Chapter 6 - And Then There Is This... Captain Kirk
"I'm not sure if I can do this."
Silence met Kati's quiet confession, nothing but the soft blue light illuminating her face from the pods of her slumbering brethren. The urge to start the sequencing to wake them was strong, but she knew she was taking enough of a risk just being here. It was a needless risk; her whole case as well as her own freedom could be jeopardised if she were discovered breaking in after they had rejected her request to see them. And there was nothing she could gain in terms of building her case from being in here. And yet, that same longing that had drove her to Saturn Five all those months ago had pulled her in, and here she was. She was sure Khan would understand, just as he had her need to be near him in the club. What he would be less likely to understand was her confession if he had been capable of hearing it.
"It's not that I... I am not uncertain of my purpose, or my case. I have all the evidence I need, between your confession to the Captain about how Marcus manipulated you, the Vulcan's honest report on how they deceived you, and the information I have fed Marla about our people that she can testify about your character... the case is sound. And I shall give nothing short of my best in delivering it. But despite all my efforts and the evidence, I still don't know if it will be enough.
"A jury is supposed to be fair because it is as free from of bias as is possible. But in this case, I don't believe it is possible. We are a part of their basic history education and you know as well as I do that we were not remembered fondly. That alone casts an unfavourable light, but with everything that has happened since... the whole world has been following this story. Many saw with their own eyes the USS Vengence fall from the sky and watched the fallout on every news feed. They say 128 died in the crash. Add to that the 42 in the London bombing, those killed on the Enterprise, and Marcus, and that's 194 lives they hold you accountable for. Small figures I know compared to those we saw in the war, but huge to them.
"I understand it now. We always strove for peace, believed at one point we had attained it, but not the way I have come to know it in the last year. I have built a life, the beginnings of a career, and made friends. Close friends, acquaintances, friends of friends. Lots of little people with their own lives and dreams who have never known anything but those lives, not the daily struggles of war, or politics. That is what each one of those lives was, each a terrible loss on its own, touching so many other lives and rippling the hurt and sorrow outward. That's why they think you're a monster. Maybe you are. Maybe we all are."
She paused a second to consider that thought as it tumbled from her mouth. She had grown so much, in ways she had never expected since waking up in this century. But she would never even attempt to deceive herself that she was, at her core, anything but a hardened fighting machine. Her understanding of the trauma the world felt in the wake of Khan's actions was just that; head-knowledge, lip service at best, she didn't truly feel it. The only sorrow she felt was for how the actions affected the plight of her own people, for the frustration of carefully laid plans. And then some for this man in front of her; so deceptively peaceful in his forced sleep, when his last conscious thoughts were those of rage and pain at losing all he loved. Perhaps they were both monsters, if you could be a monster and still have a love as fierce as they did for their family.
But she was becoming sidetracked. This had little to do with the case, and she still had so many concerns about it that she needed to air.
"And then there is this... Captain Kirk. I know Heather will be using him as her star witness, she'd be a fool not to. I haven't to spoken to him yet, thought I'd save it for the stand. He worries me though. Only 25 and he jumped straight from Cadet to Captain of the flagship on his first Voyage and then proceeded to save the planet from a rogue Romulan. That was just last year... probably right before you woke me up. You probably saw it. His career is glittering, and I couldn't find a scrap of dirt on him besides a couple of bar fights before he was recruited. And his infamous womanising ways, both of which are pretty public knowledge. Sure, he broke the 'Prime Directive' last month, and got in a little bit of trouble for it. But in doing so he saved yet another civilisation and he's already been forgiven. He's a hero to so many, Starfleet's very own poster boy and it's his word against ours. We've never been outmatched before, but this Captain, he's a whole different level of dangerous."
She had, of course, considered neutralising the threat he posed, through various means. She couldn't kill him - far too overt, and Marla would never understand. Neither could she reason with him - Khan had already tried that and look how it turned out. And he was far too cunning himself and determined to see Khan face justice to be tricked into leaving for any reason. Seducing him seemed the most likely to succeed, but was equally unlikely to yield much in the way of results. No, this one she would have to handle by-the-books, and hope he'd give her something to work with in cross-examination.
Her mind moved to other contingencies, and her eyes slid away from her prince, to the other softly glowing pods filling the room.
