Post by magicmuggle01 on Apr 13, 2019 10:42:48 GMT
The Klingons try to extradite Worf after he accidentally destroys a transport full of Klingon civilians.
Summary
Klingon soldiers raise their
bat'leths victoriously
Worf is in the USS Defiant. He wanders the halls, which are filled with dead Starfleet officers, and sees a squad of Klingon warriors raising their bat'leths in triumph. Worf then finds himself in front of the door leading to the bridge and he forces it open. Worf looks around and notices that the bridge is littered with many dead Klingon children. Worf wakes up with a scream to find that his vision was only a dream, and he is in a holding cell awaiting a hearing. Odo tells him to get some sleep as he has a big day ahead of him.
Act One
Aboard Deep Space 9, Admiral T'Lara calls the hearing to order. Ch'Pok, the prosecutor and representative of the Klingon Empire, charges Worf with destroying a civilian transport ship and killing all 441 Klingons aboard. He requests that Worf be extradited to the Empire. Captain Sisko, Worf's defense advocate, explains that the Defiant was under attack by Klingon warships, when the transport suddenly decloaked in the midst of the battle, and that its destruction was an unavoidable accident.
Sisko meets with Odo in an attempt to find more exonerating evidence. Sisko's hunch is that the transport captain decloaked to attack the Defiant, so Odo's task is to find out everything he can about the crew of the transport. Odo leaves, and Ch'Pok approaches Sisko. Ch'Pok tells him that, if Worf is convicted of this massacre, the Klingon Empire will have a pretext to escalate its offensives against the Federation.
Worf and Sisko
Ch'Pok and Sisko
The hearing reconvenes. Ch'Pok accepts Worf's account of the situation, noting that, to Klingons, what matters is Worf's motivation, and whether duty or bloodlust informed his decision. T'Lara allows the hearing to move towards understanding Worf's motives, and Ch'Pok calls his first witness, Commander Jadzia Dax, to the stand. Dax serves as a cultural expert on the Klingons, largely due to the experiences of Dax's previous host Curzon Dax, and Ch'Pok tries to get her to define Klingons as a predatory, violent people. She defends Worf, noting that he is excellent at restraining his passions in the name of duty. Ch'Pok then enters into evidence a holosuite program, "The Battle of Tong Vey." Sisko objects as the file was taken from Worf's database without a search order or permission, and T'Lara is willing to render it inadmissible as evidence due to the violation of privacy. Ch'Pok plays to Worf's sense of honor and requests permission to enter it as evidence. Sisko urges Worf not to, but Worf feels he has nothing to hide and allows it. Dax summarizes the battle, in which Sompek conquered the city of Tong Vey with ten thousand warriors, then ordered the city burned and its people – men, women, and children – killed. Ch'Pok notes that Worf plays the role of Sompek in the holographic reenactment of it, and that he ended it by giving the historical order to begin the massacre. He then asks Dax when was the last time Worf ran the program, and she is forced to admit that it was the day before Worf left on the convoy mission.
Act Two
Ch'Pok examines Sisko, asking him why he chose Worf for the mission. The Cardassian colony on Pentath III was experiencing an outbreak of Rudellian plague and had requested Starfleet assistance, since the system bordered Klingon territory and the Cardassians didn't have enough warships to protect the convoys from raids. Starfleet agreed due to the humanitarian aspect of the request, with the Defiant being one of the ships assigned to the fleet. Sisko explains that he wanted Worf to have more command experience, and, as a Klingon, he would be well-suited for an escort mission that might involve an altercation with Klingons. He clarifies that it was clear to Worf that he was being sent on a humanitarian mission and not sent looking for combat. T'Lara gives Sisko the chance to add anything else to the record since he's also acting as defence counsel, but Sisko declines.
Next, Quark testifies about how Worf came into his bar in a good mood (which he notes was unusual for Worf) and the two talked. The convoy mission came up, and Quark mentioned that the Klingons would likely attack and Worf said "I hope they do". Worf is embarrassed, as the one statement brings all of his motives into question.
