To Do, Or Not To Do

Posted on Mon Mar 11th, 2013 @ 1:01pm by Lieutenant Commander Kadie Mora & Lieutenant JG Telana

1,097 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Sowing the Seeds
Location: Chief Engineer's Office, Main Engineering
Timeline: Mission Day 5, 1000 hours

"The captain wants to do what?!" Telana said incredulously as she stood from her seat in Mora's office just off main engineering.

Telana had quietly sat through Mora's point of view of her conversation with Captain Halliwell until she had gotten to the point of explaining what the captain wanted Mora to do with the security systems related to the self-destruct sequence, and set it up that Halliwell, and only Halliwell could order the destruction of the Ranger. "Something has her spooked, and with her attitude, I can't say that I blame her, especially if she's treating others how she just spoke to me."

"Are we going to do it?" Telana tentatively asked.

"I've served with a lot of people over the years, some had power trips on that you wouldn't believe, but what I know of Captain Halliwell, I have to say that while this is not like her, she has always done the right thing by her people." Mora hesitated before adding, "What do you think?"

"It's not really my place to..."

"I'm asking for your opinion, Telana."

The Orion walked back around the chair, sat back down, and closed her eyes for a moment. "As you say, the captain has always tried to do the right thing by us, and the ship. But I'm not sure that it can be done. To order a self-destruct requires three ranking officers, and only in extreme cases will it only require two usually with the commanding officers' approval code. To get that down to one..." Telana then paused.

"To get that down to one," Mora continued knowing where this was headed, "would require a complete re-write of the security access sub-routines related to the core, a format overlay on the computer pathways, and a level four access code to input the new parameters."

"Are you contemplating trying to get this done?" Telena asked.

Kadie took a seat in her own chair, "When I went to the Academy, part of the syllabus dealt with moralistic conflicts..."

"They still do that."

"I presume they still pose the same situations to the group, on whether or not to follow an order?" Telana just nodded and Kadie went on, "They always said that soldiers, and other Starfleet personnel weren't machines, that they had to have their own conscience, that they had to decide if an order was right or wrong, or even illegal, and how much it would violate their conscience if they followed such an order."

"Captain Halliwell's order is not illegal."

"But it is wrong." Mora leant back in her chair and continued. "I also said that it would be done, even if that was in the moment. We would still need level four access."

"Captain Halliwell has level four."

"But she is also intimately involved in this. Security's board would light up like a," Mora paused trying to think of the term she'd heard one of the human personnel use a few days ago, "like a..."

"Christmas tree." Telana offered.

"Like a Christmas tree," Kadie agreed with a thankful nod, "the system wouldn't take it."

Telana sighed a thoughtful sigh. "I don't need to remind you that only Captain's and Flag Officer's hold that kind of access, and that neither of us are captain's."

A thought then hit Mora. "Captain Halliwell is not the only captain on board."

"You are kidding," Telana said, "Halliwell would go fusion if we got Kendrick involved in this, she didn't even want me in on this."

Kadie cocked her head and raised a brow acknowledging the problem. "Halliwell didn't quite say by any means necessary, but she does want this done, and soon--we've got less than forty-five minutes till I have to report back that this is complete, and she's not going to take any excuses for why it's not." Mora sighed before going on, "but I still think that what she's requested is wrong. Talk about a moral dilemma here, on one side we have our orders, but on the other we both think those orders stink."

"So I guess I have to ask again, are we going to do this?"

As pauses in conversations went, this was about the longest that either officer knew about. The moralistic conflict going through Kadie's mind was enough to turn about anyone insane, to follow immoral orders that could very well endanger the ship and entire crew, or be stripped of rank, title, position, and dishonourably discharged from the service. "We're not."

"Sir?"

"This order goes above an beyond, and against every fibre of my ethical code." Mora replied plainly. "Don't forget those moralistic sessions at the Academy, Telana. There will come a time in every officers' career when they will have to make a choice on whether or not to follow an order. Do you remember the first officer of the Enterprise? I once heard a story about his selection by Captain Picard, that he disobeyed a direct order from his previous commander and risked general court martial because he thought that he was right, and followed through with that decision without regard to what it might look like on his record. I'm not thinking that this is going to win me any promotions any time soon, but I have to do what I believe is right, and just like Riker, I don't care how it looks on my record. I've had a long career in Starfleet, and I stand by every bit of it, including this."

Telana exhaled almost hard enough to make her cough. "Are you sure you want to do this? Captain Halliwell is not the kind of person that people cross and get away with it. Hell, in an hour you could be in the brig."

"Not going to happen. Captain Halliwell has to realise that there are more things at stake here than her ego."

"What do you mean by that?"

Kadie looked Telana directly in the eye with her crystal artificial ones, and lowered her voice as if her office was not empty. "I've gotten wind of a mysterious PADD going around several of the staff. I've also heard people whispering about it's contents--I've taken a look at it and it's just a garbled communication traffic report, which leads me to believe there's a movement on this ship working against the captain, and I can't blame them either. I think someone, I don't know who, is staging a mutiny, Telana... and I intend to support them, and even if I'm wrong, I intend to lead them. So, here's what we're going to do..."

 

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