The turbo-doors opened and Davis still had his back to it as Kirk walked in, "I find that difficult to believe when I saw you with the councilman you had pre-sold me to." Spock smiled at Kirk and nodded at Uhura.

"Vern Davis has never failed me before with providing top quality stock. He did say the last six were not top quality but were good quality yet I found them all very close to top quality as did those who also enjoyed the many services such things had to offer. I stressed the importance of a young and strong stud and he promised me one. He had promised me a top quality stud that would also be a challenge for me to break in. Being a diplomat he can get what I want without raising suspicion and I have yet to be questioned about how I acquire them. It being here proves he knows how to do it without detection or suspicion. He said he know a young, fit, and healthy starship captain that was perfectly built and was a proven stud. I had hoped that this was it as I was looking forward to some excitement, excitement that would last longer than most of the others have and when I first saw it, felt it, I was so sure he was right about it. It showed reaction when I checked that it was complete before I took it and I felt that it good equipment. I will still use it while it pleases me and then use it as a stud. It still may be entertaining to watch it mate as the outcome of some of the matches would be interesting. With those matches the products will fetch high prices. Davis got me three females last time. When Davis returns I will demand delivery of the starship captain. It will be older than this but no doubt be a proven stud and also more of a challenge in claiming it the first time."

It was one of the few times Kirk had felt, actually felt, the emanations of such great fury all aimed at one person. He saw the look on the faces of all the crew there and he was proud that none of them were physically acting on what was shown. He walked over to Uhura, lightly patted her shoulder, "Get me ship-wide." She nodded as soon as she had the switches right, "This is Captain Kirk, I am back aboard the ship and will discuss with you all later what transpired. I felt you had a right to hear that so that you know the facts. You are to take no action against our guest as I am dealing with the situation. Officer Tobin is in intensive care in Sickbay as a result of rescuing me. You will be told when he can have visitors. Thank you for your dedication and loyalty. Kirk out."

"Your, you, your," Davis seemed to physically shake in both fright and anger, "your crew is in serious trouble that only I will be able to assist them out of, Kirk. You are in very serious trouble that I cannot help you out of. You beamed down to an area that was a known restricted area, you were made a slave. No slave can leave the planet."

For a moment Kirk was silent, controlling his own fury. "Lieutenant Uhura, please get me the council members of Lanner on speaker."

"Yes, Captain." Uhura almost smiled as she had thought how good it felt to be saying that to this man again.

"Enterprise, you wished to talk to us? Is the captain feeling better? Miser Davis informed us he was indisposed."

Kirk smiled at Davis and his bridge crew recognized that smile only too well. Their Captain was really back.

"Yes, the captain of the Enterprise is much better. So much better now that he is back on his ship and in command. We were not formally introduced while I was on your planet. I am James T. Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise who was an unwelcome guest on your planet for five weeks."

"But you cannot be. Davis said he would get me a captain not that he had sold me one. You are a slave. My slave. You must return to Lanner. Slaves can not leave."

"I believe if you listen to recordings of that second day of my stay on your planet you will find, after you first fought him, you publicly said that my officer could leave with his possessions, by your laws as he had just won me from you so I was, according to your laws, one of his possessions and you even stated that between your fights he could do with me as he liked except he could not kill me. You publicly stated I was one of his possessions."

"Your, your officer? No, I saw the fear on your face and about you when he led you away. You had seen how he could fight and you were afraid of how he would treat you, of what he would do you. We all saw how submissive you were after that, how you watched him as though afraid to even breathe without his permission."

"I am ashamed to admit that not only did I fail to recognize one of my own officers but even more ashamed of myself as I was afraid but not of him but that he would lose and I would go back to you. I am ashamed and disappointed with myself for not trusting him at the end as he had told me at the start that he would get me back to my ship and I did not believe him. What i am finding almost unforgivable is that I believed you over one of my own."

