Oh, the Irony

Posted on Fri Apr 21st, 2023 @ 4:48am by Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: Trade And Tribulations

The name caught Calypso offguard and she glanced down at the arena while her face went white. "Oh my gods..." She muttered to herself and turned to Torresh, whom she'd come back to by that point. This was the fight right before the grande finale that she was most interested in, but those thoughts were gone now. "Governor, is there any way we can stop this fight?"

"We could, of course, but it would definitely not be recommended." Torresh demurred as he looked over the balcony himself and saw the two combatants, "Oh, I see... Is that young man one of yours?"

Cally's face had turned red now and not from embarrassment, "Yes, he is. Not one of my officers or crew, but a civilian attached to one of my officers." She gritted out.

"He's acquitted himself rather well so far, making it to the finals of the amateurs. It's perfectly safe, certainly he'll get some bruises that our healers will take care of, maybe a broken bone or two if he's unlucky. He's wearing padded armor and the weapons aren't live, so it'll take a lot to seriously injure him." Torresh made a gesture to calm her, "I'm not going to stop this, it would cause more problems than it would solve."

"I'm going to kill him." She said under her breath, eyes missing another person leaning over the balcony a few meters away, the young woman she was trying to help. "Can you at least have one of your security people detain him after the match? I want to talk to him after the Finale, before he tries to escape back to the ship. I'll have one of my own security personnel to escort him back to the ship after."

"Consider it done, Captain Skyie, and please don't worry, we wouldn't let someone of his young age compete in anything deadly. Yes, accidents happen, but we do watch out."

*********
An hour and a half later

In the depths of the Arena
*********

Calypso had met up with her security officer but left him at the door to the well... Cell that the Dashian guard was at as she entered the room that they had stashed Louis Rouen in after his final match. True, she wasn't in uniform, but the commbadge on her chest would tell him basically who she was, "Mister Rouen, I have some questions for you and I don't think you're going to like them."

Louis had been pacing when Cally entered the cell. He had been in the cell for a while following the last match of the amateur tournament and was unsure of the reason for his detention. He felt horrible, not so much physically, but he had failed to win the championship. He had failed Tess and he had done so by choice. He gave Cally a forlorn expression. "Oui Captain. Ask your questions."

The lack of defiance from the teenager took Calypso off guard, but she needed to make some sort of point, but now she wondered which one to make, “First off, I want to know precisely what you were thinking? When I granted permission for civilians to come down to the surface, I thought I was explicit about staying out of trouble, not throwing oneself into what bloodsport that this society uses as a self-governing Justice system!” Okay, yes, she was definitely angry, “That and while apparently you don’t care about the reputation of the Federation, every person on board our starship is a representative, no matter how old or young, Starfleet or civilian. So what was going through your head?”

Louis stood limp. He wasn't hurt physically, his only injuries from the tournament had been a few hits to his sides and shoulders that had been under padded armor. He might feel sore over the next day or so, but nothing serious.

Louis felt miserable that he had failed in his promise to do everything in his power to secure her freedom. He had easily won his first three matches in the tournament against other young fighters. The final championship match was different. The combatants were to continue fighting until one of them yielded, instead of the first one to reach a set amount of points. He had watched the father or trainer of his final opponent berate and even strike him for not defeating his other opponents fast enough.

The young fighter had been good, but still not on the level Louis fought. He refused to yield despite numerous blows Louis landed with his wooden sword. Louis was going to have to render his opponent unconscious, perhaps landing a lethal blow in the process to win. Louis simply couldn't do it.

Louis had looked down at his bruised and beaten opponent before speaking to him, telling the young fighter he could beat him to death, but he could not defeat his fighting spirit. That was when he tossed his weapon away and yielded.

Louis looked up at Cally with tear filled eyes. "I was trying to win the prize money so I...buy the freedom of a young la...person who was a slave in all but name. I didn't know what else to do. I just wanted to free her from slavery."

