Recruit Tia Whitehall has forwarded me a small video-log snippet showcasing a conversations she had between herself and the Captain of the LNS-Black.Steel. After the Captain of the LNS-Black.Steel provoked said Recruit several times, a heavy-classed weapon "Mortar" was fired from his Dreadnought - aimed directly towards the Liberator vessel that the Ensign was flying.
This sign of disrespect and deliberate attempt of causing friction between the Primary Navy Fleet and Secondary Navy Fleet is unacceptable. The Captain of the LNS-Black.Steel may or may not intended on actually hitting the Recruit's vessel, but that doesn't matter. The fact that he decided to open fire specifically after lashing out on the Recruit, provoking her into aggression and hostility is something that must be acted upon.
Justice demands it. I leave the case to you, Admirals.
Do note however, that I will have a talk with Recruit Tia Whitehall about the importance of keeping a cool head during situations such as these.
Regardless of your decision, I will as always follow direct orders.
Transmission; Start
Identification: Commodore Christina Robinson
Location: New York system, Planet Manhattan, Fort Bragg
Captain Zanders;
The High Command has received your transmission, in case you had any doubts. The evidence seems quite strong in this case, and the trajectory of that mortar indicates deliberate aim. Nothing can be said for certain, but I believe of all the evidence of this particular incident that I've seen so far, the Captain of the Black Steel is in a weak position.
I will open this up to the Captain of the Black Steel for him to make his case in defense of his actions, with proof of course. We wont take action in this particular case until that Captain has made his case. I hope you find this an agreeable course of action, Captain Zanders.
Captain of the LNS-Black.Steel;
The High Command of the Liberty Navy invites you to explain and justify your actions. Please present proof of the claims that you intend to make.
We will, once you and Captain Zanders are finished debating the issue, decide what action to take.
<<Incoming Transmission from LNS-Black Steel>> <<Notice: Data may be fragmented. Sender is beyond standard communication range.>>
::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
The video appears on-screen, the image choppy and delayed. The middle-aged Commander is in a finely pressed and clean uniform, everything spick and span. Clean shaved, properly short hair. The crew within view of the Bridge are all standing at attention. After a few moments of looking beyond the camera, he looks directly at it.
"Good evening, Commodore; Captain. You'll have to accept my apologies for the poor quality transmission. We're not quite in range of most communication satellites."
"The evidence, as brief as the recording may be, is what it is. A shot was fired in dangerous proximity to both Planet Manhattan, and a Primary fleet pilot. It does not show the argument that occurred beforehand, and we do not have sufficient evidence to entirely defend our actions."
"This recording here shows that I was indeed acting aggressively towards the Ensign, I will not deny this. But you cannot ignore the fact that, even though they are a Primary Fleet pilot, they are only an Ensign. Now, I don't know what the Secondary Fleet is worth to you these days, but when you join the Liberty Navy, it is assumed you have some sense of professionalism after you complete your training. I'll admit to breaking my professional stance, and I was in the wrong as much as Whitehall."
"Here you will see where I become more aggressive with the Ensign after several more heated minutes of insults and demands, and it simply turns into pointless bickering. Even after telling her repeatedly that I will not devote the resources of a Dreadnaught to a singular fighter or bomber, she felt the need to call me incompetent and lazy. Perhaps some of you may be able to keep your cool to an Ensign speaking to your superiors this way, but I and my crew are not. When she proceeded to leave the area, several of our turret gunmen began in-fighting about the situation, and one was so fed up, he proceeded to fire in the general direction of the Ensign. He has been dealt with accordingly, but I will accept full responsibility for his actions. The rest of the gunnery crew has been reprimanded as well."
"When you have come to a decision, I will return to the proper plane of flight, and we can sort this out."
"This is Commander Darian of the Black Steel, out."
[color=#FFFFFF]Identification Processing... Captain Samuel Zanders
[font=Palatino Linotype]My apologies, I did not notice that the Commodore had even responded. It slipped past my recordings. I see you have been given clearance to view this channel.
According to the Recruit: Your provided evidence is based -after- the events of you firing a Mortar-classed projectile at the Recruit. Thus endangering her safety and provoking her through aggressive verbal communication. This is completely unacceptable, although the Recruit should have kept a cool head, that doesn't justify your actions at all.
Any and all verbal hostilities made by the Recruit, was -after- the initial fire from your end. Thus, you cannot use this as a premise to justify your attack. An attack is an attack, whether it hits or not.
