TITLE: Dear Annie ("Detained")
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Detained."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Star Trek is *so* subtle when it chooses to moralize, isn't it? Yeah, right. But hey, Hoshi actually appeared on screen, so life is good. Thanks as always to Captain Average, the rockin' superhero, who gave Travis his nickname.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
The universe is a complicated place. Okay, I know that's not the most profound thing I've ever said, but life on the frontier ranges between profound and prosaic (or maybe between sublime and absurd). It reminds me a little bit of our undergraduate days, when we somehow moved between boredom and utter hysteria without ever touching down in the middle. (Remember the ice cream incident?)
Things were quite prosaic the other day, when Jon and Travis took out a shuttle to investigate some energy readings. Next thing we knew, they'd disappeared. To be honest, I was having flashbacks to when we nearly lost Trip and Malcolm in a shuttle. (I think they were, too, the boys both looked a little green around the gills.)
We spent a number of panicked hours trying to figure out how we'd misplaced our Captain (which Starfleet tends to frown on), before being contacted by a representative of a people called the Tandara, namely one Colonel Grat.
He immediately rubbed us the wrong way--partly because he sent off slimy vibes, but mainly because he said the Tandarans were keeping our crewmembers in a detention camp until they could go on trial for their accidental invasion of Tandaran space. I was so frustrated that I couldn't track his signal, I wanted to scream.
T'Pol and Trip debated whether to try and find this detention camp or go ahead with this farce of a trial. Well, Trip practically yelled and T'Pol calmly discussed. Vulcan calm or not, I can't imagine how she puts up with his insubordination. Perhaps she sees that he mainly reacts this way when it's his friend, the Captain, on the line. I think she understands humans better than she lets on. (I wish I could say Trip understands her, but I don't think that's the case.)
Meanwhile, Jon and Travis were imprisoned with this other species that...well, I'm not allowed to tell you about them. I know, I haven't had to say that before, but we haven't had to classify anything quite this important before. You'll have to excuse me if I only tell you part of this story.
So, they were interned with members of this species, whom we've met before, but under circumstances I'm not allowed to describe. Turns out this species--let's call them the X, just for brevity's sake--had been living peaceably with the Tandarans until recently, when members of the X started causing trouble. I can't explain that, either. The Tandarans proceeded to round up all of the X and stick them in these camps, "for their protection."
I'll skip the obvious historical parallels, which I know you can figure out for yourself, and simply mention how outraged the Captain was.
I think that's one of the reasons we all adore our Captain: his ability to sustain a belief in the fundamental rights of all beings. We've not had the greatest of introductions to the X, and the representatives we've met so far didn't exactly give us the best impression, yet the Captain was absolutely furious at the treatment of the people he met in this internment camp.
We developed a plan to get the X out of this camp and into spaceships taken from them. (The next time Grat called, we were ready, and Malcolm and I tracked the signal together.) The plan was tricky, and I'm rather proud of my contribution. We needed to jam their transmissions and keep their systems busy while Trip and Malcolm got in and out again. There are several ways to do that--and I won't bore you by describing them--but my favorite is the full frontal attack.
Under the guise of T'Pol being helpful, I sent Colonel Grat our full historical database. The whole thing. Soup to nuts. And the Starfleet Charter. Including all those pesky amendments and appendices. Then, just in case, I threw in the Vulcan database.
I figured if they had a really good comm officer, they could clear things up in 20 minutes or so. But what were the chances some middle-of-nowhere detention center had a good comm officer? I'll bet they're still finding remnants of what I sent in their systems. Damn! I'm good.
And you should have seen T'Pol go, keeping the odious Colonel on the line while I did this. She's definitely learned something from her time among humans. I'm surprised anyone on the bridge could keep a straight face while she politely asked the Colonel if he would like to come to the Enterprise for dinner. She was amazing.
Trip took in a shuttle to provide cover and take out the camps' weapons, while Malcolm transported in to find Jon and Travis. You know, it's Malcolm's job to be in these situations, and I worry about him the whole time, but Trip just didn't need to be there. That's why we have an armory team, after all. Trip just feels responsible for Jon's safety, probably because the Captain saved his life a number of years ago. By this point, you'd think he'd consider the scales balanced, but that's Trip for you.
