A suffocating silence had filled the tribunal room after the early morning recess. Hushed conversations had been replaced by the kind of silence that felt more like anticipation than peace, especially when the prosecution had called their first witness. Commander Noli Auru, one-time trusted confidant and reliable XO to the defendant, stood at the witness stand, her face betraying no emotion as she waited for the questioning to begin. But Keziah knew her XO better than anyone and could see the strain in her XO’s eyes. Noli was trying her best to avoid eye contact with the Captain, but when they did eventually lock on, the weight of the moment hung heavy between them. Each of them knew the unspoken truth; the truth that what Auru was about to say might seal Nazir’s fate and end the trial before lunch.

To her credit, Noli didn’t want to be in the chair, ready to tattle on her friend, but she had to tell the truth, didn’t she? Even if that meant losing the respect of her friends? Prida had been by her side of course, their bond the unshakeable foundation upon which the Lakota crew had been built, but others she had considered friends had turned away from her at the mere possibility of her testifying against their Captain. Loyalty, it seemed, trumped truth. At least for some of them, and that worried the XO. Perhaps she had never truly known these people after all.

From her seat beside the defence counsel, Captain T’Prynn, Nazir’s fingers curled into her palms, her knuckles white beneath the sleek black fabric of her uniform. Across the room, footsteps clattered on the metal deck plating as Captain Kerina Marten took a deliberate step forward, her gaze locked onto Noli, and Noli alone. It looked as if no one else in the room mattered at that moment; not the judge, not the defence team, and certainly not the supposedly guilty party. When she eventually spoke, her voice was calm, and controlled, but sharp enough to cut through the tension in the room. She had to start strong, and start strong she did, going straight for the jugular.

“Commander Noli,” she clasped her hands behind her back, standing directly in front of the witness, “in your professional opinion, was Fleet Captain Keziah Nazir fit for command during the mission to Eridanus?”

The question hung in the air like a blade poised to drop, many mouths agape in disbelief that she had gone in for the kill in such a way, and for those not shocked, they simply watched and waited for the Bajoran’s response.

“At the beginning of the mission, yes. She was under a great deal of pressure,” Noli nodded, her eyes trained on the prosecution counsel, “but she had always handled that well in the past.”

Marten raised an eyebrow, the only change in her entire demeanour. “At the beginning, you say. When did that change, Commander?” the Cardassian asked, laser-focused on her target.

They were only two questions in and the Commander’s palms had begun to sweat in her lap, hesitant to incriminate the Captain, but with no alternative. She had to tell the truth. She took a deep breath. “It became more noticeable as the mission progressed,” Noli said. “Fleet Captain Nazir seemed distracted at times, less focused than usual.”

Marten showed none of the hesitation that Noli had exhibited, pouncing almost immediately. “Distracted in what way? Can you elaborate for the tribunal?”

Another deep breath and the XO resolved herself to simply telling the story as it was. “She would lose her train of thought during briefings. There were moments where she’d repeat the same orders, or her decisions seemed to be reactionary, rather than strategic.”

Whispers from the gallery drew a glare from Vos at the head table and quickly subsided, but not once was the Cardassian thrown off course.

“Commander,” now the comfort the prosecutor felt began to shine through as she relaxed her stance and began to walk around the area slowly, purposefully. “During this time, were you aware of Fleet Captain Nazir’s personal struggles with her mental health?” she asked, eyes still trained on the Bajoran.

“Yes,” she answered reluctantly, wiping her sweaty palms on her trouser legs. “I was aware that she had been struggling since the Dominion Invasion of Deneb and the subsequent Borg Crisis. We had discussed it a few times,” Noli explained and, just when it looked like she wanted to elaborate further, Marten jumped straight back in.

“Did you have concerns about how her mental state might be affecting her ability to command the Lakota?”

There was a long pause as the witness finally looked towards the defendant and pleaded for forgiveness with the emotion behind her eyes. “Yes,” she finally answered. “I had concerns, but I didn’t want to overstep my bounds as her XO. Fleet Captain Nazir has always been resilient. I trusted her to manage the situation.”

