Court Martial

[guardiankrillin]

I am running an ICONS Next Generation series in the year 2361. The Characters are all cadets just beginning their journey through Starfleet Academy and have just completed their entrance testing.
The location they completed their entrance exam was under attack and the eccentric Star Base Captain was running out of options to defend the base (i.e. all of his officers were manning the other ships in the space docks to defend the Star Base.) He requisitioned a crew from the newly accepted cadets fresh out of testing and had them man the stations on a barely functional Excelsior Class ship that was in the docks for refitting.

Needless to say this was not where new cadets needed to be. There were individual violations of protocol that occurred and all the party had at least a small hand in the protocols that were breached. Including but not limited to one of the players acquiring a Dress Uniform of a higher ranking officer and impersonating them in the process.


The next game session I have planned is going to be them taking transport back to earth and being put in front of a board of inquiry. The plan is to give them some renown from the experience and possibly famous incident. They will also possibly receive some form of demerits for their part in the actions taken.


My delima/question relates to running a court martial in game terms what are things I should be prepared for, things to watch out for. I have some Mavericks in my party and I want to be ready for the unexpected. General tips for running a court martial in game are appreciated.

[Sarge]

I'd expect the classic Kirk speech. You know how it goes, "Risk is what Starfleet is all about. The needs of the many helpless civilians outweighed the safety of we few who put our careers and our lives on the line in defense of all that we hold dear. Earth expects that every man will do his duty." etc etc...

[selek]

This scenario presents a lot of problems right off the bat.

Fair warning: the first one lined up in the Defendant's dock would be the starbase captain.

Because the cadets were still technically civilians, they cannot reasonably be expected to hold to the same standards as a properly trained officer or cadet.

Ignorance of the law (in this case, of Starfleet Regulations) is a defense.

Lesser offenses will likely be overlooked as either personal initiative or "needs of the moment"- and overlooked. I suspect there would be a number of "teachable moments" involved.

Unless their conduct was an egregious breach of common law (wanton murder, executing unarmed prisoners, or reckless and wanton destruction of property), they're liable to walk with nothing more than a serious butt-chewing.

What will be fatal to their cause is if they try to lie, cheat, or BS their way out of it. Even if they survive the experience, they will be forever tainted by the stain of perjury.

A courtmartial is not like a civilian court and almost nothing like an episode of Law and Order.

There is also a pronounced difference between a general court-martial and a board of inquiry.

In the case of a board of inquiry, they will be arrayed in front of a senior officer (either a Judge Advocate or Presiding Officer), and given the opportunity to explain themselves. An officer from the Judge Advocate's office may handle the questioning in a prosecutorial role, but it's not always required.

A general court-martial on the other hand, is a formal trial either presided over by a judge or a three-officer panel, and a jury.

Under the circumstances, they'd get a board of inquiry and be recommended for commendations or disciplinary actions as needed.

The problem is that this early in their careers, any serious discipline will undoubtedly result in their being discharged from Starfleet.

From a storytelling point of view, I'd have a prosecuting officer (a real fire-and-brimstone hard@@@) and a good advocate on their behalf (perhaps the base commander).

The former can become a recurring nemesis, the latter an occasional patron- as suits your story needs.

Get each character on the stand, hammer 'em, and make 'em damn themselves with their own lips.

Recommended viewing:
ST:TNG The First Duty- this one is an absolute must.
ST:TNG Measure of a Man- this one is an absolute must.
ST:TNG The Drumhead- also good, but not truly essential.

A Few Good Men (Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson)
The Caine Mutiny (Humphrey Bogart, Van Johnson)
Rules of Engagement (Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones)

[Omega1967]

There is more to a Court Martial than the court room events. There is weeks of investigations and bickering back and forth between JAG officers. If any of you have seen any of the series of JAG and the spin offs of NCIS and NCIS L.A. are good as A Few Good Men (not that I am a Tom Cruse fan, Nickleson yes) for seeing what is complete process for Court Martial and boards of Inquiry.

[guardiankrillin]

Funny enough my dad and I watched Star Trek, and JAG together when I was younger. I like the ideas, I will check out the suggested list.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

The former can become a recurring nemesis, the latter an occasional patron- as suits your story needs.

Or vice versa, depending on how the players do...

[Owen E Oulton]

JAG is a very bad example. Harm and his cohorts would themselves be court-martialed for interfering in CID investigations. They are lawyers, not MPs. The military is very stratified and very different from civilian life. It's not Matlock or Perry Mason, where a lawyer can take it upon himself to conduct an investigation.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Of course, this is Starfleet, wherein the similarities to contemporary military or legal methods is directly proportional to the episode writer's interest in such things.

[LStyer]

You know what might have been fun and even mimicked a convention of Star Trek? To have combined the two sessions you're talking about into a single session/scenario. Start out with the Board of Inquiry and do the events that led to the Board of Inquiry as flashbacks. For each major story beat of the have the Admiral NPC ask a different PC what happened, and then roleplay the answer out.

"Cadet Smith, how did you come to be behind the helm of the Excelsior?"

"Cadet Jones, what can you tell us about the communication difficulty among the assembled fleet?"

[Dan Gurden]

You know what might have been fun and even mimicked a convention of Star Trek? To have combined the two sessions you're talking about into a single session/scenario. Start out with the Board of Inquiry and do the events that led to the Board of Inquiry as flashbacks. For each major story beat of the have the Admiral NPC ask a different PC what happened, and then roleplay the answer out.

"Cadet Smith, how did you come to be behind the helm of the Excelsior?"

"Cadet Jones, what can you tell us about the communication difficulty among the assembled fleet?"

Thats a funky idea, and I think I might nick it one day... No background given, no warning apart from that starting point and the end result... Just a few well chosen questions. Also good for a Solo game...

[Medic]

A point.

While the cadets were still green as an Orion's behind, they had been accepted in to Starfleet and as far as I see it, that makes them, theoretically, responsible for their actions. Of course, their actions, were they ordered by their superior (the captain), are less culpable than they would have been, had they done them by their own initiative.

Starfleet is a military organization and thus, the military law extends to the cadets as well. If they broke the regulations while executing the orders given them by their superior, they have indeed carried out their duty to at least some extent. Of course, with an illegal order, they should have challenged that order and requested it in written form (at least in some militaries this is the proper course of action), at which point the one giving the order will repeat the order in a written format and provide a relief of responsibility for the ones carrying out the order. If the recipient of the order still refuses to carry out the task, he will take the written order to the superior of the one who gave the order and if the order is found to be illegal, there is no repercussion. If the order is found to be legal, though, the one having refused to carry it out will be in trouble instead.

It might be, the Starfleet security would launch an investigation in to the matter and the JAG consider, whether there is a case to make out of it. If there is, it will be a court martial for the parties involved.