Chapter 11: Court Martial

Archer woke up lying flat on his back on the middle bridge of his ship. Archer shook his head and slowly got up off the ground and looked around the room, everyone was already up and performing their duties. Archer looked around dazed until he finally gathered the courage to ask his crew what he wanted to know, "How long was I out for Malcolm?" Archer asked with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

Lieutenant Reed looked up from his station and smiled at the Captain, "Good to see that you're up sir, you've been out for the better part of the day."

Archer sighed, "That doesn't exactly answer my question."

Reed raised his eyebrows and took a guess, "I don't know, I'd say nine hours?"

"What!? And you just left me lying here on the ground?"

Reed shook his head, "No sir, the doctors orders, whoever was still out cold was not to be moved or it could permanently damage your synaptic pathways... don't ask me how."

Archer shook his head, "Alright, I'll be sure to ask the doctors what brought them to that conclusion, how close are we to Earth?" the data Archer wanted appeared on the side of his captains chair. Archer shook his head, only another two hours until they reached Earth. They would surely be facing a court martial once word got out that they had let people from another dimension and century come back with them to Earth. A lot of explaining would be in the Captains future and he wasn't looking forward to it.

Two hours later...

Johnathan Archer, James T. Kirk, Captain Spock and Rick looked over the report that just came in once they had docked at Earth space dock in Archers ready room. They were to immediately report to a Starfleet court to appear before the judge for a hearing. If he didn't like what they had to say they all could be punished severely, with Archers command hanging in the balance it made all four men uneasy. Rick placed his hand on Archers shoulder, "Johnathan, I'll tell them everything you did for us and why you brought us here. Any fair man wouldn't give you a harsh punishment for being a good Samaritan."

Archer smiled at his old friend and began to pace around the ready room and turned back to his friends, "I know that one would assume that, but that's just not the case Rick. You see, I broke a lot of rules bringing you and your group here but I did it because I felt like it was the right thing to do. Even if I were to say yes, only one person can speak at the tribunal." Archer paused and look towards Kirk and nodded, "We all felt like it was the right thing to do and court martial or not, I'll stand by that decision."

Kirk sat down on the captains desk and crossed his arms, "Yes, but only two of us are going to be facing a court martial, I convinced Janeway that it was me and you who acted alone, no one else is to blame."

The room stayed quiet for a bit until Spock spoke up, "That is what I expected of you Jim and although that is not true I will stand by it." Spock got out of his chair and walked slowly towards the door and stopped, "The time to head to the tribunal is now, I would like to serve as your defense unless you would prefer someone else."

Archer smiled at his Vulcan colleague, "I couldn't think of a better man for the job." Spock nodded and headed out the door with the rest of the men. Slowly, they traversed the ship until they reached the transporter. The men stood on the device and within seconds they were already standing in their respective places in front of the judge. Archer and Kirk were standing side by side with a slightly high mahogany desk in front of them. The courtroom itself was rather large with a huge shiny Koa wood desk for the judge and huge flags of the Federation decorated the buildings walls.

The man judging them today was a man that Captain Kirk was very familiar with, standing at six foot four he was a very formidable looking man but that's not what worried Kirk. Admiral Eisenhower was a military man going all the way back to his ancestor Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Army general during world war II and president of the then United States for two terms. And he played by the book, and nothing but the book. This tribunal would most likely spell the end of their Starfleet careers, that is of course he wasn't in a good mood and decided to be "lenient" on them and demote them to Ensign.

The tall man stood up, sat back down and pounded his tiny wooden hammer on his desk, "Court is now in session, the tribunal of Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Johnathan Archer will now begin."

Spock nodded and walked to the middle of the room, "I am here to represent the Captains, I will speak in their defense, your honor."

Admiral Eisenhower nodded, "Proceed Captain."

Spock paced the center of the room for a second and then stopped in front of Kirk and looked directly at the judge, "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, that is an old Vulcan proverb. Although, the men, women and children these two captain brought with them aboard Enterprise may not seem like many, they actually are. Imagine a world your honor filled with the dead walking and not only are they walking, they can consume you and your family, turning you into one of them." Spock let that fact sink in for a second and continued, "A desolate world where the dead feed on those who are living. Imagine 90% of the worlds population dead and out for flesh, the flesh of humans who are alive and well. That is where these men, women and children came from. They had no life to return to and no cultural contamination could be done, the culture itself was already decimated when we had arrived in their timeline and in their dimension. The reason I say they are the many is because in that timeline seeing that many humans together alive is akin to seeing a group of humpback whale today, of which only 300 exist on the planet today."