Act Three
Odo reports to Sisko that the transport captain was not at all the kind of person who would attack the Defiant and that the civilian ship's course was very close to the border, so it would have only taken a small error to cause it to be caught up in the battle. What still isn't understood is why the transport decloaked in front of the Defiant. Sisko tells Odo to look into the background of each passenger on the transport ship on the extreme off-chance that someone aboard may have taken control and intended to attack.
O'Brien tells a story to the
Klingon advocate
Back at the hearing, Sisko calls Chief O'Brien. O'Brien explains the battle, in which a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and a battle cruiser would alternate attacking the Defiant and the convoy. The Klingon ships would fire, then cloak, then decloak and fire again. The Defiant was pursuing the Bird-of-Prey when it cloaked. They projected its course and followed it when O'Brien picked up a tachyon surge, signalling that a ship was decloaking. Without hesitation, Worf ordered quantum torpedoes to be fired at it, only for the crew to realize to their horror that the target was simply a civilian transport. O'Brien reaffirms that he stands by Worf's decision and that Worf is an honorable man.
Ch'Pok cross-examines O'Brien. He points out that O'Brien has served during 235 combat encounters and has been decorated by Starfleet fifteen times, and asks that he be declared an expert on starship combat. Ch'Pok asks O'Brien if he had been in command instead of Worf, in the middle of a battle with an unknown ship decloaking, would he have given the order to fire. O'Brien objects that the question is unfair as he wasn't in command at the time, but Ch'Pok persists and asks if he would fire at an unknown target. O'Brien admits that he would not have fired, but stresses that it reflects his opinion made now, weeks after the incident, not the heat of the moment.
In the Replimat, Sisko is drinking coffee when Ch'Pok takes a seat next to him. They reveal that Worf is scheduled to testify next. Ch'Pok offers to defend Worf himself if Sisko concedes now and allows him to be extradited. Sisko counters that Ch'Pok is still only after grounds to invade the Pentath system. Sisko replies that Ch'Pok has revealed one thing--he is worried. Ch'Pok responds to Sisko that it is he who should be worried.
Act Four
Odo informs Sisko that none of the passengers had any connection to Worf or Starfleet or any perceivable motive whatsoever, but that he will keep looking. In the hearing, Worf is testifying, explaining the mission and the battle. The attack happened suddenly and without warning, and admits he was excited by the opportunity to do battle, but notes that it typical of many Klingons and he doesn't allow his desire to fight to stand in the way of his duties and responsibilities. He also notes that he respects O'Brien and his opinion that he wouldn't have fired, but points out that he was not in a position to make such a command decision and he is looking back at a decision after the fact. Worf tells Sisko that although he knew the convoy was passing through shipping lanes, he felt the chances of running into a civilian ship were negligible and had decided not to hesitate to fire if a ship started de-cloaking. Sisko then asks if Worf would make the same decision if given the chance, and Worf responds that he would as he had a duty to protect the ship, the crew and the convoy.
Ch'Pok cross-examines Worf. He begins by trying to establish that Worf is angry at the Empire because of his discommendation. Worf says he is hated by his people because of this, but Ch'Pok asserts that they hate him on a more basic level, because he is more Human than Klingon. Ch'Pok establishes that Klingons are now his enemies, but Worf says he is not happy with killing civilians because there is no honor in it. Ch'Pok counters that a true Klingon relishes killing all of his enemies, armed or not, and would be happy for the dead children now in Sto-vo-kor, not grieved. Ch'Pok says Worf lives with Humans out of fear of Klingons, to which Worf replies with a martial challenge. T'Lara threatens to hold both parties in contempt of court. Ch'Pok continues, arguing that Worf was eager for the Klingons to attack because he wanted to prove himself to other Klingons, and that one day Alexander will grow up to find out his father is a coward who killed innocent people to prove his own courage. At this, Worf gets up and attacks Ch'Pok with a series of blows. Sisko gets up to restrain him, as Ch'Pok closes his examination with the proof that Worf will attack an unarmed man if he is angry or has something to prove.
