I'm really thankful for all the support and encouragement which motivates me to keep writing.

There are three OCs featured in this chapter which were referenced from Starsinger's 'A Long Road'. Thank you Starsinger for the beta and advices.

Star Trek is not mine.


Chapter 9: Confession

Sunlight shone through the window where Lieutenant Riley resided in San Francisco. As the only survivor and witness of the Tarsus Eight alive, he was being confined in his quarter until Anton Karidian was put on trial in three days time.

He stared out of the window deep in his own thoughts. Sulu was standing by the door of his room watching him closely. Being assigned to him, he could only watch over him. He did not know how he could cheer him up.

"Commander," Sulu greeted his Vulcan commander who came by to visit, but frowned when he saw Riley looking out at the window in daze. He spoke up as soon as he felt the Vulcan approaching him. As one of the survivors who tried his best to live on during the period of the nightmare, he was rather sensitive in detecting presence. Any little thing he sensed might be a threat.

"Commander, I'm pretty sure it is not time for me to stand trial yet. I have nothing to say to you. I took Mr. Sulu's phaser and attempted to kill Kodos. Sorry if I caused you any inconvenience. I will accept any punishment given," Riley said looking out at the window with his back facing the commander. That was not the Commander's purpose in coming. He had another agenda.

"As I disagree with you for taking action against the suspect, I have no right to criticize for this is what I would have done. Please bear in mind that there are Kodos' men out there who will come after you. Today, I came here for another purpose. I am here to inform you that we have found the ninth member of the Tarsus Nine. You are not obliged to say or do anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say or do may be used in evidence." The Commander said. "Am I right to say that the reason the eight of you assembled in San Francisco that day was to attend a memorial service?" Riley gasped. They finally found that out.

"Lieutenant Riley, I have found out that you were the one who send out the invitations to the other seven members," Spock showed the PADD revealing the message, "Come. I found JT."

"These are pictures all of you gathering in the same place. Admiral Archer sent agents to take of you. All of you have agreed to contact one another should any one of you found JT, and he had been watching you. It was unfortunate that we were still unable to stop the assassination attempts made on all of you. The location where all of you were seen together was here," Spock showed the photos of eight of them gathering at the entrance of a Chapel to Riley.

"It was the day when the wake of the late Captain of the USS Enterprise, James Tiberius Kirk was held," Sulu took a shuddering breath upon hearing the name of their late Captain mentioned. Spock was tapping and swiping harder and harder on the PADD.

"You had put up a number of transfer requests to the Enterprise. Despite your excellent credentials, you are denied of the transfer by our Captain. The reason was obviously personal. You are a threat. A threat to Captain James T. Kirk as you knew his secret and you have identified him as the ninth member of the Tarsus Nine who knew Kodos' face as well as the leader of your ragtag gang, JT also coined the term the White King," Spock declared raising his voice much to his ignorance but Sulu and Riley had noticed. Riley turned to face Spock to only notice that he was losing his composure.

"Commander." Sulu raised his hand motioning his commander to calm down.

"I am sorry. I was just proving a point. Lieutenant, the reason why you are in the Engineering was because psychologically, you are unfit to take up Command in Starfleet due to your experience in Tarsus IV right? Captain James T. Kirk was threatened by your presence as you could have taken him off of Command any time by revealing his identity," Spock regained his composure as he continued making his point.

Riley walked to a sofa and sank onto it. He had nothing to hide since Commander Spock had evidence against him, "It was never my intention to do that. It was his story to tell not mine," Sulu looked at his commander in perplexity.

"I merely wanted to meet him. Knowing that he was safe and he was happy was good enough for me. I'm glad that he became a Captain despite all the odds. The rest of us would never have made it to Command," Riley curled up to himself. "I would not be here without JT."

Spock looked at Riley with an unreadable expression. He got the answer he needed. He did not expect the 46.3% possibility of his confession to take place. That was also the reason why he headed to the Academy with the intention to head to McCoy's former dorm as he knew where the ninth explosive remote was located. Everything fit into place.