In any case, thanks to us, there's a small group of the X on the run from the Tandarans, not to mention from their own people. The problem is, now we have to face the question of whether or not we did the right thing.
T'Pol isn't convinced we did, and she only went along with this plan because she was ordered to. But she'd prefer we never interacted with or helped anyone. To an extent, she has a point. If we don't interfere, we can't do the wrong thing. On the other hand, we also can't do the *right* thing.
I really wish I could get your opinion on this, but I can't give you most of the important details. In a very sanitized nutshell, the X we released may head out and get slaughtered by their own people, or they might join up with our enemies and come back to haunt us later.
But could we, in good conscience, just extract our people from prison and leave behind possible innocents? Or is it better to do something than to do nothing? The Captain certainly thinks the latter.
These are difficult issues, and to an extent we're on our own developing answers. No precedent set for us, often out of touch with Starfleet, relying on our own good sense and a set of rules written by Starfleet bureaucrats. I'm not sure how the Captain takes the pressure.
But in this case, I can see how the Captain felt, seeing families imprisoned for nothing more than being of the same species as wrongdoers. I think I would have made the same decision. It seems to me that giving them the freedom to choose, even if we might not like their choice, was the right thing to do.
Oh, Travis came back with an even bigger case of hero worship for the Captain than he had before. It's funny, I'm not that much older than he is, but somehow I feel older--aged before my time. (Just call him Ensign Enthusiasm, 'cause whatever we're doing, he can't wait to get started.) I think he's secretly a little proud of injuries he incurred trying to help the Captain save the X.
Is it a male thing? Do you remember how proud Misha was of the black eye he got defending Jake's honor at that bar? I thought he was going to take out an advertisement. (Which reminds me, did you get the latest picture of their little one? Is he the cutest thing you've ever seen, or what? That curl in the middle of his forehead is just darling.)
I firmly believe our experiences out here just go to show: there's nothing new under the sun. Or the stars. Give my love to Amanda, and take care.
Love,
Hoshi
AUTHOR: Mara Greengrass
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL: fishfolk@ix.netcom.com. Feedback is better than chocolate.
PERMISSION TO ARCHIVE: Yes, just let me know.
CATEGORY: Gen
RATINGS/WARNINGS: G
SUMMARY: Hoshi writes home after the events of "Detained."
DISCLAIMER: Enterprise and all its crew belong to Paramount and many other entities with expensive lawyers. I am making no profit from this story.
NOTES: Star Trek is *so* subtle when it chooses to moralize, isn't it? Yeah, right. But hey, Hoshi actually appeared on screen, so life is good. Thanks as always to Captain Average, the rockin' superhero, who gave Travis his nickname.
* * * * *
Dear Annie,
The universe is a complicated place. Okay, I know that's not the most profound thing I've ever said, but life on the frontier ranges between profound and prosaic (or maybe between sublime and absurd). It reminds me a little bit of our undergraduate days, when we somehow moved between boredom and utter hysteria without ever touching down in the middle. (Remember the ice cream incident?)
Things were quite prosaic the other day, when Jon and Travis took out a shuttle to investigate some energy readings. Next thing we knew, they'd disappeared. To be honest, I was having flashbacks to when we nearly lost Trip and Malcolm in a shuttle. (I think they were, too, the boys both looked a little green around the gills.)
We spent a number of panicked hours trying to figure out how we'd misplaced our Captain (which Starfleet tends to frown on), before being contacted by a representative of a people called the Tandara, namely one Colonel Grat.
He immediately rubbed us the wrong way--partly because he sent off slimy vibes, but mainly because he said the Tandarans were keeping our crewmembers in a detention camp until they could go on trial for their accidental invasion of Tandaran space. I was so frustrated that I couldn't track his signal, I wanted to scream.
T'Pol and Trip debated whether to try and find this detention camp or go ahead with this farce of a trial. Well, Trip practically yelled and T'Pol calmly discussed. Vulcan calm or not, I can't imagine how she puts up with his insubordination. Perhaps she sees that he mainly reacts this way when it's his friend, the Captain, on the line. I think she understands humans better than she lets on. (I wish I could say Trip understands her, but I don't think that's the case.)
Meanwhile, Jon and Travis were imprisoned with this other species that...well, I'm not allowed to tell you about them. I know, I haven't had to say that before, but we haven't had to classify anything quite this important before. You'll have to excuse me if I only tell you part of this story.
