An Actual Asylum

Posted on Tue Jan 29th, 2019 @ 10:25pm by Captain Michelle Bartlett & Commander Rostra Tang

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Backpost! Oops!

Ever since her conversation with Siobahn Rostra had a pit in her stomach. Stomachs. It didn't sit right.

Maybe it was because she was a Dalacari, and the whole thing just didn't culturally make sense to her. Maybe it was because there was just too much of a culture gap, which only prompted the Dalacari to try to find the answers to her questions. When she researched some of her questions, some of the answers didn't do much to settle her nerves either. So to that, it was time to actually have a conference of sorts. To that, one of her forms tapped her comm badge. "Rostra to Captain Bartlett. Can I have a moment of your time? I have a few concerns, and I hope you can help me straighten them out."

"Of course." Michelle replied. "I'm in the ready room." she said through the commbadge.

Rostra made her way up to Michelle's Ready Room, a PaDD in hand and enough burden to go around. It was obvious to any looking at her that something weighed heavy on her soul. When she arrived, she tapped the announcer chime and then entered once bidden to do so. There, she gave Michelle a worried look, though it wasn't Bartlett she was worried about.

"I'm very confused at the moment, let me just start with that." Rostra opened. "Not at the whole cross-universe Tetraf-Mosen bridge aspect. That actually makes a lot..."

"... of sense. I think a lot of my confusion actually comes from being who and what I am, and my upbringing." she took a breath. It was almost comical to watch the silent twin take the same breath of exasperation as the talking one. Once she gathered her wits, she continued.

"I have a report, of a possible request for asylum from one of the visitors." she laid it out simply. "I know, I know, cross-contamination was actually something *I* warned..."

"... about, so the irony isn't lost. I just have a lot of questions and maybe, as a Terran you can help straighten my thinking out. As a Dalacari, I'd almost welcome anyone..."

"... who doesn't want to engage in a war. Someone comes to me and says 'I'm done fighting' and I'd say 'About time'." she almost smiled.

"But Terrans had drafts, ages past. Before you got your collective world together, some of your people were forced to participate in militaries whether they wanted to..."

"... or not. So, my big question is... we have a situation where someone from the other side doesn't want to go back. They don't seem mentally fit for duty BUT..."

"... it's not our call to make. Unless we grant them asylum. Which might start a flood of refugees." she paused, "See the issue? I'm just honestly confused about how..."

"... folks can be made to fight, for all that time, when they obviously aren't in the right frame of mind or body, or even soul, to really do more than just catch one for the team." she plead her case. Then she took a breath. "Now..."

"... before you ask, yes. I have a plan. I have ideas of plans, but those plans haven't even started beginning. I wanted to talk with you because I trust you. Because I..."

"... believe you when you say you understand, and I know what *I* would do but this isn't about *ME*, it's about *US*. In a command sense. I need to know what *WE* should..."

"... do, so we present as a unified, cohesive structure." a pause, "Plus you're my friend, and I trust you, and I'm really confused right now." she admitted with a pair of smiles, and actually relaxed a little for the first time in that entire rant.

Michelle paused a moment, carefully considering the question and what was being said... From a legal standpoint, it did almost seem odd. Someone from the Federation, requesting asylum from the Federation TO the Federation... Temporal issues always gave her a headache. "Has a doctor cleared them? Or do we know what happened?" She added, before getting too into the philosophical bits of mandatory military service, which her people gave up centuries ago.

"Not as of yet, though this matter was brought to my attention by a member of the medical staff." Rostra clarified. "If you received a security notice about someone from..."

"... the Icarus leaving Sickbay, and then summarily being brought to the Brig, it's that person this is all in regards to." she clarified. "Right now, the only people who..."

"... know about this scenario are the officer who reported it to me, you, and myself." she counted off. "And until we get a decent resolution I'd like to keep names..."

"... off the table." and she handed the PaDD over to Michelle detailing the report the Dalacari received. "Now, as I'm sure you've gathered, I wouldn't show up here if I ..."

"... didn't already have something of a plan in the event that we *can* do this." she actually had a smirk on her features, "There's a rather well respected psychotherapy ..."

"... center on one of the worlds in the Dalacari Republic. They specialize in Singular Therapy and Rehabilitation. He'll be far away from anything..."