"Sometimes I wonder if I chose the wrong path defending you. The odds of success would be much higher had I chosen to simply fight for the rest of our people, and left you to this time's justice. I know you would willingly sacrifice yourself if it meant their freedom, you already did. But I also know you would never leave a man behind were it possible to save us all. Barring any complications there is no reason why I can't fight both fights if I make this case right. And if it is unsuccessful, I can always devote myself to them afterwards.
"But... I also worry what will become of me when they are freed if you are not with us. The war may have brought our family closer, but I will never forget the early years and how... how I owe my survival of them to you. Without you I fear many would fall back to the old ways of violence and I would have no-one to protect me. And the humans would have no one to protect them." She giggled, bitter, slightly hysterical. "They think you're such a villain, that you would kill them all. They don't know how wrong they are. And I have to try and tell them, and convince them that the rest are perfectly safe when I don't even know that myself. You were the best of us, and so we shaped ourselves around you so much that I don't know who any of my companions would be without you. I'm only just starting to understand who I am. Perhaps giving up on you would be the best thing that could happen for them, but it could also be the worst. That's why I can't do it. That's why we need you. Why I need you.
"I need you so much. I know it's pathetic, I know it is unbecoming of our superior race, I know it would serve no purpose other than to indulge a weakness we have no time for but I just wish you could wake up and tell me that it's all going to be okay." She finally broke down and admitted, a single tear breaking free and rolling down to her chin. She dashed it away ruthlessly, sniffing to drive back any more threatening to emerge. With well practised effort she stilled the hitching of her chest into even breaths and brought her heart rate back to neutral. Marla was a big believer that sometimes a good cry was all you needed, and though her own outbreak had only been small, Kati had to admit she did feel a little better for it.
"It will be okay." She reaffirmed herself, drawing herself up. She took one last look around the room, knowing that the guards would be making their rounds soon, and she needed to get going. She laid a hand on the window of the pod, over his cheek yet too far away. "Good talk, my Lord." She bid him with smirk, before slipping back over to the vent she crawled in through and making her escape.
—
The hotel she had been provided while she stayed in New York for the trial was small, but serviceable. It was simply and compactly laid out with an aesthetically pleasing design and even a few pieces of modern artwork on the wall. She preferred Marla's unique style, but then she wasn't here for the art, and it was certainly more pleasing to the eye than the view from her window. She wasn't sure if it was deliberate or not, or simply a side affect of having quarters near enough to Starfleet HQ, but from here she had a perfect view of the festering wound that was Khan's crash site. Even after a week salvage and emergency crews were still at work, clearing debris from behind bright lines of tape. She had expected to see the ship still embedded in the earth, but apparently a fleet of rescue ships had managed to extract it and haul it back to a starbase for repairs. She closed the curtain as soon as she got into the room, as she had every time, though somehow whenever she went out she would find them open on her return. Her next move was to the rooms main screen.
"Call Marla McGivers." She instructed it, knowing her friend would be waiting. Sure enough, she was quick to skip the pleasantries.
"So, any luck? Would they let you wake anyone?"
"They wouldn't even let me in the building." Kati complained, feeling a similar relief to talk to her friend that she had felt monologuing to Khan. "The official stance is to keep them all in cryo-containment until it's decided what to do with Khan."
"Are you serious? They're giving 72 innocent men and women the same treatment as a criminal on trial? No offence."
"I'm a realist Marla, you don't have to apologise for stating hard truths." She reminded her friend, moving away from the screen to the replicator for a coffee. She welcomed Marla's righteous anger for her family, echoing her own. It gave her something to bounce off of, to play devils advocate and get into the mind of those she was up against, and from there to devise her strategy. "Such as the fact my people are not innocent, we are all convicted criminals who have simply been on the run for the past 300 years."
"That's far more than the maximum sentence I'm sure." Marla pointed out, bringing the lawyer a wry smile. She may have to steal that. "And what about after the trial? If you fail-,"
"Won't happen."
"- And Khan is convicted, will they just keep them in cryo for whatever he's sentenced to? Will they keep finding excuses after that because they're to cowardly to take the chance that there might be good people in there?!"
"Probably." Kati sighed. "If I don't just give up on the justice system and break them out. I have to say their security is nothing compared to Sector 31's. And had we not been so concerned with legitimacy, Khan and I could have broke through that in our sleep."
