Chief Counselor's Personal Log #37 - What's Done Is...

Posted on 26 Nov 2024 @ 4:37pm by Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle

492 words; about a 2 minute read

Today’s staff meeting was unlike any I’ve ever attended. The investigation into the crew’s recent experiences with hallucinations has yielded a conclusion so extraordinary it’s hard to wrap our heads around it. The findings confirmed that counterparts of our crew from the future—the crew of the USS Galileo-B—traveled back in time to prevent a series of catastrophic events that had destroyed not only their future but the very fabric of the Federation as we know it.

The catastrophe was apparently triggered by the destruction of mission data critical to averting a chain reaction of disasters. The Galileo-B crew succeeded in ensuring that we—this version of the Galileo crew—returned to a time before the data was lost, effectively putting us on an alternate course as opposed to truly resetting anything. Learning this sent a ripple of shock through the room; even in Starfleet, where time travel is a known hazard, the implications were staggering.

The discussion that followed was intense, and emotions ran high. Some argued the data should be destroyed again, citing the dangers of its existence and the possibility of unintended consequences. Others were adamant that the Galileo-B crew’s interference was a breach of Starfleet protocols and that their actions, however well-intentioned, were crimes that needed to be treated as such. They insisted the incident be reported and the data preserved for further analysis.

Hovar Kov, our chaplain, shared a particularly impassioned perspective. He acknowledged the moral complexities and the lives lost as a result of the Galileo-B crew’s decision, but he urged us to consider their desperation. They had acted out of self-preservation and what they believed was duty, to save us and, by extension, countless others. Of course, I can’t blame him for being so adamant in his views. After all, it was apparently an alliance between the Klingons and Romulans, a gob-smacking revelation in itself.

As intense as the discussion was, the most profound revelation for me, and in turn the one that will have the most impact on the crew, is Captain Tarin’s statement that she had preserved the data in question and had already sent it to Starfleet Command to do with what they will. The Captain also made it very clear she expected the counseling staff to help the crew deal with the emotional fall out of all of this with as little disruption to ship’s operations as possible - our job, yes, but a tall order nevertheless, considering how high emotions ran concerning a decision that was already made.

As for me, I believe taking a side is a luxury I can’t afford, and expressing my own feelings seems a moot point even in my own log. I see merit in all sides of the debate, and all I can hope is that I can help the crew do the same to keep us working as a team whatever comes.

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