Surefoot 82: Persona Non Grata

I found myself sitting in the cockpit of our shuttle, ascending from the planet, looking for the Destiny... but it had moved away, trying to evade a Dominion Battleship that had arrived... the Battleship had caught me, broke down my shields, beamed me onboard- I-"

Sasha resisted the urge to reach out and clasp his shoulder, instead offering a sympathetic voice. "Thank you, Bill. Do you need a break?"

He shook his head.

"Ms Hrelle, I'll be the judge of when or if a break is needed," Louvois announced dryly. "Literally. Now, are you done mollycoddling your client?"

Sasha glanced over at her, replying tightly, "Yes, Your Honour. No further questions."

She returned to her seat, as Maraud took her place. He approached Beaudine, Sasha watching him, daring him to be a prick.

Instead, the Efrosian managed an almost... benign mien, standing near, hands folded behind him. "Ensign Beaudine, I will endeavour not to add more unnecessary suffering to you, and so will keep this as brief and painless as possible. It must be traumatising, having to listen to those recordings of your colleagues, having to face the events on Kalandra. How are you coping with it?"

Beaudine breathed in deeply, swallowing. "I'm- I'm coping, Sir. I'm very grateful to Counselor Hrelle for her support, and Lt Cmdr Hrelle and Chief Nurse Eydiir for theirs."

Maraud nodded empathically. "And before you were arrested, how did you cope with it while you were a fugitive from Starfleet? And when you were a Prisoner of War? Did you ever feel like you were, say, in serious danger of self-harm? Or of harming others?"

Beaudine looked up. "No, Sir. No, it never felt as bad as that."

"So... you feel you were mentally competent enough not to harm yourself or others? But you certainly felt guilty over what you had done, yes?"

Sasha rose to her feet. "Your Honours, I object to the use of the word 'guilty', it's inflammatory and self-incriminatory, and I must insist on the question being withdrawn."

Louvois looked irritated. "Ms Hrelle, you've been given a lot of leeway during these proceedings because of your lack of experience, but now you're leaning perilously close to Contempt-"

Maraud raised a hand. "I'm more than willing to rephrase my question, Your Honours." As Sasha sat down again, he asked, "Ensign Beaudine, did you feel regretful over what you had done?"

Beaudine glanced at everyone in the Courtroom as he responded, "Yes, very much so. Every day."

"And your memory of the events remains strong and clear in your mind?"

"Yes. Yes, it does. I'll never forget it."

"That's understandable. And so you would say that your mental and emotional health has been strong enough to help you cope with it?"

"Y-Yes, Sir."

Maraud paused in deliberate consideration before continuing. "And would you also agree that piloting a shuttle is a complicated procedure?"

Beaudine blinked, as if not expecting the question. "Yes. Yes, I guess I would."

Maraud nodded. "Astrogation, course plotting, engine and power flow balancing, inertial dampening, structural integrity... just a quick glance at the Operations Manuals involved made my head spin. It would take a clear, rational mind to successfully pilot a shuttle... especially in the midst of a battle, such as at Kalandra. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Y-Yes, Sir."

"So, you've testified that you possessed a clear and rational enough mind to pilot your Team to Kalandra VII, and a clear and rational enough mind to pilot away from Kalandra VII, and you have been able to recall the events in question throughout your captivity, your liberation, and then your attempted escape from justice... but that for some reason, this clarity of mind just happened to fail you during the mission itself?"

Beaudine's face was reddening. "I- Yes, I know how it sounds-"

"We all know how it sounds, Ensign Beaudine. I have one more question for you: what would you say to the next of kin of Emil Lincarnos, Belle Rosen, Dinat Arvan, Otaktay, and Susan Shelby, if they were here now? The families of your colleagues and crewmates, who were counting on you to help them?"

The young man trembled. "I- I wish- I'm sorry- I wish I could- I could go back and do it all over- I'm sorry- I'm so sorry-" He looked like he was going to break.

And then he did.

"I'm declaring a recess," Godleski announced suddenly, looking at Louvois. "Now. Bang your stupid little gavel."

*

Sasha ignored the Alert awaiting her on her desktop computer when she returned to her office, so focused was she on ensuring Kami went into Bill's cell to counsel him first. Then she was pacing around the desk. "That son of a bitch, ripping him apart like that... I could tear him a new one..."

