Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Your reviews keep me writing, especially with the chapter like this. I ended up rewriting the entire thing because it just didn't work. However, there was something on the iTunes commentary for STID about how sometimes to make a scene work you need to break it apart and have a change of scenery. That's what I did, so some of what I wrote will be saved for a later chapter.

This is fair warning that I'm going to be playing around with history in the next few chapters. I've done a lot of research on memory Alpha, but I'm going to play around. Also, because this is me, I'm going to come up with a way to mitigate certain perceived continuity issues between TOS and AOS. Just remember this is in AU set in an alternate universe, it's okay to play around. Take a deep breath and let's have some fun.

The song for this chapter is still Jimmy Loving because we are still dealing with the realization that Starfleet is nowhere near as shiny as it should be, although the interpretation is a bit more literal this time.

This chapter is dedicated to all the government employees in the world, especially the ones working for the US government that sometimes wonder why they don't go into the private sector.


Chapter 11: Days Like This Make Me Want To Resign

In hindsight, Chris had joined Starfleet because a certain arrogant and narcissistic recruiter convinced him that someday he could be the one calling the shots and making a real difference. Chris did not want this for the sake of power, but because he realized very early on that there was only one way you could really change anything and that was to be in charge. For the last three years, he thought that he was making a difference, but he was wrong. While he was making Starfleet a better place for persons with disabilities, individuals of a certain age, and families, some extremely crazy shit was happening on planet NCX17. Frozen bodies, genetically modified Vulcan embryos, and a half -Vulcan kid who should be a quarter-Vulcan who had been resurrected from the dead were all happening on said planet, and that's just what Jim and company were willing to talk about via highly encrypted non-Starfleet email. If this was the relatively mild stuff, Chris didn't want to know the big stuff.

Chris spent Saturday exchanging very cryptic emails with Jim and Acting Captain Uhura. In general, most of what they were talking about was disturbing. Seriously, why would somebody take a children's toy and how exactly did they get the funding for what Jim is referring to as project 'build a better Vulcan'? More importantly, how the hell had he and his fellow admirals miss whatever was happening on that planet? It was enough to make him wonder why he was doing this job. (At least this disaster distracted him from thinking about his breakfast revelation of an Amanda nature along with any other Amanda centered thoughts.)

After about 20 emails where he convinced Jim that he knew nothing about whatever the hell Jackson was doing, they formulated a plan to deal with this. Jim and Acting Captain Uhura agreed to follow Jackson's bazaar orders to play diplomatic ferry to the Vulcan delegation for reasons that Jim will not mention explicitly. Chris knows that there must be a reason because Jim Kirk does not blindly follow orders (the volcano incident being one of the most blatant examples of this). That can be a good thing and a bad thing. This meant that there had to be a reason that Jim was doing this and Chris was not sure if he actually wanted to know that reason. He wasn't sure he wanted to know any of this or be involved at all, but he had a duty.

His job was to discover as much as possible about Jackson's wife. Jim asked him to do this after making the troubling discovery that neither Jane nor John Harrison existed electronically before September of 2258. Chris refused to ask his stepson about the woman, but he was troubled because the things that he thought should be in her file were not. It was common knowledge that Jane was adopted, because she looked nothing like her brother. He knew that she grew up in London but was born in the country formally known as India and later adopted by the Harrison family. There were no adoption records on file, only a few things about Doctor Jackson's Starfleet career and education.

The records were so skeletal that even details about John Harrison's death during the London incident were omitted. Then again, if it wasn't for the rumor mill, he wasn't entirely sure how much he would know about that incident. Again, the file only contained very basic background information about his service to Starfleet, but there was nothing before that. To Chris this almost seemed like a carefully constructed cover story reminiscent of the kind of facts that Amanda gave him about "Mrs. River" before they realized she was really Winona. According to Jim, if you dug far enough, there was nothing there. Gaila said it looked like the background that was set up for her after she escaped slavery. Chris didn't tell them that this is the type of background that certain people in Starfleet are given when they work for a part of Starfleet that technically does not exist.

On the surface, Jane did not seem to be the type of person who would be a secret agent for the supposedly nonexistent division of Starfleet known as Section 31. He really didn't know her that well, but at least superficially she was sweet and nice to everybody. She was the exact opposite of her husband. She volunteered at cancer wards and a lot of her research centered on trying to find a cure for certain cancers like leukemia that were still not curable. It's a shame it was one of the few forms of cancer that still exist right now. The survival rate is the highest that it has ever been but there is still no cure.

