Incommunicado – Law and Politics
by UFP Ambassador Ryan O'Hara & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
ON
[Deck 23, UFP Department of State Office Suite]
Frowning, Ryan looked on as Tel Dore set down on his desk several stacks of neatly arranged PADDs. "What are you doing, Tel?" He asked.
"Oh, you need to sign these, Mr. O'Hara." The young Bolian pointed to one of the stacks. Gesturing to the others, he continued, "These are arrangements for the upcoming conferences on regional security and state building, these are today's diplomatic cables, and here are the funding proposals from regional NGOs."
Ryan sighed inwardly. He had taken up the special adviser's position here in part because he had thought it would be more or less a sinecure position, leaving him free to enjoy life on the space station and its confluence of peoples, cultures and excitement. But Ambassador T'Lor's recall back to earth "elevated" him to the acting head of the office, which meant he now had to deal with all the reports, documents, and other administrative matters, not exactly a fun thing to do.
Eager to find a way out of all this, he turned to Tel and asked, "Where's Marc? He loves paper work."
"Mr. LaTouche is at the conference you sent him to. He is due back next week."
"Right." Ryan nodded. At least he avoided those dreadful lectures on genetic engineering and its societal impact. "How's our subspace communication? Do we still have trouble reaching Paris?"
"I'm afraid so, sir." Tel replied. "I did notify station Ops yesterday, and they said they would look into it."
Ryan sensed an opportunity to put off all the paper work for a while. Shaking his head, he reached for one of the desk draws and took out a PADD. "That's what they all say, Tel. You need to bring it to someone who can push them to fix it ASAP. Otherwise they won't 'look into it' for another week." With the PADD in hand, he stood up from his chair and headed to the door, "I'll be at Commander Villiers' office. She can have it fixed by the afternoon. I'll be back in an hour." Stopping at the door, he turned back and smiled, "Make that two."
---
There had been a lot of comings and goings in recent weeks. The most notable of the latter had been the sudden and unheralded departure of the Romulan Ambassador. Just hours after the verdict on Gabriel was announced the woman ordered her ship, sealed her suite and left the embassy in the care of a senior diplomat named Koval tr'Run.
She had offered no explanation as to her destination or to of the date of her return, though Karen reasoned that as an Ambassador, t'Khellian had no obligation to do such, but it left Deep Space Five in something of a situation. Not least defining if hte new appointee actually held any authority to act on behalf of the Empire.
Karen sighed and got to her feet. As she paced towards the replicator her mind came to the newest prominent arrival - Ambassador Ryan O'Hara, background in the law, and due at her door any minute now.
"Espresso, please," Karen said waiting for the fizzle to fall back and the warm aroma of strong coffee to rise before she reached for the cup. Must cut down on this stuff she reminded herself as she turned back to her desk and placed the cup next to its three drained friends.
"So," Karen said aloud as she sat back in her chair and pulled up the man's profile, "Who is Ryan O'Hara?"
[Corridor Outside the XO's Office]
Ryan stopped outside Commander Villiers' office. Turning slightly, he looked into those crystal blue eyes of Aliee Nuvier, and smiled. "Thanks for showing me the way. I'll see you later."
The young Starfleet ensign returned the smile, "8 at the bar. Don't be late."
Ryan watched and admired the curvature of her body as she walked down the corridor. He hadn't really lost his way coming up here, but Rule #12 clearly instructed him not to pass an opportunity to strike a conversation with a beautiful woman, and you got to follow the rules. Forcing his mind back to the business at hand, he pressed the chime next to the office doors and waited for a response.
It appeared that Karen was about to get an answer to her question. "Come in," she said as she pushed back her chair and got to her feet. She reached the other side of her desk just as the door opened.
As he stepped inside, Ryan flashed a friendly smile. "Commander Villiers, thank you for seeing me on such a short notice."
"Ambassador O'Hara," Karen said with a cool, professional smile, "Welcome to Deep Space Five. Its no trouble, of course," she added, addressing his remark about notice. "Have you had time to find your way around?"
