Star Trek-Outwardly Mobile
"...and that's what it's all about."
By
Jay P Hailey and Garry
Stahl
The intercom chimed and I heard Marcella Burlington's Voice. "Chief Medical officer to Captain Hailey."
Looking at Gensilan, I quirked my eyebrows, then I pushed the button. "Go Ahead, Doctor."
"Two words - Agricorp and Colacorp." She said and then closed the channel.
I blinked a few times. Then I hung my head.
Gensilan touched my shoulder gently. **What was she talking about?**
"I'll tell you later." I said. I hit the Intercom. "Hailey to Bridge."
"Bridge here, Sir." mendez said.
"Turn us around and sound yellow alert. Start assembling disaster relief teams." I said.
Gensilan beamed at me.
"Aye, Sir!" Mendez said. He liked that one better, I could tell.
-*-
Commander Nojineok was irate. "I can't believe you were going to leave those people behind!"
I sighed "It's the Prime Directive, Commander."
"The what?"
"Our primary law, which I am in the act of breaking." I said.
"Your primary law is to abandon people in distress?" he demanded.
"No. The Prime Directive is that I can't play GOD!" I yelled. "I am not allowed to wander through space, thinking I am some sort of moral authority just because I have a fancy starship underneath me!"
"There's a difference between proclaiming yourself a moral authority and acting with morality!" Nojineok snarled.
"Not as much as you might think!" I said. "Once I decide that one culture is right and another culture is wrong, what stops me from becoming a despot for everyone's own good?"
"You're already a despot for everyone's own good. I didn't see you calling an election to decide whether to stop over at this system or what course to set upon leaving it."
I opened my mouth but stopped he was right.
"And this is the way it should be. Our lives are on the line and we can't take the time to argue everything out democratically. That means the people who issued you this ship trusted your judgment. Then they issued a rule that you're not to use that judgment?" Nojineok said "What sort of people are these!?"
"It's to keep us from becoming arrogant." I said.
"So you're issued an arbitrary set of rules about whose distress you can respond to, and who's you can't, but that's not arrogant!?"
"Look! We're on our way to help them now! Shut up and put some tools in your hand! This going to be damned hard work!" I yelled.
"Just help me understand what you're doing out here." Nojineok said.
A stepped up close to him. "This disaster is self inflicted. These people are doing it to themselves of their own free will. And I am about to step in and try to blunt the consequences of their decision. It's their planet. It's their culture. Every inch of it belongs to them and if they want to kill each other and burn everything down then the decision and the consequences belong to them."
I continued. "No body elected me God. With this ship we could exterminate that planet in 36 hours. Not just all the people but every life form. That kind of power can't be handed out lightly and can't be taken on lightly. I cannot play GOD."
"But you're deciding to help them." he looked at me confused.
I looked away "They can't throw me any further into jail."
"What?" Nojineok was really concerned now.
"I'll tell you about it later. Now we have some work to do."
-*-
The smell of burning was in the air as the suns came up.
Helijok, the mayor of the small town we'd elected to try and help watched the sunrise with me. "They're back."
"They'll go again." I said. "Our sensors say you have about another four months of ever shortening night times ahead until you're back into constant day light."
He shuddered. "Four more months?"
I looked at him. "On my world it happens ever twelve hours or so. We consider it normal."
He looked at me. "I am not sure I believe you."
I shrugged. "Nothing I can do about that."
Another shipment of refugees, with tools, books and belongings materialized on the town's sporting green.
"Well, okay. Maybe I do." Helijok said.
"Nothin' I can do about that, either." I said.
"Does your Federation send out many ships to travel about helping people?" he asked.
I sighed. "We're far away so you can't depend on us. There might not be another Federation ship through here for centuries."
"I am just curious about a nation that spends that sort of energy and effort for no concrete return," he said.
"There's a return." I said. "You remember who your friends are. When you join us, traveling the stars, we'll have another friend."
"So it's a long term investment, then." he concluded.
"It's just a happy coincidence of it being the right thing to do." I said, sourly.
"I must go and continue preparations." Helijok said.
I nodded "See you soon."
We'd used up everyone on the pilot's roster. Now the Discovery was using everyone who was just rated as a shuttle pilot to fly to the cities and pull out refugees or knowledge to help the native's civilization survive.
My turn in the saddle was coming. I couldn't help myself. I grinned. I hoped I wasn't going to turn into Ron Tracey or Garth of Izar.
-end-
Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Trek. I claim original characters and situations in this story for me.
This story posted by permission of the author. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.