The choice between duty or love...

[Polanski]

Greetings,
Now, the players of "The Line in the Stars" should not read past this point.


It would appear that a hostile power (of unknown origin but an organized crime is suspected) have attempted an assasination on a wife of one of the senior officers (senior officer is a player). Senior officer is assigned to the starship while his wife serves as medical officer on the starbase (point of operations for the starship as well)

There was a reason and a plan behind the attack, that being a revenge and a blackmail. The plasma charge (planted on the base) have critically wounded her (killing some NPCs in process as well).

The officer in question (Lieutenant Commander currently fills the roles of chief of operations, command officer and acting 1st officer on Starfleet Intelligence vessel) have on three separate occasions after the incident stated openly in front of both junior and senior officers (including chief of security, local SI officer and the acting captain of the starship) that love is more important than duty, that he does not trust anyone (including senior Starfleet command and security personnel from the station) and he has addressed a chief of security (junior officer) in the manner that implied that the investigation that is underway is not to endanger the life of his wife and that he will ensure of this.

There is a proof that the officer has been compromised as a blackmail note has been found in his communication pad. He did not speak of it until confronted by the chief os security (a betazoid).

The officer have abandoned his post during yellow alert to 'be with his wife' (without the perimission or knowledge of the acting captain).

The acting captain (1st officer as the captain is currently absent, undergoing combat readiness and update briefings on the command starbase with most senior officers from the sector) have confronted the character in question and explained the situation and the predicament in which he was placed by the reports from SI, reports from security and the current attitude presented by the character and asked the officer to explain himself, or suggest a solution, the lieutenant commander was unable to provide one...

Following that his command codes were suspended and he was temporary relived of command as his compromise presents a serious thread to SI and Starfleet security.


What happens now?

Even if the people responsible for the attack and blackmail are caught (and they may very well be members of much larger organization, such as Orion Syndiate) his wife will still remain on the station serving as a medical officer and he still will remain onboard the starship, nothing stopping a follow up attack or extended blackmail operation against both of them.

The Officer on three ocassions in front of senior and junior Starfleet personnel have shown that when things get hard in personal life he will put it before the professional duties. When confronted with such single minded decision and given an aple opportunity to make some changes (even small ones) he choose not to change or alert his approch in any way.

Apart from this incident the officer's record is quite exemplary...

So?

Can he be trusted as a senior officer onboard of intelligence vessel?
How would his career in Starfleet shape up after an incident such as this one?

Looking forward to your suggestions...

Kind Regards
Daniel

[Argyle]

It sounds like this officer's behavior has bordered on (if not crossed the line) Dereliction of Duty. This is unacceptable on any starship, especially one performing intelligence work.

If the admiralty is feeling generous/benevolent, they would probably say, "Look, we understand where you're coming from, and we respect that. However, we cannot allow you to serve on a starship any longer. You can transferred to a desk job someplace planetside or we can give you an honorable discharge. In either case, a formal reprimand will be entered in your record. I expect your decision tomorrow morning, commander. Dismissed!"

If the admiralty is NOT feeling generous, then things will be much worse, possibly even pressing charges against this officer.

[Owen E Oulton]

On the contrary, if Starfleet Command is feeling generous, they will simply allow him to resign. There is no way this officer should ever be allowed to wear the uniform, under any circumstances - period especially on an intelligence vessel... If they are not feeling generous, he'll be drummed out of the service, possibly serving time.

In the short run, as soon as the blackmail note is found, he should be brigged.

[Phantom]

Ok, I can somewhat understand most of his plight ( but still would have brigged him for insubordination) right up to where he left his station during an alert...Dereliction of Duty, Behaviour Unbecoming an Officer, Against Good Order and Discipline, and a whole boat load of other charges.

In short this guy pretty much just s**t canned his career in the fleet.

[Argyle]

Looks like I'm a giant softie. On further reflection, I think Owen and Phantom are definitely right.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

I had a character do almost the exact same thing for an NPC wife character. He stole a shuttle and traded federation technology (a tricorder), to a warp-capable species.

Since I didn't want to "drum" out his character and the fact I can remind him endlessly with NPC's.

I did the following:

- Official repromand.
- Reduction in rank.
- Stripped of some of his commendations.
- Lose of some contacts.
- A bad reputation/Infamy may be in order seeing as ST command of his shipmates will remember this.
- Loses his position as Chief of any and all operations, just becomes a rank and file officer.

I did this to a Cmdr. CMO and I thought it was sufficient.

[Anderyn]

Oh my. I was really afraid my character was going to be stuck in that situation last night. (As I mentioned in another thread, my XO character has been involved with another officer (NPC) on her ship, and they recently got engaged.) Well, last night was the wedding episode. Which ended up with the Romulans attacking Earth, and a wild ride from St. Petersberg back to San Fran and an (experimental) trip via transporter to our dry-docked ship. Eeek. I was *sure* that the GM would have Bryce's new husband prevented from transporting up or stuck in the buffer, or *something* horrible. But he didn't. Whew.