"But, but you are my slave. He knew slaves cannot leave Lannor. He knew you belong to me as you are my slave." the councilman was getting more and more annoyed and Kirk smiled at Spock and McCoy and could tell they knew he was toying with the councilman.

"Yes, you let me know that in how you treated me. You let me see what my life would be as your slave. You tried to lessen who I am as a being by calling me a slave or an it. The officer who fought you for me never referred to me as an inanimate object, but as he or him. When he first approached you he said, "I have come for him." not that he had come for it and you did not correct him and point out to him at that time that I was not to be considered a sentient being but a thing: your silence led him to understand you knew i was an individual and not a thing, and when he won me after that first brutal fight you officially proclaimed that he could, now how did you phrase it?" He looked at Davis and then at Spock.

"Captain, if we listen to the full recording we will hear the councilman stating that Officer Tobin, and I quote, is not to be stopped from enjoying it and taking it wherever he goes."

"Thank you, Mister Spock, I was not sure of the exact wording."

"If I may add, Captain, later the councilman also stated that , and again I am quoting the councilman as recorded, he is to be allowed to leave the planet with his belongings without interference to himself or his crated possessions. Neither he nor his possessions are to be scanned. I am not a medical officer but I believe the repeated beatings may have made Officer Tobin believe you, Sir, to be one of his possessions."

McCoy rocked on his heels for a moment then nodded to Kirk before looking at Spock, "You need to leave medicine to doctors, Spock. While Officer Tobin believing in the Captain being his possession could be a possible outcome of repeated severe blows to the head I find that highly unlikely."

Kirk felt the tension on the bridge ease as he and the crew knew that this argument was typical and needed. He knew his crew also know how often these two special people would bicker like this to ensure all information was exposed. He also knew they were giving him time to get his thoughts together as all he wanted to do was kill Davis with his bare hands.

"Highly unlikely but not impossible. It has been scientifically proven that,"

"Oh, spare us Spock. As my grandfather used to say, cow pats!" McCoy suppressed the urge to laugh as the startled expression that flashed across the Vulcan's face that one the only those who knew the Vulcan so well would have seen. Later he would have to explain that one to him. "If Tobin's mind was affected how could he have come up with a way of getting the Captain out like that?"

"That, Doctor McCoy, is easy to explain. He,"

"Spock, perhaps I can explain it to McCoy and Mister Davis as well as the councilmen listening." Kirk felt in control again, total control. "Officer Tobin was meant to be on medical leave with strict orders to just sleep and rest. No physical exertion of any kind beyond a short walk at a leisurely pace."

"That is another charge against him!" Davis flared, "You know what they will do to him for going against medical orders, Kirk. You know,"

"Sir, I know what he did, I watched it being done. I just did not know that he had obviously seen me and, between seeing me on display as a slave and all but charging into the councilman's office, had thought of a way of getting me home. I did not, at the time, pay attention to what he said to the councilman after he won me in the fight. I did not listen as i was too concerned about what sort of slave owner he would be."

"Aha, you admit to watching your officer, an officer you took an oath as a Captain in Starfleet to protect, being repeatedly beaten and not trying to stop it?" Davis smiled, "Now that just cost you the ship and your career. You are aware of that, aren't you? You just stood and did nothing to protect him as your officer was repeatedly being beaten in front of you, didn't you?"

"I am aware that he had it all planned and I believe most of my crew know that when Officer Tobin has a plan is it not wise to alter it in any way, that he knows exactly what the different possibilities are almost as thoroughly as a Vulcan could calculate. I should have known that when the councilman agreed to his terms for fighting he made getting me off the planet lawful by using the laws that apply on Lanner and agreed to by the councilman. You were all there when he agreed to the terms and not one of you objected when you could have. had you objected he would have had no way of getting me off your planet."

"I, I would never agree to anything against Lanner law! What I had made official made no mention of a slave being allowed to leave the planet. He had no right to take it off the planet It is mine and I want it back, now."

