," Collins offers, "we could have contacted the Sakathain government ourselves and asked if there were any new laws or policies in effect that we should know about, rather than take a third party's word for it. And we could have vetted Waite before working with him to determine his trustworthiness, although we might not have learned anything different." She is quite relieved that she has been supported in her opinion, but maintains a professional face.

[choie]

Kylah appreciates Collins's willingness to accept responsibility--frankly, this seems to be a new experience in Kylah's view--but in this case she feels strongly that justice will not be served in apportioning blame to the mission crew.

"Respectfully, I question whether it would have been our place to contact the Sakathian government. Starfleet itself had given us instructions, we were briefed on the basic Sakathian customs and their history... I can speak only from my own knowledge of governments," she says, hoping T'Var will for once not object to her bringing up her royal history, "But I believe it would have been seen as a presumptuous act for junior officers to approach a government that the Federation clearly wanted to appease regarding its xenophobia and secrecy." She realizes she's speaking a great deal for the most junior member of the team, and tries to extricate herself from the charge of insubrdination that might be forthcoming. "I beg pardon if this is out of turn, but it was my duty, along with Mr. Hayes, to interact with the Sakathians on behalf of the mission, and in so doing I did learn enough about them to know just how protective they were in guarding their secrets, and what sticklers they were for protocol. I don't believe they'd have taken kindly to being approached by junior officers prior to the mission, even if it meant avoiding a crisis."

Kylah adds with a straight look at Roble, "As far as Waite's trustworthiness is concerned.... In our mission briefing, Lieutenant Commander Roble himself told me, when I questioned the humane treatment of the animals during these experiments, that he himself had checked on Waite's paperwork in this regard and said, I quote, 'He has a good reputation and I have no reason to doubt his word.'" She checks herself from the bitter smile that nearly accompanies this pronouncement. "If the Yorktown's own Chief Science Officer could not divine the truth about Waite's ulterior motives, I think we had little chance of finding anything ourselves."

[anyrose]

Collins fights the impulse to glare and snipe at the young impertinent ensign, instead quietly interjects "By 'we', I mean the Yorktown. I wouldn't presume to overstep my rank or to put it all on the Captain. It just should have been part of the process."

[choie]

Kylah doesn't change the direction of her gaze. She's almost grateful for the comment--as a result, her decision to speak openly about the other woman's leadership failures is weighing less and less on her mind.

With the same even voice, so deferential she almost nauseates herself, Kylah nods while murmuring, "Of course, Lieutenant. I apologize, I must have misunderstood; I thought we were still answering the question Lt. Cmdr Roble was putting to us--how we, the mission crew, might have better performed our duties prior to the mission. I fear I did not realize you had changed the subject, sir."

[Elendil's Heir]

"Your points are well-taken," says the Science Officer, unruffled. "Clearly there was a miscommunication, or more than one, and none of us knew exactly what to expect on the space station."

"So is Dr. Waite shy, or angry, or what?" Cheverez asks. "It seems to me he ought to be here now."

[WES]

"Dr. Waite has not been very helpful to us -- during the mission itself or with the research needed to determine the cause and cure for the Sakathian virus," T'Var states evenly.

T'Var glances at the captain, then the other senior officers in turn. "Perhaps he should be summoned to this meeting right now."

[choie]

Kylah is relieved that someone else made the suggestion to summon Waite at last. The fact that he is not here is making her feel more and more uncomfortable--almost anxious.

[anyrose]

"and hook him up to a polygraph!" Collins blurts out.

[WES]

T'Var cannot help but grin briefly at Collins' suggestion.

[Elendil's Heir]

Singh also smiles. She hits a button on the table's comm panel and says, "Dr. Waite, this is the Captain. We are debriefing our boarding party. Please report to my conference room on Deck 2 as soon as possible."

There is a long pause, and then the reply comes, "On my way, ma'am." Waite does not sound happy.

Vargas says, "While we await his arrival, Mr. Collins, perhaps you could explain to me why you left the other members of your landing party behind on the space station and beamed over alone to the shuttlecraft?" He checks his data pad. "Two of them, in their reports, said that you either 'yelled' or 'shouted' as you did so."

[anyrose]

"Sir," Collins states plainly "there was doubt as to whether the Sakathian transporters would work or not. I could not ask another to do what I was unwilling to do. It was my job, as team leader, to take the risk."

[Elendil's Heir]

"I see," says Vargas. "But you had a volunteer who was willing to go, didn't you? And why did you not designate someone else to command in your absence?"

