Chief Science Officer's Personal Log 4

Posted on 31 Jan 2013 @ 5:20pm by
Edited on 31 Jan 2013 @ 5:27pm

701 words; about a 4 minute read

Chief Science Officer's Personal Log, Stardate 66873.9,

We have arrived at Starbase 185. In fact, I can see it right now when I look out my window. Today we had our senior staff briefing, with which I was very unimpressed. I thought I asked some very relevant questions, but no one else really seemed to care. Except for Liyar, but he was probably just being facetious. He's always arguing with me, though, so maybe not.

The Rojar system has six planets. The most interesting one, for me, is Rojar II. It's an S class super giant, and in the star's habitable zone - exceedingly rare. It apparently has eighty-one moons, of which two are class M. There could be more M class moons, for all we know; Rojar II has its own solar system within the larger one. But, what I am getting at, is that there is a chance for intelligent life here. With two M class moons it is twice as likely. With any luck, there could be intelligent life on both moons. The Federation is interested in harvesting the system for its apparently rich crop of resources, but I think it's absurd. The Federation doesn't need to be any more imperialistic than it already is; colonising Rojar, which is so far from the safety of stable Federation space, and so close to Romulan and Klingon space (even the Breen are apparently lurking out there) it would serve no purpose other than to provoke.

My point is that if there is life, even if it's nothing but nomads wandering around the plains or jungles, or whatever's there, they could mistake the glint of our ship for some kind of godly thing. Some heavenly body. It could influence their development for millennia to come. And the last thing I want to be a part of is the birth of a religion. Wouldn't that be a legacy? If a neighbouring moon is rich in whatever minerals the Federation wants, or Rojar II's gases, or even some asteroids, it doesn't matter what, they might not see a few sparkles from our shuttlecraft or from the Galileo's hull. But, if we start mining this system en masse, there is no question that they'll see something, and that something will become a regular phenomenon.

And, how would we as humans have felt if some alien species had mined our system before we had a chance to use it? Just because they're, well if there's anyone there at all, just because they're pre-warp and we don't disturb them on their moon doesn't mean we're not violating the Prime Directive.

So, I asked about this. I wanted to know if we, as the enlightened species and Federation we supposedly are, would leave if we find intelligent life of any kind. I mean, yes, explore and to our research, but not make any colonising efforts or attempts to gut the place of its resources. Captain Sutherland snapped at me. She implied that I hadn't been listening. I thought, as a learned and conscientious explorer, that my questions were very prudent.

And then Stone started going on about the Borg. The Borg. They've been out of the picture for a decade. He wanted to turn the ship into some kind of weapon of mass destruction under marshal law. And he's wandering around with that stupid dog of his like he owns the place. Mister Petrov told me that he frequents the arboretum with it on a regular basis. If I so much as see one pile of shit on my grass, so help me. So help him. The arboretum is a place of scientific research, not a dog park. And he had the audacity to complain about the water quality for his walking bacteria infestation to drink. Not to me, not to Kiri, but to Petrov. Maybe if he looked after it properly, it wouldn't have had to drink from the ponds in the first place.

Anyway, I was very unimpressed with the way everything went today. I need a drink.

End log.

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