Pondering Imponderables

Posted on Fri Jun 21st, 2024 @ 10:36am by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant N'vok Holv & Teevs Dosivi

Mission: Season 6 HIATUS
Location: Mess Hall
2871 words - 5.7 OF Standard Post Measure

N'vok watched the other people in the mess, occasionally pausing to enter something on his datapad or take a sip of Andorian The.

Not worrying about the Thaih'ea anymore was the first thing on Teevs' to-do list once the Elysium left their territory. As such, news of some kind of discussion pertaining to the slavers prevented his week-long tension from truly dissipating. Entering the mess hall with a datapad under his arm, he saw N'vok and gave a wave, then got a cup of tea from the replicator before approaching his table. "Greetings, Mister N'vok." He wasn't sure if the datapad was necessary, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to have.

"And a good day to you, Minster Dosivi," said N'vok with a nod. "You seem recovered from our excursion. It was . . . considerably more exciting than I was expecting. But the data gathered made it well worthwhile."

Teevs took a seat at the table, setting the datapad in front of him. "Recovered enough. I admit that, despite my desire to leave the Thaih'ea in my memory, the information you have gathered could be useful for other traders in this region... assuming it's alright to share such information."

"I believe so, the traders will be more interested in the practical implication of my analysis, so I may ask you only to distribute that," said N'vok, thinking. "I am not sure if revealing to the Slavers that we understand their origins will be helpful." He waved his hand. "We can decide on that later."

"Of course, I understand," Teevs said with a nod. A hint of curiosity hit his eyes at the mention of Thaih'ean origins, prompting him to lean forward slightly. "You learned about their origins? That's remarkable, nobody I know has ever gotten that much information."

Rin, also at the table, looked at N'vok intently. This was the first she was hearing anyone claim to have such intel, and she and N'vok had barely been separated during the mission.

"We scanned so very much media when we were on the planet and even more so once we made it up to the arena area," said N'vok. "Even after getting rid of the advertisements and arena footage, there was a lot to go through . . . it was painful. So very painful," he paused and took a drink of his The. His eyes focused on something else, he shook his head.

"But the important thing is that the Thaih'eans are very proud of their history and their culture and there were many, many broadcasts about both," he stopped. He reached out and tapped the datapad, two Thaih'ean ships, virtually identical, appeared. "Mister Dosivi will recall I asked him about their ships." He tapped one, "This ship is one we scanned on our recent jaunt. The other, that is the first ship the Thaih'eans' took off planet according to their records." He looked to the others to see what they made of that piece of information.

"How long ago did they first go off planet?" Rin asked.

"Centuries ago, predating Terran spaceflight at the very least, I have not been able to pin the date down precisely as they do not seem to care that much
about precise timekeeping," said N'vok.

Teevs was inspecting the two ships, impressed that N'vok was able to get such information. "I am not that surprised they didn't keep time records. They only care about increasing their territory. The similarities between these two ships is interesting, though. I wonder if there's cultural significance behind the design."

"Yes, but perhaps not how you think, Mister Dosivi," said N'vok. "What do you know of the Progenitors? Sometimes called the Ancients or the First or any of several similar names."

"The Progenitors seeded our galaxy with DNA, which then evolved separately on the different planets, resulting in a large number of intelligent races with many similarities in appearance," Rin explained. Translators would only get them so far. It was possible the Progenitors here took on entirely different names, so she thought Teevs might find it easier to work from a description than just a name. "The fact that N'vok and I look similar other than our ears, for example."

Initially, Teevs was confused by the question and tried to think of places he had heard such words. Rin's explanation cleared it up, however, evident by the change in his expression. "Ah, the Origin Theory. It was one of the greatest discoveries made by the late Lady Peyash of the Third House. Lonians call them the Delkaraka, um, the Early First I believe is how it translates."

Rin nodded. "It would make sense, considering how many other races here appear similar to us. Although I am curious where this is going." She looked to N'vok for more information.

"Well, not so differently from us, the Progenitors had different motives and some left technology behind and sometimes more than just technology." N'vok hit another key, a veritable city, built into a vast cavern appeared. ''From what I can piece together from the information, there was a vast Progenity complex beneath the surface of the homeworld of the Slavers. I believe It was supposed to be unlocked by a set of tasks, showing the scientific and moral development of the people of the planet, but an unexpected natural disaster, I believe a comet strike, caused it to open early."

