E7. mmm.. At least this one is more complex, but not a great resolution.
Is this the first godzilla style bio-weapon plot used in trek? It's a decent episode. Morally though, if they already knew they were helping move a bio-weapon, how can the federation make the assumption that it'd be non-sentient to begin with , and then suddenly experience moral outrage, that oh hey, you shouldn't use such a thing in war.
I mean, it's strange that they'd OK the mission, because our concept of sentience only requires a critical mass in brain cells, it's not super special.
Galactic lvl kind of sentience would be even less rare, as it only requires the Rules of physics, nodes, and frame of reference. Something that existence is chupfullof.
I mean, would it be OK to have a giant bio-weapon if it was "Less" sentient?
We train horses, and dogs for war. If people don't give a darn about that.