Didn't See It Coming - Part Three
U.S.S. Enterprise, 2281.216, 0850 hours. Nyota walked quietly alongside her adun as they made their way to the Captain's Ready Room. She was a jumble of raw nerves this morning. Part of her was so livid that that boy could so viciously attack her son and yet another part of her sympathized for his mothers; she knew Sara from Book Club and Jessie worked alongside Spock and she knew he admired her a great deal. Neither one could see how such a hateful young man could come from two such intelligent and kind-hearted people.
They had hoped to arrive early and get themselves settled but as soon as they walked in she was caught short by the sight of Cole sitting between his parents, a security ensign looming behind him. The ensign nodded at them but Cole—Cole just glared. Nyota had to forcibly stop the white hot rage searing through her body. All she wanted to do was jump across the table and strangle the little brute.
Calm, quiet strength surged through her as Spock reached out across the bond. Violence is never the answer, k'diwa, no matter how much it is warranted, he reminded her, nor how much I may desire it also in this instance. She took a deep breath and once she felt some semblance of control Nyota took her seat. The Captain and the Lieutenant Commanders Granger looked across the table at them; in the latter's eyes she saw all the guilt, sadness and inner turmoil she was feeling and it made her stomach twist in little knots.
"Thank you, Ensign. You can wait outside."
"Yes, Sir." Jim watched him go, waiting until he left the room before beginning. Turning to her and Spock he said, "I have Cole under house arrest until I've decided what's to be done. The only times he's allowed to leave are for school and trips to the Mess and he and his friends are not allowed to get within 2 meters of Se'tak at any time." Next he leveled his gaze on the boy in question. "Now what I want to hear from you is why you attacked him in the first place. You boys have had your issues, that's for sure, but nothing that would ever warrant an assault on this scale. So what prompted this?"
Cole just scowled at him. "I have nothing to say to you, Sir."
Nyota hadn't expected any less from the dreadful boy but apparently Jim did. She saw his face fall a little in shock before shouting, "You damn well better have something to say for yourself because I'm the one who decides whether or not to keep you on this ship!"
She sucked in her breath. While her initial gut reaction had been to send him away to keep her child safe, as a mother she couldn't bear to think about being forcibly separated from her children. By the looks of things neither could his parents. "Cole, please!" Sara held his arm and pleaded, "Tell him it was an accident, a mistake, that you weren't thinking!"
"NO!" he shouted, shaking her off as he leaped up from the table. He glowered down his nose at Jim. "You want to throw me over for a bunch of lab-grade, alien freaks just because you think they're your friends?! FINE! It's humans like you who are part of the problem!"
Nyota gasped while across the bond she also sensed Spock's surprise. So it'd been a revelation to both of them then. They'd thought that Cole's problems with their son stemmed from some boyhood slight—they hadn't realized he'd been persecuting Se'tak because of his heritage.
Kirk tried to look detached but years of working alongside him let her know that he was seething inside. "Come again, young man?"
"Blue skin, green blood, tentacles for hair—you protect every other sub-standard species in the galaxy when you should be looking after your own kind first! They insert themselves into our lives, steal our opportunities, our jobs, our women!" Cole was hysterical now, eyes wide, hands flying all over the place. "And then…and then when they start having half-blood freak babies you all act like it's the greatest thing ever! In a couple more generations humankind will be completely wiped off the galactic map! Is that what you want?! Because if so that's just sick!"
"Cole, where is this coming from!? This isn't how your mother and I raised you!" Sara cried.
"No shit, or else I'd be a hippie-dippie alien-lover like the two of you too!"
"HEY!" Jessie, who for the most part had been silent, jumped up and slapped her son hard across the cheek. He barely even flinched. "You do NOT talk to your MOM or ANYONE ELSE like THAT EVER!" They stared one another down, the adrenaline coursing through their veins, until Cole finally re-took his seat; it didn't escape Nyota's notice, however, that he didn't look at all repentant for his latest little speech. Jessie took a couple deep breaths to calm down before asking him where he learned to talk and think like that. When he didn't answer Jim walked over to a small table in the corner of the room and picked up a PADD.
"Most likely it came from whoever's been sending you these," he said, tossing it on the table. "I know we don't sell or grant access to crap like this on the ship. We found it when your mothers gave us permission to search your room yesterday while Se'tak was still missing." Curious as to what it contained, Sara reached out for the PADD and powered it up, only to fling it away almost immediately afterward.
