So Louise had spent the rest of the night partaking in one of her favorite activities, reviewing technical journals which Lif’s father had made available to her. They featured a wealth of information on Krellonian starship design, most of which was of course declassified material relating to civilian spacecrafts, and none of it was truly revolutionary or advanced compared to Federation technology, but nevertheless, as a dedicated, lifelong engineer, she was always curious to see other perspectives on the tech she worked with on a regular basis.
The next day had promised to be a busy one. Louise had asked him before they had even arrived about any interesting sights to visit while they were on Krellon and Lif had told her about the City of Stone, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the planet and one not too far from where they were staying.
They had made plans to leave early in the morning and then spend most of the day discovering what promised to be”at least for Louise”an impressive natural wonder of sorts.
They departed just a couple of hours after sunset, taking a short trip in a land vehicle to a nearby transportation hub to jump onto a vactrain, a high-speed train traveling inside a vacuum tube to reach speeds in excess of one thousand kilometers per hour.
Like she had witnessed in the city they had arrived in, everything seemed very modern, clean and well maintained, not unlike something one were to expect on a Federation world. She received a reminder that she wasn’t on one only shortly after they had boarded the train and they walked through the isle to find a place to sit for the short twenty-minute ride.
The issue wasn’t space, as there seemed to be plenty, the problem it turned out was that Lif couldn’t decide if they should sit in the forward section almost predominantly favored by Krellonian travelers, or the back where off-worlders tended to sit.
Louise found the entire thing rather silly and scowled at him for his indecisiveness, however, apparently her annoyance was nothing compared to the look they were receiving from other Krellonians when they were considering to sit down in the forward section of the train.
Lif ultimately decided to remain standing near one of the exit halls instead and Louise didn’t offer any protest considering the short trip.
The frustration of their travel arrangements were quickly forgotten when they arrived at their destination. The City of Stone was appropriately named and like nothing Louise had ever seen before.
From an observation platform located outside the city they had a fabulous view onto the valley below which featured what looked like a literal forest made out of stone. Almost as far as she could see, tall but thin stone slabs were rising into the air, many of which were at least twenty to thirty meters tall. These Lif had told her had all once been trees which had petrified over millions of years ago but, more amazingly, the majority of which had remained erect, creating a petrified forest.
Interspersed between those stone slabs stood large circular towers which reached even higher into the sky, clearly man-made structures, they had been built thousands of years earlier by an indeterminate early Krellonian culture and under mysterious circumstances. It apparently baffled historians who had been left unable to tell with absolute certainty if the structures, some of which near one hundred meters tall, had been built as domiciles or for some other purpose.
Regardless of the intention, the City of Stone had become not only a popular tourist attraction but also a source of pride for Krellonians and evidence of the great resourcefulness of their ancestors.
Louise couldn’t wait to explore the area in greater detail and the two of them set out on a winding trail into the valley.
She quickly found that the City of Stone resembled a maze once they actually walked in-between the petrified trees and the even more massive towers. If not for meticulously placed signs and directions, it would have been all too easy to get hopelessly lost inside this labyrinth of stone.
“This is truly marvelous,” she said to him as she craned her neck back to look up at the massive stones surrounding her. She stumbled slightly but Lif caught her before she could fall. “Sorry,” she said. “I think looking at it too long gives me vertigo.”
He nodded with a smile. “I know. It wasn’t until I was older that I could even come here without fearing that I get squashed between the stones.”
They continued to explore the forest, discovering a number of clearly ancient markers and carvings which had been made not just to the man-made towers but also the petrified trees. Most of the towers were accessible and hollow inside, which was probably the reason why some anthropologists believed that they had been designed as habitats, Louise thought. There was little left inside them however to support that theory.
“What did your aunt want to talk to you about last night?” said Louise just after they had stepped out of another tower. “She struck me as quite an intense person.”
“She is. She takes her work very seriously. Perhaps even more so than my grandparents. And she has some strong views about our culture.”