He only knew about this because Jackson enjoyed bragging about his wife's philanthropy more than anything else. The dick really did see her as a trophy wife, especially because she looked to be at least 15 years younger than Jackson. He did not know this for sure because her date of birth was unavailable. Trophy wives were not secret agents.

But then there was the wedding incident. Admiral Barnett's five-year-old daughter was playing too close to the gift table when the tower of presents started to fall down. Jane managed to successfully push the five-year-old out of the way before the wedding presents collapsed on top of the girl. Despite having several very heavy wedding gifts fall on her, the bride didn't have a scratch, nor was she winded. At the very least, that type of physical performance pointed to enhanced conditioning, especially the type required if you were a member of Section 31.

Chris really did not have any more time to think about this because he was called into Admiral Lume's office. It was never a good thing when he was called into the Admiral's office, but it was worse when it happened on his supposed day off. (He and Amanda were supposed to take the girls to the zoo today and he wasn't going to disappoint the girls, even if that meant being really awkward around Amanda).

The room still seemed intimidating despite the fact that Admiral Lume renovated the space after taking over for Admiral Marcus nearly 2½ years ago. There were pictures of her and her grandchildren everywhere. There was also a picture of her and her husband when they remarried three months ago. According to the Starfleet rumor mill, it was Dr. Jackson who convinced her to give her husband a second chance. This was in great contrast to her predecessor; Marcus preferred models of starships to mementos of his only child. Maybe that explained why Carol Marcus had so many issues.

Chris felt sorry for her after reading some excerpts from the young woman's personal journal that were forwarded to him. He was personally planning on punching Jonathan Jackson as soon as he saw the man. The guy was a bastard. What type of monster sets up a 16-year-old girl to get pregnant?

Of course, it was Jackson's wife that he would see first and she was currently sitting on the couch as she cried into the Admiral's lap. His eyes were instantly drawn to the bloodstains on her uniform. He had a feeling this was going to be one of those meetings. He knew it was bad because he was called in on a Sunday, but bloody clothing usually meant something much worse.

"What happened?" Chris asked.

"My husband is dead." Her words were broken and harsh. You could hear the strain in her voice from her crying. It was enough to make him forget about his suspicions from earlier. She was not a possible super spy in that moment but a woman who lost her husband.

"I'm sorry," Chris said automatically.

"Fake condolences are worse than no condolences," she said, sitting up and grabbing a tissue from the Admiral's coffee table. "You hated my husband because the guy was a complete dick to you." Her accusation was true and full of self-awareness.

Chris had hated Admiral Jackson. But even though the guy was a complete bastard to everybody and was doing only god knew what on that planet, Chris didn't want him to die. Of course, that was mostly because he wanted the man to stand trial for his crimes against the Federation, but seeing the broken woman in front of him gave Chris a whole new set of reasons.

"You're right. There wasn't very much love lost between me and your husband, but I'm sorry for your loss. You don't deserve it," Chris told her sincerely.

"Nobody deserves bad things," Jane said in a whisper just as the Admiral's assistant walked into the room carrying a black Starfleet uniform.

"This is what was available in the doctor's size, Admiral," the man said, handing the uniform to Dr. Jackson.

"That's fine," Dr. Jackson said, taking the uniform from the officer.

"Ensign Lee, please show Dr. Jackson where she can clean up and change," the admiral said, as the assistant directed Dr. Jackson out of the room.

"What happened?" Chris asked, as they moved to a table in the center of the room. "Judging from the blood, I doubt that it was natural causes."

"It wasn't," she said, pulling up a video file. "Admiral Jackson was killed while leaving his place of residence about an hour ago by two assailants dressed as maintenance staff using ancient projectile weapons."

On-screen were two assailants waiting outside Jackson's apartment to attack the husband and wife as they left. If it wasn't for the recent incident, he would be shocked that ancient guns were being used. They were able to shoot Admiral Jackson at close range before being rendered unconscious by the petite doctor without any weapons. It was obvious that this woman had had combat training and was much stronger than what she looked.

"I know that Jackson has a lot of enemies, but I did not think something like this would happen. Also, just so you know, I had nothing to do with this," he added as an afterthought.