[CatInASuit]

Rangin wonders how long it will last as he has little to offer other than his report. He wonders if the same would be true when Dr Waite arrives.

On hearing the questions aimed at Collins, he just hopes she is honest about her part, while remaining attentive to the meeting.

[anyrose]

Collins bristles slightly. "Yes, sir" she admits "it did take a while for me to assign interim command to Dr T'Var. I should have done so before beaming over. But once the transporters were successfully tested, I made the decision to go and secure the shuttle. There was no other volunteer."

[choie]

Kylah listens to the questions with no small amount of satifaction, although she wonders if Collins thinks she's the one to question her decisions. No doubt, she thinks, the irony almost amusing her. She put nothing but the barest of facts in her report, preferring to keep the questionable actions of her superiors off the written record until she could articulate them aloud.

Even more ironic, however, is that now she feels the need to back up Collins, which she had no intention of doing prior to entering the meeting. "Lieutenant Collins is correct, sir," Kylah says quietly. "There were no volunteers... only suggestions for other courses of action from Lietenants Delaney and Pourtash, and myself."

[Elendil's Heir]

"According to at least one of the reports, if I recall," Vargas says, "Dr. T'Var assumed command of those left behind before Mr. Collins made any such designation, even though as a physician she is a staff officer and not a line officer, and was thus outranked by Mr. Pourtash, who as a helmsman is of the Command Department. But let me ask generally: Was everyone left behind on the space station aware of who was in command there when Mr. Collins beamed over to the shuttle?"

Pourtash and Delaney look at each other. Hayes looks down and coughs.

Dr. Waite enters the conference room and quietly takes an empty chair along one bulkhead.

[choie]

The moment Waite enters the room, Kylah feels the familiar and almost instinctive dislike for him sweep over her like a tidal wave. As much as she finds Collins's behavior during the mission unprofessional, reckless and downright cruel, she is still loath to have a crewmember taken to task in front of this odious man who's caused the deaths of so many--including one of their own, if Fujishiro cannot be saved.

She also doesn't appreciate Pourtash and Delaney's silence. Are they not officers with mission experience? she thinks, staring at them as if willing them to speak. First they let Collins run roughshod over them during the event, offering little useful advice if any. Now they stand there and say nothing?

Exasperated, Kylah cannot remain silent. "There were merely seconds in between Lieutenant Collins's transport and Dr. T'Var's assumption of command, sir." She can hardly believe she's sounding as if she's defending Collins. "Notwithstanding the lack of direct orders from our team leader prior to her departure, we knew the Doctor was in charge almost immediately. And," she adds with a calm but pointed tone, "no one higher in the chain of command even attempted to take control of the situation."

Kylah fights back the instinct to cast a quick regretful glance toward Pourtash. She cannot forget how passively he behaved during the crisis.

[WES]

T'Var listens closely to the questions and answers before sharing her thoughts on the matter.

The doctor stands slowly. "With due respect, I believe Mr. Collins acted in the best interests of those under her command." T'Var lets her gaze rest briefly on everyone in the room, then fixes her attention on Vargas. "Perhaps certain decisions were not perfect. No decision ever is."

T'Var continues to stare at Vargas. "We were faced with a very difficult situation. We all performed our duties as well as possible under great duress. I am certain we have all learned valuable lessons from this mission."

The doctor sits and returns her gaze to the captain.

[anyrose]

Collins is surprised and relieved by the support she is getting, particularly from Kylah. But she knows her decisions didn't follow protocol. She wonders if Vargas ever made a mistake in his early career and how he felt afterwards.

[choie]

"With respect," Kylah says, trying her best to avoid sounding combatitive but suspecting she's failing, "This is not a pre-Academy training camp and we are not children to be given pats on the back for attempting our best and learning lessons. In order to improve we must admit our mistakes. I am prepared to do so, and I should hope my superiors are as well. In my opinion, none of us, perhaps apart from Lieutenant Delaney, Ensign Rangin and Ensign Hayes, performed to the best of our abilities. If we did, then our best was not good enough. Not nearly good enough."

[Elendil's Heir]

Pourtash seems stung. He says, a little defensively, "I could have asserted a right to command, I suppose, but Dr. T'Var is older than me, and has greater seniority in Starfleet, although you're right that she's a staff and not a line officer. She also seemed willing to take action even though Mr. Collins didn't say who should command in her absence. Then she did a good job and... well, it became unnecessary for me to displace or override her."

