friend of the court

Posted on Wed Sep 1st, 2021 @ 7:55am by Lieutenant Julius Mack

Mission: The Undiscovered Starbase
Location: starbase 10 court room

ON:

[Courtroom, Starbase 10]

[Mack enters the court room and approaches the defense table]

"Your honor, I am Ensign Julius Sumner Miller Mack, bridge crew member of the USS Albion and loyal to my Captain.
I wish to address the court as amicus curiae."


Judge: "That seems irregular. Prosecution and Counsel, have you any objections?"

[none are voiced, but all look at one another with blank expressions. evidently none were expecting Mack to give testimony]

"very well, proceed mister Mack."

Mack: "may it please the court, there are federation procedures, closely enforced regarding activation of self-destruct on any
starship-class vessel. Normally the Captain cannot activate self-destruct without concurrence from at least one other bridge
officer currently on duty, and verified via voiceprint. The only exceptions are where the ship has been boarded by a foreign
and hostile occupying force, or the ship is so profoundly damaged, as to no longer be able to defend itself nor retreat."

/^"Mack to Ship's Computer, USS Albion. Verify identification Mack, Julius SM, Ensign./^

Computer: "identity and clearance confirmed. welcome commander."

Mack: /^"I am not currently acting as commander of the Albion, rather as Ensign and Science Officer. Observe appropriate protocols
for that rank and billet, confirm."/^

Computer: "Effective rank and billet confimed, Ensign Mack."

Mack: "Computer. Examine ship's log for stardates of one hour prior to one hour following the timeline that the Starbase 10 court is
currently considering for the case against Captain Sprague."

Computer: "Log information loaded and integrity verified. Log during that time period was appended by an acting commander other
than Captain Sprague."

Mack: "Computer. Identify identity of that commander."

Computer: "identity not available."

Mack: "Computer. Locate Captain Sprague at the stardate time interval I requested from the log."

Computer: "Captain Sprague was in the holding cell on Deck fifteen brig, during that entire period."

Mack: "Computer. Was there any indication of Self-Destruct sequence having been activated during that log timeline?"

Computer: "Negative."

Mack: "Computer. Provide the ship's log in entirety for that stardate, to the Starbase 10 court, and to the Judge.
Observe appropriate protocols for integrity of exculpatory evidence in a criminal proceeding for dereliction of duty
against a starship captain. Summarize findings."

Computer: "Working...data uploaded to appropriate devices for storage and display. No criminal acts are indicated
on the part of log entries associated with Captain Sprague. Nor any indicating violations of Starfleet Regulations
and Procedures."

Mack:"Your honor, based upon the evidence, the Captain is clearly innocent of the charges against him. With the
approval of Defense, I submit that this court must dismiss the charges against the Captain and file criminal abuse
of prosecutorial authority, failure to present exclupatory evidence, and harassment under color of authority against
the prosecution."

Judge: "Prosecution?"
[crickets...]

"Very well. This court dismisses the charges against Captain Sprague and restores him to command of the FSS Albion
with all rights and privileges pertaining thereto. Futher this court charges the Prosecution with harassment under color
of law. In view of failure to provide exculpatory evidence to the Defense Counsel, this court will inform the Bar Council
that the prosecution team be stripped of the license to practice law forthwith and pending re-application in two solar years."

"Further this court finds cause to accuse Prosecution of fabricating culpatory evidence, and binds the entire prosecution
team for charges of falsifying evidence.

"...And thanks Mister Mack. Court adjourned until tomorrow at 9AM to consider counter charges."



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