Taking the Stand

Posted on Wed Oct 27th, 2010 @ 10:44am by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Commander Fala Awen

Mission: Episode 1.3 - "The Time of Trial"
Location: Courtroom, Deep Space Four
Timeline: Mission Day 04, 1217 hours

ON: [[Courtroom, Deep Space Four, Mission Day 04, 1217]]

As the courtroom quieted down, Joseph (NPC) stood facing the panel, "At this time, the defense calls Rear Admiral Iluvar to the stand." He turned to look at his client and gave a slight nod. Though they had had precious little time, the defense team had done their best to prepare the Admiral for taking the stand.

At the captain's request, Iluvar rose slowly to his feet and straightened his uniform jacket. He stepped around the table he had been seated at, along with the members of the defense team, and approached the chair at the front of the room. Taking a seat, he placed his palm on the reader next to the chair and turned his attention to Captain Wells.

Joseph approached Iluvar, giving him a slight smile of reassurance before saying, "Please state your name and position for the record."

"Rear Admiral Iluvar, Commanding Officer, USS Pandora," Iluvar said in a confident tone, "Task Force Commanding Officer, Task Force 22, Eighth Fleet."

Nodding, Joseph said, "Thank you, Admiral. How long has it been since you've had command - of your own ship and of the Task Force?" While he could try going back over what the prosecution had brought up, he felt Iluvar's time on the stand would be better suited to highlighting his accomplishments, at least for now.

"I assumed command of the USS Tethys in 2383," Iluvar replied, recalling the information as if it was second-nature to him, "my appointment as Task Force Commanding Officer occurred in 2385, and I assumed command of the USS Pandora prior to our most recent assignment."

"So, between 2383 and now...a period of just 3 years, your superiors saw fit to promote you not only once, but several times to your current rank. Did they ever cite specific reasons for your promotion, Admiral?" Joseph said, looking from Iluvar to the panel and then out into the audience. By the looks on their faces, he could tell that at least a few people saw his reasoning and, likely, agreed.

Iluvar chuckled a little bit. In thinking back about the last three years, he had realized that the string of promotions he had received during that time were unusual. It was rare to see an individual move up through the ranks so swiftly, especially who had found himself at odds with Starfleet in the past. Yet, he never felt that he could take all the credit. What his superiors saw as excellent performance had a lot to do with the performance of those under his command.

"Each situation was slightly different, but the common thread among them appeared to be my performance as a commanding officer and, later, task force commanding officer," Iluvar explained.

Joseph smiled slightly before continuing, "That would certainly make sense. Promotions aren't usually given out to those who are incompetent or reckless..." He glanced over at the prosecution table for a moment before quickly moving on, "One of your promotions came after the Battle of Altorus, did it not? What was the Tethys' role in the engagement?"

"Being the senior-most commanding officer present, I took it upon myself to assume command of the situation," Iluvar explained, "Diplomatic attempts proved unsuccessful and we were forced to engage the Elyshan vessels that were also present at the time."

"And the outcome, Admiral?" Joseph realized that essentially everyone in the courtroom would - or should - be familiar with the outcome, but it didn't hurt to give them a reminder.

"We were successful in rescuing the ambassador," Iluvar replied, "In the process, we discovered a weakness in Elyshan subspace shielding that Starfleet has determined might just even the tactical playing field between our two peoples." As much as the mission could be classified a success by many, Iluvar still wasn't too fond of the idea that their actions might have caused an increase in hostilities with the Elyshans, especially considering what the crew of the USS Orlando had witnessed.

Joseph nodded, "Well, that certainly sounds rather successful to me. No further questions at this time." He gave a nod to Iluvar before moving back to the defense table and taking a seat.

Looking through his notes for a few moments, Arnold finally stood. Really, he didn't need to look through them; it was all for show. Arnold kept a straight face as he approached Iluvar, "Admiral, would you please tell the Court about the Valar incident? Specifically, your involvement and the aftermath of the event."

Iluvar's eyes made contact with Mercer's and he could see what the man was trying to do. The "Valar Incident" was probably one of the biggest sticking points of his own career and it was a time that, despite his best efforts, continued to haunt him. Truth win out, he thought to himself.

"I was assigned to the USS Valar in 2379 as the ship's chief operations officer under Captain Imtar," Iluvar began, "The captain had also asked me to serve as his second officer, likely due to my familiarity with the Briar Patch and the fact that the Valar would be operating in that area."

He paused a moment to collect his thoughts and it didn't take long for the memories of that day to come floating back to the surface. Time, patience, and lots of practice had allowed Iluvar to establish some level of control over these memories, but it was by no means a perfect locus.

"It hadn't been more than six months since I first came aboard than we received a distress call from a science outpost on the outer edge of the Briar Patch," he continued, "We arrived on the scene to find what appeared to be a rogue asteroid on a direct course to impact the station. There wasn't much time to come up with a way to divert the asteroid so the captain sent me to the outpost to assist in coordinating the evacuation from that end of things. In the meantime, the Valar planned to reconfigure the tractor beam for multiple, short bursts in an attempt to divert the asteroid."

