When Duty Folds (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 27 Jul 2017 @ 6:28pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Vice Admiral Colin McDermott & Rear Admiral Harold Doolittle & Rear Admiral Nathan West

2,651 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - Starfleet HQ
Timeline: MD 14, 0856 hrs

[ON]

The message on Lirha's PADD hadn't been subtle or filled with diplomacy. She'd read the short memo several times over the past twelve hours, and while she knew such a meeting was inevitable, it was always difficult to fully prepare for, what she considered, a commanding officer's worst nightmare. As often as it was touted to be in the best interests of Starfleet and simply an extension of protocol, formal inquiries were not common for the plethora of captains serving in the fleet. Even less so for rear admirals.

Saalm pressed the door chime on the keypad outside of the room's entrance where she knew at two -- possibly five -- of her superiors would be waiting. She would soon enter and they would probably tell her to sit down, then berate her with questions. Watching. Judging. Taking notes. She let out a soft breath and looked down to her uniform. It was freshly-replicated but a few stray strands of pink fur were visible on the front of her chest. Belle she thought, remembering how her long-haired pink tribble liked the feel and scent of clothing. She began to pluck a few of the hairs away while waiting for confirmation to enter the room.

Doolittle had been in the conference room since 0830, preparing for this next interview with Lirha Saalm. Since this was just an inquiry and not an actual court martial, it was much more informal and he would have preferred to have been in his office as his previous interview with her had been but it had been scheduled here instead so he would make the best of it.

Hearing the sound of the door chime, Doolittle looked up from the PADD he had been studying.

"Enter..." he called out.

The door swished open and in stepped Saalm. A quick glance around the room revealed a small collection of senior admiralty members, but no large panel like she'd subtly feared. "Rear Admiral Saalm, reporting as ordered," she said in a light voice to introduce her presence.

"Good morning Admiral Saalm..." Doolittle began. "Please have a seat."

Lirha was as prepared as she could be for whatever was in store for her, and so she was eager to comply and get the process over with as quickly as possible. Sitting down into the sole seat across from the other personnel in front of her, she folded one of her legs over the other to make herself comfortable.

"Before we begin, please allow me to introduce the other members of our investigative board. First of all, Vice Admiral Colin McDermott, the ranking member of our board, followed by Rear Admiral Nathan West and Captain Amber Austin," he said, gesturing to each in turn. "You of course know who I am due to my having interviewed you before, but for the record I am Rear Admiral Harold Doolittle."

"Admirals. Captain," she acknowledged with a nod to each of them out of courtesy. "If I may ask, what is the purpose of this meeting?"

"Basically it's a fact-finding meeting," he said. "To be honest, we have to determine whether or not your actions both before and after the loss of your ship were appropriate and, if they were not, to determine if a general court martial is warranted." He hated to be so blunt but, based on what he had read and observed about Lirha Saalm, she would want an honest answer.

"A...court-martial?" she repeated, her eyebrows now raised. "You've already heard my explanation of events. Do you really think such a thing is in order?

"Yes I have heard your explanation," Doolittle agreed with a slight nod. "But my interview with you was just part of the process. My colleagues have not had an opportunity to speak with you and that's why you were summoned here. Once they've questioned you, then the determination whether or not to prefer charges of any sort against you or any member of your crew will be made."

Vice Admiral McDermott, holding what looked like a gigantic mug...no it was too big for the term 'mug'...container-THING of coffee, walked in at that point.

"As you were," he greeted as soon as the door closed, before anyone could rise from their seats. Behind him were Commander George, the Secretary of the Board, and Lieutenant Armage, his Flag Lieutenant. "I just finished speaking to the Judge Advocate General. Out of an abundance of caution for any proceedings following our inquiry, he wants any interviews conducted from today forward to be under oath, as per the formal JAG Manual for a board of inquiry. We were skipping them in most instances before, in order not to make the process even worse than it would already is, and we thought we were on safe ground, but the controlling case law from the Federation Supreme Court changed with the release of opinions today, and we have no excuse now. Would there be any objection to that on your part, Admiral Saalm? If you do object, I'll make a note in the transcript, we'll set aside the issue for any proceedings to follow to deal with, and we'll skip it for right now.