_______________
However, even if, and I do not support this view, but even if the Recruit was lying. It doesn't matter, because:
Under no circumstances did the Recruit ever asked or demand you to specifically open fire on Fighter-crafts. The Recruit asked you to do something more constructive rather than sitting point-blank at Manhattan docking-moor finding reasons to argue with a Recruit Pilot, not to mention your initial Mortar shot. I thought a commissioned Liberty Dreadnought would have better things to do. A clear act of hostility and aggression. The Recruit had all the rights to ask you to initiate a patrol.
Blaming your actions on the gunnery crew is completely invalid, no trained gun crew would ever act independently and fire form of projectiles without a clear order from their Captain/Admiral, this being you. Especially when said projectile is a Heavy Mortar. Please note that Commodore, a Heavy Mortar is not simply launched from a dreadnought from a supposed individual or individuals of a gunnery crew due to transmission relayed to them from an -outside source- that is not directly in connection with their own command.
This is a Liberty Navy Dreadnought we are talking about, one that comes with a professional crew that has undergone years of training to be certified. This is not a Pirate Gunboat with trigger-happy crew members. They do not simply fire such a heavy-resourceful guns based on a simple verbal dialogue that may not even have reached their comms. On that note, for what reasons would a gunnery crew even receive external transmissions?
This man is speaking words such as "professionalism" and "chain-of-command". Well, since he claims to be superior officer over the Recruit in question, why does he (on the second provided evidence) even ASK the Recruit for orders on what actions or directions should be taken? Shouldn't a trained Captain/Admiral be able to make such decision himself? One that commands the highest-class vessel we possess? Please note that.
Commodore. It's his words versus our proof of solid hostile action undertaken by the LNS-Black.Steel. Every transmission he has logged proves nothing, whether it took place before or after the shot. Even though the dialogues caught on Evidence A may not be the initial act of hostility, it doesn't justify a Captain or Admiral to open fire on allies.
This man has proven to not be fit to properly operate a Liberty Navy Dreadnought vessel, my statement is that the Captain or Admiral who is currently in control of this Dreadnought should not only pay a substantial fine to the Primary Navy Fleet, but also be removed from any commanding position of said Dreadnought. The Dreadnought should also be decommissioned (FR5) until such time that another, more able Captain/Admiral can take over the vessel.
TRANSMISSION RECORDED:
' Wrote:
<<Incoming Transmission from LNS-Black Steel>>
[color=#FF0000]<<Notice: Data may be fragmented. Sender is beyond standard communication range.>>
::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
The video appears on-screen, the image choppy and delayed. The middle-aged Commander is in a finely pressed and clean uniform, everything spick and span. Clean shaved, properly short hair. The crew within view of the Bridge are all standing at attention. After a few moments of looking beyond the camera, he looks directly at it.
"Good evening, Commodore; Captain. You'll have to accept my apologies for the poor quality transmission. We're not quite in range of most communication satellites."
"The evidence, as brief as the recording may be, is what it is. A shot was fired in dangerous proximity to both Planet Manhattan, and a Primary fleet pilot. It does not show the argument that occurred beforehand, and we do not have sufficient evidence to entirely defend our actions."
"This recording here shows that I was indeed acting aggressively towards the Ensign, I will not deny this. But you cannot ignore the fact that, even though they are a Primary Fleet pilot, they are only an Ensign. Now, I don't know what the Secondary Fleet is worth to you these days, but when you join the Liberty Navy, it is assumed you have some sense of professionalism after you complete your training. I'll admit to breaking my professional stance, and I was in the wrong as much as Whitehall."
"Here you will see where I become more aggressive with the Ensign after several more heated minutes of insults and demands, and it simply turns into pointless bickering. Even after telling her repeatedly that I will not devote the resources of a Dreadnaught to a singular fighter or bomber, she felt the need to call me incompetent and lazy. Perhaps some of you may be able to keep your cool to an Ensign speaking to your superiors this way, but I and my crew are not. When she proceeded to leave the area, several of our turret gunmen began in-fighting about the situation, and one was so fed up, he proceeded to fire in the general direction of the Ensign. He has been dealt with accordingly, but I will accept full responsibility for his actions. The rest of the gunnery crew has been reprimanded as well."
"When you have come to a decision, I will return to the proper plane of flight, and we can sort this out."
"This is Commander Darian of the Black Steel, out."
::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
"I do not know what you were told, but these events happened prior to the firing of the Mortar. A recording simply showing that a Mortar being fired and then ending as soon as she enters a Tradelane proves nothing except that the weaponry was fired. If you watch her live recording, you can clearly hear me mentioning her lack of proper responsible use for power. And if you listen to both of my recordings, you can clearly tell that they follow each other. If you continue with hers, you shall see her leaving, and hear me talking down on the Primary fleet. And this recording shows her response directly afterwards."
