<USS Avalon> Walker Does His Duty - Phillips/Ranger

"Walker Does His Duty"
by
MCPT Adrian Phillips (Chief/Security, /USS Avalon/)
SGT Walker T. Ranger (Ass't Chief/Security, /USS Avalon/)

From "Briefing the Captains", posted 5/30/2007:

   As the groups dispersed to their duties, two of the proper team
   taking Captain Phillips in hand, Walker walked toward what was now
his office. We now conclude: (gets us to present time and the warp-jump ordered by the Admiral) With a growing sense of both resignation and misgiving, he worked up the report the Captain had asked for and routed it to her console within three-quarters of an hour of her initial request, knowing the whole situation was considerably less than optimal all around. Even Talea could, given a little bit of vindictiveness, be seen as being at fault in the incident.
He knew also that it was imperative that Talea break the Ice-Princess image the Ensign and his little cadre had caused her to be known by. Her self-confidence was so low that he was concerned she'd try something foolish, such as . . . His mind skittered away from the image conjured up by the very thought, of Talea lying on the deck, dead by her own hand and, so likely, by one of the most horrifying of heirlooms, the corrosive-poison impregnated blade known as a suicide dagger. Whether she had one, he didn't know for certain, but there were too many of those things out there. He'd heard rumor that the Queen-Regnant owned one, and that was quite troubling enough.
He also knew without a doubt that Captain Phillips likely was rather upset at him, but he'd had no choice but to arrest his superior, given the order by Captain Skyler. The order had been legal and legitimate, so he had followed it, despite his own misgivings about the entire issue. He knew Captain Phillips was within Marine regs (albeit irregular ones during peacetime on the Regellian side!) on both sides for his action, so there was, in reality, no case against him. Proving that to Captain Skyler, however, would be difficult, he suspected.
He shut down the terminal properly, exited the office (which he did not consider his, although he was acting Chief of Security until this matter was resolved) and locked it, proceeding down to the Brig to speak with Captain Phillips.
On reaching Captain Phillips' cell, he bypassed the field long enough to walk through, permitting it to reform behind him. "I apologize, Sir, for having had to arrest you. I was given no true choice by Captain Skyler. You and I both know that there is no true case against you, under either Marine code of law. Help me figure out, please, how to convince Captain Skyler of this, and you can be quit of this cell that much faster." Walker's request was very much in earnest, since he had seen several of the Marines look at him with annoyance, and suspected they felt he was in the wrong.
Adrian had been waiting patiently for his whittling tools to arrive. He had requested them with George, who was currently working the brig shift, but knew it would take a little while, since George wasn't really able to leave. However, the pleasant surprise of a guest so quickly surprised him, and he smiled as Walker entered. "My my, I must be popular. Come have a seat, Walker, and there's no hard feelings from me. This sort of thing unfortunately happens sometimes, and I should have foreseen it. You did what was correct, considering I gave you no order otherwise. If I had told you not to obey her, you'd be in a much more difficult situation."
He stretched out against his bench before speaking again. "So, in short, don't worry about upsetting me, because I'm not, really. It's not the first time my own marines have thrown me in the brig." He chuckled to himself.
Walker looked puzzled for a very brief moment before he mentally shrugged off the strange statement. "Do you have any ideas, Sir, on how to rectify this issue without you facing an inquest into the matter?"
"Skyler is a smart Captain. She didn't get to her position through favors or appointment, she earned it." He paused for a moment, picking his words. "Unfortunately for her, I think she sometimes has her actions take over too quickly. I believe in a few hours, I will most likely be getting a visit from her. If not, then I'm sure you will be sooner than that. As for how to explain it to her to relieve the situation, it's a tough one to call. If I were you, I'd go by the books, and see if you can't dig up the laws for the 'fleet marines." Adrian paused for a moment before speaking again. "Do you understand why I executed Kano, Mr. Walker?"
Walker nodded, his face grim. "Aye, Sir. As an example to the rest of the unit, to prevent a repeat of the incident. It is not unheard of during wartime for the RSMC to permit the practice, as it keeps units more cohesive to know that punishment for a crime of that sort is swift, certain and deadly." He sighed. "What you did was and is legal in both Starfleet Marine and Regellian Space Marine Corps regulations, although, as stated, its use in peacetime would be considered irregular in the latter case." His face went even grimmer. "What Kano participated in was abomination in many ways, Sir. Firstly, from what I know of Ensign Erridim, the actions of that group precisely mirrored those of her own Clan's men, who refuse to even acknowledge that women have certain rights. Secondly, the action itself was dishonorable, since he did use energy weapons at first, and apparently had the intent of more once he defeated her. In that, too, he acted like a male of her Clan." He was sternly controlling his emotions now. "In short, I feel that the punishment met the crime and saved the Federation several thousand credits' worth of trial, and the Marines the embarrassment of having these actions exposed more than they already will be by the trials of the others in the conspiracy." He also knew that the other three were at least full of remorse over the incident, and had shown what the Klingons would call discommodation toward Kano prior to Captain Phillips' action, but he wasn't certain Captain Phillips had noticed this important fact.
