JP: Nilsen, Lahl, Dieter, T'Reth, Caras, Astrolabe: Star Trek: SCI (1 of 5)
Avander Promontory
A Starfleet officer is accused of a crime.
A special team is sent to get to the truth.
OOC: Welcome to a very special premiere episode of Star Trek: Special Criminal Investigations, a presentation in 5 parts.
Setting
Port Coray
Dramatis Personae
Lhandon Nilsen The Accused
Special Agent T’Reth Criminal Investigator
Lexiudex Magistrate
Astrolabe Quirky Forensics Analyst
Kimonzi Lahl Impromptu Defense Counsel
Gigranal Witness/Suspect
Sa phto Witness/Suspect
Cambrimi 45 Witness/Suspect
Morro Caras Character Witness
Sahiana Ordana Medical Investigator (ME)
Ty B Dieter Lead Agent [Worene]
Shdarn, a Wadi Dead Guy
Starfleet: Special Criminal Investigations (Starfleet: SCI)
USS Themis (modified Nova-class, recently assigned to Deep Space 14)
Notable Crew:
THE JP:
Part I
(( Magistrate’s Council Chambers, Port Coray ))
Nilsen stood in the dock of the makeshift courtroom on Port Coray. The dock was in the middle of the courtroom, and the assembled crowd was packed in on two levels, smelling blood and having come for the spectacle.
Sweat trickled down his brow, but he didn't dare wipe it away; his every move was being watched. His hands, clammy and cold, gripped the edges of the chair. The room seemed to close in around him, and his breath came in shallow, uneven gasps. He could feel the eyes of the audience boring into him, judging him, condemning him.
The audience was on both of his flanks, two columns to each side, and he was sat in the center, a small table on a raised dais with a railing around it that might as well be a cage. With him were a few of his crewmates that had been pressed into becoming his impromptu defense team. Above him, scores of people from all around the gamma quadrant packed into the gallery, they peered down upon on, some with smirks, enjoying the show.
At the front, seated higher than anyone else in the room, was the magistrate prime, Lexiudex. As magistrate prime, she handled the more complex cases or where the bribe to make it disappear was too high.
Today was different. The notoriety, the buzz, this was the potential for her to gain more power and influence, should the trial and verdict play out well. Looking out to the crowd, today seemed auspicious. All the seats were full of passionate station dwellers and as she laid her orange irises on the defense, she could see why; the infamous Starfleet she heard about had attended dressed in their uniforms. These people, galavanting all over her quadrant causing mayhem; she’d needed to teach them a lesson.
As she stood, the entire courtroom fell silent — a smirk crept across her face until it turned into a broad smile. Power. Control. Over the years, the residents learned not to cross the imposing figure. As she spoke, she started directly into the accused eyes.
Lexiudex: (To Lhandon) Normally, we’d have already dispatched you. An eye for an eye, a murder for a murder. We like to balance the scales here and distribute justice…fairly. And in time, we’ll come to that. But, our UDP ‘friends’ have indicated that we must at least hear your side of the story or our shipping lanes could dry up.
There were boos from the crowd, which echoed the magistrate’s own feelings. Normally the judge, jury and executioner, did not enjoy being under the heel of the UDP — but she’d play nice in the sandbox for now, best not anger those that could bestow more privilege in the future.
Down in the docks, Kimonzi was nervous, while it was true that Audriy Lahl was one of the preeminent criminal defense attorneys on Trill, and she had all of Audriy’s memories, the Lahl symbiont hadn’t been a lawyer in hundreds of years, and she was just a twenty-six year old ensign who happened to have the memories of a lawyer. However, that apparently was the best Starfleet could do on such short notice, especially considering that the alternative was Nilsen being immediately killed. She had been starting to like Nilsen, it would have been disappointing to have him die.
She was glad she decided to forgo the dress uniform, let alone the full dress uniform, as this was decidedly a casual affair.
Above them all in the upper gallery, T’Reth was beginning to question her decision to leave the Department of Temporal Affairs and join Starfleet’s Special Criminal Investigation team. While returning to being an explicitly criminal investigator was a plus, the sheer amount of bureaucracy in the new role was taxing. In addition to the proliferation of team members, they had been assigned a jurisdiction far from Federation space. Their first assignment was to help a Starfleet officer who had been (allegedly wrongly) accused of murder by a separate sovereign entity.
T’Reth wasn’t convinced of his innocence, but she also was not persuaded that he was guilty. The Vulcan simply did not have much concrete evidence at this point, one way or the other. This trial–if you could call it that–likewise didn’t impress her much. She kept her attention on the presiding magistrate.
Lexiudex: You’ll need to convince me to stay in my hand. Normally the accused advocate for themselves.::motioning half-heartedly to the defense:: Who be you all?
