Chapter Four: Revelation
Disclaimer: I watch and report—and no one pays me to!
Spock arrives ten minutes early for the next staff meeting but he is still the last to get there. Apparently Captain Pike's metric for formal meetings includes time beforehand for what Spock has heard him call bull session chatter. Or team building, Nyota calls it.
Either way, it is an unwelcome distraction.
Once again the other officers fall silent when he enters the room, though this time Spock has no question that they are talking about him.
"Here he is now," Captain Pike says, throwing his arm in Spock's direction. "He can tell you for himself."
As Spock makes his way around the conference table to the seat beside the captain, Lieutenant Min Wu, a thin, willowy woman whose dark hair is pulled up in the topknot currently in fashion on campus, directs her attention to him.
"Commander, I read about the hover bus attack. That must have been frightening."
Settling himself in the chair, Spock glances at her.
Is she being humorous? Lt. Wu is not smiling, but something in the crease of her brow suggests…what? Mischievousness? He hardly knows her. Why would she be joking with him—or about him?
More likely, Lt. Wu is unaware of her breech of etiquette in asking him to acknowledge an emotional reaction. At his scheduled meeting with Pike's attaché later, he will ask her to remind the officers about Vulcan cultural taboos.
"The attack was unexpected but not frightening," Spock says.
He looks up in time to see Lt. Wu dart her glance across the table at the officers sitting opposite her—and he hears several intakes of breath and the shifting of seats.
"But," Lt. Wu continues, looking not at him but at Chief Engineer Olson, "the news said six attackers were on the bus. Those are pretty frightening odds."
Spock hears the creak of leather as Captain Pike leans back in his seat.
"Well, Spock," he says, "is that right? Six?"
The tone of the captain's voice suggests amusement—though Spock cannot fathom why.
"Yes, Captain," Spock says quickly, and from the corner of his eye he sees Pike tilting his gaze at the other officers. The officers look down.
"Though six unarmed humans are hardly what I would call frightening odds."
There. As he speaks, Spock sees the officers snap their heads up. Pike's attaché lifts her gaze to the ceiling, and Captain Pike snorts loudly.
Clearly his comment has elicited their reaction; why they should react negatively to a simple statement of truth is baffling, however.
"Really!" the chief engineer exclaims.
"I am trained in several forms of Vulcan martial arts," Spock says. "Combined with my superior physical strength, I was not unduly concerned about their number."
Again he has the sense that his words are not well received.
"Aren't you special," Olson says. A rhetorical question, safe to ignore, so Spock says nothing. Captain Pike, however, sounds angry when he says, "Olson!"
"Sorry, Captain. I meant that Mr. Spock keeps getting singled out by this group of cranks. First in Leiden, and now on the bus—"
"I do not believe that I was personally targeted either time," Spock interjects. "The protesters in Leiden meant to disrupt the conference. I simply happened to be there as a participant."
He pauses for a moment and considers the effect of what he is saying. The officers around the table are looking at him carefully, so he continues.
"And I do not believe that the attackers on the bus knew of my presence until…."
Suddenly Spock stops.
The room is silent and Captain Pike prompts, "Until? What do you mean, Spock? They didn't see you?"
Spock pulls his hands off the table and crosses his arms across his chest.
"I cannot say for certain, but the bus was occupied by more than the legal maximum number of passengers—"
"You mean it was crowded?" Pike says, placing his hands on the armrests of his chair and swiveling to look directly at Spock.
"I said that, Captain," Spock says.
Pike snorts again.
"How does this relate to anything?"
"The bus was….crowded….and I was seated in the very back. The attackers entered the front of the bus at the intersection of Webster and Lombard—"
"Spock!" Pike says loudly. "Get to the point!"
Spock tilts his head, saying, "That was the point, Captain. You asked how the conditions on the bus related to my being unseen. I was at the back. The attackers were at the front. The number of passengers exceeded the number of seats and the aisle was full of people standing—"
Pike slams his hands down on the table.
"Then how to you explain why you were singled out?" Pike asks, and Spock chooses his words carefully.
"I did not say that I was singled out," he begins. This time Natalie is the one who interrupts him.
"Wait a minute," she says. "I heard that officer say that you had been assaulted. Are you saying you weren't?"
"The attackers and I were engaged in an….altercation," he says, blinking twice. "But only after I had incapacitated one of them—"
"You mean you threw the first punch?" Pike says. Spock recognizes a tone of incredulity in the captain's voice. Either the captain thinks Spock is being untruthful, or he is having difficulty imagining the situation.
This is the more likely explanation, and Spock begins to fill in the details.
"It was necessary, Captain," he says. "The attackers were harassing two off-world cadets and I…intervened."
Pike's voice has the same tone of disbelief Spock noted earlier.
"You…intervened? For two cadets?"
"An Andorian and a L'gurian. They were traveling from the main campus to the shopping district north of—"
"You threw the first punch?"
Why is Pike asking this again? Obviously Spock is remiss in supplying enough details.
"Technically, Captain, I did not throw a punch," he says, hoping that this time his explanation is clear. "I used a particular move in suus mahna called—"
"Stop!" Pike says.
The lack of details, then, is not the problem. Spock looks at the captain more closely.