Now, though, I'm kind of stuck with a problem. After the attack, my XO got given command of the ship (though not a promotion to Captain) and she's trying to figure out exactly how to discipline an officer who keeps calling her "love" when he's reporting hostile action. :-)

Twila

[Balok]

Originally posted by Polanski
Can he be trusted as a senior officer onboard of intelligence vessel?

No, and he wouldn't be. He's demonstrated a lack of trustworthiness. Other behavior may be exemplary, and that might serve to get him more lenient treatment (see below), but that's about it.

Originally posted by Polanski
How would his career in Starfleet shape up after an incident such as this one?

It would be over. Conduct Unbecoming? Dereliction? Treason? These are series charges. If his other conduct was sufficiently exemplary, then he might be allowed to quietly retire, stripped of one or more promotions (for pension purposes). Whether his other conduct sufficiently outweighs these offenses would depend on exactly what he did that was blackmail material, and what his other conduct was -- but I would tend to doubt it. Unless he had powerful friends, he would most likely draw a general court, and if found guilty, he'd be dishonorably discharged, stripped of rank, and confined for some period of time.

This guy seems to have basically taken a whiz on everything Starfleet is supposed to stand for.

[Anderyn]

Oh. In answer to the question of what exactly ought to happen to the officer in the original question -- I'd possibly allow him to quietly retire, if his previous behaviour was totally exemplary, but he'd be out -- reduced in grade and with reprimands on his record, even in a lenient scenario. I can see one outburst of "ohmyGod, they have my spouse, I must save her" and the kind of scenery chewing you mention being given a lesser punishment (such as a desk job or reassignment, reduction in grade, etc.) but not three.

[Silverthorne]

There is also the question, how rigid is the acting captain. If he/she is a by the book all of the above actions would be taken. if not he may cut the officer some slack. If they have been friends again slack may be given. Not all infratcions are reported. Remeber that all players are there to have fun. If the pc wants his character to stay in SF then he will have to change his ways if not.. see ya..

[Argyle]

Originally posted by Silverthorne
If they have been friends again slack may be given.

On the other hand, this may potentially ruin (or greatly strain) a friendship as well. The CO may view this officer's running off as a personal disappointment as well as a disappointment to Starfleet.

[Phantom]

Originally posted by Silverthorne
There is also the question, how rigid is the acting captain. If he/she is a by the book all of the above actions would be taken. if not he may cut the officer some slack.

I can see this for everything except his leaving his post during a Yellow Alert. That move could cost the ship dearly, and is a court martial offense (ie all the charges from above plus a few I can't think of right now.)

[Owen E Oulton]

The two most serious charges would be leaving his post during an alert, and the failure to report a blackmail demand. The latter is actually more serious than the first - he's been compromised. even if he can prove he never actually met any of the demands, the very fact that he failed to report the blackmail, especially being an intelligence officer, is fatal to his career. The captain and XO cannot afford to cut any slack on this one. I don't recall you stating what the timeframe is, but if it's during the Dominion War, that is indeed a treason charge he'd be facing, whether or not the baddies have any connections to the Dominion.

Further are the officer's public statements. The only reason to cut someone slack on charges is if they have learned a lesson from the experience and won't do it again - this isn't the case here. It appears that the officer would do it again in a heartbeat.. Again, if it's during wartime, and he made any sort of statements to indicate that others should behave in a similar manner, that's suborning mutiny...

Now, this whole thing should be tempered by the fact that this is a game, and not something to get into a serious real-world conflict over. If you do decide to take the hard line many of us are advising, you'll likely have to have a talk with the player, explaining your reasoning.

[Starless]

Chief Miles O'Brien, sabotages the station, decks the Constable, and runs off in a Shuttle to destroy the Wormhole... only to zap the Pagh Wraith in his wife's body.

Extenuating circumstances can be accepted in cases like these, given the Commander is an understanding kind of guy (like Sisko is to his crew), though a firm chewing out would be in order :)

The part about love above duty can be acceptable, but the character should be cautioned about that. After all, your CO wouldn't be happy if a thousand died because you rushed off to save one. But then, again, it'd be a CO/Admiral call; though Admirals are much less forgiving.

The no trust part.. well he is in intelligence ;) As long as his behavior doesn't endanger crew, ship, UFP, et al then it's alright.

Threats to protect the wife in investigation.. if under pressure and stress, people can respond in that matter. Again, if their actions become dangerous, then there's a problem. If it's just concern, then it's just something to be wary of.

The leaving during a Yellow Alert.. that's hard to get by with. Unless she was in danger, he wouldn't have much of an excuse for that.

You put all these things together and you're just asking for trouble. Have him visit a Counselor and have a full evaluation on his condition to continue service. Try to reason with him. If he's unfit for duty, ship him out. If he's fit (for Intelligence standards) then let him stay but wring him up with adequate charges.

[Argyle]

If you want to make the player/character sweat, you could actually play through the court martial. That way, they can bring up all the extenuating circumstance arguments and so forth. As I saw suggested on another thread many moons ago, your other players could temporarily play the defense and prosecution (and their own characters when called to the stand) and if you've got a person or two that isn't normally in your game that you can call for jury duty you can more or less have an actual trial.

That may or may not be interesting to you and your players, but it's something to think about. Trying to press your non-gamer friends into a fictional jury might be an adventure in itself.