Better Get A Lawyer Von
Posted on Fri Mar 26th, 2021 @ 12:06am by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Erin Whitlam PhD
Mission:
Who Watches The Watchers
Location: JAG Office
Alastair Troubridge-Hughes muttered under his breath as he rummaged through the drawers of his desk, shifting through layers of accumulated junk that had somehow gathered there over the course of his months on the Starbase. Things were tossed into the drawers for him to deal with later and then, inevitably, were forgotten. None of it was urgent - the urgent was dealt with as it happened or one of his assistants would keep track of it.
No, the things in the drawers were more objects of interest or of sentimental value. Like the isolinear rod given to him by an appreciative client three months earlier. "Lera!" he bellowed. When his assistant didn't answer within the space of a heartbeat, he shouted again, louder. "LERA!"
His assistant, a young Trill with far too much sass, replied calmly. "I heard you the first time, you know."
He looked up and saw her standing in the doorway. "Have you seen that Kasseelian Opera recording Ensign Garrall gave me?"
"Why would I know where you put that?" Lera replied with a shrug. "It'll be in one of your drawers somewhere."
"I'm looking in my drawers," Alastair replied with a huff. "Can you check the cabinets, please?"
"Fine," she replied and turned to check the cabinets near her desk.
"Fine, sir!" he called after her before resuming the search in another drawer. He growled and cursed and swore as he rummaged. Nothing! In his peripheral vision he caught a quick glance at a Trill standing in the doorway again. "Did you find it?" he asked, moving on to the next drawer.
"That depends, I suppose," said an unfamiliar voice. "Are you Mr. Troubridge-Hughes?" the voice in the doorway asked.
Alastair stopped rummaging; that wasn't Lera's voice. He slowly turned his head and saw who was actually in the doorway. She did look similar to Lera, but she had significantly more pips on her uniform. "Captain Von!" he exclaimed, standing up straight. "I'm sorry, I thought you were my assistant. Umm, yes! Yes, I am Alastair Troubridge-Hughes. Good to meet you. Come in, come in. Have a seat. What, umm, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
Liarra stepped into the office and took a seat across from the lawyer. Her eyes roamed over the office, which was cluttered with various nick knacks and other odds and ends. "Mr. Troubridge-Hughes, are you aware of the, uh, situation, that I've recently found myself in?"
He sat straighter in his chair. "Only rumours that have been circulating around the Starbase," he replied, nodding thoughtfully. "Though I guess if you're here, there may be some truth to those rumours. Something about a Colonel Blow investigating you. Is that right?"
"General Lowe, actually," she replied, stifling a laugh at Alastair's slip. Liarra gestured towards the chair across from him. "Do you have time to talk?"
"Ahh," Alastair said, raising his eyebrows and looking about at the state of his office. If he'd known the Captain would be paying a visit, he might have had a chance to tidy up a little and make his office more presentable, but what could he do? The Captain clearly needed legal help. He patted the desktop with both hands and nodded quickly. "Yes, absolutely! I have time. Let's talk about this General Lowe fellow and the, uh, situation you've found yourself in."
Liarra took a seat across from the lawyer and pulled the chair up to his desk so they could talk. "I seem to have found myself charged with negligence, resulting in the loss of life, damage of Federation property, destruction of Federation property, and endangerment to the station and its inhabitants," Von recited. There was an air of annoyance in her voice of having memorized the charges, but her tone was still that of someone who was taking the matter seriously. "I've been relieved of duty and confined to quarters." She gestured to the reception area. "I was allowed to come see you, but I had to bring a babysitter."
As the captain spoke, Alastair took out a notebook and began frantically scribbling notes. Not a PADD, but an anarchronistic replicated paper notebook. It was something he'd picked up in law school and had just stuck with it throughout the almost thirty years of his career in the law. His hand scrawled across the pages as the captain spoke, noting down everything she said as well as inserting his own immediate thoughts and any questions that he came up with.
