This is my first attempt writing something in the Star Trek universe. I have read many fanfics for information, but I still don't know if I'm doing this stuff right.
I think Shinat is a Gary Sue, so if you don't like such shit, please leave and don't flame.
If you have constructive critics, feel free to write a message as PM or review, I welcome both.
- Artemis Hunter 441
Chapter 10: Prosecution of Alexander Marcus
20th of February 2259
It wasn't meant for civilian ears yet, but the news of Marcus's betrayal and upcoming court martial had leaked out and spread like a wildfire.
Dr. McCoy looked outside the window of the Admiral's office the senior staff was currently in. The whole street was filled with civilians and reporters of various news channels. "This doesn't look like we'll be done quickly. There's a whole crowd of those reporters down there!"
Admiral Barnett and Pike looked at the Captain, who was the only one sitting in a chair.
"Are you ready?" Barnett asked.
The Vulcan looked up, straight into the eyes of the brown skinned Admiral. "There is no other way, and someone has got do it." and he stood up, straightening the grey vest of his dress uniform.
"Then let's get down there."
The two Admirals took the Vulcan Captain with them to the main entrance of the building where a podium had been built for officers to stand on and answer questions of the press.
On each side of the stand, three security officers were sitting. All six of them were Romulans in grey dress uniforms.
Shinat stepped on the podium, hands clasped behind his back before he spoke into the microphone. "I understand all of you have your questions, and I shall try to answer them with the best of my abilities."
An attractive blonde woman stepped forward, eager to ask the first question. "Captain, when did Starfleet become aware what Admiral Marcus was doing?"
"Many high ranking officers already had their suspicions when the first negotiations with the Klingons began, various first missions to Qo'noS resulted in insulted Klingons and various bar fights with Klingon crew. Somehow, there had been messed with the provided Universal Translators that could be traced back to activity of Section 31. After that, we stopped using those translators and negotiations were translated by those who were able to speak Klingon."
A male reporter stepped forward. He was rather short, but quite attractive with his brown curls and green eyes. "Sir! What mistake did Admiral Marcus make?"
The Vulcan looked at the male. "After we stopped using the translators, Marcus stumbled upon the crew of the Botany Bay, the 72 Augments who survived the Eugenics War. He revived their leader, Khan Noonien Singh, and made use of his intelligence and capability to adapt. This only worked due the fact that Marcus threatened to kill his crew and family. A Vulcan who was recently assigned to my crew performed a mind meld to confirm his story. It has proven to be true."
"Sir! What does this mean to the new reputation Starfleet has? How are you dealing with it?" this time, a bashful redhead asked the question. She looked like a gossip reporter.
"We shall need to clean out all of Starfleet's officers, from Admiral to 1st year Cadet, on any signs of corruption. This shall be done by an independent research facility on Remus that is closed off for Starfleet to enter."
"Captain, what is going to happen to Admiral Marcus?"
Blue eyes closed before they opened again to face the crowd before him. "The Admiral shall face justice as it is. There shall be a court martial where he faces the Council of the United Federation of Planets which all Starfleet officers shall attend."
25th of February 2259, Council room
All seats in the round room were filled with Starfleet officers and Cadets all wearing their respective uniforms that came with their respective ranks.
The chosen representatives of all Federation Planets were sitting in the center of the room at a half-circle table, a small podium with two speaking stations on it.
The Federation President stood up. "Today we have come together for the court martial of former Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus, who has been accused of decaying the negotiations with the Klingons for the sake of a war. Defense, what have you to say on this?"
Marcus's lawyer was an attractive leggy blonde, a rather young thing to be fair. "Mr. Marcus has been unjustly accused, I plea for him to go free."
"Prosecutor, what is your plea?"
The prosecutor was a Romulan, vaguely resembling Shinat's previous XO. "Hard evidence has proven this man's guilt and we have various witnesses to our disposal who shall confirm every piece of evidence. I plea for long life jail."
"We have a list of witnesses, bound to tell the truth. The first we call forward, is Lieutenant Khan Noonien Singh, formerly known as Commander John Harrison within Section 31, currently an engineering crew member on board the U.S.S. Surak."
Khan slowly raises from his place in the crowd where he was sitting with the other engineering crew of the Vastam-class vessel. He walked down the stairs to the first stand, facing the Council's faces.
The President looks at him. "You are bound to tell the truth, Mr. Singh, do you understand your duty to justice?"
"I do." the Augment replied, his eyes sad.
"Prosecutor, you may ask questions."
The black haired Romulan rose up and walked to the front. "Lieutenant, please tell us about your experiences in Section 31."
The aqua-eyed male sighed. "I… will start at the beginning. I was revived from my cyro-sleep by Admiral Marcus. Apparently, he needed my warrior's mind, my mind. I… was pursued to build an arsenal of various weapons and a ship that was dubbed the Vengeance. It was that, or my family would be killed."
"Who do you regard as your family?" the prosecutor was looking at him with sympathy as if he knew what he was going through.
