A/N: Hey guys, so we're winding down here! Just a few more chapters and we should be done. There is a flashback type thing in this chapter, basically just to show what happened in the actual meeting. The whole thing is in italics and then thoughts are bolded as well. Sorry for the sudden change, this is just what worked best. Anywho, hope you enjoy and I'll post again soon! :)

Jim bit his lip in frustration and pain. 'You shouldn't be walking idiot.' The part of his brain that sounded distinctly like Bones grumbled at him. He knew it was right too, walking hurt like a bitch and he'd been told not to get out of the chair except for his physical therapy sessions once a day, which were already supposed to be difficult. 'Probably won't be able to walk at all tomorrow.'

He couldn't help it though, sitting in the chair made him feel trapped, helpless. Goodness knew he'd felt enough of those two emotions to last a lifetime; he needed some semblance of control just then and he knew the only thing that would give him that was walking. Physical therapy be damned.

"Jim?" Spock prompted when he'd remained silent for too long an interval.

He sighed before painfully lowering himself onto the corner of his bed. Both Spock and Bones reached hands out to offer assistance but he ignored them. "It started off like you'd expect:"

"Now, we are aware that Admiral Marcus had his own ulterior motive in sending the Enterprise to Kronos. Were you aware of his plan?"

Jim resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "No. Not at first anyway. We didn't become suspicious of his plan until we were already at Kronos, when Commander Spock brought up some very relative points on the matter."

Sussen leaned forward slightly, another member of the party typing away furiously at his data pad. "So it was your First Officer who drew suspicion towards the late Admiral?"

"Yes, well, yes and no." He sighed tersely, crossing his arms over his chest. "My Chief Engineer also voiced concerns about the torpedoes that Admiral Marcus had given us. And his daughter Carol Marcus had her own theories as well."

"My my, it seems you had a myriad of people telling you one thing yet you steadfastly refused to listen."

'Is there a question in there?' He wondered to himself, but figured a comment like that would only add gasoline to the fire.

"Why is it, that a decorated Captain such as yourself, refused to listen to the multiple concerns of your crew, and still allowed this dangerous mission to commence?"

"Well, in case you missed it in the report, I did end up listening to them, and instead of firing those torpedoes with no warning at the unarmed Harrison, we manned a shuttle to the surface of Kronos and brought him back to the ship."

"Yes, where he was free to then hijack the Vengeance and crash it into a populated city." Sussen snapped, he was obviously not happy with the outcome. Or, more likely, he was not happy that the secret of who had crashed that ship and why, was no longer a secret.

"Admiral, Sir," Neema cut in, looking less than pleased with the tone the man was taking. "With all due respect, we are here to understand Captain Kirk's side of things. We understand the outcome, what we do not fully understand is how that became the outcome."

Sussen paused, licked his lips, then faced Jim once again. "Yes of course. So Captain, if you yourself had your own suspicions about Admiral Marcus, why continue the mission to capture Harrison in the first place?"

"He was still a wanted criminal sir, one who had recently unloaded countless rounds into a room full of captains and first officers of the 'Fleet. With all due respect, even you must realize he had to be brought to justice for what he'd done."

"Are you sure you were going there out of the good for Star Fleet, and not in revenge for Captain Pike's death? I am aware of the close relationship the two of you had."

He swallowed thickly, working his jaw before he answered. He'd known that question would come up, just like he knew he couldn't lie about it.

"On an official report, you lied!"

He blinked rapidly at the sudden unwanted memory, 'Not this time.' He thought to himself. "Yes." He whispered, "I went there in search of revenge. Revenge masked in justice, but revenge all the same. I fully admit that my reasoning was flawed, but-"

"But nothing Kirk." Sussen interrupted heatedly. "You admit the flaws of your actions, that may just earn you a little sympathy with the assembly. But there is another matter that is of concern today."

Jim blinked in confusion, looking to Neema for some answers but she didn't seem to know where Sussen was taking it either. "What matter is that Sir?"

"One that was just recently brought to our attention, Kirk." Sussen began, "Now, after the Vengeance crash, it was agreed that a cover-up would be put in place to uphold the integrity of Admiral Marcus' memory, was it not?"

Jim blanched, realizing with dread where this was going, "Look Sir, I understand that believe me I do-"

"Was it or was it not Mr. Kirk?"

Mr. not Captain, that wasn't a good sign. "Yes it was Sir."

"And did you or did you not object to that decision?"

He bit his lip and angrily glanced about the room, even Neema refused to meet his eye. "I did; I felt the families of people who died deserved to know the truth."

