Prime Directive

Posted on Sat Sep 19th, 2020 @ 5:25am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Cailus Griffin & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD & Lieutenant Commander James Smith & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Commander Leta Rothgan PhD.

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Deck 2 - Meeting Room

ON:

With Pithos nearing complete destruction and the associated effects on Hesiod Green's geological stability growing increasingly dangerous, time was against the Pandora crew as they gathered to discuss possible options for saving the Hesians; their home planet doomed to collapse around them as a direct result of the Pithos facility disaster. Nyx was aware that he had a rogue Admiral in his Brig, the man responsible for this chaos and crime, but he would be dealt with in due time. First he had to gather his leadership team, and Commander Rothgan, to figure out their next steps.

Nyx waited until everyone had gathered in the meeting room before speaking, the distant sounds of Hesiod Green groaning and disintegrating not too far below the ship was loudly evident. Nyx laid down what they had learnt so far from the Pithos and Hesian Away Teams. He was showing a diagram on the large screen of the facility and the on-going effects it was having on the planet's surface levels. A large red bubble emanating from the facility demonstrated the immediate area of disaster, with a secondary orange bubble around it showing the potential growth of the impacted zones. Both bubbles continued to inflate as the seconds ticked past.

"Fault lines are spreading throughout a fifty kilometre radius." Temple explained. "A large one has formed under the Hesian's main settlement, known as the Colony. Seismic sensors indicate the integrity of their mountain at sixty percent and falling. We're likely to see landslides and large sink holes growing within the hour. Their home will be swallowed into the ground in just under three hours."

He turned back to the crew, a grim look upon his face, "As we are yet to identify an other settlements of native species in the surrounding planet, and wide-scale scanning indicates no other life forms, it is likely that this colony will be the last of the Hesian species. If we do nothing, we will be responsible for their extinction. If we act, of course, we will contaminate and interfere with their natural history. So, what are our options?"

"Contaminate?" Shae spoke with great exasperation. "Sir, is not the unnatural destruction of their world not contamination enough to warrant immediate action? If this was a natural event, if Hesiod Green was doomed regardless of our involvement, you could make the argument of interfering with their natural history, but we, Starfleet, did this to them. Their history is already contaminated, it would be irresponsible of us to leave them to die after we caused the destruction of their world," Shae laid out firmly.

“Captain ...” Krysia was as always the voice of compassion. “The damage here was done a long time ago, none of it is our doing. These people are going to die if we don’t save them! We can’t allow this to be the end of their civilisation when it’s not their natural end, this was caused by prior interference now we have the chance to give them a new start on another world.”

"Unfortunately, there is some evidence to suggest long-term sustainability of the planet was unlikely." Nyx added, as he pointed to the screen. It showed a new graph projecting the liveability and environment of Hesiod over the coming decades. "Our scans show natural resources have been almost entirely depleted, food sources were already limited, and cultural progress of the species has significantly halted. The Pithos experiment has exasperated this planet's destruction, in ways that are entirely unnatural, but it's also likely that the Hesians would have died out on their own." The Captain sighed as he shifted back to look at the others, "This is an incredibly heavy decision to make, but we must consider this factor as well."

“If we do nothing, an sentient species goes extinct,” Cailus said brusquely, seeming even grumpier than usual after the events at Pithos. His uniform was still coated in grime and dirt, having come straight from the transporter room to the conference room, although his lower face was oddly clean from the breath mask. “It seems simple enough of me. The Prime Directive is supposed to protect primitive civilisations.” He turned his head, glancing at the green world through the viewports. “They aren’t protected if they’re all dead.”

"That's a bit of a stretch, Mr. Griffin," John replied. "Some interpretations of the Prime Directive say that that's exactly what you're supposed to do. Captain Picard of the Enterprise was going to let the population of Boraal II go extinct, and only through illegal interference did someone save them. That said, I don't actually think the Prime Directive applies. We have been revealed, and some of what Ho-Mar and her people said could be interpreted as a direct request for assistance."

Mindo leaned forward. "It's like I said, this was a disaster from the start. The situation is hopeless. These people asked us for our help. Maybe I erred when I said we would, but I think relocating them is the right thing to do."

Nyx allowed himself a brief moment to smile, as he looked around the table, "It is heartwarming to know that even when the odds are grim, and there are easier options on the table, this crew will still do what is right." He said, emotion hinting in his tone. "I have been more than a little disillusioned lately with the choices we have had to make, but I am reassured that we're making the right ones. The Federation's choice."

