Chapter one

Incident

The crew of the Enterprise bridge stood in silence, one person leaning against the wall, looking up to the sky and wishing like hell that he was back home, where this would never have happened. The rest of them waited anxiously; they didn't know what was going on. Yet. That was what Pavel Chekov kept telling himself, over and over. He was supposed to be working out a cover story but his mind kept slipping back to the rec room where he'd been a couple of minutes earlier. How had he got there though? His half-brother had been there, both had been as shocked as the other, but that was a long story. Think! I can't tell them the real reason, it would mean a full scale enquiry and I know where that would lead… straight to him. The worried part of his mind told him to hurry up with a story but he never got a chance. Captain Kirk strode out of his office and gestured them all inside. He was done for now, it was a certainty.

Jim had never heard of anything so ridiculous in his life before. He could still recall the absurd report he'd heard, like someone had pressed the repeat button in his head. "Captain, one of the bridge crew just punched that ambassador's son in rec room 4. I think he's seriously wounded…" it didn't make sense; none of it did, to speak the truth. But anytime around now, one of the most trusted members of his crew would be speaking the truth. He tried telling himself there will be a simple explanation, but the more he thought it through, the more he realised there wasn't a reasonable explanation. He gave them all a steely glare as they walked past him, all of them with their heads bowed down, none of them making eye contact. Except one. Chekov, the Russian navigator, looked up at him, fixing him with a stare that seemed to speak, it seemed to say, "I'm so terribly sorry for what I did, there is a reason why we hate each other but I can't explain it, I know I shouldn't have, I just lost control." An understanding passed between them, you come clean in there, or after, and I'll try not to make the consequences too bad. James T. Kirk looked at his crew, with forced iciness and shut the door quietly…

As Hikaru Sulu, the helmsman, and Nyota Uhura, the communications lieutenant, walked out of the captain's office, they both felt twinges of sympathy for their friend and fellow crewman, Chekov. Everybody knew that if someone got the captain seriously angry, he could, and would, make your life a living hell. However, they were both also surprised, just as they had been when they received the summons to the office. Neither of them had been planning to go near any rec room, so they knew they were in the clear. When Chekov had stayed behind in the office instead of leaving with the rest of them, who were now confined to quarters, everyone had known that he was guilty of the "crime"; at least that was what the ambassador that was on board had called it. Personally, Sulu thought it was all over inflated. The fact that someone had been punched normally meant the culprit got off with a severe warning and a couple of hours of fatigues. But because ambassador Drogaff was on board, Chekov would have to be up for court martial. It just wasn't fair. Nearly everyone on the ship knew that Chekov and Klingons just didn't go together, not after what happened to his father. But only Chekov and Sulu knew about that. Sulu wondered as he entered his room if Chekov was going to use that to defend himself with.

Uhura entered her quarters and sat down on her bed slowly. She'd never heard the captain that angry, and to think he was acting to please the ambassador made it even worse. She shuddered when she thought of how scary the captain could be if he really was angry. Some of the others had not been able to keep the fear out of their eyes and body language, but Uhura had managed to do that much. She thought back to the office, the small desk shoved into the corner with the chair behind it, the captain striding along in front of them, trying to get the culprit to confess, he had had no such luck, but, why had Chekov stayed? He didn't have to confess, it would only be a few more days until the Ambassador was off the ship and then the captain would forget the entire incident. Uhura frowned slightly; she had never seen Pavel so nervous before in the time she'd known him. He had faced down so many things without really batting an eyelid to the danger he was in, but he had flinched every time Jim had moved toward him in that meeting. It was the curse, she thought absent-mindedly as she changed, the curse of being guilty. It was pointless pondering over it though, there was nothing she could do except feel sorry.

Back in the office, Jim walked up and down; he was determined to get the truth out of Pavel. It was going to be a long process because the young Russian ensign was refusing to tell him why he had punched the klingon. "So you saw him, he insulted you with something you refuse to tell me for some reason and that's when you punched him." Jim recalled.

"Yes sir." Chekov confirmed. He was almost quivering and he still wasn't making eye contact with him.

Jim took one look at this young man and saw in him the regret over what he had done to the klingon. He took a deep sigh and felt suddenly sympathetic for him. "Look," Jim began, he shook his head slightly. He had no idea why, but he could sense that Chekov was telling the truth. "As much as I want to believe you, there's just no evidence to prove you right." He waited, expecting an answer. When he realised he wasn't going to get one, Jim tried to move the subject on a bit. "Before, you said you knew this klingon, how do you know him?" As he spoke, Pavel's expression turned dark and he looked half evil as the lights in the office dimmed.

"Yes sir, I know him." Chekov's voice was sour and unnaturally low. It left the captain with the impression he was venturing into a touchy subject. The air seemed like it was buzzing with electricity, the tension was so much. The tension dissipated in seconds as the doors slid open and Spock strode in.

Spock stood at ease, waiting for the captain to address him. Kirk tore his eyes away from Chekov's face long enough to give Spock his full attention. He tilted his head as a sign for Spock to announce his reason for coming in.

"Captain, ambassador Drogaff wishes to know why a potential court-martial case has not already being dealt with by a counsel."

"Mr Spock will you please go and tell the good ambassador that I am dealing with it now." Jim replied. When Spock remained where he was the captain tried again. "Mr Spock-"

"I heard you captain but, the ambassador also told me that if I should return with your word you are dealing with it, then he shall, and I quote, come in here himself and tell you what you are and are not going to do about it and when." Jim acknowledged the information simply by pulling his head away as if in distaste. Then as if on cue, the ambassador barged through the doors without knocking or announcing himself. He was obviously disgusted by what he saw he looked around the dingy office because he sneered.

