//------------------------------//
// Decision 
// Story: Equestria Trek: First Contact 
// by MetBoy 
//------------------------------//

	Decision:  In which a choice is made, with intent to divert all that follows.

---=={***}==---

Commander Delilah O’Niel, Lieutenant Siatt Onehli, and Ensign Tarah were in the prefab construct built in Ponyville. Lieutenant Commander Vulzy Raat, Lieutenant Bindalla, and Ensign Maya Oasis were in the mountains, scores of miles away from Ponyville. Lieutenant Syoosi was under the waters, at the bottom of the Froggy Bottom Swamp. 
Federation communications technology meant those distances didn’t matter. Only Syoosi had access to a fully equipped communications terminal in the shuttle, and while the Ponyville group had a more limited field terminal, and the mountain group was limited to a data pad and a few tricorders, but that equipment was enough so that each of the seven could see each of the others, either directly or a hologram of the officer.

“Commander, my position requires I say this,” Raat said, opening the debate as First Officer, “but this isn’t our fight; we were only attacked because we came here. I hate to say this, but for all the help the natives have given us, we can stand back, and wait for Starfleet rescue.”
“Which would be poor repayment for the help the ponies have given us,” Tarah snapped back. “Without their timely rescue, at least half of us still aboard U.S.S. Judges would be dead now. We now have a chance to repay them, and honor demands we pay the debt, not cowardly hide away.”
“And hiding away means giving the Orions free reign over this planet,” Siatt countered, “We looked at the scans we made on the approach, and there are rich deposits of Dilithium, above and beyond the magic the natives possess. Those ‘gem lamps’ they use are built around a piece of Dilithium. Once the Orions realize that they’ll be able to secure for the Klingons what may be a critical advantage in the war.”
“Planet hosts many anomalies,” Bindalla commented. “Magic only start. Historical and mythological similarities, development of things to make them go. Great possibility for research, learning. Easier as friends.”
“And I’d like to make a vote in favor of that,” Syoosi added. “Their magic represents an untapped vein of practical applications, once we figure out how to make use of it.”
The lowest ranking officer spoke up. “They’ll try with us or without us,” Maya said, “and without our help I can see this getting very ugly for them, very fast. On the other side, if things go well for them, they may gain access to advanced technology. They’re progressing quickly, but. Either way, we lose control.”

“Officers, I’ve heard your arguments, and must reject all of them in making my decision,” Delilah said, speaking for the record. “I’m cutting off further debate, and making the decision on my own authority alone.” That was a coded phrase, which would protect her officers from any legal fallout of her orders. Under Starfleet’s chain of command, they could only refuse those orders if those orders would violate the Federation’s laws. “My decision is based on the potential danger posed by the cultures of this planet.”
“They may appear to be simple, but these people are well organized and effective, and manage their biosphere and atmosphere to a degree only seen on Earth and on some other Federation home worlds. They have a standard of living on par with an industrialized culture, created by an average of fifteen hours of work a week, the rest of their time devoted to rest, socialization, and play.”
“We’ve seen what these people can do in a week to try and protect their home,” she gestured to indicate what was happening in Ponyville. “The demographics, with rapid adoption of heavy industrialization, and cutting their leisure time to the bone, support their gross system product increasing by factors of magnitude in a matter of months. Once they reach the warp threshold, they’ll be able to bring in merchants with technology to make centuries worth of leaps in the technology, drives, and weapons they may believe they will need. I know they can find Frengi groups that will jump at the chance to sell them what they need to complete their uplift, and I pity the one that tries to cheat Princess Celestia or her people.”
“This world has access to resources to build a fleet of aggressive defense, and when they add their magic to that, magic I don’t know if anyone short of the Q Continuum can understand, let alone match, I fear for the fate of the Federation. I can see the Alpha Quadrant burning at the hooves of a Glorious Celestial Empire in as little as twenty years, if they don’t feel they can find friendship out there; if they decide they must cleanse the stars to protect their own.”

