Twelve hours ago, Tanya had been standing on Eden-Five's orbital station watching her rescue ship's maiden voyage, surrounded by a team that believed they were building the future of emergency response. Now she sat alone in her workshop aboard a two-hundred-year-old warship, hiding in vortex space while her crew argued about what to do next.
The numbers kept swimming in front of her eyes. Ninety thousand confirmed military casualties. Fleet after fleet reduced to debris and radiation because Lady Flowers had used dimensional navigation principles that Tanya had freely demonstrated at a trade show. Tanya could rationalise that it was stolen from her, but she also knew she would have sold it to her in a heartbeat if she asked.
"I keep trying to make sense of the timeline," she said aloud, her voice echoing strangely in the workshop's dimensional space. "This morning, I was worried about integration protocols and system redundancy. Now I'm processing casualty reports from a battle I helped cause."
//All technology can have application to military operations,// Sage replied, their voice carrying careful neutrality. //That is not a sufficient reason to cease innovation entirely. Lady Flowers manipulated the situation to extract the outcome she desired. The responsibility for how the beacons were used rests with her, not you.//
"Does it?" Tanya gestured at the holographic display showing fleet dispositions and battle damage assessments. "I wanted recognition for my clever engineering. I demonstrated dimensional navigation capabilities to anyone who would watch. I might as well have handed her a weapon and asked her to point it at someone."
//Technology is neither inherently moral nor immoral,// Sage continued. //It exists as potential, waiting for conscious choice to determine its application. The same principles that enable their use as military assets can also be used to improve resource distribution, enhance communication networks and allow normal people to see the wonders of space.//
"But I knew the military applications were obvious," Tanya said, pulling up technical specifications from her beacon demonstrations. "Real-time dimensional positioning, instantaneous navigation updates, fleet coordination capabilities. Any tactical analyst would immediately see the warfare potential."
//And yet you proceeded with development because the humanitarian benefits outweighed the risks. Medical ships reaching disaster zones faster. Rescue operations with precise coordinates. Commercial vessels avoiding hazardous regions through improved navigation data.//
Tanya stared at the casualty reports, then at her own technical documentation. "The question isn't whether good applications exist. It's whether I had the right to make that choice for everyone else. When I did that panel, I demonstrated the technology publicly, I essentially decided for all of humanity that the benefits justified the risks."
//The alternative is technological stagnation. If every innovation were suppressed because of potential misuse, human civilisation would have ceased advancing millennia ago. Fire enables both cooking and arson. Metallurgy creates both tools and weapons. Propulsion technology powers both exploration vessels and warships.//
"That's the standard argument, yes." Tanya's voice carried a note of frustration. "But it assumes that all technological development is equally inevitable. My beacon system wasn't some gradual evolution of existing science. It was a revolutionary breakthrough that I chose to share openly."
//As the lessons you have seen showed, dimensional navigation is a common development for most space-faring races. It was inevitable//
"I believed a lot of naive things." She pulled up records of her trade show presentation, watching herself enthusiastically explain dimensional navigation principles to anyone willing to listen. "I thought that if I made the technology widely available, no single faction could monopolise it for military purposes. Classic academic thinking."
//The principle remains sound. Had you kept the technology secret, it would likely have been developed independently by military research programs with far fewer ethical constraints.//
"Would it, though?" Tanya manipulated the display to show timeline projections. "The breakthrough required specific insights about dimensional science that might have taken decades to achieve through conventional research. By publishing openly, I compressed that timeline from years to months."
//And ensured that the knowledge of the possibilities spread to civilian researchers, humanitarian organisations, and commercial entities rather than remaining confined to the military.//
"Except that's not what happened, is it?" She gestured at the battle reports. "The first major application was exactly the one I was trying to prevent. Lady Flowers used my beacon principles to coordinate fleet movements so precisely that she achieved tactical superiority despite being outnumbered."
//Because she possessed resources and organisation that civilian researchers lacked. The same would have been true regardless of how the technology was initially disseminated. I recommend going public and releasing the full science behind it to the public.//
Tanya leaned back in her chair, staring at the workshop ceiling. "There's another layer to this, though. I didn't just file patents. I actively demonstrated the technology, sought public recognition, courted attention from potential investors and government officials. My ego was part of the equation."
//Recognition serves important functions in technological development. It attracts funding, enables collaboration, and validates research directions. Personal satisfaction is not inherently corrupting.//
"But it creates biases. I wanted people to understand how brilliant the beacon system was, so I emphasised its capabilities while downplaying risks. I presented it as a pure benefit with minimal downsides because that narrative served my professional interests."