Ryan thought for a brief moment how to answer the Commander's question before deciding on the truth. "No, not at all." He said simply. There was no need to brief the station's XO on either his "getting lost" earlier or the date he had just scored, not that she would care. Pausing briefly, he turned to the business that brought him here. "I know this is not standard procedure, but I would like to ask a favor if I may. We have been having troubles with subspace communication in the office, and at the moment we cannot reach Paris or anywhere else beyond the vicinity of the station for that matter. I would prefer not having to wait for operations to send someone over in a few days. There are some time-sensitive communiques that we need to send to Paris. So if you could have operations send someone over to take a look today, I would really appreciate it."
Karen pursed her lips. This was not the first report of communication issues. She too had experienced a lost channel back to the central HQ a little over an hour ago. "I'll see what I can do, Ambassador," she said quite aware of the sort of communication he was referring to.
"Thank you." Ryan nodded with a smile. "Now that's out of the way, there is something else I would like to ask of you in your capacity as head of the JAG office on the station. The State Department is. . ." He paused to find the right word, ". . . concerned with the diplomatic ramifications of Commander Gabriel's trial. I have been instructed to assess the case and prepare a formal report on the matter. I have gathered all the information publicly available, but there are still several files I would like to have, just to be thorough, and here's a list." Leaning forward from the chair, he handed Karen the PADD he had brought with him. "If you could grant me access to these case files, it would really help a lot."
Accepting the padd, Karen sat, giving the named files a cursory glance as she did so. "There shouldn't be an issue," she said, "though I'll have to get the release officially cleared," she added. "Gabriel's relationship with aliens on the station has never been an easy one," Karen continued, "and as you'll see from some of the witness statements his outlook was often openly antagonistic."
Ryan nodded, "For better or for worse, at least his anti-alien sentiment has been consistent over the years. I went over the case files from nine years ago when Commander Gabriel was a suspect in Dr. Kur'aan's murder. Even back then his disposition toward members of other species was less than friendly." After a brief pause, he added, "My mother was the Associate Attorney General at the time. She recommended going forward with the trial and wasn't too happy when the charges were dropped. Apparently there was quite some resistance coming from Starfleet. You guys do look after your own, don't you?"
Karen shrugged. "I believe that investigators at the time wanted to limit the damage the case could do to Federation-Romulan relations - it was a joint research project after all, and such a potentially prominent case ..." She paused and sucked a breath in through her teeth. Karen did not need to spell it out. "I'm sure that at the time the relevant wrinkles were smoothed over and the necessary parties compensated, everyone satisfied until the case became useful for the Romulans to re-awaken."
Karen did not know how much O'Hara knew about the Romulan presence on Deep Space Five, or of her own standing as a fair hand in the eyes of that nebulously grey Empire, "The entire case was to achieve other ends. Gabriel is merely collateral damage in their eyes."
"Ah, politics, you hate it, but can't live without it." Ryan mused with a chuckle, "I haven't been with the State Department for long, but I think I'm ready to switch career and go over to law, pure law. To be honest and off the record, Commander, the State Department has an unsaid, but readily understood preference for the kind of conclusion and recommendations my report will suggest. The good folks over at the Justice Department, of course, have their own idea as to what should be in the report. And believe it or not, we even got a call from an undersecretary of agriculture the other day asking about the report. An interesting man he was, boring but at the same time interesting, if that makes any sense. Now that I think about it, he does remind me of my cousin from New Berlin. . ." His thoughts trailed off for a moment before recollecting themselves. ". . .but I digress. The point is, the politics behind just this one report makes the Federation Code looks like a masterpiece of contemporary minimalism." His thoughts again trailed off briefly as he murmured to himself, "Yeah, I should get out of this." Turning his attention back to Villiers, he asked, "What do you think should be in my report, Commander?"
Karen pursed her lips, sighed then reached for her espresso cup and downed the contents. She spoke again as she replaced the empty cup on its small saucer. "It was a difficult decision to make. There was not sufficient evidence for a conviction which is why Gabriel was acquitted of the murders and the case dismissed. What I could not ignore was the pattern of prejudice and speciesism that twisted through the entire trial. I briefed Starfleet Command and asked their opinion on the matter.