"Other than that. Entering behind me are Lieutenant Jason Armage, my Flag Lieutenant, and Commander Heather George, the Secretary of the Board of Inquiry. Lieutenant Armage is here to back up Commander George on taking any notes and minutes the proceedings require," McDermott introduced. "We're waiting for Rear Admiral West to come in, and then we'll get started."

West entered his uniform fresly pressed but his eyes were sunken and dark circles ringed them. He had pulled an all nighter and had barely had time to get a fesh uniform on before heading to the interview. He rolled his shoulders as he crossed the way to the chair set aside for him. As he entered he nodded to each member of the board. "Admiral, Admiral, Admiral, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant."

"Admiral West, good of you to join us. As I was telling Admiral Saalm, I spoke with the JAG just now. Out of an abundance of caution for any proceedings following our inquiry, he wants any interviews conducted from today forward to be under oath, as per the formal JAG Manual for a board of inquiry. For one thing, new opinion from the Supreme Court more or less demands it. Note that we've been skipping them previously, but we have not much excuse now, though in this case I'm leaving it up to Admiral Saalm as to whether he wants to proceed under oath," McDermott greeted.

The only expression of supprise from West at the greeting was a nod to McDermott and a single eyebrow arched up towards the heavens at the news.

Doolittle studied McDermott and the others for a long moment before speaking. When he did, his tone was slow and deliberate. "I have already interviewed Admiral Saalm at length..."he said, "so I will let the rest of you question her and if I have anything pertinent to add I will do so at the appropriate time."

Noting the arrivals of the new personnel, Lirha listened to the explanation of JAG orders requiring her to be sworn in before the questioning began. Something about it didn't sit well with her, and so with a slight raise of her chin, she looked at the three admirals with a proud stature. "I will give you my word as a Starfleet flag officer and commanding officer. For now, that will have to suffice."

"Fair enough. Commander George, note for the record that we'll be choosing not to swear in Admiral Saalm," McDermott noted.

"Aye sir, so noted," Commander George replied. "You may begin."

"Admiral West, you get first question." McDermott decided.

West cleared his throat and looked at the Admiral across from him. "I, unfortunately, have not been made privy to the crews debriefs as my colleague's have. Please Admiral walk me through the basics of what happened to your ship from the decision to respond to the distress call to your return to federation space."

How could she consolidate three months of happenings into a single concise statement? It seemed just when she thought she'd mastered the art of captaincy, she was challenged yet again. "Well," she began, trying not to go into too much detail, "my vessel responded to a distress call within the Paulson Nebula that we believed originated from SS Recluse, an old deuterium freighter reported lost with all hands over forty years ago. After arriving, we discovered the starship, but also several Klingon warships lying in wait for us. We were ordered to surrender Galileo but I refused and attempted to escape. I...thought the nebula's special properties would give us a tactical advantage long enough for us to exit the nebula and restore communications with the Starfleet uplink. I was wrong.

"In the ensuing battle, our vessel took heavy damage and we suffered a warp reactor containment breach," she continued. "We were able to eject the core, but in doing so, we suffered critical damage and were forced to abandon ship. I stayed behind to activate the auto-destruct with one of my Operations officers, and while we destroyed the starship, I was transported off of Galileo at the last moment to one of the Klingon warships.

"From there, we were transported to an unknown and reclusive world called Kreanus -- a rogue planet located deep within the nebula that supported a colony of political refugees," Saalm revealed. "Most of the administrators were Romulan and Reman, but there was also a large contingent of Klingons who commanded the Kreanan fleet. And...there were many more people from different species there. Former Stafleet and Maquis, Ferengi, Nausicaans, Vulcans, Andorians, Orions...all outcasts from their respective governments who'd settled on Kreanus.

"I was gravely injured during the initial attack and did not recover for several weeks. But during that time, I am told my crew assisted the Kreanans with infrastructure repair and medical aid despite being held captive. It was after a month or so of detainment that I was approached by the colony administrators to embark upon a special mission on behalf of the Kreanus government. That mission was," Saalm paused to clear her throat, "to assume command of a Kreanan warship and infiltrate Klingon territory to arrive at Qo'noS. Once there, we were told to negotiate with the High Council and convince them to cease sending cloaked raiding parties into the Paulson Nebula -- into Federation space -- to search for one of their renegade generals. I was assured that if we cooperated and completed the mission, we would be set free and allowed to return to the Federation."