"You wouldn't be here if I thought you did. As you can see in the video, Jane quickly incapacitated both assailants before security arrived on the scene. They're currently at Starfleet medical having their injuries taking care of before they are relocated to protective custody. They were most likely just individuals who were paid for their services. Because this happened on Starfleet property, this is still our jurisdiction and trust me, despite my personal feelings toward Admiral Jackson, this incident will be investigated fully," the woman said gruffly.

From the video, Chris was pretty sure surgery was going to be involved and he was actually surprised nobody ended up dead from the level of violence inflicted by the woman. This was more than just adrenaline taking over, this woman was well-trained.

"Are there any suspects at this time?" he asked, going into professional mode.

"Dozens, and that's just the other people who work for Starfleet. As you stated earlier, Jackson was well hated," she told him with a sad smile.

"Yes, but most people like his wife enough not to do that," Chris quipped.

"My instincts are telling me this is connected to what happened on NCX17. According to very preliminary reports, it is very likely that the bullet that killed Jackson is of the same caliber as those used during the incident on NCX17. Considering how rare those weapons are now, we can't just take that as a coincidence," the admiral said in a way that made him wonder exactly who her source was.

"Enterprise is not supposed to be investigating and I'm not even sure Jackson's team has arrived yet," he said in a way that told her full well that he knew that they were. He already had the preliminary report in his inbox. The real preliminary report was enough to make any good soldier lose all faith in Starfleet and the Federation in general.

"Yes, but fortunately for us, Jim Kirk doesn't follow rules blindly. It makes for a horrible soldier, but a good leader. I only allowed Jackson to send another team to avoid the appearance of impropriety. I've been around long enough to know this mess is going to trigger a hearing or five; we have to keep our noses clean. Even if I trust the crew of Enterprise to do a more thorough job of investigation than the group of people that the late Admiral Jackson originally wanted to send, this report is going to need to withstand the scrutiny of a lot of people who are still pissed off about their good friend Johnson spending the rest of his natural life on a prison planet because of Captain Kirk and his husband. My team will be arriving later today to corroborate their findings."

Chris had known the Admiral long enough to read between the lines. She had let Jackson think that he was in charge, most likely to draw him into a false sense of security to get him to show his true self. Instead, the idiot got two shots to the chest.

"Jim did the same thing by turning command over to Commander Uhura," he told her.

"Good, so we can both stop lying about the investigation not going on, because we both know it is."

"You mean we both know that Jackson is – was an evil bastard who did only Lord knows what on that planet. By now you are probably aware of the frozen bodies, zombie Tribbles, and their mission to make a better baby Vulcan, starting with the commander's surprise child. Did you know that Jackson manipulated two cadets into having sex, one of whom was under age, and doused them with enough fertility drugs to overcome two forms of birth control and Mister Spock's low fertility status, just to produce a child who lost his mother along with everyone else at the facility when it was attacked?" The Admiral was rubbing her temple at that point in his angry tirade.

"We were not aware of everything he was doing on that planet until about six days ago, when Dr. Jackson came to my husband, who happens to be her distant cousin, after discovering irregularities in the funding and secret projects going on without her or Doctor Marcus's knowledge, including the project that you are referring to as 'build a better Vulcan baby'. We were planning on arresting Jackson today with his wife's full cooperation," she explained. Chris wanted to ask how the doctor ended up on planet when she was supposed to be at the research facility, but he didn't get a chance to.

"I personally didn't know the paternity of Doctor Marcus's child, until a DNA test was conducted on Enterprise, because our lawyers are really good at keeping their mouths shut. I never would have allowed the doctor special permission to have her son with her if I knew there was a suitable alternative. Her partner's family was unwilling or unavailable, and would you leave a small child with Andrew Marcus, even before…?" Lume stopped herself in the middle of her sentence and changed directions completely. "Your girlfriend would have been a much more suitable guardian under the old rules, without me needing to make an exception to let young David live on Enterprise. Even that would've been preferable to the decision I had to make. He would have been safer here or even on that ship. I suggest you tell Dr. Grayson and her son to get a really good lawyer, because I'm sure the bastard will be working on a way to get David as we speak." Chris wondered if she purposely referred to Amanda as his girlfriend to keep him from asking any more questions.

