PLANET ARKARIA, 2369

Picard looked out at the small sea of Admirals and Commodores, and made his best pitch.

"The terrorists who found their way onto Enterprise were a ruthless lot, to be certain. But they did not rely on that ruthlessness, in their attempts to steal the trilithium byproducts from our warpcore, just prior to the baryon sweep. No, they depended merely on lax security. It was their friend, ally and helpmeet. Its why they nearly succeeded."

One admiral that Picard had only met once seemed not to catch his drift.

"Captain, I hope I'm not going to hear the same tired suggestion we always hear when this sort of thing occurs."

"Well, sir--you'll not hear it from me. No, there's no need to turn the UFP into an armed fortress. The upgrades I'm suggesting are relatively miniscule, only moderately expensive, and will keep most ships and bases out of operation for at  the most two weeks, all other things considered."

The silence of those superiors he had known and worked with began to unnerve Picard, though of course he never showed it. Another relative stranger now spoke.

"Our Federation is an ongoing concern on multiple levels, Picard. The shutdowns you suggest would be a chain in our gear tracks, and for little tangible benefit, outside the hypothetical."

Picard gave up, but not before crafting a parting shot.

"If I had failed to stop that group, and make no mistake, I very nearly did not stop them, then the people who would have been killed by weapons fashioned from the trilithium resin would have not been at all---hypothetical. Sir. And heaven above help us if a madskull gets their hands on not trilithium resin--but trilithium itself. It shall all seem very real, then."

--------------------------------------------------

STARFLEET HQ, 2372

The newest captain of The Enterprise was also a previous one. This was by way of tragedy, and that was what James Kirk came to speak of today.

"I have seen two starships named Enterprise die in my time. The one died because some fool thought my bright but decidedly non-Starfleet son could handle a genie like protomatter. In fact, it was the very process that certain people within Starfleet used to get him that protomatter that ultimately compromised the secret of Genesis. The next died as I awoke from a temporal nap. This time, it was a kind of Anti-Genesis called trilithium. As I have related in my report, even though this seemed to mainly involve Romulans and renegade Kh'myr---I mean Klingons--in fact one of Soran's first raids was on a Federation base running extensive, massive simulations on trilithium technology. This base was largely unprotected. We provided the know-how."

Kirk hated the fact that even those few Admirals he knew and disliked were not anywhere in evidence.

"Captain Kirk--I grew up with you as my standard. But we can't give up being who we are, just for a few small safeguards. For example, arming that base would have marked it off to everyone, not just Soran."

"There are ways, Admiral, to effectively protect a facility without making it a gunnery station, so to speak. Also, personnel can be screened better utilizing  information that they have already provided in their dossiers. No witch hunts, such as the late Admiral Satie lead. Just the old once-over done right."

"Some people would say that's a ton of prevention for an ounce of cure. A war waged against a what-if."

Kirk wondered again how his fallen predecessor/successor had ever suffered such fools.

"Jean-Luc Picard would have disagreed, Admiral. I'm sure it all seems very, very real to his spirit. I know it does to his crew."

Kirk got out, hoping that the people who dwelt in that facility would never know the pain of what happens when what-if's cease being what-if's.
 
 

9/11/2001 - Remember