Walker then noted, "Lest you think I enjoy being thrust into the role your arrest forced upon me, Sir, I assure you that I do not enjoy being the head of the department, especially as I've already detected resentment and anger toward me for the action I was given no choice but to do. I honestly thought that the majority of this unit's personnel were more mature than that, Sir."
"Don't worry, most of them are," Adrian commented as he looked over at the man on Brig Duty. "Unfortunately, some of the greenbacks haven't quite figured out the system yet. You're also very new to the company beyond your own squad, Walker, and so everyone is sizing you up. But worry not, if all this is settled, or if I am deported away, then I'll make sure to set things straight with the company." He spoke honestly, glad to see that Walker understood why he did it, and also agreed with it. "You wanna know an interesting fact about me, and why I don't tolerate that kind of behavior?" He seemed much more relaxed now. With his second in command fully backing him and not only that, but understanding the situation, he was very much more at ease.
Walker was very cautious as he admitted, "I had rather wondered, aye, Sir, but expect that you did so because someone you respect or love had personal experience with such misconduct." He was tempted to smile slightly, but held it in. While this was a guess, he suspected it was a pretty accurate assessment. Of course, there existed the possibility that it was wildly inaccurate as well, since there was a great deal of guesswork involved.
Noticing his superior had apparently been waiting for something, he asked, "Anything I can retrieve for you, Sir?" This question was almost rhetorical, for he had seen the request for the whittling tools come across the Security Chief's desk. "Such as your whittling tools and various things to whittle upon?" With that, he scanned the Marine Captain's quarters, located the tools and materials, then smiled slightly as he telekinetically lifted the set and materials directly to the floor in front of the man. He knew it was very much irregular to allow someone such sharp tools, but he knew without a doubt that the Captain was not foolish or desperate enough to try to use the tools to escape in either of the ways they would permit. Besides that, the presence of the tools was a gesture of trust and goodwill, in his opinion.
"Ahh, thanks so much for that. It will give me something to do in the meantime. As for your guess, you're 100% correct, m'boy," Adrian said as he grasped the tools and placed them down. "My sister was assaulted and killed by some thugs while she was in her home. My mother was killed on Betazed during the invasion." His face grimaced as he mentioned these events, obviously something that still has not settled well with him.
Walker nodded grimly. "I still expect a trial of some sort, Sir. Sometimes, especially with Starfleet, things don't quite progress as planned. Will try to keep it aboard ship, if at all possible, if that's your wish as well, Sir." He chuckled. "Though I expect that Cialra would rather you go along and police-dog those miscreants as they get delivered to JAG."
There was an audible sigh from Adrian as he paused from being grim for a moment. "Well, let them spend their time doing that, it feels like were gonna be heading into warp anyways so it'll be after that no doubt." He smiled then and rose, patting his Sergeant on the back. "But don't worry about me none, laddie. We'll get all this figured out. Just tell any men who give ya trouble, ya still are new to the unit after all, to come chat with me if I'm still on this wonderful boat. Who knows, you might have a whole new unit under your command before the end of the month."
Adrian paused for a second and then walked over to the force-field, motioning the ok for the guard on the other side. "By the way, one of my best recon, of any type, sergeants is enroute. We spent a lot of time together in the Dominion War, and she saved me plenty of times. Dora Fane is her name, make her feel welcome. Most of the company knows her as well."
Walker nodded. "Will do, Sir. It's the polite thing to do, after all. I don't judge people before I see them, unlike certain Ensigns who are currently in the Brig."
"And that's why those Ensigns are in the brig, Mr. Walker," Adrian smiled. "Bad manners!"
Walker chuckled. "Amongst other things, including doing things that were, quite frankly, idiotic even for civilians. Doubly so for military personnel." He chuckled again. "Oh, that's right. Starfleet isn't a military organization." He paused for just a moment, then said with great sarcasm, "Yeah, right!" He grinned over at his boss. "See you later. If you need me, well, you know where I'll be, Sir. Stuck doin' your job while you get to rest here in the Brig." He then winked at Adrian, meaning it as a bit of joking around.
That was when he noticed the shift in direction and speed. "Uhoh. Canaveral, we have a problem. Feels like we've gone to a speed well above the Federation's warp-speed laws permit. Something must be truly FUBAR for this to be happening, Sir. Will keep you updated!"
As the force-field dropped for a moment, Walker stepped across the threshold and it snapped back up after him, actually catching the heel of his right boot and throwing him off-balance. Instinctively, he regained his balance almost without pausing, showing his ability to adapt to emergencies in the process. The startled man on duty noted that Walker seemed to have been gyroscopically stabilized, he'd recovered so easily and braced for the reprimand he was certain was about to hit him.
Walker just shook his head slightly as he walked over to the duty desk. "Careful, there. Somebody could get hurt if you miss it too far in the other direction." He had seen what happened when a force-field came up while someone was straddling it once; the result was not survivable. He looked at the heel of his right boot and muttered, "Didn't like these boots anyway." The heel was badly damaged, but the field hadn't caught his heel, just the heel of the boot.

Other related posts: