CH 34 HAVE YOU LOST YOUR EVER LOVING MIND

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JACK POV IN SHUTTLE

Jack waits until Jim and Kate have descended the ramp before he grabs Slayton by the shirt tossing him next to Hyden. "Stand at attention and don't you dare move." He takes a moment to compose himself before speaking. "What the fuck were you two dipshits thinking," he says hotly through gritted teeth. He has to keep his volume low. Kate might be out of sight but she could be within earshot. "She was in a locked hangar and you took her down like she was going after the president."

"We used the nonviolent methods you taught us in training sir," Hyden sneers giving Alec a malicious smile.

"Nonviolent… nonviolent," Jack flips Hyden over his shoulder pinning him in a fluid motion to the ground like Kate was. "Is this nonviolent," he says as he grinds his knee into Hyden's back.

"No sir," Hyden squeaks out a response.

Jack shoves his knee deeper into the fleshy part between Hyden's shoulder blades leaning all his weight into it. If Hyden can talk then he is not suffering enough. "Then why the hell would you do this to a 12-year-old GIRL!"

Several grunts and squeaking sounds come out of Hyden's mouth as he tries to speak and breath. "She…was in… a highly agitated state," is the only response he can manage. Jack feels the Lt. below him starting to fight to get loose as the lack of oxygen begins to force him into unconsciousness.

"I am in a fucking highly agitated state you moron," Jack gets up. If he wasn't looking for answers, he would let Hyden pass out under him. "Stand up!" Jack gives Hyden a split second to assume the position of attention. Just to emphasize the brutality to which they treated Kate, Jack hauls the slowly rising Lt. to an erect position. The rapid movement makes Hyden sway as he fights not to black out still recovering from the modified sleeper hold. "Don't you dare pass out," Jack hisses in Hyden's face. Wanting Hyden to be clear headed for the ass reaming he is about to receive, Jack turns his attention to Alec Slayton giving Hyden a moment to collect himself. "And you…what possessed you to pull a phaser on the shuttle bay crew Slayton?"

Slayton looks at Jack rubbing his jaw. There is a dull ache where the Captain hit him. He can also feel two of his teeth are loose. There has to be a rule about a superior officer striking one of his men. Alec makes a mental note to find it and file a report against the Captain. Once he gets Jack on his side, everything will turn around. "They were attempting to interfere with the arrest," he says self-assured not breaking eye contact with Jack.

"So you pulled a phaser," Jack asks incredulously. Why neither of the officers before him sees their gross misjudgment in logic astounds him. Unless someone was openly firing a weapon or had a bomb, no member of this crew should have been treated that way. The more Jack thinks about it even with a weapon Jack would not have taken the perpetrator down in such a fashion. He would have simply stunned their ass. After all his years in Section 31 and special ops, he has learned that a hands-off approach is the best. No matter how good you are, getting that close to someone poses risks to everyone.

Mistaking Jack's silence for condoning their actions, Slayton presses his point. "We could not take the chance the situation would escalate into one we can't control," he relaxes his shoulders breaking his attention stance.

"A situation you two yahoos created," Jack snaps feeling his anger bubbling over, "and I did not give you permission for at ease Lt."

"I was holding them back until your arrival sir," Slayton stares, "I knew once you got,"

"Holding them back," Jack cuts him off sharply. "Off her or you because the way it looked they were ready to rip you from limb to limb. If I hadn't got here when I did they would have rioted and I can't say I would have blamed them. Kate is a child."

"And a dangerous one that no one wants to talk about. What if she had went off sir," Hyden says in a smart ass tone.

"Went off," Jack cocks an eyebrow at him. "She is almost a teenager and a girl to boot. They go off all the time. It is in their genetics but we don't strangle them even though we say we will. You could have broken a rib, punctured a lung. What if you killed her?"

"Never would have happened," Hyden says with such confidence Jack wants to show him how easy it would be to prove him wrong. A well-placed punch to the ribs would wipe the arrogant sneer off Hyden's face. "She is not a normal kid sir and you know it. She is a freak and a monster capable of,"

"And there we have it," Jack throws up his hands dramatically. "You were not concerned about the safety of the crew. You are freaking scared of a kid who, by the way, goes by the name Katherine Kirk. That for most people with a brain translates to being untouchable. Only someone with the intelligence of a gnat would think they would piss with the CO's daughter. I am not the smartest guy on the ship and even I know that one."

