If they had taken Meegat and her people, they couldn't have kept them on The Liberator. What options could they give them?
1) Resettlement on an uninhabited planet without the homes they know have or anything else familiar to them. Also with a bare minimum of medical or other supplies. This is not a good option.
2) Resettlement on an inhabited planet. Assuming they can get one to take the refugees (given the nature of the Federation, many neighboring planets might be extremely reluctant to take guests who don't come through very specific channels), this still means major upheaval and coping with a lot of things they may not feel like coping with. However, if it doesn't mean dumping them in a refugee camp with a considerably lower standard of living (and almost no chance of getting out, given the marketable skills and other things those wanting immigrants may be looking for), it seems a good option to me.
Would it seem so to them? It somehow seems that any sales pitch was likely doomed to failure. _They're_ comfortable. The problems they have are all ones they're accustomed too, that probably don't even register with them as problems because that's the way life is. What did Shakespeare say about not wanting to fly to troubles we know not of?
Ellynne ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.