Hadand has always been good at equations of cold practicality. She was willing to marry her brother's murderer because she had no proof and held her kingdom and her duty as more important than herself.
"I don't think there are many people on board who wouldn't sacrifice themselves for the sake of the rest of the crew. But it isn't fair to anyone to make that choice too soon."
Sky is far more grounded in logic than any other child Hadand has known, and she thinks helplessly that perhaps she's making a mess of this and Tuvok would handle it better. But no. Sky should learn to understand emotion as well as logic, and to make choices based on both. She forges ahead. "I think that it's possible to get too caught up in probabilities, and to underestimate your own importance to the people around you. Yes, sacrificing someone is sometimes absolutely unavoidable. But don't give up until all avenues of creative thinking have been exhausted. It's likely that we won't always agree on what odds are worth facint. That happens."
"How does time change the probabilities of success?" Sky is the most expressive compassionless construct in the cosmos. She can't see how being more attached changes the cold hard practicals of the situation.
The mistake is looking at Sky and seeing a child, she acts like one, is innocent like one. But she never grew up, never evolved that way, "What other way is there to decide on actions? If I cannot rely on statistical analysis, and have to be 'creative.'" Sky's not sure on the meaning of the word. She knows what create means, but she doesn't understand the concept of creativity separate from that.
Evred, fortunately, gave Hadand some preparation. He was extremely precocious. Hadand taught him to read at two and then had to spend her nights up late reading to keep up with all of his questions. And her own life gave plenty of preparation for the idea of sacrifice.
"Time gives us the chance to think of other ways out of the situation. Sometimes not all of the options are immediately apparent, or another may present itself. I'm a Marlovan, and we grow up believing in duty and sacrifice. That doesn't mean I want to see anyone taking drastic and irreversible measures until it's been proven absolutely necessary."
"They aren't?" Sky was very clever, so the idea that there were more ideas, cleverer ideas, out of her reach was very interesting. She supposed that if the problem were complicated enough it would take her more time to do all the calculations too. There were a lot of factors. Huh.
You learn something new.
"So it is okay to postpone choice provided your reasoning is to allow the most options to be found? But what if the situation is more immediate. Like..." she quickly searched a handful of personal logs she could access from a data storage pack inside the barriers separating Sky from the rest of the ship. "Harry Kim is about to take the last slice of pizza and you wanted it for yourself?"
Sky surprises a laugh out of Hadand with that example. It's far from life or death, but assuming it was... "If it would threaten lives for Harry to eat the last slice of pizza, I would stop him by any means. Words, weapons, other non-lethal measures. Otherwise, I would ask for half, or set aside my own wants."
She's always been good at that. Setting aside what she wants for the good of people she cares about. Hadand has been doing less of it, here on Voyager than she did at home, but it's still a bone-deep part of her.
"So I can use a low powered phaser blast?" She wants to be sure, because that would prevent Harry Kim from having the last slice of pizza. It is a practical and direct way to prevent him from having it. The fact that the question is completely earnest would be a problem, to anyone that forgets Sky is a weapon and not actually a normal little girl.
"Or I could just threaten him with the phaser. That is less wasted energy."
Hadand never forgets when she's dealing with a weapon, regardless of what sort. She just sets that fact aside with Sky whenever it's irrelevant. Now, she chooses her words carefully. "If, as we assumed for the purpose of this example a moment ago, Harry eating the last slice of pizza would threaten lives, stunning or threatening him with a phaser would be reasonable. The circumstances in which pizza is life or death are so rare that I can't think of any right now, unless the pizza were poisoned, in which case I would not want it for myself any more than I would want Harry to eat it."
You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha
Sky pauses to consider the words, and then to delve into more personal logs. "Mr. Paris makes it sound like a slice of pizza is of immeasurable value." Sky stop reading Tom Paris's personal logs. They are a bad source of information and are seriously derailing this conversation.
"So... the goal is to allow for the most time to create the most possible plans. To find the plan that causes the least threat to all members of the crew. And not to eat poison pizza." Sky is a weapon of devastating power and she has trouble dividing the lessons of a conversation correctly. Admittedly most weapons don't talk about morality or pizza. So this is new ground for everyone.
Re: You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha
"Tom has somewhat skewed priorities when it comes to pizza," Hadand tells
Sky.
Her summary of the lessons discussed makes Hadand laugh, but it isn't far
off. She does sober enough to agree, "Yes. Willful self sacrifice is
sometimes necessary. I grew up knowing that. It's also
irreversible, and the attitude on the Voyager is that we ought to
avoid it until we're completely sure it's the only option open to us."
no subject
"I don't think there are many people on board who wouldn't sacrifice themselves for the sake of the rest of the crew. But it isn't fair to anyone to make that choice too soon."
Sky is far more grounded in logic than any other child Hadand has known, and she thinks helplessly that perhaps she's making a mess of this and Tuvok would handle it better. But no. Sky should learn to understand emotion as well as logic, and to make choices based on both. She forges ahead. "I think that it's possible to get too caught up in probabilities, and to underestimate your own importance to the people around you. Yes, sacrificing someone is sometimes absolutely unavoidable. But don't give up until all avenues of creative thinking have been exhausted. It's likely that we won't always agree on what odds are worth facint. That happens."
no subject
The mistake is looking at Sky and seeing a child, she acts like one, is innocent like one. But she never grew up, never evolved that way, "What other way is there to decide on actions? If I cannot rely on statistical analysis, and have to be 'creative.'" Sky's not sure on the meaning of the word. She knows what create means, but she doesn't understand the concept of creativity separate from that.
no subject
"Time gives us the chance to think of other ways out of the situation. Sometimes not all of the options are immediately apparent, or another may present itself. I'm a Marlovan, and we grow up believing in duty and sacrifice. That doesn't mean I want to see anyone taking drastic and irreversible measures until it's been proven absolutely necessary."
no subject
You learn something new.
"So it is okay to postpone choice provided your reasoning is to allow the most options to be found? But what if the situation is more immediate. Like..." she quickly searched a handful of personal logs she could access from a data storage pack inside the barriers separating Sky from the rest of the ship. "Harry Kim is about to take the last slice of pizza and you wanted it for yourself?"
no subject
She's always been good at that. Setting aside what she wants for the good of people she cares about. Hadand has been doing less of it, here on Voyager than she did at home, but it's still a bone-deep part of her.
no subject
"Or I could just threaten him with the phaser. That is less wasted energy."
no subject
You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha
"So... the goal is to allow for the most time to create the most possible plans. To find the plan that causes the least threat to all members of the crew. And not to eat poison pizza." Sky is a weapon of devastating power and she has trouble dividing the lessons of a conversation correctly. Admittedly most weapons don't talk about morality or pizza. So this is new ground for everyone.
Re: You thought you'd seen the last of me, but I was biding my time. Mwahahahaha
"Tom has somewhat skewed priorities when it comes to pizza," Hadand tells Sky.
Her summary of the lessons discussed makes Hadand laugh, but it isn't far off. She does sober enough to agree, "Yes. Willful self sacrifice is sometimes necessary. I grew up knowing that. It's also irreversible, and the attitude on the Voyager is that we ought to avoid it until we're completely sure it's the only option open to us."
She drops the subject of pizza, though.