Sussen paused and smiled, and Jim knew instantly he'd been backed into a corner. It was a predatory smile, a smile of victory. "So please tell the assembly what exactly we should be thinking right now."

"Thinking about what exactly?"

"This, situation you got yourself into."

Jim's mouth fell open in shock, and he had to blink a couple times in disbelief. Was he even hearing this right, no way could that man be insinuating what he thought he was insinuating. "You mean the collapsed building that I was trapped in."

"Yes, the building. And this hack of the camera feeds that no one can seem to trace, no one can discern a motive for. Who would profit from such a thing? Who would have even known to hack into those cameras?"

"I don't know Sir, I assumed Star Fleet would be performing a formal investigation."

"We have." Sussen crossed his arms over his chest and glared down the long table at Jim. "You know, not many people are aware of this, but you Mr. Kirk, have quite the skill set when it comes to things such as hacking, do you not?"

He flat out refused to answer that, simply glared darkly at the Acting-Admiral.

"Yes, you do. In fact, you were brought to charges before an assembly while still in the Academy for hacking into and cheating on the Kobayashi Maru. Were you not?"

"I think we all know for a fact that I was. Is there a point here, Sir?" He tried to make the term drip with as much disdain as he was capable. He had to show the man respect, but he sure as hell was gonna make the man understand that he didn't like it.

"Yes there is, the point is, there is only one person this assembly can see with both the skills needed to pull off such a hack, and the motive to do so."

The room fell deathly silent as his head cocked to the left in disbelief. Something must have crossed his face because everyone was suddenly looking towards him warily. "Wait wait wait, I'm sorry, are you actually insinuating that I purposefully caused that building to collapse? Because that would just be moronic."

"Please Kirk, provide a different theory if you have one." Sussen responded smugly.

And that was when he was done. He'd tried, honestly tried to reign it in, to remain calm and handle things in a professional manner. But that man had just crossed a line, and he'd been stepped and trampled on before and he was not about to let it happen again. "Oh no, I'm sorry, yes, I definitely was able to plan that. I meticulously and perfectly planed for that building to collapse on me and my best friend, trap us under that rubble, and then rigged a system remotely to broadcast everything that was happening. Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention I was actually able to so perfectly plan the collapse that I caused myself and my best friend serious harm, but not enough to actually kill us. Is that honestly what you are suggesting?"

Sussen sputtered for a moment in shock; he apparently hadn't been expecting an outburst quite like that. Everyone in the room knew the logic behind what he was saying, whether or not they wanted to admit it was a different story. "N-no Captain, that's not- that isn't what we meant." The Acting-Admiral was quick to amend.

Jim just smiled mirthlessly, "I didn't think so." He backed away from the table slightly, too disgusted with the people there to even look at them anymore. "Look, me and Bo-McCoy were lucky to get out of there with our lives. He almost died, hell, I almost died! I was apparently under the incorrect impression that this 'hearing' or whatever the hell you wanna call it, was to discuss the events leading up to and involving Kahn, not whatever bullshit this it. Come to your own damn conclusion about what happened, I am done."

"And that was when I left." He finished with a shrug. Looking back on it he may have overreacted, and he definitely shouldn't have stormed out the way he did, but he'd just gotten so angry. And it really had been a stupid theory.

Bones shook his head with a huff of disgust, "Wow. You know, I knew some of those higher-ups could be bad but this, this is just ridiculous."

"Ridiculous or not," Spock began, ever the calm voice of reason in his life, "I fear your outburst may have caused more harm than good. While the points you provided were logical, your delivery of them may reflect poorly upon your character."

Jim shook his head, flailing his arms widely, "I don't care! I wasn't about to pander to them. Not when they'd already made up their minds about me, okay? I didn't have to deal with that shit, not when they were obviously just dumping on me."

"I completely understand Jim," Spock was quick to amend, putting his heart at ease. "And while I do agree that they were simply 'dumping on you' I thought it best to play devil's advocate, as it were."

"Devil's advocate," Bones just shook his head, "Look what's done is done. You can't do anything about it now, and for the record, I think those paper-pushers needed a good licking. Seriously, what did they look like?"

He cracked a smile at that, "Well, most of them wouldn't even look up at me. Sussen was as red as tomato by the end."

The light mood that had finally settled over the room shattered when the doors swished open to reveal Admiral Welka standing calmly before them. He subconsciously shifted closer to Bones, needing the support and comfort the man provided him unconditionally. "Hi Neema."

"Hi Jimmy." She said with a thin smile.

"So, the assembly's come to a conclusion?"

She paused, then nodded. "Yes, they have."