"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves, we can still hope the legal system pulls though. And if it doesn't, promise you'll warn me before you go breaking any major laws?" Marla cautioned, sounding uncomfortably resigned.
Kati didn't even blink before assuring her. "Of course."
"You already did didn't you."
It was such a pleasant surprise to be caught in a lie like that by her friend. She wondered how she had managed to keep her fooled for so long when she was so sharp. But then, she was a flawless liar. Perhaps that was what gave her away, now Marla knew to expect it.
"It's best for us both if I don't answer that." She smirked, "Don't worry, I promise I didn't harm anyone. I just had to see them."
Marla's face softened in understanding, and she let it go.
"Right, so, did you want to run through it again? You can't be too prepared, right?"
—
The day came around too soon and before she knew it she was standing in the courthouse atrium, pacing as she waited for everyone else involved to arrive. Few people passed her, going about their daily business as if the case of a century weren't about to begin in little over an hour. She shouldn't have got here so early. She had wanted to see everyone as the arrived, the judge, the jury, trying to get their measure in advance, but she had no idea which of these people were here for her case or for others. Other lawyers were easy to spot, smarmy and arrogant. As were the press, lurking like vultures, tapping away on their PADDs or on the phone, cameramen in tow. Jurors and witnesses and those awaiting trail for themselves or their families were much alike, but distinguishable by the different levels of stress in their faces and posture. She felt an odd dysphoria, as she had when she had emerged from her pod, of not belonging, despite her many months training for this. She should be trying better to blend in, careless like the other lawyers, but she couldn't force herself to be still. No one was looking anyway. Or they weren't, until a particular Captain walked in, glanced over the room and made a beeline right for her.
"Hi, Ma'am. I don't suppose you're here for the people vs Khan case are you?" He asked with the flash of a charming smile. His immediate attention and knowing question put her on edge, which is just what she needed to sharpen her focus and bring her wayward feet to a halt.
"That I am. How did you know?" She asked, pulling her professional persona around her like a cloak.
"I have good instincts." He bragged, "I heard we had some students on the council, and judging by your pacing I'm guessing this is your first time in a big courtroom like this."
"It is." She allowed the slightest bit of chagrin to show though. Being underestimated wasn't the worst thing for her strategy.
"Well don't sweat it. Seriously, I've been to dozens of these things, it's not that big'a deal and it's over in no time. But if you're still nervous you can always stick with me, I'll show you the ropes."
Well that was the mystery of why he had made his way straight over to her solved; she was the most attractive woman in the room after all, and he was hitting on her. It seemed his reputation was spot on and seducing him would have been even easier than she had imagined, but it still wasn't a viable plan. And she certainly wasn't interested otherwise, not after his betrayal of Khan and all it had cost them. She smothered the anger thinking about it caused, and hid her revulsion at his attempts to make a cordial reply.
"I think I've got this on my own thank you. Besides, it would be best if were weren't seen to be talking for the duration of the trial. Seeing as you're a witness for the prosecution and I'm the lawyer for the defendant."
"Okay, I get it, you want to be professional. I respect that, it can't be easy for you having to defend that psychopath, am I right? But hey, I want you to know, whatever goes down in that court room I understand. You're just doing your job, you want to get a good grade out of it, so I won't hold it against you. In fact, when this is all over, to prove there's no hard feelings, how about I take you out for a drink? What's your thing, wine, whiskey? You look like a whiskey girl to me."
An eyebrow rose at his dogged persistence. She may even have been amused by it, had her ears not been ringing with his insult to her Prince. If they were back in their time she would have slammed his head into the nearby pillar to teach him some manners, but that was wishful thinking. Though there was something to be said for the way the fire it ignited in her veins melted away her uncertainty and nerves about the case and fuelled her up to go in there and show them all how wrong they were about Khan. She wouldn't waste this feeling on the foolish Captain out here, where it would serve no purpose. She would keep it until she had him on the stand, where she could eviscerate him with words and show the world his true guts.
But for now he was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for her answer to his proposition. She didn't dignify him with one, simply turning and walking away to a nearby bench, and making herself look busy on her PADD.
"I'll take that as a maybe."
AN: See, I promised I wouldnt be away so long this time. Thanks to all those who stuck wii me during my personal hiatus, and to galwidanatitud, Sassiebone, Kat, Tenfangirl and Shadowing for thier reviews last chapter. See you all next time.
