Investigation
Posted on Thu Feb 11th, 2016 @ 8:02am by Colonel S'er'in'e & Samanthia Akiashiro & Commander Jordan Gunning
Edited on on Fri Mar 25th, 2016 @ 12:42am
Mission:
Brave New World
Location: Security Centre [Deck 13, Starbase 332]
It came as no surprise that after a trip to medical to have his wounds treated as soon as he was able he was escorted to Station Security. S'er'in'e expected this and so was prepared. He'd spent nearly two hours in a holding cell waiting which gave him time to relax, reflect and ponder why Cr'erl had done as he did forcing S'er'in'e's hand. He'd asked that a message be relayed to his Mate indicating his location and that he was well, he didn't want her to worry about why he was not at home.
Looking back on what Cr'erl had said S'er'in'e couldn't help but feel sorry for Cr'erl, of course he'd struggled with his training but most did, even S'er'in'e at points of it but he pushed on. Cr'erl it seemed was not as able and when S'er'in'e had graduated it spiraled out of control for his fellow classmate leading ultimately to this point. The fight was brutal, bloody and destructive to that around them which was to be expected of two large felines fighting it out. S'er'in'e didn't want to kill him but caste laws demanded it. He was however glad that aside from Samanthia, nobody else was harmed by the altercation.
Through the heavy door the voice seemed distant. "You're causing me a hell of a lot of problems, Major."
The door, a throwback to pre-forcefield days had been maintained aboard 332 thanks to the Stardock-class' propensity to suffer power failures. The locks on the heavy alloy door began to spin open. The cells were reinforced with a standard Level-IV Security Field but one thing was clear - no-one was taking any chances.
Two security staff pulled the door open, their black uniforms marked with grime where they had clearly been pulling double shifts. Commander Jordan Gunning gestured for the Caitian Major to follow him.
The security officers reattached their phasers at their hips and clamped a huge pair of cuffs which had to be specially replicated onto the giant feline. It was a token gesture, they all knew it, if he'd wanted to it would have been nothing for S'er'in'e to break them.
As they walked through the Security Centre, Gunning bemoaned the minutiae of some barely remembered agreement between Starfleet and the Akiashiros. "When there was only a skeleton Starfleet crew here, it made sense to have them handle the security of their deck." He continued his thought although he was sure the Major had more pressing concerns than worrying about his job. "But now it puts me in a really awkward position. They have full jurisdiction down there and what can I do? They won't even let my crime scene guys in to process it. So all I have to go on are a few sketchy - some might even say fictionalised - witness accounts which say you were ambushed in the middle of a crowded bar."
"I was not ambushed Commander, my Mate was. I was summoned by her to attend." S'er'in'e replied as he followed. The precautions taken so far were understandable considering what many had just seen him do.
"It might well be the case, Major, it might well be, but the facts of the case are barely important. Your Mate won't release the surveillance footage, my internal sensors get scrambled up down there and I have a funny feeling that every single patron in that bar is going to tell me an entirely different story or," he wheeled around and faced S'er'in'e as they reached the interrogation room, "worse. They'll all tell me the same story."
Expected S'er'in'e thought in light of the location, anything to avoid security or to throw them off anything that might implicate something unsavory going on would be made.
Gunning keyed in his access and the sensors read his combadge signature, allowing them access to the largest of Security's four interrogation rooms. "Wait outside." Gunning told the escort as he motioned for the Major to take a seat.
"So. Tell me what happened down there."
S'er'in'e coiled his tail about his waist as he sat. "I was in the Hangar Bay when I was contacted by my Mate. She informed me that Cr'erl, a classmate from my training on the Homeworld had shown up. My Mate asked that I attend." S'er'in'e started to explain. "When I arrived I saw many people hovering outside the entrance and when I filtered through them I discovered that Cr'erl had taken my Mate by the throat." Then he had a question of his own.
"What do you know of Caitian Law Commander?"
Gunning took his time answering the question. In the couple of hours since being notified of the Major's incarceration he'd been forced to look into the issue, but the simple fact was that it didn't supercede Federation law and it certainly didn't supercede the responsibilities of a Starfleet officer. "Not as much as I'd like, all things considered." He told the Caitian, sure that he was about to receive a solid grounding.
