Red Wolf
Posted on Thu Jan 4th, 2024 @ 9:56pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne
Mission:
The Beginning of the End
Location: Earth
Timeline: Current-ish
"State for the record, your name, rank and serial number for the board members, please." Lt. Letner asked formally and ever so politely.
"My name is Jenna Ramthorne, daughter of David Ramthorne. Rank, none currently, formerly Captain U.S.S. Sunfire NCC 2001 D. Serial number 1701 dash 2309 dash 1978." She added details they didn't care about, but she felt were important to note. Her voice was coated, contained and steady as she controlled her composure.
Letner nodded at the board of inquiry and then began pacing. "Six years ago you came before this board and pleaded guilty to the following crimes." He pulled out a data PADD and began reading her charges. "Dereliction of duty; namely when you took a shuttle and abandoned your ship and crew. Possession of stolen property, namely the shuttlecraft Vendetta. Possession of illegal cloaking technology. Murder in the first degree of several former Guls and Glinns of the former Cardassians Union, which charges were dropped despite not being due to war time activities. Attempted murder of Former Gul, Gul Fubar, and several of his family guards, again negated because of wartime activities.
"And finally, you pled guilty to being an illegal genetic augment, of which you were somehow not made aware of. Charges of course were dropped due to your apprehension of the coercive and destructive criminal, your mother, Leeanna Ramthorne and her accomplice Victor Weller, Senior."
"For six years you have served community service under a localized house arrest where for the first three years you spent much of your time in a state of depression and physical recovery, and now you've come before the hearing board for the purpose of seeking release of parole." Lerner stopped off to the side as his deposition delivery ended.
In front of her sat a hearing board consisting of five senior officers, each charged with rehabilitation of prisoners and management of the parole hearing. Jenna had seen them only once before, during her dark days. This time though, things were different.
"Miss Ramthorne, before you offer any sort of rebuttal or your testimony, I want to offer you a few words. In the past few years Star Fleet has been challenged by every major power in the quadrant. We have been battered and bruised, but we have weathered the storm.
While I admit to the fact, we need experienced Captains to fill vacancies left open, what we do not need is some loose cannon abandoning their ship and crew in order to carry out some act of personal revenge. Your record has been blemished, but it is not beyond reproach to think you have it within you to be something great again.
As one of the youngest officers to ever rise through the ranks to the commission of Captain, rivaling only the likes of Kirk or Jackson, you have always had potential. This board as well as many others believe your success to be in direct correlation with your unique genetic gifts, giving you an advantage others do not have.”
This statement alone grabbed at Jenna’s attention strings and she allowed herself a moment of weakness in her armor, her eyes staring down the board before returning to the floor. It was not yet her turn.
“We have watched you for the past six years, as you’ve recovered, as you performed your duties and as you returned each night to the reclusivity of your apartment. According to the staff psychologist, there is nothing more we can do for you. In fact, depending on the outcome of this hearing your future endeavors will be set in stone as far as Star Fleet is concerned. So, Miss Ramthorne, what do you have to say on your behalf?” There was a finality to his voice that grated Jenna the wrong way.
She peered across the glossy floor, past the dark wood grain table with tiny scratches at the base of the legs. Way beyond the marbled glass top surface and the Starfleet officers sitting, inhaling their oxygen and expelling their carbon into the large chambered room. Beyond the glass, rippling in the morning light, and out beyond the weather controlled courtyard, she stared until her eyes discerned a distant star, barely visible in the daylight, yet bright as any star could be.
Like that great star, her mind flashed brilliant imagery of days long gone past and of words she could say, but would not. She could tell them all about how she was once just a shuttle jock, moving cargo from Io to Luna and various points in between. At one time there was not much she wanted other than to feel that rush of space dust and starlight as it rushed past the pane of her cockpit window.
She thought about telling them about how she had found friendship, and love, with the good people on the Sunfire, all gone now, having left her alone in her time of dark desperation. An unforeseen, yet calculated loss as a direct result of her actions. Actions she had been warned against, and now not only convicted of, but berated for. At the time she felt what she had to do was for the best, and in the end she was still confident she had done the right thing, despite her broken outcome. Afterall, it was all to save the ones she loved, something any good Captain would have done.
She thought about the details. While she was responsible for several dead bodies, in most cases her acts, though preempted, were self defense, from a certain perspective. The one Gul even drank his own poison in a moment of inconceivable mental breakdown. Yet, none of her actions, nor her inactions mattered now as they were done, buried in the past. In her state of loss and despair she had pled guilty to everything. Once she woke and was told her baby was gone, she no longer desired to be a part of the living universe any more. Three years it had taken her to get back, to bring herself back to the living. Even more to feel human again.
She thought about Vic who stayed by her side until the end when shit hit the turbine. Laria, who was in her head the whole journey and somehow managed to move starships across space and time when things were at their darkest. Finally she thought about Rhenora who stood by her, cautioned her, fought at her side until she couldn’t fight anymore. Jenna had broken and fractured their friendship that day she decided to leave, these were the regrets she would never be able to let go of, and she knew it.
There was no going back, only forward. There were no more second chances and no more enemies to contend with. She was no longer the Little Red Bird her father had raised, nor was she the killing machine her mother had created, but something else, something different. Years of fighting had left their scars, deep emotionally tied things which still haunted her dreams but no longer scared her. Terms had been met and penance had been paid. At least most of it.
“Miss Ramthorne, do you have a rebuttal or not?” A concerned voice brought her back.
“I’m ready.” She replied simply.
They waited for a minute before quizzically asking, “I’m sorry, Miss Ramthorne, ready for what, exactly?”
She smirked, “I’m ready to accept whatever decision the inquiry seeks to bestow upon me. I’m ready to rejoin society, to prove myself if that is what it takes. But mostly,” and with this she stared them down in an effort to make her point very clear. “Mostly, I am ready to fly again.”
TBC
