Proving Honor

Posted on Sat Jan 28th, 2017 @ 7:45am by Captain John Theisman & Sevena t'Dhvael

851 words; about a 4 minute read

John watched his officers file out of the now destroyed dining room, where several servants where starting to clean up the aftermath of the dinner party. Turning towards the senator, he took a deep breath and sighed. As the son of a long serving admiral, he knew a diplomatic snafu when he saw one and the actions taken during the dinner definitely fell under the category of major diplomatic screw up. If word of this got out, he could very well lose his command. The Romulans could easily use the incident to remove the Hyperion from the Empire and declare the treaty that gave Theisman and his ship access null and void. This was not going to be a fun conversation.

“Senator, I wish to formally apologize. The actions of my crew were not the usual standard of any Starfleet officer, and my own action in supporting theirs was unbecoming. I wish to extend my condolences to your officers for any injuries sustained,” John said formally.

“Walk with me, Captain,” Tavik said. Turning, he led John to a side door that led to a terrace overlooking the nearby sea. A female Romulan officer wearing the uniform of a Galae staff officer was standing there. At first, John couldn’t figure out why she set his teeth on edge until he realized that she didn’t have the usual cranial ridge that most Romulans had.

“Captain John Theisman, Sub Commander Sevena t'Dhvael, your liaison officer,” Tavik said, introducing the two. Sevena simply turned towards John and nodded formally with a stiff military bow. John returned the nod.

“Captain, I must offer my own apologies,” Tavik said. “Not all of my people are happy with this treaty, and even less are happy with the idea of a Starfleet ship having full access to the Empire. Therefore, the majority of the officers I had at the dinner were those of the ‘Hate Starfleet’ category who had orders to initiate such a fight.”

John stared at the senator for a moment, fighting the urge to punch the old Romulan in his smug looking face. “Are you telling me that fight was intended to happen?” he said harshly.

“Don’t be too surprised, Captain,” Sevena said with a half smile. “Most of the opposition to your being here is based on the thought that Starfleet officers would rather talk an enemy to death rather than fight. The purpose of tonight was to show those officers that you could fight when you needed to. The suggestion was mine. I hope that your crew are not now upset by the incident. Your actions have earned you a grudging approval by your Romulan opponents. For now, at least.”

“You staged a fight to prove a point, and in doing so you played my officers and myself like puppets,” John snapped.

“Do you have any idea just how this could have affected the Hyperion’s mission?”

“If you had fought and proven that you had the strength to defend your honor, then you would have gained the respect of the majority of our officer core. If you had settled the incident without a fight, then your ship would face opposition everywhere you went. By fighting, you proved your honor and your capability to fight,” Sevena said.

“Think of it as a test, Captain,” Tavik added. “In this case, you passed.

“I still don’t like it, and I’d appreciate it if you never did it again,” John said, not happy at all at the revelation. He had guessed the reasoning behind it all shortly after hearing that had been staged, but that still didn’t make him feel any better.

“I can promise you that no more such surprises will be issued from our end. A few of the individual ship commanders may want to test you, but Sevena will be able to help with that,” Tavik said.

“About that, when will you be coming on board the Hyperion?” John asked.

“I will request to be transported to the Hyperion tomorrow at 0600 hours, Starfleet standard time,” Sevena said. “I have a final debriefing to attend tonight.”

“I’d like it if you inform me or the executive officer when you board,” John said.

“Of course,” Sevena said.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to return to my ship and make sure that my crew isn’t bouncing off the walls over this,” John said. “Senator, the Hyperion will depart from Romulus by 0930 tomorrow.”

“Of course. Safe journey, Captain,” the senator said with a nod and a smile.

John turned and started off towards the beam out point. If he never put another foot on the Romulan home world ever again, he would be alright with that. What worried him was the fact that the Romulans would be so open about their actions without trying to be coy. From his years of patrolling the Neutral Zone, it was something that made him uncomfortable. Hopefully, they were right and the Hyperion would indeed have an easier time while in the Romulan Empire. It would be a nice change for once.

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