A Better Idea
Posted on Mon Jul 3rd, 2023 @ 7:31am by Captain Samuel Woolheater & Crewman Adelaide Kirkby & Consul Andrinn Orin
Mission:
Season 6: Episode 2: Survival
Location: Planetside - The Common Area Tent
Timeline: MD8 - That Later Afternoon
2877 words - 5.8 OF Standard Post Measure
[ON:]
It was late afternoon by the time Woolheater left the warmth of the marine field command tent and donned his armor for another watch rotation. Earlier that day, a series of meetings had been held and a few security reports came up that were disturbing. There was in the air a feeling of ‘generalized anxiety’. Reports of what would turn out to be minor inconveniences ending up in shouting matches and fistfights. Repairs to the ship could not go fast enough. There was little new information regarding Ensign Miraj Derani who was still in an isolated tent of the medical department.
Sam went to the armory and checked out a sidearm. He walked the ninety-seconds down the walking path to the front of the cave/camp. At the front of the security station there was a whiteboard that showed the planned arrivals and departures of shuttles and the shift and watch rotation. Today, written across the top of a second whiteboard in bold facing letters was written:
Sam stopped and read it. He felt anger and a rage come over him. He looked at the civilians passing by, the marines and security personnel. He looked at them and could not believe his eyes. Did they not see what was written? Did nobody care? Worse…did they agree?
He walked up to the board and wanted to smash it, “Who wrote this?” There was no answer from anyone. A few people stopped to look at him. “I said, who wrote this?” Again, there was no answer. “How long has this been here? HOW LONG?!”
A marine spoke up, “I saw it first time last night. Mid-shift when I went for food. I didn't report it. I didn't see who wrote it either.”
Sam looked at the small group, “How many of you agree with this?”
There was a damming kind of silence. A most awkward moment. Civilians, marines and security. Sam used a rag from the table and wiped the message away. “Sergeant? Assemble the platoons.”
A nearby Sgt that Sam was supposed to relieve for his shift asked, “Aye sir. First platoon and which other sir?”
Sam looked at him, “All of them. Wake them up. Everybody. In the common area tent.”
“All platoons?” he asked.
“On the double. I want the detachment there. People not on watch or on duty on orders from the Colonel or the XO. Assembly in fifteen minutes.”
“Copy that sir” the staff sergeant said and started rounding marines up.
COMMON AREA TENT
Crewman Adelaide Kirkby had seen the commotion as marines jogged to the common area tent. When she entered, most of the detatchment was here. And so were a lot of the regular crew compliment. She saw Captain Tonelly and nodded to him in greeting. He was talking with a few people and she did not want to interrupt. It felt like something important was about to happen. She caught sight of Woolheater. He had that look on his face that an ass-kicking was about to happen. Adele stood near the front and Sam caight sight of her and waved her over to the front. "Good day Crewman. Up in the front if you please? I could sure use your support up here. "Of course, happy to help. What are we doing?"
Sam replied after a moment, "We're going to clear the air."
Assembled were all the marines not currently on duty. Some of the civilian staff including Crewman Adelaide Kirkby. All around the open flaps of the tent, out of curiosity or fascination, the ship’s crew had also stopped to see what was going on in the tent. When asked if they should close the tent off Sam answered, “No, everyone is welcome to hear this. Let them stay. Woolheater, in a regular duty uniform stood before the group. A sergeant called everyone to attention, “AT-TEEHN-SHUN!”
Sam said in a clear, calm, strong yet clearly agitated voice,
“MARINES! Ladies and gentlemen. You may have heard that some individual or group of individuals down at the camp entrance wrote some racial slurs and a death wish for a member of our crew. You may have heard or even seen this horrible language on a prominent message board. In full view of many, many people.
If you haven't heard that, then I wanted you to hear it from me.”
Sam paused and the anger was clear on his face as he spoke now, “If you're outraged by those words, then you're in the right place. That kind of behavior has no place in this camp. It has no place in this platoon or any platoon. It has no place in this detachment. It has no place on the ship, and it has no place in the Starfleet Marine Corps.
And I will not tolerate hate to find a foothold.
You should be outraged not only as a marine, but as a rational, living being. And I'll tell you that the appropriate response for horrible language and horrible ideas like what I read today? The appropriate response is to start having better ideas.
