Taking Her Turn or The Beginning of the End

Posted on 20 Jul 2017 @ 9:17pm by Captain Amber Austin M.D. & Commander Marisa Wyatt

2,619 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Marissa Sandoval's Quarters
Timeline: MD 5, 1300

ON

Marisa dressed in a fresh uniform and walked to her appointment with Captain Amber Austin. On the one hand, she was eager to get this over with so she could move on. On the other, she was reticent for her time with the crew of the Galileo to end. How did that work of fiction begin? Oh, yes, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

She paused in front of the door, took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders. Then she rang the chime.

Amber was sitting behind the desk going over the PADD of apointments. She had been busy as all get out working on the various interviews of the Galileo crew. She looked up as soon as she heard the chime and said simply.

"Come."

Marisa walked into the room and stood in front of the Captain. "Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval, ma'am, reporting for her interview."

Amber nodded and picked up her drink and PADD "Well let's head to the interview room shall we?" She came out from behind her desk and moved towards the door nodding for Marisa to join her.

With a nod, Marisa did. She really had nothing to say at this point, and figured small talk would not be appreciated, so she simply followed.

Amber walked down the corridor to the nearest interview room and stopped at the door waving a hand for the Lieutenant to enter. After she had entered Amber came in behind her.

She placed her PADD and drink down on the table between them and nodded for Marisa to sit. After she had done so she looked at the Lieutenant and begain to speak.

"Hello, Lieutenant I am Captain Amber Austin of Star Fleet Personnel Command. I will be handling your debrief after the Galileo incident. This is all regular and routine we're just here to figure out what happened." she finished she sat down and pulled the stylus out to begin her notes.

"Now, lets begin at the beginning shall we?"

"All right." Marisa nodded. "I was assigned as Chief Counselor aboard the USS Cartagena. The ship was attacked near the Paulson Nebula and damaged enough that we sought refuge in the nebula itself. To that end, two shuttles were sent out first to find safe passage." Her voice was soft as she recalled the events. "The ship was destroyed trying to follow us."

She paused for a long moment. "I don't know what happened to the other shuttle. We lost contact in the nebula. Our shuttle made it to Kreanus Colony. We landed just outside a group of low buildings on the surface of the planet. Four of us went in search of help. Everyone we met turned their backs or told us to go away. One mentioned a large ship. The buildings were falling apart, the people emaciated, their eyes hollow." She shook her head. "We went back to the shuttle to talk it over and decide what to do." Her voice broke. SHe closed her eyes to focus, to detach herself emotionally to continue her story. "The other two had been empaled. The shuttle stripped. So we we hid. We found a room with two crumbling walls. It was horrible, but we were alive and out of the way. We'd go to the ship and get food, when we could. That's where we found the crew of the Galileo. We--Petra and I--went to one of their meetings and asked to go with them."

Amber nodded as she took notes, her stylus dancing across the PADD. She looked up occationally as she took her notes and nodded here and there. She remained quite giving the woman time to collect her thoughts and continue the story.

"The second meeting, we were told they were leaving Kreanus, and we agreed to go with them. When we got back to our room, Pete and Tilly were dead. We think it was the Klingons. She'd been raped and strangled with her entrails. He'd been dissected." Again she paused. "We spent the next few days wherever we could, until it was time to board the Klingon ship."

"What were your initial impressions of the Galileo crew?" Amber asked.

Marisa smiled softly. "My first real impression was of Commander Ban. he was in front of the large room, organizing everyone. Commander Warraquim was with him. He was calm and professional and I felt like he knew what he was doing. The COB came up and talked to us. He was very nice." She paused again. "He was killed on the Duja'Q during the attempted mutiny."

Amber blinked and nodded "I see, and how to your recollection, was the escape effected?"

"Arrangements were made with a Romulan Captain, from what I understand," Marisa said. "As I only attended two meetings with the crew before we left, so I don't know much about that."

"How did you get off Kreanus, what caused the exodus?"

