The Uncomfortable Business of Law

Posted on 03 Sep 2014 @ 11:04am by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D.

1,815 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck One - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD09, 1000 hrs

ON


Paul rang the chime to the Captain's ready room. The Galileo's new Diplomatic Officer had joined right before the previous mission and hadn't yet had the opportunity to speak to him in a more familiar capacity.

John had finally gotten back into his regular uniform - the whole debacle with the Cardassians had left a bitter taste in his mouth that no quantity of raktajino had been enough to wash away. He had already been required to file a report with Starfleet for the resulting flashback that would likely come once Verrok made his own report back to the Central Command. Rubbing his temples in a futile attempt to make sense of everything, he finally snapped back to reality when the noise of his door chime broke the otherwise silent atmosphere.

"Come." He replied, not overly concerned with who exactly was bothering him and instead ordering what felt like his tenth raktajino of the day and settling into his desk chair.

Paul walked into the room tentatively. "Sir, If I could trouble you for a few moments, I've taken the liberty of asking Commander Blake to join us. I thought about asking the Commodore as well but... I figured I'd just stick to the letter of the law for now."

"I don't appreciate officers coming into my Ready Room with oblique and ambiguous statements Mr Alasia - I feel some elaboration might be in order?" John replied, he hadn't been able to spend that much time with their diplomatic attach since he had boarded the Galileo and as a result was more than a little concerned at his tone of voice.

"Yes, sir. I have to... the manual says to speak to the CO and the XO at the same time, and right now, I need to be able to lean on the manual."

The manual were possibly two of Holliday's most hated words when used in a sentence together. It was usually being spouted by an Admiral that disapproved of his actions or his style of command, or perhaps by someone trying to get away with something that John himself would have seen as unacceptable, regardless of what Starfleet's hallowed regulations might have said.

"You aren't making me any more comfortable here Lieutenant."

The doors parted to allow Scarlet into the room. The First Officer came to a halt, looking between Holliday and their diplomat. "A problem?" she asked, glancing between them.

"Yes, ma'am there's a problem. If I may..." Paul gestured delicately for his new XO to stand with the Captain. "As you know there was a... I really don't know how else to say this - the Master Chief went way, way over the line with the Cardassian attache."

He continued haltingly "I can't even begin to tell you how uncomfortable this makes me but I have looked, and I have looked and there's really no way around it. Because of the nature of the mission, the cooperative nature of the mine on Lyshan, the sensitive relationship between the Federation and the Union... I have no choice but to file an official censure against Master Chief Quinn with Starfleet diplomatic. If I don't I'm in pretty much complete dereliction of Diplomatic Corps guidelines."

Paul walked over to his new CO and handed him a PADD.

"I tried to be as gentle as possible with the language but I can't paper over any salient details should this result in an investigation. That matters because they could interview every officer present and might even interview the Aldara's crew. If after those interviews they feel I'm being evasive or leaving out salient information they could audit the ship. That could mean permanent on-board civilian oversight. It could also mean a permanent re-chartering of the ships mission which disallows us from participating in diplomatic contact in the future."

John scoffed at the thought of having civillians running around his ship looking in every nook and cranny. Starfleet might not have been a primarily military organisation, but nevertheless the Galileowas still a military asset to the Federation and as such had no requirement to come under any sort of civilian authority, let alone a group of diplomats trying to tell him how to run his ship.

"If Starfleet think they can just assign a group of bean counters to my ship they have another thing coming."

Scarlet moved to take a comfortable seat at that point, realising it could take a little while. She glanced to Holliday, her fingertip tapping softly against the surface of the desk. "What is it that you hope to achieve by this?"

"Honestly, sir? I hope to achieve as little as possible. I hope the Master Chief gets a slap on the wrist or less while the collective behind of this ship is covered."

"Sir," Paul turned to Scarlet, "Ma'am... like I said, I do not relish taking this action against the Master Chief. I've had an opportunity to read up on his personnel file and he just... I could only hope to aspire to his service record. I simply don't see a way around this and frankly, I don't really know what this would mean for his career.