So, they were interned with members of this species, whom we've met before, but under circumstances I'm not allowed to describe. Turns out this species--let's call them the X, just for brevity's sake--had been living peaceably with the Tandarans until recently, when members of the X started causing trouble. I can't explain that, either. The Tandarans proceeded to round up all of the X and stick them in these camps, "for their protection."
I'll skip the obvious historical parallels, which I know you can figure out for yourself, and simply mention how outraged the Captain was.
I think that's one of the reasons we all adore our Captain: his ability to sustain a belief in the fundamental rights of all beings. We've not had the greatest of introductions to the X, and the representatives we've met so far didn't exactly give us the best impression, yet the Captain was absolutely furious at the treatment of the people he met in this internment camp.
We developed a plan to get the X out of this camp and into spaceships taken from them. (The next time Grat called, we were ready, and Malcolm and I tracked the signal together.) The plan was tricky, and I'm rather proud of my contribution. We needed to jam their transmissions and keep their systems busy while Trip and Malcolm got in and out again. There are several ways to do that--and I won't bore you by describing them--but my favorite is the full frontal attack.
Under the guise of T'Pol being helpful, I sent Colonel Grat our full historical database. The whole thing. Soup to nuts. And the Starfleet Charter. Including all those pesky amendments and appendices. Then, just in case, I threw in the Vulcan database.
I figured if they had a really good comm officer, they could clear things up in 20 minutes or so. But what were the chances some middle-of-nowhere detention center had a good comm officer? I'll bet they're still finding remnants of what I sent in their systems. Damn! I'm good.
And you should have seen T'Pol go, keeping the odious Colonel on the line while I did this. She's definitely learned something from her time among humans. I'm surprised anyone on the bridge could keep a straight face while she politely asked the Colonel if he would like to come to the Enterprise for dinner. She was amazing.
Trip took in a shuttle to provide cover and take out the camps' weapons, while Malcolm transported in to find Jon and Travis. You know, it's Malcolm's job to be in these situations, and I worry about him the whole time, but Trip just didn't need to be there. That's why we have an armory team, after all. Trip just feels responsible for Jon's safety, probably because the Captain saved his life a number of years ago. By this point, you'd think he'd consider the scales balanced, but that's Trip for you.
In any case, thanks to us, there's a small group of the X on the run from the Tandarans, not to mention from their own people. The problem is, now we have to face the question of whether or not we did the right thing.
T'Pol isn't convinced we did, and she only went along with this plan because she was ordered to. But she'd prefer we never interacted with or helped anyone. To an extent, she has a point. If we don't interfere, we can't do the wrong thing. On the other hand, we also can't do the *right* thing.
I really wish I could get your opinion on this, but I can't give you most of the important details. In a very sanitized nutshell, the X we released may head out and get slaughtered by their own people, or they might join up with our enemies and come back to haunt us later.
But could we, in good conscience, just extract our people from prison and leave behind possible innocents? Or is it better to do something than to do nothing? The Captain certainly thinks the latter.
These are difficult issues, and to an extent we're on our own developing answers. No precedent set for us, often out of touch with Starfleet, relying on our own good sense and a set of rules written by Starfleet bureaucrats. I'm not sure how the Captain takes the pressure.
But in this case, I can see how the Captain felt, seeing families imprisoned for nothing more than being of the same species as wrongdoers. I think I would have made the same decision. It seems to me that giving them the freedom to choose, even if we might not like their choice, was the right thing to do.
Oh, Travis came back with an even bigger case of hero worship for the Captain than he had before. It's funny, I'm not that much older than he is, but somehow I feel older--aged before my time. (Just call him Ensign Enthusiasm, 'cause whatever we're doing, he can't wait to get started.) I think he's secretly a little proud of injuries he incurred trying to help the Captain save the X.
Is it a male thing? Do you remember how proud Misha was of the black eye he got defending Jake's honor at that bar? I thought he was going to take out an advertisement. (Which reminds me, did you get the latest picture of their little one? Is he the cutest thing you've ever seen, or what? That curl in the middle of his forehead is just darling.)
I firmly believe our experiences out here just go to show: there's nothing new under the sun. Or the stars. Give my love to Amanda, and take care.
Love,
Hoshi