> > "Sir, in a manner of an explaination, we were making use of down time
> to shed some stress and tension. It was not our intention to embarass the
> Federation, Starfleet, and certainly not you, Sir. We got carried away,
> sir, and I promise you with all that I am that the behavior got us in the
> brig will not happen again, Sir..." replied what looked to be the senior
of
> those in the pokey. He waited for the verbal lashing...
>
> "'Shed' some strrress," she growled. "Is that supposed to be funny?"
> She'd put on a good show so they understood she was serious.
>
"No, Admiral. Not at all, sir." came the hurried reply.
>
> "Listen up! I know you people lead strrressful lives. But I can think of
> a hundrrred differrrent ways to rrrelax instead of boozing it up in
frrront
> of ourrr allies! We have an unknown enemy out therrre with plans to
> destabilize the Federrration and the Klingon Empirrre and you'rrre
> half-crrrocked!" That would get their attention. None of them knew why
> they were here, other than it was a joint operation, and the magnitude of
> the situation would hopefully sink in.
>
And it did just that. While they said absolutely nothing, she
coudl tell by body language and their eyes that they understood the gravity
of the situation.
>
> She looked at each of them carefully, her eyes critical. "All rrright,
> listen. Frrrom now on, I don't want *any* alcohol used by any of you. I
> have a sensitive nose, and I'll smell it on you, no matterrr what you use
> to coverrr it. If you want to rrrelieve some strrress, and the trrraining
> we'll be giving you isn't enough, you just let me know, and we can sparrr,
> one-on-one, if you think you can take me, that is." She eyes them with a
> challenging gaze. "Do you think you can manage that?"
>
"Aya, sir." they said in almost perfect unison.
>
> "Good. I'll ask and see if Captain Black will overrrlook this incident
and
> let you go without charrrges, on my own honorrr that you won't do it
again.
> Any damages you might have done, howeverrr, will be coming out of yourrr
> paychecks. Arrre we clearrr on all that?"
>
"Crystal." came the unanimous response.
>
> She walked over to the door and opened it, speaking loudly enough for them
> to overhear. "Captain Black?"
>
He entered with a neutral face... "Yes, Admiral."
>
> "I've had a little discussion with my people, herrre, and they have
> assurrred me that nothing like this will happen again, and they've even
> offerrred to pay any damages the base might have sufferrred. In light of
> this, I was hoping you might considerrr rrreleasing them underrr my
> superrrvision and drrropping any charrrges. I will stake my perrrsonal
> rrreputation on theirrr futurrre conduct, if that will help perrrsuade
> you." Technically, Kitanya had no authority over him, since he was not in
> her chain of command. The decision was his to make.
>
He played along. This worked out quite well actually, since he had
not filed charges. He just dropped them in the tank to cool off, hoping
that Kitanya would make a speech. As it turned out she did more than any
charge that he would have brought could...
"Admiral, I will do that just for you. Your reputation of honor
alone make me comfortable releasing them into your care. Guards.... cut
these folks loose.
Thank you Admiral..."
