Security Returns

Posted on Fri Mar 27th, 2009 @ 9:09pm by

Mission: Dark Discoveries
Location: Earth
Timeline: Current

It had been a day and a half since Lieutenant Earlond had barged in and tricked Elizabeth into telling him where her son was. Since then, Elizabeth had managed to begin repairing her relationship with Sara, but she was worried when she couldn’t get hold of Andrew. That worry had translated into anger at Lieutenant Earlond – an anger that had built up for a day and a half. So when the door chime rang and Elizabeth opened the doors to see the lieutenant, her eyes flashed angrily.

“So, did you get your ‘target’?” she asked scathingly. Earlond gave a grimace.

“Look, ma’am,” he said, “I think we got off on the wrong foot. May I come in?” Elizabeth was in no mood to let Earlond in again after what he’d done, but she didn’t dare refuse a request from Starfleet Security. As she stepped back to let him in, she saw that he looked like he’d been in a bad fight – his arm was in a sling, and his head was wrapped with bandages already soaked through with blood.

“Did my son give you those?” Elizabeth asked smugly, but Earlond just shook his head and took a seat in one of the room’s chairs. He looked completely at ease, which just made Elizabeth’s anger flare up again.

“No, ma’am, I got these from some over-zealous marines,” Earlond said. “They didn’t seem happy when I let your son go.” Elizabeth stopped short, staring at Earlond in surprise. She had thought she was sent to kill Andrew.

“You let him go?” she asked. “Why? I thought you were after him for some falsified crime.” At this, Earlond laughed, and Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. She still wasn’t happy at how at-ease he seemed, barging in here whenever he felt like it.

“It was a falsified claim,” Earlond said. “But I’ve set things straight – well, as long as he doesn’t try anything like that again. He has a good heart, but there are laws to obey.”

“Just like that, you’re letting him go?” Elizabeth asked. She didn’t know what to say, so she fell back on something she could vent her earlier anger at Earlond with. “Hmpf. When I was your age, Starfleet had a more competent Security division.” To her annoyance, Earlond just shrugged.

“Maybe so, ma’am,” he said, standing. “Would you rather I had captured your son and executed him for his crime?” Of course Elizabeth wouldn’t, but she felt foolish backing down now.

“Perhaps that would have been the lawful thing to do,” she told Earlond haughtily. “At any rate, it seems only fair that he receives some punishment for his act.” At this, Earlond’s at-ease manner suddenly vanished.

“Fair?” he repeated. “With all due respect, ma’am, I’d think someone of your stature would understand the nature of fairness in the galaxy. Fairness to this galaxy is an innocent scoutship getting decimated for no reason. It’s a starship getting destroyed when it tries to save a planet, while a single crewman watches in horror. It’s getting court-martialed for trying to save a fellow crewman’s life. It’s four trained marines breaking the leg of a young pilot, just because he wears the uniform of a Starfleet officer like his treasonous companion.” Earlond strode to the door, paused, and looked back. “Next time you talk of fairness while condemning your son,” he said softly, “remember how fairness really works.” Turning, Earlond left the room, and Elizabeth sank into a chair.

Of course she didn’t want her son to be killed, or even arrested – how could that security officer think that? And it wasn’t like she didn’t know how fairness worked – hadn’t she said time and again to her family, “Life isn’t fair.”? Elizabeth needed to stop and take some time to think about what kind of person she was becoming.