Dose of Reality

As he listened to the response from Oseno Jureth, Samji began to get angry at how easily it seemed some of these officers were willing to sacrifice so many unknown lives. He couldn't blame the officers for responses which he willingly invoked, however, and tried to control his emotions as he spoke, "Lieutenant, first of all... as I stated, this is our very last resort after all other options are exhausted. We have the best minds in the known galaxy to draw on, many of which are in this very room. Can we first focus on the fact that we are all fighting for our very existence and we will use whatever resources we can? We will fight for as long as is reasonably possible. We will pool the best and brightest Starfleet has to offer, and work together to reach our goal: to contain this thing and make it so we can live with ourselves."

He calmed down a bit and tried to explain the view of his superiors. "We're not talking about running here. Quite the opposite. We're talking about preserving our way of life. When your house is burning down, do you try to escape and find a new place to live, or do you stand in it and blow at it futilely until the whole thing collapses on you and your family? If you could save your house by diverting a fire that you yourself accidentally started to your neighbor, would you do that?"

"Here's the hard truth: If we destroy an entire universe... and remember, we're not talking about a planet, or even a galaxy... a universe..." He let the vastness of such a word sink in. "If we destroy a universe because we couldn't stop something that we ourselves were the cause of, we've effectively destroyed the Federation anyway. Do you want to live in that Federation? I'd rather die. And I think Captains Archer, Kirk, Picard, and all the great figures of our history would agree."

He had one more thing to say before moving on, and it had to be said, despite the tense mood in the room that felt like a poison cloud threatening to choke and overwhelm him. "If we've exhausted all options and we can't contain it or close it without harming the other universe... if the house is burning down... the only thing left to do is move to that other house. No matter where we go in this universe, the Anomaly will follow. It continues to gain speed exponentially, in fact. We have a year before it will reach Sol. That is time to evacuate in phases. People can live on our biggest starships for decades if necessary. We have the ability to build even the biggest of them relatively quickly. And if the only option is to preserve life, we must try. The Federation is defined by its citizens... not its planets or starbases or other material things. We must try to save them at all costs. And even if we could possibly travel to another galaxy, the Anomaly would overtake us before we got one tenth of the way. The only other option is through to the unknown. Truly where no one has gone before."

Samji felt defeated. He couldn't live with the choices they had available, and having to explain something even he couldn't fully cope with left him exhausted and hopeless. He bowed his head in front of the podium, attempting to gain strength, but he couldn't without support from his fellow officers. He just sighed and shook his head, trying to rid the many thoughts reeling through it and looked up. It is time to move on, he told himself.

"Regardless, we don't have the time to debate the moral implications of this. For better or worse, it has already been decided. If there's nothing more anyone has to say, we will do our duty and carry out our orders and right now that means getting back to the briefing on our opponents and the Anomaly itself."

He paused and looked around the room, attempting to gauge whether their professionalism would allow them to be focused on the task at hand.