"Suddenly, the ancestors of the Thaih'eans had access to near-godlike technology . . . which would not have been a problem if they had not been in an early level of cultural development," N'vok said. "So, they were vicious children with technology outstripping anything nearly. They simply carried on their cultural traditions, taking to space with technology they could not understand but that was so user-friendly that even they could use. Their culture has never advanced from that early raider mindset because it has never had to, their ships have not changed because they are gifts from the gods and you do not need to ask for different gifts when these work so well. That is my discovery, they are savages with the chariots of the gods."

"That is... a *lot* of conclusions based on a few hours of scraped data," Rin ventured hesitantly.

N'vok raised an eyebrow. "I am wounded, wounded, Commander Rin. And it was a few thousands of hours of visual data, twenty-seven thousand, two hundred, six point one hours to be precise, their data security is very poor. More important when someone tells you who they are, believe them." He tapped his datapad and a very flashy adventure hologram opening began. "Here is one of seven programs among those hours of the discovery of the city of the gods and the beginning of the Thaih'ean 'greatness'. They are very proud of their gods and the gifts they have provided."

S'hib had heard N'vok as he walked into the Mess Hall, catching the tail end of their conversation.

"This is my god right here," S'hib interjected as he scurried towards the replicator, almost crouching down as he splayed his arms above and below the machine to show it off to the table. "I'm very proud of it and the gifts it provides!"

"Quiet so," said N'vok. "Now, imagine that scaled up by several orders of magnitude." He gestured back to the hologram which had frozen at the imagine of a spinning world. "Now, one of the interesting things of the stories is that they have narrators and songs provided by the Thaih'eans, all of the 'actors' for lack of a better word are computer generated. Being a storyteller is an acceptable cultural role for them, being an actor is not. Indeed, the best thing for a Thaih'ean to be is a warrior, a raider, a slaver, their culture pushes them into these roles to the exclusion of almost all others."

"They who relinquish their traditions to technology risk relinquishing their purpose," Teevs recited thoughtfully. Of course, the quote was more meaningful in Lonian, but the translation was good enough. "It sounds like a cycle, like they are dependent on technology to perhaps... remind them of who they are, which enforces the pressure to become a slaver."

N'vok nods. "I suspect the cultural imperatives and the technological means have become so intertwined that they could not be separated for the average Thaih'ean."

“You know,” S’hib said as he walked over, tray in hand stacked with an assortment of delectables none on the table could identify. “This would make for a great case study to teach at the academy, the dire consequences of breaking the prime directive and all that… And If- W-when we get back.” He corrected himself, distracting himself with pealing a strange fruit. “One of you could write a paper.”

"I will have so many papers to publish when we get back," said N'vok. "Drafting them is a good way to keep focused on the future."

"I try not to think too far ahead, too many things going on right now-" S'hib replied, pointing at his food with the peeled fruit in hand. "-to worry about that."

"I'll leave the science and anthropology writing to N'vok," Rin said. "But... I've been working on a private project, a guide, I guess, to help xBs within the Federation. A lot of us have had bad initial experiences. No one seems to quite know what to do with us. People get hurt. Don't know if it will go anywhere."

Rin seemed a bit shy about the project. This was the first time she had mentioned it to anyone. She had mused about it with Gary once, but she hadn't talked about it to anyone since then.

S'hib spoke up while deconstructing the bright green fruit in his hands, breaking its many segments apart. "I'm sure someone will find your insight useful, Commander... I mean, I know other Sequus, myself included would have loved to have had a guidebook for things as simple as humanoid facial expression..."

N'vok nodded thoughtfully. "Have you considered writing such a work of advice?" he asked.

"Indeed, I think we should promote our ideas for the future among the crew, to inspire them to do the same," said N'vok. "We need people looking to the future with hope. We have spent too much time just surviving, now we need to start actively building for tomorrow."

There was mild disappointment in Teevs' expression at their discussion of papers, partly because he knew it would take a very long time to send said papers between galaxies, and partly because it didn't seem to stir action to change things here. Learning about a bloodthirsty species that lived an unfathomable distance away was different from sharing knowledge with those who deal with the species. "If any papers come out while you are still in this galasy, I would be interested to read them," he said, internally seeking the middle ground between the mental conflict. "What you have described, Mister N'vok, puts the Thaih'ea into a different perspective. For now, they are still a slaver race doing unspeakable things to people, but if their actions are driven by a cultural dependency on their technology... perhaps change could happen, in time."

"I will be happy to share all of my data and analysis with you and your people, Mister Dosivi," said N'vok. "Perhaps you will note something I have missed. But I fear the Slavers will not change unless their technology is taken away. To a great extent, they act this way because they can. They do not have to question or reflect on their culture and way of life because no one can stop them from acting as they do now."

