Chapter 13:

He once again found himself in exactly the same situation he had been in 2 years ago. In exactly the same position, in even exactly the same room and asking himself the same nagging, miserable questions again. What was he supposed to do now? Which way of dealing with it was the right one? What was the right and moral thing to do?

The last time he had been forced to decide, he had made a horrible mistake. Not listening to his instincts and feelings he had given up on a friend. Taking his position as Captain of this ship into consideration it had probably been the only reasonable decision, but as a friend...

That was what made him feel the urgent need to decide as a friend this time. To listen to his instincts. They told him to not give up on Trip for a second time, for no reason ever again. To take Trip back where he belonged to – back home, to his family and friends. He wanted him to have his old life back – a better life. He wanted him to get away from this miserable deserted place and stay aboard... He wanted him to remember.

But it wasn't as simple as that, for Trip wasn't alone. He had to take the girl's fate into consideration, too. They couldn't leave her behind – it was in no way moraly to do so – she wasn't a criminal. She was innocent, forced to live there and right now she had a chance to escape. He wouldn't take that away from her.

Apart from that and from what he had heard and seen, he was absolutely sure his former... his friend wouldn't leave without the young Talian woman. The one thing he wasn't sure about was if he actually wanted to leave – both of them had told him they didn't want his help, they didn't trust him. The girl in particular was very suspicious about each of his suggestions.

She didn't believe in his words, she didn't have any faith in his actions and she was suggesting him on trying to trick her with every last action he did. He knew they hadn't had a good start and they disagreed almost all of the time, but her constant distrust was in no way justifiable. He couldn't keep it from him – he simply didn't like her.

But that wasn't a reason to decide about this whole matter. He needed to stay objective on this one. And from an objective point of view - there were still other people, he had a certain responsibility to. He needed to inform Starfleet authorities... and he had to talk to Trip's family. They had a right to know about it and his deepest sense of justice told him that especially his parents had a right to actually see their son once again.

This wasn't a decision to be made lightly, as lightly as it had been made by the two of them, just because they didn't know, didn't have any personal relationship to the people that had an interest in them returning to Earth. It was his task to find the right balance about this – to consider carefully whose interests were more important on this matter.

As soon as he would inform the authorities – once again – there would be no way out of it, no way back anymore. He would have to go all the way then, stick to procedure... which would mean to bring Trip back to Earth, without any more thinking about the right decision. Once more it was the question as what kind of a person he wanted to decide – as a friend or as a superior officer...

He couldn't have both of it – sticking to procedure and being a friend. It would have been way too easy and so far none of this whole recovery and rescue process had been. Maybe it was his very own punishment he was receiving right now – being punished for leaving a friend behind...

Punishment or not... he had to admit to himself that actually his decision had been made before he even started considering it. He just kept it from him, trying to take time – how pathetic to try to fool oneself... He wouldn't let any more harm come to Trip – he had allowed it once, he wouldn't allow it again.

He turned to his desk, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for the moment. A strange thought crossed his mind – What would Thydia be saying about that, what words to accuse him would she find this time? He activated the small viewscreen, sending a transmission to Earth. Moments later Admiral Forrest's face appeared on the screen.

"Jonathan?"

He remembered that friendly but slightly surprised reaction all too well – like it had been just yesterday... Well, it was two years ago actually and he was about to say exactly the same thing one more time. Just that it was for a happy reason this time, at least that's what he was hoping...

"Admiral – there is something I need to inform you about..."