Delaney says, "I was just too busy trying to fix the transporter to get involved, frankly. I knew our lives could depend on how quickly I was able to get us out of there. I wasn't sure who Mr. Collins had in mind to command the remainder of the boarding party, but I was perfectly satisfied to let Dr. T'Var do so."

After a few moments' silence, Capt. Singh asks, "And you, Mr. Hayes?"

[WES]

"To be honest, Captain, I was overwhelmed by everything. I don't believe my presence was a help or a hindrance," Hayes answers.

She pauses a moment to gather her thoughts. "I just had to trust that those in charge would know what to do."

[Elendil's Heir]

"I see," says the Captain. She picks up a data tablet of her own, glances at it and puts it down again. "Mr. Kylah, I was surprised - actually, shocked would not be too strong a word - to learn that Mr. Pourtash once gave you a direct order and felt he had to actually point his phaser at you when you disobeyed him. What would you like to say for yourself? And Dr. T'Var, you then apparently countermanded that order. I'd be interested in your thoughts, too."

[choie]

Ignoring her instinct to look over to T'Var, Kylah gathers her thoughts before she manages to formulate an answer. "With permission, sir, to respond I must add context to my decision. Chief Porr's wife had been attacked and had swiftly developed into one of the altered creatures. I had been observing her behavior, and listening to the sounds of the creatures outside the transporter room, and was absolutely certain that Mrs. Porr was linked to these creatures. There was not a doubt in my mind that her goal was to open the door to let her brethren inside--the door that was the only thing between us and them."

She inhales deeply. "Before this, while Mrs. Porr was in the process of changing, I had been asking Dr. T'Var, indeed all of the others, to end the woman's transformation in as painless a method as possible--by oversedation. Now that she had been fully transformed and was moving to open the door, a peaceful end to her behavior was no longer possible.

"The other officers' refusal to react to these rapidly changing circumstances seemed antithetical to my Starfleet training. Even when Lieutenant Collins ordered Dr. T'Var to transport half of us back to the shuttle--halving the number of people able to defend against the onslaught of creatures just outside the door--Dr. T'Var did not inform Collins of Mrs. Porr's new behavior. She simply followed Mr. Collins's blind order to leave her, Delaney and Pourtash behind to face almost certain death.

"I was certain this was irresponsible and we owed Mr. Collins the full details of what was happening down on the station so she could better assess the cirucumstances. I contacted her myself to update her of the situation and begged that we stop Mrs. Porr's progression to the door. Still no one acted, no one was even listening to me."

Kylah has to walk a thin line here and she does her best to keep calm, ordering her thoughts carefully. "Sir, this may seem like hubris, as I know I am utterly new and untried. But throughout the mission I had correctly interpreted the various situations regarding the Sakathians multiple times, and knew I was correct now as well. The other officers' passivity seemed almost--almost suicidal. I strongly suspected that the noise and confusion were preventing them from hearing my suggestion to prevent Mrs. Porr from unlocking the door. So when Dr. T'Var put her hand on me..."

For a few seconds, she is forced to hesitate, having invoked the memories of the terrifying moments in that transporter room. She shakes her head to free hersef of their spell. "When Dr. T'Var touched me I immediately knew what I had to do. I am a student of xenolinguistics and am very aware of other cultures' methods of communicating with one another. Thus I know of Vulcans' abilities regarding telepathy--which is enhanced by touch. I thought this might be the only chance to adequately convey my certainty of how dire and imminent the situation with Mrs. Porr was. So I placed my own hand on her shoulder to enhance the connection and communicated with her that way.

"That is why I had to ignore Mr. Pourtash's order to release Dr. T'Var, sir. I meant her no harm, and Dr. T'Var herself knew that. Of course, I understand that Mr. Pourtash had no way of knowing this himself, but Dr. T'Var was the one in command at the time, and I felt his order was immaterial in the circumstances. I was trying to communicate my recommendations to my current commanding officer in the only way I knew how. Even at the risk of being stunned, I felt my breaking the line of communication would have been more of a dereliction of duty than disobeying Mr. Pourtash."

Lifting her head slightly, she keeps her gaze sincere and forthright. "Dr. T'Var will confirm that I was doing no more than trying to convey information to her in the best way possible. I understand that to an outside observer my behavior likely seemed aggressive, and refusing to obey Mr. Pourtash may have earned a substantial mark against my record, if not an outright charge of insubordination. But I sought only to save the lives of my crewmates, and nothing else was working. Using Dr. T'Var's ability to read minds by touch telepathy was my last and only hope of doing so."