The officers looked at their Commander with a mix of disbelief, shock, and dawning realization.
“I see two alternatives,” Delilah flatly stated, “One involves carpet-bomb genocide, wiping out this planet’s biosphere.”
“And the other?” Siatt asked, setting up the question.
“The other involves helping them now, while they are weak. It involves seeing their offer of their friendship and raising it by the offer of our respect for them.”
“Captain?” Maya asked, “Are you suggesting-”
“That we equip them with our weapons, and take them with us when we attack the Orion ship.”
“Then, no matter else what happens, Equestria won’t grow to become a threat to the Federation. If we succeed, we will stop criminals from enslaving and exploiting the people of this planet, and they will see our value as allies demonstrated. If we fail, they will see our character, and know that we mean them no harm. Even if Starfleet condemns our actions, we will have sent a message that can not be erased.”
“We can sit this one out, and know that we’ll probably live, but only at the cost of abandoning our duty and our oaths as officers. We may not be punished for making that choice, but we’ll know we’re not fit to represent the Federation.”
“And even if we die, we will have gone in knowing that we have met the demands of the uniforms we wear, and are ready to give our lives, to sacrifice our honor if need be, to protect that which we love.”
“We help the natives, pony and griffin, because, whatever else happens, we win, even if we don’t live to see victory.”

---=={***}==---

They didn’t have much time, but going in without a plan would all too likely prove suicidal as well as futile. While Starfleet discussed their options, a party of griffins had arrived from Canterlot, bearing with them maps of known caves in the unclaimed region between the griffin city-states and Equestria.
“An Orion Frigate is in orbit. From our passive scans, and Luna’s divination, we can say that it is off a class optimized for raiding, not on-board cargo handling. The small craft have returned to their mountain cave base to ‘process’ their captives, putting them into livestock boxes such as we found Dash in.”
“This gives us a few hours in which we can rescue those captives, and give ourselves the chance to take the Frigate as well, shutting down their operations in this system long enough for Starfleet backup to arrive.”
Delilah was running the briefing. She gestured to the unrolled scroll; a map of the border region cave the raiders were using, provided by the griffin group recently arrived from Canterlot. Prince Blueblood had secured the City-State of Aleph’s general agreement to cooperate against hostile extra-terrestrials, and while Aleph was considered the most diplomatic, and “fond of talking,” of the often contentious griffin nations, the embassy group had reacted quickly. There were only four representatives, but knowing the layout of the cave the raiders were using would be invaluable.
“The joint group in the mountains will attack the base, first by the smaller entrance, then an airborne group in the larger entrance. The spearheads will be ponies and griffins using conventional weapons, but reinforced with personal shields. With luck, the Orions won’t know about the Starfleet presence, and will lower the ship’s shields, either to beam down reinforcements or to beam their own people out.”
“Once those shields drop, we will use the transporter aboard our shuttle to beam a boarding party to the Orion Frigate.” Delilah gestured to a data pad, showing a schematic. “Our first target shall be to subvert or disable the main computer, followed by the energy distribution systems.”
“Due to the need for speed, we don’t want to take too many up. As well, the transporter window may be narrow. The boarding team shall include Siatt and myself,” she firmly announced.
“Commander, your injuries-“ Siatt interjected.
“Are healed enough to let me participate, and my technical skills will be required.” She looked to the pony and griffin representatives. “A few more from your people?”
“I’m going,” Rainbow Dash declared, “I want a rematch.”
The emissary from Aleph said, “Three of my guards are available to join your boarding party.” He gestured to indicate the three warrior griffins behind him
Princess Luna commented, “I don’t see Gretchen, who if I recall is the captain of the Embassy Guard.”
“She has recused herself from this mission, and declined to explain,” the griffin diplomat replied.
Rainbow Dash, coughed. “I think I know why... she’s Gilda’s mom.”
There was a moment of silence at the revelation, before the briefing continued. A few minutes were spent discussing the layout of the cave, and how the mountain group would attack it; thanks to Federation communications technology the officers involved with that side of things could see the maps.
“One last detail must be addressed before we go in,” Delilah said, “specifically the rules of engagement and our goals in this operation. Our first priorities are the rescue and lives of the kidnapped ponies, and the lives of our people. That said, we’d also like to take as many prisoners as we can; we’ll be going in with phasers set to ‘heavy stun.’ But if they up the stakes, so will we. At the code-word ‘Pandora’ the rules of engagement shift to neutralizing threats quickly.”
The Griffin Emissary nodded. “At the moment, we have no objection to that. For the moment Equestria will have legal jurisdiction over any prisoners taken; their crimes were committed here, they are and have been in pursuit, and their hideout is unclaimed territory under griffin tradition. Their home states may have something to say about the matter, but that is for after, when we have more time.”
Princess Celestia nodded her agreement. “In respect to Starfleet’s Prime Directive, we will not interrogate off-world captives for technical information; in return, we would like your crew’s assistance in keeping prisoners secured.”
Commander O’Niel nodded to the Solar Regent. “That sounds like a good starting point. The details we can address later, but now it is time for battle, and to protect our own.”