Smith had been deep in thought as he listened at all the different ideas, he needed to still examine the data that he retrieved from the planet surface, but first he needed to help to find a new planet for the inhabitants.

Temple clapped his hands together, "Right, so I have already gathered a large number of comms badges from storage and the crew. My suggestion is that we use site-to-site transports to beam the Hesians directly to the holodecks. We have a rough approximation of their planet surface being constructed into a program as we speak. Nothing too detailed, just enough to fool them into thinking they have moved to a safer location on Hesiod, and so they don't see the inside of the ship. We'll use emergency power to keep the holodecks running while the Pandora leaves the planet's atmosphere. Could that work?"

"It's been done before," Mindo said. "Give them a maze; maybe a system of caves or tunnels. Pretend to lead them through while the rest of the ship searches for a new home. Then it's just a matter of beaming them there."

"Do we need to fake it, Captain?" John asked. "They saw the ship. We told them who we were. Why the lie? I would propose that we use the time to ensure they understand exactly what's happening to them. Explain the bare minimum basics of starships and planets, and that we're bringing them somewhere comparable to where they lived, so they can survive? All the while, we do our best to make sure they understand we aren't divine." He looked around the room. "The worst of the damage has been done. We needn't make their lives unnecessarily hard to preserve a lie they no longer believe."

"Though I agree with this sentiment, I think a simple holodeck recreation would still be ideal," Shae chimed in. "Though they might be able to handle the truth, it would be less jarring for the group as a whole to remain in an location that is in some way familiar. After all, we don't want them to find themselves in a panic and cause any harm until we can explain things to them."

"I'd rather avoid any further exposure if we can," Nyx replied, "And from what we saw, the Hesians are still more likely to believe we are their deity rather than accept the concept of an advanced species from another planet."

Mindo shook his head. "I'm with Sandoval on this," he said. "Putting them in a holodeck situation is very risky. How do we explain the breathable air? Or how the earthquakes have stopped? And where will we take them in the first place? To another planet with toxic air? To a place where the only shelter is caves? They're going to believe we're gods regardless of what we tell them. So what should they be told? That we control the weather? Or that we have a giant vessel that can find them a new home?"

"I want to be overly cautious about this." Nyx admitted with a slight shrug, "If there's an option to limit the amount of exposure the Hesians have to our technology and advancements, I want to take it." He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "I plan to go over this at a later date, but we must be prepared for a full investigation into Pithos and Hesiod, including all of the Pandora's actions since taking the mission from Admiral Thac. Everything will be up for inspection and judgement, and I will not have this ship dragged down by that corrupt asshole. Everything we do must show our best efforts to uphold Federation policies, even when it may not seem necessary."

"Then we should keep the ruse as simple as possible to minimize our impact on them," Shae advised.

As the debate continued, Cailus leaned forward onto the desk, accidentally depositing some dirt onto the pristine table. “Some of these Hesians already know the truth about us, right?” he asked gruffly, “They may be primitive, but that doesn’t preclude them from being intelligent. Has anyone considered just talking to these people, asking what they want, see how they can help?”

"When we've got them to safety, yes, that should be our priority. I believe we have some lines of communication available." Nyx replied, "One would be through their spiritual elder, Ja-Bo, though we would need Sasha Vieers for that. However, I believe the better angle would be through Ho-Mar, the Hesian who initially asked for help from Lieutenant Mindo's team, correct?"

"Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it quickly, we haven't much time left," Shae pointed out, gesturing to the display of the impact zones on the planet.

"Ho-Mar was also a vocal opponent of the Village Master," added John. "She called him out on his lies, ensuring people knew the truth of their world and its incoming devastation. Ja-Bo coming out when she did helped matters greatly. Ho-Mar is trusted in the community, and we can probably get her to lead the Hesians to safety, through us. But: if we work with her truthfully, she will not consent to keeping her people in the dark. Nor, I suspect, would Ja-Bo. So we're back where we started. We can take the people to safety in secret, with no help on the inside, or we can be truthful and have an ambassador, one who has the confidence of the people and who is able and willing to make the process as smooth as possible."

Nyx frowned, "We'll try to have as little impact on their society as we can. Alright, we'll proceed as planned. Unless anyone has anything else to add, let's get to our stations and prepare to evacuate the Hesians."

Mindo slid off his chair. As he left the room he tapped his comm badge and began giving instructions to his team.

Nyx waited as the team exited, before taking a deep breath and heading back to the Bridge.

OFF