Chapter III: Reunited

Laser Feeling: Zephyr couldn't have been turned very long ago by the slugs, so it should still be possible to save him. While he has no control over his body at the moment, he is still conscious and knows what is happening around him. If he survives this, he'll definitely need therapy

Cass

"We have not encountered resistance like the one you're offering before. It is true that this war seems unsustainable. However, it is easy for you to suggest peace. Your species can survive on it's own. We are the ones that continuously require new hosts so we can live."

Verdun

Alex, you stay in cover I for now, trying not to get shot. Moira, you try to swing at another of the infected but she dodges your attack easily and fires her phaser at you. You immediately go down and lose consciousness.
Kendall jumps into the action, shooting, hitting and stabbing her way through the infected. She's doing very well but while ramming her pen into the neck of one of the hosts, she forgets her surroundings for just a second, enough for another infected to punch your arm, right at the elbow. With a loud crack, it folds in the wrong way, very obviously being broken by the force of the attack. Your pen goes flying wide through the room at this, blood spraying out of your target's artery with full power.
The attacker grabs the heavily bleeding infected and pulls him towards the door. You can see the wound closing before they even reach the exit. Although some of the infected are still alive and conscious, they retreat, trying to carry some of their tranquilized comrades with them, leaving your heavily injured group behind. The threat still exists on the ship but for now, the combat is over.

Cass gestures to mute her microphone and says, "What do the sensors show regarding the other ships that were in the area?" She wants to see if the captain of the Four is stalling her until reinforcements arrive.

"They're still there, scanning the area. But they don't seem to be moving in. At least not yet", Mezron explains

"You speak as if you actually mean your words, commander, which is a useful gift to have for a leader.", the captain replies over the intercom. "We hold knowledge far beyond what you think. You think we are just some uneducated barbarians but our queen possesses the knowledge of dozens of species. We know all about your own history, human. We know about how your kind enslaved billions of lesser creatures to slaughter and consume them. Do not preach to us of your most sacred principles when your own kind only still exists thanks to the suffering of billions of sentient lifeforms."

The voice stops abruptly. It sounds as if the parasite you are talking to is struggling with a similar conflict as you are.

"You speak of exchange, of value for both sides in a partnership. We hold knowledge of civilizations long gone and technology far beyond what you possess but we do not require anything from your kind except your bodies. What value would there be for us in this partnership?"

Cass closes her eyes and curses the day she ever listened to Captain Darcy's mentorship about her personal potential and untapped capabilities. That unwarranted delusion is what has led to her being in a position for which she has absolutely no qualifications: trying to debate philosophy with a new species and negotiate a peace she herself is having trouble justifying on any rational grounds. She is in so far over her head that she can't see daylight in any direction. This is why there should be a ship's counselor on every Spacefleet ship of scout class or above.

She takes a deep breath and speaks with great deliberation, mostly to give herself time to form the thoughts she's about to express. She has a feeling if she doesn't get through to this captain soon, it's back to the shooting, and she doesn't know how many more hits the Potential's shields can take. "Why do people always think that the worst elements of a foreign culture's history define that culture, but only the best of their own history defines theirs? Do you even hear yourself? You just chastised my people for dismissing you as barbarians, when you've given us no opportunity to know anything else about your culture. But you claim to know 'all about our history' and somehow the fact of our significant triumphs over our worst flaws doesn't figure into your calculus of our overall value.

"And I'm sitting here, with absolutely no reason to believe that your culture is anything but murderous barbarians, offering to try to find common ground on the basis of nothing more than that my culture was once thought to be that way, too, and we turned out to be so much better than that. I'm asking you to take that same leap of faith, given that you claim to already know what we can be as well as what we were."

Lorq

The break is clean and doesn't look complicated. You can easily fix it up for now and put it in an improvised sling. Once you get access to some actual medical equipment it will be a quick routine job to completely mend the wounds. You won't even have to roll for it again. Kendall, you can't really use that arm for now but you're not in any significant pain and other than that, you aren't getting hindered by it.

Cass

"Yes, it is true that you overcame your need to consume lesser creatures. Unfortunately, that is not an option for us. We have tried alternatives, robotic bodies with artificial nutrients, but none have been satisfactory. Your encounters with our race have been unfortunate. We are not barbarians, although it is only natural that you would get that impression if you only encounter us on the battlefield. Many of us are scholars, historians, scientists. Our queen might well be the wisest creature in this entire quadrant."

He stops speaking for a moment and your helmsman calls out: "They're requesting video communication."

Before you can respond to that, the captain of the Four speaks up again: "Our very nature makes it impossible not to take the bodies of other beings but that does not mean we are monsters. I have two mothers, I have a partner, I will have a child soon. We are sentient, feeling, thinking creatures, exactly like you."

The viewscreen changes to show the interior of the pirate ship. From the looks of it, the captain doesn't seem to be on the bridge, or if he is, its layout is very different from that of a Consortium ship. He is sitting at a table with no other visible crewmembers around him. His face looks strange. He appears to be human but his bone structure looks different. His head is very thin with extremely prominent cheekbones and an unnaturaly wide jaw.
"Commander. To aid us in our peaceful negotiations, I thought it might make sense to look into each other's eyes."

---

Moira, right after being woken up, you receive a communication from Darcy: "Lieutenant Commander Bruce, this is the Potential. Commander Cassano is requesting that you drop shields immediately. We are going to get you out of there."