"On the Homeworld we have different castes much like the Earth system of old, farmers, artisans, leaders and warriors. I am from the Sha'lee'it caste, a warrior caste. On my world the female is the dominant and ruling gender, they hold the positions of authority, power and ownership of property. The males serve. The females of my caste upon graduation go on to serve our Pri'arch, she is the ruling figure of our world both in religious and political means." S'er'ine began to explain.
"One of our most sacred laws is that a male can not harm a female, it is forbidden. Our caste laws regarding such are very strict. Any male who does so has his fangs filed down as a mark of shame and has the choice to be exiled or executed." S'er'in'e took a breath before he continued. "We are trained from infancy to be warriors, traditions, culture, laws and training. As a warrior caste we uphold these sacred laws fiercely, had I let Cr'erl live I too would have had my fangs filed and exiled from the Homeworld, through our inaction we share the culprits fate." S'er'in'e was not sure how much of this was making sense to the Commander. "Also, because males serve the female in any capacity they wish us to and because Samanthia was the victim what ever she wished I am obligated to conform to. I had to kill Cr'erl, caste laws required it otherwise I would share his fate and my Mate, a female was harmed, no male would let someone get away with harming those they loved."
Gunning nodded simply. The explanation didn't really help him to exonerate him. "So you're saying you were honour bound to do this?"
"You could apply that term to it. It would be like calling a Klingon a coward, he would then challenge you so that honour would be satisfied, even if that meant death of one party or the other. In my situation I also did not wish to share in his fate having taken no part in it, nor stand by and let the wrong inflicted upon my Mate to go unanswered." S'er'in'e answered.
"And to what about your obligation to your rank, to your uniform?" Gunning couldn't hold the question in any longer. S'er'in'e - a United Federation of Planets Marine Corps Major in uniform - had killed someone in front of civilians. He'd be lucky to avoid a custodial sentence.
"I was placed in a situation that was unavoidable Commander, my Mate was at risk, I can not simply ignore what I am because of the attire I wear. Cr'erl knew I had to act, forced me to act by his own actions taken." S'er'in'e grew mildly displeased. "I will not be exiled because of the actions of another, if you wish you may contact the Caste Overseer, she will clarify things." S'er'in'e paused for a moment. "While I understand that Starfleet tries to accommodate the customs and beliefs of the member races, it also by default have to accept that sometimes those customs and beliefs be put into practice unavoidably." He paused again. "Unless Commander, you are saying that I should have done nothing, violated my ways, permitted the continued threat to happen to my Mate while Starfleet Security, as you have mentioned has no jurisdiction, to attend the scene in the hopes that my Mate lives the encounter because make no mistake Commander, Cr'erl would have killed Samanthia and then who would I be seeking as a reprisal?"
He took a look at the scant notes which the Akiashiro Security liaison had put down on his PADD and sighed. They had given him next to nothing to go on, no-one would talk and the only foothold he had was that S'er'in'e was a Federation officer who was on duty. What little he did know told him that it was unlikely that the government on Cait would seek any form of prosecution over the death of one of their citizens and that S'er'in'e's motives were entirely based on the code of his people. All of that in mind, the idea of the Major going back to work as if nothing had happened didn't sit well with him.
Gunning dragged his hand across his face and through his hair, letting out another exasperated sigh as he did so. "I don't know, S'er'in'e, I'm no moral arbiter. I just want you to realize that I'm in a difficult position here."
"I understand that Commander but if it helps you should speak to my Mate Samanthia, get her side of the situation since she was apart of it. While I understand your position from a Starfleet perspective this was purely a Caitian matter to which my action was forced." He paused for thought. "If the situation were different then perhaps the outcome could have been different but Cr'erl knew what I had to do because he forced me to do it. I will not be exiled because of his failings nor will I fail in my responsibilities to my Mate."
"Aside from Cr'erl, my Mate and myself nobody else was harmed, I saw to that when I told those around us to not get involved. If it helps Commander, view it as I was in the right place, at the right time to prevent the murder of a station civilian." A wafer thin view at best and he knew it, but his hand was forced and that as he saw it was all there was to it.
Gunning merely nodded, the Caitian clearly didn't see himself as being at fault and there was very little he could do to convince him otherwise. It would be up to the Captain to decide if he was to be punished for his actions, he was little more than a middle man - a jailer with no say in the outcome.
