Captain's Log: Our tactical exercises have met Admiral Asimov's expectations, and, in some ways, exceeded them. We have been assigned to lead First Squadron, and as such, have tactical command of the following vessels: the destroyers Cochise and Drake, the heavy frigate Klinger, and the PT destroyer Hanover. Our sister ships Kongo Potemkin, and Hood are all assigned their own squadrons.
Even though the fleet hasn't been assigned a patrol sector yet. In fact, the massive battlegroup that has been created here is in a holding pattern. Tensions are tight, especially among the Marines and SOCOM troops on the station. They were to have paved the way for the rescue of Captain Kirk and Command McCoy, but now…

((AN: Most, if not all, of the following comes from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country; the dialogue taken verbatim from the book. Story novelized by J.M. Dillard, and published by Pocket Books, NY, © 1992))

The bridge crew had their attention on the main viewscreen. Or more, correctly, the drama being portrayed on said screen. Kirk and McCoy were in standing before the Klingon high court, the Klingon spectators looking and sounding like they were out for blood as they chanted Kirk's name. The crowd stilled when the judge's gavel struck.

"The state will show that Enterprise fired on Kronos One without provocation; the chancellor and his advisers having been lulled into a false sense of security with an invitation to a state dinner aboard Captain Kirk's vessel, at precisely nineteen thirty hours, that same evening," General Chang said. There was a smirk on his face when he rounded on the Captain. "Do you deny this?"

"I don't deny we invited them to dinner," Kirk replied.

"Were you drunk at that dinner?"

"What?"

"Isn't it a fact that you served Romulan Ale, a beverage illegal in Federation territory because of its overwhelming potency?"

"The drink was served," Kirk admitted.

Bowman sighed. He'd known Captain Kirk, worked under him at one point when he was Admiral Kirk, Chief of Starfleet Operations. "This is a Goddamned show trial," he said, echoing the voices of every Starfleet officer watching this trial of the century.
Chang was strutting before prisoners' dock like a popinjay. "And you still maintain that your ship did not fire on Kronos One? Would you have known if she had? Come now, Captain. The record clearly shows there were no other ships in the sector."

Kirk confirmed what the Klingon General said. "There were no other ships in the sector." McCoy looked miffed at his friend of nearly thirty years.

"Did you have occasion to refer to your ship's databanks during that night?"

"I checked the databanks, yes."

"And what did they tell you?"

"That we fired two photon torpedoes. But…" The rest of his answer was drowned out by the spectators' howls.

"The witness is excused—for the time being," Chang said. He strode off, as the judge gaveled for order.

The next witness was one of Gorkon's guards that had been injured during the assassination attempt, but had refused to have his severed right arm replaced, sporting the disfigurement as a badge of courage. Plus, it played right into the sympathies of the mob watching this trial. Kirk and McCoy's defense attorney approached. "Tell us what you saw the night Chancellor Gorkon was assassinated."

The guard nodded and proceeded. "We were fired on by the Enterprise—"

"Let that remark be stricken from the record. The witness assumes Kronos One was fired on by the Enterprise, but has no direct knowledge of such."

"Denied," the judge said.

Sighing, the attorney redirected his attention back to the witness. "Continue."

"After the first hit, we lost our gravitational field. I found myself weightless and unable to function. Two Starfleet crewmen came walking towards us."

"Perhaps they merely wore Starfleet uniforms—"

"I move that remark be stricken as purely speculative." Chang called from the shadows.

"So ordered. Colonel Worf, we are interested in facts, not theories."

"If the gravitational field was not functioning, how could these men have been walking?"

"They appeared to be wearing gravity boots."

"No further questions."

Chang stepped out of the shadows and took over. "They fired on you?""

"With Starfleet-issue phasers. They dashed into the chancellor's stateroom. We could hear more phaser fire. Then they went back the way that came."

"Towards the transporter room?"

"Yes sir."

"Thank you. That will be all." Chang turned a glittering eye on McCoy. "Dr. McCoy, what is your current medical status?"

"Aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good." There were scattered chortles of laughter from the gallery, as Chang stared silently at the doctor. McCoy luxuriated in the precious few moments of Southern stubbornness and dry wit he had been granted. "For twenty seven years, I've been ship's surgeon and chief medical officer aboard the USS Enterprise. In three months, I'm due to stand down."

"Stand…?"

"Retire."

"Ah. I believe you also consumed a rather large quantity of Romulan Ale in the officer's mess on the night in question, Doctor." Chang asked, almost socially.

"Objection!"

"Sustained," the judge said.

"We all did. But that doesn't mean—"

"Was Chancellor Gorkon alive when you first examined him?"

"Barely."

"Have you saved patients as 'barely' alive as he was?"

"I didn't…I didn't have the knowledge of Klingon anatomy I needed."

"You say you are due for retirement. May I ask: do your hands shake?"

"Objection!" Worf shouted to the judge.

"Overruled."

"I was nervous," McCoy replied.