"Markum Quinn is one of the finest men I have ever served with - he pretty much rebuilt this ship after it's first time out of spacedock, and saved our asses on at least half a dozen occasions. The man lost an arm to keep us alive for god's sake!"

John bellowed. He had become slowly more protective of his crew, and as someone he had served with since day one on the Galileo, Quinn had earned a special level of respect from his Captain, and indeed the Commodore.

"Yes his conduct was improper, but I'll be damned if they try to bounce him out of the Fleet for one single event."

Scarlet looked to Holliday, understanding the anger as she held her breath for a moment. Many saw him as a bit of 'hardarse', for lack of a more polite term, but his loyalty to his crew was immense. When she looked back to Paul, she spoke softly. "The conduct of officers onboard a ship is a matter for the Captain and First Officer. It's our job to implement any discipline we feel is necessary. We have dealt with it...it's done."

"If you consider it done, have either of you contacted the Diplomatic Office on Earth or the Inspector General's office?"

Jonathan scoffed at the very idea of filing a report This far away from Federation space, it was the duty of every Captain and senior officer to keep their crew in line. Just as Blake had said - it wasn't the job of some pencil pushers on Earth to tell them how to deal with their errant crewmen.

"There are Starfleet regulations in place to deal with this - like the Commander says, we will look after our own. If the Cardassians want to lodge a formal complaint with Command then the brass can try to air their boot firmly up my backside."

"Starfleet regulations - Sir, this is not Civilian law, this is the military code of justice - Starfleet regulations state that the diplomatic office must be informed directly of any event which results in the violation of the Prime Directive or that could materially influence diplomatic relations with another power." Paul sighed. "My interest level in playing hall monitor - especially on my first mission - is non-existent. But this is black letter law. How do we not tell diplomatic?"

"Simple." John acknowledged, the tactical officer training in him searching for the obvious solution to the problem.

"We don't file the report. We don't mention this happened, and we treat the Cardassians like royalty so they don't feel the need to go sending off errant subspace communications to Headquarters."

Scarlet nodded, frowning as she took a heavy breath, looking to Holliday. "The Gul and his crew have never claimed any kind of diplomatic interest in our interaction. As far as they're concerned, they're a military ship, so are we, and they had a crisis in the mine to worry about. The Gul accepted apologies that were given. He showed no signs that he was holding a grudge. On the contrary, he sat and ate the rest of the meal with us. I would hardly call that a diplomatic incident," she shook her head, meeting Paul's eyes. "Honestly? I suspect it was very much water off a duck's back to the Gul. He is a...self-assured and strong individual. He brushed it off and left peacefully. I don't think we need to worry."

Paul shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "This is..." Paul stopped his own thought cold. Glancing at his new command team, he recited a promise to himself he made when he started OCS. This was a different world, he had been warned. Paul had tried to make peace with the idea that there were times when he would have to trust others above his own judgment.

"Yes, ma'am" Paul acquiesced. "I'll stick it in a drawer. I'll..." He hesitated a moment trying to find the words to end things properly. Paul had never felt like he belonged to this world less. "That's that, then." Paul became suddenly aware of his posture and sat up. "Captain, Commander - I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

"It's your job Lieutenant - no apology necessary. If you hadn't darkened my doorway then I probably would have been sending Commander Blake here to see you as part of a dereliction of duty investigation. Carry on."

John replied to the relatively green Lieutenant. He had respect for the man - it took a lot of guts to summon a Captain and Commander to a room and proceed to tell them why they were wrong with their course of action. Holliday himself had trouble thinking if he would have been up to the task in his own days as a Lieutenant.

Paul stood and walked over to Holiday, returning his diplomatic officer's PADD. Paul walked to the door before turning back. He nodded to his XO and Captain in turn and exited.

On the turbolift moments later Paul wiped the sweat from under his collar. "Computer, pause transit."

Paul swiped his finger absently up and down the report still open on his PADD before tossing it haphazardly to the floor in an ineffectual burst of frustration. His hands ran through his hair before perching on his hips. "Shit." Paul whispered out loud to himself shaking his head. "Computer, resume." With that Paul picked up his work.

OFF

LT JG Wakeham Paul Alasia
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

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