04-06-2026, 05:47 PM
Peter of course saw the same situation everyone else did. The Captain was just the first to say it out loud. The Cardassians had de facto declared war on the Federation. The fact that no shot had yet been fired - and a tiny hope thus remained of avoiding full-scale hostilities - was another matter.
Part of him wanted to just blow the Cardassians into a trillion tiny pieces and have the Federation finish what it should have done originally.
If we had just pressed through during the Border Wars so much might have been avoided, he thought to himself bitterly. A bit more effort then would have avoided several wars. How much had Command's "desire for peace" cost the galaxy in the end?
Though he would of course not speak that opinion. Also, another part of him realized that this would not be a quick and easy win. It would be brutal. The Cardassians were neither foolish, nor as weak as he would like.
That said, in the final calculation he much preferred getting the teeth pulled out before the infection spread to the wider jaw, and then the blood, and then became a much more massive problem.
What annoyed Peter was the presence of Kal-Geal. The arrogance of just saundering into a senior staff meeting... He didn't mention it, of course, because quite honestly at the moment there was more important things to worry about than protocol. But he made a mental note to bring it up with him at the earliest opportunity.
On a starship, information was need to know. And Kal-Geal did not - at this point - need to know.
But they had their marching orders. Peter had made his notes. He definitely had something to say, but would not do so in front of the crew, if it could be avoided. Which it could here.
But once the rest of the crew was gone, and he and the Captain were the only ones left in the room, he looked ather and spoke:
"Captain...the elephant in the room is this. Yes, firing the first shot on the Cardassians is not how we do business normally. But as you yourself pointed out: If we use the Slipstream Drive to - pardon the expression, it is not an intentional pun - slip by them, we leave our easiest method of escape out of action for at least a day, and as you yourself point out, there is a significantly greater risk than zero percent that they'll open fire on us if we try. Just leaving us more vulnerable."
He sighed.
"If things go FUBAR, that Slipstream Drive is our means of escape to quickly inform Command, so that we can initiate as full a scale mobilization as the brass finds reason to, given that the Cardassians would have fired on a Federation ship as well as blockaded a Federation starbase. Both are acts of war in themselves.", he said, the tone in his voice when he mentioned "the brass" juuuust on the right side of respectful.
"If we use the Slipstream Drive to get to the starbase, we might just find ourselves without a direct means of escape. Allow me to suggest that we warp into the system normally, hail the Cardassians to announce our intentions, and let them either blink first - and allow us through - or escalate. That way, our ace will still be up our sleeve. And we can bring word to the Fleet faster", he pointed out.
Part of him wanted to just blow the Cardassians into a trillion tiny pieces and have the Federation finish what it should have done originally.
If we had just pressed through during the Border Wars so much might have been avoided, he thought to himself bitterly. A bit more effort then would have avoided several wars. How much had Command's "desire for peace" cost the galaxy in the end?
Though he would of course not speak that opinion. Also, another part of him realized that this would not be a quick and easy win. It would be brutal. The Cardassians were neither foolish, nor as weak as he would like.
That said, in the final calculation he much preferred getting the teeth pulled out before the infection spread to the wider jaw, and then the blood, and then became a much more massive problem.
What annoyed Peter was the presence of Kal-Geal. The arrogance of just saundering into a senior staff meeting... He didn't mention it, of course, because quite honestly at the moment there was more important things to worry about than protocol. But he made a mental note to bring it up with him at the earliest opportunity.
On a starship, information was need to know. And Kal-Geal did not - at this point - need to know.
But they had their marching orders. Peter had made his notes. He definitely had something to say, but would not do so in front of the crew, if it could be avoided. Which it could here.
But once the rest of the crew was gone, and he and the Captain were the only ones left in the room, he looked ather and spoke:
"Captain...the elephant in the room is this. Yes, firing the first shot on the Cardassians is not how we do business normally. But as you yourself pointed out: If we use the Slipstream Drive to - pardon the expression, it is not an intentional pun - slip by them, we leave our easiest method of escape out of action for at least a day, and as you yourself point out, there is a significantly greater risk than zero percent that they'll open fire on us if we try. Just leaving us more vulnerable."
He sighed.
"If things go FUBAR, that Slipstream Drive is our means of escape to quickly inform Command, so that we can initiate as full a scale mobilization as the brass finds reason to, given that the Cardassians would have fired on a Federation ship as well as blockaded a Federation starbase. Both are acts of war in themselves.", he said, the tone in his voice when he mentioned "the brass" juuuust on the right side of respectful.
"If we use the Slipstream Drive to get to the starbase, we might just find ourselves without a direct means of escape. Allow me to suggest that we warp into the system normally, hail the Cardassians to announce our intentions, and let them either blink first - and allow us through - or escalate. That way, our ace will still be up our sleeve. And we can bring word to the Fleet faster", he pointed out.