“Of course,” Marten nodded sagely, “And did you, at any point during the Eridanus mission, confront Fleet Captain Nazir about these concerns?”

“Objection,” A voice from the opposite side of the room drew the gaze of the gallery and earned the witness a temporary reprieve. T’Prynn was on her feet quicker than she could finish the word. “Leading the witness your honour,” she explained. “Counsel is steering the witness’s testimony rather than letting the witness provide information freely.”

“Overruled,” Vos disagreed, but looked towards the Cardassian. “But watch yourself, Captain,” he warned the prosecutor.

“Yes,” Noli responded when given the opportunity again, “I approached her when I noticed signs that something wasn’t right.” What she said next caused quite a stir among the court, and the heightened tension elicited a loud rebuke from Fleet Captain Vos.

“I asked her if she was taking medication beyond what Starfleet Medical prescribed.” The Bajoran was clearly uncomfortable as her revelation shocked the court. To say she was torn about bringing up the drug use was an understatement, and she’d gone back and forth with Prida on the matter for hours just the night before. Knowing the severe implications it would likely have on Nazir’s career and legacy had prayed on her mind for days, but she kept finding herself back at the one overarching fact – she had to tell the truth, no matter the cost.

At the mere suggestion of drug use, especially anything unauthorised, the tension in the room heightened significantly. There was a noticeable shift in energy as everyone, from spectators to trusted officers, realised the severity of this information. For those from the Lakota, it felt like a betrayal of trust for the XO to out their captain in such a way, but for the neutrals in attendance, her answer simply solidified the suggestion that Nazir’s mental state and her judgement were compromised.

T’Prynn, ever composed, raised a slight eyebrow as she absorbed the tone of the room.

Despite the overwhelming storm of emotions she felt inside, Nazir tried her best to maintain the stoic facade she had so far shown the court. The only change came as she straightened her posture and fixed her eyes forward, refusing to meet Noli’s gaze or the eyes of anyone for that matter. She knew it would come out, of course she did. She wasn’t stupid, and she understood what this likely meant for her case, but she couldn’t show that to the court. Instead, she simply took a deep breath and steeled herself for the inevitable onslaught of questions that would come.

For the Cardassian prosecutor, this was a gift that she couldn’t waste. Sensing the opportunity to strengthen her case, she had to make sure she didn’t appear too hasty or excited and blow the chance to inflict maximum damage. She had to press the point and get the session back on track.

“What was the Captain’s response?” Marten asked once the court had settled.

Noli felt like young Alice as she fell through the proverbial looking glass. “She admitted that she had taken something,” the XO responded, “but assured me it wouldn’t affect her command. She promised it would stop.”

“Did it stop, Commander?”

Noli shook her head. “No. I later discovered that she had continued to self-medicate.”

Another ripple of conversation travelled across the gallery.

“So, despite her promise to stop,” Marten’s tone changed, becoming louder and targeted, “Fleet Captain Nazir continued using unauthorised drugs while in command of the USS Lakota, whilst responsible for over five hundred souls, and during a critical mission?”

“Yes.”

“And what effect, if any, did that have on her decision-making as the mission progressed?” Marten continued her offence, buoyed by the direction events had taken.

Noli took a deep breath. She hated every second of this, and she hoped her colleagues knew that, but the longer this went on, the more difficult that was to believe. “Captain Nazir became increasingly fixated on the threat posed by the True Way,” she answered. “Her decisions were driven out of fear of what might happen rather than by the facts laid out in front of us. She wasn’t listening to her senior officers as she normally would.”

“And do you feel that had Fleet Captain Nazir been in a sound state of mind, the outcome of the mission might have been different?”

“Objection, calls for speculation.” Rising to her feet, the Vulcan defender bought the XO another reprieve. “Commander Noli cannot definitively say what might have happened under different circumstances, as this question asks her to speculate on a hypothetical scenario.”

As far as she was concerned, her logic was sound. After a few seconds of contemplation, Vos agreed with the Vulcan on this particular occasion.

“Sustained. The witness cannot speculate on hypothetical scenarios,” Vos told the court, and looked towards the Cardassian, waiting for her next question.