For just a moment, Calypso wanted to soften. Of course, it was a young lady and just as she’d seen this young man throw away the victory, it would stand to reason. She turned to face away from him so he wouldn’t see her sigh and took two steps away as if pacing, then she set her face and turned again, “This is their justice system, the way that they decided to deal with those who violate their laws. I had it explained to me in detail and for them, it works. This young person isn’t a slave, they have a choice in how to pay their debt to society, or even as you said, to pay it with money. It is not our place to interfere.”

Finally she couldn’t hold her demeanor and sat down at the table, “You what was in your heart and I’m not going to say it was wrong, but next time, you come to me or to one of my officers. We can’t save everyone, Louis, and doing what you did was stupid to say the least. That other fighter? If he’d had you in the same position, he probably wouldn’t have hesitated to beat you to death for the victory and then what? I would have had to tell your brother that you had died. He’ll, I don’t even know how to tell him what you did in this case. How is he going to feel about that?”

Louis gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I was only wanting to help someone. Isn't that what Starfleet does. Rescue people who have been unjustly imprisoned. Provide humanitarian aid when it's needed. It's not like I was doing it for selfish reasons."

"Ask ten Starfleet personnel, you'll get ten answers as to what Starfleet does and ninety percent will of the answers will be right." Cally said, "But generally speaking, yes, we help where and when we can, so long as it's not against the culture's rules of where we're at. It can be frustrating at times when it clashes with our own values, but we have to live with that. We can't help everyone, and if we do try to, especially on our own out here in someone else's territory, then we will all be in a lot of trouble. But the problem is, Louis, that we need to do this in the right way, not running headlong into things. Not thinking things through is far more likely to get people killed than help them."

Louis looked up at Cally. "Fifteen is considered an adult on this world, so I broke no local laws, I was able to win my first three matches without injuries to myself or my opponents, and...I promised Tessa’e’Sera I would yield before I got hurt. The only thing I even did to upset the crowd was to refuse to finish off another fight not much older than myself and yield the win. Maybe I didn't think it all the way through, but I did what I could to help someone out. I may have even shown the locals that humans aren't weak. I won't apologize for doing what I thought I could, within the laws of this planet, to help her regain her freedom.... Which I failed to do. So it doesn't really matter what you or Rene do to me. It isn't going to make me feel worse than I already do."

It took everything that Calypso had to not react to the name of the 'young lady' that Louis had been trying to aid. Even still, another thought had entered her mind, one that could serve as both a 'punishment' but also a teaching opportunity for the young man. His heart was definitely in the right place and she didn't want to turn him away from wanting to be a better person. "You didn't break any laws, thank the Four, you're right about that, which means that you were at least paying attention to local customs." She paused for a few seconds, "I'm going to send you back to the ship, where I want you to get ready for your first assignment. As a preparation for your eventual application to Starfleet," She had an idea that he would be heading that direction in any case, "I want you to prepare to be of assistance to a couple of passengers we are going to have coming aboard and one is rather young. Since you've shown yourself to be alert to cultural differences, I want you to find out as much about their people and world as you can and help with teaching them about the Federation and our cultures as you can." She gave him a close-lipped smile.

Louis gave Cally an astonished look. Was this to be his punishment he wondered. "Oui madame. I will be of whatever assistance I can." He suddenly seemed weary. "May I go back to the ship now?"

"Petty Officer Bronte will escort you to the beam-in site and to the ship, yes." Cally agreed, "I'll let Ensign Rouen know that you... Found me and let me know you wanted to go back to the ship. What you tell him is up to you, but if you do your part with our guests, I'll forget I ever saw you doing what you did. Deal?"

Louis nodded his head. He suddenly felt exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. He slowly moved to the door to accompany the guard back to the transporter site. He was not sure how his conversation with Rene and Amelie would go, but he knew he was going to tell them the truth. They deserved no less from him.