With that she exhales and falls silent. Kylah prays for her own sake that the entirety of her thoughts to Dr. T'Var will be remembered by the Vulcan--and that the doctor will be only as forthcoming as the circumstances warrant. A possible stunning blast via Pourtash's phaser was not the only risk she took on that station by reaching out to T'Var. Now there is nothing else to do but rely on the older woman's discretion.

[WES]

T'Var keeps her gaze and attention focused solely on the captain as she speaks.

"I did not feel threatened by Ensign Kylah's actions," she says. "What Mr. Kylah has communicated to you is correct."

The doctor glances at Pourtash for a moment, then addresses the captain once again. "Mr. Pourtash acted in the best interests of the group. He also followed my orders to stand down when told to do so."

T'Var gathers her thoughts regarding Mrs. Porr before continuing. "Chief Porr's wife added an almost impossible element to our situation, Captain. Everyone reacted differently to her potential transformation. I, myself, was caught in a particularly difficult dilemma. As a physician, the vow I've taken to do no harm meant that the option of 'killing' Mrs. Porr to stop her transformation -- was unacceptable -- yet attempting to protect our group from her if and when she did transform...."

The doctor pauses yet again for a moment. "I was certain Mr. Delaney would complete his work on the transporters -- allowing us to leave the station safely -- before I had to make a decision I most assuredly did not want to make."

[Elendil's Heir]

The Captain does not look entirely convinced, but she nods before turning to the Miskatonic University researcher. "Thank you for joining us, Dr. Waite. I'd like you to tell me, in your own words, what you and your staff were doing on the space station."

Dr. Waite is clearly unhappy to be there, but he folds his hands and says, "As I told your officers several days ago, we were conducting research into genetic engineering, carrying out limited, targeted resequencing of the Sakathian genome in test volunteers. We needed the alien lifeforms you brought as control groups. We weren't making hybrids, but something went wrong with the experiments, obviously."

"What was the purpose of the experiments?" Dr. Villa asks.

"The Sakathian government wanted to figure out ways to control large social groups based on DNA resequencing research, hoping to develop tailor-made drugs for particular purposes. For sexual offenders, libido suppression. For political dissidents, intelligence inhibitors. For soldiers, faster reflexes, greater strength and improved healing. For surly workers, higher energy and motivation - all at the molecular level. A fool's dream, obviously, but that's what they wanted, so that's what we were working on. We'd learned a lot about Sakathian genetics, brain function and endocrinology, in particular. Huge strides. But we weren't giving them exactly what they wanted. Director Geb was always urging us on... always making new demands. It became difficult to continue, but we did our best."

"You experimented only on Sakathians?" Dr. Villa asks. "And they were all volunteers?"

"Yes."

"Did any have adverse reactions to the experiments?"

"Yes, occasionally with some of the subjects, but they were minor. Nothing life-threatening, and certainly nothing on the scale of the altered or, if you will, 'zombie' Sakathians we all later observed on the station."

"Do you have any theories as to why there were such varying reactions from the different species - Sakathian, Coridanite and Human - to the resequenced genome?"

"No. I wish I did. None of our experiments exposed human beings to the latest batch of ntLd serum, which was the fluid means by which we introduced the genome into our test subjects. I just don't know why Mr. Rangin or Mr. Fujiro have--"

"That's 'Fujishiro,'" the Captain says coldly.

"Sorry, Fujishiro." He shrugs. "I don't know why they reacted as they did, although it seems likely that the resequenced genome mutated in some unanticipated, unpredictable way, and was introduced into your officers' bodies by bites or scratches. I also don't know why the altered Sakathians acted as they did - that was unprecedented, and quite shocking to me."

"Do you know of, or can you think of, any other course of treatment for Mr. Fujishiro that would be likely to bring her out of her coma and return her to good health?"

"No, I'm very sorry, I don't. As I told the others earlier, I'm afraid her condition is terminal."

"Do you think the experiments you conducted were fully in compliance with Federation law and medical research ethical guidelines?" Lt. Cmdr. Roble asks sharply.

"Yes," says Dr. Waite, although his body language indicates otherwise. "I think they did."

Dr. Villa asks several more questions but Waite does not, or will not, shed any more light on the situation. She exchanges a subtle glance with the Yorktown's Captain, who looks around the table and asks, "Any other questions, gentlemen, while we have Dr. Waite here?"

[anyrose]

"I'd like to hear what Director Geb's new demands were that were, as you seem to feel, so beyond the scope of the research." Collins asks with not a little bit of sarcasm in her voice.