"... remotely Federation, far away from home sure, but far from the war. Putting him back in the Delta Quadrant might not be too conducive to his..."

"... recovery, so I researched a few Federation based facilities that help with his traumatic condition. Being around his own people might help..."

"... solidify their recovery, but there's always the chance they would run into their temporal doppelganger." she really did do her homework here.

"That's IF we can help him. Which I think we should. Once he gets seen by a doctor." she mentioned. She didn't seem interested in delving too deep into humanity's past at the moment either. It was someone's future that concerned her more.

"I know..." Michelle replied. "If we can at all, I would like to. I mean I suppose we can grant him passage to Dalacari territory and whatever happens happens. At that point it's a matter between the alternate universe Federation and this universe's Dalacari government. It's hard to compel someone into service they are no longer willing to provide. I mean... you heard Captain Averis.... He wants to escape. Who can blame him?"

The Dalacari shook her heads. "I certainly can't. It sounds absolutely terrible over there. But at the same time, I don't want this to become a conga line." she cautioned.

"We do this, we do it by the numbers. One. We get him actually checked out. Have a doctor give him the full run, determine if he qualified..."

"... for some form of medical leave or being relieved of duty. Two, we don't let the rest of the Icarus crew know there's a way out. We don't..."

"... want this to become some kind of Get out of Jail free card from Trivial Pursuit." Close Rostra, so close.

"Once we have something semi-official on our side, we can inform the Captain of the Icarus of our findings in confidence, so that she doesn't risk..."

"... losing her whole crew."

"We just have to find a way to quell the rumour mill among the Icarus' crew." Michelle said. "If he's requested asylum or is preparing to then we're obliged to hear it. Besides, it's not like we have much else to do until we know if the Shalti are coming back."

"And my issue with that, is if these are a true hivemind race then now the entire species knows there another universe just to the left of their own." Rostra voiced her concern. "Now I'm..."

"... not an expert on dimension hopping, but I guess this also means more paperwork for us warning of possible Shalti incursions from that universe." she didn't sound too thrilled.

"But in regards to the Icarus, if we do this quiet then we might be able to pull this off. Worst case, we narrow down who still wants to fight, though after what did he..."

"... say? Twelve years? Yeah, I don't think we'll find many people still willing to fight." the Dalacari in her was shining through. Who would want to fight for a cause? Who would want that?

"Our history is also full of examples of governments caving when a population loses the will to fight. In some cases, it's unfortunate. In others? Hard to find fault there." Michelle replied. "I just wish I knew what we were dealing with. My only frame of reference is the Borg..."

The Dalacari considered this, "It's odd. I actually am having a little difficulty seeing this." she admitted. "Dalacar essentially gave up violence overnight, socially speaking."

"Mind you, we didn't really give up the will to fight but... I don't know... outsourced it?" she sounded like she was grabbing at straws for a comparison. "So, I'm really depending on you here for this." she admitted.

"Mostly because if it were just my call, I'd grant him asylum in a heartbeat. But this isn't just me, and it technically isn't just our call." she sounded actually conflicted.

"I want to." Michelle replied. "He's of no use to the Icarus if the Shalti are as merciless as Captain Averis says they are. And in many ways he wouldn't be abandoning his service if he remains with the Federation... He'd just be... doing it elsewhere." she added. How strangely the legalities have twisted...

For the first time in the entire conversation, Rostra actually smiled. "Think he could just put in a for transfer?" she was joking, but it made her feel better.

"Thank you." the Dalacari said, sincerely. "I feel a lot better about this whole ordeal, talking with you. It's helpful to know that I'm ...

"...not the only one that's worried and conflicted about this." she actually giggled.

"You're a good friend." High praise indeed from a Dalacari. "Though, truth be told I still don't know what we should do."

"Lucky for me, that's your call." she motioned with her coffee mug, and gave a pair of smiles.

"Lucky. Right." Michelle said with a smirk. "Let me look at his personnel record, I'll see where he may be of use to us. Hell, he might even be able help us make sure these Shalti don't cross our world."

==END==

Captain Michelle Bartlett
Commanding Officer
USS Wellington

Commander Rostra Tang
Executive Officer
USS Wellington