"Well," said Kirk, leaning back in his chair, "which
of you wants to go first? Lieutenant Larssen?
Perhaps you, as commander of record of the battered
hulk we are currently towing behind us, would like to
explain both the appalling condition of your ship,
and incidentally, the appalling state of your log
record that requires me to even *ask* for an
explanation."
"Yes, sir." Larssen said, her eyes fixed on a spot
several feet above the captain's head. Kirk noted
she didn't even glance at the crewmembers beside her,
although she must have been tempted.
He had called them all in at once, rather than wait
for their individual logs and then interviewing each
separately. For one thing, now the refugees were
recovering a little, there were charges of ill-
treatment, even of brutality, being talked about by
some of those who had been found on the upper decks,
away from cargo. Kirk was did not believe in
covering up either viciousness or incompetence in
anyone, his own crew not excepted. On the other hand,
he did not believe in abandoning anyone, and
particularly not his own crew, to the slow and
uncertain justice of formal inquiries. So, he had
decided, it would be better if everybody involved in
this situation knew exactly what had happened before
anything was put down on the official record. And he
needed to see the faces of these assorted Yeomen and
Ensigns when they heard each other's accounts.
He needed to see their eyes.
"Sir, I was ordered to assume command of the Lady
Grace by Admiral Dewey during the evacuation of
Starbase 18." Larssen began. Her verbal report was
clear, concise, unemotional, exhaustively detailed,
no more than Kirk would have expected from one of
Spock's staff. He approved of the complete absence
of the passive voice. Occasionally she referred to
events she had not witnessed, and at those points
Kirk stopped her, invited one of the others to fill
in details. By the time Larssen had finished she was
hoarse, and with a final cough she concluded with the
words: "And that's the last thing I remember before I
woke up on the Enterprise, sir."
"Let me get this clear," Kirk said. "You set out from
Starbase 18 with a jury-rigged life support which you
*hoped* could be coaxed into supporting more than ten
times the Lady Grace's usual crew complement and a
hold full of civilians."
"Yes, sir." Larssen said. "And life-support would
have held out, sir, if we hadn't lost those filters
in the riot."
"You had no guarantee the Enterprise would intercept
you." Kirk pointed out.
"No, sir." Larssen said, and nothing more.
"Leaving aside your extremely optimistic
interpretation of 'space-worthy'," Kirk said
pleasantly, "we now come to the emergency that
destroyed your communications, crippled your life-
support, and endangered the lives of everyone aboard.
*Took* the lives of nearly one hundred civilians who
had cast themselves on Starfleet's protection. At what
point, Lieutenant Larssen, did you realise that the
refugees were going to be a problem?"
"Sir, at plus two hours when I was woken by Mr Klein's
page. On my arrival on the bridge he informed me that
our passengers were rioting."
"Yet you say in your report - and I can, indeed,
confirm it from the admittedly scanty Grace records -
that at minus fourteen hours Yeoman Rand informed you
that the civilian passengers were disturbed and
distressed, and at that time you took no action."
"No, sir." Larssen stared straight ahead and made no
excuses, although the memory of taking that call was
so clear her shoulders ached all over again with the
thought of the initialiser coupling trying to bounce
clear of its setting while she braced her feet on the
slippery floor and set her teeth against the pain in
her back. Madison beside her, sweating and cursing.
"Why not, Lieutenant?"
"Sir. I believed at that time that the repair work I
was undertaking was more urgent."
"Captain," Rand broke in, "I didn't tell Lieutenant
Larssen that the passengers were going to riot. I
didn't think they *were* going to riot."
"That much is obvious, Ms Rand." Kirk said. "Larssen,
you did not order cargo sealed at that time?"
"No sir."
"What did you order?"
"Sir. I ordered Yeoman Rand to drop section seals from
the bridge if necessary. I told her I would take full
authority."
"Yeoman Rand."
"Yes, sir!" Janice Rand said.
"Ms Rand, despite Lieutenant Larssen's order, when it
became clear that the passengers were causing a
disturbance, you did not drop the section seals."
"No, sir."
"Why not?"
"Sir, I first became aware of the disturbance when Ms
Shimona reported from secondary life-support that the
civilian passengers had taken over main life support
and were causing damage to essential systems."
"That's a little late to find out you have a problem,
isn't it?" Kirk asked. "Lieutenant Larssen, where were
you at this time?"
"Sir, I was sleeping."
"Ms Rand, am I right in assuming that you had no prior
warning of the riot because you were not, in any way,
monitoring the condition of the refugees?"
"Sir. Ms Shimona in life support was monitoring the
conditions in cargo to ensure refugee safety.
Internal sensors were non-operational."
"Nobody thought to send someone down there to keep an
eye on them?"
Silence. Kirk looked slowly from one pale face to the
next. "Fourteen of you - *fifteen*, not counting John
Lim who is still in sickbay - and *not* *one* of you
thought that it might be a good idea for someone to be
down in cargo with a communicator?"
