Stardate: 70719:0541
Title: Decisions
Author: Lieutenant Vaebn Kehn
Time: Immediately after "New Civilizations, Part 2"
Scene: Horizon - Observation Lounge


"Captain, before you start," Scott began, "I must point out to you that your being here and communicating with us places you in direct violation of the Starfleet Temporal Prime Directive."

"Captain Deadilus," the unidentified Captain began. "Where we are from, there is no Starfleet..."

This brought several gasps from the assembled senior officers, which was quickly muffled by a silent gesture from the Captain.

"The Starfleet that you know, and that we grew up with," continued the other Captain, aware of the crew's reaction and determined to use the shock of her pronouncement to its fullest effect, "has been torn apart by a most savage and terrible enemy: civil war."

More surprise and horror from the crew was muffled by their Captain's sharp, serious look: a look that in later missions they would come to realize was his 'game face'.

The future Captain of the Horizon continued less mercilessly, with a more direct, informative tone.

"The civilization that you have come to make contact with will, in the future, come to be quickly accepted into the Federation. However with time, and increasing corruption and power, this planet will become the center of an attempt to gain control of the Federation. The resulting civil war will be long and bloody," she winced slightly, "claiming many lives in the process. This weakened Federation will fall prey," she sneered with open contempt, "to the Borg, Ferengi and Romulans, who will pick through the ruins of the Federation in search of anything that might be salvageable. We, as one of the few remaining ships, have created a temporal anomaly bringing us here, to the time and place where that fate might be avoided. I urge... no.. I BEG you to heed my warning and abandon this mission, before it is too late."

After a few oppressive moments of silent consideration, Deadilus replied diplomatically.

"We shall consider your words of warning. Horizon out."

The unnamed Captain's face was replaced by the reassuring Federation insignia.

"Well!" Began Scott with a sigh. "It seems that we have a terrific and terrible decision to make. Thoughts anyone?"

"Well I don't think that we really have a choice," replied Dr. Matthews. "If making contact is going to do all that, then we can't knowingly condemn the Federation to that fate!"

"On the contrary," replied Kehn flatly. "The only option is to continue. First off, we must not allow or facilitate temporal meddling."

"You heard her though," Falls pointed out. "Regulations are moot if the Federation no longer exists."

"However to us, it still does and that is what matters," Vaebn began. "Secondly, we do not know if we can necessarily trust that what they say is true. Temporal anomalies are extremely unpredictable - they might be from a parallel universe where this is true, and not in fact our future; they might be at the wrong time and/or place, or are warning us futilely."

"Historically speaking," the Acting CSO continued, "most wars, especially civil wars, cannot be avoided by altering a single event, but are rather the culmination of many issues, events and circumstances. We have no guarantee that not going on this mission will change that future. Thirdly, we must consider the possibility that this is a ruse created by the civilization that we were on our way to meet; we have no idea what they are capable of or what motives they might have for using that power. The only option, Captain, is to continue on as if ignorant of this warning." Vaebn finished his rational analysis of the situation to a room of dubious looks.

"But if we can do something, anything, to eliminate a terrible threat to the safety of the Federation, then it is our duty to do it. Whatever the consequences of acting are, they cannot outweigh the cost of not acting," the newly promoted Lieutenant Smith finished this proclamation with a bit of a flourish.

An awkward silence began to fill the room once more as the weight of their decision slowly descended on them. Doing his best to sound more calm and resolute than he was, Captain Deadilus swung his chair around.

"I've made my decision."


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Lieutenant Vaebn Kehn
Acting Chief Science Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
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