Friends in high places p2

Posted on Sat 11th Jan, 2025 @ 5:31pm by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Renato Solis
Edited on on Tue 14th Jan, 2025 @ 1:25am

1,660 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Phoenix Gamble
Location: SB109- CRC

-Continuing...

Renato's original charge had been from an act of mercy. A woman in the throes of dementia had a moment of peace thank to Renato's ability sorting her memories. He descent into Dementia was all the worse afterwards, and he was blamed, perhaps rightfully so. That had seen him in a trial, a long one lasting five years. During tha ttime he was a literla Stigma to anyone around him.

The first witness presented by the state was tied to corroborated testimony, but no physical evidence. It was a story of Renato coming to knock on the door of a food bank and being turned away. He apparently ranted and made the shelter workers feel unsafe, but they had been following the law and social conventions. Renato was a well known criminal, nobody could help if they even wanted to. They said things that sounded like him too, clever barbs, witty insults designed to embed deep in the heart. Kya knew there was truth to their words; she had witnessed as much from him before.

The Holographic Triad lit up, Kya read off her message from Renato's advocate, "Ok, one of us is up, he says the order is the most important, to come in strong but to save big cards for last... He recommends I go first."

Kya felt her blood withdraw and shock start to settle in. She was numb. Renato was close as a brother and what she was going to say would save or condemn him.

"You've known Renato far longer than I have," Paul told her. "Just tell them about the fine man you know."

Kya gathered herself, and stepped into the trifold lights. She saw herself on the feeds, and raised a hand up and down to make sure. It seemed silly right after she did it, but the instinct had been so fast. It was when she saw Renato, the video feed hadn't shown the truth of it, but she could see the courtroom like she was there now. He was bruised, looking like a daily beating had been issued for the last month. but hastily and hardly healed to cover tracks. Kya knew the look of freshly healing bruises from a dermal regenerator. She had makeup the right color to cover it.

The sight of it changed something in Kya emotionally. Her confusion, hurt over his absence and silence, the sight of him now, broken but resiliently standing, lit a fire. She found the transition from sadness to self-righteous fury.

"My name is Kya Adtanis, and two minutes is insufficient to describe this man before you now. How your justice system has allowed this to come to pass is something I hope you examine for others. Renato didn't want to return to Ullia, for fear of exactly this. He has lived on this station where I am, far from home, for 27 years! A whole generation of his family born and told not to even ask about his name.

"He was told to come home, encouraged that his case was seen in a new light, but the truth was they have trapped him. He told me this would happen long ago, that one day the call to return would have to be answered and he would face his crimes head on. He knew even then what would happen, and he was right. But he came home anyway. As a citizen of the Federation I am aghast that a world can exile one of its own and trick them into coming back just to punish them further.

"As a mother, I say shame on the conventions of your society which compel a loving family to shun one of their own, and shame on his family for failing to defend their son and brother. The Federation Advocates Council has even represented Renato in recognition of the unjust nature of his incarceration. He was exiled as a punishment, and he honored that by staying far away, 800 light years away!

"I met him as a refugee from the DMZ conflict of the Maquis war against Cardassia. We were on Starbase 109, which housed a sizeable portion of refugees. Renato showed me kindness as a friend. when my husband proved to be a bad partner, Renato told him to leave. He thinks I don't know that, but I know."

She looked at Renato, seemingly a few feet away. His eyes were tearing, and so hers began to as well.

"When that man was gone, Renato stepped in, became an uncle and father and mentor to my kids. We started a small community center, at first just beds and safety, then it became a kitchen, a hearth, a home... We began offering services to those in need, helping them find a way back to what they lost. If he could see what we have accomplished here in the last six months while you've tortured him in the dark..."

She spoke to Renato directly, "It's so beautiful. Rennie, the old days have turned into new days like you wanted them to. It smells of flowers in M Section, and they even bump the lights on a few hours each day. There's a-"

A faceless shadow void of a Judiciary clapped their hands. It was a command for silence.

"Your two minutes have elapsed." The voice came from the form and nowhere at all. It wasn't cruel, but very plain, bored even.

The triad powered down and Kya was reduced to only being in one place at a time.

"Well spoken," Paul said to Kya. "That was fiery and beautiful. I'm trying to figure out how to condense down to two minutes everything I could say."

She thanked him silently in a glance and sat down in a catatonic state, lost in thoughts a mile long and even deeper still. He had smiled at her just ever so slightly before the feed cut. The weight of the moment sat on her as the next witness spoke. A man claiming Renato had used his abilities to erase memories and perform crimes. She barely listened after it was clarified there was zero physical evidence, anda through exam had been performed.

The Advocate replied,

{Tannis for the sad story, then ending with Dr. Graves. He needs to establish Renato's competence and safety to live in public.}

The Triad lit up, and Kya looked to the man with pleading eyes.

The former Borg entered the beams and existed across two rooms. It was a deep trigger for the hivemind of assimilation. He closed his real eye to continue on.

"I am Tannis 77-AE. As you may tell from my ocular implant I was once assimilated into the Borg Collective. 168 worlds of the Federation will not allow me to step foot on their world. I had nobody, and was cursed to endure humiliation and stigma from my own people as well. Starfleet found a refugee center to house me on one of their bases, Starbase 109. Within a week there I had met Renato and he never once made me feel anything other than welcome. I would not have found my way if not for Kya, and the Center they run there to help people just like me. I needed more than purpose, and in anger I made many mistakes. Renato met me at my worst and never judged me. He used his power on me too. In a towering rage, I had lost my mind with a small matter of money. I would not be swayed, and people were looking at me like I was a true danger."

Tannis only cried from one eye but he too found a tear looking at his friend. The revelation of what he had experienced was the truest form of telling what the man did. It wasn't a violent or even conscious act. It released every memory into the present, what a person saw was up for them to see.

With time nearly up, he summarized to say, "Renato grabbed my wrist and connected to my memories, all of them. My assimilation was short, but my life was long. I regained so much in that moment, I am married now, with two children-"

"Your Two minutes are expired."

The beams darkened and Tannis disappeared from their view-screens of Ullia. Kya ran to him, Tannis was embracing his wife whispering to her, "He will be ok, there is no doubt."

Kya hugged him as well, "Oh Tannis... you do still owe me for the sofa though."

The gallows humor landed perfectly as Tannis released a lot of tension in a barking laugh.

The Prosecution presented its final Character Witness, another story of Renato, probably drunk or on drugs, climbing through a window and stealing valuables, allegedly using his ability to erase memories of himself. It was unproveable hearsay. Renato was a demon of infamy, seen in shadows, responsible for crimes the same as the boogeyman.

The Advocate supplied, "Federation Medical research coupled to your own High Fidelity Cortical Lab TM, has performed research on Ullian cognitelepathic biology, and this report determined the only method of removing a memory they can employ naturally is called "muddling" where the memory is blended with others and re-associated. In all experiments the effects were temporary if not re-applied. They don't forget, they just cant' remember for a while. Renato would have needed to stay in constant contact to ensure the muddled memory remained so. The testimony cannot be accurate, even granted Ullian teleapthy isn't limited to touch alone, none of the witnesses have alleged night terrors or mental subversion over the last thirty years. To add to the medical facts in play, i ask for special witness Dr. Paul Graves to take the stand for testimony.

The holgraphic form appeared, a copy of the man so many light years away. The distance was far, but holo-tech was wondrous in its quantum sync.

When the beams went live again, all eyes were on Paul Graves.

-TBC-

 

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