Post Away Team Log

Posted on Fri Jul 30th, 2021 @ 4:18pm by Lieutenant Tate Sullivan Ph.D.

Mission: Season 5: Episode 2: Operation Save Humanity
Timeline: MD 6, 1200 hrs
986 words - 2 OF Standard Post Measure

Still processing the events on her first Away Team in sometime, Tate Sullivan decided to take the opportunity to document her observations and feelings for the record. She had no idea if her record would become important in any official capacity, but she had decided to compile it as much to attend to her own amped up emotional state as much as to document her impressions.

Only after she had taken a drink of water and centered herself did she hit record.

Counselor's Log:

My team's visit to New Canaan was awful, and not just for the reasons many of us expected. Certainly, it was no secret even before we arrived we were going to have to face people who shared views anyone growing up in the Federation would consider abhorrent. In fact, many on the team were symbolically trying to hold down their lunches, so to speak, before beam down. Certainly, there was a reason to be on edge. Green's philosophies were Beyond horrific and we had no reason to believe that had changed for any of the people we were about to encounter. The compassionate counselor within me can only try to appreciate the fear the non-human members of the team had to have experienced knowing they were about to encounter people who didn't exactly consider them the purest specimens of sentient beings in the universe. In fact, it was the uncertainty of how anyone might react that led to the decision not to revealed the presence of any non-human members of the team, a decision that quickly went out the window when emotions got involved.

Even now, sorting through my own emotions, I'm not sure which takes precedence. On the one hand, my heart sank hearing Madeline St. Croix so casually deny the value of non-humans and anyone with physical or mental limitations. The arrogance in her tone was infuriating and yes, were things not so tense I might have allowed myself to envision what it would be like to wipe the smirk off her face and that of her fellow residents. In my younger days, I might've even reveled in it. After all, where would Starfleet be without people like Geordi Laforge, Reginald Barclay, Karyn Dallas, and Laural Witley?* Physical and emotional limitations do not mean a person lacks value and is incapable of contributing to something a small as a family or as large as the universe. Who is anyone to say someone should not exist?

But my heart is also heavy as a Starfleet officer by what we as a team failed to do. For the record, my reservations go beyond a failure in diplomacy or disappointment that we failed to exemplify values we purportedly espouse. I've been in Starfleet long enough to know that what is expected on paper doesn't often meet reality. No, what happened it seemed to be as much as a lapse in judgment and security as it was a setback for diplomacy and the larger Federation ideals.

As soon as our shuttle landed, we were led to a bus driven by a resident of New Canaan. I'm not an expert in security, but I know our safety is at risk anytime we are taken from one location to another by people we do not know well and whom we suspect may have serious ulterior motives. To be fair, we didn't really have grounds to object to being bussed elsewhere. To express reluctance or to flat out refuse would show the very judgment and hostility we were trying to avoid. Still, once we were on said bus, at the very minimum, we owed it to ourselves not to antagonize the people who had taken us away from our only immediate means of transportation back home. Instead, what ensued was a back-and-forth between Commander Vali and Madeline Saint Croix then included insults and foul language. I'd like to say there was at least an attempt do you understand one another, but I'm afraid our team leader came spoiling for a fight and was not afraid to make that known aggressively even as she and the rest of us were dependent on them to get us back to anything resembling safety. Furthermore, the existence of nonhuman team members was revealed despite being expressly warned not to allude to anything of the sort. I recognize people got caught up in the heat of the moment, but I got the distinct impression the only reason we weren't threatened with harm because of Vali's hostility, was because Madeline Saint Croix understood any aggressive move on their part would only confirm some people's negative view of them and perhaps jeopardize whatever assistance they might hope to get from us.

Then of course there is the part of me that feels we didn't live up to our Federation ideals. Members of Starfleet in particular are supposed to value diversity and to be tolerant of differences, if not entirely accepting of them. That was not on display this time around, and Saint Croix how lonely to point out a small part of our history to reveal our own hypocrisy. I may not of liked hearing it from that particular mouth, but that didn't make her wrong. I suppose another part of me is mad for not speaking up more forcefully. After all, I wasn't the leader of the team, but certainly as a member of the counseling department, I am expected to contribute to diplomacy whenever possible, and if any situation needed a diplomatic touch, if only to help ensure our own safety in the moment, it was this.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I want to hug Vali or strangle her. Perhaps I shall take more time to decide.

***

*Karyn Dallas and Laural Witley are characters I created for other games. They, like myself, or physically disabled and use the futuristic equivalent of a wheelchair. I couldn't resist a little south plug. :-)