"What's this about?" Rachel asked as she walked into Shran's ready-room, "I was in the middle of a diagnostic."
"I know. But we got new orders from Starfleet and you are not going to like them," He said and frowned over at my avatar, "You are my second officer, Rach, I want you to know about this before I brief the rest of the senior staff."
She frowned and moved to sit on the small couch beneath the 'window' next to my avatar, "Okay, what's up?"
"Just got a transmission from Starfleet Command, we are ordered to redirect to patrol a system close to the Klingon border," Shran said and got up, walking over to motion at the air in the middle of the room and I took the cue and brought up a hologram of the system, "There was an incident that caused heavy ecological damage to the local system. We are part of a shift of forces to the Klingon border to keep something like this from happening again."
Rachel swallowed, "Oh god. The planet… is it inhabited?"
I nodded, "It is. Primitive, they just got a handle of working iron. They'll… survive as a species. Their current civilization likely won't."
"Oh god."
Shran's antennae shifted, "Those are the official orders."
"…Which means that there are unofficial orders. I'm not going to like this, am I?"
"Sorry, love," He sighed, "Velvet?"
I glared at him. Why did I have to be the bad guy?
"Unofficial orders, the reason we are directed to that system specifically, is the political situation. There is a high risk that Ships will show up to try to help the locals," I explained, "We are to be there as a… moderating influence."
Rachel stared at me, "…We are going to keep people from being saved? Are you serious?"
"The Prime Directive applies," Shran said, "The remains of the Klingon vessel that impacted the surface have been recovered, we need to minimise further exposure."
"That's bullshit."
"Rachel…"
She turned to glare at me, "Don't tell me that you agree with this!?"
The regulation was clear. The law was clear. Ethically it was… murky. Personally… fuck no. But there was really no way to help them, only way to even put a dent in would be major atmospheric processors and even that would take years and by then starvation would have already set in.
Only way to practically help would be to move in in force and do a full on uplift of the local population, or handing out food packages.
"…There is no legal way to help," I told her after a second with a sigh, crossing my arms as I leaned back in the couch, "To effectively help, you wouldn't need to merely break the Prime Directive. It would require you to throw it onto the floor, stomp it into the ground and then burn it and salt the ashes. Rachel, it would require moving in and effectively uplifting an entire barely iron age civilization."
"So, you agree with this!?"
I shook my head, "I didn't say that. I said that there isn't really any way to help. Not to mention what it would do to the political situation that can already be mostly described as a toxic waste dump on fire. If it gets any worse, there may be actual punches thrown in the Federation Council."
She didn't seem exactly happy with that answer but she nodded, "I see. And how exactly would we keep a small Jovian fleet from showing up and doing that? Fire at them?"
"Of course not," Shran said, "But as Velvet told me, just having somebody physically there to remind them of the consequences might be enough."
"You aren't even convincing ME that it's not worth it!"
"And that's my cue to duck out," I said and got up with my avatar, "I'm setting a course towards the system and getting the material to brief the rest of the senior staff on the official mission, Captain."
With that, I made my escape from the ready-room and put it into privacy mode. I really didn't want to get involved in a personal fight between those two.
Instead, I shifted course and shifted up to Warp Seven towards the Turanis system. This mission was going to fucking suck. But I didn't join Starfleet for easy choices.
But I had my mission.
Keep Klingons away and keep other Ships from causing the political situation to go bursting into literal flames.
Try not to feel like a monster while doing it.
No pressure or anything.
"Ship?"
I paused with my avatar when walking past K'K'L'r't, "Yes, Lieutenant?"
Thy tilted thy head, "I am looking for Lieutenant-Commander Ansly. Is her meeting with the Captain done?"
I shook my head, "No, it's likely going to take a while. Looking for those diagnostic results?"
"Yes, ma'am. I require the results to finish my report for her."
I smiled, "Luckily, I can get those for you. She didn't have time to start before the Captain called for her. I'm starting my diagnostics now; the results should be by your console in some thirty minutes."
K'K'L'r't bowed slightly, "Thank you, ma'am."
"Don't mention it."
AN// Many thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.