It was a newsletter from the xenophobic extremist group Earth for Earthlings and just a glance at the headlines was enough to sicken her. Strangely enough it was Spock who took hold of the PADD and began scanning the items therein with great interest; meanwhile Jessie's face went from flush to pale in the space of a heartbeat. "How did he find you?" she asked under her breath.
Cole glared at her. "Better question is how did he lose me?!"
Sara looked over her son's head at her wife. "Billy?" Jessie nodded.
"And who exactly is this Billy character?" Jim asked.
"If I may answer, Captain," Spock said as he extended the PADD to him, "William would appear to be Cole's sa-mekh-al." Jim's eyebrow shot up as he glanced at the subscription notice.
"Speak Standard!" Cole yelled. "Grandfather, he's my grandfather, not a sam-mick-eel." There was a prickle of annoyance from Spock which he quickly dismissed.
"HEY!" Jim shouted back, "You better watch your mouth…"
Ignoring him, Cole turned to Jessie and added, "And to answer your question, we've been talking for over 2.5 years, right after I found out you lied to me. You told me he was dead!"
Nyota watched the fight come back in Jessie's eyes. She gestured at the PADD. "That's because we didn't want you to get mixed up in all of this!" She sighed and looked around at the rest of the group. "My father is a xenophobe, has been all his life; gone to protests and meetings for as long as I can remember and can quote EFE doctrine backwards and forwards. Needless to say that when I enlisted he completely lost it. He couldn't understand why I'd throw my lot in with 'them' and he disinherited me. For 10 years I heard nothing from him—"
"He didn't even come to our wedding," Sara chimed in.
Jessie nodded. "But when he learned we were expecting he decided to step back into the picture." She paused and took several deep breaths to stave off the tears.
Sara reached out took hold of Jessie's hand reassuringly. "We don't know how he found out, but he did. Billy showed up on our doorstep saying he wanted to make amends. He said he'd changed his ways, that he wanted to be a part of the baby's life, that the baby would need a strong male role model…"
Jessie jumped back in. "We were hesitant at first, but as the weeks passed, well…he seemed to have genuinely changed, so we let him be a part of our lives. I made it very clear from the get go that we wouldn't tolerate any EFE talk in our home or around our son and he agreed to that too—for awhile."
"Cole was five when we found out," Sara explained. "Occasionally Billy would take him on outings to the park or the zoo—or so he told us—when in reality he'd been taking him to underground EFE meetings. We only learned the truth because one day Cole came home all excited, talking about a carnival that Grampy had taken him to and how he hit the most Golden Nuggets with the toy laser gun. I didn't get it until I told Jessie that night and she explained to me what it really meant."
"The minute I heard the story I just knew. Golden Nuggets was what my father liked to call the Ithenites and it's not something Cole would've picked up anywhere else. I called my Dad that night and told him he was forbidden from seeing or speaking to Cole ever again and that as far as I was concerned he was dead to me." She turned back to her son. "You were so little and it was easier telling you the lie then try and explain the truth. So tell me, after all these years how did he find you again?"
Cole huffed in annoyance and glared at her from the corner of his eyes. "I found him. I was doing research on our family tree for a class project and couldn't find a date of death for him. A few quick web searches later and I had his address."
A moment's silence fell around the table. Nyota grieved for the little boy who, with a relative like that, never had much of a chance.
It was Jim who broke the stalemate. "Do you understand what you've done? I mean truly understand? You assaulted Se'tak and held him hostage for over 4 hours. In that time any number of things could've gone wrong: he could've succumbed to his head wound or gotten severely dehydrated—Hell, he could've died! If the ship had been attacked and I had to order an emergency evac Se'tak wouldn't have been able to get out and he would've died." He eyed Cole carefully as he spoke but his expression never wavered. "Are you even the least bit sorry for what you've done?"
"I am," Cole replied, a small, perverse smile forming on his lips.
Nyota was shocked. "You are?"
Cole looked her right in the eye and she shuddered; she saw no soul there. "I'm sorry I didn't throw him out an airlock when I had the chance. One less freak in the galaxy to have to deal with."
Spock didn't flinch but all three women gasped in the face of such hatred; Jim sat brooding in his chair. Suddenly he punched a button on the table and the security ensign walked in. "Yes, Sir?"
"Escort Mr. Granger here back to his quarters and see that he doesn't leave."
The large Rigelian smiled; clearly he'd been apprised of the situation. "Yes, Sir." He motioned for Cole to get up and follow him, something Cole was reluctant to do, but soon both were out of the room. Jessie scooted closer to Sara and threw an arm over the other woman's shoulder as she was trembling hard with fright.
