Caged Animal (Backpost)

Posted on Fri May 15, 2020 @ 10:55pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr

1,307 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Brig
Timeline: Before arrival on "Not Tattooine"

Sitting in the cell, the force field was up and active. He sat there monitoring the simulations on his padd. Then the force field opened up and he passed the padd back through to security. Security took the padd and handed him his chow tray. Inside the cell, the environmental controls were programmed to a less than stellar. He was healing slower because this environment sucked. He sat on his platform and began to eat.

Sydney wasn't sure what to expect when she walked into the brig. She'd read up on the lieutenant's species, and on the report that had been sent to her, but still, seeing him sitting in the cell gave her a bit of a shock.

"Can I help you, Lieutenant?" the security officer said.

"Yes, I'm here to see Lieutenant King for his evaluation," Sydney said.

The security officer nodded and gestured towards the cell. "Do you need anything?"

"A chair?" she said, hopefully.

The officer nodded and pulled a seat over from a storage slot in the wall, setting it in front of the cell. "Call if you require anything," he said.

Sydney nodded and turned to face Lieutenant King. "Hello," she said. "I'm Doctor Friedman. How are you faring?"

King looked at her. "Not bad. I had a culture-versus-procedure issue. I violated procedure. Instead of asking for help, I arranged two people to get stuck helping me." He was a SRT Operator and Intel Support before Starfleet allowed him to use his degrees in a Science Posting. His psychological profile said he didn't like asking for help.

"I see," she said, looking down at the padd she'd brought and tapping some notes. "And is this radical burst of self-awareness for my benefit, or yours?" she said. "It might have spared you a lot of grief if you'd been this forthcoming beforehand."

King looked at her. "I was 'self-aware' in the moment. I interfered with a lesser evolved species whose offspring looked like my kind's offspring, and was about to be eaten by a T-Rex. I did what I was trained to do. In the process, I inadvertently became their Alpha. I can't be the leader of a group, Starfleet Protocol. Abandoning them would mess up their natural order. I let one of their group defeat me to restore the social structure of their group. In the process, I discovered I had hurt the T-Rex. I had to patch it back together."

“If this is what you were trained to do, I question the Academy’s curriculum.” Camille had entered the brig area at that moment, and everything King was saying angered her. Her glasses magnified her scowl. “If you had done what you were trained to do, you would have observed the hunting patterns of an apex predator without interfering at all.”

"Hello," Sydney said, nodding. "You are....?"

“Oh, pardonnez-moi,” Camille said, turning to face the other woman in the room. She gave her a pleasant smile. “Camille Lévesque, Chief Science Officer, and Mr. King’s superior officer.” She extended her hand in polite greeting.

"Ah, I see. Doctor Sydney Friedman, Ship's Counselor," she said, shaking Camille's hand. "And I'm afraid I have to agree," she said, somberly, turning back to King. "If I'm reading this report correctly," she said, holding up the padd, "you violated orders regarding harming the indigenous life forms, specifically the t-rex, and you did so to interfere with another set of life forms. The fact that they resembled your own people is further reason to stay away. What if they had been sentient? A proto-culture? This would be a serious violation of the Prime Directive, not just a violation of orders." She let her words hang in the air a fraction of a moment. "Such impulsive behavior is dangerous and will be noted. I'll set up another session to discuss it in private, but given you've admitted you knew full well what you were doing, and the consequences thereof, I'm afraid I can't offer any mitigating circumstances to the record. I would advise that in the future, you use more discretion and better judgement. I am always at your disposal to discuss it, and we can work on developing that skill in future sessions."

Looking at them both, King answered, "I was a SRT Operator during the war. We handled problems. Special Response and Tactical. Yes, I made an emotional decision to protect Cubs. They looked like the Cubs from my kind. The argument can most definitely be made that I violated procedure. When I said what I was trained to do, I meant be effective at combat." He thought for a moment. "Computer. Access King, Ardal personal letters. The recent one from my mother. Transfer it to the Counselor's Padd." The computer asked for authorization to follow through on the order because his authorization was restricted for obvious reasons. He looked at the Counselor, because he couldn't verbalize what was wrong. His species was Matriarchal and Legacy and Tribal based, all about family and the next generation. The mother chooses the mate for the children. In the letter, it talked about him being the oldest from the First Breeding Cycle. Four breeding cycles, four sets of Cubs. All of his younger siblings had been mated and had their own Cubs. According to his mother, no sow wanted him as a mate because they didn't want to leave the tribes and live on a ship. In his culture, being his age with no mate and no Cubs, was considered shameful. He failed his tribe. His mother didn't say that part about being ashamed of him, but it was part of the culture.

Sydney keyed in her code and read the letter and looked back up at King. "Lieutenant, I'm sure you're going to come up with an explanation as to how, to your mind, this is relevant, but unfortunately it doesn't change the immediate situation. Once you're released, please report to my office. I hope our next meeting goes better." She gave him a gentle smile, nodded to Camille and left the brig.

Letting out an exasperated noise, "I come from a culture where tribe building is one of our highest priorities. It is a major part of our culture. I'm the oldest of my parents cubs. All of my siblings are mated. All of my siblings have their own Cubs. Being in here has given me time to think. I know the reason for the panic attack on surface, before I chose to get between the sleuth and the trex. You would understand. The majority of humans don't do tribe building or have a culture built around it. It is considered dishonorable to be my age and not have a mate and Cubs. Combine that with my kinds need to protect animals that look like my kind. I had an emotional response. One I will work on not having in the future."

“Indeed not,” Camille said, without any sympathy. “You will have much time to consider how to prevent future such responses. Because you are to remain bound to the ship until further notice. No landing party or shore leave privileges. As for your culture, we are all accepting of that, but you made sacrifices when you joined Starfleet. And for what it’s worth? We understand more than you know. In my culture, that I’ve not had children yet is also considered strange. My family accepts then decision, but their friends often wonder why I’m not married or have a family yet. Many Terran cultures are similar. As for a need to protect animals that look like you? C’est d’la marde. You made a decision, and it was the wrong one.” She turned and left as well, leaving Ardal alone. Someone would release him later.

 

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