Marten stood there for a moment and contemplated some additional questions, but at this point, the damage had already been done by Noli. Anything she said now would damage her case, rather than enhance it further.

“No further questions,” she smiled at the Fleet Captain in charge of the hearing and returned to her seat at her desk. With a glance across at the defendant, she couldn’t help but smile.

In the gallery, the hushed conversation returned, with sombre faces looking towards their Captain and her Counsel for answers. Surely they weren’t just going to roll over and let the XO destroy the Captain’s credibility in one session? Nazir, meanwhile, simply stared at her feet, hands nervously clasped together in her lap. Her reputation was now in the gutter, and the damage had been caused by one of the Captain’s own. From her perspective, it didn’t matter what else Marten said, the session couldn’t have gone any worse.

Rising to her feet slowly, every movement measured and calculated, the Vulcan defence Counsel stepped into the crucible to begin her cross-examination of the witness. So far, she had kept her interactions with the court to a minimum. Her interventions occurred strictly as logic dictated, but now the focus had shifted. If she was going to succeed, she had to convince the court that Nazir was a capable and trusted leader who made difficult decisions under extreme pressure and that she should be forgiven.

It would be no easy task.

“Commander Noli, you testified that you were concerned about Fleet Captain Nazir’s use of unauthorised medication during the mission. Is that correct?” the Vulcan asked, starting off slowly to remind everyone present of the earlier testimony.

“Yes,” Noli nodded, “that’s correct.”

Standing as straight as she could, the Vulcan’s glare was fixed on her target. “At the time you became aware of this, did Fleet Captain Nazir continue to perform her duties as commanding officer?” she continued.

“She did, yes.”

A curt single nod and the defence counsel moved on. “Did you observe any immediate lapses in her leadership or decision-making as a result of her use of medication during the initial phase of the mission?”

A moment of hesitation from the Commander on the witness stand almost caused the Vulcan to share her question again, only for the XO to eventually give her answer. “No, not at first. She was still performing as she usually would, so I had no reason to be concerned.”

“So despite her use of medication, she remained capable and in control at the beginning of the mission?”

Rising from her seat, the Cardassian interrupted with her first objection of the session. “Objection, leading the witness.”

Fleet Captain Vos, who until that very moment had seemed a little disinterested as they went over earlier established material, was quickly alive to the objection. She had a point, in his eyes anyway. “Sustained. Counsel, please rephrase the question.” he requested.

“Of course,” T’Prynn nodded respectfully to the tribunal chair. “Commander Noli, how would you describe Fleet Captain Nazir’s performance in the early stages of the mission?”

Noli simply shrugged as she gave her answer. “She was still focused, determined. At first, I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

“Now,” T’Prynn began to wander, the questions coming quickly now. “You mentioned your concerns later in the mission. How did those concerns evolve?”

Noli, on the other hand, started taking a little longer to answer her questions, considering her answers carefully. Perhaps she was in damage limitation mode? “As the situation on Eridanus became more tense, I noticed a shift in her behaviour. She seemed more preoccupied and less willing to listen to counsel from the senior officers.”

“Would you say that this shift occurred in isolation, or could it have been influenced by external pressures, such as the increasing threat from the True Way?” Okay, now they were at the business end of her questioning as she tried to ascertain the part the True Way had played in the Captain’s spiral of decline.

“There were definitely external pressures,” Noli agreed, drawing a nod from the Vulcan. “The stakes were high, and the True Way’s presence heightened the tension,” she elaborated further, referring back to the second part of the Counsel’s question.

“Commander,” the Vulcan looked at the gallery during her next question, not in any attempt to influence them of course. “In your experience, do high-stakes situations often result in elevated stress for commanding officers?”

Noli nodded swiftly and emphatically. “Yes, absolutely. Every captain I’ve served with has had to manage significant stress in combat scenarios. Even myself, in the situations I have faced when in command, whether for short periods or longer.”

“It would be reasonable to say that Fleet Captain Nazir was under immense pressure to protect both a critical military asset and the civilian transports, correct?”

