Inquisition

Posted on Mon Feb 1st, 2021 @ 6:17am by Commodore Ledeya ‘Ed’ Ehestri (*)

Mission: Cosmos
Location: USS Cosmos
Timeline: 2396
1551 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Tom stood in the centre of the conference room. The committee had been called quite quickly and he’d been disheartened to see Oliver had been excluded from it.

‘Didn’t want anyone in my corner on the board.’ He thought to himself.

He couldn’t blame them either. Oliver had given permission for him to cross the border, and he’d come flying to the rescue when the proverbial shit hit the fan. Of course, he hadn’t been included in the Inquiry committee!

He stood to attention, tugging his tunic down as he awaited the head of the committee’s statement.

Ledeya appeared and looked at Tom. She hated that she had been called as head of the committee for this when some of her crew was missing. It was a no-win situation at all but punishment would need to be given out. “Good afternoon Captain. I am Commodore Ledeya Ehestri. You may be seated.” She waited for him to be seated before she carried on with her prepared words. It had been years since she had done something like this and it had last been a medical review. “We have many questions for you but I need to make you aware that your actions have undermined years of work from many people and that many people are disappointed in the work that they need to redo either relation with the Klingons.”

“Yes ma’am.” Tom nodded “However, if I may, at no point did we enter Klingon space. We were in contested territory previously held by the Romulans, and the Romulans were broadcasting a distress call. The Klingons ambushed us, and to call their tactics dishonourable would be an understatement. I know that means very little to these proceedings, but I’d hope it will keep the Klingons from retaliating.”

Ledeya could not help but admire his passion about it but it was beside the point and he knew that. He had better things to do as did she with missing crew members lost on a world that was barely explored with a fault weather control system that was throwing out storms and other weather patterns that made it impossible for her teams to work with. “You may not point out. We have the facts in front of us all, thank you, Captain.” Ledeya finally said before someone said it and the situation got out of hand.

"Yes ma'am." Tom nodded curtly, not letting his expression betray his frustration at being cut off.

He didn't begrudge the Commodore her response, of course. She was doing her job. However, it was difficult to not become annoyed when he had a valid point rendered moot in favour of official reports.

Ledeya appreciated that he instantly dropped it and did not argue any further. Maybe there was hope for him yet. “Does anyone else want to ask questions?” Ledeya wondered looking at the other people that were there for the panel.

"Yes. Captain Salor." The Vulcan man in a science division uniform identified himself before continuing "Captain, the official report says that you were granted permission to cross the border by Admiral Lancaster after explaining the situation. However, the sensor logs show that Imperator crossed the border a full hour before the Admiral contacted you with official authorisation. Indeed, you ordered the ship across the border before even contacting the Admiral with the request."

"With all due respect, Captain, if I had waited for things to go through proper channels, there was every possibility the ship in distress would have been lost." Tom replied, "Not only that, but Starfleet regulations clearly allow for Starship Commanding Officers to exercise their best judgement whilst awaiting orders in a crisis situation."

Ledeya sighed softly and leaned back in her chair looking at the man carefully as she allowed the others to ask questions. She surveyed the evidence and listened to what the Vulcan asked in his pre-planned questioning. They all knew there was a game afoot here, there had to be to know that everything would work out in the end and that his ship and crew would be okay. It was nothing official and she hated that Lancaster and Winter were playing like this is what was a no-win situation for anyone. There was nothing that could be changed but the Klingons were pissed as it was now contested space that was being kept contested to allow a buffer.

"The situation was not a crisis before you crossed the border." Salor noted, "Your actions are what created a crisis, and a diplomatic incident."

"No, the actions of a rogue Klingon Commander to bait me caused that incident." Tom replied "He said himself he has a personal grudge because years ago I disabled his brother's ship and wouldn't kill him, and his engineers then botched their repairs. Tell me, Captain. If someone was able to cripple a Romulan Warbird, then isn't that someone a clear and present danger? And if they are, then isn't the logical course of action to investigate that danger and, if, in the process, we happen to improve relations with Romulans, who historically have always been less amenable to relations with the Federation than the Klingons have, isn't that, logically, a positive outcome? Or are you of the mind that we should let the Romulans die in favour of our own interests?"

"Are you insinuating that as a Vulcan I am racially prejudiced against Romulans?" Salor questioned.

"No. You just did that." Tom replied, standing up "Commodore, Captain, ladies and gentlemen of the board, fifteen years ago we committed to help the Romulans. Then, ten years ago, when Synthetics attacked Mars, we reneged on that commitment. We turned our backs on what makes us Starfleet, and to do so again would be to compromise far further than we could ever come back from. That was my rationale behind my actions. That was why we crossed the border. That was why, four days ago, several dozen Romulans were reunited with their families. And if that costs me my Commission, then that is a small price to pay. I'm not going to stand here and defend what I did. I'm not going to stand here and tell you that I wouldn't do it again, because as Jean-Luc Picard once said, the first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, be that scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth, and my personal truth is that when I put on this uniform every morning, I am making a promise that no matter what happens, I cannot and will not let another travesty like what happened a decade ago to happen again if I can possibly do anything about it."

Ledeya watched the man speaking and just took a sip of her water in front of herself waiting for him to finish with his tarrant. “Have you finished Captain?” She finally asked, sounding bored with his words. He was not the first officer standing in front of her with such declarations and she was fully aware of herself.

“Yes ma’am.” He replied, taking his seat once more “I’ve said all I have to say to this board. Its outcome is now in your capable hands.”

“You have said more than enough than what you needed to, to this board Captain,” Ledeya commented glancing at the pair that were with her. The evidence was in front of her but it was her decision at the end of the day. She had the advice from Solar and the silent Andorian next to her. She leaned back in her chair looking at the man deeply. If she had been in the room or even had telepathy like the vast majority of her species she could be accused of scanning his thoughts.

After a long time, she sat up straighter. “I am not going to destroy your career Captain but I am going to make it very clear that this is your last chance. No more trouble. No more following your heart instead of the big brain you have. You come across a board like this. They will have my recommendation to put some very big black dots across your docket.”

“Understood,” Tom said, pausing.

He’d never been in front of a review board like this. He didn’t know the procedure. Was he supposed to sit and wait to be dismissed or was he supposed to just get up and walk out? He honestly didn’t know. Instead, he sat there, awaiting the final word.

“Let the record show that the final outcome of this hearing is that Captain Thomas R Winter receive a formal reprimand which shall be placed in his file.” The Andorian man spoke up finally as he stood, Tom following suit “He shall then be requested and required to report to USS Imperator NCC-79924 as her Commanding Officer once more. You got lucky this time, Captain. I’d advise you to make sure that luck holds.”

“Yes sir.” Tom nodded, standing to attention.

“Good.” The Andorian replied, “You’re dismissed, Captain.”

Tom nodded before turning and walking out of the room. The Andorian was right. He’d gotten lucky. Now, he only had one more thing he needed to do.