So that's why I'm here. “
It was really quiet as he spoke and as every marine stood at attention. To his right were the other CO’s of the second, third and fourth platoons. As well as some of the civilian crew who worked with marines, like Adelaide and others.
Sam looked at them and continued, “That's why all these people are up here with me. So let me have everybody who's up here. Please pull forward and spread out a little so everyone can see your faces. Please. Thank you.”
The people in the front fanned out a bit more and some support staff including a few concerned regular Starfleet crew came from the sides of the command area tent to stand up front. Sam noticed that a crowd had gathered in any open flap of the tent to see what was going on inside.
He said, “Also, there are so many people here. They're lining the outsides along the tent. These are members of the crew. The people that we are here to protect and defend. The people and the families who also lost loved ones in the disaster that hit all of us. I see, AOCS crew. I see ATMA support engineers. I see the camp cook, I see nurses and medical staff, engineers and science staff. Thank you for your service everyone. I see from the security department, from my staff, from our headquarters, all aspects of the 62nd Spartans detachment. All aspects that make up the SFMC, civilians like Crewman Adele here. Leadership is here. I saw the MXO Captain Tonelly. Thank you for coming Captain. I see the Colonel. I saw Commodore Lalor-Richardson. Thank you for taking the time to come on such short notice. I know that other officers in leadership share our views.
That's why they're here.
That's why we're all here.
Because we have a better idea.”
Woolheater didn’t miss a beat and he was laser focused as he said, “Some of you may think that what happened down at the command post and the flight deck to the camp is limited to just those marines, that area…those security and flight crew personnel and doesn't apply to us. We would all be naive to think that everything is perfect here. We would be naive to think that we shouldn't discuss this topic. This topic of how we got here and who is to blame for our circumstances. And who is going to pay the penalty for getting us into this.
We would also be tone deaf not to think about the backdrop of what's going on in this camp. Things like the stress of being here for so long and the arguments that go from a 1 or a 2…right to a 10. The loss of that loved one or family member or friend. The constant cold, the lack of enough hot food for everyone, the rationing, the long days, and the longer nights. The hurt and the anger we feel because of the people that we lost. Someone has to be responsible for this disaster. And an individual or individual has decided that that person is going to be Ensign Miraj Derani. And she alone is the focus of so much of our anger and our hate. She alone is responsible for the long, long journey we have in front of us to get back home.
That's why we have a better idea."
Sam took a beat and the room got real serious.
"One of those ideas is to start talking about it openly. We are Starfleet. We should have a civil discourse and talk about these issues.
Start talking and start listening. That's a better idea.
Recognize that we are all in this place together. That's...a better idea.
There is also another better idea. That we somehow seem to have forgot. And it's about our diversity. And it's the power of our diversity, the power of the ninety-eight marines that you are and all of the people that we lost. The power and the diversity of the fifteen-hundred crew and their families that are still with us…lining the outside of the tent, the power of us as a diverse group. The power that we come from all walks of life that we come from all parts of the Federation, that we come from all races. We come from all backgrounds, all genders and the genderless, all creeds, all cultures...all of us with different makeups, all from different upbringing…and when the power of that diversity comes together it makes us that much more powerful. We are better and stronger because we are different. It makes us richer and stronger…because we are different.
That's a much better idea than small thinking. And horrible ideas.”
Sam paused here and took a breath. He looked into their faces, and he saw looking back at him marines. Starfleet marines and that made him feel a little bit better.
“We have an opportunity here, all one-thousand six-hundred and forty-nine of us to think about what we are as a crew and as a detachment of marines.
Elysium is our ship. This is our ship…our crew…we are Starfleet out here…and no one can take away our values. I say again, no one.
No one can write on a board and question our values. No one can take that away from us. We are Starfleet out here. We are the Federation.
I feel like this has been a long time coming. So just in case you're unclear on where I stand on this topic, let me make this…very…very…clear, I'm going to leave you with my most important thought today.
If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then you need to get out. "
There was a profound silence as all eyes were on him.
"If you can't work alongside someone from another gender, whether that's a male or a female or neutral gender with dignity and respect. Then you need to get out.
