((Guest Quarters SB 72))
“So the prosecutor has made a final plea offer, and though it’s not what you wanted, I advise that you take it. If you plead guilty to the false statements, and first 2 failure to maintain discipline charges, the JAG will drop the rest of them. You’ll serve 1 year in a minimum security penal colony, and receive a general discharge at the end of your sentence.” Gideon said.
“So either way my career in Starfleet is over.” Tyler recalled what Mr. Rawlings had told him. That if they went to trial, those 3 charges were slam dunk cases for the prosecutor and would carry stiffer penalties when he was undoubtedly convicted.
“You enter your plea tomorrow, they aren’t going to make another offer before then. And, at the risk of sounding like a braggart, the only reason you’re getting a plea deal that’s this lenient is because they’d rather not tangle with me in a fucking court room. Unless you can give me something else to work with on those charges, taking the deal is your best play. Trust me, I wouldn’t be telling you to take it if there was another way Fred.” Rawlings pursued his lips and shrugged. Golf games with Fred’s father would be awkward enough as it is.
“Well what about the retraction and supplemental that was sent out a couple of days after the memo was released? I didn’t know they were going to publish it that quickly and not provide the appropriate disclaimer for me.”
“No, but you should have, and that’s a minor charge anyway, maximum of 90 days in the brig, usually it’s just administrative restrictions, a demotion or a reprimand. It’s the failure to maintain discipline charges, 2 years less a day EACH potentially if you’re convicted. And like I said the conduct unbecoming is a toss up, and that could be another year or two. And on top of that all of them usually result in a dishonorable discharge. At least this way, with a general, you get to keep your pension, your rank and your awards.” The attorney had made his case to his client. It was up to Tyler now to decide whether or not to take the deal, or fight it in court.
A few seconds later the silence was broken by the sound of the door chime.
“Come on in.” Tyler said, having already told Gideon that some of his old crewmates would be stopping by.
Mee IH, Wong, Tesa, and Aruin walked into the spacious guest quarters. After a quick round of introductions, and Tyler offering drinks to his old shipmates, they all sat down and began to chat.
“So how is the case looking skipper, did all that data we sent you help at all?” Mee IH said from his awkward perch on the edge of one of the sofas. The cetacean had decided to take the opportunity to rest his flipper haunches and deactivate his repulsors.
“Yes it did actually, it helped Mr. Rawlings here to get all of the most serious charges dropped.”
“Uh, if we’re going to discuss the case, let’s consider these witness depositions.” The lawyer put up an index finger to those in the room and quickly opened up his briefcase, pulled out the anti eavesdropping device and activated.
“AAGH! FUCK! Warn me the next time you turn on a multi wave scrambler. Blow my sonar gland right out why dontcha. Kirks sake.” Mee IH squeeked.
“Oh, I am so sorry, here I’ll deact…” Gideon said and he reached out to grab the device.
“Nah, nah it’s fine, leave it on, just warn me next time. The frequency and wavelength those devices work on sort of violently tickle my brainstem and sensory organs if I don’t know it’s coming.” The Beluga replied, as he gave his head a quick shake and leaned back against a pillow.
Danny Wong eventually leaned forward and asked “So what’s your game plan Fred?”
After looking to Rawlings who shrugged as if to say ‘their your friends, tell em as much as you want’, Tyler responded, “I don’t know yet, we just got a plea deal offer from the prosecutor. Some light prison time and a general discharge…”
“What’s light prison time mean in this context?” The Bajoran engineer Tesa asked.
“A year, minimum security facility.”
“General discharge? That’s uncommon.” Aruin, a somewhat accomplished attorney herself, looked at Rawlings.
“Yeah, I really had to push for that part, Starfleet likes slapping those dishonorable discharges on anyone who is separated from the service due to a conviction.”
“How’d you swing that then?”
“Just reminded the JAG that I was the one that got the Vice President exonerated on those rather embarrassing charges back in ‘95.”
“When he was caught on those holovids on Risa? That was you?” Aruin asked.
“That was me…so Fred, any of your friends here might be able to help figure out where these charges might be coming from you think?”
Tyler exhaled before speaking. “So Gideon thinks that these charges might be politically motivated or targeting me for some reason. The charges coming out so quickly after the hard landing with the Blythe, the prosecutor that was chosen, and some other things he’s heard has him wondering if someone is out for me. He thinks that intel or internal affairs might have a hand in jtm”
Several of them exchanged glances back and forth, and after several seconds of silence Mee IH squeeked. Everyone else in the room all turned their gaze to the little white whale.
“Fuckers! I’ll bet some speciesist piece of shit Admiral is coming after you because you promoted me!”
“Settle down big guy, you’re over thinking it.” Tesa laid a hand on one of Mee IHs tail fins. They weren’t a couple, but were openly known to engage in casual sexual relations.
“No, there’s more to it than any of you know.” The cetacean said defiantly as he pulled his tail away from Tesa.
“Am I covered by that lawyer confidentiality thing?” Mee IH asked Rawlings.
“This is a deposition, so yeah, with me you’re covered, you might want to stop and think about what you’re presumably about to tell your friends here though.”
The April’s XO looked around to his crewmates. They were all friends, and he trusted each of them. The whale wiggled himself to a position on the couch where he was staring out one of the large windows, taking in the stars. He gurgled, squeeked, and then sighed.
“So, have you all heard of the Great Strike of ‘85? The racists all call it the Cetacean Mutinies of ‘85…well, I might have a played a bit of a roll in that whole affair.”
“What kind of a roll?” Fred asked wearily.
“Kind of like a…ringleader, sort of roll.. there’ no statute of limitations for mutiny either, so I’m risking my career by even talking about this. But fuck it, they’ve been keeping my people down for generations. On that day 17 years ago, some of us finally stood up and made a few simple demands. And eventually, after a few hours and a few dozen ships not being able to go to warp Starfleet acquiesced to 2 of our 3 core demands. No cetaceans have been electrocuted in their pools ever since.”
“Your double insulated pool liners with redundant arc fault traps, flipper friendly aquatic consoles and your remote VR headsets were the demands if I recall.” Rawlings interjected.
“Thought I recognized you.” Mee IH turned his gaze away from the window finally and looked at Gideon T Rawlings, Esq. The man had actually defended several of the cetacean mutineers in the aftermath of that strike/mutiny.
The Beluga continued, “All it ended up costing us was 3 dead, and about 50 shortened careers.”
“Too steep of a price in my view Commander.” Rawlings stood from his chair at the dining room table and paced for a moment.
“Now, this doesn’t explain why anyone would go after the Captain. Just for promoting you? Seems like a stretch.” Wong said from one of the couches.
“Pffff, well Cap Tyler’s name has been all over the C-nets recently, his name was even Top 3 trending for a few months back…and I know those fuckers from Intel and Internal Affairs keep an eye on that stuff.” Mee IH wiggled in discomfort.
“C-nets?” Aruin asked.
Tesa leaned over toward the El-Aurian Cdr and explained, “Cetacean nets, they have subspace chat threads for everything with multiple sub nets and specialized algorithms, I think Captain Tyler has a whole subnet dedicated to him now since that paper got published and that memo was sent.”
“We’re a very chatty and social species.”
“Oh dear god…they think I’m fomenting another mutiny.” Tyler held his head in his hands.
Gideon stopped pacing and ran a hand across his face from top to bottom, “Whoooooey, well this isn’t all bad Fred, this gives me an angle I might be able to use…doesn’t look like I’ll be sleeping too much tonight though.”
“We’ll all be here to help, just let us know what you need?” Tesa said, always a beacon of positivity and action.
“Yeah, this is Gorn spit, going after you because they couldn’t find any evidence against me or…anyone else, that, might have, been involved, but probably wasn’t.” Mee IH made a terribly obvious attempt at obfuscation after implying there were other unindicted co-conspirators.
“Alright, let’s start from the top, what was the Fleet where the…strike occurred?”
“3rd Fleet.” The whale replied.
“Lets cross references who was serving with them in ‘85, with who could have the pull to get these charges thrown at Fred in such a hurry. I doubt it’s more than a couple of dozen Admirals that could have got that list of charges put together in what, only a few days.”
“On it.” Aruin said as she pulled out a padd.
“Weren’t there a few non cetacean crew injured during alterations on several of the ships.” Rawlings walked back over to the dining room table.
“Yeah, a couple blackleg overzealous security officers were tail slapped pretty good…I’ll check and see if any of them rose through the ranks into the Admiralty.” Mee IH bobbed his head forward which lowered his eyepiece and activated his headset.
Pretty soon everyone was tossing out ideas, and for the first time in months Tyler felt a sense of optimism.