Act Five
The hearing is placed in recess as T'Lara considers her decision, and Sisko sits in his office not very hopeful about Worf's chances. As he considers this, Odo brings in a PADD.
The hearing reconvenes and Sisko enters this new evidence, and asks Ch'Pok to testify as an expert on the Klingon Empire. Sisko asks Ch'Pok what the current relationship is between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and Ch'Pok replies there isn't one and the two powers can neither be called friends nor enemies at this point. Sisko replies that, given the lack of any formal relationship, it is hard for either power to trust the other and leaves open the possibility for deception from either side. Sisko then hands Ch'Pok the PADD and asks him to identify the list of names. He answers that they are the victims of Worf's alleged attack. Sisko then explains that this is actually a list of the victims of an accidental transport ship crash that occurred three months before the convoy incident. Sisko asks Ch'Pok whether it would be possible that the transport was empty and was giving off false sensor images to make it appear that Worf had committed a massacre, as the fallout of an officer accidentally killing hundreds of civilians would force Starfleet to stop protecting Cardassian convoys, and Ch'Pok admits that it is. The hearing is over.
Worf is in his quarters on the Defiant, lost in thought, when Sisko enters. Worf admits that he should not have accepted the mission, understanding now that he did have something to prove when he took command and, just like when Ch'Pok was goading him during the trial, he was hoping for an excuse to fight and is prone to want vengeance. Worf also understands that he should not have fired on a decloaking ship regardless of the circumstances. Sisko agrees, and sternly reminds Worf that he knew there were civilian ships in the area, but still fired on a target he hadn't identified. Sisko lectures him on taking a command with such a predicament, and reaffirms that a Starfleet officer should never even take a chance of endangering civilians, even if it means the lives of the Starfleet officers will be lost. Nonetheless, Sisko says, this time there are no dead civilians on his conscience, and Worf will make a great captain one day. Sisko invites Worf to a party at Quark's; Worf is reluctant, but Sisko reminds him that a command officer must sometimes smile even when it's the last thing they want to do, in order to keep the troops happy. Worf muses that his life has become a lot more complicated since he started wearing the red uniform, but Sisko tells him it's nothing compared to when he gets four pips on his collar. The two then leave for Quark's.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 49665.3. The hearing is in recess and Admiral T'Lara has retired to her quarters to begin deliberations. I wish I could be more optimistic about her decision."
Memorable quotes
"It's an interesting system of justice you have, captain. It does have its flaws however. It emphasizes procedure over substance... form over fact."
"I'm sorry if you feel it puts you at a disadvantage."
"On the contrary, I look forward to fighting on your terms."
"This is not a fight. It's the search for the truth."
"The truth must be won. I'll see you on the battlefield."
- Ch'Pok and Sisko
"I say this: You live with Humans because you're afraid to live with Klingons."
"I fear nothing. And if you would like to pick up a bat'leth and face me with a weapon instead of words, I will prove it to you."
- Ch'Pok and Worf
"He is one of us. A killer. A predator among sheep."
"Objection!"
- Ch'Pok, discussing Worf while Sisko objects
"441 people somehow survived a crash on Galorda Prime. And then a few weeks later, they all decide to take another trip. On the same day. On the same transport ship. Under the same captain and crew. And then that ship is destroyed too. This is a very unlucky group of people, wouldn't you say?"
"I am not an expert on luck."
- Sisko and Ch'Pok
"Part of being a captain is knowing when to smile, make the troops happy even when it's the last thing in the world you want to do. Because they're your troops and you have to take care of them."
- Benjamin Sisko
"Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform."
