Read Constellations for Free Online

files—all classified, of course, along with pretty much everything pertaining to the mission. It was all buried.” She shook her head, turning to look at a spot in the corner of the room as though to avoid making eye contact with her visitors. “In some ways I wish they would have sent us with Campbell. Instead, we were left with our own conscience to act as judge, jury, and deliverer of punishment.”
    â€œWell,” Kirk said. “At least now it makes sense why Starfleet ‘guessed’ you might be here.” As he digested the new revelations, he nevertheless found himself drifting away from disdain for what Jendra and her colleagues had done. While he could not argue that their actions were in clear, unquestioned violation of regulations—including the one upon which every Starfleet officer’s oath of service was based, General Order One, the Prime Directive—the captain could see that Jendra’s intentions, along with those even of Campbell Roberts, had been noble if misguided.
    During his own Starfleet career, Kirk had already violated the letter of the law on occasion while at the same time struggling to uphold its spirit. Had his actions always been successful? Not at all. Several failures continued to loom in his mind, harsh lessons and hard-won wisdom he hoped would guide him toward making better decisions in the future, while at the same time allowing him to retain the humanity that had driven him to make those early choices—and mistakes—in the first place.
    Because of that, he felt for Revati Jendra.
    The question now was, where did he—and she—go from here?
    â€œI don’t understand,” Kirk said. “Obviously there was no planetwide epidemic.” He waved toward the window opposite Jendra’s bed, beyond which was the darkness of early evening. “You didn’t wipe out the entire population.”
    â€œOnly by luck,” Jendra replied. “When I came back with a new vaccine, I discovered that the contamination had spread, but only marginally.”
    â€œThe Grennai’s current level of societal development,” Spock said, “including the limited means of travel over great distances, would have done much to offer rudimentary protection against widespread outbreak across the planet.”
    â€œCorrect,” Jendra said. “I was able to track the spread of the contagion from village to village, but by then the cases of infection were very widespread and infrequent. I’ve not seen any indications of a renewed outbreak in months, but I still move from province to province, working as a local healer—a beloren —and as part of my routine examinations of the villagers I very carefully administer a preventive vaccine to them in the form of tablets or powders. I tell them it’s vitamins or protections against some local malady.” Sighing, she looked down at her hands lying listlessly in her lap. “It’s not much, but it’s better than doing nothing.”
    â€œAnd that’s what you’ve been doing here all along?” McCoy asked.
    Sitting up straighter in her bed, Jendra replied, “That’s right. We got very lucky here, Leonard. Despite that good fortune, several hundred Grennai still died who would be alive if not for our meddling.”
    She looked to Kirk. “It was a violation of the Prime Directive, Captain, to say nothing of my oath as a physician. There’s a penance to be paid for that, and so here I am. I’ll treat these people and care for them as best I can until the day I die. You can’t take me away. Not now.”
    â€œFor God’s sake, Revati,” McCoy said, moving to sit beside her on the bed. “We’ve been friends for twenty years. Why didn’t you tell me? I might’ve been able to help.”
    â€œIf she had, Doctor,” Spock replied, “you would be as culpable in the continued violation of the Prime