If you demean someone from this crew… in any way, then you need to get out.
And if you can't treat someone from another species or another culture, another race or a different color skin with dignity and respect. Then you need to get out.
If you’re a marine and you have your bodycam on you. Reach for it and turn it on.”
At first no one moved. Sam said, “I’m serious. If you’re a marine and you have your helmet or your bodycam with you, I want you to turn it on and point it at me. If you don’t have a camera to record me then listen up and listen well.”
At least one third of the assembly had their bodycams on him and were recording.
“We are marines and we’re here to do a job and support this crew. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that we are the same marines that pulled together during the disaster, to help our crewmates. And now we want to see one of them suffer? Maybe even die?
What happened to us is no one person’s fault. It’s not the Commodore’s fault that we hit a cosmic filament. It is Nature. It is Space. It is Life. This is the life we chose, the service that we want to give back to our families, our loved ones, our ideals, and our values that we believe in the Federation. This is what we are here for.
I will ask the Commodore if we can post the sensor logs. So that all of you can see those moments before the event, there was no warning. No one could have acted faster or better or safer or with more compassion and professionalism than those people on the bridge at that time.
Ensign Miraj Derani was one of those people on the bridge at that time."
Adelle listened and looked out at the assembly and it was difficult for her eyes not to get teary-eyed. She felt like... ~This needed to be said. We need to hear this.~
Woolheater continued, "A cosmic filament is a part of the universe that has almost no mass but is so dense it can bring a ship out of warp. Just like what happened to us. Are you listening and recording me? Good. It is not Captain Taylor’s fault…it’s not the Colonel’s fault…not the marine XO's fault...and it is for damn sure not Ensign Derani’s fault. This…is life.
She does not deserve to die. She does not deserve all our anger and frustration to be directed to her. And whoever wrote those words…whoever beat her so badly that she is under medical care now fighting for her life…we will find you out. Look around…there is no place for you here. We outnumber you.”
Sam took a moment to calm himself – even though he looked calm enough, if one knew what to look for, like Andrinn did, then the signs were there.
Sam continued, “So that we all have the moral courage together. All of us in marine leadership, we are sworn to serve and protect and help…. not hurt…all these people...all of them lining the tent inside and outside, all of us in this tent. We are Starfleet.
This is our ship and our crew and our…family. And I want you to show your camera footage from today to anyone that wasn’t here with us. There should be no doubt about where we stand on this. Hatred, death wishes, violence of any kind towards one another…. especially for these Spartan’s marines…will not be tolerated.”
There was time for him to look in those faces again and he wanted to make sure that his message was clear. The attacks and verbal abuse directed to the people that were flying the ship must stop. He said nothing for a seriously quiet moment.
“Then let’s do our job and get back to work. Sergeant?” Sam nodded to one of the Sergeants and the assembly was dismissed.
Andrinn had been listening at the back of the tent, his head laying on the pole that supported the structure as he listened to what Sam was saying. He saw several people standing around and listening, but Andrinn had only heard bits and pieces of what had happened during the night shift. Andrinn had been working on reports and making sure that people could get back to the ship when the ship was space-worthy again.
Andrinn waited for the people to begin filling out of the marine tent before he even moved a muscle. Andrinn could relate to the whole situation, as he grew up on the Trill homeworld during a time when intolerance was commonplace, especially for outsiders like him, his siblings, and his mother.
Andrinn waited until the tent was almost cleared out before Sam walked over to him and Andrinn asked, "What happened? I don't think I've ever seen you this upset about something before."
Sam took a breath and was so glad to see Andrinn. He pulled him into an embrace. Letting him go now he answered, "Somebody put a hateful message on like...the main board for the watch command to see. And nobody saw nothing or even erased the message. It must have been there for hours. I couldn't be silent about it. I just couldn't. I had to do something...". He looked at Andrinn. "We hae to get moving again...you know...yes, people do their jobs...but this isn't what anubody had in mind when they joined Starfleet. Anyway. Seeing you in the crowd; you gave me more courage to speak up. Because of what happened to you on Trill. You were up there with me. It helped."
[OFF:]
Consul Andrinn Orin
(signed off by Woolheater)
&
Captain Samuel Woolheater