"Wait 'til you get four pips on that collar. You'll wish you had gone into botany."
- Worf and Sisko
Summary
Klingon soldiers raise their
bat'leths victoriously
Worf is in the USS Defiant. He wanders the halls, which are filled with dead Starfleet officers, and sees a squad of Klingon warriors raising their bat'leths in triumph. Worf then finds himself in front of the door leading to the bridge and he forces it open. Worf looks around and notices that the bridge is littered with many dead Klingon children. Worf wakes up with a scream to find that his vision was only a dream, and he is in a holding cell awaiting a hearing. Odo tells him to get some sleep as he has a big day ahead of him.
Act One
Aboard Deep Space 9, Admiral T'Lara calls the hearing to order. Ch'Pok, the prosecutor and representative of the Klingon Empire, charges Worf with destroying a civilian transport ship and killing all 441 Klingons aboard. He requests that Worf be extradited to the Empire. Captain Sisko, Worf's defense advocate, explains that the Defiant was under attack by Klingon warships, when the transport suddenly decloaked in the midst of the battle, and that its destruction was an unavoidable accident.
Sisko meets with Odo in an attempt to find more exonerating evidence. Sisko's hunch is that the transport captain decloaked to attack the Defiant, so Odo's task is to find out everything he can about the crew of the transport. Odo leaves, and Ch'Pok approaches Sisko. Ch'Pok tells him that, if Worf is convicted of this massacre, the Klingon Empire will have a pretext to escalate its offensives against the Federation.
Worf and Sisko
Ch'Pok and Sisko
The hearing reconvenes. Ch'Pok accepts Worf's account of the situation, noting that, to Klingons, what matters is Worf's motivation, and whether duty or bloodlust informed his decision. T'Lara allows the hearing to move towards understanding Worf's motives, and Ch'Pok calls his first witness, Commander Jadzia Dax, to the stand. Dax serves as a cultural expert on the Klingons, largely due to the experiences of Dax's previous host Curzon Dax, and Ch'Pok tries to get her to define Klingons as a predatory, violent people. She defends Worf, noting that he is excellent at restraining his passions in the name of duty. Ch'Pok then enters into evidence a holosuite program, "The Battle of Tong Vey." Sisko objects as the file was taken from Worf's database without a search order or permission, and T'Lara is willing to render it inadmissible as evidence due to the violation of privacy. Ch'Pok plays to Worf's sense of honor and requests permission to enter it as evidence. Sisko urges Worf not to, but Worf feels he has nothing to hide and allows it. Dax summarizes the battle, in which Sompek conquered the city of Tong Vey with ten thousand warriors, then ordered the city burned and its people – men, women, and children – killed. Ch'Pok notes that Worf plays the role of Sompek in the holographic reenactment of it, and that he ended it by giving the historical order to begin the massacre. He then asks Dax when was the last time Worf ran the program, and she is forced to admit that it was the day before Worf left on the convoy mission.
Act Two
Ch'Pok examines Sisko, asking him why he chose Worf for the mission. The Cardassian colony on Pentath III was experiencing an outbreak of Rudellian plague and had requested Starfleet assistance, since the system bordered Klingon territory and the Cardassians didn't have enough warships to protect the convoys from raids. Starfleet agreed due to the humanitarian aspect of the request, with the Defiant being one of the ships assigned to the fleet. Sisko explains that he wanted Worf to have more command experience, and, as a Klingon, he would be well-suited for an escort mission that might involve an altercation with Klingons. He clarifies that it was clear to Worf that he was being sent on a humanitarian mission and not sent looking for combat. T'Lara gives Sisko the chance to add anything else to the record since he's also acting as defence counsel, but Sisko declines.
Next, Quark testifies about how Worf came into his bar in a good mood (which he notes was unusual for Worf) and the two talked. The convoy mission came up, and Quark mentioned that the Klingons would likely attack and Worf said "I hope they do". Worf is embarrassed, as the one statement brings all of his motives into question.
