Brought to Book?
Posted on Mon Apr 28th, 2025 @ 11:54am by Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T'ghann-Dex. Doctor & Commodore Finchley Kerr
3,306 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Voices of the past
Location: SFIHQ
Timeline: Current.
Shon sighed as she twisted her dark hair up into a plait and pushed it behind her ears. She stopped for a moment and studied her face her eyes dark, her eyebrows upswept and, for once her Vulcan ears on show. She smiled as she remembered their last two days of travel, time spent healing both of them through being together. She felt much more able to cope with what was to come. "Just tell the truth!" she said out loud to herself as she adjusted her dress uniform, noting that she had indeed lost weight and increased her muscle mass. The look was not bad, she thought as it gave her a sense of gravitas. A sound behind her made her turn as the medical adjutant entered the room.
"Lieutenant Commander?, they are ready for you." the young Bolian said. "They do not like to be kept waiting."
Shon's eyebrow raised. "Of course I am ready but use my title please. I am the Chief Medical Officer of the Blackeagle, and proud to be so." she picked up her PADD and followed the Bolian.
In the court room, three Senior Officers sat waiting for the proceedings to get underway. The prosecuting officer sat at their table, fussing through their PADD's, making sure everything was in order.
Meanwhile, out in the corridor, Finchley leaned up against the wall waiting on Shon arriving. He had a little laugh to himself, he couldn't remember the last time he'd worn his dress uniform, and if he was honest, it showed as the creases from it being folded away for so long were razor sharp. Still, he didn't care, this wasn't a fashion show, it was a military court of law, he didn't care. As he mused, he heard the steady 'click, click, click' of shoes coming along the corridor and he smiled as Shon came into view. She looked stunning in her dress uniform, the cut was such that he had to admit he was a little turned on, but he pushed that thought to the side. Finally when Shon was stood beside him, he placed his hands on her shoulders and ran them gently down her arms, "Doctor T'ghann-Dex, welcome to your moment in court, are you all set?"
Shon nodded and, for a moment squeezed his hand. "I'm ready to get this over."
The room was smaller and sparser than she thought it would be. In front of a large window and high desk sat three people only one of whom she knew. The adjutant led her to the desk on the right side of the room and offered her a chair and the Commodore beside her. The desk to the left contained someone she did not know although the rank of Admiral was obviously a serious one.
She stood to attention as a small bell rang out and a human woman stood. "I am Admiral Chell Head of Medical for the SFIH Eastern Region." This," she said noting the human next to her, "is Commander Denton Head of SFIH medical at this facility." Denton nodded looking fiercely at Shon. Admiral Chell noted the last person whom Shon was shocked to recognize. "And this is Admiral T'lathas head of SFIH Technology." The female Vulcan nodded.
"Doctor please state your name, rank and number."
"Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T'ghann-Dex. Chief Medical Officer USS BlackEagle. Number 55342 dash 9." Shon said.
They looked at Finchley waiting for his input.
"Oh, I'm Commodore Finchley Kerr, Captain of the USS Blackeagle, I'm representing the defendant. I can't remember my serial number, never had any use for it, can we get some tea or coffee before this waste of time begins?"
Shon choked trying not to laugh and managed to turn it into a cough. Chell and Denton whispered together as T'lathas looked down her nose at him. "Commodore Kerr, there is no need to show your rebellious side to this tribunal. If you are to act for the defendant you know you will not be doing her any good this way. She stands accused of the highest crime a physician can commit, that of murder."
Chell nodded and placed one strike of the bell. "Very well let us begin. "Doctor T'ghann-Dex is accused of the crime of murder whereby she infected another humanoid species with nanites, in fact knowing that she could not be cured and would indeed end in her death.'
"If it pleases the court, I wasn't actually showing my rebellious side, you'd know for certain if I was, because I'd be commenting on each and every one of you, which may still come into play if needs be" Finchley replied, slowly standing up, "However, before you carry on, I have a single question I'd like to ask before you proceed. Who was it that started the Eugenics Wars?"
Shon looked at Finchley.