“Yeah, I could tell.”
“She’s not a bad person,” he said, “she’s just very concerned about the direction into which our society is going. She told me about the work she is involved in. She wasn’t all too forthcoming about details, but she apparently as big plans to reshape Krellonian society. To be honest I’m not sure if I should be scared or impressed with the scope of her ideas.”
Louise stopped and turned to look at him. “Why is she telling you this? It didn’t sound to me as if she exactly approves of your life choices.”
“She doesn’t. I suppose she still hopes that I’ll leave Starfleet and come back to Krellon. I think she believes that my experiences would be valuable to her own work.”
Louise smiled. “Of that I have no doubt.”
But Lif was not convinced. “I’m a pilot, Lou. I can navigate a starship pretty well, not exactly the right skill set to shape the future of an entire people.”
She frowned. “Don’t sell yourself short. You’re a leader now as well, especially after everything you”we all went through during the war. Hell, they gave you a medal for commanding Eagle through a battle which by all accounts you should have lost, didn’t they?”
He turned away. “Not an experience I like to remember.”
“Funny, here I thought becoming a starship captain was on top of your wish list.”
Lif didn’t respond to this right away, instead he studied a few circular markings carved deep into a petrified tree in a seemingly endless loop. He used a finger to trace the carvings. “That was before I knew what it felt like to lose people who depend on you, who trust in your ability to lead them.”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. She felt much the same way. Of course she had never entertained any kind of command ambitions of her own, but as a chief engineer on a ship of the line, command came as part of her job, at least as far as the engine room was concerned. It was the part of the job she liked the least and one she knew she wasn’t very good at. “I don’t think I’m the right person to give you advice on that front. But if command is something you truly want, and I know that you do, I’m convinced that you can overcome this. Besides, nobody ever said that commanding people was easy. On the contrary.”
When Lif didn’t speak for a few seconds, she stepped closer to him and then realized that he was no longer studying the carving at all, instead he was looking past the stone tree and seemingly into empty space. “Lif?”
“Do you see that man in the green jacket,” he said without indicating.
She followed his gaze and then did notice the short, silver-haired man standing about fifty meters or so away, seemingly taking a great interest into the markings adorning one of the larger towers. “What about him?”
“I’m sure I’ve seen him earlier when we went into that tower and even up on the platform before that.”
She shrugged. “So what? Just another visitor taking in the sights.”
“Maybe.”
Louise reached for his arm and gently pulled him around to face her. “You think he’s following us?”
“Sound crazy?”
“To be perfectly honest, a lot of things I’ve seen on this world seem rather crazy to me.”
He gave her an embarrassed look. “Yeah.”
“Let’s find out,” she said.
“How?”
At this she smirked. “I’m an engineer. If I come across a hypothesis, I need to test it until I’m convinced. And I usually start with the easiest possible method. Follow me.”
And with that she set off and Lif quickly followed. She walked quickly and took random and sudden turns through the petrified forest, stepped into towers by entering from one side only to step back out the other, and she continued with this pattern for at least ten minutes.
“I really hope you’re keeping track of where we’re going,” said Lif.
“I thought you did.”
After five more minutes they both came to a stop in between two particularly close trees which had been carved with perfectly even lines from the bottom almost all the way to the top.
“I think we may be lost,” said Lif.
“At least we can say for certain that we are not being followed.”
“Unless we were and we just lost our tail.”
“Possible. But my engineering wisdom tells me the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“But sometimes not. Green jacket, eleven o’clock.”
She turned her body slightly to pretend that she was looking at the carvings and then dared a quick glance. Sure enough the exact same man as before had reappeared. “Who do you think he is? Could he be part of the security forces? Maybe they have me under surveillance. I didn’t exactly feel a lot of love from your authorities concerning my presence here.”
Lif shook his head. “No doubt my people are paranoid but this man looks nothing like a security officer.”
