The third person to stand was Fate. She, too, was dressed formally, in a black outfit Rein had made to resemble her Enforcer uniform. The single light pink ribbon in her hair probably clashed with the dark uniform, but Fate didn’t care; Nanoha couldn’t be here with her, so she had taken a reminder of the other girl with her for support.

Her face was a mask of calm as she approached the council, but just under it, her emotions were threatening to overwhelm her. Between hearing Lex’s full report, and the still lingering shock that this even had to be seriously discussed… well. This was definitely going to be a long meeting.

“Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I am Lieutenant Fate Testarossa Harlaown, and I thank you for giving me the chance to speak today.” She said, inclining slightly in a bow of respect. Her voice, like her expression, was calm, giving no hint to her inner turmoil.

“I’m not a scientist. I can’t comment at all on the state of that girl… but I do know that she’s not needed. Stacy can grow organs in a matter of hours, correct? If Mei-Xing was hurt on a mission, Stacy could easily grow whatever organ was needed during the time it takes to return to the ship. And if she was somehow critically injured on the ship, well… is there a way to preserve organs in the Med Bay?” Fate paused, taking a breath to keep herself calm as she continued.

“Say we do let her keep the clone. What happens when her organs run out? Say she injures a lung, and the clone doesn’t have either of hers…” Again, Fate had to pause. She was disgusted that she was even thinking about that. “If we can just grow a new lung for her, that defeats the purpose of her clone, and it would mean we wasted a life.

And just as important as that is the effect this will have on some of our crewmates.” Her mask was beginning to falter, and she frowned a little.

“There are several clones on board, myself included. “ She placed a hand on her chest. “If the other crew members find out about this incident, it’s probably going to hurt them badly. I can’t speak for all the clones on board, but I know several people who have struggled for years trying to prove that they’re people, and not copies. If they find out about this about this, how do you think this is going to affect them? To hear that someone is allowed to consider their clone property just because they created them… it’s going to bring up questions they’ve been trying not to ask themselves for a long time.” It was obvious now that Fate was speaking from personal experience, and her emotional mask was slipping a little more.

“Like the others, I trust all of you to make the right decision. But you must keep in mind that this decision shouldn’t be made merely based on scientific fact or a matter of ownership. You also need to keep in mind that you aren’t just deciding on one clone in this one instance. Whatever is said here is going to set a precedent for any cases like this in the future, and this could be very dangerous.” Fate finished. She wanted to say more, but she had to remind herself that Kon still needed to speak. This meeting was just as important to him as it was to her, so she trusted him to mention what she didn’t.

So, with another bow, and another “thank you”, she turned on her heel, returning to her seat.