Chell spoke, "Commodore Kerr it is not for you to question this tribunal but it was of course Kahn Noonien Singh and his Eugenics wars. That period of history is written in infamy, millions died.
"I'm not questioning the tribunal Admiral, I wouldn't have the audacity to...yet" Finchley said, "But what I am doing is establishing a base line that, as Doctor T'ghann-Dex legal representative, we're all going to be working from. Now that it has been established, things will be able to proceed."
Admiral Chell struck her bell. "Very well, Doctor please, in your own words, tell us what led you to your actions?"
Shon looked at Finchley gaining some strength from his unyielding demeanour. "Very well Admiral, Commander Hunter myself and Lieutenant Commander Savette beamed down in the midst of a missile attack from the other side. Lieutenant Commander Savette's condition was deteriorating. Her Borg nanites normally only nominally working had responded......" Shon looked at Finchley hoping for some help. The last thing she wanted to do was drop Isabelle in it. the fact that her body contained the nanites was a quietly kept secret, adding genetic engineering to the mix, if it were wider known would possibly sanction her friend leading to incarceration and loosing her Commission.
Finchley stood up again, "Lieutenant Commander Savette's borg nanite situation has already been covered by a previous mission report I submitted to Starfleet's Medical Standards Board and also the Chief Medical Physician, it was also sent to the head of Medical for the SFIH Eastern Region, so you will no doubt be aware that no grounds were found to remove said Lieutenant Commander Savette from active duty as she presented no immediate or future regarded threat. In fact, the Medical Standards Board thought it could actually be the basis for a long term study, and with that in mind, I agreed to any and all medical examinations of the Lieutenant Commander to be forwarded to them."
He sat back down, turned to Shon and placing his hand over his mouth said quietly "The tribunal have to uphold the Medical Standards Board request for the study, they have no choice, the Board supersedes them."
Shon breathed a sotto voce "thank you" and carried on. "The medical care of the crew were uppermost in my mind. The Counsellor was dying and the woman Kara would not allow us access to their medical bay and it seemed that she was happy to let her die. I knew that if I could treat the Counsellor's nanites with a 'wash' and, this has already been covered in my in detailed medical report of which you should all have a copy. I had at best moments, I had a syringe of nanites in my hand, another explosion occurred and propelled me towards Kara. I took a second to make the decision to inject her as I careened into her." Shon straightened her back. "I advised the woman Kara of what I had done and told her if I gained access to the infirmary I could save her. If not, she would die. "I already knew it was my duty as a Physician and an SFIH Officer to save the crew. I knew Kara would die because of my action, an action I chose to take the second I injected her. This is my responsibility alone and I understand the repercussions of this to myself, my freedom and my career." She stopped speaking as a slow clapping T'lathas moved forward.
"I have to congratulate you Lieutenant Commander Dex, how noble of you to decide to take a life."
Once more, Finchley got to his feet, "It's not yet been established that the Lieutenant Commander took a life Admiral T'lathas. Oh, speaking of taking lives, tell me, did you really believe that you managed to get away with covering up the deaths of the two technicians you sent into the Gamma ray room on Laris Prime, you know, the ones who warned you about the experiment of splitting the Gamma rays and bombarding them with charged ion particles would in effect create an unstable element that would instantly eradicate any living tissue exposed to it. The same two technicians you sent in to 'fix' the Gamma ray settings, but before they could start their work, you locked the room and started the experiment up, thus killing them? You didn't think anyone would get to know about this? Once we're done here at this tribunal, you'll be having once of your own...and my Uncle Eugene, he's a stickler for rules and regs and he also 'hates' people not owning their own problems. So, all your slow hand clap and sarcasm there from your comment has done is just expose you for what you are...a murderer."