Spock stood up and picked up his stuff and left slowly. As he was about to exit the quarters, he turned back to Sulu who followed him to the door, "Take care of Lieutenant Riley. We will make sure justice is served for the victims who perished in the massacre of Tarsus IV as well as the other seven members of the Tarsus Eight who were assassinated." Spock order before he left giving him a pat on his shoulder.

Standing out at the courtyard Spock looked lost in his thought.

Just what else he did not know about his friend?


"Come, Jo, look at Daddy." McCoy urged his little girl the 8th time of the day. Ever since Joanna woke up from her coma, all she had been doing was staring out of the window blankly and unmoving. McCoy was desperate. He would do anything in exchange for his girl's health and happiness.

"Jo!" McCoy almost yelling at her when a hand was placed on his shoulder to stop him. It was his girlfriend, Carol.

"Leonard, go back home. I will take over from here." Carol Marcus offered. McCoy looked up to her in anxiety. She placed a finger on his chin and moved her index finger up to his upper lips.

"Get them shaved! Joanna wants to see a Daddy who is handsome and not unkempt. Right now, you are scaring her! I don't want to see you within the hospital for the next 4 hours, are we clear on that, Dr. McCoy?" Carol Marcus ordered her boyfriend who looked shocked. He did not realise that it had been eleven days since he last shaved despite remembering going for a bath earlier. He paused for a while before he finally reacted in response. He staggered while standing up from his chair. McCoy raised his hand to salute as he steadied himself. He could trust Joanna with Carol.

"Aye Madam!" he said before kissing her on her cheek which took Carol by surprise.

"This time, I'm one step ahead of you," He declared smiling in victory at Carol. He took a glance behind Carol at his daughter. He thought he saw Joanna react from his actions.

"Keep me posted if there is any change," McCoy requested. Carol beamed.

"You bet I will. Now, get going."


McCoy stretched upon stepping out of the hospital. The sunlight was bright and too blinding to his eyes. How long had it been since he left the hospital? Staying in the hospital for many nights consecutively was not new to him. The longest he had stayed was for that one month where he stood vigil for his best friend who gradually passed away from radiation poisoning because Khan's blood no longer worked. He did not know if he regretted bringing his friend back and only to lose him again. At least he got to say goodbye.

He noticed Ambassador Spock across the distance where he stood talking to someone who handed him a parcel with a solemn look. McCoy saw the ambassador, seemingly in grief, accept the parcel.

"I was requested to pass this to you by my nephew if that man was found and my nephew was rendered incapacitated," the man informed Ambassador Spock before he left for his other engagements.

McCoy walked briskly in their direction just as they finished their business. He had to thank the ambassador for what he did for Joanna and even coming to visit her more frequently than his busy Vulcan commander did.

"Ambassador Spock!" McCoy greeted feeling funny for calling him by the name of that stoic Vulcan.

"Oh! Dr. McCoy!" The ambassador who, seemingly crestfallen, composed himself very quickly and responded.

"Who were you talking to?" McCoy glanced at the direction the man who passed the ambassador something was heading to.

"Oh! It was an old acquaintance of mine even back in my time," the elder Vulcan replied deciding that McCoy need not know at the moment. He need not be emotionally compromised any further. "How is Joanna?" He changed the subject.

"Still not talking." McCoy sighed despite his belief that she would recover. It would take longer than he hoped, even including her previous experience in Cerberus. Ambassador Spock gave him a pat on his back.

"She is a very brave girl. I am quite proud of her," he complimented. McCoy's mood lightened a little thanks to his words. A part of him wished that his younger counterpart would learn from the ambassador to have some empathy to come here personally instead of pressing him to call him back.

"What's up with that parcel?" McCoy asked feeling curious.

"That's not for you to know," the elder Spock replied looking at the parcel just given to him. "I'll check out the contents tonight, and I might take the witness stand on the day of the trial."

