Posted by Captain John Tiberius Glen (Captain) in Main Sim - Bridge - Unknown System Arrival!
[snip]

With the Mic back on, Glen repeated =/\= Sorry Dol, for the communications issue, I asked whether that was your child that we found on the ship and how he came to be there. =/\=

Finally the habitat master replied to Glen. =/\= Ah it sounds like you encountered one of our seed pods! =/\= He said. =/\= You would be wrong though Captain, to assume we have ships so grand as your own. We lack such technology or capability. =/\= He clarified. =/\= You see our system lays within this region of space which over time we have discovered is a cross roads of sorts for many other space faring species like yourselves. Often we will request that passing ships who enter our system take one or more of our ‘seed pods’ with them. Our idea is that these children will grow with their new parents and homes. Enriching them in their local culture, beliefs and more. Then as we hope these same children once they grow will return to us and share their wisdom and ideas before returning to their adoptive homes. We then take the best and most capable ideas we find from each returning child and integrate it into our society and technology. In some cases though ships that come here are quite primitive, and so we put these children into cryogenic pods and then send the ships back in the direction which they came..=/\= he went on.

Glen tried not to show any facial expression, but he may have been seen nodding, as this was exactly what he had guessed at being the case. They had come up with a fascinating way to collect new technology from other more technologically superior races. And they weren’t fazed by meeting the Merrimack because it was simply one in a long line of other ships that had visited them before.

=/\= Sadly, this idea which we have used for several generations has not been as fruitful as we had hoped. Many of our children we send out rarely return, either because they can’t, do not wish to, or perhaps something happened to them. We often do not know. That said the three times on our history since we began this effort has resulted in us adopting and adapting several ideas to better our habitat life here..=/\= he said.

Glen wasn’t sure if General Order number One applied here or not. It might take a Federation Foreign Affairs Committee sitting for several months to decide upon that, and he didn’t have such a luxury, such was the challenge of exploring on the outer reaches of Known Space. So, he was going to have to go out on a limb and make a quick decision on this quandary. They were permitted to make initial contact anyway, and the rules only said that they must take delicate care not to disrupt local culture or customs. This local culture and custom was one of collecting technology and other cultures, so he was clear of the Prime Directive in that respect. He could not, however, reveal the existence of the United Federation of Planets to their greater society unless he deemed that they are Warp-capable, nor could he talk about technology they don’t already have. They only way that he was going to discover that was to go all in and to actually ask Dol these questions. There was no other way. Complete honesty seemed to be the best and only game plan to pursue here.

=/\= Dol, I do admire that approach, and I’m sorry that it hasn’t been very fruitful for you. I have to be honest with you now. My own society has very strict rules on contact with other societies and the sharing of our culture and technology with them. These are very long-standing rules, well intentioned rules, and designed to protect the other societies for their own safety and benefit, and these rules are held so important that I have made a commitment to lay down my own life rather than to violate this doctrine. =/\=

John Glen let that point sink it before continuing.

After a second to ponder Glen’s words, Dol nodded a bit letting him continue.

=/\= However, these protocols do allow the captain of an exploratory ship, like mine, a little leeway to make some decisions at their own discretion. Under the directive, Initial contact with a species is allowed to occur if the civilisation is deemed advanced enough technologically. The yardstick that we use to determine if a world is sufficiently technologically advanced is generally that they are capable of crewed faster-than-light space travel. Would you be open to us learning a little more about your society’s culture and technology first, so that we can make an assessment of that, before we tell you more about ourselves? I realise that this might appear strange and rather impolite, but honestly, we have never come across a culture like yours before, and our rules make no exception for it. =/\=

At this point Hunter [contacted] the Cmdr.

=/\= Cmdr Hunter from sickbay, the spheres according to the boy are samples of several local plants and animals from his former home and saying they are provided for his new family to study and synthesize food for him artificially if their local biomes are not capable of supporting him normally =/.\= Hunter stopped to think exactly what else the child had said =/\= They can also be used as a means of emergency power source though he’s not sure of how that works =/\=.

Joe had been standing silently in case the CO might seek advice or need him to run an errand. Of course, sometimes it was incumbent upon an XO to offer up advice whether his CO asked for it or not. After hearing Hunters latest report on the little guy in sick bay all Joe could do was to shake his head slowly as he said to the Captain, Sir I’m beginning to feel as though we might be heading for someplace where that Occam’s razor of yours might turn into a nightmare .Couldn’t we just tell them we have a VIP , give them the child and get ourselves out of trouble while the trouble is minimal and the getting easy?”

William turned around in his chair again “And lose out on a chance to meet and study a new civilization?” He said in a rather disappointed tone but didn’t offer any further protest.

While Captain Glen waited on a reply from Dol he considered the advice from his XO and CSO. “William is right. This is the very essence our mission… but what you say is also correct too! When this all turns pear shaped, and we leave the planet with their society completely altered, and turned into some imitation of a Wizarding School, because Dr Cross had her ‘Harry Potter’ book stolen when she left it behind on a chair, you can bet who those pencil pushing Commodores at Starfleet Command are going to blame for it?”

Glen thought that it was just the albatross you had to carry if you wanted to sit in the Captain’s chair.

Cross entered the bridge just in time to hear Glen say that she had her ‘Harry Potter ’ book stolen.There was a faintly surprised look on her face but said nothing.The CMO gave a shifty look at William,then the Cmdr and Captain… finally her eyes settled on the screen.

With the pause in the flow of conversation again, finally Dol spoke up, =/\= Sadly the measure you use for contacting other races being able to go faster than light speeds is beyond us. While it is true many other species to this region have shown such ability and we have studied the matter in depth to decide if we wanted to put the resources into making it happen ourselves, the end result of our people’s mass vote is that we did not wish to do so at this time. Of course we have faced some races who see our lives here as too peaceful, and that we might have resources or supplies, or even or own selves to be used as slaves. While our habitat is only lightly defended from passing stellar fragments, I should politely warn and inform you Captain that one of our main defensives is a destructive broadcast signal to a hidden series of large scale explosives in the system. If activated it would destroy utterly anything within the system within seconds. This information and in some cases when needed, threat, has served us well in keeping us safe from those who would cause us harm. I suspect however, this threat will not be needed in your case as you seem so far a friendly enough people..=/\= He said while adjusting his shiny tinfoil like pointy hat on his head.

=/\= No that won’t be necessary. We come in peace and in the spirit of peaceful co-operation. I’m glad that you are able to defend yourselves. Without peace and security there can be no development or scientific advancement. Also, I did say that I had some leeway over the application of the non-interference rule, and it isn’t as strict as a simple test of being able to travel faster than light speed. I could decide that your subspace communication technology had reached a comparable level, or that you were on the verge of faster -than-light travel, or that you were simply a highly advanced civilisation that hadn’t ventured into space yet. =/\=

=/\= As we approached your system we detected a small decaying nebula about 900kms across from end to end, and barely 300km high from top to bottom, and which we calculated that if it continued at its current rate of decay, it would fully dissipate within the next 17 years or so. It looked like it was the remnant of some huge explosion. What can you tell us about that? =/\=

-Glen, CO

William cocked his head in confusion at the look Cross gave him and the other senior staff. He put aside a portion of his brainpower to form the arguments in favor of proper first contact, still focusing primarily on his work.

CSO