Chapter 10
=Telmaic Prime=
T'Pol, Trip and Jon were led into the tribunal hall, as the multiple footfalls echoed from the walls and floors made from what looked like marble, but shimmered in the sunlight with a glow that was a stunning display of translucent colors. Jon looked at the tall, carved columns that went from floor to ceiling. He might have appreciated the artwork that adorned the walls, or even the sculpted statues that stood in the various places, if they weren't in the predicament that they had found themselves.
A statue caught his eye, which looked to be carved from the same material as the walls. He stopped for a moment to study it. The statue depicted a woman wearing a long, flowing dress, one shoulder and arm exposed and large wings, what Jon imagined would be the wings of an angel. Her dress and hair looked to be flowing in the wind as her face held a frozen feature of a warrior, screaming out a battle cry as her exposed arm wielded a long, hefty sword high above her head, poised to strike down her enemy.
He thought for a moment of Earth, ancient Rome or maybe Greece, admiring the beauty of the statue, welcoming the stirring of emotion that it evoked. He admired it for a moment, that is until he felt a hard shove to his shoulder from one of the guards prodding him to keep moving forward.
Jon's face twisted in displeasure at the guard, who was denying him the moment to appreciate the beauty of this stone, fearsome woman, and grunted as he continued his journey towards his unknown fate.
As they approached the long table that rose high above the floor, forcing those who stood below to crane their heads upwards to see the people sitting there, Jon took a mental note of the 6 men and women to one side, in what looked like robes, all of which were a dark grey color and 6 more men and women to the other side, whose robes were a dark red color. In the center of them was High Minister Velmin whose robes were a white color, decorated with gold emblems that Jon wondered if the emblems meant something.
He gave a nod of recognition to Velmin, who sat appearing to not acknowledge the human Captain. Jon was slightly relieved when Velmin returned a nod, so subtle, unless one was looking directly at him, they would not see it. It was then that Jon understood that the High Minister had to appear to be indifferent towards him and his crew.
Jon turned to look at the others in the room, standing to the side of the table seeing for the first time in person, Captain Te'zark. The sight of the man brought a dark scowl to his face. His glare softened when he noticed Captain Ja'zel also standing there.
Jon gave a warm smile. "Captain Ja'zel. So nice to finally-" Once again there was a hard shove to his shoulder.
"The prisoner is not permitted to speak to a witness until his turn to testify!" The guard behind Jon barked out.
Selminti stepped forward, scowling at the guard as he spoke to the council assembly. "The accused meant no harm. It is their custom to greet those they are familiar with, and as you all are aware, Captain Archer and Captain Ja'zel had several conversations during those tense moments at Preen. I implore the High Minister to overlook this infraction, as it was my failure in duty to have them understand the severity of such actions." He then spread his arms wide with his palms up, bowing deeply, so deep that his head almost touched his knees, and held the bow as he waited.
The assembly simultaneously looked to one another, then to High Minister Velmin. Velmin took a moment to consider the statement. "The infraction will be excused, this time, and stricken from the record, but any further infractions of this nature will be held as a disrespect to these proceedings. Representative Selminti, it will be noted in your journals that you neglected to properly advise your charges in our customs, your journal will reflect one mark of your negligence."
Selminti slowly stood, pulling his outstretched arms back to his side. "Of course, High Minister. Thank you."
Jon looked to Selminti, opening his mouth, then quickly closing it, giving a look to silently question if it was ok to speak with him. Selminti nodded, leaning close to Jon, making it clear that he should speak softly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you into trouble. What will happen to you because of my ignorance?" Jon asked, fully feeling the pain for his actions, causing some form of discipline to the other man.
Selminti smiled. "Think nothing more of it. All good representatives have a few marks in their journals. It's really of no consequence, just...uh...don't speak anymore until you're called to do so."
Jon nodded as Selminti once again addressed the assembly. "With due respect to the assembly, I would request that the bindings be removed from the accused. They have cooperated fully, have not shown signs of aggression, nor attempting to flee. I see no reason that they should remain bound during the tribunal."
