Chapter III: Reunited

"First things first. I need to know the status of our computer systems - did they upload any kind of bug when they sent their 'bad math' equations earlier? And what's the status of the ship - our battle readiness, our ability to go to warp. Can we withstand another firefight with these guys, if it comes to that?"

Alex shakes her head. "I cannot support a decision that leads us to open warfare without express approval from Spacefleet. I'm sorry, Commander. We only get this chance once, and I feel strongly that this decision is above our pay grade. All of our pay grades."

Cass sighs. "Is nobody listening? I'm not advocating we start a war without authorization. I am asking for information about my ship, which nobody seems willing to provide. Without a sitrep, I'm not contacting Spacefleet. So I am ordering you all to tell me the condition of this ship. Right now."

Ah guess we are puttin' tha haggis before tha boil. Tha transport went fine as far as ah can tell. Ah haven't seen anythin' too odd, but ah can check again.

Seems fine. Least as far as ah can tell.

Cass feels herself calming back down, now that someone has actually answered the questions that have been bothering her. "Okay, good. Then we can flee if we have to. Presumably, we can fight - if we have to. Darcy, have Mezron send an encrypted communication right now to Spacefleet with all the information that we've learned about the parasite people, including our attempt at negotiating diplomatic relations. I want them to know about the alleged location of our captured people, the alleged offer to meet with the queen, and the fact that return of the prisoners is contingent upon us trying to recover their people caught in our biofilters.

"If our previous dealings with our superiors are any indication, they'll give us a rough idea of what to do and it will be up to us to figure out a real plan, so maybe we should decide what the likely scenarios are and develop some plans for each. I suspect they are going to push us to give them an answer about returning their filtered people pretty soon, so let's discuss how we stall them on that."

Cass nods. "What's a plausible excuse to give for why it might take us a while to develop a process for recovering their filtered people? It will need to sound convincing. I have no intention of actually restoring any of them, by the way. But we can bluff on that."

Tha math? Say they used different units and we hafta triple-check tha conversions.

"Okay. I'll act like I don't really understand the math, which should come pretty easily, since I don't."

Cass hesitates, then says, "Another thing that could prove really useful is... talking to Zephyr about his experience. I know that he's probably not really up to it yet, but I'm not sure we can afford to give him time to recover. He's spent a lot of time in close proximity to the mind of a parasite, and he may know things that can give us an advantage as we try to deal with them. Marbo, what do you say?"

Cass nods. "I'll be careful. Alex can sit in, too, if she'd like."

I ran many tests while a prisoner. I am sure with a little time and work I can narrow down what makes a good host.
How long have your crew mates been under the influence of the parasite? There comes a time when they are lost forever.
Lorq is not used to being the center of attention. He feels his lobes starting to get warm from embarrassment.

I agree that we should not be negotiating with them any further, but...do you think it may be hasty to scrub the patterns? People at a higher level may want to use them as bargaining chips.

This is the most Lorq has ever spoken at once.

From a personal place...after being in their control and seeing friend taken, burned through, and then tossed aside...I say wipe them from existence. Although there may be profit in keeping them, I say to hell with profit!

Shocked at the most vile thing a Merengi can say, Lorq sits back down. He doesn't even remember standing up.

Cass finds herself grinning at the little doctor. "I tend to agree with you, Dr. Lorq. I'd really like to think that diplomacy is possible with these people, but I honestly doubt it. But your point about the patterns of the filtered parasites being bargaining chips is a good one. But I still won't approve actually materializing any of them on this ship. Just one of them managed to almost kill two people and injured two others.

"If no one has anything else to say, I think we're adjourned."

Alex nods to Cass. "If you're going to speak with Zephyr -- which I think is a good idea -- I would indeed appreciate being present as well. Thank you."

I will be in the lab. Any information on who were picked as hosts, and why, will be sent to you as soon as I find it.

"Commander, in my travels, I have seen many weapons prototypes tested out. There was one I reviewed once that, with a little tweaking, might work in this situation.

"Let me see if my old security override still works, being that the technology is old."

She fiddles with the computer, and then she pulls up a VERY old weapon schematic from the end of the 20th century.

"They called these projectile munitions ‘cop killers’. The idea is that they penetrated the body armor of the officer, and then little pieces of lead and other harmful materials would enter the body of the officer and tear them apart from the inside.

"Perhaps I could work with engineering to find a means to penetrate the enemy’s shield, and then we could have a biofilter projected inside the confines of the shield space, thus filtering out anything within the shield’s volume."

Cass thinks about it. It's a cold, brutal idea, but then they were up against an enemy that had them more or less outmatched if their own technology should fail. Having this option, at least as a last resort, could mean the difference between life and death for hundreds, thousands of humanoids.

"Okay, go ahead and work with engineering. I'll approve the project. Just keep in mind that I will decide when and if this weapon is deployed, and under what circumstances. Okay? It's a command decision."