STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

"Three centuries of space flight, and humanoids have still not learned how to duck," the Doctor said, frowning as he ran the dermal regenerator while also tugging free chunks of still hissing metal from Chell's face. Chell, who was currently unconscious, had very little to say. "Or, say, turn away from exploding superheated metal. Or, best of all, if one was taking my suggestions: Not getting into high energy fire fights with the locals."

He dropped the last chunk of hissing metal into a small tray while the auto-bandage swept out and bound down around Chell's face, making him look a bit like a mummy in a blue face mask. He turned, then to Crewman Chandra, frowning as he noticed that the red indicators for Chandra's brain pressure was going into the black. Chandra had been hit by some of the enemy's kinetic weapons - three darts full of nerve toxin that had shut major organs down within seconds. The Doctor had immediately put Chandra onto the life support machinery and started to remove and clone the organs...fortunately, the major organs of a human being were among the most easily replicated organs in the Federation.

Some people thought that had to do with the biases and human centrism of the human founded Federation. That actually wasn't true: The Federation had been a cofounding of Human, Andorian, Vulcan, Tellerite and Xindi - and each of them had brought a great deal of their medical know how to the table. No, the real reason was that humans were just like this. Even before antibiotics, humans had been surviving injuries that would have killed many another species, and being killed by falling off stepladders.

"Now, isn't that interesting," the Doctor said, looking at the brain pressure results. "...isn't that interesting."

Crewman Liam Chandra started to die.

Podmaster Dar frowned as he paced back and forth inside of the cell. Janeway, with Alexandra Munroe and Amy Strong flanking her in their best tactical gear, and Kes stood in the corner, regarding him. Dar scowled faintly as the vid file finished playing. "Pus."

"I take it that's kind of like 'damn'," Janeway said, her voice dry.

"How astute!" Dar started to pace. "Puss be damned Nurel..."

"So, it seems that your friend has sold you out," Janeway said. "I don't trust either of you further than I can throw this space station. Now, if you want to come clean about all of this, we're willing to be...amenable to changes in character."

"Your Federation seems like a doomed state," Dar growled. "Just waiting for someone larger than it to come and push it over. We'll see how quickly your ideals last."

"And yet, you're in our brig, betrayed by your own comrade," Janeway said, her voice dry. "In the earliest days of the Federation, we fought a war with another union of species - they became our closest allies afterwards, and stood side by side against our next enemies. Some day, those enemies may also become our friends - and stand beside us. There is strength in unity and solidary..."

Dar snorted. Janeway glanced over at Kes, who subtly nodded to her.

Dar stopped his pacing. "What do you want to know first," he said.

"What exactly went on in your Pod before you decided to attack us," Janeway said.

Dar snorted again. It seemed to be his main way of expressing himself - like a horse, whuffling and whickering. "What exactly went on? What exactly went on is what has been going on in the Emergency since we founded. We were forged on the edge of a knife, Janeway. The Phage broke our species down - brought us to a collapse that forced the Podmaster class to form. We were the survivors. The ones that made hard choices. Where the Phage would have brought our entire society to ruin and anarchy, we kept control. When riot and discord would have ripped us apart, we sent in the control squads, we sectioned our society into the Pod system, and when the Phage was finally tamed and controlled, we were the ones with the vision to use it. But that has meant that ever after, Podmasters have only faced threat...from other Podmasters."

"It was a coup," Janeway said.

"Of course!" Dar snapped. "What else would it be? I saw a chance to remove Nurel and claim this ship in one fell swoop. Nurel was faster and better. It's how the game is played."

Janeway frowned. She glanced over at Kes, who nodded again - then held up her finger and touched her temple. The hand gestures were subtle, but Kes did have her own esper talents - the meaning behind them was clear enough to Janeway.

This is how he sees it. May not be true.

Janeway could read through the lines.

The survivors. The hard choices. The people who arranged the mass killings and left the 'poor' and 'weak' to die. The Phage didn't bring their society down. The Podmasters did.

"When you say tamed..." She said, stepping close. "What do you mean? I thought...you cured it."

"Cure it? HAH!" Podmaster Dar grinned. "The Phage expresses itself in two stages - and both are highly profitable. It begins in the brain, before pressing outwards to the rest of the body - and with treatment, you can keep it in the first stage, dormant. There, it can be...directed. Using magnetic resonance and tailored hormone injections, it can be led along paths we want. Areas of the brain can be erased away, washed clean in a wave of neurotoxins and virus cell growth. The end result is a system for the perfect sculpting of mind and soul. The result is Focus." He tapped his forehead. "We have a layer of automation that most societies would never dream of. Zipheads don't have social lives, they don't have petty concerns about their future or their past. They have been pruned down to their singular task and they do them very, very well."

Janeway's jaw was so tight that her teeth were grinding. "And the second stage?"