Te'zark scoffed. "He threatened to destroy my ship, killing myself and my crew! I call that aggression!"
There was a loud bang from the table as Velmin spoke sternly. "Captain Te'zark! You have attended enough of these proceedings to know and understand how you must conduct yourself, your outburst will not be tolerated. You are charged with one count of disruption and warned not to speak until you are called to do so. I agree that the bindings are not necessary, the guards will remove them now."
Each of the guards assigned to their own person stepped forward, releasing the heavy shackles that held their hands behind their backs. Once released, Jon, Trip and T'Pol each rubbed at their wrists, relieved to have the freedom to once again move their arms and hands.
Once his charges were free of their bindings, Selminti nodded as a thought occurred to him, once again bowing. "Council assembly, forgive me, but I feel it is important to inform you of a custom of these humans, they tend to move their hands and arms about as they speak. It is something that I have grown accustomed to while in their presence and haven't given much thought of, but now, I feel that you should be aware of this. I have explained many times to them that these gestures are not acceptable during a tribunal, however this custom is so deeply ingrained into their culture, they are at times unaware that they do this. Please, take no offense of this, as they do not mean any disrespect and the intent is not one of aggression."
The assembly nodded as one of the women in the red robes spoke. "We can certainly understand that their way is different from ours and we appreciate the representative of his forewarning to this custom, his thoughtfulness will be noted in his journals. We shall now proceed with the tribunal."
§§§
As the tribunal proceeded, there were stumbles along the way as the Zoning Committee used the tactics that Selminti warned them about. It was fortunate that Selminti had used Trip's injury to delay the tribunal for the full 3 days that it took for Trip to "recover" in order to prepare them.
When Phlox was called to speak, questioned about the engineer's injuries, as well as T'Pol's illness, and why there was a delay in the recovery, Jon's heart pounded that the deception would be uncovered.
Phlox simply smiled. "Are any of you familiar with human or Vulcan physiology?" When they all shook their heads in the negative, Phlox's smile broadened. "Ah, well you see, in Commander T'Pol's case, due to her drinking the only water available, she developed an illness called dysentery, an illness that Vulcans don't recover from as quickly. Fortunately, in Commander T'Pol's case, the bacteria was discovered early, which helped in her recovery, otherwise she would still be in my sickbay in grave condition right now. As for Commander Tucker, his infection was worse than I initially thought and required a more aggressive treatment."
"And you have documentation for this claim?" One in the grey robe asked.
"Yes, of course." Phlox held up a PADD to present the exaggerated facts to the assembly for review, as Jon fought the urge to bite his nails that none of them would be willing to take the time to research the claims.
Even if one of them had researched it, they would discover that in both cases, the infections could range anywhere between mild and easily treatable, to severe and deadly. He knew that Trip had recovered enough the day before, even though Trip still had a limp and bandages, his leg would heal as Phlox predicted, with only minor scarring. T'Pol wasn't sick at all, they just simply needed to buy time to prepare for, and understand, this tribunal.
Jon quietly let out the breath that he didn't know he was holding when one in red robes stated they were satisfied with the testimony and released the doctor from further questions.
Jon wasn't too surprised by T'Pol's cool, calculated answers to her testimony. She only made one slip when questioned why she didn't try to contact Telmaic Prime for assistance. She quickly recovered as she stated the facts that it's Starfleet protocol that she attempted to contact Enterprise instead, but did in fact, send out a general distress signal that, apparently, wasn't received.
He was more impressed that Trip hadn't made any explosive emotional outbursts during his testimony, as the Zoning Committee did exactly what Selminti warned them about and drilled Trip about his level of expertise as an engineer, attempt to confuse him with rapid-fire questions, and interrupting him at every chance they could get. Fortunately, Selminti and the Minister Council were quick to call them all on their attempts to sway the proceeding to their favor, and Trip was finally allowed to give full detail as to what happened and why it was necessary to disable the platform. Even in the end of his testimony, he apologized for his actions that caused delay and inconvenience and offered to assist with bringing the platform back online.