Hyden's cocky expression turns stony. "You saw what the Jedi were capable of. You want to deal with her tearing the ship apart. Killing our men,"

"I heard they can control your mind and command you to do things like open hatches," Slayton adds. "It is the only way she could have gotten past our security teams."

Jack feels an icy knot forming in the pit of his stomach. The situation is far worse than he initially thought. This was not a security mishap. This was a premeditated attack on the Jedi based on fear and ignorance. Jack takes a calming breath. He has always preferred a straight enemy that comes at you head on. The zealots and bigots like Slayton and Hyden hide like a fungus spreading their rot on everything they touch. They cannot remain aboard the Enterprise after this. If Jim doesn't come up with the idea of a transfer, Jack will see to it himself. "You heard wrong," Jack's expression hardens to stone. "You both will be charged with assault on minors,"

"I never laid a finger on your son," Slayton fumes.

"You threw him across the deck," Jack gets within inches of the Lieutenant's face. "What do you call that?"

"Forcibly removing him from a hostile environment," Slayton squares his shoulders.

"A hostile environment you two created. Dawson where the hell are you," Jack bellows into his shirt comm. If he and the security team doesn't remove Slayton and Hyden from his sight, he will be in the cell next to them.

"Jesus fucking Christ Colonel," Hyden shakes his head not believing what he just heard. "You are siding with her! How can you not understand what needs to happen here? She possessed you and your team in the hall when the Jedi escaped. She knocked you unconscious with a thought. You are endangering every single person on this ship. The Captain is going soft. Why can't he see Kate is a threat to the ship Colonel."

"Because she is not! She is a kid plain and simple," Jack barks back. "You will also be charged with pulling a weapon on the crew, inciting a riot, gross insubordination, and anything else I can think of!" Jack works to keep his breathing slow and controlled.

"I want to press charges," Hyden demands. At one time, he respected the hell out of Jack O'Neill. Now he only sees a bootlicker trying to win the Captain's approval. After all the abuse Kate Kirk has targeted John O'Neill for, Hyden can't fathom why Jack isn't high fiving them. When this is over, he will write a report that will make everyone in Star Fleet privy to the events on the ship and no amount of ass kissing by Kirk or his senior staff will fix it.

"Against whom? A 12-year-old, 80-pound girl? Go for it. Hell lets court martial her because what you two nimrods are missing is that she is a kid, a member of the crew, and the Captain's daughter. That means she is entitled to all benefits of being on this ship and I will defend her by any means necessary against fucking assholes like you," Jack says in an icy tone.

"So because of her connections and last name she gets a free pass," Hyden growls.

"Her last name changes nothing. When Kate arrived on the ship, the Jedi filled her head with lies. She reacted exactly how any of us would. We have spent 10 days trying to convince her we are friends and in 10 seconds, you undid that. How you could assume Kate could repair a ship, she had no knowledge, and fly proves you are idiots."

"From what I heard, she is a master mechanic. They were in there a long time. The sign did not say the engine was shot. Only that the shuttle was under repairs. How did I know it was just a simple circuit board and why do you believe she is from another galaxy? Why can't she be a Klingon spy sent to retrieve information which the Klingons will use against us."

"You have got to be kidding me," Jack breaks into a smirk of disbelief. "You truly have earned the nickname Dimwitt."

"The point is colonel," Dewitt Hyden stares at Jack with an icy gaze, "we don't know who the hell she is or what she is."

"I do," Jack states in a matter of fact tone. He is done talking with these two. They have embraced irrational fear and paranoia over reasoning. The sooner they are off the ship the better. "She is a 12-year-old girl that scares the shit out of you and in my book that makes you pathetic."

"Attention," Jim snaps falling into Captain mode storming up the ramp. Since Kate is out of the hangar, there is no reason to hold back and Kirk is ready to bring the wrath of God down on the two officers behind Jack O'Neill.

"Here we go," Jack thinks stepping out of the way. These men may be under his command but Jim is the Captain. In addition, his kid took the brunt of the assault. Even if there weren't Captain stripes on his sleeve, Jack would let Jim take a crack at these guys. It is the right thing to do.