"My fellow Augments, who are in cyro-sleep." Khan replied.
The Romulan nodded and turned to the council. "I have no more questions for this witness, mister President."
"Defense, you may ask your questions to the witness."
The blonde stood up and walked to the front. "Mister President, I question the liability of this witness. He's a criminal and biased to the roots of his existence."
"What do you propose, madam Lester?" the Vulcan Ambassador asked.
"We shall go on to the next witness, and ignore the testimony of this one."
Lady T'Pau shook her head. "All witnesses have to be heard and taken seriously. And the next witness is the Mind Healer who performed the mind meld on Mr. Singh. Elder Shanak, please step forward and take thy place."
The elder Vulcan rose and stepped forward as the Augment went back to his seat, he too was dressed in a grey Starfleet dress uniform. He greeted the Council with the ta'al.
"Defense, you may take turns first."
"Mr. Shanak, who gave you the orders to mind meld with the criminal?" miss Lester asked. She was clearly furious, but none of that could be heard in her voice.
"It was Captain Shinat of the U.S.S. Surak, he wished to know the motives for all Mr. Singh had done. It was professional curiosity that drove him, both as a commanding officer and a psychologist." Shanak replied, staring straight forward.
"I was unaware the Captain had a degree in psychology."
"His graduating papers shall confirm it, as well as his personal councilor Vice Admiral Barnett, he followed both the Command track and the medical psychology track. It is unusual, even for a Vulcan, to have two sets of graduation papers." the Elder Vulcan raised an eyebrow. He had expected the woman to have done her homework on the witnesses called to stand. In his universe, Janice Lester had been much smarter than this.
"Prosecutor S'TArgelian tr'Tei, do you have questions for this witness?" the President asked as the female lawyer went back to her place beside Marcus, who began whispering things in her ear.
"I have, sir." the Romulan prosecutor replied as he stood up. "Mr. Shanak, how would you describe Captain Shinat?"
"The Captain is most generous to his crew, he inspires loyalty and rewards hard work. I believe everyone would call him kind and compassionate, a very human being. Yet I am not so reliable as I have only recently be assigned to the crew as a psychologist." the Elder replied.
S'TArgelian truned back to the council. "I have no further questions for this witness."
Then suddenly, Marcus's lawyer stood up. "Mister President, my client has something to say. I insist he may talk."
"Very well, proceed." the President said, though he didn't trust it.
Marcus stood up. "I have received reports from officers on board the U.S.S. Surak, claiming to have seen intimate interaction between Khan Noonien Singh and the Captain of said ship, Captain Shinat."
People in the crowd gasped and began whispering.
Shinat raised his eyebrow, this was just ridiculous.
"You claim that they're having an affair?" the President himself raised an eyebrow too.
"Vulcans are known to be attracted to intelligent minds, it is not impossible. Also, the Captain is a confirmed homosexual, he flirted with many back in his Academy days! And the Augments were not known to have preferences."
The President's face had turned blank. "Lady T'Pau, as Captain Shinat is a Vulcan, you have the word."
"If anything like this has occurred, I would have heard word from my grandson Commander Spock about his husband's infidelity." the Vulcan woman replied. "Captain Shinat is a reliable specimen of the Vulcan species. I can guarantee his fidelity."
The President sighed in relief. "Good, I would have hated to prosecute such a fine officer."
Marcus clenched his jaw and sat down again.
"The council will read through all testimonies and shall reach a verdict in two days."
The assembly was dismissed.
All officers rose from their seats and left the auditorium.
Once outside, Jim let out a deep breath, he had sit through the entire session with a heavy heart. "I'm glad this is over."
McCoy nodded. "You have no idea kid, I was almost exploding when Marcus accused the Captain of infidelity! More of the crew were ticking time bombs after that accusation."
"That T'Pau woman was scary as hell, am I glad she's Shinat's grandma-in-law!" the XO of the U.S.S. Surak exclaimed.
"You're no different from any other crew member, kid." The country doctor said as they followed the flow of officers out of the large council building.
Scotty looked at Khan while holding T'Leia's hand. "Are ye holding up?"
"I am doing fine, Mr. Scott. But I do experience nervousness, I don't wish to lose my crew." the former criminal replied.
"No Capt'n wants that, I believe the Vulcans would call it 'logic of emotion and devotion'." the Scotsman pointed out.
T'Leia looked at the Augment. "You should not worry, I am sure that Lady T'Pau will ensure punishment for Marcus."
"How well do you know her?" Khan asked.
The Vulcan woman smiled. "She is the Captain's mother-in-law as you may have heard, she is also the highest matriarch within our society and therefore everybody knows her. Lady T'Pau is loyal to her family, the children the Captain has with Commander Spock are the clan's only descendants due the fact that Ambassador Sarek's brother Silek is sterile and Commander Spock's brother Sybok was executed when we were younger, the reason itself is only known to the Elder council, Ambassador Sarek and Captain Shinat."
