Chapter 7 – Dive Into The Bottom Of The Deep
“Before we get off on the wrong foot, don’t think that because I’m Klingon I won’t cut a deal if I think it in your best interest,” K’Nor said after they had gone to a hotel suite he was using as an office. “However, being Klingon makes most of my opponents think I’ll fight to the doors of Sto-vo-kor which gives me certain advantages.” He held up a bottle. “Are you a drinking man, Captain?”
“More often than I should be.”
K’Nor smiled. “Good! I suspect we’ll be needing several drinks before we get through this case.”
He poured a green liquid into two glasses, offering one to Jack.
“Why take the case?” Jack asked.
“Two reasons,” K’Nor said, taking a drink. “The first… one of my best Academy students asked me to.”
“Marie?”
K’Nor smiled. “It broke my heart the day she changed from a JAG track to command at the Academy. Her meeting a certain command cadet was mostly responsible for that.” He glared at Jack. “Now that I have the culprit here before me, perhaps I should let them hang you.”
“Sorry,” Jack said. “I’m known for being a bad influence on people.”
K’Nor laughed. “I like that about you.”
“And the second?” Jack asked.
“Your case is extraordinary. Whatever this directive is, it’s got to be big for them to want to violate your rights like this. This is the kind of case a lawyer dreams of getting.”
Jack nodded. “Just don’t forget my life is on the line here.”
“I am the one person in the universe right now you can be guaranteed is on your side.” He smiled. “I may indeed fight to the doors of Sto-vo-kor this time.”
A knock at the door caused K’Nor to turn. “But perhaps there’s one other person you can count on.”
The door opened and Melissa entered. She met Jack’s eyes and ran to him, throwing her arms around him.
“God, I was so worried!”
Jack held her tight. “I’m in good hands.”
Melissa turned to K’Nor. “Marie said you were the best.”
K’Nor smiled wide. “We’re about to find out.”
***
Loftus walked into main engineering. She stopped a moment and glanced about the huge chamber until she saw Kristen Bishop at a control panel. As Loftus approached her, Kristy turned.
“Anything about Jack yet?” Kristy asked.
“I just heard from Vargas,” Loftus replied. “They’ve released him, but only because his lawyer shamed the court with questions about why they were trampling the captain’s rights.”
Kristy shook her head. “This is bad, really bad. Someone deep in the bowels of Starfleet has it out for Jack.”
“Dameron.”
“Not just him,” Kristy said. “By himself, this couldn’t go forward. He’s got others who want Jack gone too.”
“Not just gone,” Loftus said. “I’ve heard rumors they want to put him on a penal colony for ten to twenty years.”
“Shit,” Kristy murmured. “You working on something?”
“I’ve got some people I’m waiting to hear back from, and someone who might be able to shine a light on what Dameron has been up to,” Loftus said. “But I don’t know if it will be enough. He seems to be too well insulated.”
Kristy nodded.
Loftus looked around the room, then lowered her voice, “You have certain connections in Starfleet, right?”
“Yes, but…”
“I can understand you not wanting to use those connections all the time, but the captain is in a dire situation,” Loftus said. “And I expect they’ll start coming after the rest of us soon.”
Kristy smirked. “That would be a very bad mistake for these people to pull.”
“It’s not just him, and it’s not just us,” Loftus said. “They are making Starfleet into something it was never meant to be, something horrible and ugly.”
Kristy thought a moment, then nodded. “I’ll make some calls.”
***
Loftus entered the large Ready Room and sat behind the desk.
McCall’s desk, she reminded herself. She was just using it until this all got worked out and he came back to where he belonged.
The display on the desk informed her there was a message from Starfleet. She activated it, hoping it brought good news for a change, but it didn’t. The message stated their new commanding officer would arrive and take command within six days.
Six days…
Loftus didn’t bother reading the rest of the message. What was the point?
Since the Chamberlain had left the ship yards six years ago, Jack McCall had been its captain. He was as much a part of this vessel as its hull and its engines.
Why the hell would Starfleet move ahead on replacing him so soon?
She was about to read further until a transmission came in, coded for her personally. Loftus touched another control and the face of a male Klingon filled the screen.
“Commander Kadan Loftus?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“General K’Nor,” he replied. “I am Jack McCall’s lawyer.”
Loftus could feel her spirits rise. “What can I do for you, General?”
“The court has just granted me access to all the classified material in this case,” he said. “And while we can’t discuss it on an open channel like this, I did want to set up an interview with you.”
“I’ll help in any way I can.”
“You were on the bridge when Commodore Dameron issued the order at the heart of this case,” K’Nor continued. “But more importantly, I believe you served under Dameron during the Dominion War, correct?”
“Yes,” Loftus said with a frown. “The Virginia was never a happy ship, and especially so during the war.”
He nodded. “Given that, you will be crucial to our case. You know the kind of commander Dameron has been for some time. Is it in his nature to violate regulations, and issue orders for others to do so?”
“Dameron is a monster. Issuing illegal orders is second nature for him,” Loftus said. “That’s why I wasn’t at all shocked he would violate regulations as he did, just surprised he’d be so brazen about it.”
K’Nor smiled. “Then I believe we have an excellent chance of winning this case. How soon can you make it down to my office?”
“I can be on the surface within the hour,” Loftus said, smiling. “Jack McCall is one of the finest officers I have served with. I will do anything I can to help reverse this injustice being done to him.”
“See you within the hour,” K’Nor said as the display went blank again.
For the first time, Loftus felt good about Jack’s situation. She was finally doing something to help him. Hopefully that help would also bury Dameron as he deserved.
