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Date: Sat, 05 Jun 2004 17:41:25 -0400
Subject: [ASC] NEW:VOY "In Pursuit of Justice" 4/13 J [PG-13]
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Forwarded by the ASC-VSO 
Posted: 3 Jun 2004 13:23:34 -0700  
In: alt.startrek.creative 
From: roq@iname.com (Rocky) 
 

Title: In Pursuit Of Justice
Author: Rocky
Contact: roq@iname.com
Web page: http://www.angelfire.com/yt/rockyroad
Series: VOY
Part: 4/13
Codes: J
Rating: PG-13
Date first posted: 6/3/04
Archive: ASC yes, all others please ask

Summary & Disclaimer: see part 1

That evening Janeway stood on the balcony of her apartment, looking
out over the twinkling lights of the city. The events that had taken
place that day in the courtroom had been no more than she expected;
what was surprising was to feel the same sense of shock as she did
long ago at Chakotay's objections. She shivered in the cool night air,
hearing their voices in the briefing room once again:

//"You almost killed that man today."

"It was a calculated risk and I took it." 

"It was a bad call."

"I'll note your objection in my log."

"I don't give a damn about your log! This isn't about rules and
regulations. It's about right and wrong. And I'm warning you--I won't
let you cross that line again."

"Then you leave me no choice. You are hereby relieved of duty until
further notice."

"What's happened to you, Kathryn?"

"I was about to ask you the same question."//

Of all the decisions she'd made in the DQ, this was not the one she
expected to come back and haunt her years later. She'd seen herself in
front a review board, trying to justify other actions--the alliance
with the Borg, for example, or places where she'd skirted the Prime
Directive, hell, the decision to destroy the Caretaker's Array to
begin with, or incorporate the Maquis into her crew. Instead, those
issues had been raised only briefly, and then dropped. But the
interrogation of Noah Lessing-- Somehow she hadn't expected to be
called to justify what happened in that cargo bay.

//You almost killed that man.//

Whenever she'd recalled that incident afterwards, she had shied away
almost immediately. Not from guilt, not exactly. She had never doubted
the necessity of her actions, but she was uncomfortable remembering
how the situation had played itself out. Lessing had been an
impediment standing between her and Equinox, and inexplicably, he had
refused to yield.

With distance granted by time, she could acknowledge now that she had
lost control, allowed her emotions to get the best of her. If only
she'd been calmer, if she'd had time to think, perhaps she and
Chakotay could have orchestrated their efforts. Instead--

The expression on Chakotay's face in the courtroom, more than anything
he actually said, had brought the entire incident back to her, in full
chilling detail. She remembered her emotions at the time, the cold
fury that had gripped her when upon realizing what had been done to
her ship and crew, the utter frustration that Ransom could remain
beyond her reach--and her frustration was compounded by the actions of
those closest to her, who impeded her efforts rather than helped.

Only much later had she realized that the anger reached both ways.

With a sigh, she acknowledged it had taken a long time to heal the
breach between herself and her first officer--if indeed it had been
healed at all.

***

"I want you to reconsider our defense strategy," Gaines said abruptly,
as soon as the door to the small anteroom closed behind them.

"Why?" Janeway asked. It was just the two of them; although Perry
would undoubtedly be present in the courtroom later, he was not there
now.

"Because your trial is not going well," Gaines said, slamming his
briefcase on the floor as if to emphasize his words. "The guard's
testimony was bad enough, but Chakotay's was far more damaging. And in
a short while, we're going to be back inside that courtroom and
another one of your senior officers is going to take the stand against
you."

"Tuvok won't say anything that's going to hurt me--"

"Why, because you're counting on his loyalty to you?" Gaines gave a
short laugh, though the expression on his face was anything but
amusement. "It didn't work as far as Chakotay was concerned, though to
give the man credit, I do think he tried not to make it worse than he
had to."

She let his comments about Chakotay pass; she wasn't going to try to
guess her former first officer's motivations. "Because Tuvok wasn't
anywhere near the cargo bay, had no firsthand knowledge of what
happened to Lessing. You said yourself you didn't know why he was
included on the prosecution's witness list."

"That's beside the point. As Mendez showed us yesterday, she excels at
finding damning information from seemingly innocuous details. Who
knows what incriminating evidence there is to be gained from Tuvok's
testimony?" Gaines shook his head. "Reckless endangerment, callous
disregard for sentient life, assault, misbehavior before the enemy,
cruelty and maltreatment --she's made a convincing case against you
already. And there's more to come, much more. If the prosecution puts
Lessing on the stand..." He didn't need to say anything further.

Janeway pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve the pressure
she felt building up behind her eyes. Tension and lack of sleep were
taking their toll. "What did you have in mind?"

"There are grounds for the insanity plea." He held up his hand. "Hear
me out, before you say anything. Your state of mind has come up more
than once. Mendez has already portrayed you as being out of control,
driven by a lust for revenge--" He stopped. "This is our only hope."

Janeway didn't answer.

"Further, there's precedence. Consider the example of your EMH."

"I have no idea what you're getting at," Janeway said coldly. 

"You weren't the only one who committed a crime during the Equinox
incident, Captain. Do you recall what your Doctor did to Seven of Nine
on board Ransom's ship, as he was trying to extract information from
her? He carved her up like a Sunday roast.  She could have died--and
even though she didn't, it was hardly a pleasant experience." Gaines
leaned forward. "Torture, attempted murder--does any of this sound
familiar, Captain?"

"Ransom disabled the Doctor's ethical subroutines, just as he did
those of his own EMH," Janeway objected. "He was not responsible for
his actions. At any rate, it's not the same thing at all. He's a
hologram."

"A hologram who has been declared sentient by the courts since your
return," Gaines said. "Held to the same strictures as any other form
of intelligent life." He paused. "The EMH was cleared of any
wrongdoing, because his matrix was impaired at the time. I'm surprised
you didn't know about the legal proceedings."

"I did know, but I fail to see how this is relevant to my case."

"You were also temporarily--" 

"I was *not* insane," Janeway cut in. "I knew exactly what I was
doing."

"You admit you deliberately put a man in a position to be killed?
That's premeditated murder!" Gaines looked at her incredulously. "Oh,
that's really going to go over well with the jury, Captain."

Janeway didn't react to his sarcasm. "I had every confidence that
Lessing was going to break down and give me the information. There was
nothing to suggest he was going to refuse." She remembered how
grateful the Equinox crew had been when they'd first made contact with
Voyager, how they'd spoken of their own privations; they had clearly
viewed the other Starfleet vessel as paradise. Who would have known
they'd choose to remain in hell?

"Nothing, except loyalty to a captain who'd kept him alive all those
years," Gaines said. His lip curled in distaste. "Lessing called your
bluff, Captain--only you weren't bluffing, were you?"

Janeway met his gaze. "I never meant for it to go so far."

"Then you must be one hell of a poker player, because anyone else
would have folded a lot sooner." Gaines glanced at the chronometer.
"They're going to call us in a few more minutes. Last chance,
Captain--look. Temporary insanity is not the same as having you
declared wholly incompetent, it shouldn't impact too much on your
career as it stands now. We can make every effort to show it was an
aberration--"

"No."

"Damn it, I'm trying to salvage something for you!" 

Janeway shook her head. "I won't hide behind a tenuous claim like
this. I was certain Lessing would concede first; it turned out to be a
bad call, that's all."

Gaines' comm badge chirped. "That's our cue." He reached down and
picked up his case. "You know, there's one thing I don't understand."

Janeway was already moving toward the door and was not pleased when
Gaines stepped in front of her. "And what's that?" she said, anxious
to be done with this futile discussion.

"This isn't like you, to willfully head down a path of almost certain
defeat. According to your reputation, you don't give up--ever. But by
pursuing the present strategy, it's almost certain that you're going
to be found guilty."  Gaines stopped suddenly, blocking her path.
"Unless this is what you want, of course."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I've read your logs pretty thoroughly, Captain. You have what could
be called an over-developed martyr complex. Perhaps it's your guilt
speaking, but you obviously feel a noble self-sacrifice here can
atone--"

"I hope you're a better advocate than you are a counselor," Janeway
said, her voice icy. "Because you're pretty pathetic as the latter. "

Gaines gave her a brief smile, and then made a show of moving aside so
she could pass. "That remains to be seen, doesn't it? I'll tell you
one thing, you'd better hope I am, because I'm all that's standing
between you and a life sentence at the penal colony on Maru Prime."

End part 4

--
Forwarded to ASCL by:
Stephen Ratliff
ASC Stories Only Forwarding

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