“I didn’t expect to see you in person, sir.”  Captain Wren Walton had jumped up from her chair as Fleet Captain Geronimo Fontana entered her ready room.  He was as striking as always – broad-shouldered, piercing eyes filtered through glasses and a quiet smile in the corner of his mouth.

He rolled his eyes.  “The Vorethi need to know we’re taking this seriously.  The Fleet Captain rank has to serve a purpose out here in the Expanse.”  He sat ‌down across from her.  It had been two days since the events in the asteroid field.  “The reports you submitted were excellent.  Detailed and explanatory.”  He paused, watching her eyes.  Wren was pretty good at maintaining a poker face.  This wasn’t her poker face.  This was something else.  “You okay?”

She shook her head without hesitation.  “No.  I won’t be for a while.  Dr. Josephs tells me that the body of Baron Nine continues to recover and recuperate.  It will take time for his pathways and body to rebuild.  She thinks we’ll be able to wake him up in a month’s time, maybe a little less.  Who or what will wake up is anybody’s guess.”

Fontana asked, “Zephyr could oversee his care, transfer him to Montana Station.  Dr. Josephs is capable, but it’s a small sickbay.”

Walton winced.  “I recognize the why.  The trouble is that It’s been a comfort to Ada to have him with her.”

“Jordan Reid is coming back on duty – received notice her assignment has ended.”  He caught Walton’s frown.  “Something about the assignment didn’t work out.  The specifics aren’t relevant for the moment.  It allows Dr. Josephs to transport Baron’s body to Zephyr and then on to the station.”

Wren replied, “It’s been hard on us all.  Ada was close to him.  I’ll write the orders.”

Fontana asked again with a different question.  “Will you be okay?”

She sat back in her chair, deep in thought.  “I will be.  Time heals all wounds.”

He asked the obvious follow up. “Are you able to handle the next part of this mission?”  He didn’t look away but kept his eyes on hers, unblinking.

Wren felt every part of the question as she leaned forward over her desk.  She could have just as easily begged off the next steps and given Commander Park operational command of the Perseverance’s part. The XO had proven herself able and willing to carry the load as needed.  It would also betray Walton’s core standards.  “I can.  I’m going to delegate some of the work to Park and a few others on the senior staff.  You were prepared to give me a lecture about balance or something, weren’t you?”

“I still might, Wren.  You know your weaknesses just as well as I do.  We’re about to head into the next phase of this crapshoot.  I need everyone to be ready for whatever surprises come out of this thing.”

She agreed.  “The Vorethi are complicated.  The guilds run things, and that makes it even worse.  We’re trying to pick up broadcasts from the various major and minor groups so we can get a clue about what they’re thinking.  Some of it’s helpful, but other times it’s just mindless chatter.”

Fontana pushed the chair out and stood.  “You and your crew are the eyewitnesses to this thing.  Your testimony and sensor evidence are going to carry the day.  Concern yourself with preparing for the meeting.  Make sure each member of your team is ready to answer questions.  You’ve got six hours – do some scenarios in the holodeck if you need.  I’ll task Zephyr with listening in on the networks.  You get ready for the big show.”

Wren nodded as he left.  It was more for herself, attempting to convince herself that, yes indeed, this was going to go well.

“All rise.”  The full House of Parliament stood, a thundering rumble of boots, shoes, chairs, and bodies shifting as the Guild President walked into the cavernous dome-shaped space, followed by the Chief Premier, his officials, and the retinue that was always around them.  A dedicated silence held as they walked up the stairs of the dais and took their assigned seats.  “You may be seated.”  The same rumble echoed as the gathered group of Vorethi guild members and officials opened consoles and slipped on headsets.

In the visitors’ gallery, just off to the side and abutting one of the ancient walls, was the Starfleet team.  Captain Peter Crawford sat behind Fleet Captain Fontana, whose face was stern and set hard.  He had met informally with some guildmasters and government officials.  Those meetings had revealed the challenges ahead.  Captain Walton, Commander Park, and the recently returned Lieutenant Jordan Reid were in the last row of the visitors’ seating area.