"What trial?" McCoy was not in touch with the rest so he was not informed. He did not hear from Carol either.

"The mass murderer who inflicted damage on the Tarsus Nine will be put on trial and justice will be served," McCoy noticed that the Vulcan tightened his grasp on the parcel when he said that.

The ambassador felt old when he saw the parcel that was given to him. There was a thumbdrive in the parcel which he plugged in to his player and displayed on the projector. He knew what to expect when a video of the younger counterpart of his old friend came on screen.

"Ambassador." The young Captain James T. Kirk greeted him on screen. At the same time, someone came knocking. He switched off the projector and headed to the door and found the father of his younger counterpart, Ambassador Sarek who had just arrived with two other young Vulcans.

"We came to fulfil a request by the leader of the Tarsus Nine, JT," Sarek confided.


"Why can't I see my father?" the woman shrieked agitatedly.

"I'm sorry he is charged with a felony. Visitors are not allowed," a Starfleet officer stationed at the gate of the entrance raised his hand up to calm the lady down answering politely.

"My father did not do anything wrong. He was never at Tarsus IV. He would never kill all those colonists. This has to be a misunderstanding," Lenore Karidian tried to keep her cool and explained.

"I'm sorry, Miss." The officer shook his head.

"Damn it!" Lenore cursed and spat at the officer despite appearing elegant. She walked a certain distance before digging in her bag for something. She pulled out a hypo and stared at it, her hope, for a while.

"Father, you don't have to worry. I will save you," she muttered under her breath as she placed it back into her bag and strolled out of Starfleet premises. All this caught the eye of a cadet who observed Lenore walking out to flag a hovercab. His line of thought was cut by a yelling by Admiral Komack.

"Would you please hurry up? I need to move all this stuff to my office before my meeting!" he yelled. The cadet Sam rolled his eyes and followed after the grunting admiral.

"Coming, old man!"

"What did you say?" The elder man yelled back in annoyance.

Sam was concerned by the lady. He was sure that was a hypo. Why would she be holding one? He shrugged it off when the admiral yelled at him once more for being in daze.

Sam followed the Admiral Komack up to his office. They passed by Archer's office where he saw a man passing him a parcel in a solemn face. Archer furrowed his eyebrow seemingly confused as he looked down at the parcel. Sam recognised the man as his lawyer uncle.

"Hurry up, you slow poke!" Admiral Komack's voice echoed across the quiet corridor. Sam rolled his eyes once again. He was a cadet in Starfleet not his butler. He could almost mimic the famous Dr. McCoy known for being metaphoric. He looked him up of course which was why he got his hands on the access card of his dorm. Mainly because he wanted to find out more about his younger brother, but he ended up surrendering it to save San Francisco earlier.

That would be later. For now, he needed to move this box in his arms to Komack's office before anything else.


Carol was feeding Joanna with some water. Joanna still would not eat, but she would drink if not being pressured to.

"Good girl!" Carol put the spoon back to the cup and patted her head commending her effort to drink on her own rather than having an IV transferring all the nutrients to her frail body. Even if it was just water, it was still a progress. Joanna was not talking yet, but she would recover if given time and support from everybody.

She smiled and kissed Joanna by her forehead before heading out of the room to return the cup she borrowed.

A female doctor who was walking quickly brushed past her and knocked her by her shoulder. Carol dropped her cup.

"I'm sorry." The lady apologised and helped her to pick it up and returned to Carol quickly.

"It's ok," Carol replied taking a glance at the lady before standing up and heading to pass the cup back to the nurse. The lady was familiar. She tried to figure out who she was while walking before stopping and turning back running.

"Joanna!" She cried in her mind anxiously. That lady was the actress of the "Karidian Company", the daughter of the actor Anton Karidian who was being identified as Kodos, Lenore Karidian. She realised in horror that she must be behind the assassination of the rest of the witnesses. She must be here to finish off Joanna who was thought to be the last witness of the Tarsus Eight, Kevin Riley.


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