“Yes, she was under a lot of pressure.”

“Would it also be reasonable to suggest that her decisions, while difficult, may have been made in the context of strategic necessity rather than recklessness?”

Again, Noli took some time before giving her response, but when it came, it was simple enough. “It’s possible, yes.”

It had been a few minutes, but Marten was quick to her feet again, leaning across her table and glaring towards the judge. “Objection. Counsel is asking the witness to speculate,” the Cardassian frowned from behind her flowing, black hair.

“Sustained,” Vos was quick in his ruling, “the witness will please limit their responses to direct observations, and Counsel will be more wary of their questioning.”

Naturally, the Vulcan agreed with the Efrosian and nodded in acknowledgement. “Of course, your honour.” She then turned her attention back to the witness stand. “Commander, you testified that Fleet Captain Nazir continued to lead and make decisions during the mission. Can you confirm whether her actions still aligned with Starfleet’s standard command protocols?” That was certainly a lot more to the judge’s liking, even causing him to nod in appreciation of the Vulcan’s efforts.

There was no way Noli was falling into the trap of answering that question without a well-thought-out, yet truthful response. No, she took almost thirty seconds to think through her answer, and in the theatre of the tribunal room, that felt like a lifetime with all eyes on her.

“Most of her decisions did follow protocol,” the Bajoran agreed, “but there were moments where it felt like she wasn’t entirely herself.”

“By ‘not herself,’ are you referring to specific moments of erratic behaviour, or was it more of an overall impression?” T’Prynn’s follow-up was so quick, so smooth, she had most definitely anticipated such an answer.

“It was an overall impression. She seemed distant, and as the mission went on, her focus narrowed and shut her team out of the decision-making process,” Noli answered after a few seconds. “Where she would normally seek suggestions and input, she grew more introverted and relied solely on her own intuition.”

“You’ve served with Fleet Captain Nazir for a while now, correct Commander?”

“Yes,” Noli nodded some more, “through some of the most dangerous and significant periods of recent history.” From the Dominion Invasion of Deneb and beyond, Noli had worked with the Fleet Captain through every crisis that had struck the galaxy, and they had always come out on top.

“Throughout all of those crises, all of your time serving her, would you say that Fleet Captain Nazir has consistently demonstrated her abilities as a strong and capable leader?”

“Yes. She’s been an exceptional leader,” Noli answered swiftly. “She wouldn’t have been promoted for a start…”

“Would you say that her actions during the mission to Eridanus were out of character, based on your previous experience with her?”

“They were different from what I’ve seen in the past. She’s always been composed under pressure, but this time,” she paused, looking down at her feet before mumbling, “this time, it was harder for her.”

“So it is possible that external pressures, both the deteriorating situation on Eridanus and the threat from the True Way, played a significant role in her decision-making during this time?”

“Your honour,” Marten was on her feet again, practically pleading with the judge. “Objection. Counsel is again asking the witness to speculate, despite being asked not to.”

Vos let out a sigh and was forced to agree with the prosecution. “Sustained. Captain T’Prynn, a final reminder to refrain from asking speculative questions.”

Nodding, the Vulcan continued unfazed. “Thank you, Fleet Captain Vos.” She then turned to the Commander, “Commander, you testified earlier that you became aware of Fleet Captain Nazir’s unauthorised drug use. Is that correct?”

At that question, Noli looked a little bemused. Why would T’Prynn be rehashing the same question? Still, she had to answer.

“Yes.”

“And after you confronted her about it, she promised to stop?”

“Yes, she did.”

Standing beside the witness stand again, the Vulcan looked as perplexed as she possibly could. “But you chose not to report it at that time. An illogical move. Why is that?”

Noli hesitated in her response longer than she had to any of the previous questions. “I trusted her. She’s always been someone I could rely on, and I believed her when she said she could, and would, stop on her own.”

Nodding, T’Prynn moved on. “And in your professional judgement, did you believe Fleet Captain Nazir was still capable of commanding the mission, despite her personal struggles?”

“Yes, I did,” Noli answered honestly, at the time, I thought she could manage it…

…I was wrong.”