<USS Avalon> "A Brig Chat"

"A Brig Chat"
Captain Skyler
Captain Phillips

The Brig was actually quite a homely place. It was quiet, and if you  were in 
it you were most likely left undisturbed. Adrian had his whittling tools  
brought in, and was working on a rather large sailing ship from the very late  
1500s. The time went by slowly at times, or more quickly at others, but all 
that 
 was of no concern to Adrian, he simply focused himself on the ship.  

After calming down Skyler decided she had best go to the brig and find  out 
what was going on and why Captain Phillips would execute someone without a  
trial. Entering the brig she dismissed the ensign on duty and made her way to  
the marines cell.  Upon arriving at his cell she found him doing of all  
things, 
whittling. "I'm not sure but I believe those tools could be considered  
weapons and shouldn't be allowed in the brig. What exactly are you trying to  
make?" She was quite curious about this man.

"A ship actually." Adrian  replied as he continued to whittle for a moment 
longer. "One of my marines' kids  wanted a toy starship of the Avalon to add to 
his collection." He rose and  looked across the cell at Skyler.  "Rather then 
his mum spend the money I  just told her I'd make one. It's just started 
really, haven't had the time till  now to really put the necessary effort in." 
He 
smiled. 

Placing the tools  carefully on the bench so as to not ruin the still in 
progress creation, Adrian  continued. "As for the tools being weapons, well it 
helps to be good friends  with the brig security, and when they know your not 
going to break out." He  smiled again. 

"Explain to me why you executed a man in cold blood. Why  would you do that? 
I don't understand and I am sure Admiral is not going to  understand either. 
You are supposed to set an example. Unfortunately this was  not the example I 
would think you would want to set." Skyler stood there  wondering how it was 
that a seemingly intelligent man would just go and execute  another marine 
without a trial or anything else of that nature. 

Adrian  just smiled and motioned for the Commander to join him on the other 
bench in his  cell. "I promise I won't bite Captain, but this will take a bit 
of explaining  and the whole forcefield in-between us makes it seem as though I 
am a serial  killer or some such." He smiled again and sat back down, careful 
not to sit or  disturb his work. 

Wanting to give the marine a chance to explain  himself, she lowered the 
forcefield and entered the cell. She made sure the  guard was within eye sight 
just in case. "Okay Captain. Here I am. Now would you  care to explain 
yourself? 
Why would you kill a man in cold blood?" 

"In  order to explain more about my actions, I need to know. Have you ever 
had any  experience dealing with Marine Companies before?" Adrian asked as he 
eased back  in his seat, putting his arms behind his head. "I ask simply 
because 
it's  important to know, this sort of situation we are in is not the first 
for me, but  this almost always happens with Officers who have not dealt with 
marines  before." 

Looking at the Marine Skyler stood with her arms crossed across  her chest. 
"Captain Phillips I don't see what my having dealt with marines or  not has 
anything to do with this. However to answer your question, no I have not  had 
any 
dealings with Marine companies. That still doesn't give you the right to  
just kill someone and think you are going to get out of it just because you are 
 
a marine. I also doubt that Admiral Ketchum would approve of your techniques 
as  well." 

"And I 100% agree with you about the Admiral and your opinion on  the 
matter." Adrian said with a stern glance which relaxed as quickly as it had  
arrived. 
"The reason I asked is because we in the marines have a much different  
philosophy on how things are run. To give you an example, what you claimed as  
killing in cold blood under marine law, which is how I grew up in the corps 
with  
and is still used today, is simply considered the correct action taking to 
both  ensure morale and deal with traitors." He looked on for a moment with a 
pause.  "Do you understand anymore or should I try to go into more detail?"  

"Please," she said with some sarcasm, "go into more detail. I want to  know 
what makes you think that just because you are a marine that while serving  on 
a Starfleet vessel you seem to think you can do anything you wish."  

Adrian shook his head. "Not anything I wish, nor would I want to be able  to 
do anything I wish. Hell, even you Commanding Officers of these ships can't  
do whatever you want, and that's why we are the Federation, and not a bunch of  
mercenaries." He spoke with a relaxed situation, regardless of the sarcasm.  
"It's a matter of marine law. Marine Company Captains have at their disposal a 
 certain list of commands which are used in specific situations." He paused 
and  became a little more serious seeming before continuing. "Normally they are 
 reserved for situations when the company needs to focus their morale and 
also to  deal with treasonous behavior." 

