It's Not Easy Being Blue

[Gallus 0]

Its Not Easy Being Blue

 

AENG's Shore Leave Part I

 

 

It wasn’t strong, not as strong as any Orion beverage, nor as strong as Andorian ale, not even close to the Klingon's Blood wine. It did however have the virtue of being readily available in massive quantities, perhaps it was this that allowed the brandy, the finest in the world as the barkeep informed him, to do it's job. And it did, oh, it did, His family may have disowned him, refused to speak with him, but that was nothing compared to the bliss that unconsciousness brought upon his weary frame, unfortunate that he had to wake up. More unfortunate still that he no longer had any of his belongings. No doubt his scanner and communicator would fetch a nice price. At least he was back aboard Challenger, it was pleasantly cool and crisp in his cabin, no doubt he had found the time to tamper with the environmental systems in his drunken stupor. How he managed to get back aboard the ship was beyond his comprehension, at least for the moment.

 

The disorientation subsided somewhat, his stomach ached, as did his head, alcohol was never his intoxicant of choice, engineering was his craft and he'd be damned if he didn’t enjoy it. Noticing his thoughts were starting to wander, he focused on ascertaining his current condition. Pain in his head and stomach indicative of a hangover, but the pain in his stalks was different, he doubted it would go away anytime soon, it was the same pain he had felt back on Earth, when he realized that he could never go back, when his father had severed the commlink that he had achieved with some degree of difficulty. It was irritating that he must feel, but that’s what separated Andorians from Vulcans and he knew what side of the scale he preferred, albeit ironically considering they rejected him. His hearing would be today. The hearing that would decide if the Humans would allow him to continue serving on Challenger. He hoped that he would be allowed to stay aboard, if only to be a thorn in the paw of that overgrown kitten. If only to have a place to call home.

 

He got off the bunk, warily, in case the force of gravity conspired to bring him down to the deck. Fortunate that he managed to make it to the bathroom, frost had formed on the mirror and indeed on almost every surface, it was a pleasant feeling, almost like coming home again. He would have to see about making this change to his quarters a permanent one, if they would still be his after this hearing. He was still in his uniform, creased and torn, probably some sort of struggle, one that he could not recall.

 

By the time he emerged from the bathroom, he was relatively awake, in a new uniform, and wondering where the crewman that he shared his quarters with had gone, how late was it? The room's terminal showed it was 0950, not too late. but he would have to hurry, the tribunal would convene to decide upon his request for asylum at 1100. He could catch breakfast if he didn’t mind scattering his atoms across the orbital space between here and San Francisco. He was hopeful that his hunger would not cost him his life, but such things rarely happened anymore... or so he was told, 'The transporter has been perfected,' go the assurances of the pink skins.

 

The galley was surprisingly empty; clearly most of the crew that was on shore leave were still down on Earth. Choosing some eggs, toast and coffee, he started reviewing the complex legal issues that would be at the fore when they would evaluate his request for asylum. After the second sentence of the law regarding the acceptance of such requests, he shut off the padd. After finishing his meal, he disposed of his plate, cup and padd in the reclamator. When he got to the transporter, the crewman on duty was only glad to beam him down.

 

San Francisco was hot. He was just a short walk away from Starfleet Headquarters, a complex of buildings ranging from almost a century old to ones that were practically brand new. His objective was a relatively small five story structure that housed the Advocate General's office and the courtroom that his hearing would be held in. He was a few minutes early, but his lawyer was not outside the room yet. He had never seen this lawyer before, but they had communicated via subspace before his arrival on Earth, he seemed very... proper. Extremely so, probably a useful trait when in his profession.

 

 

 

"Mr. Th'Gos."

 

 

 

From behind him came the gravelly voice he recognized from the last few days. He turned around to find an aging Vulcan in the most contemporary outfit he had ever seen a Vulcan of his age wear, a dramatic departure from the robes that you see all too often. But of course, the Andorian, having never seen his advocate was quite shocked that his representation was in fact a member of a race which ostensibly despised Andorians. He hoped that this wasn’t that security cat's way of getting back at him for all the slave-cat comments.

 

 

 

"Ah, I have looked forward to meeting you in person, Tomov, subspace communication can be somewhat... impersonal."

 

 

 

"Indeed. I must ask you if there have been any new developments in your case since our last communication four days ago." The Vulcan's tone was as icy as T'Parek's, leading the Andorian to wonder if it was just her in a mask. He resisted the urge to pull off his face.

 

 

 

"There have been none."

 

 

 

"Then it is important that you respond to the board's questions directly, do not say more than you need to and don’t speak out of turn." He had little doubt that breaking the Vulcan's jaw would result in his request for asylum to be denied, but that didn’t stop him from imagining it.

