Judicium - earthside challenge

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

Author: Sealie jimandblair
Rating: PG-15 gen
Spoilers: Critical Mass

Beta: LKY and Klostes – USAF info supplied by Shallan




Judicium
By Sealie


“Dr. Elizabeth Weir, can you confirm that you sanctioned torture to elicit material from a suspect?”

“Yes, but…”

“Thank you.” The scrape of a pen across a sheaf of paper echoed through the claustrophobic room as the USAF Judge Advocate General wrote his notes. Elizabeth sat in the centre of the room on a hard-backed chair. A large, heavy duty table isolated her from the Judge Advocate General and the stiff-faced lieutenant sitting behind him, transcribing their spoken words. The keys of the lieutenant’s steno machine clicking and clacking sent shivers up Elizabeth’s spine. Behind her, Elizabeth knew that there were seated three high-ranking USAF officers, Mr. Woolsey representing the President, and her own lawyer. This meeting had been days in the making: debriefings; meetings; discussions; dissections of reports and assessments of medical records.

And now it all came to a head.

“Do you have any words to say in your defence?”

“We thought that he was a Trust agent.” Elizabeth swallowed. All her customary diplomacy had escaped, left her bereft, left her to face the consequences of her actions. “We thought he…”

“The evidence against Dr. Kavanaugh was purely circumstantial, correct?”

Elizabeth folded her hands on her lap. The floor beneath her was clean, scrubbed until it gleamed. You could eat off it. She took a moment to compose herself, before raising her head to look straight in the General’s grey eyes.

“Correct, Sir.”

“Do you have anything else to say, Dr. Weir?”

“Only that, even if Dr. Kavanaugh had been guilty--” She raised her chin, “--I cannot condone my actions.”

The plain man met her gaze. He ticked a box on the form before him without looking down.

“No criminal action will be pursued at this time, given extenuating circumstances. Dr. Beckett has testified that you have been under extreme stress and are currently under medication and secondly, the sensitive, classified nature of the mission precludes that we take this matter further. Dr. Kavanaugh concurs with our decision.”

“Which is?” Elizabeth asked softly.

“It is the decision of this tribunal that you be relieved of your position as Commander of the Atlantis Expedition Team, effectively immediately. A military officer will take your place. ”

The End.

Comments

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

*snort* And of course, said military officer would _never_ torture anyone.

This is good. The writers of SGA sometimes live outside of reality.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

I would have really liked to be a spider on the wall listening, when they decided to go this route. I would suspect/hope that they address it in the future.

thanks for reading.

[forlornhope42.livejournal.com]

The lack of this (consequences!) made me lose my faith in the SGA writers.

Thank you, Sealie - so well done!

Hugs
Skein

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

well, to be honest, we haven't seen any fall out yet. SGA isn't like most series that I love like The Sentinel and Highlander which have been off tele for a while -- it's still on going.

thanks for reading
S

[sgatazmy.livejournal.com]

I could see them using this as an excuse to put in a military officer! Well done on thinking that up. Of course, I don't think the actual military would pursue it against their own unless it made it all the way to the media. Let's face it, the US does torture and just use being off the US soil to justify it (except when the media starts bringing it into the spotlight). I could see if they still wanted Elizabeth there that they would dismiss the case because technically the Pegasus Galaxy isn't on their soil.

I do like this fic though. They really did need some consequences to show up. And your response from Weir is right on key.

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, the military does take action against their people when necessary. All the recent allegations of abuse on the part of US Forces in Irag, for example, were already under investigation when the media got hold of the stories. Much of the reporting comes direct from military reports. Do military personnel sometimes go too far or make huge mistakes in the heat of battle? Yes. Does the military sweep it under the rug? Ask the military personnel who are currently being treated as if they were presumptively guilty even before the investigations are completed. I think they'd answer No. Such conduct is prejudicial to the effectiveness of the service and the mission - it is not condoned.

[sgatazmy.livejournal.com]

When I was studying Political Science we learned that part of the original idea behind Guantanamo was that while we could not sanction torture under our own turf, we could do it elsewhere and thus skip over the ways the laws were written. While much of this is changing now, there are many cases of torture that are overlooked or not treated as such based on those loopholes.

In all truth, it comes down to the situation, the excess, and the the believed necessity. Interestingly enough, there are many studies that actually say that torture is rarely will give you true information.

But my point is still the same, I like the fic because of the responsibility that the writers skirted. However, given how desperately Earth would not want Atlantis destroyed, I'm don't know how far they would take things. I still like to think that Weir would have major issues with her decision, however.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

I could see them using this as an excuse to put in a military officer!

I thought that it was possibly a good route to get a Military Commander installed in Atlantis. The torture-prosecution issue and whether or not it is pursued is a difficult topic to address. I did some reading before posting (e.g. http://www.amnesty.org/) and it’s shocking. There are, however, successful prosecutions made -- not enough, though.

Regarding Elizabeth, I'm glad that you thought that her response was in character -- why they went that route in the episode is interesting: we have the exigencies of the moment (and/or writing) and the decisions that are made. I'm pretty sure that she would stop sleeping after ...

[dossier.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Yes, Elizabeth should definitely face some censure, but I'm not sure the 45 other signatories of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research would stand for the assigment of a military officer if they knew about it. The expedition was arranged via the SGC & the US Military, but the main thrust is presumed to be civilian research. However given the circumstances, life sucking vampires and all, SCAR might be persuaded. Thought provoking story!

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

It would be an interesting problem to put forward to a SCAR working group.

thank you for reading.

[bakarti.livejournal.com]

Well done. I really wish SGA would show us some repercussions of that decision...

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

As do I. I hope that they do in the future -- not necessarily get rid of Elizabeth, but I wouldn't like them to sweep it under the rug.

[(Anonymous)]

I think what will happen in Atlantis is exactly what is happening in this discussion: The big bad military will take all the blame, and the civilians who give the orders and condone the torture will suffer the minor inconvenience and embarrassment of exposure. But nothing will actually happen.

They're the good guys, dontcha know.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

Hm. It would have been realistic if they'd bumped her over that, but you know, I can't see Kavanaugh agreeing to a decision that puts a military commander in charge of Atlantis. He seemed to be against it. Then again, if he thought it would be O'Neill, he might. He seemed okay with him...

Interesting piece.

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

Kavanaugh’s role in the series is largely to shine a light on Elizabeth’s actions by making some very pertinent comments. In the story, I felt that he would perceive a military commander as perhaps the lesser of two evils, with a soupcon of revenge i.e. the replacement of a blatantly unsuitable coordinator, who condones torture, with a military representative.

Honestly, I do think that this story would benefit from some tweaking and rewriting.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ever looked at him that way. I think I more thought of him as a foil for McKay, someone whose ego and tendency to complain and be sarcastic are not being balanced by the kind of growth McKay undergoes.