Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Posted on Mon Mar 14, 2022 @ 8:19pm by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit

1,939 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: We Will Take Care of You
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Concurrent with "And so it begins"

Bridge then Ready Room

The Captain watched as Penny quickly handed over her station to her backup, then made her way across the bridge up to the second level and toward the Ready Room. Entering, Kennit walked toward her desk and sat down while behind her, Penny entered and approached one of the chairs before the desk. The doors slid closed behind her with a quiet sound, closing off the sounds of the Bridge beyond.

Penny followed the Captain in and sat down in the chair across from her, a worried look on her face. "They're really coming here?" she said.

"So it would seem." Kennit answered. "You have had no contact? No indication of what their intentions may be?"

Penny shook her head. "No. I send a lot of letters, but I never hear a response. I haven't heard from the others since the last time I visited the planet."

"Letters," the Captain echoed. "What kind of letters? What information did you send them?"

"Well, letters about things I've learned about humanity, mostly," she said. "What I've learned about friends, humor, love, sex. All the things they're afraid of."

"None of which explains why the delegation is apparently insisting on speaking to me, specifically." Kennit said.

"True," Penny said. "Maybe they appreciate the fact that you're only half human. Maybe they are less afraid of an El-Aurian and have an expectation that you'll somehow be more rational than a regular human." *Unrealistic as that may be,* Penny thought.

"I am only half El-Aurian." the Captain corrected softly. "It makes no logical sense to be less afraid of me due to a quirk of biology."

"Well, no not literally afraid, no, obviously," she said. "They're incapable of that. Still, they've recognized humanity as a threat since they met you and they've not really wanted anything to do with you. They sent me out to evaluate if humanity is still dangerous, and if they're even worth their trouble."

"An odd viewpoint since they, and you, are created to look and behave the same as mankind." the Captain pointed out. "All races are dangerous, in their own way. Some more so than others.."

Penny tilted her head as she processed that misinformation. “You’re wrong,” she said. “Very wrong. They were built to look like The Makers. The fact that they look human is an astronomical coincidence. Maybe Lord Mudd had them modified, I don’t know. I wasn’t programmed with knowledge of The Makers, since the goal was to have me connect more with humanity, so I only know what I've read, but they did resemble humans.” She shrugged. “But to say they were programmed to act like mankind…that’s a serious error. They don’t act anything like you. They are a hive mind that moves with a purpose that comes from feeling nothing, fearing nothing and regretting nothing. Their sense of self preservation is programmed in and that is what leads to their appearing afraid of you, but you can’t ascribe human motivations to what they do.”

Kennit nodded without speaking, mentally filing that information away for use later in dealing with the incoming android envoy.

“When they sent me away, I was so scared, but so excited. I was going to meet these terrifying monsters who nearly destroyed them. I was tasked with the job of finding out if humans were, in their words, salvageable. I guess, somewhere along the line, I translated it into good or evil.”

Penny took a moment as she reviewed every moment of her life. Her face was a fleeting image of sad, elated, sad and scared, but then it passed. "I wanted to know if there was a good person out there," she said. "A human that had something beyond what they had programmed into me. And then I met Thomas Barnes, and my system almost shut down." She shook her head. "It terrified me, because I'd been warned about humor, and illogic, and all the other weapons humans had at their disposal, but nothing prepared me for falling in love.”

“Well then,” the Captain said in a soft, wry voice. “You are no different than humans in that regard. No matter who you are, or where you’re from, love is always an emotion which defies all description. It can be wonderful. And it can destroy you. All in one.”

"Then I had to learn about heartbreak, betrayal, love all over again...." she looked at the Captain. "It's awful, what you all go through. But at the same time, it's wonderful. I told them all of that. And....shortly before Nicole and Camille left...I sent them my final determination: humanity is the greatest of contradictions. A doomed species, destined to self destruct, that somehow flourishes not in spite of their irrational minds, but because of them. I said humanity should continue to live and be themselves, because if I can understand what love is, it must be something pretty wonderful."

She felt herself getting choked up. She missed her friends, her family. She rallied herself and focused on the Captain's gaze. There was no one left to say "beep beep" and slow her down. She was on her own. It didn’t help that she always looked like an innocent teenager, now she looked like a scared one.

"If they're sending a peace delegation," she said after the briefest of moments, "it has to mean they've gotten my letters, and they agree with my assessment. This could be big for the Federation, like really big." She suddenly got a fearful look. "Are you going to tell everyone about me when they arrive?"