//Every researcher faces similar incentives. The publication process itself rewards novel findings and practical applications over risk assessment and ethical analysis.//
"Which brings us back to the fundamental question," Tanya said quietly. "Should individual researchers have the power to make choices that affect global security? When I decided to develop and publish beacon technology, I wasn't just advancing science. I was reshaping the strategic balance between major powers. Was the first prince right to put a hold on my technology?"
//The alternative would be centralising technological development under government control. History suggests that such arrangements typically accelerate military applications while suppressing civilian benefits.//
"Maybe. Or maybe we need entirely new frameworks for managing breakthrough technologies. International oversight, mandatory risk assessment, required waiting periods between discovery and publication." She paused. "Though I suspect that would just drive research underground."
//Such restrictions would certainly disadvantage researchers in democratic societies while benefiting those operating under authoritarian regimes with fewer ethical constraints.//
Tanya pulled up the casualty list again, scanning names and service records. "Ninety thousand people. Real individuals with families and dreams and futures that ended because I wanted professional recognition for my clever engineering breakthrough."
//Those people volunteered for military service understanding the risks involved. Their deaths are tragic, but they cannot be reduced to simple causation chains. Lady Flowers chose to use beacon technology for military purposes. Fleet commanders chose to engage rather than withdraw. Political leaders chose confrontation over negotiation.//
"All of which was made possible by my choice to develop and publish dimensional navigation principles," Tanya replied. "You can distribute responsibility across multiple actors, but that doesn't eliminate my role in creating the conditions that made this battle possible."
//By that logic, you also bear responsibility for every life that beacon technology will save through improved emergency response, enhanced navigation safety, and more efficient resource distribution. The moral calculus cannot consider only negative outcomes.//
Tanya nodded slowly. "You're right about that. But the time asymmetry bothers me. The deaths happened immediately and dramatically. The lives saved will accrue gradually and invisibly over years or decades. It doesn't stop me feeling guilty."
//Self-flagellation serves no constructive purpose. You cannot resurrect the dead through guilt.//
"No, but I can balance the ledger." Tanya's voice grew stronger, more certain. "For every life lost because of my technology, I need to save one. It's that simple."
//Life cannot be reduced to mathematical equivalency. The complexity of causation—//
"I don't care about complexity right now, Sage. I care about something I can understand, something I can act on." She gestured at the numbers on her display. "Ninety thousand lives in debt. However long it takes, whatever I have to build, I'm going to save ninety thousand people."
//This is an arbitrary moral framework with no philosophical foundation. It is illogical//
"It's my moral framework. Maybe it's arbitrary, but it's something I can live with." Tanya stood up, pacing the small workshop. "Every brilliant innovation I create from now on comes with a price tag. Every life my technology costs, I have to earn back by saving someone else."
//Such a system would paralyse your development. The fear of accumulating moral debt would prevent beneficial innovation.//
"Good. Maybe I need to be more afraid. Maybe the world needs researchers who lose sleep over the potential consequences of their work." She looked at Mera, whose bioluminescent patterns had shifted to deeper blues. "I'm not saying everyone should follow this system. But I need rules I can follow, boundaries I can understand."
//And if your rescue operations themselves result in unintended casualties? If saving one group endangers another?//
"Then I keep counting. Keep trying to balance the books." Tanya's voice was quiet but firm. "It's not about perfection, Sage. It's about accountability. About making sure that every time I create something that could be used to hurt people, I'm equally committed to helping them."
In her corner of the workshop, Mera pulsed with subdued patterns of blue and silver, responding to the emotional undercurrents with what Tanya had come to recognise as concern. The alien organism had been unusually still since Tanya and Sage had been arguing, her bioluminescence muted and uncertain.
"Even you can feel it, can't you?" Tanya said, watching Mera's gentle movements. "The magnitude of what happened."
Tanya knew that wasn't the only problem she was facing, she could feel her emotions being pulled in every direction. She wasn't being herself, she knew that. But it didn't help her to control her feelings.
"I'm worried about my family," she continued, switching topics when the casualty lists became too much to process. "Eden-Five is a small place. Hard to hide, but I can't see the community helping the government find them. Still, if Imperial Intelligence starts asking questions..."
//Red and Amara's extraction protocols appear comprehensive. Your family's safety was prioritised in all contingency planning.//
"That's what they tell me. But I'll probably never know for sure, will I? Can't exactly send a message asking if the fake deaths and identity changes worked out." She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Yesterday, I was planning to visit them after the rescue ship's test flight. Now they think I'm in trouble, and I have to hope strangers can keep them safe."