Louise ventured another quick glance and couldn’t help but agree. He was of diminutive stature, looked thin, had shaggy hair which was not tied together in a ponytail as was customary for most Krellonians and even his beard looked unkempt.
“Let’s split up,” said Lif. “You keep going straight and I’ll circle back.”
She smiled. “And we catch him in-between us.”
He nodded and they set out.
The plan didn’t quite work as Louise could quickly tell that their mysterious stalker was not following her as expected but Lif. Louise made the quick decision to circle back herself and within a few moments she could see the stranger again, following Lif. Lif stopped and Louise continued on, trapping their stalker.
“How is it going friend? Enjoying the sights?” said Lif, challenging the other man while Louise continued to close in.
“I love this place. Come here at least once a year.”
“Except for today you’re interested in something else. Or is it somebody else?” said Louise as she stepped closer, making sure however to keep a safe distance to this man. Even though he looked too small and feeble to pose a serious threat, she had paid enough attention in Starfleet training to know not to underestimate a possible opponent because of their stature.
The man turned to consider the human woman approaching him from behind before he turned back towards Lif. “I guess you caught me. Nice try though, attempting to shake me.”
“Who do you work for? Local Security? Alliance Navy? Or is it the Eye?”
At that the stranger laughed. “None of those.”
“So who are you then and why are you following us?” said Lif.
“Its really just you I was after and to be honest, I was hoping to get a chance to speak to you. I would have approached you regardless, so there was no need for this little game.”
Louise carefully moved passed the short man to be able to face this stranger while standing next to Lif. “Well, next time you want to talk to someone, maybe just do that, instead of stalking after them like a spy.”
He nodded and uttered another little laugh. “I suppose you are right. My name is Urat and I’ve actually been following your career for a little while,” he said looking at Lif. “Or as much as I have been able to. It’s not always easy to get news from the Federation around here. But I know that you are just one of a handful of Krellonians in Starfleet, and that you are a lieutenant on a major starship, which makes you one of the most high-profile Krellonians outside of the Star Alliance.”
“What of it?”
Urat seemed to consider his next words and ultimately decided to address Louise instead. “What is your impression of our world, if I may ask? As a human I take it you were born and raised on one of those enlightened Federation worlds. How does Krellon compare.”
It had been a question which had played on her mind for a little while now of course, and ever since they had first crossed the border of the Star Alliance. It was however not something she had yet discussed with Lif, considering his reticence to speak of anything to do with his own people, even now that they were among them. She suddenly felt uneasy to open up on this subject to a stranger and in front of him.
“We’re not here to swap notes on comparable anthropology,” said Lif, doing little to mask his rising anger. “You are interrupting our vacation. A well deserved one, I should add. So we can really do without all this.”
“I appreciate that,” said Urat but then glanced back at Louise. “But please, humor me, if you don’t mind.”
She nodded slowly. “Well, I can see that your people have a truly rich and impressive history,” she said and indicated towards their surroundings. “This place right here is a great example of the achievements of the Krellonian culture. I’ve also had a chance to see quite a bit of your infrastructure, which as an engineer I would consider comparable to Federation technology in its efficiency and its low environmental impact,” she added and then tried to remember what else she had learned about this world since her arrival. “I studied a number of technical manuals, and I can safely say that Krellonian space aviation technology has some very interesting concepts which seem to work to great effect.”
Urat simply smiled at her while she spoke, as if knowing exactly what she was doing. “You are right and I agree on all your observations. But tell me, besides our historical monuments and our technological advancements, what do you think of our society in general. Of our people and the way in which we treat each other?”
She glanced back towards Lif and could actually see a light of sorts turning on behind his eyes. His annoyance grew visibly. “I know what this is. You’re working with some sort of social justice campaign, don’t you? And you’re trying to recruit me to your agenda.” He shook his head. “I’ve told people like you before, I’m not interested in politics. I’m a Starfleet officer, I have duties and responsibilities.”
