Ultimatum - Part 1

Posted on 31 Jan 2016 @ 10:13pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Lieutenant Commander Samuel Killpatrick

1,772 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: DS9
Timeline: Prior to departure

Da`nal walked the upper deck of the stations' promenade after enjoying a hearty meal when a security detachment moved towards an entrance and as the door rolled back a Starfleet officer was taken into custody. He watched as the group passed beneath him and he moved to the other side of the crosswalk to watch the group enter the stations security office.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he made his way to the lower level and entered the security office. The Bajoran officer returning from the back was obviously shocked to see a Klingon flag officer upon his return.

"Afternoon Sir. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes. The man you brought in..."

"Commander Killpatrick? He's been charged with the theft of a spacecraft, damage to docking equipment, violation of station procedures, and anything else I can thin of. It was a good thing he was on leave or he'd be facing unauthorized absence or even desertion."

Nodding slightly, "I see."

"Will there be anything else sir?"

"Not at this time, but I want a full report and his service record sent to the USS Achilles."

Crossing his arms the Bajoran rebutted. "With all do respect Commodore I don't..."

"This is a Federation managed facility and as the ranking officer on this station you will do what I have requested. Or do we need to go to Ops?"

Obviously frustrated. "No sir that won't be necessary."

With that Da`nal turned and made his way back to Quarks, there was a Ferengi that owed him a great deal of alcohol.


[USS Achilles]

Placing his drink on his desk as he waited. He had looked over the report from the stations security office, the man's service record. After a short talk with the stations CO he had arranged for Killpatrick to be escorted to his ready room.

Sam wasn't going to let the overzealous Security Officer take this win. He could easily prove that the Shadow was a criminal asset, furthermore; he could prove that the 'theft' of the spacecraft was a legitimate apprehension of a criminal asset in the commission of a crime. It would be harder to prove that the damage done to the docking clamps had been the cause of deliberate sabotage on the part of Sam's brother as a security measure to protect the shadow, but Sam reckoned he could pull that off too. In short, he was rather confident that he could beat the majority of the charges the irate officer had leveled at him, more problematic was the charge of violating station procedures, but Sam was agile enough that he felt he could escape that one with a slap on the wrist at the very worst. An interesting thought did come to him though, since he wasn't currently under a direct command structure, and since he was the only person involved in the taking of the shadow, that meant that he was the sole beneficiary of a pirate vessel. By interstellar law, that made the Shadow his. Normally, in such situations involving the capture of pirate assets, the assets were sold off and each member of the crew involved received a cut, but since he was the only crew member involved in the capture, that meant that he was the sol beneficiary. An interesting thought, and somewhat disturbing, when one considered the possible situation where a Starfleet crew turned to stealing ships they come across and presenting them as pirate vessels as a means of making a quick profit.

Sam's thoughts were interrupted by the return of the younger officer, he looked even angrier now, "Come with me." he said.

Sam could make a guess as to the cause of the younger officer anger and, in no mood to make the younger officer's day any brighter he said half tauntingly, "Someone's seized jurisdiction haven't they." Sam had seen it before, hell he'd done it before, and had it done to him. Nothing made your day worse than losing your perp to another investigation or a political mandate. The young officer glared at him in return.

"Shut up; or you'll have a nasty fall on the way." He replied.

Sam shook his head, "I've had worse." he replied, and all the rage, despair, resignation, and exhaustion carried in his tone.

"Just get moving." The officer said after a pause, and led Sam on the way towards the docking section of the station.

Kid considered this new development, not heading to Intel then, good, he had been right, his minders were still behind him. Also not to the station commander, so probably no communication from his adoptive father seeking to limit any damage he had caused. Right, that left an outside force. Someone with clout to supersede SOP's and take over for what would normally be a DS9 issue. That meant a flag officer, just what he needed, some flag officer with his own agenda, either seeking to gain a little control over Intelligence or needing an Intelligence liaison to add some level of legitimacy to his or her scheme. Well, Sam decided, he'd play along till he knew what was happening.

