Uh yes, Shard. Many of us have been worrying about this for
days, we've even been half-jokingly calling it the "Doctor Strangelove" scenario, named after a movie whose plot reminds us all of the scenario you describe.
I think we're kind of hoping that the Cardassian fleet catches the Kadak-Tor and takes the whole mess off our hands, which obviously wouldn't happen if we deliberately slowed them down.
Seems like that's not going to happen, though.
I for one do not
want it to happen. If the
Kadak-Tor is defecting, that is a massive boost for us. If the
Kadak-Tor's captain has gone rogue, this is an opportunity for us to deprive Cardassia of a potential superweapon (albeit one that is perhaps less dangerous than they'd hoped).
Whereas if the Cardassians catch the
Kadak-Tor and "take the mess off our hands," they probably get their combat cloak back, and may be in a position to murder Gul Miran and other would-be defectors. Neither of those things is good.
I voted for Simon-Jester's "no orders" plan! Check the tally.
Well, if people want T'Lorel to go back to Federation space, I have have a write-in that does it.
Shard was talking about when we voted on whether or not to use
Kumari to create a warp-denial-cloud-thing to slow the Cardassians down. He thinks you talked us out of doing that.
Also, as a nitpick, my plan gave T'Lorel orders. It just didn't give her
specific rules of engagement, on the grounds that the standing ROE were good enough. What I didn't realize is that apparently Oneiros believes (correctly or incorrectly) that T'Lorel has been ordered to evade confrontation with the Cardassians, even if that means taking her command out of the action and leaving Straak to track the
Kadak-Tor alone.
________________________________________
Now, unless
@OneirosTheWriter goes back and retcons T'Lorel
actually following the orders we voted to give her, we're going to need something like
@Briefvoice's idea to make things work out.
Among other things, it is to our advantage for us to comply with a Cardassian demand to withdraw our ships into our space, because the real prize here is catching the
Kadak-Tor. If the Cardassians have free rein to look for Gul Miran outside our space, while we have free rein to look for her
inside our space where she actually is... The Cardassian diplomats may have just scored a major own-goal. No wonder they often prefer shooting to talking; they're better at it.
[EDIT: X's removed for conservation]
[][WARN] Accept
[][FIFTH] Write-In: T'Lorel is to withdraw coreward towards Federation Space rather than Seyek space, broadcasting that withdrawal is "as per the Federation's agreement with the Cardassion Union this task force will return to Federation borders" if Cardassian ships ships seem set to challenge. Fear of contradicting their own diplomatic agreements should buy her the breathing space needed.
[][FLEET] Order Fifth Fleet (if successfully withdrawn to Federation borders) and Fourth Fleet to spread out and patrol Federation space in -4c and -4d, using superior sensors to intercept attempts by the Kadak-Tor to sneak into Federation Space. Third Fleet is to form patrol in force in -3c and -3b, attempting to intercept any attempt by Kadak-Tor to sneak into those sub-sectors.[
Vote
@Briefvoice's write-ins! Take a screwed up situation, and screw it back down!
] The computer with a face