He then looked at Admiral Chell and Commander Denton, "Oh, I have dirt on both of you as well, so, for the sake of reason, can we cut the sarcasm shit and the hard stares like it's meant to frighten Lieutenant Commander T'ghann-Dex and myself and get down to it. The question of who began the Eugenics Wars was for purpose, it was the Augments. Kara and her kin were Augments, descendants of the crew from the USS Ranger. The original crew split, one half wanting to stay on the planet, the other half wanting to find their way back to Federation space to try and begin another Eugenics War. Kara co-led the half who wanted to return to Federation space, however, before that could happen the had to kill the other half to stop them from telling anyone who came to the planet what Kara was going to do. She started a war on the planet, she instigated sending missiles to kill them, they simply replied in kind. What happened on the planet when the facility that my colleague here was bombed was a direct result of the war started by Kara, Kara brought her downfall on herself, Lieutenant Commander T'ghann-Dex and her away team were held prisoner by Kara, not allowed to beam back to the Blackeagle. She wanted them as leverage, unfortunately it backfired on her. So, in a nutshell, Kara brought her own death to herself. If you want, I can have all the logs brought here to show you just how corrupt and insane Kara was, she even had me shot, and if it wasn't for the medical brilliance of the good Lieutenant Commander here, I wouldn't be standing here having to explain all of this to you. The Blackeagles logs will back all I've said, testimony from the away team will back it up, the medical logs on the Blackeagle will back all this up."
He turned to Shon and helped her up out of her seat. Turning back to Admiral Chell and Commander Denton he carried on, "We're done here with this nonsense, so you can either ring your little bell and say 'case dismissed', or I take this to SFIHQ and the Chief of Staff. He'll be more than happy to look into this with a fine tooth comb, and the result will be the same, he'll dismiss the case."
Looking at Denton he glared at him, pointed and said "And I'm coming after you Denton, I know about your dealings with the Ferengi, selling confidential medical information for profit. You better run now, but have no doubt, I'll catch up with you and you'll be sorry."
Looking at Chell he added, "And don't think you're getting off Scot free, you're the one who supplied him with the confidential medical information. I think it's time you took retirement Admiral, that is, if you can outrun SFI Security. Now, ring your stupid fucking bell and say 'case dismissed' before I get really angry."
Shon was surprised to hear everything that Finchley had said and was shocked that the panel had so much baggage. " If all this is true," she looked at them. "Then I agree with the Commodore, I can not see how you can censure me from doing what I thought was right. To save the members of my crew I made a split second decision which will live with me forever. Now, make your decision?"
Chell rang the bell looking specifically at Finchley. "This court is adjourned for one hour while we make our decision." they filed out and the door closed behind them. The air left Shon and she smiled. "I could do with a coffee, how about you?" she asked Finchley.
"In one minute Shon, I just have to do something first" Finchley replied. He picked up the PADD in front of him and sent a coded message, within seconds he had a reply, and it was for a face to face talk. Finchley gladly opened the COMM link and said, "They've adjourned for an hour to make their decision."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" the reply came back.
"No Fleet Admiral, I wish I were, however I'm not" Finchley answered.
"Take this into their chambers, NOW!" the shouted command replied.
"Absolutely Sir, I'll be delighted to" Finchley said, rising from his seat and walking towards the door where the three tribunal judges had gone. Opening it, he wasted no time, "Admiral Chell, I have someone who wishes to speak to you...right now" he said, turning the PADD around so the screen pointed at the judges.
"CHELL, THIS IS FLEET ADMIRAL EUGENE KERR, CHIEF OF STAFF, STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE AND YOUR SUPERIOR" Kerr shouted, "GET YOUR FUCKING ARSE BACK OUT INTO THAT COURT ROOM, ALONG WITH THOSE TWO OTHER LAME DUCKS AND END THIS PROCEEDING NOW BY PRONOUNCING LIEUTENANT COMMANDGER SHONIARA T'GHANN-DEX CASE AS BEING DISMISSED, NO CHARGES BROUGHT! FAILURE TO DO SO WILL SEE YOU AND THE OTHER TWO BROUGHT TO BOOK FOR CONTRAVENING A DIRECT ORDER. ONCE DONE, THE THREE OF YOU WILL THEN SURRENDER YOURSELVES TO THE STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE SQUAD WAITING OUTSIDE IN THE CORRIDOR. IF I DON'T HEAR BACK IN THE NEXT TWO MINUTES FROM COMMODRE KERR THAT YOU'VE DONE WHAT I'VE JUST TOLD YOU, YOU'RE IN EVEN MORE SERIOUS SHIT THAN YOU ALREADY ARE, KERR OUT!!!"
Finchley shut off the PADD and looked at Admiral Chell, "Sir, shall we?" he gestured back to the room when Shon was.
Shon was halfway to consuming her Vulcan leaf tea. The whole tribunal thing was getting old, she had no respect for the panel now that Finchley had broken them open. She looked up to see them filing back into the room. She placed her tea back on the replicator and regained her place at the table. "What's going on Finchley?" she whispered as Chell, Denton and Tlathus took their places their demeanour seemingly reduced to those of scared mice.
"Oh, Starfleet's Chief of Staff stepped in when I told him about what had happened during the tribunal" Finchley replied, "he was less than happy and more or less ripped them all a new one, especially Admiral Chell. I believe you're now about to be exonerated by them all and will be free momentarily."
Shon smiled at him as the bell sounded and she stood. Chell, Denton and T'lathus now had different expressions on their faces although Chell still looked self satisfied. "Doctor T'ghann -Dex. We understand what happened on the planet placed you in a difficult situation. Your decision to prioritise your crew mates was the correct one, although the way you went about it was wrong. We have decided to exonerate you of premeditated murder but, due to the fact that the nature of your decision caused the death of the woman Kara we have decided to demote you to Lieutenant...."
"NO, NO," Shon cried as she sat down her head on Finchley's shoulder."
"T'lantus said, "This will allow you to continue practising medicine, unless you wish to resign your commission altogether."
Finchley turned to Shon and whispered in her ear, "Accept the reply."
Shon was speechless, she had expected him to jump to her defence but she realised she was caught. "Bastards." she said unexpectedly as she stood. "I accept the demotion, let's finish this." There was a look of almost happiness in Chells eyes. Although he was to face judgement himself the pleasure he felt was almost visceral. He looked at both of them and imagined an execution.
Finchley stood up and said, "Very well, your judgement is accepted, if there's nothing more, can we finish proceedings" he ended, nodding at the bell for Chell to chime.
Chell looked at his companions and nodded. "Lieutenant Dex you are free to go." He struck his little bell. Shon sat down the spirit knocked out of her.
Finchley nodded and picked up the PADD he'd had on the table. As Chell and his fellow judges began passing by their table, Finchley turned to Shon again, "Lieutenant T'ghann-Dex, as Commanding Officer of the USS Blackeagle, I hereby field promote you to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, along with all it's rights and privileges. The neurosurgical work you carried out on myself after I was shot, bringing me back from the dead so to speak, was aboslutely outstanding and I wanted to show my appreciation. I will discuss this further with the Starfleet Intelligence Medical Board and hopefully seek to make your promotion a permanent one, but for now it's a field promotion. but you still have the full status and authority of a Lieutenant Commander."
Shon smiled, "Thank you Commodore" she said, "I was worried they would move me somewhere else, their decision is spiteful and not based on my history." She looked towards security gathering to take the judges into custody. "I am not normally a spiteful person but I hope they get what they deserve. Thank you for everything you have done for me."
Finchley took her hand, "For you, anything."
He watched as all three judges were arrested and taken away. His thoughts turned to about how much this had been a harrowing experience for Shon, and how much he now wanted for her to have a life where she could put the situation behind her...how both of them could, and get on with their lives."
With the judges and Security now gone, he once again looked at Shon, "Hey, I got a message from Finnigan, he's an old Intel colleague of mine. He has a rather interesting idea, I thought we could finally get that coffee and discuss it."
The room emptied and she turned to him. "You look pale , let us get that coffee and I can check you over. She looked round the empty room and her lips met his. "Let's go." she said interested.
"Did I mention he also offered us guest quarters...just saying..." Finchley replied after softly kissing Shon back.
"Guest quarters sound very good right now." she said as Finchley stood, Shon took his arm and they left the room.
RSS Feed