"I take no pleasure in doing this," Jim said quietly, "But Cole's plan yesterday was as vicious as it was calculated and I can't in good conscience keep him on this ship. He's proven he has a vendetta out not just against Se'tak but against all non-human personnel, and as loathe as I am to do this keeping Cole here is no longer an option, especially now that he's demonstrated what he's capable of and has shown no remorse." Sara was crying hard now and Jessie held her closer; Nyota's own eyes grew moist but that didn't mean she was blind to Jim's struggle. He'd only ever ordered a handful of people off the ship before and even then only after they'd truly wronged him or his crew. "Now this doesn't mean either of you have to resign your commissions but I'll understand if you want to remain with Cole. Again, I'm truly sorry that's it come to this."
"We understand, Captain," Jessie conceded. "We thought that you might...but we still hoped…" her voice trailed off as she comforted her wife.
"What'll happen to the other boys?" Nyota asked Jim.
"We've talked to them both and investigated their involvement but cleared them of any major wrongdoing. Kevin did write the override program and Sean did procure the handcuffs and they'll still be punished for that but neither one knew what Cole was up to. Apparently they were under the impression that he—ahem—intended to use them for more 'recreational' purposes."
Spock looked at him rather quizzically and she was equally puzzled as to his meaning. "Captain?"
Under different circumstances she might've enjoyed watching Kirk squirm in his seat but not today. "Cole and his girlfriend…"
Nyota thought she was going to be sick at the idea that he and some young girl would do that when Jessie blurted out, "Tabitha?" making her truly feel the bile rise in her throat. The thought of that dear sweet girl doing that and with that boy…and poor Chris probably didn't know the true extent of any of it.
The other women appeared to be numb with shock as neither one responded; for that matter she wasn't sure she could take much more of this either. Jim told the mothers that they had one month to make arrangements for Cole off the Enterprise before dismissing them all and going to stand and stare out the viewport. The four parents parted ways in the corridor with Sara and Jessie making repeated apologies for their son's behavior before returning grief-stricken to their quarters.
2315 hours. As Spock slipped into bed beside her that evening Nyota could tell that something was troubling him. She turned onto her side to get a better look at his face and let her fingers trace lightly over the tip of his ear. "What is it?"
The corners of his mouth ticked ever-so-slightly downward. "I have reached the conclusion that I am to blame for Se'tak's being the target of Cole's wrath."
Her hand dropped. "Come again?"
"It has been my understanding—and subsequent observations and experiences have confirmed this—that humans react emotionally and often violently when they believe a family member or close friend has been wronged. This is especially true during the hormonally imbalanced adolescent years, is not?"
"Yes, I suppose, but…"
"Three days before the first reported altercation between Cole and Se'ta, I promoted Lieutenant Commander Hua-Leh as my second in the science lab."
She still couldn't quite follow his train of thought. "I don't see how…"
"Lieutenant Commander Granger was also in competition for the spot. Her qualifications rivaled those of Lieutenant Commander Hua-Leh; indeed, I found it difficult to choose between the two."
"Spock." She snuggled up closer to him, trying to ease his guilt through physical contact. "It isn't your fault. Cole's a troubled kid. Even if you had promoted his mother there's no guarantee he wouldn't have picked on Se'tak; and if it hadn't been our son he would've found another kid to take his anger out on. It was only a matter of time."
"Nyota, I checked the logs. Cole reconnected with his sa-mekh-al one week prior to my making my decision. It is statistically unlikely that in the course of their 21.25 minute call that Cole was re-introduced to EFE doctrine at that time. My choosing Lieutenant Commander Hua-Leh over Lieutenant Commander Granger was all the catalyst the boy needed. The facts are in evidence and I am at fault."
She draped an arm around his waist and laid her head against his chest knowing that there would be no convincing him. Maybe Spock was right, maybe that one decision had unduly influenced Cole's path, but she certainly didn't blame her adun for all that had happened since. From across the bond she sensed that he understood her thought process even if he didn't agree with her.
"Sweetheart?" Nyota asked, lifting up her head, "If you don't mind my asking, why did you choose Hua-Leh over Granger? You said so yourself that they were evenly matched, so what tipped the balance?"
He ceased stroking her hair. "I consulted with Jim upon the matter during one of our chess matches. He produced a coin, flipped it, and declared Hua-Leh the winner."
She laid her head back down. "So what you're saying is that Jim really made the decision about who to promote then? Not you?"
"I—" but he stopped uncharacteristically short. It was rare that she could out-logic him, especially when she hadn't even meant to.
"See," she whispered against his skin, "it really wasn't your fault."