LtJG Gila Sadar - Hated Words: Disobedient Compromise
Gila Sadar
((Counselor's Office - Deck 7, USS Artemis-A))
Jashkaa: You’re clearly struggling with Starfleet rules versus your own code - tell me about that code. Where does it come from?
Sadar: … It’s not an easy moral codex to dismiss. The Tenets - the moral framework of my entire people - denounces violence and preaches surrender and non-resistance… ::twists her ring:: Disregarding every lesson I was taught prior to leaving my home system is proving… More difficult than I’d anticipated.
A glimmer of recognition - of sympathy, perhaps? - crossed over the Commander’s visage. Gila didn’t know much of the Orions - not beyond the poorly drawn caricatures of narrow minded gossipers in the corners, at any rate - but it was clear that today wasn’t the first time the Commander had faced the conundrum of an intercultural clash of codes.
Jashkaa: I understand. But do you have to disregard them all? Compromise is often seen as a dirty word, but I have never understood why… ::she pursed her lips:: Actually that’s not true. If I may, Starfleet is primarily built around the tenets of the original species, and every additional species has to find their way to fit in that structure. They are expected by many within the Federation to “fit in” and not the other way around.
Gila blinked, clearly confused.
Sadar: … Yes?
It seemed obvious to her. The cog adapting to the machine they’d been put into, not unlike adapting work methods when changing your field of study. Approaching the medical field in the same manner with which she treated historical study was a recipe for disaster, after all, and she’d figured that leaving her homeworld and entering a Federation-dominated space worked in much the same way. The Federation’s modus operandi was to embrace diversity and build bridges between its many peoples, but at the end of the day, the Federation still had its way of doing things.
And it was the individual officer’s duty to perform the duty Starfleet had assigned it.
Right?
Jashkaa: What I’m saying, suggesting even, is that perhaps you are bending too much to go with the flow. Bend too much, and you’ll break. Tell me, if you had all the power of a Commodore, what is one thing you would like to change?
See, that was a uniquely terrifying thought. Gila might’ve accepted, and even come to kind of like, her new rank, but Commodore!?
Sadar: C-C-C-C-! I, uhh- I don’t- ::pauses as she considers the question:: ... Make medical personnel non-combatants? ::pause:: We already sort of are…
oO If nothing else, then at least in theory. Oo
Jashkaa: Response
Gila shrugged.
Sadar: In times of crisis, every Starfleet Officer is considered military personnel. When we were overtaken by the crew of the Desdemona, I... I was part of a team intended to retake the Bridge, and... I was given a phaser. We couldn’t afford to appear unarmed. I never shot it - I don’t think I would’ve hit anything had I tried, certainly not anything conducive to a peaceful takeover - but…
She’d tried to resist the duty, of course. Tried to point out that she was as useful with a phaser as an armless cephalopod, but the crisis demanded it. The desperate look in Lieutenant Silveira’s eyes demanded it.
Jashkaa: Response
There was an uncomfortable point being made, and Gila didn’t like it one bit. Beyond the struggle between morality and duty, it was her chiefest weakness at the Academy, and while she thought she’d made real progress, she knew that there was still a ways to go.
Sadar: ::sighs:: The issue with the assassination could’ve been avoided, had I been more adamant, couldn’t it? None of us wanted to go through it, but because it felt like our only option, we all just accepted that this was what had to be done. ::thinks:: The senior officer made a call. And that was it.
Jashkaa: Response
TAG/TBC
LtJG Gila Sadar
Medical Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1