"Calm down, Sash," Mori urged. "This isn't going to help anyone."

"Yes," Eydiir added. "I believe he is more honourable than I had first believed."

Sasha kept pacing. "Oh, I fucked this up big time. I should have gone for the plea bargain. Louvois hates me, so she'll take it out on him."

"Your instincts were sound," Eydiir assured her. "And Louvois is not the only Judge. The others must agree on the sentencing. They at least are honourable, and have both served in combat, and understand-" She made a huffing sound. "Respond to that Alert, it's giving me a migraine."

Sasha sat down behind her desk and responded, as information filled up the screen before her.

She leaned forward, her eyes widening, her mouth going dry. Holy shit...

Mori saw the change in her mood. "What's wrong?"

Still reading, she quickly keyed in some commands. "Eydiir, examine the records I'm forwarding to your PADD. I need a medical assessment as quickly as possible. Draft whomever else from the Infirmary or the Science Labs you can trust to help, anyone who can quickly run up official reports, the more the better. Mru, get Kami out here to read this. I have to talk to Maraud, and hope he's not as big a dick as he seems."

*

He put down his sandwich and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Are you serious? You are aware that introducing last-minute surprise evidence is the stuff of ancient courtroom potboilers?"

"This isn't deliberate, it arrived while Bill was on the stand. I'm here to fulfil Legal Discovery." She stood there, arms crossed challengingly. "Now I've done it."

Maraud smiled. "It doesn't work that way. Discovery is there so both sides have ample time to examine the evidence presented. I could contest this, have it thrown out-"

"And I can appeal, yadda yadda, ad nauseam. Just read what I sent you first before you start picking fights."

The Efrosian accepted her invitation.

His smirk quickly dropped, and he sat back. "This- This is incredible-"

"Is it enough to decide the case in Bill's favour?"

Maraud rubbed his chin. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but if our positions were reversed, and this was handed to me, I'd already be planning my victory party. I'll look like a rank amateur, losing to you, someone with little or no legal training-"

"If you lose, it'll be to the evidence, not to me. And that's assuming you care more about looking good than about justice for one of our own." She shrugged. "If you want, you can reveal this yourself, take all the credit. I don't care."

He looked up at her, his irises brightening. "You really mean that, don't you?" He chuckled. "I don't know whether to try to win you over to a permanent position in the JAG Office, or kick your ass back to your starship. How much time do you need to prepare?"

*

"Ensign?"

Kami had been in Beaudine's cell, sitting behind him and counseling him, when she looked up to see Salvo standing on the other side of the invisible security screen. The Caitian looked up warily. "Is there a reason you're here, Lieutenant?"

Salvo paused; she had been under the Counselor's supervision since her assignment on Salem One, and the Commodore's wife had proven to be a cut above the insipid plebeians who had tried to decipher Salvo's psyche. Kami Hrelle knew her, from the start, and had shown herself to be as formidable mentally as Hrelle himself was physically.

Their sessions had been... cutting... and thankfully for Salvo remained confidential. Kami had promised that she would reveal nothing to Hrelle. Salvo believed her. "Forgive me if I am interrupting, Counselor. I... I just wished to say something to Ensign Beaudine."

Kami looked hesitant, and Salvo could feel her penetrating, perspicacious gaze once again. "Maybe now is not the time-"

But Beaudine shook his head. "It's okay, Counselor." He looked up at the doorway. "What did you want to say, Lieutenant?"

Salvo straightened up, continuing to feel the Counselor's unspoken warning regarding the young man in her care as she put together her words. "Ensign Beaudine, I am from a people who place a high regard on duty, loyalty, and especially bravery. It is pounded into our beings, becoming an essential part of us... perhaps too much so-"

"Lieutenant," Kami warned.

Salvo persisted, before she lost her nerve. "I recognise courage in others. I see it in you now. I confirmed it already in your Starfleet records, in your achievements, in the testimony of your friends and allies... but I see it in your eyes now. Do not let unthinking fools tell you otherwise. Whatever happened to you on that planet does not take away all that you have done before, or all that you can do after.

When you return to the Courtroom to face judgement, I will be your escort... not to intimidate you, but any others who might not show you the respect you deserve."