"You two," he points at the Slayton and Hyden in a no compromising voice. "Do not move at all." Jim stands at attention in front of his men. "What happened?" In reality, Jim does not care about their story. They had his kid face down on the floor in cuffs. Nothing they say can justify their action. He is just following protocol.

"She entered the shuttle. We heard it ignite. The Colonel's son was aboard. We entered the ship and detained her," Lt. Dewitt Hyden reports. The stony expression on the Captain's face is not what he had anticipated. Their Chief of Security had an altercation just like this in Sick Bay and nothing came of it. Maybe he just needs to make the Captain aware of what truly could have happened. He has no doubt Kate cried and lied out her ass when Kirk took her off the shuttle. "We were concerned she was attempting to take John as a hostage sir."

Jim stands with his hands firmly at his sides. If he doesn't he will take a swing at the men in front of him. "What indication did she give she was taking hostages or attempting to lift off," Jim demands in an icy tone. "From what the deck chief said it was clear to everyone in the hangar John and Kate were sitting in plain view talking."

The Captain's barely controlled anger sets off warning bells in Hyden's head. There is no way he can be siding with her after all the trouble she has caused. He never thought of the Captain as dumb but if he has to connect the dots, he will. "Sir you are missing the big picture Captain." Jim narrows his eyes at the boldness of the Lieutenant's statement. Jack resists the urge to order his men to shut their mouths. If they want to add gross insubordination to the list of charges they are racking up so be it. "She did not know the shuttle could not fly. She could have caused trouble by barricading herself and the Colonel's son in it. It is a known fact she can fight as well as we do. I was not taking any chances." The more he talks, the more Hyden realizes he has to sell the idea Kate was out to fuck them over.

"Watch your mouth, Lieutenant. You were asked to state facts, not come up with conjecture. You were also not given the permission to speak freely," Jim's tone is hostile but controlled. "First off she has a name and that name is Katherine Kirk. You will address her as such from this point forward." Jim stares at each man, in turn, attempting to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind. The facts are clear and no one's story varies widely. It matches all the other times Kate has over reacted, but something is off. Yes, several of Jack's men have had to put hands on Kate over the past ten days resulting in superficial bruising and a dislocated shoulder. She is a hell of a fighter and it was needed to control her, but nothing to the extent he knows will be found after Bones examines her. The part he can't piece together is why the two men don't have a scratch on them. Even Jack broke a sweat when taking Kate down. This snaps a piece of the puzzle into place. Jim lets his gaze drift off the men's eyes and to their whole face. A bead of sweat trickling down Hyden's temple snaps all the pieces together. "She didn't fight back," Jim says in a low voice as his eyes snap to back to Hyden's. "You assumed she was out to screw us but when you got in the shuttle you realized she was doing nothing. Once you realized your mistake, you got pissed. Not wanting to look like a fool you staged it and took your anger out on her. You thought she would react like the previous times, but Kate didn't fight back did she. In fact, you took it upon yourself to try and push her to fight yet she still didn't. Without her putting up a struggle, your story is full of shit. She wasn't stealing a shuttle and you know it." Jim sighs out of frustration. He hopes the acts of these two assholes won't undermine everything the people that care about Kate have created. "Next, stop you both are being transferred off the Enterprise," Jim informs them turning to leave the shuttle.

"Captain that is unfair and unwarranted," Lt. Hyden rants before taking a step forward to press his point. "If her name wasn't Kirk would this still be your stance, Captain." Jim stops dead on the ramp. Jack has to intervene now before there is another confrontation in the shuttle.

"What did you just say to me," Kirk spins around slowly.

"Dumbass keep your damn mouth shut," Jack thinks stepping between Hyden and the Captain who will be coming back up the ramp. He would. "You will remain at attention Lieutenant. That is you commanding officer," Jack thunders in his face. How the officer before him can be so stupid is beyond his comprehension. In his opinion, the ass chewing went rather swimmingly. Jack was fully prepared to have to pry Jim's hands off of one or both of their necks.

Half pushing Jack out of the way Jim gets in Hyden's face. "YOU harmed a kid…my kid and that will never happen again," Jim slams Hyden up against shuttle with anger rolling off him. "Hyden…Slayton, you are hereby remanded to the brig for assault and gross insubordination until we reach the next star fleet posting. There you will be transferred off this ship. Dawson, remove them from my sight," Jim hisses through gritted teeth as he steps aside for the three men security team to follow his orders. He waits until the men are being escorted down the ramp before speaking. "Jack, remain here," Jim says closing the shuttle door. There is no need for an audience. Jim paces the shuttle waiting for the door to close. "I want them gone and I want them gone now." Jim thunders at Jack. "What the hell were your men doing?"