"The Phage goes on from the brain to the rest of the body. It consumes DNA and produces a biological slurry. While the body lives, this pus can be drained and filtered. Once the living phage is removed, it is the basis of our medical technology. Of course, tailoring it to each individual species would take-"

"It would take an army of geniuses, working tirelessly, day in, and day out," Janeway said.

Dar smirked. "And we saw it all, in the Plague Times. We saw what could be done - and under our leadership, the Viidian Emergency is now the most valuable, indispensable part of intergalactic economics. Why do you think even the Kazon leave us alone? Oh, Sect Relora sometimes sends their attack fleets, but even those are half hearted!" He laughed. "And you need us just as badly, Captain! How many casualties did you take, hmm? How many are you going to take when our security forces attack? You beat this Pod, but you can't beat us all, not with Focus on our side!" He stepped close, his palms pressing to the shimmering force field as he grinned at Janeway. "If you help me, I can smooth all this over - I will be Senior Podmaster, and you will have a discount. If you don't help me, you will-"

Janeway made a gesture. His mouth continued to move, but the force field was dampening all sound. Janeway turned to Kes. "Evaluation?"

"He's deadly serious, captain," Kes said, frowning. "Worse? He's...mentally gloating. I...don't want to know how much the other governments knew about this..." She shook her head, slowly.

Janeway frowned.

Amy was the one who spoke.

"And here," she said. "I thought I'd gotten away from necessary evils and hard men..."

Neelix was sitting up and eating some leeola root stew when the PADD fell onto his lap. He blinked, and then looked from the bowl to Captain Janeway, who loomed above him. "Did you know?" She asked, before he had even picked up the PADD. Neelix looked it over, frowning slowly as he read. His eyes widened and the PADD cracked in his grip, the glass fracturing as Neelix trembled in his bed, several medical alerts flaring to life above him.

Janeway let out a sigh of relief so intense that it shocked even her.

"Captain, I swear to you-" Neelix started.

"It's okay," Janeway said.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" The Doctor said, sweeping forward. "Those lungs are still seating, breathing this quickly is only going to lead to him drowning in his own fluids. And while drowning in a dry medical bay in space would be an impressive feat, I'm sure it is not one you wish to have on your ship's records."

"My apologies," Janeway said, turning to the Doctor, before cocking her head. "You seem...happy."

"Oh, me? No, I've done nothing of note, I've simply cured the Phage," the Doctor said, casually. "It infects humans similarly to Vidiians - I caught it in the early stages in Crewman Liam Chandra - but I cured it and flushed his system. I've also begun to dispense vaccinations for it throughout crews that share similar medical makeups to humans." He paused. "You're welcome."

"Will this cure work on Vidiians?" Janeway asked.

"Of course," the Doctor said, looking huffy that she had even asked.

Janeway tapped her combadge.

"Neelix, you're with me," she said.

"He needs to remain seated!" The Doctor said.

"Then he'll stay seated!" Janeway said over her shoulder as they headed out the door.

"We start by beaming squads into the Pod, shutting down the Pens, liberating every last one of them, and then hold open trials for, oh, the Podmasters, the senior staffs, every fat fuck rich Talaxian, Haakonian and any other alien that is on the station buying themselves immortality for the low low price of dozens of innocent people every day," C'nola said, her finger stabbing the table. "Then, after we've had them lined up and shot, we start doing it to every other Pod in this section of space."

"While an admirable goal," Tuvok said. "It is beyond the capacity of a single Starfleet ship in isolation."

"We have better guns!" C'nola said.

"And they have an entire civilization," Tuvok said. "According to Neelix's intelligence and subspace tracking, there are similar Pods scattered from here to the edge of Borg Space - they are the largest extant polity in this region of space by astrographic reckoning, even if they are one of the smallest in the terms of fleet size and population density."

"That's cause they turn their people into cattle!" C'nola shouted, springing to her feet, but Amy put her hand on her shoulder, gently tugging her down.

"I agree with C'nola here," Brian Wacoche said, having beamed over from the Val Jean. "But we can't do it alone."

"Even with our technological edge?" Harry asked. "I mean...the best fighters in this area of space are the Kazon, right? And we kicked their asses."

"Do you want to be a conquistadores?" Tom asked. "Because that's how you get conquistadores."

"No, you get that by showing up to murder people and take their stuff," Torres said.

"Maybe we could arm the locals," Neelix said. "The Vidiians are the first on the chopping block when the Podmasters do their crimes - Vidiians are the ones suffering the most."

"What do you think Captain?" D-91 asked.

---
CURRENT MOMENTUM: 0 (Enemy threat: 7)
CURRENT TRUTHS: "Ship Defended To Fuck" (Ship)
[ ] ...honestly, C'nola's right, lets do that.
[ ] Break the news. The Talaxians and the Haakonain and other governments may know or guess, but their people don't
[ ] Work with Dar. You hate this, but you're alone out here - and having the Vidiians as friends is infinitely better than having the richest, most advanced population turned against you
[ ] Write In