"We boarded a Klingon ship. We were to take it to Qo'Nos. The end goal was to help the Kreanans get out from under the thimb of the Klingon commander and to protect Federations ships that passed through the area."

"I see and what happened to the negotiations?"

"We never got that far. There was a mutiny because it was really a trap. Then we were rescued by a Klingon and Romulan ship. I don't know the details because I was helping out in sickbay. I was part of the sickbay team that fought off the mutineers, until another Klingon group saved us. Then I helped the injured in the corridor, then I helped transport the wounded to the Romulan ship." She shrugged. "I was on the bridge when we had to convince a Vulcan commander that we were really who we said we were. And I spent time talking to the crew and helping them deal with everything."

Amber watched the woman before her and raised an eyebrow slightly. Her many years doing these interviews had trained her to see underneath a person in a way. She knew there was something else but couldn't put her finger on it yet, with this woman.

"When you were rescued, what happened?"

"Which time? From Kreanus or from the Klingon ship?" Marisa asked. "Both times, I helped out in sickbay and talked to crew members who needed counseling."

Amber nodded "Both but go in chronological order. Do you remember anything having to do with the command staff?"

"On Kreanus I attended two meetings. Commander Ban did a good job of instilling confidence and keeping the crew together. I don't know much of what went on outside those meetings. On the Klingon ship I spoke with Admiral Saalm--then General Saalm. At the time I thought she was doing the best she could to keep her crew alive and together." Marisa shrugged. "I still do. Although now I know that she was manipulated and lied to, as much as she manipulated and lied to her crew. Was she right? I don't know. Her intentions were good, but it's not my job to determine if she made the best choice. She'll have to live with her decision. Sometimes I think living with the consequences of your actions is the most fitting punishment."

Amber nodded "Indeed, and what actions during the incident will you have the most trouble living with?"

The expression in Marisa's eyes grew cold. "Not being there to kill the bastards before they raped Tilly and strangled her with her own entrails. They forced Pete to watch and then tore off his limbs. Barbarians. I couldn't even bury them for fear of being arrested for the crime. Petra and I had to walk away and leave them where they were."

Amber nodded and tilted her head, she was beginning to see what was annoying her about the woman before her. She let her glasses slip down her nose and she looked over them as she spoke.

"And you think you should have killed them?"

"If I'd been there when they came to attack my friends, I would have been able to defend them," Marisa said. "And if that meant killing the assailants before they could kill my friends, then I would. I do not kill in cold blood, but I do believe in defending my life or the life of another. Equal force is warranted under the law. Excessive force is not."

"True but who is to say that you wouldn't be dead as well should you have attempted to halt the attack?" Amber asked softly as her stylus paused it's movement and she looked at the woman across from her.

Marisa ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know," she admitted. "Have you ever been in a similar situation? Maybe not a life or death one, but one where you were somewhere and left for whatever reason. When you returned, something bad happened and you wonder if you could have changed the outcome--should have changed the outcome--if you'd stayed? I've asked myself that question a hundred times. Could I have made a difference? Could one more person have changed the outcome? Or even two, as Petra would have been there, too. Four against I don't know, but the odds would have been a lot better. Pete and Tilly were in love. They would have tried to protect each other. Would they have complied, hoping that it would mean they would live? Maybe they thought it would just be rape and they could get through it together. Or did something go wrong? I don't know. I'll never know. There were too many instances of barbarism on Kreanus. Most didn't lead to murder, but they were barbaric nonetheless." Talking about it brought back the anger, despair, and agony she'd held back for so long. Once again she fought for control, using her Vulcan training to push the emotions back.

Amber dropped her stylus and her head shot up, her eyes locked onto the woman across from her and she KNEW what she had sensed. The reason that Amber had left the medical serve and transfeed to personnel had been similar, not the same but similar. After a few moments she spoke, her voice forcefully calm not to much unlike a string tightened almost to the breaking point. The woman before her was her 10 years ago.

"Lieutenant, have you spoken to anyone about this?"

