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Revolution begins with the self, in the self – Toni Cade Bambera

"Are you seeing that?" it was Erika, calling Jonathan.

"I am," he said, "it looks like an old-fashioned protest."

The viewer cut away to the court again. "We are finished with your testimony. Thank you, Doctor Rechal," said one of the brown members of the judicial panel.

Mistra stood up. "I wish to speak truth."

"You are not allowed without male corroboration," replied one of the panel members, "You know this is our law."

"But I am innocent! And the pouchling is innocent! Please let me speak truth! At least for the sake of the pouchling!"

Jonathan looked at Malcolm, "Did you mean what you said in my Ready Room?"

"I did, sir."

"Then – I have an idea. All of it except for the resigning part? Wanna repeat that in open court?"

"With pleasure, sir."

"Lucy, care to return to the surface?" Jonathan asked.

"If you want me to stand up for that woman, I will," she said, "I don't know what she's done or hasn't done, but surely her pouch baby is innocent."

"Hoshi, you have the Bridge until we get back," Jonathan said, "and ask Doctor Phlox to meet us by the Transporter. And kindly ask Captain Hernandez if she and her people would like to join us."

=/\=

On the Excelsior, they had virtually the same idea. "Hamilton, how do you feel about visiting the surface and taking a detour before we pick up the shuttle? Say, a trip to a court room?"

"I could do that," he said, "and we should bring Doctor Nguyen with us. I think he'll have something to say, too."

"I think we both know that Starfleet doesn't want us interfering with domestic affairs like this," she said.

"True," he said, "but I feel it's the right thing to do. And this might color our future relations with this species."

"Good idea. I'll say that when I report this – after we're done," she said.

=/\=

Once Dratha and Vidam had departed, Cria looked at Trinning and the others. "Mama and our littlest sister are in peril. I think we can do something. We can all go into the streets and make our voices heard."

"Seppa cannot go out without a male escort," Trinning reminded her.

"Then that shall be you, brother," Cria said, "We will bring everyone. We will move slowly but we will go to the street outside of the court and stand and speak truth for Mama and our smallest sister."

=/\=

The seven of them beamed down, two by two, from both ships.

"Got a specific plan?" Erika asked Jonathan.

"Not unless someone here suddenly went to Law School," he said.

"I guess we'll do our best," she said, "Far as I can tell, things can't get any worse in there."

They burst into the court. The five judicial panel members all stood up as one. "You can't come in here!"

Outside, Craethe reported excitedly, "The barefaced humans have arrived! Keep watching – this is a most exciting development!" he, too, went into the court and the camera followed.

"We're surprise character witnesses," Jonathan said.

"Character? I'd be surprised if you had ever seen this female before now," said one of the brown judges.

"We still want to speak," Erika said.

"If you want to make friends with us, trade with us, exchange medical information with us, and fight and die with us, I suggest you let us say a few things," Jonathan said.

"Very well," said a spotted judge after the five of them had discussed the matter, "but one at a time."

"Malcolm?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes," he said, and swallowed hard. He was not accustomed to public speaking. "I, well, I just wish to say that this, this trial seems to be little more than what we call a kangaroo court. It's, it seems, to me, to be a sham when you won't even allow the accused to testify."

"The accused cannot have verified testimony," said one of the brown judges.

"But why is that? Is that due to a perceived issue with her lying, or is it because she's got a bloody pouch and you don't?" he asked, reflexively holding his cuffed wrist with his other hand.

"Females can only testify with corroboration from a male."

"But that rule is ludicrous! You're discriminating against this woman, so far as I can tell, because of a factor beyond her control – her gender. That is what is determining, for you, whether she is trustworthy?"

Jonathan put a hand on Malcolm's shoulder. "Lucy?" he said.

"Accusing her may actually be valid," Lucy said, "but the pouch baby? My understanding is that they can't speak, can't see clearly and can't walk. How do you propose that that kid could possibly be guilty? My, my daughter, she's eight. She could do something wrong. She does wrong things sometimes. But when she was a tiny infant, she couldn't possibly be held responsible."

"Anyone who sees a crime and does not attempt to prevent it is an accomplice," replied the grey judge.

"But that's an infant!" An stated. "All you do here is, you don't – we have a symbol. It's the scales of justice. And they are supposed to be as balanced as possible. But this is anything but balanced. It's like you're leaning on the scale with all your weight when it comes to women. And the lower the caste, the heavier you lean."

"We have a hierarchy," explained the grey judge, "we have had a hierarchy since, well, since even before we became sentient. We evolved from a species which lived in hierarchical packs."

"But that was generations ago, was it not?" Phlox asked, "You have evolved in plenty of other ways. You have industry, and a free and open press. You have democratic government and agriculture and you live in constructed homes. You have Warp drive! And yet you cannot let the deep past release its hold upon you?"

"It is important that families remain intact. It is important that children are born, and are protected," said a spotted judge, "There is a virus that is decimating our population."

"But what about families where they can't have children, or maybe they won't?" Hamilton asked.

"Won't?" asked a brown judge, "Who would not want children?"

"Not everyone does, or can," Hamilton said, "My partner and me – if he and I wanted to become parents, we would adopt, or work with a surrogate mother. And we would love our child but, together, we can't biologically have one. Are we worthless to you?"

There was a lot of murmuring among the spectators.

Erika spoke, "I am a female human. And I am no one's wife. And I am beyond the age where we can have children. I'm not a member of any caste. You would put me to death, right? You'd throw me out with the kitchen waste. Yet in the Federation, I'm a starship captain. I don't pretend to tell you I'm the best captain who ever was. But I have a job and I do it. My job isn't making babies. It's exploring. And sometimes it means going to war, too. We aren't saying that you have to change everything. We can't impose all of our values on you. I'm sure you have values you could teach to us. But we are here because we were watching the trial on the viewer, and we spent time with your Alpha and his family last night, and five years ago we met Beta Councilor Elemus and his family, and I have to tell you, there is a major disconnect there. There is a complete and utter lack of fairness."

"What Captain Hernandez is saying, if I may," Jonathan said, referring to a PADD, "is that the Federation is a kind of successor to an organization that we created on Earth a good two hundred years ago. It was called the United Nations, and it came out with a Declaration of Human Rights. Now, we know that you aren't human. And we realize that our ideas of rights may differ from yours. But we think that three rights have got to be available to everyone, regardless of species. And those are the right to free speech, the right to a free press and," he said, "the right to a fair trial."

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