Chapter 32: Scales of Justice
"Stardate 2259.207 at ten hundred hours. By the power vested in this body by the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets, we call this trial to order."
The words washed over her as she looked upon the judge's box high above her where five figures dressed all in a sombre grey were staring down at the two tables in the court space.
"Considering the severity of the events that have taken place within recent days it has been ruled that this case shall fall under Federation jurisdiction. However we are willing to concede with the request of Starfleet Command that Starfleet Officer Commander Spock be appointed adjunct council and that Admiral Josephine Sterling be appointed to the judge's bench."
The judge that had spoken was a human male, Samson Oritz, and he sat in the middle overlooking the entire hall with a calm but steady gaze of his dark eyes. He was currently gesturing beside him to another human, a middle aged woman with a kindly face that was currently set in a small serious frown and light brown hair neatly tied back in a tight bun behind her head. On her other side a light blue Andorian male sat, his antennae slowly twisting about nervously unsettling his thin mop of white hair.
Meanwhile on Judge Oritz's other side a male Caitian with a dark mane about his half feline half humanoid face tilted his head, his golden catlike eyes assessing the prosecutions table with wondrous curiosity whereas the female on his left a strange yellow skinned alien humanoid with strange spots all over the sides of her face was clearly disdainful of the entire affair.
"Your Honour the prosecution would like to call Miss Layla Serena Singh to take the stand" Spock's voice suddenly rang loud and clear for everyone to hear in the room.
There was silence all about her. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end where the piercing gazes of hundreds of eyes, human and alien, struck with scrutiny like many miniscule needles from both the judge's bench and the public gallery behind her.
She barely felt her father's hand gently squeeze hers under the metal table nor clearly heard the words he whispered in her ear.
"Layla…it's alright"
Instead she heard Judge Oritz's calm but booming and deep voice from above.
"Is there something the matter Miss Singh?"
"…No sir"
Layla was so surprised by the sound of her own voice exiting her lips that she almost jumped to her feet.
However thankfully Khan's grip on her hand steadied her and she rose quietly to her feet.
In the seat on the other side of her vacated one, James Tiberius Kirk watched with both worry and sympathy as the usually proud strong young augment now timidly approached the witness's stand. His eyes darted quickly to the small table across the main floor of the court, in front of the public gallery, where a middle aged man with short hair, antique glasses and a now dark shadow of stubble over his weak chin sat languidly back in his chair, watching with undisguised derisive loathing at the young girl as she made to sit down in the designated chair before the entire court.
Oritz spoke up once more this time his voice slightly softer and gentler as he and his peers beside him turned to face Layla who gulped nervously in her seat.
"Please state your full name, species and date of birth for the record."
"My name is Layla Serena Singh, I am of the species Aucta-Homo-Sapiens, also known as an Augmented Human. And I was born on Stardate 2245.218" Layla did her best to ignore the hundreds of staring faces from the public gallery and instead kept her gaze solely on the prosecutions table.
Khan caught her glacial blue gaze in his own. Even though she had been using his name for a while he still swelled with pride at the sound.
He gave her a tiny but encouraging upward quirk of the lips. Layla's own mouth twitched upwards in a small smile of relief as Oritz spoke up once more.
"Miss Singh Do you Solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence you shall give for the duration of this trial shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"Yes, I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Layla repeated now calm and composed as she looked back up at the judges, meeting each one of them in the eye before turning her gaze back towards the room at large.
Oritz cleared his throat.
"Commander Spock you may proceed with your questions"
Spock stepped forwards, his dress uniform so immaculate that it was almost disturbing.
He looked at Layla impassively as she watched him carefully. It wasn't that she didn't trust him after all he'd done for her, but still…it was always hard to know what he was actually thinking with that unnaturally blank face.
"Miss Singh, may I enquire about your chronological age?"
"Fourteen. I will be fifteen in August this year"
"And for how much of your life were you imprisoned in Section 31 under Operation Spectre?"
"From my date of birth till last month on Stardate 2259.180,"
"And who were the officers in charge of overseeing Operation Spectre?"
"The Late Admiral Alexander Marcus" Layla's gulped "And Keith Lance"
There were murmurs from the public but Layla didn't care. She tried to keep her eyes averted from the defence's table as Lance smirked back at her hatred and loathing clear in his dark grey eyes.
Noticing the unwanted attention, Spock quickly made with his next question.
"Miss Singh what were the main objectives of Operation Spectre?"
"Operation Spectre was…was…" Layla's hands clenched as visions suddenly flashed over her mind's eye. Of bruises, of screaming, of holo-screens…of pain…
She took a deep breath, her eyes opened and she spoke.