A somber tension hung over the gathering.  The Blood Guild sat in its section.  The chairs that bordered them on all four sides were empty, a sign of the concern the rest of the guilds felt.  They had been on the edges of Vorethi society, and yet now the isolation seemed to take on new meaning, and a sign of how everyone in the Parliament was feeling and, more importantly, thinking.

Chief Premier Gooren stood from his chair and walked to the speaker’s podium.  He looked out across the hundreds of Vorethi, and at the Starfleet contingent.  Gooren began. “We proclaim this gathering of the Guild House of Parliament open.  The major and minor guilds have certified their agreement and assent to forming this meeting before our accepted meeting schedule.”  He turned the page.  “We welcome our guests and witnesses – the Starfleet officers.”  He introduced each of them, ‌and they stood as they were called.  There was some muted applause at each name being read, but mostly there were stares varying from furious to indifference.

“We are gathered here today to listen to and witness the evidence provided by the Starfleet crews about what they experienced at the location designated as ‘The Constructor’.  A hushed clatter moved across the Vorethi while many of the eyes turned towards the Blood Guild.  For their part, they sat impassive.  Gooren continued.  “The relevant logs, data sets, sensor readings, and scan records have been sent to your consoles.  We understand you may doubt these things as outsider tricks.  It is rare that ‌outsiders have our best interests at heart.  It is even rarer that I speak to support them.  This is one of those moments.”

There was a ruffling uproar across all guilds at that comment.  Gooren’s face held, and his black eyes searched the crowd as he stood tall, projecting an unusual strength in the middle of a political storm that was crashing all around him.  He gestured to Crawford.  “Captain Peter Crawford will now present the data, a selection of logs, and footage from the laboratory.”

Peter stepped up the low stairs and accepted a genteel nod from Gooren.  He placed his PADD on the lectern and walked the Vorethi through the data.  Outrage, shock, and fear over the revelations forced him to pause multiple times as it moved through the crowd.  He came at last to the footage.  “I must warn you.  This footage is hard to watch.  It will upset you, as it upset us when we originally viewed it.  Captain Walton and her science chief were the first to experience it.  It has not left our minds.”  He took a long look around the Vorethi.  He’d warned them.  Crawford pressed play.

As the first two logs played, there was curiosity.  Fingers pointed at the video and parts of it that brought notice or interest.  Peter knew the third log was going to be the true test.  He took a deep breath as the second clip ended.  Here we go, he muttered to himself.  

The crowd reacted with murmurs, and then shock.  Voices grew louder as the log went on, and the truth of what was going to happen became clear.  The sound of the attack began and continued until it mercifully ended, causing some guild leaders to appear shaken, turn away, and cover their ears as it played.  Others were complaining loudly about the evidence being gathered without guild oversight.

Crawford cleared his throat into the microphone, and eventually the crowd of Vorethi quieted.  He spoke, carefully. “We acted as investigators at your request – you demanded we provide incontrovertible evidence of what you said were wild claims.  We’ve returned with that evidence in abundance.  To ensure your safety and stability as a culture and a people, we made those choices for you because you did not want to.  The Vorethi-bot message that we delivered would have been very different had we returned without confronting what was there.  You asked us to act in your stead.  We did.”  He paused, waiting for a hubbub from the crowd.  It did not come.  He pressed onward.  “Our friend Baron Nine sacrificed to correct the original fractured directives.  In his message is an offering of peace and of a future – together.  How you proceed is up to you.  We can advise, but the choice must now be yours.  They are your people, your creation, and your future.”

He returned to his seat, suddenly tired.  Would they listen? Would they proceed with thoughtful consideration?  Crawford sat back and waited for Gooren to return to the podium.