((Bridge, April))

“Approaching the Minos Korva system sir.” Ingram reported from the Ops station.

Their two month long patrol along the 3 borders in-between the Vedia system and SB72 had been uneventful. The only activities of note were the ultimately anti-climactic incident with the Talarians, an L type star going nova a few light years away, and escorting 2 freighters through a restive section of the Cardassian border.

“Very well, Lt. Singh contact Starbase 72 and get us cleared for docking. Got that shoreleave schedule made up yet Number One?” Wong returned to his chair.

After nodded his head, flipping down his headset eyepiece, Mee IH replied, “Yes sir, sending it to your padd now. We should be able to get everyone a 48 hour pass while we refit and re-equip.”

Starfleet had ordered them to prepare their ship for an extended mission out beyond the Typhon expanse, an underserved area of the Federation, and one that had become more strategically significant since the rise of the Romulan Free State. It would take them a further 3 and a half months at maximum warp, traveling past the remainder of the Cardassian border, First Federation, Kzinti space as well as the Ferengi Alliance, to reach their assigned duty station, as the primary support vessel for a new deep space that was in the final stages of construction.

Wong reviewed the schedule that his Beluga first officer had just sent him and noticed how Mee IH had assigned each of them, as well as Aruin to 48 hour passes at the mid point of their roughly 5 day stay at SB72. Conveniently, the timing aligned with the first 2 days of their former Captains upcoming court martial.

“Looks good Mee IH, distribute that to the rest of the crew.” Wong thumbed his padd authorizing the schedule.

“72 had cleared us for docking in bay 4, sahib.” Singh called from the comms station to Wong’s left.

“Thanks you Lt. Mr. Lasage, take us in.”

“Hi eye, sar.”

Wong stood, picard maneuvered his tunic back into place and said, “Bridge is yours number one, I’ll be in my ready room.”

“Aye, I have the bridge. Clothing is now optional.” Mee IH joked(or was he?).

((Guest quarters, SB72))

Tyler paced. His lawyers transport had arrived 10 minutes before, and Mr. Rawlings had said he wanted to meet with him as soon as he arrived. The former captain of the Blythe was set to enter a plea 2 days from now. He had been arraigned a few days prior, with a greatly truncated charge sheet compared to the one that had been sent to him as a part of the package informing him about the investigations into his actions over the last several months.

A single count of making unauthorized statements to the press, a single count of conduct unbecoming an officer and 3 counts of failing to maintain proper discipline whilst in command of a Starfleet vessel on active duty. If convicted on all counts, he could face demotion or discharge, and up to 3 years in the brig, or a Federation prison.

Finally his door chimed.

“Enter.” Tyler said as he approached the door.

“Freddie boy, good to see ya.” Gideon said as he quickly shook his clients hand and then swiftly walked over to the dining room table and popped open his briefcase and immediately activated an anti-eavesdropping device.

“Uh, what’s that?” Fred asked, unsure whether it was a bomb or an incense burner.

“Lets us talk freely. I’ll be honest Fred, you got yourself into some shit here. There’s some people that want you made an example of for some reason. The prosecutors playing hard ball.”

“Made an example of? For attaching my name to a memo, and letting a couple wild parties happen aboard my ship?” Tyler asked.

“I have a feeling they’re just using these charges to get rid of you for some reason. Have you pissed off any superiors in the past, got any bad blood with intel, or internal affairs at all?” The master barrister probed.

“Uh, no, not that I know of. I was a science officer up until taking command of the Blythe, and I’ve never been one for conflict with my superior.”

“I didn’t think so, you were always a good kid Fred. Well, they came at me with a plea deal, 2 years in the brig, demotion and a dishonorable discharge. I told ‘em to do better or kick rocks and we’ll see em in court. That was 2 days ago, just after you were arraigned, figured I’d hear back from them by now. What are you willing to take? In a deal, so I know how to negotiate best for you.”

“Take? I don’t know if I want to take a plea deal…” Fred, hadn’t given it much thought, truth be told. He figured he would fight the charges and try to clear his name.

Gideon took a breath and motioned for Tyler to sit at the table, and then took a seat himself. “Now, as your attorney I would advise you to let me keep pushing for a deal. I’m going to tell you straight, they got you dead to rights on the unauthorized statements, and 2 of the 3 failure to maintain discipline charges. I can probably get you off on the other 2, but that’s going to be up to the board that makes up your court martial bench, they might have a case, and I’ve only got so many tricks uo my sleave, they got the internal security footage and all the comms logs from your vessel. If I can get you a deal that lets you remain in the service and avoid any serious brig time, are you going to at least consider it?”

Tyler sighed, “I mean, yeah, I guess…but my careers done if they get me on conduct unbecoming, I’d never be trusted with anything worth doing ever again if I plead guilty to that.”

Gideon made a note about that on his padd.

“Okay, let me work this angle some more. In the mean time, you figure out who the fuck you pissed off. It’d be nice to know who I’m really negotiating with here. The Prosecutor was hand picked for this case. Its the regular sector JAG, that would usually be trying a case like this. But don’t worry, I can handle him if we go to trial, I’m just worried about these 3 slam dunk charges you’re facing.”

“Okay, I’ll try and give it some thought and figure out why someone would come after me, but nothing is coming to mind that would even be close to a reason to ruin my career.”

“I mentioned internal affairs and intel for a reason kiddo. This prosecutor works almost exclusively for those 2 organizations. Think hard on this, it might be the difference in this while case. If I can go public, or threaten to with something embarrassing like a petty hit job on a honorable loyal officer, I might still be able to make this all go away. But we need to know whose coming after you, and why.”