=/\= Bridge, USS Chimera =/\= The battle continued, with its usual intensity. The ship shook as Romulan weapons tormented its shields and it fired back, ever resilient, and made the Romulan warbird play for its abuse. A man is not prone to daydream while he is trying to fire weapons and maneuver faster than his opponent. But his past is a part of him and a person might be considered a sum of his past experiences. =/\= Starfleet Academy =/\= Nathan took his seat in the lecture hall as the rest of the students in his class began entering and finding their own. The seats formed a partial semicircle, where the instructor would stand to deliver her lecture. He arrived, moments later, holding a PADD near his armpit like a book. He approached the center of the lecture hall and began to deliver his lecture, for the day. “Welcome, class. I trust everyone read the homework last night. Tonight, I want you to read the Riker maneuver. The specifics are not important, as you may never encounter clouds of metreon gas in a battle. However, the exam will feature an open answer question of a battle with a nearby tactical advantageous quality. I expect each of you to be able to identify it and indicate how it could be used.” He continued: “Today’s lecture will take place as a demonstration. The USS Magdiarz is in orbit and we will conduct a live fire exercise of some ordinance, namely a photon torpedo. We’ve set up viewing bunker well outside the blast radius of the torpedo. I just want you all to experience the power and appreciate the versatility of the weapons you may someday command.” He pointed to the door and began to walk back up the stairs, to the exit. They left the Tactical Training building and walked toward the bunker. As they walked there, a peculiar man approached the cadets. He stopped right in front of Acheson. ”Starfleet is nothing but an imperialist force. You must all leave it immediately. You are just going to die meaninglessly to advance Starfleet’s militaristic hold on the galaxy. Starfleet strips member worlds of their resources and engages in ruthless proxy wars with anyone who dare oppose it. Here, read the manifesto. It will tell you everything!” He began passing out his manifesto on PADDs, which various cadets, including Acheson, picked up. The Instructor was quite annoyed. +TAPS+ Security to the Weapons fire building. I have an intruder.” Security appeared moments later and confronted the man. “I am a lawful protestor and I have the right to be here!” he screamed out, as they grabbed him. “You are trespassing, sir. You are outside the authorized civillan areas.” “I have freedom of speech, by interstellar laws. You can’t deprive me of that!” “Sir, this is a Starfleet military institution. You are not allowed to be here.” “Ha! Military institution. Listen well, cadets. These fascist pigs admitted it! Starfleet only wants to indoctrinate you to fight their wars and to repress Federation citizens, like me! Help, Help, I’m being repressed!” <<An homage to Monty Python>> The security officer groaned. “Sir, we’ve had this talk before. Now it’s time to go.” +TAPS+ Security to Transporter Room 2, 3 to beam to Brig Cell Epsilon. “The Brig! Ha! Now I go to prison for crimes against Starfleet!” He cried out, as he dematerialized. Acheson frowned, as he kept walking with the Instructor, to the Weapons fire facility. He sighed again, in thought. “Sir, is Starfleet an imperialist entity?” he asked the Instructor. “That’s a good question, Cadet. A fair one.” He nodded and thought for a moment. “Well, let’s put it this way. Recently, a world called Picana 3 had an election. Their reformist candidate won the high office and the majority of the legislature. They voted to leave the Federation. Now Picana 3 is on the border of the Romulan neutral zone. We had a listening post as well as a Starbase in that sector. Rear Admiral Connelly commanded a fleet from there. Now when they seceded, how did the Federation respond?” Acheson thought for a moment, but nothing came. “I don’t know, sir.” “We thanked them for being a part of the Federation and wished them luck. We engaged in a transfer of power ceremony and moved the listening post and Starbase, at their request. Why did we do that?” Nathan guessed: “We couldn’t stop them.” The instructor chuckled. “Negative, Cadet. We could crush them very easily. They barely had warp flight. A few quantum torpedoes would have crippled their fleet. A few dozen fighters and we’d have Aerial superiority over the entire planet. We’d need a substantial complement of marines, but we could probably even seize the planet itself and put the uncooperative people in camps. But that isn’t what Starfleet does. We believe in ensuring freedom and giving people the ability to make a choice. So we withdrew. It probably even gave the Romulans an advantage. But we aren’t about to compromise who we are just to avoid an inconvenience.” “The Romulans would’ve done the same thing, right?” The Instructor laughed again. “No, cadet. They would have suppressed the uprising. They’d probably assassinate the new leader and the key legislative members and replace them sympathizers and have a revote. They would avoid using actual troops and resources, but would keep it all quiet. Starfleet intelligence indicates that that’s what they did to suppress one of their member worlds.” Acheson nodded. “Thank you, sir. I see it quite clearly now.” He scanned the manifesto and put it in his pocket, to read and ridicule it later. =/\= END LOG =/\= MCapt Acheson CTAC USS Chimera -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm