What is it with all the court-martials lately?

This is the third thread of the month on a crew screwing up and getting court-martialed for their trouble.....

For those of you who don't know it, I'm attempting to coordinate an on-going roleplaying meta-campaign for six different Star Trek clubs in the Utah/Idaho area.

A meta-campaign was set up with adventures for each ship- with four story arcs, and with each ship's adventures and reports building towards the climax and finale (a brush war which would culminate in the setting described in the Star Trek Online game).

I've been coordinating my efforts with the captains of each ship (club) and the Admiral and Commodore (who run the parent organization, the 7th Fleet).

My latest Star Trek session was an unqualified disaster......and depending upon how we choose to play it, may force me to re-write my entire campaign.

The setup was that in 2374, the U.S.S. Celerity had been lost in space and wrecked on an uninhabited world deep in Romulan space.

Commander Elizabeth Foster was the sole (critically wounded) survivor of the Celerity, and had been rescued by Romulan Admiral Tarius ( a member of the royal family who was going into a self-imposed "exile" in order to prevent political turmoil). Over the fourteen years since the crash, the Foster and Tariusbecame friends (and perhaps even lovers).

The mission was that in 2388 (nearly a decade and a half after the crash) the U.S.S. Retributor crew were to finally locate and secretly visit the wreck of the Celerity and then to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to Foster's location.

I had planned for the characters to have three basic options at this point:

• to convince Foster to return to the Federation
• to respect her decision to remain with her "captor"
  or
• to attempt to return her by force.

The overall aim was to "humanize" Tarius, to show him to be a person of integrity, honor, and compassion, and to set the stage for later events in the campaign.

Never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that the heroes would decide to kidnap the Admiral from under the noses of the Praetorian Guard- and then run through a Romulan task group attempting to intercept them.

But that's what the players chose- and so they had to face the consequences of that decision.

The Commanding Officer is now under arrest for five violations of treaty, three acts of war, and countless Starfleet regulations- and Retributor herself is now a battered hulk awaiting the decision to either repair her or decommission her in disgrace.

Admiral Tarius, upon discovering the "invaders" guessed their purpose (decided that the attempt to recover lost comrades was honorable) and allowed them to speak (unhindered) with the survivor, and offered them safe passage out of Romulan space- provided that they caused no mischief and respected Foster's decision to stay or go.

For his troubles, Tarius was shot (stunned) in the back and kidnapped.

It was only when Retributor had been caught, pounded into submission, and both the Empire and Federation on the verge of outright warfare that the Commanding Officer decided to take Tarius at his word and return him.

The other wrinkle is that the roleplaying game is intended to supplement and augment the club activities- not undermine them.

It's supposed to add to the "Trek experience", not detract from it- and it was NEVER my intent to add "un-fun" to the mix. Yet I could not, in good conscience, deprive the players of the fruits of their labors.

I'm not allowed to destroy any of the charter ships (clubs) nor kill or maim any of the characters without express approval from the Admiral and Captain (this is essentially the same restriction faced by those writing Star Trek short stories or novels for publication. The "heroes" have to go back into the toybox in essentially the same shape as I found them.

So now the entire project is in limbo.........

I'm currently awaiting word from the Admiral on how he wants to proceed- either chalk up the mission as a "holodeck" exercise gone badly awry, or something else...

....but anything decided (everything except a complete "do-over") will force me to modify my campaign from here.

So.....the list of major charges is as follows:

• Violation of the Treaty of Algeron (Retributor carries an illegal phase-cloak with the knowledge and permission of Starfleet Security and the 7th Fleet Admiral)
• Violation of the Neutral Zone Accords (Retributor's unauthorized presence in Romulan space is (by itself) an act of war (and yet Starfleet authorized them to enter the Neutral Zone to search for the missing Celerity)
• Attempted kidnapping of a Romulan crown prince (a de facto act against a Romulan head of state, and potentially, an act of state-sponsored terrorism)
• Armed assault against the Praetorian Guard (an act of aggression against a security organ of a rival/hostile state).

Lesser charges, of course, are too numerous to list.

Ye gods, what a mess!


So.....any suggestions on how to deal with this mess?

IMHO, the first two points don't concern the crew specifically - since it was with Starfleet knowledge and/or agreement, it is the bigwigs having condoned this who will have to answer for it (especially for the cloaking device), unless of course this was a case of "if you or your men are caught, we will deny any knowledge of your doings".

The last two points are much more severe for the characters (in terms of chain of command and also compliance with the spirit of Trek BTW).
The point here is that, as I understood it, the characters can't essentially be changed - no stripping of rank, no booting out of Starfleet (a bit like a Star Trek episode actually ;)).
This tends to make a court-martial session a bit counter-productive, since the players will be sure nothing bad will come out of it. On the other hand, it would be really nice to hammer it down to them that what they did was bad, in terms of being true to the Trek spirit.

One suggestion I could make would be to have section 31 (or Starfleet Intelligence) step in, and have a high-ranking Starfleet official take all the blame for them (since Starfleet was already partially aware of they violating treaties anyway). Of course, there would be a huge price to this, like having to do a very dangerous mission for section 31 (or Starfleet Intelligence) in exchange (that one without anyone taking the blame for them should they fail).

I don't know how this fits into your campaign or if it is possible, but this is so far the first lead I can see to take the players out of this mess.

As for why there are so many court-martial cases recently... I blame the latest Abrams movie for giving a "shoot first, ask questions later" image of Starfleet :p

My comments will almost certainly be disagreed with, but I again don't see where you have much choice but to court-martial the PCs and send them to prison. However, given the restrictions on the structure of the game, you have to wait until the Admiral tells you what he will allow.

The PCs are responsible for nearly starting a war and going by how badly damaged their ship is, there has to be fatalities, certainly Federation and probably Romulan as well. Someone has to answer for what happened and at he very least that will be the commanding officer.

Unless you go the cheesy routes of 'it was a dream' or 'a holodeck exercise' and that really seems like a cop out. Players need to learn is a setting like Star Trek, their actions have consequences and that they are not free to do whatever they like. Otherwise the game is just D&D in space.

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Originally Posted by Pericles

My comments will almost certainly be disagreed with, but I again don't see where you have much choice but to court-martial the PCs and send them to prison.

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Actually, in this instance, I agree with you.

There's simply no logical stretch by which the crew's orders could be interpreted to include the kidnapping of a Romulan- especially one so high ranking.

The recommended methodology all through the episode is "softly, softly".

Blowing your cover, kidnapping and assault are anything but.

Worse, in my opinion, was the "well, we kidnapped you and your lady love from your self-imposed exile, but what we really want is for you to agree to be an Ambassador from the ROmulans to the Federation" approach.

There was a certain, palpable irony in a Romulan officer announcing to the Federation, "We do not negotiate with terrorists."

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However, given the restrictions on the structure of the game, you have to wait until the Admiral tells you what he will allow.

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Which is doing wonders for my temperament, let me tell you.

Until I get a straight answer or even minimal guidance, my entire campaign structure is in limbo.......

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The PCs are responsible for nearly starting a war and going by how badly damaged their ship is, there has to be fatalities, certainly Federation and probably Romulan as well. Someone has to answer for what happened and at the very least that will be the commanding officer.

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No arguments here.

Despite his standing orders, the protests and very clearly voiced reservations of his crew, and not one, not two, not three, but FOUR not-so-subtle warnings from the Narrator, the Commanding Officer insisted on doing it "his way"- and refused to take the "easy out" offered by the Romulan Admiral.

He'd cowed his crew by hinting at "secret orders" from the Admiralty- which was the ONLY reason he was not relieved of his command by the crew.

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Unless you go the cheesy routes of 'it was a dream' or 'a holodeck exercise' and that really seems like a cop out. Players need to learn is a setting like Star Trek, their actions have consequences and that they are not free to do whatever they like. Otherwise the game is just D&D in space.

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Agreed- but part of me suspects that this is the most likely route to be taken.


C5-

I very much like your suggestions, and they've given me a lot of food for thought.

Unfortunately, this crew is already up to their necks in Section 31 entanglements, and the understanding has always been "if caught, we will disavow all knowledge".