Looking over his whittling knife, Adrian  felt the weight in his hand before 
continuing. "These situations are obviously  most commonly found during times 
of war, when desertion and mutiny can be more  common. I however, felt the 
need to exercise one of this abilities, which is  that of execution due to 
treasonous acts, in order to fully establish the  discipline and loyalty of my 
company so that when the situation arises, I know  that they are functioning as 
marines, and not pretending to be." Another pause  to let this idea sink in. 

"What I did may seem very drastic, but allow  me now to explain the 
situation, with the legalities out of the way. Ensign  Erridim was deceived and 
then 
assaulted by an armed marine, while she herself  was unarmed. From my knowledge 
gathered, she was sent a message by someone  pretending to be Sgt.. Walker, 
informing her to come down to the 'pit,' which is  our fighting ring. Once she 
arrived in the gym, the doors were locked and she  was thrown into the gym, in 
which they set up the mental forcefield. Kano was  already in there, armed 
with what I believe was two disrupter pistols. He  proceeded to attempt to not 
only bodily harm, but indeed kill the Ensign. If it  was not for her extensive 
combat training from Regellian marine-fleet cross  training, I doubt she would 
be alive at this point." He stated all of this very  simply, not leaving not 
any details. 

Placing the whittling tool back  down, he continued. "However, because of her 
training she was able to defeat  Kano and escape back to her room, but not 
without taking a brutal beating, both  physically and mentally. I found out 
afterwards that the reason behind this  attack was due to a marine within my 
unit 
who is apparently related to the  Ensign we arrested for assaulting Ms. 
Erridim before. I will not and could not  tolerate that behavior from my men, 
both 
the idea to take justice into their own  hands and the fact that Kano seemed 
more then willing, and felt no remorse for  his actions, even turning upon his 
kinsmen. My execution of him sent a very firm  message to my company that 
marines do not and will not act in that manner, nor  any other manner similar 
to 
it. I have a strong amount of veterans in this unit,  and they were not 
surprised to see this occur. The greenbacks will be a bit  confused, but my men 
will 
be able to sort it out. If not, then they know that  they can come to me and 
challenge on that decision, or ask for my explanation  for it." 

"That may be in the marines but in Starfleet things are done  differently. We 
don't execute people just because we can. There are proper  channels that 
must be followed." She still couldn't believe that he thought what  he had done 
was legitimate and the proper thing to do. Or that she should just  let it pass 
without punishment. "I am well aware of Ensign Erridim's problems.  She as 
well as Dr. Cazook have been keeping me well informed. I agree that  Ensign 
Jackson and Kano should not have taken matters into there own hands.  Jackson 
is 
going to be punished appropriately as would Kano had he been allowed  to live."
 
Adrian sighed and looked from the wall back over to Skyler. "'That's the  
thing Commander, and it's difficult to explain, but Kano's fate was exactly 
what  
he deserved. In the marine courts, he could very well have faced the same  
sentence, depending on the judge. In the field, the Company Commander is acting 
 
judge. Now, if the company feels that he is being unjust or too harsh, then 
they  can remove him." 

The time of explanations was over. Obviously Skyler was  not was grasping 
this concept, which saddened Adrian a bit. Fortunately or  unfortunately the 
cells were designed to block all telepathic behavior, so  unless he made a face 
or 
something, Skyler wouldn't get it. "But, aside from my  fate for a moment, 
there is something else in this case which needs addressing,  and that is the 
issue of Ms. Erridim." He paused for a moment before continuing.  "I suggest 
that she needs to be placed under restrictions only to her quarters  until 
things 
have cooled down sufficiently." Phillips waited, knowing the  reaction was 
not to be a pleasant one, at least in his mind considering what he  had seen so 
far. 

How dare this man try to tell me my job! "Ensign  Erridim is needed on the 
bridge as soon as she is able. All necessary  precautions will be taken. It 
seems to me that she is not the problem but rather  the problem exists with 
your 
marines. Unfortunately you don't seem able to  control them or this would not 
have happened in the first place. Now if you will  excuse me I must return to 
the bridge. I will think about what you have told me  and go so far as to look 
it up in regulations both Starfleet and Marine.  However, for now, you are to 
remain here."

Turning Skyler nodded to the  guard on duty to lower the field. Once it was 
lowered she exited the cell and  waited until the field was replaced. She 
informed the guard on duty that Captain  Phillips was to be treated with 
respect 
but not to forget he was still a  prisoner until otherwise notified. With that 
she left the brig and returned to  the bridge.

Adrian laid back and sighed. "Well, I gave her a suggestion,  but at the very 
least she notices that the marines are out of line. That will be  good enough 
for the High Command to release me, eh Jimmy?" He spoke at the end  to the 
guard on duty, who simply nodded his reply with a smile. 
 



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