Beaudine looked at a loss for words, but quickly recovered. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

Kami seemed to regard Salvo in a new light, but before she could say anything, Mori rushed up beside the Security Chief, tail swishing behind him with excitement. "Counselor, you need to come out here and read this..."

*

Louvois banged her gavel to commence... stopping as Sasha rose. "Your Honours, since we last met, new evidence has come to light which I wish to present to this Court."

"Your request is denied, Ms Hrelle."

Weynik looked at Louvois. "What? Why?"

Louvois kept glaring at Sasha as she answered, "Because it's clearly a dramatic, desperate act on her part, one that the Prosecution won't allow at this late stage because of the restrictions of Discovery-"

Now Maraud rose. "The Prosecution will allow it, Your Honours. The Defence provided sufficient time to fulfil the Discovery process."

Louvois shot him a look of incredulity, before facing Sasha once more. "What is this evidence?"

Sasha tapped on the PADD in her hand, displaying collated lists of data. "I received this data package earlier today from Starfleet Intelligence: the unexpurgated files on the Away Mission to Kalandra VII, now declassified and provided for us-"

"Nonsense!" Louvois declared angrily.

Sasha stared back at her, keeping her own cool. "With respect, Your Honour, it's not. Item 1.3 is the Certificate of Declassification Authorised by Admiral William Arrington of Starbase 74."

"Admiral Arrington," Louvois echoed tightly, eyes burning with recognition at the name. "Who I believe is the father of Lt Giles Arrington, another one of Commodore Hrelle's former proteges... and a former lover of yours. Did you contact him and ask for this?"

Sasha felt herself flush at the public admission of her former relationship with Giles - how the Hell did she know about that? - but she still kept composed. "No, Your Honour, I did not, nor did anyone who has assisted me, to the best of my knowledge, a fact I am certain can be confirmed using a Security check. And with respect, my former relationship with Lt Arrington has no relevance here, and your implication otherwise is insulting to all parties concerned."

"And he just happened to have declassified all of this for you in time for the conclusion of this trial? And sent it to you of his own volition?"

"If you believe that there has been collusion here, Captain," Godleski advised. "You can always pause matters to contact his office and accuse the Admiral directly?"

"And can we all be there to see you do it?" Weynik asked. "It's been a while since I've seen someone's career implode before my eyestalks."

Louvois looked to each Captain in turn with disdain, before suggesting, "Perhaps in light of this revelation, we should clear the Courtroom, cease the broadcast and continue proceedings in private?"

"If you do that, Your Honour, I will lodge a formal protest with the Judge Advocate General," Sasha warned. "Given the deleterious effects this public trial has had on Ensign Beaudine's reputation."

"Excuse me?" Louvois snapped. "Who the Hell do you think you are?"

"I think she thinks she's the Defence Counsel for her client," Weynik opined, leaning in as if to impart some confidential advice. "Fighting on his behalf. Don't know where she got that idea from."

"And I will fully support my colleague's protest with one of my own, Your Honour," Maraud added. "The defendant deserves consistent treatment throughout the judicial process."

Louvois scowled at both counsels, before concluding with, "Present your evidence."

Maraud nodded to Sasha, who proceeded. "Ensign Beaudine's Away Team was sent to Kalandra VII on orders from the late Admiral Ian Trenagen, at the time the Head of Starfleet Intelligence." She paused, seeing the reaction from Weynik, knowing of his own past encounters with Trenagen. "As part of an overall operation codenamed 'Richard 343'. The purpose of this operation was to develop weapons to employ against the Dominion's soldiers, the Jem'Hadar, weapons that would target the Jem'Hadar without harming other races.

I will not engage in a debate on the ethics of such an objective, but instead will focus on its relevance to the events on Kalandra. The Dominion facility that Ensign Beaudine's Away Team found there was a refinery to process Ketracel White, the nutrient and drug the Dominion uses to maintain control over their soldiers." She called up chemical formulae now on the screens and the Judges' PADDs. "The Dominion chose Kalandra VII because it contained tri-nucleic fungi, which could be broken down to produce yridium bicantizine, one of the active ingredients in Ketracel White."

Now she called up recordings and transcripts. "Given that the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant had been cut off from the Gamma Quadrant and could not obtain fresh supplies of Ketracel White, the Jem'Hadar naturally did their damndest to take back the Kalandra facility. There was damage to storage tanks and pipes, releasing unprocessed fungal particulates that the Away Team aspirated, in varying amounts."