"You were incompetent! Whether deliberately or as a result of age combined with drink; this court will have to determine."

Antietam's chief medical officer, Dr. Christine Chapel, former head nurse under Dr. McCoy, shook her head, as she watched in Sickbay. "Great. Now the Klingons are also going to charge Dr. McCoy with malpractice, as well as murder." A couple of her nurses chuckled, until she fixed them with a glare that screamed "Laugh, and you're scrubbing bedpans until we stand down."
"I tried to save him," McCoy pleaded. "I was desperate to save him! He was the last, best hope for peace in the galaxy."

"The witness is excused," the judge ordered. McCoy hung his head in shame.

Chang stepped forward. "And know we come to the architect of this tragic affair: James Tiberius Kirk. What would your favorite author say? 'Let us tell tales of kings, and of the death of kings.' Tell us your sad tale, Captain; that you were seeking revenge for the death of your son."

"That isn't true," Kirk retorted.

"That, either as an instrument of Federation policy or acting on your own initiative, you and your fellow conspirators crippled Kronos One, and assassinated the Chancellor of the High Council."

"Objection," Col. Worf protested. "Captain Kirk has not been identified as the assassin."

"Sustained."

"I offer into the record, the following excerpt from the Captain's personal log." Chang motioned to someone out of view.

"I've never trusted Klingons, and I never will...I can't forgive them for the death of my son…" The recording repeated, at the gallery went wild with anger, as the judge banged for order.

"Are those your words?"

"Yes."

"Spoken by you?"

"Those words were spoken by me."

"Scapegoats," Commander MacPherson muttered. "Kirk and McCoy are being hung out to dry by Starfleet. And how bloody many times have they saved Earth?" The Antietam's took a swift belt of his Scotch, and returned to the tableau in front of him.
"Objection, your honors," Worf called. "My clients' political views are not on trial here."

"On the contrary," the General stated. "Captain Kirk's views and motives are at the heart of this matter. This officer's record shows him to be an insubordinate, unprincipled career opportunist, with a history of violating the chain of command when it suited him.

"Indeed, the record will show that 'Captain' Kirk was once 'Admiral' Kirk, and that Admiral Kirk was broken for taking matters into his own hands, in defiance of regulations and the law" Chang wheeled on to Kirk. "Do you deny you were demoted on these charges, Captain?"

Kirk hesitated, and repositioned the translator.

"Don't wait for the translation! Answer me now!"

"Don't answer," Worf shouted. "Objection!"

"Objection overruled. Captain Kirk, you will answer the question."

"I cannot deny it," Kirk replied.

"You were demoted." Chang had a manic grin on his face.

"Yes," Kirk replied simply.

"For insubordination?"

"I have, on occasion, disobeyed orders."

"And were you obeying or disobeying orders the night you arranged the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon?"

"I was unaware of the assassination until I boarded his ship."

"You deny Enterprise fired on Kronos One"

"Well, I—"

"You deny" Chang was getting excited, like a predator stalking a wounded animal, "that your men beamed aboard Kronos One and shot the chancellor?"

Kirk realized where Chang was going with his line of questioning. "I cannot confirm or deny actions which I did not witness."

"Captain Kirk, are you aware that the captain of a starship is considered responsible for the actions of his crew?"

"I am."

"Jim! They're setting us up! Your honor, I protest!" McCoy said to the judge.

"Captain Kirk, you will answer the question."

"As captain," Kirk said, defeated, "I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command."

Chang radiated victory. "Your honor, the state rests."

The judge's gavel banged down, several times, sending up a small shower of sparks each time. "It is the judgment of this court that the defendants are: guilty as charged." The spectators went wild with the pronouncement, hoping to see the statutory punishment meted out to these two convicted assassins.

Worf moved in front of his clients. "I wish to not for the record, that the evidence against my clients is entirely circumstantial. And I beg the court to consider this when pronouncing its sentence," he said, making an impassioned plea for leniency.

"So noted. In the interests of fostering amity for the upcoming peace talks, the sentence of death is commuted." The gallery went mad, that their death sentences were commuted, upcoming peace talks or no. The courtroom was gaveled back into decorum. "It is the judgment of this court that, without possibility of reprieve or parole, that you are to be taken from this place to the dilthium mines on the penal asteroid of Rura Penthe. There to spend the rest of your natural lives." The judge banged down on the gavel again, several times, ending the trial, and thus the transmission.

00000

AN: Not much dealing with Antietam right now, but it serves as a reminder of when this story takes place: just prior, and during, the events shown in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. And considering we saw it being shown on Enterprise, Excelsior, and in the President's office, it's a logical assumption that the Klingons were broadcasting it galaxy wide.

And I apologize for the verbatim use from the courtroom scene, but it's something that you cannot just cut and paste the good parts out of, like the conspirators did to Kirk's log entry.

To answer any questions as to Antietam's class, she's one of the last Constitution-class heavy cruisers to come off the line.

Flame away if you want, but all flames will be fed into the intermix chamber.