Spock started to pace the room, but never letting his calm gaze leave the admirals face, "Taking them in and bringing them back to our timeline and dimension may have been against the prime directive but leaving them there would have been against the moral principle that Starfleet has always stood by, and that is always assisting those in need. Not only that, it would be against star fleet code one-three-four-six, section 5-3-4-delta and I quote your honor, 'Any captain shall not and will not leave any member species of the federation or any warp capable race in a perilous situation in deep space or on a planet or planetoid and will serve no less than 2 years imprisonment along with possible demotion or expulsion from Starfleet entirely should he not try with every tool within his disposal to assist them.'"

The Admiral finally spoke up, "That may be so Captain but these people, although human, are not protected under that law, they are from a different time and a different dimension. Therefore, that example is null and void. They knew nothing of the Federation and they are not warp capable."

Spock stared back calmly at the Admiral, "I don't believe your analysis of the law is entirely accurate, your honor, the law does not state that they have to be from a certain timeline nor does it state that they have to be from our exact dimension. It only states that you are obligated to help a member species in peril or a warp capable species, and I believe they fit into one of those catagories. The only ones who can determine our argument would be the federation supreme court and that could take some time, but we don't have time. We have a potential war with the galactic empire brewing and these captains need to be on their ship if we stand a chance at repelling any threat from them or any other hostile species."

The admiral sat quietly for a bit and stood up, "This court is in recess for one hour, I will announce my decision then." he hit his desk with his tiny koa hammer and walked out of the room. Now all they could do was wait in silence.

Rick, Malcolm, Trip, McCoy and Luke all watched from above as the three men waited in absolute silence. Rick sighed and held his head in his hands, "I can't believe that they'd risk their careers for me, for us... I shouldn't have came with you guys." Rick leaned forward in his seat, his hands still resting on his newly shaved face, "Shouldn't have come."

Malcolm patted Rick on the back while Trip sat down next to the ex-cop and put on a slight smile, "Wadda ya talkin about Rick? We took you in because we wanted to and that ain't the capn's fault. It isn't either of their faults, they did what had to be done. Spock gave a few good points, I'm sure the judge will consider what he had to say." Rick nodded at Trip and just continued to stare at the judges chair hoping and waiting that the verdict would go in his friends favor.

Luke reached out and felt the judges mind, he was conflicted on what to do. The man wanted badly to show authority and punish the two captains but at the same time he struggled with his emotions and his view of right and wrong. Luke reached deeper into his mind and tried to convince the man to side with the captains, "Not guilty." Luke muttered to himself as he closed his eyes. But before he could focus anymore someone shook him awake. Luke blinked and looked down a the man who shook him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Doctor McCoy asked Luke with a curious look on his face. Luke just shrugged and sat down next to the other men who were waiting for the judge to come out. "I swear, I think I'm the only sane person who doesn't talk to himself on the entire ship." McCoy muttered to himself as he slowly sat down next to Luke. Before long and after many upon many conversations about what the outcome might be the judge finally came out of his office and sat down at his chair.

"The court is now back in session." the judge announced as he sat down in his chair. "Defense, do you rest your case?"

Spock nodded, "I do indeed your honor."

The judge shook his head, "Good, Captains Archer and Kirk, what you did was against the prime directive and is grounds for demotion or removal from starfleet." Rick groaned while the others held their breath watching from above, "However, I cannot ignore the law that Captain Spock pointed out to me, it does in fact state that you must rescue any member species, and since they are human you were technically obeying Starfleet law, therefore I rule that you must do two hundred hours of community service here on Earth for your meddling in another dimensions affairs... after the crisis with the galactic empire is history." The judge hit the desk one more time, and walked out of the room.

Archer was thrilled, "Yes, he ruled in our favor, Spock... I knew you could do it. Thank you." Spock nodded at Archer and then looked down at a solemn looking Kirk. "What's wrong Jim? Aren't you excited, we got exactly what we wanted." Archer said as he looked down at his companion.

Kirk sighed, "Yeah, but I'd rather not do two hundred hours of community service, do I really have to clean up old mens diapers again?"

Archer gave an amused look at Spock and chuckled. "Jim has had that assigned to him as community service before, I suppose it is possible to receive it again." Spock said with hidden amusement.

"Ha! I knew it you green blooded bastard! You told a joke! See! You have emotions too!" Bones called out from the top of the court room.

Archer looked at Spock and laughed, "How the hell did he hear that?"

Kirk shook his head, "Bones hears everything Spock says, doesn't matter how far apart they are, they're always in each others faces trying to one up one another." Kirk and Archer laughed while Spock followed the two men up to their friends above. The future was unclear, war with the empire seemed inevitable and if so, they would be ready with their spirits high and their humanity intact.

The End.

I dedicate this Chapter to "Spock"

Rip Leonard Nimoy, you lived long and prospered.

I will post a Url for my second installment of my main "Trek Wars" arc once I have it done :)

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