Now she brought up more chemical symbols. "In their unprocessed form, the fungal particulates contain highly potent, toxic sulfolipids, which trigger the fear circuitry in humanoid brains that orchestrates defence mechanisms in response to environmental threats."

Now images of combadges with flanking data, along with more chemical symbols. "Due to the classified nature of their Mission, all of the Team's combadges were covertly calibrated to monitor and record their bioreadings, and the bodies of the Away Team were recovered later and examined. Ensign Beaudine was far away enough to have received a limited amount of these particulates, just enough to trigger an uncontrollable flight desire without affecting other cognitive functions.

Those nearer to the battle, too wounded or pinned down by the Jem'Hadar to try and escape, received greater amounts of the contaminants, enough to trigger toxic shutdown of the involuntary biological systems..

I've had the readings examined by Salem One's Chief Medical Officer, Doctor Masterson, along with one of the on-station Science Officers, Ensign Stalac, and Chief Counselor Hrelle. All have filed reports attached to this evidence, confirming that the Away Team's toxic exposure would have been untreatable with the limited medical supplies and equipment available on the planet."

She turned to face Beaudine now, grateful to be able to inform him, "There was nothing you could have done to save them, Bill. Even if you could have controlled yourself enough to have returned to them, you would have just died as well, from toxic exposure or the Jem'Hadar."

Beaudine stared up at the readings, and then at Sasha, disbelief melting into a wellspring of emotion that he could just about contain.

"When Ensign Beaudine was contaminated," Sasha concluded, facing the Judges once more. "He was not in control of his actions, and therefore by definition the actions he undertook on Kalandra VII could not be considered 'willful'. I therefore respectfully request that all charges are dropped, and that his record is cleared with immediate effect. Thank you."

She sat down, trying not to be seen catching her breath or gripping the arms of her chair.

Louvois looked to Maraud. "And what does the Prosecution have to say about this revelation?"

The Efrosian rose to his feet again. "Your Honours, the Prosecution agrees with the Defence's request... with one exception. I request that the one count of Being Absent Without Leave under Article 86 remain applied. This refers to the period after Ensign Beaudine was released from captivity, and did not respond to the summons from Starfleet Command to appear and respond to the charges against him. There is no evidence to support that there was still any contamination within them to account for his AWOL status."

Sasha shot him a dirty look, but recovered quickly.

"Very well," Louvois concluded. "We will sequester to examine and consider all the evidence presented to us, and reconvene as soon as possible." She banged her gavel and rose, along with Weynik and Godleski.

*

The recess wasn't long.

"Ensign William Beaudine," Louvois announced, as all parties rose to their feet at attention, her face wearing a sour expression. "In the light of the evidence that has been submitted at the last minute by your Counsel, it is the judgement of this court that all of the prior charges raised against you are dropped, with one exception: the aforementioned count of Being Absent Without Leave under Article 86.

As for punishment, we have decided, in the light of your past record, that you will be sentenced to time already served while in custody following your arrest on the USS Tangshen fourteen days ago. You will remain stationed here on Salem One and continue Counseling before you are reassigned. I now rule this Court to be dismissed."

She banged her gavel, before rising and leaving as quickly as possible.

Beaudine turned to Sasha and hugged her. "Thank you, Sash. Thank you so much for everything."

She felt overwhelmed, as much by the emotion as by the relief that it was all over. "Surefooters have each other's backs, Bill."

Mori, Kami, Eydiir and others approached to offer their own congratulations, all heartily accepted... and then Sasha turned to Maraud, who was still standing there, smiling. "Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander. Well fought."

"Thanks. I wish I could say sorry that you lost."

He shrugged. "Who says I lost? I'm here to apply the law in a fair and impartial manner. It was applied, as far as I can see."

She smirked. "You still managed to get one charge to stick on him."

"A legitimate charge... and I figured the judges would be merciful... well, two out of three of them, anyway. Louvois has been out for blood with Beaudine since we heard we would be assigned to his case; I think she was planning on prosecuting him herself." He breathed out. "I'm not looking forward to the inevitable meeting with her after this."

"Well, now I am sorry. And thanks, for what I learned from you."

He held out his hand. She shook it.