(Last Time, on Star Trek – Bravo: [https://bravofleet.com/story/158182/])

[“At what point in all of this chaos, did you discover Captain Brownson was still alive?”]

As much as one hates to admit it, there will always be a few bad apples in the bushel. Back-to-back conflicts starting from the Dominion War, Frontier Day, and even the most recent Vaadwaur Assault had caused a significant strain on the number of capable starship captains. To that effect, many young, eager, and impressionable officers rose in ranks quickly to fill the void. Case in Point, Captain Brownson. From the moment Michael stepped foot on the Nakatomi, the Captain was on edge. He had a general dislike for his first officer being a mind reader, always cautious to suppress his internal thoughts, always suspicious, and defensive. Michael couldn’t help but to press at some point, learning his captain’s distrust stemmed from a lingering feeling that he was sent here to ‘catch’ the man in some sort of act. Whatever he was hiding, Michael had no interest in as he tried to focus all of his time and energy into his post. It wasn’t until that night that he finally realized what it was. And it was because of that secret that Michael was now being drug through the mud to try and protect.

Michael fought to prevent rolling his eyes at the question. He felt so jaded over the whole subject, a part of him wished Brownson had died and never found his way to the battle bridge. But he had, and now here they were.

Michael: “Captain Brownson arrived on the Battle Bridge roughly five minutes into active combat with the Lethean Pirates. His appearance was… obviously a distraction to the bridge crew, to say the least.”

Bradley: “General reports indicate that Captain Brownson attempted to resume command of the vessel, but you refused? And threatened to throw him off the bridge?”

Michael: “That is an under-simplification of the facts. Upon his arrival, the Captain ordered me to stop what I was doing, mid-combat, and perform the formal command transfer process. That was neither the time nor the setting for such a ceremony. I informed him that command transfer could wait, as I had a duty to see to the safety of the ship and crew currently under threat of the current enemy attack, and he was given the choice of either taking a station and helping see us through that, or getting the hell off my bridge.”

Bradley: “I can understand situational stress, but after seeing your commanding officer was alive and well, why were you so short with him?”

Michael: “I was disgusted by the fact that, upon seeing the situation first-hand, Captain Brownson was more preoccupied with restoring the status quo than he was with the well-being of the ship and crew. Furthermore, I could sense his resentment toward my opposition to his directives and gave the ultimatum of removal should he try to press the issue, which again, we did not have the time for.”

Bradley: “And what drew you to that conclusion about the captain’s state of mind?”

Michael: “I am a telepath…”

Michael gritted his teeth. He had a feeling he knew where this line of questioning might have led them, and he needed to put a stop to it. Waving his hand over the recording device, the orb changed back to its stand-down yellow color, his eyes locking on the counselor across from him. “Look, I have a feeling I know where this is going, but trust me, you don’t want to put my telepathic abilities on the stand. All that’s going to lead to is hearsay, speculation, defamatory, and retaliatory accusations. I have a pretty solid idea of what he was doing, but I have no way of proving it in my current state, so let’s focus on the provable facts, shall we?” Michael expressed tensely.

Mr. Bradley looked inquisitively at his client for a moment, his mind flashing between bemusement, concern, and doubt before settling on concurrence. “Very well, Commander. For this to work, you have to trust in me and this process, but I, too have to trust in you. If you don’t think the telepathic route is worth venturing, I will strike that last question from the ledger. But you will also need to give me a little more to work with for a different angle once this is done.” Michael nodded in agreement as the counselor once again reactivated the recording device.

Bradley: “Following this brief confrontation on the bridge, how did the captain respond?”

Michael: “Well, we took fire shortly after causing him to lose balance and land in a chair, I resumed focus on the battle.”

Bradley: “Did he say anything else, or offer any command decisions?”

Michael: “No. Well, he did suggest we turn to run, but I pointed out that all of our engine power was being utilized for evasive maneuvers to avoid as much incoming damage as possible. To convert to a retreating posture would give us a far more predictable flight pattern and allow our enemies to strike us harder. A Southerland-class doesn’t turn on a dime, let alone do a 180 quick enough, and at that point, our shields never went higher than 15%, and it was all we could do to restore them or change shield facing to prevent any more serious damage.

Bradley: “Plus, you did manage to take out one of the pirate ships.”

Michael: “Yes. As bleak as our odds were, standing and fighting was the only hope we had to survive.”

Bradley: “Ok, let’s skip ahead. The USS Mad Dog and USS Calypso arrived, drove off the pirates, and began the evacuation of the Nakatomi, correct?”

