Let me get my hands on that bastard. Just thirty seconds, that's all it would take...

His hands were gripping the struts of the chair so hard his knuckles were aching. He had to hold on to something or he would explode up into the attack.

He'd get nowhere if he did, of course – he'd simply fall across the counsel's table with the chair attached to him by the handcuffs – but if he moved so much as a finger he'd lose control of his mouth. And if that happened Captain Archer would get to see a whole new side of his prim and proper British tactical officer.

'...grossly negligent and in wanton disregard for the safety of the crew of the Seleya.' The arsehole should have spent half an hour there himself and see how piously judgemental he felt then, with the cold sweat of fear making the palms sticky and the years of training in remaining cool under fire struggling with the primeval craving to survive!

The safety of the boarding party was the Tactical Officer's first and overriding responsibility. He'd dutifully accompanied a rescue party, but long before the time they'd got to the Seleya's Main Engineering his focus had shifted to getting them all off this ship of horrors alive – there was clearly no earthly way they were going to rescue anybody. But would anyone short of a certified lunatic think he'd increased their chances of survival by effectively turning the Seleya into a ticking time bomb?

He could endure being labelled a murderer – he supposed that to the Vulcans, that was what he was. But this bastard was labelling him an idiot to boot. According to this, he was either too incompetent to follow orders correctly, too vain to ask for advice if he needed it, or too thick to realise that if he set a time limit on their own escape from an environment they'd already found was immensely hostile, he was exponentially decreasing their chances of achieving it!

At least his worst fears hadn't been realised. There had been no attack from the captain, no attempt made to shift the blame onto him. But the way the prosecution counsel seemed to be framing his statements suggested that practically the whole damned thing was his fault, with the captain seemingly relegated to little more than the accessory required to authorise him to murder the Seleya's crew and stroll away from it!

Well, yes. If it boiled down to 'who did what', he was the one who'd actually handled the actuators and initiated the sequence that ended in the Seleya's destruction. So on that level it made sense that he was the one on whom the prosecutor was heaping the lion's share of blame, because his actions were provable. And it wasn't like it mattered, not at this stage; the proper distribution of guilt would only be established if this went to Court Martial, and sentences handed down accordingly. But the injustice still left him incandescent with rage.

Even in his Black Ops days he hadn't really enjoyed killing, though his initial distaste had worn into something approaching indifference. It was something he did when he was required to. But even at his worst, he'd never joyfully premeditated the feeling of his hands closing around his victim's scrawny throat, throttling the lies out of it and crushing his larynx beyond repair.

Fortunately for his mounting fury, the attorney beside him stood up and began to speak.

"Your Honor, the defense makes a motion to dismiss both courts on the grounds of Military Necessity, which the defense has already stipulated is at issue in this case.

"Military necessity is governed by several constraints: an attack or action must be intended to help in the military defeat of the enemy; it must be an attack on a military objective; and the harm caused to civilians or civilian property must be proportional and 'not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantages anticipated'.

"Although the Enterprise was neither commissioned nor originally designed as a military vessel, the attack on Earth and its mission to prevent a second and potentially catastrophic attack using a weapon designed to destroy Earth itself effectively meant that it was operating on a military footing.

"It was therefore Captain Archer's plain duty to use any means to prevent a military advantage from falling into the hands of the enemy.

"The Seleya contained technology and weaponry far more advanced than Earth's own. There was every reason to believe that if it had fallen into the enemy's hands – if not into the Xindi's, into those of any species which might later have come to represent a serious threat to Earth's stability and security – then this technology and weaponry might have contributed significantly to this threat.

"The defense, through cross-examination of Sub-Commander T'Pol, has shown and proved that although Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed at no time intended harm to the crew of the Seleya or to the sovereign property of the Vulcan government, in the last analysis their unavoidable duty was to destroy the ship to prevent that threat from becoming a reality.

"The loss of life involved, while regrettable to all, was not only unavoidable, it was not excessive in relation to the numbers who would have died here on Earth if the Xindi attack had been successful.

"I therefore move that the defendants have no case to answer, and that the case be dismissed on those grounds."

Commander Augustine nodded. "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Hicks. Does the Prosecution wish to argue against the motion to dismiss? Please limit your argument to the defense of Military Necessity."

S'Hella rose, with an expression of indignation. "With respect, Your Honor. The prosecution argues that the ship and crew could have been left in the field to their own demise. Killing them was not necessary, and the possibility of the ship, its technology, and weapons being captured was minor, if not insignificant!"

The judge seemed to already be prepared for this motion. She shook her head. "Thank you, Counsel S'Hella. While I'm sensitive to the deaths of the Vulcan crewmen and the destruction of the Seleya, I believe the risk to Earth and its citizens far outweighed the harm caused by the actions of Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed. By Sub-Commander T'Pol's own testimony on cross-examination she agreed that the ship's design, technology, weapon systems and warp drive were far more advanced than those of Enterprise, Earth's premier starship. If that technology had reached the hands of the Xindi, a species that had already killed over seven million citizens of Earth, the results would have been catastrophic for Earth, as well as Vulcan.

"As such, I'm granting the defense motion to dismiss both counts against Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed, on the grounds that the destruction and death of the Seleya and crew were a Military Necessity, and not refer this matter for General Court Martial. Both officers are released from any restrictions or confinement forthwith. Thank you to all Counsel.

"The Court is in recess."