Attempt at a New Perspective

Posted on Thu Jul 28, 2016 @ 2:19am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Liam Reynolds & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro
Edited on on Thu Jul 28, 2016 @ 2:28am

2,426 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Pangaea (Wrap up)
Location: Second Officer's Office
Timeline: MD17 1030

::ON::

After his meeting with Qinee, Liam headed back to speak with Commander Soran. He was going to give this another shot. This time around, not surrounded by mud and exhausted from being on the planet, he was more prepared. He didn't know what he would find. She no longer had that entity attached to her. He didn't know her before that happened. He could be walking in to a completely different women. Or not. Still, he had to make another attempt, a calmer one, since their first meeting had not gone well. The light on the panel next to Soran's office was showing green. She was in and free to be disturbed. Liam pressed the chime and waited for a response.

The door whisked back with a curt, "Enter."

He walked in. "Commander. Are you all recovered now?" he asked.

Soran was typing furiously as he entered and didn't look up. She was just as she had been the last time he had stood in this office, hair tightly braided and concentrating on something else. And, more notabley, the hollow third pip on her collar was now a full, solid pip. "I'm fine, thank you. Give me a moment." She came to the end of her paragraph and saved the report she was working on. "What can I do for you, Mr Reynolds?" She looked up at the man.

"We need to talk about your previous order. I went and spoke with Security, who agreed with me extraditing Nazl was not the right course of action, and I also went to speak with the Ferengi ambassador to try find a more diplomatic solution, and, well, there is none. If you insist on extracting her aid, she will comply, but she will also be speaking directly with the Grand Nagus, and this could lead to a very detrimental effect on Federation/Ferengi relations," Liam informed her.

Maritza raised a hand to stop him there. She pulled up her file and tapped a few notes into it, then pressed her communicator. "Soran to Tessaro, Ryan. Please come to my office."

"Now, tell me exactly what the ambassador said."

"She said the same thing I told you, Commander. That you cannot go after a man without accusation and proof. She also made it very clear that as far as extradition, a diplomat has immunity in any Federation environment, not just the embassy, in their eyes. She views the whole situation as consensual and a verbal contract, which in their culture is binding. And in their culture, the Chief’s daughter was of age. She reminds us that the incident happened on Ferengi soil, not Federation, so thereby their cultural beliefs and laws are adhered too. She also pointed out, again, their upset at the illegal boarding of the Federation on their ship and informed me of the report she had to make back to the Nagus ensuring that war was not declared between us both. And," Liam stressed strongly, "that if you -- and I made sure she knew the order came from you, Commander, because you were putting my position of trust and confidence with the rest of the ambassadors forcing this on me in jeopardy -- that if you press this further it will not go well.

"Whether I like or agree with all points is irrelevant, but I do agree with one. If you do press this it’s going to blow sky high. Bigger than your previous faux paux with them. And I doubt any amount of ‘tea parties’, as you so whimsically called my making amends the last time round, will do the job this time. So I told her I would come speak with you again before any action was undertaken. So here I am attempting to eliminate this situation blowing up. You need to rethink that order."

"She viewed the situation as consensual?" Soran asked.

"She views it as consensual with a girl of Ferengi law age and part of a verbally binding contract upon Ferengi soil," Liam repeated and stressed the information again. "Of which the Federation has no jurisdiction. The Chief and his daughter have not, to my knowledge, said anything to the contrary, but as you’re having the chief come up here, we can clarify that with him."

*****

On patrol when the call came in, Annora exchanged a look with her partner. Getting unexpectedly called to the Second Officer's office was close to being called to the principal's office. There was the recent possession, but she couldn't think of anything she missed in her report.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Meet up with Darren and Garza. I'll catch up with the group if I'm done before shift change."

As the two security officers parted ways, she tapped her comm-badge. “Tessaro to Sora. I acknowledge and am on my way.”

Once arriving at the requested location and given permission, Annora entered the office.
"You wanted to see me, ma'am?"

Liam caught her eye and pulled two fingers up to his forehead and saluted Annora.

Annora returned the salute to the diplomat. For whatever reason, they kept running into each other while on duty.

"Thank you for coming, Ms Tessaro. We'll just give Mr. Ryan a few moments."

****

Caleb pressed a hypospray to his neck and then tossed the device back into his desk as he rubbed the back of his neck. He’d had a headache all day, plagued by them a bit since they had fought that entity off of Commander Soren. When the Second Officer’s call came, Caleb sighed.

“On mah way,” he responded, standing and strightening his uniform before leaving his office. He arrived quickly at Soran’s office.

"Thank you for joining us, Mr Ryan." Soran looked to his deputy. "Now, Ms Tessaro, could you tell me how you would classify an act where an adult who is not the legal guardian of a child refuses to return said child to their legal guardian until a sum of money has been paid?"

This wasn't about fallout from the psionic monster. This was something different. It didn't sound like any case she was aware of, but there were plenty she wasn't involved in. "Just on the surface, it sounds like a textbook case of ransom."

"No," Liam interjected. "Wait a minute, Commander. First up, it wasn't Lieutenant Tessaro I spoke to in Security, so she shouldn't be here if you’re looking to chew out another person, which this feels like it’s a second run of our first meeting in which all you wanted to do was try chew me out for the aftermath of an incident that happened before I even commenced work on the station. And second of all, you are not taking alien culture into account. Quite frankly, you just don't seem to want to. It’s like you’re hell bent on getting your way, your order carried out, regardless of the impact you have on any other people. And that's not just the Ferengi here. Chief Ryan and his daughter have already gone through all this, and questioning after the event. They have chosen not to take it any further. You should respect that. Not drag all of it up again with them just to bulldoze this to fit how you want it to go and view it. You’re putting my job and relationships in jeopardy with the rest of the diplomatic representatives. And you just gave Lieutenant Tessaro none of the rest of the intracies of this situation. It’s like you’re leading her to say what you want to hear to justify your orders.