"Have you found the culprit yet Cap-" the ambassador never finished what he was going to say. His eyes fell upon Pavel and filled with a burning rage, visible to captain and first officer alike. "You." He spoke with authority, a voice so deep it demanded instant respect. Jim and Spock turned and looked at Chekov, who had stood up and whose eyes seemed to possess a fury as-well. But the fury in Pavel's eyes was different, it wasn't a I've-got-authority-and-you-are-inferior fury like the ambassador, it was more like a pent up rage, years deep and was evidently something to do with the days incident. But that didn't matter now because there was going to be a show-down. It could be felt in the air. Before anything with serious consequences could unfold, Jim ordered Chekov back to his quarters pending investigation. They could tell that the ambassador was still fuming.

As if not wanting to appear to have lost his composure, the ambassador turned abruptly to captain Kirk and spoke to him. "So, was that the person responsible captain?" his voice sounded slightly high pitched and out of place but it gradually went back down to its normal pitch throughout the sentence. Kirk didn't know how to react so he simply nodded his head. "So why, are you not holding a court right now to sort this incident out?"

"Because it is unnecessary to hold a counsel for such a minor disturbance." Spock told the ambassador.

"Well, I must admit, we Klingons are much more serious about these sorts of incidents. Lack of punishment will be your Federation's downfall." The Klingon ambassador said, with a strange glee in his voice. "Ah well," he spoke with the same delight in his voice, as if the captain had done something he'd been waiting for all the time he'd been on the Enterprise. Whatever he was happy about, it unnerved the captain. Somewhere in this complex web, there was a break, some things didn't make sense.

That was illogical of the ambassador Spock thought to himself as he walked speedily back to the bridge. The Vulcan entered the turbo lift at the end of the corridor. "Bridge" he said tersely. He was secretly fed up with having ambassador Drogaff on board, "He interferes with the operation of this ship" Spock thought to himself. "He demands to know things that do not concern him and tries to run the ship. The sooner he goes, the better off we all will be." Spock consoled himself with the thought that he was only here for ten more days. The doors slid open and Spock was pretending to be emotionless once again as he stepped onto the bridge and to his beloved workstation…

Pavel stormed angrily through corridors until he reached his quarters. He waited about 3 seconds too long for the doors to slide open and immediately suspected there was someone there, anticipating his arrival. He walked wearily into his quarters and looked around before his eyes settled onto the intruder. His fears melted as he recognised Sulu sat on his bed, gesturing for him to sit next him. Sulu studied Chekov's face before shaking his head at him.

"Why, just why Pav? What made you snap?" Sulu asked the younger man. He could read the ensign like a book and knew that it took one hell of an insult to make him fight like that. He watched closely for a reaction, and his heart went out. Chekov shrugged his shoulders and turned his face away. "Well, even if you don't want to talk about it now, just remember that there'll always be someone who'll listen alright?" Sulu started to get up as his friend slowly nodded his head. Sulu left the room and went back into his own. "It's better to just leave him with his thoughts; he'll tell someone when he's ready."

As Sulu left, Pavel got up and quickly locked the door to his quarters using an eye retina scanner. Basically, it would scan the person's eyes and alert Pavel when someone was about to enter, and he could decide if he wanted them to or not. Gamma shift had now started, which meant his half-brother was inspecting for his father, but he still felt uneasy, just with him being on the ship made Pavel feel unsafe. Vivid back flashes of what had happened last time finally made him decide that he wasn't even going to try and sleep. He couldn't predict when he would attack. Only one thing was for certain, he couldn't trust anyone.

After a few hours, there was a quiet alarm as the eye scanner went off, alerting Chekov that somebody was trying to get in. He leapt up, walked hurriedly over to the tiny computer screen that repeatedly flashed the name "Leonard H McCoy, Chief Medical Officer". Pavel thought quickly before making a decision to let the doctor in. He had been subject to the doctor's revenge before, and it was not pleasant. He clicked a few buttons and the doors slid open. As the doctor stepped inside, it became obvious that he was here on the captain's orders. No doubt the captain was trying to find out why he had punched the klingon animal he had been left with for a brother.

"Well I figured you might not be sleeping easy tonight." Dr McCoy spoke tentatively, as if he was expecting Chekov to attack him. He waited for a response but when he got none, he pressed on "Look, if there is something wrong, or something personal that you need to discuss, well erm, just, you can always come talk to me in sickbay, you can tell me anything, it would be in confidence and would be treated as such. Just it's never good to bottle it up, alright?" as he spoke his smile wavered. "Bones" (as Jim had nicknamed him) began to feel embarrassed by the whole situation. He really didn't know how to act around Chekov. To be perfectly honest, Bones thought the Russian was holding back and made an impulsive decision. "Look, I'm not leaving until you either tell me what's wrong, or say you'll come down to sickbay." Chekov's face twisted as if that was the worst thing Bones could have said to him. Chekov turned round to face him fully, and that's when the doctor saw the worry and stress in the young man's face.

"Doctor, I really can't tell you. I can't and won't tell anyone so please, don't ask."

Knowing that he'd received all he was going to get, no matter how long he stayed, McCoy respected Chekov's decision and started to leave. As he did, he added his last piece of medical advice.

"Just try and get some sleep because I think you'll find because of the ambassador, you might be up for court martial." Chekov silently nodded as Bones walked through the door…