Given the fact that an entire sector and two sector fleets have been scrambled over this fiasco, I just don't see anyway that Starfleet Intelligence could bury it- especially given that Retributor is already on the short-list of a number of prominent politicians/bureaucrats (of the simple reason that she's successful).

In an earlier incident, a third-world backwater type (called the Toren Autonomy) seized a Federation Science vessel in open space (shades of the U.S.S. Pueblo).

While the talk-talk-talk types sat and diddled, a Federation embassador (and retired Starfleet officer) rode Retributor into Toren home space under the pretense of negotiating, and then sprang a Rapid Response Team on the unsuspecting thugs and liberated both ship and crew.

The mission was approved by the Federation Council, and the talk-talk-talk types were forced to go along- and hated every minute of it.

So they've an axe to grind with Retributor and her crew- and this fiasco is the perfect opportunity to settle old scores.

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Originally Posted by selek

So.....any suggestions on how to deal with this mess?

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I'm presuming that "So, you're all in a Romulan prison camp..." can't be the opening lines of the next session?

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Originally Posted by selek

Unfortunately, this crew is already up to their necks in Section 31 entanglements, and the understanding has always been "if caught, we will disavow all knowledge".

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So how many Section 31s are there in your campaign?

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Originally Posted by selek

For those of you who don't know it, I'm attempting to coordinate an on-going roleplaying meta-campaign for six different Star Trek clubs in the Utah/Idaho area.

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NEATO! :D

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So.....any suggestions on how to deal with this mess?

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My crew hired a good lawyer named Selek of Vulcan, who successfully argued the case while it was still in the Board of Inquiry stage.

I think Captain Harper still has his business card. ;)

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Originally Posted by selek

Which is doing wonders for my temperament, let me tell you.

Until I get a straight answer or even minimal guidance, my entire campaign structure is in limbo.......

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I tried co-GMing once and it was an unmitigated fiasco, so I can well imagine having to wait for someone else to tell you what you can do much really suck.

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Originally Posted by selek

Despite his standing orders, the protests and very clearly voiced reservations of his crew, and not one, not two, not three, but FOUR not-so-subtle warnings from the Narrator, the Commanding Officer insisted on doing it "his way"- and refused to take the "easy out" offered by the Romulan Admiral.

He'd cowed his crew by hinting at "secret orders" from the Admiralty- which was the ONLY reason he was not relieved of his command by the crew.

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You're driving more nails into the PC's coffin. As a precedent, you can use what happened to Tom Riker for stealing the Defiant and nearly starting a war with the Cardasians. He got thrown under the bus to spare his crew being given to the Cardasians as the Federation's pound of flesh.

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Originally Posted by Pericles

Unless you go the cheesy routes of 'it was a dream' or 'a holodeck exercise' and that really seems like a cop out. Players need to learn is a setting like Star Trek, their actions have consequences and that they are not free to do whatever they like. Otherwise the game is just D&D in space.

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Good point. My players decided to pack it in and become space pirates if, and only if, it went as far as the OP here.

In which case, I am fully prepared to quietly end the game altogether. My players are intuitively aware of/afraid of this, and so they elect to do their very best to follow Federation code.

Their latest scenario is guest-written, and just so happens to deal with the Prime Directive in its own special way. <- Which they take way more seriously than they did when it landed them in front of a board of inquiry.

Okay....the Admiral has spoken- and he was NOT amused by the poor judgment and stubborn insistence on 'doing it HIS way' displayed by the CO.

The first half of the mission- sneaking into Romulan space, visiting (and scuttling) the wreck of the Celerity- stands.

Everything thereafter- the kidnapping, assault, and near-destruction of the ship are considered a holodeck projection of what MIGHT have happened.

Rather than just retcon the ending, the CO has been told to 'finish the mission'- and there will be no further intervention on his behalf.

He was also told, 'You now know just how BADLY things can go- try something ELSE'.

If anything, he went farther out of his way to make the CO feel stupid than I would have- and I'm an ass.

It was almost embarassing- but it was 'in-character' and IMO, deserved.

So- I'm savagely revising my notes and the story's ending. Section 31, rogue RRT, and political intrigue will figure prominently.