“You are also, first and foremost, a Krellonian. Your first responsibility should be to your people,” he said, and the rising passion evident in his tone, demonstrated quite plainly how strongly he felt about this issue. “People outside of Krellon know next to nothing about us, about our society and the injustices that take place here on daily basis. And this is just how the government likes to keep things. You can make a difference to”“
“I’m not listening to this,” he said and turned away.
Louise reached out for his arm to keep him from walking away. “Lif?”
“No, Lou,” he said shaking his head. “This is nonsense. I know that this is not a just society, I have known this all my life. Why do you think I worked so hard to get out of here? But people like him are just as bad. Trying to incite racial violence and overthrow the government, creating chaos and destruction in their wake.”
“This isn’t about violence and chaos, this is about change. And if we don’t take action soon, that violence you speak of, it will become unavoidable. You won’t recognize the Krellon you once knew.”
“That would probably be an improvement.”
Louise considered Urat again. “What I don’t understand is what you are asking Lif to do about all this. I mean he is right, he is a Starfleet officer, he is not an ambassador or a politician.”
“Believe it or not but the Federation is one of the Star Alliances’ chief trading partners. We depend on them a great deal for resources without providing much in return. But the Federation is being kept in the dark thanks to our government on how our society functions. Lif may not be a politician but he is an ambassador of our people, simply by being a Krellonian. He could help us succeed where we have so far failed in bringing our struggle, the struggles of the Outlanders into the political spotlight.”
“Who are the Outlanders?” asked Louise, now clearly quite intrigued by what she was learning about this planet, which was more than Lif had ever been willing to share with her.
“The Outlanders are part of our dark past,” Urat explained. “These days you can see them everywhere, the government once tried to hide them but that is just no longer possible. They are the people of the subject races we enslaved centuries ago. They are supposed to have the same rights as we do but in truth they are treated like nothing more than second-class citizens. Once the Federation learns the truth of how entire races of people are treated by our government, it will force them to change their policies.”
“And to what end?” said Lif in a sharp, biting tone. “What would that achieve other than bring sanctions on the Star Empire and make people suffer?”
“I’m not saying it will solve all our problems, but it is a first step. To make Krellonians finally realize how wrongly we are treating those who are different to us. There are a lot more Kellonians out there who feel like I do, there are political movements which would gain real momentum from Federation sanctions.”
To that Lif uttered a sarcastic laugh. “Yes or it could incite a civil war,” he shook his head. “I won’t become a political puppet. Not for you and not for anyone else. Stop bothering us.” And with that he turned on his heels and walked away.
Louise remained a moment longer, staring at Urat.
“Change has to start somewhere,” he said. “Otherwise we’ll end up just like this petrified forest you admire so much. A thing of the past, long forgotten. Sometimes all change needs is for one man to stand up and do the right thing.”
Louise quickly followed Lif and by the time she had caught up with him he was already trying to find his way out of the stone city, clearly this unexpected meeting at ruined his mood and in fact, the two of them exchanged few words on their journey back to Lif’s grandparent’s estate. As far as Louise was concerned, she wasn’t quite able to get Ultar’s words out of her mind, especially since she was suddenly unable to un-see the injustice and inequality between Krellonians and Outlanders everywhere she looked.
One unfortunate downside of long-distance space travel was the fact that on many occasions the journeys took longer than the time actual spent at the destination. This was certainly true for Lif’s and Louise’s shore leave trip to Krellon, and after only a few days on Lif’s remote home world, it was already time to pack up their bags and make the long journey back to Federation space.
Louise had spent most of the last two days on Krellon not with Lif but with his younger brother, and even though his earlier enthusiasm had clearly been dampened by what must have been a painful discussions with his parents about his career plans, he was still mostly upbeat and highly interested in what she had to tell him about the Federation while he showed her his world, or at least the immediate surroundings of the estate he lived in.
The mostly silent treatment between the two of them continued until they were back at the spaceport, ready to board their shuttle for the long trip back to Eagle.