Karen paused again. It had not been an easy decision to make. Gabriel had made a valuable officer, but some things could not be overlooked. "Uncompromising prejudice against the non-human, the use of torture. Starfleet agreed that these actions, not as one offs under extreme circumstances, but as a routine aspect of conduct were not befitting of a Starfleet Officer. They guided me to expel him, not something I wished to do, but under the evidence, I had no choice."
Ryan sighed inwardly. "The law is simple, Commander. It only requires the ascertainment of facts, of evidences. As long as these are established and a ruling is made accordingly, justice is served. But as you already know, this is not a simple matter of law. Mr. Gabriel's unapologetically anti-alien stance has turned the trial into a reality show, closely followed not only by the Romulans but also by fringe pro-human groups and those Federation citizens who believe the Federation has been unfairly dominated by humans for far too long. And now that the trial is over, the Romulans won't be pleased by the acquittal, which will also alarm that segment of the domestic audience who are concerned with humans behaving badly with impunity. And of course, pro-human groups won't be any happier because of Gabriel's dismissal from Starfleet. The court's ruling might be just, Commander, but it will not appear so. And unfortunately, appearance is all that matters in this case. If past experience is any indication, someone somewhere will try to do something about the verdict. I would suggest security pay extra attention to what's going on around the station. Let's hope it won't be more than a few small scale protests."
"I don't agree," Karen said. Her knowledge of the Romulan mindset was not exhaustive, but she understood their justice system, and that gave her an insight that most did not have. "The Romulans were never going for a conviction, merely a demonstration that the Federation would conduct a balanced trial. An acquittal achieves that end couched in the terms it was. Between you and me, they got the result that they wanted - dragging up a near dead case into prominence at this juncture, when Starfleet would be required to judge one of their own just happened to be convenient. This is all part of a wider diplomatic game that is going on between their empire, and the Federation," she said.
"What you are right about is that things will be uncomfortable here on DS5 for some time to come, both for myself personally, and for the rest of the senior staff as those various factions sling mud at us and at each other. As to Gabriel, well, he'd be in a better place if he left the station, but he seems to be staying put."
"The mud slinging began a long time ago, Commander, almost as soon as the trial started." Ryan said with a faint smile. He liked the term "mud slinging", a very apt description. "Back on Earth and several other worlds with a large human population, there have been almost weekly protests and counter-protests throughout the course of the trial, nothing serious, but the militancy of what was said at some of those rallies is quite disconcerting. Whether he wants it or not, Mr. Gabrie has become the poster child of the human supremacist movement. Now that the trial ended in his dismissal from Starfleet, he could be a magnet for some very unsavory individuals who might want to take advantage of the situation." Pausing briefly, he added, "Of course, the State Department does not want to see any diplomatic, or intergalactic, incidents result from Gabriel's continued presence on the station. So, I also included on that PADD," he pointed to the device he had handed to the Commander earlier, "a list of known members of the most militant pro-human groups. I would really appreciate if Ops could check any new arrivals against that list. If any of them decides to pay Gabriel a visit, we should be prepared."
Karen nodded. That was interesting, and the Ambassador clearly had one or two unorthodox sources. "I'll see that they do," she said. Karen had no wish for Gabriel to become anyone's poster boy, especially not this sort of group. "Anything else that I should be aware of?" she asked as she leaned back in her chair.
Ryan shook his head. "No, that's all for now. I will keep you posted for any further development." He stood up from his chair and smiled with a nod. "Thank you, Commander." As he turned to leave, he took a note of the espresso cup on Villiers' desk. She seemed to have enjoyed the beverage throughout the course of their conversation. He made a mental note to bring her some select quality coffee next time he paid her a visit. For a diplomat like himself, an amiable relationship with those you would work with goes a long way.