Act Three
Odo reports to Sisko that the transport captain was not at all the kind of person who would attack the Defiant and that the civilian ship's course was very close to the border, so it would have only taken a small error to cause it to be caught up in the battle. What still isn't understood is why the transport decloaked in front of the Defiant. Sisko tells Odo to look into the background of each passenger on the transport ship on the extreme off-chance that someone aboard may have taken control and intended to attack.
O'Brien tells a story to the
Klingon advocate
Back at the hearing, Sisko calls Chief O'Brien. O'Brien explains the battle, in which a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and a battle cruiser would alternate attacking the Defiant and the convoy. The Klingon ships would fire, then cloak, then decloak and fire again. The Defiant was pursuing the Bird-of-Prey when it cloaked. They projected its course and followed it when O'Brien picked up a tachyon surge, signalling that a ship was decloaking. Without hesitation, Worf ordered quantum torpedoes to be fired at it, only for the crew to realize to their horror that the target was simply a civilian transport. O'Brien reaffirms that he stands by Worf's decision and that Worf is an honorable man.
Ch'Pok cross-examines O'Brien. He points out that O'Brien has served during 235 combat encounters and has been decorated by Starfleet fifteen times, and asks that he be declared an expert on starship combat. Ch'Pok asks O'Brien if he had been in command instead of Worf, in the middle of a battle with an unknown ship decloaking, would he have given the order to fire. O'Brien objects that the question is unfair as he wasn't in command at the time, but Ch'Pok persists and asks if he would fire at an unknown target. O'Brien admits that he would not have fired, but stresses that it reflects his opinion made now, weeks after the incident, not the heat of the moment.
In the Replimat, Sisko is drinking coffee when Ch'Pok takes a seat next to him. They reveal that Worf is scheduled to testify next. Ch'Pok offers to defend Worf himself if Sisko concedes now and allows him to be extradited. Sisko counters that Ch'Pok is still only after grounds to invade the Pentath system. Sisko replies that Ch'Pok has revealed one thing--he is worried. Ch'Pok responds to Sisko that it is he who should be worried.
Act Four
Odo informs Sisko that none of the passengers had any connection to Worf or Starfleet or any perceivable motive whatsoever, but that he will keep looking. In the hearing, Worf is testifying, explaining the mission and the battle. The attack happened suddenly and without warning, and admits he was excited by the opportunity to do battle, but notes that it typical of many Klingons and he doesn't allow his desire to fight to stand in the way of his duties and responsibilities. He also notes that he respects O'Brien and his opinion that he wouldn't have fired, but points out that he was not in a position to make such a command decision and he is looking back at a decision after the fact. Worf tells Sisko that although he knew the convoy was passing through shipping lanes, he felt the chances of running into a civilian ship were negligible and had decided not to hesitate to fire if a ship started de-cloaking. Sisko then asks if Worf would make the same decision if given the chance, and Worf responds that he would as he had a duty to protect the ship, the crew and the convoy.
Ch'Pok cross-examines Worf. He begins by trying to establish that Worf is angry at the Empire because of his discommendation. Worf says he is hated by his people because of this, but Ch'Pok asserts that they hate him on a more basic level, because he is more Human than Klingon. Ch'Pok establishes that Klingons are now his enemies, but Worf says he is not happy with killing civilians because there is no honor in it. Ch'Pok counters that a true Klingon relishes killing all of his enemies, armed or not, and would be happy for the dead children now in Sto-vo-kor, not grieved. Ch'Pok says Worf lives with Humans out of fear of Klingons, to which Worf replies with a martial challenge. T'Lara threatens to hold both parties in contempt of court. Ch'Pok continues, arguing that Worf was eager for the Klingons to attack because he wanted to prove himself to other Klingons, and that one day Alexander will grow up to find out his father is a coward who killed innocent people to prove his own courage. At this, Worf gets up and attacks Ch'Pok with a series of blows. Sisko gets up to restrain him, as Ch'Pok closes his examination with the proof that Worf will attack an unarmed man if he is angry or has something to prove.