S’hib spoke up, the words slipping through gummed up lips as he chewed hastily on his food. “A virus would do it.” He said before swallowing, pausing for a moment to breathe.

“I mean think about it,” He continued, his cloven fingers digging into more fleshy fruit. “those computers of theirs have got hundreds of years worth of vulnerabilities baked into them… only issue would be prorogation.”

He looked away from his food and stared at the hologram, its lifeless image still turning idly in the middle of the table. “But you could hide the code in one of their stories.”

"The possibility of such had occurred to me," admits N'vok. "But we simply do not know enough about their network, let alone how it interacts with the Progenitor's technology, to build an effective virus to attack their systems Additionally, to do such would be an act of war, and I do not know if the Commodore would wish to take such a step."

"Now, I would be happy to burn their civilization to the ground, but I may be the exception," he concluded.

Teevs took a sip of his tea as he listened. "You would find that many species here agree with you, Mister N'vok. The Thaih'ea have left destruction and fear wherever they go. There's been discussion about joining forces to fight them, but the Thaih'ea do not work alone and the conflict would cause significant destruction on both sides."

"The Thaih'ean advantage in technology is nearly insurmountable," said N'vok. "Until that can be taken care of . . ." N'vok paused. "There are tactics that might be usable. Though not without risk." The Vulcan tapped out some notes into his datapad.

"Another issue would be the power vacuum left in their wake," S'hib said before trying to catch juice dripping down his chin.

"for all we know we could hand the reigns over to someone worse..."

He rubbed the back of his hand over his bottom lip, smudging the purple juice over his coat before licking at the stain. "But nevertheless, our priority should be the safety of this crew, and the safety of our galaxy first and foremost..."

N'vok nodded, "If my analysis is correct, it is unlikely that anyone could steal the technological advantage from the Thaih'eans but they could certainly be more organized and efficient even with a lower technological base. I believe the key would be to try and turn the Slavers against one another, to let them fight among themselves. The survivors might be weakened enough to fall to an alliance of outside powers."

Rin looked over at N'vok. "Why do you say their technology is insurmountable? Someone managed to destroy their transportation gate, if that's what the object was near the station. Teevs has described our tech as being largely on par with theirs. Our mission was cut short not by being discovered, but because another party decided to start blowing things up."

"People feared the Dominion was insurmountable," Rin continued. "They were not. A hundred years earlier, people feared the Klingons were insurmountable. They were not. People fear the Borg threat as insurmountable, yet we are still here."

"You are missing the common denominator there, the Federation," said N'vok. "There is no comparable alliance in this sector to provide the type of economic and technological coordination that allows the Federation its resilience. Such a group could be forged but it would almost certainly require the Thaih'eans to be distracted as they would certainly act to prevent such a combination of, to them, hostile powers."

Rin raised an eyebrow in N'vok's direction. "I am not missing the common denominator. Plenty of cultures have survived the Klingons. Plenty of cultures have survived the Borg." There was plenty more she could say, but for the moment she held her tongue. She felt there were some very wild conclusions were being thrown around based on relatively limited intel.

"Survived, yes, but overcame?" said N'vok. "The Federation has survived, recovered, and overcome multiple extinction-level threats. Xindi, Klingons, Romulans, Borg, the Dominon, it does that by having a free and open society that can adapt and rebuild quickly, calling upon the best of its members. Such a thing is rare and requires an extraordinary level of trust and cooperation."

He looked to Teevs. "How well do the merchants and other non-slaver worlds cooperate? Do you think they have the potential to work together as a coherent whole?"

"There is some level of cooperation, mostly thanks to treaties," Teevs responded. "They all recognize the Thaih'ea as the greater threat, however. It's a universal understanding that everyone understands."

"We can provide advice, training and model treaties if any of that would help, Mister Dosivi," says N'vok. "I wish to see your people thrive and the slavers brought low. But we are but one ship. Our ability to aid you is limited."

The Lonian nodded slowly to N'vok's words. "Fortunately, my homeworld has very few issues with the Thaih'ea or their allies. We are far enough away from their territory. But any recommendations your vessel can provide, at least to traders in the area, would be very useful. They can spread the knowledge as they travel."

"We will provide what aid that we can, Mister Dosivi," said N'vok. "It would be good to know that we will have friends in this section of space."

Rin nodded in agreement, then looked to N'vok. "And I look forward to seeing your data from the station."

"I will have it along with my initial analysis to you directly," said N'vok.