"Commander had Cr'erl killed Samanthia, and even if I didn't kill Cr'erl he would have killed me regardless of my action. When we Caitian's find a Mate we are chemically bonded to that person, our...Caitians change inside because of the chemical change, if we lose our Mate we slip into a coma, it is rare for any to recover." S'er'in'e explained. "So as you see, with not just my Mate's life in the balance it was also my own. Would you trust me with your live and that of a loved one, even if one died you both would perish? Your men are well trained and talented no doubt, but I know none of them well enough to put that burden in the hands they have."
Samanthia hated to have to wait to talk her husband as she stood there at the front Desk of the Security Main Office or Section on the Starbase. She glared at the Desk Sergeant or whomever was manning the desk after storming into the place, literally cutting to front of the line of the others there for their own matters. Them giving way due to the relation she had with the Akiashiros Merchant Consortium and the prestige they had on the station. She made a simple demand in her most business like voice. "I'm here to see my husband, Major S'er'in'e," hoping that he hadn't been interrogated yet. But knowing Fleet, each department moved at its own pace. Some quicker than others. She hoped that Security was one of the slower ones due to the lack of manpower, unlike being on a starship where you needed the strength of numbers incase of a threat.
The desk sergeant sighed, having been warned to expect her. "Just a minute." He tapped his combadge wearily. "Front Desk to Commander Gunning. Ms Akiashiro is here to see the Major."
In the interrogation room Gunning looked at the clock which he'd had installed on the wall. It had taken her longer than he'd expected to be up here making demands. "Sit tight, Major. I'll be back."
He exited the room, making sure to tell the guards on the door exactly who was and wasn't allowed in, and indeed out. He didn't like giving the Akiashiros the time of day, especially not given the way they had just stonewalled his staff but he was acutely aware of the politics of the station, part of the drawback of a stint as first officer.
He pasted a smile across his face as the furious visage of Samanthia Akiashiro hoved into view. "Ms Akiashiro, what can I do for you?" He asked brightly, feigning ignorance as much as happiness.
"I'm here to see My Mate, Major S'er'in'e. And I would like a bit of privacy to do it in, Commander." She gave a quick glance at his rank to make sure there was no mistake to whom she was addressing. Her voice as professional as possible to make things proceed much faster than a snails pace. "Hopefully you haven't started questioning him, without legal representation!"
"Your mate is a Starfleet officer in the custody of Starfleet Security, so yes I have started questioning him without legal representation. You'll find that's military law." He was sick of toeing the fine line between civilian and military law. Akiashiro probably knew every civilian loophole in the book but she would have no reason to know the ins and outs of Starfleet law. "Until we ascertain the wheres, whatfors and whys of what transpired in your bar, the Major won't be permitted visitors. A process which would have gone much faster if you'd allowed my officers access to the crime scene, I might add."
"He did what ever any gentleman and Officer of fleet would to protect the innocent. And its is still an Fleet Officer's right for legal representation, I being Ex-Fleet know this, Commander. We did allow them to have a look and question a few of the patrons. I can't help that Scumbag Catian crawled off when everyone thought he was dead. So we had no reason involve Fleet Security in a Civilian matter. Besides Akiashiro Security Forces showed up a bit late. To intervene when that scumbag threw me and attacked S'er'i'n'e with the intent to kill him and me." Samanthia reached up and lowered the scarf to show the claw marks she had received from Crerl. "Who in their right minds interfere with two caitians fighting with their intent unknown? When the other Caitian showed that he intended to kill S'er'in'e. Leaving my mate no choice but to incapacitate him." She smiled softly, eyes warming up. "If you need me to speak or a get a statement from me. He defended himself with honor and protected those present by his quick actions." She gave a soft sigh. "Too bad that scumbag Caitian escaped."
"I will be looking for a statement from you." Gunning replied, removing the possibility for further debate from the situation. "If you'd be kind enough to wait for Lieutenant Bancroft, she'll be with you shortly. The Major has an appointment to keep."
"I just gave you my statement, Commander," Samanthia gave a soft smile, "I've no need to be giving another statement which will be the same. Tying up a much needed Security Officer who could be keeping this station from riff-raffs such as that scumbag Caitian."
"Yes." Gunning was already halfway out the door back to the interrogation rooms. "You do."
Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Security
Major S'er'in'e
Commander, Air Group
Samanthia Akiashiro
Owner, Warp 12
