The High Emperor of Dirria, Honka, wanted to know what lay on the island. He wanted to hear tales of adventure, and he wanted to learn what had happened to the previous adventurers. But what could we tell him? What should we tell him? What were our options? And which one would Starfleet approve?
We surmised that we had three possible paths …
We could tell the truth …
The Dirrians had come to the island and killed the Mairne. In retaliation, the Mairne had killed the Dirrians. It could so easily be the beginning of a war, a war started by misunderstandings. So many wars were started that way. But those events took place a long time ago. It was entirely possible that peaceful relations could be established between the Mairne and the Dirrians, but was this world big enough for an emperor and a king? The Dirrians were rather precocious and Traeth was doubtful that the High Emperor would recognise the authority of the King on this tiny island.
We could tell a lie …
But which lie to tell?
If we said that there was nothing here, Honka would be most dissatisfied. Traeth had told us long before we came here that if we found nothing, we would have to make up a story. We would certainly have to report something even if it was something particularly mundane. But how would we explain the disappearance of the Dirrian adventurers? Could we get away with saying that there was simply no trace of them? Could we make the place sound dull enough to discourage Honka from organising a second expedition?
To ensure that we did discourage him, we could make up tales of monsters that terrorised us, and that we only just got away with our lives. But would that really put him off? The Dirrians may have an inbred fear of water but were they starting to get over it? Traeth had certainly braved the waves as had nearly two dozen before him. Was it only a matter of time before Dirrians conquered their fear of water completely and ventured to the island again?
We could disappear without a trace …
We could all beam back up to the Earhart and ride off into the sunset, never to be heard of by the Dirrians again. Traeth was the only problem there, but he was deeply unhappy on Dirria and I sensed that he would readily come with us and resettle on Earth or some other Federation planet. But with Dirrian relations continuing to improve with the Federation, it would be only a matter of time before they learned the truth. The whole Federation would lie for us.
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