"That sounds like deep family problems. I hope that that Ambassador you talk about accepted his son's sexuality." the Augment said.
The communication's officer shrugged her shoulders. "It was hard for him to accept, but he knew Shinat would provide the family with offspring."
"For the first time in my life, I am glad to serve under someone with influential bonds."
The Chief engineer laughed. "Ye have no idea laddie, we all hold tha Capt'n in high regard, even those keepin' it unspoken."
Hikaru looked at the young navigator as they left the building, following everybody else. "How many days of shore leave do we have left?"
"I believe ve have anozer zree weeks." the Russian replied.
The helmsman sighed in relief. "Time enough to be a while with my family and take care of my garden back home! Hey Pavel, care to join me? Ben and Demora will like you."
"I can't, my parents are vaiting for me in St. Petersburg. Maybe next time."
"Sure Pasha, good luck back in Russia."
Shinat watched his family reuniting for what might be the last chance they got before the preparations for their five year mission began. He sighed deeply.
"Are you frustrated?" a familiar voice asked.
The Vulcan Captain turned around to find his counterpart standing a few feet behind him. He sighed. "Slightly. I just wish we didn't have to leave for a few more weeks. The time is going rather fast for us."
"I can only imagine, you just returned from quite a hectic few months with the Narada Incident. It would wear any captain out, that I can guarantee you." Shanak told.
"Spock mentioned you were a tactical advisor, what did you do on the Enterprise?" the younger asked.
"The James Kirk of my universe was a trouble maker, he was not immune to distractions, especially when there were women in the game." one blue eye directed at the Captain. "I gave Jim advice to distance himself from various women who could mean trouble to the ship and crew. Once we had Kodos and his daughter on board, the daughter wished to kill Jim after she had seduced him."
"Kodos? Governor of Tarsus IV and nicknamed 'The Executioner'?" Shinat raised an eyebrow at that. That would mean that…
"Indeed, Jim was on Tarsus." the former advisor said, his voice regretting it.
"By the gods, witnessing a massacre scars you for life. No wonder he hated Starfleet so much before Chris recruited him, his dad got killed and they were too late to save people from dying of hunger." two blue eyes looked down. "I wish I could take it away."
"I too wished to do that to my Jim, being a survivor is not easy."
"It never really is."
1st of March 2259
"The verdict is final. As off today, former Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus has been dishonorably discharged and put in prison for life, his crimes being irreparable and brought trauma to many. Vulcan Healers have confirmed that the mind of the former Admiral is disorganized and volunteered to help out. If this proposal has been accepted by the UFP Council is unclear, no information has been brought out and no source may provide us of any news surrounding this new progress." – Official UFP News Channel
4th of March 2259
"It has been confirmed that the U.S.S. Surak will soon leave on their first 5 year mission through uncharted space. Captain Shinat confirmed this at the press conference this morning. The first months of his new mission shall be spend on Qo'noS to achieve further progress in the negotiations with the Klingon Empire." – Official UFP News Channel
6th of March 2259
"All 71 Augments who were previously in statis since the day the Eugenics War ended, have been revived from their sleep and offered a crash course on all United Federation rules surrounding military service in Starfleet. Several of them have taken it upon themselves to become engineers, scientists and security officers. Their former leader, Khan Noonien Singh, has been officially stationed on board the U.S.S. Surak as a Lieutenant in the engineering department." – Starfleet NC 0049
7th of March 2259
"Commander James Tiberius Kirk, First Officer on board the U.S.S. Surak, has been spotted various times hanging around the flat apartment of his Captain and fellow Commander. Is this a part of the mission preparations or is something else going on between the Captain and his XO?" – San Francisco Dep. of National Enquirer
11th of March 2259
"The ship which Admiral Marcus had built for him as a prominent warship has been reported destroyed, various Starfleet members reported this. It happened in the shipyard of Riverside Iowa, where Starfleet engineers tore the ship apart and collected various parts for re-use in Starfleet ships." – Starfleet NC 0049
13th of March 2259
"Exclusively! Interview with Madame Madeleine Wallace-Marcus and Doctor Carol Marcus, wife and daughter of former Admiral Alexander Marcus. Page 3."
"Interview with Admiral Christopher Pike and Admiral Irene Nogura on Pike's promotion from Rear Admiral to Fleet Admiral. Page 15."
"Pictures of Lieutenant-Commander Montgomery Scott, Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Surak, spotted together with Lieutenant T'Leia, his best friend's sister and Chief Communications Officer. What is going on between the two of them? Page 28."
"Reflection on the newest scientific paper of Amanda Grayson. Page 22."
- Various headlines in the exclusive edition of National Enquirer
19th of March 2259
"The U.S.S. Surak will take off around approximately 1439 hours, without delay. All crew members have reported to Starfleet that they are ready for take-off, including the senior bridge staff who have been wrapped up in preparations and various briefings the past week. Their voyage will include many Klingon colonies, negotiations with new found warp-capable civilizations and visits to the Romulan capitol Krocton Segment." – Official UFP News Channel