RP Log: The Desecration Consideration
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| 2020-06-04 14:39 | |
You trigger the door chime in Ready Room.
Knock from Ready Room: Come.
The door leading to Ready Room swooshes open.
- Ready Room <USS Callisto NX-99901>
- The Captain's ready room is not much more than a small office. A small desk occupies one corner of the compartment, behind it a very comfortable looking high-back chair. One other chair is available for guests. Situated within the aft bulkhead wall is a food and beverage replicator. The opposite wall has a small bookcase at the upper portion, and bench like seat below it. A desktop console adorns the deck.
- << CLOAKED >>
The door leading to Out swooshes closed.
T'Shaav looks up from finishing up her report to see who's coming in. Apparently, she didn't ask the computer.
"Commander, do you have a moment?" Tink asks as she enters. She approaches the desk but doesn't sit, only waits patiently for T'Shaav's response as the door hisses closed behind the Counselor.
"Counselor," T'Shaav says. "Certainly, feel free to sit. Will you have refreshment?"
Svetzvani shakes her head as she sits. "Nothing for me, thank you." She crosses her legs and gets comfortable, resting her folded hands on her knee. "I understand that we're planning to destroy the Antares, and I'm curious why."
"Two reasons," the Vulcan says. "We cannot remove it, because it is imbedded in the moon's surface. The other consideration is that if we leave it here, we will be leaving contamination that will alert later Blokooidian explorers to the presence of extraterrestrials. We would also be leaving them with a ffalse impression of the nature of those explorers, if they discover the nature of that universe's Terran Empire."
Svetzvani nods once thoughtfully. "I understand that we are responsible for preventing the contamination of primitive cultures from our own actions, but the Antares has nothing to do with us. Why are we taking responsibility for the actions of people who visited here three hundred years ago from another dimension? We didn't bring them here, and we didn't cause this crash."
"It is a reasonable point," T'Shaav says. "and a technically correct one as regards the facts. However, I have noticed during my years both in law enforcement and in Starfleet that there is sometimes a difference between the literal language of a law, and the intention its makers had in setting it forth." A beat. "I would say that since we have the chance to remove contamination which, if not ours, is certainly close enough, then we should. At the least, we prevent the Blokooidians from developing entire disciplines of study exploring the presence of 'aliens' in their star system because of something they discovered on one of their moons. At the most, we forestall them fearing humans, Vulcans, or other extraterrestrials because of what they may discover about a brutally repressive empire featuring those races."
"But is that not in itself interference?" the Counselor asks. "If we remove a game piece from the board, we are still influencing the outcome, perhaps in a drastic way. Their history will unfold in a way than it otherwise would have because of our interference."
T'Shaav considers that carefully. "Four years ago, during your time away from the Phoenix, we came across a primitive-stage society. We began standard explorations, and we discovered that another race had established mining on that world. The mining was poisoning the local inhabitants. We intervened, destroyed the mining operation and destroyed as much of the foreign technology as we could. Arguably, we did not have a need to interfere, because the prime directive does not obligate us to stop another group from tampering. But ethically, we felt duty-bound to halt the tampering and save lives. Indeed, I believe we would have intervened even if no lives had been endangered, but there were. Here, there may be no lives at stake per se, but I believe the same ethical obligation is in effect."
"I understand," Tink says. "And I don't know what the right answer is here. I only wondered if we had considered the fact that the Prime Directive may not actually apply here." After a slight pause she then asks, "Are we sure, by the way, that the local population aren't already contaminated? We saw what happened with the Resoodians. Here we have a planet that appears to be supporting far more people than it should be able to with their level of technology. They may be living in a way that has already been altered by someone long before us, or even before the Antares."
"In fact, we do not know," the Vulcan says. "That possibility is one reason I, for one, am intent on exploring that world and obtaining some answers."
Svetzvani nods. "Then what would be the harm of finding out what we can about those people first? It may turn out that they're already aware of interstellar life and travel, in which case there's no need to put all the effort into destroying the Antares."
T'Shaav is silent for a moment. "I will consider that point," she says. "It makes no logistical difference whether we dispose of Antares before or after we explore Blokooid I. First, though, we will sweep the system for signs of other vessels, debris fragments, etc."
Svetzvani smiles a little. "I didn't mean to bring this to you as a challenge of your decision, much less as a challenge to your authority," she offers. "I'm just not comfortable desecrating the resting place of the dead, if it can be avoided. I appreciate you hearing me out on this."
T'Shaav nods. "Thank you for bringing your concerns to me, Counselor. And I did not take them in that way, I assure you. Now, if you will excuse me, there are items to which I must attend."
Svetzvani gets to her feet. "Thanks again, Commander," she says, then heads quickly out.