Act Five
The hearing is placed in recess as T'Lara considers her decision, and Sisko sits in his office not very hopeful about Worf's chances. As he considers this, Odo brings in a PADD.
The hearing reconvenes and Sisko enters this new evidence, and asks Ch'Pok to testify as an expert on the Klingon Empire. Sisko asks Ch'Pok what the current relationship is between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and Ch'Pok replies there isn't one and the two powers can neither be called friends nor enemies at this point. Sisko replies that, given the lack of any formal relationship, it is hard for either power to trust the other and leaves open the possibility for deception from either side. Sisko then hands Ch'Pok the PADD and asks him to identify the list of names. He answers that they are the victims of Worf's alleged attack. Sisko then explains that this is actually a list of the victims of an accidental transport ship crash that occurred three months before the convoy incident. Sisko asks Ch'Pok whether it would be possible that the transport was empty and was giving off false sensor images to make it appear that Worf had committed a massacre, as the fallout of an officer accidentally killing hundreds of civilians would force Starfleet to stop protecting Cardassian convoys, and Ch'Pok admits that it is. The hearing is over.
Worf is in his quarters on the Defiant, lost in thought, when Sisko enters. Worf admits that he should not have accepted the mission, understanding now that he did have something to prove when he took command and, just like when Ch'Pok was goading him during the trial, he was hoping for an excuse to fight and is prone to want vengeance. Worf also understands that he should not have fired on a decloaking ship regardless of the circumstances. Sisko agrees, and sternly reminds Worf that he knew there were civilian ships in the area, but still fired on a target he hadn't identified. Sisko lectures him on taking a command with such a predicament, and reaffirms that a Starfleet officer should never even take a chance of endangering civilians, even if it means the lives of the Starfleet officers will be lost. Nonetheless, Sisko says, this time there are no dead civilians on his conscience, and Worf will make a great captain one day. Sisko invites Worf to a party at Quark's; Worf is reluctant, but Sisko reminds him that a command officer must sometimes smile even when it's the last thing they want to do, in order to keep the troops happy. Worf muses that his life has become a lot more complicated since he started wearing the red uniform, but Sisko tells him it's nothing compared to when he gets four pips on his collar. The two then leave for Quark's.
Log entries
"Captain's log, stardate 49665.3. The hearing is in recess and Admiral T'Lara has retired to her quarters to begin deliberations. I wish I could be more optimistic about her decision."
Memorable quotes
"It's an interesting system of justice you have, captain. It does have its flaws however. It emphasizes procedure over substance... form over fact."
"I'm sorry if you feel it puts you at a disadvantage."
"On the contrary, I look forward to fighting on your terms."
"This is not a fight. It's the search for the truth."
"The truth must be won. I'll see you on the battlefield."
- Ch'Pok and Sisko
"I say this: You live with Humans because you're afraid to live with Klingons."
"I fear nothing. And if you would like to pick up a bat'leth and face me with a weapon instead of words, I will prove it to you."
- Ch'Pok and Worf
"He is one of us. A killer. A predator among sheep."
"Objection!"
- Ch'Pok, discussing Worf while Sisko objects
"441 people somehow survived a crash on Galorda Prime. And then a few weeks later, they all decide to take another trip. On the same day. On the same transport ship. Under the same captain and crew. And then that ship is destroyed too. This is a very unlucky group of people, wouldn't you say?"
"I am not an expert on luck."
- Sisko and Ch'Pok
"Part of being a captain is knowing when to smile, make the troops happy even when it's the last thing in the world you want to do. Because they're your troops and you have to take care of them."
- Benjamin Sisko
"Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform."
"Wait 'til you get four pips on that collar. You'll wish you had gone into botany."
- Worf and Sisko