"No," Marisa said bluntly. "Many on the crew of the Galileo had been through worse. My duty was to help them deal with their trauma, not to burden them with my own. There will be tine, later, for me to process what happened."

Amber nodded and made a note to suggest that the Councilor be looked at further and possibly reassigned due to trauma. Amber remembered that she too had to have someone else do the same for her after her incident.

"Very well, what do you remember of the rescue?"

"Not much. I was in sickbay during the mutiny, helping with triage. When the second Klingon group showed up--the ones on our side--they shot the mutineers. Allyndra and I went to the bridge to see who needed help there. Luke was in the corridor, injured, so I stayed to treat him and Allyndra went onto the bridge. I don't know much of what happened when the other ships showed up. I heard scuttlebutt, but I've learned to take that with a grain of salt. I know there were two Klingon ships and the Romulan ship that took us to Federation territory. One of the Klingon ships had been trailing us, cloaked, and held the Klingon who organized the mutiny, the other was from Qo'Nos. I was on the bridge when we transferred to the Andorian ship, but that was later."

"So you have no knowledge of what happened on the bridge with the command staff that put the Galileo in a position to be lost?"

"Nothing that I would consider reliable. Second-hand information only. Hearsay. I'm not even part of the crew, officially. I know what happened after we left Kreanus, on the Duja'Q, and on the Chaka. But that's about it. Even then I spent most of my time near or in sickbay." Marisa smiled briefly. "I can only speak for the people I worked with, but I think they're pretty amazing for coming through this as well as they did."

"What do you know of the events after your escape from Kreanus?"

"I was in sickbay when the Klingons under Kora'H mutinied. We fought them off until another group of Klingons came in and took care of the rest of them. Then I went to the bridge with Allyndra. Luke Wyatt was unconscious in the corridor, so I stopped to take care of him and the doctor went onto the bridge. I don't know what happened there, except for what I heard from others. The Admiral was lied to and manipulated. From talking with her, I believe she did what she thought was best for the crew at the time--and for the people of Kreanus. I talked to a number of the crew on the Chaka in my role as counselor. I was only on the bridge for the meeting with the Captain of the Andorian ship. I was one of those who tried to assure the Captain that we really were the former Galilean crew. Or they were." She shrugged. "I was pretty much ignored. Apart from that, what I know is hearsay."

Amber nodded and pulled her glasses down on to the bridge of her nose as she looked up at the woman across from her.

"That seems to bring us to an end. Do you have any closing remarks?"

Marisa took a deep breath. "It is my professional opinion that Admiral Saalm and Commanders Ban and Warraquim did what they thought was best to save the lives of the Galileo crew and to help the people of Kreanus. In hindsight, it doesn't look very good, but at the time, they had two choices, take the offer or risk being trapped on Kreanus. Escape was not an option under the circumstances, and there was no hope of rescue. That needs to be taken into account. I know I said it before, but if there's only one thing I can say, that would be it." She appreciated Captain Austin's attitude towards the interview. Marisa felt that she would be fair, which was all that could be asked of Starfleet Command.

Amber nodded "So noted." she then smiled softly at the woman across from her before putting her stylus down.

"Before you go Lieutenant I want you to know that I'm going to be recommending to Command that they pull you from your current position and reevaluate the role you will play in the fleet." she hurried to continue "Only until such time as you finish working through the events that happened on Kreanus. I didnt want this to take you by surprise should they act on my recommendation."

Marisa froze for a moment, fighting the tears that threatened to fall. She shouldn't be surprised. This woman saw far more than most. "I understand. Thank you for letting me know, Captain." Arguing would do no good. Deep down, she knew the Captain was right, but she still couldn't help feeling that her only chance to work with the Galileo crew was now shot. She gave the other woman a genuine smile, although it was brief. "Good luck with the investigations."

With a brief Vulcan bow, she took her leave.

____
OFF

Amber Austin, M.D.
Captain
Starfleet Personnel Command
Starfleet HQ

&

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
USS Galileo

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