But something felt very different about this city to Louise this time around. The first sign of trouble may have been the way everybody she spotted from the car window seemed to be in a great rush to get to where they were going. Foot traffic in general was much lower than last time they had been to the city which seemed odd since it was a similar time of day as when they had arrived. Vehicle traffic seemed equally sparse, a marked difference to the roads which had been so packed last time, it had caused a traffic accident.
She glanced over to Lif at the controls and could quickly see the concerned look on his face as he steered the vehicle through the mostly empty streets and towards the spaceport. “Something wrong?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. I hope it’s nothing.”
It was not nothing, that much was clear the closer they got to their destination. Perhaps the reason most of the city had looked deserted was because huge crowds had amassed near the spaceport and Louise immediately realized that this was probably not a good sign.
It took her a moment to notice that the vast majority of the people who were blocking much of the streets were non-Krellonians, Outlanders, and that many of them were angry, shouting slogans she couldn’t fully comprehend and holding up large signs she couldn’t read. This was a demonstration and the Outlanders had come out in force, most likely protesting against the government and its oppressive polices.
There were a few Krellonians among the protestors but not many. Security forces were everywhere and they looked just as angry as the protestors. Their vehicles were blocking off a number of intersections and small armies of heavily armored and armed officers were seemingly getting ready to engage the throng. Additional security vehicles were hovering overhead, shadowing the protestors below closely.
Lif’s concern quickly grew by a few degrees when it became clear that there was no way to reach the spaceport in their vehicle and he had to stop a few blocks short. “Get out. We’re going by foot the rest of the way.”
She tried to take no offense from his gruff tone. “Are we just leaving the vehicle here? In the middle of the street?”
But Lif had already grabbed their carryalls, swung them both over his shoulder and stepped out. “Let’s go. Now.”
It was rare that she heard that much anxiety in his voice. She guessed it was what he sounded like when he was piloting Eagle during a combat mission and it was enough to prompt her to leave their car behind and follow him quickly as they pushed themselves through a number of bystanders, mostly Krellonians shouting right back at the protestors.
The tension in the air was palpable as the two groups; the Outlanders and the security forces were beginning to converge on each other, neither side apparently willing to back down from an inevitable confrontation.
By pure coincidence she spotted a familiar face at the front line of the largest group of Outlanders. Urat was among the few Krellonian protestors supporting the Outlanders and the short man would have been easy to overlook had it not been for his vocal support as he was among the loudest voices shouting at the security forces.
They had nearly reached the wide steps leading up to the main entrance to the spaceport which was surrounded by more security officers who were clearly struggling with maintaining routine checks in the light of the events taking place on the street just in front of the building and who had started to simply shove away any non-Krellonians who were trying to enter.
Lif reached in his jacket and fumbled inside a pocket for a moment before producing two bright red badges Louise had not seen before. He handed her one. “Whatever you do, make sure you hold on to this and show it to any security officer who looks your way.”
She nodded and quickly took what looked like a pass of sorts.
That’s when the explosion very nearly threw her to the ground and the small badge dropped out of her hand.
The entire crowd seemed stunned and her ears were still ringing as she turned to look towards the protestors. A police vehicle was on fire and pure chaos had erupted. The security officers had started to open fire on the Outlanders from all sides, including from the airborne vehicles overhead and the protestors were scrambling in every direction.
The security forces seemed completely indiscriminate in their approach, firing at everything and everyone that moved and Louise could see dozens of Outlanders go down immediately, among them Urat who took a couple of blast to his chest before he collapsed right in front of her eyes. Judging by the way the energy blasts had torn into his clothes, these were not stun shots.
Louise instinctively headed towards the scene, realizing that nobody was looking after the wounded as the demonstration was quickly turning into a one-sided battlefield. She managed two steps before she felt a strong hand around her arm. Lif was shaking his head. “Don’t. We need to get out of here,” he shouted to make himself heard over the cries, the shouting and the weapons’ fire.
