[Scarlett]

“Prime Directive, bah,” grumbled the senior Klingon. Grannon Trex took a swig from the flagon directly. His mood soured as he placed the container back on the table to look at Admiral Tracy Kent and then pointed a finger at her. “You know, there are still circles within the Empire that believes the Federation should be conquering planets. Starfleet is a formidable navy, I should know.” His aging, yet clean, beard dangled from his frown.

The Admiral smirked before taking a sip from her wine glass. The flickering light from the torches on the outside deck reflected from her long, straight dark black hair. “Maybe so … to be fair, there are circles within Starfleet that believe the same.”

Opposite the Admiral sat Commodore Matthew Calgar. His barrel-chested build was betrayed by the sudden uneasiness of the conversation. Matthew reached for his own glass and poured some of Grannon’s effective drink. “Come now, let’s not change the mood of the evening.”

Kathryn dodged Calgar’s verbal negotiation and glared across the table to the venerable warrior. “I’m curious General, what would you do if you stumbled upon a pre-warp civilization? Are they ripe for submission or destruction in the name of glory?”

Tension at the table suddenly became thick, the surrounding patrons of the restaurant unaware of the discussions from the veterans in the corner. Tracy looked between Grannon and Kathryn with a growing smile and then placed her glass quietly on the table. Calgar’s discomfort continued and he placed both hands to either side of his plate, as if ready to separate the Klingon and Human from conflict.

Grannon leaned forward, the leather of his ceremonial jacket creaking as he moved. “Admiral Beringer, you assume too much.”

An eyebrow rose on Kathryn’s forehead and she leaned forward as well. “You have not answered the question.”

After a few seconds, the Klingon burst into laughter and slapped the table, capturing the other patron’s attention. “Well done, Admiral!” He gulped from his cup as he sat back into the chair. “I accept your challenge.” With that comment, everyone else returned to their hushed conversations.

Wiping his mouth, Grannon explained, “In the older days, before the Cardassian War, Captains were left to their own discretions unless ordered by the Council. The Empire would not be what it is without expansion, and sometimes there are … growing pains. You should know this?”

Matthew sighed with relief and Tracy calmly reached for her glass. Kathryn continued, “That’s what history would say, but have you faced the decision?”

Grannon shook his head. “Should I consider myself fortunate? I’ve read some examples of when Starfleet handled pre-warp cultures and not all of those instances had a merry outcome. So, is it flawed?”

Kathryn glanced at Tracy, who was inspecting her nails on one hand, clearly not interested in the conversation. Looking to Matthew, the Commodore was drinking from his cup and did so for a few seconds. She returned to the Klingon and shrugged. “It’s relative. Count yourself lucky.”

“Oh, really,” Grannon looked surprised. “This night has been filled with tales of days long past. Please, regale us with another story.”

Looking down at her plate, the half-eaten steak beckoned. Kathryn cut a slice and chewed it quickly.

“Back in 2410, my ship was in the Delta Quadrant conducting chart work near the Outward Fringes. We captured subspace distortions emanating from a nearby system and we bounced to the source: two planets seemed to be engaged in a planetary war. Long-range scans suggested the cultures did not use warp-drives, at least not by Federation metrics.”

The others started eating while she spoke. “We did discover they we able to harness nuclear power and their ships were fueled with it.”

Kathryn paused and then sawed into her steak. “Several areas on both planets were scarred from nuclear detonations. Clearly, they were at war against each other.”

Tracy lifted her glass to drink. “If I had to guess, you logged the tragedy and moved on.”

Matthew sat straight still chewing on pasta. “Is that what you would have done, Admiral Kent?”

Smiling from the question, Tracy nodded. “There is an idea that Captains have a moral obligation to countermand the Prime Directive if a species faces extinction. War is not a cause to go against the Directive, although it is terrible to witness, I suppose.”

Grannon growled. “I prefer to let the dear Admiral finish her saga.”

Tracy lifted her glass to salute and acknowledge the Klingon General’s request.

Kathryn finished chewing. “Tracy is technically correct. We had no idea how much further the war was to continue, yet we noticed a flotilla in the heliosphere with nuclear-tipped projectiles inbound to a planet. I decided to use a tight-band subnucleonic beam to the projectiles in an attempt to neutralize the atomic matrix of the cores and to remain hidden. From long-range the effect was mostly successful.

Matthew raised eyebrows. “Mostly?”

“Yes.” Kathryn became somber. “A few made planetfall.” She looked into her lap and after a small sniffle looked up. “It seems the waiter is a little late with refills? I’ll go see the maiter d.” Standing, she pushed a strand of grey and burgundy hair, and excused herself from the table.

Tracy shook her head and loudly landed her glass on the table with some impatience. “My queue to drop the conversation must have been too subtle, gentlemen.”

Grannon was startled. “What do you mean?”

Looking to the General, Tracy’s eyes narrowed. “Kathryn followed the Prime Directive by leaving the system after she failed to stop the missile wave from destroying several cities. Several more cities were still intact from her subtle action. There are always winners and losers in war and someone was going to win. It’s not Starfleet’s place to interfere in that tragedy because there was going to be a winner.”

She paused for some effect before continuing. “So when I ‘guessed’ what Kathryn would do, it is because that is what happened. Looking at options, the only proper course of action was to index the system, document readings, and catalogue actions taken … then leave. “

Matthew looked around and then leaned forward to loudly whisper. “You mean she just left the system without further investigation?!”

Tracy nodded, “in order to follow the Directive, yes.”

---
Cast For Crew:
Kathryn Beringer - Katheryn Winnick
Matthew Calgar - Conleth Hill
Grannon Trex - Orlando Jones
Tracy Maxwell Kent - Monica Belluci