"Sir," Drysden said, "sir, it did occur to me, but as
we were short-handed and the Lieutenant made no
mention of it I-"
"What's your duty, Mr Drysden?"
"Sir, to obey the orders of my senior officers and
safeguard their safety. To give appropriate orders to
my junior officers and safeguard their safety. Sir."
"Any room in there for independent thought?" Kirk
asked.
"Sir?"
"I *said*," Kirk repeated, coming slowly to his feet
and leaning forward over the desk, "is there any room
in there for independent thought?" They all jumped
slightly, and he went on at the same controlled roar,
"If you see your officers making mistakes, what are
you supposed to do? Are you supposed to close your
eyes and hope for the best? Well? Answer me!"
"Sir, no sir!" they chorused.
"Are you supposed to perhaps mention it? Excuse me,
sir, ma'am, perhaps you might like to consider an
alternative plan of action! Do those words strike any
chords with you?"
"Sir yes sir!"
He sat down, settled back in his chair. "Yeoman Rand,
when you became aware that there was a large and angry
mob loose on the ship, did you alert your commanding
officer?"
"No, sir." She stared straight ahead. "Sir, I didn't
think there was -"
"You don't seem to have *thought* at all." Kirk said.
"Did you alert the rest of the crew?"
"No, sir."
"Did you leave the bridge despite being duty officer
on watch, placing the conn in the hands of Mr N'o who
was also trying to steer the ship, and go alone to
deck 2 to confront the rioters single handed?"
"Yes, sir."
"Was this the right thing to do?"
Rand was silent, struggling with tears.
"Was this the right thing to do, Yeoman?" Kirk slammed
his hand down on the desk and they all jumped.
"Sir no sir!" Rand snapped, tears running down her
cheeks.
"Was this the *stupid* thing to do, Yeoman?"
"Sir yes sir!"
"Captain," Larssen broke in, "as commander of record,
it was my responsibility to leave clear instructions
for Yeoman Rand covering every contingency, and I did
no such thing. I therefore must take full
responsibility -"
"For Ms Rand's failure to use her brain? I don't think
so, Ms Larssen, although you are absolutely right and
going off watch with only the barest instructions to
your crew was appallingly short sighted of you. Don't
be so eager to take full responsibility for your
crew's actions, Lieutenant. You might find the
responsibility for your own quite heavy enough."
"Sir, yes sir." Larssen said.
"For example, am I right that on being informed that
Ms Rand was out of communication, there were riot
conditions on at least two decks and the chief
engineer had been forced to seal main engineering to
prevent it being over run, your first action was to
leave the bridge?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Leaving only the helmsman and Mr Klein present to
respond to any emergency?"
"Sir, yes sir."
"Did it occur to you that Mr N'o was extremely
preoccupied in keeping the Lady Grace on course? And
that, effectively, you had just left Mr Klein with the
conn?"
"No sir."
"Or that neither Mr N'o or Mr Klein had any actual
command experience?"
"No, sir."
"Do you think you should have considered these
questions?"
"Yes, sir."
"As for you, Mr N'o, you were left with the conn of a
ship in full emergency! How do you explain your
complete failure to take any action whatsoever in the
resulting crisis?"
"Sir, thrusters, warp drive, unstable." N'o said.
"Sir, preoccupation, extreme."
"You abandoned your responsibility to an inexperienced
ensign!" Kirk shouted. "You gave him no orders or
assistance! That is absolutely disgraceful!"
"Sir, affirmative!"
"Mr Klein! When Yeoman Rand left the bridge you waited
fifteen minutes before alerting your commanding
officer! You sounded no general alert despite knowing
that essential ship's systems were compromised! You
were given precise and exact orders by Ms Larssen as
to dropping the section seals and yet you did nothing
until she repeated that order to you over the comm!
What excuse do you have for yourself?"
"Sir, none, sir! I didn't want to drop them too soon -
I mean, I wanted to drop them, I mean - I panicked,
sir!"
"Ms Shimona! You allowed main life-support and the
essential systems there to be invaded and controlled
by a pack of unarmed civilians! Despite your extensive
security experience, you failed to alert your
commander to a potential security crisis from the
passengers! What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Nothing, sir! I was wrong, sir!"
"Are you aware that some of the passengers are talking
of filing complaints against you all? For ill-
treatment, brutality, callous disregard for life?"
They hadn't been, he could tell by Rand's sharp intake
of breath and the sudden tears in Brand's eyes.
"If those charges are proven, that will be the end of
your collective careers." Kirk said. "And if those
charges are justified, then it *should* be the end of
your careers!"
"That's not fair!" Brand burst out, and when Kirk
glared at him he reddened and blurted, "Permission to
speak freely, sir!"
"Permission granted." Kirk said. He had been waiting
for one of them to reach the limit of conditioned
obedience, and he would have bet money on Brand being
first.
"Sir-" Brand started, looking at his captain for the
first time, but before he could continue Larssen cut
in.