The distraction technique did not work this time, although he would be warning Spock and Amanda about the Andrew Marcus threat. He doubted the man would care anything at all about his grandson, except perhaps as a means to hurt other people. Andrew was a manipulative bastard. Once upon a time, Chris had thought that he was the greatest man in the universe. He knew better now.

"I will tell Amanda to speak with the lawyers when we're at the zoo with the girls today, if I get out of here anytime soon. Although that conversation would probably go better if I knew why you think Andrew Marcus is such an unfit guardian that you were willing to allow a two-year-old to live on a top-secret research outpost," he asked candidly. When you have known somebody for 20 years, it is easy to be a little more candid.

"It's nothing that you can actually tell her. However, his year at Laurel rehab center was not just a vacation," she said pointedly.

"It's more than that. What the hell happened in London that was so bad that Andrew Marcus was kicked out of Starfleet and you won't let him anywhere near David Marcus-soon-to-be-Kirk?" Chris questioned.

"It was more than London. I have known Carol for years and it is a miracle she came out as well-adjusted as she did with Andrew Marcus trying to micromanage every single aspect of her life. London was just where everything fell apart, the details of which are classified," she said, not looking at him.

"I have a level VII clearance and because this involves the stepson of a young man I consider family, I think I have a fucking right to know." Normally Chris would not curse in front of his superior officer even if they had known each other for a very long time, but he felt it was warranted in this case. What was the point of following the rules of Starfleet decorum when nobody else was?

"Andrew Marcus has issues that go beyond those stemming from the attack that led to his wife's death. He did things that I'm still trying to clean up, including the aspects of the research on NCX17 that were not sanctioned by me. My predecessor had very dirty hands. For years he has been pouring billions of credits into his efforts to militarize Starfleet with the help of his special accountants and friends in high places. Let's just say there was another reason why construction on certain ships ran over budget by millions of credits," she said, picking up a children's toy that looked a lot like Enterprise except it was black. "You don't want to know what we found near Jupiter. We are still trying to figure out a peaceful use for it.

"I probably don't," Chris said out loud.

"Yes, but you may have to," she said warily. "I originally wanted you to take over what we all know as Section 31, once I became the person in charge."

"There really is a section 31?" he asked with fake innocence.

"You already know that there's a section 31. You had breakfast with one of our operatives yesterday morning." How did she know about that?

"Winona?" he asked tentatively.

"I can't tell you yet, but you're smart enough to read between the lines. Due to political pressure, I was forced to let Jackson take over Marcus's pet project after we got rid of the really dangerous stuff. Other aspects of Section 31 stayed under my strict control."

"So, genetically modified Vulcans are not dangerous?" he asked, trying not to sound flippant.

"Well, when you're only supposed to be working on a way to increase fertility and genetic diversity, no. Especially in comparison to long-range missiles that can be fired from the edge of the neutral zone to Kronos,* or secretly building giant warships for a war that you hope to trigger with said missiles. Although now I know why he attempted to use Enterprise as the Klingon bate." The scary thing was he was sure she wasn't joking.

"Fuck," he mumbled under breath.

"I pushed my personal misgivings aside because I assumed that we could trust Jackson to not misuse his position because he had no trouble exposing what Marcus was doing after the incident that caused Doctor Marcus to go into premature labor. He said he betrayed his former mentor because he considered her his daughter and did not want to watch her suffer because of her father." Chris had a feeling that she was only telling him half the story of what happened in London.

"Yes, so much so that he conspired to get her pregnant at 16." he mumbled under breath, but she still heard him.

"I didn't know that," she said defensively.

"Did you want to know?" he asked out loud.

"With Jackson now dead, someone else has to take over section 31," she said, ignoring his question entirely, "and I want that person to be you."

"No," he answered instinctively. He wanted nothing to do with this mess.

"I mean, with all due respect, I do not want this job. I would consider tendering my resignation, but Amanda would kill me if I left her baby to deal with the wolves alone," he told her.

"And that right there is why I need you to do this. You're the only person I trust. You already know a whole lot of what is going on and I prefer not to bring anyone else in. I was planning on asking you to take over regardless," she said, looking at an image of a dying Jackson on screen. "This just expedites things because we don't need a court-martial anymore."

"It's really convenient to say that you were going to arrest Jackson and remove him from power now that he's dead. I don't know if I can trust you. I don't know if I can trust Starfleet anymore after this. I mean, you really expect me to believe that the woman I saw in here crying hysterically over her dead husband was going to turn him over to you? Why was she even here? How was she even here? Ships haven't passed by NCX17 in months." Chris was almost on the verge of yelling at this point.