"These attackers? What were they doing before you intervened?"
This question gives Spock pause. He had observed them for only a few moments on the bus. Their whereabouts and their actions before they embarked are unknown.
"I am uncertain," he says, and Pike closes his eyes and throws his hands up.
"You hit someone without knowing why?"
"As I explained, I did not hit them—"
Spock hears Pike exhale loudly and he sees Natalie make some motion with her hand. A signal for Pike, but saying what? Pike breathes in and sits back.
"Mr. Spock," Natalie says, leaning toward him from her chair on the other side of Pike. "What were the attackers doing which made you determine that you needed to intervene on the cadets' behalf?"
Finally, a question that is specific. Spock uncrosses his arms and says, "Both cadets were pulled out of their seats by the attackers. The attackers were loud in their disapproval of the cadets' presence on the bus. Once the cadets were on their feet, two of the attackers pushed them with excessive force into the side of the bus. As they did so, I made my way up the aisle and….intervened."
He looks around at the officers seated at the table. No one is looking at him. Instead, they are looking at their hands or the PADDS in front of them on the table. How odd.
Pike's hand is on his jaw, his fingers splayed over his mouth. Is he smiling? The captain has no cause to—Spock is certain that his comments have been factual and free of humorous content.
After a moment, Captain Pike lowers his hand.
"Very well," he says. He looks around at the officers seated before him, finally resting his gaze on Spock before giving a deep sigh.
"Now," Captain Pike says, "if you will scroll to item one on your agenda—"
X X X X X X X X X
"Count me out," Dr. Puri says, gathering his PADD and stylus and stowing them in his carrying case. "I like the guy."
"I'm not saying I don't like the guy," Olson says from his seat across from the nearly deserted conference table, "but a wee bit of fun is definitely in order. Come on—don't be such a killjoy."
From her seat near the head of the table, Natalie eavesdrops shamelessly. Chris and most of the other officers have already left for separate department meetings; Spock has to meet students for a lab session this afternoon and Natalie is sitting in for him with the engineers at 1500—thirty minutes from now.
Until then, the crew not heading off to other meetings are chatting as the conference room empties—and Natalie lingers intentionally to take the emotional pulse of the staff.
As long as she has served with Chris, this has been her most valuable contribution to his leadership—her behind-the-scenes survey of who says what and when. That Chris has a reputation for being supernaturally aware of things is partly due to her keeping her eyes and ears open at moments just like this.
"I have enough real work to do," Dr. Puri says, standing and moving toward the exit, "without spending time cooking up pranks."
Olson screws up his face and waves his hand dismissively.
"No! Not pranks! Innocent jokes! To make him feel like part of the crew."
Dr. Puri shakes his head and walks out.
"You in?" Olson says to Dana Edgerton, the operations manager who knows Pike from the Farragut as well.
"Sure, sure," Edgerton says, tugging a band from her long ponytail and gathering her hair up with her fingers before slipping the band back on. Natalie notes idly that Edgerton's efforts make her hair look even messier—though she probably doesn't care.
"What have you got in mind?"
"I'm still thinking," Olson says, grinning. He sees Natalie watching him and he says, "What about you, Commander? You've pulled some good stunts in your time. Want to have a little fun?"
It's true that Natalie has authored several good pranks in the past. Long, boring voyages almost demand something to relieve the pressure—and jokes among crew are expected.
But the young Vulcan Commander seems an unfair target. Something in his manner is oddly vulnerable—and a prank feels like an affront to his dignity.
Does he even understand humor? Or joking? Natalie doesn't think so—though in the back of her mind she seems to recall hearing Spock make a witticism or two. What were they?
Or maybe she was mistaken, and he never said anything funny. Certainly he didn't intend to be funny today.
"I've got a great idea for a prank," she says to Olson, who immediately sits up straighter and grins.
"I knew I could count on you! All that serious stuff the other day—that wasn't the Commander Jolsen I know," he says.
"Here's what you do," Natalie says softly, and Olson looks over his shoulder and leans closer. "Watch Commander Spock for a few days until you know his transport schedule."
She sees Olson's grin fade a fraction.
"I know, I know," she says reassuringly, "that sounds like a lot of work. But the pay off will be worth it."
"Okay," Olson agrees, his smile back.
"Then," Natalie continues, "find the six biggest, stupidest security red shirts you can and station them on the route Commander Spock takes most often. Every time he gets on the bus, your guys whip his ass. After awhile, he'll figure out that it's a prank."
Watching Olson's expression change from wicked glee to comprehension to anger is like watching storm clouds marching across the prairie—and Natalie can't resist adding one thing more.
"Oh, wait,' she says. "That won't work. You need seven guys."
Now Olson is furious, and Natalie realizes that she has pushed him too hard.
"Lighten up," she says, punching him on the arm. "I get it—the Commander rubs you the wrong way. But sometimes you rub me the wrong way—and I'm a better prankster than you are."
She smiles as sweetly as she can.
"And I know where to find you."
A/N: Thanks for so many thoughtful reviews! You are a brainy bunch! And thanks to StarTrekFanWriter, who says that this chapter reminds her of the Abbott and Costello "Who's On First" routine. If you haven't seen it, track it down online—it's a classic!