Michael: “Yes. The damage we sustained triggered a warp core breach, and we were unable to jettison the warp core reactor. At that point, I called for all hands to abandon ship. Survivors were being beamed up between the two starships as fast as they could.”

Bradley: “Transport logs state Captain Brownson was picked up by the Mad Dog, and you ended up on the Calypso. What did you do when you arrived on the Calypso?”

Michael: “We were beamed to a large cargo hold. I immediately began to assist ship personnel in recovery and accounting, trying to get a handle on who was where…and who survived.”

Bradley: “Because of your actions, two hundred and seventy-two officers are still alive today.”

Michael: “Yeah…that’s a nice way to say four hundred and seventy-eight crewmen died under my command.”

Bradley pursed his lips. It had only been two days since the incident, so much had been thrown at the officer before him; there was no way he had properly processed the grief or guilt he must be feeling. And to have his integrity questioned among it all, it was a wonder he hadn’t broken down yet; prophets wouldn’t blame him if he did. He couldn’t help but admire the strength of character it took to keep pushing through and remain as professional as he was. He wanted to comfort Michael, to assure him that none of this was his fault, but he knew that was striking a very hot chord that could derail these proceedings. Best he left that to the professionals when this was all said and done.

Bradley: (-trying to get back on track-) “So what happened on the Calypso?”

Michael: “Honestly, I don’t know. I was so mentally stretched thin, I didn’t sense it coming. One minute I’m logging recovered officers on a Data PADD, the next a Security Team arrives and is escorting me to the brig. It wasn’t until the Calypso’s XO came down to read me my formal charge that I realized what Brownson did. As soon as he was beamed aboard the Mad Dog, he informed both captains that I had exacerbated the situation by performing Mutiny. He tried to paint it out, so that the ship wouldn’t have been lost had I just ‘stayed in my lane’ and not tried to play the hero.”

Bradley: “Did you try and explain or defend yourself?”

Michael: “No. The Captain of the Calypso wouldn’t see me. Not that it would have helped. I learned from the XO that the captains were both friends of Brownson; it was just my word against his. And…honestly. I was so worn out; I didn’t have the fight left in me.”

The counselor once again waved his hand over the recording device to power it down.  Instead of simply going into standby mode, it fully shut down and landed on the table lifeless. “Well, remaining silent as you did strengthened your case, as anything you would have said could have been twisted against you,” Bradly stated, as he began to pack up his equipment. “Brownson made an error pinning the blame on just you, as Mutiny is defined by a ‘group’ of people, not just one individual. The fact that he isn’t going after the other officers on the bridge who followed your orders, even commended them for their actions, is grounds enough for the Advocate General’s office to throw out the claim before it even reaches Tribunal.” Michael could sense the sincerity in the man’s mind as he leaned back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest.

“Now, there is still an entire forensic inquiry that’s being conducted on the destruction of your ship: recovery, black box data, interviewing every last survivor. This is not going to be a quick process by any means. However, with this deposition, I am filing a motion to release you. With what data they have now, and the testimony from the bridge crew alone, they don’t have cause to continue to detain you on this. I’m also filing an emergency injunction to put a pause on any further disciplinary action that may be placed on you as a result of these false allegations. I’ll be speaking with the Chief of Staff to see if I also can’t get you re-assigned somewhere far from here, outside Brownson’s sphere of influence. I can’t restore your rank just yet, but I am confident that when this is all over, you’ll be an S-Collar once again.”

Michael stood up along with Mr. Bradley and shook his hand. “Thank you. I really do appreciate it.” He began. As Mr. Bradley began to repeat his affirmations on the case, he could feel the Betazed reach into his mind and speak. {“I’m sorry to reach out to you this way, but you did say you would need an additional lead that did not tie in with my telepathy.”} “Yes, the pleasure is all mine.” The councilor replied, giving a slight nod to the officer that he understood what was mentally spoken. {“Did a Midshipman by the name of Terrina Cortez make it off the ship?”} Bradley looked down at his PADD, trying not to look too inconspicuous on the security feeds that were undoubtedly watching them. “Mmmhmm,” he responded with a slight nod after reviewing the survivors’ registry. {“You might want to press her for information on who she was with the night of the incident. Oddly enough, it might explain how the captain managed to survive his quarters being hit.”} Michael relayed telepathically. Bradley nodded once more, “Well, I’ll get right on that. Thank you, Commander, just sit tight and stay out of trouble, and I’ll be in contact with you again in a few days!”

“Godspeed, counselor.” Michael gave a small salute as the Security Guard opened the door, allowing the lawyer out of the room.

(The End)