James Levin: Difference between revisions

*Date of Birth: 234303.12

*Gender: Male

*Place of Birth: Kentucky, Earth

*Hair: Brown (parted to his right)

*Eyes: Blue

*Height: 6 feet

*Father: Samuel Levin (born 2310) Professor of Federation History, University of Kentucky

*Siblings: None

*Spouse: Dr. Rachell Maiam Levin (born 234509.13, married 237505.22), resigned from Starfleet 237806.30)

*Children: Michael Jason Levin (born 237806.20)

*After graduating from law school, Levin worked at a small firm in San Francisco. After several months and having had time to gain his footing, Levin was first assigned to the case of a court-martialed Starfleet officer. After several years, he enrolled in graduate science courses, where he literally ran into Rachell Maiam, then working on her medical degree. Over time, defending court-martialed officers became his focus, and, amid the paranoia that swept much of the Federation, especially the Sol system, in the months and years leading up to the Dominion War, he began to feel that a number of his clients were being found guilty before their trials, leading to a growing paranoia only added to by the cryptic mutterings his father about “needing someone to guard the guards.” Despite his misgivings about certain things he’d encountered while in law, Levin and Maiam both submitted applications to Starfleet Academy following the outbreak of the Dominion War, and were accepted. They married during their time at the Academy.

*237806.19: Has two near-death experiences while leading an away team on Deladrel. Encounters a well-produced anthropological forgery that eventually leads to some ridicule in the science community for his initial belief in it. One member of his away time, William Pullman, is nearly killed. This, combined with his own close encounters with death, begin to worry him.

*237810.16: Transported with other officers from Isannah to and from an advanced alien vessel of unknown origin, presumed to be another galaxy. (“Orange Room Incident” records never filed; presumed lost during crew transfer to Ranger-A)

*237902.22: Reassigned to Ranger-A along with crew of the Isannah, assumes post as Chief Science Officer. Later suffers heart attack on the bridge, spends rest of tour in Sickbay after being placed on temporary medical leave.

LEVIN: No, not controversial, I don’t think, but critical, where it starts to discuss the political side of the law. The Federation and Starfleet do a lot of good, but they’re not perfect. If they don’t like you, you’d damn well better watch out.

LEVIN: What I’m trying to say is – OK, before I was in the ‘Fleet, I worked here as an attorney, mostly doing court-martial defense. Now, this was during the infiltration scare leading up to the Dominion War, so everyone was stabbing everyone in the back. And I saw a lot of guilty men get convicted, but I also saw a lot of innocent men get convicted – and when you’ve defended both, you can tell which is which. And the innocent ones, the prosecution knew they were innocent, but they’d done something, or said something, or made an enemy of someone with power, and next thing you know, they’re sitting in a brig, charged with something they didn’t do, while the real criminals are sitting free.

“I’m being allowed to talk to you today in order to explain why I’m being placed on indefinite leave. They decided it would be best, perhaps because of the questioning attitude I hope to have instilled in each and every one of you, to have me explain to you that I had ‘publicly slandered my superior officers’ and was going to be placed on leave until they figured out what to do with me. But here’s the problem with that: if I slandered my superiors, which is what I’m accused of doing, it implies that I knowingly spoke falsehoods, that I knowingly lied. And I did no such thing. Every word that I uttered, so far as I am concerned, is the truth. I mentioned no names, I didn’t say, Admiral So-and-So is a liar and a cheat, because that wasn’t what I was saying. But they say I lied, which is the biggest lie of all, because anyone who understood the situations I referred to would know that I was, in fact, uttering words that every fiber in my body held to be true – the only slander here is that which is being committed unto me, by accusing me of that act, by punishing me for it before trial (and taking me from this class is a punishment, no matter how rowdy you may believe yourselves to be). So, class, I will leave you with this: My father used to ask me, “We have guards, but who guards the guards?” I pose the same question to you. I want an essay on the topic, from any angle, even if you say that the entire statement is ludicrous, no less than ten pages, by the end of the semester. Thank you. I’ll be going for a little while now, be nice to my substitute, but not too nice.”

[[Category:Characters]]