“There are injured people over there,” she shot back, even though even as she said those words she began to realize that she wasn’t sure what she was going to do about that. Something inside her compelled her to try and help them somehow.
Lif shook his head. He had picked up the badge she had dropped and shoved it back into her hand before indicating towards the spaceport entrance. “If we don’t go now, we don’t get out of here at all,” he said and without waiting on a reply, simply pulled her arm as he rushed towards the entrance.
She had little choice to follow along, surprised perhaps by his intensity, not to mention the strong grip he had on her arm which was likely going to leave a bruise.
The crowd around them was thrown in chaos as well, clambering to get away from the battle on the street, and they both had to fight through a mass of confused and scared Krellonians who were desperate not to become collateral damage in the unfolding conflict. In the chaos one of the bags Lif was carrying was torn away from his body and fell to the ground before disappearing under a stampede of Krellonian feet. Lif made no move to stop and retrieve it. For an instant she wondered whose bag had been lost but she had no chance to free herself and find out.
The security personnel around the spaceport were in a state of near panic now, half of them moving into the streets while the rest aggressively kept anyone out of the building they were assigned to secure.
Louise began to doubt that they would be allowed through but apparently whatever those passes they were holding up indicated, the guards seemed to part whenever they noticed them, even disregarding her clearly alien origin for the first time since they had arrived. She assumed that Lif had obtained the badges from either his grandparents or his aunt for exactly this kind of eventuality.
They managed to get inside where they had to push themselves through another squadron of security officers who were rushing out of the building to support their colleagues, a few of which challenged their progress but only until they spotted those red passes.
Once they finally managed to board their shuttle, Lif wasted no time to lift off and take them towards orbit while Louise looked out of the viewport at the city below where she could see multiple fires now and the crowds of Outlanders and security personnel spreading out to the streets and allies all around the spaceport and beyond until the mad scene disappeared from view once they had broken through the cloud cover.
They remained mostly silent afterwards, keeping their thoughts to themselves until they reached the Star Alliance’s borders. Louise was hardly surprised to find a border patrol vessel once again having intercepted them just like when they had first entered Krellon space.
And just like before the humorless, no-nonsense border officers ordered them to come about and prepare to be boarded. Apparently the government was just as paranoid about who left their territory as who entered it. Except this time the boarding party took very little notice of her, except to register that she was departing Krellonian space”making sure she had not overstayed her government mandated allowance for an off-worlder to visit Krellon space”and focused most of their attention on Lif, who was forced to answer a number of questions as to why he was leaving the Star Alliance.
Considering the kind of skepticism these officers showed in light of his explanations”apparently their passes not as convenient with the border patrol as they had been planetside”Louise began to understand why it wasn’t easy for Krellonians to leave their own borders. Clearly Lif must have had his influential family pull a number of strings in the right places to facilitate his ability to join Starfleet in the first place.
By comparison to the ordeal they had to go through leaving Krellon territory, reentering Federation space a few hours later was an entirely painless affair which involved nothing more than a casual sensor probe by an automated relay station. No Starfleet Border Service cutter was dispatched to intercept them.
Lif hadn’t truly relaxed until they were safely back within Federation space, almost as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “It’s good to be back.”
Louise threw him a puzzled look. After all nothing about their surroundings had changed to indicate that they were back within Federation borders. It was still colorful and star-crammed space as far as the eye could see.
“Oh, come on. After all we’ve just gone through, there is no way you don’t feel the same righ about now.”
“Maybe, but that’s your home we’re talking about,” she said as she massaged her arm which was still sore from earlier.
“Hasn’t been much of a home to me in a long time.”
She thought about that for a moment. “You don’t care for it anymore because of the way they treat the Outlanders?”
“Because of that. Because of that completely backwards mentality. My people’s isolationism has brought out the ugliest side of xenophobia. You’ve seen it with your own eyes. It’s not a place I would wish on anyone.”
“And yet you’re perfectly happy to do nothing about it.”