OFF
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
&
Ryan O'Hara
UFP Ambassador
by UFP Ambassador Ryan O'Hara & Commander Karen Villiers
Post Details
| Title | Law and Politics | |
| Mission | Incommunicado | |
| Author(s) | UFP Ambassador Ryan O'Hara & Commander Karen Villiers | |
| Posted | Sun Feb 19, 2012 @ 9:46pm | |
| Location | State Dept Office / XO's Office | |
| Timeline | SD 56 - 0912 Hours |
[Deck 23, UFP Department of State Office Suite]
Frowning, Ryan looked on as Tel Dore set down on his desk several stacks of neatly arranged PADDs. "What are you doing, Tel?" He asked.
"Oh, you need to sign these, Mr. O'Hara." The young Bolian pointed to one of the stacks. Gesturing to the others, he continued, "These are arrangements for the upcoming conferences on regional security and state building, these are today's diplomatic cables, and here are the funding proposals from regional NGOs."
Ryan sighed inwardly. He had taken up the special adviser's position here in part because he had thought it would be more or less a sinecure position, leaving him free to enjoy life on the space station and its confluence of peoples, cultures and excitement. But Ambassador T'Lor's recall back to earth "elevated" him to the acting head of the office, which meant he now had to deal with all the reports, documents, and other administrative matters, not exactly a fun thing to do.
Eager to find a way out of all this, he turned to Tel and asked, "Where's Marc? He loves paper work."
"Mr. LaTouche is at the conference you sent him to. He is due back next week."
"Right." Ryan nodded. At least he avoided those dreadful lectures on genetic engineering and its societal impact. "How's our subspace communication? Do we still have trouble reaching Paris?"
"I'm afraid so, sir." Tel replied. "I did notify station Ops yesterday, and they said they would look into it."
Ryan sensed an opportunity to put off all the paper work for a while. Shaking his head, he reached for one of the desk draws and took out a PADD. "That's what they all say, Tel. You need to bring it to someone who can push them to fix it ASAP. Otherwise they won't 'look into it' for another week." With the PADD in hand, he stood up from his chair and headed to the door, "I'll be at Commander Villiers' office. She can have it fixed by the afternoon. I'll be back in an hour." Stopping at the door, he turned back and smiled, "Make that two."
---
There had been a lot of comings and goings in recent weeks. The most notable of the latter had been the sudden and unheralded departure of the Romulan Ambassador. Just hours after the verdict on Gabriel was announced the woman ordered her ship, sealed her suite and left the embassy in the care of a senior diplomat named Koval tr'Run.
She had offered no explanation as to her destination or to of the date of her return, though Karen reasoned that as an Ambassador, t'Khellian had no obligation to do such, but it left Deep Space Five in something of a situation. Not least defining if hte new appointee actually held any authority to act on behalf of the Empire.
Karen sighed and got to her feet. As she paced towards the replicator her mind came to the newest prominent arrival - Ambassador Ryan O'Hara, background in the law, and due at her door any minute now.
"Espresso, please," Karen said waiting for the fizzle to fall back and the warm aroma of strong coffee to rise before she reached for the cup. Must cut down on this stuff she reminded herself as she turned back to her desk and placed the cup next to its three drained friends.
"So," Karen said aloud as she sat back in her chair and pulled up the man's profile, "Who is Ryan O'Hara?"
[Corridor Outside the XO's Office]
Ryan stopped outside Commander Villiers' office. Turning slightly, he looked into those crystal blue eyes of Aliee Nuvier, and smiled. "Thanks for showing me the way. I'll see you later."
The young Starfleet ensign returned the smile, "8 at the bar. Don't be late."
Ryan watched and admired the curvature of her body as she walked down the corridor. He hadn't really lost his way coming up here, but Rule #12 clearly instructed him not to pass an opportunity to strike a conversation with a beautiful woman, and you got to follow the rules. Forcing his mind back to the business at hand, he pressed the chime next to the office doors and waited for a response.
It appeared that Karen was about to get an answer to her question. "Come in," she said as she pushed back her chair and got to her feet. She reached the other side of her desk just as the door opened.
As he stepped inside, Ryan flashed a friendly smile. "Commander Villiers, thank you for seeing me on such a short notice."
