Town Hall

Star Traks: Waystation
Episode name	Town Hall
Season	Stardate 57---
Episode number	8
Writer(s)	Alan Decker
Year	2380
Stardate	57864
Chronology
Previous in series	Lockdown
Next in series	Just Undo It
Previous in timeline	Lockdown [WAY]
Next in timeline	Just Undo It [WAY]

So just what was going on while the command crew was in lockdown?

Summary

This story picks up right after Lockdown.

As Captain Lisa Beck and the other Waystation command officers are being led at gunpoint to see the Station Administrator, Beck wonders what was going on while she and the others were on lockdown in Ops.

48 Hours Earlier...

After an aggravating meeting with Captain Beck in her office, the head of the Waystation Residents' Council, Richard Theroll, leaves Ops irritated that Beck believes she's the one with all of the power on the station so she can ignore the wishes of the Waystation Residents' Council and the Waystation Merchants' Association. He tries to go back to Ops to argue with her some more, but learns that Ops is now under lockdown and that control of the station has been routed to Auxiliary Control. He has no idea what the lockdown is about, so he decides to head to Auxiliary Control to get some answers.

About the same time, Colonel Martin Lazlo learns about the lockdown, and he too heads to Auxiliary Control for answers. The two men arrive at the same time and, after exchanging a few unpleasantries, confront the officer in charge of auxiliary control, Lieutenant Oliver Mason. Mason informs them that, by order of Fleet Admiral Nosira Ra'al he is in command while the command crew are undergoing the lockdown drill. Neither Theroll nor Lazlo are pleased with this turn of events and, unable to enter auxiliary control due to a force field, both storm off.

Lazlo gives a speech to his marines about the crisis of leadership he sees on the station and orders his troops to take control, detaining any Starfleet personnel they encounter. They are also to detain Stephanie Hodges, since she is too close to Beck to be trusted. Hodges protests, but Lazlo stuns her and has her dragged away. Theroll, meanwhile, is concerned (and rightly so) that Lazlo will try something with Beck out of the picture. He first tries to get in touch with President Bradley Dillon but learns that Bradley is off of the station. He then approaches Lieutenant Mike Waits of Starfleet Security. Waits checks the security feeds coming from the marines' deck and, discovering what Lazlo is up too, mobilizes the security officers, leaving Theroll behind in the Security Office.

The marines and Starfleet security officers begin battling across the station. With his marines stuck dealing with Starfleet in the mall and outside of auxiliary control, Colonel Lazlo goes to the security office and finds Theroll there and a stream of civilians leaving the office's armory with weapons in hand. Theroll tells him that the Waystation Residents' Council now controls Waystation and that Lazlo is under arrest. Lazlo manages to get out of the office before the civilians can get him and races to warn his marines. He is too late, and both the marines and Starfleet forces in the mall and blindsided by stun blasts from the civilians. Lazlo dashes into the Infirmary, where he finds Dr. Diantha. She hides Lazlo in her office as two civilians arrive to take her into custody. Diantha refuses to leave the Infirmary, telling the civilians that she does not care who is in charge. She's a doctor, and she will be staying there to treat patients. The civilians tell her that they will speak to Theroll about it and leave. Entering her office, Diantha discovers that Lazlo has fled into the Jefferies tubes.

The last marine and last Starfleet security officer, Corporal Dawn Sheppard and Ensign Brendan Shust, remaining conscious outside of auxiliary control flirt for a bit before Shust stuns Sheppard. Shust has only a moment to celebrate before Sutrea Gral from the Double D Diner stuns him. Gral is then able to gain entry to auxiliary control by telling Lieutenant Mason that she is delivering dinner. In moments, auxiliary control is in civilian hands. Since none of them have any idea how to actually run things, though, they leave Mason and the others at their posts.

Lazlo soon returns to Diantha's office because he doesn't have a Starfleet clearance and can't open any hatches inside the jefferies tube system. Diantha shoves him back into the tubes, where he is forced to remain overnight because Diantha is soon escorted to her quarters for the evening by members of the Waystation Residents' Council. The next morning, she is returned to the Infirmary, at which point she gives Lazlo breakfast. She tells him that the civilians are still looking for him and that the Starfleet crew is working on a plan. This doesn't calm Lazlo at all. Theroll, meanwhile, is finding that the Starfleet crew are not the only ones loyal to Beck. Ih'mad and Baughb refuse to recognize Theroll's authority and are confined to quarters.

Another day passes. Diantha tells Lazlo that the command crew should be out of lockdown soon. Lazlo says he has to warn Beck, since she's about to walk right into Theroll's clutches. He forces his way past Diantha and charges out into the mall concourse. He's quickly spotted and pursued by armed civilians, who hit him with a stun blast, an event witnessed by the command crew who just got out of lockdown.

After they are taken into custody, the command crew is led to a mall storefront which now houses the "Waystation Center of Governance." Inside, they meet with Theroll, who informs her that a civilian government has been established on Waystation. Lazlo is brought in and informed that he has been found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government. Beck argues that the whole thing is a mockery of Federation law and that Theroll has set up a dictatorship. Theroll asks if Beck wants to challenge him. She says yes, and he demands his swords. Beck is confused. Theroll is a member of the station's Society for Creative Anachronisms and quite a good swordsman. He wants to settle things with a duel. Porter and Morales try to dissuade Beck, but she goes ahead and chooses a sword, Theroll's favorite sword, which angers him further. He charges her with his blade. She smacks his sword aside with her then punches him in the face. Theroll drops his sword in surprise and pain, and Beck finishes pummeling him quickly. Theroll orders his people to kill Beck, but none of them are eager to take her on. Seconds later, Waits, Diantha, and several other Starfleet personnel burst only to find that the command crew doesn't need rescuing.

Beck doesn't take action against the civilians, since she understand why they did what they did. She does want Theroll sent to a rehabiliation colony, but instead he remains on board and unpunished since he is the only one who knows how to run a certain report at the Waystation Colony Administration Office.

While station operations are getting back to normal after the events of the lockdown, the relationships between the members of the command crew are not.

Featuring

• Captain Lisa Beck
• Commander Walter Morales
• Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter
• Lieutenant Commander Sean Russell
• Yeoman Tina Jones
• Colonel Martin Lazlo
• Dr. Diantha

Also Featuring

• Stephanie Hodges
• Ih'mad
• Baughb
• Lieutenant Colonel Daniel O'Neal

Author's Comments

It can be incredibly annoying to try to write stories that are supposed to be happening at the same time and to get all the events to sync up. I already did this once in this run with All Ahead Full and the Star Traks: The Vexed Generation story Station Keeping. I complained about it then, yet here I am doing it again with Lockdown and "Town Hall". I must be some kind of literary masochist.

Coming into this story, I knew I needed to do something with Colonel Martin Lazlo. He and the marines in general had been fairly well ignored since the first story of the previous run. I wanted to give him some time in the spotlight, which meant I needed to get him away from the other main characters. Oh wait. I just locked all of the other main characters in Ops. How convenient!

Richard Theroll has appeared before way back in "Waiting for the Other Shoe..." At the time I wrote that story I was thinking about changing the focus of the series to treat Waystation more like a town than a Starfleet facility. The Ops crew would still be involved, but I had visions of something along the lines of a Trek version of Twin Peaks with a lot more stories dealing with civilian life. Obviously that didn't happen, and Theroll was shoved so far into the background that he wasn't heard from again until I realized he'd be perfect for "Town Hall."

Links

Town Hall