As they approached the docking collar Sam got a glimpse of the ship and was momentarily surprised, the ship itself was immense, one of the new Ascension Class Ships he surmised. It was an awe-inspiring vessel that seemed too big to be attached to the Space Station. It took them quite a while before they arrived at the Captain's ready room. The security officer jabbed the chime with greater force than was necessary and they were through the door, standing before a Commodore


[Ready Rom]

Da`nal sat at his desk looking up as he reached for a bottle of Bloodwine and began to pour. "Thank you Constable that will be all. If you would like a change of scenery feel free you visit our promenade...with my compliments."

Sam kept his mirth at the Commodore's dismissal of the security officer to himself. It was ill mannered to enjoy the discomfort of others, even if they were pompous asses. The lieutenant stiffened when the Commodore called him a constable, but maintained his composure, and saluted the Commodore before leaving.

Now that the security from the station was gone he motioned to the couch near his desk. "Seems like you've have an interesting few days Commander."

"Commodore, Da'nal" Sam said, coming to attention, "They're all interesting. On earth there is an old curse about interesting lives." Sam added. There was too, someone in the mists of time had once said that, instead of wishing horrible things on someone, simply wish them to live an interesting life, in interesting times.

"Interesting that you would refer to such a curse." Reading from the padd he hit the high points, "Theft of a docked spacecraft, damage to Bajoran property namely this very station, failure to acknowledge a direct order, and violation of operational directives within control space. Not activities someone supposedly on leave usually engages in."

"Not Theft," Sam replied, "Legal seizure of a pirate vessel by a citizen in the process of carrying out the law. The damage was caused by charges located on the ships docking arm, a fail-safe to prevent people from seizing said vessel, fortunately for me it failed to initialize correctly and mostly damaged the station, with some small damage to the ships communication's array. Which leads me to failing to acknowledge a direct order, the damage to the comms array meant that I was unable to receive a direct order, and also unable to respond to it. Finally, the violation of operational directives, I was on legal pursuit of an enemy of the federation, unable to communicate with the station, and yet capable of continuing pursuit and, with luck, capture my quarry I was forced to prioritize the capture of the enemy over operational directives, my decision and course being predicated and calculated on the belief that station staff could handle my transgression, as they would have to should a ship slip it's mooring and go rogue. Further, as someone who rarely goes on leave, due to a rather demanding position, I'm afraid I can't speak to what people normally do on their leave. In my case, I was using my leave to pursue a personal case, that Starfleet cannot afford to allocate resources to." And didn't that last part just sting, Sam's brother, was a vicious killer with dozens of confirmed assassinations of both federation and non federation citizens under his belt, as well as the odd job of piracy and links to organized crime. The man had straight up stolen a federation warship, a small one, but a highly advanced one, that had turned out to be corporate espionage between two competing starship manufacturers. All this and starfleet still considered him to be not important enough to dedicate man hours to. As always, staffing deficiencies meant some important issues had to be left by the wayside.

Listening closely as the man tried to explain away his actions, damage to the station, and trip into the wormhole and back. As he concluded Da`nal was watching him over the rim of his goblet. "Well you had that wrapped up in a neat little package don't you. This 'personal case' would be your recurring pursuit of your brother would it?" Already knowing it was from the forensic report from the ship, now impounded.

Sam felt a flash of anger at the mention of his brother, the new psychological wounds too fresh. However, where, ten years ago, he would have allowed himself to sink into his rage, he had learned the futility of such behavior, he had learned patience, and a cold lasting anger that could be used, at the right times to achieve his goals. So he pushed aside the extraneous feelings and answered with a measured tone. "That would be the case in question." Sam replied.

With the obviously painful yet truthful addition Da`nal sympathized with the man, setting his drink aside. "I understand your plight Commander. The desire for justice...be it revenge, the quest for Honor, or just to right a wrong is something I am personally familiar with. On more than one occasion actually.

Originally I was merely curious as to why a Starfleet officer was being arrested. Now either your acts were on orders that were above the level of the local security or there were no orders and you're basically taking the law into your own hands. Either way, the more I discovered the more I think I can help you."


TBC

 

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