"Operation Spectre was an alpha level operation initiated by Admiral Marcus in 2245. This operation was to be an experiment to see if Section 31 could create and raise a soldier, through augmentation of human or alien genetics so as to aid and fight on the front lines for what he believed to be an impending war with the Klingons."
"Excuse me but may I interrupt for a moment" one of the judges spoke up from beside Oritz. It was the human woman to his right and she was looking very worried now.
"If you must Sterling" Oritz nodded graciously.
"Correct me if I'm wrong but genetic augmentation is a practice that is now illegal across not only Federation but also within Starfleet research isn't it"
Khan watched Sterling carefully through sharp eyes. She didn't seem to be mocking or sarcastic towards Layla. If anything her worry stemmed more from the actual subject matter laid out in front of her. He felt his heart lift slightly at the thought.
Even if one of the judges were sympathetic it was a definite bonus for their cause.
He stayed silent as he watched Layla bit her lip nervously before turning to look up at Sterling.
"…Not exactly your honour…I think you'll find that if you were to read the laws on genetic augmentation you'd see that there is a rather large loophole"
"Would you Care to explain what this loop hole might be Miss Singh?" Spock asked quirking a brow to show his intrigue.
"As many of you are well aware ever since the…exile of my race in 1996, genetic augmentation has been made illegal on Earth and subsequently the Federation upon its establishment in 2161. Ever since then it has been illegal for scientists to tamper with the genetic construction of embryos, human or otherwise, as well as tamper with the genetics of fully grown sentient creatures without their consent or for non-medical reasons. However…"
She paused and took a deep breath.
"However the Federation's laws say nothing on allowing an already genetically augmented embryo conceived from before the law was passed, to be born"
"Before the law was passed?" the yellow feline eyes of the Caitian judge on Ortitz's left widened considerably. "But that would surely have to mean that you were conceived back in the late twentieth century during the end of the Eugenics Wars"
There were many confused mutterings from everyone in the room however both the prosecutions' and the defence's tables both stayed silent as they waited for Oritz to silence the public.
"Silence in court" he turned to look at the rest of his fellow judges who were all now looking at Layla with wonder.
"Conceived in one century but born in another?" the Andorian male's antennae were stock still in shock.
"How could such a thing be even possible?" the yellow alien female hissed glancing at Khan and then at Spock who took the opportunity to make himself heard above the small ruckus behind.
"Your honour after viewing the evidence of logs pertaining to Operation Spectre we can now confirm that Miss Singh's mother, Helene Marlene Singh nee Troy, was Khan Noonien Singh's wife and subsequently one of the cytogenetically frozen crew members aboard the SS Botany Bay. However unlike her husband, her cryotube was discovered adrift after the ship itself was hit by an asteroid that breached the lower hull. It is presumed that she was already several days away from the crash site when she was picked up by a Section 31 shuttle returning from a rescue mission on Tarsus IV"
Layla could almost feel the tenseness as both Kirk and Khan both went as still as marble. However Spock had his back towards the both of them as the yellow alien judge snorted with derisive sarcasm.
"You honestly can't expect us to believe that in spite of being cryogenically frozen, the embryo survived?! I'm sorry Commander but even that is preposterous by today's standards."
"I must agree with Ska'rall" the Andorian judge narrowed his eyes on the prosecutions table. "Cryogenics may be an outdated form of technology with very little information, however it is common knowledge that in many of the early experimentations such a feat was clearly impossible."
"Not just that Thelin" Ska'rall's eyes now turned on Khan who met her gaze coldly and unflinchingly. "But considering her heritage can such information really be trusted"
"Isn't that a bit rich coming from the likes of you?!"
There was a very pregnant pause.
Layla meanwhile was too angry to even compute her lapse in control as she sprang to her feet.
"I thought the position of a judge in a court of law was to pass judgements based on facts not pre conceived bias. Or are my definitions out dated your honour?"
Kirk could hear from behind him McCoy's soft cursing as he and the main bridge crew of the enterprise sat along with the Augments in the row just behind them. All their faces were pale, save Ronan who for some reason was as he leant to whisper in Khan's ear.
"Chip of the old block isn't she?"
"She sure is"
The Starfleet captain turned quickly to look at the Augment beside him only to see the usually stoic and stone cold face smirk softly, a small twinkle of pride glimmering in his icy eyes as he looked upon his daughter who made to sit back down in the witness seat folding her arms in a huff and glaring angrily at the judge's all of whom were looking stunned.
It was only after a full minute that Judge Sterling found her voice, which was slightly strained, almost like she was attempting not to laugh.