“That’s what this is, isn’t it? The reason you have barely spoken more than two words to me since we came back from our little trip,” he said and stood from the pilot chair to take a few steps towards the back of the shuttle. “I told you I didn’t want to go back to my world. But you insisted.”
She also stood. “Well, I didn’t know it was because of that. You could have mentioned something.”
He turned to face her. “Right. And what do you suppose I should have said? ‘Hey, let’s not go see my people, they’re all a bunch of backwater bigots and xenophobes.’”
“Maybe that would have prepared me somewhat, yes. I don’t blame you for the philosophy your society has adopted. I just don’t understand how you can just turn your back to it all so easily. Even when others are trying to get your help to bring about some kind of change.”
He shook his head. “Don’t make me out to be some sort of apologist for my people. I’m the first to admit that there is something clearly rotten about that society. And it has been for much longer than I’ve been alive. In fact it has been like this for hundreds of years, ever since my people ventured into space and brutally conquered a number of nearby worlds and nearly wiping them out in the process and then subjugated those that remained not unlike the Klingons do,” he said and sat down again. “For decades the Outlanders were treated like second-class citizens, like slaves really.”
“Doesn’t look to me it has gotten much better.”
“It has changed a little bit. There is a strong sense among my people that the systematic genocide that we were responsible for was a terrible crime. But nobody was ever held accountable for any of those actions. For a long time it was argued that the assumed superiority of our culture gave us the right to mistreat others. Some still believe this to this day and a true reconciliation has never really taken place.”
“In the meantime the Outlanders continue to suffer. Which brings me back to my initial point, Lif. Why don’t you at least try to do something about it?”
He avoided her insisting glance, looking out towards the stars instead. “Because I can’t. You said it yourself, I’m a pilot on a Federation starship,” he said and looked back at her. “Do you really think that the Federation Council will change policy based on my recommendations? And say they did? What then? The Prime Directive forbids direct interference with the internal matters of foreign governments. Yes, sanctions would hurt my people, but I don’t want to be responsible for people suffering or going hungry because of what I started.”
“People are already suffering.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” He shot her a piercing glare. “It’s pretty easy for you, as an outsider, to spend a few days on my world and say that our society is broken and demand that I do something to change it. I have spent half my life there.”
“But you’re not even trying, Lif, that’s what I cannot understand. This isn’t the first truly unjust and crooked society in history. There are so many examples from the history of my own world, about people being denied basic rights and being mistreated by their fellow man because of their beliefs, their gender or the color of their skin. But nothing ever changed until somebody stood up and said that enough is enough. I’m not saying you can change your world, but at least try, and perhaps others will follow.”
For a long moment nobody spoke and the cabin was once again filled with nothing more than the subtle droning of the shuttle’s warp engine.
“You can’t just apply your human morality to an alien world, Louise. They teach us that on the first day at the Academy. I have tried, in my own ways to make a difference before I left for Starfleet,” he said and shook his head again. “And as much as I tried, I couldn’t find a way to make even the smallest bit of a difference. Yes, I chose to get away from it all, to turn my back on my people and live my own life. Maybe that makes me a coward but to be honest I don’t care. And I’m sorry that you feel like you can judge me based on this, but you haven’t walked even a mile in my shoes, you don’t know what I’ve seen and what I’ve done. So perhaps before you get onto that high horse of yours and you talk down to me about how I’ve failed at doing right by my people based on what you have seen, maybe think about the things that you don’t know about. Maybe think about how much easier it is to judge than to truly understand what it is you’re talking about.”
She didn’t have words to respond to this straight away and Lif, who had clearly worked himself up while speaking, didn’t give her much of a chance as he stood and walked into the back of the shuttle to put as much distance to her as possible.
She desperately wanted to tell him that she wasn’t judging him but on second thought she wasn’t sure if that was even true. Maybe she had without even fully realizing it. All she knew for certain was that he had been right about at least one thing.
It had been a mistake going to Krellon.
And the journey back was going to be much longer than it had been getting there.
Quantum Divergence