"Not their jobs. That's for damn sure," Jack says adjusting his hat. He prepares for the ass chewing he is about to receive. He doesn't like it but it is expected. These men were under his command and they fucked up. In the military shit doesn't always roll downhill. Sometimes, like now, it rolls uphill.

"Well thank God for that," Jim says sarcastically. "I mean if your protocols involved treating a child…like a terrorist… then we are golden."

He knows Jim is just ranting but the comment annoys the shit out of Jack. "I gave specific orders to all my men that no kid was to be treated in such a manner. The protocol for the kids is the old school rule to call their Moms or in this case Dads. Like you, I think parents should have the ultimate say in how and what for their children are disciplined.

Jim ignores Jack's explanation. He knows the protocol and signed off on it. He is just pissed off and ready to take it out on anyone. "I want them transferred off the ship. I don't care what position they hold or how valuable they are to your team."

"No one that is willing to harm a child in that manner is valued or welcomed on my staff. I just need the paperwork Captain."

Jim nods before his facial expressions harden. "Don't ever get in my way again like that. We are friends but there is a line. I would have done that for any of the kids. My reaction was not because she was my kid," Jim says in a low growl.

"Had there not been an audience," Jack points to the ramp, "or your daughter in the middle of what would have become an all-out brawl, I would have turned a blind eye and said he fell. Whether it was fair or not you needed to maintain a level of control and I saw it slipping. Believe me, Jim, I get where you were coming from. Kate isn't even my kid and I wanted to beat them to a bloody pulp but you are the Captain and her father. She needed you to be at her side. She didn't need to see you beat the crap out of Dipshit and Numbnuts to know you were going to handle it and protect her."

Jim works to control his anger. As much as he doesn't want to admit it Jack was right. Kate didn't need to see that side of him: just know it is there. "Why do you think she didn't fight back? I mean I doubt she could have taken them both but they didn't have a scratch on them. That is the part that is still bothering me," Jim asks leaning against the shuttle wall crossing his arms.

"She was probably scared," Jack says and adds silently to himself, "which is why she didn't need to see you go Rambo on the two of them. I don't do anything without a reason, Jim. You should know that by now."

"Scared of Hyden," Jim gives Jack a weird look. "No, I don't think so."

"Time to rip the band-aid off," Jack says to himself. He of all people understands what he is about to say to Jim. It is gonna hurt like hell but is the truth. "You Jim," Jack says taking a seat in the shuttle. "She was afraid of you and your reaction."

"Me," Jim looks at Jack confused.

"How long has she been here Jim and what has happened in that time? You yourself just pointed out in the staff meeting she thinks you abandoned her. She saw me shoot her friends and Bones is nailing her with a sedative every five minutes. Why the hell should she trust us? I wouldn't." Jack leans back feeling a headache come on. All he wants is to go home but with Hyden and Slayton in the brig that won't be happening anytime soon. "The reason I think Slayton and Hyden walked out of here without a scratch is she unsure if this was going to be the straw that broke the camel's back so to speak. I am not looking to pick another fight but her mom left her when it was inconvenient to have a kid. Han Solo sent her off to some military boarding school, so why wouldn't you?"

"You think I would do that," Jim feels sick.

"Hell no, but she doesn't know that. Kate is accustomed to being left and told it is for the best." Jim feels his anger replaced by guilt hearing Jack's words. "Kate needs you Jim, not Captain Kirk. You need to be with her. I got this. Go take care of our girl."

Everything Jack has said makes sense. He nods in agreement and opens the back of the shuttle. His people have this. Jack is right. His place is with Kate tonight. Jim stops halfway down the ramp remembering one last thing. "How is John?" he asks genuinely concerned

"Besides his ego getting crushed, he will survive." Jim nods and walks out the hangar. Jack leans back closing his eyes. This day has been an unmitigated disaster and still isn't over.

"Sir, we need you at the brig," Hendorff's voice comes over his shirt comm.

"On my way," Jack adjusts his hat and descends the ramp.

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