"No Miss Singh, your definition of the duties of a judge are very much correct"
Ska'rall opened her mouth to speak but at a sharp look from Sterling shut her mouth tight though she continued to narrow her eyes at Layla who raised her eyebrows back coldly.
"Now that we've established our job descriptions perhaps we could continue this trial" Oritz coughed loudly and pointedly as he turned back to Spock who was still standing patiently, though Layla could now see his brow furrowed ever so slightly with concern.
"Thank you your honour" he replied placidly turning once again to approach the box in which his witness sat. "Miss Singh as we were saying before, according to statements made by the late Dr Verity Jefferson you were conceived through natural means in the twentieth century before your mother was cryogenically frozen for approximately three hundred years. When her pod was discovered the scientists found that she was already two months pregnant with you. For three months the scientists of Section 31 ran tests on her within her pod at the Io facility before unfreezing her. Seven months later you were born. Are these statements true?"
"Yes Commander they are" Layla nodded relieved that they were finally back on track.
"And following your birth Admiral Marcus was responsible for keeping you and your mother within the Io Facility"
"Yes"
"And Admiral Marcus was also responsible for overseeing all your education and training during this time?"
"Yes"
Spock's brow crinkled once more as he seemed to ponder his next question.
"Miss Singh… what role did Keith Lance play in your incarceration?"
Khan straightened up a little in his seat as he saw Layla's eyes shut for a moment, her hands clenching in her lap. She could feel Kali and Spectre begin to push against the thick barrier she had held them behind in her mind
Lance's face meanwhile was curling in a small smirk.
"You can answer the question Miss Singh" Sterling's voice was lower and softer, more encouraging than her peers all of whom were looking serious and stern again.
"K-Keith L-L-Lance…" Layla shuddered and looked down at her lap to hide her face in shame. "W-was in charge of…of…discipline…"
"Discipline?" the Caitian judge's voice rumbled lowly, almost like a growl as he exchanged concerned glances with his fellow judges "What sort of discipline?"
Layla opened her mouth to speak but for some reason the words just caught in her throat and all she could do was clutch at her arms as a shiver of cold ran through her.
"Miss Singh" Spock's voice was now slow and careful. "Did the defendant physically assault you?"
There was a deafening silence as she gave a small mumble.
"…yes…"
"Did the defendant verbally assault you?"
"…yes…"
Kirk could almost feel his heart freeze mid beat as Spock opened his mouth to ask.
"Miss Singh…did the defendant ever sexually assault you?"
It was as if someone had announced the countdown of a bomb. Everyone was so quiet, their breaths caught in their chests as they waited for the answer as Layla's mouth opened.
The word came out as such tiny whisper, so small that even the court clerk that sat beside her was straining his ears to hear her clearly. She couldn't help it. Her entire body felt dirty, like it was contaminated by the filthiest disease or dirt imaginable.
"You're going to have to speak louder than that sweetheart. I don't think they quite heard you"
She flinched as Lance's voice cut through her head like a knife and she looked up from her lap in alarm to see the man he leaned back languidly in his chair behind his table. He sneered up at her his eyes flashing with scathing mirth at her terror.
"I know I didn't"
"Why you-"
There was a loud clatter and a scuffling noise and everyone turned to see Kirk on his feet struggling to keep a hold on Khan whose face was livid with wrath as he tried to lunge at Lance.
Many of the public spectators squeaked and scrambled away from the front benches of their section quickly as Spock quickly rushed to his captain's aid as several security officers rushed in from the sides their phasers held up high.
Oritz was quick to strike his traditional antique wooden gavel hard upon the metal of his bench.
"Order! I demand order! Mr Singh sit down or else I'm afraid I must ask security to apprehend you. And you Mr Lance" Oritz turned to Lance not even bothering to disguise his disgust. "the same goes for you if you don't restrain yourself from speaking out of turn"
He turned back to the room.
"On behalf of my fellow judges I hereby decree a recess of four hours, in which I hope you can cool yourselves down. Mr Spock you and your witness will return at fifteen hundred hours to complete your examination. Until then you are dismissed. Miss Singh you may step down from the bench"
But even before the gavel could strike down once more Layla was already out of her seat zipping out the side door her tear stained face in her hands.
HI GUYS I'M BACK! YAY!
thanks for waiting for so long but after i managed to totally screw up my original document i managed to salvage what i could from Archive of Our Own (where this fic is posted under the same title). however due to the weird format of the downloaded document i've just decided to make a new word doc and label it part two so now that works out just great (YAY!)
Also it took me forever to find good reference for court room proceedings (though i may have decided to skip out on some details but what the heck, i'm an writer not a lawyer)
hope you enjoyed the next chapter's got more juicy stuff ;)
keep R&Ring for more