She pulled up another file from Davidson's intelligence package, reading through tactical assessments and strategic analyses. "I keep thinking about Davidson, too. Amara hasn't said anything, but sending us that warning probably cost him everything. Maybe his life. I don't know if she would tell me if it did."
The data packet contained far more than just casualty reports. Fleet movements, resource allocations, intelligence estimates about Holy Order capabilities and intentions. Davidson had risked everything to make sure they understood the full scope of what was happening.
"Look at these numbers, Sage. The Holy Order reclaimed one planet—their ancient homeworld—and it took combined fleets from three major powers to even attempt a response. How is that possible?"
//The Battle of Utopia demonstrates that the Holy Order possesses military capabilities significantly exceeding current Imperial projections,// Sage replied. //However, context is important. They were defending a single world with extensive prepared fortifications and technological advantages. Projecting that force across multiple systems would present different challenges.//
"So this was what, a demonstration? A warning?"
//A show of force designed to establish negotiating position. The Holy Order has reclaimed their homeworld, but they face the combined might of five interstellar empires. They cannot sustain offensive operations against such opposition indefinitely.//
Tanya studied the tactical analyses, trying to understand the larger strategic picture. "So Lady Flowers used my technology to buy time. Win one decisive victory to prove they're not helpless, then negotiate from a position of strength."
//That would be consistent with the available evidence. However, the cost in lives and material suggests desperation rather than a confident strategy.//
"Some show of force," Tanya muttered, returning to the casualty reports. She had made a decision. Tanya knew this was a moment that would shape her future.
"I'm serious about this. The Genesis, now the Battle of Utopia. Every life lost because of my work, I need to save one to balance the books. I need to build ships that protect people, that prevent conflicts instead of enabling them."
She stood up, pacing the small workshop as ideas began to coalesce. "I need a peacekeeping fleet. Ships designed to interpose themselves between hostile forces, to protect civilians during evacuations, to enforce ceasefires and humanitarian corridors."
//I will not assist in the construction of military vessels,// Sage said, their voice carrying absolute finality. //My people's principles prohibit the creation of weapons of war.//
"Not weapons," Tanya said quickly. "Defensive systems. Ships built to protect and separate, not to attack. Think of them as large-scale rescue vessels with the capability to enforce safe zones."
//Explain.//
Tanya moved to the design interface, her hands already sketching preliminary concepts. "Ships with minimal offensive capability but maximum defensive systems. Heavy shielding, advanced point defence, overwhelming electronic warfare suites designed to disable rather than destroy. They would position themselves between hostile fleets and force everyone to negotiate instead of shooting."
//Such an organisation would face immediate political complications. Every government would view neutral parties with suspicion.//
"Exactly. Which means they'd need to be completely self-sufficient. No political entanglements, no favouritism, no taking sides." She pulled up star charts showing current conflict zones. "Look at what's happening out there. Everyone's gearing up for the next battle, and it's going to be worse than Utopia. Someone needs to be ready to help the people who get caught in the crossfire."
//The practical challenges would be enormous. Neutral rescue vessels would need defensive capabilities exceeding most military ships. You cannot trust belligerents to respect humanitarian protocols.//
"That's the key insight right there," Tanya said, warming to the concept. "These ships would need to be nearly unbreakable. Defensive systems so overwhelming that shooting at them would be pointless. And some form of non-lethal offensive capability to enforce safe zones around rescue operations."
//Non-lethal weapons systems present their own challenges. Disabling enemy vessels without destroying them requires precise application of force.//
"Electronic warfare, targeted system disruption, maybe some kind of stasis field technology." She was sketching rapidly now, ideas flowing faster than she could capture them. "The point isn't to destroy enemy ships, it's to make them stop shooting long enough for evacuations and medical aid."
//The resource requirements for such vessels would be substantial. How would you fund construction and operations without government backing?//
Tanya paused, considering the economic realities. "Salvage rights. Every battle produces wreckage, and someone has to clean it up. A neutral organisation could claim salvage as payment for rescue services. It would cause political problems, but that's the price of true independence."
//Salvage operations in contested space would create additional diplomatic complications.//
"Being neutral means making everyone equally unhappy," Tanya replied. "But it also means being the only organization that everyone trusts to help their people when things go wrong."
She stared at the blank design template, envisioning ships that could position themselves between hostile fleets and force everyone to think twice about opening fire. Vessels designed to save lives rather than take them, to create space for negotiation instead of escalating conflicts.