shared a drink or two with the Yegorov âs geology people during the trip out here,â McCoy said. âI already know more than I ever wanted to know about topaline. Not to mention the settlements that canât keep their life-support systems running without it.â
âGood,â Wieland said, looking impressed. âThen you must also be familiar with Altimara.â
At length, he said, âNo.â
âAltimara is a planet that supports dozens of extensive mining operations,â Wieland said. âFor more than a hundred years, itâs been the main topaline source for Federation colony worlds that otherwise wouldnât be able to support life. During the last few decades, virtually all of the Federationâs topaline has come from the Altimaran mines. But those mines are rapidly playing out. Over the next few yearsâ years , mind you, not decades or centuriesâtheyâre expected to run out entirely.â
âRight now Iâm concerned with the welfare of only one person,â McCoy said, gesturing toward Naheer.
Doctor Wieland raised his hands in a gesture of concession. âAll right. But how does a single individualâs life stack up against the lives of countless millions of Federation citizens?â
âI donât make those kinds of decisions!â
âLeonard, you are about to make precisely that kind of decision,â Wieland offered quietly. âBy deciding to throw out the Prime Directive, and disobeying your oath as a Starfleet officer, you are deciding the fate of all those millions of topaline-dependent Federation colonists. Only you can decide whether or not to throw your career away. But take a moment and think: How do you suppose the people closest to you will take the news that youâve been demoted for insubordination? Or even cashiered?â
McCoy lowered his gaze and took a moment to ponder both of Wielandâs aftermath scenarios. Jocelyn would no doubt see a dishonorable discharge as more evidence of his unreliability as a father. Further proof of his inability to follow through on his commitments. He was bitterly aware that heâd already given her ample evidence of those failings over the past several years.
And Joanna will probably believe whatever her mother tells her to believe , he thought glumly.
McCoy looked Wieland directly in the eye. âHow can I just let this boy die?â
âDoctor, you canât force these people to adopt practices for which theyâre not yet prepared,â Wieland said. âAnd thereâs no telling when they might finally be ready to accept what weâve been offering them. You certainly canât force it.
âWhether they come around a thousand years from now or next week, this boyâs death wonât be your responsibilityâitâll be theirs . Theyâve made their choice, as is their right, and theyâll have to live with it. Now itâs time for you to do the same.â
âYou outrank me, Doctor,â McCoy said. âAre you ordering me to violate my oathâto stop trying to save Naheerâs life?â
âNo,â Wieland said. âI donât think Iâll have to. You have a promising Starfleet career ahead of you, Leonard.â He extended his right hand toward McCoy.
McCoy studied the older manâs hand.
Ignoring the still, silent voice that warned him not to do it, he deactivated his hypo and placed it in Wielandâs outstretched palm.
Interlude
STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS, SAN FRANCISCO
Stardate 8130.5 (March 22, 2285)
âThe course of action you chose was undoubtedly the correct one, Doctor,â Spock said, though he seriously doubted that his friend and colleague was in any condition to process his judgment.
âThink so, do you?â McCoy slurred. He sloshed the Romulan ale bottleâs depleted contents until it became a whirling gyre. âItâs only true from the perspective of the
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