"That is not my choice to make." the Captain stated. "That particular revelation is yours to make, or not make, as you see fit."

Penny let out a breath of relief and nodded. "Thank you, Captain."

“I know something of what it is like to hold a deep, personal secret.” Kennit said simply, referring to the Borg technology which was now at least, a known aspect of who she was. For a time, she’d had to hide it, mask the reality of who she was, and what had happened to her.

Rhea shook her head. "I need to know what to expect when that ship arrives. The lack of communication beyond their stated intention is concerning to Starfleet Command, and to me. Could this be somehow related to the pending supernova of the Romulan star?" she questioned. "It is a possibility which I considered over the last day and, I can't find any reason for them to be coming all this way when the pending explosion will have minimal impact on Planet Mudd and its inhabitants. To the best of my knowledge, no refugees have been moved to a word in that sector either, the Federation has kept their agreement to leave your people in peace."

Penny gave a half laugh. “Captain, they haven’t communicated, because they don’t see a need to. That's why they don’t speak with me.”

She shivered when she thought back to her time on the planet. “It’s so quiet there,” she said. “On Mudd. You can hear the sound of the machinery on the planet, the computers in the labs. If you listen hard, you can hear the wind outside the facility. But all the ambient noise one would find on this ship? None of it. No sounds of people breathing, clearing their throats, idle talk, a random laugh in the background, the occasional “hm” or “huh” as people think…none of that. It’s complete silence. When I was first activated, I used to cry because I wanted someone to talk to, even though I didn’t understand that was the reason, but none of them just…talked. When they would engage me in order to diagnose the problem, I would stop crying, but then they would assume the problem corrected itself and leave, and it would begin again. They never understood, even when they tried. It’s probably why I talk so much…to compensate.”

“Another human trait,” the Captain said softly. “The need for that connection, to share your thoughts and interact with another being.”

She pulled herself back to the present. “I doubt Romulus factors into this. If the impending supernova was of concern to them, they’d have a ship heading there, not here. When a computer identifies an error, it doesn’t try to repair something else.”

She bit her lip. “You aren’t dealing with a people, you’re dealing with a single hive mind,” she said. “Treat them…treat them the way you’d treat the Borg, if the Borg were willing to negotiate. Don’t assume you’re speaking to an individual, assume you’re speaking to the collective. You speak for yourself and you have to get authorization from Starfleet. They speak for their planet, and whatever they tell you, it will already be approved, pre-checked and analyzed a thousand times.”

The Captain didn’t speak, as a Borg Queen her thoughts, her will was all. The Hive mind obeyed the Queens will without hesitation. The only real issues came when more than one Queen was involved, and even then the conflict of control was short.

She blinked as a thought occurred to her. “And…I wouldn’t mention it as ‘leaving them in peace’ given it was technically ‘confining them to their planet.’” She shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong…I get why Starfleet’s done that. I don’t even know how they got a ship off the planet in the first place. But regardless…they may not appreciate having been confined, alone, waiting.”

“Likely because of the urgency of the effort underway to aid the Romulan Star Empire in moving it’s population from the worlds which will be most severely impacted, or simply destroyed when the star does explode.” Kennit said. “And knowing the Federation as I do, while it may not seem like it, yes. The Federation left your people in peace. The Federation likes to present a shining, perfect facade to the galaxy, but beneath the surface it is not nearly so well-intentioned. That your people were left alone for so long is of itself either an indication of fear, or simply a blessing of fate to be thankful for.”

"Knowing the Federation, I'll go with fear," Penny said, then tilted her head. "I wonder if they know that...." She blinked and looked at the Captain. "Maybe that's the reason they want you," she said. "You're never afraid."

The Captain just smiled ever so slightly, “There is a difference between being afraid and allowing that fear to control you, or using that fear. Channeling it so that you are alert, so that you are watchful and more closely observe your enemy. Control your emotions and make them benefit your needs, instead of being controlled.l

Penny nodded, trying to imagine how to control something so irrational. "What....what are you afraid of?" she said, quietly. "And how do you use it?"

The Captain just allowed that small, wry smile to cross her lips once more. Then, with a little shake of her head she said simply “Not much.”
Rising to her feet, she motioned toward the door leading back to the bridge and added, “As for how to use it, that’s something you have to learn for yourself. We should get back to the bridge before the gossips get going.”

"Sixty-percent probability it's too late," Penny said, standing up and following her out.

 

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