Lahl: Ensign Kimonzi Lahl, Magistrate. I will be representing Lieutenant Junior Grade Lhandon Nilsen. I thank you for your willingness to hear me out.
The magistrate narrowed her eyes as she looked the ensign up and down, making a gesture to roll her eyes before the next one piped up.
Promontory: Lieutenant Commander Avander Promontory. Representing the United Federation of Planets. oO And, hopefully, some semblance of Justice… Oo
Lhandon felt a wave of relief come over him, he hadn’t noticed Promontory arrive, he was buried too deep in his own head. He couldn’t express the gratitude he felt now that his new XO was here
Seated by the rest of the officers from the OEB, Ensign Morro Caras did not feel good about these proceedings. In the Vale, where he came from, there was no real justice. This place seemed closer to the Vale than it did the Federation. They thought of this mostly as a circus and a show, a novelty. He was here to speak about Lhandon’s character. He was hoping he could be persuasive enough without showing his biases.
He had gotten out of similar situations before with other factions that resided in The Vale, but those were actual crimes that Caras committed, this was different. It wasn’t in defense of himself and his sister, and nor was the accused actually guilty. He would have to reverse engineer this system as well, but this was not a starship, best he could do was find out what traits that this society valued, and show that Lhandon possessed them.
Caras: Ensign Morro Caras, I’m here as a character witness for the defense.
Luxiudex’s eyes flicked to each of them for a moment, taking stock.
Lexiudex: Make no mistake, while the UDP may have stepped in to get you this ‘trial’, their weight is not infinite and I will not tolerate lies and falsehoods to exonerate this accused.. I will grant ::looking at the timekeeping device:: 2 cycles (days).
She bared her sharp and jagged teeth in a mock smile.
Lexiudex: Given you’re Starfleet, that time should be more than enough and I’d suggest you take it before I move to summary judgment.
Lahl: Thank you Magistrate, we will be ready.
In the upper gallery, T’Reth looked over to their team lead. He seemed to be indicating that they should go. Dieter’s tail was more flared out than when they first met, a tell that the Worene was less than thrilled with the opening statements..
Dieter: Let’s vamoose before she ::nodding his head to the magistrate:: gets any ‘bright’ ideas and he’s hauled off before we get a fair shot at proving his innocence. It seems like we have our work cut out with her.
T’Reth: Agreed, there is little we can learn from these proceedings. Our time is better spent investigating.
Ty B Dieter had been at the SCI for several years already, but he’d never worked with anyone from the DTI. That department had been known for its standoffish manner and rather intense interrogations, but that was on their ground. He wondered what T’Reth would be like, a slave to logic, now on assignment in the far-flung lawless land of the Gamma Quadrant.
Dieter: I’m thinking we head to the scene. (beat) I’ve heard that the body is still there.
T’Reth: I am both surprised and not. It is doubtless contaminated, but it would be good for us to learn what facts remain unperturbed.
Dieter: (nodding) Apparently the UDP wouldn’t let them fold up the crime scene until we had a chance to examine it ourselves. The Gamma Flotilla Expeditionary Task Force has been slowly building out some decent relations over here.
T’Reth: The smallest of boons, I’m sure.
Dieter: ::looking around the room:: Did you bring your ‘pocket change’? I doubt anyone here is going to be forthcoming without any incentive.
T’Reth: A bribe? Has the Federation authorized that sort of expense?
Not that the Federation didn’t have the means, but in T’Reth’s experience, the Federation’s moral standards often barred that which was efficient, practical, or even logical, in the circumstances.
Dieter: As long as whatever we get is legitimate, I don’t think anyone here is going to worry about how we facilitated it. Out here, you gotta flex a bit to fit the mold. I guess we’ll have to make due with what I brought and see how far it gets us.
T’Reth nodded her ascent and followed the team lead past the scores of onlookers as the trial continued.
With a last look back to the dock, the SCI team slipped out the door.
TBC
–
Starring:
Sahiana Ordana
Medical Examiner
Starfleet Criminal Investigative Team
&&
Lieutenant JG Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Assistant Chief of Operations.
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)
Ensign Kimonzi Lahl
Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler
O240107KL4
Lieutenant Ty B Dieter
Lead Investigator
Starfleet Criminal Investigative Team
O240005JH3 / O239910AP4
&&
Lexiudex
The Right Honorable Prime Magistrate
Autonomous Authority of Port Coray
O240005JH3
he/him/his (player)
Special Agent T’reth
Starfleet Criminal Investigative Team
O239910AP4
Ensign Morro Caras
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240106MC1
Astrolabe
Forensic Scientist
&
Gigranal
Undular Witness
M239008AD0