Seeds of Destruction

[LoAmi 0]

Lt. Cmdr. Lo'Ami took in the gruesome scene.  In order to minimize further exposure of the Arcady natives to 24th century technology, a triage center was set up in the foothills, far from the roads where they would have further contact with natives - men or women.  Medical staff from Arcadia were called to beam down out-of-sight and help the lightly injured.  The more severely wounded were transported to Arcadia - unconcious, they would not remember where they had been or who had healed them.  Help came too late for two of the renegade men, who succumbed to their wounds during the evacuation from their collapsing caves.

 

Lo'Ami made a note to formally reprimand Ensign Nemesis for proceeding to attack the renegades before an order had been given.  Lo'Ami, who had been listening in on the renegades and observing their interactions with the technology they had acquired from the probe, had hoped that a peaceful end could be sought.

During the attack, the "rescue mission" from the ship, Marx and Jaruq, blasted in on a violent scene, and immediately used lethal force.  Lo'Ami was unsure why Captain Moose authorized use of such force in the first place, when nonlethal means would have been sufficient to bring down the renegades.  There was no evidence that any attempt at investigating their situation was made before the cave door was exploded by grenade, and the Starfleet officers burst in with swords and blades.

 

The full capabilities of 24th century technology were now out of reach of the renegades because of the destruction of the probe's computer.  However, the science team's mission was far from accomplished.  Cultural damage had been done that went far beyond the introduction of new weapons.  The computer had been thought of by the renegade Arcadyians as something of an intercessor for their God, the Federation.  The raid on their caves had removed any sense from the renegades that the Federation was a God on their side.  However, there were concepts that they had learned from the computer that could not be so easily removed - freedom and equality.

 

The Federation's probe had somehow converted a group of more-or-less illiterate, and obedient, slaves into a well-armed rebel force.  The idea that the condition of male slavery could come to an end had already permeated through the city and the castle of Queen Alanda.  An underground network, that included Tznake's crew, had been set up to free slaves (although where they went once free was still a mystery).  The Prime Directive had been violated, and Arcadyian culture was irreperably "damaged" by a dangerous idea.  Could the Federation turn its back on the fruit it had seeded?