Bless the Beasts Chapter 26: Janeway Finds a Trade Solution as the Darra's Fate Hangs in the Balance

Janeway wants Paris and Kim in the ready room for a debrief. But they are not in sickbay anymore. Torres pulled them out under her authority to work on repairs. Paris walks onto the bridge looking thinner and pensive. He is happy to be back. Chakotay calls him Poocuh with a smile.

Janeway tells Chakotay to have Kim meet them. Paris says Torres wants him to monitor the new helm controls with Harry’s help. Janeway sympathizes and lets him go for now. They will meet with senior officers plus Neelix and Kes at 1430.

At the meeting Janeway asks for their impressions and whether a military response is called for. Both Paris and Kim say no. Don’t punish the whole planet for a few thickheaded people.

Kim cannot wait to talk about the darra. They are intelligent. Sentient. They saved their lives on purpose.

Paris backs him. They saved them. But he still says they are only fish. Kes leans in. The empathic flashes she felt were from the darra. Emotion and thought mixed. They are sentient.

Janeway says it is subjective. The data can go in the xenobiology bank. She cannot save every species. The Prime Directive prevents it.

Kim pushes. Starfleet is right here on this ship. Janeway holds firm.

Then Kes drops the news. The doctor developed a cure for the gray plague. For Marima. And it does not involve darra blood at all.

Janeway is stunned. She wants the doctor. But Marima is still in sickbay. She tried to attack the doctor after the cure because he refused to go down and cure everybody on Sardalia.

Chakotay says they have to give them the formula. Lives are at stake. An entire civilization and the darra species.

Tuvok says cruelty is not the issue. The Prime Directive is clear.

Chakotay says he will resign his commission if Starfleet will not help. He was Maquis before.

Paris offers to resign, take the formula down himself, and get everyone off the hook.

Janeway shuts it down. She cannot afford to lose her best pilot or her indispensable first officer. Everybody on this crew is precious.

Kes offers to go down and help medically. Janeway says no. Kes joined the crew and is bound by the rules.

Neelix says trade and compromise are always better than cruelty and violence.

Janeway says they have no choice. Return Marima and go. But the questions about the serum and the darra remain.

She glances at the picture of her dog Molly on the desk. Thinks of the mogwik Dai. “Bless the beasts.” An old psalm about the sea and its creatures comes back to her.

Trade. She turns to the table. What if they follow Neelix’s suggestion and trade a commodity with the Sardalians. In return for goods provided, the Sardalians receive a quantity of serum.

Tuvok calls it inspired. They provide the serum without giving technology or the formula. A mission of mercy. If the Sardalians analyze and produce it later, that is on them.

Chakotay says if Starfleet does not like it, they just will not tell them.

Harry Kim smiles. That saves the darra. Kes claps.

Janeway says that leaves one last piece of business. Borizus. Time to return him to Vandorra with one vital piece of misinformation. Kim, I will need your help.

The Prime Directive debate felt heavy. Chakotay ready to walk away, Paris stepping up, Kes wanting to help. It showed how much they cared. Janeway’s trade idea landed perfectly. A clean workaround that still got the cure to the people and spared the darra. Setting up Borizus with some help from Kim felt like the right cap to the chapter.

Book is Bless the Beasts by Karen Haber, Star Trek Voyager novel, ISBN 0-7434-5370-0

Previous: Bless the Beasts Chapter 25: The Doctor Cures Marima Who Then Takes Him Hostage Next: Bless the Beasts Chapter 27