"Believe me if you like, or don't. But I had not seen her after our altercation. We argued, a shot was fired, and she left. Captain Zanders called for her to come to Houston with him. We remained infront of Manhattan for a short while before the Primary Fleet pilots on duty jumped in-system, and began to threaten us. We immediately engaged cruise, and here we are now."
"And a Heavy mortar? I have to disagree, as this is not our armament."
[color=#FFFFFF]Identification Processing... Captain Samuel Zanders
[font=Palatino Linotype]Heavy-mortar or mortar. Both are regarded as extremely high-caliber resourceful costly weaponries. A matter of semantics if you want to go down that route.
Indeed. My video log doesn't prove whether or not the shot was fired prior to your dialogues or after. But neither does yours. Regardless of it being directly attached or not, and regardless if that conversation carried some sort of pause between the shot or not. A Captain or an Admiral does not simply based on a conversation with a Recruit, no matter what the nature is, order a mortar to be fired directly at said Navy pilot. An attempt to blame such act on a gunnery crew is despicable. Any claims that we have threaten you without provided evidence is completely disregarded.
So Commodore, you are left to decide on a basis of what is more of a wrongful act. A high-caliber gun being fired directly and intentionally towards the Recruit, that could have ended her life instantly had it hit, or hostile verbal communication. One certain form of verbal communication that went both ways.
TRANSMISSION RECORDED:
' Wrote:
<<Incoming Transmission from LNS-Black Steel>>
[color=#FFFFFF]::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
"I do not know what you were told, but these events happened prior to the firing of the Mortar. A recording simply showing that a Mortar being fired and then ending as soon as she enters a Tradelane proves nothing except that the weaponry was fired. If you watch her live recording, you can clearly hear me mentioning her lack of proper responsible use for power. And if you listen to both of my recordings, you can clearly tell that they follow each other. If you continue with hers, you shall see her leaving, and hear me talking down on the Primary fleet. And this recording shows her response directly afterwards."
"Believe me if you like, or don't. But I had not seen her after our altercation. We argued, a shot was fired, and she left. Captain Zanders called for her to come to Houston with him. We remained infront of Manhattan for a short while before the Primary Fleet pilots on duty jumped in-system, and began to threaten us. We immediately engaged cruise, and here we are now."
"And a Heavy mortar? I have to disagree, as this is not our armament."
::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
He is audibly grinding his teeth, his patience being tested now.
"I don't give a rot about the lack of evidence or not. As long as you and I both know what really happened, that is all that matters. I do hope that you are haunted in the future for your ways of disregarding some fine details."
"I have already admitted I am in the wrong. What of your insolent little brat of an Ensign? Is she suddenly off the hook because her life was oh so 'threatened' by a shot that would have never impacted? I do not make idle threats, Captain, I make promises. If I had wished actual harm upon the Ensign, there would be nothing left of her, or her ship."
[color=#FFFFFF]Identification Processing... Captain Samuel Zanders
[font=Palatino Linotype]When you fail to provide adequate evidence to support your claims,
I'm deemed a liar?
And your continuation of threats and denunciation of said Recruit (not Ensign), leaves me to no other words than:
I rest my case.
TRANSMISSION RECORDED:
' Wrote:
<<Incoming Transmission from LNS-Black Steel>>
[color=#FFFFFF]::Video transmission from Commander Bryce Darian::
He is audibly grinding his teeth, his patience being tested now.
"I don't give a rot about the lack of evidence or not. As long as you and I both know what really happened, that is all that matters. I do hope that you are haunted in the future for your ways of disregarding some fine details."
"I have already admitted I am in the wrong. What of your insolent little brat of an Ensign? Is she suddenly off the hook because her life was oh so 'threatened' by a shot that would have never impacted? I do not make idle threats, Captain, I make promises. If I had wished actual harm upon the Ensign, there would be nothing left of her, or her ship."
High Command has all the information required and will be taking all of your comments under advisement. Hopefully a decision will be reached in the next few days.
Neither of you are permitted to respond on this frequency until High Command has reached its decision.
High Command has come to the decision that we will not be terminating your command. You will retain your full command authority and continue to protect Liberty to the highest standard.
However, the Black Steel will be restricted to the Texas and Virginia systems for a period of two weeks, starting immediately. You are permitted to patrol the border systems Bering and Hudson when you deem it necessary. Any Mid Command officer or higher is permitted to call on your ship for backup when they deem it necessary.
If High Command receives any more complaints about your actions, Captain, we will come down on you like a ton of bricks. A ton of very spiky and possibly poisonous bricks.
Keep your attitude in check and we wont have an issue, Captain.