"Like I keep saying. Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, Ferengi culture is built on money and transactions. That is their way. Starfleet knew it at the time, which is why some element -- although terrible attempt of negotiation -- was made at the time. This incident happened on Ferengi soil, in which Ferengi rules apply. If Starfleet had not made a complete hash up of the negotiations then this situation wouldn't have got worse. And now, if you do not wrap your head around the fact no charges from a victim have been raised and show some stance of respect to another species, it will blow sky high."

The room's metaphorical temperature dropped about five degrees.

"Let me make a fw points absolutely crystal clear, Mr Reynolds." Soran looked around, making sure she had everyone's attention. "Firstly, remember that you are in Starfleet. It is not a democracy. This is not a townhall meeting. I am your superior officer in both rank and position. Your failure to moderate your tone in respect of that is a crime answerable in court martial, and I will be raising this with JAG. No, you do not have permission to speak."

She gave him a calm and level look that left Liam with no doubt that speaking without permission would only make her ire that much greater.

"Two. Please be aware that the decision to lay charges does not rest with Miss Ryan or her father, but with JAG. We will discuss the issues surrounding Miss Ryan in a moment, but for now, I am going to raise point three.”

She glared at him, but her tone remained calm, almost friendly. "You keep going on about how I am failing to take into account Ferengi culture. I am fully aware of Ferengi culture. And an ambassadorial ship, with a diplomatic crew is also well aware of our culture. You keep saying how I am provoking an international incident. I think you have failed to consider how they have provoked one."

She touched one finger to the tip of another. "They broke international laws by failing to provide immediate and unconditional assistance to a ship in distress." She touched another. "They, knowing full well how it would have been perceived, refused to return our children until monies had been paid." She touched her ring finger. "A transaction, which they insist they had already been paid for legally, through the sexual services of a sixteen-year-old girl, I might add." She touched her little finger. "After three refusals to dock and claim compensation, was the order given to board. Three, Mr Reynolds, they were given plenty of time to resolve this without incident. The Federation and Starfleet have no issue over paying compensation for services rendered, but we do not cowtow to terrorists and pirates, which is what they became after refusing to behave like civilized people."

"Are you seriously telling me I must discount piracy and sexual assault carried out by a diplomatic vessel in breach of international laws, because I'm not being sensitive to their culture? What about our culture, Mr Reynolds, that they have blatantly ignored and exploited?"

She paused for a moment. "You have permission to speak, Mr Reynolds. Be concise, and mindful of the rank you are addressing."

“Actually, Commander, what I keep saying to you is that as the Chief’s daughter and the aide in question in this incident has not said otherwise, the act is viewed upon as consensual, not assault. And as it happened on Ferengi soil it means Ferengi rules are abided to, not Starfleet,” Liam reiterated once more, not phased at all by her threat to court martial him. And any commander worth their salt would not go to JAG before exhausting all other solutions. She should take it to the XO next, and then the captain before that even became a consideration. He could already picture Cade chewing her out if she rashly got JAG involved before him and for what a disagreement over how to view a situation.

“And if you do continue to push it, it will become a diplomatic incident. Out of the words of the Ferengi ambassador, not just me. I came to you to ask you to rethink your orders to extradite this man. You cannot extradite someone for a crime in your eyes when there is no allegation.
However, now after a charming attempt to intimidate me via your rank and position, you seem to want to talk about the events in the run up to this incident, which I have already for the record stated is the botched attempt of any proper negotiation and the incredibly rash decision of sending in of military forces to a diplomatic vessel. As I pointed out last time, you did not bring in diplomatic. It could have been handled a lot better, and I agree by the Ferengi too. It could have been handled a lot better on both sides.

“Do you want to debate this further? If so, do I have permission for independent thought and personal opinions? May I continue to breathe? Will I get thrown across the room and have an attempt of something ripping my skull out again while you look on callously and just order me to stand up bleeding?” Liam asked. “I’m not even sure if you should be back at work yet. I’m not even sure how much I trust you to command after both our interactions to date. You were possessed by that thing for we don’t know how long and didn’t speak up at all. You endangered people. Lots of people. Me earning a double stay in sickbay for your efforts. Yet you’re lecturing me on tone and respect and position in Starfleet.”

Now things were starting falling into place for Annora. She was here as a third party to the whole ordeal. She remembered reading about the incident in the reports, but wasn't personally involved in the ordeal. Despite that revelation, she still wasn't sure what the actual issue was. Hoping to ease the tension a little bit, and get some clarification, she spoke up for the first time since answering the commander's initial question.

"With all due respect, someone want to fill me in? I know what we're talking about, I think, but what I don't know is the why?"

"Careful, Lieutenant, I don't recall the Commander giving anyone permission to speak to anyone else. We don't want you getting threatened with a court marshall too," Liam stated, very aware that the woman had not responded to his very valid point about her actions during the possession of that entity.

::To Be continued::

Lieutenant Liam Reynolds
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Lieutenant(jg) Annora Tessaro
Assistant Security Chief

Lieutenant Commander Caleb Ryan
Chief of Security/Tactical

 

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