"Sir, Yeoman Brand is overwrought and ought to be
dismissed, sir!"
"Shut up, Cory!" Brand said, his words lost as Kirk
came out of his seat with "I will be the judge of
that, Lieutenant!"
Then half the room was talking at once, all of them
shouting to try and drown out the others.
"Sir, they were crazy! They can't say we didn't -"
"You can't blame the Lieutenant like that, sir, she
worked harder than anyone-"
"It came out of *nowhere*, it was like a match in oil-
"As commanding officer, it was *my* responsibility and
if charges -"
"Self, inadequate, accepted! Klein, inadequate,
incorrect! Rand, inadequate, incorrect! Larssen,
inadequate, incorrect! Shimona -"
"We were every one of us out on our feet and I don't
care *what* -"
"I *know* I could have kept life support going if they
hadn't-
"No-one could have expected people to start ripping
apart
the ship they were on! Captain, you-"
"-space-worthy, and I might have been wrong but there
were five hundred-"
"Tried to kill us, for chrissakes! We were supposed to
let them?"
"*I* had the conn! It was *my* responsibility-"
"Shut up, Janice! It was *not* -"
"-foresaw the problem sir and I should have -"
"Enough!" Kirk roared, and they fell silent, with a
bit of shuffling and muttering. "Lieutenant Larssen,
this is not as yet a formal inquiry but as commander
of record of these officers, have you any final
comments?"
She looked his squarely in the eye. "Sir, they did
their level best. I asked too much of them, and I
made bad decisions, but they gave everything they had
and I'll say that in any inquiry that's held."
"All right." Kirk said gently. He smiled at her, and
saw her eyes widen slightly. "There are those who
would say that given the fact that it would be
Starfleet officers remaining behind on Starbase 18 and
civilians aboard the Lady Grace, you should have
played it safe and refused to take any refugees
aboard. There are those who would say that you should
have ordered the cargo section sealed the moment the
passengers were aboard. I could put a question mark
over every decision and every action that every one of
you made all the way along. However, what Lieutenant
Larssen said is true. Too much was asked of you -
including you, Ms Larssen, and I intend to tell
Admiral Dewey that. Would you make the same decisions
next time?"
"No, sir." Larssen answered for all of them. "That is
- not after we got out of space dock. But yes, sir, I
would take the Lady Grace out again, I would do the
same again. I understand what you're saying about
Starfleet and civilians - but that's only a choice I
could make for myself, sir. Not for other officers.
That isn't my decision - with respect, sir."
"Lieutenant," Kirk said, "how did you make that
decision?"
"I asked myself what you would do, sir." she said.
"I can't say you were wrong, Ms Larssen." Kirk told
her, and as she looked suddenly at the floor, he went
on to all of them, "We're running back towards
Starbase 9. When we dock, the automatic computer dump
will download mission logs into the base computers.
That means that there are five more days for you to
record and lodge your logs. Under Starfleet
regulations, once your logs are formally filed and
lodged, they cannot be altered. It would be improper
of me to review your logs prior to filing, and I'm
sure you're all aware of the regulations concerning
that and the reasons for it." He paused, just long
enough to make sure that it could be convincingly
argued that his next sentence was not related to his
previous line of thought. "For both my own crew and
those of you whose normal posting is elsewhere, I take
my responsibilities as captain very seriously, and I
consider these responsibilities to include providing
advice on any matters that cause you concern, whether
they occur on board my ship or elsewhere. Is that
clear?"
"Yes, sir." they chorused.
"Alright." Kirk said. "There is another, related
matter. What I am about to say to you must not go
outside this room. You are not even to discuss it
with each other. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir." they chorused.
"There have been a number of incidents reported in
this area in recent weeks that have involved -
confusion. It is possible they also involve poor
judgement. When the Lady Grace deviated from her
assigned course she moved within the area that
Commander Spock has proposed as the limit of these
events - for a short period of time. We have
suspected, and Lieutenant Larssen has confirmed here
today, that this period of time was when the refugees
left the cargo bays. The period of time when many of
the - shall we say 'less than optimal' decisions were
made aboard the Lady Grace."
Larssen was looking straight at him now, a small
upright line between her brows. "Captain," she said,
"do you mean -"
"I mean exactly what I say, Lieutenant." Kirk said.
"Nothing more, nothing less."
"Yes, sir." she said.
"I have reason to believe that Starfleet is aware of
this situation." Kirk said. "If so, the Admiralty has
not seen fit to tell us. On the assumption that they
have a good reason for this, I intend for the moment
to keep all mention of the matter out of the official
logs - for now. Therefore, I am not going to give you
any orders. I do, however, *request* that you attend
a debriefing meeting with Commander Spock in the next
twenty four hours. He has some questions to ask you
about events aboard the Lady Grace."
"Yes, sir." Larssen said, closely followed by the
others.
"Very well." Kirk said. "And remember, if you have
any *concerns*, if you feel the need for advice from a
more experienced officer, my door is open.
Dismissed."