Chapter III: Reunited

Cass calls both Alex and Darcy into the ready room, giving Mezron the conn for a few minutes. She leans against the desk and looks at them both. "First of all, Darcy, good work. You're doing exactly what you're supposed to do, which is to make sure I have the information I need to make good, informed decisions. For the record, I should have listened to your advice about Kendall from the start. So keep doing what you're doing.

"But in this case, Lt. Comm. Lloyd has already told me about Anavir Gamma. I understand your reservations, but you and I both know that if this situation can be said to have a theme, it's probably something to do with the capacity for people to change. Me, you, maybe the parasites. I don't see a good reason for us to leave a highly trained and accomplished diplomat on the sidelines just because she has some heavy baggage, do you?"

Alex nods to Darcy. "There’s little point in hiding my past. It’s easily revealed by a search of Spacefleet records, as you’ve seen."

She turns to Cass. "We should ask for clarification on this second ship. We should also strongly request that we set out ground rules for our engagement so that these issues don’t continue to crop up. And it represents something tangible can hold one another accountable for."

Cass folds her arms and sighs heavily. "Yeah, it's clear they're just going to keep pushing the boundaries as far as they can. We need to clarify where we see those boundaries and what the consequences will be for violating them."

She thinks for a while, then says, "Go ahead and have Alex and Dr. Lorq assigned to the Potential as senior staff temporarily and give them all the standard privileges that come with that. And send a message to the Four stating that if a second ship is on its way to this space, then we will suspend work on the restoration process until a second Spacefleet ship can arrive here, just to ensure that we remain on an equal footing in the negotiations. Inform them, too, that we will be in touch with our clarifications on how we wish to conduct the exchange when we are more confident that our safety and autonomy is being respected."

Cass waits for everyone to be seated, then begins without preamble. "Okay, here's the situation: the Four has sent us bioscans and a bunch of other data that should greatly increase the chances of our successfully restoring the parasites caught in the biofilter. But because the parasites have unilaterally sent a second ship here, ostensibly on their way to deliver "supplies" to the Four, I have told the parasite captain that we're suspending work on the restoration project until a second Spacefleet ship arrives to even the odds. Darcy has communicated that to Spacefleet and another ship is on the way.

"The captain of the Four is pressuring me to commit to a location and method of exchanging our prisoners for theirs. He keeps saying that he wants to take us to their home base. I have obvious issues with that plan, so I'd really like it if we could propose something else. And while we're at it, we need to discuss how to safely deal with restoring the biofiltered parasites. Once they're restored, how do we provide for their needs without exposing our crew to unnecessary risks?

"Beyond the restoration and prisoner exchange, there are other projects I'd like status reports on. I know that we've been working on a method for disabling the parasite without disabling the host, at least for hosts who are recent enough to still have brain function. Where are we on that?

"And I've heard that we're also looking at a method of making our bodies inhospitable to the parasites, which would effectively innoculate us from being viable hosts. Does anyone have a status report on that?

"Any discussion of these or other relevant topics or projects is welcome. The floor is open."

Lorq clears his throat and stands.
First of all captain thank you making me part of your crew. everyone has made me feel welcome, they are a credit to you.
I have done a lot of research both on and for the parasites. Previously we looked to see if anything made a person more attractive as a host. Nothing much was found, other than general good health. I am now wondering if I may have went about this the wrong way

He looks down at his notes, quaintly on a paper notepad not electronic.

Maybe by looking at the people who were rejected as hosts I could find a commonality. Maybe something insignificant like a certain enzyme or the like.
If this is the case, it could be the basis of a vaccine.
Maybe Dr. Belka and I could work on this...I would like to help any way I could.

He checks his notes again and looks a little embarrassed.

This is not my area of expertise, so please forgive me if this is a dumb idea...but could any crew member who goes to their ship have some kind of personal transporter set to automatically transport them in place every 30 minutes? That way, if we are double crossed the slugs could not get a hold on us.

Alex nods as Lorq speaks, smiling just a little. Fondly, maybe. As he finishes speaking, Alex cuts in. "For our own protection, that's an interesting idea, if possible. However, if it does come to fruition, I think it's vital that our counterparts are aware we have that capability. They have already made it clear they consider removal of their people via transporter akin to murder. Imagine how we would feel if our situations were reversed."

She takes a slow breath, and sighs. "But either way, it's a delicate subject. It's coming right out and saying that we fully expect to be betrayed and we've taken precautions against it. It's not a very effective way to build trust."

The only way they would ever know about the transporters would be if they took someone over without permission. If you meant the vaccination, then I assume it would show up in testing. We would not have to mention it unless it looks like we were going to be co-opted.

Maybe they are afraid to link computers. They may think we would try to slip in a virus. Maybe they have studied us enough to get non verbal clues. Or maybe they are using the communications as a dinner menu of sort.
That is the problem with first contacts.

Cass drums her fingertips on the conference table. "But that's the problem we're up against, isn't it? That both sides are up against. We have a duty to ourselves, to the people on our own side, and we are afraid that if we trust the other side, we'll end up betraying our friends. How do we get past that? Doesn't it take a leap of faith? How do we justify taking that leap?"

The 9th Rule of Acquisition states that opportunity plus instinct equals profit. I think if we trust our instincts and mistrust the slugs...we can get out of this alive. Which will be profit enough in this case.

Frowning, Cass says, "They don't want what they say to be in writing. But what does that gain them? Anything they say over a comm we could transmit just as easily as a written inventory. Unless it's not us they're concerned about transmitting it, but someone on their side." She shakes her head. "No, that doesn't work, either. It's one of their own ships bringing the 'supplies' in the first place."

Ah mean, they don't trust us either. Any word on tha Consortium ship they're sendin' ta help us?

Alex spreads her hands. "All I am saying is that taking the high road and putting our proverbial cards on the table when possible makes it a hell of a lot easier later to say that we made a good faith effort if they do betray us. And who knows? Maybe it opens up some new avenues for negotiation if it looks like we trust them."

Whiles the crew has their meeting to establish an ROE for the slugs, Marbo is hunkered away in the labs, studying whatever slug samples he has availalbe, as well as any security footage from our ship of the slugs, as well as his notes on zephyrs slugification.

Using all the collected data, he performs a variety of expiriments to see if he can develop some kind of slug-suppressant.



After hes got a sufficient start, he will head to the meeting with the other senior staff, walking in slightly late, looking sheepish and pointing to his datapad, as if to say "I forgot we had a meeting, and got very involved in my project".

He finds the nearest seat and waits for a moment to chime in with his questions.