"Ambassador O'Hara," Karen said with a cool, professional smile, "Welcome to Deep Space Five. Its no trouble, of course," she added, addressing his remark about notice. "Have you had time to find your way around?"
Ryan thought for a brief moment how to answer the Commander's question before deciding on the truth. "No, not at all." He said simply. There was no need to brief the station's XO on either his "getting lost" earlier or the date he had just scored, not that she would care. Pausing briefly, he turned to the business that brought him here. "I know this is not standard procedure, but I would like to ask a favor if I may. We have been having troubles with subspace communication in the office, and at the moment we cannot reach Paris or anywhere else beyond the vicinity of the station for that matter. I would prefer not having to wait for operations to send someone over in a few days. There are some time-sensitive communiques that we need to send to Paris. So if you could have operations send someone over to take a look today, I would really appreciate it."
Karen pursed her lips. This was not the first report of communication issues. She too had experienced a lost channel back to the central HQ a little over an hour ago. "I'll see what I can do, Ambassador," she said quite aware of the sort of communication he was referring to.
"Thank you." Ryan nodded with a smile. "Now that's out of the way, there is something else I would like to ask of you in your capacity as head of the JAG office on the station. The State Department is. . ." He paused to find the right word, ". . . concerned with the diplomatic ramifications of Commander Gabriel's trial. I have been instructed to assess the case and prepare a formal report on the matter. I have gathered all the information publicly available, but there are still several files I would like to have, just to be thorough, and here's a list." Leaning forward from the chair, he handed Karen the PADD he had brought with him. "If you could grant me access to these case files, it would really help a lot."
Accepting the padd, Karen sat, giving the named files a cursory glance as she did so. "There shouldn't be an issue," she said, "though I'll have to get the release officially cleared," she added. "Gabriel's relationship with aliens on the station has never been an easy one," Karen continued, "and as you'll see from some of the witness statements his outlook was often openly antagonistic."
Ryan nodded, "For better or for worse, at least his anti-alien sentiment has been consistent over the years. I went over the case files from nine years ago when Commander Gabriel was a suspect in Dr. Kur'aan's murder. Even back then his disposition toward members of other species was less than friendly." After a brief pause, he added, "My mother was the Associate Attorney General at the time. She recommended going forward with the trial and wasn't too happy when the charges were dropped. Apparently there was quite some resistance coming from Starfleet. You guys do look after your own, don't you?"
Karen shrugged. "I believe that investigators at the time wanted to limit the damage the case could do to Federation-Romulan relations - it was a joint research project after all, and such a potentially prominent case ..." She paused and sucked a breath in through her teeth. Karen did not need to spell it out. "I'm sure that at the time the relevant wrinkles were smoothed over and the necessary parties compensated, everyone satisfied until the case became useful for the Romulans to re-awaken."
Karen did not know how much O'Hara knew about the Romulan presence on Deep Space Five, or of her own standing as a fair hand in the eyes of that nebulously grey Empire, "The entire case was to achieve other ends. Gabriel is merely collateral damage in their eyes."
"Ah, politics, you hate it, but can't live without it." Ryan mused with a chuckle, "I haven't been with the State Department for long, but I think I'm ready to switch career and go over to law, pure law. To be honest and off the record, Commander, the State Department has an unsaid, but readily understood preference for the kind of conclusion and recommendations my report will suggest. The good folks over at the Justice Department, of course, have their own idea as to what should be in the report. And believe it or not, we even got a call from an undersecretary of agriculture the other day asking about the report. An interesting man he was, boring but at the same time interesting, if that makes any sense. Now that I think about it, he does remind me of my cousin from New Berlin. . ." His thoughts trailed off for a moment before recollecting themselves. ". . .but I digress. The point is, the politics behind just this one report makes the Federation Code looks like a masterpiece of contemporary minimalism." His thoughts again trailed off briefly as he murmured to himself, "Yeah, I should get out of this." Turning his attention back to Villiers, he asked, "What do you think should be in my report, Commander?"
