Jean-Luc Picard:
Come.
(Ru'afo and Dougherty enter)
Adhar Ru'afo:
Am I to understand that you are not releasing my men, captain?
Jean-Luc Picard:
We found the holoship.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Ru'afo, why don't you let the captain and me--
Adhar Ru'afo:
NO!!!
(The skin on Ru'afo's forehead breaks and begins to bleed)
Adhar Ru'afo:
This entire mission has been one Federation blunder after another. You will return my men... or this alliance will end with the destruction of your ship.
(Ru'afo turns and leaves)
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
You're looking well, Jean-Luc. Rested.
Jean-Luc Picard:
I won't let you move them, admiral. I will take this to the Federation Council.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
I'm acting on orders from the Federation Council.
Jean-Luc Picard:
How can there be an order to abandon the Prime Directive?
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
The Prime Directive doesn't apply. These people are not indigenous to this planet. They were never meant to be immortal. We'll simply be restoring them to their natural evolution.
Jean-Luc Picard:
Who the hell are we to determine the next course of evolution for these people?
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Jean-Luc, there are 600 people down there. We'll be able to use the regenerative properties of this radiation to help billions. The Son'a have developed a procedure to collect the metaphasic particles from the planets rings.
Jean-Luc Picard:
A planet in Federation space.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
That's right. We have the planet. They have the technology. A technology we can't duplicate. You know what that makes us? Partners.
Jean-Luc Picard:
Our partners are nothing more than petty thugs.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
On Earth, petroleum once turned petty thugs into world leaders. Warp drive once transformed a bunch of Romulan thugs into an empire. We can handle the Son'a. I'm not worried about that.
Jean-Luc Picard:
Someone probably said the same thing about the Romulans a century ago.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
With metaphasics, life spans will be doubled. An entire new medical science will evolve. I understand your chief engineer has the use of his eyes for the first time in his life. Would you take that away from him?
Jean-Luc Picard:
There are metaphasic particles all over the Briar Patch. Why does it have to be this one planet?
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
It's the concentration in the rings that makes the whole damn thing work. Don't ask me to explain it. I only know they inject something into the rings that starts a thermolytic reaction. When it's over, the planet will be uninhabitable for generations.
Jean-Luc Picard:
Admiral, delay the procedure. Let my people look at the technology.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Our best scientific minds already have. We can't find any other way to do this.
Jean-Luc Picard:
Then the Son'a can establish a seperate colony on the planet until we do.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
It would take ten years of normal exposure to begin to reverse their condition. Some of them won't survive that long. Besides, they don't want to live in the middle of the Briar Patch. Who would?
Jean-Luc Picard:
The Ba'ku. We are betraying the principles upon which the Federation was founded. It's an attack upon its very soul. And it will destroy the Ba'ku... just as cultures have been destroyed in every other forced relocation throughout history.
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Jean-Luc, we're only moving 600 people.
Jean-Luc Picard:
How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?
Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
I'm ordering you to the Goran system. I'm also ordering the release of the Son'a officers. File whatever protest you wish to, Captain. By the time you do, this will all be done.
