Vulcans don't lie ...

[T'aral 0]

T'Aral moved about the crew, making scans and taking readings. She found what she expected to find: elevated levels of immune-reaction cells in all the crew, even among the Klingons. This was the first measurable indication of Agnesian Blood Fever, and it was entirely possible that the entire crew was infected ...

 

... or, each race may have just spent three months in close proximity with a wholely different species, and their immune systems are adjusting to a new range of incidental organisms. This would be a common biological reaction which occurs every day on countless starships throughout the galaxy, and nothing to worry about at all. Such were the challenges faced by starship medical officers; the question of whether or not a threat actually existed hinged on T'Aral's findings, and whether or not she could be trusted.

 

What T'Aral said was partially true: there were cases of blood fever in the wake of the Demeter, but they were hardly of an epidemic scale and whether or not the two were in any way related was a weak link at best. Ordinarily T'Aral would've dismissed the possiblity as illogical, especially given that there was no medical emergency visible among the Demeter crew. As she moved through the crew, she wondered if the Klingon medical officer suspected that T'Aral had stretched the facts beyond reasonable conclusions. It was possible, but he could prove nothing and the first scans were typically inconclusive. It was no suprise that the facilities on board the Klingon vessel were incapable of producing a conclusive scan: Klingons were about war, not peace.

 

As she moved through the crew, T'Aral did her best to watch the reactions of the human survivors. She deeply wished and hoped that one would be a Vulcan. She was here to discover the truth of what was going on, and unfortunately humans were poor sources of truth. Long ago their own psychologists had learned of victim-dependency bonding, and had given it a name: Stockholm Syndrome. The word of the humans was of no value at all. The Klingons could've killed half the crew and tortured the rest, keeping those who bonded alive. Those remaining would be emotionally flawed, and their verbal testimony would be meaningless.

 

T'Aral knew what needed to be done - she needed to know the thoughts of one survivor. Then she would know what transpired between the Klingons and the crew of the Demeter. It would have to be done on the Commanche Creek where there would be no interruptions, and somehow she would need to find a willing participant. Violating a mind without permission through any means was a deep enough breach of ethics: to do so with a Mind Meld was unthinkable.

 

She continued to move through the crew. If only there was a Vulcan ...