Karen pursed her lips, sighed then reached for her espresso cup and downed the contents. She spoke again as she replaced the empty cup on its small saucer. "It was a difficult decision to make. There was not sufficient evidence for a conviction which is why Gabriel was acquitted of the murders and the case dismissed. What I could not ignore was the pattern of prejudice and speciesism that twisted through the entire trial. I briefed Starfleet Command and asked their opinion on the matter.
Karen paused again. It had not been an easy decision to make. Gabriel had made a valuable officer, but some things could not be overlooked. "Uncompromising prejudice against the non-human, the use of torture. Starfleet agreed that these actions, not as one offs under extreme circumstances, but as a routine aspect of conduct were not befitting of a Starfleet Officer. They guided me to expel him, not something I wished to do, but under the evidence, I had no choice."
Ryan sighed inwardly. "The law is simple, Commander. It only requires the ascertainment of facts, of evidences. As long as these are established and a ruling is made accordingly, justice is served. But as you already know, this is not a simple matter of law. Mr. Gabriel's unapologetically anti-alien stance has turned the trial into a reality show, closely followed not only by the Romulans but also by fringe pro-human groups and those Federation citizens who believe the Federation has been unfairly dominated by humans for far too long. And now that the trial is over, the Romulans won't be pleased by the acquittal, which will also alarm that segment of the domestic audience who are concerned with humans behaving badly with impunity. And of course, pro-human groups won't be any happier because of Gabriel's dismissal from Starfleet. The court's ruling might be just, Commander, but it will not appear so. And unfortunately, appearance is all that matters in this case. If past experience is any indication, someone somewhere will try to do something about the verdict. I would suggest security pay extra attention to what's going on around the station. Let's hope it won't be more than a few small scale protests."
"I don't agree," Karen said. Her knowledge of the Romulan mindset was not exhaustive, but she understood their justice system, and that gave her an insight that most did not have. "The Romulans were never going for a conviction, merely a demonstration that the Federation would conduct a balanced trial. An acquittal achieves that end couched in the terms it was. Between you and me, they got the result that they wanted - dragging up a near dead case into prominence at this juncture, when Starfleet would be required to judge one of their own just happened to be convenient. This is all part of a wider diplomatic game that is going on between their empire, and the Federation," she said.
"What you are right about is that things will be uncomfortable here on DS5 for some time to come, both for myself personally, and for the rest of the senior staff as those various factions sling mud at us and at each other. As to Gabriel, well, he'd be in a better place if he left the station, but he seems to be staying put."
"The mud slinging began a long time ago, Commander, almost as soon as the trial started." Ryan said with a faint smile. He liked the term "mud slinging", a very apt description. "Back on Earth and several other worlds with a large human population, there have been almost weekly protests and counter-protests throughout the course of the trial, nothing serious, but the militancy of what was said at some of those rallies is quite disconcerting. Whether he wants it or not, Mr. Gabrie has become the poster child of the human supremacist movement. Now that the trial ended in his dismissal from Starfleet, he could be a magnet for some very unsavory individuals who might want to take advantage of the situation." Pausing briefly, he added, "Of course, the State Department does not want to see any diplomatic, or intergalactic, incidents result from Gabriel's continued presence on the station. So, I also included on that PADD," he pointed to the device he had handed to the Commander earlier, "a list of known members of the most militant pro-human groups. I would really appreciate if Ops could check any new arrivals against that list. If any of them decides to pay Gabriel a visit, we should be prepared."
Karen nodded. That was interesting, and the Ambassador clearly had one or two unorthodox sources. "I'll see that they do," she said. Karen had no wish for Gabriel to become anyone's poster boy, especially not this sort of group. "Anything else that I should be aware of?" she asked as she leaned back in her chair.
Ryan shook his head. "No, that's all for now. I will keep you posted for any further development." He stood up from his chair and smiled with a nod. "Thank you, Commander." As he turned to leave, he took a note of the espresso cup on Villiers' desk. She seemed to have enjoyed the beverage throughout the course of their conversation. He made a mental note to bring her some select quality coffee next time he paid her a visit. For a diplomat like himself, an amiable relationship with those you would work with goes a long way.
OFF
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
&
Ryan O'Hara
UFP Ambassador