"Well, first of all the General has overstepped his authority in confining you to quarters," he began as soon as Von stopped speaking. "Unless you're under arrest, once he's relieved you of duty all he can do is prohibit you from leaving the station. I'll take that to the judge immediately. Lera!" he called out. While he waited for his assistant, he turned back to Von and kept talking as though he hadn't just yelled out her name. "Your court martial will likely be heard before a senior flag officer - someone like Admiral S'iraa - but one of the civil judges on the starbase can rule on your liberty. You remain a Federation citizen after all."
The door opened and Lera appeared. "Yes?"
"Lera, we need to file a Two-Five-Seven for Captain Von here, can you draft it up and send it to my terminal," he said. "Which judge is on duty today? Is it Caral?"
"Burgess," she replied.
Alastair winced and shook his head. "She'll have to do," he said and turned back to Von. "Now, let's talk details. What are the specifics of the charges Lowe has cooked up?"
Liarra handed a PADD over to Alastair. While he may have preferred pen and paper, she still organized her thoughts using modern technology. "The big ones are Damage to Federation Property, specifically the station as a result of the Battle of Archa IV. He says that I instigated the fight. Then there's Destruction of Starfleet Property, specifically the USS Carthage when she was lost following our incident with the ion storm and wormhole. Manslaughter as a result of negligence over the course of multiple incidents, as well as Reckless Endangerment of Life and Property. Oh, and Conduct Unbecoming of a Starfleet Officer. The details are all laid out there."
The lawyer read over the PADD as Liarra spoke, his eyes darting back and forth with practiced rapidity. As he read, he made a few murmurs and tuts and shook his head several times as he scratched notes on his notepad. After a few minutes of this, he gently handed the PADD back to the captain and placed the pen down on his notepad. Then he slowly leaned back in his chair, which tilted and set him rocking slowly back and forth as he steepled his fingers and stared up at the bulkhead. His forefingers tapped against each other as he rocked and stared for several quiet moments.
Von studied the man as he was deep in thought. She wished she could understand what he was thinking, especially considering that her life as she knew it was at stake.
The tapping of the forefingers suddenly stopped, along with the rocking, and Alastair turned his eyes, though not his head, to look at Von. "What do you think Lowe is chasing here?" he asked.
She was almost taken aback by the question. "Lowe is well known as someone who goes after those who he feels is a liability to Starfleet. The only thing I can think he's chasing is what he sees as a threat to sector security."
He suddenly sat forward again, leaning over his desk and looking straight at Von. "Captain, I've successfully defended Starfleet officers against similar charges to these so many times that I would describe them as routine. Not only routine, but very difficult for any prosecution to prove to any standard of proof. In fact, the only time I haven't successfully defended cases like these was when Captain Ingersohl collided his ship with a docking pylon on Deep Space Sixteen and he was actually drunk at the time." He paused before adding, "You weren't drunk during any of these events, were you?"
Liarra was insulted at the question, even though she understood why he was asking. "Of course not."
"I wouldn't think so," Alastair replied with a nod. "My point is that most of these charges are routine. So much so that their sudden appearance all at once, brought by a general I've never heard of, makes me wonder why." He tapped his notepad several times. "Then there's this final charge. Conduct unbecoming ..." he trailed off and leaned back in his chair. "That's a different matter entirely. This is his big gun and it's the hardest one to defend against. It makes me wonder why he's doing it."
Liarra tried to come up with a response, but all she could muster was a shrug. "I really don't know. It's not like the events in question didn't happen. Every decision he's accused me of making, I made. The only question is if I was wrong for making them."
"And that will be for the court to decide," Alastair said, flipping the page on his notebook and smoothing out the fresh, lined page. "Now," he continued, "to build the best possible defence I can, we need to start at the beginning. The Battle of Archa IV. In your own words, Captain, tell me what happened."
The captain took a deep breath. "The Battle of Archa IV. That was one of the longest nights of my life. Most of my account of the battle is in my log. We didn't have much advance warning that the Sojourners were on their way. By the time our listening posts picked anything up, their fleet was already on its way..."
Fleet Captain Liarra Von
Former Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Alastair Troubridge-Hughes [P: Whitlam]
Attorney, JAG
Starbase 332