"Captain," Spock had clearly seen how again being referred to as a thing as well as a slave stuck deep into Kirk and had seen that momentary flash of inner anger, "Officer Tobin will need to explain to you later how he did what he did and how he saw and sees you."

McCoy felt the flare of tension leave him as he had also seen the words hit his Captain and friend hard. Just thinking of another being thought of as an item, a thing, riled him and for Jim to have had to exist there would have been too much.

Kirk gave a short nod and looked directly at Davis, "You, you made me a slave. You watched how they treated me as a slave and you even said I would make an exceptional pleasure slave."

"What, what does that have to do with him breaking so many law on Lanner?"

"Only that he did not break any laws. The councilman was too excited to have the fights he agreed without thinking about what Officer Tobin was setting up."

"I listened very carefully and he was setting nothing up. It is impossible to trick me with the law. I meant everything I said, that I agreed to. I am sure that there was no way he could take my slave away. There was no way that what was said could be twisted to let a slave leave. We have had slaves for years and new stock is always welcome so I have made sure that there is no way they can be taken away. I want it back, now."

"It. You see that is what he was counting on. He expected you to refer to me as an item, an it, and not a living and sentient being. That was what even Mister Davis also referred to me as, an it. There was no twisting of the law by Officer Tobin, he just went by what you said and how you acted. When you stated that he was not to be stopped from enjoying it and taking it wherever he went you did not state as long as it is not off the planet he fully understood you. However, to him NO sentient being is an it. Big mistake number one. With me being, by your laws, an it and therefore implying a possession when you stated he was to be allowed to leave the planet with his belongings without interference you were referring to me. And let us not forget you even stated that I was to be considered his possession. Big mistake number two. And when you stated that neither he nor his possessions were to be scanned it gave him a way of getting me off the planet. Biggest mistake number three."

There was a lot of muttering, accusatory, voices coming from the planet and McCoy saw a slight smile on Kirk's face and a hint of one about the upper lip of his Vulcan friend. Inside himself McCoy was cheering. Jim Kirk was back and in form. "Ah, Captain Kirk we, we apologize for all the misunderstanding. Councilman Fannen clearly had not done due diligence regarding how you came to be in a restricted area as you were not from the planet. It is required that all people from off planet be given a chance to explain not only how they arrived on the planet but also why they did not know of the restricted areas. It would appear that you were given incorrect information and you were not given the opportunity to explain how you came to be in a restricted area. You are a very fortunate man to have such an officer as the one who got you off this planet and we would like to thank him for pointing out the flaws in our laws and the ways they can be read by those not from this planet. Upon reading them as one not from Lanner we can see how the use of the word it is most unclear. Steps will be taken to correct those errors to eliminate such misunderstandings in future. We have, for at least the past six hundred and eighteen years, used the enslavement method to curb crime and are used to not thinking of slaves as having been beings but as being things. We will ensure that the wording in our laws clarify that so that such an incident as this does not happen again."

"And you can tell Councilman Fannen that steps will be taken to ensure that Mister Davis never leaves a controlled facility so he will not be getting what he ordered from him. You can also tell him that I was what he had ordered and that Davis had, indeed, delivered me into his hands, and he, one who proclaims to be so knowledgeable about what he called stock, knows nothing if he could so easily be dissuaded by the actions and words of my officer who he believed to be a slave master. Perhaps Councilman Fannen should question the backgrounds of his slaves a bit better."

"We will and can you please tell that officer he showed us the errors in our wording of our laws."

Kirk gave a short nod, "I will but I think you will find it is not the error in your wording but your expecting others to apply the same meaning to them as you do."

McCoy nodded in agreement. So many years of dealing with Tobin had shown him the man could use words, okay, could manipulate words, to work in his favour most of the time. Hell, it was how he got the time on Lanner. He had said he would rest and relax and, like all kinds of fools, he had agreed without asking for specifics.