Now Jon took the stand, smiling as Captain Ja'zel approached. "Captain Archer, tell me, why was your crew coming to Telmaic Prime?"
Jon shook his head. "Not my entire crew, just my two officers here." He waved his hand to Trip and T'Pol, quickly pulling it back as he realized. "I'm sorry, habit."
Ja'zel smiled and nodded. "We understand, Captain. Please, continue."
"Well, like I was saying, my two officers were coming here for a vacation, time to rest and relax."
Ja'zel tilted her head to the side seemingly perplexed. "I'm sorry, Captain, I don't understand. It's our custom that when a deep space vessel is relieved for vacation, the entire crew is stood down. This is not the case in your culture?"
Jon shifted. "Well, yes, most of the time, but sometimes exceptions are made on individual bases and needs. You see, Commanders Tucker and T'Pol have...well...they've had a trying year, and while their performance on the ship has been exemplary during this past year, it had become clear to me that they both just needed a little time away from the ship to rest and sort through their thoughts and emotions. We are explorers and haven't been to this system before, and when we heard about what your planet offers in the way of entertainment and ways one can relax, I thought it would be beneficial to both of them to come here while the rest of the crew continued to explore your system."
"I see. Tell me, Captain, you knew that your ship was more powerful than ours. Why did you not simply destroy Captain Te'zark's ship when in orbit around Preen? You had plenty of time to do so before any other ships, including mine, arrived. Wouldn't it have been easier to do that and left the area to avoid these charges and this tribunal?"
Jon shook his head. "That's not our way. Yes, I knew Enterprise could have easily destroyed Te'zark's ship, but we're not killers. We only engage in battle to defend ourselves or when there is no other option left to us, we would rather walk away from a fight than to have the senseless loss of life on our conscience. That said, I wasn't going to break orbit and leave without rescuing my officers either."
Ja'zel smiled. "Thank you, Captain. That is all the questions I have at this time." She stepped back to her place at the side.
Te'zark stepped forward as Jon's expression hardened. "Captain Archer, did you or did you not threaten to fire on my vessel?"
Jon nodded. "I did, but-"
Te'zark huffed. "Well, that seems aggressive. And how many times were you advised that you were in restricted space and told to leave?"
Jon shook his head. "I don't know, but-"
"Once? Twice? More than that?" Te'zark continued.
"More than that, but I also-" Jon's voice rose slightly in frustration.
Te'zark began pacing. "So you admit to your refusal to leave the restricted area. You admit that you knew you were committing an infraction, a minor one at best, but you continued to remain, then compounded your crimes by threatening a Zoning Committee official and its crew, then escalated the crime by disabling the terraforming platform. And now you use the detail that you are new to this region of space to play ignorance of your crimes?"
Jon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A wicked smirk flashed across his face. "You actually fired on my ship, multiple times. I never once gave the order to return fire. I have the logs to prove that."
Te'zark opened his mouth to say something, but Jon quickly cut him off. "I also explained to you, several times, that I had members of my crew trapped on that planet...in fact, I asked for your help to recover them, but you refused!"
Te'zark bristled at the statement as the assembly turned towards him at this revelation. High Minister Velmin huffed. "Captain Te'zark, is this true? Did Captain Archer request your assistance with retrieving his stranded crew members?"
Te'zark let out a noise that Jon interpreted as a chuckle. "High Minister, it was impossible to believe that there could have been any survivors, I even stated that belief to Captain Archer. Additionally, there were no readings of life on the planet, so the assumption of any sort of rescue was irrelevant."
Another in red robes spoke up. "Captain Te'zark is correct. It would have been a waste of time and resources to retrieve those who had gone to the Sactorm."
"Not to us." Jon muttered.
Selminti's head snapped up as he suddenly stood so fast that the entire room was startled. "What was that, Captain? What do you mean not to you? Explain why it would matter if your officers were alive or dead when you retrieved them."