Lirha clasped her hands in front of her waist. "So I agreed, and we embarked upon our mission. But we barely made it to the Neutral Zone before we were detected by a Starfleet vessel and forced to engage it in battle, as you are all aware. Once we'd disabled Captain Matis' heavy cruiser, we proceeded into the Neutral Zone but were..." she paused and reconsidered explaining the reasons behind the High Council's presence there as well as revealing their presence. "Attacked," she concisely continued. "In the end, the Kreanan government used myself and my crew to draw out the renegade general that the Klingon High Council sought. We inadvertently delivered the general -- Ko'raH -- to them, and the two sides appeared to make tentative peace afterwards."

McDermott spoke. "OK, Admiral. Why did you not try to communicate with the Sentinel? Why did you 'assume the role' of a Klingon General, and where do you get the ability to pull that off?"

She looked at McDermott as he presented a series of questions to her, then lightly nodded her head while she tried to explain. "Communication would have compromised our mission," she bluntly stated. "Our mission was to sneak past Federation patrols, through the Neutral Zone, into Klingon space, and arrive at Qo'noS undetected..." When she said it like that, it almost felt like the craziest thing that'd come out of her mouth in the past ten years of her career. She shook her head this time, her dark ponytail bobbing across the backs of her shoulders. "Sentinel was not supposed to know we were there and I doubt Captain Matis would have been sympathetic to our mission and simply allowed us to pass. And of course, a communication with his vessel could have been intercepted by the Klingon intelligence network and relayed to Qo'noS. Such a revelation of an unknown Klingon ship in Federation space heading for the Neutral Zone would have...well, 'tipped them off', as you Humans say."

The second question the vice admiral had posed was a bit more complicated. Which was only relative, of course, since the entire situation she'd found herself in had been complex beyond her wildest dreams and training. "I assigned myself an equivalent rank of 'aj for two reasons. First, as you might not be aware, our vessel -- IKS DuJa'Q was crewed mostly by Kreanan Klingons. My Starfleet crew was the minority, and we were Starfleet officers and NCOs serving aboard a Klingon-built vessel with a Klingon crew... To attempt to portray a semblance of Starfleet doctrine and command structure within their ranks would not have been wise. I..." she paused to think how best to word it, "needed the Kreanans' trust and cooperation for the mission to be a success. By presenting myself as an 'aj, I tried to conform to their standards." She opened her palms to the people before her. "Admirals, Orions are not viewed favorably by most Klingons. Our two peoples' history is complicated; whereas some of them probably felt disdain for me as an Orion general, they at least respected me. If I had tried to command them as an Orion Starfleet Admiral, they would have tried to kill me -- and possibly my crew as well.

"The second reason for the deception was more simple," she continued, her light green eyes passing across the faces of each of the three admirals. "If something went wrong when we were in Klingon territory and we were discovered, I would have at least had a ruse to fall back on."

McDermott looked thoughtful. "And what about the chips, Admiral? Did you know about them?" He asks this as if expecting Saalm to know of what he speaks. "The surveillance chips we found implanted in virtually every member of your crew, that turn every member of your crew into a walking surveillance device - for whom, we do not know. The chips that you, in violation of Starfleet regulations, failed to disclose to us at any point - we had to find out when a Petty Officer let it slip and handed Admiral Doolittle her chip."

Even as his hands discreetly signaled to the other members of the board - trust me, I know what I'm doing - he looked at Saalm steadily, unblinking.

Saalm adjusted her position in her chair slightly in an unconscious manner while she started to think back upon the implants she'd first discovered on Kreanus. With as stoic of features as an Orion could muster, she looked the vice admiral in his eyes and simply replied, "I did know about them."

A short pause ensued and Lirha realized the cadre in front of her probably desired more than an affirmation of her actions; they wanted an explanation.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

RAdm Harold J. Doolittle
Starfleet Bureau of Personnel
Starfleet Headquarters, Earth

Nathan West
Rear Admiral
Chief of Star Fleet Intelligence
Starfleet Headquarters, Earth

VADM Colin McDermott
Chief of Starfleet Personnel
Starfleet Command

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