"You don't always need a ship, but you already knew that," Jane said, walking back into the office, most likely referring to how Jim returned to Enterprise after being marooned by his ex-boyfriend on Delta Vega. But she did not give him a chance to ask any questions.

"You don't trust us and I don't blame you. After Admiral Marcus manipulated my brother, I can understand how you would be reluctant to trust anyone in Starfleet. You have a good reason not to, so let me give you a reason to trust me and Starfleet again. Admiral Lume changed my mind and convinced me that not everybody in this strange place is Andrew Marcus."

"I'm not Admiral Marcus," he told her defensively.

"That's why I'm telling you this so you will reconsider. Admiral Lume will not tell you about the London incident, but I will. Jane Jackson nee Harrison is not a real person, and neither is John Harrison. My real name is Jaya Nitya Singh." The last name seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"Jane and John were identities that Marcus created for both of us after he found us and brought us into Starfleet for his own purposes. No, I won't tell you where he found us. I'm not ready for you to know that yet. I'm not sure if I can trust you to know that yet," she mumbled under breath.

"Fair enough," he told her with a sigh of frustration. "Is any of your history real? Are you even from London? I doubt that this John or whatever his real name is, is your brother."

"In a manner of speaking yes, but it was the other way around," she said, as her accent changed slightly. "We were raised in the same house in India in the state of - in what was once the state of Punjab," she corrected herself, letting him know that part of what she was saying was a lie. "My family raised him."

"And his real name?" he asked.

"I will not give you that. He made some bad choices in his previous life and was forced to make even worse ones in his second life. I wouldn't even be alive right now if I had not received a bone marrow transplant from him when I was a child. He made me stronger, more like him without even realizing it. He loves his family, if nothing else," she explained, almost on the brink of tears again.

"My brother is a tactical and weapons expert. Marcus wanted him to create his weapons of great Klingon distraction, supposedly for the greater good. I've already learned that doing things for the greater good is a very slippery slope that can have dire consequences. To convince John to do what he wanted, he threatened to kill me and the rest of our family. My brother got tired of it and was planning to get us out by whatever means necessary. At the same time, Admiral Jackson, as well as Doctor Marcus, were becoming my friends and I was trying to convince them that Admiral Marcus could not be trusted. In the end, John was impatient and decided to give Admiral Marcus a taste of his own medicine," she explained.

"He attacked Carol?" Chris asked.

"Yes. He tried to choke her. I couldn't stand by this time, and let him kill my friend. I couldn't do it again." That last part was whispered but he still heard her. "She and her girlfriend were very kind to me. Not many people have been in the past."

"So you killed your brother to protect Carol and baby David?" he asked.

"No, the death of "John Harrison" was greatly exaggerated for security reasons. He's being held at a maximum security facility," the Admiral added.

"He's in a coma, so to speak. It's better if he's sleeping. He's not well enough for this world." The way she said it, Chris wondered if this was a medically induced coma.

"Doing what I did was very hard on me and Jonathan helped me through that. And yes, I did fall in love with him. He said that he was the Phil Coulson to my Captain America. I don't quite get his reference, but I'm sure it was supposed to be romantic. Jonathan was kind of a geek," she said with a sad smile.

"It was before your time," Chris said, absently.

"Or maybe it was after," she mumbled under her breath, "It doesn't matter. I learned that just because you love somebody doesn't mean that you let them do bad things, even if they think they're doing the right thing. I did that during my first life and the consequences were horrible. I need you to help me undo the things my brother and my husband have done." For a moment, he was sure there was sincerity in her voice.

"I'll think about it. Unless you need me for the investigation, I promised a certain four-year-old I would take her to the zoo in an hour and I would hate to break my promise, unless absolutely necessary." He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible and hope that he would not be needed personally for the Jackson investigation.

"No, others will be taking care of that. You will have a different assignment, if you choose to accept it. You're dismissed," the Admiral said, and with that Chris was out of the room.

It wasn't until hours later, when he was being led around the San Francisco zoo by an unbelievably energetic four-year-old Vulcan that things really started to click into place and he remembered exactly where he heard that last name before.


Has anybody figured out why the attackers are using ancient guns? There is a reason.

Footnotes:

*I'm going with the English spelling.