Jon's eyes grew wide as the realization hit him. "Well, of course alive would be the preferable outcome, but even if they had perished, it still would have been important to retrieve their bodies. In our culture, it is our custom to give proper respect to the deceased and return them to their families and loved ones for burial. It is even more important for Commander Tucker, as his family still practice the older ways of Earth's religious customs."
Trip nodded. "That's correct. When my time comes, I need to be buried next to my family who have gone on before me. It's important for T'Pol as well to be buried next to her parents and our…"
Velmin looked questioningly at Trip waiting for him to finish his thought. When he didn't, Velmin prompted. "Your what, Commander?"
Trip gave a hard swallow before quietly stating. "Our daughter." He reached over and took T'Pol's hand, looking at her as she nodded. "That's why Cap'n gave us permission for a vacation...to grieve privately. You see, me and T'Pol had a child together and two weeks ago was the one year anniversary of our baby's death."
The room fell silent as their pain was felt by all those with a heart. Te'zark, on the other hand, did not share in this pain. "That still doesn't explain why you simply didn't try to make contact with Telmaic Prime to help you to get your shuttle to safety."
"We sent out a distress call after landing." Trip said with exhaustion of repeating himself.
Jon's brows furrowed. "You know, it's funny that my ship picked up the signal, but yours didn't?" Jon looked towards Te'zark for an explanation.
Te'zark folded his arms across his chest. "Your so-called distress signal was in the background of the Committee's magnetic control signal. It was assumed that it was feedback from the solar fluctuations, which is common, and wasn't affecting the remote operations, so we didn't see a need to rush to Preen to find out what the problem was."
T'Pol's eyes flashed as she jerked her hand away from Trip. He looked towards her and saw something in her expression that worried him.
Through their bond, he reached out to her. Oh shit! Honey, now is not the time for you to experiment with emotional outburst. Think logically. Breathe.
Shut the hell up! Did you hear what he just said?
Yeah, I heard it...what are you doing? T'Pol? Fuck!
T'Pol stood, allowing the angry growl in her voice as she spoke. "You mean to tell us that you did receive our distress signal and chose to ignore it while we were stranded on that planet? We could have died from the temperatures if we hadn't found that cave. Tell us, Captain Te'zark, where is the logic of ignoring a call for help and allowing any possible survivors to die? Are you that convinced that absolutely nothing could survive on that planet, or simply that arrogant?"
Te'zark's mouth continuously opened and closed like a fish out of water as he tried to think of an explanation. Jon's brows shot up in surprise of T'Pol's outburst. Where the hell did that just come from?
A man in red robes spoke. "Te'zark is correct, we had never heard a signal like that before and assumed it was feedback from the solar fluctuations. There really wasn't any need to rush to check into it...as long as the equipment was operating properly."
Suddenly the hall was filled with eruption from both sides of the table as the ones in grey robes shouted at those in red robes, and those in red spouted out directive numbers and reasons why Te'zark was correct for his inactions.
Velmin repeatedly banged a heavy gavel type object, which echoed from the walls. "Assembly! Assembly! Come to order! Order now I say! Order!"
Once the room settled, Velmin let out a breath as he shook his head. "This situation obviously goes much deeper than disabling a platform and will require a more detailed investigation before a decision can be made. Captain Archer, for the time being, you and your officers may return to your ship, however, you are still in custody and not permitted to leave orbit."
"No! They should remain here in holding!" One of the "red robes" shouted.
Another nodded. "I agree. If they return to their ship, what would stop them from leaving?"
"My vote is also that they remain on the planet for holding!"
Once again the grey and red robes argued. Grey in favor of allowing Archer and crew go back to Enterprise and the reds wanting them to stay there. Somewhere in the middle of all that, Jon heard Ja'zel telling them how Te'zark threatened to fire on any shuttle, including one of her own, that attempted to go down to Preen and rescue the officers.
This started another whirlwind of angry shouts, accusations and more directive numbers. Jon wasn't sure if Ja'zel blurted that fact out in anger, or if it was a well calculated hit to the Zoning Committee and Captain Te'zark. All the while, Velmin banged his gavel, shouting for order.