Arnold held up a finger, "Excuse me, Admiral, isn't it the tractor beams that led to the destruction of the Valar? Specifically an overload caused by the use of the tractor beams? Did anyone bother to bring up a concern about that?" He kept his eyes trained on Iluvar, rather than glancing around the entire courtroom.

"The modifications to the Valar's tractor emitters had nothing to do with the vessel's destruction," Iluvar said coolly, "I knew Lieutenant Commander Bridges (NPC) enough to know that she would not have suggested such an idea if it would have been that big of a threat to the ship. Commander Bridges knew what she was doing; so did everyone else."

Raising an eyebrow slightly, Arnold decided to let it pass, for now. He had some evidence he could submit later to clarify things. "Go on, Admiral."

Iluvar could tell what it was that Mercer had been alluding to, but he had never once believed that the Valar's destruction had been the result of the modifications to the tractor beams. A Sovereign-class starship was designed to handle greater stresses on her systems than some of the older designs. There was no doubt in his mind that Lieutenant Commander Bridges had been operating well within safety parameters. If only they had known...

"The tractor pulses definitely seemed to be having a positive effect on the asteroid," he explained, "In fact, the entire operation went better than expected. We managed to divert the asteroid far enough that it would not put the research station in jeopardy. It wasn't long before we realized that there was something else going on, though. An overload had been detected in the Valar's warp core and, before anyone could do anything about it..."

"As a result of the tractor beam usage," Arnold interjected.

"The Valar suffered a catastrophic containment failure that resulted in a warp core breach," Iluvar said, "but it had nothing to do with the tractor beam modifications. Shortly before the core went critical, sensors recorded several spikes of very intense isolytic radiation focused on the Valar."

Keeping a straight face, Arnold replied, "Isolytic radiation?"

"Isolytic radiation is not typically found on Federation starships, nor does it occur naturally," Iluvar explained, "It stands to reason that the radiation was the product of an external source that was unknown to us at the time."

"If that was the case, Admiral, why was it not in this report, which I'm submitting as Prosecution Exhibit N? According to this report the destruction of the Valar was, and I quote 'from a warp core breach due to extreme taxes on said vessel's power systems due to excessive tractor beam usage'," Arnold read from the PADD he held in his right hand.

If Iluvar had been the same young man he had been when that report had initially been filed, he might have shot back with a sharp retort, but time had thankfully brought him the wisdom to know that doing so would only play into the hands of the prosecution. "I presented my own findings to Starfleet and the Board of Inquiry that investigated the loss of the Valar," Iluvar replied, "They determined that the taxing of the vessel's power systems seemed to be a more plausible reason at the time and, due to the lack of extenuating evidence, ordered the investigation closed."

"I see," Arnold said, deciding to leave it be for now. "And the aftermath, Admiral?"

"It was the recommendation of the investigation board that I undergo a series of counseling sessions and psychiatric evaluations to certify my fitness to return to duty," Iluvar explained, remembering how it had felt more like a restrictive order than a recommendation, "I decided to take a leave of absence from Starfleet instead. My request to spend that time amongst the Ba'ku was granted by Admiral Alynna Necheyev (NPC), allowing me to take up residence in the Ba'Ku Village."

Arnold nodded slightly, "So, rather than go through counseling sessions, you chose to live with the Ba'Ku and avoid StarFleet....interesting." Before Iluvar could respond, he quickly changed the subject, "And speaking of the Ba'Ku, isn't it true that there is a young man you took into your custody from a Mirror Universe version of Ba'Ku?"

"If you are referring to Aris (PNPC), then you are correct," Iluvar replied, reminding himself that the truth was more important than whatever motive Captain Mercer was bringing to the table, "He is a brilliant young man and he is my son." He thought about bringing up the fact that both Aris and Peter (PNPC) were forcibly taken from the Pandora on Mercer's orders, but he knew that it would only serve to aggravate the situation further. Instead, he remained silent and waited to see where Mercer was planning to take this next.

"Your son?" Arnold raised an eyebrow. "From what I understand, Admiral, Aris is technically not your son; he is the son of your Mirror Universe counterpart...who switched places with you on your ship and later died. And then, after the incident, you took it upon yourself to, without any authorization, remove someone from the Mirror Universe and keep him in our universe."

Iluvar considered his response very carefully. Up until this point, he had not told anyone of his counterpart's dying request, not even Aris. It had been a rather personal exchange between himself and his counterpart, one of those moments that could never truly be forgotten. "My decision to assume custody of Aris was based on several factors," Iluvar said slowly, "but I can assure you, it was not a decision that I made lightly."

