The Battle of Betazed - Charlotte Douglas [81]
“We could imprison most of them in the prisons they built for us,” Enaren suggested. “Poetic justice.”
Sorana sighed. “So if we choose this method, we’re taking a huge chance.”
“The greatest stumbling block,” Deanna admitted, “is that we don’t know how much harm this invasive empathy will do to those who employ it.”
Picking up on Deanna’s hesitation, Enaren frowned. “What happened to the telepaths on the ship?”
Deanna asked Povron to explain.
“In our limited experiment,” the doctor said, “the telepaths became extremely weak. The distance between the participants and the Jem’Hadar was only a few feet, and there were only three soldiers. I anticipate the sustained planetwide effort necessary to overcome fifty thousand troops will exhaust many of our people to the point of death.”
There was a sharp intake of breath from Sorana, and several of the council exchanged long looks of horror.
Deanna had to tell them what she and Povron suspected. “Each telepath we lose will make it that much harder for the remaining ones to finish the task.”
Will spoke for the first time. “Whichever method of ridding your planet of Jem’Hadar you choose, the Tulwar, Scimitar, and the Enterprise will remain in orbit to help coordinate communications and distribute weapons and portable force field generators. However, since either method requires telepathic skills, your people will be the ones on the front lines.”
Sorana held up her hand. “We need more facts before we can make an informed decision. Would the original plan, teaching our people to kill with their minds, risk their lives?”
Lwaxana looked as if she wished to speak, but for once, her forceful mother held her tongue and motioned for her daughter to answer.
“Killing the way Tevren did,” Deanna said, “causes no physical harm to the telepath. However, one needs tremendous telepathic strength, much more than I have, to accomplish such a task.”
Deanna had inherited strong telepathic genes from her mother, but her father’s human genes had diluted her skills. She was thankful that if the council chose to use Tevren’s killing method, she would be unable to participate.
“If murdering others isn’t what killed Tevren, how did he die?” Sorana pressed.
“Tevren died from the removal of his psionic inhibitor,” Deanna explained. “He had become dependent on it.”
“Does the invasive empathy affect Cardassians?” Enaren asked.
Deanna answered his question with certainty. “Projecting intense emotions in this manner won’t harm other humanoids, not even Cardassians or Vorta. To overcome the few thousand Cardassian support troops, we’ll need to use conventional weapons.” She swept the council with her gaze. “Using invasive empathy to defeat the Jem’Hadar will cause the deaths of many Betazoids. But if we can succeed using this method, we won’t become the heirs of Tevren’s legacy.”
Lwaxana joined Deanna at the front of the room. “As I stated earlier, time is of the essence. Unless someone has more questions, it’s time for us to vote.”
Swayed by Lwaxana’s influence, the council, after heated debate, voted to attack the Jem’Hadar by invasive empathy. With the help of Commander Vaughn and the Enterprise senior staff, the planetwide assault was quickly planned. Deanna had requested and received permission to fight on the surface with the resistance movement.
On a path in the Loneel wilderness, she hefted her phaser rifle, hoping she’d never have to fire it. Relying on her rifle would mean their empathic efforts against the Jem’Hadar had failed. Her government-in-exile’s decision not to use Tevren’s killing techniques relieved her. That her people were willing to risk death to preserve their way of life filled Deanna with hope for Betazed’s future—if their plan succeeded.
After the council vote, Deanna, Lwaxana, and Povron had trained the three dozen telepaths rescued from the Cardassian freighter in the invasive empathy technique. The trained telepaths from that group were