Riposte

Posted on Thu Jan 24th, 2019 @ 10:57pm by Captain Akiva ben-Avram & Captain Mrazak & Ferrofax
Edited on on Sat Mar 2nd, 2019 @ 2:38pm

Mission: Season 1 Interlude I (E2.5)
Location: Administrator's Office | Deck 4 - Overwatch Station
Timeline: ID 30

The day of the Article 15 hearing finally arrived. It had been Akiva's plan to savor each day of the countdown, but there had been a number of contentions since then. The Synchrony outbreak in Memory Theta's Deep Storage. The Deltan Foreign Ministry's attempted subversion of Storr and Jaya Garlake. The breakout of Petty Officer Abril Hirano from the brig. And that didn't even touch Akiva's personal life, which was typically turbulent.

That Mrazak had spent a week in the infirmary was a bittersweet development. Akiva had hoped that the Vulcan Without Logic would learn his lesson down in the Archives. Instead, after a scant 3 weeks, he wound up in the middle of the worst containment failure on record. If there was any proof that Mrazak was responsible in any way, Akiva would use it to have him Shanghaied to the nearest maximum security penitentiary. Instead, Akiva intended something else.

"Ferrofax, please locate Commander Mrazak and beam him here," Akiva said. The memory of Biynah had not faded, and he had no qualms about using etiquette with Overwatch Station's AI.

"One moment, I'd like to devote at least three processor cycles to savouring this moment."

Momentarily a pillar of blue energy appeared, then slowly formed into the familiar likeness of the dark Vulcan. After so many weeks performing menial tasks, he had let his facial hair grow even wilder. It took but a moment for him to recognize his surroundings. "Ben-Avram," he said flatly. "Has it been 30 days already?"

"Indeed it has." Akiva rose from his chair to meet the other's eye level, but he did not come around his desk. "You are looking well. No lasting damage, I trust."

Mrazak gave a wolfish grin. "Never. I believe the appropriate idiom from your world is, 'coming out like a rose'?"

That made Akiva sigh. "Unlike the others, correct? Hibbert. Osana. Eigthe."

"Psh." Mrazak scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. "They'll be fine, given time. Enough with the pleasantries, however, though I understand and forgive you for delaying the inevitable."

Akiva arched an eyebrow. "Just what do you expect is going to happen here?"

"You will reluctantly reinstate me to standard field duty," Mrazak said with a gloating smirk. "Despite everything, ben-Avram, I am Memory Theta. As much as you may have loved playing this little game, Starfleet indubitably requires my services, which means that I am going to walk out of here a free man, and you will go back to filing requisition orders and performance evaluations that mean nothing."

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out," Akiva said, arms folded behind his back. "There is indeed nothing that I can do to stop you from walking out, just as you've said. However..." The Hebron let slip a smirk of his own. "You will do so wearing this."

Mrazak flinched for a moment as Akiva tossed him a small object. "What is this?" As he examined it, he realized it was a black pip.

"A replacement." Akiva had taken the moment to walk around the desk and plucked one of the three pips from Mrazak's collar. "For this."

It is said that most Vulcans suppress an inherent, inborn rage with their c'thia philosophy of Logic. Rather than suppress it, V'tosh Ka'tur embrace their passions, rage and all, in order to transcend them and live life to their fullest. Self-control, then, was a tricky devil, and no less so in this moment. When Mrazak squeezed a death-grip around the black pip in his hand, there was no part of his mind which did not pretend it was Akiva's throat. "You can't do this..."

"I can and I have," Akiva said. "It's done. Captain's Mast, Article 15, proper and official. You may go now, Lieutenant Commander."

"No."

Akiva blinked at Mrazak's refusal. "That is an order, Mrazak."

"I will go when I'm good and ready," Mrazak said through gritted teeth. "Which is to say, when I have properly filed my own paperwork."

"Oh?" Akiva turned quizzical, then tried to think of how Kaz would handle an angry Vulcan. "You may do so elsewhere."

"I will do so here!" Mrazak pounded the desktop. He looked up at the ceiling, as he was wont to do when speaking to Ferrofax. "Ferrofax, I wish to exercise my rights under the UCMJ to appeal the Article 15 Non-Judicial Punishment with an official Article 32 inquest. Please file said claim with the nearest Staff Advocate Judge's office."

"The nearest Starbase with a suitably manned JAG office is Starbase 375, though that would mean giving me full access to a subspace transmitter...I'll put it in the data entry queue."

Akiva stood dumbfounded at Mrazak's demand. "It... That will take some time, Mrazak." It actually had been Akiva's first instinct, but he pursued the Article 15 charges in order to take swifter action. However, if Mrazak wished to dig his own grave... "Very well. As JAG's representative on Memory Theta, I will push it through. You will remain a Lieutenant Commander in the interim, and you will still get out of my office."

"Yes, sir." Mrazak performed the Vulcan salute, though his savage grin promised sentiments that defied the traditional "live long and prosper" litany. He turned to go without further comment or incident.

Falling back into his chair with a sigh of relief, Akiva pressed his hands against his face and knuckled his eyes clear of the migraine-inducing stress.

"Huum...I expected more bloodshed if I am honest. Maybe that's to come, I'm very good at threat analysis."

"You aren't wrong, Ferrofax." Akiva stared after the departed Vulcan with a pensive look. "You aren't wrong."