"So, you yourself chose to remove a child from his home in an entirely different universe, with no authorization. You do know StarFleet protocols, do you not, Admiral?" Arnold asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I am aware of Starfleet protocols governing our interactions with the so-called Mirror Universe," Iluvar replied, "but at the time my decision was made, we had already become irrevocably involved in the affairs of their universe. I took the actions I thought would best ensure our chances at minimizing the impact of that involvement and would allow us to return to our own universe." He paused and leveled his gaze directly at Mercer. It had been his hope that if he were to ever divulge the motivation behind his decision to assume custody for Aris, that the first person to know would have been the boy, himself. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Captain Mercer was determined to force Iluvar's hand prematurely.

"As for my decision to assume custody of Aris," he continued slowly, "It was my counterpart's dying request..."

"His dying request?" Arnold smirked slightly, "Do you plan on granting requests for every single person you encounter, even when it breaks protocol such as it did in this case? The boy should have been left with the people he knew in his own universe and you, as a StarFleet Officer - a Task Force Commanding Officer, no less, should have followed proper procedure. Why exactly do you feel that the rules don't apply to you, Admiral?"

Joseph shifted slightly in his seat as he listened to Arnold's continued questioning of the admiral. It wasn't all that unusual for Arnold to push the witness in search of answers. In fact, it was something that most counsel engaged in when dealing with particularly vague or difficult cases. Something seemed different about this case, however...something that Joseph had thought he'd seen the last time he'd gone head to head with Arnold.

"Starfleet procedure was designed for a purpose and it should be followed in general practice," Iluvar replied, his words slow and concise, "However, there comes a time when a Starfleet officer is forced to choose between the procedure that they have sworn to abide by or their duty to the greater good. It is in situations like this that the ability to simply 'follow the rules' becomes much more difficult. I would argue that being transported to the Mirror Universe hardly qualifies as general practice. Would you?"

Arnold smiled, "Ah, but you are conveniently forgetting that you did not initiate the transport, Admiral. You did, however, willfully choose to disobey StarFleet protocol by taking someone from another universe and keeping him in ours." He paused for a moment, but then continued, looking over at the board, "And it's not just you, is it Admiral? Why, I have a report saying that your Executive Officer sent members of your crew on an unauthorized mission into Romulan space, after the Romulans specifically asked that you and your crew leave. So it would seem that your nonchalance regarding protocol has made it into your Command Staff."

"I stand by the decisions that I have made, regardless of how questionable others may believe them to be," Iluvar said with a firm confidence, "My actions are my own and I accept full responsibility for them. As a commanding officer, it is also my duty to accept responsibility for the actions of those under my command. The report to which you refer also shows that I addressed the situation in most timely and efficient manner available to me. My former Executive Officer was well aware of the decision he was making and willingly accepted the consequences of his actions. I believe my response in that matter speaks for itself."

"The fact that there were consequences that you gave him is expected...however, the actions he took could seriously damage our relationship with the Romulans. The actions he took cannot be undone, Admiral. No amount of consequences will change that," Arnold replied, shaking his head.

"As cliche as it may sound, things in the field don't always run according to plan. There are numerous factors to consider in every situation and I would be surprised if there is a single man or woman who can hope to predict all possible outcomes, let alone control them," Iluvar said, fixing the prosecution counsel with a firm look, "Correct me if I am wrong, captain, but is that not similar to when one enters into a Board of Inquiry? Is there not some small uncertainty that prevents us from knowing exactly how events will play out?"

Chuckling slightly, Arnold replied, "I am well aware that there is uncertainty in these proceedings and in the field. However, when one knowingly takes actions that would damage relations with the Romulans - or anyone else for that matter - it's not the same. Considering Commander Earlond's service record, I find it difficult to believe that he wouldn't have had an idea of what consequences could come about due to his ill-conceived idea." In truth, he was much more confident about the proceedings than he had said, but there was no sense in tipping his hand. He'd already brought up the most damaging issues and so, glancing over at the board, Arnold said, "No further questions."

Gareth nodded, "Admiral, you may return to your seat; thank you." That had certainly been...interesting? Enlightening? Before the proceedings, he'd read up on Iluvar's service record, but the approach took by each side was intriguing.

Nodding slowly, Iluvar rose to his feet and straightened his uniform jacket before stepping down from the witness stand. The questioning he had endured from Captain Mercer was just as revealing to him as it had likely been for the prosecution. If given the opportunity, there was a matter that he desired to speak to Captain Wells about. He had a feeling that the matter of this Inquiry would not remain unsolved for much longer.

OFF

A JP by

Admiral Gareth Bullock (NPC)
Commanding Officer
Deep Space Four
Played by: Cmdr Fala

Rear Admiral Iluvar
Commanding Officer
USS Pandora

Captain Joseph Wells (NPC)
Legal Officer
Judge Advocate-General
Played by: Cmdr Fala

and

Captain Arnold Mercer (NPC)
Legal Officer
Judge Advocate-General
Played by: Cmdr Fala