 

 

 

"Understood."

 

 

 

The group of officers that were to listen to his case entered the corridor, followed by the Earth representative that would try to prevent him citizenship and a commission in Starfleet. The six of them entered the courtroom. Gallus had little doubt that the three officers were against him, and that the opposing attorney was skilled, the only doubt in his mind was how this Vulcan would perform. Ironic. They all sat down at their respective places, the hearing officers at a raised table on the far side of the door and the two parties at separate tables on the other side of the room. There was a chair in the center of the room, it looked comfortable, but it was probably for executions, he had heard rumors amongst his crewmates of the existence of an 'electric chair' with which humans killed their prisoners.

 

 

 

The officer in the center of the raised table stood, "We convene this hearing today to determine whether or not to allow Galluskek Th'Gos asylum on Earth from Andor and also if he should be allowed to continue serving aboard the starship Challenger, NX-05. The rulings of this court shall be preliminary in nature, this hearing is to be considered a prelude to a an expanded inquiry into the matter, as the subject is of great importance to interstellar relations. We will begin with a statement from the esteemed Tomov, representing Th'Gos."

 

 

 

With an air of dignity, the Vulcan stood, "This hearing is convened in order to discuss my client's eligibility for asylum from Andor. According to the statutes concerning the acceptance of such requests, he has met all the conditions, he is currently serving aboard an Earth starship, he has not broken any law nor been accused of any crime, and he is not afflicted by any disease which would be considered grounds for dismissal of this request, as attested to by the physical examination of one Dr. Marlin upon the assumption of his post aboard the starship Challenger. The conclusion that this evidence supports is that Mr. Th'Gos is a candidate for citizenship and should be allowed to continue serving aboard Challenger." He sat down, finished.

 

 

 

The other lawyer was next, "My colleague would have you believe that Galluskek Th'Gos is harmless, that he would just be another person seeking refuge from an arbitrary decision made by his government and while it may be true that he is technically eligible for citizenship, I submit that the circumstances surrounding his expulsion from his home planet must be taken into consideration, especially in these times of political tumult. His government contends that his own actions forced their hand in this matter and we believe that they invalidate his claim to citizenship."

 

 

 

It was very unsettling being able to do nothing but watch as two parties fight over your future. More unsettling still that the opposition is using broad claims of treason and treachery against you. Opening statements are evil.

 

 

 

"This court would be very interested in hearing these charges you say have been leveled by the Andorian government, you may proceed with those, Mr. Bates."

 

 

 

He stood, this 'Bates,' the opposition's name was ugly, guttural, thoroughly displeasing. "The Andorian Central Command forwarded documents pertinent to this case at our request, together with logs made by the Challenger crew, they support the conclusion that Th'Gos was conducting espionage while aboard Challenger. But moreover, that this information was not going to the Andorians, but rather a third party, our information clearly indicates that Th'Gos is a Romulan spy!" At the mention of Romulans the entire courtroom reacted with some surprise, Andorian inclusive. After a brief pause the commander on the left of the presiding officer spoke.

 

 

 

"You said you had evidence supporting this accusation?"

 

 

 

That evil Bates raised a padd, " I hold in my had a list of covert communiqués sent to me by the Andorian Central Command, the contents of which are encrypted, but the few that we have been able to decrypt are in some sort of code, although they seem to refer to installations on Andorian worlds, and deployments of Andorian forces. Furthermore, the communications officer on Challenger reported the unauthorized use of their subspace transmitter by Th'Gos and logged that he sent, and I quote, 'an encrypted message of a suspicious nature.' She later recommended that he be removed from the ship citing him as a security risk, an assessment that the current chief of security aboard Challenger agrees with, she recently informed the Captain of that vessel of her belief that he was security risk during a staff meeting, calling him untrustworthy and irritating on more than one occasion. And, most recently, the University of Andor's servers were broken into and several gigaquads of data were uploaded before the connection was terminated, the origin of that signal was Challenger's Engineering section, the origin of that signal was Th'Gos' console!"

 

 

 

Tomov stood, "I object, this information was not presented to us in a timely manner, and should be inadmissible in this court."

 

 

 

The board deliberated for a few seconds, "Considering the importance of the evidence presented and the sheer weight of such an accusation, we are forced to allow it, if Mr. Th'Gos is a Romulan spy it would not be in our best interest to allow him access to one of our most technologically advanced and strategically important starships. However, we cannot deny that the evidence was not presented in accordance to the law, we will allow one day for the court and you, Mr. Tomov, to review it in depth. This course is in recess until tomorrow. We will resume at 1200 hours." The three officers silently left the room, followed by that tyrant Bates.

 

 

 

The Vulcan turned to Gallus. "It appears we have much to discuss."