***
“What the hell is going on?” Kristy Bishop demanded from the face on the display.
“With what?” Bartholomew James, the Federation Council Secretary of Starfleet, asked.
“Jack McCall.”
“Oh… that,” James said, turning to pick up a PADD on his desk. “McCall refused to follow orders. Simple as that.”
“Since those orders were to kill two billion people, we both know that’s bullshit,” Kristy said, leaning back in the chair in her quarters. “Let’s try this again… What’s going on?”
He frowned. “McCall violated a directive which I can’t go into…”
“The Omega Directive.”
“Did he…”
“I have lots of friends in the admiralty, remember?” She grinned. “Besides, that fool Dameron spilled it when he ordered McCall to wipe out all the people on that planet.”
He nodded. “McCall left Omega technology intact, threating the entire galaxy. He has to pay the price for that.”
“Again… bullshit. This is some game Dameron is playing, and you know he’s a maniac.”
“He’s a…” James started.
“Maniac.”
“Be that as it may, that directive can’t be tossed aside.”
“Yet, you’ll toss aside everything else the Federation stands for to serve that directive,” Kristy said.
“The Federation isn’t a suicide pact,” James said. “Omega technology can make warp travel impossible… everywhere. Those people on that planet McCall threw away his career for already use it to negate warp travel around their system. Imagine if that were done to a huge area in Federation space.”
“Then we’d just have to figure out another way of getting from point A to point B,” Kristy said. “Warp drive isn’t worth murdering two billion people.”
“Tell that to the trillions who depend on the food, supplies, and defense delivered to them by warp drive.”
“That’s a false dilemma!” Kristy shouted. “Those people have been using that technology for five hundred years! Nothing remotely bad has happened in those centuries.”
“Yet,” James added.
“How about doing what we were taught at the Academy… figure something out which doesn’t require genocide?”
“This isn’t an Academy ethics class. This is the real world. Sometimes tough choices have to be made,” James said.
“Too bad all of you at the top of Starfleet spend your time avoiding them, and instead make choices which maximize pain and suffering in the universe.”
“That’s not fair!” he shouted, finally losing his cool with her.
“Isn’t it?” she asked. “Or is that what gets you off—the murder of billions?”
“This conversation is over,” James said. “McCall will face the consequences of his actions, or in this case, inaction. He has to be held accountable.”
“Be careful about wanting to hold people accountable, Bart,” Kristy said.
“Are you actually threatening me?!” he asked, his eyes wide.
“Why? You have something you need to account for?”
He frowned. “Be careful. You’re not beyond accountability yourself.”
Kristy laughed. “And given that those things I did were directly tied into certain operations which…”
“All right!” he shouted, cutting her off. “What do you want?”
“McCall… end this court-martial.”
“I can’t,” he grumbled. “It’s grown beyond my ability to stop it.”
“You’re the Secretary of Starfleet! How does that happen?”
“Starfleet isn’t a singular entity,” he said, his face having lost all its fight. “It’s more like a collection of wild animals. Keeping them leashed and headed the same direction is all consuming these days.”
“Then head them the direction…”
“I can’t,” James said. “But I might be able to see that McCall is given a deal which would allow him to retire without blemish on his record.”
“Not good enough.”
“Dameron’s people are demanding blood. Allowing McCall to go into retirement without at least ten years in prison is going to be a tough sell as it is. Letting McCall go free…”
“Then court-martial Dameron,” Kristy said. “I know he’s got enough skeletons in his closet to bury him at the core of a penal colony.”
“No,” James said. “The consequences of that could be catastrophic. More than thirty worlds would leave the Federation over it.”
“You allow yourself to be held hostage like that?!”
“It’s not a question of allowing it,” James said. “It’s a matter of reality. Dameron has spent his career making connections everywhere. How do you think he’s been allowed to remain in command of the Virginia all this time doing what he does?”
“This is what happens when you let monsters have the center seat just so you can win a war,” Kristy said. “And don’t pretend that was forced on you. That particular monster retained his command chair while you were the CinC of Starfleet.”
“We needed monsters in the Dominion War,” James said. “We were facing annihilation.”
“That’s how it starts,” she replied. “No one ever intends on selling their soul. They hand out small pieces until they reach a day where there isn’t much left.”
“I’ll do what I can for McCall,” he said. “But this has already gone so far, I don’t know if there’s much I can…”
“Figure something out,” Kristy said. “Jack is a good man. He deserves better than this.”
“I know,” James said. “Larissa… My daughter was in love with him… before she died.”
“Then do this for her.”
James reached forward and switched the comm off.
Kristy stared at the blank screen. She knew her threats could only get her so far. While following through would throw all of Starfleet into turmoil, it wouldn’t necessarily help out Jack McCall. She had to be careful with how she played this.
She touched a control on her comm panel. A moment later, Robin Nelson, her Assistant Chief Engineer, appeared on the screen.
“What’s up?” Robin asked.
“You heard about the captain?”
Robin nodded. “Yes.”
“You and I need to make sure our work is secure.”
“Why so?” Robin asked. “And what does that have to do with Captain McCall?”
“Right now? Nothing,” Kristy said. “But things are going to get very interesting over the next few days, and we may need to make a rapid exit.”
“This sounds intriguing,” Robin said with a grin.
“Transitions often are,” Kristy said. “But this one may be more heartbreaking than anything else. Get everything together so we can take it with us if we need to leave in a hurry.”
“I’ll have it ready in twenty-four hours,” Robin replied.
“Good.”
